Categories
Beverage

Summer means it’s time for a ‘mango-nificent’ lemonade

Fresh Mango Lemonade
Fresh mango lemonade features pureed mangos, fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a homemade simple syrup, making for a refreshing summertime drink. It’s great as is or with a splash of tequila.
Fresh Mango Lemonade
Fresh mango lemonade features pureed mangos, fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a homemade simple syrup, making for a refreshing summertime drink. It’s great as is or with a splash of tequila.

You know summer is here when you start seeing area kids trying their hand at entrepreneurship with lemonade stands.

This past weekend, I saw several friends posting photos of their children with toothy grins, sitting behind card tables adorned with homemade signs. As much as some things change, there are so many that seem to stay the same in our small towns.

I wish all of those budding business owners luck with their endeavors, and while I’m sure most will be leaning heavily on Country Time or Kool-Aid for their pitchers full of yellow gold, I would like to offer up a bit more complicated recipe that is delicious and takes plain, old lemonade to the next level with the tropical flavor of mango.

This comes from the blog “Onion Rings & Things.” You can find the original post at https://www.onionringsandthings.com/mango-lemonade/. I didn’t add any ingredients on this one, because it’s so simple.

Fresh Mango Lemonade
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Fresh Mango Lemonade

Fresh mango lemonade features pureed mangos, fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a homemade simple syrup, making for a refreshing summertime drink. It’s great as is or with a splash of tequila.
Course Beverage
Keyword cocktail, fresh lemon, lemon juice, lemonade, mango, simple syrup, tropical drink

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 ripe mangoes
  • 1 cup lemon juice
  • 2 cups cold water
  • ice

Instructions

  • Add the sugar and one cup of water to a sauce pot. Heat it over medium heat until the mixture is at a simmer—just below boiling—stirring occasionally.
  • Once the sugar is completely dissolved and the liquid looks clear, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. (This is what you call a simple syrup, but don’t be fooled, it won’t be anywhere near the consistency of the stuff you put on your pancakes.)
  • Scoop out the insides of the mangoes and place them in a blender along with the freshly squeezed lemon juice, cooled simple syrup and cold water. Process until the mixture is completely smooth. (If you don’t have enough room in your blender, just puree the mango with the lemon juice, and then pour all of the ingredients into a pitcher and mix.)
  • Pour the mixture over ice (if you’re not into pulp, you might want to strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve first) and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.

This was absolutely delicious. It was certainly more work than scooping powder and sugar into a pitcher, but it was worth it. Personally, I didn’t mind the little bit of pulp in my glass, but Joey was more in favor of straining his. It’s all about your own preferences.

And, yes, in case you’re wondering, you can take this from being a fun, kid-friendly summer drink to something just for the adults. We tried it with some tequila for a bit of a margarita flair, and it was super tasty. (You probably shouldn’t try that version for your stands, though, kids.)

Drinking lemonade—spiked or not—is one of the many signs of summer and a much better one than sunburns, mosquito bites and sweat.

It’s that little slice of Americana that just never seems to get old.

This piece first appeared in print on May 25, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Combination of chicken, veggies, herbs more than just fair

Crescent roll chicken pot pie casserole comes together quickly and features lots of great flavors from some fresh vegetables, along with plenty of herbs. It makes for a fantastic weeknight meal.
Crescent roll chicken pot pie casserole comes together quickly and features lots of great flavors from some fresh vegetables, along with plenty of herbs. It makes for a fantastic weeknight meal.

We have a friend we lovingly refer to as “the human jukebox.”

He has a ton of songs floating around in his head, and all it takes to get him to launch into one is to subtly mention a lyric.

Joey and I sometimes make a game of seeing if we can make a comment that will result in him humming, whistling or singing the song later on, after it’s invaded his subconscious. He always rolls his eyes and feigns annoyance when we bust up laughing at the outset of his tune.

My secret, though, is I tend to be a bit of a human jukebox myself, especially when I’m cooking with a particular set of herbs as I was this week: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Simon and Garfunkel get me every time.

Getting “Scarborough Fair” stuck in my head this week was completely my own fault, though, as I decided to add a ton of seasonings to a chicken crescent roll casserole recipe I found in order to transform it into a chicken pot pie-inspired dish.

The recipe I started with comes from the blog “The Seasoned Mom” by Blair Lonergan. You can find the original post at https://www.theseasonedmom.com/crescent-roll-chicken-casserole. I added quite a few ingredients in my version.

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Crescent Roll Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Crescent roll chicken pot pie casserole comes together quickly and features lots of great flavors from some fresh vegetables, along with plenty of herbs. It makes for a fantastic weeknight meal.
Course Main Course
Keyword carrots, celery, cream of chicken, crescent roll dough, garlic, garlic powder, garlic salt, onion powder, parsley, peas, rosemary, sage, shredded cheese, shredded chicken, thyme, yellow onion

Ingredients

Filling Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 celery stalks diced
  • 3 medium carrots diced
  • 1/4 yellow onion diced
  • 6-8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup chicken shredded
  • 1/4 cup shredded cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon sage
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 ounces refrigerated crescent roll dough

Sauce Ingredients

  • 10.5 ounces cream of chicken soup
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray an eight-by-eight-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots and onion, and saute until the vegetables are soft.
  • Add in the garlic and peas, and saute for another couple of minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
  • Remove the skillet from the heat and add in the chicken, cheese, rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, garlic salt and pepper, and stir to combine.
  • Roll out and separate the triangles of crescent roll dough, and place a spoonful of the chicken mixture into the center of each, loosely rolling the dough around it, and place the filled dough into the prepared baking dish. It’s OK if they are touching. (If you have extra filling after you’re done with the dough, just sprinkle it around in the pan.
  • Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the crescent rolls are golden brown.
  • While they bake, add all of the sauce ingredients to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk or stir until the cheese melts.
  • When the rolls are baked through, pour the sauce on the top, and place the casserole back in the oven for five to 10 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly.
  • Serve immediately.

This is really saucy. You could easily get away with doubling the filling, getting an extra can of crescent rolls and using a nine-by-13-inch dish instead—while using the same amount of sauce.

I didn’t mind the extra creamy sauce along with the vegetables and buttery dough, though, so it’s all about what you like.

Of course, the addition of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme complimented the chicken and veggies nicely, too. That combo is a true love of mine.

This piece first appeared in print on May 18, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

‘Poppy’ in the kitchen and try some beautiful scratch-made cupcakes

These lemon poppy seed cupcakes feature a decadent, from-scratch, blackberry buttercream that sends the springtime fruit flavors to the next level.
These lemon poppy seed cupcakes feature a decadent, from-scratch, blackberry buttercream that sends the springtime fruit flavors to the next level.

I have always been a sucker for poppy seeds.

If there is a tray of pastries that includes poppy seed bread or muffins, that is what’s going on my plate. That nutty flavor is just irresistible.

That being said, I rarely bake with poppy seeds, for some reason. I had to change that, and what better way than making a delicious, springtime dessert featuring the little seeds along with fresh lemon and blackberries?

A match made in heaven.

This comes from the blog “Just So Tasty” by Fiona Dowling. You can find the original post at https://www.justsotasty.com/lemon-poppy-seed-cupcakes-with-blackberry-frosting/. I added extra vanilla and poppy seeds in my version.

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Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting

These lemon poppy seed cupcakes feature a decadent, from-scratch, blackberry buttercream that sends the springtime fruit flavors to the next level.
Course Dessert
Keyword baby shower cupcake, buttercream, fresh blackberries, fresh lemon, from-scratch, frozen blackberries, lemon zest, poppy seeds, poppyseed, vanilla, wedding shower cupcake

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Frosting Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups blackberries
  • 1 cup butter room temperature
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon milk or cream if needed

Instructions

Cupcake Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line one and one-half regular-sized muffin tins with cupcake liners.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest for a few minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  • Beat in the eggs and vanilla, add in the baking soda and salt, and then alternate beating in a bit of the sour cream, followed by a bit of the flour until everything is well combined.
  • Stir in the lemon juice and poppy seeds.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared liners, filling each to about two-thirds full.
  • Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool in the pan until you can handle the cupcakes, and then let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting Directions

  • Add the blackberries to a blender or food processor and process until they are smooth.
  • Pour the berries into a fine-mesh sieve over a small saucepan, and stir them around, pressing the mixture to get as much out of the berries and into the pan as you can.
  • Heat the saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 20 minutes or until the mixture has thickened to a jam consistency. Remove the pan from the heat and let the berries cool completely.
  • When you’re ready to frost the cooled cupcakes, beat the butter in a large bowl until it is soft and creamy. Beat in two cups of the powdered sugar, along with the salt. Add the blackberry puree and beat again.
  • Beat in the rest of the powdered sugar, one-half cup at a time. If the mixture is too runny to frost the cupcakes, add more powdered sugar, just a bit at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. If it is too stiff, add a tablespoon (or more) of milk or cream until you are happy with it.
  • Frost the cupcakes and store in an airtight container.

These were delicious. The cupcake flavor was delicate but still stood up to the blackberry buttercream, which was fabulous. Plus, they were just really pretty.

I did feel a bit bad about having all the bits and pieces of the blackberries left over in my sieve, so I ended up transferring them along with equal parts water and sugar to a pan and making a blackberry simple syrup. It’s great in everything from cocktails to iced tea.

And I was glad to get my poppy seed fix. These were perfect to fit that bill. Unfortunately, you’ll have to make your own to find out. Mine are—mysteriously—all gone.

This piece first appeared in print on May 11, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Soup

This creamy chicken soup was fabulous, ‘gnocchi’dding

Chicken gnocchi soup is a creamy, Italian-style soup that features tons of flavor from fresh vegetables, lots of garlic, chicken and soft, pillowy gnocchi.
Chicken gnocchi soup is a creamy, Italian-style soup that features tons of flavor from fresh vegetables, lots of garlic, chicken and soft, pillowy gnocchi.

This past weekend, Joey found whole chickens on sale and proceeded to put three on his smoker.

I told him I wanted to try a different way to make stock from the bones, once he was done pulling the meat, and he graciously put the pieces into my large crockpot for me.

Normally, we make stock on the stove, but after seeing several people online make it in their crockpots, I wanted to give it a shot, especially since the last time we made stock, our entire kitchen felt a bit like a sauna from all the boiling liquid. That’s a less-than optimum feeling when you’re staring at May on the calendar.

So, I covered the bones in water, snapped on the lid, and let everything cook on high for four hours. Then I set it to low and went to bed.

When I tell you that I woke up to the most beautiful stock I have ever seen, please believe me. It was dark and flavorful and amazing.

I immediately knew that a soup was in order, so I decided to try a recipe I had my eye on that uses lots of fresh veggies—all of which just happened to be in my fridge.

This comes from the blog, “Tornadough Alli.” You can find the original post at https://tornadoughalli.com/olive-garden-chicken-gnocchi-soup/. I added tons more garlic and some other seasoning in my version.

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Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Chicken gnocchi soup is a creamy, Italian-style soup that features tons of flavor from fresh vegetables, lots of garlic, chicken and soft, pillowy gnocchi.
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Italian
Keyword black pepper, carrots, celery, chicken, chicken broth, chicken stock, creamy soup, garlic salt, gnocchi, minced garlic, onion, parsley, spinach

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 3 to 4 medium carrots diced
  • 2 stalks celery diced
  • 16- ounce package potato gnocchi
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3 teaspoons dried parsley
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 pound chicken cooked and shredded
  • 1 cup fresh spinach chopped
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

  • In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat.
  • Once the butter is melted, add the onion, carrots and celery, and saute until the onions are translucent.
  • While your veggies cook, boil the gnocchi according to package instructions, drain it, and set it aside.
  • When the vegetables are cooked through, add in the garlic and saute for just a couple of minutes.
  • Stir in the flour, and let it cook for about a minute before adding the chicken broth and milk to the pot, stirring well. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to get any stuck-on goodies mixed in.
  • Raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring regularly. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low to keep it at a simmer, and add in the seasonings, chicken, spinach, gnocchi and corn starch mixture. Stir well, and keep stirring occasionally until all the ingredients are heated through and the soup is just slightly thickened.
  • Serve.

This was creamy and flavorful and had lots of great textures between the chicken, gnocchi and vegetables. It also made a nice, big pot of soup, so we were able to put some leftovers in the freezer for another night.

And the best part is I still have eight cups of stock in my refrigerator, ready to go into another creation. After seeing how well my crockpot worked out, I’m not sure if I’ll make stock the old way ever again.

This piece first appeared in print on May 4, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

Turn cookies on their heads with these pineapple treats

Pineapple upside-down cookies taste just like mini cakes. They are perfect to eat without a fork and would look beautiful on a snack table or for a bake sale.
Pineapple upside-down cookies taste just like mini cakes. They are perfect to eat without a fork and would look beautiful on a snack table or for a bake sale.

If anyone tries to tell you that I don’t suffer for my art, please correct them.

After all, I spent a lovely afternoon recently, shoulders deep in my oven with some Easy Off and a scrubber, all thanks to this week’s recipe.

Did my oven probably need a good scrub down anyway? Yeah. Probably.

But it was especially dire when I tried to modify a recipe that called for using a six-well mini cake pan to my normal-sized cupcake tin but didn’t actually change how much batter I put in each well.

Let’s just say that my cups runneth over.

But the cookies were fabulous. They were actually more like mini cakes than cookies in a lot of ways, but I was definitely not complaining.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt” by Miranda Couse. You can find the original post at https://www.cookiedoughandovenmitt.com/pineapple-upside-down-sugar-cookies. I added extra vanilla in my version and updated the recipe to include using a cupcake tin, for those of us who don’t have fancy mini cake tins.

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Pineapple Upside-down Cookies

Pineapple upside-down cookies taste just like mini cakes. They are perfect to eat without a fork and would look beautiful on a snack table or for a bake sale.
Course Dessert
Keyword bake sale, brown sugar, cake cookies, maraschino cherries, pineapple slices, pineapple upside-down cake

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2, 20- ounce cans sliced pineapples in pineapple juice
  • 6 ounces maraschino cherries
  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have a couple six-well mini round cake pans or a couple 12-well cupcake tins at the ready. (There’s no need to grease them.)
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
  • Beat in the eggs, vanilla and sour cream, and then beat in the flour, baking powder, cornstarch and salt. Set the mixture aside.
  • In another bowl, combine the melted butter with the brown sugar, and stir until it is well combined.
  • If you are using a cake pan, add one tablespoon of the brown sugar mixture to each well. You will likely end up making about 12 to 13 cookies. If you are using a cupcake tin, add about three-fourths of a tablespoon of the brown sugar mixture to the wells until you run out. You may end up making somewhere between 15 and 20 cookies. Spread the brown sugar mixture around to cover the bottom of each well.
  • Add a pineapple slice to each well. (If you are using a cupcake tin, you’ll want to take a small chunk out of each slice so that it fits flat in the bottom of the well. You can either eat the extra chunks and tell no one or use them to create a ring in one of the wells, too.)
  • Place a cherry at the center of each pineapple slice.
  • For the cake pan, use a one-inch cookie scoop to add about three tablespoons of the cookie dough to each well. For the cupcake tin, add around two tablespoons. You only want the mixture to come up about three-fourths of the way in the well.
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
  • Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes, and then invert the pan onto waxed paper (be ready for a little bit of a mess, and you may have to rescue some stuck-on pineapples from the pan and place them back on top of the cookies).
  • Let the cookies cool completely before serving. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

These really did just taste like mini pineapple upside-down cakes, but they were easy to eat with just your hands, which was awesome.

If you’re nervous at all about your own cookies overflowing a bit, I’d recommend putting the cupcake tin on a rimmed baking sheet, just in case.

Or, you can always take it as a challenge from the universe that your oven needs a good, springtime scrub down. I’m not sure the universe actually cares about such things, but now that the grime is finally out of my stove and out from under my fingernails, that’s what I keep telling myself.

This piece first appeared in print on April 27, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Get lost in a piece of amazing cake

Amazing cake has too many ingredients to put in its title. It features an easy base of a boxed cake mix, elevated by pecans, shredded coconut, chocolate chips and a swirled cream cheese mixture that is not to be missed.
Amazing cake has too many ingredients to put in its title. It features an easy base of a boxed cake mix, elevated by pecans, shredded coconut, chocolate chips and a swirled cream cheese mixture that is not to be missed.

The names people choose for recipes often crack me up.

There’s the embarrassing-to-talk-about “better than sex” or “sex in a pan” variety of dishes, followed by “blue-ribbon” and “award-winning” options, and of course, there are a million recipes purporting to be “Mom’s” or “Grandma’s,” although few identify which matriarch those actually belong to.

So you’ll excuse my skepticism as to how “amazing” the recipe I tried this week was when the author simply called it “amazing cake.”

Upon reading the long list of ingredients, though, not only did I start to believe that this just might be amazing, but I also realized that she couldn’t have possibly come up with a more descriptive name without having to list at least five items in the title. Amazing cake it was.

This recipe comes from a Facebook reel by @genie_cooks. I adjusted the ingredients just a tiny bit, based on what I had in my pantry. I also used an Oreo chocolate cake mix that had Oreo bits in it for the cake part, and that was phenomenal.

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Amazing Cake

Amazing cake has too many ingredients to put in its title. It features an easy base of a boxed cake mix, elevated by pecans, shredded coconut, chocolate chips and a swirled cream cheese mixture that is not to be missed.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake mix, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate chips, coconut, cream cheese, easy cake, easy dessert, pecans, powdered sugar

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pecans divided
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 chocolate cake mix and ingredients listed on the box
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips I used semi-sweet

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray.
  • Spread one-half cup of the pecans and all of the shredded coconut evenly along the bottom of the pan. Set it aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, prepare the chocolate cake mix according to the directions on the box. Pour the prepared mix evenly over the top of the pecans and coconut in the prepared pan.
  • In another mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and melted butter until it is smooth. Fold in the remaining pecans and the chocolate chips.
  • With a large spoon, place dollops of the cream cheese mixture all over the surface of the cake batter, and then gently swirl the cream cheese mixture into the batter with a knife.
  • Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Let the cake cool completely before cutting into it. Sore any leftovers in an airtight container.

This really did turn out, well, amazing. I brought some to the office to share, and Adam described it as a “German chocolate upside down cake,” which I thought was a fairly apt way of putting it. The incorporation of so many different flavors and textures in this cake makes it decadent and delicious, and the best part was that it was super easy to create. Put this one on your “I need to make a quick dessert” list.

While “amazing cake” doesn’t really tell you everything you need to know about this recipe, it was a decent descriptor after all, and I certainly recommend it. As for some of the other descriptive terms people tend to use in their recipe names, I think I’ll stick to the tamer adjectives. I don’t need my cooking to get a strange reputation.

This piece first appeared in print on April 20, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Appetizer Snack

No need to ‘Harp’ about this amazing pub cheese

Irish pub cheese is a fantastic party dip that goes especially well with salty snacks like pretzels but can also pair with vegetables and even apple slices.
Irish pub cheese is a fantastic party dip that goes especially well with salty snacks like pretzels but can also pair with vegetables and even apple slices.

At least 10 years ago, I first tried making homemade soft pretzels for this column.

They were messy, extremely tricky to knot and delicious.

Since that first foray into pretzel-making, I have made the recipe again several times, but I have always opted to make pretzel bites instead of going through the arduous process of knotting dough. It’s hard to have patience when you have freshly baked pretzels in your immediate future.

I made those pretzels again recently, but not just because I had a hankering for pretzels. Instead, I had what promised to be a delicious pub cheese recipe that I wanted to try, and what better way to enjoy a thick, tasty cheese dip than with a warm, homemade pretzel?

And let me tell you, this dip did not disappoint.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “A Spicy Perspective” by Sommer Collier. You can find her original post at https://www.aspicyperspective.com/irish-pub-cheese/. I changed the amounts of several ingredients in my version below.

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Irish Pub Cheese

Irish pub cheese is a fantastic party dip that goes especially well with salty snacks like pretzels but can also pair with vegetables and even apple slices.
Course Snack
Cuisine Irish
Keyword beer cheese, cheese dip, cream cheese, easy snack, garlic, ground mustard, Harp lager, Irish cheese, paprika, pub cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, spicy brown mustard

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces Irish or sharp cheddar shredded or block
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup Harp lager or another pale lager, like Heineken
  • 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground or spicy brown mustard
  • 1 teaspoon paprika

Instructions

  • Place the cheddar into a food processor (break it into chunks first, if you’re using a block), and process until the cheese is in small crumbles.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and all the ingredients are well incorporated.
  • Give it a taste and add ingredients as desired.
  • Transfer the pub cheese to a bowl for serving and serve alongside pretzels, crackers or whatever else sounds good for dipping.

There is a pronounced beer flavor to this cheese dip, but it compliments the taste of the sharp cheese really, really well, so it’s definitely worth adding to the mix. I wouldn’t say a non-drinker would immediately be turned off by the flavors here, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re serving snacks to someone who has a major aversion to the flavor of beer.

You could easily use a non-alcoholic beer in this, too, if you’d rather. Heineken should be a good substitute for Harp’s, and they have a non-alcoholic version.

As I expected, this pub cheese paired great with some salty soft pretzels. It was also fantastic with good, old-fashioned crunchy pretzels, though. Honestly, you might be able to make cardboard taste good if you dip it in this (not that I’m advocating eating cardboard…).

And, if you’re wondering, I didn’t go for knotted pretzels for my snack table this time around, either. No one seemed to mind the lack of effort, though, as we demolished this bowl of dip with pretzel bites. It was still a huge crowd pleaser on the snack table, believe it or…knot.

This piece first appeared in print on April 13, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Bread

These mini Irish loaves are ‘soda’licious

Mini Irish soda bread loaves are easy to make. They feature a crispy crust, pillowy insides and a combo of sweetness from raisins and a light peppery flavor from caraway seeds.
Mini Irish soda bread loaves are easy to make. They feature a crispy crust, pillowy insides and a combo of sweetness from raisins and a light peppery flavor from caraway seeds.

If there was a competition for taking the love of a single recipe to new heights, I think Edward J. O’Dwyer might win.

In doing some quick research about the origins of Irish soda bread, I came upon the website for The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, which O’Dwyer runs. It comes complete with links to news references, history and more. If you want to do a really deep dive on Irish soda bread, I highly recommend visiting them at sodabread.info.

As a teaser, soda bread became a staple mostly due to the potato famine in Ireland. Things were really rough for families, and soda bread is cheap to make and doesn’t need yeast, which is why it became increasingly popular.

Most of the time, Irish soda bread is made in large loaves, but I was especially intrigued by a recipe to make mini loaves and decided I had to give it a try.

This comes from Dawn Perry on the Real Simple Magazine website. You can find the original post at https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/mini-irish-soda-bread. I added extra raisins in my version.

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Mini Irish Soda Bread

Mini Irish soda bread loaves are easy to make. They feature a crispy crust, pillowy insides and a combo of sweetness from raisins and alight peppery flavor from caraway seeds.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Irish
Keyword caraway seeds, easy bread, Irish bread, mini loaves, no yeast bread, raisins, soda bread

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups raisins
  • 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
  • 4 tablespoons butter or margarine melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup buttermilk I used skim milk with a touch of vinegar
  • salted butter softened, for serving

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set them aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add in the raisins and caraway seeds, and stir to incorporate them into the mix.
  • Add the melted butter, egg and buttermilk. Mix until everything is well combined. (If the dough still has dry spots, even after mixing well, add another cup of buttermilk.)
  • Using a two-inch cookie scoop, scoop out the dough and place the scoops about two inches apart on your prepared baking sheets.
  • Bake for 20 to 25 minute or until the tops of the loaves are golden brown.
  • Serve warm with salted butter and store leftovers in an airtight container.

This is a delicious bread, and the benefit of making the mini, one-serving loaves is that the insides stay pillowy and moist. The outsides are crispy, and the flavor of the bread has a nice combination of sweetness from the raisins and just a light, peppery flavor from the caraway seeds. Adding some salted butter to the warm bread is just the proverbial icing on the cake.

I hope these mini loaves do the traditional recipe justice and would make even Edward J. O’Dwyer a little proud.

According to the society’s website, he is currently working on a history book about the subject. I’ll have to keep that on my radar. I always appreciate someone who takes a good recipe as seriously as I do.

This piece first appeared in print on April 6, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Appetizer Main Dish Snack

It’s time to pig out on rolls from across the pond

Sausage rolls are a popular fast food for groups from the British to the Irish to Australians. They feature seasoned ground pork, baked in a flaky, delicious puff pastry. They’re great for dinner or an appetizer.
Sausage rolls are a popular fast food for groups from the British to the Irish to Australians. They feature seasoned ground pork, baked in a flaky, delicious puff pastry. They’re great for dinner or an appetizer.

I have always loved British entertainment.

Lately, my obsession has been with a British podcast called “Off Menu.” It features comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster, and the premise is really simple. They ask guests to join them in their fictitious “dream restaurant,” and then they go course by course through the guest’s dream meal.

It’s a fantastic basis for great conversation, and it has not only left me pondering what I would choose for my own best meal, but I have also found myself looking up recipes for a variety of dishes they discuss.

So far, I have tried one: sausage rolls. While it isn’t fancy at all—it’s really just something you grab on the go—after hearing about the concoction several times, I decided I had to give it a try.

The recipe I used for this comes from the blog “Australia’s Best Recipes” by Greer Worsley. You can find the original post at https://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipes/french-onion-sausage-rolls-recipe/68pmwql0. I added extra seasoning in my version and changed the measurements to U.S. standards.

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Onion sausage rolls

Sausage rolls are a popular fast food for groups from the British to the Irish to Australians. They feature seasoned ground pork, baked ina flaky, delicious puff pastry. They’re great for dinner or an appetizer.
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Keyword catsup, dijon mustart, French onion soup mix, ketchup, minced garlic, onion soup mix, puff pastry, quick appetizer, quick dinner, sausage roll, spicy brown mustard, Worcestershire

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1 envelope onion soup mix 1 ounce
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons spicy brown or dijon mustard
  • 4-6 cloves garlic minced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 sheets puff pastry 17.3 ounces, defrosted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 390 degrees. Prepare a large, rimmed baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, soup mix, ketchup, Worcestershire, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix it well with a spoon or with your hands until it’s well combined.
  • Roll out the pastry sheets to about nine inches wide, and cut them each into three, even, long strips (there should be a fold seam to guide you).
  • Divide the pork mixture evenly between the six strips, forming a long log down the center of each strip.
  • In a small bowl, whisk the egg and milk together and, using a pastry brush, lightly brush the mixture the entire length on either the left or right side of the meat mixture on each strip. Roll the pastry, starting with the side you didn’t brush, to create a very long tube, surrounding the meat mixture. Press the seam to seal it, and then, using a sharp knife, cut the roll into about six pieces. (You can do fewer pieces if you’d rather have larger sausage rolls.) Place the rolls about an inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
  • Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the filling has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
  • Serve with mustard for dipping.

I know that I would need to take a trip across the pond to get “real deal” sausage rolls, but these were really yummy. Cutting them into the smaller pieces also makes them perfect for an appetizer table, but we ended up just eating a few for dinner, and they were filling and delicious. The flavor profile actually reminded me just a bit of bierocks—without the cabbage, of course.

The puff pastry was also a great touch, making the rolls awesome and flaky. I highly recommend giving them a try.

If I were challenged to create my dream menu, I don’t think sausage rolls would make the cut—I have had way too many great dishes, I’m afraid. But I do think I’ll make these again sometime. They were a nice change of pace, an easy dinner, and it finally satisfied my craving. Win-win-win.

This piece first appeared in print on March 23, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

A crustless pie recipe can really take the cake

This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.
This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.

Every week, I go have lunch with my Little for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We solve the world’s problems over school food and Uno cards as only a 13-year-old and a 39-year-old can.

Recently, we discussed the nature of sandwiches. Is a hot dog a sandwich? How about a taco? Where do quesadillas come into play?

Her assessment was that tortillas didn’t count; we stalled out on the subject of buns. We’ll have to come back to it at some point and figure it out.

I was reminded of that conversation when I made this week’s recipe, except my internal struggle was: cake or pie? The recipe author calls it a “crustless pie,” but honestly, it’s a phenomenal, moist cake that just happens to be made in a pie pan—at least in my humble opinion.

Whatever the ruling, though, it was really good, and it is perfect for all the sweet berries that are starting to hit our grocery store shelves right now.

This comes from the blog “Averie Cooks.” You can find the original post at https://www.averiecooks.com/crustless-fresh-strawberry-pie/. I added extra vanilla in my version.

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Fresh Strawberry Cake

This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword almond extract, crustless pie, easy cake, easy dessert, fresh fruit, strawberry, vanilla

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 16 ounces fresh strawberries halved or quartered, divided

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare a nine-inch glass pie dish by spraying it with cooking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter (let it cool a bit), eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Beat the mixture to combine.
  • Add in one cup of sugar, the flour and salt, and beat until you have a smooth batter.
  • Fold in all but about 1/4 cup of your strawberries, and pour the mixture into your prepared pie dish, spreading it out evenly.
  • Lightly press the remaining strawberries into the top of the batter, and sprinkle two tablespoons of sugar evenly over the top of the cake.
  • Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Cool completely before slicing. Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.

We really, really enjoyed this one. The vanilla and almond extracts compliment the flavor of the fresh strawberries perfectly and really help the fruit be the star of the dessert. This was delicious for breakfast with a cup of coffee, too.

You could easily swap in blueberries, raspberries, etc., if you’re not a strawberry fan or your local grocery store has something else on the shelves.

If you make this, you’ll have to tell me if I’m wrong in the cake vs. pie debate. I haven’t asked my Little to weigh in yet. If she’s anywhere near the expert on baked goods that she is on sandwiches, though, I’ll have a definitive answer in no time.

This piece first appeared in print on March 16, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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