Author: Lindsey Young

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

For dinner tonight, choose to go with the grain

Hibachi-style fried rice is easy to create and simple to alter, depending on what's sitting in your refrigerator.
Hibachi-style fried rice is easy to create and simple to alter, depending on what’s sitting in your refrigerator.

Over the years, I have to confess that I have tended to order off of the side dishes part of the menu for a lot of my meals.

Particularly at Chinese restaurants, I’ve been known to just buy an order of fried rice for lunch and skip over the entrees completely. It’s one of my favorite things.

According to an article by Rhonda Parkinson, the recipe for fried rice literally goes back centuries in China and likely came about sometime during the Sui Dynasty, which lasted from 589 to 618 A.D.

The “proper” way to make it is the subject of a lot of debate online if you want to jump into the fray. People differ on the seasonings, the vegetables, what meats are or are not added, and even at what point in the process an egg should be added.

So when I made fried rice to go along with dinner recently, I just chose a recipe that sounded good to try and went with it, fully recognizing that I probably wasn’t accomplishing something “authentic.” But in the grand scheme of things, it was delicious, so I wasn’t too worried if someone in the Sui Dynasty would have recognized my concoction as close to their own.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Kitchen Swagger” by Shawn Williams. You can find the original post at https://kitchenswagger.com/hibachi-style-fried-rice-recipe/. I added extra garlic powder to my version, and I realized after starting that I was out of peas, so those ended up being left out by necessity (they’ll definitely get added next time). I also updated the directions a bit.

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Hibachi-Style Fried Rice

Hibachi-style fried rice is easy to create and simple to alter, depending on what's sitting in your refrigerator.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword fried rice, Hibachi, rice, takeout

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup carrots diced
  • 1/4 cup peas
  • 1/2 cup onion diced (I used yellow)
  • 2 cups white rice prepared
  • 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 egg beaten

Instructions

  • In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the carrots, peas and onion. Saute them for several minutes or until the vegetables are to your desired tenderness.
  • Add the rice to the skillet and stir to combine. Then add the soy sauce, butter, garlic powder and salt and pepper to the skillet and keep stirring so everything is well combined and the butter fully melts.
  • For the last step, slide the rice out of the way and dump in your beaten egg, stirring constantly for a couple minutes until it’s cooked through, and stir it into the rest of the rice mixture.
  • Serve.

We really enjoyed this, and I even made it fancy by packing the rice into a small ramekin and then upturning it onto the plates to make uniform mounds of yummy fried rice on our plates.

I also did technically pick a side on the egg debate. I once listened to a chef who said the egg should be added last, because that keeps it from getting too dry and overcooked, and I thought that made enough sense to make it my practice.

The best part about the history of fried rice, in my opinion, is that it’s really just an excuse to use up whatever you still have laying around your kitchen, so adding other veggies or even some protein is completely within the realm of possibility. In fact, a lot of people argue that day-old rice is the only way to make fried rice taste perfect.

Also, if you want to speed up this process, grab a bag of frozen peas and carrots and use that instead of having to cut up your own veggies.

And if you don’t want to make an entree to go with your fried rice, go ahead and eat it as your main dish for dinner. After doing enough research, I can tell you that the only rule with fried rice is that there really aren’t any rules.

This piece first appeared in print on May 14, 2020.

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

Orange chicken for dinner makes for happy ‘peelings’

Baked orange chicken can be made from scratch at home to create the same awesome flavors as the classic takeout dish.
Baked orange chicken can be made from scratch at home to create the same awesome flavors as the classic takeout dish.

My normal mode for making dinner is to keep it simple. If I find a recipe that takes too many steps or too much waiting in between steps, I skip right over it.

What I do tend to do to myself on a regular basis, though, is to make dinner more complicated than it should have been by having way too many ideas to execute at once.

Such was the case a few nights ago, when I started with wanting to make a recipe for orange chicken, which my sister sent over, ranting and raving about how good it was, and finished by also making from-scratch fried rice and a Japanese clear onion soup.

I began making dinner at around 5 p.m., and Joey didn’t have a plate in front of him until after 7. At least he’s used to my idiosyncrasies, and since the meal was amazing, there were no complaints on his end.

The orange chicken recipe comes from the blog “Dinner, then Dessert,” written by Sabrina Snyder. You can find the original post at https://dinnerthendessert.com/baked-orange-chicken/. I added extra garlic in my version, substituted dried ginger for fresh, and updated the directions a bit for clarity.

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Baked Orange Chicken

Baked orange chicken can be made from scratch at home to create the same awesome flavors as the classic takeout dish.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword baked, orange chicken, take out

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup breadcrumbs or panko
  • cooking spray
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon dried ginger
  • 6 to 8 cloves minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons white wine or rice wine
  • 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 10 tablespoons sugar
  • 10 tablespoons white vinegar
  • zest of one orange

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a large, rimmed baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil.
  • Cut the chicken thighs into one-inch, bite-sized pieces.
  • Set up three bowls. In the first bowl, add the flour. (I ended up needing a lot more than the 1/2 cup, so be prepared to add more if necessary.) In the second bowl, beat the eggs with a fork. (I also had to add an additional egg by the end of my preparation.) In the third bowl, add the breadcrumbs. (If you’re using panko, run it through a food processor to get it into smaller bits, and again, be prepared to add some extra if necessary.)
  • Dip the chicken into the flour, then the egg and then the breadcrumbs and then place on the baking sheet. Try to keep the pieces from touching each other, but don’t worry about crowding the pan.
  • Spray the coated chicken with cooking spray and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.
  • For the sauce, heat one tablespoon vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red peppers and stir, sauteing for about 30 seconds.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients, and bring the mixture up to a slow boil, stirring continuously. Once the mixture starts to thicken, remove the sauce from the heat.
  • Once the chicken is finished, toss it in the sauce to coat it and serve.

This was amazing. It tasted just like takeout orange chicken from our favorite Chinese restaurant, so we were really happy with it. It does have a nice, spicy kick to it, so if you’re spice adverse, I’d recommend leaving out the red pepper flakes just to be safe.

We also really enjoyed this as leftovers later in the week, just like real Chinese takeout.

I’m planning on giving you the side dishes the next two weeks if you want to recreate my meal. It was all awesome and paired together nicely.

Really, it all should have come together more quickly if I would have planned ahead, but despite my best efforts, it seems like every recipe ends up taking longer than it should have.

At least I tend to enjoy my time in the kitchen, and especially, the fruits of my labor.

This piece first appeared in print on May 7, 2020.

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

This will make you come around to a new cut of steak

Onion and pepper smothered round steak has tons of herbs and spices that create a rich sauce to be served over noodles or rice.
Onion and pepper smothered round steak has tons of herbs and spices that create a rich sauce to be served over noodles or rice.

A few months ago, we bought a meat bundle from our local butcher, and since we’ve been stuck at home, it’s been nice to enjoy.

We’ve made roasts and steaks and dinners with ground beef, but I still had a few packages of tenderized round steak that I decided I needed to be creative with—mostly because I haven’t worked with that cut very often over the years.

I know round steak is perfect for chicken fried steaks, but I decided I wanted to try something different and stumbled upon a recipe from Emeril Lagasse that a blogger posted to her site. It sounded awesome, so while Joey and I listened to an audio book, I chopped and sauteed my way to a great dinner.

I will warn you that this has a good amount of heat to it, so if you’re not a fan of spicy dishes, I’d suggest leaving the cayenne out of this one.

This is from the blog “Butter Yum.” You can find the original post at https://www.butteryum.org/blog/2014/03/emerils-onion-and-pepper-smothered.html. I didn’t change much but upping the herbs and spices just a little bit. 

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Onion and Pepper Smothered Round Steak

Onion and pepper smothered round steak has tons of herbs and spices that create a rich sauce to be served over noodles or rice.
Course Main Course
Keyword beef, bell pepper, onions, pasta, rice, round steak

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 3 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 rounded teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 rounded teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 rounded teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 rounded teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 1/2 pounds round steak sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
  • 1/4 cup oil vegetable or canola
  • 3 cups chicken broth or stock
  • 1 medium-sized yellow onion sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
  • 3 large bell peppers any color, , sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
  • 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • more salt and pepper to taste
  • cooked rice or buttered pasta for serving

Instructions

  • Combine the flour, paprika, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, and thyme and add it along with the sliced steak to a large bowl. Stir it coat the steak in the flour mixture.
  • In a large, deep pan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the steak in batches, sauteing for about two or three minutes on each side and then transferring the cooked steak to a separate plate.
  • Once all the steak is cooked through, add the rest of the flour mixture to the pot, along with the chicken broth, scraping the bottom of the pan to get any stuck on bits mixed in, and bring the pot up to a boil.
  • Now add the onions and bell peppers, stirring frequently, and let them cook for about eight minutes.
  • Turn the heat down to low and add the steak and any juices from the plate back into the pot.
  • Let the mixture simmer for about one hour, stirring regularly. If the liquid level gets too low, add a little water. If, by the time your hour is up, you still have a lot of liquid, whisk in some flour to thicken it up a bit. Your end goal is to have a gravy consistency.
  • Once the vegetables are cooked through and the sauce is done, add the Worcestershire sauce and more salt and pepper, if necessary.
  • Serve it over rice or buttered pasta.

Joey and I were both pretty skeptical about this, just because we’ve never had a dish like this one before, but boy, was it delicious.

It made more than enough for us to put plenty of leftovers into the fridge, too, which was nice. We opted for some spaghetti noodles under our round steak, and the recipe author also suggests rice, but I also think mashed potatoes would be good.

And I’m super excited that I have another great way to use round steak going forward, although I don’t think I’ll be giving up chicken fried steak any time soon. It’s pretty tough to give up those old classics.

This piece first appeared in print on April 30, 2020.

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
Crockpot Main Dish

Parsnips can help keep your pot roast rooted

At the start of the stay-at-home order, Joey and I made our normal trip to the grocery store, planning to get ingredients for some meals that would yield plenty of leftovers for our freezer and keep us out of the public for a couple weeks.

We already had a roast in the freezer, so we were on the hunt for ingredients to put with it in the crockpot for a good, old-fashioned crockpot.

Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones who made a trip to our local grocery store that day, and we found ourselves staring at a lot of empty shelves, especially in the produce section.

I was surprised to see there wasn’t a single potato to be had, and while I’d normally add carrots to my roast, there was only a tiny package of shredded carrots left, and I didn’t think that would do.

We weren’t sure how to pivot until Joey began examining the shelves for what was still available and wondered aloud what we could substitute for potatoes or carrots in our recipe.

A quick Google search yielded the solution: parsnips.

I’ve never cooked with parsnips before, but there they were, on the shelf, in abundance, so we bought a big bag and decided to see what would happen.

So, this week, I’m sharing with you how we normally put together a pot roast and highly recommending that you give parsnips a try.

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Pot Roast with Parsnips

Pot roast is a versatile dinner. This roast was made using parsnips instead of potatoes and carrots due to quarantine shortages.
Course Main Course
Keyword beef, carrots, crockpot, mashed potatoes, onions, parsnips, pot roast

Ingredients

  • Chuck roast we normally get a 3- to 5-pound roast, thawed
  • 4 to 5 stalks celery cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 small yellow onion cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 4 to 5 carrots cut into 1/2-inch rounds
  • 2 pounds potatoes or parsnips cut into 1-inch pieces
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 3-4 cups beef broth or a medium to dark style of beer

Instructions

  • While you prepare your vegetables, pull the roast from the refrigerator to get it closer to room temperature.
  • Start with adding the roast to the center of your crockpot and then sprinkle in the vegetables, herbs and spices around it. Pour over the broth and Worcestershire sauce and place the lid on the crockpot. You don’t need to have the broth all the way to the rim or completely covering the roast, but I’d recommend having it at least three-quarters of the way up the meat and veggies.
  • Cook on low for six to eight hours or on high for about three to five hours. (The cook time will really depend on how big your roast is, but that’s pretty standard.)
  • For proper doneness, a pot roast should be at least 145 degrees in the thickest part.
  • Check the doneness of the vegetables by piercing them with a fork. If they’re done to your liking, serve the roast by slicing it and then spooning lots of vegetables with it. We like to eat ours in a bowl so we can serve it with some of the juices from the crockpot.
  • Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. Make sure you include juice in the containers, too. It will help it stay moist when you reheat it.

If you’re curious, a parsnip tastes a bit like a carrot but with a bit more of an earthy, nutty flavor. We didn’t miss the carrots or potatoes too much with the addition of the extra flavor.

There are probably a million ways people make pot roast. I have a friend who uses French onion soup mix, water and frozen, mixed vegetables in hers.

A lot of folks also like to thicken up the juices to make gravy and serve the roast over top of mashed potatoes.

The best part is that it’s a flexible dinner to make, and as we discovered, despite potatoes generally being considered a staple with pot roast, you can even get away with leaving those out, too.

Our local store is certainly returning to normal for the most part, but if nothing else, I suppose this quarantine has taught me how to be flexible—both in life and in the kitchen.

This piece first appeared in print on April 23, 2020.

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

Ice cream cake is ‘fried’ and true recipe

Fried ice cream cake features cinnamon and toasted cornflakes to mimic the flavors of the classic Mexican dessert.
Fried ice cream cake features cinnamon and toasted cornflakes to mimic the flavors of the classic Mexican dessert.

One of our family traditions is that when one of us has a birthday, it’s that person’s job to choose a dinner spot to celebrate. 

A few years ago, I chose a favorite Mexican restaurant my parents hadn’t been to yet, and I really wanted them to give it a try. Part of the bargain, though, was they couldn’t tell the waitstaff it was my birthday, because the tradition there, along with gifting you dessert, was to sing to you and make you wear a sombrero.

What I didn’t know was the tradition also included smearing your face with whipped cream.

My folks agreed to keep it to themselves, and we sat down to eat.

Unfortunately, we ran into my parents-in-law, who are wonderful folks and I love dearly, but they ratted me out, so I ended up with a full face of whipped cream. My parents thought it was as hilarious as they did. Thanks, guys.

I was thinking about that story this week when I found a recipe for a great Mexican-inspired dessert, fried ice cream, and wanted to give it a try.

The recipe I made comes from the blog “Cheese Curd in Paradise” by Ashley Lecker. You can find the original at https://cheesecurdinparadise.com/fried-ice-cream-cake/. I added vanilla and doubled the cinnamon in my version.

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Fried Ice Cream Cake

Fried ice cream cake features cinnamon and toasted cornflakes to mimic the flavors of the classic Mexican dessert.
Course Dessert
Keyword cornflakes, fried ice cream, honey, ice cream, vanilla

Ingredients

  • 8 cups corn flakes
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1.5 quart vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
  • 8 ounces whipped topping thawed (I used fat free)
  • 2 rounded teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • honey for serving

Instructions

  • Set the ice cream out for about 30 minutes to let it soften.
  • Pour the cornflakes into a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin or meat mallet.
  • In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and then add the sugar and crushed corn flakes, stirring to evenly distribute the ingredients. Keep stirring and let the cornflakes get a little toasted, about three minutes. Once the cornflakes are golden brown, put about one-third of them into the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and spread them evenly across the bottom.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat together the ice cream, whipped topping, cinnamon and vanilla by hand or with a hand mixer until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
  • Pour the ice cream mixture over the cornflakes in the baking dish and spread it to an even layer.
  • Top the ice cream evenly with the rest of the cornflakes.
  • Cover the baking dish and place in the freezer over night or until the ice cream firms up.
  • To serve, cut it into squares and drizzle each piece with honey.

I actually halved this recipe, because without being able to share this with other people, I didn’t want to have an entire pan of this in my freezer. It halves nicely into an 8-inch square pan.

And the flavors were perfect to remind me of traditional fried ice cream. The cinnamon and vanilla flavors were a perfect combination with the crispy, toasted cornflakes.

We enjoyed this over the course of the week as our after-dinner dessert, and lucky for me, my birthday is far, far away, so Joey didn’t make me wear any weird hats or sneak attack me with whipped cream.

Of course, depending on how long we’re stuck at home together, anything could happen.

This piece first appeared in print on April 16, 2020.

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

Homemade pizza helps you go with the ‘dough’

This pizza dough comes together with only two ingredients and is fairly low fat, not that it makes much difference when you want to have pizza for dinner.
This pizza dough comes together with only two ingredients and is fairly low fat, not that it makes much difference when you want to have pizza for dinner.

When we were kids, one of our favorite suppers was when my mom would make a Chef Boyardee pizza kit.

It came with a mix for making the dough, along with pizza sauce and some grated parmesan. Mom would add meat and some veggies and cheese, and we’d have pizza night.

I think Mom might be a little appalled that I claim this to be on my favorites list, especially since she made so many from-scratch, amazing meals for us over the years, but a kid wants what a kid wants.

Recently, we decided to have a pizza night of our own at home, after a friend of ours recommended a crust recipe she’s been using regularly. Not only is it easy and only two ingredients, but it is also lower fat and doesn’t take any rising time, unlike a lot of other from-scratch doughs.

The recipe she shared with me came from the blog “Crazy for Crust” by Dorothy Kern. You can find the original post at https://www.crazyforcrust.com/weight-watchers-pizza-dough/. I didn’t really spice this one up, since it’s only two ingredients. Also, if you don’t have self-rising flour, visit Dorothy’s website for how to substitute it out.

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Two-ingredient Pizza Dough

This pizza dough comes together with only two ingredients and is fairly low fat, not that it makes much difference when you want to have pizza for dinner.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword dough, low-fat, pizza, self-rising flour, yogurt

Ingredients

  • 1 cup non-fat, plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup self-rising flour

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  • Add the yogurt and flour to a mixing bowl and mix until combined, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and everything is well incorporated (I kept running into little pockets of yogurt, so be prepared to keep flouring your surface until it finally all combines.)
  • Roll out your dough to your desired thickness. (For ours, which ended up in the hand-tossed thickness category, I rolled it out to about half an inch. If you want thin crust, I’d suggest going for more of a quarter inch, if not thinner.)
  • Place the dough onto some parchment paper on a pizza or baking pan. Top with your favorite toppings.
  • Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is browned slightly and cooked through.

For our pizza toppings, we started by brushing the entire crust with extra virgin olive oil. We then tried two variations. For one, we spread on pizza sauce and then sprinkled on some oregano, basil and fresh minced garlic, along with some spicy, precooked sausage and turkey pepperoni, and of course, we sprinkled on plenty of cheese.

Our second pizza used alfredo sauce, along with oregano, basil, fresh minced garlic, spicy sausage, and cheese, along with some fresh spinach leaves.

They were both really tasty, and since I made a double batch of dough, we had tons of leftovers.

Also, I didn’t bother with rolling my dough out into a circle. I just made a square and put it on a rimmed baking sheet. I figured I didn’t really care about the shape as much as the taste.

According to the website this comes from, this is Weight Watchers friendly, so if that’s something you’re working on right now, you might visit the post for more information.

This might be a fun recipe to try with kiddos, too, especially if you separate the dough out for everyone to top their own mini pie.

And despite the fact that our pizza was probably closer to “traditional” than the good, old Chef Boyardee variety, I still have some nostalgic cravings for my childhood pizza nights. Nowadays, I think Mom and Dad would much rather have us take them out for pizza, but while we’re all still stuck at home, maybe I should think about adding a kit to my next shopping list.

This piece first appeared in print on April 9, 2020.

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

Have a ‘hole’ lot of fun with baked donuts

Coffee donuts with a coffee glaze are great for breakfast or dessert.
Coffee donuts with a coffee glaze are great for breakfast or dessert.

Several weeks ago, I got the opportunity to meet Tina Ostrander, owner of Main Street Co. & Kitchen Corner in Newton. We sat down over a cup of coffee to talk about working together, which we were both pretty excited about.

And then the world shut down, and I was super nervous that the first week of our partnership—this week—would mean I might have trouble finding more recipes to try, and Kitchen Corner wasn’t going to be open for us to do anything fun together.

But I’ve been discovering that I have lots of random ingredients hanging out in my kitchen, and despite her brick-and-mortar being closed for the time being, Tina has an online store set up.

So, for my part, I started examining my pantry and realized that I, for some reason, have quite a few instant coffee packets, so I determined it was time for something with coffee flavor—and time for something sweet. I landed on a recipe for cake donuts with a coffee glaze that ended up being a fantastic recipe.

I found this recipe on the blog “Marsha’s Baking Addiction.” You can find the original post at https://marshasbakingaddiction.com/baked-coffee-doughnuts. I added extra vanilla and nutmeg in my version.

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Glazed Coffee Cake Donuts

Coffee donuts with a coffee glaze are great for breakfast or dessert.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword coffee, donuts, glaze

Ingredients

Donut Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons instant coffee or make 1/4 cup strong coffee
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk or use regular milk with a touch of vinegar
  • 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup warm milk
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee or use a tablespoon strong coffee
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a donut pan by spraying it with cooking spray.
  • If using instant coffee, dissolve it into 1/4 cup of hot water.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the egg, sugar, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and coffee until smooth.
  • Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg until just combined and spoon the batter evenly between the six wells in your donut pan (this will fill them pretty much to the brim. If you’d rather have smaller donuts, you could fill them less and make another partial batch, too).
  • Bake for eight to 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in them comes out clean.
  • Let the donuts cool for about 10 minutes and then let them cool completely before glazing them.
  • For the glaze, in a shallow bowl, whisk the coffee, vanilla and milk until smooth, and then whisk in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until you get the consistency you want. If it’s too thin, add more sugar. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk.
  • Dip the donuts into the glaze (just the tops, you don’t have to submerge them) and then place them on a wire rack to dry. I did two coatings on mine.
  • Once the glaze is dry, store any leftover donuts in an airtight container.

These were amazing. And I learned that I absolutely should never make them when only Joey and I are around to eat them, because they, embarrassingly, did not last more than a couple of days.

And, while Tina and I will have to wait on some of the in-person ideas we discussed a few weeks ago, I’m glad I can keep baking and she can still keep people’s kitchens stocked with needed supplies. If you need a donut pan, for instance, go visit her online store; she’s got ’em.

Also, if you’re bored and want to look back at some of my previous columns, I officially have my own website, and I’m still working on uploading my archives, so look for it to keep expanding over the next few weeks. You can visit it at spiceupkitchen.net.

Stay safe. Shop local online. And eat donuts.

This piece originally appeared in print on April 1, 2020.

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

I highly rec’almond’ delicious shortbread bars

Almond shortbread bars don't skimp on the almond flavor, with lots of almond extract and some sliced almonds on top.
Almond shortbread bars don’t skimp on the almond flavor, with lots of almond extract and some sliced almonds on top.

Several months ago, I wrote that my New Year’s resolution was to get my pantry cleaned out and organized over the course of the year.

I must have somehow jinxed myself, because now that we’re staying at home and trying to avoid going to the store as much as possible, that resolution has become not just a dream, but a necessity.

Normally, Joey and I get groceries about once a week, but I’m prone to stopping in several times throughout to grab this or that as I come up with new ideas for recipes.

This week, though, we decided we should have a plan, execute it, and then avoid going back for as long as possible, so we planned out meals we could stretch, mostly soups, and made a detailed list, organized by aisle so we could quickly get in and out.

That being said, while we now have some staples and several containers of chicken noodle soup and ham and beans in the freezer, my pantry still has some special items for me to play with, so I got to searching through my recipes to see what I could share this week.

The one I landed on required zero trips to the store for me, and while I doubt most of you can follow suit, trust me when I say you should save this one for when you can get out and about again.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “The View From Great Island.” You can find the original post at https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/almond-shortbread-bars-recipe/. I used store-bought almond paste for my version as well as doubled the almond extract. If you want to make almond paste from scratch, I highly recommend visiting this blog.

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Almond Shortbread Bars

Almond shortbread bars don't skimp on the almond flavor, with lots of almond extract and some sliced almonds on top.
Course Dessert
Keyword almond, bars, shortbread

Ingredients

Bar Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup almond paste
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 2 cups flour

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup cream or milk I used skim
  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a 9-by-13-inch pan by greasing and flouring it.
  • For the bars, cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until fluffy. Beat in the egg, almond paste and almond extract until the mixture is smooth.
  • Beat in the flour until everything is just combined and spread the dough into your pan. (I found it easier to just dump the dough into the pan and spread it around with my hands, but the recipe’s author suggests an offset spatula. Either way, it’s a little tough to spread.)
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the bars are set and the edges are golden brown.
  • Let the bars cool for about 10 minutes before putting on the glaze.
  • For the glaze, add the butter and cream/milk to a saucepan and heat over medium until the butter is melted. Whisk in the sugar and extract. Add more sugar if the glaze is too thin or more milk if it’s too thick.
  • Stir in the almonds and pour the glaze over the bars, spreading it out evenly. Let the bars cool completely before slicing, and store leftovers in an airtight container.

Luckily, since we’re still able to work in the office (our desks were already more than six feet apart, so it’s been pretty easy), I had folks to pawn my treats off on, and they happily helped me polish them off.

If you like almonds, you’ll love these. They’re so flavorful and the perfect texture for shortbread, which I think can sometimes get a bit dry.

Moving forward, I’m sure I’ll find some more treasures in my pantry, and hopefully, I’ll still be able to sneak my treats to others. If I’m certain of one thing in these uncertain times, it’s that I definitely don’t want to be quarantined alone with my baking, or I’m going to have a lot of exercising to do once this is all over.

This piece first appeared in print on March 26, 2020.

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
Side Dish

Try to get ahead with German red cabbage

German red cabbage is served warm and is a great side dish for traditional German sausage.
German red cabbage is served warm and is a great side dish for traditional German sausage.

Despite all the craziness at the grocery store lately, I decided to head out to our local spot to get supplies for a new recipe I wanted to try.

We were going to have some specialty German sausage for dinner, graciously shared with us by a friend, and I wanted to get something traditional to go with it.

After searching online, I determined I would make a warm German potato salad and some German red cabbage.

When I got to my produce section, that plan had to quickly change. There wasn’t a single potato in sight. Not a Russet or a fingerling or a Yukon gold. Nothing. I’ve never seen such a thing in my life.

Realizing I was out of luck for potato salad, I turned my attention to the cabbage area. Leaves were strewn about, and there were no green heads left. I was afraid I was going to have to come up with a new plan, but I finally spied two very small heads of red cabbage hidden in the back of the display. I decided to scoop them up for our dinner, figuring two small heads equaled one medium one.

So, while I’m sharing this recipe with you this week, I can’t promise you’ll be able to find the ingredients for a bit, but save it, because this turned out great and was an especially delicious side dish to German sausage.

This recipe comes from the website “Quick German Recipes” and is by Oma Gerhild Fulson. (“Oma” is German for “Grandma.”) I recommend checking out her site. She has lots of traditional recipes and even has a cookbook out. You can find the original post at https://www.quick-german-recipes.com/recipe-for-red-cabbage.html. I left the sugar out of my version.

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Oma’s Red Cabbage

German red cabbage is served warm and is a great side dish for traditional German sausage.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine German
Keyword red cabbage

Ingredients

  • 1 medium head red cabbage shredded
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 3 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and shredded
  • 1/2 cup sweet red wine I used a cabernet savignon
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 rounded teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 rounded teaspoon cloves
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch

Instructions

  • In a deep pot or very large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and saute the onion until lightly browned.
  • Add the shredded cabbage and apples and saute for a few minutes, stirring regularly to incorporate the ingredients.
  • Mix in one cup of water along with the red wine, cider vinegar, salt and pepper, nutmeg, cloves, lemon juice and corn starch.
  • Cover the pan and let it simmer for somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour, depending on how tender you want your cabbage. Check and stir every five minutes or so.
  • Once the cabbage is to your desired tenderness, taste test it to see if you need to add any more spices, and add more cornstarch if you want to thicken up the juice a bit more.
  • Serve hot.

This had some really nice flavor combinations going on—a little tartness from the apples and vinegar, sweetness from the wine, and warmth from the spices. Plus, it was absolutely gorgeous.

Two words of warning, though. One, it will make your whole house smell like cabbage, which I can tell you was not a plus in Joey’s book. Two, red cabbage likes to stain your fingers, so be ready for a little pop of color on your palms from handling it.

I was glad to be able to find just enough ingredients to make my German red cabbage this week, and it gave me a huge appreciation for our local grocers and those who work in that industry. I bet these are exhausting times, and it’s a good reminder of how lucky I am that fresh produce and an abundance of food is normally always at my fingertips.

Hopefully, our grocery stores—and our communities—will be back to normal in no time.

This piece first appeared in print on March 19, 2020, amid the COVID-19 quarantine.

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

Beef up your dinner menu with casserole

Hamburger casserole dresses up tomato soup into a hearty, Italian-inspired dish.
Hamburger casserole dresses up tomato soup into a hearty, Italian-inspired dish.

A quotation I saw online, attributed to Rob Fee, is one of the best explanations of the conversation Joey and I have every day: “Relationships are just two people constantly asking each other where they want to go eat, until one of them dies.”

In our case, it’s not really asking where we want to go eat so much as what we want to make to eat.

Both of us like cooking, so it’s rarely a battle to see who is going to be tasked with dinner preparations, but we tend to fall into ruts. For me, my common fallback is just to make tacos.

I nearly succumbed to my same rut again this week, but while my hamburger was defrosting, I stumbled across another, just as easy, recipe, and I decided to give it a try.

This comes from the blog “Baking with Mom.” The original recipe only calls for four main ingredients: hamburger, tomato soup, pasta and cheese, but as you can see, I added quite a few more flavors to my version. You can find the original post at https://bakingwithmom.com/hamburger-casserole/.

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Hamburger Casserole

Hamburger casserole dresses up tomato soup to make a hearty dinner.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword casserole, kid-friendly, pasta, tomato

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces small pasta I used macaroni
  • 1 small yellow onion
  • 6-8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 pound ground hamburger or turkey
  • 2, 10.75- ounce cans tomato soup
  • 1 heaping teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 heaping teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 heaping teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cups shredded cheese I used a combination of monterrey jack and mild cheddar

Instructions

  • Prepare a 9-by-13-inch baking dish by spraying it with non-stick spray and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • Brown the hamburger and onion in a large skillet over medium heat.
  • While the hamburger is browning, cook the pasta according to package directions and drain.
  • Once the hamburger is cooked through and the onions are soft, drain as much grease from the pan as you can and then add the garlic. Saute for a couple minutes until the garlic starts to brown slightly, and add in the tomato soup, spices, and fill one of the soup cans halfway with water and add that into the pan as well. Stir to combine.
  • Let the mixture cook for a few minutes to let the flavors meld.
  • Dump the cooked noodles into the prepared baking dish and top with the hamburger mixture. Just spread the hamburger mixture over the top of the noodles; there’s no need to mix it together.
  • Top the casserole with cheese and cover the dish with aluminum foil.
  • Bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for another 10 minutes. Then turn the broiler on high to brown the cheese just a bit—probably about two minutes, but keep an eye on it.
  • Let the casserole cool for about 10 minutes and then serve.

This was really simple to put together and was yummy, too. Plus, I managed to put away quite a bit of leftovers in the fridge.

If I’m being honest, I doubt neither Joey nor I will ever get sick of tacos, but it was a nice change of pace to try a new casserole, and with such simple ingredients, it was easy for me to make on the fly, which I appreciated.

Now, with plenty of leftover casserole in the fridge, tonight’s dinner should be easy to figure out. Unless, of course, one of us starts craving Mexican food instead.

This piece first appeared in print on March 12, 2020.

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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