We're Moving

Hello friends~

I wanted to let you know that I am making some changes to our site.  For this reason I will no longer be posting over here on the Kitchen site.  All future posts that fall under the Kitchen category will be posted over at our original home site Young Adventures.  Thank you so much for all of your support we really appreciate it.  We hope to see you over at Young Adventures!

xoxo

Rachel

Roasted potato wedges

When I make baked potatoes for dinner, I usually make some roasted potato wedges for Ian.  He is not a big fan of baked potatoes and calls these "french fries".

When I was a little girl I remember my Dad making something like this.  He called them joe joe's and he would sprinkle them heavily with paprika.  

Whether you call them roasted potato wedges or joe joe's they are really good.  This makes a nice side dish and is much healthier than french fries and they are something the whole family will enjoy.

Roasted Potato Wedges

The trick to these is to place the wedges skin side down like you see in the photo.  If you lay them on their sides they tend to stick to the pan.

2 medium to large russet potatoes, washed and cleaned well

extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (not salt)

salt and pepper to taste

1.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

2.  Cut the potatoes in half length wise.  Cut each half length wise again in 2 to 3 wedges, depending 

     how big your potatoes are.

3.  Place the wedges in a medium size bowl and drizzle them with olive oil.  There should be enough   olive oil to lightly coat them all.  Gently stir the potatoes so the oil gets evenly distributed.

4.  Add the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Stir the seasonings gently into the   

     potatoes.

5.  Place the potatoes skin side down on a large metal baking sheet.

6.  Put into the oven for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and tender when pierced with a fork.  

     This may take longer depending on how thick you have cut your wedges, so just keep checking 

      them.
Enjoy!
Rachel

This recipe shared with Pint Sized Baker
Back to the Basics
Home to 4 kiddos
Adventurez in Child Rearing

Classic Gucamole

Those of you who have been following Young Adventures for awhile are familiar with a series of posts
called "He Cooks" by Mr. Young.  This is our go to guacamole recipe that  gets made in our home.  I thought I would bring it out of the archives in honor of Cinco De Mayo.  Feel free to browse other recipes by the Mr. here.

I was just watching one of my favorite ‘cooking shows’ on PBS the other day (i.e Rick Bayless ) and it was completely devoted to guacamole. Growing up I didn’t know that avocados even existed. Now a Mexican date night at the Young household is not complete without a nice big bowl of guacamole.

I have tweaked this recipe to my tastes and you can do the same. Avocados have a tendency to diminish the heat of the peppers so I would recommend adding more peppers (preferably Serrano) if you want to kick up the heat. Also, I am a lime fiend and tend to double the amount of lime in anything I make that requires a lime, margaritas included. -Brian


Classic Guacamole ala Rick Bayless
If you have the time and are not starving, I would recommend letting the guacamole sit in the refrigerator for about an hour to the let the flavors come together a bit. If you do this, be sure to cover with plastic wrap and in this case you want the wrap to touch the top of the guacamole. Otherwise the avocados will begin to turn brown. If you jack up the lime quantity like I do, this is less of a concern since the lime juice will prevent the guacamole from turning brown.


· 2 Serrano peppers (with seeds removed) finely chopped
· ½ cup of white onion finely chopped
· 2 ripe plum tomatoes finely chopped (you can use any ripe tomato if you can’t find plum)
· ¼ cup cilantro finely sliced.
· 3 medium to large sized avocados
· Juice of one lime (this is about 2 Tbls)
· Salt

Mash the avocados with a potato masher until you get the consistency you want. Add the peppers, onion, tomato, cilantro and lime juice. Stir to combine. Taste. Add salt to taste. Stir and taste again. Repeat if necessary.

That is it. Enjoy with white corn tortilla chips.

Source: Rick Bayless
This recipe shared with Walking on Sunshine Recipes
Back for seconds

Easy Vegetarian Spilt Pea Soup for the crock pot

Okay, so I know this probably doesn't look like the most appealing soup, but trust me it is full of flavor!

My very good friend Colleen passed this recipe on to me some time ago, and I have made it a number of times.  I even served it to dear friends and they loved it!  I will make this often on a Sunday afternoon, and then Katie and I will take it to lunch during the week.

It is so easy to throw all the ingredients into the crock pot and then let it do it's thing.

If you like spilt pea soup you will definitely like this recipe.

Easy Vegetarian Spilt Pea Soup for the Crock Pot

1 (16 oz.) pkg. dried green split peas, rinsed

2 cups baby carrots

1 medium chopped onion

2 - 3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp. seasoned salt (or to taste)

1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

6 cups of hot water

Layer ingredients in the crock pot in the order given; pour in water. Do not stir ingredients. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or on low 8 to 10 hours until peas are very soft. Remove bay leaf. Mash peas with a potato masher to desired consistency or cool and process in the blender.  Serve garnished with croutons if desired. 

Source: Adapted from Colleen S. via Southern food

This recipe has been shared with Walking on Sunshine

Cinnamon Rolls

I've been on the hunt for a really good cinnamon roll recipe for quite awhile.

I found it over at ChefTalk

Ooey, goey, and delicious

With frosting or...

without.

Double thumbs up from Ian.

Cinnamon Rolls
I like to start the rolls the day before and bake them in the morning.  Go through step 9 and cover the rolls with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.  In the morning pull your rolls out and let sit for 1 hour.  I like to heat my oven to 300 degrees and then shut it off.  Then I place my rolls in the warm oven for 1 hour.  Then proceed with the rest of the steps.

Rolls:

¾ cup unsalted butter

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup granulated sugar 

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon yeast 

½ cup, water, 100 degrees

1 teaspoon granulated sugar 

6 large eggs

9 cups bread  flour

½ tablespoon cinnamon

Filling:

5 cups light brown sugar 

1 ¼ cup unsalted butter 

3 Tablespoons cinnamon

Frosting:
1/2 cup whole milk
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Rolls
1. Heat butter, milk, ¾ Cup sugar and salt over low heat until butter melts.
2. Set the butter mixture aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast, warm water, 1 teaspoon of sugar and set aside for about 5 minutes. Stir in the butter mixture into the yeast mixture.
3. Lightly beat the eggs and stir into the mixture.  Then add the flour and cinnamon.  Mix this until you have a stiff dough.

4.  Knead for 5 minutes with a dough hook on your mixer or 10 minutes on a floured surface.

5.  Place dough in a greased bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot for 1 hour.

6.  While the dough is resting make the filling.  Beat together the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.
7.  After the dough has rested for 1 hour punch it down and turn it out onto a floured surface.  Roll it out into a 24" by 36" rectangle and spread the filling over the dough evenly with a rubber spatula.  Leave about a 2 inch border around the dough. Reserve 1/2 cup of the filling to spread around the bottom of your baking dish.
8.  Roll the dough tightly around the filling.  It should be about 40 inches.  Cut the dough into 2 inch pieces.  
9.   Spread the remaining butter mixture into the bottom of your baking dish and place the rolls inside.
10.  Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.  Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees for  25 - 30 minutes.
11.   Have a large sheet pan sitting out on your counter.  When the rolls are done baking, invert them onto the sheet pan.  Cool for about 10 minutes and then frost if desired.

Frosting
This frosting is one that I adapted from my Mom.  She makes a delicious red velvet cake with a whipped frosting.
1.  In a saucepan pour in the milk and add the flour.  Whisk the mixture until combined.
2. Place the saucepan over medium to low heat and whisk constantly until the mixture is thick. Remove from the heat and cool.
3. Add the vanilla to the cooled mixture, and stir until combined.
4. Place the brown sugar and butter into a bowl and whip until they are well combined.  Scrap the bowl a couple of  times to make sure everything is mixed together well.
5.   Add the cooled flour mixture (Make sure that it is cool or it will melt the butter sugar mixture) 1 tablespoon at a       time, beating after each addition.  
6.   Whip the mixture on medium to high speed after all the flour mixture has been added for about 2 minutes or until like whipped cream.

Source: ChefTalk for the rolls and Kay V. for the frosting
This recipe has been shared with: 
Buns in my oven
 Back for seconds
 Sugar and dots
DJ's Sugar Shack
Gooseberry patch

Sweet Almond Whipped Cream

About a month ago, Mr. Young and I went on a little get a way to Pine Grove Park Bed and Breakfast Guest House.

Everyone morning we would get a quiet knock on our front door.  Out on the front porch would be a beautiful, wooden picnic basket.  Inside was a delicious breakfast.  These breakfasts were incredible and always included desserts.  Both desserts had real whipped cream that was flavored with almond.

I love almond!  I'm not sure why I never thought about flavoring my whip cream with almond?  I mean I have flavored it with vanilla, chocolate, and even liquors.  It never crossed my mind to flavor it with almond.  Well last week Mr. Young had a birthday and we had angel food cake with strawberries, and when we have angel food cake we have whipped cream.  I decided that this time I would flavor it with  almond extract.  Everyone loved it, and I think it will become the new regular around here.  If you love almond flavor, please give this a try.

Sweet Almond Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar 

1/2 -1 teaspoon almond extract (this depends on how strong you want the almond flavor to be)

Place all of the ingredients in a large, chilled mixing bowl.  Start out on low speed and gradually increase to high and whip until stiff peaks form.  Use immediately.

This recipe shared with Adventurez in Child'Rearing

Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing

In the last year or so I have been making our salad dressings instead of purchasing them from the grocery store.  Why you might ask?  Well here are a few reasons.

1.  They are super easy to make and taste way better.

2.There are all sorts of varieties you can come up with.  I have a few pinned to my salad board.  Take a look, you might get some good ideas.

3.  I can control what goes into my dressing, so that means no artificial ingredients.

I make this dressing pretty frequently, because everyone likes it.

Try making your own salad dressings, I think you might never go back.

Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing

This is more of guideline, than an exact recipe.  Adjust the seasonings to your tastes.

1-3 garlic cloves peeled (I always go for 3, because we really like garlic)

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

2-3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce

2-3 shakes of lemon pepper

2-3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 -1/2 cup water

1.  Place the garlic cloves in your chopper and chop until finely minced.

2.  Add the mayonnaise and blend well.

3.  Add Worcestershire sauce, lemon pepper, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil blend well.

4.  Add 1/4 cup of water and blend.  Continuing adding water until you reach the consistency that you like.

This recipe has been shared with Walking on Sunshine