Celery bisque (aka creamy celery soup;)

3 Tbl butter
4 cups chopped celery (about 8 stalks)
1 1/2 cups chopped leeks (about 2 medium leeks) hint: they look like huge green onions & can be found in the refrigerated produce section
3/4 lbs diced potatoes (Yukon gold)
4 cups chicken broth
1/3 cups sour cream
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (plus or minus depending on preference)

Melt butter over medium heat. Add celery & leeks & simmer, stirring frequently, until slightly softened (about 4 min). Add potatoes & broth & bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until all veggies are tender (about 30 min). Purée in blender until smooth. Wisk in sour cream & pepper. Season with salt & pepper.

Note: this goes SO well with the crescent chicken pockets recipe!

Whipping cream biscuits

1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 cups flour
1 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter (frozen)
1 cup + 2 Tbl whipping cream

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Sift dry ingredients. Grate the butter with a cheese grater (sounds weird but it gets the butter in little chunks:) & add to the dry ingredients. Using your hands, mix the grated butter into the dry ingredients. Add the cream & mix until just blended. Do not over mix. Turn dough onto floured surface & knead one or two times. Shape into a square with your hands & cut dough into 9 smaller squares. Place each square on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 min at 425 degrees.

Cinnamon baked French toast

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• FOR THE FRENCH TOAST:
• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Whipping (heavy) Cream
• 3/4 cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• FOR THE TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 pinch Nutmeg - Optional
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• Fresh Fruit (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter. Tear bread into chunks (or cut into cubes) and evenly distribute in the pan.

In a medium sized bowl mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add nutmeg if desired. Add butter pieces and cut them into the dry mixture until mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a Ziploc in the fridge.

When you're ready to bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350 F. Remove casserole from the fridge and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. (If you're using fruit, sprinkle on before the crumb mixture.) Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture.

Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with maple syrup.

Sherrie's Sugar Cookies

Cookies:
1/2 C Butter
1 C sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 Tablespoons milk
2 1/2 C flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

cream butter and sugar. add eggs, vanilla, milk, cream again. add flour, baking powder.

Roll into balls

bake 350*, 10-12 min

Frosting:
1 lb package powder sugar
1/4 C butter
1 TBL milk
8oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla

combine and frost. butter and cream cheese should be room temp.

Best Almond Cake

Best Almond Cake

To perfect this elegant European dessert, we deepened its flavor and lightened its texture—and did it all in a food processor.

SERVES 8 TO 10

If you can’t find blanched sliced almonds, grind slivered almonds for the batter and use unblanched sliced almonds for the topping. Serve plain or with Orange Crème Fraîche (see related content).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2cups plus 1/3 cup blanched sliced almonds, toasted
• 3/4cup (3 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 3/4teaspoon salt
• 1/4teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8teaspoon baking soda
• 4large eggs
• 1 1/4cups (8 3/4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
• 3/4teaspoon almond extract
• 5tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3cup vegetable oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Grease 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper. Pulse 1½ cups almonds, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in food processor until almonds are finely ground, 5 to 10 pulses. Transfer almond mixture to bowl.
   2. Process eggs, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon zest, and almond extract in now-empty processor until very pale yellow, about 2 minutes. With processor running, add melted butter and oil in steady stream, until incorporated. Add almond mixture and pulse to combine, 4 to 5 pulses. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
   3. Using your fingers, combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and remaining 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest in small bowl until fragrant, 5 to 10 seconds. Sprinkle top of cake evenly with remaining 1/3 cup almonds followed by sugar-zest mixture.
   4. Bake until center of cake is set and bounces back when gently pressed and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes, rotating pan after 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Run paring knife around sides of pan. Invert cake onto greased wire rack, discard parchment, and reinvert cake onto second wire rack. Let cake cool, about 2 hours. Cut into wedges and serve. (Store cake in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

   
   

   ORANGE CREME FRAICHE

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

The lightly sweetened tang of crème fraîche provides contrast to the sweetness of our Best Almond Cake, and the small pieces of orange offer refreshing bursts of citrus.

MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

INGREDIENTS

• 2oranges
• 1cup crème fraîche - (You can buy this in the store or you can make your own.  1 C Heavy Cream                               2 tablespoons buttermilk - In a bowl combine cream and buttermilk.  Cover with a clean kitchen cloth in a warm, draft-free place and let sit until thickened, but still a pourable consistency, 12-16 hours.  Stir and refrigerate until ready to use.  (Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week)
• 2tablespoons sugar
• 1/8teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Remove 1 teaspoon zest from 1 orange. Cut away peel and pith from oranges. Slice between membranes to release segments and cut segments into 1/4-inch pieces (I diced mine). Combine orange pieces and zest, crème fraîche, sugar, and salt in bowl and mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

 WE GOT THE BEST ALMOND FLAVOR—AND CAKE TEXTURE

For a rich, nutty taste and a consistency that’s not too dense, we toast blanched almonds (we dislike the slight bitterness imparted by skin-on almonds) to deepen their flavor. Then we grind them in the food processor. The ground nuts give the crumb an open, rustic texture.

START WITH BLANCHED ALMONDS

TOAST UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN

GRIND WITH FLOUR, SALT, AND LEAVENERS

EGG FOAMS: MIXER VERSUS FOOD PROCESSOR

The goal when mixing most cake batters is to incorporate a lot of air into the eggs so that the cake will bake up light and tall, and a mixer is usually the best tool to get the job done. For our Best Almond Cake, however, we wanted a flat, level top; just a moderate rise; and a texture that was neither too fluffy nor too dense. Ditching the mixer in favor of a food processor did the trick. Here’s why: When eggs and sugar are whipped in a mixer, the whisk gently unfolds the protein strands in the eggs while incorporating lots of air, producing a foam with a strong network that holds on to that air. The outcome? A tall, well-risen, domed cake. A food processor, with its high rpm and very sharp blade, similarly unravels the eggs’ protein strands and incorporates air, but it also damages some strands along the way. The result is just what we were after: a flatter, slightly denser cake.

MIXER: Tall and domed.

FOOD PROCESSOR: Perfectly flat.

Cranberry Relish

Cranberry Relish from Amy Boeru
Great with turkey, pork, fish, basically any protein.
Prep starts a couple of days ahead.
Keeps in the fridge for at least a month
Recipe makes at least 3 Cups

2- 12 oz bags of fresh cranberries
1/2 C dried apricots, chopped tiny
1/4 C orange juice
2 tsp sherrie vinegar (or apple cider)
3/4 C water
2/3 C sugar
1/4 C honey
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves

Mix 1 bag of cranberries, apricots, orange juice, and vinegar in a bowl and allow to chill overnight in fridge.

Next day, bring water, sugar, cinnamon stick, and cloves to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Once to a boil, add chilled mixture, honey, and the last bag of cranberries. Cook at a low boil, stirring often, for 20 minutes (a little longer if you want it thicker).

Remove from heat and discard the cinnamon stick and cloves.
Serving warm the day of:
Transfer to a bowl, let cool to room temperature on counter.
Serving chilled:
Transfer to a bowl, let cool to room temperature, and chill in the fridge overnight.

Mom's Guacamole and 7 Layer Dip

Mom's Guacamole

1 large Avocado, crushed
1/2 C sour cream
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp Tobasco
1 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Mix and let chill in fridge for a day before serving.

Can be used on 7 layer dip. Here are Mom's favorite layers from bottom to top:

Refried Beans (canned)
Guacamole
Taco Sour Cream (1 C sour cream mixed with 1 packet of Taco seasoning and chilled for a day)
Shredded colby and jack cheese
Tomatoes
Green onions, finely chopped
Black Olives, sliced

Banana Muffins-yummy and HEALTHFUL:)

from Stephenie Dellenbach

INGREDIENTS:
* 4 Tbls butter, softened
* 1/4 cup applesauce
* 2 over-ripe bananas
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup plain yogurt (you can use all plain yogurt instead of the sour cream)
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
* 2 cups soft whole wheat flour (you can use hard white wheat flour)
* 1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)
* 3/4 cup sugar (your bananas can add a lot of sweetness, so you may find you want to cut this down)
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 3/4 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* (optional) 1 cup toasted, chopped walnuts or other nuts
* (optional, but SO yummy:) 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chop larger chips into smaller chunks)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Lightly grease muffin tins (you can use any size tins, just adjust the baking time accordingly)
3. Puree bananas, sour cream, yogurt, eggs, applesauce and vanilla in a blender
4. sift flour, ground flax seed, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in bowl of electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment
5. Add butter and mix on medium/low speed until blended, about 30 seconds
6. Add banana mixture in three batches, scraping bowl and mixing on medium between each addition
7. fold in nuts and/or chocolate chips if desired
8. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow the leavening agents time to work with the wheat flour
9. Pour into muffin tins
10. Bake until lightly browned and bounces back to touch, about 15 minutes for regular size muffins
11. Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes before turning out and cool completely on wire rack

NOTE: These freeze REALLY well, so I usually make a triple or quadruple batch.  Then you can just pull one out of the freezer, heat it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and enjoy.  My kids LOVE these!  As a point of reference, a quadruple batch will just barely fit in a Bosch mixer.  I use the whisk attachment through step 5 then switch to the bread hook at step 6 when I add the liquid.  You could probably use the whisk attachments the whole time, but it gets a little thick as you start adding the liquid.