A Unique Birthday Gift

Unfortunately I've been slacking on both my cooking and my blogging lately. I pledge to make up for that and start cooking more of Aunt June's recipes in the upcoming weeks, but for now I wanted to post something a little different. A few months ago I was making cookie frosting from one of my grandmother's handwritten recipes, and a friend told me about this great idea she saw on Pinterest about turning old recipes into kitchen towels. The recipes are scanned, formatted, and uploaded to a website that prints your design onto fabric. It sounded like a fantastic idea, so I looked online and found the original blog post here: Spoonflower Blog. 

There are a few of my grandmother's handwritten recipes that we use every year at Christmastime, for cut out cookies and frosting, and I knew that I wanted to turn those recipes into towels as a birthday gift for my mom. Depending on how they turned out, I wanted to make a set for myself and my sister, too. We never had the opportunity to meet our grandmother (Aunt June's sister), so having the towels with her recipes would be a really special addition to our kitchens. 

(This is one of the original recipes that I scanned)

I won't go into the entire process of how I made this happen because it is explained in the blog that I linked to above, but here is a quick summary. When you purchase the fabric, you buy it by the yard, and four recipes will fit onto one yard of fabric, which gives you four towels. Once you scan your recipes, you have to clean up each one depending on what kind of condition they are in. Then you put all four recipes into one file and if you want to, you can put a colored border between each one and all around the edges -- this makes the finished towel have a cleaner, more finished look around the edges. Once you have that done, it's time to upload your file to Spoonflower and order your fabric! Mine arrived within a week. This is where your sewing skills come in (or a good friend's sewing skills if you're like me). You need to cut your fabric into 4 pieces and sew the edges of each one to create your towels. I should have taken a picture of how the whole yard of fabric looked when it arrived, but I only have pictures of the finished product.

As you can see, they turned out great! Even better than I expected. Mom absolutely loved them, and she wants to frame them instead of using them as towels. Luckily, once you upload your file to Spoonflower you can order more at any time. I will definitely be ordering at least two more yards so that I can make towels for my sister and me, and some for mom to actually use as towels. 

It was definitely a time consuming process to make these towels happen, but it's worth every minute. 

(The finished product - it adds such a personal touch to the kitchen)

Chicken Florentine

The Setup:

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. Sundays are for sleeping in until at least 9:00. They're for letting Ihop cook you breakfast, for playing old school Ninja Turtles video games, and for cooking delicious, cheesy dinners. Sundays are easy. Yesterday was Sunday, and even though I only got to sleep until 8:00 and my breakfast was a microwavable egg mcmuffin, I definitely found time to play Ninja Turtles and cook a delicious, cheesy dinner: chicken florentine. All in all it was a successful Sunday.

The Original Recipe:

Cooking the chicken tenders in the stock.

• 3 whole chicken breasts, split
• Flour for dredging
• 1 stick butter
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 T finely chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp salt & 1/8 tsp white pepper
• Dash of nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 pkgs. frozen spinach
• 2 T swiss cheese

1) Dust chicken breasts with flour. Melt half the stick of butter in skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken 10 minutes per side. Add chicken broth and simmer for 10 minutes, or until cooked through.
2) Melt the rest of the butter in a medium saucepan and saute onion until golden. Add flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. 
3) Gradually add the milk and cream. Bring to a boil, stirring, and cook for another 3 minutes.
4) In a small bowl, beat egg yolk with a fork. Temper the egg into the cream sauce, then add the parmesan cheese and stir until sauce is smooth and cheese is melted. 
5) Cook spinach as package directs and drain well. Mix 1 cup of the cheese sauce into the spinach. 
6) Layer the spinach in the bottom of a 2 qt. casserole dish. Arrange chicken in a single layer on top of the spinach. 

7) Cover with the rest of the sauce and sprinkle the swiss cheese on top.

8) Broil 6" away from heat for 4-5 minutes or until lightly browned. If making ahead, heat in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. 

My Substitutions:

• I used chicken tenders instead of whole chicken breasts - just to cut down the cooking time. 
• The recipe doesn't call for the chicken itself to be seasoned, but I seasoned mine with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. 
• I used all swiss cheese instead of using both parm and swiss - because that's what I had on hand. 
• I used a whole egg instead of just the yolk.

Layering the chicken on top of the cheesy spinach. 

The Verdict:

This was my first time ever making chicken florentine, and this recipe is definitely going to be on a normal rotation in my kitchen. It was creamy and cheesy and very filling. The recipe was really good "as-is", other than the fact that it didn't call for seasoning the chicken. I seasoned mine, and it still could have used just a bit more.  However, when you got a bite of the chicken along with the spinach and sauce it was perfect.  I think using all swiss cheese instead of using both parm and swiss worked out just fine. If you have both types of cheese on hand - by all means, use both. But if you don't want to spend the money on both, go with the swiss. As a bonus to making this chicken florentine, I now know how to make creamed spinach! That's basically what the bottom layer of this dish is, and I'll be making it again as a side dish for another meal. 

Today I served this alongside some Uncle Ben's Rice Pilaf.

Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake

The Setup:
As the end of August approaches and students are getting ready to resume classes, it reminds me of a decision I made just over 3 years ago. I was twenty-five and working a job that I enjoyed, but I still felt that something was missing - so after a lot of soul searching and with the support of my family and friends, I decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in pastry. I graduated with my Associate's Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts this past December, and began working at a local bakery where I also completed my internship last summer.

One of the things I love about my job is having the creative freedom to come up with new desserts each week. There are five bakers that I work with, so each of us has a different day of the week to come up with something new and delicious for the pastry case. As I was going through Aunt June's recipes I came across this "Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake". I've never had a blueberry cake, and I was kind of worried that it would taste like a muffin, but I had to try it nonetheless.

The Original Recipe:

These are the cakes right before going into the oven.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 3/4 cup + 1 T sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups + 1 T flour
• 1/3 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8" square pan.
2) Cream together butter and 1/2 cup sugar.
3) Add salt, vanilla and egg yolks and beat until creamy.
4) Combine 1 1/2 cups flour with baking powder. Add to egg mixture alternately with the milk. 
5) Beat egg whites until soft, then add 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff.
6) Coat berries with 1 T flour and add to batter.

7) Fold egg whites into the batter.

8) Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 T sugar and bake for 50 minutes.

My Substitutions:

• I used individual paper baking cups instead of an 8" pan, and used 7 oz batter per serving.
• I used frozen blueberries - totally fine when you're baking with them, I promise!
• I needed to get at least 12 portions, so I made the recipe x3, which yielded exactly 12 cakes.   *Note - Your baking time will be less than 50 minutes if you make individual cakes*
• I added the zest of 3 lemons (Just use 1 lemon if you're making the recipe as is).
• To jazz it up for work, I topped each cake with a swirl of lemon cream cheese frosting, and added some lemon zest and sugar flowers to the top of each one. 

The finished product.

The Verdict:

This cake turned out great! It was better than I expected, and the texture was definitely more like a cake than a muffin. I'm sure the blueberry on it's own would have been delicious, but it's summertime and fresh lemon just makes everything feel more summery. It looked great in the pastry case at work, and all but one of them sold! Naturally, I took that one home for myself. I was really happy with this dessert, and I would definitely make it again - with just the blueberries next time. And then again, with peaches. And maybe a scoop of blueberry sorbet on the side. The possibilities are endless!

                       

Red, White and Blueberry Delight

The Setup:
I've been flipping through my Aunt June's recipes for a while now, trying to decide which one to try first. I kept coming back to this recipe, not only because it seemed appropriate for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, but also because I was intrigued by the ingredients - specifically the yogurt and mini marshmallows. I was a bit skeptical as I was assembling it, but it came together quickly and easily for a refreshing, no fuss dessert.

The Original Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 T margarine or butter, melted
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup lemon juice from concentrate
• 16 oz plain yogurt
• 2 cups mini marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

1) Combine crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom of a 12x7 dish.
2) In large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, yogurt, marshmallows and pecans.
3) Spread half the mixture over the crust.
4) Top with half the berries, remaining yogurt mixture, then remaining berries.
5) Cover and freeze for 6 hours, or until firm.
6) Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving. Freeze leftovers.

My Substitutions:

• I used a 9x13 baking dish.
• Blueberries weren't on sale at the grocery store, so instead I used Chobani brand blueberry yogurt in place of the plain yogurt, and omitted the fresh blueberries.
• I added about 1/2 cup of cool whip to the yogurt mixture to make it creamier. 

The Verdict:

This recipe had some good points and some bad points. Although it says to freeze the finished product and thaw before serving, I would definitely recommend just refrigerating it for a few hours or overnight. Even after thawing on the kitchen counter for 20 minutes, it was still completely frozen, and cutting into frozen strawberries isn't easy. Neither is biting into them! I ended up putting the dish outside in the 95 degree heat for a few minutes to finish thawing it out. 

The overall flavor was good - refreshing and not too sweet.  I shouldn't have skimped on the fresh blueberries, though - especially since the yogurt didn't add much blue color to a dessert with 'blue' in the name. Fresh blueberries + blueberry yogurt would be the way to go next time. The yogurt, pecan and marshmallow combo wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. In fact, it was a nice surprise to get the sweetness of the marshmallow in certain bites, and I think I might even add in an extra handful of them next time! With the few modifications I mentioned, I would absolutely make this dessert again.

Layering the strawberries on top of the yogurt mixture.

The finished product.
You can see how fresh blueberries would have added nice color, and how the strawberries are still frozen!