The Best and Easiest Pound Cake

This recipe makes 2 cherry pound cakes.

It may have originally come from Kraft, but I'm not sure. This is my original copy.

We always have this at Christmas time.You can leave out the cherries and have 2 beautiful plain pound cakes.  Or see my variation at the end of this recipe.

8 oz pkg cream cheese (250 g)
1  1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp almond flavouring
4 eggs
2  1/4 cups flour
1  1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups maraschino cherries, drained and roughly chopped
    This turned out to be 1 - 375 ml jar of cherries.
    (don't use glazed cherries, I tried it once....yuck!)
1/2 cup ground almonds

In a mixer blend cream cheese, sugar, butter and almond flavouring.  Add eggs one at a time and beat.  Gradually add 2 cups of the flour and baking powder to the batter.

Mix remaining flour with chopped cherries and ground almonds.

Fold fruit mixture into batter.
Divide into two greased  9 X 5 loaf pans.
Bake in preheated 325F oven for 1 - 1  1/2 hours (closer to the 1  1/2 hrs) until toothpick comes out clean.

Variation:

This time I decided to make 1 cherry and 1 chocolate chip streusel pound cake.

Follow the above recipe until you have added the 2 cups flour and baking powder. Next, mix in the ground almonds.
Divide the batter in half. Take 2  1/2 cups for each loaf.

For 1 cherry loaf:


Use 1 cup of cherries when making one loaf and toss together with 2 tbsps of flour.

Fold this into the 2  1/2 cups of batter. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Set aside.

For chocolate chip streusel loaf:

Mix together -

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup dark chocolate chips

and set aside.

Take another 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and toss with 2 tbsps of flour.  Fold this into the other 2  1/2 cups of batter.

Spread half the batter in a greased loaf pan.  Layer the streusel mix over the batter and press lightly.  Top with remaining batter. It's a little tricky to spread the batter over the streusel, work slowly.

Bake these two loaves as per directions above. (The chocolate one will need the full 1 1/2 hours for sure)

Cool at least 15 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely on rack before slicing.

The original cherry loaf is supposed to have 200 calories for a 1  1/2 inch slice.

The chocolate one must be higher.

I usually cut the loaves in half and freeze, defrosting only what you need to serve.  One year I even sliced it then froze it.  That was a pretty good idea if I do say so myself!

Sweet Potato Muffins

I tried this sweet potato recipe the other day,

http://www.cookforyourlife.org/recipes/sweet-potato-muffins

substituting 1  1/4 cups whole wheat flour and 1  1/4 cups all-purpose flour for the 2  1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour that was originally called for.

2 raw sweet potatoes makes this a dense muffin.

But surprisingly not heavy.

I made 22 medium sized muffins that can be frozen and taken out of the freezer when you need a little something packed with a lot of something.

Roasted Garlic

Roasted garlic is a lot less pungent than raw garlic. It's mellow but very flavourful.  Use it spread on baguette as an appetizer, mixed into mashed potatoes or in this soup.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/12/roasted-garlic-barley-and-vegetable-soup.html

To roast garlic:

Peel papery outer layer away, cut about 1/4 inch off top (save the garlic bits for another use) Lightly press down on the bulb to slightly crush. Let it rest 10-15 minutes. (see note below)
Pour some olive oil over top of cut bulb and wrap in foil. Stand in a muffin tin and roast in a 400F oven for 30-35 minutes.
You could just stand each bulb in the muffin tin then cover all with a sheet of foil, but then you'd have to clean the pan. Forget that!

Once cooled you can squeeze out all those little cloves of roasted garlic goodness.

Note:

If you are cooking garlic in any recipe you should chop or crush it, then allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking. Apparently this allows it to keep it's healthy compounds intact. So for roasted whole bulb, press down to slightly crush the bulb.

Roasted Garlic, Barley and Vegetable Soup

Everyone knows chicken soup is good for you. But this soup has a whole lot of things going on!

8 cups chicken broth (or more)
2 onions, sliced
olive oil
4 heads of garlic
4 carrots
1 celery stalk, with leaves
1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup black beans
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup barley
bay leaf

Prepare your roasted garlic first. Here's how to do it.
Then set aside.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/12/roasted-garlic.html

Heat a couple of tbsps olive oil in a soup pot.  Add onions and cook until lightly browned.  Remove to a bowl.  Add the broth and garlic.

Purée in a food processor in batches, putting the purée back in the soup pot as you go. Add bay leaf.

You could have the soup at this point and call it Roasted Garlic and Onion Soup, but let's add more stuff.

Add sliced carrots, celery, canned tomatoes, and black beans to the purée.  Heat to boiling and add barley. Cook as per package directions.  Mine cooked in 45 minutes.
Remove bay leaf. Add peas.

As it cooks the soup really thickens up.  If you don't want it quite so thick just add more broth.

Nourishing barley is supposed to be good for your blood pressure as well as digestive complaints.

Garlic helps to boost your immune system so great to ward off colds.  And this is something else I read about garlic.  
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Cancer Prevention

Consumption of roasted garlic may offer some protection against cancer. Aside from the antioxidants present in garlic, the sulfur compounds it contains also act directly on carcinogens and toxins, helping the body remove them before they can cause damage. In addition, these compounds induce cancer-cell self-destruction, a process called apoptosis, in cell culture experiments and animal models, explains the Linus Pauling Institute.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/350760-roasted-garlic-health

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Note:

If you are cooking garlic in any recipe you should chop or crush it, then allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking. Apparently this allows it to keep it's healthy compounds intact. So for roasted whole bulb, press down to slightly crush the bulb.

The basic garlic and onion soup recipe was found here:

http://www.freshbitesdaily.com/garlic-soup

Teriyaki Steak Stir-fry

Ok, so I kind of cheated on this one.  I used a jar of teriyaki sauce, I didn't make it from scratch.

4 sirloin tip steaks, cut in strips
1  1/2 cups teriyaki sauce
olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped
1 onion
1 yellow pepper
2 carrots 
4 radishes
1-2 tbsps radish greens, chopped

Make your teriyaki sauce (or open the jar) and pour over the steak.  Marinade at least 30 minutes or, if you have the time, a few hours.
Slice all the vegetables.

Heat a couple of tbsps of olive oil in a skillet.  Add meat and brown 4-5 minutes on medium high heat.  Then add garlic and onion and continue cooking 2 more minutes.

Reduce temperature to medium and add peppers, carrots, radishes and 1/4 cup water.  Cover and cook 5 minutes.

Serve over rice garnished with radish greens.

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Pasta

This recipe will serve at least 6 people.  If your cooked chicken is seasoned it will give this meal a different flavour. Also, choose whatever type cheese you like.  I used cheddar. Oh, and one other thing....don't use maple flavoured bacon!

For the creamy sauce:

1/8  +  1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 qt. milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsps jalapeno Greek yogurt dip (or cream cheese)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1 lb (500 g) pasta
1 lb cooked chicken
6 slices bacon, crumbled
2 cups shredded cheese

Start with the bacon.  You could fry it in a pan or try cooking it in the oven.  Just lay the slices on a baking sheet and put in a 350F oven for 20 minutes.  Flip once.  Cool and crumble. Set aside.

Meanwhile cook the pasta following your package directions.

To make the sauce heat the butter in a pot and whisk in the flour.  Continue whisking as you add the milk and chicken broth.  When the sauce is warmed through add the dip or cream cheese and don't forget the salt and pepper.  Stir and cook until the sauce thickens.

Mix together the cooked chicken, pasta, cream sauce, half the bacon and 1 cup of the shredded cheese.

Pour into a greased 9 X 13 baking dish.

Bake covered with foil at 350F for 20 minutes.

Uncover and top with remaining cheese and bacon and bake a further 10 minutes.

Creamy Mozzarella Chicken

I got this recipe from a friend 30+ years ago.  It wasn't really a recipe, more like "my Mom uses a water glass full of this and a handful of that" but we finally made it with actual measurements that I could follow. We don't see each other as often as we'd like but whenever I make this I think of her.  I guess she was thinking of me too because she called me the day after I made this.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced in strips
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 cup 10% cream
1  1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
garnish with chopped parsley, arugula or radish leaves

Peel and slice the garlic and set aside.  Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet.  Add chicken and cook on medium high heat until browned and cooked through.  Add the garlic and lightly brown.  

Lower the heat to medium and pour the cream in.  Stir, scraping up any brown bits that might be on the pan. Cook until heated through.

Remove from heat and add the mozzarella.  

Garnish and serve. Hope you like it.