Tag Archives: Rosemary

S&B Holiday Recipe Ideas

21 Dec

Hey crew! If you’re anything like me around the holidays, you’re trying to come up with some new cookie recipes or find a new food to have out at the holiday spread. Or maybe you’re hosting a big group and you need some ideas for breakfast in the morning?

I wanted to have a short, but helpful post for you guys to help you find some great options within the Spatulas and Buttons archive. I would also LOVE to hear some of your favorites! Leave a comment below with one of the holiday classics that you enjoy making, I’d love to try out new ideas from you all!

Classic cookies that everyone will love…

You guys know my love for trying out and posting cookie recipes here on the blog, so we’ll start there. These are a few of my favorites…

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies:

These ARE my favorite and was my choice for cookie exchange contribution this year. They’re chewy and wonderful, not overly minty (unless you’re heavy-handed with the mint extract…I recommend to not be) and truly PERFECT for the holidays. Whenever I make these, they disappear FAST.

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Sugar Cookies:

This is a classic at the holidays, am I right?! This sugar cookie recipe is one that I personally prefer as it produces chewy wonderfulness. I got have ’em chewy! They’re wonderful when frosted but still tasty if eaten plain.

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Brownie Roll-out Cookies:

These look festive, they can be made into all sorts of shapes and when dusted with powdered sugar, well, let’s be real – it looks like snow. Perfect. No more explanation needed.

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Snacks to bring to that party you’re invited to…

It’s always great to have a few go-to’s for when you’re asked to bring something to the holiday get-together with family. Or, if you’re wanting to be creative and give a hostess gift that will double as snacks. Here are a few options that I’ve found to be delicious…

Chipotle & Rosemary Nuts:

Mixed nuts seem to be a staple at the holidays and this recipe just gives a little pizzazz to the mixed nuts bowl you put out on the table every year. It’s a little spicy, a little sweet with a great layer of rosemary throughout. Yum!

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Cake Batter Dip:

When trying to find a sweet dip to balance out all of their savory cousins (are dips cousins?!), this will win over anyone with a sweet tooth. It’s great with fruit or with plain cookies (e.g. Nilla Wafers).

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Fruity Dark Chocolate Bark:

A different approach to the ‘bark’ that always seems to be out on the dessert table at this time of year. This one uses dried fruit to give a sweet and tangy flavor and a little crunch. It’s also very pretty and would work perfectly as a hostess gift!

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Breakfast for a crowd…

Are you planning on hosting family and friends throughout the next few weeks? If so, when it comes to breakfast, it’s essential to have a few plans in your back pocket. These options would be perfect to feed pajama clad folks and will be a tasty way to start your day…

New York Breakfast Casserole:

This casserole is a twist on the New York bagel, with everything bagels, cream cheese and endless possibilities to add your meat of choice (lox, sausage or bacon anyone?!) and/or veggies. I love this with the classic tomatoes and red onion combo, but you could add in some bell peppers, green onions, etc. It can even be prepped the night before, leaving you more time to snooze in the AM.

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Baked Oatmeal:

A fancier oatmeal that will warm everyone’s stomachs as they wake up for the day. You can add in whichever fruit strikes your fancy (raspberries and blueberries have worked well in my previous experiments). This goes well when paired with bacon and/or sausage (and makes your kitchen smell like the best breakfast restaurant in town).

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Raspberry Scones:

Looking for a bread/pastry (that doesn’t require you to wake up at the crack of dawn) to feed warm to your guests?! These scones are a cinch to throw together and you could easily make a few batches at once. They’d be great paired with some eggs in the morning, providing a perfect item to soak up those runny yolks. Sigh. Now I want one. AND a runny yolk for dipping.

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I’m finally going to get to try out some new recipes over the holiday season, with a break from work and plenty of time to experiment in the kitchen. Can’t wait to share these adventures with you!

And guess what?! This girl finally got herself a DSLR camera! SO excited to capture better and clearer pictures for you all in future posts. I know my iPhone photos won’t win any awards. But hey, I did the best I could with the technology I had. Looking forward to learning the in’s and out’s of the new camera so I can bring more mouth-watering pictures to the blog.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season, with time spent relaxing with those you love most, enjoying delicious treats and sipping libations that warm your belly.

Cheers!

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Chipotle & Rosemary Nuts

8 Apr

I’m back for an Easter morning post. (Happy Easter to all!)

This was a recipe I tasted for the first time back during my Memphis visit with my friend Marissa (can you tell we ate a lot of delicious food?!? Marissa knows her stuff, let me tell you.)

This is an Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) appetizer/snack recipe from her cookbook How Easy is That (one of my new favorite cookbooks. It’s awesome. Go buy it.). It went over very well for the visitors we had at the Vose house this weekend, and the whole amount is almost gone. You can also keep these in Tupperware to pull out for another event days down the road.

Ingredients:

  • Vegetable oil
  • 3 cups whole roasted unsalted cashews
  • 2 cups whole walnut halves
  • 2 cups whole pecan halves
  • 1/2 cup whole almonds
  • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup (I used a mixture of pure and store-bought syrup. Mom mixes up a concoction of both so you get the best of both worlds.)
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice (Mine was not freshly squeezed – I used Simply Orange and it was tasty. Use whatever orange juice you have, but if you can do freshly squeezed – DO! 🙂  )
  • 2 teaspoons ground chipotle powder (Took me a bit to locate this on the grocery store shelf as not all spice brands had it…but it’s worth the time of looking. This is the key ingredient.)
  • 4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves, divided (Highly encourage fresh> dry)
  • Kosher salt

How to Make:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Locate a nicely sized sheet pan and rub it down with vegetable oil. Or Pam would work too. Up to you.

Now time to mix some nuts! Mix up your cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds…

Add in 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, orange juice and chipotle powder. All of those items were added though there aren’t pictures of all steps below.

I encourage you to mix it up in a bowl as it’s a bit easier than Ina’s direction of mixing it up on the pan. But perhaps you possess greater “mixing abilities” and the pan would work for you. Toss everything around so all nuts are evenly coated in tasty goodness.

Now grab the rosemary and mix that it too. Ina suggests adding 2 Tbsp now and 2 Tbsp after cooking. I plain forgot this and added 4 Tbsp right up front. It may make a difference adding it after, it may not. Up to you and your personal preferences with rosemary. But I think adding it all in prior to the oven works just fine. Add in 2 tsp of salt as well and toss everything evenly.

Spread the nuts in one layer, as best you can. Roast them in the oven for about 25 minutes, pulling them out to mix things about 2-3 times during that time. You’ll know everything is done when the top is “glazed and golden brown” – according to Ina. Below is the halfway point.

Once the 25 minutes is up or the nuts look done, pull ’em out of the oven. Add in 2 more tsp of salt and (if you didn’t add all 4 Tbsp in prior to the oven…) the remaining 2 Tbsp of rosemary.

Toss everything so the salt and rosemary (if you added it after) are evenly coating all the nuts. It will be sticky due to the maple syrup and brown sugar, so you’ll want to continue to mix the nuts around as they cool to prevent as much of the sticking together as possible. They will naturally clump a bit, which is alright, but you don’t want the whole thing to be one, big, massive pile. Which is what it will become if you don’t get in there and fix the situation. Serious.

I used wax paper to let everything cool while spread out and at the same time, not causing more unnecessary mess to the pan or another surface.

Store in Tupperware and pull it out to astound your guests with your amazing cooking skills (they don’t need to know there are only a few steps and it’s extraordinarily simple to make)! Enjoy!

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Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

6 Mar

So, I preface this post with this – I’m not a great baker. I for some reason have more success with the ‘cooking’ end than the ‘baking’ end of culinary abilities. Nonetheless, I’m determined to change that! I’ve dabbled in cakes and cookies but one thing I want, no DESIRE to become good at is bread making. Maybe it’s the kneading thing or that it’s just fun to watch rise. Or that it smells divine when it’s baking. I even loved play-doh as a kid (ask my mom!) and I think it’s all about me, deep down, wanting to be a master of bread.

Ok, that’s a bit extreme. Either way, I’m trying to attempt some variations of breads to see what I like, what’s fun to make etc. This past weekend, while I had the lasagna simmering on the stove, I attempted to make Rosemary bread. I found this recipe on pinterest.com which took me to the recipe I used on a great blog: A Hint of Honey. I can’t wait to peruse the blog for other tasty recipes!

This was a great bread recipe for a newbie like me – not a lot of steps but still kneading fun involved. 🙂 I modified the recipe a bit, but see A Hint of Honey for the original recipe and other delicious ideas.

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread:

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup warm water (not scalding hot but fairly warm)
  • 1 Tbsp. cane sugar
  • 2 tsp. active dry yeast (if you’re like me and get the packets, you’ll have a bit left over, 1/4 tsp to be exact)
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped or 2 tsp. dried (I only had dried, but LOVE rosemary and decided to use 2 Tbsp anyway. Up to you!)
  • 1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning (or pinch of each ground garlic, dried oregano, and dried basil) (I went with her suggested concoction and it turned out great, as an FYI)
  • 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (I used normal whole wheat flour, again, up to you!)
  • 1/2 cup bread flour + extra for kneading
  • 1 egg, whisked + 1 Tbsp. water, for egg wash
  • dried rosemary, for sprinkling

How to Make:

In a large bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. To a new bread maker, this process allows the yeast to ‘proof’. For those that know all about breads, I’m sorry I didn’t know about this term. I’m now more educated.

Stir in the salt, rosemary, seasonings, olive oil, and whole wheat flour. I didn’t mix it all the way in, just enough to have the flour and liquid start to mix together. Then, add in the bread flour and stir until it starts to come together. Mine came together in many little balls but it’s supposed to come together in one larger ball. Either way, now it’s time for FUN! Let’s knead…

Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes. Yes, I know, you want to knead for 10 minutes. I too had to cut myself off from kneading. You’ll survive. If the dough becomes sticky, add in more flour to the dough or your heads, or both! It shouldn’t be sticky, but smooth when you’re all done.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl; cover (I used a clean kitchen towel for this); and let rise until (about) doubled in size. This step takes about an hour. If you’re making the lovely lasagna from my post a few days ago, this gives you time to continue work on that. Or drink a glass of wine. Or watch some Netflix. I may have done all three.

Now, more kneading fun, well, just punching. Punch down the dough and form it into a round loaf. I  then placed my load on a pizza pan sprinkled with bread flour. The original recipe also states you can place the dough on a flour dusted pizza peel or parchment paper. Whatever is in your kitchen should be able to work. Again, cover that baby up and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes this time around

At this time, hopefully your lasagna (or other items in the oven, if there are any) are out and you can turn the head to 400 F. The recipe suggests to preheat and bake on a pizza stone, an item lacking in my kitchen. I simply warmed up my pizza pan (moved the dough to a new, floured spot while this preheat was happening.) Once the dough has risen, brush that baby with the egg wash and with a hearty helping of dried rosemary.

Bake on preheated stone (or for those with less cooking items at their fingertips, a preheated pizza pan) for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. I did not tap mine, but it was golden brown and looked/tasted done to me.

This recipe makes one, lovely, round load of glorious smelling bread. It also goes FABULOUSLY with lasagna. Just saying.

Enjoy!

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