Music Monday

"You got that James Dean, daydream look in your eye.
I got the red lip, classic thing that you like."

Taylor Swift - Style

Perfect Prime Rib

Do you want a fabulous hands off kind of meat? Well this baby's perfect for those of you who like the idea of set it and forget it kind of meal.  Prime rib is my favourite kind of beef, when it's prepared properly. It is an expensive cut so screwing it up scares some from trying to cook it at home.  Be scared no more my home chefs!  Here's the fool proof way to perfection..

Prime Rib Perfection

Ingredients:

1 Prime Rib

Garlic Powder

Parsley

Chives

(or you favourite blend of beef seasoning)

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

1. Bring your prime rib to room temperature - this is important! You'll need to weigh it on your kitchen scale to find the poundage (if your meat is pre - weighted in kilograms on the packaging from the grocery store.  If you don't have a home scale you can ask the butcher at the store to weigh it in pounds for you or go online and google a weight converter).

2. Preheat your oven to 500*F.  Lightly sprinkle all your seasonings on to the rib and rub them in, remember to do all sides. 

3. If you have a larger cut it's best to place the meat bone side down in your roasting pan.  Since mine was only 3 lbs, it wouldn't stand on the bone so I just laid it flat. 

4. Tent your pan in aluminium foil and place in the oven.  If you have curious critter's like older children/spouses that like to peek in the oven while things cooking, I suggest a sign like this to keep them out (you'll find out why in a minute).

5.  Cooking times go like this:

           

              Rare - 6 minutes/pound

        Medium - 7 minutes/pound

             Well - 8 minutes/pound

6. Half way through the cooking time remove the tented aluminium.  

7. When the desired cook time is finished turn off your oven completely and leave the prime rib in there for 2 hours. Under no circumstances open the door!  The residual heat will finish the meat to perfection.

Stay Sweet!

Tammy

Orange Crush Cupcakes & Wilton Color Cups

Getting lost in the Pinterest world is nuts at times.  Your intention is to quickly log in for something specific and 8 hours later you're finding out that if a giraffe drinks hot coffee it will be cold by the time it reaches its stomach.

However, in those lost 8 hours you stumble upon some seriously AWESOME stuff!  Like the Orange Cream Cupcakes I found on I heart Nap Time.  Click the link and try the recipe!  For some reason I couldn't find orange extract in my local grocery store so I substituted it with a 1/2 tsp of orange crush, 1/8 tsp of vanilla, and a bit of Orange Gel colouring & they turned out just fine.  Actually better than fine - they are down right delish! Super cute too, right?

The one thing I hate about traditional patterned cupcake liners is that you'd find an amazing design to fit perfectly to your theme but by the time they were done baking you might have well used the plain white ones. The pattern was lost due to the cupcakes bleeding through the paper.  So, when I found the Wilton Color Cups I was overjoyed!  These baby's are foil lined and come in the most beautiful designs.  Check them out here .  As you can see in the pic's above the design is still bright & beautiful and as a bonus the foil lining makes them sturdier than traditional cups.

In my opinion keep the paper liners for your muffins. Beautify your cupcakes!

Stay Sweet!

Tammy

Disclaimer:  The opinions stated in this post are my own.  No compensation was received for this review.

Creamy Potato Salad

Well folks it's been a lovely spring and summer, the whole 7 days of it, but alas winter has returned on this fine March day to my Southwestern Ontario town. I'm sure we'll see temperatures returning to normal soon, right? All I can ask is, what happened to this global warning thing? I was all for it! Hopefully, in your part of the world you can think about picnic's or dinner on the deck while I watch softly falling snow cover my backyard. Again :( .

Anyone want to send a ticket south to me?  I'll make the potato salad, wink, wink :D

Creamy Potato Salad

Ingredients:

5 medium Potatoes

2 Green Onions

3 Eggs

1 1/2 cup Mayonnaise

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 tsp Paprika

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. In a pot of salted water boil potatoes and eggs.  Yes, you can boil them together.  You want the eggs hard boiled and the potatoes fork tender.  Once done, strain the water, remove the eggs & transfer potatoes to a large bowl. Let cool.

2. Chop the green onions, peel and slice the eggs (once cool enough to handle) into small cubes.  I have an egg slicer that I picked up at the dollar store that does the trick quite nicely.  

3. Add all the ingredients to the potatoes and stir until well combined.

NOTE: This is a great salad to take to those large potlucks. Here's my ratio's to increase the amounts if you need it.  One potato per adult.  One egg for every two potatoes.  One green onion for every 2.5 potatoes.  Increase the spicing & mayo to taste.

Stay Sweet!

Tammy

Bring on the Bagels!

Talk about tackling the breads lately, eh?  I feel for anyone that has gluten allergy,  I love my breads! There's just something about the warm, tasty, melt in mouth, goodness of a fresh made bread. These little circles of yummy aren't hard to create once you've got some practice in.

Ingredients:

4 cups Bread Flour
1 3/4 Cup warm water
1 tbsp Dry Active Yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Salt
Corn Meal


Directions:

1. In a large bowl add the warm water (at about 110*F), sugar, and yeast.  Let sit for 5 - 10 minutes until frothy.

2. Add the flour & salt and beat with an electric mixer equipped with dough hooks.  Mix for 7 minutes or until dough is smooth and pulling away from the the sides.

3. Remove from the bowl and form into a ball. Lightly grease the bowl and return the dough.  Cover with a damp dish towel and keep in a warm spot to let rise until it's doubled in size (about an hour).

4.  On a lightly floured counter fold out the dough and cut into 12 equal pieces.  Form into balls and placed on a up side down cookie sheet lightly greased with vegetable oil. Let rise again for about 30- 45 minutes.

5. Put a large pot of water on to boil with about a tablespoon of sugar.  While you wait for the water to boil carefully poke a hole in the middle of the dough balls with your fingers and stretch slightly, just so the hole is a tad bigger than you'd like for the finish product.  Replace on the oiled sheet and let rest, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.  Preheat your oven to 400*F.

6. Once the water is boiled reduce to simmer and very carefully add bagels 2 - 4 at a time.  You need flipping room so don't crowd the pot.  Let simmer on the first side for 2 minutes, flip, and simmer the second side for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon (the flatter & wider the better - I use my wok spoon) and let drain for a few seconds and place on a baking sheet that's been lightly buttered and sprinkled with corn meal.

7. Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl and brush the bagels with the egg wash. At this point you can add any toppings, like cheese, sesame seeds, etc.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until the tops are golden.  Transfer to cooling racks & let cool completely.

Stay Sweet!
Tammy

Music Monday

Dierks Bentley - Say You Do

Pictorial 2

I've been laid up on the couch or in bed all day, not feeling well.  At. All.  Stupid cold!

I have an awesome recipe to share but alas it will have to wait until I'm feeling better.  Until then have a look at a couple of cakes I've created.  The first is Daughter B's birthday cake.  We love Doctor Who and my first attempt at a TARDIS cake last year ended up being being a wreck. Thankfully this years attempt was a success!  The second is a cake for a co-worker.  A complete coffee & chocolate overload!  I will post that recipe in the future too.

Stay Sweet!

Tammy