recipes | Bead Happily Ever After

Friday Favorites – Pears Recipe!

Posted on April 2, 2009 by crystal

This week’s Friday Favorites is a recipe sent in by my sister, Nancy. That girl has such a talent for finding recipes that are not only delicious but also quick to make! I’m getting hungry just reading it, so I’ll definitely be adding “pears” to the grocery cart this week. 🙂

Baked Pears

Ingredients

4 pears cut in halves and cored
4 tablespoons butter, lightly melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Place pear halves in baking dish. Brush them generously with butter.
3. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture on top of pear halves.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
Perfect!

Have some fun this weekend. 🙂

See you Monday with the new questions!

Her Irish Eyes Were Smiling

Posted on March 17, 2009 by crystal

My grandmother was born and grew up in Ireland. Every year around St. Patrick’s Day, there’s something I like to do to remember “Nana”, and also to help get into the spirit of the holiday!

“Make paper garlands of shamrocks?” (You ask.)

No . . . ( I answer.)

“Go to a St Patrick’s Day parade?” (You guess.)

Nope! ( I smile.)

“C’mon Crystal – just say it!” (You sigh. 😉 )

Well . . . although I also do this at other times of the year, I especially like to do it for St Patrick’s Day.

First, I gather my supplies.

After mixing, kneading, and baking, I have this.

If you have never tasted homemade Irish Bread, you must try it sometime! I do mean homemade though, because the stuff they sell in stores is nothing like real Irish Bread!

Labeling the store version as “Irish Bread” is like comparing a loaf of generic, air-filled, white sandwich bread in a plastic bag to a mouth-watering, home-baked, crusty, loaf of yeast bread.

Here – let me give you some to try, along with a little butter and nice hot cup of tea!

Whenever my grandmother prepared this snack for me, her Irish eyes were smiling. If you are not familiar with it, think of a combination of cake and bread – sweet but with a heavier texture than cake would have, and liberally sprinkled with regular raisins, golden raisins, and caraway seeds. A recipe can be found here.

A wish for you on this St. Patrick’s Day . . .

May your mornings bring joy,

and your evenings bring peace . . .

May your troubles grow less

as your blessings increase!

Friday Favorites – Signs of Spring!

Posted on March 6, 2009 by crystal

When hot cross buns appear on the shelves of bakeries and grocery stores, it’s a sure sign of spring! I prefer that they be light on the candied citron and heavy on the raisins. Too much of the candied fruit can ruin a good thing! 😉

It occurred to me that I’ve never actually baked hot cross buns myself. Out of curiosity I searched for a recipe and here’s one that sounds pretty good!

Seeing hot cross buns reminds me of the nursery rhyme of the same name. Originally a street vendor’s cry, it was eventually set to music. When my youngest daughter was learning to play the recorder, it was one of the early tunes she played. We’d often have quite a giggle during her practice sessions when, on the spur of the moment, we’d break into a very animated duet and belt out those lyrics, Ethel Merman-style! 😀

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
One a penny two a penny,
Hot cross buns.
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons!
One a penny two a penny,
Hot cross buns.

See you Monday with new questions and next week’s giveaway! Don’t forget to change your clocks!

Still soup weather!

Posted on March 4, 2009 by crystal

For many of us, it’s still cold and snowy – the perfect weather for soup. But even if you live in an area that’s experiencing milder temperatures, here’s a recipe that I think you’ll enjoy!

I first made “French Dip Soup” over a year ago and it was an immediate hit at our house! I’ll include my notes with a few hints and minor changes I’ve made to the original recipe by Rachael Ray.

So tasty and definitely a meal all by itself!

(If you’re reading this, Sir Beads-A-Lot, yes we can have it this weekend! 🙂 )

French Dip Soup
Rachael Ray, makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used salted).
6 large onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 sprigs thyme
1 fresh or dried bay leaf (I skipped this.)
1/2 cup white wine
6 cups beef stock
1/2 loaf crusty bread, torn into bite-size pieces and toasted (Get the bread ready first so you won’t have to stop and do it once the soup is finished.)
1 pound deli-style roast beef, shredded (Be sure to shred into bite-sized pieces!)
Grated parmesan cheese, optional (I used a “shredded” Parmesan so it wouldn’t melt/disappear immediately….. we love cheese!!)

Heat a deep pot over medium to medium-high heat. (A very large pot is needed as the 6 onions take a lot of space before they cook down a bit.) Add EVOO, about one turn of the pan, and butter to the pot. Add the onions to the pot as you slice them and the chopped garlic. Season with salt and pepper then add thyme sprigs and a bay leaf. Cook the onions for 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender, sweet and deep caramel-colored. (I found it took longer than 25 minutes – more like 35 – for the onions to get some color.) If the onions are burning in spots before browning all over, add a splash of water and stir every now and then, scraping the bottom of the pot.
Once the onions are tender and brown, add the white wine and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the beef stock and cover the pot to bring the soup up to a quick boil.
Place a few chunks of the toasted bread into each of four deep soup bowls or crocks and top the toast with a handful of the shredded roast beef. Once the soup reaches a boil, remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, and ladle into bowls to cover the roast beef. If you like, top it off with a handful of grated parmesan cheese. (Again, I use a generous amount of shredded Parmesan as the grated cheese melts too quickly!)

Now I’m hungry!!! 😉

Cookie Lady

Posted on February 24, 2009 by crystal

Have you ever known a cookie lady?

I’m talking about someone who not only loves to bake cookies, but also loves to share them with others!

Maybe you had an aunt or grandmother who always had a plate of cookies waiting when you went to visit, or a neighbor who would make cookies for holiday gifts every year. Perhaps it’s your best friend . . . or could it be you, yourself, who likes to keep the cookie jar filled with delicious homemade cookies?

“Cookie Ladies” are especially precious these days because there aren’t so many of them around anymore. Life is so hectic now; most people don’t have the time.

I believe that cookie ladies are actually born that way. You either are, or you are not, a cookie lady! It takes a special kind of personality to have the patience for making cookies. It’s so different than baking a cake. A cookie lady joyfully takes on the time-consuming tasks of mixing, shaping, rolling, and often decorating large amounts of cookie dough, and then she needs even more patience to stay near the oven to literally “babysit” trays and trays of cookies. It’s an art and a science, but mostly it’s a labor of love. The world is a better place for having cookie ladies!!!

In my life, the Cookie Lady was my husband’s Mom. I met her shortly after I began dating her son, and on that first visit, she presented me with a little tin of two kinds of her homemade cookies – applesauce raisin and chocolate chip. I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. They were absolutely the most delicious cookies I’d ever had. As the years went by, she always had cookies waiting for my husband and me, and eventually for our daughters – her grandchildren! She had about 6-7 different kinds that she liked to make and none of us could ever choose a favorite. They were all “the best!” She’s gone now but the love she served with those cookies remains in our hearts.

I hope you have known a cookie lady, or will know one in the future. They are the warmest of people.

I thought you might like the recipe for those Applesauce Raisin Cookies. I’ll include it here and also put it in the Bead Happily Ever After Recipe Box. 🙂

Edited to add: You’ve got to see my P.S. at the end of this recipe!!!

Ida’s Applesauce Raisin Cookies

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 cup of chopped or whole raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
¼ tsp salt

Sift flour with baking powder, soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
Combine butter with sugar until creamy, then add the egg.
Next add flour mixture and applesauce alternately.
Add raisins and nuts.
Drop from a teaspoon onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375º for 8-10 minutes.

P.S. Now here’s the incredible part of this post . . .

I’ve had the idea that I would write about this topic for several weeks now. I keep a little list of things that I’d eventually like to use for blog posts. Why I chose today to talk about “cookie ladies” and my sweet mother-in law, I’ll never really know.

I just looked at my list and grabbed one of the topics. I could have written about it weeks ago, or I could have chosen any other topic from that list for today.

The irony is that as soon as I finished this post and told you about our family’s cookie lady and her recipe – it hit me!

Today is her birthday! She’s been gone for 12 years, but she would have been 100 years old today! I hadn’t remembered that until this very second!!!

It seems so appropriate and also an amazing coincidence that I would write about her today! I think she must have somehow “wanted” me to share her recipe! 😉

Blog Readers Discount!
SALE ends soon!
20% off on our website thru Feb 28th.
Enter the code “snow” at checkout.