Bean Soup with Ham

Do you remember Bill Knapp's Restaurant?  I sure do... My husband and I always loved going there.  I have fond memories of going there as a child, working there as a waitress just out of high school, and going there for dinner while I was in labor with my first child (hey, a girl has to eat!).  Here is a recipe that my sister and I came up with that rivals Bill Knapp's bean soup.  If you remember that soup and miss it, well be sure to make this one and enjoy your trip down memory lane...

Ingredients:
1 pkg. dry Northern beans
8 C. cold water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. carrots, diced
1 C. celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
2 bay leaves
2 C. ham, diced
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

Rinse beans thoroughly, removing any stones or bad beans.  Place water in a large stockpot and bring to a boil over high heat.  Add salt and beans and cover with lid.  Remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour.  Return to high heat and add remaining ingredients, except ham.  Bring to a boil and cook for 2 hours, or until beans are tender.

Stir in ham and simmer for 30 more minutes.  At this point the soup should have thickened a bit.  Add more white pepper and salt as needed.  Remove that bay leaves before serving. This recipe serves 8-10.

Blueberry Pie

My husband loves blueberry pie.  I love blueberries.  We have a beautiful blueberry farm here in Dexter http://dexterblueberry.com/default.aspx and I can spend hours there during July and August. That being said, on my last visit I managed to walk away with 34 pounds of big fat berries that were just screaming to be turned into a delicious dessert. This recipe is being made gluten free so that my husband can enjoy it, but it can easily be changed using all-purpose flour.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

 

Filling Ingredients:

6 C. blueberries

1 C. granulated sugar

4 Tbsp.  Tom Sawyer GF Flour Mix

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tbsp freshly grated lemon peel

In a large bowl stir flour, sugar, nutmeg and lemon peel together, add berries and toss to coat.  Let stand for 15 minutes.  Pour into pie crust. (see below) and place on baking sheet.  Cover edge with pie guard or aluminum foil. Bake for 50 minutes.  Remove foil; bake for 20 to 30 minutes more or till the top is golden and the fruit mixture is bubbly.  Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Double Pastry Crust:

3 C. Tom Sawyer GF Flour Mix 

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C. cold butter, cubed

1/2 C.vegetable shortening

2 egg yolks

2 tsp. vinegar

ice water

In a large bowl, combine flour with salt.  Cut in butter and shortening, blending until crumbled.  Whisk egg yolks with vinegar; add enough ice water to make 2/3 cup.  Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir with a fork until it holds together, adding a bit more flour if necessary.  Press into two disk shapes; wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for one hour until well chilled.

Remove dough from fridge and flour your work surface.  Roll each disk into a large circle, approximately 1/4 inch thick.  Transfer dough to a 9 inch pie plate and press into plate (this can be a difficult task with GF dough as it breaks apart, but fear not.  If this happens you need to work quickly to press several pieces of dough into the pie plate until formed together). Prick bottom and sides with a fork. 

Gently transfer remaining dough and cover the pie filling, crimping edges to seal dough (if using the GF recipe I have found that this task requires two people in order to keep the dough from tearing). Use any remaining scrapes of dough to make shapes to decorate the top of the pie.  Brush crust with egg wash (egg whisked with a couple drops of cold water) and sprinkle with sugar.

Crumb Topped Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

If there is one thing my husband loves, it's dessert. You may have noticed that I have entered more dessert recipes on here than anything else! That being said I am always trying to perfect a recipe or come up with a new one. In the case of this recipe I played around with the filling just a tad and then modified my pie crust to be gluten free. When my husband was told that he could no longer eat wheat gluten we thought it would be impossible, but slowly I have been coming up with some recipes that are proving to be family favorites (even for my teenagers).

Crust - see Flaky Single Crust Pastry (*note - if you are making this gluten free you will need to prebake the crust for 10 minutes to ensure a thoroughly cooked crust on the bottom)

Filling
3 cups sliced rhubard
2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup flour (you can use all-purpose or a gluten free mix. I prefer Tom Sawyer brand)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Crumb Topping
1 cup flour ((you can use all-purpose or a gluten free mix. I prefer Tom Sawyer brand)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup cold butter, cubed
1 tablespoon butter, cut into smaller pieces for topping pie before baking

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Stir all filling ingredients together until well coated and allow to sit for 45 minutes. Pour into prepared crust. Combine crumb topping ingredients and mix together by hand until crumbly. Top pie with crumb mixture and dot the top with 1 tablespoon cold butter bits. Bake for 55 minutes, or until bubbly. Allow to cool before serving for easier slicing.

Sweet Cornbread

Ever since my husband was diagnosed with Celiac disease two years ago I have been experimenting with various recipes and trying to modify them so that they would be gluten fee and he could enjoy eating normally again. It is hard to fill a man up on only grilled meat and veggies! Men want bread, heck we all crave it! Here is a wonderful cornbread recipe that I came up with this weekend. Now, I am a southern gal, born to southerners but raised in the North, and I have had my fair share of great cornbread. This is the closest I have come to making something that even my southern Mamaw would eat, and that says a lot!




1 1/4 cups gluten free flour mix (I use Tom Sawyer's brand and it is by far the best I have tried)
3/4 cup gluten free cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk
1/4 vegetable oil
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon honey
1 egg, beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Pour oil into a cast iron skillet and place into oven to heat up. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, honey, and egg, mixing until dry ingredients are moistened. Add hot oil and carefully stir until blended. Pour batter into pan and bake for 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Serve warm

Heavenly Gluten Free Blueberry Crisp

4 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup gluten free flour mix (I use Tom Sawyer's Mix)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup cold butter, cubed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 11x7 baking dish with cooking spray. Sprinkle blueberries with 1 TBSP. flour mixture and toss to coat. Pour blueberries into baking dish. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour mixture with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add in the butter by hand and rub mixture between your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs. Layer the crumb mixture over the blueberries. Bake in the oven until bubbly, about 40 minutes. Serve with non-dairy whipped topping. Makes 4 generous servings.

*You may also use frozen blueberries but you will need to increase your cook time to approximately 50 minutes.

Gluten Free Butterscotch Blondies

These "un-brownies" are chewy and full of pecans and butterscotch chips. They are very sweet and go great with a big dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream...Yummy!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. gluten free baking powder
1 1/4 cups gluten free flour mixture (I use Tom Sawyer's)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup butterscotch baking chips

Line a 13x9 pan with parchment, overlapping sides, to prevent sticking (you can also heavily spray with gluten free non-stick spray). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized pan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, stirring until well blended and the mixture just begins to bubble (similar to making a pecan pie). Remove from heat. Whisk eggs and yolk together with vanilla. Pour in the eggs in a steady stream, while whisking constantly to prevent scrambling. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk flour into the egg mixture. Fold in pecans and butterscotch chips. Spread into pan. Bake 35-40 minutes (5 minutes less for dark coated pans). Remove from oven and cool on a rack. Lift parchment out and cut when cooled.

Hot Artichoke Crabmeat Dip

Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonaise
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
8 oz. lump crabmeat, chopped
1/3 cup finely sliced green onion
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/3 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine cream cheese and mayonaise; mix well and add crushed garlic. In a separate bowl, mix artichokes and crabmeat. Add Parmesan cheese, green onion, lemon zest and black pepper. Combine mixtures together and spoon mixture into a greased casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown around edges. Sprinkle with red pepper and additional green onions. Serve hot with buttery crackers or toast points.

Sweet Honey Cornbread

This cornbread is so sweet and moist it goes perfectly alongside a bowl of chili, or on its own. This recipe was given to me a long time ago and it still has a place right in the front of the bread section of my personal recipe book. Prepare to become addicted.  NOTE: Can be made gluten free by using Tom Sawyer flour blend.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups flour (use GF flour if preferred)
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 Tbsp. honey
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl; add liquid ingredients and stir until blended and moist. Pour into a greased 8 inch baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Serve with honey butter.

Honey Butter:
Whip 1/2 cup softened butter with 2 Tbsp honey

Creamy Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:
16 squares semi-sweet chocolate
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Microwave chocolate and milk in large bowl on HIGH for 2 to 3 minutes, or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring halfway through heating process. Once melted, stir in vanilla and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, cut into squares. Makes approximately 3 dozen pieces.

Best Peanut Brittle

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. butter
2 cups cocktail peanuts
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Line baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray with non-stick cooking spray. Mix sugar and syrup in a large microwavable glass bowl until moistened. Microwave on HIGH for 5 minutes. Stir in butter and peanuts. Continue cooking for 3.5 minutes until golden brown. Add baking soda and vanilla. Spread on pan and cool completely then break into small pieces.