temptations by tara Archives - The Midnight Baker

Creamy Beef & Wild Rice Casserole

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 10 May 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Creamy Beef & Wild Rice Casserole

Crunchy toasted almonds and wild rice combine with economical ground beef in this creamy and tasty dinner.

This is such a tasty and economical casserole–even with wild rice!

As I suggest in the recipe text, you can get the perfect portion for this dish and it’s under $1. In fact, I only spent 89 cents for it. It comes in a little bag and it’s from the Carolina people. It’s simply “Long Grain & Wild Rice” (but it does contain nice herbs that go nicely with this).

Tasty and economical

This originally came from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook I have. I changed some proportions of veggies and added more to the seasonings, but that was about it.

Even tastes good reheated. You can’t ask for more than that–if you have leftovers that is!

Creamy Beef & Wild Rice Casserole in “Meadow” baker from Temp-tations By Tara

The dish is my Temp-Tations by Tara “Meadow” baker. These were on clearance a while ago, but I don’t think they are available anymore.

Creamy Beef & Wild Rice Casserole

1 lb lean ground beef
2 cups cooked long grain & wild rice mix*
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced celery
3 tbs butter
1 cup sour cream
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds, divided

*Carolina brand puts out the perfect-sized packaged mix for this dish. It costs under $1 and comes in a small pouch. Makes the exact amount needed for this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 1 1/2-2 quart baking dish.

Brown ground beef. Remove from pan and drain excess fat; set aside.

In the same pan, melt butter. Saute mushrooms, onion & celery over low-medium heat; about 5 minutes.

Add the browned ground beef, sour cream, salt, pepper, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and half the toasted almonds to the onion mixture and stir well to combine.

Turn into prepared baking dish. Top with remaining almonds. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until heated through.

Serves 4

Creamy Beef & Wild Rice Casserole

Follow The Midnight Baker Food, Glorious Food #7 on Pinterest

The post Creamy Beef & Wild Rice Casserole appeared first on The Midnight Baker.

Easy Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 03 May 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Easy Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Easy-as-can-be cinnamon raisin bread that can be made conventionally or entirely in the bread machine. We’re giving away these gorgeous pans from Temp-Tations by Tara too!

This is one of the easiest “specialty” breads I make.

The original recipe came in the booklet that came with my very first Breadman bread machine. I’ve adapted it some, but it’s pretty much as I found it.

Easy and delicious

I use bread flour for one–but you don’t have to. All purpose will do just fine. You can also toss in some chopped walnuts or pecans. In fact, the original recipe calls for them, but as much as I like nuts, somehow, the thought doesn’t turn me on with this particular bread so I leave (and always have) them out.

A sweet treat that also toasts well

This is also a good toasting bread–if it lasts that long! I love it just out of the oven with nothing…not even a pat of butter…on it.

I’ve given directions for the conventional and bread machine way. Either way you decide, it tastes the same! Even if the bread machine doesn’t deliver the desired shape–this is the now-infamous “Herman Munster’s shoe bread.” That name was coined by my friend Lori W. when I made a loaf for her and her family. Any other time I used the bread machine, it came out perfectly; except THIS time when I was making it for somebody (can you say “Murphy’s Law?”). It was sort of low on one end and high on the other and she said it looked like Herman Munster’s shoe. It did!! I only wish we’d gotten pictures of it and we still laugh about it years later!

Perfect with coffee

Now on to the contest–I’m giving away exactly the pans you see in the photographs–the teal and hot pink. I wanted both colors, not 2 of the same as they are sold, so I bought 2 sets. However, I have no use for 4 loaf pans so I decided some lucky reader would get the other 2. Of course if you can’t wait to see if you win them, they are available in many colors and patterns such as the polka dot (shown here), Old World, Carved Old World and Floral Lace at Temp-Tations.com CONTEST IS OVER

Gorgeous hot pink and teal loaf pans from Temp-Tations by Tara

The Recipe

Print Recipe Add to Recipe Box

Easy Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Easy, delicious and cheaper than the store-bought kind.

Prep Time20

Total Raising Time1 45

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread machine cinnamon raisin bread, easy cinnamon bread with yeast

Servings: 12

Calories: 214kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup warm water + 2 tbs
2 tbs oil
3 tbs brown sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbs non-fat dry milk or powdered regular milk
1 tbs cinnamon
4 cups bread flour
2/3 cup raisins
1 pkg active dry yeast -OR- 2 1/4 tsp yeast*

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Mix warm water, brown sugar in bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer (I use a 6 qt pro Kitchen Aid). Sprinkle yeast on top to soften and proof (proofing tests to see if the yeast is alive. In about 5 minutes or so, you will start to get bubbles–this means the yeast is good. If after 10 minutes, you see no bubbles or foam, the yeast will NOT rise the bread. Discard the water/sugar mixture and buy new yeast). If yeast “proofs,” then proceed—
Add the oil, salt, dry milk, raisins, cinnamon and 2 cups of the flour to the bowl. Fit mixer with dough hook and using speed recommended by manufacturer (with KA that’s #2), mix the ingredients in the bowl.
Add the remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, until a soft, but NOT sticky dough develops. If dough is a bit too sticky, add flour a tablespoon at a time. Flour is almost always a range–you only use as much as needed to get a soft, yet workable dough that doesn’t stick to your hands.
Knead (by machine) about 5 minutes or turn out on floured surface and knead by hand about 8 minutes.
Place about 1 tsp of oil in the bottom of a large bowl and place the kneaded dough in the bowl, coating the bottom of the dough with the oil. Turn dough oil side up and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place until double in bulk–about 1 hour.
Punch down dough after the rise (yep, just give it a good clop in the middle of the dough to deflate it). Turn out on a floured surface and shape into a loaf–all this means is rolling or patting the dough out into a rectangle about 6×10 inches and rolling up, jelly-roll style from the narrower end. Seal the seams and place in a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan. Cover with greased plastic wrap and place in a warm draft-free place to rise until double in bulk; about 45 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for 30-40 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom -OR- bread’s internal temp is 190 degrees F (if you have an insta-read thermometer).
Remove from pans and cool completely on a rack.
Makes 1 loaf (recipe is easily doubled)

Bread Machine Instructions

Place ingredients in bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer–this is usually all the wet ingredients first, ending up with the flour on top and the yeast on top of the flour. Set for SWEET cycle and just let the machine do it’s thing. When I make this in my bread machine, I don’t bother waiting for the “beep” to add the raisins–I just throw them in at the beginning.

Notes

*I use bread machine yeast (instant yeast)

Nutrition

Easy Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Follow The Midnight Baker Food, Glorious Food #7 on Pinterest

The post Easy Cinnamon Raisin Bread appeared first on The Midnight Baker.

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 03:15:00 +0000

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken tastes like KFC, but without the fat! Crunchy too with no need to fry.

Love the taste of KFC? You’ll love this then! This chicken is just as good–if not better!

One thing is, the fat is definitely cut down because this is baked, not fried. There’s no extra fat or oils used as there are in some other “oven fried” chicken recipes.

Lower fat, great taste

Of course this chicken may be conventionally fried. However, a couple of substitutions (besides fat for the deep frying) are in order. First, substitute about 2 cups of flour or baking mix, such as Bisquick, for the corn flake crumbs. Instead of rinsing and shaking off the water, pat the chicken dry, beat 2 eggs with 1 tbs water and dip the chicken in the egg before coating.

You can also use the flour method if you follow the basic directions for baking my Ranch Chicken.

The baking dish is Gingham Gardens from Temp-tations by Tara in red. This set is available in this color and several others on QVC.com.

Crunch and yummy

The chicken may also be prepared skinless. The crumbs should hold with just shaking off the excess water, but it may be a good idea to dip in beaten egg and coat with crumbs. Either way, great tasting.

Print Recipe Add to Recipe Box

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken tastes like KFC, but without the fat! Crunchy too with no need to fry.

Prep Time10

Cook Time50

Total Time1

Course: Chicken, Comfort Foods, Dinner, Everyday Meals

Cuisine: American

Keyword: fried chicken, oven-fried chicken, spicy chicken

Servings: 6 -8

Calories: 447kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 frying chickens about 3 lbs each, cut up

SEASONING MIX

3 cups cornflake crumbs
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp smoky paprika
1 tspp garlic powder
1 tbsp dry ground mustard
1 tbsp thyme
2 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking pan (I used a large cookie sheet with sides (a jelly-roll pan) with foil. Spray foil lining with non-stick spray.
Mix cornflake crumbs with the seasoning mix and place in a plastic bag. Rinse chicken and shake off excess water. Place 1 or 2 pieces at a time in bag with crumbs. Shake to coat.
Place skin side up on pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes (depends on size of chicken parts).
Serves 6-8

Nutrition

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken

Follow The Midnight Baker Food, Glorious Food #7 on Pinterest

The post Spicy Oven Fried Chicken appeared first on The Midnight Baker.