Detour for Deliciousness

Last year when we were in Smoky Mountains National Park, I shortly considered a stop over to Dollywood, possibly only so I could try the famous Dollywood Cinnamon Bread. I do love Dolly but wow those tickets were not cheap and I wasn't sure my family would be all on board with that, after all, we are more hiking mountains and hotel pool people... so I'll continue to try recipes claiming to be knock offs of her recipe and hope it comes out delicious. The bread was in fact delicious! I thought about making for Sunday breakfast but I've been walking early mornings on the weekends and Andy had to be at church too early, so it ended up being Sunday after dinner snack instead. It was fluffy and the bottom was crunchy. I did like the one I made previously - maybe because it started with a hunk of bread dough to start and very little else. I'll keep at it, cinnamon bread is worth the adventure.

Dollywood Cinnamon Bread
For the Dough:
12 grams active dry yeast 4 teaspoons
165 grams warm water between 80-95°F, a little over 2/3 cup
375 grams all-purpose flour 2 2/3 cups
5 grams Diamond Crystal kosher salt 2 teaspoons
55 grams granulated sugar 1/4 cup
1 medium egg
57 grams softened unsalted butter 1/4 cup
For the filling:
226 grams salted butter 1 cup
2 teaspoons cinnamon
110 grams dark brown sugar 1/2 cup, lightly packed
1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For the icing:
90 grams powdered sugar 3/4 cup, lightly packed
1 tablespoon milk of choice

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the yeast and the water. Add in the flour, salt, granulated sugar and egg.
Using the hook attachment on the mixer, mix on medium until all the ingredients are combined.
Once the ingredients are just combined, begin adding the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time. When it is fully mixed in, that's when you know to add the next tablespoon of butter.
Turn the mixer to medium-high and mix the dough for 7-8 minutes or until it is pulling away from the sides. You can also do the gluten test (see note).
When the dough is ready, transfer it to a clean bowl and cover and let it rise for an hour or until doubled in size.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Brown the butter in a cast iron skillet. Do this by placing the skillet over medium heat, adding the butter and letting it melt until it starts to fizz and foam. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until you see flecks of brown start forming in the bottom of the pan. Then turn off the heat and transfer the butter to a heat-safe bowl. No need to wipe out the cast iron skillet.
Whisk the cinnamon into the brown butter while it's still warm, this will "bloom" the cinnamon's flavor.
Whisk in the brown sugar and salt and set aside. This should form a thick paste during the time the dough finishes rising.
Add 1/3 cup of the filling to the bottom of the cast iron skillet. Spread it around.
When the dough is ready, place it down on a clean, unfloured surface and stretch it into a large rectangle. The dimensions don't have to be specific (mine never are), just make sure your dough is about 1 centimeter thick.
Spread 2/3 cup worth of filling onto the rectangle of dough. (You will have a bit of filling left, save it).
Grab the two shorter sides of the rectangle and fold them to the center of the dough so that their edges line up with each other, encasing the filling in the dough.
From there, use a bench scraper to slice the dough into 1-inch thick strips. Fold the strips in half and nestle them together in the cast iron skillet.
Cover and let this rise for another hour, or until 50% bigger in size.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
When the dough has risen, spread the remaining filling all over the top of the dough.
Bake for 22-26 minutes, or until the bread is a deep, dark brown on top.
While the bread is baking, whisk together the icing ingredients to make a glaze.
Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool until the cast iron is safe to touch. Then drizzle with the glaze and eat.

New to the garden and in jars (but don't put them in jars!)

Radish Dragons Tail Beans were a new addition to our garden this year. I saw someone on Instagram had grown them last year and I was intrigued. Long purple beans that had a radish taste. I for one am not a radish lover... or liker... But Andy sure does. We tossed the seeds in the ground and oddly the radishes and the beans came up looking a lot alike. So much alike I wasn't sure which was which. The Dragons Tail started blooming and flowering and still I was wondering where did the beans come from? It seemed like I blinked and there were beans curling all over the place! We had dinner for Andy's brothers and families when they were in town and they all decided these would make good Dilly Beans. So Dilly Beans they became. The originally family recipe I had for these Dilly Beans did not follow... say.... standard water bath canning protocol so I consulted the Ball Blue Book and adjusted... you are welcome. We open these beans in 10 days to see what becomes of them - I'll update you then... But I do know this recipe is a winner with regular ol' green beans. I will say - these purple beans gave the brine an amazing color! But it's purple... I don't eat blue or purple food - so I'm out.

Update: Ok - let's retract just about all of that about those fancy Dragons Tail Beans. Here's the 2 week results - they smell horrendous. So bad that we had to take the trash out, light a candle, run the dishwasher... Not good. So don't do that.
Instead get yourself some green beans and use those as dilly beans instead. We KNOW that those work and do not stink up the entire 4 block radius. Props to Andy for them these a try and determining they were not, in fact, a go. Oops.

Dilly Beans
3qts or 6 pints
Into each jar put:
1 fresh garlic clove
Bunch of Dill
Beans

Bring to boil:
4-1/2 cups water
4 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup canning salt
6 drops tabasco sauce (optional)

Pour into each jar and seal.
Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Let stand 2 weeks then eat!

Playing the part of a prep chef...

I had fully planned to make this chicken fried rice for Friday dinner - then decided to take the kids to the YMCA to swim. Usually when we do the YMCA we get take out on the way home because it's always a question mark as to when we'll be home. Since I had everything in the house already - we decided to go with it. Andy wasn't able to get off early so I took the kids to the Y. The day before I prepped everything for this dish. I cut and seasoned the chicken, made the rice, chopped the veggies, put the sauce together - all the things. When the kids got out of the pool, I called in our "order" and the "chef" got up from his nap and made us a delicious dinner. The kids LOVED this. I did use more than double the chicken and good thing - they were picking out extra chicken because they liked it so much. This one is an absolute do again. Sure it was work on both our parts but well worth the work when dinner is that good and the kids enjoyed it too!

Chicken Fried Rice
⅓ cup oyster sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
1 (3.5-ounce) package shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
½ cup frozen green peas
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
4 cups leftover white or brown rice
3 large eggs, beaten
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

In a small bowl, whisk together oyster sauce, rice vinegar and red pepper flakes.
Season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet in a single layer and cook until golden brown, about 7-8 minutes; set aside.
Add onion, mushrooms and carrots to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
Stir in garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Stir in green peas until heated through, about 1-2 minutes; set aside .
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and sesame oil over medium high heat.
Spread rice in an even layer. Cook, without stirring, for 2 minutes. Flip and spread in an even layer again, cooking for an additional 2 minutes.
Push rice to one side of the skillet; add eggs to opposite side of the skillet, and cook, stirring often, until thickened and no visible liquid egg remains, about 2-3 minutes.
Stir in chicken, vegetables and oyster sauce mixture until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until flavors have blended, about 3-5 minutes.
Serve immediately, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.

Worth the possible epi-pen use!

When a recipe looks good and you feel like it just has to taste amazing...even if that means you likely won't get a taste of it because you are allergic - details. These blondies were a big hit with my family members and our friends where we brought them to. I like fresh strawberries not cooked - but added to these lemon blondies - they worked. I mean - they told me they worked. The glaze too - I had kids sneaking a taste from the bowl. I had to elbow them out of the way so I could taste. I mean... Ok, ok I tasted the batter and the glaze and maybe a small piece of the blondie. They are worth the possible epi-pen use!

Strawberry Lemon Blondies
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup diced fresh strawberries
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted, measure out your sugar before sifting.
1 Tbsp strawberry puree, you'll need about 2 large strawberries, instructions below.
lemon juice, about 1 Tbsp, or just enough to thin the glaze to a spreadable consistency

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line a 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper with long edges. This is optional but will help you lift out the blondies for easy glazing and slicing later.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg.
When the egg is fully incorporated, beat in the lemon juice. The lemon juice will probably not completely incorporate at this point, that's ok.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and add to the wet ingredients, mixing until no more dry flour is present.
Gently fold in the diced strawberries. Spread the mixture into your pan and spread out as evenly as possible. The dough is thick, so take your time. I like to use a large offset spatula for this job.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, just until starting to turn golden around the edges and the center is set. A toothpick inserted in the center will be moist but not wet. Don't over-bake these, or they will dry out. Let cool on a rack.
Trim the strawberries for the glaze and puree in a small food processor. Strain the puree through a small strainer to get 1 Tbsp of puree. Whisk together the sugar, puree, and lemon juice until no lumps remain. If your glaze is too thin, add a touch more sugar. If it's too thick, add more lemon juice.
Spread the glaze over the cooled blondies. Let the glaze set before slicing.

Celebrating the USA with Korean Short Ribs

We are those middle age people now who have a freezer dedicated to meat. Last year we bought a quarter cow and half a pig and filled our freezer to the brim. We've faithfully gone to the freezer and picked cuts of meat for meals and it has been great! We are getting to the bottoms of the bins and trying to finish up some cuts before the next quarter cow comes. I sent Andy on a mission to pick a piece of meat for July 4th for dinner - he picked beef short ribs. Since we had the day off and decided not to relax, instead we worked our hind ends off all day doing yard work and everything in between so a crockpot recipe was greatly appreciated. We celebrated the birth of the good ol' USA with Korean Short Ribs - I mean why not? These were delicious! I am zero percent a fan of cooking in a crockpot while I'm home, mostly because I have to smell it all day and worry it's not cooking properly or too much. I almost forgot these were on the counter we had so much going on a day. It was wonderful to have a dinner ready to go with some added rice and veg to fortify us to walk to the fireworks and have some fun with friends.

Slow Cooker Korean Short Ribs
4 pounds beef short ribs
Sauce:
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup beef broth
2 tbs rice vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tbs sesame oil
4 cloves garlic minced
1 tbs fresh ginger minced
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 tsp red pepper flakes optional or 2 tablespoons Gochujang
Thickening:
3 tbs cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Instructions
Place ribs in the crock; top with sliced onion.
In a small bowl, mix all sauce ingredients and pour over the ribs. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours, or on high 3-4 hours.
Remove ribs from the cooker. Skim fat from the liquid.
Mix the cornstarch and water and whisk into liquid; blend well. Place meat back in the pot and cook for 20 minutes.