Keeper Recipes - January 2010

Well, it's January again - time to torture my unsuspecting family expand our dinnertime repertoire with some new recipes! My family dreads anticipates this month of cooking madness with zeal, and appreciates my yearly effort to expand our tastes! By the end of the month we will hopefully have tried at least 10 new main dish recipes, from which we always find a few great 'keeper's' to add to our monthly menu roundup! Here is the first 'main dish' recipe as well as a dessert - both keepers!

My friend Mrs. S, served this wonderful soup to our family on New Years Day - and of course, I asked for the recipe! It's from a great looking book called Crazy Plates: Low-Fat Food So Good, You'll Swear It's Bad for You! by Janet Podleski & Greta Podleski! I've put it on my Amazon 'wish list' and I'll keep an eye out for it second hand too. I made it today and we enjoyed it for supper - my Historian is not a big barley soup fan, but he really likes this recipe!

I think he will like beef barley soup from now on since this delicious recipe has undoubtedly wiped out all past memories of the mysterious blobs of undulating fat that floated about in the college cafeteria soup - 'Barf Barley' was on the menu at least three times a week for two years, and he never once found a scrap of anything remotely resembling beef!

Looking For Mr. Goodbarley Soup

1. Spray a large soup pop with non-stick spray. Add beef and brown on all sides over high heat. Work in two batches if necessary 2. Reduce heat to medium. Add celery, carrots, onions and garlic. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients to pot, except parsley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 1-1/2 hours, until beef is very tender. Stir in parsley and serve hot

1-1/2 pounds stewing beef, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-sized pieces 1 cup each chopped celery, chopped carrots and chopped onions 1 clove garlic, minced 7 cups water 4 tsp beef bouillon powder 1 cup tomato sauce 2/3 cup pearl barley 1-1/2 tsp dried marjoram 3/4 tsp dried thyme 1/2 tsp black pepper Salt to taste 1/3 cup chopped, fresh parsley

In cleaning out the fridge yesterday, we found two containers of sour cream - just slightly expired! It had been on a great sale and I was itching to make my Sweet Dilly Dip. I didn't get to it and the sour cream got pushed to the back of the fridge! Solution: coffee cake! I was looking at my new Midwest Living Magazine and they featured a nice looking Jam Crumb Cake. Perfect! I put it in the oven before supper and we enjoyed it as a dessert - in small pieces since it is pretty high in fat. It was moist and delicious, and I was able to use a whole jar of Blueberry Jam that I made last summer. The jam has a very nice flavor but an odd texture since I greatly reduced the sugar. Perhaps too much since we have about 34 jars left ...

Jam Crumb Cake

Midwest Living

Prep: 25 minutes (10 minutes - I have an organized baking center and that is a huge help)

Cool: 20 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes (it was done in 44 minutes today)

Ingredients

• Crumb Topping (recipe follows)
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup dairy sour cream (mine was reduced fat)
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 10-oz. jar strawberry or seedless raspberry spreadable fruit (I used Blueberry)
  

Directions

1. Grease a 9x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside. Mix together the Crumb Topping; set aside. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until well combined. Add egg, sour cream and vanilla and beat until mixture is smooth. Beat in flour mixture just until combined. (Batter will be thick).

3. Spread the batter into prepared pan. Spoon spreadable fruit over batter, spreading evenly. Sprinkle Crumb Topping over all.

4. Bake in a 350 degree F oven 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm. Makes 9 servings.

5. Crumb Topping: In a bowl, mix 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Stir in 1/2 cup melted butter.

Midwest Living takes better pictures than I do!

Enjoy!