Category Archives: Stone Soup and Other Delicacies

June 26, 2016

Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Rounds

I don’t have sweets around very often, but when I do, I prefer a plain baked crustless cheesecake, strawberry rhubarb pie or shortbread cookies. Fortunately the latter does not take a lot of fuss to bake from scratch. The basic Scottish Shortbread (shout out to my ancestors!) is a mildly sweet, buttery cookie, perfect for dipping in one’s tea, or a tall glass of ice cold milk!

I’m betting you probably have all the ingredients on hand. It only takes about 45 minutes or so to whip up a batch! Here’s all you need:

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup room temperature butter
2 cups all purpose flour

Some recipes will have you fussing with unsalted butter, adding salt separately along with other ingredients like powdered sugar and vanilla, but I like to keep my shortbreads simple, except for maybe a bit of chocolate. This is optional though. If you’re not into chocolate (I’m not sure I can trust you! JK!!!) you can add a bit more sweetness to your cookies by sprinkling the tops with sugar before you bake them.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Cream the sugar and butter together until well blended. Add the flour a 1/2 cup at a time blending to ensure that the dry is well incorporated into the dough.

Turn out onto a flat surface and kneed the dough for a few minutes so that it is smooth enough to roll out (it has a consistency of pie crust).

Roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut your cookies in your desired shapes, placing on an UNgreased cookie sheet.

These cookies don’t spread or expand in size so you can place them fairly close together. This recipe yields about 2 dozen 2 inch rounds. You can also cut them into “finger” shapes if you prefer.

Put in the oven, set your timer for 25 minutes (give or take a few – it’s always a good idea calibrate your oven’s cooking time the first time to try a new recipe.) The tops of your cookies will be a pale golden brown and the bottoms will be a darker golden hue.

While your cookies are cooling melt semI-sweet chocolate chips according to the package instructions. I like to use a cup or a short drinking glass in the microwave to make dipping easier. Take care not to burn the chocolate (a lesson learned from personal experience!).Dip your cookies halfway and place on waxed paper to cool. I had thought about doing a nice plated view for you, but I was afraid they might not last that long…so here they are! Enjoy!!!

9 Comments | tags: chocolate, recipes, shortbread cookies | posted in Stone Soup and Other Delicacies

June 19, 2016

Shrimp with Asparagus and Peppers on Rice

By Kat Myrman

So, first off I need to give a big shout out to my blog buddy Kathryn, at anotherfoodieblogger. Her Drunken Shrimp with Spaghetti and Peppers inspired my latest kitchen experiment. Be sure to check her recipe out too!

I didn’t have all of the lovely ingredients for her dish, but I did have a bag of pre-cooked Shrimp, sweet peppers, spring onion, Roma tomatoes and asparagus on hand. And I wanted something shrimp so I gave it a go.

Here’s what I did manage to scrounge up in my kitchen…

Ingredients

Olive Oil

1 bunch spring onions, chopped

1lb fresh asparagus, sliced

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 cup sliced sweet peppers

2 TBS fresh pressed garlic

1 tsp Sea salt

1 tsp fresh milled pepper blend

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

A few drops of concentrated lemon juice

1 TBS Sriracha sauce

1 TBS Butter

And a batch of cooked rice for later

Start off with all the veggies. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the pan, add the veggies, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and toss on medium heat until the tomatoes are cooked down and the asparagus is tender.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the rice) and cover, simmering until the shrimp is defrosted and hot. Serve on a bed of rice.

Easy peasy, spicy and delish. Next time you are standing in front of the frig wondering what’s for dinner, take a walk on the wild side, toss a few of your favorites into a pot and voilà! You too can be a kitchen pantry gourmet!

Happy cooking!

13 Comments | tags: asparagus, recipes, shrimp | posted in Stone Soup and Other Delicacies

April 17, 2016

Adventures..Um…DISASTERS in Baking

By Kat Myrman

My daughter’s baby shower is next weekend and it is everything yellow. I thought some Lemon French Macaroons would be really pretty on the table, but I’m intimidated by anything French so I decided to give it a trial run today!

I found a recipe in Pinterest HERE. Just in case you want to give it a try.

The chef is confident that anyone can do it. (I hear you shaking your head and rolling your eyes right now…but I was determined!)

I assembled the ingredients and started with the merengue shells.
<img src=”https://katmyrman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/img_6753-1.jpg” alt=””

I’m feeling confident. Just look at those nice egg whites! So far so good!

This is likely where things went downhill. Everything seemed to be going according to the recipe…

The chef issued several warnings not to over fold the batter…I I freaked a bit. I’m thinking in retrospect I didn’t fold the batter enough….

Note to self…sandwich bags are definitely a messy alternative to pastry bags. If there is a next time, get pastry bags!

I let the batter rest the prescribed time.

Baked them the shortest time called for in the recipe, but I think they could have used less time.

While the shells were cooling I made the Lemon Buttercream Filling.

The Verdict: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! Just kidding! But clearly this takes a bit of practice. So do try it…several times before serving to your guests.

It’s a good thing I already planned a few tried and true recipes for the big day! This one will need to wait. 😊

On a bright note, Maxwell likes them! Haha! He gave it his drool of approval! So…..

How did you spend your Sunday? 😜

13 Comments | tags: kitchen disasters, pinterest | posted in Humor, Random Thoughts and Musings, Stone Soup and Other Delicacies

April 13, 2016

Veggie Bin Stir Fry Shrimp

By Kat Myrman

It’s been a while since I puttered around in the kitchen. I do my best creating on the fly and on a deadline. The deadline in question tonight is beating the expiration date on fresh veggies in my ‘frig along with some pre-cooked shrimp I picked up just for the occasion. (But you could substitute chicken or thin slices of beef for the shrimp if you like.)

So…after assessing my veggie bin, there were a few things I couldn’t save…the cucumbers and a package of Roma tomatoes. But I was in luck! I had just enough variety to make a colorful, sweet, savory treat.

(Note: before you begin, prepare 2 servings of rice – however you like to cook it. Me? I like to nuke it so it’s ready when I’m done with the stir fry.)

The Ingredients

(Depending on what you have in your veggie bin, you could also add things like Asparagus, Broccoli, Cabbage, Green Beans, Snow Peas…you get the idea!)

1-1/2 cups of Grape Tomatoes – sliced in 3’s
1 cup of Spring Onions – sliced
4 Celery Stalks – chopped
1 dozen Sweet Snack Peppers
2 TBS EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 TBS Granulated Garlic
Salt & Pepper

Toss all this into a skillet and stir fry until the veggies are tender.

Add 2 cups of pre-cooked frozen Shrimp to the skillet

… and about a TBS each of Sweet Chili Sauce and Sriracha Sauce…because EVERYTHING is better with a little Sriracha!!! Give the whole thing a good stir to blend, cover and simmer on low until the shrimp is defrosted and heated through.

And that’s all there is to it! Serve over a bed of cooked rice. Yummy! 😊

12 Comments | tags: celery, grape tomatoes, recipes, rice, shrimp, spring onions, sriracha, stir fry, sweet peppers | posted in Essays, Random Thoughts and Musings, Stone Soup and Other Delicacies

January 24, 2016

Black Bean Soup and Beer Bread

By Kat Myrman

When the temperatures drop, I crave soup…and bread. I scanned the cupboards to see what I had on hand and found a lovely bag of black beans. I also had a few of the essentials around, so Black Bean Soup it was!

The first thing I needed to do was prepare the beans. According to the bag (1 lbs dry black beans) this meant bringing them to a boil in 4 cups of water and simmering for 10 minutes and then covering them for a one hour rest.

While the beans were plumping, I assembled the other ingredients. Not having a tried and true recipe on hand, I gleaned several recipes online and came up with a recipe of my own based on my preferences (as in no cilantro, as some recipes called for…I am one of those peculiar people who can’t stand the stuff!) and what I happened to have on hand. This is how I do most of my home cooking. It has helped to have this blog so I can write it down. That way I don’t have to repeat the process from scratch when I want to create a dish from scratch! 🙂

Here’s what I came up with:

Starting line-up – the holy trinity for anything hot and soupy or stewy…
1 onion, chopped
3-4 celery stalks, chopped
about 6 garlic cloves, chopped

A little spice-a isa so nice-a 🙂

“To Taste” (you’ll want to adjust the amounts based on your own preferences)
Salt
Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper (me? I like it hot! so I use about a 1/2 teaspoon of the stuff, but you may want to be a bit more conservative.)

“By the Numbers” (I saw this ingredient on several recipes. When ground, it’s aroma reminds me of chili powder (without the chilies of course) and since I’ve already added the heat a la crushed red pepper, straight cumin felt like a good add to the mix. (Hey, you’re dealing with an intuitive cook here! Preparing food is a very emotional, driven by the senses type of experience for me. I haven’t killed anyone with my cooking yet, so I’m going with it!) 🙂

So…make that, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin

And a few more essentials:
two cans of chopped tomatoes (15 oz each or so)
1 TBS of Balsamic Vinegar (This was one of those “magic” ingredients mentioned a few times, meant to make this soup amazing!)
4 cups of Vegetable Broth (I found a cool concentrate brand…so I always have some in the ‘fridge.)

Once you have added all of the above to your beans (don’t drain) in your soup pot, you’re going to want to simmer it for several hours until the beans are tender. It smells heavenly while it cooks.

I’m thinking I will serve it with a bit of sour cream or shredded cheese (need to check the ‘fridge to see what I have…) I always have one or both on hand.

And as a perfect side-kick, my favorite recipe of all time…Beer Bread. You can see that recipe HERE.

Kat’s Famous Beer Bread

Check back a little later today. I’ll be posting the final pic, all bowled and camera-ready when it’s done! 🙂

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It’s later…(about 2 hours)

Even though the beans were quite soft, the consistency was a bit more soupy than I like it, so I pulled out my hand blender to thicken things up a bit. And…it needed a little bit more salt. This is your chance to make your final tweaks…