recipes Archives - Linda Nelson

HELLO FOLKS, IT’S ME, LINDA………..

………..the gal who would rather avoid culinary crafting at all costs. Well, I stepped out of my comfort zone yesterday and wowed my guests with a few homemade summertime treats.

©Linda Nelson 2015

We started the evening off with hand shook margaritas poured over ice. The recipe provided on the Cointreau’s back label is excellent. I tweaked it slightly by adding one teaspoon of Goya’s blue agave organic sweetener to each serving, and the consensus was to forego salting the rims of the glasses. These winner cocktails were the perfect accompaniment to a fabulous guacamole and chips starter, courtesy of one of my guests. My other guests, a fantastic husband/wife team in the kitchen, whipped up the makings for some gold star worthy tacos.

After another round of “Linda’s Margaritas” we finished our festive meal off with my homemade peach-mango granita accompanied with lemon-lavender shortbread. I divided the shortbread dough into sixteen equal pieces, rolled each into a ball, and then flattened them into mini pancake shapes. I found this method easier than trying to slice through a four-inch log.

The granita recipe is a combined variation of quite a few that I researched via the internet. Here’s my version –

LINDA’S PEACH-MANGO GRANITA

Dissolve 1/4 cup sugar in 1/2 cup hot water to make a “quickie” simple syrup. Puree syrup with 2 large ripe peaches (peeled and chopped), one jumbo very ripe mango (peeled and chopped), 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour puree into an eight or nine-inch deep dish casserole and freeze for four hours, scraping and stirring the puree with a fork every forty-five minutes. Be sure to thoroughly scrape the sides of the casserole dish each time, so as to prevent an undesirable texture to the icing process. Serve and enjoy!

©Linda Nelson 2015

The summer is not over, folks…….. it’s still a very granita season.

REVIEWING WHAT I BAKED FOR CHRISTMAS

December 29, 2014

I’m not one for spending much time in the kitchen, but I do delight in baking during the Christmas holiday season. Here’s a recap and critique of the goodies I chose to make this year –

All were prepared exactly according to directions unless stated otherwise.

Lemon Cranberry Bars – This one is not only a keeper, but my favorite, too! The bars are quite tart, but absolutely delicious. The recipe is straightforward and delivers as intended. A dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream is the perfect accompaniment to temper any mouths that might pucker.

©Linda Nelson 2014

Almond Bark – Fabulous and very easy to make! I varied this recipe slightly in that I used one cup of slivered almonds, 1/2 cup of unsweetened flaked coconut, 1/2 cup of pistachios and a pinch of salt. I toasted the coconut and almonds together in a pan on the stovetop in a tiny amount of melted butter. As suggested, I used Ghirardelli chocolate.

©Linda Nelson 2014

Chocolate Espresso Snowballs – These are super delicious, however, I had a little trouble with the recipe. For me, the batter did not come together to form a dough that I could refrigerate. I took a big leap of faith and skipped that step, opting to simply plop tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, then bake as directed. I sprinkled them with confectioner’s after they cooled. They came out flat like a sugar cookie, and had a somewhat chewy texture. Despite this little glitch, I’d make them again because they are definitely a chocolate/coffee lover’s delight, and make my kitchen smell divine.

Pecan-Cranberry Cream Cheese Crescents – Very tasty; however, I failed to roll the dough out thin enough, which just happens to slightly mimic apple pie crust. I will do these again, but be more mindful of my dough rolling practices. I substituted almonds for the pecans.

Perhaps you’d like to give one of these gems a try to ring in the New Year. Hey, what’s a few extra calories, right?

There you have it.

Now, get creative and go bake something.

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