Swedish Rye Bread!

(I just noticed that most of my posts have an exclamation point in the title.  I'm always so excited when something goes right that I just have to convey those feelings with punctuation.)

Swedish Rye bread has quite a few memories attached for my siblings and I.  Our grandmother was an immigrant from Sweden to Texas and stuck to her Swedish roots.  There were little plaques and maps around her house in Swedish.  She also adopted much of the Texas culture.  Thus, Swedish rye bread and gravy.  A delicious, terribly not healthy, breakfast consisting of fried Swedish rye bread smothered in cream or country gravy.  So yummy!  I've never seen it on a menu, heard of anyone else making or even made it myself.  It's never to late to rekindle a tradition though, right?

I'm actually nibbling on a slice of it right now, it's that good.  I bet it would be good with butter but I'm just too lazy. I know for a fact that it does pair quite well with a mug of apple cider!

Place 10 ounces of water, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons white sugar, and 1/4 cup Brer Rabbit light molasses in a glass bowl and microwave for 90 seconds. (Molasses smells terrible!!!  I had no idea!)

Remove, stir ingredients, and place in bread maker pan. (The original recipe left out the part about  the water in the bowl and it turned out fine, but was really hard to work with!)

Place 1/2 cup rye flour and 2 3/4 cup white bread flour on top of liquids.  Make a hole in the center of flour and place 1 1/2 teaspoon bread machine yeast in it.  

Set your controls for 1 1/2 pound loaf and medium crust (I set my machine to Whole Wheat).

The finished product as soon as it was finished!  I couldn't wait to cut into it and it was steaming when I cut it open.  A yummy crusty bread with a bit of sweetness.

What's your favorite bread machine recipe?

Next time on Fabrycated Mom: First Wedding Anniversary Gift 

XOXO

-Lisa

Pumpkin Seeds, Finally!

Daylight savings time ending has given me a whole extra hour to enjoy my Sunday.  Sundays are always over too quickly aren't they?  

Halloween has come and gone and I'm just now getting around to roasting my pumpkin seeds.  I've kept them in a plastic container in the refrigerator for a bit and so they are still fresh. I've really just been holding out for the perfect recipe.  I wanted savory, then I wanted sweet, then I wanted spicy and couldn't make up my mind!!  And then I found it.  A recipe for Sweet, Spicy and Savory Pumpkin Seeds!  It couldn't have been easier and oh boy they are delicious!  I was actually making them more for the hubby because he likes spicy stuff but I can't keep my hands off of them!

Let's get this party started!

So, to start:

• 2 cups cleaned, washed and dried pumpkin seeds
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used salted, no difference that I noticed)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (I only had the dried, again, no difference)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Your friendly ingredients, watch out for cayenne though!!

 Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter and then stir in the brown sugar, salt, rosemary, cinnamon, cayenne and black peppers.
• Stir for 2-3 minutes until the sugar has mostly melted (no joke, I didn't stir long enough and the sugar just clumped when I put the seeds in so use a timer if you need to.)
• Remove from heat, and stir in the pumpkin seeds.

Smells so good!

• Spread on a well-greased cookie sheet.   Some recipes will say to use foil for easy clean up but it will be a terror to get the seeds off.  I didn't even grease my cookie sheet, just used the non stick type and stirred, A LOT. 

Seeds!  As far as the eye can see!

•  Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring 2-3 times during baking.  KEEP A CLOSE EYE!  They will burn, baby burn!  Once they look like this, they are ready! 

After much stirring and waiting, Voila!

My first batch is almost gone and we have friends coming over tonight for baked ribs so I'm sure they'll help us finished them off!

What's your favorite pumpkin seed recipe?

Next on Fabrycated Mom: Swedish Rye Bread (in a bread machine!)

Be sure to subscribe, I'll be giving away an Amazon Gift card within the next few weeks!

XOXO

-Lisa

Earl Grey Tea Cookies!

I have a love affair with Earl Grey Tea.  There's just something about the blend of herbs and black tea that really give me that cozy feeling in the morning and after work!

I was enjoying a cup at work the other day and was inspired to look up a recipe for Earl Grey Tea cookies. My friend Natalie (see her blog here: Soiree Bliss Event Planner Blog ) had an amazing cookie exchange party last year and I'm trying to get a jump on my cookie entry!  I'm shameless!

Speaking of shameless, be sure to subscribe to Fabrycated Mom so you don't miss the "Mac and Cheese Amazon Gift Card Giveaway"!

The cookies are a shortbread style with the tea mixed in.  Very fitting for a High Tea, I would assume! They came out perfectly and I will certainly be making them again.  I told my husband, "Any cookie I can make in the food processor is a cookie I love!"  Very little clean up and super simple for something so delicate!

I cheated a bit, this photo is from Google Images.  BUT mine really looked like this! We ate them before I could take their picture...mmmmmm

Start with: 2 cups all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons loose Earl Grey tea leaves (I used 6 bags of the Twinning), 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and 2 sticks of room temperature butter

Pulse together flour, tea and salt until the tea is just spotted throughout the flour.  

Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and butter.  Pulse together just until a dough is formed.

Place dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a log.  You have to work with it a bit but who doesn't love rolling dough into a log? Roll the log about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.  Tightly twist each end and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Use a bag of rice to keep the round shape. Slice the log into 1/3 inch thick disks.  lace on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart.  Bake at 375 degrees until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes.  Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks (or paper towels in my house) and cool to room temperature. 

The best part about these cookies is the crumbly buttery texture and the light Earl Grey flavor.  I had a few, OK four, before bed and didn't notice any effect from the caffeine.   I made about 12 and put the roll into the freezer to make again when I have the desire.

How have I gone my whole life without making shortbread or even 'icebox' style cookies?  So easy and so delicious?  These are certainly a winner and will be made year round.  Is it wrong to dip them into a lovely steaming cup of Earl Grey tea?  Methinks not!

What are you favorite shortbread or icebox style cookies?

Next on Fabrycated Mom: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Perfect Ribs and (hopefully) Swedish Rye Bread

XOXO
-Lisa

Mac Daddy Mac and Cheese

Hubby decided to 'practice' making a sinful mac and cheese yesterday in preparation for Thanksgiving. Although it turned out great it really wasn't what we where thinking we wanted for Thanksgiving.  This is more of a fancy pants mac than a down home traditional mac and cheese.  The topping, OH the Topping! We will be using this for all manner of things down the road.

My husband cooks in a very organized fashion so I couldn't help but take a picture! The full recipe is at the bottom.

Everything ready to go, just waiting for the pasta to boil!

The recipe called for "1 pound penne pasta".  We used 2 boxes.  I would recommend next time only one, maybe one and half so there is more sauce per noodle.  We also used whole wheat pasta, next time, go for the regular.

The sauce is so thick it just sticks to the pasta!

Real life mac and cheese, complete with bacon!

Served with a rotisserie chicken! Yummy!

This came from Mac Daddy Mac and Cheese

Mac Daddy Mac n' Cheese

Courtesy Guy Fieri May 2008

Prep Time:

20 min

Inactive Prep Time:

1 hr 0 min

Cook Time:

50 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 shallots, peeled  (we only used one, Texan shallots are HUGE!)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 pieces bacon, diced, cooked, reserving 1 tablespoon bacon fat
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups heavy cream (we only had one small container of heavy cream so we used 2 cups half and half, turned out fine.)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound penne pasta, cooked  (we don't have a reliable food scale so we used 2 boxes, I recommend 1 1/2 next time)
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp. melted butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place shallots and garlic in a small aluminum foil pouch and drizzle with olive oil. Roast 20 to 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from foil and chop. In a large saute pan, reheat reserved bacon fat over medium heat. Add roasted shallot and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add flour and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in heavy cream and thyme. Reduce by a third. Stir in cheeses until melted, creamy and thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and gently stir in pasta. Place in a 9X13casserole dish. In a small bowl, mix together diced bacon, bread crumbs, butter and parsley. Top Mac n Cheese with Panko mixture and bake uncovered at same heat until bubbling and lightly browned on top, 20 to 25 minutes.

Dinner was delicious and we will make this again for gatherings certainly, a bit of work but the second time around will be faster I'm sure!  

What's your favorite sinful mac and cheese? 

Next on Fabrycated Mom: Earl Grey Tea Cookies

XOXO

-Lisa