Citrus Sugar Gems

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
• 1½ cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2½ cups flour
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp lemon zest
• 2 Tbsp lime zest
• coarse sugar for rolling cookies in

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Using a mixer, beat the butter and white sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and continue to beat for three more minutes.
3. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir well. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and beat at medium speed for several minutes. Add zest and continue to beat for two more minutes.
4. Roll dough into 1½" balls. Coat with coarse sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for eight to ten minutes. Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack.

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

2 tsp. oil
1-1/2 cups thinly sliced red onion
1-1/2 Tbsp. sliced garlic
6 oz. baby spinach
¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup milk
3 oz. provolone cheese, torn into pieces
1-1/2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 large eggs
1 – 20 oz. butternut squash
1 cup ricotta cheese
1-1/2 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated

Yield: 1 - 8x8 glass baking dish.

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add onion and garlic; sauté for 4 minutes.  Add spinach and sauté until wilted; remove from heat.

Place yogurt, milk, and provolone in a blend, blend for 20 seconds.  Add flour, salt and eggs; blend 1 minute.

Peel the neck of the squash.  Cut the neck from the bulb; and slice the neck into 24 long slices 1/8 inch thick.  Place squash slices in the baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 4 minutes or until almost tender.

Remove the squash from the baking dish.  Coat the dish with cooking spray; spread ½ cup of the yogurt mixture in the bottom of the pan.

Shingle 1/3 of the squash over the yogurt mixture.  Top with 1/3 of the ricotta, 1/3 of the spinach mixture, and 1/3 of the remaining yogurt mixture.  Repeat twice ending with the yogurt mixture.

Sprinkle lasagna with Gruyere.  Cover dish with foil and bake for 60 minutes.  Remove foil and broil until lightly browned.  Let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Notes:
A double recipe will fit in a 9x13 pan.
You could certainly add some cooked italian sausage.

Reverse Seared Steak

Steaks, preferably around an inch thick
Salt
Oil or butter

Pat the steaks dry and rub about a tsp of salt on each. Let them sit uncovered in the fridge overnight. Let come to room temperature before cooking.

Preheat oven to 200, and put steaks on a baking rack on a baking sheet covered in foil. Let the steaks cook until they reach an internal temperature of 120 (45-75 minutes depending on the thickness of the steaks.)

Let the steaks rest for 5-10 minutes, tented in foil, while a cast iron pan gets as hot as you can get it on the stove. Brush both sides of the steaks in butter or oil (preferably something with a high smoke point), then sear both sides for 60-90 seconds. Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve. The steaks should be around 130-135 degrees.

Kremówka Papieska

Try this for Wigilia
https://www.thespruceeats.com/polish-papal-cream-cake-recipe-1136954

This Polish cream cake dessert was renamed papal cream cake or kremówka papieska (kreh-MOOF-kah pah-PYESS-kah) when it was learned St. Pope John Paul II loved it.

Karol Hagenhuber attended Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, Poland (Wadowice is in southern Poland, about 50 km from Krakow), with none other than Karol Wojtyła, who later became the cardinal of Kraków and then Pope John Paul II and now St. Pope John Paul II. As school chums, they would often stop at Hagenhuber's father's bakery where the future pope would invariably purchase one or two cream cakes and a love affair with the dessert began.

If push came to shove, you could say that kremówka is similar to a French napoléon only in the latter case, the dessert is cut into rectangles, not squares.

A very similar Polish dessert is karpatka or Polish Carpathian Mountain cream cakewhose uneven top layer dusted with confectioners' sugar looks like the rugged mountainous terrain of the Polish Highlands.

Two Eastern European desserts similar to kremówka are Serbian krempita and sampita which, in the latter case, is filled with meringue.

Use the leftover egg whites in another recipe like a meringue torte.

• 2 sheets puff pastry dough (1.1 pound package, thawed)
• For the Pastry Cream:
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch salt
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 large egg yolks (beaten)
• Garnish: confectioners' sugar

Steps to Make It

1. Heat oven to 400 F.

Bake the Puff Pastry

1. Roll out each piece of puff pastry slightly to blend the seam lines, keeping it 1/4-inch thick (try not to warp the shape when rolling).
2. Without cutting all the way through, lightly score each pastry sheet into 9 even sections. This is just a guide to be used when cutting and serving.
3. Sandwich each puff pastry sheet between two pieces of parchment paper and two cooling racks. This will keep the pastry flat but still flaky. If you want to bake both pastry sheets at the same time, you will need four cooling racks. Otherwise, bake them separately, using two cooling racks.
4. Bake 15 minutes, remove top rack and top sheet of parchment paper.
5. Replace rack and continue to bake until golden and crispy throughout, about 15 more minutes. Cool completely.

Make the Pastry Cream

1. While the puff pastry is baking, make the pastry cream. If you like a thick layer of filling, make a double batch.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, cornstarch, and egg yolks to a boil, stirring constantly with a wire whisk.
3. Reduce heat slightly and continue to boil 1 minute, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to get in the corners.
4. Take the pan off the heat and plunge it into an ice-water bath or, if you have lumps, strain it through a sieve into a pan or heatproof bowl set in ice water.
5. Do not chill the pastry cream. It will be poured hot over the baked puff pastry.

Assemble the Kremówka

1. Using a 13x9-inch pan as a mold, place one layer of cooked puff pastry in the bottom of the pan.
2. Pour hot pastry cream over it, and place the second layer of cooked puff pastry with the cutting-guide marks on top.
3. Refrigerate until set. When ready to serve, using the prescored marks as guides, cut into 9 pieces. Dust each piece with confectioners' sugar. Refrigerate the leftovers.

Superior Corn Bread

The only cornbread that's still any good the next day.  Who could've guessed - the extra cup of fat helps!

From Taste of Home

1 c all-purpose flour
1 c cornmeal
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c (8 oz) sour cream
1/3 c milk
1/4 c butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk together the egg, sour cream, milk, and butter; stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.

Pour into a greased 8-in. square pan.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Serve warm.

Lemon Orzo Salad

• 1 lb. whole wheat orzo 
• 2/3 cup Panera® Mediterranean Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries 
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds 
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest 
• 3/4 cup feta, crumbled 
• 3 cups mixed greens (like arugula, baby kale and baby spinach) 
• to taste salt and black pepper
• Instructions:

1. Cook pasta to al dente, drain and rinse 
2. Mix everything together 

My Notes:

• Use half the pasta called for
• Instead of the fancy (and I'm sure delicious) dressing, I just juiced the lemon and mixed it with cheap-o Aldi Italian dressing. It's really good!
• My greens are all spinach
• Would be better thoroughly chilled with the greens added just before serving.

Source:

https://www.paneraathome.com/meal-ideas/types/salads/lemon-orzo-salad

Crock Pot Breakfast Bake

This is a perfect method for Sunday brunch!

Cooking spray, for slow cooker
12 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. finely chopped chives
salt
pepper
2 c. shredded Cheddar
1 lb. baby potatoes, thinly sliced 1/8" thick
10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 c. thinly sliced red onion
1 c. chopped red bell pepper
Chopped parsley, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

• Whisk together eggs, milk, and chives; season with salt and pepper. Stir in cheese.
• Lightly grease a 5- or 6-quart crock pot. Layer half the potatoes, bacon, red onion, and red peppers, then the rest of the potatoes. Pour in the egg mixture.
• Cover and cook on low for 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Garnish with parsley.

My Notes:

• I cut the potatoes and onion pretty thin with my Pampered Chef mandoline - quick, easy and consistent.
• I was concerned that both chives and onion would be overwhelming, but it was fine.
• Used pre-cooked bacon pieces from Costco.
• Just used regular potatoes that I had around.
• I  was a little afraid that all the potatoes would clump together so I did more layering - one layer of potatoes, a little onion/bacon/peppers, repeat.
• It would be very easy to change out the breakfast meat and seasonings.
• I did the egg/cheese prep the night before and just put it together on Sunday morning.  It was done and perfect in time for after-Mass brunch.  
• Source