Category: Bake and Cook

Artist's World, Author's World, Bake and Cook, Bookshelf, Card Crafting, Seasonal Delights, Uncategorized, Watercolor Life

Season’s Greetings

Veronica Mahara

Hello Everyone,

It’s been awhile since I posted. Life is busy for us all now that we are able to get back to some resemblance of normal. I’m so looking forward to this holiday season. Thanksgiving is coming up in our country and it will feel good to get together with family and friends. I’ll be preparing to bring to my daughter’s home the usual — stuffing and pies. The stuffing recipe is my Dad’s and is his version of an English recipe. It includes potatoes with the bread cubes, onions and celery and a good amount of poultry seasoning. Everyone loves it.

I’m in the middle of writing my fourth book. It takes a character from Sacred Terrain, the second in my Traveled Hearts series. Jane Cabot is her name and if you’ve read the book you know she has her eyes on Caleb. Caleb is true to Jessica even though she hasn’t been found yet. Everyone is losing hope except Caleb, but Jane is a tempting diversion.

As a character I found her so interesting but had to cut most of her life out as it didn’t pertain to the story at hand. I’m having a great time writing this and can’t wait to come to the part where she meets Caleb and we get to experience her side of that episode. For the most part it will be about her life as a wealthy woman losing what she thought was valuable to find something more real and lasting. Look for it in 2022/23.

Loads of card making. Love this hobby and all that goes with it. Still watercoloring and teaching my grandchildren art once a week. My love for reading takes its place at night cozied up to my husband who reads also. I just finished the second book in a series by Susie Murphey. A Matter of Class and A Class Entwined. If you’re looking for some good historical fiction with heart this series fits the bill. A page turner.

Until next time– Have a wonderful day (or night depending on where you are)

Peace and Love,

Veronica

Author's World, Bake and Cook, Seasonal Delights

Easy Winter Supper Recipe

Veronica Mahara

Good Monday Morning All!

So winter has hit here in the Pacific Northwest. We were lulled into thinking we’d get by with just some rain but the snow has hit us hard in the past week and there is more on the way.

Growing up in Massachusetts my mom had some good winter comfort recipes. Here is the one I recently made:

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I call it three layer casserole.

It’s a delicious combo of seasoned ground turkey, (she used ground beef) corn and mashed potatoes with just the right seasonings and spices. Simple.

You’ll need:

4 med. baking potatoes – washed then baked until soft inside -1-2 hours. Let cool slightly.

1 medium onion chopped

clove of garlic

1 pound ground turkey meat. I used ground turkey breast.

Tablespoon of oil – use whatever oil you like. The turkey is so lean you may even need a bit more.

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

One small bag of frozen corn or one can of corn drained. I use one bag of organic frozen corn. Set aside until layering.

Mix together: 1 teaspoon of salt,  1/2  teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon rosemary, 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon adobo dry spice.

I like to use more or less of the spices above- use your own taste meter.

Saute onion and garlic until onions are translucent. Add ground turkey, breaking the turkey up as much as you can. I like small pieces.

Add spice mix and Worcestershire sauce to meat and combine thoroughly. Set aside and prepare potatoes.

Empty potato out of skins and mash adding  salt and pepper to taste along with  1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, 2 Tablespoons of milk, 2 Tablespoons of butter and 1/4 cup of water. The water sounds weird but since these are baked and not boiled they will be dryer. They taste richer than boiled and easier to prepare. You can also use more milk and butter- I was trying to make this waistband friendly. Just make sure they are nice and creamy.

In a greased baking dish spread corn on bottom-no need to cook before hand. Then spread the meat mixture and top with mashed potatoes. Dot the top with butter. Or if you want you can add sharp cheddar cheese to the top! Yum!! Then  sprinkle with a little dried parsley and  Bake!

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until the crust of the potato topping is nice and brown.

This will serve about six hardy portions or eight medium portions. We ate it for three nights in a row. It was so good! Comfort food for sure 🙂

Stay warm!  (and for all of you in Australia – stay cool!!)

Until next time,

Peace and Love,

Veronica

 

 

 

Author's World, Bake and Cook, Seasonal Delights

Holy Holly Berries, Next Week is Christmas!

Veronica Mahara

making gingerbread cookies
Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

Are we all ready for Christmas? I am. Really I am. No really … Maybe … Gotta Go!! Gingerbread cookies! 🙂

For my Christmas Eve family party I’m making pavlova for dessert. My inspiration came download

from The Food Network. You can find the recipe there.

It’s a light, delicious treat after a big meal. Sweet whipped and baked meringue, whipped cream and fruit, what more could one ask for? I made this for my husband when we were dating. It was so good I hardly remember the date …

Next Monday we’ll be putting up the party decorations and giving the final touches on our roast turkey, scalloped potatoes and roasted veggies. They’ll be lots of treats and appetizers too.

Wishing you all a great week and a wonderful Holiday Season!!

Peace and Love!

Veronica

 

Bake and Cook

Salmon Salad Recipe

Veronica Mahara

Good Monday Morning to You!

blur bokeh candle christmas decoration
Photo by picjumbo.com on Pexels.com

Here’s the salmon salad recipe I promised in an earlier post.

I usually don’t like canned fish in any way, but I was surprise how good this tasted.

So, get a can of deboned, de-skinned salmon.

1 glove of garlic – chopped fine

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1/2 stick of celery -chopped fine

1 tablespoon red onion – chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon of  spicy brown mustard

2 tablespoons of mayonnaise or slightly more or less depending on your taste for a wetter or dryer mix/ start with less and see how you like it.

Pinch of salt and pepper

Splash of Old Bay … that’s my added touch.

Mix well. This makes about two -three good sandwiches so double or triple recipe as needed.

You can fill any thing with this savory mix.

I think it will be one of my appetizers on Christmas Eve stacked on rounds of store bought puff pastry! Yum!

Wishing you all a great day and Happy December!

Peace and Love,

Veronica

 

 

Bake and Cook

Special Dessert Recipe

Veronica Mahara

Good Monday Morning!

A new week begins and the air smells of the holidays to come!

Here is a fun dessert I made for me and my hubby Jeff. It was indulgent and we loved it!!

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The recipe is so simple. Find a good recipe for Petit Chou or try mine:

One cup water

5 tablespoons of salted butter

A pinch of salt/ butter is already salted but I like a bit more, suit your own taste.

One cup of all purpose flour.

3 eggs

Bring water and butter to boil, add flour all at once and stir well until it forms a soft dough. The dough is hot so you’ll have to temper your eggs or let it cool down some. Otherwise you could end up with a little scramble egg pieces. Gross.  I did this by adding a spoonful of the dough in my eggs and mixing. Set eggs mixture aside and add the flour mixture to the kitchen-aid or a bowl to blend with hand mixer (you can do this part by hand with a wooden spoon but it takes a long time) Add your egg mixture in three parts and mix until the dough sheets off the paddle or hand mixer blades easily. If it’s too runny add just a  bit of flour and if it’s too stiff add a bit of water. Blend well again. Don’t over blend though. Your dough should have a nice sheen to it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spoon onto lightly greased baking sheet in rounds or oblong shapes. (Or any shape you like – it’s fun to see what comes out) Bake for 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown- Turn off your heat and  poke a slit in each one and bake for another 5 minutes. It lets out the air that can make the puff soggy so make sure you do this step. It might take longer for the drying so check on them. A tap to the bottom of one should sound hollow. Take out, fill them warm or cold.

There are lots of ways to use these scrumptious delights. Here I put a small scoop of Chocolate Chip ice cream and dusted them with powdered sugar after they had cooled. For our dinner we had the long ones, still warm filled with a salmon salad – (The recipe for the salmon salad is my daughter’s creation. I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing in an upcoming post. It’s too good to keep it to ourselves!)

Don’t be afraid of Petit Chou. I’ve made these for over 40 years (oh geez, am I that old?) and most of the time they come out like this and sometimes they come out flat. ?? Even so, they are still so yummy.

Have fun and enjoy the bake!

Love and Peace,

Veronica

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