Kristi's White Wine Chicken

Hot Mama Notes: We had this chicken for dinner at our girls' weekend.  It was fantastic.  I can't wait to make it for my family! :)

Hot Mama Grade: A

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles with Caramel

http://therecipecritic.com/2013/07/brown-butter-salted-caramel-snickerdoodles/

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles

INGREDIENTS
2½ cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, sliced
1¼ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
1 cup caramel squares, cut into ¼'s
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Coarse Sea salt for sprinkling on completed cookies

INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, cinnamon, and set aside.
To brown the butter, heat a medium saucepan to medium high heat. Add the sliced butter, whisking frequently. You will notice the butter starting to become frothy on the top and brown specks will start to form along the bottom. You have to watch it closely because the turn happens quickly and you don't want it to burn. You will start to smell a nutty aroma and once it turns to a brown color, remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
While the butter is cooling, cut the carmel squares into ¼'s.
In a stand mixer, combine the brown butter and brown sugar, and ½ cup granulated sugar. (The ¼ cup sugar will be used for rolling in the cookies). Mix until blended and smooth.
Beat in egg, yolk, vanilla and yogurt and mix until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients until combined.
Form the dough into a ball and cover with plastic. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
Once you are ready to bake preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball and place 1-2 caramel squares inside, wrap the cookie dough over the caramel and roll back into a ball. Make sure it is completely covered so that the caramel won't stick to the pan.
Mix ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and roll each cookie in the mixture. Place on a cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. (I used course sea salt)
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges turn lightly brown. The centers will be soft. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

NOTES
Recipe Adapted from Two Peas and their Pod

Hot Mama Notes: 

I made this for my friends during a girls weekend.  The problem is that we were at elevation (6627ft), and I didn't make any adjustments for that.  As a result, the cookies tasted good (everyone loved them, and they all got eaten), but they were flat.  :( :( 

As good as these cookies were, I am not sure when (if) I will make them again.  They are very time-consuming and rather labor-intensive.  The chopping of the caramels.  The browning of the butter.  The waiting in the frig.  

Hot Mama Grade: B

Some recommendations for baking cookies at altitude from Betty Crocker:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/how-to/tipslibrary/baking-tips/baking-cooking-high-altitudes

• Decrease butter or shortening (2 Tbsp to 1/4 cup) if cookies spread too much

• Decrease sugar slightly if cookies spread too much (amount depends on size of batch and other ingredients)

• Increase liquid by 1 to 2 Tbsp only if dough is too dry and cookies don’t spread

• Increase flour (starting with 1 or 2 Tbsp) if cookies spread too much

• Increase bake time by 1 to 3 minutes

• Decrease bake time by 1 to 2 minutes

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-lemonade-ever/

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c  White Sugar
1 1/2 c  Lemon Juice, fresh squeezed
8 c        Water

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.
2. Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

Hot Mama Notes:

This recipe is good.  A bit sweet.  Next time, I will try it with 1.5 c sugar or less for the sugar syrup!

Hot Mama Grade: A-

Hot Crash Potatoes

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

Ingredients

• 12 whole New Potatoes (or Other Small Round Potatoes)
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
•  Kosher Salt To Taste
•  Black Pepper To Taste
•  Rosemary (or Other Herbs Of Choice) To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.

On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.

With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.

Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available.)

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Hot Mama Notes: This recipe was a lot of work for what you ended up with.  And at the end, I think I would rather have had plain roasted baby red potatoes (the type I used in this recipe) or even plain boiled baby red potatoes with butter and salt.  I felt like the end result was a bit oily-tasting and very greasy.  I don't think I would make them again.  My husband wasn't enthused about them and neither were my children.

Hot Mama Grade: C

Crockpot Beans

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-beans-in-the-slow-cooker-74529

How To Cook Beans in the Slow Cooker

What You Need

Ingredients
Any amount of dried beans (Other than lentils; see How to Cook Lentils)
2 teaspoon salt per pound of beans, divided
Aromatics, like a bay leaf, peeled garlic, minced onion, or dried herbs (optional)
Smoked meat, like ham hock or smoked turkey leg (optional)
  (or 1T or 1t of fat of choice such as bacon grease)

Equipment
3 1/2-quart or smaller slow cooker, for 1 pound of beans or less
OR
5-quart or larger slow cooker for 2 pounds of beans or more

Instructions

1. Soak the beans overnight (optional): Rinse the beans under cool, running water and remove any shriveled or unappetizing-looking beans. Transfer them to a bowl and cover with several inches of clean water. Let sit overnight. Drain before cooking.
   → Safety Note: If you are cooking kidney beans, boil them for 10 minutes before cooking. This neutralizes a toxin called phytohemagglutinin (say that 3 times fast) that can cause acute digestive distress.
2. Transfer the beans to the slow cooker: If you haven't already done so, rinse and pick over the beans. Transfer the beans to a slow cooker.
3. Add aromatics: Place the aromatics on top of the beans.
4. Cover with water: Pour enough water over the beans to cover them by about 2 inches. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and stir to dissolve.
5. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours: Cover the pot and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. If you this is your first time cooking beans or you're cooking an unfamiliar kind of bean, begin checking the beans after 5 hours and then every 30 minutes until they are cooked to your liking. Beans generally finish cooking in 6 to 8 hours. When the beans are soft but still a little more firm than you'd like, add the second teaspoon of salt and continue cooking until done.
6. Cool and store: Cool the beans and then store them in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Recipe Note:

• For a quicker cooking time, or if your beans are older than a year, try soaking the beans overnight with a brine solution of 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt mixed into 8 cups of water.

Other Notes:

For small batches of beans, a pound or less, I think 3 1/2-quart or smaller slow cooker does the best job. When I use my big 7-quart slow cooker, I usually cook 2 pounds or more and freeze what I don't use right away. Beans freeze beautifully! I freeze them in 2-cup portions, which makes it easy to pull out just what I need for a recipe.

With beans made in the slow cooker, pre-soaking them is far less important than with other cooking methods. The long cooking time means that those beans will definitely soften! However, I am a believer that soaking the beans removes some of the enzymes that causes intestinal discomfort, so I usually stick to the practice of soaking them overnight. If you're not as bothered after eating beans, then you can certainly skip this step.

Add any aromatics, like bay leaves or garlic, at the beginning of cooking. Their flavors will gently infuse the beans and their cooking liquid over the long cooking time. I also add a teaspoon of salt at the beginning of cooking — a controversial tactic, I know! This is a trick that I picked up from Cook's Illustrated: a little salt added at the beginning of cooking actually helps keep the beans intact and prevents "blow out" beans. I've tried this for several batches of beans now and have now adopted it as regular practice.

The first time or two that you cook beans in the slow cooker, it's best if you can be around to check on them toward the end of cooking. Some slow cookers — and some beans! — will cook more quickly or slowly than others. Until you're familiar with how long beans typically take in your slow cooker, start checking them around 5 hours and then every half hour or so after that until they're done.

Hot Mama Notes:

I made black beans in the crock pot.  I cannot recall exactly what I did, but I think it was something like the above recipe.  They turned out great.  We ate some right away, and then I froze them in one or two cup increments for later.  Perfect!  Perfectly tasty, perfectly simple, and perfectly easy! :)

Hot Mama Grade: A

Recipe Idea: 

I used black eye peas for this recipe. I added some cooked chicken and a package of cream cheese to get the smooth texture and taste to balance the peas.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/slow_cooked_beans.html

• 1 pound dried beans, such as cannellini beans, black beans, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, great northern beans or pinto beans
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cups boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Directions: Soak beans in enough cold water to cover them by 2 inches for 6 hours or overnight. (Alternatively, use the quick-soak method: Place beans in a large pot with enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour.)
• Drain the beans and place them in a slow cooker. Add onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Pour in boiling water. Cook, covered, on high until beans are tender, 2 to 3 1/2 hours. Add salt, cover, and cook for 15 minutes more.