B&B/Accommodations

November's recipe of the month comes from another person's kitchen, Alicia, of Dallas, Texas. Splendor Farms serves it on the sideboard on fall mornings for our guests to enjoy with their coffee. However, I wouldn't be making it if it weren't for Alicia, a friend of my Mom, who brought a loaf to our annual Thanksgiving Dinner for family & friends. After one bite, I knew it was the BEST Pumpkin Bread I had ever tried and I had to have the recipe! Gracious as always, she gladly gave it to me and now I will share it with you!

By the way, Alicia lives in Texas & her family is from Mexico. Enough said!

PUMPKIN BREAD
(Makes two loafs):

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 1/3 cups flour
• 3 c-sugar
• 2 t-soda
• 1 t-cinnamon
• 1 t-nutmeg
• 1 t-salt



• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups pecan (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the first six ingredients together. Make a well in Center of mixture, add Pumpkin, eggs, oil, water. Mix until mixture is smooth, add the pecans.

Pour into greased & floured loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour on 350.

Let bread sit in pans for about 10 min. Then remove from pans, set on a cookie board to cool.

Feliz Dia del Pavo! (Happy Thanksgiving)

The air is crisp in the mornings, the skies are turquoise blue, and football season is back! It must be fall and the pears are falling off my trees and the pecans are, too! Time for Pear & Pecan Crisps!

PEAR & PECAN CRISPS:

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tbsp. cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
• 4 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 large pears (Bosc), peeled, cored and cut in chunks
• 4 tbsp. chopped pecans
• ANY Granola by the Season
• 4 tbsp. butter
• Good greek yogurt for topping (mixed with Manuka Honey)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter small ramekins. Mix sugar, softened cream cheese, cinnamon and salt until well blended. Stir in pears and pour mixture into buttered ramekins. Mix pecans, granola and butter in another bowl. Sprinkle over cream cheese with pear mixture. Bake 20-25 minutes or until pears are bubbling and crispy topping is golden brown. Serve with yogurt (my favorite) or whipped topping.

Makes 8 small ramekins. Perfect with that cup of tea or coffee.

My birthday falls in this month and I have never forgotten a birthday brunch at a restaurant in Dallas called the Yolk's on You, located on Greenville Avenue. Long since gone is the restaurant, but not the memory of my first taste of the BEST omelet, ever! Sometimes I serve this as a special for my guests....

KELLY'S SPECIAL BIRTHDAY OMELET:

• 4 farm fresh eggs & 1/4 cup of half & half
• 1/2 cup of jumbo lump crabmeat (don't break up the chunks!)
• 1/2 cup of large dice avocado
• pinch (or two!) of cayenne
• couple of turns of the sea salt grinder
• three or four turns on the peppercorn grinder
• Hollandaise sauce for topping (see recipe of the month for April)

Heat your omelet pan and spray a generous amount of Smart Balance butter spray in pan. Beat room temperature eggs and half & half and seasonings. Pour into pan and swirl around on medium heat. Let cook. Swirl some more. Lower heat, add crabmeat & avocado.

Fold in half or do a tri-fold (doesn't matter) and cook until browned on both sides of fold. (you can put a glass lid on the pan and the contained heat will make the omelet puff up - very pretty!) Slide onto warmed plate, top with hollandaise and serve with garlic & rosemary roasted potatoes and toasted english muffins. A mimosa goes well with it, too! Cheers!

Melons, melons, everywhere melons!

Here on the farm we grow many different kinds of melons....musk melons, honeydew, watermelon (jubilee and sugar babies), cantaloupes, santa claus, juan canary, and a little french melon whose name I can never remember...melons are perfect for stuffing with yogurt and berries, then topped with granola!!

Melon Sorbet (don't use watermelon - too much water content!) can be made with any of these, but my favorite is cantaloupe....

KELLY'S CANTALOUPE SORBET:

All you need is a metal bowl and a blender! Yep, it is that simple, oh, and a freezer!!

• 1 large cantaloupe, peeled & seeded
• Simple Syrup (one cup water/one cup sugar - heated in a saucepan (oh, yeah...you need that, too!)
• A wooden spoon until all sugar is dissolved... okay, yes... and a spoon, too... do you want to add that you need a knife to cut the melon?!!

ANYway....puree the melon in the blender and add 1/2 the simple syrup. Taste. Is it sweet? Want it sweeter? Then add a tablespoon at a time until it is as sweet as you like then pour into the metal bowl and freeze. You may want to stir it after about 1/2 an hour, or so, but then leave it alone. When frozen, scoop it out and serve, sitting on a porch swing and enjoy! (it will make the southeast Louisiana August heat go away....for a little while!)

Here's a little lagniappe..... cut a watermelon in a 2 inch by 2 inch cube then drizzle a very tiny amount of good quality balsamic vinegar. Your taste buds will be overwhelmed!

It is July and the corn is high so what is better than corn on the cob? Corn off the cob! And, instead of making cornbread why not Corn Cakes! Sweet & light and oh so good with Steen's Syrup drizzled on top! Add a handful of blackberries and you have a southern thing going on!

KELLY'S CORN GRIDDLE CAKES:

• 4 to 6 ears of fresh shucked corn, scraped off the cob, (scrape hard and get the milk, too!!) chop coarsely and place in a bowl.
• 2 cups of Buckwheat flour or your favorite pancake batter. I use buckwheat flour, which is much more nutritious than using white flour.
• 1 cup of whole milk (Smiths Creamery!!)
• 2 tablespoons of stevia (sugar)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 eggs

Mix and then fold in the corn.

Heat your griddle and make your pancakes as big or small as you like. Only flip when the cake is full of little bubble holes and when golden brown take them off and stack them on a plate with butter (Smiths Creamery!) and top with blackberries and Steen's Syrup! So, so good!

Berry season!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!! I love June! Blueberries, Blackberries, and Strawberries! This month, our recipe of the month is our VERY BERRY BUTTER! We serve this on top of our French Toast and with our homemade buttermilk biscuits! YUM! Add a little Manuka honey with the biscuits and you know... you just went to heaven and back!

VERY BERRY BUTTER:

• 1 pound of Smiths Creamery Butter
• Assorted berries (2 & 1/2 cups whole blueberries & blackberries & halved strawberries)
• 1 Tablespoon of zested lemon
• 2 Tablespoons of ground cinnamon

Cream butter in mixer, add the lemon & cinnamon, mix well, then add the rest of the ingredients!

Spread plastic wrap on counter and dump contents in middle. Spread out and roll into a log. Wrap tight! Freeze! (Keep frozen!)

Slice when needed, while frozen. (Do this about an hour before you serve so it can thaw & soften)

Top on French Toast or Hotcakes or put in ramekin to serve with biscuits...

Go to heaven, come back, eat some more!!!!

Enjoy with family, friends, or your dogs (no, don't feed it to the dogs!) sitting at the table or standing at the kitchen counter!

Too, good!!!!!!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo we dedicate our May recipe of the month to my home away from home! Mexico!!!! Believe me, no matter what the question is, the answer is Mexico!!! I will retire there some day, but in the meantime my toque's off to this month's recipe.....RANCHERO SAUCE!!!! Guests who order my Huevos Rancheros love my sauce! It is dark red, smoky, spicy, and homemade, of course!!!

I make a large pot of this at a time and put it in small ziplock bags and then freeze. It thaws quickly and it is so good! You can put it on anything! I use it for a marinade for pork and venison and it is great for adding it to my poaching liquid for fish & chicken...it is wonderful! Just like Mexico!!!

SPLENDOR FARMS RANCHERO SAUCE:

Start with roasting (turn them frequently) your ingredients over a gas grill or stovetop (put on blower!!) flame:

• Four large white onions
• Eight jalapeños or serranos (if you don't want it too spicy - use poblanos)
• 20 to 25 large red roma tomatoes
• One whole head (paper on - it will burn off) garlic

Once roasted (not blackened & burnt), peel and seed roasted vegetables and add to 1/3 cup of lard melted in large pot. Add three large cans of tomato paste, use one can and measure out one can of vinegar. Add handful of chopped oregano, couple of tablespoons of sea salt (taste first after first tablespoon), three tablespoons of cumin, tablespoon and a half of dark chili powder, and the best is saved for last... two or three dried ancho peppers (medium to large) that have been soaked in warm water and diced very small... Simmer on low stirring occasionally for 2-3 hours. Let cool, puree in blendor, freeze in quart ziplock bags!!!

Asparagus is in season! I know this because it is growing in my garden... thin and delicate with a great snap! What goes best with asparagus? Splendor Farms Eggs Benedict with our homemade hollandaise! Hollandaise is so easy to make! You don't need that prepackaged stuff!
All you need is a blender, yes, a blender!

EASY HOLLANDAISE:

• 4 medium egg yolks or three large (depends on which chickens in my coop did the laying!)
• Juice of two lemons
• One and 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter melted
• Salt/pepper/paprika

Add eggs to the blender and blend/whip, add lemon juice and then slowly add the melted butter until it is creamy and smooth. Add a little salt & pepper and set aside until ready to top your eggs & asparagus. Sprinkle paprika on the top for presentation and serve!

Being from West Texas, I couldn't imagine a breakfast menu without Huevos Rancheros or Migas! Growing up, my mom, who worked full time, would spend her Saturday doing laundry and cleaning house and there was always a pot of pintos on the stove. It was the Saturday night supper many times! Served in a bowl (as a kid I squished ketchup in mine!) along with homemade fries, cornbread, and usually green onions on the side (whole, not diced!) It is as Texas to me as Red Beans & Rice to Louisiana!

Now, my MawMaw would have a fit if I opened a can of refried beans, so I make them myself. Very easy, but realize they cook all day, which can be cut almost in half by soaking overnight. I usually soak mine beginning at 5 a.m. and start them around dinner time to start cooking and then cook them slowly, so the beans don't disintegrate until I go to bed at 8 p.m. (If you soak overnight they will be creamier after cooking, but I don't like puréed beans!)

HERE IS MY RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE
FRIJOLES REFRITOS (REFRIED BEANS):

One pound of dried Pinto beans, looked over for pebbles, washed, drained, and put in a big bowl to soak about 6 to 7 hours. Cover with water and add the following:

• A quarter of a cup of Chorizo sausage drippings (my favorite) or bacon grease
• Two whole Spanish onions (yellow) peeled then cut in 1/2 and put over the flame on your gas stove burner and roast until browned, not burned. Turn frequently. Medium diced.
• Two Serrano or three Jalapeño peppers, roasted like the onion, then diced. Stems/seeds removed, but I leave the membrane the seeds grow on inside as there is nice heat from this part.
• Two tablespoons each of paprika (Spanish) and ground cumin
• Three tablespoons of garlic powder
• One to two tablespoons of salt
• Cook gently, all day.

I actually double this recipe for the B&B and freeze the beans in two-serving portions in containers for easy thawing and serving.

To make the refritos:

• Lard, yes lard, about a wooden spoonful
• Thawed frijoles
• Three tablespoons of small diced seasoning mix (onions, peppers, celery, garlic, & parsley)
• In heavy stainless steel or cast iron pot, heat lard, add seasoning, when seasoning is wilted, add beans (high heat). They may splatter so watch out!
• Stir beans in and around real fast in very hot lard & seasoning until hot and creamy, but beans are still whole, too!

Plate and top with crumbled farmer’s cheese and cilantro! Serve with our Huevos Rancheros (see menu above)

¡Olé!

P.S. One of my B&B guests (J. Evers of Baton Rouge) recently commented that my beans needed more seasoning, and I agree. However, my Ranchero sauce is spicy (it will be featured as our Cinco de Mayo recipe of the month) so I make the beans milder! He gave me a tip for his beans. he adds a pack of Taco Seasoning mix (per one pound)! Thanks for the tip! You may want to try it, too!

We have some guests who have been coming for years -- the owners of Sammy's Food Service & Deli in New Orleans. Check them out if you are in New Orleans (see their Guy Fieri review for the Food Channel's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives!) Great people and a lot a fun to have around. I always make a frittata, which I now call Sammy's Special! See ya'll in March!!

SAMMY'S SPECIAL FRITTATA:

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 links sweet Italian sausage, removed from the casing and crumbled
• 1/4 cup diced yellow spanish onion
• 1 red bell pepper, 1/4-inch dice
• 1 yellow bell pepper, 1/4-inch dice
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 12 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and salt & pepper
• Shredded Mozzerella

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Coat a cast iron skillet with olive oil.  Add the sausage and brown.  Add the peppers and onions and sauté until they are soft.
• In a bowl, add the Parmigiano to the beaten eggs and season lightly with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of garlic powder and oregano.
• Using a heat-proof rubber spatula, stir the eggs into the pan with the sausage and peppers. Stir the eggs to evenly distribute the sausage and peppers throughout the eggs.
• Once the eggs set on the bottom and around the sides of the pan, sprinkle shredded mozzerella on top then place the pan in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the eggs are cooked through.
• Serve in the skillet on the table!

This is great with whole wheat toast, biscuits, or english muffins on the side and a caprese salad of garden fresh tomatoes and basil from our gardens! Enjoy!

• 3 cups rolled oats (4 if using pumpkin puree)
• 1 cup slivered almonds or pecans or walnuts (whatever is in my freezer)
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds (fall) or cranberries (winter) or strawberries (spring) or blueberries (summer) (all dried)
• 1/2 cup of applesauce (winter, spring, summer) or 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (fall only - it is heartier)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins (optional, too!)

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, dried fruits and brown sugar.
• In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, (pumpkin puree) and salt.
• Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.
• Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

TIP: The key to this recipe is to WATCH it in the oven!!! No, don't get in the oven! Just keep your eye on your timer - don't go call your mom or best friend on the phone! You have to stir it every 12 to 15 minutes! Do like I do, put on the cooking channel in your kitchen and every time someone says Bam, or EVOO, you stir it!