Alyssa’s Cheddar & Trad Biscuits

Dan    Alyssa, Start From Scratch, Student Recipes     Alyssa, baking, beer, biscuits, Kick The KD, learning

What you’ll need…

1 3/4 cup unbleached flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/3 cup butter

1 cup of Big Rock Traditional Ale (or whatever brew you got going on in the fridge)

We were having turkey chilli for supper, so I thought what better opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone by executing my variation of the “Grammy’s Grab ‘n’ Go Biscuits” recipe from class and have something traditional to go with the chili.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Cut-in butter (with hands works best), until mixture appears ‘crumbly’, then add-in the cheddar cheese. Mix in the beer until a dough forms. Next, fold in pumpkin seeds.

On a floured surface, knead a few times, then cut into even portions and place onto a prepared baking sheet. Cook for 12-15 minutes in oven or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The reason for the beer instead of the milk was simply because I didn’t have any in the fridge, but I had some Big Rock Trad kicking around, so I thought, “why not?” They worked out just fine! It was also another great excuse for me to finish the some 100 ml left in the bottle…this may become my signature.

Yields 8 biscuits

Total cook time…25 min

The “biscuits” photo is my attempt at food photography, and the “model” is my boyfriend, great teamwork!

Stacey: Coq au Steam Whistle Bière Nachos

Dan    Stacey, Start From Scratch, Student Recipes, The Participants     awesome, beer, calgary, cooking, Kick The KD, learning, recipes, Stacey, Steam Whistle, thoughts

What you’ll need…

2 boneless chicken breasts

1 bottle Steam Whistle Pilsner

spice to taste (eg: chili pepper, Montreal chicken spice, etc…)

1 bag tortilla chips

1 roma tomato (diced)

1/3 cup green onions (finely chopped)

1/2 cup pickled jalapeno peppers (sliced)

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

2 cups shredded cheese (mozza, cheddar, marble, etc…)

Combine chicken breasts, spices, and Steam Whistle in small pot, or deep baking dish, in oven, preheated to 350 degrees. Let cook for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven, let cool, and chop into bite-sized pieces (Slap Chop!).

Next, place tortilla chips on a baking tray, then chicken pieces, and layer in order of listed ingredients. Bake in oven on low broil until cheese has melted, about 6-8 minutes.

As you can see, this was very easy, yet perfect for a weekend snack!

Serves 4-5

Total cook time…35 min

Alyssa: Steam Whistle Banana Muffins

Dan    Alyssa, Start From Scratch, Student Recipes, The Participants     Alyssa, awesome, beer, calgary, cooking, Kick The KD, learning, recipes, Steam Whistle, thoughts

What you’ll need…

3 bananas (ripe, mashed)

2/3 cup jam (I used up my cheat jam from last week)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 TSP cinnamon

1/2 TSP vanilla

1 1/2 TSP honey

1 cup Steam Whistle Pilsner

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat, I would recommend either 1 cup unbleached and 1 cup whole wheat or just 2 cups of unbleached)

1 TSP baking powder

My morning class had been cancelled for the day (YES!) and Say Yes to the Dress wasn’t on TLC, so I thought I better do my KTKD homework all before my 1 p.m. Geology class.

Start time: 10:45 a.m.

So I mashed up my 3 bananas with a fork, mixed in the jam, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, and beer. Then, I combined the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and added the liquid mixture to it, mixed it all up, sprayed my muffin tray with Pam and spooned in the batter.

I had a bit of beer left over, so I downed that, then did the dishes. By the time I finished brushing my teeth and straightening my hair the muffins were ready. I ate one, which was still quite warm, but I liked it. It wasn’t too sweet and the edges were nice and crunchy and the jam was a lovely addition, especially with the whole blueberries in there.

When I took another look at the muffins, I noticed they were quite flat…and the only things that I could think of was either the heaviness of the Whole Wheat flour or that I needed more baking powder. Does anyone know? Now I’m worried they’ll be hard as rocks once they cool.

Yields 15 muffins

Total cook time…1 hour

Follow-up: I just ate another one after they had more of a chance to cool down, and hooray! They still taste good and aren’t as hard as a rock.

Tara’s Wild Blueberry Creamsicle Spiced Jam

Dan    Start From Scratch, Student Recipes, Tara, The Participants, The Progress     breakfast, calgary, cooking, jam, Kick The KD, learning, Tara, thoughts

What you’ll need…

2 cups frozen wild blueberries

1/2 cup cranberry & concorde grape juice

1/2 TSP vanilla

1/8-1/4 TSP pure orange extract

1 1/2 TBSP cornstarch

This jam, which took us all of 20 minutes during class, took me 45 minutes. Forty five minutes! What is up with that? I’m sure if anyone else tried this, it would take them 25 minutes, tops. I modified the recipe as follows:

1. Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup juice until well blended.

2. Combine all ingredients in a small pot, including cornstarch/juice mixture and remaining juice.

3. Bring to a simmer on medium-high heat.

4. Reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally about 15 minutes or until desired thickness reached.

5. Remove from heat and let cool.

6. Transfer to an air tight container and let chill in fridge.

My modifications: Most of these ingredients I used because they’re what we had in our house, like the frozen fruit and the juice. I omitted the sugar to make it healthier, lessened the vanilla, and after discovering orange extract in our cupboard, decided that its tartness would go well with sweeteness of the blueberries and compliment the cranberry. Plus, vanilla + orange = creamsicle. Booyah! Although it was sweet enough for me without the sugar, I think most people would enjoy it with a bit of honey. Oooh, and cinnamon. If this jam was on shelves, it would be in the gourmet section. Well, it would be if it wasn’t for…

My mistakes: In class, we added the cornstarch to the other ingredients immediately (contrary to what the recipe suggests) and it turned out great. Looking to save time, I decided to heat the ingredients and then add the cornstarch straight in. Note: this did NOT save time. After adding only half the cornstarch, I soon found myself wondering why the jam wasn’t thickening, and why it contained deep purple rubbery chunks full of powder. Turns out you have to add cornstarch when your mixture is cold, or, as the original recipe suggests, mix it with water first. Lovely. By the time I had removed what I could from the jam in the way of chunks, it had started to thicken on its own. So I added the remaining tbsp of cornstarch to water and poured it into my already semi-thick jam. It thickened immediately and was finally ready to go.

All in all, a successful modification (minus the disgusting chunks which I could not completely get rid of).

By the way, I ate the whole pot of jam for dessert. Since my modifications made it basically just fruit [in altered form], I didn’t even feel guilty! But I did feel full!

Yields 2 1/2 cups of jam

Total cook time…20-45 min

Ellen’s Mango-Asparagus Alfredo Pasta

Dan    Start From Scratch, Student Recipes     alfredo, cheesy, Kick The KD, mango, pasta, quick and easy, sauce

What you’ll need…

1 TBSP olive oil

1 onion (minced)

2-3 cloves garlic (finely minced)

2-3 TBSP cornstarch

2 cups milk

½ cup parmesan cheese (shredded)

½ TBSP dried basil

½ TBSP dried oregano

pinch of nutmeg (Not optional! It tastes great!)

salt & pepper (to taste)

pasta of your choice

asparagus, (washed and cut into bite-sized pieces)

1 mango (thinly sliced)

Yummy! There were leftovers, and I’ll be having this again with my roommate tonight. Since she doesn’t like asparagus, I will substitute broccoli for her and keep the asparagus to myself, mwahahahahaa!!!

1. Put oil in a medium-sized pan on medium heat.
2. Add the onion, garlic, and sauté for a few minutes.
3. Reduce to medium-low heat.
4. Whisk in cornstarch, then whisk in the milk.
5. Add cheese and spices, stirring occasionally until thickened. (Supplement with more cornstarch to thicken as needed.)
6. Turn off heat and cover to keep warm.
7. Cook the pasta el dente in boiling salted water.
8. When the pasta is nearly done, steam the asparagus until bright green and tender
9. Drain pasta; serve with asparagus, mango and top with Alfredo sauce.

This is Ellen’s revised version of the original recipe found on Food Network Canada’s site.