Cream Cheese Lemon Hearts

Valentine's Day is less than a week away. My youngest daughter has already completed all of her Valentine cards to her classmates and have brought them into school. I was the same way when I was her age.I always liked to give Valentine cards to everyone. I would even make one for my Mom.

I still really like to give Valentine's Day gifts. My husband leaves for work really early so I leave his box of chocolates in his cars so he will be "surprised"! Since I do this every year, I'm not sure he is really surprised anymore but he humors me. (It is also a good reminder for him about the day.) Guess what? He has never forgotten to give me something for Valentine's Day. 

I also give the children a small box of chocolate before school. On a normal day, the rule is no treats before 10:00 am. Valentine's Day is different so I allow one piece before school but only after they have eaten their breakfast.

My husband picked this recipe. The recipe is suppose to be bows but I just omitted the bottom part of the bow. I will give you a warning that the dough is thick so they are hard to pipe. I did make some as circles and some I just rolled into balls and flatten a little. These cookies are really good with a hint of lemon.

Cream Cheese Lemon Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp lemon zest, finely grated
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
powder sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
2. Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a medium bowl. 
3. Add the sugar and continue to cream.
4. Add the egg, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix well.
5. Slowly, add the dry ingredients.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Add a small amount of dough to a piping bag. 
8. Pipe the dough using a large finely ribbed French tip (like Ateco #865).
9. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Let cool and dust with the powder sugar.
11. Cookies will store for up to 3 days in an air tight container at room temperature.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies. 

Did you already know...........
-One legend about St. Valentine is there was a Bishop Valentine in Roman times who would perform secret marriages. He was later executed on Feb. 14th by the Emperor.
-On Feb. 15th, the Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia (a fertility festival) to honor the Roman God Faunas.

Teriyaki beef

This is a recipe my family have been making since I was little. My parents would make it and place it on skewers to marinate. Then they would grill it. When you live in Hawaii or Guam, you can grill all the time. I live in Maine. We have a lot of snow. I could try talking my husband into taking out the grill to cook this recipe but I know it isn't going to happen. You could suggest for me to do it but I try to spend as much time outside in the cold as I can. I run from the house to the car and from the car to the store. Sometimes I even get lucky by talking someone into warming up the car for me. Aren't they sweet? 

So I had to adapt one of my favorite recipes for indoors. I am glad I did. I think we will be having this recipe more often now. I have used the marinade on chicken and it is great. My family received this recipe from a friend over 30 years ago so I can not give you where the recipe originated. 

Teriyaki Beef 
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 inch fresh ginger
1 scallion, chopped
1 lb steak, chicken, or any other desired item you want to marinate
1 tsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients to a dish besides the lb of meat. Mix well so the brown sugar is incorporated. 
2. Add the meat and marinate for 24 hours. 
3. In a skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat.
4. Add the meat and cook until cooked through. 

Recipe adapted from a family recipe.

Did you already know............
 -Guam is the largest island of the Mariana Island chain in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
-The tropical island of Guam is a US territory.
-Guam's motto is "Where America's Day Begins".
-45 % of Guam's population are the native people Chamorro.
-Guam is only 30 miles long.

Silken Chocolate Walnut Tart

Sometimes you make something and you know it came out wrong. The thing is this dessert taste so good. It should have been silky. Mine was not. It should have more crust on the sides. Mine did not. Mine was like a delicious brownie on a tart crust.

When I was making this dessert, I had a feeling my tart pan wasn't large enough. So I had the brilliant idea of placing a parchment lined cookie sheet under my tart. I am glad since my tart did run over.

If you make this dessert, you should use a 10 inch tart pan. I even saw a 10 inch heart shape pan. I recommend this dessert for Valentine's Day. Since I made this dessert with the toasted walnuts, my honey would have know it wasn't for him but for me. Alright, I made this for the children and me! Also you can easily adapt the crust to make this a gluten free dessert and it would be worth making it.

Please check out the recipe and the other Project Pastry Queen members posting here.

Buttermilk Corn Bread

I will admit that I love Jiffy's corn muffins in the little blue box. If I am going to make chili, I'll cheat with the corn muffins. My Dad would say that isn't cornbread. He is a Southern. At Thanksgiving, his family serve cornbread stuffing. My Mother is a Northern and I live in Maine. I make bread stuffing at Thanksgiving. What I'm trying to tell you is I like my cornbread sweet. Growing up, my Dad would make us cornbread in a cast iron skillet and it was good. I make it from a box.

The reason why I'm telling you this is because I went ahead and made corn bread from scratch. I did. Guess what? It was good. I even offered my Dad some. I would never think about offering my Dad Jiffy cornbread. I want to live. How do you like your corn bread? I guess I should ask if you eat corn bread? 

Buttermilk Corn Bread
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease an 8 inch pan.
3. Melt butter in a large skillet.
4. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the sugar.
5. Quickly add the eggs and beat until incorporated.
6. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda.
7. Stir in the buttermilk mixture to the sugar butter mixture.
8. Mix in the cornmeal, flour, and salt until well mix with only a few lumps remaining.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
10. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Recipe adapted from all recipes.

Did you already know............
-Jiffy is owned by Chelsea Milling Company in Chelsea, Michigan. 
-The Chelsea Milling Company has been family operated since the early 1800s.
-In 1930, Mrs. Mabel White Holmes' twin boys brought two motherless boys to her home. Mrs. Holmes noticed the boys were eating "frightful looking sandwiches" and had the idea of making a mix that would be easy to make. Her husband thought it was a great idea and started to produce the mix at the Chelsea Milling Company.
-When Mrs. Holmes was growing up, their cook would say the "biscuits will be ready in a jiffy".

Boston Baked Beans

It is funny how certain foods make you think of someone close to you. When we would go to family gatherings, my Nana would bring her baked bean pot full of Boston baked beans. It was a tradition. Any time I have baked beans, I think of her even though she is no longer around. I will admit this recipe is close to my Nana's recipe but not quite what I remember. The recipe is very good.

I hardly ever use dry beans. I normally will buy a can before the dry just because it is more convenient. Growing up, my Dad always cooked using dry beans. I never watched him prep the beans. I just knew he started the beans the night before. The first time I went to prep dry beans; I had to call my Dad since I had no clue. I didn't realize they had to soak overnight then cook them then recook them. What? Now, I just follow the directions on the back of the package. I liked it better when my Dad did all the work. Don't you sometimes miss the convenience of being a kid?

Boston Baked Beans
2 cups navy beans
1/2 lbs bacon
1 onion, finely diced
3 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:
Clean and sort through the beans. 
Soak the beans overnight in cold water.
Simmer the beans in the same water until tender for about 1 hour or longer if needed.
Drain but reserve the liquid.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Arrange some of the beans in a dish/bean pot. Layer bacon and onions on top of the beans. Continue to layer first with the beans followed with the bacon and onions.
In a saucepan, combine the molasses, salt, pepper, dry mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and the brown sugar.
Bring the mixture to a boil and pour over the beans.
Add the reserved liquid over the beans to cover the beans. 
Cover the dish and cook for 3 to 4 hours. Remove the lid after a couple of hours and add more liquid if needed.

Recipe adapted from All recipes. 

Did you already know.........
-Boston baked beans tend to be sweetened with molasses or maple syrup.
-Before the Pilgrims arrival, Native Americans sweetened their beans with maple syrup.
-The Pilgrims and Puritans did not cook on Sunday to observe Sabbath. They would cook their beans on Saturday and leave them in the oven overnight so they were able to enjoy them hot the next day.