Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Kent and I went to my aunt's house in west Alabama for a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving lunch!  Then we spent the rest of the weekend in Montgomery watching the Iron Bowl and eating more food with friends and family.  I've also done quite a bit of Christmas shopping!  Jack spent the holiday playing with his cousin, Ace, and jumping in my parents' pool.  He got an early Christmas present (a Barbour coat) so I thought I would post a picture of him showing it off! 

I know I've been taking a break from posting recipes over the last couple weeks, but I'm about it jump back into it with some great holiday recipes before Christmas.  Last year, I only posted holiday recipes during the month of December, so I've used up many of my holiday favorites (see those recipes here).  My friend, Dory, agreed to let me post a few of her recipes that we used for our women's church Christmas dinner, Christmas Countdown, last year.  If you have any special holiday recipes that you would like to share, please e-mail them to me at recipesfromnewlyweds@gmail.com. 

Fried Green Tomatoes

I wanted to post this recipe immediately following my last post on eggs benedict.  One of my favorite spins on eggs benedict involves replacing the fillet used in the previous post with a fried green tomato - trust me, it's amazing!  I've used this recipe by Paula Deen before, and I was not disappointed!  Of course, fried green tomatoes also make a wonderful side dish all on their own or can be substituted for traditional tomatoes in a BLT.

Fried Green Tomatoes
Ingredients:
3 or 4 large firm green tomatoes
Salt
2 cups vegetable or peanut oil, for deep-frying
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups self-rising flour

Directions:
Slice the tomatoes 1/4-inch thick. Lay them out in a shallow baking pan and sprinkle with salt. Place the tomato slices in a colander and allow time for the salt to pull the water out of the tomatoes, approximately 30 minutes. In a skillet, heat the oil for deep-frying over medium high heat. Dip the tomatoes into buttermilk, then dredge them in flour. Deep-fry until golden brown. Keep warm.

Eggs Benedict

I saw Emeril make this recipe on the Food Network  last year and had to try it.  It was wonderful!  Kent and I both love eggs benedict, and this recipe was fantastic.  My mom used to make eggs benedict for me when I was in high school, but I had never tried making it before.  I think it turned out well.  If you are worried about poaching the eggs, you can always just fry them - with the Hollandaise sauce, they will still taste the same.  Enjoy!

Eggs Benedict
Ingredients:
4 English muffins, split in 1/2
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
4 (6-ounce) beef fillets, split in 1/2
Essence, recipe follows
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
Salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
8 eggs, individually cracked into a cup
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon Creole mustard or other whole-grain mustard
1/2 pound butter, melted and warm
2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley leaves

Directions:
Preheat a griddle or large skillet. Brush the muffins with the butter. Place the muffins on the hot griddle and pan-fry for 2 minutes on each side. Remove the muffins from the griddle and set aside. Using a sharp knife, split the fillets in half, horizontally.

Season the fillets with Essence. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the fillets for 2 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Remove the fillets from the pan and set aside.

In a large skillet, combine the water and vinegar. Season the water with salt. Bring the mixture to a boil. Slide 4 of the eggs into the water. When the water returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the eggs are set, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Watch carefully and remove the eggs when the yolks are still soft, and drain on a paper-lined plate. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Return the water to a boil and repeat the process with the remaining eggs.

Hollandaise sauce:  In a stainless steel bowl set over a pot of simmering water over medium heat, whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice, water, mustard, and parsley. Season with salt and cayenne. Whisk the mixture until pale yellow and slightly thick. Be careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Remove the bowl from the pot and, while whisking vigorously, gradually add the butter, little by little, until all is incorporated. Season, to taste, with salt and cayenne.

To assemble, place the steaks on the English muffins. Top the steaks with the poached eggs. Spoon the Hollandaise sauce over the eggs. Garnish the eggs with parsley.
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Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Yield: 2/3 cup

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I meant to post this recipe months ago after we first made it to take for breakfast to Sunday School.  This is a great breakfast item to take somewhere since its all in one casserole dish.  It was a big hit with our Sunday School class!

Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel
1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup milk

2 eggs slightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. almond extract

3-5 tsp. milk

Preparation:

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13x9 inch pan. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon peel. Using pastry blender or fork, cut in butter. Add milk, eggs and vanilla. Stir well. Pour 3/4 batter into greased pan. Top with blueberries. Spoon remaining batter over blueberries. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool 30 minutes. In small bowl , blend icing ingredients. Drizzle over warm cake.
(Recipe from About.com)

The Kindness of Strangers

Kent and I are in a wonderful Supper Club group full of couples from our Sunday School class.  We go out to eat once a month then go to someone's house for dessert.  We always have such a great time!  Our group keeps growing, and now we have 10 couples!  Last week we went to eat at a great Italian restaurant in Hoover at Patton Creak called Cafe Lazio.  There were 16 or so of us there last week.  As we got ready to pay the bill, the server walked up and told us that the man at the table behind us had already paid for all of our dinners!  It took us a few minutes to process what she said.  We didn't know what to do, so finally we decided to send a representative over to ask the man about his gift.  He told us that he just thought we looked like a nice group of people and wanted to do something for us!  We were blown away by his generosity.  He refused to give us his name, and we're still trying to figure out who he is.  We all went to thank him, and he was so humble.  He asked us about our group and we told him that we were from Covenant Presbyterian Church.  He said that he and his wife were in town on business and were looking somewhere to go to church on Sunday.  Kent and I were out of town on Sunday, so I'm not sure if he went to Covenant or not.  We really enjoyed talking with him and will never forget that experience.  What a generous man!



We don't have a current picture from supper club with the whole group - this one was taken earlier in the year.