Easy Sticky Buns - Breakfast Treat

Girls' weekends involve relaxing, shopping, chatting and indulging. We went to a lovely cabin in the Prescott mountains. Try this sticky, gooey, delicious treat for your next get-together.

Easy Sticky Bus, Monkey Bread, Pull-Aparts, Butterscotch Ring - call them anything you want. Enjoy and stay in your pajamas until noon.

1 package frozen yeast rolls (about 18)
1 (4-ounce) package Butterscotch Pudding and Pie Filling mix (we used Cook N Serve pudding)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter (2 1/2 sticks)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Spread the walnuts over the bottom of a bundt pan (or 8 X 12" pan) sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and top with the rolls.

Cook the remaining ingredients in a saucepan until blended, stirring frequently. Pour over the prepared layers. Let rise, covered with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, for 8 to 10 hours. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes and invert onto a serving platter. Serve immediately.

Serves 12

Recipe can be found on page 199 Tastes & Treasures cookbook. El Chorro Lodge has it's traditional recipe for Famous Sticky Buns on page 78.

Chips with Gravy or Vinegar?

Let the Olympics begin . . . with a serving of French Fries (Chips) and Vinegar. Very British and Canadian.

But what about having French Fries (Chips) with Gravy? This is another Canadian custom with French Fries.

I think I prefer the Roasted Fingerling Potatoes from Lon's at the Hermosa Inn.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
page 100 Tastes & Treasures

Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds fingerling potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
¼ teaspoon sea salt or fine salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toss the potatoes with the olive oil, garlic, sea salt and pepper in a bowl and spoon into a baking pan. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender.
Serves 4

Dining in Historic Firestation Linden Hills, MN

Discovering unique restaurants in new cities is always fun. We visited Mike and Alice Wachter in Minneapolis/St Paul this summer and they took us to historic Fire station #28 in Linden Hills, MN. Complete with historic displays, artifacts, and architecture, it was a mini-museum-restaurant.
The duck confit tacos came with pickled vegetables in a sweet, s-p-i-c-y mole sauce. A little too much spice for my palate but still delicious. We all sampled it and agreed.

Tastes & Treasures has a recipe from historic Four Peaks Brewery for Duck Cakes with Spicy Nopales Salsa on page 90. Great way to sample duck.

Duck Cakes with Spicy Nopales Salsa

Ingredients for Spicy Nopales Salsa:
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh nopales cactus pads
3 serrano chiles, finely chopped, or to taste
3 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
4 green onions, white part only, chopped
Juice of 2 limes

Ingredients for Duck Cakes:
2 duck breasts, cooked and shredded
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup roasted corn kernels
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs
3 to 4 teaspoons canola oil

For the salsa, combine the cactus, chiles, tomatoes, cilantro, green onions and lime juice in a bowl and mix well.

For the duck cakes, combine the duck , bell pepers, cilantro corn and eggs in a bowl and mix well. Shape into 3 1/2 inch cakes and sprinkle evenly with the bread crumbs. Fry in the canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat for 1 1/2 minutes per side. Serve over the salsa.

Note: The duck can be purchased at Asian markets.

First Course Breakfast in Wine country

Breakfast for Kay and Rex Holcombe in Temecula, California wine country starts with this fabulous teaser.

Chocolate and almond biscotti crumbles. Blueberries with Greek yogurt and Tustin melon with a few grapes (since we're in wine country). Topped off with a molasses pomegranate reduction!

Toasting Almonds

Releasing the aroma and flavor of almonds is easy to do. Using a thick skillet on low to medium heat, stir the almonds continuously to prevent burning. Remove when they are golden brown and smell wonderful.
OR add nuts to an ungreased cookie sheet and cook at 350 degrees fro about 15-20 minutes. Careful! Nuts are easy to burn.

This is also true for the pine nuts used in Exotic Greens with Strawberry Vinaigrette from The Cottage Place in Flagstaff, page 21 in Tastes & Treasures. And for the pecans used in Mixed Greens with Pears, Roquefort and Pecans with Celery Seed Vinaigrette from Camelback Inn, page 43 in Tastes & Treasures.

Pickled Beets from Leslie Christiansen

PICKLED BEETS Leslie Christiansen
Here's an easy one:
Goat Cheese Crostini with Pickled Beets. Make the Pickled Beet recipe and dice the beets into tiny cube; drain on a paper towel.
Make the crostini. Spread with fresh goat cheese. Sprinkle with the Pickled Beets. YUM.

Ingredients:
1 lb beets, roasted and sliced
1 cup cider vinegar
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
½ t pickling spice
¼ t mustard seeds
¼ t cassia chunks
¼ t cardamom
¼ t coriander
1 bay leaf
10 pepper corns
2 T dill weed

Directions:
Place all ingredients except beets in a medium sized heavy-bottom sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Place the beets in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the liquid in with the beets. Allow to cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, strain the liquid. Add the liquid back into the beets, cover and refrigerate.

Ingredients for home-made pickling spice:
6 T mustard seed
3 T whole allspice
2 T coriander seed
6 whole cloves
1 T ground ginger
1 T red pepper flakes (optional)
3 bay leaves
3 cinnamon sticks

Directions:
Crush the cinnamon into pieces and crumble the bay leaves.
Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.

Breakfast in Temecula Wine Country

Kay and Rex Holcombe enjoyed a leisurely trip to Temecula Wine Country. This was the second course for breakfast. Perhaps the Historical League should plan a tour here in the future.

Kay describes the meal, "Organic fresh zucchini hash browns with ricotta cheese, polenta with truffle oil. The photo shows a sample with homegrown Romaine sautéed in olive oil. Poached egg, cheese and basil pistachio in the homemade apricot marmalade with Pinot Grigio. Topped off with roasted sweet pepper and cherry tomato."