Cold Weather Comfort Food

When it’s too cold to do anything outside and you have a snow day, you might as well try a new cold weather comfort food.  I made salisbury steak!

Let’s face it.  Salisbury steak is all about the gravy, so I used vegetarian hamburgers for my “steak”, but you can use a real hamburger or make your own chopped steak.  Here’s the gravy recipe.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 large portobello mushroom coarsely chopped
1/4 Cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tablespoon flour
1 1/2 Cup vegetable stock (or beef stock if you are using real meat)
1 Tablespoon ketchup
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste
2 veggie burger (or hamburger) patties

In butter, sautee the chopped mushroom, garlic, and onion in an iron skillet.  Add the flour and stir letting it brown a bit.  Add the vegetable stock and seasonings and stir until it is thick and bubbly.  Add the (microwaved to thaw) veggie burgers (or already cooked hamburgers) until everything is hot.

I had enough of the gravy with this that I used a third burger to make a mushroom swiss burger.

It was delicious, but very messy.

Easy peasy cold day comfort food!

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Spiked Egg Nog Cake

I agonized over what to have for a dessert when my family came out Christmas Eve.  I wanted to try something new and different, and I finally settled on Spiked Egg Nog Cake.

It was amazing!  Unlike a traditional rum cake, this one is light.

Cake:

Cream:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/3 cup sugar

Add:
2 eggs

Alternate adding the dry and liquid ingredients:

3 cups flour
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

1 1/3 cup egg not
1 Tbsp. rum extract

To make the cream filling mix:

1 cup chevre (or cream cheese) softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp softened butter
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1 egg
2 Tbsp. egg nog
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Put half the batter ont he bottom of a well greased and floured bundt pan.  Drizzle the cheese mixture around and finish covering with the remaining batter.  Bake at 350*F for 40 – 50 minutes.  When the cake is completely cooled, remove it from the pan and drizzle with the glaze.

Glaze:

1 – 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar (depending how much you want the glaze to soak into the cake)
1/4 cup egg nog
1/4 tsp. rum extract
f.g. of nutmeg

Since this is the perfect holiday cake, HERE is a printable version so you can print it and keep it until next year!

Balsamic Roasted Cauliflower and Mushroom

Another good winter activity is playing with food.  With the icky weather over Thanksgiving break, I decided to try something new.  I went with Balsamic Roasted Cauliflower and Mushroom.

Because the cauliflower requires a longer roasting time, I did prepare it and the mushrooms separately.  I used a one pound container of mushrooms and then used the container to get about the same amount of cauliflower.

Mix the sauce in a measuring cup.

2 Tbsp. olive oil
6Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 Cup soy sauce
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. onion powder

Mix it and pour half (or just over) onto the cauliflower.  I had mine already in the glass roasting dish.  Throw it in a 400*F (204.4 *C) oven for 15 minutes.

While it’s baking, you can pour the rest of the sauce on the mushrooms and toss.

After the cauliflower has roasted 15 minutes, stir it and add the mushrooms. Put it bake in the oven to bake for 10 minutes.

Then take it out to stir again and then generously sprinkle it with parmesan cheese.  Throw it back in to bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Take it out and serve.  Yummy!

It does make a big pan full.  I tried freezing a small amount to see how it worked, and I must say it was still delicious.

Seriously, I cannot get enough of this stuff!