Rosemary & Garlic Infused Oil

THINGS YOU NEED

Vegetable Oil or Olive Oil

Rosemary Sprigs, washed and thoroughly dried

Garlic Cloves, peeled and sliced in half lengthwise

Cleaned and thoroughly dried glass bottles in various sizes shapes and designs

Stoppers; corks, wine bottle stoppers etc.

DIRECTIONS:

Process takes 1 week to infuse, keep that in mind when planning for your gift or for yourself.

1. In a glass bottle, place 1 Rosemary sprig and 1 half of garlic clove.
2. Using a funnel add oil until almost to the top so as not to overflow.
3. Add cork on top.
4. Place in a safe, cool environment for 1 week. Everyday swirl the bottle around to mix up the contents. Do not tip upside down it might leak.
5. After 1 week, dump oil into a bowl to remove Rosemary and garlic.
6. Replace back in bottle with stopper. 
7. Refrigerate for longevity. Lasts 2 weeks, if you opt to keep in rosemary and garlic, 1 week. 

You can change up the ingredients to your tastes. I use these two ingredients all the time so this is my favorite. This makes a nice gift for Grandparents, Parents, Bosses, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, Hostess Gift, & Housewarming. Use for making salad dressings, pan frying chicken, fish, shrimp, beef, pork, & lamb.

OTHER HERBS TO USE:

• Thyme
• Oregano
• Whole Dried Chili Peppers
• Dried Chili Pepper Flakes
• Fresh Sage Leaves (another fav!!)
• Lemon Peelings + zest
• Lime Peelings + zest
• Whole Peppercorns

When choosing herbs and combinations of them, (especially the spicy ones) make sure to start off with small quantities and add to it from there. As you can see in the original recipe I only use small quantities. Fresh herbs are very powerful and infuse the oil very well. 

This recipe is beign shared over at Foodie Friends Friday

Related articles

• Cranberry Rosemary Dip – EASY & QUICK (sweetheatchefs.com)
• Spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, rosemary and lemon zest (robin-ellis.net)

Cranberry Rosemary Dip – EASY & QUICK

 

 

INGREDIENTS

• 10 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 6 tablespoons dried sweetened cranberries ( I course chop them, but you could leave them whole)
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary ( I used the spice grinder)
• fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt (to taste)

Place all ingredients in bowl and using a spoon smooth, smash and stir together all ingredients until well combined. Taste it with a cracker and see if you want to add more of any of the ingredients! Place back in refrigerator covered for about 1 hour before serving with crackers. Garnish with a few whole cranberries and a sprig of Rosemary. Super easy, beautiful in color and a HUGE hit! Enjoy 😀

 

 

Broccoflower Fritters

Normally when you hear the word “fritter” you, or at least I, think of a nice warm gooey apple fritter! Sadly not much nutrients in one of those, but in my veggie fritter, you will get a ton of them. From cancer fighting agents to helping fight those nasty cold buggies searching your immune system for a place to live. There is no end to the wonderful benefits of broccoli. You can make this recipe with just broccoli, or just cauliflower, I used a combination of broccoli and a broccoflower I found at the store that looked beautiful. This cross-breed between broccoli and cauliflower is it’s sweeter counterpart. You can eat it raw as is, or cook how you would broccoli or cauliflower. I love the taste of both so I decided to have the best of both worlds 😀

The crispy exterior of these fritters mixed with the tender interior with the nutty parmesan cheese and rosemary flavors really blend well together. Bringing a well-rounded side dish to your meal or just to eat as a snack.

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 stalks rosemary, toasted and chopped
1/2 c flour
2 stalks brocoli
1/2 broccoflower
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt/pepper to taste
rosemary oil to cook in

DIRECTIONS

Steam your broccoli or broccoflower until fork tender.

In a medium sized bowl combine; eggs, parmesan cheese, cornmeal, rosemary, flour, red pepper flakes, salt/pepper (if using).

Add steamed broccoli or broccoflower and mash away. Using a potato masher works wonders for this process. You don’t want the consistency of mashed potatoes, you want a chunkier mixture with pieces of the vegetable throughout. 

In a skillet heat 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 1 sprig of rosemary. Heat on medium low to infuse the oil with the rosemary flavors. About 5-7 minutes.

Using a tablespoon, scoop 1 tablespoon of fritter batter into the hot rosemary oil and flatten with spatula.

Cook until brown on edges about 3-4 minutes, then flip over and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.

Remove from oil and place on paper towel and give a light dusting of parmesean cheese & salt (optional). I omit the salt from the recipe and use it here instead.

Recipe makes approximately 15 fritters depending on the size you make them. They can be stored in an airtight ziplock or container in fridge for 3-4 days and in the freezer for 2 weeks.

Best served warm.  If re-heating, warm oven to 375 degrees F. Take a cookie sheet with a wire rack and place on cookie sheet, place fritters on rack and bake for 20 minutes or until warmed through. 

Featured at: Foodie Friends Friday

Baked Cheesy Sweet Potato Cakes

INGREDIENTS

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon rosemary, fresh and chopped
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

If you are looking for a way t build muscle in your arm, try this recipe. NO JOKE grating these sweet potatoes with a grated is a great work out! I am always look for new ways to get my kiddos to eat veggies, if you follow my blog then you know this already, and if not then you probably are the same with your own kids unless you have UBER awesome kids that eat their veggies. I was blessed with 5 kids, but 5 kids that DON’T eat or like veggies! So….I came across this recipe that looked and sounded good. How can one go wrong with cheese anyway. Not just any cheese Parmesan cheese at that. Only 1 oz of this cheese and you are at 11 grams of protein and contain the bone building nutrients calcium and phosphorus. Combine that with the sweet potatoes Vitamin C content and I’ll take it! Now you aren’t going to tell the little kiddos how awesome this snack is, you just indulge them with the fact it is “cool” looking with the brightly orange color and tell them it is full of cheese. You can also talk them off the ledge by telling them this is a new Halloween recipe you are trying! That’s it, nothing more and they will be happy to try it and continue asking for more.

This baked sweet potato cake when you bite into it has a nice savory crisp to it, you immediately taste the nutty Parmesan cheese and then the rosemary hits your taste buds like a final explosion of flavor. I found this recipe from a sweet blog called Carrots and ‘N’ Cake. I didn’t really change the recipe too much it is that good! Here is all you need to know to get started!

Preheat oven to 425. Set a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Spray rack with non-stick spray. Make sure you don’t skip this step or you will have this…

…and you will be trying to gnaw off the little bits of deliciousness while trying not to burn your mouth…wait what? No I didn’t do that! Ok, so back to our regularly scheduled programming, where was I…?

Peel sweet potatoes and shred them using a cheese grater.

Squeeze the moisture from the sweet potatoes. I used a kitchen towel and put 1 handful in the towel at a tie and gave it a twist until all potatoes were free of moisture.  The moisture keeps the crisps from getting crispy in the oven, so make sure you don’t skip this step.

Add Parmesan cheese

add egg whites

add rosemary, salt and pepper

Take a foil lined cookie sheet and spray with non stick cooking spray. Place 2 cooling racks on top (make sure they are sprayed unless you don’t mind gnawing). Take a scoop of the sweet potato mixture and create a pancake in the palm of your hand. Press firmly to create as flat of a pancake you can and place on rack. Repeat until  rack is full.

Top with a little pinch of shredded parmesan cheese and pop in the oven for 30 minutes or until crispy.

When you bite into the warm sweet potato crisp you immediately taste the rosemary and then the nutty flavor of the Parmesan hits you. It is a low-fat no guilt treat that is baked and you can feel good about eating more than one!

shown on Foodie Friends Friday!

 

Cornbread Toaster Bites

This is it…all the ingredients needed for this recipe, only 9 of them! Love easy, love convenient, love quick & YUMMY!

Do you remember the days when your mom was making homemade cornbread and as it was baking away in the oven and the odor of that sweet corn traveled through the house and made its way to your room? You emerge from under a pile of clothes that has been strewn about your room for weeks even though your mom has asked you to pick it up every time she walks by, to see what was for dinner. I love cornbread in many things and with many things. Now that the weather is getting cooler I can’t think of anything better than to get cooking on finding a new use for them.

I have had cornbread for lunch and dinner…how about breakfast? I can’t remember a breakfast that I have had that included fresh-baked cornbread. The vest part about this recipe is it is quick to assemble and a quick bake for the morning. You can get up throw everything together and bake. When you make you can eat it right as it is out of the oven with melting butter and drizzled honey and a few sprigs of freshly toasted rosemary leaves! You will not be able to stop at 1 piece!

Since this makes an entire sheet pan, you most likely will have left overs. Pop these in the toaster in the morning and repeat the process of butter, honey and rosemary. Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or tea and you are in sweet cornbread bliss.

NOTE TO SELF: If possible get a plate, put your feet up and zen out!

INGREDIENT LIST

1 stick butter, melted
1/2 c + 2 T sugar
2 eggs
1.5 t vanilla
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 c + 2 T cornmeal
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1 c milk

Preheat oven to 350 F. and
In a medium-sized bowl mix together the melted butter & sugar.

Stir in the eggs and vanilla.

Add the baking powder, cornmeal, flour & salt. Mix until everything is moistened. 

Add milk & mix until smooth

Line a 10″ x 15″ baking sheet with 1/2″ sides with foils and a piece of parchment paper. Spray a little non stick cooking spray on the parchment and throw a small handful of cornmeal over the top (this is optional) Pour your batter onto the parchment paper and spread it out over the entire sheet, getting it in each corner. If the mixture is uneven just give the cookie sheet a couple shakes to even it out.

Bake for about 25 minutes. The edges should be brown & pulling away from the side of the pan & the top should be set and not jiggly.

Allow to rest in the pan 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into. This helps keep the shape you want for making the taster bites. Using a sharp knife cut into individual pieces. 

Store the toaster bites in plastic wrap or in a re-sealable bag in the refrigerator. For longer storage keep them in freezer bags in the freezer.

 

 

Shown on Foodie Friends Friday!

Fake Out Parmesan & Rosemary Biscuits

These are the best quick go to fake out biscuits you can have. You have a dinner for some guests and you’re in a hurry, these taste like you made them home-made and they are super quick. TIP: Get rid of the packaging and you can claim them as your own! the crunchy rosemary and its earthy flavor mixed with the freshly grated parmesan with its nutty sharp flavor all go together so well. You won’t even need butter on these!

INGREDIENTS

1 can Pillsbury biscuit dough (any kind)
2-3 sprigs rosemary
1/2 cup fresh grates Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. and cook biscuits for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Place biscuits on a foil lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and cut 1 leaf of the rosemary on top. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Take 1 whole leaf of rosemary and place in the middle of biscuit. Repeat until all biscuits are done.