Winter Wonderland

Bacon and Egg Pizzas

2 tsps vegetable oil
4 bacon slices, finely chopped
4 flour tortillas
cup barbecue sauce
3 1/2 - 4oz button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
4 eggs
2 tblsps shredded fresh basil
Salt and pepper, to taste
French fries, cooked

  1. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until browned and crisp. Remove from pan. Drain on absorbent paper towel.

  2. Place tortillas on two lightly greased oven trays. Spread with barbecue sauce. Top with mushrooms, bacon and cheese.

  3. Cook in a very hot oven (450f) for about 10 minutes, or until base is crisp and cheese is melted.

  4. Meanwhile, heat same lightly oiled non-stick frying pan until hot. Crack an egg into pan, then fry until white is completely firm and yolk begins to thicken. Remove and cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining eggs.

  5. Serve pizzas topped with eggs and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with French fries.

Note
If you like well-cooked eggs, as soon as egg whites are firm, turn egg over and cook the other side until yolks are firm.

Instead of bacon, you can use chopped ham or chicken.

Instead of French fries, try tater tots or hash browns.

I thought that this was pretty cool and it seemed to fit just right here. :wink: People with a lot of time on their hands can do some strange yet still awesome things. :open_mouth:

Behold the Chevy pickup that’s made from ice…

“With some incredible carving and ingenuity, the team created the Ice Truck — a fully drivable pickup made (almost) entirely from ice…”

Yahoo! Autos News Article Links:
Behold the Chevy pickup that’s made from ice

http://autos.yahoo.com/photos/this-truck-is-made-almost-entirely-from-ice-1388683558-slideshow/

RoscĂłn de Reyes

1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
Minced zest of 1/2 lemon
Minced zest of 1/2 orange
2 1/2 tsp. (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2/3 cup milk, heated to lukewarm (90°F to 100°F)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
3 tablespoons orange-flower water
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
olive oil for preparing pan
1/2 cup candied fruits, finely chopped, optional
whipped cream, chocolate whipped cream, meringue, or pastry cream optional for filling

  1. In a food processor or blender, combine the 1/2 cup sugar and both citrus zests and process on high speed until you have a mixture of fine particle. Set aside.

  2. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and let stand for about 5 minutes, or until foamy.

  3. Add sugar-zest mixture, the butter, 2 of the eggs, the orange flower water, and the salt and stir with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are well mixed.

  4. Add half the flour to the milk mixture and mix with your hands until well blended. Add the remaining flour and continue mixing until all the flour is incorporated.

  5. Knead the dough in the bowl for a few minutes until it is smooth, flexible, and no longer sticky.

  6. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest in a warm spot for about 1 hour, or until it has roughly doubled in size.

  7. Preheat the oven to its lowest setting and brush rimmed baking sheet with olive oil.

  8. Punch down the dough. On a floured work surface, using your palms, roll the dough back and forth until it forms a log about 30 inches long and 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Place it on the prepared baking sheet and bring the ends together to form a circle with a hole in the center 4 to 5 inches in diameter, forming a “crown.” Alternatively, divide the dough in half and form 2 logs each 15 inches long and 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Form the logs into 2 crowns on the baking sheet.

  9. Fill an ovenproof bowl with water and place it at the rear of the oven.

  10. Place the baking sheet with the dough crown in the oven. Let the dough rise for about 1 hour, or until nearly doubled in size.

  11. Remove the pan from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400°F. Break the remaining egg into a small bowl, beat until blended, and brush it onto the crown(s). Scatter the candied fruits evenly over the top(s), if desired, and sprinkle evenly with the sugar.

  12. Bake the cake(s) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool on the pan.

  13. Transfer to a serving plate and serve at room temperature.

  14. If desired, carefully slice the cake in half lengthwise. Spread the inside with the filling of your choice and top with the other half of cake.

Galette des Rois

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon real almond extract
1 cup blanched slivered almonds, finely ground
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 packages (for a total of 4 sheets) frozen puff pastry, thawed in refrigerator until ready to use
Egg wash consisting of 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 Tablespoon cold water
1 charm, coin or dried bean

Arrange oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grind the blanched slivered almonds in the bowl of a food processor until you have a fine meal.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs and almond extract and beat to combine.

On low, gently stir in the ground almonds and flour to combine. Set aside.

On a lightly floured, cool surface, unfold a sheet of puff pastry. Use a 9 1/2″ dinner plate as a template to cut a circle with a sharp knife. Place pastry circle on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush perimeter of pastry circle with egg wash. Spread half of the filling evenly on the pastry, leaving about a 1″ border. Charm can be added during serving, but if you’d like to bake yours in (as many do) this is the time to place it in the filling.

Cut second pastry circle in the same fashion as the first. Place the second circle on top of the first, matching the edges. Press all around the edges to help them stick together. Decorate the galette with a fork, by pressing the tines of a fork lightly around the edges (but not all the way through).

With the point of a sharp knife, make a design in the top of the galette, taking care not to go all the way through the pastry.

Brush the surface with egg wash, being careful not to let any run off the edges.

Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Bake both galettes on the center rack of a 450 degree F oven for 15 minutes. Then, reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

*Top 10 facts about Twelfth Night

TODAY is the 12th day after Christmas, traditionally celebrated in western Christianity as Epiphany.

By: William Hartston
Published: Mon, January 6, 2014

  1. While the western church celebrated the visit of the Magi to the infant Christ, the eastern church celebrates his baptism by John the Baptist…

  2. …but the eastern church mostly still sticks to the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian, so their Epiphany is our January 19.

  3. While Epiphany is also known as Twelfth Day, and Twelfth Night precedes Twelfth Day and begins on the evening of January 5.

  4. This is why Twelfth Day is known in Sweden as ‘trettondag’ (thirteenth day).

  5. Twelfth Night is the only Shakespeare play that includes neither of the words ‘child’ nor ‘children’.

  6. According to Samuel Pepys, Twelfth Night is “a silly play not relating at all to the name or day”.

  7. The cook, valet and actor Richard Baddeley left ÂŁ100 to provide the income for a cake to be eaten on Twelfth Night by Drury Lane actors.

  8. The Monday after Twelfth Day is Plough Monday when agriculture resumes after Christmas.

  9. The British used to celebrate Twelfth Night with a drink called Lamb’s Wool made from roasted apples, sugar and nutmeg in beer.

  10. George Washington, George Bush Sr and Henry VIII (to Anne of Cleves) all married on January 6.

Ten things you never knew about… Twelfth Night.*

(source: http://www.express.co.uk/fun/top10facts/452244/Top-10-facts-about-Twelfth-Night)

Lambswool Recipe





Winter Olympics





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