There is no better time than the present to spread some JOY! Thanks to our friends at King Arthur Flour, I did some baking this weekend. In our Convent, Sr. Elizabeth loves to bake chocolate chip cookies, and if you’re lucky enough to be walking through the kitchen when she’s baking, she’ll always stop and give you the one “that didn’t come out quite perfect.”
With children home from school and spouses trying to work remotely, why not take some time to make a batch of these yummy cookies and enjoy the smiles they’ll bring. Another side benefit are the wonderful smells that come into your kitchen. In these uncertain times, warm cookies fresh from the oven warm hearts as well!
(Note: If you use a digital scale to measure the ingredients, they will come out perfectly!)
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Easy and Delicious - Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 4 cookie sheets lined with parchment
paper.
Beat together the butter and sugars until smooth.
Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
Whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and
add to the butter mixture in the bowl.
Mix until everything is incorporated (no need to over mix), scraping the
bottom of the bowl.
Stir in the chocolate chips
Using a 1" cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, drop a dozen cookies on each
sheet pan in rows of 3 - spreading evenly apart.
Bake at 325° for 12 to 13 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. Remove from the oven, cool on the sheet pan for another couple of minutes (they will continue baking slightly)and then carefully slide the parchment with cookies to the counter to cool.
This recipe will make 50 cookies.
Recently, another Sister and I shared our borscht recipes and memories! Like any well-loved food, memories play a part in its enjoyment. Our experiences of eating borscht are different but surprisingly parallel. Sr. Monica spent two months living at a Convent in Estonia when it was still part of the USSR. She has vivid memories of being there as the coup occurred when Gorbachev was still in power. I remember it too, because I was in Poland at the time, singing with our choir, Gloriae Dei Cantores. We had no way to communicate with our Sisters in Estonia since cell phones and e-mail were unavailable to us in 1991. We relied on prayer for their safety. Often, a particular recipe is a vehicle for comfort, even solace. We have had difficult times in the past, but we know God’s love is available to us. We offer this heartwarming recipe to you, along with our prayers for a healthy spring.
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Springtime Borscht
SERVINGS
8
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
COOK TIME
1hour
PREP TIME
4.5hours
READY IN
5.5hours
Ingredients
2poundsbeefchuck roast or stew meat (if using bone-in meat, increase poundage to 3#)
Put the meat in a crockpot with 8 cups cold water, red pepper flakes, bay leaves and 1 Tbsp salt. Set on high for 4 hours. Cook until fork tender. Remove meat and strain and reserve the broth. Set aside
While the Beef is cooking, wrap beets in foil and place in a 400 degree oven—roast for 1hr. until fork tender. Cool slightly, but while they are still warm, remove the top, bottom and skin with a pairing knife (skins should come off easily if properly cooked) and either grate or julienne the beets. Set aside.
Heat a large stockpot and add 4 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp. butter and sauté onion for 2 min. Add diced potato and sauté another 5 min or until beginning to soften. Add the grated carrot, cabbage and garlic and 2 Tbsp vinegar and sauté for 5 minutes.
Reduce heat to med/low and add the beets, 2 Tbsp sugar and 2 Tbsp tomato paste. Mix thoroughly and add the reserved strained broth and extra 2-3 cups beef broth. (I used' Better than Bouillon' Roasted Beef Base)
Simmer and cover until vegetables are tender. Add the diced, cooked Beef and 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill. Remove from heat and leave covered until flavors meld. Add 1/4 tsp pepper (If desired), and salt to taste. Adjust flavors to taste (you may want to add a bit more vinegar or sugar)
Serve warm or cold with a dollop of sour cream and a sprig of fresh dill.
Over the years, both for guest cooking and for meals at the convent and friary, our cooks are always on the lookout for delicious recipes with a unique twist that are easy to prepare. This special orange pork recipe is one of these! While pork loin can be roasted in the oven — a pan-fried preparation is equally as tasty.
We very much enjoyed this lovely meat course and hope that you will too! Juicy and flavorful, this is a keeper!
In a large saucepan, melt butter on stovetop until it bubbles and becomes frothy.
Add onion, carrot and celery. Sautee until tender.
While vegetables are cooking, season pork loin with salt and pepper.
Push aside vegetables in saucepan, leaving a space in the middle. Place pork loin in middle of pan and sear until brown on all sides, rotating as needed.
Once loin has a good crust on all sides, combine with rest of vegetables. Add orange juice and white wine to pan, cover and cook 1 hour on medium-low heat. Deglaze with water as needed.
Once loin is cooked thoroughly, remove from pan. Add vegetables and juices to blender and combine until smooth.
Rest pork and cut into chops. Return sauce to pan on stove to keep warm.
Serve pork warm with sauce over top and garnish with orange slices if desired.
Crumb cod has been a favorite of ours for decades—for guests, retreatants, and our own Sisterhood. It’s a wonderful addition to your Lenten menu. This is a great recipe for anyone looking for something meatless, delicious, and easy to prepare. You don’t have to live on the Cape to enjoy this flavorsome dish – try it and you’ll be glad you did, in and out of the Lenten season.
Brush Pyrex pie plate or baking dish with melted butter.
Brush fillets lightly with melted butter; then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Crush crackers with rolling pin and mix with melted butter and 1Tbsp of
lemon juice. Add chopped parsley and toss together lightly.
Gently press crumbs onto fillets. (It’s fine if any excess falls into baking dish!)
Pour wine and remaining Tbsp. of lemon juice around fish in the baking dish.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes until crumbs are golden and crunchy. Internal
temperature should read between 135 -140 degrees. You can carefully check
by gently inserting a fork, to see if the fish is opaque and flakey.
This year, I am teaching a home school culinary class. It’s a great joy for me to pass on to the younger generation all the tips and skills that I learned. We loved making this Carrot Ginger soup together. When making soup, I always start by sautéing the vegetables. Sautéing caramelizes them and brings out the very best flavor of the vegetable – never start by boiling them in liquid, or you’ll produce a very tasteless soup! Carrot Ginger freezes well, so make a big pot of it, cool and freeze flat in zip lock bags. Once they are frozen, the bags can then stand upright in your freezer or be stacked. This soup can be made completely dairy-free, just substitute olive oil or coconut oil for the butter. Enjoy!
In a 6-quart pan, over medium-high heat, add butter and olive oil. Sauté onions and carrots and cook until the vegetables begin to caramelize and become golden and tender.
Add the ginger and 6 cups of the broth, cover and simmer. Reduce heat and cook until carrots are tender when pierced with a fork. Add the coconut milk.
Remove from heat and transfer to a blender (don’t fill the blender more than halfway). Pulse the blender to start and then purée until smooth.
Return to the pan and add more broth or coconut milk to reach desired consistency. Reheat over medium heat, adding salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
HANDS-DOWN, ONE OF OUR SISTERHOOD’S MOST FAVORITE TREATS!
This is a dessert / snack that I think is fair to say, always brings a smile and sparkle to the eye. Whether served as a plated reception option, a surprise snack for a hard-working crew, a dessert tucked into a bag lunch, it always hits the mark—and is never refused! And as a living testimony to this—today, I left the batch of fresh baked Carmelitas on the counter, only to find when I returned to do my blog “photo shoot”, that the Sister on duty saw them and couldn’t resist offering a few to some Brothers doing a spackling job; I’m still hearing how much they loved them!
