Maple Pecan Cookies

These Maple Pecan cookies are great year round and are a guest favorite.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Cup Butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbs Maple syrup
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup uncooked quick oats (not old-fashioned)
1/2 coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup packaged chopped pitted dates

DIRECTIONS:
1. For cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat 1/2 cup butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Beat in 3 Tbs syrup. Combine flour, baking soda: gradually beat into butter mixture. On low speed, beat in oats, coarsely chopped pecans and dates.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Yield: 2 dozen.

Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek

Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder

Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup butter
• 2 quarts Chicken Stock
• 1 pint half & half
• 3 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
• 2 cups roasted Poblano pepper (small dice)
• 2 cups of russet potatoes (small dice)
• 1 cup yellow onion (small dice)


Salt & Pepper to taste


Instructions:
1. In a large sauce pan, add the butter and flour.  Cook the roux for several minutes. Add the onions and sweat until they have softened, but not brown.
2. Whisk in the chicken stock and half & half to prevent clumps.
3. Add the potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender. Stir often making sure the bottom of the pot is clean.
4. Add the poblano and corn towards the end, and cook for 10 more minutes.
5. If the soup is not at the desired thickness, combine softened butter and flour.  Add a teaspoon at a time until the soup returns to a simmer. If not thickened enough add an additional teaspoon and continue until desired thickness is achieved.



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Inn Above Onion Creek

Fresh Cooking with Chef Marcos Galvan- Episode 2 - French Toast with Fambleed Pears

The executive chef at the Inn Above Onion Creek bed and breakfast shows you how to prepare French Toast with Flambeed Pears. In this episode of Cooking Fresh, Chef Marcos Galvan gives some great tips to help take your french toast to the next level.


Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek

Fresh Cooking with Chef Marcos Galvan - Episode 1 - Garden Greens

Watch Chef Marcos Galvan prepare three dishes all using fresh greens grown in our garden. The first dish is a corn bread bacon collard greens gratin. Next Chef Marcos creates a sauteed kale/swiss chard and a pan-seared talapia with a balsamic compound butter. Finally he finishes things up with a fresh romaine salad with Maytag blue cheese, candied walnuts, apples and a wildflower honey Dijon vinaigrette.

Here is the recipe for the Bacon Collard Greens Gratin

Collard Green-Bacon-Cornbread Gratin

Ingredients:
· 2 lbs. Collard Greens, washed, cut into 1” ribbons
· 2 Bacon, sliced
· 2 cups Cornbread, coarsely crumbled
· 1 cup yellow onion, diced
· 2 Tbsp AP Flour
· 3 cups milk
· Salt & Pepper to taste
· ¼ cup melted butter (optional)

Directions:

1. Blanch Collard Greens in boiling, salted water until tender (3-5 minutes). Shock in ice water to stop the cooking. Drain well.
2. Crisp the bacon over medium heat, then add the onions. Sweat onions until translucent. Add the flour and cook for several minutes.
3. Slowly whisk in the milk, and bring to a simmer.  Add the salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste.  Stir in the blanched greens.
4. Transfer to a greased baking dish and top with cornbread crumbles. Drizzle with melted butter.
5. Bake in a 350 degree oven until the top is goldenbrown


Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek

Aunt Thelma's Banana Bread

Aunt Thelma’s Banana Bread
By: Thelma Albaugh, John Orr’s Aunt

Serves 12
Preparation Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

1 stick of margarine
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
4 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup bananas – coarsely mashed, but not mushy
½ cup ground pecans

Cream margarine, sugar, and eggs together in a large mixing bowl – add buttermilk and vanilla and set aside. In another bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with bananas and nuts. Hand stir until well-blended, but be sure not to over-beat the mix.

Bake in a greased 5” x 9” loaf pan at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. It will split slightly at the top. Test with a toothpick for doneness. When done, let stand in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and immediately seal in plastic wrap. Then wrap again with aluminum foil and place in the freezer while it’s still hot. Leave the bread in the freezer for several days or longer. This is what makes the bread so moist!

Tomato Basil Soup

This Tomato Basil Soup is a great summertime soup recipe. When we can we substitute fresh tomatoes from our garden and we always use basil grown here on the property.


Tomato Basil Soup
Serves 6

32 oz can San Marzano Tomatoes, pureed
1 can tomato paste
1 cup onion, diced
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup carrot, diced
¾ cup fresh basil, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
1 T. garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Preheat heavy bottom sauce pan. Add olive oil.  Sweat onion, celery & carrot in oil until soft.  Add garlic, sauté for a few more minutes.

2. Add tomato paste and pureed tomatoes.

3. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add heavy cream and ½ cup of basil.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish soup with remaining basil.

Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek

Almond Cake

We do a version of this almond cake with a cherry topping but it's great plain as well. We pulled the recipe from italian-dessert-recipes.com which has all sorts of yummy italian desserts.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups of butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups of flour

Topping:

1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup of SLICED almonds


ProcedurePreheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter.
Pour melted butter in a bowl and stir in sugar. Stir it.
Add eggs (see it really is one bowl).
Stir till creamy.
Add all other ingredients (but not the topping ingredients!).
Grease bottom and sides of pan. I use a springform - but you can use a 9 inch also.
Spread the batter in the pan.
Sprinkle the almonds over the top and add sprinkle the sugar.
Bake for 40 mins.


Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek

Pancake Batter

This cooks.com pancake batter recipe results in a light fluffy pancake. It's a great base for variations such the blueberry pancakes shown above.

Ingredients:
4 tbsp. butter, melted
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
2 egg
2 c. milk
4 tbsp. oil or Pam


Directions:
Melt butter, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat together: melted butter, egg, and milk. Stir wet ingredients until just combined. It's O.K. to see a few lumps in the batter. Cook in 350 degree skillet using oil or cooking spray.

Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek

Texas Sweet Spicy Coleslaw

• 
  
• The versatility of cole slaw is wonderful, it works great as a condiment or as a side dish. We serve it along side our pulled pork sandwiches at many of our corporate retreat luncheons or as a bed for our grilled shrimp skewers. The tangy crunch can compliment many dishes and is especially tasty when it's warm outside like it is now in the Texas Hill Country. Currently we're using cabbage out of our garden but you can easily pick up a bag of cole slaw mix and use the following recipe to whip up a delicious side dish for your next cookout. 

Yield: 6 to 8 side dish servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 large bag of prepared cole slaw mix
• or 
• 1 head green cabbage (shredded)
• 1/2 head red cabbage (shredded)
• 2 or 3 large carrots (shredded)

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
• 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 Clove Garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:


If making the cole slaw mix from scratch the use of a food processor with a grating disk will make quick work of the shredding. For the dressing combine all ingredients and mix throughly. Add 3/4 of dressing to cabbage and carrot mixture and mix until well incorporated. Check wetness and incorporate remaining dressing to desired consistency. 




Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek

Zucchini Fritters

Squash season is here at the Inn Above Onion Creek which means Zucchini Fritters are frequenting the menu as a first course appetizer. We often use fresh zucchini out of the Inn's garden or Brian's garden at the Michaelis Ranch.

Zucchini Fritters:

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

3 to 4 medium sized zucchini

2 eggs

2 tbsp bread crumbs

3.5 oz (100 g) grated kashkaval cheese (you can use crumbled feta cheese also)

1 grated onion

2 tbsp dill, chopped

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

2 tbsp coriander, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Grate the zucchini coarsely and put into a colander. Sprinkle lightly with salt and toss, then leave for 20 minutes to drain. Rinse the zucchini briefly, then squeeze it to extract as much liquid as you can and pat dry with kitchen paper. 

In a bowl, combine all ingredients.

Form zucchini patties with your hands.

Heat some oil in a large skillet, and brown them on both sides.

Innkeepers Inn Above Onion Creek