Breakfast Julius

My mom gave me this recipe years and years ago, before IT Guy and I married. Then I used to make it for my kids when they were little. They loved hearing the blender whirring because that usually meant this treat was on its way. The original recipe called for a raw egg. (Remember this was given to me back in the 70's when people weren't concerned about salmonella.) If you can lay (hahaha!!) your hands on a FRESH raw egg, you can use it in this recipe if you want. I know some people are squeamish about raw eggs. I am one of them. I certainly would never eat a raw egg by itself. But I promise you can't taste it in this recipe! I've changed the raw egg to meringue powder and actually got the same results. The egg white/meringue powder gives this drink a little froth and foam. If you like Orange Julius', then you'll love this!

Breakfast Julius


6 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate
12 ice cubes
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons meringue powder (or for you brave souls, 1 raw egg)
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Serve immediately.
Makes 6 1-cup servings

Here's the goods.

Plop everything into a 

blender and give it a go!

Pour into glasses and drink!!

Orange Almond Honey Muffins

I've been on a citrus kick as of late and this little recipe turned out so good! Easy and fast. Use the honey butter to spread on the cooked muffins if you want....but that's totally an option. A good option, I might add. Either way these muffins are stinkin' good!

Orange Almond Honey Muffins



1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter ~ room temperature
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and honey until light fluffy.

Beat in egg, orange juice concentrate and orange zest.

Gradually add flour mixture and mix until just blended.

Fill 12 - 15 lined muffin cups.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

Remove to wire rack to cool.

Serve with cinnamon honey butter. (Recipe follows)

Here's the ingredients for the muffins.

Combine the flour, baking powder, 

baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Whip the butter and honey together 

until fluffy then beat in the egg.

Add the orange juice concentrate and the orange zest.

Add the flour.

Then fold in the almonds.

Place batter into muffin cups.

Then bake!

Cinnamon Honey Butter

1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

3 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place ingredients in a bowl and combine until smooth. Serve with muffins.

For the honey butter...

..add everything in a mixing bowl 

and stir until well combined.

Serve with muffins!!

My mom gave me this recipe years and years ago, before IT Guy and I married. Then I used to make it for my kids when they were little. They loved hearing the blender whirring because that usually meant this treat was on its way. The original recipe called for a raw egg. (Remember this was given to me back in the 70's when people weren't concerned about salmonella.) If you can lay (hahaha!!) your hands on a FRESH raw egg, you can use it in this recipe if you want. I know some people are squeamish about raw eggs. I am one of them. I certainly would never eat a raw egg by itself. But I promise you can't taste it in this recipe! I've changed the raw egg to meringue powder and actually got the same results. The egg white/meringue powder gives this drink a little froth and foam. If you like Orange Julius', then you'll love this!

Breakfast Julius



6 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate
12 ice cubes
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons meringue powder (or for you brave souls, 1 raw egg)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Serve immediately.

Makes 6 1-cup servings

Here's the goods.

 

Plop everything into a 

blender and give it a go!

 

Pour into glasses and drink!!

 

 

 

This is a cheesecake I've been wanting to make for a long time. I always enjoyed orange dreamsicle popsicles as a kid so I thought...hey! Why not turn it into a real dessert? I just reworked one of my old cheesecake recipes and this turned out to be a winner! I took it to a party not long ago and only came home with a couple of pieces so I can only assume it was a success. I had a small bite of IT Guy's piece and thought it was great. Hmmm...I used to love fudgsicles as a kid, too. I wonder what THAT would be like in a cheesecake????

Orange Dreamsicle Cheesecake



Crust:
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter – melted

In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Stir until all combined. Pour into a 10-inch springform pan. Pat mixture up the sides and on the bottom of the pan.

Wrap springform pan with foil. Place in a large roasting pan.


Filling:

2 8-ounce blocks cream cheese - softened
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon orange zest

Combine cream cheese and condensed milk in a mixer on low speed until smooth. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, until blended, but do not overmix.

Add orange juice, flour and zest.

Pour over crust. Fill roasting pan with water until half way up the sides of the springform pan and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until almost set.

Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen.

Sprinkle with orange zest.

Chill overnight then remove sides of pan.

Here's the stuff for the cheesecake and the crust.

It's just a simple graham cracker crust.

Press the crumbs into your springform pan. Pop it in the fridge while you work on the cheesecake.

Combine the cream cheese and the sweetened condensed milk until smooth.

Then add the vanilla.

Then add the eggs...one at a time, blending well after each addition.

Throw in the orange zest, O.J. concentrate and the flour. Stir well.

Then pour the batter into your prepared crust.

Wrap the pan in foil then put it inside a larger pan. Fill with hot water to about half way up the sides of the springform pan. Then bake!

Allow to cool. Run a knife around the edge to loosen cake from pan. I was pretty proud that my cheesecake developed NO cracks!!! Yay!

Orange Glaze
1/3 c. sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 c. orange juice
A few drops of orange food coloring (optional)

Here's what you need for the glaze.

Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan.

Pour in the orange juice and allow to cook until thick on medium heat, stirring constantly. Allow to cool then pour over cooled cheesecake. I added a few drops of food coloring to give it a more orange look...as you can tell by the NEON orange in the very top picture. Yikes!

The very first time I made this, I was holding a Christmas open house. I had set the table with all sorts of delectable foods and gave this ham center stage! It was SO good. I love anything with a sweet & savory flavor to it and this glaze is just perfect! And easy? Oh yeah...definitely easy. The only thing you need to do to it, is baste it as it cooks. But SO worth it!

Orange Glazed Ham

1 (3-4 pound) cooked or uncooked ham.

¼ cup prepared mustard
5 tablespoons orange juice
1 cup brown sugar - packed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Score ham and place on a rack in a foil lined roasting pan. Insert meat thermometer into the thickest part of the ham.

Combine mustard, orange juice and brown sugar in a medium sized bowl. Pour over ham.

Place ham in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Glaze.

Turn oven temperature to 325 and cook according to ham directions, for cooked or uncooked. Glaze ham every 20 minutes until done. If you find that your ham is not giving off enough liquid to make a glaze, add ½ cup of water the first couple of times you glaze. Just pour the water in the roasting pan and give a little stir then glaze as usual.


 
This is what you'll need for this yummy glaze.


 
Combine the orange juice, mustard and brown sugar.


 
Then pour it over the scored ham. 
Use a rack so the ham doesn't sit 
on the bottom of the pan and burn.


 
Glaze every 20 minutes until done. 
After all the glazing the ham will 
have almost a candy coating all over it. 
You might want to add some water as it cooks. 
Just stir the water into the roasting pan and keep glazing!


 
Oh so good....

I have had this recipe for ages...and guess what? I've never made it. Not once. Until now. It always looked good and was one of those recipes that "I'll think about tomorrow". That's what a friend (Hi Denise!) and I call "The Scarlett Mentality". Things you have good intentions about but always put off. Not a good quality when you love desserts like I do! So here it is...and shame on me for waiting so long!! Yummmm-eeeee!!!!

Mandarin Orange Pound Cake

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 sticks butter – softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons orange extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
½ cup buttermilk
1 14-ounce can mandarin oranges – drained, reserve juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour (or use Baker’s Joy) a 2 quart bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time. Add extracts.

Stir in half of flour to sugar/butter mixture and then add all of buttermilk. Mix well then add remaining flour mixture. Add drained oranges and beat gently until oranges have broken down a little bit.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 55- 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes then invert onto a serving plate.

Poke holes in cake while still warm. Drizzle with orange glaze.

Orange Glaze

In s small saucepan, combine reserved mandarin orange juice with 1 cup sugar. Boil on low for about 10 minutes until thick and syrupy. Spoon glaze over warm cake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.


 
The cast of characters. 
The recipe calls for buttermilk but I didn't have any. 
I did have this buttermilk powder that I keep on hand. 
Ever used it? It's wonder-mous! 
You can find it in the baking aisle.


 
Beat the butter and sugar until flur-fy!


 
Add the egg yolks...one at a time.


 
Then add the extracts.


 
Stir in the flour alternately with the buttermilk, 
beginning and ending with flour. 
Half flour, then the buttermilk then the rest of the flour. 
You see me pouring water in because 
I added the buttermilk powder with 
the rest of the dry ingredients.


 
Add the mandarin oranges and beat 
gently until they are broken up 
and incorporated into the batter.


 
Scrap down the sides of the bowl....


 
..and spread the batter into your prepared pan. 
You could use two loaf pans if ya wanted to.


 
Bake it up and allow it to cool in the pan a while. 
Then flip it onto a serving plate. 
Poke holes in the cake. 
I used an ice pick because I wanted larger holes.


 
Combine the reserved mandarin orange juice and the sugar. 
Allow it to boil for about 10 minutes until thick and syrupy.


 
Pour the syrup over the cake and allow 
to set to absorb the glaze. 
Sprinkle with powdered sugar 
or serve with sweetened whipped cream.