poppy seeds

Broccoli Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

~ lk529 ~ 9 Comments

I love a good broccoli salad and I am not afraid of mayo.

But I know many people who aren’t as in love with the condiment as I am. And that’s okay.

I settled on bringing broccoli salad to Easter dinner as my contribution. I was going to use my go-to recipe, which involves pasta, but then I found a non-mayo recipe on Pinterest. Those stalkers knew just what I would like!

My favorite thing about this broccoli salad is that there’s lots of fruit involved – apples, blueberries, and cranberries! The poppy seed dressing is sweet and tangy and a perfect compliment to both veggie and fruit. It gets bonus points for sunflower seeds.

I’m sharing the recipe today with some other Festive Foodie bloggers in honor of National Picnic Day, which is today April 23rd. I think this salad would be great for any picnic or potluck!

Broccoli Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients:

  • 2 small heads broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 large apple, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 C blueberries
  • 1/2 C dried cranberries
  • 1/4 C sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 C diced red onion
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice, divided use
  • 1 C plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 C honey
  • 1 tbsp poppy seeds
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Steps:

  1. In a large bowl, toss together the broccoli, apple, blueberries, cranberries, sunflower seeds, and red onion with 1 tbsp lemon juice.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, honey, remaining lemon juice, poppy seeds, and vinegar.
  3. Pour dressing over salad to taste (I had a little dressing leftover) and serve.

*This recipe is adapted from Kristine at https://kristineskitchenblog.com/no-mayo-broccoli-salad-blueberries-apple/ *

Broccoli Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing for National Picnic Day from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Be sure to check out these other great picnic worthy recipes:

Asian Slaw by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Bánh Mì + A Wine Suggestion by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Broccoli Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing by Sew You Think You Can Cook

Chicken BLT Shaker Salad by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Deviled Eggs with Horseradish and Dill by Palatable Pastime

Florida Stone Crab Claws with Key Lime Mustard Dipping Sauce by Family Around the Table

Italian Antipasto Pasta Salad by Books n’ Cooks

Marinated Three Bean Salad by Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Roasted Corn Salad with Chile Vinaigrette by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Southern Crispy Oven Fried Chicken by Everyday Eileen

 Thank you, Ellen of Family Around the Table, for hosting this National Picnic Day event.

Poppy-Seed Cake (Makowiec)

~ lk529 ~ 4 Comments

Today’s recipe comes from Rose Petal Jam: Recipes and Stories from a Summer in Poland. I received this beautiful cookbook for Christmas last year.

Poppy-Seed Cake | Sew You Think You Can Cook | http://sewyouthinkyoucancook.com

We were invited to a party for the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics with the request to bring a cultural dish. Unfotunatley, we weren’t able to make it due to a long day at work for my husband.

Yea, remember the Games? Did you forget that happened this year?! Not going to lie, I kinda did, too. But I wasn’t able to watch much of them due to my current time zone combined with those little children of mine.

Anyway.

I knew I wanted to bring a Polish dish and decided on trying this Poppy-Seed Cake.

This cake uses a LOT of poppy seeds.

It’s probably a good thing I ended up not sharing this cake at the party because with my luck one of the guys would’ve been randomly drug tested the next day. I was seriously nervous about the poppy seed concentration when I thought my 2 year old was acting a little loopy. If you’re concerned about your intake of poppy seeds, check out this article, which provides a guideline to poppy seed consumption limits.

I had some dilemmas with the recipe, though. And actually, the photographs I’m sharing with you today are from my second attempt. Attempt number 1 is in my freezer, as it’s still quite edible, just far from beautiful.

The recipe called for a pound of poppy seeds. Do you have any idea how many poppy seeds make up a pound!?! I’m still finding stray poppy seeds in the corners of my kitchen!

My food processor couldn’t break down the tiny seeds into a paste, so I recommend getting a spice grinder and working in batches. Because my poppy seed texture wasn’t quite right, I had a lot of extra liquid which caused seepage out of the cake roll.

I had so much left over filling that I decided to simply try again! The second time I (sorta) followed a different method for the cake I found on YouTube.

I would honestly suggest halving (or quartering!) the filling recipe, but I’m leaving it as written.

Poppy-Seed Cake (Makowiec)

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 1 lb poppy seeds
  • 3 C milk
  • 1/2 stick butter, melted
  • 1 C superfine sugar
  • 1 C chopped walnuts
  • 1 C slivered almonds
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 egg whites, beaten

Ingredients for the cake:

  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 2/3 C superfine sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 C whole milk, warmed to 105-110 deg F
  • 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
  • 4 C bread flour
  • 2/3 C golden raisins
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Ingredients for the glaze:
  • 3/4 C powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • milk, as needed

Steps:

  1. Heat poppy seeds and milk in a pot over medium low heat for 10 minutes. Cover and let sit over night.
  2. Drain the seeds, place in a food processor, and pulse until they form a paste. Add the sugar, nuts, zest, and extract, and pulse a few seconds. Remove to a bowl and fold in the egg whites.
  3. Allow yeast to proof in the warm milk, 10 minutes.
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg yolks, stirring until combined. Add the milk and yeast. Add some of the flour and mix. Switch to the dough hook and slowly add the remaining flour and the raisins. Knead until the dough forms around the hook.
  5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough and roll lengthwise. Place cake on a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet. Cover and let rise an hour.
  6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  7. Brush cake with the egg. Bake 45 minutes.
  8. Meanwhile, make the glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk until smooth and runny. Pour over cake while still warm.

Poppy-Seed Cake (Makowiec) | Sew You Think You Can Cook | http://sewyouthinkyoucancook.com

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

~ lk529 ~ 3 Comments

Today is my beautiful sister-in-law’s birthday. Audrey is another member of the Auburn family. She is finishing up her last year in Hotel & Restaurant Management. I have to admit, I am jealous of her path. She absolutely loves her classes and her job (working at the Auburn University & Dixon Conference Center. With her experience working the both hotel & restaurant sides of the conference center, the whole world is open to her following her graduation. Literally. She’s expressed dreams of running a hotel in Vegas, of working on a cruise ship, or even moving overseas. And here’s for my big head-in-the-clouds dream: Someday she’ll open up her own hotel and I’ll be the chef in her restaurant. 😉

AudreyWedding Photography by Cher Hanna

When I asked Audrey what recipe she’d like featured on Sew You Think You Can Cook for her birthday she responded with “Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole.” There wasn’t any hesitation, there wasn’t any doubt. This dish is her favorite – and I can see why! The creamy chicken casserole uses few ingredients, is easy to assemble, is full of flavor, and definitely qualifies as comfort food. We served it with broccoli and crescent rolls to sop up the extra sauce.

This recipe comes from one of my mother-in-law’s friends and looks to be an adaptation of a Paula Deen recipe. I made a few tweaks – I halved the recipe and it fed 3 perfectly. (To serve 4 I’d add another chicken breast but keep the sauce quantities the same.) The recipe I have calls for cooked, shredded chicken. But we decided instead to cut chicken breasts into tenders, brown, and then layer into the casserole dish. If you opt to use shredded chicken I highly suggest serving this casserole over rice. We liked the adjustment of chicken tenders because it gave the illusion of a lighter meal, providing the opportunity to have as much or as little of the sauce as desired.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

  • 2 large chicken breasts, cut into tenders
  • 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 C sour cream
  • 1 can (10 oz) cream of chicken soup
  • 1/2 – 1 sleeve Ritz crackers
  • 1 tsp poppy seeds
  • 3 tbsp butter, melted

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Season chicken with S+P. In a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat brown chicken in olive oil.
  3. Place chicken in a lightly greased 7×11″ casserole dish.
  4. Combine sour cream and chicken soup. Pour over chicken.
  5. Place crackers in a plastic bag to crush into crumbs. Add the poppy seeds and combine. Top casserole. Drizzle with melted butter.
  6. Bake 35 minutes, until bubbly.

Note: This recipe feeds 3. To feed four add another half or whole chicken breast but keep the remaining ingredients as indicated.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole