Fare Exchange: Meat with fruit glazes and muffins with meat glazes

Jane Henegar

It's Fare, Exchanged, again, and today the mailbox is full. For starters, here are a mere two requests: good recipes for goulash and formulas for adding flavorings to sparkling mineral water.

Jim Holland of Spring City, Tenn., has lost a treasure: his wife's recipe for goulash. "It makes a good one-dish meal. It would go good at this time of year. I know of only two items that she used: large elbow macaroni and ground chuck."

Mrs. Ezekiel Pillow has forsaken carbonated drinks with sugar "and now I am buying a lot of sparkling or mineral water. I love the flavored ones but feel they could be easily made at home: mint, lemon-raspberry, lime, peach. Could someone help with this?"

Ginny Gaines was already in the process of downsizing her cookbook shelf. "Cooking for me has changed so much from when I first began as a newlywed, through years of children and school and activities, to the empty nest and on into retirement years. Cooking is much more creative than it ever was in years past, although we all go back to those recipes that our mothers prepared that fed our bodies as well as our souls."

And these are her enduring titles so far; they have kept their place on her shelf: "The Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book," received as a wedding present in 1970; "Southern Living Annual Recipes 1983," "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" and local treasure "The Gorgeless Gourmet's Cookbook" by Ferris Robinson. Her newest choice would be "Sunday in the South" by Ginny McCormack.

Here's an idea for a Christmas gift, also from Gaines. "Several years ago I had my favorite recipes of my mother's framed, with a picture of her in the center. All of them were handwritten by her and are framed creatively hanging in our dining room."

Finally, here's a Gaines favorite from the "Gorgeless Gourmet's Cookbook."

Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Glaze

1 package pork tenderloin (1 1/2 to 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup sherry

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Marinate pork overnight in a mixture of mustard, thyme, sherry, soy sauce and garlic. Grill, then slice when meat is no longer pink.

Apricot Glaze

1 (10-ounce) jar apricot preserves

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons sherry

Mix apricot preserves, soy sauce and sherry and heat until preserves melt. Drizzle over meat.

• • •

Rosemary Palmer included this recipe in her blog, notjustpaperandpaint.com. With only two ingredients and less than 30 minutes from start to finish, it's a good one to try with children. If you want to fancify the muffins and have the time, the glazes that follow work well.

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

1 box yellow or spice cake mix

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in muffin tins or spray well with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix cake mix and pumpkin together on a medium speed with your mixer until well blended, about 2 to 3 minutes. The batter may also be mixed by hand, but this is a very thick batter.

Fill each cup about 2/3 full. The large scoop from Pampered Chef works well for all muffins and cupcakes. It's the perfect size.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the tin and cool on a rack. If desired, add a topping to warm or cool muffins.

Maple Bacon Glaze

4 to 6 slices bacon

1 cup confectioner's sugar

6 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1/2 tablespoon milk or heavy cream

Fry the bacon until crispy. Cool, then break or chop into small crumbles.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the sugar, syrup and milk together until completely smooth. Any lumps should be able to be removed by whisking. Add more milk for a thinner glaze, a few drops at a time.

Spoon about a teaspoon of the glaze onto each cooled muffin, then top with bacon crumbles.

Store these at room temperature for a day. After that, refrigerate any leftovers.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until well mixed. Add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and continue beating until smooth.

Spread the glaze onto muffins and serve warm or at room temperature.

• • •

Janice Hixson of Soddy-Daisy found the sweet tea cake we were seeking in August's "Southern Living." Its flavor combination was "Arnold Palmer inspired."

Sweet Tea- and-Lemonade Cake

Spin this into a tipsy cake by substituting up to 2 tablespoons vodka or bourbon for the lemon juice in the frosting.

Shortening

1 1/2 cups boiling water

3 family-size tea bags

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

5 large eggs at room temperature

3 1/2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Lemonade Frosting (recipe below)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (with shortening) and flour a 13-by-9-inch pan. Pour 1 ½ cups boiling water over tea bags in a heatproof glass bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and steep 10 minutes. Lift tea bags from liquid and press against sides of bowl, using back of spoon. Discard tea bags. Cool tea 20 minutes.

Beat butter in a separate large bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Whisk together cake flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture alternately with 1 cup tea, beginning and ending with flour mixture. (Discard any remaining tea.) Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack, about 20 minutes. Spread lemonade frosting on cake.

Lemonade Frosting

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

6 cups powered sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating at low speed until blended after each addition. Beat in lemon zest and lemon juice just until blended. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy.

To serve, top each piece with a thin-sliced lemon just before serving.

Time's up; space overfilled. Next week?