Let's Try These....

Daring Bakers Challenge: Scones AKA Buttermilk Biscuits

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Blog-checking lines: Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

I was trying to think of a way to explain this challenge but my friend, Audax, gives a very clear explanation. So I quote, "For our North American members I wish to clarify what this challenge is all about and try to avoid any confusions. Scones in North American are nearly always triangular in shape have a slightly crisp crust usually covered in sugar and have a soft interior crumb and sometimes are laced with dried fruit (these baked goods in Australia and England are called “rock cakes” since they are usually made to look like “rocky” cakes not wedges), meanwhile biscuits in North American are a round shaped buttery slightly flaky baked good usually eaten with meals (these items in Australia and England are called “scones” and are eaten with butter and jam usually with cups of tea or coffee as a sweet snack). So this challenge (using the North American name) is to make biscuits. Or using the Australian or English name this challenge is to make scones.

To further clarify for our North American bakers this month's challenge is to make biscuits (also called baking powder biscuits) if you choose to make your biscuits using buttermilk as the liquid you are making what are known as “Southern” Biscuits which are one of the most famous examples of home cooking in the Southern States of America (that is they are a baking powder biscuit made with buttermilk). In Australia and England “Southern” Biscuits would be called buttermilk scones. So restating the above, the challenge is to make scones (using the Australian/English name) or to make biscuits (using the North American name). Incidentally if you use cream as your liquid in the challenge recipe the final baked good would be called a cream biscuit in North America or a cream scone in Australia and England." unquote.

Do you see now why I leave it to the professionals! I love it when there is such a great difference in the way we Americans speak as compared to other countries! Even in our own United States there is confusion in words. To this day my daughter still can't understand why a simple sandwich is called a Grinder in Boston. Took her forever and a day to order a sandwich there!

Basic Scones (a.k.a. Basic Biscuits)
Servings: about eight 2-inch (5 cm) scones or five 3-inch (7½ cm) scones
Recipe can be doubled

Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (10 gm) (⅓ oz) fresh baking powder
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt
2 tablespoons (30 gm/1 oz) frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)
approximately ½ cup (120 ml) cold milk
optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
3. Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.
4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

Smoked Gouda and Swiss Rigatoni and Cheese with bacon

2012-01-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

Although my kids had always preferred the box mac and cheese, I was never overly fond of it. Being on a budget, of course, meant that we ate a lot of it while the kids were growing up. I was ever so thankful when I was able to start making homemade macaroni and cheese. Hubby likes it to be super creamy and would rather it not be baked. No problem! I wanted to try making a recipe using smoked Gouda (don't know why really, it just sounded like something fun to say!) and I came a cross this recipe here at Cooker Girl's blog.

I switched it up just a tiny bit using ingredients I had on hand. The end result was this creamy, smokey, rich mac and cheese. It was the perfect meal for such a bitter cold day.

Smoked Gouda and Bacon Rigatoni & Cheese

Adapted from The Adventures of Mindyanna Jones and Cooker Girl

1 pound rigatoni

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup chicken broth

4 oz shredded smoked Gouda

4 oz shredded swiss

1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Freshly ground black pepper

4-6 slices crispy cooked bacon, crumbled

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While the water is heating up, cook, drain and crumble the bacon. Once the water is boiling, add salt to season the cooking water, then add the pasta. Cook for 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked al dente. Drain well and return to the pot.

While the pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium-low heat. Add the olive oil and heat with the butter until it melts. Add the shallot and garlic; cook for 3-5 minutes to sweat them out... watch so that the garlic does not burn! Raise the heat a bit, then whisk in the flour, cayenne, and paprika. Whisk together until the roux bubbles up, then cook for 1 minute more. Whisk in the milk and stock and raise the heat a bit higher to bring the sauce to a quick boil. Once it bubbles, drop the heat back to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the cheeses to the thickened sauce and stir to melt it, a minute or so. Stir in the mustard and bacon and season the sauce with salt and pepper. Pour over the cooked pasta and toss to combine. Adjust the seasonings to your taste and serve immediately.

Daring Cooks Challenge: Green Chile Chicken Tamales

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Blog-checking lines: Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

Green Chile Chicken Tamales:
Servings: About 24 tamales

Ingredients
1 – 8 ounce (225 gram) package dried corn husks (If you cannot find corn husks, you can use parchment paper or plastic wrap.)

For filling:
1 pound (455 gram) tomatillos (can sub mild green chilies – canned or fresh)
4 – 3 inch (7½ cm) serrano chiles, stemmed and chopped (can sub jalapeno)
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 ½ tablespoons (22½ ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups (480 ml) low sodium chicken broth
4 cups (960 ml) (400 gm/14 oz) cooked and shredded chicken
2/3 cup (160 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) roughly chopped fresh cilantro (also known as coriander)

For the masa dough:
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) (265 gm/9⅓ oz) lard or vegetable shortening
1 ½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (10 gm/1/3 oz) salt (omit if already in masa mixture)
1 ½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (8 gm/¼ oz) baking powder (omit if already in masa mixture)
4 cups (960 ml) (480 gm/17 oz) masa harina (corn tortilla mix), I used instant masa mix
1 ½-2 cups (360 ml – 480 ml) low sodium chicken broth

Directions:

1. Place the dried corn husks in a large pot and cover with water.
2. Place a heavy plate or a smaller pot full of water on top of husks to keep them in the water. Let soak for 3 hours or up to 1 day, flipping occasionally until husks are softened.
3. Once husks are softened, boil chicken about 20 minutes or until fully cooked.
4. Immediately place hot chicken into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn mixer on high to shred chicken (this takes about 3-5 seconds).
5. Place the jalapenos and chilies a food processor; Add the garlic and process until smooth.
6. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
7. Add the chile puree and boil, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes (it should turn thick like a paste).
8.Add in the chicken broth, stir to mix well. Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally until mixture coats the back of a spoon and is reduced to about a cup (240 ml).
9. Stir in the chicken and cilantro. Salt to taste

10. Prepare the dough. In the bowl of an electric mixer, on medium high heat, cream together the lard or vegetable shortening, baking powder and salt.
11. Mix in the masa harina, one cup (240 ml) at a time.
12..Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually add in 1 ½ cups (360 ml) of the chicken broth.
13. If the mixture seems too thick (you can taste it for moistness) add up to ½ cup (120 ml) more of the broth 2 tablespoons (30 ml) at a time. (The dough should be a cookie dough like texture).
14. Take 3 large corn husks and tear them into ¼ inch (6 mm) strips. (I would suggest you put these back in the water until use because they dry out and start breaking when you try to work with them.

15.Take a large pot with a steamer attachment. Pour about 2 inches (5 cm) of water into the bottom of the pot, or enough to touch the bottom of the steamer. Line the bottom of the steamer with corn husks.
16. Unfold 2 corn husks onto a work surface. Take ¼ cup (60 ml) of dough and, starting near the top of the husk, press it out into a 4 inch (10 cm) square, leaving 2-3 inches (5 -7½ cm) at the bottom of the husk. Place a heaping tablespoon (15 ml) of the filling in a line down the center of the dough square.
17. Fold the dough into the corn husk. And wrap the husk around the dough.Fold up the skinny bottom part of the husk and secure it with one of the corn husk ties.

18.Stand them up in the steamer. If there aren’t enough tamales to tightly pack the steamer, place crumpled aluminum foil in the excess space.
19. Steam the tamales for about 40 minutes or until the dough deepens in color and easily pulls away from the husk.

Easy Whole Wheat Sesame Bread

2012-01-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

Bread happens to be my Kryptonite. Its high up on my list... right up there with chocolate. Since I like bread, I try to do it healthy-ish... makes it a tiny bit guilt free. I have a favorite No knead recipe for white bread so was thrilled when I came across this recipe for a No Knead Wheat and Sesame Bread. Personally, I didn't think the sesame added much too it... perhaps toasted sesame seeds would add more depth. I can see adding flax seed or wheat germ to this bread as well.

No-Knead Wheat and Sesame Yeast Bread

from the book 100% Pleasure

2 packages dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

3 cups all-purpose white flour, divided

1 1/3 cups water

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt)

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons mild honey

2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

4 tablespoons sesame seeds, divided

Directions

In a large mixer bowl, combine the yeast, salt and 2 and 3/4 cups of the white flour; Mix together.

In a medium saucepan, stir together the water, yogurt, oil and honey. Over medium heat, warm the mixture to 125 degrees F. With the mixer on low speed, beat the yogurt mixture into the flour until blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Raise the speed to high and beat for 7 minutes.]

Using a large wooden spoon, stir in the whole wheat flour, 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds and the remaining 1/4 cup white flour until evenly incorporated.

Stir or knead the dough in the bowl until the flour is smoothly incorporated; if necessary to keep the dough from being sticky, add a bit more whole wheat flour. Transfer the dough to a very large, lightly oiled bowl. Lightly coat the top of the dough with oil.

Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 50 minutes, or until the dough doubles in bulk.

Coat two 1 1/2 quart round casseroles or souffle dishes with non stick spray (I used one round dish and one loaf pan).

Punch down the dough. Divide in half and transfer to the prepared dishes. Lightly oil your hands, then press and smooth the dough evenly into the dishes. Sprinkle each portion with 1 tablespoon of the remaining sesame seeds; pat lightly to embed them just slightly.

Loosely cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the dough rises almost to the point of touching the plastic. Carefully remove the plastic, being careful not to deflate the dough. Let rise a little longer until the dough is about 1" above the pan tops.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer pans to the center oven rack. Bake for 28 to 35 minutes, or until the tops are nicely browned and the loaf bottoms are firm and sound hollow when the loaves are removed from the pans and tapped.

Transfer the loaves to wire racks and let stand until coooled. Cut into wedges or thick slices.

Yields 2 loaves

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

This month's Have the Cake challenge was to make cinnamon rolls. We frequently eat these at our house so my challenge was to find a different recipe. I came across this recipe on a site called Yummly.com. I made a few changes such as using brown sugar instead of granulated sugar and drizzling with Karo syrup. I thought I had a box of French Vanilla Cake mix and that would have taken this recipe through the roof! The boys all gave it a thumbs up so I guess its a keeper!

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Cinnamon-Rolls-Allrecipes

5 cups all-purpose flour

18 1/4 ozs cake mix (yellow)
1/2 oz yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (120 to 130 degrees f/50 degrees c)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons Karo Syrup (optional)

In a mixing bowl, combine 4 cups flour, dry cake mix, yeast and warm water until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half.

Roll each portion into a 14-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Brush with butter; sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon... I also like to drizzle 3 tablespoons of Karo Syrup over it.

Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Cut each roll into 12 slices; place cut side down in two greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pans.

Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 20 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 20 minutes.

Yields 24

Pastitsio - pasta with warm winter spices!

2012-01-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

For me, a winter comfort food would either be a soup or a casserole. Not only are they generally big on flavor, but they are usually easy on the wallet. I'm not talking about the Campbell soup casseroles either... you know, the type where you just open up a couple cans and throw in some rice or noodles. While those will do in a pinch, they are not what I look for when I think comfort. No, I'm talking about deep, full flavors. This recipe for Pastitsio certainly fit the bill. You have layers of tomato sauce that has just a hint of cinnamon and another layer that is more of a white sauce with a touch of nutmeg. Incredibly easy and full of flavor, this is a casserole that makes you forget all about all the others!

Pastitsio

2 lean ground beef

6 garlic cloves, minced and divided

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground oregano

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1/4 to 1/2 cup red wine (or water if you prefer)

1 pound penne pasta

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk (I used skim)

1 1/2 cups vegetable or beef broth (I used beef)

3 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat a pan over medium-high heat; add ground meat. Cook until is browned.

Add Four of the minced garlic cloves, the cinnamon, oregano, pepper flakes and a

generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook until fragrant and spices are

well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, sauce and enough wine, or water,

to make a sauce that is suitable to your taste but still not too thin. You will be

layering the sauce as you would for a lasagna so keep in mind that thickness.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, partially covered,

until sauce is thick and richly flavored, about 20 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.

Microwave milk and broth in a quart measuring cup, cover lightly with plastic wrap

and cook until steamy and hot. How long this takes will depend on your microwave.

Mine only took 4 minutes.

In a medium saucepan; heat butter and remaining 2 cloves minced garlic until garlic

is slightly golden. Whisk in flour until well blended. Pour in hot milk mixture while

whisking vigorously until sauce is smooth and starts to thicken. Stir in 1/2 cup of

the Parmesan cheese and nutmeg; season to taste with salt and pepper. In a separate

bowl, whisk together the two eggs; add a ladle full of the broth mixture to the eggs

and whisk to combine. Add the egg mixture to the remaining broth in the

sauce pan and whisk to fully incorporate.

Add a ladle full of tomato sauce mixture to bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

Spread half of the pasta over the the pan and top with remaining tomato mixture;

sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.

Top with remaining pasta and pour over the top the milk/broth mixture;

cover top with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Cover pan with foil; bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and turn oven to broil.

Watching carefully, broil until tops is spotty brown, 3-5 minutes.

Remove from oven and let stand to set 10-15 minutes. Cut into portions and serve.
Yields: 8 serving

Scotch Eggs

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Deep Fried sausage rolled eggs.... talk about cholesterol on a plate! But oh, it was indeed quite yummy! I've seen Scotch Eggs mentioned in several food magazines of late and had to admit my family and I were quite intrigued. I finally caved in when another food magazine came in and once again the Scotch Eggs were shown. I sat back and enjoyed a glass of wine while my hubby and daughter put this dish together. Its called living the good life :-)

Scotch Eggs
makes 4
adapted from Bon Appetit magazine

6 large egs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup finely crushed corn flakes
1/2 package Jimmy Dean sausage
Vegetable oil for frying
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
mustard, for serving

Directions:

Place4 eggs in a small saucepan; add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil; remove from heat, cover and let stand for 3 minutes. Carefully drain, then fill pan with ice water to cool eggs. Gently crack shells and carefully peel under cold running water. Place eggs in a bowl of cold water; cover and chill until cold

Place flour in a wide shallow bowl and crushed corn flakes in another wide shallow bowl. Divide sausage into 4 equal portions. Pat 1 portion of sausage into a thin patty over the length of your palm. Lay 1 soft-boiled egg on top of sausage and wrap sausage around egg, sealing to completely enclose. Repeat with remaining sausage and eggs.

Whisk remaining 2 eggs in a medium bowl to blend. Working gently with 1 sausage-wrapped egg at a time, dip eggs into flour, shaking off excess, then coat in egg wash. Roll in corn flakes to coat.
This can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated and uncovered.

Attach a deep-fry thermometer to side of a large heavy pot. Pour in oil to a depth of 2" and heat over medium heat to 375 degrees F. Fry eggs turning occasionally and maintaining oil temperature of 350 degrees F. until sausage is cooked through and breading is golden brown and crisp, about 5-6 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer eggs to paper towels to drain. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Serve warm with mustard.

Crazy Cooking Challenge: Shaker Chicken Noodle Soup

2012-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

This month's Moms Crazy Cooking Challenge (the brainchild of Tina Messick-Hudgens) was to find a recipe for chicken noodle soup. The challenge isn't necessarily making the recipe, for me it is in finding a recipe. You see, we have to use a recipe from someone's blog that isn't a professional blog (ie Pioneer Woman, Paula Deen, etc.) While there are a gazillion recipes for chicken soup out in the world wide web, finding one that wasn't originally from on of those professional sites. Deep into my search I came across this wonderful blog called Kitchen Trial and Error and found the perfect soup recipe. This is a recipe that was handed down to her from her mother. It was on a photocopied piece of paper that did not include who it originally came from.
The only change I made was to make my own noodles. I also leave the noodles cooked, but stored on the side. If you leave the noodles in the soup they can become mushy and absorb too much liquid. I put some in a bowl and then ladle on the soup.
Shaker Chicken and Noodle Soup

from Kitchen Trial and Error

serves 8

13 cups chicken stock, divided
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrot
12 ounces dry egg noodles (I made my own noodles for which the recipe follows)
2 cups cooked diced chicken
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup all purpose flour

in a small saucepan, combine 1 cup stock, vermouth, and butter. bring to a simmer and cook until reduced to about a quarter cup, about 20 minutes. the mixture will darken and be thick and syrupy. remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream. set aside.

see how much it reduces!!

coat the bottom of a stock pot with olive oil and set over medium heat. saute the celery and carrot until softened, about five minutes. add the remaining 12 cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil.
.Stir in the chicken and cook until heated through and bring back to a boil.
whisk together the 1 1/2 cups water and 1/2 flour until no lumps remain. Add a ladle of hot broth to the mixture and whisk to combine.while continuously stirring the soup, add the flour and water mixture. cook, stirring continuously for about 2 minutes, or until slightly thickened. do not let the soup boil.
Stir in the reserved reduced stock, vermouth, butter, and cream mixture. taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately and do not let the soup boil.stir in the reserved reduced stock, vermouth, butter, and cream mixture. taste and season with salt and pepper. serve immediately and do not let the soup boil. leftovers reheat perfectly.

Easy Peasy Homemade Pasta
1 egg
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons cold water
about 1 tablespoon salt
2 cups flour

Beat the egg and egg yolks until light. Add water and salt; beat in.

Work the flour into the mixture, with your hands, to make a stiff dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at least 10 minutes.

Cut into three equal parts. Lightly dust a board with flour and roll out one part of the dough as thin as you desire.... I like mine not too thin, but it can't be too thick either. Using a sharp knife, cut into 1/4-inch wide strips. strips

Spread them out on a cookie sheet and let dry. You aren't looking for a totally dry noodle, but one that has lost most of its surface dampness. I generally let mine dry at least fifteen minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Boil noodles until just tender... this can take 5-to minutes depending on the thickness. Drain water and serve.

Playtime with Lyra- Sensory Box

2012-01-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

My little grandsweetie is getting so big! We babysit her while mommy works so I am always trying to think of something else to do rather than play princess or watch Frosty, again. As I've mentioned before, I've become a big fan of Pinterest. As if my plate wasn't full enough, I know have a bulletin board showing me all that I've not yet done! LOL! There are some great ideas to use with kids and I thought I would share with you something we've done. One blog I've pinned a ton from is Play at Home Mom. While Lyra has some small choking hazard items in this, she only plays with this when we are sitting at the table. I've got some bigger items for her to find when she plays alone.

While I could have used plain colored rice, I opted to use my neon food colors and give her some color. After the rice was colored I laid it on to a cookie sheet and dried it in the oven.

Be prepared to sweep up after this project! Rice can get a bit all over the place.

I'm a lot less anal about messes now that I'm a grandma!

God Bless!!

Snowmen treats

2012-01-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that these ideas are old to most of you. However, I'm a grandma now and get

to do all these fun things that were too "babyish" for my grown kids.

Sure I have my Sunday school kids and the Cubbies Preschoolers....

there's just something special about doing it for you own

little one and seeing the delight in her eyes!

The first snowman we made for gifts for the Sunday School children.

My fabulous hubby wrote a poem for us to attach on the bag.

He is amazing and his this gift for just being able to whip up a poem whenever I need one.

Feel free to use the poem yourself but please give Neil Thiele credit for writing it.

A link back to my blog would be awesome too!

I’d like to make a snowman, that wouldn’t melt away,

I’d make him with my own two hands so with him I could play.

I’d love him and he’d love me. Together we’d have fun,

sharing our adventures until the day was done.

But Winter doesn’t last all year, and I begin to think

the snowy friend that I had made, will soon begin to shrink.

His face will start to sag and droop, almost as if he’d felt

the sun that shines upon his face and causes him to melt.

I know that I will miss my friend but I will have no fear,

‘cause I can make another when it snows again next year.

But Jesus is a better friend, which never goes away

He made me with his own two hands, exactly just this way.

I’ll love Him ‘cause He loves me, together Gods’ own son

will share in everything I do, whether it be sad or fun.

He’ll never move away from me, and in my heart He’ll stay

‘cause I believe God sent His son, and for my sins He’d pay.

He shines his face upon me, and I can say I’ve felt

That Jesus let me truly see and caused my heart to melt.

Now the Lord is with me, of that here is no end.

His love is always with me, Jesus my best friend.

Written by Neil Thiele

12/22/2011

This next snowman was for a snack for my grandsweetie. She is really big on

Frosty the Snowman these days.... seriously big on it. Like seven times a day

she wants to watch it, big.

This was so simple to make and it really made her day.

Chicken Piccata

2012-01-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

I think we eat more chicken than any other meat. It gets old very quick, so I am always on the lookout for something new to try.One of my favorite food magazines is Cuisine at Home. It reminds me of what Taste of Home magazine used to be....before they made a bunch of revisions. I found a recipe for Chicken Piccata that sounded good (if you omit the capers... YUCK!) so I added it to this month's menu. It was pretty yummy and, aside from the time it took to pound out, went relatively quick. Even my finicky son liked it and that's saying something!!

The original recipe serves two but I had to make enough for eight people.

I've typed out the recipe for making 4 servings. I also had to do double pans so

my pictures will be from one or other pan I used. Sorry!

Chicken Piccata

Makes 4 servings

adapted from Cuisine at Home magazine

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut in half

and pounded into cutlets

Salt and black pepper

All-purpose flour

4 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoon drained capers (which I left out!)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Season cutlets with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.

In a large saute pan, add oil and heat over medium high heat.

Saute cutlets 2-3 minutes on one side. Flip cutlets over

and saute the other side, covered, 1-2 minutes. Transfer

cutlets to a warmed platter; pour off fat from the pan.

Deglaze pan with wine and add minced garlic. Cook until garlic is slightly

brown and liquid is nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes.

Add broth, lemon juice and capers (if you want them).
Return cutlets to pan and cook on each side for 1 minute.

Transfer cutlets to warm plates.

Finish sauce with butter. Once butter melts, pour sauce

over cutlets.

Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and lemon slices (if desired).

Serve immediately.

Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti

2012-01-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

I'm back and recovered! What a fun time that was... NOT! My belly button is still sore.

I'm telling you this, things are not meant to come out of your belly button! 'Nuff said.

I am just thrilled to be back in the kitchen again. I don't know why it wasn't as much fun when the kids were growing up. Well, maybe I do. They are a lot less picky at their adult ages than when they were kids.

For dinner I made up some Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti along with some 90 minute bread. Both are very easy to make and allowed for me to cook between loads of laundry. I saw a recipe for the Spinach and Ricotta shells but I didn't want to stuff a bunch of shells; The Manicotti was easier. To make it a lot more easy, one could easily use it as the filling for a meatless lasagna. I combined a couple different recipes and made my own Marina sauce.

Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti

adapted from Real Simple, Spoon Fork Bacon

and Allrecipes.com

Sauce:

1 medium onion, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne

Filling:

2 15-ounce containers ricotta

2 cups baby spinach, chopped

1/3 cup chopped Parsley

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

1 egg

1 shallot, minced

Salt and Black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup grated Mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Manicotti:

1 box Manicotti (mine yielded 14 shells)

1/3 cup Parmesan, grated

1 cup grated Mozzarella

Directions:

In saucepan, cook onion in olive oil until slightly translucent; add garlic

and continue cooking 1 minute more.

Deglaze pan with whitewine. Add crushed tomatoes and remaining

sauce ingredients. Let cook for about twenty minutes.

Cook Manicotti according to box directions.

To make filling; chop spinach. I like to wilt my spinach in a saute pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix well.

Add spinach and mix thoroughly.

Fill a piping bag with ricotta filling and pipe into cooked manicotti. I find that

inserting the piping bag half way and filling as I am pulling out works best.
I then turn it around and fill the other half using the same method.

In a 9-inch x 13-inch pan, add a scoop or two of the marinara sauce to the bottom of the pan.

Top with filled manicotti. Add remaining marinara sauce to the top of the manicotti and top with remaining Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees F., for twenty minutes. Let set five minutes and then serve.

Recovering

2011-12-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

As if having the holidays isn't chaotic enough, let's throw in emergency surgery. The Thursday before Christmas I had to have my appendix removed...ugh. We caught it soon enough that there were no complications, but as one ages recovery goes a lot slower! Just another perk of living longer :-) I hope to be back in the kitchen and blogging again very soon. In the meantime, have a safe and blessed New Year!

Four Cheese Cornmeal Stix

2011-12-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Monday was the perfect day to make a hearty soup and what's better to go with soup than crackers? Or in this case, "Stix." Rolled out thin and cut into squares these would be ideal for crackers but I was looking more towards cheese straws. Easy to make and quite yummy. These would be a lovely gift to make and give along with with some home made soup.

Four Cheese Cornmeal Stix

adapted from BHG Cheddar Cornmeal Sticks

2 Cups Sargento Classic Fancy Shredded Mexican 4 Cheese

(or just use plain sharp cheddar)

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease two baking sheets; set aside.

In a bowl, combine cheese and butter and allow to stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

Beat with an electric mixer until well mixed.

Stir in flour, cornmeal, salt, cayenne and nutmeg.

Divide dough in half.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough half into

about 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thickness, cut into strips, and gently twist.

Or,roll small amounts of dough into a long tube

about the width of a straw and cut in desired lengths.

Arrange the strips on prepared baking sheets.

Bake about fifteen minutes or until bottoms are light brown.

Keep stored in airtight container for up to 3 days

or freeze up to 3 months.

Yields about 24 of the 12 -inch stix

Blue Ribbon Almond Roca Cookies

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hands down Almond Roca Candies are my all time favorite. I don't buy it any more since I tend to eat most of it. But when I saw this cookie recipe, in my Food Network Magazine, I knew that I just had to make it. Its got all the flavors of the candy. A definite winner recipe!

Blue Ribbon Almond Roca Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 package toffee bits

1 cup coarsely ground almonds

4 ounces milk chocolate

1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on medium speed.

Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy.

At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits.

Mix until just blended; do not over-mix.

Place ground nuts in a small bowl.

Using hands, roll balls of dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls,

then roll in the ground nuts.

Place on cookie sheets several inches apart.

Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Melt the chocolate with the vegetable oil in a double boiler

or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.

Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies.

Place cookies on a cookie sheet and place in freezer

or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set.

Easy Chocolate Turtles

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Nothing new really. This candy has been seen on the Internet for several years now,

but that doesn't stop me from sharing these highly addictive treats!

You just take these ingredients:

1 bag of Rolo candy

1 bag of M&M’s or pecan halves

1 bag of pretzels (knots, squares or rounds)

Place the pretzels on a foil lined baking sheet. Unwrap the Rolos and set one on top of each pretzel.

Pop it into the oven at 250 degrees for about 4 minutes.

The Rolos will look about the same, but that’s long enough to make them soft.

Gently place and M&M or pecan on top of each Rolo and press down a bit.

Let them cool completely.

Cooky - Candies

2011-12-19T08:41:00.000-08:00

My mom loves Christmas and she loved baking Christmas goodies. Standing for long periods of time no longer works for her, so I carry on the baking tradition for her (oh darn, eh!!!!) I have great memories of her and I being in the kitchen. Of course, being a sprinkle addict you can imagine how happy I was helping her out with holiday cookies! I'm sure I got more sprinkles on the floor than I did on the cookies (I know my kids did!) but what great memories.
This recipe is from my all time favorite cookie book, "Betty Crocker's Cooky Book". Though the pictures are a bit dated, the recipes remain down right delicious!

Cooky - Candies

Betty Crocker's Cooky Book

1 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup rolled oats

Frosting

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate pieces

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla, if desired

Food color, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix butter, sifted sugar, and vanilla well.

Add sifted flour, salt and rolled oats into butter mixture.

Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into rounds, balls, crescents, triangles and bars.

Bake on ungreased baking sheet 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden around edges.

Let cool or wire rack.

Chocolate Glaze:

Melt chocolate; add milk; blend until smooth.

Dip cookie tops in chocolate; then dip into desired toppings.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

Combine powdered sugar, water, butter, corn syrup and vanilla in small bowl;

mix until powdered sugar is moistened.

Beat at medium speed until smooth, adding additional water, if necessary,

to reach desired spreading consistency. Tint with food color, if desired.

Glaze cooled cookies. Let stand until hardened (6 hours or overnight).

SRC: Asian Steak and Noodle Salad

2011-12-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Guess what! Today is my Secret Recipe Club reveal day! I love being part of the this group. My biggest struggle is picking what I want to make. So far, all the blogs I've been secretly admiring have had amazing recipe choices.
This month my new found love was The Chefanies. A blog from a combination of two Stephanies. Not only is their blog name clever, but their use of trying to incorporate only seasonal ingredients is fantastic. I wish I lived in a warmer climate and had access to fresh grown produce... but, that is not the case here in Northern Idaho.
I was craving salad something fierce and instantly was drawn to their recipe for Asian Steak and Noodle Salad. Hubby said this marinade is "Amazing." I have to agree with him. I made a few minor adjustments; no cucumber and I had to make my own substitute for fish sauce. I love this book I have, its called;
Substituting Ingredients, 4E: The A to Z Kitchen Reference. It is my go to book for whenever I lack a certain ingredient. Those who are familiar to my blog know that this happens to me quite frequently!
Secret Recipe Club is the brain child of Amanda, of Amanda's Cooking blog. Check out the web site... it has grown to four reveal days now!

Asian Steak & Noodle Salad
Serves 2
Adapted from Epicurious
INGREDIENTS

For steak marinade
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce (see note)
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped ( I just crushed with the palm of my hand. It was just for flavor anyway!)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 lb flank steak

For salad
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried hot red-pepper flakes
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots (2 medium)
1/2 cucumber, chopped (I omitted)
Handfull of cherry tomatoes (I used tomato I had on hand)
1 pack Ramen Noodles (instructions didn't state, but I just used noodles and not seasoning package)
1 medium Granny Smith apples
2 cup Mixed Greens

DIRECTIONS
Mix ingredients of Marinade. Marinate the steak for an hour.
Grill Steak until cooked through. About 3-4 minutes on each side. Set aside.
Cook Ramen Noodles until tender and set aside.
Combine lime juice, water, sugar, fish sauce, red pepper flakes and olive oil to make a dressing.
Mix Salad Ingredients together and add dressing.
Layer ingredients with Ramen on the bottom, then the salad mixture followed by the steak.
Notes: To make your own Asian Fish Sauce substitute, 1 part Anchovy to 4 parts soy sauce.

Chocolate Gingerbread men and women

2011-12-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

This months "Have the Cake" challenge was to make gingerbread men. While I love ginger cookies, I'm really not a big fan or rolled out gingerbread cookies... they are too dry and hard. Still, this recipe was rather decent (still not a fan, but almost!) and it had chocolate. Come on, you know anything with chocolate just has to taste better! Frost with royal icing, if desired.

Chocolate Gingerbread Men (and women!)

adapted by Vivian

original By Sydney Mike

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus

2/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 large egg, room temperature

3/4 cup unsulphured molasses

Directions:
Position racks in the top & bottom thirds of the oven, then preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Grease several large baking sheets, then set aside (or cheat like I do and use a Silpat!).
In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder until spices & coca are evenly distributed, then set aside.
In a 2nd large bowl, & using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream shortening & brown sugar until smooth & airy, about 1 minute. Beat in egg & then the molasses.
Turn off mixer & add prepared flour mixture, then AT VERY LOW SPEED beat just until crumbly bits of dough form, but not until the mass begins to cohere into a ball.
With flour lightly dust a clean, dry work surface as well as your hands. Turn dough out & knead just until it forms a smooth mass, about 30 seconds.Divide into thirds & cover them with a clean kitchen towel.
With flour lightly dust the work surface again & roll one of the thirds to a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Flour the dough & a rolling pin only as necessary (I like to use a piece of Cling wrap on top of the dough to prevent sticking).
Use a large gingerbread-man cookie cutter to cut the dough into the desired shapes, then use a metal spatula to transfer them carefully to the prepared baking sheet(s). Gather any scraps, lightly dust again with flour & roll out a 2nd time, creating additional gingerbread men.
Bake for 4 minutes, then rotate sheets top to bottom & front to back; Bake another 4 minutes, or until cookies feel dry but still are a little soft.
Remove from oven & cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Keep no longer than 2 days at room temperature, several more days in the refrigerator, OR up to a month in the freezer.
Original recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-gingerbread-men-334306#ixzz1fjGb4r8u

Buttered popcorn ice cream with caramel sauce

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

In a recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine there was a recipe for "Buttered Popcorn Ice Cream Sunday." Intrigued? So was I! I've been on a sweet and salty kick lately and this recipe just screamed "MAKE ME!" Who was I to disagree with a poor innocent dessert. It was everything I hoped for and then some. I made some changes based on the ingredients I had on hand, but kept as close to the recipe as possible. It really does taste like buttered popcorn and the caramel sauce just takes it over the top!

Buttered-Popcorn Ice Cream Sundae
8 Servings
adapted from a Recipe by Elizabeth Falkner
Ingredients

Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Buttered-Popcorn Ice Cream
2 cups popped popcorn (I don't recommend using microwave popcorn!) I air popped mine.
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1 1/2 cups 2% milk (using 2 cups whole milk would have produced a creamier texture but I added another 1/2 cup of cream to compensate for the lower percentage milk)

2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
8 large egg yolks

Directions:
Caramel Sauce
Combine sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and cook without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until dark amber in color, about 7 minutes.

Remove from heat; immediately add butter and stir until melted. Slowly add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously). Add vanilla and salt; whisk until smooth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 month ahead. Let cool completely. Cover sauce and chill. Rewarm slightly before using.

Buttered-Popcorn Ice Cream
Set a strainer over a large bowl; set aside. Place popcorn in another large bowl. Drizzle butter over and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. salt; toss to coat. Add milk and cream; cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Stir in corn syrup and 1 Tbsp. sugar. Purée popcorn mixture in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Using an electric mixer, beat yolks, remaining 4 Tbsp. sugar, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl until thick ribbons form. Gradually whisk hot popcorn mixture into yolk mixture. Return to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard is slightly thickened and an instant-read thermometer registers 175°. Pour through strainer (important step, don't skip!) Cover and chill overnight.
Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a container, cover, and freeze. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep frozen.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/10/buttered-popcorn-ice-cream-sundae#ixzz1fjBxsCVy

Crazy Cooking Challenge:Dark chocolate Kahlua Mudslide Fudge

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Once again Tina, from the Crazy Cooking Challenge, has given us a task: find a blog that has fudge and recreate it. Oh my but there are so many wonderful sounding fudge recipes out there! I wanted to try them all, but my thighs stopped me. On Pinterest I had pinned a recipe for Kahlua fudge. This recipe had been pinned many times. I don't expect that I am the only one that will make this recipe, but I did make some adjustments that may separate me from the others.

Before I get to those changes, please give a big thanks to La Phemme Phoodie. She has a wonderful blog that just so happened to feature these delectable bits of fudge-y happiness! Click on the above link and give her some blogger love!
This fudge is fantastic. Its creamy, and not overly sweet. Even my mom, who dislikes dark chocolate, gives it two thumbs up! I added a teaspoon of espresso powder right before I added the chocolate. The original recipe calls for 3 cups total of chocolate but I only did 2 cups and I omitted the nuts (yes dear, I did that for you sweet husband of mine!) be sure to click on her link to see the original recipe!

Kahlua Creamy Fudge (Adapted from La Phemme Phoodie)
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 (7 0z) jar marshmallow creme*
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup salted butter
1/3 cup Kahlua Mudslide
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon espresso powder

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
Line an 8 inch square pan with baking foil.or parchment paper.
In a 3 1/2 quart saucepan combine sugar, marshmallow, milk, butter, Kahlua and salt. Bring to a rapid boil, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; add the espresso powder and chocolate. Stir until melted. Add vanilla. Turn into prepared pan.
Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes and then refrigerate until firm. To serve cut into squares.
Serving: Approximately 2 1/2 pounds

Here's a tip; make the length of the foil, or parchment, a bit longer This way all you need to do is cut around the pan and pull out the fudge!.

Make it yourself candy: Butterfingers

2011-12-06T17:15:00.000-08:00

I try to be good with my eating during most of the year. Yes, I have a sweet tooth, but I really do try to limit myself. Come Christmas time, though, I go full out in the candy mode. I love making candies! There is just something so lovely about seeing a plate of glossy chocolates.

Lately, however, I have been experiencing signs of aging (I guess that's what happens when you are in your 40's) and standing at a stove plays havoc with my fibromyalgia. So when I see a recipe for candy that uses minimal ingredients and is quick to make, I am all over it!

Candy Corn Butterfingers

adapted from Taste of Home forums

1 lb. candy corn

16oz jar peanut butter (I used a generic brand of peanut butter)

16oz good quality chocolate, tempered ( I cannot stand the stores chocolate coatings but they will work if you want to go that route)

Melt candy corn in microwave on high 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking in 15-second intervals til melted, stirring after each interval. Stir in peanut butter. Spread mixture in an 8x8 pan lined with parchment. Cool completely. Cut into squares. Dip in melted chocolate candy coating. Lay on waxed paper to set.

Note: I made mine using the stove top with a double boiler. It worked great!

Chocolate Chiffon Pie

2011-12-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

Since darling hubby dislikes fruit (I know!!! How unfair is that!!!) I make him a chocolate pie during the holidays. He will eat pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie as well, but chocolate is his favorite. I've got a recipe I've always used for chocolate cream pie (courtesy of Betty Crocker) that I've always made in the past but this year I wanted to try a different recipe. I thought I would give the Chocolate Chiffon Pie a try that is in my Fannie Farmer Cookbook. While chocolate cream pie uses cornstarch as a thickener, the chiffon pie relies on plain gelatin. The pie was rather luscious. I used a simple graham cracker crust, but it would work in a precooked pastry crust, cookie crust, or whatever other crust you crave.

Chocolate Chiffon Pie
adapted from Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups fine graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter.

Chocolate Chiffon
4 eggs, separated
1 and 1/2 cups milk
1 envelope PLAIN gelatin (Knox brand is what I used)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix the crumbs, sugar and butter together in a bow. Press the crumb mixture into a 9 inch pan, including up the sides. Bake 8-10 minutes; or until lightly toasted.
Using a heavy 2 quart pan, pour in the milk and sprinkle gelatin over it; let soften for about 3 minutes. Add the sugar, salt, and egg yolks to the milk mixture and beat with beater to blend thoroughly. Cook and stir over low heat until slightly thickened (do not boil); add the cocoa and mix completely.
Remove from heat. Chill until thickened slightly further.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks–like you would for a meringue. GENTLY fold beaten whites into the chocolate mixture–you want there to be plenty of air bubbles, and yes, it will look a little strange. Spoon into prepared crust and chill until ready to serve

Easy Sausage Stuffing

2011-11-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

What I like best about stuffing is the top part that gets all crunchy! Don't get me wrong, I eat all of the stuffing. Its just that the crispy topping is just so yummy! For the past nine years I have been making a variation of this stuffing recipe. Not much really changes, sometimes I use fresh herbs and other times I use dried. If my kids are going to eat it then I leave out mushrooms and I will cook the onions and celery in a bit of butter before adding to the stuffing. Sometimes I add dried cranberries, too. The bread is pretty much whatever I find I have on hand. This time I used a whole grain bread but it works great with sour dough, rye, whole wheat or even the cheapie white bread you get at the grocery store. I have used this inside a turkey but mostly I make it on the side because I like to stuff my turkey with fresh herbs and lemon. Besides, I get more of the crunchy topping when its cooked separately!

Sausage Stuffing

2 pounds bread, cut into chunks

1 package Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage

1 medium onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

8 ounces fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 stems of fresh thyme, leaves removed
1 sprig of rosemary, chopped

1 can (14 1/2 ounce) Swanson Chicken broth ( or use your own homemade broth)

Directions:
Cook and drain sausage, crumble. In large pot add sausage, cubed bread, onions, celery and seasonings; stir until evenly moistened.
Bake at 325 degrees F or 30 minutes covered. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more

Cheddar Yeast Rolls

2011-11-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

They say that you are never supposed to try out new recipes on special occasions or for guests... I think that's half the fun! I get Paula Deen's weekly e-mail newsletter and this week was a recipe for Smoked Cheddar Rolls. I was intrigued enough to give the recipe a try for Thanksgiving, although I couldn't get my hands on any smoked cheddar. I substituted sharp cheddar for the smoked cheddar and it was pretty. I went for the clover look and won't likely do that again- bah, too much work! I would make them into my basic roll shape( Round balls nestled together in a 9x13-inch pan) so that it would have more soft areas and not so much crust.

Cheddar Yeast Rolls
Makes 18 rolls
recipe from Paula Deen

2 (1/4-ounce) packages active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
2 cups whole buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
2 teaspoons salt
6 to 7 cups bread flour, divided
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Melted butter (optional)

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water; let stand for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, beat buttermilk, melted butter, egg, and salt at medium-low speed with a mixer until combined. Add yeast mixture, beating until combined. Gradually add 4 cups bread flour and shredded cheese, beating until smooth. Beat in enough remaining bread flour to make a soft dough.

On a lightly floured surface, turn out dough. Knead dough for 6 to 8 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover, and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 1 hour or until dough is doubled in size.

Spray 18 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
Shape dough into 54 (1 1/2-inch) balls. Place 3 balls in each muffin cup. Cover, and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350°.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush hot rolls with melted butter, if desired. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Sans Rival

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

One thing I like about being a daring baker is that I'm introduced to recipes from other countries. Doesn't hurt that those recipes are desserts either :-) I love meringue and this recipe uses that and a french butter-cream. And yes, you are quite correct in thinking that this produces a very rich dessert!

Blog-checking lines: Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

Sans Rival

Servings: 12

10 large egg whites, room temp

1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm) (8 oz) white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon (5 ml) (3 gm) cream of tartar

2 cups (480 ml) (240 gm) (8½ oz) chopped, toasted cashews, divided

I used toasted almonds instead of cashews

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 325°F/160°C/gas mark 3.

2. Line cake pan bottoms with parchment paper and butter and flour the sides really well.

3. In a large clean, dry glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy (2 mins.). Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, continuing to beat now at high speed until stiff shiny peaks form. (about 7-10 mins.)

4. Fold in nuts 1 cup finely chopped nuts

(Note the more finely ground for folding into meringue. The coarsely ground for is decoration of finished cake.)

5. I traced circles to make smaller individual servings rather than 4 large cakes. Using a pastry bag, I filled in the 32 circles. Be sure to flip the paper over and not bake on the side with the pencil!

6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the meringue from the baking pans while still hot; allow to cool slightly. Peel off the parchment paper while it is still warm, it is difficult to remove sometimes when they have completely cooled.

7. When cool, trim edges so that all 4 meringue layers are uniformly shaped. Set aside.

French Butter-cream:

5 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm) (8 oz) white granulated sugar

1/4 cup (60 ml) water

1¼ cup (300 ml) (2½ sticks) (285 gm) (10 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature

Optional Flavorings: 2 oz (55 gm) unsweetened chocolate, melted, or 1½ teaspoon (7 ½ ml) almond extract, or 1½ teaspoon (7 ½ ml) vanilla extract, or any flavor you like

Directions:

1. Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume

and are a lemon yellow.

2. Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat, stirring the sides down only until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches 235°F/112°C (or thread stage).

3. With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the sides of the bowl, until all has been added. Be careful as the very hot syrup could burn you if it splashes from the beaters. Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins). Still on high, beat in the soft, room temperature butter a tablespoon at a time. Add flavoring after you beat in the butter. Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.

Assembly:

Set bottom meringue on cake board with a dab of butter cream to hold it in place. Spread a thin layer of buttercream and then place another meringue on top. Repeat with a thin layer of buttercream, meringue, thin layer of buttercream, meringue, and finally buttercream the top and sides. Decorate with reserved nuts.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. It is easier to cut cold. May freeze.

Caramels

2011-11-25T17:10:00.001-08:00

Next to baking, making candies is an all time favorite thing to do. However, I have a confession to make... I absolutely hate having to wrap candies! BORING! The sad fact is, if you don't wrap some candies, caramels for instance, you have nothing but one big sticky mess.
This recipe has been in my family for years and is from an old candy making book (How to Make Candy; Culinary Arts Institute 1983). If you like soft chewy caramels then this is the recipe to try.

Caramels
2 cups sugar
1 1/2cups light corn syrup
2 cups evaporated milk (I use the skim evaporated milk and works just fine)
1/2 cup margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar and corn syrup in heavy saucepan. Stir occasionally and heat to 300 degrees F. Add evaporated milk and margarine. Stirring continuously, cook to 250 degrees F. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour onto a lightly buttered baking sheet. Cut and wrap individually in wax paper.

Thyme Gougères

2011-11-23T19:52:00.001-08:00

Were you supposed to bring an appetizer for Thanksgiving and forgot about it? Have no fear! This is a quick and easy recipe that is sure to impress.

I found the original recipe on Bon Appetit and made some adjustment using what I had on hand. My daughter and son in law loved them!

Thyme Gougères

adapted from bon appetit

Ingredients

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

Large pinch of cayenne pepper

Large pinch of kosher salt

1 cup grated sharp cheddar

1/2 plus 3 tablespoons cup grated Parmesan regiano cheese

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves plus more for garnish

5 large eggs

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Bring butter and 1 cup water to a boil in a large heavy saucepan. Remove from heat.

Add flour, cayenne, and salt; stir vigorously to blend. Return to heat; stir vigorously over medium heat until mixture forms a ball and a thin, dry film forms on bottom and sides of pan, about 1 minute.

Transfer mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each egg between additions, and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.Add 1 cup sharp cheddar and 1/2 cup parmesan regiano cheese, and 2 tsp. thyme; beat on low speed to blend.

Spoon dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2" tip or a plastic bag with 1/2" cut diagonally from 1 corner. Pipe dough onto prepared baking sheets in 1"–1 1/4" rounds, spacing 1" apart. For the record, I am quite lazy and just spooned out the dough using my tablespoon cookie scoop!

Whisk remaining egg with 1 Tbsp. water in a small bowl. Brush egg wash lightly over rounds, patting down to form rounded tops. Sprinkle with remaining 3 Tbsp.Parmesan. Garnish each with a few thyme leaves.

Bake gougères until puffed and golden brown and centers are cooked through but still moist, 20–25 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 month ahead. Let cool completely. Store airtight in freezer. Rewarm in 325° oven until hot, 10–15 minutes.

Easy Chicken Parmesan

2011-11-17T07:26:00.001-08:00

Lately I have been obsessed with Pinterest. I know, just what I need... another obsession. I could stock pile recipes and ideas all day long. Sure, 90% of them will never get done. Never mind the harsh reality that if I stopped following everyone's blogs and pins there would be actual time to do those things!

My daughter and son-in-love (law just seems so rigid, we have chosen to love this dear man!) were coming over for dinner and I wanted to have a meal that would be fairly easy to manage. Although there are some things I would change next time I make it, over all it got high flavor scores.
I found this recipe off of Pinterest. It was originally pinned from Food Wishes which gives a great video of how to make this easy meal. In fact, this is what he does; Video Recipes. There are tons of things I want to try out on his blog.. If you do try this recipe please visit Chef John's blog and thank him!

Notes: My topping looks burned. It didn't bother the flavor a bit but does make the picture a bit icky looking. I would cover this dish with tinfoil for about half the cooking time to prevent this from happening again. Everyone would have like a bit more sauce, so I would actually increase the marinara by another cup. I encourage you to try the recipe first as is. It was absolutely delicious!

Easy Chicken Parmesan

Recipe from Foodwishes.com

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

hot red pepper flakes, to taste

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 5, but they were huge!)

2 cups marinara sauce

1/4 cup chopped basil

8 oz mozzarella, shredded

4 oz Parmesan, grated

1 (5-oz) package garlic croutons

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the olive oil in the bottom of a 9-in x-13-inch pan. Sprinkle garlic and red pepper flakes

over the olive oil.

Place chicken onto the olive oil. I cut my chicken breasts in half because they were quite big.

Pour Marinara sauce over all the chicken pieces

Place chopped basil over chicken. (I had to use dried)

Sprinkle 2 ounces of Parmesan cheese over the top.

Sprinkle 4 ounces of shredded mozzarella.

Cover with the garlic croutons.

Finish off the topping by covering with the remainder of the Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. It is important to use your meat thermometer to make sure that your thickest piece of breast meat reaches 165 Degrees F.

I served ours with angel hair pasta that was drizzled that was tossed with fresh minced garlic and olive oil.

November SRC; Chocolate Toffee Cream Scones

2011-11-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

Yippee! Its reveal day for Group B of the Secret Recipe Club! Now I can tell you who my new found friend is... Fallon, of Fallon's Cucina. She has this amazing blog inspired by her love of healthy eating and fitness. I know. I know. If you are familiar with my blog you know that my inspiration comes from sweets and chocolate, but who says the two worlds can't collide? Although, this time I couldn't help but gravitate towards one of her few recipes that are a bit less healthy. I can't help it. Sorry, scones and I are just a match made in heaven! Not that I won't ever try her healthier dishes. I mean, come on! Doesn't Cantaloupe Wrapped in Prosciutto sound heavenly? What about Sweet Potato Oatmeal? That just has major YUM written all over it!

Secret Recipe Club is the genius idea of Amanda Formaro. SRC has grown so large that there are now four groups. Each week one group has a reveal day to which each member, of that group, can announce to the world which blog they have been secretly given to follow and create a recipe from. There are some amazing blogs out there! Be sure to check out the links at the bottom and see what everyone else has been cooking up!

Chocolate Toffee Cream Scones

(adapted from Katrina: recipe from Paige Vandegrift)
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8- 1/4 teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt)
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream (plus a little more for brushing on the tops)
Few drops of pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup toffee Bits (Hershey's Heath)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips ( Nestle Toll-house Semi Sweet)

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. Whisk to blend well. Add the heavy cream (no cream? See my tip at the end!) and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients with a rubber spatula while pouring the cream, continuing to stir until a soft, sticky dough is formed. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly (8-10 times). Pat the dough into a circle 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Cut the circles into 8 wedges and place the wedges an inch or so apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 425°F until golden brown, about 13 minutes. Remove from oven, cool for a few minutes and then transfer to wire rack and cool... or do like we did and eat them fresh from the oven!

*Tip: If you do not have any heavy cream on hand, substitute with 3 tablespoons melted butter mixed with 6 tablespoons milk.

The Daring Cooks: Cooking with Tea

2011-11-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

This month, for the Daring Cooks Challenge, we are encouraged to experiment with savory dishes using tea. I've had desserts that used tea - heck, I even made chai tea cupcakes, but never before in a main dish. This pork dish was amazing! So very moist and tender with just the subtle taste of peach. I'm definitely going to try incorporating tea into more dishes!

Blog-checking lines: Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

Peach tea pork tenderloin

http://www.greenteahouse.eu/stash-tea-recipes-pork-tenderloin-with-peach.html

4 Stash Peach tea bags

Salt & Pepper

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 pork tenderloin, about 2lbs

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp olive oil

4 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions:

Place 4 Peach tea bags in a tea cup and pour in 1/2 cup of boiling water. Let steep for 4 minutes. Remove tea bags. In a sauce pan combine brown sugar and tea concentrate. Mix well. Add the Dijon mustard, mix and bring the sauce to a boil. Whisk in the stock and let simmer for 1 minute. Set aside.

Salt and pepper the tenderloin. Heat the oil in the skillet on medium-high heat and sear the pork on each side. Add the peach sauce and the sprigs of thyme. Reduce the heat and cover. Cook over low heat until the pork is cooked through, approximately 20-30 minutes. Pork should register at least 150 degrees on a meat thermometer. Remove the pork from the pan, cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Keep sauce warm over low heat.

Pour any pork drippings back into the sauce and slice the pork. Serve peach sauce over pork.

Have the Cake Challenge: Hawaiian Bread

2011-11-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

The Have the Cake Challenge for this month was bread. Making bread was not going to be a challenge since I've made plenty over the years. For me, the challenge was going to be finding a recipe I've not made before. One of hubby's favorite breads is Kings Hawaiian bread and there are several recipes out there for it. I chose one from allrecipes.com. The only change I made was baking it in two 9-inch round baking pans instead of three. I had to bake it for an additional five minutes, but other than that it was incredibly easy to make and quite yummy. I didn't have any pineapple juice so I opened up can of crushed pineapple and drained off the liquid.
Have the Cake Challenge: Hawaiian Bread
Ingredients
2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 eggs
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted
6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, beat together the yeast mixture, eggs, pineapple juice, 1/2 cup water, sugar, ginger, vanilla, and melted butter. Gradually stir in flour until a stiff batter is formed. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a well floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and form into round loaves. Place the loaves into three lightly greased round cake pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bottom of a loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Pan Roasted Chicken

2011-11-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

I've tried many variations of roasted chicken and this one is my favorite. The cooking method is from a recipe I found at The Steamy Kitchen. If I didn't have such a finicky family, I would make it using their entire recipe (Roast split chicken with lemony artichoke sauce).Unfortunately, my husband and one son are picky... hubby is getting better though.

I love that it was partially cooked in my cast iron skillet and went from stove top to oven. The chicken was moist on the inside and crisp on the outside; who could ask for more? I even used the pan drippings and made a gravy for the mashed potatoes. In the pictures you can see toothpicks. When I butterflied the chicken the skin separated from the meat. I just used the toothpicks to keep it attached.

Pan Roasted Chicken

adapted from Joanne Weir and The steamy kitchen

Ingredients

1- 3.5 pound chicken, butterflied with backbone removed

2 tablespoons canola oil

kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Rinse and completely pat dry your chicken. On your stove top, heat a large oven safe frying pan on high heat. Add oil and when it becomes very hot- gently place the bird skin side down in the pan.

Season the top of the bird with salt and pepper. Immediately place the entire pan in oven for 10 minutes.

Carefully remove hot pan from the oven, flip the bird over. Generously season the skin side with salt and pepper. Return pan to oven and roast another 25-30 minute. Remove from oven, place chicken on a plate and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Crazy Cooking Challenge: Roasted Smashed Potatoes

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

This month's crazy cooking challenge was "Mashed Potatoes." In case you are wondering, the crazy cooking challenge is the brainchild of Tina's from moms crazy cooking. Each month you are given a theme (last month was chocolate chip cookies) and you are to be inspired from another persons blog. Genius! I love being able to support another fellow blogger!

So, mashed potatoes is the theme for November and there are tons of different recipes out there! Even my meat and potatoes loving husband enjoyed this challenge! The first recipe I tried was for a twice baked potato that used a package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. Oh yeah! It was definitely a keeper recipe and one I will share with you all in the future. But I was looking for something a bit more different to put up for this challenge and was torn between trying Deep Fried Mashed Potato Balls and one called Roasted Smashed Potatoes. Laziness won out in the end and I nixed the deep frying for the time being. Roasted Smashed Potatoes was a bit time consuming, but really quite easy. Be sure to check out Chad's blog, there is a plethora of information on it. This was an interesting challenge. It will be nice to have a few new recipes to switch up side dishes from time to time. The idea behind this recipe is to have a crispy exterior and a creamy interior.... crazy as that sounds, it worked! Super duper yummy!

Roasted Smashed Potatoes

http://www.chadchandler.com/roasted-smashed-potatoes/

2½ pounds baby reds or small Yukon gold potatoes (1½-2 inch in diameter)
3/4 cups water
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
fresh rosemary, thyme or sage for garnish

salt & pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Move the oven rack to the top and bottom positions and preheat the oven to 500°. Place the potatoes on a baking tray and add the water.The potatoes should be fairly small, but if need be you may cut potatoes in half. Cover pan tightly with foil so that the potatoes will steam. Place the potatoes on the bottom rack in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes.

Take them out of the oven, remove the foil, and let the potatoes cool down for a few minutes.Drain off water. Once cooled, drizzle potatoes with olive oil and roll them so that potatoes are evenly coated.
Space them evenly across the tray. Place another baking tray on top of the potatoes and smash them down until they’re only about ½ inch thick. Season them to your own taste; Add more olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper so that all the seasonings run into all of the cracks and depressions. I used some rosemary but it is really to your own preference what seasonings you would like to use. I think garlic would also work really well with this!

Place the tray back in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes on the top rack. Switch to bottom rack and cook an additional 25 minutes . The bottom of the potatoes should be crisp. If desired, use the broiler on top rack to crisp up the tops more. Remove from oven and sprinkle tops with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Taco Soup

2011-11-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

As the temperatures begin to drop, I begin to rely more on the hearty dishes. I love soup and am always happy when I can find a recipe that pleases most family members(In this family, someone is always bound to dislike something!). I put together a taco soup recipe that is a combination of a what I liked in a couple different recipes. I make our own salsa so I used that in place of the picante sauce one of the recipes called for. My husband, much as I love him to death, dislikes "vegetables" in his foods so I end up putting a lot of vegetables in the blender for him. Its a happy medium.... I get my flavors and he gets his "chunky vegetable free" food.

I doubled this recipe and used one can of white beans and one can of red kidney beans. I only used one can of diced tomatoes and used roasted petite diced tomatoes. In the past I have used the addition of the pepper, chili powder and cumin but my salsa is so spicy I didn't feel it needed the addition.

I served this up with some fresh cornbread, yummy!

Taco Soup

adapted from taste of home

1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey

2 teaspoons olive oil, I omit and just use a bit of cooking spray in my pan

1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups chicken, vegetable or beef broth I prefer chicken broth
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, white beans or kidney beans,rinsed and drained
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
1-1/2 cups picante sauce or salsa
1 cup uncooked pasta
1 small green pepper, chopped I omitted this because my salsa was heavily seasoned
2 teaspoons chili powder I omitted this because my salsa was heavily seasoned
1 teaspoon ground cumin I omitted this because my salsa was heavily seasoned
sour cream, optional

shredded cheddar cheese, optional

Directions:

In a medium skillet, brown and drain ground beef; set aside. In a large saucepan, saute onion and garlic until tender. Add the broth, browned beef, beans, tomatoes, picante sauce, pasta, green pepper and seasonings. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Serve with cheese and sour cream. Yield: 6 servings.

Tootsie Roll Fudge

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

I always hit the candy aisles after holidays. I can get my candy as much as 75% off regular price and I then use it for decorating cakes, cookies, cupcakes, etc throughout the year. Yes, I will admit that I do eat a teeny, tiny portion of it (I see those eyes rolling!!!!) but honestly, I do it because I want to be thrifty!. Last year I had finally found those little Tootsie Rolls on clearance and was able to make a recipe that I had stored away from many years ago. Tootsie Roll fudge is an easy recipe and its a great way to get the kids involved (hey, somebody has to unwrap all those candies!)

Tootsie Roll Fudge

adapted from Taste of Home magazine

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups Tootsie Roll Midgees

2 tablespoons peanut butter

3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sprinkles

Directions

Line a 9-in. square pan with foil. Grease the foil with 1 teaspoon butter or spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the Tootsie Rolls, peanut butter and remaining butter over low heat, stirring constantly.

Gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla (mixture will be very thick).

Spread into prepared pan. Using a sharp knife, score the surface into 1-in. squares.

Top with sprinkles or you may choose to top with holiday M&M candies. Cool.

Using foil, remove fudge from pan; cut into squares. Store in an airtight container.

Yield: about 2 pounds.

Puffernutters

2011-10-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of The Food Network magazine is near the last page. they don't include it every month, but often enough they will provide the reader with a recipe and asks for help in providing the recipe with a name. I have never had one of my names chosen (and winning names win a prize) but I will persevere... who knows if I could be a winner!
We keep lots of Kix cereal in our house. My grand sweetie calls it her "crunchy" when she asks for it. She even helped me pour in the ingredients! I'm told that I was just about her age when I started baking with my mom so maybe she will follow in her grandma's footsteps! (I just love being called grandma!!!!) Take my advice though, if baking with a two year old you must have much patience! Everything has to be sampled :-) Trust me when I say that it is my son's worst OCD nightmare! I never bake with her when I know my son will be eating the food.

Puffernutters
adapted from foodnetwork.com
Ingredients
1 cup chopped peanuts
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups puffed corn cereal (such as Kix)
1 cup chocolate chips (milk, dark or semisweet)

Directions
Position 2 racks in the middle of the oven; preheat to 325 degrees F. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes; transfer to a bowl. Wipe the baking sheet clean.
Beat the unsalted butter, almond butter, honey, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a bowl with a mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg. Add the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until combined, about 1 minute.
Add the cereal, chocolate chips and half of the almonds to the dough and mix with a wooden spoon.

a sticky but yummy mess!

Form tablespoonfuls of dough into 2-inch balls and arrange on 2 ungreased baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. (Do not line the baking sheets with parchment paper-the cookies may stick to the paper.) Top each with some of the remaining almondsBake until the cookies spread out and turn brown, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Let the cookies cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then carefully remove to a rack to cool completely. (If you have difficulty removing the cookies from the baking sheets, return them to the oven for 1 to 2 minutes to soften.) The cookies will crisp as they cool.

daring bakers: Povitica

2011-10-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Fall and winter are just perfect for making bread so I was thrilled when our October Daring Baker Challenge was to make Povitica. No, I have never had Povitica before but it looked like a bit of a cinnamon roll so I just knew it couldn't be bad! I usually hesitate at anything that takes so many step to make but I soon realized it was so that Jenni could give us a great visual of how to make the bread.
The original recipe made four loaves of bread! Thankfully it was also broken down for making options for half batch and a quarter batch. I opted to make the quarter batch (or one loaf)

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

Quarter Batch Dough Ingredients (Makes one loaf 1.25 lbs/565 grams)
To activate the Yeast:
½ Teaspoon (2½ ml/2¼ gm) Sugar
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml/¾ gm) All-Purpose (Plain) Flour
2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Warm Water
1½ Teaspoons (7½ ml/3½ gm/0.125 oz/½ sachet) Dry Yeast

Dough:
½ Cup (120 ml) Whole Milk
3 Tablespoons (45 ml/43 gm/1½ oz) Sugar
¾ Teaspoon (3¾ ml/9 gm/0.17 oz) Table Salt
1 Large Egg
1 tablespoon (30 ml/30 gm/¼ stick/1 oz) Unsalted Butter, melted
2 cups (480 ml/280 gm/10 oz/0.62 lb) All-Purpose Flour, measure first then sift, divided

Topping:
2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Cold STRONG Coffee
1½ Teaspoons (7½ ml/7 gm/¼ oz) Granulated Sugar
Melted Butter

Quarter Batch Filling Ingredients (enough filling for one loaf)
1¾ Cups (420 ml/280 gm/10 oz) Ground English Walnuts
¼ Cup (60 ml) Whole Milk
¼ Cup (60 ml/58 gm/½ stick/2 oz) Unsalted Butter
1 Egg Yolk From A Large Egg, Beaten
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml) Pure Vanilla Extract
½ Cup (120 ml/115 gm/4 oz) Sugar
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml/1 gm) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
¼ Teaspoon (1¼ ml/¾ gm) Cinnamon

To Activate Yeast:
1. In a small bowl, stir 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon flour, and the yeast into ½ cup warm water and cover with plastic wrap.
2. Let rest five minutes

Yeast should bubble up and foam, like this

To Make the Dough:
3. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below boiling (about 180°F/82°C), stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly, until it is about 110°F/43°C.
4. In a large bowl, mix the scalded milk, 3 tablespoons sugar, and the salt until combined.
5. Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and 1 1/2 cupsof flour.
6. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until the dough starts to clean the bowl.
7. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick.
8. Place dough in lightly oiled bowls, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled in size.

To Make the Filling
9. In a large bowl mix together the ground walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa.
10. Heat the milk and butter to boiling.
11. Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture.
12. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
13. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough.
14. If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk.

To Roll and Assemble the Dough:
15. Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered.
16. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour (use flour sparingly)17. Place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it measures roughly 10-12 inches (25½ cm by 30½ cm) in diameter.
18. Spoon 1 to 1.5 teaspoons (5ml to 7 ½ ml/4 gm to 7 gm) of melted butter on top.
19. Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer.
20. As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it out, but also to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
21. When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath.
22. Spoon filling (see below for recipe) evenly over dough until covered.
23. Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll.

24. Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced.

25. Brush the top of each loaf with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of cold STRONG coffee and 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar. If you prefer, you can also use egg whites in place of this.
26. Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.
27. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.
28. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes.
29. Turn down the oven temperature to slow 300°F/150°C/gas mark 2 and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done.
30. Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter.
31. Check the bread at 30 minutes to ensure that the bread is not getting too brown. You may cover the loaves with a sheet of aluminum foil if you need to.
32. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes, still in the bread pan. Remember, the bread weighs about 2.5 and it needs to be able to hold its own weight, which is difficult when still warm and fresh out of the oven. Allowing it to cool in the pan helps the loaf to hold its shape.
33. It is recommended that the best way to cut Povitica loaves into slices is by turning the loaf upside down and slicing with a serrated knife

Chocolate Fudge Butterfingers

2011-10-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Butterfinger candy bars are absolutely wonderful! I know that there are people out there that disagree and we are all entitled to our opinions :-) Someday I would like to try and recreate the candy bar itself, but for right now I am not that ambitious.
Blog hopping, I came across a recipe for Butterfinger cookies and I just knew that I had to give the recipe a go. I went to the store and bought three candy bars.... the recipe called for two but I had to make sure that they were a quality product, didn't I? I even ate the candy bar in the parking lot. I had to be sure that I was getting the best available!
Once home I set about following the recipe and was pleased with the ooey, gooey, chewy outcome. I'll be looking for Halloween candy clearance sales to see if I can get a deal on more candy bars.... this is a keeper recipe!
I found the recipe for Chocolate Fudge Butterfingers at barbarabakes.com . She posted this recipe as part of a twelve weeks of Christmas Cookies Blog Hop. I spent a bit of time browsing through her blog. She is also a daring kitchen baker so she and I have that in common. I fully credit this to her (which she adapted from the Picky Palate) and she would be thrilled if you made it and thanked her for the recipe (here)! I did change the recipe slightly and you can see my changes written in the italics.

Chocolate Fudge Butterfinger Cookies

slightly adapted from Picky Palate

1 3/4 cups flour1 1/4 cups cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special dark cocoa)

2 tsps. baking soda1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar (I reduced sugar to 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs1 tsp. vanilla

2 Full size Butterfinger Bars, crushed

1 1/2 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line cookie sheets with parchment or silpat liners.In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until well combined

Stir in flour mixture until just combined. I did the dry mixture in three additions just so I wouldn't have a floury mess with my stand mixture. Then stir in crushed Butterfinger and chocolate chips.

Using a medium cookie scoop, drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes, should still be soft in center. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields 3 dozen cookies

Chocolate Whopper Cookies

2011-10-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Vivian and I am a chocoholic. Well, chocolate is just one of my addictions... I have a serious sprinkle addiction too. But today we will focus on my chocolate- really, focus Vivian, focus (Now I want to get up and grab a handful of whoppers!). I recently bought some Carnation Chocolate Malt powder. I cannot for the life of me remember why I bought it. I suppose a recipe popped up that looked good but I haven't a clue which one it might have been. Organization has to become one of my goals.....sigh.

In any case, I had this malt powder and felt it was time to use it. Several recipes popped up on Google that used malt powder or extract but they seemed flat. Not quite what I was looking for. Plus, most didn't include Whoppers and it just wouldn't be any fun to not include those! Further research led me to All Home Made Cookies which had a Chocolate Malt Cookie that used malted milk balls but not the powder. If I didn't get those cookies made soon all my Whoppers were going to be gone. I decided to just revamp their recipe and they turned out quite yummy!

Chocolate Malt Cookies

adapted from AllHomemadeCookies.com

Ingredients:

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. butter, softened

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 1/4 c. Pillsbury Best® All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Carnation Chocolate Malt Powder

2 T. unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 T. sugar

42 chocolate malted milk balls

Directions:

Cream together 3/4 c. sugar and butter, in a large mixing bowl.

Add vanilla and egg, blending well. Add the next 5 ingredients and mix until blended well.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll around in remaining 2 T. of sugar until lightly coated.

Place cookie balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet(I prefer to use parchment paper) and bake for 7-10 minutes at 400 degrees, or until edges are set.

Remove cookies from oven and press 1 malted milk ball into the center of each cookie.

Cool for 2-3 minutes and remove from pan.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies

The cookie Carnival

2011-10-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Fudgy Cats was the selection I made for this months Cookie Carnival (found at midwest living. com). To be honest, the fudgy brownie was just "eh". You know, the not bad but not exceptional either type. I like the idea of cutting out cats, or in my case spiders, but I would not make this recipe again. While not every cookie (or brownie) recipe is a success story, I have found several "keeper" recipes through the Cookie Carnival. Tami does a fantastic job keeping the momentum going and we are always on the lookout for members. Come check her blog out here!

Fudgy Cats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder1 teaspoon miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

Directions

1. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil. Grease the foil; set pan aside.

2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, the 3/4 cup cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine granulated sugar and melted butter. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until combined.

4. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cover and chill 3 to 24 hours.

5. Uncover the brownie layer. Lift from pan using foil. Cut into cat shapes using a 3-inch cookie cutter or a knife. In a small bowl stir together the powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons cocoa powder. Sprinkle over cat cutouts. Press 2 chocolate pieces into each cutout for the eyes. Makes 14, 3-inch cookies.

Chex Brittle

2011-10-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Fall season at the Thiele household means snacking. OK, you got me... any season for us is snacking season. But in the fall I tend to gravitate towards crunchy handfuls of snack foods. A particular favorite of ours is caramel corn (find the recipe here ) Lately I have been craving salty/sweet and I was really hoping to find a snack mix that would fulfill that itch. While this is a pretty darn good tasting recipe, it wasn't what I was looking for. I tossed it with some popcorn salt after it came out of the oven, which made a big difference, and I added some caramel candy corn.

Chex Brittle

adapted from chex.com

8 cups Chex Rice cereal

1 cup salted peanuts

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

popcorn salt, optional

candy corn, optional

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray two 15x10x1-inch pans with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix cereal, peanuts, condensed milk and vanilla until evenly coated.

Spread in pans making a single layer.

Bake 12 minutes. Remove from oven and lightly sprinkle with popcorn salt, if desired. Spread on waxed paper to cool, about fifteen minutes. Break into pieces and add candy corn. Store in airtight container

have the cake challenge:carbonation

2011-10-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

I've not been inspired to bake with carbonation as other food items I have tried, using soda, have been sickeningly sweet. However, our Have the Cake challenge for October was to bake an item using carbonation. I had cola, root beer and mountain dew in my pantry and since plain old cola seems... well, face it - plain old cola is boring! I remember parents panicking the time my husband brought Mountain Dew to the classroom and didn't want that reaction again. That left me with the root beer. Many of the recipes I found used cake mix and or root beer extract, neither of which I wanted to use. Thankfully I came across this recipe at The Prepared Pantry and went about getting the cake made. I'm a batter licker... I know, I know, food illness ect... but I just can't help myself! It had a mild, but yummy, taste of root beer. I suppose that the mild flavor was due to my substituting vanilla extract for the root beer flavoring. I made a butter cream frosting and topped with some pop rocks. My Sunday school kids are going to love this!
Note: The cupcakes rose beautifully and then flattened out. I'm not sure what caused it. I ended up having to cut the cupcakes out of the pan by cutting off the flattened tops. Utter failure. But they did frost up beautifully and they tasted really good

Root Beer Chocolate Cake Recipe

3/4 cup shortening

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tablespoon root beer flavor (or vanilla but will not have as deep of root beer flavor to the cake)

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 12-ounce can root beer, not sugar-free

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add the eggs one ata time, beating well after each. Beat for five or six minutes so that themixture is light and fluffy. Add the extract.

In another bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, salt, and sodatogether.

In three or four additions, alternately add the dryingredients and the liquids to the creamed mixture starting and ending with thedry ingredients. Mix only until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake a 9x13 inch pan for 35 to 40minutes, cupcakes for 15 minutes, or until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool completely beforefrosting with the frosting of your choice.

Baker’s Note: When making a cake such as this, you aremixing oil (shortening) and water (soda pop and buttermilk)—which don’t mix.The egg yolks act as an emulsifier, a bonding agent between the oil and watermolecules and the flour absorbs much of the water. That is why you start withthe flour addition—so that the water doesn’t overload the fat mixture beforethe flour is there to start absorbing water. It’s also why you add the liquidsin stages between the flour additions.

Secret Recipe Club: A trip to Debbi does dinner healthy!

2011-10-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Its reveal time for Group B of the Secret Recipe Club! This has been such a satisfying challenge group to participate in. Not only do you get to explore many different blogs but you also get the joy of passing along some blogger love. I mean, who doesn't like having their blog complemented? If you are looking for a way to increase your blog visitation than I suggest you check into SRC.
Holidays are quickly approaching and I always gain a few pounds. This month my secret blog challenge was Debbi does dinner healthy. I had a challenge just choosing something to make!! Debbi's blog is one I'm going to have to seriously follow. I love that she has a slight obsession with sweet potatoes and I've got a handful of those recipes save to try on a future date. And her Buffalo Chicken Shepherds Pie sounds like a massive plateful of YUM!
I finally narrowed my choices down to two recipes: Butternut Squash Bake and Asian Style Fresh Green Beans. I have this turkey that needed to get used up and I felt that the squash and green beans would be an excellent accompaniment.
The Butternut squash bake is to die for! It has just the right hint of heat and the crisp topping reheats even reheats well. While we all loved the flavor of the Asian Style Fresh green beans, we thought that they were too firm. I even slightly boiled them before stir frying them and they were still firm... I'm still getting the feel of my new stove and am sure that the error is on my end and not on Debbi's. I will make the recipe again but definitely add a longer cooking time.

Butternut Squash Bake
adapted from Debbi Does Dinner Healthy
1 large butternut squash, about 2 pounds, peeled and cubed (I used some squash that I had roasted and stored in my freezer.)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1 egg
15 Ritz Crackers, crushed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped fine
salt and pepper

Heat a large pot of water to boiling, ad squash and cook until soft, about 15-20 minutes. If using frozen squash, thaw and drain liquid.
In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter; add in crushed crackers, cheese and oregano. Season with salt and pepper; stir well. Remove from heat and set aside.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in another small saucepan; cook onion until translucent and just beginning to brown; add garlic, saute for a few more minutes and remove from heat.

When the squash is cooked, drain the water and toss the squash in a bowl. Add mayonnaise, onion, garlic, hot sauce and egg. Mash together well.

Pour into an 8x8-inch pan or casserole dish; top with cracker cheese mixture and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Remove foil and bake for an additional five minutes.

Asian Style Fresh Green Beans
adapted from Debbi Does Dinner Healthy
1 pound fresh green beans, both ends snapped off and removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
sesame seeds for garnish

Debbie's recipe didn't call for this part but I know my picky boys would have preferred this first step. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a big pinch of salt. Add in green beans and cook 2-3 minutes, just until slightly tender and bright green. Drain, and plunge quickly into a bath of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the green beans and dry them

Heat sesame oil in pan, saute green beans for about 3 minutes; add garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir fry for about 2-3 minutes. Add in soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, salt and pepper until beans are coated.

the daring kitchen: Moo shu pork

2011-10-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Its time for the Daring Cooks Challenge and one, I must confess, I was not thrilled with. Cooked cabbage and I are not friends. I don't like the smell nor do I care for the taste. Also, bamboo shoots are just plain icky. I'm totally blessed to have my mom living with us and it is times like these that I am especially thankful for her being here since she loves cooked cabbage and bamboo shoots! I halved the recipe of the Moo Shu Pork and made the recipe the traditional way. I made another batch not cooking the vegetable ingredients and leaving out the bamboo shoots. For the second batch I used the vegetables raw and just wrapped them in the pancake. Mom said the traditional way was delicious and both hubby and I loved the second method!'

Blog-checking lines: The October Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by Shelley of C Mom Cook and her sister Ruth of The Crafts of Mommyhood. They challenged us to bring a taste of the East into our home kitchens by making our own Moo Shu, including thin pancakes, stir fry and sauce.

Thin Pancakes:
Makes 24-30 pancakes
Preparation time: about 10 minutes plus 30 minutes' standing time
Cooking time: 45-50 minutes
Ingredients
4 cups (960 ml) (560 gm) (19¾ oz) all purpose flour
About 1½ cup (300ml) (10 fl oz) boiling water
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vegetable oil
Dry flour for dusting

Directions:
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Gently pour in the water, stirring as you pour, then stir in the oil. Knead the mixture into a soft but firm dough. If your dough is dry, add more water, one tablespoon at a time, to reach the right consistency. Cover with a damp towel and let stand for about 30 minutes.
Lightly dust the surface of a worktop with dry flour. Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes or until smooth, then divide into 3 equal portions. Roll out each portion into a long sausage and cut each sausage into 8-10 pieces. Keep the dough that you are not actively working with covered with a lightly damp dish cloth to keep it from drying out.

I used my tortilla press for the next step... I pressed, rotated, pressed again, rotated and pressed for a third time.

Place an un-greased frying pan over high heat. Once the pan is hot, lower the heat to low and place the pancakes, one at a time, in the pan. Remove when little light-brown spots appear on the underside. Cover with a damp cloth until ready to serve.

Moo Shu Pork:
Serves 4
Preparation time: 25-30 minutes
Cooking time: 6-8 minutes
Ingredients
2/3 cup (1 oz) (30 gm) Dried black fungus I used canned mushrooms since I had that on hand
½ lb (450 gm) pork loin or butt
¾ cup (3½ oz) (100 gm) bamboo shoots, thinly cut
3 cups (6 oz) (170 gm) Chinese cabbage (Napa cabbage), thinly cut, I used regular cabbage
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) salt
4 tablespoons (60 ml) vegetable oil
2 scallions
1 tablespoon (15 ml) light soy sauce
2 teaspoons (10 ml) rice wine
A few drops sesame oil
12 thin pancakes to serve

Directions:
Soak the fungus in warm water for 10-15 minutes, rinse and drain. Discard any hard stalks, then thinly shred.
Thinly cut the pork, bamboo shoots and Chinese cabbage into matchstick-sized shreds.
Lightly beat the eggs with a pinch of salt.
Heat about 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil in a preheated wok and scramble the eggs until set, but not too hard. Remove and keep to one side.
Heat the remaining oil. Stir-fry the shredded pork for about 1 minute or until the color changes. Add the fungus, bamboo shoots, Chinese cabbage and scallions. Stir-fry for about 2-3 minutes, then add the remaining salt, soy sauce and wine. Blend well and continue stirring for another 2 minutes. Add the scrambled eggs, stirring to break them into small bits. Add the sesame oil and blend well.
To serve: place about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of hot Moo Shu in the center of a warm pancake, rolling it into a parcel with the bottom end turned up to prevent the contents from falling out. Eat with your fingers.

Hoisin Sauce:
(source: http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/13249/hoisin-sauce.html)
Ingredients

4 tablespoons (60 ml) soy sauce
2 tablespoons (30 ml) peanut butter OR black bean paste
1 tablespoon (15 ml) honey OR molasses
2 teaspoons (10 ml) white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon (⅔ ml) garlic powder
2 teaspoons (10 ml) sesame seed oil
20 drops (¼ teaspoon) Chinese style hot sauce (optional, depending on how hot you want your hoisin sauce)
1/8 teaspoon (⅔ ml) black pepper

Directions:
Simply mix all of the ingredients together by hand using a sturdy spoon.
At first it does not appear like it will mix, but keep at it just a bit longer and your sauce will come together.

Crazy Cooking Challenge: Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-10-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

I love challenges and even more than that, I love being able to showcase another persons blog. With the Crazy Cooking Challenge, we are given a recipe subject (this month is chocolate chip cookies) and from there we are to just find an intriguing recipe showcasing another persons blog. This is the second month Crazy Cooking Challenge has been in place and I'm just thrilled to now be a part of it. Check it out here to see last months challenge of Macaroni and Cheese!

I've got a new blog obsession with Kristy over at Sweet Treats and More. Here photographs are phenomenal and she just has a nice relaxed way of writing. She has several tasty looking recipes using chocolate chips, but I have thus far contained myself to making the Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie. They were delicious! My boys and hubby just gobbled them up!

Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Sweet treats and more

1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 c. flour
2 3/4 c. oatmeal
2 c. chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Add baking soda, powder, and salt and mix. Add flour, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

The Daring Bakers: Croissants

2011-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

This months Daring Bakers' challenge was a wee bit complicated. Just a few tiny steps. Uh huh, sure. Try more like fifty steps! While it does appear to be quite frighteningly complicated, if you are good at reading instructions than it is rather easy. Unfortunately, instructions to me always read to me like a foreign language. Good thing my husband was around to give a hand!

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

Ingredients
¼ oz (7 gm) of fresh yeast, or 1¼ teaspoon (6¼ ml/4 gm) of dry-active yeast (about ½ sachet)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water (less than 100°F/38°C)
1 teaspoon (5 ml/4½ gm) sugar
1 3/4 cups (225 gm/½ lb) of strong plain flour (I used Polish all-purpose flour, which is 13% protein)
2 teaspoons (10 ml/9 gm) sugar
1½ teaspoon (7½ ml/9 gm) salt
½ cup (120 ml/¼ pint) milk (I am not sure if the fat content matters. I used 2%)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) tasteless oil (I used generic vegetable oil)
½ cup (120 ml/1 stick/115 gm/¼ lb) chilled, unsalted butter
1 egg, for egg wash

Directions:
Mix the yeast, warm water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little. Measure out the other ingredients. Heat the milk until tepid (either in the microwave or a saucepan), and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar. Place the flour in a large bowl.

Add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl.Knead the dough eight to ten times only. Place the dough back in the bowl .Leave the bowl at approximately 75°F/24°C for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size

Place the dough on a lightly floured board or countertop, use your hands to press it out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches.. Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the top third down, and then the bottom third up)

Place the dough letter back in the bowl, and the bowl. Leave the dough to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. This second rise can be done overnight in the fridge

Place the double-risen dough onto a plate and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place the plate in the fridge while you prepare the butter.Once the dough has doubled it’s time to incorporate the butter

Place the block of chilled butter on a chopping board. Using the rolling pin, beat the butter down a little, till it is quite flat.
Use the heel of your hand to continue to spread the butter until it is smooth. You want the butter to stay cool, but spread easily.

Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured board or counter. Let it rest for a minute or two. Spread the dough using your hands into a rectangle about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). . Remove the butter from the board, and place it on the top half of the dough rectangle
Spread the butter all across the top two-thirds of the dough rectangle, but keep it ¼ inch (6 mm) across from all the edges.

Fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third of the dough up. Turn the dough package 90 degrees, so that the top flap is to your right (like a book). Roll out the dough package (gently, so you don’t push the butter out of the dough) until it is again about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

Again, fold the top third down and the bottom third up.
Wrap the dough package in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.

After two hours have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and place it again on the lightly floured board or counter. Tap the dough with the rolling pin, to deflate it a little. Let the dough rest for 8 to 10 minutes. Roll the dough package out till it is 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). Fold in three, as before. . Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again to 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). . Fold in three for the last time, wrap in plastic, and return the dough package to the fridge for two more hours (or overnight, with something heavy on top to stop it from rising)

It’s now time to cut the dough and shape the croissants. First, lightly butter your baking sheet so that it is ready. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for ten minutes on the lightly floured board or counter. Roll the dough out into a 20 by 5 inch rectangle (51 cm by 12½ cm). Cut the dough into two rectangles (each 10 by 5 inches (25½ cm by 12½ cm))

Place one of the rectangles in the fridge, to keep the butter cold
Roll the second rectangle out until it is 15 by 5 inches (38 cm by 12½ cm). Cut the rectangle into three squares (each 5 by 5 inches (12½ cm by 12½ cm)) Place two of the squares in the fridge. The remaining square may have shrunk up a little bit in the meantime. Roll it out again till it is nearly square. Cut the square diagonally into two triangles. Stretch the triangle out a little, so it is not a right-angle triangle, but more of an isosceles.
Starting at the wide end, roll the triangle up towards the point, and curve into a crescent shape.
Place the unbaked croissant on the baking sheet
Repeat the process with the remaining squares of dough, creating 12 croissants in total.
Leave the tray of croissants, covered lightly with plastic wrap, to rise for 1 hour

Preheat the oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
Mix the egg with a teaspoon of water
Spread the egg wash across the tops of the croissants.
Put the croissants in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned nicely
Take the croissants out of the oven, and place them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Cake mix cookies challenge: Caramel Corn Cookies

2011-09-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

This has been a crazy month with all the garden produce coming in at once. Why does that always happen? I've been canning like crazy and still trying to keep up on my challenges. I'm managing pretty well, only I haven't been keeping up with posting on my blog.
It is with deep sadness that I will have more time on my hands now and should get back into the swing of things. My husband had lost his job in May and although the circumstances weren't ideal, I loved having my husband home the past four months! He started a new job today and will be missed greatly during my days. I think retirement is too far off! Miss you Neil!
Anyway, This month's Cookie Carnival Challenge was to create a cookie using a boxed cake mix. I wanted to try and create one of our favorite fall treats; Caramel Corn. While they are not quite the caramel corn flavor I was looking for, I did get thumbs up reviews from the cookie bunch! The cookie carnival is great and is always looking for new members. Pop on over to Tami's site and join us today~

Caramel Corn Cookies
1 box Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 1/2 cups crushed Kix cereal, divided
1 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup Kraft Caramel Bits (found in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips.. I think they are a seasonal item)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine Cake mix, eggs and oil; mix well together. Add 1/2 cup crushed Kix cereal, peanuts and caramel bits, blend well.
Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into remaining Kix cereal and place on lightly greased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper instead), and space two inches apart.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet two minutes before placing on cooling rack.

Bacon and Feta Pasta

2011-09-24T03:24:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about the Secret Recipe Club is you get tons of great recipe ideas. One recipe immediately jumped out at me since it had the words bacon and pasta in the title. The recipe is from Crumbs and Chaos, but I had to make several adjustments to make it with the ingredients I had on hand. The original recipe calls heavy cream and I like to substitute evaporated milk when asked for in sauces.

Bacon and Feta Pasta
8 ounces pasta of choice (I used linguine)
8 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 tablespoons evaporated milk
4 stems of fresh thyme, leaves removed
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled with additional for topping if desired

Directions:

Cook pasta to al dente according to the package directions.

While the water is boiling, heat a large skillet over medium heat.

Add sliced bacon and cook until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Wipe skillet out with a paper towel.

Add butter to skillet and melt over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms. When the mushrooms are soft, add garlic, thyme and evaporated milk. When the milk, is warm, add feta and stir gently until melted. Season with pepper and add bacon back to pan.

Add cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to coat.

Serve immediately with feta sprinkled on the top.

Secret Recipe Club: Vegchiladas

2011-09-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Another entry into the Secret Recipe Club begins. At the beginning of each month you are assigned a blog to browse through and recreate a recipe. I had the wonderful pleasure of exploring Eilonway's blog, "My Emu is Emo." The blog is a combination of her love of cooking and music. Not only did I get to view fabulous sounding recipes but I was also challenged to expand my horizons with new musical sounds. At first I was reading all her fun posts without even thinking about finding a recipe! I have to admit that I am a huge lover of music and have quite the eclectic collection of my own. After reading my fill, I went back through her blog and focused in on choosing a recipe. It just so happened that my mom, who lives with us, has been craving nachos and so I zeroed in on her post for " Vegchiladas get earthy, spicy and complex." As luck would have it, we had all the ingredients on hand. It was very good and a nice alternative to having meat on your nachos.

Vegchiladas (click on the link for her versions)
2 yams
1/2 an onion
1 can beans (I used S&W Pinquito beans with onions, peppers, cumin and garlic)
tortilla chips
cojito cheese
salsa (I used my own canned version)
sour cream

Clean and dice your yams. I halved my yams diagonally then cut into half again. I then cut into 1/4 inch chunks. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees F., until tender. It me about 1/2 an hour for yams to get tender.
Dice onion and place into warmed medium skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Drain beans and add to cooked onion.
Layer chips with yams

Top with bean and onion mixture. Add cheese layer. Repeat.

Serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

Zucchini "Apple" Pie

2011-09-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

With my abundance of zucchini this year, I decided to break down and try a recipe I have saved for many a year for Zucchini Pie. Rumor had it that this pie tasted like apple pie. I was skeptical. I was very skeptical. However, I was running out of ideas with what to do with zucchini and I did find this recipe to be quite intriguing. I read a few different reviews online and took a few of the tips; use small zucchini and boil it.
The end result was quite fabulous. In fact, I was so amazed by how this tasted that I had to take over three pieces to my in-laws to try and Neil's grandmother. My father in-law is brutally honest and I suspected that he would find something to say about it. Wrong! He practically licked the plate clean! They were all surprised by the taste and couldn't believe zucchini could taste like an apple pie. Feeling a little skeptical yourself? I can't blame you. But if you are willing to take the chance than this pie would be a pleasant surprise!

Zucchini "Apple" Pie

no known source, have had this recipe for years

6 cups zucchini

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/2 tablespoon butter

pastry for two crust pie

Directions

Peel the zucchini, cut lengthwise, remove seeds and slice 1/4 inch thick

Cook zucchini slices in boiling water for 2 minutes. You want the zucchini to still be tender and a bit firm. Drain zucchini. Make sure the zucchini is well-drained and cool or else the sugar mixture will be a mess. Tip: Mine still was quite liquid even after letting it cool and drain. It did not affect the pie.

In a bowl, toss the zucchini with the sugars, cinnamon, cream of tartar, cornstarch and salt until well blended.

Place pastry in 9-inch pie pan. Fill with zucchini mix. Dot with butter and drizzle the vinegar of the the zucchini mixture. Top with crust.

Bake for 12 minutes at 475 degrees F. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another hour. Tip: I forgot to cover my pie rims with tinfoil and they burned slightly. Be sure to keep rims covered until last half hour of baking.

Icebox Cake... ish

2011-09-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

This month our Have the Cake challenge was to make an Icebox Cake. I had never heard of an Icebox cake and the process certainly was intriguing. I didn't follow any set recipe and I didn't exactly use cookies either. During our last vacation, Neil and I went to a Russian grocer store. On the shelf were these packages of thin wafers, about 1o to a package. We bought a package with the intent on figuring out how exactly it was used in Russian recipes. While we have exactly figured that part out, but we did have success with using it in our version of the icebox cake.
These are the wafer layers... please, if you have any idea how they are supposed to be used, do tell!
I did alternating layers using ganache and a whipped cream/cream cheese mixture.
I iced the cake with the remainder of the cream cheese/whipped cream mixture and then sprinkled on mini chocolate chips. We were too impatient to let it set over night, but we did wait a good eight hours! Turned out to be super yummy!

Icebox Cake

1 package dry wafer sheets

3 cups whipping cream

6 tablespoons confectioners sugar

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions:

In a medium bowl, add whipping cream and confectioners sugar, mix until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and mix once more.

In a small bowl, mix softened cream cheese until whipped. Gently fold into whipped cream.

Melt together the chocolate chips with the 2 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream; blend until smooth and creamy.

Take one wafer and top with a good sized dollop of whipped cream/cream cheese mixture; smooth over wafer. Repeat making three layers. On the top of the third wafer, spread some of the chocolate ganache mixture. Follow this with another layer of the whip cream mixture and alternating with chocolate layers until you have three wafers remaining. For the final three wafers use only the whipped cream mixture.

Ice cake with remaining whipped cream. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips, if desired.

Refrigerate over night. Keep leftovers in refrigerator.

hazelnut apricot cookies

2011-09-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

Life sure gets busy when you have a little one running around and a garden. I must confess, the little sweetie wins every single time. She will only be little for a short time and grandma has to get her fill! During nap times I'm able to get things done and have been up to my ears in zucchini... those recipes will come very soon. For now I will share with you yet another cookie for my cookie rotation. I make anywhere from two to four batches of cookies a week for the Walden house. It is a bit like the Ronald McDonald house, only geared for adults.

While cookies can't really qualify as "nutritious," these cookies are full of healthy-ish ingredients.... if you forget about the shortening and sugars! Ok, so they aren't going to get me a dietitians' award. They will, however, get me tons of smiles and happy tummies!

Oregon Hazelnut Oatmeal Cookies

From the Oregon hazelnut Industry

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups quick oats, uncooked

1 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

1 cup finely dice dried apricots

1 cup chopped vanilla milk chips

Directions:

Combine shortening, sugars, eggs and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir into creamed mixture with a spoon. Stir in oats and hazelnuts. Toss apricots with 1 tablespoon flour; stir into dough along with the vanilla chips.

Shape into 1 1/2-inch balls and flatten slightly. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 11 to 13 minutes, or until slightly moist in center and just beginning to brown around edges. Remove from sheet immediately to cooling rack.

yields about 3 dozen cookies

August 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Candylicious!

2011-08-27T00:01:00.001-07:00

This month were were given the challenge to make two types of candy...gooey, melt in your mouth candy. One of the candies was to be made with tempered chocolate and the other could be our choice. I actually made three types of candy: hard candy, homemade rolo candies and milky way bars.

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks athttp://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Tempering chocolate is rather easy; it just seems intimidating. I'll get into the "how to" of tempering in another post, right now I'll share how I made the three candies

Rolo Candies

Caramel filling:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate coating:

1 pound dark chocolate, tempered and ready to use

Directions:Combine sugar, corn syrup, milk and margarine in a saucepan. Stir an heat to 248 degrees F. Remove from heat, add vanilla and pour onto a well butter cookie sheet. Set aside to cool. At this point you can score into sections the size you desire. I took sections and rolled them into small marble size pieces and covered with chocolate .
Using your chocolate mold, coat the bottoms and sides of the mold with chocolate. Turn it over and let the excess flow off.
When chocolate has hardened, fill with the caramel pieces and top with additional chocolate.

You will need to use a heavy duty mixer to make these! I gave my Kitchen Aid mixer

a real work out!

Homemade Milky Way Bars
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions
In large saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar,corn syrup, water and salt. Heat, while stirring constantly, until mixture begins to boil. Continue cooking, stirring periodically, until temperature of candy thermometer reaches 270 degrees F. or soft crack stage.
Using a non-plastic bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Once the sugar mixture reaches 270 degrees F., remove from heat and carefully pour in thin streams over the egg whites, blending completely with mixer set on low speed.Continue to cook until mixture becomes thick like dough. I had to hold my machine down during this process because my mixer was taking a bit of a beating! The entire beating process took me close to twenty minutes!

Once mixture has thickened and become the consistency of dough, add the melted chocolate chips. After the melted chips have been blended through, press mixture into greased 9-inch square pan. I like to line the bottom and sides with plastic wrap, then grease. Having the plastic wraps makes it easier to remove.
Refrigerate until firm. Remove from pan and cut into desired bar sizes. I made 18 pieces.

At this point the candy is ready to be dipped in chocolate and you would have a candy like the 3 Musketeers. I still had some of the caramel left over so I topped the nougat with a layer of the caramel before dipping into the chocolate.

Using tempered chocolate, dip your candy into the chocolate and coat completely place on wax paper.
Cool at room temperature.

Hard Candy
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoonful candy flavoring (I used sour apple)
1/2 teaspoon liquid food coloring

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in 2-qt saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a boil without stirring. When syrup temperature reaches 260 degrees F, add color. Do not stir; boiling action will incorporate color into syrup. Remove from heat at 300 degrees F. Stir in flavoring. Pour syrup into lightly oiled candy molds or onto greased cookie sheet and score with knife to form bite-size pieces. When cool, break into pieces and dust with powdered sugar to prevent sticking.

curry revisited

2011-08-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

Last month's Daring kitchen challenge was to do a traditional Southern Indian dish. No problem, right? Wrong! I found that the meat dishes all involved curry leaves... not to be confused with curry powder. It took a trip to out of state to find this elusive ingredient! Ok, so we didn't go out of state to just get curry leaves. We went on a mini vacation and for us that involves either hitting an amusement park or visiting all the ethnic markets we can find. We couldn't find any curry leaves in Portland but our lovely Indian hotel manager advised us to go to his favorite market in Vancouver, Washington. There I was not only able to find curry leaves but I gathered up several other interesting items off the shelves as well. Unfortunately, these leaves needed to be kept frozen. I bought a small package and hoped and prayed that using our tiny cooler would keep them fresh enough.
We later drove on up to Seattle to visit our son. One of the best things about Seattle is their Pike Street Market. I love browsing through all the fresh vendors! There are literally hundreds of shops throughout Pike street and right across the street we found an Indian market. They carried dried curry leaves so I bought a package in case my frozen ones did not survive. There are tons of ethnic markets in Seattle we just didn't have enough time to visit all of them. Looks like we will have to do a return visit!
Luckily, now that I have my ingredients, the August Monthly Challenge was to make an ethnic dish. I wish to revisit the curry challenge and make a curry dish using the curry leaves. Totally worth the effort of seeking out the ingredients! Yes, all of these ingredient can be bought online, but really, is there any fun in that?

Marsala Beef With Ginger and Curry Leaf

adapted recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

3 bay leaves

1 (1 inch) piece cinnamon stick

5 cardamom pods

2 whole cloves (recipe called for 4 but I am not a huge clove fan)

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

10 whole black peppercorns

2 pounds cross rib roast, cubed

3 cups chopped onion, divided

2 pasilla peppers,chopped

1 (1 1/2 inch) piece fresh ginger root, grated

6 cloves garlic,chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds

4 fresh curry leaves

1/2 cup coconut butter

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the masala powder: Grind the bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, fennel seeds and peppercorns in a spice grinder until mixture is a fine powder. I used a coffee grinder that I set aside for grinding spices only.

2. Place the beef cubes, masala powder, 2 cups chopped onion, green chiles, grated fresh ginger, garlic and turmeric in a large, heavy pot. Add water to cover (about 1 cup) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until beef is cooked through. Add salt. Stir and continue to simmer about 10 minutes or until mixture is almost dry, but do not allow it to burn (add a bit more water, if necessary). Set aside.

3. Over a large skillet over medium-high heat, add oil and mustard seeds; cook until they begin to pop. Immediately add remaining 1 cup chopped onion and stir over medium heat until onions soften and begin to brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add curry leaves and cook until brown, about 3 minutes. Add coconut butter ( used the butter found at the top of an unshaken can of coconut milk)

4.Stir in the beef mixture and black pepper,. Cook until heated through. Top with lemon juice just before serving.

Secret Recipe Club: Mahogany Pork and Veggies with Oven Baked Polenta

2011-08-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

Its time again for the great "Secret Recipe Club" reveal. If you haven't heard about SRC, it is another food challenge. SRC assigns you a blog, which you secretly lurk on to, and find a recipe to make for yourself. This month the Secret Recipe Club assigned me http://pennypinchingprovisions.blogspot.com .
I had a great time browsing through her website and making a final decision on what to make was difficult. Since I had never tried polenta before, I decided to go with her dish of Mahogany Pork and Veggies with Oven Polenta. While I did make a few adjustments, I pretty much stuck with her recipe and everything was amazing! My hubby can be a rather fussy eater and even he said to make everything again!
I had a bigger piece of pork loin so I doubled the marinade and added half into a bowl of the meat, and the other half I used to marinate the vegetables. For the polenta I used the sharp cheddar I had on hand instead of the Parmesan cheese. Thank you for giving me a new meal to put on our food rotation. Absolutely fabulous!

Mahogony Pork and Veggies
see the original recipe here
2 pound pork tenderloin, cut into strips
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce

4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large red onion (I just cut the onion into 1/8 chunks)
2 large red or orange bell peppers, sliced

Directions:
Slice vegetables and Combine brown sugar, soy sauce, hot pepper sauce, olive and garlic: mix and set aside

In a medium bowl add the peppers and onion and pour half of the marinade over it. Mix together and set aside. In another bowl add the meat, add some fresh ground black pepper (to taste) and pour the remaining marinade over the meat; toss to coat. Let set for no longer than 1/2 hour.

Preheat skillet to Medium-High... you want a nice hot pan so that the vegetables will slightly carmalize and not steam cook. Add the vegetables with the marinade and cook about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Remove, cover and keep warm

Let the pan preheat again, add meat to the skillet, cook about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally until done. Pour meat over veggies to serve.

Oven Polenta

1-1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 Tbl olive oil
1/4 tsp salt1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350* Grease 8x8 dish. Combine all ingredients except cheese. Bake 50 minutes, stirring once.Stir in cheese. Bake 10 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. We didn't wait the ten minutes... we were too hungry!

Spanish Style Quinoa

2011-08-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

My first experience with quinoa was not going to be my last! I was afraid it was going to be like cous cous - not a favorite of mine; However, it was a bit nutty and more like brown rice. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com for Spanish-Style Quinoa and served it up with some skillet enchiladas. Even my picky husband liked it!

Spanish Style Quinoa

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

2 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the quinoa, onion, garlic, and green pepper. Cook and stir 5 to 10 minutes until the onion is tender, and the quinoa has lightly toasted.

Stir in the tomato sauce and water, then season with the chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Stir the quinoa occasionally as it cooks.

Chocolate Pudding Bars

2011-08-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a fabulous weekend getaway with my husband. We visited around the Portland, Oregon area then went up to visit our son in Seattle, Washington. There was a garlic festival in North Plains, Oregon (not far from Portland) and we tried some interesting things such as garlic ice cream and garlic chocolate truffles.

The trip was great and was much needed. I found some great books at the Borders Book stores we visited. Sad that they are closing their stores but I was quite happy with the bargains I found on cookbooks. One of the books I picked up was "Sandra Lee Bake Sale Favorites." I'm not a huge fan of using all the convenience foods she uses but the recipes seemed like good ones that I could easily adapt with home made products (instead of cake mixes or cookies mixes, etc.). One recipe really called out to me... Chocolate Pudding Bars. I pretty much followed the recipe using the cake mix and pudding mix. I was feeling lazy from our trip but seriously craving chocolate! Her recipe calls for using a butter recipe chocolate cake mix and I substituted for what I had on hand with a vanilla cake mix. Those of us that ate it agreed that using the vanilla cake mix made the other chocolate ingredients really pop out in flavor. I think using a chocolate cake mix would have been a bit much, but feel free to use which ever one you like!

Chocolate Pudding Bars

adapted from Sandra Lee Bake Sale Favorites

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 package (18.25 ounces) vanilla cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 cups chocolate milk

1 package (5.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix

Directions

Place chocolate chips in a medium bowl: set aside. In a small sauce pan, heat cream until just about boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let set for three minutes before stirring. Mix until smooth; set aside to cool and thicken

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with cook-86

75.ing spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, and melted butter; stir until mixed. Batter will be thick. Spread in prepared baking pan.

Bake about 15 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few sticky crumbs on it. Cool in pan on wire rack.

In a large bowl, combine chocolate milk and pudding mix; whisk together until slightly thickened. Spread pudding mixture evenly over the cooked cake.

Top the pudding layer with an even layer of the thickened chocolate mixture. Chill about 2 hours or until top sets. Cut into bars and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Yields 16 servings.

Steamed Green Beans with Bacon on the Grill

2011-08-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

I like to have variety in my vegetables... I mean, if you have to eat them then you better find ways to "user" friendly! Fresh green beans were on sale and hubby was planning on grilling steaks for dinner. I tossed the green beans (a bit over a pound)in about 1 tablespoon olive oil, added three cloves crushed garlic and then placed three pieces of uncooked bacon over it.

raw bacon

I wrapped it all up in a sheet of tin foil and placed on the grill for twenty five minutes. The bacon was cooked through (though not crunchy) and the beans were cooked with a bit of crunch left to them.

cooked bacon

I had used some bacon in another dish and had set aside some crisp pieces to top the green beans with before serving.

Hope you enjoy!