Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Happy Pi Day!

And to celebrate Pi...

Caramel Pie

1 9" graham cracker crust
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
chocolate curls

Pour condensed milk into a 2-quart glass measuring cup. Microwave at 50% for 4 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes until smooth. Then mivrowave on 30% power for 12 to 18 minutes until caramel colored, stirring every 2 minutes.

Chill overnight.

Put caramelized milk into a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Pour into the pie crust.

Whip cream, gradually adding sugar and vanilla while beathing. When stiff, spread over caramel filling. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate. Chill several hours before serving.

They're Acting As If It's a Business!

California chefs are complaining that farmers who sell through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market are going with guaranteed sales to produce companies rather than wait for the chefs to decide whether or not to purchase their produce.

If the produce the chefs have been buying has become trendy and other restaurants want it, it's not the fault of the farmers if they take advantage of this.

Watching Recipes

FoodTube is a search engine for recipe videos.

As Exciting As...

watching cheese age.

From CNN:

Since www.cheddarvision.tv debuted in December, the Web site offering a live broadcast of a round slab of English cheddar cheese slowly maturing has had more than 1.2 million hits.

..."People from all over the world are e-mailing us about the cheese. Somebody has written lots of songs about. It has been invited to a wedding. We've had post cards sent to it," Calvar said.

It even has a MySpace page (with 1171 friends).

Mmmmmmm, pie...

While I was out yesterday I discovered that Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen opened a new location near me. There are several other locations in the area but this is the first one I've been to. I can't explain this oversight and now that I've tasted some of the pies, I regret not having visited them before.

I bought a slice each of Dutch apple, pecan, Maine blueberry, chocolate chess, and Shaker sugar pie. Some of the ones I wanted to try were sold out so I'll be going back soon to sample further.

The Meal Wheel

If you want to eat out but can't decide where to go, enter your zip code and spin the wheel. You can change the query to a type of cuisine if you're in the mood for pizza, steak, Thai food or whatever.

Deep-Fried Pizza

My first reaction was, "yuck" but then I looked at the pictures and started thinking that it might be kind of tasty.

Aiming to Please

In response to those who don't think that shooting is "feminine" I want to start the Crestwood Ladies' Gun Club and Recipe Exchange.

I went back to the gun range today. My results were only slightly better than last time but I felt more at ease shooting. (Not that I was uncomfortable the first time, it's just that it was a new experience.) I used the same gun that I had for my class but will be going back later this week to try a different one.

And now the recipe:

Apple Swirl Bread

1 pkg. yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tbl. sugar
2 Tbl. shortening
1 egg
3/4 tsp. salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour, divided

Apple filling:
2 cups finely chopped, peeled apple
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbl. firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tbl. water
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, shortening, egg, salt, and 1 1/2 cups flour. Beat at low speed until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour or until dough doubles in bulk.

Combine apple, brown sugar, water, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat for five minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook for ten minutes or until all liquid evaporates. Stir in almonds and vanilla.

Punch dough down; turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead four or five times. Roll dough into a 15" x 7" rectangle. Spread apple filling over dough. Roll up jellyroll fashion, starting at a short side. Pinch seams and ends together. Place roll, seam side down, in a greased 9" x 5" loaf pan.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack.

1 loaf

Free Chocolate!

Join the Nestlé Chocolatier team during September and receive a coupon for free Chocolatier.

Chocolatier is a new premium baking chocolate created for making desserts. ("Rich and decadent desserts" is the description they use...my favorite kind.)

Read more about Nestlé Chocolatier and their website at Mom's Kitchen Blog.

(Link via Beth of She Who Will Be Obeyed)

August is National Peach Month

I have some recipes using peaches on my cooking blog plus links to peach recipes that have been submitted to the Carnival of the Recipes.

Do the Food Police Make Kids Fatter?

An essay in The New York Times: Well-Intentioned Food Police May Create Havoc With Children's Diets discusses the attempts by schools to control their students' diets. I have tried to teach my kids about nutrition but what's the point of teaching it if you're going to remove choices?

I will never win any award for pushing nutrition at home. I've even joked that I feed my kids fast food to help them "build up an immunity" to it. The truth is that I have tried to teach them that there are no forbidden foods. When they were younger they took full advantage of that, sometimes they still do, but as they have gotten older they are making more nutritious food choices more often. This may not work for everyone but my children just don't see any reason to crave sweets or junk food. There's no urge to overindulge in something that is always available. It's too ordinary and who craves the mundane?

In case anyone is wondering, none of my kids are overweight and their annual physical exams have never shown any health problems. Maybe it has nothing to do with my philosophy on food, maybe they just lucked out in the genetic lottery. I can't say for sure but then neither can those who want to dictate what my children can or cannot eat.

Eat 'em Anyway

The other day one of my children said something about wanting to eat more carrots in order to see better in the dark. I had a quick mental argument with myself, do I keep quiet or point out that this is a fallacy? (I like to argue with myself, I always win.)

I like carrots. I want my kids to eat carrots. Maybe I should have just let it go, but I didn't. I said that unless you have a vision problem due to a Vitamin A deficiancy, carrots won't improve your night vision. At that time I didn't know the origin of the idea that carrots will help you see better in the dark. Tonight I found the real story.

In World War II, Britain's air ministry spread the word that a diet of these vegetables helped pilots see Nazi bombers attacking at night. That was a lie intended to cover the real matter of what was underpinning the Royal Air Force's successes: Airborne Interception Radar, also known as AI. The secret new system pinpointed some enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel.

British Intelligence didn't want the Germans to find out about the superior new technology helping protect the nation, so they created a rumor to afford a somewhat plausible-sounding explanation for the sudden increase in bombers being shot down. News stories began appearing in the British press about extraordinary personnel manning the defenses, including Flight Lieutenant John Cunningham, an RAF pilot dubbed "Cats Eyes" on the basis of his exceptional night vision that allowed him to spot his prey in the dark. Cunningham's abilities were chalked up to his love of carrots. Further stories claimed RAF pilots were being fed goodly amounts of this root vegetable to foster similar abilities in them.

Let's Do Lunch

There's a site that offers suggestions when you and a friend want to meet for a meal at a restaurant that is about the same distance from each of you - Equidistant Eats.

You simply enter both addresses (you can add one more) and the results will include a list of the restaurants and a Yahoo map of their locations. Restaurants with Web sites include links to the site and you can get directions to the restaurants from any of the addresses you entered.

This would also be handy to use on a trip - either on the way to your destination or finding someplace to eat that is between a couple of attractions that you plan on visiting while there.

I only tried a few addresses but the local one (within the same city) that I did seemed to provided more varied results than those between two cities or states. Instead of showing a dozen or so Golden Corrals or Bob Evans Restaurants it would be nice to have a wider variety and have the chains listed just once with a link to click for all of their addresses.

Crossposted on Mom's Kitchen Blog.

Heaven on Earth

Or at least close to it. A whole house would be better but a chocolate room is a good start.

Really Classic Coke

Indians in this remote mountain village (Inza) in southern Colombia are marketing a particularly refreshing soft drink that harks back to Coca-Cola's original formula, when "coca" was in the name for a reason.

From the description, a citrus-flavored drink, it sounds more like Gatorade with a kick than Coca-Cola.

Havarti Cheese Spread

What to do with some of that havarti you bought when you decided to "buy Danish".

I'll Never Be In the Clean Plate Club

Professor loses weight on no-diet diet

Intuitive eaters only eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full.

I'm not sure why this is newsworthy, I thought it was just common sense. I love food, especially desserts, but, to me, eating when I'm not hungry makes as much sense as putting on a sweater for a mid-day stroll in August. (Around here that usually means temperatures in the 90s and high humidity.)

Gifts for Cooks

I've begun posting some links to cooking tools and supplies on my Mom's Kitchen blog. This is because I want to help you find something for the cook in your life and has nothing to do with my wanting to help my family find gifts for me. Not at all.

Jeff, click HERE!

Milchig Christmas Cookies

When I was at the grocery earlier today I bought a bag of Christmas cookies. I prefer homemade to store-bought but I couldn't resist this bag because of the on the label.

I'm easily amused.

Recipe Search

FoodieView is an easy way to search several sources for recipes. You can also browse by category. I tried a few searches and got several recipes for each one but most came from just a few main sites - Recipezaar, Food Network, Allrecipes.com, and a few others - so if these are among the sites you usually check, great. If you're looking for a recipe you saw on a blog, newspaper food column, or a smaller recipe site then you'll have more luck with a regular search engine.

Big Easy Beignets

I've only been to New Orleans once. My strongest memory is of the doughnuts that we got in the French Quarter. I was in elementary school at the time so other than sightseeing I wasn't old enough to take advantage of many of the other things the city offered. If I had been old enough to enjoy the nightlife I probably wouldn't remember it anyway.

So, in memory of what was and with hope for what will be again, here is a recipe for beignets. (From Southern Living, January 1998.) It's not a simple or quick recipe but it is worth the time and effort.

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil
Sifted powdered sugar

Combine yeast and warm water in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.

Combine yeast mixture, evaporated milk, and next 3 ingredients. Gradually stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface; knead 5 or 6 times. Roll dough into a 15- x 12 1/2-inch rectangle; cut into 2 1/2-inch squares.

Pour oil to depth of 3 to 4 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 375°. Fry 3 or 4 beignets at a time, 1 minute on each side or until golden. Drain; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Yield: Makes 2 1/2 dozen

Australian Steak House Bread

1 1/2 cups of warm water
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups bread or all purpose flour
1 2/3 cups wheat flour
1 Tbsp. cocoa
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 package yeast
1/2 tsp brown food color paste (optional, amount approximate)

Combine the flours, cocoa, sugar, and salt in a lage bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the warm water into it. Then add the butter, molasses, yeast and food coloring.

If you do not have the food coloring, just leave it out. The bread will taste the same, it will just be lighter in color.

Slowly mix the ingredients using a strong mixer or by hand. When you can handle the dough, knead it for at least 10 minutes or until it is very smooth and has an even color. Set the dough in a greased bowl, turn it over to coat all sides of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place to rise for about an hour.

When the dough has risen to about double its original size, punch it down and divide it into eight even pieces. Form the pieces of dough into loaves about eight inches long and two inches wide. The dough is somewhat thin and sticky so you will need to flour your hands and work surface well. Place loaves on a greased cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again for about an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Uncover dough and bake the loaves for 20 - 24 minutes. Serve warm.

Hobson's Choice

Political Correctness Watch writes about how the New York City health department urged all city restaurants to stop serving food containing trans fats.

In a letter sent to all food suppliers in the city last week, Dr. Frieden wrote: "Consumers want healthier choices when eating out. Our campaign will increase consumer demand for meals without trans fat."

It sounds as if it's more about removing choices than providing them. If consumers really want something, they will seek it out and businesses that want to be successful will adapt to provide it. Attempting to force a change is not about what consumers want but about what the NYC Health Department wants.

SOHS Marching Dragons

This evening the high school marching band put on a performance for family and friends.

There was also a potluck dinner. We were asked to bring a casserole or a dessert. I brought a bucket of dirt.

Dragon Dirt

1 clean child's toy bucket with shovel
2 (6 serving size) instant chocolate pudding
6 cups milk
1 (16 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed
1 package Oreo Cookies
Gummy worms, if desired

Put the cookies into a large zipper-seal plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Make pudding according to directions on package. (Combine pudding mix with milk and beat with a whisk for two minutes or until it begins to thicken.) Fold in thawed Cool Whip until well blended.

Alternate layers of pudding mixture and cookie crumbs in the bucket, finishing with a layer of cookie crumbs. Top with a few gummy worms. Put the shovel in the "dirt" to use as a serving spoon.

Recipes With Pictures

Visual Recipes is a community recipe site that lets members share recipes and include up to 20 pictures. I like pictures with recipes and I like that these pictures look more like what I expect whatever I make will look. Pictures in cooking magazines and cookbooks are nice. Too nice. You know that your finished recipe will seldom look quite that good.

Talk About Processed Meat

Paper Says Edible Meat Can be Grown in a Lab on Industrial Scale

My emotional reaction is "eeeeeeeewwwwwwww". My logical side thinks this could be a valuable source of protein. It could be a good way for countries with limited farmland to produce protein-rich food for its people. The article also mentions this as a possible source for food during space travel. It also mentions producing meat with less fat or better types of fat (Omega 3 instead of Omega 6). I guess that rules out trying to replicate Kobe beef.

(Cross-posted on Mom's Kitchen Weblog)

Wikipes

A Wiki for recipes.

Cheesecake for Conor

Today is Conor's 12th birthday and he asked for a cheesecake as his birthday cake.

Cheesecake

40 vanilla wafers
1/4 cup melted butter
1 T. sugar
3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 T. flour
1 t. vanilla
1/4 cup milk
3 eggs

Crust:
Crush the vanilla wafers into fine crumbs. I put them in a large zipper storage bag and had Emma them with a rolling pin but you can use a food processor instead. (I'd rather use the energy - especially if it's someone else's energy - to crush them with the rolling pin than to use my energy to wash the food processor.) Add the 1 T. sugar and the melted butter to the bag/processor and mix well. Press crumb mixture onto the bottom of a springform pan.

Cheesecake:
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour, and vanilla with a mixer. Beat in milk until smooth. Add eggs and stir just until mixed in. (Overbeating can cause cracks in cheesecakes.)

Pour filling into pan*. Place pan in a shallow baking pan and bake at 375 degrees until edges are puffy and done and center jiggles slightly:
8" pan - bake about 40 - 45 minutes
9" pan - bake about 35 minutes

Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cheesecake from the side, cool 30 minutes more. Remove the sides of the pan and cool cheesecake completely. Cover and refrigerate for 4+ hours.

*Conor wanted a raspberry swirl cheesecake. The recipes I found said to mix some seedless jam with a portion of the filling and swirl that in (similar to how chocolate marble cheesecakes are made). I had had a raspberry swirl cheesecake once at a restaurant that had more of a jam swirl and wanted to try to duplicate that so I melted 1/4 cup of seedless raspberry jam and swirled that in.

Happy Birthday, Emma!

Today is my daughter's 9th birthday. When she gets home this afternoon we're going to make a Fudge Pie. She asked for that instead of a birthday cake and she also asked to help make it. It's a good thing that the pie only takes about 40 minutes to bake, I think we'll have just enough time to make it between the end of her Brownie troop meeting and the time she needs to leave for her gymnastics class.

Fudge Pie

3 large eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. cocoa
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. pecans
1 unbaked 9" pie shell

Whisk ingredients together the first 6 ingredients. Stir in pecans. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until pie is set, shielding edges with strips of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning, if necessary.

This is good served with vanilla ice cream.

My oldest son, Trevor, had his 16th birthday. At Emma's suggestion we made him a cheese cake. No, not that kind of cheesecake...this was a block of cheese with some canned cheese spread on top. (If Trevor could create his own personal food pyramid it would look like a wedge of cheddar.)

Chess Bars

A sugar pie-like bar cookie. (Good thing.) And it's very easy. (Even better!)

Chess Bars

1 box plain yellow cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 egg
1 box confectioner's sugar
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix, butter and 1 egg; press into 9x13" baking pan. Combine sugar, cream cheese and 2 eggs. Pour over cake mix mixture. Bake 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into squares when cool. (Store in refrigerator.)

My Favorite Sandwich

One of my first jobs was as a waitress at a deli called The Nosh Box. This taught me two things. 1. I didn't like waiting tables (but I gained an appreciation for those who do it well). 2. I found what has become my favorite sandwich recipe.

Silver Morning Sandwich

For each one you need:

2 slices of bread (rye or whole wheat is good)
2 ounces of sliced turkey
2 ounces of sliced roast beef
Cole slaw
Russian dressing

Put the turkey and roast beef on one slice of bread. Top with cole slaw. Drizzle with Russian dressing. Top with the other slice of bread and cut in half. Wrap it in a paper towel and microwave for about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes until hot.

Butterfinger Cookies

When I first saw this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine I had some doubts. I mean, I like Butterfinger candy bars...but in cookies? I tried it anyway (because I really, really do like the candy). I'm glad I did, they turned out to be very good and this is now one of my family's favorite cookies.

Butterfinger Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
2 egg whites
1 1/4 c. chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
5 Butterfinger candy bars (2.1 ounces each), chopped

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg whites; beat well. Blend in peanut butter and vanilla. combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in candy bars.

Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on greased baking sheets. I use parchment paper instead and highly recommend it over greasing the pan. The cookies come off the paper without any problem and you don't have to wash crusted on cookie bits from the baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Green Food

In honor of St. Patrick's Day my Carnival of the Recipes submission this week is Benedictine. Okay, it's not Irish but it is green.

Benedictine is named after its creator, Jennie Benedict, a caterer and cookbook author from Louisville, KY. Over the past century it has become a local tradition that can be used as a sandwich spread (Benedictine and bacon sandwiches are very good) or a dip.

Benedictine

1 small cucumber, peeled and seeded
8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
2 Tbl. chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2-3 drops green food coloring

Put the cucumber and onion into a food processor and chop. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth.

Store in the refrigerator.

My Favorite Kind of Science

Science of Cooking has recipes, experiments, videos and more. It looks like a great site to share with my kids.

They almost lost my interest when I saw "Making a winter soup? Find out how to make a healthier creamy soup without the cream." Whadda ya mean "without the cream"? Isn't that part of the reason you eat a creamy soup?

Fortunately there were plenty of other sections on candy, bread, meat, and other goodies. The section on meat talks about fast-twitch muscle fibers/white meat and slow-twitch muscle fibers/dark meat. There's a comparison with a few different animals and will give you something to consider if you have an interest in cannibalism.

I'm sure the cannibalism part wasn't what they intended me to be thinking of. Not that I would do something like that. I'd have to make my own gravy instead of using the package kind.

Dutch Meatloaf

Meatloaf:
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 c. tomato sauce
Sauce:
2 Tbl. vinegar
2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 c. tomato sauce
2 Tbl. brown sugar
1/2 c. water

Combine meatloaf ingredients and mix lightly but thoroughly with a fork. Pack lightly in a loaf pan. Mix together sauce ingredients and pour over the meatloaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Slice and serve.

Serves 6.

Soft Pretzels for Lent

This is a recipe I got from a woman at my church when I volunteered to help make the dough for an after-service pretzel making activity. The recipe is fairly easy, it skips the step of boiling the pretzels in water before baking, and is a fun activity for kids/families with tasty results.

Until about one hundred years ago, pretzels were only baked during Lent. Originally, pretzels were made using only four, water, and salt. This made them an ideal substutute for other breads since they didn't contain butter/fat, milk, or eggs (foods banned during Lent). The traditional pretzel shape is supposed to represent arms crossed in prayer.

This recipe does use egg whites to help the salt stick to the pretzels and make them shiny. You may substitute water if you prefer.

Easy Pretzels

1 pkg. dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbl. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 - 5 cups flour
Coarse or Kosher salt
2 egg whites

Soak the yeast in the warm water. Add sugar and salt; gradually stir in flour until the dough is stiff. Knead dough until smooth.

Let dough rise until doubled or set in refrigerator to rise overnight.

Divide the dough into small pieces; roll into ropes and twist into pretzel shape. Brush with egg whites; sprinkle with salt.

Bake at 425 degrees until brown.

Improve Your Knife-Fu

Knife skills with illustrations for the left and right-handed.

Carnival of the Recipes #25

Carnival of the Recipes #25 is up at The Glittering Eye. I forgot to post a recipe for it this week. There's something about tending to children with a stomach virus that tends to keep me from even thinking about food.

Everyone here is better now so I can get back to cooking...and there are a lot of tasty sounding recipes from which to choose this week.

Recipe list:
Look, Ma, No Hands Meatloaf
Blanquinegro: A Mexican-Inspired Pork Stew
Sweet Onion Kielbasa
Lamb and Red Lentil Curry
Venison Steaks
Spiced Indian Kofta
Linda's One Pot Cube Steak Meal
Halmoni's Quick Kimchi, Bulgogi (Marinated Beef), Rice and Seaweed
Bacon-Wrapped Chicken
Chicken Lips
Dr Mom's Chicken Noodle Soup
Peanut Butter Chicken
Jambalaya
Garlictastic Roasted Vegetables
Tostones (Fried Plaintains)
The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Fondue
Lemon Cake
Glazed Lemon Cake
Scutterbotch Pralines
Irish Cream Chocolate Cheesecake
Peach Cobbler
Hawaiian Holiday Smoothie
Grown Up Milkshake
Jello Shots
Cinnamon Scones

Worth Waiting For

Carnival of the Recipe #24 is up at Kin's Kouch.

Categories are:

1. For me
2. For my mates
3. For that special person
4. For the kids when no one else will cook for them

Recipe list:
Shrimp Bisque
A few recipes from David of Third World County:
Quick Salsa
Basic Beans
My Fav Cornbread
Kickin' Tomato Soup
Kickin' Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Stir Fry Chicken
Cavity Pie
Biscuits
Spanish Style Garlic Shrimp
Tilapia and Crab Napoleons
Mulled Wine
Spicy Dip
Bacalhau
Pasta with Gorgonzola
All-American Crockpot Chili
Boiled Cookies
Earthquake Cake
Apricot Slice
Dragon Wings
Fettuccine Alfredo
Challah for bread machines
Salmon Chowder
Chicken and Veal Piccata
Chicken Fried Rice
Clay Pot Chicken
“You Won’t Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta”
Chicken Kiev
Eggplant-Wrapped Meat for two
Carrot Cake
Soft Gingerbread
Popcorn
Grandma's Chocolate Pie
Meat and Beans
Mom’s Enchiladas
Ranch Chicken Potato Salad
Stir Fried Shrimp and Veggies
Pork Roast Soup
Sticky Buns
Lemon Bars
Stuffed Tomatoes A La Kin

Fettuccine Alfredo

My oldest son, Trevor, can cook two things - grilled cheese sandwiches and Fettuccine Alfredo. About once a month he will fix the fettuccine for us for dinner. Considering how rich it is, if he starts making it more often I'm going to wonder if he's hoping for an early inheritance.

Seriously, you can feel your arteries clogging just from reading the recipe.

Fettuccine Alfredo
(The Kitchen-Aid Cookbook)

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup butter
1 1/3 cups Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 lb. fettuccine noodles, cooked and drained

Place 1 1/2 cups cream and butter in a saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat.

Add noodles to cream mixture and toss. Add remaining cream, Parmesan cheese, and salt, mix well. Return to heat and cook 1 minute. Toss gently to coat noodles thoroughly and serve immediately.

Fettuccine Alfredo

My oldest son, Trevor, can cook two things - grilled cheese sandwiches and Fettuccine Alfredo. About once a month he will fix the fettuccine for us for dinner. Considering how rich it is, if he starts making it more often I'm going to wonder if he's hoping for an early inheritance.

Seriously, you can feel your arteries clogging just from reading the recipe.

Fettuccine Alfredo
(The Kitchen-Aid Cookbook)

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup butter
1 1/3 cups Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 lb. fettuccine noodles, cooked and drained

Place 1 1/2 cups cream and butter in a saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat.

Add noodles to cream mixture and toss. Add remaining cream, Parmesan cheese, and salt, mix well. Return to heat and cook 1 minute. Toss gently to coat noodles thoroughly and serve immediately.

A Was Once an Apple Pie, Nice Pidy Widy Tidy Pidy Insidy Apple Pie

Not Exactly Rocket Science has an alphbetical celebration of the Carnival of the Recipes.

Recipe List:
Wake the Dead Applesauce
Baked Beans and Pot Roast
Brisket
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic
Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Shallots
Salad with Lemon-Butter Dressing
Banana Toffee Pie
Screaming Blue Death (drink)
Bacalao fritters with red pepper aioli
Easy Feta Chicken Bake
Down in the Dumps Pudding
Cioppino
Bolognaise sauc
Just Wonderful Lemon Garlic Pork Chops
Crab Cheesecake
Li'l Cheddar Meat Loaves
Scottish-Style Meatloaf
New Orleans Style Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce
Roasted Lemon Bay Scented Fish
Chicken Pot Pie
Pan-Fried Steak with Red Wine Reduction
What Will Your Kids Eat?
Starving Student Staples
Split Pea Soup
Shrimp and Corn Soup
Glazed Apple Tart
Hot Milk Spongecake
Chili
Snow Ice Cream
German Apple Cake
Apple Butter Muffins
Pepper Steak with Rice

Apple Butter Muffins

Apple Butter Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup apple butter
3/4 cup milk
3 Tbl. butter or margarine
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix apple butter, milk, butter, and egg until well blended. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.

Grease or line muffin pans. Fill pans 3/4 full with batter.

Streusel:
Mix together 1/8 t. cinnamon, 4 T. flour, 2 T. brown sugar, and 1 T. butter, melted. Sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes.

Apple Butter Muffins

Apple Butter Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup apple butter
3/4 cup milk
3 Tbl. butter or margarine
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix apple butter, milk, butter, and egg until well blended. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.

Grease or line muffin pans. Fill pans 3/4 full with batter.

Streusel:
Mix together 1/8 t. cinnamon, 4 T. flour, 2 T. brown sugar, and 1 T. butter, melted. Sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes.

Carnival of the Recipes #22

This week's Carnival of the Recipes can be found at One Happy Dog Speaks. There are a lot of recipes this week and they all sound good.

Recipe list:
Kuchen
Welsh Pancakes
Kedgeree
Scones
Corned Beef Spread
Haitian Citrus Soup
Vietnamese Fisherman's Soup
The Orangutan (drink)
Hot Toddy
Thyme Tea
Macho Dip
Deep Fried Dill Pickles
Garlic Skewered Shrimp
Asparagus Bites
Salmon Bites
Mini Pepper Bites
Kate's Garlicky Chicken with Spinach
Spaghetti With Quick, Almost Like Home-made, Meat Sauce
VELVEETA® Taco Mac & Cheese
Smoked Pork Pot Roast
Citrus Chicken
Yogurt-baked Chicken
Sweet Apple-Pork Casserole
Tempora Batter
Enchiladas Suisse
Classic Red Enchiladas
Baked Chicken 101
Fried Seafood Salad
Székely gulyás
Burning Ring O Fire or Championship Chili
Champagne Risotto
Copper Penny Salad
Curried Vegetable Couscous
Joe’s Chicken
Cream of Coconut Cake
Dump Cake
Laughing Wolf Oatmeal Cookies
My Husband’s Banana Bread
Apple Bars
Italian Creme Cake
Red Velvet Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting

Quest for Kuchen

When I was (much, much) younger, I worked for my father. Every Saturday he would stop by a local bakery and pick up a kuchen or two to bring in to the office. I loved that kuchen so I began searching for a recipe to make it at home.

This was pre-Internet so searching for a recipe meant looking through all my cookbooks. I already had a good start on my collection even then. It meant trips to the bookstore and libraries. All the recipes I could find were some variation on a quick bread sort of thing. These weren't the same in taste or in texture, I wanted a yeast dough kuchen.

Finally I found it. It was over 20 years ago so I don't remember the source of the recipe. The recipe is for butter or cheese kuchen. If you prefer fruit, then I guess the only change you would need to make would be to get a can of fruit pie filling and pour that over the dough before baking.

If you want to have it for breakfast you need to get up very, very early or make it the night before...it's going to take at least 3 hours.

Kuchen

Kuchen:
1/2 c. milk
4 Tbls. butter
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. yeast
1/4 c. warm water
2 eggs
3 1/2 c. flour

Butter Topping:
1 stick butter, (1/2 c.) softened
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Cheese Topping:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together milk, butter, sugar and salt. Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add yeast mixture to the milk mixture. Beat in eggs and then beat in flour.

Cover and put in a warm place for one to 1 1/2 hours. Turn out on a floured board and roll to fit a large greased cookie sheet or two greased 9" cake pans. Pinch the edges to form sides.

Put in a warm place again for 45 minutes to one hour. Meanwhile, choose either topping. Mix the topping ingredients well and pour on crust after the second rising. Bake at 350 degrees fro 25 to 30 minutes.

Quest for Kuchen

When I was (much, much) younger, I worked for my father. Every Saturday he would stop by a local bakery and pick up a kuchen or two to bring in to the office. I loved that kuchen so I began searching for a recipe to make it at home.

This was pre-Internet so searching for a recipe meant looking through all my cookbooks. I already had a good start on my collection even then. It meant trips to the bookstore and libraries. All the recipes I could find were some variation on a quick bread sort of thing. These weren't the same in taste or in texture, I wanted a yeast dough kuchen.

Finally I found it. It was over 20 years ago so I don't remember the source of the recipe. The recipe is for butter or cheese kuchen. If you prefer fruit, then I guess the only change you would need to make would be to get a can of fruit pie filling and pour that over the dough before baking.

If you want to have it for breakfast you need to get up very, very early or make it the night before...it's going to take at least 3 hours.

Kuchen

Kuchen:
1/2 c. milk
4 Tbls. butter
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. yeast
1/4 c. warm water
2 eggs
3 1/2 c. flour

Butter Topping:
1 stick butter, (1/2 c.) softened
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Cheese Topping:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together milk, butter, sugar and salt. Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add yeast mixture to the milk mixture. Beat in eggs and then beat in flour.

Cover and put in a warm place for one to 1 1/2 hours. Turn out on a floured board and roll to fit a large greased cookie sheet or two greased 9" cake pans. Pinch the edges to form sides.

Put in a warm place again for 45 minutes to one hour. Meanwhile, choose either topping. Mix the topping ingredients well and pour on crust after the second rising. Bake at 350 degrees fro 25 to 30 minutes.

Carnival of the Recipes #21

The first Carnival of the Recipes for 2005 is up at Physics Geek.

Recipe list:
Recipes for children - Candy Coins, Easy Pudding Cookies, Boogers on a Stick, Kool-Aid Play Clay
Chicken Spaghetti (2 recipes)
French Toast Casserole
Chocolate Mousse "Cheesecake"
Cowboy Chili
Pot Roast
Spicy Pot Roast
Crock Pot Enchilada Lasagna
Pork Roast
Champagne Punch
Wicked Mustard
Yakburgers
Irish Potato Stew (lamb)
Breakfast Cookies
Sand Tart Cookies
Sweet and Sour Pork
Irish Coffee
Molasses Pie
Fudge Truffle Cheesecake
Triple Chocolate Pudding Cake
Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole

Kids Cook

It's January 3 and my kids went back to school today. (Doing the happy-mommy-dance!) Still, I know that unless this is a very unusual winter, we will have at least one school day cancelled due to the weather.

Snow days are different from planned days off because in most cases the school closings aren't announced until early morning after everyone is already up and awake (or as awake as any of us are that early.) Around here this means that by late morning/early afternoon I get complaints of boredom. There's nothing to do. (We have the three most popular game consoles, handheld games, cable TV, videos, boardgames, and enough books to fill a library...but the kids want something new and different to do when it's the least convenient time.)

Sometimes I'll bake something and let them help. This is more fun for them than it is for me...too many arguments over who gets to add what ingredient and then they tend to drift off before our project is finished (especially clean up.) Here are a few recipes that kids can make that use ingredients you probably have on hand. The kids can do most of the work themselves with minimal help from mom or dad.

Candy Coins (I never said the recipes were nutritious!)

2 tablespoons margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon milk
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

Put the margarine in a bowl and melt it in the microwave. Add the cocoa to the melted margarine and stir. Add the confectioner's sugar and mix well. Stir in the milk and the peanut butter until it is all well blended.

Pinch off marble-sized pieces and roll into balls. Smoosh the balls between your hands to make little patties. Don't flatten them too much or they will be hard to pick up. Place them on waxed paper.

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen

Easy Pudding Cookies

1 package instant pudding mix
1 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg

Stir all ingredients together, mixing well. Form into small balls (1"). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, mash down with a fork.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes

Boogers on a Stick (I don't keep these ingredients on hand all the time, but I included it because I like the name.)

50 Pretzel sticks
1 jar of creamy American cheese (Cheese Whiz or similar)
Green food coloring

Blend cheese and green food coloring until it turns a light booger green. Dip pretzel sticks in the cheese blend.

The last recipe is one for adults to make but for kids to play with.

Kool Aid Play Clay

1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. salt
1/2 T. alum or cream of tarter
1 pkg. Unsweetened Kool Aid
1 1/2 T. oil
1 c. boiling water

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil (you can use vegetable or mineral oil) and water. Let cool.

When cool enough to handle, knead the clay. Store in plastic zipper bags or containers.

Carnival for Word Game Fans

The Carnival of the Recipes is up and this week's host, Amy of Prochein Amy, has added a little New Year's Eve fun by making it a puzzler. She's renamed the recipes and your task is to discover their true identities! For example, my recipe for White Bread is called "Achromatic Money".

It's just a guess, but I bet Amy is very good at figuring out crossword puzzle clues. As usual, I've put the list of recipes in my extended entry (I do this so I can do a search of my Carnival of the Recipes category...I can remember that I've seen a recipe I want to try, but I can't always remember when or where I saw it), but no peeking until you're gone and tried to guess all the recipe names.

Recipe list:
Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Goat Cheese Sauce
Crown Roast Of Pork With Apricot-Wheat Bread Stuffing
Best Banana Pudding
Hashbrown and Mushroom Goop Casserole
Stewed black-eyed peas
Sunny Garlic Chutney
Hot Buttered Rum
Chicken Pie
Puttanesca Sauce
White Bread
Shrimp Cocktail Dip
Lentil Soup
Lemon Coconut Cream Cake
Peppery Cheese Bread
Don's Ramos Fizzes
Bisquik's Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie
Pickled Beets and Eggs
Cornbread Casserole
Thai Banana Soup
Thai Chicken Pizza
Chicken Korma Pizza
Hoppin' John
Banann Peze
Goof Proof Ice Cream

White Bread

I went to Target yesterday. Near the front of the store they have a section that had different items for $1 (now 50% off!). The last time I was there (before the snow) they had several cookbooks, about half a dozen different ones. All that's left of those now are the ones with low carb recipes. I love cookbooks but even at 50 cents, I don't want them.

If I want a diet that restricts some type of food, I'll pick the no-tofu diet. Yes, I'm sure there are wonderful recipes out there that make tofu taste like "real food"...but I don't care. It's easy to give up stuff I wouldn't eat anyway. I'm not going to give up something like this:

White Bread

1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup shortening, melted
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp. salt
6 cups bread flour
2 Tbl. butter, melted

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the evaporated milk, 1/4 cup water, shortening, honey, salt and 2 cups flour. Stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide in half. Roll out each half and roll into loaf shapes, sealing seams by pinching. Place in greased 9x5 inch bread pans. Butter the tops of each loaf with melted butter; cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm area until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Place a small pan of hot water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Uncover loaves and bake until tops are golden brown, about 25 to 35 minutes. Brush butter onto crusts while warm.

Makes 2 loaves.

Crab Appetizer

I made this to take to a family party last Sunday. It's quick. It's easy. It's very, very good.

1 (8 oz.) tub of whipped cream cheese
1 bottle cocktail sauce
1 can crab meat

Spread the cream cheese evenly to within about one inch of the edge of a plate (8 - 10" diamter). Spoon the cocktail sauce over the cream cheese. (You probably won't need the whole bottle.)

Empty the crab meat into a strainer and rinse under cold water. Press out extra water. (I also like to add a squeeze of lemon juice here.) Sprinkle the crab meat on top of the cocktail sauce.

Serve with crackers or melba toast. (Don't forget to include a couple of knives.)

I Can't Believe I Forgot

Carnival of the Recipes #18 is up!

This week was so hectic that I forgot to post my recipes. I knew what ones I wanted to post, I just didn't remember it until about 12:30 last night. To late to make the Carnival so I decided I might as well wait until today to do it.

My family is still debating which of these chocolate cookie recipes we should make this year.

Fudge Ecstasies

1 (12-oz.) package semisweet chocolate chips
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 Tbls. butter
2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt together 1 cup chocolate chips, unsweetened chocolate squares, and butter.

In a mixing bowl, beat melted chocolate, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Beat until well blended.
Stir in remaining cup of chocolate chips.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (or cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Edges should be firm and surface dull. Do not overbake.

Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, remove to rack to continue cooling.

Makes 3 dozen

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. cooking oil
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. flour
sifted powdered sugar

Combine melted chocolate, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla, salt, flour and baking powder. Chill for at least two hours (or overnight.) Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Recipe List:
Mulled Apple Cider
Scorpion Bowls
Pot Stickers for Putzes
Chicken Quesadillas
Very Best Spinach and Salad Dressing
Taunton's Spiced Pecans
Easy Orange Roughy
Sicilian Meatloaf
Poor Man's BBQ
Blue Cheese Steak Wellington
Beef Burgundy
Heidi's White Hot Chicken Chili
John Boy's Chili
Chicken Enchilada Soup
Beer Beef Stew
Chili Verde
What's a Garbanzo Bean Soup
Shrimp Jambalya
Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
English Toffee
Beigli and Chrusciki
Cranberry Pie
Chocolate Covered Cranberries
Cookies - Ginger Cookies, Chocolate Chunk Macaroons
Black and White Chocolate Mousse Cake
Black Russian Chocolate Chip Kahlua Cake
Snickerdoodles
Infamous Pie Crust
Kentucky Cream Candy
Cookies - Fudge Ecstacies, Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Carnival of the Recipes #17

Thanks to everyone who shared a recipe this week...especially ones that involve chocolate! Thanks also to SarahK. She didn't have a recipe this week but did inspire some others to send in their first Carnival of the Recipes entries.

The Beginning:

El Capitan of Baboon Pirates has Key Lime Pie. (No, I didn't post this link under the wrong heading...it's a drink!)

Be of bebere.com shares her recipes for Tapenade and Black Bean Dip which she plans on serving at her upcoming open house.

I'm putting Amy's Blueberry Salad under the "Beginning" section because it's called a salad although she says that it's more like a dessert. My thinking is that calling it a salad will let me have two desserts in one meal.

The Middle:

The first entry I received this week was for Penne with Shrimp and Garlic from Allan of Inside Allan's Mind. Just so you know that it looks as good as it sounds, photos are included.

Songstress7 of News from the Great Beyond has a recipe for Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken. If you're looking for something good but easy, this could be it - only four ingredients.

From the appropriately titled blog Like News but Tasty comes a recipe for Chicken Marsala.

VW of One Happy Dog Speaks has a recipe for Zanzibar Chicken. With tasty recipes like this, it's no wonder she's happy.

From The Glittering Eye we have Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille. This recipe is proof that veggie dishes don't have to be dull.

We've had several days of cold rain so this recipe for Thick & Chunky Potato-Leek Soup from Booklore sounds especially appealing to me. A good soup really is one of the best ways to brighten a gray (almost) winter day. (Side note: If you're looking for a craft for making Christmas ornaments check out the post on Sequin Presents.)

A recipe for Beef Medallions in a Mustard-Cream Sauce (For Two) comes from Victor of Publius & Co. This is our only beef recipe this week and Victor's first Carnival of the Recipes entry. He also sent a recipe and information about Mincemeat Pies (find link under "The End").

The Wacky Hermit at Organic Baby Farm has a recipe for Organic Lamb
and Lentil Stew. (She includes a link to buy organic lamb.)

Dave in Texas sent his recipe for Fettucine Al-Dave-O.

Ok, Everyone loves pasta at Christmas.

Stop laughing. You know you do!

Fettucine Al-Dave-O

Needful things:

one box O fettucine noodles
one whole clumpy thing of garlic, whatever that's called that grows in one mass
5 oz. of Parmesan cheese
5 oz. of Romano cheese
4 oz. of butter (one stick)
3 oz olive oil
one pint Half and Half (or cream if your doctor told you within the last 2 months that your cholesterol was under 180)

1 bottle of your favorite merlot, or cabernet sauvignon if you are so inclined

2 Fosters, the big 55 gallon drum cans

Ok.. here we go!

Get the noodles underway in a big boiling pot of noodles

Start drinking the Fosters. This enhances the "Dave" effect, wonderfully.

Dice up that garlic, so finely your fingers will smell for a week at least. Put the butter and olive oil into a great big saucepan, warm it up to kinda hot, and add the garlic. Roast the garlic for a couple of minutes until everyone in the house comes in saying "mmmmmm".

Turn it down and add the half and half.

Grate the cheeses, pleases.

Check your pasta....when it's within 5 minutes of al dente:

Down that second Fosters. You are Emeril now! Emeril!! Say "BAM"!

Turn the mixture up to hot, add the cheese slowly while stirring. Don't let it burn on the bottom, keep stirring man!

The oil, butter, garlic and cheeses will blend to a sublime, heart stopping perfection.

Fight off people bringing garlic bread to dip. Fight them! "Avast ye"!

Drain the pasta when ready, drop it into a big ol bowl (as we say in Texas),. Mix in the cheesey sauce.

Serve. Eat. Drink the wine. Be sated.

God bless us, every one!

The End:

Tammi of Road Warrior Survival shares her recipe for Liquid Midol. It's a drink made with a couple of chocolate liqueurs and vanilla vodka. She says, "...it's perfect to help relieve some of the stress of the season." The word "chocolate" is enough to get me to try it, stress relief is just an added bonus.

I talked my husband into joining the Carnival of the Recipes this week. Jeff's cooking task each Christmas is to make his Pumpkin Pie. The first time he made it he accidentally used sweetened condensed milk instead of the evaporated milk the recipe called for. It turned out so well (there's enough cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg to keep it from being too sweet) that I told him he had to make it the "wrong" way from now on.

Triticale has a recipe for Kentucky Butter Cake TNT. Any recipe that has a title with the words "Kentucky", "butter", and "cake" has to be good. I'm not sure about the TNT but it isn't listed in the ingredients so I think we're okay there.

Unbelievable Chocolate Cake from Kris of Anywhere but Here. She says that it's "super-easy and super-good".

Cindy of Notes in the Key of Life has a recipe for Weight Watchers Graham Cracker Dessert.

My recipe this week is for Ribbon Cookies, another in my series of Christmas cookie posts.

Find out about Mincemeat Pies at Publius & Co.

Monica shares her recipe for Hot Fudge Sauce.

3 T butter
3/4 cups chocolate chips (I use semisweet, but milk works as well)
3/4 cups sugar
1 can evaporated milk
vanilla (optional)

1. Melt butter, chocolate chips, and sugar in medium pan, stirring frequently
2. Add evaporated milk and vanilla
3. Boil, stirring frequently, until thick

Prep time: usually about 10-15 minutes...i've never timed it

Christmas Cookies: Christmas Ribbons

These are rectangular cookies with stripes of green, brown, and pink.

Ribbon Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup finely chopped maraschino cherries, well drained
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 square (1 oz.) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
6 drops green food coloring

Line a 9"x5" or 8"x4" loaf pan with foil.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, vanilla, and egg; blend until a stiff dough forms.

Divide the dough into three parts. Stir the cherries and almond extract into one part, the chocolate into the second, and the nuts and green food coloring into the third.

Spoon and evenly press (in any order) the chocolate, green/nut, and cherry doughs into the lined pan. Cover; chill several hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough from the pan. Cut in half lengthwise. Cut each half into 1/4" slices. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 7 to 9 minutes until edges are slightly brown.

Cool on wire racks.

What's Cookin'

Carnival of the Recipes #16 is up at Fresh as a Daisy.

This is the second time Angela has hosted the Carnival of the Recipes and not only has she done an excellent job, she also managed to spell Gullyberg Gollyborg Gullyborg correctly (unlike some of us.)

List of recipes (see the Carnival post for links):
Pilgrim on the Beach
Fried Banana and Peanut Butter Sandwich
Chicken Nachos
Stuffed Mushrooms
Artichoke Dip
Caesar Salad
Moroccan Pumpkin Soup
Holtz's Chili
Slow Cook Pasta Fagioli Soup
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Coriander and Cumin
Elvie's Shrimp Gumbo
Cronbread Chicken Pot Pie
Buttermilk Brined Pork Chops
Classic Beef Tenderloin
King Ranch Chicken
Turkey Chilaquiles Salsa Verde
Vegetarian Enchiladas
Modified Wilson's Cornbread Stuffing
Hot Rolls
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
New England Christmas Cookies
Holiday Sugar Cookies
Gingersnaps
Gingerbread Cookies

Holiday Sugar Cookies

You can decorate these cookies with colored sugar or other decorations before baking or decorate the cooled cookies with icing or frosting. If you're going to be doing a lot of baking, make the dough the day before and cut and bake these cookies the next day before the kitchen gets too warm. The cooler the room is, the easier the dough will be to handle and the less flour you will need when rolling it out. These cookies are soft and puffy but too much flour can make them tough.

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

3 1/4 c. cake flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream

Combine dry ingredients; set aside. Cream butter. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in sour cream. Gradually add dry ingredients. Chill dough for at least an hour.

Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness onto a lightly floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake on lightly greased or parchment paper covered cookie sheets at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes (adjust time for size of cookies).

Either the icing or the frosting may be tinted with food coloring. You can use liquid coloring for pale colors but need paste coloring for darker colors. Once the icing/frosting is made, divide it into separate bowls to add the coloring.

Royal Icing - makes a hard, shiny glaze.

3 egg whites (1/4 cup pasteurized egg whites)
4 cups sifted powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract, optional

Beat egg whites, sugar and cream of tarter with mixer at medium speed for about 5 to 7 minutes. Use immediately or store in covered containers.

Put the rack of cookies on top of wax paper to catch the drips then you can dip the cookies in the icing or spread it on with a table knife. (If your icing begins to harden while you're using it, stir in a drop or two of warm water.)

Vanilla Frosting

1/3 c. shortening
1 T. margarine
3 c. sifted powdered sugar
3 T. milk
1 1/2 t. vanilla

Beat all ingredients together until well mixed. Spread or pipe onto cookies.

Carnival of the Recipes #15

Thanks to everyone who sent in entries for this week's Carnival of the Recipes!

Main Dishes:

Marinated Pork Tenderloin from Christina of Feisty Repartee. The pork is marinated in a soy/bourbon/sugar mixture and served with a creamy mustard sauce.

Slow-cooked Pork Roast from Anywhere But Here.

Fried Chicken Strips coated in a spiced flour and oatmeal mixture from Jay of Accidental Verbosity. (Includes photos.)

Jeff from Trub. The sediment of life. has a recipe for Augiesala. This is a spicy dish of chicken and peppers served with angel hair pasta.

A Thai recipe for Sweet Chicken in Green Curry Paste comes from Amanda of Aussie Wife.

VW of One Happy Dog Speaks shares a recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini, a dish of chicken and mushrooms in a cream sauce served over pasta. It sounds like an Italian dish but it's really American, created for the opera star Louisa Tetrazzini.

I had never heard of talapia until this week when I received two recipes using this type of fish.

Allan of Inside Allan's Mind gives us his recipe for Citrus-Jerk Talapia. (Includes photos.)

Pan Seared Tilapia from The Laughing Wolf. The pan-fried fillets are served with a Cream Sauce.

Homemade Pizza from the Organic Baby Farm. The recipe makes enough for two to three pizzas which makes it easier for those of us who have to cater to kids' finicky appetites.

Sides:

One of the best recipes for Mashed Potatoes that I've ever read comes from The Flying Space Monkey Chronicles. This is his first Carnival of the Recipes entry and the post ends with the comment, "Update: This is not a recipe blog." Deny it all you want, just keep posting your recipes!

Amy of Prochien Amy offers a recipe for Granny's Noodles, a perfect comfort food for winter.

The Laughing Wolf has two recipes for side dishes to go with the Tilapia I mentioned in the Main Dish section - Roast Garlic and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and Peas.

Triticale has a recipe for Spaceman's Legs Pasta Salad. He also has recipes for two pies but you'll have to wait until we get to the dessert section of today's menu for more information about those.

Soups:

Marvie from Marvie's Crochet Corner has a recipe for Potato-Cauliflower Soup.

Songstress7 of News from the Great Beyond has a recipe for Pumpkin Soup. You can make this soup using fresh or canned pumpkin.

Sweets:

Cinnamon Pie from CalTech Girl of Not Exactly Rocket Science. A slice of this pie served with a cup of hot tea or coffee would revive even the most fatigued holiday shopper.

As promised above, 6.283185307178 - two pi(e)s from Triticale - Peanut Butter Oatmeal Pie and French Silk Chocolate Pie.

A different kind of Pumpkin Pie from Anywhere But Here. It's a crustless pie baked in a 13"x9" pan with a crumb topping made of cake mix and chopped nuts.

Chris’s Pumpkin Cheesecake finishes up the meal at The Laughing Wolf (see entries for Tilapia and the side dishes above.)

Churros by Bothenook of A Geezer's Corner. These are Spanish doughnuts rolled in cinnamon or powdered sugar and they go great with hot chocolate.

Alert the media, The Glittering Eye has a recipe for Fruitcake that is not just edible but actually good!

Denise from Grandma's House has a recipe for Potato Candy rolled up jellyroll-style with a peanut butter filling.

Punctilious of Like News but Tasty has a recipe for Raspberry Walnut Chocolate Chip Brownies. The recipe was a last minute inspiration (aka what's available in the pantry) birthday cake.

My recipe this week, part of my series of Christmas Cookie recipes, is for Tiny Holiday Tarts. These are raspberry and almond flavored tarts cooked in mini muffin tins.

Leftovers:

Faced with leftovers from your Thanksgiving feast?

Thanksgiving Pizza from Gullyborg of Resistance is Futile.

Find a variety of ideas for Thanksgiving Leftovers at BookLore.

Carnival of the Recipes: Tiny Holiday Tarts

I made these last Christmas for the first time and will probably make them again this year.

Tiny Holiday Tarts

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 pound butter, softened
1 cup flour
1/3 cup raspberry preserves
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup almond paste, crumbled
In an electric mixer, cream cheese and butter until fluffy, add flour. Mix just until blended. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Press ball into a greased mini muffin pan or you can also use the mini muffin paper cups in the muffin pans instead. Divide the preserves among the pastries (about 1/2 tsp. in each.)

Beat together the egg, sugar, and almond paste. Spoon 1 level teaspoon of the almond mixture over the preserves in each pastry.

Bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Remove pan from the oven. Cool in slightly pan on a wire rack, then remove from pan to continue cooling. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 2 dozen

Another Carnival and Still No Cotton Candy

Carnival of the Recipes 14 is up at Boudicca's Voice. There haven't been any recipes for cotton candy, caramel apples, pop corn, or any of the other foods you would expect to find at a carnival. The wide variety of tasty-sounding dishes more than makes up for that. Along with the fact that there are no clowns. That's good too.

What? Oh, it's Carnival of the Recipes, not recipes of the carnival.

Nevermind.

Cheesy Beer Dip
Appetizer recipes (veggie platter, Olive Cream Cheese Balls, Celery Sticks, and Heart Attack Salami and Cream Cheese Treats)
Spinach Dip
Goat's Cheese and Red Onion Tart
Mike's Kahlua Coffee Liquor
Drunk On Thanksgiving
Fiesta Chowder
Ambrosia Salad
Perfect Cranberry Sauce For Those Who Think They Hate It...
Cranberry Applesauce
The Filthy Imperialist's Carrot Soup
Easy Cranberry Sauce
Sausage, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffing
Slow-Cooker Vegetable Soup
Memphis Style Coleslaw
Jim's Death Chili (aka, Jim's Chili of Anal Destruction)
Holtz Spaghetti
Linda's Cube Steak
Chili con Buckethead
Chili Dog Casserole
Drunken Crawfish Pie
Margarita Salmon
Salmon Croquettes
St. Peter's Italian Cod
'The Fish'
Chicken Fried Rice
Smoked Turkey and Dressing
Smoking a Turkey
Spicy Grilled Turkey
Shoe-Peg Corn Casserole
Mashed Potatoes (Parve)
Stuffed Grape Leaves
Tarte Cote D'Azur (An Italian Pie)
Herby Twice Baked Potatoes
Mrs. Morse's Asparagus Casserole
Banana Bread
Coveted Pumpkin Bread
Custardy Popovers
Barton Oyster Dressing and Granny's Dressing
Crescent Orange Rolls
Baked Pears in Gorgonzola
Childhood Thumbprint Cookies
Forgotten Cookies
Great Great Great Grandmother's Cookie recipe
Anzac Biscuits

Pumpkin Pie

From my collection of Holiday Recipes:

Pumpkin Pie

3 eggs
1 can pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 can evaporated milk
Pie Shell

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Lightly beat eggs. Add pumpkin, sugar, salt, and spices. Blend well. Add evaporated milk. Pour mixture into pie shell.

Bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes or until almost set. Turn oven off. Do not open door. Leave pie in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes. It should be set when removed. Cool pie on rack.

Carnival of the Recipes: Christmas Cookies

As I promised last week, I'm going to be sharing my Christmas cookie recipes for my Carnival of the Recipes posts. Every year I try one or two new recipes. There are also some recipes that I will make once every few years. They're all good recipes but I can't make them all every year so I select the ones that will balance out the rest of my choices. (I try to get an assortment of types - bar, shaped, drop, rolled - and flavors.)

There are also some recipes that I make every year. The first two of these are Childhood Thumbprint Cookies and Forgotten Cookies. Not only are these two of my family's favorites, they also work well together because one recipe uses two egg yolks and the other recipe uses two egg whites. The thumbprint cookies are a shortbread-like cookie filled with fudge. The forgotten cookies are chocolate chip filled meringue cookies that I make at the end of the day since they need to sit in a warm oven overnight.

Childhood Thumbprint Cookies

This recipe came from Southern Living magazine, December 1985.

1 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt

Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour and salt; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Chill.

Roll dough into 1" balls; place balls about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Press thumb in each ball of dough, leaving an indentation. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes; do not brown. Allow to cool on wire racks. Place about 1/2 t. chocolate frosting in each cookie indentation.

Chocolate Frosting:
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. butter
1/2 t. vanilla extract

Combine sugar, cocoa, and milk in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, and boil 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Beat until mixture is of spreading consistency.

Forgotten Cookies

I won a ribbon at the Kentucky State Fair one year with this recipe.

2 egg whites
pinch of salt
2/3 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 c. mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat egg whites until foamy. Add salt and continue beating until they stand in soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating thoroughly until mixture form stiff peaks.

Sprinkle vanilla and chocolate chips over the top; fold in.

Drop by small teaspoons onto lightly buttered cookie sheet (or cover cookie sheet with parchment). The cookies may be close together since they will not spread.

Place in hot oven and turn the oven off immediately. Let the cookies dry overnight in the oven.

Recipes ('resu`peez) - [n] Directions for Making Something

Carnival of the Recipes #13 is up! Go visit Michael at The Common Virtue to find the links to this week's collection.

Hungarian Goulash
Chopped Liver
Hash Brown Casserole
Chicken Tetrazzini
Wonton Stars
Jalapeno Dip
Sausage and Zucchini Saute
Adaptation of recipes from Campbell's Collection 3 Cookbooks in 1
Cajun Chicken Drumsticks
Indian Cashew Chicken
Marbled Cheesecake Bars
Beef and Mozzarella Bake
Bacon-Wrap Feta Chicken
Cranberry Sauce with Zing
Marilyn's Easy Mexican Beef
Tuscan Bean Dip
Bran Muffins
Potatoes and Point
Oatmeal Cookies
Savory Chicken
Papa's Cranberry Relish
Tuna Glop

Marbled Cheesecake Bars

This is the time of year when I usually begin thinking about cookies. Every year for...well, it's none of your business how many years, I have made Christmas cookies. Not just a batch or two but lots and lots of cookies.

When we bought our house the thing that sold me was the size of the kitchen. I thought, I'll have room for a half dozen or more cooling racks and still have space to spare!

I have scaled back my cookie making from when I was younger. It's not age slowing me down, it's the increase in "helpers". The more children I have helping, the longer it all seems to take. I still make at least ten or more different types of cookies (about half of what I used to make.)

I'll share a recipe or two each week for my Carnival of the Recipes posts. This week's recipe is for Marbled Cheesecake Bars. I'm making these today for my sons' Tae Kwon Do bake sale.

Marbled Cheesecake Bars

2 cups finely crushed creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs (about 24)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 13x9" baking pan with heavy foil; set aside. In medium bowl, combine crumbs and butter; press firmly on bottom of prepared pan.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Pour half the batter evenly over prepared crust.

Stir melted chocolate into remaining batter; spoon over vanilla batter. With table knife or metal spatula, gently swirl through batter to marble.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill. Cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen bars.

Favorite Recipes From Bloggers

Carnival of the Recipes #12 is up at The Glittering Eye.

This week's list of recipes.

Swanky Fajitas
Sweet Quickies
Chocolate Icing
Snow Pea Salad with Hot Chilli Dressing
Lemon Broccoli Chicken
Herb Poached Cod
Herb Poached Salmon
Real & Easy Pot Pie
Cranberry Apple Pancakes
Herbed White/Wheat Bread
Amish Friendship Bread
Potato Cheese Soup
Sweet Kraut aka Amish Sauerkraut Salad
Guacamole
Brown Steak and Gravy
Oven-Barbecued Chicken and Bean Casserole
Chestnut tips
Blasphemous NC barbecue (a.k.a. Crock-Pot Piggy)

Amish Friendship Bread

This is a tasty, sweet bread recipe that makes a great gift. Include a zipper bag of starter and the instructions with a baked loaf.

You need to begin about a month before you plan on giving it. The recipe will make 2 loaves with 2 extra cups of starter.

Amish Friendship Bread

Starter:
1 cup sugar
1 cup Milk
1 cup flour
Place sugar, milk and flour in a gallon-sized Zip-Loc-type plastic bag. Knead bag to mix.

Days 1 - 17 - Knead bag.
Day 18 - Do nothing.
Days 19 - 21 - Knead bag.
Day 22 - Add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, and1 cup flour. Knead bag.
Days 23 - 25 - Knead bag.
Day 26 - Do nothing.
Day 27 - Add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup flour. Knead bag. It is now ready for making bread.

Each time you make the bread, reserve 1 cup starter for yourself to keep it going, 1 cup for the bread, and give remaining 1 cup amounts to your friends.

To Keep the Starter Going:

Include these instructions with the 1 cup of starter you give to your friends.

Day 1 - this is the day you receive the bread, do nothing.
Day 2 - 5 - Knead bag.
Day 6 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar. Knead bag.
Day 7 - 9 - Knead bag.
Day 10 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar. Knead bag. Use 1 cup for bread, save 1 cup for starter, and give the other two cups away with these instructions and the following recipe.

Making the Bread:

1 cup starter
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 (5.1 oz.) box instant vanilla pudding mix (may use other flavor if desired)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Topping:
1 Tbl. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

In a large mixing bowl, mix oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla with the starter, mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, vanilla pudding mix and nuts. Add to liquid mixture and stir throroughly. Grease two 9" x 5" loaf pans or one Bundt pan and sprinkle them with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Pour batter into pans. Sprinkle more cinnamon sugar onto the top.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour or until the loaves test done.

Note:
The original recipe calls for the starter to remain at room temperature, but health agencies recommend refrigerating it. I have tried it both ways and refrigeration does not seem to alter the final bread, so since it is safer to keep it refrigerated I would recommend it to avoid growing any unwanted nasties along with your starter.

What Would Asako Kishi Say?

Carnival of the Recipes is up at Mountaineer Musings.

Pumpkin Apple Muffins
Kathy's Biscuits
Onion Focaccia with Carmelized Onions
Easy Batter Loaf
"Ham It Up" Crescent Snacks
Dried Beef Dip Stuff
Dan's Ultra-famous Apple Martini Recipe
Pomegranates
Okra Pickles
Papa's Dates
Beer Cheese Dip
Tomato Soup
Cheese Overload Sandwiches
Afterburner Chili
Original Dante's Southern Chili
Taco Soup
Laurie's Red-Hot & Sweet Chicken
BS's Famous Hamburger Casserole
Babette's Carnitas
Make Ahead Turkey for the Holidays
Emeril's Leftover Turkey Dinner Pot Pie
Chicken Divan
Southwestern Truffled Chicken
Mom's Potato Chip Chicken
Aunty's Grilled Vegetables
Spicy Southwestern-Style Mashed Potatoes
Quasi-Southern Green Beans
Twice Baked Potatoes
Throwdown Crawfish Etouffee
Shrimp Curry
Afghan Curry
Snickers Brownies
Mississippi Mud Cake
Bittersweet Chocolate Tart
Chocolate Cups with Whipped Cream
Tuiles D'Amandes (Almond Bricks)

Easy Batter Loaf

An easy bread recipe with no kneading.

Easy Batter Bread
1 c. milk
3 T. sugar
1 T. salt
1 c. warm water
2 pkgs. dry yeast
4 1/4 c. flour

Mix together milk, sugar, salt and butter. Pour warm water into large bowl. Stir in yeast, add milk mixture. Stir in flour, beat until well blended, about 2 minutes.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until more than doubled in bulk. This will take 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Stir batter down, continue to beat for about 1/2 minute. Spoon into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes.

Turn out on wire rack to cool.

Makes one loaf.

Pumpkin Bars

Emma and I made these for dessert. I mixed and baked, she frosted.

Pumpkin Bars

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can (16-oz.) pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups baking mix (Bisquick)
2 tsps. ground cinnamon*
1 can cream cheese frosting

In an electric mixer, beat together sugar, oil, pumpkin, and eggs. Stir in baking mix and cinnamon. Pour into a greased 15" x 10 1/2" x 1" jelly roll pan (you can also line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting and cut into bars.

* You could substitute 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp. ginger if you prefer.

Recipes From Bloggers

The Carnival of the Recipes is up at Inside Allan's Mind. As usual, there is a good selection of tempting recipes. One thing I really like about the Carnival of the Recipes is the diversity. Whatever your culinary taste, you'll probably find something that you want to try.

Note to all pumpkin carvers - you can save yourself a search for roasted pumpkin seeds next week. This week's Carnival includes a pumpkin seed recipe that is different from any of the others I've seen before. Assuming our cats don't come and walk across the pumpkin guts as we're carving, it's the recipe I plan on trying. (Seeds and cat hair is not a good mix.)

Acorn Squash Pie
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Frozen Waldorf Salad
Banana Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes
Celery and Stilton Soup
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Bachelor's Chili
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Easy Risi e Bisi (Peas and Rice)
Asian Style Chicken
Scotch Eggs
Rice Pilaf
Spinach Campagnola
Grilled Tandoori Chicken
Canadian Sugar Pie
Almond Pound Cake

Canadian Sugar Pie

The kids are on a week-long break from school so it's no surprise that by this time I'm thinking that what I really need is more energy. It's too late to get it through exercise and good nutrition so the next best thing (maybe even the first best thing) is having a slice of Canadian Sugar Pie.

Do not eat at bedtime unless your plans involve something other than sleep. "Sugar rush" would be an understatement for the pie's after effects.

Canadian Sugar Pie
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 Tbl. flour
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

In bowl, blend sugar, flour and salt. In separate bowl using electric mixer, beat eggs and yolk until frothy; beat in milk and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into sugar mixture until smooth.

Pour filling into pie shell. Bake on middle oven rack at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake about 35 minutes longer, or until crust is golden brown and filling is set. Cool on wire rack before cutting.

Here We Are in the Kitchen...

Carnival of the Recipes #9 is up, hosted by Beth of She Who Will Be Obeyed. She's got the order of importance right too...first drinks, then desserts, and then everything else.

Cheatham Artillery Punch
XXX Eldreth Death Rum XXX
Mexican Martini
Easy Cheesecake
Pumpkin Bread
Hot Chocolate Soufflé
Insanely Easy Chocolate Cherry Cake
$25 Brownies
Chocolate Cheddar Cheese Cake
Syrian Nutmeg Cake
Whip Sandwiches
Sour Cream and Dill Chicken
Sunday Chicken and Dumplings Soup
Lemon Garlic Chicken
Alternate Ultimate (chicken, Bloody Mary, and salsa recipes)
Grilled Quail in Port Marinade
Italian Beef and Tomatoes
Pork Chops
Stuffed Peppers
Killer Kale Soup
Asparagus and Fried Eggs
Fast Football Stromboli
Chuck Bars
Shrimp with Lobster Sauce
Geek Dinner - An Open Source Recipe
Creamed Sweet Potatoes
French Toast Casserole
Pumpkin Pancakes
Super Easy Beer Bread

Carnival Reminder

Friday's Carnival of the Recipes will be hosted by Beth of She Who Will Be Obeyed. Even if you don't have a blog you can still submit a recipe. Just send it in an email to recipe.carnival(at)gmail(dot)com. (Substitute @ for (at) and . for (dot)). She will post the recipe for you and give you credit.

Hot Chocolate Soufflé

My last post gave a link to find healthful food. If you think chocolate and tofu is a good combination, go visit the site. I prefer something more like this recipe for hot chocolate soufflé.

The recipe is from the July 1986 issue of Chocolatier. If you haven't made a soufflé before, don't let the idea that they can be difficult keep you from trying it. It's not something I make all the time because of the amount of time it requires but it really isn't that hard to make as long as you have a mixer or beater that will make the meringue.

I've never had it fail...and if it did, what would be the worst thing? I couldn't serve it to guests and would have to eat it all myself? I should be so unlucky.

Hot Chocolate Soufflé

Soufflé:

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 c. whipping cream
6 Tbls. sugar, divided
6 large egg whites, plus 4 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Chocolate sauce:

1/2 c. whipping cream
1 Tbl. sugar
2 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tsp. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Separate eggs. Allow the yolks to come to room temperature.
Position rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a soufflé dish. Dust with flour and shake out the excess.

In the top of a double boiler over hot, not simmering water, combine the chocolate and cream. Stir to melt and scrape the mixture into a large bowl. Stir in 2 Tbls. of the sugar. Whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, combine the egg whites and salt. Beat until soft peaks start to form. Gradually add the remaining 4 Tbls. sugar and continue beating just until stiff, shiny peaks form. Fold 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten. Working quickly but carefully, fold in 1/2 of the remaining egg white mixture. Fold in the second half. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish. Using a knife, cut a circle halfway down into the soufflé about 1 1/2 inches from the edge of the dish. this will help the center to rise. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the soufflé is puffed and lightly browned. Make the chocolate sauce while the soufflé is baking.

To make the sauce:

In a small heavy saucepan, over moderate heat, combine the cream and sugar. Bring the mixture to a simmer, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted. Stir in the butter and vanilla until smooth.

Serve the soufflé with the sauce as soon as the soufflé comes out of the oven.

Healthful Foods

The World's Healthiest Foods has articles and recipes for preparing nutritious foods. Recipes are sorted by course or you can search for recipes by selecting foods to include, foods to exclude, and nutrients to require.

I doubt any of my favorite recipes will ever be listed on this site. They only have a couple of ones that use chocolate; a chocolate mousse made with tofu and strawberries in vanilla yogurt drizzled with chocolate. Their recipe for perfect oatmeal sounds like a runny granola bar.

I'm sure it's very tasty.

Consider this my PSA for those of you who put nutrition first when making food choices.

Calling All Cooks

Carnival of the Recipes is up at Fresh as a Daisy.

Applesauce
Barbecued Beef Cups
Brie Pastry
Bloody Mary Recipe
Sweet Potato Casserole
Cheese Stuffing
Chili Soup
Vegetarian Chili
Popcorn Snack
Octopus Risotto
Chicken and Dumplings
Fajitas
Polenta with Shrimp and Tomato Sauce
Porcupine Meatballs
Pork and Apple Supper
Pork Loin Dinner (with 5 types of mushrooms)
Marinated Chicken with Mushrooms
Ultimate Pie Crust
Almond Cookies
Sour Cream Dried Cherry Pie
Cake Mix Cookies
Blue Ribbon White Cake
Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Creme Cookies

Carnival of the Recipes: Pork and Apple Supper

The host for this week's Carnival of the Recipes will be Angela at Fresh as a Daisy. If you plan on submitting a recipe email recipe.carnival(at)gmail(dot)com by midnight tonight (Thursday).

Pork and Apple Supper

1 1/2 pounds boneless pork, cubed
1 Tbl. vegetable oil
4 cups water
1 Tbl. chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 Tbl. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
1 dozen small red potatoes, quartered
4 medium tart apples, peeled and cut into quarters
2 Tbl. cold water

In a Dutch oven, brown pork in oil. Add water, bouillon, thyme, pepper and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until pork is almost tender.

Add potatoes; cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Add apples; cover and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; stir into pork mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

6 - 8 servings

Pumpkin Carving

I posted links for sites with templates for Jack-o-lanterns on my cooking blog.

I try to keep my comments on topic there (food, crafts, family stuff) and so I'll ask this question here. If I do this design, will people confuse it with this one?

Carnival a la Carte

Carnival of the Recipes is up at Food Basics.

Update: Barbeque Beef Cups was omitted from the original Carnival post so I'm including a link to it here also. It's similar to a recipe I have here, only easier...and you have to like that!

The recipe for good basic fudge is very similar to a fudge recipe I got from my home ec. teacher in high school. (Do they still have home ec. now?) It's my favorite fudge recipe...I'm going to take this as a sign that I need to make fudge this weekend.

(I'm willing accept that almost anything can be a sign that I need to make a recipe using chocolate or eat chocolate.)

There's also a recipe for Chocolate Ecstacy Cake. Chocolate. Ecstacy. Isn't that redundant?

The extended entry has a list of all the Carnival recipes from this week but you'll need to visit Trudy for the rest of the links.

Another Update: Cheese Stuffing and Vegetarian Chili were also left off the original list.

Fabulous Fruit Salad
Marshmallows
Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple
Bruschetta and stuffed mushrooms
Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips
Pumpkin Muffins
Bacon and Egg Casserole
Pre-Debate Frozen Peach Daiquiri
Mexican Layer Dip
good basic fudge
Mom's Barbeque Sauce
roasted pumpkin soup
Yummy Shrimp Linguine
vinaigrette with a Salad
Scrambled Eggs With Stuff In
quick foil baked fish
Philly Cheese Roast
Shrimp Creole and Red Beans and Rice
refreshing fruit salsa
Beef Noodle Bake
Chocolate Ecstasy Cake
Cooking tips
Barbeque Beef Cups
Cheese Stuffing
Vegetarian Chili

Have a Cookie

Today is Homemade Cookie Day.

I don't need a special day as an excuse to make cookie...all I need is someone else to volunteer to clean up afterwards.

I posted four cookie recipes on my Mom's Kitchen blog: Triple Layer Chocolate Bars, Butterfinger Cookies, Molasses Sugar Cookies, and Lemon Bars.

Pumpkin Muffins

The weather's been a bit cooler lately, especially at night. The leaves are starting to yellow. My two younger children have already gotten their Halloween costumes.

In other words, fall's coming and that makes me think about pumpkins. Lately John Kerry has made me think of pumpkins too...but I'm trying very hard to block that thought. I don't want it to taint the yummy goodness of the muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins
You can also make these in mini muffin pans for a great snack size muffin. (Great for sending to school for snack time.)

1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. shortening
1 large egg
2 T. milk
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. cinnamon
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. canned pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream together shortening and sugar in mixing bowl. Beat in egg. Add pumpkin and milk. Add dry ingredients. Spoon into greased or paper lined muffin pans, filling 2/3 full.

Mix together: 1 T. flour, 2 T. sugar, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and 2 t. butter to make streusel topping. Sprinkle on muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Carnival of the Recipes

Carnival of the Recipes #6 is up! There are appetizers, sauces, casseroles, desserts and more. Two recipes even promise to help clean out your refrigerator: Clean Out the Fridge Stir Fry and Everything in the Fridge Couscous.

Finnish Pancakes
Easy Chili Relleno Casserole
Hot Baked Chicken Salad
Secret Spaghetti Sauce
Fresh Salsa
Clean out the Fridge Stir-Fry
Crab and Tomato Pasta
Meatloaf
Tomato and Onion Pie
Tater Tot Casserole
How to Poach a Chicken Breast
Mulligatawny Stew
Huli Huli Chicken
Mini Chicken Turnovers
Wurst Delight
Rotini-Kielbasa Skillet
Veggies on the Side
Simple Peach Cobbler
Blackberry & Apple Pie
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Cherry Crap
Baklava
Kentucky Oaks Pie
Chocolate Pie
Zucchini Bread

Kentucky Oaks Pie

Last week I posted the recipe for one Louisville tradition, the Hot Brown. Another recipe special to Louisville is the Derby Pie.

The real Derby Pie is produced by Kern's Kitchen. The name is trademarked and the recipe a secret. (That hasn't stopped cooks from trying to recreate it in their own kitchens.)

You can order the pie online or try this recipe for chocolate nut pie.

Oaks Pie

This recipe comes close to the original so I call it "Oaks Pie". The Kentucky Oaks is for 3-year-old fillies and is run the day before the Kentucky Derby.

4 whole eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick margarine
1 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup walnuts (may sustitute pecans)
1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup chocolate chips
9 inch unbaked pie shell

Melt butter. Beat eggs and add the butter and eggs to other ingredients. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This week's Carnival of the Recipes will be hosted by Jennifer at Mellow-Drama. If you want to submit a recipe post it today and send an email to recipe.carnival (at) gmail.com.

Carnival of the Recipes

I mentioned it here but forgot to mention it here too.

This week's Carnival of the Recipes is up! It is being hosted by Amy at Prochein Amy.

If you would like to submit recipes for next week's Carnival of the Recipes, send them to carnival.recipe(at)gmail.com by midnight Thursday, September 23.

Carnival of Recipes 5
Index of recipes:
Cinnamon French Toast Casserole
Mama Vi's Pea Salad
Couscous Paella with Shrimp
Meat in a Loaf
Straight White Chicken Parmesan
Marinaded Beef
Hawaiian Spam Roast
Toasted Bagelwiches
Louisville Hot Brown
Parmesan Buttermilk Chicken Breasts
Blue Owl White Chili
Dragon's Bowl
Quick Fish Dish
Mellow-Drama Pizza
Candy Bar Cheesecake
Jam Creamettes
Kahlua Cake
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Chocolate-Chocolate Cake

Louisville Hot Brown

This is an open faced sandwich which was created at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky in 1923. It has since become a local tradition.

This is my favorite version of the recipe. The official version can be found on the Brown Hotel's Web site.

Louisville Hot Brown

2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 package (1 cup) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 lb. sliced turkey
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 slices tomato
8 slices toast
4 oz. Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in saucepan add flour, stir well. Add milk, Cheddar, and seasonings. Cook stirring constantly, until thick. 

Arrange turkey on toast and cover with cheese sauce. Place sandwiches under broiler until sauce begins to bubble. Garnish with crumbled bacon and tomato slices. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

There are probably almost as many variations on this recipe as there are cooks who prepare it. Some include sautéing a small onion (chopped) with the butter, using 1/4 cup Parmesan in the sauce in place of the Cheddar, adding sliced mushrooms to the sauce, and including a layer of country or regular ham on top of the turkey.

Carnival of the Recipes: Week Four

This week's Carnival of the Recipes is being hosted by Dave of The Glittering Eye.

Go for the recipes but take some time to read some of his other posts, there's some good stuff there.

Recipe List:
How to make some real chili
Mikes Vert Mont Banana Bread
Don Papa's Sweet Chipotle Chili and Tequila Sauce
Spicy Beef in Lettuce Wraps
The Yarnot Family Sloppy Joes
Tasty Gila River Fry Bread
Grilled Eggplant
Grilled Portabello Mushrooms
Gingerbread Pancakes
Chicken Saltimbocca
Finally the Beef Stroganoff Recipe
Eggrolls
Quick Pork Tenderloin Roast
Buttermilk Chicken
Chicken Saltimbocca
Stuffed 'Shrooms
Dropped Chocolate Pie
End-of-the-Paycheck Pasta Salad
Bleu Cheese Dressing
Baked Spaghetti
Cherry and Pineapple Dessert
Low Fat Baja Turkey Burgers
Neiman Marcus Cake

Egg Rolls

When I'm making these for party appetizers, I will substitute won ton wrappers for egg roll wrappers. They freeze well and can be reheated on a cookie sheet in the oven. I don't recommend reheating in the microwave, it makes the wrappers chewy instead of crispy.

This recipe is good enough that it's worth spending the time to cook the meat for the filling but it's also a great way to use up leftovers (Thanksgiving turkey, for example).

Egg Rolls

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups shredded raw cabbage (I will occasionally substitute a bag of Dole cole slaw.)
1 large stalk celery, minced
1 cup shredded, cooked pork (Poultry or shrimp works well too.)
2 scallions, minced or 1 tablespoon minced onion
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
package egg roll wrappers
1 egg, slightly beaten
cooking oil

In a wok, heat the 2 tablespoons of oil, add cabbage and celery and stir-fry together for 2 minutes. Add pork, scallions, salt, pepper, and sugar. Toss well and remove from heat.

Fill wrappers, roll and seal with egg. (Place wrapper in front of you so that one corner points toward you. Put the stuffing across it, about 2/3s of the way down. Fold up the bottom corner so that the point of it touches the middle of the wrapper. Fold in the two side corners. Roll it up towards the top. Use a pastry brush to paint the top corner with beaten egg before you finish rolling it to seal the egg roll.) Place rolls on waxed paper.

Heat cooking oil in cleaned to 375 degrees. Place a few egg rolls at a time in the hot oil and cook until golden brown (4 to 5 minutes), turning often. Drain on paper towels. Serve with Mustard sauce and Sweet-and-sour sauce.

Makes 8 to 10.

Allez Cuisine!

The Carnival of the Recipes is up at She Who Will Be Obeyed!

Recipe List:
Sausage Cheese Cups
Cherry Crunch
Fruit Cobbler
Coca-Cola Brisket
Oreo White Chocolate Mousse "Cheesecake"
Sour Creme Poundcake
Kate’s Chocolate Cake
Gingerbread Pancakes
Frittata
Sausage Gravy and Biscuits
Rules for making great biscuits
Sauteed Mushrooms
Mushroom Ragu
Stuffed Mushrooms
Tropical Chicken Teriyaki
Roast Turkey
Mexican Chicken Chowder
Garlic Chicken in a Bag
Honey Hot Wings
Tater Tot Casserole
Hotter than Hell Barbeque Sauce
Hot Dogs and Sauce
Boiled Peanuts
Cajun Gumbo
Manhattan Clam Chowder
Dad's Salad
Toad in a Hole
Moussaka
Tripe
Salmon Fantasia
Tortellini
Black Bean Chili

Honey Hot Wings

I've posted this recipe before but I'm putting it on my blog again for the Carnival of the Recipes. This is one of the most requested recipes on my recipe site.

Click the recipe title for a printable version.

Honey Hot Wings

12 chicken wings*
2/3 c. flour
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 c. oil
1/2 c. hot sauce (I use Texas Pete)
1/2 c. honey

Cut each chicken wing in half. Place the chicken wings in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and let simmer 15 minutes. Drain the chicken and set aside.

While chicken is cooking, whisk together the honey and the hot sauce to make a dipping sauce. Adjust the sauce to taste by adding more honey or hot sauce. Set aside.

(If you're making this for a party, you may want to start a day before. Prepare the recipe up to this point, then refrigerate the chicken and sauce over night. Complete just before serving.)

Mix flour and garlic salt in a plastic bag. Dip the chicken into the beaten egg and then shake them, a few at a time in the bag to coat.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Brown the coated chicken wings. Serve warm with dipping sauce.

Makes 2 dozen.

*Many groceries carry drumettes (the half of the wing that looks like a mini drumstick) in the freezer section. 24 drumettes may be substituted for the 12 wings.

Mmmmmm Chocolate

The Godiva store was having a sale on truffles today. Some flavors are going away and some are being redesigned. My favorite, milk chocolate truffles, are staying but were on sale anyway.

Instead of our usual purchase of a dozen or so, we got enough to fill a shopping bag. It was a very good day.

Waffles

For those of us without staff to cater to our wants and needs, a quick and easy recipe for waffles.

2 cups biscuit mix
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
1 cup club soda

In a large bowl, stir together biscuit mix, oil, and eggs. Add club soda, stirring until batter is blended.

Cook in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.

Why does the link for "waffles" go to John Kerry's site? See this post for more information.

Kentucky Derby Recipes

I posted and linked to some recipes for foods that are traditional for Derby Day on my other blog.

Iron Chef America

The winner of Battle 1 is....Bobby Flay.

A Stack of Waffles

In honor of Senator Kerry's ever changing views, today's selection is Nut Waffles:

3 tbsp. brown sugar, packed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
3 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted and cooled (2/3 stick)
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

Preheat waffle iron. In large bowl, combine sugar, flour and baking powder; set aside. In medium bowl, combine egg yolks, milk and butter; stir into sugar mixture. Add pecans and blend well. In medium bowl, beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form; fold into flour mixture. Bake in waffle iron following manufacturer’s directions.

Makes about 6 waffles.

Waffles

USA Today reports on a recent Google bombing.

Esoteric Diatribe began an attempt to make johnkerry.com the first listing for "waffles".

They've nearly succeeded on the No. 2 search engine, Yahoo. By Sunday, eight days after the prank began, johnkerry.com was listed second among 703,000 results of a Yahoo search of the word "waffles."

At the No. 3 search engine, MSN Search, johnkerry.com was also the second Web page result of a search Sunday for "waffles."

The senator's site isn't showing up at the top of the list in Google (yet). The only front page result that I saw that mentioned John Kerry and waffles was a Slate article, John Kerry's Waffles.

Reading about waffles is making me hungry. Usually Kerry has the opposite effect.

2 large eggs
2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter/margarine
1 tablespoon brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat waffle iron.

Beat eggs in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, oil, sugar, baking powder, and salt until smooth.

Pour 2/3 cup batter onto the center of the hot waffle iron. Close the lid.

Let cook for about five minutes or until steaming stops. Carefully remove waffle. Repeat with remaining batter.

Serve hot.

Makes six 7" waffles.

Extra Ketchup for My (Freedom) Fries, Please

"In light of some misleading speculation,'' the company said in a news release, "The H.J. Heinz Co. would like to make it clear that neither Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry, Sen. John Kerry, nor any member of their family is involved in the management or the board of the H.J. Heinz Co.

Emphasizing that the firm is nonpartisan, the release goes on to point out that the company also has no connection to the Heinz family philanthropies, which some conservative groups have criticized for giving money to liberal causes.

I'm glad they've cleared this up. I really like their ketchup.

Food Holidays

Today is Black Forest Cake Day.

For those who don't bake:

Black Forest Cake Cocktail from Cocktail.com

1/3 ounce cherry whiskey
2/3 ounce Swiss chocolate almond liqueur
6 ounces hot chocolate

Mix in Poca Grande glass, top with whipped cream. Garnish with a cherry and chocolate sprinkles.

Tomorrow is Lemon Chiffon Cake Day. Why two cake days in a row? And why lemon chiffon?

Mmmmmmmm, Chocolate

Make Chocolate Indulgence Cake to share with your Valentine.

1 cup bittersweet chocolate (you may also use 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips) 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 flour chocolate sauce (Hershey's syrup) fresh raspberries

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Put the chocolate, butter, and sugar in the top of a double boiler and heat just until melted. (I do this in the microwave and it's worked fine. Heat it for about half a minute in a microwave safe bowl, stir. Heat a bit more, chocolate should still look lumpy. Stir until it's all melted.) Add eggs and whisk until blended. Mix in flour.

Lightly grease small molds, ramikins or muffin cups. I've used the disposable aluminum muffin cups and they've worked well. I didn't need to grease them either. (Luckily for me, since I forgot to do it the first time I tried the recipe.) Pour batter into the molds. You will need four 4-ounce molds. Because the dessert is very rich, you can use smaller molds and make more of them and still have a nice dessert.

Place the molds on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Do not over bake.

Invert molds on individual serving plates. Drizzle with chocolate sauce and top with fresh raspberries. Serve immediately.

This is a very easy recipe even for someone with minimal cooking skills. It doesn't require much time to prepare, especially if you melt the chocolate in the microwave and the results are...well, try it and see for yourself.

Strawberry Jam

In a few short hours my Brownie co-leader and I will be helping our troop make strawberry jam.

The recipe looks easy enough. Then again, I always think that the activity I have planned seems easy enough for them while being challenging enough to keep them interested. I have been surprised before at the amount of chaos they can create out of something I thought was fairly simple.

My co-leader usually doesn't know ahead of time what activity I have planned. One day she's either going to throttle me or have me committed.

[Update: Overall out jam project went well. We finished within the hour we have for our meeting and all the girls seemed pleased with what they had made. The biggest problem was that they didn't want to wait the 24 hours called for in the recipe before they tried their jam.

I left the potato mashers we needed to crush the berries at home by mistake...I always seem to leave something behind. Since it's not the season for fresh strawberries I had gotten a large bag of frozen ones. I premeasured about 2 cups worth into each of two separate gallon zippered plastic bags (we were making two batches) and set the bags in the refrigerator to thaw yesterday. We just had the girls knead the bags for a bit to mash up the berries. This worked really well with the thawed berries (probably less messy than using the mashers) but would have been much more difficult with fresh berries.]

See continue reading for the recipe.

No-Cook Strawberry Jam
Use fully ripe strawberries at room temperature to help the sugar dissolve. Do not reduce the sugar or use sugar substitute in this recipe. This recipe yields 4 cups of jam.
1 quart fresh fully ripe strawberries (which will yield 1 3/4 cups crushed strawberries)
4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 pouch Certo liquid pectin
1. Rinse strawberries in cold water and hull. Crush berries, one cup at a time using a flat casserole-type dish and a potato masher or use a food processor. If using a food processor, pulse to chop, do not puree or liquefy. Jam has bits of fruit.
2. Measure 1 3/4 cups crushed fruit and place in a large bowl.
3. Measure sugar into a separate bowl. Use a one-cup dry measuring cup and scrape extra sugar off the top of each cup to level exact measure. Stir sugar into crushed strawberries.
4. Set strawberry and sugar mixture aside for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar.
5. Next empty contents of one pouch of liquid pectin into a small bowl. Using a fork, stir in lemon juice. Mix well.
6. Add pectin mixture to strawberry mixture. Stir constantly for 3 minutes. A few sugar crystals may remain.
7. Fill one to two cup freezer containers with strawberry mixture to within 1/2 inch of the top. Wipe off top edges of containers and cover with lids. Let containers stand at room temperature for 24 hours. The next day your jam is ready to eat. Label and date containers. Place in the freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. After opening, store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Fudge Soda

The Turkey and Gravy soda that was made by Jones Soda Company last Thanksgiving didn't sound very appealing to me. The Chocolate Fudge Soda they are selling for Valentine's Day sounds much more promising.

Honey Hot Wings

Goes great with televised football, basketball, (insert your favorite sport here), and beer. (If you've been to Louisville and are familiar with Mark's Feed Store, these are similar to their Honeywings.) I consider this recipe enough for one person or at least a good start on enough for one. If you are serving other foods or you aren't as piggy addicted to them as I am, this may be enough for three or four people. Warning: Honey hot wings are not for dainty eaters.

12 chicken wings
2/3 c. flour
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 c. oil
1/2 c. hot sauce
1/2 c. honey

Cut each chicken wing in half. Place the chicken wings in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and let simmer 15 minutes. Drain the chicken and set aside.

While chicken is cooking, whisk together the honey and the hot sauce to make a dipping sauce. Adjust the sauce to taste by adding more honey or hot sauce. Set aside.

Mix flour and garlic salt in a plastic bag. Dip the chicken into the beaten egg and then shake them, a few at a time in the bag to coat.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Brown the coated chicken wings. Serve warm with dipping sauce.

Today's Beef

Report: Atkins advises cutback on meat (Link via Broken Masterpieces)

Good, there are too many people buying too much meat. I blame them for driving the price of beef up. I'm a "Beef, it's what's for dinner" kind of person* and had been hoping that the media's ranting about mad cow would lower the prices. Instead beef prices have just gotten weird...$6.99 for flank steak (!) but strip steak was on sale for $5.99 and tenderloin for $9.99. But my grocery always has a sale on one cut or another, if beef prices are falling overall, it's not being reflected in the regular prices at the store level.

*I pay as much attention to food and diet trends as I do to fashion trends. My opinion of fashion is similar to the Monks of Cool.

Vermont Country Baked Ham

"Specialty recipe" from "The Honorable Howard Dean, M.D.Governor of Vermont" on 1st Traveler's Choice:
Ingredients:
One 8-pound ham
3 quarts sweet cider
2 cups raisins
2 cups Vermont maple sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon powdered cloves
1/2 cup water
Simmer ham in cider for 2 hours. Drain, skin ham, and cover it with paste made from maple sugar, mustard, cloves, and water. Place in baking pan, pour cider over it, add raisins to pan, and bake 2-1/2 hours at 325 degrees. Baste frequently. Make thickened gravy of cider raisin drippings.

Serves: 16.

Somebody's specialty recipe anyway. At least he didn't submit his apple pie recipe.

They don't cook much, either -- at least they haven't since the early 1980s, when Dean decided to bake apple pies for the neighbors, which took all day, "and the apple pie was not that good," Steinberg said.

"I cook chicken if I have to," she added. "I cook hamburgers. He cooks pasta. He barbecues."

Cookies

I spent yesterday baking cookies and will do the same for most of today along with fixing a side dish to take to the Christmas festivies with my husband's side of the family so it will be a light blogging day.

See "Continue reading..." for the list of cookies I've made. I'll add to it as I make more.

Cookies I've made so far include:
M&M Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Pumpkin Bars
Tiny Holiday Tarts
Fudge Ecstacies
Cookies 'n' Cream Brownies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pecan Tassies
Molasses Sugar Cookies

Soup Time

Whenever we get the season's first snow, I get the urge to make soup. We've had a few tiny flakes occasionally over the last few days but today we had some nice big flakes and enough of them so that it has covered the grass in our yard.

I like snow even though I really don't like cold weather. Let me rephrase that, I like snow as long as it doesn't mean school will be cancelled.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, soup...

Vegetable Soup

1 large can vegetable juice (Spicy V-8 would have been good but I didn't have any on hand so I added a few shakes of hot sauce.)
sliced carrots
a few potatoes, peeled and cubed
sliced celery
sausage, cooked
water

I just put everything into the saucepan and cooked it until the vegetables were tender.

Now it's just sitting on the stove, keeping warm until my husband gets home from work.