2010.52.3

The New Blog!

2011-01-17T18:54:00.002-06:00

Wondering where we've all gone to? We've started a new blog with even more cooks! Visit us at Reviving Cookery.

New Website Coming Soon!

2011-01-16T13:58:00.002-06:00

2010.52.3 is moving to a new website that should be going live sometime this week. So don't despair, loyal readers! We will be back soon with a modified format!

Jennifer's Week Fifty-Two Recipe: Make Ahead Minestrone

2011-01-10T21:36:00.002-06:00

So, I ended the year on a good note in my drive to serve more meatless dishes to my carnivores. Chad and Erik approved of this soup! Chad declared that it be added to the rotation. Great Success!

Make-Ahead Minestrone

You can serve this meatless soup immediately, but chilling the soup allows the flavors to blend... which I did not do.

3-14 1/2 ounce cans beef broth
1-15 1/2 ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1-15 ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1-14 1/2 ounce can low-sodium stewed tomatoes
1-11 1/2 ounce can vegetable juice (V8)
1-6 ounce can low-sodium tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed
1 1/2 cups loose-pack frozen mixed vegetables (such as an Italian blend)
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, cut into strips
2 cups cooked pasta (1 cup uncooked), such as small shells or mostaccioli
Finely shredded Parmesan cheese

1. In a large kettle, combine beef broth, beans, stewed tomatoes, vegetable juice tomato paste, sugar, and Italian seasoning. Bring to boiling. Stir in the mixed vegetables. Reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat; cool. Cover and refrigerate for 6 to 24 hours. (Or, to serve immediately, stir in the spinach and cooked pasta. Heat through.)

2. To serve, reheat the soup over medium heat. Stir in the spinach and cooked pasta. Heat through. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. If desired, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Makes 8 servings.

Success! ... if a bit late with the postings. I'm looking forward to 2011!

Jennifer's Week Fifty-One Recipe: Polenta with Tomato Mushroom Sauce

2011-01-10T20:47:00.002-06:00

I did not forget! Ack! Really! Here I am! Traveling and sickness and forgetting to post the recipes (not forgetting to make them!) caused the delay. But here I am posting the recipes and ready for 2011. Those who follow this blog, keep posted for our new blog coming by the end of the month if all goes to plan.

My last two recipes (technically, there are 3!) come from Better Homes and Gardens Big Book of Healthy Family Dinners, a $10 bargain book I purchased years ago and it was well worth the $10 investment!

Polenta with Tomato Mushroom Sauce

2 cups water
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated Asaigo or Parmesan cheese (2 oz)
1 recipe Tomato-Mushroom Sauce (below!)

1. For polenta, in a medium saucepan bring the 2 cups water to boiling. Combine the cornmeal, the 3/4 cup cold water and salt in a bowl. Slowly add cornmeal mixture to boiling water, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until mixture returns to boiling. (And for the love of all things holy, watch for splattering polenta! Ouch!) Reduce heat to low. Cook, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Stir in the 1/4 cup grated cheese.

2. Spread in an ungreased 2-quart square baking dish. Cool slightly. Cover and chill about 30 minutes or until firm. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven about 20 minutes or until heated through. Cut into 6 rectangles; cut each rectangle in half diagonally to form 12 triangles. Serve immediately with Tomato-Mushroom Sauce.

Tomato-Mushroom Sauce
In a medium saucepan cook 2 cups sliced mushrooms; 1 small onion, chopped; and 1 clove garlic, minced, in 1 teaspoon hot cooking oil until tender. Cook and stir over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place one 16-ounce can whole Italian-style tomatoes in a blender container or food processor. Cover and blend until smooth. Stir blended tomatoes and 1 teaspoon sugar into mushroom mixture. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes or until desired consistency. Stir in 1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed; 1/8 teaspoon salt and dash of pepper.

This recipe was really underwhelming, both the polenta and the sauce. That's the problem with this cookbook: some recipes are awesome and others seemed to sacrifice flavor for fewer calories. Wasn't awful, but I doubt I'll make it again.

Tricia's Week 52 Recipe: Soda Bread

2011-01-02T22:05:00.000-06:00

Wow. A New Years Resolution I didn't break! (To qualify, I made a second resolution in 2010 to make and eat more ice cream and failed miserably.) I have made it, 52 recipes of things I have not made before. Very proud of myself. I realize, looking back, that there are things I lean on as my stand-bys, but some of these new recipes will start to fill in as standbys, I think. It is fitting that my final recipe for this blog is something Irish, soda bread. It is also fitting it is posted after the first of the year. However, it is Still week 52... :P Click here for source.

Sage and Pepper Soda Bread Total time: 45 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients

2cups all-purpose flour
2teaspoons baking powder
2teaspoons baking soda
1/2teaspoon salt
2tablespoons unsalted butter, in small bits
1teaspoon dried sage
1/2teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1cup buttermilk.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl or processor. Blend in butter by machine or with fingertips for a mealy texture. Mix in the sage and pepper, then lightly stir in the buttermilk until the mixture forms a soft dough, which can be gathered together. Knead it briefly, then shape it into a round about two inches high. Put loaf on a baking sheet. Using a sharp knife dipped in flour, cut a deep cross on top of the loaf, making the cuts nearly all the way across. Put it in the oven and bake until nicely browned, about 35 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting.
Yield: 1 loaf.

I will make it again, but it suprised me. It's moister than I imagined for soda bread, but the flavor is a bit weird. I don't know what I did. I guess I'll just have to keep experimenting. It's not so weird that I won't share it w/ people, though, and I'm bringing it to share to work tomorrow. I guess I've always made 'soda' bread w/ beer or soda rather than baking soda and buttermilk :P

Tricia's Week 51 Recipe: Fudge

2011-01-02T21:59:00.000-06:00

I have never made a 'candy'. Well, I guess if you count the sugar 'crystals' we grew in science, or the lollipops we made in chemistry class, I've made a few. But never any in MY kitchen. So, i decided to make fudge. I picked up a 7 oz container of marshmallow fluff, some evaporated milk, and away I went.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 5 oz. can evaporated milk (2/3 c.)
1 Jar (7 1/2oz) Marshmallow Fluff
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1 12-oz. package semi-sweet chocolate pieces (I shaved 12 oz of Bakers chocolate instead of using morsels)

Directions:
Line a 9X9 baking pan with foil. (I didn't have one, so I used 8X8 which makes VERY thick fudge...) Combine first four ingredients in a sauce pan and heat til boiling and about 230 degrees. If, like me, you don't own a candy thermometer, this took about 5 minutes once a slight boil started. Stir constantly. Remove from heat, add fluff, vanilla and chocolate. Stir til smooth, pour into foil lined pan and chill til set.

I have never made fudge before, and am not an expert on fudge, but everyone I talk to says this is very good fudge, so I must have done something right. Now, to do something about the VERY large quantity it makes...I'll have to bring some to work.

Karin's Week Fifty-Two Recipe: Gratin de Pommes de Terre Crecy

2010-12-31T20:40:00.000-06:00

Wow, I can't believe that I made it through the entire year with a new recipe a week! I've definitely broadened my cooking abilities and use more of my cookbooks more often. I've found that I am actually making more than one new recipe a week in some weeks, and even those weeks I only got in my required one, I was still looking for others to try. Thanks to Tricia, Chris and Jenni for letting me be the "foreign" correspondent - it was alot of fun to see what everyone else was cooking up, and how it turned out.

For my last weekly recipe for 2010, I ended up making a recipe out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I was asked to bring a potato/starch dish to a holiday dinner at the in-laws house. In looking at what I had on hand, I knew I could definitely do potatoes (we have a 10 lb bag as a result of lefse baking), and thought it would be nice to also put a veg in. As always, Julia to the rescue with Gratin de Pommes de Terre Crecy, or Scalloped Potatoes and Carrots with Cream.

Gratin de Pommes de Terre Crecy

2 c carrots, sliced 1/8" thick
1/2 T butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 T finely minced shallots or green onions (I used Penzey's Freeze-Dried Shallots, and put them straight into the pot)
3/4 C water

Boil the carrots slowly with the butter, salt, shallots or onions, and water in the covered saucepan for 20-30 min or until liquid has evaporated and the carrots are tender.

4 T butter
2 lb potatoes, sliced 1/8" thick (6-7 cups)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 c grated Swiss cheese
1 1/4c whipping cream.

Preheat oven to 300deg. Smear 1T of the butter in a 10" fireproof baking dish, 2" deep. Arrange layers of potatoes in it, seasoning each layer with salt, pepper, cheese, and dots of butter. Alternate potato layer with a layer of carrots. End with a sprinkling of cheese and butter dots. Pour on the cream and bring slowly almost to the simmer on top of the stove. Then place in middle level of preheated oven and bake for 1-1 1/4 hours, regulating oven heat throughout baking so that cream never quite bubbles. The gratin is done when the potatoes are tender and have absorbed the cream, and the top is lightly browned.

This was very tasty, and an easy dish to make ahead. I was a bit worried that the carrots would be overdone, but they were still slightly crunchy even at the end of the entire cooking time. It also reheated well for leftovers. Having the carrots in made me feel a bit better about all of the butter and cream in the recipe. It was a big hit at the family dinner, and I think I would make it again.

Happy New Year, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we cook up in 2011!!

Karin's Week Fifty-One Recipe: Mom's Carmel Corn

2010-12-31T20:23:00.000-06:00

For this week's recipe, I decided to attempt making my mother's carmel corn recipe. It is the week of Christmas, and she always makes carmel corn for our Christmas gatherings. I will confess, I have participated in making this recipe before, but never have I done it completely on my own. Both Nate and I love carmel corn, so we decided to see if we could manage to make it taste just like mom's.

Mom's Carmel Corn

20 cups (5qt) popped corn, put in roaster pan*

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white syrup (Karo)
1 cup butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda

*I did have to consult on the amount of unpopped corn to equal popped, and was told that this is how much fits in her roaster, about 2-3 poppers full. Also, an air popper for the corn is essential, as the microwave variety just doesn't turn out right.

Combine sugar, butter, syrup, salt in a large saucepan. Bring to boil and boil for 5 minutes. Stir in soda. (This will foam up and is very hot.)
Pour over popped corn.
Bake in 250deg oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Spread on foil to cool. Store in airtight container.

It worked! My carmel corn tasted just like Mom's! Even without supervision, I managed to make this recipe. It was much easier than I had thought. And it was rather like high school science class with the baking soda foaming up. An additional tip is to use a heat resistant silicone spatula for stirring, as the carmel doesn't stick to the blade.

Karin's Week Fifty Recipe: Orecchiette al Pomodoro Fresco e Carne Magro

2010-12-31T20:11:00.000-06:00

I needed something hot, filling, and relatively fast. I also had a 1lb hunk of ground beef that had been defrosted with the intent of making stroganoff. However, I did not have all of the ingredients, and thus needed something else to do with this defrosted meat. After looking through a variety of cookbooks, I settled on this recipe from Cucina Italia:

Little Ears with Fresh Tomato and Lean Beef Sauce

6 T EVOO
3/4 lb ground beef
salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2.5 lb ripe Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped*
1 lb orecchiette pasta (little shells)
handful fresh basil leaves, chopped**
Grated Romano cheese

*I used home canned tomatoes in juice
**I used Penzey's dried basil as I didn't have fresh on hand

Place 2T of the EVOO in a large saute pan. Add the ground beef and cook over low heat until the meat loses its raw color. Drain off excess fat and season with salt to taste. Put the remaining 4T of EVOO in the saute pan. Ad the garlic and cook over low heat for a few minutes until garlic turns opaque. Add the tomatoes, season with salt to taste, raise heat to medium high, and cook until the tomatoes lose their excess juice and break down into a sauce, about 15min. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente and drain well. Place the pasta in a serving bowl, toss with the sauce, chopped basils, and about 1/4 cup of cheese. Serve immediately.

I really liked this sauce. It was very simple and tasty and went together very quickly. Nate also agreed that this can go into the quick meal list. Even with the modifications, it had a lot of flavor, and I'm sure it would be even better with fresh ingredients.

Chris's Week Fifty-Two Recipe: Amish Breakfast Casserole

2010-12-30T15:24:00.004-06:00

Can you believe it's been a whole year since we started this blog? Thanks to Tricia for coming up with the idea; to Jenni for convincing me to play along; to Karin, our foreign blog correspondent; and to Linda, Judy, and all our other guest contributors!

I hosted the annual Jacobs/Brown and now Sala holiday gathering this year and decided to serve something new for brunch. I found this recipe and decided to use Italian sausage instead of bacon.

Amish Breakfast Casserole

Brown together

1 to 1-1/2 lb Italian sausage

1 onion, chopped

In a large bowl, mix together the sausage and onion with

6 eggs, slightly beaten

4 c frozen hash brown potatoes

2 c shredded Cheddar

1-1/2 c small curd cottage cheese

1-1/4 c shredded Swiss

Pour ingredients into a greased 9x13" pan and cook for 50-60 min at 350F or until set and bubbly. (Note, if you actually thaw the hash browns, which the original recipes calls for you to do, it should take 35-40 minutes. But I forgot to thaw the hash browns!) Let stand about 10 min to 'set' properly.

Would I make this recipe again? An emphatic yes! It got the thumbs up from all the assembled diners. Linda said it could be a little more moist, but honestly I thought it was good because it was not runny. I served this with sauteed mushrooms on the side and I have never seen a dish of mushrooms vanish so fast in my life!

Jennifer's Week Fifty Recipe - Cranberry Macadamia Bark

2010-12-30T13:48:00.002-06:00

So, it's the holidays. Well, at least, it was. I had been hoping to use up my last recipes of the year making new and (maybe) exciting things for holiday gatherings. Due to a blizzard, one of my four Christmases was pushed back to January, so those new and exciting recipes have to wait. However, one I happened across could not wait. It sounded just too delicious and was incredibly easy to put together.

Cranberry Macadamia Bark

1 pound white confectioner's candy coating (or white "chocolate")
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries, divided (one whole package of Craisins)
1 cup macadamia nuts

Melt the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 70% power in 30 second increments, stirring after each time, until smooth. Mix in one cup of the Craisins and the nuts. Spread the mixture evenly on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the remaining Craisins on top. Cool in the fridge until set. Break into bite-sized pieces.

I brought this to MHS Press shortly before the holidays to rave reviews. I brought in a batch on a Monday and they were gone by Wednesday morning. Comments along the lines of "I forgot to eat breakfast yesterday, so I had that! It has fruit in it, so it's healthy, right?"

Jennifer's Week Forty-Nine Recipe - Zucchini Bread with Pineapple

2010-12-29T09:28:00.002-06:00

When I was little, we had a babysitter who used to make the most fabulous zucchini bread. I happened to have some zucchini leftover from a recipe and decided that zucchini bread was the answer. I do have the recipe for my babysitter's zucchini bread... somewhere. I remembered that it had raisins and pineapple in it and I found the following recipe.

Zucchini Bread with Pineapple

3 eggs
1 cup olive oil
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini
1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a mixer, beat eggs. Add oil, sugar, and vanilla; continue beating mixture until thick and foamy. With a spoon, stir in the zucchini and pineapple.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A third at a time, add dry ingredients into wet and gently stir (by hand) after each addition. Add the walnuts and raisins, blend gently.

3. Divide the batter equally between 2 greased and flour-dusted 5 by 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.

While this recipe was pretty good, it was not the same. Next time I may skip the nuts and add more raisins. This was also another battle in the War Against the Oven. I took the bread out 10 minutes early and it could have come out even earlier than that.

Tricia's Week 50 recipe: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

2010-12-19T23:21:00.000-06:00

This week was Trev's b-day, so I wanted to make him a cake that I'd not made before. The following was found when searching the internets for a suitable recipe:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake:

Ingredients:

2-1/4 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/3 cup peanut butter

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12-inch Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray containing flour (even nonstick pans) and set aside.Or, if you do not have such a wonderful invention as baking spray (which I wish I did), laboriously spray and flour your pan.

In large bowl combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and 1/3 cup peanut butter and beat on low speed until combined; then beat three minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spoon batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes until set, brown, and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (except some chocolate might stick to the toothpick). Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then loosen edges and turn pan onto serving plate. Cool completely, then frost.
Frosting:
In small saucepan, melt 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips with 1/3 cup peanut butter. You can also melt these two ingredients in a small bowl in the microwave oven for 2 minutes at 50% power, stirring until smooth. Spoon over cake.

This cake really is like a giant peanut butter cup as a cake. It's very rich, and I think I cooked it about 4 min too long, b/c it seemed a bit dry to me. I'm still learning the intricacies of my bundt pan. Still, it's very nummy with vanilla iced cream, and I think my coworkers will thank me for sharing some with them. Or maybe Trev's coworkers, as it was for his birthday. Also, I made fudge this weekend that I haven't even tried!

Chris's Week Fifty-One Recipe: Chocolate Refrigerator Cookies

2010-12-19T15:31:00.002-06:00

You were expecting something other than cookies at this time of year?

This recipe is from my trusty 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook. The only changes I've made are lowering the amount of salt and using cocoa powder instead of 2 melted squares of unsweetened chocolate.

Chocolate Refrigerator Cookies

Cream together:

1 c shortening (I used butter)
1/2 c sugar

1/2 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

Sift together (I always whisk together!) and stir in:

2-3/4 c flour

1/2 t baking soda

scant teaspoon salt

3 T Dutch-processed cocoa

Mix thoroughly. Shape into a 2 to 2-1/2" diameter log and wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate several hours (or overnight). Cut into 1/4" slices and bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes. (I used parchment paper on the cookie sheets. The cookies come right off!) When thoroughly cool, dust with a little powdered sugar.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Would I make this recipe again? Yep! The cookies have a definite, but not overpowering chocolate flavor. I know... some of you think this is bad, but most of my family are milk chocolate, not dark chocolate fans.

Chris's BONUS Week Fifty Recipe: Spicy Kalamata Sauce

2010-12-18T12:50:00.002-06:00

I had leftover kalamata olives from our department potluck this week, and I decided I wanted to use them in a pasta sauce. This sauce is really a modified puttanesca sauce without anchovies or capers. The amounts on the spices are approximate.

Spicy Kalamata Sauce

1/2 onion, chopped

5-6 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

1-28 oz can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes

1/2 t dried basil

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t dried marjoram

1/2 t crushed red pepper

3/4 c chopped kalamata olives

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Add the remaining ingredients. The longer you let this simmer, the better it's going to taste.

Would I make this recipe again? I certainly would, but I wouldn't serve it to my mother, not with all that garlic!

Tricia's Week 49 Recipe: Leftover BBQ soup

2010-12-12T20:40:00.000-06:00

What do you do when you have a few cups (maybe a lb) of leftover raspberry something pork loin, some celery that is threatening to wilt, and more snow in your driveway than you can shake your shovel at? You make up a soup recipe with what you have in the house, and hope it works! I had an idea of making a navy bean type soup with the pork instead of ham, but couldn't find a recipe I liked. So, I made up a soup recipe - 'How hard can it be?', I thought to myself. You need a broth, some veg, some meat, and then a noodle or bean or rice. So, this is what I came up with:

Leftover pork BBQ soup.
6 stalks celery
8-10 baby carrots (b/c that is what was in the house)
1 can kernal corn
1 can great northern beans
leftover pork loin (about 1 lb)
5 cups chicken broth (made with chicken stock from Penzey's)
1/4 cup BBQ sauce (sweet baby rays)
10-12 shakes BBQ 3000 (from Penzey's)
5-6 shakes Italian Seasoning (from Penzey's)
1 garlic clove

Start with your celery. Take all stalks left that can be used (in this case, perhaps 6), and cut up. Mince your garlic clove. Saute with olive oil and granulated onion (since we don't use a lot of real onion in my house, you'd use a small white if you used real onion), and BBQ 3000 seasoning from Penzey's. I didn't measure, but I'd say I used 6 shakes BBQ 3000.

While this is thinking about itself, cut up carrots and put them in crock pot. (I used my middle sized crock pot. Not the dip one, and not the giant one.) Also cut up the pork into bite sized chunks, add to pot. When celery is nicely sauted, add to crock pot. Open, drain, and rinse both the corn and beans, and add those.

Add the chicken stock (if Penzey's it's about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp to each cup hot water )to the gravy-shaker thing (Tupperware brand, as a top and a little plastic ring/cross thing inside). Add hot water. My gravy-shaker thing does two cups at once. I did two cups and added it, then I did one cup and added 1/4 cup BBQ sauce to the shaker and shook that, and added it, and then I made the final two cups. This was all my crock pot would hold with all the veg and meat in the soup already.

Stir up and add a few more shakes of BBQ 3000 and 5-6 shakes Italian Seasoning. Turn crock pot to high for about 1 hour and then to low.

Taste as it goes along to see what you might need to add for the broth. I added a bit of crushed red pepper about an hour in to give it a bit of kick. Serve when hungry.

Yay! This soup was a winner. It has a nice broth with a bit of a kick to it, and plenty of veg. The meat wasn't too tough (was a bit worried about that leftover pork loin, but simmering the soup for 3 hrs did the trick). I will definitely be exploring in the world of soup more this winter!

Chris's Week 50 Recipe: Cardamom Cookies

2010-12-12T08:47:00.003-06:00

Last Thursday's edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press had a recipe for cardamom cookies on the front page of the food section that just begged to be this week's recipe. I can't ever remember making sliced refrigerator cookies and now I'm sorry that I waited so long. These were really easy!

Cardamom Cookies

1/2 c (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 T granulated sugar

1 egg yolk

1 t ground cardamom

3/8 t salt

1-1/4 c flour

Cream together butter, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat in the egg yolk. Stir in the cardamom, salt and flour. Divide the dough into halves and roll into 1 inch diameter logs. Wrap the logs in wax paper and refrigerate until firm. (Editors note: I refrigerated mine overnight. The recipe says you can also freeze the logs until you want to use them.) Cut into 1/4 inch slices and place cookies on parchment paper-lined sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake for 8-10 min at 375F. If desired, cool and dust with powdered sugar.

Would I make this recipe again? Heck yah! They're delicious, especially with a nice cup of tea!

NB: the recipe says this makes 3 dozen cookies. I wound up with over 6 dozen! Either that was a misprint or I was cutting my cookies extra-small. In any event, they baked up great!

Karin's Week Forty-Nine Recipe: Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

2010-12-09T15:10:00.000-06:00

I had a craving for something sweet, but when I investigated my sweet-making ingredients, I found that I only had 1 egg. This drastically cuts down on the sweet-making options. Off I went on a quest for a recipe that was sweet and only used 1 egg. I looked through my cookbooks and found a cupcake recipe in my 2008 Taste of Home Annual Recipes. I got this cookbook as a bridal shower gift the year I got married, and had yet to try anything out of it. As a bonus, I had a lot of cream cheese in the refrigerator due to a special at the grocery store, and Chocolate Cream Cheese cupcakes sounded right up my alley.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Filling:
1-8oz. package cream cheese, softened
1.5 c sugar, divided
1 egg
1 tsp salt, divided
1 c (6oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Cakes:
1.5 c flour
1/4 c baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 c water
1/3 c vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 T white vinegar

Frosting:
3.75 c powdered sugar
3 T baking cocoa
0.5 c butter, melted
6 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used Penzey's Double Strength, full amount)

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/2 c sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and 1/2 tsp salt until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Set aside. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and remaining sugar and salt. In yet another bowl, whisk water, oil and vinegar; stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups half full with batter. Drop filling by heaping tablespoonfuls into the center of each. Bake at 350deg for 24-26min or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10min before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For frosting, combine frosting ingredients in large bowl and beat until well-blended. Frost cupcakes.

These cupcakes were VERY well-received by Nate's work mates. He even got messages on the portable computer saying how good they were. He's been told that he can bring these in anytime he wants to, and already has requests. I thought they were pretty tasty, even the next day, although the frosting is unbelievably sweet. And, the recipe said it made 20 cupcakes. I got 18 cupcakes plus 1 "filling" cake, with quite a bit of frosting leftover (enough to frost an 8x8 cake). I think I will be trying out more recipes from this cookbook based on the response I got from this one.

Karin's Week Forty-Eight Recipe: Duck Noodle Soup

2010-12-09T14:44:00.000-06:00

As a result of the leftover duck from last week, I've been looking for something to use up the last of the duck meat. As the temperature here finally dropped down into wintry weather, I had been thinking about making some soup, when the title of the children's book popped into my head, Duck Soup. I remember reading this picture book to several wee ones when it came out.

Duck Soup

1-2lb cooked duck meat, or remains of 1-6lb roasted duck
1 carton chicken broth
4 medium carrots, cut into bite-sized chunks
3 stalks celery, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 small onion, chopped
4 sprigs sage, leaves only
1 T minced garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 bag egg noodles

Place everything except noodles into large stockpot. Bring to a boil, and boil for 10-12 minutes, or until vegetables start to get soft. Add noodles and boil for another 5-8 minutes until noodles are cooked through. Serve hot.

This was a great way to use up the leftover duck meat. And, both Nate and I agreed that we actually liked the duck better in soup, than we did just after roasting. If I happen to have leftover duck meat again, I will probably be making this soup or a version of it.

Karin's Week Forty-Seven Recipe: Caneton Poele aux Navets

2010-12-09T13:30:00.000-06:00

As both Nate and I had to work all of Thanksgiving weekend, we were not going to go anywhere for the Thanksgiving celebration. Knowing this, I decided to be adventurous and try and roast a duck for dinner. I figured that as a duck is smaller than a turkey, it would be just enough for the two of us. And, as I'd never cooked duck before, I decided to go to the authority on such things, Julia Child. This recipe is from Volume One of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and in English means, Casserole-roasted Duck with Turnips.

Caneton Poele aux Navets

1-5.5lb duckling, ready to cook
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 T rendered fresh pork fat or cooking oil (I went with the oil)
1 very large casserole, ovenproof and stoveproof

Preheat oven to 350deg. Season the inside of the duck with salt and pepper, truss it, and preick th eskin around the thighs, back and lower part of the breast. Dry thoroughly. Brown slowly on all sides in hot fat in the casserole. Pour out the browning fat.

1/2 tsp salt
1 medium herb bouquet - 4 springs parsley, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth.

Salt the duck and place breast side up in the casserole. Add the herb bouquet, cover the hot casserole and place it in the middle level of the oven. Roast for 50-60min regulating heat so the duck is always baking quiet cooking noises.

2lb turnips
water
salt
medium pot

While duck is cooking, prepare the turnips; peel and cut into 3/4inch dice. Drop into boiling, salted water and boil slowly for 5min. Drain.

After duck has roasted for 50-60min, degrease the casserole with a bulb baster. Arrange the turnips around the duck, cover the casserole and return it to the oven. Baste turnips occasionally with juice in the casserole. Cook duck for another 30-40min.

2-3T minced parsley

Drain duck, and place on hot platter. Remove turnips with a slotted spoon and arrange around duck. Sprinkle with parsley. Degrease cooking juices and serve as gravy.

The amount of prep time took about the same amount as cooking a turkey, but resulted in a smaller scale dinner. The duck had good flavor, but we both agreed that the turnips could've had additional seasoning. There was definitely enough for leftovers. I think if I did this again, I'd try out some different seasonings.

Karin's Week Forty-Six Recipe: Squash Soup

2010-12-09T13:17:00.000-06:00

In my house, squash is only enjoyed by one member of the household, so I don't get to cook it very often. At a dinner outing in the past, the other member of the household was served squash soup, and he liked it, as it didn't have the texture of cooked squash. I had two squash to cook, one a butternut, and the other a random white squash from someone at work's garden (free for the taking from the break room). The recipe came from The Occasional Vegetarian cookbook.

Roasted Winter Squash Soup
1 large acorn squash (about 2lb), or other winter squash
1 medium leek, white and light green parts, cleaned and chopped
1 T olive oil
1 T chopped fresh sage, or 1 tsp dried
1/8 tsp five spice powder
4 cups vegetable stock, or stock of your choice (I used chicken)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 small to medium apple

Preheat oven to 375deg. Halve and seed squash. Place cut side down on cookie sheet and bake until tender, 45-60min. Meanwhile, in heavy-bottom pot, saute the leek in the olive oil 1-2min. Add the sage and five spice powder. Cover and cook until leek is soft, about 10min. (Note: this will make the leek stick to the bottom of your pan. I recommend stirring occasionally, or adding more oil) Add the stock, salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer, then uncover.

Peel, core, and dice the apple. Add it to the simmering stock and cook until soft, about 15min. Remove squash from shell and dice. Add to pot and simmer for a few minutes. Puree soup using food mill, blender, food processor, or stick blender.

This recipe was very tasty, even reheated the next day. And, Nate will eat it! Finally a way to make squash palatable to the entire household. If I have extra squash in the future I will be trying to make this again.

Karin's Week Forty-Five Recipe: Stovetop Fish Boil

2010-12-09T12:48:00.000-06:00

This week I was trying to make something tasty and quick without going to the store for new ingredients. I had some frozen haddock that I could use, and Nate said, hmmm what about a fish boil? Now, I have had fish boil up in Door County, WI and it involves a great fire about 6 feet across and giant flames shooting 8-10 feet in the air and a humongous pot. None of these are feasible in my village backyard without involving all sorts of permits. So, what to do? We adapted a few different fish boil recipes to fit into our pot on the stovetop. Here is what we came up with:

Stovetop Fish Boil

1-2lb white fish of your choice (we used haddock), cut into bite-sized chunks
4 large potatoes, with skins on, cut to approx same size as fish pieces
2 large onions, roughly chopped
1/4c salt
1/4c Old Bay Seasoning (we did not have this, so see below for homemade version)
2-3T lemon juice
1/4c melted butter

Old Bay Seasoning (homemade) adapted from here
1T celery salt
1tsp paprika
1/4tsp black pepper
1/8tsp cayenne pepper
1/2tsp ground mustard
1/2tsp garlic powder
pinch ground nutmeg
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground allspice
pinch ground cardamom
pinch ground clove
pinch ground ginger
2 bay leaves

In large kettle (preferably one with strainer insert) bring 2 gallons water to a boil. Add in salt and wait until it dissolves. Add in potatoes and boil for 8-10min. Add in onion and boil a few minutes longer. Add fish and spices. Stir to mix thoroughly. Boil for approx 10min more. Using strainer, remove fish, potatoes, and onions from water. Place into serving bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Serve with melted butter to taste.

We will definitely make this again! It was very yummy and easy to make when you need a dose of Door County. It was very flavorful and is a one-pot meal. The only downside is that it takes quite a bit of scrubbing to clean out the pot and strainer insert. Well worth it though!

Karin's Week Forty-Four Recipe: Sunchoke Mushroom Saute

2010-12-09T12:18:00.000-06:00

This week one of my neighbors came over to see if I wanted any sunchokes from his garden, as he had too many. I said yes, even though I wasn't really sure what exactly they were. I figured here's an idea for my recipe this week. After looking around online, I read a bit about what a Sunchoke is, and found that it seems rather like a potato in its cooking. It did take a bit to figure out what to do with it, as there are not that many recipes out there for them. This one had ingredients that were easily available and wasn't too fancy in preparation. The recipe came from My Recipes.com.

Sunchoke Mushroom Saute

2 lb assorted mushrooms
0.5 lb sunchokes
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 c thinly sliced shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 T chopped fresh rosemary, or 1 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano, or 3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 c dry sherry
salt and pepper

Clean mushrooms and cut into 1-inch pieces. Peel and coarsely chop the sunchokes. In a large pan over high heat, combine mushrooms, sunchokes, olive oil, butter, shallots and garlic.Stir often until mushroom juices evaporate and veggies are brown, about 15 min. Add herbs and sherry; stir until sherry evaporates, about 2 min. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Interesting, but most of the flavor comes from the mushrooms and shallots. I didn't think the sunchokes added much flavor, and they are a pain in the you-know-what to peel. Unless I come across some sunchokes again, I don't think I'd go out of my way to make this again.

Tricia's Week 48 Recipe: Irish Stew

2010-12-06T20:16:00.000-06:00

Starting very soon at work, a group of us will be doing "soups and stews" Mondays for lunch. The idea is that each week someone will bring a soup or stew, and the fixins, and everyone else will bring a bowl and spoon, and we will share a nice warm lunch together. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to bring for "my" stew. I finally decided that Irish Stew was the way to go, but I needed a test run. I scoured the internets, and found this recipe and also this one. Mainly sticking with the former, but adding some bits from the latter, I produced my first Irish Stew.

Irish Stew
1ish lbs lamb* cut into 1-1/5 in pieces
4 large carrots
1.25-1.5 lbs baby red potatoes
1 small white onion (or in my case, enough granulated onion to be the equivalent)
2 cloves garlic (spanish) minced
1 can beef broth (about 16 oz)
1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
1 bottle Guiness (12 oz)
Olive Oil
Flour
Cornstarch
Water (cold)
Worsestershire Sauce
Thyme
Italian seasoning mix
Fresh Parsley

Directions:
Find stew pot big enough to hold the above. Peel and cut carrots into one inch chunks, and place in stew pot. Cut potatoes into one inch (ish) cubes and place on top of carrots. (I left skin on after washing b/c I like the skin, you may choose to peel). Chop onion or add onion granules. Mince garlic and add to pot. In a seperate bowl combine broth and paste and mix until smooth. Add this and beer to stew pot. Begin heating. While that is heating up, take cubed lamb and lightly flour. I did this by adding flour to a zippy bag and shaking a bunch. Brown in skillet w/ olive oil. Brown on all sides. Add to stew pot. Bring to light boil, then turn to 3ish on your oven so a nice heavy simmer is occuring. Simmer for 40 min-1 hour. Add water to sauce if becoming too thick (or more broth if you still have some).
-- The sauce wasn't quite right, so I added, and again, Tricia's patented not remembering to measure the spices occured, so I will estimate: 3-4 shakes worsestershire, 3-4 light shakes thyme, 6-7 generous shakes italian seasoning (until there was some over every sq inch of the top of the pot, but not TOO much), and 3 sprigs parsley from my parsley plant..equivalent to about 1 handful fresh chopped parsley.
--Right before serving, mix 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp cold water until smooth, and add this to the pot to thicken (adjust depending on how thick you like your stews)

This is a work in progress. It tastes good and I'll definately make it again, but it is not AS good as some I've had. This bothers me - I'm Irish. I now have a quest to create a very delicious irish stew. I think I needed a bay leaf. Also the original recipe called for a crock pot. Also the second recipe above calls for Guiness AND wine. I think that must be what I was missing :) I shall continue at my quest - and I think I need some field research. Anyone up for The Liffey or Kierens sometime very soon???

*A note on the lamb. I used it because I like lamb, but in going to the store I realized how expensive it is. I also realize not everyone likes lamb. Beef could be substituted, but I recommend finding a good marbled small roast or steak or something, vs just stew meat, to try to keep it tender.

Chris's Week Forty-Nine Recipe: Chick Pea & Tomato Curry Bites

2010-12-05T15:51:00.005-06:00

This recipe is Tricia's fault.

Really it is! She's the one who introduced me to Tasty Bite Indian entrees. Why, I thought, couldn't I make some quick-serve meals of my own?

Chick Pea & Tomato Curry Bites

In a large saucepan, saute:

2 T olive oil

1 large onion, chopped fine

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped fine

Add:

28 oz can diced fire-roasted tomatoes

25 oz can chick peas, rinsed and drained

1 t Penzey's Garam Masala

1/2 t ground cumin

3/4 t ground turmeric

6 shakes Penzey's Black & Red (or more if you want spicy!)

Simmer for at least 1/2 an hour to let the flavors marry. Cool and scoop into freezer bags. At about 1-1/2 c per bag, this makes three quick meal pouches. Freeze and pull out when you need something tasty and nutritious to eat!

Would I make this recipe again? The formulation needs work, but I think I will.

Tricia's Week 43 recipe: Bat's Brew

2010-12-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

Why not craft something delicious and themed! Trev and I went to a mixed drink tasting and thought this beverage would be perfect for our halloween party.

Bat's Brew:
750ml Bottle BACARDIÒ Gold Rum (or superior rum)
1 L Cranberry Juice
2 L Ginger Ale, Chilled
8 ounce Orange Juice
1 ounce Lime Juice
1-1/2 ounce Lemon Juice

It was quite delicious and I intend to make it again next time I have a gathering. We halved the recipe based on the size of the party.

Tricia's Week 47 Recipes: Thanksgiving Cooking with Rachel

2010-11-30T23:26:00.003-06:00

Last week I went to visit Rachel in Washington. I brought MN with me, so on the foul weather days we baked and cooked. Here are two recipes from our delicious feast. The Parsnip Spice Cake is a new recipe. The Chutney I've made before (a slightly different version), but it's worth sharing. Both were delicious, and Rachel just informed me today that the cake is gone...time to make another!

Parsnip Spice Cake (adapted from Eggs on Sunday): The original recipe called for cupcakes, but we used a 9 inch round cake pan and it worked just fine.
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour [or, you can do as I did and substitute half whole wheat pastry flour]1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (packed) shredded peeled parsnips
1/2 cup pecans, toasted, chopped
Mix all ingredients and fold in parsnips and pecans at the end. Bake at 350 until done.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting, also from Eggs on Sunday:
6 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used 8)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (I like to use Dark Amber/Grade B)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
Mix together cream cheese and butter, add other ingredients, finally add sugar. Frost cake.

I was very fond of this cake. It was most delicious and I wished I could have stayed to eat more. Perhaps I'll have to make it again, here in MN.

Cranberry Apricot Chutney (recipe from All Recipes).

Ingredients

1/4 cup diced dried apricots
1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
1 cup water
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar

Cut up apricots, and in a largish bowl put all fruit and spices. Mix. In a saucepan big enough to hold it all, add water, sugar and vinegar and stir til sugar is dissolved. Add fruit, bring to a boil, and then simmer until thickened. (10-20 minutes depending on your pan and stove)
I do like this chutney. I am going to make some for on toast. I think it would be excellent on the french bread with some brie, too!

Tricia's Week 46 recipe: Mediterranean Pepper Pot

2010-11-30T23:25:00.000-06:00

This recipe was supposed to be a recipe made in the crock pot. I found it in my crock pot cookbook. But then, I ran out of time to put it in the crock pot in the morning, so made it in a skillet instead. Served over rice.

Mediterranean Pepper Pot
1 lb hot italian sausage
1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 medium yellow bell pepper
1 medium green bell pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp dried oregano
enough water to keep it moist while it simmers and thinks about itself (if crock pot 1.5 cups)
1/2 cup to 1 cup marinara sauce (I used this instead of the ketchup called for in the recipe)

Brown sausage. Add all other ingredients, and simmer 30 minutes. Simmer water down until it's almost gone. Add marinara at the end and serve over rice

I would love to try this in the crock pot, I bet it turns into an almost stew. I will definitely make this again.

Tricia's Week 45 recipe: French Bread

2010-11-30T23:13:00.000-06:00

I love to make homemade bread, but had never tried one of the 'artisan breads'...not that French bread is, but it's not in a loaf pan! So I pulled up a recipe in my book, and got to work.

French Bread
2 packets yeast
2.5 cups water
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp butter, melted
7 cups flour

Heat water to 105-110 degrees F. Disolve yeast in water. Add water, salt, and melted butter to the mixing bowl. Add flour. Put on kitchen-aid mixer. Mix on speed two until fully mixed, and then knead on speed 2 for 2 minutes. Rise 1 hour. Split in half and roll into two loaves about 15" long. Place these on cookie sheet and rise one more hour. Bake in oven for 25 minutes at 450. Take out of oven. glaze with mixture of 1 egg white and 1 tbsp cold water. Bake 5 more minutes. Cool

I will definitely make this again, and I have since I made it in week 45. My change included making three loaves instead of 2, because with only two they are huge! Yum!

Tricia's Week 44 Recipe: Hot Italian Skillet Hotdish

2010-11-30T23:01:00.000-06:00

I wanted to make a hot dish and bake it, but then I became too hungry to wait for the oven, so I made a skillet dinner instead. It helped that like many casseroles or hot dishes, many of the ingredients were left overs

Hot Italian Skillet Hot Dish
1 lb hot italian sausage
2 cups veggies (corn, green beans and some leftover veggie mix)
1 can diced tomatoes w/ green chilis (hot)
1 can diced tomatoes w/ garlic and onion
rest of leftover pizza sauce.
leftover noodles
mozzarella cheese

Brown sausage in a large skillet. Add diced tomatoes, juice in, and veggies. Add any spices you want (I used pasta spice and more garlic - because you can never have too much garlic). Simmer until most of the juices are gone, and add pizza sauce.

Heat noodles, place in bowl. Add hot dish, and top with cheese. Enjoy!

I will definately make something like this again, it's a good way to use up one's veggies.

Tricia's Week 42 Recipe: clover leaf rolls

2010-11-30T22:40:00.002-06:00

I have made bread, but never rolls, so I decided to make rolls. I found this recipe, but didn't want 24 rolls, so I made 12 rolls and did the rest as a loaf of bread. That worked well, actually, though the bread was a bit heavier than normal:

Cloverleafs:
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
3 packages yeast
1.5 cups warm water (105-115)
5-6 cups flour

Heat milk, sugar, salt and butter in small sauce pan until salt and sugar are dissolved, remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Add yeast to water and dissolve. Mix these two liquid mixtures with flour in mixer on speed 2 w/ dough hook until mixed, then kneed for at least 2 minutes more. Cover, rise for 15 minutes. Break into 24 pieces (or 12 and roll the rest like a loaf of bread). place in greased muffin pan the pieces, and greased loaf pan the loaf. With scissors cut each ball in half then quarters. Let rise again about 15 minutes. Bake at 425 for 12 minutes. Remove and cool on racks

I need more skill at cutting my cloverleafs. Mine turned out like upside down tables, but they were sure tasty!

Jennifer's Week Forty-Eight Recipe: Quick Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

2010-11-30T11:44:00.005-06:00

Monday evening, Tricia and I ventured to Chris's house for a lesson in felting (and to wind yarn, as it turned out). We decided to have a dinner of snacks as Chris dispensed sage advice and I volunteered to bring dessert. I said "Oh, I'll bring dessert!" with my usual gusto. Then added, "I could make a Bundt cake!" After all, I have an entire book dedicated to them. I got myself all excited to make the Cranberry Orange Bundt that I have been eying up since I purchased the book over two years ago. I was going to do it!

Then I made an entire Thanksgiving meal on Thursday followed working the Day After Thanksgiving (I work retail) and that was followed by hosting another meal for the in-laws on Saturday to meet my brother-in-law's girlfriend (turned out that I was the only one who had not met her yet). Sunday evening arrived and the cake had not been made. I looked over the ingredients and the directions and whined a little to Chad. I didn't want to spend that much time in the kitchen! I didn't want to run to the grocery store and buy a cart full of ingredients! (That may be a slight exaggeration.) And Chad, in all his wisdom, said "Make something else."

"But I promised cake!"

"Make it from a box."

"A box cake would not count has my recipe for the week."

"Aren't there recipes in that book that use box mixes and then you add a few things to them?"

"Yeah." Then Chad just looked at me until the lightbulb went on and I dashed to the store for the few things I needed for the following recipe.

Quick Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/4 cup milk
1 box (18oz) lemon cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan using butter and flour or Baker's Joy and set aside.

Soak poppy seeds in milk and set aside. Stir together cake mix and pudding mix in a large bowl, making sure to break up any clumps. Make a well in the center of the floury mixture and pour in water, oil, and eggs. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Blend in the poppy seed mixture and sour cream. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 60 minutes (or 50 in my stupid oven), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack or plate to cool completely.

Would I make it again? Yep! Easy to do and it was delicious. Chris and Tricia approved!

Chris's Week Forty-Eight Recipe: Spicy Baked Chickpeas

2010-11-29T20:56:00.002-06:00

My dear sister-in-law served these as part of the Thanksgiving appetizers and I knew I had to try them myself. The original recipe calls for Spanish smoked paprika, which was delicious, but having none... and having the madcap pair of Tricia and Jenni over for snacks and felting... I went for something with a little more zip!

Spicy Baked Chickpeas

1-15 oz can chickpeas

1 T olive oil

1/2 t Penzey's Hungarian half sharp paprika

1/2 t ground cumin

2 shakes Penzey's Black and Red

2 pinches kosher salt

Rinse & drain the chickpeas and dry them by rolling them around in a kitchen towel. Combine the other ingredients, then add the chickpeas and toss to coat evenly. Transfer the chickpeas to a lined baking sheet and spread out in a single layer. Bake at 400F for 25-35 min or until golden and crispy. Shake the tray at about 15 min into the baking process.

Would I make this recipe again? Probably. Tricia, Jenni & I agreed that the taste was great, but they weren't as crunchy as they could have been. We thought they'd be great on salad, though!

Jennifer's Week Forty-Seven Recipe - Turkey Chili

2010-11-27T13:10:00.002-06:00

I tripled the following recipe and used left over turkey from Thanksgiving (we made a 22 pound bird). This chili was a huge hit with the in-laws and I've had to share the recipe with several people already. I based my version on a recipe from Allrecipes.com and customized it to make it my own.

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (or hamburger)
1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5 ounce) can beef broth
1 (7 ounce) can salsa (I used a medium salsa)
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or coarsely chopped tomatoes packed in puree
1 (7 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 can black beans. rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans/chick peas

For on the side:
1 bunch green onions, chopped
sour cream
shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble turkey/hamburger into the pot, stirring with a wooden spoon to break apart as much as possible. Season with taco seasoning mix, coriander, oregano, chili flakes, and tomato paste, and mix until meat is evenly coated with seasonings. Continue cooking, reducing heat if necessary, until turkey is well browned.

Pour in beef broth, and simmer to reduce liquid slightly, about 5 minutes. Add salsa, tomatoes, and green chilies, and continue cooking at a moderate simmer for ten minutes. Adjust the thickness at any time you feel necessary by adding water.

While chili is still cooking, heat one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onion and green bell pepper, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent and bell pepper is lightly browned. Add onion and bell pepper to the chili, and continue cooking at a very low simmer.

In the same skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini, and cook stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the zucchini and the 3 types of beans to the chili, reduce heat, and continue cooking for 1 hour. Again, adjust the consistency with water as needed.

Ladle chili into serving bowls. Top with sour cream, green onion, and cheddar cheese, and serve.

It was DELICIOUS!

Chris's Week Forty-Seven Recipe: Spiced Hot Chocolate Mix

2010-11-22T19:45:00.004-06:00

Ol' Man Winter is back... and he's not in a good mood. Weather like this requires hot chocolate, and since I had some powdered goat's milk leftover from making bath soak (recipe on request!) I decided to make hot chocolate mix. Alton Brown was able to get me started; here's my version:

Spiced Hot Chocolate Mix

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c Dutch processed cocoa

1-1/4 c powdered milk

1/2 t salt

1 t cornstarch

1-1/2 t cinnamon (I used Penzey's Ceylon cinnamon)

1/2 t nutmeg

Put all the ingredients into a 2 quart canning jar, screw the lid on tightly, and shake. (This is good exercise!)

To make a mug of cocoa, fill the mug 1/3 of the way full. Pour boiling water over just to cover and mix thoroughly. When you've got a good slurry, add the rest of the water and mix some more!

Would I make this recipe again? Take that Ol' Man Winter!

Jennifer's Week Forty-Six Recipe - Black and White Pound Cake

2010-11-17T23:11:00.003-06:00

As the year winds down, I'm trying to go back to my original goal with this blog and try recipes I have marked in my cookbooks. This week's recipe comes from Bundt Cake Bliss. (An MHS Press book!) This recipe is not starred since I plan to make every recipe in this book at some point! As of tonight, I have 4 completed. This book has been well used: Erik spilled water on it shortly after I bought it two years ago and I can also feel flour and other things on the pages of the chocolate section. I have not made anything from the other sections... yet.

Black and White Pound Cake

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa, sifted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan using butter and flour or Baker's Joy and set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Cream butter for a few seconds and gradually add sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, creaming well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk. Remove 2 cups of the cake batter and blend the cocoa into it. Alternate spooning the light and chocolate batters into the prepared Bundt pan.

Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean. Cool in the pan about 10 minutes. Invert the cake on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Serve with high-quality chocolate or French vanilla ice cream.

Would I make this again? Yep! I love this book. This cake does need something else with it (like the ice cream) since it is a bit on the dry side.

Chris's Week Forty-Six Recipe: New England Squash Pie

2010-11-14T13:41:00.003-06:00

As told in my post Of Squash and Jalapeños, a previous experiment ended up in a lot of leftover roasted butternut squash. I decided to turn that squash into a pie and today, after our first big snowstorm of the season, seemed like a good day to make it. Pulling down my trusty 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook, I found the following recipe which is verbatim except for halving the salt.

Anybody have any idea why there's a tablespoon of melted butter in the recipe?

New England Squash Pie

Beat together:

1-3/4 c mashed squash (strain if necessary)

1/2 t salt

1-1/2 c milk

2 large eggs

1 c sugar

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t ginger

1 T melted butter

Pour into a 9 inch pie shell and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the edge comes out clean.

Would I make this recipe again? Yes! The custard's not as flavorful as pumpkin pie, but has a nice, bright taste.

Addendum: I served this pie to Mom & Dad tonight with mixed results. Dad kept a piece for himself while Mom declined, saying it was ok, but not as good as pumpkin pie.

Jennifer's Week Forty-Five Recipe: Egg Salad

2010-11-09T09:15:00.002-06:00

Yes, Chris and I conspired to make the same thing for our recipes this week. Neither of us had ever made egg salad before so we both decided to do it, knowing we would come up with different versions. So here's mine! I didn't really measure ingredients so I'm kind of ball-parking it. When I make recipes, I tend to just add things until I like the taste.

Egg Salad

8 eggs
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2-3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 onion, finely chopped
3 baby kosher dill pickles, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dill weed
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Place eggs in a saucepan/pot and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil; cover, remove from heat, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mash the eggs until the egg salad is at the preferred consistency. Let chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Serve on toasted bread.

Will I make this again? Yes, I think so. I either over did it with the onion and/or the onion was strong. I may omit it on the next go around since it kind of overwhelms the egg flavor in Egg Salad. Overall, a good first attempt!

Chris's Week Forty-Five Recipe: Egg Salad

2010-11-07T11:20:00.003-06:00

Honestly, I cannot ever remember making egg salad. Mostly, it's because I'm not a fan of mayonnaise, but laziness plays a part, too. It's pretty easy to slice up a couple hard-boiled eggs, slather some mustard on bread, and have a good sandwich.

But a new container of Greek Yogurt inspired me to make egg salad. They even had a recipe on their website! (Go to this link and look for the egg salad recipe under entrees.) Needless to say, I tweaked the recipe a little by adding some seasoning and substituting raw onion for olives.

Egg Salad

Whisk together:

1/4 c Greek yogurt

2 t Dijon mustard

1/2 t Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle

Mix in:

3 T chopped onion

4 chopped hardboiled eggs

Would I make this recipe again? I'll probably mostly stick to hardboiled egg sandwiches, but if I ever get the urge for egg salad, I'll know where to go!

Jennifer's Week Forty-Four Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2010-11-03T14:37:00.002-05:00

Erik had some pumpkin carving to do on Sunday and I love to eat pumpkin seeds. Seriously, it's almost a vice. I figured that I would try to roast the seeds from his pumpkins. I tried that once before, about 4 years ago and ended up burning them. So, I figured I would try again. I looked at several recipes and mixed and matched to come up with the following.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and spread out evenly on a baking sheet. Bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour, stirring the seeds occasionally.

Ok, either the recipe I got the baking time and length from was wrong (it was a 2 cup recipe like mine) or my oven isn't playing around anymore and is letting me know that our relationship has gone from love/hate to just pure hate. Seriously, I'm thinking about taking all birthday and Christmas money and throwing it at a new range. Hey, Oven, you and I are done professionally!

Chris's Week Forty-Four Recipe: No-bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-11-02T19:45:00.004-05:00

The conversation inside my head went something like this:

How about making cookies this week?

You don't need cookies! You've been eating Halloween candy for the last three days!

I haven't had any today.

You had cookies for lunch, for pity's sake!

They weren't homemade cookies. They were food service cookies. Besides, you could do a lot better. Think of it - fresh, homemade cookies....

Hmmmm.... Cookies does sound good. But I don't need a whole batch of cookies lurking around the house.

So make a small batch.

There is no such thing as a 'small batch' of cookies

There is if you make no-bake cookies. You know how good those buckeyes are.

I am too tired to dip cookies in molten chocolate.

So put the chocolate inside the cookies....

Thus was born:

No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mix together:

1/4 c chunky peanut butter

1-2 T olive oil (add this slowly - the dough should be 'dry')

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line a flat container or a tray with wax paper. Using a small (size 60) scoop or teaspoons, scoop onto the wax paper and refrigerate. Makes 12 very small cookies.

Would I make this recipe again? Well, I might, but they are REALLY sweet. I wound up eating one and tossing the rest away. Maybe my taste buds were just worn out by all that Halloween candy....

Karin's Week Forty-Three Recipe: Carbonnade a la Flamande

2010-11-01T15:59:00.002-05:00

This week's recipe came as a result of thawing out what turned out to be a huge chunk of chuck roast, and needing an easy recipe. This recipe came from the 2007 America's Test Kitchen Favorites cookbook. It is very reminiscent of a recipe that I tried earlier in the year out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking - back in Week Five, Carbonnades a la Flamande. That time I did it with venison and followed Julia's instructions. Here's the "tested" version:

Carbonnade a la Flamande
3.5 lb chuck roast, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 T vegetable oil
2 lb yellow onions, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 tsp salt
1 T tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T flour
3/4 c chicken broth
3/4 c beef broth
1 - bottle beer
4 sprigs thyme, or 1T dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 T cider vinegar

Heat oven to 300 deg. Dry beef and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tsp of oil in dutch oven over med-high heat until beginning to smoke; add 1/3 beef to pot. Let cook without moving about 2 min, then turn using tongs and brown other side. Transfer browned beef to bowl. Repeat with remaining beef in 1/3 increments.

Add remaining 1 T oil to empty dutch oven; reduce heat to med-low. Add onions, salt and tomato paste; cook, scraping bottom of pot for about 5 min. Increase heat to med and continue to cook until onions are lightly browned. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the flour and stir til all is coated and flour is browned. Stir in broths, scraping bottom of pan to loosen browned bits; add beer, spices, and vinegar. Add beef with any accumulated juices. increase heat to med-high and bring to full simmer.

Cover partially, then place in oven and cook for about 2 hours until beef is fork-tender. Serve over noodles or mashed potatoes.

We ate it over noodles, as I somehow had no potatoes in the house to mash. It tasted very good, although I think I liked Julia's version a bit better. It makes quite a bit, and also reheats nicely with no loss of flavor. I might not use quite as much oil next time; I don't think I needed it. Overall, good, but not as good as Julia's!

Jennifer's Week Forty-Three Recipe: Potato and Leek Soup

2010-10-31T17:16:00.002-05:00

Last year for my birthday, Chad and Erik gave me an immersion blender as my gift. It was what I wanted! The poor thing spent 11 months in the box waiting to be used. I could never decide on a recipe! I wanted it to be something my guys would eat. This week, I was determined to put my newest kitchen device to use!

Potato and Leek Soup

1 large or 2 small leeks (about 1 pound)
2 bay leaves
20 black peppercorns
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons butter
2 strips bacon, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 cups chicken stock
1 to 1 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon salt (I omitted this. With the stock and the bacon, I felt it was salty enough)
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream
2 tablespoons snipped chives

Trim the green portions of the leek and, using 2 of the largest and longest leaves, make a bouquet garni by folding the 2 leaves around the bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme. Tie into a package-shaped bundle with kitchen twine and set aside. (Alternately, tie 2 leek leaves, bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme together in a piece of cheesecloth.)

Using a sharp knife, halve the white part of the leek lengthwise and rinse well under cold running water to rid the leek of any sand. Slice thinly crosswise and set aside.

In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the bacon. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is very soft and has rendered most of its fat. Add the chopped leeks and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the reserved bouquet garni, chicken stock, potatoes, salt and white pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are falling apart and the soup is very flavorful.

Remove the bouquet garni and, working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor or blender. (Alternately, if you own an immersion blender, puree the soup directly in the pot.) Stir in the creme fraiche and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Serve immediately, with some of the snipped chives sprinkled over the top of each bowl of soup.

Will I make this again? I actually doubled the recipe, so we have more for another meal in the future. Chad and I loved it and Erik liked it at first but then changed his mind. I think the boy will grow to like it.

Chris's Week Forty-Three Recipe: Leftover Pork Loin Chili

2010-10-25T14:43:00.005-05:00

My dad grilled up a couple pork loins before he tucked away the grill for the winter, and Mom gave me a small hunk 'for hash or something'. Sounded like an opportunity for a new recipe to me! And since I had these three roasted jalapeños, I created the following recipe:

Leftover Pork Loin Chili

Sautee:

1/3 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

Add:

3 roasted jalapeños, chopped

26 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

25 oz can kidney beans, drained & rinsed

4 oz (or as much as you want!) pulled or chopped leftover pork loin.

NB: use crushed tomatoes if you want a thicker chili, or perhaps add a can of tomato paste. Despite the roasted jalapeños this is not a spicy chili, so add chili powder if you want to kick it up a notch!

Would I make this recipe again? I would! It's a good use for leftover pork loin or any other leftover meat for that matter. And maybe some nice tempeh would be good, too....

Of Squash and Jalapeños

2010-10-23T14:29:00.002-05:00

My week 41 recipe was going to be curried squash soup but when I attempted it, everything seemed to go wrong. The orange kabocha squash I got was partly green inside and didn't roast up well. Bacon from the local farmer's market was so tasteless and uninspired, I threw it away. (Yes, threw bacon away!) I even managed to scorch the onions.

This week, I thought, was going to be different! Conceiving of an idea for vegetable chili, I cut up a butternut squash and roasted it with carrots and parsnips. Bad move. Chunks of butternut squash do NOT roast at the same rate as equal-sized chunks of carrots and parsnips. Sigh.... I put the butternut squash in the freezer for a future pie and I set aside the carrots and parsnips for soup.

Determined, though, to get some kind of chili made this weekend, I contemplated three jalapeños that had made their way over from Tricia's house. Could I actually roast them?

"Pshaw!" exclaimed the jalapeños, or something equally pithy. "Of course you can! We'll show you how...." So this is what I did:

Wash the jalapeños and place them under the broiler , turning occasionally, until the skin is thoroughly blackened. Pop the jalapeños in a paper bag and let them cool. (The steam produced will make it much easier to peel off the blackened skins.) PUT ON A PAIR OF DISPOSABLE GLOVES and peel the jalapeños. Remove the seeds (and some of the inside 'rib' if you want less zippy peppers) and slice. Wash your knife and cutting board well with hot water & soap.

Karin's Week Forty-Two Recipe: Oktoberfest Beer Mustard

2010-10-22T22:55:00.000-05:00

While reading through my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, I started marking recipes for things that sounded interesting to can. I generally tend to stick to commonly canned things like pasta sauce, salsa, juice, and jelly. Last fall I tried canning chili, which tasted great. This year I found these cute little half-pint jars that looked perfect for putting mustard in. And, in the Ball Home Preserving book, I found multiple recipes for mustard, including one entitled Oktoberfest Beer Mustard. How could I not try that one?

Oktoberfest Beer Mustard

1 - 12oz bottle beer, darker = more flavor*
1 c brown mustard seeds (available at Penzey's, where else?)
1 c water
1/2 c malt vinegar
1/2 c lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 c dry mustard
1 T onion powder

*I used Capitol Brewing Company's Oktoberfest beer, as both Nate and I like its flavor

In medium stainless steel pan, combine beer and mustard seeds. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 2 hrs until seeds have absorbed most of the moisture. In a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade, puree marinated seeds and any remaining liquid until blended and most seeds are well chopped - i.e. slightly grainy looking. (Note: I thought I would be clever and use my stick blender to just blend in the pan. Mustard seeds - 1, Karin - 0. Seeds went everywhere. Follow directions and put into blender. I also had to add a bit of the water to thin it out a bit to get it fully blended.)

Transfer mixture to a stainless steel pan and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and boil gently, stirring frequently, until volume is reduced by about 1/3, or 15 minutes. (Note: Must have a splatter screen at the ready! This stuff can spit at least 6 feet! Even with the splatter screen, my stove, counter and floor all had to be cleaned.)

Have jars, etc. ready for canning. Put hot mustard into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Place lid and screwband on, then tighten. Place in boiling water canner, with water covering tops of jars. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars. Let cool and store.

Verdict is that this stuff will clean out your sinuses. It smelled great. We tried it on sandwiches, and decided that this is the type of mustard that one has with pretzels and possibly beer or cider. It overpowered the entire rest of the sandwich. Tasty though. Also, the recipe said it was supposed to make 5 jars of mustard. I got only 3. Maybe I'll try this again with a different beer to see if the flavor changes at all.

Jennifer's Week Forty-Two Recipe - Hungarian Pork Chops

2010-10-21T11:25:00.002-05:00

Pork chops are a pretty popular meat choice in our house (at least as far as Chad and I are concerned, Erik is still learning to like them), However, I was sick of preparing them more usual way, so I searched for a new recipe to maybe add to my repertoire (kind of the point of this blog, right?)

Hungarian Pork Chops

4 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup flour
1 cup sour cream used a light sour cream)
1/4 cup dry sherry (mine was not dry)
1/4 ketchup (I used less than this based on reviews)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon paprika (fairly certain I used more than this)
1 bay leaf

Season pork chops with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge seasoned chops in flour. Heat oil in a large skillet and brown seasoned chops in oil (covering skillet with lid if desired). Pour off fat.

In a medium bowl combine the sour cream, sherry, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and bay leaf. Mix together and pour mixture over chops in skillet. Cover and let simmer gently over low heat for about 1 hour, or until chops are tender and cooked through.

Would I make this again? Yep! The chops were very tender, didn't really need a knife to cut them. They probably also simmered for closer to and hour and a half since Chad was late getting home. Not Erik approved, however. He'll just have to learn to like them.

Chris's Week Forty-Two Recipe: Mahnomin Porridge

2010-10-20T20:18:00.002-05:00

Judy... yes, the same Judy who has graced us with so many wonderful guest recipes... gave me a copy of this recipe from the Minnesota Historical Society Press blog and said she was going to try it herself last weekend. She reported back that she and her husband loved it, but their children didn't care for it. I definitely wanted to try it myself, so made a half batch tonight:

Mahnomin Porridge

2 c cooked wild rice*

1/4 c roasted hazelnuts**

1/4 c dried blueberries

1/8 c dried cranberries

2 T maple syrup

1/2 c heavy whipping cream

Combine the rice, hazelnuts, blueberries, cranberries, and maple syrup in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. Add the cream and heat through, stirring constantly about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

* Bring 1 c dried wild rice to a boil in 3 c water and simmer for about 45 min or until tender.

** Roast in a 275F oven for 15-25 min or until the skin cracks.

Would I make this recipe again? Yes, it's quite good! You could make this out of all local ingredients, if you wanted.

I've also put the MHS Press blog on my RSS feed and will be scanning for more yummy recipes!

Update: Beer Cookies

2010-10-18T10:17:00.000-05:00

I finally found the actual recipe for these cookies. For full recipe and review, see here: Karin's Week Thirty-five Recipe

Karin's Week Forty-One Recipe: Sheperd's Pie in a Bundt Pan

2010-10-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

Recently I've had a hankering to bake something in my Bundt pan. It hasn't been used in a while, as I've been doing my baking either in cookie format, or in the more standard 8x8 or 9x13 format. While looking through my Bundt Classics cookbook, I found a section on savory recipes, including one for Shepherd's Pie. After mentioning this to Nate, he liked the idea so much that he made real mashed potatoes for it while I was at the store. I will warn you that this project is not for the faint of heart - it makes a LOT of shepherd's pie.

Shepherd's Pie in a Bundt Pan

Crust
3 c prepared mashed potatoes
1 egg

Filling
2lb ground beef
1/2 c chopped onion (or so)
1 (8oz) pkg mushrooms, sliced
1 c sour cream
1/2 c catsup (or tomato sauce with Worcestshire if you do not like catsup)
2 T prepared mustard (we used brown horseradish as that is what we had)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 400deg. In large bowl, stir together mashed potatoes and egg; mix well. Using back of spoon, press 2.5c of potatoes in bottom and 3/4 way up sides of 10 or 12c Bundt pan; reserve remaining potatoes. In large skillet, over med high heat, cook ground beef, onion and mushrooms, just until meat is no longer pink; drain well. In same skillet, stir in reserved 1/2 c of potatoes and all other filling ingredients. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake at 400deg for 35-40min, or until hot in center. Cool upright in pan 10min. Invert onto serving plate. 10-12 servings.

Taste-wise this version of shepherd's pie tasted great. Very much like my stroganoff recipe in fact; although the serving size is a bit off as we ate about 40% of it between the two of us. The challenging part is getting the pan inverted onto the serving plate. I needed Nate to do this as my hands weren't big enough to handle 2+ lbs of meat and potatoes. Impressively, the potatoes really did make a crust, and I took a picture to prove it. Next time, however, I think we'll make more potatoes - 3c was really not enough to make a good crust all the way around the pan. I'll also grease the middle spindle, as the pie did not want to release from the middle. This could be an impressive dish for a family get-together.

Update #4: Olive Oil Cake

2010-10-15T21:04:00.003-05:00

The success of my New Applesauce Cake this week got me wondering how the Olive Oil Cake recipe from Good from the Grain would taste as a spice cake. Unrelenting in my pursuit of culinary enlightenment, I made one tonight. I stuck to the recipe in the book, but instead of the chopped rosemary and bittersweet chocolate added:

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t ground cloves

1/4 t allspice

1/4 t ginger

1/4 t nutmeg (Hi, Linda!)

Oddly enough, the cake doesn't taste 'spicy' enough to me. Any suggestions, gentle readers?

Tricia's Week 41 Recipe: Hot Italian Sausage Sanwiches

2010-10-14T12:44:00.000-05:00

Maybe these are called dago sandwiches elsewhere? I don't know. I might be cheating a bit with this recipe, but I do know I had about a 1/2 pound of leftover spicy Italian sausage from making pizza that had to be used, 1/2 a homemade loaf of bread threatening to go stale, and some leftover pizza sauce. Based on this, and my love of spicy food, I made last night's dinner, and week 41's recipe:

Ingredients:
spicy Italian sausage (about 1/4 lb per patty)
Penzey's Pizza Seasoning
Penzey's Garlic Salt
pepper jack cheese, cut into slices (enough to cover each patty)
Homemade bread (made from the leftover cloverleaf roll dough I had because I didn't want 24 rolls, so made 12 and 1 loaf bread - worked really well, actually!)

Make patties and season w/ pizza seasoning and garlic salt. Place in greased skillet or pan on medium heat and cover. Cook approximately 10 minutes on one side and 8 on the other (or however long it takes to make them completely cooked through). Meanwhile, take bread and make toast. Coat each side of toast with leftover pizza sauce from Week 3's Recipe. Place pepperjack cheese over sausage patties and melt. Put patty on bread, cut in half (because it's a big sandwich) and enjoy.

I will definitely make this again., delicious, and easy at the end of a hard day! We often have leftover pizza making ingredients, and I've been making a lot of fresh bread lately. One could sub mild sausage and mozzarella cheese if one wanted a milder flavor, the pizza seasoning isn't spicy - it's more fennel/oregano-y. If you didn't have fresh bread, you could use toasted bagels or hamburger buns too, I suppose.

Jennifer's Bonus Week Forty-One Recipe: Next Day Mac and Cheese Toast AKA Fried Mac and Cheese

2010-10-13T12:46:00.003-05:00

So I did end up having quite a bit left over Baked Mac and Cheese after Erik turning his nose up at it last night. Having actually seen the episode of "Good Eats" where Alton Brown makes his Baked Mac and Cheese, I remembered that he did something with the leftovers: he fried them. I figured I would give it a try for lunch today.

Next Day Mac and Cheese "Toast"

Leftover baked mac and cheese, refrigerated at least overnight

1 cup all-purpose flour (I used less than this since I was just making it for myself)

1 teaspoon salt (used less)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (did not use less, wanted some bite!)

fresh ground black pepper

1 egg beaten with 2 ounces water

1 cup panko bread crumbs (used normal bread crumbs since I had those on hand)

Oil for frying, preheated to 375 degrees

Cut refrigerated mac and cheese into slices or bite sized pieces.

Season the flour with salt, pepper and cayenne. Dredge each piece through the flour and gently tap off the excess. Dip in the egg wash and then coat with the bread crumbs. Allow them to sit for 5 minutes so the crust can set. Very carefully drop into the oil and fry until golden brown on all sides. Remove to a baking sheet fitted with a rack (or a plate with paper towel, which is what I did) and rest for 2 minutes before serving.

Would I make this again? Yep! I liked this even better than the straight up mac and cheese from last night. Of course, the frying would make it something that I don't do too often. Perhaps I could bake these bites as well for a healthier option?

Chris's BONUS Week Forty-One Recipe: New Applesauce Cake with Maple Frosting

2010-10-12T21:46:00.003-05:00

It was my turn to bring treats to RCIA this Tuesday. I knew I wanted to bring something fall-themed, but we had pumpkin bars last week. Hmmm.... After consulting with Jenni and Tricia, I decided on an applesauce cake with maple frosting. The cake recipe is from my beloved Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook (c. 1950). The frosting is my own variation on a standard buttercream frosting, or what the cookbook calls White Butter Icing.

New Applesauce Cake

Grease and flour a 9x13" pan. Whisk together:

2.5 c sifted flour

2 c sugar

1/4 t baking powder

1.5 t soda

1 t salt (original recipe calls for 1.5 t)

3/4 t cinnamon

1/2 t cloves

1/2 t allspice

Beat in:

1/2 c soft shortening (I used Crisco)

1/2 c water

Add:

1.5 c unsweetened applesauce

1 very large egg (that's what the recipe says!)

and beat for two minutes.

Blend in:

1/2 c chopped walnuts

1/2 c chopped raisins

Bake at 350F for 45-50 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Maple Frosting

Beat together

4 T very soft butter

2 c powdered sugar

Slowly add in the maple syrup until the frosting reaches the desired consistency (probably about 1/4 to 1/2 cup, but I wasn't measuring).

Would I make this recipe again? I think I'll have to! We didn't have a big crowd tonight and all I salvaged to bring home was enough to make about three regular pieces.

Jennifer's Week Forty-One Recipe - Baked Macaroni and Cheese

2010-10-12T18:42:00.002-05:00

This week, Erik and I are left to ourselves. Chad is off in San Francisco for training and I get to stay behind with the kid and the livestock. Le sigh... Erik loves noodles, so I decided to experiment on Erik with a new recipe. I was inspired by Chris's Week 39 recipe and Tricia's Week 5 recipe and decided to make my own homemade macaroni and cheese. Ok, not really my own. It's an Alton Brown recipe from the same episode as the one Chris doctored.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1/2 lb elbow macaroni

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon powdered mustard

3 cups milk (I used skim since that is what we have)

1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 large egg

12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Topping

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup panko bread crumbs (Ok, I did not have these specific bread crumbs on hand and I just used your everyday regular bread crumbs.)

Preheat oven to 350F

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and the mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Would I make this again? Yes I would, however, Erik did not approve. His 6-year-old palette is used to the creamier texture of the boxed mac and cheeses and this was not that. I enjoyed it and thought it was quite good. Ah well.

Karin's Week Forty Recipe: Skillet Cake

2010-10-11T12:11:00.000-05:00

This recipe is actually one from Penzey's Summer 2010 Catalog. My mother and grandmother were visiting for a few days and both recently made this cake. It calls for a 10-inch cast iron skillet, which we have, and when they saw it hanging on the pot rack, wanted to know if I had the ingredients for this cake. I did, and off I was to bake a cake in a cast iron skillet.

Penzey's Skillet Cake

1.5 c flour
3 T cocoa powder
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 T vegetable oil
1 T vinegar*
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 c cold water

*I discovered that I currently have 6! kinds of vinegar for some reason, and chose the cider variety based on a recommendation of my grandma.

Preheat oven to 350. Sift (or stir) the dry ingredients together into a 10" cast iron skillet. Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients. Pour the oil into the 1st well, the vinegar into the 2nd, and the vanilla into the 3rd well. Pour the cold water over the top. Stir with a fork until well blended. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Don't forget that the handle of the pan will be hot upon removal. Let cool, then frost.

Frosting
1.5 c powdered sugar
2 T cocoa powder
3 T butter, softened
dash salt
2 T brewed coffee, room temp (I used instant espresso, as we had drank up all of the coffee)

Cream everything but the coffee together until well blended. Add the coffee and mix well. Spread over cooled cake. Serve in wedges.

Other than cleaning the skillet, this recipe was extremely easy to make and very tasty. It will be made again, probably not only by me, seeing as it was requested. Beware that the coffee does add a mocha flavor. You could maybe substitute milk for the coffee and do a regular fudge frosting instead.

Tricia's Week 40 Recipe: Manwich Casserole

2010-10-11T10:14:00.000-05:00

Last week I decided I wanted manwich, but didn't want it in the typical 'sloppy joe' or 'spanish hamburger' sense. So I took myself to the store and purchased one can manwich, and for kicks - ground pork instead of ground beef or turkey, along with a few other staples (milk and butter) that were necessary.

I decided I would make a casserole of the Manwich, but when I looked at various cooking websites, the predominant recipe involved beef, manwich, cheese, and crescent rolls (which would please the meat and cheese and bread crowd), but I wanted vegetables! So, I based it roughly on what one might do for a tater tot casserole:

Manwich Casserole
1 lb ground pork
Pizza Seasoning (from Penzey's)
1 can Manwich
1 cup green beans
1 cup whole kernal corn
some extra veg of whatever you have lying around
tater tots

Brown pork until no longer pink, sprinkling w/ Pizza Seasoning to taste. Add Manwich and simmer 5 minutes. Thaw veg (or drain if using canned) and add to pan and stir all together. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish and pour in the mix, placing tater tots on top. Bake at 400 for 30ish minutes, or until bubbling and tots are done.

I will make this again, but with a few changes. It was delicious, but my main complaint from Chief Taster was that 'it looks spicy but it isn't'. So next time I make it I'll likely jazz it up a bit w/ some chili seasonings or a jalapeno or two. Also, it would be delicious with mashed potatoes on it, or even as a stew next to a baked potato.

Chris's Week Forty-One Recipe: Southern Chicken Upside-Down Dinner

2010-10-10T12:44:00.003-05:00

The best laid plans....

I was going to make chicken vegetable soup for lunch today with chicken & peppers I had gotten fresh at the Woodbury farmer's market. I put the chicken on to boil and started chopping peppers and every single one of them was moldy inside. Well, that put me right off vegetables for lunch! So, I grabbed my trusty Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook (c. 1950) and made the following. The recipe below is verbatim except for reduced salt in both the creamed chicken and cornbread mixture.

Southern Chicken Upside-Down Dinner

Creamed Chicken

Melt:

6 T butter

Whisk in:

6 T flour

1/2 t salt

1/8 t pepper

Cook over low heat until bubbling. Remove from heat and stir in:

1.5 c chicken broth

1 cup milk (the original recipe calls for cream or top milk)

Bring to a boil and and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add:

1 cup cut-up cooked chicken (ok... I was generous with my chicken, call it 1.5 cups)

Cornbread

Whisk together in a bowl:

1 c sifted flour

1 c cornmeal

2 T sugar

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

Cut in finely:

3 T shortening (I used Crisco)

Add, stirring just enough to blend:

1 c buttermilk or sour milk (I used lemon juice to make sour milk)

Put 2/3 of the creamed chicken mixture into a greased 2 qt baking dish and top with the cornbread mixture. Bake at 400F for 25 minutes.

NB: The cookbook adds: "Serve hot, upside-down, cut into wedges, with rest of chicken mixture over it." I just scooped it out of the casserole, but you could definitely turn this over onto a platter. I also saved the rest of the creamed chicken for another meal.

Would I make this recipe again? Yeah, I would! Don't be discouraged if it looks like the cornmeal kind of sinks in and doesn't exactly cover the top of the creamed chicken. It will be ok when it bakes.

Chris's Week Forty BONUS Recipe: Oatmeal Muffins

2010-10-07T20:41:00.004-05:00

What's so unique about oatmeal muffins? This recipe is from Food Will Win the War which Jenni discussed in a previous post. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in either history or cooking! I was curious to see how a low-wheat, low-fat, low-sugar recipe from the U of M's liberty breads collection would come out so I made these:

Oatmeal Muffins

2 c old-fashioned oats, uncooked

1.5 c milk

2 T melted butter

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 T sugar

1 T baking powder

(scant) 1/2 t salt

Mix the oatmeal and milk and let soak for half an hour. (Editors note: the milk will be mostly soaked up by the time you mix in the rest of the ingredients.)

Mix in the melted butter, then the egg. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes. Cool five minutes in the pan, then continue cooling on a wire rack.

Would I make this recipe again? Well, I probably would, but I'm not sure I'd feed it to anybody else. These muffins are nicely chewy and extremely bland and were actually better the next day after they'd sat in a sealed container overnight. I liked them, but I'm not sure who else would.

P.S. They're great with pumpkin butter!

Guest Recipe from Linda: Blue Cheese Slaw

2010-10-06T19:02:00.002-05:00

Linda sends us the following:

I have a new recipe for the blog. It is loosely based on the “Joy of Cooking” Roquefort Cole Slaw recipe.

1.5 cups shredded cabbage

1 cup apple – peeled, cored and sliced into small cabbage-y pieces

1 Tbsp lemon – to keep the apple from turning brown

Blue cheese dressing to coat (about ½ cup)

Freshly ground black pepper – to taste

Would I make this again? Yes, I would. In fact, I already did. The first batch was made Saturday evening. It was okay, but you couldn’t really taste the apples. So, since I had the other half of the small head of cabbage sitting in the fridge, I made a second batch for dinner Sunday. This time I used two apples instead of one, and I didn’t chop the apple up as small, I cut the apple in eights, then sliced it shortways (as opposed to lengthwise). Both diners agreed that the second batch was better.

Tada!

Jennifer's Week Forty Recipe: Banana Crumb Muffins

2010-10-06T15:56:00.003-05:00

I am on pace again! Hooray!

So, I bought some bananas over the weekend with the hope that Erik and Chad would munch on them. They didn't touch them. Sigh. And when I bought them, they were quite yellow and now they have many brown spots. Well, I was not going to throw away 6 bananas. So, I used 3 of them for the following recipe. I may make banana bread with the other 3. I have not decided what to do with them yet.

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted (I used oil)

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease a muffin pan or line with paper cups.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, egg, sugar and butter/oil. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in 1 Tbsp butter until it resembles course cornmeal. Sprinkle over the top of the muffins.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 10-12 muffins. (I got 12)

Would I make them again? Well, I think I have an idea of what to make with the other 3 bananas. More muffins!

UPDATE: I made these muffins again and added cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg right into the muffins and they were even tastier. I have no idea how much of each, I just shook out/grated until it looked OK to me!

Tricia's Bonus Week 39 Recipe: Off the Cuff Chocolate Frosting

2010-10-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

This recipe is off the cuff for a reason. I had just failed miserably at the one recipe every mom knows how to make, and make deliciously. Even non-moms have accomplished rice krispie treats with aplomb. I decided "following a recipe didn't work, I'm going to make up frosting. So there." in a desperate attempt to regain control of my kitchen. It was, after all, rather messy again with all the bowls from Week 39's failed Treats. So, the following wasn't measured. Not at all. I will attempt, in parenthasis, to ascertain what I might have used.

Chocolate Frosting:
Take out small pyrex bowl.
Fill bottom with about 1/2 inch level of dark corn syrup (maybe 4 Tbs)
Shake in some dark cocoa powder (maybe 1 - 2 Tbs)
Add 1/3 ish stick butter (likely 1/3 ish, cut into small pieces)

Melt the above in microwave for a minute or two.

Add 1/2 bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and whisk til completely melted and smooth. Pour ontop of whatever you are frosting.

I think I should have measured, if only so I could repeat - this is a very dark, but very delicious frosting. Not only that, but I felt a bit better after proving I could still handle a whisk. AND, though VERY chewy, the treats were inedible. So, lesson learned, call MOM before making treats, and start simple. And always eat chocolate to feel better.

Tricia's Week 39 Recipe, or "How I Failed as a 1950's Housewife"

2010-10-04T21:36:00.000-05:00

At first I wasn't going to post this as my week 39 recipe. But then, it ended up being a short week and I didn't cook any other new recipes, and I got sick, and also I thought, even though you failed...you should post. After all, this blog isn't about all the recipes that worked, it's about all the recipes. Even the ones I totally, completely, utterly, universally failed at. This is one of those.

To set the scene. I had a miserable day at work. Looking back, I can't even remember all the details of its miserableness. I do remember being miserable, and telling Trevor so on the phone on the way home, and arriving home much earlier than he did. I arrived home to a messy kitchen. This is happening WAY more than it should these days...I should fix that this weekend! (Me, the queen of procrastination.) So, I cleaned up the kitchen and in doing so put up a box of Rice Krispies. I stopped, looked at it, and set it back on the counter. I finished the dishes, still looking at my newly aquired box of cereal, pondering the possibilities of a new recipe. I love rice Krispie treats. LOVE them. (Do you see where this is going yet?) I love peanut butter rice Krispy treats even more, especially if there is a lovely layer of fudgy frosting on top.

I searched the internet, and came upon this recipe from the Rice Krispies website for peanut butter treats. I saw others (like this one) but ignored them for the ingredients I had on hand. The recipe online didn't have a lovely fudge topping, but that was OK, I could add it later. So I made the treats:

Ingredients:
3 Tbs butter, melted
1 package (10oz) big marshmallows, or 4 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup peanut butter
6 cups Krispies

The directions say melt butter and marshmallows together in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring after 2. Add 1/2 cup peanut butter and stir til melted, then add to Krispies and magic will happen. (Ok, that is not verbatim, but this is how I'm beginning to feel.)

I started by melting things in the microwave. I could only heat for 1.5 minutes, not 2, because the marshmallows were growing exponentially and threatening a gooey mess that would really have had me cleaning my kitchen for a while. I stirred. I cooked another almost 1.5 minutes. I added the peanut butter. My guess is this recipe calls for fake, creamy peanut butter, not the 'real' peanuts and salt kind. I also think it doesn't call for the under-oiled, leftover peanut butter my fridge had to offer. It likely really doesn't call for a bit extra of it to 'just use it up' I add. I stir. Magic is not happening!! I am starting to make paste! AH! Maybe it cooled to much, maybe! Back in the microwave it goes. Back out it comes, I stir, it's now warmed paste. I don't give up though, I add Krispies. I stir, but the now hardening paste won't accept the multitude of Krispies I've offered it. I try using hands, rather than stirring implement, to kneed in the Krispies. This helps, but doesn't solve the problem. More goo! I think desperately. I quickly heat the rest of my bag of mini marshmallows, wondering the whole time why I didn't just cook them all to begin with. I add that to my bowl of cooling paste and cereal. I burn my hand. I look forlornly at the mess in the pan. I sigh, stir some more, and give up. I take the cake that is the stuck-together Krispies and place it in my cakepan. I pour the non-stuck Krispies on top, determine to stick them with frosting. I consider how I will make my frosting (see bonus recipe).

The door opens, Trevor walks in. He asks, rather tentatively having talked to me earlier and heard the mixing and puttering and plopping and sighing from the kitchen, how I am doing. I walk to the top of the stairs and look down at him and declare, "I am a failure of a 1950's housewife!" in a rather desperate tone. He laughs (I will admit it was funny, but at the time nothing was going right and I was rather serious), and says "what happened?". I related the above.

I will make treats again! I will succeed where I have failed! Mothers, makers of this tasty treat, what have I done wrong? Was it not enough mallow? Too many krispies? Too old of peanut butter (mallows were a bit old, but not bad)? Bad Karma? HELP me, please!!

Tricia's Bonus Week 38 Recipe: BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

2010-10-04T21:09:00.000-05:00

I really wanted coleslaw - funny craving to have, but there you have it...so I made my week 38 recipe. Then I needed something to go with it. I decided pulled pork would be delicious...but had no pork cooked. Cooking chicken breasts is faster than cooking up a pork loin to pull, so I went to the store and picked up two chicken breasts (just under 1 lb) when I purchased the coleslaw fixins.

BBQ Pulled Chicken:

Cook 2 chicken breasts in boiling water. Let cool. Pull into pieces, but not too small of pieces. Put this in sauce pan with enough BBQ sauce to cover and make a slight 'gravy' with the meat. I used 1/2 bottle of Jim Beam BBQ sauce I had left, plus some Spicy Sweet Baby Rays. let this simmer while you prepare the coleslaw (or rest of your meal).

I served my BBQ chicken on toast, making my sandwich in this order: Slice toast, little extra bbq sauce, banana peppers, bbq pulled chicken, cut up dill pickles, slice toast. I have to admit, this sandwich was DELICIOUS this way!

I love this quick and easy recipe, and will definitely be making it again. The hot peppers and pickles added just the right amount of tang and zip. Or maybe it was just a night for weird cravings.

Tricia's Week 38 Recipe: Apple Coleslaw

2010-10-04T21:03:00.000-05:00

Apple Coleslaw is delicious. For those of you who do not like mayo, you could try making citrusy vinaigrette. Recipe courtesy of Spark Recipes:

3/4 cup Miracle Whip Light Dressing (I used Light Mayo, because I had that)
1 Tbs honey
1 pkg (16 oz) Coleslaw Blend
2 Apples (I used one Honeycrisp and one Granny Smith)

Find big bowl with lid. Pour Blend into bowl. Mix in small bowl mayo and honey til well blended, and pour over Blend and stir well. Wash apples, use apple corer to make slices. Cut into bite sized pieces, leaving skins on. Add apples to mix and stir as you cut them so they don't turn colors. Let sit one hour. Devour.

I would definitely make this again. I might even do 1 apple, a few extra carrots and celery, and some cranberries, just for fun. It was a good salad, the sweet apple + tart apple really did make it taste good. It would be more 'authentic' if I shredded the cabbage...but we all know I don't have time for that.

Tricia's Week 37 Recipe: Happy Day Cake

2010-10-04T20:57:00.000-05:00

I know I'm behind, I didn't think I was this far behind. I remember posting this recipe, and I think one other. Either Blogger ate them, or it was in a dream that I posted them. Likely the latter. My mom made a recipe from my grandma called 'happy day cake' for my dad for his birthday. I didn't have that recipe, so I made up my own. Happy day cake is two white (or in this case yellow) cakes, round, with fruit jam in the middle and icing on the top. Feel free to experiment. I think two chocolate cakes w/ raspberry filling would also be very happy.

Cake (courtesy of my mixer's cookbook)
2 1/4 cup flour
1 1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening (read butter, cause that is what I used)
1 cup low fat milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Cookbook directions for mixing: combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Add shortening, mil, and vanilla. Attach bowl and flat beater and mix at speed 2 for 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl, add eggs. mix on speed 2 about 30 seconsds. Scrape bowl . Turn to speed 6 and beat 1 minute.
The way I did it: butter, softened, and sugar go in mixing bowl. Mix on speed 2 til well mixed. Go to speed 4. Add eggs one at a time until creamed in. Meanwhile mix all dry ingredients in another bowl. Have milk at the ready. Add 1/2 dry ingredients, mix on speed 2 til blended. Add 1/2 milk, speed 2 til blended. Repeat w/ rest of dry and rest of milk.
Then: Grease and flour two round cake pans. Pour 1/2 batter into each. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick in middle comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then on rack until completely cool.

Make Happy Day Cake: Place one round on plate or cake server. Add 1 mom's homemade strawberry jam (or small sized Smuckers jam of any variety that pleases you). Top with second round. Place on top icing..

Icing used: 1 cup (ish) powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tbsp milk

I think I will tweak the cake a little, it was a bit dry, but otherwise - yum!

Chris's Week Forty Recipe: Fresh Apple Cake

2010-10-04T18:41:00.004-05:00

You've been asking yourselves, "When is Chris ever going to make a recipe from her rare, first-edition copy of the 1972 Favorite Recipes compiled by the Guild for Christian Service of the First Reformed Church of Meservey, Iowa?"

Well, you're in luck! I had lunch with my parents on Sunday and volunteered to bring dessert. Mom requested 'something fall-like... pumpkin or apple'. This was a great chance to bring out one of the old church cookbooks I got from my Grandma Jacobs.

I love church cookbooks. You know the recipes in them are the tried-and-true favorites of the people who submitted them. The recipe that I found for Sunday lunch was intriguing because it used 1/2 c coffee in the batter. It was also intriguing in that it didn't list measurements for all the topping ingredients, nor baking temperature or time. I guessed on the measurements and employed the magic '350F for 25-30 minutes' and here is:

Fresh Apple Cake

1 c sugar

1/2 c butter or margarine

1 egg

2 c apples, peeled and diced

1/2 c warm coffee

1 t baking soda

2 c sifted flour

1 t cinnamon

scant 1/2 t salt

Topping - mix together:

1/2 c brown sugar, packed

1/3 c chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1/2 t cinnamon

Cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg. Add the soda to the coffee. Add with dry ingredients. Add apples. Pour into a 9x9 in pan and sprinkle on the topping. Bake for 25-30 min at 350F.

Would I make this recipe again? Well... not verbatim. The cake was nice and moist and my parents loved it, but I did not like the slight aftertaste of coffee. Oddly enough, my parents say they can't taste the coffee at all. I think this must be because I don't drink coffee and they're used to it! I might try 1/2 c of apple juice or cider next time, though.

Addendum: Mom thought there should be less sugar in the topping. Dad thought it was perfect. I actually thought it was just about right, too, but might lower it to 1/3 c of brown sugar the next time around.

Chad's Guest Recipe: Heart-Attack Potatoes

2010-10-02T19:41:00.002-05:00

In our household, we split the cooking about 60/40, with me being the slightly higher number. We both have our standards, but I do tend to branch out more than Chad (this blog, of course, sort of forces that). This is Chad's latest creation. I can't remember which one of us named this recipe.

The following amounts were used for dinner tonight. Three potato-loving adults did not even come close to finishing this amount. (Chad bought 7 pounds of potatoes thinking that was what we would need!)

Heart-Attack Potatoes

4 pounds of potatoes; unpeeled, sliced into eighths and then sliced thin

1 sweet onion, diced

1 stick butter

salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan and then add the potatoes and onion. Cook over medium to medium-high heat until the potatoes and onions are thoroughly cooked. Then crank up the heat to high and crisp up the potatoes, flipping frequently so they don't burn.

Jennifer's Week Thirty-Nine Recipe: Red Cross War Cake

2010-10-02T18:01:00.002-05:00

So a few weeks ago, Chris and I went to an event at the History Center that discussed food and rationing during WWI in Minnesota. Afterward we got to sample a couple of recipes from the companion book to the lecture (I hesitate to call it a lecture since it was really more of a performance!) and this was one of them. We tried a cookie, too, however the cookie did not leave nearly the impression that the War Cake did. I think part of it has to with the name.

This recipe is featured in Food Will Win the War by Rae Katherine Eighmey, published by MHS Press. (Hey, I need to pimp out the Society every once and a while, right?) The recipe was originally from Conservation Recipes by the Women's Committee of Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, 1917.

Red Cross War Cake

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups hot water

2 tablespoons lard (I substituted shortening. I was going to be all historically accurate and use lard, but I could not find any in the grocery store that I was at and I did not feel like going on a hunt for lard.)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 package (8 ounces) raisins, chopped (or you can do what I did and not chop them because I can't read - I don't think it makes that much of a difference)

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Put everything but baking soda and flour into a 2-quart pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil 5 minutes after it bubbles, then cool. Stir in soda and flour. Put batter into 2 lightly greased mini-loaf pans. * Bake for 45 minutes. Cake keeps fresh for a long time and can be sent to men on the front.

*I did not have 2 mini-loaf pans and just put the batter into one 9x5 pan. I baked it for 45-50 minutes, testing the bread with a toothpick every 5 minutes after the 30 minute mark. (This kind of has to do with the love/hate-but-mostly-hate relationship I have with my oven.)

Would I make this again? Yes! It's easy and very tasty. I think it has a very Fall flavor.

Karin's Week Thirty-Nine Recipe: Potage Parmentier

2010-10-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

I know I've been rather lax in posting lately, but I've been spending oodles of time on the computer due to some work deadlines. Which are now over with. The result is lots of postings all together, and an easy to make recipe that is perfect for a cool fall day. This recipe comes from one of my Julia Child cookbooks, hence the French name for Potato and Leek Soup. It is actually the very first recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Potage Parmentier

3-4c or 1lb potatoes, peeled and sliced or diced
3c or 1lb leeks, thinly sliced (or you can use yellow onions if you don't have leeks)
2qt water
1T salt
4-6T heavy cream or 2-3T softened butter
2-3 T minced parsley or chives

Place everything into a 3-4qt saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer partially covered for 40-50 minutes. Mash the veggies in the soup or put through a food mill - I used my stick blender. *You can make this ahead of time to this point and then just bring it back to a simmer before eating.* Just before serving, stir in the cream by spoonfuls. Fold in parsley.

This was unbelievably easy to make. Put everything in a pot and forget it until the timer goes off. A great way to cook lunch. This was very tasty and filling. We had 3 pieces of leftover bacon (I know you are wondering how does one have leftover bacon? It's a bit of a story, but we did.) so Nate crumbled them up on top of our bowls of soup. I liked it just fine with out the bacon, but he thought it needed a bit more. Either way, simple and easy and very tasty.

Karin's Week Thirty-Five Recipe: Beer Cookies

2010-10-01T22:24:00.008-05:00

I wanted to try these cookies after a coworker of mine told me he and his wife made them and they were tasty. Beer cookies, hmmm. Instead of leavening they use the carbonation and yeast in the beer. This I had to see. So I told Nate he had to buy some beer, and off we went.

Beer Cookies

1.5 c regular flour
0.5 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c butter
1 bottle room temperature beer (I used an Ale Asylum Porter)
1/2 c chopped walnuts or chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together. Cut in dry ingredients and nuts or chips. Blend in beer slowly until dough is consistency of drop cookie dough. Drop by teaspoonfuls on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Cool on pan for 1 minute, then cool on rack.

Results: These cookies don't spread out at all! They make strangely puffy small cookies. We used both pecans and chocolate chips in the cookies. Nate liked them, as they weren't crumbly, and the guys I work with voted for them to come back to work again. The beer flavor definitely comes through. I don't think I'd make these again, as I have much tastier cookie recipes, but they were fun to try.

Karin's Week Thirty-Eight Recipe: Pecan Cranberry Biscotti

2010-10-01T22:24:00.007-05:00

This recipe came from one of Nate's cookbooks: The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook. Most of you know how I feel about Martha, but I was looking for a biscotti recipe to make for Nate and I had all of the ingredients on hand in the pantry. And Nate really really likes biscotti - usually my mom makes them for him, but I thought I'd give it a try.

Pecan Cranberry Biscotti

1 1/2c toasted pecan halves (10min at 350 will toast them nicely)
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4c sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt ( I went with 2 turns of the salt grinder)
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1c dried cranberries
zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350deg. Line a baking sheet with parchment for later. Chop 1/2 the pecans and leave the rest in halves; set aside.

In mixing bowl, combine baking powder, flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and the egg yolks with the vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients; mix on medium low until a sticky dough is formed. Stir in pecans, cranberries and zest.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and sprinkle with more flour; knead slightly. The dough will be VERY sticky at this point. Shape into 2 9x3.5in logs and place onto parchment covered pan. Bake for 30 min. Remove from oven and cool for 15 min. Reduce heat to 275deg. Slice logs of dough diagonally into 1/2 in pieces. Place cut-side down onto parchment. Return to oven and bake for 20min. Turn over pieces and bake for 20 min more. Remove biscotti to wire rack to cool.

Result: Yum! I may need to make another batch before my mom and grandma visit . The recipe says they will last in an air-tight container for several weeks. I will be lucky to get an entire week out of them. Meaning they will all be eaten of course. Maybe biscotti aren't as hard as I thought...

Karin's Week Thirty-Seven Recipe: Slow Cooked Pork Roast

2010-10-01T22:24:00.006-05:00

This was the result of having a giant hunk of pork to cook, as well as needing to spend the day working outside in the yard. I adapted a recipe that Cheyenne had given me to what I had on hand in the house.

Slow Cooked Pork Roast

1 3-5lb pork roast
cranberry juice
3 bay leaves
ground cardamom
ground black pepper

This recipe can be made with either a frozen piece of pork, or a thawed. If you have a thawed piece, reduce all cooking times in half and cook on High.

Place pork roast into crockpot. Add cranberry juice until juice is approximately halfway up the side of the roast. Place top on crockpot and cook on Low for about 5 hrs. Remove pork and shred using meat forks. Place meat back into crockpot, adding bay leaves, cardamom, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Cook for another 4hrs on Low. Serve with bbq sauce of your choice.

The original recipe calls for mixing in applesauce at the halfway point as well, but sweet and meat are not allowed in my household.

I would make this again as it's very easy to do. You just set it up and then forget about it. I had enough to have leftovers for the next few days, as well as some to freeze for later. The juice kept the meat moist and juicy and also gave it a nice flavor. I didn't use any bbq sauce with mine as I didn't think it was too sweet.

Karin's Week Thirty-Six Recipes: Sausage & Herb Risotto with Strawberry Trifle

2010-10-01T22:24:00.005-05:00

This set of recipes came out of a competition I signed up for at work: Titanium Chef. The goal was to cook a dinner entree and a dessert for 4 people...in 30min and using only a 2 burner Coleman camp stove. Additional restrictions included: all ingredients had to be OK to eat after 24hr with no refrigeration or cooler, nothing could be in glass containers, and all utensils had to be things you might actually take on a camping trip. I was cooking against 2 guys at the same time.

In an effort to try and actually cook something rather substantial and easy I decided to cook Sausage & Herb Risotto and what I called a Strawberry Trifle. This is mostly because during my practice run I couldn't get a Strawberry Tart made.

Sausage & Herb Risotto

1 1/3c arborio rice
1 carton Swanson's Chicken Broth
3 precooked Italian sausages (bratwurst-sized)
1 cardboard container white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2T olive oil
2T butter
2 cloves garlic, pushed through a garlic press
Penzey's Tuscan Sunset seasoning
4T fresh parsley, chopped

Start both burners on stove to flaming hot. Pour 1/3 of chicken stock into saucepan and start to bring to simmer. Heat butter and oil in large frying pan until butter is melted. Saute onion and garlic in oils. Add 1/3 more chicken stock to saucepan. Stir rice into oils until rice becomes slightly translucent. Add 1 ladleful of stock to rice and stir thoroughly. Add remaining stock to saucepan. Pour approximately 1/2c of wine into frying pan with rice and stir. By now stock should be boiling. Continue to stir rice. As liquid is absorbed and 1-2 ladlefuls of stock to rice. About 1/2 through cooking time, add another 1/2 c of wine into rice. When the last ladleful of stock is added to rice, slice sausages into bite-sized chunks and add to pan. Add in approximately 1/4c of Tuscan Sunset - or to taste. I put in ALOT and it smelled great. Heat through. Remove pan from heat and add parsley. Stir to combine and serve with parsley for garnish.

Strawberry Trifle

1 - 16oz container fresh strawberries
1 - 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c sugar, divided
40 Nilla wafers

Slice strawberries and place into ziploc baggie with 1/2c of sugar. Zip closed. Smash strawberries between fingers to mix with sugar. Set aside. Meanwhile, crush Nilla wafers into small pieces and crumbs in separate baggie. Set aside. Mix cream cheese and remaining 1/2 c sugar in small bowl.

To assemble: Place a small handful of crushed Nilla wafers in bowl. Add a large dollop of cream cheese mixture. Top with strawberry mixture and juice.

The outcome? I came in 2nd by 0.5pts. Final score was 119.5, 119, and 105. However, during the taste-testing, both of my dishes were eaten up rapidly. And I did get the 'easy to replicate on your own' award. Several people in the audience said they hadn't thought of ever trying to make a risotto while camping, but as it was so filling, they're going to try now. On a side note, the trifle was originally supposed to be a tart with a cookie crust, but I couldn't get the crust to hold together during my test run - hence the trifle. I would definitely make this again, and if you come camping with me you might get to taste it too!

Jennifer's Week Thirty-Eight Recipe: I Need To Use These Green Peppers Stir Fry

2010-10-01T17:58:00.002-05:00

As the recipe says, I had peppers to use and needed to use them fast before they would be No Good. And I figured that stir-fry is always tasty and easy to make (even though I do not have a wok... yet!), so I came up with the following recipe.

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 bunch broccoli florets

2 green peppers, sliced thin

1 can water chestnuts, drained of liquid

Low-sodium soy sauce

Low-sodium teriyaki sauce

Hoisin sauce

Garlic powder

Worcestershire sauce

Sesame oil

Peanut oil

Cut the chicken into thin strips and place in a zip bag. Pour in a mixture of soy, teriyaki, hoisin and Worcestershire to coat the chicken. Let marinade for 1/2 hour or longer.

Heat the peanut oil in wok or pan (enough to coat the pan nicely). When the oil is hot, add the chicken. Once the chicken mostly cooked, add the broccoli, peppers and water chestnuts. Add more oil if needed. When the vegetables are nearly done, add the sauces (soy, teriyaki and hoisin), sesame oil and garlic powder to taste.

Serve with rice or Asian noodles of your choice.

Would I make this again? Yes. Chad approved. Erik seems to be going through a phase that any new food I make is "yucky" and "makes me feel sick" but then promptly asks for dessert or more of a part of the meal (like the cantaloupe today) that he loves. Nope. Mama ain't playin' that game!

Chris's BONUS Week Thirty-Nine Recipe: Roasted Parsnips & Carrots with Mint & Sage

2010-10-01T08:49:00.004-05:00

Once again, valiant young Erica B. agreed to come over and participate in one of my blog-induced culinary experiments. Her courage is enough to make a person weep!

Ok, so this is my second recipe for week thirty-nine and I could have spared Erica, but as it turns out, she's a big fan of parsnips. I wasn't actually sure whether I was or not. I'm sure I've had parsnips in some soup or another, but I don't recall every actually eating them on their own. When I saw a nice bunch at the farmer's market a couple weeks ago I couldn't resist. I did, however, add carrots to this recipe just in case....

Roasted Parsnips & Carrots with Mint & Sage

6 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into sticks

6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into sticks

2 T olive oil

2 T honey

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t kosher salt

ground black pepper

2 T chopped fresh mint

2 T chopped fresh sage

Whisk together the olive oil and honey. (This won't be a perfect mixture, but do what you can.) Place the parsnips and carrots in a large bowl, add the oil & honey mixture, minced garlic, salt and black pepper. Toss to coat. Roast in a 450F oven for 30 min. Put the veggies back into a mixing bowl, add the chopped mint & sage, and toss.

Would I make this recipe again? Yes! Erica and I polished off the lot and I wished I would have had some for leftovers. Come to think of it, I still have a few parsnips in the fridge....

Jennifer's Week Thirty-Seven Recipe - Erik Approved Super Yum Yum Apple Sauce

2010-09-28T19:29:00.003-05:00

Chad named this recipe.

I had a bag of apples from the farmer's market sitting in the fridge and I needed to do something with them. I thought about making another pie, but after how frustrating the crust was the last time, I decided to do something else. I did a little research to see what people put in their applesauce and then said "That's easy!" So I made applesauce.

Erik Approved Super Yum Yum Apple Sauce

12 Macintosh apples, cored, peeled and chopped

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups water

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Throw all of the above ingredients into a pot over medium heat and cover. Cook until the apples mush with a fork or potato masher. Serve warm since that is the best way to have apple sauce.

This was also Chad approved. We had it tonight with pork chops (apple sauce on the side, since Chad thinks that fruit+meat=unmanly). My guys ate it up! 12 apples went in and I think there is enough applesauce left that would equate 2 or 3 apples. Chad also told me that my apple sauce "tastes like fall."

Chris's Week Thirty-Nine Recipe: Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese ala Alton Brown

2010-09-27T18:55:00.005-05:00

It all started with a terrible craving for macaroni and cheese combined with the desire to find a new blog recipe for this week. So I started thinking.... I've made boxed macaroni & cheese. I've made baked macaroni and cheese. I've even made cheater's macaroni and cheese where you toss butter and shredded cheese on the noodles and hope for the best. But I've never actually made my own stove top macaroni and cheese. Where to find a recipe...?

Alton Brown to the rescue!

I tweaked the seasonings slightly - less salt, more hot sauce, but the real difference is in the Mac:Cheese ratio. I like lots of noodles with a modest amount of sauce, so I doubled the amount of pasta. This really would have been cheesy otherwise!

Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese ala Alton Brown

1 pound whole wheat rotini

4 T butter

2 eggs

6 oz evaporated milk

1 t hot sauce

1/2 t kosher salt

freshly-ground black pepper (in the sauce or added later - you're choice!)

3/4 t dried mustard

10 oz sharp cheddar, grated

Cook the pasta al dente or slightly past that point if desired. Drain. Return to the pot and add the butter. Toss to coat. Whisk together the eggs, milk, and seasonings. Stir into the pasta and add the grated cheese. Continue to stir over low heat for about three minutes or until creamy.

Would I make this recipe again? It's definitely Good Eats!

Chris's Week Thirty-Eight Recipe: Squash-Bacon Medley

2010-09-19T14:14:00.002-05:00

I'm still working my way through my cookbooks to see if I can get a recipe out of each of them by the end of the year (or if they'll be heading to the library book sale!). This week's recipe has its origins in Pumpkin, a Super Food for All 12 Months of the Year by DeeDee Stovel. The original recipe, which I'm certainly going to try sometime, is Pumpkin-Turkey Medley. I decided to substitute squash and bacon since that's what I had on hand.

This hotdish definitely takes a little prep. Yesterday I cooked the bacon, roasted the squash, and cut up some old bread for croutons so I could bake the casserole today.

Squash-Bacon Medley

1 large acorn squash, roasted and mashed (2 cups)

2 c croutons (you can cut up old bread and let it sit out overnight)

1 T butter

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 t rubbed sage

1 t poultry seasoning

1/2 t salt

freshly-ground black pepper

1 c vegetable broth

8 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 c grated sharp Cheddar

Melt the butter in a large skillet and saute the onions until tender and slightly brown. Stir in the seasonings and croutons and cook for about a minute. Add the vegetable broth, squash and bacon, stir and scoop into a greased 2 quart baking dish. Bake for 20 min at 350F. Sprinkle the Cheddar cheese on top and bake for another 5-10 min until the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbly.

Would I make this recipe again? Oh yes! And I want to try this with turkey, too. The original recipe calls for 2-3 cups cubed, cooked turkey, and I think you'll need something bigger than a 2 qt baking dish as mine was pretty full with only about a cup of meat.

Chris's Week Thirty-Seven Recipe: Quick Refried Beans

2010-09-17T18:46:00.003-05:00

I have some tortilla chips that need to be eaten and I realized this afternoon that I've never made refried beans. This recipe is a mash-up (pun intended) of various recipes I examined in preparation for dinner.

Quick Refried Beans

1T garlic olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1-15 oz can pinto beans, drained, but not rinsed

Penzeys Chili 9000

Saute the minced garlic in the garlic olive oil until tender. Add the drained beans and stir with a wooden spoon, mashing the beans as you go along. Add water if you want a thinner consistency.

Serve with tortilla chips and, if you like, grated pepperjack cheese.

Would I make this recipe again? ¡Por cierto!

Jennifer's Week Thirty-Six Recipe - Eggplant Parmesan

2010-09-17T18:12:00.002-05:00

In my continuing quest to find vegetarian dishes for my guys, I made this dish for them this evening. Every once and a while I make a beef and eggplant pie that Chad just loves, so I decided to branch out using eggplant. I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com. I apologize for the editorial comments.

Eggplant Parmesan

3 eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced (I used 2 and that was plenty. More on that below.)

2 eggs, beaten (ok, this would have been no where near enough! I used 8 egg whites!)

4 cups Italian breadcrumbs (I used plain breadcrumbs since I had them on hand. I seasoned them with basil, rosemary, oregano, garlic, thyme and parsley. And I probably used more than 4 cups.)

6 cups of spaghetti sauce (I used a huge jar that was just over 7 cups.)

16oz shredded mozzarella cheese (Again, I used more since my guys love cheese)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (No idea how much I actually used since I took my Parmesan wedge to my Microplane)

1/2 tsp dried basil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

(Based on the suggestions of several reviewers of the recipe, I sweat the eggplant slices in a colander for 15-20 minutes before using them. What is meant by that - for those who may not know - is I layered the eggplant slices in the colander, sprinkling a generous amount of salt over each layer. After the appropriate period of time has passed, I rinsed the slices well under cold water and then patted them dry with paper towel.)

Dip the eggplant slices in egg, then the bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet ("a baking sheet"?! It took 3!). Bake in the over for 5 minutes on each side. (I just waited until they started to brown on top without turning them. Trying to keep a six-year-old, a dog and kitten in line while cooking means that I skipped this not completely necessary step!)

In a 9x13 baking dish, spread a layer of the pasta sauce followed by a layer of eggplant, then the cheese. Repeat this until all the ingredients are used, ending with the cheeses. Sprinkle the basil on top. (This results in a dish that weighs about 20 pounds when you go to move it to the oven.)

Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

(I also served it with pasta.)

Would I make this again? Yes. And invite everyone I know over to eat it since it makes a TON of food. Stupid me did not notice the "Servings: 10" until after I started to make it. Also, getting the slices thin is important (and uniform would also be a good thing). This is the first dish where I seriously considered buying a mandolin. Chad and Erik both complained about chewing and yes, some of the pieces of eggplant were chewy - because they were too thick. (And if they ate instead of inhaled, this may not be such an issue) Overall, they liked it, but next time I will at least halve the recipe and try to cut the eggplant more uniformly.

Jennifer's Week Thirty-Five Recipe: Granny's Apple Pie

2010-09-14T14:22:00.003-05:00

I know I'm a bit behind in posting on the blog, but this week will see some catching up. Now that Erik is back in school I have more time to do some recipe research. Hooray!

This recipe is one that I have been meaning to make for years: my grandmother's apple pie. Yum!

Granny's Apple Pie

Crust (makes a top and bottom crust)

1 Crisco bar - butter flavor

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Mix the Crisco, flour and salt together. Gradually add water until a nice dough ball has formed (not sticky). Roll out the dough to make the top and bottom crusts.

Filling

1 1/2 to 2 pounds of Macintosh apples, peeled and sliced thin

2/3 to 1 cup sugar (depends on the tartness of the apples)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbs flour

Gently toss the apples with the sugar, cinnamon and flour to coat. Assemble the pie, making sure to have holes for venting. Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes (until crust is a nice golden color). The apples will bake down substantially.

Would I make this again? Yes. I need to. The crust is tricky to get right (I was warned about this), although with the short ingredient list, you would not think that would be the case. While it was very close to the flaky texture my grandmother achieves, it still was not right. And I must get it right.

Tricia's Week 36 Recipe: Pizza Tacos

2010-09-13T11:39:00.000-05:00

I was in a bit of a conundrum. I had left-over pizza sauce, left over italian sausage (from making sausage for pizza), and a jalepeno and bell pepper from the garden. I took a look around my house and found enough ingredients to try making pizza tacos.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb mild italian sausage
1 jalepeno
1 bell pepper (red in this case)
crushed red pepper and Essence seasoning, to taste
left-over pizza sauce (about 1 tbsp per taco)
shredded sharp cheddar and jalepeno-jack cheeses
soft taco shells (could use hard shells, but we only had soft)

Directions:
Brown sausage with seasonings in pan. When close to done, add chopped up jalepeno and bell pepper. Drain meat. Meanwhile, warm soft shells in microwave. Also warm pizza sauce. Place shell on plate, add pizza sauce to bottom as though making pizza. Spoon on meat mixture, top with cheeses. Roll and enjoy!

A very easy recipe, but surprisingly yummy! I don't know if I'd go out of my way to make it again, but it was a great way to use up the leftovers in a way I haven't tried before.

Now I just have to find something to do with the 15 tomatoes, 12 jalapenos, 2 bell peppers, random zucchinis and cucumbers that are left in my garden. I think I feel some salsa coming on!

Chris's Week Thirty-Six Recipe: Chocolate Banana Bread

2010-09-11T13:57:00.002-05:00

Three over-ripe bananas nestled in my kitchen basket next to a couple of winter squash. As I walked past, they cast up a slightly reproachful glance as if to say, "You're going to throw us away, aren't you?"

Heaven forfend! Doing a quick search, I came up with this recipe for chocolate banana bread. I halved the recipe and gave it the usual 'slightly healthier' tweaks like olive oil instead of margarine, turbinado instead of white sugar, and whole wheat instead of all-purpose flour.

What's that? I forgot to cut the amount of cocoa powder in half? No, I didn't forget....

Chocolate Banana Bread

6 T olive oil

1 c turbinado sugar

2 eggs

3 bananas, mashed

1 t vanilla

1.5 c whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/2 c yogurt

1 c walnut halves

Beat the eggs and mix in the olive oil, vanilla, sugar and bananas. Fold in the dry ingredients, then mix in the yogurt and walnuts. Bake at 350F for 50 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Would I make this recipe again? Definitely! The original recipe calls for chocolate chips instead of walnuts, but I like the crunch of the nuts. If you're making this for my mother, don't forget to chop the nuts first!

Guest Recipe from Nate: Artisan Bread

2010-09-09T11:01:00.001-05:00

I know, you're thinking that this recipe would somehow involve meat. Surprise! It doesn't. Amazingly enough, my wonderful husband likes good bread when served alongside his favorite meat. He particularly likes the sourdough types which can be hard to find in our tiny grocery. After discussing this fact the other night, he decided to take it upon himself to learn how to bake a nice sourdough boule. I have a book on baking bread entitled, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, that has the premise of mix the dough up once for up to 4 loaves of bread in a week. Each loaf is a bit more sour than the one before. With a bit of apprehension as to how my kitchen was going to look after this experiment, I left him to it.

Artisan Bread (Master Recipe)

3 c lukewarm water
1 1/2 T granulated yeast (1.5 packets)
1 1/12 T kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 c unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measure with the scoop & sweep method
Cornmeal for pizza peel

Pour warm water into 5-qt mixing bowl (I had him use the one on the Kitchen-Aid). Add yeast and salt to water; don't worry about dissolving it. Mix in the flour, adding it all at once (this is where the apprehension of kitchen condition came in). Mix with dough-hook, but don't knead!! until mixture is uniform. This will yield a very wet dough. Cover with a lid (not airtight) that fits reasonably well (he used a pot lid for a 10-in pan).

Allow mixture to rise at room temp until it begins to collapse or flatten on the top, approximately 2 hours. In our house, this took longer, as it was chilly. Refrigerate dough overnight. Dough can stay in fridge for up to 2 weeks with no problems.

On baking day, sprinkle a pizza peel liberally with cornmeal. Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with some flour. Pull up and cut off a 1-lb piece about the size of a grapefruit. Add more flour as needed so that it doesn't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of your dough around each side to the bottom so that you have a rounded loaf. Place ball of dough on pizza peel and let it rest for 40min.

20 min before baking, turn oven on to 450deg with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Put an empty broiler pan on the bottom shelf. After resting, dust loaf with flour and slash top of loaf with knife about 1/4in deep. When oven has been heating for 20 min, with a quick jerk, slide loaf off of pizza peel onto baking stone in oven. Quickly pour about 1 cup hot tap water into the broiler tray and close oven door to trap steam. Bake for about 30min. Cool on wire rack.

Results of this experiment were very tasty, and my kitchen survived. Bread had a nice crust and was soft and chewy inside. Nate's since made another loaf that was even a bit more sour. I think he might try some of the variations in the book next time. Now we just have to figure out where to store the dough in the fridge!

Karin's Week Thirty-Four Recipe: Linguine ai Gamberi

2010-09-08T23:12:00.000-05:00

This week was pretty busy for me, so Nate stepped up and picked a recipe to be our trial recipe for the week. It needed to quick and filling. He chose a recipe of Linguine with Shrimp, from Cucina Rustica, as we had most of the ingredients on hand.

Linguine ai Gamberi

1/4 c EVOO
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes, or to taste
3 lb tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, ~ 4.5 cups
1 c dry white wine (we used Wollersheim Prairie Fume)
15 fresh medium basil leaves, roughly chopped (or 1 T dried Penzeys basil)
1/2 c chopped Italian parsley (or about 3-4 T dried Penzeys parsley)
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lb linguine, or other long pasta

Heat EVOO in 10-12 inch skillet over low heat. Add the garlic and red chile pepper flakes to the oil and stir. Lightly saute the garlic until it gives off its garlicky aroma. Add the tomatoes and wine to the skillet. Cover and cook the tomatoes over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until they begin to break down. Add the basil and the parsley. Stir frequently and continue cooking over moderate heat, cover removed, approximately 10-15 minutes until a sauce is formed. Add the shrimp to the sauce and cook over high heat just until shrimp are pink.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain pasta and add to the skillet with the sauce. Toss pasta with sauce over high heat so that the pasta begins to absorb some of the sauce.

This turned out excellent. Another recipe to use my ever present frozen shrimp in! I was a bit worried with the amount of red pepper flakes that went in to it, but it wasn't super spicy. It did get a bit spicier as leftovers. Both of us liked this recipe quite a bit, and I can see it becoming a quick winter staple.

Karin's Week Thirty-Three Recipe: Scalloppine di Pollo con Salsa Cruda

2010-09-08T22:46:00.000-05:00

Being slightly bored with the normal options for cooking chicken breasts, I decided to try something a bit different - a chicken scaloppine. I've had this type of dish at restaurants, but never tried to make it myself. The recipe is from Cucina Rustica - Herbed Chicken Scallops with Tomato and Arugula Salad.

Scaloppine di Pollo con Salsa Cruda

2 whole chicken breasts, boned, skinned and split
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1 T fresh rosemary (or about 1.5 T dried Penzey's Rosemary)
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil for frying
5-6 Roma tomatoes (I used some yellow ones that I had canned)
1/4 cup chopped arugula
2 T EVOO
Lemon juice

Pound chicken breasts to flatten slightly. Beat eggs in a small shallow bowl. Mix bread crumbs, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste in larger bowl. Pour enough olive oil in a medium-sized frying pan to measure 1/4 inch up the side of the pan. Heat oil until hot, but not smoking. Dip the chicken breasts in the beaten egg and let the excess drain off. Coat with bread crumbs, shaking off the excess. Saute chicken in olive oil until golden on both sides, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and let drain. Combine the tomatoes and arugula with the EVOO and arrange on plate. Top with chicken breasts and serve.

I liked this recipe quite a bit. Nate liked the flavor and crust on the chicken but said the yellow tomatoes were too sweet for his liking, and he could have used a bit more substantial side dish. I think I'm going to try this again for the chicken, as it was a light crust that was very flavorful.

Karin's Week Thirty-Two Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Risotto

2010-09-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

This recipe is an adaptation from a risotto recipe for roasted vegetables from my Risotto cookbook. It has only red peppers because that was the vegetable that I found, and it was already roasted.

Roasted Red Pepper Risotto

1 16oz jar roasted red peppers with juice
~5 c chicken stock
1T olive oil
3T butter
1 small onion, chopped
generous 1 3/8 risotto rice
1/2 - 3/4 c grated Parmesan
2T random herbs

Drain red peppers and reserve juice. Place juice and enough chicken stock to make 5 cups total liquid into small pan. Heat until simmering.

Heat oil with 2T of the butter in a deep pan over medium heat until butter has melted. Add onion and cook until soft; do not brown. Reduce heat slightly, add rice and stir to coat rice. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes until grains are mostly translucent. Start adding hot stock 1 ladleful at a time. Stir constantly until liquid is absorbed before adding next ladleful. Increase heat so that liquid bubbles. Cook for about 15 minutes, then add the red peppers. Cook for another 5 minutes until rice is creamy.

Remove risottos from heat and add remaining 2T of butter. Mix well, then stir in cheese until it melts.Serve either as a main dish or with chicken or fish.

The risotto looked very pretty with the red peppers and ended up a bit pink due to the juice of the peppers, but ended up not being quite as creamy as other risottos I've made. Both Nate and I decided that it needed to have more liquid added and should cook a bit longer to make it more like we thought it should be. This amount of liquid made more of a crunchy rice. I might make this recipe again, but add more liquid than is called for.

Tricia's Week 35 Recipe: Ranch Roasted Pork Chops & Red Potatoes

2010-08-31T16:48:00.001-05:00

What happens when you combine summer farmer's markets with buy 1/get 1 sales at the local grocer? A good meat and potato recipe that is healthy and delicious! I adapted this recipe: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=293949 from SparkRecipes to the following:

Ranch Roasted Pork Chops & Red Potatoes

*4 boneless pork chops *400 grams red potatoes, cut to bitesize (8-9 small)...Um, I might have used a few more, I forgot to count *12 small farmers market carrots, peeled and cut to bite sized chunks *1 small garden purple pepper, chopped to bitesize *5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used 2 of chili olive oil and three of 'regular') *1 oz. pkt. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing & Seasoning Mix 1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350

1. Rinse and slice potatoes and carrots and pepper into bite-size chunks.
2. Mix olive oil and Ranch seasoning packet in a bowl.
3. Dip pork chops in olive oil mix to coat both sides and place in a 9x13 greased baking dish.
4. Put potatoes, pepper, and carrots into olive oil mix, shake to coat, and place around pork chops.
5. Add water and cover dish.

6. Bake at 350 covered for 40 - 45 minutes, then uncover and bake 15-20 minutes more, or until chops are cooked through and potatoes are tender inside.

I will definitely make this again. I happen to think I will add more veg, and perhaps try it in the slow cooker with a pork tenderloin. Maybe adding a few olives, some mushrooms, or parsnips or beets, or ... really, it's a great base recipe with low sodium that you can adjust depending on your protein and veg available.

Chris's Week Thirty-Five Recipe: Giant Mutant Carrot Cookie-Scones

2010-08-30T21:19:00.003-05:00

Jo came over yesterday and valiantly tried two new recipes. The brownies made with almond meal instead of flour were a total disaster. We tried a bit and then threw out the pan. I want you to be able to sleep nights, gentle readers, so I'm not going to post that recipe.

But the second venture, based on this recipe from Clemson University's extension service, turned out quite well. The original recipe was for monster carrot cookies, but I beefed it up a little until I achieved some sort of mutant cookie-scone.

Giant Mutant Carrot Cookie-Scones

6 T olive oil

1 c grated carrots

1 c honey

2 eggs, well-beaten

1 c raisins

2 c whole wheat flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t cinnamon

3 c Country Choice multigrain cereal (you could use oatmeal instead)

Mix together the olive oil, grated carrots, honey, eggs and raisins.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and multigrain cereal.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients and mix well.

Lightly oil (or spray) a large baking sheet and a #20 large scoop. Scoop generous portions of the batter onto the sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 350F for about 15 min or until starting to brown slightly on the edges.

Would I make this recipe again? Yes! These are great with tea or for breakfast. I especially like the fact you can actually taste the honey in this recipe. Thanks to Jo for being a brave taste tester!

Jennifer's Week Thirty-Four Recipe: Dr. Theophilus's Doctored Devil's Food Cake

2010-08-27T21:07:00.003-05:00

Someone made a comment to me that there was not enough chocolate on the blog. So, I decided to help fix that issue. The name of the original recipe was "Too Much Chocolate Cake". A voice in my head said "There is no such thing!" So, I changed the name.

Dr. Theophilus's Doctored Devil's Food Cake

1 (18.25oz) package of Devil's Food Cake mix

1 (5.70z) package of instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I just dumped a bag in. I figured it was close!)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12 cup (or larger) Bundt pan

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, eggs and water. When well combined, stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into the Bundt pan.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake thoroughly in the pan for an hour to an hour and a half (or 3 hours, because you got busy with other things and forgot about the cake despite how good your house smelled) before inverting it onto a plate. If desired, top with powdered sugar (or a chocolate glaze)

I think Dr. Theophilus would approve.

Jennifer's Week Thirty-Three Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

2010-08-27T20:54:00.003-05:00

I felt that it was time again for a slow cooker recipe and Rainbow had chicken breasts on sale, so I scoured the interwebs and found a recipe that met three criteria: 1. made in the slow cooker 2. used chicken breasts 3. My guys would eat it. And I found one! I doctored it a bit to kind of sort of make it my own.

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed

1/8 cup margarine

1 (.7oz) package dry Italian salad dressing mix

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

1 (10.75) can condensed cream of chicken soup

2 healthy dollops sour cream

A nice sprinkling of paprika

Cooked egg noodles for serving

Put the chicken, salad dressing mix and margarine in the slow cooker and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.

Add the rest of the ingredients (sans egg noodles) and mix well, cooking on high for another 30 minutes until heated through. Serve with egg noodles.

Would I make this again? Yes, the men loved it. However, I think I would reduce the amount of salad dressing mix by half. For me, it was a bit overwhelming.

Chris's BONUS Week Thirty-Four Recipe: Refrigerator Pickles

2010-08-27T20:52:00.002-05:00

My mom has a good basic recipe for refrigerator pickles that I'm going to share with you. I'll also share the variation I made this week. The proportions are roughly the same, and I had the fun of making my own pickle spice mix based on the list of ingredients from Penzey's pickle spice and whatever I could find in my cupboard!

Refrigerator Pickles

Mix together:

7 c cucumber, thinly sliced

1 c green pepper, thinly sliced

1 c onion, thinly sliced

Sprinkle with:

2 T salt

1 t celery seed

Mix well. Stir together:

2 c sugar

1 c vinegar

and pour over the vegetables. Put in container & cover. Shake the container occasionally. This will keep about a month in the fridge.

Chris's Refrigerator Pickles

Mix together:

2 c cucumber, thinly sliced (2 small cucumbers)

1/3 c banana pepper, thinly sliced (1 banana pepper)

1/3 c onion, thinly sliced

Sprinkle with the following homemade pickle spice mixture:

1/2 t salt

2 slices dried ginger, cracked

1/2 cinnamon stick (smack it to pieces!)

1 bay leaf, cracked

6 peppercorns

2 cloves

2 pinches dill seed

Mix well. Stir together:

2/3 c agave nectar

1/3 c vinegar

and pour over the vegetables. Put in container & cover. Shake the container occasionally. This should keep about a month in the fridge. Note: the pickles taste better after they've had a day or so to think about themselves.

Would I make this recipe again? Yes, I would! At first I thought I'd put in too much agave nectar, but you really have to let this sit around for a day or two before you pass judgement. As it is, I'll certainly be nabbing more cucumbers for another batch.

Guest Recipe from Judy: Bolognaise Sauce

2010-08-27T20:48:00.002-05:00

I haven't tried this sauce myself, but Judy declares it to be her speciality! She's sent along these guidelines for aspiring Italian chefs.

Judy's Bolognaise Sauce

3 lb lean hamburger - browned & drained
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 precious bag of delicious frozen concentrated tomatoes saved from the previous summer's harvest
1 can of your favorite spaghetti sauce
whatever herbs you have on hand you want to throw in
salt & pepper to taste

Simmer for 3-4 hours.

Guest Recipe from Judy: Mrs. Field's Coffee Cake

2010-08-27T20:44:00.002-05:00

Another recipe that I asked Judy to send to me! Again, she uses less sugar than stated in the recipe, especially in the crumbled topping. There are fewer directions here, but I think you can extrapolate!

Mrs. Fields' Coffee Cake

1 stick (1/2 c) butter, softened

1 c sugar

3 eggs

2 c flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 c sour cream

dash salt

Transfer mixture to a 9" spring form pan.

Drizzle over the top and cut in:

2 T butter

1 T sugar

1 T brown sugar

Crumble on top:

1 c nuts

1 c brown sugar

1 stick (1/2 c) butter

1 t cinnamon

Bake at 350F for 30 min or until done.

Guest Recipe from Judy: Banana Bars

2010-08-27T20:39:00.002-05:00

Judy brought these to work one day and they were so good that I solicited the recipe for the blog. She says she always puts in less sugar - at least 1/2 cup in the bars. She also starts with lower sugar in the icing and works her way up to a level found acceptable by her husband and children!

Banana Bars

1/2 c butter, softened

2 c sugar

3 eggs

1.5 c mashed bananas (3)

1 t vanilla

2 c flour

1 t baking soda

pinch salt

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Pour in a greased 15x10" pan. Bake at 350F for 25 min or until done.

Frosting

1/2 c butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese

3 c powdered sugar

2 t vanilla

Allow the bars to cool, then cream together butter and cream cheese. Gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well. Spread over bars.

Tricia's Week 34 Recipe: Taco Pizza

2010-08-24T22:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've posted pizza recipe before. No, this is not cheating. Why? Because I was trying for a quick, slightly less calorie pizza option.

Taco Pizza

1 Pillsbury thin pizza crust
1 lb ground turkey
taco seasoning
1/3-1/2 cup salsa (medium or hot)
1/3-1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup red pepper
1 jalapeño
1-2 cups mozzarella cheese
1-2 handfulls lettuce
1 small tomato, diced
1-2 handfulls taco chips or shells, crunched
olives, sliced and black
sour cream

Cook and drain ground turkey and make into taco turkey according to directions on taco mix. set aside. Open pizza crust and spread on cookie sheet or pizza baking pan. Bake according to directions for 5 minutes and pull out of oven (I think at 400 degrees). Let cool for 1 minute. Mix salsa and pizza sauce together and coat on crust. add cut up red pepper and jalapeño. Add all of meat. Top with cheese (I say 1-2 cup b/c I grab handfuls from bag until it looks right and have BIG bag mozzarella at home. You do want to go lighter on the cheese than you normally would for a pizza. Put back in oven and cook about 11 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. Remove from oven. **Note, for the next topping instructions, you can choose to top the whole pizza, or if like us you will only end up eating maybe half, you can cut the pizza first and just top the slices you intend to eat. Up to you ** Top pizza or slices with lettuce, tomato, olives, crunched shells and sour cream to taste. Eat.

I will be making taco pizza again! The ground turkey instead of ground beef was a winner. The Pillsbury pizza crust wasn't. It never became crispy in the middle, and we despise soggy thin crust. It might work OK on a regular Pillsbury rising pizza crust. I guess we just like my homemade crust recipe too much, so we'll make it on that next time. Also, the jalapeño was sooooo hot, the bites with it overpowered everything else. I will either need to chop it up better next time, or leave it off when they get that hot from the garden.

Tricia's Week 33 Recipe: Apple Pie with homemade pie crust

2010-08-24T22:42:00.000-05:00

Have you tried the new apple from the University of Minnesota? It tastes like a sweet-tart! No kidding. Though it lends itself more to the tart than the sweet, so it's the perfect pie apple. It's also very crisp, and the nice man at the farmer's market told me it would stay 6-8 weeks in the crisper as crisp and juicy as when I bought them. Score! I've made plenty of apple pies in my day, but never have I made the crust from scratch, so this week I bring you Tricia's Home Made Pie crust (and apple pie recipe).

Pie Crust (Adapted from cookbook that came with my mixer):
2 - 2/14 cups flour (I used unbleached)
3/4 teaspoon salt (I approximated)
1/2 cup (one stick) plus 2 tablespoons butter, well chilled
5-6 tablespoons cold water

Place flour and salt in mixer (yes, I used the kitchen aide mixer and this recipe is adapted from their cookbook), add cold butter, cut into small chunks, and mix until butter is size of small peas. If you don't have a kitchen aide mixer, use a pastry cutter and cut in the butter to the flour. Add water one tbsp at a time until all flour is moistened and dough begins to hold together. Place two sheets cling wrap on counter, pour half dough on each, and wrap up into tight little balls and put in fridge for 15 minutes. Make pie filling during this time. Then take out from fridge and roll between two pieces wax paper.

Apple Pie (Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook)
5-6 Apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks (about 6 cups)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tbsp apple pie spice (which can be garnered from the St. Paul Farmer's Market from a nice vendor, and is delicious)
dash salt

Place first crust into pie pan, fill, cover with second pie crust. Flute and cut slits. Bake at 425 for 40-50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice is bubbly.

Delicious! I like this crust. It uses a little less butter/shortening/lard than other crust recipes I've seen (which of course makes it a bit harder to roll out. Mine wasn't round, and didn't hold together really well, but it tasted good. Looks come second, right?!) I also think my water wasn't quite as cold as it could have been, and maybe I could have used one more tbsp. Darn, I have to try again! The filling is delicious, I've been making it this way for a while now. I pick a tart apple based on what is at the farmer's market or what I'v picked up off the ground at my parent's property. I'll definitely be trying this again!

Tricia's Week 32 Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Salad

2010-08-24T22:27:00.000-05:00

I love to eat spicy food, especially anything with buffalo sauce on it. I eat buffalo chicken salad at restaurants, so I thought to myself, it can't be that hard to make at home. Right?

Buffalo Chicken Salad
6 small chicken strips/nuggets
Franks Buffalo Sauce
your favorite greens
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
1 radish (optional)
Lite Ranch Dressing (or 'real', you choose)

Coat strips/nuggets in sauce, cook according to package directions (mine said 375 for 18ish minutes, I went a bit longer b/c of the sauce). Meanwhile, clean greens, celery, carrot and radish, and chop all in salad fashion. For me this means 1/2 inch pieces. Place greens and veg into a bowl. When strips are done, cut into bite size pieces and place on salad. drizzle salad with more Franks sauce, and serve w/ ranch dressing on the side.

I will be making this again, whee - loved it! I think I will dunk the nuggets/strips after cooking, because they didn't crisp up this way, but other than that the salad was a winner. One could also be healthier and cook a chicken breast and then coat in the Franks sauce.

Chris's Week Thirty-Four Recipe: Boiled Maize Pudding

2010-08-24T17:58:00.002-05:00

I discovered a neat website last night: Feeding America. It's a digitized collection of old American cookbooks from the 18th to the early 20th century. I decided to try a recipe from The Complete Cook, published in 1864:

Boiled Maize Pudding

Stir Indian meal and warm milk together "pretty stiff;" a little salt and two or three "great spoonfuls" of molasses added; also a spoonful of ginger, or any other spice that may be preferred. Boil it in a tightly-covered pan, or in a very thick cloth; if the water gets in, it will ruin it. Leave plenty of room for Indian meal swells very much. The milk with which it is mixed should be merely warmed; if it be scalding hot, the pudding will break to pieces. Some chop suet very fine and warm in the milk; others warm thin slices of apple to be stirred into the pudding. Water will answer instead of milk.

This I translated to:

Mix together:

generous 1/2 c medium grind cornmeal

pinch salt

1/4 t ginger

6 T milk

generous tablespoon of dark molasses

Boil in a double boiler about 10 minutes or until the pudding is set.

Would I try this recipe again? I think I'll have to, just so I can see if I can get it to work right. The pudding was very 'dry' at the end of 10 minutes although the corn meal had softened to what I consider an acceptable level (sort of a cornmeal al dente). I think I needed to add more liquid content to begin with.