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Sunday, April 26, 2009
Busy Mom Chicken Recipes from Christine and Pine Nut Parmesan Chicken from Me
Monday, April 20, 2009
This Week's Guest Blogger is ...Emily!
Snickerdoodles 1 cup butter softened 1 1/2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 3/4 cups flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt Preheat oven to 400F. Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Blend in flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. I make pretty big balls because I think little cookies are dumb. Then I just eat more of them! So roll the ball in cinnamon and sugar. I use a lot of cinnamon because I like it. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Mine usually take 9 minutes. I saw you already made a carrot cake, but mine is a little different so here it is. I made carrot cake around Halloween so I colored the icing orange and put brown sprinkles on top. Carrot Cake. Cake ingredients: 4 eggs 1 1/4 cup veg. oil 2 cups white sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 3 cups grated carrots 1 cup pecans Heat oven to 350F. Grease 9x13 pan. Beat eggs, oil, white sugar, and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in carrots and pecans. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and then take out of the pan if you want. Frosting Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, softened 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 4 cups confectioners sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup pecans Combine everything except pecans and beat until smooth. Stir in pecans. Pasta - Emily's Way
I also have a really simple pasta I make a lot, but don't really have a name for, nor do I know if anybody else would like it because I only make it for myself, so I would suggest you try it first...
So I usually use shell pasta and cook it and then add whatever fresh ingredients I have. Some past ingredients have been cherry tomatoes, arugula, fresh basil, or spinach. I always have tomatoes and usually add something green whatever I happen to have, but the key is to add the ingredients right after the pasta cooks so they are only half cooked. Then I add goat cheese and let it melt. Then I add salt and pepper until it tastes good. It's probably the easiest thing ever and probably not Feast-worthy but I like ;) I'll take a picture the next time I make it.
By the way I made the bacon wrapped chicken one night for Tom and I and we both liked it a lot. Emily
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tomato White Bean Soup
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter Scalloped Potatoes from Colleen
Our friend, Alexis, came for Easter dinner and brought her potatoes and they are delicious, so I thought I would forward. I believe the difference is in the leeks and the Yukon golds. We had them with a Honey Baked Ham, grilled vegetables (peppers, asparagus, scallions and zucchini), pumpkin bread, salad, some of LMR's pear jam, and chocolate mousse. Oh My! --- Colleen
Scalloped Potatoes
(From Colleen's Friend - Easter 2009)
8 servings
--prep 30 minutes (really more like 45)
--cook 30 minutes
--bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes (this is flexible)
Potatoes:
3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes peeled and 1/4 inch slice
2 tsp salt
Sauce:
1/4 C butter (or half with olive oil)
1 clove garlic grated
1-2 leeks trimmed and chopped (about 2 c chopped)
1/4 C flour
3 C chicken broth (with 1-2 TBS Better Than Bullion for flavor) or replace some chicken broth with sherry to taste
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper (or black)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
8 oz. grated cheddar (or whatever cheese 4 cheese Mexican is nice too)
How To:
-Boil sliced potatoes for 6-8 minutes until they just barely bend rinse with cold water...this is the part the separates the men from the boys.
-Make the sauce -- in a saucepan melt butter saute leeks and garlic in butter/oil until soft
-Stir in flour to make a stiff paste
-Whisk in chicken broth until smooth
-Add pepper and cayenne
-Stir until it thickens
-Add 1/2 the cheese
-Spray a pan with oil
-Put potatoes in one layer
-Pour some sauce
-Sprinkle some cheese
-Repeat until the pan is full and the potatoes and sauce are gone
At this point if you want to you can cover and put in the fridge overnight. Or you can bake immediately at 375 degrees. (If you're taking the dish cold from the fridge, put it in the oven while it heats.)
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
You can vary this recipe by replacing 1/2 the chicken broth with milk... you can also add curry to the sauce... and whatever to add flavor... think of it as a blank canvas...
---Colleen
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Fajitas & Brown Rice by Tom
Barbara wanted to make me fajitas as a treat, but I was left with the job of actually making them. So I used my imagination and what resulted was a pretty good concoction of flavors. Here is what I did: I started with strip steaks and packaged fajita mix from the grocery store. Not sure of the brand, but probably Old El Paso, which is available in our area. Any fajita mix will work. The day before I started the marinade of the strip steaks. o Two half pound strip steaks as is out of the package. I used Angus beef. o One package of Old El Paso fajita mix – or equivalent o Tequila – probably ¾ of a cup o Lime juice – probably ¼ cup o Chopped garlic – about three cloves worth o Some ground red pepper o Some pepper o Some salt – not too much at this point o Some cayenne pepper – just a dash o A one gallon zip lock bag o Mix all of the ingredients in the bag and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Turn once the next morning. o Two hours before cooking. Cut the strip steak into ½ inch strips and put back into the marinade. Leave out to bring to room temperature before cooking. Now for the veggies: o I used three peppers (red, yellow & orange) and two onions (sweet Mayan) and one jalapeño pepper -Slice all the peppers into julienne strips -Thickly slice the onions and then cut in half; break up the onions so that they are in individual pieces o Time to cook. About an hour before starting the fajita mixture, I started cooking the rice. For this I used brown rice that takes about 45 minutes to cook. I followed the ingredients on the package plus my own special touch. To the water I added chopped garlic (about one tablespoon), cumin seed (1/2 teaspoon or so), cumin powder (probably about ¼ teaspoon), some salt, some ancho chili powder (¼ teaspoon). Cook until done. o Near the end of the rice cooking, I started cooking the peppers and the onions. Cook until softened in a large frying pan. Then I added the strip steaks without the liquid marinade. Don’t discard because you are going to dump it in in a few minutes. Cook the meat for maybe 5 minutes. The marinade has already pretty much “cooked” the meat, so you are really just warming it up. o Dump in the marinade and cook it down. It should virtually be gone when the dish is ready to serve. o I used wheat flour tortillas and warmed them in the microwave with a wet paper towel over them to keep them moist. o For fixings, Barbara made guacamole; we used Mexican shredded packaged cheese, and some fresh cilantro chopped slightly. o On to a platter for serving and eating. Enjoy!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Kahlua Cake, sent in by Jane, and My Messy Version of It
However, I don't have a cake mix on hand, nor do I have a car to go buy one since we are now sharing one, so I decided to try to create this cake, or a variation of it, using my pantry ingredients. (This is my definition of playing in the kitchen.) Worst case I could give it to the birds.
Here's the original recipe:
Kahlua Cake
A pass-along recipe from Jane's book group 2009
1 package yellow cake mix
1 package chocolate instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup Kahlua
1/3 cup Vodka
½ cup sugar
¾ cup water
¼ cup Kahlua
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
Preheat the oven to 350.
Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil in a bowl and beat until smooth.
Add 1/3 cup Kahlua, vodka, sugar and water and mix well; batter will be thin.
Spoon into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Set out to cool for just several minutes.
For the glaze, mix ¼ cup Kahlua and confectioners sugar until smooth. Spoon over warm cake. Let stand until cool.
Serves 16
Here's what I did:
Checked what I had on hand: Had everything but the chocolate pudding. Luckily, I had a box of butterscotch pudding instead. So, this cake is meant to be. Yeah!
The first step was to guess what's in a yellow cake mix. I assumed cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sugar, for sure. No idea on the proportions. But 2 cups is a good place to start. So, I started noodling what I would do, while I softened some butter, which I want to use instead of oil. Decided to check out the cake flour box to see how they suggest to make cakes. Not much help since my pan is a bundt pan. The box is about the size of a cake box, so I looked to see how much flour was inside relative to a cake mix --- looks like my original 2 cups guess should be more like 3 cups, if my memory serves me well--- we'll see.
Then I went to the Internet. The only thing I learned there is to use only baking powder, skip the baking soda. Lots of recipes using cake mixes! Very creative ideas. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dig out the bundt pan from the back of the closet and clean it. Grease it thoroughly, including all of the ridges and difficult spots.
Cream together butter and sugar, until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla extract, then add one egg at a time, fully incorporating each time.
Realized that my consistency wasn't right, so I doubled my sugar from 3/4 c. to 1.5 in total. Much better. In a separate bowl, I added 2 cups of cake flour, then filled the third cup with the box of butterscotch pudding mix and more cake flour. Guessed at 1 T. baking powder, and 1 t. salt.
Whisk them together. Since I didn't have chocolate pudding mix, I was going to add chocolate chips, but discovered we had a bag of butterscotch chips. Since this cake is for Tom and David, and they love butterscotch, I went the butterscotch route.
Combine with the flour mixture.
Measure 1/3 Kahlua, 1/3 Vodka, and the rest in buttermilk to make a total of 1 cup. (This turned out to be too little liquid.)
Mix into the wet ingredients, half of the dry ingredients, then all of the liquids, then the 2nd half of the dry ingredients.
My batter was too thick, so I added 1/3 cup more of buttermilk.
Pour into a prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
Cool for 15 minutes.
Invert on a serving plate. Oops! Here's when I ran into a big problem. The cake wasn't coming out of the pan easily.
Guess what? Butterscotch chips sink to the bottom of the pan. Did you know that? I didn't. So, I had to salvage the cake and scrap out the chips to make a glaze.
I melted "the mess" in a small bowl in the microwave just until it began to soften -- watching so that it did not burn -- then I stirred in a tablespoon or two of light cream until it was the thickness of a sticky glaze.I tasted the gooey glaze on the part of the cake that fell off before I committed to drizzling it all over the cake. The cake is very good. Very moist and tender. I think it would have been better as a chocolate Kahlua cake. The butterscotch chips are cloying to me. I don't really like them, even in cookies. But, we'll see what Tom and David think.
Kahlua Butterscotch Cake with Butterscotch Drizzle
Barbara's variation of Jane's book club recipe, 2009
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 cups of white sugar
1/2 t. vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 cups cake flour plus part of a third to complete 3 cups, including
1 butterscotch pudding mix box
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 bag butterscotch chips
1/3 cup Kahlua
1/3 cup Vodka
1/3 cup buttermilk plus another 1/3 cup for a total of 2/3 cup
for the glaze 1 bag of butterscotch chips and 1 to 2 tablespoons light cream
Tom and David's evaluation: Said it made the house smell great ---they loved it -- they ate seconds! David took home two big pieces. They thought the whole thing was good, even the glaze. But none of us are sure about the alcohol doing anything special for the flavor. I still would have preferred Jane's original chocolate version.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Petite Pea Soup with Toasted Pine Nuts
Slice a large onion thinly.