For physical science lab last Tuesday, I needed some red cabbage indicator, so I had to boil a cabbage. I remembered having this yummy red cabbage dish at our friends' house, so I thought that would be a good way to use the cabbage! I called Ania to find out exactly how to make it, since it had been awhile., and she gave me the scoop--just like her Polish mom makes it!
Red Cabbage with Bacon
Chop a small red cabbage finely (if you have a smaller family than ours, you could probably just chop half a cabbage--it makes a ton!). Put in water, and boil until tender, between 5 and 10 minutes. (I brought the water to a boil after I put the cabbage in, and that worked fine.) Drain in a colander, and then immediately put back in pan. Put a few tablespoons of vinegar in, to make the pink color stay. (You can always add more vinegar later if you don't get enough in for flavor.) Add a teaspoon of chicken bouillion, and a teaspoon or 2 of sugar, as well as some salt and pepper. Chop and fry 6-7 pieces of bacon. Stir the cabbage into the grease. (Or I guess if you use a small skillet, then stir the grease and bacon pieces into the cabbage! I just fried whole pieces and crumbled them after I was done, because I don't like chopping bacon.) Then taste, and if there's not enough flavor, add a little more vinegar and sugar. So delicious!
I've never made cabbage because I've always heard how terrible cabbage smells when boiling. I didn't think this smelled very bad, though, so maybe green cabbage is worse, or this just doesn't cook that long . . . or maybe my nose is going in my old age, LOL. Anyhow, it was good and easy. We were having a roast and rice with gravy, and this was a good side for that!
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Two Unrelated Recipes
I said awhile back that I was going to post the recipe for the sausage/egg/hashbrown crockpot casserole I made for Christmas morning. Well, my brain is like a sieve, and I never got around to it. Until now!
Crockpot hashbrown sausage casserole
30 oz. package plain frozen hash browns
16 oz. sausage, already cooked (or leftover ham)
1/2 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
Spray inside of crockpot with cooking spray. Dump in the whole package of hashbrowns and spread them out evenly, breaking up any clumps.
In a mixing bowl, mix the dozen eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, and cheese, sausage, green pepper, and onions. Pour everything on top of hashbrowns.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours. And that's it! It's all ready to eat in the morning!
And now, for a second recipe. I am always on this quest to find different ways to use up old bananas, especially when I have an event to which I need to take a dessert! We had our monthly fellowship meal after church last Sunday, and I wanted to take a dessert as well as a main course. I wanted to make some sort of banana cake or bars, so I started hunting around on the internet. I found a recipe for a "chocolate frosted banana cake" that sounded good, so I printed that one off (obviously before our laptop decided to no longer speak to the printer, LOL). It was good! Very moist. It looked really pretty too, although it definitely looked like it would have a very chocolate-y flavor. It doesn't, with the banana in there, so it was a little bit of a shock. But it was very tasty! And it used up 4 bananas. Woo-hoo! (As a side note, let me just say that whoever posted the recipe on the internet needed to take one of Mrs. Harner's technical writing classes to learn how to make directions. There basically were none, as far as how the wet ingredients went together, so I was the one who decided to cream the butter and sugar, and then add stuff. Feel free to do whatever you want!)
Chocolate Frosted Banana Cake
2/3 c. milk
1 T. vinegar
1 c. softened butter
1 1/3 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. banana, mashed (I used 3 bananas)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350. Oil a bundt pan really well. Cream butter and brown sugar, then add the milk, vinegar, eggs, banana, and vanilla, mixing well. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Don't overmix--it should be a bit lumpy. Spoon batter into the well-oiled bundt pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a knife comes out clean. Cool.
Frosting
1/2 c. cocoa
1/4 melted butter
1/4 c. banana, mashed (I just used almost another whole one)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T. milk (however much you need to make a good consistency--more if you use less banana)
3 cups powdered sugar
Mix together cocoa, butter, banana, milk, and vanilla. Whisk in the powdered sugar until combined and smooth. Spoon over cake.
Crockpot hashbrown sausage casserole
30 oz. package plain frozen hash browns
16 oz. sausage, already cooked (or leftover ham)
1/2 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
Spray inside of crockpot with cooking spray. Dump in the whole package of hashbrowns and spread them out evenly, breaking up any clumps.
In a mixing bowl, mix the dozen eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, and cheese, sausage, green pepper, and onions. Pour everything on top of hashbrowns.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours. And that's it! It's all ready to eat in the morning!
And now, for a second recipe. I am always on this quest to find different ways to use up old bananas, especially when I have an event to which I need to take a dessert! We had our monthly fellowship meal after church last Sunday, and I wanted to take a dessert as well as a main course. I wanted to make some sort of banana cake or bars, so I started hunting around on the internet. I found a recipe for a "chocolate frosted banana cake" that sounded good, so I printed that one off (obviously before our laptop decided to no longer speak to the printer, LOL). It was good! Very moist. It looked really pretty too, although it definitely looked like it would have a very chocolate-y flavor. It doesn't, with the banana in there, so it was a little bit of a shock. But it was very tasty! And it used up 4 bananas. Woo-hoo! (As a side note, let me just say that whoever posted the recipe on the internet needed to take one of Mrs. Harner's technical writing classes to learn how to make directions. There basically were none, as far as how the wet ingredients went together, so I was the one who decided to cream the butter and sugar, and then add stuff. Feel free to do whatever you want!)
Chocolate Frosted Banana Cake
2/3 c. milk
1 T. vinegar
1 c. softened butter
1 1/3 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. banana, mashed (I used 3 bananas)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350. Oil a bundt pan really well. Cream butter and brown sugar, then add the milk, vinegar, eggs, banana, and vanilla, mixing well. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Don't overmix--it should be a bit lumpy. Spoon batter into the well-oiled bundt pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a knife comes out clean. Cool.
Frosting
1/2 c. cocoa
1/4 melted butter
1/4 c. banana, mashed (I just used almost another whole one)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T. milk (however much you need to make a good consistency--more if you use less banana)
3 cups powdered sugar
Mix together cocoa, butter, banana, milk, and vanilla. Whisk in the powdered sugar until combined and smooth. Spoon over cake.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Bunches of Bananas
Does this happen to any other family?! The kids go through a phase, I guess you'd call it, where they eat a ton of bananas. I can't keep them in the house. For snacks, at breakfast, in smoothies, etc. Then, all of a sudden--it stops. Usually right after I've been to Sams and bought 2 bunches.
So there the bananas sit. I am no help, because I only eat bananas that still have a hint of green on the skin. What can I say--I'm a banana diva, LOL. I try to pass off some of the ever-ripening bananas to Faith by peeling them before giving them to her, but she doesn't buy it. And everyone is just no longer interested in bananas at all.
The past week I've made banana bread, a double batch of banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and finally today, frosted banana cookies. The oatmeal ones were just okay, I thought. I just grabbed a likely looking recipe off the internet because I wanted something easy and banana-y to take for our church fellowship meal Sunday. But I got no complaints, and all the cookies were gobbled up!
My kids' favorite recipe to use up over-ripe bananas is the frosted banana cookie one. I got it from my friend Felicia Gruber back in Colorado. She brought them over when we had a playdate at our house one time, and I immediately asked for the recipe! They call for nuts, but it's been years and years since I baked cookies with nuts in them--a little less than 9 years, LOL. They are more time-consuming, however, and don't make very many, which is why I wanted a different recipe for church. I do have a good banana snack cake recipe that I like to make, but I had just made that for a church small group meeting not too many weeks ago, so I was kind of bored with that. I probably have posted this recipe on here before, and some day I will update my blog so that I have all those cool sidebar options, like the ability to click on the different categories I have tagged (like "recipes"). But until then, I guess I'll have to repeat myself, since it is almost impossible to find old things I posted!
Frosted Banana Cookies
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 med. size bananas)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Grease cookie sheet and preheat oven to 375. Mix together first 6 ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Add the mashed bananas and dry ingredients. After batter is well-mixed, add nuts if wanted. Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart on a well-greased cookie cheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from cookie cheet immediately to cool on a wire rack. Frost cooled cookies with banana butter frosting or any other glaze. Can also be served unfrosted.
Banana Butter Frosting
2 cups sifted powder sugar
2 Tbsp. softened butter
1/4 cup mashed banana (about 1 small banana)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Stir all ingredients together well. If necessary, add additional powdered sugar to make the right spreading consistency. Frost cooled cookies.
So there the bananas sit. I am no help, because I only eat bananas that still have a hint of green on the skin. What can I say--I'm a banana diva, LOL. I try to pass off some of the ever-ripening bananas to Faith by peeling them before giving them to her, but she doesn't buy it. And everyone is just no longer interested in bananas at all.
The past week I've made banana bread, a double batch of banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and finally today, frosted banana cookies. The oatmeal ones were just okay, I thought. I just grabbed a likely looking recipe off the internet because I wanted something easy and banana-y to take for our church fellowship meal Sunday. But I got no complaints, and all the cookies were gobbled up!
My kids' favorite recipe to use up over-ripe bananas is the frosted banana cookie one. I got it from my friend Felicia Gruber back in Colorado. She brought them over when we had a playdate at our house one time, and I immediately asked for the recipe! They call for nuts, but it's been years and years since I baked cookies with nuts in them--a little less than 9 years, LOL. They are more time-consuming, however, and don't make very many, which is why I wanted a different recipe for church. I do have a good banana snack cake recipe that I like to make, but I had just made that for a church small group meeting not too many weeks ago, so I was kind of bored with that. I probably have posted this recipe on here before, and some day I will update my blog so that I have all those cool sidebar options, like the ability to click on the different categories I have tagged (like "recipes"). But until then, I guess I'll have to repeat myself, since it is almost impossible to find old things I posted!
Frosted Banana Cookies
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 med. size bananas)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Grease cookie sheet and preheat oven to 375. Mix together first 6 ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Add the mashed bananas and dry ingredients. After batter is well-mixed, add nuts if wanted. Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart on a well-greased cookie cheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from cookie cheet immediately to cool on a wire rack. Frost cooled cookies with banana butter frosting or any other glaze. Can also be served unfrosted.
Banana Butter Frosting
2 cups sifted powder sugar
2 Tbsp. softened butter
1/4 cup mashed banana (about 1 small banana)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Stir all ingredients together well. If necessary, add additional powdered sugar to make the right spreading consistency. Frost cooled cookies.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Rib Fest!
Tonight we had ribs for dinner. LOTS of ribs. Nathan has been agitating for us to have ribs for quite awhile now. I have not been as excited about it because frankly, ribs aren't my favorite. Really messy, and mainly a barbeque-y taste. Meh. But they are his absolute favorite, and he always orders them in restaurants of possible. He has already forewarned me that ribs was going to his request for his birthday dinner, so we needed to figure out how to make them before that day came!
Ribs were on sale this week at our local grocery store for $1.99 a pound, so I bought 2 racks--over 12 pounds total! Back when we had thought we were moving overseas, Nathan a nd I had culled a bunch of really old Taste of Home magazines, tearing out any recipe we thought we might try at some later point. We also tore out every single rib recipe we saw. We sorted through those this afternoon and discovered there were 2 basic trains of thought as to how to cook ribs. One side says to just put them in a pan and roast them for a long time. The other side says to boil them first and then roast them for a little while longer. We decided to do a taste test.
So, one rack I cut into smaller pieces and boiled for 1 hour with some onion and vinegar (not sure what the vinegar did, but the recipe said to add it . . .). Then I put the pieces in a pan, covered them with barbeque sauce (we just used Kraft Hickory or something--I did not feel like making my own), covered the pan with foil, and roasted them at 325 for 1 1/2 hours more.
The second rack I put in my huge roasting pan bone-side down. I sprinkled garlic, salt, and pepper on them, covered them with foil, and roasted them at 350 for 2 hours. Then I drained the fat and poured barbeque sauce over them and roasted them for 30 more minutes, covered.
The general consensus was . . . they were both delicious! Well, Caleb actually didn't like either one, but he said it was because he doesn't like barbeque sauce. The thing was, these ribs really didn't taste a lot like barbeque sauce, unless you put some on your plate and dipped pieces into it. They had a very good flavor! The other boys and Bob liked the ones that were roasted the whole time better. They were indeed incredibly tender. I couldn't even lift the rack onto a platter without the bones just falling out. This made it not so messy to eat because you weren't wrestling with bones and gnawing on them, much to Nathan's disappointment, LOL.
The ones that were also boiled were very good as well. I think I might have prefered them just a tiny bit, but since it was certainly easier to just roast them the whole time, I am just fine with that method being the winner, LOL. They were not quite as tender, in that the bones didnt jsut slide out quite like the other ones did. They were still very tender, however.
Out of those 12 pounds of ribs, I would say we have maybe 1/4 of it left over. Definitely not enough for another meal. We have some big rib-eaters! Even Faith had thirds! What a piggy! She doesn't usually love plain meat, so you can see these must have been good. I'm just glad we have found a winner of a recipe this far before Nathan's birthday. Of course, he's going to say we need to keep practicing . . .
Speaking of birthdays, tonight I'll be making the cheesecake for us to take to Bible study tomorrow night to celebrate Luke's birthday! We are also planning on making a few peanut butter cups and caramels. This afternoon, after CC, we headed down to the cake and candy supply store, which is about 30 minutes away. We drove up and saw to our great disappointment that it has closed! Oh no! I guess I'll have to start ordering my chocolate over the internet. I ran over to Michaels later this afternoon and picked up a few bags of their Wilton chocolate discs. I guess we'll see how they compare in quality with the ones I usually use. Of course, when you are talking homemade peanut butter cups and caramels, who really cares?! I'm sure they'll still be yummy!
Ribs were on sale this week at our local grocery store for $1.99 a pound, so I bought 2 racks--over 12 pounds total! Back when we had thought we were moving overseas, Nathan a nd I had culled a bunch of really old Taste of Home magazines, tearing out any recipe we thought we might try at some later point. We also tore out every single rib recipe we saw. We sorted through those this afternoon and discovered there were 2 basic trains of thought as to how to cook ribs. One side says to just put them in a pan and roast them for a long time. The other side says to boil them first and then roast them for a little while longer. We decided to do a taste test.
So, one rack I cut into smaller pieces and boiled for 1 hour with some onion and vinegar (not sure what the vinegar did, but the recipe said to add it . . .). Then I put the pieces in a pan, covered them with barbeque sauce (we just used Kraft Hickory or something--I did not feel like making my own), covered the pan with foil, and roasted them at 325 for 1 1/2 hours more.
The second rack I put in my huge roasting pan bone-side down. I sprinkled garlic, salt, and pepper on them, covered them with foil, and roasted them at 350 for 2 hours. Then I drained the fat and poured barbeque sauce over them and roasted them for 30 more minutes, covered.
The general consensus was . . . they were both delicious! Well, Caleb actually didn't like either one, but he said it was because he doesn't like barbeque sauce. The thing was, these ribs really didn't taste a lot like barbeque sauce, unless you put some on your plate and dipped pieces into it. They had a very good flavor! The other boys and Bob liked the ones that were roasted the whole time better. They were indeed incredibly tender. I couldn't even lift the rack onto a platter without the bones just falling out. This made it not so messy to eat because you weren't wrestling with bones and gnawing on them, much to Nathan's disappointment, LOL.
The ones that were also boiled were very good as well. I think I might have prefered them just a tiny bit, but since it was certainly easier to just roast them the whole time, I am just fine with that method being the winner, LOL. They were not quite as tender, in that the bones didnt jsut slide out quite like the other ones did. They were still very tender, however.
Out of those 12 pounds of ribs, I would say we have maybe 1/4 of it left over. Definitely not enough for another meal. We have some big rib-eaters! Even Faith had thirds! What a piggy! She doesn't usually love plain meat, so you can see these must have been good. I'm just glad we have found a winner of a recipe this far before Nathan's birthday. Of course, he's going to say we need to keep practicing . . .
Speaking of birthdays, tonight I'll be making the cheesecake for us to take to Bible study tomorrow night to celebrate Luke's birthday! We are also planning on making a few peanut butter cups and caramels. This afternoon, after CC, we headed down to the cake and candy supply store, which is about 30 minutes away. We drove up and saw to our great disappointment that it has closed! Oh no! I guess I'll have to start ordering my chocolate over the internet. I ran over to Michaels later this afternoon and picked up a few bags of their Wilton chocolate discs. I guess we'll see how they compare in quality with the ones I usually use. Of course, when you are talking homemade peanut butter cups and caramels, who really cares?! I'm sure they'll still be yummy!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful celebration of Christ's birth today! We did, starting with a beautiful candelight service at church last night. We are now meeting for morning services at a neaby middle school, and we just haven't been with it enough to go to the evening service lately, so it had been a while since we were in our lovely old little church. It is the perfect place for a candlelight service!
Actually, yesterday was a good day all in all, in that I finally really made noticeable progress in getting the house back together again. All the books are back in our 3 double bookcases in the the study, and the dining room, while still filled with laundry room stuff, is a little mroe organized. I got a box for shoes and a big box for coats, since we have no place to put them, and that has helped keep the entry way passable. I find I am better able to get in the Christmas spirit when the house is not a total wreck! I made some stuff for today's dinner yesterday, and I also baked some cookies. Of course, Bob and I stayed up way too late wrapping presents. I greatly dislike wrapping presents, and I had not wrapped a single one, even though I had finished my shopping for the kids back in Ohio. Next year I am resolved to wrap presents as they come in! And maybe I'll lose those 10 pounds too . . .
This morning, Bob's sister Ann, her husband Wally, and their adult son Matthew drove up from Richmond to spend the day. We had a great time! Our family opened stockings first thing and then ate breakfast. The kids played while I showered, and Ann and Wally got here around 10:30. Then we all opened gifts. We really don't get the kids much--2 gifts each, one of them being a book--but it sure looked like a Walmart had exploded in our living room! They got a lot of very nice gifts from relatives, and they all spent the rest of the day happily building Lego sets, reading books, wearing Star Wars Clone trooper helmets (Caleb and Jonathan), wearing princess jewelry (Anna and Grace), and getting into things (Faith). Ann teaches cake decorating at Michael's, and she had brought some of her cake decorating stuff, plus a bunch of cupcakes. She taught the kids some decorating techniques and let them practice on cupcakes, which they really enjoyed. Actually, their absolute favorite part was eating the icing, if you can imagine that.
We ate our big meal at 3:00, and we had our birthday party for Jesus later in the afternoon. Then we played a game of Apples to Apples, which was a lot of fun. You need a game that is not too mentally strenuous after all that food! By then it was raining/sleeting, so Ann and Wally needed to get back on the road before things got too messy. We were so glad they came up though!
This year, I tried a new turkey recipe. Several weeks ago, I roasted a chicken using a recipe from my Dining on A Dime cookbook. It was sooo good--like Boston Market! The recipe said you could use it for a turkey, so that is what I tried. Let me tell you, it really turned out well. Probably the best turkey I've had! It was very moist and flavorful. So as a Christmas present to you, I'm going to give you the recipe:
Roast Sticky Chicken or Turkey
4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. white pepper [I don't have this, so I don't use it!]
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 large (10#) whole chicken, chicken parts, or 20 # turkey (double spices if using on a big turkey)
1 cup chopped onion
Combine all the spices. Remove innards from chicken (or turkey). Rinse chicken. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a 9x13 pan (or a turkey roasting pan), seal with foil and refrigerate overnight. If using chicken parts, just rub over both sides of parts. When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions. If using chicken parts, place on top of onions. Roast, uncovered, at 250 degrees for 5 hours. Roast chicken parts 3-5 hours. Roast a turkey 8-10 hours. After the first hour, baste chicken with pan juices every half hour to 45 minutes. If you don't have enough juices to baste, you can add 1 cup water to the pan. The chicken will be golden to dark brown with carmelized juices on the bottom. Let the chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.
Notes from me: My oven doesn't go down as low as 250, so I roasted at 275. The chicken I roasted was done in about 3 hours. I roasted a 19 pound turkey, and it took 7 hours. I tented the top with foil after the first 3-4 hours, because it was getting dark brown. I worried that the turkey would be dry after being in the oven for so long, but it was so very moist! Delicious! Merry Christmas!
Actually, yesterday was a good day all in all, in that I finally really made noticeable progress in getting the house back together again. All the books are back in our 3 double bookcases in the the study, and the dining room, while still filled with laundry room stuff, is a little mroe organized. I got a box for shoes and a big box for coats, since we have no place to put them, and that has helped keep the entry way passable. I find I am better able to get in the Christmas spirit when the house is not a total wreck! I made some stuff for today's dinner yesterday, and I also baked some cookies. Of course, Bob and I stayed up way too late wrapping presents. I greatly dislike wrapping presents, and I had not wrapped a single one, even though I had finished my shopping for the kids back in Ohio. Next year I am resolved to wrap presents as they come in! And maybe I'll lose those 10 pounds too . . .
This morning, Bob's sister Ann, her husband Wally, and their adult son Matthew drove up from Richmond to spend the day. We had a great time! Our family opened stockings first thing and then ate breakfast. The kids played while I showered, and Ann and Wally got here around 10:30. Then we all opened gifts. We really don't get the kids much--2 gifts each, one of them being a book--but it sure looked like a Walmart had exploded in our living room! They got a lot of very nice gifts from relatives, and they all spent the rest of the day happily building Lego sets, reading books, wearing Star Wars Clone trooper helmets (Caleb and Jonathan), wearing princess jewelry (Anna and Grace), and getting into things (Faith). Ann teaches cake decorating at Michael's, and she had brought some of her cake decorating stuff, plus a bunch of cupcakes. She taught the kids some decorating techniques and let them practice on cupcakes, which they really enjoyed. Actually, their absolute favorite part was eating the icing, if you can imagine that.
We ate our big meal at 3:00, and we had our birthday party for Jesus later in the afternoon. Then we played a game of Apples to Apples, which was a lot of fun. You need a game that is not too mentally strenuous after all that food! By then it was raining/sleeting, so Ann and Wally needed to get back on the road before things got too messy. We were so glad they came up though!
This year, I tried a new turkey recipe. Several weeks ago, I roasted a chicken using a recipe from my Dining on A Dime cookbook. It was sooo good--like Boston Market! The recipe said you could use it for a turkey, so that is what I tried. Let me tell you, it really turned out well. Probably the best turkey I've had! It was very moist and flavorful. So as a Christmas present to you, I'm going to give you the recipe:
Roast Sticky Chicken or Turkey
4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. white pepper [I don't have this, so I don't use it!]
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 large (10#) whole chicken, chicken parts, or 20 # turkey (double spices if using on a big turkey)
1 cup chopped onion
Combine all the spices. Remove innards from chicken (or turkey). Rinse chicken. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a 9x13 pan (or a turkey roasting pan), seal with foil and refrigerate overnight. If using chicken parts, just rub over both sides of parts. When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions. If using chicken parts, place on top of onions. Roast, uncovered, at 250 degrees for 5 hours. Roast chicken parts 3-5 hours. Roast a turkey 8-10 hours. After the first hour, baste chicken with pan juices every half hour to 45 minutes. If you don't have enough juices to baste, you can add 1 cup water to the pan. The chicken will be golden to dark brown with carmelized juices on the bottom. Let the chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.
Notes from me: My oven doesn't go down as low as 250, so I roasted at 275. The chicken I roasted was done in about 3 hours. I roasted a 19 pound turkey, and it took 7 hours. I tented the top with foil after the first 3-4 hours, because it was getting dark brown. I worried that the turkey would be dry after being in the oven for so long, but it was so very moist! Delicious! Merry Christmas!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Just One More Recipe . . .
Okay, this is not going to turn into a cooking blog, LOL, but I wanted to share this recipe I tried tonight for the first time. It's from the July/August issue of Simple and Delicious (which used to be Quick Cooking). When Melinda was out here in July, she mentioned that she stir-fried using balsamic vinegar, since she is allergic to soy, and this recipe uses balsamic vinaigrette and tastes JUST like an Asian noodle bowl without any soy! It was so easy and yummy! Of course I doubled the recipe--and I have a little tub left over, maybe enough for lunch.
Asian Chicken With Pasta
1/2 pound uncooked angel hair pasta
1 pound chicken cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette
1/3 cup Italian salad dressing
1 package (12 ounces) broccoli coleslaw mix
1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
3/4 cup julienned red pepper
1/2 cup sliced onion (I used green onion)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/ tsp. pepper
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in large skillet, saute chicken in vinaigrette and salad dressing until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute the coleslaw mix, mushrooms, red pepper, and onion until tender. Add the seasonings. Stir in the chicken; heat through. Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture; toss to coat.
Asian Chicken With Pasta
1/2 pound uncooked angel hair pasta
1 pound chicken cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette
1/3 cup Italian salad dressing
1 package (12 ounces) broccoli coleslaw mix
1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
3/4 cup julienned red pepper
1/2 cup sliced onion (I used green onion)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/ tsp. pepper
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in large skillet, saute chicken in vinaigrette and salad dressing until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute the coleslaw mix, mushrooms, red pepper, and onion until tender. Add the seasonings. Stir in the chicken; heat through. Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture; toss to coat.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Some Recipes
I have had a few requests for recipes, so I am going to share 2 of them today. First of all, the recipe for the chicken/monterey jack soup that we had on Saturday. This is one of my collection of soups that are ready in 30 minutes or less, but I think it is the only one Caleb can't have, which is why we have it so rarely. It's not the healthiest, but it sure is creamy and delicious!
Chicken/Monterey Jack Soup
2 1/2 cups water
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can chopped green chilies
1 can cream of potato soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/8 tsp. garlic salt
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
2 cups chicken cooked and chopped
8 ounces monterey jack cheese shredded
Bring water, tomato, and green chilies to a boil in large saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes. Stir in soups, garlic salt, milk, and chicken. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Place shredded cheese in serving bowls and ladle hot soup over. [If I don't have a fresh tomato, then I use a can of diced tomatoes, which I add with the remaining ingredients instead of boiling. Also, I never use garlic salt. I just throw in some garlic and some salt, LOL. And I also just use whatever amount of frozen cooked chicken I happen to have. So the recipe is pretty forgiving.]
When my Aunt Claire was out, I made a blueberry dessert from a recipe in the Pittsburg paper. My mother-in-law is so kind that she sends me the weekend crossword puzzles from their paper, because they have really great crosswords. The bonus is that I also get to read those sections of their paper! I was going to give the recipe to my aunt, but actually I thought the recipe was just okay. Later on I found the blueberry recipe I usually make, which I made for Bible study last night. I really like it, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it, which came from an old issue of Quick Cooking magazine many years ago.
Blueberry Kuchen
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. lemon peel
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. milk
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
Combine first 6 ingredients. Add milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes or until well-blended. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with blueberries, and then with topping.
Topping
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. butter, melted
in a bowl, combine sugar and flour; add butter. Toss with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over blueberries. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until lightly browned.
[I never have lemons around, so I will squirt a little lemon juice in when I'm adding the liquid ingredients. Also, on Friday I used frozen blueberries that I didn't thaw before using. When I took the dessert out of the oven, it looked like the blueberries had popped and exploded all over! It tasted fine, but it looked messy, LOL. So maybe you should thaw the frozen blueberries before using.]
Chicken/Monterey Jack Soup
2 1/2 cups water
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can chopped green chilies
1 can cream of potato soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/8 tsp. garlic salt
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
2 cups chicken cooked and chopped
8 ounces monterey jack cheese shredded
Bring water, tomato, and green chilies to a boil in large saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes. Stir in soups, garlic salt, milk, and chicken. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Place shredded cheese in serving bowls and ladle hot soup over. [If I don't have a fresh tomato, then I use a can of diced tomatoes, which I add with the remaining ingredients instead of boiling. Also, I never use garlic salt. I just throw in some garlic and some salt, LOL. And I also just use whatever amount of frozen cooked chicken I happen to have. So the recipe is pretty forgiving.]
When my Aunt Claire was out, I made a blueberry dessert from a recipe in the Pittsburg paper. My mother-in-law is so kind that she sends me the weekend crossword puzzles from their paper, because they have really great crosswords. The bonus is that I also get to read those sections of their paper! I was going to give the recipe to my aunt, but actually I thought the recipe was just okay. Later on I found the blueberry recipe I usually make, which I made for Bible study last night. I really like it, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it, which came from an old issue of Quick Cooking magazine many years ago.
Blueberry Kuchen
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. lemon peel
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. milk
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
Combine first 6 ingredients. Add milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes or until well-blended. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with blueberries, and then with topping.
Topping
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. butter, melted
in a bowl, combine sugar and flour; add butter. Toss with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over blueberries. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until lightly browned.
[I never have lemons around, so I will squirt a little lemon juice in when I'm adding the liquid ingredients. Also, on Friday I used frozen blueberries that I didn't thaw before using. When I took the dessert out of the oven, it looked like the blueberries had popped and exploded all over! It tasted fine, but it looked messy, LOL. So maybe you should thaw the frozen blueberries before using.]
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Apple Pie Squares
Alright, alright, I have heard your impatient clamorings! : ) The reason I could not immediately leap to the computer and post the recipe is because a girl from church who is having her first baby in a few weeks came over for lunch and the afternoon. We talked about childbirth, especially natural childbirth. She is having a homebirth, so an epidural won't be an option, and I wanted to give her some tips and hints. I had to spend the morning getting ready for that by copying a few things and printing off some articles. (Johanna, she's the one who is using your midwife.) I think she'll do just fine. She is the second of 12 kids, and her youngest sibling is 18 months, so obviously her mom has a lot to offer on the subject as well! We had a lot of fun, and it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon!
But without any further ado, here is the recipe, which I got off of cooks.com.
Apple Pie Squares
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. shortening (real butter would be fine, Melinda)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
Milk (obviously I used soy milk)
1 c. crushed corn flakes
6-8 apples, peeled & sliced [I only used about 5, because that's what I had--it was fine. An apple peeler/corer/slicer sure did make it go faster!]
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg white, beaten
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix flour and salt and cut in shortening. Put egg yolk into measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 2/3 cup. Add to flour mixture and toss lightly with fork to form dough. Roll 1/2 of dough to fill jelly roll pan (ungreased). [I had a hard time rolling out the dough--it is very sticky--maybe add more flour.] Sprinkle corn flakes over the crust. They keep the filling from being too runny.
Combine sugar and cinnamon; toss with apples. Place apples on dough. Roll remaining dough and place on top, pinching edges. Brush egg white on top of dough. Bake 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Watch time. (May be too long.)
Combine last 3 ingredients. [You will definitely need another tablespoon of water or so to make it the consistency where you can drizzle it on or really do anything with it.] Frost while still warm.
But without any further ado, here is the recipe, which I got off of cooks.com.
Apple Pie Squares
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. shortening (real butter would be fine, Melinda)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
Milk (obviously I used soy milk)
1 c. crushed corn flakes
6-8 apples, peeled & sliced [I only used about 5, because that's what I had--it was fine. An apple peeler/corer/slicer sure did make it go faster!]
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg white, beaten
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix flour and salt and cut in shortening. Put egg yolk into measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 2/3 cup. Add to flour mixture and toss lightly with fork to form dough. Roll 1/2 of dough to fill jelly roll pan (ungreased). [I had a hard time rolling out the dough--it is very sticky--maybe add more flour.] Sprinkle corn flakes over the crust. They keep the filling from being too runny.
Combine sugar and cinnamon; toss with apples. Place apples on dough. Roll remaining dough and place on top, pinching edges. Brush egg white on top of dough. Bake 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Watch time. (May be too long.)
Combine last 3 ingredients. [You will definitely need another tablespoon of water or so to make it the consistency where you can drizzle it on or really do anything with it.] Frost while still warm.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A Cooking Experiment
This afternoon our church had a little shower for those of us who are pregnant with not our first child. There are actually 6 of us in this situation, due from now until me in February, and at the shower we found out about another lady who is expecting her third child the end of May! We are on a real nursery growth explosion here. There is another woman who is expecting her first in December, and we've had 2 more new babies born over the summer.
Anyhow, the church had a "neccessities" shower for all of us, where we each got little things, like some diapers and a lullaby CD. Mainly we ate, talked, and prayed. It was so nice! I had volunteered to bring dessert. One of my friends, who is also pregnant, can't eat gluten during this pregnancy because it was giving her terrible skin problems. I wanted to make a dessert she could eat, so I decided to try a flourless chocolate cake. I had printed off a recipe someone had posted a long time ago on the old Well Trained Mind boards, but as I looked closer at it, it seemed a little intimidating. Also, even though it called for I think 7 eggs, you only baked it for 15 minutes! Then you just refrigerated it over night. With all these pregnant women, I didn't think that sounded all that good, so I googled. I found several possibilities, and I decided on this recipe from allrecipes.com, mainly because it seemed easy and I had all the ingredients on hand.
I made it last night, and this morning I dipped the pan in hot water and inverted in onto the serving plate, just like the recipe said. Then I got the bright idea to drizzle white chocolate on top, which would have been a good idea, except my chocolate never really melted all that well, so it was really thick and didn't "drizzle" very well. I should have just dusted it with powdered sugar--note to self. I still wasn't sure what it would taste like, however, and I had actually made a second dessert last night to take as well, in case the cake totally flopped.
Well. It was absolutely delicious. Everyone raved about it, and people thought it was store-bought. It was like a fudgy truffle. Yummmmm. And it was so easy to make, I thought I'd share the recipe right here, in case any of you are too lazy to click on the link.
Flourless Chocolate Cake I
Submitted by: Maggie
Rated: 5 out of 5 by 213 members
Yields: 16 servings
"A dense chocolate cake for those of us who can't tolerate wheat or gluten."
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate (I used Baker's semi-sweet squares because that's what I had)
1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
3. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
6. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.
Anyhow, the church had a "neccessities" shower for all of us, where we each got little things, like some diapers and a lullaby CD. Mainly we ate, talked, and prayed. It was so nice! I had volunteered to bring dessert. One of my friends, who is also pregnant, can't eat gluten during this pregnancy because it was giving her terrible skin problems. I wanted to make a dessert she could eat, so I decided to try a flourless chocolate cake. I had printed off a recipe someone had posted a long time ago on the old Well Trained Mind boards, but as I looked closer at it, it seemed a little intimidating. Also, even though it called for I think 7 eggs, you only baked it for 15 minutes! Then you just refrigerated it over night. With all these pregnant women, I didn't think that sounded all that good, so I googled. I found several possibilities, and I decided on this recipe from allrecipes.com, mainly because it seemed easy and I had all the ingredients on hand.
I made it last night, and this morning I dipped the pan in hot water and inverted in onto the serving plate, just like the recipe said. Then I got the bright idea to drizzle white chocolate on top, which would have been a good idea, except my chocolate never really melted all that well, so it was really thick and didn't "drizzle" very well. I should have just dusted it with powdered sugar--note to self. I still wasn't sure what it would taste like, however, and I had actually made a second dessert last night to take as well, in case the cake totally flopped.
Well. It was absolutely delicious. Everyone raved about it, and people thought it was store-bought. It was like a fudgy truffle. Yummmmm. And it was so easy to make, I thought I'd share the recipe right here, in case any of you are too lazy to click on the link.
Flourless Chocolate Cake I
Submitted by: Maggie
Rated: 5 out of 5 by 213 members
Yields: 16 servings
"A dense chocolate cake for those of us who can't tolerate wheat or gluten."
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate (I used Baker's semi-sweet squares because that's what I had)
1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
3. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
6. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
New Recipe
I tried a new recipe last night. It was really good, so I thought I'd share it with you. It was from the Sept/Oct 08 issue of Simple & Delicious.
Burgundy Beef
4 pounds beef sirloin tips, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 large onions, sliced
1 cup water
1 cup burgundy wine or beef broth
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground mustard
2 ablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water
Hot, cooked noodles
In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the first 12 ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat is tender. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into pan juices. Cover and cook on high for 15 more minutes or until the gravy is thickened. Serve over noodles.
So that's it! The commissary didn't have "beef sirloin tips", so I just bought some big chunk o' beef (bottom round or something--whatever was cheap, but not chuck), and it turned out fine. When I got home from the commissary, I cut the beef into chunks and then threw them into a gallon ziploc bag to freeze. That way when I was ready to make it, the beef was all ready, so I just had to throw everything in the crockpot. I used the beef broth instead of the wine, and I just realized when I was typing it out that I totally skipped the paprika, but it was really good, and everyone liked it. Definitely a keeper for us!
Burgundy Beef
4 pounds beef sirloin tips, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 large onions, sliced
1 cup water
1 cup burgundy wine or beef broth
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground mustard
2 ablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water
Hot, cooked noodles
In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the first 12 ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat is tender. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into pan juices. Cover and cook on high for 15 more minutes or until the gravy is thickened. Serve over noodles.
So that's it! The commissary didn't have "beef sirloin tips", so I just bought some big chunk o' beef (bottom round or something--whatever was cheap, but not chuck), and it turned out fine. When I got home from the commissary, I cut the beef into chunks and then threw them into a gallon ziploc bag to freeze. That way when I was ready to make it, the beef was all ready, so I just had to throw everything in the crockpot. I used the beef broth instead of the wine, and I just realized when I was typing it out that I totally skipped the paprika, but it was really good, and everyone liked it. Definitely a keeper for us!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
It doesn't feel much like Fall right now, with temperatures in the upper 80s. But whenever Fall-like temperatures should arrive, this is a good recipe with which to celebrate. I made these muffins to take to the shower. I got the recipe from the Well-Trained Mind board, but I'm not sure exactly who posted it (Hillary in KS maybe?). They are the best pumpkin muffins I've had.
Pumpkin Muffins
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups (1 15 ounce can) pumpkin
3/4 cup melted butter
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon.
Mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and melted butter together. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add to batter. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 24 muffins.
(The recipe actually calls for 2 cups sugar, but the poster said she just used 1 1/2 cups, and that is what I did too. It tasted fine. Also, I used half whole wheat flour, and the texture was still pretty good, I thought.)
Pumpkin Muffins
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups (1 15 ounce can) pumpkin
3/4 cup melted butter
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon.
Mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and melted butter together. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add to batter. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 24 muffins.
(The recipe actually calls for 2 cups sugar, but the poster said she just used 1 1/2 cups, and that is what I did too. It tasted fine. Also, I used half whole wheat flour, and the texture was still pretty good, I thought.)
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