Thursday, September 13, 2018

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Sloppy Joe's and Coleslaw


From Susan . . .

Slow-cooker sloppy joes
Makes 8 servings
Prep 15 minutes:  Cook 4 hours, 10 minutes
 
Ingredients:
1.5 lb lean ground beef
1 (16 oz) package ground pork sausage
1 small onion chopped
1/2 medium-size green bell pepper chopped
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 T cider vinegar
2 T yellow mustard
1 T chilli powder
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
8 hamburger buns toasted
 
1.  Brown beef and sausage with onion and bell pepper in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring 10 minutes or until beef and sausage crumble and are no longer pink.  Drain well.
2.  Place beef mixture in a 4 1/2 quart slow cooker.  Stir in tomato sauce and next 9 ingredients.  Cover and cook on high 4 hours.  Serve on hamburger buns.
 
Easy Coleslaw
Make 8 - 10 servings
Prep 10 minutes; Chill 1 hour
 
6 fully cooked bacon slices
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 T sugar
2 T cider vinegar
1 (16 oz) package coleslaw mix
salt and pepper to taste
 
Crisp bacon slices according to package direction.
 
Whisk together mayo, sugar and vinegar in a large bowl.  Crumble bacon and add to the mayo mixture in bowl.  Add coleslaw mix and salt and pepper to tase.  Cover and chill at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.

(Or as my friend's mom does, use pickle juice in place of the cider vinegar.)

Greens (Turnip or Collards)

Spicy Vegetarian Turnip Greens (Based on the Taqueria del Sol recipe)
Hands on: 25 minutes Total time: 1 1/2 hours Serves: 6
  • 1 (1-pound) bag or 1 pound cleaned and chopped turnip greens
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2/3 cup chopped onions
  • 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
  • 2-3 teaspoons ground chile de arbol, red pepper flakes or cayenne, or to taste
  • 1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups water or vegetable stock or 1 cup tomato juice thinned with 1 cup water
  • Salt
In a very large pot, cover greens with 1 inch water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until just tender, about 45 minutes. Drain well.
In a large pot, melt butter. Add onions, garlic and chile de arbol and saute until onions are softened. Add tomatoes and their juices. Add cooked turnip greens and water or other liquid and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Also found this . . .
Eddie's Turnip Greens
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
6 cups cleaned, cooked and chopped turnip greens
1 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 tbs chopped garlic
3 cups chicken stock
3 oz. margarine
1 tbss ground chili de arbol

Preparation:
In a saucepan saute onions, garlic and chili de arbol with margarine until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and cook 5 minutes. Add cooked turnip greens and chicken stock, bring to a boil, boil for 5 minutes then lower flame and simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Dog cupcakes / muffins

1 cup flour
1 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 ? tsp baking soda

Delicious, Simple, Easy Dessert!

Vanilla ice cream in a puff pastry with a raspberry coulis

When I was a kid, my mother was a lawyer, and hence rarely cooked for us during the week. But she came from a long line of great cooks, and she loved to throw a party. At her dinner parties, she used to serve a yummy simple dessert that I served to book club last night. I hadn't had it in years, but it was so easy and oh so good. The first time she made this, she made the puff pastry from scratch or maybe from phyllo dough, but it was a lot of work, and with a big party to prepare for, she learned found a great shortcut in using Pepperidge Farm puff pastry. They come frozen. But for now, leave your ice cream and pastry in the freezer.

Raspberry Coulis (adapted from epicurious)

10 ounces frozen raspberries
3/8 - 1/2 cup sugar
1-2 Tbs fresh lemon juice

Allow raspberries to thaw. Add all ingredients to a Cuisinart or blender and puree. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, stirring with a spoon to get the seeds out of the way. I'm pretty sure my mother used a tablespoon or two of Chambord when she made these, and I'll try that next time. Also, back when she made this (in the late 1980s) you could buy raspberries frozen in syrup. I can't find those anymore, which is why I increased the sugar. I think she made hers with a combination of raspberries and strawberries.

Once you're ready to serve dessert, preheat your oven to 425. Place what looks like dough disks on a cookie sheet and bake for about 18 minutes. Voila! They puff up, you remove the lid, and you have a pastry cup. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it and pour the raspberry sauce right over. Be generous.

I think I'll have some for breakfast.

Stuffed Shells

This is one of the few meals that our whole family will eat. (Yes . . . I'm guilty of being a short order cook.)

Tonight I'm making stuffed shells and no knead bread. This recipe is modified from a recipe on allrecipes.

Filling:
1 2-cup container of ricotta (I use whole milk)
8 ounces whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded (but not pre-shredded)
1 egg (upped to 2)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (sometimes I forget this)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil

8 ounces of jumbo shells*

*For some reason, they seem to come in a 12 ounce package, so I use 2/3 of a package. Tonight this equaled about 28 shells.

Bring well salted water to a boil (1 use about 2-3 tsp of salt). Add the shells and set a timer for 1 minute less than the package recommends (so I'm cooking mine 13 minutes since it recommends 14-15). It's much easier to work with shells that are on the firmer side of things. If they're too tender, they will tear. Also, make sure you stir them when you first put them in the water and then again every so often so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile, in the cuisinart, shred your cheese using the grater, then change the blade to the metal one and add the rest of the ingredients. Blend the filling. Scoop the filling into either a pastry bag (which is what I use, with no tip added) or a large ziplock bag with the corner snipped. (Well, snip after you fill.)

Once the timer goes off for the shells, I drain immediately and rinse in cold water. I then begin placing them on a sheet pan lined with waxed paper. This keeps the shells separated and cool for filling.

I use my naked pastry bag (no tip needed) to fill my shells. That makes it super easy. Put a thin layer of sauce in a baking dish (1/3 cup or so). As you fill the shells, line them up in the dish.  My kids don't like chunks in their sauce, but a homemade sauce can be too much for this dish. We use Bertolli Tomato & Basil sauce, but I then puree it with the stick blender to get rid of the chunks. Anywho, fill your shells, then pour or spoon a medium line of sauce down the middle of all your shells. You don't want them swimming in the sauce, just flavored. Sprinkle some freshly grated parmesan cheese over the top of them all and bake about 25 minutes at 350.


Crab Dip with salt & vinegar chips

  • 1 block of non-fat cream cheese
  • 6 tablespoons of red onion, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of low-fat or olive oil based mayo
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 4 teaspoons fresh tarragon, chopped
  • 4 teaspoons fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 can of crab meat, 6oz
  • 1/2 cup of cucumber, chopped
  • Salt and pepper
Leave your cream cheese out at room temperature for about a half hour before preparing.  Add all your ingredients in a bowl and mix well, then season with salt and pepper to taste.  Chill for a half hour before serving....and of course serve with salt and vinegar chips...or any other chips or veggies you enjoy!  Short on time?  Make it the night before and refrigerate over night.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Homemade Donut Holes

These are technically Muffin Tin Doughnuts (per Cooks Country), but when you make them in a mini-muffin tin, they're just like little donut holes. The first time, I made them as big muffins, and I thought the coating to crumb ratio was not as great as I'd like it to be. But now as minis, they're fabulous! Made about 55 minis and lasted less than 24 hours!

Doughnuts / Donuts
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
8 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, plus 1 yolk

Coating
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
8 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray the mini-muffin tins with cooking spray. And combine the coating ingredients in a small bowl.

Whisk the dry ingredients (1st 6) in one bowl and the wet (next 3) in another. Add the wet to the dry and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Scoop into muffin tins. (I used my mini muffin scoop.

Bake 14 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool a few minutes in the pan, then working quickly, brush with melted butter, then roll in the sugar, and place on a wire rack.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Quick weeknight meal - Skillet Baked Ziti

I rarely post these days, because it's too hard to coordinate between my writing computer (laptop pc) and my photo computer (iMac). (I have to admit; there is a downside to having photos on iPhoto.) But I've made a couple of yummy things lately, so I just want to get them on here. This one my 12 year old daughter LOVED!

Skillet Baked Ziti (from Cooks Illustrated)

1 Tbs olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced (I use the microplane, and I only used 3 large ones)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (luckily the girls didn't notice, but I could taste it)
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
12 ounces ziti (I use my awesome scale, but you could use 3/4 of a 1 lb box)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan (again, microplane)
1/4 cup minced fresh basil (didn't have this, still delicious)
1 cup shredded mozzarella (not the pre-shredded kind)

Heat the over to 475 degrees. (I was also heating Sister Schubert rolls, so I only heated it to 350.)

Combine oil, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp salt in a 12-inch oven-safe non-stick skillet. Saute over medium-high about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, water, ziti, and another 1/2 tsp salt. 

Cover and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as needed to maintain a vigorous simmer, until ziti is almost tender, 15-18 minutes. 

Stir in the cream, parmesan, and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (No salt was needed for mine. I always love a few fresh grinds of pepper.) Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the ziti and transfer the skillet to the oven to bake about 10 minutes. They like the cheese to be browned, but I know my kids wouldn't like that, so the lower temperature was just fine for us. 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Julia Child's Brownies

Oops! Sorry! If you saw this page looking blank earlier, it's because I didn't mean to hit publish. I was making a place holder of all the yummy stuff I've made recently and need to blog about. So, here goes!

This past week I pulled out my Baking with Julia cookbook. Frannie had been bugging me to make croissants because I refused to buy her the Pillsbury version in a can at the grocery. I wanted to see what it takes to make them from scratch. (Dang! A whole lot of time!) But somehow along the way, I looked to see if Julia had a brownie recipe. I sorta thought she might be above that, but I was pleased to see she wasn't.

This recipe was quite a bit unlike other brownie recipes I've made and everyone around here thinks it's to die for!