Scalloped Sweet Potatoes & Apples with Pork Chops

Okay, this one came from a book that Erin got from the library (I think). I was really looking forward to this and the smell certainly made it worthwhile. It smelled so amazing and I was so hungry by the time that it was ready. I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed, I thought the chops seemed a little dry even though the sauce was too thin and it seemed like the sweet potatoes were kind of floating in a broth (a tasty broth though). I was ready to say that I wouldn't make it again and then I started copying the recipe into the post and realized that I had forgotten to add the flour (cue the sad horn - mwa mwa mwaaaaaaaa). So I will have to revise my opinion and say that I will probably try it again just to make sure (but on a day when I've had lunch because baking sweet potatoes with brown sugar and nutmeg is just more than one woman can take on an empty stomach).

1 T oil
4 pork chops (I used the thick boneless ones)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 large apples, peeled and sliced
2 large onions, sliced
1/4 c melted butter
1 T brown sugar
1/4 c flour
1 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg (I unintentionally used much more)
1/4 t fresh ground pepper (I also used more pepper)
12 oz beer

Brown the chops evenly on both sides. Layer sweet potatoes, apples and onions alternately into a shallow, greased casserole dish (I used my pyrex 8x8 square dish). Sprinkle them with half of the butter and the brown sugar and place the chops on top of the vegetables. Mix the spices and flour with the rest of the butter and the beer in a saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil and pour over the pork chops. Cover with foil (or a lid if your casserole dish has one) and cook at 350F for 1 1/2 hours (no, that's not a typo). Take the foil off and cook for another 30 minutes.

Okay, what would I change the next time. I'D ADD FLOUR!!!!!

Maritime Brown Bread - Bread machine

So I took a book out of the library "Canada's best bread machine baking recipes" by Danna Washburn and Heather Butt. I've baked a few of the breads - I'll try and remember what I have made and post them. They have all been pretty good!

1.5 lb loaf

1 1/4 c water
1/4 c skim milk powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp shortening
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose or bread machine flour
1 tsp bread machine yeast (I use fast acting)

put all the stuff in like it says in your breadmachine manual, make the well and yeast in, and go.

use the Whole wheat cycle

my bread was kinda wet and was flat across the surface. It looked weird and wrong but in the end was baked and tasted good. The teens ate this with gusto!

Pomegranate muffins

I googled pomegrante muffin recipes and got one from thechubbypanda.com
they are pretty tasty - I substituted orange juice for the grand marnier - they are really moist and would be great for breakfast.

It says it makes 2 dozen - it is lying, I am waiting on the second batch, with just as much in the bowl as when I started!

More Bisquick Bake, Chicken & MMmmmm-Bacon

Tried this one again... sort of. If the recipe looks familiar, it's because I made it with ham and pineapple before. This time it was leftover chicken and some other stuff.

1 1/2 c leftover chicken (was roasted with Hawaiian pink salt and herbes de Provence)
8 pieces of back bacon (on sale at Pal's doncha know)
1 chopped tomato

Sprinkle these in the bottom of a greased pie plate.

Mix together in a bowl:
1 c Bisquick
1 c milk
2 eggs
2 t thyme
Pour this over the chicken and bake for 20-25 @ 400C or till you get a clean knife from the centre.

Sprinkle 1 cup of grated cheddar (I used medium cheddar this time) over the top and put it back in for another 4 minutes. Oh yeah, 6 servings.

Okay, notes: on the first night I probably would have preferred the tomatoes to be chopped and sprinkled over the top after the majority of the baking was done, maybe when I added the cheese. However, on the second day, the tomatoes were perfect right where they were. Meag and Zoran seemed to like it and Meag agreed with me about the second day improvement.

Joe's Mama's Crabmeat Casserole

I've been eyeing this one since Joe's Mama gave me this recipe box. For those just tuning in, this recipe box is packed with cake recipes that her mama used in her many, many years as a professional cake decorator. Those are really cool.

Joe's mama also included several recipes that are family (for "family" read "Joe's") favourites. So far Joe claims that this is comfort food that he doesn't really like the taste of very often but has one clear memory of it being amazing and that's what gives it the comfort food designation. Deep breath.

I set out to make this exactly like the recipe but I couldn't resist playing with the proportions a bit.

1 cup uncooked elbows (I used 2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta)
1 can crabmeat (I used 2 cans)
1 cup white sauce (McCormicks or any pkg white) (I used Knorr)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I used closer to 3/4 because that's all I had left)
1 egg yolk
3 T melted butter (I probably used more)
1/4 to 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Cook elbows.
Make white sauce.
Add cheese to white sauce stir until melted
Remove from heat
Add beaten egg yolk
Add crabmeat
Turn into greased casserole.
Mix butter & breadcrumbs
Sprinkle top with breadcrumb mixture
Add cover 350F for 30 minutes.
Also very good with fresh cooked crabmeat.

Okay, it was really delicious. Because I started the pasta water and the white sauce at the same time and had to keep whisking, I wasn't able to wander away from the pasta and lose track of time until I had mush like I usually do so the pasta was perfectly al dente. I don't know how large a serving is supposed to be in Joe's family home but 1 cup of pasta didn't seem like that much to me (not for more than two people anyway) so I doubled it and it filled my small casserole dish nicely, the amended recipe makes for a nice yield for 4. It seemed like the bread crumbs were really wet but because it's covered while it's cooking, they get all melty.

Next time I make it I'd like to try baking it without the lid for at least 10 minutes at the end, maybe all the way through even. I'd like to see if the breadcrumbs crisp up at all. I'd also like to just do the bechemel from scratch, 2 cups of milk with 2 T of flour, a little salt and pepper. I can totally see doing this in individual ramekins, the larger ones. Nice.

Oh yeah, I served it with steamed asparagus spears.

Ham & Pineapple Bake

This is another one of those Bisquick recipes. I liked it a lot and it was wicked easy.

1 1/2 c chopped ham
1 c well drained pineapple chunks
4 chopped green onions

Sprinkle these in the bottom of a greased pie plate (I use a pretty big one, it might even make two small ones. Next time I'm going to try using my 4 large ramekins to make individual ones.)

Mix together in a bowl:
1 c Bisquick
1 c milk
2 eggs
2 t mustard (I suppose you could use dijon or something but I used yellow ballpark and it was yummy)
Pour this over the ham and bake for 20-25 @ 400C or till you get a clean knife from the centre.

Sprinkle 1 cup of grated cheddar (I used old cheddar) over the top and put it back in for another 4 minutes. Oh yeah, 6 servings.

Okay Erin, your turn!

Jody, You'll Like This

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

I cried with laughter.

Chicken-y Mushroom Risotto

On Friday, I tried cooking real risotto for the first time (not the quick 'N easy version I did earlier). While there are a few things I'll change next time, it turned out quite nicely.

2 cups Arborio rice
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
Some mushrooms
Some olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
4 cans of Campbell's condensed chicken broth.
Shredded Parmesan cheese (I'm not sure how much; I just used up the cheese that I had -- probably 3/4 of a cup or so.)

1. Cook the chopped onion and mushrooms in some olive oil, until caramelized.
2. Heat chicken broth until warm, while completely not realizing that you are supposed to dilute condensed chicken broth with an equal amount of water.
3. Remove onion and mushroom and set aside.
4. Cook rice in the leftover olive oil over medium heat, for about 20 minutes.
5. First, add wine and then gradually add chicken broth about a cup at a time, while stirring.
6. Add mushroom and onion and stir at the very end.
7. Turn off the heat and add the Parmesan Cheese.
8. Sit risotto aside for five minutes. After all the stirring, you can sit aside for five minutes too, if you'd like.

It was very good, though I wondered why I couldn't taste the wine. That's probably because the undiluted chicken broth completely overwhelmed the wine. The chicken flavor was a bit strong, but I didn't really mind. Next time, I'll add water to the broth.

Also, my mushroom-rice ratio was a bit low. I used only about half a container, not realizing that the rice would expand when cooked. Next time, more mushrooms and possibly even some chicken sausage.

Strangely, my back was actually a little sore after cooking this. It was hard work stirring for twenty minutes. Apparently, my stirring muscles are just a little out of practice. My eating muscles are doing just fine, though.

Old Tools

Why We Love Cheap Kitchen Tools

I laughed while I read it and thought about my mom's Tupperware bowls (one with lid and one without) that are stacked with my newer bowls. The one that's missing the lid has hot burner marks on the bottom and is deep with steep sides. It's my go-to bowl and I think of her when I use it.

What do you have in your cupboard just like it?

K,J

Red Velvet Cake

I found a low fat version of this somewhere else but I didn't think that this one was particularly high fat for a cake so... I used this one because it was a little weird.

2 1/2 c flour
2 T cocoa powder
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 c softened butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t Wilton No-Taste Red Icing Colour
1 t vanilla
1 c buttermilk
2 T water
1 1/2 t white vinegar
1 t baking soda

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs (I added an extra egg to a double batch), vanilla, and colour till evenly coloured. Sift dry together and add alternately with the buttermilk to the butter (Hint: end with the dry, you get a better crumb). Add the water to the mix.

Mix vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl and gently stir into the batter. Spoon into prepped pans (will fill about 20 cupcakes or a 10" round) and cook at 350F until passes the toothpick test. 20-22 minutes for cupcakes, 35-40 for cake. Cool in pan for 5-10 and then turn out and cool completely.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Simple stuff really. One package of cream cheese with about a cup of mayo. A generous tablespoon of the Roasted Red Pepper Dip Mix, some black pepper and a generous 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Into the oven at 350F for about 20 minutes in Katie's little bowls that she brought back in her suitcase from Sweden (sigh of relief that they were actually ovenproof, I wouldn't have tried if I had known what they were in advance).

Yummy, yummy. Excellent on the French bread from Erin's machine.

Special Guest Blog Appearance by Vincent Price

A Treasury of Great Recipes... from Vincent Price

Bison Beef Tourtiere

This one was originaly from the 'zaar, (#21803), but I didn't have any pork today, so I used ground bison instead. TASTY!!

1 lb lean ground beef

1lb ground bison/pork

1 lrg onion (I used VE 3 onion dip mix)

1 lrg potato

1 stalk celery (forgot this time but it is good)

4 cloves garlic (used powder this time, real is better)

6 whole cloves

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp sage

1 dash of pepper

3 c boiling water

4 tsp beef stock powder

1 tsp vegitable stock powder

2 boxes of deep dish pie crust or crust for 2 pies, covered.

1) scramble fry the meat, drain if need be, and add onions.

2) into the slow cooker put; the finely diced potato, celery, the minced garlic the spices and the meat.

3) mix up beef and veg stock powder with the boiling water, and pour it into the slow cooker

4) cook it up all day, or half a day, or low, or high for a few hours and then drain the stock off, and fish out the whole cloves.

5) into the pie dishes (1/2 the meat = 1 pie) and wrap the crust with foil to prevent the edges burning. bake @ 375 for ~ 20-25 minutes or until the crust is brown.

serve with a salad, peas and some bread. We had veg for dipping tonight and roasted red pepper dip and sun dried tomato dip as well as some hot dips, extraordinary cheese dip and the pesto artichoke dip (both hot) was really good.

My Gran's BBQ ribs - extra addictive!

So, I gotta say that blogger is a pain in the ass! I have been locked out for weeks!

Anyway, my Gran's ribs. I got the meat on supper sale on Sat, and so yesterday they made their way into the oven! My cooking experience started with a walk down memory lane, and I can safely promise you some more of my Gran's recipes.

Love you Grandma.

Oh Happy Day! My house smelled ammazzzzzing! Give it a try, you'll be sorry!

1 c water
2/3 c white vinegar
2/3 c ketchup
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tbsp of corn starch and some cold water to mix it in

So, I doubled the recipe, and it was great - for the brown sugar, I used 1/2 c of golden sugar, and 1/4 each of dark brown sugar, and even darker brown sugar. What a taste! The dark and darker sugar really (positively) effected the sauce!

First off, I seared the meat and scored the backs of them. (With S $ P)and layed them out in my roaster 1 layer deep (think this makes a difference in how the sauce gets later, so get a bigger roasting pan!) and set the oven to 325 F.

Mix everything except the corn starch into a med pot and boil it up, then mix the cornstarch and water, and add it to the pot. Let it thicken (wisk it here girls) and over the ribs it goes.

I had no propane for the BBQ, so into the oven they went, all afternoon. oh, my .......

Wish I had a photo everyone, cause it was GLORIOUS! Served the crack with rice and steamed brocolli and the husband was happy! (Happy meaty tummy ;-) )

Cake Flour Substitute

From the Zaar, recipe number 87689. I think Erin's had some success with this one but I have to tell you that it caused me some serious problems with Cathey's cake. I ran out of the Bulk Barn cake flour and thought I'd give it a whack. I ended up having to add at least another half cup of milk and two or three extra egg whites to get the consistency to where I was used to it.

I might not have noticed if I hadn't made that white cake recipe roughly a dozen times in the last two weeks (it feels like). I don't know if it would have been a problem if I had done it by weight though because I suspect that my flour is wicked dry. I don't think I want to try it again though because that's just more stress than I needed right before that cake was due because the first one fell apart and I was seriously running out of time for the base cake at that point.

Erin, did you try it with a cake that you had made with regular cake flour previously?

BROWNIES : GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

I have faithfully been making these brownies off the side of the Frys cocoa tin for several years now and I'd never really bothered to change up the recipe very much - why fix what is decidedly un-broken? However last night I decided to make things a little more interesting...with whole hazelnuts and way too much time on my hands, the kitchen was my oyster. Even if I dont like oysters.

1 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
1 c. cocoa
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
preferred nuts

Prehead your oven to 350. OR DIE TRYING.

I. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan.
II. When liquid, remove from heat and add cocoa. Mix untill no lumps remain. Stir in sugar and eggs, one at a time. (I don't know what it was, but 4 eggs seemed somehow rediculous so I substituted the last egg for an egg-sized lump of apple sauce. It occured to me later that I could have done that instead of the TWO CUPS of sugar, but genius is a lazy bitch.)
III. Add the vanilla and pour into the flour mix, bit by bit so you don't get those dreaded flour-pockets at the bottom. Pour into a pan and toss in whatever nuts you desire. Mix about and then bake for ~40 minutes.
(Check it at 30. For some reason I put them in for 25 the first time around and it actually jiggled when I picked up the pan, so I sent it back for another 15. They were crunchy around the edges but still gooey and sticky on the bottoms. That's more like it.)

ps. I also ended up making a video about them on YouTube. You can check it out here.
-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKY0K3SOJKM

These ribs were better

I don't have a barbecue. This is one of the great sadnesses in my life right now. I believe that summer heat is made tolerable only by the ability to cook outdoors and not pollute the inside of your house with all of that excess thermal energy from the oven. I've been tolerating the heat smog in my apartment and actually running the oven because I can make things like these ribs. And that potato salad. I can take or leave the cucumber slices.

Put the ribs in a foil lined roaster (I don't think that the foil actually contributes to the cooking but, boy, does it make the cleanup a lot easier). Cover with more foil and roast at 350F for about an hour. Take the foil off, smear with some form of barbecue sauce or glaze and throw them back in the oven uncovered. Baste a couple of times over the next hour and then they're done. Yummy. Nice caramelization, not too tough or dry. I was thinking that they would be really good glazed with the Epicure sauce that we tried at Erin's party, the one with the ginger in it. Maybe a little onion and orange marmalade to thicken and sweeten it. Yummy again.

Served with potato salad. 6 cooked potatoes and 2 hard boiled eggs cut into chunks or slices or whatever floats your boat. Add enough mayonnaise to make it as mayo-y as you like. I added a tablespoon each of Bacon, Cheese & Chive Dip mix, 3-Onion Dip mix, and Lemon Dilly Dip mix (if the combo sounds familiar, it's the magic three from the Extraordinary Cheese Dip). It was a great meal and I have to say that the Ice Capp was the perfect way to end the meal. Thanks Erin! Okay, now I'm not posting anything else until someone else does, it's starting to feel a little too much like The Me Show (starring Me! It's Me! (you'll have to mentally supply the catchy theme music yourself)).

2 am Tomatoes

You know, some people like it at night. I mean, they like being up really late at night. I can see the appeal really, it's quieter, the phone's not ringing, the heat usually lets up a bit at night. That's not me though. When I was a kid, sure, it was always fun staying up till the wee hours of the morning, it was sneaky and usually it was with friends. Fun. Nowadays I lay in my (usually uncomfortably hot) bed staring at the ceiling (or the clock, or the window, or the fireplace, whatever) and I run through all of the mistakes that I think I've made throughout the day (week, month, life, whatever). I make sure to think about all of my worst fears and I mentally watch myself fail in plans that haven't even occurred to me to yet. Grim. This late night wheel-spinning happens more than I'd care to admit and probably more than you'd care to know.

Over the years, I've figured out a few things that hold it all at bay (sometimes). I leave a small light on because then I have something to look at. I usually keep the television going really softly in the background so that I can hear human voices (the trick is to keep the volume just loud enough to hear that they're talking but not quite loud enough to hear exactly what they're saying). I'll try talking to someone until I'm tired enough to drop off (and, as Joe can attest, sometimes past dropping off). Some nights the stars are not in alignment though and I run the gauntlet until I either crash from exhaustion or I hear the buses start going by, call it morning and start worrying about how I'm going to make it through the day without ripping someone's head off because I'm so bloody tired (Joe can also attest that I'm not always successful at that either).

The stars were not in alignment tonight so I tried something different. After two or three hours of self-reflection (doesn't it sound so positive that way), I got up and made BLTs (Meag was still up so I made one for her too). Don't know if eating bacon with mayo is a good idea at 2 in the morning but it was either that or cake and that's just not happening.

2 slices of stupid-giant-sized-rye-bread-that-has-to-be-toasted-one-half-at-a-time-because-it's-so-freaking-big-that-it-won't-fit-in-my-toaster
couple of slices of tomato
couple of pieces of cooked bacon
couple of leaves of romaine that have the spine removed (sounds so grisly)
mayo
s&p

Toast it. Stack it. Eat it.

I don't know if this will help me sleep but at least I'm not hungry anymore.

BLT Bites

You won't believe how hard it was to get a good picture of these little buggers. I made these for the Alpha Celebration Dinner tonight. They were really easy but I wish that I had started them earlier in the day because they could have done to sit in the fridge chilling for a bit longer. I wasn't sure how many people were going to be there so I cut them a little smaller so that this recipe cranks out about 54 little bundles. You could make them bigger if you wanted though. As you will see, I even went so far as to stick little 70s-bridge-party frilly toothpicks into them. What a hoot.

1/2 c mayo
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 T thick and chunky salsa
1/2 T Epicure Sundried Tomato & Herb Dip Mix
1 t dijon mustard
6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
9 tortillas (you could totally do fewer tortillas though, I was trying to stretch them a bit)
1 c finely chopped and seeded roma tomato
1/2 c shredded romaine

I went fancy on these, I trimmed the tortillas until they were square. I also used spinach, tomato, and cheese tortillas so there were some nice colours going on. Mix the mayo, cream cheese and flavouring stuff until well blended, then stir in the bacon. Spread the bacon mixture evenly over the tortillas. Evenly top with lettuce and tomato (you should have seen how finely I shredded the lettuce, I did a chiffonade. Very cool.) tightly roll them up and wrap them securely with cello wrap then put them in the fridge for at least an hour but definitely not overnight (I'm pretty sure that the lettuce would wilt a lot if they were in there for a really long time but I'm thinking 8 hours would be the max).

Cut them into 1" rolls and secure them with a toothpick. Cool beans.

Joe's Grandma's White Cake

Apparently this is Joe's favourite birthday cake when there's raspberry jam between the layers. I thought about doing that but I had these fresh raspberries in the fridge and it just seemed like a good idea to put them between the layers with vanilla whipped cream. I loved this cake because it's a little denser than your average box cake, just a little more body. Joe tells me that it's not usually like that though that that his mom puts in extra egg whites to make it fluffier.

Sift into mixing bowl: 2 1/4 c sifted cake flour (yes, that's right, you're going to double sift it)
3 1/4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 1/2 c sugar

Add: 1/2 c Crisco
2/3 c milk
Beat for 2 minutes until batter is well blended

Add: 1/3 c milk
1/2 c egg whites (unbeaten)

Add 2 t vanilla
1/2 t almond
Beat for 2 minutes

Pour into two 8" or 9" pans that have been greased and floured on the bottom only.

25-35 minutes @ 350F

Triple Ginger Pound Cake

You know, Farrah Fawcett was really pretty when she was younger. This is my favourite pound cake recipe, Christmas present quality. The little ship on Liam's cake just wasn't holding up the way that I wanted it to so I re-baked it in pound cake. I don't know if triple ginger pound cake will work for Liam but I'm hoping that someone likes it.

2 3/4 c sugar
1 1/4 c butter
1 T grated ginger root
1 t vanilla
5 eggs
3 c flour
2 t ground ginger
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c milk or evaporated milk (I've only ever used plain milk)
1/2 c finely chopped crystallized ginger

Beat sugar, butter, ginger root, vanilla and eggs on low for 30 seconds till mixed then 5 minutes on high speed.

Sift the flour, ginger, baking powder and salt together. Alternating with the milk, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. (Personal tip: finish with the flour, ie: 1/3 flour, 1/2 milk, repeat, last 1/3 flour). Fold in the crystallized ginger and pour into greased and floured pans (This makes 3 medium sized loaves).

Bake at 350F for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes till it passes the clean pick test. Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes.

BTW, I'm watching Cannonball Run. Farrah Fawcett is in it.

I Have Mastered the Sugar Cookie

Okay, so I don't talk about it much but cookies have always defeated me. Rolled cookies of pretty much any kind. Drop cookies are fine, it's kind of hard to screw those up but rolled sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, what have you, have always been a problem. They've always been way too crumbly to roll. Not a bad thing if you're doing shortbread and you're going to be pushing it into a press but not so great for snowflakes, stars and butterflies, or, in this case, shamrocks.

I did them for the Comhaltas fundraiser that's coming up and I used the Rolled Cookie recipe from Wilton with the thought that they try really hard to make this stuff accessible for the general public (not that Betty and Fannie haven't). It was crumbly. It was giving my dough hook a serious run for its money. So rather than try to bull my way through I started to play with the recipe (you know, I've always been a little afraid to do that with baked goods because everyone always talks about the chemistry of baking but damnit, I've got my bones in chemistry and I have the student loan to prove it so I started tweaking the recipe and it was wicked easy). I ended up reducing the flour by a half cup and adding 2 more eggs (technically one egg and 1/4 cup flour because I had doubled the recipe. It made for a really resilient dough that cut like a dream, was easy to transfer with minimal breakage and they taste lovely, not uber-dense. I used too much vanilla (per usual) and some almond extract, I would totally use other flavours for this though. So this is my final version:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
2 1/2 cup flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt

Preheat 400 (Oh yeah, I reduced this to 375) Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla. Add first cup of flour with salt and baking powder. Add remaining flour a cup at a time. Bake 6-7 minutes.

I started out using my regular pizza pans with the thought that I could cycle them in and out of the oven, I'd have one ready to go by the time the last one was done but the baking time is so fussy with them that I eventually just switched to my baking stone and things went a lot more smoothly. I don't know why I never start with that right away.

I read in an old Wilton magazine about rolling the dough right onto the baking sheet and then just removing what's left after you've used the cutters but I tried it and things really didn't start clicking along until I stopped doing that and just rolled them on the counter. It's easier to separate them from the scrap and your scrap dough doesn't have crumbs stuck into it from the pan. It's also a little finicky to remove tiny bits of dough from between the cookies without moving the cookies, they ended up more damaged than if I had moved them from the counter AND they have a tendency to grow together while they're cooking when you do them this way, it's just too tempting to cut them close to each other. With the stone, it took closer to 10 minutes for the first batch but 7 minutes on the nose for the rest of them.

I used full test royal icing to outline the cookies and thinned royal icing almost as a glaze to fill in. Tasty tasty. I have to get them out of my house.

A Foccaccia... (Bread, It's Bread)

So I call Erin around 5 to tell her how amazing this stuff smells. I'm referring to the combination of yeast, olive oil and Foccaccia Spices from Epicure.

I start this post around 5:40 because it's finished rising and my mouth is still watering from the smell and I would feel silly calling Erin to say "It still smells amazing, just thought you'd want an update".

I've got a little bit of olive oil in a dish, a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar in it. I've got a caesar salad using the Epicure recipe. I'm going to be breathing fire all night! I was told once that if everyone eats the same garlic-y meal, it doesn't smell strong to them.

Dissolve 2 packets of yeast with 1 T sugar and 1 c warm water for about 5 minutes. Soak 1/4 cup Foccacia Herbs in 1/3 c olive oil and 3/4 c hottish water, let it cool to lukewarm, add 2 t salt and mix it with the yeast. Add 4 cups of flour, a cup at a time, and knead for about 4 minutes (I used my dough hook). Put it on a baking sheet that has been liberally spread with olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal (I skipped that ingredient obviously). Let it rise for 40 minutes and then bake it at 425 for 20-25.

Things that I would change: I'd use a little less flour and a little more oil in the preparation of it. I would also use my stone, I had no idea that it was going to be that big although 4 cups of flour and the huge amount of yeast might have given it away. If I was using my stone, I would put it in with the bread cold, because I baked mine on a cookie sheet at 425 for 20 minutes and the bottom was a little too close to burnt for my tastes.

So, dipped in olive oil didn't work for me this time but Oh Lordy, dipped in Caesar salad dressing is something else entirely.

Who put the crack in my Extraordinary Cheese Dip?

Is it just me or is everyone else having a hard time resisting this one? I swear, I've made it probably around 6 times since that last Epicure party and that's a bit excessive I'm thinking. I made it last night in some of my medium sized ramekins (because my casserole dish has beef stew in it). I left it in for the usual amount of time which was technically a mistake because you have to adjust for shorter cooking times when you change the size of the cookware but O... M... G... The sides and bottom caramelized a bit and had this lovely smoky cheese flavour beyond what it usually does. Yay mistakes!

We're going to have to pin Dayna down and make her tell us which ingredient has the crack hidden in it. I'm thinking that it's the Bacon, Cheese and Chive Dip mix but then again, the Lemon Dilly jar is almost empty...

Bread. Thats it. Thats all it is. Bread.

After spending a few infuriating hours on the internet looking for "BREAD", all it was coming up with nothing but bread machine recipes. That drives me nuts - What happened to baking bread in your ovens? Come ON people. Finally, I did the sensible thing (for it is usually at the end of our ropes that we do the sensible thing.) and went and consulted Betty. She had this to say -

BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID :
Baking bread by hand is a serious commitment - at least 3 or 4 hours of your time. Your feet will be covered in flour. Your arms will hurt. It will get under your nails. But you know what?

It''ll be so, so tasty.


White Bread
- 2 packages active dry yeast (and ANOTHER thing - whats with this package buisiness? As an FYI to break your package-dependance, one pkg. is the equivilant of 2 and a quarter tablespoon of yeast.)
- 3/4 c. warm water

- 2 c. milk, scalded. (Pfffffffff....Betty, please.)
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 3 tbsp. shortening (I ignored this and used butter, as usual.)

- 1 tbsp. salt
- 7 - 8 c. flour

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I. Disolve yest in warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the milk, sugar, shortening/butter/fat/whatever, salt and 4 cups of flour. Mix untill smooth. This will take a good five minutes or so by hand - Don't whine. You knew what you were getting into.

II. Mix in the remaining dough untill it clings together and is easy to handle.

III. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead untill smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn greased side up and let it alone for about an hour. *You'll know its ready when an identation remains when poked.*

IV. Punch down the dough and divide in two. Place loaves in 2 greased loaf pans and brush with melted butter - cover and let rise again for another hour.

V. About five minutes before the loaves are ready, heat oven to 425. OR DIE TRYING.

VI. Place loaves on a low rack so that the tops are in the centre of the oven. Pans should not touch. Bake untill golden brown and hollow when tapped - 25 to 30 minutes (an episode of The Simpsons) Remove from pans and let cool on wire racks. I

VI. Devour with white fury.

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afterparty
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Two loaves of bread. Thats it. Thats all it is. Bread.

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Extraordinary Cheese Dip

I know that we've made this, most of us have tasted it, some of us have tasted it at 3:30 in the morning because we couldn't resist its siren call. I keep losing the pieces of paper that I have it written on and I can only ask Erin for another copy so many times before I start to feel like a complete knob.

250 g spreadable cream cheese
1/2 c grated cheddar
1/2 c grated mozzarella
1 c mayo
1 t VE Cheese, Chives & Bacon dip mix
1 t VE Lemon Dilly dip mix
1 t VE 3 Onion dip mix
1 or 2 rounds of sourdough bread (or see the Wheat Snackers recommendation from March)

Combine all of the dip stuff until well blended. You can bake it at 350F for about 20 minutes or so in the sourdough loaf but I just use an ungreased casserole dish. I'm thinking of trying a mold to see if it will hold its shape next time because that would be really cool to see.

It's the Right Thing to Do with Ice Cream

My Oatmeal-Ice Cream Dessert by Me

Ingredients
1. Oatmeal
2. Ice Cream

I came up with this idea entirely on my own, and I'm very proud of it. You take one Quaker flavored instant oatmeal pack. The Maple and Brown Sugar works best, though other flavors are good too. Add water and microwave for 60 seconds. Try not to add as much water as they say on the directions, because it's best if the oatmeal isn't too soupy. When it's done, add vanilla ice cream liberally, and serve (quickly). The ice cream will melt into the oatmeal, and it will be almost like a real dessert.

PS For dinner, I had porcini sauce that I bought at a specialty market and served it with angel air pasta.

Peppakakor - Death By Cookie

A good friend of mine in Sweden, Stefan "i kno im facking gorgeous!" J., who is also a cook, gave me this recipe last night at my request for something "Sweet, Swedish and good for a picnic.". I have found that in the face of great stresses, I have the tendency to bake...and last night, Bake I Did.

3/4 c. butter

2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. molasses

4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. kanel (swedish cinnamon - sub with standard)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

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Preheat to 350. OR DIE.

- Cream your butter + sugar, add egg and molasses, beat untill well mixed.
- Mix the dry ingridents in thier own separate bowl.
- Add dry to wet 1/2 cup at a time. It may seem like you're not going to have enough but you will. In fact, it just keeps getting better.
- Roll the dough into small teaspoonsized balls (about 20 to a tray), smush them flat with the bottom of a glass (dont worry about putting them too close - they dont spread) and then sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for 9 minutes, remove from tray and let cool on a wire rack.

heres the catch -
The yield to this recipe is something over 100 cookies.

SUPRISE! Prepare to be everyones best friend when you show up with a heaping tin of cookies and bags under your eyes from baking for 2 hours.

Penguin Cake

Well, you start with a penguin...

Actually, you start with a whole whack of cake. I admit freely that I used a couple of box cakes for this one: one No-name lemon cake that actually worked out the best of the "fake" cake, two SuperMoist, one or two "Pudding-in-the-mix" cakes and some other really damp sounding cakes and I have to tell you that they absolutely suck for stacking and carving. They're just too wet so I actually started cutting back on the oil and water that went into them and that helped a bit. The best things though were the cakes from the Recipe Box that I tried out. These were cakes that Joe's grandmother (the cake decorator) and mother made and, wow, do they work for this sort of thing. I think Erin has said something along the same lines, that the old recipe, from-scratch cakes have it all over the box ones, they're denser and have a much richer flavour (I've found). Having said that, here is the first one:

"My Inspiration Cake" (the February 1954 Women's Home Companion champion)

Bake 350F 35-40 min in 2 9" layer pans

Place 1 cup finely chopped walnuts over the bottom of the well greased and floured pan (I used whole pecans because I wasn't in a walnut mood)

Grate 2 oz sweet or semi-sweet chocolate and reserve (Do not use chocolate chips like a certain lazy person that I know)

Sift together: 2 1/2 cups cake flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 1/2 c sugar

Add: 2/3 cups Crisco (but you can use vegetable oil, discovered by aforementioned lazy person who was worried that she wouldn't have enough shortening for the icing)
1 1/4 milk
1 t vanilla

Beat at low speed for 1 1/2 minutes then at medium speed add 2/3 cups unbeaten egg whites and beat for another 1 1/2 minutes (or until you finish prepping the pans and sprinkling the nuts, whichever comes first).

Spoon batter carefully over nuts until you've used half of it. Sprinkle the grated chocolate and then spoon the rest of the batter over that. Bake as directed and then let it cool in the pans for 10-15 before turning out to cool completely. (Note to remember: if you use whole pecans and chocolate chips and aren't exactly "spooning carefully", you will end up with a cake where the nuts are at the top and the chocolate is at the bottom instead of what I think they intended.)

Will definitely make this one again, there were a really good tooth to it and I liked both the chocolate and nut blend with the vanilla (which, again, I'm a little generous with).

Gold Cake... aka Use-Up-the-Egg-Yolks Cake

Also from the Recipe Box:

2 c cake flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter (I use Crisco) (the aside was Joe's Mom's, I personally used butter)
1 c sugar
1/2 c egg yolks
3/4 c milk
1 t vanilla (or a half-cup like I seem to use, kidding, I kid)

Cream sugar and butter. Add the milk and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks and beat again. Sift the dry in and mix. (There is no actual mention of when to add the dry ingredients but I went with the end.)

Bake at 350F for 40 or until it passes the "finger test".

If you try this one, please don't panic at the yucky mess that is sitting in the bowl before you add the dry ingredients, I was actually sniffing it because it looked like curdled... well, it didn't look edible. After adding the dry, though, and letting Sparky beat at it for a couple of minutes, it was a lovely smooth batter and cooked up to be a nice tasting gold cake. I think it would be really good with a nice chocolate icing.

High-Test Buttercream

6 cups icing sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 c boiling water
2 3/4 c high-ratio shortening
6 oz butter

Put the sugar, salt and vanilla into your mixing bowl and pour in the boiling water. Use the whisk attachment until it's smooth and cooled down. Add the butter and shortening in little chunks and whip at a lower speed until it's smooth (I don't think I've ever got it completely smooth at the lower speed so I just let it rip as soon as I get it all in there). Increase the speed to medium-high and let it run for like 10-20 minutes. It will come close to doubling in size so please don't be tempted to double the recipe. It tastes so light and fluffy and I could eat it by the spoonful (if you think about how much icing I've eaten over my cake decorating "lifetime", you'll be able to tell how good this is. I would actually volunteer to eat it).

You can use regular shortening but the high-ratio shortening takes colour really well and is a little more stable, I've found. You smear the cake with the stuff, put it in the fridge for a bit and then smooth it with a metal spatula that's been dipped in hot water and it is smoother than Barbados Slim.

ground pork meatballs

So, I have some ground pork, and think, "Hmmm, swedish type meatballs!" and so, go to the 'zaar. "ground pork" did not register as an ingredient, just sent me to all pork recipes. I have a recipe, but not all the ingredients. ;-( . The following is the solution to my predicament!

*** ~ = around - I was just throwing stuff together without measuring

1 lb ground pork
1 egg
~1/4 c bread crumbs
~1/4 c milk
2 tsp VE 3 onion dip mix
1/8 tsp allspice (or more if you like)
~1/2 tsp salt
~1/2 - 3/4 tsp black pepper
a few scrapes of fresh nutmeg probably 1/8 tsp of ground

I am cooking them right now and they smell amazing!

I put all that stuff into my stand mixer with the dough hook and let it do its thing on low. then used my handy icecream scoop/meatball scoop/cookie dough scoop and made meat balls and put them on my broil pan (lined with foil and with a wee bit of water in) and put them under the hi broil in the oven on the lowest rack. Cookem' til they're done. Fantastic!

Then, I moved the meatballs to the slowcooker, and turned it on so when I added the sauce, the crock was hot already.

Slush... That's it, just Slush

6 cups water
1 can orange concentrate
48 oz can pineapple juice
1-2 cups sugar
1 can lemonade concentrate
26 oz lemon gin

Mix and freeze. Serve 1/2 and 1/2 with 7Up or Sprite.

Both of these recipes are from the Rushnychok Ukrainian Folk Dance troupe 25th Anniversary fundraiser cookbook. It also contains great solutions for everything from fireproofing your Christmas tree to cleaning your brick fireplace. My favourite part is the poem in the from by Lord Lytton who didn't do so well for himself in India but had some definite ideas about food it seems.

LIFE
We may live without poetry,
Music and art;
We may live without conscience,
And live without heart;
We may live without friends,
We may live without books;
But civilized man cannot
Live without cooks.

Singapore Sling Slush

Per Erin's request.

26 oz vodka (What a great way to start a recipe)
1 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate, undiluted
1 cup grenadine
2 cups cherry whisky (Never heard of it and it sounds foul but I'm sure we can substitute)
48 oz can pineapple juice
8 cups water

Mix together and freeze in a large container (something big enough to hold 24 1/2 cups of liquid, I'm assuming). Serve in a large glass with 1/2 frozen slush and 1/2 ginger ale or 7-Up.

My Aunt Jean used to keep something like this in their freezer, I remember it from my cousin Lisa's party when I was about 14 or 15. I'll post the second one right after this.

Crab & Artichoke Dip

This is sort of the recipe off of the side of the Pesto Artichoke Dip Mix and sort of what I vaguely remembered from Erin's Dips & Spreads Cookbook (pretty close actually).

1 14 oz can artichokes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
3 T Pesto Artichoke Dip Mix
1/2 c mayo
2 small cans of chopped crabmeat (This is the vague part)

I mixed all of the stuff into the food processor until the artichokes were chopped the way that I liked. After that I stirred in the crabmeat and threw it in the over for about 20 minutes at 350 until it was lovely and hot. The kicker is that it tastes the absolute best when you've cooked it and then let it cool down. Yummers. I actually had to warn Meag to not eat it all on me because she bunked down with the casserole dish and a piece of naan and looked prepared to finish it off. I took the last of it over to Erin's for lunch on Tuesday and Liam finished off all of my crackers but had no interest in the dip. Daft boy :D

Greek Almond Cookies

This one is from the VE cook book Greek with Gusto,

1/2 LB butter, at room temp
3/4 cup sifted icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c ground almonds
icing sugar, sifted

1)preheat oven to 350

2)Beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanila and almond extract

3) combine flour, salt and ground almonds in bowl. add to butter mixture and combine until well blended.

4) if the dough is soft, chill until slightly firm

5) roll walnut sized piece of dough into a ball, space balls 1 1/2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I used a small icecream scoop, so they were all the same size.

6) bake 1 sheet at a time for 12 - 15 minutes - I think I only cooked mine for ~ 10 minutes.

7) Remove from oven and let cookies cool on sheet until slightly firm - ~ 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Sprinkle heavily with icing sugar. Cool cookes completely before storing in a sealed container. - Yea, if they make it that far, I didn't sprinkle with icing sugar, didn't think they needed it.

These were REALLY GOOD COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!

Louisiana Hot and spicy Chicken Marinade

Ok, so I have no idea what this tastes like - I'll let you know when we actually cook the chicken.

I bought a bag of 3 chickens and just put 2 of them on the spit and they are cooking right now on the rotisserie of the BBQ! I am looking forward to eating those, but what to do with the third chicken?

I made a marinade of:

3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp rounded of VE 3 onion dip mix
2-3 Tbsp VE Louisiana Hot and Spicy Dip mix

Shook it all up and through it into the bag with the chicken and made sure the chicken was coated in the marinade and I tossed it into the freezer. The thinking being that as the chicken thaws it will marinade itself!

I plan on putting this one on the BBQ rotissierie also - I'll let you know how it works out.

Oyster Crackers

Ingredients:
Can of Smoked Oysters
Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits
Grape Tomatoes

Directions:
1. Place triscuit on plate.
2. Place two small smoked oysters on triscuit.
3. Place grape tomato on triscuit.
4. Place Oyster Tomato Triscuit in mouth.
5. Serve with playoff basketball game.
6. Repeat enough so that you end up considering this supper.

Questions:
1. Can this be considered a balanced meal with the sneaky inclusion of the tomato?
2. Would this be the first time such a snack was ever consumed during a playoff game?
3. If I had had potato chips in the house, would I probably have just ate them instead?