In The Kitchen With Mummsie

Breakfast Meets Lunch-for Dinner the Monte Cristo Sandwich

2014-09-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Let me first say this is our variation of the Monte Cristo Sandwich and it may differ from the tradition a bit. I am really not sure how close it comes even.

The roots of our house eating this dates back a while. One day I was watching some cooking show or another on TV and the host was making his/her version of the Monte Cristo. It just happened that my daughter walked through the room at that time and mentioned it looked really good.

A couple of weeks later she and I happened to be at the grocery store (on our way home from the ice rink) and I asked her what we should have for dinner the next day. We talked about a couple of possibilities and this sandwich came up. Neither of us could remember exactly how it was made or the exact ingredients but we got ingredients for what we remembered. I put this sandwich together the next night and it was a huge hit. It has regularly been on the table ever since. And you know what I never did go back to see how close this comes to the one we saw on TV that time. LOL

So you may be asking why the title of today's post. Well when you get right down to it that is what this sandwich is: part breakfast part lunch and we usually have it for dinner. The breakfast part is the exterior of the sandwich which is our old friend French Toast. The inside of the sandwich has a nice meat and cheese filling. This is all combined into a wonderfully yummy sandwich that can proudly become your dinner.

The coating for the outside is based on my standard French toast recipe. You will need this much for every one and a half sandwiches. In other words this much will do 1, double this amount will coat 2 or 3 and so on.

So for every 1 and half sandwiches:

1 egg

¼ cup milk

2 Tablespoons Bisquick

a pinch of salt.

For each sandwich you will need:

2 slices white bread- we like either potato bread of a good sourdough

deli sliced ham

deli sliced turkey

deli sliced Swiss cheese

mayonnaise

berry jam

Start pre-heating your skillet while you build the sandwiches, I almost always use my big old antique cast iron skillet for this. I also pre-heat my oven to just warm and prepare a flat baking sheet with a wire rack. This way I can cook one sandwich at a time and move them to the oven to stay warm.

I like to line my slices of bread up in pairs for the sandwiches and do this assembly line fashion. First spread a tiny bit of mayonnaise on each slice of bread. This will help to seal it and prevent the outside coating from making it soggy later (don't ask how I know this)

Next layer on Swiss cheese on all slices of bread right over the mayonnaise. Now on half the slices add the turkey and on the other half add the ham. Over the ham spread a bit of the jam, probably about a ½ Tablespoon or so- it's up to you. Now plop those sandwiches together. From the bottom up you should have:

bread

mayonnaise

Swiss cheese

Turkey

Jam

ham

Swiss cheese

Mayonnaise

bread

Now combine those coating ingredients in a shallow dish (I usually use a pie plate) getting the mixture as smooth and lump free as possible.

Add just a tiny amount of butter to your pre-heated skillet.

Carefully dip the first sandwich into the coating turn and coat both sides just like you were making french toast. Now move the sandwich to the skillet and cook until the bottom side is nicely browned. Carefully flip the sandwich over and cook the other side.

Since I always only cook one sandwich at a time- it is much easier this way I now move the cooked sandwich to a wire rack on a baking sheet and stick this into a warm oven. This does two things it allows the sandwich to stay warm while I fix the rest of the sandwiches and also it helps to make sure the cheese is all the way melted without risking burning the outside of the sandwich.

That is really all there is to it. These are sooooo yummy your family will love them, I know mine does.

Blackberry Pie

2014-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you are either from here in Oregon or know anyone that is you probably know we have had a very hot and humid summer. Us native Oregonians just aren't cut out for this weather so we have been whining a lot about it. On the other hand the local blackberries are enjoying and thriving because of it. They seem to love this hot humid sticky weather and are rewarding those of us that take the time to pick them with some of the best berries I have seen in a few years. And lots of them too.

This last week or so I have spent a bit of time out picking berries. I really haven't had to work all that hard at it and was able to come away with around 8 cups of berries each time. Mind you I am not the best berry picker either, that title would have to go to my daughter she and my mom used to both spend hours every summer out picking berries. Both of them were much faster at the picking and ended up picking way more than I ever did. This year however if I want berries to use here in my kitchen I am on my own to do the picking so I get what I can and there are plenty to get.

If you happen to have some berries on your property be sure to go out and pick at least some of them it will be well worth it. If you don't ask around and find someone that will let you come and pick some.

However a couple of things you should never do. Don't go onto someone's property without permission and pick berries. Even if the berries are right next to the road. First off they are not yours and secondly you have no way of knowing if they have been sprayed. Every year I see people pulled over to the side of the roads out here picking berries that they see growing there. Many of these areas have been sprayed for both weeds and bugs and they are risking their health by eating them without knowing.

Next thing to remember is if someone lets you pick berries on their property and you have to go through gates be extra careful to make sure any gates that were closed when you got there remain so and any that were open also remain so. They are there for a reason.

A few things to keep in mind when picking berries. Dress appropriately this is not the time for shorts and a cute sleeveless top or for those cute little sandals you got on sale. You need to wear long pants, long sleeves and real shoes. Okay I admit I break the long sleeve rule most of the time. Remember those berry plants are going to fight back and they have thorns to do that with.

So now you have gone out and picked berries now what do you do with them?? There are so many things that come to mind but today I am going to tell you all about my favorite Blackberry Pie. That's right I said pie!!!

Remember I said I got about 8 cups of berries each time I picked? Well that amount is perfect for 2 pies. What I like to do is make one pie to eat right away and freeze a batch of berry pie filling for another one next winter. It is super easy to do and you will be so happy when you have that pie filling next winter.

Here is my favorite blackberry pie recipe complete with some pictures to help you along the way. After the recipe I'll tell how I go about freezing more pie filling to use later.

Blackberry Pie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Sort and rinse 4 cups of fresh blackberries and set aside to drain.

Meanwhile:

Line pie pan with bottom crust

and

In a large bowl combine:

¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar

1/3 cup flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

stir well then add the berries.

Gently combine until the berries are coated with the sugar mixture. They usually start to release some berry juices during this process.

Dump the berry/ sugar mixture into the pastry lined pie pan.

Cut about 2 Tablespoons of butter into small chunks and add to the top of the filling

Dip your finger into cool water and run it around the edge of the pastry in the pie pan. (this is your glue to hold the top crust to the bottom crust)

Carefully top with the second rolled out crust. Use a fork to press the edges together.

Cut the edge of the crust off even with the outside edge of the pie pan.

Cut some slits in the top crust (these allow the juices to bubble up and the air to escape during baking)

Sprinkle top of crust with a pinch of sugar- optional

Set pie pan on a foil lined baking sheet and place in pre-heated oven.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The pie is done when the crust is nicely browned and there are berry juices bubbling through the slits in the crust.

Cool on a wire rack

Berry pie filling for later.

Measure out 8 cups of berries and rinse them off just like when you made the pie.

Now combine you dry ingredients in a gallon size freezer bag. Add the drained, rinsed berries. Label the bag and seal it (making sure you have gotten as much air out as possible without crushing your berries. Now freeze this bag of berry pie filling. When you are ready to use it simply thaw it out (be sure to place the bag in a container just in case some of the juices decide to escape)

You can do many things with this bag of filling once it is thawed out. You can of course make a pie following the directions for baking that we used today for our pie. Or you could put it into a casserole dish and cover it with a “crisp topping” (butter, flour and oatmeal) and bake that, you could heat it up and put it into a casserole with some biscuits on top and bake it into a cobbler, or just bring it to a boil (to cook the flour and thicken it a bit) and then cool and put over ice cream.

Diablo Potatoes

2014-08-25T10:41:00.001-07:00

In case you don't know Diablo is another name for the Devil and we gave this potato recipe the name Diablo for a couple of reasons.

First it is a quick way to remember how long to cook them- 666- 6 minutes, 6 minutes, 6 -10 minutes. And secondly we almost always serve these with a simple Sriracha Mayonnaise for dipping.

Now before we get to the potatoes I have to ask are you familiar with Sriracha? If you like spicy foods and you aren't you need to run to the store and get some of this wonderful condiment. It will be found on the aisle with the Asian foods, it is a wonderfully spicy sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt. It is one of my go to ingredients when I want to add a bit of heat to just about any dish. To make Sriracha Mayonnaise simply add some Sriracha to mayonnaise to taste, a little goes a long way so add it in small amounts and taste as you go. I like to make this up around the time I start the grill so it has time to sit in the fridge. This allows the flavors to “marry” a bit.

Now onto those potatoes. Start with large baking type potatoes, one per person is usually enough but if you think people are going to be really hungry it is certainly easy to add a few extras to the batch.

Wash those potatoes really well and then cut them lengthwise into 6 – 8 wedges each. I normally do e 6 unless the potatoes are really fat. Now immediately toss the wedges of potato with some oil- either vegetable oil or olive oil- whatever is handy. I like to do this in a large plastic bag to make clean up super easy. Now season to taste with salt, pepper and dry herbs/spices. This is where you can get creative use whatever sounds good to you at the time or that you feel will go well with the rest of the meal. If you are using Italian dry herb seasoning in the maindish throw some in with the potatoes, maybe some chili powder or whatever. Remember potatoes are fairly bland and take well to just about any seasoning. The only thing you can really do wrong here is to not season them, at the very least throw in some salt and pepper.

Now over direct heat on the grill- and you want it to be a fairly hot grill- place the potatoes laying on one of the cut sides. Let them cook on the covered grill for 6 minutes. Now turn them all to the other cut side keeping them over direct heat for another 6 minutes. At this point they should be cooked most of the way through and be nicely browned on both cut sides. Now flip them over onto the peel side and place them to the side of the grill (indirect heat part) and cook for another 6 to 10 minutes. This is usually a good time to get the burgers or steaks cooked. At the end of the last cooking time they should be cooked through. They can actually hang out for a few more minutes if need be on the cooler side of the grill.

on the first side

second side

finishing off on the cool side of the grill while the rest of dinner cooks

Serve with the Sriracha Mayonnaise or whatever you like to dip your fries into.

Gingerbread with Warm Orange Sauce

2014-08-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

I love the smell of gingerbread baking; it makes the entire house smell so warm and inviting making this the perfect dessert to make if you have guests coming for dessert. They will be hungry for it the moment they step in the front door. I love to put the chopped candied ginger into the batter; they are such a wonderful little surprise sprinkled through the moist cake. I know that candied ginger or crystallized ginger as it is called sometimes can be very expensive, especially when you get it on the baking aisle. I try to always get mine at Cost Plus World Market; they carry bags of it in the candy aisle. I am sure other stores probably do too. I am also going to try making some of my own in the next couple of weeks, if I get a good recipe I will be sure to share it here.

The warm orange sauce is a wonderful team player with the gingerbread and would also be wonderful on pancakes or waffles too. I store it in the fridge and just reheat the amount we need as we need it in the microwave.

Gingerbread

2 1/3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup finely chopped candied ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

1 cup molasses

¾ cup hot water

½ cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Grease an 8”x8” baking dish well.

Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit

Combine the flour, sugar, candied ginger, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and stir to mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a mixer on low for about 30 seconds to combine. Turn the mixer to medium and beat for an additional 3 minutes to thoroughly combine. Be sure to scrape the bowl several times during this process.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until it tests done with a toothpick in the center.

Serve warm with Warm Orange Sauce

Warm Orange Sauce

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon flour

Pinch of salt

1 ¼ cup orange juice

½ cup water

¼ cup lemon juice

1 Tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Combine dry ingredients in a medium size sauce pan and stir to combine.

Slowly whisk in the liquids.

Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue to whisk constantly while boiling for 3 more minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the butter and grated peels.

Serve warm, store any leftovers in the fridge in a covered container.

Mom's Refrigerator Dessert

2013-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to go through a bunch of stuff from my mom's house and sort through it. One of the problems with that is I keep getting sidetracked. This recipe for example, I found this recipe on a recipe card tucked into one of mom's cookbooks. As soon as I read it I was not only craving it but I was remembering all those pot luck dinners that mom took this dessert to.

For a couple of years of my childhood and into my teen years whenever mom was called upon to bring a dessert to a potluck this was what she made. I think mainly because it was easy to make and carried well to these functions.

I really don't know what the real name of it was because she had just titled the card “refrigerator dessert” I don't know where she got the recipe from either. I just know that when I took a bite of it I was right back there at one of those potlucks surrounded by friends and celebrating whatever event the potluck was for.

I know that mom changed up the cake component depending on what was on hand. Sometimes she used angel food cake and sometimes she used a plain white cake or whatever she had handy I think. Feel free to use whatever your favorite plain light cake is.

Mom's Refrigerator Dessert

1 package (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 (8 oz) container whipped topping

1 (20 oz) can pineapple tidbits

cake

a couple of handfuls of slivered almonds, toasted

Cajun Stew

2013-04-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

I was really at a loss for what to call this dish, I know what it is not (a jambalaya) but stew comes the closest to what it really is. I came up with this one all because of some sausage I tasted at a demo table at a grocery store several months ago. I needed to just pick up a couple of things and the parking lot at the store I normally go to was a zoo so I went to the store down the street that I don't go to very often. As I was walking through there was a very nice lady offering up samples of a smoked sausage from a company that I was not familiar with. I tried all the varieties and decided to take a package of the cajun spiced one home with me. Now I needed to figure out how to serve. I thought about it a couple of days and decided I wanted to play around with it a bit.

Since I live a ways from the nearest grocery store I always have stuff on hand in the freezer and pantry. When you live out here you don't run to the store at the last minute to pick up something for dinner. There is also no delivery any where near here. I started to think about what I had on hand. I knew there was some chicken breasts in the freezer (these are always in my freezer) and I had picked up some frozen shrimp a few days before. Hummmm.....

I mulled the choices over for a few days and decided to combine the sausages with both of the above meats. I knew I wanted to go cajun style so that meant onion, celery and green pepper. I had all of these on hand so now dinner was coming together. I wanted the chicken and shrimp to stand up to the sausage so I decided to coat these two items with some of my homemade cajun seasoning blend (I'll add that recipe at the end of this post). I knew it wouldn't take much of the seasoning, a little goes along way but it is so good on almost all meats. I had just picked up a bunch of cans of diced tomatoes and I like a tomato base to this kind of dish so that went on my mental list of ingredients. My fresh thyme was doing well at that time too and since there's dry thyme in my seasoning blend I thought that would be a good addition too (I like to add some fresh herbs in wherever I can)

The rest of the ingredients came about as I tasted the dish as I made it the first time.

Now all that being said the day I recorded this I couldn't get the cajun sausage and used some smoked sausage that was labeled Spicy Italian. It worked just as well. If you want to cut back on the spiciness of the dish use a smoked Polish type sausage. Really any variety of pre-cooked (smoked) sausage will work just fine.

We really love this one and it is really easy to make in a larger batch to feed a crowd. Since the different elements are cooked separately and come together at the end just increase it to fill up your crew. The recipe as written is plenty to fill up my son and myself and have plenty of leftovers for lunch.

On the subject of servings and more importantly how many servings my recipes make. That is a really tough question since I am trying to fill up a growing teenage boy. I swear at this age (14) they can eat enough for an army and still pop up for a snack 5 minutes later. He is currently 6' tall and still growing. So how many normal people will this feed?? You will have to be the judge of that one.

Cajun Stew

½ lb large shrimp (peeled, deveined and thawed if frozen)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

1 Tablespoon Cajun Seasoning blend

½ lb spicy sausage Cajun style or spicy Italian smoked sausage

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, sliced

1 green pepper sliced

3 ribs celery sliced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes

a splash of white wine (optional)

3 Tablespoons of a grainy mustard

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

Cajun Seasoning Blend

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon instant minced onion

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon read pepper flakes

combine and store in a jar in a dark place.

Pickled Red Onions

2013-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I discovered this little gem just a couple of years ago. It seemed like every time I picked up a cooking magazine or tuned into the Food Network I saw someone making/serving pickled onions. I tried a couple of recipes and we fell in love with this one. I think it is a combination of several I found in different places but I am not really sure. All I have is the recipe scribbled on a partial piece of yellow legal paper. I keep it tacked to my kitchen bulletin board so I can make these regularly. Truth be told at this point I could probably make them in my sleep though.

There is pretty much always a jar with some of these in our fridge. We use them all the time. They are great on sandwiches of all kinds and just as fantastic in a green salad. I have thrown them into almost every recipe that calls for pickles or pickle relish and so far they have been a huge hit every time. I know that both my son and I have on occasion just grabbed a few to eat on their own too. They really are that good.

I like to store ours in a quart size canning jar. I do this for several reasons first off I have a bunch of them around from the canning that my mom, my grandma and that I have done over the years. The jars are easy to clean and can withstand the hot brine solution going in with the onions. Also the lids give a nice seal so the pickly awesomeness doesn't invade the rest of the contents of the fridge.

I like to heat the brine up in the microwave for about 2 minutes. I tried doing them without heating the liquid up and we just prefer the results this way. The brine doesn't need to come to a boil, just get it hot enough to steam a bit and to dissolve the salt and sugar. I use Tabasco in ours but use your favorite hot sauce, after a batch or two you will know how much to use. I use about 3 or 4 good splashes of it and we find it to be perfect.

These really are best after a day or so, the onions need some time to get friendly with the brine and begin to break down a bit. I really don't know how long they will keep because they have never lasted long enough to find out. The brine is a wonderful addition to salad dressings and just about anywhere else you would use vinegar. It turns a very pretty magenta color from the onions and takes on the flavor of the onions very quickly.

Pickled Red Onions

½ cup red wine vinegar

½ cold water

2 Tablespoons Kosher salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

3 or 4 dashes hot sauce (or to taste)

1 large red onion sliced

Stir and Drop Sugar Cookies

2013-04-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is the very first cookie recipe I remember making as a young girl and I have made them on a regular basis ever since. I love how easy they are, no mixer required, and they still taste wonderful. I can have fresh from the oven cookies ready to serve in a matter of minutes. They have a wonderful hint of lemon but if you don't like lemon just leave the extract out, they will still be wonderful. The recipe makes a small number of cookies, I usually get between 24 and 30 per batch. The only down side I see to them is they do get stale a bit quicker than some of the other cookies I make but since they are so good they seldom hang around long enough for that to be a problem.

If you have never made cookies before these are a fantastic recipe to try as your first exploration of baking. Also if you have a young child that wants to bake cookies this is a good place to start. Adult supervision is necessary for getting the cookies in and out of the hot oven but other than that these are very kid friendly.

If you want to really make them special substitute some decorator sugar in a festive color for the sugar that you dip the glass in to flatten your cookies before putting them in the oven.

Stir and Drop Sugar Cookies

2 eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp lemon extract

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

more sugar to use while flattening the cookies

Smooshed Potatoes

2013-03-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

Just what are smooshed potatoes you ask? Well, that's the name my kids gave this recipe the first time I made it. They are small baby potatoes that are boiled then smooshed (as opposed to mashed) and then cooked again in a hot skillet in a bit of oil. The result is a yummy and fun side dish that goes so well with any meal. We really like them alongside of any roasted meat dish.

You can use any variety of small round (baby) potatoes. Try all of the ones your store carries and see what your family likes the best. A couple of times when making this for company I have used a variety of potatoes and that makes for a wonderfully attractive presentation. The secret is using the smallest of the potatoes, it is best if you can buy them in the bulk so you can pick through for the smallest. My normal grocery store only carries this size potato in the little mesh bags and there are always a few that are too big to work well. The bigger ones tend to break apart when you smoosh them with the drinking glass. They still taste great they just don't look as nice on the plate.

The other real key to this dish is to use a really hot pan, this will help the potatoes to form a crust quickly and not to overcook. Remember they are already cooked through, we are really just crisping them up.

Work in small batches so you don't cool the pan off and have room to work. Season them really well with salt and pepper when they come out of the oil and keep the finished ones hot in a warm oven while you cook off the rest.

I'm not going to give you amounts on this recipe because you can make as many or as few as your family will eat.

Smooshed potatoes

Small baby potatoes

Vegetable oil

Salt

Pepper

Corn Dog Casserole

2013-03-20T06:43:00.001-07:00

This is a dish I have been making for at least a decade. It is a particular favorite of my middle son. I think the reason the kids love it is because it combines the flavors of several summer time foods all in one comfort dish of a casserole.

The thing I love most about it is that all of the ingredients are things that are easy to have on hand so it is great to serve when you have people show up just in time to expect to be fed.

You can vary the flavor somewhat by your choice of the bottled BBQ sauce and the baked beans, these come in lots of different flavors and the nice thing is they come on sale at great prices often too. Since they are both canned goods they store in the pantry really well. The little sausages tend to come on sale from time to time too and I try to stock up when they do. They freeze really well and I have been known to partially thaw them in the microwave before heating them with the beans and sauce.

The cornbread mix is almost always a bargain and although I rarely make cornbread with it I keep it on had for casseroles like this one. Check the label on your cornbread and use the ingredients called for on it, the ones in the list are what I have found to be pretty standard.

Onions, milk, eggs and butter are always in my kitchen so you can understand why I fall back on this casserole regularly.

I have also doubled this with fantastic results for a crowd, just bake it in a 13”x9” and is will be fine.

Corn Dog Casserole

! (28 oz) can baked beans (any variety)

1 (14 to 16 oz) package of “little smokey” sausages

½ cup barbecue sauce (any variety)

1 small onion chopped

1 (6- 8.5 oz) box or pouch of corn bread mix

ingredients to make cornbread mix:

1/3 cup milk

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

In a large saucepan combine the baked beans, sausages, bbq sauce and onion. Place pan over medium heat until bubbly. Stir the pan frequently while it heats.

Meanwhile combine the cornbread mix with the ingredients called for on the box/pouch.

When the bean mixture is hot and bubbly pour into an 8”x8” baking dish. Spoon the cornbread batter over the beans in the casserole dish spreading as well as you can.

Place the casserole dish in the preheated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The top of the cornbread should be golden brown and the bean mixture should be bubbling up.

Chocolate Cake for Sara

2013-03-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

I developed this recipe a few years ago for a good friend. At the time her daughter (Sara) was having a lot of food allergy issues and was on a very restricted diet. This is hard for anyone but for a teenage girl whose friends go out for pizza and ice cream is is doubly hard. Her mom asked me if I knew of any kind of dessert recipe that she could make for Sara. Among the long list of other items not allowed were wheat, dairy, soy, and corn (I won't bore you with the entire list) Luckily she could have chocolate as long as the other ingredients were okay. Well, my first thought was a flour-less chocolate cake. The problem was all the ones I could find had at least on ingredient from the list of forbidden foods. I put on my thinking cap and did some experimenting. I came up with this particular chocolate cake that has only 4 ingredients, all on the approved list and it was a hit. Sara and her mom loved it as well as my kids. (Good thing my kids liked it, we ate several versions to get to this one)

This is a very dense, moist chocolate cake with a slightly bitter taste (like that of dark chocolate) so good. It is best the first day or so after it is baked but it seldom lasts very long at my house.

Obviously, if you are making this for someone with allergies be sure to read all the labels on the ingredients you are using. And I can say from personal experience read them every time you purchase. Manufacturers do change formulas sometimes and just because the last one you purchased was fine there is no guarantee that the one on the shelf today will be. When you are trying to work with food allergies you have to read those labels every time not just sometimes.

I based this recipe on unsweetened baking cocoa for a simple reason that is all that is in it. There are no other ingredients (at least my brand) added to it. Many of the unsweetened chocolates have other ingredients and they were not allowed for Sara at that time.

Chocolate Cake for Sara

1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and move the rack to the middle of the oven.
Oil an 8" cake pan
In a mixing bowl combine the cocoa powder and the oil and beat with a mixer until smooth.
Slowly beat in sugar until well combined .
Add eggs and beat well after each.
Pour/ spread in prepared pan
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top of the cake forms a thin skin.
Cool in baking pan for 5 minutes and then invert onto a serving plate.

Serves 8

Bread

2013-03-06T06:37:00.002-08:00

I have been working on this bread recipe for several months now and I think I have it just where I want it. My goal was to make a loaf of bread that used the bread machine to do the tedious part of the bread making and still have a normal shaped loaf.

You may have noticed on my blogs in the past that I often refer to my bread machine and my slow cooker as the “hired help” in the kitchen. They really can be if you use them on a regular basis. I love my bread machine and use it a lot. Sometimes I let it do all the work from start to finish but more often I use it like I do in this recipe. I take advantage of the Dough setting and then transfer the bread to a regular loaf pan to finish up.

Since I am home working most days it is convenient for me to do this. I can still get a lot of work done while the machine does most of the work on the bread. Then at the sound of my timer I can take a break to see to the needs of the bread. At the end of a few hours I have a loaf of bread just as good as the ones that my mom and my grandma put so much work into. That being said I do still make bread the old fashioned way that I learned as a young girl. I still enjoy to work with the dough but face it most days I just don't have the luxury of the time it takes.

I want to cover a few things about this bread before I give you the recipe.

I use ¼ cup of sugar in this recipe. I do that for several reasons the first being that it helps the yeast to get maximum rise. The yeast does need sugar to give it the energy and it helps to make this a practically fool proof recipe (as long as you measure carefully and follow the directions) Also with the addition of sugar you get some of the best toasting bread since the sugar is what helps to brown it in the toaster.

I designed this bread to use plain old All Purpose flour. I love that because I don't always have special bread flour on hand, if you want to add some variety and boost the nutrients a bit you might try replacing up to half the flour with whole wheat flour. The resulting loaf will be a bit denser but equally as tasty. Or try your favorite flour and see how it works. I would recommend that you replace no more than half of the flour with another flour.

About 10 minutes after I start the bread machine I like to go and make a visual check of the loaf. At this point I adjust the liquid/flour ratio. When I lift the lid I want to find a nice ball of dough being worked by the machine. If it is too hard or there is a batch of flour that isn't getting mixed into the dough I add just a bit of warm water (no more than a Tablespoon at a time) if on the other hand the dough is too loose to form a good ball I add some more flour (again about a Tablespoon at a time) After the machine has a few minutes to work this addition in I re-check to see if the dough is forming a nice ball, if not I make another adjustment and re-check.

Another way to add some variety to your loaf of bread is to change the liquid you use. You can always use water but why? There's an entire world out there of wonderful liquids to try. I have used many things I think our favorites so far have been various fruit juices (orange is really good and makes fantastic French Toast) and buttermilk. Be warned the juices will allow your bread to raise a lot taller so keep an eye on it while it is rising in the loaf pan you might want to bake it before the hour is up. My nest experiment will be with some broth to see how that works. What can you think of to try?

At the end of the video I share a tip I learned from my mom (and she most likely learned from her mom) and I wanted to pass it on to you. As soon as you take the baked loaf out of the oven and out of the pan brush it with melted butter and wrap it in a damp towel and then onto a cooling rack. This process not only gives the bread a wonderfully flavored crust but it steams the loaf and softens the crust just the right amount. Don't use your best towels for this, you might get some stains from the melted butter and the steam but it is well worth it.

Bread

1 cup milk (heated to just warm)

1 egg

2 Tablespoons melted butter

3 ¼ cups All Purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

¼ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon dry yeast

Ranch Turkey Pizza

2012-11-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, another quick and easy dinner made up from some of the leftover turkey from the big feast.

This one takes a shortcut and uses one of those pre-baked pizza crusts that we can buy at the grocery store. I picked up a package of whole wheat crusts this time and got the bonus of two crusts for the price of one. Since the crust is already baked this dinner can be on the table in about 30 minutes which is fantastic with all the extra activities that seem to hit from now until Christmas.

Ranch Turkey Pizza

1 pre-baked pizza crust (12” size)

3 Tablespoons of your favorite Ranch Salad dressing

1 ½ cups diced cooked turkey

1 cup fresh spinach leaves

1 cup chopped fresh tomato

2 chopped green onions

½ teaspoon Italian herb seasoning

1 ½ cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

On a greased pizza pan (or flat cookie sheet) place the pizza crust.

Spread the Ranch dressing evenly over the top of the crust. Top with remaining ingredients.

Cook in pre-heated oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.

Turkey Nacho

2012-11-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

Okay so this is really more an idea than a recipe. Make a nacho and toss some leftover cooked turkey in it. Easy and quick and you add some low fat protein to a favorite snack.

Here's a quick run down on how I built the nacho in the photo.

On a microwave safe plate scatter a layer of your favorite tortilla chips.

Top with about ½ cup of cubed cooked turkey and a handful of shredded cheese.

Microwave this on high for about 30 seconds just to get the cheese starting to melt.

Add another layer of chips, another ½ cup of turkey, a sliced green onion and a handful or two of cheese.

Microwave on high for about 1 minute or until most of the cheese is melted.

Top with you favorite toppings, we used: salsa, sliced olives, guacamole and sour cream.

Enjoy!!

Turkey Pot Pie

2012-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is comfort food at its best, a wonderful warm dish that tastes like it came from grandma's kitchen. Okay, so it isn't low fat but once in while we need to treat ourselves. My feeling is if we eat healthy most of the time and we indulge once in a while we will be happier and less apt to go wild and eat badly all the time.

Since we are talking about leftovers from Thanksgiving this week I had to include this one. I used a pre-made pie crust from the grocery store. I usually have a couple of these in the fridge to use when I am short on time. Also if you just spent the last several days making a big dinner for the holiday you deserve to take a few shortcuts now. If you want to make a pie crust go for it! Use your favorite recipe, or plan ahead if you make pumpkin pie for the holiday and make an extra crust then.

I used thawed frozen mixed veggies in my pot pie but if you have some veggies leftover use those up first. I love this with leftover broccoli in it but it is good with whatever veggie you have on hand.

I made my pot pie with half and half but feel free to use any milk you have on hand, I like the richness of the half and half with the broth. My gravy mixture came out a little thin so I added a bit more flour to the recipe here so yours will should be thicker and richer than mine in the picture.

Turkey Pot Pie

¼ cup butter

1 medium onion

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 cloves of garlic (minced or grated)

½ teaspoon dry sage

Salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 cups broth (turkey or chicken)

1 cup half and half (or any fat level milk)

2 cups mixed vegetables (thawed if frozen) or leftover veggies

2 cups cubed cooked turkey

1 pie crust, unbaked

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and saute until softened. Add the garlic, dry sage and salt and pepper, continue to cook a few minutes more, just until the garlic starts to cook and release its aroma.

Stir the flour into the butter and onion mixture and allow to cook a minute or so. Slowly stir in the broth and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Allow to boil for a minute or so then stir in the half and half. Bring back to a simmer, stirring constantly.

Add the veggies and turkey to the mixture in the saucepan and allow to come back to a simmer stirring occasionally

Pour the mixture into a large (10") glass pie dish. Top with the pie crust.

Be sure you have the pie dish on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes.

Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Pies in a Jar

2012-11-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am sure you have seen the cute little pies in jars around. I think they are just adorable and I decided way back over the summer I wanted to adapt one of my pumpkin pie recipes to use in jars for Turkey Day. Over the last month or so we have tried a couple of variations and this was our favorite (and will be on the table on the holiday)

I have made the original recipe a few times with whipped cream instead of Cool Whip but found we like the flavor and the texture better with the Cool whip.

One of my favorite things about the pies in jars is they seem to take up so little room in the fridge. Face it on Thanksgiving the average fridge is way too full and a big pie takes up a lot of valuable real estate in there. The jars can be stacked up and spread to small free spaces to they are much easier to work into the already full fridge.

I like to make these the day before I am going to serve them so they are nice and cold and set up. If you don't have time the day before you will need to get them done early in the day so they have some time before you want to eat them.

I used the 4 oz quilted jelly jars made by Ball for my pies. It is much easier in the straight sided jelly jars than if you got ones that are curved. I like the small size too, just right after the huge holiday meal.

Pumpkin Pies in a Jar

Crust

1 cup Graham Cracker crumbs

2 Tablespoons sugar

¼ cup melted butter

Filling

2 cups cold milk

1 (3.5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding

1 teaspoon pumkin pie spice

1 small can pumpkin

1 (8 oz) tub cool Whip

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place 12 (4 oz) jelly jars on a rimmed baking sheet.

Combine the cracker crumbs and sugar then add the melted butter. Divide this mixture evenly between the jelly jars and press down firmly to make a nice flat crust. I used the bottom of a narrow juice glass.

Bake the crusts for about 5 to 8 minutes until lightly browned. Set these aside to cool completely.

When the crusts are cool you can begin making the filling.

Combine the milk, pudding mix and pumpkin pie spice in a mixing bowl. Stir until thickened and smooth (about 2 minutes) Stir in the can of pumpkin.

Measure out 1 ½ cups of this filling reserve the remaining fillign for the next step. Divide the 1 ½ cups of filling among the jelly jars.

Add 1 ½ cups of Cool Whip to the reserved pudding mixture and add this as your next layer in the jelly jars trying to divide it as evenly as possible.

Put the lid/rings on the jars and place them in fridge for at least 2 hours.

At serving time remove lids/rings and top each serving with a dollop of the remaining Cool Whip.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Bacon

2012-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have to admit this recipe is a last minute change in my menu this year. I do always serve sweet potatoes but mine normal recipes feature orange juice and maple syrup. I was looking for a recipe for something totally off topic for the holiday in my cookbook collection and ran into this recipe. The flavor profile intrigued me so I decided to give it a last minute “audition” as a replacement player for Thanksgiving dinner. These are incredible! We loved them, in fact my 14 year old son ate almost half the recipe by himself, he kept going back for more. I know these are going to be a regular on our table long after the holiday is gone. I think they will pair wonderfully with almost any roasted meat especially poultry or pork.

Just a hint, for the big dinner next week I will be making these the day before and heating them back up. I tend to do most of my cooking for big dinners the day before, I don't want to be stuck in the kitchen while my guests are all in the living room having a good time. I'll try to get my game plan typed up and post it here on Friday so you can see what I mean. Hopefully you will get some hints you can use to make your day easier too.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Bacon

3 pounds dark sweet potatoes (about 4 large ones)

8 slices of bacon, cut up

1 large (or 2 medium) onions, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

¼ cup half & half

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Thyme sprig to garnish if desired

Begin poking some holes in the sweet potatoes and baking them on a rimmed baking sheet at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until tender)

Allow to cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile cook the bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove the bacon from skillet to a paper towel lined plate. Reserve enough of the bacon fat in the pan to cook the onions (about a 1 Tablespoon)

Cook onions in the bacon fat in skillet along with the ground cumin. Cook until the onions are tender.

Peel the sweet potatoes and mash them until smooth. Add the bacon, cooked onions (with cumin) and thyme leaves. Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve now or place in a casserole dish and refrigerate up to 24 hours. To heat place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until heated through.

Garnish with some sprigs of fresh thyme if desired.

Basic Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

2012-11-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is my all time favorite recipe for dinner rolls year round. It's the recipe I pull out almost everytime I need to make some basic rolls. Not only are they a very tasty dinner roll but the bread machine does most of the work for you.

You can make these ahead; shape the dough as directed, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for anywhere from 4 to 48 hours. Take them out of the fridge, remove the plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 2 hours then bake as directed.

If you want rolls that a are crispy all around put them on a rimmed baking sheet to rise and bake as directed.

If you want rolls that are soft on the sides use a 13”x9” baking dish.

I've also used a muffin tin to make rolls that were more muffin shaped.

You can brush the tops before you bake with beaten egg for a chewier, brown crust (also this will allow you to sprinkle them with sesame seeds) or with milk if desired. Or do like I do and brush them with melted butter after they bake for a wonderful buttery crust. (wrap them in a damp towel briefly too for a softer crust)

You can make these the day before and simply re-heat them in the oven wrapped in foil too. Like I said they are really versatile.

showing 3 variations on shape

Basic Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

1 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons room temperature butter

1 egg

3 ¼ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon yeast

Measure all the ingredients into your bread machine in the order specified in your owner's manual. If you don't have the manual anymore the order I listed them in is the order my machine calls for.

Use the dough cycle on your machine to form the dough.

At the end of the dough setting remove the dough from the machine to a floured surface. Cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Grease your pan (see above)

divide the dough into 15 equal sized pieces, shape each piece into a ball. Place in prepared pan. Cover and rise in a warm (draft free) place for 30 to 40 minutes or until double in size.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Brush the tops with melted butter if desired.

Serve warm or cool on a wire rack.

Apple Juice Brined Turkey

2012-11-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well, Turkey Day is almost here do you have your menu all figured out yet? Do you go with a very traditional menu or do you modernize those traditional flavors a bit?

At our house we start “auditioning” recipes for the big day sometime in mid October. I actually start looking for recipes and collecting ideas in about January but things start to come together about a month or so before the holiday. This auditioning of the recipes is a long standing tradition and we take it very seriously. If you happen to be at our house for dinner on one of the nights we are doing this you will be expected to join in the conversation. We discuss at length the merits and downfalls of each dish over dinner. We compare it to other recipes in the same category that we may have tried recently and with those recipes we have served other years. We discuss if the recipe will “play well” with the rest of the meal. It really is a fun tradition, you should try it at your house.

This year I had run into this different brine recipe for the turkey, I always brine my turkey (actually any poultry I am going to roast/ grill whole) and I have shared my traditional recipe on this blog in the past (check it out here just double the ingredients for a turkey) This year I wanted to try something a bit different, a bit more special. I was looking through my cookbook collection and found this recipe well, I found the starting point for this recipe since I can never leave any recipe alone. I did make some changes from the original. Last week we gave it a try with a turkey breast and it was amazing! The only really problem I found was that the skin got very dark very quickly. I think because of the higher sugar content of the brine from the one I use normally. It still tasted fantastic not burnt at all it was just dark in color. The flavor the brine gave the meat was so fantastic definitely worthy of a place on the holiday menu this year.

I also now have my gravy for Thanksgiving Day in the freezer waiting for me. This is important since we almost always cook our turkey on Thanksgiving on the grill. We love the flavor that the charcoal grill gives the meat but it doesn't work very well for gravy because the drippings always get ashes in them. For this reason I always make my gravy up a week or two before the holiday and freeze it. I then defrost it the day before and put it in my small (1 quart) slow cooker to re-heat for dinner. So easy and one less thing to have to think about when company arrives.

You will need a large container to hold your turkey and the brine, I use my cooler. I add plenty of ice and let it sit in my kitchen which tends to be a pretty cold room. If you have a garage that would also be a good place to let your turkey do its time in the brine.

Remember to allow plenty of time for the turkey to defrost if you are buying a frozen one. I find that since I keep my fridge a bit colder than most people do I need to allow an extra day or two from what most of the websites say. Also you will need to have your turkey thawed out the day before you are going to cook it since it will need to sit in the brine for a good 18 hours.

For the apple juice in this recipe you don't need anything fancy just make sure it is actually apple juice and not a “juice cocktail” with a lot of added sugar. You do need a 100% juice for this. I am going to probably use the correct amount of frozen concentrate with water for mine depending on what is the better value. I am assuming you are oven roasting your turkey so I am including the recipe for the fantastic gravy.

Apple Juice Brined Turkey

Brine and turkey

1 gallon of apple juice (no sugar added)

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup kosher salt

½ cup chopped fresh (or 2 Tablespoons dry) sage

½ cup fresh thyme leaves (or 2 tablespoons dry)

2 Tablespoons whole peppercorns

1 Turkey, thawed if purchased frozen (rinsed, neck and giblet package removed)

water and ice as necessary to cover turkey

1 onion (cut in quarters)

1 lemon (cut in quarters)

a few springs of fresh thyme

a few sprigs of sage

melted butter or oil to coat turkey

Gravy and basting sauce

½ cup butter

1 Tablespoon fresh sage

5 cloves garlic (minced or grated)

¼ cup all purpose flour

2 cups chicken or turkey broth

salt and pepper to taste

Reserve 1 cup of the apple juice to use in the basting mixture (be sure to refrigerate)

In a large container combine the rest of the apple juice, the brown sugar, kosher salt, ½ cup fresh sage (or 2 Tablespoon dry) ½ cup fresh thyme (or 2 Tablespoon dry) and the whole peppercorns. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add the turkey to the brine mixture and add enough water to completely cover the turkey. If you are brining in a cooler add ice with the water.

Allow to brine for about 18 hours.

Remove turkey from brine 1 hour before time to begin cooking. Rinse turkey to remove excess brine and allow the skin to dry. Place quartered onion, lemon and sprigs of fresh herbs in cavity of turkey.

Tuck wing tips under back of turkey and tie legs together. Coat skin well with melted butter or oil.

Roast at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for time needed for the size of your turkey. (there are many charts online and in cookbooks to find the correct time)

Combine the reserved apple juice with the remaining ½ cup butter and garlic in a small saucepan. About an hour before the turkey is expected to be done begin basting the skin with this mixture about every 15 minutes, using all the mixture.

Check the temperature of the turkey in the thigh to be sure it is cooked. Don't rely on the pop up timer, I have rarely had them give me an accurate indication of doneness.

When your turkey is done remove from oven allow to rest for at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile pour the drippings into a measuring cup. Skim off and reserve the fat.

In a medium saucepan combine ¼ cup of the fat from the drippings with the flour to form a roux. Add the liquid from the drippings along with the 2 cups of broth stirring to make a gravy. After the gravy comes to a boil taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Meat and Pasta Casserole

2012-09-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

This has always been a dish that lands on our dinner table on a regular basis. When my oldest son was little he absolutely loved this so that was one reason (we all actually have loved this one from the first time I made it) Another reason I have always made it a lot is that it is just so versatile, it really is what you want it to be each time. Feel like Mexican food this casserole can give you that. What if you want Italian, no problem, this casserole will go there too. The reason is this is really just a basic road map, you fill in the blanks and make it just the way you want it.

First you choose what ground meat you want to use this time. I have made this with all of the following: ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, ground pork, bulk Italian sausage, bulk pork sausage and Chirizo. All of them worked wonderfully! So whatever you have on hand or in the mood to use.

The canned soup: any of the condensed cream of whatever soups, cheddar cheese soup, nacho cheese soup, or tomato soup. Just so it is a condensed soup (you know the ones you would add water or milk to) and it has a creamy base.

Seasonings: dried herbs, (whatever goes with what you have in mind) some ideas: basil, tarragon, dill, oregano, Italian seasonings, etc

Spices: chilli powder, cumin, caraway seed, etc

Pasta: whatever shape you have on hand elbows, ziti, egg noodles just about any shape.

Crumb topping: dry bread crumbs (mix with a bit of melted butter), Parmesan cheese (mixed with bread crumbs), fresh bread crumbs (mix with a bit of melted butter) crushed tortilla chips, crushed potato chips, chow mien noodles (crushed)

So you see you really can go anywhere with this. I love to do the following combinations:

Ground beef, chilli powder, cumin, cheddar cheese soup and top with crushed tortilla chips.

Any ground meat, Italian seasonings, tomato soup and topped with a mixture of dry bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and butter

Meat and Pasta Casserole

4 oz pasta

1 pound of ground meat

1 onion, diced

2 ribs celery, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

(1 clove garlic, chopped optional)

1 (10 to 11 oz) can condensed soup, cream based

½ cup sour cream

½ cup milk

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

½ to 1 teaspoon seasonings of your choice

Crumb topping, about ¾ cup total or to cover your casserole dish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Cook pasta according to directions on package, drain when cooked

Brown meat until cooked through and set aside. In the same skillet sweat the vegetables until slightly tender.

Combine canned soup, sour cream and milk until mixed well. Add seasonings, cooked meat. Cooked pasta and vegetables.

Pour mixture into an 8” x 8” casserole dish

Top with topping

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until heated through and top is browned.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2012-09-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is yet another of my recipes for chicken in the slow cooker. I know a lot of us are always on the look out for new ideas for both chicken and slow cooker recipes. I will say that for my taste this is really too sweet but I know other family members that absolutely love it. I have a feeling a lot of the sweetness level also depends on the brand of sweet and sour sauce you use. My grocery store only carries one brand and it is very sweet. Also you can always add some heat to this too.

Since this recipe requires you to pay a bit of attention at the end of the day plan it for a day when you have some time before dinner. Also it gives the perfect opportunity to out some brown rice in the rice cooker while dinner finishes up.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

1 ½ to 2 cups carrot sticks

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 medium onion sliced

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 jar (about 9 oz) sweet and sour sauce

1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks

Place the carrots, bell pepper and onion in the slow cooker. Top with the chicken and sprinkle with the pepper flakes.

Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours until cooked through.

Drain off and discard the liquid that has accumilated in the slow cooker.

Add the sweet and sour sauce and the pineapple chunks to the chicken and vegetables in the slow cooker and heat on low for an additional hour.

Serve over rice

Salmon Chowder

2012-09-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like a warm bowl of soup for dinner on a cool fall evening. This one is so wonderfully creamy and tasty that I know you will love adding it to your meals this fall.

I am starting with a salmon fillet but if you want to use a couple of cans of salmon feel free to do so, just skip the first part of the recipe. It will be just as good and a bit quicker too.

Salmon Chowder

(poached salmon)

½ cup water

¼ cup dry white wine

1 carrot, sliced

½ onion, sliced

1 sprig parsley

salt and pepper to taste

½ pound salmon fillet (cut to fit pan)

In a medium size skillet combine the water, wine, and veggies bring to a simmer and add the salmon fillet pieces. Cook at a low simmer until fish is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove fish from pan and allow to cool. Strain liquid and reserve for chowder.

(chowder)

salmon and its cooking liquid (or a large can of salmon)

4 slices bacon, chopped

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

reserved salmon cooking liquid

1 cup water

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups finely diced potato

2 cups half and half

Cook bacon until crisp and remove from pan. Sweat the onion and garlic in the bacon drippings until softened. Add the salmon cooking liquid, water, chicken broth and potatoes bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are cooked through and very tender.

Meanwhile flake cooked salmon (I like to use my finger for this to be extra sure I don't miss any bones)

When the potatoes are cooked add the half and half and the cooked salmon.

Heat through

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Pumpkin Cookies

2012-09-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have to admit these are one of my favorite things to make in the fall!! I love these and they are pretty easy to make. They have all the wonderful spices you would normally find in a pumpkin pie. So good and since I only make them in the fall they remain special. I usually make a batch sometime in the month of September or October and that is it. If you missed them you have to wait for next year (well, if you asked really nice I might make another batch)

These also freeze really well so some years I divide the dough up and use fall cookie cutters for part of it and Halloween for the rest and then freeze the Halloween ones for a few weeks.

Because there are no eggs or dairy products in these they are vegan so if you need to come up with a good cookie that is either vegan or dairy free these are wonderful. The combination of the pumpkin and the shortening along with the brown sugar and molasses gives these cookies a wonderfully chewy (almost cake like) texture.

You will want to roll the dough out to be ¼” thick before cutting with your favorite fall cookie cutters. Have you ever been unsure about how thick you are rolling the dough? I have a little trick that will help with that. Just go to the craft store and buy a basswood strip that is ¼” x ¼” and cut it into 2 pieces and you can lay them on each side of your dough. When your rolling pin reaches the level of the strips of wood it won't go any further and your dough is the perfect thickness. I have several sizes so I can easily roll dough to any thickness I want. I store them with my wooden spoons so they are easy to find when I need them. Just as easy and much cheaper than those rubber rings they make to put on your rolling pin.

Pumpkin Cookies

¼ cup vegetable shortening (I only use Crisco for this)

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

½ cup mashed cooked pumpkin

¾ cup molasses

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground allspice

Colored decorating sugars and/or fall sprinkles if desired.

Cream the sugar and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add the pumpkin and molasses and stir to combine well.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices and blend into the cookie mixture.

Wrap in plastic and chill for 3 or 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

On a well floured board roll dough to ¼” thick and cut with a well floured cookie cutter

Carefully transfer to a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with decorator sugar and/or sprinkles if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

You should get around 2 dozen cookies depending on the size of your cookie cutter.

Cajun Chicken

2012-09-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

It always seems like once the month of September rolls around I get way busier. After all school has started which translates to lots more driving and planning. And then all the late summer produce it getting ready and begging me to do something with it. With all that going on some days I just don't feel like making a big dinner. Unfortunately, my son still thinks he needs to eat (didn't I just feed him yesterday?? just kidding) Days like this need quick and easy dinners from the slow cooker.

And this brings us to today's recipe. Yes it is yet another chicken in the slow cooker recipe. I love these because I can put them on to cook and then get other stuff done. Also like a lot of my favorites this goes over some rice at the end of the day. That means all I have to do is get my rice cooker to cook the rice portion of the dish and I am done. If I choose to make a salad or cut up some raw veggies great if not, what the heck this has some veggies in it and we tend to snack on fruits and veggies a lot anyway. Some days you just need to have a one dish meal that you don't have to fuss over.

This is called Cajun Chicken for a couple of reasons, first off you start off the dish with the Cajun tradition of the holy trinity (bell pepper, onion and celery) and secondly the dish utilizes one of the commercial brands of Cajun Seasoning available in the grocery store. Use whatever brand your store carries (there are probably a ton of recipes online for a dyi version too)

This dish does require a few minutes of prep time to cut up the veggies, cook the bacon, sweat the veggies and brown the chicken, it took me about 15 minutes to get all that done. Once the dish cooks all day in the slow cooker (at least 8 hours) it really needs nothing else done to it so other than getting the rice cooked you are set to sit down and eat.

Cajun Chicken

3 slices bacon, chopped

½ cup chopped green bell pepper

¼ cup chopped onion

¼ cup chopped celery

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning blend

1 (14 ½ oz) can diced tomatoes (with the liquid)

Cook bacon in skillet until crispy. Add the bell pepper, onion and celery and cook just to soften.

Place bacon and veggies in the bottom of a 3 ½ to 4 quart slow cooker.

Sprinkle chicken on both sides with about ½ the Cajun seasoning. Brown the chicken in the remaining bacon fat in skillet.

When chicken is nicely browned (not cooked just browned on the outside) add it and any drippings in pan to slow cooker.

Stir the remaining teaspoon of Cajun seasoning into the canned tomatoes and pour over chicken in slow cooker

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.

Serve over a bed of rice

Serves 4

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

2012-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I know that some of my friends planted both tomatoes and bell peppers so this recipe is especially for you! When September rolls around I start trying to use up the tomatoes that are ripening and this is a fantastic year for tomatoes. The plants I planted are absolutely loaded with them. If you didn't plant any that's okay make a trip to your favorite produce department or better yet to the farmer's market and buy some while they are so wonderful. This is the best time of year for both the peppers and the tomatoes.

Now for a little confession I don't even like tomato soup and I love this one,. It's that good. The roasted red peppers go a long way in the flavor and they are so easy to make.

You are in control of how smooth or chunky your soup is, I like mine to have some texture so I simply run the ingredients through the blender and then back to the soup pot. If you want it to be smoother feel free to use a strainer to get some of the texture out. For a truly smooth soup you would probably have to peel the tomatoes but I don't. Like I said I like a bit of texture and they do add a lot of nutrients to the soup.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

2 large red peppers, seeded and cut into strips
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 ½ pounds tomatoes, chopped (about 10 to 15 tomatoes depending on the variety)
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry basil
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (I always use a mixed one)
2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
Optional garnish: sprig of fresh oregano or basil

Preheat oven to 450. Line a small baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray and arrange red pepper strips on it in a single layer. Roast the pepper strips for about 15 minutes until they are tender and start to brown.

Meanwhile in a dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat and saute the onions and garlic until soft (just sweat them don't brown) about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes to the onions and cook until tender.

Process the tomato mixture with the chicken broth and the peppers in batches in the blender until smooth.

Return to soup pot and add the salt, pepper and dry herbs. Be sure to taste for seasoning levels. Stir in balsamic vinegar and serve.

Garnish with a sprig of fresh herb if desired.