Recently in Recipes Category

I just got a new Keurig B60 coffee maker, and came up with a fantastic recipe for a decaf cafe mocha, rich, smooth, and tasty -- perfect for spring evening

• Put two tablespoons (one ounce, give or take) of half-and-half in a coffee mug
• Add two heaping teaspoons of European Deep Dark Drinking Chocolate powder, which I picked up at Cost Plus World Market this afternoon. I imagine any high end powdered drinking chocolate would work - Godiva, Ghirardelli, etc.
• Put the mug under the spout, and brew a K-cup of Timothy's Decaffeinated Columbian coffee, or the medium-to-bold coffee of your choice.
• Stir thoroughly, and enjoy.

Our friend Cindy visited us for ten days, and made this great batch of green chili enchiladas. I made a batch as an appetizer for Mandy's 40th birthday party yesterday, and they got rave reviews. I got all kinds of abuse from Justin and Jeremy when they found out I was making some but they weren't going to get any...

• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
• 3/4 pound shredded pepper jack cheese
• One 28 ounce can of La Victoria Enchilada Verde sauce
• 4 ounces of half and half (preferred) or milk.
• 12 standard or 24 mini corn tortillas

• Boil chicken breasts for 30-35 minutes, until they shred easily. Shred thoroughly.
• Preheat oven to 350°
• Spray a light coating of Pam on a 13"x9" glass pan (optional, but makes serving and clean-up much easier).
• Combine the enchilada sauce and half and half in a bowl or measuring pitcher, stir thoroughly, and set aside.
• Working in batches of no more than six at a time:
  • Place a paper towel on a full-size microwaveable dinner plate, and use a squirt bottle to saturate it with water.
  • Place a stack of no more than six tortillas on the paper towel.
  • Put a second paper towel on top of the tortillas, and saturate it with water.
  • Microwave for 45-60 seconds until the tortillas are steaming and pliable.
  • For each tortilla, fill with pepper jack cheese and shredded chicken, then roll up and place seam-side down in the pan.
  • Repeat until the pan is full. You can reuse the same paper towels, but keep them well moistened.
• Pour the sauce mixture into the pan, completely covering each tortilla.
• Place more pepper jack cheese on top of the sauce.
• Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes.

• For more spice (but also more sodium), add a pack of burrito seasoning mix to the water used to cook the chicken.
• You can use slices of pepper jack instead of grated. Tear them in half, then into half again length-wise. Use one of these sections in each tortilla, and layer them on top of the sauce.
• Limit each batch of tortillas so that the last one in each batch is still warm and pliable.
• Make sure the water bottle you use for saturating the paper towels is appropriate for use with food.

PDF version of this recipe

- 2 cups Bisquick
- 3/4 cup milk (or 2/3 cup water)

Stir milk into Bisquick. Beat dough hard for 30 seconds to make it tighten up enough to handle. Turn dough on well-floured, cloth covered board. Pat, round it up and fold over 3 times.

Roll out lightly with rolling pin, 1/2 to 1 inch thick, depending on how thick you want the biscuits. Cut with biscuit cutters. For biscuits with crusty sides, place a little apart on a baking sheet. For biscuits with soft sides, place close together. Bake quickly in a very hot oven, 475 F., 10 to 12 minutes.

This makes 18 biscuits cut with 1 3/4 inch cutter from 1/2 inch thick dough.

In a frying pan over medium-high heat, melt 3 Tbs butter. Add 6 Fuji apples (peeled, cored, cut into 1/4" slices), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook about 18 minutes. Off-heat, stir in 2 tsp. vanilla.

MACARONI AND CHEESE

This recipe is adapted from a cookbook titled "Soul Food". If there are lots of kids coming for Thanksgiving, they will love you forever. And maybe when you are old and alone they will let you come over to Thanksgiving at their family's house. It's like an investment in your future.

• 1 16-ounce package elbow macaroni
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 4 drops Tabasco
• 2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• Paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add macaroni. Boil 8-10 minutes, until just tender.

Drain macaroni in a colander. Put butter and cream cheese into the boiling pot. Pour the macaroni back into the pot and stir until butter and cream cheese melt.

Whisk together eggs, Tabasco and evaporated milk. Stir into the macaroni.

Butter a 2-quart casserole dish. Put in half the macaroni, then half the cheddar cheese. Put in the rest of the macaroni, then cover with the rest of the cheese.

Sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 20 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

The first batch I made got rave reviews. I used the original directions, but will try the alternate ones next time.

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter (four cubes, or one full box) - softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 4½ cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Cream butter and brown sugar. Add 3 to 3¾ cups flour; mix well.
3. Sprinkle board with remaining flour. Knead for 5 minutes, adding enough flour to make a soft dough. Roll to ½ inch thickness. Cut into 3"x1" strips. Price with fork and place on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake at 325° for 20 to 25 minutes.

Variations

• Add all four cups of flour at the beginning, and mix well. Omit kneading and rolling. Scoop out golf-ball size balls, place them on the ungreased cooking sheet, and put a thumb-print in the middle of the ball to flatten them. Cook for the suggested time.

From Cooks.com:

• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon tomato boullion
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Heat the oil in a deep skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, add rice to skillet and cook until toasty but not burnt. Add the water, then the tomato boullion, and stir well. Reduce heat to low and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

Variations:

• Add a small can of tomato paste, for more color.
• Add a teaspoon of onion powder.

Carole's write-up of her recipe - the best one of all. Follow the timing closely.

Best to have all of your ingredients “at the ready” including rice krispies poured into a giant measuring pitcher if you have one, don’t wanna waste time measuring when you need to be mixing!

In a large (4-5 qt?) preferably nonstick stock type pot, dump in sugar and cover with bottle of Karo, then bring sugar and karo syrup to a full boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Count to 60 seconds, exactly. Immediately turn off burner and stir in peanut butter& vanilla. When it is fully combined dump in rice krispies, stir until evenly combined and all rice krispies appear to be coated with pb mixture. Spread evenly in a 13 by 9 inch glass pan, pushing in firmly to flatten top with a nonstick spatula, then dump on chocolate chips somewhat evenly over entire pan of pb rice krispie stuff, DO NOT SPREAD, (yet). Leave pan sitting on stovetop or counter and set timer for 10 mins, THEN come back and spread melted chocolate chips evenly over pb stuff.

Refrigerate for a minimum of 1-2 hours before cutting, 3-4 hours seems ideal, longer is fine too, though if leaving in fridge much beyond 5-6 hours (overnite etc.), I recommend covering pan at that point (don’t cover before set up solid, then you will get condensation which would be very icky on these) for longer storage. I recommend removing pan from fridge, 15-30 mins prior to cutting, just to make it a little bit easier…but you will burn some calories cutting these regardless (yeah!). Chocolate should be totally “hardened” before cutting, no longer shiny, melty looking. Cut into small squares, these are very rich, more like candy than cookies. Plus in theory at least, they last longer if you cut them smaller?  Store cut bars in Tupperware or similar airtight containers either in fridge or on counter, fridge is best if it’s at all warm, as the chocolate will melt and get messy otherwise and besides, they are harder to bite into when cold, (limiting the amount you can eat?) causing you to eat less because your jaw gets tired faster? 

Enjoy!

An update to the family grocery list.

Download file, in Word.

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A nice meatball recipe for the meatballs to add to spaghetti:

2 lbs. ground beef
3 eggs
2/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
3/4 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp season salt
2 tbsp. olive oil

Beat the eggs lightly; add the meat and other ingredients and mix well. You really can't get the mix right without digging in with your bare hands.

Form into 1"-1 1/2" inch balls. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add meatballs, and brown evenly for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 4-6 minutes. Drain, add spaghetti sauce, simmer for 5-10 minutes over low heat.

Add to 1 1/2 lbs. cooked spaghetti.

The kids and I had this for dinner tonight, with good reviews. Sarah was supposed to be staying for dinner, but had to go home early for Beef Stroganoff.

Here's a recipe for real hot chocolate, from the Gear Guy at Outside Magazine.

1.5 cups milk
1/2 cup light cream (or, use two cups milk)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, plus a pinch to garnish
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch of salt
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Mix all these ingredients in a saucepan and heat until blended. Pack along a little whipped cream, too, for topping it off!

A quick, very tasty recipe for tacos:

1 to 1.5 pounds ground beef
1 can Dennison's No-Bean Chili
Corn and/or flour tortillas
Grated Cheddar cheese
Lettuce, tomato, sour cream (all optional)
Salsa to taste

Brown ground beef; drain. Add chili, simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. On a griddle, heat one flour or two corn tortillas (stacked) per taco; when warm, add meat and cheese, and continue heating on the griddle for 30-60 seconds. Transfer to plate; add lettuce, tomato, and sour cream if desired.

This recipe has some taste to it, but is mild enough for all but the meekest of taste buds - perfect for the younger set. More experienced eaters can add spice with salsa or taco sauce.

No need to frost. A little light dusting with confectioners' sugar is the most you'll want.

Preheat oven to 325°. Beat butter and sugar together for 10 minutes with an electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add flour and lemon extract and mix to blend. Fold in 7-Up. Pour into heavily greased Bundt pan and bake 1 to 1¼ hours. Cool in the pan. Serves 16.

From Ruby Wahlgren, by way of my mother-in-law Pat McConnell.

Mix until well moistened; pour into greased loaf pan(s). Bake at 350° for 60 minutes

From Terry LaSource.

Break bread into bottom of greased 9" x 13" pan. If using sausage, sprinkle it on. Sprinkle both cheeses on top. Mix together milk and egss; pour evenly over casserole. Cover with plastic and refrigerate over night; remove plastic before cooking. Bake at 325° for 30-45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Back in 1997, this recipe made the e-mail rounds under the title "$250 Nieman-Marcus Cookies".

** Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder.

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar, and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375°. Makes 112 cookies.

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I'm going to make these for Thanksgiving.

Broken Glass Cake

Oatmeal Cookies