Refried Beans

WHY buy canned refried beans when you can make your own for a fraction of the cost and it tastes soooo good! This recipe makes a pretty big sized serving bowl. About those pinto beans - my local grocery store does not carry them so I often use those yellow sided beans instead - just as good. You need to think a day in advance for this recipe as you do need to soak the beans overnight.

2 cups dried pinto beans

5 cups water

large chopped onion

2 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup lard

2 tsp salt

1. Rinse beans well in a strainer. Put in a BIG pan with lots of water. Soak overnight. You need a big pan with lots of water because those beans will swell right up and you want those beans to stay covered with water as they swell.

2. Rinse beans and place them in a big pan with 5 cups of water, onion and oil.

3. Cook over medium high heat until beans are soft - about 40 minutes or so - STIR constantly because they like to BURN. The thicker the bottom of your pan, the better off you are.

4. Add lard and salt and slightly mash with either a masher or a fork.

5. Cook beans on very LOW heat, stirring all the time until done - usually about 10 more minutes.

Lard! Yup - I buy mine by the block - it looks alot like Chrisco. You could also use butter, but I like lard.

***A note about bean - there is not a single pinto bean to be found in my local grocery store! If I don't think ahead and buy pinto beans when I am off to do a big grocery shop, then I use what beans our local store has. The beans in the photo were made with a yellow sided dry bean - can't remember the name of it off-hand, but you don't have to use pinto beans!

Mexican Rice

1 cup jasmine/basmati rice - uncooked

3 TBS vegetable oil

4 cups tomato juice - or 2 cups t. juice plus 2 cups water - that will work fine too.

4 TBS butter

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 chopped green pepper

2 finely chopped garlic cloves

1 1/2 cups chopped onions

2 chopped tomatoes

1. Rinse and drain rice, shaking to remove as much water as possible.

2. Heat the tomato juice in a saucepan.

3. Heat the oil in frying pan. I use a large frying pan with a cover because you are going to also cook the rice in this! Fry the rice on medium heat for about 7 minutes - when it starts to get a bit brown.

4. Add your warm tomato juice

5. Add all the other stuff.

6. Cover frying pan and cook on low heat until rice is done (about 20 minutes).

Guacamole

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

1 chopped tomato

1/4 minced small onion

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 small can of chopped green chilis

1 TBS lime juice

1 TBS lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

Everyone know how to prep an avocado? Just cut in 1/2 longways, remove the pit and scoop out the avocado with a spoon. If it is still a bit firm - chop it up.

Mix all ingredients together. Put in fridge for a few hours for best flavor. This makes about 2 CUPS of guacamole so you might want to adjust the recipe down if it is just for a few people!

Photo taken after we had a bit of a sampling! MMMmmm mmmm good!

Blueberry Cheesecake

My birthday cake for 2008!

You have to make cheesecake the day before so it has time to set in the fridge overnight. I especially like this recipe and the frosting hides any cracks very nicely!

CRUST:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

4 TBS melted butter

1 TBS sugar

Mix above ingredients in a small bowl. Spray your cheescake pan with cooking spray (I use a top quality commercial spray from Sysco). Press crumb mixture along the bottom and up the sides of the pan - the mixture won't go all the way to the top - just mush it up as far as you can without getting it too thin.

Bake crust at 350 for 5 minutes. Take out of the oven and now it is time to make the cheesecake part!

Blueberry Cheesecake Filling

3 packages of cream cheese - room temp

1 cup sugar

3 TBS flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 egg whites

Sour cream - 8 oz

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBS grated lemon rind

2 cups blueberries (I use frozen)

Beat cream cheese.

Mix sugar, flour and salt in small bowl and then add to cream cheese, mix. Add eggs - 1 at a time and mixing well. Add egg whites. Mix. Add sour cream, vanilla and lemon rind and mix until just blended. FOLD in blueberries. Put entire mixture in your crust.

Bake at 300 for 1 hour 10 minutes - until the center looks sort-ov firm - it won't look completely firm but it shouldn't be jiggly. Turn off oven and crack the door open a bit - keep cheesecake in there for another 30 minutes. Take out of oven and put on cake rack and let cool for 30 minutes.

Cover top with foil or saran wrap and put in the fridge overnight.

Release sides of pan and frost. Keep finished cheesecake in fridge until ready to serve!

FROSTING

1 cup of frozen dessert topping - thawed out - I use Cool-whip

1/4 cup sour cream

Mix together and spread over top of cheesecake. Makes a cool and refreshing frosting!

***A note about using frozen blueberries - I drain the blueberries 1st, but don't bother rinsing/drying them on a paper towel - I don't really care if my entire cheesecake has a lovely purple-ish tinge to it!

My favorite meatloaf

DH asked me to make meatloaf this week... he was reading a German cookbook and read off the ingredients to me... ground beef, egg, ummmm not much else. I laughed and laughed - where was all the other "stuff" that makes meatloaf so yummy. He just kind-ov looked at me blankly. Leave it to me honey, North Americans KNOW how to make meatloaf. So, here is my very favorite recipe for meatloaf - American diner style! DH can stick to making his wonderful Austrian food, but meatloaf - that is my department.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pound ground beef

1 cup crushed Ritz crackers

1 chopped onion

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup ketchup (X2 - you use the 2nd 1/4 cup for the top)

1 TBS Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

A good shake of all purpose seasoning (I like Adobe blend, but just use your fav.)

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DIRECTIONS:

Mix altogether with your hands in a big mixing bowl. Transfer the entire, slighty goopy mess into a GREASED bread pan. Top with the 2nd portion of 1/4 cup ketchup.

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Cover.

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Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

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Drain off the fat - we grind our own meat so don't have much of anything to drain.

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Uncover.

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Bake about 30 minutes more. The top will have little cracks so you will know the inside is done. Keep an eye on it because you don't want to overcook it. My oven is a bit different than other people's so I actually use different temperatures/times. But - these settings should work for a household oven.

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This is sooooo sooooo good. Try it. You won't believe it!!!

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I have some foil loaf pans and plan on making a couple more batches this week. I am going to just bake for the 1st 1/2 hour, let cool and then freeze. All I will have to do is defrost and finish the baking next time I want meatloaf! Maybe by planning ahead - next time around I will actually have time to make the carrots that I was going to make to go with this too! LOL!

Green Bean Casserole

We had this the other night and it was soooo very yummy! A bit on the salty side, but I prefer such a tiny amount of salt. Next time I won't cook the beans in broth and see if it makes a difference. But really, it was really good just as is - the recipe is from Paula Dean. Meatloaf recipe in a seperate post.

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INGREDIENTS:

1/3 stick butter (a US stick of butter is 1/4 the size of a Canadian block of butter - just in case you are in Canada!)

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup sliced or chopped fresh mushrooms

2 cups green beans (I used frozen beans)

3 cups of chicken broth - don't use that if you are serving vegetarians!

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 2.8 oz can of fried onions - they usually are in the chip section - Durkee and French's are 2 popular brands

1 cup grated cheddar cheese - I used a pre-shredded mix of maybe 3 different cheeses

pinch of black pepper and garlic powder

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DIRECTIONS:

Saute onions/mushrooms in butter.

Boil beans in broth for 5-7 minutes and drain.

Mix everything together (except the cheese).

Spread into a 8X8 or 9X9 GREASED baking dish

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350

Top with cheddar and bake another 10 minutes

My Chili

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INGREDIENTS

oil - about 2 TBS
1 chopped onion
1 lb ground beef
1 1/2 TBS chili powder
2 tsp cumin
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2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans - a good sized can, not the small one
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup corn
1 cup beef broth or use beef bouillon mixed with hot water
1/2 can tomato paste
1 TBS brown sugar



Heat a bit of oil in big frying pan. Add onions. Sautee until onions are glossy. Add beef and brown - crumbling into small pieces with your wooden spoon. Spoon off any fat. Add spices and stir.
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Transfer mixture into soup pot.
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Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until warmed through. Taste. Adjust seasonings to your own preference.
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I like to serve this chili with sour cream and shredded cheese, plus basmati rice on the side and cornbread with honey.
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If you have any left over green or red pepper - saute them in with the onions/meat. You can also use pinto beans if you don't have kidney beans.
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I use medium salsa because I don't like my chili spicy, but I am sure the hot salsa would be good too!

Sweet Corn Bread

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Sweet Corn Bread

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

3 TBS sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup canned cream corn

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, MELTED

1 large egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400

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In large mixing bowl whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add creamed corn, butter and egg. Stir until just blended. Spoon into BUTTERED 8X8 pan.

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Bake about 20 minutes - until edges begin to pull away from pan sides and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

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Serve with HONEY for dunking.

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Yummy!!!

Cheap Sandwich Filling

My husband brought home this "steak" last week. It's the one on the right - 3 pieces for $4.72. I didn't know that he planned on making Hungarian Goulash with it, so read the directions stuck on the label and proceeded to simmer it (just 1 piece), as directed (in the oven). It was even called a "simmering" steak. It was awful. Yuck. Blah. I told DH to save it because I would do "something" with it. He almost threw it out!!!

The next day he asked me exactly what my plan was. Because this meat just wasn't tasty. Not one bit. But, I had a plan. You see - my Mom used to make sandwich spread when I was little with left-over cooked meat. She would put it in the blender to grind (pre food processor) and then add relish, mayo, maybe some chopped celery - whatever she had on hand. Presto - cheap sandwich filling. A fraction of the cost of cold cuts!

So, this meat went through the meat grinder with 3 cloves of garlic. Maybe it got a shake or two of some seasoning. It was mixed with mayonaisse and a bit of bistro sauce. We had very yummy toasted sandwiches with sliced hard boiled egg and pickles for a few days. Yum!

Best ever baked donuts

You need a donut cutter to make these yummy donuts.

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Ingredients:

2 packages (1/4 oz each) yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups warm milk

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

4 1/2 cups four

1/4 cup melted butter

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GLAZE

1/2 cup butter

2 cups confectioners sugar

5 tsp water

2 tsp vanilla extract

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In mixing bowl disolve yeast in warm water. Whisk. Add warm milk & shortening - mix for 1 minute. Add sugar, eggs, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and 2 cups of flour - beat on low speed until smooth. Switch to dough hook. Mix in the rest of the flour to form dough - add a bit more flour if necessary. Do not knead the dough! Cover with a dish towel and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour - it needs to be in a fairly warm spot in order to double in size.

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Punch the dough down and gently knead. Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness on lightly floured counter. Cut with donut cutter and put on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush with butter.

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Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled - about 30 minutes (confession time here - I forgot to do this step in the batch in the photo which is why they look that way - but they are still very yummy, so the batch wasn't ruined, just a bit different.

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Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until light tan.

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GLAZE: In a small saucepan melt butter; stir in sugar, water and vanilla. Whisk over LOW heat until smooth. Dip warm donuts in glaze - it helps to have a pair of kitchen tongs to do this and place, glaze size up on a wire rack to cool. You might want to spread newspaper under the rack 1st to speed clean-up. Makes about 2 dozen, plus the donut holes!

A favorite side dish for Bar-B-Que!

This is one of my favorite side dishes for anything bar-b-qued - think grilled steaks, chicken, shish-ka-bobs, ribs...

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It is actually better to use tomatoes that are a little bit firm.

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Slice them in the morning, alternating with mozzerella cheese and diced sweet purple onion. Drizzle good olive oil and balsamic vinegar over all. Seran wrap and stick in the fridge until about 2 hours before you want to eat - then take it out and set on the counter and let come to room temperature.

At least, that is my method because I usually have a bit of time in the morning to prep something. If you have a different schedule - then adjust. It is better if you have at least 1 hour so the tomatoes can absorb the flavor.

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If you live in New England, near a Stop & Shop - they have an excellent line of "gourmet" foods now - I think it is called Simply Stop & Shop or something like that... but they have a very yummy basil olive oil that is soooo good. This olive oil is particulary good with this dish. I also keep a jar of olive oil that I put sliced garlic and herb in - you can make your own flavored olive oils, but whenever you see one that is already made - it is usually worth trying out!

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In my photo - that is 1 tomato - it is enough for 2-3 servings.

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Make sure you serve this with some crusty bread because the left-over olive oil/balsamic vinegar makes an excellent dipping sauce!

My Rum Cake

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Not long ago I posted something about making this cake on my quilting blog, and some expressed an interest in the recipe. Believe me, this is not a difficult cake to make (I make it with "help" from my 4 year old son), it tastes great - even if it is a few days old (especially with your morning coffee), and it serves lots of people... at least 18 servings! It is a pound cake, but very moist inside. And the rum taste is evident!

Here is the recipe - I write my recipes as I use the ingredients - because I pre-measure everything. Besides, if I write down 3 cups of sugar - that is what I use - in the beginning - paying no head to the fact that I was supposed to save 1/2 cup for the egg whites. So, yes - you see 2 1/2cups of sugar and than 1/2 cup of sugar - that is just the way I cook...

This is one of those recipes where it is helpful to have a big mixer (for the batter), a small hand-held mixer - for the egg whites, and a seperate BIG mixing bowl (to blend the batter with the egg whites). This BIG mixing bowl can be one of those cheap commerical kitchen type bowls...

To make the cake:

1 cup butter - room temp.

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 eggs yolks - room temp.

3 cups flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

8 oz container of sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract

6 egg whites - room temp.

1/2 cup sugar

So, you don't have time to wait until your butter comes to room temp in order to cream? Put it in the microwave for about 22 seconds - the edges will melt, but the center will still be solid enough and when you cream it with the sugar it will be just fine. Just don't nuke the butter until it is all melted because then it won't work. Eggs I find work OK even if they are a little cold, but good luck trying to cream COLD butter!

1. Mix butter with 2 1/2 cups sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks and beat well.

2. Add flour and baking soda - alternating with the sour cream and mix until just blended well. Add your extracts.

3. In a seperate mixing bowl beat the egg whites until foamy. Add sugar a bit at a time until stiff peaks form. Don't know what stiff peaks are? Well - if you can stick your finger in the stuff and your finger indent remains intact - that is perfect.

4. Fold the egg whites into the batter - this is where the BIG mixing bowl comes in handy - to blend the 2 mixtures. What is "folding" - this means just mixing the 2 things together until just mixed - don't stir and stir and stir here, ok?

Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 1/2 hour (in a household oven) in a greased and floured tube pan. That means - crisco the pan and then lightly flour. My original recipe calls for a 10" tube pan, but I really have no idea what that means - I just use the same old tube pan I've always had. My pan is nifty - it is a 2 piece pan so I am always assured of getting that cake out of there somehow!!! My oven doesn't take so long because it is a convection oven. Basically - after 1 hour open up the oven and take a look. Then guage. Then start watching and after it looks like the sides are pulling a tiny bit away from the edges of the pan - poke with a shish-ka-bob stick to see if any batter is on the stick. Batter = cook longer. No batter - it is done!

Now I put the entire pan on top of a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto the a LARGE platter. Poke full of holes with that shish-ka-bob stick - at about 1" intervals and pour the hot rum glaze over the entire cake. Of couse - mostof it slides right off the cake - take a soup spoon and keep scooping it up and putting it back on top of the cake until the mixture cools too much and it impossible to scoop - or until you are tired of scooping! Basically - the more hot rum glaze you are able to put on the top of the cake, the more the cake will absorb the glaze down into it. The glaze all pooled at the bottom won't do much good.

Did I mention that this cake is absolutely fabulous even a few days after the fact (just put it in the fridge). So - go ahead and make it ahead of your big event, whatever that may be!

RUM GLAZE

Got to have this recipe too...

I use a very strong, 80% proof rum from Austria - it is typically used for making rum balls and also in hot tea, but I think it would be good with any rum...

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

a little less than 1/2 cup of water

1/4 cup rum

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Bring 1st 3 ingredients to almost a boil for about 3 minutes.

Turn heat way down and add 1/4 cup of rum - be careful pouring because it will tend to fizz up a bit. Simmer for another minute.

Add the walnuts and then immediately pour over your cake. Spoon any glaze back up onto the cake - 3, 4, 5... times!

A NOTE about seperating eggs:

I always crack and also seperate my eggs over a small bowl... by working egg by egg - in a seperate bowl - you have much better control over the situation if there is a bad egg, egg shell or the yolk breaks. And - you never kn0w - you just might end up with a double yolker sometimes! AND - working with a very enthusiastic 4 year old who likes to "help" break the eggs - we usually get egg shells, so this method works best for me!

Orange Chocolate Mousse and technique

Excuse the sloppiness of presentation, but please let me present - chocolate orange mousse.

This is one of those recipes where it is handy to have 2 food processors, but 1 will do just fine.

First, I chill the processor bowl and blade in the freezer. Chilling the bowl/blade makes a better whipped cream, I think. Make 1 batch of whipped cream using 1 cup of whipping cream. Put this in a large mixing bowl in the fridge, and I know that a large bowl for this amount of whipped cream seems silly, but it will save you from dirtying another bowl later on. Make a 2nd batch of whipped cream - again using 1 cup. I put in about 1 tsp of orange extract. If you have a 2nd food processor - just set this bowl in the fridge - if not then you put this whipped cream in a small bowl in the fridge and clean the food processor because you need it again for the chocolate part.

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself here and should start with the recipe?

1 tsp grated orange rind

1/4 cup firmly packed sugar

2 egg yolks, plus 2 eggs

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate squares (from the baking section), melted and cooled

1 TBS orange juice

1 cup whipped whipping cream

More whipping cream for the topping, plus mandarin oranges for the garnish

It is enough to make at least 9 small servings. But, hello! this is a fairly rich dessert and usually people are full by dessert, so a small serving is just fine. If you want bigger servings, use less cups.

Combine orange rind, sugar, egg yolks and eggs in processor and blend until well mixed. Add chocolate and OJ; and mix until well blended. Fold in mixing bowl with whipped cream. * Important to see my note about raw eggs at the bottom!

Spoon mixture into dessert cups and chill to set. Top each serving with whipped cream and oranges.

OK - sounds simple enough, right?

Except - do you immediately know that you should melt the chocolate first? I only 1/2 melt it and stir with a tiny little whisk. I move the pan completely off the burner and let and let heat from the pan finish melting the chocolate, giving it a little stir every now and then to make sure it is completely melted.. I use a very thick, heavy pan - because chocolate will burn very quickly in a cheap pan. And burnt chocolate is not yummy, which is why I never completely melt it over the flame in the first place. Now - when the chocolate is cooling I will make the whipped cream - setting the plain whipped cream in the bigger bowl so that later - when I come to the folding in part - it will already be in the correct size bowl.

To get the orange rind off the orange I use a hand-held gadget that looks like a small cheese grater. You have to be careful not to get the pith - because that it bitter. 1 orange will be about 1 tsp. of rind. You can use the orange for something else later.

Following the directions, I will mix the stuff in the food processor. Now - time to add the chocolate and OJ - but WAIT!!! It is important to check that the chocolate has cooled off enough so it won't instantly cook the eggs way more than what you want them to be. But - it still has to be warm enough to pour. Why don't recipes have helpful little hints like this in their directions. I wonder how many people over the years have cooked the eggs into solid chuncks when making this?

Oh - and don't forget to make this the day before you want to eat it - so it has time to set nicely. And - when setting this many dessert cups in the fridge - it is nice to use a tray (just like I use a cookie sheet to put lots of baked potatoes in the oven). If you don't care about presentation - just laddle the mixture into the cups with a small laddle - if it is important not to have drips - then you have to use a laddle, swipe it across your drip plate first and then laddle into the dessert cup. Obviously, this time around, I wasn't caring about the drips - and your family and good friends won't either! But if you are going to be making this alot and really don't want drips... well - there are other ways.

Easy enough to change this recipe around a bit - you can used sieved raspberries (use vanilla extract in the topping whipped cream instead of orange, in that case), or purreed bannanas, use different juice, etc. Strawberries, raspberries, mint leaves, candied orange peels, etc. all make fine garnishes. You can make a fruit purree and put a little over the top... Just try to make sure that all the ingredients "jive" together. But cooking is a bit about experimenting - you don't have to follow this recipe exactly - feel free to change it around a bit.

Oh, and please don't give me any lectures about eating raw eggs - think hollandaise sauce, ceasar salad dressing, etc. Yum.

THAT being said - this is an OLD recipe and we all know that egg products should be cooked. I don't think restaurants serve caesar salad dressing made with raw eggs anymore. And mousse and hollandaise sauce - the eggs are cooked over a pan of hot water until 74 - 75F is reached.

Party Sandwiches

We had a party last week and made 7 sandwich platters. This is the "egg" tray - egg salad decorated with cheese, cucumbers, red onions, peppers, etc. We also had trays of roast, ham, pastrami... as a decoration for the meat sandwiches we like to use sliced egg (get yourself a nice egg cutter!), plus everything we use on the egg ones.

These sandwiches are very economical to make, look pretty and taste great. Actually, the egg ones are my favorite the next day for breakfast.

What else did we serve? We kept it simple with meatballs (in the crockpot), chicken skewers - we prepared the chicken ahead of time and baked 1 tray at a time. then placed the skewers on an electric hot plate to keep warm), green salad, fruit salad, shrimp coctail and clam chowder. We discussed the idea of a potato or pasta salad too, but didn't. It is a pretty safe menu, enough to satisfy both the vegetarians and meat eaters for a little social get-together.

Fast Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

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Someone was over the other day and watched in amazement as Little Boy and I very quickly made this pie. This is definately a "kid" friendly recipe because you can actually get it done before they lose interest! We have rhubarb coming out our ears this time of year and this recipe is a favorite!

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Here's what you need:

Pre-made double pie crust

1 cup sugar

3 cups chopped rhubarb

1 cup strawberries in light syrup - spoon off a little of the syrup though

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons flour

1-2 Tablespoons butter

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OK - thaw out the pie crusts, but don't let them get too warm, ok? About 15 minutes should do it.

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Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon together. Add eggs and beat altogether. Stir in the rhubarb and strawberries.

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Pour mixture into pie crust. Cut little chuncks of butter and put over the top of the mixture. Invert 2nd pie crust over top one (this is where it gets "sticky" if your pie crust is too warm, which can make it a bit hard to get out of the pie pan). If it rips a bit, just moisten your finger and "patch". Crimp edges with a fork. Cut good sized slits on the top of the pie with a butter knife - wiggling it back and forth a bit to open the slit up.

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Rip 3 pieces of tinfoil, each about 4". Wrap the tinfoil around the outside edges of the pie.

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Bake at 400 for 45 minutes (on a cookie sheet).

Left over grilled steak salad plate

A great summer dish - next time you have the grill on - throw on an extra steak. After it is cooled, slice it very thin. I love it a day or two later with a variety of salads (tonight's salads were purchased macaroni and purchased potatoe salad, a tossed green salad, and cucumber salad). Because it isn't too hot to run the oven yet - we also had baked garlic bread. Yum! A perfect summer meal!

Cucumber Salad - well, I grew up on sliced cucumbers in vinegar with a sprinkle of pepper - for sure this must have been served just about every day - either with lunch or supper. And that is good - very good, and healthy too. BUT - if you don't care about a few extra calories.... try this - thinly sliced cucumbers stirred in sour cream with probably just less than 1 TBS vinegar. Add some fresh dill if you have any - it looks pretty. And - just before serving - grate a bit of salt over it. Don't add the salt early or your cucs will get watery.

Weekly cooking

No photos, sorry, but I thought I would at least post some of what I've been cooking, not that it seems very exciting, but all these meals are fairly fast and easy to make - all within 1/2 hour to 1 hour and there is enough variety to keep things interesting...


Night 1:

Pot roast - I cooked this in the crockpot on high for 4 hours - I added 1 cup of water mixed with an envelope of pot roast seasoning, plus 1 bag of baby carrots. To serve - remove the meat to cutting board and slice - put on platter. Put carrots and gravy in a bowl. Serve with plain egg noodles tossed in basil/garlic olive oil. I also made an artichoke/spinach casserole that I was experimenting with. This was a really good meal with very little work!


Night 2:
Chicken drumsticks - these were on big time sale at the grocery store this week! I froze 1/2 of them and cooked 1/2. I bought a pre-seasoned mix - country chicken. You combined the mix with water and put everything in the handy-dandy oven bag and baked it. I also made rice - got to have something to sop up all that gravy, butternut squash and brocolli, buttermilk biscuits.

Night 3:
Boneless pork chops - again on sale this week and I bought a big family pack and froze most of them. I baked them in a covered casserole dish with a can of cream of mushroom soup, plus the left-over rice - gravy again! Served with acorn squash. I also made carrots - both my son and Dad love carrots boiled to death with butter. I saved the water for soup. I know, I know - 2 orange veggies, but they are yummy! Apple sauce.

Night 4:
German weistwurst - or is it bratwurst? The light colored sausage. Served with potatoe salad, bread and butter and dill pickles, plus frozen vegetable mixture.

Night 5:
Soup - I combined the left over squash, a little of the rice and vegetables, plus the gravies from the drumsticks and pork chops - added the carrot water... pureed it all with one of those hand held stick blenders - that was my base. Now, I added cooked carrots, corn, peas, more rice and the left over drumsticks - chopped. Served with grilled cheese sandwiches. That pretty much empties the fridge of left-overs!

Night 6:
We went to my sister's for pizza!

Night 7:
A pre-cooked roasted chicken picked up from the grocery store, sweet potatoe, acorn squash, a frozen vegetable mixture. Apple sauce.

Night 8:
Fried chicken tenders - I set one aside for my 3 1/2 year old son who prefers plain food. The rest I chop and add to a frozen stir-fry vegetable mixture, plus I add 1/2 a can of chunk pineapple. I add a bit of terriyaki sauce and plum sauce, but you can also use your favorite stir-fry sauce. Served with rice.

Night 9:
Baked porkchops - I make stuffing from a box - then put the porkchops in a oiled casserole dish - put the stuffing on top and bake (covered) at 450 for 1/2 hour, 350 for 15 minutes and then uncovered at 350 for another 15 minutes. Served with mashed potatoes, carrots mixed with frozen peas/corn mixture and extra stuffing on the side. Apple sauce.

I think that's it for the week and I am fairly sure that is the correct combination of things! I go shopping 2X a week, but here is a pretty decent breakdown, minus juices, desserts, breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc.!!!

Shopping list:
Pot roast
Chicken drumsticks
Chicken tenders
Boneless pork chops
Bratwurst
Roasted chicken

Carrots
Baby carrots
Yams
Potatoes
Butternut squash
Acorn squash
Brocolli

Frozen veggie mixtures
Frozen stir-fry veggies

Chunk pineapple
Dill pickles
Potato salad
Buttermilk biscuits
Apple Sauce

Pot roast seasoning mix
Country chicken in an oven bag mix
Stuffing mix
Cream of mushroom soup
Stir fry sauce
Rice

Bread
Butter
Cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches

Potatoes you won't be able to stop eating!

This is one of those dishes that my DH and I dipped our forks into - just for a taste to see how it is - and before we knew it - we had eaten 1/2 the dish. Yikes! Trust me - you won't be able to stop at just 1 bite once you start!


We used 2-3 oz speck, mushrooms, olive oil, garlic clove, italian dry seasoning, 1 lb potatoes, 8 oz (2 balls) mozzarella cheese (sliced), 3 oz Gruyere cheese, 1 pint whipping cream.


Saute karreespeck (this is a smoked and then air dryed - very similar to pancetta if you can't get speck) in olive oil. Remove from pan. Next add a little bit of that red wine you are drinking to the pan to deglaze it a bit and then saute sliced mushrooms (about 4.5-5 oz) in the oil/wine mixture. Add 1/2 chopped garlic clove and about 1 tsp. of Italian dried herb mixture - stir and then stir the speck - then set aside this pan for cooling.

Now - butter a medium casserole dish. Cover the bottom with a layer of thinly sliced potatoes (our other kitchen has a great mandoline, but alas, we suffer the multiple kitchen syndrome, so DH had to cut all those potatoes!). Layer mushrooms, mozzarella and a bit of Gruyere cheese, start again with potatoes and keep layering until everything is gone - ending with the potatoes. Pour whipping cream over the top and put a bit more cheese on top for good measure.

Cover with foil. Bake for 2 hours at 325.

Love it, love it, love it. Now - trying to decide what to serve it with? Double dipped Southern fried chicken? Prime rib? Gosh - if no one is looking - just eat it straight out of the pan! Variations... we are going to try a vegetarian version with chick peas instead of the meat - might add roasted red peppers for flavor to make up for omitting the speck - served with roasted eggplant...

Lamb chops & brocolli mold?

My husband and I enjoy spending time over the winter experimenting with new recipe ideas... and high on our list this winter - inventive ways to serve basic vegetables. With that in mind - we have started to experiment with brocolli and this is our first attempt, but certainly not the final product. But, you got to start somewhere and for us -that means starting at the most basic starting point and adding from there.

1/2 lb of brocolli - cook this in boiling water. Drain. Puree with either a food processor or one of those hand-held stick blenders. We often use the hand-held stick blender for puree foods - it is great for soups! Mix in 2 eggs. Pour into buttered ramkin. Put in hot water bath (about 1/2 way up the side - we started with 2/3, but decided that was too much water once it started to boil and then had to take some water out!). COVER the pan. Boil for about 20 minutes. We had room in the pan so added our baby potatoes at the same time. By the way - this will make enough brocolli for 4 ramkins - I only show 2 in the photo.

The verdict: We were very happy with the way the brocolli "set". It was very bland -definately needed salt, but the brocolli flavor was very distinct. This is an idea that we will continue to experiment with - we are thinking of doing 1/2 carrot, 1/2 brocolli, or a layer of shredded beets, or, or, or??? Another possibility is creating a blue cheese sauce to serve on the side, or even in the mixture, or, or, or??? Although cooking this on the stove top worked just fine for the 2 of us, often we need 20plus servings of something, so we will experiment with a hot water bath, covered with foil - in the oven next time!

Anyway, when experimenting in the kitchen - it is always a good idea to also serve tried & true dishes as well... just in case...

So last night we had marinated lamb chops. These are small chops - you have to take your very sharp knife and trim off ALL the fat. Marinate overnight (we couldn't get fresh ingredients, so ended up using a prepared lamb marinade, which was just fine!). Lamb chops - broil on high for 3 minutes each side and then put under a tinfoil tent for a few minutes to finish cooking. It is important not to overcook lamb! Mint jelly on the side is always tasty with lamb!

The boiled potatoes. And, Vogel salad - a small green salad typical in Austria. I love this particular salad mixed with a mixture of 80% pumpkin seed oil and 20% balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt. Pumpkin seed oil is a very dark, rich oil - if you have never tried it - I highly recommend that you do - you can find it in the USA in specialty grocery stores or by mail order. It is really worth looking for!

Grilled Steaks/Asperagus

Truth be told - I always am so excited to sit down and eat that I forget to take a photo beforehand for my food blog. Even though I don't post much here, believe me, I am eating!


My DH wanted to bring me out to eat this summer and I begged off - our son is 3 and, well, enough said. Instead, I went to the butcher and got these really yummy steaks - I think they were rib eyes, but now I can't remember exactly. The display case only had very large steaks, so I asked for some smaller ones and was rewarded with these beauties. Always worth asking, you know? A special steak for a special dinner (in other words, it wasn't cheap, but it was worth it!).

The menu:

Grilled steak - to your liking

Grilled asperagus - put the asperagus in a big ziplog bag early in the day with balsamic vinegar. Grill for about 10 minutes - turning occassionally - and sprinkle parmasean cheese on top just before serving.

Sauteed mushrooms - my DH loves these... I steam sliced onions and mushrooms (put a little water in a frying pan and cover the pan - medium heat or else it will take forever). This takes probably about 10 minutes (guess what - about the same amount of time as the asperagus!). When they are nice and soft I stir in stir fry sauce.

Scalloped potatoes - from a box (shhh)

Green salad

Baked bread

And - I love horseradish sauce for my steak, plus a big slice of herbed butter on top, mmmm! I fed my son before we ate and he had a wonderful time playing while we enjoyed our dinner!