home made "blue ice"

two weeks ago the DH had surgery on his shoulder

since then we've been really friendly with ice packs

now we have a couple of those blue gel packs, but they don't really stay cold for a 30 minute cooling session, and they're kind of pricey

my daughter shared a recipe with me to do a home made version

I whipped up a couple of these and we've been using them at least 3 times a day ever since -- they're even better than those blue things

it is really simple and really cheap too!


Small pack:

2 - 1 quart zip top plastic bags
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol

pour the liquids into one bag, squeeze out the air and zip close, insert into second bag, zip close and freeze


Big pack:

2 - 1 gallon zip top plastic bags
2 1/4 cup water
3/4 cup rubbing alcohol


if you want even smaller ones, use sandwich bags and split the quart measurements!

"Used bread" bread pudding

We try to live frugal -- when you live on a fixed income these days, you don't have much choice in that.

One of the ways we try to keep our grocery spending within our means is to shop for the marked down things. My mother has been doing this for years -- she refers to it as "used food".

Recently a trip through the "used bread" in my local market yielded up a loaf of frosted cinnamon raisin bread -- it made great breakfasts, but it was a big loaf, so it started to get stale before we could eat it all.

My solution was to turn it into dessert!

Here's the ingredient list:

For the pudding
3 to 4 cups of bread cut into about 1 inch cubes -- I've used left over cinnamon rolls for this too
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins or craisins
1 recipe of hard sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Select a glass baking dish that will hold at least 1 1/2 quart, spray with non-stick spray, set aside

In a small sauce pan, bring the milk and the butter just to a boil and remove from the heat

Lightly beat eggs, sugar, salt and cinnamon together, add a small amount of the hot milk to the egg mixture and beat again, then pour the egg mixture and the milk together in a bowl to mix (caution: don't skip that adding hot milk to the eggs step or you'll end up with scrambled egg which is not what you want here -- this is called "tempering" and it's an important technique to know when you do baking or working with chocolate)

Add bread and raisins or craisins and mix well -- let the bread soak up the liquids

Pour into prepared baking dish

Place baking dish in a pan (I use a 9 by 12 inch metal baking pan) that will hold water 1 inch deep around the glass dish.

TIP: put the two pans in the oven and use a large measuring cup to add the water to the pan while it's on the oven shelf -- when you take the pudding out, let the metal pan sit in the oven until the water has cooled before you take it out -- this may be a bit "fiddly" but it will keep you from getting a nasty scalding burn

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes -- until a knife inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean

Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or hard sauce



Recipe for hard sauce:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
5 tbls milk or cream
1/2 tsp almond extract

Beat cream cheese until fluffy

Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition

Add milk and almond, and mix well

Cover and chill

(this is great used on banana nut bread or just about any other sweet bread too)

Enjoy!!

Gum Drop Bread

most of the family recipes I use came from my mother or my grandmother, but this one is from the DH's side of the family

the DH is a first generation American, and his English family brought this recipe with them

it's sort of like fruit cake -- but not quite!

and this year, for the first time in quite a few years, I decided to make up a batch, both for our eating pleasure and to share with friends


Here is the ingredient list:

1 pound walnuts or pecans, rough chopped (we prefer pecans)
1 pound dates, rough chopped (do yourself a favor and buy the packages that are already cut)
1 pound fruit flavored gum drops (no black ones, and the spice ones are not the right thing)
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, separated
2 tsp vanilla

this year our obstacle was we could not find anything but spice gum drops!

my local Sunflower market, however had jellied fruit slices in the bulk bin, so I brought home a little over a pound of those and used my kitchen shears to cut them into "gum drop" sized pieces




(if you need to do this, it helps a lot to dip your kitchen shears in sugar frequently to keep the blades from becoming too sticky)

this is what they looked like when I got done

while you're cutting things, if you need to cut the dates, use the same technique for them

and do the rough chop on the nuts

turn on your oven to preheat -- only 300 degrees for this recipe

this can be done in two standard loaf pans, but I usually use this pan plus one more pan the same size (it's really nice to be able to put these all in like one pan!)

to prepare your pans -- cut parchment paper (or brown paper) to fit the pan (I use a strip that is the width of the pan and long enough to go down the long side, along the bottom then back up the other long side plus about another 2 inches on each end that can be a "handle" when removing the loaves from the pan)

grease the pans (or use non-stick spray), fit the paper into the pan, then grease or spray again

set the pans aside and mix the dough
put all of the chopped ingredients (gum drops, nuts, dates) into a large bowl and stir to mix well

in a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, salt and baking powder

sprinkle this dry mixture over the chopped ingredients

stir and "toss" to coat everything well with the dry ingredients

separate the eggs, beat vanilla into the egg yolks

using a mixer, beat egg whites until light and foamy (not too stiff)

pour egg yolks over fruit and mix, then add the egg whites and fold to combine all of the ingredients (be sure all of the dry stuff at the bottom of the bowl gets mixed in)

divide and press batter into pans (make sure there aren't any big gaps)

bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes

as soon as they come out of the oven, use a flat spatula along the un-papered side of each loaf, then use the paper "handles" to lift each loaf out of the pan to a rack

peel off the paper carefully and let set on the rack until totally cooled

wrap in foil and tie with a bow for gift giving, or slice and eat and enjoy!

Spicing things up

over the weekend I had the chance to visit a Savory Spice Shop

it is an experience not to be missed

sure, we've all bought spices at the grocery store -- and even at the fair from the Watkins booth

but it just doesn't compare with the experience of being able to walk in and see all the spices and herbs and blends in the jars and using the little shaker bottles to taste before you buy

unless you've done that, how do you know if you want the Vietnamese cinnamon which has a sharp, hot feel on your tongue, like eating those red hot fireball candies -- or if you'd prefer the mellower Chinese cinnamon?

do you want the St Louis pork rub? the pan pork sausage blend?

how about a REAL vanilla bean?

or 4 ounces of powdered cheddar cheese --- my "best of the day" find so I can make my own version of "quick" mac 'n cheese -- a version of this stuff used to be available from my local grocery store, but Kraft doesn't do that any more --- and this stuff tastes better!

if there isn't one of these lovely stores near you, you should at least check out their website -- here's the link

Quick Chicken Soup

Back in the days when the DH and I both worked full time jobs and needed sometimes to come up with a meal in a hurry, this was one of our favorites.

Quick, easy, inexpensive -- all good things!

Yesterday my daughter asked me to remind her again how we did this -- now that she and her husband sometimes need to do this.


Happy to do it






Ingredients:

32 ounces of chicken broth -- more or less -- homemade or from a can
large (12.5 ounce) can of chicken meat or equivalent of left over chicken
1 cup frozen peas or mixed vegetables
1 cup raw noodles

How to:

Pour the broth and the chicken into a pan (if you are using left over chicken, add a bit of water, if you are using the can, pour in the liquid from the can too)

Bring to a boil

Add vegetables and noodles

Cook until the noodles are to the desired doneness -- about 10 minutes

Enjoy!!

Tuna Cassarole

a couple of weeks ago my daughter asked me to post the recipe for this, and I couldn't believe I hadn't already done it!

and of course that also meant that I had to actually make one so I could write down the recipe!

so this is last night's dinner --- and one of the best ones ever

here then is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 can (10.75 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup
2 cans (12 ounces total) tuna in water (or the equivalent in pouch tuna)
12 ounces (uncooked weight) medium shell macaroni
1 cup frozen peas
1 Tbls butter
1 Tbls flour
1 1/2 cups milk (I use 1%)
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 cup crushed potato chips

How to:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large sauce pan, cook the pasta to al dente (about 9 minutes after it returns to a boil check the package) -- don't overcook -- it is going to be baked too (and remember to salt the water)

While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce:

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat
Stir in the flour to form a roux and cook for a couple of minutes to take out that "paste" taste (be careful not to let it burn)
Using a whisk, stir in 1 cup of the milk, blend well and turn the heat down slightly
Add the can of condensed soup, mixing well, and use the remaining 1/2 cup milk to "rinse" the soup can into the pan
When the sauce starts to thicken up, add the shredded cheese and turn the heat down to low
Continue whisking occasionally while you prepare the rest of the parts

Open and drain the cans of tuna

(I have one of these nifty plastic gizmos that just fits in the top of the can and lets you drain out the liquid without loosing any of the solids)

I don't try to squeeze out the liquid for this recipe -- there is some good flavor in that packing water, but you just don't want ALL of that liquid



Pour the frozen peas in the colander that you are going to use to drain your macaroni

When the pasta is done, pour it right in on top of the peas

It defrosts the peas without using any additional water


Return the drained macaroni and peas to the pan you cooked the pasta in, and add the tuna
Pour the sauce over the top and mix well

Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray and pour in the mixture

Top with crushed potato chips

Bake for 30 minutes

bread and cherrios

this has to be the most beautiful loaf of bread I've ever made

so nicely shaped

so evenly browned

amazing given the total piece of junk that my oven is

the recipe for this is the Light Whole Wheat out of the cookbook my daughter gave me for Christmas

this is about the fourth batch of this particular recipe I've made (remember I said no store bought bread here!), but there has been a real learning curve in making bread without using a bread pan -- just a flat steel cookie sheet

the book recommends that you use a pizza stone, but in my feeble little oven it would take FOREVER to heat that up (the book says about 20 minutes, so we're talking about 45 here) and our electric bill can't stand the shock

but the steel cookie sheet with a good layer of cornmeal works really well

now that I've really gotten the hang of this recipe it's time to try another one

yesterday, when we went to get milk there was a huge display of these on an end cap

you remember Cherrios? the ever present healthy snack you carried around in little containers to occupy your kids in church

let me tell you, these are not your "church cherrios"

not only do they really taste like chocolate, they are faintly sweet and super crunchy

as a snack that is

I brought the box home, broke right into it and ate a little container full while I was working at my sewing machine (just being careful not to drop any to the dog!)

I think they'll be really good with milk on them too -- and raspberries --- mmmmm, chocolate and raspberries --- yum!

time for breakfast!!

Bubble Rolls

We've had a longstanding tradition of having some kind of homemade sweet rolls with bacon for Christmas morning.

This year, we were celebrating at our daughter's house, so we did a recipe that came from her husband's mom.

These are real tasty, and so easy you don't have to wait until Christmas to do them!



Ingredients:

24 ounces of frozen roll balls (about 18 rolls)
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 package butterscotch pudding (the small size, NOT INSTANT!)

How to:

The night before you want to eat these, put the frozen rolls in a bundt pan

Sprinkle the pudding mix over the frozen rolls

Melt sugar and butter together, pour over the rolls

Set the bundt pan on top of the refrigerator (or some other warm place) until morning

The next morning, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

Turn out onto serving tray as soon as they come out of the oven.

YUMMY!

The Bread Book

I got this book for Christmas from my daughter

in the past the bread making in this house has always been done by my husband, whose hands are much much stronger than mine to do kneading

but with this book, you don't knead

you mix up the dough

you let it rise -- and FALL! -- once

then you stick it in the refrigerator and use it in pieces for the next week or so

I was sceptical --yeast dough -- a whole week or more -- in the cold?

yup!

and it works -- you can go right ahead after that first rise and finish off a loaf, but it is actually BETTER if you stick in in the 'fridge

so far I've had 4 different kinds of bread out of this book, and I'm planning on making more

I'm seriously considering making pumpernickel, which I really like but has always seemed so incredibly difficult that I couldn't begin to do it at home

it's truly amazing what you can get from four little (and cheap!) ingredients --- flour, water, salt, yeast --- that's "bread on the hoof"

we haven't bought a loaf of store bread since I got the book -- a package of pita this week, but there's a recipe for those too, so I may not be buying those again either

I'll let you know how that pumpernickel comes out

Smothered Burritos

We do a lot of "scratch" cooking, but we also have some recipes that are what I call "throw togethers" made up of things that we usually have on hand in the house.

This recipe is based on one that my mother would make -- I've added some fiber and cut the fat.


Ingredients:

10 to 12 flour tortillas, white or whole wheat
1 can black beans
2 cans green chili with pork
1 pound hamburger
1 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese


How to:

Scramble fry the hamburger and drain, return to the pan

Add beans and chili and heat well

Using a slotted spoon, fill the tortillas (use an envelope fold to prevent leaking) and place in a 9 x 12 inch pan

After filling all of the tortillas, pour the remaining liquid over the top of the burritos

Spread grated cheese over the top

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes


Serve with shredded lettuce, chopped fresh tomatoes, sliced avocado and sour cream garnishes.

NOTES: I use Stokes brand green chili to make these, but any brand will work

Be sure to spray the baking pan well with cooking spray before filling for easier clean up, and I recommend using a pyrex pan for this.

Amma's Persimmon Bars

This recipe came from my friend in California, and since we moved back to the Rocky Mountains, I have not been able to make it because I could not get the right kind of persimmons.

The only thing I could find were the flat variety, which never get soft enough to make this recipe from.

These are the RIGHT kind of persimmons.

When you get them, try to get four that are all at the same stage of ripeness so they all reach the perfect ready stage at the same time.

When you bring them home, set them out on the counter and let them get really soft -- like an over ripe tomato -- then they are ready.

To get the "pulp", use a very sharp knife to cut an "X" at the top of each persimmon and squeeze the pulp out into a bowl (sort of like squeezing the last of the toothpaste out of the tube). For every cup of pulp, mix in 1 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice to keep it from getting dark. It takes about 4 large ones to get the required 1 cup of pulp for this recipe.

Once you have that, you're ready to begin:

Ingredients for Bars:
1 cup fresh pulp (with lemon juice added)
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 ounces dates, chopped fine
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 cup chopped nuts

Ingredients for Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbls lemon juice

How To:

Mix persimmon pulp/lemon mixture with the baking soda and set aside.

Lightly beat egg. Add sugar, oil and dates and mix.

Combine dry ingredients and add to eggs in small amounts, alternating with persimmon mixture.

Continue to combine until well blended, then stir in the nuts.

Spread into greased, floured jelly roll pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Cool for 5 minutes

Mix glaze and spread over warm bars.

Cool completely then cut into squares.

Notes:

1. The finished bars will freeze well, just be sure to seperate with parchment or wax paper to keep the glaze from sticking them all together.

2. Fresh persimmons can be frozen whole -- just stick them in the freezer in their skins -- when you are ready to use, set them on the counter in a container and let them defrost.

3. You can freeze the pulp and lemon mixture too.

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

{Edited Dec 21, 2009: I made these following the recipe exactly. I got 31 cookies and they are pretty big. Next time I'm going to use just a half a teaspoon of dough for each one, and see if they aren't a better size.

Also, Mammy used to take these off the pans and put them on brown paper to cool, which gave the excess oil a chance to soak into the paper. I used a cooling rack, which I don't like as well -- got to find some brown paper to cool them on next time.

But the taste? Yup, a step right back into my childhood! And I'll probably try making them and adding about half a cup of coconut to the recipe next time.}
I've been searching for this recipe for years.

It was one Mammy used to make for Pappy --- light, thin, crispy

and lost to history -- or so it seemed!

My mother has been going through boxes of papers from my grandmother --- she found this in the box --- YIPPEE!!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oleo
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbls flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbls milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup old fashion (rolled) oatmeal

How To:

Cream oleo and sugar together until smooth

Blend in flour, salt, milk and vanilla until well mixed

stir in oatmeal

drop by teaspoonfuls on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (these are going to SPREAD!)

bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes

cool on pan for 2 to 3 minutes then remove from pan (this gives them time to "set up")

makes 4 dozen

in her notes, Mammy had written that you could substitute coconut for the oatmeal, but I don't remember her ever actually making them that way.

Gma's Boston Style Clam Chowder

I like clam chowder -- especially the Boston Style ones.

This recipe came from my mother

Ingredients:
3" cube of salt pork or an equivalent amount of bacon (about 1/4 pound)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cans of clams
1/2 pound (about 2 large) carrots, cubed
4 large potatoes, cubed
1 quart of milk

How to:

Cut the salt pork or bacon into small pieces, brown in the pan until browned

Add the chopped onion and cook until tender (do not brown)

Drain the clams and set aside, add the liquid to the pan

Add carrots and potatoes and enough water to cover, cook until the potatoes are tender (10 to 20 minutes depending on the size of the pieces and your altitude)

Add clams and milk, heat but DO NOT boil

enjoy with crusty bread

Product Reviews

Before I start here, let me say that none of the companies whose products I'm going to talk about gave me anything for free (but I'd be willing to accept something!)

This little gadget has been widely advertised on TV in our area.

It snaps over the top of an opened can of soda, and it's supposed to make the can spill proof and keep the "fizz" in if you don't drink the whole can.

Most of the places I'd seen it you could only by a 12 pack (and just why would I ever have 12 cans of soda open at once?!), but our new ACE Hardware store had them available individually at their recent Grand Opening.

It snaps on really easily -- I would highly recommend washing the entire top of the soda can before you snap it on as whatever you're drinking will probably come into contact with that surface as you drink out of it.

The spill proof part works pretty well, it fits tight -- in fact I had to work at it to get it off after the can was empty.

The keeping the fizz in part was about as effective as returning an opened and reclosed bottle of soda to the refridgerator. If there was a lot of fizz in the original, a lot will be retained. If you buy the cheap store brand sodas that don't have as much fizz in the first place, the result is less fizz.

I still can't see a use for a dozen of these, but having one is good since I never drink an entire 12 ounce can all at once.

So, I'd give this a B- grade.

These, on the other hand, get an A+

I saw an ad in the coupon section of our paper and when I visited our local Walmart, they had these (on an introductory sale)

A serving is 5 crackers

While I sort of expected that they would be like the standard Ritz cracker with a little sugar and cinnamon on top, they are actually quite a bit lighter, almost the consistancy of good pie crust.

They are not over sweet, and that serving size is just about right.

(Yes, these might be a logical candidate for squirting whipped cream on!)

I would definately buy these again, especially if I can get a coupon for them.

My daughter was asking about the attachment her dad uses to grind meat.

We don't buy hamburger or ground meat at the grocery -- there have been too many issues with e coli in ground meat that comes out of the big processing plants, and we just don't want to go there.

We buy chuck roast to make hamburger out of.

The DH cuts the meat into strips that are the right size to go through the grinder and then we put the hamburger into portion sized packages in the freezer.

We originally bought this attachment for our Kitchen Aid because we were going to make pasta with it, and that part of the attachment was a big disappointment -- the meat grinding part however has more than paid for this little gadget.


We had been receiving this magazine in the mail for quite a while, having signed up for it on line, and it was a free.

It arrived about every three months and was full of recipes, ideas and lots of coupons -- all for Kraft foods -- a sort of giant advertising brochure.

When our copy arrived last week, there was a bill. Evidently from now on to get this you will have to pay for them to send you their advertising.

Needless to say, I will not be paying for it.

I will miss the coupons and some of the recipes, but I refuse to pay for them to advertise to me.

Have you used any new products lately? I'd love to hear what you think!

Nick's "Death by Chocolate" Cookies

This recipe has been several years in the development. Every time I think he's made it perfect, he adds some little twist and it gets even better.

Our daughter gave the recipe it's name and it has become a holiday treat.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
2 tsp Mexican vanilla (Mexican vanilla has a different flavor and goes great with chocolate!)
1 1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans
12 ounces dark chocolate chips (semi sweet)
12 ounces white chocolate chips
12 ounces milk chocolate chunks

How to:

In stand mixer, cream together Crisco and sugars until smooth.

Add eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and mix well.

Blend in oats.

Add flour a little at a time and mix well.

Mix in pecans and chocolates.

Drop by heaped teaspoons (we have a small scoop that works great) on ungreased cookie sheets (silpats or parchment paper is highly recommended!)

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

Makes 120 cookies.

You could make these larger, adjust the baking time accordingly.

YUM!!

Heartburn Free "Fried" Chicken

I love fried chicken. And I know it isn't good for me to have the "real thing" -- too much fat, which means a big case of heartburn

For quite a while I've been fiddling around with different things to try and find something that satisfies that fried chicken taste without the pain

Last night was the latest attempt, and the results were great

So, here's what I did.


Ingredients:
1 medium chicken, cut into pieces (you could use pre-cut pieces all of one kind, say drumsticks or thighs or whatever you like)
12 soda crackers
1 tsp paprika

Process:

Ahead of time, wash the chicken pieces, trim the extra visable fat off with kitchen shears or a sharp knife

Bring a small amount of water (about 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep) to a boil in a pan large enough for either your steamer basket or a small collandar to fit in.

Put the chicken pieces in the steamer over the water (chicken should not touch the water level). Reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes.

Drain the chicken on a rack

NOTE: If it's going to be longer than about 15 minutes before you move to the next step, put the chicken pieces in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook them. The steaming could actually be done the night before or the morning off before you head off to work if that fits your schedule.

At cooking time, heat the oven to 375 degrees

Line your pan (I used a jelly roll pan, but a large cookie sheet would work) with parchment paper and set a rack on top of the parchment

In a zip top bag, crush the crackers until there are no big pieces (you're looking for the texture of cornmeal). Add the paprika and mix well.

Dip each piece of cooled chicken in water then put into the bag and shake, coating completely.

Place chicken on rack so the pieces don't touch each other.

Bake for 25 minutes, turn each piece over, bake for an additional 25 minutes or until the chicken is totally cooked.

Crunch top apple pie

I love pie.

Mostly, however, pies at our house are either made by the DH, or they are made in a "pre-fab" crust.

This one was made by me, crust and all, and it was actually edible!

So in honor of my making a good pie crust, I decided to share the recipe with you all (and yes, you too can make this pie crust!)


Crust Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbls sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tbls very cold water

Filling:
2 cups cooked apples

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter

How to:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In an ungreased glass pie pan, stir together the dry crust ingredients (I used a fork).
• Add the oil and water to the dry ingredients and continue mixing with the fork until there are no dry spots.
• Using your fingers, press the mixture into the edges and bottom of the pie plate, make sure there are no holes, and that the top edge rises above the pan.
• Use the fork to prick holes over the bottom of the crust (this is called "docking")
• Put the crust into the oven and bake for 5 to 8 minutes (blind baking), just until the crust firms up so any liquids in the filling have less chance of making the bottom crust soggy.
• Remove the pan from the oven and spread cooked apples evenly in the crust.
• Using a pastry cutter or two case knives, cut together the topping ingredients until they look like coarse meal. Spread topping over the top of the apples.
• Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until topping is bubbly and the bottom crust is done.
• Cool and eat.

I'm thinking you could use canned pie cherries in this instead and substitute almonds for the pecans. It would also be good with peaches (home canned?) and this topping.

Enjoy!

Magic Peach Cobbler

This was a treat that my mother used to make when we were kids.

With most cobblers you put the fruit in the dish first and put the crust in on top. This one goes into the pan the other way and turns itself over. It always amazed me that it worked like magic!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, divided
1/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
#2 can of peaches (or 1 pint of home canned peaches)

How to:

Drain peaches, reserve syrup, set aside

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Grease a 2 quart glass pan

Cream together 1/2 cup of the sugar and the butter

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together

Add dry ingredients and milk to creamed mixture and beat until smooth.

Pour batter into pan

Spread drained peaches over the batter.

Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup sugar over peaches.

Pour 1 cup of reserved syrup over peaches.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until crust is done and golden brown.

Great served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top!

Easy Almost Cheese Cake Dessert

From time to time we want something that sort of tastes like cheese cake but doesn't take so much time.

After some "fiddling around" this is what we've come up with.


Ingredients:

1 graham cracker crust (we buy the store brand)
1 package instant pudding (we've mostly done french vanilla, but chocolate or lemon would be good too)
1 8 ounce package low fat cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups milk, divided (we use 1%)
1 cup whipped cream --- entirely optional, we used some out of a squirt can (Rediwhip)

How to:

Beat together the cream cheese and 1/2 cup of the milk until smooth and creamy and free of lumps

Add pudding mix and remaining milk, whip for 2 minutes

Fold in whipped cream if using

Pour into crust

Chill for at least 2 hours

ENJOY!

Cheesy Chicken Pasta Cassarole

I'm not usually the one that cooks dinner at our house, as the DH is better at it and enjoys it more.

He hurt his hand (beware of circular saws!) about 3 weeks ago, so I've been trying to keep us fed.

Every now and then I do come up with something that's pretty good --- and it's usually something that goes in a cassarole dish and involves some kind of pasta.

Last night was no exception to that.

This is a sort of combination of upscale macaroni and cheese with an italian overtone. Like most of my concoctions, I started off with good intentions to follow a recipe, but as I get into it, that whole "it's just a suggestion" thing takes over, and I'm off and running.

Sometimes that's a disaster in the making, but last night's excursion was pretty good.

This thing takes about an hour to do, so it's not a "quickie", but once you've got it made up, the left overs will freeze well and reheat pretty quickly.

Oh yes, like doing an oriental stir fry, this one is definately something that will dirty a lot of pans and utinsels, so be prepared!

So here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
6 ounces (about 9 medium) white mushrooms thinly sliced
1/2 cup (about 1.5 ounces) sun dried tomatoes diced fine
1/2 cup green olives thinly sliced
1/2 small shallot diced fine
1 clove garlic diced fine
1 pound whole wheat rigatoni or penne pasta
2 ounces parmesian cheese very finely shredded
1 cup panko bread crumbs
6 ounces provolone cheese shredded or cut into very small dice
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tbls butter
2 Tbls flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbls olive oil
salt
pepper
cooking spray

Prep work (to keep from needing more than one cutting board, I do the prep in this order):

shred or dice the parmesian cheese -- combine it in a dish with the panko and set aside (this is the crunchy topping)

shred or dice the provolone and mozzarella cheese, set aside in a seperate dish

thinly slice the mushrooms and olives, put in a dish

dice the sundried tomatoes, set aside in a dish

dice the shallot and garlic, set aside

split the chicken breasts to make thinner pieces, salt and pepper both sides

Cooking:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Spray 9 by 13 glass pan with cooking spray

In a large pan, cook the pasta as the package directs (be sure to salt the water well before adding the pasta)

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, cook the chicken breasts for about 4 minutes per side -- they should be lightly browned and almost cooked through --- remove from the pan back to the cutting board

In the same skillet, saute the shallot and garlic until translucent, add mushrooms and olives. Reduce heat and let "simmer"

In a small sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in flour and cook for a few minutes. Whisk in milk, bring to a simmer and let cook until slightly thickened. (This is a standard medium white sauce preparation)

Add tomatoes, provolone and mozzarella cheese to sauce, reduce heat to low and allow to combine. (I usually switch to a wooden spoon for stirring here)

Cut cooked chicken into 1 inch cubes.

When pasta is done, drain and return to cooking pan. Add chicken cubes and sauted vegetables, and mix. Pour sauce over mixture and combine well.

Pour mixture into prepared pan and spread panko/parmesian mixture over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes:
1. Mushrooms or olives could be left out if one or the other is a "no go" item in your house.

2. This could be prepared using left over chicken from another meal --- just skip the chicken cooking and go right to vegetable saute in the skillet