The Desperate Cook

Cake In A Cup In 5 Minutes

2010-08-10T15:53:00.002-04:00

I had posted this on my other blog, but I know some of you don't visit there so I wanted to post it here also.

This is sooooo goooood!!

Cake Mix in a Mug
1/3 cup any flavor cake mix
1 tsp oil
1 T. Water
1 egg white
Whisk well in mug of your choice
Microwave on high 2 minutes. Serve immediately.
You can frost this or I added chocolate chips as soon as it came out of the microwave
Here is a Mug recipe that you can give as a gift...or better yet, eat it yourself.
Milky Way Cake Mix
1/3 cup any chocolate flavor cake mix
4 Milky Way Miniatures candies chopped into pieces.
Measure into small baggie, seal and shake to combine.
Place in a Mug lined with Tissue paper , attach tag, small wire whisk with ribbon.

Tag: Empty mix into mug, add 2 tsp oil, 1 T. water 1 egg white, Whisk well and microwave on high 2 minutes. Serve immediately.
You could replace the Milky Way with miniature Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Hot Pepper Sandwich

2010-07-24T18:52:00.000-04:00

Hubs loves Hot Peppers, usually When I stuff the banana peppers, I use hot sausage. Since we had no sausage in the house, I decided to try stuffing them with 92% lean hamburg.

1. Cut the large end off the pepper and throw it away, clean all (most of what you can get)seeds out of pepper
2. Stuff pepper with hot sausage ( I used hamburg)
3. Rub Olive Oil all over the peppers
4. Place peppers in a baking dish
5. I baked these at 350* for about an hour, then turned them up to brown the pepper, total baking time was an hour and a half, more or less.
6. Put peppers in roll of choice and top with cheese of choice
You should of seen the sandwich when he was finished putting tomatoes, onions and ketchup on it. I wish I would of gotten a picture but when Dennis is hungry it is really hard to make him wait for pictures. He really liked it with the hamburg so I will probably make it more often once peppers are more plentiful.

Lamb On The Rod

2010-07-17T09:41:00.000-04:00

The sauce turned out pretty nice and really smelled like garlic so I knew we would like it.
We didn't marinate the lamb but a lot of people do.

Lamb on the Rod

1 leg of lamb cubed (if you are buying it in a supermarket, ask the butcher to cube it for you)lemon juice
garlic cloves minced
black pepper
salt
Place the cubed lamb in a bowl and soak in the marinade for a few hours. Place on skewers and grill.

Garlic and Pepper Sauce

2 to 3 fresh hot banana peppers or 1 small jar hot vinegar pepper rings
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped (to taste)
1/2 c. oil (more or less depending on how you like it)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix together and let sit for a few hours

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries!!!

2010-07-12T13:30:00.000-04:00

We love cherries and when they are in season, that makes it all the better...Plus look, we are finially having a nice day out.....Life IS just a bowl of cherries.

Strawberry Juluis

2010-07-08T13:15:00.000-04:00

Nothing is better when fresh strawberries come into season

This tastes just like a strawberry milkshake, only healthier

Look how thick this is

Strawberry Juluis
Ingredients
1 cup frozen strawberries (I usually just use 8-10 frozen strawberries)
1/2 cup skim milk (you may need more)
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Add all ingredients to the blender and blend, you may need more than the 1/2 cup of milk to get it to the consistency you like.

Happy July 4th Everyone!!

2010-07-04T04:23:00.000-04:00

I hope all of you have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July.

Dutch Baby

2010-03-05T09:56:00.003-05:00

These taste almost like a funnel cake.

Dutch Baby

3 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
2 3/8 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1/2 cup
3 tablespoons vanilla sugar, plus extra for serving
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
Lemon wedges

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into a 10-inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven. Set the remaining tablespoon of melted butter aside to cool slightly. Wait 10 minutes before assembling the other ingredients.

Place the flour, vanilla sugar, salt, milk, eggs and remaining tablespoon of melted butter into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process for 30 seconds. Carefully pour the batter into the preheated skillet. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown. Sprinkle with additional vanilla sugar and serve with lemon wedges.

Serves 4

Coconut Pecan Balls

2010-02-10T13:24:00.000-05:00

If you live in North Western Pennsylvania, you know in February that you are probably going to get a lot of snow. So I thought I would make some snow balls that would be welcome at this house.

COCONUT PECAN BALLS

1 Cup Butter Or Margarine
1/2 Plus 1/8 Cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla or 1 Teaspoon Almond and 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
Cream all of the above together

Add:

2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
1 Cup Shredded Coconut

Shape into balls Using a teaspoon and place on an UNGREASED cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes.

Saurkraut Soup for the Crock Pot

2010-01-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

I made this soup for my Hubs in December, about a week before New Years Eve.....and wouldn't you know it....I forgot to get a picture.

Hubs took this soup (I made a double batch) to his POKER NIGHT. I know it sounds kind of gross....but it is really very good and I had to send recipes the next week.

Saurkraut Soup

1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Can Chicken Broth
1..2 Pound bag of saurkraut (you can drain if you want, I usually drain a little)
1 Medium Onion Chopped
2 or 3 small potatoes
1 Pound smoked sausage
1 small clove garlic

Put all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Meatballs

2010-01-04T17:28:00.001-05:00

We always make our own meatballs...Hubs loves his mothers recipe so that is what I use.

Mix all the ingredients together well, make into balls and fry until brown.

AAfter the meatballs are brown I put them into sauce (you can make your own or use store bought) and simmer them for 2 to 3 hours.

Meatballs

2 to 3 pound lean ground beef

1 cup seasoned Italian Bread crumbs

3 eggs

1/2 cup water (I only add this if my meat is to dry)

salt

Pepper

Mix ingredients well and make into balls. Fry until brown in oil with a couple toes of garlic (I bake mine in the oven until they are brown). When brown all over, put them into sauce and simmer 3-4 hours.

If your sauce is store bought you only have to simmer them until cooked through but the longer you cook them the more tender they become.

Popcorn Balls

2009-12-21T07:56:00.000-05:00

I decided to do Rednesday at both of my blogs.....be sure to check out Its a Very Cherry Christmas World for all the other great posts.

When my Daughter was younger, she always liked to help with cooking. We didn't have the internet then to look up recipes but I came across this recipe using marshmallows in the popcorn balls instead of the hot syrup. This recipe does not burn little hands like the hot syrup you pour over popcorn and have to shape it fast before it gets to hard to make the balls.

I added some carmel bits to this, just to see how they would taste.

Popcorn Balls

7 cups popped corn

3 cups miniature marshmallows

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/4 teaspoon salt

If you want colored popcorn balls, you can add a few drops of food coloring.

Measure popped corn into large buttered bowl. In top of double boiler over hot water, heat marshmallows, butter and salt, stirring frequently, until marshmallows melt and mixture is smooth. Stir in food color if you are using it. Pour mixture over corn in bowl. Toss gently to coat. With buttered hands quickly shape mixture around lollipops into 3 inch balls.

Its a Very Cherry Christmas World

Maryland Crab Cakes

2009-12-17T10:02:00.000-05:00

These turned out great, in fact....so great that there were none left when we took them to a party.

Maryland Crab Cakes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/8 cups crushed saltine crackers (Ritz also works well)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon brown mustard
1/4 cup onion chopped fine
1 stalk celery chopped fine
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 pound crabmeat

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven on broiler setting. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, mix together crushed saltine crackers, mayonnaise, brown mustard, onion, celery, and Old Bay seasoning. Gently stir in the crabmeat. Shape into 6 patties. Place on prepared baking sheet.
Broil crab cakes 8 to 10 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

Festive Vegetable Tray

2009-12-15T09:28:00.000-05:00

Here is a really cute way to take vegetables to your Christmas Party
The Stars are cheese that I cut with a small cookie cutter.

We got so many compliments on this little vegetable tray and it was so easy.

Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers Wrapped in Bacon

2009-12-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

I was going to suprise Hubs with Jalapeno Poppers but he always has his nose in my kitchen so I put him to work cleaning out the peppers for me.

These are great because I can make them ahead of time and keep them in the fridg. until I am ready to bake them.

Cut the stem end off the pepper and take all the seeds out. Stuff with cream cheese, then wrap in a slice of bacon.

Be sure to cover the top of the pepper so the cream cheese will stay in

Then keep wrapping the bacon around the pepper and secure with a toothpick

I put these in a lined muffin tin to keep the cream cheese in...but I think it kept them from browning nicely.

Place in a 450 degree, preheated oven. The recipes says for 10 minutes but I left mine in for 20 minutes and I still would of liked them browner.

See what I mean, although the bacon was cooked, it was just not brown enough. Hubs loved these....brown or not. He said they were fantastic. I guess that means I will be making these again.

Bistro Style Panini

2009-12-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

I make a lot of homemade breads and I always use my bread machine...Always!!

These turned out very, very well, except they could of been a little browner.

Above is the sponge mixture before it rises.

This is the sponge mixture after it has risen.

The dough in the bread machine

I only made 1/2 batch so I only got four rolls
Here are the rolls after they were risen and before baking. I did forget to score them and put flour on the top.
I made Hubs a Salad and a roll for lunch
Even though this was cut crooked, look at the holes in the bread....perfect.
Here is Hubs dinner, a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich . Kind of sloppy but very good.

Bistro Style Panini

Sponge

1 Cup Warm Water
1 Tablespoon Yeast
1 Cup Flour

Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl.

Stir to a gloppy pudding like mixture

Let sponge rise 1-3 Hours

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

When the sponge is all bubbly, it will be ready to make the dough....I add everything to a bread machine and set on dough cycle.

Dough

2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1/2 Cup warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3-4 Cups flour
3 Tablespoons Cornmeal
Add Entire sponge mixture

Set bread machine on dough cycle, when it is finished

Dust large cookie sheet with cornmeal (not the cornmeal above)

Shape dough into rolls and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size

After dough has risen, scoe tops of rolls with a sharp knife and dust top of roll with flour.

Bake 375 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. I think I needed to set my oven higher to get them browner....either that or my oven is not working right because I noticed I had trouble getting the cookies to brown also.

Olive Oil Dough From Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day

2009-11-28T12:50:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to try this pizza dough, so when I found the recipe at The Life And Loves Of Grumpy And Honeybunch, I knew I had to try it.
This is right after I mixed up the dough.

I put it in my oven with the light on to rise

Here it is after a 3 hour rise

I made the dough and baked it a little while before I put the sauce etc. on

I almost forgot to get the picture, I don't know why but I always do that.

The only thing I did different was add parmesan cheese to the dough.

Olive Oil Dough
From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Makes 4-1lb loaves.

2-3/4 cups lukewarm water
1-1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast
1-1/2 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour without kneading. I used my stand mixer with dough hook, but you can use a spoon.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and colapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 12 days.

The Life And Loves Of Grumpy And Honeybunch

Beef Roast In The CrockPot

2009-11-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

This is one of the tastiest beef roasts that I have ever had.

For the recipe, check out At Home With Terry and Dennis .

Make Your Own Pumpkin Pie Spice

2009-11-17T12:25:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been making something and ran out of an ingredient that you really need to finish. Well, I was making a pumpkin cake and ran out of pumpkin pie spice. Shoot!!!! Now what do I do. I really didn't have time to run to the store so I made my own.

This also costs a lot less than buying it already made.

All you need is Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and Allspice. Recipe Below, I only made half the recipe so it would fit in my jar.
Mix them all together

I used the container I had and refilled it.

There it is, read for my pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

4 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon

4 Teaspoons Ground Nutmeg

4 Teaspoons Ground Ginger

3 Teaspoons Ground Allspice

Mix all together and put into an air tight container.

Garrett's Popcorn

2009-11-11T18:55:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has been to Chicago, has probably tried Garrett's Popcorn. If you don't live there, you really get a hankering for Garrett's Popcorn. I found this recipe and tried it. It is sooooo good.

Garrett's Popcorn Copy

1 heaping tablespoon solid coconut oil or peanut oil
1 cup unpopped white popcorn
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat coconut oil in a large pot over high heat. Add 6 kernels to pan as testers; cover. When at least 3 of the kernels pop, add remaining kernels. Shake pan occasionally as corn pops. Keep over high heat until popping slows to a few pops per second, about 5 minutes.

Empty popped corn into a large brown paper bag. Add 2 teaspoons salt. Shake bag to distribute salt and drain excess oil; discard unpopped kernels. Measure 13 cups of fully popped kernels; spread on large roasting pan; set aside.

Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and baking soda in medium heavy saucepan; heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until mixture reaches 235 degrees F on a candy thermometer, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat.

Heat oven to 250 degrees F.

Carefully pour caramel mixture over popcorn. Stir mixture with heat-resistant spatula or buttered wooden spoon to evenly coat popcorn, working quickly to coat kernels.

Bake popcorn 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes to continue coating uniformly. Remove pan from oven; cool on wire rack. Break apart any clumps of corn with your hands.

Tips for success:

- Use white kernels for tender popcorn.

- Use coconut oil if you can find it. Though its saturated fat content is high, it makes a big flavor difference. Like shortening, it is solid at room temperature. If you can't find coconut oil, you can use peanut oil as a substitute.

- During baking, stir gently to avoid breaking kernels, but stir thoroughly to cover as many kernels as possible

This Recipe Was Found At The Recipe Link

Spinach And Artichoke Dip

2009-11-02T16:39:00.001-05:00

This turned out so well that I have requests to make it again soon. The nice thing about this dip, you can make it the day ahead and have it already to bake.

This is a picture before it was baked. I put mine into the crockpot and heated it on low so it was ready when I was.

The problem is....I forgot to take the picture after it was done and it didn't last long so there is no picture until I make it again.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 8ounce package cream cheese.
1 cup parmesan cheese
8 ounces frozen chopped spinach...sqeeze all the water out.
1 can artichokes cut into small pieces (I used 150z. can)

You can put a little garlic in this if your stomach can handle it.

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted or put into crockpot on low.

Oatmeal Cookies

2009-10-30T15:21:00.000-04:00

We all know that oatmeal is good for us....well probably not in a cookie, but who cares....they taste so darned good and they also have eggs. Doesn't that make them good for you?

There is the cookie dough all mixed up and ready to go on a greased cookie sheet.
If you look at the cookies while they are baking, you will see they are spreading out to much. This is the way Hubs likes them. I always make him a batch of crisp ones, then I add mor flour ( 1/2 cup, at least) and make them the way I think a cookie should be.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1 Cup Flour (you may need more to keep the cookies from spreading)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup shortening
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups uncooked oats
1 cup chocolate chips or raisins if desired

Cream together Shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla

Add remaining ingredients and mix well

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet

Bake 12-15 minutes

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

Mundle Bread (Biscotti)

2009-10-26T14:58:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Lisa at Blessed With Grace for Hosting another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. If you check out her blog, you will see a lot of tempting recipes from other bloggers.

Here is a cookie that will be edible for centuries. I am not kidding, these cookies have a really long shelf life. Probably because they are baked twice.

Hubs loves these things, probably because he was raised eating them...Me...I would rather have a chocolate chip cookie. Not that these aren't good, because they taste very good, they are just hard. Maybe that is why Hubs dunks them.

This is the first I remembered to take a picture. I mixed the mix, greased and floured 2 bread pans and divided the mix between them. Then I put them in the oven to bake the first bake....
As you can see above, they are finished baking. I let them cool for about 5 minutes and took them out of the pan to cut into slices like below.

Above, they are ready to put back into the oven for the second bake.....would you believe I forgot to take a picture after they were finished baking. What a ditz I can be.
Okay Here they are baked and ready to dunk in a cup of coffee.

Mundle Bread (Biscotti)

1 Cup Peanut Oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon flavor of your choice ( vanilla, walnut, almond, lemon anise....anything you want)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup nuts of your choice

Mix all ingredients together

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans

Divide batter between the 2 loaf pans and bake at 350 until lightly browned

When browned remove from loaf pans, slice about 1/2 inch thick and place on cookie sheet.
Place cookie sheet back into a 350 degree oven and Brown slices on both sides

Cioppino (Italian Fish Chowder)

2009-10-18T10:36:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Lisa at Blessed With Grace for Hosting another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. If you check out her blog, you will see a lot of tempting recipes from other bloggers.

I have made this recipe many times and no matter how I change it, it always comes out very tasty

I had some tilapia left last week and decided to make some fish chowder out of it. The recipe also calls for clams and shrimp, but I didn't have any, so I just used tilapia.

Hubs likes this because it reminds him of something his Mom used to make him when he was young.

If there is something in the recipe that I don't have, I either substitute or don't use it.

Cioppino (Italian Fish Chowder)

3 Cups Tomato Juice (I have used clamato, spicey tomato or even tomato paste)

1/2 Cup Onion chopped

1/2 Cup Celery sliced thin

1 teaspoon garlic powder (I usually use real garlic)

1/4 teaspoonrosemary

1/4 teaspoon marjoram

1/4 teaspoon oregano (I don't use this because I don't like the smell)

1/2 pound fresh fish boned (I use anything I have shrimp, scallops, whatever)

1 Cup Fresh Mushrooms sliced (canned works also)

1/4 Cup red wine

6 Clams in the shell (If I have them, I uses them)

6 Large Shrimp in the shell (I usually use it not in the shell, If I have them at all)

1/2 pound fish chunks, bite size

2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese , grated

6 Parsley sprigs

6 Lemon wedges

Place tomato juice in a kettle and bring to a boil.

Add onion, celery, spices and boned fish to the kettle and simmer for an hour to thicken broth.

Add mushrooms, wine, shrimp, clams and fish chunks. Simmer to cook the mushrooms and seafood. If you are using already cooked seafood, cook the mushrooms before you add the seafood. When you add the seafood, just heat it until it is hot.

Serve Cioppino in heated bowls topped with pamresan cheese a wedge of lemon and parsley for garnish.

Make your own Healthy Granola

2009-10-13T10:22:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Lisa at Blessed With Grace for Hosting another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. If you check out her blog, you will see a lot of tempting recipes from other bloggers.

Ever since I made this Granola, Hubs has been after me to make it again. I did not follow the recipe exactly but added dates, mixed nuts....kind of what ever I felt like.

Recipe from allrecipes.com
Honey Peanut Granola

INGREDIENTS
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine oats, peanuts, and wheat germ.
In a separate bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, vegetable oil, water, salt, and vanilla. Stir well; then pour into the oat mixture, and stir. Spread out on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool before serving.

Carmel Apple Bundt Cake

2009-10-05T13:57:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Lisa at Blessed With Grace for Hosting another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. If you check out her blog, you will see a lot of tempting recipes from other bloggers.

This cake turned out so nice and moist....now all I need is the whipped cream and carmel sauce.

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon clove
¼ teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
4 cups granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sour cream
½ cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat the Bundt pan with pan release or shortening and flour.
2. Combine spices together in small bowl. Whisk the flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon combined spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.
3. Toss apples with remaining sugar and spices; set aside.
4. Whisk eggs and oil together in another bowl. Whisk in sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla. Pour egg mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined but still a bit lumpy. Stir in any juices from apples.
5. Pour one cup of the batter into prepared pan. Top with 1 cup of apples. Repeat until all batter is used.
6. Bake cake until it pulls away from pan sides and a skewer inserted into cake's center comes out clean, or about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and invert onto a rack placed over a baking sheet. Cool.
7. Drizzle with caramel.

I found the recipe for the Carmel Apple Bundt Cake Here

90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

2009-10-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

I got a lot of compliments on these, I was even told they were excellent and better than what thier mother makes. Hubs seems to like my other cinnamon rolls much better than these.

This is the cinnamon rolls after rising. I got so busy making them that this is the first I remembered to take a picture.

90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well.

Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, softened margarine.

Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine/sugar mixture. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place cut side up in 12 lightly greased muffin cups.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Remove from muffin cups to cool. Serve warm

This recipe came from allrecipes.com

Fruit Dip

2009-09-28T16:44:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Lisa at Blessed With Grace for Hosting another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. If you check out her blog, you will see a lot of tempting recipes from other bloggers.

I eat a lot of fruit, do this is right up my alley. This dip tastes so good.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

1... 8 ounce package cream cheese
1... 7 ounce jar marshmallow cream
1/8 - 1/4 cup seedless jam (I used black raspberry) Your choice.

Let cream cheese come to room tempature and mix in marshmallow cream and jam.
Thats it....it is so easy and tastes great.

Baked Omelet

2009-09-25T18:50:00.000-04:00

Hubs decided he was making us a Baked Omelet for supper.
This is when it just started to bake.
Look at the big chunks of cheese in that. I know the recipe calls for it shredded but this was very good this way also.
I made homemade rolls to go with the omelets.

Yum!!! Hot peppers, cheese, onions, mushrooms and eggs....MMMMMMM You could use, sausage, bacon, ham....whatever you want.

Baked Omelet

INGREDIENTS
8 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
3 ounces cooked ham, diced
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
Add to Recipe Box
My folders:

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 8x8 inch casserole dish and set aside.
Beat together the eggs and milk. Add seasoning salt, ham, Cheddar cheese, Mozzarella cheese and minced onion. Pour into prepared casserole dish.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes.

Recipe is from allrecipes.com

Hot Pepper Sandwich

2009-09-21T16:38:00.000-04:00

Here we go with another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace, be sure to go over and check out all the great recipes.

I had never heard of a hot pepper sandwich until I met my Hubs. I don't eat them to this day but he loves them.

All I do is wash the peppers, cut the ends off and take the seeds out. I rub some olive oil all over them and bake them in a 350 to 375 degree oven until they turn a little brown. You might have to empty the liquid off a couple of times.

Here is the sandwich, to me it looks like it needs something else, but this is how Hubs likes it.

Cinnamon Rolls

2009-09-20T18:30:00.000-04:00

I had enough dough left when I made the One Hour Rolls that I decided to make some cinnamon rolls.

You can use most any kind of bread dough for this. The frozen loaf even works great.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Don't roll it super thin

Butter the dough.

Sprinkle with some cinnamon

Put some brown sugar on top the cinnamon.

Sprinkle on some nuts if you like. I used pecans.

Start rolling the dough like the picture.

There it is all rolled up and placed on a cutting board.

Butter a baking pan

Cut the roll into about 1 inch pieces.

Place the cut cinnamon rolls in a buttered pan. I could of put these a little closer together.

Cover and let rise until double in size

Here they are raising in the oven, they need a little more time. I will preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake them until they are starting to brown.

Here are some I didn't frost yet. I tried some frosted hot and some cool. Frosting them when they cooled seems to work out better.

I frosted these when they were warm and I think I needed to wait until they cooled a little bit.

These turned out great for not following a recipe.

One Hour Yeast Rolls

2009-09-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today is Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum , that means you are going to find a lot of great recipes from some really great cooks.

These turned out very well and they were very simple to make.
This is after I got all the ingredients mixed together, I did add more flour than the recipe called for because I thought it was a little sticky.

Let dough sit for 10 minutes, I coverd it, you probably don't have to but I did anyway.

Afterthe dough sits 10 minutes, Make whatever shape you want and put them on a pan with cornmeal on it to keep them from sticking.

The recipe makes more than this but I also made cinnamon rolls which I will post in a couple of days.

This was after the 30 minute rise. I thought they needed to rise more, but when I baked them they raised even more.

I think they turned out very nicely.

One Hour Yeast Rolls

1 envelope dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

1/8 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk heated ( I used milk and soured it with a little vinegar)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Dissolve yeast in warm water, while yeast is soaking in water

Combine the heated buttermilk (sour milk), sugar, oil and salt

Sift flour and baking soda together in a separate large bowl (I never sift anything but you can make that call)

Mix yeast mixture with buttermilk mixture
Add buttermilk and yeast mixture to flour and mix well

Let dough stand 10 minutes

Shape dough as desired and place on pan sprinkled with cornmeal

Let rise 30 minutes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Bake 10-12 minutes

Makes 12 rolls

Be sure to stop over at Designs By Gollum and see what everyone else is cooking up

Zucchini As An Appetizer

2009-09-14T15:48:00.000-04:00

Another Tempt My Tummys Tuesday is upon us, be sure to go over to Blessed With Grace and check out all the other Tummy Tempting recipes.

I started out making zucchini parmesan, but I never got to the parmesan part. If you want to know how to make it. Follow the directions the same way you would make the Eggplant Parmesan .

You might not want to peel your zucchini but mine was getting older and the skin was getting funny so I peeled mine. Slice it into about 1/4 inch slices.

Get 3 bows ready with flour, egg and italian bread crumbs.

Dip zucchini slices into flour

Then into the egg

And last into the italian bread crumbs.

Put some olive oil or whatever oil you have into a frying pan to heat and then put in the batterd zucchini.

Fry zucchini until a golden brown.

I drain mine on paper towels. This is where Hubs came into the kitchen to taste them......

He decided he didn't want zucchini parmesan that he wanted to eat them like he does at his favorite restaurant.

So here you have it.....Zucchini Appetizers. You could melt cheese on them if you would like.

Hubs made a dip from ranch dressing and some horseradish and ate the zucchini just like that.

How to make Eggplant Parmesan

Okra

2009-09-12T17:48:00.000-04:00

I am sure you great southern cooks are going to laugh at me but I have never cooked okra. I really didn't know what I was doing but here is what I did. Right or Wrong!!!

We bought these at the farmers market last week. The man that sold them to us told me I should boil them for 5 minutes.

He also said to cut the stem end off into a point like a bullet.

Instead of boiling them, I steamed them, I tried 5 minutes and that wasn't enough, so I put them on longer.

I think I over cooked these, but boy were they good. I just love the taste of them.

We will be going back over in a week or so and I am going to get some more of these. I never knew what I was missing until I tasted these. I am sure there are some great recipes for okra but plain tasted great to me.

Mushroom Soup

2009-09-10T07:26:00.000-04:00

Homemade Mushroom Soup is a favorite of Hub's, so when I have mushrooms I need used up, I always make him mushroom soup.

Cream of Mushroom Soup (From Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
5 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon sherry

DIRECTIONS
In a large heavy saucepan, cook mushrooms in the broth with onion and thyme until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
In blender or food processor, puree the mixture , leaving some chunks of vegetable in it. Set aside.
In the saucepan, melt the butter, whisk in the flour until smooth. Add the salt, pepper, half and half and vegetable puree. Stirring constantly, bring soup to a boil and cook until thickened. Adjust seasonings to taste, and add sherry.

Chicken Cacciatore

2009-09-07T17:34:00.000-04:00

Welcome to another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday , be sure to stop on over to Blessed With Grace and check out all the other recipes.

This is not really a recipe with measurments. We just throw things together and they seem to work out very well. You can make as little or as much as you like.

Wash and blot chicken dry on a paper towel. Place chicken in a baking pan to dry out in a 300 degree oven. I started it in the pan above and then realized I needed a bigger pan. This will take over an hour for the chicken to look dry.
Cut peppers (I used hot peppers), onions, garlic and mushrooms into large chunks. I forgot to buy mushrooms so I ended up using canned.

In the end I probably used over ten hot peppers, one large onion and 3 to 4 toes of garlic.

While the chicken is drying out, I fry the peppers. Ater they start to brown nicely, I add the garlic.

When the peppers, onions and garlic looked a little brown turned it off to wait for the chicken.

Since I only had canned mushrooms I just put them in with the peppers so I didn't forget them. I am really good at forgetting.

The chicken looks like this when it is dry. You might have to drain the juices off a couple of times to let it dry out.

I put some olive oil on the chicken and put it in the oven to brown a little bit. Then....I forgot to take a picture of the browned chicken.

I added about 3 , 15 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes and some water to thin the sauce a little. Add the peppers, onions, garlic and mushrooms. Add salt, pepper and some oregano.
Turn the oven up to 350 degrees, put a lid on the chicken and let it bake for 30 to 45 minutes. You will smell it when it is done. While it is baking, cook your pasta.
Hubs put his pasta on a plate
added the Chicken Cacciatore and promptly ate it.
Jeeze do I need a new camera, I tried to get a closeup and this is how it came out....but you get the picture.

Be sure to wear gloves if you do hot peppers. I never do this and I should, my hands felt burnt for at least one full day after making this. You can make this with sweet peppers, but if you like spicy, Hubs says this is the only way to go.

Stuffed Hot Peppers in sauce. Stuffed with Hot Italian Sausage.

2009-09-03T18:42:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to Designs By Gollum for hosting another Foodie Friday .

As I have probably said before, Hubs loves his food spicy. Stuffed peppers are just one of his weaknesses. This is not really a recipe, it is just the way we do our stuffed peppers.

Wash peppers and cut stem end off. Clean out as many seeds as possible. Stuff Hot Italian Sausage into pepper, as far as you can put it down. Rub olive oil on the outside of pepper and bake in a 375 degree oven until they start to brown a little. I had to keep draining the water off these, it came from either the sausage or pepper.
When peppers are baked, pour sauce (any kind you like) over . You can also put mozzarella or Parmesan cheese over the peppers. I was out and we didn't want to run to the store.

This is after they are finished baking. I had to catch this picture fast before hubs ate them all.
He either eats these plain with a piece of bread or he makes a sandwich out of them.

Sometimes we cook spaghetti to go with this. This sauce ends up tasting like a Fra Diavlo sauce.

Jack Daniels Salmon

2009-08-29T17:31:00.000-04:00

It's another Tempt My Tummy Tuesday so be sure to go on over to Blessed With Grace and see what everyone else is cooking up.

We didn't have time to marinade this so we just salt and peppered, put it in aluminum foil and put it on the grill

The salmon looks almost done to me.

While Hubs is grilling the salmon, I am thickening the marinade to pour over it as a sauce.

There you go...all ready to eat. Even though the salmon tastes better when you soak it in the marinade....this turned out very well and tasted great.

Jack Daniels Salmon
1 pound deboned Salmon
1/2 Cup Teryaki
1/4 Cup Jack Daniels Whiskey
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
1 Green Onion Sliced
1 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper ( you may want less of this)
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
Mix all the above and place in a glass or ceramic container or clear freezer bag.
Place Salmon into Marinade and leave for 12 to 14 hours.
Spray broiler tray with nonstick vegetable spray and broil salmon until outside is seared to a light brown 12-15 minutes.
While fish is broiling bring marinade to a boil and simmer until slightly thickened. I usually make a new batch of marinade to do this.
Place broiled fish on serving platter and pour thickened sauce over.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Eggplant Sandwich

2009-08-28T07:30:00.000-04:00

I promise, this will be my last eggplant post, I just wanted to show you what Hub's does with eggplants that I have fried for Parmesan. I am not much for sandwiches and prefer my eggplants made into Eggplant Parmesan .
So if you fry up enough extra eggplant when you make Eggplant Parmesan, put them in the fridge. I take them out the next day, put them in foil, like in the picture above. Bake until warm and then put on mozzarella cheese and bake until melted.

That is all we do. He puts a tomato on them and calls it a sandwich.

For some odd reason he loves eggplant sandwiches, and it is just as easy for me to fry up extra so I don't have to cook the next day.

Recipe for Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan

2009-08-24T17:26:00.000-04:00

It's another Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday so go on over to Blessed with Grace and check out all the tempting recipes.

Hubs love it when eggplants are in season..... so today, we are making eggplant parmesan.

Start with 2 small or medium eggplant. Size doesn't really matter...the larger the eggplant the more seeds it seems to have.

Peel and cut eggplant into 1/4 inch slices.

Using 3 bowls put flour in one, 2 beaten eggs in another and Italian Bread Crumbs in another.

Dip sliced eggplant first into flour.

Then into the egg

and last, into the Italian bread crumbs.

When you are finished dipping all then you will fry them.

Fry eggplants in olive oil. You can cut up a piece of garlic in the pan of oil for more flavor if you want.

Put a little sauce in the bottom of your baking pan and then layer in the eggplants. Put more sauce on top of the eggplants.

Now sprinkle some parmesan and mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce. Now place more eggplants on top the cheese, add more sauce and cheese and keep layering until you run out of eggplants. I always end with the sauce so when I bake it the cheese does not burn. Bake in a 350-375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is melted.

I almost forgot to get a picture before it was all eaten.

Eggplants in olive oil

2009-08-20T09:37:00.000-04:00

It is Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum , Check them out, you will see a lot of great recipes.

Hubs has been waiting for eggplants to come into season so he could make this.

This is a recipe that my Mother in Law taught her son to make. There is really no recipe, so I will tell you how it is done.

Isn't this a pretty colored eggplant? I love the lighter purple ones and the seeds are not so big.

First, cut eggplant into about 1/4 inch slices, leaving the skin on.

Above is the wrong picture, but layer the eggplants into the strainer, salting each layer.

Place a weight on the eggplants so most of the water comes out of them. Leave them over night.

In the morning or whenever you get the chance, lay each eggplant slice on a cookie sheet and spray apple cider vinegar on both sides.

Next, put your spices on, you can use garlic salt, oregano, parsley, crushed red pepper...whatever you would like.

Place the slices into a covered container.

Add olive oil to cover...we need to add more olive oil. When you check them later, you might need to add more oil, just to keep them covered.

Here they are, ready to store. In older times, they used to put these in the basement, I have a problem with that so we put ours in the fridge. Let them sit a couple days to soak up the spices.

I am sorry that I didn't get pictures of each step. My Hubs did this himself and a lot of it was done while I was sleeping. So, if any of you want to do this and have any questions, email me at cowabunga14u@yahoo.com and I will answer them, if I don't know the answer I will ask my Mother in law.

These really taste great, when you get the spices right. Hubs makes what he calls eggplant sandwiches. I used to eat them like a salad....but now my stomach can't handle all that oil.

Lettuce Wraps

2009-08-17T13:34:00.000-04:00

It's Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday so go check out Blessed With Grace. You will be amazed at all the great recipes everyone is cooking up

Every once in awhile we get on a kick where we try to cut our calories....this doesn't last long but we do try...even if it is only once in awhile. Lettuce wraps are really lower calorie than having bread.

I fried sausage, onions and hot peppers up for the sandwich...I know the sausage isn't really healthy but that was all I could find in the freezer.

We put everything into to a boston bib lettuce leaf and rolled it up.

This really is healthier than eating a big sandwich with bread.....although bread is the best!!

Pizza on the Grill

2009-08-13T15:58:00.000-04:00

Go on over to Designs By Gollum for Foodie Friday and check out all the great recipes posted.

We decided to try pizza on the grill a little different this time. Here is the first way we did Pizza on The Grill
We started out the same this time, using the same recipe for pizza dough and sauce.
This is not different yet, we grilled both sides of the pizza. We try to grill them lightly but as you can see below, they got a little darker than I would of liked.

Now this is what we did different, we put the grilled dough on a cast iron pan and let it finish baking on the grill.

Turned out very nice and was easier to get off the grill than doing it all on the grates.

Pizza Dough

1 Cup flat beer ( I slightly heat it before I put it in the bread machine)
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 Cups flour
1 Package yeast ( 2 1/4 teaspoons)

Put into the bread machine in order. Set bread machine on dough cycle.
If you are baking pizza in the oven grease large pizza pan and spread dough onto it. Let sit 15 minutes. Put sauce, cheese....what ever you usually put on your pizza and Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes
I usually bake my dough for about 5 minutes before I put on the sauce but you don't have to.
If you are doing it on the grill see the pictures above.

Pizza Sauce

1 can (28 ounces) Tomato Puree
1 can (28 ounces) Crushed Tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Oregano
1 Clove garlic cut up
salt
pepper

Add water if necessary and simmer one hour

Famous Japanese Restaurant-Style Salad Dressing

2009-08-05T14:03:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to Designs By Gollum for hosting another Foodie Friday.

I love going into a Japanese restaurant and getting a salad with their Ginger Salad Dressing. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and decided to try it.

This picture is really dark, the dressing is a lot lighter than shown.
Hot and Sour Soup and Salad with Ginger Dressing
This tastes so good, although I also like the creamy ginger dressing. I will probably try that next.

Famous Japanese Restaurant-Style Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons minced celery
2 tablespoons ketchup 4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
1. In a blender, combine the minced onion, peanut oil, rice vinegar, water, ginger, celery, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper . Blend on high speed for about 30 seconds or until all of the ingredients are well-pureed.

I found this recipe at All Recipes.com

Hot Peppers with House Dressing

2009-08-03T16:44:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check out Blessed With Grace for another Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday. There are a lot of great cooks who participate in this, so be sure to check them out.

We have a few hot peppers that need used up before they go bad. After cutting them into rings, I decided to put them in a crock with a tight fitting lid. Hubs loves the House dressing so I thought I would cover them in that to help keep them, at least for a week.

House Dressing (Using Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix)
1/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup vinegar (you can use apple cider, balsamic, wine vinegar...you choose)
1/2 Cup oil
1 Package Good Seasons Salad Dressing Mix

Mix well and pour over peppers. You can use these peppers on salads, sandwiches or Hubs eats them like they are.

Bacon in the Oven

2009-07-30T18:06:00.000-04:00

It's Foodie Friday and at Designs By Gollum , you can check out everyones great cooking skills, or you can show us what you can do.

I had seen this on one of the blogs and decided I would try it. If it was your blog, please get in touch with me so I can give you credit. For the life of me, I can't find where I found it.

Anyway....this is so easy and the clean up is a snap.

Line a cookie sheet that has a lip with aluminum foil and line the bacon up nicely. Set the oven for 400 degrees.
When the oven is preheated, place the bacon in the oven and walk away and forget it for 15-20 minutes. Mine needed a little more time.

When it is done, drain the bacon on paper towels. Walla...your done

We made BLT'S with our bacon, plus there is some leftover for Hubs to have for breakfast tomorrow.

Now let the pan cool down, then ball up the foil (carefully so you don't spill the bacon grease) and throw it away. How easy is that??

Bundt Cake For A Neon Party

2009-07-27T17:39:00.000-04:00

Tuesday is Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday Over at Blessed with Grace. Be sure to go on over and check out what tempting recipes everyone else is posting.

On Saturday, my Daughter had a Neon Party. I racked my brain to come up with something neon, all I could think of was a cake.
I used the recipe below for bundt cake, then I divided the batter into 4 bowls and put neon food color into each bowl

I would of liked the colors to be more vibrant, but the batter started getting a little runny, so I stopped at what you see.

I took the spoons and just started randomly putting batter here and there. Then I baked it as directed.

This is the baked cake.

The colors turned out really funky, but I got a lot of compliments on the cake and everyone wanted to know how I did it. The colors looked better than what my camera shows, I have a heck of a time with this camera....maybe I need a new one.

Sour Cream Bundt Cake

1 Package yellow cake mix

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1...8 ounce sour cream

Pour cake into mixing bowl, add oil, eggs and sour cream. Mix well.

Spray bunt pan or grease and flour.

Bake cake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or until done.

Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday

Pineapple Crisp ~ Well maybe pineapple sauce

2009-07-23T18:00:00.000-04:00

It's Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum , be sure to go on over and check out all the great recipes.

Tuesday, I seen a recipe for Pineapple Pie on Heart and Soul Cooking . This pie sounded so good that I knew I had to try it. I really didn't want to make a pie crust, so I decided to make Pineapple Crisp instead.

I had a large bag of pineapple that I needed to use up so instead of measuring, I just poured it all into a pan and followed the recipe from there.

Doesn't my Pineapple Crisp look great? It sure did smell good cooking.

Look at that praline, yumm.....Well, we have a little problem here. Because I didn't follow the recipe and use the specified amount of pineapple ( I used more) My Crisp did not thicken. After about a minute of deep thought,,, I said.....No Problem..... I sent Hubs to go buy vanilla ice cream and we used it for Pineapple Praline Sauce. It was the best pineapple sauce you will ever try. My company raved about it.

There really is some ice cream under the pineapple sauce if you look real hard.

I still had a little pineapple sauce left over so the next morning............

.......I made pineapple crepes. You will find a great Crepe recipe at At Home With Terry And Dennis

The Pineapple Pie recipe is from Heart And Soul Cooking , I was trying to make a crisp instead of a pie, although it ended up not being a crisp either. Excellent recipe!!

Pineapple Pie with Praline Topping

Crust: 9 - inch double Crust ( see posted dated 5/24/3009 )

Filling: 3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 - 8 ounce cans pineapple in own juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter

Topping: 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Prepare crust ( See post dated 5/24/2009 for directions to my Classic Pie Crust. )

In medium saucepan, combine cornstarch, sugar and salt mix well. Stir in pineapple. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and starts to boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice and butter. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust. Moisten pastry with water and cover with top crust. Flute edges and cut slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. or until crust is lightly golden brown.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan combine all the topping ingredients. Cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Set aside.

After pie has bake and lightly golden brown, remove pie from oven. Spoon and spread warm topping mixture evenly over top of pie. Cover the edges of crust with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.

Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until crust is a deep golden brown.

Cool and serve with whipped cream.

Yields: one 9 - inch pie.

I would like to thank Heart And Soul Cooking for a great recipe....even when you mess it up it still tastes wonderful.

Also Thanks to At Home With Terry And Dennis for the use of the crepe recipe, And Thanks to Designs By Gollum, for hosting Foodie Friday

Zucchini Pineapple Nut Bread ~ Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

2009-07-20T16:42:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my Blog, It is Tempt My Tummy Tuesday , so on over to Blessed with Grace and sign up to show us what you have tempting today...Or ....maybe you just want to check out what everyone else is cooking up.

Last week I made Zucchini Pineapple Nut Bread, we had never tried it with the pineapple before, so I thought I would give it a go.

I love the smell of the house when this is baking.

This came out of the pans so nicely, sometimes things stick and I have to piece them back together, not this....it was perfect.

This was so moist and tasted so good.

Zucchini Pineapple Nut Bread

3 Eggs beaten
1 c Oil
2 c Sugar
2 ts Vanilla

2 c Zucchini unpeeled and
1 c Crushed Pineapple drained
3 c Flour

2 ts Baking Soda
1 ts Salt

1 1/2 ts Baking Powder
1 1/2 ts Cinnamon

1 c Chopped Pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Mix eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla together. Add the zucchini and pineapple. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the zucchini mixture, mixing well. Add nuts and mix well. Pour into 2 (9x5) greased and floured loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes in the pans and then turn on wire racks

So go on over to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and see what Blessed with Grace and all her friends are cooking up.

Italian Feather Bread

2009-07-16T05:46:00.000-04:00

Designs By Gollum Is hosting Foodie Friday, be sure to go on over and join in, or check out all the other great recipes.

This is one of my favorite breads...very easy and it tastes so good. I have made this many times and it seems to stay fresh longer than a lot of breads I have made.

I almost always use my bread machine, even if it is not a recipe made for the bread machine. I just set it on the dough cycle.

As soon as the bread machine is finished, I make the roll.....not well I might add...look at my funky shapes and sizes.

No matter what these look like, they taste great.

Italian Feather Bread

1 3/4 cup water

1/3 cup butter

Heat the water and butter together in a sauce pan until the butter melts, then pour it into your bread machine. As soon as it cools off a little add>.

1 Tablespoon Sugar

2 Teaspoons salt

5 1/2-6 Cups flour

2 Packages active dry yeast

Set bread machine to dough cycle and let it do its thing

When bread machine is finished make your rolls, bread or whatever shapes you want. Place the dough on a cookie sheet sprinkled with white corn meal.

Let raise until doubled

Bake at 400 degrees until golden.

I usually only make a half a batch so I don't have so much bread around the house.

Designs By Gollum....Check them out.

Fried Balogna Sandwiches

2009-07-13T19:29:00.000-04:00

Go on over to Blessed With Grace , for Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday

Growing up, I had never heard of fried Bologna Sandwiches. In fact, I didn't and still don't eat bologna. This is a favorite of my Hubs and although it does not tempt my tummy, maybe it might tempt yours....maybe not and thats okay.

I just put the bologna in a frying pan and fry them

When they look about like this, I call them done and put them into a roll or bread, what ever I have on hand.

All he puts on them is mustard..... This does not look appetizing to me, but Hubs thinks this is the greatest thing.

I did have a salad made, but while I was frying the bologna, Hubs ate the salad...What a guy!

Be sure to check out Blessed With Grace and see what tempting food everyone else is making.

Chicken Marsala Foodie Friday

2009-07-09T09:21:00.000-04:00

Today is Foodie Friday over at Designs By Gollum , be sure to go check out all the other recipes. I am also linked to Momtrends for Friday Feasts. Check out both sites and see what everyone else is cooking up.

Chicken Marsala is a favorite in our home, for some reason, I don't make it very often. I never follow the recipe below exactly..... for instance, I always pound the flour into my chicken. I really think it makes it more tender.

Then I dip the floured chicken into the egg that has been beaten

From the egg mixture, I dip the chicken into the bread crumbs. It seems I always need more bread crumbs than the recipe calles for.

I heat my oil and then put my chicken into the heated oil. After my chicken is browned all over, I take it out of the pan and wipe all the oil out. Add to frying pan, Butter, mushrooms, beef broth, wine....I let this simmer for 5 or so minutes to finish cooking the chicken, then to thicken the broth I mix up a little cornstarch and water to thicken the broth.

Wouldn't you know.....I forgot to take the picture until it was almost all eaten....darn it!! Most of the sauce was eaten and that is all the mushrooms that are left.... I can be such an airhead. Well anyhow...it tasted great!!

Chicken Marsala

4 Boneless Chicken Thighs

1/2 Cup Flour

1 egg Beaten

1/2 Cup Fine Bread Crumbs

1/8 Cup Cooking Oil

1/4 Cup Margarine

1/2 Cup Beef Broth

1/4 Cup Marsala Cooking Wine

4 Fresh Mushrooms (I use a lot more)

Wash Chicken

Dip Chicken in flour, then in the beaten egg, and then into the bread crumbs.

Brown Chicken in the 1/8 cup oil

When Brown remove chicken from frying pan, drain oil and place chicken back into skillet.

Add margarine, beef broth, marsala wine and sliced mushrooms

Return skillet to heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes (I add cornstarch to thicken my sauce)

Check out the sites below

Designs By Gollum
Momtrends

AND THE WINNER OF THE GIFT CARD HOLDERS IS........

2009-07-09T04:17:00.000-04:00

Christi at A Southern Life ~~~~~Christi, I will be leaving a message on your blog later today for you to email me with your address.

Thanks to everyone who left a comment.

Deep Fried Whole Fish and a Christmas in July Giveaway

2009-07-05T18:18:00.000-04:00

First off the Christmas in July Giveaway....Below are 6 Gift Card Holders, plus one shaped like a bone that hangs on the tree and holds a treat for your favorite dog. To win, leave a comment in this post. Thats it... We will draw a name on Friday... Thanks and Good luck!!
Now for the Deep Fried Whole Fish, which if I do say so myself....Turned out fantastic.

Go on over to Blessed With Grace for Tempt your Tummy Tuesday, to see all the other great recipes posted by other bloggers.

Gut and scale your fish if needed. Cut vertical slits in the side to make fish cook better. Wash inside and out, then salt the inside a little and set it aside while you heat the oil to 375 degrees.
Dredge fish in flour, I used my shaker and shook the flour on, makes it a little easier

This turned out perfect for our first try. Very tasty.

Crispy Deep Fried Whole Fish

Chickpea flour

salt

pepper

whatever other spices you think you would like

Mix all together, this is what you will dredge the fish in before deep frying. Heat oil to 375 degrees and cook fish. I cooked this 10 to 15 minutes. If you have a larger or fatter fish, you will have to fry it longer. Make sure your oil is deep enough to cover the fish.

Scroll down to see the Hushpuppies we made as well.

Sweet Hush Puppies

2009-07-03T18:08:00.000-04:00

Go on over to Friday Feasts at Momtrends and see what everyone else is cooking up, also check out Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum .

I think my dough was a little sticky because I couldn't roll these into balls so I just dropped them into the oil with a spoon.

They really fried up very nicely.

Here they are, with a dish of honey to dip them in......mmmmm really good

Sweet Hush Puppies

1 Cup flour

1/2 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup cornmeal

2 Tablespoons baking powder

1/4 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup finely chopped onions

1/4 Cup finely chopped pepper, I used hot pepper

1 egg

Mix all together and put into the fridge until you are ready to deep fry them. If when you are ready to fry them and the batter is really dry, and just a touch of water.

Heat oil to 375 degrees. Drop hushpuppies into hot oil and fry a minute or so on one side then turn and fry until nicely browned.

Serve with honey for dipping.

So stop on over to Friday Feasts at Momtrends and see what everyone else is cooking up and don't forget to check out Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum

Pizza on the Grill

2009-07-01T07:24:00.000-04:00

Go over to Works For Me Wednesday and check out all the other blogs. http://www.wearethatfamily.com/
Once you have tried this pizza, you will never want to cook it in the oven again. We made our own dough

The trick to making your pizza dough spread easier is to give it a bath in olive oil. I am not sure why this works, but it does.
Be sure to oil the grill, I used olive oil but probably any oil will work
Now to the grill it goes. Once you get it on the grill, cook it on both sides, then take it off and put the topping you want on it.
Put the pizza back on the grill to melt. You may want to use the upper shelf so it doesn't burn.

Pizza Dough

1 Cup flat beer ( I slightly heat it before I put it in the bread machine)
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 Cups flour
1 Package yeast ( 2 1/4 teaspoons)

Put into the bread machine in order. Set bread machine on dough cycle.
If you are baking pizza in the oven grease large pizza pan and spread dough onto it. Let sit 15 minutes. Put sauce, cheese....what ever you usually put on your pizza and Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes
I usually bake my dough for about 5 minutes before I put on the sauce but you don't have to.
If you are doing it on the grill see the pictures above.

Pickled Eggs

2009-06-30T09:35:00.000-04:00

Go on over to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and check out all the other great recipes

This is a recipe that has been handed down for many years. It was my Father's, GreatGrandmother's, who was Pennsylvania Dutch. These pickled eggs are sweet and to me they are wonderful.
My Husband who is Italian also loves these which is a suprise to me. He usually likes things hot and not sweet.

Pickled Eggs
1 Can red beets
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 whole cloves
1 small piece stick cinnamon

6 eggs, I usually use 8 (hard boiled)

In a sauce pan combine all ingredients except the eggs and beets.
Cook the juice for 10 minutes at a light boil
Add beets to the juice to warm
Place hard boiled eggs and juice in a jar and pour juice over
Let Stand in refridgerator for close to 5 days before eating
That is the hard part...letting them sit for 5 days. We usually test them around the 3rd day but usually the juice is not clear through to the yolk.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Carrot Cake

2009-06-30T05:52:00.000-04:00

I was going to make Carrot Cake Cookies, but since I know everyone around here likes the Carrot Cake I thought I would stick with that.
These turned out very, very moist.

Carrot Cake

2 cups flour

2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons Salt

1 1/4 cup oil

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups grated carrots

3/4 cup nuts

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased and floured 13 X 9 X 2 baking pan.

Bake at 350* for 40 minutes

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 Packages

3 ounces each Cream Cheese

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pound powdered sugar'

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon milk

Mix well and spread on cooled cake

House Dressing (Using Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix)

2009-06-28T08:33:00.000-04:00

Have you ever gone into a restaurant and gotten a salad with House Dressing? Remember how good it tasted, sweet but not so sweet as to be sickening. This is the recipe that I had been looking for years for.
This is so good....Once you make this, you will make it again and again.
House Dressing (Using Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix)

1/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup vinegar (you can use apple cider, balsamic, wine vinegar...you choose)
1/2 Cup oil
1 Package Good Seasons Salad Dressing Mix

Mix all together and put into a jar, any jar will do.

BLT'S and a BLT Salad With Cheese

2009-06-26T20:41:00.000-04:00

We had some tomatoes that needed used up so I decided to make BLT'S, the problem was..I was out of bacon to cook. I did have crumbled bacon and bacon flavored cheese.

I put the bacon flavored cheese on the bread, topped it with crumbled bacon and toasted it. Then I pulled it apart and put the lettuce and tomato on.

Not quite as good as a regular BLT, but not bad either.

I also made a side salad of a the crumbled bacon and the bacon flavored cheese....this was really good.

Fried Dough or Fried Bread

2009-06-24T15:16:00.000-04:00

Remember yesterday, I told you I would make a little treat from the Bread Dough I saved. Well here it is. Fried Bread as we always called it. Every time my Mom would make bread, she would always save some to make fried bread. It was such a treat for us.

Make shapes kinda like above....the size of your hand. Be sure to get your oil hot before you put them in.
Just fry the dough until it looks done to you, this one got a little dark for me. When you have fried them on both sides, pick it up with a fork and put it into the bag below.
This bag has granulated sugar in it and I put the fried dough in and shake it around to coat it with sugar.
There you go.....fried bread like you buy at the fair. Mmmmmm were these good.
Here is the Bread Dough recipe I used, or you can just scroll down.

Feather Light Yeast Rolls

2009-06-23T17:59:00.001-04:00

We love homemade bread and since I forgot to go to the store and buy rolls, I decided to make them. I used a bread machine, even though the recipe didn't call for it...I used it anyway. All I did was put everything into the bread machine and set it on dough cycle.

Here is the dough in the bread machine getting ready to rise.

After the bread machine was finished, I made a few rolls and put the rest in the fridg to make more rolls tomorrow. I will also make fried bread tomorrow.....if you have never had it...be sure to check out this blog tomorrow. You are in for a treat.

The rolls came out so nice and fluffy......mmmmmm.......so good.

We made Hot Sausage Sandwiches with these rolls. Very good!! The recipe for the rolls is below, and like I said, I used a bread machine.

Feather Light Yeast Rolls

1 russet (baking) potato (1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 stick unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 (1/4-ounce) package Active dry yeast
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Generously cover potato with cold water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until very tender, about 10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup cooking liquid, then drain potato well.
Meanwhile, melt 2 1/2 tablespoons butter.
Mash hot potato in a large bowl with a fork. Stir in milk, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 2 tablespoons melted butter (mixture will be lumpy).
Cool 1/2 cup cooking liquid to warm (105 to 115°F). Stir in yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, Start over with new yeast and remaining cooking liquid.)
Stir yeast mixture into potato mixture, then stir in flour with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, dusting surface and hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (dough will be slightly sticky).
Brush a large bowl with some of remaining melted butter, then turn dough in bowl to coat. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise, chilled, 8 to 12 hours.
Punch down dough (do not knead), then halve. Roll each half into a 12-inch-long log on a very lightly floured surface with lightly floured hands. Cut each log into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Arrange evenly spaced in 6 rows of 4 (less than 1/2 inch apart) in a buttered 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan. Cover pan with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth).
Let rolls rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled (they will fill pan), 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.
Melt remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter.
Brush top of rolls with melted butter and bake until golden-brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Loosen edges with a sharp knife, then transfer rolls to a rack and cool slightly.

Cooks' note: Rolls are best the day they're baked but can be frozen, wrapped well, up to 1 month. Thaw, then reheat, uncovered, on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven, 5 to 10 minutes.

I got the recipe at Epicurious

Beer Butt Chicken

2009-06-22T14:28:00.000-04:00

Yep, this is the chicken where you stick the beer can up the chickens butt and cook it on the grill... Well it is not really up the butt, but in the cavity of the chicken.

If you like a really moist tender chicken then you have got to try this.

Buy a chicken that runs about 3 to 4 pounds in weight. You could use smaller if you want or you can go even larger. Preheat your outdoor grill on the low tempature setting. I always use a pan under my chicken so he doesn't mess up my grill.

I put a full can of beer in the cavity of the chicken and adjust its legs like in the picture above. This makes him sit nice and sturdy.

I think he is almost done....lets baste him again and let him cook a little longer.

Looks done to me.. Let eat, I can't wait to taste that crispy skin.

Look how moist and juicy this is....and the skin is so crispy. That is my favorite, the crispy skin.

Beer Butt Chicken
1/2 cup butter (one stick, I use margarine)

1 tablespoons garlic salt

1 tablespoons Lowreys seasoned salt

1 12 fluid ounce can beer (I don't like it with the dark beer)

1 3-4 pound whole chicken

Preheat outdoor grill to lowest setting

Wash the chicken and take out the neck and gizzards if it comes with it. Pick off any feathers.
Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with a little garlic salt.
Place chicken in a throw away baking pan, with the beer can shoved into the cavity of the chicken. The full beer can should be sitting upright and then you put your chicken on top of the full can of beer.

In a small pan melt 1/2 cup butter, 1 tablespoon garlic salt and 1 tablespoon Lowreys salt. This is to baste the outside of the chicken.
I baste the chicken with the butter mixture right when I put it on the grill and then I baste it every 15-2o minutes until it is done. You probably don't have to baste it so often but it makes it taste so good.
It is usually done in 1 1/2 to 2 hours but can take up to 3 depending on the size of the chicken. When it is nice and brown all over, it is done.

Watermelon Slushie

2009-06-22T13:42:00.000-04:00

If any of you have some watermelon that needs to be used, you might as well drink it up....Yep!! you can add alchol to this.

Watermelon Slushie

8 cups cubed seeded watermelon
1/4 cup sugar
Juice of a lemon

Place watermelon in a large bowl, cover and freeze, or you can do what I did and use ice cubes instead of freezing the watermelon.

Put watermelon, sugar and lemon juice and ice into blender and blend until nice and mixed. Now.....get the alcohol of your choice, I used vodka.......mix enough alcohol in to make you happy. Mmmmmmm this is really refreshing. Oh yes garnish with a mint leave to make your wife happy and if you don't have a mint leave...stick a piece of watermelon in it.

Rippers!!

2009-06-22T09:20:00.000-04:00

Now come on....what did you think when I said Ripper?

Well, whatever you thought....a Ripper is a slang term for a hot dog that is deep fried in oil until the skin bursts and turns crispy.

You can use what ever brand of hot dog you prefer.

Be sure to heat the oil before putting in the hot dogs.

You can fry them more than I did if you want them more ripped.

You would think that frying these would make them greasy.... Wrong!!! they are less greasy than any hot dog I have ever eaten. I will probably do hot dogs this way most times, now that I have tried them.
One thing...don't do what I did and buy the wrong size rolls, although these were delicious, they were a half a hot dog longer than they should be.

Now don't these look yummy? Believe me they were Heaven on a roll!!....

Be sure to check out the homemade french fries below.

Homemade French Fries

2009-06-22T08:29:00.000-04:00

We love homemade french fries, especially when made with red skin potatoes....they are the best!!

I prefer thin potatoes so I cut mine on the thin side, you can cut them any thickness you like.

Make sure the oil is hot before you add the potatoes that you have rinsed and drained really well. If water from the potatoes hits the hot oil it will spatter all over the place.

These were so good....nothing beat a homemade french fry....sooooo gooood!