Monday, January 19, 2009

Fridge full of good eatin'

Yesterday, I made 3 different dinners for this week. I do this sometimes but now with us trying to eat more natural foods, I will have to do this more often.


I made:
Jacki's family recipe for Spaghetti and Meatballs.


Fantastic, really yummy. I used turkey meat for the meatballs, and they don't stick together as well, but they were yummy.


Jen's recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Chicken.
As this recipe is so very close to my Buffalo Chicken dip, I realized you could probably make this with a number of different dressings. Italian dressing - marinate chicken and use Romano cheese. My sister does something very similar with mayonaise and broccoli. Yea, there are so many options with these basic ingredients; cooked chicken breast, cream cheese, shedded cheese, dressing, veggie. Mix and bake until bubbly.


Crunchville's Pot Pie.


I used a turkey breast, boiled with seasoning and added carrots, onions, potatoes until meat is cooked and carrots are soft. Separted veggies from broth and meat. Put meat aside to cool. Put veggies in glass dish. Made butter and flour rue. Added broth and half & half. Added more seasoning. Cooked until boiling then added broth to glass dish. Cut up meat added to dish. Made crust and put overtop and baked. I had so much extra veggies, meat and broth that I put another glass dish in freezer for next week - all I need to do is make a new crust.


This was so very yummy!


All are on my make again list.


Thanks to everyone that posted these gems.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Yummy Chocolate Cake

From Can of Hershey's Cocoa


2 c sugar
1 3/4 c flour
3/4 c cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c boling water


preheat oven t 350. Grease and flour two 9 in round baking pans. Stir sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes.


We then made the frosting on the back of the can as well - but this time we used the 'Special Dark' cocoa.


1/2 c butter
2/3 c Special Dark cocoa
3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c milk
1 tsp. vanilla


Melt butter and stir in cocoa. Alternately add powered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk if needed. Stir in vanilla.


YUM!


Moist and delicious.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Healthy (?) Big Mac

I'm not a gourmet - not by a long shot.


I gave up red meat 20 years ago and have never looked back, so I have to get a bit creative with turkey and chicken. One day, many long years ago I had a craving for one of those double burgers that the place with the golden arches sells ... you know the one. I found a recipe and I attempted to recreate using 'healthier' alternatives.


Honestly, this isn't as hard as it sounds...the trick is to cut, cook and assemble in the same manner.


The recipe: two whole beef patties, special sauces, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onioins on a sesame seed bun.


My healthly version, lean ground turkey, whole grain bun, low fat thousand island dressing, Land of Lakes American Cheese cut thin (I really want to try some soy cheese or something else here like a colby cheese but I can't cut it thin enough). I need a deli slicer (remember that Sienfeld episode). I buy the big dill pickles and slice them myself. I used head lettuce this time but I want to use some really healthy greens or bean sprouts would be awesome substitute - it really depends upon how closely you want to achieve that same TASTE.




I recommended a total preparation first.
Finely chop the onions.
Slice pickles THIN.
Cut top of large buns in half (to make a triple decker) and toast buns.
Shred lettuce (finely)
Toast buns - you can use butter on a griddle or frying pan but I don't bother. I just put them in the toaster/toaster oven and brown them lightly (less fattening).


Make thin hamburger patties (flat and THIN I tell ya). Then begin cooking your burgers (be careful - turkey meat is sticky so the thinner the burger the harder it is to remove from the surface in which you fattened the heck out of it ... better to use a turner to scrape it up rather than handling). I guess you can use salt and pepper and/or season salt on your burgers while they are cooking; I don't bother because there is enough salt in the cheese, pickles and dressing (err special sauce).
Assemble all ingredients in the correct order.
bottom bun
burger
cheese
sauce
middle bun
lettuce
burger
cheese
pickles
onions
top bun


This process really goes quickly once the burgers are done so the more organized, the better.


I realize now that I assembled this all wrong. UGH.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Simply Delicious Buffalo Chicken Dip

I have simplfied this recipe, becasue I've seen this recipe layered in a dish, you can layer it, but it's much easier to mix it all together. The only thing that I will not do is use canned chicken. I took this recipe to a party and my dip was gone in 30 minutes, someone else brought a version of Buffalo Chicken Dip that was obviously made with canned chicken ... and they took most of it home. 'Nuff said.


Ingredients:


2-3 large boiled chicken breasts
(or bake at a very low heat, 300 for 40 minutes until cooked by not brown)
1-2 bricks of cream cheese
1/2 large bottle of Franks Hot Sauce (NO SUBSTITUES)
1/2 bottle (or more) of Blue Cheese or Ranch salad dressing
(I prefer the Blue Cheese, it's a richer taste, even if you do not like Blue Cheese this is really good)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese


Let chicken cool before cutting it up into small shreds. I shred my chicken so that you can dip with Tostitos. Put in large bowl and cover chicken COMPLETELY with Franks Hot Sauce (I usually use a little more than ½ of the large bottle).


Put chicken in the frig to marinate for about an hour (sometimes I do this the night before so it has a lot of time to marinate).


Place 1-2 blocks of cream cheese in pot on low heat or in the crock pot (or microwave it to soften) and simmer on LOW! When the cream cheese is mostly soft add about ½ bottle of blue cheese dressing or ranch and stir until blended.


If using a crock pot, add chicken and cheddar cheese and cook until bubbly.
I prefer this baked so I mix chicken and cream cheese mixture in a glass baking dish and top with shredded cheedar cheese. Cook at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.


Serve with Tostitos or corn chips or melba toast - whatever you want.


The smaller the chicken the easier it is to use with tortilla chips so if using something other than chips like melba toast you can cut your chicken up larger.


Everything is to taste … want it hotter, add more Franks, want it cheesier add more cheddar, want it creamier add more cream cheese. This is very forgiving. I never measured anything and it usually turns out pretty darn awesome. You really can’t mess this up too much.


BUT YOU HAVE TO USE FRANKS – not Tabasco!


Found this one with monteray jack cheese - and recommended amounts.


And this one is a layered recipe - says she doesn't like the stuff all mixed up. Scroll down

OH MY - Heaven in a cookie

I know, another cookie recipe...but my girlys cannot eat most sweets and junk food sold in stores so I have to make homemade everything or spend a small fortune for it...


The girlys LOVE oreo cookies, and from what I hear, these are pretty spectacular (my taste buds were gone when I made these so I personally did not taste them).


I found this recipe on SmittenKitchen.


I reduced the sugar for the cookie as Deb suggests by 1/2 cup.


For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Hersheys)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used only 1 cup)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg


For the filling:
1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


For the cookies:
Preheat to 375 degrees.
Mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.
Add butter and egg.
A dough-like mass will form.
Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart.
Flatten the dough with moist hands.
Bake for 9 minutes.


For the cream filling:
Mix butter and shortening at low speed, beat in the sugar and vanilla.
Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.


To assemble the cookies:
You could use a pastry bag but I used a knife.


Mine were not nearly as lovely as Deb's but they were tasty (again, from what I hear) and they were pretty easy.


Gluten-free version is available here at Hey, that tastes good!


Definitely on my list to make again and again.