Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Mrs. Oh and Johnny Appleseed



For the purpose of this post Tobey will be known as Johnny Appleseed.

So this weekend I made bread pudding. Not just any bread pudding but I used the recipe from Ruth's Chris Steak House. Now friends I am a very competent cook - managed a bakery and deli for years and all. But this is one labor intensive bread pudding and I have a wealth of bread pudding recipes - so that is saying something.

Once I got the pudding together I told Tobey Johnny Appleseed that I was never making this recipe again. I am used to a few eggs, some milk and bam: bread pudding. Poor Tobey couldn't even make heads or tails of the recipe. Then my friends - I tasted it. Slap. Yo. Mamma. Butter even said this is better than Frodo's Limoncello bread pudding and yes Frodo was crushed. It is that good.

Anyways - I told Tob...Johnny Appleseed I would make the bread pudding again tonight IF he would help me out. I had the Whiskey sauce to make plus the puddingy part. I had three pots going at one time. Stirring constantly. Three pots. Johnny? He cut up bread. Oh and then he cored an apple and then he took the skin off said apple and then he chopped the apple. He had it rough my friends. Rough.



So yeah - we are getting divorced now over bread pudding. If the judge is Chef Ramsay I'm gonna get the house!



I'm kidding (not really). But when I asked for his help - choppin' an apple wasn't what I had in mind - how about ya separate some yolks from their whites there buddy? How about you stir the sauce constantly while it cooks? But no. I did all the cooking at the same time whilst he chopped an apple. Bobby Flay? I have your next sous chef right here baby.



Alrighty - so you can go to Ruth's site and get the recipe and print it up or you can follow my layout of her recipe. Trial and error gives me wisdom and I would advise making the sauce first - give it plenty of time to cool. So here we go - and no - I ain't Pioneer Woman - you aren't getting step by step directional pictures - you guys know how to crack an egg and stir.



First up - the Whiskey Sauce



Put a pot of water on to boil and add a bowl on top of that - or if you have a double boiler - get that on the stove and ready to go.



In small pot put in 2 cups of heavy cream and 3/4 cup of sugar. Mix well and heat until it starts to boil. While the cream is heating: in a separate bowl place 8 egg yolks, 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix well.



Once the cream comes to a boil slowly drizzle it into the bowl with the egg/sugar/vanilla mixture. Whisk constantly and drizzle slowly to temper the eggs. If you add the boiling milk to quickly you will make scambled eggs instead of sauce and you don't want that.



Now add your cream/egg mixture to the double boiler and cook for 8-12 minutes. Stir constantly. (This is where Tobey Appleseed was still cutting bread and hadn't yet started on the dicing of the apples.) The sauce will slowly start to thicken but not much. It will thicken up once it cools down. Strain the sauce and place in the fridge to cool. Once the sauce is cold add in add in 3 tablespoons of whiskey and mix well. I won't mention that I told Mr. Appleseed not to pick up whiskey because we had some Jameson's leftover from Christmas but as always he listened and picked up some Jack as well. Did I just digress?



Ideally you will want a loaf of bread cubed and let it set out for a day or so to dry out. The first time out I used half a loaf of french bread and about 4 croissants. I totally love croissants in bread pudding! The recipe calls for only 8 ounces of bread but a whole loaf works just fine.



So you have your bread cubed and now you will want to peel a small apple and dice it up nice and fine. I would advise peeling the apple first and then chop her up. Or you can go the labor intensive route like Mr. Appleseed did and section the apple and then peel all the sections individually and then chop it up. You decide which seems best for you. Go ahead and toss in 1 cup of raisins while you are at it. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup but I don't think that it is enough so I doubled it.



Set aside your bread/apple/raisin mixture.



In another bowl - this is like the third bowl by now isn't it? - combine 1 1/4 cup of sugar plus 1/2 cup of brown sugar and mix well to combine the sugars. Take 1/2 of this mixture and place it in a medium pot - you don't have to be exact in halfing the sugar mixtures. The half that remains in your bowl add: 6 beaten eggs, 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and salt, 1 tablespoon Vanilla and 1 tablespoon of Bourbon. Mix well and set aside. Oh. Don't use that ground up nutmeg stuff. Go get yourself a microplane and the actual nut nutmegs - it is soooo much better my friends. Trust me. Onwards.



The sugar that you put in a pot you will want to add to it: 2 cups of half and half, 2 cups of milk and stir well. Bring to a boil. Once your mixture boils take it off the heat as it can boil over very easily and you will have one big mess to clean up. Not that I know or anything.



Drizzle the boiled milk/sugar mixture into your sugar/cinnamon/egg mixture and stir to combine. Pour this into your bread/apple/raisin bowl and stir until the bread is all covered in the milk-egg goo. Let it sit for a few minutes so the bread can absorb all the goodness. Pour into a buttered 9x13 pan and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.



Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if you have it (I didn't) and pour on the Whiskey Sauce. Now you can die and go to heaven a very happy camper.



Y'all this is simply the best bread pudding - heck dessert - I have had in a long time. Go. Make it. Let me know if you love it as much as I do.



~Mrs. Appleseed

on Thursday, February 02, 2012 4 comments

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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Cheese and Spinach Quiche

I thought I would share my recipe for the Spinach and Cheese quiche I made for Tobey's birthday breakfast.

Spinach & Cheese Quiche

1 pie crust in a 9 inch pie plate
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup Gruyere cheese - grated
Handful of french spinach - chopped
1/2 onion sauteed in a tablespoon of butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Beat the eggs and milk until smooth. Add in remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

My poor little oven is on it's last legs here and I had to bake mine a bit longer. You want to make sure the pie is firm and the eggs are barely starting to brown around the edges. Also I am going to make a few pie crusts and store them in the fridge so I can easily whip this quiche up for breakfast. I am going to sub out the cheese as well as my grater and a few socks from the dryer have apparently run off together. It is always the socks I tell ya. Ya can't trust them.

Because Barbie has moved back in and has laid claim to the office off the kitchen as her 'bedroom' I was unable to get the food processor out to grate my cheese for Tobey's birthday. And since I couldn't find the manual grater ingenuity had to kick in quickly. So I took the blade from the food processor and used that to grate the cheese up. And yes: it took forever!!

Memo to me: buy a new grater this weekend.

So go on and make this quiche. It is super simple to throw together and even if you buy a frozen pie crust it will turn out great and I won't tattle on ya! Let me know if your family loves it as much as mine did.

~ames

on Thursday, November 03, 2011 9 comments

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Friday, September 2, 2011

A warning* with a recipe

This recipe comes with a warning*: don't make it. Really. You were warned....now on with the post.

Today's recipe is one of my Dad's favorites. I remember when we moved back to Georgia and we stayed with my maternal Grandma for a bit after visiting my Gran in Chicago (where I got this recipe), that I made this recipe several times and I don't think I have really made it since. But just in case you want to:

Grandma W's Liver Dumplings

1 pound of liver (yum)
1 loaf of bread torn into pieces - I use white
spices of your choice (onion, garlic, salt and pepper - all to taste)
an egg
a ham bone

First you want to put your ham bone in a stock pot and cover with just enough water to cover the bone. Simmer until all the meat falls off and remove the bone. Turn the heat up to a low boil.

Now the fun part and I apologize in advance.

Place the liver in a blender and liquify. Again: yum! Hey now - no complaining as I gave you plenty of time to run for the hills*.

Put the liver 'juice' into a large bowl and add the torn bread, spices and your egg. Mix well - with your hands. What? It isn't my recipe folks - just do it.

Make balls with the bread/liver juice concotion and drop into the ham broth and let cook for about 30 minutes. Sure you can put a lid on the pot in case the smell is offputting to you but it won't help. You know the drill by now: you were warned*!

Also - don't be shy about making your liver balls. You don't want them to be tablespoon size meatballs. The way my Gran made them they were size of my fist. I suppose because everyone just loved them so much. *ahem*

Honestly though - they weren't all bad. It was an interesting flavor and if you love liver I am sure this recipe will do you right. But just in case you don't - you were warned several times*.

~ame

*My attorney wanted to make sure everyone was warned. Consider this your disclaimer*

on Friday, September 02, 2011 6 comments

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Cherry Pie

Cherries were on sale!




So I pitted 3 pounds of cherries and made my flaky pie crust.


And while it isn't the prettiest gal at the dance - it sure was delicious!


Home made Cherry Pie

3 pounds of cherries - pitted

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water


2 pie crusts - if you are using my recipe: double it


In sauce pan add sugar, flour and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add cherries. If you want a nice red sauce, add in a few drops of red food coloring. Stir and let the cherries get all nice and warm - about 15 minutes.


Roll out your pie crust dough and place in pie pan - I roll mine on a pillow case for easier rolling and super-duper easy clean up (thanks to Tobey's Mom for that little trick). Pour in your cherry/sugar mixture and top the pie with the second pie crust.


Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake an additional 35 minutes. I advise placing a cookie sheet underneath the pie pan just in case of spill overs.


Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!


~ame

on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 8 comments

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Friday, August 12, 2011

The Anti-Iron Chef America: The Tobey Edition

I came home from work to the smell of cooking chicken and found Chewie in the kitchen as he is wont to do most weekdays. I spied the big pot on the stove and asked what he was making. He informed me that Tobey told him to boil the chicken. In some stock.

Okay. Chicken and Dumplings? Yay! But then I got to thinking that we didn't actually have the ingredients to make chicken and dumplings. Now Tobey is know in his own mind for making chicken and yellow rice and I thought maybe that was going to be the end product.

But no my friends. That was not to be.

Feast your eyes on dinner:



Dinner or Scenes from an alien autopsy?


I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth. When Tobey sees that I have the camera out he tells me I can't take a picture of the chicken 'like that'. So I stand back a bit as Tobey comes running into the kitchen and by now Frodo is in the doorway of the kitchen as well.



Yes honey, just one on a plate is SO much better.

Next thing I know Tobey is pulling out a plate and I whispered to Frodo, "Oh. My. God. Is he plating that?" Yeah, plating. We watch way too much Food Network. It seemed Tobey added some crushed canned tomatoes to the stock when he had Chewie boil the chicken hence the um beauty spot on the chicken breast.





Frodo always the Guinea Pig...


Now I know you are wondering how it tasted. See the little grimace on Frodo's face above? Frodo's critique was that he didn't know it was possible to boil something dry.


And Frodo 'washing' it all down because Tanqueray makes everything better - even if he hates gin.


I think (and it probably has been done) we need a FoodFail blog. And on the bright side: I didn't cook this mess. So in end I can't be blamed:


WINNING!


~ame

on Friday, August 12, 2011 6 comments

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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Limoncello Sunday

Buttercup loves the Limoncello Bread Pudding from Carrabba's and I do too. She asked Frodo to make her some so I pulled up a recipe from the Orlando Sentinel and we went to work. I always use croissants when I make any bread pudding and Frodo decided to use both croissants and french bread.

And this was yumdillicious! The only thing I would change is that I don't think it was as lemony as Carrabba's, so I would add in some lemon zest next time we make it. Be sure to try this one out - it is fairly simple to put together and worth the purchase of a bottle of limoncello.

Limoncello Bread Pudding

3/4 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup limoncello

7 large eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 quarts cubed stale bread

1/4 cup each: granulated sugar and limoncello or lemon juice

1. Put bread in 9-by-9-by-2-inch pan or a 2-quart baking dish. Whisk cream, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and limoncello. Pour over bread. Let sit 20 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 350F. Cover pudding with foil. Bake 40-50 minutes or until pudding is set.

3. For simple syrup, combine limoncello and sugar in a small pan. Bring to boil, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Drizzle over bread pudding.

Recipe note: Can be served warm or cold with or without ice cream.

Enjoy!

~ame


Oh and thank you guys for all your kind comments the last few weeks. You rock and I appreciate y'all so much!

on Sunday, July 31, 2011 0 comments

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Friday, July 29, 2011

Guess who is guest bloggin'



Stop by the Red Door Kitchen where I am guest posting my chicken tettrazini recipe! A special thanks goes out to my sister-in-law Lil Martha Stewart for asking me to participate. Lil Martha has been married to my youngest brother, Matt Damon, since 1989 and I can't tell you all the times we have had the privilege to nosh on her munchies and dinners she has hosted. She rocks.

~ame

on Friday, July 29, 2011 1 comments

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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Butterbeer Type Eclair things

To celebrate losing nine pounds I decided to make some eclairs using my choux pastry recipe from years gone by. My little puffs looked so lovely in the oven but for some reason they fell a little flat after I took them out.

Not to be outdone by a little flat dough I decided to spread some Whoopie Pie cream between two pastries and top it off with some leftover Butterbeer icing from Amy Bites Butterbeer Cupcake recipe . To. Die. For.

Here is the Whoopie Pie filling recipe that I saw in last week's Parade magazine. Barbie had stopped by and wasn't all that impressed with the ingredients but it pretty much is a frosting recipe with fluff and sometimes you just can't count calories. This is one of those times.

Whoopie Pie Filling

1 1/2 cups of Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/2 cups of solid vegetable shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Beat the fluff and shortening together then add in sugar and vanilla. Beat until it appreciates you or until fluffy. I didn't get out the Kitchen Aid for this one and just beat it by hand and it turned out just fine with less clean up!

Enjoy!

~ame

P.S. Baby went to the vet yesterday. I can't talk about it right now. She is old and nearing her time. Probably in the next few weeks or so. There is a Animal Hospice group that can come to your home to euthanize them which is what we will do. I want her feeling safe and stress free. Done. Crying. Out.

on Saturday, July 16, 2011 4 comments

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Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Mrs. Oh-range Scone Recipe

Be sure to check out all the wonderful things with this week's WFMW.



I have been craving Panera's orange scones so last night we treated ourselves and wouldn't you know it: they were out. Not only were they sold out but they 'just' sold out. I asked the Scone Barista if the person that bought the last scone was still in the restaurant because I planned on tackling them and making off with the scone. She then informed me that they would be making more scones but not now. Later on. After I left.

Left to my own devices and completely sconeless I decided to whip up a batch this morning and this recipe is just as good as Panera's. On first blush a scone doesn't sound all that great and they look like they might be hard as rocks. But my friends they are wonderful and soft and oh so yummy! Did I mention how easy they are to make too? 15 minutes is all it takes to make the dough and then throw em in the oven and you're done.

Orange Scones

4 cups of AP flour
12 tbsp sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1 stick + 4 tsps butter (cold and chopped)
2/3 cup of milk
2 eggs
zest of one orange
11 ounce can of mandarin oranges (chopped fine and drained)
Save out a few orange slices for garnish

Mix up all the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until it resembles bread crumbs. Mix in milk, zest, oranges and egg. Stir until just combined and turn out onto a floured counter and knead gently a few times. I added a little flour to the board and the dough just to cut the stickyness.

Cut the dough in half and make two circles of dough. Think of a really thick pizza dough. Pat the dough down and cut it like it is a pizza into 8 slices. Separate the slices and put on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until nice and golden brown. I put all 16 slices on one sheet and they mushed together - next time I will do them in two batches.

The glaze
Now this is the really technical part. Not. Over a small bowl I splashed some orange juice over my microplane to get the left over bits of zest. I then added in some confectioner's sugar and mixed until I liked the consistency - I made mine super runny. If you like your icing thicker added more sugar. If you don't like the additional orange flavor just mix the sugar with a splash of milk and a little vanilla extract instead.

Once the scones are out of the oven let them slightly cool and then brush on the glaze and eat them over the sink. Or you could get a plate and fork and be a little more British about the whole thing but I won't tell anyone if you eat them over the sink.

I think on the next batch I am going to throw in some chopped walnuts and I can't wait to try this recipe subbing out the oranges for lemons. Yumm-o!

Go make these. Now. You'll love them!

~ame

on Saturday, January 22, 2011 2 comments

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Work Goodies

I brought some Halloween goodies into work on Friday for Halloween.

Shrunken Head Cider from the Queen herself: Martha.



Boneyard Brownies - Oreo Stuffed brownies.

Witches Fingers - chocolate covered pretzel rods.

The shrunken head cider turned out fantastic and although it looks like it would take forever to do, I made all of the heads in less than 30 minutes. I cut the apples in half and gave them a quick bath in lemon juice and salt and then I went to town with my x-acto knife making the faces. I baked them in a 250 degree oven for a few hours and let them sit in the warm oven over night.

~ame

on Sunday, October 31, 2010 0 comments

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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The Recipe: Pumpkin Bread

I thought since this is such a family favorite I would recycle this post from last fall and participate in Kristen from We are that family's Works for Me Wednesday. Enjoy!

~ame

Originally posted 11/9/2009:

The weather has finally started to cool off here in Florida - so it is in the 70-80's. Ahh, winter at last! In honor of the cooler weather I am offering up my pumpkin bread recipe which has been a staple in our house for close to 2 decades. Yes, I am that old.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients
3/4 cup shortening (I use Butter Flavor Crisco)
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2/3 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 1/3 cup Self-Rising Flour
1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans, chopped)
2/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 2 loaf pans.

Mix shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, water and pumpkin. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in raisins and nuts*. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 70 minutes.

Once the bread is cooled and depanned, I like to ice the top of the bread with cream cheese frosting and this bread is best warm slathered in butter. Just sayin'. And finally - I usually give out pumpkin bread with my cookie trays for the neighbors and friends at Christmas and when I do I triple the recipe. A tripled recipe will make 5 large loaves and 5 mini loaves.

*When adding fruit or nuts to a mixture I put those ingredients in a ziploc bag and add a little flour and shake the dickens out of it so that the nuts and raisins are nicely coated. Doing this will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the bread.

Enjoy!

~ame

on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 3 comments

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Keeping it real...


This my friends is what happens when you let your boys have control over the deep fryer and the making of the onion rings....


I know it is popular to post recipes and such - I have my share here. But this is more of a post on the behind the scenes of cooking. Step one: place towel on floor to unsuccessfully catch the batter blops as you take handfuls of battered onion rings over to the fryer. Ignore the blops ALL over the cabinet drawers and ignore Mrs. Oh having a heart attack over said blops.


Chewie er Super Chewie was very proud of his batter hand. Live long and prosper batter-hand.

How can two boys make such a mess? Which reminds me: Mom always got so tickled watching Julia Child back in the day because she was just sweep off her counters and it looked like she was just wiping everything on to the floor. I am sure Julia had a trash can....but then by the looks of my kitchen....maybe she didn't.


Words. Escape. Me.
But the onion rings and burgers were top notch!



~ame

on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 0 comments

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The recipe: Spaghetti Salad

I'm reposting this much beloved recipe for Works for Me Wednesday's Favorite Summer Recipe! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!


I love this staple summer recipe. Not that you can tell by this picture but this salad is so pretty and yummy be sure to try it out, which you can tell my family apparently did and forgot to leave me enough for a good picture for the blog. They are so unblogsupportive that way!


Spaghetti Salad



Recipe according to the picture:
6 cooked spaghetti noodles
11 slices of cucumber
no onions because I forgot them and the kids pick them out anyways
8 tomato chunklets
1/2 a sliced black olive

Don't you hate when they don't even leave a serving in the bowl?

Argh! Anywho - on to the real recipe:




1 lb cooked spaghetti


1 bottle of Italian salad dressing


1/2 bottle of Salad Supreme* seasoning


1/2 purple onion, chopped


2 cucumbers, chopped


1 tomato, chopped


handful of black olives, chopped and optional

In a large bowl mix all ingredients and chill in fridge. The longer this sets, the better the flavors marry. I would recommend overnight, if you can stand it. Also a few programming notes: you can use the light and fat free dressings but it won't be as good. Trust me on this one. Go whole hog and use the regular dressing. Your taste buds will thank me. And finally, you can pretty much throw in anything you want: salami, pepperoni chunks, zukes, you name it.



*If you can't find Salad Supreme in your grocery store, there is a nifty recipe here.


~ame

on Wednesday, July 07, 2010 3 comments

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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Chicken Marsala: The Mrs. Oh Recipe


Will you just look at that gorgeous sorta shallow depth-of-field shot I took! And to quote PeeWee Herman, "I meant to do that." Uh, huh.

If there is one thing I know about cooking it is this: you can just wing it from time to time and things will turn out edible. But only with cooking folks. Baking? Not so much. Having been a baker for so many years I know better than to deviate from the recipe. Don't ask me how I know this but suffice it to say you can't just throw blueberries in cookie dough and set the cooked plate on cookies on the rainy window sill and expect to have anything less than Mrs. Oh's famous or infamous Blueberry Sponge Cookies. It was not a pretty sight to behold my friends.


So without further blabbering, here is my just-wing-it recipe for some awesome Chicken Marsala. And this serves a ton because we have a ton of folks to feed - feel free to cut everything in half to serve a non-Brady Bunch sized family.


Chicken Marsala

The Low-Down:

8 chickie breasts, cut up and get your man to trim all the fat off. Blech!


Add about 1/2 - 1 cup of AP flour to a dish and toss in some oregano or Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir it around a bit so everyone is getting nice and friendly.


Heat up equal amounts of olive oyl er oil and butter (I used 1 stick of butter and 8 tbps of olive oil) in a huge fry pan and kick the heat up to medium until they are nice and melty. Add your chicken in batches and fry them up until they are browned on the outside. Don't worry if they aren't completely done - they will be by the time we are through with them. Once you have one batch done, take the chicken out the pan and place them some place safe where the kids or dogs won't get to them. Or Tobey.


Now while the chicken is cooking, cut up some mushrooms. Baby Bellas, buttons - whatever you like best. I used 2 pounds of button mushrooms. Once the chicken is done and removed from your pan add in some Marsala and Sherry. You want 1 part Marsala to 1/2 part Sherry. I used 2 cups of Marsala and 1 cup Sherry. Stir all the little fried on bits loose and add in your 'shrooms and chicken. If you are like me, you will want to add some chopped garlic, salt and pepper.

Cover and let that bad boy simmer for about 10 minutes or so. Then remove the cover and kick the heat back up to medium and cook another 10 minutes or so, until the sauce is all good and thickened.






Serve over angel hair pasta and you will have yourself a little piece of Italian heaven for dinner.

Enjoy!

~ame

on Thursday, March 18, 2010 1 comments

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Mrs. Oh's Hot Cocoa Mix: The Recipe

The Tobey family loves the hot cocoa. With little mashymallows of course. I would tell you there have been wars fought in our house over the last packet of hot cocoa but you would never believe us to be that petty....

The Mix:
5 cups of nonfat powdered milk
1 lb of powdered sugar
2 cups of dutch processed cocoa powder
1 bag of white chocolate chips
1 small box of white chocolate jello instant pudding
1 15 ounce jar of French Vanilla coffee creamer

Stick the chocolate chip in your food processor and zoom them up nice and fine. It's okay to have some chunks left over. In a very large bowl add in all the ingredients, including the chips and stir it up until combined.

To serve: mix in 3-4 tbsps of mix into a warm mug of milk or water and top with some whippy cream or marshmallows. Yum!

~ame

on Thursday, March 11, 2010 4 comments

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Thursday, March 4, 2010

Hummingbird Cake: The Recipe

Or to quote Nic Cage in Con Air: Hummin'bird....

I don't make this cake often but it always gets rave reviews.

Hummingbird Cake

Cake:
3 cups SR flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cp pecans, chopped
2 bananas, mashed
1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs, beaten

Spray and flour 3 8 inch cake pans*. Mix all ingredients together and pour into pans. Bake at 325 for 26-28 minutes.

Frosting:
1 16 ounce box of powdered sugar
1 block of cream cheese - room temperature
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanila
1 tbsp milk
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Mix all but the pecan together until smooth and creamy. Fold in the pecans and frost your little cake. It doesn't get much better than this.

* I usually don't worry about making a pretty layered cake. In my house the object is to feed em and feed em fast. When it comes to cake they could care less if it looked pretty. So I bake my cake in a 1/2 sheet pan and keep an eye on the timing as it will take a tad longer to bake.

~ame

on Thursday, March 04, 2010 0 comments

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Braised Pork Chops

Ok - I'll let you in on a little secret....

Come closer....

I stole this one. From Martha.

Not Little Martha but Big Martha herself. Actually from some woman who was on Martha but anyways...I don't think she will mind. Or find me.

I use boneless center cut pork chops for this one. It is just how I roll these days.

In a large frying pan heat up 2 tbsps of oil and brown those little chops on all sides.

Now in a separate bowl mix:
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsps brown sugar
1 tbsp Worchestyshire or Soy Sauce - and yes that is spelled correctly....not.
1 tsp garlic salt
1/3 cup of water

Whisk that bad boy up but good and pour over your chops. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour. No peeking. I'll know if you peeked. So don't.

After 1 hour take out the chops and place them in your serving dish. Raise the heat to medium/high and cook remaining sauce until it reduces and thickens. Pour the sauce over the chops and serve.

~ame

on Thursday, February 25, 2010 2 comments

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Rotel Sausage Dip

Miss Letha brings this dip to work every time we have an office party. And that is a good thing. The bad thing about this one is that I have a tendency to crave it. All the time. Like now. And me with no ding-dang Rotel in the house...

Sausage Dip

4 Cans of Rotel tomaters: 1 hot, 2 regular amd 1 mild flavored
3 Jimmy Dean sausages - don't skimp or substitute or you will be very sorry - 1 hot and 2 regular flavors
3 packages of cream cheese - cubed

Fry and ground up the sausage and drain once it is done cooking. Place the sausage back in the pan and add in the cream cheese and all of the Rotel. Cook over medium low heat until things get all nice and gooey. Once done, bring over to my house - with tortilla scoop chips. This last step is a necessary evil. I need to make sure you made it right - I can't have you going off and serving something horrible to your friends and family. No need to thank me - that is just the kind of friend I am to you.

The great thing about this dip is once it is done you can toss it in the crock pot and go. Not that mine ever lasts long enough to actually make it to the crock pot - but you can try!

~ame

on Thursday, February 18, 2010 2 comments

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Thursday, February 11, 2010

South Western Egg Rolls: The Recipe

These little bad boys are a bit time consuming to make but oh so yummy!
South Western Egg Rolls
Dice 2 tbsps of each:
onion
red pepper
spinach
jalapeno
Add 1/3 cup of corn, 1/4 cup of black beans, 1/2 tsp parsley, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/3 tsp salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper to make it all nice and kicky. Mix well and add in 1/3 cup of your favorite shredded cheese - I highly recommend Monterey Jack.
Mix to combine and place a nice scoop full of the mix on either a eggroll wrapper or you can even use small flour tortillas. Roll the wrappers up and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
Once the eggrolls are nice and chilly - fry them bad boys up until they are golden brown.
The nice thing about this recipe is you can doctor it any old way you like. Toss in some shredded chicken or pork. You can even throw in leftover rice - the sky is the limit here. I recommend you serve them with jalapeno jelly - it is just the right thing to do my friends!
Enjoy-
~ame

on Thursday, February 11, 2010 1 comments

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Thursday, February 4, 2010

A recipe re-do

Frodo had an idea to combine a few recipes and it turned out so well I have made it twice in the past week! He suggested we make Grandma's Mountain Dew Cake and instead of making the usual topping - use the pudding/topping from the Sunshine Cake.

Folks it is so good and so easy to make. Let me know what you think!


on Thursday, February 04, 2010 6 comments

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