Now I am usually a serious fan of the 'purple box' mac and cheese, but this homemade recipie might turn me off boxed stuff forever. It's from America's test kitchen and for once I pretty much followed the recipie.
1 lb elbow macaroni
4Tbs butter
5Tbs Flour
3 12oz can evaporated milk
2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
8 oz extra sharp cheddar (about 2 cups)
5 oz jack cheese (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 oz deli american cheese
bread crumbs
chicken, brocolli, green onions
1. cook pasta al dente, around 6 min, drain, cool and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
2. Melt the butter and add flour to make a roux cooking until light brown, stirring constantly. Add the evaporated milk, hot sauce, mustard and keep stirring and bring to a simmer until it feels like it is starting to thicken. remove from heat and stir in teh cheese and 1/2 cup pasta water until melted.
3. combine pasta and cheese in a large bowl, adding chicken and veggies as desired.
4. pour into an ungreased 9 x 13 pan and top with bread crumbs if desired. Cook 20-25 min at 350 or until bubbling around edges and golden in the middle.
Delicious!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Cake Cake and Cake
Heather and I made a wedding cake for Rebecca and Keith. It was really 2 cakes, well, 4 cakes. A "grooms cake" carrot with green coconut on top made into a farm scene and a traditional three tiered cake of yellow cake with apricot jam and buttercream, chocolate cake with butter cream and carrot cake with cream cheese icing. A lot of work, but so worth it. We also used Royal icing and fresh flowers to pipe decorations. I'll just post the recipies here. If you do go to make a wedding sized version (we did 14" 10" and 6" tiers) email me and I'll give you hints as to what we learned about very large layers.
Altitude adjustments are indicated in italics for those of you at SLC elevation.
Carrot Cake (from Paula Deen)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar ( less 2 Tbs)
2 tsp baking soda (less 1/8 tsp)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 c vegtable oil (add 1 1/2 Tbs)
3 cups grated carrots
Grease and flour a 9" pan. (we used a healthy coating of crisco and flour) Combine the dry ingrediants and then add eggs and oil. mix well. Add carrots. and mix well. Cook at 350 until a stick inserted comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 200F. Allow to cool in the pan a few minutes and then loosen and turn out onto a rack to cool.
Classic Yellow Cake (from Cakes from Scratch in 1/2 the time)
3 eggs
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c whole milk
Grease and flour pans. beat butter until fluffy, then add sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes. add eggs beating well after each addition. add vanilla. Sift dry ingrediants onto a sheet of wax paper. alternate adding dry ingrediants and the milk beating well each time. Bake at 400 until a stick inserted comes out clean.
Chocolate Cake (from Cakes from Scratch in 1/2 the time)
2 eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 c flour
2 c sugar
1/2 c cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c whole milk
1/4 c veg oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 orange
water
sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. add the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla mixing well after each addition. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Juice the orange and then add boiling water to make 1 c liquid. combine Orange water mixture with melted chocolate. Add orange chocolate to batter and beat well (it looks like it's not going to work when you first add it,but just keep mixing.
Buttercream icing (from google)
the crisco helps the icing to whip as well as melt at a higher temperature, making it ideal for summer weddings.
1 c butter
1 c crisco
8 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c milk (we used less!!)
Beat butter and crisco until fluffy, gradually add powdered sugar, beating continually, add vanilla and milk as needed to achieve desired consistency - you can't over mix this one - the more you beat the lighter it gets!
Cream Cheese icing (from Paula Deen)
2 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 lb powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 tsp vanilla
cream creamcheese and butter, add sugar and vanilla. This icing is delicious, but very liquid-y and will NOT pipe for designs.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Grilled Pork Chops with Apricot Salsa
Another spin off on a Rachel Ray dish.
4 pork chops
olive oil
salt
pepper
4 apricots
2 scallions
1 Tbs Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs lemon juice.
1 Tbs minced fresh ginger.
Coat the pork chops with olive oil and salt and pepper. Half the apricots. Put apricots and pork chops on the grill. In the meantime chop scallions and combine with ginger, vinegar, and lemon juice in a bowl. Remove the apricots when they are just browned put them in the bowl and tightly cover with aluminum foil for 10 minutes. Cook the pork chops until done (10-12 minutes). Remove pork chops from grill to a plate to sit. uncover apricots and chop them finely and toss chopped apricots with the rest of the ingrediants. Top pork chops with apricot salsa and serve. Total cook time: 20 min
4 pork chops
olive oil
salt
pepper
4 apricots
2 scallions
1 Tbs Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs lemon juice.
1 Tbs minced fresh ginger.
Coat the pork chops with olive oil and salt and pepper. Half the apricots. Put apricots and pork chops on the grill. In the meantime chop scallions and combine with ginger, vinegar, and lemon juice in a bowl. Remove the apricots when they are just browned put them in the bowl and tightly cover with aluminum foil for 10 minutes. Cook the pork chops until done (10-12 minutes). Remove pork chops from grill to a plate to sit. uncover apricots and chop them finely and toss chopped apricots with the rest of the ingrediants. Top pork chops with apricot salsa and serve. Total cook time: 20 min
Friday, July 10, 2009
Peach Butter
just like apple butter only so much better! I had a bunch of extra peaches from my food co-op order. (I got some extra ones for helping on distribution day in addition to my order) so I needed some way to use them. Enter Peach butter, tart sweet and delicious on toast or anything.
12ish peaches
1/4 c honey
1/4 c lemon juice
1 tsp ginger
cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Put them in a saucepan with about 1/2 c water (just enough to keep them from burning to the bottom while they juice) and the honey and lemon. Cover and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until they are a soft sauce-like mush - about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and put them through the Foley food mill to remove skins, etc. Put the sauce in the crokpot and cook UNcovered on high for about 5 hours or until there is no water seeping from around the edge when you put a dab of it on a plate. In the last 30 min add the ginger. Remove the butter from the crockpot and put in a jar and in the fridge or can it in a boiling water bath canner for 5 min (10 min for folks at 3,000-6,000ft elevation)
Note if you don't have a food mill first off I'd go buy one or pick one up at a yard sale like me but if you really don't have one you could blanche the peaches in boiling water for about 1 minute and then remove the skins, half and pit them and then put them in the pot to cook into mush.
12ish peaches
1/4 c honey
1/4 c lemon juice
1 tsp ginger
cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Put them in a saucepan with about 1/2 c water (just enough to keep them from burning to the bottom while they juice) and the honey and lemon. Cover and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until they are a soft sauce-like mush - about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and put them through the Foley food mill to remove skins, etc. Put the sauce in the crokpot and cook UNcovered on high for about 5 hours or until there is no water seeping from around the edge when you put a dab of it on a plate. In the last 30 min add the ginger. Remove the butter from the crockpot and put in a jar and in the fridge or can it in a boiling water bath canner for 5 min (10 min for folks at 3,000-6,000ft elevation)
Note if you don't have a food mill first off I'd go buy one or pick one up at a yard sale like me but if you really don't have one you could blanche the peaches in boiling water for about 1 minute and then remove the skins, half and pit them and then put them in the pot to cook into mush.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Whoopie Pies
The only true way to experience a whoopie-pie is to buy one from someone sitting under a blue tarp by the side of Rt. 1 in Maine. Rob informed me that you don't have 'em in other parts of the country - boy are you missing out. This classic New England treat is part cake part filled cookie and delicious. It seems every country store in northern New England has a pile by the cash register wrapped in plastic thanks to some local women who makes em up fresh daily. Since I'm feeling a bit under the weather I haven't actually made these yet. Note that the recipie calls for vegtable shortning (aka Crisco) NOT butter. Especially in the filling Crisco is what makes it so white and fluffy.
Whoopie Pies
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Whoopie Pie Filling (see recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, and egg. In another bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bowl, stir the vanilla extract into the milk. Add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, alternating with the milk mixture; beating until smooth.
Drop batter by the 1/4 cup (to make 18 cakes) onto prepared baking sheets. With the back of a spoon spread batter into 4-inch circles, leaving approximately 2 inches between each cake. Bake 15 minutes or until they are firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Make Whoopie Pie Filling. When the cakes are completely cool, spread the flat side (bottom) of one chocolate cake with a generous amount of filling. Top with another cake, pressing down gently to distribute the filling evenly. Repeat with all cookies to make 9 pies. Wrap whoopie pies individually in plastic wrap, or place them in a single layer on a platter (do not stack them, as they tend to stick).
Whoopie Pie Filling
Whoopie Pie Filling:
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In a medium bow, beat together shortening, sugar, and Marshmallow fluff; stir in vanilla extract until well blended.
recipie from http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/WhoopiePieHistory.htm
Whoopie Pies
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Whoopie Pie Filling (see recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, and egg. In another bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bowl, stir the vanilla extract into the milk. Add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, alternating with the milk mixture; beating until smooth.
Drop batter by the 1/4 cup (to make 18 cakes) onto prepared baking sheets. With the back of a spoon spread batter into 4-inch circles, leaving approximately 2 inches between each cake. Bake 15 minutes or until they are firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Make Whoopie Pie Filling. When the cakes are completely cool, spread the flat side (bottom) of one chocolate cake with a generous amount of filling. Top with another cake, pressing down gently to distribute the filling evenly. Repeat with all cookies to make 9 pies. Wrap whoopie pies individually in plastic wrap, or place them in a single layer on a platter (do not stack them, as they tend to stick).
Whoopie Pie Filling
Whoopie Pie Filling:
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In a medium bow, beat together shortening, sugar, and Marshmallow fluff; stir in vanilla extract until well blended.
recipie from http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/WhoopiePieHistory.htm
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Plum Cake (with apologies to Melissa)
America's test kitchen is a PBS show which meticulously tests its recipes, creating may variations in a quest for the exact perfect recipe. All so people like me can buy their "best of " magazine in the airport and start substituting. This is based on the Rustic Plum cake featured in The Best of America's test kitchen 2009, with variation by me. I'll leave their original in normal font with my variation in italics.
2Tbs red currant jelly (apricot jam)
3 Tbs Brandy (Rum)
1 lb prune plums halfed and pitted (a bunch of under-ripe plums and peaches pitted in pieces)
1 tsp cornstarch
3/4 c sugar
1/3 c slivered almonds
3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs butter, softened.
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
1. mix jelly and liqour in a pan over medium heat until just thickened. Add the fruit and cook until they shed juices and thick syrup is formed about 5 minutes (cover because the peaches are too hard, wander off to discover plums have disintegrated, add cornstarch to deal with excess water)
2. grease and flour 9 in springform pan (any cake pan) preheat oven to 350
3. mix almonds and sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour, salt and baking powder and pulse to combine. Add the butter, and mix until batter resembles coarse sand. Finally add eggs, flavorings and process until smooth. Batter will be thick.
4. spread the batter into a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the plum halfs skin side down on the surface of the batter (arrange recognizable peach slices in a pretty circle, fill in the rest with a thin coating of peach/plum/apricot sauce)
5. Bake until cake is golden brown and wooden skewer comes out clean, about 40-50 min. allow cake to cool in pan on wire rack for 30 min.
6. sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
2Tbs red currant jelly (apricot jam)
3 Tbs Brandy (Rum)
1 lb prune plums halfed and pitted (a bunch of under-ripe plums and peaches pitted in pieces)
1 tsp cornstarch
3/4 c sugar
1/3 c slivered almonds
3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs butter, softened.
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
1. mix jelly and liqour in a pan over medium heat until just thickened. Add the fruit and cook until they shed juices and thick syrup is formed about 5 minutes (cover because the peaches are too hard, wander off to discover plums have disintegrated, add cornstarch to deal with excess water)
2. grease and flour 9 in springform pan (any cake pan) preheat oven to 350
3. mix almonds and sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour, salt and baking powder and pulse to combine. Add the butter, and mix until batter resembles coarse sand. Finally add eggs, flavorings and process until smooth. Batter will be thick.
4. spread the batter into a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the plum halfs skin side down on the surface of the batter (arrange recognizable peach slices in a pretty circle, fill in the rest with a thin coating of peach/plum/apricot sauce)
5. Bake until cake is golden brown and wooden skewer comes out clean, about 40-50 min. allow cake to cool in pan on wire rack for 30 min.
6. sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
Red Beans and Rice
This is my creation and based on what arrived in my co-op food order this weekend. so far we have
1 c dry red beans
1 1/2 c rice
1 pkg mild italian sausage
1 green pepper
1 onion
soaked the beans overnight and just put them on to boil with 1 tsp salt. Sausage is thawing on the counter.
It came out well - here's the rest
1 boil the beans until soft - about 2 hours.
2cook rice with 3 cups water in a separate pan until done.
3 Chop the onion and saute with olive oil in a large pan, chop the pepper and add it. Cut the sausage into peices (about 8 per sausage) and saute. Add
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
liberal sprinkle of ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
and cook until the sausage is done. combine sausage mixture with red beans and rice and mix well.
makes about 6 servings.
1 c dry red beans
1 1/2 c rice
1 pkg mild italian sausage
1 green pepper
1 onion
soaked the beans overnight and just put them on to boil with 1 tsp salt. Sausage is thawing on the counter.
It came out well - here's the rest
1 boil the beans until soft - about 2 hours.
2cook rice with 3 cups water in a separate pan until done.
3 Chop the onion and saute with olive oil in a large pan, chop the pepper and add it. Cut the sausage into peices (about 8 per sausage) and saute. Add
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
liberal sprinkle of ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
and cook until the sausage is done. combine sausage mixture with red beans and rice and mix well.
makes about 6 servings.
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