I did it! I figured out how to log on and write on my blog while here in Carmel! We have had a day of going into Monterrey and exploying Fishermans Wharf! We ate overlooking the pacific ocean and Randy ventured out and ordered ahi tuna for lunch! I played it safe and ordered stuffed shrimp over linguini! Randy is so relaxed that HE suggested we go into the cookie store and buy a chocolate chip cookie! I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal but it is. He just doesn’t do that! Ice cream, yes, but cookies, never! So there we were, walking around Monterrey munching on cookies! Life just doesn’t get better!. We also went down 17 scenic mile road along PebbleBeach! WOW! What beauty! This was perfect for our first day of vacation! Can’t wait till tomorrow!
Month: August 2010
Packing for Carmel!
This will be my last post for a week. We are leaving for Carmel and San Fran early tomorrow and I am more than ready. We have checked the temps and they are in the 50 and 60’s. How glorious is that? I have actually packed a jacket. My kind of weather. Will be back next weekend. Am going exploring new places to eat, hopefully take some beautiful pics to come home and paint and just sit back and relax for a few days. It will be so nice to get in a car and not have to wait for it to cool down. We can actually walk to places without having to stop and buy little portable fans to keep us from fainting. We are hoping that by the time we get back, Texas will have cooled off. Am excited to find new California recipes. We have made a list of 3 new places to eat that we found in a magazine that are already winning awards for their food. Will report on these when I get back. Talk to you in a week!
Chuck Roast
Am having company tonight so thought I would make a roast, with mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans and molten chocoalte cakes with Blue Bell Vanilla. Also made the apple fried pies from yesterday’s blog. Delish!
The roast is just so tender, moist and so flavorful. Try it, it is easy and you aren’t having to stand in the kitchen all day.
1 chuck roast, any size you need.
1 onion
1 can French Onion Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
garlic to taste, pepper, Kikoman sauce and 1 tables dried parsley
Brown roast on both sides in 1/4 cup olive oil. When browned, season with seasonings, and pour over both cans of soup. Cut up onion and place in pan. Bake in 300 oven for about 4 to 5 hours for a 2-3 lb roast, 5 -6 house for a 4-5 lb roast. About an 1 1/2 hrs before serving the roast, place any amount of carrots, which have been cleaned and pealed, over roast and put cover back on and continue baking. The gravy will be thick enough to serve over the mashed potatoes without having to thicken.
Skillet Fried Apple Pies
Oh my, just took this off the Paula Dean site and it does look fantastic. Am going to have to make this tomorrow. If you beat me to it, let me know how good it is!
Ingredients:
Oil, for frying
2 cans large buttermilk biscuits
1 (21-ounce) can apple pie filling
1/4 cup sugar, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon plus more for dusting
Flour, for rolling
Whipped cream, for garnish, optional
Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish, optional
Directions
Pour the oil into a large cast iron skillet about 1/2-inch up the sides and heat to about 350 degrees F.
Remove biscuits from cans, flour them and roll each 1 out to a 5-inch round. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of fruit filling on a round leaving a 1/2-inch edge all around. Place another rolled out round on top of the filling, pressing around the edges to seal. You should dip your fingers in water and wipe around the edge of the bottom biscuit to enable it to stick to the top biscuit. Dip end of dinner fork in flour and press continuously around edge to insure a proper seal. Repeat with remaining biscuits. Makes 8 or 10 pies depending on the amount in your biscuit can. Place 3 or 4 of the pies in the preheated cast iron skillet. Fry for about 2 minutes per side or until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar while still hot. Serve with whipped cream and confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
Chocolate Eclairs
My son-in-law is forever indebted to me. I took him a plate of eclairs yesterday and Jodi called this morning to report to me that he described them as, “a little piece of chocolate cream pie all in it’s only little jacket”. He loved them. They are so easy to make and really doesn’t take much time. People are amazed when you put a little plate in front of them and you tell them their dessert is a homemade eclair. The filling is easy and I’m telling you, if you want to impress your husbands boss, your mother-in-law or even your husband. Take about 1 hr. total time. It will be worth it. I promise. The pastry shell is so simple and quick.
Heat oven to 400. Heat 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup butter to rolling boil in saucepan. Stir in 1/2 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 min. Remove from heat and beat in 2 eggs all at once and continue beating until smooth. Drop dough by 1/4 cupful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Shape each into finger 4 1/2 ” long and 1 1/2 ” wide. Bake, until golden brown, about 30 min. As soon as you pull them out of the oven, make a slit in each one to allow steam to seep out. When completely cool, slice in half and fill with the following:
1 package of white chocolate instant pudding mix (4 serving size) which you want to beat with 1 cup milk and 1 cup whipping cream. As soon as mixture is thick, spoon evenly distributed between eclairs. Frost with:
Heat 1/2 sq (1/2 oz) unsweetened chocolate and 1/2 teas butter in microwave until chocolate is melted. Stir in 1/2 cup powdered sugar and about 1 tables hot water. Beat until smooth. Add 1/2 teas vanilla. Drizzle over eclairs and refrigerate until serving time.
My son-in-law is not allowed to give our daughter back, or he gets no more eclairs from me! That is our deal!
Toffee Chocolate Cake
Wow, this is just scrumptious!. This is originally used for slice apple dip, but I made a chocolate pound cake and baked it in a bundt pan. Cut it into two layers and spread between the 2 layers the following:
Softened 8 oz of cream cheese
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teas vanilla
1/4 cup toffee chips
Blend the sugars and the cream cheese. When fluffy and blended, add vanilla and toffee chips. Spread between layers of a chocolate cake and then frost with your favorite chocolate frosting. (The chocolate one I have under desserts is rich and oh so chocolatee! Sprinkle more toffee chips on top of frosted cake, if desired.
Busy Busy Week
I don’t know about you, but where did the past week go? Apparently, the lazy hazy days of summer are past, because each day just got busier and busier. Maybe when school begins, things will seem back to normal. You can probably tell, from my lack of recipes being put on the ole blog, that I have not been cooking very much this summer. I would love to blame it on the heat, but something tells me that I have gotten just a little lazy (well, it is the “lazy” days of summer, right?) Anyway, the magnet on the fridge reminds me daily that reservations really are my favorite thing to make. Randy should have never bought me that magnet. A story this week, just has to be told. I was holding a small ladies luncheon this past Tues for 6 ladies, one of which is one of my best friends. She told us that she had a great story for us, so as we began to fill our plates, she opened up with this. “Sweet friends, I think I am totally losing it. I went to bake some muffins for Ron on Friday and when I went to turn on the oven to 350 degrees, I stood there and after punching in 350, the oven didn’t turn on. I reentered the 350 and start and it still didn’t come on. I was ready to call the serviceman to come check out the oven, but thought to myself, “this oven is brand new, not even a year old, it shouldn’t be broken, so before I call anyone, let me get the manual out to see if there is a “troubleshooting” section that I could read to see what I should do if the oven won’t come on. Well, low and behold, I read the paragraph about how to begin the baking process and there it was, in black and white, you have to push “Bake” before you push start. It had been so long since I had cooked anything, I had forgotten how to operate my stove.” We all began to laugh at her, but the truth is, when I think about it, I haven’t been doing too much of that lately either.
When is the fall air going to come in and we can all go out and buy our pumpkins and light our pumpkin scented candles and peel those apples for apple cake and cobbler and start sitting down with a cup of hot tea before turning in for the night. I don’t know about you, but I am more than ready for the fall, crisp air to come in. That first “northern” to be forecast, when you open your windows and feel the coolness of the air, actually thinking about what night you might need to turn on the fireplace. I am a “cold weather” person. It energizes me, makes me feel like I could just cook and bake until my feet won’t hold me up any longer. Summertime is nice for swimming, but give me the cold air and fall leaves anytime. So much cozier to curl up reading a book, with a hot peach cobbler than a cold lemonade.
By the way, I have seperated the recipes according to chicken or beef and am working on seperating the cakes/desserts. It will make it quicker to find the recipe you are looking for.
Baked Chicken Salad
I experimented today with an old favorite recipe. It turned out so good! Just a little more tasty than the old version, and wanted to pass it along.
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 cups chopped combination of celery, onion and carrot (I buy this in the frozen section in Kroger)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
Saute the celery, onion, carrot mixture along with the bell pepper in 2 tables butter and 2 tables olive oil until tender (about 15 min) over medium heat
In a large bowl, combine the chopped chicken with 1/2 cup mayo, 1 pt of sour cream, 1 can cream of celery soup. Add 2 teas garlic powder, 2 teas pepper, 1 teas Lawry’s seasoning salt, 1 tables dried parsley and 11/2 cup sliced toasted almonds.
Spread into a 1 1/2 to 2 quart casserole which has been sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle 3 cups potato chips which have been crushed, and 1/2 cup grated mild cheddar cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 to 30 mins. Yields: 6 to 8 servings *For our tea, I am brewing tea and stirring in a can of apricot nectar. Serve it cold over ice cubes which have been frozen with blueberries in the cubes. It makes a beautiful glass of tea.
I am serving this for a luncheon tomorrow, along with a fruit salad and the Asparagus Salad I posted a couple of days ago. Sister Schubert rolls and butter and fresh strawberry pie to end our home Bible study. This is a simple, quick and wonderful lunch recipe.
Mini S’Mores Cheesecakes
This makes 24 mini cheesecakes
2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup plus 2 tables sugar, divided
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1 1/2 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened (that will be 12 oz total)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 teas vanilla
1 (1 oz) sq bittersweet baking chocolate, melted
24 jumbo marshmellows
Preheat oven to 350.
In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup sugar. Add melted butter and egg white and stir to combine. Press the crumb mixture into bottoms and halfway up sides of 2 (12 well) mini cheesecake pans. Bake for 3 min, set aside.
Increase oven temperature to 375. In a medium bowl and using electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar and cocoa powder until mixture is smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and melted chocolate and mix until combined. Divide the cream cheese mixture evenly among the prepared crumb crusts, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 6 to 8 min, or until puffed and set. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 20 min. Freeze for 1 hour. Just before serving, preheat broiler. Place 1 marshmallow on top of each cheesecake and broil for 1 to 2 mins, or until lightly browned. Carefully remove cheesecakes from pan, and serve immediately.
This recipe is taken from a little magazine I receive called, Tea Time. It has some of the best dessert recipes I use for luncheons. This is a great and different cheesecake that people seem to really love in the fall.
Tomato Platter
In case you are needing to take an appitizer or salad to a function in this heat, try this:
\Buy 6 to 8 tomatoes (different colors and varities (green, plum, yellow) Slice and mix the colors into layers overlapping. Cover and when you are ready to serve, pour any type of balsamic vinegar or italian dressing and sprinkle feta cheese over top and the tops of green onions. Be sure to put this on a pretty serving platter. This makes a very impressive dish to serve and is so cool and tasty.
Chocolate Castles 