Daily Thoughts · Desserts

Measuring Cups & Pie Crust

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If you are one of those that  you are just now taking the Warranty Papers and Care Instructions out of the oven you have had for 5 years, you might not be aware that there is a difference in measuring cups. Today, a sweet young lady was making cookies and called me to ask me why her dough wasn’t the texture that she knew it should be. We went over the instructions and the ingredients and discovered that she had followed them to a T. When I ask her if she had used liquid measuring cups of dry measuring cups, she didn’t know that there was a difference and she had in fact used the ones meant to measure liquids. It can make a huge difference in your baked goods, not using the right measuring cups. The liquid measuring cups add more flour than what is intended. She ask me why they aren’t labeled, “liquid” or “dry”. At lunch I was relaying this story with a friend and she said it was years before she knew that fact. So for all of you out there that aren’t quite sure which is liquid or dry, the liquid measuring cups have lines and usually a pouring spout. Dry measuring cups are just labeled 1/2, 2/3, 1/4, 1, 1/3, etc.  They are made to where you can scrape across the top of the measuring cup to level it off. Does this make sense?

Also, for those of you who like to make your own pie crust, last night I made the pie crust recipe I found in Paula Deen Magazine. It is undoubtedly the absolute BEST pie crust I have ever had….it was flaky and had such a great flavor. I will never make any other recipe again.

2 1/2 cups flour

6 tables cold butter

6 tables cold shortening

1 tables sugar

1/2 teas salt

1/2 cup cold water

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles crumbs. Add water, 1 tables at a time, as you might not need all the water (I used 3 tables is all). Stir with a fork until mixture comes together. Remove from bowl and wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Flour a sheet of parchment paper, waxed paper or your counter. Roll 1/2 of the dough mixture into a 12″ circle. Carefully fold in half and place in a 9″ pie plate. Fill with fruit filling. Repeat the procedure with the remaining dough. Place over the fruit and make a few slits in the top crust, allowing for steam to escape. Bake at 425 for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.\

If you are needing a single crust, you can freeze the other half and just use the bottom crust. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes. Watch carefully as to not allowing to get to brown. Cool and use filling of your choice.

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Thumbie

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Thumbie

The Thumbies In Motion
Use a Thumbie to make your thumbprint cookies, brownie cups.
Easier and faster than using your thumb and the indentions are uniform in size.

Will be giving one away Nov 23rd. Comment me your favorite thumbprint recipe. The one chosen will receive a Thumbie!

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Thumbie Give Away

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Finally talked Frosty (yes, I like to think of it as “talking” to him, not nagging) into making more Thumbies. So…since it is the time of year when all of us love to make thumbprint cookies and brownies, I am having a Thumbie Give Away.

To have your very own Thumbie to make those cookies much easier and faster, please send me your email and your favorite Thumbprint cookie recipe. I will announce the winner, Satruday, November 23rd and will get in the mail to you so you will have it in plenty of time for your Christmas baking.

appetizers · Breads · Holiday Fare · Vegetables

Cheese & Spinach Puffs

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Taken from a Nov, 1987 SL magazine, this is a great appetizer to take to all those holiday parties. It is quick and easy. The flavor is really so good. Actually they are a great way to get little ones to eat “their spinach”. Popeye would love these.

1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup water

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup plus 2 tables commercial blue cheese dressing, or if you are like me and do not like blue cheese, use Ranch Dressing

1/4 teas garlic powder

1 (8 1/2 oz) package corn muffin mix (Jiffy is a good one)

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes. Drain very well, squeezing to remove excess liquid. Combine spinach mixture and remaining ingredients; stir well. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Shape mixture into 1″ balls and place 1 1/2″ apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Chill 30 minutes before baking.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes; serve warm.

Yields: 4 dozen

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Cookie Swap

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Finally stepping out of my comfort zone, I have entered a cooking bloggers cookie swap. Today I received the 3 bloggers (which is kept secret until they receive the cookies), which I will send 1 dz cookies to each of the 3.. Haven’t figured out which cookie I will make, so if any of you have a great cookie recipe that travels well by mail, please let me hear from you. All the recipes from this cookie swap will be posted in an on-line site in December.

Essentially, you get three dozen cookies, one dozen each from three other bloggers in addition to mailing out three dozen cookies of your own creation to three fellow bloggers and make a donation to a lovely charity in the process. What could be better?

 

 

Chicken · Holiday Fare · Meats · Soups

Super-Bowl

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What a great soup for using leftover turkey, or having it for Super-Bowl parties or on those cold weather evenings.

6 tables unsalted butter, plus melted butter for brushing

1 small onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1/2 clove garlic, minced

5 tables flour

1 qt chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup shredded white American cheese (about 4 oz)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (about 6 oz)

1 cup diced deli ham

1 cup diced leftover roast turkey

6 slices baguette

6 slices bacon

1/2 pt grape tomatoes, thinly sliced

3 tables chopped fresh parsley

Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic; cook, stirring, until softened, abut 4 minutes. Stir in the flour and whisk, about 1 min. Add the broth and cream;, stirring, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir in the American cheese and 1 cup of the cheddar until melted. Add the ham and turkey and heat through, 3-5 minutes.

Remove from the heat, keeping warm with lid.

Spread the baguette slices on a baking sheet and brush with melted butter. Transfer to the oven and toast until golden, abut 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, turning until crisp. Drain on paper towels. When cool enough to handle, crumble.

Toss the tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. Lade the soup into bowls and top with the toasted baguette, the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar, divided between the 6 bowls, and the tomato-parsley mixture and crumbled bacon. YUM!

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats · Soups

Suppers On…Come & Get It, Oops, I Mean, Dinner is Served

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I can’t help it, I lived almost 60 of my butter-laden years in the south, where folks come to supper, not dinner. When I found this new recipe last night in the Food Network Magazine, (which I will get to in a minute, but have to get this story out of my system first) I remembered an incident from dining out a few nights ago. First of all, just to begin this story, I am no longer allowed to talk about dinner anymore when in public. Returning home from Texas, home of Whataburger, Dr Pepper and Blue Bell, some of my all time favorite things, Mr. Sourheart, aka, Randy (the closer it gets to holiday time, he quickly changes from sweetheart to sourheart) picked me up from the airport and whisked me away to one of our favorite restaurants. Actually it is one of his favorites, because it is the only place in California where you can get Blue Bell ice cream.  As  we are sitting outside, enjoying the gorgeous weather, just waiting for our food to arrive, we are talking about how he is so glad to have me home so he doesn’t have to eat by himself. It was at this point that I asked, “what did you eat for supper while I was gone last week?” You can’t imagine the stares that came my way. Randy hid behind his napkin. I thought there for a minute we were going to be asked to leave or at least take the table by the kitchen door. People from the tables around us began to look my way and then whisper to their table companions. I felt so ashamed. Fortunately, our food arrived and Randy quickly stuffed a roll in my mouth before I could say anything more. He quietly “encouraged” me to save that kind of talk for when we were alone. Note to self….when not in the South, I eat dinner, not supper! There is just something wrong with ordering chicken fried steak with cream gravy and mashed potatoes for dinner, but sounds so much better when you are ordering it for supper. Tonight, because we are all alone, I am making this new delicious sounding soup for supper. Tomorrow, we are having company and  prime rib for dinner.  Am looking for new friends that don’t mind coming to supper, rather than coming for dinner. Think I will post the recipe in a new post, I got a little carried away thinking about dinner vs supper.

Supper

Chicken Fried Anything

Taters

Collard Greens

Gravy

Cobblers

Hot Biscuits with butter and jelly

Sweet Taters

Macaroni & Cheese

Corn on the Cob

Dinner

Prime Rib

Au Jus

Brussels Sprouts

Green Beans with Proscuitto

Stuffed Mushrooms

Merignues

See the difference?

 

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FYI-Pumpkin Pie Bars

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Made the pumpkin bars last night  that I posted yesterday. Just had one and they are really good. The flavor of the cake mix crust is so buttery and the pumpkin filling almost tastes like a pumpkin cheesecake. Topped with whipped cream, I think we have a winner folks….

Desserts · Fruit · Holiday Fare · Salads

Cranberry Congealed Salad

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We cannot have Thanksgiving without a cranberry salad. This recipe, taken from Paula Deen Magazine steps it up a notch. You could even use if for dessert if you wanted. It is delicious.  Such a gorgeous red color that is such a complimentary side to the turkey.

1 cup flour

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 ( 8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

2 (3 oz) packages orange gelatin (this gives you that great orange-cranberry flavor combination)

2 cups boiling water

2 (14 oz) cans whole-berry cranberry sauce

1 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 13×9″ baking pan with nonstick cooking spray

In a medium bowl, combine flour, pecans and brown sugar. Add melted butter, stirring to combine. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan; bake for 12-15 min or until light golden brown. Let cool completely.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth. Add Cool Whip and beat until blended well. Spread mixture over cooled crust; cover and chill for at least 4 hours. or refrigerate for up to 2 days (this would be great to make ahead so you have your salad already made and could concentrate on the turkey).

In a large bowl, stir together gelatin and 2 cups boiling water. Add cranberry sauce, stirring until combined. Stir in 2 cup cold water. Slowly pour gelatin mixture over chilled cream cheese layer. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Cut into squares and serve. Garnish with whipped topping and a fresh cranberry and mint leaf.

Desserts · Fruit · Holiday Fare

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

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Another super easy, yet so yummy pumpkin dessert. Brought to you by Jell-O!  J E L L-O

Preheat oven to 350.
1 pkg (2 layer size) Duncan Hines yellow  cake mix

4 eggs, divided

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 ( 8oz) cream cheese, softened

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin

1 pkg  (3/4 oz) pumpkin spice flavor instant pudding (if you can’t find the pumpkin spice, use French vanilla

1/3 cup cold milk

1/2 teas cinnamon

1 envelop Dream Whip Whipped Topping Mix

Line a 13×9″ pan with foil; spray with cooking spray. Blend cake mix, 1 egg and butter; press onto bottom of pan.

Beat cream cheese, brown sugar, remaining eggs, pumpkin and dry pudding mix with mixer until blended. Pour onto crust.

Bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer pan to cooling rack; cool completely.

Mix whipped topping with milk and beat until blended. Beat on high speed until mixture forms stiff peaks. Spread onto dessert.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I cheated and used real whipping cream. Add 1/3 cup sugar with 1/2 pt of whipping cream and beat until stiff peaks form. Nothing is better than REAL whipping cream…..so easy and makes such a difference.

Serves 18