Wednesday, 30 September 2009
[Click-Heirloom] Lasting Brand
CREAM CHEESE SPRITZ COOKIES

2½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter (room temperature)
3 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar until it is light and fluffy (about 3 or 4 minutes). Beat in egg yolk and extracts. Add flour ½ cup at a time until well blended. Dough will be quite stiff.
Roll dough into logs and place in your cookie press (follow cookie press directions). If you do not have a cookie press, just roll them into 1" balls and flatten with a fork or the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake cookies at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes.
If you want to decorate these cookies for the holidays, you can brush a very small amount of egg white on each cookie and cover them with sprinkles. You can also press a small piece of maraschino cherry into the center of each cookie.

Monday, 28 September 2009
PIZZA ROLLS - A QUICK PARTY SNACK
This really isn't a "recipe" as much as it is an idea. Make sure you buy the large egg roll wrappers (they are great to have on hand since they stay good in the fridge for a long time).
First, sliver the pepperoni and shred the cheese. If you use any other meat or veggie, make sure you cut it fairly small so that the cheese and sauce can melt around it (the filling will get hotter if you keep the ingredients on the small side as well).
In one corner of the wrapper, stack meat first, then cheese and sauce on top, then fold the point of the corner over the filling and tuck in the sides of the wrapper and roll them up. When you are done rolling, you will come to the pointed corner of the wrapper. "Glue" the wrapper point onto the pizza roll with a slurry of flour and water (should be the consistency of Elmer's Glue).
Fry these pizza rolls in canola oil at about 350 degrees. Watch the first few carefully since they brown very fast. If they seem to be browning too fast, turn the heat down a little.NOTE: If you need a ranch dressing recipe, I hope you will try mine (CLICK HERE)
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
OPEN FACE SURIMI MELT SANDWICHES
I use surimi because it is not only economical, but it comes pre-cooked and is great for a super-fast meal (hot or cold). This open face surimi melt sandwich is quick, filling and easy.
Surimi Melts12 ounce package of crab flavored surimi (flake style)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon chopped chives or green onion
1/3 cup low fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
3 slices of bacon fried crisp
3 English muffins split in half
2 cups shredded cheddar or pepper-jack cheese
Rough chop the surimi and mix it with the chives, mayo, Dijon, lemon pepper, crumbled bacon and 1 cup of shredded cheddar or pepper-jack cheese until well blended.
Lightly toast the split English muffins and then top with the surimi mixture (divided equally).
Top mixture with the rest of the shredded cheddar (or pepper-jack) and broil these open face sandwiches until the cheese is melted and the sandwich is hot.
NOTE: Makes six sandwiches, 300 calories each.
Monday, 21 September 2009
PIZZA-STUFFED PEPPERS
1/2 cup uncooked orzo4 cups boiling water
6 small bell peppers
10 ounces ground turkey
1/2 cup diced pepperoni
15 oz. of pizza sauce
1½ cups mozzarella shredded
1/2 cup water
Cook the orzo in 4 cups boiling water for 3 minutes (see note). Drain and rinse with cold water then set aside. Cut top off of bell pepper and clean out seeds and membranes, rinse. If pepper does not sit straight, trim a little off the bottom.
Brown ground turkey and pepperoni over medium-high heat for 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until turkey is not longer pink then drain well. Stir in pizza sauce, 1 cup of cheese and the partially cooked pasta. Divide mixture evenly between the bell peppers.
Spray a 5-6 quart slow cooker with vegetable spray and pour in 1/2 cup water. Stand filled bell peppers upright in slow cooker, replace bell pepper tops. Put lid on and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. Just before serving, remove pepper tops and top with remaining cheese, cook 5 to 10 minutes more or until cheese is melted.
To remove bell peppers from slow cooker, lift out with large slotted spoon, using tongs to support peppers (do not squeeze).
NOTE: If you use my method of baking these bell peppers, cook the orzo for the full 9 minutes before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. I also added about a cup of chopped mushrooms to meat mixture during the last part of its cooking time.
Friday, 18 September 2009
FUN FOOD FACTS & OUR DOG CHLOE
I've put together a list of fun food facts that I hope you will find some use for:1. Did you know that the pre-shredded cheese in the supermarket is coated with potato starch or powdered cellulose to keep it from clumping up? No wonder freshly shredded cheese tastes better (and melts better).
2. If you have a problem with meatballs crumbling when you brown them, chill them in the fridge for half an hour before you fry them.
3. Keep a small box of powdered milk in your pantry. It is always good to bake with in a pinch. If a cake or cookie recipe calls for cream, you can use the powdered milk (using only half of the water) and it will work.
4. Do you have toddlers at home? Freeze leftovers in ice cube trays then pop them out and store the cubes in a freezer Ziploc type bag. The smaller size microwave quickly and they make a great no-fuss lunch for your little ones.
5. Does a recipe call for just a few drops of lemon juice? Poke a lemon with a fork and squeeze out what you need, then seal the fork holes with a little butter and put back in the fridge.
6. Cottage cheese and sour cream last longer if you store the containers upside down (I put mine on a dish just in case there is something wrong with the container seal).
7. If you live in a "non-corn growing state" like I do, fresh corn on the cob can be less than primo at times. A spoon of sugar in the boiling water will give your corn a great fresh taste. This works great for fresh broccoli too.
8. When making a recipe that has blueberries, raisins, chocolate chips, etc. in it, coat them with flour before you fold them into the batter. It will keep them from sinking to the bottom of your cake.
9. If you are caramelizing sugar for a recipe, make sure you use a bright/light colored pan so you can keep an eye on the color of the sugar.
10. To keep bananas from turning brown, wrap them in a dark plastic trash bag and keep them in the vegetable crisper of your fridge. They will stay bright yellow for several days.
Thursday, 17 September 2009
VEGGIE CALZONES
Personally, I like my calzones stuffed to the brim with veggies and a little pizza sauce & cheese. I have found, through trial and error, that you have to saute your veggies until tender then drain them well on a paper towel. If you don't, you will get a soggy-bottom crust on your sandwich. Any veggies will work. Roasted veggies are excellent, so are grilled veggies. Tonight I was lazy, so I just sauteed some broccoli, mushrooms, garlic, green onions and kidney beans, but usually, the more veggie variety the better.
I use my regular bread dough recipe (CLICK HERE) and jazz it up with 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder(add seasonings when you add the liquid in the recipe). Normally, I would rather cut my arm off than show anyone my oven, but I wanted you to see MY secret for getting a pizzeria style pizza crust. It doesn't look like anything special, but it is truly the best way to cook pizza at home.
My hubby came up with this idea about 10 years ago when I was complaining that my pizza stone wasn't working the way I wanted it to (I wanted a crispy crust with nice pillowy edges). He cut a 1/4" thick piece of steel (to fit my oven) and I seasoned it like a cast iron frying pan. After you have seasoned it, you never grease it or wash it again, just wipe it off.....nothing sticks to it. For calzones, you will need a ball of yeast dough about the size of a hardball. Roll it out to a nice thin circle. Place a mound of sauteed, and drained, veggies on one side of the circle and top them with 1/4 cup of pizza sauce (CLICK HERE FOR MY PIZZA SAUCE) and a serious hand full of grated mozzarella cheese. Fold the "empty" side of the calzone over the filling and pinch the edges together. Once pinched together, roll the pinched dough edge back onto itself to form a very tight seal. Using scissors, snip several vent holes in the top of the calzone. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until nice and golden. Just as soon as they come out of the oven, brush them with butter and sprinkle with parmesan and coarse salt.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
PINEAPPLE-PECAN CUPCAKES
With my "tweaks" I was aiming for sort of a pineapple upside down cake flavor, and it worked!! I love recipes like this, they go together with just a bowl and a spoon... and couldn't be easier.
2 cups all purpose flour (1 cup)
2 cups sugar (1/2 cup white + 1/2 cup brown sugar)
2 teaspoons baking soda (1 teaspoon)
2 eggs (1 egg)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
20 ounce can crushed pineapple (8 oz. can)
1 cup chopped pecans - toasted (2/3 cup)
Stir everything in a large bowl, just until moist. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan (I used paper-lined cupcakes) and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes (I baked my cupcakes for 18 minutes).
NOTE: Do not drain the crushed pineapple.
FROSTING8 ounces of cream cheese (softened)
1 stick of butter (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon (yes tablespoon) of vanilla
Mix until smooth
Monday, 14 September 2009
RICE STUFFED MUSHROOMS
I used a melon baller to scrape out the gills of the large mushrooms which made a nice pocket for the rice. Sunday, 13 September 2009
Peanut Butter Chocolate-Chips Oatmeal Cookies
Thursday, 10 September 2009
CHOCOLATE-VANILLA CHEESECAKE
CHEESECAKE4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
(2) 8 ounce cream cheese (divided)
1/2 cup sugar (divided)
2 eggs (divided)
(1) 6 ounce Oreo pie crust
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Microwave the chocolate (on high) for 1½ minutes (stirring every 30 seconds) or until completely melted. My microwave only took about 50 seconds.
To the melted chocolate, add one 8 ounce package of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of white sugar and one egg. Beat until well mixed and pour into Oreo crust. In a different bowl, mix one 8 ounce package of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of white sugar, one egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and pour over the chocolate filling. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Chill for at least 3 hours then frost with whipped topping & sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds.
CREAM CHEESE-WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
(1) 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream
toasted sliced almonds
Combine room temperature cream cheese, sugar and extracts in a large mixing bowl. Beat until very smooth. With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the whipping cream (stop once in a while to scrape down the interior walls of the bowl). Continue to beat until cream forms stiff peaks.
This is a very sturdy whipped cream and will not deflate (there is still one piece of this cheesecake in the fridge (calling my name) and the whipped cream still looks as good as it did on Sunday).
NOTE: I did not have an Oreo crust, so I made a graham cracker crust and used a 10" pie plate. I didn't find out, until the cheesecake was in the oven, that an Oreo crust is only 8½" across, so my cheesecake came out a little on the thin side. NOTE: If you ever forget to bring the cream cheese up to room temperature, use this trick: unwrap cream cheese completely and microwave it on high for 10-15 seconds. (my microwave takes 13 seconds).
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
ULTRA TENDER PORK RIBS
Look for boneless country style pork ribs (the leaner the better) in the meat market. An hour before you want to grill, cut them in to sections about 4" long and put in a large sauce pan and enough water to cover them. Add a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of black pepper.
Bring this to a boil on high. After a few minutes, you will see some "crud" float to the surface. Don't get grossed out, but it will look like this:
Skim it off and throw it away (you may have to do this a couple of times). Reduce the heat to a gentle boil and boil for 45 minutes. Pull one of the pieces of pork out of the pan and see if it is fork tender. If not, boil for another 15 minutes (but no longer). Some pork tends to be tougher than others.Monday, 7 September 2009
PITA BREAD
This was a quick fun project and the final results were delicious, you will never be happy with grocery store pita's again.

1 and 1/8 cups warm water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Put everything into the bread pan of your bread machine, select dough setting and start. Let dough going through first rise.
Turn dough out onto your floured counter. Knead dough a few times then divide into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. With a floured rolling pin, roll each ball out into a 6" circle (dough will be very thin). Lay circles on lightly floured surface and cover with a dry light-weight dish towel. Let it rest for 30 minutes or until slightly puffy.
In the meantime, heat your oven to 500 (yep! 500) and place a wire cake rack into your oven (set it right on the oven rack...no pan please). Gently lift a circle of dough and gently place it on the hot cake rack (bake 2 at a time). Bake for five minutes until they are super-puffed and lightly brown. Remove with spatula and place in a brown paper bag (I just used some lunch bags) and make sure you seal up the bag well (I used a chip clip to seal bags) and let the pita's cool in there. I don't know why this step is necessary, but that is what the recipe calls for. They will look like this:
When they are cooled, you can split them open or cut off one end. We really enjoyed these and I will definitely make these again.NOTE: I don't have a bread machine, so I just made the dough in my stand mixer and let it rise for about an hour.
NOTE: Alaska has almost non-stop daylight in the summers which accounts for the huge vegetables people grow here, especially the cole crops.
Friday, 4 September 2009
PEANUT BUTTER RICE KRISPIE TREATS
1 cup light corn syrup1 cup white sugar (see note)
1 cup peanut butter
5 cups crisp rice cereal
Combine corn syrup and sugar in medium saucepan. Stir until well blended and cook on medium heat until boiling (stirring occasionally). Let boil for 30 seconds and remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and mix until well blended. Stir in cereal and mix well. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Lightly spray hands with cooking spray and press mixture into pan. Cool and cut into squares.
NOTE: I removed 2 tablespoons of sugar and replaced it with 2 tablespoons of honey.
NOTE: I let my syrup mixture gently boil for a full minute.
NOTE: I found that you don't have to spray your hands with cooking spray when you press down the mixture. If you dampen your hands and just shake them dry for about 5 seconds, it does the same thing without making the treats greasy.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
GREEN ENCHILADA SAUCE
1 to 2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of chopped onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 to 3 teaspoons mild chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons flour
In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and saute the onions and garlic until they are tender and mellow, then put them in a food processor along with 1 cup of prepared chilies, and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth and 2 tablespoons of flour; process until smooth. Transfer to a sauce pan and add the chili powder, cumin, salt and the remaining 1&1/2 cups of chicken broth. Cook until thick and bubbling; lower heat and simmer slowly for about 20 minutes. Use immediately.
While this enchilada sauce can be used on beef enchiladas, it does better with chicken or seafood. The enchiladas pictured here were made with surimi (fake crab). I just chopped the surimi into smaller pieces, mixed it with Monterey Jack cheese and a little of the green enchilada sauce and rolled the filling in tortillas, poured the sauce over them and topped with more cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes or until everything is hot and bubbly. They were light and tasty. NOTE: I only used 1 teaspoon of mild chili powder. If you like more kick, add more.
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
SWEET AND SOUR MEATBALLS
MEATBALLS1 pound of very lean ground beef
5 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup of milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Mix all ingredients and shape into walnut size balls. Bake for 20 minutes at 375, then drain on paper towels.
SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
In large sauce pan, mix:
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon dry red chili flakes (I use only a pinch)
(1) 8 ounce can of pineapple chunks undrained
Bring everything to a boil and thicken with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup of water. Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. When the sauce has thickened, turn the heat down to a very slow simmer and add the baked meatballs. Continue simmering for about 20 minutes. Serve over rice.
NOTE: We don't care for a lot of "heat" in our food, so I use a scant 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
NOTE: Bake the meatballs for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how large you make them. I turn on the broiler for the last 2 or 3 minutes to give the meatballs some color.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
PEACH PIE and a QUESTION ABOUT CURRY POWDER
Hubby is the pie eater at our house and he likes thinner pies as opposed to deep dish pies, so I started baking his pies in a two piece tart pan. At first I resisted, but soon discovered that the tart pan not only makes a prettier pie, but they are also much easier to serve (no pie plate corners to maneuver around when your cutting that first piece). CRUST
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ice cold butter
6-8 tablespoons ice water
Place the flour, salt and cold butter (cubed) into a food processor and pulse a few times until you get fine crumbs. Pour this mixture into a bowl and add 6 tablespoons of ice water. If the dough is too dry, add more ice water (1
PEACH FILLING
5 cups of fresh peaches (peeled and sliced)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
Mix the sugars, cinnamon, flour, salt and peaches (gently) until everything is moistened. Stir in vanilla extract. Remove bottom crust from the fridge and "paint" the INSIDE surface of it with egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water ). This will help keep the bottom crust from getting soggy while baking. Pour the fruit filling into the bottom crust and dot the filling with small pinches of cold butter.
Roll out the top crust...place it on top of the fruit and pinch the edges (if you are using a pie plate) or run your rolling pin across the edges if you are using a tart pan. Cut a vent hole in the top pie crust. Brush egg wash over the surface of the pie and sprinkle with white sugar. Bake in a PREHEATED 450 oven for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 for 30 more minutes. Remove pie from oven and cool at least 3 hours before cutting.
NOTE: When I bake a pie in a standard pie plate (especially glass pie plates) I spray the plate with just a little cooking spray. This helps when it comes time to remove the pie, especially if some of the juices have found their way under the crust. This is not necessary with the two piece tart pan.NOTE: Mix dough as quickly as possible (when using your hands) so that you don't warm up the butter.
NOTE: When you paint the inside bottom crust with the egg wash, be careful not to get too much of it up by the top edge of the tart pan (or the crust will get glued to the pan).
NOTE: Put a cookie sheet under your pie pan while it is in the oven just in case you have spill overs.
CURRY POWDER QUESTION: I have been looking at some recipes that use curry powder. I have zero experience with curry powder and a quick check on the Internet confused me even more. I guess there are many kinds of curry powders (hot, sweet, etc.). What should I watch for when purchasing curry powder. I want to try a chicken salad recipe that just says " 1/2 tsp. curry powder"...what do I buy? Any suggestions or helpful hints would be appreciated.













