Friday, December 16, 2011

Reija's Mom's Lasagna

http://vegetabletuesdays.blogspot.com/2011/10/moms-lasagna.html

I thought this was too cheesy. I like Marie's mom's lasagna better i think. This recipe has a lot more ricotta, while Marie's has less ricotta and some cottage cheese. We both liked it, but DH is more excited about cheesiness than I am.

helpful note: a 16 oz box of lasagna noodles has 16 noodles in it.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Sauteed Gnocchi

http://www.food.com/recipe/sauteed-gnocchi-68317

This was pretty good. I used Parmesan cheese, 1 tsp butter, dried gnocchi, 1 garlic clove, and dried italian seasoning. Plus salt and pepper. I sauteed the gnocchi on high heat to try and get rid of some of the wetness. The gnocchi I used is more soggy than the kind I prefer, and the sauteing helped a lot. David thought adding some halved grape tomatoes would be a nice touch to add crunch.  I will make this again---it is superfast and good.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Old Fashioned Gingerbread

https://web.archive.org/web/20150605053945/https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/favorite-old-fashioned-gingerbread

This can be made into a cake or loaf of bread. I poured it into 8 mini loaf pans and baked it for 20-something minutes. This is milder than the gingerbread loaf I made last year, but still has a strong flavor.

Notes: I've made this 3 times now. It is fantastic as a cake with whipped cream on top. I don't think it needs to bake a whole hour either. This makes two short loaves, or 1 giant loaf of bread. I've used full flavor molasses (not blackstrap) and it is great. David and I both like the strong flavor.

4/29/2019: made this again forgetting it was on the blog. Went to post it and found I already had! Enjoyed by the whole family. Served with applesauce and whipped cream. Baked it for 50 minutes in 8x8 pan.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Candied White Fruit Cake


Candied White Fruit Cake
6 cups sifted all purpose flour  (mom never sifted it)
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 ½ cups (1 lb.) coarsely chopped candied pineapple
2 cups (1 lb.) whole candied cherries
3 ½ cups (1 ¼ lb.) pitted dates. Cut coarsely.
12 eggs
1 ounce of rum extract or 1 ounce of vanilla (2 Tablespoons)
3 cups sugar of 2 ½ cups granulated fructose
8 cups (2 lbs.) Pecan halves or chopped
Sift flour with baking powder and salt. (Mom just mixed)
Add fruits and mix well with hands to coat thoroughly each piece of fruit

Beat eggs until frothy (keep separate)
Gradually beat in sugar into eggs
With hands, mix nuts into egg mixture.

Pour egg mixture over floured fruit. Mix with hands. (Reach down and turn from the bottom up. All flour needs to be contacting egg mixture.)

Grease 2   10 inch angel foodcake pans. Or 2   9inch springform pans.
 Line with unglazed brown paper and grease again. (Mom didn’t do this. She wants a crust.)
Divide dough between pans. Press mixture down firmly with fingers.
Bake in preheated slow oven 275 degrees F. For 1 ¼ hours. (Mom says she baked it 1 ½ hours at Canyon Park.) Poke in toothpick to check if cooked.
Let stand in pans for five minutes. Take a sharp knife, run it around the sides. Flip upside down on cooling rack. Take sides off. Leave cone in until cooled, if desired.
Wrap with ceran wrap tightly with two or more layers. Put in cool place. (Mom put in storage room outside)

Makes 11  2 ¼ by 5 inch loaves. Or 7 one pound loaves baked 55 -60 minutes.

Side Note: You can use dried pineapple. Put one cup water over it in a pan. Bring it to a boil and turn it off.
Soak dried papaya in 1 cup of water for a couple of hours. 

Mom’s Cheesecake Bar Cookies


Mom’s Cheesecake  Bar Cookies
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar packed
1 cup flour
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

Cream butter with brown sugar.  Add flour and walnuts to make a crumb mixture. Reserve 1 cup for toppings and press the remainder into the bottom of an 8 inch square pan. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.
¼ cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese
1 egg
2 T milk
1 T lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla

Blend sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Add egg, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat well. Spread over baked crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 350 for 25 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

Mom’s Christmas Raspberry Bars


Mom’s Christmas Raspberry Bars
½ cup butter softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 ½ cup all purposed flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups quick cooking rolled oats
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2/3 cup raspberry jam
        *          *                *
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
Stir together flour, salt, and soda.
Add to creamed mixture.
Add oats and ¼ cup water.
Mix till crumbly

Firmly pat half of the crumbly mixture into a 13x9x2 inch baking pan.
Stir lemon juice into the jam and spread over the base.
Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Mom's Lemon Bars


Lemon Bars 
1 Cup all purpose flour (mom uses unbleached flour)
¼ cup sifted powdered sugar (mom never sifted it)
½ cup butter
2 eggs
¾ cup granulated sugar
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Powdered sugar

Stir flour and ¼ cup powdered sugar together. Cut in butter until mixture clings together. Pat into an ungreased 8x8x2 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Beat eggs. Add granulated sugar and lemon juice. Beat until slightly thick and smooth.
Stir together 2 T flour and baking powder. Add to egg mixture. Blend until all is moistened. Pour over baked layer. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Sift powdered sugar over the top. Cool and cut into bars.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
http://www.food.com/recipe/worlds-best-chocolate-chip-cookies-26849

This is a better cookie recipe than what I made last week. I would reduce the choc chips to 2 cups though. It made 60 cookies.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Chocolate Chip cookies - one dozen

http://www.dessertfortwo.com/2011/04/1-dozen-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I've never made choc chip cookies much so have never established a favorite recipe. I tried this one yesterday and it wasn't my favorite. I think it is lacking flavor of some kind. I did add 1/3 cup chopped pecans to the dough. So this recipe was ok but I won't repeat it.

Turkey Broth / Soup

I made turkey soup with a leftover turkey carcass. To do that you need to make broth first.

To make broth, I first pull off whatever meat I can and put it in the fridge to add to the soup later. Then I use a cleaver and hack the bones apart a little if possible. I put the bones, skin, tendons and other stuff (except the meat I put aside) into a 6 qt slow cooker to make the broth. Then I covered it with water, probably 2-3 qts of it. Then I cooked it on low for nearly 24 hrs. After that, I pour it all through a sieve and into a stock pot. I pulled off some chunks of meat I'd missed from the bones, and put it with the other meat. There was about 2 quarts of broth. I put it in the fridge so the fat goes to the top. Then I can pick the fat off the top easily and reheat the stock for use in soup.

To make the soup I chopped 2 onions, a small celery bunch, and 3 large carrots and simmered for 45 minutes. Add the turkey meat and cook until hot again. I also season with 1 tsp salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.