Cookbooks 365

Requested recipes :)

2009-11-23T21:11:00.001-06:00

When you've got a house full of guests for the holidays, lunches can be a challenge. Here are two sandwich fillings that are very popular in our house and that often get requested for parties, etc. The first is my grandmother's recipe for pimento cheese spread. The secret is in the cheese you use, so if you want it good and cheesy, make sure to read my notes at the end. The second recipe is my "famous" chicken salad recipe that has grapes and pecans in it. It's always a hit and usually requested for "tea sandwiches" as well as other events. Enjoy and let me know what you think if you try them!

Pimento Cheese

8 oz Cheddar cheese
8 oz Sharp cheddar cheese
8 oz Velveeta cheese
1 dash Salt
1 dash Pepper
1 1/2 tbsp Sugar -- or substitute 2 pkts Splenda
1 cup Mayonnaise
4 ounces diced pimento -- undrained

Shred cheese. Mix mayo, salt, pepper and sugar together to blend. Add pimentos with liquid to mayo mixture. Fold in cheese. Refrigerate for 2 hrs or overnight for best flavor.

From Betty Wood Calvert

Christi's notes: I normally try and get Cracker Barrel cheese, 1 block extra sharp and 1 block sharp. They are 10 oz. each so I just use the full amount plus 8 oz of Velveeta. This makes a drier" mixture, but we like it a little less creamy. If you want it more creamy, increase the mayo to 1 1/4 cups or so.

The Velveeta shreds better when very cold so I usually freeze it for 15 minutes before shredding for best results.

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Chicken Pecan Salad

Serving Size : 8

2 cans chicken in broth -- drained (9.75 oz each)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
2 stalks celery -- diced
2/3 pound seedless green grapes -- sliced in half
1 cup pecan halves -- toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh dill -- chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

In a large bowl, mix sour cream and mayonnaise until throughly blended. Add salt, pepper and dill. Fold in chicken, celery, grapes and pecan halves. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 2 hours or overnight to blend flavors. Serve on a bed of greens, or as a sandwich on croissants with fresh fruit. Wonderfully refreshing!

You can use fresh poached chicken instead of canned if you prefer. When I make this for large groups the canned is easier, but the poached is better tasting. I would do 4 chicken breasts to substitute.

The fresh dill really does make a difference, but if you just CAN'T do fresh, substitute about 2 tbsp dried.

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Sharing another Thanksgiving recipe: Cranberry-Orange Relish (LC)

2009-11-19T17:09:00.000-06:00

My husband loves cranberries and several years back, when we were "doing Atkins", I needed a way to create our traditional Cranberry-Orange Relish without all the sugar that traditionally was used. So I came up with the following recipe which substitutes sugar-free orange marmalade for most of the sweetening and Splenda for the rest. It is now a favorite even for those who aren't watching their sugar intake!

Cranberry-Orange Relish (LC)

12 ounces fresh cranberries -- (1 bag) well washed and patted dry
1/2 cup sugar-free orange marmalade
1/2 cup Splenda granular

Either in a meat grinder or in a food processor chop the raw cranberries. Transfer to glass or ceramic serving bowl and add the marmalade and Splenda. Cover with plastic and let stand for 24 hours. Refrigerate after that; this will keep for 2 weeks. Leftovers can be combined with mayonnaise and used as a dressing for leftover turkey sandwiches.

Yield:
"3 cups"

Sharing my recipe: Pecan Bacon Cornbread Dressing

2009-11-19T09:42:00.001-06:00

Every year the debate rages... Which dressing to make, "regular" (ie. plain bread) or "cornbread"... I say, make both! I love cornbread dressing, but also my grandmother's "regular" (and oyster version) dressing, so I make the cornbread and let Grandma make the "regular". Here's my favorite cornbread dressing recipe:

Pecan Bacon Cornbread Dressing

1 package jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg -- for cornbread
1/3 milk -- for cornbread
4 slices white bread
8 bacon slices
5 tbsp butter
3 c chopped onion
2 c chopped celery
1 c chopped shallots
4 tsp dried rubbed sage -- or 4 tbsp fresh chopped sage
1 tbsp dried thyme -- or 3 tbsp fresh chopped thyme
4 c chicken broth
1 1/2 c pecans -- toasted, coarsely chopped
3 large eggs -- beaten

Prepare and bake 1 8x8" pan of jiffy corn muffin mix according to package directions, using 1 egg and 1/3 cup milk. Allow to cool throughly. (Can be done 1 day ahead)

Preheat oven to 325 deg. F. Cut corn bread and white bread into 3/4-inch cubes. Place bread cubes on baking sheet and toast until dry but not hard, about 15 minutes. Cool. Transfer to large bowl. Butter 11x13x2-inch baking dish. Cook bacon in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Using tongs, transfer bacon to paper towels; reserve 1/4 cup bacon drippings in skillet. Cool bacon and crumble. Add butter to bacon drippings in skillet and melt over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery and shallots; sauté just until pale golden brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in sage and thyme. Add to bread cubes in bowl. Mix in pecans and crumbled bacon. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Stir 1 1/2 cups chicken broth into dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in eggs. Moisten remaining dressing with remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth. Transfer to prepared dish. Bake dressing in covered dish alongside turkey for 1 hour. Uncover dressing and bake until top begins to crisp, about 5 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

-Christi

And the winner is...

2009-10-10T23:35:00.006-05:00

And the winner is...Eva!

"Daily entry:
I would like to try the fajitas
shopgurl101 at gmail dot com"

Congrats and thanks to all who entered the giveaway and I hope that if you were not chosen as the winner you'll still consider picking up a copy of this fabulous cookbook for yourself! It is available in bookstores nationwide now and I've even seen it at the “warehouse” clubs (Sam's, Costco, etc.) as well as on Amazon. It's a great book and we've really enjoyed the meals we've had from our gourmet session so far.

OAMC (Once-A-Month cooking) isn't a new concept in our house. Back when I was working 60+ hours a week as a corporate trainer, it's the only thing that kept my husband and I from having to eat out every meal! Once a month we would set aside a weekend to cook and we really enjoyed not only having hot meals from those sessions, but the fun of being in the kitchen together and sharing time was a double blessing. I highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation. It's also great for gifting. For instance, when my sister had her baby (my niece, who's now almost 4!) I was able to gift she and her husband with several weeks worth of meals so that when the baby arrived she didn't have to worry about cooking, just thawing and reheating. I know her husband said it was wonderful to have :)

Whenever I start an OAMC (or, in this case, a two week session), I always start with setting up a spreadsheet of ingredients I will need for my session. I include EVERYTHING on this list, including things I KNOW I have in the pantry/fridge/freezer. I include a column to check off the items as well so that I can just go through the grocery/warehouse store and pick things up as I go. One of the wonderful things about THIS book is the pre-made shopping lists at the beginning of each session section. It makes list-making a breeze! Because I have already made up the spreadsheet for the two week gourmet session, I thought I'd share it with you here but please feel free to take it and make it your own. It's an MS Excel document, so you will need to have that to open it, but once you have the basics, it's easy to plug in your ingredients and go. Of course you also need to have the recipes from the session and I will share a couple of our favorites with you below, but one of the other wonderful things about this book is that it has an “assembly order” for each session. These list the process steps you will take to make the dishes so you don't have to figure out what to chop when or how much needs chopped vs. diced, etc. This makes the process MUCH easier and saves you time and calculations. Whenever I do an OAMC session on my own, that's one of the steps I have to take time to work out and believe me, it is time consuming! After coming home from the store, here are some photos of the ingredients that I placed out on the table to make prep much quicker and easier. Of course I put the refrigerator items away so they didn't get too warm, but having the shelf-stable ingredients out and at hand is a time saver.

Pantry ingredients:

Produce:

Dairy:

Frozen items:

Meats:

Canned & Dry Goods:

This session has a total of 14 dishes (two weeks worth) BUT some of the recipes serve more than 4-6 people, so we were able to divide a couple of them to make a couple of extra meals, giving us a total of 18 dinners from this session. We've only tried a few of them so far but all have been very tasty. Our favorites of those we've tried have been:

Pork Roast with Apples and Mushrooms

This is the “pre-freezer” shot:

And the finished roasted pork:

And the plated dish:

and the Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue

Heading to the freezer:

On the grill:

And the plated final dish:

Both of these dishes were great, but for very different reasons. The pork roast was definitely comfort food and perfect for company. We served it up with some buttered noodles and it was very tasty. The barbecue was tangy and slightly spicy (never spicy enough for my chile-head hubby, but enough for most normal people) and was great served with steamed jasmine rice and some Asian veggies. Even my 1 year old like it. I'll share those two recipes below. I also loved the Uptown Joes which are a nice take on sloppy joes with a little tang from the mustard in the mix.

Our only disappointment was in the Chicken-to-Go recipe. I think the fault lies with me in my preparation of this dish and not in the dish itself, but will share my thoughts anyway. The recipe calls for 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, sliced into ½ in. strips. I think we had larger than normal chicken breasts in this case which gave us a whole lot of slices. This in and of itself would probably not have been a problem since we did have plenty of breading, etc. to use for them, but... When you serve this recipe, you use a “round crusty peasant loaf” of bread which you put the chicken strips into. Either my loaf of bread was too small (possible) or I had too many chicken strips but they barely fit into the loaf (as in I crammed them in to make them fit) and then they never got crispy or heated all the way through. So we ended up removing them from the loaf and heating them on a cookie sheet in the oven, but by that time they were gummy from being stuffed into the loaf and just didn't crisp up at all. Meanwhile the bread dried out and was inedible. Flavors were good, but execution was poor in this case. We'll give it a try again in the future and probably just bake the chicken separately from the bread so that it gets crisped up from the start. If you pick up a copy of this cookbook and give this recipe a try, I'd love to hear your experiences with it so I'll know what to do differently next time...

Now for the recipes! As promised, here are two of the recipes from this session, the “Pork Roast with Apples and Mushrooms” and the “Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue”

The Recipes:

Pork Roast with Apples and Mushrooms

1 tbsp dried thyme
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 3-4 lb boneless pork loin roast

Sauce:
2 tbsp butter*
½ cup apple juice
¾ cup chicken broth
¼ cup dry sherry

4 small cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges (2 cups)*
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms*

(* indicates item is not used until serving day)

Combine the thyme, salt and pepper. Package in a sandwich bag. Combine the sauce ingredients and package in a 1-quart bag. Place the pork loin roast (still in it's store packaging) in a 1-gallon freezer bag, tuck in the bag of spices and the sauce bag, label and freeze.

To serve, thaw the roast. Rub the roast with the thyme mixture. Place the roast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan and roast in a 325ºF oven for 2 hours, or until the meat registers 160ºF on a thermometer.

Transfer the meat to a platter and keep warm by tenting it with foil.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet melt the butter. Add the apple juice, chicken broth and sherry, then add the apple wedges and cook and stir until golden. Remove the apple wedges from the skillet with a slotted spoon, reserving the pan juices; keep warm. In the same skillet, cook the mushrooms until tender.

To serve, place the slices of pork roast and apple wedges on individual plates. Spoon the mushroom sauce over meat.

Serves 12-14

Freeze in: 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag; 1 quart Ziploc freezer bag; 1 Ziploc sandwich bag.

Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue

1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into ¼ in. slices
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp Thai chile paste
½ tsp ground ginger (or 1 tsp grated fresh)
1 tsp dark sesame oil
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 ½ tsp chopped garlic

With kitchen shears, cut the tenderloin diagonally across grain into ¼ in thick slices. Combine the pork with the remaining ingredients in a labeled 1-gallon freezer bag and freeze.

To serve, thaw the pork and marinade and prepare a grill. Place a wire grilling basket on a grill rack. Remove the pork from bag; discard marinade. Place the pork on the grilling basket, coated with nonstick cooking spray. Grill 5 minutes turning frequently, or until you reach the desired doneness.

Summary of Processes: Cut pork diagonally across grain into ¼ in slices.

Serves 4

Freeze in: 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag.

My Results:

The Pork Roast:

First observation... The Pork Roast recipe doesn't specify, but you need to keep the 2 tbsp butter for the sauce SEPARATE from the other ingredients so that you can melt it during the sauce-making. Instead of “Combine the sauce ingredients” it should say “Combine all sauce ingredients except butter”... so make that adjustment if you try this dish. I always advise reading completely through a recipe before attempting it and since I did that was able to catch this, but thought I'd let you know so you don't accidentally incorporate it into the other ingredients in the first steps. Other than that, the recipe works great and tastes great as well. My apples weren't “small” but were what I would consider “medium” sized and I only needed two to make the two cups of wedges so we used the extra two apples to make apple crisp for dessert :) This was a great recipe and one that I would definitely make for company in the future!

BBQ Pork:

This was our favorite so far. We don't have a grill basket and I didn't feel like firing up the outside grill (we use charcoal, not gas so it's a little more work...) so instead I used our indoor grill pan to make this dish. It grilled up perfectly and was super tasty. Recommend serving it with some steamed rice and veggies for a complete meal. Super yummy!

So those are two of the 14 recipes in just this ONE session of the cookbook. I hope you'll give them a shot and let me know how they turn out for you!

Giveaway week continues! Q&A with the authors...

2009-10-06T09:11:00.002-05:00

Ok, as promised, giveaway week is continuing here on my blog... For details about the giveaway and how to enter, refer to this post: It's Giveaway Week! Depending on how this giveaway goes, I've got some future ones planned as well, so be sure to pass the word and get folks entering!!!

Now onto today's content! Today I'm posting a Q&A with the authors of the book along with their bios so you can get to know them a little better. I've been familiar with these two authors for many years as I've used their original book quite a lot. In fact, I'm going to have to buy my fifth(!) copy of the book soon since I've given my own away so many times! Three of the authors favorites mentioned in the Q&A are in the gourmet session we just completed, so be sure to check back tomorrow when I'll be posting more about our own experiences with OAMC and this book...

Without further ado, here's the Q&A and bios:

Q&A with Mary Beth and Mimi on
Once-a-Month Cooking™:

You were the first to publish a book about bulk freezer cooking, and many others have come after you. How did you think of this concept—and what made you feel it would work for so many women?

Mary Beth:
Mimi developed this method at a time when we were writing articles together. She wanted me to call The Denver Post to see if they wanted us to write an article about it. I thought Mimi was crazy, and asked her to call. When the paper sent a reporter and photographer to her home within a week to do a food feature, we knew we were on to something. We’ve found over the years that Mimi’s three reasons for creating the strategy—to save time, money, and make possible good times at the table —resonate with most families.

Mimi: As a mother of three young children, I wanted to streamline my life without taking away from the things I loved. At the time, I was working with Hmong refugees in Denver, trying to sell
their handwork.

I studied my days by writing down how I spent my time in 15-minute increments.
And I found I was wasting the most time in the kitchen. I remember the day I decided I would cook until I ran out of the food I had on hand. I put all the dishes I had prepared on the dining room table. When I counted 30 meals I was ecstatic, because I knew I didn’t have to cook dinner again for a month. Every month for the next year I used the method, once for me and once with a friend, so I was able to perfect it. If someone was having a baby, I’d say “You buy these groceries, and I’ll prepare you a month’s meals.” It became the gift I gave my friends.

What are your top three favorite recipes in the new Once-a-Month Cookbook Family Favorites—and why?

Mary Beth:

1. Country-Style Ribs (This slow cooker entrée provides great aroma-therapy!)

2. Corn Soup with Basil, Avocado, and Crab (This delicious soup proves that frozen entrees can be both elegant and delicious.)

3. Penne in Cream Sauce with Sausage (My son Drew keeps asking me when we’ll have this one.)

Mimi:

1. Lemon Chicken (It’s so fast and tasty! Great for unexpected guests; it can be on the table in ten minutes.)

2. Uptown Joes (Great for picnics or ballgames in wide-mouth thermos.)

3. Beef Pot Roast (I love this one for its smell. There’s nothing like coming into a house that smells good.)

What wisdom could you offer to the busy woman who has never tried this method?

Mimi:
Even preparing two of any entrée at one time will show you how much time this technique can save! In the beginning, try this technique with a friend who can help you with the many tasks, even just answering the door, the phone, taking care of the kids, and making sure the ingredients are ready. The first time you try this, I’d recommend trying the free, downloadable one-week cycle from our website once-a-monthcooking.com or a two-week cycle from the book to get used to cooking in bulk. And don’t try to shop and cook on the same day if possible, to conserve your energy.

You say that anyone with a side freezer can implement the Once-a-Month Cooking plan—how do you make it work?

Mary Beth: I’ve frozen even the month’s-worth of entrees without a separate freezer. But I have to clean out the freezer before my cooking day, and I freeze most entrees in plastic bags, which can be squished flat or wedged into corners.

Beyond the obvious rewards of reducing food prep time, hassle, and grocery bills, what are you hoping Once-a-Month Cooking Family Favorites will do for busy families?

Mary Beth:
My hope is that this technique will make it possible for families to spend more meals together around a table. The family dinner is a simple concept with profound, measureable advantages for children and parents. We relinquish it too easily to busy schedules. I want other families to discover that a warm meal and good conversation are simple, valuable gifts that anyone would enjoy. Mimi: and I truly believe there isn’t any other family activity that is more meaningful or productive.

Author bios:

Mary Beth Lagerborg and Mimi Wilson's original bestseller Once-a-Month Cooking™ started the bulk freezer cooking phenomenon from recipes made for their own families. Both live in Colorado and continue to share a passion to help today's cooks save time and money while building family relationships over delicious meals.

Mary Beth is the creator of the website dwellingspace.com, providing tools on creating a home full of
acceptance and creativity. She is also the former media director for MOPS International (Mothers of Preschoolers). Mimi travels extensively to regions like Jordan, Ecuador, and Rwanda, and teaches Once-a-Month Cooking principles and benefits internationally.

Find out more at the official Once-a-Month Cooking website, or join our bulk freezer cooking discussion on facebook.

It's Giveaway week!

2009-10-05T15:31:00.004-05:00

For those who follow me on Twitter (@scrapcatb) you may recall that several weeks ago I posted a note that I had been selected to do a review and giveaway of a new Once A Month cooking book. Well, this is the week! This past weekend hubby and I spent our Saturday testing out one of the two week cooking sessions that are in the new book:

Once A Month Cooking Family Favorites

This is a GREAT book by the authors of the original Once A Month Cooking book, Mary Beth Lagerborg & Mimi Wilson. (You can still purchase the original book here) Family Favorites contains several "once a month" cooking plans with shopping lists, preparation steps, complete recipes and suggestions as well as a few two-week sessions which are great for smaller families, those short on time to do a big session or those who have never done once-a-month cooking before and would like to give it a short trial before jumping in with both feet. There is even a great "gluten-free" two week cycle in this book for those who are living the GF lifestyle!

Hubby and I decided to give the "Gourmet" two week session a shot this time and I'm very happy so far with the results. I'll be posting a couple of the recipes and my reviews of them during the week so you can see what our experience was like, but the publishers of this great book have generously given me an EXTRA copy of the book so I can do a GIVEAWAY with you, my blog readers!

Giveaway details:

The giveaway starts TODAY, October 5th and runs through Friday, October 9th at midnight central time. There are 5 different ways to enter (two which can be repeated daily), but you MUST do the first one before any of the others... Here's how to enter:

To receive 1 daily entry Visit the book's page on Amazon.com, click on the book picture to take a look inside and browse to the index. Then choose one or two recipes you'd like to try and post a comment here listing which one(s) most interest you. This is good for 1 entry each day as long as you post a different recipe or item you'd like to try each day.
For 1 additional daily entry Tweet about this blog and the giveaway from your Twitter account and then post back here linking to your tweet.
For 1 additional entry, grab my blog button and place it on your blog or homepage, then post a link here letting me know where the button is on your site.
For 1 additional entry, blog about this giveaway on your blog with a link back here then post a comment below with a link to your blog post.
For 1 addtional entry, follow me on Twitter then post a comment with your twitter username for verification.

This giveaway will end at midnight CST on October 9th when a random number generator will pick the winner of the giveaway. I will post the winner's name on Saturday, October 10th and will contact them via email (so make sure your comment links to your email!) to confirm.

As I mentioned, this is a GREAT book and the first recipe we tasted last night was delish! Tomorrow I will be posting a Q&A with the authors of the book as well as a little background into our experiences with OAMC and then during the week I will share with you photos, recipes, tips etc. from our review of this book. Be sure to tell all your friends and keep checking back for more!

Toot Toot! Tooting my own horn!

2009-09-11T14:34:00.004-05:00

Well, this past Sunday was a great day at the Kendall County Fair here in South Texas... Our annual fair runs Thursday through Monday each year and each year I tell myself I'm gonna enter something in one of the categories. Well, this year I finally did it! It was the weekend of my little girl's first birthday (Happy Birthday E!!!) and we had a bunch of out-of-town company, so what better time! HAHA! But while I was perusing the calendar of events for the fair, thinking I would take all the out-of-town family to the fair on Sunday (Saturday was the big birthday bash), I noticed that there was an apple pie contest on Sunday afternoon with entries due by 1pm that day.

Now, I have been making Pennsylvania Dutch apple pie using a recipe from my grandmother for years now and have always gotten rave reviews, but most of those tasters were family and friends, so could I actually do any good in a contest? For anyone who's never made a pie in this style, it is not a "two-crust" pie like so many we see here in the south, but rather a "crumb crusted" pie with a streusel-type topping instead of a pastry crust on top. That in and of itself makes it a slight bit different than most apple pies served here in South Texas, so I wondered whether or not that difference would be good or bad when put up against some of the best pies in the county. Seems that it was a good thing in this case since I actually WON! Yes, my pie won the blue ribbon in the apple pie contest, beating out 9 other pies for the best of show. I can hardly believe it! This is the first time I have entered anything into the fair, so I am super pleased with my results. And there were sure some tasty looking pies up there! So, even though you won't find this pie recipe in ANY cookbook other than mine, I thought I'd share the photos and recipe with you, my friends in the blog-i-verse... Hope you enjoy them!

Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie

Serving Size : 8 Yield: "1 pie"

Pie Crust:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup lard
1/4 cup unsalted butter -- chilled & cut into pieces
1/8 cup ice water -- to 1/4 cup

Pie Topping:

2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter -- chilled & cut into pieces

Pie Filling:

2 lbs tart apples
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

For pie crust: In the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt and sugar. Pulse to combine. Add lard and pulse 4-5 times. Add cold butter, a few pieces at a time, pulsing 1-2 seconds per addition. When butter is all in, add just enough water to cause crust to form a ball in the food processor. Form dough into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days prior to use. When ready to use, roll out crust and place into a 9" pie pan.

For topping: In the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour and brown sugar. Pulse in butter until cornmeal consistency. Set aside.

For pie filling: Peel, core and slice apples thinly. I prefer to use a mix of two different kinds of apples rather than one, usually choosing one apple that holds it's shape and one that bakes down a bit more. Toss apples with lemon juice in a large working bowl. Combine flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in another small bowl and then slowly toss with apples. Allow to set 5-10 minutes then place into unbaked pie crust. Any juice in the bottom of the bowl should be poured over the apples in the pie. Next, crumble topping over pie, patting lightly to adhere to apples. Bake at 375° until done (about 40-45 min or until golden brown). Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or sliced sharp cheddar cheese.

My additional notes: Now, some of you are gonna say... "Lard! Ugh!" but to you I have to say that the half-butter, half-lard crust is key. Nothing else flakes like lard and unlike crusts made completely with lard (and yes, there are quite a few recipes out there!) this gets the flavor of butter but the flake of the lard. And chilling the dough is KEY. Without chilling, you won't get the flake. Also don't over-process your dough. Over-processing it will result in a tough, chewy crust rather than a light flaky one. I also ALWAYS use two different kinds of apples. One that bakes down mushy like a Braeburn or Macintosh and one that holds its shape better like the granny smith. This gives the best of both worlds with some apple texture and some soft "gushy stuff".

I also used fresh ground cinnamon. It's really a snap to make if you get yourself a coffee grinder and dedicate it to spices only. If you aren't a coffee drinking household, let me advise you to STILL get a dedicated spices only grinder and keep one for coffee grinding as well. They're inexpensive and great to have on hand for those last minute coffee drinking guests. Don't do to your poor mother(in-law) what we did! My poor mom came to visit and we didn't think to mention that since we aren't a coffee drinking household (but do have a maker for guests), we only use the coffee grinder in our pantry for grinding spices...like dried hot peppers (hubby's obsession). Poor Mom! She really got a spicy cup of coffee the first time she used the grinder! Since then we've purchased a second grinder for coffee only and keep the "spice grinder" in the spice cabinet so as not to confuse people!

Ok, now on to the photos...

Here's a picture of the prize winning pie along with my application and recipe card just before I took it to the fairgrounds for judging:

And another one with a better shot of the overall pie:

And here are the distinguished judges! Two of the county sheriffs and one of the ladies auxiliary members. Officer Serna (on the left) also had the fair court duchess and princess to help him judge :) I could tell the girls were just too upset to have to help with this one! :)

And here is a photo of the three winners along with the Kendall county fair court for 2009-2010. Yep, that's me on the far right...

And finally a picture of the duplicate pie along with the ribbon and trophy I won. I baked two and took the best looking of the two to be judged, so my poor family didn't miss out at all...they just had to eat the less-pretty pie...

Next year I'm going to skip the apple pie contest, but I'm sure going to enter at least one of the other categories! This was too fun! Hope you'll give the pie recipe a try and let me know what you think... Back to posting recipe trials from the cookbooks soon!

Super Easy Blueberry Cobbler

2009-08-20T20:36:00.006-05:00

Got a big container of ripe plump blueberries from Costco the other day and then forgot about them...when I remembered them stashed in the fridge, I thought I'd better put them to use right quick! And what better or quicker way to use them than in a great blueberry cobbler.

I've been a blueberry fan since I was a little bitty girl. My parents tell stories of me picking blueberries from the backpack carrier when I was a tot and entertaining the other harvesters since my mom wasn't aware I was eating them until she took me down to find me covered in blue mess. But here in Texas we don't get a lot of blueberries since they don't do too well in our heat. So when I get a nice box of them from anywhere, I LOVE to use them well.

This recipe is one of the easiest I've ever made for blueberry cobbler. It's from the cookbook How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and comes together super quick and super easy. I really like this cookbook for it's explanations as well as it's recipes. Here's a link to it on Amazon:

The Recipe:

Blueberry Cobbler

Makes 6 to 8 servings
Time: About 1 hour

My friend John Willoughby found this recipe in a southern boardinghouse about ten years ago. I've since made it dozens of times, and it's always been a hit. I love this with blueberries, but you can make it with any fruit you like.

4 to 6 cups blueberries or other fruit, washed and well dried
1 cup sugar, or to taste
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits, plus some for greasing the pan
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Toss the fruit with half the sugar, and spread it in a lightly buttered 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar in the container of a food processor and pulse once or twice. Add the butter and process for 10 seconds, until the mixture is well blended. By hand, beat in the egg and vanilla.
Drop this mixture onto the fruit by tablespoonfuls; do not spread it out. Bake until golden yellow and just starting to brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

My Results:

As I mentioned, this is one of the quickest and easiest blueberry cobblers I've ever made and it was heavenly as well. Here's a photo of my ingredients before:

Because this recipe mostly comes together in a food processor, it is very easy. Toss the berries with the sugar and pour into the pan, then pulse the cobbler ingredients together in the food processor, mix in the egg and vanilla and then dollop it onto the berries. Here's what it looked like before entering the oven:

And here it is fresh out of the oven...

Now, the best part of this cobbler is that it isn't too "bready". I like shortcake, but to me cobbler should be less "cakey" and more fruity. And this recipe makes a beautiful cake/bread component along with the wonderfully saucy berries. Even without sprinkling with sugar, there is a sugary crunchy crack to the cobbler topping which is almost like a brulee topping and it is SO yummy! Definitely a do for the future...next we'll try it with our frozen hill country peaches! Hope you'll give this one a try and let me know how it works out for you!

Grilled chicken with Korean dipping sauce

2009-08-18T14:39:00.006-05:00

As I mentioned, I'm good at doing the recipes, but not so great at getting time to blog them! Here's a recipe from a couple of weeks back that we tried which is a basic grilled chicken breast with a wonderful Korean style dipping sauce. We served this with steamed Jasmine rice and an Asian vegetable medley. Even our little one like this meal! Today's recipe comes from The Best Recipe Grilling & Barbecue from the Cook's Illustrated folks. This is the same book that our grilled pork tenderloin recipe came from. Here's the link for the book:

The Recipes:

Charcoal-Grilled Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Serves 4

It's imperative to coat the breasts with a little oil so they don't stick to the grill. Note the short brining time here; the chicken will be finished brining by the time the charcoal is ready.

1/2 cup kosher salt or 1/4 cup table salt
1/2 cup sugar
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 ls) tenderloins removed and reserved for another use
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Ground black pepper

Dissolve the salt and sugar in 1 quart of cold water in a gallon-sized zipper-lock plastic bag. Add the chicken breasts; press out as much air as possible from the bag and seal. Refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 30 minutes.
Light a large chimney starter filled with charcoal (about 2 1/2 lbs) and allow to burn until all the charcoal is covered with a layer of fine gray ash. Build a modified two-level fire by spreading all the coals over two-thirds of the grill. Set the cooking rack in place, cover the grill with the lid, and let the rack heat up, about 5 minutes. Use a wire brush to scrape clean the cooking grate. The grill is ready when the coals are hot.
Meanwhile, remove the chicken from the brine, rinse well under cold, running water, and dry throughly with paper towels. Toss chicken in a medium bowl with oil to coat. Season with pepper to taste.
Cook the chicken, uncovered, smooth-side down, directly over the hot coals until the chicken is opaque about two-thirds up the sides and rich brown grill marks appear; 4 to 5 minutes. Turn and continue grilling until the chicken is fully cooked, about 4 minutes. (If using a glaze or paste, cook for 3 minutes after turning the chicken, brush the glaze or paste on both sides, and cook another minute or so, turning once.) To test for doneness, peek into the thickest part of the chicken with the tip of a small knife (It should be opaque at the center), or check the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer, which should register 160 degrees.
Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Serve hot or at room temperature, with a dipping sauce if desired.

Korean-Style Dipping Sauce

Makes about 3/4 cup
Enough for 4 chicken breasts or 6 chicken thighs.

For a Korean-style barbecue, simply divide this sauce in two and dip the chicken into the sauce before grilling. Serve the chicken, sliced, with extra sauce on the side, along with steamed plain short-grain rice and hot Korean pickles known as kimchee. Be sure to use light soy sauce, as the chicken is already well seasoned from the brine. This sauce lends itself best to boneless chicken thighs, as the strong soy flavor is balanced by the richer dark meat.

1/2 cup light soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
4 scallions, whites and green parts, sliced into thin rounds
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 tsp Asian sesame oil

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Serve as a dipping sauce with sliced, grilled chicken.

My Results:

So I didn't snap a picture of the chicken breasts and brining ingredients since they're so basic, but I followed the directions for brining exactly and am pleased with how moist the chicken breasts remained during and after cooking. I once again chose to grill indoors mainly because it was 102F outdoors the day we did these and neither of us really wanted to stand out by the grill! Too hot! I have decided that I desperately need a better vent hood if I'm going to do much more indoor grilling! :) Here is a photo of the ingredients I used for the dipping sauce:

You'll notice that I did NOT use reduced sodium soy sauce (lite soy sauce) because I didn't have any on hand, but I would highly suggest it since the chicken was a bit salty with the brining AND sauce. Next time I'll use the "lite"...just gotta get to the Asian market to get some (darn! just HATE having to go there...LOL!) I did follow the directions for this one exactly as well and then followed the note suggestion to divide it in two and dip the breasts in it before grilling. Here's a picture of the sauce before refrigerating:

This was some great chicken! Here's a picture of the final results. This also reheated well the next day for lunch...

Hope you'll give it a try and let me know what you think! And don't forget, you can click on the thumbnail pictures to see it bigger...

Foodie Blogroll!

2009-08-17T11:35:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited to be added to the Foodie Blogroll! If you're a foodie and have a blog, be sure to add yourself to the blog roll by clicking on the widget in my sidebar! It's a great collection of some of the best food bloggers on the net and I'm really glad to be part of it! Come join us!

Tamale Casserole

2009-08-09T15:12:00.004-05:00

So I'm good at doing the recipes, just not so good at finding the time to update the blog with my results! So I'll be posting a few of my recent trials today (I hope!) and hope you enjoy reading about them. The first one is a tamale casserole recipe from one of the new cookbooks I picked up recently, Taste of Home's Dinner on a Dime. This recipe came in very handy for using up some leftover ground beef and fresh corn (stripped from the cob) I had in the fridge and hubby really liked it. It makes quite a bit, so if you only have a few people, plan on freezing some for later like we did or plan on feeding a crowd. Here's a link to the cookbook:

The Recipe:

Tamale Casserole

This casserole really heats up dinnertime. It's a family-pleasing main course guaranteed to put a little kick in your menu.

-Kathleen Reid, Petaluma, California

1 lb lean ground beef
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
1 cup cornmeal
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies, drained
1 can (2 1/2 oz) sliced ripe olives, drained
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 envelope reduced-sodium taco seasoning
1 cup (4 oz) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 cup salsa

In a large nonstick skillet, cook beef and jalapeño over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the corn, tomatoes, milk, cornmeal, chilies, olives, egg white and taco seasoning until blended.
Transfer to a 13x9x2-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 40 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with salsa. Yield: 8 servings.

Editor's Note: When cutting hot peppers, disposable gloves are recommended. Avoid touching your face.

My Results:

Well, as I mentioned, I had some leftover fresh corn to use up, so I substituted 2 cups of the fresh leftover for the frozen, thawed. I also didn't use reduced-fat items since I didn't have those on hand but instead used the regular versions. And I didn't have any olives on hand so I left those out completely. Here is a photo of my ingredients, minus the milk, which I forgot to put in the photo:

I used two jalapeño peppers from our garden in this recipe as they were pretty mild. Diced them up without the seeds and cooked them along with the beef until it was no longer pink, then drained as directed. Meanwhile, I combined the milk with the taco seasoning to dissolve it, then added the egg white, then the cornmeal and finally the tomatoes, green chilies and corn. Once the meat was browned, I tossed it with the other ingredients and poured it all into the 9x13-in pan which I had sprayed with Pam, then baked as directed. Here it is in the oven:

And here it is resting for the requested 10 minutes (which was terribly hard since it smelled so good!)

We served it with salsa as suggested, but also sour cream since that's how I like my Mexican food :) Here's it is all ready to eat...

And boy was it yummy! This is definitely a keeper recipe and one we'll likely do for the freezer as well. This would make a great "take to someone in need" casserole as well since it's not only delicious, but really easy to make and relatively inexpensive as well. I believe you could divide this into two 8x8 pans just as easily as one 9x13 and freeze one before baking if you have a smaller family like we do. I purchase disposable 8x8's from the dollar store and could easily see doubling this recipe to make 4 casseroles I could freeze for giving away. Anyway, just some ideas for future use. Hope you like this one and be sure and let me know if you give it a try!

Gifts In A Jar

2009-08-04T20:47:00.005-05:00

So as promised, here are the recipes and photos from the bridal shower gift I gave my sister this past weekend. I posted the "teaser" photo earlier which showed the four gifts in a jar with the accouterments that made the gift. Three of the jar mixes came from the book The Ultimate Gifts for the Cookie Jar by Lia Roessner Wilson. Here's a link on Amazon:

Along with the three recipes I used from this book, I also used the Mocha Rum Balls recipe I posted about earlier for a total of four gifts in a jar. Here are the three recipes:

The Recipes:

Hearty Trail Mix Cookies

These hearty cookies are filled with natural goodness - oats, raisins and coconut - as well as with a chocolate treat. They're not only delicious, but colorful too. The candies provide a rainbow of color throughout.
Ingredients for the jar:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup M&M candies

Instructions for jar:

In a 1-quart jar: pack brown sugar in bottom and make as level as possible. Pour sugar over and level.
Pour oats over sugar and level.
In small bowl, combine flour; baking powder and baking soda. Mix well. Gently spoon flour mixture over oats. Level carefully, then tamp down.
Sprinkle raisins over flour mixture. Level and smooth the edges to make them even. Sprinkle raisins on top and press down. Sprinkle coconut over raisins and press down.
Sprinkle candies on top. Press down and place lid on jar.

For the gift tag:

Hearty Trail Mix Cookies

1 egg
6 Tbsp butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375°. Empty contenst of jar into large mixing bowl. Add egg and softened butter.
Beat on low speed or by hand to blend, then drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Remove from oven and let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling rack. (Makes about 3 dozen.)

Colorful Candy Cookies

Colorful cookies are really sugar cookies speckled with colorful, candy-coated chocolate.

Ingredients for jar:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup M&M candies

Instructions for jar:

Place sugar in 1-quart jar and smooth over top to make even.
Spoon brown sugar over and pack down evenly.
In a small bowl, combine flour; baking soad and salt. Stir to mix. Spoon over brown sugar in jar; press down evenly.
Pour candies over flour mixture and place lid on jar.

For the gift tag:

Colorful Candy Cookies

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°. Empty contents of jar into large bowl.
Add butter and eggs.
Beat by hand, so you don't break candies, until dough is throughly mixed.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until edges are browned.
Remove from oven and let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling rack. (Makes 3 to 3 1/2 dozen).

Mint Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients for jar:

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup mint chocolate chips

Instructions for jar:

Place sugar in 1-quart jar and spoon brown sugar over sugar.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Spoon mixture over brown sugar.
Spoon cocoa over flour mixture, add chocolate chips on top and press gently to fit.

For the gift tag:

Mint Chocolate Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350°.
Empty contents of jar into large bowl.
Beat egg with vanilla and butter.
Add egg mixture to dry ingredients in bowl and stir well.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes.

My results:

Ok, I posted earlier about the disastrous first recipe I tried with the rum balls. But the other three were perfect. They worked just as described and turned out very cute indeed.

As you will see, I made the gift tags with the title on the front and the directions on the back. Each tag was die-cut from a paint chip from the hardware store and then embellished with some glittery floral stickers, then tied onto the jars with some pretty white ribbon. The jars were topped with circles of quilting fabric that I cut with pinking shears for a little ruffled edge. To keep the ribbons on the jar, I put a bit of scrapping adhesive on them in three or four spots so they wouldn't slip and slide on the jar rings.

Here are the photos. First up, the Hearty Trail Mix Cookies:

And a peek under the fabric shows the layering with the raisins, coconut and M&M's.

Next up is the Colorful Candy Cookies:

And a peek under the fabric top reveals the pretty M&M's.

Third is the Mint Chocolate Cookies:

Peek under the fabric:

And last but not least, the Mocha Rum Balls posted about earlier:

And just for kicks, here's the photo of the finished gift all together once again. These gifts-in-a-jar sell at craft fairs for around $10 a jar, so this is a great way to save money and have a fun, personalized gift for someone. I hope you'll give these a try and let me know how it works for you. Enjoy and be sure to check back tomorrow for more recipe fun!

Sneak Peek

2009-08-02T12:20:00.003-05:00

Well, I THOUGHT I was well prepared, but turns out I was wrong... We're out of town this weekend for a bridal shower and to visit family and I thought I had typed up the recipes on my computer so I could post them while we away, but turns out I only got PART of them. So you'll have to wait until we get home tomorrow night to get the actual recipes for this post. I am, however, going to post a sneak peek for what I'll be posting since I DO have the pictures with me! Anyway, here's your sneak peek... This is the gift that I made up for my sister's bridal shower that was yesterday morning. She had registered for cookie sheets, etc. and so I decided to make a "kit" with the cookie sheets, cookie scoop, adjust-a-cup, and a couple of spatulas and then added 4 "cookies in a jar" mixes that are the kind that you just dump into a bowl and add a couple of things to make cookies. So here's the gift photo for which I'll post the jar mixes when we get back home:

I also picked up a couple of new cookbooks on our trip, so I'll have to share about those purchases when I get home as well... one is from the famous Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, Texas! So be sure and check back tomorrow!

If you like Piña Coladas...

2009-07-31T22:23:00.006-05:00

Ok, "If you like Piña Coladas And getting caught in the rain. If you're not into yoga. If you have half a brain..." But seriously folks, this pie is a piña colada dessert that's super easy to make and super tasty. This one comes again from that great new Jell-O cookbook we got called: Jell-O Brand Fun and Fabulous Recipes. Here's the link, once again, on Amazon.com:

Today's recipe is a great combination of pineapple, coconut, lime, and twist of rum. All the things you'd find in a great piña colada drink, sans the glass :)

The Recipe:

Piña Colada Pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

1 pkg (4-serving size) JELL-O Lemon or Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding and Pie Filling
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 tbsp rum
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp grated lime rind
1 can (8 1/4 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup Baker's Angel Flake Coconut, plain or toasted
1 baked 9-inch pie shell or prepared graham cracker crumb crust, cooled

Combine pie filling mix, sour cream, rum, sugar, milk and rind in a medium bowl. With electric mixer at low speed, beat until blended and smooth, about 1 minute. Fold in pineapple and coconut. Spoon into pie shell. Chill about 3 hrs. Garnish with whipped topping, fruit and mint leaves, if desired.

*Substitution: Use 1/2 tsp rum extract, increasing milk to 1/4 cup.

My Results:

Again, because I'm trying to keep alcohol out of our cooking right now, I used imitation rum extract as instructed in the asterisked directions. Here's a pic of the ingredients:

I also chose to use sugar-free jello pudding and a graham cracker crumb crust in this pie, both of which were good choices for us, but you can opt for different ones if you like. Following the directions was quite easy except for draining the crushed pineapple. I only "partially" drained it, so my pie was probably a bit looser than intended, but it worked for me. Here's a picture of the pie just before refrigerating it:

I topped it with fresh made whipped cream (about 1 cup of heavy cream whipped up with about 2 tbsp confectioner's sugar until stiff) and then refrigerated it for about 5 hours (which was how long it took for hubby to get home from work and us to have dinner). Here's a picture of the slice of pie ready for hubby's taste test:

Gosh this stuff was good! Hubby liked it so much he declared he would have to finish the rest of the pie for breakfast since we were heading out of town in the morning and he didn't want it to be wasted (he didn't though!) and I loved it as well. I think that I would like it more with the actual rum in it, because the alcohol would give a bit of bite to the pie I believe, but we'll try that some other time. For now, we're very happy with the results and hope that brother-in-law, who's house-sitting this weekend, enjoys finishing it off for us :) Be sure to try this one and let me know what you think and check back tomorrow for a great gift idea as well as recipes since I can finally show you the gift recipes I made up for my sister's bridal shower gift (since the shower's tomorrow)...

Tangy Thai Chicken on the grill

2009-07-30T22:27:00.004-05:00

Tonight was supposed to be a grilling night, but the rain came down, so we used the indoor grill pan instead. This recipe is from Good Times, Good Grilling: Surefire Recipes for Great Grill Parties by Cheryl and Bill Jamison and is fairly simple but very tasty . Here's a link to the book on Amazon should you want to check it out for yourself:

The Recipe:

Tangy Thai Chicken

Simple to make, with easily found ingredients, but exotic and complex in taste - that's the beauty of these breasts. Serve them with white rice or on mixed greens with a peanut oil vinaigrette.

Serves 4.

1 tbsp store-bought red or green Thai curry paste, or more to taste
2 tsp peanut oil or vegetable oil
1 can (15 oz) coconut milk
Salt or Asian fish sauce (also called nam pla or nuoc mam) optional
4 medium to large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded 1/2 inch thick
Store-bought sweet Thai red chile sauce
Chopped peanuts or chopped fresh mint, basil, or cilantro, or a combination

Make the marinade, first combining the curry paste and oil in a bowl and stirring until the paste is softened. Mix in three quarters of the coconut milk and taste the mixture. If it tastes bland now, it will taste even blander on the chicken, so add more curry paste, and salt if needed, until the mixture is pleasantly pungent. If the mixture becomes too spicy, add a little more coconut milk. Place the chicken in a zippered plastic bag, pour the marinade over it, and seal the bag. Toss back and forth to coat the chicken evenly. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes while you prepare the grill. For a more intense flavor, marinate for up to several hours, refrigerated.

Fire up the grill, bringing the heat to medium (4 to 5 seconds with the hand test).

Drain the chicken, discarding the marinade. Grill the chicken for 10 to 12 minutes total. Turn onto each side twice, rotating the breasts a half-turn each time for crisscross grill marks.

After each side of the chicken has faced the fire once, brush them with a few tablespoons of the chile sauce. The chicken is ready when it is white throughout but still juicy and the surface is a bit chewy and caramelized in spots.

The breasts can be served whole or thickly sliced and mounded on a platter. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts or herbs or both, and accompany with additional sweet chile sauce.

Adding a Personal Signature:
Turn from Thailand to India for inspiration. Replace the coconut milk with about 1 cup of plain yogurt and replace the curry paste with good fresh curry powder or garam masala. Skip the chile sauce glaze, but do sprinkle with cilantro before serving.

Use the chicken as a filling for summer rolls. Dampen Asian rice paper wrappers briefly in warm water and pat off excess water. Then roll up chicken shreds and all the garnishes into 1-inch-diameter cylinders with the ends tucked in (like a burrito). For dunking, serve with the sweet Thai chile sauce or mix some of the sauce into about an equal amount of white vinegar.

My results:

So, here first are my ingredients as used in this test:

The only thing not shown in this picture is the sweet chile sauce. I used Aroma Chef's Thai sweet chile sauce which we picked up at the local grocery store. The coconut milk and fish sauce both came from our local Asian market, but I know a lot of regular grocery stores are carrying both these days. I began with the red curry paste and oil as instructed and then added the coconut milk. It tasted pretty bland so I added more curry paste (about 1 more tsp) and about 1 tbsp of fish sauce. Then it tasted a bit hot, so I added the rest of the coconut milk. It tasted about right at that point when I spied half a lime I had left over from another use and decided to add the lime juice in, so added the juice of half a lime :) That was perfect. Tossed the chicken into a baggy and then tossed the sauce in with it and tossed it around to coat. Because hubby was going to be later than expected, I threw this in the fridge for about a hour and a half while I waited for his arrival. Here's a pic of the marinated chicken, just before I heated up the grill pan:

Next, I heated our grill pan on medium high heat for 5 minutes to throughly heat the surface and placed the breasts on the pan. Set the timer for 5 minutes, turned and rotated them and set the timer for another 5 minutes. After this turn/rotate, I glazed one side of the breasts with the chile sauce and let cook for 2 minutes, then the other side and again, 2 minutes. They came out perfectly cooked and beautiful! And boy were they ever yummy! Here's a photo of the finished breasts before we devoured them:

We served these with white jasmine rice and sautéed zucchini (which I just happened to have on hand) and they were wonderful! I could definitely see these in a summer roll or even on a Thai-style salad, somewhat like yum nuah. Very good and definitely a recipe we'll do again. Perhaps I'll let the chicken marinade a little longer next time, but other than that, this was a winner! Check back tomorrow for more recipe fun!

Two-Fer Wednesday

2009-07-29T13:22:00.010-05:00

Because today's recipe is a super simple one, I've decided to share TWO with you for the price of one! So today you'll be getting a super recipe for a low-carb dish called Slice of Mushroom Heaven from Dana Carpender's 500 Low-Carb Recipes AND the recipe for a great mustard-based barbecue sauce we had on pulled pork last night from the Cook's Illustrated cookbook I mentioned in my previous post, Grilleration! titled The Best Recipe: Grilling & Barbecue. Here is a link to both books on Amazon.com:

So here are the two recipes for today's post. The first one, Slice of Mushroom Heaven is always a hit with those on low-carb diets, those who love mushrooms, heck, just about everyone. Dana mentions that she prefers it cold and while I too like it cold, it's just a good hot :) The second recipe, Mid-South Carolina Mustard Sauce is just what it sounds like...a mustard and vinegar based barbecue sauce like you'd encounter in Carolina style BBQ. We served it last night over crockpot pulled pork, which I'll explain in my notes since it's not really a recipe, just something I do :)

The Recipes:

Slice of Mushroom Heaven

Rich enough to give Dean Ornish fits, and oh-so-good. Thanks to my friend Kay for the name!

4 tbsp butter
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
3 eggs
1 tsp salt or Vege-Sal
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (a little more than 1/2 lb)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat, and begin frying the mushrooms, onion and garlic. When the mushrooms are limp, turn the heat up a bit and boil off the liquid. Stir in the white wine, and cook until that's boiled away, too.
Stir in the lemon juice and turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl, and stir in the half-and-half, eggs, salt, pepper and 2 cups of the cheese.
Spray an 8x8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, and spread the mixture from step 3 evenly over the bottom. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top, and bake for 50 minutes, or until the cheese on top is golden.

Yield: 9 generous servings, each with 5 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 13 grams of protein.

Mid-South Carolina Mustard Sauce

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Another classic sauce for pulled pork that works well with most any cut of grilled pork.

1 cup cider vinegar
6 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot red pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
Ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients, including pepper to taste, in a medium bowl. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days.)

My results:

For the first recipe, Slice of Mushroom Heaven, this was a repeat performer in our house. I first tried this recipe several years ago when hubby and I, along with most of the family, were on the Atkins diet. It was a hit then and every bit as popular today. It is sort of a cross between a quiche and a mushroom casserole, and oh-so-good. Here were my ingredients:

The one change I made this time was to substitute water and dehydrated sherry wine powder in place of the white wine as we are trying to keep alcohol out of our cooking right now. But the sherry powder was a good substitute and worked well. And here's a shot of the mushrooms simmering away:

And just before entering the oven, after topping with the reserved cheese:

As I mentioned, this dish is good cold or hot, but cuts better when it's cold, so you might consider making it ahead, cooling it, slicing it and then reheating it slightly for serving if you wish if you want nice slices. Otherwise, letting it cool in the pan just a bit does help it to solidify a bit for slicing at the table. Here's the final picture of this dish before we devoured it!

This was OH SO YUMMY! Will definitely do this one again and again...

The second recipe was actually the one planned for today's blog, but as I said, it was so easy I decided to share two instead of one. That, however, should not dissuade you from trying this recipe, because it was every bit as good as the first recipe, but for a totally different dish.

First, let me explain about the Crockpot pulled pork. I started doing pulled pork this way some years back because: a) it's easier and b) it takes less hand-on time and c) we love the results! Basically, you take a boneless boston butt (sometimes called pork shoulder) or pork that is used for carnitas (which is not a solid mass but just as yummy), dump it in a large Crockpot with some salt, pepper and about 1/2 cup of water and then turn it on low to cook for 18-24 hours. Yes, that's right, 18-24 hours. So I usually put it on before bed the night before I plan to serve it and it's ready the next night for supper. Now, normally, about 1 hr before I serve this I remove the lid from the Crockpot, shred up the meat and add 1 bottle of our favorite BBQ sauce (usually KC Masterpiece). It will look like a lot of liquid is in the pot, but then I put the lid back on the pot and let it cook for at least one more hour and by that time all the liquid has been absorbed by the shredded pork. You can then serve this as is on buns, as a baked potato topping, as a pizza topping, whatever your heart desires. It is delicious!

However, because we were testing out this mustard-based sauce recipe, this time, about 1 hr before I served the pork, I shredded it up, added about 1 cup more water mixed with 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and 1 tbsp liquid Hickory smoke and then recovered it and let it cook. This added the "BBQ" flavor that would have been missing from the sauce and made a very good but "unsauced" meat. So that's where the meat came from. But onto the sauce...

Here are my ingredients:

This is, of course, a VERY easy recipe to do. Just blend everything together and put it in the fridge. I emptied one squeeze bottle of Dijon so I decided to use it for the container to hold the finished product. It's "shake-able" and makes a good squeeze bottle for it. I also suggest making it in advance so the flavors have a chance to meld. Here's the finished product:

Now, straight up, this sauce is very vinegar-y, but mixed with the pulled pork it mellowed considerably and actually took a good bit to fully taste it. It is a thin sauce, unlike traditional thick red BBQ sauces, so be careful when pouring or you'll overdo it. We all really liked this sauce on the meat and would definitely make it again.

Let me know if you decide to give either of these recipes a try and be sure to check back tomorrow for more recipe fun!

Feed the Freezer

2009-07-28T15:20:00.004-05:00

Today's recipe is one that you can make up in large batches and then freeze for later. It is a great basic meatball recipe that can then be used in lots of different preparations for meals. The nice things about making your own freezer meatballs are that:

1) You know EXACTLY what is in them (so no MSG, strange preservatives, etc.)
2) You save quite a bit of money by making them yourself.
3) It really doesn't take much more time to make a BIG batch than it does to make a small one.
4) You always have SOMETHING on hand to make for dinner.
5) You always have something on hand should extra folks show up for dinner.
6) They're delicious!

So, this recipe comes from an old version of the cookbook Make-A-Mix Cookery by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, and Madeline Westover. It has been revised since this version and the meatball mix recipe in the newer cookbook isn't quite the same as this one, but looks to be a good one as well. I may have to give it a try in the future, after I purchase the revised edition of the book! Anyway, here's a link to the revised edition on Amazon if you're interested. You can also find copies of the older version (copyright 1983) if you search on Ebay and on Amazon.

Either version is a great addition to your library and full of great recipes for everything from a basic bisquick like mix to drink mixes to hot roll mix, etc. I love this book :) The recipe I'm using today is called Meatball Mix and is a great basic meatball that can be very versatile. We used one "portion" of it in Swedish meatballs for dinner and froze the rest for later use. I've used these meatballs in everything from basic spaghetti & meatballs to meatball sandwiches, to meatball soup (albondigas soup) to sweet & sour meatballs. They are very basic and not overly seasoned, so they transition well among many recipes. If you only plan to use them for italian dishes, you could choose to season them up with some italian seasoning or use italian breadcrumbs, but I prefer to leave them plain and then let the sauce or rest of the dish flavor them. I've also used part ground beef and part ground pork in the past with success, so there is a lot of room to play with this one.

The Recipe:

Meatball Mix Meatballs are always ready - for appetizers, casseroles and main dishes.

4 lbs. lean ground beef
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups dry breadcrumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Blend well. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Place meatballs on ungreased baking sheets and bake 10 to 15 minutes, until browned. Remove immediately and drain on paper towels. When cooled, put about 30 meatballs each into 5 1-quart freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch space at top. Seal and label containers. Freeze. Use within 3 months. Makes about 144 meatballs.

My results:

First off, I altered the recipe only slightly since I had a 5 lb chub of beef to use, so I increased the recipe by 1/4 (so, 5 eggs rather than 4, etc.). The second alteration is in the size of the meatballs. I made 2" meatballs instead of 1", so my yield was about half as many, but I also only packaged them in bags of a dozen which will feed 4 adults easily, so I got 5 bags of 2" meatballs, 4 of which are now safely in my freezer. Here is a shot of my ingredients:

I started by whisking the eggs together with the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. I also combined the breadcrumbs and cornstarch. I then blended the meat and onions together, in a large bowl, and poured in the egg mixture and then the crumbs. I used latex gloves to mix this all together. I buy the gloves from Sams/Costco and love having them handy (haha!) for messy jobs like this. After mixing, this is what my large meatball looked like:

This is where it is very useful to have a "disher" or cookie scoop on hand... It makes super fast work of making meatballs and makes them all pretty uniform in size. Using the scoop, I made up two trays of meatballs for the oven. Here they are before baking:

You can see that I didn't chop my onion up super fine. If you don't like bits of onion in your meatballs, be sure to chop finer or even grate the onion, but I like mine a little more rustic... I baked these larger meatballs for a total of 18 minutes, rotating the trays once during baking. Here they are all finished:

Use caution when removing them from the oven because depending on the fattiness of your meat, there may be a bit of grease in the pan which you don't want to spill on yourself! Trust me on this one! I divided the meatballs up into separate bags and froze 4 bags worth. I have a wonderful Foodsaver gadget that I use for freezing things which prevents freezer burn and makes them last longer. I absolutely love mine! They're a little pricey initially, but when I think about all the food I've saved from freezer burn since I've had it... well, it's more than paid for itself. Here's a link to it on Amazon:

Anyway, I froze 4 bags worth of the meatballs and we ate one "portion" of them for dinner last night with "swedish meatball sauce" on them. My "swedish meatball sauce" is basically one packet of brown gravy mix, prepared as directed to which I add a small dash of nutmeg and about 1/2 cup of sour cream to which I've added about 1 tsp dried dill. I simmer the meatballs in this sauce while I prepare the rest of dinner and then serve. They're always a big hit and super easy to make. So that's it for this posting. I hope you'll give the recipe a shot and make sure to keep your freezer fed! Let me know if you try it and what you think of the results!

Ginger lime jello mold

2009-07-27T20:28:00.005-05:00

Well, I always seem to be a day behind and a dollar short, so it should come as no surprise that this is just getting posted this evening, even though it was made on Saturday and finished/eaten on Sunday :) I did learn a valuable lesson on this one which I'll share with you below, but the dish was a hit with the family, even though it was a close call to getting it done at all! This recipe is another one from the Jell-o Brand Fun and Fabulous Cookbook which I also did the microwave fudge from. Here's the link to it on Amazon again for anyone who missed it last time:

This time the recipe is for Ginger Pineapple Mold and is on page 61. Here it is:

The Recipe:

Ginger Pineapple Mold

1 can (20 oz) pineapple slices in juice
2 pkg (4-serving size) or 1 pkg (8-serving size) JELL-O Brand Lime or Apricot Flavor Gelatin
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup ginger ale or cold water
1/4 tsp ginger

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Cut 4 pineapple slices in half; set aside. Cut remaining pineapple slices into chunks. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add reserved juice, ginger ale, and ginger. Chill until slightly thickened. Measure 1 cup of the gelatin. Arrange some of the pineapple chunks in a 6-cup ring mold; top with measured gelatin. Chill until set but not firm, about 10 minutes. Fold remaining pineapple chunks into remaining gelatin; spoon over gelatin in mold. Chill until firm, about 4 hours. Unmold. Garnish with halved pineapple slices, halved cherry tomatoes and crisp greens if desired.

My results:

Let me start by saying that it isn't ENTIRELY my fault that my first attempt at this recipe was a flop... the recipe doesn't specify what KIND of ginger to use, so, loving ginger and preferring fresh, I chose to use fresh when I first attempted this recipe. Here were my ingredients:

See my ginger root on top of the pineapple can :) Anyway, come to find out that just like fresh pineapple, there is an enzyme in ginger root that prevents gelatin from ever setting... Of course I didn't find this out until I had spent most of the day waiting for the gelatin to be "slightly thickened" and then going ahead with the recipe figuring it was just being slow. So at almost midnight, having let the thing sit in the refrigerator more than 8 hours at that point, I recognized defeat. Only problem was I didn't know why it hadn't set.

So after doing some research and discovering the little tidbit above about ginger root, I scrounged in the pantry for ingredients to try it again. Well, I didn't have any more pineapple slices, just crushed. And I didn't have two boxes of lime gelatin, but did have 1 and 1 of lemon. And I also decided to throw in some mandarin oranges for good measure. I repeated the recipe, this time with dried ground ginger, and what-da-ya-know... it worked! I let it sit to "firm" overnight and then hubby did the honors of turning it out onto a tray the next morning. He first soaked it in some warm water to loosen it from the ring (which, by the way, was actually a decorative bundt pan, not a "real" gelatin mold).

It turned out wonderfully and I added a little "sauce" of 1 part cool whip, thawed, 1 part mayonnaise, the zest of 1 lime and the juice of half a lime plus about 1 tbsp grenadine syrup and 1 packet of splenda sweetener (the lime was pretty tart!). Mixed that all up and spooned it into the center of my gelatin mold and then topped with a wedge of the lime. Let me know what you think!

I think it turned out pretty and everyone seemed to really like it, my husband especially. We took it to a family dinner and hubby said he was glad it didn't get all eaten up so he had some leftovers. Hubby is definitely a jello-phile, so if he liked it, I musta dun good :) Anyway, I hope you'll give this a shot, remembering my new rule of only using POWDERED ginger in gelatin dishes... Let me know if you try it and what you think. I think this would be good with orange jello or the apricot as it suggests, but would also be good with an addition of sliced water chestnuts, maybe peaches, etc. The ginger goes good with a lot of fruits, so let your imagination take you there! Enjoy and be sure to check back for my next recipe adventure!

Grilleration! Pork loin and Mexican corn on the cob...Yummy!

2009-07-25T20:02:00.008-05:00

Today was a grilleration day and with hubby's help we had a terrific grilled dinner tonight of brined & dry rubbed pork tenderloin, grilled corn on the cob - Mexican style, and white jasmine rice. Today's recipes come from two of our grill cookbooks, one by the Cook's Illustrated Magazine group and the other by grill experts, the Jamisons. For those interested in adding these great cookbooks to their collection, here is a link to them on Amazon.com:

Both of these books are great and full of lots of recipes we are looking forward to trying, but tonight we used the recipe and directions for Charcoal-Grilled Pork Tenderloin from pg 86 of the first book, The Best Recipe: Grilling & Barbecue along with the recipe for Flame-Seared Corn on the Cob from The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking & Entertaining. The pork recipe calls for a 1 hour brine followed by either a dry or wet rub before grilling and we chose to use the dry Curry Rub for Pork from pg 77. Both the pork and the corn were fantastic and hubby did a superb job as grillmaster for the evening. Here are the recipes and my results:

The Recipes:

Charcoal-Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Serves 6 to 8

Pork tenderloin are often sold two to a package, each piece usually weighing 12-16 oz. The cooking times below are for two average 12 oz. tenderloins; if necessary, adjust the cooking times to suit the size of the cuts you are cooking. For maximum efficiency, make the flavor rub and then light the fire while the pork is brining. If you opt not to brine, bypass step 1 in the recipe below and sprinkle the tenderloins generously with salt before grilling. Use a spice rub whether or not the pork has been brined -- it adds extra flavor and forms a nice crust on the meat. If rubbing tenderloins with dry spices, consider serving with a salsa (see pg 75) for added moisture and flavor.

3 tbsp kosher salt or 1.5 tbsp table salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 pork tenderloins, 1 1/2 - 2 lbs total, trimmed of silverskin
1 recipe of wet spice rub or 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 recipe dry spice rub (posted below)
disposable aluminum roasting pan

Dissolve salt and sugar in 2 cups hot water in a medium bowl. Stir in 2 cups cold water; cool the mixture to room temperature. Add the tenderloins, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 hr. Remove the tenderloins from the brine, rinse well, and dry throughly with paper towels. Set aside.
Light a large chimney starter filled with hardwood charcoal (about 2.5 lbs) and allow to burn until all the charcoal is covered with a layer of fine gray ash. Build a modified 2-level fire by spreading the coals evenly over half the grill bottom. Set the cooking rack in place, cover the grill with the lid, and let the rack heat up, about 5 minutes. Use a wire brush to scrape clean the cooking rack. The grill is ready when the coals are hot.
If using wet spice rub, rub the tenderloins with the mixture. If using a dry spice rub, coat the tenderloin with oil and then rub with the spice mixture.
Cook the tenderloins, uncovered, over the hottest part of the grill until browned on all four sides, about 2.5 min on each side. Move the tenderloins to the cooler part of the grill, and cover with a disposable aluminum roasting pan. Grill, turning once, until an instant-read thermometer, inserted into the thickest part of the tenderloin, registers 145F, or until the meat is slightly pink at the center when cut with a paring knife, 2-3 minutes longer. Transfer the tenderloins to a cutting board, cover with the disposable aluminum pan, and let rest about 5 minutes. Slice crosswise into 1" thick pieces and serve.

Curry Rub for Pork

Enough for 4 chops or 2 tenderloins. This rub works especially well with the Pineapple Salsa

4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Rub the mixture over oiled but unseasoned pork (do not sprinkle pork with pepper) before grilling.

Flame-Seared Corn on the Cob

If you cook ears of corn on the grill in their husks, as many people do, you steam the kernels instead of searing them. By stripping the husk first and exposing the corn directly to the fire, you get a much deeper taste. The kernels shrink up slightly, condensing the flavor of each bite.

Cooking method: Grilling
Serves 6 as a side dish

6 large ears corn, husks and silk removed
about 8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, preferably unsalted, melted
flaky salt, such as Maldon or French Fleur de Sel

Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to medium (4-5 seconds with the hand test).
Brush the corn lightly, using a couple of tbsp of the butter.
Grill the corn uncovered on medium heat for 20-22 minutes, turning on all sides to cook evenly and brushing with more butter after about 10 minutes. This cooking time is longer than technically necessary to cook the corn, but it concentrates the flavor of the kernels, contributing to the deeper taste.
Brush the corn again with butter, sprinkle with salt, and serve right away.

Esquites - Ears of corn Mexican style
Dress the grilled corn with the rich mayonnaise (recipe follows) slathered over each ear. Sprinkle with ground dried red chile, cotija cheese, or queso fresco and offer lime wedges to squeeze over as well. It's much better than it may sound to the uninitiated.

Rich Mayonnaise:
Start with 1 cup of mayonnaise. Mix in 1-2 tsp olive oil and a pinch of coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt. Use it like regular mayo or for something different smear it on corn-on-the-cob and then sprinkle the top with Mexican style cotija cheese.

My Results:

I began following the directions for making the dry spice rub. As mentioned in previous recipes, I buy curry powder in bulk and store it, with a few extra bay leaves, in my freezer in mason jars, which you can see in the photo below. I mixed the ingredients up into a small prep bowl and set aside as shown in the second photo.

The spice rub smelled fantastic from the start so I was really looking forward to the end results. After mixing up the spices, I created the brine for the tenderloins and placed them in a large plastic bowl in the refrigerator to brine. Here are the ingredients I used:

While the pork was brining, hubby lit the charcoal for the grill and I whipped up the rich mayonnaise and prepped the corn for roasting. Here are the corn ingredients:

I purchased pre-prepped corn from our local grocery which had been mostly de-silked and had part of the husk and base removed, so all I had to do was remove the remaining husk and silk. Makes it very nice for quick prep with a little one underfoot. The husks and silks went into our composter out back...

After an hour, when the coals were nice and hot,I drained, rinse and dried the pork loins, rubbed them generously with olive oil and then rubbed them down with the curry rub. Boy did these smell amazing!

Hubby took them out to the grill and followed the instructions for grilling them, turning to ensure even browning. He also added the corn at that time, although in hindsight realized we should have started the corn a bit earlier since the pork was done quite a bit before the corn.

Here is a photo of the finished tenderloins, ready for slicing:

I didn't make any sauce or salsa to go over the meat, which, in hindsight I would probably do next time. The meat was perfectly cooked and very delicious (thanks to hubby's expert grilling!) and was neither over nor underdone. I think that a nice orange marmalade sauce (just some melted marmalade with a little soy sauce and ginger added) would be perfect on this meat as would the pineapple salsa mentioned in the recipe. Next time...

And here is the grilled corn in all it's Mexican splendor:

If you have never tried corn this way, please, please do! It is absolutely fabulous! I have had it this way at carnivals and fairs in the area but never made it at home. My husband and brother-in-law had neither one had it this way and both loved it, each eating at least two ears! We couldn't locate cotija cheese on our shopping trip but instead used a local queso fresco which was fantastic with a salty bite that was perfect with the rich mayo slather. Yum yum!

All in all this was a fabulous meal. Even little E, our 10 month old, enjoyed the roasted corn (sans the Mexican topping) and she has always refused corn in the past. I did serve some white jasmine rice with this to cut the heat of the curry rub, but it was probably not necessary as the curry was hot, but not overbearingly so. We will definitely do this again, perhaps with one of the other rubs in the book, or maybe just as we did this time. I hope you'll give this a try yourself and let me know how it works for you. For tonight, we have four very happy tummies in this house! Be sure to check back tomorrow for a "company" dish we're taking to a family meal...

Today's trial a flop...

2009-07-24T21:56:00.005-05:00

SO today I was working on some gifts in a jar for a wedding shower present (Jen if you're reading this, DON'T!) and the first recipe I tried was a complete flop in the sense that it did not work as described... I'll post the recipe, but explain what I did in the end so as not to waste ingredients :) This recipe, along with three others that I will post about in future blog entries, comes from the Ultimate Gifts for the Cookie Jar by Cookbook Resources LLC. All the recipes in this book are meant to be mixes which you layer in mason jars and then give as gifts. This particular recipe is for Rum Balls. Here's a link to the book on Amazon if you'd like a copy (there is no image of the book on the site so forgive the text only link...):

Ultimate Gifts for the Cookie Jar

Now, let me preface this by saying that the other three recipes from the book that I have tried did NOT suffer from the particular problem that this recipe did, so don't let it dissuade you from trying the others, but I think there may have been either a misprint or some other issue with this particular recipe which caused the problem I'll explain below. Here's the recipe as printed in the book:

The Recipe:

Rum Balls

Consider this spirit-filled recipe for the holidays! For a truly unique gift that's sure to be a hit, combine the jar of cookie mix in a decorative holiday basket with a small bottle of rum.

Ingredients for jar:

3 cups crushed vanilla wafer cookies
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Instructions for jar:

Put crushed vanilla wafers in 1 quart (1 L) jar.
Layer cocoa powder and then powdered sugar over crushed cookies.
Top with chopped pecans.

Instructions for making cookies:

3 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup rum (or bourbon)
Powdered or granulated sugar

Empty contents of jar into large mixing bowl. Stir to mix dry ingredients.
Stir in corn syrup and rum. Blend until dry ingredients are moist.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in powdered sugar or granulated sugar.

My Results:

Ok, first, let me see if you can figure out why this recipe didn't work out... It is meant for a 1 quart canning jar. 1 quart=4 cups right? And how many cups of ingredients do you see in the recipe? 5 1/2!!! So, no, this WON'T fit into a quart jar, no matter how hard you tamp the ingredients down! Had I thought to look at the math BEFORE beginning the recipe, it might have prevented the unfortunate result, which was that when I got to the adding the cocoa powder step, well, it just did NOT fit! The only thing I can figure is that either, a) it should be three cups of vanilla wafers BEFORE crushing (meaning fewer wafers and therefore less crumbs) or one of the other amounts is off. Either way, because I was doing two of this jar and started with just a single, I was able to simply dump the first jar and the remaining ingredients into a bowl and go ahead and make them up (adding a bit of water and a bit of extra corn syrup since there was not enough moisture to moisten the entire mass). The flavor of these is great, but they are not practical as an "in the jar" gift mix. So if you want to just make up a batch of the mix ingredients in a ziplock baggy for later use or even just make the cookies from the entire recipe, they are worth it, but don't rely on it as a "gift in a jar" recipe...

I did find another rum ball recipe on the Internet that I used for the SECOND jar I made up, and I'm happy to post a link for that one here as well. That recipe DOES fit into the jar quite nicely and should be a hit with the recipient. The Internet recipe is for Mocha Rum Balls Mix in a Jar.

All of these recipes in this book come with photocopy-able tags to put on the jars when giving with the directions for making the cookies from the jarred mix. These make a great gift and I have actually sold jars of similar mixes at craft fairs for $8-10 per jar. Not bad for something that only cost $1-2 to make! Anyway, the other three recipes that I am using from this book for this particular gift worked out much better and I hope you'll check back in to see how they worked out. I'll have to wait a few more days before posting though so that the recipient doesn't accidentally see her gift on the blog before she gets it! Be sure to check back this weekend for more fun recipe play and for a few (hopefully!) great grilling trials with my hubby's help!

Jello Fudge?

2009-07-24T21:16:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I'm late in posting this, but yesterday I made a recipe out of the most recent addition to my cookbook shelves, Jell-o Brand's Fun and Fabulous Recipes. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but it was such an interesting idea that I had to give it a try. This is a recipe for fudge using Jell-o brand pudding in the microwave! Here's a link to the book on Amazon.com, but you'll have to find it used since it's no longer in print:

Now, here's today's recipe:

The Recipe:

Microwave Fast Fudge

3 tbsp butter or margarine
1 pkg (4-serving size) Jell-O Vanilla Flavor Pudding and Pie Filling
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup BAKER'S Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Microwave:* Heat butter in 1 1/2-quart microwave-safe bowl at HIGH 35 seconds or until melted. Stir in pudding mix and milk. Cook 2 minutes longer or until mixture begins to boil, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir in vanilla and salt. With electric mixer at low speed, beat in sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth. (Mixture will be stiff.) Fold in nuts and chocolate. Press fudge evenly into 8x4-inch loaf pan that has been lined with waxed paper. Cover and chill until firm. Cut into squares.

Microwave Chocolate Mallow Fudge: Prepare Microwave Fast Fudge as directed, substituting chocolate flavor pudding and pie filling and 1/3 cup miniature marshmallows for the vanilla flavor pudding and the walnuts.

Microwave S'Mores Fudge: Prepare Microwave Fast Fudge as directed, substituting 1/3 cup each crushed graham crackers, miniature marshmallows and chunks of BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate for the walnuts and chocolate chips.

Microwave Coconut Macaroon Fudge: Prepare Microwave Fast Fudge as directed, substituting almond extract and 1/3 cup BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut for the vanilla and walnuts. Omit chocolate chips.

*Ovens vary. Cooking time is approximate.

My results:

This was a fun recipe to attempt. I decided to cut the sugar a bit by using sugar-free pudding instead of regular and it worked just fine. I also decided in advance that I wanted to do the s'more's version of the fudge since I LOVE s'mores. Additionally, instead of using a regular loaf pan and waxed paper, I used a disposable loaf pan and sprayed it with PAM spray before putting the mix in to cool. Worked perfectly for me... Now onto the recipe trial. Here's my ingredients:

My first observation is that in my microwave, it took more like 45 seconds to melt the butter :) That done, I added the pudding powder and milk and was amazed at how dense the result was. It was the color of and texture of cooked egg yolks! I did cook it the additional 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, but it was like stirring something solid around in the bowl rather than anything liquid-y. I added the vanilla and salt and beat with my hand mixer, adding the powdered sugar slowly. At this point it was very stiff, almost like play-dough in consistency. I folded in the chocolate (pieces of a Toll House Chocolatier Dark Chocolate [53% cacao] bar), graham cracker crumbs and mini marshmallows and then pushed it down into the pan. It wasn't very thick, but did look yummy. Here's the results before refrigeration:

Once it had chilled for an hour or so, I pushed it out of the pan and cut it into chunks. I'll be honest and say it wasn't 21 pieces like the recipe says it makes, more like 15, but who's counting :) And here's what the finished product looks like:

The marshmallows give it a kind of taffy-like texture, more like a nougat than fudge, but the flavor is really pretty good. Not a substitute for real creamy fudge like grandma makes, but a good quick fix when you don't have time or the inclination to make the "real thing". Definitely would make this again, perhaps trying the other variations and/or coming up with my own (Mounds fudge anyone?)... Hope you'll give this one a try and let me know what you think!

Hot days - Salad lunches

2009-07-22T19:22:00.005-05:00

Today was take two on The Habanero Cookbook. We decided to give it another shot with the Crab and Cantaloupe Salad with Habanero Yogurt and boy was it worth it! Now, this was a good salad! Here's another link to the cookbook on Amazon if you're interested:

And here's...

The Recipe:

Crab and Cantaloupe Salad with Habanero Yogurt

Dressing:

1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 habaneros, seeds and stems removed, minced
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp sugar
pinch of white pepper

Salad:

1 lb cooked crab meat
1 small cantaloupe, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 small purple onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings

To make the dressing, combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour to blend flavors.
Toss crab, cantaloupe and avocado with dressing. Top with the onion rings and serve.
Yield: 4-6 servings

My results:

YUM! This salad was really really good...I was a little unsure how the flavors of crab, avocado and cantaloupe would blend with the dressing, but it was very good. I think next time I would add an additional avocado since there was quite a bit more crab and cantaloupe than avocado, but other than that, it was a great hit. Hubby and brother-in-law both enjoyed it as well. Here is a picture of my starting ingredients:

You'll notice I didn't use "fresh" lime juice as I didn't have any limes on hand (used them for the Yoda Soda the other night!) and we used pre-picked crab (called "special" crab meat in the fish area of the market). The notes on this recipe said you might choose to only use one pepper, however I had my fire-mouth husband taste the pepper and since he said they weren't super hot, we went with two. Your peppers may vary, so either taste them beforehand or try one and add an additional if you think you can handle it. Ours was just right with a little heat but nothing super spicy and a nice rounded flavor.

Here is a photo of the finished dressing as it was "sitting" for an hour to meld:

I chose to combine some of the dressing with the crab meat to "loosen" it up (as it had been packed in it's little plastic container) and then placed the cantaloupe and avocado mixture onto the plates, topped with the crab and dressing mixture and then drizzled a little more dressing over all. This made for a pretty presentation as well as a good way to keep the ripe avocado from breaking up too much from tossing. There was a bit of the dressing left over which would probably be good on regular green salad, or perhaps on a grilled chicken breast. It was a very good dressing with hints of cilantro popping out and the heat from the habanero there but not overwhelming. Here are the completed plates, ready to be served. Because this was our full meal, we only got three servings out of it, but if you were serving this as a side or even as a light lunch with rolls, etc. it would definitely feed 4-6.

All in all this was a big hit and one we'll definitely do again. It was perfect for a hot day in South Texas (our 30th day of breaking 100F!) Please let me know if you try this dish and what you think of it and be sure to check in tomorrow for another cookbook adventure!

Hot Cold Pate

2009-07-21T21:34:00.006-05:00

So anyone who knows my husband knows his affinity for hot foods, as in spicy, not heat hot. While we were perusing the local used bookstore the other day, we came across a cookbook that was right up his spice-loving alley called The Habanero Cookbook by Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach. He has a pretty good collection of spicy cookbooks, but this one even had a few recipes in it that appealed to me, including today's trial recipe, Salmon-Habanero Pâté. For those interested in locating a copy of the cookbook, here's a link to it on Amazon.com:

The Recipe:

Salmon-Habanero Pâté

Serve this pâté as a spread with crusty bread or crackers and garnished with hard-cooked egg wedges, tomatoes and olives.

1 habanero, seeds and stem removed, minced
2 tbsp Dijon-style mustard
1/2 lb cooked salmon, either canned or fillets
3 tbsp light rum
2 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup sour cream
salt, to taste

Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

My results:

Let me first say that my initial review of this recipe isn't great. It calls for 8 oz (1/2 lb) cooked salmon and a can of salmon is only 6 oz., so I started with just that much in my experiment and found that the spread was way too loose and really lacked any of the wow factor we had been hoping for. There was no true salmon flavor nor really any other flavor standout and it left us all feeling a bit underwhelmed. So we (hubby and I) decided to up the salmon quotient by adding an additional can of salmon, bringing the salmon total to 12 oz (4 oz more than the recipe calls for). This helped the consistency a good deal, although it was still too liquid-y to be considered a "spread" in my opinion, more of a "dip". The flavor was also improved by the additional salmon, although I still didn't get a strong taste of salmon or any other flavor. All in all I would say this recipe is just "ok" and definitely not something I would waste ingredients on again. It wasn't "bad", but when there are so many "good" recipes out there, why waste time, ingredients and energy (not to mention calories!) on something that is just "ok"... Here are photos of the finished dip, both with and without flash:

Here's hoping that the other recipes we try from this cookbook will more than make up for this lack-luster beginning! Be sure and check back tomorrow to see what we decide to bring on from the cookbook collection!

Edited to add:

After setting for 24 hours the flavors had a chance to meld and this dip was much better. Hubby said he liked it and while it still wasn't a favorite of mine, it was much better the second day...

Crafty Chocolates

2009-07-20T15:50:00.006-05:00

Mmmm...lavender... I just love the calming fragrance of lavender. I have read several recipes in the past using lavender and never tried them, but when I was roaming the aisles at the CostPlus World Market a few days ago looking for some ground coriander (for an Indian salmon dish), I found lavender for cooking in the spice area and decided it was high time I tried something using it. Then, while perusing my cookbooks, I came across a recipe for Dark Chocolate and Lavender Truffles in the Outstanding in the Field cookbook by Jim Denevan.

This is a new cookbook on my shelves that I got after watching an episode of Alter Eco on Planet Green. The premise behind the cookbook and the restaurant is using fresh local ingredients to make better food and to reduce our carbon footprint. It is a very interesting cookbook and one I hope to spend more time reading in the future, but for now I was pleased to just be able to try this wonderful recipe. Here is a link to the book on Amazon for anyone interested in perusing it yourself...

So, this recipe isn't for the "faint of heart" when it comes to mess and time. It does take time and is definitely on the messy side with rolling the chocolate, dipping it and sugaring the lavender, but the end results are beautiful as well as delicious, so I hope you'll attempt it :) Here's the recipe from the book:

The Recipe

Dark Chocolate and Lavender Truffles

26 oz. dark chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream
6 fresh lavender flower sprigs or 2 tsp dried flower buds
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup superfine granulated sugar

Makes about 40 truffles.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Put 8 ounces of the chopped chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl and put 16 ounces in a second stainless-steel bowl. Set the remaining 2 ounces aside.
Combine the cream and 3 of the fresh lavender flowers or 1 teaspoon of the dried flowers in a small saucepan and heat just until it bubbles. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand to infuse, covered, for 5 minutes.
Return the cream to the heat and bring to a boil. Strain the hot cream mixture over the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate. Let set for 30 seconds and then whisk gently to incorporate and make a smooth ganache. Strain in the remaining cream and mix well. The ganache should be smooth, not grainy. If there are still bits of unmelted chocolate in the mixture, place the bowl over a pot of hot - but not boiling - water and mix constantly until the remaining chocolate has melted. Be careful not to overheat the mixture or let any water get into the bowl of chocolate or you may break the emulsion. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
Cut the butter into small pieces. When the chocolate mixture has cooled to warm room temperature, add a few pieces of butter at a time, stirring after each addition, until well incorporated. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator until firm, 15 to 30 minutes.
In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup water. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is melted. Remove the individual buds from the remaining lavender flowers and stir them or the remaining 1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers into the sugar syrup. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer placed over a bowl (reserve the sugar syrup for another use) and dry the buds on a towel. Put the buds in the remaining sugar and stir to coat. Drop the coated lavender flowers into a fine mesh strainer and shake to sift away the excess sugar. Place the candied buds on a plate to dry and harden while you roll the truffles.
Line a large tray or rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the bowl of ganache from the refrigerator. Roll small spoonfuls of the ganache into 3/4 to 1-inch balls with your hands. When all the ganache has been rolled, put the tray in the refrigerator while you temper the chocolate for coating.
Bring a saucepan filled with 2 inches of water to a boil. Place the bowl of 16 ounces of chocolate over the hot water and melt slowly until the temperature of the chocolate reads 122F to 125F on a thermometer. Be careful not to overheat it and make sure no water gets into the bowl of chocolate or it will not harden properly later. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and cool the chocolate, gently stirring in the remaining 2 ounces chopped chocolate a small pinch at a time until the temperature reaches 85F.
When the temperature reaches 85F, place the bowl back over the saucepan of hot water and gently raise the temperature of the chocolate t between 87F and 88F. This should take 1 to 3 minutes. Check to see the chocolate has been properly tempered by placing a drop on a piece of parchment paper and refrigerating it. The drop should harden evenly and have a nice gloss.
Remove the ganache balls from the refrigerator. Using a fork (one with long fine tines works best), dip the balls one by one into the tempered chocolate to coat. Hold the fork over the bowl briefly to allow any excess chocolate to drip off the truffle. Place the coated truffle back on the tray lined with parchment. Quickly place 2 or 3 of the candied lavender buds on top of each truffle, pressing down gently so they stick. Repeat with all of the remaining balls of ganache. Let the truffles harden at room temperature for about 1 hour.
If the tempered chocolate cools too much and begins to thicken, set the bowl over the saucepan of hot water, stirring occasionally, just until it returns to between 87F and 88F.
When the chocolate coating has set, remove the truffles from the sheet of parchment paper and gently trim off any excess chocolate at the base with a paring knife, if desired. The truffles will keep at room temperature for 2 weeks, stored in an airtight container.

My Results:

First the complaints: The recipe results were fantastic, HOWEVER, the directions were a little off... Using a 1 inch disher, I was able to make about 20 truffles, not the 40 it says it makes. Also, in step 3 it says to strain the cream into the chocolate and then says to strain the remaining cream...what remaining cream? So disregard that unless you want to strain only part of the cream in and then the remainder later. It also says "cool to room temperature" and then in the next step says "warm room temperature", so go with your best guess here. I cooled the mixture until it was cool, enough not to melt the butter but still warm enough to incorporate it well. Step 4 says that the balls take 15 to 30 minutes to firm up in the fridge. Mine took closer to 2 hours to get to a consistency where they could be rolled.

Now for my ingredients:

You'll see that I chose to use Guittard's extra dark chocolate chips (63% cacao mass) which were a new product at our grocery. Basically any dark chocolate with a cacao % of 60-70 should work fine. I chose the chips to avoid having to chop the chocolate and it worked very well. Heating the cream with the lavender flowers worked just fine and smelled divine. After waiting the 30 seconds, I whisked the chocolate until smooth. Here it is just before refrigeration:

See that it is glossy and smooth. Makes you just want to dive into it :) After chilling for about 2 hours, it was ready to roll. While it was chilling I went ahead with making the candied lavender buds. After steeping the lavender in the sugar syrup and straining, I poured them out onto a paper towel to dry. I think a tea towel would be a better choice in this instance since the little buds kind of fell into the cracks and dips of the paper towel and made them a little difficult to remove. Here they are on the paper towel:

I poured about 1/4 of a cup of the superfine sugar into a shallow walled plate and dumped the buds on top, then shook them around to coat. I sifted them with another fine strainer and reserved the sugar for later use, since it was now lavender flavored as well, then dumped the candied buds onto a plate to dry out. The lavender sugar syrup makes a great addition to iced tea, by the way, which was a nice little side venture to cool off while waiting on the chocolate to chill.

Once the chocolate had chilled enough to handle, I donned a pair of latex (non powdered please!) gloves and began the process of making the balls. Using a 1" cookie scoop, I scraped the chocolate into balls and then gently rolls them between my palms to round them out before dropping them onto the parchment. Remember that truffles are supposed to look like clods of dirt, so a little irregularity is just fine! Here are my truffle centers, ready for refrigeration:

Now, tempering the chocolate is a pain in the rear...I'll warn you of that in advance. If you don't have a good candy thermometer, you can just forget it and roll the centers in cocoa powder or in powdered sugar, but if you have a good candy thermometer and a little patience, the resulting hard candy shell on the truffles IS worth the effort. *(Side note: Alton Brown of the Food Network uses a hot pad for tempering his chocolate... might have to try it sometime to see if works because it would be SO much easier!)* I had some trouble with my candy thermometer, but still managed to temper the chocolate pretty well. Here are the truffles all ready for setting aside to harden:

Now, just a note, my kitchen was pretty hot and after waiting an hour and having the chocolate still be a little sticky, I stuck them into the fridge to finish hardening. Worked just fine and gave me the hard shell I was looking for. So if you find your chocolate isn't setting up for you, pop it in the fridge for a few minutes and see if that fixes it. Now, because there was quite a bit of leftover tempered chocolate in the bowl, and never wanting to be wasteful, I made a little side trip into fun land to use up the chocolate. Anyone ever had muddy buddies? Or "monkey munch"? Usually it's made with Chex cereal and peanut butter and chocolate, but I didn't want to go to that trouble and also didn't have any Chex on hand, so I grabbed the Cheerios instead (have baby, have Cheerios!). I dumped about 2 cups of Cheerios into the bowl with the chocolate and gave them a turn with the spatula, then poured some powdered sugar in a ziptop bag and dumped it all in. Shake it up and you have some great dark chocolate covered Cheerios to snack on!

Now, on to the fun part...looking at these little beauties, I began thinking of how nice these would be as special party favors or treats and tried to think of a presentation which would be fitting of them. Not having any little jewel boxes around, but having a bit of origami paper, I thought of making little candy boxes out of origami paper. Following the directions here and using some regular origami paper, I made three little candy boxes to put my beautiful truffles in. They were just the perfect size for these truffles (and for the Cheerios mentioned above!) and would make a wonderful party favor for a tea party or something. Here's the finished product:

And a picture of the chocolate dipped Cheerios snack:

Cute don't ya think? Anyway, I had a great time making these and they turned out not only delicious, but beautiful as well. They have a slightly flowery taste, but not overwhelmingly so and are definitely something I would make again for a special occasion. Hope you enjoy and try them yourself... Make sure to let me know if you do! And check back tomorrow for another adventure in cookbook land!

Yoda Soda!

2009-07-19T21:20:00.005-05:00

So tonight was movie theme night in our house and we had Yoda Soda for dessert. This frothy drink was very refreshing and comes from one of three Star Wars cookbooks we own, the original one of the series titled The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookiee Cookies and other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis. This cookbook series is aimed mainly at children but since my husband is such a big Star Wars fan, I had to get these books for him. This is actually the first recipe we've tried out of the books and we've had them on the shelves for several years now, so it's a good thing I'm doing this year-long cookbook recipe roundup and finally put them to use! Here's a link to the book on Amazon for anyone interested:

This recipe is in the beverages section of the book along with drinks like Hoth Chocolate and Jawa Jive Milkshakes (which we'll have to try later!). We had a lot of fun making this one. Here is the recipe:

The Recipe:

Yoda Soda

3 limes
3 tbsp sugar, or more to taste
1 cup sparkling water
1 scoop lime sherbet or sorbet

1. Place 1 lime on the cutting board and cut it in half. Squeeze the juice from each half into a measuring cup. Repeat with the remaining limes until you have 1/4 cup of juice.
2. Put the lime juice and 3 tbsp sugar in a small pitcher. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. Add the sparkling water and stir until mixed. Taste and add more sugar, if desired.
3. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop up the sherbet and drop it into a tall glass. Pour in the lime water. Serve immediately.
Makes 1 serving.

Variation: You can substitute rainbow sherbet or lemon sorbet for the lime sherbet.

My results:

Ok, here are the ingredients before I started working on the drinks. You can see the book in the background there with the Yoda figurine from our childhood :)

I'm guessing that the testers of this recipe either used smaller limes or their limes weren't very juicy because my three limes yielded 1/2 cup of juice which was perfect for two drinks which I had planned to make. There are a couple of tricks to getting the most juice out of limes. The first one is for rock hard limes and that is to prick the lime a couple of times with the point of a sharp knife then pop it, whole, into the microwave for 10-15 seconds. This warms up the lime and starts the juices flowing. The second trick works with hard or softer limes and that is simply to roll the limes on your cutting board before cutting them. This breaks down the cell walls inside the lime and allows for easier juicing.

Anyway, with 1/2 cup of juice from my 3 limes, I added 6 tbsp of sugar and stirred to combine. Then poured in two cups of sparkling water and made sure the sugar was throughly dissolved. I then took two very tall glasses and plopped in two scoops of lime sherbet and the poured the lime juice mixture over top. Stirred up a little bit and it was like a lime float.

YUMMY! It was very refreshing and not overly sweet but sweet enough that even my little daughter loved the couple of sips she got from my straw (after noticing the fun looking green fizzy thing that Mommy was drinking...)

This is definitely something we'll do again! I loved the twist on a traditional float and it was very twangy and perfect for a hot summer night. I'd highly recommend this one, especially for the kid in all of us! Be sure and come back tomorrow when I'll be making another treat from my cookbook library and let me know if you decide to give this or any of the other recipes a try...