Twist on Tinfoil

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

Here is a great idea for a quick and easy meal! We just came home from a soccer competition where we stayed in some university dorms. I had to be creative in what I took for dinner as the kitchen was completely bare. I decided it would be easy to make some tinfoil dinners in the oven. I only had to pack the ingredients, a knife, and some heavy duty aluminum foil.

Sweet n' Sour tinfoil dinner

Place 1/2 C. minute rice in a large piece of foil that has been shaped like a bowl. Add diced raw chicken, chunks of fresh pineapple, slices of green pepper, shredded carrots, snow peas in the pod, and 3 Tblsp. of sweet n' sour sauce (homemade or bottled). Pour 1/4 C. of liquid (you can use water, sprite, orange juice....I used sparkling mineral water) over the ingredients and crimp the edges of the foil. I wrapped mine again for good measure and cooked it in the oven at 350* for 35 minutes. You can cook them over the coals or on a barbecue grill too. 

I am not a fan of minute rice, but this was delicious! 

Fabulous Fudge!

This fudge is really to die for! 
I got the recipe from a friend and tweaked it to my liking.

Fudge

4 C. chocolate chips (I used half milk chocolate and half semi-sweet)

14 oz. Hershey's chocolate bar

4 1/2 C. sugar

1 cube butter (use a good brand)

1 can evaporated milk (use a good brand)

7 oz. marshmallow creme

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Bring to a boil: sugar, milk, and butter while stirring constantly. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add all other ingredients at once. Stir vigorously till mixed. Pour into a buttered pan. It makes more than a 9X13 size pan; you could make a 9X13 without nuts and a 8X8 with nuts. I toasted some chopped almonds and sprinkled them in my pan after I buttered it. You could use walnuts or whatever suits your fancy. Allow the fudge to cool before cutting.

Homemade English Muffins

Oh my gosh! If you have never made your own English muffins, you need to put it on your bucket list. Yummy! Mmmmm...mmmm...good! Way better than store purchased!

English Muffins

1 Tbsp. package active dry yeast

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Warm water

1/2 cup scalded milk

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt 

3 Tbsp soft butter

3 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Add sugar, salt, and milk.

Beat in 2 cups flour. Knead, cover and let rise till double. Add butter and rest of flour.

Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with English Muffin rings. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.

Remove from ring and cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage.

Guess Who Hatched

I had some crazy birds decide my wreath hanging on my front door was a suitable place to raise a family. They have been fun to watch. She laid one egg a day until there were a total of five eggs the size of peanut M&Ms.

They hatched today! I will post a picture of the babies as soon as I dare sneak one.

Here are the eggs if you look closely.

Here is the mama sitting on her eggs.

Here are the sweet babies!

Perfect Pie Crust

I love making pies and getting the crust just right can be a bit tricky. I love this pie crust recipe that you can throw together in your food processor and freeze until you are ready to use it. It only takes a few minutes to throw a pie together if you pull the crust and the filling out of the freezer like I did for this peach pie. See how flaky the crust is! 

1-1/2 cup Shortening

3 cups All-purpose Flour

1 whole Egg

5 Tablespoons Cold Water

1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

1 teaspoon Salt

Put the flour and the shortening in your food processor and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. Add the egg, cold water, vinegar and salt. Pulse until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

Separate the dough into 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough into a large Ziploc bag. Using a rolling pin, slightly flatten each ball of dough (about ½ inch thick) to make rolling easier later. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. 

When you are ready to use the dough to make a crust, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes. 

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I have had this recipe for years. I got it from an oriental friend of mine. It is scrumptious!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Dice 4 chicken breasts and soak for at least 20 minutes in: 1 egg, 1 tsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp. salt and a little bit of cornstarch. 
Cook chicken in hot oil until done.
Dice 1 onion, 3 peppers, 2 carrots and saute them in a small amount of olive oil. When they are cooked to desired tenderness, add the chicken and a can of pineapple chunks. Add 1 Tblsp. vinegar, 3 T. sugar, 1/3 C. ketcup, 5 Tblsp. pineapple juice mixed with 3 tsp. cornstarch.
Heat for a few minutes and serve over rice.

Budding Artist

My 16 year old son is an artist. He hasn't had any formal training aside from a few school art classes. He has a natural ability for drawing, painting, and even photography.

Here are a few pictures of his latest work.

This one is a marker drawing.

This one is done with pastels.

Day of Fools

I have such a busy load at school this semester! I threw together this recipe for April Fool's Day for my kids and though I am not going to post the recipe (because it was dry and not very good), I thought you might enjoy seeing the pictures. The filling was supposed to remain inside the "cake", but as you can see, it didn't. It is a biscuit dough and a meat filling with melted mozzarella cheese on top! I am sure with some adjustment, this could be a delicious meal. 

Hope you avoided pranks and fooled someone!

Happy Easter!

I tried a new way to dye eggs this year. Aren't they colorful?!?

I'm making a quilt out of old ties and consequently have an abundance of ties I have been collecting over the years. I picked out a few that were 100% silk. 

Cut a piece large enough to fit around an uncooked egg. Wrap it around the egg and secure it tightly with cotton string. Place in water with 3 Tablespoons of vinegar and boil for 15 minutes. Cool. Unwrap. The tie patterns and colors will have transferred onto the surface of your egg!

Super fun and easy! Just be careful not to drop one while wrapping them like I did! 

Lucky Leprechaun Stew!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! 

I made stew and shamrock rolls. The stew turned out fabulous! If you want an awesome recipe for stew, check the pioneer woman's blog; it offers all the details on how to make a good stew.  

This is just a basic stew recipe...brown the stew meat in olive oil and set it aside. Cook the onion and some garlic in the drippings. Throw in a can of tomato paste, some beef stock and a few dashes of Worcestershire  Toss the meat back in and cook it covered for a couple of hours. Toss in some diced carrots and turnips and cook for another 30 minutes or so until tender. Meanwhile, boil some potatoes and make your favorite mashed potatoes. Serve them with the beef stew sprinkled with parsley (had to have something green!).

The rolls are just my favorite recipe rolled into three balls and cooked in muffin tins. 

Strawberry Tart

I received a new magazine subscription for Christmas called Cuisine at home. It is a fun collection of recipes and tips, but the best part is NO ADVERTISEMENTS! 

I tried this recipe for strawberry-frangipane tart in this month's edition and it turned out pretty.

March seems to be the best month for strawberries; they are so delicious!

In a food processor, pulse 1 and 1/2 cups flour, 5 tbsp. sugar, and 10 tbsp. cold butter until mixture is fine. Whisk 3 egg yolks and 3 tbsp. cream together. With machine running, pour the yolk mixture in and process till it forms a ball. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick; transfer to a 10 inch tart pan. Trim and form dough to fit pan. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes or more. 

Preheat oven 375*.

Process (in food processor) 1 cup slivered toasted almonds, 3/4 cup sugar, and 2 tbsp. flour until smooth. Add 1 stick soft butter, 2 eggs, and 1/2 tsp. almond extract. Process until smooth, then spread onto chilled crust. Chill until firm.

Bake on a baking sheet until frangipane is golden, about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic and chill.

In food processor, pulse 2 cups strawberries and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice; let sit for 30 minutes (up to two hours). Strain mixture through a sieve and discard solids. Add water to yield 3/4 cup juice and pour into a small saucepan. Sprinkle 1 and 1/4 tsp. unsweetened gelatin over the juice and let sit 5 minutes. Heat mixture over medium heat until gelatin dissolves. Cool to room temperature. Pour almost all the gelee over the tart. Arrange freshly cut strawberries on top and drizzle with remaining gelee. 

Serve at room temperature.

Chocolate-Orange Fudge Cake

This quick cake-mix enhancement turns into an elegant dessert, perfect for those you love.

Chocolate-Orange Fudge Cake

1 pkg. German chocolate cake mix

8 oz. sour cream

1/2 C. water

1/2 C. oil

4 eggs

1 small package instant chocolate pudding

1/4 C. chocolate syrup

2 Tbsp. orange zest

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

Combine cake mix, sour cream, water, oil, eggs, pudding, syrup, orange peel, and cinnamon. Beat with an electric mixer until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake at 350* for 50 minutes. Cool. Dust with powdered sugar.

You should know me by now and I must admit the things I did differently....I didn't have a chocolate cake mix and just added 4 Tbsp. of cocoa to a yellow one. I didn't have chocolate pudding and used vanilla instead. I also melted part of a dark chocolate candy bar in place of the syrup.

It's what's for dinner

Made some stuffed green peppers for dinner last night and my kids, including the finicky one, actually ate them! I scanned several recipes on the web and then improvised using the ingredients I had on hand.

Stuffed Green Peppers

1 lb. of ground beef

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 C. diced onion

2 C. brown rice, cooked

1/2 C. Parmesan cheese

4 or 5 green peppers

1 C. mozzarella cheese, grated

2 cans tomato sauce

Brown the ground beef with onion, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Add the cooked rice and Parmesan cheese. Slice peppers in half, remove the seeds, and place them in a greased baking pan. Stuff the meat mixture in them pushing it down with a spoon. Pour two cans of tomato sauce over them. Bake at 375* for 35 minutes. Cover them with mozzarella cheese and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

I used to boil my peppers prior to filling them. This was the first time I tried it without that step. I loved the fresh taste! Feel free to substitute sausage for the ground beef, add additional spices that suite your taste, or experiment with other cheeses as well. 

Happy Heart Day!

Tried a new sugar cookie recipe this year and loved it! Messed up the first batch of frosting by substituting almond milk....made a second batch today that turned out perfectly creamy.

Ever frosted all your sugar cookies and then been perplexed at how to properly store them without making a mess? Tried this sandwich solution and discovered my cookies were sooooo easy to stack in a container! 

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 C. butter

2 C. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 C. sour cream

6 1/2 C. flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Mix well. Roll out 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350*. Frost with your favorite icing. I use 1/3 C. butter mixed with 4 1/2 C. powdered sugar, 1/4 C. milk, and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla. 

Belgian Waffles

Through the bacon grease fog that engulfed my kitchen this morning, emerged one of the most delicious breakfasts I have ever attempted. These are delicious! Don't let the entire cup of butter scare you! Well...I suppose it should scare you...but all good things are made with real butter! I got this recipe from a dear friend and received permission to share it with you. I fed four hungry boys and two girls with one batch. They are so good, you can eat them plain. Now, I just need an extra waffle maker.  

Belgian Waffles

2 C. flour

3/4 C. sugar

3-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 C. milk

2 eggs separated

1 C. butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Beat egg yolks and add milk, butter, and vanilla. Stir into dry mixture until just combined. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into batter. Bake in a preheated waffle iron until browned. Serve with your favorite toppings. Fruit is wonderful with them.