HELPFUL HINTS – Page 28 – Chasing MY Life WHEREVER it Leads ME

Menu Plan Monday

MONDAY ~ Linguini & Clams
TUESDAY ~ C.O.R.N.*
WEDNESDAY ~ Roasted Red Pepper Krab Salad
THURSDAY ~ Chicken Enchiladas & Refried Beans
FRIDAY ~ Pork Chops & Stuffing
SATURDAY ~ Seafood Salad & Parmesan Rolls
SUNDAY ~ Chicken Cacciatore & Salad

*C.O.R.N. ~ clean out refrigerator night

I do the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks, Tasty Thursday hosted by Pumpkin Patch, Watchin’ What We Eat hosted by Lorie at Honey I Shrank Myself and Slow Cooking Thursday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

Scrumptious Sunday ~ National Watermelon Day

Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks

WATERMELON JELLY
6 pounds watermelon, including rind
3 1/4 ounce envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Cut the watermelon into large pieces, discarding the rind.
Puree through the food processor. This should leave you with 3 cups of watermelon juice.
Combine gelatin with 1 cup of the watermelon juice and let stand 2-3 minutes.
In a small sauce pan combine the other 2 cups of juice with the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Whisk in the the lemon juice and the gelatin mixture.
Remove from heat.
Pour into 1/2 pint jelly jars.
Seal tightly.
Store upside down on a towel in the refrigerator overnight.

WATERMELON SORBET
4 cups seeded watermelon chunks
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

In blender combine watermelon, sugar and juice.
Transfer to a 2 quart freezer safe container.
Freeze 4-6 hours until resembles a set gelatin.
In several batches return to blender.
Return to freezer in same container or smaller containers, always covered.

Grab your Fork – Gramndma's Fudge Brownies

Little Ray brownie story with the twins

The Need to Knead

I’ve been wanting to do a bread recipe round-up
for a LONNNNNNNNNNNG time
and it’s ALMOST finally here!

Joy at Joy Of Desserts

lil’ ‘ol me here at 3 Sides of Crazy,
are co-hosting a bread round-up
on October 15, 2008
for all types of bread recipes.
And we mean all breads!
White, wheat, banana, braided,
Sweet, Savory, rolls, biscuits, etc…
Whatever you’re in the mood to share.
We hope you will participate!

In preparation for the upcoming National Bread Month in November and for our driving desires and “NEED TO KNEAD” as well as the upcoming Holidays let’s all join in together on October 15^th, 2008 and round-up all of our delicious bread recipes to look back on when we need to bake fantastic bread. I know many of mine were handed down by my grandma.

Here’s how we’ll do it:

Just post your recipes anytime until Oct 15, 2008.
Remember to use the Need To Knead Button.
Link to 3 Sides Of Crazy and then to Joy Of Desserts too.
Mr. Linky will be in place on October 15^th.

Come back here on October 15th to let us know about your recipes.
Then we’ll all visit each other.

To make it even easier you can link to recipes you have previously posted. Your blog can be in any language, but a translator on your site will be of a help to any who don’t speak the same language.

Want to help us spread the news about the round-up? Even if you are not sure whether you’ll be able to participate, you can still post the button in your sidebar or write a post about our round-up to let your readers know about it too.

I’m trying to pull together a great giveaway gift basket to coordinate with the NEED TO KNEAD campaign. Details to follow

Tasty Thursday ~ Creamy Tomato Soup with Baked Cheese Croutons

CREAMY TOMATO SOUP with BAKED CHEESE CROUTONS

SOUP
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 teaspoons minced garlic
½ teaspoon oregano
1 cup White Grenache Wine
2-28 ounce cans Contadina crushed tomatoes
2-14 ounce cans chicken broth*
½ cup whole milk or heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Over low heat melt the butter, stir in garlic and brown the finely chopped onion. Add the wine and simmer 10-15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and broth. Stir well and simmer 1 hour or more. Add the cream during the last fifteen minutes and simmer slow-DO NOT BOIL!! Bake the croutons during this time.

*or make your own with 3 1/2 cups hot water and 3 teaspoons vegetable or chicken bouillon.

CROUTONS
6 slices thick sourdough bread
butter, melted, enough to coat bread
½ cup Fontina Cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bread slices on oven rack and bake until dry and golden. Melt butter in flat bowl. Combine cheeses in flat bowl. Dip first in butter and the cheese mixture. Bake on cookie sheet 8-10 minutes until cheese is bubbly and melted. Float croutons on top of soup bowls just before serving.

Yields: 6 BOWLS
Time to make: 1½ hr

I do the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks, Tasty Thursday hosted by Pumpkin Patch, Watchin’ What We Eat hosted by Lorie at Honey I Shrank Myself and Slow Cooking Thursday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

We have the Need to KNEAD

Have you heard about the Need to Knead Bread Roundup? I wanted to do a bread round up and Joy at Joy of Desserts, another Scrumptious Sunday participant offered to make this great button and co-host this bread Roundup on October 15th along with the help of Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers who has so generously offered to be our Mr. Linky person. We will roundup all types of bread recipes. We already have a number of people signed up and it promises to be great. You are all invited to participate. We would love it if you would join us, and we would love it if you would help us spread the word by putting this button in your sidebars or even writing a short post about the roundup.

Menu Plan Monday

MONDAY ~ Chinese Chicken Salad
TUESDAY ~ Chicken Carbonara
WEDNESDAY ~ Meatloaf Muffins
THURSDAY ~ Stuffed Shells
FRIDAY ~ Grilled Brats & Baked Beans
SATURDAY ~ Roasted Red Pepper Krab Salad over Tomatoes
SUNDAY ~ Fried Chicken

Roasted Red pepper Krab Salad 1/2 pound Krab, minced
1 large bunch green onions, minced
1 package Schwann’s Roasted Red Pepper Queso, thawed
2 Large tomatoes
4 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine krab, green onions and queso packet contents.
Toss Well.
Slice tomato and divide amongst 4 plates.
Salt & Pepper each tomato slice.
Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice per portion over the tomato slices.
Top with a large scoop of salad.
Enjoy.

3 weight watcher’s points

Scrumptious Sunday ~ Picnic Edition ~ Fried Chicken

What is a picnic without fried chicken?

12 pieces of chicken
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons buttermilk powder
2 sticks butter
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl combine salt and warm water to cover the chicken pieces.
Soak for 1 hour.
In a large cast iron pan melt one stick of butter.
Drain chicken pieces and pat dry.
In a large Ziploc bag combine the flour and buttermilk powder.
Dredge chicken pieces in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess.
When butter is melted and hot arrange chicken pieces to fit into the pan.
Salt and pepper to taste.
DO NOT turn chicken pieces until you see blood.
Salt and pepper to taste on the second side.
Cook until golden on both sides and you cannot see any blood.

Oven Poached Eggs for Sunday Brunch

OVEN POACHED EGGS

2 Jumbo eggs per person
1 tablespoon butter per person
2 slices bacon per person
grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook bacon until crisp.
Melt butter and coat entire inside of ramekin or muffin tin.
Break 1 egg (try not to break the yolk) in each ramekin or muffin slot.
salt and pepper.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until just set.
Top each egg with a slice of crumbled bacon and then grated cheddar cheese.
Bake another 3 minutes.
Serve with chilled juice and toast.

I use oven safe ramekins at home, but when we’re camping I use a cupcake tin.

NEED to KNEAD

We all have some favorite family bread recipes tucked away.

I know that at certain times I have the NEED TO KNEAD, primarily during the holidays or from October through April.
The rest of the time my Bread Machine Rules.

I thought we could all come together to give us a day of daily bread recipes.

And I mean all breads! White, wheat, banana, braided, etc…
whatever you’re in the mood to share.

Ironically National bread month is November at the beginning of our holiday baking crunch
so why don’t we share the recipes on October 15th to help us get ready?

Just post your recipes anytime until Oct 15, 2008, come back here on October 15th to link to it so that we may all visit you. You can even link to recipes you have previously posted. Add this button to your participating posts and link to this blog. Your blog can be in any language, but a translator on your site will help any who don’t speak the same language.

Bread History According to National Bread Month:

..”It was only after the Pilgrims came to America that baking bread in private homes became the norm. Our ancient forbearers baked bread in communal ovens. These ovens were built on the out skirts of villages, near water due to the extreme fire hazards of the early brick ovens. Later in Europe, after the Romans taught the indigenous peoples about bread making, bread was still baked in large ovens. Except these ovens were not communal ovens they were owned, as was the mill, by the local lord. This made families dependant on the lord for their daily bread. By the Middle Ages baking guilds controlled who and how bread were baked and sold. These organizations limited the number of bakers and bakeries in each village and that meant even impoverished peasants had to purchase bread.

When the first colonists came to North America they demanded the right to be in control of their daily bread. Households at last could bake bread at home. Even commoners were in control of their daily bread….”

Resource Link Celebrate National Bread Month with crusty water rolls: recipe

Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic era. The first breads produced were probably cooked versions of a grain-paste, made from ground cereal grains and water, and may have been developed by accidental cooking or deliberate experimentation with water and grain flour. Descendants of these early breads are still commonly made from various grains worldwide, including the Mexican tortilla, Indian chapatis, rotis and naans, Scottish oatcake, North American johnnycake, Middle Eastern Pita bread (Kmaj in Arabic and Pitot in Hebrew) and Ethiopian injera. The basic flat breads of this type also formed a staple in the diet of many early civilizations with the Sumerians eating a type of barley flat cake, and the 12th century BC Egyptians being able to purchase a flat bread called ta from stalls in the village streets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread

Favorite Ingredient Friday ~ Chicken Carbonara

hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy
CHICKEN CARBONARA

1 pound thin spaghetti
4 ounces diced bacon
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 1/2 heavy cream
2 chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grate Parmesan cheese
4 egg yolks
salt and pepper to taste

Cook spaghetti al dente’.
Brown bacon until crisp.
Drain off most drippings, leaving bacon in pan and add butter.
Add onion and chicken strips and cook until chicken* is tender.
Drain cooked spaghetti and add to the chicken pan.
Add cream, salt and pepper.
Stir continually just until boiling.
Add cheese and egg yolks.
Turn off heat and continue stirring well.

*Turning the chicken often will keep it moist and juicy.

Win a free TasteBook

Lori over at My Wooden Spoon is running a contest to win a free Tastebook.
Go check it out and put in your entry.

Category: HELPFUL HINTS