Category: MISC

CALLING ALL FOODIES, WE HAVE HOST POSITIONS OPEN.
Number of days, themes and terms flexible and NEGOTIABLE. If you would like to join the team, please leave a comment and we’ll get right back to you.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD.  

The man I’ve been in love with for over half my life and a man who defines the epitome of for better, for worse, in sickness and in health… Thank you for standing by me through it all. I love you.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD.  

The man I’ve been in love with for over half my life and a man who defines the epitome of for better, for worse, in sickness and in health… Thank you for standing by me through it all. I love you.

COOKIE DOUGH DIP

I found this in a magazine recently – think I could remember which one?  Nope, but I loved it so wanted to share it.  I also altered the ingredients from the original recipe to fit what I had on hand.

COOKIE DOUGH DIP
11 ounces plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
4 ounces chopped semi sweet chocolate

vanilla wafers, apples, bananas…

  • Whisk together the yogurt, brown sugar and vanilla powder until smooth and creamy.
  • Sprinkle with chocolate pieces.
  • Serve with your favorite dipper.

FRIDAY FILL-INS

ffi

And…here we go!

1. When I wake up, I MUST have coffee.
2. Where is that storm at?
3. How can I stand this heat one more day.
4. Why is the weather so messed up EVERYWHERE I go?
5. Time is of the essence, but precious all the same.
6. What if you could go back in time, to what point would you go?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a BIG salad, tomorrow my plans include celebrating our anniversary with hubby and Sunday, I want to watch the race and some football!

HAWAIIAN MACARONI SALAD

Sweet, tangy, creamy and crunchy all rolled into a delicious side dish for your next BBQ.
In Hawaii, where macaroni salad is a staple, it’s been a long known secret that you intentionally overcook the pasta to make it “fat”. It helps it really soak up the sauce, and keep the pasta moist and delicious. It is the method that is used to make this macaroni salad that I find so intriguing and will use for any macaroni/pasta salad containing mayonnaise in the future. It goes against everything we have ever learned about cooking pasta. What happens here though is pretty neat. 

The overcooked pasta is now like a “sponge” and it first soaks up the vinegar then soaks up the first application of dressing and has now magically filled up with all of these flavors and is no longer mushy. Then a smaller second dressing is added to make it creamy. You know how if you make macaroni salad ahead of time you quite often have to add more mayonnaise before serving? Not if you do it this way. 

Next time I will be adding a ham steak that has been trimmed and cubed small.

Hawaiian Macaroni Salad 

2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 tablespoon golden brown sugar
salt and pepper
1 pound elbow macaroni
1/2 cup cider vinegar
4 scallions, sliced thin
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 celery rib, chopped fine
1 small can crushed pineapple, super well drained

Make Dressing
  • Whisk 1-1/2 cups milk, 1 cup mayonnaise, brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons black pepper in a bowl.
Cook Pasta
  • Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in large pot. 
  • Add 1 tablespoon of salt and pasta and cook until very soft, about 15 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot. 
  • Add vinegar and toss until absorbed. 
  • Transfer to a bowl. 
  • Cool pasta 10 minutes.
  • Stir in dressing until pasta is well coated. Cool completely.
Make Salad
  • Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup milk and remaining 1 cup mayonnaise until well blended.
  • Add scallions, carrot, celery, pineapple pieces and mayonnaise mixture to the pasta mixture and stir to combine. 
  • Season with salt and pepper. 
  • Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Serve. 
Source: Adapted from Cook’s Country, June 2009 & Tide & Thyme

HAWAIIAN MACARONI SALAD

Sweet, tangy, creamy and crunchy all rolled into a delicious side dish for your next BBQ.
In Hawaii, where macaroni salad is a staple, it’s been a long known secret that you intentionally overcook the pasta to make it “fat”. It helps it really soak up the sauce, and keep the pasta moist and delicious. It is the method that is used to make this macaroni salad that I find so intriguing and will use for any macaroni/pasta salad containing mayonnaise in the future. It goes against everything we have ever learned about cooking pasta. What happens here though is pretty neat. 

The overcooked pasta is now like a “sponge” and it first soaks up the vinegar then soaks up the first application of dressing and has now magically filled up with all of these flavors and is no longer mushy. Then a smaller second dressing is added to make it creamy. You know how if you make macaroni salad ahead of time you quite often have to add more mayonnaise before serving? Not if you do it this way. 

Next time I will be adding a ham steak that has been trimmed and cubed small.

Hawaiian Macaroni Salad 

2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 tablespoon golden brown sugar
salt and pepper
1 pound elbow macaroni
1/2 cup cider vinegar
4 scallions, sliced thin
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 celery rib, chopped fine
1 small can crushed pineapple, super well drained

Make Dressing
  • Whisk 1-1/2 cups milk, 1 cup mayonnaise, brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons black pepper in a bowl.
Cook Pasta
  • Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in large pot. 
  • Add 1 tablespoon of salt and pasta and cook until very soft, about 15 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot. 
  • Add vinegar and toss until absorbed. 
  • Transfer to a bowl. 
  • Cool pasta 10 minutes.
  • Stir in dressing until pasta is well coated. Cool completely.
Make Salad
  • Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup milk and remaining 1 cup mayonnaise until well blended.
  • Add scallions, carrot, celery, pineapple pieces and mayonnaise mixture to the pasta mixture and stir to combine. 
  • Season with salt and pepper. 
  • Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Serve. 
Source: Adapted from Cook’s Country, June 2009 & Tide & Thyme

BAKING PARTNERS #5 – SHAPED DINNER ROLLS & HOLIDAY CAKES

We are a group of home bakers helping each other to achieve baking perfection.  Baking partners was begun by Swathi at Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

Baking a homemade bread, cake or cookies will give the best outcome. However in order to achieve the best results, a  perfect recipe and the right techniques are required.

We are a small group of home baker friends, who love to bake and want to learn more about the nook and corners of baking.  We are planning to try out recipes from books/magazines and cooking shows.  Every member gets a chance to present their choice of recipe and share important points with the rest of the group. The main purpose of this group is to learn the techniques, critic procedures if there are ways to improve and to eat delicious food.

 
I’m making up for last month, which was shaped dinner rolls and we had to choose 3 shapes, and I failed to post during the move.  This month’s theme is holiday cakes and I chose the Brazil Nut cake. 

For the dinner rolls I chose Lion House, Clover Leaf and small braid knots.  I loved the Lion house and small braid knots, but my clover leafs were embarrassing.

Loved the Brazil Nut Cake!

Faye Levy Chocolate Sensations, HP Books Inc., USA, 1986, p.22-23

Chocolate –Brazil Nut Cake

1-1/2 cups Brazilian nuts (about 7 oz)

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

¾ cup Sugar

¼ cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¾ cup (6 oz) unsalted butter slightly softened

6 eggs separated, room temperature

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Chocolate Honey Frosting

½ cup whipping cream

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped

6 tablespoons (3 oz.) unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cool

3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon honey

Garnish

¼ cup Brazil nuts chopped

  • Preheat oven to 350F(175C). 
  • Toast nuts in a shallow baking pan in the oven for 10 minutes. Transfer nuts into large strainer. Rub nuts against the strainer with a towel and remove most of the skin and keep aside.
  • Melt chocolate in double boiler or heatproof medium bowl over hot, not simmering, water over low heat, stirring occasionally until smooth, remove and set aside to cool.
  • Butter 9”x3” springform pan, line base with parchment paper and grease and flour the sides of the pan.
  • Grind the nuts with 2 tablespoons sugar into a fine powder. Transfer into a bowl and sift flour and baking powder and mix thoroughly.
  • Cream butter and 6 tablespoons of sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add one egg yolk at a time and beat till all 6 are blended and pale. Stir in the melted chocolate.
  • In another bowl beat egg white and cream of tartar in medium speed until it forms soft peaks. Gradually beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and beat till white are stiff and shiny but not dry.
  • Gently fold in 1/3 of the white into the chocolate flour mixture, repeat folding in batches until batter is blended.
  • Transfer batter into prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or till the tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Using a spatula go around the cake gently and invert onto a cake rack and allow cooling completely.

Frosting

  • Bring cream to a full boil in a small saucepan remove from heat and immediately.
  • Add the chopped chocolate. Stir quickly till the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool to room temperature. 
  • Whip this at high speed till it thickens and becomes pale.
  • Cream butter in a medium bowl until it is soft and smooth, gradually add the chocolate mixture and honey and beat well
  • Using a long spatula spread frosting evenly on the side and top of the cake. 
  • Fill the center with chopped Brazil nuts.

Baking Partners: A new Baking Group

 

Baking Partners: 
A new Baking Group

A group of home bakers helping each other to achieve perfection.

Baking a home made bread, cake or cookies will give the best outcome. However in order to achieve the best results, a perfect recipe and right techniques are required.

We are a small group of home baker friends, who love and want to learn more about the nooks and corners of baking.  We are planning to try out recipes from books/magazines and cooking shows.  
Every member gets a chance to present their choice of recipe and share important points with the rest of the group.
Main purpose of this group is to learn the techniques, critique the procedure(s) if there are ways to improve, and to eat delicious food.
Rules are simple, we will choose one recipe and send it out to the group by the 16th of every month and the reveal date will be the 15th of the next month. On that day we will blog about it. A linky tool will be open during that time and each member can link their post.
First month we are going to do a recipe, 2nd and 3rd month will be a theme and the 4th month we will be back at a recipe. By doing in between recipes, we will be able to learn more.
All enthusiastic bloggers interested in baking are welcome, please email Swathi at favoriterecipes12@gmail.com.
We appreciate the use of our logo or worded link that will help to spread the word.  A bunch of thanks to Tina for designing this beautiful logo.
If you want to make it a gluten or vegan free diet, you can do those modifications also.

Baking Partners are
1.    Reeni  – Cinnamon spice and everything nice

2.    Julie – Erivum Puliyumm
3.    Tina  – Pinay in Texas Cooking Corner
4.    Priya – Priya’s Versatile Recipes
5.    Suja – Kitchen Corner Try It
6.    Archana – Tangy Minds
7.    Reshmi  – EasY Cook
8.    Prathibha – Cook Ezee  
9.    Priya R – Cook Like Priya
10.  Sweatha – Tasty Curry leaf
11.  Vidhya – A Portion to Share
12.  Usha Rao – My Spicy Kitchen
13.  Divya Prakash – Divya’s Culinary Journey
14.  Swasthi Blank – Swasthi The Health Freak 
15.  Sanoli Ghosh – Sanoli’s Kitchen
16.  Pam Capone – Live Ranch Delux 
17.  Mirellie – Gourmet Global Creations
19.  Reshwani – Daily Cuppa
20.  Peachy – Peach Kitchen
21.  Aparna  – Mis(S) adventures of 3 cookies
23.  Gayathri – Gayathri’s Cook Spot
24.  Lorraine – Joy’s Misadventures
25.  Jayasri – Samyalarai
26.  Sowmya – Nivedhanam
27.  Anuja – Simple Baking
28.  Janani – Red Chilly Curry
29.  Ivy- Kopipaste
30.  Janaki – Janakidiary
31.  Samantha – SamanthaMenzies
32. Sarawathi –Sara’s Kitchen
33. Tamy- 3 Sides of Crazy
And
34. Swathi – Zesty South Indian Kitchen – Creator and Owner

MONTEREY CHICKEN

Today I used what I had on hand and we liked it even better.  Instead of 4 slices of ham I used a small ham steak and just cubed it.  I also used Muenster cheese instead of Jack.  I’m thinking next time I should cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces for a complete casserole. Hubs loved it.

MONTEREY CHICKEN

4 large boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 (10.75 oz.) can Cream of Chicken soup (see soup substitutes)
1 cup milk
4 slices ham
4 slices Jack cheese
6 ounce pkg of herb or chicken flavored stuffing mix (such as Stove Top)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup water
PURE

  • In a small bowl whisk together the cream of chicken soup and milk until well blended.
  • Spray crock pot with PURE.
  • Pour half of the soup mixture into the bottom of a 6 quart oval crock pot.
  • Place the chicken breasts over the sauce in a single layer.
  • Cover the chicken with a layer of ham and then a layer of Swiss cheese.
  • Pour the remaining soup mixture over the chicken.
  • Sprinkle the chicken with the dry stuffing mix.
  • Whisk together the butter and water.
  • Drizzle the butter mixture over the stuffing.
  • Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours.
  • Serve and enjoy!