Category: MISC

CHEESECAKE APPLE CRISP


Hi, Tamy here filling in for Save Room for Desserts.
Don’t forget to add your link on the sidebar!
CHEESECAKE APPLE CRISP
CRISP
2-3 large Granny Smith apples (4 Cups chopped)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup apple juice
TOPPING
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 small box cheesecake flavored instant pudding
  • Preheat oven to 350°.
  • In a large mixing bowl combine all CRISP ingredients and mix well. Pour into an un-greased stoneware pan.
  • In a mixing bowl combine the topping ingredients and mix until crumbly.
  • Sprinkle topping over apple mixture.
  • Bake 45-60 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is crisp and golden.
  • Serve warm with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream.

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE & OVEN HASH BROWNS

On Sunday mornings we try to have a nice brunch together, but there always seems to be time constraints. This weekend we tried Ree’s Sleepin’ In Omelette and my hash browns and boy was it yummy together. I halved both recipes and we still had lots of leftovers. Hubby did miss meat though and asked me our regular family favorite next week.

OUR NORMAL FAMILY BREAKFAST CASSEROLE*

1 cup diced ham OR crumbled sausage OR a combo of both
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese OR jack and cheddar combo
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
4 slices thick sourdough bread
4 Jumbo eggs
celery salt and white pepper to taste
PURE

  • Spray the bottom of an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish
  • Cook meat of choice and layer on bottom of baking dish
  • Layer bread in a single layer over the meat
  • Whisk together the soup, milk, eggs, salt and pepper
  • Pour evenly over bread
  • Top with the cheese
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (covered with foil for the first 30 minutes)

*This can be made ahead and left to chill 24 hours before baking – in fact it usually tastes better that way.


OVEN HASH BROWNS

2 large Russet potatoes*, scrubbed clean
1 bunch green onions, minced fine
1 large apple, peeled, cored and minced (optional)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Celery salt and white pepper

  • Grate the potatoes with a cheese grater
  • Spin dry the potatoes and apple pieces in a salad spinner or if you don’t have one use a flour sack cheesecloth and squeeze them dry
  • Toss the potatoes with the melted butter
  • Generously sprinkle with the celery salt and white pepper
  • Bake on large cookie sheet until crisp**

*you can cheat & use frozen Oreida hash browns, but be sure to thaw & drain off moisture
**If they are stubborn, I put them under the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown.
aprons 3

Ritzy Carrot & Broccoli Casserole

RITZY CARROT & BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
4 medium carrots
2/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons butter
pinch cinnamon

  • Wash, peel and slice carrots diagonally.
  • In a saucepan combine the water, salt and sugar.
  • Add carrots. Bring to a boil.
  • Turn down heat to simmer and cook until JUST tender crisp.
  • Drain.
  • Toss with butte and cinnamon.

6 broccoli crowns, washed and trimmed into 2 inch pieces (stalks also)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Jumbo egg
1 small Vidalia onion, chopped
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 cups ritz cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup milk

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cook broccoli in boiling, salted water until JUST tender.
  • Drain well, cool slightly and toss with carrots and onions.
  • Layer into a greased 9×9 baking dish.
  • Top with ritz cracker crumbs.
  • Melt butter in bottom of saucepan. Whisk in the flour until smooth.
  • Add the chicken broth, milk, mayonnaise and egg, whisking until smooth.
  • Pour over broccoli mixture.
  • Cover and bake 40 minutes.
  • Top with cheese and bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.
  • Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

DECADENT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

DECADENT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES (make 4 ramekins)
2 Tablespoons butter + 1 Tablespoon butter
1 ounce Baker’s Bittersweet Chocolate
1 ounce Baker’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1 1/4 ounce Baker’s sweet German chocolate
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon flour
1/8 scant teaspoon baking powder
1/8 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar

  • Melt 2 tablespoons butter in microwave safe ramekin for 30 seconds, add the bittersweet & semi-sweet chocolate and microwave in 30 second increments until you can stir it smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
  • Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
  • Mix together the egg and sugar and beat on high with a hand mixer until slightly thick and turns a dull yellow. Lower speed and add chocolate mixture to egg mixture.
  • By hand stir in the flour mixture until consistent in color.
  • Spoon into ramekins and bake on cookie sheet for 25 minutes or until centers are set.
  • Just after you put these in, prepare the topping.
  • Melt the other tablespoon of butter and then add the German sweet chocolate and melt until you can stir smooth.
  • Just after the brownies come out of the oven, pour the topping over.

aprons 3

Simple Saturday – Hasselback Potatoes

Welcome to Simple Saturday!

Today I have a fun simple side for you …

Hasselback Potatoes

Scrub baking potatoes

Stick metal skewers through the bottoms lengthwise
(so you won’t accidentally cut all the way through the potato)

Cut thin slices all the way along the potatoes

Rub with olive oil

Slather tops with butter, minced garlic, and parsley
(I don’t think the original version had garlic – I’m Italian, everything has garlic!)

Bake just as you would a baked potato

Wouldn’t these look pretty next to a nice steak and some greens?
Eat and enjoy!

Visit me over at Seaside Simplicity for more simple recipes.

Have a great weekend!

CHOCOLATE GLAZED CHEESECAKE GINGER BARS

I tried a new cooking method and wasn’t happy with it so these are not great pictures this week, but that sure doesn’t affect the taste. Hubby has already eaten half of them. I wrote the recipe here like I normally do it.

CRUST
2 1/2 cups ginger snap crumbs
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
PURE
FILLING
2 large eggs
2~8 ounce softened cream cheese
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can sweetened condensed milk
optional: 3 Tablespoons dutch cocoa~using this makes them very rich!
GLAZE
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Generously spray 9×13 pan with PURE
  • Finely grind gingersnaps in food processor. Add melted butter and pulse until evenly mixed. Press into bottom of pan. Bake 1 minutes and then cool 5 minutes before filling.
  • Sprinkle gelatin over milk and mix well. Beat together softened cream cheese, eggs, salt and gelatin mixture at medium speed until smooth.
  • Pour sweetened condensed milk into a tall bowl and microwave for 3 minutes in 3 minute increments. Allow to cool slightly. Fold in sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
  • Pour over cooled crust.
  • Bake 45 minutes or until center is set.
  • Cool on rack 2 hours.
  • After 2 hours, melt butter and chocolate chips together until smooth. Pour over cheesecake layer. Chill overnight before serving.

With a thin knife cut into squares. Be sure and wipe knife clean after each cut.
aprons 3

KETCHUP VS. CATSUP?

Do you ever wonder why we have both names or how they originated. Recently hubby has been requesting my 1000 Island dressing a lot which recently sparked an animated conversation on ketchup vs. catsup when I was a bit tired and my mid-western inflection sounded odd to his west coast ears. I decided it was time to put an end to the debate and started researching both names.

What I thought was going to be a simple research turned into an in depth history study. Here is what I found.

According to Culinary Sleuth the difference is primarily in the spelling and pronunciation, but I found that may not truly be the case. They claim it is America’s most widely used condiment and can be found in 97% of all kitchens.

The basic ingredients in today’s ketchup are tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, salt, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. Onions, celery and other vegetables are frequent additions. Catsup may be made of tomatoes, onions, cayenne, sugar, white vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, celery seed and salt. So the two do not differ much except that catsup appears to be spicier than Ketchup.

Per this site, “catsup is known to most experts to use higher quality tomatoes. This fact is not known to most consumers, and they blindly purchase the inferior ketchup more often”.

All versions seem to attribute the origins to an Asian, Chinese or Indonesian spicy pickled fish sauce that was predominantly a soy and Worcestershire based sauce that sometimes also had anchovies and dates back to the 1600’s. English Sailors brought ke-tsiap home with them from their voyages where the name was changed and finally became ketchup. It wasn’t until the late 1700s though that New Englanders added tomatoes to the blend. Henry J. Heinz began making ketchup in 1876 but he was neither the inventor nor the first to bottle it. His recipe remains the same to this day.

During my search I also found the Brooks Catsup of Collinsville Illinois which is home to the world’s largest bottle of catsup that doubles as the town’s water tower. It was saved in recent years by a preservation society and restored to it’s original appearance. This product is owned by Bird’s Eye in today’s world and is produced in limited quantity.

I also found this interesting parody on catsup v. ketchup, or at least I hope it is a parody. LOL
aprons 3

Piña Colada Dip – A taste of the Caribbean ala Year on the Grill

OK, you thought of it when you read the title, may as well go ahead and click the play button and hum along while you read the post…

I love food.  I love recipes and I love bloggers that put it out there everyday.  I am not the kind of person that writes about a recipe that fails, I will usually find something positive about that recipe that I can talk about with out bringing up negative aspects.  I am just a positive fun loving guy.

So, having said all that, when I do come across a recipe that will change my life… Well, my eating life anyway… I am often at a loss for words for how to convey how much a recipe DOES succeed at every level.  This is one of those recipes that is so simple, yet so perfect in every way…

Low calories
Very healthy
But best of all, incredibly tasty!

First, credit is due COOKING TIP OF THE DAY where I saw this recipe earlier in the week.  I happened to have had everything I needed handy and a variety of fresh vegetables suitable for Linda’s dip.  If you check original post of the recipe (HERE), you will read that Linda recommended this for fruit (pineapple, bananas, apples, etc.).  This would make a GREAT dessert.  But I used it as a substitute for vegetables.  Either way, I can not hype this treat too much…

here’s what I did…

1 low fat Vanilla Yogurt
2 TBS shaved Coconut (toasted)
1 TSP Flavored Rum (Pineapple, Coconut, Black Cherry, Banana or in this case… Mango)
Raw vegetables cut for dipping… Carrots, Celery, Bell peppers, Mushrooms… Whatever happens to be in your fridge).

Toast the coconut by placing a thin layer of coconut on a sheet of parchment paper.  I put this under the broiler for just 3-5 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, fine line between toasted and burnt.

Mix 1/2 the coconut with the rum and yogurt, add the remaining coconut on the top to look pretty.

Dip and serve and you will lick the bottom of the bowl.

I have eaten pretty good on the island since I have arrived.  My cooking, as well as two or three restaurants a week… No exaggeration, this is the best thing I have eaten on the island.

In fact, next night I made almost the same thing…


Except I made the dip with Black Cherry Rum… Yum!


And as an aside, I came across a store that sells those rotisserie cooked chickens.  You’ve seen them, most larger stores seem to have them these days, certainly Wal-mart, Sam’s Club, etc. sell them.  I just sliced a few hunks of meat and served that with the veggies and dip.  A wonderful lower cal dish (I know, i could have taken the skin off, but it tastes sooooo good!).

I actually have two asides… First, imagine this dip with a peppery hot spicy chicken wing.  heat and sweet, a great combination.

And second, even here on the island where everything is expensive, the whole COOKED and very tasty chickens are only $6 and a raw uncooked chicken is $9… Does anyone have a reason???


Don’t be afraid of the rum, there is only 1 teaspoon… Just enough to add a bit of za za zing.

Thanks Linda, GREAT recipe idea.


I have been on island now for nearly three weeks, and all is going very smooth.  I am updating three blogs now with my adventures.  One is a scrapbook type with almost no wording, and just a bunch of photos from my day.  Yesterday I went snorkeling out my back door (beach is only 30 yards away).  Come see my photos I took of all the pretty fishies… 

FISH EVERYWHERE! Snorkeling out my back yard

I also have a blog that is featuring more Caribbean food ideas.  Right now I am trying to greet my hard working wife at the door at the end of her hard day with different frozen drinks, so I have done several posts on them lately.  As well as restaurant reviews and exotic ingredients…

A Kansas Foodie in the Virgin Islands


And as always, 

Who knew it was that easy!
Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. As always, I was SO surprised to learn that I CAN COOK THAT!!!

Give me a little taste of home, and stop by the comment section. Let me know you won’t forget me while I am gone!



Oh, and one more update and question before I leave you all for a week –


Just in case you all think i am turning into a rummy since I landed, I have started (and kept up with) a 90 minute a day walk/explore the island, 10,000 aerobic steps a day diet (no change in food intake, but the theory is that if you walk 10,000 steps a day, you will lose weight).  I do not have a scale, but all the clothes I brought are fitting better.

But I do wonder, Does this Ass make my my Donkey look fat???  This was taken after I walked 3 miles ALL UPHILL to the highest lookout spot on the island.  the sweat stains were not photoshopped in.

See you all in a week!

…

CREAMY SWEET & SOUR BACON DRESSING

BOILED SALAD DRESSING
now known as Creamy Sweet and Sour Bacon Dressing


2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mustard
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon butter
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
4 slices bacon, crumbled small

  • Beat egg yolk thoroughly.
  • Sift dry ingredients together and add to the egg yolk mixture, mixing well.
  • Gradually and alternately add the vinegar and water.
  • Cook in double boiler until thick and creamy. Can be cooked directly over flame, but must be watched carefully and stirred constantly.
  • Add butter, beating smooth.
  • Remove from heat.
  • Add bacon pieces.
  • Store in refrigerator.

Recipe (page 106) adapted from ‘A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband’ by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron
aprons 3

Chocolate Obsession Spotlights Tanya

Tanya, as February’s star made this delicious but what appears to me, to be a bit labor intensive, but fun, to make dish.  Who could turn down chocolate and strawberries.  To find out how to make this gem, check out Tanya’s blog.

Please, come on over to Sweet and Savory and link your favorite chocolate recipe up at Chocolate Obsession.  We will spotlight another foodie, for March.

The winner for February who will be in the spotlight, tomorrow, under Cooking with Chaya, is Tanya of A LA GRAHAM with her fabulous ………….

CHOCOLATE BOWLS WITH CHAMBORD WHIPPED CREAM & BERRIES

BLACK RASPBERRY GLAZED CHICKEN

BLACK RASPBERRY GLAZED CHICKEN

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, halved
1/3 cup blackberry preserves
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

  • Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
  • Add onion and garlic, sauteing until translucent and fragrant.
  • Sprinkle over chicken with salt and pepper.
  • Add chicken to skillet and saute’ until done.
  • Remove chicken from skillet & keep warm.
  • Reduce heat. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, preserves, vinegar, & pepper, stirring constantly until the preserves melt.
  • Spoon sauce over chicken, and its done!
  • Serve with buttered noodles or rice.


aprons 3