Thursday, February 9, 2012

THE-WALL-O-SHAME!

                                                My burned tortillas


                                 Aaron's midnight snack. grilled cheese-  lol

Another attempt at creating a cherry cordial fudge, I'm not giving up


Staples I can't Live Without

You know how it is, browsing through the grocer, minding your business. All of a sudden there it is.
Angel choir begins to sing, the sun comes out from behind a cloud, and cast a beam on... Pureed Ginger.
O.K maybe it wasn't that melodramatic, but it was one of those AHA! moments. This is ingenious. Ginger is so tough and fibrous- such a pain to work with.
I love Asian food, so this is a Godsend for me.
I'm still experimenting, but I think you need only about 1/4 the ginger a recipe calls for- if you switch to pureed.
Love this stuff.  I'm going to add a new tag  -Staples I can't Live Without - and many will have recipes for that product.
Recipe for - Pureed Ginger @ Recipe 4 All


My all time favorite product is bottled minced garlic. I don't know what type of garlic is used for this, but it must be a better variety than most of the fresh garlic bulbs I've used.
I go through about 4 -5 quarts a year. So you might not want to stand too close. :) Anytime I try a new recipe, and think there's somethin' missin' ...PLOP! in goes the garlic, that usually fixes it.
It's touted as one of the "superfoods", also keeps vampires and unwanted relatives  away! good stuff.





Once I discovered Chipotles in Adobo sauce, I was so intrigued by these smoked jalapenos, I started trying them in many of my existing recipes. If you want to add a southwest flair to a dish, try puree-ing  1 or 2 of these in the sauce. The flavor is truly unique. I also use the adobo sauce in the can for cooking. It picks up the flavor of the chipotle but not the heat.
 I try to keep a container in the fridge at all times, but my husband finds them ( He eats them like candy-yuk) So I keep a can or 2 hidden behind my spice jars....shhhh.

Chipotles in Adobo sauce- You can find them in the Mexican section of your grocer.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Fried Chicken Salad, Cream of Broccoli Soup and Cream Puffs.

                  Fried Chicken Salad, Cream of Broccoli Soup and Cream Puffs.


Whenever I make fried chicken salad, I always laugh, being  reminded of my 3 boys, when they were growing up.
They would run a very effective scam on me while I was frying.
I call it the 'wolf pack'. One of them would walk in and ask me a question. Her I am, all excited because someone wanted my opinion, finally, my chance to give sage advise. Whilst I am distracted, giddy with glee, the other two wolves make their move.
They snatch a few handfuls of chicken, French fries, etc.. and stealthily make their way back into the bedroom, where they split up the booty. It took a few years, but I finally figured it out, after having spent 45 minutes making French fries, and the dish wasn't getting any fuller. Stinkers!

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Fried Chicken Salad

Cream Puffs

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Baking With The Grandkids-Cookie Day!

                      Kolachy, Painted sugar cookies, English toffee cookies

Baking with kids can be a lot of fun, Wide eyes getting a glimpse at the first batch of cookies being pulled from the oven.  After that it's a mixed bag of "Are they done yet", Fingers poking the perfectly uniform dough (several of them) Fighting over who gets to use the red paint. But it was worth it in the end.



                                           Jacob painting his cookie.



Ariel with one of her cookies. If you'll notice, Nick in the background having a sample of the frosting.

So I said "Nick, don't eat the frosting, or we wont have enough for the cookies" He said "I didn't"
Yep, it was worth it!  :)


I tried the recipe for vanilla almond sugar cookies from Kelly at  Eat Yourself Skinny Really good recipe. Then I found a recipe for cookie paint at Food.com
I had to use about 4 times the corn syrup it called for but it turned out perfect.
The kids had a great time painting their cookies, I think we have a new addition to Cookie Day
Here are the recipes for:

Kolacky Cookies

English Toffee Cookies