Chocolate pie

Chocolate Pie

The finished product. Yum!

1 9 inch baked pie crust
(Recipe in earlier blog post)

Combine in heavy sauce pan:
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa (Hershey's)
dash salt
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons corn starch

in separate bowl:
Separate 4 eggs yolks in one bowl, save whites for meringue
gently whip yolks then stir in 3 cups milk then add this mixture to dry ingredients and cook and stir over low-medium heat until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat. Add 1/2 stick butter and 1 tsp vanilla, stir until smooth when butter is melted.  Pour into prepared pie crust.

Make meringue:
take the 4 egg whites and beat until frothy then add 1/2 cup sugar and beat on highest speed of the mixer until stiff peaks form. Add 1 tsp vanilla and beat until well mixed. If making a lemon meringue pie, I use lemon juice instead of vanilla.

Top hot filling with meringue. Spread to edges well. Brown in hot oven, watch carefully to avoid burning.

swirl with spoon to form peaks

 

seal edges well to prevent shrinking

                            

Brown in hot oven. Watch it, don't let it burn!

Homemade Waffles

Homemade Waffles

So if you have a waffle iron, why are you buying frozen toaster waffles? Homemade waffles look a little intimidating but they are easier than pancakes. Really. The secret to crisp thick waffles is to beat the egg whites until they are stiff and fold them in the batter. I make the entire recipe, with my iron size it makes about 10 waffles. I let the ones we don't use cool then wrap and freeze. Nick can pop one or two into the toaster or oven and in just a few minutes he has a homemade waffle almost as good as the day I made them. And you know what goes into them too!

Here is the recipe:

1 3/4 cup plain flour. (White Lily unbleached bread flour is what I use for waffles and pancakes)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk these dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl and set aside.

Next take:

2 egg yolks (save the whites!)-gently whisk to break up yellows

1/2 cup cooking oil - whisk with yellows

1 3/4 cups milk whisk with above ingredients

When wet ingredients are combined, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in wet ingredients. Stir just to combine.  Turn on your waffle iron to get it hot.

Next, take egg whites and beat until stiff, as if making meringue. When stiff, gently fold into waffle batter, just to combine. You don't want to deflate the egg whites.  (Of course, don't add any sugar)

See how the volume doubled?

Now, spray the waffle iron with Pam or other non-stick spray. Add batter per your waffle iron directions, close lid and bake per waffle iron directions. If you don't have them anymore, I added approximately 3/4 cup batter to each well. (I have 2 wells) and cook until steaming stops. Lift carefully with fork and enjoy! We just use butter and warmed syrup. You can top with fruit, jam, peanut butter, whipped cream.....your choice! 

This recipe made 10 waffles, we ate 4, I froze 6 in packages of 2. Nick now has 3 days of breakfast to heat and eat when I am working. 

One last tip! Place aluminum foil under the waffle iron to catch the mess, then wad it up and throw it away!

Crock pot Chicken & Dumplings

Today I decided to make chicken and dumplings and use my crock pot to make them in. We love good chicken and dumplings, so I had seen the crock pot version on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. I do believe they were the best I have ever made. My only hope is that I can do it again. I never measure anything so this is only approximate.

Place several pieces of chicken in the crock pot, cover with water. Add salt, pepper, thyme and a bit of celery salt or a few pieces of celery to the water. If desired, add a few carrots to the water too and onion if you like it. Cook on high until the chicken is tender. Remove chicken and vegetables from the broth and add hot water if needed to the crock pot. Let the chicken cool.

Next, after the broth is boiling again, take 2 to 3 cups self rising flour, 2/3 stick butter softened and cut into flour and enough milk to make a thicker than cake batter dough and drop by tablespoons into broth. Cover and cook until dumplings are done. While cooking, remove chicken skin and bones, shred larger pieces and return to dumplings. Serve hot. Yum!



These were the best dumplings I have ever made!!!

Homemade Salisbury Steak

Tonight I made Salisbury Steak to take to a dinner tomorrow after church. I made it early because I had never made it before so I wanted to make sure it would turn out OK. You just can't feed the preacher bad food you know. If you follow me on Pinterest, you will see the pin for the Salisbury Steak under the "Good Food and Cooking Ideas" board. I did not follow it exactly, I left out some of the stuff.....here is what I did:

Salisbury Steak with Caramelized Onion Gravy.. 

Ingredients:
Onion Gravy 

2 large vidalia onions, thinly sliced 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter 

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

3 cups low-sodium beef broth 

1 tablespoon tomato paste 

Salt and pepper
Meat Patties 

1 pound lean ground beef  

1/2 cup cooked white rice 

1 egg yolk lightly beaten 

1 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon pepper 

1 clove minced garlic 

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 

1/2 teaspoon  thyme 

1 tablespoon cooking oil 

Directions: 

1) To make gravy: Heat butter in a large sauté pan. Add onions and cook over medium-high heat, until onions start to brown, stirring occasionally. When onions are slightly softened and turning a deep honey brown, add 1/4 cup broth. Reduce heat, cover and continue cooking, adding more broth as needed to prevent caramelized bits at the bottom of the pan from burning. It should take at least 25 to 30 minutes to properly caramelize onions. Stir in flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in remaining beef broth and tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and keep warm. 

2) To make patties: Mix ground beef, rice, egg yolk, salt, pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and thyme in a bowl. Shape into 4 oval patties about 3/4-inch thick. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Sear patties about 3 minutes per side, or until a brown crust forms. Pour gravy over patties and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Yield: 4 Servings.

Instead of the last step of simmering them in a skillet for 10 minutes, I placed them in a deep 9 x 13 pan, covered them with the gravy and baked at 375 for 20 minutes. They were great!

I had to try one after they were done. Yum!

Here is the link to the pinterest post with the recipe.  
http://pinterest.com/pin/147633694005967926/

Chicken Fajitas

 These are super easy and quick AND good!
(all photos are from Google images)

In a large skillet or wok warm 1 tbsp vegetable oil, add 1/2 of a red pepper sliced and 1/2 of a green pepper sliced











Next add about 1/3 of a sweet onion sliced









 and 2 tbsp McCormick Fajita seasoning and saute` until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Next thinly slice your chicken and add to the peppers and onion. Stir with a wooden spoon and saute` until chicken is cooked through.  Warm tortillas per package instructions, load with fajita mixture and ENJOY!!

Corn Dog Muffins

I love corn dogs. It is difficult to get the right taste these days. I found a recipe for corn dog batter that tastes almost as good as corn dogs from the county fair. Now, instead of deep frying, these are baked in the oven. Yum! with a dip of yellow mustard on most bites......

 Here is the recipe
Oven to 450 degrees
Pampered Chef Stone muffin pan if you have one, other wise a 12 cup muffin tin will work
Pour about 1/2 to 1 tbsp oil in each muffin cup
heat in oven while oven is preheating.

While oven is heating, combine in your batter bowl:
1 cup self rising flour*
2/3 cup self rising corn meal mix*
1/4 cup sugar (I used about 2 tbsp less)
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
stir together

From your pre-heated muffin pan, cautiously pour excess oil into batter and stir. Please be careful oil and pan are HOT!!!!
Next, take 3 hot dogs cut into thirds
Place 1 tbsp batter in each cup
place hot dog piece on top of batter
equally place remainder of batter over each hot dog
Bake until golden brown.

Enjoy with a dollop of mustard!

If you had rather, you can deep fry your corn dogs. The following is the recipe from All Recipes.com here is the link to that site:
http://allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 quart oil for deep frying

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

• 1/4 cup white sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 pounds hot dogs

• wooden sticks

Directions

1. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in melted bacon drippings. Make a well in the center, and pour in the egg, buttermilk, and baking soda. Mix until everything is smooth and well blended.

1. Pat the hot dogs dry with paper towels so that the batter will stick. Insert wooden sticks into the ends. Dip the hot dogs in the batter one at a time, shaking off the excess. Deep fry a few at a time in the hot oil until they are as brown as you like them. Drain on paper towels or serve on paper plates.

*I used self rising *White Lily Unbleached Flour and *White Lily Cornmeal Mix and omitted the baking soda baking powder and salt. I also used 2% milk instead of buttermilk.

Ice cream!

I wanted to make ice cream for a while. I have had a Cuisinart Ice Cream and Yogurt maker for 15 years or more. I love the thing but I haven't used it in several years. The bowl goes in the freezer, you take it out and add your ingredients and turn it on. It takes 30 or 40 minutes to make ice cream. So I am into Pinterest now and found a recipe using Sweetened Condensed Milk and "soda" (we all know in the south there is no such thing as soda-- all varieties are 'Coke' as in what kind of Coke do you want) to make ice cream. So, I went in the kitchen and found a 2L bottle of Big Red. I got in the Pantry and got out a can of sweetened condensed milk and got started. I poured in the milk, then the Big Red, stirred it a little, put the paddle in, top on and turned on the machine. In one half hour I had ice cream. It tasted pretty good too. I placed the remainder in a freezer safe bowl, covered it, washed and returned the ice cream bowl to the freezer for the next time. Yum! 

 

So, I suppose the recipe is:  

1 - 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 - 2L bottle of your favorite cola

 stir gently to combine and place in your freezer. Activate per manufacturer's directions. Enjoy!

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http://pinterest.com/