Catalina chicken

From chef Ron Lock: 

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Breasts
1 cup apricot jam
1 cup catalina or french dressing
1 & 1/2 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix


Directions:

1. Place  chicken in a crock pot. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl; pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice or pasta. (I think I would try rice pilaf

Bacon-etti

1 pound spaghetti
1/2 pound bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup olive oil or bacon drippings
1/4 cup minced onion
6 to 8 beaten eggs
1/2 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I will actually use green sprinkle cheese for this dish.)
Garlic to taste (fresh or powder)
Salt and pepper

In large pot, heat enough water to cook 1 pound of spaghetti. While water is coming to a boil, fry bacon until very crisp. Remove onion from pan with a slotted spoon. Add onion to the drippings in the pan and brown. Once the onions are well caramelized, remove them from the bacon drippings with a slotted spoon and reserve them with the bacon which you have set aside. Add spaghetti to boiling water. Cook until spaghetti is cooked al dente. Drain spaghetti, and add olive oil or bacon drippings. (Bacon drippings will be more flavorful.) Stir well  to keep noodles from sticking.

Pour beaten eggs over spaghetti noodles while the noodles are still very hot and stir until egg is cooked from the residual heat of the noodles. Add grated Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and last of all the bacon onion mixture. (saving the bacon and onion for last makes a prettier dish.)

Makes four generous main dish servings, or six generous side dish servings. Kids usually love this. If the kids don't like onions, make sure you brown them very well. Once they are caramelized, kids will usually eat them just fine. Of course, you can just leave them out.

No-knead bread

No Knead Bread Recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman of NY Times who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery. When the recipe first came out, it was the blogging community who took the bread to new heights, especially Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Bread Bible. 

1. 3 cups bread flour (If you add additional grains, increase yeast)
2. 1/4 teaspoon saf-instant yeast 
3. 1 teaspoon salt 
4. 1 1/2 cups warm water
5. Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel...something that can go into a 450F oven.)

1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.
2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With an oiled spatula, dump the dough onto an oiled surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands oiled so that the dough does not stick.  In the meantime, oil the bowl you used to mix the ingredients. Lift the dough and place into the  bowl. Cover bowl with a towel. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you've got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.
3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Lift entire wobbly dough blob out of bowl into pot. Doesn't matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F or makes a hollow sound when you tap it. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes.

How to cook a perfect steak

So my knowledge on cooking a perfect steak has been recently acquired from Pinterest. I've only cooked a steak once (tonight) and it turned out perfectly! I was seriously amazed that I, a super novice, could so easily cook a juicy, tender steak by following a few simple instructions.

1. Buy a steak that is about an inch thick. (I just bought the manager special on new york strip steaks because I didn't want to spend tons of money on my little experiment. They turned out great!)

2. Take your steaks out of the fridge about an hour before you are going to cook them and salt them liberally with coarse salt.

3. Right before you are about to cook them rinse the salt off and pat the steaks dry. Add pepper or other seasonings but don't add more salt, there is plenty left in the meat from the hour seasoning.

4. Heat your pan to sizzling hot before you put your steaks in the pan. To get a good sear the pan needs to be hot from the get go. (I heated my pan while I rinsed and dried my steaks. I used a cast iron skillet.) Use a pan that is close to the size of your steak so that the steak gets all the heat.

5. Don't use any oil or spray but instead melt some of the fat on a side of your steak to coat the pan. Drop your steaks.

6. Cook on one side, without turning, for the amount of time it takes to reach your preferred doneness. 2.5 minutes for rare, 3-4 minutes for medium rare, 4 minutes for medium, 5 minutes for medium well, and 6 minutes for well. Flip and cook for the same amount of time on the other side.

7. Let your steak rest for 10 minutes.

8. Enjoy your delicious, tender steak.

I cooked our steaks to medium but since mine was slightly thinner it was closer to medium well. It was still so tender though! I am still amazed that I was able to cook a wonderful steak on my first try. Don't be afraid; buy a steak and follow these steps and your won't be disappointed!

Scrumptious Lasagna

This is how I make lasagna, and I've done it this way for years.  I don't make any claims on it's authenticity, but I know that everyone who eats it seems to like it.  There are those who say it's the best the've had, but really, even if some eaters don't love it they're not likely to say that to my face, right?

I think my biggest breakthrough came when I discovered about 30 years ago that I didn't have to pre-cook the noodles.  Pre-cooking the noodles always made the lasagna take so much longer to create, plus the slippery things broke so much easier and everything was messier.  Not to mention you had another large pot to wash.  Now a days you can buy "special" noodles that don't need cooking prior to making your lasagna. (Nice that the pasta companies finally figured out not cooking the noodles saved SO much time...) I have never bought them, and never will because I suspect they would cost more.

Ingredients (these are approximate since I don't exactly measure stuff.)

Meat:  I like to use 1 lb of ground beef and 1 lb of sausage, regular or italian flavor. (Just something like Jimmy Dean or the store brand, not those Italian sausages in casings.)  I can use all ground beef if I need to, but using all sausage doesn't taste right.  The mixture is the best.  Also, if I have a little bit of leftover pepperoni in the fridge I will occasionally dice that up and toss it in too.  Brown the meat in a good sized skillet.  You can also add some minced fresh onion to brown with the meat at this point.

Sauce:  I use a large can of crushed tomatoes (about 28 oz) and then about 32 ounces of tomato sauce.  I know a lot of people like to use tomato paste but to me it has a kind of "off" flavor.  Once the meat is browned nicely, add the tomatoes and tomato sauce to the skillet.  (Now you know why you needed a good sized one.)

Spices:  These are "to taste" so I'll approximate the amounts.  You can add these after the tomato products.  Garlic:  You can use fresh cloves and dice them up, but that's a lot of work and the pre-minced refrigerated stuff is just fine.  Or you can use garlic powder, it's a perfectly acceptable alternative.  Do not use garlic salt, the canned tomato products are already a little salty and garlic salt would make it overly salted.  Use the equivalent to three or four cloves.  Oregano:  Use dried, about a tablespoon.  Basil: Dried, about a tablespoon.  Fennel seeds: about a teaspoon.  Thyme: about a tablespoon.  Red pepper flakes are optional, about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp.  Once the spices are added, cover the pan, turn it down to a low simmer, and assemble the rest of your ingredients.

Pan:  This recipe will make a 9 x 13 pan plus a 7 x 11 pan.  Or it will make one lasagna pan.  If you use the smaller pans, each will have three layers.  If you use the lasagna pan, it will have four or five layers.

Cheese: I use both cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese.  Some folks prefer ricotta instead of cottage cheese, but I think it's a little dry and doesn't have a lot of flavor.  Not to mention it's more expensive and since I was always making this for a large family, cottage cheese was a better option for us.  Occasionally I have some fresh parmesan that I'll add to the dish, but never NEVER the stuff in the green can.  Ick.  Get a nice, large container of the cottage cheese, and don't get the non-fat variety.  I always get the good stuff for lasagna.  Also, be generous with the mozzarella.  No one ever complained that the lasagna was TOO cheesy.

Noodles:  This will take a large box of noodles, and occasionally one or two extra noodles.  I have not found that there is a difference between one brand and the next but if you have a favorite, by all means use it.

Method:  Spritz the bottom of the pan with no-stick cooking spray (Pam) and place noodles in the bottom.  If you're using a 9 x 13 pan, that will mean three noodles lengthwise and one noodle (with a chunk broken off) across the end.  Save the chunks you break off, they'll make up one of the last parts. For the smaller pan the three noodles alone will be enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Ladle some of the sauce over the noodles, don't worry about covering every last speck.  You want to make sure you have enough sauce for the entire two pans (or one large lasagna pan) and if there's extra at the end you're going to pour it over the top anyway and it'll seep into the spots it's needed.  After the sauce, spoon some cottage cheese onto your lasagnas.  I use plop about ten or so piles around.  It'll tend to spread out when it cooks, so again don't worry about "covering" the sauce.  If you do, you'll run out of cottage cheese.  After the cottage cheese, cover the layer with mozzarella.  Be generous but not crazy.  Ta DA! Your first layer is done.  For the next layer, place noodles over your mozzarella (the same number you used before) and kind of press them into place.  this will distribute your ingredients a little and give you an even layer to ladle on your sauce and plop on your cottage cheese.  Once your second layer of cottage cheese is plopped, sprinkle on another healthy handful or two (or three) of mozzarella and repeat for the third (and final) layer.  (If you're using a lasagna pan, you will probably have enough ingredients for another layer.  And maybe a fifth layer.)

Once the lasagna is assembled use a rubber spatula and pour the rest of the sauce into any nooks and crannies around the edges of the pan that you feel need a little more sauce.  If you have used up all your sauce and you think there's too much empty space you have two choices.  You can either add a little water to your pans (fine if you only need a few tablespoons more liquid) or you can open up another small can of tomato sauce and pour that into the corners and edges to make sure that the noodles are covered.  Don't worry about spicing it up, the flavors pretty much blend together during the cooking process.

Cover the pan(s) with foil and place in an oven to bake for 1 hour at 350 or 375 degrees.  After the hour, remove the foil.  If the lasagna seems too moist, continue to bake without the foil for 15 minutes.  Also, if  you can let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes after you remove it from the oven before you serve it, it will serve much easier.  (But most of the time no one can wait once it's out of the oven.)

If desired, this can be refrigerated or frozen after it's assembled and baked at a later date.

Delicious served with salad and garlic bread.  (I like to use sourdough bread, real butter, and garlic.  Top with fresh parmesan cheese and sprinkle with thyme, broil until butter and cheese are browned.)

Tiare's Whole Wheat Bread

I love this bread recipe, so thought I would share :)

1/2 C warm water (110 degrees)
2 T yeast
1 T sugar
Mix yeast, warm water, and sugar and set in warm place.
5 C hot water
7 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C oil
3/4 C honey or sugar
2 T salt
5 to 6 C whole wheat flour

Combine 5 cups hot water with whole wheat flour, oil, honey, and salt. Mix well. Add yeast mixture and remaining flour. Knead (or Bosch it) 10 minutes. Let rise until double. Push down then divide dough into equal portions and shape into loaves. Place into greased loaf pans. Let rise only 1/2 (approximately even with top of pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Breakfast Pizza

Crust:
2 c. flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c butter
3/4-1c milk

Toppings:
1 lb sausage
1 c frozen hash browns, thawed
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. Use a fork to cut in the butter and mix until resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly add milk and stir until mixture leaves the side of the bowl and forms a soft, moist, dough. Press dough into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

Cook sausage; drain. Layer sausage, hash browns, and cheese on top of the dough. In a small bowl, stir eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together. Pour evenly over pizza. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes or until eggs are set and crust is golden.

Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake Recipe

Cake:

3 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together except butter. Once mixed, slowly pour in butter. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan.

Topping:                 

1 cup butter, soft to the point of almost melted

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife.  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Glaze:

2 cup powdered sugar

5 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Stir ingredients together. While the cake is warm, drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Recipe from Incredible Recipes by Cheryl (a Pampered Chef recipe)

Amy's Chile Verde

2 jalapenos

2 anaheims

2 lbs tomatillos (papery outside peeled off.)

5 cloves garlic

1 onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, pasted

2 lbs cubed pork, sprinkled with salt and pepper

Oil for sautéing onion, garlic, and pork

1 bunch cilantro

2 cans (4 cups) chicken stock

Palmful of oregano

Dash of ground cloves

Roast first four ingredients till outsides char.  Brown onions and garlic in oil, add salted and peppered pork chunks and fry till brown.  Blend cilantro and all roasted vegetables.  Add to the pot.  Add chicken stock, oregano, and cloves.  Simmer 2 hours or until liquid reduces by 1 inch.  Serve with chips, rice, or tortillas, topped with sour cream, cheese, etc.  You can also use this to smother burritos, etc.

Chocolate pudding

6 tbs granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 4-oz bars bitter sweet chocolate, broken up
4 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, whisk sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt to combine.  Slowly whisk in milk and cream.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, whisking constantly.  Reduce heat and continue cooking until mixture thickens (1-2 minutes.)  Remove saucepan from heat and add chocolate, butter, and vanilla.  Whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is blended.  Scrape pudding into a bowl and press plastic wrap over the surface while it cools.  Refrigerate until chilled.

Milk chocolate pudding:  Follow recipe above, reducing sugar and cocoa powder to 3 tbs. each and substituting milk chocolate for the bittersweet.

White chocolate pudding:  follow recipe above, reducing sugar to 3 tbs and omitting cocoa powder.  Substitute white chocolate for bittersweet.

Press-in Butter Crust

This is a good crust for cheese cake or any other cream-type pie.  Makes a nice change from graham cracker crusts, plus uses ingredients you have on hand.

3/4 cup butter (No substitutions, 1 1/2 sticks) at room temperature, cut up
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 lg. egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and salt until pale yellow and well blended.  Beat in egg, then vanilla, until well incorporated, scraping side of bowl occasionally.  Gradually add flour, beating just enough to incorporate flour and until dough forms large clumps. (do not over mix.) Divide dough in half and form each half into a 1 inch thick disk.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 day.  (Can be frozen at this point for up to 3 months.)

With hands and fingers, press dough disk into even layer against bottom and up side of 9 inch pie plate or tart pan with removable bottom.  Freeze 10 minutes or until firm.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  If crust puffs up, very gently push down bubbles with spoon witout cracking crust.  Cool completely on wire rack before filling.  Makes 2 nine-inch crusts.

White peppermint hot chocolate

In a small pot combine 1 cup whole milk and 1 peppermint tea  bag.  Bring to a low simmer, cover and steep for 3 minutes.  Remove tea bag and whisk in 2 oz white chocolate chips.  Stir till melted.  Pour into mug and top with whipped cream and crushed pepeprmint candy.

Creme Fraiche

I've often seen recipes that call for this but I didn't know what it was or if there was something I could use instead.  It was nice to see this recipe in a magazine because it gave a substitution to use in a pinch, but also a way to make it so you can have it on hand because apparently it's amazing stuff but it's expensive.  (And the substitution is only sour cream, which isn't as creamy and also curdles if it gets too hot.)

Creme Fraiche

1 cup heavy cream
3 tbs. buttermilk

Pour cream into a clean glass jar with a tight lid.  Stir in buttermilk until well blended and cover jar. Let it stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.  (until cream has thickened.)  Store in fridge up to 2 weeks.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I have found two recipes for beef stew made in the crock pot.  The first one looks easier (and is a smaller batch) because you don't have to pre-brown the beef, but for that reason I wonder if it will still be good.  The second one is a lot like my own recipe other than it's cooked in a crock pot so I'm pretty sure it'd be good.  Anyway, I wanted to put them both in here so I'd have them when I wanted to try them.  The first calls for a bag of frozen stew vegetables, which are potatoes, carrots, pearl onions, and celery.  I assume I can use fresh if I don't have frozen.  

Recipe 1:

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon Spice Islands Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands Rosemary

1/4 teaspoon Spice Islands Pepper, Black Fine Grind

1 bag (16 ounces) frozen stew vegetables

1 pound beef stew meat, cut in 1 -inch cubes

1/4 cup red wine OR water

1 Spice Islands Bay Leaves

1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

Mix flour, sugar, garlic powder, salt, rosemary and pepper in a small bowl. Place frozen vegetables in bottom of slow cooker. Sprinkle with flour/spice mixture. Add stew meat, wine, bay leaf and tomatoes. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours or on LOW for 8 to 10 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Recipe 2:

3 pounds cubed beef stew meat

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup baby carrots

4 large potatoes, cubed

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups boiling water

1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

3 tablespoons butter

3 onions, sliced

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup warm water

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Place meat in a large plastic bag. Combine 1/4 cup flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt; pour into the bag with the meat, and shake to coat.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. In batches small enough to prevent crowding chunks of meat, cook until evenly browned on the outside. Transfer to a slow cooker along with the carrots, potatoes, parsley, and pepper. In a small bowl, stir together 2 cups of boiling water and dry soup mix; pour into the slow cooker.  In the same skillet, melt butter and sauté onions until softened; remove to the slow cooker. Pour red wine into the skillet, and stir to loosen browned bits of food on the bottom. Remove from heat, and pour into the slow cooker.  Cover, and cook on High for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to Low, and cook for 6 hours, or until meat is fork tender. In a small bowl or cup, mix together 2 tablespoons flour with 1/4 cup warm water. Stir into stew, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until thickened.

Spinach and Artichoke Potato Casserole

1 lg. pkg frozen hash browns, thawed

1 ¼ cup chicken broth or stock

½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic salt

8 oz cream cheese

1 jar (7.5 oz) marinated artichoke hearts

6 oz chopped baby spinach (can use frozen, reduce to one pkg chopped, thaw and squeeze excess moisture from spinach before use.)

½ cup sliced green onions

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Pre-heat oven to 425, spray 9 x 13 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Heat broth, garlic salt, parmesan and cream cheeses, and artichoke hearts in medium saucepan and mix till cheeses are melted.  Stir in spinach and cook till wilted.  Set aside.  Put thawed hash browns in baking dish, stir in sliced green onions.  Add cheese/broth mixture and stir to cover potatoes well.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top and cover loosely with foil.  Bake 30 minutes.

3 2 1 Cake

Mix an angel food cake mix and any other flavor of mix that you like in a bowl (chocolate, carrot, cherry, white, etc.) Just the dry mix, nothing else. Put the mix in a storage container.  When ready to cook do this: In a mug put 3 TBS of mix, 2 TBS of water and cook 1 minute in the microwave. (That’s the 3 2 1 in the title.) 

I am going to try it with drizzling a tablespoon of hot fudge topping or hot caramel topping over the mixture right before microwaving it, just like those commercial ones.  I have high hopes for this, because the problem with the other “cake in a mug” recipes that I’ve tried is that they either have no egg at all, which makes for a poor quality, or they have a whole egg, which is way too much for one serving of cake. By mixing the angel food cake mix with whichever other flavor of cake you’re looking to have for your snack, that should take care of that problem.