Monthly Archives: May 2012

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Stuffed Mushrooms (KHR)

2 lbs mushrooms
6 T butter
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c crumbled Bleu Cheese
2 T ch onion

Remove mushroom stems.  Chop up enough to make 1/2 c.  Cook/Saute stems in butter for a bit.  Combine cheeses, add stems and onions.  Brown backs and tops of caps a little in the butter.  Put cheese mixture into caps. (Generally a good idea to make to this point and then take them to wherever they will be eaten before broiling.)  Broil until golden brown.
I never really follow the ratios here, especially the cream cheese to other cheese one.  Works more as “mix crumbled other cheese into cream cheese until you think it looks right.”  I also always have more goo than mushrooms to put the goo in, but it makes really tasty sandwiches, so I’ve never minded.  Particularly good using portabella, but you want to saute both sides of those fairly thoroughly before cheesing and broiling them.  Also works well with feta replacing the bleu.

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Morning Cookies (Betsy Codier)

1/4 c butter, softened
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1 egg
3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c applesauce
1/2 c rolled oats
1/3 c wheat bran or germ
1/4 c dry milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 c raisins  (can toss in some chocolate chips, too, if wanted)
1/4 c chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg.  Stir or lightly mix everything but the chunky bits (fruit and nuts and chips).  Add.  Stir in chunky bits.  drop by T 2″ apart on greased cookie sheet.  Bake 10 minutes at 375.  I still want to come up with a curried variant of these.  One of my favorite breakfast foods, when I remember to eat breakfast.  You can mess around with what fruit and nuts you use – I’ve done quite a few variants.

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Onion Soup with Cheese Bread (KHR)

olive oil (veget) (1 1/2 tsp)
4 med onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced (originally 1)
1/3 c. apple cider (originally sherry)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
salt, pepper, W-sauce to taste
6 c beef broth
shredded cheese
baguette

Heat oil.  Add onions.  Saute.  raise heat and brown onions stirring to keep from burning.  Add salt, pepper, w-sauce.  Add garlic, cook another minute or so.  Add cider, thyme, bay leaf.  Cook until cider is mostly evaporated.  Add broth.  Simmer.  Spice more if needed.  Heat broiler.  Slice bread, 1 per bowl.  Put slices on baking sheet.  cover with cheese.  Broil until cheese melts and bread browns.

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Sticky Buns (Betsy Codier)

Scald:  2/3 c milk

Add:  1/2 c sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
6 T butter

Cool to lukewarm

Mix:  2/3 c warm water
2 T sugar
2 pkgs yeast
let stand until bubbly (10 minutes or so)

Add:  Milk mixture, 3 eggs, 3 cups of flour

Mix until smooth.  Add approx 3 c flour, kneading on floured counter or board.  Place in greased bowl.  Brush top w/ melted butter, cover with damp cloth.  Let rise until double (1 hourish).  Place back on floured surface, divide in two, let stand 10 minutes.  Pound and pull into rectangles about 1/2 in thick.  Spread each rectangle with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins (currants), nuts.  Roll up.  Cut into slices.  Grease a pan, put a layer of karo on the bottom.  Put slices in.  Let rise until double.  Bake 10 minutes @ 400.  Then drop heat to 350 and bake another 30-40 minutes, until browning on top.

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Roasted Potatos (Betsy Codier)

2 lb potato – skin on, cut up into bite sized pieces
2 cloves of garlic (give or take your taste for it) – skin on
1/4 c parsley
1 1/2 tsp grated orange rind
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Put oil in roasting pan.  heat 5-10 minutes at 450.  Add garlic, heat another 5-10 minutes.  Add potatos, make sure get fairly covered with the garlic oil.  Bake for 50 minutes, stirring every 10, adding salt and pepper as seems apt.  Peel and crush garlic, mix with spices, stir into potats.  The parsley I generally cut back on a bit in the mixture, sometimes other spices used, etc…  Even just the potats roasted this way with just the salt and pepper and garlic is pretty spiffy.

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Cantonese Meatballs (Betsy Codier)

20 oz pineapple
3T brown sugar
6T teriyaki
1T vinegar
1T ketchup
1 lb ground beef
2 T onion
1/4 c water
Drain pineapple.  Combine syrup, brown sugar, half teriyaki, vinegar, and ketchup.  Mix beef with rest of teriyaki and onion (using a cheese grater works really well for dealing with the onion).  Shape into meatballs.  Brown.  Drain off fat.  Add syrup mixture.  Simmer 10 minutes.  Add thickener to sauce.  Add pineapple.  Stir and cook until sauce thickens.  Side note:  If you think you have any chemical allergies – be very very cautious about teriyaki sauces.  I’ve only found one I’m not allergic to, as far as premades are concerned.

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Honey Mustard Baked Chicken (Betsy Codier)

2 chicken breasts (Actually works with at least four with these ratios, with extra sauce left for putting with the chicken and underneath whatever bit)
1/2 c honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c butter, melted
1/4 c. mustard (my house prefers spicy)

Skin and bone chicken, if necessary.  Place in baking dish.  Combine butter, mustard, and honey.  (Amounts above are completely elastic, other than making sure there is enough butter.  My house prefers more mustard than stated above, some others might prefer more honey.)  Spread or pour over chicken.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, basting and turning every 10 minutes or so, at 350 degrees.  Should be browning a bit before it is taken out, though as long as the chicken is cooked, it is delicious.  Serve on a bed of rice, noodles, or with french fries or salad, or …

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Hamburger Strogonoff (Betsy Codier)

1 – 1 1/2 lb burger (works quite well with buffalo, too, not so much with elk)
1 can mushrooms (8 to 12 oz) (I don’t tend to use canned anymore, much better flavour with fresh, particularly Portabella.)
2 medium chopped onions (So far vidalia seems to produce the best flavour)  1-2 cloves chopped garlic (or more, or less, or…  basically make it as garlicky as you like)
worcestershire to taste
1 can cream of mushroom soup or eq
1/2 pt sour cream
1 T dill pickle juice
(salt and pepper to taste)

Saute onions and garlic until soft and clear.  Add a little spicing as they saute.  Add meat.  Little more seasoning as that cooks.  Pour off excess fat  Add everything except the sour cream.  Heat through.  Add sour cream.  Heat through.  Serve on rice or noodles or bread or…  I often add a package of frozen vegets after the meat is cooked, but before adding the soup.  Peas work particularly well, as does spinach.

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Original Chex Mix (Chex)

Tasty.  Charlie said it was a bit spicier than the original.

3 c Corn Chex or equivalent

3 c Rice Chex or equivalent

3 c Wheat Chex or equivalent

1 c mixed nuts (We used slivered almonds and chunked walnuts, and maybe a cup and a half, due to leaving out other things)

1 c bite size pretzels (left these out)

1 c bagel chips (left these out, too)

6 T butter

2 T Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt (I used 1/2 tsp each cayenne, paprika, and salt)

3/4 tsp garlic powder (will likely use more next time)

1/2 tsp onion powder

Either:  Microwave butter 40 seconds or until melted.  Stir in seasonings, stir in cereal and additionals.  Then microwave 5-6 minutes, stirring every 2.  Spread on paper towels to cool for fifteen minutes.  (We did not test this method.)

Or:  Preheat oven to 250.  Melt butter in large roasting pan.  Stir in seasonings.  Stir in cereal and additionals.  Bake one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Cool on paper towels for fifteen minutes.

Store either version in an airtight container.

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Honey Oat Loaf (Betsy Codier)

1 1/2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c rolled oats
3 T melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c water
1/2 c honey, warmed
3-6 T milk as needed for consistency

Sift flour, salt, baking powder. Combine rest.  Stir all together.  Pour into greased loaf pan.  Bake 40-45 minutes at 350.  Let stand five minutes.  Turn out and cool.