Pasta Primavera Alfredo

So I needed to use up the last of the vegies from my co-op basket, so I decided to make Pasta Primavera Alfredo.



Here is what you need:

3 cups carrots sliced really thinly
3 cups small broccoli florets (I also cut the small stems really thinly and added them)
1 lb. bag of spaghetti noodles (I did not have any without walking to the cellar, so being lazy, I used rotini)
1 cup milk (I also am down to just enough milk for  breakfast tomorrow, so I used Half and Half)
4 oz (1/2 brick) cream cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter
Salt and pepper

Cook the noodles according to package directions. Add the chopped vegetables to the boiling pasta for the last 5 minutes.  (If your carrots are not really thin, you will need to add them a few minutes earlier than that.  Or just boil the vegies by themselves and add after the pasta is done, but why dirty up a second pan?)

While that is cooking, dirty up a small pan by cooking and stirring the cream cheese, milk, butter, and Parmesan cheese over medium low heat until it is all hot, melted and smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Drain noodles and vegies.  Stir everything together and serve.  yum.

Next time, I think I would use the whole brick of cream cheese to give it a bit more flavor (and oops--- calories)   Just a thought....

Can't wait for blueberry season?

So, I finally made something that Bob's readers might like (my usual organic, granola, tree-hugging stuff would probably not appeal to most) AND (this was the key), I actually remembered to take pictures.

So, here is the general idea behind the blueberry coffee cake I made this morning:

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, cubed
TOPPING:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cold butter
Directions

For batter, in a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Combine 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Toss blueberries with remaining flour. Stir blueberries and cream cheese into creamed mixture (batter will be thick). Transfer to a greased 8-in. square baking dish.
For topping, in a small bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Footnotes

Editor's Note: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter.

Okay - sounds easy enough. First, soften the butter - need it extra soft because the hand mixer that Bob's mother gave me a bzillion years ago spews stuff all over the kitchen. FAIL:



Start over...note: softening butter in the microwave only takes 20 seconds (BTW - I use real butter. It is better for you.) Next, I realized that I only had enough cow's milk for a glass to go with the cake. So, I substituted Almond Milk. It is chocked full of omega-3 fatty acids and low on calories.



I also substituted softened cream cheese left over from making single serve cheesecake last night for the cube cream cheese. It made it easier to mix in at the end.



Don't forget to coat the blueberries with flour. I used fresh blueberries, which may be difficult for others to get...remember to use frozen berries frozen.

Just a note - wild blueberries are great for your memory!



Blogging takes a long time, evidently. It is out of the oven already!



Evaluation: Very good. I am impressed, and very glad that I saved my cow's milk to drink. I can hardly wait to try it with NC blueberries. These were Chilean and unfortunately, they have to pick them before they are ripe so that they survive the trip to the US. This means that they are not as sweet as those that are left to ripen on the bush....I get those here in a few short months. Blueberries off the bush are the best, but if you can't get them, frozen are the next best thing!

Nebraska Citrus Fruit

Guest Contributor: Uncle D

It is said that there are a lot of strange fruits on the prairies of Nebraska. And this is no exception. Not only is this fun, but you can make a little magic happen with the presentation.

Ingredients:

6 Medium Navel Oranges

2 pkgs Jello® (6 oz.)

I picked a red and a green Jello® for contrast, you could chose to do one color. Get a sharp knife (don't tell my sister). Cut the orange in half from north to south pole. Take the point of the knife and just slice a little ways into the pith between the fruit and the peel - around the entire circumference of the 1/2 of an orange.

Cup the 1/2 of an orange in the palm of your hand. Use a large table spoon or serving spoon and work into the pith following the slice until you scoop out the fruit in one chunk. Set the peel in a cup of a regular muffin tin. Eat the orange. Repeat until all the muffin tin cups have a peel in them.

Mix one package of the Jello® with 1-1/4 cups of boiling water. Whisk for three minutes and ladle evenly into the orange peels. Place in refrigerator for an hour. Take this opportunity to Google™ "Vitamin C poisoning".

Check if the Jello® has set up with a toothpick - it will come out clean. Repeat with the other package of Jello® and refrigerate.If you are only doing one color use both packages and 2-1/2 cups of boiling water.

Ok Magic Time- take a pair of kitchen shears and trim the excess orange peel even with the Jello®. If you have CDO, the matching half of the orange peel will be right next to it in the muffin tim. Match up one orange and press together forming a complete "fruit." Place this fruit in a bowl with regular oranges.

Set a cutting board and SERRATED knife in front of the breakfast crowd. Stealth and slight of hand are important here. Retrieve the bowl of fruit from the kitchen and select your Jello® fruit holding so your hand covers the seam. Quickly "Cut" the two halves apart and lay them Jello® side down.

Now you can draw attention to what you are doing. "How many slices do you want, breakfast diner #1?", "I hope I don't bleed on your breakfast!" etc. Then slice in 1/2 and then in 1/2 again at 45˚- the Jello® takes a sawing motion and holding the fruit together helps - the turn over and fan out for the "tah-dah!"

Wow..... tough blog.

Tonight's experiment

Mom made this tomato pie tonight.  It was AH.MAZ.ING.  Sorry, you cavemen-- this is a meatless supper.  But you don't need meat.  Have a nice salad with it.... with some ranch  (I will add Mom's recipe for Ranch dressing from scratch later.)

Tomato Pie

4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
10 Fresh large basil leaves chopped
1/4 cup green onions finely chopped
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
1 pre-baked deep dish pie shell


OK. Plan ahead.  You need to make a pie shell and bake it.  We did this yesterday.  Be sure you use a deep dish pie plate.

It says to peel the tomaotes, but we did not.  It was fine without being peeled.  We cut them into about 3/4 inch chunks.  Put the tomatoes into a large colander.  Sprinkle with salt, and let sit for at least 30 minutes.  We let them sit about 3 hours, and still got some liquid running out of the filling... see picture above.  The point is to drain as much liquid from the tomatoes as possible, without mashing them or anything.

OK.  Enough planning ahead......Now it is time to fix supper.  Mix the tomatoes with the chopped onions and basil. Salt and pepper according to how you like it.  Where we live, there is no source for fresh basil, so we used a palmful of dried basil leaves.  Must have worked OK since this was AH.MAZ.ING. Oh, wait, I said that already.

Mix grated cheeses, mayonnaise and sour cream.

Spread the tomatoes and onion mixture in the bottom of your pie shell.  Spread cheese mixture on top.  Be sure to keep the mixture INSIDE the pie shell so it does not melt and run all over your oven.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  (It took ours about 40, so check it at 30, then keep checking it until it is done.)
  It should be lightly browned on top and bubbly.

Let sit for about 5 minutes before you rip into it.  Mom made us cut it into pie shaped wedges and eat it "civilized."  You don't have to do that if you don't want to.  You can just scoop it out and eat it.  I won't tell Mom.

Poor Boy Corn Dogs

Guest Contributor: Uncle D.

No need to wait until the county fair to enjoy your favorite corn dog. This recipe provides you the same mouth watering flavor without trying to figure out how to eat around the stick or spending $1.50 per corn dog for the frozen ones at the grocery store.

Get your hotdogs and corn mix on sale, I paid 99¢ each - cost per POOR BOY CORN DOG - 16.6 cents each!

Ingredients:

Package of 8 all beef hot dogs

Favorite Corn Muffin Mix (homemade or Jiffy)

Prepare regular muffin tin with liners or grease well. Dice 2 hot dogs. Cut remaining in half. Score the ends and one side of the halved hot dogs. I score the ends in a cross pattern. Mix the muffin mix according to the recipe. Fill the muffin tin or liner 1/4 full. Sprinkle diced hot dog on top of muffin mix. Add more mix, until batter is used. Insert halved hot dogs like stove pipes in each muffin cup. Bake as directed for the muffin mix. Cool slightly, remove and serve with your favorite sides. IF YOU MUST - hand the picky person at the table a stick.

CRASH TEST KITCHEN OPTIONS:

You try em and let us know if it works.... (it's a theory...)

DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUN: Add another six hotdogs, halved and stovepipe.

In place of the diced hotdog add the following

BACON CHEESE DOG - crumble cooked bacon and sprinkle shredded cheddar

DENVER DOG - diced onion, celery and green pepper

ITALIANNO - chopped pepperoni and shredded mozzarella cheese

CHIHUAHUA - diced Jalapeno peppers, chopped Chorizo and shredded chedder Jack Cheese

[NOTE from the Guest Contributor: I have a very active seven year old cook that loves to help in the kitchen. This recipe is great for interaction with kids. The hotdogs can be cut with a table knife and all the steps are easily done by a child (Thus why I can cook it - beating my sister to the punch line).]

The Best Pork chops..... EVER

No kidding.  The next time someone uses "Shake and bake for Pork" in my kitchen again,  they die...  and not the good kind of die that they will do after eating a plate of these pork chops.  I even followed the recipe this time with only one change. (You will find out about that in the recipe)

So here goes:  Try this.  I am not lying.  You need to make this for supper.  NOW.

PORK CHOPS AND MUSHROOMS

Ingredients:

2 boneless pork chops  (I doubled the recipe so I could do 4)  Choose a good cut.

1 T. Olive Oil

8 oz..  baby bella mushrooms, sliced.  (Yeah. right.  In Greybull, WY.  I used Crimini mushrooms.  

                         You could use any kind you like..... Ok. I made 2 changes)

1 yellow onion finely chopped.  (I used a small one)

2 T. butter

1/2 cup dry white wine  NOT.  I used chicken stock instead.  Next time, I might only use half as much.

1/2 cup heavy cream

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Chop everything before you start so it is ready when the pan is.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. 

Rub the oil on both sides of the pork chops and generously season with the salt and pepper.  I used a sea salt grinder and a pepper grinder.  Rub the seasonings in a little.

Put into the hot skillet.  Sear on each side for about 2 minutes.  (I had my heat set on about 8 for this)

Remove from the skillet and set aside.

In the skillet, melt the butter and add the mushrooms and onion.  Saute for a good 5 minutes.  I had my heat set on about 5 for this part.... That is exactly medium.  At this point, I was in love with the smell!!

Pour in your chicken stock and cook for about a minute.  Add the cream.  Stir together.

Nestle the pork chops back into the skillet with the rest of the stuff.  Cover.  Cook 12 minutes on medium.

Serve drenched with the mushrooms and sauce.  We also used the sauce as a gravy on our potatoes.  It was thin, but delicious.  We also had green beans with it.  You can serve it with whatever you like.  It won't matter.  Just MAKE THIS.  It is SOOOO good.  You will agree.  I promise.  THROW AWAY THE SHAKE AND BAKE.... it's just icky.

Love you!!  Mom

Today's Moral: Do Your Own

I was all excited to post a new recipe.  This is what the recipe promised:     (and this is a QUOTE from the recipe blog)      "This was the one recipe that surprised us, not only because it tasted AMAZING, but also because the cupcakes were perfectly...and we actually mean perfectly...spherical..... and...so fluffy, so creamy, so light!"  At right is what they say the finished product will look like.

I followed the recipe EXACTLY (something I almost NEVER do) because I wanted to see the "perfectly (and we mean perfectly) spherical" cupcakes.  Not even close.  They were dense, dry,  flat and pale.  They were more like a muffin than a cupcake.   And this was NOT a simple recipe.  It involved whisking an egg mixture for 7 minutes, boiling the milk and streaming it into the batter, etc.  

 I followed their recipe for the custard, which turned out....... OK, but  eeehhh.  I would rather use my own recipe for custard.  They did not include a recipe for the chocolate, so I just made chocolate ganache... which by the way did not make as big a mess as shown above.  Here is my final product:

We have not tasted yet  (they are for "Tea Time" this afternoon), but I threw the recipe into the trash.  If I decide to make Mini Boston Cream Pies again,  I will use a basic yellow cake recipe (or even a mix would have been better), a basic custard recipe, and plain ganache.  I promise once I have perfected the recipe, I will share.  (Note to Christopher:  I have gone back to the Sunday exceptions so I can try some new recipes.)