Recipe of the Week: Rice Alfredo

Macroni and cheese is a well-known comfort food. My daughter has another that comes a close second: Rice Alfredo. Here's how to make it:

• Cook your favorite rice as you usually do (we like a brown/wild blend)
• Stir in a purchased alfredo sauce (we like Classico's Creamy Alfredo)

Serve immediately. If it is too bland for you, try sprinkling it with black pepper or one of the Perfect Pinch seasoning blends.

This is also good with other grains. We used red quinoa instead of rice this evening. It was different but still very much in the 'comfort' on a winter evening.

Recipe of the Week: Simple Baked Chicken

This is my daughter's 'chicken for company' recipe.

1-2 pounds of cut up chicken (boned or boneless; good single serving sized pieces)

3/4 cup orange juice

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3/4 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix together all the ingredients except the chicken in a large measuring cup. Pour half into a baking dish that can be easily covered. Place chicken in a single layer in the baking dish and pour the rest of the liquid over the chicken. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350 degrees F. 

These are good served with Sweet Potato Wedges.

Cookies: Vanilla Peppermint Pretzels

This cookie, prepared by Glee, was part of theCross Timbers Daughters of the American RevolutionCookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

8 oz Vanilla Melting Wafer

1 pk Peppermint Candy Canes

Pretzels sticks – size of your pinky or bigger

1. Hand break candy canes and put them in a quart fabric bag. Use a hammer on a wooden cutting board to make the peppermint chips. On parchment paper put 1 inch long peppermint sprinkle. Repeat across the paper at least 1 inch apart.
2. Melt the vanilla wafers in a double boiler.
3. Dip pretzels into vanilla; vanilla  coated side on peppermint strip. Sprinkle more peppermint on top. Repeat for however many pretzels you would like to make.
4. Let dry / firm up vanilla for 15 minutes.

For an alternate, pick the ½ dollar sized pretzel twists and have ½ dipped in vanilla.

Makes 4 dozen pinky sized coated pretzels.

Cookies: Toffee-Almond Sandies

This cookie, prepared by Nadine, was part of theCross Timbers Daughters of the American RevolutionCookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

2 cups chopped almonds

1 (8oz) pkg taffee bits

Granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add powdered sugar, beating well. Add eggs, oil and vanilla, mix well.
2. Combine flours, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, stirring well. Add to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in almonds and toffee.
3. Roll dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in granulated sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart; flatten slightly with a fork.
4. Bake 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Coll slightly on cokkie sheets; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 5 ½ dozen cookies

Cookies: Mincemeat Pecan Cookies

This cookie, prepared by Glee, was part of theCross Timbers Daughters of the American RevolutionCookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups butter-flavored shortening

3 cups sugar

2 eggs

19-oz package condensed mincemeat, crumbled

2 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups coarsely chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Beat shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in crumbled mincemeat and vanilla. Add Flour mixture, and mix well. Stir in pecans.
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet; flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

Note: These are great cookies to decorate with bottled icing!

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Cookies: Oatmeal Cherry Walnut Cookies

This cookie, prepared by Glee, was part of the Cross Timbers Daughters of the American Revolution Cookie Exchange on December 17, 2011.

Oatmeal cookies are an old favorite. The variation below uses dried cherries instead of raisins and whoopie pie pans  instead of cookie sheets to make perfect round cookies.

1/2 pound butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups oats

1 cup dried cherries (cut into smaller pieces if they are large)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat together margarine/butter and sugars until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

Add combined flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix well.

Stir in oats, cherries and walnuts. Mix well.

Drop by rounded spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet or whoopie pie pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool one minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

About 4 dozen.

Recipe of the Week: Quik Beet Muffins

I had several open packages of Nestle Quik powder in my pantry – left over from when it was my daughter’s favorite drink. I decided to do some baking to use it all up. These muffins were supposed to turn out red – but they are really brown with the chocolate. The mint chocolate flavor is still wonderful so this is a great way to get a little extra veggie nutrition and still have a wonderful treat.

15 ounce can of sliced beets

2 cups Quik (or 1 ½ cups sugar and ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder)

½ cup olive oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin pans.

Drain the beets, reserving ½ cup of the juice. In a food processor, puree beets with the reserved juice to make about 1 ¼ cup puree. Add Quik and olive oil. Pulse until blended. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs and extracts well.

In large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour and soda). Pour in the beet and egg mixtures, whisking until smooth.

Pour the batter into muffin pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve at room temperature topped with powdered sugar sprinkles or whipped cream.

Recipe of the Week: Homemade Soup for a Cold Day

Variety is the spice of life. Trying a new recipe each and every week is something that works well for me. Enjoy!

 

The first cold snap of the year feels colder than the temperature actually indicates. Soup is always welcome and it is quite easy to make. The recipe below can be easily modified for what you have on hand using the generalized techniques noted as the bottom of this posting.

5 medium size fresh mushrooms – chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

Small amount olive oil

Beef bouillon and water

Seasonings to your taste: onion flakes, black pepper, a favorite no-salt blend

Egg noodles

1 can rutabaga, drained of liquid (I got it on sale so that is why it was in my pantry)

¼ cup frozen green peas

Dollop sour cream

Dried basil

In your soup pot, sauté mushrooms and celery in a little olive oil. When they are softened, add the water and bouillon.

Process half the rutabagas in a small food processor and set aside.

Add the seasonings to the soup pot. When the liquid is hot, add the noodles set a timer for their minimal cooking time. Toward the end of the time add the green peas and half the can of unprocessed rutabagas.

When the combination is heated through, stir in the processed rutabaga.

Pour hot soup into your bowl, top with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of dried basil.

Generalized soup making techniques:

1. Sauté the firmer vegetables prior to adding any liquid.
2. Some kind of stock is required. Bouillon cubes are easy to keep on hand and sufficient for most soups since the flavor comes more from the other ingredients. Be aware the they contain salt so don’t add salt while you are cooking your soup.
3. If you want noodles or rice – add them after the liquid is hot and let the seasonings cook into them.
4. If you use canned vegetables, drain off their liquid since it is usually laden with salt – way more than you need in your soup.
5. Keeping frozen vegetables in the freezer (peas and corn, for example) are handy for both salads and soups.
6. Processing a softer ingredient in a food processor before adding it to the soup (or taking some of the veggies out after they are cooked to puree) can give the broth of the soup a natural thickness that makes it easier to keep on the spoon.
7. A dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of a dried herb on top of your soup after it is in the bowl can make a hum drum meal into something quite special!

Recipe of the Week: Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Yes - this is the second 'recipe of the week' for this week. The recipe pointed to in my 'Gleanings' from last Sunday turned out so luscious that I wanted to share. If course, I did my usual 'modify the recipe' thing:

• butter instead of margarine
• regular brown sugar rather than vegan
• whole wheat flour
• regular sugar rather than vegan
• almond milk rather than soy milk
• orange zest (since I had just eaten an orange and had the zest drying on a plate in the kitchen) rather than lemon zest or oil

And - I realized that I no longer have any regular round cake pans - so I made it in a rectangular Pyrex baking dish. 

It is yummy and a beautiful deep red color. Next time - I think I'll try making it in a Bundt pan!

Recipe of the Week: Sweet Potato Wedges

Years ago – sweet potatoes were almost the same a pinto beans as far as providing easy-to-grow (and therefore inexpensive) food. They still are quite a bargain in food value so it is worthwhile to experiment with new ways of preparing and enjoying them. One of my favorites is as baked wedges.

Sweet potato

Olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)

Cinnamon (about 1 teaspoon)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Peel sweet potato and cut into wedges. Place in a ziplock bag with a small amount of olive oil and cinnamon. Close and move the potatoes around in the bag until they are lightly coated with oil and cinnamon. Empty the potatoes onto a cookie sheet. Cook for about 1 hour or until the potatoes are soft.

To use the oven more efficiently, I often cook them with a meat dish that cooks for  the same amount of time and at the same temperature. The sweet potatoes in the picture below are shown with boneless pork chops baked with salsa topping (baking dish covered with foil for 1st 75% of cooking time).

Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Custard Variations

Pumpkin and Thanksgiving seem to go together...so I have pumpkin featured again this week.

My family enjoys pumpkin custard - skipping the pie crust completely. Over the years we have experimented with several variations to the recipe on the canned pumpkin. 

• Substituting honey, molasses, maple syrup, or frozen apple juice for the sugar (same amount as the sugar) provides a pleasant extra flavor to the custard. Add an extra egg to make sure the custard sets with the extra liquid. My favorite is half honey/half molasses to replace the sugar.
• Clean and save the outer part of an orange skin, grate it up in a small food processor (or simply grate off the skin from the orange before you eat it). Add it to the custard to add a citrusy flavor.
• If you want something a bit crunchy - try adding unsalted sunflower seeds to the custard. They will rise to the top of the custard (somewhat like a pecan pie!) and make a crunchy upper surface to the custard.
• I almost always round up on the cinnamon and ginger from the recipe on the can. My family likes a spicey custard!

Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins

Variety is the spice of life. Trying a new recipe each and every week is something that works well for me. Enjoy!

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup frozen apple juice concentrate

15 ounce canned pumpkin

½ cup oil

¾ cup molasses

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons orange juice

2 large eggs

• Combine dry ingredients.
• Combine wet ingredients (Note: if you use the same liquid measuring up for the oil and molasses…putting the oil in first…both will pour out smoothly to the mixing bowl). Whisk.
• Combine everything…allow to sit for 10 minutes.
• Spray muffin top or regular muffin pans. Put batter in pans.
• Bake at 350 degrees F. until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.