43Things Cookbook

This turned out very well. After looking at several recipes, I made this one from what I liked best of other recipes. At the last minute, I thought of adding a little kick – green chiles – to what is traditionally a mild chowder. TG took a picture, but I doubt we’ll ever see it. ;)

Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce bag) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 bunch scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 (4 ounce) can mild diced green chiles
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled or ½ cup diced ham
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in 3 1/2- to 6-quart slow cooker.
Cover and cook on LOW heat setting 6 hours
(or HIGH heat setting 3 hours) to develop flavors.

I just made this, and it’s so yummalicious!

APPLE PUMPKIN BREAD

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each ground allspice and nutmeg
Pinch of ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 15 oz. can of pumpkin
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Granny Smith apple, peeled & chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease two loaf pans with vegetable oil or non-stick spray.

Mix both kinds of flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in the large bowl.

With electric mixer add pumpkin, eggs, sugar, applesauce, and honey, stirring only until combined. Stir in apple.

Pour half of the batter into each loaf pan and bake at 350°F for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

I just made this tonight, and it truly is the best cream of mushroom soup I’ve ever had! TG really like it, too. :D

Creamy Mushroom Soup

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound crimini mushrooms, broken into pieces
2 scallions, sliced
Black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon thyme
28 oz. low-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons Marsala wine
½ cup cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Potato buds

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat until melted. Add mushrooms, onions, and pepper. Cover and cook until mushrooms release their liquid, about 5 minutes. Remove cover and cook another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove 1/3 cup mushroom mixture, chop, and set aside.

Add garlic and thyme to pot of remaining mushrooms and cook about 30 seconds until fragrant. Stir in broth and Marsala, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until mushrooms are completely tender, about 20 minutes.

Puree soup in a blender (in batches) until smooth. Return to pot, stir in cream, reserved chopped mushrooms, and lemon juice. Thicken soup by sprinkling ¼ cup potato buds over soup, allowing buds to absorb about 30 seconds before stirring. Add additional potato buds in ¼ cup increments to desired consistency. Heat through. Garnish with additional chopped scallion greens. Serve hot.

Can do Tuna Noodle & Noodles

2-cups Dry Fusilli Pasta(Corkscrew shaped)

1- 10 oz can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup

1- 10 oz can Healthy Request Cream of Celery Soup

1- 15 oz can unsalted Sweet Peas ( drained)

2-6 oz cans Albacore Tuna in water (drained)

Shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese

Add noodles to boiling water in a large pot until cooked, about 10 minutes. Drain water and return to pot. Dump all canned ingredients into pot of noodles and mix. Serve warm with cheese sprinkled on top.
This also tastes yummy cold the next day.

Here is a little story about the One Time I was eating my Tuna Noodles.

I made the mistake of walking down the wooden stairs of what was our new home in Hermosa, 15 years ago, in a pair of nylon slippers while holding a bowl of Tuna & Noodles. Well, when I reached the third to the last step I slipped, tossing the bowl up in the air. My new husband came from painting the master bedroom, in what seemed like forever. I was splayed out on the staircase, Tuna & Noodles everywhere! In my hair, on the wall, my two cats were having a field day.

Now when anyone comes to our home I tell them to be careful and hold the handrail on our stair.

This was on the Top Chef Quick Fire Challenge last night. They were cooking with snails (which I would NEVER do), but Kevin made this Bacon Jam for his dish and the chef judges were all about it and needless to say he won the challenge. It sounds so good and I think that I am making it tonight for dinner. I was thinking chicken, but Mr. HC says London Broil, so London Broil it is. The best part is that I already have all of these ingredients in my kitchen!!!

mmmmmm Beef and Bacon Jam

INGREDIENTS

•1 cup bacon, cut into 2” X 1” X 1/2” pieces
•¼ cup yellow onions, julienned
•3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
•1 tablespoon honey
•3 cups chicken stock
•1 tablespoon butter, unsalted

PREPARATION

1. Render bacon in a heavy sauté pan in hot 500-degree F oven until bacon is crispy.

2. Pull from oven and remove bacon. Cook julienned onions in the remaining bacon fat, scraping the bits from the bottom of the pan until onions are dark golden.

3. Add brown sugar and stir to coat.

4. Add a third of the chicken stock and place pan back in the oven to simmer. Reduce mixture until thick, almost au sec (approx 5-15 minutes). Watch carefully that it doesn’t burn.

5. Add half of the remaining stock and reduce again until thick.

6. Add all of the remaining stock and remove pan from the oven. Season with salt, pepper, and espelette to taste.

7. Pour contents into a blender and puree until fairly smooth.

8. Pour contents back into sauté pan and stir in honey to combine.

9. Put pan back into oven and cook stirring frequently until deep brick red color is reached.

10. Re-season and mount with butter. Allow to cool to warm temperature. Reserve.

We had Spaghetti for dinner and I wanted to make a kinda of Italian sort of dessert so I was combing over possible recipes and came across this little gem: Tiramisu Bowl. OMG . . . it was to die for!!!

The best part was that it took very little time to prepare and there is great potential for playing with the recipe and eventually “making it my own”

TIRAMISU BOWL

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
48 NILLA Wafers
1/2 cup brewed strong coffee, cooled, divided
2 squares BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely grated
1 cup fresh raspberries

PREPARATION

1) Beat cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mixes; mix well. Stir in 2 cups of the whipped topping.
2) Line bottom and sides of a 2-1/2-qt. bowl with half of the wafers; drizzle with half of the coffee. Layer half of the pudding mixture over wafers, and then top with half of the grated chocolate. Repeat all layers starting with the wafers and coffee. Top with remaining whipped topping and raspberries.
3) Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

So this time instead of Jello Vanilla pudding I used Jello Cheesecake flavor pudding. I noticed that there was also a Jello White Chocolate flavor pudding which I think I will try next time, but the Cheesecake flavor worked out well. I also think that instead of coffee one could use chocolate milk or what I thnk I will try next time is to use Kahlua (love that stuff)

Also . . . maybe next time raspberries and blackberries.

Man this recipe has possibilities.

(The picture is not a picture of my end result. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of mine . . . it was gone too fast. Also, the recipe stated that this served 16 people . . . HA!!! Maybe 16 of those kind of people that say they “can only eat just a bite”.)

OMG I am addicted to this yogurt drink. I discovered it the other day when I felt a bit iffy and couldn’t face real food, but needed sustenance and had yogurt and grapes in the fridge that needed using up – it was like the stars aligning. It made a fabulous liquid lunch. This makes three glasses. I have made it with no sugar and with only one tablespoon of sugar – I reckon four would be way too sweet.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 1/2 glasses (roughly 250 ml capacity) of fresh creamy unsweetened yogurt
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 4 tbsps sugar
• 1 cup seedless grapes – red or green – chopped fine
• A pinch of salt

Preparation:

• Heat a pan or griddle on medium heat and roast the cumin seeds till slightly darker and aromatic. Remove from heat, grind to a fine powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder.
• Put the cumin powder (reserve a small amount to garnish the drinks), yogurt, crushed ice, grapes (reserve a small amount to garnish the drinks) sugar, salt into a blender. Blend till smooth.
• Pour into tall, chilled glasses. garnish with chopped grapes and a sprinkling of cumin powder and serve!

Sue’s Hot Articoke Dip
(Sue just so happens to be my Mother-in-Law)

1 cup mayonnaise
1 (8 oz) pkg, cream cheese
1 (14oz) can articoke hearts (in water)
1 (4oz) can diced green chilis
1 cup Parmesan Cheese (fresh grated)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream Mayonnaise with Cream Cheese. Drain artichoke hearts and cut into small pieces. Add artichokes to creamed mixture. Blend in chilis (with juice from can). Mix in half of the grated Parmesan Cheese. Mix well. Pour into a 9×13 baking dish and top with remaining grated Parmesan Cheese. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

This was really good and it was the first thing to go at the family thingy last weekend. But really, how could you ever go wrong with something that includes Cream Cheese AND Green Chilis?

^{That’s what I thought}

from the kids school cookbook that I had sent in.
It took some time to sit down and make them comprehensive.
I made sure to save them on my computer and I’m even able to use some for the boy scouts for camp outs. Super easy and quick

From a video podcast I subscribe to comes this gorgeous summery salad. The exact recipe is available here but basically it’s spinach, quartered strawberries, spring onion (red onion in the original) and walnuts (pecans in the original) with a lightly-sweetened vinaigrette featuring sesame seeds (and poppy seeds in the original, but I didn’t have those either).

I never would have believed it if I hadn’t tried it, but the suggestion of throwing in strawberries where you’d normally put tomatoes works astonishingly well. I had this for tea last night, and I’m having it again today.