Kitchen Adventures 11.4

Easter is a little different now than it used to be, at least for me. When at home, it was always a big family time when we went to church, then ate lunch with the extended family and hunting eggs. Now, with being three hours away from home and no long weekend, it makes it hard to go home, so now I celebrate with my "family" here. We have had big dinners, gone out to dinner, and everything in between. This year, I got to celebrate with my boyfriend, his roommate, and some friends. It was a nice, though rainy, day, and a wonderful time celebrating Resurrection Sunday.
Mr. boyfriend had the main dish with some delicious ham. He also provided the macaroni and cheese. Our friend Shaye came with roils and fruit salad. I provided scalloped potatoes, a lemon (aka Easter) cake and sauteed asparagus and peas. Overall, way too much food for us, but it was delicious!

I looked around the Web for a couple different recipes to fit these needs. I found several through Foodgawker and other websites. I also turned to my hand Triple T cookbook and combined a few recipes to make the potatoes. It all turned out pretty well, all things considered. Lots of cooking in a short amount of time, but lots of fun in the end.

Sauteed Asparagus and Peas

Ingredients

2 T. unsalted butter
1/4 c. minced shallots
1 bunch thin asparagus spears, ends trimmed and cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces on a diagonal*
1 c. thawed frozen peas
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. honey

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add in the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes.

2. Add the asparagus, 1/4 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so the shallots don't burn, for about 5 minutes or until al dente. Add the peas and honey and cook about one minute more or until the peas are warmed through. Add in more salt and pepper to taste and serve.

*To trim asparagus, bend one spear near its base to see where it naturally snaps off. Use a knife to trim remaining spears to the same length.



The scalloped potatoes were the best of the three, I think. It took a little ingenuity, but they turned out very well. I was a little nervous at first, but it turned out well in the end. It was a combination of two separate recipes that overall became a good new one.

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 lbs. potatoes, or 6 medium ones
3 T. margarine
3 T. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 1/2 c. milk
1 sm. onion, chopped
2 c. cheddar cheese

Directions:

Peel and cube the potatoes. Melt the margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Blend in the flour, salt and pepper. Cook and stir constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Stir in the milk and heat to boiling. Boil for one minute, still stirring. Arrange the potatoes in the bottom of a 2-quart casserole dish with a layer of white sauce on top and then another layer of potatoes and sauce. Top with the cheddar cheese. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake for 60-70 minutes. Let stand before serving.



The final recipe is the lemon cake. I think it would have been better if it wasn't so dry, but I think that was because I made it the day before and it just got a little dry. It still had good flavor, though.

Lemon Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

1 c. butter, room temperature
1 1/4 c. sugar ( 1.25 c.)
zest of 1 large lemon
4 eggs, room temperature
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup buttermilk
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a bundt pan. Mix the sugar and lemon zest together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. In a third bowl, mix the lemon juice and vanilla extract into the milk.
Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until very white and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping the bowl as needed. Turn the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients mixture, alternating with milk in 3 separate additions. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake on the middle rack for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve. *I only baked it for 35 minutes before a toothpick came out clean. I also made a lemon glaze instead of dusting with powdered sugar.

Here is a link to the original posting for this recipe.

Kitchen Adventures 10.5

Most people tend to have their go=to dish for parties or special occasions. Some people always bring the brownies; others always bring the chips and dip. I can usually be counted on for some type of dessert, no matter the affair, though occasionally I do mix it up. For a recent cookout, I chose to bring a dessert, but since it was a spur-of-the-moment event, I had to go with what I had on hand. Luckily, I had quite a few ingredients. I thought about making brownies from scratch, then found another new recipe while looking for the brownie one. It was neat to try something new, and it was pretty delicious.

As a note, I did not make the original version of this recipe. I made a variation as I knew one of the hosts loves peanut butter and I thought he would really enjoy that variation.

This recipe came from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Revel Bars

Ingredients:

6 T. butter, softened
2 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
3 c. quick cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped peanuts (optional)
1/2 c. peanut butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and baking soda and beat until combined, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs and 2 tsp. vanilla until combined. Beat and stir in the flour, then stir in the oats.
2. For filling: in a medium saucepan combine the peanut butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the peanuts and 2 tsp. vanilla.
3. Press 2/3 (about 3 1/2 c.) of the oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1 baking sheet. Spread filling evenly over the oat mixture and top with dollops of the remaining oat mixture.
4. Bake about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack and cut into bars when cooled.

Kitchen Adventures 10.3

Ah, it's good to be back and sharing recipes! Life has definitely been busy over the past month. The parents came to visit in early March, the sister and brother-in-law came to visit a week later, work got crazy busy, and of course there are always social things to be done. I'm going to try and do some catching up today, so we'll see how that goes.

As I have mentioned before, I am more aware of dietary restrictions such as gluten free these days since I have several friends and co-workers that have to follow those guidelines. Hence, I am always looking for easy GF recipes I can share with them. While flipping through some of my Rachael Ray magazines my parents brought me, I stumbled across a GF pie recipe. This was perfect, since I had just been talking with a friend about GF pie crusts and finding a way to make them. I of course had to tell her the secret: use Chex instead of graham crackers. If you think about it, Chex have always been gluten free, but now the product can be advertised that way. I have never thought about using them as a substitute, but it was pretty delicious.

Included with this information was a recipe I just couldn't resist. Chocolate and peanut butter has to be one of the best culinary combinations ever. The timing was perfect, too, since I wanted to make a pie to celebrate PI Day (I told you I had some catching up to do). Even though I'm no longer taking math classes, I remember with fondness celebrating my first PI Day in Mr. Wertenberger's trig class. I had been looking for a great recipe to share at work to celebrate and this one fit the ticket.

This recipe came from the February 2011 Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.

Double Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pudding Pie

Ingredients:

3 c. Chocolate or Rice Chex cereal, finely crushed
5 T. butter, melted
12 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, chopped, plus more for chocolate shavings
1 1/2 T. unsweetened baking cocoa, sifted
2 c. half-and-half
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg plus 3 egg yolks
6 T. whipping cream, plus 1 c. whipping cream, whipped for topping
1/2 c. white vanilla baking chips
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. Stir together the crushed cereal and melted butter in a small bowl. Press this mixture in the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes or until set. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the crust for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with one-third (4 oz.) of the chopped chocolate after removing the crust from the oven.
2. Meanwhile, in a large heatproof bowl, mix the cocoa and remaining chopped chocolate together. In a 1-quart heavy saucepan, heat the half-and-half over medium-high heat until it is almost boiling. In a medium heatproof bowl, beat the sugar, egg and egg yolks together with a whisk until the mixture is light yellow. Slowly beat in half of the hot half-and-half, then pour this egg mixture into the saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and heat the mixture just to boiling. Cook this mixture, beating with a whisk, for about 1 minute or until thickened. Pour this through a sieve into the cocoa mixture and beat with a whisk until smooth. Pour this into the crust and refrigerate 30 minutes or until fairly set. (As a short cut, you could just buy instant pie pudding and use that. I realized that after I had made it.)
3. Wipe out the saucepan, then add 6 T. cream to the pan. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Place the vanilla baking chips and peanut butter in a medium heatproof bowl and pour the hot cream over them and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Beat this with a whisk until smooth. Spread this mixture evenly over the chilled pie and refrigerate until firm, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. If desired, serve with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Here is a picture of the delicious creation.



For more gluten free recipes, check out chex.com/glutenfree

Kitchen Adventures 9.2

Everyone loves a good party, right? I know I sure do! My friends and I like to gather and celebrate things, be it a big event like some one's birthday or a going away party or a sporting event. So, of course, we had to get together to watch the Super Bowl between the Packers and the Steelers. I made sure to wear my green sweater to urge the Pack on to victory, and I guess it worked! :) It was a good game, but we always end up socializing so much half the time we're not even paying attention. We just like each other too much I guess. :)

For any party, you have to have good party food. Snacky finger-food items are a must-have. In my binders of recipes I have an entire section for this type of food that I don't get to break into very often, so I deliberately planned to make some items from this section for the party. And I'm sure glad I did, because they were hits!

I took three things to the party. Of course we had too much food, because everyone else brought that much as well. Better to have extra than not enough, though! Two of the recipes I made are from Rachael Ray's magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray. The other one is something my sister told me that is super quick and deceptively delicious and addictive. Hope you are able to use them at your next gathering!

Baked Potato Bites (from Every Day with Rachel Ray)

Ingredients:

4 red potatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds and patted dry
1/2 c. olive oil
Salt
1/2 lb. bacon
1/3 c. sour cream
1/3 c. cream cheese
1 T finely chopped chives (I omitted these b/c I couldn't find them at the store)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree. Toss the potato rounds in the olive oil, coating all sides. Place the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and season with salt. Arrange them in a single layer. Bake for 25 minutes, flip them over, and bake for another 10 minutes. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
2. While the potatoes are baking, cook the bacon until crisp and then crumble it; set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the sour cream and cream cheese until smooth.
3. Arrange the potato slices in a single layer on a plate or serving dish and top each round with a spoonful of the cream mixture, some bacon bits, and chives. Serve warm.

Cheesy Corn Bites (from Every Day with Rachael Ray)

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 c. shredded pepper jack cheese
1 egg
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
48 scoop-shaped tortilla chips
Chopped chives, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, pepper jack cheese, egg and corn.
2. Arrange the chips in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Spoon 1 T. of the cream cheese mixture into each chip. Bake until the filling sets, about 20 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with chives and serve warm.

Tortilla Roll-ups

Ingredients:

Tortillas, any size or kind (flour are better than corn for this)
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
Taco seasoning

Directions:

Stir the softened cream cheese until it is smooth. Shake in taco seasoning to taste. Do this in stages so it does not get too strong. Spread the cream cheese mixture onto tortillas, making a thin layer of cheese on each tortilla. Roll up the tortillas, then slice them like a sushi roll.

This picture includes a couple of each item. Yummy!

Kitchen Adventures 7.1

Oh my, I am so far behind! I didn't realize it's been over a month since I shared my kitchen creations. December was a busy month, to say the least. It started off with Harry Potter and the Big 12 championship game with friends, the next weekend held the Eilert family Christmas up in Kansas City (36 in attendance, not too shabby!), then I got sick immediately after coming back home. :/ Those couple days really threw me for a loop and delayed all my baking endeavors. It even meant I missed my own monthly birthday party at work. :( I recovered in time for a small birthday gathering and church things, then it was time to head up to Kansas for Christmas. And there went the month! Time at home was wonderful, getting to see all my family and some friends. It's never a long enough visit it seems, no matter how long it is. But with all that being said, that is the long excuse for not updating sooner. I'll amend that right now, though, with a succession of posts to catch up before 2010 comes to a close.

This first recipe is one I have turned to over the past few winters as my chili standby recipe. Now, I know everyone is very particular about their chili and has their favorite recipe. This is an easy one that I like, and I will admit, this last batch was not the best. It showed me the importance of having a good chili seasoning mix, because Target does not carry the brand I would normally get. It did get better the second time around, though, which is good.

This particular chili recipe comes from a cookbook I got for Christmas several years ago. It's called Rival Crock Pot 3 Books in 1 and includes "Slow Cooker Favorites," "Winning Slow Cooker Recipes," and "Slow Cooker Recipes for All Occasions." This one comes from the "Slow Cooker Favorites" section and is pretty darn delicious, if I do say so myself. Enjoy!

McCormick's Weeknight Chili

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 15 oz can red kidney beans, undrained
1 pkg. chili seasoning (of course they use McCormick's but you can use whatever you like)
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Cook meat in a skillet until brown, then drain. Transfer meat to your slow cooker and stir in tomato sauce, beans, and seasoning. Cover and cook on low for 1 to 2 hours or on high for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir before serving and top with cheese. * I always end up cooking mine on high because I just can't wait or don't have enough time. :)

Here are a few pics:

Kitchen Adventures 6.4

As a librarian, one of my favorite things to do is share knowledge and information. With the social media we have today, this sharing is made even easier. Sometimes, since we are so connected all the time, we can get bombarded with information, which can lead to information overload. At times, when I'm searching for a recipe online, I feel this way. One way we overcome this information overload is by turning to trusted sources, namely people we see as authorities on a subject. For instance, I will turn to my friends that know about computers before checking another source. We like going to a person more than a remote source, generally speaking.

Another way to cut through this overload it to use recipes (or information) people specifically send you because they know you are interested in a subject. Over the past week I have had two people send me recipes, which I love! (If you have a favorite, send it my way!) I received a letter from my Nana with a sugar cookie recipe in it, which I will definitely be using soon. The other was this recipe, which my friend Tara saw on a blog and shared with me via Facebook. That is one of the perks of our social networks, sharing information so easily. She shared the link with me, I checked out the blog and copied the recipe into a Word document and saved it, then I'll copy it from that document into this blog post. The ease of sharing this information makes me more likely to share information because it IS so easy to do. Yay for social networks (in this instance)! also, here is a link to the original blog post: Brown-Eyed Baker

This was a pretty quick recipe to make, and they cooled quick enough for me to get them completely finished within two hours, which is pretty good for me when I'm making a recipe for the first time. Since they are scones they are fairly dense, but the icing and glaze on top add just enough sweetness to make all the chewing enjoyable. These are a great fall treat for sure! Thanks again, Tara, for sharing this with me!

Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze

Yield: 12 scones

Ingredients:

For the Scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
7 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 Tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 Tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg

For the Powdered Sugar Glaze:
1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk

For the Spiced Glaze:
1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. (I just sprayed the baking sheet with cooking spray.)

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger in a large bowl. Use a fork or pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious; set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and form the dough into a ball. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle about 3 times as long as wide. Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut each of the portions in an X pattern (four pieces) so you end up with 12 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

4. To make the powdered sugar glaze, mix the powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. When scones are cool, use a brush to spread plain glaze over the top of each scone. (I did two coats.)

5. To make the spiced glaze, while the powdered sugar glaze is firming, combine all of the ingredients for the spiced glaze. Drizzle over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (about an hour). (I ended up using the leftover regular powdered sugar glaze and adding 1 c. powdered sugar and about 1 T. milk along with the spices.)

Kitchen Adventures 6.2

I have quite a bit of catching up to do on here! The last week or so has been incredibly crazy, to put it mildly. I've been busy at work, dealing with lots of little issues there, and then finding way too many things to do with my free time. But, hanging out with my friends doing things like celebrating jobs, hitting up the monthly art walk, going to football games and out to dinner, church things, and random shopping trips make my life that much better.

All those fun things, though, keep me away from posting more frequently. For instance, this is a recipe I made about three weeks ago and just never found time to post after making it.

This is the perfect recipe for a chilly fall evening, which to me is soup weather. It also freezes decently well, and I just finished it off this week by sharing with a few friends for dinner one night. I got this one from a binder my Aunt Kathie gave me a couple Christmases ago. She had it at Thanksgiving and showed everyone and I just had to have a copy. I'm not sure where she got the recipes, but if anyone wanted the source for this one I could ask. It's a good one for sure!

A couple notes I learned the first time I made this that made this go-round much better. First, make sure you chop your potatoes to a fairly standard size, that way the chunks cook the same amount. Second, make sure you have the potatoes chopped, onions chopped, and bacon cooked and crumbled before starting the flour and butter. You will not have enough hands to chop, stir, and crumble all at the same time! Finally, you will have to stir for awhile to get the milk to thicken. I probably could have stirred it a little bit more, but it turned out fine.

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

2/3 c. butter or margarine
4 sliced green onions (I omitted these)
1 c. sour cream
1 1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I used a little more)
7 c. milk
12 cooked, crumbled bacon strips
2/3 c. flour
4 lg. baking potatoes OR hash browns (I used potatoes)

Directions:

Chop potatoes and onions and cook bacon. In a large soup kettle or dutch oven, melt the butter. Add in flour, heat and stir until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Add potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, stir until cheese is melted.

Kitchen Adventures 4.1

We all have those delicious standby recipes that we can go to in a pinch for something bound to be a crowd-pleaser. One of my favorite recipes is something I first tried three years ago after a friend made it for dinner. It has also made me look at almost every recipe on food packaging, because sometimes those are some of the best ones.
I knew with my roommate from my first two years at Pitt coming to visit I would need something that would feed more than me but would not take very long to make. I turned to this enchilada recipe for something fairly quick, very easy, and absolutely delicious. We mixed things up a little bit by using whole wheat tortillas rather than regular flour tortillas, and surprisingly they were very good! The whole wheat gave them a little sweeter taste, which you don't normally expect with enchiladas, but I'd make them that way again in a heartbeat. As a caveat, I never remember the recipe, I always just look at the enchilada sauce can, so this is going off my memory. :)

Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1 lbs. ground beef
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 bag shredded cheese
1-2 packages 8" tortillas

Directions:
Brown the ground beef and drain. Add 1/2 c. of enchilada sauce to the beef in the skillet along with 1/4 c. of cheese. Stir to combine. Grease 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill tortillas with enchilada mix. Place rolled tortillas in casserole dish, then pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and finish by sprinkling rest of cheese over enchiladas. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Here is a picture of the final product.



As a bonus, here are some pics from Steph's visit.

Zoo adventures, including being on lockdown while zookeepers try to find an escaped chimp











OKC Bombing Memorial









And of course a couple baseball games at the Bricktown ballpark.

Circle of Life

Sometimes life throws unexpected events your way. Other times you see the inevitable coming and just wait tensely until it gets here. Death is one of those things that is expected eventually, but the timing is sometimes what throws people. Over the past week, I've seen it both ways, and no matter how it comes or approaches, it still hurts when it arrives.
After five years of declining health and being confined to a bed for the past two years, Grandpa went home to heaven Friday morning. We all knew it was coming, and this was not the first time we prepared for the end, but even though I knew it would be soon, I still had to cry when it happened. However, the tears are not for Grandpa. Why would you cry for someone who is out of their pain and living with Jesus? Instead, we cry for those left behind that experience the hole in their life that the one who has left us used to fill. Grandma and Grandpa had been married 72 years. I cannot fathom being with someone for that long, probably because I am not married and have no prospects of it in the near future. But for Grandma, Grandpa has been her constant companion for most of her life. And for the past five years, he has been what keeps her going. All her decisions revolved around taking care of Grandpa. Without that in her life now, I am unsure if she will either embrace the new freedom she has, or fall to pieces. She's a strong woman, though, so though the time will be tough, I think she will be able to persevere.
That was an expected death. Sometimes, though, death sneaks up on us and waits off to the side, lurking to step in and take someone without notice. Last week I received news that a former member of our small group, Chris Murphy, was in very serious condition at a local hospital. He had been found unresponsive and with a 107 degree fever. When he got to the hospital, he experienced massive kidney failure and cardiac arrest. He is currently on life support and his parents have flown in from out of state and out of country in order to decide what to do. As of the last update I had, his condition was unchanged and they were meeting to decide if keeping him on life support would be the right decision. In this situation, death has not occurred, but it seems to be lurking just off stage. However, we know that with God all things are possible. If it is His will, Chris will be able to recover and continue his work here on earth by sharing God's love with everyone he meets. And if it's His will to bring him home, then we know that Chris will be praising Jesus up in heaven.
Those two situations contrast with each other. One, an old man who lived a long and full life; the other, a young man who just appeared to be starting his life. The common strand that binds them, though, is the love of Jesus. Both these men loved the Lord, and I know that no matter what happens, I'll see them both in heaven someday.
Amidst those situations relating to the end of life and fighting to live, there is also new life coming into this world. Within the past five days, three couples have announced that they are expecting their first child, all to be born in March or April. To me, this has been the ironic reminder that as one life ends, another begins. All the couples are very excited about the new life that will be joining their family, and I am excited for them! Apparently the old saying is reversed in this situation. I've heard it said that deaths come in threes, but it appears that instead births will be coming in threes!
Life is indeed a circle. We live, we die, and we receive new life with Jesus if we believe in Him. I pray for those that are experiencing loss, that they will find comfort in their time of need. And, I pray for those getting ready for new life, that they will find the strength and courage to lead the new little person joining their family through the journey we call life.

Kitchen Adventures 3.2

It seems I don't get to go home very often, but when I start going it seems like I do several weeks in a row. This was the case recently, though I went to different "homes" each time. This past weekend I made the trek up to Kansas City with my friend Shaye for our friend Stephanie's wedding. On the way, we stopped and saw my Aunt Lori at the travel center, which was a nice break from the road, and it was great to see her. Then we continued up to my cousins Rob and Eileen's house in Overland Park. I don't get to see them often, but their house is always open to me whenever I make my way up to KC, which is wonderful. It also gives me a little time to chat with them since I don't see them often.
Our fun activities included the rehearsal dinner and bowling Friday night, visiting the Nelson-Atkins art museum and seeing our friend Andy Dale before the wedding, and of course the wedding and the reception. I am so happy for my friends! I can honestly say I have rarely seen two people more perfect for each other than Stephanie and Brian. Best of luck you guys!
To top off the lovely trip, we stopped in El Dorado on the way home, hoping to see my grandparents and some friends. However, we got there too early to see Nana and Pop, so after leaving Pop's birthday picture at their house we headed over to Spangle's and met Tom and Cory for lunch. I had not seen Tom since Christmas and had not seen Cory since his accident a couple weeks ago, so it was great catching up with them. Here are some pics from the trip.


Famous shuttlecock at Nelson-Atkins


Saying the vows


First dance. Good job Brian!


Me and Shaye after the reception


Cory, Tom, and I catching up at Spangle's

When we got home, I did not have time to go to the store until Monday, when Shaye and I stopped after stamp club. Fortunately, I had most everything I needed already to make my dinner for the week. I always enjoy trying recipes that friends and family love. What better judge can there be than someone you trust? I got this one from Marcus back when we dated. It's pretty easy and very delicious, which of course is my favorite combination! :)

Poppyseed chicken

Ingredients:
2 c. diced cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 stick butter, melted
1 c. sour cream
1 tube Ritz crackers
2 tbsp. poppyseds

Directions:
Mix diced chicken with undiluted soups. Add sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Roll crackers with rolling pin in plastic bag until finely crushed. Add poppyseed to melted butter, then add crackers to butter mixture. Put chicken and soup mixture in buttered casserole dish and top with cracker/butter mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Kitchen Adventures 2.8

Like most people just out of college or in their mid-twenties, I've been to a few wedding and bachelorette parties in my day. It inevitable with all the friends that get married either during or shortly after college. Last night we helped a friend celebrate her upcoming with a causal, laid-back bachelorette party. After dinner at Panda Garden, we met back at my place for cookie decorating, drinks, and games.

I had seen cute pictures from bachelorette parties and wanted to figure out how to make those cute cookies. My good friend Kara came through with heart cookies cutters in two sizes, so that gave us variety. If you turn a heart upside down, voila! You have the template for decorating a beautiful bra. And if you cut the tip off a heart before baking the cookie, you've got the makings of a bountiful booty. We had a great time decorating our cookies, talking, laughing, and hanging out. And now I have so many cookies left to decorate and eat! :)

I had a sugar cookie recipe from a different cookbook, but I lost that page so turned to a back-up. I had enough time to make the dough one day and bake it a couple days later, so I made the traditional "chill over night" sugar cookies. This recipe came, once again from the triple T youth group cookbook. This contribution is from Kim (and Molly) Hague, some good friends back home. Delicious!

Aunt Roxy's Old Fashion Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each so as to remain light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients. Chill overnight. Roll to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Makes about 8 dozen.
*Note that is 8 dozen round, not 8 dozen hearts. :)

Here are some pics, both before and after decorating.

Kitchen Adventures 2.7

Many of us have weekly activities we look forward to when a new week begins. I am fortunate to have several different sets of friends, who are most definitely different from each other. I love my girls night friends who meet at O'Connell's every week and play bingo and drink $2 Boulevards. There are girls I can tell about random things going on in my life or things I hear about on the news and whatnot. And with the inclusion of the boys at girls night (contradictory, I know, but it works) we always have rousing conversation going on somewhere at the table.
Another group I always look forward to seeing is my small group from church. We started meeting two years ago and through there are only three of the originals left, we have an awesome group that not only meets to discuss the Word and our study, but also to share in our lives socially. Usually, at least lately, the boys have outnumbered the girls, but last week was an exception. With no boys in attendance, we had a girls night. Of course we discussed out study, Lead Like Jesus (which I highly recommend), but we were also able to share about life situations that I'm pretty sure we would not have discussed had the boys been there. It was nice to just have that girl time studying together and also just fellowhihpping.
Unfortunately for the boys, they missed out on delicious snack. Of course, I am biased since I made it. :) But I must say, it is delicious! I'm still eating the fruits of my labor for breakfast and thoroughly enjoying it!
Since I had extra zucchini lying around from the farmer's market I trolled the Internet looking for some kind of zucchini dessert recipe. I already made chocolate zucchini cake and have made zucchini bread before, so I wanted to try something different. After doing a little searching, I came across this excellent recipe from cooks.com. It's a little different, but delicious! I highly recommend it!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
2 c. grated zucchini
4 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 c. oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 loaf pans. Grate zucchini
In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In another bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla.
Stir zucchini mixture into the flour mixture, just until blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.

Here are some pics of the finished product.

Kitchen Adventures 1.5

Last week was a pretty crazy week. I helped Shaye decorate for VBS Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday before corralling little ones Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On top of that, we had a going away party for our friend Andy Dale Monday night and then small group Wednesday night. It was quite the week to say the least! To top all of that off, we had a going-away/birthday party at work Thursday. With everything else going on, I had to do my baking Tuesday evening. It meant skipping girls' night, but sometimes we just can't do it all

Here is a picture from the going-away party. We were a small group, but we had fun!

Tuesday evening was a busy one for the oven. I had two desserts and my dinner to make, so strategy was key. I began with the banana nutella cake, which I posted several weeks ago. Check the earlier post for the recipe and a pic. While the cake layers baked, I mixed up the blueberry sour cream coffee cake. It's a good thing I have a stand mixer and a hand-held one, plus several mixing bowls, because I used them all! Once I popped the coffee cake (which I baked in a bund pan) in the oven, I made chicken tetrazzini for my dinner. At one point I had the oven going and every burner used on the over. The heat was on in my kitchen!

Everything turned out well, thankfully. The coffee cake was a smash success, there is still cake left (but we did have four of them!), and I just finished off the tetrazzini for lunch today.

Following are the coffee cake and tetrazzini recipes.

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
(from mixingbowl.com)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 cup sour cream, 8 oz

Filling:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 T. flour
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 T. milk

Directions:
In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating well after each addition. Spoon a third of the batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. Mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Sprinkle half over batter. Top with half of the berries. Repeat layers. Top with remaining batter. Bake at 350 for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely. Mix glaze ingredients. drizzle over cake. Note: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter. (I set them out when I started mixing and they were fine.)

Here are a few pics at various stages.









While that deliciousness was baking, I made myself some dinner for the week. I turned to my handy dandy Triple T cookbook again, which is actually titled "Homemade with Love". Here's the recipe.

Chicken or Turkey Tetrazzini

Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
slat and pepper to taste
1 c. water
1 bouillon cube
1 lb. spaghetti noodles, cooked
1 lb. turkey or chicken, cooked
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Dice meat into cubes. In a small sauce pan, dissolve bouillon cube with water. In medium sauce pan, melt butter and add flour, salt and pepper; will be thick. Add bouillon to this. Make sure the heat is not too high, otherwise your sauce will stay thick. In mixing bowl mix meat and noodles together. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Pour sauce over the top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees until done, about 25-30 minutes.

Here is the picture of the tetrazzini:

Kitchen Adventures 1.4

As I pause to reflect on this toasty Sunday evening, I realize how truly blessed I am to be where I am. I never would have imagined that I would end up in Oklahoma, of all places, let alone want to stay here and establish my life. But, that is exactly what I'm doing. God has blessed me with wonderful opportunities, great co-workers, some amazing girl friends, and the best small group. Throw in the opportunities I have to serve Him through my church, New Life Bible Church, and I'd say I've got one amazing life. Sometimes I just have to remind myself of that, though. Today was one of those afternoons, and after an hour of quiet time, I've got that peaceful feeling in my soul. He is providing ways for me to make my life here possible, ways that I could have never imagined. Now I just have to remind myself that it doesn't stop here, that He will keep doing that and keep surprising me with just how much He takes care of me.

One way He does this is by giving me wonderful friends. One of my best friends down here is Shaye. We kept bumping into each other in class and at the Wesley, where she thought I was wanting to be with the guy that came with me when really her rescuing me would have been nice! :) But, it took our mutual friend, Megan, inviting her to our small group last year to really get to know her. We had been studying for comps together and made it through that ordeal, and one night Megan just said, "Come on Shaye, come with us to Bible study. You'll have fun." So she came, and she did. Little did she know, she was an answer to my prayers. Megan had been my way to church and small group and was actually the one who got me involved in both, but with her moving back to California I didn't know what I was going to do. Then there God went again, providing Shaye for me. Not only did He bring me a way to these things, He sent me a friend whom I have greatly enjoyed getting to know better over this past year. Now we teach Sunday School together, along with doing everything else. We just finished up VBS decorations, which was a great but tiring project. Here are some pics of our handiwork (Shaye's ideas, I just helped her out).

Our awesome spaceship.
Cool porthole

Twin planets

Recently Shaye was blessed with getting to buy a house, which is awesome! I wondered what I would do since my friend was moving farther away, but she has been a kind and gracious spirit and still drives down to get me. I know I don't say it enough, but I am so truly thankful for her willingness to drive the complete wrong direction just to come get me. Other friends do this for me too, but none as constantly or faithfully as Shaye. I told her I would either pay her with money or food, and since the budget is strained right now we went with food. :) Here is the first recipe and a picture from the first thank-you meal.

Manicotti
(from mixingbowl.com)

ingredients:
1 pkg. manicotti
1 lb. Italian sausage
1 container (15 oz.) ricotta cheese
1 pkg. shredded mozzarella cheese
shakes of grated parmesan
Italian seasoning to taste
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Directions:
Cook manicotti according to package directions. Brown sausage and drain. Set aside some mozzarella cheese for topping, then in a large bowl combine all the cheeses, the sausage, and the seasoning. Stir until combined. Stuff manicotti with filling. Place in baking dish and cover with sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and bake until cheese melts.
*note: stuffing the manicotti will take awhile, just be warned. But it is worth it!



Thanks again for everything, Shaye! :)