kingrat: (Cooking)

I successfully made cookies for the first time last week. Every other attempt failed miserably, to the point where I’d given up. Cookies are supposed to be easy, but apparently not for me. I’d been invited to an event where cookies were expected, so I gave it a go.

Cover of Cookies For Kids

I found this recipe in an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook called Cookies for Kids. It has photos of kids aged 5 to 10 years old making cookies in it. I figured this would be hard for me to screw up.

I doubled the recipe from the book though. I think it worked out better because there was more stuff for the mixer to work with and so it all got mixed better. Directions below are how I did it, not a copy from the book.

Equipment

Stuff I need to make sure I have cleaned and available.

  • large mixing bowl
  • medium mixing bowl
  • small saucepan
  • hand mixer
  • 2 cookie sheets
  • parchment paper
  • storage bins for finished cookies
  • bowl for drained cherries
  • cup to hold cherry juice

Ingredients

  • butter, 2 sticks, room temperature
  • sugar, 2 cups
  • eggs, 2
  • vanilla extract, 3 teaspoons
  • all purpose flour, 3 cups
  • unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup
  • baking soda, ½ teaspoon
  • baking powder, ½ teaspoon
  • salt, ½ teaspoon
  • maraschino cherries, 2 jars (this was overkill, but I used more than 1 jar worth)
  • semisweet chocolate chips, 12 ounce package
  • sweetened condensed milk, 1 cup

Instructions

  1. Add butter and sugar to a mixing bowl
  2. Beat with a hand mixer until fluffy and thoroughly mixed
  3. Add eggs and vanilla
  4. Beat well
  5. In another mixing bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
  6. Add part of flour mixture to butter mixture
  7. Beat until well mixed
  8. Repeat last two steps until all of the flour is combined with the butter
  9. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls, placing each on parchment paper on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (made enough to fill about 2½ sheets)
  10. Press thumb into the middle of each cookie, squashing them down
  11. Drain cherries, reserving the juice in a cup
  12. Put a cherry in the indentation in each cookie
  13. Combine chocolate chips and condensed milk in a saucepan
  14. Melt over low heat, stirring occasionally
  15. Stir in enough cherry juice to make the chocolate spoonable
  16. Spoon a dollop of chocolate over each cookie, enough to cover the cherry
  17. Bake at 350° til edges of the cookies are firm (was about 13 minutes for me, book said 10)
  18. Transfer cookies to a cool surface to cool

Gallery of photos at most steps taken below. Forgot to take photos of the finished cookies, which were tasty, by the way.






Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

kingrat: (Cooking)

This is another of the pies I made for Pie Night and it was quite the hit. This one had no alcohol in the pie itself, and just a couple tablespoons in the sauce for it. The recipe was adapted from a recipe I found at the Driscoll’s berries web page.

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces worth of gluten free shortbread cookies
  • 4 ounces worth of gluten free graham crackers
  • 2 tablespoons crystallized ginger
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 package (¼ ounce packet) unflavored gelatin
  • 1 cup canned unsweetened cream of coconut (not coconut milk)
  • sugar
  • 1/3 cup plain yogurt
  • 4 or 5 limes
  • 4 six ounce packages raspberries
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons tequila

The gluten-free shortbread cookies had a lot of moisture in them, and didn’t work out quite like the original recipe called for. My first attempt at the crust from this turned into a cake. In my second attempt, I substituted gluten free graham crackers for some of the shortbread cookies, and that worked out much better.

The original recipe also called for sweetened cream of coconut. I was unable to find this product. Instead, I used unsweetened cream of coconut. Then I looked up online how much sugar was in the sweetened version of the product, subtracted how much was in the unsweetened version, and added the difference. However, I didn’t write down the amount. I think it was 3 tablespoons but I could be way off.

Crust

  1. Preheat oven to 350°
  2. Chop the ginger
  3. Process shortbread cookies, graham crackers and ginger in a food processor
  4. Melt the butter
  5. Add butter to the cookie mixture
  6. Process until thoroughly mixed
  7. Press into a pie plate
  8. Bake for 10 minutes
  9. Allow to cool

Filling

  1. Mix gelatin and ¼ cup water in a glass mixing bowl
  2. Simmer a pot of water on the stove
  3. Once gelatin has bloomed, place the mixing bowl over the pot of water until the gelatin has dissolved
  4. grate about 1 teaspoon worth of lime zest
  5. squeeze enough limes to get ¼ cup of lime juice
  6. Combine cream of coconut, sugar, yogurt, lime zest and lime juice in a large bowl
  7. Stir until smooth
  8. Mix dissolved gelatin thoroughly in
  9. Mix in one package of raspberries
  10. Pour into the pie crust
  11. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set

Sauce and whipped cream

  1. Process remaining raspberries in food processor until they are so much pulp
  2. Strain raspberry pulp into a bowl (i.e., remove all the seeds)
  3. Combine heavy cream and confectioners’ sugar in a mixing bowl
  4. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form
  5. Mix half the raspberry puree into the whipped cream
  6. Spread whipped cream over top of the pie
  7. Combine remaining raspberry stuff with honey and tequila

Serve pie with raspberry-tequila drizzle.

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

This is the recipe for the Shepherd’s Pie I made for Pie Night. I love me a good shepherd’s pie, but I don’t think I’ve actually ever made it before. I liked this so much I made it again today. It is from Rachel Ray.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes
  • Olive oil
  • 1½ lbs. ground lamb
  • Allspice
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 parsnip
  • 1 onion
  • all purpose flour
  • ½ cup beef broth
  • ½ cup dark beer
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • sour cream
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup cream
  • paprika

Prep

  1. Peel and cube potatoes
  2. Peel and chop onion
  3. Peel and chop parsnip
  4. Separate yolk from egg white (discard egg white)

Instructions

  1. Add potatoes to a large pot, cover with water
  2. Bring to a boil over high heat
  3. Cook until tender
  4. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat
  5. Brown ground lamb
  6. Season with salt, pepper and allspice
  7. Add carrot, parsnip and onion
  8. Cook about 5 minutes
  9. Dust with flour
  10. Cook about a minute
  11. Add broth, beer, and Worcestershire sauce
  12. Cook until thickened
  13. Transfer to casserole dish
  14. Remove potatoes from heat and drain
  15. Return them to the pan and allow to cool bit
  16. Add a few dollops of sour cream, egg yolk, and cream
  17. Mash until smooth
  18. Spoon over meat
  19. Season with paprika
  20. Broil until the potatoes are evenly browned
Shepherds Pie

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

This pie turned out quite well. Everyone at Pie Night loved it. The caramel was a bit boozier than I thought it would be, but I coulda been doing it wrong. Recipe comes from Dennis Wilkinson. As is normal, I’ve modified it slightly.

Crust

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 stick cold butter
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • dash salt
  • 1½ ounces cold water
  • 1½ ounces vodka

Pretty standard crust, except there’s a bit more liquid than I normally would use for one crust.

  1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor
  2. Cut the butter into 1 tablespoon pieces
  3. Add the butter to the flour mixture
  4. Pulse the food processor until all the chunks of butter are less than pea size
  5. Transfer the flour mixture to a bowl
  6. Combine the water and vodka into a cup
  7. Add the liquid to the flour, alternately adding some and mixing it with a pastry cutter or fork
  8. Work the dough until the liquid is pretty thoroughly combined and the flour forms a ball
  9. Mush the dough into a disc
  10. Wrap it in sandwich paper
  11. Chill for a half hour to an hour in the fridge
  12. Roll into a crust
  13. Place the crust in a 9 inch pie plate (deep dish works better, but I didn’t do that)
  14. Crimp the edges
  15. Weight with foil and pie weights
  16. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes, then remove the weights and bake for 10 more
  17. Remove from oven and allow to cool

Caramel

  • 1 cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup water
  • 1 tablespoon corn syrup
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 ounces Grand Marnier (original recipe calls for 1 ounce, but I don’t have a 1 ounce measure)
  • 1 orange
  1. Grate all the zest from the orange
  2. Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan
  3. Cover and bring to a boil
  4. Remove the cover and continue boiling until sugar starts turning brown
  5. Swirls the pan on the burner periodically until the sugar is reddish brown (it really does turn a reddish brown)
  6. Add the cream and Grand Marnier
  7. Stir until dissolved
  8. Continue boiling until it’s pretty thick (original recipe says thread stage which I have no clue how to judge)
  9. Add the orange zest
  10. Pour it into the pie shell
  11. Cool

The caramel was boozier than I expected. Perhaps sticking to the original amount mighta made it more acceptable to me, as I don’t drink or eat anything with more than a trace of alcohol left in it. I kinda expected it to have cooked off considering how long it was boiling.

Filling

  • 4½ semisweet bakers chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch
  • ⅔ cup sugar
  • dash salt
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 can (14½ ounces) Guinness stout
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 packet gelatin
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  1. Combine the water and gelatin in a small saucepan
  2. Separate the egg yolks and discard the egg white
  3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave
  4. In a medium saucepan, combine the cocoa powder, corn starch, sugar, and salt
  5. Whisk in the cream
  6. Whisk in the egg yolks
  7. Whisk in the Guinness
  8. Whisk in the chocolate
  9. Cook and stir the mixture over medium-high heat until thick enough to coat a spoon
  10. Heat the gelatin until it dissolves
  11. Whisk in the gelatin
  12. Remove from heat and strain the chocolate through a strainer into a bowl
  13. Whisk in the butter
  14. Pour into the pie shell (the one with the caramel, not a new one)
  15. Cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator until set

At this point, I had some leftover chocolate, though not a lot. I really should have used a deep dish pie plate. C’est la vie.

Serve with whipped cream.

Click through to the original recipe to see a lovely photo. I didn’t get a good photo of my edition of the pie.

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

I promised to write more. What can I put here? I know! My efforts to find low-salt foods in Seattle.

Huh. And coincidentally today starts World Salt Awareness Week. I had no idea that was the case. I found that out because I wanted to include the official American Heart Association recommended daily limit on salt, so I was Googling®. Anyway, the U.S.D.A. recommends less than 2300 mg of sodium per day if you are healthy and less than 1500 mg of sodium if you have a heart condition. The A.H.A. says that’s too high, and recommends less than 1500 mg per day for everyone.

Finding low-salt foods is hard. Take today for instance. I want to make a hoppin’ john recipe tomorrow. The recipe calls for beef broth. I do most of my food shopping at regular grocery stores because they are cheaper. Today, Fred Meyer in Ballard was convenient. Five feet of one aisle devoted to chicken and beef broth, and not one low-salt alternative. Swanson beef broth has 800 mg of sodium per cup! There’s a less sodium version of it that has 400 mg per cup. But even at that level, I’d go over 1500 mg in well less than a day. Swanson has an unsalted beef stock that has only 130 mg of sodium, but you won’t find it at Fred Meyer, despite the jingle.

So I headed by Whole Foods on my way home, because I know they carry low-sodium broths. Huge difference! There are all sorts of options there. They didn’t have a low-sodium house brand (365 Everyday Value) for beef broth, though they do for chicken. But I could pick from at least three different brands (that I can remember now that I am home) of low-salt beef broths: Kitchen Basics, Imagine Foods, and Pacific Foods. There might have been others as well. The Imagine and Pacific brands of beef broth have 140 mg per cup. That’s 1/3 of anything that Fred Meyer offers, and it’s a bigger store. Kitchen Basics is a bit more at 180 mg.

From this I have to assume that Fred Meyer wants to kill people with heart conditions! Or at least the Ballard location does. I know it seems like a poor selling strategy, but so far all the evidence points that way.

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

This is the recipe I used for the Mushroom Pie at Pie Night yesterday. I’ve made it once before, in about 2006 or 2007. In the original mushroom pie recipe on AllRecipes.com, the mushroom mixture is the stuffing for a puff pastry. The exact same stuff made great filling for a traditional pie.

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 10 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms (I bought pre-sliced)
  • 1 large onion
  • 6 slices fakin’ bacon (or 4 of real bacon if not being fed to vegetarians)
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • about 4 ounces Swiss cheese
  • about 1 teaspoon fresh dill
  • 2 crusts for double-crust pie
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°
  2. Shred the cheese
  3. Peel and chop the onion
  4. Chop the fakin’ bacon into about half inch pieces
  5. In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat
  6. Add the mushrooms, onion, and bacon
  7. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender
  8. Reduce heat to medium
  9. Add the cream and dill
  10. Cook and stir for about 10 minutes
  11. Remove from heat
  12. Stir in the cheese
  13. Pour mushroom mixture into a pie crust
  14. Cover with top pie crust and flute the edge to seal
  15. Score the crust so steam can vent
  16. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until crust is done

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

Here’s the recipe for the Shrimp Pie I made for Pie Night last night. It comes from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2006 . They took a reader submitted recipe and lightened it up. I kinda added some of the fat back. (As always, the recipe below is how I made it, not how it appears in the cookbook.)

Shrimp Pie

Crust

  • 1¼ cups all-purpose flou
  • ¼ cup semolina flour
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
  • ¼ cup ice water
  • ½ teaspoon cider vinegar
  • cooking spray
  1. Preheat oven to 375°
  2. Chill butter, then cut into small pieces
  3. Combine all-purpose flour, semolina flour, sugar, and salt in food processor
  4. Add butter and vegetable shortening
  5. Process until the mixture is a course meal
  6. Combine ice water and vinegar
  7. Add vinegar-water mixture to flour
  8. Mix with a fork until well combined
  9. Coat a deep dish pie plate with cooking spray
  10. Press mixture into pie plate and up the sides
  11. Bake for about 5 minutes
  12. Cool on a wire rack

Filling and Pie

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 12 ounces uncooked, deveined shrimp
  • ¼ cup cream cheese
  • ½ cup egg substitute
  • 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 2 ounces Havarti cheese
  • fresh dill
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  1. Chop shrimp into bite sized pieces
  2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat
  3. Add shrimp and cook until you’re sure it’s cooked
  4. Combine cream cheese and ¼ cup of egg substitute in a mixing bowl
  5. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended
  6. Add flour and beat one minute minute
  7. Add remaining egg substitute and milk and beat until mixed
  8. Stir in shrimp, Havarti cheese, dill and salt
  9. Pour mixture into crust
  10. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes (or until set)

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

I liked curry but have never tried actually cooking a curry dish. This was pretty easy and I had most of the ingredients. Next time I’ll probably make it with rice instead of noodles though. Basic recipe comes from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2001.

  • 2½ cups uncooked egg noodles
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • ½ large onion
  • 2 cups fresh basil leaves
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 teaspoons Madras curry powder
  • dash of salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1 boneless chicken breast half
  • ¾ cup light coconut milk
  1. Prepare noodles according to package directions, but without salt.
  2. Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces
  3. Slice onion thinly
  4. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat
  5. Add onion and stir-fry for one minute
  6. Add basil leaves and stir fry for an additional two minutes
  7. Remove from pan
  8. Add remaining teaspoon of oil to pan and heat
  9. Add garlic and stir-fry for one minute
  10. Add curry, salt, and red pepper and stir-fry for 10 seconds
  11. Add chicken and stir fry for three minutes
  12. Add coconut milk
  13. Reduce heat to medium
  14. Cook until chicken is done (about 4 minutes for me)
  15. Add basil-onion mixture and toss well
  16. Serve over the noodles

The result:

Curried coconut chicken over noodles

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

The French Leek Pie I made for Pie Night was gone in 11 minutes. It was super easy to make. I used the French Leek Pie recipe at allrecipes.com, with some minor adaptations.

  • 1 pie crust
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 3 leeks
  • 1 pinch salt (to taste)
  • 1 pinch pepper (to taste)
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (more or less)
  1. preheat oven to 375°
  2. grate the Gruyere
  3. chop the leeks
  4. melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat
  5. add leeks
  6. cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until soft
  7. reduce heat to low
  8. add salt and pepper
  9. stir in cream and shredded Gruyere cheese
  10. heat on low until mixture is warmed through
  11. pour mixture into the pie shell
  12. bake for 30 minutes, or until the custard is set and golden on top

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

This was one of the pies I made for last night’s Pie Night. It’s delicious. Recipe adapted from Icebox Pies, which Sharon gave me last year. It’s turned out to be quite the excellent pie book.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups half and half
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup couscous
  • 1/2 cup dried apricots
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 crumb crust
  • 1/2 cup apricot preserves
  1. lightly beat egg yolks
  2. chop dried apricots finely
  3. combine half and half, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan
  4. bring pot just to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low
  5. slowly drizzle about 1/2 cup of the half and half mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly
  6. whisk the egg yolks into the saucepan
  7. add the couscous, dried apricots, and nutmeg and stir to combine
  8. simmer, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and almost all the liquid has been absorbed (about 5 to 7 minutes)
  9. remove the pan from the heat
  10. stir in the vanilla
  11. scrape the mixture into the crumb crust
  12. in a food processor, process the apricot preserves until smooth
  13. spread the preserves over the pie with a spatula
  14. wrap in plastic wrap
  15. refrigerate at least 3 hours

No photos, because I didn’t have space on the memory card for my camera.

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

Back to cooking some new things for me. This one is based off a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles (page 105 if you care). Other than the soup, little else is pre-made.

The recipe calls for frozen or fresh medium shrimp, but I prefer smaller shrimp in dishes. So I got canned since I didn’t see any of the small shrimp in the freezer. The downside is there’s a lot of salt in canned shrimp. I figure boiling the shrimp removes some of the salt though. I also avoided the condensed soup in the recipe because the only condensed version of cream of celery at Whole Foods was super high in salt. If I remember correctly, it was about 33% U.S. R.D.A. per serving. So I got an uncondensed kind and used a little bit more. It was pretty thick stuff, so I only increased the amount used by a couple of ounces over the book’s recipe. I bought bread made in store, which unfortunately doesn’t list the sodium content. It is the third ingredient on the list though. I’m thinking the sodium I don’t know about in the bread is balanced somewhat by the amount of sodium taken out by boiling the shrimp.

  • 12 oz. canned shrimp (1980 mg sodium)
  • 1 celery stalk
  • ½ large onion
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • about 12 ounces creamy celery soup (720 mg sodium)
  • ¼ cup milk (32 mg sodium)
  • ½ teaspoon sage
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  • dash of pepper
  • 2 eggs
  • 10 oz. crusty bread loaf
  1. Cut bread into cubes/small chunks
  2. Bake bread at 350° for 15 to 25 minutes to dry it out/firm it up
  3. Boil shrimp for about 3 minutes (if fresh/frozen, until they are opaque)
  4. Chop the celery
  5. Chop the onion
  6. Cook celery and onion in butter until tender (can use the same as the shrimp)
  7. Add soup, milk, sage, thyme (crush first), and pepper
  8. Beat eggs
  9. Add eggs to the concoction
  10. Mix well
  11. Fold in bread chunks
  12. Fold in shrimp
  13. Transfer to 1.5 quart casserole dish
  14. Bake covered for 30 minutes at 350°
  15. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.
  16. Let it cool.

Pretty tasty is the result. About 4 servings. About 690 mg sodium per serving, done my way.

Also, now I know basically how to make stuffing. Can’t say it tastes a whole lot better than boxed though, which is cheaper. This has less salt. Without the shrimp the price might be comparable and the salt in this really a lot less.

And yeah, I know I’ve been harping on the salt a lot lately. It’s been one year today since my grandfather died, and I’m basically of the opinion that a high salt diet was the proximate cause of his heart attacks in the last year. The doctors told him on a couple of E.R. visits that salt intake was what caused his shortness of breath that prompted the 911 call. Can’t know what would have been; without the salt it might have been just as bad. Still, I owe it to myself to make these changes now rather than when I have heart problems at 83.

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

Yesterday I made a pasta sauce not from a jar for the first time ever. I’d planned on making it on Monday, but what with my thumb getting partially removed and the last dish lasting longer than I expected…

Since my basic cookbooks don’t have a vodka sauce recipe in them, I turned to the internet. AllRecipes.com had a vodka sauce recipe, and that’s what I started with. Steps below are how I made it, which is not exactly what was in the linked recipe.

  • 1 cup vodka
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ¾ pound prosciutto
  • 3 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
  • One 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
  • One 15 ounce can no salt added tomato sauce
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  1. chop prosciutto
  2. chop parsley
  3. chop basil
  4. heat olive oil in a large pan
  5. sauté prosciutto, garlic, parsley, and basil until prosciutto is evenly brown
  6. add vodka
  7. simmer 10 minutes
  8. add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and 1 cup water
  9. simmer 15 minutes
  10. add cream
  11. cook 2 minutes

I’m guessing it’ll make six servings. Four so far, and it looks like about two are left.

The sauce was thinner than I expected. Next time I’ll just omit the cup of water. And drop the prosciutto down to a quarter or half pound at most. Normally I’d have used no salt added diced tomatoes too, but when I was poor last month, Deirdre was kind enough to donate a can of diced tomatoes to me. This kind would actually qualify as low-sodium under F.D.A. rules, but when you add it all up it’s still quite a lot.

Salt content:

  • Prosciutto: 7680 mg
  • Diced tomatoes: 1540 mg
  • No salt added tomato sauce: 70 mg
  • Cream: 160 mg

Total sodium: 9450 mg
Per serving: 1575 mg

That does not include the pasta. Definitely up there in salt. Cutting down the prosciutto will cut a lot from that. Not sure if there are lower salt prosciuttos out there.

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

I promised to write about what I cook in an effort to cook more. But I didn’t promise this would be stuff you’d want to eat.

The recipe comes from the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles. It turned out pretty tasty, though a little saltier than I was expecting. I should find out if any of the local butchers do a low salt bulk sausage. Doctor told me I was to watch my salt. I don’t like to be rigid about it, but seeing Gramps ingest salt licks when he was supposed to watch his salt too, and end up in the hospital for it, has been illuminating.

Recipe is how I made it, not exactly how it is in the cookbook.

  • 1 lb. bulk sausage
  • ½ small onion
  • 3 cups crisp rice cereal
  • ¼ cup rice
  • 4 ounces cheddar cheese
  • 1 can cream of celery soup
  • 3 eggs
  • ¼ cup soy milk
  • 1½ teaspoons butter
  1. Cook rice.
  2. Chop the onion.
  3. Shred the cheese.
  4. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 325°.
  6. Cook sausage and onion over medium heat.
  7. Combine 2½ cups of the cereal with the rice.
  8. Spread the rice mix on the bottom of the casserole dish.
  9. Spread sausage and onion over the rice.
  10. Spread the cheese over the sausage.
  11. Mix the soup, eggs, and soy milk.
  12. Pour eggs etc. over everything else.
  13. Melt the butter.
  14. Mix butter with last ½ cup of cereal.
  15. Sprinkle cereal over the top of the casserole.
  16. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.
Cheesy sausage and rice bake

Cheesy sausage and rice bake

Edited to add: Daniel suggests in the comments on LJ that most of the salt comes from the soup. Not exactly true, though that is biggest single contributor of sodium. I’m pretty good about checking sodium content of the foods I buy and got the cream of celery soup that had the lowest sodium content of any of that kind of soup at Fred Meyer.

Here’s the sodium contributions to this dish, taken from the nutrition labels:

1025 mgsoup
900 mgsausage
720 mgcheese
640 mgcereal
210 mgeggs
24 mgsoy milk
2 mgunsalted butter

3521 mgtotal sodium
586 mgsodium per serving

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Cooking)

Got this recipe from my cousin’s wife, Leah. Essentially, this is homemade creamed corn. But it’s way better, and super easy.

  • 4 cans corn, drained (white corn suggested)
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 8 oz. block cream cheese
  • 1 jalapeño pepper
  1. preheat oven to 375°
  2. soften butter in microwave (or leave butter on counter to soften ahead of time)
  3. dice jalapeño finely (or use pre-diced canned jalapeño, though not as good)
  4. combine butter and cream cheese well
  5. add corn
  6. add jalapeño
  7. mix well
  8. bake in 9 in. by 13 in. pan for 30 to 35 minutes
homemade creamed corn

crossposted from King Rat.

kingrat: (Default)

I made this soup last week when I was staying over at my grandparents’ place. Gramps is supposed to be on a cardiac diet, so most boxed meals and canned soups are out. But soup made from scratch can be prepared without salt frequently, so I brought over The Ultimate Soup Bible to pick through. Nothing too fancy, cause my grandparents aren’t fancy eaters. And with a small kitchen and old equipment, I wouldn’t be able to complete a lot of fancy steps.

Recipe is what I made, not what’s in the book.

  • 6 tablespoons margarine (I would have used butter, but that’s what they have)
  • 1 medium leek
  • ¾ teaspoon fresh ginger
  • ¾ cup unsweetened almond butter
  • 1 medium carrot
  • ½ cup frozen peas
  • 1½ cup frozen cooked chicken
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  • 1 cup cream
  1. Melt the margarine in a dutch oven kind of pan
  2. Chop the leek
  3. Chop the ginger
  4. Sauté the leek and ginger until it turns soft
  5. Lower heat
  6. Chop the carrot
  7. Add almond butter, carrot, peas, and chicken, and ½ cup of water
  8. Cook until everything is cooked/not frozen
  9. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes
  10. Transfer mixture to blender
  11. Add 1½ cups water
  12. Process for about 90 seconds
  13. Pour back into pan
  14. Bring to boil while stirring
  15. Lower heat
  16. Stir in cream
  17. Stir in chopped cilantro

This was super super tasty.

Cross-posted from King Rat
kingrat: (Default)

In my quest to find more rice recipes (cause I have a giant bag of rice and it’s cheap), I tried this recipe for Spanish rice from Greg Atkinson’s West Coast Cooking. Really easy, fresh ingredients, pretty tasty.

  • 2 cups long grain white rice
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 2 large tomatoes
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  1. Rinse the rice several times in cold water
  2. Let rice drain in strainer
  3. Chop the onion
  4. Cut the tomato up
  5. Put tomato, onion, garlic and oregano in a blender
  6. Puree
  7. Remove mixture from blender when the blade just spins through the tomato chunks
  8. Put mixture in food processor and/or chop stuff by hand until the chunks are much smaller
  9. Put mixture back into blender
  10. Puree vegetables until they are liquefied
  11. Add water to make 4 cups total liquid
  12. Pour vegetable liquid into 3 quart saucepan
  13. Add salt and bay leaf
  14. Bring liquid to boil
  15. Add rice to saucepan
  16. Reduce heat to low and cover
  17. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes until liquid is absorbed
  18. Remove lid, stir, and let stand
Cross-posted from King Rat
kingrat: (Default)

I took this recipe for a carmelized onion tart from The Pie and Pastry Bible and modified it a bit to make it a bit easier. I don’t own a tart shell, so I just used a shallow pie plate. I also didn’t use any of the fancier pie crust recipes the author suggested. Just a plain old whole wheat pastry flour, unsalted butter, and chilled water pie crust. As always, recipe below is what I did, not exactly what’s in the cookbook.

  • Single shell pie crust
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 6 medium sweet onions
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
  • ½ ounce Gruyère cheese
  • pitted Manzanilla olives
  1. Pre-bake the pie crust
  2. Lightly beat egg white
  3. While still warm, brush the crust with egg white
  4. Peel and thinly slice onions
  5. In skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over low heat
  6. Add onions
  7. Sprinkle onions with sugar, salt, and pepper
  8. Cover and cook without stirring on lowest possible heat 45 minutes
  9. Shred Gruyère cheese finely
  10. Preheat oven to 400°
  11. Raise heat on onions to medium
  12. Stir and cook onions until all liquid has evaporated and they are golden
  13. Turn heat to low
  14. Add garlic and thyme
  15. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes
  16. Fill pie shell with onion mixture
  17. Sprinkle with Gruyère cheese
  18. Place olives on top
  19. Bake for 20 minutes or so (until cheese is melted and top is brown)

The result was heavenly. Several folks told me it was the best of the 20 or so pies we had at the last Pie Night. It might become one of my staple pies. Easy to make and so very very tasty.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

kingrat: (Default)

This recipe comes from Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook, which I picked up for free outside Michael’s Books in Bellingham. It worked out pretty good, though I might do something slightly different next time. Instead of coconut flakes, I might use shredded coconut. Since coconut doesn’t soften too much during the cooking, it resulted in kind of a crunchy/fibrous texture. That was minor though. Turned out to be an excellent pie, and pretty easy to make.

As always, recipe is how I made it, not exactly how it appears in the cookbook.

  • unbaked 9 inch pie shell
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
  • 1½ cups flaked coconut
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  1. Combine 2 egg whites, nutmeg, salt, vanilla, sugar, coconut, milk, and butter.
  2. Cook over hot (not boiling) water in a double boiler for 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly.
  3. Let cool to room temperature.
  4. Beat 2 egg whites just until stiff (but not too stiff). I’ve never been able to beat egg whites to stiffness anyway, so this wasn’t a problem.
  5. Fold beaten egg whites into coconut mixture.
  6. Pour into pie shell.
  7. Bake at 450° for 30 to 40 minutes, or until filling is firm in the center.
  8. Cool and let it set.
  9. Put pie in refrigerator overnight and serve cold.

No pictures of my finished work this time.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Pastitsio

May. 11th, 2009 11:51 pm
kingrat: (Default)

A couple of months ago, I tried out a pastitsio recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles. Looking at the index, I realized the cookbook had a different recipe for pastitsio 60 pages earlier. That’s my one gripe about the cookbook; it doesn’t group similar recipes very well. There’s five or six mac and cheese recipes scattered throughout. Why not put them all together? Anyhow, the other pastitsio recipe had fewer pre-made ingredients, so I decided I would try it. It’s better.

The following is my attempt.

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 large onion
  • 8 ounce can tomato sauce
  • ¼ cup sherry
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 8 ounces uncooked penne pasta
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 1 cup shredded Romano cheese
  1. Chop onion
  2. Cook beef and onion until meat is browned and onion is tender
  3. Drain
  4. Add tomato sauce, sherry, and cinnamon to meat and onions
  5. Heat until bubbling
  6. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes
  7. Cook penne pasta according to directions
  8. Lightly beat 2 eggs
  9. Toss cooked pasta with eggs and 2 tablespoons of butter
  10. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat
  11. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth
  12. Add milk (slowly)
  13. Cook until mixture is thick
  14. Lightly beat 2 eggs
  15. Stir mixture into the eggs
  16. (make sure meat, pasta, and sauce are all finished)
  17. Preheat oven to 350°
  18. Grease a 3 quart casserole dish
  19. Spread half the pasta in dish
  20. Spread half the meat sauce over the pasta
  21. Spread 1/3 of the cheese over the pasta
  22. Spread remaining pasta on top of cheese
  23. Spread remaining meat sauce over the pasta
  24. Spread 1/3 of the cheese over the pasta
  25. Pour white sauce evenly over cheese
  26. Spread remaining cheese on top
  27. Cover and bake for 20 minutes
  28. Remove cover and bake for additional 15 minutes
  29. Let stand for 15 minutes to cool and set
pastitsio

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

kingrat: (Cooking)
Recipe comes from Cooking Light Slow Cooker. It was pretty tasty and very easy.

1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 10 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles. I used a 15 ounce can.
1 cup uncooked pearl barley
2 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cup whole kernel corn. i used sweet corn.
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice. i used bottled and 2 tablespoons.
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 minced garlic clove. i used 2. cause garlic is good.
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
flour tortillas
shredded cheddar cheese
salsa
sour cream

put beans through garlic in a crock pot. stir. recipe calls for cooking on low for 4 to 5 hours. was done in 3 for me. almost overdone. mix in cilantro. spoon mixture into warmed tortillas. add cheese, salsa, and sour cream to your preference.

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