I started out by looking at the cooking blogs for smething different and I saw these. I have changed some of the ingredients. I think they are rich and really delicious.
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1teas. vanilla
1/2 teas mollases
1 teas baking powder
3/4 cup butter
add all the wet ingredients and mix them up in a mixer then add all the dry ingredients make into a ball and refrigerator for an hour. Make into small balls and use a fork and mash them down like peanut butter cookies
Bake for 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
Filling
box of confectionary sugar
4 oz. of cream cheese
small container of greek yogart( about 2 tablespoons)
beat these up and use as a filling for the cookies Yum
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Fresh Red Pepper Relish
We went to Doogies's Hot Dag place today. Had their wonderful 16" hot dog and I tried their hot pepper relish. This was great stuff but much to hot for Heidi. When we got home I tried my hand at making a Pepper Relish that had a little heat, a little sweet and lots of peppers. Heidi is having it right now slathered on top of some chicken she did last night. Here is the recipe:
2 Red peppers
1 large green Pepper
1/2 Onion
1 large clove of Garlic, slivered
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1-1/2 tablespoons dried basil
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup salad oil, Olive oil is best but regular vegetable oil is good too.
1/4 cup or a little less sugar. You need to do it to taste
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
The way you prepare the peppers is important. I cut them into 1 inch pieces and put them in a small food processor. I pulsed it until the peppers was chopped quite fine but their was a lot of the juice from the peppers. I think this was very important to the flavor and texture of the relish. I diced the onion fine. This I put into a large stainless steel bowl. I added the slivered garlic, salt and pepper. Stirred it all together until mixed very well. Add the vinegar and oil and mix again. Add about half the sugar, mix and taste. Add more sugar to your taste. Add the cayenne pepper the same way. Half at first, mix and taste and keep adding until you reach the flavor and heat you desire. Add the basil and mix well. This makes about 1-1/2 pints. Put in 1 pint mason jars and store in the fridge. I don't know how long it will last but the vinegar should help and I would think a week would be OK. It will get better after a day or so once the garlic and fennel flavors soak in.
Heidi is raving about it so it must be OK. Of course our daughter Beth will try this, change it a little here and there and it will then come out wonderful and world class. She gets her talent from Mom and Dad but has a lot more of it than we do!!
ENJOY
Jon & Heidi
2 Red peppers
1 large green Pepper
1/2 Onion
1 large clove of Garlic, slivered
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1-1/2 tablespoons dried basil
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup salad oil, Olive oil is best but regular vegetable oil is good too.
1/4 cup or a little less sugar. You need to do it to taste
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
The way you prepare the peppers is important. I cut them into 1 inch pieces and put them in a small food processor. I pulsed it until the peppers was chopped quite fine but their was a lot of the juice from the peppers. I think this was very important to the flavor and texture of the relish. I diced the onion fine. This I put into a large stainless steel bowl. I added the slivered garlic, salt and pepper. Stirred it all together until mixed very well. Add the vinegar and oil and mix again. Add about half the sugar, mix and taste. Add more sugar to your taste. Add the cayenne pepper the same way. Half at first, mix and taste and keep adding until you reach the flavor and heat you desire. Add the basil and mix well. This makes about 1-1/2 pints. Put in 1 pint mason jars and store in the fridge. I don't know how long it will last but the vinegar should help and I would think a week would be OK. It will get better after a day or so once the garlic and fennel flavors soak in.
Heidi is raving about it so it must be OK. Of course our daughter Beth will try this, change it a little here and there and it will then come out wonderful and world class. She gets her talent from Mom and Dad but has a lot more of it than we do!!
ENJOY
Jon & Heidi
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Christmas Cooking
This is a crazy time for our little kitchen. This year I, Jon, have done the vast majority of the Christmas cooking. The 3 things that I made A LOT of was Shortbread, Caramels and Peanut Butter Fudge. We had a very hard time finding the right packaging for our treats but we found a wonderful place online that had everything we needed at a very reasonable price. The is the Layer Cake Shop and you can find it here:
The Layer Cake Shop
Here we found the little wrappers of foil with tissue that are 4" square and just perfect for wrapping the fudge. The other item we needed to find was little candy cups, you know the kind that look like miniature cupcake papers? Only they are just less than an inch round so they were perfect for the caramels. My daughter Beth gave us the recipe for the caramels and it is so easy and delicious it is surprising that we don't do this more often. I also added a few twists to her recipe that came out very well.
The Shortbread recipe we found on the Food Network and you can find it at: The Food Network and do a search for Shortbread Hearts. These are wonderful and I received rave reviews form everyone I gave them to. Here are the recipes:
Shortbread
Ingredients:
3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
3-1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Preheating for this is important
In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, using the paddle attachment, until the are just combined well.
Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl sift together the flour and salt; then add them to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix on low until speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a surface dusted with flour and roll into a round disc. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
The original recipe says to roll out to 1/2" thick but I did it to about 3/8" instead. Use a cookie cutter to cut pieces. I used a cookie stamp on the rolled dough and then cut with a knife so that the shape looked like the stamp impression was framed. This was about 3" square. Poke some holes with a fork and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes, Until the edges begin to brown and the bottoms look done. I found that I needed to turn the baking pan around half way through the baking so that they cooked evenly.
Cool on a rack. Make a cup of coffee when they are cool and try one. You probably will not want to give any away unless you like the comments you will get. GOOD LUCK and Merry Christmas.
Delicious Caramels:
Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla(added at the very end)
Directions:
The timing in the microwave is VERY important and you may have to test a little bit with your microwave as units do vary.
Add the butter, sugars and corn syrup in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes 30 seconds. Remove and stir the ingredients until smooth. Put back in the microwave for 2 minutes 20 seconds. Remove and add the vanilla. Using a whisk mix until very smooth. Pour into an 8 X 8 glass baking dish that has been well buttered or sprayed with PAM(or generic). I used the small candy cups and poured directly into them. You have to work quickly as it will start to harden and not pour by the time you reach the end. Fill the cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Cool for a couple hours. This should give you a caramel that is very firm at room temperature.
For a caramel that is the same consistancy as an old time Sugar Daddy bar increase the second cooking time to 3 minutes. For caramel that is hard and crunchy like toffee is increas the second cooking time to 3 minutes 30 seconds.
I melted some white chocolate chips and poured onto the caramels to the top of the candy cups. This is a nice switch so do them half plain and half with chocolate.
Peanut Butter Fudge:
1 cup creamey peanut butter
2 sticks butter (must be butter)
2 teasp. vanilla
1 1lb. confectionary sugar ( I like Domino sugar as it is less lumpy and worth the extra because of that)
mix the butter and peanut butter together and microwave for 2 minutes
stir and then microwave for 2 more minutes use a good sized microwave bowl for this
then add the vanilla and stir in the confectionary sugar
place in an 8x8 pan that is lined with wax paper or plastic wrap that you sprayed with pam
refrigerate for a couple hours
Now hand out as presents and reap the appreciation! Merry Christmas and good eating!!
Jon and Heidi
The Layer Cake Shop
Here we found the little wrappers of foil with tissue that are 4" square and just perfect for wrapping the fudge. The other item we needed to find was little candy cups, you know the kind that look like miniature cupcake papers? Only they are just less than an inch round so they were perfect for the caramels. My daughter Beth gave us the recipe for the caramels and it is so easy and delicious it is surprising that we don't do this more often. I also added a few twists to her recipe that came out very well.
The Shortbread recipe we found on the Food Network and you can find it at: The Food Network and do a search for Shortbread Hearts. These are wonderful and I received rave reviews form everyone I gave them to. Here are the recipes:
Shortbread
Ingredients:
3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
3-1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Preheating for this is important
In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, using the paddle attachment, until the are just combined well.
Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl sift together the flour and salt; then add them to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix on low until speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a surface dusted with flour and roll into a round disc. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
The original recipe says to roll out to 1/2" thick but I did it to about 3/8" instead. Use a cookie cutter to cut pieces. I used a cookie stamp on the rolled dough and then cut with a knife so that the shape looked like the stamp impression was framed. This was about 3" square. Poke some holes with a fork and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes, Until the edges begin to brown and the bottoms look done. I found that I needed to turn the baking pan around half way through the baking so that they cooked evenly.
Cool on a rack. Make a cup of coffee when they are cool and try one. You probably will not want to give any away unless you like the comments you will get. GOOD LUCK and Merry Christmas.
Delicious Caramels:
Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla(added at the very end)
Directions:
The timing in the microwave is VERY important and you may have to test a little bit with your microwave as units do vary.
Add the butter, sugars and corn syrup in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes 30 seconds. Remove and stir the ingredients until smooth. Put back in the microwave for 2 minutes 20 seconds. Remove and add the vanilla. Using a whisk mix until very smooth. Pour into an 8 X 8 glass baking dish that has been well buttered or sprayed with PAM(or generic). I used the small candy cups and poured directly into them. You have to work quickly as it will start to harden and not pour by the time you reach the end. Fill the cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Cool for a couple hours. This should give you a caramel that is very firm at room temperature.
For a caramel that is the same consistancy as an old time Sugar Daddy bar increase the second cooking time to 3 minutes. For caramel that is hard and crunchy like toffee is increas the second cooking time to 3 minutes 30 seconds.
I melted some white chocolate chips and poured onto the caramels to the top of the candy cups. This is a nice switch so do them half plain and half with chocolate.
Peanut Butter Fudge:
1 cup creamey peanut butter
2 sticks butter (must be butter)
2 teasp. vanilla
1 1lb. confectionary sugar ( I like Domino sugar as it is less lumpy and worth the extra because of that)
mix the butter and peanut butter together and microwave for 2 minutes
stir and then microwave for 2 more minutes use a good sized microwave bowl for this
then add the vanilla and stir in the confectionary sugar
place in an 8x8 pan that is lined with wax paper or plastic wrap that you sprayed with pam
refrigerate for a couple hours
Now hand out as presents and reap the appreciation! Merry Christmas and good eating!!
Jon and Heidi
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Best Ever Sugar Cookies
These are almond flavored sugar cookies. Heidi claims they are the best she has ever done. You judge and let us know.
1 cup softened butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teas vanilla
1 teas almond
3 cups flour
2 teas baking powder
1 teas baking soda
1/2 teas salt
Mix all together
Roll into 1" balls
Frosting
1 - 8oz cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 teas vanilla
salt
3 - 4 cups flour
2-3 tablespoons milk
350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until they crack
1 cup softened butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teas vanilla
1 teas almond
3 cups flour
2 teas baking powder
1 teas baking soda
1/2 teas salt
Mix all together
Roll into 1" balls
Frosting
1 - 8oz cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 teas vanilla
salt
3 - 4 cups flour
2-3 tablespoons milk
350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until they crack
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Homecoming Hermits
Heidi and I did not know that her Hermit cookies were some of Beth's(our daughter) favorites but when she was talking to her today about her trip home this weekend, Heidi mentioned the hermits and she got all excited so I guess we know now that they are some of her favorites. She flies in tomorrow so Heidi is out in the kitchen right now making the hermits. The recipe actually comes from her Aunt Alice. She is another story all together that you will have to hear sometime. Just know that Beth says that she can take a rock, water, salt and a potato and make a soup so delicious you would eat it for a week!
Heidi and Aunt Al's Hermits
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
2-1/2 cups floor
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoons cloves
raisins
Mix this all together.
Pour into a greased or sprayed pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 - 40 minutes, we think, but I will edit this post later with the exact time. ------- The time is right - about 40 minutes but you need to have them in a pan so that they are about an inch thick. Heidi changed it a little this time, she did not use water but put coffee in instead -- Good choice, great taste!!
This is going to be a GREAT weekend with our daughter home for the first time in almost a year!
Jon & Heidi
Heidi and Aunt Al's Hermits
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
2-1/2 cups floor
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoons cloves
raisins
Mix this all together.
Pour into a greased or sprayed pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 - 40 minutes, we think, but I will edit this post later with the exact time. ------- The time is right - about 40 minutes but you need to have them in a pan so that they are about an inch thick. Heidi changed it a little this time, she did not use water but put coffee in instead -- Good choice, great taste!!
This is going to be a GREAT weekend with our daughter home for the first time in almost a year!
Jon & Heidi
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Jon's Spagetti Sauce
This is a sauce that I have made in the past from directions and ideas from many people. Everyone seems to like it a lot and the comment I get most is that is is great but not sour. I have many times had spagetti sauce, pizza sauce, salad dressing and he flavor is very good but there always seems to be too much vinegar in the dressings or the sauces are too sour or acidy.
This recipe takes some time to make but the majority of time is just sitting on the stove simmering. The prep and making of the sauce is not too bad time wise. The only time I use brand name ingredients is if they are on sale very cheap. As you know I am a big Aldis fan because of their quality, taste and price. Here is the recipe and you can decide on the brand of ingredients and how much you want to spend.
1 pkg sausage - 8 to 12 links - I like pork but have used turkey, chicken, beef and combinations of all so this is a matter of what you want to use.
1/2 - 1 lb ground beef(80/20 mix is best)
2 small onions or 1 large onion
Mushrooms(optional)
6 or 8 large cloves of garlic(or to your taste)
2 or 3 small cans tomato paste
1 large can(28oz) of diced tomatos
2 large cans tomato puree
1 large can stewed tomatos(I like the italian style)
2 - 4 small cans tomato sauce
1 or 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
1 good palm full of oregano(4 or 5 tablespoons)
1/2 palm full of basil(2 or 3 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon of kosher salt(if you use regular table salt use less. table salt weighs 2 times kosher salt)
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup sugar(maybe a little more - taste it first)
In a large pot put in the ground beef, sausage, garlic onions. On medium- medium high heat brown the beef and sausage. Near the end of the browning add the mushrooms.
Now add all of the other ingredients with the spices added last. Stir until it is well mixed and turn the heat to low and let it simmer for about 1-1/2 hours. After is starts to get nice and thick taste so that you can adjust the oregano, basil, salt and pepper. If you want more garlic add some minced garlic to taste. Pay attention to the acidity and/or sweetness and add sugar as you taste, a small amount at a time, about 1 teaspoon. Depending on the acidity of the tomatos you may have to add as much as 3 or 4 more teaspoons of sugar but be careful that it does not get sweet. It will cut the acidity and then very quickly start to get sweet. I like to add about a cup of water at this time and stir a lot to make sure everything is combined well. Simmer uncovered for 2 to 4 hours more or until it reaches the consistancy you like. I like my sauce very thick and would like you to try it that way at least once.
If you are using this on pasta, make sure you cook the pasta just until it is not quite done. Turn off and let it set until you are ready with the sauce and table settings. Drain the pasta but DO NOT rinse. The starch on the pasta helps the sauce to stay on the pasta.
Any that is left over, usually at least 2 quarts, put into plastic containers while hot or very warm. Fill to the top if possible. Seal the containers and put them into the freezer. This goes against what most people say but the quick cooling will seal the containers better and it will last longer with getting freezer burned.
This recipe takes some time to make but the majority of time is just sitting on the stove simmering. The prep and making of the sauce is not too bad time wise. The only time I use brand name ingredients is if they are on sale very cheap. As you know I am a big Aldis fan because of their quality, taste and price. Here is the recipe and you can decide on the brand of ingredients and how much you want to spend.
1 pkg sausage - 8 to 12 links - I like pork but have used turkey, chicken, beef and combinations of all so this is a matter of what you want to use.
1/2 - 1 lb ground beef(80/20 mix is best)
2 small onions or 1 large onion
Mushrooms(optional)
6 or 8 large cloves of garlic(or to your taste)
2 or 3 small cans tomato paste
1 large can(28oz) of diced tomatos
2 large cans tomato puree
1 large can stewed tomatos(I like the italian style)
2 - 4 small cans tomato sauce
1 or 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
1 good palm full of oregano(4 or 5 tablespoons)
1/2 palm full of basil(2 or 3 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon of kosher salt(if you use regular table salt use less. table salt weighs 2 times kosher salt)
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup sugar(maybe a little more - taste it first)
In a large pot put in the ground beef, sausage, garlic onions. On medium- medium high heat brown the beef and sausage. Near the end of the browning add the mushrooms.
Now add all of the other ingredients with the spices added last. Stir until it is well mixed and turn the heat to low and let it simmer for about 1-1/2 hours. After is starts to get nice and thick taste so that you can adjust the oregano, basil, salt and pepper. If you want more garlic add some minced garlic to taste. Pay attention to the acidity and/or sweetness and add sugar as you taste, a small amount at a time, about 1 teaspoon. Depending on the acidity of the tomatos you may have to add as much as 3 or 4 more teaspoons of sugar but be careful that it does not get sweet. It will cut the acidity and then very quickly start to get sweet. I like to add about a cup of water at this time and stir a lot to make sure everything is combined well. Simmer uncovered for 2 to 4 hours more or until it reaches the consistancy you like. I like my sauce very thick and would like you to try it that way at least once.
If you are using this on pasta, make sure you cook the pasta just until it is not quite done. Turn off and let it set until you are ready with the sauce and table settings. Drain the pasta but DO NOT rinse. The starch on the pasta helps the sauce to stay on the pasta.
Any that is left over, usually at least 2 quarts, put into plastic containers while hot or very warm. Fill to the top if possible. Seal the containers and put them into the freezer. This goes against what most people say but the quick cooling will seal the containers better and it will last longer with getting freezer burned.
Now go ENJOY!!!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Beef Barley Soup Crockpot style
Here is a recipe from allrecipes.com
CrockPot Beef Barley Soup
This is new to us and Heidi says she wants to modify it before we post it. Well she can do that later when she decides to update this blog but for now let's try it this way.
Besides it's time we start to share other sites recipes.
Enjoy!!
This version is not in a crockpot
Now after you have taken a look at the first recipe here is Heidi's version. I like this one as it is a little more for things you will have around the the house more commonly. It is also geared for economy as we know many who can't just go out and buy stuff for a special recipe but have to make do with what you have. Here it is:
1/2 to 1-1/2 pounds lean beef cubed or hamburger - which ever you have on hand
3 tablespoons veg. oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 beef bouillon cubes
4 - 5 cups water
2 stalks of celery chopped
1 - 2 carrots chopped
1 Onion chopped
1 cup barley
1 teaspoon dried thyme if desired
In a skillet over medium heat, saute the beef in the oil for about 5 minutes or until browned on all sides. Stir in the salt and pepper and garlic powder and place the seasoned meat in a pot. Add a little water to the skilet and stir to get all of the bits for the soup and pour into the pot.Add to the pot water, celery, carrots, onions and barley. Cover and cook on low until the veggies are tender. If you want the thyme you can add it just before serving.
ENJOY
CrockPot Beef Barley Soup
This is new to us and Heidi says she wants to modify it before we post it. Well she can do that later when she decides to update this blog but for now let's try it this way.
Besides it's time we start to share other sites recipes.
Enjoy!!
This version is not in a crockpot
Now after you have taken a look at the first recipe here is Heidi's version. I like this one as it is a little more for things you will have around the the house more commonly. It is also geared for economy as we know many who can't just go out and buy stuff for a special recipe but have to make do with what you have. Here it is:
1/2 to 1-1/2 pounds lean beef cubed or hamburger - which ever you have on hand
3 tablespoons veg. oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 beef bouillon cubes
4 - 5 cups water
2 stalks of celery chopped
1 - 2 carrots chopped
1 Onion chopped
1 cup barley
1 teaspoon dried thyme if desired
In a skillet over medium heat, saute the beef in the oil for about 5 minutes or until browned on all sides. Stir in the salt and pepper and garlic powder and place the seasoned meat in a pot. Add a little water to the skilet and stir to get all of the bits for the soup and pour into the pot.Add to the pot water, celery, carrots, onions and barley. Cover and cook on low until the veggies are tender. If you want the thyme you can add it just before serving.
ENJOY
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