Soooo easy. And soooo good.
What you'll need:
2 (3 oz. ea.) pkgs cream cheese, softened
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 can refrigerated Orange rolls (house brand or Pillsbury)
reserved icing from rolls
2 to 4 Tablespoons sliced or slivered almonds (optional)
What you'll do:
Mix the softened cream cheese, sugar, milk, and almond extract in a smallish bowl. Separate the dough into strips and place on a lightly greased or sprayed cookie sheet. Put the strips side-by-side, with the cinnamon mostly facing up. Spread the cream cheese mixture across the center of the dough strips, leaving a few inches on each side bare. Now, bring the ends of the dough strips to almost meet each other over the cream cheese. Just fold them over gently. Don't press down. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Allow the dough to cool for 5 or 6 minutes, then drizzle with the orange frosting. Sprinkle with almonds, if desired. Serve warm.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
"Mexican Chocolate" Pudding
One night, I wanted to make Pudding for One, but had no chocolate chips. I whipped up this cinnamon-y pudding that's become a staple in our house.
1/4 C cocoa powder
4 T flour
1 1/2 C milk
1/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 t cinnamon
Combine the cocoa powder and the flour. Gradually whisk in the milk.
Microwave on high for 2 minutes and stir.
Now lower the microwave to medium, and microwave for 90 seconds, then stir. Do this twice more, or until it's thickened.
Add your sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Spoon into individual cups and refrigerate, or eat right out of the bowl while it's still hot.
1/4 C cocoa powder
4 T flour
1 1/2 C milk
1/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 t cinnamon
Combine the cocoa powder and the flour. Gradually whisk in the milk.
Microwave on high for 2 minutes and stir.
Now lower the microwave to medium, and microwave for 90 seconds, then stir. Do this twice more, or until it's thickened.
Add your sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Spoon into individual cups and refrigerate, or eat right out of the bowl while it's still hot.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sweet Spiced Pork Roast
The other day we bought a pork roast for dinner and didn't know what to do with it, so we threw it in the crock pot with two ingredients, cooked it for about five hours, and were rather surprised when it was amazingly delicious. It's no Slow Cooked, Seasoned Pulled Pork, but it involves some similar flavors and takes five hours instead of two days.
All I did was pat some Crash Hot Sweet Potato Spice over the roast, brown in it a skillet, drop it in the crock pot, and pour over a can of Coke. (If you don't feel like clicking through to the recipe: combine brown sugar with cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and every kind of chili powder you have in the house, plus a bit of salt and pepper, in whatever proportions seem appropriate).
That's it! It turned out tender and flavorful. We used a $6 pork roast and a generic soda and fed six people off of it, so it works well on your shoestring budget meals.
All I did was pat some Crash Hot Sweet Potato Spice over the roast, brown in it a skillet, drop it in the crock pot, and pour over a can of Coke. (If you don't feel like clicking through to the recipe: combine brown sugar with cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and every kind of chili powder you have in the house, plus a bit of salt and pepper, in whatever proportions seem appropriate).
That's it! It turned out tender and flavorful. We used a $6 pork roast and a generic soda and fed six people off of it, so it works well on your shoestring budget meals.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Simple Tomato Sauce
This, for me, is The Sauce. It's surprisingly cheap. It's elegantly simple. It's incredibly tasty. It requires only slightly more effort than opening a jar. You'll never want to pour Ragu on your spaghetti again.
This is a recipe which has made its rounds on cooking blogs. I first saw it on Smitten Kitchen. It apparently originates here, in a book which is near the top of my wish list.
Anyway, the sauce. The Sauce. There are three ingredients in the original recipe: tomatoes, onion and butter. Yes, that's it. No pinch of sugar or cinnamon, no dribble of red wine, none of that. If you're me, and you're bad, you assault The Sauce with a couple cloves of garlic. This here is the way I make it (garlic; doubled; with residual onion bits) - that Smitten Kitchen post has the original, unadulterated recipe.
You need:
2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes (Any brand will work, but San Marzano are especially good. You do have to search a bit for them.)
10 T butter (I usually have salted on hand, so that's what I use. If you use unsalted, you'll probably want to have some salt nearby.)
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and halved
3 cloves garlic, minced
Put everything in your biggest saucepan. Bring it to a simmer, then drop the heat, keeping it at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir it every now and then, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot. The original recipe tells you to remove and discard the onion - me, I like the onion, and it's usually started to disintegrate by that point anyway, so I remove only the biggest, most solid chunks - and then I crush some of those up with a fork and put them back in.
That's it. For me, this makes enough sauce for a pound of noodles, and I always make that much because the leftovers are fantastic.
This is a recipe which has made its rounds on cooking blogs. I first saw it on Smitten Kitchen. It apparently originates here, in a book which is near the top of my wish list.
Anyway, the sauce. The Sauce. There are three ingredients in the original recipe: tomatoes, onion and butter. Yes, that's it. No pinch of sugar or cinnamon, no dribble of red wine, none of that. If you're me, and you're bad, you assault The Sauce with a couple cloves of garlic. This here is the way I make it (garlic; doubled; with residual onion bits) - that Smitten Kitchen post has the original, unadulterated recipe.
You need:
2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes (Any brand will work, but San Marzano are especially good. You do have to search a bit for them.)
10 T butter (I usually have salted on hand, so that's what I use. If you use unsalted, you'll probably want to have some salt nearby.)
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and halved
3 cloves garlic, minced
Put everything in your biggest saucepan. Bring it to a simmer, then drop the heat, keeping it at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir it every now and then, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot. The original recipe tells you to remove and discard the onion - me, I like the onion, and it's usually started to disintegrate by that point anyway, so I remove only the biggest, most solid chunks - and then I crush some of those up with a fork and put them back in.
That's it. For me, this makes enough sauce for a pound of noodles, and I always make that much because the leftovers are fantastic.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Grandma's Old-fashioned Oatmeal Cookies
This is the best oatmeal cookie recipe ever! It's a very old recipe, though to look at the list of ingredients it seems like just about any other oatmeal cookie recipe. The secret to their special deliciousness is the trick of soaking the raisins in the egg and vanilla for an hour. One day when I was in a hurry, I omitted that step and the end result was not as good. So, trust me on this one.
1 cup raisins
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup shortening
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Beat the 3 eggs in a smallish bowl with the vanilla; add raisins. Let this set for one hour. (you don't need to refrigerate it.) Next, cream the shortening and the two sugars together, add to egg mixture. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in oatmeal and nuts. Now, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop up dough by heaping teaspoons and form into balls. Roll in additional white sugar. Place on cookie sheet. Dip the bottom of a small glass in sugar and flatten each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Don't overbake! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Great warm or cold.
1 cup raisins
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup shortening
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Beat the 3 eggs in a smallish bowl with the vanilla; add raisins. Let this set for one hour. (you don't need to refrigerate it.) Next, cream the shortening and the two sugars together, add to egg mixture. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in oatmeal and nuts. Now, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop up dough by heaping teaspoons and form into balls. Roll in additional white sugar. Place on cookie sheet. Dip the bottom of a small glass in sugar and flatten each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Don't overbake! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Great warm or cold.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Puppy Chow
Puppy chow! Was not already on the blog! How weird is that? Really weird. This is a holiday staple, you guys. We cannot have Christmas without puppy chow. And that's the only time we ever make it , which is also really weird. Puppy chow is an all-occasion wonder snack.
Ingredients:
Now you should try to let it cool before eating. This is the other hard part. Then you should eat it.
This is the other totally fun part.
Makes enough for one or two really big Christmas parties.
Ingredients:
- 6 oz (and by six I mean seven or eight) milk chocolate chips
- 6 oz (ditto) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 box Crispix cereal
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Now you should try to let it cool before eating. This is the other hard part. Then you should eat it.
This is the other totally fun part.
Makes enough for one or two really big Christmas parties.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
"Southwestern" Hash
This really shouldn't be called a recipe, but I make it (or some variant of it) often enough it's worth mentioning.
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
1/4 medium onion, sliced
1 bag of Simply Potatoes "Southwestern" hash browns (You could certainly improvise another shredded potato product. I've never used frozen potatoes, but you could probably make it work. You could also, if you're that sort of person, shred your own potatoes, in which case you'd need 4.5 C, plus some chopped peppers.)
about 4 oz cheese (I like swiss), shredded
5-6 slices soy bacon, cooked and crumbled (Or real bacon, if you prefer pork products.)
4 eggs
2 T spicy brown mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter and olive oil for cooking
Heat about 1 T of butter and 1 T of olive oil in a big skillet. Add the sliced mushrooms and onions, and cook until the mushrooms start to brown. Then, add a bit more oil and dump in the potatoes. Stir it all together, then let it rest a minute or so before stirring again. (Do this repeatedly - you don't want actual hashbrowns, so you want to stir, but you don't want to stir too often or things don't brown well.)
While the potatoes cook, combine the eggs, mustard, shredded cheese and bacon in a bowl. Whisk everything together until well combined and slightly foamy (like you're making an omelete).
When the potato shreds are done (meaning they no longer have the taste/texture of raw potato), pour the egg mixture into the skillet and stir, stir, stir! The egg and melted cheese binds everything together. It's ready when you no longer see raw egg. Serve as you see fit - sour cream, salsa, extra cheese, etc.
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
1/4 medium onion, sliced
1 bag of Simply Potatoes "Southwestern" hash browns (You could certainly improvise another shredded potato product. I've never used frozen potatoes, but you could probably make it work. You could also, if you're that sort of person, shred your own potatoes, in which case you'd need 4.5 C, plus some chopped peppers.)
about 4 oz cheese (I like swiss), shredded
5-6 slices soy bacon, cooked and crumbled (Or real bacon, if you prefer pork products.)
4 eggs
2 T spicy brown mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter and olive oil for cooking
Heat about 1 T of butter and 1 T of olive oil in a big skillet. Add the sliced mushrooms and onions, and cook until the mushrooms start to brown. Then, add a bit more oil and dump in the potatoes. Stir it all together, then let it rest a minute or so before stirring again. (Do this repeatedly - you don't want actual hashbrowns, so you want to stir, but you don't want to stir too often or things don't brown well.)
While the potatoes cook, combine the eggs, mustard, shredded cheese and bacon in a bowl. Whisk everything together until well combined and slightly foamy (like you're making an omelete).
When the potato shreds are done (meaning they no longer have the taste/texture of raw potato), pour the egg mixture into the skillet and stir, stir, stir! The egg and melted cheese binds everything together. It's ready when you no longer see raw egg. Serve as you see fit - sour cream, salsa, extra cheese, etc.
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