I’m BREAKING the 2 diaries per day rule. Uh oh. But, I think it’s worth BREAKING to get some really good dessert and jam/jelly recipes. Tomorrow is the first day of summer, so let’s have at it.
Oh – don’t forget your fav BBQ and salad recipes too!
And, for Buddha’s sake: don’t recommend this diary! 🙂
Small pics, people. Small pics!
Chamonix made me post this diary – I swear he did! He’s holding a spatula to my head as we speak and mumbling something like “mmmmmm…foooooood”. Help!
I made this one for Xmas last year. Mmmm..tasty!
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 (15.25 ounce) cans fruit cocktail, drained and chopped fine
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3/4 cup chopped almonds
In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese, fruit cocktail, and instant pudding mix. Add 1/4 cup almonds, if desired. Shape mixture into a ball, and then roll in the remaining almonds.
(It didn’t exactly roll into a ball, so I put it in a bowl as dip for crackers. Yum. Have I mentioned it was good?)
Sometimes, I like to wear my breakfast instead of eating it:
(No – that really isn’t me!)
I’ve been making these since I was a kid. Note the kid-friendly instructions.
Butter Balls
2/3 c. soft butter 3/4 c. white sugar
3 Tbsp. cocoa 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp water 2 c. quick cooking rolled oats
1/4 c. icing sugar 1/2 tsp salt
Cream butter, add white sugar, cream again. Add cocoa, vanilla, water, mix. Add rolled oats, Use a large piece of waxpaper and put the icing sugar onto the paper. Rest. Make round balls with the dough, roll into the icing sugar. Chill for 2 hours. Rest. Then eat.
(Don’t forget to rest!! Oh…and don’t forget to eat them!)
Lucky for you yanks, this isn’t in metric. 😛
All alone…I’m so all alone…
two similar very simple fruit things my mom used to make (she was a good cook and I’m not):
#1 thingy
Freeze a can of pineapple (any kind or size)
Put it in a blender and blend until it’s sherbet consistency
serve in bowls or eat it from blender (unplug it first)
#2 thingy
Freeze berries or use frozen berries.
Put them in a blender with a small amount of milk or soy milk and sweetener to taste.
Blend until mixture is the consistency of sherbet.
With that nickname, you should have some great recipes! 🙂
We just had it tonight. I do most of the “cooking” since I work in the house; Mrs. Gooesrock does the washing up.
Now remember–we’re from Ohio, so any recipe that lacks the verb “boil” == gourmet to us. This is from a closeout book we bought at an Albertson’s in Puget Sound. It’s easy, doubtless full of shortcuts but it’s yummy every time.
From Pacific Northwest Salmon Cookbook Curt & Margie Smitch, Ron & Ellie Wagner
Saute onion and green pepper in butter/oil till tender. Blend in flour. Stir in half & half, then everything else but salmon. Cook till thickened. Add salmon and cook over low heat abouta 10 minutes.
Serve over white rice with your favorite condiments.
Most any protein source goes well with this. We often use leftover chicken, lamb, turkey, monkfish, cod or other types of fish, often any number of these in combination. Salami–not so much.
I don’t have a photo of this dish, but here’s a Sunday breakfast–grilled wild salmon and stir-fried veggies:
Yum. I’d probably really like that if I liked salmon. 🙂
And a handy pic too! Wow.
Nice variation, subbing the yogurt for half and half! I’ve never met a cookbook that I haven’t liked, simply because every recipe starts of as a home base for endless adaptations. Our cookbooks are marked up with all sorts of additions (and subtractions) to the recipes. Really makes cooking fun!
White Trash
Two 11 ounce bags of white chocolate chips
3.5 Cups Cheerios
3 Cups Rice Chex (small box)
3 Cups Corn Chex (ditto)
1 Pound plain M&Ms
2.5 Cups mixed nuts (salted, no peanuts)
2 Cups small pretzels (Eagle Snacks work well)
Get a really big metal bowl and place it over a large sauce pan/pot containing about an inch of water. Put this over medium heat.
Dump in the chips in the bowl and stir with a rubber spatula (every now and then) until they’ve melted smooth. You can walk away from time to time but be careful not to let the water get to hot or the cocoa butter will bog.
Dump everything else in the bowl and fold over and over until the hunks and chunks are well coated.
Spread the mess out on parchment paper or freezer paper and set in a cool place until it sets solid, then break it into pieces and seal in tins.
Dole this stuff out carefully. It is highly habit forming.
And I see it’s an anti-Bush recipe since it contains pretzels! mwahahahaha…
I’m no good for recipies, but I like to cook and try new things. I made some strawberry shortcake last season that was pretty darn good. Instead of shortcake, make a phyllo shell for the strawberrys and cream. Stack phyllo sheets with butter and cut to 3 or 4 inch squares. Bake and use in place of other shells.
I know, that is vague. Sorry. Use your imagination. :>)
No. I’m drooling!
Throw some mesquite briquets in the old grill and fire it up.
Marinade (for 1 lb. of shrimp (shelled and de-veined, natch)):
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
A few dashes of hot sauce
Mix and marinate shrimp in fridge for 15 minutes or longer.
Grill about 2 minutes aside (with grill cover on for mesquite-ey goodness- make sure grill is around 3 inches from the briquets.
Goes well with a nice wheat beer.
Nothing goes with grilled bratwurst like a good potato salad. I’ve made this several times, and it’s always been a hit. I adapted the recipe from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (Ninth printing-1990), which Dad bought for me for for $0.50 at a farm sale. The recipe is delicious, but far from light! The amounts are for a large party (probably 12-15 servings).
5 lbs potatoes (I usually use red potatoes)
1/2 lb bacon
2 medium onions, chopped
3 T all-purpose flour
3 T sugar
3 t salt
1 t celery seed
1 t pepper
1 1/2 c water
3/4 c lemon vinegar (If lemon vinegar isn’t available, use white vinegar and substitute 1/3 of the water with lemon juice.)
[You may need more sugar…probably will…to take a bit of “bite” out of the vinegar/lemon. Also, I’ve been experimenting with adding mustard, but no measurements have been added to the recipe yet.]
Cut potatoes in half and place in a large pot. Cover with cold water. Bring water to boil. cover pot, reduce to simmer, and cook until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes.
Cook bacon until crispy in a large skillet. Remove bacon to paper towel-lined plate.
Cook and stir onions in bacon fat ubtil tender. Stir in flour, sugar, salt, celery seed and pepper. Cook over low heat , stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in water and vinegar (and lemon juice, if used). Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute; remove from heat. Crumble bacon into hot mixture, then slice in warm potatoes. Cook, stirring gently to coat potatoes, until hot and bubbly. Serve warm.
As I said above, this is not a light salad. But, hey, we all need to splurge every so often. I once tried to lighten it with turkey bacon, but that was a complete failure–there wasn’t enough grease to work with.
You can do authentic pulled pork, it’s easy. Slow and low is the secret.
Get your bbq out, it’s o.k. if it’s a gas grill it works just as well. Get the fire rolling and get the temperature to an even 300 degrees inside the pit.
Put the pork with rub on it in an aluminum throw away pan.
Put the pan w/pork on the grill or bbq over an area without a flame under it, you can move the coals to one side or turn off the gas burner under the pan. Throw in some smoking chips, close the lid and allow meat to begin it’s journey. Keep temp at 300.
Throw in more chips as needed and adjust to your taste while meat is cooking. Baste w/ juices occasionally. It should take about 3 hours for seven pounds or keep cooking until meat begins to separate from the bone.
Pull the pork off the bone into your serving bowl and serve with your favorite bbq sauce. Enjoy.
Yes! We’ve done this and it is very, very good.
We once lived for a year without an oven and learned to grill everything.
I’ve never heard of Boston butt. Interesting. 🙂
Ok, here is an old family recipe. One bowl.
BUTTERMILK CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter or 2/3 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 egg or egg replacer
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Lightly grease and flour tube pan.
Put sifted flour and sugar and salt and soda into a bowl and mix. Add buttermilk, oil, and egg or egg replacer and mix. Add nutmeg. Batter consistency should be pourable but not runny. If too thick add a little water to get to easily pourable.
Bake at 350 F until top is golden brown. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes or so before removing from pan.
This is a very versatile cake. Serve as is, glaze with lime juice and sugar, add fresh fruit compote (peach, strawberry, apricot, other berries).
All summer long the markets are full of fresh sweet basil (here anyway), so how about some pesto Genovese?
1-2 bunches sweet basil
> 200 ml olive oil (all right, so I’m addicted…)
1 large lemon
2 cloves garlic
1 (small) handfull pine nuts
ground parmesan (lots)
Squeeze lemon. Combine juice with sweet basil, olive oil, garlic and pine nuts. Puree. add cheese to taste and water for desired consistency (or olive oil for the hardcores…)
Wonderful on pasta but also on fresh slice tomatoes – quick, easy and no hot stove!
Buy a package of toll house chocolate chips.
Follow the directions on the back.
VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure to eat at least 3 heaping tablespoons of raw dough.
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 jalapeno, deseeded and diced
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 tablespoons lime juice (I usually use two limes for this recipe)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
All you have to do is dice every single one of those ingredients above except for the lime juice. Just put the two limes in the microwave and nuke ’em for ten seconds. You’ll be surprised at how easily the juice comes out after that.
Put all ingredients together in the bowl and mix up. Serve immediately with tortilla chips or with salmon and chicken.