Convoluted Cake (puzzle cake)

Hi all, wish me luck - finals this week in my Advanced Cake class. I have to create this and opera torte petit fours.

Play Dough

Thought it might be fun to add some untraditional to the blog. Have fun. Instead of food coloring try kool-aid in the water or a vegetable puree for the water. It is edible (non toxic), but it taste like salt.

Traditional Play Dough
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food coloring
Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

Tempting Shredded Chicken Taquitos

Another hit from www.pickypalate.blogspot.com
I made these tonight for dinner...served with spanish rice and beans. I REALLY liked them. Instead of frying them, I baked them. Enjoy!

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno pepper
2 cups cooked, then shredded chicken breast
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
burrito size flour tortillas

1. In 10-inch non stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper and jalapeno pepper; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently. Stir in chicken, 3 tablespoons cilantro, salt, cumin, pepper and tomatoes with green chilies; cook 5 minutes.

2. Place oil into large skillet over medium heat. Place about 2 large Tablespoons of chicken mixture into each tortilla. Tightly roll, securing ends with toothpicks. In batches, place taquitos into hot pan. Pan fry until nice and golden brown on each side. Remove, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to dry. Serve and enjoy!

**If you'd rather bake them instead of fry, bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, turning once. Also, baste them with some olive oil before baking and they turn out really nice!!!

Chicken Cacciatore with Shiitake

I wish I had a picture to show you, but I forgot to take one. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the wine tonight. This recipe is off the back of the package of dried shiitake mushroom slices we got at Costco, for about $4. It's a huge bag, and this is a delicious recipe. We ate it with a nice Smoking Loon Merlot followed by an even nicer Merlot from Black Mountain, and some pasta of some sort. (I also had an excellent glass of Foley Syrah, but it was the last one. I didn't mention it, except to you. Shhhh.)

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
3-3 1/2 pounds of chicken pieces, skin removed (I used boneless skinless thighs, it's what I had)
1 medium-size onion, chopped
2 green peppers, seeded and chopped (I used red and a little yellow)
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (I used 2 heaping teaspoons dried)
1 cup water
1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth (I used wine, of course)
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 can (8 oz. tomato sauce (I substituted 1/4 + 1/8 cups tomato paste plus 1/2 cup water)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. EACH marjoram, oregano, and thyme leaves
4 cups Dried Shiitake-Ya Slices

1. Heat oil and butter in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, turning, until browned on all sides. Remove chicken and set aside.

2. Add onion, green peppers, and garlic to pan. Cook over medium heat and stir until onion is soft. (H-Bomb and Sawed Off helped with this part)

3. Stir in parsley, water, wine, tomato paste, tomato sauce, salt, spices, and Shiitake slices. (and also with this part. They are the cutest little chefs you've ever seen)

4. Return chicken to pan. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer until meat is no longer pink (about 45 minutes)

5. Serve over pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. (forgot the cheese; no one seemed to mind)

Bread Sticks

I thought you might enjoy a very easy and delicious recipe for Bread Sticks. I just made a double batch of these for a church group of 19-30 year old kids. I doubled the recipe thinking we would have some left over for our family. Boy was I wrong, they ate up 4 large pans of these things along a basic tomato sauce for dipping in a matter of minutes. I was smart, I tasted a couple as they came out of the oven to make sure they were good, but my husband didn't get a one, poor baby!

Dissolve 2 TBL yeast in 3 cups warm water in a large bowl (or bread mixer or Kitchen Aid mixer bowl)
Add the following: 4 TBL melted butter, 2 TBL sugar or honey, 1 TBL salt and about 4 cups flour.
Mix well, then add about 4 more cups of flour. Mix well about 5 minutes. Cover and let rest.
*Punch down every 10 minutes ---5-6 times.
Then roll out and cut into strips. I roll it out about 1/2 thick and use a pizza cutter to quickly cut it into strips. Dip each strip in melted butter (about 1/2 cup) and roll in Parmesan Cheese and parsley (as much as you like). Place on baking sheet (if you line it with foil clean up will be a breeze) Let rise about 30 minutes. Bake 350 for about 15 minutes or until lightly brown on top.
I usually do it this way but if you are in a hurry you can also divide dough in half and place in a well buttered baking pan (9X13) pat it out into the pan. Take a knife or bench scrapper and cut into desired sized strips. Then pour melted butter (about 1/4 cup per pan) over dough and then sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Let rise about 30 minutes. Bake 350 for about 15 minutes or until lightly brown on top.Then after baking take your knife again and cut apart where you had made the cuts.
The picture is the quick way in 9x13 pan.

Meat Sauce for Pasta

This recipe is actually the basis for a meat lasagne recipe from Classic Home Cooking by Mary Berry and Marlena Spieler. (I have the 1995 edition; I don't know what changes were made but there is a 2003 edition also available). It's a decent cookbook with some basic and not-so-basic recipes. I think what I like best is that the recipes in each section are listed with pictures by prep/cooking times, so you can look at pictures of dishes that will take under 30 minutes, over 60 minutes, etc. I like visuals.

The lasagne is delicious, but we love this meat sauce on spaghetti! And it's so easy! Tonight we made it with ground venison instead of beef. Delicious, with rave reviews from everyone on the ranch.


2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds ground beef

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1-1/4 cups beef stock

13 oz. canned chopped tomatoes

6 celery stalks, sliced (optional)

2 onions, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 teaspoon sugar

generous salt

black pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the beef and cook, stirring, until browned. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add the stock, tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic, tomato paste, sugar and salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Lasagne

Serves 6

2-3 cups grated aged Cheddar cheese
1 + cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 no-precook lasagne noodles
chopped parsley to garnish

Meat Sauce

White Sauce:
4 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
salt & pepper

1. Make meat sauce.

2. While meat sauce is simmering (1 hour), make the white sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and gradually blend in the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the mustard, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

3. Spoon one-third of the meat sauce into a large shallow ovenproof dish; cover with one-third of the white sauce and 1/3 of the Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Arrange half of the lasagne noodles in a single layer. Repeat the layers, finishing with the Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses.

4. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the pasta is tender and the topping is a golden brown color. Serve the lasagne immediately, garnished with the parsley.

Creamy Crockpot Chicken and Broccoli Over Rice

This recipe is from www.pickypalate.blogspot.com
My family LOVED it, and so did I!!!

3-4 boneles chicken breasts
1 14oz can cream of chicken soup
1 14oz can cheddar soup
1 14oz can chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic salt seasoning
1 cup sour cream
6 cups broccoli flourets, lightly steamed, just fork tender
shredded cheese

1. Place soups, chicken broth, salt, cajun and garlic seasoning into a crockpot over low heat. whisk until smooth. Place chicken in, pressing to the bottom. Cover lid and cook on low for 6 hours, or high for 3 hours.
2. when chicken is done, use 2 forks and shred into bite size pieces. stir in sour cream and brocolli.
3. serve over steamed rice (i used a mixture of brown/wild rice...so yummy!!!) and sprinkle with cheese. (i think it can do without the cheese on top, but thats just me!)

serves 4-6!

Avocado Reubens

Here's a nice vegetarian twist on the traditional Reuben sandwich! The recipe comes from the book, Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family by Ken Haedrich. This is a GREAT vegetarian cookbook., by the way. My copy is several years old and quite stained with numerous pages all folded down to mark my favorite recipes.

Here's what you'll need for 2 sandwiches...

1 ripe avocado (peeled, pitted and sliced)
a little lemon juice
approx 1 cup of sauerkraut (drained and heated a bit)
4 slices of Swiss cheese
4 big slices of good rye or pumpernickel bread
Dijon mustard
Russian or 1000 Island dressing
salt/pepper

*** Sprinkle your sliced avocados with a little lemon juice to keep them from browning.


How to assemble the sandwiches:

1) Spread a little Dijon mustard on one slice and a little Russian/1000 Island dressing on the other.

Take one slice of bread and start stacking in this order:

1. One slice of Swiss cheese
2. Avocado slices
3. Salt/pepper
4. Sauerkraut
5. The other slice of cheese
6. The other slice of bread

Brush the bread with olive oil or a little butter and place in a pan over medium heat.
Flip carefully (can be tricky without all the insides falling out... using 2 spatulas helps).  A Foreman Grill also works nicely if you have one.  

That's it! They're super easy to make and very tasty!

Broccoli

It's been a while since I've posted and I really need to add a few recipes!  This one is actually more of a tip or "secret ingredient" than a recipe.  

Broccoli... you either love it or you hate it.  Me?  Well my mom was notorious for destroying vegetables by boiling them to a pulp so I never really liked the pale green mush placed before me as a child.  When I got older I discovered that broccoli can be good!  I eat it raw all the time in veggie sandwiches or with dip.  I also like it steamed.  And that's where the "secret ingredient" comes in...

After you steam your broccoli to a point where they are tender (but still firm and GREEN, mom!) add some salt and pepper to taste AND....  squeeze half a lemon over the broccoli.  Delicious!!!!   My son kept asking for more "trees"!