That's Sweet: Dulce de Leche Cookies

We had a fundraiser dessert this week and I was charged with making the desserts. Rob wanted them to be fancy, "like from a restaurant menu...molten chocolate something or other...." I thought that was a little impractical, since everything had to be prepared in advance and moved to another location. So I made Bekah's Strawberry Poke Cake, Oreo Chocolate Cheesecake (somehow eaten without a picture), and Dulce de Leche cookies, which I will detail here.  My idea was to go in three different directions flavor wise and texture wise.  It would have been nice for one of them to be hot too, but no one complained

(Bekah's) Strawberry Poke Cake - poked full of pureed strawberries, yes indeed.  One lady ate some and told me I should go into dessert catering. 

The cheesecake was round and chocolate with an Oreo cookie crust and 14 Oreo cookies around the sides - it also had a sour cream topping on it that pooled in the center even though it was supposed to be spread evenly over the top. But...it still looked pretty nice.  I learned a neat trick while I was baking it.  The middle just seemed to be refusing to set and the outside was definitely done and I found a tip online to just turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in it while it cooled off.  It worked!  The cheesecake was perfectly done!

Princess Sonia Lee stand guard over the tempting Dulce de Leche Cookies.

My neighbor Laura gave me the "recipe" for making these cookies.  It's so easy...well I was busy and needed to get to some other things, so I had the kids make them.

Step one:  open a package of Vanilla Wafers - it is not necessary for them to be any particular brand of wafers.

Step two:  Spread a small amount of dulce de leche on one wafer and top it with a 2nd wafer.

Do they sell dulce de leche in other parts of the US?  My store had 4 different brands.

Step Three:  Toss the little sandwich in powdered sugar.  Voila.

I've made these three times since Laura told me about them.  This time I didn't have powdered sugar on hand, so we put some regular sugar in the food processor with a little corn starch.  I think it worked much better than regular powdered sugar.

How to: Make a Cuban Sandwich

(I shredded a piece of roast pork and cooked it a little longer with some Mojo marinade.)

(No panini press?  George Forman with added muscle.)

Ah! Beinvenidos a Miami!

These were soooooo good and I am sooooo bad at making fried catfish, it's hard to believe it grew up closer to Havana, Arkansas than Havana, Cuba.

Broccoli

My mom passed on this easy way to cook broccoli to me.  I think it is from Alton Brown - who I can always count on to find a new way to cook something better!

You'll need:
Broccoli with stems
1/3 cup water
butter to taste

I usually make two big pieces and that is enough for us.  Trim off the florets and set aside.  Peel the stem and cut first in half lengthwise and then into slices.  Put the stem pieces in the bottom of a pan and pour in water.  Top with florets.  Cook on high for 3 minutes, then on low for 3 minutes - that is, put the pan on the burner, set it to high and set the timer, don't wait for it to come to a boil.  After it cooks add butter (I add about 1 tbsp) and stir to make a light butter sauce.  Serve immediately.  I am still trying to sell the rest of the family on the stem pieces, but I think I like them BETTER than the florets. 

That's Sweet: Mango Lime Sorbet

August is a time in south Florida where the buy one get one sale on mangoes is a bad deal - more than likely someone near you has a tree with a thousand tri-colored fruit dangling from it. My next door neighbor brought me two enormous mangoes - and since we were already set for fruit snacks this week, I made it into sorbet - Mango Lime Sorbet!


This couldn't get any easier:

Mango Lime Sorbet

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 limes
2 enormous ripe mangoes
a pinch of salt

Make a simple syrup with the water, sugar and zest of one of the limes. Set aside to cool. Juice the other two limes and dice the mangoes (not quite like any other fruit, for a lesson see here). Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree. Chill the puree before pouring it into your ice cream maker and process according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Stick the prepared sorbet into the freezer to firm up, thusly:My lovely ice cream storage container is actually a box that came with our Wing-it meant for tossing fried chicken wings in hot sauce. Since you can do that in a bowl, I like re-purposing it as an ice cream box! I think an hour or so in the freezer improves the texture, but if you let it freeze solid, you will need to set it out for a little while before you can scoop it.

That's Sweet : Easy Red Berry Pie

For the record, this is a modification of Berry Smoothie Pie, but I didn't follow the recipe exactly and my blender is no more, so I couldn't make it a "smoothie" pie, mine was more of a chunky berry pie! And it is super good and super easy!

1/3 cup of cranberry juice cocktail
1 .3 oz. package strawberry jello
1 6 oz. container of raspberry yogurt
2-3 cups fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
1 graham cracker crust

Place juice in a microwavable dish and sprinkle jello over the top. Wait 1 minute, then heat on high for 40 seconds in the microwave. Stir and let stand 1 more minute.

Combine jello mixture with yogurt and berries and pour into crust. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

How To: Make Puff Pastry

One of Caleb's favorite dinners is "Star Pot Pie" - that's what he calls it. It's a chicken pot pie and instead of topping it with biscuits I cut stars in puff pastry and top it with them. Puff Pastry isn't super expensive, but it isn't super cheap either. I wanted to make it myself, but felt discouraged when I read:

...keep in mind first and foremost that this most delicate and challenging of pastries must be made the way porcupines make love - that is, very, very carefully. Then shut off the telephone for an hour or two, cut yourself some paper pattern guides...and get to work."

in Joy of Cooking (page 643). I didn't even bother to try their way! I did, however, find a recipe online that admits to not being exactly orthodox puff pastry, but you could've fooled me, the result is a very puffy pastry that looks and tastes like puff pastry. It is not hard and not time consuming. Here is a picture to prove it:

This was a scrap piece after making pot pie - I bake the scraps and dust them with powdered sugar for dessert. You can see in the picture the layers of flaky goodness. And I can assure you it is 100% homemade with two small children underfoot.

Puff Pastry

1 cup flour
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup cold butter
1/4 rounded tsp salt - that is 1/4 + 1/16 or just a smidge more than 1/4 tsp

Mix flour and salt well. Cut butter into 1/2 inch slices and mix lightly in the butter and salt. Stir in water. Get out a big piece parchment paper or flour your work surface and pour out the dough. Obviously the butter will still be in huge chunks. Knead it 10 times and make a ball, then shape it into roughly a square shape. Roll it out into a big rectangle about 15x12 inches, I don't bother to measure it. (And ignore the big chunks of butter, they will work themselves out.) Then, fold the long sides in like you'd fold a letter. Think of the remaining rectangle as being in 3 squares stacked on top of each other. Then fold the top square down and the bottom square up over each other to make one square - there will be 4 folds, resulting in 9 layers. Wrap the dough in parchment or wax paper and store in the fridge for 20 minutes. Re-roll, re-fold - now you have 81 layers. Back to the fridge for 20 minutes. Again re-roll, re-fold - now there are 729 layers!!! This is basically a stopping place. I usually put it back in the fridge and leave it there until I am about ready to use it, then I take it out for about 10 minutes, then roll it and cut it.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes if you are just baking the pastry. For the pot pie, I bake at 400 for 25 minutes.

Daily Bread: Sweet Potato Biscuits

A big hit at a brunch we hosted recently - Sweet Potato Biscuits:

1 large sweet potato
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons milk

Scrub and pierce the sweet potato, then microwave on high for 10 minutes. Allow to cool a little before handling, then peel and puree in a food processor or blender. Measure out 1 cup and blend with brown sugar, lemon zest, butter, and milk.

In a seperate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Wisk to combine completely. Stir in the sweet potato mixture until it forms a ball. Roll out and cut into biscuits. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes.

That's Sweet!: Pinopsicle

Pinopsicle (first I is long, name chosen by Caleb)

1 whole pineapple
8 popsicle sticks

Cut of top and bottom of pineapple, shave off outer layer. Cut in half lengthwise and then cut each half in half. Shave off the core, then cut the quarters into eighths and stick a popsicle into the bottom. Eat as you would a popsicle, but no drips.

Interesting things about pineapples:
1. You should never eat pineapple cores. They are not poisonous, but are indigestable and will form fiber balls in your colon - fun.
2. Really like pineapples? Save the top, you can use it to grow a whole new plant. You can even grow them indoors.
3. Pineapple plants are bromeliads - and the only edible ones.

That's Sweet!: Doughnut Bread Pudding

The proof to me that doughnuts are actually not that bad is that they are not that good the next day - but stale doughnut owners need not despair! Behold: DOUGHNUT BREAD PUDDING!



All you need is:
4-6 stale doughnuts (any variety)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup evaporated milk (sweeter) or buttermilk (tangier)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Grease a square baking dish. Cut or tear stale doughnuts into small pieces and place in dish. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over doughnuts. Refrigerate overnight (or wait at least 15 minutes for the doughnuts to absorb the liquid.)

Preheat oven to 350. In a pan large enough to hold the square baking dish, lay out a dish rag where you plan to set the dish, then put the dish on the rag and pour water into the larger pan - enough to come up about 1/2 inch or so on outside of the dish.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until it "tests" done with a knife.

We used about half and half chocolate cake doughnuts and glazed doughnuts.

That's Sweet!: Poke Cake

For a 4th of July BBQ with friends, we brought dessert - poke cake! Poke cake is very easy to make and really changes a regular store bought cake mix.

Poke Cake
1 yellow or white cake, baked and cooled
1 4 oz pkg jello (flavor is your choice)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
Cool Whip
Fruit Garnish (if you so choose)

Using a skewer or a toothpick or a thin knife, poke holes all over the top of your baked and cooled cake. Dissolve Jello in boiling water, then add cold water. Then pour the jello over the cake letting it seep into all the holes. Refrigerate overnight.

Top with Cool Whip and garnish with fruit as desired.

I used cherry jello and garnished with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.

Very yummy and very easy!

That's Sweet!: Strawberry Yogurt Pops

Thanks to High 5 magazine for this tasty, healthy dessert!

Strawberry Yogurt Pops

1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh strawberries
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

Put everything in a blender, puree, pour into small paper cups, stick in a craft stick, and freeze for 4 hours.

I used frozen strawberries and they were ready in 3 hours. Very yummy!

Tastes Like Chicken: Crispy Chicken Nuggets

Long before I made the rotating dinner menu, I had already designed a weekly lunch menu for our family. I did it because I felt like we were eating PB&J everyday and because I wanted our kids to eat more vegetables. So for example, every Monday we have "Mac & Cheese and Little Green Peas". Tuesday is Bagel Pizzas with cherry tomatoes (we - ok I - made up a song about bagel pizzas to go along with it), and Wednesday is chicken nuggets and corn.

I do not like processed chicken. So it only took one week of store bought chicken nuggets to motivate me to find a reliable chicken nugget recipe...and I have tried a lot! Here is the recipe I have finally settled on to be our usual chicken nuggets:

Leah's Chicken Nuggets (serves 1 adult and 2 very small children)

1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small "nuggets"
2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup milk (or half&half or cream)
1/2 cup rice crispies, crushed

In a bowl, mix the corn starch, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add the "nuggets" and toss to completely coat (make sure none are sticking together). Pour nuggets into a strainer and shake (over the sink) to remove all non-stuck-on cornstarch mixture. Put nuggets back in the bowl and pour on milk, stir to coat. Put nuggets into a bag with crushed rice crispies and shake to coat. Place on a greased sheet pan and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, depending on how big the nuggets are.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but one chicken breast, with the tender attached really makes a big pile of nuggets!

I am considering making a big batch to freeze before baking, but right now all my chicken is frozen, so that has to wait until the next stock making day.

Oh and the rest of the week:

Thursday is egg salad sandwiches and carrot sticks
Friday is fish sticks (storebought, Mrs. Pauls are pretty good) and tater tots
Saturday is chicken salad and green pepper
Sunday is PB&J day with chips and a pickle. Annalise loves the pickle!

How To: Roast Peeps

It is Easter and like millions of other Americans we have Peeps in the house! Our kids took one taste...

and rejected this classic sugar coated marshmallow.

But Rob suggested, what if you roasted a Peep, like you would a marshmallow, hmmm, so, having no campfire, we broiled them instead.

The results were pretty noteworthy, I think the taste was much improved. Here are the before and after results:













To broil a Peep, place Peep or Peeps on a cooling rack and place the rack over a cake pan (in case of drips). Position top rack so that the Peep will be about 5 inches from the broiler. Heat broiler to 500 and pop in the Peep. Watch closely for the sugar to caramelize, serve immediately.

That's Sweet: Boy Scout Peach Cobbler

Rob taught Caleb how to make peach cobbler the way he did in Boy Scout camp. I think this is more of a dump cake, but "a rose is a rose" as they say and it is quite yummy.


Boy Scout Peach Cobbler

1 Jiffy Yellow Cake Mix
1 Can Sliced Peaches in Heavy Syrup
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
White Sugar

Line a loaf pan with foil and dump in the cake mix. Pour the peaches over and stir to combine. Top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little white sugar - all to taste. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes checking for doneness along the way.

Rob said they cooked this in a dutch oven over coals at camp.

That's Sweet: 10-Minute Toffee Treats

This recipe comes courtesy of my talented mother-in-law, who has co-authored a book full of Christmas recipes, ideas, and stories including this amazingly simple yet impressively delicious candy recipe:

10-Minute Toffee Treats

1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil, then line with a single layer of saltines. In saucepan bring butter and sugar to boil. Boil 3 minutes. Immediately our over saltines. Spread. Bake for only 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Wait 4 minutes and spread. Sprinkle with nuts. Cool and break into pieces.

Tastes Like Chicken: Paprika Chicken

I remember as a kid my mom sprinkling paprika on deviled eggs. I don't remember it having much taste, but this easy recipe adds a lot of flavor.

Paprika Chicken

Bone-in Chicken Pieces
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Lemon Juice

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with paprika, salt, and pepper. Lay out on a baking sheet lined with foil and dot with butter (how much butter you use depends on how much chicken you're cooking, about 1/2 tbsp per piece), drizzle pieces with lemon juice. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until internal temp of dark pieces is 180.

How to: Make Rice in the Microwave

It never occured to me to make rice in the microwave, but my favorite celebrity chef - Alton Brown - says anything that does not need to be browned can be cooked in the microwave! So the other night when I realized I was using my normally rice pot for something else, I thought, there must be a way! And there is....and I was so happy with the results, I think I will cook it in the microwave from now on.

To do it...

Put 2 cups of water in a microwave safe bowl that also has a lid
Stir in however much salt you prefer.
Stir in 1 cup of long grain white rice.
Microwave uncovered on HIGH for 5 minutes, then cover and microwave on HALF POWER for 15 minutes.

The awesomest thing about doing it this way is that the bottom does not burn! Hooray! The dish is so much easier to clean out. The rice is a little sticker, but we like it that way.

If you're going to cook another kind of rice, consult the package or the internet. :)

How To: Make a Giant Cinnamon Roll

Nothing says "Good Morining!" like a GIANT cinnamon roll!

To make a giant cinnamon roll the easy way, you need a roll of "counter-whop" cinnamon rolls. Set one roll in the middle of the pan. Unroll 3 rolls* and starting where the first roll ends, add on the 2nd, then 3rd and then 4th rolls. Bake according to package directions (my package said to cook them longer if they are all bunched up rather than spread out on the pan, so that's the time I cooked them for.) Ice with half of the icing for the roll.

*It used to be that only store brand cinnamon rolls were simply cinnamon studded buns cut into circles, but I bought PILLSBURY and they are now only cut into cirles and STAMPED with circles to APPEAR to be rolls, when they are not! I cut mine into spirals using my kitchen shears, which was perfectly easy, but I really had higher expectations for Pillsbury.

RFW: Day 6

Today's Meal:
Skinny Skillet Steaks
Hashbrowns with Onion
Cumin Veggie Stir Fry

It's the last day of Recipe Free Week! Yipee! It was fun, but I'm glad to have my cheat sheet back. (I think Rob is too.)

Skinny Skillet Steaks

1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 tbsp steak seasoning (I have McCormick's)
1/4 cup sauted onions
1 egg
flour for dredging
2 tbsp oil + 2 tbsp butter

Mix beef through egg like you would meatloaf. Pour flour into a shallow pan and portion out 3 or 4 "steaks". Smush them pretty flat and dredge in flour, dusting off extra. Fry in oil and butter until cooked through. Serve with brown gravy sauce (I used an envelope.)



Hashbrowns with Onions

1/2 a big Vidalia Onion
1 big baking potato
salt
pepper
2 tbsp butter

Shred onion and potato, season with salt and pepper, mix well. Fry on both sides in butter in a large skillet.

...on a side note, this recipe did not go quite right. I guess I'm just not an experienced hashbrown cook. Rob did not like it!



Cumin Veggie Stir Fry

1/2 bag of Eat Smart stir fry mixed vegetables
A few cherry tomatoes
1 carrot cut into thin "coins"
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
Salt
Cumin
Garlic Powder

Mix up veggies, stir fry until tender crisp, sprinkle with salt, cumin, and garlic powder (I didn't use exact measurements), stir well and serve

RFW: Day 5

Today's Meal was:
Hidden Dragon



I called it "Hidden Dragon" because it was an "Asian Inspired" flavor in a foil packet (hidden). If I had only been cooking for myself and Rob I would have made it spicier (more "dragon"), but Caleb can't handle really spicy foods yet

Hidden Dragon

2 cups cooked rice
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp 5 Spice Powder
1/2 bag of "stir fry" veggies (I like Eat Smart brand, I usually buy their broccoli because it's on sale a lot and is only florets, no one in my house is crazy about the stem part)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (which I would have used if there had been some in the fridge, since there was not, I mixed soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, minced garlic, and ketchup)
2 large retangles of aluminum foil
cooking spray

Heat the oven to 400. Lay out one retangle of foil. Spray the middle with cooking spray and spoon on half of the rice in a retangle to make a "bed" for the chicken. Put the chicken on the rice. Sprinkle the chicken with the powder. Top the powder with half of the veggies. Drizzle the veggies with half of the sauce. Fold up the foil and crimp all edges well to completely seal. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for half and hour or so or until the chicken is completely cooked.



What I love about this meal? EASY CLEAN UP!!!