Sweet and Savory

This is sort of a hodge-podge of recipes-- things I have been making over the last several weeks, but haven't had the time to post here!

Remember this pesto? Here's one of the things I used it for...

Four Cheese Pesto Pizza

• 6 (6-inch) pita breads
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 T milk
• 6 T pesto
• 1 can ripe olives, sliced
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup shredded Fontina cheese
• 2 T Parmesan cheese

Place pita breads on ungreased cookie sheet. Mix cream cheese and milk until smooth. Spread on pita breads. Gently spread pesto over cream cheese. Top with olives. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake 7-12 minutes or until thoroughly heated and cheese is melted.

Except, this time, I didn't have pita breads. Or Fontina cheese. And I hate olives. But, I did make a pizza crust (still working on finding a recipe I really like for homemade pizza crust!) and loosely followed these instructions for the topping. I also added chopped chicken, from the following recipe. I have followed the four cheese pesto pizza recipe exactly (except for the olives) in the past, and it was very tasty.

Cooked Chicken (from Rival Crock-Pot Cookbook)

• 2-3 pounds chicken breasts or parts
• 4 cups water
• 2 T chopped parsley
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 T minced onion
• 1 tsp. seasoning salt

Place all ingredients in Crock-Pot. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Remove chicken from water, discard bay leaf, and shred or dice according to your preference.

This is such a handy recipe for when those big club packs of chicken are on sale. I cook it (my big crockpot can take a doubled recipe of this), chop it up, and freeze it. It's great having cooked chicken ready for casseroles, and it also makes excellent chicken salad for sandwiches. And you can put it on pesto pizza!

I cooked one of my favorite chicken recipes last night--

Spicy Buttermilk Chicken

Marinade:

• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 T hot pepper sauce
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. salt

Mix together and pour over about 1 1/2 lbs. of chicken breasts or tenders. Marinate for at least four hours or overnight.

Topping:

• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 T flour
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 T olive oil

Combine topping ingredients and dredge chicken through the crumbs. Place chicken on a baking rack and let sit for 20 minutes, so that crumbs will adhere better. (I've skipped this step before without too noticeable a difference in the crumbs. Those twenty minutes are useful for working on other parts of the supper, though!) Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil on a baking sheet and place in oven. Heat oven to 400°. After about 5 minutes, place chicken on heated baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes (tenders will be done in about 20 minutes).

Last night, I served this with potatoes, because I had some neglected potatoes that were thinking about sprouting, but I usually serve this with jasmine rice. Both ways are yummy! I also did some of the tenders differently for my kids, who aren't as fond of hot things-- when I was mixing the crumb coating, I took about 1/3 of a cup of the crumbs out before adding the cayenne pepper and paprika. I'm not sure the paprika adds much heat, but it made it easy to see the less hot tenders-- they weren't as red!

Now, on to sweet things...

I found a recipe for this Millionaire's Shortbread in Hannaford's "fresh" magazine, which I stole from my mother. I wish we had a Hannaford's in our area, so I wouldn't have to resort to thievery-- it's usually full of good recipes! I wasn't crazy over this recipe at first, but every little nibble made me more of a fan. Elliott loved these, too.

Millionaire's Shortbread

Shortbread base:

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Caramel filling:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Lyle's golden syrup or dark corn syrup (I bought dark corn syrup, but I did see Lyle's golden syrup in Wegman's the next day!)
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2/3 cup (4 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8- or 9-inch pan. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream butter and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and beaters as needed with a rubber spatula. Mix in vanilla. Sift together flour, cornstarch, and baking powder and add to bowl. Mix on low speed until dough forms large clumps and holds together, about 1 minute. Using your hands, press dough gently and evenly into pan. Bake until top is golden and edges brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

While shortbread bakes, prepare caramel filling. Put butter, sugar, syrup and condensed milk in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring occasionally, about 10 to 15 minutes. (I don't know if I had the heat too high or I didn't stir enough, but I had to throw my first batch out-- watch it!) Continue boiling, stirring gently and constantly, 4 more minutes. Mixture should darken to a light caramel color. Remove pan from heat and pour filling over warm shortbread. Let filling cool about 5 minutes, then sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let chips soften until they melt, then use a knife or spatula to spread melted chocolate over filling. Let chocolate set until firm, 2 or 3 hours (or 15 in this heat!) When set, cut shortbread into squares (or cut a little piece out of the pan every time you walk by!)

A couple of weeks ago, Evan was dreaming about the lava cakes he had eaten at the restaurant "99" while working away from home this spring. It took me about three minutes to whip these up, and Evan was eating them 14 minutes later! He wolfed them down too fast to take a picture of them (well, the kids and I helped, too) but they are the chocolate cakes with fudgy filling oozing out of them when you eat them. Excellent with vanilla ice cream!

Molten Lava Cakes (Kraft Foods)

• 4 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate (or 4 oz. of chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 6 T flour
• Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 425°. Butter four 3/4 cup custard cups or souffle dishes. Place on baking sheet. Microwave butter and chocolate in large bowl on high for 1 minute or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Blend in eggs and egg yolks with whisk. Stir in flour. Divide batter among prepared custard cups. Bake 13 to 14 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft. (Evan felt 12 minutes would be better-- more goo, less side.) Let stand 1 minute. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Serve immediately.

And, the cookie recipe I've made hundreds of times-- chocolate chip cookies. This is the recipe Evan's family makes. It's basically the Toll House recipe with oatmeal. Evan likes a steady supply of these for his lunches, and none of us are averse to eating the dough before it's cooked!

Evan's Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. water (I have NO idea why this is in the family recipe... makes you kinda wonder about those Whites-- you can probably safely omit this ingredient)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cup oatmeal
• 12 oz. (2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs; beat well. Add flour, soda, salt and oatmeal and beat until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Eat cookie dough raw, or place tablespoons of the dough on a greased cookie sheet and bake in a 375° oven for 9 minutes. Let cool in pan, if you like them chewy.

There's no recipe attached to this activity, but we made some creamed corn this year! We came home from Altamont with four garbage bags of corn. (Thanks, Knaggs!)

Evan husked it all, with lots of help from the kids.

I then boiled it, about a dozen ears at a time, for 2 minutes, dunked it in ice water, and let drain on the drainboard.

I then used my handy-dandy Lee corn-cutter and creamer to take all the corn off the cobs.

All 95 cobs, eventually. This was early in the process.

I froze it in plastic Ziploc containers, and got about 6 1/2 quarts. It sure will be delicious this winter with a little butter and salt!

All this writing about food has made me hungry! Time to go check out the kitchen before bed...

Food Processor Fun!

I love food processors. They can take a whole massive amount of basil...

(plus a few other ingredients)...

and turn it into this tiny (but wonderful) amount of stuff. Pesto, to be precise.

Much as I love the food processor I've had for a year now, I still haven't abandoned this.

It's a salsa maker that they sell at fairs and flea markets. Evan and I saw one years ago at the fair, and watched the demonstration, and tasted the salsa. It was so good, but Evan didn't think we needed one. Well, I (and by proxy, Evan) regretted that decision all year. So the next year, I bought one. It is the handiest onion chopper ever...

And it still does the best job of making salsa of anything out there! (Sorry, Most Beloved Food Processor.)

This is some of the green-leaf lettuce I bought at the farmer's market.

We made taco salad for supper the other night, it was all so fresh and yummy! I need to make lots more fresh salsa. My pesto is sitting in the fridge, too, waiting for me to use it. I often make grilled chicken and cheese sandwiches with pesto, or put it on a white pizza. We'll have to see what I actually do with it this week!

Pesto
This recipe is from Process This! by Jean Anderson. I got that book out of the library when I first got my food processor, and it was so helpful I actually went out and bought a copy.

• 2 quarts loosely packed tender young basil leaves (two humongous bunches at the farmer's market should do it), washed and dried.
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 2 large whole cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup oil (I ended up using closer to 1/3)

Place all ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor fitted with the medal chopping blade and churn for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and churn 30 seconds longer to form a thick paste. With the motor running, drizzle the olive oil down the feed tube, adding only enough to give the pesto the consistency of prepared mustard. Scoop into a small bowl, press plastic food wrap on top to keep from darkening (I have experience in stating this is a VERY important step!) and refrigerate until needed. Bring to room temperature and stir well before using.

Fresh Salsa

• Small white onion, chopped and rinsed
• Juice of one lime
• 5 Roma tomatoes, or 3 small regular tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 2-3 jalapeno or serrano peppers, seeded if you're a wimp like Evan
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Chop it all up in a food processor or the like. My sister Bethaney uses a blender, which makes a very finely chopped salsa. Eat immediately, although it will keep fairly nicely in the fridge.

Meatloaf! (I never said I was an epicurean)

Thursday was another Farmer's Market visit. I went crazy with lettuces, this time. I bought humongous heads of Romaine, green leaf, and iceberg lettuce. I didn't use any of them Thursday night, though.

Instead, we had corn on the cob! I love the random patterns Cheyenne makes on the cob.

We also had meatloaf, and Oven Crispy Cheese Fries.

Here's the potatoes, as I am cutting them into French fry shape. It's pretty easy-- slice the potato into 1/2" thick slices, then cut those slices into 1/2" sticks. Notice the bee-you-ti-ful tomatoes and lettuce in the background. Notice, too, that I'm not smart enough to take pictures of the finished fries. Or the meatloaf, which is the point of this post.

I have lots of meatloaf recipes. Meatloaf doesn't seem to have a very big fan base, but I like it, especially when using Full Circle Farm Grass-Fed Beef! Meatloaf is also a great meal to freeze for later-- I try to make two batches at once and freeze one and cook the other one for dinner. Not that that always happens, of course. Thursday afternoon all three kids fell asleep so I took a nap (cue ecstatic music). While wonderful, that meant I didn't have much time to throw supper together. I actually formed the meatloaf into 6 little loaves and microwaved them. I wouldn't say they were quite as good as when cooked in the oven, but they certainly were faster, and it freed up my oven for the oven fries.

I'm going to have a double oven someday. Someday.

This first recipe was given to me by my husband's cousin when we were married. It has very basic ingredients, but it is one of the yummiest meatloafs I've eaten!

Betty's Meatloaf

• 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. dried minced onions
• 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce, divided

Topping:

• reserved tomato sauce
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 T vinegar
• 2 tsp. prepared mustard

Mix together beef, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and eggs. (The best, while the messiest, way to do this is just to mix it with your hands). Add onions and one-half tomato sauce. Form into loaf in 9x3x5" pan (standard loaf pan). Bake at 350° for 50 minutes. In saucepan, combine topping ingredients; bring to a boil. Pour over meatloaf. Bake 10 more minutes.

Cheddary Meatloaf
This recipe was in the newspaper some years back. It was from a firehouse cook.

• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup salsa
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup prepared mustard
• 1/4 cup dill relish
• 1/2 cup dry Italian flavored bread crumbs
• 6 bacon strips

Mix all but bacon together. Form into loaf in 13x9 pan. Lay strips of bacon across loaf. Cover with tin foil. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes; uncover and bake additional 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. To serve, lift loaf out of the grease that formed when it cooked-- the meatloaf itself is NOT greasy, but it does produce grease in the bottom of the pan.

I usually make mashed potatoes to go with meatloaf, but I was wanting some of these fries that night. This recipe is from Emeril-- I've never tried any of his other recipes, but this was in Family Circle magazine, and it's a really good recipe!

Oven Crispy Cheese Fries

• 2 tsp. vegetable oil
• 2 large baking potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs.), scrubbed
• 1 large egg white
• 2 tsp. Baby Bam (recipe following)
• 8 oz. white cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 T thinly sliced scallions (optional)

Place oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 425°. Grease large baking sheet with the oil. Pat potatoes dry and slice lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Turn each slice flat and slice lengthwise into even fries. In a medium bowl, whisk egg white until very light and foamy. Add the potatoes to the egg white and toss to coat. Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon. Spread fries on greased baking sheet, leaving room between fries. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle 1 tsp. Baby Bam. Flip fries, then sprinkle other teaspoon of Baby Bam. Bake 20 more minutes, until golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 3 minutes, until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with scallions, if desired.

Baby Bam
This is Emeril's signature spice blend. I might halve the proportions, since I don't make a lot of Emeril's recipes. Maybe I should, though, this recipes sure is good!

• 3 T paprika
• 2 T salt
• 2 T dried parsley
• 2 T onion powder
• 2 T garlic powder
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. celery salt

Mix together. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

And, if meatloaf is not your thing, here's a great sandwich that you can eat with the Cheese Fries. This was in the same issue of Family Circle magazine (many years ago now!) and I always serve them together. This is NOT an Emeril recipe, although it, too, is Cajun.

Cajun "Crab Cake" Sandwich

• 12 oz. surimi (imitation crabmeat)
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 rib celery
• 1 small pepper, cored and seeded
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
• 2 large egg whites, slightly beaten
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. hot-pepper sauce

Heat oven to 400°. Coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. In food proccesor, pulse all ingredients until just chopped. (Or, if you're not a Cool Kid with a food processor, chop it all by hand.) Divide mixture into four portions; firmly press one portion into 3/4 cup dry measuring cup. Invert and tap on baking sheet to remove. With hands, slightly press and shape mixture into a 4-inch patty, about 1-inch thick. Repeat with remaining portions. Bake in 400° oven until browned, about 40 minutes. Serve on buns, with Oven Crispy Cheese Fries on the side!

That's all for tonight! Tomorrow I might post some recipes that actually use all the lovely green stuff I bought at the farmer's market.

Last Thursday's Supper

Last Thursday morning I went to the farmer's market in Syracuse. While I always love the farmer's market, it's usually a little overwhelming to consider going there. I discovered the secret-- don't go on Saturday! On Saturday it is crowded, and there are lots more vendors selling things other than fresh produce. This Thursday, I parked right next to the market, breezed through selecting yummy things, and was out again quickly! That's really key when there's three kids with you.

I have no idea what to do with eggplant at this point in my life, but I just loved the colors, so I had to snap a picture.

Cheyenne eating one of the little plums we bought.

It isn't ALL fresh vegetables-- there's some pretty yummy fresh-made doughnuts we had to sample!

Aren't these pretty little plums? They were destined for plum torte.

Fresh Plum Torte

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 12 plums (small deep purple, prune or Italian), halved and pitted
• 1 T sugar
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon
• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for serving

Preheat oven to 350° and spray 9- or 10-inch springform pan. (I used the 9-inch-- it was less dusty.) Cream together sugar and butter until light and creamy. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture with eggs and vanilla and beat well. (I didn't sift together the dry ingredients first, just dumped them in at that step. It worked fine, but maybe you like to sift flour!) Spoon batter into the pan and place plum halves, skin side up, on top of batter. They will sink as it cools. Batter will barely cover the bottom of the pan, which is as it should be! Sprinkle lightly with sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. (The first time I made this recipe I forgot to do this, and I did it when it came out of the oven. I almost liked it better that way-- the lemon juice was fresher tasting!) Bake torte for one hour, depending on pan (a black pan takes less time.) Torte is done when tester inserted in the torte comes out clean. (Mine was done in a little over 40 minutes, since I have a black non-stick pan.) Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for a few minutes. Remove from the pan, cool to lukewarm, and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. (I didn't put anything on it, and it was pretty good plain. The ice cream may have helped the taste of the occasional overly tart plum, though.)

This was how it looked before it went in the oven. I think I used a few more than a dozen plums-- 14 or 15 maybe? Just cover the torte nicely.

Then, while the torte was baking, we got busy with the supper. Tori cut up the fresh green beans.

And I made Crispy Yogurt Chicken, from Pioneer Woman, slightly tweaked.

Crispy Yogurt Chicken

• Chicken pieces (I had tenders on hand)
• 2 cups plain, unflavored yogurt
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• Herb of your choice (I was in the mood for Rosemary, snipped from my herb garden!)
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt
• Butter
• 2 cups Panko bread crumbs (these bread crumbs are awesome, but plain old bread crumbs will work if you're desperate)

Mince the garlic and herbs, and add them, along with the lemon juice, to the yogurt. In another bowl, mix the bread crumbs with a bit of salt, or seasonings. Shake salt onto the chicken pieces, dredge them through the yogurt and then through the bread crumbs. Place them on a cookie sheet or in a 13x9 pan. Put dabs of sliced butter on each piece. Now, Pioneer Woman says to cover with foil and bake for 1 to 1 and 1/4 hours at 350°. I'm forgetful and impatient, so I rarely bother with the tin foil, and the chicken will be cooked much sooner than an hour, especially if you cut your chicken into smaller pieces-- it just won't be as crispy. Depending on how rushed I am for supper, I have done this in as little as twenty minutes, or as long as 45 minutes. I also usually crank the heat up a tad-- 375° or 400°. If you do go with the foil, remove for the last 15 minutes of baking.

Here's the chicken, a-waiting to be baked.

What a yummy looking supper! That's jasmine rice we're having with the chicken. My in-laws often use this rice, and I'm a huge fan. With just a tad of butter and some salt, it's better than candy!

All year long, we eat frozen green beans quite happily. When these come along, though, we wonder how we were ever content with the frozen ones.

The finished plum torte.

It is quite moist, and SO GOOD! It's one Evan doesn't like, though. He's not a huge fan of plums. This is one of those dishes that does depend heavily on the quality of the plum. There were a few in this batch that were a bit tart, but the rest of the torte was excellent.

Okay, now I have to go to bed so I can get up in the morning and head off to the farmer's market again!

Popular Desserts 'Round Here

I got ambitious the other day and made a batch of cookies to take out to Altamont preps. They seemed to be a hit, so here's the recipe! These have been Clover and Cheyenne's favorite cookies for about a year now!

The great thing about these cookies is they don't spread much when you bake them. You can really cram them on the sheet-- as illustrated here.

Here they are while raw...

And here they are after baking (this is how much you will get if you make them fairly largeish-- minus the obligatory dough tasting.)

This recipe was originally published in our newspaper a few years back. I've tweaked a few things, mainly doubling the recipe while still only using one bag of the Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirled Chips. They still have lots of chips, and it's cheaper! The Swirled chips aren't carried at our Super Wal-Mart, I have to go to Wegmans to find them. Worth searching them out, though!

PB&Chocolate Oaties

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups uncooked oatmeal (I like using the Old Fashioned variety)
• 1 pkg. (11 oz.) Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Swirled Chips

Preheat oven to 350 °. Cream together butters and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, soda, cinnamon, salt and oatmeal, and beat until blended. Mix in chips. Place dollops (generous tablespoon) on cookie sheet, and bake for ten minutes. They don't brown much, so just use the timer and trust it! Let cool on cookie sheet.

I also got REAL ambitious last Wednesday and made a pie for my husband (and my brothers that were passing through) in addition to cleaning my house for meeting that night. This is Evan's favorite dessert. It's only this last year that I have successfully managed to roll out two-crust pies, so finally Evan doesn't have to depend solely on his mom for this pie!

I have two different pie crust recipes I like-- one from my Mom, for French Pie Crust, that uses butter, and Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust from Pioneer Woman that uses Crisco. I like the taste of the butter crust better (duh!) but the other one is slightly easier to work with. Here's the French Pie Crust recipe.

French Pie Crust

• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 10 1/2 T butter, diced and chilled
• 1 egg
• Pinch of salt
• 1 T of water

Mix flour and sugar in a very large bowl. Form a well and add butter, salt, and the egg mixed (but not beaten) with the water. Use a pastry cutter to gradually cut the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Roll out 1/2 dough and line a buttered pie pan. If you're doing a one crust pie and need to prebake the crust, prick it all over with a fork and bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Cool and fill. Otherwise, fill and cover with the rolled out top crust. Follow the recipe for the filling for baking directions in that case.

Speaking of fillings, I like Joy of Cooking's recipe for raspberry pie filling. I use frozen raspberries, and this recipe is for all frozen fruit and berries. It's one of the sweeter raspberry pies I've had, which is how I like it. I love fresh raspberries to eat out of hand, but if I want PIE, I want sweetness!

Raspberry Pie Filling

• 5 cups frozen berries, cherries or peaches, defrosted only until separates easily
• 3 T quick-cooking tapioca
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 T butter, melted

Mix all the ingredients together. Position the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°. Turn the filling into the unbaked pie shell and cover with a pricked or latticed top. (Yeah, like I'm ambitious enough to have tried pie lattice!). From my experience, this crust burns easily at the edges, so it is essential to fold aluminum foil into fourths, cut the corner off, and open up to (ta-da!) a ring of foil with which to cover the edges. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350° and bake about 45 minutes more. The easiest way to tell when the pie filling has cooked sufficiently is when the kitchen fills with smoke because the raspberry filling has bubbled over and burned on the bottom of the oven!

My brothers tore into it, and poor Evan only got one (albiet ginormous) piece.

More Chocolate

These recipes are feeling left out, since they weren't included in my last post about chocolate. So, in the spirit of inclusion, here are two more yummy chocolate recipes.

The first recipe is chocolate dirt cake, which gets high marks from kids. I know dirt cake isn't exactly gourmet-- you usually throw some crumbled Oreos, chocolate pudding, and maybe Cool-Whip in and call it good. This recipe has some extras, like cream cheese, that make it yummy enough to serve to adults. You may, however, want to omit the gummy worms in the adult version. They're a little... different.

Marilla liked eating one of the extra Oreos while I made this. She did NOT, however, like me poking the camera in her face instead of getting her out of her high chair the minute she demanded it.

My other recipe is a fudge recipe. It was in our newspaper years ago, and I clipped it out, then didn't make it for three years. Part of the reason was that I had such an easy fudge recipe (Microwave fudge) that it seemed silly to look for another one. Wow, this is definitely worth the extra effort (and extra expense) to make it. It's called "Mamie's Fudge" (it was Mamie Eisenhower's favorite fudge recipe), but I think of it as "Moorish Fudge." One of our friends was here the first time I tried it back in April, and as she cut herself yet another little piece, she said, "This tastes like Moorish fudge." I was desperately trying to rack my brain, wondering if this was really an international delicacy, or whether "Moorish" was some sect like the Amish or something... Then I got that it was "More-ish" fudge because you always want a little more. I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes. Even now, I picture it as "Moorish" in my head.

Chocolate Dirt Cake

• 1 (6 oz.) pkg. instant chocolate pudding
• 3 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 3 /4 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 12 oz. Cool-Whip, or 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped
• 27 oz. (1 1/2 pkgs.) Oreos (Original or DoubleStuff)
  
• Gummy worms, optional

This is a great recipe to do in the food processor, ir you have one! (I've had mine for 14 months, and I'm still passionate about it!) Obviously, you can get by without one for this recipe. First, pulse (or crush) the Oreos into fine crumbs and set aside. Then, cut the butter and cream cheese into little chunks, and place in the food processor bowl with the pudding mix, sugar, vanilla, and 1 cup of the whole milk. Pulse until blended. Use a whisk to stir in the remaining 2 1/2 cups milk. Fold in the Cool-Whip or whipped cream. Spread 1/3 of the crumbs in a 13x9 pan, then top with half the pudding mixture. Sprinkle another third of the crumbs over that, pour on the remaining pudding mixture, and finish with the last of the cookie crumbs. If serving to kids, strew gummy worms all over the top!

Mamie's Fudge (Moorish Fudge)

• 4 1/2 cups sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 can (13 1/2 oz.) evaporated milk
• 2 T butter
• 12 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
  
• 12 oz. German sweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 jar (7 or 8 oz.) marshmallow creme
• 2 cups nuts (if you like nuts in your fudge-- I usually don't!)

Combine sugar, salt, evaporated milk and butter in saucepan; boil 6 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the chocolates, marshmallow creme, and nuts. Pour boiling syrup over the chocolate mixture and stir until the chocolate is melted. Pour into a buttered 13x9 pan. Let stand a few hours before cutting. Makes about 40 (very rich!) pieces.

Summer Salads

I love eating salads, but I'm pretty lazy about making them. I have often told my sister Lindsey, who makes awesome salads with lots of interesting, finely chopped ingredients, that I would gladly scrub her bathroom for her if she came over once a week and made me a massive salad. Sadly, she did not think the commute from Alaska was really worth it.

These are two salads that are not that difficult to throw together, and even if they were, they would be worth the effort. The strawberry romaine salad was a recipe from Evan's side of the family, as many of my yummy recipes are. The Farmer's salad was one Bet made last week, and I've already had to make a huge one for me and Evan to plow through. Alas, Evan isn't crazy over it, so I've had to eat lots of it myself-- bummer!

Strawberry Romaine Salad

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 T poppyseeds
• Honey-roasted peanuts
• Romaine lettuce
• Strawberries

Combine dressing and pour over chopped peanuts, lettuce and strawberries.

Farmer's Salad (originally from All Recipes)

• 1 head iceberg lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 head fresh broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
  
• 4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese (Bet's addition, so optional, but oh-so-yummy!)
  
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 T white sugar
• 1 T distilled white vinegar
• 1 pound bacon

Fry bacon until lightly crisp. Crumble into bits, and measure one cup. Or throw the whole shebang in, as I do. In a large bowl, combine lettuce, broccoli and cheese. Prepare the dressing. Now, if you've got a large crowd to eat this right away, mix all the dressing in. Otherwise, I'd divide the salad and only dress half of it. It's a big salad, and it doesn't keep well with the dressing on it. I waited three days to dress the other half, and it was still very fresh. Oh, and throw the bacon on. It is SO good, I had to dig the leftovers out of the fridge at 10:00 the next morning for a morning snack.