Brown Sugar Fudge

My grandparents love fudge.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that my grandpa lives off the stuff.  Grandma on the other hand has to be very careful about her sugar intake, but she's been known to sneak a piece or two.  They both love chocolate fudge and as you've seen from previous posts, I've had a lot of bad experiences with fudge.  I've finally found a few trusted recipes that I use over and over again, but the problem is, they are all chocolate fudge recipes.  Well that's great if you only want chocolate fudge, but sometimes you just want something different.  This recipe from Taste of Home for Maple Fudge is delicious the way it is, but if you leave out the maple extract and add some corn syrup, it makes a TREMENDOUS brown sugar fudge that is absolutely heavenly.  Either way, give this recipe a try and be prepared to be dazzled by some delicious fudge. 

As a word of warning about fudge, fudge is very touchy, don't be surprised if your first batch (or your 10th) batch isn't perfect.  Some days something as small as the humidity can throw off your fudge.  Just be patient and observant. 

Recipe

1-1/2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup butter, softened, divided

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Line a 9-in. square pan with foil and grease the foil with 1-1/2 teaspoons butter; set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk, corn syrup and remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring mixture to a rapid boil (this means that when you stir it, it continues to boil), stirring constantly for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat. Gradually add confectioners' sugar; mix well.  Immediately spread into prepared pan. Cool. Using foil, lift fudge out of pan. Cut into 1-in. squares. Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Vanilla Peppermint Cookie

Unfortunately I didn't get to make a lot of Christmas cookies this year.  The few cookies that I did get to make I ended up sending overseas to my friend Ken, see Ken's Chocolate, Beer, Bacon cookies.  In that care package I also sent over these festive take on chocolate chip cookies.  I discovered this delicious recipe for puffy chocolate chip cookies from The Food Network and one of my favorite TV chef's Alton Brown.  His recipe for The Puffy chocolate chip cookie has become a staple in my pantry.  So when I was wondering how in the world I could make a cookie that would meld well with the peppermint chips and still have the consistency of a chocolate chip cookie, this cookie immediately came to mind.  Turns out, it was a winner! 

I made the original The Puffy cookie recipe but changed the add ins and the ratio of vanilla. 
Give this cookie a try and you'll be sure to enjoy the hint of vanilla with the refreshing blast of peppermint. 

Recipe

1 cup butter-flavored shortening or butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2  teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups Andes Peppermint baking chips

 

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in the mixer's work bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. In the meantime, combine together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.  Add the eggs  to the creamed mixture. Then add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and combine well. Stir in the peppermint chips. Chill the dough.  Bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.  Remove from the oven and enjoy with a glass of milk for a warm treat with a burst of minty goodness. 

Italian Sausage and Spaghetti Squash dinner

 I saw this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine and I just knew that I had to try it.  I'm normally not a fan of sausage, but there was just something about this recipe that called to me.  I love spaghetti squash and the combination of sausage, beans and zucchini seemed too good to pass up.  I was right!  This recipe is SSSSOOOO good, you definitely need to try it!  I ate it for breakfast a couple of mornings, lunch the same days and finally for dinner and never once did I get tired of it!  In fact, I can hardly wait to get back to school and make this again.   Since I don't like onion or cooked green peppers, I left those out of the recipe. 

Recipe 

1 medium spaghetti squash (3 to 3-1/2 pounds)

1/2 cup water

1 pound bulk sausage

sprinkling of onion powder

1 small zucchini, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 can (15-1/2 ounces) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of tomato sauce ( I used homemade tomato sauce)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

Shredded Parmesan cheese

 

     Pierce holes in the squash.  Microwave for two minutes at a time until the skin of the squash is soft.  Let cool for five minutes and then halve squash lengthwise and discard seeds. Place, cut side up, in an oven-safe dish. Cook at 350 degrees for an hour.
     While the squash is in the oven, brown sausage in a large skillet until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the onion powder and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes . Add the beans, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, zucchini, and salt. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until heated through.
    When squash is cool enough to handle, use a fork to separate strands; place in a serving dish. Top with sausage mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

This could also be made vegetarian as pointed out by one of my friends using vegetarian chorizo. 

Old School Dessert

My mom had to take a dessert to a potluck and came home with a two large containers of cottage cheese, two of Cool-Whip and two of cherry jello.  I looked at her like she was crazy!  I asked her what she planned on doing with those ingredients and she told me that she was making her dessert.  I thought she was crazy.  Turns out, a teacher at my mom's school had brought it in one day and claimed that it was the newest recipe craze.  My mom thought she was nuts; turns out my grandma used to make it for my mom when she was a child.  The recipe is so easy and tastes so good!  Red 40 and I don't react well together, but I was really craving raspberry so I decided to chance it.  Turns out, in very small quanities it doesn't give me a migraine, so yeah for that! 
With no further ado, here's the recipe and please enjoy!

One container of th Cool - Whip of you choice (fat - free, regular or sugarless)
One container of cottage cheese (also of your choice)
One package of Jello, flavor of your choice

Mix the Cool-Whip, cottage cheese and Jello together.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until the Jello has absorbed and the mixture has set. 
Enjoy!

Ken's Chocolate, Beer, Bacon Cookies

A friend of mine, Ken, was deployed to Afghanistan.  I should mention Ken is a Marine and Marines enjoy beer and bacon.  However, it's really hard to just send beer and bacon overseas.  So I needed some way to get these two things over to Ken without just shipping over a 12 pack and a giant slab of bacon.  So after brainstorming with some friends, I decided that if a picked a dark chocolate stout and combined it with some super crispy bacon, I might be able to make a cookie that wasn't totally disgusting.  I found a recipe online from Betty Crocker but I realized I couldn't garnish them with the chocolate or bacon pieces because they wouldn't stick when I shipped them overseas.  The first batch I made wasn't perfect, so here is the perfected recipe.  I know that they sound weird, but they are actually really good and a guaranteed way to make any man, woman  or bacon lover in your life happy. 

Recipe
6 slices crisply cooked bacon 
1 pouch Betty Crocker® double chocolate chunk cookie mix

1/2 c. butter, softened     

1 egg                                                                                                                             

1/4 c. dark, chocolate, stout beer, the darker the better     

1/4 c. packed brown sugar                                       

1 c. dark chocolate chips                                          

  If you're not going to send these off to Afghanistan, then you can add the ganache, or shiny chocolate coating on top that is on the recipe above, click on the Betty Crocker link. 

Bake the bacon on a rack for 20 to 30 minutes at 400 degrees until it is super crispy.  Let cool. 
Heat oven to 375°F.
Crumble the slices of the cooked bacon into small pieces; place in large bowl. Add cookie mix, butter, egg and 1/4 c. of beer; stir until dough forms.  Scoop the dough into 2-inch balls; place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 11 to 13 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

    Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Dessert Bars

I don't like pumpkin pie, I know that around Thanksgiving that is completely sacrilegious, but the texture is really off putting for me.  I also don't like Jello and pumpkin pie filling reminds me of the texture of Jello.  Yick!  Of course, my family loves pumpkin pie, especially my grandparents, so this year I decided to compromise and make a layered pumpkin bar for dessert.  I had seen people create these kinds of desserts before, but I had never made one for myself.  So I figured, why not?  I'll be honest with you, I got the recipe from Kraft recipes but I changed the topping from pecans to some of the left over gingersnap crust that I had left.  This recipe was great and I'm looking forward to making it for my friends at some point, it's a great pumpkiny treat that doesn't have to be made only at Thanksgiving.

Recipe

25 Ginger snaps, finely crushed (about 1-1/3 cups)

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 eggs

2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

2 cups cold milk

1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divide

Heat oven to 350°F.  Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Leave about 2 Tbsp for adding to the top. Bake 10 min.

      Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add pumpkin and spices; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each just until blended; pour over crust.

30 min. or until center is almost set. Cool 1 hour.     
Beat pudding mixes and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup whipped topping. Spread over dessert; cover with remaining whipped topping.

 

Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Sprinkle with left over ginger snaps before serving.

Lazy Lasagna

    Since my brother wasn't home for Thanksgiving this year until Friday night, we decided to have Thanksgiving on Saturday so that meant that for the rest of us, my mom and grandparents, we needed to have something for Thanksgiving.  Last year we had a mini Thanksgiving dinner and it wasn't such a good idea because by the time we got to the big Thanksgiving meal, we were all tired of turkey.  So this year I threw out the idea of lasagna and surprisingly everyone was on board.  I wanted something cheesy, meaty, and noodley, the essentials for lasagna.  This recipe for Lazy Lasagna was absolutely perfect!   It also makes a perfect week night dinner because it comes together easily and bakes quickly. 

Recipe
1 lb ground beef
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
16 oz of ricotta cheese
2 c. sour cream
8 uncooked lasagna noodles
3 pkgs of sliced mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 c. of water

   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Brown meat in a large skillet over medium heat.  Drain meat and mix in the spaghetti sauce.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until heated through.  In a separate pan, combine the ricotta cheese and sour cream and blend well. 
   Spoon some of the meat sauce in the bottom of the pan and then layer the noodles over the top of the sauce.  Make sure that the noodles go all the way to the edge of the pan, then cover with the ricotta and sour cream blend.  Layer the mozzarella slices and some of the Parmesan cheese over the ricotta and sour cream mixture.  Add more meat sauce, layer the noodles, then the ricotta mixture, and the finally the mozzarella and Parmesan.  Continue this until you run out meat and sauce, ricotta and sour cream and mozzarella and Parmesan.  This should be about 2 layers in a 9x13 inch pan.  Once you've finished layering the lasagna, lay the mozzarella slices across the top.  Carefully add the cup of water around the edges (this will help the noodles cook) and tightly cover the pan with foil.  Bake for 1 hour or until hot and bubble.  Let stand for 15 minutes and then serve! 

Thick Apple Pie

     I love apple pie.  There is nothing better than a thick slice of apple pie; the smells of  the cinnamon and sweet sugar, crisp, tart apples, flaky pie shell and it's just HEAVEN on Earth.  I'm pretty sure that I inherit this love of apple pie from my grandpa, who believes that pie is the greatest form of food to ever exist.  Elderberry, blackberry, raspberry, or any kind of fruit pie and he was happy, but apple was was his absolute favorite.  Unlike me, grandpa likes his apple pie filling to be runny, I like my apple pie filling to be thick and stay in place and until this pie, I never had any luck.  My grandma always told me that is was all about how much liquid was in the apples and I believe that there is some truth to that, but I also think that giving the apples some time to sit and give off some of their juices and then adding more flour to the filling, helping to create a thicker filling. 
   If you're in the mood for pie, this is the pie to try.  Nothing is better than the smells that waft from your oven when you're cooking an apple pie.  It's the perfect treat anytime, not just for fall.  I love apple pie for Christmas, the cinnamon and sugar mixed with the tart apples, yumm, my mouth is watering as a type this.  So give this pie a try and enjoy!
     As for pie crusts, sometimes I make my own and I'll include the recipe, but other times I use a refrigerated pie crust that you can buy in the store.  I know that that is technically cheating, but if you're in a hurry, it's the way to go

Pie Crust Recipe 
2 c. flour
3/4 tsp of salt
1/2 c. lard or vegetable shortening
3 Tbsp of COLD water.

     The key to good pie crust is to not touch it, work with it as little as possible and to not use much water. 
Sift the flour and the salt together into a mixing bowl.  Use forks to work either the lard or vegetable shortening into the flour.  Add the water until it just comes together.  Then roll it out and lay it in the pie plate.  This is the way my mom does it.  When I do it, I use my food processor, but I just barely process it until it just comes together.  It should still look at bit crumbly.  I take it out of the food processor and bring it together, roll it out and put it in the pie plate.  The key is keeping the lard or shortening from getting warm. 

Pie Filling
1 c. of sugar
3 to 4 Tbsp of flour
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp of salt
6 to 7 cups of sliced Granny Smith Apples
2 Tbsp of butter
1 Tbsp of lemon juice
Bowl of water

    In order to keep the apples from getting brown, peel and slice them into water that has a 1 Tbsp of lemon juice in it.  Make sure that they are well coated in the water and then drain them.  In a giant bowl add the sugar, 2 Tbsp of the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Mix the apples into the sugar and flour mixture and let sit for half an hour. 
    After half an hour, check the consistency of the apples and add the rest of the flour.  You want the mixture to be incredibly thick before you pour it into the pie pan.  Once you have poured the apples into the bottom crust, dot the top with the butter and roll the other pie crust over the top.  Seal it by using a fork and gently pushing the two crusts together.  The pie will seem incredibly full, but as it cooks, the apples will cook down.  Cut a slice in the top so that the steam can vent out.  Then take your basting brush and cover the top pie crust lightly with milk.  Then sprinkle a generous helping of sugar across the top crust.  Cover the edges of the pie with tin foil and bake at 425 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until the center crust is brown. 

Green Bean Soup (Bean soup)

          So I know it's been a while since I've last updated my blog.  Since it was the end of the semester it's always a little hectic and I go into school work mode, which means I cook and bake a ton but I don't have enough time to write about it.  So since Christmas is over and it's New Year's Eve and I've been really sick for the past couple of days, I decided to stay in and update my blog.  I know it doesn't sound like the best New Year's plan ever, but I don't want to risk getting sick again.  I've been sick for about three weeks and let me tell you, for a while it felt like I was never going to get better. 
        Onto happier thought though, this bean soup is an absolute favorite of our family.  We plant a huge garden every year and we make this bean soup with green beans fresh out of the garden. Literally, we can barely wait for the first batch of beans to get ripe so that we can make this soup.   In the winter when the green beans aren't quite as good, we use beans that we have canned from the summer.  I would recommend that if you're not fortunate enough to have fresh (or canned yourself) green beans on hand, use store bought canned green beans.  Make sure to drain and rinse off the beans before using and if you use store bought canned green beans, you can skip the boiling part since your beans are already soft.  This soup can really be made to your own taste, it really involves playing with the garlic and pepper to try and find a combination that is perfect for you.

Recipe

1/2 pound of bacon, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 tablespoons of flour
2 or 3 can of evaporated milk
2 cans of green beans (or a pound of fresh)
2 or 3 cups of milk (don't use less than 1%, it will make the soup taste funny)
1 tsp of garlic salt
1/2 tsp of pepper

Directions
      If using fresh green beans, snip off the ends, cut them into bite-sized pieces and put them in a pot of salted water.  Bring to a boil and boil the beans until they can easily be pierced with a fork.  Drain and set aside.  If using canned beans, open, rinse and set aside, no need to pre-boil. 
      Fry the bacon in a the bottom of a large soup pot.  Cook the bacon until it's very crispy, because putting it in the soup will soften it and you don't want it to be mushy.  Once the bacon is done, remove the bacon pieces from the grease with a slotted spoon, but keep the grease in the pan, that's how we will build our roux.  Turn the heat down to low on the pan of grease and add the flour.  Depending on how much flour you add, the soup will either be thicker or thinner.  3 Tbsps makes a medium thick soup, 2 Tbsps would make a thinner soup and 4 Tbsps would make a thicker soup (this also depends on the amount of milk you add) .  Stir the flour into the grease and cook for a few minutes, at least 3 maybe 4 minutes so that you cook the raw flour taste out. 
       When the flour and grease are a golden brown color, begin whisking the mixture.  While whisking slowly add the cans of evaporated milk.  The evaporated milk is what gives this soup its great flavor and mouth feel, so you can choose how much you add.  I would highly suggest the three cans, but that's my preference.  Make sure to whisk constantly or you'll get little flour lumps and they are not tasty. 
        Once you've added all of the evaporated milk, add in the regular milk.  Now here is the key to the regular milk situation.  Depending on how you want your soup, either thick or thin, is the key to how much milk you want to add.  For thick soup, only add a cup or two of regular milk, for thin soup add anywhere from three to four cups of milk.  I normally do an even three and three for a medium soup. 
        Next comes the seasoning.  This is also done by taste.  I normally add at least 1tsp of garlic salt, but if that's not enough then I switch to garlic powder and regular salt.  I don't add a lot of salt because the bacon is rather salty.  I also had a generous 1/2 tsp to a 1tsp of pepper (depending on taste).  This is really a soup that you just have to continue to taste until you have that AHA moment. 
When you think you've got the perfect soup, add your green beans and bacon back to the pot and serve hot. 
       This is a soup that I've made a 1,000 times and every time I do, I have to do it by taste.  I've tried to pay attention so that I have an exact recipe and when I told my grandmother what I was doing, she laughed.  She said "My mother just threw in pinches and handfuls and gave everything a big stir and presto, delicious"  I guess this is just one of those soups where a pinch here and pinch there and suddenly you've got magic.  My family has been making this soup forever and I can hardly wait to someday feed my family this soup!