Slow cooker revolution?

I picked up Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook at the library recently. Crock Pot cooking has come a long way from the days of just pot roasts and chili! This book has a ton of recipes- from soups and stews, drinks, appetizers, desserts, entrees...and yes, pot roast and chili. Some recipes I definitely will try out.

A fake recipe and a real one...

This is not a real recipe! I sure wouldn't want to try it! I found this posted on a message board:

Popcorn Dressing:

Turkey Dressing
2 cups dry bread, chunked
l tsp. Sage
¼ tsp. Rosemary (ground or leaves)
l/2 tsp. Pepper
¼ tsp. Salt
2 cups Popcorn (uncooked)

Combine ingredients and place in cavity of
Turkey. Bake in 350 oven, allowing
Approximately 20 min. per pound.
Turkey is done when popcorn
Blows ass off the bird.

For one thing, the oven temperature isn't hot enough to pop the corn. *lol* And the the final line seals it! Though it does sound almost like the "beer in the rear" chicken grills...

Now for a real recipe- today is my nephew's birthday, and he wanted to go to a local French restaurant for lunch. I had to have their onion soup. It was fabulous, and now I want to make my own. So I found a recipe I liked here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Onion-Soup-Gratinee/Detail.aspx

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
1 (48 fluid ounce) can chicken broth
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 thick slices French or Italian bread
8 slices Gruyere or Swiss cheese slices, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded Asiago or mozzarella cheese, room temperature
4 pinches paprika

Directions:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red onions and sweet onions. Cook 35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.

Mix chicken broth, beef broth, red wine and Worcestershire sauce into pot. Bundle the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf with twine and place in pot. Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the herbs. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep over low heat to stay hot while you prepare the bread.

Preheat oven broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 3 minutes, turning once, until well toasted on both sides. Remove from heat; do not turn off broiler.

Arrange 4 large oven safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice toasted bread, 2 slice Gruyere cheese and 1/4 of the Asiago or mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one.

Broil 5 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. As it softens, the cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal. Serve immediately!

I'll give this one a try the next time I want French Onion Soup.

Once again, I've neglected this blog...

And I do have recipes to share, but tonight is Super Bowl Sunday, and I'm otherwise occupied. :p

As I'm watching the game, I've been reading what online friends are having for snacks. One suggestion: Atomic Buffalo Turds.

http://www.bamaque.com/webstat/abts.htm

Merciless gods, they like to use habenera peppers. Otherwise, those sound good...if you like a lot of smoked meat and hot peppers!

From the link:

"ABT's (atomic buffalo turds) are large fresh jalapeño peppers sliced in half lengthwise with the seeds and white membrane removed. Stuffed with cream cheese a little smoky sausage and wrapped with a piece of bacon and held together with a tooth pick while cooking."

I went the boring route and ordered a Hawaiian-style pizza from a local chain.

Tomorrow, I'm sure there will be recipes for fried Cardinal, because that's how the game is going for them....:(

Special candy for Christmas...

No recipe today- just praise of a candy I usually only get at Christmas- Mozart Kugel. I've loved these since a visit to Austria 20 years ago. I love anything with marzipan in it!



I have a tin and a bag of them...and I'm not going to touch them until Christmas morning.

Nowadays, I can easily get them online from amazon.com, but keeping them for Christmas only makes them special.

YUM!!

Tricolor Cookies and Cherry Shortbread!



I've been looking for a good recipe for Tricolor Cookies (also called Rainbow Cookies) for a long time. The Washington Post had one in their food section this week! Here it is:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2008/12/10/tricolor-cookies/

I made a batch, and I'm going to make more. They're unbelievably good. They remind me of the cookies I used to get at Alfonso's Pastry on Staten Island, New York, when I was a kid!

They're still there:

http://www.cannoliexpress.com/index.php

These cookies are hard to find outside of the New York City area.



My kitchen smelled like Alfonso's shop while I was baking. It was the mixture of marzipan and orange zest that did it.


Found this recipe for Cherry Shortbread in Rachael Ray's Everyday Magazine, December 2008:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Cherry-Shortbread-Cookies-336955

Least likely to screw up! It is hard to ruin shortbread. The cherries are a nice addition. Next time, I might drizzle chocolate on them.

Thanksgiving 2008

Here's a recipe for an appetizer I make every year:

Liptauer Cheese (my mom's recipe):

1 cup salted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon (heaping) caraway seeds
1 tablespoon pickled capers, drained
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons paprika

Combine all ingredients in food processor until well blended and the seeds are well chopped. Place in a serving dish with a few whole capers and sprinkle with more paprika. Serve with crackers or pretzels.

If I didn't make this for Thanksgiving and Christmas, my sister would never speak to me again!

A history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liptau_cheese

I also made a baked brie appetizer- all I did was cover a wheel of brie with a mixture of pecans, brown sugar, and maple syrup, then baked it until the sugar and syrup bubbled. I served it with thin slices of cinnamon-sugar coated toasted French bread.

Last year's recipes:

http://kiraskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/11/for-thanksgiving.html

And finally, my family's favorite pecan pie. I've posted it elsewhere, but it belongs here!

Caramel-Pecan Pie

From Southern Living 2005 Annual Recipes

Prep. 20 minutes. Bake: 38 minutes. Cook: 7 minutes.

½ (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts
28 caramels
¼ cup butter
¼ cup water
¾ cup sugar
4 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

Chocolate dipped pecans (optional)

Fit piecrust into a 9-inch pie plate according to package directions; fold edges under and crimp. Prick bottom and sides of crust with a fork.

Bake pie crust at 400° for 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned; cool on a wire rack.

Combine caramels, butter, and ¼ cup water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until caramels and butter are melted; remove from heat.

Stir together sugar and the next three ingredients. Stir into caramel mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in pecans and pour into crust.

Bake pie at 400° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°, and bake for 20 more minutes, shielding edges of crust with aluminum foil to prevent excess browning. Remove pie to wire rack to cool. Top pie with Chocolate Dipped pecans, if desired. Serves 8.

Chocolate dipped pecans:

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
20 pecan halves, toasted

Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in microwave on high for 1 to 1 and a half minutes or until chips are melted. Dip half of each pecan in chocolate, then place on wax paper to cool.

Election Day cookies!

Gee, guess who I'm voting for... :p



I'm not going to post the recipe, but it came from the Rosie's Bakery cookbook. I've had it for a decade, and the first time I made these sugar cookies, my entire family pronounced them the best ever!