In a pinch, at first.

In my so organized and extremely together state, I made pancakes a few weeks ago.  Looked forward to the crisp pancakes with syrup.  Yum.  As the pancakes were cooking, I went for the syrup and...

Crumbs.

I had forgotten that I was out.

What to DOOOO? 

So onto the internet I went, and found a recipe for homemade pancake syrup.  It was to be made in a pinch, not as a regular staple.  The batch that I made that day was really too sweet, but the kids liked it OK. When we went to the store to get syrup, I asked them whether I should just make some again (way cheaper!) or get our usual.  They decided that they liked the homemade stuff, and although it tasted different, they'd get used to it. 

Last week I made it again, only without as much sugar and with a bit of salt to cut the sweet.

It's really good.  Definitely more than comparable to the stuff in the stores.

I'm afraid it has corn syrup in it, so if you're squeamish about that sort of thing, this recipe is not for you.  But then again, the stuff in the store has corn syrup, too.  So.

Here's the recipe:

1-1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A good pinch of salt

In a saucepan,  stir and cook the sugars, water, and corn syrup over medium heat until boils.  Boil for about 7 minutes, until slightly thickened.  Add extract.  I think I add a bit more of the maple than the recipe.  Taste and see what's good for you.  Add the salt.  Stir well.  Cool for a few minutes.  Enjoy!

Johnny Appleseed Bars

Way back when, shortly after I started this blog, I came across Forgotten Bookmarks, a unique blog written by Mr. Popek, proprietor of a used and rare bookstore.  His blog shares the items that he finds between the pages of the books that come through his shop.  I suspect that this is the kind of shop where one could easily become lost in the stacks.  Glorious.  I'm going there some day.  Sans kids.

Amongst the notes, photos, postcards, and other bits and pieces are handwritten recipes.  The thought had crossed my mind that it might be fun to make them, but I was in the middle of my 365 project and one thing led to another and I never did.  Right now, though, I'm in a bit of a blogging slump, so it seems the time to give some of them a try.  I sent Mr. Popek an email, and he graciously agreed to have me recreate these recipes.  Don't know that I'll have one everyday, but occasionally I'll try one out and see how it turns out.

Today I gave the kids the choice between three recipes for which I had the ingredients, and they chose Johnny Appleseed Bars, because Johnny Appleseed was a character that they had read about, and Adam knew he wore a pot on his head, a necessary accoutrement to any cooking expedition.

So Johnny Appleseed Bars it is.  You can see the original post here.  It was found in a copy of one of my favorite books, a 1943 edition of Charlotte Bronte.  I changed the order of the ingredients for the recipe to make sense.  Here we go:

Peel and slice 2 cups of apples.  I did this first coz I didn't want the dough to get dry while I was doing it.  So.  Peel first.  Plop in water.  Set aside.

Julia took this one, and it shows my weird thumbs in all their glory, so it had to be posted.

You know those doors where you push down the latch with your thumb?  I saw a cartoon the other day, can't think of what it was (Wild Kratts?  Word Girl?), and the bad character, a woman, had one short thumb and couldn't open the door in a moment of crisis. 

I found it sadly amusing.

Beat together 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 cup oil. 

Then you measure the brown sugar, afterwhich you put the brown sugar down and grab your camera.  After you take the above photo, you reach for the brown sugar to find that it's not there.  You look all over the counter.  You ask the kids what they did with it.  You look again.  You send everyone out of the kitchen so you can look unimpeded.  You want to scream and throw things, but restrain yourself because it just wouldn't be mature.

Then you see, out of the corner of your eye, metal.  And find, to your chagrin, that the brown sugar was...

Still in the bag. 

You ponder the notion that you're gradually losing your mind.

Then you put 2/3 cup sugar in with the egg and such and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking soda.  Add to the wet ingredients.  Then stir in 1-1/2 cup oats.

Spread half the dough in a 9" square pan.  It doesn't look like there's enough to cover, but there is.  You just have to smoosh it it well.  I greased the pan, even though the recipe doesn't say to, and I'm glad I did.  I don't think they would have come out of the pan very well if I hadn't.

Sprinkle with 1 cup nuts and 2 cup thinly sliced apples.  I used pecans, 'coz that's what I had.

Then put the rest of the dough on top.  The recipe says to smooth with a pancake turner, but I don't think that would work, because it's quite thick and doesn't look smoothable.  I took sections of the dough and flattened it in my hand before placing on top.  Even so, it barely covered.  But it did!

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Cool.  Sift some confectioner's sugar over top.  If you have a 4-year-old Adam in your house and allow him to sift, you'll end up with what looks like a winter snowstorm all over the top.  Cut into bars. 

They're yummy.

At first, I thought they'd taste just like apple crisp.  They're similar, yes, but not the same.  They so remind me of something my grandmother would make.  Full of hearty goodness.  The kids want to make them again, and both had two pieces.  I think a little bit of whipped cream would be nice on top.

So there you have it.  Who knows when this was written up, but probably not yesterday.  Not that it matters, because good recipes stand the test of time.

So.  Make these. They're a great, wintertime, comfort square.

Melty snowmen

A week or so ago, hubs' aunt posted this link to the cutest cookies EVER on Facebook.  And I just had to try them!  So I made some sugar cookie dough on Monday and stuck it in the fridge.  It seemed rather crumblier than usual for dough, and sure enough, when I went to make the cookie bases yesterday, I couldn't make it stick together to save my life.  So I grabbed the remainder of a stick of butter, about 1/3 of a cup, threw it in the dough, and beat it for a few minutes.  It was easy to form then, but I crossed my fingers that the cookies would hold their shape and not be too tough.  It seemed to work.  So if this happens to you, give adding more butter a shot.

Anyway, here are some (too many!) shots of our melty snowmen.  Which reminds me that, although it's frigid out there now, by Friday it's supposed to be warmer and melting for real!

Note that, although we were making this evening right before supper, Adam has not been out of his jammies all day!  It's the hols, man!

Julia's---with pink snowballs, of course!

It was fun playing around with the gumdrops left over from our gingerbread house making frenzy.

One of my faves.  Love her little tam-o-shanter.

Anyway, you ought to try these!  They're really fun.  It's nice not to have to mess around with cookie cutters, and the cookies are big enough for the kiddos to decorate without much in the way of assistance.  Yippee!  And did I mention again how dang CUTE they are?  But how can we eat them?  How, I ask you?  How?

Haute Cuisine at its finest

Or not.

I mean, I can make the tastiest, prettiest dishes and my kids put up their noses.

But mix some ground turkey and half a can of mushroom soup and smoosh it in a pan, take the rest of the soup and mix it with some water.  Put tater tots over top of the turkey and pour the watery soup over top then bake it until the meat is done.  And they can't get enough.

I give up. 

A little sweet and a little sour

Corner View today is about raindrops.  HA!  Here's the thing.  It has been absolutely bucking down for three days.  Flood warnings and everything.  Then it went straight from rain to snow, and it's still kind of snowy out.  Not the nice kind, though.  The slushy, then sleety, then feeling like you're hit by ice pellets kind of snow.  The kind of weather that makes a person want to pack their camera safely away.  Far away.  So that's my CV.  It's rainy.  There are lots of raindrops.  The end.

But that just won't do.  So I'm giving you a recipe perfect for when there are lots of raindrops outside and it's chilly and you just want to curl up.

Sweet and Sour meatballs.  Or whatever.  It's the sauce that's great.  Sweet and sour whatever you'd like.  Just brown the whatever first.  Then make the sauce.  Then pour over.  Serve with rice. 

The recipe as is doesn't give you much in the way of sauce to spoon over rice, so I double the sauce recipe.  Or I only make half the meatballs, since it calls for two pounds worth.  Still makes plenty.

OK. Enough.  Printer ready?  OK.  Here it is:

2 pounds lean ground beef (I used turkey here)
2 eggs
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp sugar

1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained with juice reserved
1/3 cup water
3 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1 large carrot, diced
1 large green bell pepper(I used red coz the kids will eat it) cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

DIRECTIONS
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a large, shallow baking sheet.

2.  In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs and onion.  Sprinkle with ginger, seasoning salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar.  Shape into one inch balls. 

3.   Place meatballs in a single layer on prepared baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.  Set aside.  NOTE:  My oven has been out for a month.  Yes, it's true.  *hand wringing here*  Anyway, I just browned the meatballs on the stovetop.  Worked just fine.

4.  To make the sauce, mix enough water with the reserved pineapple juice to make 1 cup.  In a large pot over medium heat, combine the juice mixture, 1/3 cup water, vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar.  Stir in cornstarch, ginger, and seasoning salt until smooth.  Cover and cook until thickened.

5.  Stir pineapple chunks, carrot, green pepper, and meatballs into the sauce (or do as I did and just add the sauce to the meatballs in the family sized skillet on the stovetop).  Gently stir to coat the meatballs with the sauce.  Simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, or until meatballs are thoroughly cooked.

And you'll have this: 

Perfect for raindroppy days!

Day 331: A little slice of paradise

Posting yesterday's photo today.  I'm still not 100% well, I don't think, and when the kids went to bed, so did I.

So--here's yesterday's photo, of one of my favorite recipes ever EVER!  And because I love you I'm even going to share the recipe!

OK. Here's the photo of a Nanaimo Bar.

Those of you who live in British Columbia and have these at every party you go to and know the recipe like the back of your hand can go and do your nails or something now.  But let me tell you, if you live somewhere else and have never had these before--trust me.  You're going to want to bookmark this. 

The thing is, one of the ingredients you can only get in certain parts of the world, and the US grocery store is not one of them.  I keep stocked by getting some when I go home to Canada.  You may need to order it in.  Or grab a can when you go to Canada or Great Britain.  Or better yet, book a flight right NOW to Canada or Great Britain just to get some!  British Columbia is beautiful this time of year, and summer isn't quite over!

But I digress.

*ahem* The Recipe

BOTTOM LAYER

Melt together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, and 5 TBSP of cocoa powder.

Add one beaten egg.  Cook and stir until thickened.

Add 1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup coconut.  You can add some nuts, too, but I don't.  Press into an ungreased 9 inch pan.  Or be a wuss like me and cover the bottom with waxed paper, and then when you're ready to slice them at the end, dump the whole thing on a cutting board and peel of the paper before flipping it right side up and cutting.  I hate even the possibility of these sticking to the pan. Even though chances are they won't.  Carry on.

Chill for 1/2 an hour.  Or do as I did last night when I was in a bit of a rush and throw it in the freezer for a bit.

SECOND LAYER

Cream together 2 cups icing sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter, 3 TBSP cream or milk, and 2 TBSP of Bird's Custard Powder (That's the secret ingredient. Go to the handy-dandy link to order it. I tried Amazon, and it was twice the price!  Whaaaat?)

THIRD LAYER

Melt together 2/3 cup chocolate chips and 2 Tbsp butter and spread over the top.  This batch I was in a rush and to make it easier to spread--and because I like chocolate--I doubled the chocolate/butter bit.  Sue me!

After you've chilled it a bit, cut it into little pieces because it's really rich and you don't need much.

Then lock yourself in a room with the whole darn thing and don't come out until it's gone.

(In the picture you can see the top looks kind of damp?  It's because I was in a hurry, trying to make this FAST for the RS dinner, and I threw it in the freezer.  Uh--yeah.  Don't do that if you don't want little condensation drops on your chocolate.)

OK.  Now I'm off for leftovers.

Photo for today later!

Day 272: Caraway Take 1

This past weekend, I mentioned cleaning my spice jars and wondering what to do with caraway.  Today was my first experiment with it. 

Loving borscht and not having made it in forever, when I came across this recipe it seemed the thing to do.

So I grabbed a beet or two

(I might have to put this photo up in my kitchen.  I'm surprised how much I like it)

If you want to follow along, go print up the recipe, and I'll bring you through it.

Recipe calls for thinly slicing the potatoes and beets.  I decided to grate them instead, to make it a bit more palatable for the kids.  Didn't think they'd eat a big hunk of beet.  So I ran the beets and potatoes through the grater attachment to my food processor. 

Peeling the beets is so fun.  You get to dye your hands like this:

The recipe says to put the potatoes and beets and broth in a small saucepan, which I did.  But then it says to put the onion, caraway, and butter in a large skillet.  I didn't see how everything was going to fit in the skillet once all the vegies were added, so I sweated the onion in my soup pot.

Here's the caraway going in!

Using caraway this week as in the spice post?  Check.  Note the pink onions in the pot?  Gotta hate cutting yourself while cooking.  Hehe.  I used the same knife that I peeled the beets with to chop the onion, and I DIDN'T RINSE IT FIRST.   Pbthst.  Sue me.  Pink onions.  Serves them right for making me cry, I say.

After putting the caraway in, I decided it didn't smell caraway-y enough so threw in a bit more.  Probably another 1/2 tsp.  I used more dill than called for as well--just chopped up a bunch and threw 'er in.  There was some left-over pork rib that was in the fridge that needed to be used up, so it was chopped up and in it went.  Used a small can of tomato sauce instead of tomato puree. 

Other than that, recipe is as in the link.

And it was really, really yummy.  Served it with some sour cream, the kids thought it was fun turning the soup pink.  And both inhaled it.  J took a small lick of it at first to check it out, and her eyes got all round and "YUMMY!" and it was downed.  A took a little more time, but he liked it, too, which is a miracle in our house, Mr. Picky that he is. 

 

Definitely will be making this again.  A good reason to keep caraway on the spice rack.

Day 223: Potato chocolates

I made the centers for these awhile ago, and they've been covered and in the fridge.  Tonight I HAD to dip them, because I'm going to BC for ten days to visit my dad, who is ill, and my sister, who has been caring for him.  So.  Midnight chocolate dipping.

These taste just like Mounds chocolates.  And they have an interesting ingredient that helps give it the same texture.

Sorry.  Straight out of the camera.  For obvious reasons.  I can hardly keep my eyes open, and if I tried to edit them, they might end up green or something.

Pennsylvania Dutch Coconut Easter Eggs.

3/4 cup mashed potatoes--unsalted, unmilked, and unbuttered.

2 cups flaked coconut--fresh or dried.

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

3-1/2 cup confectioner's sugar.

8 os semisweet chocolate.

1 Tbsp vegetable oil.

In mixing bowl, mix potato, coconut, salt, and vanilla.  Gradually mix in sugar.  Cover.  Refrigerate overnight (or longer...uh...yeah...).  Shape into 1/2 tbsp size eggs (I think mine were more.  I used the Pampered Chef mini scoop)  Heat chocolate and oil until chocolate melts.  Dip eggs into chocolate and oil mixture.  Set aside on wax paper in refrigerator to harden.

If mixture is too wet, DON'T add more sugar.  Add more coconut instead.  Otherwise the candy will go even softer.

Day 185: Puffins

This morning I decided, since we had enough time before church, to make cinnamon puffs.  Mom used to make these, and every once in awhile I make a batch.  "The bishopric could use a pick up after morning meetings," I said to myself.  And proceeded to double the batch.  "Cream shortening and sugar."  Shortening?  In.  2 cups sugar?  Check.  Turn on kitchenaid.

Crud.  2 cups sugar DIVIDED.  OK.  How to fix this?  The recipe was already doubled.  Now it had to be doubled AGAIN.  I had bowls and muffin tins all over the place, mixing here, taking from there, adding here--it was a frenzy of bakey craziness.  I should have taken a picture of my kitchen, every counter with a bowl or pan full of muffin batter.  Enough batter to make 4 dozen muffins, only two pans, and 30 minutes before we have to leave for church.

Crumbs.

Fill muffin tins a bit more than normal.  Put the rest of the batter in a loaf pan.  Close the oven door.  Set the timer, and hope for the best.

Here's what we got:

And finally:

The loaf also worked, but it is wrapped now and ready for delivery.  Frankly, we're puffined out!

Here the recipe (not doubled!)

1-1/2  cups flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground nutmeg, divided (Hmn.  Reading this now, I realize I didn't divide the nutmeg either.  Just threw in the whole kaboodle.  Sheesh)

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup sugar, divided

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine.

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a medium mixign bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 tsp nutmeg (in retrospect, I like them so much with the full dose of nutmeg, I might just keep it full strength, and then add extra when needed at the end.  But I digress).    In another bowl, beat shortening, 1/2 cup sugar, egg, and vanilla until well blended.  Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat in the milk until smooth.  Fill each cup of a lightly greased 12-up muffin tin two-thirds full with batter.  Bake 20 minutes, or until light golden brown.  Melt butter using your preferred method of meltage.  Personally, I use the microwave.  If a  blow torch works for you, go crazy.  In a small bowl, combing 1/2 cups sugar, cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg (which, since I had put the whole shabang in with the batter, and since I was in such a flurry at this point, I didn't include here today).  While the puffs are warm, dip each one in butter, then in sugar mixture, coating thoroughly.  Store in an airtight container.

The Bish, being from the south, looked at them and said, "I'll bet these would be great with butter."  Ah yes--puffins made with shortening, dipped in butter, and then slathered in more butter!  Paula Dean would be so pleased...

Day 55: Stuffed Pumpkin

Every Autumn, we stuff a pumpkin. I can't remember when I first had one of these--mom used to do them, and I continued after moving away.  There's not really much to one, except that they look kind of neat on the table. 

Today, Julia went out and gathered a bunch of leaves to put around it.

Just as we were getting ready to sit down and eat, we hear a knocking at the door.  Argh--who could it be visiting at dinner time, for goodness sake?  "Hello--we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."  Us:  "Have you eaten yet?"  "No, we're just out tracting."  "Well come on in!"  So they did.  And just as Elder #1 was dishing up, he says, "Are there tomatoes in this?"  "Yes."  "Elder #2 is allergic to tomatoes."  Awkward.  "Hang on!"  So downstairs I go, grab some sausage, potatoes, vegies.  To the microwave and the stove and whew.  I can feed the guy.  Meanwhile, though, A is getting crazy (time change=grumpy earlier), so I head upstairs with him, leaving dinner on the table.

Finally, after everyone was in bed, I came downstairs, dished up, and reheated it.  And it was the perfct ending to the day.  I wouldn't say it's fancy food.  It's pretty basic and comfy comfy. 

And easy to make.  Here's how:

Give a lobotomy to a medium sized pumpkin and scoop out the innerds.

Salt the inside.

Place upside down in a good sized pan with about an inch of water in the bottom.  Lid, too.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

In the meatime, cook 1-1/2 cups of rice the usual way (I used beef broth, though).  While that's doing it's thing, brown a pound of hamburger or sausage with an onion. Add a can of diced tomotoes.  Season to taste.  Throw in some vegetables.  Mix the cooked rice with the meat mixture. 

Take out the pumpkin, dump out the water, and turn the pumpkin right side up.  Stuff the rice in the pumpkin.  Stick it back in the oven and bake for another half hour until the pumpkin is tender.  When you serve it, be sure and scoop out the cooked pumpkin, too.  Butter and salt and yum!

Last year I think I did something different, but I can't remember anything really except there was some curry in it, I think.  Really, you can make whatever slumgullion deal you want for the inside.

Enjoy!