High Altitude Cooking

Roasted Chestnuts

2011-12-23T09:26:00.005-07:00

Fresh Chestnuts, ready for the oven.

Slice an 'X' through the Chestnut shells prior to roasting.

Skip this step and you'll be sorry...

Ever roasted chestnuts? Fresh from the oven, with a dash of sea salt, they're quite delightful.

And, pretty easy to do, if you follow directions. Last Christmas I bought a pound of fresh Chestnuts and decided to give this tradition a try. The outcome was not nearly as cozy and romantic as I expected.

They explode! In unison!

When you remove them from a hot oven and they hit the cooler air it's like 4th of July all over the kitchen. So, that was not good. But, the remnants were quite tasty.

Our jazzy Christmas table settings.

Roasting Chestnuts:

Slice a criss cross into the shells.
Place on a baking sheet.
Cook in a 375 (F) oven for about 30 minutes
The criss-crossed shells will curl back letting you know when they are done.
As soon as they are cool enough to touch, pop them out of their shells. (It's a lot harder to remove them when they're cool.)
Spritz with a buttery flavored cooking spray.
Sprinkle with sea salt.

What I've learned:
* In the mountains, try a cooler oven. Bake at 375 (F) vs. the 425 you see in directions all over the web.
** No need to soak them in salt water. That's a waste of time since the moisture and salt permeate the shells, not the chestnuts, and you're throwing the shells away.

Fun Facts to Know and Tell:
Chestnuts are one of the healthiest nuts you can nibble. Low in calories, low in fat, rich in vitamins, minerals and protein. Nutritionally similar to brown rice with loads more flavor.

Sparklers, Sangria plus a Miracle on Bourbon St.

2011-12-14T12:58:00.007-07:00

A Toast to the Holidays! Live, Laugh & Loaf.

I'm feeling SUPER special today because my lame cooking blog is getting some attention! A PR agency (from New York City!) sent me pics and recipes for holiday cocktails.

Sparklers!

Yeah, yeah, I'm being a little facetious. It's easy to become overly-sensitive when you live in Utah, where no booze is allowed to cross state lines. (Bye-bye free samples.) Where everyone just assumes you're a hick. Even when you're not.

I used to work in New York. Produced many a television commercial there. Not always by choice! As low woman on the totem pole, I got saddled with a December TV production project every single year. Because my boss.. and, my boss's boss... and, my boss's boss's boss much preferred to stay home for the holidays.

But, enough about that. Manhattan is a magical place at Christmas time. So, I was delighted to see these very clever uptown concoctions. Ideal for the many parties we've been invited to.

Sparklers!

4 oz. VOGA Sparkling Pinot Grigio
1 oz. Vodka
.5 oz. Raspberry Liqueur
.5 oz. Soho Lychee Liqueur

* It's practically impossible to substitute the unique flavor of Lychee, an exotic Asian fruit. (To get close, mimic a combo of grapes, strawberries and watermelon.)
** If you have never tried a sparkling Pinot Grigio before, you might be surprised. Less sweet than champagne. Delightful.

Sangria

Sangria!

2 bottles VOGA Merlot (Or, try an old vine Zinfandel)
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/3 cup Triple Sec (orange-flavored liqueur)
1 blood orange (cut into sections)
1 very tart apple (cut into sections)
1 cup of cherries
1/4 cup fresh pomegranate seeds
1/4 cup sugar
2 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Let this percolate in your refrigerator overnight, allowing plenty of time for the fruit flavors to blend.

Miracle on Bourbon Street

1 sugar cube
4 dashes of angostura bitters
1/2 shot of bourbon
Top up with VOGA Premium Sparkling Pinot Grigio

Midnight Kiss

Midnight Kiss

2 oz. VOGA Italia Sparkling
1 oz. apple cider
.5 oz. ginger vodka
Juice from ½ lemon
1 apple (sliced)

VOGA is a collection of Italian wines, very reasonably priced, all quite tasty. Bottled as such to attract attention. Will it work? I dunno. Especially with the name VOGA, which sounds like vodka... and a bottle that looks like vodka. Well, I'm stumped. And, slightly relieved I don't have to produce their t.v. commercials.

But, who cares? Wow your buds with some clever uptown libations. 'Tis the season.

Skier, Snowboarder Bodacious Breakfast

2011-12-11T12:47:00.023-07:00

Here's a best kept secret about skiing and snowboarding.. the pros recommend a high carb breakfast to give you the energy to play this hard all day long. (You'll burn 1,700+ calories and you won't even notice.)

Think about it! Just how often in our healthy-eating-obsessed US of A do we get permission to dive headfirst into a high carb meal??

Well, today you get to do just that! Provided you can prove you bought yourself a lift ticket.

Ski Bum Bodacious Breakfast:
* This is a great 'weekender' breakfast for house guests, prior to hitting the slopes. Serves 8 normal people or 4 Lindsey Vonn wannabes.

4 cups, uncooked, hash browns*
8 eggs
2 cups chopped ham, or cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup lite sour cream
1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese

Add a little oomph with 1/2 c. cheddar and 1/2 c. pepper jack cheese.

1/2 cup chopped shallots
2 chopped green onions, tops and all
3 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
Rounded bottom glass or coffee cup. (More on that, later.)

How To:
*Sighs heard 'round the world* With this recipe, you really do have to follow directions.

Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish, press a very thin layer of hash browns (about 1 cup) into the dish.
Bake @ 350 (F) for about 10 minutes, until the hash browns are crisp. (This is your crust. :)
Melt the butter, brown the shallots, turn off the heat. If you use a very large pan, this warm pan can double as your mixing bowl when you stir up the rest of the goodies.
Mix in hash browns, ham, milk, sour cream, green onions and cheese.
Pour this mixture over the crispy hash browns in your baking dish.
Grab that rounded bottom drinking glass and make 8 depressions into this delightful mess. Crack 1 fresh egg into each of the 8 depressions.
Pop it in the oven. Bake @ 350 F for 30-40 minutes.

1 full ski day burns 1700 calories!

Hash Browns:
I use the refrigerated grocery store brands, to save time. Shredding your own is great. Buying dehydrated or frozen works okay, too. Refrigerated or shredding your own, of course, provides the most nutritional value.

Ham and Bacon:
There is much ado these days about nitrate-free meats. A BETTER BET is to simply purchase low sodium products.
~ No bacon or ham brand is nitrite-free, no matter what the label suggests. (Sorry to burst your bubble, but this also includes ~~Whole Paycheck~~ Whole Foods.)
~ Nitrite is toxic to microbes, including the bacteria that causes botulism, so it's an important preservative that hasn't caused a true health risk since the 1970's (after which nitrate levels were drastically re-formulated.)

Follow @Kate_HAGardens

Moderation is Overrated: Sublime Crab Dip

2011-11-28T13:22:00.021-07:00

It was touch and go for awhile there but we did manage to pull off a simply fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.

The biggest mess occurred when I was too busy watching t.v. to notice that the Pomegranate Molasses something or other [that goes on top the turkey] was boiling over on top the stove.

In spite of it being a crispy, crunchy mess it added a terrific bit of fruity flavor to an otherwise ho-hum main course.

We went whole hog on the turkey this year. Buying a free range bird that cost a princely sum.

And, I hate to even type this... but IMHO it wasn't worth the money. Didn't taste all that great.

However! I think that might be us and not the bird. This family has never had a turkey that wasn't mass (read: mean) produced and injected with all sorts of flavor enhancers... We'll continue down this organic path and hope to get it right next year.

It may not look all that pretty but it was 2 die 4.

Our most mouth-watering delicacy of the day was conjured up by daughter, L. She concocted a super tasty and oh, so Zesty Crab Dip. (That's crab with a 'C' not a 'K', the moniker for faux crab.)

L calls this her Cheesy Gut Bomb. I refined the title to have appetite appeal for blog visitors! (If I ever get some.)

Moderation is Overrated Crab Dip
* Bake this in a 350 (F) oven until it's all ooey gooey.

1 pound real deal Blue Swimming crab
1 cup Mozarella cheese
1 cup Pepper Jack cheese
1/2 cup Asiago cheese
1/4 cup light mayonnaise (Yes, light! Gotta trim calories somewhere!)
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon Wasabi
1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
4 tablespoons roasted garlic (the kind that comes in the jars.)
A dash of Worcestershire
A spritz of lemon juice

Scoop up this delightful mess on toasted Baguette slices, dripping with melted Parmesan cheese.

* Might as well butter the bread before you toast it. I mean... if we'z gonna die of a fat-induced coma, let us go out with a bang!

Here's hoping you had a simply marvelous Turkey Day. And, 3 cheers to you, if you found a way to wiggle outta doin' the dishes.

Overnight Breakfast Casserole

2011-11-23T09:39:00.012-07:00

Living in a ski resort makes me super popular. The local hotels are ridiculously over-priced, prompting phone calls from people I haven't spoken to in years. They're hoping to score free lodging and I always say yes. Even when I don't want to. :)

'Twas all these overnight guests that inspired me to become a pro at breakfast casseroles. Egg bakes are a great skier's breakfast and super easy on the cook. (That would be me.) Just toss it in the oven and sip coffee until it's done.

That is... IF it ever gets done.

Egg casseroles, baked the normal way ~ in traditional metal or glass pans ~ don't behave very well. The edges cook way too fast. The center cooks way too slow.

That used to drive me nuts until I figured out that baking egg dishes in a bundt pan works like a charm. Evenly distributes the heat. Speeds up the whole baking process. House guests think you're a rock star. Which is great! Unless, of course, you don't want them to return.

Overnight Breakfast Casserole
* You can mix this up in a jiffy, but it should be refrigerated overnight.

1 package Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage crumbles (this stuff is fully cooked.)
1 package zesty Italian croutons (I use Pepperidge Farms.)
1 cup asparagus tips
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tablespoon sweet basil
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 cups liquid eggs (like Better 'n Eggs or Eggbeaters.) Or, a dozen shell eggs.
1 cup milk
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Mozzarella cheese

Stir all these goodies together. Spray the bundt pan with buttery flavored (fat-free) cooking spray. Pour this delightful mess into the bundt pan and refrigerate overnight. Bake @ 350° (F) for 40 to 50 minutes.

* If you're in a hurry, you can buy ingredients that are good to go and prep this in about 5 minutes. The turkey sausage crumbles I listed are fully cooked, which saves a lot of time. The liquid eggs are not as messy, plus they're half the calories of shell eggs. (So you can add more cheese! :)

Roasted Squash with Sage Cream

2011-11-19T12:15:00.012-07:00

I am concomitantly blessed (and cursed!) with a freelance job of writing for a number of food companies. The cursed part is how they expect me to write all sorts of annoying health tips for the holidays. For crying out loud, it's Thanksgiving!

Helloooo! The whole point of the holidays is NOT to be healthy. This is the most wonderful time of the year because we finally have a legitimate excuse to buy pounds and pounds of real butter, heavy whipping cream, and bacon galore!

Jump start the feeding frenzy with this little goodie.

This beauty is a Butternut Squash

Roasted Butternut Squash with a Sweet, Sage Cream Sauce:

Yummy Squash:

2 pounds Butternut squash (Here's a handy dandy guide so you don't mess up on the kind.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove the icky junk inside and then slice the squash into wedges.

Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet @ 350 (F) for about an hour.

Delightful Sage Cream:

1.5 cups heavy cream
8 fresh sprigs of sage
2 tablespoons, or 3, of real maple syrup (I add 2, taste it, and decide if it needs a bit more.)

Simmer heavy cream and sage sprigs in a saucepan over low heat for about 30 minutes. Remove the sage sprigs. Bring the cream to a boil and cook until this aromatic mess is reduced to about 2/3 cup.

Place your pretty squash wedges in a serving dish. Drizzle with sage cream. And, stay outta the line of fire. 'Cause they'll be fighting over this one...

Serves 8 polite guests or 4 ill-mannered friends.

Fun Facts to Know and Tell:
1) There has never been a study proving the association of saturated fat consumption to heart disease. (Even though the entire low fat, no fat food industry is based on this premise.)
2) The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently published the results of a major study on saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease (58,453 men and women over 14 years.) They found that people who ate the most saturated fat had the same heart attack risk as those who ate the least.

Kick Ass Cookies

2011-11-12T08:34:00.009-07:00

Gram started this tradition, then Mom, now me. Whenever we need a chocolate fix.

I'm munching on a Kick Ass Cookie as I type this. For breakfast. I wouldn't recommend that. Unless you, like me, find yourself home alone. (So nobody catches you in the act.)

I grew up on this recipe. My Grandmother made these cookies for her daughters. Mom made them for me. I make 'em for my daughter... I made her a batch just last night! Though that's a pretty lame excuse. Seeing as how she's out of town this weekend.

Kick Ass Cookies
This recipe makes between 0 and 2 dozen, depending upon how much cookie dough you eat. The order in which you combine these ingredients really doesn't matter. However! If you begin with sugary butter, you can start nibbling from the get-go!

Mix Up:
6 Tablespoons Butter
3/4 Cup Sugar

Add In:
6 Tablespoons Dutch Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/3 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Egg

Last but not least:
1 1/4 Cups Flour

* Bake @ 350 (F) for 12 minutes.

I'm not sure what makes these cookies so delightful. Perhaps because they're so simple? We're in the midst of a food trend where everyone is trying to out-do one another. Recipes are bigger, better, and unnecessarily decadent. (Good luck trying to find a chocolate cookie that does not include mocha, chocolate chunks + 3 kinds of nuts for good measure... But, hey! There's flax in it so it must be healthy...)

Here's the deal: I've exchanged this recipe a million times and always get the same response: We ate the whole batch!

And, the moral of this tirade? Cookies are Good Food. You should eat some every day.

Buon Appetito.

* Are you thinking about lowering the fat in this extra special recipe? Get off my blog.
** Looking to satisfy a sweet tooth? Double the sugar. This family loves chocolate, but not sweet treats.

Low Fat Stroganoff Recipe

2011-11-09T11:45:00.009-07:00

First week after the end of our blessed daily light savings time... when it starts getting dark around 4. And, it feels exceptionally cold and miserable ~ even when it's not.. well, that's the hardest time for me to watch what I eat.

I ~~need~~ want heavy foods and cozy casseroles and why not add a whole stick of butter? Fat not only tastes good. It feels good! Right up until I try to hoist myself into last year's ski pants.

This favorite 'comfort food' recipe evolved out of necessity ~
1) Real beef stroganoff is so high in fat I had to kick it off the menu. Permanently.
2) I'd be lost without an oven. I rarely, if ever, have the time to monitor a stove top recipe.

Give it a shot... I don't think you'll be able to tell this is low fat. My family couldn't.*

Low Fat Beef Stroganoff Casserole

It doesn't look nearly this pretty when I make it.

* If you do this up right, the whole thing should come in at around 7 grams of fat, per serving which is about 20 grams of fat less than the real deal.

1 lb. beef chuck roast cut into bite-size pieces.
1 bunch, chopped green onions, tops and all.
1 container sliced Baby Bella mushrooms.
3 cloves chopped garlic. Or, 2 tsp. roasted garlic that comes in the glass jars.
1 can fat-free cream of mushroom soup + water.
3 tbs. Worcestershire sauce.
1/2 package No Yolk pasta noodles.

In a teflon pan, with cooking spray, stir fry the beef, garlic and shrooms for about 5 minutes. Don't bother boiling the noodles, they'll cook in the sauce. Add the other goodies, put this mess in your favorite casserole dish, covered. Bake @350 for approximately 30 minutes.

What they don't know what hurt them.
* 'Low Fat' is a very bad word in this household. Therefore, I never utter it out loud. No Yolk noodles are lower in fat and they can't tell the diff.

Quickie Yeast Bread

2011-11-07T13:22:00.010-07:00

Yum

In winter, I bake a lot of bread. Because I have a fabulous track record of failing about 50% of the time.

The upside to this is all the birds who call my garden 'home.' (They get to peck away at my rejects.) Since fewer birds are migrating south these days, they're quite delighted when I screw up.

Dry air messes with my breads. High altitudes do, too. Yeast breads rise much faster at 7,000 feet. When bread dough rises that quickly, the flavor doesn't have adequate time to develop.

Here are two hot tips for tackling high altitude bread baking. And, a breakthrough recipe. I really loved the flavor of this one. So much so that the little birdies will go hungry this week.

High Altitude Bread Tips:

Never let your bread dough double in size. Check after 30 minutes and punch it down. If your bread dough is rising like crazy, it's okay to punch it down twice (vs. once at lower altitudes.)
Salt is your friend. Worry about your sodium intake with other recipes. Salt is a yeast retardant and a cook's blessing when it comes to high altitude bread baking.

Light texture. Great crunchy crust.

Quickie Yeast Bread Recipe:
~ Stir 1.5 tablespoons dry yeast into 2 cups of warm water. Let it rest for a few minutes. Until you see some foamy action in the bowl.
~ Add 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 cup light vegetable oil to the yeast/water mixture.
~ Stir in 2 cups of bread flour.
~ Sprinkle flour on your counter top. Rub a bit of cooking oil onto your hands to avoid the stickies.
~ Plop the loose dough onto this floured surface and knead 2 more cups of bread flour into the dough.
* Depending upon your elevation, you might want to add one more cup of flour to this recipe. Judge this by how elastic your dough feels. We don't want the dough to feel stiff.
~ Rub your dough ball with a little bit of oil. Place it back in the bowl, in a warm spot, and check it about 30 minutes. Punch it down.
~ Shape it into 2 loaves. Let it rise again. Bake @ 400 (F) for about 30 minutes.

* Bread flour, which is higher in protein, contains a little bit of barley flour. This helps the yeast work properly and provides a more delicious texture.

The I Say, You Say, Kielbasa Bake

2011-11-02T12:24:00.014-06:00

Roasted Veggies with a Delightful Sage Seasoning

A birthday dinner (mine) with the girls last week inspired this roasted veggie concoction, created by my oldest and dearest friend, Haze.

Do you futz with recipes? I always do. For me, that's half the fun of cooking. No matter what the recipe tells me to do I'll doll it up to suit my fancy. The funny thing about this is my super silly double standard... I can't resist re-doing a recipe. But, if people tell me they've messed with one of my recipes, I get mad! :)

And, I'll bet Haze does, too. So, I thought I'd let you have her original recipe plus notes on all the ridiculous changes I made to it. Which just might inspire you to make some changes of your own..

Whatever path you choose, I can pretty much guarantee your family will love this.

Roasted Veggie and Kielbasa Bake
* Chop veggies into bite-size pieces. Chop brussels in half. Cut Kielbasa into 1/2 inch slices.

4 cups brussel sprouts

(I did 2 c. brussels and 2 c. broccolini)

1 large red onion

(I did shallots, sweet onions and elephant garlic cloves)

16 oz. Kielbasa

(I did 32 oz. turkey Kielbasa)

2 Yukon potatoes

(I did 1 Yukon and 1 sweet potato)

2 baking apples

(I did 3 Granny Smiths)

6 carrots

(I used 3 carrots, not chopped, and 3 parsnips, not chopped)

2 teaspoons dried sage

Haze! Aren't you proud of me? I did not mess with your sage! :)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Spread out these goodies on a cookie sheet. (You may need two.) Drizzle with 2-3 TBS olive oil. Roast @ 400 (F) for about 45 minutes.

* Kielbasa is a very flavorful Polish pork sausage. I opted for turkey kielbasa - not to lower the calories - so we could eat twice as much and not feel guilty. :)

** This recipe takes a good half hour of prep work but it's well worth the effort. The sage-y aroma coming from the oven inspired some seriously grumbling tummies. And, the whole thing disappeared in the blink of an eye, the second she placed it on the dinner table.

Edamame: My Mean Green Appetizer

2011-10-25T16:09:00.023-06:00

Edamame: I'm so lazy I buy them already shelled.

Edamame is a prettier name for soybeans. And, I'm a soybean nut. Shunned them for years because they looked like peas and.. Boy! Do I hate cooked peas.

I began purchasing frozen, shelled Edamame a few years ago at the supermarket and it quickly became a side dish staple. I roast 'em, stir fry 'em, slip them into casseroles. I pretty much try everything under the sun with soybeans ~ with no complaints. (Hey!)

So why not a dip? It's quick. It's yummy. And, it's also very different. You know what that means... tons of compliments!

* Toss this mess into blender, or food processor, and voila! Super tasty with New York Bagel Chips.

Edamame Dip ~ Oh. So. Easy.

1 bag frozen, shelled edamame (It's maybe 12-14 oz., available at most grocery stores.) Microwave the bag (per bag instructions) and then let it cool.
1/2 cup chopped green onions (including the green stems.)
1 tablespoon roasted garlic (The Spice World jars you see at the market. Fresh, chopped garlic cloves are tasty, too.)
1/2 cup chopped, fresh Italian parsley.
1/2 tablespoon miso (I use the dry powder from miso soup. Miso is soybean paste.)
1 tablespoon chile powder.
4 tablespoons olive oil.
1/4 cup lemon juice.

* Salt, pepper, and wig out this recipe with garlic and cayenne 'til the cows come home. I hope you enjoy it.

Soybeans may look expensive, but they are super filling, compared to other veggies: 11 grams of protein + 9 grams of fiber in 1 itty bitty half cup.

Autumn Apple Pot Roast Recipe

2011-10-12T17:03:00.013-06:00

We've had the most delightful autumn weather this week. Deep blue skies and gorgeous, colorful leaves greet me at every turn.

It's remarkable how our tastes seem to change right along with the leaves. Abandoning salads in favor of hearty, heavier meals.

This idea was inspired by an email I got from a new Park City resident, who dolled up one of my recipes with apples.

Hmmm... I thought to myself. I've got apples coming out my ears! Two trees laden with fruit that I've been picking every other day and... feeding to the horses.

I guess it's about time we humans enjoy this plentiful harvest...

Autumn Apple Pot Roast ~ Crock Pot Recipe

1 - average size pork roast. Or, beef chuck roast (I tend to buy whichever is on sale.)
3 or 4 - chopped shallots (Or, a half average size yellow or white onion.)
5 or 6 - garlic cloves, chopped into bits (I tend to go hog wild with the garlic...)
2 - tart apples, sliced into wedges
1/2 - cup applesauce
1 - 32 oz low sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Dash of celery salt and/salt and pepper to taste

IMHO you don't need to be very exact when you're tossing goodies into a crock pot. I let this simmer for about 6 hours. It was sweet and tender and really quite delightful.

Buon Appetito!

Vipeteno Knodel

2011-03-11T10:30:00.004-07:00

Knodel: A South Tyrolean Delicacy

Have laptop, will travel. Last month, I had the great fortune of living and working in the northern most part of Italy. In the picturesque town of Bressanone, a hop, skip and a jump from the Austrian border.

I arrived expecting spaghetti and such but quickly discovered South Tyrol has a cuisine and culture all of it's own. Their fabulous foods are a blended bit of Germany and Italy. A big highlight for me was this little goodie, the Knodel (a potato and bread dumpling). It's so popular the neighboring town of Vipeteno holds a festival to celebrate it's goodness.

Suffice to say it is to die for. So, when I came home I attempted to re-create these on my own, serving up an authentic, South Tyrolean meal to a few good friends.

Knodel Potato and Bread Dumplings
* This is an American's bastardization of the Famed Vipeteno, Italy's Knodel
1.5 pounds raw white potatoes - peeled and grated
1 bag Idahoan Ramano Cheese Potatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
1 cup boiling skim milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons roasted garlic

1/2 - 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (enough to give the dumplings substance for molding into small balls.)

How To:

~ Pour the boiling milk over the raw, grated potatoes and let this set for about 5 minutes.

~ Mix in the Idahoan potatoes packet (just the dried potatoes, don't add liquid.)
~ Add the flour and egg and stir it up.
~ Make small, ping pong size balls.
~ Poach in chicken or beef broth for 15-20 minutes.

* I served them with a topping of browned butter, breadcrumbs and green onions with pork tenderloin and everyone went bonkers.

Doll them up, South Tyrolean style!
Add other ingredients, prior cooking...

Prosciutto bits
Parmesan
Spinach
Or... turn them into dessert with chopped, dried apricots. (I tried this in Vipeteno and it was quite delightful.)

Homestyle Hiking Bars

2011-01-26T15:31:00.009-07:00

I'm not a picky eater until it comes to 'health' food. Then I hate everything. (At least that's what my co-workers say.) Last week, I attended an event called Outdoor Retailer. It's a huge trade show where every protein bar, energy bar, faux food company imaginable happily gives away free samples of their goodies. In high hopes you'll love 'em.

So I tried them all. (It was either that or go back to the trade show booth and do the work they pay me to do.) Tried 'em. Then tossed 'em after just a couple nibbles. I don't get that... why packaged protein bars taste so awful and cost so much when it's so very easy to make your own. Homemade energy bars take about 15 minutes make and you don't even have to bake them!

This is a very forgiving recipe. Doll it up with whatever strikes your fancy ~ such as different nuts, dried fruits, almond butter instead peanut butter, or a favorite type of cereal. I'm thinking Count Chocula would be quite yummy! But, then I'm not terribly committed to the health movement. :)

Homestyle Hiking Bars
Cook for just a couple minutes, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, right before it boils:

1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar

Stir in:

1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour into a mixing bowl:

1-1/2 cups Rice Krispies
1-1/2 cups Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal
1-1/2 cups craisins
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
I sometimes add 1 cup chocolate chips instead of the peanuts

Mix it altogether and voila! You've got an ultra tasty trail bar that makes Cliff Bars taste like tiles off the kitchen floor. Spread this gooey mixture into a brownie pan, no baking required! Let them cool. Then cut into bite size bars.

Enjoy!

A Simple Sassy Soup

2011-01-14T08:36:00.012-07:00

Are you a chickpea fan? Also called garbanzo beans, everybody loves them in hummus. I love them in soups and stews because they reflect tomato flavors so beautifully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm celebrating an anniversary! Ten long, lovely years of being self-employed and working from home. Started out as a marketing consultant, evolved into a freelance writer.

This lifestyle is not for everyone but it certainly suits me. Of all the things I could (and probably should) miss about an office environment, there's really one. Lunch.

I really, really miss going out to lunch and letting someone else do the cooking. Preparing 3 meals a day in my own kitchen is... well, messy. And, boring.

So, soup is often my fall back plan. I'll make big pots of it and freeze it in single serving containers. This one was an experiment. It's not a fancy recipe by any means. Made with stuff I happened to have on hand (therefore you, too, could get creative with the ingredients.) But, the end result was so yummy I just had to share!

Simple Sassy Soup

Finely chop an average size yellow onion + 4 cloves of fresh garlic
Cut an average size pork tenderloin* into small bite-size (soup-sized) pieces
Add 2 tbs olive oil to your skillet and stir fry, with the garlic and onion, until the tenderloin pieces are no longer pink.

In your soup pot, or crock pot ~

2 - 32 oz low sodium beef broth
1 - 14 oz can whole tomatoes
2 - cans low sodium chickpeas
1 - cup water
3 - TBS chili powder
1 - tsp. cumin
1 - tsp. smokey paprika
1 - tsp. oregano

Add your stir-fry concoction to the soup pot and simmer for about an hour or crock it for the day.

* You can, of course, use ground pork, beef or turkey instead of the tenderloin but I think that's what made it taste so yummy.
* Dried herbs are the better choice since this is a slow simmered recipe. They have a more concentrated flavor and they're way cheaper!
* Last but definitely not least, in winter months whole canned tomatoes are infinitely more flavorful than whole tomatoes in the produce section. Whole canned tomatoes are minimally processed, picked at the peak of freshness (when they're red, not green as fresh tomatoes often are) and canned within a half day of being plucked from the vine.

Enjoy!

In Search of Normalcy

2011-01-07T09:34:00.022-07:00

True Confessions:

When I'm around health-conscious eaters,
I always order the 'bad for you' stuff on the menu.

I mostly do that to torment them because I'm pretty sure they're lying. Plus, a treat like that prevents me from launching into the great food debate...

You see, I think they're lying about how they'd prefer crunching on a carrot stick to savoring a sandwich wrapped in fresh-baked artisan bread. Or that they prefer Activia to ice cream. This list goes on and on and they drive. me. nuts.

But, are they lying about their preference for the ultimate in healthy foods? Or, is the whole "Eat Healthy!" message so pervasive that they're simply brainwashed?

I should probably make another confession ~ because it's the reason this makes me so crazy. I've worked in the food industry my entire adult life. On brands such as Healthy Choice, that hopefully everyone knows is not all that healthy.

Little did we know that 15 years after we started producing "Eat Healthy!" commercials that every food company on planet Earth would jump on this (mostly lies) bandwagon and follow suit.

These days, there's no escaping that 'healthy lifestyle' guilt trip advertising. It's on every internet page we view, every magazine we're flipping through. It gets worse every year all the while we get fatter. And, I've always wondered if that's because we're a contrary nation. The deep desire to be thin and healthy strikes a cord with a small minority. The lion's share of Americans simply flip the channel.

Last year, I traveled with 4 different women to horse shows and flower shows. (My two great passions.)

√ On the first trip my traveling companion lived off of celery because it's a negative calorie food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.
√ On the second trip, the woman relied on hard candy. (I'm guessing to curb her appetite.) WORSE, in the evenings she pulled out a journal at the restaurants to calculate calories before she 'went overboard.' That was so embarrassing.
√ And, the 3rd woman. Well, she's closer to normal though everything that enters the pie hole must be the healthiest selection on the menu.

And, then! A breakthrough!

In November, a friend joined me and my family on an impromptu road trip for a weekend of casual hiking. We stopped for lunch halfway there. I ordered a burger. She did, too. In fact we all did. (This joint makes killer burgers) But, I stared at her plate for just long enough that she demanded: What??? I'll burn this off in no time.

PRECISELY.

Source: fatsecret.com

I wasn't staring at her plate because I was appalled. I was staring at her plate because I was thrilled! I'd finally found a friend who was in the right frame of mind.

You see, I think if you are an active, mobile, fun-loving adult you have earned the right to enjoy your food. You don't talk about it, fret about it, or make apologies for it. You just eat it. And, those things like the killer burger? Yes, they're on the menu. As the special delicious treats they were always meant to be.

Thanks for listening to my rant. And, please weigh in with different points of view. Half the reason I posted this was to stir things up. ; > )

Crabby Cheesy Easy... Appetizers

2010-12-25T12:08:00.003-07:00

These little goodies are my party fall back plan. Takes about 15 minutes, from start to finish, and everyone seems to love 'em.

Time was... I'd slave for half a day and fret even longer about the Christmas Eve appetizers I brought to the Harty Party. The not-to-be-missed annual gathering of the orphans who hardly ever go home for the holidays.

You see, we live in a ski resort and Christmas is what folks around here call 'Big Business.' As in the tourist business. Nobody gets time off during the holidays because this tiny little town of 8,000 annual residents swells to 80,000 come Christmas.

Enter the Hartys. They throw this amazing party, every Christmas Eve! We eat. Drink. Feel exceptionally merry. And, not the slightest bit lonely even though we're all far from home.

This year, I brought the easiest peasiest appetizer ever and ~ I happened to notice that mine disappeared quicker than anybody's on the buffet table. (Hey! :)

Here we go...

Start with those little filo something or others that you can find in the freezer section. No, they didn't pay me to do this. I found these a few years ago and I'm a big fan 'cuz they're easy. But, you have to bake them for about 5 minutes, prior to adding the filling. This makes all the difference. After baking, they taste as if you went to the trouble of making your own.

Mini Crab Tart Appetizers

12 oz. crab {On a budget? Use the faux crab. With these ingredients and spices I doubt Pop Eye could tell the diff.}
1/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese
3 tablespoons roasted garlic
3 tablespoons chopped fresh green onions
2 tablespoons Creole seasoning (or, a bit of chili sauce/tabasco - careful. Heats up quick!)
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Stir it all up, try not to eat too much of it during the process. Put a dollop of this mixture in each of the tiny tarts. Then! (This is important.) Mess up your hair a bit and try to look exhausted. That way they'll think you slaved for hours!

La dee dah.

Gingerbread Pancakes

2010-12-19T10:02:00.008-07:00

Everything Gingerbread gets a 2 thumbs up in this household.

Do you make a special breakfast on Christmas morning? We open our presents the night before. Often stay up way too late. Which inspires some serious Christmas laziness, lounging around in our jammies the better part of the morning.

As Gingerbread lovers, we'll happily nibble on cakes, cookies... anything you care to cook us! But the pièce de résistance for a super special holiday breakfast are these hot off the griddle Gingerbread Pancakes.

Gingerbread Pancake Recipe:

Mix Together:

3 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar

Stir In:

1.25 cups buttermilk ~ What's that you say? You don't have buttermilk? Join the club! Simply add a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to whole milk and voila! You've got buttermilk.
1/2 cup water

Do the dry stuff in a different bowl:

2.5 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1.5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1.5 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

Then stir it all together and pour in...

4 tablespoons melted butter

Enjoy!

Ultimate Green Bean Casserole Recipe

2010-11-22T20:24:00.001-07:00

Update on Thanksgiving: My beans were a big hit. I can't bring myself to open a can of Campbell's soup on a holiday so this is a much fresher, from scratch version of that best-loved...

Ultimate Green Bean Casserole Recipe
(Feeds an army)

Snap 2 pounds of fresh green beans into bite-size pieces.
Drop them into a pot of boiling salt water (use a generous amount of sea salt.)
Cook for 5 or 6 minutes.
Drain beans in a colander, then plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. (They'll be bright green, crisp-crunchy and oh so delicious.)

Make Your Own Cream of Mushroom Soup

Remove the stems and slice up 1 lb. of white button mushrooms (tip: if you'd like to be extra hip and cool, use mini portobellos.)
Simmer shrooms in 3-4 tablespoons butter + 2 tablespoon fresh garlic.
Stir in 3 tablespoons flour.
Add 1.5 cups chicken broth + 1.5 cups half and half.
Salt & pepper to taste. (I use extra spicy Mrs. Dash.)
Once the sauce is thick and bubbly, stir in those precious beans.

Building the Ultimate Green Bean Casserole

Place a can of those yummy French fried onions in the bottom of a casserole.
Pour in the beans and 'shrooms.
Sprinkle another can of yummy French fried onions on top.
Up the fat content a bit more with dollops of butter.
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Bourbon Pecan Sweet Tater Pie

2010-11-20T08:55:00.001-07:00

Pre-Holiday chores got y'all stressed out?
Click here and be magically delivered to Grandma's house.

50 pound turkey? Check. Bushel of sweet taters? Check. Crispy, crunchy runner beans? Oh, yeah. Half dozen pie pumpkins? Hmmm. Pumpkin Pie? That was soooo last year.... try baking up one of these goodies instead!

Bourbon Pecan Sweet Tater Pie
- 1 frozen pie shell
- 2 cups roasted sweet potatoes, peeled and shmooshed
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1.5 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ginger
- 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons Kentucky bourbon
-------------------------------------------------
- 1 cup toasted pecans (stove top, minute or two, teflon pan)
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup

Uno: Pre-bake your pie crust for about 10 minutes @ 425 (F).
Dos: Toss the top list into a large bowl. Grab your trusty mixer and beat until fluffy.
Tres: Pour into the pie shell and bake @ 375 (F) for 20 minutes.
Cuatro: Mix up the nuts, butter and maple syrup. Pour over the pie. Pop it back in the oven for another 25-30 minutes.
Cinco, cinco, seis: Have a slice. Or two. Or, three! Hey, it's the holidays. Enjoy it while ya can.

Here's to a lovely weekend, this proverbial calm before the storm. And, happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

* If you click that top link, you'll receive your very own Thanksgiving card from me to you, designed by Jacquie Lawson, a goddess among card creators, even if she does make me pay for a subscription.
** This yummy dessert is adapted from a recipe I discovered on allrecipes.com. Mine, naturally, contains more booze. (Just kidding. That was a test to see if you're actually reading this post...)
*** The Spanish bit is from an old song, from an old band, and if you cannot recall it, then clearly you have better taste in music than me. :)

Lemon-Sage Roasted Chicken

2010-10-17T13:03:00.012-06:00

I tried to get all artsy fartsy with the herbs & flavors in this yummy recipe. Lemon Thyme is a pretty pink perennial I like to grow in the garden. Italian Parsley and Cooking Sage** do well in the garden, too. Rosemary comes and goes. She requires too much water and therefore dies more often than she survives. And, that's fine by me. Dried, crushed rosemary imparts great flavor to chicken and homegrown potatoes. As for the lemons? Well, until I can garden in zone 9 Nirvana those remain on the grocery list.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you ever bite the bullet and roast a whole chicken? There's not much cause to do so these days since the supermarkets happily do that for us. But every once in awhile I love to make this from-scratch version of that bird in the bag so readily available at the market.

Place the chicken in a large stew pot and cover with water.
Toss in 2 sliced lemons.
Plus, one full cup of crushed herbs just like Simon and Garfunkel suggested way back when ~ parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
And, 1/2 chopped yellow onion and a full clove, chopped, fresh garlic.
Put the lid on this mess and let it percolate in the 'frig overnight.

Drain this glorious bird while you're pre-heating the oven to 475 degrees (F.) No, that's not a typo. Roasting chicken at hot, hot temps is the secret to a moist, delicious meal. Put your cast iron skillet into the oven while it's pre-heating.

After about 15-20 minutes, remove the hot skillet, coat it with olive oil and brown the chicken in it. Then put the skillet and chicken back into the 475 degree oven and roast for about an hour. (Time depends upon the size of the bird.)

* Now I know what you're thinking... 2 days of effort vs. 10 minutes in the checkout line at the supermarket. Is it worth it? Well, I can tell you it makes for one ultra-marvy Sunday Dinner. :)

** Cooking Sage differs from the ornamental sages popular in the garden. Look for Salvia officinalis - the flowers are edible, as well, and have a subtler flavor than the sage leaves.

Mâche and Asparagus Salad

2010-07-02T14:31:00.003-06:00

Bees are diggin' the cucumber flowers.

This week's volunteer day at the organic farm involved counting to 9 about 900 times. I transplanted baby bok choy seedlings ~ spaced exactly 9 inches apart, in 3 perfect rows, in raised beds that go on for at least a mile.

Oh, okay, I could be exaggerating just a teeny bit. Bending over garden beds, for long periods of time, is not hard work. It's just one of those ~~punishing torture sessions~~ isometric exercises that remind me of how my flexible Gumby doll days are long gone.

Freshly harvested Mâche Lettuce

In the mornings, we do chores. In the afternoons, we harvest goodies.

This week, I discovered a brand new type of lettuce that's been around for 300 years. {In France.} It's called Mâche ~ a sweet, nutty, lettuce variety that might be perfect for mountain gardens because they appreciate cold temperatures. Mâche lettuce can even handle a mild freeze.

Why haven't we seen this in our grocery stores? Probably because Mâche needs to be hand-harvested so mechanized corporate farms could never offer such a delicacy.

Magnificent Mâche and Asparagus Salad

Mâche lettuce leaves
Shredded radicchio (the red/white head lettuce) - use about half as much of this as the Mâche.
Snipped tops of green onions. (Just the greens, not the white.)
Bite-size asparagus tips (gently steamed)
Toasted pine nuts (heat them in a small Teflon pan for a couple minutes to bring out the flavor.)
Mandarin oranges

* Toss these ingredients in a large bowl, with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
* Sprinkle with goat cheese and be dazzled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every Wednesday, I volunteer at High Star Organic Farm, located in Kamas, Utah.

I get paid in carrots.

And, the girls are glad I do. :)

Roasted Carrot and Arugula Salad Recipe

2010-06-11T10:37:00.003-06:00

The Arugula is bolting. Which means we need to whip up a yummy salad quick! I've got you covered. Find a recipe, down below...

When salad greens 'bolt' it's their way of saying life in the greenhouse is too hot to handle. They send up pretty flower stalks, hoping to go to seed. Their leaves turn bitter quickly -- the best solution I have for such a dilemma is to compost these beauties and start all over again.

Every Wednesday, I volunteer at a local organic farm - with high hopes of learning a whole lot more about growing my own veggies.

This week's fab harvest included fresh, baby carrots. They lounge on these screened tables after I give them a bath:

Rubbed, tubbed and scrubbed: first baby carrots.

Roasted Carrot and Arugula Salad
- Slice young carrots in half lengthwise (Remove the greens and feed them to my eternally grateful horses)
- Drizzle with olive oil
- Sprinkle with minced garlic, salt and pepper
- Roast at 400 F until the carrot tips have browned

* Create a bed of chopped arugula for your fancy carrots.
* Garnish with Feta cheese, walnuts and craisins.
* Add the finishing touch - your favorite vinaigrette.

Bok Choy and Radish Coleslaw

2010-05-07T10:42:00.004-06:00

Bok Choy, fresh-picked at the High Star Organic Farm greenhouse.

To me, the most fun aspect of owning a local's produce farm share is how you never know what you'll be making for dinner until your box of goodies shows up.

I'm at the mercy of whatever produce is freshly harvested each week. This week's score was Bok Choy and Radishes - 2 things I've never purchased before, prompting creation of a brand new salad idea...

Bok Choy & Radish Coleslaw

1 head fresh bok choy, thinly sliced
1/4 cup red onion, chopped fine
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh, chopped basil
1/2 cup chopped green tops of fresh green onions
2 tablespoons Litehouse brand light coleslaw dressing

Three Cheese Artichoke Nibbles

2010-03-01T13:25:00.016-07:00

It's a tradition. On winter full moons, we gather the usual suspects, don our snowshoes, and take an adventurous hike through the snowy woods. Most times, the moon lights our path so nicely that we don't even need headlamps to find our way.

After a bit of hard work, we rendezvous back at the lodge to warm ourselves in front of a roaring fire. There, we sip some wine and try to out-do one another with fabulous little finger foods.

Here's mine from last night ~ which got rave reviews from all my snowshoeing friends:

Three Cheese Artichoke Nibbles

The general consensus: "these tasty little goodies are pretty much to die for"

2 cans artichoke hearts, finely chopped
1 white onion, finely chopped
4 - 6 garlic cloves, minced
2 containers Better'n Eggs (liquid eggs) Or, 12 shell eggs.
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons cayenne hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 container French Fried Onions
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Mozzarella cheese

How To:

Saute onion, artichokes and garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon into mini muffin tins. Bake these little goodies @ 350 (F) for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Happy February Full Snow Moon

* While this is not a low fat appetizer, using liquid eggs vs. shell eggs trims 48 grams of fat from this recipe. Bonus! You really can't tell a difference in taste. I prefer Better'n Eggs because this brand doesn't contain seasonings that interfere with my recipe flavors.

Roasted Beets

2010-02-23T15:33:00.004-07:00

Please don't write me off as a raving lunatic. Not just yet, anyway. I know... I know... the only time you've ever eaten beets was when Granny forced them down you ~ and the only good thing to come of that experience was how they turned your taters pink.

But, here's an amazing fact about the lowly beet: Eaten fresh, they're surprisingly tasty.

Roasted Beets
Prep time: 1 whole minute!

Snip tops and tails
Rub, tub and scrub
Drizzle with olive oil
Sprinkle with sea salt
Roast @ 375 (F) until slightly tender (about 45 minutes)

Who knew?
Beets are simply suffering from a bad rap because cheap salad bars display their canned counterparts just to make us queasy.

Fresh beets are rich in dietary fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, and a gazillion other things that are good for us, though we're not sure why. Fresh beets are so healthy they even slow cancerous tumors. But, why wait until you have one foot in the grave to give them a try? Roasted beets are dee-lish.

Flower Pot Bread

2010-02-10T12:25:00.019-07:00

It may look like a bread pan but it's actually a flower pot I never use. :)

On Mondays I bake bread. Don't I sound like a Pioneer Woman?

Alas, that's about as far from me as we could be. The only kid getting home schooled around this joint is Bad Dog. Were I to hand out report cards, he'd be getting an F.

I bake bread for a few simple reasons:

I love the methodical motion of kneading bread dough.
I'm learning how to live on half my salary...
Therefore! I'm very upset that a totally tasty loaf of bread can cost four or five bucks. Such delightful luxuries are no longer within my budget.

These days, I make 'artisan bread' at home. I love this simple recipe and I especially love the fact that the ingredients cost me about... 50 cents!

Good to go. It will rise more in the oven because this bread isn't punched down and allowed to rise a second time. A sprinkling of cornmeal keeps the bread from sticking.

Flower Pot Bread
* Named as such because I'm too cheap to go purchase a terracotta bread pan. Breads bake up quite nicely in this old flower box.

2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
4.5 teaspoons active yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1.5 teaspoons salt (or, the same amount of Molly McButter ~ which is, essentially, faux butter-flavored salt passed off as a no cal butter substitute.)
2 cups warm water

How to:
Using an electric mixer, combine the white flour, yeast, honey, salt and water. Mix for 2-3 minutes. Add the whole wheat flour while stirring with a large spoon. Sprinkle a little bit of white flour onto a bread board, knead for 10 minutes. (Great isometrics!) If the bread is sticky while kneading, simply add a little more flour.

And, then:
Place in a terracotta bread pan. Let it rise - perhaps an hour or so. Bake at 375 (F) for about 45 minutes. Easy peasy!

Voila!

Tips for truly great homemade bread:
Preheat the oven to 425, turn heat down to 375, pop the loaf in the oven, mist with a little spritz of water. The beginnings of high heat and the misting gives you a nice, crunchy bread crust.

* A yummy, fat-free dense bread.
** This is a high altitude recipe that requires no specific adjustments for lower altitudes. You may find your dough requires more flour and it's okay to add up to another cup.

Roasted Pears w/ Blood Orange & Pomegranates Recipe

2009-10-07T09:00:00.015-06:00

I am first and foremost a gardener ~ pleased as punch to say that after 7 years of tender loving care, I have a pear crop! (Find the yummy recipe at the bottom of this blog post.)

I also have a few plums, apples, cherries and crab apples. (Look out!) I planted these saplings to feed the birds. Feel sorry for them in this harsh, high plains desert. Though I also wonder about their intelligence. Since they can fly for free, why don't they go some place lush and lovely?

Because that's what I do. Every time I bank enough frequent flier miles to do so.

Anyhoo! Planting fruit trees has worked out better than I ever expected. The birds love 'em and so do my dinner guests. This autumn I'm cooking up all kinds of special goodies...

Did you know? Each Pomegranate contains about 800 seeds and they make a delightful sweet tart garnish for pretty much anything.

Roasted Pears with Blood Orange & Pomegranates Recipe

3/4 cup Red Zinfandel wine
3/4 cup Pomegranate juice
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon cloves
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 blood orange, peeled, sectioned

---------------------------------------
Plus:

1/3 cup sugar

---------------------------------------
Top with:

1/2 cup fresh Pomegranate seeds
Truly fabulous vanilla bean ice cream

---------------------------------------
How to:
Combine top list of ingredients (everything except the sugar and pom seeds) in a sauce pan, over low heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add sugar, stir until dissolved.

Take 6 ripe, luscious pears and partially peel them ~ create stripes by peeling lengthwise, leaving a space and peel another strip. (Makes them look very pretty and unique.) Remove the core from the bottom of the pears. Leave the stems on.

Spritz a square glass baking dish with cooking spray. Pour sauce over the pears. Roast @ 350 for about an hour.

Dried Garden Tomatoes: Save A Fortune, Come Winter

2009-10-04T08:27:00.008-06:00

Took a walk through the Veggie Garden of Wunx last night. She had plenty of pretty flowers but what struck me when I rounded the garden corner were tomato vines, taller than me. She must have had 300 luscious tomatoes, ripening on the vine.

It got me thinking about how tricky tomato seedlings can be.

Sneaky, conniving little monsters. They act so sweet and innocent in the springtime. So tiny. There's room! Let's plant a few extras!

Twelve weeks later all hell breaks loose and, well, you can run but you can't hide.

So, it IS Labor Day weekend and these tomatoes SHOULD be red by now. They'll probably get there but how does one cope with a truckload of tomaters?

Never fear. Hazel is here. She dries tomatoes in her oven and Wunx can, too. :)

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Start with firm, ripe (not overly ripe) fresh-picked tomatoes.
Slice cherry tomatoes in half, slice larger tomatoes into 1/2 inch pieces.
Sprinkle sea salt to improve flavor and speed up the drying process.
Set the oven to 175 - 200 degrees (F).
Place tomatoes, skin side down, on a baking sheet. Perforated pizza pans are great because they allow air circulation.
Slowly roast these babies. It could take anywhere from 3-12 hours (depending upon the size of the tomato slices.)

How to Know if You've Screwed Up:
√ Dried tomatoes are done when they feel pliable, kind of leathery.
√ If your tomatoes are brittle, they're over-done and you get an A for effort, nothing more.

To Rehydrate Dried Tomatoes:
Soak in water for 1-2 hours or toss directly into soups and stews.

You can dry green tomatoes. However, you might be a whole lot happier if you ripen them the old fashioned way and dry them when they're ready. That's why windowsills were invented, way back when.

Dolled Up Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Recipe

2009-08-23T06:46:00.002-06:00

I live in a world class ski resort town, which means this joint is crawling with two types of year 'round residents. The obligatory ski bums plus an astonishing number of highly talented pastry chefs ~ because tourists love to eat almost as much as they love to ski.

It gets pretty intimidating showing up at parties when your friends are paid professionals but this dolled-up recipe of my Mom's get's them every time.

Mom used to make these with milk chocolate and peanut butter chips. (Personally, I think it tastes better that way.) But, these rich, dark chocolate chips, coupled with the sweet, smooth taste of white chocolate chips makes this look like one very cool cookie...

Dolled Up Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Better'n Eggs liquid eggs* or 2 large eggs
2+1/4 cups flour
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips

How to:
It's easier if you use 2 bowls: cream butter and sugars in one bowl. Combine dry ingredients in the other. Then stir it all up and make sure it tastes great by gobbling a good bit of the dough.

Bake @ 350 for about 10 minutes.

* Two traditional large eggs adds an extra 10 grams of fat to this recipe. I often use liquid eggs in decadent recipes because they are fat free. No one notices the difference since these recipes are so high in fat from other ingredients. Most liquid egg products contain onion powder. Better'n Eggs does not and so it doesn't mess with the flavor of my cookies. :)

Fresh-Picked Raspberry Muffin Recipe

2009-08-17T08:02:00.010-06:00

My hard gardening work is finally paying off. The raspberry bushes in my garden are producing enough fresh fruit that I can actually make something with them!

I've baked these muffins using blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. They're very tasty as a triple berry muffin but raspberries are my most favorite thing in the world.

We LOVE a big burst of raspberry flavor so instead of stirring the berries into the muffin mix I place them on top.

Raspberries are very fragile - this method keeps them intact while baking. The muffin mixture will rise up and gently cover the fresh berries as it bakes.

Fresh-Picked Raspberry Muffin Recipe

1 stick butter
3/4 cup milk
2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil

* PLUS! 1 cup fresh raspberries.

First:
Melt the butter.
Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Combine eggs, butter and milk, add to dry ingredients.

Next:
Use a non-stick cooking spray or line muffin tins with baking cups.
Fill the muffin cups to about 2/3 full.

Last but not least! Sprinkle fresh raspberries on top of the muffin mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

* Makes about a dozen muffins.

Medium Rare Aspirations

2009-03-15T10:52:00.001-06:00

Meet The Beast. Got this BBQ behemoth as a birthday present. Apparently, it's quite state o' the art.

The only real downside to The Beast is that I'm afraid to turn it on. (I'm more of a Weber girl.)

Scrap whatever you're planning to make for dinner. Get thee to the store and start shoppin' for Paprika. Yup. You read right. Paprika!

You can make your own Paprika, ya know. It's not that hard. All you need to do is... whoa! Who cares? Back to the matter at hand.

I've found a steak recipe that deserves mention in my will.

You're gonna need a whole bunch of these. To blend. To roast. And, to munch on while you're cooking up a storm.

It's a dry rub plus an amazing steak sauce after which you will very quickly discard any bottles of A1 that happen to be kicking around your frig:
Here's the rub recipe:
And, the steak sauce:

All created by Iron Chef extraordinaire, Bobby Flay.

I imagine I'm breaking all sorts of laws by posting his recipe in my blog. But, once again, who cares? He's cute! If I make him so mad he calls me up and hollers at me... well... that wouldn't be half bad.

Paprika is made from grinding the dried pods of mild pepper plants. Like most things American, the paprika we're familiar with is bland to the point of being tasteless. However! Spanish and Hungarian Paprikas impart great flavor to foods. You can grow these little goodies in your garden but then you already knew that, didn't you?

Sweet Tart Pomegranate Sauce

2008-11-24T12:39:00.008-07:00

I'm not a trend setter or a trend follower but I make an exception when it comes to the exotic fruits showing up in plentiful supply at my local supermarket. If you have not yet sprinkled a bunch of fresh Pomegranate seeds on your salad, give it a try! They are quite delightful.

And, so is the plant. Dwarf Pomegranate Trees grow happily in a sunny window. Laden with bright orange flowers, producing edible fruit about the size of a silver dollar.

Sweet Tart Pomegranate Sauce
Serve on chicken, turkey or pork.

1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon chopped, fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried oregano
Salt to taste
Garnish with 1/2 cup Pomegranate seeds

Heat chicken broth, pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar in a skillet.

Add cornstarch, brown sugar and seasonings.

Bring to a boil; reduce and simmer until sauce thickens.

Garnish with Pomegrante seeds (officially called Arils.)

Breakfast Cookies

2008-11-22T15:14:00.018-07:00

For years, now, people have been preaching about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Especially if you're trying to manage your weight. I didn't understand this. Where I'm concerned, eating does not occur to me until later in the day. And, I'm talking real late. I can get up at 6 and not feel hungry until noon, or later. But, the thing is... once I start eating I don't stop nibbling until I go to bed.
Being the pseudo-scientist that I am, I decided to test this out. I forced myself to eat within 20 minutes after crawling out of bed. And, this is what I discovered: It works.

Dammit all! I'm thinner now than I was during the skipping breakfast years. Though the big problem is finding something palatable to eat first thing in the morning. Nibbling on a breakfast cookie generally does the trick.

Yummy Breakfast Cookies

Mix it up:

3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/3 tsp. Salt

Stir it in:

1/2 cup Butter
1/3 cup Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 Egg

Grab that wooden spoon & add...

1.5 cups Oatmeal (not cooked)
1/2 cup finely chopped Apples
3/4 cup Craisins
1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese*

Bake for 15 minutes @ 375 degrees.

Good to go. These work particularly well for me because I'm too impatient to make breakfast. I stick these in my pocket and gobble them up while I'm walking to the stables. Horses like 'em, too.
* I'm a cheese lover. Therefore I love this recipe. If you're not much of a cheesehead substitute nuts and favorite dried fruits for the Cheddar cheese.

Small Batch Raspberry Jam

2008-08-22T17:19:00.006-06:00

My first Raspberry harvest! Don't they look yummy?

Unfortunately, this is the ENTIRE raspberry harvest ~ 7 berries. Oh, well.

Flowers are my forte, they're so easy to grow. Fruits and veggies, I've discovered, are a much bigger challenge. This summer I've harvested 5 tomatoes, 3 zucchini and 1 lemon cucumber with a bug inside.

Plus 7 raspberries. So, things are looking up.

Are you a jam lover? I used to be. These days, I'm spoiled rotten by homemade spreadable fruit though I still call it jam. Sounds nicer.

Small Batch Raspberry Jam
* This recipe takes about 20 minutes, stays fresh in the frig for about 6 weeks.

Over low heat, dissolve 1 packet unflavored gelatin in 1/3 cup water.

Stir these goodies into the saucepan and bring to a boil:
3 cups fresh raspberries, 3 tbs honey, 2 tsp lemon juice, 2 tsp lime juice.

Hey! Nobody told you to stop stirring! Reduce heat, cook for 5 more minutes. Poor into jam jars and refrigerate.

* No pectin, all fruit, quite yummy, must be stored in the frig.
** Yes, you can use this recipe with other fruits, but why would you want to?

Mediterranean Garden Salad

2008-08-20T17:57:00.003-06:00

Big Bruiser Heirloom Tomato*
Feeds at least a dozen guests

I spoke excellent French the whole time I was taking French classes in South Dakota. Then I went to France, where people really speak French, and realized how badly I'd been taken on those tuition payments.

It was remarkable how consistently I screwed up deciphering the menus. One evening, my entree turned out to be a tomato the size of my head. Whenever I get together with old friends they tease me about my big tomato night. :)

I didn't know such great, big goodies were available here until I arm wrestled another shopper for this 3-pounder at the Farmer's Market.

* The actual name is the Marvel Stripe Heirloom Tomato, which generally tips the scales at 2-3 pounds.

How did this happen?
Garden zucchinis, apparently, are over-achievers no matter what kind I plant. This 1.5 pound giant was lurking under the vines in my (alleged) miniature veggie garden.

Mediterranean Garden Salad:

One big ass heirloom tomato
As much ripe zucchini as you need to get rid of.
Fresh Mozzarella and Feta cheeses
Balsamic vinegar
Sprinkle with fresh basil and mint leaves (chopped very fine.)

Lobster Bisque

2008-04-11T10:56:00.007-06:00

Make it pretty: Dollops of sour cream, snips of green onion tops and a drizzle of cocktail sauce.

This is the easiest dinner to cook for a girl's night! Soup, wine and crusty artisan bread for dipping.

Speaking of dipping... finish the meal with a gigantic bowl of strawberries and packaged chocolate fondue.

Lobster Bisque Recipe
Steam: As much lobster as you can afford. I used about 1 pound.
Simmer: 1 cup chicken broth and 1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion.
In separate pan:
Melt 2 tbsp. butter. Stir in 2 tbsp flour.
Add 2 cups milk, bring to boil (I use half and half which is why it tastes so yummy. You could go completely nuts and use heavy cream!)

Stir In: Chicken broth, onion, plus:

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp. Cocktail Sauce
Salt and pepper, to taste

* This decadent mess can simmer or crockpot for however long you want. I usually add the lobster about 20 minutes before serving so it has a fresher flavor.

Lavender Cookies

2008-04-05T09:31:00.005-06:00

French Lavender (Lavender stoechas, zone 8) grows fast by seed in a sunny window, with true flowers vs. narrow sprigs.

All Lavender is edible but most of them don't taste that great. Grow English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) if you plan to cook with it.

Lavender Cookies
1.25 cups butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
4 tablespoons fresh lavender flowers, crushed

Cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Mix in the flour and lavender flowers. Spoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake about 15 minutes @ 350 degrees F. (You might as well double the batch right now because you know in your heart that you want to...)

Forced Tulips and French Lavender spend their days sunning themselves on my deck. Both warm their toes, indoors, at night.

Glazed Baby Vegetables

2008-03-23T09:37:00.004-06:00

I've been deputized, by Sandy, to host Easter dinner. Clearly I am slipping. For years, I've suckered her into doing all that hard work.

This, of course, has inspired a cleaning frenzy, indoors and out. It's also prompted me to stir up a few side dishes recipes that take no time at all.

Easter Side Dish: Sweet Baby Veggies
1/2 lb. miniature carrots
1/4 lb. miniature zucchini
1/4 lb. patty pan squash
3 tbs. butter
2 tbs. dark brown sugar
Sprinkle with lemon pepper and chopped fresh chives

Steam veggies to crisp-tender. Melt butter and brown sugar in a stir-fry pan. Toss baby vegetables for about 5 minutes, until warm and nicely glazed.

Cornbread Skillet Breakfast Recipe

2008-03-21T09:28:00.014-06:00

This oven-baked beauty is a real stick-to-your-ribs kind of breakfast. Great fuel for a full day of fun on the ski slopes. Works best with a heavy, cast iron skillet.

Cornbread Skillet Breakfast Recipe
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 pound Italian turkey sausage
1 cup diced yellow onion
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped small
1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
6 farm fresh eggs
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 cup skim milk
12 oz. premixed cornbread, with 1 tablespoon flour

Cook bacon, sausage and onions. Toss in the peppers for the last few minutes of cooking time. Prepare cornbread mixture, adding 1 tbs. flour to adjust for high altitudes. Give cast iron skillet a good spritz of nonstick cooking spray. Pour half the cornbread batter into the skillet. Add the cooked meat and veggies. Whip the eggs, milk and cream cheese together. Pour over the meat and veggies. Cover with the Cheddar cheese. Top this delightful mess with the rest of the cornbread batter.

Bake @ 400 degrees (F) for about 30 minutes.

* In the mountains, cornbread and other quick breads can sometimes brown too quickly on top, before the batter underneath is completely done. Cover loosely with aluminum foil for the last 15 minutes.

Natchitoches Meat Pies

2008-03-13T06:25:00.009-06:00

I may live in the mountains, but I dream of the Deep South. I have family in New Orleans and I've spent a whole lotta time enjoying the downright crazy lifestyles of the folks who call Louisiana home.

So why would I bastaradize their time-honored tradition of the fried meat pie? I didn't! My aunt did.

For as long as I've known her, this life-long resident of Metairie, LA. has been trimming the fat off Louisiana cooking. (In this case, not much fat at all.)

Natchitoches Meat Pie
* The real Natchitoches meat pie is a hand-held, oil-fried masterpiece of flavors. Aunt Florence lightened this up with ground turkey vs. beef, baked vs. fried, pre-made puff pastry vs. homemade pie crust. So, I guess when you get right down to it, this thing tastes nothing at all like that famous pie. :)

1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped green onions
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1-2 tablespoons flour
Hot pepper sauce, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Puff pastry sheets

Cook turkey, pork, yellow onions, with the garlic and olive oil in a heavy skillet. Half-way through this cooking process, toss in the peppers and green onions. Spice it up however you please. Stir in the flour.

Drain any excess liquid from skillet, allow mixture to cool. Spoon this delightful mess onto a puff pastry sheet, roll it up. (Or, use puff pastry squares to create individual pies.) Brush with a mixture of egg and water. Bake @ 375 (F) for approximately 35 minutes.

Until the real ones are available west of the Mississippi, this recipe will have to do.

Cool place to stay in Natchitoches.

High Altitude Yeast Bread

2008-03-07T09:49:00.012-07:00

Behold the fruits of my labor. 7 hours of labor, to be exact. Rocket science is child's play compared to baking yeast bread at high altitude.

Everything encourages yeast breads to fail at high altitudes. Yup, everything: dry air, thin air, aggressive kneading, water softeners... your apron is probably causing trouble, too. Yeast breads are just that temperamental high in the mountains.

Tips

The terms 'instant' and 'rapid rise' yeast are relevant to people who live at the bottom of the hill. High altitude baking requires patience. Let yeast percolate slowly in the 'frig for a few hours.
Use bread flour vs. all purpose flour.
Water softeners fiddle with yeast magic, try bottled water. (I use sparkling water since it's always in my 'frig.)
Terra cotta planters or terra cotta saucers make great bread pans.

Artisan Bread Recipe
4 cups bread flour
2-1/4 teaspoons instant rapid rise yeast
3 teaspoons honey
10 ounces bottled, filtered, or sparkling water
3 teaspoons salt

Create a liquid yeast mixture: Combine 1/4th of the flour and ALL of the yeast, honey and water. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Now the fun begins...
Mix the rest of the dry ingredients with the liquid yeast mixture. Let rise for 30 minutes. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Knead it by hand. It's great exercise. (Just try it on a timer, if you don't believe me. 10 min. is a long time!)

Create a humid environment:
Fill your largest casserole dish with hot water, stick it in the oven.
Put bread dough on upper oven rack, let rise for about 2 hours.
Humidity + clay baking pan = 1 perfect loaf of bread!

Knead gently, let dough rest for 15 minutes. Repeat. Give terra cotta pot or saucer a non-stick spray. Let dough rise about 1 hour.

Brush with egg white and water.
Bake @ 400 (F) for about 1 hour.

Chop Chop Salad Recipe

2008-03-03T21:02:00.017-07:00

I should have been born a man ~ my favorite meal is steak and fries.

So, I was pretty excited when we went to Ruth Chris Steakhouse last week.

If you've ever flown anywhere, you've probably spotted their ads in the flight magazines. Ruth Chris claims to serve the best steak you'll ever have the pleasure of eating.

They do! Though, it's a little anticlimactic.

They serve their steaks on a platter of sizzling butter. I mean... really... melted butter makes anything taste fabulous.

What truly impressed me was their signature Chop Salad. It was so delicious I begged and pleaded until the server literally threw up his hands, sat at our table and wrote out the recipe.

CHOP CHOP SALAD RECIPE
* The key to this yummy salad is to chop everything into tiny pieces. Refrigerate for about an hour after mixing with the dressing.
4 cups Romaine lettuce
1/2 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup radicchio
1/4 cup red onions
* Chop these ingredients into thin slices.

1 cup mushrooms
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 small can hearts of palm
* Chop these ingredients into small pieces.

Crumble:
1/4 pound crisp-fried bacon
1/2 cup blue cheese

Add:
1/2 cup plain croutons
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
Crispy fried onions

DRESSING:
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/8 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice

It is out of this world...

Red Wine Currant Sauce

2008-01-01T18:09:00.005-07:00

Currants are colorful, fast-growing, perennial shrubs.
They'll thrive in most gardens (zone 3)

Hmmm... I thought to myself ~ As I nervously stirred a tiny pot of sauce for the New Year's Eve dinner...

It didn't need to be stirred but doing so kept me from making small talk with a couple of strangers. (It also prevented me from strangling their 2 year old bratty boy!)

I used to be pretty good at small talk. I give it a shot but if the other person has taken on the role of part-time fencepost, I immediately switch gears and entertain myself. (Which is what I did last night and I had a marvelous time.)

My aha! moment came while stirring this Red Wine Currant Sauce and pondering how good it could be if currants were more popular. It's hard to find them fresh, though dried currants still make a very tasty sauce.

Currants are gorgeous, fast-growing, USDA zone 3 shrubs. They put forth bright beautiful tart red berries that hang from their branches like clusters of grapes.

If you don't have it in ya to become the farm girl that harvests these luscious berries for jams and pies, fear not.

Every bird in the county will thank you for adding this ornamental shrub to your garden! (They'll thank me, too, 'cause that's exactly what I intend to do!)

Red Wine Currant Sauce
Serve it on duck, pheasant, beef and pretty much anything else under the sun.
* Or, just stir up a pot for the hell of it! It's a great diversion if you're trying to get along with a woman who refuses to converse!

Create a stock by simmering these goodies for at least 30 minutes:
2 cups low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup red currant jelly
1/4 cup dry red currants (in stores, near the raisins, if you're lucky.)
* salt to taste

Use this combo to thicken your sauce:
Melt 1/3 cup butter
Mix in 1/3 cup flour
Add to the stock

* Currants are very popular in Europe - the secret ingredient in all sorts of decadent goodies, like this fabulous French Chocolate Cake.

Simple Sugar Cookies

2007-12-22T15:33:00.002-07:00

Back when I had a real job... whenever I wasn't doing a good enough job... my boss would crab at my lack of creativity and accuse me of taking a cookie cutter approach.

That was a confusing way to insult me because I've tried to make perfectly consistent cut out cookies since L was a baby and it's a whole lot harder than it looks.

This is my theory as to why most of us leave the creative cookie cutting to Pillsbury:

After we turn 40, we figure out that women's magazines are filled with re-touched photos of flawed people. Once we realize that Angelina Jolie could very well be fat and ugly in real life, we feel a whole lot better about ourselves.

For some odd reason, we haven't quite accepted the fact that food photography gets the same specialty treatment.

I can assure you it does. I once spent 16 hours at a photo shoot because an incredibly annoying art director needed the peas in the pasta salad to be placed in exactly the right spots.

Today, I'd like to encourage everyone to haul out the cookie cutters, roll up their sleeves and think... Picasso, Dali, and Pollock ~ definitely Jackson Pollock!

Because there are a whole lot of creative masters out there who happily failed Art Class 101.

Simple Sugar Cookies
No matter how they look, they all taste delightful. This recipe makes 3 dozen average size cookies or 1 gigantic cookie sculpture (in case you'd like to pay tribute to Gaudi!)

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1.25 teaspoons baking powder

How to:

Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in egg and vanilla.
Add flour and baking powder in intervals. (Dough will seem too dry but it will improve when chilled.)
Divide dough into four equal parts and refrigerate about an hour.
Roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper, 1/4 inch thick for crisp cookies or 1/3 inch thick for soft cookies.
Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and and bake for 7-8 minutes @ 375 F.

PS: Don't forget to eat lots of cookie dough. This dramatically reduces the amount of time you spend baking the cookies.

Russian Snowball Christmas Cookies

2007-12-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Moscow Basilica

Strange but true: I've worked full-time, for eight years, with a man I've never met or even spoken to. That's because he lives in Moscow and neither one of us feel like affording that long distance bill.

We freelance together. He's my designer/programmer. I email him junk, he emails me stuff, somehow we put it all together and make it look pretty. (Long live the internet.)

I've never met him, but I did meet one of his co-workers a few years back. Costya introduced us to the miracles of fine vodka. After a few hundred shots of that stuff, he taught us how to swear in Russian. Прокляните все это к черту!

Every year, I send Pasha a Christmas card. He never gets them but I keep sending them anyway. I figure, if Putin stays in office long enough he might figure out how to make his postal service work. Until then, I suppose the KGB is compiling a big secret file on my activities...

Russian Snowball Cookie Recipe - Makes 3 dozen
(Российский Рецепт Печенья Снежка)

1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts

How To:

Cream butter and vanilla until smooth.
Combine powdered sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture.
Mix in the chopped walnuts.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes @ 350 degrees F.
When cool, roll in a second dusting of powdered sugar.

* Dough will appear very dry. The warmth of your hands, as you form the snowballs, softens the butter and moistens the cookie dough.

This is my 3rd most favorite cookie in the whole wide world. Whenever I make them, I think of my buddy, P. They melt in your mouth, light as air. If I could stop eating them long enough to put them in a box, I'd probably send him some.

С Рождеством Христовым, Пол. Я даже не знаю, любите ли Вы это печенье!

Classic Spritz Christmas Cookie Recipe

2007-12-02T17:18:00.001-07:00

If you make 1 cookie this season,
make it a Spritz

I can't imagine Christmas without a tray of these tempting little treats. Though, I'll readily admit they're a lot more fun when someone else is baking them.

Spritz are made with a cookie press ~ if you're a perfectionist, that will give ya fits. It's not so bad for me because we generally eat all the dough before the oven is preheated.

*****

For years I suspected my oven hated me. It would bake too hot, or broil too cold. Everyone accused me of being childish and immature for blaming the appliance.

Last year, that #!%*! oven decided to quit baking on December 23rd ~ so, we had to broil our Spritz Christmas Cookies! They weren't very pretty but they still tasted great.

Who's cryin now?
Sure, I could have recycled it. But, deep down, I knew it was possessed. So, I happily hauled that mean-spirited oven away to a place where it will never (ever!) be able to foil another baker's plans.

Classic Spritz Cookies
If you can refrain from eating the cookie dough, this recipe makes 4 dozen.
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
2.5 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to:

Mix the butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. Add the flour and mix by hand.
Spoon into cookie press and press onto cookie sheets.
Sprinkle with colored sugars. (Or, use red and green food coloring on smaller batches of the dough.)
Bake @ 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes.

* Cookies require no recipe adjustments, when baking at high altitude.

Crunchy Peppermint Cookie Recipe

2007-12-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

Fire up the oven. Cookies require no tricky recipe adjustments when baking in high altitudes!

Crunchy Peppermint Christmas Cookies
* If you can refrain from eating the cookie dough, this recipe makes five dozen.

1.5 cups butter
2 eggs
1.5 tablespoons baking powder
6 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup crushed peppermint candy

How to:

Cream butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs, one at a time.
Add dry ingredients to the batter in two batches, alternating with milk.
Stir in crushed candy.
Spoon onto cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes @ 375 degrees.

This recipe is even better than that one!

Cranberry Apple Pie Recipe

2007-11-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Fun Facts to Know & Tell:
I have never tried Pumpkin Pie.

Whenever I mention that at a holiday dinner, someone inevitably takes the fork that was recently inside their mouth and pokes it at me, hoping I'll try a bite. I don't like, or dislike, Pumpkin Pie.

I simple prefer pretty little cranberries to messy orange pumpkins, filled with slimey junk and ghostly white seeds. Once you try my pie, you will, too.

Cranberry Apple Pie

1.25 cups sugar
1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh, lovely, cranberries
1/4 cup maple syrup
5 sliced Granny Smith apples
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 Pillsbury pie shell (Don't bother making your own. Face it. They're better at this than we are.)

Luscious Topping
1 cup crushed Graham Crackers
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Create the Masterpiece:

In a saucepan, mix together sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and salt.
Stir in cranberries and maple syrup.
Cook over high heat, stirring, until mixture comes to a boil.
Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Stir in apples and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Remove from heat, add walnuts.
Pour apple mixture into pie shell; set aside.
Mix up Luscious Topping sprinkle over the pie filling.
Bake 30 minutes @ 375 degrees.

Serving Suggestion:
Cut yourself a big slice and wait for an idiot Pumpkin Pie fan to say something derogatory. Then slowly remove the fork from your mouth, scoop up a sample size piece from your plate and ask them to try a bite, germs and all. It's only fair.

Biodynamic Wine

2007-11-20T16:19:00.001-07:00

Growing up, we never celebrated Thanksgiving with wine, champagne or anything else really fun. There was no religious excuse surrounding this decision. We just didn't do it.

I always thought that was a huge mistake.

After all, we were living in this horrid little town in South Dakota. Just looking out the window could drive ya to drink!

If you ask me, we should have invented the concept of Bloody Marys with Breakfast. Talk about family tensions! Mom had 11 sisters and Dad had at least as many siblings. God forbid they could ever enjoy a big group hug. (Champagne Cocktails could have helped that cause, too.)

Everything is more palatable when we all get along. And, that's why I'm so fond of the concept of Biodynamic Wine.

It's a nice, fancy term for returning to our roots, finally listening to our elders and farming the good old fashioned way.

Organic is great but Biodynamic takes it to the next level by making the land self-sustaining.

√ Cover crops return nitrogen to the soil.
√ Trees, birds and bees all play a role.
√ Essentially, the acreage becomes a nature preserve surrounding the vines.

Thanksgiving is Thursday ~ and half the nation is expected to show up with a side dish and a bottle of wine.

In the spirit of getting along, bring one from a Biodynamic Vineyard.

Why? Because everybody's gonna be bitching about global warming when you get to the party.

You can show off your bottle, brag up biodynamics and act all smug.

I can actually afford this one: Frey Wine is around $12. (But, you could bring a super expensive bottle just to piss off your less successful siblings!) Here's a great big list of Biodynamic Wines.

PS: This might be a good day to visit Gardening While Intoxicated.

Marvelous Mashed Potato Recipe

2007-11-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

I go through periods of my life when cooking everything from scratch is essential to good living.

Then the dishwasher breaks and I rebound. I can't help myself. I'm weak. Plus, I'm hungry. And, it's hard to cook a meal once you've run out of dishes.

It begins, innocently enough ~ a dinner date with my on again, off again par amour, Mr. Microwave.

Soon, I'm sucked back into one of my most enjoyable bad habits: the cutting of corners.

Take potatoes, for instance. Sure you can tub 'em, rub 'em and scrub 'em or... you could just doll up the pre-made varieties.

Because no amount of toil and trouble can match the stirring in of some fresh chives and Gournay cheese.

Recipe Steps for Marvelous Mashed Potatoes:
1) Get yourself to the hot mashed potato stage however you please - work yourself into a frenzy or buy them pre-mashed from the store.
2) Dice a couple tablespoons of fresh chives (just the stems) into the potatoes.
3) Add a few tablespoons of real butter.
4) Stir in a package of Garlic & Herb Gournay cheese.

Warning: These are the fattiest fat fat potatoes you've ever tasted. Which is why I call 'em Marvelous!

Another Warning: Read the label! Last Thanksgiving, I accidently bought a package of reduced fat Gourney cheese, by mistake. That was a dark day, indeed.

Third & Final Warning:
Chives are a pretty pink and purple lifetime commitment in the garden. That's because they are hellacious re-seeders. No matter how hard you try, once you plant them, you'll always have them. Personally, I think they're worth it. Their fresh green stems have a delicate, oniony flavor that simply cannot compare to a dried spice. Not into gardening? What's wrong with you? (Just kidding.) Fresh Chives are available, year round, in the produce department of your local supermarket.

Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Recipe

2007-11-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I can over-indulge at someone else's house. I don't have to bring presents. And, I'm generally clever enough to get out of washing the dishes, too!

I'm determined to make this a good one because lately things have gone awry.

Last year, I was in charge of desserts.
I slaved for hours and hours and hours, but they were horrible and everyone was too nice to say so.

The forecast for this holiday is much brighter. After last year's disaster, I've been assigned the easy task of sweet potatoes.

If you've been losing sleep over the difference between yams and sweet potatoes, fret no more...

Impress your friends by explaining that yams and sweet potatoes are entirely unrelated, though here in the US, they're essentially the same. Yup, it's just another marketing ploy. In spite of everything your grocer tells you, you'd be hard-pressed to buy a yam in America. Yams sold in the US are just a different variety of sweet potato.

Garnet Sweet Potatoes (marketed as yams) have deep, red skin and bright orange flesh. Moisture content is much higher, making these a great choice for candied sweet potatoes or my all time favorite, Sweet Potato Cheesecake.

Jersey Sweet Potatoes have tan skin and yellow flesh. They're sweeter than 'yams' and also drier. Great for muffins and breads.

Sweeten up your Garnet Reds with Dark Brown Sugar and Toasted Pecans:

2 lbs Roasted Garnet (red-skinned) Sweet Potatoes, peeled, mashed and lovingly improved with:
1/4 cup Butter
1/3 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans, toasted (brings out the flavor)
1/2 tsp. Salt
(Serves 6)

* Yams and sweet potatoes are completely unrelated vegetables, though in both cases you're eating the root of a tropical vine. Sweet potatoes are grown in America, a distant member of the morning glory family. Yams, a staple in Africa, are rarely seen in the U.S.

High Altitude Bread Baking

2007-11-01T10:20:00.002-06:00

Winter thunder rumbles across the meadow, with snow and sleet not far behind. Such is life in the mountains, where seasons change overnight, with little warning. And, they'll change back again, tomorrow.

So, I’m keeping busy baking bread. If you think high altitude gardening is a challenge, try baking a yeast bread from scratch. Dry, thin air wreaks havoc on traditional recipes and Betty Crocker is not much help. Her high altitude recipes say ‘over 3,000 feet.’ I live above 7,000 feet so, with most recipes, I'm winging it.

I’ve learned...

Rapid rise yeast is the proverbial recipe for failure. Breads rise faster at high altitudes. I have better luck with an instant active yeast, using less than the recipe calls for.
A little extra water helps if the dough is too dry.

Baking bread is a science experiment in the mountains. Start with small (1 tablespoon of water, as example) changes and use your best judgement when modifying recipes. And, don't worry... even the failures taste great!

Seems silly, to me, to pay $3.50 for a loaf of artisan bread when the ingredients cost about 50 cents. Here's a yummy French Bread Recipe to try the next time you're snowed in.

French Bread

1 1/4 cups warm water
(add more water, by tablespoons, until bread dough is moist)
1 packet active dry yeast
(less 25%, if you're at high altitudes of 5,000 feet or more.)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon shortening, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups flour

* Rising time: approximately 1 hour. 400 degree oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Brush loaf with beaten egg for a crispier crust.

5 Minute Molasses Cookie Recipe

2007-10-20T07:57:00.000-06:00

Your kids might not like these but my 'kids' jump for joy.

Who doesn't have time for this?
5-minute prep, 20 minutes in the oven and you'll have some very happy horses on your hands.

Oat & Molasses Horse Cookies

2 cups grated carrot
2 cups grated apple
4 tablespoons corn oil
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups flour

Easy Prep:
Stir together carrots, apples, oil, and molasses.
Mix in salt, oats, and flour.
Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake @ 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

PS: Test your baking skills carefully. They 'mobbed' me when I walked into the corral sporting these cookies. I know they meant well but oats & molasses is to horses what wine & chocolate is to us...

Pie Pumpkins

2007-10-15T20:17:00.000-06:00

They all look the same, lounging in the field. But, they were bred for different purposes, so buyer beware...

Jack O’Lanterns were hybridized to ward off evil spirits and provide a riotous good time when you steal them from the neighbor's porch and smash 'em in the street.

Heirloom Variety Pie Pumpkins are prized for their firm texture and sweet flavor. (Jacks are bland and watery.) The best pie varieties are Small Sugar, Winter Luxury and Rouge Vif d'Etampes.

If you're going to all the trouble* of making a pumpkin pie from scratch, you're obviously a romantic. So, purchase a Rouge Vif d'Etampes. It was the prototype for Cinderella's carriage and is sometimes sold as the Cinderella Pumpkin.

But, that means the time to make your pie just went from 4 hours to 4 months because you might have to grow this pumpkin yourself. I’ve never seen a supermarket sell anything but Small Sugars, though these are quite tasty, too.

Pie Pumpkins are good for more than just pie. Click here for a fabulous Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe with gingersnap cookie and pecan crust!

* Canned pumpkin purée is one of the few items where canned product quality is about equal to fresh - though I've found NO documented cases where a can of pumpkin purée warded off evil spirits with any success.

* Rouge Vif d'Etampes means Deep, Red Pumpkin - which is a little misleading, since it's red/orange. Oh, how the French love to toy with anyone who can't speak the language...
* Buy seeds from Burpee - they invented this pumpkin, back in 1883.

Yellow Crookneck Squash ~ Side Dish Recipe

2007-10-04T18:04:00.000-06:00

Summer and winter squash are on the market all year long.

So, what's the difference?

Maybe it's like using the term, horsepower, when talking about cars. These days, nobody has a clue what that really means...

Impress your friends by explaining that winter squash got it's name, centuries ago, because these gourds have thick, hard rinds, storing well over a long winter.

Yellow Crookneck is a summer squash. These dainty, little swans have bumpy, edible skins with a sweet, nutty flavor. Add it to recipes when you get bored with Zucchini.

And, don't fall for those Zucchini tricks! If your neighbor tries to pawn off a two-foot Zucchini on you, toss it in the compost pile. Yellow Crookneck, Zucchini and other Summer Squashes taste best when harvested small, around 6 inches long.

Fabulous side dish for an autumn meal:

Slice crookneck squash lengthwise
Brush with olive oil
Roast with onions and red, sweet peppers

Click here for another yummy squash recipe.

* And, they're good for you, too! High in antioxidants, vitamin C and beta-carotene.

* Save some seeds. These little swans are open-pollinated, meaning they should grow in your garden, next summer.

Scrumptious Pumpkin Bread Recipe

2007-10-01T20:15:00.001-06:00

I was going a little stir crazy yesterday. Nasty winds, blowing snow, nothing to do. Well, plenty to do. Cleaning comes to mind since it looks like a bomb went off in this house of mine. But, why clean when I can putz around the kitchen and make an even bigger mess?

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup pumpkin purée
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Combine flour, salt, sugar and baking soda. Separately, combine pumpkin purée, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup water, and spices. Stir all ingredients together. Last but not least, stir in those yummy walnuts. Bake in a bread pan @ 350 (F) for about an hour.

Harvest Corn Side Dish Recipe

2007-09-26T16:40:00.002-06:00

The Corn Picking Moon (named by Native American tribes) is often the brightest full moon of the year.

Farmers call it the Harvest Moon because it's almost like a second daylight, allowing them to work well into the night, harvesting crops.

Harvest Corn Side Dish Recipe
(My Grandma used to make this.)

18 oz. sweet corn
1.5 cups shredded Swiss cheese
6 oz. skim milk
1.5 cups minced onion
1.5 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 beaten egg
1 Tbsp. melted butter
Salt and pepper, to taste

Stir together: corn, egg, milk, onion, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup Swiss cheese.
Place in a shallow baking dish.
Create a topping with the melted butter and bread crumbs. Sprinkle over the casserole.
Cover with the remaining Swiss cheese.

Bake @ 350 degrees for about a half hour.

Oven-Fried Green Tomato Recipe

2007-09-16T20:09:00.000-06:00

There is so much bad news in the local paper* that I often wonder why I subscribe. Take this morning, for instance, when a sneaky little note in the corner of the front page warned that night temperatures would drop to 24 degrees (F). Oh, I know there are plenty of bigger problems in the world than frozen green tomatoes but I had sort of crossed my fingers that we'd have a long, leisurely autumn since it snowed in June. This is why containers are oftentimes a mountain gardener's best friend.

If you have an abundance of good fresh tomatoes, freeze them whole. Just wash, dry, and put them in freezer bags. They'll retain their flavor ~ great for all sorts of recipes (too squishy for salads.)

OVEN-FRIED GREEN TOMATOES:
[Bake in 400 degree oven]

6 green tomatoes, cut in 1/4-inch thick slices
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup water
1.5 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1.5 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix beaten eggs, milk, and water in a shallow bowl. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan in a separate shallow bowl. Dip tomato slices into the egg mixture, then into the bread crumbs. Arrange tomato slices on a cookie sheet and bake uncovered in 400° oven for about 10 minutes. Flip all of the tomatoes, to brown on the other side, and bake for 10 more minutes.

Watermelon Pickle Recipe

2007-09-05T18:00:00.000-06:00

You gotta be quick. When Levo's melons are ripe, it's a free-for-all, kind of like Filene's Basement. Perhaps it's a secret in the soil. Or, maybe it's just good old-fashioned know-how. Whatever the case, when Levo turns the lights on at his stand, summer is officially over and the pickling season has begun.

Turns out old Levo knew what's what long before the rest of us. Watermelons are one of the world's healthiest foods - higher in cancer-fighting antioxidants than any other fruit. Make this recipe with your kids. It's a fun time and a whole lot sweeter than taking them to McDonalds.

Watermelon Pickle Recipe
*Quantity: Makes 2 1/2 pints
*Prep Time: Takes forever (Hey, it's a labor of love.)

Ingredients:
2 pounds watermelon rind
1/4 cup pickling salt
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon broken stick cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons whole cloves
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

Day One:

Trim the dark green and pink parts from the watermelon rind.
Cut into 1-inch cubes and measure 7 cups.
Soak watermelon rind overnight in a mixture of the pickling salt and water.

Day Two:

Drain and rinse watermelon rind.
Cover rind with cold water in a large saucepan; cook just until tender.
Combine sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, whole cloves, and 1 cup water in an 8-quart kettle. Simmer mixture 10 minutes, then strain.
Add drained watermelon rind and lemon slices.
Simmer until watermelon rind is translucent.
Fill half-pint jars with watermelon rind and syrup mixture, leaving 1/2-inch space at the top of the jars. Adjust the lids.
Process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

* Find Levo's historic watermelon stand along route 37 in South Dakota. By the time I arrived, most of the goodies were gone. Slackers get to explain to the kiddies why they're roasting pumpkin seeds instead of cookin' up pickles.

Bacon & Tomato Irresistible Dip

2007-08-28T18:50:00.001-06:00

This is a face only a Mother could love...

...Which is why I'm dicing him up for the Labor Day BBQ. Heirloom Tomatoes can win, hands down, in a blind taste test but they don't score many points in a beauty pageant.

I live in a boom town and - just between you and me - the Californians are makin' us a little nuts. They quite seriously show up at a Labor Day BBQ with some kooky Tofu recipe and call it a 'dish to share.' Dish to scare is more appropro.

We're Utahns. We're light years behind the rest of the country with respect to social development. (Haven't you seen Big Love?)

This is why I'm cookin' up my favorite BLT Dip. B = bacon!

These days, bacon is so unhealthy and taboo that this dip gets everyone excited ~ including the new neighbors from LA.

BLT Dip

1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. sour cream
1 lb. bacon
2 heirloom tomatoes

Cook bacon until crispy, drain fat. Crumble into bite-size bits. Dice two majorly ugly heirloom tomatoes. Stir together sour cream, mayonnaise, bacon, and tomatoes. Serve with Bagel Crisps.

Click here for another favorite Heirloom Tomato Recipe.

What's so great about Heirloom Tomatoes?

Chokecherry Jam Recipe

2007-08-23T17:58:00.002-06:00

Chokecherry Jam was a breakfast tradition at our house. It defined Sunday mornings for as long as I could remember. After a few dozen phone calls, I managed to track down this most precious recipe from childhood.

Once I retrieved it, though, I felt kind of foolish. There's nothing to it. Have you ever gone back to a childhood haunt and noticed how everything is smaller than you remembered it? Well, I guess this recipe is kind of like that. Bigger than life for sentimental reasons and nothing more.

Chokecherries blossom in May and ripen throughout the summer. The time for picking chokecherries is... right.. about... NOW.

Picking your own? Look for big, plump berries, dark purple or black. Toss in some light red and green ones, too. They add extra flavor.

The Legendary O'Fahey Family
CHOKECHERRY JAM RECIPE

Remember to stir, stir, stir. Cherries and sugar can get pretty sticky and may burn to the sides of your pot.

Add 1 cup of water to every four cups of cherries.
Simmer over low heat until fruit is very tender.
Use a large spoon to press the chokecherry pulp through a sieve. (Three cups of pulp make about 3 half pints of jam.)
Add an equal amount of sugar to match the amount of chokecherry pulp.
Put sugar/chokecherry mixture back on the stove and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Cook to a temperature of 9 °F higher than the boiling point of water. *According to Aunt Lillian, this temperature check will deliver a rich flavor and thick consistency.
Pour into hot, sterile jam jars to approximately 3/4 full.
Seal and process in a boiling water bath for about 15 minutes.
Give the jam 24 hours to slowly cool.

* Are you a newbie at making jam? Click here. These guys can fill in the blanks.

Heirloom Tomato Appetizer Recipe

2007-08-01T13:21:00.001-06:00

Just because I managed to lose all of my own veggies this year, (Memorial Day frost) doesn't mean I have to go without.

Early morning at the local Farmer's Market is a colorful, bustling, fun-filled affair. This week, I came home with more luscious tomatoes than I really need.

So, now it's time to get creative in the kitchen. Here's a tasty recipe I just discovered.

It's so delicious, it easily doubles as dinner.

You'll need a loaf of crusty bread (garlic or rosemary are great choices,) olive oil, shredded Parmesan cheese, thinly sliced proscuitto, and one fresh-picked, vine-ripened tomato.*

Heirloom Tomato Broiled Appetizer

Fire up the broiler
Cut the bread in half-inch thick, sandwich-type slices
Brush with olive oil
Add thinly-sliced proscuitto
Add thinly-sliced tomato*
Cover with shredded Parmesan cheese
Broil for 5-10 minutes, until bread is toasty and cheese is melted and bubbly.

Enjoy!

* Please don't wreck this fabulous recipe by using a crummy, store-bought tomato. :-)

Chocolate Drop Cookie Recipe

2007-04-19T18:42:00.001-06:00

My daughter is moving home for the college summer break. Aside from the fact that I miss her, an important benefit of L living at home is that she hardly ever has 2 dimes to rub together. That means each time she tries to borrow money I can put her to work pulling weeds! Seeing as how my weeds outnumber my flowers 10 - 1, I'm getting more excited by the minute!

Comforting traditions tie us together more so than any of the 'defining moments' of our lives. My Grandmother made this recipe for her daughters. Mom made it for me. I make it for L. And, though she swears it will never happen... Someday, she will be walking down the hallway, to deliver a plate of these cookies to her own daughter, who is pulling an all-nighter on a term paper she should have started weeks ago.

Chocolate Drop Cookies
Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes just enough for a study break.

Combine:
1 Egg
6 Tablespoons Butter
6 Tablespoons Dutch Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1/3 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Mix in:
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 1/4 Cup Flour

* Don't even think about lowering the fat in this special recipe.
** Looking to satisfy a sweet tooth? Double the sugar. This family loves chocolate, but not sweet treats.