Creamy Teriyaki Rice

 

This was hands-down my husband’s favorite dish at a recent House Party featuring Philadelphia Cooking Crème. My brother liked it as well. The combination of teriyaki sauce and crème isn’t an obvious one, but it definitely had fans! We left the rice plain and had this on the side as a topping, but if your entire crowd is dairy-loving, then you can go ahead and mix this together. It is good either way.

 

Creamy Teriyaki Rice

(Adapted from original Kraft recipe, found here)

Cooked Rice

3 cloves garlic, sliced

4 slices ginger, minced

2 tbsp. oil

1 package frozen peas

4 carrots, julienned or shaved

1 tub Original Philadelphia Cooking Crème

Teriyaki sauce, to taste

 

Put oil, ginger and garlic in a skillet and place over medium heat. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add carrots and cook until tender, about two-three minutes. Remove carrots, garlic and ginger to a bowl and set aside. Cook peas until thawed and bright green, breaking apart with a wooden spoon. Add carrot mixture back in and stir to combine. Add cooking crème and stir. Season to taste with teriyaki sauce and serve over rice.

 

PS – This recipe was made with Philadelphia Cooking Crème, which was given to me free of charge for review purposes. The coupons came in a box full of “swag” for me and my guests, including a new skillet, and other kitchen wares and coupons. I was not otherwise compensated.

A New (Old) Apple Cake

My son celebrated his birthday in December, and for his party with his friends I made his (new) favorite cake - an apple cake. The recipe originally came from my Great-Grandma Susie. Story is that, should you happen to find yourself in her front room during the autumn or winter, more likely than not you'd find yourself in the company of this particular cake. The secret, I believe, is that the cake is heavy handed on the oil...meaning that you have a cake that is as delicious, squishy and moist on Sunday evening as it was on the Monday before. Brilliant, right? It's almost a cross between a pudding, a bread and a cake.

I found two copies of the recipe - the one I copied from my grandmother's recipe files, and the one that my great-aunt published in their church cookbook 30 years ago. For the first run through, I made the cake as my grandmother taught me. However, with 3 cups of flour, two cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of oil...it was a bit of a once-a-year-treat. Since I had already made it that way once (for a party at church), I decided to put a bit of a LoLo spin on it. The results were delicious and, for some of the guests who sampled both cakes, actually preferrable! My version is by no means a diet version, but certainly less oil-some than the original. It is perfect plain, for breakfast, or topped with a dollop of Cool Whip. (I can't break tradition, guys - sorry! It was always Cool Whip at Grandma's house.)

Aunt LoLo's Fresh Apple Cake

Serves 12-15

Ingredients:

3 cups AP flour (unsifted)

2 cups white sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon (Saigon, please!)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup oil

1 cup apple juice

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

4 medium sized apples, cored and chopped. (I used two Granny Smith - tart- and two Cortland - sweet. Peels on, please. No need to be fussy!)

Preheat your oven to 325F.

Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan well. Really, really, really well. Some of the cake will still stick...but don't let that discourage you. Just do your best!

In a LARGE bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt).

In a 2 cup measuring cup, pour in 1/2 cup oil and then 1 cup apple juice. (You could, of course, do this in two steps - but I'm trying to save you time here!) Pour that into your dry ingredients. In the same cup, crack two eggs and whisk them lightly. Dump them into the flour bowl. Squeeze in your vanilla (one short squeeze is about right) and your lemon juice (one long squeeze). (Just trying to keep it real here!).

Stir that all together. I like using a spatula, so I can make sure all of the flour is mixed in. Fold in your apples.

Give it a taste. Yummy? Great! Now spoon it into your prepared Bundt pan. (Trust me - if you try to pour it, your arm will get tired and fall off, and your cake will end up all over the counter. This is definitely a spooning operation.) (Heh.)

Put your cake into the oven and set a timer for an hour. It won't be done after an hour - it will take closer to an hour and a half - but you really don't want to leave the kitchen for that last half hour, as this is not an exact science. The cake is done when a toothpick stuck into the deepest part comes out batter-free. A few crumbs are ok. You don't want this cake to get dry!

Enjoy with just a dollop of Whipped Cream...or not, as the case may be.

Grandma's Festive Fruit Cake

(This is part of a series of Grandma Myrnie's recipes.)
(The Betty Crocker Date Bar Mix is no longer being sold. This is my plea to cyber-space: can anyone come up with a recipe to replicate this one?? Grandma was all about "taking help from the store" and this recipe is from the Date Bar mix box.)

1 pkg Betty Crocker Date Bar Mix
2/3 cup hot water
3 eggs
1/4 cup flour
3/4 t baking powder
2 T light molasses
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmet
1/4 t allspice
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup raisins
1 package (8 oz) candied whole cherries
Glaze (see below)

Heat oven to 325. Grease and flour 6 cup ring mold. In large bowl, stir together date filling from date bar mix and water. Mix in crumbly mix, eggs, flour, baking powder, molasses, and spices thoroughly. Fold in nuts, raisins and cherries. Spoon into mold. Bake about 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool thoroughly. Wrap and refrigerate. Before serving, drizzle with Glaze and, if desired, decorate with candied cherries.

Glaze:
Blend 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, 1 T water and 1/2 drops green food colour.

Note: Bake 1 hour 20 minutes if using 9x5x3 loaf pan.

White N' Wheat Bread

This is our every-day bread recipe. Since a loaf pan is small, it makes small sandwiches but the wheat is so filling that it's OK! The whole process takes me about 6 hours, but there are only about 10 minutes of hands-on time in the beginning, and then an occasional punch-down or roll-out. So if you have half an hour to watch this mix up in the Kitchen Aid in the morning, and plan on being around later for punching and rolling, you can have fresh bread!

I grind my own wheat flour, since we have so much of it from the cannery. I figure if I'm going to store the stuff, I should know how to use it for at least one or two recipes so we're not stuck eating boiled wheat! I use our Vita-Mix to grind the wheat berries- 2 cups of berries, grind for 1 minute and tap to get everything out that fell into the spigot, and then grind again for a minute. It's not a very "fine" flour, but it works well enough for bread.

I've posted a similar recipe before, for Simple Bread, but this recipe has my own changes. I added olive oil to make a smoother dough, and a softer/moister loaf. It's amazing what a glug of olive oil can do. I'm sure you could substitute almost any fat, but I like the olive oil with the nutty wheat. I've tried this with ALL wheat flour, and it turns out so dense that while everyone says it's good, I notice I'm the only one eating it. So, I scaled back to half and half white and wheat, and my whole family requests it- I figure ANY additional fiber is good, right?

The keys to making this really good:

• Let it mix a long time before you add more flour, and add flour a little at a time so as much flour can have a long mixing time as possible. When the dough gets stiffer, it just doesn't get as much kneading action in the machine, so mix a lot while it's thin.

• You want the dough as moist as possible. Add flour just until it's manageable.

• Let this rise! You could get by with 1 rising in the bowl, but two makes such a nice loaf. And if you don't have time to bake, just keep punching it down when it's doubled. An overnight rise in the refrigerator is even better. You won't believe what a soft, smooth, dough you'll get.
  

• Oil the dough well- I noticed that while my dough rises nicely in the bowl, the piece I gave my daughter to knead got left on the counter and NEVER rose. So make sure it has a thin coating all the way around. (I've never heard this anywhere else though, so maybe I'm just making things up...)

White N' Wheat Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups very hot water
1 heaping Tablespoon yeast
2 heaping Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil (a "glug")
3 cups all-purpose white flour
2-3 cups wheat flour

• Put first three ingredients in mixer bowl, and let proof 10 minutes.
• Add salt, olive oil, and 3 cups white flour. Mix with dough hook 10 minutes on low-medium speed. You'll see dough start to pull away from side of bowl in strings that snap.
• Add wheat flour a half cup at a time, mixing a few minutes after each addition. Mix until dough completely pulls away from side of bowl. It should still be moist and slightly sticky when you turn off the mixer.
• On a well-floured board, knead dough just until it stops trying to stick to your hands. Keep pulling in flour from the board edge to just dust the kneading space.
• Drizzle mixer bowl with olive oil and use your hand to spread it around. Put the dough back in, and spin then flip and spin again to completely coat dough ball with oil. If it's not oiled, it won't rise properly!
  
• Cover bowl with a thin, damp, towel. I use a spray bottle to mist it.
  
• Let rise till doubled- when you poke your fingers in, the indent should stay and not spring back much at all. Punch down, and rise again.
• Punch down a second time and cut in half. Using your knuckles, push a dough half into a rectangle the width of your loaf pan, and then roll tightly jelly-roll style. Pinch end to seal, and place seal-side down on the counter. Pull dough on ends to cover the edges, and seal on the bottom. Repeat with the other half of the dough, and put in loaf pans. Cover with damp towel again and let rise until it reaches the top of the pan. I like to set them next to the my oven vent and set the oven to preheat- the heat helps it rise quickly, and makes sure that my oven is good and hot when the bread gets in there.
• Bake at 350 for 25 minutes- to test, tip a loaf out of its pan and tap the bottom. It should sound hollow.
  

One Pot Pasta

Last night found BBJ and I home, alone, with not much energy for cooking or scrubbing. I wanted to make something that I knew BBJ would eat, so I turned to an old standby - LoLo's Pasta. I made it up a few years ago, but I'm sure it's not an original idea. This can, of course, be doctored up to suit a more adult palate, but I aim to please here in Casa LoLo. I served this with a very simple salad of torn romaine leaves and lots of ranch dressing. (Not healthy, but again - a favorite with my toddler!) (To see a video of my toddler eating salad, go here to my BBJ Blog.)

LoLo's Pasta Bake

1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 jar Pasta Sauce (I had a can of very salty Hunt's Pasta Sauce that wasn't good for anything else, so I used that - this method of preparation mellows out any saltiness in the sauce.)
1 lb pasta (I used a pound of dried tortellini that was languishing in my pantry)
1 can of mushrooms, drained

Heat the oil in a large skillet or dutch oven and add the garlic, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn. When the oil and garlic are fragrant, add the pasta sauce, pasta and mushrooms - stir to combine.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until pasta is tender.

Top with grated parmesean or cheddar cheese. Enjoy!

*This could very easily be "adultified" with the addition of caramelized onions, other cheeses melted in (ricotta or bleu cheese would be nice), or other vegetables. Consider this a skillet version of lasagna, and you're on the right track.

Chocolate Cake in 5 Minutes

I received a challenge from my Grandpa, and I had to take it up. He loves to forward me pretty pictures, amazing stories, and pretty much anything else that catches his fancy. The other day, this was an e-mail called Cake in a Mug. This e-mail detailed a chocolate cake that could be made in the microwave, using less than 5 minutes total to prepare, and dirtying only one tablespoon and a coffee mug. I was intrigued, to say the least!

Tonight, as I wait for Lo Gung to return from his day at the US Open, I decided the time was nigh for a bit of chocolate cake!

The recipe is as follows:

"5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons cake flour(plain flour, not self-raising)

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons baking cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips(optional)

a small splash of vanilla

1 coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla essence, and mix again.Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!"

I followed the recipe exactly...and it turned out OK! The texture is a little weird, but that's not surprising, really - the cake relies on steam for the leavening, so it's essentially a steamed cake. The only change I would make would be to add a teeny bit of salt, to bring out the chocolate and sugar. The cake rose to about 4" above the edge of the mug, but deflated almost instantly when I opened the door of the microwave. (Honestly - I had the camera to my eye, ready to focus and shoot...and by the time I got the door open, the cake was gone back inside the mug!)

The cake does get a little rubbery as it cools...but what steamed bread doesn't? Besides, it doesn't really stick around that long anyhow! (I held off just for you, my loyal readers - otherwise, I would have eaten the whole thing before writing this post! As it is, a lonely little bit of cake is sitting on my plate, cooling...but I think I ought to go put it out of its misery now!)

This would be excellent with a bit of whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream..and OF COURSE, a huge mug of milk!

Simple Bread

I got this recipe from a comment on The Pioneer Woman- love it! (Comment #63) I make this recipe about twice a week.

Simple Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
1 heaping Tablespoon yeast
1 heaping Tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour

1) In mixing bowl of Kitchen-Aid, proof the first three ingredients for 10 minutes.
2) Add salt and 4 cups flour (whole wheat or white), and mix with dough hook till mixture is well combined and not sticky. This takes a while- perhaps 5-10 minutes?
3) Add up to 2 cups more flour to dough, and continue to knead with the dough hook. I like to add a half cup at a time, and mix for a few minutes to see how it's doing. When I'm done, the dough is still sticky, but I'm able to scoop it out of the bowl to set on the counter. It's manageable.
4) Pull out the dough, spray the bowl with Pam, put the dough back, and spray the top with Pam. Roll it over a few times to make sure the whole thing is coated.
5) Cover with damp towel, set in a ward spot, and let rise to double. Punch down and form- rolls, pizza crust, focaccia, 2 bread loaves, etc.
6) Bake at 350 until done. My bread loaves take about 25 minutes.

Mild, Tomatoey, Chili

Is tomatoey a word? You know what I mean. Ordinarily I wouldn't post a recipe like this- I made it up last night, trying to doctor up the weekly pot of beans. Turned out as a mild, almost sweet chili (the tomato sauce matched with the pinto beans to make something very different than kidney-bean chili.) BUT, Ernie has eaten 4 servings of these beans now, which marks the first time she has ever polished off a bowl of beans and asked for more. Amazing! So, if you want a spicy, hearty chili- doctor this up. Use kidney beans, add chuck meat, add chilies, etc.

If you want a 3-year-old to eat her fiber-filled beans- cook it up! I'm guessing if your kid likes ketchup, they'll like these beans (especially if you let them tear up a thick homemade tortilla and start out by dipping it in the beans.) (As a side note, beans and rice both contain partial proteins that, oddly enough, exactly match to form a complete protein like you'd find in meat.)

Ernie's Chili
3 cups pinto beans, soaked and cooked
Stir in:
2 cans tomato sauce
1/2 an onion, diced
2-3 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper

Let simmer, taking care to stir and keep the beans from sticking and burning. Serve over rice, topped with a little cheese (but not on Ernie's bowl).

Cold-Fashioned Potato Salad

Let Battle Potato Salad begin! (Yes, I know - this recipe and Wonder Woman's recipe aren't really the same thing at all, but isn't it funny that we both made potato salad on Memorial Day? No? Everyone made potato salad on Memorial Day? Fine. Be that way.)

Here's my last-minute/lazy take on Alton Brown's recipe. Delicious!


Cold-Fashioned Potato Salad
Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe on Good Eats



2 1/2 pounds small baker potatoes (reds would have been better)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 Tablespoon pre-minced garlic
2 T. sweet relish. (Cornichons would have been better!) (That's gherkin, to us mere mortals)
One green onion, diced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Place potatoes into a large heavy-bottomed pot. Cover with cold water and place over medium heat. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat and remove lid. Gently simmer until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and place into an ice bath to cool. Remove skin by rubbing with a tea towel. Slice potatoes into rounds and place into a zip top bag. Add the vinegar and toss to coat all of the potatoes. Place the bag into the refrigerator overnight. (I was unable to refrigerate overnight, so I omitted this step, instead mixing in the vinegar and letting it soak while I prepared the dressing.)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, pickles, and onions. Once evenly combined, add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Let the salad chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad Recipe

We made this for a family BBQ last night- original recipe can be found here. I made a few changes- I used ready bacon bits, only 8 ounces of sour cream, and russet potatoes. I've found that they fall apart so much I don't need nearly as much dressing as a potato salad recipe normally calls for- they make their own creaminess. Enjoy! This can be warmed in the oven, or chilled if you have the time (which we didn't.)

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Ingredients:
12 russet potatoes, cubed and boiled

Sauce
(mix together and fold into potatoes):
8 ounces sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
a squirt of ranch dressing if you want
1/4 tsp pepper
salt to taste

Fold in:
(reserve a little of each to sprinkle on top)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
6 green onions, chopped
bacon (either 6 slices, cooked and crumbled, or bacon bits)

Spread in a 9x13 pan and top with reserved goodies. Either warm in a 350 degree oven 15 minutes, or chill in fridge.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

I know that's an awful big title to give to a humble little cookie, but I believe I have found a cookie that is neither little, nor humble!

Therefore, the title fits.

The recipe was presented to me as one that would make a chewy cookie, with not too much chocolate, but just enough, with just a hint of crispy around the edges. I waited for months for an opportunity to make these cookies. When a girl in my new ward agreed to watch my toddler at night (does she know kids turn into hyenas after 5?) so I could go to a doctor's appointment, I knew I had found my occasion! I followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of the butter. I can never seem to keep unsalted butter on hand, so I went ahead and used salted butter and then cut the salt down to about 1/8 tsp. to compensate. I did use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to portion out my cookies, but it only made 13 doing it that way, not 16.

Oh, and we did eat these for breakfast...but I definitely wouldn't recommend it. These are more of a you-finished-your-lunch-have-a-treat kind of thing. Oh, and I cooked mine for 20 minutes, and it was perfect. Every oven is different, donchaknow!
One more thing - I used store-brand chocolate chips because I'm cheap like that, and it's what's in my pantry!

OK, so I didn't follow it exactly...but that's about as exact as I get people. Work with me here!



Robyn Lee's Killer Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- makes 16 -
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
(After which, I adapted it from Serious Eats)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks chopped from a Green & Black's organic bittersweet chocolate bar (any high-quality bar like Vahlrona or Sharffenberger's would do)
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 335 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 23 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Granola

At one point last year I checked my food storage- between Cannery cases, Costco bags from my parents, and cartons purchased at the grocery store I had WAY TOO MUCH oats. So, rationally, I looked for a way to mix it with sugar and oil and eat it for breakfast.

Following is the recipe I found online, and then modified myself. In keeping with previous recipes, I find the most basic one I can and mess around until we like it. You can mix in any dried fruit you like after baking- we used dried cannery apples this time. In the past I've used raisins, Craisins, and dried goji berries.

This is different than the granola you'll find at the store- because it's so much lower in fat and sugar it doesn't form sugary clumps or clusters- each oat is coated, but separate. Of course it's good in milk, but my favorite is to eat it over a bowl of yogurt. As the nuts cook with the oat mixture they roast a little bit, giving this a delicious nutty taste. Pecans are my favorite nuts to use, mostly because I had a lot of broken ones in my freezer left over from this endeavor last Christmas.

Granola

Ingredients:
4 cups oats
1 and 1/2 cups nuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 to 1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups dried fruit

1. In a large bowl stir together first 5 ingredients (the dry ingredients)
2. Either in microwave or on stove heat together vegetable oil and honey. Remove from heat and add vanilla- I like to add a little more than it calls for.
3. Pour liquid over oat mixture and stir to coat well. Spread on a 15x10" jelly roll sheet (baking pan with sides) and bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
4. Let cool and put in storage container- add fruit, mix, and seal. Will keep for a week at room temperature or 3 months in the freezer.
   

Pink Salad

Can I call this "my" recipe if I couldn't find an exact match in the first 20 google hits on "Pink Salad"? They all had sweetened condensed milk, pecans, pie filling, beets, or potatoes (??). So, here is my traditional, Easter, Pink Salad. I make it every year, I grimace as I buy the ingredients and empty all the packages into my bowl, at least 3 people groan and say "Oh my" when I take the lid off, and yet...we all eat 3 helpings each!

Ingredients:
1 small container Cool Whip
1 large container cottage cheese (1 pound?)
1 package strawberry flavored Jell-O

Mix together in a bowl. Don't try to use sugar free anything, it will taste bitter and separate. If you want to feel a little better about this, mix in a can or two of fruit cocktail or other fruit that you like. For the family gatherings, I normally use 1 large Cool Whip, and two of everything else. It almost fills my largest Tupperware bowl! Make sure you let this rest in the refrigerator for a few hours, so the gelatin and sugar can dissolve and the tastes can meld.

Enjoy!