JIF or Skippy?

Aaron and I have an ongoing "discussion" about what brand of peanut butter is superior. My personal preference, and the only kind I'll buy, is JIF. Creamy if you're going to do peanut butter and honey, extra crunchy if you're going to use jam. Aaron, on the other hand, swears by Skippy. He'll never win this one.

Buckeye Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
No-Stick Cooking Spray
1 (18.25 ounce) package Devils Food Cake
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 large egg
1 cup Dry Roasted Peanuts, chopped
1 (14 oz.) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Directions:
1. HEAT oven to 350ºF. Coat 13x9-inch pan lightly with no-stick cooking spray.
2. BEAT cake mix, oil and egg in large mixing bowl on medium speed until crumbly. Stir in peanuts. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture. Press remainder on bottom of prepared pan.
3. BEAT sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in medium bowl until smooth. Spread over prepared crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.
4. BAKE 25 to 30 minutes or until set. Cool. Place frosting into corner of a 1-quart resealable food storage bag. Seal bag. Microwave 5 seconds on HIGH. Snip small edge off bag corner. Squeeze bag, drizzling in a criss-cross pattern over crumb topping. Chill to set chocolate drizzle for ease in cutting into bars.

This one's for you, Eric

Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup raw green pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin seeds, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and lime juice; toss to coat.

Spread on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until puffed and browned, about 10 minutes.

cheap eats

I've been looking for tasty, yet inexpensive recipes to make for my family, and came across this one. The recipe calls for canned San Marzano tomatoes, but I'm sure any canned tomatoes will suffice.

Spinach Fettuccine with Quick Tomato Sauce
Makes 6 servings

1 pound dried spinach fettuccine (or two 9-ounce packages fresh)
1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes, drained and cut into pieces with kitchen scissors
2 cloves garlic, whole
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions (tender but firm to the bite). Scoop out 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and reserve. Drain the pasta.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes. Discard the garlic cloves. Add the cooked pasta and toss to coat. If the pasta needs more moisture, add the reserved pasta water, about 1/4 cup at a time. Serve topped with the basil.

It's chilly out there!

Autumn is officially here. This I know, because it started raining today, and I'm sure it won't stop (other than the occasional sun-break) until May 2009. Fun times! Hey, at least I don't have to shovel snow! This is a shout out for my favorite chili mix. I've been using it for 10+ years, and love it. The ingredients are simple:

2 lbs. ground beef
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 pkg. Carol Shelby's Chili Mix



You can add the beans of your choice, or not at all. I also like to add in a sweet onion. Tonight we're having it sans onion, with black beans and chili beans. I know, it isn't like me to eat beans, but I'm trying to eat a more balanced diet. And I figure peanut butter can't be the only "legume" in my diet :-)

Peanut Butter Popcorn

This is a really good twist on caramel corn. A perfect treat for Halloween!

Peanut Butter Popcorn

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
6 cups popped popcorn

Boil together the sugar and corn syrup until it reaches soft ball on a candy thermometer (234 to 238 degrees). Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and stir until well coated. Let cool on waxed paper.

Note - I doubled the recipe when I made this and ended up using 2/3 c of popcorn kernels in my air popper.

Chocolate Muffins

Yes, we are the type of parents who feed their kids chocolate for breakfast. It's like Bill Cosby said, "Dad is great...give us the chocolate cake."

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Special equipment: Muffin tin with paper muffin cases

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

Not Your Grandma's Vegetable Soup

OK, here's one for all you vegetable lovers (oops! Is that a possibility in the family??) Actually, Brenda tried it tonight at our house and even asked for seconds, so I guess maybe there is hope after all.
The recipe came from the Feb. 2008 Good Housekeeping. It makes a lot, so you might want to cut the recipe in half, although leftovers would probably freeze well.

Not Your Grandma's Vegetable Soup

1 Tbp. olive oil
1 med. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1/2 tsp. allspice
2 cups canned diced tomatoes
1 lb. beets (about 3), without tops
6 c. sliced green cabbage
3 lg. carrots, cut into 1/2 in. chunks
4 c. water
1 can (15 oz) vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
3/4 - 1 tsp. salt
2 Tbp. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. loosely packed fresh dill or parsley, chopped
sour cream (optional)

1. In 5-6 quart saucepan, heat oil o medium. Add onions and cook several minutes until tender. Stir in garlic and allspice; cook 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and cook 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, peel beets and shred in food processor or on the coarse side of box grater.
3. Add beets, cabbage, carrots, water, broth, bayleaf, and salt to the saucepan. Heat to boiling on high.
4. Reduce heat to medium low; cover and simmer about 30 minutes or till veggies are tender. Remove bay leaf. Stir in vinegar and dill or parsley. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

Cowboy Beans

Here's a good one from the Western Horseman magazine. It's a great meal to make ahead in your crock pot, especially on these chilly fall evenings.

1 lb. ground beef
1 c. chopped onions
1/2 lb. bacon
1 16oz. can pork & beans, liquid retained
1 16oz. can pinto beans, rinsed
1 c. ketchup
3 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 Tbsp. Liquid Smoke
1/4 c. brown sugar

In a skillet, brown the beef, bacon, and onions. Put in your crock pot, along with the pork & beans and pinto beans. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl, then pour on top of beef/beans mixture and stir. Cook on low for 5-10 hours.

Ruth's notes: I was lazy & in a hurry, so I didn't brown the beef & onions before I put it in the crock pot. I just threw it all in there raw. It turned out just fine. And I left out the bacon this time, because let's face it, I'm not getting any skinnier. But we've made it before with the bacon, and it's pretty good.

If you don't know what Liquid Smoke is, I found it by the BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, things like that. It's just a smoke flavoring that smells really yummy.

Also, I think the original recipe called for two cans each of the pork & beans and the pinto beans, but I modified it for my small family. It still made plenty with one can each.

Slacker

Yeah, that's me. I'm going to use the same old excuses of too much work, not enough time, etc. But it's true! Add to that volleyball practice 2x a week, swim lessons 2x a week, laundry, dishes, cats - you get my point. Working full-time and being a full-time mother/wife isn't easy. I somehow manage to get a home-cooked meal on the stove most nights of the week, much to the credit of my loving, supportive husband. And the other nights consist of leftovers, pizza, and homemade burritos. Good thing my family is easy to please!

My friend Laura cooked a fabulous meal for us last weekend. It was very Autumn-ish. Pork Tenderloin, roasted sweet potatoes, salad with freshly roasted beets (BLECH!). The kids ate up everything, including the beets. Don't know where that came from - clearly not their mother!

Pork Tenderloin with Cinnamon
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

* 1 pound pork tenderloin (this may be in a couple of pieces)
* 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon dry sherry (or sherry vinegar)
* 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
* 1 teaspoon dry mustard
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place the pork in a nonreactive roasting pan. Combine soy sauce, cinnamon, sugar, salt, sherry, ginger, mustard, and lemon juice. Stir well and pour over meat. Bake 60 minutes, basting frequently with the pan sauces, or until the internal temperature registers 145 degrees F. on an instant-read thermometer. Slice pork and serve hot with the pan juices.

Somewhat success

I don't have a recipe to post, but I just wanted to say that I made my first pie ever yesterday: the famous sourcream apple. I even made the crust. I didn't think it was going to turn out because the middle was kind of giggly and the "crumbly" topping was crumbly at all. It was more dough-like, so I just pulled apart little pieces of it and distributed it around the top. I thought I was going to be ashamed because I felt like it was a disgrace to the family name to mess up such a treasured recipe, but it actually turned out pretty well and it tasted wonderful and people liked it, so I'll call it a success.

easy does it

One of our favorite shows on the Food Network is "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. He has a unique way of teaching you about food, it's chemical makeup, and how best to use it. Our family is also a lover of pancakes, and with economic times as they are, this is a quick and cheap way to keep some instant pancake mix on hand. That is, for those of you with a nice pantry or lots of storage in the kitchen. I'll have to stick with the smaller, packaged variety for now :-)

"Instant" Pancake Mix
Serves: 3 batches of pancakes

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (check expiration date first)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a lidded container. Shake to mix.

Use the mix within 3 months.

"INSTANT" PANCAKES:
2 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix, recipe above
1 stick butter, for greasing the pan
2 cups fresh fruit such as blueberries, if desired

Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F. Heat oven to 200 degrees F.

Whisk together the egg whites and the buttermilk in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.

Combine the buttermilk mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.

Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.

Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)

Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle and sprinkle on fruit if desired. When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.

Serve immediately or remove to a towel-lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Hold in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes.

Yield: 12 pancakes

Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

My good friend Amy posted this on her blog, it comes from Real Simple magazine. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm intrigued enough by the idea of sweet potatoes in soup that I just *might* try it (they've got to taste better in soup form with apples than their natural, plain state, right?). She said it was divine! Let me know if anyone else tries it... Mom?

Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

3lb. sweet potatoes
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Prick potatoes with a fork, place on baking sheet & roast until tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 10 -12 minutes. When potatoes are done, halve them and scoop out the flesh and add to saucepan. Add 6 cups of water, 2 tsp. salt & 1/2 tsp. pepper. Cook until heated through, 8 - 10 minutes. Puree the soup in the saucepan using hand held blender, or pour small amounts one at a time in blender and blend. Add water if necessary to make desired consistency. Serves 8 (I halved the recipe and it still made plenty!)

give me warmth!

This crisp fall weather is making me dream of the summer heat, and it's only just beginning :-( It makes me in the mood for warm drinks - anything that will help me forget that it's going to start raining for the next 5 months! This recipe is made in a coffee maker, but you can just as easily make it on the stove.

Hot Cranberry Cider

This smells so good when it's percolating. Once you've used your coffeepot to make it, however, it always has the smell of cloves and cinnamon sticks in it! We recommend you dedicate a cheap percolator to this recipe.

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 cinnamon sticks, plus additional to use as stirrers
1 tablespoon whole cloves
6 cups cranberry juice
8 cups apple juice

Put the sugar, cinnamon sticks, and cloves in the basket of a coffee percolator. Put the juices in the bottom of the percolator. Let the mixture perk as if making coffee. Serve with cinnamon stick stirrers, if desired.

side dishes

I'm trying to think of some good side dishes for Thanksgiving, but not the typical ones that are served. One of our favorite veggies is spinach. I've made this one before, and it is SO yummy. Gruyere cheese is a little bit pricey, but it's worth it!

Spinach Gratin
Yield: 8 servings

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
4 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups milk
3 pounds frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (5 (10-ounce) packages)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the flour and nutmeg and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes. Add the cream and milk and cook until thickened. Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach and add the spinach to the sauce. Add 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese and mix well. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Transfer the spinach to a baking dish and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and the Gruyere on top. Bake for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve hot.

Peanut Butter and Cheese Sandwich

Ok, I know it sounds disgusting, but it is a major comfort food in my book!

First you take a slice of bread ( I prefere mom's wheat bread) and you lather it with a good layer of peanut butter, and then you take a cheese of your choice, I prefere Cheddar, and slice it up and slap it ontop of the peanutbutter...No need for a top, so enjoy!

Yummy new Fruit Dip

This was served at our Women's Conference broadcast. The recipe comes from Janet Ballard (for those of you who grew up in this area.) It's a pleasant change from the usual marshmallow-based fruit dip that we get so often.

Almond Macaroon Fruit Dip

1 pint sour cream (2 cups)
6 - 8 soft macaroons
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (If the macaroons aren't almond tasting, add an additional 1/2 tsp. of almond extract.)

Crumble macaroons and mix all the ingredients together well. Must sit at least over night to mellow.

Note: If you can't find soft macaroons, make your own using the recipe of the Bakers coconut bag.