Sunday, November 26, 2023

Pecan snowball cookies

 


This is the Land O' Lakes snowball cookies recipe except for the parenthetical notes and the substitution of vanilla sugar for the regular powdered sugar! Makes about 48 dense, rich cookies.

2 cups pecans
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Reserve:
1/2 cup powdered vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Process pecans in food processor until finely chopped (use some or all of the granulated sugar to help grind them). Transfer chopped pecans to bowl; stir in flour and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and granulated sugar in medium bowl 2 minutes or until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add nut mixture. Beat just until dough is combined.

Working with 1 tablespoon dough, shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place, 1 inch apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. 

Bake 16-18 minutes or until very lightly browned. (If using insulated cookie sheet, may take longer. In my experience, the cookies don't exactly brown so much as they turn a little lighter. If you poke one with your finger and it still molds like dough, then it's not cooked through yet.)

Let cookies cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes; transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. (But it's easier to coat the cookies neatly with sugar BEFORE they cool completely, so do the next step, then let them finish cooling.)

Place powdered vanilla sugar into shallow bowl; roll cooled cookies in sugar to coat. Store in airtight container. If necessary, re-roll cookies in powdered sugar before serving.



Sunday, December 25, 2022

Chunked potatoes a la Dad

 

Cut 1 stick butter into pats. 

Start boiling water maybe 45 min before ETD (estimated time of dining). 

Cut 4 russet potatoes (or more) into uniform chunks, put in a big round pot and cover with water a bit more than a half-inch above the potatoes. Can sit a while like this. 

Bring to boil, toss in about a tablespoon of salt, uncover and simmer 15 min - until you can stick a fork in a chunk easily. 

Drain and toss with butter pats, salt, black pepper. 

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Steam everything in a Fasta Pasta!

This is an "As Seen On TV" gadget and yet also a low-priced kitchen marvel. There's something about the rectangular shape that helps things heat evenly in the microwave, and you can cook or steam many things without wrestling a giant pot of salty water. Read on!



Whole wheat fusilli pasta

6 oz. fusilli - cover the pasta with water, add 1 tsp olive oil and 2 pinches salt. Microwave uncovered 6 min. high, test one to see if it’s al dente. If still too hard, microwave another 5 min.


Texmati rice/wild rice/red rice blend (HEB’s “Rice Select - Royal Blend”)

1 c rice + 1.5 c water: Microwave uncovered 5 min. high, fluff with fork, add ½ c water and microwave 5 more min. high.


Minute rice

1.5 c minute rice, 1.5 c water, 1 tsp avocado or olive oil, 1 pinch salt. Microwave uncovered 3-4 min. high, fluff with fork, microwave 3 more min. High.


Asparagus spears

18-20 fresh asparagus spears + 2 Tbsp water. Microwave covered 5 min. high.


Frozen broccoli

For 10 oz. frozen broccoli, add 1-2 Tbsp water (just 1 Tbsp if there is a lot of ice on the broc). Microwave covered 5 min. high. 


Roasted Brussels sprouts (use Fasta Pasta to heat them so they roast well)

For approx 10 oz. frozen or fresh Brussels sprouts, halve them and add 1-2 Tbsp water (just 1 Tbsp if there is a lot of ice on frozen veg). Microwave covered 4-5 min. high, then toss with olive oil and salt. Line a sheet pan with parchment, spread the Brussels sprouts out on it, and roast in 400-degree oven till edges are brown.


Roasted cauliflower florets with Parmesan (use Fasta Pasta to heat them so they roast well)

For approx 10 oz. frozen or fresh cauliflower, add 1-2 Tbsp water (just 1 Tbsp if there is a lot of ice on frozen veg). Microwave covered 4-5 min. high, then toss with grated Parmesan, olive oil and salt. Line a sheet pan with parchment, spread the cauliflower out on it, and roast in 400-degree oven till edges are brown.


Baby new potatoes

10 oz. or so baby potatoes + 1 Tbsp water. Microwave uncovered 5 min. high. Poke with fork to see if tender; if still hard microwave another 2-3 min. Toss with olive oil and salt.


EXTRA: No Fasta Pasta necessary, just great way to make corn on the cob in microwave!

Fresh corn on the cob

2 or 3 fresh cobs in husks. Cut off ends of cobs, peel outer layers of corn husk off (leave about 3 layers of husk). If you have a microwaveable bowl, so that the corn cobs can sit in the bowl kind of suspended off the bottom but not touching each other too much, use that. Microwave uncovered, no additional water, on high 4-5 min. Pull them out, and – wearing two oven mitts!! – strip the husks off: Hold corn by the base (large end) in one hand; grab the husk with your other hand; twist and pull the entire husk up off the top. (Corn silk will come off with the husk!) Cut cobs in half and toss with olive oil and salt.


Monday, May 17, 2021

Walnut-cranberry baked Brie

 

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Sugar cookies a la Alton Brown

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
  1. 1.     Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
  2. 2.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  3. 3.    Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Friday, February 15, 2019

Chicken and dumplings, the easy way

When you’re actually sick, you need fast, simple and soothing. 

20-30oz cooked chicken breast meat
2 cans 10oz flaky refrigerated biscuit dough
2 cans cream of chicken soup
40oz chicken broth
Lemon pepper to taste


Put soup/chicken broth in large pot; bring up to simmer on medium heat. Season. Cut biscuits into dumpling-size pieces; add to pot. Reduce heat and cook 12-15 min until dumplings are not doughy but also not dissolved. 

Monday, January 21, 2019

South Beach-friendly “chili”

Everything here is South Beach phase one except the small amount of flour in the chili mix! This isn’t chili because it has beans and tomatoes, but it’s still very good.

2.5 lb top sirloin roast (dice and brown)
1 can Swanson beef broth low sodium
1 can Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes, with its liquid
1/2 packet Albert Agnor’s chili mix
(Beans; see below)

Dump in oven-safe pot, bring to a boil, cover pot and put in a 325 oven for an hour


then add 1 double-size can Bush’s pinto beans, rinsed and drained, and cut it back to 275 for 3 or 4 hours