Veggie Lo Mein

I love Chinese food. One of my favorite things about these basic dishes, is how easy they are to make at home. The simplicity of these dishes actually surprised me when I got married and started cooking for us. We never made these types of food at home when I was a kid. My Mom is a master of comfort food. She makes delicious food, just not this kind. This is one of my Hubbie's favorite meals. It's easy and delicious. I do a meatless version most of the time, but I've also done chicken and pork in the past. My little sister recently became vegan and I plan on making a version for her soon.

Ingredients

2 cups Cabbage shredded

4 oz mushrooms, sliced

1 cup Carrots, shredded or julienned

1/2 bunch Green Onions, sliced

1 lb Fresh Steamed Thin Chow Mein Noodles

1/4 cup Soy Sauce (Light)

2 TBS Sesame Oil

1 cup Chicken Broth, or Vegetable Broth

1 TBS fish sauce (optional)

1.5 TBS cornstarch

2 packages of lo mein noodles, prepared acccording to paclage directions

 

Note: My small town grocery store doesn't always stock lo mein noodles, so I sometimes just use 3 packs of ramen noodles without the seasoning packets.

 

Prepare the noodles according to the package instruction, drain and set aside in a large bowl. Warm a small amount of sesame oil over medium heat in a large skillet or wok. Add cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots, sprinkle with pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until cabbage is wilted and carrots are softened. Add the green onions. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame noodles, broth, fish sauce (if using), and cornstarch and whisk together. Add veggies to the noodles. Pour the sauce mixture into the empty skillet and whisk until thickened, this will only take a few minutes. Toss the noodles, veggies, and sauce together and serve. Easy peasy.

 

You can find Fish Sauce in most grocery stores now, usually with the rest of the Asian foods. It has a very pungent smell, but it adds wonderful flavor to many Asian dishes. I hope you try it.

 

Chai Spiced Citrus Tea

I made a pot of this for us to sip while watching Christmas movies a few nights ago. I had intended to made a recipe I had been given for old fashioned Russian Tea, not the instant powdered stuff, but a recipe that sounded absolutely lovely. However, I was out of oranges, whole cloves and cinnamon sticks, and I didn't want ground up spiced floating in the tea, so I improvised and came up with my own recipe with what I had on hand. My Mother-In-Law gave me a tin of delicious loose-leaf Chai Tea last time she visited, it was awesome in this recipe.

Ingredients:
6 Cups of Boiling Water
3 Black Tea Bags
3 TBS Loose Leaf Chai Tea, or 3 Tea Chai Tea Bags
1 Cup of Water
1/4 Cup of White Sugar
the Juice of 4 Tangerines (you could use oranges)

Steep the black and chai teas in the 6 cups of boiling water for 8-10 minutes. While steeping, bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small sauce pan. Remove the tea leaves and tea bags, pour the sugar water into the tea, add the tangerine juice. Stir and enjoy.

We really enjoyed this tea. My Hubbie has requested a steady supply in the house until Spring.

Reindeer Crunch Snack Mix

I made up this snack mix to enjoy while watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Family Night. We all agreed it was a hit, and I plan to make it for our Christmas Eve get-together. Santa Claus comes through our neighborhood on a firetruck. It is a tradition we had in my neighborhood growing up, and one I am glad I can continue with my son.

This snack mix is sweet, salty, crunchy, fruity, chocolaty, you know, delicious. You can buy a bag of caramel corn instead of making your own, but I think it tastes way better this way. Also, I have fond memories of making caramel corn with my Mom as a child, and it makes me feel nostalgic to make my own. I use the Karo recipe, just like my Mom did, it's fool-proof. I'll include it in the ingredients and instructions, but here is a link Karo Syrup - Classic Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

For the Caramel Corn:

8 cups of popped popcorn
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Corn Syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter OR margarine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon  vanilla extract

For the Snack Mix:

1 Recipe Caramel Corn
2 cups of small Pretzels
1 cup of toasted Pecans
2 cups of Mini Marshmallows
1 cup of dried cranberries
1 cup of chocolate Chips
1 large paper grocery bag

Directions:

For the Caramel Corn:
Spray a large shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Add popcorn and place in preheated 250°F oven while preparing caramel.
Mix brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.

Boil 5 minutes WITHOUT STIRRING. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla.(Mixture will foam)
Pour syrup mixture over warm popcorn, stirring to coat evenly.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and spread on foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Cool; break apart. Reserve foil-lined baking sheets for the next step.

To Make the Snack Mix:

Place the cooled caramel corn, pretzels, pecans, marshmallows, and cranberries into the paper grocery bag. Shake to combine. Spread mixture out on the reserved baking sheets.

Place chocolate chips into a microwave-safe glass bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir, return to microwave and cook on high for 30 second intervals until melted. This usually takes me 1.5 - 2 minutes depending on how cold it is. However, it is very important to stir it every 30 seconds, and stop heating it as soon as it is melted.

Use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate over the snack mix. You can let it cool, then break it up. Or you can place the snakc mix back into the bag as soon as you drizzle it with chocolate and shake shake shake to get the chocolate more evenly distributed, which is what I did.

Mom's Recipes: Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my Mom's recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It makes the most perfect chocolate chip cookies in the world. I do not like crispy or crunchy chocolate chip cookies. These are moist and soft and just delicious. It is based off of a recipe that used to be on the back of Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding, but she has changed ingredient quantities and perfected it. I tried the original recipe once, the cookies didn't hold a candle to these ones. I've never met anyone who didn't love these cookies. She makes them for church functions almost every month, they are always gone, and people are constantly asking for the recipe. I love them so much, I had her make them as the favors for my wedding and I put them down in little gift boxes and tied them with ribbon. I prefer them without walnuts, but most people love the addition of walnuts, so I included them in the recipe. My Mom only makes one pan without walnuts, for my sister and I to share, the rest get the nuts. Excuse the terrible iPhone pictures. I didn't have my camera with me and I knew there wouldn't be any leftover for me to take home and photograph.

Ingredients

3-½ cups Flour

1-½ teaspoon Baking Soda

1-½ cup Butter

1 cup Light Brown Sugar

1 box Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix, 3.5 Oz

½ cups Sugar

1-½ teaspoon Vanilla

3 whole Eggs

3 cups Chocolate Chips

2 cups Chopped Walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix flour and baking soda together set aside.
Mix butter, brown sugar, pudding, sugar, vanilla and eggs until smooth.
Slowly add flour mixture until well blended.
Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
Spoon dough into cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes (cookies will be soft). Cool on wire rack.

Very important: the cookies will not look browned, you don't want them to. We found that baking for 10 minutes, checking, and then baking for 1 more minute makes them turn out perfectly. When I set a timer for 11 minutes, they were too done. Weird, I know.

 Make these for your family today. They would also be perfect for a Christmas party (or ANY party). My Mom has actually made the dough, put it in a container, and taken it to people around Christmas time, so they can bake cookies at their leisure.

Sour Cream Biscuits

I've seen several recipes floating around the internet for biscutis using sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream. I already have a biscuit recipe that I adore; but since I had scant amounts of all three of those ingredients in the fridge, I figured I'd use them to make some biscuits. They had excellent flavor and were very tender.

Ingredients:
2 cups of AP flour
3 TBS Corn Starch
3 TBS Baking Poder
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream
2 TBS melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with a whisk to combine. Mix the cream cheese and sour cream, and 1/4 cup of the cream together, add to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined, adding more cream as needed for the dough to come toghether. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut with biscuit cutters or a glass. Place 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned.

 These were delicious topped with scrambled eggs with green chiles.










We also LOVED them topped with my homemade Apple Butter!

Stabilized Whipped Cream

This was the first time I had made the stabilized whipped cream, so I wasn't sure how it would work or if it would make it taste different. I am happy to say it worked great and there was no difference in flavor. I intended to take pictures of it, but I dropped the dish of whipped cream I had set aside before I could. However, I did have a slice of pie left over, and 24 hours later, my dollop was still perfectly shaped, there was no weeping or melting of the cream, and it still tasted great.

The season of pie is upon us! I adore pie, this time of year, pumpkin is my favorite. I recently posted a recipe for a delicious Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie, which I think should be on every Thanksgiving table this year. No custard based pie is complete without whipped cream, and let's face it, even fruit pies are only enhanced by its presence. I'll be the first to admit that I will shamelessly top my pie with the stuff from the can, if that's all that is available. I just think homemade is sooo much better, and it is sooo simple to make. Also, you can customize it. You can add various extracts or even booze to create a custom whipped cream to compliment your dish.

Most of my desserts are made for church potlucks, and my whipped might be used to top desserts other than the one I brought, so I usually just stick to adding a little vanilla, since its flavor won't adversely affect any dessert. Also, our potlucks are after church service is over, so in that in addition to our 30 minute commute, means my whipped cream is sitting for at least 3 hours, and that's if I make it immediately before leaving my house. Sure, whipped cream that has lost a little of its volume still tastes good, but I wanted it to still look good. I searched the internet and found several methods, but this one seemed to be the most popular, so I tried it. Most of the methods didn't contain recipes for the whipped cream itself, so I'll include my recipe and the method.

I sweeten my whipped cream, but I've noticed a lot of people don't, so feel free to leave the sugar out if that's your thing. Just warn me before I eat it. When we traveled to Germany in 10h grade, my friend and I went to Starbucks and ordered our usual drinks with extra whipped cream, we were unpleasantly surprised to discover it was unsweetened.

This recipe yields about 2 cups of whipped cream.

Ingredients:

1 cup of heavy cream, very cold
4 TBS powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
The above ingredients are for the whipped cream, and are all you need if you don't want to stabilize it.
1 tsp unflavored plain gelatin powder
1TBS water

Pace your mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for 5 minutes prior to making your whipped cream. 
I make whipped cream in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It can be done with a hand mixer or even a whisk and some elbow grease, if you're into that sort of thing

Place gelatin powder in a small microwavable bowl, add water and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Microwave for 10 seconds and allow to come to room temperature, about 5 minutes.

Mix the cream, sugar, and vanilla together and pour into the chilled mixing bowl. Whip on medium speed until soft peaks form, this takes about 2-3 minutes in the KA on speed 4. If you are adding the stabilizer, turn the speed down to 2 and slowly drizzle in the gelatin mixture, then kick it back up to 4 for a minute or two until you have medium-stiff peaks. If you are just making plain whipped cream, don't turn it down, just let it go on 4 until you have stiff peaks.



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Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls are a favorite in our house. It is our tradition to eat them early on Christmas morning with Cocoa while we open our gifts before we head to my parents' house. I also like to bring them as a snack for thekids in our Sunday School class. Since I've been married, I have tried several different recipes. For this recipe, I have combined things I like from several different recipes to develop my own. Typically, I like a thick cream cheese frosting on my cinnamon rolls, but lately I've been making a glaze. To my surprise, I like it just as well as with the frosting. I will include recipes for both, since I would never dream of serving a cinnamon roll to my Daddy without a thick layer of cream cheese frosting on top.

Dough
2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast (1 envelope)
¾ cup of Whole Milk
¼ cup of Granulated Sugar
¼ cup of War Water
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
1 tsp of Salt
¼ cup of Unsalted Butter, melted
3 3/4 cups of All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Cornstarch
¼ cup of Melted Butter

***If you don't have cornstarch, omit it and bump the flour up to an even 4 cups. The cornstarch helps produce a sofer dough***

Filling
1/3 cup of Butter, softened
¾ cup of Brown Sugar
¼ cup of White Sugar
1 TBS of Flour
2 Tbsp of Ground Cinnamon
Glaze
1 cup of Powdered Sugar
1/4 of Heavy Cream
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
1-2 TBS of Milk to thin to runny consistency

Frosting
1/4 cup of Butter, softened
4oz of Cream Cheese, softened
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 cups of Powdered Sugar
2 TBS of Milk, warmed

In a small bowl, combine the warm water and 1 tsp of the granulated sugar, sprinkle the yeast over the top and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

2) In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the egg, milk, salt, sugar and melted butter. Sift the flour and cornstarch together. Add 2 cups of the flour mixture, water and yeast mixture, and vanilla, mix until its all incorporated and slowly add the remaining flour. Turn the speed up to medium and let it knead for about 7 minutes or until you have a smooth dough.

3) Oil a large bowl and set aside. Take the dough out of the mixer and form a ball. Place it in the oiled bowl and oil the top of the dough with a little more oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place it in a warm spot to rise for 1-2 hours until doubled in size. ***I like to preheat my oven to the lowest setting when I first sart the dough, then I turn it off as soon as it is heated. Then I let the dough rise in the oven. It usually takes about an hour with this method.***

4) In a small bowl, mix together the sugars, flour and cinnamon for the filling, set aside.

5) When doubled in size, punch the dough down and roll it out onto a floured surface into a 15x9” rectangle. Spread the soft butter over the top and sprinkle evenly over the sugar and cinnamon mixture.Staring from one of the long ends, tightly roll the dough jelly roll style. Cut into 16 even slices and place them cut side down in a well buttered 9x13 baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let put them back into a warm spot to rise for another hour. ***Since it is important that the rolls be of even size, so they all bake evenly, I cut the rolled dough in half, then those sections in half, and so on until I have 16 pieces.

6) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

7) Brush the rolls with melted butter, and bake for 25-30 minutes.

8) Allow the rolls to cool while you mix up the glaze (or frosting). For the glaze, just whisk everything together and pour it over the rolls. When I make the frosting, I use a handmixer to cream the buttr and cream cheese, then slowly add the powdered sugar.
 

Pizza Dough

Before I got married, I always bought pizza dough in the tube from the grocery store. While my husband certainly loved the pizzas and calzones I made with it while we were dating, I felt the dough was lacking. I always wanted to try making my own, but I was nervous to fail. Shortly after we were married, my Hubbie surprised me with a pizza stone, which gave me just the right push to try my hand at making my own dough. I've tried probably 20 recipes, and after 4 years, I think I have learned and tweaked recipes enough that I have created a darned good pizza dough. I use it for so many things. Pizza, obviously, but also my Focaccia Rolls, bread sticks, garlic knots, calzones. It is very versatile.


Ingredients:
3.5 - 4 cups  All Purpose Flour
2.5 tsp Salt
2 tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp  Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/3 cups of Warm Water, 110 degrees
1 Envelope of Yeast

 Add the yeast to warm water and let it sit about 3 minutes, until it looks nice and creamy.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with a dough attachment, mix together the flour, salt, sugar and olive oil. Stir the yeast in the water to make sure its all dissolved and add it to the flour mixture.

With the speed on medium, mix until everything is combined. Reduce the speed to low and mix for 10 minutes.
Oil 2 bowls and set aside. Divide the dough in two pieces and roll into a ball. Place each ball of dough into the oiled bowls, seam side down and brush the tops of the dough with a little oil to keep them from drying out. Cover each bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place to rise. You want it to double in size, which usually takes about an hour. Then, use it to create a delicious meal.

I'm sharing at Tasteful Tuesday @ Nap-Time Creations.

Cake Flour Substitute

For years, if I saw a recipe that called for cake flour, I just used all-purpose. Most of these recipes tasted fine, but I wondered what I was missing. Cakes that claimed to have a ligh texture and crumb didn't seem any differnet to me. Finally, the curiosity got the best of me and I tried actually using the cake flour called for in a recipe. I had made the recipe before using AP flour, and I was amazed at how different it came out. I read up on cake flour and started finding new ways to use it. Once I discovered what a difference cake flour makes to pancakes, I was hooked. Then a few weeks ago my husband wanted pancakes for Saturday morning breakfast. I didn't have any cake flour but I remembered seeing a substitution for it in the "Tips" section of a cookbook the women's group at my church had done when I was a child. I looked it up and tried it.

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
2 TBS cornstarch

Measure out the flour, then remove 2 TBS of it back to the flour bin. The cornstarch replaces the removed flour. Sift it well.

Now, it doesn't give the exact same results as cake flour, but it does replicate the results pretty closely, at least in the pancake recipe. I sifted 3 times.

Homemade Dark Chocolate Sauce

This stuff is ridiculously good. The first time I tried it, I was home by myself. I considered consuming the entire thing and not telling anyone, or hiding it in the back of the fridge. I don't care for most store bought chocolate sauces, as I find them to be overly sweet. This one is just perfect. I lowered the sugar called for in a recipe given to me by a friend, and swapped regular cocoa powder for dark. It is delicious over fresh fruit,  ice cream or brownies, and makes a perfect glass of chocolate milk. It is way easier to prepare at home than I ever dreamed. I halved the batch because it's just my husband and I that use it, and having a lot around could be bad news for us. If you have a bigger family or can control yourself around chocolate, go ahead and double this recipe. It would make an awesome gift.

You will need:

3/4 cup Water
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 TBS Corn Syrup
3/4 Cup Dark Cocoa Powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
1 TBS Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt (I use Kosher)

Bring the water, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low, whisk in cocoa powder 1/4 cup at a time. Cook for 5 minutes, or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and salt.

Sometimes I sub out part of the vanilla for other extracts. Hazelnut extract makes a delicious sauce that tastes like Nutella.

Chicken Stock - The Good Stuff

One of my favorite things to have on hand in my kitchen is homemade chicken stock. This stuff, the real stuff, the good stuff, is what you want when you are sick. Its flavor is unmatched by anything you find in the super market. I have been known to use the canned stuff, more than I use hommade actually. But homemade is so much better, and actually very easy to make. It is also very economical.

I don't buy special chicken pieces to make my stock. I buy a lot of bone-in meat, and I save the bones. When I buy a rotisserie chicken at Costco, I save the bones. I have a big bag in my freezer that I add bones to as I go, and when it is full, I make stock. This same method works for turkey, and makes for great stuffing or leftover turkey soup, if you don't get around to it before Thanksgiving.

You will need: A large pot, a colander, and a large bowl. Cheese cloth helps the straining process by catching little bits, but don't fret if you don't have it.


Chicken Bones, at least 1 carcass or a bunch of bones
3 carrots, chopped
2 onions, coarsly chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 Bay Leaves
Whole Peppercorns (sometimes I forget these, and it still tastes pretty good)

If I have them, I add a sprig of fresh thyme and parsley, tied up in cheese cloth. I've used other herbs too, such as sage and  rosemary. They are great, but for a "traditional" taste, it's thyme and parsley.

Put bones in a large pot with enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, skim off the scum that rises to the top. Add the veggies and herbs, return to a simmer for 3-4 hours. To avoid a cloudy broth, don't let it boil, just simmer.

Use it in some of my favorite soups:

Chicken & Dumplings



Chicken & Veggie Soup



Chicken & Noodles (recipe coming soon)

Macaroni with Homemade Cheese Sauce

Delicious and creamy, in my opinion home-made cheese sauce tastes way better and is a lot simpler to prepare than you might think. This sauce can be used in mac n cheese, over vegetables, or any other way you like cheese sauce! I like preparing simple convenience foods myself because I can often make them taste better and I know exactly what I'm feeding my family. The nutmeg is my secret ingredient, it really does wonders for savory dishes. My little sister adores my Macaroni and Cheese, and even learned to make it herself, which is a lot for a girl who hates cooking.

1 1/2 cups dry macaroni noodles.

2 TBS butter
2 TBS Flour
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese. I like 1/2 sharp cheddar 1/2 mild cheddar. But customize it by using whatever you like.
Salt and Pepper to taste
Nutmeg, a dash or two

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare macaroni as directed on package.

For Cheese Sauce:


In a sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and whisk until it becomes a tad pasty (you just made a roux) Place milk in microwavable container and heat for 1 minute to take the chill off. This will help the milk blend with the roux and thicken nicely without clumping. Slowly whisk in warmed milk. Continue to whisk until thickened. Remove from heat, add cheese, stir until melted. Add seasonings. If sauce is too thick, add more milk until it is the consistency you like. Lately, I've been adding more milk for a creamier sauce.


If you like baked macaroni and cheese, mix it all together, place in a casserole dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs, dot with butter,  and bake at 350 for 15-20 mins until the top is browned.