Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Alright, Mubba. Here's my contribution to your chocolate cult meeting. One of the boys discovered this recipe a couple of weeks ago, and I'm afraid I made a decent contribution to the consumption of them.

2 C Butter

3 C White Sugar

4 Eggs

1 Tbsp +1 Tsp Vanilla

4 C Flour

1-1/3 C Cocoa Powder

1-1/2 Tsp Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

4 C Chocolate Chips

Cookie mixing is standard procedure. Baking is too - 8-10 min @ 375.

Walking Tacos

Several Small Bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos (1 for each person)
Shredded lettuce
taco meat
sour cream
salsa
shredded cheese

Crunch the doritos inside the bag and then open it. Add which ever of the other ingredients that suits your fancy. Eat with a fork (or spoon if you enjoy a challenge) straight out of the bag.

These are great for big groups because they don't make much mess- you don't have to worry about balancing a plate and the what not.

I hadn't ever tried these until this summer. Occasionally Valleyfair treats their staff to these and we visit Matt at the park and I eat all of his. We made them for dinner here, and the kids really enjoyed them. Just a piece of advice though- don't eat one of these and then go on the Octopus.

Edible Modeling Dough

Dug this one up for family home evening. Sicky-sweet and peanut butter, only a child could like it.

1-1/4 Cups Powdered Sugar
1-1/4 Cups Powdered Milk
1 Cup Corn Syrup
1 Cup Peanut Butter.

Mix.

Vaguely reminiscent of actual peanut butter cookie dough, just similar enough to be disappointing when you realize that it is realy just peanut-butter-flavored-diabetes-in-a-bowl.

onion dip

Personally, I think the new year doesn't happen until you actually consume an entire container of french onion dip and ruffles potatoe chips.

And you have to get the ruffles with ridges. Because the ridges hold more of the onion dip goodness and stay crunchy. If you get the non ridgy kind then the chips get soggy between the dip and your mouth.

Its easy.

1 container of sour cream

1 packet of lipton french onion soup

mix it up. well. don't let any pockets of spice collect up, and make sure to scrape the bottom so that it mixes up entirely.

Grean Bean Casserole

Ah the Thanksgiving staple. I'm surprised you requested this, aren't you the one that refuses to allow it on the table? It was always my job to get this one going, probably because I would generally be the one to consume half the pan. Between this and mashed potatoes, I didn't eat a whole lot else on thanksgiving.

For the record, the green beans really should be the french cut ones. The others work, but they don't quite bake into the sauce the same way.

four normal sized cans of french cut green beans
2 cans campbells cream of soup. (you know the routine, chicken or mushroom. the recipe calls for mushroom, but SOME people won't eat the mushroom stuff, so you have to consider who you are serving this to)
Frenchs fried onions
salt and pepper

drain the beans, mix them with the soup and some milk and about half the can of onions, salt an pepper to taste. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then scatter the rest of the onions on top so they get crispy during the last 5 minutes of bake time.

Reeses Peanut Butter Bars

Seriously, you didn't know this one by heart? Come on, I remember a time in Warroad when Aaron made these at least weekly. And then I made them for the seminary open house last year, and again they were a hit. There was a time we could whip these up in less time than it took for the toyota to drive from the library to 306 virginia street....

But you do need a food processor... (Ok, remember the Christmas of the food processor? I know you all have one. Well, Emma and I don't, but that just means you have to make them for us and mail them to us. Whatever happened to care packages?)

I'm posting the 13x9 recipe, because there is no point to making any less...

2 1/2 cups of graham craker crumbs (remember that food processor?)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter

mix it all up and press into the bottom of the 13x9.

Melt 2 TBsp of peanut butter with
6 oz chocolate chips (thats 1/2 package)


Boom Baby

The bestest homemade syrup I have ever tasted in my whole entire life...

Seriously, you know how at a restaurant the butter and the syrup sort of melt together and there is this hint of melty goodness that sits on top and you wish all of your syrup could taste like that first bite?

This is that syrup.

1 cube butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup sugar

Boil it together, then once it boils, remove it from the heat. Add:

1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Yummmmmmmmmmm.

Nancy's very own Mac and Cheese

I have been working on this for a few weeks now. It started with an Alton Brown episode, and then a Paula Dean Recipe, and I just started to manipulate it to be all my own! (I'm very proud of this, and frankly, its really good.)

Noodles (I prefer stuff called campagnolle, it sticks to the cheese nicely. Shells work pretty well too, but its not as much fun to say as campagnolle. Come on, you know you want to say it out loud. Campagnolle!)

Flour
Butter/Margarine
Onion, cut up tiny
Milk (or cream if you feel gourmet)
as many different kinds of cheese as you want, shredded. I like to use mozarella and cheddar.
Garlic/ seasonings

Boil the noodles, put them in a collinder, put some butter in the pan and sautee the onions. cook them up until they are a little beyond clear, but not brown. Add the spices while you are doing this. Garlic is the best thing, and then it is up to you to branch out from there.

Add a splash of milk and some flour, stir it up and while it is still liquidy add the noodles back in. the flour will start to thicken up, so continue to add a little more milk to keep it stirable. Start to add the cheese in and keep stirring it while you watch the cheese get all lovely and melting.

Serve it hot!

Grandpa and Nancy's Stir Fry Stuff

This is one I came up with for our Sunday Night Scrabble games. It is cheap and fast and conforms to most thing I always have around the house.

Frozen Mixed Veggies
Ramen Noodles
Eggs
Chicken

I'm poor, so I don't often actually use chicken, but if you have to feed protein to children, or to grandpa, then cut up a few chicken breasts into bite size chunks and cook them up in olive oil. Leave them and their grease in the pan while you continue to the next steps.

Start with the veggies and some water in a frying pan (I suppose a wok if you have one...) start them thawing/steaming which may take longer depending on how freezer burned the veggies are. If they are leftover from the last roommate that you lived with, it could take up to ten minutes. Once the veggies are reasonably frostless, add two cups of water per package of Ramen noodles, and add the ramen noodles as well. Continue to stir them around (that's why its called stir fry) until the noodles are soft, then toss in the ramen noodle spice packets. let the water reduce a bit while you stir it around, then crack some eggs in and continue to stir it around. I suppose the eggs are optional, but they give a little more protein to the whole experience, as well as kind of bind it together.

Once the eggs are done, then so is your stir fry!

For the Record...

I did make the bacon wrapped chicken. And let me tell you, it was good. So thats another point.

Mississippi Mud Bars

Make a pan of 13x9 brownies. Just before they're done, sprinkle marshmallows on top and continue baking until the marshmallows are toasty brown. Let them cool (mostly) and frost with chocolate icing.

Here's the stories:

I remember when we were bringing these to a ward/branch function and the pan was sitting uncovered on the padded console between the front seats in the Toyota. Dad was getting overly excited as he was driving and put his elbow into the pan of them. We got to eat them all ourselves, since we couldn't really serve them after that.

I brought some to school one day and someone (Justin Solie) asked me what they were. I told him it was Mississippi Mud. He said it was impossible that it was from the Mississippi and I told him it was. Then I convinced everyone at the lunch table that Dad had flown down there the day before (which he probably had) just to get some mud from the river so my mom could make them (which, as we all know, he didn't. I'm just dishonest. I got it from my brother who adjusted the score from last month...).

Salami, Pickles & Cream Cheese Appetizer

Aaron requested this recipe be put up, so here it is. It is a favorite holiday appetizer, as long as it is made right. An example of making it wrong is making it with Oscar Meyer salami instead of deli salami. We learned by experience that this does not work. So, when the grocery store is out of deli salami, find another grocery store.

Ingredients:

Salami or Cotto Salami circles

Small pickles or pickle spears, the same length as the diameter of the salami

Cream Cheese

Toothpicks

Slather cream cheese on a piece of salami. Place a pickle on it and roll it up. Secure with a toothpick. Done!

A few we're missing...

In the interest of closing last month's little competition, I declare myself the winner.

Okay, in fairness Jessica posted 12 recipes, and I only posted 11. But one of Jessica's is a repeat from earlier (Divinity).

Melissa posted seven, but I disqualify two because she hasn't made them (this is me making up the rules after the fact, a process you should all be well acquainted with by now given our shared childhood experience). However, I added two points because she did post two pictures.

Then, just to be fair, I had to give myself a point for my picture posted, which brings me back to my original point: I win. Not by a landslide, but if it takes adjusting the rules to suit me, I'm not above that.

Now, I expect Emma Jane and Nancy and Amy to step up to the plate (PUN!) this month. Of course, Amy has had nothing interesting take her focus off Pratt Family Cooking in the past month, so I can't imagine why she has been so neglectful (other than that whole job change/moving her family across the state thing, which is a pathetic excuse).

This month's challenge: Who can post each of these critical missing recipes first. Of course, since these each form an integral part of our upbringing, the recipe is not complete without some form of explanatory note.

You may begin.

Mississippi Mud
Peanut Butter Cup Bars
Green Bean Casserole
Playdough
Guacamole
Fruit Shakes
Daddy Pratt Hamburgers
‘Kentucky Fried’ Chicken (8 of the 11 spices are salt…)
Mom’s bread
Stef’s pickles/creamcheese/summersausage
Sunday Roast
Onion Dip
Bouche de Noel

Birthday Cake, the Ice Cream lover's way

This is how Tom prefers his birthday cake, and I suspect it is how Aaron would like one, too.

Springform pan
Two kinds of ice cream that work together
Cookies
chocolate sauce (or, another kind if chocolate doesn't work with the ice cream)
Cool-whip

Soften one kind of ice cream. Line the springform pan with plastic wrap. Fill the bottom of the pan with ice cream. Be sure you push it into the edges. Freeze again.

Crush the cookies. Soften the next thing of ice cream. Take the cake out and put a layer of crushed cookies in. Drizzle with chocolate sauce. Put the next kind of ice cream in.

Freeze solid.

Take it out, pop the edge off, and put it on a plate. "Frost" it with the cool-whip. You can color the cool-whip with food coloring, and use a plastic bag with the corner snipped to decorate the cake. It looks like a real birthday cake, but it is just ice cream.