Cabbage and Potato Chowder

 I was going to make Emma's Carrot soup tonight, and realized after I had already started on the bacon that I had no carrots. However, I did have a head of cabbage...so, I pivoted.

Ingredients:
1 medium yellow Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
4 medium potatoes
1 lb Bacon
Chicken Stock OR Water with Bouillon Cubes
Sage
Cayenne Pepper


Instructions:

1. Cut Bacon into pieces and sauté in soup pot until browned. Pour off the grease as best you can.
2. Chop the onion, saute for two minutes with the bacon - if it is at all dry, add back a little bacon grease
3. Chop the garlic while the onion sautés and add it to the onions and bacon - keep it on very low heat
4. Peel and dice the potatoes and add to the mixture
5. Fill with chicken stock or water with boullion just until the mixture is covered. Add the sage and cayenne pepper
6. Cook on medium low for 20 minutes.
7. Slice 1/4 of a cabbage into strings
8. Using a potato masher, mash any chunky pieces of the potatoes that remain
9. Add cabbage, stir, turn heat to simmer, and cook 5-7 minutes 

Carrot Soup

This is one of our favorites! Sonia Glaser used to bring us carrot soup and quiche when one of us was sick. After trying to make it on our own and never getting it right, Mom asked her for the recipe and turns out the secret ingredient is a pound of bacon!
I've added my own tweakings here and there to add more flavor, and a bit of a zing. I recommend eating it with some hot out of the oven rolls on a cold day.

Ingredients:
2 lbs Carrots
1 cup Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
3-4 Large Potatoes (5 small potatoes)
1 lb Bacon
Chicken Stock OR Water with Bouillon Cubes
Sage
Cayenne Pepper

Instructions:
I prefer using the instant pot for this recipe, it's faster and easier. If you don't have one, just use your basic stock pot. It will take longer for the carrots and potatoes to soften.
You need an immersion blender for this recipe!

Instructions:
1. Cut Bacon into pieces and saute in the instant pot until browned. Pour off the grease as best you can.
2. Chop the carrots, potatoes, onion, and garlic, and add them to the pot with the bacon.
3. Fill with chicken stock or water with boullion just until all the potatoes and carrots are covered.
4. Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. (Or boil in stock pot until potatoes and carrots are soft)
5. Using the immersion blender, puree the soup mix. Add sage and cayenne pepper to taste.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Tacos (Homemade Tortillas)

One of our all time favorites in the Ghormley home is this Cafe Rio rip off recipe of Sweet Pork tacos. Chris served his mission in France and the only thing he learned to cook while there was homemade tortillas. But I'm not complaining because they are my favorite thing ever and we will NEVER buy store bought tortillas again. (Except the ones at Costco that are raw, they are the only acceptable substitution but we don't have a Costco card).

Sweet Pork:

Ingredients:

Marinade-
3 lbs boneless pork shoulder (or other cuts of meat have worked, but shoulder is the best)
12 oz coke can
1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix in after shredded:
10 oz enchilada sauce (we always use red)
2 cloves minced garlic
4 oz diced green chilis (we have used rotel instead)
1/2 cup brown sugar (use more or less if your roast is bigger or smaller)

Directions:

1. Marinade pork for at least 2 hours, better if you do it over night, in the can of coke and brown sugar.

2. Put both the liquid and the meat in your crock pot/instant pot. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. (slower and lower is better!) We actually like to pressure cook it for 40 minutes at the end. We find it makes it more fall-aparty, like you want. (fall-aparty is not a word, but it describes my meaning well).

3. Remove the meat and shred it, discard the liquid!

4. Put the meat in the crockpot and add the enchilada sauce, garlic, green chilis, and brown sugar. Slow cook it for another 30-60 minutes.

Slap it onto one of these homemade tortillas and it will change your life!

Chris Ghormley's Most Amazing Homemade Tortillas

Equal Parts oil, water, and milk

One cup of each will make 30 to 40 tortillas

We use vegetable oil, because it's cheap. We've done it with Olive Oil in a pinch, and they taste amazing. We haven't tried it with coconut oil, but I'm sure it will work!

Mix together and add 5 parts what you used of flour (so 5 cups of flour for 30-40 tortillas)
Use the flour to get it to a consistency that will allow you to form golf ball sized balls and roll them out to make a flat tortilla. (You can make them whatever size you want, but the golf ball size will make your standard sized tortilla).

Use a basic frying pan (shallow like you'd use for omelettes or crepes) and sprinkle salt in the bottom. Fry it until it bubbles up on each size. No need to fry it in oil or anything, just a salted pan.

They keep for only a few days, but they rarely last a few days in our fridge. We use them for enchiladas, breakfast burritos, and they are also yummy to just eat plain!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

One of my favorites as a kid was Chicken Cordon Bleu, delivered in little frozen packages from the Schwan's man. Then in college, I was severely judged for eating them by a roommate that said it looked like I was eating a hamster.

Now we try to stay away from pre-packed frozen foods, so I've explored with some recipes and created my own Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

2 - Chicken Breasts
Egg wash (2 eggs)
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
Sliced Ham
Cheese - generally calls for swiss, but you can use any kind. We tried it with camembert the other day, it was excellent)
4 tablespoons Melted Butter
Toothpicks

Directions:
Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise:


Pound them out to flatten them, so they will roll up easier.



Coat the chicken breast in the egg wash and then in the bread crumbs.

Lay the ham and cheese on the chicken, and then roll up the chicken.
Use a toothpick to keep the chicken rolled up.
Place on a baking sheet.

Bake at 420 degrees F for 25 minutes, or until chicken reaches 165 degrees.

When they are done baking, pour melted butter over the tops of the chicken.

You can experiment with different fillings. I've wanted to try it with spinach or broccoli, or even bacon instead of ham! I've seen people put avocado in the inside too, not sure how that would do baking.

I like to serve with roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts or asparagus. (I don't like asparagus, but Chris does, so I make it occasionally for him).

Enjoy!

Sponge Method Bread- based on Verna Earl’s recipe

¾ cup honey or sugar

4 cups warm water

2 tsp yeast

About 18 cups flour (I usually use whole wheat in the first step and white in the second or all white)

2 cups scalded milk (I use powdered milk or cream)

½ cup butter

3 tsp salt

Dissolve honey in warm water. Add yeast and flour to make sponge. Cover and let rise for about 1 ½ hour. Scald milk with the butter.  When cooled add to sponge with the salt and remaining flour. Knead until smooth.  Let rise about 2 hours. Punch down and shape into loaves.  Makes 5 loaves.  Let rise about an hour.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake another 30 minutes. Butter tops while hot.

Times and flour amounts are estimates!

Mug Muffin

I don't want to bore all of you with my WW stuff, but I thought I'd share this one. (I refuse to go all crazy with dieting because I don't think that mindset is healthy and literally no one wants to hear about every little thing I eat, but now that my master's is almost done and I have a job I love most of the time, its time to tackle the next thing and thats getting rid of pregnancy weight from 7 years ago...) Its a 3 point recipe and easy to make. My kids fought over it, so I didn't really get to try it, but that means it was probably good.

1/4 oatmeal (some sort of flavored oatmeal works best, I'm told, but I did it with plain, and the kids ate it just fine).

1 egg

1/4 unsweetened applesauce

1 banana if you want, or a few chocolate chips if you prefer. Probably not the chocolate chips if you are doing an apple flavored oatmeal, but if you want, go for it.

Mix well in a mug, microwave for 3 minutes and let sit for 30 seconds. I flipped this onto a plate so I could wash the mug right away, and it cleaned really easily.

High protein and long burning carbs make it diabetic friendly as well (although the applesauce is a bit problematic, but I think the others outweigh it). Its not perfect, but it will suffice when what you really want is a giant cinnamon streusel muffin from the bakery with the big sugar pieces on top that make you remember that those people who say nothing tastes as good as skinny feels are lying to themselves and the world.

Easy Peach Ice Cream - Uses Canned Peaches

2.25 c milk
1c whipping cream
2/3 can of peaches in light syrup, mashed
1c sugar

Freeze.

Best Chocolate Ice Cream Ever... and simple

As I've been cooking almost strictly with things in our pantry, I invented a chocolate ice cream recipe out of necessity.  Stef says it is the best chocolate ice cream she has ever had period, which is praise she does not give out easily... 

3/4 cup cocoa

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups milk

dissolve in saucepan, refrigerate

Add 1c whipping cream

1c sweetened condensed milk

Freeze.

Obviously this is not a healthy recipe.

Hello? Anyone Still There?

Anyone still there?

Really Quick and Yummy Rolls

I was shocked to find a quick roll recipe that was good. These are the best rolls I have ever made while not being directly supervised by my mother-in-law. I got this recipe from: http://www.food.com/recipe/bread-rolls-246317. You can click the link and get it from there, or else I've pasted it below, in case it ever disappears from the other site.

INGREDIENTSNutrition

YIELD16 rollsUNITSUS

• 2(1/4 ounce) packages yeast
• 3 1⁄2-4 1⁄2cups white bread flour
• 3tablespoons sugar
• 1teaspoon salt
• 1cup milk
• 1⁄2cup boiling water
• 1⁄4cup butter, room temperature

• DIRECTIONS

  1. In a small bowl, mix milk with water. Add sugar, yeast, and butter. Stir until yeast is dissolved and set aside for 10 minutes or until yeast has foamed up a bit.
  2. In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Use the lower amount of flour to start with and add more only if the dough is really too sticky.
  3. Add yeast mixture to flour and mix.
  4. Knead until smooth and elastic. (I use a hand mixer with a kneading attachment.).
  5. Place in greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
  6. Oil your hands and shape the dough into rolls and place in a well-greased pan. I use 2 round non-stick cake pans.
  7. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise another 15 minutes.
  8. Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
  9. Let these cool down before you remove them from the pan or they will likely tear.

Russian Tea

I need to get in the holiday spirit soon, so I think it is time to add some more family holiday recipes here. My mom just asked whether we want her to send us some of that Tang drink that is Merle's recipe. I had forgotten to make that the last few years! I searched my email and found this recipe, which I had given to her and my sister upon request.

2c. Tang

3 oz. Countrytime Lemonade (I think it is about half of the amount of Tang)

1 1/3c. sugar

1 tsp Cinnemon

1/2 tsp. cloves

 

mix in 2q. jar

 

to serve: add 2-3 tsp. to hot water

Cinnamon Rolls - Mothers Day Version

Mix together

4 yolks + 1 egg

¼ c. Sugar

6 Tbsp (85 Grams) butter, melted but not hot

¾ c Buttermilk

Add 15 ozs (3.5c) flour

¼ oz (2.5 tsp) yeast

1-1/4 tsp salt

Mix, let rise.

Roll out; spread

1-1/2 TBSP Melted Butter

Sprinkle filling:

8ozs Brown Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

Pinch salt

1-1/2 TBSP Melted Butter

Roll, cut, lay out in greased pan.  Let rise overnight in refrigerator

Bake  (either start with hot or cold oven depending on whether rising worked well.  (375ish for ½ hour ish)

Icing:

2.5 ozs Cream Cheese

2 tbsp milk

5.5 ozs Powdered Sugar

Masala Sauce and Chicken Tikka

A decent imitation Indian meal.  Of course there are lots of shortcuts.  If you do it right and roast your own spices and grill your chicken it will be even better.

Chop and sautee four or five onions with a few cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed).  Put in crockpot with 32 ozs of tomato sauce and 8 ozs heavy cream.  Add two tablespoons garam masala seasoning (I am lazy, if I did it properly I would make my own garam masala seasoning with cinnamon, roasted cardamom, etc...  if not, you can find a decent garam masala through Amazon.) one tablespoon of salt and cayenne pepper to taste (that is, to your heat preference).  Cook for as long as you can (pref a couple of hours).  At some point, blend the onions in with a stick mixer.

Keep a close watch over temp once you have added the cream.  Crockpot on low...

Serve over Chicken Tikka and Rice.

Chicken Tikka is made by cubing chicken and marinating overnight in a mixture of plain yoghurt and curry seasoning.  Then roast in the oven (pref. broil) spread out on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet.  (Or do it the hard way - skewer and barbecue the chicken cubes)

Low-Carb Philly Steak and Cheese

I've done this two ways now, and I like the "bowl" method better.  Both are good, though:

Ingredients:
-olive oil
-half an onion, chopped
-some mushrooms
-thinly sliced roast beef
-kosher salt
-provolone cheese
-1 green pepper

1.  Heat oil in frying pan.  (It really is better to get the oil nice and hot first.)
2. Add chopped onions; saute until clear.
3.  Add chopped mushrooms; saute.
4.  Sprinkle on some kosher salt.
5.  Add thinly sliced roast beef.  (You could really use any kind of meat here- chicken, leftover roast, whatever suits you.)

Bowl:
6.  Chop up the green pepper and cook until everything is combined.
7.  Lay a few slices of provolone cheese on top, cover and turn off heat.  The cheese will melt.

Stuffed Pepper:
6.  Cut pepper in half long ways (so you get two halves to stuff off of each one.)
7.  Lay provolone cheese on the bottom of the pepper, add mixture, and put another slice on top of the pepper.  Put in oven at 395 for 15-20 mins. 

When I did the stuffed pepper method, the pepper did not soften as much as I would like before the cheese was perfect.  I thought about trying to cook the pepper a little before adding the mixture, but I decided I like the lazy way of doing it as a bowl. 

No Bake Cookies (for the coconut-repelled)

I love coconut. Aaron hates it, though, so most of the kids won't eat it, either, as they aren't used to it, since I have mostly avoided it in recipes since marriage. 

We have been searching for the perfect no-bake recipe that avoids coconut, as well as peanut butter (since the kids like to share with friends at school and church). I finally found a recipe, doubled it, and tweaked it into perfection.

4 c. sugar

1 c. cocoa

1 c. softened butter

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp. vanilla

5 c. quick oats

Put sugar, cocoa, margarine and condensed milk in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Measure oats, set aside,  and have vanilla and a teaspoon ready. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and let it boil for about a minute (still stirring). Turn off heat (or remove from heat if electric) and add vanilla and oats. Str until all the oats are moistened and drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Allow to cool (you can pop them in the fridge if you want to speed the process).

Oatmeal and Brown Sugar Bread

My friend Chelsea, here in Brazil, gave me her bread recipe after I couldn't stop eating it one evening. Spread on some Nutella and you'll be in heaven. I quadrupled the recipe today. I think the flour ended up being more than quadrupled, but I lost count somewhere and don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure I used about 10 cups. It was still a little sticky when I took it out of my Bosch (I hate touching dough - I know some of you Pratts find kneading bread cathartic, but that's not my favorite thing) and put it in the bread bowl to rise, as I didn't want to go overboard and end up with heavy loaves. It wasn't too sticky after it rose, though. I still had to wash a little dough off my hands after putting them in loaf pans, but not too much. Also (amazingly), 35 minutes was really all it took for four loaves to be baked.

1 cup water

1 tsp yeast

1 Tbsp oil

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup oatmeal (instant or old fashioned)

2 1/4 cups flour (more or less)

Knead all ingredients together. Let rise for an hour.

Shape into loaves, put in loaf pans, and let rise for another hour.

Preheat oven to 400* Fahrenheit. Slice tops of loaves lengthwise with a sharp knife (optional, but this bread cracks as it rises while baking. This slice makes it crack down the middle of the top and look cute, rather than cracking on one side and looking like an earthquake hit it).

Put in oven and immediately reduce heat to 350* F. Bake at 350* for 35 minutes.

How to Make Thin-Crust Pizza for Dough-Troubled and Baffled People

Makes 1-2 Pizza crusts, depending on size and how much skill you have at rolling out dough:

3/4 cup WARM water

2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white sugar

1 teaspoon active, dry, completely necessary yeast

Olive oil

Tomato sauce(not spaghetti sauce, unseasoned if possible), basil, oregano, garlic, salt, and sugar or store-bought pizza sauce if you are too lazy. Enough sauce for a Pizza. Figure it out, it changes every time.

Mozzarella cheese: Make sure you have more than you think you will actually need. 

Preferred pizza toppings: Pepperoni, olives, sausage, Canadian bacon(YAY), or just cheese if you really want that.

This is why the dough is so easy:

Step one:

1. Put the following ingredients in a bread machine in the following order:
1. Water
2. Flour
3. Salt and Sugar
4. Yeast
2. Put bread machine on dough setting
1. Make sure you did not put it on a bread setting
2. Make sure it is not on the same power circuit as too many other objects, as you may blow the switch off
3. While it is almost done: 
1. Put plain sauce in a pot on the stove, heat it up, add a small amount of basil, same amount as oregano, much more garlic than both, salt if necessary, and sugar if desired. Quantities will vary. Add to taste and sight.
2. OR stare at your bottle of store-bought sauce for 15 minutes. Is necessary for those who used it only because it was easier, and not because of time restraints or other factors.
3. Preheat oven to 426 Fahrenheit. 425 is fine, but use 426 to be precise. Or not. 
4. Roll out dough on to desired amount and size of pizzas. I recommend using cornmeal on a pizza stone, but using only olive oil on, say, the pizza pans with holes is also okay. Never use vegetable oil on pizza, always use olive oil; it is sinful any other way. Flatten out the pizza, and try to make sure the edges are higher than any other part to prevent grease from falling on the pan and setting off your smoke detectors. This used to be a major problem in my household, but my current house does not seem to have smoke detectors, and I am not sure if there is even a fire code here that relates to it.
5. After oil has been applied, cook for 5 minutes in the oven with just oil. 
6. Apply sauce  evenly. Do not let it spill on the pan or it will set off your smoke detectors, unless you live in my house.
7. Apply cheese and toppings(Canadian Bacon and Black Olive is my favorite)
8. Cook in oven(426 Fahrenheit) for 10 minutes, and then keep putting it in for 1-2 minute increments until it is done.
9. Do not eat with Ranch Dressing, Ketchup, or a fork(Brazilians...).
10. I only put this step here so it would be an even 10. Credit to someone called "Healthy Boy" on Allrecipes for the Bread machine dough recipe. The Original Recipe is Here. Use fresh herbs on sauce if possible. Step 9 is essential, just like all of the other steps.

Cornbread

One would think that a simple cornbread recipe would not be hard to find.

One would be wrong.

Of course, nothing tops mom's yellow cake mix + jiffy cornbread mix approach.

But if you don't have the packaged goods on hand (and I think that will be the case for us for the next few years), this one hits the spot:

2 cups flour
2 cups cornmeal
1-1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
6 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2 c milk
2/3 c oil

Greased 13x9, 30 minutes at 400 degrees.  Simple simple.

Best part is, you need a teaspoon measure, a cup measure, and a 1/3 cup measure.   Minimal dishes.  Second best part is, it's not green bean casserole.  So there, Mubba.

Serve with buttuh. And seerup.  Oh yes I did.

Funeral Potatoes Sans Cream of Soup

This comes from my friend Jenny Ball Tufford (over at Happy Hausfrau).  She was in LTYM with me last May and is quite fantastic.  They call these Roadside Potatoes in her family, but these will forever be funeral potatoes to me.  (Is that a Mormon thing?!)  Anyway, we've been cream of soup free for quite a while now (although I did find one last can of cream of mushroom in the back of the pantry last week.  Sending it to school for the next food drive, methinks, since Elsa the cat is more than willing to take care of the tuna we have).

Without further adieu, here you go:


1 (30 oz) package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (I use sharp)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup half and half 
1 medium onion, grated (I just chop fine)
salt
pepper
paprika (I use an all purpose Penzy's spice)
additional 6 T. butter

Combine potaotes, melted butter, cheeses, cream, onion, salt and pepper. Spread mixture in a 9x13 inch well-greased baking dish. Sprinkle with paprika, dot w/ butter. Bake 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Tastes like butter and self loathing.

Clementine Orange Cake and Carmelitas

One old, one new, these are a few of my favorite things.  I have had some requests for recipes, so here  you go.  I'm too lazy to upload pictures right now though.

I tried the Clementine Orange cake today.  It has a very light texture.  I can't take credit for it- I used a recipe from food network, but I did change it slightly.  Here you go:

5 clementines

6 eggs

1 cup + 2tablespoons sugar

2 1/3 cup flour (this is where the tweak is.  you are supposed to use ground almonds, but I don't keep those on hand and I wanted to do this today.  The almonds make it a bit lighter and change the flavor slightly, plus make it gluten free).

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1. Boil the clementines for two hours.  I know this seems like a long time, and make sure to put plenty of water in the pot.  

2. Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a springform pan (mine is 10 inches, the original recipe says to use an 8 inch one).  I also put wax paper in the bottom of mine to help the cake slide out after baking.

3. When the oranges are cool enough to touch them, puree them (yes, peel, that white stuff and everything).  If you have big seeds, pull out the seeds.  I used my immersion blender for this, but it works in a food processor.  I've read that you can also just chop them by hand and you'll just have a chunkier cake.

4. Beat the six eggs in a separate bowl.  I used my immersion blender for this step as well.  

6. Add sugar to the eggs.  (I used my immersion blender on this too).

7. Add the baking powder and flour, mix until it is well blended.  You'll recognize cake batter.

8.  Fold in the orange puree.  

9.  Pour into springform pan.  Bake for 30 minutes (if you are using the 8 inch pan, bake for closer to 45).  

10.  Allow to cool and then remove cake from pan.  I drizzled a powdered sugar/milk glaze on it while it was still warm and it seeped into the cake, giving it a little bit extra sweetness and moisture.

Guys, this was good. 12/28/13 ETA: the next day, this is even better.  

The other recipe I've been asked to share is for Carmelitas.  I used some other recipes to guide me, but tweaked it enough to call it my own.  Here you go.

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups oats

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix above ingredients.

Add 1 1/4 cup melted butter and squish together.  A crumbly mixture should form.

Press into a 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  

In the meantime, unwrap 1-2 bags of soft caramels (I use the werthers brand, so these bags are a bit smaller than the other brands).  

In a microwave safe bowl microwave caramels and 1 tbsp of milk for 30 seconds.  Stir well.  Continue in microwave in 10 second spurts until caramel is completely melted and blended with the milk.  Add 2 tbsp of flour.

Pull the crust out of the oven and cover with 1 bag of dark chocolate chips.  Then drizzle caramel mixture over the chocolate chips.  Top with the other half of the oatmeal mixture.  Bake for 18 more minutes.

Allow to cool (if you can resist) before you cut, otherwise they get really, really gooey.