In honor of Halloween and for those of you who are waaaayyy into the "Twilight" series. This part was cut from the original version of the book. I understand that Edward did a lot of cooking for Bella and these were the muffins he made for her one crisp, Fall morning. Unfortunately, he could not eat them, and in his envious, heated state of mind, mistakenly dripped his vampire venom all over them which gave her some extra added vitamins to jump start her day.
Edward's Blood Muffins
Open one box of this muffin mix, mix and bake according to package directions. Serve warm. Hopefully, in the right circumstances, your muffins will mistakenly have vampire venom dripped all over them too. 
Note: I, and my blog, take no responsibility if a real vampire shows up at your door and desires your neck instead of these muffins. Please take extra care when baking and have some garlic and a crucifix handy. By the way, this was just for fun...go with it!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Edward's Blood Muffins
Crockpot Chicken & Stuffing Casserole
A recipe from my latest crockpot cookbook purchase.
Crockpot Chicken & Stuffing Casserole
1 pkg. (6 oz.) chicken-flavored stuffing mix
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
2 zucchini, cut into 1/2" pieces
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
Combine stuffing mix (and seasoning packet) with 1 cup water unil just moistened in large bowl. Set aside.
Mix chicken, zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper and onion in another large bowl. Stir in soup. Transfer half of the chicken-vegetable mixture to 4-quart or larger slow cooker. Spoon half of the reserved stuffing on top. Repeat layers.
Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until vegetables are tender.
Changes and Updates
I have been cooking and baking away and have added some more recipes just recently. And my label list on my sidebar has been added. So that should help you search for recipes more easily.
By the way, I just recently found a really yummy crockpot recipe book in the grocery store. I can't wait to try some of the recipes and share them with you. There's just something about Fall that makes crockpot recipes so warm and inviting. Again, stay tuned!!! Until then...MAKE THAT KITCHEN SMELL GOOD! mmm....
White Bean and Chicken Soup
As the weather turns to Fall, soups begin to show up as dinner in our house. This one is a first for us. And it turns out, it was very delicious! Even my kids ate it! In this recipe I used a garlic chicken sausage, but you can easily use diced chicken instead. I also really liked the simplicity of this soup. Ready in about 30 minutes. You may also cook this longer if you want the flavors to mesh more thoroughly and enhance the chicken broth. I served this with crackers and we, the parental figures, added a dollop of sour cream and grated Pepperjack Cheese. Mmmm...
White Bean and Chicken Soup
3 (15 oz.) can white beans, drained
6 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbls. olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1/2" cubes
2 (4 oz.) cans whole green chilies
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teas. ground cumin
1 1/2 teas. dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teas. red pepper flakes, crushed
1 teas. salt
1/2 teas. black pepper
Place olive oil, chopped onions, garlic and cubed chicken into a large skillet over medium heat. Cook until onions are tender and chicken is longer pink. Transfer mixture to a stock pot or large soup pot. Add in green chilies, cumin, oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook until the smell of the spices have been released, about 1 minute. Add in chicken broth, then white beans, stir thoroughly. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 10-15 on medium high to combine all of the flavors. Turn off heat and serve warm.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Swedish Pancakes
I absolutely love Swedish Pancakes! With my mother being Swedish, we grew up on these as kids and I've made sure that I pass the tradition onto my kids as well. I have fond memories of family get-togethers where my aunts and uncles would make LARGE batches of batter and spend at least an hour or more taking turns at the stove pouring the batter, waiting for it to cook, flipping it and then serving it. Only to have it disappear within seconds. These thin, delicate pancakes resemble the French pancake called a Crepe. The recipe differs slightly from country to country.
We eat our Swedish pancakes with a variety of toppings depending on our preference that day. My favorite is the classic way of eating them, with lingonberries. I stock up on jars of lingonberry preserves from Ikea when we head up North. My kids like it with just plain maple syrup, but we've been known to have sliced bananas, a triple berry mix and top it off with Cool Whip or chocolate syrup. Anything would be yummy...applesauce with a dash of cinnamon and maple syrup is good also. Go ahead and play with your choice of toppings. But make these pancakes sometime, they're worth the time and effort.
Swedish Pancakes
4 eggs
3 cups milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teas. salt
3 tbls. sugar
3 tbls. butter, melted
In a blender, add eggs and milk. Blend until combined. In a small bowl sift in dry ingredients. With the blender on low, add in dry ingredients a couple spoonfuls at a time until thoroughly combined. Add in melted butter and mix until all ingredients make a smooth, thin batter.
Using a small frying pan or a Swedish style flat pan, lightly grease the pan with some butter on a paper towel. Add 1/4 cup of batter to the pan, and quickly swirl the batter around to cover the bottom of the surface. After about 1-2 minutes, the edges should loosen with spatula. Lift and flip over and cook the other side of pancake for another 1-2 minutes and remove. Cooked pancakes can be stored in a 200 F degree oven until ready to eat.
Spread desired toppings down the middle of pancake, and with one end of the pancake roll up into a tube-like shape. Serve warm or cold depending on toppings. Enjoy!
Banana Bread
Please don't be confused with the shape of this bread. It's not a cake! I was desperate or should I say I had a bad craving for some banana bread one day and decided that I would bake it in a 9 x 9" baking dish instead of a loaf pan. By doing that, it cut my baking time down by 20 minutes. So hence the shape!
We've been making this banana bread for almost 10-12 years. It's become our family's favorite! The recipe comes from an old Pillsbury cookbook I got shortly after my hubby and I got married. Our oldest daughter has made this several times on her own so the ease of it makes it the perfect recipe for kids to help with. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
Banana Bread
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
(Note: I often add more than one cup, up to 1/2 cup more, it doesn't bother the recipe one bit.)
1/3 cup milk
1 teas. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts, if desired
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease bottom of a 9 x 5" loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and margarine until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs; blend in bananas, milk and vanilla. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and nuts, if desired and mix well. Add to creamed mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes; remove. Cool completely on wire rack. Slice. Eat. Yum. Wrap and store leftovers in the fridge.
Pork Chops with Feta Skillet
This is one family who loves the flavor of feta cheese. Even my kids like the flavor. So when I came across this recipe I knew I had to make it. This recipe also just happens to be one of my cooking class recipes that I made back in early 2007. The only problem I had with this recipe was the feta cheese melting properly. I decided that the meat might need to be slightly undercooked and placed under a broiler with the feta cheese on top for it to melt just right. That way the meat doesn't come out dry and the cheese melts.
Pork Chops with Feta Skillet
1 teas. crushed dried rosemary
1 teas. dried basil
1 teas. minced garlic
1 pinch black pepper
2 tbls. olive oil
4 pork chops
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 container of crumbled feta cheese (with basil & tomatoes)
In a small mixing bowl, stir together rosemary, basil, garlic and pepper. Place lemon juice into another bowl.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dip pork chops in lemon juice and sprinkle with dried herb mixture. Place pork chops in skillet and sear both sides, about 5-7 minutes per side. Reduce heat to low. Sprinkle feta on top of chops, cover skillet and cook until cheese begins to melt, about 5 minutes. Or place under broiler in oven. Remove from skillet and serve warm. Serve with a side of couscous and a nice green salad.
Baked Ziti
My friend lead me onto this recipe about a month ago. She said she received it through a "Mom's site" email. She made the recipe and loved it. I decided one day to do some searching on Allrecipes.com to see what kind of Baked Ziti recipes they had to offer and to see if any of their recipes compared to this one she sent me. My search resulted in a recipe that had over 3,500 postitive reviews, so I pulled it up and lo and behold this was the exact same recipe she had sent me. Apparently, some "Mom's site" is emailing out Allrecipes.com recipes. With that out of the way, let me just say this was a really good dish. There's no need to go out to a fancy Italian place when you can this dish right in your own home. My only change would be to add more cheese on top before baking.
Baked Ziti
1 lb. dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. lean ground beef or sausage
2 (26 oz.) jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
6 oz. provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tbls. parmesan cheese, grated
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain.
In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Butter a 9" x 13" baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese an remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated parmesan cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated over or until cheeses are melted.
Easy homemade Biscuits
I came across this recipe from Allrecipes.com and decided to make my own instead of using the store bought refrigerated kind. I made these to go with a Sausage & Country Gravy over Biscuits recipe that I got through a recipe email link. Although, I didnt actually use the recipe itself because I decided to buy a packet of gravy mix instead. Haha! But, I thought they turned out really good! The key to making fluffy biscuits is that they need to be rolled thick and kneaded less than normal. Meaning, don't mess with the dough too much. Just combine the ingredients and form or pat the dough into a 1 inch thick circle. Cut biscuits using a circle biscuit cutter (the kind that has a raised handle) and press into dough without twisting the cutter. Twisting seals the edges of the dough and prevents (not soft and fluffy) the dough from raising when baking. Then gently lift each biscuit and place on baking sheet.
