Rice Crispy Treats

Gifts are wrapped........
.....Bags are packed.........
............Treats are Made ......
...................Off to Mommy's House...... :)


The ones in the back are the traditional recipe. I did have a little left over white chocolate from the White Chocolate Strawberries so I drizzled some on top.

The Treats in front are a variation on the Scotchers recipe that was on the box.

You need:

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Crispies
1 pkg butterscotch chips

Melt and dissolve together the syrup and sugar. Remove from heat and add in the peanut butter. Stir until smooth. Measure the Rice Crispies into a large mixing bowl and then pour the mixture over the rice crispies. Stir until evenly mixed. I poured mine into a 9 x 13 inch pan that had been lined with parchment paper. Before they cool, scatter the butterscotch chips over the top and press them in with your hands. The warmth from the hot sugar should melt them to the surface. (my opinion... I could have gone a little easier on the butterscotch)

Fillet with Merlot Sauce

The Fillets:
Prime thick Fillets (we got them at our gourmet-ish grocery named Fresh Market
Grilled on high heat 6 (should have been 7) minutes on each side.

The Garlic Potatoes:
6-8 small red new potatoes halved and boiled
sautee 1-2 tbs of minced garlic in about 3 tbs salted butter
(I added about 3 more tbs butter)
1/3 cup half-and-half
salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

The Merlot Sauce
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Merlot-Sauce-13609

Our changes.... the sauce was not thickening and the steaks and potatoes were done... so I added some corn starch to about 1/2 cup of the sauce, let this thicken and then add it back into the rest of the sauce.....

Crock Pot Bar-B-Q Beef with Potato Crusted Goat Cheese Tart

It's been long enough that I don't' exatly remember what I did with the meat in the slow cooker. The recipe for the goat cheese carmelized onion potato tart is from epicurious.

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling:
1 package bacon
1 large Potato cubed
1/2 chopped onion
10-15 baby carrots
chicken stock cube and cup of water (or cup of chicken stock)
1.5 pounds chicken breast tenderloin
1 tbs Demi Glace
1 tbs flour
about 1/4 cup milk

Crust:
1 stick salted butter
1/2 Package Cream Cheese
about 1 cup flour

Instructions:
For the crust, soften butter and cream cheese, add in flour to make soft dough. Form into a roll and chill. ( I didn't chill long enough so I ended up kneeding the dough on a floured board until the dough would hold together to be rolled into a top and bottom crust)

Cook bacon in large skillit until crispy. Remove bacon and reserve 2 tbs of the drippings to prepare the filling. In the bacon drippings, sautee onion and cubed potatoes until softened. Add about 1 cup chicken stock, carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chicken defrosted and cubed. Cook on low until chicken is cooked through. Drain stock from chicken and vegetables. Add demi glace, flour, milk and simmer until thickened (I forgot about the milk but I think it would have been better with it.) Add back in the chicken/vegetable mixture and crumble in the bacon.

Half the crust dough. Roll one half into a 10 circle and place into the bottom of the pan. Add filling and top with the other rolled out crust.

Bake in medium oven (about 400 degrees) until crust is golden brown.

Dim Sum (or various fried things of the Asian variety)

From Left to Right:

Spring roll, Wasabi Edamame Dumplings and Pork Dumplings.

The Pork Dumplings

http://sacfoodies.com/2010/01/soup-series-wasabi-dumpling-soup/

I fried my dumplings and left out the soup....

The Wasabi Edamame Dumplings

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rescue-chef/fried-edamame-dumplings-recipe/index.html

The Spring Rolls

• Chopped Green onions
• the remainder of the pork dumpling filling
• a handful each of red and green bell peppers and carrots cut into thin strips.
• bean sprouts
• one serving of Japanese noodles

Spring Rolls

The Apple Egg Roll Pyramid

From after thought designed to use the extra wrappers, this dessert is now apparently a requested addition to a pot luck.

For these egg rolls, the filling is made much like a traditional apple pie filling and then wrapped like a regular egg roll. These were deep fried in olive oil and after draining on paper towels and cooling for about 30 sec. the outside dusting of sugar and cinnamon and sugar was accomplished by shaking each in a ziploc bag of cinnamon and sugar.

This batch was the creation of B. My only additions to the process was helping in peeling the apples (it was just too painful to watch ;) , adding a couple dashes of salt to the cooking apples and dropping the egg rolls into the fryer as B was doing the wrapping.

Beef Roast and Vegetables

So... on the way home, I figured that B- would not want another dinner of hot dogs (yep that is what we had the night before) so I dropped by the grocery store. ... I was thinking... something good that does not take a lot of prep. So, I picked up some Carrots, had potatoes and onions at home and I grabbed a 2 pound beef roast.When I got home I plopped that roast in a baking pan (after cleaning out the last few chess squares that had last been made in the pan) and then started adding the accoutrements. Around the roast I scattered a couple handfuls of baby carrots, about 3/4 chopped onion, a couple small white potatoes cubed and then I poured over the top about 1/2 cup of "italian dressing' I had made up the night before that consisted of 1/3 cup olive oil less than 1/4 cup Oregeno Basalmic Vinegar and some Tomato Onion Seasoning. Over that I poured a cup of warm chicken stock.

I put Aluminium foil over the top and baked it all in a low (325 degree F) oven for a couple hours.

When it was near done, B suggested that we add some of the Demi-Glace (aka. "Meat Jellie") that he had picked up recently at a Williams and Sonoma on a lunch break (on an aside..... must be nice to take more than a 5 min coffee break for lunch)

So we did... add a large tablespoon to the stock that had formed ..... cooked for about 20 more minutes and then served with some texas toast cheesy bread. By then I was on this Kim Crawford Chardonay that is in the pic.

Fish and Chips

OK....... so we needed dinner, and the WWE Raw filmed in Manchester England was coming on..... Though I did not know that when I suggested: ummm Potstickers or beer battered fish for dinner? to which I got the "Beer Battered FISH!" reply.

So... fish and chips it was.... I had some flash frozen whiting fish in the freezer and defrosted a couple filets (the were longer than the plate before I halved them) While they were defrosting I plugged in the deep fryer and added a bit more oil to the crisco that was already in there ( you know this will be good for you huh?) .

The batter:

One egg
A liberal couple dashes of Cothams seasoning (local burger place, it's basically onion garlic and salt)
1/3 or so bottle of October Fest Beer
enough flour for a thick batter.

The Chips: Cut about 3 Idaho (I think) potatoes into finger sized pieces and throw them into the fryer basket until nice and golden brown.

For the fish: Dipthem in the batter then dredge them in some flour, seasoned with more Cothams seasoning, and them dipped them in the batter again before placing them in the hot oil until golden brown.

The Tartar Sauce was a quick mix of Dill Pickle Relish and Miracle Whip.

Serve with Malt Vinegar

Nummie!

Sausage Mushroom Pizza

The Crust.... I use the recipe on the package of quick rise yeast. The yeast, some warm water, a tbs of sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt, enough flour for a soft dough. Kneed until elastic.

The dough was spread by hand on a cornmeal floured board until about 9 inches in diameter. I didn't have pizza sauce and was not going to make some from scratch (it was 9:00 PM when I started this) so I used some of the Spaghetti sauce in the fridge. To that I added sauteed mushrooms and some browned sausage. Top it all off with liberal amounts of mozzarella cheese. Cook in a hot (about 475 degrees F) oven until browned. On the second one I brushed the crust with some garlic butter.... but there wasn't that much of a difference.

Cats Like Good Food Too

Grilled Fillet

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes.

We were setting the table and a large gray cat acted as if she wanted to help B with his fillet.

The fillet was bought as backup on the night we last prepared the lamb. (the local store was out of lamb and we ended up driving into 'Town" to Fresh Market for Lamb Chops.

Meanwhile... to the food... the fillet was pretty straight forward 3-4 min on each side on a medium high charcoal grill. I usually cook by feel (comparing to the thumb pad of your hand) because I'm still not a pro at getting an exact heat from a charcoal grill.

While the coals were getting hot and the steaks finished on the grill, B was hard at work on the potatoes. He quartered and then halved 4 medium small white potatoes, skin on, for a total of 32 potato wedges. The wedges were tossed in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt and cracked black pepper. After the potato wedges were coated, they were browned in a medium oven until light golden brown. When taken out of the oven, they were tossed with rosemary butter. .... I must say they were probably yummier than the fillet.

To make rosemary butter: melt 2 1/2 tbs. of butter and mix with a palm full of garlic and rosemary bread dipping oil seasoning. (Rub the seasoning between your palms or fingers to release the scent of the rosemary).

Oh .. .and there was a salad :) Here's a closeup.

Philly Cheese Steak Calzone

To prepare this Calzone, first I whipped up some quick rise pizza dough. While the dough was rising, I browned some thin sliced steak with about 1/2 an onion chopped and about 1/2 of a green pepper sliced thin. When the steak was browned, the pizza dough was separated into 2 halves and stretched into about 8 inch rounds. Add enough of the steak, onion, and bell pepper mixture to cover 1/2 the dough, leaving a border to seal the calzone when the other side of the dough is folded over.

For the second calzone (the one in the pic) I was a bit less traditional and decided to add a bit of spaghetti sauce and a handful of mild cheddar cheese. On top of both I sprinkled a hand full of Parmesan cheese and they were browned in a hot oven.

Salmon, Leeks, Carrots and Tarragon in Filo Packets

Valentine's Day Dinner turned Tuesday Night Dinner

What you'll need:

1 roll of filo dough - defrosted
a few tbs of olive oil
1 large Salmon filet
a handful of tarragon minced
1 carrot cut into thin 1 inch sticks (or shredded)
the chopped whites of 2 leeks

Layer about 4 sheets of filo dough basting with olive oil between sheets. Cover the remaining filo dough with a damp towel to keep it from drying out.
Cut the salmon filet into 3 palm sized, or smaller, portions.
Place one portion of salmon in the middle of the layred filo dough.
Cover salmon with about 1/3 of the chopped leeks and carrots and sprinkle chopped tarragon on top.
Wrap the sides of the filo dough over the salmon and then gently roll the samon into the excess filo dough to form a loose roll. Place seam side down on a metal pan and brush olive oil over the top and sides.
Repeat for the other 2 salmon portions.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the filo dough is golden brown.

While the salmon was cooking I buttered some french bread and served with a mixed salad.

**We learned during our second Valentines Day dinner that if you serve this with beet salad... you really do not want to leave out honey** ;)

Cotham's Battered Chicken Fried Chicken and Happy Little Trees

Boneless Skinless chicken breasts were dredged in a mixture of flour and Cotham's seasoning, dipped in milk and dredged in flour again. The battered chicken was deep fried until golden brown.

While the chicken was frying, the broccoli was steamed. For the cheese sauce, I melted some velveeta in the microwave with some milk and rou from the flower/Cotham's mix that the chicken was dredged in.

Broccoli Slawrel (slaw) Egg Rolls

1/2 pound ground pork

12 oz package of broccoli slaw

4 green onions chopped

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp. ginger powder

4 inches of oil in a deep fryer

Brown the ground pork in a wok, add vegetables, soy sauce and ginger powder and stir fry until tender. Using a slotted spoon, add about 2 tbs. of the vegetable and pork mixture onto an egg roll wrapper and fold, using water to seal the edges. You should be able to make about 20 rolls. Once all of the egg rolls are wrapped add the egg rolls to hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Ground Lamb Greek Meatballs w/Spaghetti

Ground Lamb Greek Meatballs w/Spaghetti

To make the meatballs combine:

1 pound of ground lamb

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 medium onion chopped

1 egg

Roll into balls and bake on a cookie sheet in a 375 degree oven for about 30 min.

While meatballs are browning, cook spaghetti according to instructions and warm some red sauce. I used Ragu Chunky Garden Combination.

Bow tie Pasta with Chicken and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

The Pasta - add pasta to boiling salted water cook according to package instructions.

The Chicken: defrost boneless skinless chicken breasts. cube and sautee in a couple tablespoons of olive oil with 3 sliced shitake mushrooms until browned.

The Sauce: On low heat, melt together 1 ounce of Gorgonzola blue cheese, 2 tbs. of butter and 3 oz. of Mascarpone cheese.

Drain pasta and toss together the pasta, chicken/mushrooms and the sauce.

The Side: steam in the bag some frozen green beans after steaming crack over some sea salt and fresh black pepper and a dash of garlic powder.

The Wine: Flora Springs Chardonnay: a nice light but buttery chardonnay with the flavor and nose of apple.

Spicy Udon Noodle and Chicken Salad

Based on a recipe I found on Epicurious

I had green onions that I needed to start using so I started there. I knew there were plenty udon noodles and had just restocked my supply of boneless skinless chicken breasts and picked up a red bell pepper. So ... noodles, veggies, chicken
and peanut sauce it was.

1. First, start a couple quarts of water boiling for the noodles.
2. Defrost the frozen boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in the microwave.

3. While the water is heating to a boil and chicken defrosting,

slice green onion (3), carrots (5 small) and 1/2 a red bell

pepper.
4. Once the water is boiling, add a couple ounces of udon noodles.
Cook according to package instructions.

5. Remove chicken from microwave and slice thin.
6. Check on the noodles, if they are done, remove them from

heat and drain, rinse in cold water, drain again and set aside.
6. Add chicken to a skillet with a dash of olive oil.
7. Cook on high heat until cooked through and beginning to brown.
8. Toss in the vegetables and stir fry just until warm if desired.
9. Add noodles and peanut sauce and toss again. Serve.

Note: On the side I served some cubes of seared salmon with wasabi mayonnaise.

Dessert: Vanilla Pound Cake with Blackberries and Homemade White Chocolate Whipped Cream.


I saw the vanilla pound cake while at the store buying the chicken and bell pepper. Looking over the berry selection the blackberries looked the best. They turned out to be a little tart, but they are past season.

For the whipped cream I grabbed a big bowl. Added a couple tablespoons of mascarpone cheese, a spoonful of sugar and about 1/2 cup of whipping cream. This I mixed with a hand mixer on high speed until the whipped cream started to firm up. I remembered that I had some white chocolate baking squares in the pantry so I melted one of those in the microwave, added that to the whipped cream and beat again until it would keep shape.

Taters Take II - Tuna with Bourbon Sauce and Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

We started with a recipe for Pepper Tuna Steaks . The steaks were cooked according to recipe. For the sauce, Olive oil was used instead of butter, we added 1/2 cup of shiitake mushrooms and whiskey was substituted for the brandy.

For the potatoes, we scaled down this recipe for Wasabi Mashed Potatoes. I got my wasabi powder from a local Kroger and I I'm not sure if the powder I got was not as stout or if I like more wasabi than the average joe but we more than doubled what was called for in the recipe.

The wine was the Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc that was left from making the risotto posted earlier.

Steak and Taters

We put this meal together with the help of Betty Crocker on the 3 cheese potatoes and Bird's Eye on the broccoli and cheese sauce. Bryan picked up the steaks while picking up the pimento's for more minner cheese. I grilled the steaks for a total of 13 min over medium hot coals... for me this was good since I tend closer to medium than rare for my steaks but I think Bryan would have preferred his being pulled from the grill closer to 7 min.

I had some peaches left over from the grilled peaches I posted earlier. I also had some plums I had bought and not yet eaten. They both needed used so I loosely used this recipe to whip up a peach/plum cobbler.

Baby Baaa with Nummy Rice

Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Rosemary-Lamb-Chops-658

Notes: I didn't have fresh rosemary and did not feel like chopping garlic but I did have a nice garlic rosemary blend for flavoring bread dipping oil. I used 2 tbs. of this mix instead of the rosemary and garlic in the recipe.

Risotto Milanese
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Risotto-Milanese-100910

Bryan uses this recipe in making the risotto. The only change is the omission of the onion and he used a cup of Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc instead of a cup of water.

The Wine: 2006 Flora Springs Trilogy -

" Trilogy attributes with a lovely cassis and cherry bouquet, as well as huge black fruit flavors that envelop the palate. Each varietal is vital to the outcome: the Cabernet exhibits black cherry and dark cocoa character, while the Merlot carries these flavors to the back of the palate where the Cabernet Franc adds notes of coffee and toffee to the finish." -klwines.com

Grilled Peaches in a Butter Rum Sauce over Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
http://grillinfools.com/2010/08/20/grilled-peaches-in-a-butter-rum-sauce-over-ice-cream/

Sketti Noodles with Salad, Toast and Volver

Really the most difficult part of this meal was melting the butter for the toast. Cookin' sketti is easy when the sauce is the from a jar. The salad was a nice spring mix. Bryan had the salad sans dressing but I added a great Raspberry Hazelnut Vinegrette.

Grilled Salmon with Spanokopita

The spanokopita was actually lunch from yesterday that Bryan forwent for a sandwich.

For the spanokopita I first removed the filo dough from the freezer to defrost the night before. To start the filling, I chopped about 1/2 a white onion and 2-3 cloves of garlic. These were placed in a skillet with about 2 tbs. olive oil and a large package of baby spinach. I turned/folded the spinach, allowing it to wilt and cook down. When the spinach had fully cooked down I then added 2 whisked eggs to the skillet and stirred and folded the mixture until the eggs were soft scrambled. I removed this from the stove and propped up one end so the water from the spinach will drain well (it took me 2 wet spanokopita before I started squeezing out the water). To roll these, instead of the standard triangle I usually do, I rolled these more like egg rolls. Taking 2 sheets of filo dough I placed about 3 tablespoons of the spinach mixture onto the middle of the dough long ways. I folded in the ends first and then rolled the rest of the filo around the spinach forming a log shape. (In hind sight, it may be better to place the spinach closer to the edge so filo is evenly wrapped instead of thick on one side.) These were placed on an olive oil drizzled cookie sheet and then I drizzled olive oil over each. They were placed in a 350 degree oven until golden brown.

The salmon was bought frozen. I defrosted the 2 salmon steaks for about 30 mins by placing them in a plastic bag and letting them sit in luke warm water for about 30 min. After they were defrosted I poured out the water, removed them from the plastic bag and added the following to the dish to marinate: cracked salt and pepper, a few tablespoons of olive oil, a few splashes of soy sauce, and a few tablespoons of tarragon vinegar. I let the salmon marinate for about 30 minutes while I got the charcoal started.

To cook:

The salmon was first placed over direct, medium high, heat skin side down. I warmed the spanokopita on a bed of fennel fronds on the side of the grill while the salmon was cooking. After about 5 minutes on the skin side I flipped the salmon and let it grill the other side for about 5 min. more. When it was all done, it was removed from the grill and after plating the salmon and spanokopita I splashed some lemon juice on both..... We cracked open a bottle of Etude and it was good.... even if it was almost too hot to eat :)

Bacon Wrapped Porkey Pork with Butternut Squash Risotto

I first sliced some mushrooms, onions and started the risotto. I copped out by using the boxed Archer Farms risotto you can get at Target.

I grabbed these bacon wrapped pork medallions at the Super Center the other afternoon.

To prepare them I heated some olive oil in a skillet and seared them on both sides. After browning they were removed and placed on a pan under the broiler for about 10 minutes, flipped and broiled for another 10 minutes.

While the pork was in the broiler I sautéed some mushrooms and onions in the olive oil.