Saturday, March 24, 2007

Recipe ~ Baked Potato Soup


3 T butter
1/3 c flour

Melt butter over medium heat in a heavy saucepan. Add flour and stir with wire whisk rapidly till well mixed. Turn heat down slightly and slowly add 1 can of evaporated milk making a thick white sauce. (This MUST be evaporated milk or it will separate and look curdled)

Continue to stir and add 1 can of water. Keep heat high enough to cook the sauce so it thickens. Make sure it gets very thick. This will take time and patience and lots of stirring so you do not have a lumpy soup!

Once it is a thick consistancy, similar to a thick gravy, add:
a 1/2" 'slab' of Velveeta cheese
1 T Parmesan cheese
a scant 1/8 tsp of garlic salt
1 T of brown spicy mustard
3 T bacon bits

Stir till cheese is melted. Add bite sized peeled chunks of left over baked potatoes. Very well baked ones with lots of flavor are best. Cover and put in oven on very low or in a crock pot on low. Heat for about an hour till potatoes are thoroughly heated.

Serve with chunks of cheddar cheese or any favorite cheese on top.

This is enough for generous portions for 4 people.

Recipe ~ MK's "Ho-Ho" Cake


The chocolate cake layer may be a box mix cake if you choose or you may use my Dark Chocolate Cake recipe below. If you use a box mix, be sure to replace the water with an equal portion of strong coffee, cooled to room temp.

Dark Chocolate Cake(for 9x12 pan)

3/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup cream
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup hot strong coffee

Cream first 4 ingredients till light in color. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture slowly and mix well. Add vanilla and coffee last and beat 3 minutes on High.

Pour into a lightly greased and floured pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees or until it tests 'done' with a toothpick. There should be gooey crumbs on the toothpick. You don't want to overbake it or it will be dry. Let cool before spreading the Creamy Filling on top.

Creamy Filling
1 cup sugar
1 cup white Crisco (Not the butter flavored)(Another shortening can be substituted but Crisco is best)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 Tblsp water
1 tsp vanilla

Put all ingredients into a large bowl and beat on high for 5 minutes. You want it to be fluffy. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat for another 2 minutes.

Spread the Creamy Filling on the chocolate cake and put in the freezer to set.

Chocolate Chip Frosting

In a heavy saucepan
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
2Tblsp butter

Over medium heat bring to a boil, stirring often so it does not burn. Let boil for 4-5 minutes while stirring, be sure to turn down the heat if it is near boiling over the pan edges.

Turn off heat and add 1 - 6 oz bag of Milk Chocolate Chips. (I prefer Hershey's)

Stir until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly but still pourable. Pour over Creamy Filling and let it set up. This won't take long as the cake should already be cold.

Recipe ~ Frozen Peanut Butter Pie


Crust: You may cheat and use a pre made chocolate crumb crust, or....take the time for my Oreo crust.

Oreo Crust
1/2 package of Oreo cookies - split and the filling removed
1/4 cup soft butter
2 T sugar
Crush the cookies into fine crumbs and mix with the butter and sugar. Press into an 8" pie pan and set aside.

Peanut Butter Filling
1 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
1 8 oz package of soft cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 c Cool Whip topping - set aside

Beat the first 4 ingredients well. For about 4 - 5 minutes on medium is good. You want it to be well blended and fluffy. Beat in the whipped topping on LOW till well blended. Spread evenly into the crust and cover lightly with plastic wrap.

Freeze till solid.

Spread a 2" layer of whipped topping on the frozen pie and garnish with Oreo cookies cut in half circles. If you are not going to serve it right away you may freeze it again after garnishing.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Recipe ~ Salmon Loaf

1 - 12-13 oz can of salmon, drained (you can use tuna if you prefer)
2 cups fresh bread crumbs *
1/2 cup milk
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 tsp dill week or 1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs - beaten

Mix well together and place into a lightly greased loaf pan. (approx 8x4")
Bake at 375 degrees or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve with creamy pea sauce over the top.

Creamy Pea Sauce:
In saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 Tablespoons butter, stir in 2 Tablespoons flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir with whisk until blended and slowly add 1 1/2 cups milk, stir constantly until mixture becomes a thick sauce. Reduce heat to low and add 1 cup frozen peas. Stir until peas are thawed and hot.


* to make fresh bread crumbs, take several slices of bread and run over a cheese grater, be careful to not scrape your fingers!

General Equivalents














3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons = 1 liquid ounce
4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup
8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup
16 tablespoons = 1 cup

1 cup = 8 fluid ounces
2 cups = 1 pint
4 cups = 1 quart

4 quarts = 1 gallon
8 quarts = 1 peck (dry)
16 ounces = 1 pound

Recipe ~ Dark Chocolate Cake

3/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup cream

Cream together well beating on high for 2 minutes.

Sift together:
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt

Add to creamed mixture, beating well.
Add:
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup hot coffee (strong)

Beat on medium for 3 minutes.

Pour into greased and lightly floured 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until it tests done when a toothpick has gooey crumbs on it.

Do NOT overbake!

VERY rich cake!

Recipe ~ Monkey Bread

2 loaves frozen bread (thawed but not raised)
OR 4 tubes of refrigerator biscuits

½ c sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
Mix sugar and cinnamon in bowl

Take bread or biscuits and make walnut sized chunks and roll in sugar mixture. Place in 2 lightly greased (if needed) bunt pans.

Mix:
1 ¼ sticks melted butter
1 large package of butterscotch or vanilla NON instant pudding powder
nuts (optional)
raisins (optional)

Pour butter and pudding mix over dough.

If you used bread dough, let sit in warm area until raised up double.
When bread dough is raised bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 min.

If using biscuit dough, bake immediately at 350 degrees for 18 minutes.

Once A Month Cooking


Once-a-month-cooking (O.A.M.C.) or Bulk Cooking is a very old concept. Your mom's and grandma's perhaps practiced it without really knowing they were starting a trend!

And maybe even you have done it! Have you ever been making a meatloaf or a pan of lasagna and decided to make two? Freeze one and bake the other for that night? Well that is basically the concept of O.A.M.C. It is a fantastic way to keep food costs down and can help to cut back on the number of times that your family may eat out each month because there is always something easy to make at home.

You do not need special recipes to do this, all you need is to multiply ingredients from recipe's you already use 3-4x and have a good number of freezer safe containers to put them in or freeze them in disposable foil pans. Of course freezer wrap / paper is helpful to keep things from freezer burn.

Some recipe's you will only need to prepare parts of it to freeze as the other items such as noodles or rice will need to be prepared fresh.

Keeping precooked/preseasoned meats in your freezer can be just as time saving and cost saving as preparing the entire meal and freezing it. It all depends on what your lifestyle requires. You could also co-op with other busy moms and do your bulk cooking together in a weekend.

Getting Started:

The idea of O.A.M.C. can be very overwhelming when you first get started. The thought of cooking 20-30 meals in one day is a lot to do! Here you will learn exactly how to do O.A.M.C.
If doing one big cooking day is too much, then start off with 2 Saturday's in a row or a Saturday and Sunday. Cook one weeks worth of meals and call it once a week cooking. The practice of once a month cooking is to simplify your life - not to burden you down!

Remember: Plan, plan, plan.

The more you plan, the better prepared you will be. This includes planning your time, your menu and most importantly your grocery list.

Here are the basic steps to Once a Month Cooking:

1. Decide on a day or days to cook. Be sure you choose a day that is free of other obligations or activities. If possible, have things planned for the kids or have someone take them for the day so you can focus on cooking. Another option is to cook in smaller batches in the evenings once the kids are in bed. An entire day is best but not always possible. Pick a day when you know you will have few or no interruptions.

2. Find your local store ads. When you check the local groceries stores for what is on sale, you are working towards saving money. Plan your meals around the things you can get on sale.
Purchase lean ground beef in bulk, this saves you money because in the long run you pay for meat not the fat. Whole chickens are the most economical priced, however if you watch for boneless breasts to be on sale and stock up, then freeze it for future use, you will save money and time in the long run there too. (Be sure to wrap them in freezer paper and label before freezing!) Boneless pork chops can be found on sale at times and purchased and frozen the same way as the chicken breasts, for future use on your O.A.M.C. day. Pork and Beef roasts can also be purchased in bulk and wrapped carefully and frozen. Or you can crock pot cook them and freeze the cooked meat. This is great for pulling out say 1 lb to thaw and use for hot or cold sandwiches or for meat to put into a casserole. Cubed meats properly wrapped and frozen for stews, casseroles and stir fry's is a great time saver also.

3. Meal Planning. Use a notebook or calendar and plan out each months meals. Not every meal has to come from the freezer as many recipe's are not adaptable to being frozen for up to a month. List the favorite meals your family likes and list the ingredients as well.

4. Plan you Grocery Shopping List. As you go through your recipes one at a time list the ingredients that you will need to buy. Then compile a master list of the total amount of meats, noodles, potatoes, rice, onions, celery, etc. right down to checking your spice cupboard to be sure you have them all on hand as well.

5. Grocery Shopping. This should be done a couple days BEFORE cooking day. If you plan your shopping ahead of time, you'll have time to find the best prices and sale items!

6. Cooking Day. Think smart and plan. Combine steps for recipes if possible. How many chopped onions will you need? Do them all at once. How many pounds of browned ground beef will you need? Save a pan and do it all at once! Then you simply divide it up once it is cooked. Do you see the importance of planning in saving time?

7. Freeze your Meals. - Here are some common methods for freezing meals:
Freezer Bags - This is the main way that to store food. The bags lie flat on the shelves and they all stack up nicely on top of each other. It is very efficient use of freezer space!
Purchase bags that are specifically freezer bags. Remove as much air as possible before sealing. Particularly for meals that have a lot of liquids.

TIP: Seal (zip) the freezer bag almost all the way and insert a drinking straw in the remaining opening, suck out the air and seal the bag as you pull the straw out.
Vacuum Sealer - These are great because they help to protect your food from freezer burn allowing the food to stay really fresh tasting. Any disposable, or reusable containers that are for the freezer. If you want to go from freezer, to refrigerator to thaw then to oven, you will want to use heavy duty foil pans.

Label all the food that you put in the freezer. Using freezer tape and a permanent marker, write what the meal is and the cooking instructions. (Freezer tape can be found in the section where freezer paper is sold.)

Welcome to my 'Kitchen'

Welcome to MK's Kitchen. Here you will find recipe's, hints and tips for cooking and baking, meal planning ideas, entertaining ideas and product reviews.