My Lime Green Kitchen

Archive for February, 2010

These could be my favorite cookies my mom has ever made but I probably say that about all cookies.

Ingredients:

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 egg whites
2c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
About 1 c.  finely chopped nuts
Jelly, jam or candied cherries, cut in half

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar.  Add 2 beaten egg yolks.

Mix the flour and salt.  Add to the creamed mixture.  Add vanilla.  Mix well.  Chill for a couple of hours.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Roll into small balls.  Roll in egg white (do not beat egg whites).  Roll in chopped nuts.

Place on baking sheet.

Bake for 5 minutes.  Using a thimble, press a hole in the center.

Continue baking for 10 -15 minutes.  Press hole in center again.

Cool completely.  Fill hole with jam or jelly.

If you do not want to use jam, press half of a maraschino cherry in the center before baking and bake 15-20 minutes.

Green Bean Bundles

2 cans whole green beans
1 stick butter
1/2 lb. bacon
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. garlic salt
Toothpicks

Cut bacon slices in halves. Take 3-4 whole green beans and wrap with bacon. Insert toothpick to hold bacon around green beans.

Make glaze of brown sugar, garlic salt, butter, and pepper to taste. Pour glaze over green bean bundles in baking dish.

Bake in oven until bacon is done at 350 degrees.

This is an easy meat dish that tastes like something found in a nice restaurant.  If you don’t like artichokes or just don’t want to pay the price for them, it hardly affects this dish at all to leave them out.  When I don’t use the artichokes, I had a tablespoon of lemon juice just to give it a different flavor.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Seasoned Salt (I use Slap Ya Mama or Ball’s Cajun Seasoning)
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 c. olive oil
1 can artichoke hearts (or bottoms)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/3 c. brandy or sherry
1 c. chicken broth
3 T. flour

Directions:

Pound chicken breasts to about half their original thickness.  Sprinkle chicken with seasoned salt.

Melt butter, along with olive oil.  Brown chicken.

Transfer chicken to baking dish.

Drain artichokes and spread on top of chicken breasts.

Saute mushrooms in oil and butter left in pan.

Sprinkle flour over mushrooms.  Stir til blended, breaking up any lumps.

Gradually add chicken broth and brandy or sherry, stirring and simmering about 5 minutes.

Pour over chicken, bake uncovered at 375° for 45 minutes.

Serve over buttered pasta.

By adding beaten egg whites, these pancakes are thick and fluffy.  Adding the blueberries to the pancakes, rather than mixing them into the batter causes them to stay whole and burst with flavor when cutting into the pancakes.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, separated
1-1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup blueberries

Directions:

Melt butter.  Set aside.

Stir flour, baking powder and salt together in mixing bowl.

Whisk milk and egg yolks together.

With mixer, beat egg whites til soft peaks form.  Beat in sugar.

Stir milk/egg yolk mixture into flour mixture.

Stir in melted butter.

Stir in egg white/sugar mixture.

Stir in the vanilla.

Butter a warm pan.  Spoon batter onto pan to form pancakes.  Drop a few blueberries onto each pancake.

When bubbles form at the top, flip it and cook the other side.
Serve with warm maple syrup.

This recipe is not low fat, nor is it low cal, though you could probably make some adjustments.  But, it’s very good, very easy and leftovers are even better!

Ingredients:

2 cans Veg-all
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can sliced Water Chestnuts
1 cup Mayonnaise
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 med. onion, chopped
1/2 stick butter
1 pkg. of Ritz Crackers

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onion in butter. Mix all ingredients except butter and Ritz Crackers. Crush crackers and brown in butter. Sprinkle on top of casserole. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

For the cake portion, you can use any brioche type recipe. The “cake” is more like a slightly sweet bread.

Ingredients:

1 envelope Active Dry Yeast
2 T. warm water
1 tsp. salt
4 T. granulated sugar
1/4 c. milk
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cardamom (If you don’t have cardamon, use 1 tsp. cinnamon. Cardomom is a bit less common for most of us and seems a bit “mystical” but cinnamon will certainly work too.)
2 eggs, beaten
1 – 1/4 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into very small pieces.

Dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand til frothy.

Dissolve the salt and sugar in the milk. When dissolved combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture.

Mix the cardamom with the flour.

Add the eggs to the yeast/milk mixture. Gradually add the flour. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add a little more flour if needed but leave the dough slightly on the sticky side. Just as the dough is almost ready, add the chopped butter and knead only until the butter is incorporated into the dough.

Turn the dough into an oiled bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm spot.

When the dough has doubled in bulk punch it down, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll the dough out to a 8 x 20 inch rectangle. Spread the almond filling(recipe below) out in the middle of the rectangle along the whole length, leaving about 1 inch on each side. Fold the length of the dough over the filling and roll up tightly, leaving the seam side down. Turn the roll into a circle, seam side down and put one end inside of the other to hide the seam, and seal the circle. Place the cake on a baking sheet and let rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown (seems to only take about 20 minutes for me).

When the cake cools, spread on some of the glaze (recipe below). Decorate with the colored sugars and drizzle some of the thicker glaze onto the cake.

For the Almond filling:

1 can almond paste
1/2 stick butter
2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. almond extract

This gets real thick and it is better to use as stand mixer.

Mix the almond paste and butter. When totally mixed, add the bread crumbs, sugar and almond extract.

Glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. melted butter
Half & Half to make the glaze the consistency desired
1/2 tsp. almond extract

NOTE: Because I love lots of icing/glaze, I double this recipe.

Last year I stayed with a fellow quilter, Darlene, while in St. Louis.  She had made this soup and it was so good.  I asked for the recipe, which she gave me and she also gave me permission to share it here.

This soup is hearty and so good.  I do believe Chad could eat the entire batch by himself!

Iowa Chowder

Ingredients:

1 cup onions, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup butter
2 T. flour
2 cups water
3 cups potatoes, diced and cooked
1 – 17 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1/8 tsp. ginger
salt & pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
2 cups ham, diced
1-1/2 cups evaporated milk
8 oz. cream cheese

For the ginger, I don’t always have fresh ginger around and I like it so much better than powdered ginger.  This is what I use.  I can keep it in the fridge much longer than fresh ginger would keep.

Directions:

Saute onions and celery in butter.  Mix flour with water.  You can use the cooking water from the potatoes, or liquid from the corn.  Stir until flour is completely mixed and lumps are gone.  Add to onion and celery mixture.  Stir until thickened.  Add potatoes, corn, bay leaves, ginger, salt, pepper and ham.  Stir in milk and cream cheese.  Heat until cream cheese is melted.

Darlene’s hints:

I dice the potato before cooking and cook until just tender – do not overcook.
Sometimes I add more corn than is called for.
Do not over salt as the ham adds saltiness.
Keeps well for several days in the fridge or can be frozen.
Serves 6 – 10 depending on serving size.

My Hint:

Do not try to feed 6 – 10 people if Chad is eating at your house!