I made Gluten Free Cookies

Once again, I brought home a product to try from the store. This time it was King Arthur Gluten Free Cookie Mix. What this product provides you is a brown sugar cookie base and allows you to add in anything you like to make the cookies your own. Besides the mix you will need 1 stick of butter-soft, 1 large egg, 2 tablespoons of water plus what ever you want to mix in your cookies. I used chopped raw walnuts and chocolate chips. You take half of the mix and blend it with the butter. Then add the egg and water and blend again. Add the rest of the mix and combine. Then stir in your add-ins. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place the cookies on a cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. The instructions say to let the cookies sit on the sheet for 5 minutes. I did not do this. I removed them immediately or they would have stuck to the baking sheet. I cooled them on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Dave tasted them and liked them. Of the gluten free cookies mixes we have tried this is the best tasting one. The box made 3 dozen cookies. Over all Grade of A-. An extra surprise is that the next day, the cookies are still very soft and chewy.

Here is a picture of my cookies.

CSA Week One.

Thank Goodness for my Mom and Dad and the internet. I arrived later than I wanted to pick up my first weeks produce. Not knowing what to expect, I had a basket and a bag to take home the fresh goodness. As I was picking up my share, I kept saying to myself - What is this? I have no clue what to do with this! To be honest it scared me a bit. Dave being the wonderful patient guy he is carried the produce while we walked the rest of the market. Then back to the car to get my bounty home. The first weeks tally: Kale, Turnips, Romane Lettuce, Field Lettuce, Garlic, Bok Choy, Broccoli Rabe, Strawberries, and Kohlrabi (the strange purple vegetable from space). I unpacked my veg and snapped some pictures. Called my Mom and send her some pictures to help me identify some of the items. The mystery items were: Kohlrabi and Kale. I made sure what I thought was a turnip really was a turnip. After two calls to the parents and about 30 minutes on the internet, I found all the information I needed to help me store my wonderful produce. After a lunch of home made pasta and sauce leftovers, I hit the internet again looking for recipes to try. Thanks to Emeril Green and Jamie Oliver.com I have some good recipes to start. I put a request out on facebook and twitter. Maybe I will get some additional good recipes. I will post pictures of my fresh produce and the recipe I chose to try as I cook through out the week. My mom sent me two great broccoli rabe recipes. so I am sure that will be first. Here is a picture of me and my Market Basket full of goodies.

Spinach Pasta Bake

16 oz Ziti, cooked and drained
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup olive oil
10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed, drained very well
1/2 cup bread crumbs, seasoned
26 oz tomato pasta sauce
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 t basil.

preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl mix eggs,oil. Toss pasta with spinach. Fold in bread crumb. Add Oil and egg mixture. Spread 1/3 pasta sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Pour in 1/2 of pasta mixture. Cover with 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining sauce, pasta sauce, cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove Foil and bake 10 more minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Serves 8

Buffalo Chicken Bites

Here is one of my favorite Weight Watcher Recipes. There are a thousand ways to make it your own. Instead of Louisiana Style Hot Sauce you can use BBQ Sauce, Sweet and Sour Sauce, you see......

Makes 4 servings

1/4 cup Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch chunks
Carrots
Celery
Fat Free Blue Cheese or Ranch

Combine the hot sauce, Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce in small sauce pan over medium heat, bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Add 5 teaspoons of butter, stir until melted

Melt the remaining butter in a large nonstick pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook until well browned, 10 minutes. Add the pepper sauce mixture and cook for one minutes tossing to coat. Serve with Carrots,Celery and Dressing.

Weight Waters 5 points per serving

My very own Adobo Dry Seasoning

While researching Mexican recipes, I happened up on the word Adobo Seasoning. So I searched out some in the ethnic section and purchased it. Dave and I really liked it so I decided to try and make my own blend. It is usually better and always cheaper. The store bought kind is loaded with salt. so I am making mine salt free.

So I did some research and here is my first recipe.

3 T Garlic Powder (Granulated Garlic)
3 T Onion Powder
3 T Crushed Black Pepper
1 1/2 t Oregano

Optional
3 T Salt
1 t Cumin
1 t Citrus Zest (lemon, lime or orange)

Place all ingredients in a jar with a tight lid and mix. Store in a cool dry place.
Good for 2 months.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Another holiday staple at my house is Macaroni and Cheese. I guess for home made mac and cheese I really do this the hard way, but in the end it makes the best mac and cheese.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

2 T unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1 t salt
1/2 t dry mustard
1/4 t pepper
2 1/2 cups of milk
2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
8 oz of elbow macaroni cooked 6 minutes and drained
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

In a two quart sauce pan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, mustard, and pepper until smooth. Remove pan from heat. Gradually stir in Milk until smooth. Stirring constantly over medium heat, cook milk mixture for 10 minutes or until extremely thick. Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese. Turn your elbows in to a greased 13 x 9 pan and pour cheese sauce over elbows. Mix well. In a small bowl mix the bread crumbs and cheese. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Serves 6

Pie Recipes

Thanksgiving 2009 I decided to make a pecan pie and a pumpkin pie. Normally I would make pumpkin and apple. Each year I pick something new to try and cook. 2009's new things were Pecan Pie and Baked Sweet Potatoes.

Jill's Pumpkin Pie
I copied this recipe from my Mom when I moved away from home. I am sure it is simular to many other recipes but alas, I credit my Mom.

2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 can solid pack pumpkin
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cloves
1 1/2 cup Evaporated Milk
1 pie crust of your choice

Combine filling ingredients in order given. Pour into pie crust. Bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 350 degrees F and bake 40-45 minutes. Cool.

Jill's Pecan Pie
When I look for a new recipe to try and I do not have a recipe from my mom or my Aunt, I go directly to The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer. My mom stopped at Lane's Packing Plant and purchased some wonderful pecans for me.

I used the filling recipe from The Joy of Cooking with a few changes.

2 cups of pecans coarsely chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup of brown sugar (instead of granulated sugar)
1 cup light corn syrup (Kayro Syrup)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pie crust of your choice

I chopped two cups of pecans w/ my Pampered Chef Chopper (nice). I saved some pecan halves to put on top.

Place your pie crust in your pie plate and warm in the oven until it is hot to the touch (very important). Whisk the eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt together. Stir in the chopped pecans. Pour into crust. Sit the saved pecan halves on top. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven 35 to 45 minutes. Make sure the pie is set in the middle. Cool for at least 1 and a half hours before cutting.

Thanksgiving Cooking

I love to cook for Thanksgiving. I enjoy the planning and the actual cooking. The shopping kind of sucks but you can't do one with out the other. This year, I took some photos of my cooking. I will share some recipes in following posts.