Chocolate Mint Squares

This recipe is a prime example of a fussy recipe-or at least it was until I cut out a lot of the crap. If you have a double boiler, use it. If you don’t either microwave your chocolate/butter or use the stovetop and a low temp-stir constantly. Fussy recipes can turn me off-I don’t want to be told how to melt my chocolate-just tell me to do it. But there are some who need/like those type of recipes. I hope my condensing is still clear. Oh-and make sure that your chocolate is cool or it could cook your eggs.

 

Chocolate Mint Squares

 

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

¾ cup butter, at room temp

¾ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 extra large eggs

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 ½ cups mint chocolate chips

 

Frosting: 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

3-4 tablespoons milk

1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract

Several drops green food coloring, optional

 

1.      Preheat oven to 350° and grease an 8 inch square pan.

2.      Melt butter and chocolates in double boiler. Stir until melted and smooth, let cool.

3.      Combine the sugars and eggs. Beat until thick and light in consistency. Stir in extract and then the cooled chocolate mixture. Add the flour and baking soda and the mint chips, mixing just until incorporated.

4.      Pour into prepared band and bake till top looks dry, about 30 minutes.

5.      Prepare frosting and cover till ready to use.

6.        After pulling cake from oven, transfer to a wire rack and let cool 10 minutes. Frost; using a metal spatula to smooth the frosting out. Let cool completely then cut into 2 inch squares

Cinnamon Coffee Bars

This was a very simple bar with a great old-fashion taste. Definitely one of those easy, last minute type of things to make. Again, a great holiday treat as it’s not so rich and dense as most desserts but definitely enjoyable anytime of the year!

 

Cinnamon Coffee Bars

 

1 cup pack brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 ½ cups flour

½ cup water

1 tablespoon instant coffee (dry)

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup raisins

½ cup chopped nuts

White Glaze

 

Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 13*9 pan. Beat brown sugar, butter, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients except raisins, nuts, and glaze. Stir in raisins and nuts.

Spread batter in pan. Bake 20-22 minutes or until top springs back when touched in center. Drizzle with white glaze while warm. Let cool.

 

White Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla

4-5 teaspoons milk

 

Mix until thin enough to drizzle.

Garden Taco Rice

What a huge success at our house! This easy dish came to gather so easily and was very tasty without a huge spice kick. I am going to place cheese on individual servings next time. Other than that, this is a repeat recipe!

 

Garden Taco Rice

 

1 lb. ground beef or turkey

½ cup chopped onion

1 package taco seasoning

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups thinly sliced zucchini

1 cup frozen corn

14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes

1 ½ cups instant rice

1 cup shredded cheddar

 

In large skillet, drain beef and onion; drain. Stir in remaining ingredients except rice and cheese. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5-7 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Fluff mixture with fork; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Garnish with cilantro and cherry tomatoes, if desired.

Makes six cups.

Molasses Sponge Cake

I have a pic of this but not with me at the moment-perhaps I will get that done in the next couple of days. I like molasses and was looking forward to a great molasses spice cake type of thing. Instead, there’s a strong taste of molasses  and not much else. That said, my mom, sister, and sister’s kids inhaled this. They loved it.

This recipe is an old one. I got it out of a New England Church Suppers cookbook. The name on the recipe is Gladys Anderson from the Willington (Connecticut) Baptist Church. It uses solid Crisco in the recipe. I actually have solid shortening in my pantry so I used it but I image you could use butter in place of the shortening. The rule of thumb, so I’m told, is solid for solid and liquid for liquid.-i.e. canola oil for sunflower or butter for shortening.

My recommendation is to serve at least warm (zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds if neccesary) and top with some Cool-Whip/RediWhip and maybe dust with some nutmeg.

1 egg

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2-1 teaspoon ground allspice (I used the one teaspoon)

1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9×13 pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg, sugar, shortening, and molasses. Beat until thoroughly combined. Sift together the flour, soda, salt, and allspice. Add to the molasses mixture and beat until well combined. While still beating, gradually add the boiling water. Beat until well combined. Pour in the baking pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm.

Peanut Butter Cookies

There is no picture for these cookies as they were devoured before I could take a pic. My hubby thought I had found an open bakery after midnight and bought them then repackaged on a plate. Right, baby.

Look good, tastes fabulous, and so darn easy. Go ahead and get those extra jars out of your pantry-you know, the one with a few inches in the bottom-and make a batch.

PB Cookies

1 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Oven temp: 350 degrees.

Beat peanut butter and sugar until well combined. In a small bowl, beat the egg, then beat in into the peanut butter mixture along with the baking soda and salt until well combined.

Roll the dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. With a fork make the cross-hatch marks on top and bake for about 10 minutes.

I Did It Again…

We don’t have internet for the time being at our house so I’m having to go elsewhere to use internet. On Friday and Saturday nights that means visiting the hubby at work. Two nights in a row now, I have not brought up the recipes I want to share with y’all.

I’ve got a brownie recipe that’s my go-to recipe. A kick butt peanut butter cookie recipe that has only four ingredients. Then there’s the molasses cake I made that I wasn’t too thrilled with but my mom and sister was. So I will post that so it’s out there for them.

But, for now the recipes are at home and I am at the hubby’s work. I hope to have them up soon. Bear with me please!

Menu planning

I’ve got no plan. How’s that? I’ve had $40 for groceries so I mainly got meat, milk, bread, and some veggies.

I got chicken thighs, drumsticks, pork roast, and pork steaks. All are family packs-so with just the two of us I will get multiple meals out of each. I think I am going to beg mom for some brown sugar. Some day I will be able get more olive oil, tomatoes, chicken broth, and butter. I had to get magarine this week But $.59 versus $2.64 makes it no contest.

Tomorrow we are going over to my mothers for bbq-brats and whatnot. So what’s on your plate?

Menu Planning

 

I’ve only rearranged the schedule a million times in that last few days. I told the hubby that if his check is what I’m expecting we are spending a little extra just so I can do without hamburger. So sick of hamburger and guess what’s up this week?

Sunday was homemade pizza 

Monday Italian Goolash

Tuesday Baked potatoes with hamburger in some sort of sauce

Wednesday Hamburger Dip 

Thursday Chicken and potatoes

Friday probably hamburger again although it’s pay day (finally!)

Can I fit anymore hamburger into this menu????

It’s All Alton Brown’s Fault…

The hubby and I were watching Feasting on Asphalt and saw something that looked like sloppy joes. Looked so incredibly good and considering I had hamburger defrosted in the fridge I hopped online for a recipe. What I found knocked our socks off.

Sloppy Joes to make you forget the canned stuff

1 onion, cut up

1 teaspoon garlic

1 pound hambuger

Brown all together then drain.

Add 1 cup ketcup, 1 cup water with 1/4 cup brown sugar dissolved, and 1 tablespoon molasses. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and wait to thicken.

We actually fought over the leftovers-it’s that good

This N That

 

This is me trying to eat dinner last night. The hubby picked up the camera and shot me looked pissed and mad. I’m just hot. Sweaty and icky hot. I’ve mixed the suppers around some. Last night we had pork stir-fry because I needed to get the pork used up.

Tonight I went Italian with Chicken Parmesan. The dinner I had planned used rice and I didn’t want back-to-back rice dishes.

I’ve been working on making a new 101 Things in 1001 Days and one of the things I contemplated was weeding out my recipes. My system is that anything that is paper-photocopies or printouts-get placed in a big plastic file folder. There are individual files marked “breakfast,” “hamburger” “meat” “cakes”. You get the idea. I went through my box tonight and tossed liberally. Some of these recipes I’ve had for nearly 10 years.

Yeah-that’s the throwaway pile. I feel so much better now. Now, if I can only cook what I’ve got left in that box.

So-how was your dinner? Nicole from Nic in the Kitchen has become a regular follower of my one man show! Welcome Nicole! And now I must shower and crash!