Month: February 2024

Art’s Graham Cracker Cookies
Store-bought graham crackers get a delicious makeover. A coating of butter, sugar, and pecans gets baked into the crackers for a tasty treat.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Arrange the graham crackers in a single layer on a baking sheet making sure the crackers touch each other.

Heat the butter margarine and white sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved about 2 minutes.

Stir in the pecans.

Spread the butter mixture over the graham crackers.

Bake in the preheated oven until butter mixture is absorbed 8 to 10 minutes.

Immediately transfer the crackers to cool on aluminum foil or wax paper.

Once cooked break crackers into bite-sized pieces.

Miso Honey Dressing
This miso honey dressing has a perfect balance of sweet, savory, and a hint of heat from ginger and chile paste; serve on a fresh green salad!

Use a food processor or blender to combine the soy sauce, miso paste, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, and red chile paste.

Process on low speed until combined.

As the food processor is running, stream honey into it gradually until it is smooth.

Sesame oil should be incorporated into the mixture slowly and evenly.

Olive oil should be added to the food processor gradually until the dressing is smooth.

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
This is a hotter variation of chicken breasts stuffed with spinach. They are tasty and tender, and they also have a nice appearance.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Place spinach in a large glass bowl and heat in the microwave for 3 minutes stirring every minute or so or until wilted.

Stir in sour cream pepperjack cheese and garlic.

Lay the chicken breasts out on a clean surface and spoon some of the spinach mixture onto each one.

Roll up chicken to enclose the spinach then wrap each chicken breast with two slices of bacon.

Secure with toothpicks and arrange in a shallow baking dish.

Powerhouse African Yam Stew
This African-inspired yam stew with split peas and red lentils is a nutritious powerhouse flavored with peanut butter, lemon, and soy sauce.

Split peas should be placed in a big container with several inches of cool water on top.

Soak for an hour.

In a big pot, mix red lentils, yams, onions, and split peas that have been drained.

Add enough water to cover the area by one inch.

Ginger and garlic are combined.

Bring to a boil; using a slotted spoon, skim foam from the surface.

About one and a half hours of simmering should produce very tender yams.

Use a potato masher to mash lentils, yams, and split peas.

Add soy sauce, peanut butter, and lemon juice to the soup.

Add chickpeas and frozen spinach, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until thoroughly heated.

Use salt to season.

Grilled Zucchini II
Too much zucchini? Soak in Italian dressing, grill, and they are gone.

Slice the zucchini into 1/4-inch-thick pieces.

Toss with Italian dressing in a bowl.

Place on a hot grill, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the zucchini is slightly limp and has nice grill marks.

Offer and savor

Party Beans
I think the best baked bean recipe I have found is this one. With bacon and ground round, three different kinds of beans are baked. I make use of a 5 quart casserole.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large skillet over medium heat cook bacon until crisp.

Drain crumble and set aside.

In the same skillet cook and crumble the ground round until evenly browned.

Drain.

In a large deep casserole dish or Dutch oven combine the bacon beef baked beans white beans and butter beans.

Stir in the brown sugar barbeque sauce and onion soup mix until well blended.

Bake uncovered for 1 hour in the preheated oven.

Vanillekipferl
These traditional German crescent cookies are buttery almond cookies that are rolled in fragrant vanilla sugar.

In a bowl, combine all-purpose flour, almond flour, and 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar.

When a smooth dough forms, manually knead in the butter and egg yolks.

Form each piece of dough into a rectangle by dividing it into fourths.

Each rectangle should be covered in plastic.

Refrigerate dough for at least one hour and up to overnight until it becomes firm.

Put a food processor with 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of white sugar.

Each vanilla bean should be split lengthwise.

Using the back of a knife, scrape the seeds from each half, then add them to the sugar.

Until seeds are distributed equally, pulse.

Vanilla sugar should be added to a small bowl.

Blueberry-Ginger Fizz
Perfect for non-drinkers and people who are watching their waistlines, this “mocktail” is light and refreshing and a nice option for a holiday party.

Bring blueberries water sugar and ginger to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.

Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes crushing the blueberries occasionally with a masher.

Remove from heat and let cool about 10 minutes.

Pass the mixture through a food mill or fine mesh sieve to remove the skins of the blueberries.

Set aside 1/4 cup syrup and store the remainder in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Place crushed ice in a glass.

Add reserved blueberry-ginger syrup and orange juice.

Top off with club soda and stir to combine.

Garnish with orange slice.

Potato Rolls
For fluffy, moist, delicious potato buns that are ideal for sandwiches and hamburgers, try this recipe for potato rolls. They also freeze well!

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a bowl.

Let stand until yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam about 5 minutes.

Mix milk mashed potatoes shortening sugar and salt together in a bowl; add yeast mixture and egg.

Stir in 2 cups flour until incorporated.

Stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups flour to make a soft dough.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic about 7 minutes.

Place dough into a lightly greased bowl and turn once to coat all sides with oil.

Cover the bowl and set in a warm place until dough has doubled in size about 1 hour.

Deep-Fried Oreos
A favorite at state fairs are deep-fried Oreos! The cookies are coated in a simple pancake batter before being fried until golden and irresistible.

To 375 degrees F, heat the oil in a deep fryer or large saucepan (190 degrees C).

In a big bowl, mix milk, eggs, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil until combined and smooth.

Add the pancake mix and mix until there are no dry lumps.