Bow Broccoli

This recipe makes the rotation on a regular basis. Another Giada recipe. Kathryn gave it the name "Bow Broccoli". I usually add left-over chicken and consider dinner done.


Farfalle with Broccoli
Giada De Laurentiis

1 pound farfalle pasta
2 heads broccoli, trimmed to florets (about 4 cups) (I usually use frozen because it's on hand)
1/4 cups extra-virgin olive oil (I use extra light olive oil)
4 Tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, chopped (I used the bottled minced stuff I keep in the fridge)
5 anchovy fillets, diced (no need to dice them, they melt away to nothing--5 fillets is about half a tin)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
about 3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (plus more to top each serving--be generous!)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally. After 5 minutes, add the broccoli florets to the pasta and stir and cook for another 4 minutes. Drain pasta and broccoli, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the garlic, anchovies, and red pepper flakes and cook for 5 minutes (reduce the heat, you don't want the garlic to burn--and this is when I add the chicken). Add the broccoli, pasta, salt and pepper and toss. Add some of the reserved pasta water, if necessary, to make a light sauce. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with Parmesan (I stir in the 1/2 cup Parmesan, then add more for each serving).

How to make yourself a Low Carb portion:

Reserve some of the cooked broccoli and chicken.  In a skillet, heat 1 Tablespoon oil and 1 Tablespoon butter.  Add 1 anchovy fillet (or a little squirt of anchovy paste), a clove of minced garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Saute for a minute or two (don't burn the garlic).  Stir in the chicken and broccoli.  Toss until warmed through.  Plate.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Sweet Potato Fries

Aunt LeeAnn told me how good these chips are. But if you don't have any on hand, and if its cold and rainy, like it is today, and you really don't want to leave the comfort of your snuggy house, and you have a couple of sweet potatoes on hand (yes, I actually keep sweet potatoes on hand just for this purpose), you could make Sweet Potato Fries instead, and be just as happy, happy! We enjoyed them watching October Sky the other night. Grandma Carlene tried these. She loved 'em!




Sweet Potato Fries (I will admit to have something in common with Dan Quayle here--every time I spell Potato I want to add an "e".)

2 or 3 Sweet Potatoes (this will work with carrots, parsnips, butternut squash)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

I'll take my cooking directions from Ina.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut the sweet potatoes into 1 to 1 1/4 in cubes. All the vegetables will shrink while baking, so don't cut them too small.

Place all the cut vegetables in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss well. (Hands are your best tool.) Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender, turning once with a metal spatula.

Season to taste (I usually just add more salt), and serve hot.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

I made these to take to the little girlies piano recital. It is a recital after all, so the extra time it takes to make these beauties are worth it. These are the cookies I would always ask Grandma Carlene to bring to school for my birthday (yes, at the end of the school year since I have an August birthday--and yes, kiddies, once people could bring homemade goodies to give out at school--let's hope someday sanity will again rule and your mom will be able to do it too). And, don't ask me why, I always liked pushing down the kisses after they had melted for awhile to make that cool little ring around the kiss! That one in the picture is kind of small, if you want a bigger one, wait a little longer to push the kiss down! :)


Peanut Butter Blossoms

1/2 cup shortening (I don't use shortening. I've made these successfully replacing this with butter, this time I used 1/4 cup lard and 1/4 cup butter. I was wondering if the lard would help with the light and flakiness of the cookie. I'm not sure it made a difference.)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for rolling dough into
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tablespoon milk (Sometimes I find the batter to be crumbly and not roll into a ball easily. That was the case this time, so I added an additional Tablespoon of milk, and that fixed everything.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 bag chocolate kisses

Mix first six ingredients. Add soda and flour. Roll into balls. Roll in sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper (I barely flatten them with a glass with the hopes they don't crack quite so much, but it's really not necessary.). Bake at 350 degrees, 10-12 minutes (I like 10 better than 12). Take from oven and immediately place (firmly) chocolate kiss on top. (Then, wait a minute and lightly press down on the kiss for a cute little ring in the chocolate!) :)

Ginger Molasses Cookies

My good friend Barbara asked me to post this recipe. It is a wonderful cookie. I found this recipe on the Food Network website. It was contributed by Chef Charles Dale of the Range Restaurant in Aspen Colorado. It also comes with a recipe for Roasted Banana Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce to make a really gourmet cookie sandwich. I've never tried it though--roasting bananas scares me. :) The last time I made them, I toyed with the idea of putting a chocolate kiss on top (like Peanut Butter Blossoms). If anyone tries it, let me know what they think. (Update: I did! Check the bottom of the post for a picture! They are adorable!)



Ginger Molasses Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (fluff that flour before measuring!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

7 ounces unsalted butter (that's 1 3/4 cubes)
3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark molasses
2 Tablespoons coffee (I've replaced this with water, but I prefer to leave it out--I think it makes a more tender cookie, and I suspect the coffee was added more as a complimentary flavor rather than to add moisture.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together first six ingredients. In a separate bowl, using a mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add molasses and water (if using), mix well. Add dry ingredients, it will turn crumbly (if you're using a standing mixer, scrape down the bowl at this point), keep mixing and it will all come together. But be careful not to over mix. Form in 1-inch balls and place on greased cookie sheet (I like to use parchment paper). Flatten slightly. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Chicken Broccoli Crepes

Crepes are just as good for lunch or dinner as they are for breakfast or brunch. Kathryn especially likes Chicken Broccoli Crepes. We just took the ingredients we love from our Chicken Broccoli Casserole and put them in a crepe.





Chicken Broccoli Crepes
crepes
chicken, cooked and shredded or cubed*
broccoli, steamed and chopped**
cheddar cheese, grated
sauce or sour cream (optional)

Okay, if you're like me in my early days of cooking, you're going "Where are the amounts?!" Sorry this is one of those meals where you just eyeball everything. Take a deep breath, relax, and just go with the flow. :) I will say our pan held eight crepes, but if you filled each crepe a little less you could probably fit ten. I used two large chicken breasts. Most of a 16 oz bag of broccoli florets (the leftovers get eaten pretty quickly at our house). Probably 2 cups grated cheese. 1-2 Tablespoons of sauce per crepe.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In each crepe, put some sauce or sour cream, chicken, broccoli, and cheese. Roll that baby up. Place in a 9x13 pan. (I use a glass pan. I tried lightly buttering it once because I was afraid they would stick, and then no buttering of the pan, sticking wasn't a problem either way.) Cover the top with cheese and as much broccoli and chicken as looks good to you. Heat until warmed through. (What?! No exact time? Well, it depends on if the chicken came right out of the oven or if it's been in the fridge! Anywhere from 15-30 minutes should do the trick. You'll just have to try it to find out!)

* How do I cook the chicken? Well, there are a variety of ways to do that. I like to do a bunch at once so I have dinner one night of bacon-covered chicken and then use leftovers for lunches and one or two more dinners. My favorite way is to heat the oven to 350 degrees, then cover a rimmed cookie sheet with foil (just for easier cleanup). After you've rinsed and patted dry with paper towels (which I've recently heard is unnecessary and actually spreads more germs--who knows?!) your value size bunch of boneless chicken breasts , then I season the bottom sides with salt and pepper (I don't season the tops of the chicken, the bacon seems to do this well enough, turn them over, and lay bacon on top (just cut it to fit). Bake the chicken for 45 minutes (these are the gigantic chicken breasts--if you went organic, they would probably be smaller, and you'd have to cook them less. You can also just use bone-in, skin covered chicken breasts--the skin should keep the meat as moist as when using the bacon and supposedly the bones give great flavor. But then you wouldn't have the bacon! By the way, some people (Kristen) don't think the bacon is cooked enough this way. Just remove the chicken from the tray to rest (for 10 minutes at least--or all your delightful juices will run out all over your plate, instead of staying in the meat), put the bacon back in the oven (the side that was touching the bacon should be up--it's the least crispy) for about 3-5 minutes--you'll have to check to make sure it's cooked to your liking. Hmmmmm. This needs to be its own post.

** I just put the bag in the microwave for 8 minutes.

Crepes

Grandma Carlene said we are the only family with left-over crepes (used to make the wondrous Smaco). That would be a tragedy indeed. Crepes are easy to make (okay, practice makes if not perfect, good enough and easy) and versatile--the perfect refrigerator magnet (throw all your leftover bits of goodness inside and you've got a meal). Mat's the original crepe maker at our house, but Kathryn is his number one helper and will be flying solo soon. We try to have these every Sunday--it's a tradition I love and mourn if Mat doesn't have time to do it. We first tried making crepes after reading an article in the Deseret News, alas, I could not find a link. Please feel free to put your favorite filling as a comment! So here are the recipes we use showing Mat's alterations after making them tons.

Sweet Crepes
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water (this varies--just get it to the consistency you want)
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter (we only use 1/4 cup)
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
(we add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla)
Butter or oil or ghee (yes, Mat makes his own ghee) for cooking

Place all ingredients (except cooking butter or oil or ghee) in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (this doesn't always happen at our house). Heat butter or oil in a small, flat skillet over medium heat. (The DN article we read actually encouraged the use of a big, old non-stick skillet that all the non-stick surface had come off of. Surprise, surprise--we had one of those! And it works great!) Ladle about 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet and tilt the pan in a circular motion so the entire bottom of the pan is thinly coated, about 1/16-inch thick.

Let the crepe cook for about a minute or two (for about a minute or less). There will be some bubbling. The outside edges of the crepe should have some browning before you flip the crepe over. To check for doneness, you can carefully lift the edge with a thin spatula. It should be a mixture of golden brown and light areas. The crepe should have a nice, lacy pattern if it is cooked properly. The first crepe often just gets thrown away.

Flip the crepe over and cook another half-minute (15 seconds or so) on the other side. Slide crepe from pan onto a plate or rack to cool, and repeat. Makes 10 crepes.

Peanut Butter Crepes
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons ghee melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter (natural, of coarse)
plus water as needed (1/4 cup is a good guess)

Blend, let rest in fridge.

Fantabulous Flapjacks

These are the best flapjacks ever. Say "No!" to pasty white pancakes! Say "Yes" to fragrant, flavorful, FANTABULOUS flapjacks! Aunt Virginia gave this to us for Christmas 2005. We've been giving it out to neighbors for Christmas since then. Everybody loves it, and they can save it until after the Christmas overload of treats is over to enjoy it. 

Fantabulous Flapjacks 

 For the mix: 

4 cups quick oats (410 g)

2 cups flour (267 g)

2 cups whole wheat flour (310 g)

1 cup dry milk (139 g) (from the cannery or Morning Moos) 

3 Tablespoons baking powder (44 g)

2 Tablespoons cinnamon (20 g)

2 1/2 teaspoons salt (19 g)

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 

1 cup packed brown sugar (186 g)

2 cups of mix is 353 g.

In mixer with paddle attachment, add all ingredients but the brown sugar. Mix well while measuring out the brown sugar. Add the brown sugar and mix well. Remove the bowl of mixer and, with hands, break up any brown sugar lumps. Store in an airtight container.

To make flapjacks: 

2 eggs, beaten 

1/3 cup oil*

2 cups mix 

1 cup water 

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Scoop the batter onto a hot griddle or pan.  Cook for two to three minutes, then flip. Continue cooking until brown on both sides.

Suggested additions:

blueberries

frozen raspberries (broken into bits like at the bottom of the bag)

cinnamon bits

walnuts and mini-chocolate chips

*I use extra light olive oil--but melted coconut oil works too--maybe melted butter would as well?

SMACO

Our poor Kathryn was hanging her head in sadness, for, alas, we had no mint chocolate chip ice cream. The vanilla ice cream in the freezer brought no solace. Then, her father yells "SMACO!" (Rhymes with taco.) "Smaco?" she replied? "Make a smaco!" he said. "What's a smaco?" she inquired. "A combination smore and taco! Grab a leftover crepe, marshmallows, and chocolate chips--fold it like a taco--30 seconds in the microwave and you've got a SMACO!"

Smaco
1 crepe
two marshmallows
handful of chocolate chips
mmmmmm :)

Scalloped Ham and Cheddar Potatoes

Well, I had more ham to use up, and some onion, and some cream, and some potatoes, and after looking at these individual scalloped potatoes, I decided that would be something good to use up all my leftovers in the fridge. But I wanted a big heaping pan of goodness, not individual bites. After checking out lots of recipes, and printing out this one, I ended up with what follows. Everyone loved it! The picture shows everything heaped onto the plate--I should have gotten one right out of the oven, still in the baking dish. It was prettier. :)



Scalloped Ham and Cheddar Potatoes

1/4 cup minced onion
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (Use regular butter if that's all you've got.)
4 cups half and half (now you can use all cream, and probably even all whole milk [you're not drinking anything but whole milk--are you?], but I combined the two and probably ended up with close to half and half)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
some freshly ground nutmeg (sorry, I didn't measure it--maybe 1/8 teaspoon?)
3 pounds potatoes, 1/8 inch slice (you can use any type, I used red potatoes--keep them in water if they are going to have to wait a while before going into the pan)
ham, chopped (I probably used a little over a cup)
sharp cheddar, grated (I probably used about 1 1/2 cups)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter a large baking dish.

In a stock pot melt the butter over low heat and cook the onions for 10-15 minutes. Add the half and half, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, increase heat and until it comes to a simmer. Add the potatoes and more half and half if necessary to barely cover the potatoes. (Okay, I admit they weren't completely covered--and I'm happy about it, because I wouldn't have wanted more liquid in the finished product. I did end up adding about 1/2 to 1 cup more milk though.) Lower the heat to simmer until the potatoes are barely fork tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Transfer 1/3 of the potatoes with some of the cream to the prepared dish, forming an even layer on the bottom. Top with 1/3 of the ham and 1/3 of the cheese. Continue layering the potatoes, ham and cheese, ending with the cheese on top. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 30 minutes. If the baking dish looks really full, place it on a baking sheet while it's cooking.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Serve hot. Drink the leftover liquid. It's that good.

Choo Choo Train Fried Rice

Here's what we do with left-over ham--make Choo Choo Train Fried Rice! David got this recipe while part of a cooking club while attending Albuquerque Academy. Everyone in the family loves it. Kristen seems especially happy when we have it. We pretty much always double this recipe. Don't worry too much about quantities in this recipe. Just do as much as you like. We like lots of eggs and ham. You can also use this as a refrigerator magnet to use up any meat or veggies you've got leftover in the fridge.




CHOO CHOO TRAIN FRIED RICE
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons minced onion (I usually grate the onion. You can use dried minced onions if that's all you have on hand.)
4 Tablespoons cooking oil (use coconut oil or extra light olive oil)
3 cups cooked rice*
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup ham
1/2 cup green peas

Beat eggs with vinegar.

Pour oil in hot skillet over medium high heat. Stir in minced onion and the beaten eggs. Scramble the eggs into small pieces. Add rice, salt, ham and peas, and stir constantly for 8-10 minutes until the ingredients are well blended and heated. (I usually add the meat and veggies first and let them heat up, then the rice and salt.)

This fried rice is usually served on dining coaches in China. Green peas, diced ham and yellow eggs are so pretty with white rice. Every Chinese who travels a lot knows what the train egg fried rice is. I called it Choo Choo train fried rice to my children when they were young; they ate it better with this name. I don't know if any of that is true--it was just part of the recipe--which I have altered for our tastes (and eliminated the MSG).

*Do you need to know how to cook rice?

Bring 2 cups water to a boil, stir in 1 cup rice. Cover. (If you find your rice still a little crunchy and not right, you probably don't have a lid with a good seal. You want a good pan with a heavy bottom and a tight lid to cook rice. Or maybe a rice cooker, but I've never had one of those.) Reduce heat to lowest setting for 20-25 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Doubling this recipe doesn't always work, but often I will do 3 cups of water with 1 1/2 cups of rice cooked for 25 minutes and it turns out okay. When the family was at its largest I would repeat that last process twice to make enough rice.

See! The rolls are empty like Jesus' tomb! These are really fun to remind everyone what the true meaning of Easter is all about. That Jesus Christ was resurrected! He overcame death that we all might live!

Easter Breakfast Rolls

AnnaLou Robertson

Prepare these rolls the night before Easter for part of a delicious Easter-morning breakfast.

1 pkg. (12) frozen roll dough

6 T sugar

1 t cinnamon

12 large marshmallows

¼ c melted butter

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Let roll dough thaw, then press each one into a flat circle. Put a marshmallow in the center of each roll. Wrap the dough around it, squeezing the seams so they are closed and try to make it look like a ball. Brush the rolls with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over rolls. On Sunday morning , preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take rolls out of fridge and bake for 15 minutes.

Muddy Buddies

It's General Conference Weekend and some snackage is always good to keep the kids happy. Kathryn recently discovered Chex® Muddy Buddies, so that's what we made tonight.


Chex® Muddy Buddies

9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination) (Our combination is just Corn and Rice Chex®)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine (BUTTER!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. (2-gallon bags? Who's got 2-gallon bags? We have 1-gallon bags and do this in two batches.)

3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

18 servings (1/2 cup each)