Chili Mac

I had jury duty a few weeks ago which I actually really enjoyed. During that week, I had the opportunity to eat lunch at the Alabama Power cafeteria. I had Chili Mac and it was delicious! I had never made or eaten it before, but I knew that Gil and Zac would like it. So I perused the interweb and adapted a recipe from a combination of several.

Chili Mac

1 lb ground chuck
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
8 oz pasta, cooked and drained (elbow macaroni is traditional, I used penné)
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 can white shoepeg corn
1 pkg chili seasoning mix
1 can drained petite diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground chuck with onion and pepper until done. Drain. Return to skillet and add remaining ingredients. Pour into a large greased baking dish or individual oven-proof dishes. Top generously with cheese. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes. Serve with crusty buttered bread.


Cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions and drain:


Cook ground beef, onion, and bell pepper together until done and drain. Add remaining ingredients:

Top with cheese and bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes.

Easy Beef Enchiladas

I am by no means an expert when it comes to Mexican food. I do enjoy eating it, though. This is my simple and "Americanized" version of beef enchiladas. They are easy enough to prepare after a long work day. These were pretty spicy to me but the boys I fed them to loved them.

Beef Enchiladas

1-1/2 lb ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped (opt)
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
12 small flour tortillas
1 pkg shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 can prepared enchilada sauce

Brown ground beef with onion and drain. Add taco seasoning mix and 1 cup water. Simmer until thickened. Spoon ground beef mixture onto each of 12 tortillas. Top with cheese. Roll up and place on a greased baking pan. Pour sauce over the tortillas and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes. Serve with black or refried beans and spanish rice.

Spoon ground beef onto tortilla:

Top with cheese:
Roll up and place on a greased baking sheet:

Top with sauce:
And remaining cheese:

Serve with Mexican accompaniments.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

This cookie is soft on the inside and slightly crunchy on the outside and it has a rich chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

1 12 oz pkg semisweet chocolate morsels, divided (I used Nestles Mini Morsels)
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp half and half (or milk)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Melt one cup of the morsels in the microwave. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy Gradually add 1 cup sugar. Add egg, half and half, vanilla, and melted chocolate.

Add dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in remaining chocolate morsels.

Shape into small balls and roll each ball in sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 400° for 8 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.


Start with melted chocolate and softened butter:

Cream butter with a mixer until fluffy:

Add sugar, egg, and half and half:

Than add melted chocolate.

Add dry ingredients and remaining morsels. Roll dough into balls and roll in sugar. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes. Cool on wire racks:

A pretty, yet simple way to display cookies or other desserts is to use a stencil. Start with a dark colored plate and a detailed doily:

Sift a moderate amount of confectioners sugar onto the doily and remove carefully.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

When I was growing up, cupcakes were mostly just for children, and particularly for birthday parties. Not anymore. Now they are chic and fancy. You can make a significant and imposing culinary statement with them. Yes, with cupcakes.

This recipe is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe. They turned out great, but I think if I had underbaked them a little they would have been better. I will include all of the adjusted instructions so that yours will turn out perfectly.

Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.
Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with sour cream and beginning and ending with flour.

Pour batter into cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out with only a few crumbs, about 20 minutes. (Don't overbake.)

Cool in pan 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then pipe with Buttercream Icing. Decorate with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Buttercream Icing

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk (optional)
2 tsp vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add vanilla.
Gradually add confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth. If too thick to spread, beat in 1 to 2 tablespoons milk.


Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the cocoa mixture and mix well.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake cups.

Spoon batter into the cupcake cups, about 3/4 full. (This made 16 cupcakes for me, but you could fill them fuller and make 12).

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack until completely cool.

(My helper today is Izzy, who loves to keep me company while I cook. It is our girl time).



Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

Share with friends, if desired. (optional)

Turnip Greens Soup

This recipe was given to my husband by his friend Chris. Though it may sound like an odd combination, if you like turnip greens, you will LOVE this soup. This is the second time Gil has made it, and he will be the guest chef for the how-to pictures.


Turnip Greens Soup

1 package Conecuh sausage
1 onion, finely chopped
6 oz beer (opt)
1-1/2 - 2 packages frozen turnip greens
2 cans chicken broth (or 1 carton)
2 cans Northern beans
4 vegetable bouillon cubes or 1 packet Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix
salt and pepper to taste
Worchestershire sauce to taste

Brown onion and sausage in about 2 tbsp butter:


Add 6 oz beer, if desired:

Combine remaining ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes.

This is very easy to make and is delicious with cornbread.

Thank you, Chris!

Happy Mother's Day

Today was an particularly emotional Mother's Day for me. My mom has been gone for about 6 1/2 years now and I miss her terribly. I so wish that she were here to talk to because she was such a comfort to me. I am very grateful that I do have my precious grandmother, Lottie, who is now 95. She lives at home with my Auntie Margo and is still of very sound mind and spirit. She is also hysterically funny and openly admits having a huge crush on Taylor Hicks.

I was going through some of my mom's things a couple of months ago and came across some wonderful treasures. I found several papers she had written while she was in school (circa 1950's). I found handwritten recipes from her Home Ec class, several small cookbooks, and two papers she had written about her life experiences. I was thrilled to find them and I plan to try many of the recipes. The papers she wrote were very sweet, and in them she shared how much she loved and admired my grandmother. I decided to make them into a little booklet for her and give it to her with her Mother's Day present.


I copied the pages with my color copier and did a couple of special effects which gave it even more of an aged look. I used plain white copy paper, so you can see the interesting effects the copier did.


I used a piece of scrapbook paper with old postcards pictured on it as the cover. After I put it together, I punched a hole in the top and tied it with a ribbon.


For the back I used scrapbook paper that looked like an old newspaper.

I made a card for her using Printshop and kept it in the same genre with an old fashioned picture of a mom with her baby.

I used a font called Zapfino which I found on dafont.com. It is one of my favorites.

On the way to my grandmother's house today, I made an attempt to read the sweet things my mom said about her to my husband, but ended up in a pathetic crumpled heap of sobs. I decided that it would be better for my aunt to read it to her later. I will attribute my emotions today to a wonderful childhood and a precious family that I love dearly. I am so honored and grateful to be a mom, especially to my two incredible children.

I hope that all of you moms had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Julie and Julia

A couple of years ago while I was on vacation in Seaside, Florida, I purchased a book at Sundog Books, a very quaint shop which is located within the community. It was called Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell. In this book, Julie attempts to master 524 of Julia Child's recipes in 365 days. It is a great read, especially for cooks who are up for new challenges. I just found out that it is now a movie starring Meryl Streep as Julia and Amy Adams as Julie, which I think are perfect choices. It comes out in August and I am looking very forward to seeing it. I thought I would post the trailer for it.

Oatsies

This is a recipe that I have been making for 30 years. The base is an oatmeal mixture that is rich and buttery and topped with chocolate and pecans. It is very easy and quick to put together and my family has always enjoyed it.

Oatsies

2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz chocolate morsels
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 400. Grease a 9 x 9 x 2 baking pan. In a medium bowl, mix oats and brown sugar. Add butter, syrup, salt, and vanilla. Press evenly into pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until top bubbles. Sprinkle chocolate morsels on top while still warm and spread after it melts. Press pecans into the melted chocolate. Chill until hardened. Cut into bars.

Combine oatmeal mixture in a medium bowl:

Spread into a greased pan:

Bake until bubbly:

Sprinkle with chocolate morsels:

Top with pecans:

Chill and cut into bars. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Marshmallow Flowers

This is a simple way to add a touch of spring to cupcakes and it has only two simple ingredients: marshmallows and sparkling sugar. This is an adaptation of a cute idea I found in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.


Bake cupcakes and frost with your favorite vanilla frosting.

With sharp scissors, cut each marshmallow into 5 slices. You will need to rinse the scissors with warm water very frequently, as the marshmallows are quite sticky. This will make up the petals of the flower.

Sprinkle each petal with sparkling colored sugar.

Don't allow them to sit for too long because they are easier to work with if they are still soft. These taste just like Peeps, by the way.

Using the icing on the cupcake as your glue, gently form your flower with 5 petals per cupcake. Overlap one petal on top of the other.



I used a small piece of decorating candy as my center. If these were for a birthday, a candle in the center would be cute as well.

I served mine on a cupcake stand. This one is by Wilton and it holds 13 cupcakes.

Easy Shrimp Noodle Bowl

This is a great recipe that is featured in the March 2009 issue of Southern Living magazine. I altered it slightly and tripled it because it served only one person. I made a few changes and jazzed it up a little with the additions of sesame oil and soy sauce. I am posting my adaptation.

Shrimp Noodle Bowl

3- 3oz packages of Oriental Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup
2 cups water
4 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce
fresh trimmed snow peas (or you could use sugar snap peas)
1 lb shrimp, peeled
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
salt to taste
3 tbsp chopped peanuts

Stir together flavor packet from ramen noodle soup mix, water, and cilantro in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; add noodles and snow peas. Cook 1 minute, and stir in shrimp and cabbage. Cook 2 minutes, or until shrimp is pink. Transfer to a bowl and top with chopped peanuts.
Yield: about 4 servings.
(Note: You can substitute chopped cooked chicken for the shrimp).

Finely chop the cilantro.

I used precooked shrimp, but you can use raw and cook it a little longer.

Combine water, flavor packets, and cilantro, and bring to a boil.

Add snow peas and noodles:

Then shrimp and cabbage. Heat through.

Top with chopped peanuts.

It was very light, tasty, and nutritious.