evile

Peanut Butter Fudge

Brownie mix cookies (adding cherries an white chodolate)

Cornflake Wreaths (maybe?)

Pretzel Reindeer

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Peppermint Patties

Mini Jack Daniels Pies

 I'm getting a late start but I hope to knock this out this weekend. Thax fussed at me last year because I did all my baking in one very long day but sometimes that's the only way I can get things done--get organized, get all my stuff in one place and then hyperfocus go go go until it's finished and my feet, knees, and ankles are screaming in pain.  But that's how the cookies do.  Life is good and I am happy, as wierd as that may feel. I mean, I know there are things wrong with me, I know the world is fucked, but somehow....there are cookies, and family, and beautiful parts of the Earth and ultimately I will be plant food and nothing I care about will endure and it's all OK. Being happy today is enough.

I usually make up some little care packages of various sweets for the neighbors every year around this time. Last year we skipped it because pandemic, but I think everyone is pretty much over the whole 'caution' thing and as far as anyone can tell, the virus doesn't live long outside of the host, so giving baked goods should be alright.  I am not going to try any adventures this year, just a mix and match of old standards.

Mini jack daniels pie (same recipe, just divide filling into mini graham cracker crusts instead of one big one)

Here is what I made for supper last night:

Strawberry Salad With Chocolate Balsamic Dressing( Read more... )


Lover's Beef Burgundy Filet( Read more... )

We also had scalloped potatoes au gratin with the steaks and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

for wine, we drank Inkberry Shiraz Cabernet with the meal, along with leftover Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir, which I used for the beef marinade, and with dessert, we had Sweet Bliss. All good. Thax even enjoyed the Sweet Bliss, and he doesn't usually like sweet dessert-type reds.

I am not going to get as prolific with the baking this year as last. But I'm making or going to make:

Rum Balls

Andes® Crème de Menthe cookies

Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal cookies

Peanut butter fudge

==================================

recipes:( Read more... )

Yes, there is absolutely a reason I am making only 1 of the four recipes something I can actually eat...but I'm tinkering with the idea of trying to make rum balls with a gluten-free vanilla wafer type cookie...

Also, I highly recommend cleaning your kitchen before you start baking, otherwise you're just asking for the house pixies to 'help' you cook. Put down a teaspoon, lose the spoon, make do with the 1/4 tsp. for a bit, put THAT down, find that now you've lost your measuring cup but then you find the teaspoon, lose one baking mitt, find the measuring cup, lose the 1/4 tsp, find the baking mitt you lost a minute ago, and so on and so forth. I hope the pixies had fun, anyway. I guess the important thing is that the baking gets done and tastes fine. :)

Last Thursday, I went to The Screaming Goat with dree & her husband. I saw a drink on the menu that I'd never heard of, "Jamaica"...I figured it might be a coffee drink, but when I asked the guy gave me a sample of a wonderful, dark red, sweet & tart substance. I ordered a glass and enjoyed the heck out of it. (thought it might be good with rum)

Further research shows that "Jamaica" is a Mexican beverage made from Hibiscus flowers ("Jamaica" in Spanish="Hibiscus")

It is yummy yummy.

I found that I had a box of hibiscus rasberry tea bags at home, purchased for the rasberry when I was searching for solutions to my girly problems....lo and behold, when it is sweetened and served with ice, it's Jamaica!

(It is also good for you.)

WHEE!

:)

Quite a while back, throm & interactiveleaf gave me an ice cream maker they no longer had use for.

Yesterday, I finally tried it out for the first time. Here in ATX, fresh cherries are down to less than 2 bux a pound. So what better time to try and make my own version of Cherry Garcia ice cream?

Ingredients:
3/4 c. dark chocolate chips*
1 1/2 cup Bing cherries, fresh, halved and pitted (may use canned but drain syrup)
Pasteurized scrambled eggs equal to 6 large Eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/4 c. amaretto
1.5 cup heavy whipping cream
1.5 c 2% milk
6 c. half and half



Directions:

*B&J prefer Herhey's Special Dark Chocolate candy bars, shaved & chopped. I found "special dark" chips and used those instead.

1. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the honey, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Add amaretto & blend. Pour in the cream and milk & half and half and whisk to blend**.

2. Transfer the mixture to the ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

3. pit and chop cherries & refrigerate. refrigerate or freeze the dark chocolate chips

4. After the ice cream stiffens & ice cream maker turns off, add the chocolate and cherries, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

5. NOM.

**immersible wand-type mixer is so great for this!

6 slices bacon

(OR: liberal sprinkle of bacon salt.I like peppered bacon salt flavor the best for this one)


1 lb extra- sharp Cheddar, grated (some people don't like sharp, I often mix half sharp and half mild cheddar)


1½ Tbs flour


1 cup ale or lager beer


2 tsp dry mustard (may omit if you don't have any)


1 Tbs worcestershire sauce

black pepper to taste (omit if you've used peppered bacon salt)



1 Cook bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside.

2 Toss cheese and flour in small bowl. (or toss flour into the cheese bag & shake it, if you've bought pre-grated cheese)

3 Put beer and seasonings into medium pot and bring to a boil. Slowly whisk in cheese in small amounts. When all cheese is added and melted, stir in bacon and black pepper to taste.

4 Serve with sliced apples and toasted french bread chunks.

http://www.dizzy-dee.com/recipe/chocolate-cake-in-5-minutes

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug


Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa:



Spoon in 1 egg



Pour in milk and oil, and mix well



Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt)



Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug



Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!

I warmed up some leftovers for lunch & the coworkers are all talking about "what's that smell?" but it seems mostly in a good way...

Anyway, I figure now is as good a time to share recipes as any. I made Lentil Soup & Hummus the other night.

I started with a Red Lentil Soup recipe I found online, doubled it, substituted regular gray-green lentils for red lentils (because I couldn't find red lentils at the grocery store), left out the tomato paste, and instead of cumin, salt, and pepper, used some Raz al Hanout that my mom got for me at Phoenicia last time she was in town. OH! And as a base, I used home made chicken broth, frozen from when I did all that chicken for the last HFS event. I think that made a HUGE difference in the flavor. Canned broth or bouillon cubes just don't cut it. When it was done, I used a food processor to mix the soup to a very smooth & creamy consistency. It was very tasty, a bit spicy, but also quite flavorful. I did good!

I also had to improvise a bit on the Hummus recipe. I didn't have tahini, so I used some sesame oil I had on hand. It added a nice smokey flavor, very tasty.

The original recipes:( Read more... )

I've been wanting to make chili for weeks now, but haven't gotten around to it. Recent & upcoming events led me to search around for recipes involving chili and chocolate. I may want to try these out soon!


Bry's Chocolate Lamb Chili( Read more... )

[vegetarian] Black Bean and Chocolate Chili( Read more... )

I like cornbread with my chili, so how about:

chocolate cornbread(Cornbread with chocolate swirls)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Cornbread mix
chocolate syrup


Directions: As you are mixing batter foe cornbread add chocolat syrup in mix.Makes a swirl in the batter and makes an attractive serving.Good too.


Or just make the "cornbread" portion of this recipe?

& of course serve it all with some really good sharp cheddar and some dark Ale! yumyumyum.

{edit: 7:56PM 2/13}:

Chili is in the crock pot. I added some melted Degoba Xolatl (melted with butter) and used half black beans and half red kidneys. Other than that I left the recipe the same.

I used the same butter and Xolatl mixture to swirl through a box of regular Jiffy Cornbread mix. The cornbread didn't 'swirl' as prettily as I'd hoped, but it should be yummy.