Funeral Potatoes Sans Cream of Soup

This comes from my friend Jenny Ball Tufford (over at Happy Hausfrau).  She was in LTYM with me last May and is quite fantastic.  They call these Roadside Potatoes in her family, but these will forever be funeral potatoes to me.  (Is that a Mormon thing?!)  Anyway, we've been cream of soup free for quite a while now (although I did find one last can of cream of mushroom in the back of the pantry last week.  Sending it to school for the next food drive, methinks, since Elsa the cat is more than willing to take care of the tuna we have).

Without further adieu, here you go:


1 (30 oz) package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (I use sharp)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup half and half 
1 medium onion, grated (I just chop fine)
salt
pepper
paprika (I use an all purpose Penzy's spice)
additional 6 T. butter

Combine potaotes, melted butter, cheeses, cream, onion, salt and pepper. Spread mixture in a 9x13 inch well-greased baking dish. Sprinkle with paprika, dot w/ butter. Bake 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Tastes like butter and self loathing.

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Clementine Orange Cake and Carmelitas

One old, one new, these are a few of my favorite things.  I have had some requests for recipes, so here  you go.  I'm too lazy to upload pictures right now though.

I tried the Clementine Orange cake today.  It has a very light texture.  I can't take credit for it- I used a recipe from food network, but I did change it slightly.  Here you go:

5 clementines

6 eggs

1 cup + 2tablespoons sugar

2 1/3 cup flour (this is where the tweak is.  you are supposed to use ground almonds, but I don't keep those on hand and I wanted to do this today.  The almonds make it a bit lighter and change the flavor slightly, plus make it gluten free).

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1. Boil the clementines for two hours.  I know this seems like a long time, and make sure to put plenty of water in the pot.  

2. Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a springform pan (mine is 10 inches, the original recipe says to use an 8 inch one).  I also put wax paper in the bottom of mine to help the cake slide out after baking.

3. When the oranges are cool enough to touch them, puree them (yes, peel, that white stuff and everything).  If you have big seeds, pull out the seeds.  I used my immersion blender for this, but it works in a food processor.  I've read that you can also just chop them by hand and you'll just have a chunkier cake.

4. Beat the six eggs in a separate bowl.  I used my immersion blender for this step as well.  

6. Add sugar to the eggs.  (I used my immersion blender on this too).

7. Add the baking powder and flour, mix until it is well blended.  You'll recognize cake batter.

8.  Fold in the orange puree.  

9.  Pour into springform pan.  Bake for 30 minutes (if you are using the 8 inch pan, bake for closer to 45).  

10.  Allow to cool and then remove cake from pan.  I drizzled a powdered sugar/milk glaze on it while it was still warm and it seeped into the cake, giving it a little bit extra sweetness and moisture.

Guys, this was good. 12/28/13 ETA: the next day, this is even better.  

The other recipe I've been asked to share is for Carmelitas.  I used some other recipes to guide me, but tweaked it enough to call it my own.  Here you go.

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups oats

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix above ingredients.

Add 1 1/4 cup melted butter and squish together.  A crumbly mixture should form.

Press into a 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  

In the meantime, unwrap 1-2 bags of soft caramels (I use the werthers brand, so these bags are a bit smaller than the other brands).  

In a microwave safe bowl microwave caramels and 1 tbsp of milk for 30 seconds.  Stir well.  Continue in microwave in 10 second spurts until caramel is completely melted and blended with the milk.  Add 2 tbsp of flour.

Pull the crust out of the oven and cover with 1 bag of dark chocolate chips.  Then drizzle caramel mixture over the chocolate chips.  Top with the other half of the oatmeal mixture.  Bake for 18 more minutes.

Allow to cool (if you can resist) before you cut, otherwise they get really, really gooey.  

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Green Bean Casserole

Over the last year or two, Matt and I have completely phased out cream of whatever soups.  So this year, when we were presented with the task of Green Bean Casserole for Thanksgiving, I had to do some thinking.

I contacted my friend Lisa who went to culinary arts school.  She raised an eyebrow at me when I first asked her about green bean casserole, with a look of disgust similar to the one on Aaron's face as he is reading this.  I quickly explained that I needed to know how to do it without the nasty cream of mushroom soup.  She gave me a couple of basics, I took mental note and tried it out.  The first round wasn't that great (although better than it would be with the canned soup).  The second round turned out delightful.  Sadly, I didn't write down any exact measurements, but here's the gist:

1 container mushrooms
1/2 container of half and half
pepper
a couple baby spoonfuls of cornstarch
some water
3 cans of green beans
a couple dollops of sour cream
french fried onions

Sautee the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil.  When they soften a bit, add the half and half and some pepper to taste.  Make a slurry with the cornstarch and water.  Make it pretty thick.  When the half and half and mushrooms are simmering pretty well, add the slurry.

In a casserole pan, empty the green beans.  Add the sour cream and about half of the onions.  Pour the mushroom sauce over it and mix well.  Top with the rest of the onions and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

You'll want to add salt to taste as well.  And these are particularly good the second day with a few spoonfuls of gravy.

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Sweet Corn Restaurant Side

This is a re-creation of that scoop of sweet corn stuff they put on the side of your plate in Mexican Restaurants.  Don't know what it is called...

Beat together:
2 sticks butter
2/3 c corn flour (masa harina)
1/2 c water

Separate bowl mix:
1/2 c corn meal
2/3 c granulated sugar
1/4 c cream (I think milk would work)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Merge the two along with a bag (approx 3 cups) of corn (frozen or fresh), lightly chopped.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes in a 13 x 9 floating in another pan of water.

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Brother Staples' Enchilada Sauce and Enchiladas

Sauce

1 lg. can Tomato Sauce​​​​​​½ the can full of water

¼ to ½ cup Chili Powder (or more)​​​​2/3 cup Corn Starch

¾ c. Sugar​​​​​​​¾ c. Vinegar

1 t. Oregano​​​​​​​1 t. cumin

1 t. Garlic Powder​​​​​​1 T. + ¾ t. Salt

¼ t. Pepper​​​​​​​2 -3 doz. Corn Tortillas

2 lbs. grated Cheese

Garnish:

1 medium Onion finely chopped

Shredded Lettuce

Sour Cream

Stir all dry ingredients together. Mix the tomato sauce and the water then add the dry ingredients.

Simmer on stove for several hours. While gravy is cooking get you tortillas ready and grate your cheese.

Finely chop 1 medium onion, shred lettuce and get out the sour cream.

Heat a flat skillet with oil and fry tortillas quickly on both sides (2 or 3 seconds is all).

Dip in the gravy on both sides, put on a plate and fill with cheese and onions if you want. Roll it up and put in a baking dish. Repeat until the pan is full and then spread some more gravy on top sprinkle with more grated cheese and onions and bake until the cheese melts.

Serve with whatever garnish you like and enjoy!

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Brother Staples' Chili Verde

Hatch's Green Chiles - 2 x 16oz cans
Diced Tomatoes - 1 x 12oz can
Onion - 1 - diced
Chili Powder - 4 T
Cumin - 1 t
Garlic - 4 cloves, minced
Chicken Stock - 1/2 qt
Pork Roast 1-1/2 to 2 lb cubed
Cayenne Pepper - to taste
Salt - to taste

Cube pork & brown. Dice chilies and onion. Throw everything in a pot & cook on low for 5-7 hours. Eat it. Be happy.

(Especially good the next morning on breakfast eggs...)

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Pa's pancakes

I'm calling Dad out on and telling him he needs to post his pancake recipe!  For those who haven't tried the newest concoction- You are missing out.

In fact, I think we should get a picture of a the grandkids eating "Pa's Pancakes" and submit it to some cooking magazines.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with M and Ms

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 jar peanut butter
• 1 ½  cup white sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 ½  cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½  teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½  teaspoon salt
• Chocolate chips
• M and Ms

Instructions

1. In a large bowl beat together butter and peanut butter using an electric mixer until well combined.
2. Add sugars and continue to beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon of salt and mix just until blended.
3. Stir in chocolate chips and m and ms (as many or as few as you’d like).  Drop by spoonful on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not over bake.  

Truth be told, this is from a recipe I found on Pinterest.  I adjusted it enough to claim it as my own.  

I'll even post a picture.

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Smashed Potatoes

small, yellow potatoes
cheddar cheese
crumbled bacon

Bake the potatoes until soft.  On a pan covered with parchment paper, smash each potato individually- just one smash so they look flattened.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon.  Put them back in the hot oven and let the cheese get all melty.

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Jello Popcorn

1/4 cup butter
3 Tbls corn syrup

Melt together over medium heat until butter is melted.  Add:

1 3.5 oz package of Jello
1/2 cup sugar

Stir until combined and then let simmer for 5 mins.

Dump over 8 cups of popped popcorn.

If you want it to stay gooey, then it's done.  If you want it crunchy, bake at 300 degrees for 10 mins.

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Mini German Pancakes

These were a pinterest find and were a hit with my kids. 

Mini German Pancakes
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. orange zest (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Blend first six ingredients (milk thru orange zest) in a blender. Be careful to see that any flour clumps get well-blended.
2. Blend in butter a little at a time in order to temper the eggs.
3. Grease muffin tins well and distribute batter evenly between 24 tins. Bake for 15 minutes, or until puffy and golden on top.
4. Served with your favorite toppings.

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Mom's Banana Bread

3/4 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 mashed bananas (mom usually puts more. Lots more. I recall she told me once that she was pretty sure she jut doubled the bananas.  That's why her bread always turns our waaaay more dense and moist than everyone elses dry fluffy flavorless banana bread)
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Nuts or chocolate chips if desired. (I have begun taking the D&C 4:3 approach to recipes. Look it up and count it as your scripture study for the day.)

Makes 3 regular loaves, bake for 60-75 minutes, longer if there is more banana in it.

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S'more Gorp

Say it out loud. SAY IT! It's fun to say.
It seems like a no-brainer now, but when I thought of it ten minutes ago, I felt like a genius. So in order to spice it up, I'm posting the recipe only in pictures.

You are welcome.  

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My Chili

I've started a new spice combination that works really well with chili.  I didn't tell Tom what was in it until he confirmed that he likes it, too.

Basically, dump this all in and simmer on the stove or go for the crockpot.  I prefer it in the crockpot.

2 jars home canned tomatoes or 1 can of tomato sauce and 2 cans of diced tomatoes.  If you use the home canned tomatoes, run a stick blender in there to break it up to whatever chunkiness your family prefers.
1/2 green pepper chopped
1/2 lb to 1 lb ground hamburger cooked with 1/2 yellow onion chopped
1-2 cups sweet corn
2 cans of beans (I like black and red kidney.  Today we are just using kidney because that's what I have)

Seasoning:
approx 2 tablespoons cocoa and 2 tablespoons ground chipotle pepper
mild chili powder to taste

Really, the cocoa and chipotle pepper combination is SO good. 

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Mom's Peach Spice Jam

Jessica and I put this together, and I'm not gonna lie, we nailed it.  It tastes exactly like we remember. 

4 cups mashed peaches
2 TBsp Lemon juice
1/2 tsp butter or margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 box of sure-jell pectin
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
5 1/2 cups sugar

Measure sugar and dry spices into a bowl, set aside (close to the stove).
Put your jar lids in water to boil.
Put mashed peaches in pot with lemon juice, vanilla, butter, and sure-jell into a big pot.  Turn heat to high and stir until it comes to a rolling boil (boiling without stopping even when you are stirring)
As soon as it is boiling, pour your sugar/spice mix in and continue stirring. 
Bring it back to a rolling boil.
As soon as it is boiling again (rolling) time ONE MINUTE and stir constantly.
After the one minute, remove it from the heat, pour it into the jars, put the boiled (and still hot) lids on the jars, (make sure you wipe the rims first) put the rings on and flip the jars over. 

We used a half pint jar size and they sealed up perfectly within an hour. This recipe filled 8 jars (so 4 pints total). 

It turned out so yummy that we made two batches.  And I think I'll make a few more if I can find more equally awesome peaches. Awesome.

PS.  I should note: the 1/2 tsp of butter is supposedly to help reduce foaming.  I remember loving the foam.  So I debated whether I should put it in.  I don't think that mom actually used the butter, so consider it optional.  

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The BEST peanut butter cookies 

"These peanut butter cookies are the best ones i've ever had"

                                                     quote from Stefany Pratt
 I made 96 of these, but here is the original recipe of 48 cookies.

• 2 cups unsalted butter
• 2 cups crunchy peanut butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda

The Directions

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

These are best with milk. They are Really good. When I made them, they needed no adjustment from the recipe.

contributed by: William Pratt

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Italian Sandwich

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet.  This is our go-to meal now.  I love it (and so do Brody and Lainee.  Charlotte will at least eat the turkey part).

8 hoagies/ larger sandwich rolls
1/2 jar of pesto sauce
1 lb deli turkey
1/2 provolone cheese

So you cut the rolls in half (like you're making a sandwich, people).
Spread about a tablespoon of pesto on one side of each roll.
Add a couple pieces of turkey.
Add a piece of cheese.

Wrap in foil and bake on 450 for about 10 minutes.  We sometimes skip the foil and broil for 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot.  We add nacho doritos and apple slices to the side.  This works great as a picnic item.  You can wrap them in foil and throw them on a grill, or heat them before hand and stick in a cooler (which, in this case, isn't so much a cooler as it is a keep-warmer).  If you use the cooler, please note that it will not keep cold things cold and hot things hot if you put cold things and hot things in the cooler at the same time.  (thanks Sven and Ole for that life lesson.  Some things are best learned through other's experiences and not your own).

These work well as leftovers too.

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Aaron's Honey Oat Bread the Real Way

Anyone who ever follows someone else's bread recipe eventually finds that the person who wrote it gave you absolutes instead of telling you all the places where it might vary day to day. Oh, and that they left out a few ingredients. Here is Aaron's recipe the way he actually makes it (now that I have failed at it twice and now went through the whole process with him).

Dump some honey in the bowl. It took about four seconds for the right amount to come out of the bottle.
Put just under 3 cups of your hottest tap water in there with the honey.
Put two heaping quarter cups of both bread flour and wheat flour in with it. Stir it up with bread hook. Add 2 not flattened teaspoons of yeast and mix it a tiny bit. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

It should get bubbly. Add half bread flour and half wheat flour a heaping quarter cup at a time (mixing once in a while) until it is no longer liquidy but does not stand up. Then let it rest 10-20 minutes. If the yeast did not seem very active at the beginning of this step, use more bread flour than wheat to compensate.


After this, add half and half wheat and bread flour in heaping quarter cupfuls while mixing until the dough is formed to the right bread dough consistency. If you do not know what this is, find a friend who knows and have them show you. It really cannot be described properly. If you really want me to try, I will say it is soft and pliable but not sticky. Do not put too much in or it will bra brick after you bake it, but if you do not put enough in you will not get it out of the bowl and into your greased bowl easily and it will be too sticky to pan properly later. Read Aaron's recipe for my notes on how to finish this.

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Guacamole

8 oz cream cheese
1 avocado
juice from one lime
salsa to taste

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add avocado and blend until combined. Add lime juice and salsa. Repeatedly test to make sure it's right, even if that means consuming half of the bowl before it gets to the table.

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Nancy's Pizza

I invented a recipe. It was sort of a Pinterest-inspired amalgam of all my favorite things. Well, all my favorite non-dessert things. Minus potatoes. You get the picture. Speaking of pictures: I took one. Because I made it once and it was so good that I made it again just so I could take a picture (and then eat it again).



Ingredients:
Pizza Crust
Philadelphia Cream cheese cooking cream (italian herbs)
Asparagus spears
Tomatoes
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan cheese


OK, for the pizza crust, I just used the jiffy mix that costs 58 cents a box. You could use a real recipe if you want. Or the wal-mart mix costs 50 cents and is pretty much the same as the jiffy, so you are saving 8 cents.

I like the "just add water"-ness of the jiff/walmart mix. But I am morally opposed to walmart, so I feel ok about spending 8 cents more on the jiffy.

Make it up according to the box directions. Bake your pizza crust (whether jiffy or walmart or overly ambitious) for 5-6 minutes, then pull it out to top it.

Spread a couple of spoonfuls of the cooking cream on top. This works as your pizza sauce. You could totally use one of the other flavors of cooking cream if you want, they are all really good. But the italian herbs version reminds me of one of my favorite french cheeses called Boursin.

Slice tomatoes and asparagus. The first time, I didn't feel as though I had enough tomatoes on it. But then, I really love tomatoes. You can either trim up the asparagus so it is thin enough to chew and swallow, OR you can shred it onto the pizza using a potato peeler. I thought it tasted fine both ways. The potato peeler method makes it easier to deal with if you have children, but the slicing method makes it look prettier. (see picture above)

Lightly salt and pepper. (This does make a big difference. I generally don't advocate using pepper, but in this case, it really gives it a nice flavor)

Sprinkle the parmesan accross the top. Now here's a confession. I used the gross fake processed can of parmesan powder that mysteriously exists in my fridge due to the cheese transgression of a past roommate. I did it because I wanted a white cheese like substance to sort of seal in some moisture and it seemed sort of appropriate. I did it the first time because I knew I would be refining the recipe if I ever chose to post it. I did it the second time because I didn't totally hate it the first time, in fact, I might have sort of liked it.

So there.

Don't tell any French or Italian people you know if you choose this step. In fact, don't tell any French or Italian people you know that I did it. I already feel as though I should go to confession over this.

SO now tht your pizza is topped, you can bake it for 15-20 minutes, until the crust is golden-y. (If you used the fake powder parmesan, don't rely on it "melting". It won't)

Enjoy!

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