Holiday Breakfast Sand-Ridge

Don’t you just love holidays? Who doesn’t like an extra day off where you can spend a leisurely morning lounging around in your jammies? Coffee on the porch, maybe a walk and then make a nice breakfast; this one is good for brunch too … late breakfast, early lunch. We enjoyed it after our 5 mile walk on Memorial Day.




3 eggs
4 slices apple-wood smoked bacon
¼ cup miracle whip
1 tsp dry mustard
¼ cup chopped cucumber (remove seeds)
6 fresh basil leaves
2 whole English muffins
Fresh ground black pepper



Place eggs in saucepan covered with water. Bring to a boil and set timer for 6 minutes. Remove 1 egg after 6 minutes, set timer for 4 more minutes. Drain, cover with cold water, and peel all eggs immediately. Chop the ten minute eggs and combine with the cucumber, miracle whip and dry mustard. Set aside.

Cook bacon slices until crisp, drain on paper towels. Wipe skillet with paper towel and toast both sides of English muffins.

Top two of the English muffin halves with basil leaf; divide egg mixture on each half, top each with two slices of bacon and half of the 6 minute egg and final muffin top. Grind fresh black pepper over top and serve.

© Crackerberries 2009

Cowboy Steak on Texas Toast

Tall Cool One and I went back and forth on what to call this recipe. I wanted it to be the Dallas Cowboy's Steak, but he said that would be "City Slicker Steak". Anyways, this is the name we came up with... okay, I decided to call it. He's a meat and (potatoes? —no thank you, please) kinda guy. So whenever we have steak we have it with salad or salad or salad. How do you make steak and salad different? Here's how. This was a definite keeper and you can just buy any old cheap steak to make it with ... no need for an expensive Porterhouse or Sirloin. Serve with a side of salad if you like. =o)





½ cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, half sliced and half chopped
1½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground cumin
Fresh ground black pepper or peppercorn medley
1½ lb. tough steak, like rump roast or flank steak
Texas Toast, or thickly sliced French or sourdough bread
1 cup salsa
1 cup guacamole

Combine oil, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, chopped onion, chili powder, pepper and cumin. Mix well. With a meat mallet, beat the living crap out of the steak (or ¼ inch thickness). Stab several times with a fork and place steak in marinade. Turn several times to coat well. Lay sliced onions on top and cover and place in fridge for at least 4 hours (overnight is okay too). Discard marinade, keeping onion slices. Grill steak over medium-hot heat for 4-8 minutes per side, depending on how well or how rare you like your steak. Place bread on grill to toast; heat salsa in small pan. Reserve onions and slice steak into ¾ inch diagonal strips and arrange on bread. Top with onions, hot salsa and guacamole.

© Crackerberries 2009

Angry Pasta

Penne Rigate Pork Arrabiata

I know, I know, two pasta recipes in a row...what's going on? Careful not to get pasta poisoning ... ha ha ha. Penne Rigate Pork Arrabiata in Rome “Arrabiata” means that your meal should have a healthy dose of spices…so spice it up. It also means "angry pasta" because of the hot red pepper (that’s funny, the name Penne reminds me of my sister who also seems angry ) Anyways, if you like it hot, this recipe is for you.


8 oz Prince Penne Rigate, cook as package directs
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
½ green bell pepper, cut into strips
½ red bell pepper, cut into strips
2 Tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp thyme leaves (because everyone needs more time)
1 lb pork tenderloin (cut into ½ inch slices) or boneless pork chops
26 oz Spicy Red Pepper Pasta Sauce (I made my own but you can buy Classico or Ragu pasta sauce)

In large skillet, cook the peppers and onions in the EVOO until tender (but not too tender); remove and set aside. In same skillet, over high heat, cook pork and garlic until the pork is nicely browned on both sides. Reduce heat; add pasta sauce, thyme and red pepper flakes; cover and simmer ten minutes until pork is tender, stirring occasionally. Add vegetables and simmer a minute or two longer. Serve over Penne Rigate. Sprinkle with fresh grated Asiago cheese and ground black pepper.

© Crackerberries 2009

Breakfast Spaghetti

Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day, yes? Remember the commercials? Well this is a new take on spaghetti. Have you ever wanted to have bacon and eggs for supper, but it just doesn’t seem right? Now you can.

12 oz. thick spaghetti
6 pieces thick sliced bacon, chopped
¼ cup dry white wine (or chicken broth)
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ green pepper, julienned
½ red pepper, julienned
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup half & half
1½ cup fresh baby spinach
1 Tbsp pimentos
¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
½ cup Asiago cheese, shredded
1 hard boiled egg, peeled and sliced

Cook pasta al denté, or according to how you like it; drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid. Set aside. In a very large skillet, cook bacon until crispy fried, remove from skillet and drain on paper towels. Reserve 1 TBSP of bacon grease in skillet. Add wine/chicken broth, garlic and red pepper flakes. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for two minutes. Add peppers and pimentos; cook two minutes, stirring occasionally. In medium bowl, combine eggs and half & half; add to skillet, stirring constantly, but careful not to scramble the eggs (cook and thicken about two minutes). Add spaghetti, spinach, bacon and fresh parsley. Toss to combine and heat through, adding reserved cooking liquid from pasta to make creamier if needed. Sprinkle with Asiago cheese and cover for one minute (long enough for cheese to begin to melt). Top with slices of hard cooked egg and fresh ground pepper.

© Crackerberries 2009

Swedish Onion Soup

It doesn't make any sense...you use Swedish onions, yet the "infamous they" call it French Onion Soup. Seeing how my husband is a good middle-aged American Swedish country boy, we call it Swedish Onion Soup.

3 large Swedish onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp butter or margarine
32 oz beef broth
1 cup merlot wine
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup shredded Asiago cheese
2 slices Swiss cheese
2 large slices of French Baguette, cut on an angle and toasted


Peel and thinly slice onions; sauté with garlic in butter or margarine, over medium high heat for about 15 minutes, until they start to brown. Add beef broth, wine, soup mix, Dijon mustard and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture into crocks and top with baguette slices. Sprinkle shredded cheese and top with slices of Swiss cheese. Place crocks on baking sheet and broil 1-2 minutes just until cheese has browned. YUM!

© Crackerberries 2009

Hallelujah Muffins

Yesterday brought our evangelism training classes to an end. The big question of the day was, “Do you know what God’s will for your life is?” At first I was putting too much thought into it. Does He want me to write? Does He want me to cook? Does He want me to open a Bed & Breakfast? What does He want me to do? Once I stopped analyzing everything I’ve done in the past, everything I’m doing now, and everything I’d like to do in the future, the answer came to me and it was actually pretty simple. He has the same will for my life that He has for all of our lives. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” What we do with our lives isn’t as important as how we do what we do with our lives. Amen?

With that being said, here is the recipe of the day.

Hallelujah Muffins

Preheat oven to 350º

2½ cups all purpose flour
1¼ cups sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
¾ cup applesauce
½ cup vegetable oil
1Tbsp vanilla
2 cups shredded carrot
1 medium apple, peeled and diced
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
½ cup flaked coconut
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped pecans

In large bowl combine the first five ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla; mix well and combine with the dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened, (batter will be thick). Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups ¾ full. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Makes 2 dozen.

© Crackerberries 2009

Pickled Eggs - Oh Those Chickens are Much Too Much

Our chickens are good little babies ... they give us more eggs than we know what to do with. We thought of putting a sign out to let people know that we sell them, but our luck, those chickens would have a mind of their own and stop laying just to spite us. We do occasionally sell to a few friends of ours, but most of the time I just try to come up with different things to do with them. Tall Cool One thinks these are A-OK!

Pickled Eggs

1 cup sugar
12 eggs boiled and peeled
1½ cups white vinegar
½ cup water
½ tsp salt
6 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp pickling spice or whole peppercorns medley
1 onion, sliced


In medium sauce pan combine vinegar, sugar, water, salt and spices; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Pour hot solution over eggs to cover. Place onion slices on top and cover tightly. Place in refrigerator for several days. Mmmm Mmmm good.


To boil: put eggs in large sauce pan and cover with cold water. If the eggs are new add ½ tsp. baking soda to aid in the peeling process.  Bring to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, set timer for 11 minutes. Remove from heat at once and cover with cold water. It is best to peel the eggs immediately while they are still hot.
© Crackerberries 2009

Good 4 U Treat

I love granola bars. They are so expensive though. So, I decided to try making my own. They came out OK. Next time I would be sure not to use cereal with raisins during the first baking process because some of the raisins seemed to be a little “overcooked”. All in all, this is a good homemade version of a chewy granola bar.


3½ cups of granola cereal, quick cooking oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, sesame seeds, wheat germ, (*whatever crunchy ingredients you would like)1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins
½ cup honey
¼ cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
4 Tbsp margarine

Preheat oven 300º

Combine granola ingredients and coconut and spread on 9x12 baking dish. Do not add raisins at this time. Bake in 300º oven for 20 minutes, stirring once during baking time. (For crunchier granola bake an additional 5-10 minutes.) In the mean time, heat butter, brown sugar and honey in small sauce pan. Once dry ingredients come out of oven add raisins. Add vanilla to melted butter mixture and mix with granola. (I put aluminum foil down and that made it easier to take out of the pan and put on a chopping board for cutting). Press mixture into greased 8x8 pan and bake for another 20 minutes in 300º oven.
*You may add whatever ingredients you like. I contemplated Lucky Charms … do you think they would be magically delicious?
© Crackerberries 2009

Spiedini

Spiedini is an Italian word that means “skewer” or “kebab”. This would make one think of Shi-K-Bobs, right? Add zucchini, cherry tomatoes, baby portabella mushrooms, green pepper, Vidalia onions and beef or shrimp; grill it and serve it with rice. That would be a big YUM, and all good and healthy if you like all those veggies. Tall Cool One likes his meat…and to quote him “Shrimp does not pass as the meat dish.” So I found this interesting combination of Spiedini and thought, wow, let's see if this is a keeper. A little time consuming but it’s a very tasty combination.

6 slices bacon
1 large, whole, boneless, skinless chicken breast (halved lengthwise)
½ cup Dale’s marinade (you can marinate however you like)
2 large sweet Italian sausage links
3 whole large chicken livers
6 fresh basil leaves
6 large mushroom caps
2 Tbsp melted margarine or butter

In a skillet, cook bacon just until it starts to brown but do not let it get crispy; drain well. Rinse chicken breasts and cut each breast in half crosswise into thirds; marinate in ½ cup Dales for about 15 minutes. Cut the sausage into 6 pieces. Cut each chicken liver in half.

Place one of the basil leaves on each liver half. Roll each liver half in a slice of bacon, wrapped snuggly. On each of the 6 - 12 inch skewers, place a sausage, followed by a chicken breast piece, and a bacon wrapped chicken liver. Top each end with a mushroom cap. Brush kabobs with margarine.

Place Kabobs on the cooking grill (we put aluminum foil down so that the fire wouldn’t flair up and crispy fry them). Grill for about 14-22 minutes, turning a few times through the grilling time. Internal temp should be 165º for chicken and 170º for sausage.

Following the Italian tradition, Spiedini should be served with a pasta side dish but we served ours with Cole Slaw.

© Crackerberries 2009

If You Dare Marshmallow Peanutbutter Cookies

I remember one summer when I was 13, we stayed at a camp on Ripley Pond up in Maine until my mom and dad could afford to find us a house to rent where we could go to school. (Mind you this camp was just that -- no running water what-so-ever). Every payday my dad would drive the mile and a half dirt road into camp holding two Heavenly Hash ice creams on sugar cones for my sister and me. The ice cream would be melting down his hand and arm as he handed the summer treats to us. Those were the best ice cream cones EV-AAAR! For some reason this cookie experience that I had in our kitchen made me think of those ice cream cones and what my dad did for me and my sister that summer. :)

I learned a valuable lesson. If you have never heard of something in a recipe, the chances are pretty good that there is a reason for that. No one really likes to share their failures. Not that they really failed, but they definitely wouldn't win any prize for presentation. Some of them were okay, but most of them had to be formed back into a round shape after they were pried off the cookie sheet. A big clump of cookie crumb. One of those "don't judge a book by it's cover" recipes. But, like those Heavenly Hash ice cream cones, on a hot summer day, they were yummy. Here it is, if you dare:


½ cup butter flavored Crisco (add 3 tsp water to this) or margarine
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar (packed)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla (if you use real extract, only use 1 tsp)
1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats
¾ cup swirled chocolate & white morsels
1 ½ cup mini marshmallows

Beat butter and peanut butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the two sugars, baking powder and baking soda and cream together, scraping sides of bowl until combined. Add egg and vanilla and blend well. Beat in flour and oats. Add marshmallows and morsels and mix in with a wooden spoon. Preheat oven to 375º. Drop by tablespoons on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 7-9 minutes. Remove (pry... ha ha ha) from cookie sheet immediately and cool on wire racks.

© Crackerberries 2009

Chili Turkey Loaf

We are always looking for a meal that is tastey and good for you. "They" say turkey is one of the better meats you can eat. This one was really good.

1 lb ground turkey
½ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup chopped zucchini
½ cup Italian bread crumbs
¼ cup chili sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 TBSP horseradish mustard
½ tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
½ cup French Fried Onions
Ground pepper
Prepared salsa (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350º

Mix all ingredients except salsa and French fried onions, in large bowl. Shape into loaf in lightly greased baking dish. Cover the top and sides with the French fried onions, pressing into the loaf. Bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes or until internal temperature is 170º. Let cool about 10 minutes. Remove from baking dish and slice. Top with salsa (if desired) and serve with baked beans and Cole slaw.

© Crackerberries 2009

Thin Crust Pizza

Usually when we make pizza together I do the crust and Tall Cool One cuts up the veggies and finds anything and everything that we have leftover to go on it. For some reason, (full moon?) the crust wasn't working for me this time so Tall Cool One rolled out the dough and I did the topping search. (Let me just say, when he gets the toppings, it's way better than mine). You wanna talk about a loaded pizza... you should try one of his. NO ANCHOVIES, please.



However, once we starting eating this one, there was just something different about the crust. Like one of those thin crust pizza's you get at Pizza Hut, but way better. I found later that Tall Cool One added his own twist to the recipe. Here it is:
THIN PIZZA CRUST

2½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp Italian seasoning
½ tsp garlic powder
1 pkg .(1½ tsp.) active dry yeast
¾ cup hot water (120º-103º)
1 TBSP oil

In a large bowl combine ¾ cup flour, seasoning, garlic powder and yeast. Blend well. Mix hot water and oil together and combine with flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened then mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add ¾ cup flour to form stiff dough.

On floured surface, kneed in ¼ - ½cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes). Place dough in greased bowl, twirling around to coat; cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80º-85º) four 30-40 minutes or until double in size.

Preheat oven to 400º. Place pizza stone in oven to preheat.

Punch dough down several times to remove all air bubbles. Roll out the dough (or toss in the air…whatever your preference) to form large pizza pie circle; this is when the trick comes in… as Tall Cool One was rolling and pressing the dough out, he added another ½ cup of flour to the dough. It is a good idea to do this on a large cutting board or other movable surface so that you can just flip it on to the pizza stone when you are ready to add the toppings.

After you have added the sauce (this is another recipe), cheeses and any other toppings, bake in oven for 18-25 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes before cutting.
© Crackerberries 2009

Saucy Chicken Cordon Bleu

INGREDIENTS

3 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts
6 slices Swiss cheese
6-8 slices ham (finely chopped)
2-4 tbsp butter or margarine
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp pepper
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 pint (2 cups) ½ and ½ or light cream
¼ cup hot water
½ cup of Italian bread crumbs


DIRECTIONS

Half each chicken breast lengthwise and pound to ¼ inch thickness. Sprinkle the ham with the pepper. Top each breast with a slice of cheese and equal amounts of the peppered ham. Roll up the chicken and secure with toothpicks. Use a little of the light cream to wet the chicken and then roll in the Italian bread crumbs.

In a large skillet, melt 2 tbsp of butter/margarine and brown chicken over medium heat, being sure to roll to all sides, until brown (not to high of heat or the butter will blacken--this is what the extra 2 tbsps of butter is for, just incase). In the meantime, combine the hot water and onion soup mix together first, then add cream and nutmeg. Pour mixture over chicken and bring just to boiling point. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, basting occasionally for 20-25 minutes. Serve with noodles or roasted potatoes.

© Crackerberries 2009