Nutty Snack Mix

I prsonally LOVE salty snacks. AND I love Chex mix. But there's never enough nuts IN Chex Mix. And I didn't have any Chex cereal and I didn't feel like buying any. But I had Crispix. So I decided to make up my own nonsense. And I believe in Deluxe Mixed Nuts instead of the ones that are 49.999% peanuts.

Then you just need some butter, soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce -YES I know that's spelled wrong. I LIKE butchering that word!, Tabasco sauce, Lawry's and garlic powder.

Melt the butter with all the other stuff in a small pan on the stove.

Pour it over the Crispix and nuts in a big bowl and mix it well.

Spread onto a baking sheet or two and bake it until it's all good and crunchy.

Here 'tis:
1/4 C. butter
2 T. soy sauce
1 - 1  1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce - I used 8 drops of the green stuff (mild jalapeno kind) and 6 of the regular red kind
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 (21 oz.) can Deluxe mixed nuts -minus the ones you couldn't resist eating whien you opened the can
4-5 C. Crispix

Melt the butter and mix all the seasonings with it to your taste. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for an hour. Stir occasionally... I usually stir the first time at 30 minutes and then every 15 minutes after that until it's as crunchy as I want it.

Grandma's Breakfast

I don't know how many of my cousins had this breakfast at Grandma's house... but I remember her faithfully making this many many times. I did mine a little bit different than she usually did, but that was 'cause my potatoes stuck ferociously to the pan this morning so I scrambled the eggs and fried the meat separately. She always did it all together and now I'm wondering how on earth did her potatoes not stick? Hmmm...

You need potatoes... you could also use leftover potatoes and fry them instead of using fresh ones like I did.

 And you use whatever meat you have on hand. She'd use hot dogs, leftover hamburger, roast, summer sausage or whatever. I had brats so that's what I used. And don't mispronounce the word and act like I'm talking about the ones that came forth from my loins either. I'm talkin' about the kind that come in a package and you grill them on a hot summer day or cut them up and eat them for breakfast. Sorry for talking about loins while you cook breakfast, it's something that comes naturally around here.

 onions, I only had red onion peeled, so I used that.

 eggs 

and a bunch of shredded cheese.

Put a bunch of butter in your pan and melt it. Add the potatoes, and salt & pepper them heavily.

Beat your eggs, add a little bit of milk and dump on some Lawry's.

If you're using brats or some uncooked meat, saute it in some butter with the onion.

When the meat and onion are cooked, dump the beaten egg on top and scramble them together.

When the eggs are all nice and cooked, add them to the potatoes and stir it all up. 

Top with plenty of shredded cheese, let it melt and enjoy!

4 or 5 medium potatoes, diced
Butter or oil or both if your potatoes wanna stick
1 C. cut up meat
3 eggs
Milk
Lawry's seasoning
3 T. minced onion
1  1/2 C. shredded cheese

Melt some butter in your frying pan. Throw the potatoes in, heavily salt & pepper them; fry until they are almost tender, stirring often. Remember when you're salting, that potatoes are the thing that eats salt, so you'd pretty much hafta dump the whole jug on them to over salt these! Add the onions to cook while the potatoes finish cooking. To get the potatoes to cook quicker cover the pan, and to get them crispy take the lid off about the last 10 minutes or so. If you're using hot dogs or something of the sort, fry them in a seperate pan with the onion so they get cooked. Otherwise you can add your cooked meat right in with the potatoes. Beat the eggs with just enough milk to make them fluffy and Lawry's seasoning to taste. Either dump them over the potatoes and everything in the pan, or scramble them separately. This recipes is full of options and so therefore you better not be scared to screw it up 'cause that's impossible!! When the eggs are cooked, add to the potatoes and top with cheese and let it melt. Serve with or without toast depending on the people you serve it to. ;) As in, my husband can't eat food without bread in some shape or form. I ate it with an English Muffin and some fresh pineapple. But of course... Grandma would have eaten it with toast and peanut butter with butter and probably some canned peaches.

Snow Ice Cream

It snowed last night. And this time of year, when you're so sick to death of the seeing it that you can't even see straight, what else are you supposed to do but eat the stuff? Mom got this recipe for me off a blanket that dad got from the VA when he was in the hospital once... It's very easy. All you need is some whipping cream, sugar, vanilla...

And of course some *non yellow* ;) SNOW! I dipped up a wee bit more than I needed. heh

Beat the whipping cream, sugar and vanilla.

                                    

Fold in as much snow as you need to make your ice cream.

Mix it all together very well so there's no random spots of plain snow. Then dip it up and serve it to your whiny kid who is teething eye teeth. :D

1  1/2 C. heavy whipping cream

1/4 C. sugar

1 T. vanilla

3 qts. snow

Whip the cream & vanilla. Gradually add the sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form, then fold in the snow. Cover tightly and stick it in a snow bank until it's nice and frozen. Drizzle with chocolate or maple syrup.

Pasty

I must post a disclaimer at the beginning of this recipe. I wasn't planning on posting this recipe, so I didn't take any pictures of it while I was in the process. But Glenda is begging and pleading for the recipe and ignoring me while she talks to mom on the phone for the first time since she's been across the puddle, so I'll post it. She claims she can't eat pictures... so... YEAH. Here ya be.

*EDIT* I now have pictures. You can see what you're eating! :D

CRUST:
3 C. flour
1  1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. shortening
Cold water

FILLING:
10 medium potatoes, I think they were medium anyway, diced or shredded
1 medium sized rutabaga, diced or shredded
4 or 5 carrots, diced or shredded
2 medium onions, minced
3 lbs. hamburger (85% lean works best)
2 T. salt
1 T. pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
1  1/2 sticks butter, divided

For the crust; Stir together the flour and salt, cut in the shortening and add the water until your dough is the consistency you want it. Divide it in half and roll out to fit two 9X13 pans.

For the filling; Mix together the potatoes, rutabaga, carrots, hamburger, onion, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder; divide between two 9X13 pans. Top each pan evenly with butter slices, (about 1 T. for each slice) then top with the pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or 1 hour and 10 minutes, depending on how huge you cut your tatoes and rutabaga.

Colcannon Potatoes

Ok. I made these according to the directions and I got soup. Well, not really, but I hate sloppy mashed potatoes and these were sloppy. I shall help you to not make Colcannon soup. Slice up some cabbage...

And dice up some potatoes...

Boil the cabbage, drain it and boil the potatoes in the water you cooked the cabbage in.

And then I dumped them all back in the pot together and stuck some butter on top to melt.

Mash the cabbage and potatoes together, and add salt and pepper to taste. I don't know what the deal was with these, but you can see how soupy they look already before I even added the milk! *SIGH*

Pour in the milk/onion mixture and then hide the whole thing under a deep layer of cooked crumbled bacon. ;)

2 lbs. cabbage, shredded
2 C. water
4 lbs. potatoes, peeled & diced
Milk
3 T. minced onion
Salt
Fresh coarsely ground pepper
Butter (I used about 1/3 C.)
Crumbled cooked bacon

Bring the cabbage and water to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until tender. Drain cabbage and reserve liquid. Bring liquid back to a boil and add the potatoes; cook until tender. Drain and keep warm. Bring about 3/4 - 1 C. milk and the onion to a boil. Mash the potatoes and cabbage in a large bowl. Add milk & onions and butter; beat until blended. Add salt & pepper to taste. (I used 1  1/4 tsp. salt.) Top with bacon and parsley if so desired. I had no parsley so I didn't use it, and I love bacon so I used the whole 12 oz. package to cover the 3 qt. casserole dish I put the 'tatoes in.

Horseradish Mustard Sauce

I haven't ever served this before with my Corned beef, but I'm gonna this year! I added some brown sugar and horseradish mustard to it, 'cause it seemed a little bland or something.

I added the sugar and horseradish mustard after I had it all mixed up, so there ain't picture of that for you. Sorry.

Here it is all mixed up and ready to go sit in the fridge.

1/2 C. sour cream
1 T. prepared horseradish
1 T. prepared regular mustard
2 T. brown sugar
2 tsp. horseradish mustard

Combine everything in a small bowl and refrigerate. Serve with corned beef.

Spicy Corned Beef

I have made this for St. Patrick's Day every year that I have had access to my cookbook sine I got it in 2003. It's an awesome cookbook, bought back when I had extra money laying around to buy frivolous things like cookbooks. Ha. I bought the 2003 Holiday & Celebrations cookbook AND the 2004 but then in 2005 I met Reece and started spending money on a wedding instead. Pretty good trade don'tcha think? Now I don't really care. I'm more into family or church cookbooks. Or ones that Reece gets from truckstops 'cause he's bored. :D I wanted to get these recipes up soon enough so you could make them for supper tonight if you wanted... but life happened. And I have a phone that rings.

I rinsed off my corned beef. Just 'cause. I really didn't like the looks of the slimy stuff that the meat was packed in. Yeah it says you're supposed to cook in in that... but I'm adding my own good flavors to the stuff so I don't need all their weirdness, thanks.

You need 3 lbs. of corned beef, onion, carrot - if you can eat it-, celery -or celery seed if you're like me and you're out of the real stuff. *sigh*- and pickling spice. Stick all that stuff in your dutch oven and start boilin' it!

I only make half a recipe 'cause we don't need 6 lbs. of meat to feed the carnivores at my house. So if you need to feed lotsa people double it back up again. :D I'm just talking here to use up some time while my pot comes to a boil ya know...

There. It's boiling. Now cover it and don't let it boil over on your stove. Dutch ovens get really mad when they start boiling over. Mine had a hissy fit and threw water all over the world yesterday just before I took this picture. Scared my eldest daughter. Let it boil for several hours, until the meat feels tender when you stick it with a fork. While you wait, mix together the brown sugar and mustard.

When the meat is tender, place it in a baking pan and spread the brown sugar mustard over it. Pardon me... I read the directions wrong and started scoring the wrong way and then started doing it the right way so I ended up with weird chunks of meat falling around. Then dump on some sweet pickle juice and stick it in the oven.

Bake it at 325 degrees for an hour. And don't be dumb like me and start reading things online and talking on the phone to a bunch of people and forget to baste it once in a while. Oh yeah. You should also take it out of the oven WHEN THE TIMER GOES OFF not a half hour later.

Here's the recipe:

1 (3 lb.) corned beef brisket
1 small onion, quartered
1 small carrot, cut into chunks
1 celery rib with leaves
1 T. pickling spice
1/4 C. packed brown sugar
1 T. prepared mustard
1/4 C. pickle juice

Place corned beef in a dutch oven and cover with water. Add the onion, carrot, celery & pickling spice. I actually didn't HAVE any pickling spice so I just used the packet that comes with the brisket. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2  1/2 - 3 hours or until the meat is tender. Transfer to an 8X8 pan. Score the meat with shallow diagonal cuts. Combine the brown sugar & mustard and spread over the meat. Pour the pickle juice over it and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour, basting occasionally. YUM-E.

Irish Soda Bread

This bread is actually really easy!  No waiting for 30 days and 30 nights for it to raise. No kneading for 30 days and 30 nights. You just gotta wait 30 days and 30 nights for it to BAKE. Oh well... it tastes good!!

First you put flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & soda in a bowl. Mix it all together, then cut in the butter.

When the butter is all cut in, add the raisins and caraway seeds.

Beat an egg in a smallish bowl... and mix together with buttermilk.

Pour the egg & buttermilk into the flour stuff.

Mix together to make a sticky dough, dump onto a well floured flat spot and knead 10 or 12 times.

Shape into a ball and brush with beaten egg. Cut a X in the top of the ball to ward off evil spirits. HEY! Don't yell at me! That's what the legend of Irish Soda Bread says!

Bake it and then let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes before you take it out and stick it on your wire rack. While you're waiting, take pictures of something else you're cooking and kill the battery on your camera so you have to wait for 30 days and 30 nights to take the final picture.

Here's the recipe while my battery charges:

4 C. flour

3 T. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. soda

6 T. cold butter

1  1/2 C. raisins

1 T. caraway seeds

2 eggs, beaten

1  1/2 C. buttermilk

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & soda in a large bowl. Cut in the butter. Add the raisins and caraway seeds. Stir until combined. In a small bowl beat the eggs. Take out 1 T. of beaten egg and set aside. Add the milk to the bowl of eggs; stir into the flour mixture. I use my hands to get everything all mixed up well, but you don't have to if you're scared of dirty hands. ;D Turn onto a well floured surface and knead about 10 times. Shape into a ball, place in a well greased 9" round pan. Cut a 4 inch X, 1/4 inch deep, in the center of the ball. Brush the top with the reserved egg. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes. If the top starts browning too fast, stick some alunimum foil over the top for the last half hour or so. Remove from oven and let sit in the pan for 10 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack.

                                                                                                                                                      

And now I want you to tell me which word I misspelled in the directions.

Black Forest Torte

I found this recipe around Christmas time and I was gonna make it and then I forgot about it and couldn't make a good enough excuse to make it for just us to eat. Reece's group served last night so I decided to try it out. Oh yum! It was still good even tho' I had a short circuit in my brain and destroyed one of the layers by holding it on my oven mitt for too long wondering where I should put it. *Note: Do not hold cakes hot out of the oven on just one hand while you change your mind about where to set said cake to cool. It kinda destroys half the layer. And I didn't decide to post the recipe on here until it was already mixed up. Please forgive me if you like seeing raw eggs in a Bosch or something.

Here the batter is all mixed up, ready to be divided in the pans. The recipe says to use 4, 9" cake pans but due to the fact I only have 2, I just baked the layers in 2 batches. :D

First two greased, floured pans ready to go in the oven.

I was in a big huge flaming hurry to get this done so we wouldn't be late for church and trying to help mom make supper at the same time so I forgot to take pictures of the fillings before I stuck them on the cakes. And trust me. You wouldn't have WANTED to see what that one poor layer looked like after it was baked! But, I hid it on the bottom and filled in it's gaps with filling and nobody knew the difference! LOL! Here's with the first chocolate layer, whipped topping layer, and the top layer of chocolate.

You drooling yet?

And lastly on top of this wonderful thing, you're supposed to put chocolate curls. Ha. I don't know HOW to make chocolate CURLS. And I didn't have time to worry about it last night either. So my Torte got chocolate shavings/microscopic slivers. I shall learn the proper way before I make it again. sigh... Here's the recipe. As usual I changed some things. LOL!

1  3/4 C. flour

1  3/4 C. sugar

1  1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

2/3 C. softened butter

4 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1  1/4 C. water

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

CHOCOLATE FILLING:

*5 oz. of your favorite baking chocolate*

3/4 C. butter, softened

CREAM FILLING:

2 C. whipping cream

1 T. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

*I think I used Hershey's baking chocolate, but I can't remember, because that was one of the chocolate bars that I rescued form Rosie's bed that she had stolen from my grocery bag before I could get all the groceries put away, and I stuck it in a Ziploc bag so it wouldn't die on me before I needed it. Therefore I can't remember the brand.*

Beat all cake ingredients except eggs at low speed to blend, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed, scraping the bowl often. Add the eggs and beat for 2 more minutes on medium speed. Pour 1/4 of the batter (about 1  1/2 cups) into each of 4 greased and floured 9" cake pans, or bake it in 2 batches like I had to do, using only 2 pans. Smooth it all around all nice and purty. Layers will be thin! Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.Cool slightly and remove from pans.

For the chocolate filling, melt the chocolate, cool slightly and beat together with the softened butter. If it's a little too runny stick it in the fridge for a few minutes.

For the cream filling, put the whipping cream, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl and whip until stiff peaks form.

To assemble, place one cake layer on your serving pan. (Preferably the one you destroyed the most.) Spread with half of the chocolate filling. Top with second layer of cake and spread that with half of the cream filling. Repeat layers. Do not frost sides. Make chocolate curls unless you're like me and then use microscopic chocolate shaving thingies that look like dust. Garnish with whole raw almonds. Refrigerate until serving. Or if you live in MN in the wintertime you can put it in your cake carrier thing from Tupperware and set it out on the porch until you leave for church. :D

 

Oh! I just remembered an idea I had! What do you think this stuff would be like if you substituted MINT instead of the vanilla in the whipped topping! OH YUM!!!!!! !!!   !!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!