Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Mushroom Sauce

Inspiration for this recipe came from a book called, "The Mormon Ward Cookbook."  Their version is much better, but its also full of fat and high in calories.  A friend of mine made it, and it was very good, but...not very good for you.  I had leftover mushrooms to use up tonight, a little bit of broccoli and one piece of leftover pork.  After some consideration, I came up with a meal for the four of us, and might I say it was filling and delicious.

MUSHROOM SAUCE for 4

About 2 cups finely chopped mushrooms
One clove of garlic
----sautee these together with a little pam spray on medium.  Stir so as not to burn, as you don't have a lot of oil in the pan.  You can use oil of course, but this is a low calorie version.

Add 2 cups 1% warm milk that has 1 TBS. of cornstarch mixed in and 1 cup low-fat sour cream.  Stir until completely mixed and it thickens.  Salt and pepper to taste.

This can go on just about anything...noodles, beef, fish.  I put a cup of brown rice on a plate, topped it with steamed broccoli and a few pieces of the pork, and then poured on the mushroom sauce.  With little bits of mushroom and the chewy brown rice, it made a hit for dinner.  Enjoy!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Homemade Caramels

I love can eat an entire bag of caramels in one evening if left alone with a good movie and an electric blanket.  But, what if I want to make caramel apples or cover rice krispie treats?  I could buy a bag at $3 each and have enough to cover 5 apples, or I could take 30 min. and make my own.  Yes, 30 min, they are that easy.  The biggest thing they require is your attention.  Do not multi-task while making these!  You will have enough caramels for plenty of apples, and they are so good when cut into bite size pieces and shared.  They are easy to wrap individually in wax paper to giv  as gifts.  Today I was making dipped rice krispie treats for a party.  I dipped 15 3x2" rice krispie treats, 3 small apples, and had 15 bite size caramels.  I added up my cost for the caramel...$5.  Quite a good deal and you'll never buy bagged caramels again!  These are just as easy as unwrapping 50 caramels.  Get creative in how you use them and enjoy. :-)

Caramels

Before you start, get all your ingredients ready.  Also, fill a bowl with ice water.  You'll need it to test the caramel.  You can use a themometer if you'd like, but the times that I have used one they have not turned out.

Ingredients:

2 cubes butter cubed
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup kero syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Take a seat and stir on Medium until it has a nice slow boil.  Keep stiring.  DO NOT STOP.  These will burn within moments if you quit.  When its a little thick, around 10 min, start checking every 2 min. Take a spoon and dip some out, dropping it into the ice water.  Dip your fingers in and pull it out.  If it holds its shape in a nice soft ball, they are done.  If you like your caramel a little harder, cook until it holds the shape and is more firm.  Its a little trial and error to see how you best like your caramels.  I always make them soft.  I like the texture and it is always chewy even when cold.

When done, remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp. Vanilla.  Stir and get ready to dip  You  have plenty of time to work with the caramel once removed from heat.  If you are just making them into bite size, go ahead and line a casserole pan with a cut to fit piece of parchment paper.  Spray well with oil.  Pour the mixture in and let cool.  I have poured 1/2 in a pan before, sprinkled chocolate chips on top, and covered with second 1/2 of caramel...they were so good!

For Caramel apples, dip and let cool on a sprayed piece of parchment paper.  For the rice krispies I put a sucker stick in each one.  I dipped them in caramel, drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  After they set, you can wrap them up in celephane...they look so pretty to give as gifts.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Perfect Cresent Rolls

There is nothing as delicious as homemade bread.  If you've never had it, go make it now.  I"m not talking about the stuff from a grocery story bakery.  I don't know what they do back there, but I swear they can't get homemade bread right.  My mom made home made bread for as long as I can remember.  She made it completely from scratch, right down to grinding her own wheat.  It was so so good, warm and inviting.  Thank you mom for years of service in the bread department.

Make sure you are going to be home all afternoon to make these, with at least 5 hours from the time you start to when you want to be serving them.  These are crisp on the outside, soft on the inside.  Everyone will be asking you for the recipe.  I got this recipe from Megan Gould from North Ogden.  Thank you Megan!



Cresent Rolls
1 Tbs. Yeast
1cup mashed potatoes
2/3 cup butter
1  Tbs. salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
6-7 cups flour



Put the water and yeast and about a TBS of sugar in your mixing bowl and let that sit for about 5 to 10 min.  Add the butter, eggs, potatoes and sugar, and mix.  Add the flour and salt, and hand need it all together to form a nice soft ball.  Let rise until double. (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.)  Take the dough and divide into 4ths.   Roll into a circle, spread with butter, cut and roll into crescents. Let rise again and bake at 350.  Total rising time is around 3-4 hours, depending.  Don't overdo the butter, your rolls will go flat. They still taste good, but they are not as pretty.  I have tried just brushing on butter after they are rolled out and shaped into cresents.  Both ways work, but I like the second way best.


I had photos, but unfortunatley they were accidently deleted when I redid my operating system to Windows 7!  I love the new windows 7...just thought I"d share.  I'll make these again soon, I am sure, and will post a photo then.