I love mushrooms (sorry, Marietta). And I really love stuffed mushrooms. And I really, really, really love crab-stuffed mushrooms.
This is a basic stuffed mushroom recipe from "In the Kitchen with David" (QVC) cookbook. I made a bit of an adjustment to this recipe, but it's a great standard if you are a stuffed-mushroom lover.
CHEESEY CRAB-STUFFED MUSHROOMS
1# mushrooms, 1-1 1/2" in diameter
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp chopped onion
1/2 cu fresh, soft bread cubes, or breadcrumbs
4 oz fresh crabmeat, picked over and finely chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded Cheddar
White truffle oil, optional
Preheat oven to 400F. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and set aside the caps. Finely chop the stems.
Melt the butter in a small skillet oven medium heat. Add the onion and stems and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add the bread cubes/crumbs and crabmeat, stirring constantly until lightly brown. Stir in the salt, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and parsley.
(Personally, at this point, I chose to lightly salt the mushroom caps with a bit of salt).
Fill the mushroom caps with the crab mixture. Arrange the mushrooms in a single layer in a shallow baking dish. Pour the white wine in the bottom of the baking dish. (Optional: Drizzle with white truffle oil at this point.....oo la la!!!!) Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle with cheddar. Bake for 8-10 minutes more until the cheese melts. Serve hot.
This was a wonderful treat Diane brought to go in the appetizer pool with several other dishes. And they are wonderful and oh so easy! In fact, she prepared them before she came over and we only had to re-heat them in the oven for maybe 5 minutes. You could also make them ahead of time and microwave for the less than a minute.
There's no recipe. None needed. Simply take the little smokies, cut a pound of bacon in strips and wrap the bacon around the smokies, securing it with a toothpick. Put some brown sugar in a ziplock bag and put around half a dozen smokies in and just shake it until they are covered.
Bake in a 350F oven for about half an hour. Serve immediately or keep and reheat later.
This would be a great football game appetizer.
How was your Thanksgiving? I hope you were able to join with family or friends and enjoy the company. We had a houseful and although it was busy and chaotic (for me!), everyone seemed to have a really good time.
I had been cleaning house for a few days and then started my prep work the day before. Before long, I knew I had planned way too large of a menu. By Thanksgiving morning, I was in full panic-mode. It didn't help that I really didn't know how many people to expect or what time they would be showing up. I decided to plan on serving two separate seatings, so I split the entire menu in two, planning on serving Group 1 then clean up and start on dinner for Group 2. It didn't quite work out that way!
Thank goodness for Diane! A friend of ours had volunteered to come over early to help out. I never would have made it without her help. Not just by helping in the kitchen, but by substantially reducing my level of stress! In fact, it was Diane that put this beautiful and utterly lucious trifle together. This is an incredible holiday dessert if you're going to have a crowd. Absolutely melt-in-your-mouth!
NOTE: If you don't have a trifle bowl, you can pick one up at Wal-Mart for $7.
PUMPKIN CREAM TRIFLE (serves 14-16)
First Layer:
1 pkg spice cake mix
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
3 large eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9x13 baking pan with vegetable oil spray. Place all cake ingredients in large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides and then increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more. Batter should look think and well-blended. Pour into prepared pan and bake 32-39 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool completely (cake can be frozen at this point. Thaw at room temp before assembling trifle. When ready to prepare trifle, cut or tear into approximately 1" cubes.
Second Layer (cream):
2 pkgs (3.4 oz) cheesecake-flavored instant pudding mix
2 cups cold milk
8 oz heavy whipping cream, whipped (unsweetened)
Combine pudding mixes with milk and blend with whisk until it starts to thicken. Fold in whipped cream, then quickly assemble trifle.
Third Layer (toppings)
1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans or almonds (I prefer pecans)
1/2 cup Skor or Heath toffee bits
To assemble the trifle:
Place 1/3 of the cake cubes into trifle bowl. Top with 1/3 of the cream mixture and sprinkle with 1/3 of the nuts and toffee bits. Repeat layers two more times, ending with nut and toffee bits on top. Serve immediately or refrigerate, covered no longer than 24 hours (actually, my expereince shows this will keep for days, just as lucious and delicious as the first).
I love cornbread. Just about any kind. But when I ran across this recipe in "The Joy of Cooking" several years ago, I couldn't believe it. It SO reminded me of my maternal grandmother's recipe (Grandma Barton). This is about as basic, home-made, down-south cornbread as you could ever imagine. Slathered with butter (and honey, if you like), it's a meal in itself.
I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving and Jim won't have anything but cornbread sage dressing so I had to get a batch ready for Thursday. It might be a tad short this year. As you can see, I kinda had a bit of it for a snack, just to make sure it came out alright.
SOUTHERN CORNBREAD (1 8" square, 1 9" cast iron skillet, or 12 muffins)
1 Tbsp bacon fat
1 3/4 cups cornmeal (preferably stone-ground white.....if you use yellow, add 1 Tbsp sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 450. Once temp is reached, put the bacon fat into your dish/skillet and into the oven to let the bacon fat melt.
In the meantime, whisk together in a mixing bowl the cornmeal, baking powder and soda, and salt.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Whisk in the buttermilk. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until just blended. Pour into the hot dish/skillet. Bake until the top is browned and the center feels firm when pressed, 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately from the pan, cut into wedges or squares.
Imagine my surprise when Jim came home with his new HOT PINK cast!!! How in the world did that happen, you ask? Turns out he was telling someone at work he would be getting his new cast on the next day and they told him how their grandson had broken his arm last month and had picked the pick cast in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. He kind of felt shamed into it. He said he's going to tell in the guys it is in honor of Breast Awareness month (not Breast Cancer Awareness)!!!!
We are not a beef-eating family here. But the other day while at the grocery store, my friend Dianna told me that Publix had their Standing Rib Roast on sale, which they only do once a year. So what the heck.....I thought I'd give it a try.
Now, for me, the Standing Rib Roast tastes like every other piece of beef I've ever eaten. The difference is the tenderness. If you are a beef eater, you will love this. It if fall-off-the-bone tender. You won't need a knife. And if I'm going to eat beef, I want it medium-rare.
I researched a couple of recipes and the #1 thing I found out was don't use salt. Apparently, the salt will draw the moistness out of the roast. So, compiling several recipes, this is what I came up with and it came out perfectly:
1 (3 pound) standing rib roast
coarsely ground black pepper
garlic powder
Most importantly: Have roast at room temperature. Dry roast with a paper towel.
Preheat the oven to 375F. Rub roast with pepper and garlic powder. Place roast on a rack in the pan with the rib side down and the fatty side up. Roast for one hour. Turn off oven. Leave roast in oven but do not open oven door for 3 hours. About 30-40 minutes before serving time, turn oven to 375F and reheat the roast. Do not remove roast or re-open the oven door from time roast is put in until ready to serve.
NOTE: I baked some acorn squash at the same time as I cooked the roast. It came out perfectly. Just cut a squash (any squash) in half, drizzle a little olive oil in the baking dish, and cover with aluminum foil. It's a perfect side dish to the roast.
I don't have a sweet tooth. But if I had to pick a cookie that was my favorite, it would have to be peanut butter (weirdly enough, I don't care for peanut butter on its own). And then I ran across this recipe at www.thesweetslife.com. If you are a peanut butter cookie fan, you must try these. Absolutely lucious. Decadent. Oh So Good.
Maybe because you melt butterscotch chips into the dough, and then add butterscotch chips to the final process. These will melt in your mouth. They are so good.
PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES (makes approximately 4 dozen)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup butterscotch chips, melted (1 cup chips)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 cup butterscotch chips
Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, cream butter with sugars. Add peanut butter and melted butterscotch chips, beating until combined. Add egg and vanilla, beating to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, mixing just until combined. Stir in butterscotch chips.
Using a spoon or your (clean) hands, take 1" balls of dough (20 grams) and roll in granulated sugar. (I refrigerate my dough at least 10 hours or overnight, or dough will be very wet). Place on baking sheet about 2" apart (cookies spread very slightly). Bake for 9-12 minutes, until cooked through. Allow cookies for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cook completely.
