Winter Recipes

These recipes are my favorite foods to cook over the winter months.


Stew (this is by far my favorite winter meal, it takes a long time to cook but is worth the wait)
1 package stewing meat
4 large potatoes, peeled, cubed
3 celery sticks, sliced to about 1/4 inch slices
1 small rutabaga, cubed
15 small carrots
flour, see below for amount
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
2 heaping tbsp cornstarch

On a large plate, pour about 1/4 cup of flour, roll each piece of stewing meat to completely cover. (If the stewing meat is in big pieces, I like to cut it in half to even it out with the size of the veggies) Use more flour as needed to cover all pieces of meat. Heat oil over medium heat in a large pot, when oil is heated, add meat and cook, turning a couple times, until meat is browning, about 10 - 15 minutes. Add about 8 cups of water, salt and pepper to pot and bring to boil (you may need to add a little more water when you add the veggies. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for an hour. Add potatoes, rutabaga, and carrots. Simmer for half hour. Add celery and onion and simmer for another half hour. In a small bowl add cornstarch with about 2 tbsp cold water (the cold water will completely dissolve the cornstarch so you do not end up with lumps), stir with fork until creamy with no lumps, stir into stew and simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes, until thick (you may need to add more cornstarch if you want a ticker stew)
See below for dinner rolls recipe.



Homemade Dinner Rolls
5 cups flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
5 tsp active dry yeast

Heat milk, water, sugar, and salt in a pot until hot, but do not bring to boil. Add eggs and yeast. Pour into large bowl and add flour, cover and set aside for 20 - 30 minutes. Melt butter and add to bowl. Stir well, if dough is sticky add a little more flour. Lightly knead. Cover and let rise 20 - 30 minutes. Shape dough into desired size for each roll, place on baking pan and let sit for another 20 minutes to rise again. Bake in preheated oven at 400 F. for about 15 minutes




Pork chops with mushroom gravy
5 medium pork chops, chopped into bite size pieces
3 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 tsp Italian seasoning Picture coming soon!
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oil


Heat oil in frying pan, add seasonings. Add pork chops to heated oil and cook until no pink inside meat. Add 3 cans of mushroom soup (you can also use a heavy cream and sliced mushrooms) It will seem at first like you have too much liquid, but half of it will be gone by the time its done. Stir well to make soup a creamy mixture. Cover and simmer for an hour, stirring often. You should get a nice brown gravy when done. Sever over mashed potatoes, rice, or any type of noodle.



Chicken Soup
8 chicken legs
5 medium potatoes
1 rutabaga
3 stalks celery, sliced about 1/4 inch slices
1 small onion, diced
20 baby carrots
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley

Add about 8 - 10 cups of water to a large pot and bring to boil. Add chicken legs, salt and pepper, boil for an hour. Remove all chicken from water (do not drain water, use ladle with holes or empty pot into colander with large bowl underneath, pour broth back into pot) This step is a bit messy, and is not much fun. remove all bones and fat from meat while breaking meat into pieces. Put meat back into pot and return to simmer, add potatoes, carrots and rutabaga. Simmer for half hour. Add celery and onion and simmer for another half hour. You can also cook macaroni noodles separately and add to your bowl when you serve. (I would not recommend adding noodles to soup as they will absorb most of the broth.)

Holiday Treats Part 3 of 3

So this post is a little late for the Christmas holiday, but I still wanted to post it, so I decided to make these recipes relating more to New Years treats. Happy Holidays Everyone.


Stuffed Mushroom Caps
12 whole mushrooms
1 tbsp vegtable oil
1 Package cream cheese (8oz)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Wash mushrooms and carfully remove stems. Spray cooking sheet with oil and set aside. In a medium skillet, heat oil and fry garlic until all moister is gone, be careful not to burn. (note: if you want to use up the stems, chop them very fine, and fry with garlic) set aside until cool. When garlic has cooled, place it in a bowl and mix in cream cheese, parmesan cheese, onion powder, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Arrange caps on cookie sheet and spoon mixture into each one. Bake for 20 minutes.

Fortune Cookies

1 cup flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup egg whites

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp vanilla

1 tbsp water

1/2 cup sugar

Fortunes: Cut paper into small rectangles. Write messages on each with non-toxic marker or pen.

Preheat oven to 300 F. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, add oil and egg whites, beat until smooth. Add water and vanilla and beat well. Drop 1/3 cup of batter onto a greased baking pan and spread out evenly into a wide circle, make two like this at a time and bake for 15 mintues until golden brown. When cookies are done, place in hand (careful they will be hot, use an oven mit) place one fortune in center of cookie, fold in half, but do not crease, fold the two ends towards each other and hold together while cookie begins to harden.

Holiday Treats Part 2 of 3

Rocky Road Bars
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 cup white chocolate chip
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 4 cups rice crispies cereal
- 3 cups mini marshmellows

In a saucepan over low heat combine butter and all chips. Stir until melted. Stir in peanut butter, mix well, remove from heat. In a large bowl add cereal, marshmellows, and chocolate mixture. Stir until combined well. Grease a 9" x 9" pan, spread mixture evenly into pan. Chill for 30 - 40 mintures, keep refrigerated.






Fruit Cake
- 1 1/2 cup walnut halves
- 1 1/2 cup brazil nuts
- 7 pitted dates
-1/2 cup seedles raisins
- 1/2 cup green cherries
- 2/3 orange peel
- 1/2 cup red cherries



Add all these ingredients above in a large bowl.

- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup flour

Sift in these ingredients and mix

- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla

Add the last two ingredients. Mix until batter stiffens, Grease loaf pan and add batter, bake in preheated oven at 300 degrees for one hour fourty five minutes. Cool and slice.

Brownies

- 1 cup flour

- 2 cup sugar

- 2/3 cup cocoa

- 2/3 cup vegetable oil

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 2 tsp vanilla

- 4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Grease 13" x 9" pan. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

Christmas Drinks

With only 12 days till Christmas, I wanted to add some great drinks. I have split my list into two sections for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

Non-Alcoholic Christmas Drinks

Eggnog
6 eggs
1 cup sugar, divided use
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg, plus a little extra for garnish
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Beat whites of egg until fluffy. Add 1/2 cup sugar. In separate bowl beat yolks until creamy then add 1/2 cup sugar. Fold egg whites into beaten yolks. Slowly stir in cream, milk, vanilla and nutmeg. When ready to serve sprinkle with a little nutmeg.






Almond Vanilla Tea Shake
2 scoops vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup almond flavored tea

Mix both ingredients into a blender and blend for 15-20 seconds, or until smooth. Top with whipped cream. Garnish ideas: slivered almonds, sprinkle of red and green sugar.




Creamy Hot Chocolate
1 tbsp hot chocolate mix
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cream
1 tbsp whipped cream
1/2 tsp chocolate shavings

In a large mug add hot chocolate mix, boiling water and stir well, add cream, stir. Put whipped cream on top when ready to serve, sprinkle chocolate shavings on top.







Cranberry Punch
2 cans frozen cranberry juice
1 can frozen orange juice
4 cups ginger ale
Garnish ideas: frozen cranberries, orange slice

Mix all liquids together in a large punch bowl (or blend well then pour into large punch bowl) each glass of punch can be garnished with a few frozen cranberries or slice of orange on rim of glass.

Alcoholic Christmas Drinks

Creamsicle
1/2 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Triple Sec
1 oz Orange Juice
1 oz Cream or Ice Cream

Put all ingredients (except ice cream if your using it) into a shaker with ice, pour into cocktail glass. (if you are using ice cream add it to the glass)




Kiwi Mint Mango
1 oz Kiwi Vodka
5 oz mango juice
8 mint leaves
2 slices of kiwi fruit.

Fill glass with ice, add vodka, mint leaves, and mango juice. Stir well. Top with 2 slices of kiwi fruit.






Candy Cane Drink
3/4 oz White Creme De Cacao
3/4 Peppermint Schnapps
1/4 oz Grenadine
1 Candy Cane
7-up
Cream (see below for how much 7-up and cream needed)

Fill a highball glass or wine glass with ice. Add liqueurs and grenadine, stir. Fill almost to top with cream. Top with 7-up. Garnish with candy cane.




Frosty
1 cup Kahlua
1 cup half-and-half cream
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1/8 tsp almond extract
Ice

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add ice to blender to reach the 5 cup mark on blender container. Process until smooth. Taste best when served right away.

Holiday Treats Part 1 of 3

Chocolates & Candies

Almond Truffles

11 ounces white chocolate

3 tbsp butter, softened

3 tbsp confectioners sugar

30 smoked almonds

3 tbsp cream (35%)

6 and a 1/2 tbsp almond butter, bring to room temperature

1 cup finely ground almonds (you can use 8oz almond paste in stead)

Using a double boiler, bring water to hot not boiling, melt the white chocolate, then remove from heat and set aside. In a medium bowl, blend the buter and sugar until it becomes creamy. Stir in almond butter and mix well. Add cream and melted chocolate mix until smooth. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Measure out 1 tsp of mixture and completely over a smoked almond, repeat untill all almonds are covered.

(If you are using ground almonds) Roll the covered smoked almonds in the ground almonds to coat.

(If you are using almond paste) Dust work surface with some of the powdered sugar. Roll almond paste until it is a little thicker then paper thin. Cut out circles just a little larger then needed to completly cover each truffle. Pinch edges and roll between hands to smooth out the surface. Repeat with remaining truffles.

You can now place truffles in little paper cups or candy cups and store in fridge in an airtight container for up to 7 days. Remove from fridge about 20 minutes before serving.

Dipped Marshmallows

This is a quick and easy recipe that my son and I love to make and eat at Christmas.

1 cup chocolate chips or white chocolate chips (or 1/2 or each made seprate)

2 tsp oil

1 package marshmellows

Any decrotive small candies, sprinkles, or crushed candy cane (finley crushed)

Combine chocolate chips and oil in a bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds on medium heat, stir well, if not quite melted heat again for about 30 more seconds, you want it to soft not melted, the stiring will finish melting the rest (careful not to burn) Place marshmellow on a toothpick one at a time and dip in chocolate and turn to completely coat. Sprinkle with small candy, sprinkles or whatever you are using and set aside until firm.

NOTE: You can also use small skewers that are not sharp, or popsicle sticks to stick into the marshmellow when dipping in chocolate, you can leave these in for handles when eating. Here are some ideas for coatings and sticks.

This recipe also taste great with pretzle sticks or rice crispy squares.

Bourbon Balls

1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup bourbon whiskey
3 tbsp light corn syrup
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Combine vanilla wafer crumbs, sugar, and pecans in a bowl and mix well. Microwave chocolate chips for 30 seconds - 1 minute, check and stir once or twice through heating to melt but not burn the chocolate chips. Stir melted chips until smooth, beat in the corn syrup and bourbon. Pour chocolate mixture into dry mixture and stir well. Put sugar into shallow bowl. Form dough mixture into balls and about 1-inch in size, roll each one in sugar.
You can also roll these in coconut.

Peanut Brittle
1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup peanuts

Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside.In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts. Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. Stir frequently until temperature reaches 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard and brittle threads.Remove from heat; immediately stir in butter or margarine and baking soda; pour at once onto cookie sheet. Using a fork, lift and pull peanut mixture into rectangle about 14x12 inches, cool. Snap candy into pieces.

Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Ginger Snaps
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl. Place the shortening into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Sugar Cookies
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls (or flatten and use Christmas cookie cutters to make Christmas shapes) and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks. You can now use icing and colored sugar to decorate your cookies.

Holiday Appetizers

With the holiday's being just around the corner I thought what a great time to list some holiday appetizers, many of these I actually make every Christmas, some are recipes I've been meaning to try.


Sweet & Sour Meatballs
These mini meatballs are a hit every Christmas in our home. Don't forget to put out some tooth picks or little Christmas colored toothpicks.

Meatballs
1 lb Ground Beef
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
1/2 tsp S&P
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400C. Wash hands before handling meat, put all ingredients into a large bowl and get your hands dirty, that's right, squash and squeeze all that meat with your hands to evenly mix all the bread crumbs and S&P through out the meat. Grab a little chunk of meat and form into a ball around the size of a green olive, place meatballs into ungreased roast pan or any baking dish with lid, cover and bake for around 30-40 minutes, start checking on them after around 30 minutes, if your not sure if there done cut one open and make sure there is no pink to it.

Sweet & Sour Sauce
1/2 cup Ketchup
4 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 heaping tbsp Cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water
- You may want to cup up chunks of green/red/yellow peppers, these can be added to sauce after it is finished but before meatballs are mixed in, simmer for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Mix all ingredients except Cornstarch into a pot or saucepan, bring to simmer on medium heat stirring often, mix cornstarch with 1 tbsp of cold water in a small bowl before adding to sauce (this will prevent clumps) when sauce is simmering, mix in cornstarch mixture, allow to simmer for an additional 3-4 minutes stirring more often. Pour cooked meatballs into sauce and carefully stir, trying to not break the meatballs, use a ladle or a big spoon with holes to drain some of the sauce off the meatballs, place on platter or plate.

Garnishing Ideas
- Place big lettuce leafs on plate and pour meatballs on top (these meatballs taste good rolled up in iceberg lettuce leaves.
- If you have a big enough platter use cheese cubes to outline the shape of a stocking and pour meatballs inside outline.
- cut lettuce leaves to look like tree branches and use meatballs to look like bulbs on the tree, cut out a piece of cheese for the star and line meatballs on bottom for the trunk. (I've never done this but it just came to me as a neat idea, I will try it this week and take a picture to add below this recipe) if you come up with some others please email me and I will add to this blog.





Fruit and Fruit Dip
This is a recipe I learned while working in a deli years ago, its so simple and yet so good.

Fruit
Cut cubes around an inch in size of any of these fruits, the smaller fruits do not need to be cubed.
- Grapes
- Cantaloupe
- Honey Due Mellon
- Pineapple
- Strawberries
- Apples
- Watermelon
- Banana
- Any kind of sweet melon or fruit

Fruit Dip
You can adjust the amount of ingredients for this depending on how much you need, left over dip can be stored in sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days.
- 1 container (600g-800g or medium sized) yogurt (I use plain but have used strawberry and blueberry in the past and it was still yummy)
- 1 container dream whip or whipped cream (not can stuff) try to find roughly the same size as the yogurt as you will want to mix equal parts. Play with the mixture a bit to find a taste that works for you.
Place cubed fruit onto platter and fruit dip in a small bowl placed in center of fruit.





Deviled Eggs (this recipe makes 12)
6 eggs
3 - 4 cups water
half small onion finely chopped
1/2 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp hot sauce
1 hefty tbsp mayo or miracle whip
3 dashes of salt
1/4 tsp paprika

Boil water then add eggs carefully boil eggs for 9-11 minutes, I boil for 10 minutes exactly but stoves vary. When eggs are cooked drain the water and pour cold water over eggs with the pot tilted to the side to allow the water to pour out as it fills, do this for about 30 seconds to help cool the eggs quicker, peal off egg shells and rinse to make sure there is no little bits of shell on your egg, now you want to cut your pealed eggs down the center length wise
carefully scoop out yolks (yellow part) and put in a small bowl, mix in all other ingredients except paprika, mix well, with a small spoon carefully scoop mixture back into egg halves. sprinkle each halve with paprika.

Check out these great sites.

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