Spaghetti Carbonara (II)

This is one of those recipes I don't make very often anymore because of the evil-carb nature of all pasta, but it was requested for a birthday dinner recently, and I thought it would be a good addition to this list.  I found this on allrecipes.com, and I'll post it here with the modifications I normally make noted as such.  Hats off to the original poster, Sabrinatee!

This isn't a difficult dish, but once you have the onions cooked, it goes very quickly, so the mise en place process of getting everything prepared and measured beforehand is your friend. So I chop the onion and beat the eggs, and if I'm lucky enough to have a block of Parmesan, I grate it first. Then I cook the bacon, and about halfway through that process, I put the water on to boil. When the bacon is all done and crumbled, you can move very quickly through the rest of the process.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. spaghetti (I usually only use 1/2 lb.)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

8 slices to 1 lb. bacon, diced (I usually just cook the bacon then chop it up)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION:

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and toss with 1 T olive oil, and set aside.

While waiting for the water to boil, fry the bacon to just crisp and then drain on paper towels. Empty out the rendered grease, reserving some for cooking the onions and garlic (the original recipe says 2 Tablespoons, but I generally use 4 or 5). I just fry the bacon without chopping it up first, and after it's all cooked I give it a rough chop to make it all bite-sized.

Add the remaining olive oil and the reserved bacon grease to the same skillet, and cook the onions over medium to medium-high heat until translucent. (I use an electric food chopper to make the onion bits pretty small, but they can be any size you choose.)  Add the minced garlic (I usually do 3-4 cloves of garlic because we like the flavor) and cook for 1 minute. If you are using the white wine, add it and cook one more minute.

Return the bacon to the pan, and add the cooked and drained spaghetti. Toss well to coat with the oils and to mix the bacon and onion-garlic mixture into the pasta. Add more olive oil and/or bacon grease if the pasta seems too dry or is sticking together.

Working quickly, pour in the beaten eggs and mix, tossing thoroughly, until the eggs are cooked. Quickly add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and toss again. Season with salt and pepper, but remember that Parmesan and bacon are very salty in themselves.

Serve immediately with fresh chopped parsley and extra Parmesan.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

A long time ago, when Hans was in preschool, our class put together a cookbook of favorite recipes, just sharing among the 15 families represented in the class. This one came from Melissa Lozier, who coincidentally used to be on staff at CURE (pre-CityCURE, pre-City Gospel Mission). She left CURE to get married, and it was her leaving that precipitated Gary going on staff there.

This recipe has become one of those things that it just isn't Christmas without, and Grace has taken it over as her specialty. I've never tried them in a regular muffin pan, and have never had to use muffin papers in the cups, so I don't know the variables involved. I've also included a table, of sorts, for increases in all amounts for doubling and tripling the recipe.

Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

makes 3.5 to 4 dozen mini muffins

o      1 2/3 cups flour (if using self-rising flour, you may omit the salt and baking powder, but do not omit the baking soda)

o      1 cup sugar

o      1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (OR 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)

o      1 teaspoon baking soda

o      1/4 teaspoon baking powder

o      1/4 teaspoon salt

o      2 large eggs

o      1/4 cup melted margarine or butter (4 Tablespoons)

o      1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

o      1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Sift or stir dry ingredients together.

3. In a large bowl, blend eggs, melted butter or margarine, and pumpkin together until smooth.

4. Add dry ingredients and mix until everything’s blended. Don’t over-mix.

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Spray mini muffin pan with Pam, and fill each cup about 2/3 full. (We have found that the medium cookie scoop is perfect, which is about 1 Tablespoon.)

7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes each. Cool on wire racks or tea towels.

They freeze well, if you ever have any left over. This has never happened to me.

Some notes about canned pumpkin: a) There is no appreciable taste difference between homemade pumpkin puree and canned pumpkin. There is a BIG difference in the amount of work involved. It's completely up to you how long you want to slave over this part.  b) You can’t buy a 1-cup can of pumpkin. I think they come in 14 or 15 ounce cans, in the smallest size. If you double the recipe, you can use the whole can without having leftover pumpkin or throwing any away. The less-than-full amount still makes perfectly lovely muffins.

Doubled and Tripled:

3 1/3    or            5 cups flour

2          or            3 cups sugar

2 T       or            3 T pumpkin pie spice (or 3 OR 4 1/2 t cinnamon, 1 1/2 OR 2 1/4 t ginger, 1 OR 1 1/2 t cloves)

2          or            3 t baking soda

1/2       or            3/4 t baking powder

1/2       or            3/4 t salt

4          or            6 large eggs

1/2       or            3/4 cup melted margarine

2          or            3 cups pumpkin

2          or            3 cups chocolate chips

Moroccan Tagine

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com  before they went all "mobile-app" and were still actually useful.  I had a butternut squash for some reason, which at that point was not something I would have bought on purpose (I think someone gave it to me). So I was on allrecipes.com looking for things with butternut squash in them, and most of them sounded as revolting as I thought squash was at the time, but then I happened on this one, and I liked everything else in it, preparation didn't seem too onerous (silly me!), so I tried it. Everyone else liked it pretty well, and it helped that you serve it over couscous (which, as our friends Aaron and Marcus tell us, is a food so nice they named it twice), and it's pretty much yum.  This recipe serves 6, and I have not tried freezing it, but it would probably do okay.  And the ingredients are verbatim off the allrecipes site, but this is a recipe you can play with proportions a little--maybe your squash isn't small, or you want to feed 8 people and 3 chicken breasts feels a bit skimpy. Be advised it's pretty mild, so you'll probably want to increase the seasonings if you increase one of the main ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or more) for frying
• 2 boneless-skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces (this is the onerous part that I hinted at above: peeling the squash and cutting it up)
• 1 (15-ish ounce) can of garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chick peas), drained and rinsed
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped (I chop up a handful of baby carrots)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes (do not drain them, throw the juice in with the fruit at the right time)
• 1 (14 ounce) can of vegetable broth (or chicken, if you want)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• dash or two of cayenne pepper 

Method:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and cook the chicken and onions until browned, about 15 minutes, adding the garlic a minute or two before the end so you don't scorch it.  (You can cheat a little on the time, cooking it just until the chicken isn't pink anymore, and the onions are translucent. It doesn't hurt the flavor, and if you're rushed for time this is the corner to cut.)

2. Mix everything else in with the chicken mixture, including the seasonings.  Bring it to a boil, and then reduce it to a high simmer and cook 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Serve with couscous.


NOTES:  You can easily make this vegan by leaving out the chicken and making sure you use vegetable broth. Adding tofu is unnecessary (and yucky) (sorry, I'm not a fan).

The hardest part of this recipe is peeling the squash. There is no easy way to do it. Be careful, whether you pare the rind off with a knife or use a potato peeler. The skin is very hard, and the vegetable is very firm. Allow yourself enough time to do this.  I have read that microwaving the squash briefly or blanching it makes it easier to peel, but I haven't tried this yet. Maybe next time.

The prep can be done ahead, but be aware that this squash kind of sweats its juice when cut. No big deal, don't freak out. It isn't gone bad or anything like that.

Apple Dumplings

I want to give Pioneer Woman full credit for this recipe. I have modified it a little, but I would never have thought this up on my own.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of crescent rolls
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced into 8 slices each
• 2 sticks of salted butter
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar (I used 1 cup of brown sugar because I was almost out of white sugar, and I am probably NEVER going to try this without brown sugar EVER, because caramel.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• cinnamon to taste
• 1 can (12 oz) of Mountain Dew (I used a 7.5 oz tiny can, and the sauce may have been a little bit skimpy, but there was still plenty)
• Vanilla ice cream or sweet whipped cream for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a 9x13 inch casserole dish. (You can also use Pam spray.)

Peel, core, and slice the apples.

Open a can of crescent rolls, and separate the dough triangles. (I did one can at a time, since the dough expands out of the can and gets stickier, so for ease of handling, one at a time.) Wrap each slice of apple in a triangle of dough and snuggle them all up in the casserole dish. It fits nicely with 8 on each side.  Sprinkle cinnamon over all.

In a 2 quart saucepan, melt the butter. It seems like a lot of butter, but don't skimp. It's necessary. When melted, stir in the sugar and vanilla. You don't need to boil it, or stir it until the sugar dissolves. You want it to be kind of grainy. All that is necessary is to stir it until the sugar and vanilla are all wet and mixed in.  Then pour it over the apple-in-a-blanket things you made. I took the trouble to get a spoon and make sure all the pastry had some of this syrup over it.

Bake in your 350-degree oven for 40 minutes. I nearly over-baked it (too many other things happening, and I didn't get to it the moment the timer went off),  and the pastry on the end dumplings was a bit chewy. But still yummy and delicious. Serve with ice cream, pan sauce, and bask in the compliments and proposals of marriage.

If you want to see photos of the process and the finished product, google Pioneer Woman Apple Dumplings.

Easy Basil Chicken

I saw this on Facebook, actually. I'm not proud of it, except it really makes fantastic chicken. There are no amounts, proportions, or ratios listed, so you can make 1 serving or 100.

Ingredients:

• boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• enough basil pesto to put about 1-2 tablespoons on each breast
• sliced tomatoes (I didn't have fresh, so I used canned diced tomatoes, drained)
• mozzarella cheese (I used shredded, but you could also use sliced, just make sure you can cover each piece of chicken)

That's it.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Arrange the chicken in a baking dish (I did spray mine with Pam), spread pesto over each piece, layer on tomatoes, then cover with cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes.

There you have it: a terrific Italian-flavored dish with no pasta. (You can have pasta, but it doesn't need it.) Serve it with garlic bread, tossed salad, and Bellissimo!

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

I am pretty sure this comes from some edition of the Hershey Cocoa Cookbook. I learned it from my mother. It's one of those recipes that she tended to make on winter nights when she was craving chocolate but couldn't get out to the store, because all of the ingredients were always on hand at our house.  Generally I mix it up while waiting for the last things to cook, and get it into the oven just before serving dinner. Then it's hot out of the oven when it's time for dessert.

Batter:

• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Tablespoons melted shortening
• 1/2 cup milk

Pudding:

• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cups hot tap water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Mix the ingredients for the batter. Spread it in a 7x11 rectangle pan. (9x13 is too big, but if you don't have a 7x11, you can use a square cake pan or a smaller oval.) You do not have to grease the pan. In fact, DON'T grease the pan. 

Mix the brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Sprinkle it evenly over the surface of the batter. Then pour the hot water over that.

Transfer it carefully into the preheated oven. Bake 45 minutes. Serve it hot! (You can get 8 servings out of a rectangle pan if you keep them small.) 

Some people swear by vanilla ice cream to accompany hot fudge pudding cake. Some like lightly sweetened whipped cream. Cool Whip or Redi-whip is delicious on this.  Personally I like it without any topping at all.

I can't really advise you on how to store leftovers, because it's always gone by nightfall, or breakfast latest. In theory, I guess I would portion it out in individual servings and refrigerate it, then microwave it for about 30 seconds before serving.

White Chicken Chili

I found this on howto-simplify.com. It's really pretty easy, and you can make it hot or mild, however you like it.

• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded *(see notes)
• 2 cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed *(see notes)
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 box (32 oz) chicken broth
• salt and pepper to taste
• the juice of one lime

1. In a large pot, saute the onion and cook it until it starts to become translucent.
2. Add the chicken shreds, beans, corn, green chiles (with the juice from the can), cumin, and oregano to the large pot. Stir to combine everything, and then add the broth.
3. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes to allow the broth to reduce. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the juice of one lime. (If you like cilantro, you can add 1/2 cup chopped fresh at this time, or you can serve it as a topping on the side.
4. You can simmer the chili until you're ready to serve.
5. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado, tortilla chips or corn muffins.

Notes:
*I might have mentioned before that if you use frozen boneless-skinless chicken breasts for your shredded chicken, an easy way to prepare it is to boil them, right out of the freezer, in water to just cover, and a few cubes of chicken bouillon. Boil them until cooked. Remove them from the water and let them rest a couple minutes, and then toss them in the bowl of your stand-mixer, and use the paddle attachment to reduce them to shreds. It only takes less than a minute.
*You can use black beans or pinto beans, as well. It reduces the whiteness of the chili, but it doesn't change the taste.