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Saturday, November 28, 2009

New foods in India

There are alot of fruits that I have never seen before. The custard apple is one of them.

This is the custard apple on the tree.



It takes a little like a watermellon. It has alot of seeds, but it is very sweet and good.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Pat-in-Pie Crust


This was the crust for the apple pie we made for the India Thanksgiving. It was Marsha Brown's recipe. It was very easy and really good. For those that have trouble with pie crust you have to try this!
Ingredients:
1 ½ CUPS UNSIFTED Pillsbury flour*
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup oil
2 tablespoons milk
Directions:
Combine flour, sugar and salt. Add oil and milk; mix well and pat in 9-inch pie pan, fluting edge if desired. Fill with desired filling. Bake as directed in filling recipe. For baked pie shell, bake at 425 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. 9 inch crust
NOTE:
*With self-rising flour, omit salt.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Sweet Potato Souffle


In India the sweet potatoes are not orange, they are kind of yellow. We couldn't find any marshmellows or brown sugar so Marsha made a delicious Sweet Potato Souffle. Everybody loved it. So she is going to share:
Sweet Potato Souffle
Ingredients:
3 cups sweet potatoes/cooked and mashed
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
½ cup milk or cream
½ stick butter
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Combine all ingredients. Put into baking dish. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and brown, about 30 minutes
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
½ stick butter
½ cup pecans
Directions:
Cream together brown sugar, flour & butter. Stir in pecans.

Your Age by Chocolate Calculator

Saturday, November 7, 2009

1. Worst Packaged Food in America

Marie Callender's Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie
1,060 calories
1,440 mg sodium
64 g fat (24 g saturated)

Marie Callender's perpetrates the ultimate sleight of hand here: The nutrition information says this medium-size entrée has two servings, but honestly, when have you ever split a potpie? Lard-strewn pastry tops and cream-based fillings are the lowest common denominators of the nutritionally nefarious potpie, and this one, with an ingredient list that reads like an O-Chem final, beats out dozens of horrendous iterations to earn this special place on our list.
Sodium Equivalent: 8 small bags of potato chips
Fat Equivalent: 23 strips of bacon
Calorie Equivalent: 7 Taco Bell Fresco Beef Tacos

Eat This Instead!
Marie Callender's Oven Baked Chicken (369 g)
320 calories
990 mg sodium
12 g fat (3 g saturated)

Greek Salad

Prep: 10min
Cook: 0min
Total: 10min
Servers: 4
Ingredients:
3 cups torn romaine lettuce
1 cup torn escarole or curly endive
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onions
1/4 cup thinly sliced radishes
1 medium tomato, cut into 8 wedges
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon nonfat plain yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt
ground black pepper
Directions
1. In a large salad bowl, combine the lettuce, escarole or endive, onions, radishes and tomatoes.
2. In a jar, combine the lemon juice, oil, yogurt, honey and oregano; shake to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the salad; toss well.
Nutritional Facts per serving
CALORIES 50.2 CAL

FAT 2.5 G

SATURATED FAT 0.4 G

CHOLESTEROL 0.1 MG

SODIUM 52.3 MG

CARBOHYDRATES 6.9 G

TOTAL SUGARS 3.9 G

DIETARY FIBER 2.1 G

PROTEIN 1.4 G

APPLE PIE

Apple pie sounds so good. I would just love a slice of pie and coffee right now!

DUTCH APPLE PIE

two crust pie, approximately 8 or 9 inches. (top and bottom)
2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
4 ounces shortening chilled
2 1/2 ounces butter chilled but not frozen.
1/2 cup ice water or as needed
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 egg, slightly beaten
Combine the dry ingredients and mix. As you are mixing the dry ingredients add the shortening and butter until you get a pea like consistency with the dough. Add more butter if needed but do not go over 3 ounces for two crust or 1 1/2 ounces for single crust. Make sure the butter has been siting out of the fridge for 1/2 hour, it should be cold but workable, and that the shortening is chilled as well but not frozen or hard.

Next add the vinegar and beaten egg. Then slowly pour in the 1/2 cup ice water until the dough starts to come together. As soon as it comes together, stop adding the water and stop mixing. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for 4 hours.

After the dough has rested, gently roll out on parchment slightly bigger than the pie plate and using the parchment paper, turn the dough over onto the pie plate. It's easiest if you put the plate onto the dough. If the parchment paper is on a piece of cardboard or cutting board, so much the easier. (If you are making a top and a bottom, roll out about 1/2 for the bottom. I'll give you directions for the top in a minute.)

Trim and crimp and don't forget to dock, that is fork, the dough well. Cover with plastic and refrigerate.

Dutchesque Apple Pie filling
6 Empire apples
1/3 - 1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons quick (minute) tapioca
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Dutch apple pie, core and peel the apples, I like to use Empire for this pie, and cut into 8-10 sections. Add about 1/3 a cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons tapioca, salt, lemon juice and cinnamon and toss together, taking care not to mush the apples.

Fill the prepared bottom with the filling. This pie needs to mound.

Roll out the dough and cover the pie, making sure to trim and crimp the edges together firmly so that the top will stick to the bottom. Use egg wash to moisten the top to stick the bottom and the top together. Use the same egg mixture as a wash on the top crust. Cut vents into the pie to allow steam to escape. Finally, sprinkle the top with brown sugar. (If you add 1/2 cup of heavy cream though the hole at the top, you get a real Dutch apple pie.)

Bake at 425F for 15 minutes and then continue baking at 375 for 35 - 40 minutes. When the crust is golden brown, it is done.
==========================
FRENCH APPLE PIE

single crust pie
1 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons sugar
2 ounces shortening chilled
1 1/2 ounces butter chilled but not frozen.
1/4 cup ice water or as needed
1 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 egg (2 tablespoons), slightly beaten
Combine the dry ingredients and mix. As you are mixing the dry ingredients add the shortening and butter until you get a pea like consistency with the dough. Add more butter if needed but do not go over 3 ounces for two crust or 1 1/2 ounces for single crust. Make sure the butter has been siting out of the fridge for 1/2 hour, it should be cold but workable, and that the shortening is chilled as well but not frozen or hard.

Next add the vinegar and beaten egg. Then slowly pour in the 1/2 cup ice water until the dough starts to come together. As soon as it comes together, stop adding the water and stop mixing. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for 4 hours.

After the dough has rested, gently roll out on parchment slightly bigger than the pie plate and using the parchment paper, turn the dough over onto the pie plate. It's easiest if you put the plate onto the dough. If the parchment paper is on a piece of cardboard or cutting board, so much the easier. (If you are making a top and a bottom, roll out about 1/2 for the bottom. I'll give you directions for the top in a minute.)

Trim and crimp and don't forget to dock, that is fork, the dough well. Cover with plastic and refrigerate.


French Apple Pie Filling
2 Empire
1 Fuji
2 Granny Smith
1 Rome
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 - 1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon Chinese five spices
2 tablespoons instant (minute) tapioca

The important part of this pie is to core the apple, do not peel, and slice very thinly. I like to use the 1mm setting on my Cuisinart to slice these apples. Make sure that as you slice them, add the lemon juice. You may use up to 2 T of lemon juice. And make sure the apples are well mixed. Then add the rest of the ingredients and gently toss the thinly sliced apples, mixing the ingredients.

Next, lay the apples in a spiral starting from the edge and working inward until you build up a big mound of apples slices. The bigger the better. Again, this is a mounding pie. Feel free to use 2 Rome apples if needed.

Cover the top with a generous amount of streusel topping. Combine 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup AP flour and 1/3 cup of butter. Mix till you get a nice crumbly topping.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425F and then lower to 375 and continue baking for 45 minutes or until the streusel topping is slightly browned.

No matter what pie you do, let cool on a rack before serving. You may serve this at room temperature or warm. Add some cinnamon ice cream and you have a favorite dessert here at the Arms.

Breakfast Pies


Ingredients

* 3/4 pound breakfast sausage
* 1/8 cup minced onion
* 1/8 cup minced green bell pepper
* 1 (12 ounce) can refrigerated biscuit dough
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 3 tablespoons milk
* 1/2 cup shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, combine sausage, onion and green pepper. Cook until sausage is evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
3. Separate the dough into 10 individual biscuits. Flatten each biscuit out, then line the bottom and sides of 10 muffin cups. Evenly distribute sausage mixture between the cups. Mix together the eggs and milk, and divide between the cups. Sprinkle tops with shredded cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until filling is set.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

November is National Peanut Butter Month!

Peanut Butter Lovers Month Check it OUT

Onion Roasted Sweet Potatoes



Ingredients


* 2 (1 ounce) packages dry onion soup mix
* 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, toss the dry onion soup mix, sweet potatoes and vegetable oil until the sweet potatoes are well coated.
3. Arrange the mixture on a large baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven 40 to 50 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.

Halloween Chocolate Candy Bark


Halloween chocolate candy bark requires only four components: chocolate, candy, a cookie sheet and parchment paper (assuming you have an oven/stove accessible.

You can easily adapt this recipe for the holidays - with red/green M&Ms, peppermint candy and even dried cranberries as one party-goer suggested - or with candy to reflect your favorite sport team's colors.

If you have leftover Halloween candy that you need to get out of the house before you lapse into sugar-coma, make a batch of this, bring it into the office, and you'll have permanent job security.

Chocolate Candy Bark (for Halloween, or any occasion)
Ingredients:

4 ounces white chocolate
Crushed up Oreos
Crushed up Butterfinger Bars
M & M's (You can even specially order your favorite colors)
Milk Chocolate-for drizzling (optional)

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the white chocolate in a metal bowl. Put the metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Stir the chocolate frequently with a rubber spatula. When the chocolate is smooth and fully melted, remove the bowl from the heat. Wipe off the bowl if there is any condensation.

3. Let the white chocolate cool for a minute or two. Stir to make sure it doesn't harden. Pour the chocolate onto the baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread it with a spatula until it is about 3/8 inch thick.

4. Sprinkle Oreos, Butterfinger pieces, M & M's over the white chocolate.

5. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave and drizzle over the Butterfinger portion.

6. Let the chocolate cool and harden. I put the pan in the refrigerator. It was ready in about 30-45 minutes.

7. Once the chocolate is set and hard, break bark into pieces.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Giving Thanks

It's here--Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, and it's time to start planning that menu. From the turkey and side dishes to the delicious desserts, you know your holiday table is going to be stocked full of family favorites, so take the time to try a new recipe. You'll love the new addition to the holiday!


Cranberry Puffs

Ingredients

* 3/4 cup fresh cranberries
* 1 jalapeno pepper, stem removed
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1 (14 ounce) package wonton wrappers
* 3 cups canola oil for frying


Directions

1. In a food processor, combine the cranberries, jalapeno pepper, sugar and mayonnaise. Process until smooth. This will be your cranberry relish. Set aside half of this mixture, and pour the rest into a medium bowl. Mix cream cheese into this half until well blended.
2. Lay a few wonton wrappers at a time out on a clean surface. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture onto the center of each one. Pinch the corners together to make a triangle shape. If they don't stick, wet them with a little water using your finger. Set aside on a piece of waxed paper while you assemble the remaining puffs.
3. Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully set 5 to 10 of the dumplings in the pan. Do not over crowd the pan. Fry on each side until golden brown. Remove from the hot oil using tongs and place on paper towels to drain. Serve on a platter with the reserved cranberry relish as a dipping sauce. The sooner you eat them, the better they taste.