In His Grip

I Got A Pioneer Woman Cooks Book!!! Yeah!

The other day I was pleasantly surprised when a friend of mine gave me The Pioneer Woman Cooks,cookbook.  I have been following the Pioneer Woman blog for over two years.  I love her quirky posts about her life on a ranch in Oklahoma.  Since I read her everyday, I feel like I know her.  She has invited her readers into her family and home.  I feel like I have helped her make design decisions on the lodge that she recently renovated, helped her brother, Mike, stay on the wagon, and shared her great anxiety as she appeared on the Bonnie Hunt show.  Now, I am pretty sure she has no idea who Judy @ In His Grip is, but I know that if I saw her in person I might just embarrass myself by running up to her and huggng like she was one of my Panera tribe gals.  Okay, that is weird.  This is the best step-by-step cookbook I have ever seen.  To be honest I don't like cookbooks that do not have a picture of every recipe.  I want to see what I am making.  Not only does she have pictures of the finished product, she has pictures of how things look as you follow the recipe.  You have gotta love that!

Our Small Group Can Cook, What Can Your Small Group Do?

Tonight our ladies small group from  Indian Creek, Gardner had a super time of  cooking fun.  Instead of doing our normal Bible study, we got together and had a cooking demonstration.  My friend Debra came and showed us how to make some delicious hors doeuvres just in time for our holiday party planning. We made a  Chili-Lime Pecans (these are the best!!!!), Savory Cheese Cake, and Spanikopita. I will definitely be making these for the holidays.  Its amazing how well our small group has gotten to know each other in such a short time and how much each of our lives have been changed by being a part of this group.  Just last Spring we did not even know one another's names.  I love these gals and look forward to continuing on our journeys together in the future.

Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies

Funfetti Cookies are just the best.  We made these this past weekend not only are they easy peasy, they are absolutely delicious.  Lindsey made these for a meeting that she was having, where nobody showed up, but that is another story.   So being my daughter, she "had" to eat the cookies herself.  But because they were soooo good she was willing to make the sacrifice.  Funfetti Cake mixes are out all year long and there are different ones for each holiday.  Here is the recipe:

1	(18.9-oz.) pkg. Pillsbury® Moist Supreme® Funfetti® Cake Mix
1/3	cup oil
2	eggs
1/2	(15.6-oz.) can Pillsbury® Creamy Supreme® Funfetti® Vanilla Frosting

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; stir with spoon until thoroughly moistened. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. With bottom of glass dipped in flour, flatten to 1/4-inch thickness. Bake at 375°F. for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Spread frosting over warm cookies. Immediately sprinkle each with candy bits from frosting. Let frosting set before storing. Store in tightly covered container.

Chocolate Chex® Caramel Crunch Recipe

This is a recipe that has come highly recommended by a couple of my friends.  Last week during the Pumpkin Run Sheri was telling me about this Chocolate Chex carmel stuff that she had made the day before and could not stop eating it.  She had tried it when our friend Cathie had brought it to a party that they had attended a couple weeks before.  She said it was easy and yes, she was right, easy peasy, and super good.  ~WARNING~I am not responsible for how much you eat of this recipe.  If you tend to be like me,  you won't stop eating until you are sick. 

 

8	cups Chocolate Chex® cereal
3/4	cup packed brown sugar
6	tablespoons butter or margarine
3	tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4	teaspoon baking soda
1/4	cup white vanilla baking chips

Into large microwavable bowl, measure cereal; set aside. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper.

In 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup uncovered on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on High 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread on cookie sheet. Cool 10 minutes. Break into bite-size pieces.

 
In small microwavable bowl, microwave vanilla baking chips uncovered on High about 1 minute 30 seconds or until chips can be stirred smooth (bowl will be hot). Drizzle over snack. Refrigerate until set. Store in tightly covered container.

Easy Apple Crisp

I would not call myself a "good" cook but I do like to make "good" food.  Some people like to cook gourmet, things that take a lot of skill.  My specialty happens to be good food made easy.  In fact, one of my favorite web sites is called Dinner Made Easy by Betty Crocker.  In light of the Autumn season and the abundance of good apples around, we made this Easy Apple Crisp for dinner Sunday night.  I found this recipe on the Tasty Kitchen website another of my favorites.  Can you tell that I really like that swirlly brush on my PhotoShop?

Jo's Old Fashioned Apple Crisp 

8 cups Apples, Half Cortland, Half McIntosh

½ cups Butter (no Substitute)

½ cups Sugar

½ cups Flour

2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Use a pie dish. 10″ deep dish works best for one this size. Peel and core apples, layering them alternately, Cortland- McIntosh, until all apples are in the dish. Soften butter slightly and mix with the sugar and flour until crumbly. Sprinkle cinnamon, more or less than specified amount according to your taste, over the layered apples. Pour the crumbly butter-sugar-flour mix over that. Put in the hot oven for 30 to 45 minutes, checking with a knife. It should easily go into the deepest part and come out clean. Cool, or eat while still warm. Serve plain, with real whipped cream, or ice cream.

Apples are a Great Part of Fall!

There are just things about Fall that I love.  One of them happens to be apples.  I really like the colors and shape of them, but most of all the crisp sound when you bite into a fresh apple has to be the best.  I happen to be partial to the green variety, Granny Smith being my favs.  A crisp Granny Smith with that little bit of sour and then sprinkled with a smidgen of salt.  Wow, what a healthy snack.  In the Fall, you can always find a container of apples in our home as a centerpiece.  But, this is a decoration that anyone is welcome to take one and enjoy.  This long narrow wood box happens to be one the treasures that I picked up at Nell Hills a couple of weeks ago.  They came in several different colors and sizes.  Maybe, I should go back and get a square red one, hmmm?  I love how it looks filled with the harvest of Autumn.

Tomato, Corn and Avocado Salsa

Today at Indian Creek Community church, Gardner campus one of our creekers brought peppers from his garden.  We could take all that we wanted he had both jalapeno and habanero peppers.  So of course we decided that we needed to make of some fresh salsa when we got home.  I made the recipe as below but in order to use some of habanero peppers we separated out some of the salsa and add habanero to it.  Whew!  That can be really hot!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato, Corn And Avocado Salsa

1 1/2 cups frozen corn (thawed)

1 4oz. can sliced black olives (drained)

1 1/2 cups diced roma tomatoes

3/4 cup diced red onion

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 1/2 teaspoons minced jalapeno pepper

1 avocado peeled and diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon salt.

Mix together corn, olives, tomatoes, onion, red pepper, and jalapeno in a large bowl.  Gently fold in avocado, olive oil, lime juice, and salt.

Eat with chips and enjoy!!!!

Pesto Pizza!!!

The sweet basil in my herb garden has been going crazy.   So, I decided to use it for dinner last night.  Earlier this summer I went to a cooking class put on a good friend of mine named Debra and she shared her recipe for homemade pesto and her secrets to a great pizza dough as well.  Debra, being the Pioneer Woman, follower that she is in the one that introduced me to that blog  several years ago and I have been a daily reader of Pioneer Woman even since.  She even had the opportunity to go to the Pioneer Woman's lodge, if you are a follower of hers you know what a great privileged that was.  Debra was even mentioned and had a picture posted of her as well, (yes, that is my friend Debra right at the top of the post) we have our very own celebrity!!!!!  Here is the Pesto recipe and pizza dough recipe.

Pesto

4 cups basil leaves (not tightly packed, but somewhat packed)

1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil (may use more if desired)

1 cup parmesan cheese

4 -5 cloves garlic

1/4 cup walnuts (or pine nuts)

Process in food processor fitted with a metal blade until desired consistency.

Pizza Dough

1 packet (or 1 T.) yeast

2 t. sugar, divided

1 cup lukewarm water

3 cups flour

3 T parmesan cheese

1 t salt

2 T Olive oil

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 t. of the sugar in 1/2 cup of the water.  Let it sit until it just begins to foam, 3 -5 minutes.

Put the flour, Parmesan, salt, and remaining sugar in a food processor fitted with metal blade.  Turning the machine on and off rapidly, pulse several times to blend.  With the machine running pour in the yeast mixture and oil, then gradually add enough of the reaming water to form smooth dough.  Continue processing until the dough forms a ball that rides round the bowl; the dough at this point will be sufficiently kneaded.

Remove from the bowl and form into a smooth ball.  Cover and let rest 15 - 30 minutes. 

Cut dough into two equal portions.  The dough is now ready to shape and bake.  Roll out on a surface sprinkled with corn meal and when you have it to the thickness you want turn the edges and fill with your favorite toppings.  Bake in a 425 degree oven until the crust is golden brown.

We made pesto pizza by using the pesto as your sauce and then topping with cherry tomatos and fresh mozzarella.  It was great!!!!

Blueberry Crisp for Dad

I needed an easy, quick dessert that said "Summer" but didn't require a huge amount of effort after all I am on vacation and I wanted it to be one of my Dad's favorites so the obvious choice is Blueberry Crisp.  Besides, I had to use the blueberries that I sacrificed my finger for earlier this week. 

Filling

8 cups of blueberries

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Crust

1 1/4 cup flour

1 cup instant oats

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

Filling -- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart shallow baking dish; set aside. In a medium bowl, toss blueberries with 1/2 cup flour, the granulated sugar, and lemon juice. Spread evenly in prepared baking dish, pressing down lightly.

Crust -- combine sugars with softened butter and mix until well blended.  Stir in the flour.  Add oats and mix until crust resembles coarse crumbs.  Crumble evenly on top of fruit.  Cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 325 and bake for 45 - 50 more minutes. I usually make 1 and a half times the recipe of the crust so that we have a lot of crispies on our fruit. 

The result is an excellent and very crispy, sugary topping over sweet, tart, gooey blueberry guts. With a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, it is an effortless way to end any dinner and one last hurray before Dad goes on a strict diet following his surgery tomorrow.

Speak to Me in Terms I know

When I am in the kitchen and following a recipe I hate it when they tell you to use 16 oz. of something and then on the label the product is listed in pounds.  Now I know in my head that 16 oz equals one pound, but it would be nice just to confirn to me that I am remembering my elementary school weights and measures training properly.  And what if the recipe is calling for some other random ounce mearsurement that is not right on the top of my head?  The number of grams in the product is just not helpful to me.  Anyway, who out there is using grams and why do I need to know that?