Brownie Cookies

Cream:
½ cup shortening
2 tsp vanilla
1 ¾ cup sugar

Beat in:
2 eggs, one at a time

Add:
8 Tbsp cocoa
½ tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk

Roll balls of dough in powdered sugar and place on greased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. (They may look gooey, but if you overcook them they will be as hard as a rock.)

Accidental Dessert

So, the other day, Grandma Aitchison told me she makes a lemon bar cookie by mixing an angel food cake mix and lemon pie filling together and baking it. I decided to try it. The 'cookie' was good, but not fabulous. It was more like a moist lemon pound cake. I started considering what else could be done with it. This is the result.

Strawberry Lemonade Compote

1 angel food cake mix

1 2-lb. tube of lemon pie filling, divided

1 lb. fresh strawberries, quartered

2 c. whipping cream

1 T. sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the cake mix and 1/2 of the lemon pie filling. Spread in greased cake pan (9x13). Bake for about 20 minutes. After cooled, cut or tear into cubes, about 1 inch square.

In a large bowl, combine baked squares, remaining pie filling and quartered strawberries. Whip the cream until stiff peaks are formed; fold in the sugar.

Spoon the cake mixture into serving dishes. Top with whipped cream. Makes 8-10 1-cup servings.

Cloud Bread

So I've been counting calories lately. Boring right? I know. Anyway, one of the things that I've been most...scared to eat much of is bread. It just has too many calories in it for me to want to waste my time with. Which is sad to me. I've probably had 4 slices of bread in the last month and a half. Maybe.

I saw a recipe for "cloud bread" on pinterest and thought I'd give it a whirl. At only 43 calories each piece how could I not?!

Cloud Bread
(link to recipe I used - http://www.food.com/recipe/carb-free-cloud-bread-411501)
I really didn't make many changes, but my notes are in red :)

• 3 eggs , separated
• 3 tablespoons whole milk cottage cheese or 3 tablespoons cream cheese (I used cream cheese)
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (I didn't have any so I looked up substitutes and ended up using 1/2 tsp lemon juice.)
• 1 (1 g) packet artificial sweetener (I used 2 tsp splenda)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Separate the eggs very carefully, there must be no yolk in the white.
3. In one bowl, mix together the egg yolks, the 3 T. of Cottage Cheese OR Cream Cheese and the one packet of Sweetener until smooth. (I softened the cream cheese for about 30 seconds in the microwave)
4. In the other bowl add 1/4 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar to the whites and beat the whites on high speed until they are fluffy and form nice peaks.
   
5. Very carefully fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites until mixed, but try and not break down the fluffiness of the egg whites too much.
   
   
   
6. Spray two cookie sheets with Pam or other fat-free cooking spray.
7. With a large spoon, "scoop" the mixture into 10 even rounds on the sheets (about the size of the top-half of the McDonalds hamburger bun; roughly 3/4 inch thick and 4 to 5 inches across).
8. Bake on the middle rack. Here is when you have to watch them, because the cooking time the same on any two batches. It is somewhere around 1/2 hour, but it could be less or more. (Mine only cooked for 21 minutes)You just need to watch them until them become nice and golden brown (again, the color of a McDonalds bun).
9. Remove from the pans and cool on a rack or cutting board.
10. While warm they are crumbly and similar to cooked meringue - but don't let this fool you! Once completely cool, seal them in a ziplock storage baggie or a tupperware over night. They will totally change their consistency, to something much more like bread - a softer texture that is nice and chewy. If you do not like softer chewy bread, then eat them as they are, nice and crisp
    
     **I let them cool for about 10 minutes and then spread butter on one and ate it with my breakfast. I was actually pleasantly surprised and how good it was. Maybe it's because I haven't eaten bread in a while? I'm interested to see how the texture changes after they've sat for a while longer. They were so easy to make though, I think I'll be making them again.  I'm also already thinking of things to add to them, seasonings, chopped dried fruit, chocolate???, cheese, mmmm.

Moroccan Chicken and Rice

I made this for dinner the other night and it's possibly the most delicious thing I have ever made. It was well worth the hour or so that it took to prepare and cook it.

CHICKEN
vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup onion, chopped or thinly sliced
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 freshly grated ginger
1 satsuma, squeezed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander

Cook the chicken in 2-4 tbsp of oil, depending on the size of your pan. Let it brown on one side and then turn over. Stir in the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through (25 - 35 min)

RICE
Chicken broth
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup pistachios, shelled and chopped

Cook the rice (stovetop or in a rice maker) with the chicken broth. Once it's done, stir in the honey, cinnamon, and nuts. I highly recommend serving the chicken atop the rice with the sauce poured over it.

Orange sherbet - without an ice cream maker!

7 satsumas/tangerines/mandarins/whatever you call them, squeezed
4 tbsp lemon juice
1 orange rind cut into small pieces
2 tsp vodka
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
dash of salt

(the recipe I found just called for fresh squeezed orange juice. I do not have a juicer so I hand squeezed them.)
Rub sugar and rind together until sandy and damp. Whisk in salt, juices, and vodka. Strain through a mesh sieve. Chill 2-3 hours in the fridge or 45 minutes in the freezer. Try not to let it ice over.

All I did then was blend the juice mixture and the cream for a minute or so to make it all frothy. For consistency, and I plan on doing this the next time I make it, I'd try whipping the cream into soft peaks before tossing it all in the blender.

I'm pretty sure it can be made without vodka but it won't be as smooth. In the end, you can't taste it but it makes the flavor richer and keeps it from freezing solid.

Sausage Rice Skillet (aka cheater jambalaya)

For a Relief Society activity a few years ago I organized a 5 ingredient recipe lesson, we gathered lots of yummy, easy recipes for the little cook book. This is one of our favorites here at our house. Super easy and it gives you the jambalaya experience in a lot less time!

Sausage Rice Skillet
1 (4 1/3 ounce) box Rice-A-Roni, Chicken Fajita flavor (we use a generic brand jambalaya flavored rice mix)
3 Polish sausages, cut lengthwise and sliced (I use one of those 12-14ish ounce sausages you can buy in the store by the lunch meat, I've also added chicken but don't every time)
1 medium onion, cut crosswise and sliced (we don't like onions, so I use about 2 Tablespoons dehydrated onion)
1 green pepper, sliced (in the above picture I used dehydrated peppers, I was out of fresh ones)
3 cups water

In skillet saute sausage, onion and green pepper until lightly browned. Add rice mix, seasoning packet and 2 1/2 cups of water, stir. Bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook 25 minutes or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally. Add remaining water as needed.
Recipe makes 4 servings (though it usually feeds our family and then Andy and I have the leftovers for lunch, so I'd say it's about 6 servings)

Mrs. McQueen's Oatmeal Crispies

Grandpa Hoyle's favorite cookies - IF you add 1-1/2 cups of raisins! They have a soft center and a crispy outside. Very yummy!

 My mom thinks she got this recipe in around 1959 from Mrs. McQueen who was her friend's mother. We've been using it ever since. This is a picture of the original recipe card on which my mom wrote it.