Tonight’s drink is the
Nectarine Orange Coconut Lime smoothie
1 whole nectarine, pitted and quartered
1/2 cup Cream of Coconut
1 tablespoon sweetened lime juice
1 11oz can of mandarin oranges in light syrup
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
15-20 ice cubes
Blend all ingredients and serve immediately. Makes 2 huge smoothies or 4 smaller ones.
Two of my favorite things.
I bet these cookies would be great. I’m going to have to try them.
Thanks go out to Ellie for this coconut cookie recipe. Lorien and I had a taste of them a few weeks ago when we stopped by her place and just had to get the recipe!
Coconut Cookies…
By popular demand- the coconut cookie recipe!!
1/2 c. butter
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla
2 1/4 c. sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugarPreheat oven to 350.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Place 1/2 c. coconut into small bowl, Set aside.
Place remaining coconut into food processor, pulse until coarsely ground.
Using electric mixer, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Gradually add flour mixture and coconut until combined.
Bake until lightly golden around edges- about 10-12 minutes.Hide some for later, because they will be gone within the hour.
Here’s a super super easy caramel corn recipe you can make in the microwave with a paper bag in just a few minutes.
Caramel Corn
4 quarts popped popcorn
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dark Karo (corn) syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
Put sugar, syrup, salt, and butter in a microwave-proof bowl and cook at full power for 2 minutes. Stir until everything is mixed thoroughly. Microwave for 3 more minutes until or mixture has been bubbling for 30 seconds. Add baking soda and stir well. Caramel mixture will change to a lighter color. Put popcorn in a paper grocery bag and pour caramel over popcorn. Shake like it’s going out of style. Stuff bag in microwave, cook for about 1 minute. Remove and shake again for about another minute. Microwave a second time for 1 minute, shake thoroughly, then pour out on to parchment paper. Let cool.
Microwave time may vary depending on power.
I received this in an email from an Irish travel company I used when I planned my honeymoon. I haven’t tried it yet, but I would like to soon.
The best Irish Stew
Ingredients:
1 pound lean mutton pieces
1 pound carrots
1 pound onions
1 pound potatoes
salt & pepper
pinch of thymePlace mutton with thyme in sauce pan and add cold water to cover. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer for one hour. Add onions, potatoes, carrots, and peeled and roughly chopped thyme. Season to taste. Continue cooking until vegetables are tender. Adjust seasoning. May be served alone or with cooked green cabbage or sprouts.
Here’s an Excellent Caramel Recipe for you:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup light corn syrup
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients except vanilla in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat at medium high, stirring just until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture up to 245° F (use a candy or deep frying thermometer). Remove from heat and immediately stir in vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into a greased glass pan or into parchment paper. Shape while it’s cooling if desired. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before cutting.
Peanut Nougat
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 large egg white, room temperature
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
Spray a 13×9x2 pan with cooking spray and set aside. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a small saucepan. Use a candy thermometer to bring it up on medium heat to 275° F. While the syrup is heating, beat egg white and salt with a mixer until it forms stiff peaks. Remove syrup from heat when it hits 275° and add it 1 tablespoon at a time to the egg mixture until each tablespoon is completely mixed in. The whole process should take about 2 minutes. Continue to mix the nougat until it starts separating from the side of the mixing bowl. Use a greased spatula to mix in the peanut butter by hand, folding until it’s evenly mixed. Immediately put into 13×9x2 pan and spread to desired thickness.
This recipe comes from the Holiday Snickles recipe.
Here are my tips:
- Use a hand mixer. It’s tempting to use a KitchenAid stand mixer (that’s what I just tried) and it doesn’t get the edges or bottom very well (eg. at all).
- Don’t pour the syrup down the edge of the bowl, it will immediately cool off and form a strong hard candy trail on the side of your bowl and not get mixed into the nougat
- Use a little bit less peanut butter, or alternately (I’m going to try this next time) use 1 tsp vanilla instead of peanut butter for non-peanut nougat
Enjoy!
I ran across a site that describes how to make your own candy bars:
Twixt
Snickles
Almond Jay
and my favorite, Peanut Butta Cups.
Yummmm…
One thing I really miss from my three years in Taiwan and China is mantou (pronounced mon-toe)—a steamed bread roll. When I lived in Kunming, Yunnan (back in 1997), I worked for a company that owned a hotel, and I got in good enough with the cooks that they let me help make mantou. Here is my authentic, straight-from-China recipe for all the world to enjoy:
Mantou
500 grams flour
1/2 gram baking soda
1/2 gram yeast
80 grams sugar (about 1/2 cup or more, to taste)
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons margarine
warm water
Mix flour and baking soda together. and make a crater in the center. Put yeast and sugar in the crater, then add water. When thoroughly mixed, start pulling in flour from the sides. If the mixture gets too dry, add more water. Knead the dough until it doesn’t stick to the counter anymore. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise about 10 minutes (if it’s warm enough), or until when poked with a finger it springs back up.
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough flat, add flour if it gets sticky. Roll the mixture until it shines and is slick like marble. (In China they had a pastry rolling machine that you just fed the dough into and it pushed it out between two rollers for you, it saved a lot of work!).
Roll the dough up tightly just like you’re making cinnamon rolls, rolling the entire log to seal the seam. Make the mantou as big as you want, small ones are great for dipping in sweetened condensed milk (a Yunnan favorite), large ones are great to put a fried egg on. With the seam facing down, use a sharp knife to cut quickly straight down to cut each mantou from the dough log. If they are too narrow for their height, they’ll fall over, so don’t be afraid to make them wide. They should have a nice, round appearance. See the Wikipedia entry for mantou for a couple of pictures.
Lay the mantou out on a greased (so they don’t stick) steaming basket (I have metal ones I brought home from China, they’re great). Let them rise uncovered for about 20 minutes or longer depending on your kitchen’s temperature. Make sure the mantou are spread out, they can really rise when they are cooked! If they don’t have enough time to rise, they’ll split and erupt and look untasty. Steam mantou for 7-8 minutes or longer. It’s tough to overcook with steam, but it is possible.
I’ve never heard of it until this very minute, but it should work: Make clay from sawdust. I have a lot of tools in my garage that generate sawdust, and up ’til now I’ve just scooped it up and thrown it away. Now I have an alternate use for my sawdust.
Sawdust Clay
2 parts sawdust
1 part flour
water
Mix flour and sawdust. Add water until it forms a stiff clay. Make into shapes (use cookie cutters), let dry. Sand it with sandpaper, then apply your favorite finish.
After our wonderful cruise in the Mediterranean on the brand new Carnival Freedom, I began searching for the recipe to the warm chocolate melting cake. It didn’t take long to find, but it was huge—enough to feed an entire ship, with 800 eggs and 50 pounds of sugar, etc. I’ve reduced the recipe (apparently acquired by calling Carnival), but haven’t tried it yet. So without further ado, here it is:
Warm Chocolate Melting Cake
1 lb dark baking chocolate
1 lb butter
10 eggs (at room temperature)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
Melt the chocolate and butter together.
Mix the eggs and sugar and whisk for a few minutes, then add the flour.
Add the egg mix to the melted chocolate and mix
Pour the mix in a greased pan (use ramekins)
bake in the oven at 400° F for 14 minutes
You can read about making your own Chalkboard Paint, or just mix these ingredients:
3 teaspoons acrylic paint [colour of choice]
1 1/2 teaspoons glazing medium [water based]
1/2 teaspoon powder tile grout
Check out Anatomy of a Chocolate Truffle, wow!
Here’s an Instructable of a Kat Litter Cake, but I have to say, my dad’s idea is still better.
Well, I suppose it could also be a cheese ball, it just depends on how you shape it:
Cheese Log Recipe
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/4 tsp summer savory
1/8 tsp parsley
1/8 tsp dill
1/8 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp basil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly, shape into ball or log (use wax paper, it’s less messy). Coat outside of log or ball with ground pepper. Enjoy with crackers, chips, or whatever. My brother-in-law Greg makes this every time they come for Christmas (or the season thereabout). It’s quite tasty.