Chocolate Devils

This is a wonderful recipe from the Pioneer Woman.  I made these for our daughter's birthday celebration last night and were they ever a big hit.  The comments were, "this is the best dessert you have ever made."  That is pretty impressive because I have made A LOT of desserts.  My husband loves dark chocolate and the chocolate ganache on the top of these delicious little cakes taste like dark chocolate.  The cream filling is the recipe I use for icing on the red velvet cake I make.  It's not real sweet but has a nice creamy texture and taste.  The Pioneer Woman garnished her cakes with maraschino cherries.  I'm not crazy about maraschino cherries so I chose raspberries one of my daughter's favorites.  I also thought a fanned strawberry would look great as a garnish too.

These are wonderful and I even thought I could make them smaller and have as bite size desserts for parties.

I didn't type out the recipe.  You can go to the Pioneer Woman at Food Network and print off her recipe.
You'll have to try these, they are wonderful!

Lemon Jello Salad

This is a recipe from my college roommate who is a wonderful cook.  She served this when I was visiting her once and it is delicious.  Jello salad is old fashion, I think.   You don't see recipes for jello salads anymore or I don't.  I remember as a kid my grandmother always having a bowl of red jello on the dinner table.

2 small packages lemon jello
1 large can pineapple tid bits or crushed and drain and reserve liquid
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
11/2 cups miniature marshmellows
small container of cool whip
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 bananas, sliced
pecans, chopped (optional)

Dissolve jello in 3 cups of hot water.  Cool.  Add one large can of pineapple tidbits or crushed.  Add marshmellows and sliced bananas to jello.  Mix well and pour into a 9x13 casserole dish and chill until firm. 
In a saucepan, add reserve pineapple juice add flour and mix well and then add sugar and one beaten egg and mix well.  Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture thickens.  Let this cool.  When it is cool fold in 1/2 container of cool whip. 
When gelatin has set up then spread the above mixture over the top of the gelatin.
Then cover the top with the cheddar cheese.  Sometimes it takes a little more than a cup.
If desired, you can sprinkle chopped pecans lightly over the top.

You can cut this is squares and serve on a lettuce leaf.  It serves 12.

Cobb Potato Salad

This is a new salad that I tried and we loved it!  Again, this is a salad that is a meal in itself but as you can see there is a small piece of baked cod.

This would be a wonderful salad to go along with baked turkey for your Easter dinner and a wonderful lemon jello salad.

1 pound baby red potatoes, quartered
1 bunch sliced green onions
1 (11.5 oz) bottle blue cheese vinaigrette, divided
2 large avocados
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6 cups chopped romaine, red leaf, or green leaf lettuce
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup (4 oz,) shredded white Cheddar cheese
2 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
6 cooked bacon slices, crumbled

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water 15-20 minutes or until tender, drain.  Toss potatoes with sliced green onions and 1/3 cup of vinaigrette; season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and chill 2 to 24 hours.  (I just chilled an hour, running short on time :)  )

Peel and dice avocados, toss with lemon juice.  Toss lettuce with avocado mixture, tomatoes and next two ingredients.  Then add in potato mixture and toss once more.  At this time, you can add more vinaigrette if you wish.  I found that what I put on the potato mixture when add to the rest of the salad was plenty for us.  Sprinkle bacon crumbles on top of salad.

I don't have time today but tomorrow I'll post the lemon jello salad in case you are interested.  It's once of the best jello salads I have ever eaten and it would be great for Easter dinner.

Oh, I forgot to mention I didn't have white cheddar and I just used yellow.
I used LaMartinique Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Communication

The single biggest problem with COMMUNICATION
is the illusion that it has taken place.

George Bernard Shaw

Ain't that the truth!

The Herb......Lemon Balm

I have attended several herb classes this winter.  One was on wild herbs that grow naturally in our environment.  The other class was on making tinctures out of fresh herbs that have been dried.  It has been very interesting and all I can tell you for sure, is there is a lot for me to learn.  Two books were recommended at the tincture class, Herbal Antibiotics and Herbal Antivirals by Stephen Harrod Buhner. If I don't have a book by my easy chair these two are always there because I need to read and reread these two.

I wanted to tell you a little bit about lemon balm and what I have learned and am learning.  First, I have grown lemon balm before and it is very easy to grow.  There is an essential oil that is sold by Young Living that is called Melissa and it is $158.00. This oil is made from Lemon Balm.  I have heard that it will stop the flu in its tracks.  I have not bought this oil and I haven't had the flu either to try this out.  But at the first sign of the flu, you can dilute one drop of oil in 1 teaspoon of honey or in 4 ounces of rice milk and take internally.  This is not to be given to children under 6 years of age and children over 6 needs a greater dilution and should be used with caution.  It can also be used on the Vita Flex points.

Melissa is know as the "Elixir of Life" and is one of the earliest known medicinal herbs.  In ancient times, Melissa was always used for nervous disorders and many different ailments dealing with the heart or the emotions.  You can make a tea out of dried lemon balm and it is calming and helps with heart palpations and shingles.

Dr. Dietrich Wabner, a professor at the Technical University of Munich, reported that a onetime application of true Melissa oil led to complete remission of herpes simplex lesions. 

I'm growing lemon balm this summer and trying my hand at making a tincture.  I'll keep you posted on the results.

xo

Chicken and Brisket Brunswick Stew

This was dinner on Saturday, a new stew recipe.  It was good but a little to meaty for me.  It's a very hearty stew and I would make it again.  I'm pretty sure my sons would love this.  A good green salad and a big slice of garlic bread and you are ready to go. 

2 large onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
11/2 tablespoons jarred beef soup base
2 pounds skinned and boned chicken breast
1- 28 ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1-12 ounce package frozen white shoepeg or whole kernel corn
1-10 ounce package frozen creamstyle corn, thawed (I couldn't find this so I used 2 cans of cream style corn)
1-9 ounce package of frozen baby lima beans
1-12 ounce bottle chili sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of yellow mustard
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 pound chopped barbecued beef brisket (without sauce)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
hot sauce (optional)

Saute onions and garlic in hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat 3-5 minutes or until tender.
Stir together beef soup base and 2 cups of water, and add to Dutch oven. Stir in chicken and next 9 ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 hours.  Uncover and shred chicken into large pieces using 2 forks.  Stir in brisket and lemon juice.  Cover and cook 10 minutes.  Serve with hot sauce if desired.

Makes 16 cups

Bone Broth

I was recently talking to my husband about how wonderful my mom's vegetable soup was.  I have never tasted any vegetable soup that was as good as hers.  But Gary reminded me, the reason it was so good is she use bone broth as her base.

The thought of bone broth has seemed gross to me and the thought of eating stuff that has boiled out of bones was a little sickening to me.  Since the conversation with my husband, I ran across an article that talked about the healthful benefits of bone broth.  I was really shocked. But here are the high lights of the article that you might find interesting.

One of the world's oldest comfort foods is bone broth.  Bone broth is rich in minerals and is revered by many cultures for its restorative and curative qualities. It's know for boosting energy and improving your immune system.  It also helps to restore damaged muscles, bones and the digestive tract. 

In making your own bone broth, seek out bones from grass fed animals.  You can also use bones from wild caught fish and the shells from shrimp. Bones with marrow in the middle are especially nutritious. I can still see my mom using a knife to dig out the marrow from a bone and eat it. YUK! And I thought YUK at the time but she said, "it's really good."  I never tried it.

Crack raw or cooked bones with a mallet or cleaver and expose the nutritious interior marrow. Put 6-8 pounds of beef, lamb or pork with one chicken or turkey carcass and one gallon of water.  If your turkey carcass is very large you may need 2 gallons of water.  If you want to add any fish bones you may.  Add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar per gallon of water, it will draw out the minerals from the bones. If you want you can add carrots, garlic, celery, onions, mushrooms, parsley, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns or you can just cook the bones.  Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to just a gentle simmer.  Check broth occasionally over several hours and skim off any scum from the top. A couple of hours is plenty of time to extract all the good stuff from fish bones but you need to allow four to six hours or all day for larger bones.  You can put this into a large crockpot on low heat and cook overnight.

Strain and remove solids. Chill broth in the refrigerator so you can easily remove the solid fat from the top. You can store in the frig for several days or put in containers for the freezer and take out as you desire.  Believe me, this will make the most wonderful soup you will ever eat.

Rice and Vegetable Dish

This was dinner a couple of nights ago.  I had been wanting to make rice and add a variety of vegetables to it.  I made this up and it really turned out great.  I'm going to do some perfecting of the recipe as I make changes I'll let you know.  But the way it is now is really good and easy to make.  This is what I did:

1 bunch of green onions, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of Basmati rice
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 to 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas, thawed
4 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

In a soup pot I put 2 tablespoons of butter and sautéed the onions and garlic for 3 minutes then I added the Basmati rice and cooked it in this mixture for about 2 minutes and then I added 2 1/2 cups of water.  Bring the rice to a boil, lower the heat, put on a tight lid and cook for about 40 minutes not lifting the lid until the rice is cooked.  Turn off the heat and let the rice sit for about 5 minutes.  Take off the lid and fluff with a fork. 

While the rice is cooking, cut and saute all of your vegetables in 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil until crisp tender.  Then add to your rice and mix well.

I had some chicken strips that I had baked and I cut them in chunks and added them to this mixture.  Shrimp would also be good in this.  This is wonderful by itself without any meat.  We had this with a Caesar salad and it made a wonderful dinner.

You could also add a little soy sauce and give it a more Asian flare but I was out of soy sauce.

Spring Has Arrived

Spring has arrived at least at the Schwartz' home.  These are a few spring arrangements I've put together.  I love the little whimsical bunnies!

My seeds have arrived and ready for planting.  I've started from seed a lot of lavender, rosemary and basil and some garlic chives.  I wanted to plant a lot of these herbs this year so I decided to start them from seed.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.

I am ready to get started planting our spinach, kale and Swiss chard.  The next several weeks will be busy ones, I'm ready I've missed being outside.  Ready for dirt under my fingernails and between my toes.

I'm cutting back somewhat this year on what I plant because our little grandson will be arriving in June and I know I won't have the time to devote to the garden that I normally have.  My time will be spent holding this little bundle of joy.  I'm looking forward to the time when he is big enough to get out there with me.  I can't wait to build him a green bean tepee!  :)  And have a part in introducing him to the amazing and wonderful world of nature.

Grandma Mills' Egg Custard Pie

This is truly an old fashion pie.  I haven't seen this being sold at any pie shops or restaurants.  It's light and not real sweet.  It really is a good dessert.  When you want a little something sweet but not rich and sugary, this will fill the bill.

4 slightly beaten eggs
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (the recipe calls for 1/2 but I use 3/4)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
2 1/2 cups milk, scalded (I use 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup half and half)
1- 9 inch pie shell
ground nutmeg for garnish

Whisk eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla.  Gradually stir in scalded milk.  Pour into pie shell and sprinkle with nutmeg.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Apple Dumplings......yum yum!

Last weekend, the perfect winter day to be inside, cozy, and warm by the fire.  Only one thing was missing.....something warm and cozy to eat by the fire.  :)  The order of the day was apple dumplings.

My favorite two cousins who are sisters and who are renowned cooks are known for their delicious apple dumplings.  Last month, I was visiting with one of the cousins and she told me how to make them. They are really very easy and one thing that is so wonderful about this dessert...you can freeze it raw.  Put the dumpling on a cookie sheet and freeze it then store it in zip lock freezer bags.  Take out and let thaw then put in baking dish and pour in sauce and bake.

Make a pie crust or buy the ready made.  Cut a square about 6x6 or 5x5, I just eye balled it.  My apples were on the small size but you peel your apple and then dice the apple.  Put the diced apple in a bowl and add about 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1tablespoon brown sugar and toss the apple in this mixture and then pile in the middle of the square of dough.  Put a piece of butter on top of the apples. Go around the edge of the dough with water and then bring up the dough. Pick up one corner and then go across and bring up another corner and press the sides together. Put the apple dumplings in a baking dish.  Then take a small sauce pan and put in 1/2 stick of butter, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of honey, 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Stir until butter and brown sugar have dissolved and the pour over dumplings. 

If you are not going to eat all of the dumplings that you prepare don't use honey.  The honey will become hard after it sits.  I would suggest using 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup regular sugar along with the butter.  I really like the taste of the honey though.

You can serve these with a scoop of ice cream or a rum sauce would be wonderful and a vanilla sauce would also be fantastic too.

My cousin also told me you can peel an apple and leave it whole and stuff the sugar and cinnamon and butter in the center of the apple and a little around the sides and then bring your dough up over the apple.  She said the diced apple is just a little easier.

I don't know how many more wintery days we have left but apple dumplings are wonderful anytime.