King Cake

I've always wanted to make a King Cake for Mardi Gras, but never got around to it.  This year, I had a party to go to and decided to make it!  I love the Publix King Cakes, this is similar with a very moist coffee cake sort of taste and texture.

King Cake

Dough. This is a Bread machine recipe (I used the recipe for cinnamon rolls and added ½ tsp cinnamon and substituted butter for oil)

1 egg at room temperature, plus enough warm water to equal 3/4 cup
3 Tbsp Oil (I substituted 3 Tbsp melted butter)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 1/2 cups bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp active dry yeast

FILLING:

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup melted butter

FROSTING:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon water


Follow the bread machine instructions for making dough.
To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.
Roll dough out into large rectangle (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 15- 30 minutes until golden brown. Push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm with the frosting..



If you don’t have a bread machine, I’d use this recipe: allrecipes.com/recipe/mardi-gras-king-cake/

king cake (before frosting), originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

King Cake, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Perfect Chili with Black Beans and Kidney Beans

Chili spices, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

I love the combination of beans in this chili and the spices are perfect

Bill’s Chilli

a few cloves of chopped garlic
1/2 an onion
1 lb hamburger
sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 can of diced tomatoes, not drained
1 can tomato sauce
1 can of tomato paste
2 cans of black beans: not drained
2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 can of regular beer not light beer (bill uses Bud, I used "the champagne of beers") (you can substitute bouillon and water)
5 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
pinch of cumin (really, don't add too much cumin!)


Cook garlic, onion and hamburger until the meat is brown. Drain the fat off.
Add all of the other ingredients (make sure the tomato paste dissolves)
Add spices
Bring to a boil, add water to set thickness (I didn't need any)
Taste once it cools a bit, add chilli pepper first if it needs something.
Boil and stir occasionally on Medium heat
cook for about 30 minutes.
Tastes best if you let it cool and then reheat to serve.



Spice: 10/1 chilli powder to cayenne pepper; 10 /1 cayenne pepper to cumin

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these for an wedding shower. They were a huge hit. The pineapple helps keep them moist and gives them a really nice texture.




Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Carrot Cake

2 cups ground carrots

1 15 oz can crushed pineapple, drained well

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups white sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

Dash/tsp salt

Raisins, mini chocolate chips or walnuts optional (1 cup)

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes

IN large bowl combine carrots, pineapple oil and sugar. Add eggs, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in raisins and nuts if desired. Batter will look runny, as though it needs more flour. This is normal.

Pour into greased (and floured if you want to) pans. Bake for 45 minutes (closer to 15 if you're doing cupcakes), or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. It will brown a lot so don’t worry if it looks like it’s getting too brown.

Cream Cheese Frosting from Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from several sources
Makes 6 cups
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter room temperature
3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat, on low speed to combine. If too soft, chill until slightly stiff, about 10 minutes, before using.

Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

When I was little I never liked red velvet cakes. I was always disappointed that they were not chocolatey enough (or at all). John's dad wanted Red Velvet cake for his birthday, so I looked for a good recipe. I have never gone wrong with Smitten Kitchen so I tried this recipe.

It has more chocolate than most recipes so it is much better (in my opinion) than the normal recipe. Plus, it has a volcano as the last step!

smittenkitchen.com/2007/09/red-velvet-cake/
Red Velvet Cake
Adapted from “The Confetti Cakes Cookbook” by Elisa Strauss via the New York Times 2/14/07
Yield: 3 cake layers or ~35 cupcakes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring or 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring dissolved in 6 tablespoons of water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.
2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.

Cupcake variation: Since this has been published, many readers have written in to express that it adapts well to cupcakes. The yield is approximately 35 cupcakes, with the liners filled only 3/4 of the way, and the baking time should be between 20 to 25 minutes, but check in on them 2/3 of the way through in case your oven gets the job done faster.
Cocoa Notes

Some red velvet cakes have no cocoa, others have up to half a cup. The less cocoa, the brighter the red, and the less food dye is needed to give it the desired hue. This cake has more cocoa and quite a bit of red dye, but as you cans see from the picture, it is a real stand-out red. Feel free to use less, but make sure you dissolve it in 6 tablespoons of water to compensate for any moisture lost.
Dutch versus Non-Dutched cocoa: This recipe uses baking soda, so it calls for non-Dutch-Processed cocoa. The reason is that Dutch-Process cocoa is neutral and will not react with baking soda, so it can only be used in 1) recipes with baking powder or 2) recipes with enough other acidic ingredients that will compensate for the lack of acidity. However, you’ll notice that this recipe has both vinegar and buttermilk in it, or quite a bit of acidity, leading me to wonder if either kind of cocoa could be used with success. I had non-Dutch on hand, so I used it, but if you only have Dutch and try this recipe, let us know if it works. Personally, I prefer the Dutched stuff because it usually is of a higher quality with a more delicate chocolate flavor.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from several sources
Makes 6 cups
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter room temperature
3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat, on low speed to combine. If too soft, chill until slightly stiff, about 10 minutes, before using.
Icing Notes:

Technique: Cake decorators will always tell you to ice a cake in two batches, first a “crumb layer” and then the more decorative one. Though I rarely bother, in this cake in particular, with its dark hue barely disguised by a thin layer of frosting, it is especially helpful. To do this, place a small amount of frosting on the cake and spread it over the entire surface that will be iced, thereby anchoring wayward crumbs in place so that they will not mess up the final product. A few minutes in the freezer or longer in the fridge will firm this up so that you have an ideal surface to build the real layer of frosting upon. (I did a rushed, half-assed one, hence the visible crumbs in the final product.)
Quantity: The recipe here creates an amount of frosting that allows for a thin coat between and over the cake layers. I found it to have the ideal cake-to-frosting balance for this recipe. However, you might want to double the recipe if you prefer a more decadent, padded frosting layer.





Mixing Red Velvet Cupcake, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

red velvet cupcake batter, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Red Velvet Cupcake , originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Blackberry Cobbler

Blackberry Cobbler, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

I've had a love hate relationship with cobblers. I made peach cobbler three times before I got it to come out right. The first time I didn't use any baking soda (because I didn't realize self rising flour was not regular flour). The second time I used a substitute for the self rising flour and it still didn't rise. Third time was perfect.

For the Blackberry Cobbler, I made the same recipe as the peach cobbler, but it had too much butter, too much sugar, and not enough berries. The second time was absolutely perfect. Here's the recipe:

Blackberry Cobbler
www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1737,144189-252200,00.html
Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups white sugar
2 cups milk
3 1/2 cups blackberries (I used two containers 12 oz each)


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Once oven temperature is reached melt butter in a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl stir together the flour, sugar and milk; batter will be slightly lumpy. Pour mixture on top of melted butter in baking pan. Do not mix butter and mixture together.
Drop blackberries into batter; if more crust is desired add less blackberries. Bake in preheated oven for one hour or until golden brown.

Lemon Pound Cake

I got this recipe from Rick. I don't normally care for pound cakes, but this is super moist and so lemony it's irresistible!


Lemon Pound Cake, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Lemon Pound Cake, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Lemon Pound Cake, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Sour Cream and Lemon Pound Cake

Bon Appétit | July 1993 by Darren DiPietro: State College, Pennsylvania
Yield: Serves 12

Ingredients

3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 cup sour cream

[image: preparation]

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease 16-cup tube pan. Dust pan with cake flour; tap
out excess flour.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer,
beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar
and beat 5 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after
each addition. Beat in lemon juice and peel. Using rubber spatula, mix in
dry ingredients. Mix in sour cream. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 30
minutes. Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Cut around cake in pan.
Turn out cake.

Carefully turn cake right side up on rack and cool completely. (Can be
prepared 2 days ahead. Wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature.)

Lemon Glaze

1/3 C lemon juice + 1/3 C sugar

Artichoke Heart and Olive Pizza and Spicy Chicken Pizza

I've been making lots of pizza recently. This one is my favorite!



Artichoke Heart and Olive Pizza

Pizza dough
marinara sauce
Garlic
olive oil
fresh mozzarella
parmesan cheese
large pepperoni
diced Kalmata olives
diced artichoke hearts
Mrs. Dash Italian seasoning

Spread the pizza dough (I used publix dough)
Dice garlic and mix with olive oil. Use pastry brush to spread on the crust.
Cover with marinara sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, pepperoni, olives, and artichoke hearts. Shake a bit of Mrs. Dash on top.

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes on convection, or until done.

This Spicy Chicken Pizza is John's favorite:


Spicy chicken Pizza, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Spicy Chicken Pizza:

Pizza dough
Marinara sauce
Garlic
olive oil
fresh mozzarella
parmesan cheese
breaded chicken cut into small bites and covered with hot sauce

Spread the pizza dough (I used publix dough)
Dice garlic and mix with olive oil. Use pastry brush to spread on the crust.
Cover with marinara sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and breaded chicken (cut up and mixed with hot sauce)

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes on convection, or until done.

Stromboli

Stromboli, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Stromboli:
1 recipe pizza dough (I got mine from publix)
1/2 lb ham
4 slices salami
10 slices pepperoni
spicy mustard
3 slices provolone cheese

fresh mozzarella
italian seasoning

Spread pizza dough on a pizza pan. Spread mustard on one half. Layer meats then cheese and sprinkle with italian seasoning (I forgot so I put it on the outside), fold dough in half and cut strips in the top to help vent.

Bake at 450* for 10-15 minutes (with convection) or until it is browned on the bottom.

Carbomb Cupcake

Carbomb Cupcake, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

carbomb cupcakes, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

I made two double batches of these (yes, that's 11 dozen) for St. Patrick's Day. These are definitely the best cupcakes, though they are a pain to make.

If you use a 1/4 cup measure to spoon the batter into the cups you can get exactly 5 1/2 dozen out of a double recipe. Also, I've given up trying to get the chocolate to melt just with the hot cream, I always have to use a double boiler to get all the bits to melt.


smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/car-bomb-cupcakes/

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling (Updated to double it, based on many commenters suggestions — thanks!)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting (see Recipe Notes)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

[This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Tandoori Chicken Recipe

Tandoori Chicken:


Tandoori Chicken Recipe, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Tandoori Chicken
adapted from http://www.acommunaltable.com/tandoori-chicken-with-mango-curry-slaw/

This is spicy without being overpowering, if you want it hotter add more cayenne pepper and/or more jalapeno.

* 1 cup plain yogurt (regular or greek style)
* 4 cloves of garlic, minced and mashed to a paste with salt
* 1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
* juice of 1/2 of a lemon
* 2 tsp. fresh, grated ginger
* 2 Tbsp. garam masala
* 2 tsp. tumeric
* ½ tsp cayenne pepper
* ½ tsp curry powder
* 4-5 drops red food coloring (optional)
* 8 chicken drumsticks, chicken thighs or 4 chicken breasts


Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients and stir to coat evenly with the marinade.
2. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 1 day.
3. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Spray a rack with cooking spray and place on top of the foil lined pan.
4. Remove the chicken from the marinade (leave the yogurt mixture on) and place on the rack.
5. Bake at 425* for 30-45 minutes (on convection if you have it) or until internal temperature reaches 165*. Turn the chicken once ½ way through the cooking time.



Garam Masala (if you can’t find it at the grocery store)

* 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
* 1 Tbsp. ground coriander
* 1 Tbsp. ground cardamon
* 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tbsp. ground black pepper
* 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
* 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg


Directions:

1. Combine all the spices in a small, airtight container.

Orange Gob (Whoopie Pie)

Orange Gob (Whoopie Pie), originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

This is my mom's orange cookie recipe and a new frosting recipe. The frosting was a bit dense as it was so I ended up adding more milk and OJ to get it creamy.

Orange Gobs

2/3 cup shortening (crisco)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tbsp grated orange rind
2 ¼ cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 cup OJ mixture (1/4 cup frozen concentrate, 1/4 cup water)
1 cup nuts: optional

Butter Cream Frosting (this is a double recipe, probably should reduce by 1/2)
• 1 stick butter
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 4 to 5 tablespoons orange juice (equal parts frozen concentrate and water)
• 1 tbsp finely grated orange peel
(I ended up adding 1/4 cup OJ mixture and 1/4 cup milk)

Preparation:
Cream butter; add sugar gradually, alternating with enough orange juice to make frosting the right consistency for spreading. Stir in orange peel and salt.

Gobs (aka whoopie pie, moon pie)

Gobs (aka whoopie pie, moon pie), originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

This is mom's Gobs recipe. I am working on a substitute for the frosting, because of the raw eggs. This is also delicious with 1 tsp of Bailey's instead of vanilla.

Gobs (pennsylvania dutch recipe)
yield 5 doz.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp van
2 eggs
1 cup sour milk
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp soda
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup boiling water

Cream the crisco and sugar. Mix in wet ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients.

After you have mixed all the ingredients and the batter looks like cookie batter,
add 1 cup boiling water. It will look like cake batter. Drop dough onto cookie sheets.

bake at 375 for 12 minutes

Filling:
4 tbsp water
9 tbsp sugar (1/2 cup plus tbsp)
boil it cool it

blend 1 1/3 cup Crisco
1 box powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Beat all the ingredients together until icing consistency.

this makes a lot of icing, you can multiply the cookies by 1 1/2 to match the icing.

easy chicken pot pie

easy chicken pot pie, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

easy chicken pot pie, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

I like a higher proportion of filling to crust so I only do a top crust, obviously you can add a bottom crust if you want.

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

3-4 large chicken breasts chopped into bite sized pieces
3 tbsp. butter
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large stalk of celery, finely chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 lb. frozen peas and carrots

1 pie crust (I just buy them)

Heat/melt the butter/oil over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and chicken, cook until chicken is cooked through. whisk flour and milk together to avoid lumps and add. Add chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, thyme, and basil. Cook and stir constantly for about 6-8 minutes, or until mixture is thickened.

Stir in the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Dump into glass pie pan; top with a pie crust. Brush it with an egg wash (1 beaten egg and 1 tbsp. water).

Bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. Let stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

I do not like the pecan pies that only have whole pecans because you get bites with no pecan, so I add a 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.

Pecan Pie

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 heaping cup pecan halves
1/2 cup pecans chopped
1 pie shell, unbaked, 9-inch

Combine corn syrup, brown sugar, salt, butter, and vanilla. Add slightly beaten eggs and blend well; stir in pecans. Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 45 minutes, or until set. Cool pecan pie and serve with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

French Onion Soup

Cook the onions with butter, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

onions caremelizing , originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

French Onion Soup, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

French Onion Soup

2 white or yellow onions, sliced thin
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp white wine approx.
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp flour
4 cups beef broth (or 4 cups water with 1 bullion cube)
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 cup mozz cheese
½ cup parmesan
½ cup asiago cheese
Stale sourdough bread, cubed

Cook the onions with the butter on medium low heat for 10-20 minutes (should caramelize and turn a golden color). Add the white wine, sugar, and cook a few more minutes.

Whisk the flour in with the broth so it doesn't clump and pour the broth mixture in, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 10-15 minutes (more if you feel like it, but I was hungry).

Pour the soup into small oven safe dishes and put the bread on top of the soup, cover with the cheeses and either bake at 400* until the cheese browns, or broil it.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

I really really LOVE this recipe, it's so easy and ridiculously delicious.

Chicken Tetrazzini

thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/
Edited from pioneer woman (basically what I had on hand)
Ingredients


* 2 cups Cooked Chicken
* 1 lb spaghetti cooked
* 2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
* 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
* 1/2 cup mixed carrots and peas (frozen)
* 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
* 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
* 1 tsp thyme
* Salt And Pepper, to taste


Topping

* 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
* 1 cup bread crumbs mixed in with the cheddar for topping


Preparation Instructions
(I never see this in recipes, but I just add frozen chicken tenders to the pasta water (before it starts boiling) and by the time the pasta is done, so are the chicken tenders)
Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups.
Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.
Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar and bread crumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Buttermilk Pancakes, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Buttermilk Pancakes
from Better Homes and Gardens

1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg slightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk (or pour 1 tbsp lemon juice in a cup measure and fill to the 1 cup line with milk)

Cook on medium heat until you see bubbles in the middle of the pancake and then flip. Serve with REAL maple syrup or boozy fruit :-)

Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

Chicken Tetrazzini

thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/
Edited from pioneer woman (basically what I had on hand)
Ingredients

* 2 cups Cooked Chicken
* 1 lb spaghetti cooked
* 2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
* 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
* 1/2 cup mixed carrots and peas (frozen)
* 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
* 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
* 1 tsp thyme
* Salt And Pepper, to taste


Topping

* 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
* 1 cup bread crumbs mixed in with the cheddar for topping


Preparation Instructions
(I never see this in recipes, but I just add frozen chicken tenders to the pasta water (before it starts boiling) and by the time the pasta is done, so are the chicken tenders)
Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups.
Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.
Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar and bread crumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly.