for the love of chocolate pudding...

It is cold.  And we have had 3 weeks of sick and yick at this house.  So we I needed to make an awesome comfort food treat on Saturday with the kids while S had his marathon inventory day.  I was originally thinking brownies or Grandma K's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but then we watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen on PBS and they made chocolate pudding.  CHOCOLATE PUDDING!  Yes, that was it.  Unfortunately I didn't have any box mixes, or the fancy expresso powder or even heavy cream in the house that ATK's recipe called for.  Then I remembered making pudding with my dad when I was little out of the Betty Crocker cookbook.  I pulled mine out and found the recipe, and then decided to mish-mash the two together based on what ingredients I had in the house for the following deliciousness.  (kids helped measure out everything and G was an awesome stirrer!  Dad, I may be able to attempt your scalloped potatoes in the near future if she keeps it up...=)

Homemade Chocolate Pudding (our version)

1/2 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 large egg yolks
3 cups skim milk
1 stick butter
5 oz chopped dark chocolate  OR  1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt together in dutch oven or large sauce pan. Whisk in yolks and 1/2 cup of the milk until fully incorporated, making sure to scrape corners of  the pan. Whisk in rest of the milk until incorporated.  Place pan over medium heat; cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbling over entire surface, around 5 to 8 minutes.  Cook 30 seconds longer, then remove from heat.  Add butter, chocolate and vanilla, and whisk until melted and fully incorporated.  Pour through fine-mesh strainer into bowl to get out any cornstartch lumps. Press parchment paper against surface of pudding, and place in refrigerator to cool, at least 4 hours. Whisk pudding briefly and serve!

Please, please try this pudding.  It was NOT hard to make (seriously...if I can do you, you can!), but it was hard to wait for it to cool!  And I won't tell at all if you make it again 2 days later because you couldn't stop thinking about it and it was all gone before your hubby even got home Saturday night.  And I really won't tell if you decide you just can't wait for it to cool and pour it into a mug and call it hot chocolate (seriously...the high is -4 today and the windchill is -30, who wants cold pudding on a day like this?!).  I will tell if you put your kids in matching pj's and feed it to them as a bedtime snack though because you will need to grab your camera for the silly crazy giggly fest that just might happen because of it...

mmmmmmm, pi day....

We did not have appropriate attire for the day like my beautiful niece does, so we went for an edible celebration instead:

No Rolling, No Pie Weights, No Fear Pie Crust  (from America's Test Kitchen)

**makes one 9 inch pie crust**

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp table salt
8 Tbsp butter (1 stick), softened but still cool
2 ounces cream cheese, softened but still cool

Lightly coat 9-inch Pyrex pie plate with cooking spray. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together in bowl.  With electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl, stopping once or twice to scrape down beater and sides of bowl, until completely homogenous, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture and combine on medium-low until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 20 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat until dough begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds. Reserve 3 tablespoons of dough. Turn remaining dough onto lightly floured surface, gather into ball, and flatten into 6-inch disk. Transfer disk to greased pie plate. Press dough evenly over bottom of pie plate toward sides, using heel of your hand. Hold plate up to light to ensure that dough is evenly distributed. With your fingertips, continue to work dough over bottom of plate and up sides until evenly distributed.  On floured surface, roll reserved dough into 12-inch rope. Divide into three pieces, roll each piece into 8-inch rope, and form fluted edge around top of crust (I could not get this to work, and the crust still turned out fine). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly prick bottom of crust with fork. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.  If large bubbles form, wait until crust is fully baked, then gently press on bubbles with kitchen towel. Bubbles will settle as crust cools.  Cool on wire rack. 

Raspberry Pie  (based on my Grandma's recipe instructions for strawberry pie) 

1 no fear pie crust, baked
6 oz. cream cheese, softened (use rest from pie crust)
3 Tbsp powdered sugar


1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 cup mashed raspberries (I microwaved frozen raspberries for this)
2 pints fresh raspberries (or enough to fill the pie crust)

Beat cream cheese with sugar or small amount of whipped cream. Spread on bottom of baked and cool pie crust.  Put crust in refrigerator to chill.  Mash enough berries to measure 1 cup.  In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in water and mashed berries. Cook until mixture thickens and boil for 1 minute. Cool in refrigerator.  Fill pie with remaining raspberries. Pour cooked berry mixture over top and spread even. Chill overnight, or at least 4 hours.

taco filling - one of our go-to's...

produce from our garden

The theme of our Ladies' Night Out kickoff this past Tuesday was "favorite recipes." We got together at a gal's house and had a good evening of fellowship...and wonderful food of course! And everyone brought favorite recipes and cookbooks and we all had a lot of fun sharing them.

The recipe I brought is for our taco filling. It is one of our "go-to" recipes when you can't figure out what to have for supper. It is also incredibly versatile and we have 4 recipes that use the same taco filling so leftovers are never a problem. Thought I would share it with all of you too!

Taco Filling
1 lb hamburger
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 pkg taco seasoning (or 1/4 cup seasoning, 3/4 cup water)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups cooked rice
1 can black beans, rinsed (opt.)
1 cup frozen corn (opt.)

Brown hamburger and onion in frying pan. Add taco seasoning and water according to package directions. Then add tomatoes, rice, beans and corn. Mix all together and cook over medium heat until heated through. Serve in soft-shelled tacos and top with favorite taco toppings!


Nachos
Taco Filling (see recipe above)
Shredded cheese
Salsa
Guacamole
Sour cream
Tortilla Chips

Layer hot taco filling, cheese and salsa in glass pie plate or other microwave safe dish. Microwave for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Add guacamole and sour cream on top and serve with tortilla chips.


Mexican Lasagna
Taco Filling (see recipe above)
Salsa
Flour tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese

Spoon a very thin layer of salsa in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan (keeps tortillas from drying out). Next add a layer of tortillas, tearing the tortillas if necessary to make them fit nice. Then spread ½ of the taco filling on top of the tortillas followed by a layer of shredded cheese. Repeat tortilla, meat and cheese layers again. Add one more tortilla layer, then top with salsa and a bit more cheese. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is bubbly and center is heated through.


Stuffed Green Peppers, taco style
Taco Filling (see recipe above)
Fresh green peppers, halved and seeded
shredded cheese
2 cups tomato soup (not condensed)
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Bring a big pot of water to boil. Drop halved and seeded peppers in and boil for 6 minutes. Remove and let dry on paper towel. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp shredded cheese in bottom of each pepper half, then fill the rest of the way with the taco filling. Arrange in glass baking dish. Mix tomato soup, water, and Worcestershire sauce together to make a gravy consistency. Pour over green peppers, making sure there is at least ½ inch liquid in bottom of baking dish (add more water if there isn’t). Top each half with more shredded cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, removing cover for the last 5 minutes.

Taco Salad
Taco Filling (see recipe above), cooled
1 head lettuce
8 oz Italian dressing mixed with 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
8 oz shredded cheese
2-4 tomatoes chopped
1/2 bag (or so) crushed taco flavored tortilla chips (Doritos work well too!)
Salsa

Tear lettuce into large bowl. Add about 2-3 cups cooled taco filling, shredded cheese, tomatoes, and dressing. Stir up, add salsa to desired consistency. Add crushed chips right before serving (add more salsa if necessary).

So what are some of your "go-to" or favorite recipes?

strawberry recipes...

If you happen to venture to a strawberry field like this...

and plop yourself down to find some nice ripe strawberries...

and if you manage to refrain from eating EVERY berry that you pick (ahem, W, next time they might make us weigh you in and out) and come home with some nice strawberries like this...

...then you might like a few recipes to enjoy. Here are 2 of our favorites!


Grandma Grace's Hot Milk Cake (we have been eating this with mashed strawberries over top - yum!)

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup milk (If using skim milk, increase butter to 4 Tbsp)
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour

Beat eggs, add sugar and beat until creamy and frothy. Heat milk until butter melts (pyrex measuring cup works great for this if using microwave). Sift (or whisk) flour and baking powder together. Add dry ingredients to egg batter along with the milk and butter. Beat well. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Good with chocolate frosting or as a shortcake with strawberries and ice cream.


Grandma Roskamp's Strawberry Pie (Bruin adjustments in parentheses*)

*S's idea of a strawberry pie is crust and strawberries, which I think of a pile of big hard berries covered in red dye #40 goo (I had a piece of pie like this at Perkins before and have never been the same). My idea of a strawberry pie is this recipe which S thinks is not a pie at all but rather too sweet strawberry jam over a cream cheese concoction of sorts. We joshingly argue every year about which one to make with our berries, so this year I tried to meld the ideas...with good results. At least S said it was pie this year. =)

1 pie shell, baked (use "pie weights" rather than poking holes in the crust - finished pie will be less soggy)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened (4 oz cream cheese)
1/4 cup powdered sugar or whipped cream (2 Tbsp powdered sugar)
6 cups strawberries, sliced (halve strawberries or leave small ones whole)
1 cup sugar (3/4 cup sugar)
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Beat cream cheese with sugar or small amount of whipped cream. Spread on bottom of baked and cool pie crust (make sure cream cheese mixture is very soft and spreadable and basically "paint" the crust with a thin layer of it). Put crust in refrigerator to chill.
Mash only enough berries to measure 1 cup. In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in water and mashed berries. Cook until mixture thickens and boil for 1 minute. Cool in refrigerator.
Fill pie with remaining sliced strawberries (fill with halved or whole strawberries - may need more than 6 cups - I wasn't measuring, but just kept going until the pie was full). Pour berry mixture over top and spread even. Chill overnight, or at least 4 hours.


The strawberry season has come to an end in this house. This is by far the most strawberries we have processed ever, thanks to help from my parents. Around 50 lbs of fresh strawberries from 2 trips to the Bauer Berry Farm. First 30 lbs were picked by Mom, Grace and I. The next trip I went by myself with the 3 kids. Before you think I am crazy, I had a quick escape route and 10 lbs of pre-picked strawberries ordered in case it went bad. Which it didn't, at least that day! The kids had a great time and I picked another 10 lbs! The results of the processing were as follows:

• 30 pints of strawberry jam (little less than half went home with my folks)
• 2 quart bags of frozen whole berries
• 5 quarts of mashed berries
• big bowl of mashed berries for eating over ice cream and hot milk cake
• big bowl of whole berries to eat fresh
• 2 strawberry pies

I love strawberry season so much, I can't wait for next year already.

sunday night breadsticks...

Families have traditions. We are a family. Therefore we have traditions.
(I love logic - Proofs was one of my favorite math courses in college. =)

One tradition our family has is eating breadsticks for supper on Sunday while watching a movie -- a nice and relaxing way to end our day of rest. We started this tradition right after we were married in looking for something easy and not too filling for munching on Sunday evenings (growing up we often would have popcorn and peanut butter toast). I love breadsticks and so we settled on that one Sunday night, really liked it, and started doing it again and again. When we started, we would use 2 pizza crust pouches and the Betty Crocker breadstick recipe on the back (minus the egg wash).

Then one Sunday a year or so later, we didn't have the pizza crust pouches, didn't have yeast, and didn't have money to order them from the pizza place across the parking lot from our tiny apartment. So on to the internet (dial-up connection at that time!) and to the Recipe Source website, which I used a lot then, and found this recipe for Soft Breadsticks. That recipe worked and tasted pretty good, but it only made 4 breadsticks (we like them thick and soft, not thin and crisp) and it was not exactly what I was looking for. But it was close, so I tried it again and again, doubling it and tweaking the ingredients until we came out with something that we really liked. And 8 some years later, we have made it every Sunday night that we have been at home, and some Sunday nights when we haven't been at home too!

Now you think making it that many times they would turn out perfect every time? No. Added factors of humidity levels in the house, freshness of baking powder, type of pan, state of mind of the chef all change things a little bit. All kidding aside, S & I love these soft, almost biscuit-like breadsticks with pizza or alfredo sauce, and our kids now love them too. Here is the recipe:

Sunday Night Breadsticks

3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk dry ingredients in bowl to sift together. Add milk and oil and stir till mostly combined. Then knead with hands to finish combining. Add more flour or milk if needed to get the right consistency which should be a soft dough that doesn't stick to your fingers when you pinch it. Break into 8 pieces and roll those into 6-8in breadsticks. Place on greased baking sheet (air bake or thick commercial grade is the best) and bake for 11-13 minutes until just slightly golden brown on top. Brush with butter and enjoy with favorite pizza dipping sauce!

Note: You can doctor up this recipe to whatever you are in the mood for. We have added italian seasoning and parmesan cheese, we have substituted 1/3 wheat flour and used honey instead of sugar, we have also turned them into dessert breadsticks by adding a lot of cinnamon and sugar and dipped them in cream cheese frosting.

Per request from my cousin G (same name as our little G! =) we decided to photo-document the process of how we make the basic recipe. This was fun and I am glad to have this tradition documented for our kids at least! I collaged the pictures so as not to have to post 30 some pictures, and hopefully you can figure out the captions...

Cast of characters:

• S, dadda and chief photographer
  
• C, momma and chief chef
• G, big helper 1 and chief taste tester
• W, big helper 2 and chief commentator
• (not pictured) little C, baby and chief napper
  

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Ingredients!
• G telling us how many cups of flour to add.
• In goes the flour - G and W help dump all of the ingredients in the bowl.

• G likes to make a hole in the flour for the rest of the dry ingredients to go into.
• In goes the sugar.
• Testing the sugar to make sure it tastes ok.
• In goes the salt.

• In goes the baking powder. (I measure 3 tsp instead of 1 Tbsp as to make more turns for G&W)
• W is usually right there helping out, but he was camera shy so had to be held by dadda while dadda took all the pictures.
• G showing us the whisk - nice, G!
• Whisking dry ingredients together.

• 1 cup of milk is next.
• G helps momma pour it in the bowl.
  
• After the milk goes in, G gets to sip a little extra out of the measuring cup.
• Now W gets in the game! He wants a sip too!

• W helping momma pour oil in the bowl.
  
• Dadda, can we get a fork? (see the awesome stepstool that G&W are using that I found on craigslist for WAY cheaper than the normal price?)
• Stirring with fork to combine...
• ...until it looks like this. (basically until you can't stir anymore)

• Time to use the hands! (G licks off the fork)
  
• Knead until combined. (but not too much otherwise breadsticks will be tough!)
  
• Dough should be soft, not dry, but does not stick to fingers when pinched. (we did good this time!)
• A look at the dough. (maybe I shouldn't have used a bowl that was the exact same color!)

• G & W then get tiny "tries" to roll and make sure it tastes right.
• G always rolls a "try" for dadda.
• Then momma breaks dough...
• ...in half! (boy, this is exciting, isn't it?!)

• Dough divided into 8 pieces.
• Roll pieces into...
• ...breadsticks about 6-8 inches long
• Everybody gets to roll out breadsticks! (we divide 2 of the pieces to make 4 kid size breadsticks =)

• Uh-oh! W dropped his on the floor! (5 second rule applies at our house - we sweep the kitchen floor a lot =)
• Breadsticks ready to go on greased Air Bake cookie sheet. This is the one that we have always used and have always had good luck. If you don't have Air Bake, I would use a thicker or commercial grade cookie sheet, or just watch them so the bottoms don't get so dark.
• "Kids stand back, the oven is hot!" Yes, I yell this every time.
• Ours take 11 minutes until they are done.

• G licking out the bowl.
• Mmmmmm...G loves making breadsticks as it is the only "dough" that I will let her taste. Everything else that we make always has eggs in it.
• 11 minutes are up - time to check the breadsticks!
• They look just right.

• Close up of finished breadstick - light colored with just a hint of golden brown on top. S also checks them by making sure the sides of the breadsticks aren't doughy.

• Turn oven off. (this is something I forget more often than not...although I am getting better - there is hope for me yet!)
  
• Rub tops of breadsticks with butter.
• Mmmmm, happy breadsticks!
• Getting sauces ready for dipping!

• Come on! Can't we stop taking pictures and just eat?!!!!
• Ready to go downstairs!
• Movie of choice tonight? Cars!
• Enjoying the breadsticks and the movie...

Are you still there? Did you stick with me to the end? If so, congratulations! Are you one of those people that will sit and watch all the movie credits in the theater after a movie is done? (We usually are!) Have you ever gotten rewarded by a silly bonus clip at the end? Tonight is your lucky night! For your diligence, we offer you something silly...

supper success!

I don't think I have officially done a recipe post before, but after tonight's supper, I thought I would share one. This recipe, (which I found on the internet and then changed it a bunch keeping the basic idea only =), is so simple and kid-friendly, and it is fun and interactive too. I feel like we have been in such a rut with meals lately, and especially with ones that the kids will actually eat. So tonight was refreshing to say the least! So here it is as we prepared it tonight:

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Canadian Bacon Pineapple Pizza Pasta

1 lb mini bow tie pasta
1 jar marinara/spaghetti sauce
1/2 - 1lb ham, cubed
1 jar pineapple tidbits, drained
shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to box, drain, then add back to pot with sauce to heat through. Cube ham, drain pineapple, and shred cheese (or open shredded cheese package as I did - I have a fear of cheese graters that I won't go into right now!) and put them in separate bowls. Then when you are ready to eat, put a layer of noodles in the bottom of your pasta bowl (or plate or clearance Easter cow melamine bowls), and sprinkle the ham, pineapple and cheese on top of the pasta like pizza toppings! You can then microwave the dish to heat the toppings and melt the cheese if you'd like. Serve with good bread and a salad and there ya go!

~~~~~

Great fun was had by all tonight with this meal, and both G & W packed away so much food, and without us having the normal rigmarole or hullabaloo! They are not uber-picky about food, but they are not garbage disposals by any means either. I would say they are typical kid-picky. They aren't fans of casseroles, don't care to try new things (although we always make them take a "try" of whatever we are eating), like crustless sandwiches, and their favorites are of course mac'n'cheese (which they call mac'n'noodle), cheese pizza, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets. So I know that tonight wasn't packed with exotic veggies or exciting new ingredients, but it was new to us, fun for all, and everyone was full and happy after supper. So give it a try, whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, and enjoy!