Cooking with KP: December 2017

Apple Dumpling Bites

When she was alive, my sister Mary Ellen made the best apple dumplings in the world. I never learned her recipe, but I have been thinking about how delicious they were, especially since Christmas dinner because I made skillet apples for our Christmas dinner, and they tasted a lot like what she made. So, tonight, I used the skillet apple recipe and added some biscuits to made what I am calling "Apple Dumpling Bites." DELICIOUS.

6 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced thin

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup apple juice

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

a pinch of salt

1 stick butter, divided into two equal parts

3 Tablespoons honey

2 cans of biscuits, cut into quarters

3 Tablespoons white sugar

½ Tablespoon cinnamon

In a large skillet with lid, melt half of the butter, add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple juice, and salt. Toss in apples and coat with mixture. Put lid on top of skillet. Cook on medium-high heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If there is a great deal of moisture, take lid off and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes to reduce liquid.

While apples are cooking, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut biscuits into quarters. In a large ziplock bag, mix together white sugar and cinnamon.

When apples are done, put them in a 9x13 baking pan that has been sprayed or buttered. Drizzle honey on top of apples.

Add ¼ the biscuits pieces to ziplock and shake to coat. Place on top of apple with honey. Continue until all biscuit pieces are coated with sugar/cinnamon mixture. If any cinnamon sugar remains in bag, sprinkle on top of biscuits. Melt the remaining half of the butter and drizzle over biscuits.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or until biscuits are getting lightly browned.

Oh So Easy Cheesy Potato Soup

A friend of my daughter Amanda shared a recipe with her for a potato soup and we made a few changes. Here is it. Super easy, super cheesy and super tasty! Perfect for a cold and rainy but busy evening!

1 onion, diced
1 Tablespoon butter
3 (14 ounce cans) low sodium chicken broth
1 (32 ounce bag) hash browns
1 (10.5 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10.5 ounce) can cream of celery soup
2 cups milk OR 1 can evaporated milk and 1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups sharp shredded cheese (the original recipe called for 1 cup Velveeta cubes, but we don't care for Velvetta)
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder

1 bay leaf
4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 green onion, sliced in small rounds
Sour cream for topping
Extra cheese for topping

You can also add diced ham to the soup. Mix in when you first put the hashbrowns in the broth.

In large soup pot, melt butter and saute onions until transparent. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add hash browns and return to a boil for 15-20 minutes. . Add in soups, pepper, garlic powder,bay leaf, and milk and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Add cheese and mix well. Simmer 10-20 minutes. Serve with bacon crumbles,green onions, extra cheese, and sour cream if desired.

Kay's Garlic Parmesan Ranch Wings

Are you looking for a great wing recipe? Look no further. These are amazing and very easy to prepare. Hope you like them.

5 pounds of chicken wings, cut into two

parts, rinse in cool water and pat dry with paper towels

3 Tablespoon mayonnaise or oil

2 Tablespoons dry ranch dressing mix

1 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tablespoon finely minced garlic (I used the jar kind)

1 tsp. pepper

4 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (green shaker can kind)

In a large bowl that has a tight lid, mix mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix, paprika, garlic powder, minced garlic and pepper. Add wings and put lid on bowl. Shake to coat the wings. You can refrigerate for up to two hours if you want, but you can bake them right away. Place a sheet of parchment paper or foil on baking sheet. Place baking/cooking racks on top of paper/foil. Put wings on rack and sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese on top of them. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Turn wings over, sprinkle this side with 2 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and bake 10-15 additional minutes so both sides of wings are golden brown. Sprinkle with parsley flakes and serve with ranch dressing.

Kay's Easy Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli with Ham

There are many ways to make pasta fagioli, but this is how my mom did. She called it ham bone soup, and my mother made it for us on the stove top in her huge soup pot. I can remember the aroma filling the house. With my busy life as a teacher and cheer coach, I had to use the crock pot for most of our meals and this is how the recipe was born.

1 ham bone

1 ½ cups of diced ham

1 large onion, diced

2 ribs of celery, sliced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 toe garlic, minced

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

1 (14 oz) can Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce

8 cups beef broth

2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning blend

1 Tablespoon parsley flakes

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 Tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon sugar

2 bay leaves

1 ½ cups pasta (ditlani is the best to use)

Put all ingredients except pasta in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add pasta 25-35 minutes before serving. Serve with crusty bread and cheese!

Cheaper Cuts of Beef Don't Have To Be Tough

Most people avoid the cheaper cuts of beef because they tend to be tough. With 8 children and three adults in our home, my mother had to find ways to tenderize the cheaper cuts of beef. One way to cook "down", as my mother used to say, a tough cut of beef steak is to season both sides of the steak with garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper. Lightly brown the steak in a large skillet and on top add a diced green bell pepper, medium onion, a bay leaf, parsley flakes, a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce, and a can of diced tomatoes. Cover with lid. Let the steak simmer for 30-50 minutes. Remove lid and thicken juices by cooking 5-10 more minutes. You can also do the same with a cheap beef roast in a crock pot. Add all the ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. The flavor is simple, amazing and great with mashed potatoes.

Fall Vegetables for a Healthy You

As the fall approaches, we will all start to stay indoors more hours. This will lessen our vitamins, such as vitamin A, D, and K, which are enhanced by sunlight. Below are a few vegetables you might want to increase in your diet as the fall and later winter days approach. Besides, they are very tasty. In fact, in the next few weeks, I will be posting recipes that incorporate many of these delicious veggies.

Sweet potatoes and yams are very rich in carotenoids, vitamins A, B6, C, potassium, iron and fiber and are delicious when baked and eaten plain (without butter) or used in soups, casseroles or stir-fries.

Bell peppers are great sources of potassium, manganese, fiber and vitamins A, B, C and K. These sweet peppers are flavorful additions to salads and healthy stir-fries. You can choose from a rainbow of colors, including: green peppers,yellow peppers, orange peppers,and red peppers.

Summer and winter squash are rich in carotenoids, vitamins A and C, potassium, magnesium and fiber and can be served alone or added to many dishes.

Just a few tips for you...

Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato- based sauces. No more stains!

Use lifesavers candy to hold candles in place on your next birthday cake! Kids love them.

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugarcone to prevent ice cream drips!

Zap garlic cloves in the microwave for 15 seconds and the skins slip right off!

If your celery begins to wilt in the fridge, fill a large cup half full of water and place celery in the cup. Put back in the fridge for two hours--it will be crisp. (Learned this from my mother).

Cooking Myth Busted

A Potato Can Save a Salty Soup or Stew. True or False? False. "This is an attractive idea, but it doesn't work because potatoes are not particularly absorbent," says Wolke, who conducted his own soup-and-potato experiment for his Cooking Myth Busters book. "There is no reason they would attract salt." If you remove the raw potato from the soup, the potato will taste salty, but so would a sponge — it has simply soaked up some of the salty liquid. Still, there is hope for salty stews: Adding a bit of vinegar or sugar can "cancel out" the saltiness by giving your taste buds competing flavors.

Super Moist Turkey

If you are looking for a way to get a moist turkey, you might try one of these family hints:

1--bake the turkey upside down--breast down for the first half of the cooking time. It will help the darker meat cook more thoroughly and the fatty juices of the darker meat will drip down to the breast and add moistness. Use a deep roasting pan for this.

2--bake the turkey with the breast up, but rub it with butter, garlic powder and pepper only. Do not salt the skin. Instead, mix salt in a cup of warm water and pour that cup of salted warm-not hot-water inside the cavity of the turkey. The salt water will steam up into the turkey, making it very moist.

3. bake the turkey with the breast up and slice two lemons and one orange in halves. Place the halves inside the seasoned turkey and the juices will steam into the meat, adding moisture and flavor.

Hint of the Week

Here is something I learned from my wonderful Mother, the greatest cook I have ever known. When you have just a small serving of cooked vegetables leftover from dinner, don't throw them away. Keep a large plastic container in the freezer and put the vegetables in the container. Mix them--carrots, corn, green beans, broccoli, etc. When the container is full make a pot of soup or stew. Also, if a recipe calls for 1/2 a chopped onion, chop the whole onion and add the half to the freezer container. My mother made the best vegetable soups from this idea.

Hint for the Week

With Fourth of July quickly approaching, you might be thinking of making Deviled Eggs. If you want perfectly boiled eggs, place eggs in a large pot and completely cover with cold water. Do not layer eggs on top of one another. Bring water to a rapid boil for 2 minutes, reduce to simmer and let eggs simmer 8 minutes, return to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and empty hot water and fill pot with cold water. Let sit for 5 minutes. To peel easily, slightly crush shell in your fist and roll on counter with a firm grip. Of course, you don't want to push through the egg, but by making the shell crack in many small pieces, it is easier to peel. My father saw this on a cooking show years ago and taught me this. It truly works.