Cooking with KP

KP's Cracked Taters

Versions of "crack" potato casseroles have floated around the internet for several years. My recipe for them is just a slightly KP-ed version of one I found online. It called for bacon bits and prefer to fry my own bacon instead. This casserole is referred to as "crack" because it is so addicting.

2 (16oz) containers sour cream

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese or Colby Jack, shredded

1 pound of bacon

2 packages Ranch Dip mix

1 tsp. black pepper

1 large (28 - 30oz) bag frozen hash brown potatoes - shredded kind, slightly thawed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using my kitchen shears, I cut the bacon into ½ inch pieces and fry until slightly crisp. Drain on paper towels. In large bowl, mix bacon with all other ingredients. Pour into casserole dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 45-60 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Magic Custard Pie

This is definitely not my recipe. It is all over the internet and I decided to try it. If you like egg custards, you are going to love this. There are also chocolate and coconut versions online.

4 eggs (whites separated from yolks), room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup sugar
8 Tablespoons butter, melted
¾ cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk lukewarm
powdered sugar for dusting cake

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. Grease and line 8 inch x 8 inch baking dish with parchment.
Separate eggs and add the egg whites to a mixer and beat egg whites stiff. Place egg whites in a bowl and set aside.
Beat the egg yolks & sugar until light. Add butter and vanilla. Beat for two mins. Add the flour and mix it in until fully incorporated.
Slowly start adding the milk and beat until everything is well mixed together. Add the egg whites, a third at a time and gently fold them in using a spatula, repeat until all egg whites are folded in.
Pour batter into baking dish and bake for approximately 60 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. Cool and dust heavily with powdered sugar.

Chicken with Honey Garlic Dijon Glaze

There are several recipes for this type of glaze for chicken. This is my version. You can also use it on pork chops.

4 chicken breasts (I prefer boneless and skinless)
or
6 chicken thighs
4 tablespoon butter
4-5 cloves/toes of garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup honey
3 Tablespoons of Dijon mustard
1/2 Tablespoon smoky paprika
seasoned salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400 degree. Season meat on both sides with seasoned salt, pepper, and garlic powder to your preferences. Place meat in baking pan that you have lined with foil (easier for clean-up as this glaze is sticky). Melt butter in a small skillet, and add garlic. Cook on medium heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly so that garlic does not burn. Add honey and mustard and cook 2 more minutes, stirring constantly. Glaze should begin to reduce and thicken. Add paprika and stir. Pour on top of meat. Bake 30-35 minutes until juices run clear. You can quickly broil for 3 minutes to darken glaze, but that is optional.

Yellow Squash and Vidalia Onion Casserole

When I think of summer and cooking, two things always come to my mind: yellow squash (which is probably my favorite vegetable) and Vidalia onions. What better way to celebrate these wonderful vegetables than a casserole? Here is one I enjoy making.

6 medium yellow squash, sliced in thin rounds
1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Topping:
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crumbled finely
3 Tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, heat oil and butter. Add squash and onions. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and saute until tender. Pour squash and onions into large mixing bowl and add cheeses and sour cream. Mix well and then spoon into a 2 quart casserole dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle cracker crumbs on top and then drizzle with melted butter. Bake 10 more minutes. Amazingly easy and amazingly delicious!

Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Glaze

I have made several homemade "from scratch" carrot cakes in my lifetime, but this "semi-home" one is just as enjoyable. I hope you will try it and let me know what you think.

1 box carrot cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)

4 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup ginger ale (you could you water if you don’t have the ginger ale, but it really adds to the flavor)
1 8 ounce-can of crushed pineapple (don’t drain)
½ cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts, but pecans would be great, too)
½ cup grated coconut
½ cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, mix cake mix, eggs, oil, ginger ale, and crushed pineapple for about 3 minutes until well blended. Stir in nuts, coconut, and raisins. Pour into Bundt pan that has been lightly sprayed. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool for 25 minutes and then turn out on plate and let cool another 25 minutes before slicing. You can put a glaze on it, but it is great as is.

Cinnamon Vanilla Glaze

1 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk ( I use 1 for a thicker glaze and 2 if I want a thinner glaze)

Mix all ingredients in bowl and drizzle on top of cake. This is also great on doughnuts

Summer Cobbler

My favorite cobbler is peach cobbler and I have a similar post on this blog for my peach cobbler. However, I had some fresh blueberries and strawberries that I needed to use so I added them to a can of sliced peaches for this recipe. You could use any type of fresh fruit, but I think it adds to the taste to have the juice from the canned peaches in this dessert; however this is not an overly sweet cobbler, which makes it perfect for a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top.

3/4 stick of butter
1 1/4 cup self-rising flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 15 ounce can of sliced peaches (do not drain liquid)
8-10 fresh strawberries sliced
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
(You could use raspberries, blackberries, etc, if you prefer
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut butter into slices and place in 9x13 casserole and place in oven while it is preheating. The butter will melt during the preheating. Meanwhile, mix the flour, sugar, milk and vanilla until there are no lumps. In a separate bowl, pour peaches and juice, add berries and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix. Once oven is preheated, remove casserole dish and pour batter into the pan. Top the batter with the fruit mixture (juice and all). Bake one hour until crust is bubbly and golden brown.

Crockpot Barbecue Chuck Roast

We don't eat a great deal of beef roasts, but whenever chuck roasts are on sale, we get one. Here is my recipe for a barbecued chuck roast in the crock pot. It is great for a day when you and the family are going to out enjoying the day. It needs a good 7 hours to good on low for the best flavor.

1 three pound chuck roast
1 onion, sliced in rings
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce (I use either Sweet Baby Ray's or KC Masterpiece Honey)
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper

Directions: Spray the sides and bottom of crock pot or use a liner, which I highly recommend. Sprinkle garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper on both sides of meat. Lay sliced onion rings and bay leaves in the bottom of the crock pot. Place chuck roast on top of onions. In a mixing bowl, mix ketchup, brown sugar, minced garlic, barbecue sauce, 1 teaspoon of pepper, mustard, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour on top of meat. Cook on low for 6 hours. Remove meat from crock pot and either slice or shred with forks. Remove bay leaves. Return to roast to crock pot, stir well into sauce, and cook one more hour. Serve on buns, on top of cornbread, or stuff inside of baked potato!

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.