Cooking with KP

Roasted Garlic Dijonnaisse

If you are looking for a great condiment for sandwiches or to serve along side prime rib, with grilled chicken salads, or on top of grilled sausage and shrimp kebabs, or anything you like, look no farther. This is simply delightful.

10 cloves/toes of garlic, peeled
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 sprigs of rosemary or 2 tsp. dry rosemary

Place garlic in the center of a large square of foil. Add olive oil and rosemary. Tightly fold foil into a packet. Roast in over for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and let cool 15-20 minutes. Open foil packet and remove garlic and place in a bowl. Press roasted garlic with the back of a spoon until a fine mash. You can also use a mortar and pestle to mash the garlic.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. smoky paprika
dash of salt

Mix mayonnaise, mustard. lemon juice, pepper, salt, and paprika in a large bowl with pressed garlic. Refrigerate in tightly covered container if not serving immediately.

Kay's Cook All Day Crockpot Corn Chowder

I don't know many people who don't like corn, so when it is cold and dreary outside, warm and comfort yourself with this hardy and super easy corn chowder.

8 slices of bacon, fried

4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium bell pepper, diced

2 ribs of celery, diced

1 pound ham, cubed (you can use smoked sausage instead or no meat but bacon)

1 16-ounce package of frozen whole kernel corn or 1 can of whole kernel corn, drained

2 cans cream-style corn

2 Tablespoons parsley flakes

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon smoky paprika
1 bay leaf

2 cups chicken broth (more or less--see directions)

1 can 12-ounce can evaporated milk

1/2 stick butter

Shredded cheese, sour cream and green onions to top bowls with crumbled bacon (optional)

Spray large crock pot with cooking spray. Add potatoes, onion, bell pepper, celery, ham, all corn, bay leaf, parsley, thyme, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Pour in chicken broth until it covers and barely rises above ingredients. Cook on low for 5 hours. In the meantime, cook bacon and break 6 slices into 1/2 inch pieces and add to crock pot after 5 hours. The other two slices of bacon will be used to top the bowls of chowder. Cook 3 more hours on low. Add butter and evaporated milk 30 minutes prior to serving. Top bowls with crumbled bacon and/or cheese, green onions, and sour cream.

Christmas Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball

What’s a party without a cheese ball? Here is a wonderful one that is perfect for Christmas. I found

it the basic recipe online and made a few adjustments. It is tangy and nutty and great with white wine.

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (The original recipe called for goat cheese)

8 ounces sharp white cheddar, shredded

1 Tablespoon milk

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 green onions, finely diced

Dash of pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1 5-oz. bag dried cranberries (about a cup and a half)

Curly leaf lettuce to make a bed for the cheese ball

Rosemary springs for garnish (optional)

Mix cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add cheddar, milk, Worcestershire sauce, green onions, pepper and pecans then continue mixing until well combined. Line a small round bowl with plastic wrap then spoon cheese mixture into bowl. Press cheese firmly into bowl. Bring plastic up and over the top of cheese and gather to shape cheese into a ball. Seal ball with more plastic if necessary to completely cover then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Don’t worry if the ball is not perfect at this point. Once it firms up you will be able to easily shape it into a perfect ball. Pour cranberries into a pie plate and separate any that might have stuck together; set aside. Remove cheese ball (in plastic) from the bowl. Keeping cheese ball wrapped in the plastic, use hands to shape into a ball. When the cheese ball is perfectly round, roll in cranberries. Press any loose cranberries in the open spots the cheese ball is nicely covered. Place on bed of curly leaf lettuce and cover with plastic or place in cheese dome and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from refrigerator about 20 minutes prior to serving.

Serve with savory crackers.

Quick and Easy Potato Logs

I found the main essence of this recipe online at Taste of Home. I just made a few adjustments.
These are quick and easy and OH, SO TASTY!

6 large baking potatoes
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2-1 teaspoon pepper (depending upon your tastes)
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 cup of butter or margarine, cut into slices

On a large baking sheet with sides, place pieces of butter and place in oven while it is preheating to 350 degrees. In the meantime, put all dry ingredients in a large ziplock bag. Thoroughly scrub potatoes, cut in half the long way. Cut each half into 3 slices, so you have 6 logs/wedges per potato.
Once oven is preheated and butter is melted, remove pan from oven. Put half the potatoes in the zip lock bag and shake to coat. Place them on top of the melted butter. Then repeat for the remaining logs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and turn over. Bake another 30 mintues.

Cheesy Sausage and Rice Dressing

I love traditional cornbread dressing, especially at Thanksgiving, but this wild rice and sausage dressing is so tasty that it can't be left off the table. It is great with pork or duck, too! Try it! I hope you like it!

1 (6 ounce) pack wild rice mix

1 pound ground pork sausage with sage*

1 tablespoon butter

1 medium sweet onion chopped

1 celery stalk finely chopped

1 (8-ounce) package white mushrooms sliced

1 (10.5-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup

1 teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese or Colby Jack cheese
½ shredded Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare rice according to package directions. Spoon cooked rice into a large bowl.

In a large skillet, brown sausage, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon. Cook until most of the pink is gone (about 5 minutes.) Add onions, celery, mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce. Continue to cook until vegetables are soft and meat is no longer pink. Drain any fat and add to bowl with rice. Add soup, garlic powder, pepper, thyme and 1 cup of cheese of Colby Jack cheese and 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese.. Mix to combine all ingredients. Transfer mixture to a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle remaining Colby Jack cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes.

*We have also used loose Italian sausage for this and it is great.

Note: You can also add one diced Granny Smith apple to the mixture. Add it when you add vegetables to sausage.

Southern Pecan Pie

My best friend Mary made the best pecan pie in the world. She learned from watching her godmother who was a caterer. Neither of them measured anything. I had Mary give me the recipe with these measurements and it is awesome. She made her own crust, but I have no luck with
pastries, so I use a frozen deep dish shell.

1 frozen deep dish pie crust
1 cup dark Karo syrup
1 cup dark brown sugar or 1 cup white sugar, plus 4 tablespoons brown sugar
a pinch of salt (1/8 teaspoon)
3 Tablespoons butter, melted (NO MARGARINE)
3 large eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together syrup, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, and melted butter until smooth. Slowly pour in eggs, whisking them in until completely blended. Stir in pecans. Pour mixture into unbaked frozen pie crust that you have placed on a cooking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes and then check for over browning of crust. If crust is too brown, make a circle of aluminium foil and put over pie. Bake 15 more minutes or until filling is set.
Allow to cool 1 hour before serving. Refrigerate any leftover pie.

Kay's Impossible Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Pie

Bisquick has long had an Impossible Cheeseburger Pie recipe. I made a few adjustments and this is my version.

6 slices of bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
1 pound lean ground beef (I use 93-7)
1 large onion, diced
1/2 medium bell pepper, diced
1 Tablespoon parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
3-4 Tablespoons barbecue sauce
1/2 cup Bisquick mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef with onions, bell pepper, and parsley. Drain any fat. Stir in pepper, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Spray 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Pour meat mixture in pie plate. Make small dots of barbecue sauce on top of meat. Top with 1 cup of cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, Bisquick and eggs. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with remaining cup of cheese. Bake 5-10 more minutes or until knife inserted in middle of pie comes out nearly clean.
Let cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.

You can top with diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce and pickles if you like. I usually serve with a side salad.

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.