Cooking with KP

Snickerdoodle Blondies

I love Snickerdoodles and I love blonde brownies. This recipe combines both flavors and would be great with morning coffee and a bake sale item.

For blondie bars
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
3 T vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups self rising flour or 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour with 2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

For topping
1 T white sugar
1/2 T ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually, add in dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Spread into a greased 9x11 brownie pan or a 9x9 square baking pan (these will be thicker and take more baking time.) Mix topping ingredients, sprinkle over top of brownie mixture. Bake 35-45 minutes until set and golden brown. Cool in pan. Cut into squares.

Tempting Cheese Dip

This a cheese dip recipe that I adapted from one on temp-tations.com. It is great for parties and if you chill the leftovers, it makes a good spread for finger sandwiches. You can also keep is warm in a dip warmer.

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of shredded Colby jack cheese
1/2 cup of shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (use fresh--not the green jar kind)
2/3 cup Miracle Whip
2/3 cup diced yellow onion
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Put in 1 quart baking dish. Bake 40 minutes or until dip is bubbling and top is lightly browned. Serve with crackers, pretzels, or sturdy chips.

Kay's Beef Tips/ Stroganoff in the Crockpot

Working nearly 34 years as a teacher, most of which I was a cheerleading coach, left little time for cooking, so I have learned to cook many things in my crockpot. Here is a quick and easy way to turn an economical cut of meat into a delicious and hearty dinner. The recipe can be prepared without the sour cream for just beef tips in gravy. Add the sour cream to make stroganoff.

3 pounds of cubed sirloin or beef stew meat ( I look for the packages with the large pieces of meat. They will cook down)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup.
1 jar or can of sliced or tiny button mushrooms, drained
3 packages of reduced sodium brown gravy mix ( I use McCormick)
1 1/2 c beef broth or 1 cup beef broth and 1/2 red wine
1 onion, diced
2 bay leaves
2 T Worcestershire sauce or A-1 steak sauce
1 T garlic power
1/2 T black pepper
1 T tablespoon creole mustard
1 small container of sour cream (if making stroganoff)

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Season meat with garlic powder and black pepper. I don't use salt because the gravy mixes and soup will provide salt. Place meat in crock pot and top with diced onion, bay leaves, and mushrooms. In small bowl, mix soup, dry gravy mixes, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and beef broth/red wine. Pour on top of meat and vegetables. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. In the last hour of cooking, stir well and add sour cream to make stroganoff. Serve on top a bed of rice, mashed potatoes or egg noodles.

Italian Crusted Pork Chops

My daughter Amanda shared the basic recipe for this with me. Of course, I put a little KP-flare to it. It is quick, easy, and delightful.

4-6 pork chops (I prefer bone-in)
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 cup of Italian seasoned Panko crumbs
2-3 T Parmesan cheese (I use the Kraft Shaker in the green jar)
1 T garlic powder (not salt)
3/4 cup of your favorite mustard (I have used Creole, Honey Mustard, Spicy Brown, and Dijon--all work wonderfully)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil and spray foil with cooking spray line a baking sheet with foil and place a cookie/baking rack on top and spray rack. Using the rack will make the crust a bit crispier. In a container or plate, mix bread crumbs, cheese, and garlic powder. Brush a fairly good amount of mustard on one side of the chops. Then place mustard side down in crumbs and press firmly to coat. Then brush mustard on top side and flip over in crumbs. You want a good complete coating on the chops. Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops.

PS: You can also use this recipe with chicken tenders, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and/or thighs.

Easy Blueberry Coffee Cake

Here is a recipe I discovered by accident online. It is quick, easy, moist and yummy!

Cake:
1 box or package of blueberry muffin mix (I used Jiffy)
3/4 c. fresh or frozen whole blueberries
1 8 ounce can of crushed pineapple with juice
1 egg

Topping:
1/2 flaked coconut
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 T soften butter
1 T flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse blueberries in cold water and drain. Mix all ingredients of topping in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, add muffin mix, pineapple and egg. Blend well by hand. Fold in blueberries. Pour batter in a 9x9 square pan that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle topping on batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Easy Chicken Tortilla Casserole

There are many recipes for this dish around today, but this is one Amanda and I used from Taste of Home and added our own little touches. It smells heavenly while baking and is even better the second day heated in the microwave.

3 cups cooked shredded chicken
12 flour tortillas (You could use corn but we liked flour ones more)
2 small cans chopped green chilies (We used mild, but if you like it hot, try that. )
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 cup sour cream
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
garlic power and pepper to your taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix soups, chicken, broth, sour cream, onions. chilies, garlic power and pepper. Spray large baking dish with cooking spray. Use four tortillas to cover the bottom of the pan. You might have to cut them to fit. Spread 1/3 of the chicken mixture on top of tortillas. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese on top of mixture. Add another layer of tortillas, mixture, cheese. Add another layer of tortillas, mixture, cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes until melting and bubbly. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.

Lemony Garlic Italian Pasta

This is a recipe that I found online and adjusted for our tastes. It is a great side dish with chicken.

1/2 pound angel hair pasta cooked
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4-6 T fresh lemon juice (the juice of two medium lemons)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 T parsley flakes
3-4 T minced garlic
3 T butter
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta. While pasta is boiling, in a large skillet melt butter and sautee minced garlic for about 1-2 minutes. Add olive oil, pepper, lemon juice and parsley flakes; mix well. Mix bread crumbs and cheese in a small bowl. Add drained pasta to skillet and toss until all pasta is thoroughly coated. Add bread crumbs and cheese mixture and toss to coat. If it appears too dry, add 1 T olive and 1/2 T lemon juice.

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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.