FR Weekly Cooking Thread *Recipes* Oct 29, 2011

FreeRepublic Cooks | Oct 29, 2011 | libertarian27

[libertarian27]

Welcome to the 46th installment of the FR Weekly Cooking (Recipes) Thread.

Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or nine- for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites!

Here's the place to share and explore your latest and greatest favorite recipe.

[Red_Devil 232]

My wife is in the “Everyday is Mac n Cheese Day Club” also!

[Mrs. Don-o]

It's Green Tomato Time!

I got a couple requests (from overwhelmed gardeners) for my “Green Tomato Salsa Relish” recipe from a few months back, so here it is:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2746019/posts?page=18#18>

I think the easiest way to deal with a lot of green tomatoes is: Chop /freeze them in 1 cup portions, and add them to recipes later. They go great in many stir fries and curries.

Here’s my best quick Green Tomato recipe, particularly good for using up ALL those little green cherry tomatoes:

Green Tomato Pancakes (serves 4)

1 ¼ cups flour
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon (ormore, your preference)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. Salt (maybe a little more)
Dash nutmeg, dash allspice
1 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup pureed green tomatoes*
(not “totally” smooth, and don’t peel or seed them)

*(Can use ½ green tomato puree and ½ shredded apple)

In a bowl, combine all dry.ingredients. Make a well in the center. Combine milk, egg, melted butter, vanilla and pureed green tomatoes, and then stir into dry ingredients until just barely combined. Don’t over-mix. Fry smallish pancakes (scant 1/4 cup measure), on fairly- hot fry pan, using a generous amt of oil so they don’t stick. Great with a hot cinnamon syrup or even whipped cream with cinnamon added (yum)!.

[prisoner6]

Once again...Thank You...I am in heaven! Mac and cheese is my fav. I think I posted what I made a couple of seeks ago. IIRC last week David Venable did a mac and cheese dish and is an admitted M&C addict.

If I can find the recipe I used I'll post it.

In the meantime here's a pic of what I tried to make.

It was my second attempt. Turned out pretty good actually.

This was basically the recipe, I mixed in crushed Ritz crackers for the topping.

Ingredients:

8 ounces elbow macaroni, about 2 cups
salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper)
8 ounces Cheddar cheese blend or similar blend of cheeses 1 1/4 cups light cream or half-and-half
4 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 350°. Butter a 2-quart baking dish.
Cook macaroni following package directions. Drain in a colander and rinse with hot water.

Scoop about 2 cups of the drained macaroni into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, then top with about half of the cheese. Layer the remaining macaroni on the cheese layer and sprinkle with another 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper. Top with the remaining cheese and dot with the butter. Pour the cream over all and bake for about 25 minutes.

Got it HERE

Also made this - meatloaf wrapped in bacon...the recipe was already posted on this thread a few weeks ago.

Made a LOT more than I expected ...ended up with maybe a 4 pound meatloaf! The cool thing for me was that I DID weave the bacon and it worked!

Finally for your amusement, fat, fat, fatty clown in the kitchen trying to cook. Yes I hang the recipes on the hood while I'm cooking. Can't wait for the FR cooking compilation. I night have to reinforce the hood!

[prisoner6]

I’m IN!

[Flamenco Lady]

I have done it before, but I found it to be a little too watery when I have thawed it out. I ended up draining off some of the liquid and adding a bit of extra thickener to it when I actually baked the pies. I actually like apple pie filling canned in jars better than frozen appie filling for that reason.

With most other fruits I freeze the fruit by itself so I can use it for muffins pies, cobblers, etc. Peaches and nectarines I prefer to freeze in apple juice. It keeps the fruit nice and sweet, and the apple juice is great to drink after being infused slightly with the flavor of the fruit.

[prisoner6]

So it looks like the cheese is between the bacon and burger but how do you do that without burning the cheese?

Maybe precook the meat add the cheese and put the bacon on at the last minute?

[Keith in Iowa]

For the Carb-counting crowd... a carb friendly Pumpkin Pie... Crustless Pumpkin Pie...

15 ounces pumpkin
12 ounces evaporated skim milk
½ cup Egg Beaters 99% egg substitute
2 egg whites
¾ cup Splenda
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup graham cracker crumbs

In a mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin, egg substitute, egg whites, and sugar substitute; beat until smooth.

Add the spices; beat until well mixed.

Stir in the graham cracker crumbs.

Pour into a 9” pie plate coated with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon, if desired.

Store in the refrigerator.

Source:
“Taste of Home’s Down Home Diabetic Cookbook Second Edition”

Approx. 15g Carbs per slice...

[prisoner6]

Never mind. I figured it out. I was thinking it too much. I’m pointing Mrs p6 here - she’s at home, I’m at work - so we can get the stuff to make the turtles tomorrow.

[GoldwaterChick]

I just checked out the Rackhouse Mac & Cheese recipe. Has anyone done the calorie count for it? :)

[GoldwaterChick]

I just checked out the Rackhouse Mac & Cheese recipe. Has anyone done the calorie count for it? :)

[ApplegateRanch]

If you have to ask how many calories it costs, you can’t afford to eat it!

[garandgal]

I saw you were wondering about mac & cheese. I don’t really like mac & cheese made with a white sauce base (using flour), nor do I like those that have egg in them.

I spent years searching, for of all things, a recipe that was like what they made in school when I was a kid. I went to tiny school, and the cooks prepared everything from scratch.

If you like creamy, cheesy goodness, you will love this. It does NOT reheat at all...sauce will break. So just make as much as you will eat for a meal. This is what I make to fill a small loaf pan:

About two cups of cooked elbow mac.

Sauce:
Over med. heat, combine 1/4 c. butter and one pint cream.
Let it get very hot, just before boiling. This takes the longest as you do not want to scorch the cream.

Start adding grated white American cheese (go to the deli and buy a chunk of white American...Target & WalMart both carry it...it makes a difference). Add cheese until you get to the consistency of sauce that you like. Salt & Pepper to taste; I also add about 1/8 tsp ground mustard...and have added a pinch of cayenne if I want a little zip.

Now, if you are in a hurry you can add the cooked mac and serve it right from the stovetop. If you have a little extra time, put it in the loaf pan, top with some extra cheese and bake at no more than 300 until cheese is just starting to get bubbly on top.

By the way, I use the same base of cheese sauce then add milk to thin to soup consistency. Throw in some streamed broccoli or cauliflower and it’s a great soup...and quick! It takes about 15 minutes to make it; just enough time to toast some sandwiches in the oven to go along side.

Note: I never said it wasn’t fattening...LOL!

[Jack Hydrazine]

Sounds quite good! Thanks!

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

I had bacon jalapeno mac and cheese in a restaurant in Fort Worth - really interesting flavors together

[GoldwaterChick]

I’ve “lightened” recipes ever since I was diagnosed with high cholesterol 20 years ago—retired 17 years ago—and my health is excellent. So have to believe that helps. Figured out at a pretty young age this is the only body I’ll get so I’d better look after it. Problem is I don’t feel my age so get in trouble sometimes! :) Just had a tree close to a front window taken down so I won’t be sneaking up our 10’ ladder to prune it when my husband isn’t home.

This week I made my mac and cheese with 2% cheddar. Make a cream sauce with skim milk—been using that for 54 years— use Dreamfield elbows and it still tastes wonderful.

[ApplegateRanch]

It was a joke Dear Lady; a play on, “if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford to buy it.”

Good luck keeping those numbers managed; you seem to be doing great so far.

[Trillian]

You can always put a piece of cheese inside the burger before it cooks. It wouldn’t come out that way. I’ve made burgers like that way before, but haven’t tried making the turtle burgers yet.

[GoldwaterChick]

I knew it was a joke, didn’t hurt my feelings at all. I see you live in a gorgeous part of USA—we got to see Chief Crazy Horse and other wonderful sights out there several years ago. Our church sent 90 teens and chaperones on a mission trip to Pine Ridge during that ghastly hot spell this summer. One of their projects was to put up an outdoor basketball court. Wonderful experience for kids who live in an affluent area. Keep those wide open spaces!

[Mountain Mary]

Thanks lib27!

[Mountain Mary]

I make the whole pie and freeze it...thaw, cook and serve...works great.

[Jack Hydrazine]

That sounds really good. I’m not a big fan of butter but I do love olive oil. Do you think that could be substituted when added to the cream?

[Flamenco Lady]

My family loves the flavor of olive oil as well and prefers its flavor to that of butter in many of my creamy pasta sauces. I have found that in many of my pasta recipes I can use olive oil or even cooking oil instead of butter. Most of the time I can substitute one tablespoon of olive oil for every 2 tablespoons of butter in my recipes, with the one exception being when I make a roux. A roux works best with about equal parts of fat and flour.

I also use bacon fat a lot instead of oil or butter, since my family loves the flavor of bacon even more than olive oil.

With the cost of everything going up at the grocery store, it is not a bad idea to save the fat from everything you cook to use as a substitute for butter or oil in your cooking. When doing so, however, I find it is best to keep the fat refrigerated and in small jars labeled well with the date and the type of fat you have saved. I can then rotate them easily, using the oldest ones first. You can save a lot of money in your food budget that would otherwise be spent on butter, oil, margarine, etc. by doing so.

Drippings from just about anything you cook can also be a great way to stretch food dollars if you are not using them for gravy that night. Simply let them cool slightly, put into a container, and refrigerate overnight. The fat rises to the top and solidifies, so you can just skim the fat off of the drippings. I then have fat to use for cooking and wonderful low fat drippings to use for gravies, soups, etc.

[agrace]

Here on Monday I’m late to the thread but that made me salivate, you’re only post 5. Copying that one.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

It is a good recipe to whip together with leftover baked chicken - hope you like it.

[garandgal]

That sounds really good. I’m not a big fan of butter but I do love olive oil. Do you think that could be substituted when added to the cream?

I don't think it would work. I've never tried it, BUT, the high fat content of the butter/cream is what keeps the sauce from breaking as long as the heat is not too high.

I like olive oil as well, but do not think it would work or be a particularly good flavor profile for this application.

I have added some cheddar, gouda, and other types of cheese in small amounts to this type of mac & cheese...but even doing that if not watched very carefully will break the sauce.

But then, I consider butter one of the four major food groups...so what do I know...LOL?

[libertarian27]

The weekly thread may be early or late this week :>)

I just got my power back on last night but I FRIED my dsl modem and my personal computer with the generator (you don’t want that RECIPE - lol)

I’m on my work laptop now and need to limit my postings.
FYI - McDonalds has great WIFI - and I think it’s in all locations - even gets out to the parking lots :>)

[Flamenco Lady]

Sorry to hear about your computer and modem getting fried. We will be patient waiting for the new thread. We can always keep posting on this one until you tell us to stop and you are able to get the new thread up and running.

[libertarian27]

Recap of recipes for this week - w/o Oct 29th

Appetizer * 16 * Parmesan Dijon Wings
Appetizer * 16 * Baked Chicken Wings
Appetizer * 29 * Curried Devilled Eggs
Breakfast * 52 * Green Tomato Pancakes
Dessert * 3 * Pie Crust Recipe
Dessert * 32 * Blueberry Cream Muffins
Dessert * 57 * Crustless Pumpkin Pie
Dessetrt * 6 * Pumpkin Bread
Meal * 5 * Chicken Stuffing Casserole
Meal * 24 * Lobster Mac & Cheese
Meal * 31 * Halloween Eyeball Meatballs
Meal * 46 * Turtle Burgers
Meal * 47 * Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Meal * 50 * Pollo al Colmao
Meal * 53 * Mac & Cheese
Meal * 62 * Mac & Cheese
Soup * 26 * Creamy Carrot Soup
Soup * 41 * Pheasant Stew

[libertarian27]

Link to Nov 5th cooking thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2803056/posts?page=1

[I still care]

I grew up on “Susan’s Mac and Cheese” in the old Good Housekeeping book. It was made with Velveeta - I know it’s not cheddar, but something about hot Velveeta in Mac and Cheese is incredibly comfort food. My family’s always adored it.

The other distinctives are you start your white sauce for the cheese by sauteing minced onion - just a couple of teaspoons - in butter. Adds something special. You are also supposed to put a touch of mustard powder in it, but my youngest always objected.

But to me, the really great idea was instead of using crumbs, we would make our own croutons - just saute cubes of bread in butter at the end and sprinkle them all over the top of the dish before baking. For us, the whole dish is actually an excuse to eat buttered, toasted bread cubes along with gooey hot cheese -— Yum!

[ApplegateRanch]

LOL! NOTHING melts like Velveeta, and is still cheese.

For a ‘gooey’ M&C, that sounds really good.

Try that recipe I posted, but go ahead & use some Velveeta in it; I think my mother probably did on occassion. Everyone I’ve ever served it to liked it, even though it is nothing like what they are used to calling M&C. It is moist, but fully ‘set’.