A Cookie

When we had the farewell for my aunt a week or so ago I made three different kinds of cookies and a toffee bar.  The most popular to my surprise was not the chocolate chip cookie but the cake mix cookies and I had several requests for the recipe so I am posting it here.

These are super simple and easy to make and there wasn't a single cookie left on the plate before the evening was done.

Cake Mix Cookies
1 Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil

You can use whatever flavor of cake mix you like, although it works best with a "pudding in the mix" or a "super moist" cake mix. Pictured is a devils food cake mix and a yellow cake mix because that's what I had on hand. I am partial to the lemon cake mix with an orange cream frosting.

Mix together with a spoon. Shape into balls, place on a greased cookie sheet. Cook for 8 minutes at 375 degrees. Let cool. Frost.

To get a uniform shape and size I used a small ice cream scoop (size 70ml).

These are also good with a scoop of ice cream in the middle. A homemade ice cream sandwich.

Yum.

Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

Several years ago when M&M's introduced a mint M&M at Christmastime. I decided they deserved to be in a cookie, a chocolate cookie, so I took my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and fiddled with it a bit and came up with this yummy confection. I mean what goes better with chocolate than mint, right?

Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 2 TBS hot water
4 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
2 bags 9.9 oz mint M&M's

You can only get mint M&M's at Christmastime so I usually buy a few extra bags and throw them in the freezer, 'cuz these are good any time of the year.

1. Cream butter and sugars, then mix in eggs, vanilla, salt and baking soda mix.

2. Mix in the cocoa. Then stir in the rest of the flour.

3. Keep your helpers from putting their fingers in the dough.

4. Add the mint M&M's

5. Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheet or you can use an ice cream scoop. I lined my pan with parchment paper. This keeps the cookie sheet clean so all you have to do after you are done baking is throw away the paper, let the cookie sheet cool and then put it back away. (I love parchment paper.)

6. Bake at 375 degree for 9 to 11 minutes.

7. Pour yourself a tall glass of milk and enjoy the warm chocolate-y, minty goodness. But don't eat too many, remember we made these for sharing.

Wait, while I lick the chocolate off my fingers . . . now there's chocolate on the keyboard . . . dang.

I like to put them in Ziploc baggies and then wrap them up with cellophane like a giant Tootsie Roll for gift giving. You can fit about 12 to 14 cookies in a bag, depending on the height of the cookie. Thing is you can put the whole wrapped package in your freezer and when a neighbor drops by you've got something ready to give in return.

Enjoy.

Now I think I'll go have another cookie.

Yum.

Oh, but before you go make your own, hop on over to Life in Grace for The Great Christmas Cookie Freeze, for more cookie recipes.

Comfort Food ala Quatre

01/25/2011 I have edited this post to link up with Randi for the Recipe Box Swap.

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Really this should be part five, because this is the fifth Friday this month, but I was a slacker sick last week and didn't link up with FringeGirl, actually she didn't put up a linky thing because apparently blogland is full of slackers and I was almost the only one who participated in her Comfort Food carnival.

Anyhoo.

It has snowed twice this week and been really cold so we have been having a lot of soup, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, etc.  I'll spare you the recipe on those, besides I think you all know how to use a can opener.  We did make potato soup with bacon from scratch, but that's a recipe for another post.

Here's today's recipe.

Crock Pot Beef Stew

1 1/2 to 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite-size pieces if needed
4 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 inch slices (2 cups)
3 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (3 cups)
1 large onion, cut into 1 inch pieces (1 1/2 cups)
1 medium stalk celery, cut into 1 inch pieces (1 cup)
2 1/2 to 3 cups water*
1 package McCormick's Slow Cooker Hearty Beef Stew Seasoning
1/3 cup uncooked pearl barley (optional)
Splash of Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

 1. Prepare all your ingredients, chop all your vegs, put meat in ziploc baggie sprinkle with salt, pepper then coat with seasoning packet.

2. Dump everything in the crock pot along with the water and a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce, cover with lid, set crock pot on low then walk away.

3.  Come back 8 to 10 hours later stir, serve and enjoy.

Now wasn't that easy.  Delicious even, oh and the aroma, to die for.

*If you want your stew a little thicker than mine, more like a gravy use 2 1/2 cups of water and add 3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca.  "Because tapioca is one of the few thickeners that does not break down during long, slow cooking, it can be added at the beginning of the cooking time.  Thickeners such as flour and cornstarch are best added at the end of the cooking time."  I picked up this little tidbit from a slow cooker recipe book, that I got from our local grocer.

If you need more comfort hop on over to the domestic fringe and see what else is cookin'.

Comfort Food a Trois

If all the cooking was left to me in this household we'd eat a lot more Kraft mac n' cheese than we do now, however luckily for me my sister likes to cook and she lives "next door" so to speak.  Actually we share this house, she lives upstairs and we live downstairs.  So when she offered to cook the other night I jumped for joy, something yummy and delicious was to be had.  I also offered to help so that I could take pictures and post it with FringeGirl for her blog carnival on comfort food over at the domestic fringe.  I love it when a plan comes together!

Here's what we made:

Mammy McT's Beef and Guinness Pie.

2 lbs stewing steak, cubed.  (Coat this in 1/2 to 1 cup flour, salt and fresh ground black pepper.)
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup button mushrooms
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 1/2 cups Guinness
1 egg, beaten
1 pkg of puff pastry (you can buy it frozen, there are two sheets per package)

1.  Open the Guiness . . .  pour yourself a short glass and enjoy, but remember to leave enough for the recipe.

2.  Season the flour with salt and pepper.  Coat the stewing steak in the flour.  Shake off any excess.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan or cast iron casserole pan.

3.  In small batches, fry the beef until browned.  Using a slotted spoon transfer to a plate.  

4.  Re-heat the pan and fry the onion, garlic and celery for 5-10 minutes until fragrant and softened.  Add some of the Guinness to deglaze the pan and scrape all the really good bits off the bottom.  Add the beef back into the pan.

5.  Put on medium high heat now and add the diced tomatoes, Guinness, mushrooms, carrots and parsnips.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and let simmer for two hours stirring every now and again.

6.  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Divide the beef mixture among 6 smallish individual pie/casserole dishes or two medium size pie dishes.  Roll the puff pasty out and top each pie dish with a pastry lid, wetting the edges of the dishes with water to help the pastry stick.

7.  Brush the pies with the beaten egg and cut a slash in each one.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the pies are golden brown.  Serve.

8.  Enjoy with a pint or two of Guinness.

As you can see this recipe makes two pies, we cooked them both because my in-laws were here and we knew we would eat them both, but you can freeze one for later, just don't add the puff pasty to the second one, until you are ready to cook it.

My sister acquired this recipe from a friend of hers from Ireland several years back and it has quickly became a family favorite.  Mammy McT is her grandmother.

Comfort Food Part Deux

Last week when I posted my recipe for fried chicken and linked it to FringeGirl's blog carnival on Comfort Food over at the domestic fringe my brother left me a comment saying that I should post my mom's recipe for Tater Tot Casserole, so this is for you Jared, and I hope the rest of you all like it too.

Here's what you'll need:
1lb ground beef
1 can green beans, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups milk (approx, I usually just use a soup can full of milk)
1 bag tater tots
salt, pepper, seasoning salt and minced onion
grated cheese

Brown ground beef, drain fat and line the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan, sprinkle with salt, pepper, seasoning salt and minced onion.

 Drain can of green beans, put on top of ground beef.

 Whisk together soups and milk and pour over ground beef, green bean mixture.

 Layer tater tops on top of ground beef, green bean, soup mixture.

 Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  Remove from oven sprinkle with grated cheese, return to oven just until cheese is melted.  Serve and eat.

As you can see someone was hungry and couldn't wait for me to get a picture before diving in!

This is also a meal that could be made up and frozen to be enjoyed at a later date, you could probably split it and freeze it in two 9 x 9 pans or freeze one and have one for supper.  If you are going to do that I would probably use 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef and wait until cooking to add the grated cheese, but everything else should be good to go.

Okay its your turn now, head on over to the domestic fringe and see what comforts are cookin' this week.

Ta ta for now.

Fresh Corn Salad

"What?!" you say "a recipe, this isn't a cooking blog!"

Yeah, yeah I know, but Fringe Girl over at the Domestic Fringe is hosting a summer recipe carnival, she says she is desperate (okay maybe she didn't say she was desperate, but she did say she wanted to "steal our ideas") for good summer recipes, that don't involve using the oven.  And since I consider her a new friend I am here to help her out, that's what friends are for.

So here goes.

This is what you'll need.

3 cups fresh Corn cut off the cob or frozen corn, thawed

1/4 cup Red Onion, diced

1 Tablespoon red wine or apple cider Vinegar 

1 medium Tomato seeded, peeled and diced (I forgot to peel mine, worked out fine.)

1 cup seeded and diced Cucumber (I used a whole medium sized cucumber, because I like cukes)

1 Tablespoon minced fresh Basil or fresh Parsley (I used basil, loved it.)

Ranch Dressing or Creamy Italian Dressing, to taste.

Rinse the red onion in water.  Combine diced onion with vinegar and let sit while preparing other ingredients.  DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP or your salad will be overwhelmed by the onion and that is ALL you will taste, if you're okay with "onion" salad go ahead and skip the vinegar, but I really, REALLY wouldn't recommend it.  

(I should state here that I don't really like raw onion, in fact I usually avoid it like the plague, but since I have found this little trick I will try it in other recipes that call for raw onion, like potato salad, I usually just leave them out, 'cause I really can't stand raw onion in things, they tend to overpower the dish and that is all you taste, but I said that already, you know the overpowering thing.  Okay, now I'm just rambling.)

Back to the recipe.

Remove the corn from the cobs.

Here's a little trick I learned for cutting the corn off the cob.  Set your cutting board aside and get out your bundt cake pan, (yes, I did just tell to get out a bundt cake pan) insert the pointy end of the corn cob in the center hole as shown:

and start cutting.

The neat thing about this trick is that all the corn lands in the pan and not all over the counter and the cob doesn't slide all over the place while you are trying to remove the kernels.

See, every kernel in the pan, easy peasy!

(Now if someone has a trick for getting all the silk off of the corn, please share!)

Prepare the other ingredients as instructed and combine with dressing to your taste (I used maybe a 1/3 to a 1/2 cup of ranch dressing).  Chill then serve.  This makes a great summertime salad and is very light and very refreshing and goes with anything you are grilling (ahem, franks perhaps Jill).  We had ours with marinated grilled chicken breasts.   My three year old declared it "Delicious" and Hubs told me "You could make this again".  He even suggested that maybe next time I could add some bacon.  I scooped mine up with a corn chip, like salsa.

Voila!

I got this recipe from our local Fox News affiliate.  It was featured on August 4, 2009 and was made by the chef from a local restaurant, unfortunately the printout I got doesn't list her name or the restaurant's.

Now its your turn, head on over to the Domestic Fringe and link up so we can all steal share each others yummy summer recipes.