My Secret Love

Oh how I love allrecipes.com. There seems to be a reason every day to look up something on that website. I've used it to make frozen hot chocolate when I needed a chocolate fix. I've used it to help me dress up a can of pork and beans that didn't look very appetizing. I found a recipe for homemade fortune cookies on there that looks difficult, but I can't wait to try it. When I can't call my mom to ask how to cook something, I go to allrecipes.com.

I like that people write reviews of the recipes too. That way I can kind of get a feel for how difficult and yummy each one is, before spending money and time trying a recipe blindly. I have been pretty happy about how easy it is to find and compare recipes. You can even search by ingredients if you have a few things on hand but don't know what to make. You all probably already use this website, but in case you don't I'd like to introduce you. Go check it out, and it might just become your new secret love too.

What do you like about allrecipes.com?

Spinach Burgers (from Dad)

Spinach Burgers
When a regular old beef burger just won't cut it.

1 pkg frozen spinach (thawed)

3 eggs        

½ onion, chopped

2-3 Tb oil

4 slices cheddar cheese (I used grated mozzarella, leftover from a pizza we made a few days ago) 

Combine spinach, eggs, and onion.  Beat together.  Poor into heated oil (should constantly make a sizzling sound).  Cover and simmer till almost cooked through.  Carefully flip over, cover with cheese, and brown other side.  Spread open hard rolls (It's IMPORTANT that the rolls are hard or the bread is toasted or the hamburger buns are dry, because these burgers make regular soft buns soggy pretty fast) with salad dressing and place long slices of spinach burger inside.  I like adding catsup and tomatoes to mine.

This was one of the few things Dad made us when he had to cook dinner.  We hated it.  But now I have come to like them, if not eaten too often.  It’s healthy too, which is a bonus. Try it. You might not hate it as much as it looks like you will hate it. :)

Husband's Reaction: "It's good, but I think I like real hamburgers better. . . .I wonder what turkey burgers taste like."

Pasta Carbonara

Pasta With Carbonara Sauce

My dad served a mission in Italy, and he brought this recipe back with him. Nobody ever complained at our house when we had this for dinner.

4 eggs

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup whipping cream (I used half and half again)

1/2 lb. Bacon, cut up (I used two strips...it was all we had left. Use as  much/little as you want.)

1 lb. Fettuccine or spaghetti

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Pepper

Parsley (to garnish--optional)

1-Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Let eggs, butter or margarine, and cream (half and half) stand at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.

2-In a skillet, cook bacon till brown. Remove bacon and drain on paper toweling. 

3-Heat an oven-proof serving dish in a 300 degree oven.

4-Meanwhile, beat together eggs and cream (half and half) just till combined. Add pasta to a large amount of boiling, salted water. Cook 10-12 minutes or till tender but firm; drain well. 

5-Turn hot pasta into the heated serving dish; toss pasta with butter. Pour egg mixture over and toss till pasta is well coated and the egg is cooked. *If you are worried about the egg being cooked well enough, you can put the pan back in the oven to heat it up some more or do this step on the stove in a hot skillet. The pan should be hot enough to cook the egg if you everything around in it.*

6-Add bacon, cheese, and parsley; toss to mix. Season to taste with pepper. Serve immediately.

Tossing in the hot pan to cook the egg and cream mixture.

Husband's Reaction: "New favorite!" 

Me: "Really???"

Husband: "At least for today, yeah."

But really, it really was so so good.

Caramel Popcorn!

Easy Caramel Corn -From Char Mills

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup light Karo

1 square butter

6 qt. popped popcorn

Pop corn. Bring to boil the other ingredients. When it boils, pour over popcorn. Mix well. Enjoy! 

Very easy, even if it's not very healthy. 

Husband's Reaction: ...well, he didn't say much. His mouth was full, and his fingers were very sticky. Actions speak louder than words, right? :)

Ice Cream In A Bag (From Science Class)

Ice Cream In A Bag


1 cup half and half or cream (I preferred half and half. Cream sometimes leaves a greasy film feeling on my tongue).

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup sugar
      

Fill big ziplock bag ½ full of ice. Add in 1/4-1/2 cup of salt. I have used both rock salt and table salt before. Rock salt is best, but table salt also works...you just might need to add more or shake longer.  Fill a smaller ziplock bag with half and half, milk, vanilla, and sugar. *I have made this ice cream with only skim milk before. It works if it's all you have on hand, but it's more ice-crystally the less fat you use.* Seal the zipper part of the bag with tape (duct tape works really well).  Put smaller bag inside bigger bag. Then fill the big bag up the rest o the way with ice and add 1/4-1/2 cup more salt.  Seal with tape and mix up.

The above picture shows only half of this recipe. 

We did not have any big bags, so I could not make very much.

*Be sure to seal the small bag very tightly.  You don’t want salt water to get in.  Also, squeeze all the air out before sealing.


*It's fun to wrap newspaper around the bags with tape and play catch to mix up the ice cream. You want to constantly shake the bags until the ice cream is frozen. This takes about 10-15 minutes, but freezing time seems to vary based on how much ice and salt you add, how much you mix it, and how hot it is. Just squeeze the bad when you think it might be ready to judge the hardness of the ice cream. If it's not frozen enough, keep shaking.

*When you are ready to eat, wash the inside bag off a little with cold water so that salt water does not get in your ice cream. Then cut one of the corners of the bag off with scissors, push the ice cream out through the hole, and enjoy!

Used this when we went camping with the extended family. Very fun! Also useful for when kids are bored in the summertime.


Husband's Reaction:"This is great! It takes like a rootbeer float!" (Not sure how much it really tastes like rootbeer, but the consistency is similar to ice cream in a rootbeer float.)

Porcupine Meatballs

Porcupine Meatballs

1 pound ground beef

¼ cup chopped onion

¼ cup water

1/3 cup rice, uncooked

1 can tomato soup

½ tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

½ cup water

Combine ground beef, onion, ¼ cup water, and rice.  Shape into balls.  Arrange in greased baking dish.  Combine soup, chili powder, salt, and ½ cup water.  Pour over meatballs.  Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

  


Remove from oven and serve!

*I only made half as much as this recipe says. It was the perfect amount for two people.

If making a freezer meal: Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Place in gallon freezer bag.  Label and freeze.  To serve: Thaw. Heat until hot throughout.

This recipe may be frozen prior to baking.  Freeze in freezer bag.  To serve: Thaw.  Bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I haven’t had this for a long long time.  My family used to like them and eat them all the time when we were kids, probably more for the name than anything else.  I didn’t remember that it could be a freezer meal.  That’s pretty handy.


AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Husband's Reaction= Skeptical at first sight, but he finished every bite (and then some...he stole half of one of mine!)

Easy White Rolls (From High School Foods Class)

Roll Recipe (From High School Foods Class)

1 Tb yeast

4 Tb sugar (use 1 Tb in one bowl and 3 in another)

¼ cup warm water

½ cup butter

4 cups flour (+ extra to roll out dough) I usually end up adding another cup or so...add enough so it's doesn't stick to your fingers and is easy to roll out. If making with a mixer, add flour until the mixer cleans the side of the bowl.

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 cup warm milk

Use four different bowls to prepare ingredients.

In Bowl #1-Add 1 Tb yeast + 1 Tb sugar + ¼ cup warm water (proofing).

Bowl #2-Cut ½ cup butter into 4 cups flour (do in biggest bowl).
      *TIP: "Cutting in" is a technique used to put tiny chunks of butter or other fat       into dry ingredients. This works best when the butter is at room temperature. A       pastry cutter is my favorite way to do this, but two butter knives can be used if         you don't have one. Simply cut across the butter, running the knives against each     other like you are sharpening them. You are trying to cut the butter into tiny             pieces to create pockets of air and make your rolls fluffy. The end result should        be a corn-mealy texture with no big pieces of butter left in the bowl.

Bowl #3-Add 1 tsp salt to 3 well-beaten eggs.

Bowl #4-Add 3 Tb sugar to 1 cup warm milk

Combine wet w/ dry ingredients. Here is where you add the extra flour (usually about a cup or more...don't worry if it seems like you're adding a lot!), to make the dough not stick to your fingers and easy to roll out.

Cover.

Let rise 1-6 hours (I ALWAYS get impatient and let it rise like 15 minutes...but DON'T WORRY! It works out with this recipe.) The more you let it rise, the lighter and less dense your rolls will be. I don't let mine rise much, and they are denser than some other rolls, but still good. 

Shape. My favorite way to shape these rolls is into crescents, like so:

1-Roll HALF of your dough into a large circle. You can use the other half to make another batch of rolls, some breadsticks, cinnamon rolls, or you may save the dough for a few days in the fridge, wrapped in plastic, and make scones or some other good thing later.

2-Use a pizza cutter to make 12 wedges. Try to keep the wedges as even as possible...I'm really bad at that. The best way to do this is to cut the circle in four sections. Then divide each of those sections into three wedges. 

It should look like this when you've got all the wedges cut out.

3- Now brush each piece with melted butter, vegetable oil, or olive oil. This step is not completely necessary, but I always do it. I love using the little brush to paint my rolls. It makes me feel creative. :) Brushing with butter also makes the rolls just a little bit flakier.

4-Roll up each of the wedges, starting with the wide side and rolling toward the narrow point. Place on a baking sheet with the point tucked underneath. When all the rolls are on the baking sheet, brush with butter or oil again.

Let rise 1-6 hours (again). HAHAHAHAHAHA or just pop them in the oven like I do.

Bake at 350 degrees.

Dinner rolls=13-15 minutes or until as brown as you like.

Cinnamon rolls=probably about 20 minutes. I haven't made these since high school.

 Here's the finished product! I let these rolls rise for 30-45 min at the first rising stage...and this is how they turned out! Perfectly wonderful! My husband has liked these rolls since I made them for him when we were first dating...although probably still not as much as his mom's. I try. :)