Cookie and/or Gift in a Jiff

OK, you need a cookie or a gift fast---I mean really fast.......here it is.....SEVEN LAYER COOKIES...7 ingredients

 

and 7 minutes to assemble!

Bake for 30 minutes and let cool completely

then cut into small squares and just try to eat only one!!!

SEVEN LAYER COOKIES

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

1 cup crushe crushed graham crackers

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup flaked coconut

1cup chopped walnuts

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place the butter in a 9 x 13 pan and let melt in the oven.  Once the butter is melted, take it out of the oven and sprinkle evenly over the butter in this order:  crushed graham crackers, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, coconut, and walnuts.  Slowly drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the layers,  the corners and edges of the pan too.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the edges are nice and brown and the center is not to jiggly when you move the pan.

Food Gifts

A Tasty Gift for Giving

It's that time of the month to start thinking about gift giving.  Since I knew that today I wanted a small gift to give a friend, I decided to make toffee.  Years ago, when my son was a cub scout, the pack put out a recipe book that contained this recipe.  It's great, it's easy and you don't need a candy thermometer, something I don't even know how to use.  You do need a bit of time to make it, since after assembly, the toffee needs to "dry" before you can break it up and package it, so, it is best to make it the night before you give it away, if you can keep yourself and snooping family members from eating all of it!!!

ENGLISH TOFFEE

1 bag of milk or dark chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips)

2 sticks butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

About 2 cups chopped pecans (yes, they are expensive but other nuts won't do and THIS IS A GIFT)

Spray a 13 x 9 glass pan with Pam.  Chop the pecans,  

spread them on the bottom of the pan.

 

Cook the butter, sugar and vanilla over medium high heat, stirring constantly.  The mixture will go from a beige color and very bubbly and frothy

to a caramel color that is less frothy.  Take the mixture off the heat just when the butter starts to separate from the sugar.  Pour over the pecans.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot toffee.  Let them set for a few minutes to melt

then spread the chocolate with a knife (an off-set knife works well for this).

The chocolate will have a very shiny look to it.

When the chocolate is dry, it will have a dull color to it.

Break up the toffee in the pan with a knife into chunks. 

Place in festive packaging and watch the smiles as you give a homemade gift to friends!

Restaurant Time

Get to THE GREEK

The Greek is a restaurant on Clinton Ave. that opened two months ago.  Run by the owners of State College's famous Waffle Shop, the Greek is a great addition to all the wonderful food options that State College has to offer.

For date night last week, the hubby and I finally got into the place.  You see, it is so popular, one night a few weeks ago we tried to get in and there was a 30 minute wait -- that was just to order your food!  It was not a football weekend either.  I heard a person in the line say "Now I wish that I had not told so many people how great this place was."

This is an "order at the counter" type place, but don't let that make you think this is a "Greek McDonald's!"  You order, you find a table in one of the two lovely seating areas (ground floor or upstairs), enjoy the Greek music and decor, under the Mediterranean blue sea color of the ceiling, and a waitress brings your order to you.  On real plates, not plastic.  With real silverware.

Enjoy the fantastic Moussaka, a Souvlaki Platter, the tasty Traditional Gyro (which we brought home as take-out for our stay at home daughter), the yummy Village Salad and don't forget the Baklava!  All at reasonable prices.

The owners say that many of their recipes are from an uncle who lives in Greece.  We are really glad that those who make the delicious breakfast food at the Waffle Shop decided to give dinner at try at The Greek.

PIZZA!

While walking into Cartridge World in the Northland Shopping Center for new printer ink, since I used all of our ink printing out Martha Stewart Thanksgiving recipes a couple of weeks ago, I had a thought for dinner---get pizza dough at Brothers Pizza and make a veggie pizza tonight!  It was a new thought, since usually we only make pizza in the summer on our grill.  But a veggie pizza sounded very good at the moment and very easy too.  Since I had been wrestling with Christmas decorations all day while trying to clean out my basement, easy was key!

Did you know that Brothers sells great pizza dough?  This is something I stumbled on to a few years ago, I can't remember how.  Just go in, ask for a ball of dough, pay $1.50 plus tax and walk out with an amazing glob of wonder.

WHITE VEGGIE PIZZA

 Let the dough rise in your kitchen for awhile (it comes cold, out of their refrigerator), then roll it out.  If you have one, put a pizza stone in the oven to warm up at 450 degrees.

Slice mushrooms, peppers, onions and saute them in about 1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil for no longer than 5 minutes on medium heat.

Drizzle olive oil on the pizza dough (this is a "white" pizza).  Top with the sauteed veggies.  Put in the oven for 15 minutes.

Slice tomatoes and wash baby spinach.  Dry spinach.  Grate mozzarella cheese, as much or little as you want.

At the 15 minute mark, top the pizza with the cheese.

Let the pizza continue cooking for about 8 to 10 minutes.  If the crust has started to brown and the cheese is bubbling, turn off the oven and top the pizza with the tomatoes and spinach.  Let it stand in the oven about 5 more minutes.

Serve with a lettuce salad and you have dinner!  And much better than delivery pizza!

The State High Cookie Challenge

 

My youngest daughter came home from school last week with a surprising challenge.  The classmates that she spends her lunch period with were oohhing and awhhhing over the cookies I had put in her lunch that day.  My daughter replied that these cookies were CHRISTMAS CRINKLES and we only made them during the Christmas holiday season. 

As they discussed their favorite Christmas cookies, a challenged ensued.  Each would make their favorite cookie and bring it to lunch on their assigned day from today until the holiday break.  On the last day of school, Dec. 21, judgment would be made as to who had the BEST cookie.  Who knew that high school kids could be such foodies!!

Today, the Crinkles will enter the competition.  They are a favorite of our family and their gooey chocolaty goodness will surely win any contest!

Let the games begin............

CHRISTMAS CRINKLE COOKIES

2 cups flour          2 teaspoons baking powder

Combine and mix in a bowl, set aside.

3 beaten eggs          1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil           2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix these together in a large bowl, using a wooden spoon.

In a microwavable bowl, melt 4 squares of unsweetened chocolate (I use Bakers), 

--if you have a "melt chocolate" button on your microwave, use it.  If not, melt the chocolate on a meduy heat.  When melted, take the chocolate out of the microwave and let cool a few minutes.  Then add to egg mixture and stir well.  Gradually add the flour mixture.  Mix well until combined.  This will be a thick dough.  Cover and chill about 1 to 2 hours.

Shape dough into 1 inch (or walnut size) balls.  Roll well in powdered sugar.

 

Place 1 inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 miniutes or until the tops of the cookies "crack."  Transfer to a cooling rack.  Makes about 48 cookies.

Happy Baking!

Oh, and when I said I was blogging every day, I forgot that Sunday is a day of REST.   

Thanks for reading my blog!

I love Wegmans!

Today is biggie sample day at Wegmans, featuring recipes from their Holiday Menu Magazine.  Get there--everything is yummy and very appropriate for the holidays.  My two favorite samples were the Roasted Vegetables with Wilted Spinach, and the Nut and Mushroom Pate.

The Roasted Vegetable with Wilted Spinach is not really a specific recipe but the link show ways to roasted your choice of veggies.  The trick to this not mentioned is to take the veggies out of the oven when done, then add washed and dried baby spinach leaves, toss with hot veggies to wilt the spinach before serving--DELICIOUS.

The other recipe, Nut and Mushroom Pate was something that did not look too appetizing (hey, it IS mushroom color) but was surprisingly good.  It is a recipe for vegans, but I am going to make this for my family during the holidays, and they will never know that there is tofu in it!

Run to Wegmans--the best grocery store in State College!

Got Turkey......

....still ?

...yes, it is one week and one day after Thanksgiving, but since there was leftover turkey, I had to make this wonderful pie. It's almost a tradition, except everyone forgets about it from year to year. After days of looking in the fridge and no longer thinking that turkey sandwiches are exciting, I pull out this recipe, and the family says, “oh yeah, I forgot about this pie. We need to make this every time we have turkey leftovers! I love this!” You will too.

TURKEY BROCCOLI PIE

1 unbaked pie shell

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon thyme

1 cup chicken broth

1 can (13 ounces) evaporated milk

2 cups cubed turkey, cooked

2 cups chopped fresh broccoli (or a 10 ounce package frozen), cooked al dente

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Blend flour, salt, pepper, thyme into mixture. Continue cooking over low heat, and gradually stir in the chicken stock for a smooth consistency.  Slowly add the milk and stir well until it boils gently. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in the broccoli and turkey. Pour into the pie shell 

Bake at 425 degrees for 35-40 minutes. If the edges of the pie shell brown too quickly, cover with strips of foil. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

You will notice that this pie does not have a crust.  I was in a hurry and decided to not to thaw and roll out the pie crust that is in my freezer.  The recipe works fine without it, although the hubby said that he wished I had used it.

This pie is a pleaser, especially because the turkey is from The Penn State Poultry Science Club.

Every year, the Monday before Thanksgiving, the club sells fresh PSU raised turkeys.  They are the freshest turkeys you can buy here in Central PA.  They are also popular, so you need to be at the Poultry Education and Research Center located at the end of N. University Drive by noon the day the sale starts.  They go fast.  

Mark you calendars for next year.  That would be Monday, November 19, 2012

Happy December!

WHAT A GREAT MONTH TO COOK!  Your family appreciates traditional meals and goodies, your neighbors and friends love to receive homemade food gifts.  I made it a point years ago to make some traditional favorites each year, and now, if I even think to serve something new in place of, for example, our traditional Overnight French Toast for Christmas morning, the troops cry out "NOOO!"  This secretly makes me very happy.


Today I want to share with you our favorite appetizer that is always requested by my family and friends.  It is easy, delicious and not on a dieter's menu -- the reason we ONLY make it during December (OK, we also made it on Thanksgiving day).  I don't remember where I got this recipe, but it is a winner, and you can see I have used it a lot!

HOT ARTICHOKE DIP

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

Mix these together until smooth.  Then add:

1 can artichoke hearts (canned in WATER), drained and squeeze the water out of each 'choke, then dice

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Pour into a greased dish, I use a 24 ounce round Corningware baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  You want the dip to bubble and be a bit browned before you take it out of the oven.  Let stand for just a few minutes, then serve with water crackers.

If you don't like artichokes, you can still love this dip.  When my daughter Rebecca was young, she asked "can you please make artichoke dip WITHOUT those artichokes?"  She would pick around them for the gooey goodness.  I decided just to dice the artichokes smaller!  No more complaints.  What is Artichoke Dip without the artichokes?