"Fried" Ice Cream

It's Cinco de Mayo today and Mom made tacos and "Fried" Ice Cream.  I chose a taco salad.  If the calories of the Fried Ice Cream are too much, consider using those flat tortillas that you get in the Mexican section of the grocery tore (we use Ole brand) and skip the frying.  Even further, use a smaller dessert bowl and skip the tortillas on the bottom. The dessert is special enough without it.

Oh, and while eating our meal, I found Mariachi music on Pandora!  It was great!


Chi Chi's Fried Ice Cream

Recipe by Todd Wilbur

1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 6 inch flour tortillas
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup cornflake crumbs
2 large scoops vanilla ice cream
1 can whipped cream
2 maraschino cherries with stems

1. Prepare each tortilla by frying it in the hot oil in a frying pan over medium/high heat. Fry each side of the tortilla for about 1 minute until crispy. Drain the tortillas on paper towels.
2. Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
3. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture over both sides of the fried tortillas, coating evenly. Not all of the sugar mixture will stick to the tortillas, and that's okay.
4. Combine the other half of the cinnamon mixture with the cornflake crumbs in another small bowl.  Pour the cornflake mixture into a wide, shallow bowl or onto a plate.
5. Place a large scoop of ice cream in the cornflake crumbs, and with your hands roll the ice cream around until the entire surface is evenly coated wit cornflake crumbs.  You should not be able to see the ice cream.
6. Place the ice cream scoop on the center of a cinnamon/sugar coated tortilla.
7. Spray whipped cream around the base of the ice cream. Spray an additional pile of cream on top of the ice cream.
8. Put a cherry in the top pile of whipped cream. Repeat for the remaining scoop of ice cream. Serve with a side dish of honey, chocolate syrup, or strawberry topping, if desired.

Apple Coffee Cake

My sister asked for an Apple Coffee Cake recipe and my Mom could only find one (untried) in her vast cookbook collection.   Coffee cake is denser than regular cake, but not so dense as pound cake.  I happened upon this one from Taste of Home and sure enough, they also had it online.  This is YUMMY!  It also turns out to taste very good without the apples. The second time Mom made it, she forgot to put the applies in, yet it was delicious! Just not apple flavored.  Mom also did not have butter flavored shortening, so used regular shortening with a little butter flavoring.  If you want to use butter, that should work fine, but be aware that it will be heavier than the original recipe intended.  The recipe also makes TWO coffee cakes. One for now and one to be frozen and used later.  Remember TWO coffee cakes (or perhaps a 9x 13 pan). [current photo compliments of Taste of Home]

Apple Coffee Cake

1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
1 3/4 to 2 cups chopped peeled tart apples

Topping:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture alternately wiht sour cream, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in apples.  Transfer to TWO greased 8 inch square baking dishes.

For the topping, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in nuts; sprinkle over batter.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Cover and freeze for up to 6 months.

To use frozen coffee cake. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.  Yield: 2 coffee cakes (6-9 servings each).

Here's a link to the original recipe online. They have some other apple coffee cakes, but this was the best one.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/apple-coffee-cake

Chili

Here's a Chili recipe

I am including this recipe 'as is' because overall, the flavor was GREAT with ground beef.  Add more spice if you like it.  Leave out the meat if you want it vegetarian.  However, I gotta tell you, I would never use turkey or chicken in chili.  In addition, there is no reason to drain the fat if you have 95% lean ground beef - talk about taking out flavor (my Mom and I differ on this opinion).

In addition, I have to say that mom had some additions to this chili.  She added about 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce plus a handful of dried tomatoes - both things she had on hand. Dried cherry tomatoes add a really strong tomato flavor punch to chili.

This recipe is from the book The Weeknight Survival Cookbook by Dena Irwin.  I like the setup of the recipes and menus and the flavor of the recipes. However, this is yet another author from the 90s who thinks that the way to deal with overweight or diabetic people is to eliminate fat and pack on the carbohydrates (which obviously, doesn't work).    So, if you are interested in this book, go for it. Just roll your eyes whenever you see the beef-chicken-no fat substitutions and use what you like.

Chili

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
2 green bell peppers, cored and chopped
2 pounds ground turkey breast or 95% lean ground beef
2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 14 oz packages frozen kidney beans
2 6 oz. cans tomato paste
2 to 4 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons crushed oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt to taste, optional
Black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

In a large pot, saute the vegetables in olive oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes to soften. Add ground beef and continue cooking over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until done.  Drain extra fat by draining in a colander and then return to the pot.  Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes until thickened.

Makes 12 servings

Corn Chowder

Suddenly, blogger has changed their format for entering things, so if things are weird, it's because I haven't figured it out yet.

Today is Corn Chowder.  This chowder recipe can be done without ham and even without chicken broth (if for a vegetarian).  I'd like to try it again with sliced, fried bacon. The recipe is from the book The Weeknight Survival Cookbook by Dena Irwin. This book has menus for 12 weeks and focuses on making stuff one day and then using part of that to make the meal the next day. 

Very yummy chowder. While high in overall carbohydrates (78 g), by using a baked potato, the actual blood sugar effect is much lower, which is an issue if you are diabetic.

Corn Chowder

2 baked potatoes, diced
16 ounce package frozen kernel corn
16 oz. can cream-style corn
1 (15 oz) can reduced-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
4 ounces lean ham steak, diced
1/2 cup frozen diced onion
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed thyme
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup evaporated skim milk

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes until heated through.

Makes 4 servings

Homemade Applesauce!

Bunch of soft apples in the bottom of the fridge? Make some applesauce before they go bad. It is so easy - you can do it on top of the stove, in a crockpot, in an oven and even in the microwave and your results will be splendid.

Homemade Apple Sauce

My way

Peel, core and cut in half enough apples to fill a Dutch oven. It will cook down, so a little overfilled is fine. Add about 1/2 cup of water or apple juice. Turn heat to medium and cover. Check occasionally that apples are not boiling. Cook until apples are softened, about 45 minutes to an hour depending on variety and how soft they were when you started. If you have a lot of fluid, leave the cover off during the last 10 minutes to cook some of that off. Add about 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. of salt. Mix well, turn down heat and leave cover off. Cook another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add more sugar or cinnamon if desired.

Using a potato masher, mash up cooked apples. If you want chunky, don't mash as much. For smooth apple sauce, mash thoroughly. Eat warm or cold.

If baking in an oven, as you might do if you already are using the oven, check at least half way through cooking time that you have enough water or apples will scorch. Remove the cover about the last 10 minutes to cook out some of the moisture.

If you have extra, freeze it. Just put into a freezer ziploc or freezer safe container and freeze. Thaw and eat. I'm sure you could microwave it as well. Canning of course is an option if you have canning supplies (my sister makes great canned applesauce!).

We get our cinnamon from Penzey's - it is very strong cinnamon which is why I only use 2 teaspoons. If you buy your cinnamon from the grocery store, feel free to add an extra teaspoon. Too much cinnamon gives a bitter flavor, but applesauce is somewhat sweet, so it works fine. I love cinnamon!

Brownies!!!

My sister decided to try some brownies and they are oh so yummy. The recipe is from Taste of Home's 2004 Annual Recipes.



Maple Butterscotch Brownies

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons maple flavoring
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts
confectioner's sugar, optional

1. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and maple flavoring. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Combine flour and baking powder; add to egg mixture. Stir in walnuts.
2. Pour into a greased 9 inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Dust with confectioner's sugar if desired. Yield 16 brownies

Here's a link for a photo and nutritional info. Yes, they can be done in a square pan.

Caramel Popcorn

My blog is certainly not complete if I don't include the caramel popcorn recipe!! We have this every Christmas and it only makes it that far because Mom hides it. I do not recommend using microwave popcorn for this - you will not be happy with the results since microwave popcorn tends to taste burned. Use either an air popper or pop it on top of the stove. I prefer Orville Redenbacher and Jolly Time, but we've also had some success in getting big popcorn with some off brands (our latest is the store brand from Fleet Farm). If you've only used microwave popcorn, I recommend starting with at least Jolly Time. While preparing the popcorn, my siblings found that putting the popped popcorn into a paper grocery bag and shaking it really helped to get any unpopped kernels to the bottom of the bag.

As far as the 'large pan', we use either a 12 or 13 quart steel mixing bowl or a waterbath canner. If all you have is an 8 qt stockpot or a 4-5 quart dutch oven, then put 1/2 the popcorn in and add the sugar slurry, mix a bit, then add the rest of the popcorn and stir carefully. When you add the slurry, the popcorn shrinks some, which will leave you more space.

If you have a family member who must severely restrict salt, Mom made this recently with 1/4 tsp. of salt and it tasted fine, however, we are also accustomed to low salt cooking.



This recipe came from Savory Creations, a cookbook by Mercy Employees Assn., Mercy Medical Center of Coon Rapids, MN. There's no date, but I'm sure it's from the 1980s.

Caramel Popcorn

Recipe by Ann Ulrich, contributed to Savory Creations

Pop and have ready in a large pan:
7 to 8 quarts of popcorn
1-2 cups spanish or roasted peanuts, if desired

Dissolve the following at medium heat and boil for 5 minutes:

2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks margarine
1/2 cup light Karo syrup

Remove from heat, and while stirring vigorously, add 1 teaspoon salt. Pour mixture over popcorn and stir. Bake in 200 degree oven for 1 to 1.5 hours. Stir every 15-20 minutes.