Weiner and Best Bun

After I got married, I bought the "wrong" hot dogs and the "wrong" bacon for many years. Not on purpose. I figured they were all the same and I could buy the one that is on sale. Now we have our favorites and I don't need to call Brian from the grocery store to make sure I'm not buying something gross. (The Rule of Bacon is usually that the most expensive one that never goes on sale is the one that will taste the best.)

Best Dog (if it's not Polish)

Oscar Meyer Bun Length All Beef Franks


Best Bun

Wonder Hot Dog Buns

What do y'all think? Or are you too good for hot dogs? :)

Dr. Maxwell Strawberry Cream Pie

This was the winning pie at Jeff's surPIES graduation party. It was submitted by my friends Heather and Jeremy. It tastes as good as it looks!


Prebaked pie crust
1 quart strawberries -- cleaned and hulled
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup water
8 ounces cream cheese -- softened
14 ounces canned sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
For chocolate leaves:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
¼ teaspoon shortening

Slice one cup of strawberries. Dissolve cornstarch in water, then put sliced strawberries, cornstarch, and sugar in a saucepan. Mash strawberries with a potato masher. Heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Once mixture has thickened, continue to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool, and chill in refrigerator.

In large mixer bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Pour into prepared crust (there was too much for my 9”, non-deep pan). Place remaining whole strawberries, tips up, on top of filling. Once jelly mixture is cold, spoon over pie. Let chill.

Garnish with mint sprigs and/or chocolate leaves if desired.

Chocolate Leaves

Choose about 12 rose leaves or camellia leaves (or use other pesticide-free non poisonous leaves). Wipe with a clean towel. In the microwave or in a double boiler over hot water, melt 2 ounces semisweet chocolate with ¼ teaspoon vegetable shortening. Use the back of a teaspoon to coat the undersides of leaves with the melted chocolate. Do not coat edges. Place coated leaves on wax paper-lined plate or pan. Place in refrigerator or freezer to harden. When ready to use, loosen edges. Starting with stem end, carefully peel leaves away from the chocolate. Leaves can be trimmed with scissors to even out jagged edges.

Crust
(single 9-inch, not deep-dish)
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1/8 – ¼ tsp of salt (depending on how you like your crust)
¼ cup cold, good quality butter (gives it a better taste)
2 Tbs cup shortening
2-4 Tbs ice water

Cut butter into small cubes, then keep cold until use. Blend flour and salt in food processor. Add butter and process at low speed or intermittent bursts until crumbly. Transfer into a mixing bowl and add water one tablespoon at a time, just until crumbs stick together when pressed and can form one large ball. Wrap ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425° F. Roll out dough, place in pie pan, pressing down everywhere to remove air pockets. Prick sides and bottom of pie shell with fork. Place pie weights, dried beans or rice on a piece of foil or parchment paper in bottom of shell to keep pastry flat while baking. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until crust is brown as desired.

Chocolate Waffles with Chocolate Chips

These were soooo delicious! The recipe is from Alton Brown's Good Eats show. I made them when the girls had some friends sleeping over. Chocolate Waffles plus Star Wars equals good times.

1 1/2 cups flour
3 TBS sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 whole eggs, beaten

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 tsp vanilla

16 ounces buttermilk, room temp. (I didn't have buttermilk so I used whole milk and they were still outstanding)

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Vegetable spray for waffle iron

Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions-and directly you'll be directed in the right direction!

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In another bowl beat together the eggs and melted butter and vanilla, and then add the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir in the chocolate chips just until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Ladle the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the center of the iron. Close the iron top and cook until the waffle is crispy on both sides and is easily removed from iron. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve.

We served them with maple syrup, but I'm dying to try this for, say, a FHE treat and put whip cream and extra choc chips on top!

Experimentation

This weekend was one of experimentation for me. I was faced, once again, with the dilemma of what to take to the ward pot-luck. My dear husband generously signed Me up for a casserole AND a salad. I was already going to make a coconut chess pie (sisters, vol. I) for the service auction, so I really didn't want to make both the other items. I stood in my kitchen for about 20 minutes thinking of what I had on hand and what it would make if mixed together and whether it would look like a salad or a casserole. What I came up with was this (you can try it or not, it is not that good):
1 1/2 C. Sour Cream
Half a package of taco seasoning
1 T. olive oil

4 C. cooked tiny shell macaroni
1 can olives, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 green onions chopped
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 C. frozen corn

So, this is the concoction that I took to the church. There were left overs. When I got home I tried a bit and decided it was too dry so I added a little dump of salsa and another spoonful of sour cream. Deliciouso.

Then this morning Lilja came into my room and asked me to make cinnamon rolls. I guess she didn't know how freakin' long it takes to make cinnamon rolls and I didn't really want to tell her that it took forever. I went down and decided to use Aunt Julie's scone recipe (Sister, vol. II). That dough is super sticky, but moist and sweet and it rises fast with the baking powder. It was a total mess, but made some AWESOME cinnamon rolls. Almost store bought, but better, because everything is better than store bought. Yes, it was faster than the roll dough recipe, but not fast enough to make us on time for church!

Baked Chicken Spaghetti

I took the photo before it was in the oven swimming in cream and covered in cheese. The time for a photo session, by then, is past and it's time to eat it! It's definitely a "make ahead" dinner and it spends a long time in the oven (I can't figure out why), but the end result is my new favorite food. Or at least in the top five. Enjoy!

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked (I used the meat from one rotisserie chicken)
12 oz. thin spaghetti, cooked
Chicken broth
2 T. olive oil
5 spears celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Seasoning salt to taste
1 pint heavy cream
2 c. shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

Boil spaghetti in chicken broth. Saute celery, green pepper, onion, and garlic in olive oil. When the vegetables start getting clear, add the tomatoes (and liquid) and continue to simmer. Add seasoning. Add chicken. Stir and keep on low heat for a few minutes.

Put spaghetti into a 9x13-inch baking dish (I used two 7x11-inch dishes and froze one). Pour vegetable/chicken mixture over the spaghetti. Refrigerate overnight (optional, but it makes a BIG difference). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, covered. Remove the cover and pour 1 pint of heavy cream over the top and sprinkle the cheese on top of that. Bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes.

(The original recipe had the first oven time as an hour and 40 minutes. Yikes. I only left it in for an hour and everything was warmed through enough to add the cream and move on.)

Mini Sour Cream Biscuits

I was in the mood for coffee cake and scrambled eggs this morning, but I had no brown sugar. Next I was in the mood for some buttermilk biscuits and scrambled eggs, but I had no buttermilk. I went to allrecipes and found a recipe for mini biscuits with THREE ingredients. Of course one of them was a Bisquick-type something, but still. They were delightful with my perfectly cooked scrambled eggs. (We used the mini-muffin pan for the second time ever, too.)

1 c. biscuit/baking mix (I used Bisquick)
1/2 c. sour cream (surprise! I had sour cream)
1/4 c. butter, melted

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls into greased mini muffin pans. Bake at 425 degrees for 13-14 minutes.

Mexican Flan

Sorry no picture because I had to leave before it came out of the oven, but it was amazing to watch the process, so here you go-

3 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Put sugar in unheated saucepan. Heat the pan on the stove with medium heat. Stir the sugar continuously until sugar melts and has a light brown color. Quickly empty it into a 2 qt. glass pan.
In blender, blend eggs, vanilla, both milks.
Pour into glass pan over the sugar. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean. Flan should be a light brown color. DO NOT turn over until flan is completely cold.