Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

So much better than store bought! I made this last week for Father's Day, I liked it but think I probably rolled the dough out too thick, a thinner cookie would be better.

1 stick margarine (yup, not butter this time)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Half gallon carton vanilla ice cream (or whatever flavor you prefer)

Cream the margarine and brown sugar (using margarine instead of butter and brown sugar instead of granulated sugar produces a chewy, soft cookie). Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt. Add to margarine mixture. Beat until well combined. Gather dough into a ball and chill at least 1 hour.

On back of sturdy cookie sheet, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Use a ruler and knife to cut out rectangular pieces. (I just made up a pattern/template by tracing the end of the ice cream carton and then cutting it in half. Spray your template/pattern with Pam and it won’t stick to the dough) Poke a few holes on top or make a pattern with a fork if you want. Go ahead and bake them on the back side of cookie sheet (picking them up again is redundant and again, you’ll get a cleaner shape if you don’t pick them up and transfer them)

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool completely.
Meanwhile cut out rectangle blocks from the ice cream. To do this, peel back carton wrapping and cut ½ inch thick slabs that are roughly the dimensions of your cookies. Return the blocks to the freezer.

Once the cookies have cooled completely, place one ice cream block between two cookies. Trim the sides with a knife, wrap the sandwich in foil, and freeze for several hours. Repeat until used all the cookies and ice cream. Makes enough dough for 6 large sandwiches.

because Kody requested ribs for Sunday dinner

I thought I had the best recipe for cooking ribs until I discovered an even better one. Oh, rellys, you must try this! I loooovvveee this recipe as it is perfect for cooking on a Sunday because it requires cooking for at least 3 hours and uses the oven to boot. We had this for Sunday dinner yesterday and it was to die for. I discovered it on a bbq ribs website called http://www.amazingribs.com/

It lists all kinds of recipes but this is the one I used: Smoky Sauna Indoor Ribs

I would post the recipe direct but he has a copyright notice at the bottom of his pages so I will just refer you to it. Seriously, though it is a great site. It’s got a lot of content on it, so scroll down and click away, you’ll find lots of info and recipes. I even made his coleslaw (non creamy), delish, btw.

I used his dry rub recipe called Meathead’s Magic Dust, let them set ovenight in the fridge and then slow cooked them in the oven. The secret is the pan of water underneath. They came out incredible. Go have a look.

Thank you Body for Life

This recipe is delicious and good for you. I make it at least once a week. A link to the recipe can be found here.

Tomato Chicken Fettuccine

This is a great crockpot recipe I gleaned from a friend:

3 chicken breasts (frozen works fine)
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 bunch green onions, chopped
oregano
basil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Cook in crockpot on low for 5-8 hours
During the last hour, combine and add:

1 pint whipping cream
3 eggs
1-2 c. Parmesan cheese

Serve over fettuccine noodles

Pasta Poppyseed Salad

Believe it or not we had this at Girls Camp a few years ago. Our camp cook was unbelievable (the same one who served Kalua Pig). Again, you will have to adjust the proportions accordingly, this recipe doesn't serve that many.

1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 Tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup cooked rotini or corkscrew pasta
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 cup chopped lettuce greens (romaine and iceberg)
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup (or to taste) sliced button mushrooms
1/2 cup (or to taste) poppyseed dressing
1 large strawberry

Prepare sugared almonds: Mix sugar and butter. Coat sliced almonds in sugar-butter mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for seven minutes. Stir and return to oven for seven more minutes. Let cool.

Cook pasta; drain.

I'm trying to find the poppyseed dressing she used. I'll post it when I find it, but you can use a bottled poppyseed, I guess only more expensive:)

Prepare chicken: Brush or pour about one tablespoon of poppyseed dressing on the chicken breast and sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of sugar. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Mix lettuce greens, Swiss cheese, mushrooms, and pasta in a large bowl and toss well with poppyseed dressing.

Slice chicken breast and strawberry and arrange slices in a fan on salad. Sprinkle with sugared almond slices.

BYU Mint Brownies

Makes one 9 x 13 pan

1 cup butter (or margarine, but you know how I feel about butter, people)
1/2 cup cocoa
2 Tablespoons honey
4 eggs
2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (Meghan doesn't like nuts, so I don't usually put any in)
12 ounces chocolate frosting (use your own fav icing recipe.)

Mint Icing:
5 Tablespoons butter
dash of salt
3 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
2 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring

Melt butter and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Cool.

Prepare mint icing: Soften butter. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.

Four Corners Chicken and Pasta

A BYU Skyroom Restaurant recipe and one we used in RS at last years VT conference.

Serves 4 (so will need to adjust proportions accordingly)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
8 oz. dry penne pasta
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1 small bunch cilantro

Southwestern Pasta Sauce

5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup flour
2 1/1 cup half and half cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 ounces processed Swiss cheese slices
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon canned chipotle peppers, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Grill chicken and slice into thin strips. Cook and drain pasta. Slowly cook onion in a little oil until onion is a rich brown.
Prepare the sauce: Melt butter; add flour. Stir until well combined. Add half and half, salt, and pepper. Stir with a whisk and continue cooking over medium low heat until sauce is thickened and bubbly. Add cheese and stir until blended. Add sour cream and mix well. Add chipotle peppers (chipotle peppers are hot; add more or less to taste) and chopped cilantro.

Pour four cups of the pasta sauce into a heated saute pan. Add pasta and chicken; toss to coat.

After mixture is heated through, pour into a serving bowl. Garnish with chopped tomatoes, caramelized onions, and cilantro.

Grilled Fruit

Halve the peaches. Sprinkle generously with sugar. Let them sit for a bit while the sugar dissolves. Grill the peaches flesh side down for about 2 to 3 minutes. Then turn over and grill for about 1-2 minutes more. Take them off the grill and then drizzle with molasses. Serve with crème fraîche. I don't think I had really ever had crème fraîche before as it is not widely available and because of the cost is mainly used in high end cooking. So I decided to make some of my own. It is sort of a lighter tastier version of sour cream. It was totally worth it. I was the perfect compliment to the grilled fruit.

Crème Fraîche

To make your own is very easy. Using a glass container, start out with heavy cream (i actually just used regular whipping cream and it was fine). Then add buttermilk.

I added 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to my one cup of cream. I stirred it up a bit covered it with plastic and then let it sit overnight at room temperature. Everything I read assured me this is perfectly safe and that the good bacteria cultures in the buttermilk help stave off the bad ones. About 16 hours later it was a thick delicious cream.

I plan on making it all the time now. I plan on trying this with nectarines, plums and apricots. Yum, yum!

Yellow Cake

This is the cake I made for Kodison's birthday. Yellow cake is his favorite with chocolate frosting. (Hence I made a little chocolate football to appease him) I cut up the cake shape from a 9 x 13 pan and carved the jersey and football from there. The trick to doing cut up cakes is to freeze the unfrosted cake a bit, that way the crumbs adhere to the cake and not the frosting.

Yellow Butter Cake made from scratch

2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred before measuring
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Cream sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add half of the flour mixture then half of the milk. Add vanilla. Mix until blended; add remaining flour and milk and beat til smooth. The batter will be thick. Spread batter in 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25 to 35 minutes.

BBQ Ribs

This is a simple way to cook ribs. My fam likes them this way and some of them don't usually like ribs. These ribs are seasoned, boiled until tender, then baked with your favorite barbeque sauce. That's it. Soooo simple.

Serves 4 (you'll have to double recipe if serving more people)

2 1/2 pounds country style pork ribs ( I like baby back)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
1 cup barbeque sauce

Place ribs in a large pot with enough water to cover. Season with garlic powder, black pepper and salt (and onion wedges, if you like. Sometimes I use 1/2 cup soy sauce, too). Bring water to a boil, and cook ribs until tender (about 45 min). Turn off heat, cover pan and let ribs marinate in the broth for several hours (about 4-5 hours). But you don't have to let them marinate if you are in a hurry, just will have more flavor if they sit.

Preheat oven to 325. Remove ribs from pot, and place them in a 9 x 13 dish. Pour barbeque sauce over ribs. Cover dish with aluminum foil, and bake in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Note: I usually put more BBQ sauce on the tops about 20 minutes before I take them out of the oven. These ribs come out incredibly tender and falling off the bone, but still with some tug.

Ziploc Omelets

or "Called to Serve" Omelets

A couple of summers ago we had a young missionary from Canada stay with us overnight prior to our taking him into the MTC. He was from Megs mission. In the course of chatting each other up he shared a missionary cookbook put together by his sisters. This recipe fascinated me.

Works great when you're all alone or when all your family is together. Best feature is that no one has to wait for their special omelet. Have guests write their name on a quart size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker.

1. Crack 2 large eggs into the quart size Ziploc bag (not more than 2)

2. Shake to combine them.

3. Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc.

4. Each guest adds prepared ingredients of their choice to their bag and shake.

5. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

6. Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes.

7. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.

8. Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

Nice to serve with fresh fruit and muffins; everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece.

Imagine having these ready the night before and putting the bag in boiling water while you get ready. And in 13 minutes, you have a nice omelet for a quick breakfast.

Two Great Salads!

Apple-Gorgonzola Salad

5-6 cups of your favorite greens
2-3 Granny Smith apples peeled and sliced
1 cup shredded carrots
3-4 oz. gorgonzola cheese

garnish with about a cup of chopped caramelized pecans. To caramelize: Put about a half cup of sugar in a skillet on medium heat. Stir sugar and it will begin to melt around the edges. Continue stirring until sugar is completely melted and is an amber color. You may need to lower the heat towards the end. Quickly add the pecans and stir. Then immediately remove from the heat. Put the pecans in another container to cool. Break up and toss into salad after the dressing has been added.

Dressing
1 cup salad oil
1/4 cup FRESH lemon juice
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper

Combine the above ingredients and toss into salad just before serving. I like to make the dressing a few hours ahead to let the flavors blend together.

Berry-Mandarin Tossed Salad

8 Cups torn mixed greens
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 can drained mandarin oranges
1 med red onion sliced and rings separated
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Dressing
1/4 cup sugar
2 T cider vinegar
2 T honey
1-1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp grated onion
1/4 tsp. celery seed
dash of salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Combine all the salad ingredients into a salad bowl. Mix together the dressing ingredients then toss into the salad just before serving.

Making salad is probably one of my least favorite things to prepare in the kitchen. However these two recipes are worth the time and the work to make. They are really delicious salads!

pecan pie

This is an extremely easy and divine Martha Stewart recipe:

4 eggs, beaten
1/2 c sugar
1 c dark Karo syrup
1/2 c light Karo syrup
1 1/2 c chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla

Mix and pour into chilled pie crusts and decorate with whole pecans.
Bake @ 350 for 40 min.

Cheesy Chicken Rolls

Ingredients:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (4)
Mushrooms (6 or 7 large)
Green onion (4)
Sour cream (approx 1 1/2 Cup)
Mozarella Cheese (approx 3/4 cup)



Directions:

Place chicken breast between two pieces of saran wrap. Pound flat (approx 1"). Set aside. Cut up mushrooms and green onion. Combine all ingredients into a bowl


Place a spoonful of mixture in the middle of chicken. Roll and place seam side down onto a 9x12 baking dish. Once all chicken has been placed put remaining mixture on top

Bake at 350 degrees for between 1 hour and 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Graham Cracker Delights

1 package of Graham Crackers
1 bowl of homemade icing/frosting

Open the package of Graham Crackers.
Take one cracker from the package and snap into 2 equal parts.
Spread the homemade frosting on one half (Thickness of frosting can be to your own personal delight.)
Put the other half of the Graham cracker on top to form a sandwich with frosting in the middle.

Make as many as you desire. For variety, a drop of food coloring can be mixed with the frosting to make different colors.

Place Graham sandwiches in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Let chill thoroughly.

Better than an Oreo cookie.

For a variation, i.e. HB style, you can skip the Graham cracker part and just eat the frosting straight from the bowl.

Sunday Dinner at our house

We all met after Sacrament meeting for Sunday dinner. Only it was a special dinner as we were marking the occasion. Cate was blessed today. I baked these little cookies and placed them on each plate. See what I wrote.


Blessed. That one word seemed appropriate but confusing for some. Ld announced he was going to say the blessing and Janny piped up: "Oh, I thought the word Blessed meant the food was already prayed over".

Great idea, janny. I will take up writing on our food blessed or not blessed from now on.

Anyway, I made these Brown Sugar Cookies to celebrate. The original recipe is one from the Friend, only it was called Rainbow Cookies. We used it in YW as I recall to make temple cut out cookies back in the day. I like this recipe as it is sturdy enough to cut out, uses real butter and turns a golden color, which is important if you want the frosting contrasted. Plus, sometimes I get tired of just regular Sugar Cookies.

Here’s the recipe.

Note: Be sure to roll out the cookies directly on the back of the cookie sheets and bake them without transferring them. (Provided of course that you have a quality cookie sheet) You’ll get a cleaner shape than if you pick them up. I’ve done it this way for as long as I can remember.

Kitchen Krafts,” Friend, Apr 1984, 23
1 cup soft butter or margarine

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups flour 

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Cream together butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
Stir flour, soda, and salt together, then add to creamed mixture. Mix well.
Roll out, cut in shapes.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375° F for about 7 minutes.


The rest of the menu

I let Kenz pick out the menu as it was really her day (well Cate’s too). She choose her fav Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas (original recipe from Aunt Kathleen) along with Broccoli, Green Salad, Homemade Rolls, Strawberries and Cantaloupe, and Key Lime Pie.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

1 chicken boiled and deboned

Mix chicken with:
1 can cream of chicken soup, pint of sour cream, I small onion diced, diced chilis.

Fry about 1 ½ dozen tortillas. Fill with meat, roll. Cover with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Serves 6-8.


Meghan and Kody licking their chops in anticipation : )

Lion House Dinner Rolls

2 tablespoons dry yeast (2 packets)
2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 ½ teaspoons salt
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
5 to 6 cups flour
1 egg

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine yeast and water. Let stand 5 minutes. Add sugar, shortening, salt, dry milk, 2 cups flour, and egg. Beat together until very smooth. Add 2 more cups flour, one at a time, and beat until smooth.

Add about one more cup flour, ½ cup at a time (in your mixer if it will take it, or by hand), until it is well mixed in. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until it is smooth and satiny. Gather dough into a ball. Scrape bowl clean and grease it with shortening/butter. Return dough to bowl and grease surface lightly. Let rise away from drafts in a warm (not hot) place until about triple in bulk. (In a cool oven with a pan of hot water on a rack under it is a good place.)

Use last of the flour as needed on the board for rolling and shaping the dough. (Don’t use it all unless you need it.) Let dough rest on board for 10 minutes so it will be easier to manage if you roll it. Cut or mold into desired shapes. Place on greased baking sheets. Brush surface of rolls with melted butter. Let rise in warm place until ready for oven (about 1 ½ hours). Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until browned. Makes about 5 dozen rolls.

Note: The entire mixing process may be done by hand. It takes through beating and kneading to develop the gluten in the dough. Soft dough makes lighter, more tender rolls. This small version of the Lion House recipe makes a soft dough, but on that can be handled. Any soft dough can be managed more easily if it is refrigerated overnight before rolling and shaping. Always add flour gradually, and keep dough as soft as you can handle it.