Macaroni Salad

We were invited to a Memorial Day barbeque and I knew that all I wanted to bring was macaroni salad. I'd never made one before, but I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com It turned out very well. I accidentally forgot to buy a green pepper, so I replaced that with peas. And next time I might cut back on the sugar just a tad.

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4 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
2/3 cup white sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup grated carrot

Place the chopped onion in a bowl of ice and let set in the refrigerator about 30 min.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni, and cook until tender. Rinse under cold water and drain.

In a large bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper. Drain excess water from chopped onion. Stir onion, celery, green pepper, carrot, and macaroni into mayonnaise mixture. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving, but preferably overnight.

Sicilian Blood Orange Salad

It's blood orange season! Yum! I got so excited to see these beautiful things in the store that I bought quite a lot. And for dinner I tried this recipe from The Splendid Table for a Sicilian Blood Orange Salad..something I only vaguely remembered from my mission days. It was delicious and beautiful.

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ice
water
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 blood oranges, thinly sliced
1 navel orange, thinly sliced
1/2 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tbsp olive oil
very smalll quantities:
black pepper
salt
paprika
cinnamon

Place the sliced red onion in a bowl of ice and water, leave in the refrigerator at least 20 minutes to take away their "sting".

In a shallow bowl, mix the different colored orange slices. Drain and pat dry the onion slices and mix with oranges. Add juice and drizzle with olive oil. Add olives. Season to taste.

Nutella Day and the Great American Snowpocolypse

I spent a few days huddling under a blanket on my couch because the newscasters--and my mom--all told me DON'T GET ON THE ROAD. IT'S BAD OUT THERE!

Bill and I tried to hold off on going to the grocery store and pretty much subsisted on very warm things like chili and chowder.

Oh, and Nutella.

It was a happy day when I got to the grocery store and I bought some bananas to go with my Nutella. Nutella with bananas is the best.

That was Friday. And just in time to celebrate Nutella Day on Feb 5th!

Not that I really celebrated (Bill and I do have a Nutella limit, turns out), but I DID enjoy browsing the sites of these bloggers who whipped up something special for the occasion.

Do yourselves a favor and just look at these gooey, chocolatey, sweet...yummmmm!

And one day I may have to try this recipe for homemade Nutella submitted to the site by pastry chef, David Lebovitz:

Texan Chicken Fried Chicken

Bill has been really great about taking on dinner lately--which is awesome. I love to watch him in the kitchen.

On Saturday he was very excited about a food convention that was in town; Zest Fest--sponsored by Chile Pepper Magazine. (who knew?) It was a convention of the spiciest food products out there. Of course Bill and his friend participated in the Atomic Hot Wings eating contest

and stepped up to sample the outrageously hot Jolokia pepper hot sauce

but he also brought home some locally made dry seasonings for barbecue dry rubs, etc. and decided to test it out in some down home fried chicken. It came out great, very moist and juicy and the seasoning was really yummy.

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4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 cups flour

3 Tbsp Angelo's Poultry Seasoning

(we're gussing a little paprika, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder would do just as well)

2 eggs

1 tsp vinegar

4 Tbsp shortening

1/2 cup oil

Between two sheets of wax paper, pound chicken to flatten and tenderize.

In a shallow bowl, combine flour and seasonings.

In a smaller bowl, beat eggs and vinegar together.

In a deep skillet, heat shortening and supplement with oil until 1/2" deep, covering the bottom of the skillet, on medium-high heat.

Alternate dipping chicken breasts first in egg then in flour mixture, so that they are dipped in each mixture twice and well coated in the dry mixture.

Toss chicken into the oil--if oil is not immediately bubbling and sizzling around the chicken, turn up the heat!

Cook until deep golden and flip chicken breasts to cook the other side. When both sides are golden and crispy, check chicken to see that it is cooked through. Serve with veggies!

Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna

I was so intrigued when I came across this recipe, I was excited to try it! I was pretty conservative trying to make it for the first time--next time I would probably go heavier on the seasonings and cheese. I might make more of the spinach filling and add an extra layer of noodles, because I had a lot of noodles left over. But, it turned out to be pretty easy for a lasagna.
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Serves 6

olive oil
1 onion, chopped 
2 cloves of garlic, minced
400 grams frozen chopped spinach
salt, pepper
1 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg, divided
3  pumpkin, divided
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided

1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan, divided

1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a frying pan on medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic until the onions are cooked and translucent.

Add the chopped spinach, 1/2 tsp sage, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook the mixture until the spinach is wilted and there is no more water left in the pan (this takes several minutes). Set the pan aside.

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package. When they are al dente, drain them and run cold water over them to cool them. Strain them once they've cooled.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cans of pumpkin with 3/4 cups heavy cream, and 1/2 cup parmesan. Add  1/2 tsp sage and 1/4 tsp nutmeg, along with salt and pepper.

Butter an 8x12 Pyrex. Place 1 layer of lasagna noodles. Top with half the pumpkin filling, and half the spinach filling. Place another layer of lasagna noodles. Top with the other half of the fillings. Place the final layer of lasagna noodles on top.

In a bowl, mix 1 cup pumpkin and 3/4 cups cream. Pour this over the top of the lasagna. Sprinkle with 1 cup parmesan.

Heat the lasagna in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Place the lasagna on a cooling rack to set for 10 minutes before cutting into it.

Zuppa Toscana

Bill and I both like the "Zuppa Toscana" at Olive Garden. My mom used to make something similar, sans greenery. So I found this Copykat recipe online, and decided to give it a try. I substituted the kale in favor of spinach. I've never cared for the kale in that soup.

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4 spicy Italian sausage links
3 red potatoes, chunked
1/2 onion, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 c. frozen chopped spinach
6 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. whipping cream

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place sausage links onto a sheet pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until done. Use a paper towel to soak up extra grease. Cut in half length-wise, then cut at an angle into 1/2 inch slices.

Place onions in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Add garlic to the onions and cook an additional 1-minute. Add chicken broth, spinach, and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes.

Add sausage and cream. Simmer 4 minutes and serve with crusty french bread.

Christmas Cookie Favorites

Mom would make tons of cookies every year, and make up plates for all of our neighbors. So, I'm trying to carry on the tradition! I started with my two favorites of the ones Mom makes every year. Except I don't know what they're supposed to be called. The first are known by so many different names. And the second, I've never seen anyone else make them! So, here they are:

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The ones rolled in powdered sugar
1 cup butter (salted)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped walnuts.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool enough to handle, roll in remaining confectioners' sugar.

* Honestly, I found a pretty close recipe on allrecipes.com under "Russian Tea Cakes." But there were also "Mexican Wedding Cakes," "Italian Wedding Cookies," "Austrian Tea Biscuits"...

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The mint chocolate chip ones
Makes about 5 dozen
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup sugar
3 drops food coloring
1 12 oz pkg mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
a few drops of peppermint extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Line a large baking sheet with a double thickness of waxed paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and vinegar on high speed until they are all foamy. Add the sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time until all used.  Should be white and firm when you lift out the beaters.

Add 2-3 drops peppermint extract. Careful with the extract, a little goes a long way. Blend in a few drops of food coloring (with the beaters) to whatever shade you like.

Fold in the mini chips gently with a spatula.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet.

Turn off the oven and put in the baking sheet(s) letting the meringues dry out in the oven overnight.  Or for several hours until they are dry and delicate.

Store them in a dry place or they will absorb moisture and lose their crispness. An airight container is best.