Recipe and Cook's Corner

[morrobay]

This one is going in the rotation, definitely delicious!  Prep was about 10 minutes, using my cheapo veggie dicer for the celery, onions and carrots.  Cutting up the bacon took a few minutes, next time I'll probably stick it in the freezer for 30 minutes so it's easier.

Then about 15-20 minutes to saute the veggies and brown the meat, then it all goes in the crockpot for 6 hours.  Add the parsley and half and half at the end - you're done.  It's really good.

[CellarDweller115]

Oh, I bet your place smells soooooo good right now!

[morrobay]

[morrobay]

I have this meatless dish in the oven right now.  There's hardly any prep; if you use Bird's Eye rice and pre-cut onions from the store, you only have to cut the peppers.  I've made this twice already, and the filing is really good.  It makes too much for 6 halves, so I put the extra in a pan in the oven for 20 minutes, I'll just have it with some veggies on the side later, or even in a sandwich.

The directions say to put the peppers in a 13 x 9 pan, then add 1 1/2 cups water.  I didn't like putting the peppers right in the water so this time I put a cooling rack on top of the pan, then covered it with foil.  I'm not a big cheese fan, so I left out the feta, and I also didn't use rosemary.

Mediterranean-Seasoned Stuffed Peppers
INGREDIENTS
3 large green or red bell peppers, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 package (12 oz.) Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters Grillers® Recipe Crumbles™
1 3/4 cups cooked brown rice
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (1 oz.) (optional)

1. Remove stems and seeds from peppers. Set peppers aside.

2. In large nonstick skillet cook onion in hot oil over medium-high heat about 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in MORNINGSTAR FARMS Meal Starters Grillers Recipe Crumbles, rice, tomato sauce, raisins, 2 tablespoons water, rosemary, oregano and cinnamon.

3. Arrange pepper halves, cut sides up, in 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Spoon rice mixture into peppers. Pour 1 1/2 cups water into dish around peppers. Tightly cover with foil. Bake at 375° F about 40 minutes or until peppers are nearly tender. Remove foil. Sprinkle with feta cheese (if desired). Bake, uncovered, for 5 to 10 minutes more or until peppers are tender.

[CellarDweller115]

White Chocolate Cake Recipe

Cake

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
3/4 cup water
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

White Chocolate Frosting

1 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Cake

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour 3 - 9 inch round cake pans with butter.

In a medium sized pot melt butter, add water and bring to boil. Once boiling add white chocolate and mix till smooth. Add in buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Mix till well incorporated. Set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add this to white chocolate mixture and mix till well combined.

Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Set to cool, once cool enough to touch turn cake out of pans and let cool completely on a wire rack.

White Chocolate Frosting

Melt white chocolate in a double boiler, or in a pot filed with water and a bowl. Set to cool.

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly add melted chocolate to cream cheese and beat in till well combined. Add sugar and vanilla, and beat for about 10 minutes until well combined.

Garnish with white chocolate. Serve

[killersmom]

^^^^^ YUMMY!!!

[CellarDweller115]

I'm going to use the recipe to make cupcakes once Easter passes.

[killersmom]

I'm going to use the recipe to make cupcakes once Easter passes.

YUM! Sounds good.

[CellarDweller115]

Yeah, I can't wait to try them.  Once the holiday passes and people who gave up sweets can eat them again, I'll  bring them in.

[morrobay]

I made this up but it’s so good!  I use Joseph’s lavash bread but you can use any flatbread. 

Mash ½ cup black beans and mix with hot (or mild), salsa or picante and a little cumin.  In a separate dish, mash an avocado with some garlic salt and chopped tomatoes to make guacamole (I leave out the toms when I don’t have them or I’m too lazy). 

Spread some refried beans on the flatbread, then the black bean mixture, then the guacamole, use some sour cream in the wrap or on the side.  Roll it up – delicious!

You could also add corn and/or rice and some ground beef.

[CellarDweller115]

I'm working on the white chocolate recipe now, but cupcakes instead of cake.

One change I made to the recipe,  I increased the amount of white chocolate chips from 1 cup to 1 & 1/2 cups, I wanted more of a white chocolate flavor.  I did this for both the cake  and the frosting.

I'll back the cupcakes tonight and store them, and then frost them tomorrow.

[CellarDweller115]

I tasted the batter last night before the cakes were baked,  it was really good.

Something happened during the baking, because the cupcakes had such a bad after-taste to them.   I couldn't give them to anyone, and threw them all away.

[morrobay]

Sorry the cupcakes didn't turn out, Chuck.

I'm off work this week so I'm trying to be productive.  Making bread again, I found a recipe that is supposed to make it less dense, a few times I've made bread it comes out a little dense - hopefully this works.



Ingredients
1 cup and 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/4 cups white bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Instructions
Important note about properly measuring flour using measuring cups:
The proper way to measure flour using measuring cups is to aerate it first. This is done either by sifting flour, or aerating it by fluffing it up and whisking it well, then spooning it into the measuring cup, then carefully removing any excess flour with a knife. If you just stick that measuring cup in the bag of flour and scoop some out, you will get a lot more flour than what the recipe calls for. Do aerate the flour, or you will end up with dry dough!

How to make bread in a bread machine:
Add water and oil into the bread pan. Add salt, sugar. Add flour.

Make a small indentation on top of flour and make sure it does not reach wet ingredients. Add the yeast to the indentation.

Keep yeast away from the salt.

Insert the bread pan into the bread machine, press it down to snap. Close the lid.

Use Basic bread, 1.5 lb loaf, medium crust cycle (3 hrs 15 minutes)

When bread is done, remove the bread pan using oven mitts. Turn over the bread pan and shake it to release the loaf. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.

[morrobay]

I just made breaded shrimp with fresh green beans for lunch.  I rarely do this kind of thing - especially for lunch, especially on a Saturday - but they came out so good, and the prep was only a few minutes - and I love my air fryer! 

I mixed bottled cocktail sauce with a little bit of Jim's original hot sauce, it was excellent.  And I had a glass of wine in my Waterford wine glass (present from the ex - I had to teach him about good gift-giving, after the toaster  )

Ingredients
1 pound raw shrimp peeled and deveined
1 egg white 3 tbsp
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat Air Fryer to 400 degrees.

Season the shrimp with the seasonings.

Place the flour, egg whites, and panko bread crumbs in three separate bowls.

Dip the shrimp in the flour, then the egg whites, and the panko bread crumbs last.

Add the shrimp to the Air Fryer basket. Cook for 4 minutes. Open the basket and flip the shrimp to the other side. Cook for an additional 4 minutes or until crisp.

[CellarDweller115]

Oh, Nancy, those look good!