Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Favourite Italian Spinach




One of my family's favourite side dishes is Italian spinach. I make it frequently and it goes very well with Italian buttered rice with parmesan cheese. I make it often, but I've never really had a recipe for it. It is a little of this and a little of that. I'll do my best to duplicate it here. If you make it, as long as you have all the ingredients, you can't go wrong, even if the measurements of the ingredients vary a little or a lot.

2 packages frozen whole spinach
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
salt
pepper

Boil spinach and then drain well. In a frying pan, add butter and garlic. Add spinach, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Almond Puffs



This has got to be the most popular recipe I own. I've made it for wedding and baby showers, family get togethers, and pot luck dinners. Every time I do, I get asked for the recipe by just about everyone there. I think the almond puffs look difficult and fancy, but in reality, they are deceivingly simple.

These are not freezable and are terrible keepers. So when you make them, ensure you use them the same day or even the next.

Ingredients:

Bottom layer:

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons water

Middle layer:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup
flour
3 eggs

Confectioner's Sugar Glaze

1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 or 2 teaspoons warm water
Chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut 1/2 cup butter into 1 cup flour. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over the mixture. Mix with a fork. Round into a ball. Divide in half. On an ungreased baking sheet, form each half into a strip 12 x 3 inches long. I do this with my hands. It's easier that way. The two strips should be 3 inches apart.

In a medium saucepan, heat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, beat in eggs, all at one time until smooth. Divide in half. Spread each half evenly over strips, covering completely.

Bake about 60 minutes. Cool.

Mix 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, 2 tablespoons softened butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract, and 1 or teaspoons of warm water in a bowl.

Frost strips with confectioner's glaze. Sprinkle with almonds.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A Notorious Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie



This is perhaps the most infamous oatmeal chocolate chip cookie because it is a recipe based upon revenge and as we all know, revenge is always sweet!

So I tried the recipe and it is one of the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted in my life. It's a little bit more work than usual, but well worth the effort.

Here is the story, taken word for word, by the original email I received. The recipe will follow after that:

When decent people get screwed over, this is the result!

A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don't know already, is a very expensive store; I.e., they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00.

Let's let them have it! THIS IS 20 A TRUE STORY!

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the 'Neiman-Marcus cookie.' It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe and the waitress said with a small frown, 'I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe.' Well, I asked how much, and she responded; 'Only two fifty - it's a great deal!' I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said,' Cookie Recipe- $250.00.' That was outrageous!

I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was 'two-fifty', which clearly does not mean 'two hundred and fifty dollars' by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because, according to them, 'What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point.'

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the State of Texas. I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, 'Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back.' I just said, 'Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe From Neiman-Marcus...for free.

She replied, 'I wish you wouldn't do this.'

I said, 'Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!' and slammed down the phone.

So here it is!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny off of this recipe!


NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter
24 ounces of chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda . Add chocolate chips, Hershey (Symphony bar is best) bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie Sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Makes 112 cookies.

PLEASE READ THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS! THIS IS REALLY TERRIFIC!!

Even if the people on your e-mail list don't eat sweets send it to them and ask them to pass it on. Let's make sure we get this ladies $250.00 worth. Enjoy the cookies, they really are good.


So I did and they're now my favourite, all-time cookie!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Best Ever Meatloaf



It's pretty hard to go wrong when making a meatloaf. Here's my tried and true fabulous meatloaf:

Meatloaf:

2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup oatmeal or 3 slices of bread torn
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 cup shredded cheese (I usued an aged cheddar)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Topping:

1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard

Preheat oven at 350 degrees

Mix all the ingredients for the meatloaf and form into two loaf pans.

Mix all the ingredients for the topping.

Set aside half of the topping.

Pour the remainder over the two loaves.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and brush more topping over the loaves.
Bake for another 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and brush remaining topping over the loaves.
Bake for another 15 minutes.

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