Membership for America's Test Kitchen Means Good Cookin'

I've been doing some horrible cooking lately. Our dinner meals have been tasteless and pretty lame. So I needed help 'cause dinner time should be one of the best parts of the day - you can sit down, relax, and really enjoy some great food with your family. So I got a membership to my favorite cooking show's website so I could use their delicious recipes for meal ideas, breads, desserts etc. It will especially will be useful this upcoming holiday season!



Izzy♥

Making Whoopie

Whoopie Pies That Is...

I have seen these things before and I guess the are pretty popular around Fall time. So today Isaac, Maile and I thought we would try our hand in making Whoopie Pies.

The Nerdy Food History Behind the Whoopie Pie a.k.a. Gob (but I love history!)

Whoopie Pie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Whoopie Pies

A whoopie pie (alternatively called a gob, black-and-white, or bob) is a baked good made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, sometimes pumpkin cake, with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them.[1] While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition,[2] they are increasingly sold throughout the United States.[1] According to food historians, Amish women would bake these and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!"[1]

Here is the recipe we used:

Whoopie Pies

from allrecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whoopie-Pies-VIII/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour milk
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup hot water
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• 1 1/2 cups shortening
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites, beaten

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DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup of shortening and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time then stir in the vanilla and sour milk. Combine the flour, cocoa and salt, stir into the creamed mixture. Stir together the baking soda and hot water then mix them into the batter last. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm but not overbaked. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
4. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, cream together the 1 1/2 cups shortening with the confectioners' sugar and 1/4 cup of flour until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the milk and vanilla until well mixed, then fold in the egg whites. Sandwich at least 1 tablespoon of filling between the flat sides of two cookies.

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More Whoopie Mania:

http://www.wickedwhoopies.com/info.php?ssidx=MzI2MS43Ng==

Other recipes:

Easy one:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whoopie-pies/detail.aspx

Yummy ones:

I think we will try these two recipes next:

I always LOVE this ladies recipes! And the filling has marshmallow fluff in it!:
http://southernfood.about.com/od/chocolatecookies/r/blbb393.htm

And pumpkin whoopie pies for fall.....HELLO!
http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=143910

Chicken and Pickle Juice......finger lickin' good.

Do you girls and guys like the taste of Chick-file chicken? So sweet, tasty and delicious.

Do you know what makes it taste that way? You guessed it....pickle juice.

I came with my own little yummy recipes to spice up your boring ol' chicken. And it doesn't take that long.

For Orange Chicken:

• Take 4 chicken breasts and give them a couple of pokes from a fork.
• Cut them into bite size peices, or a little bigger.
• Mix 1/2 the juice from a jar of Gerkens pickles, or dill pickle juice will do (the juice from the Gerkens has a nutmeg kick....it's so good.)
• Place 1/8" high of olive oil in your favorite frying pan and heat to medium hot.
  
• Let the chicken soak in the pickle juice for about 15 minutes.
• Take a bowl and mix 1 and 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. sugar. May add or decrease as your taste pleases.
• Dip the chicken pieces a couple at a time in the flour mixture.
• Place in the frying pan and brown each side until golden brown.
• Place chicken pieces on metal dripping pan (where you place your cookies for them to cool) and coat with Spring Roll Sauce on each side.
• Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes.
• Serve over white, brown or fried rice, or a bed of cabbage, almonds, and red peppers.
• Or after baked throw into a already cooked pan of stir-fried vegetables.

For Southern Fried Chicken:

Do the same as above to individual size breast pieces. Of course, exclude the Spring Sauce.
Place the breaded, fried, baked chicken breasts in a bun with some yummy herb mayo, and fresh veggies like lettuce and tomatoes and enjoy!

About Mayonnaise: Some "trendy" cooks will just swear that they never eat mayo....but beware of those cooks. They are probably flip-floppers and I don't trust them. Any great southern cook thinks Mayo has it's purpose and will use it when appropriate!

Mexican Girl's Milestone...

I CAN MAKE TORTILLAS!

I would try to make them and they never would really work out. This time I wanted to give it my all.

(Here's a pic of MY tortillas I made this week...)




There are only 5 ingredients for flour tortillas: flour, shortening, salt, baking powder, and water.

But there are a bunch of little techniques you have to have COME TOGETHER at the perfect time to get a really soft, really fluffy, truley delicious tortilla: the perfect recipe, the rolling of the dough, the adding of the water, the waiting and sitting of the dough, the rolling out the dough with just the right amount of flour underneath it, the heat temperature of the pan. To cool of a pan, the tortilla will turn out like a cracker. Too hot, the tortilla will burn!

Dr. Pepper Cake

Some friends came over for dinner last night.

I made my special chicken and green chilies enchiladas, Mexican rice, and refried beans.

They brought over dessert. Which was Dr. Pepper cake and vanilla Blue Bell. A marriage made in food heaven. I thought....these people know about QUALITY eating!

It was the best cake I have ever had. I think it's the little bit of cinnamon that gave it that subtle kick. We loved it!


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DR. PEPPER CAKE
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1 c. butter
1 c. Dr. Pepper
4 tbsp. cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Heat butter, cocoa and Dr. Pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Cream eggs, sugar and butter, milk and soda. Add flour and
cinnamon alternately with Dr. Pepper mixture, then vanilla.

Pour into greased and floured 9 x 12 inch pan and bake at
350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Ice with Dr. Pepper
Icing.


DR. PEPPER ICING:

1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. Dr. Pepper
3 tbsp. cocoa
1 (16 oz.) box confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped nuts

Heat butter, cocoa and Dr. Pepper and blend well. Stir in
other ingredients. Mix thoroughly and ice cake.

After the Tortilla Soup...

I like having some really good fruit for dessert like cantelope or watermelon, but sometimes you need a little treat. Maybe if your in the mood you can try the following recipe. My sister made them and said they were good, a little sweet, but good!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat peanut butter, sugar, and egg by hand just until egg is incorporated (so don't mix it too long). Add baking soda and salt and mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, till golden. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes then remove and enjoy with a big glass of COLD milk.

Tortilla Soup

This is a really great soup for all year round - even in the summer. We make this soup every week in our house and even the kids will eat it up. I don't have an actually recipe cause I make it from my own recipe in my head, but it's so easy and I will give you the directions to what I do to make this easy, delicious, healthy dinner.

1. Boil either a whole chicken (boil 1 hour) or 3 chicken breasts (boil for 30 minutes) in a medium-sized stock pot filled with water half way.
2. After you cook the chicken, turn down the heat to low, and take out and debone the chicken under cold water or cut/shred the chicken breats into bit size peices.
3. Cut any kind of vegetables you love to eat into bite size peices: carrots, celery, fresh green beans, onion, tomato, peas, red potatoes, peices of corn on the cob and place in the pot where you cooked your chicken. Turn the heat back up to medium/high heat (not yet boiling but almost) and put back in your chicken with your vegtables and cook for another 30 minutes with seasonings (see next step).
4. Add 3 tablespons salt (salt will cook out) and 2 tablespoons cumin. Sounds like alot but with the amount of water, and the heat you need alot of seasonings. After the 30 minutes of cooking - taste the broth to see if you need any more salt, or cumin, or mexican seasoning you need. I like adding more cumin.
5. Turn off the heat and add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (use the flowery part) and the juice of 2 whole lemons.
6. Serve and top with broken/crushed tortilla chips and cueso fresco or shredded cheddar cheese. Give another squeeze of lemon into your bowl if you like.
7. Enjoy!