Monday, December 31, 2007

New Year's Eve Dinner



I made pork chops with stuffing, sweet potato/apricot bake and peas for our supper tonight. Avrie had to have the bone. Needless to say she needed a bath.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Pudding Fever

Since we've been sick I've gotten the pudding fever. Last night I made traditional Indian pudding with raisins. Evan won't touch it....he says it looks scary. I love it topped with a little bit of cream or ice cream. This morning I made the chocolate pudding that Andrea mentioned on her site. Ohhh my. And I hate chocolate pudding. I had chocolate pudding for lunch. It's so good. Both recipes below...enjoy!

Indian Pudding (from Simply Recipes)

6 cups of milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup molasses
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 cup golden raisins (optional)
Whipped cream, cream or vanilla ice cream

1 Heat the milk and butter in a heavy saucepan until hot and the butter is melted.

2 Preheat oven to 250°F.

3 In a separate bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, and salt; stir in molasses. Thin the mixture with about 1/2 cup of scalded milk, a few tablespoons at a time, then gradually add the mixture back to the large pot of scalded milk. Cook, stirring until thickened.

4 Temper the eggs by slowly adding a half cup of the hot milk cornmeal mixture to the beaten eggs, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture back in with the hot milk cornmeal mixture, stir to combine. Stir in the sugar and spices, until smooth. At this point, if the mixture is clumpy, you can run it through a blender to smooth it out. Stir in the raisins (optional). Pour into a 2 1/2 quart shallow casserole dish. Bake for 2 hours at 250°F.

Chocolate Pudding (from Joy of Baking, although I'm not sure how pudding is "baking")

3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

In a large stainless steel (heatproof) bowl whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Then whisk in 1/2 cup of the milk until you have a thick paste. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking to blend into the cocoa paste mixture. Set aside while you heat the milk and cream. Have a fine medium-sized strainer and bowl ready near the stove as you will need to strain the pudding after it is cooked.

First, rinse a medium-sized heavy saucepan with cold water and then shake out the excess water. Doing this step prevents the milk from scorching. Then pour in the remaining 2 cups milk with the cream. Bring this mixture just to a boil and then remove from heat. Gradually pour the milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the pudding mixture to a clean large, heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (about 3 - 5 minutes). Remove from heat and pour through the strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed during cooking.

Add the finely chopped chocolate, vanilla extract, and butter, stirring gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth. Can serve warm or chilled.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Potential Cooking Disaster

Maintaining two blogs and having a life are a bit challenging for me! I have eaten since my last post, believe me. I went to the co-op this morning to fill up on all my bulk ingredients. I bought barley, split peas and dried marjoram for a pea soup I'm making for tomorrow in the crockpot. I pulled the crockpot out and plugged it in (I have no idea why because I wasn't planning on cooking it today). Then I unloaded my stuff and just tossed the plastic baggies with the barley, split peas, marjoram and a fresh onion into the pot to keep it all in one place until tomorrow morning. Well, I'm vacuuming about an hour later and just happen to glance at the crockpot and see that it's turned on HIGH. With my plastic baggies in it. I pulled out the pot and stuck it outside. Miraculously, the plastic was only melted in one spot. Good thing crockpots take ages to heat up.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

1 banana muffin

a few green olives

a few peanuts

leftover split pea soup

a little TJ's mac&cheese with TJ's hotdogs

1 PeeWee cookie with a spoonful of ice cream

chili with sour cream and cheese

buttered cornbread

1 grapefruit

1 cookie