Mudflats Recipe Collection

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[nisperos]

Recipe symbols (for your use to copy and paste without having to look up the HTML code)

Degrees sign: °
Fraction one-quarter: ¼
Fraction one-half: ½
Fraction three-quarters: ¾
Registered trade mark (for including brand-name ingredients): ® or ™

(I think those are the only fractions available in HTML)

[pamela]

Cassie, Definitely going to try the Shepherd's Pie - with venison, though. (My husband hunts - and votes democratic - and isn't stockpiling guns. Go figure.) Thanks for posting. BTW, great avatar, too.

[Susan in PA]

MOLASSES CRISPIES

These are, hands down, my kids' all-time favorite cookies.  My grown brothers have been known to fight over them as well!  I bake lots of cookies for our family vacations every year, and this is always my No. 1 request. The combination of the spices, molasses and chocolate chips is SO good and makes them a great Christmas cookie as well.
The name is a misnomer - I like them soft and chewy.  (I put a slice of bread in the storage container with them to keep them soft.)

2 C. sifted flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 tsp. ginger
3/4 C. shortening (I use butter flavor Crisco)
1 C. sugar
1 egg
1/4 C. molasses
12 oz. chocolate chips
granulated sugar

Sift together first six ingredients.  Cream shortening, 1 C sugar, egg and molasses with mixer until light and fluffy.  At low speed, beat in flour mixture and chocolate chips just until mixed.  Refrigerate dough several hours until easy to handle.  Roll dough into 1" balls.  Place 2" apart on greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9-10 minutes at 350°.  Roll in granulated sugar while still warm.

Susan in PA

[SMR]

I love chewy molasses cookies!  Come on xmas baking time!

[SMR]

Okay, I love love love cooking.  Before life got really really crazy for us my husband and I really enjoyed cooking together.  I have a lot of recipes, but fortunately for you all 90% of my cookbooks are packed up waiting to go to Calgary, so I'm just giving you all the highlights.

This vinaigrette is an incredible dressing.  It is an incredible marinade for chicken & shrimp.  And it is a great dressing for a cold pasta salad.

Best Ever Oil & Vinegar Dressing

3 cups oil
1 cup vinegar (white or white w/a dash of red wine vinegar if you like)
1 tblsp dried parsley
1.5 tblsp dried basil
1.5 tblsp dired oregano
1 tbsp dried dill weed
1/3 tblsp salt
1.5 tblsp garlic powder
3/4 cup sugar

Blend it all in a blender, food processor or with a hand mixer until thoroughly mixed (emulsified?).  Refrigerate until use, keeps in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

NOTE: I use canola oil, and I usually add more vinegar because I like more bite.

NOTE 2:  For a really great salad, use to marinate chicken breast overnight, cut into small pieces.  Cook with some bacon that is also cut into small pieces.  Drain.  Toss (while still warm) with salad, add some crispy stuff (I like sesame noodles or crispy won-ton pieces), use vinaigrette dressing.  This gets raves.

NOTE 3: For pasta salad I use tri-color radiatorre (spelling? the spiral stuff!), diced red/yellow/orange peppers, diced ham, diced mozzarella & diced cheddar cheeses, and some fresh dill.  Toss in vinaigrette dressing.  If I ask family what they want me to bring to a picnic, they always request this.  If I make this at home it gets eaten for breakfast lunch & dinner by everyone, including myself and our 3-yr-old...

[Bec in Illinois]

Wow - this is a great response so far. Thanks Nisperos for the symbols. I was trying to figure out how to do the degree thingie!  I'll copy and paste it into my opening thread so people can see it first thing.

Tell your Mudflats friends to be sure and contribute. I hope we will have pages and pages. It doesn't have to be just for the holidays. I think it will be great to see recipes from all parts of the country and world.

[CO Almost Native]

I cut this out of the Washington Post over 20 years ago, but it is very appropriate now (and easy)

"Sinful Brownies from a Mix"

Use a box of brownie mix- I use Betty Crocker with Hersheys syrup, but you use any one
Follow the directions, but:
1. Use table cream or heavy cream instead of water
2. Add 3 eggs, not 2
3.  Add 1 1/2 t. vanilla
4. Add milk choc and dark choc. chips- about 1/2 to 3/4 c. of each

Bake according to the directions; make sure the brownies are completely cool before you cut them.  They freeze well (and are good eaten frozen

Enjoy!

[Anchor Jack]

Whatever you can eat,
I can cook it up!

I can cook it all in one pot,
or separate-like.

I can cook it so you'll feel it
one end to the other;

Or I can cook it so's
You'd hardly know it was there.
                             -- Tom Mix

[SMR]

I know this is a recipe thread, but wanted to give a shout out for this great site:  http://www.hungry-girl.com/

I bought the Hungry Girl book for my 18 yr old because she is the worst cook ever and would eat junk food all day every day if she could.  The recipes are easy and relatively good for you.  It's no health food book, but rather easy cooking, often using mixes/packaged stuff/etc.  The author is big into Weight Watchers, so there is some redeeming stuff in there.  Here's an example:

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins


(1 Muffin, or 3 minis - 181 calories, 3.5g fat, 37g carbs, 2g, fiber, 2g protein - 4 WW points)

This super-simple 2-ingredient recipe is a Weight Watchers Fave!

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 can solid pack pumpkin (15 oz.)

Directions:
Mix the two ingredients together. Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, such as eggs, oil, or water. The mixture will be very thick and you will be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. DO NOT DO THIS AS IT WILL RUIN EVERYTHING! Place batter into muffin tins (or mini muffin tins) lined with paper, or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 12 regular or 36 mini muffins.

[Jamie]

Bec in Illonois:

(Don't know if I am doing this all tight).

I laughed when I read about your kids finding very old things in your pantry. A few years ago, we decided to clean out my mom's. We found canned goods from the 70's STUCK to the wood shelves! Almost everything that she had in there was from the 70's or 80's. Pretty good for a laugh, but scary, too.

I will be adding a couple of recipes later in the day. I started a blog with all of my favorite recipes a few months back, but stopped after a couple of weeks. Son #1 and I are working to get it back up and up to date. Will inform when it is ready.

Jamie

[Snoskred]

Snoskred's Special Marinade

There's a couple of different ways you can use this recipe

1/4 extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup white wine (if the wine is good, double that and use a little less lemon and lime!)
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon ginger
black pepper - as much or as little as you want

Put all the above into a bowl, mix with fork, cover the bottom of your baking dish with some of the mixture (so the meat will be sitting on that instead of touching the bottom of the dish with nothing under it), place your chicken/fish in the baking dish, pour remainder of mixture over chicken or fish.

I like to cover the dish with alfoil but beware, the alcohol in the wine doesn't seem to cook off if you do that!

You can use the same recipe without the wine as a marinade for chicken, shrimp, fish, whatever, just marinade for 15-30 minutes and then cook in the frypan or on the bbq - if you're going to do that you may want to leave out the wine - I don't use wine when I am using this recipe as a marinade - but that is up to you. You can also add any of the following herbs -

Cayenne Pepper
Parsley (what do ya'all call parsley over there? Cilantro?)
Cinnamon
Paprika
Chili

Or you can swap out the lemon juice for orange.

It is a pretty flexible recipe.

[womanwithsardinecan]

This is my homemade kahlua recipe. A couple of important points. You need to use very fresh coffee beans, preferably french roast. The hardest part of the recipe is getting the coffee strong enough. I use my largest coffee dripper (6 cup) and pour in enough grounds to practically make coffee mud. Takes a while for coffee to drip through that many grounds. It usually takes at least two separate batches of fresh grounds to get the 7 cups of strong coffee.
The other key is to use everclear and get the strong everclear. Everclear in California is whimpy, only 78% alcohol. Oregon everclear (grain alcohol, I use Clear Spring) is 95% alcohol. Very important. Most kahlua recipes use vodka. Too watery. If you want rich syrupy kahlua like the commercial stuff, you must use full strength grain alcohol.
On to the recipe. Makes about 4 bottles (often there is about a third of a bottle extra. I use that bottle for tasting how aged it is).

7 cups very strong fresh dark roast coffee
7 cups sugar
4 cups grain alcohol
4 vanilla beans

In large bowl, mix hot coffee and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. Add alcohol and mix well. Pour into prepared bottles. Drop one vanilla bean in each bottle. Cork tightly and store in cool dry place for 6 weeks minimum. Better if aged 6 months.

[womanwithsardinecan]

One of my favorite holiday cookies.

Coconut Shortbread cookies

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (about 3 ounces)
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt (do NOT use regular salt)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325F. Spread coconut on baking sheet and bake until light golden, stirring occasionally. About 8 minutes. Cool completely.

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Mix in salt and vanilla. Beat in flour in two additions. Stir in toasted coconut. Gather dough together and divide in half. Shape each half into log about 2 inches in diameter (you may need to flour your hands to handle it). Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill at least two hours.
Slice log into thin cookie rounds (about a quarter inch) and place on parchment-covered cookie sheets. Bake at 325F until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to cooking rack. Store  in airtight container. Freezes well. Will mail well too if packed carefully.
Makes about 6 dozen.

[Charcoal Sniper P.]

My chicken soup recipe is in another thread, you can see it by clicking here.

My favorite Cutout Cookie recipe:

Almond Cutout Cookies

This is an updated version of a Pennsylvania Dutch (which is German-American) recipe from the 19th century.

Makes approximately 6 dozen.

4 Large egg yolks (freshest you can get)

4oz almond paste (not marzipan), comes in a can or a roll (I prefer the Solo Brand in a can, because it has exactly enough for two batches and is slightly a less fine grind)

2 cups of butter (4 sticks, must be real butter) softened, and cut up into pieces

1 ¾ cups sugar

½ tsp salt

3 ¾ cups of all- purpose flour

¼ tsp almond or vanilla extract

1 recipe of royal icing, for decorating cookies when cool.

In a large mixing bowl, with a heavy duty mixer at medium speed, beat egg yolks and almond paste for 2 minutes until crumbly.

Add butter, sugar, extract and salt and beat 3 minutes, or until creamy.

Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour just until blended.  Be careful not to over beat, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour.

On a lightly floured surface divide dough into 4 pieces.  Flatten each piece into a disc.  Wrap the discs up separately and tightly in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until dough is firm enough to roll.

Preheat oven to 375º.

On a lightly floured surface, with  a floured rolling pin, roll out one disc at a time to ¼ inch thick, leaving the other discs in the refrigerator until ready to use.  Using cookie cutters or a knife cut out shapes.  Refrigerate trimmings to re-roll.

Place 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake 9-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden, in center of oven.  Remove cookies from cookie sheet with a firm spatula.  Cool on a wire rack. 

Decorate with royal icing.
Store in an airtight container.  Can be frozen for up to 3 months.

[Jamie]

As promised : This is absolutely the best sweet pie crust recipe and very easy. Just double the recipe for a two-crust pie. And this is a simple and delicious pumpkin   pie recipe.

SWEET PASTRY PIE CRUST

1 ¼ cups flour
¼ cup sugar
7 Tbs (100 grams) unsalted butter*
1 egg, lightly beaten

Stir flour and sugar together in a bowl. Add the butter cut into cubes and, using thumb and finger tips, rub the flour and butter into each other vigorously until it resembles sand on the beach and there are no more large chunks of butter.

Pour the lightly beaten egg over the flour-sugar-butter mixture and stir vigorously with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are moistened and it starts to clump. With fingers, press together into a ball and place on a floured surface. With the heel of one hand, smear the dough forward quickly, a little at a time (a tablespoon maybe) until all the dough has been "smeared". This blends in the last of the butter. Scrape the dough together and work briefly, just enough to form into a smooth, homogeneous ball.

Wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge until needed or, if making your pie right away, just until it is firm enough to be easy to roll out without sticking to your rolling pin.

*most pie crust recipes call for the butter to be chilled. I have found that butter at room temperature is easier and quicker to work into the flour and the dough seems to be fluffier. If it is too sticky to roll out right away, 5 to 10 minutes in the fridge should do the trick.

PUMPKIN PIE

Uncooked sweet pastry pie shell
2 cups fresh pumpkin purée
1 ½ cups milk (I use low fat)
½ cup pure maple syrup
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbs flour
2 tsps ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg + ½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

Lightly butter a pie plate and line with the uncooked sweet pastry pie dough, trimming off any excess dough. Prick lightly with a fork.

Purée pumpkin by cubing the pumpkin flesh and putting in a large pot with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover tightly and let steam until soft. Pour into a collander in the sink and let drain really well, allowing it to cool at least slightly. Purée and measure.

Put the purée into a large bowl. Add the flour, spices and salt and stir until well blended. Add the eggs, or if the purée is still hot, add just enough milk to cool it a bit then stir in the eggs quickly. Add the milk and maple syrup and stir everything together until very well blended. Pour into the pie shell until filled about half way. Transfer the pie onto the rack of the pre-heated oven and then carefully pour the rest of the filling into the shell (this should avoid sloshing it onto the floor while carrying it to the oven. Just a trick :-) )

Let cook about 40 minutes or until the center is just set and the shell is browned around the edges and underneath.

If you have leftover dough, you can roll it out and cut out shapes (like a pumpkin or leaves) and very carefully place on the pie about 10 minutes before the pie is finished baking.

Mmmmm...it smells like the holidays! Enjoy!

[Icy]

I'm loving this thread!  So many good eats to try!

Here's a contribution to the "side dish" category....Caramelized Cauliflower.  This dish is easy to make, and is so good that even my kids who won't eat their veggies ask for it. Roasting in olive oil adds a buttery, slightly charred flavor that's delicious!  A warning though....you should use at least 2 heads of cauliflower because it goes quickly!

Caramelized Cauliflower

Cauliflower (1 head for every 2 servings)
Olive Oil (less expensive, cooking grade for the roasting)
Olive Oil (higher grade for tossing after cooked)
Salt (sea salt is best)

Trim leaves, place cauliflower upright on a large cutting board, and cut into quarter-inch slices (some will break up a bit, and that’s fine).

Toss with a few tablespoons of olive oil, spread in a single layer in a baking dish, large cast iron skillet, or a cookie sheet covered with non stick aluminum foil.

Roast at 400 degrees about 15 minutes, or until it begins to brown.

Serve hot, sprinkled with good sea salt and drizzled with a bit of your best extra virgin olive oil.

It's good just with the sea salt, without a lot of added seasonings; however, you can also sprinkle black pepper, garlic, or your favorite dry seasoning to taste.

[CO Almost Native]

I made this potato casserole for my brother-in-law many times over holidays- he raved about the "from scratch, authentic potatoes"- not realizing that my family was snickering because the recipe is made using BOX potatoes. (lol)
Party Potatoes

4c. Potato Buds (or any 100% dried Idaho potatoes in a box)
1c. milk
3c. water
4t. butter
1 1/2t. salt

Cook according to the directions on the box, then beat (I use an electric hand mixer) until smooth.
Add:
10 oz. cream cheese, cut into cubes (I use the low fat- but it's great with the full calorie)
1 regular size carton sour cream (again, low fat works)
1t. garlic salt

Beat until fluffy- spoon into a two qt. Pam-ed casserole.  Dot with butter, and sprinkle paprika on the top (don't skip this part)

Bake at 350^o for 30 minutes, or until it's bubbling on the sides.

You can make this a day ahead, then bake that day- it is also great the next day or so, if you have any left.
If you want to double the amount, make two separate recipes- it's too hard to mix/beat with that much stuff.

[nisperos]

@ Snoskred Reply#31

That marinade sounds fabulous!

RE: Parsley (what do ya'all call parsley over there? Cilantro?)

Parsley is parsley. Some know cilantro by its other name: coriander.

In Spanish we have a saying or dicho:

Es bueno el cilantro, pero no tanto
Cilantro is good, but not that good

Yeah you probably could add a little cilantro, and that would give it a Latin, Caribbean, or Asian taste.  The warning about not overdoing on cilantro is a good one.  The flavor of coriander really comes out with citrus juices or fruit. It has a fruity pungent taste and the closest I can think of to something similar might be lemon sage.

Besides its flavor, cilantro is famous for lots of health reasons/claims: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and thought to perhaps lower blood sugar, cholesterol, and even perhaps free radical production. BTW, why do you think Hispanics add cilantro to fresh pico de gallo? Not that people know this, of course, but research has shown that it could help to reduce salmonella (don't know about E-coli).     

[Steve]

Classic Chicken Soup

1 chicken, preferably large/mature (fowl, roaster), including giblets except liver
1 or more onions
2 or more carrots
2 or more stalks celery
1 parsnip, or 1-3 parsley roots (optional)
Handful of parsley or parsnip or carrot greens, or 1 tsp. dried parsley (optional)
2 sprigs fresh or ¼ tsp. dried dill (optional)
Salt to taste
Soup pot

Put all ingredients except salt in pot, then add water to cover, plus 2 inches (5 cm.). Set on high heat until water starts to boil, then turn heat down till it's just simmering. Check once in a while for water loss, add enough to keep the chicken covered. When chicken is nearly tender, add salt and turn heat off, or remove pot from stove. Let everything cool down enough to be easily handled, preferably to room temperature.

Skim fat from the soup, if you're into low calories (but you will lose flavor too). Remove chicken and vegetables from pot. Cut chicken into serving-size pieces. Give each diner a bowl of soup; set out a platter or large bowl with the chicken pieces, and another with the vegetables.

Note: Cooking time depends on the size and age of the chicken, anywhere from 2-4 hours.

Optional extras, cooked then thrown into soup before it's served:
Egg noodles
Rice
Dumplings

[the problem child]

Okay, here's an easy one for a party cheese ball. Let's call it a "Brian Ball".

All measurements are approximate. Everything in my kitchen is.

You take a block of cream cheese (about a pound?) and dump it in a bowl. Let it come to room temperature so that you can work it easily.

Grate two cups of sharp (aka old) cheddar cheese and dump the shredded cheese in the bowl with the cream cheese.

If you like the "orange" cheddar, god help you, but it is a bit more colourful.

Take about 3 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce and add that to the bowl. Mash everything together with a fork, making sure the worcestershire is evenly distributed.

Form the mixture into a ball or log or whatever fanciful shape you like. You can roll it in crushed walnuts, or if like me, you are allergic to those, try toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.

Chill until party time, then garnish with apple slices, grapes or other fresh fruit.

Serve with sesame crackers, bread, or whatever kind of crackers turn your crank.

Leftovers make a nice sandwich the next day.