OREOS - what a way to end 2007!

I think one of most perfect foods is an Oreo. I know most of you are thinking - are you crazy? But, really how can you go wrong? I like the plain old oreo - no double stuff, or funky colored cream, or vanilla cookie part. Just an oreo.

Got this from wikipedia:

Over 490 billion OREO cookies have been sold since they were first introduced, making them the best selling cookie of the 20th century. Its most recent packaging slogan is "Milk's Favorite Cookie", which is a slight change from "America's Favorite Cookie."

But, tonight - we made it better. Thanks to some friends - I had my first whack at making funnel cakes, or elephant ears, or fried dough - or whatever you wanna call them. And following through on one of Shane's ideas - we made batter dipped oreos. Oh goodness...they are so yummy! Really - an improvement on the oreo - can you believe it?

So, I'm ending another year. It was a good night of food and friends. Thank you Chris, Rebecca, Jonah, and Shane. Happy cooking in 2008!

Blueberry Sauce with Waffles

I love waffles and I love blueberries - so what better thing to do than to mix them.

I found a blueberry sauce and waffles recipe in the Gooseberry Patch cookbook you can find on the right (with the rest of my cookbooks).

The waffles didn't turn out - I ended up scrambling the eggs when I put the melted shortening in the mix (tempering - I gotta remember that). But, thankfully, Claudia had brought me a mix from Fosters in Durham - so I used that.

Here is the sauce:

Blueberry Sauce (for pancakes or waffles)

1/2 cup sugar

1 T cornstarch

1/2 cup water

1 pint (2 cups) blueberries - I used a frozen carton, thawed and drained

1 T butter

Bring the sugar and cornstarch to a boil with the water. Add the blueberries - let them go for about 10 minutes. Add the butter and stir that till melted. Pour them down over the top of some waffles and enjoy! :)

Snickerdoodle Trifles

Had some friends over for lunch and needed a light dessert. This is what Sandra Lee would definitely call semi-homemade. I got these holiday ramekins last year at W-S, so finally got to use them.

Snickerdoodle Trifles

Cinnamon Swirl poundcake (I got one at Wal-mart)

French Vanilla pudding (next time I would use regular vanilla)

Snickerdoodle cookies

Cool whip

Put all in a trifle bowl or individual ramekins - and enjoy!

Oma's Meatballs

Today was a lesson in heritage and comfort foods. In my family, we didn't have meatballs much growing up - I can't remember when I had them. We were mostly a casserole and steak/potatoes family. But, when I got to college and met the Robshaws - Phyllis cooked some things I had never had.
Oma was Phyllis' Mom. She was always so kind to me and welcomed me into the family just as Phyllis and Billy did. One day before I left for NC - I was looking through Phyllis' recipes. Found this one. It is so good. Reminds of beef stroganoff - but in meatball form. Comfort food at its best - here in KY on a blistry winter day.

Oma's Meatballs
1 lb lean ground beef
1 pkg sloppy joe mix
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used homemade sourdough bread crumbs) soaked in 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1 small can mushrooms
canola oil
flour
pepper
1/2 cup water

Mix the sloppy joe pkg, crumbs, and pepper into the meat. Form small meatballs (ping ball size). Roll in flour. Place in hot oil and brown on all sides. Turn heat down and add water. Simmer for an hour, stirring so they won't stick. Add in mushrooms and sour cream. Let heat through.
Cook noodles (I used whole wheat egg noodles).
Serve over noodles.

Phyllis - thank you for sharing your mother's recipes with me. I hope I can pass these down to my kids one day. That's what Mother's are for - both blood relative and larger family mothers!

Here I Come A Waffle-ing

This song was dreamed up today while I sit at work - from talking to Lorie about making waffles for Christmas Eve breakfast for dinner. Hope you enjoy. (sung to the tune of Here We Come a Wassailing)

Here I come a waffle-ing
Among the air so cold
Here I come a waffle-ing
So wonderful to taste

Chorus
Eggs and milk come to you
And to you your berries too
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year

I am not a waffler
Who makes them every day
But eat them for the holidays
Because I like them so

Chorus

God bless the renter of this home
Likewise her family too
And all her many friends
Who live around the world

Chorus

And all your eggs and berries
Combine to make eats good
I wish you a Merry Christmas
And happy waffles too.

The Blueberry Sauce waffles will come on Monday! Enjoy the song! Happy singing and cooking!

Gingerbread Cookies (formerly gingerbread men)

Well, I was going to make gingerbread men today with my new cookie cutter - but, I realized I didn't have enough space in my kitchen to really roll out cookies...so, I just made them circles. I got the recipe I used today off of Joy of Baking. That's a great www by the way - anything you wanna bake.

Gingerbread Cookies (and I thought of Erin when I was making them too - because she loves gingerbread)

3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 tsp ginger (called for 2, but I ran out, so that is approximate)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each nutmeg and cloves

Mix all of these dry ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup molasses (unsulphured - the normal kind you can find in the syrup aisle)

Cream butter and sugar, add egg - then molasses. Add in the dry ingredients.
Mix well

Spray cookie sheets or use parchment paper - 350 degrees, 9 minutes


I really didn't like the frosting recipe used with it - although it was good - a little too sweet. Maybe a royal icing would be great for these. Decorate as you would like.

I liked this recipe because it was a good spice level - some gingerbread cookies are way too ginger-y (go figure).

Panettone French Toast

Some of you might not even know what Panettone is: you can either go here to the W-S site (but I got mine in a little individual box from Whole Foods) or you can go here to a new food www I found yesterday. It is sort of a bread fruit cake.
Well, as I started out my baking day today - I had to have a fun breakfast. So, I made french toast for the first time and used Panettone. There were three small round circles. The egg mixture was 2 eggs, 1/3 cup milk, vanilla, cinnamon, tsp sugar. Or there about.
First one came out not done enough, second one came out a bit too done, but better than the first, the third came out pretty good. I thought it was supposed to be a little stiffer in the middle - I don't know if I did something wrong of it that is how French toast is supposed to be. I will definitely be making this again and I'll read up on it and how to make it better.
Now onto white chicken chili, bread, and gingerbread men - and it is a "white" day out there - now just raining, but we have a little snow on the ground. And I don't have to be anywhere today - how fun is that!

Taste of Louisville: J.Alexander's

If I could find a restaurant similar to my former fave place in Raleigh - Lucky 32 - this would be it. Now, the bathroom isn't as cool, and the food is slightly more expensive - but it is quality and great.
I was treated there today for Christmas. It was great - it was my first time being there - having heard it was very good.
The service was great. Funny waiter but very "whatever you need, it is my pleasure". Knew a good deal about the food and liked the food he served - so that is good. No black napkin though, oh, well.
I had the pork tenderloin - tons of it, cooked perfectly with a soy sauce red pepper glaze on it - amazing glaze with a just the right amount of heat. I substituted the mashed potatoes for spaghetti squash - and loved it!
The desserts were great - key lime pie - which was about two slices in one - very creamy, not too tart. Had a great graham cracker and pecan crust - topped with whipped cream and bits of graham cracker. The other one we all shared was a dark chocolate bundt cake with ice cream and tons of sauce - it really wasn't as good as the chocolate cake at the Standard House - so it could improve!
So, maybe I've found a Lucky 32 here! (and it is a chain - but it is good).

Taste of Louisville: Genny's Diner

Ok - so Lorie and I went to lunch the other day since it is quiet around here and they weren't serving cream of tomato soup in the cafeteria! (Please, bring back the soup!)

So, we were going to go to Panera, then to Taco Bell, then she starts telling me about this frickled pickles - so we turned around and went back to where we started from and ate at a little diner called Genny's. This big - little diner comes complete with neon signs as you can tell (I didn't take the picture, but thanks to the internet you too can see inside Genny's), piranha tanks - they stare you down, - and a poor little fish that has a bad back, so he just lays on the floor of the tank - how sad!

Service was slow even though there weren't many people in the restaurant and my fork was dirty.

Now, onto some good things!

We split an order of frickled pickles. These were sliced dill pickles that had been lightly battered and fried. They weren't that heavy - but they had lots of grease left on the plate. I love the bite of vinegar and the friedness and the ranch dressing- good combination

Then we split a medium cheeseburger that Lorie wanted cooked well - but there was still pink in and it was good and juicy! Maybe come a distant second to Red Robin. It was yummy. Tasted a lot like Wendy's hamburgers do - only these are much bigger!

So - the fish were cool, the prices were good, the food was good, it wasn't the cleanest place - but I think my family would enjoy it!

Thanks Lorie for another taste of Louisville!