Easter Egg Cookies

Unsure why your cookies never quite turn out right? Always use butter!! Never margarine. I never never bake without butter. So don't do it! Most recipes don't specify unsalted or salted, and usually just says butter or margarine. In those cases, I use unsalted butter. Reason being is that you can then control how much salt goes into the dessert.

This cookie is a mix between an oatmeal raisin cookie (w/out the raisins) and a sugar cookie. It has a denseness of a shortbread cookie. Very good. Have fun decorating... please do a better job than I did. I was so tired after making sauce & manicotti that I didn't have any motivation to decorate mine. I even have pretty Easter sprinkles and everything. Sorry! I promise my next dessert will be pretty.


Ingredients:

1 cup butter (unsalted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp almond or vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup quaker oats

Directions:

• Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Butter needs to be at room temperature in order for it to get creamy without any clumps. 
• Add extract and egg. Beat together until incorporated. 
• Sift together flour and salt.
• Throughly mix with butter mixture.
• Stir in oats.
• Shape dough into eggs. Recipe says it will make 36 eggs, but I got 24 out of mine (bigger eggs)
• Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 325 degrees.
• Cool.
• Decorate with confectioner's sugar frosting, sprinkles, whatever!

Manicotti

I have no words to describe this goodness!!! When I was putting together my shopping list and read over the ingredients, I was very surprised. Two of the ingredients are minced ham and minced salami. I had no idea those ingredients were in there! What do they mean by this anyways? I wasn't sure so I figured I would ask Mom and Dad before buying those items. Basically all it means is to by lunch meat salami and diced cubed ham in the package and chop them up (mince) into really small pieces.  This was the first time I've made Manicotti and it wasn't as complicated as I had anticipated... once the sauce was made that is! The hardest part is getting the ricotta mixture into the Manicotti shell. I was using a small spoon and scooping it into the shell. If anyone has a better way of doing this, I would appreciate a tip! Well, my final verdict on this one is: Beautiful! (Taking some British words from Jamie Oliver.)

Ingredients:

2 packages Manicotti shells
1 lb ricotta cheese (2 cups)
1/4 lb mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Romona cheese
1/3 cup minced ham
1/4 cup minced salami
2 eggs beaten
1 Tbs parsley
1 tsp basil
1 quart red spaghetti sauce



Directions:

• Boil water for shells. Cook shells. You want it to cook about 3/4 of the way. You want the shell a little firm in order to hold up to inserting the Ricotta mixture. 

• Mix all ingredients together until creamy. 
• Fill the shells and put in a 9 x 13 pan lined with foil. (You will thank me later!)
• Cover with Gram's sauce. (See prior blog.)
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of baking, add some more mozzarella cheese & melt. 

Red Sauce

This is Gram Serafino's sauce. I love this sauce! Every time I make it I am reminded of Gram, Ma and my Dad. I'm sure everyone has their own variation on this sauce. My slight variation is my Dad's. We add more sugar to give it a sweeter taste. Earlier this week my Dad had asked me if I have added any more blogs since the last time he looked at it and I told him no (I'm behind!), but that I was making sauce and Manicotti. His first question was, "How are you making the sauce?" Like a good daughter, I told him that I make my sauce the same way he does so he didn't have to worry! We all know what this takes like.... Heaven.... so I'm going to just break it down. Beware this is a 2-day sauce so make sure you have time!

Ingredients:

1 - 2 lb ground beef
2 tsp sweet basil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 Tbs parsley
1 tsp salt
1 large bay leaf
1 tsp pepper
1 - 29oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 - 18oz can tomato paste
1 tsp oregano
1 gallon water (16 cups)
3 Tbs sugar (I use one cup)

Directions - Day 1:

• Get a LARGE pot. A sauce pan will not work. 
• In the large pot, put the tomato paste, tomato sauce and water on high heat. Stir until paste is completely dissolved. 
• Add bay leaf and boil. 

• In another pan, heat about 2 Tbs olive oil on med/high. Once heated, cook the green peppers and onion until onions are translucent. 
• Add the ground beef and brown.
• When brown, add to the sauce mixture. 

• When sauce is boiling hard, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 2 - 3 hours.
• At the 1 1/2 hour mark, add the sugar and make sure you stir a lot so that it dissolves and doesn't stick to the bottom. 
• SUGAR WILL MAKE THE POT BURN IF YOU DON'T STIR FREQUENTLY!!!

Directions - Day 2:

• Add 1/2 tsp basil, parsley, and onion powder. Stir. 
• Heat to a boil. 
• Turn heat down to low and simmer for about 2 hours or so. 

Done! Use this sauce with anything!

Tikka Curry or Vindaloo Curry

Sorry, it's been awhile since I've posted. I have a few recipes that I just need to write out and I plan on making 3 dishes out of the book this weekend so there will be many posts soon! This recipe is out of Jamie Oliver's recipe book. I heart Jamie Oliver. I think he's doing great things to help change the diet of the future generations within the school systems. If you don't know who he is, check him out. He has a TV show on ABC called Food Revolution. Join the petition. As part of his book, Jamie's Food Revolution, he asks you to teach & pass on the dish to 2 people, and then those 2 people teach it to 4 people, and so forth. I haven't had a chance to do this yet so I figured I would start by posting this recipe.

I make this recipe a lot and I love it. I had never had curry of any sort prior to making this dish. I thought I would give it a whirl and am very very glad I did! I hope someone makes this because it truly is that good. The secret to this dish is buying Patak's pastes in different flavors. My favorite is the Vindaloo but the picture of the final dish represents the Tikka paste. So that you know what you're looking for in the store, here's a picture of it:

Making the dish itself is fairly easy but does take some time so it's not a Tuesday night dish, or at least in my house it isn't! The picture will look a little different from yours because I also added carrots, green pepper and celery into the dish. Can't go wrong with more vegetables. One more time, MAKE THIS DISH!  You won't regret it. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 medium onions

4 cloves of garlic

1-2 fresh red chilies, to your taste

a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger

a small bunch of fresh cilantro

4 ripe tomatoes

peanut or vegetable oil

a pat of butter

1 1/3 pounds diced pork shoulder (I just use pork chops!!!)

1/2 cup Vindaloo paste or Tikka paste or any paste of your choosing in that aisle!

sea salt and ground black pepper

1/2 balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup natural yogurt

1 lemon

Directions:

To prepare your curry

• Peel, halve, and finely slice your onions
• Peel and finely slice or mince the garlic
• Finely slice the chile. If you don't want it hot, leave it out. 
• Peel and finely slice the ginger
• Pick  the cilantro leaves and finely chop the stalks
• Cut the tomatoes into quarters

To cook your curry

• Get a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat and add a couple of lugs of peanut oil and the butter.
• Add the onions, garlic, chile, ginger, and cilantro stalks and cook for 10 minutes, until softened and golden
• Add the pork and the curry paste
• Stir well to coat everything with the paste and season with salt and pepper
• Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, honey, and about 1 2/3 cups of water, enough to cover everything, and stir again
• Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on
• Check the curry regularly to make sure it's not sticking to the pan, and add extra water if necessary
• Only when the met is tender and cooked, taste and season with salt and pepper 

To serve your curry

Serve sauce over with rice and add a dollop of yogurt on top. Add some cilantro leaves and squeeze a little lemon on top. Yummy!

Blue Sugar Butter Cookies - Star Wars Style

First off, I am quite shocked that my first cookie I choose to make is a sugar cookie! They are my least favorite type. Then why did I make these? I had bought, a few months ago, Star Wars cookie cutters with the promise to Mike that I would make him these cookies. This week Mike bought me Star Wars Craft Book by Bonnie Burton and we made it a Star Wars craft weekend!! I have decided to post the pictures of our craft weekend as well so I hope you enjoy. 

The cookies are suppose to be blue, per the recipe, but I just used the batter since I had new cookie cutters to use. This recipe comes from Uncle Billy. Kinda feel like he's laughing as he watches Mike and I turning this cookie into Star Wars characters. Oh, and yes, Mike is in my kitchen helping. hehe. This one's for you Uncle Billy! 

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2 eggs

3 1/2 cup flour

1 Tbs brandy or water

For blue sugar:

1 egg white slightly beaten

1/2 cup sugar

2 to 3 drops blue sugar

Directions: 

• In mixer (I used my Kitchen Aid), cream together butter and sugar.
• Add salt, eggs, water (or brandy), and vanilla. Mix well.
• Gradually add flour. One cup at a time until incorporated. 
• Cover and chill minimum one hour. 
• Flour a cutting board or smooth surface.
• Roll out 1/2 the dough using floured rolling pin to it doesn't stick to the batter. About 1/8 inch thick.
• Cut out cookies. 
• Dip cutters in flour between cuttings. 

For Blue Sugar:

Use empty jar with cover

Add sugar and blue food coloring.

Shake until all the sugar is blue.

• Brush cookies with egg white & sprinkle with blue sugar. 
• Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. (10 min using my oven)

Chewbacca Tissue Box Cover:

Darth Vader Finger Puppet by Mike:

Yoda Finger Puppet by Mindy: