New Recipe--Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes with Candied Myers Lemons

For Easter Sunday it was raining sideways in Portland, so we took the opportunity to stay home and inside all day. I made breakfast at a luxurious 1pm, so I decided I needed a recipe worthy of the day.

I'll start with the candied Myers Lemons. These aren't an original recipe obviously, but I was especially excited about everything that came out of the recipe.

This recipe is very showy so is PERFECT for entertaining. You could even bring these to a brunch. The candied lemons could be microwaved for a couple of seconds if you want to warm them, and the pancakes can be kept in a warm (200 - 250 degrees) oven until ready to serve.

Note: You can use regular lemons as well, but slice them VERY thin. Myers lemons are more forgiving because they are a little sweeter and the skins are very thin, like a tangerine vs. an orange.

Candied Myers Lemons

1 Myers Lemon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Slice 1 Myers Lemon in thin rounds, discarding each end. Remove any seeds.
Boil the slices for one minute. Remove from water.

1st detour--I then used the water that the lemon slices had been boiled in to make tea--I just added a tea bag and a teaspoon of sugar--so yummy.

Heat the 1/2 cup water and sugar over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon slices and cook over medium/low heat for 12 - 15 minutes.

Remove from pan--they are ready to go.

2nd detour--the left over sugar syrup that the slices cooked in had turned into a yummy lemony syrup. So I put it aside and will come up with a reason to use it later this week. It would be good over waffles, or over a melon salad for dessert.

We then used the candied lemons instead of syrup with our pancakes.

Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes

1/2 cup lemon cakemix
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup soy milk (or regular milk)

Stir the three ingredients together and let sit for a couple minutes while your pan heats a little. Cook in a flat skillet on medium heat.

Makes 5, six inch pancakes.

New Recipe--Key Lime Bars

I love recipes that seem too easy to be true, I guess that's why I like working creatively with cake mixes so much. This recipe is so impressive and so wow-how-did-you-do-that-ish that you shouldn't feel guilty if you keep the simplicity a secret. Just let people think that you magically have 28 hours in your day instead of the mere mortals' 24 hours.

These key lime bars are sweet, not tart. The texture is perfect for bars, the cut really nicely and hold their shape.

Key Lime Bars

1 white cake mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
5 egg yolks
1/4 cup Nellie & Joe's Famous Lime Juice

Preheat oven to 350
Throw the cake mix and the stick of butter in a bowl and microwave it for 1 1/2 minutes, then stir together with a fork. When it is mixed well, press into a greased 13 x 9 pan.
I then wipe out the bowl with a paper towel and then throw in the 5 egg yolks, milk and lime juice and mix together and pour evenly over the cake mix mixture. Use a spoon or fork and spread the lime juice mixture so it is truly even, reaching the edges and corners.

Bake for 17 minutes. Let cool nearly completely or you'll have a mess on your hands. It needs to be cool to be firm enough to cut into bars. I then cut into about 1 1/2 inch x 1 1/2 inch bars.
They stay yummy in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days, the crust doesn't get soggy.

Now, a word on Nellie and Joe's Lime Juice.

I discovered this product about 7 years ago while living in Virginia Beach--Trader Joes carried it. When I moved to the west coast, I used to have people bring me back bottles of it in their suitcases. Now I seem to be able to find it anywhere. It's in every store around Portland, OR.

I would never use any other lime juice for anything. It really is yummier, not as acidic, and has a nice lime flavor. It's the secret in my guacamole.

New Recipe--Apple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Or Oatmeal Apple Raisin or Oatmeal Raisin Apple--I can't decide.

These are a cakey cookie, hee-hee, that's fun to say. They are very moist on the inside, while the oatmeal gets a little crisp on the outside. They are sticky in that good way. They feel wholesome, almost a breakfast cookie, except I've never had a "breakfast cookie" that I actually liked, so I won't call them that.
They use a can of Apple Pie filling which makes them the honor student of the apple cookies out there. They shame any applesauce cookies right into detention for lack of lusciousness.

AOR Cookies

1 Spice Cake Mix
1 21 ounce can of Apple Pie filling
1 cup quick oats
1 cup raisins

Mix everything together. The dough will be a little more moist than most cookie dough. Put ping pong size globs on the cookie sheet. You'll be tempted to make bigger cookies, but don't. They turn out better if kept smallish.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

New Recipe--Irish Stout Chocolate Cupcakes

Sorry, I don't have a photo for this recipe, I tested it quite a while ago and held on to it for March.

Don't let the beer snob in your life stop you from making these cupcakes. Yes, the recipe uses one of the "expensive" beers, but that's ok, they are worth it.

These are a great St. Patrick's Day treat, to be authentic, use Guiness Stout. Or if your refrigerator reads like the bar menu at the Horse Brass (famous bar in Portland, OR with over 100 beers on tap) use any "stout" or very dark--VERY dark beer.

The flavor of these cupcakes is rich and deep and a little complex--in a word, they are really yummy--ok, two words.

The alcohol bakes out of these, so they are fine for all ages.

Frost these with chocolate fudge frosting, or white chocolate frosting dyed with green food coloring.

Stout Chocolate Cupcakes

1 chocolate , or chocolate fudge cake mix--not devils food
1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of stout beer
1 cup of mini chocolate chips--regular chocolate chips work too, but I like the mini ones better with this recipe

Mix cake mix and beer in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Mix for 2 full minutes.

Pour into greased cupcake tins, filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 24 - 27 minutes. Let cool for a couple minutes before removing from pan.

Happy St. Patty's day

New Recipe--German Chocolate Cookies

With a twist

I had to try a couple of versions of these before I got them right. The challenge for me was getting that butter/brown sugar flavor in a cookie. I tried wrapping the dough around "Sugar Babies" candy, but they just tasted like weird jelly beans in the middle of a cookie--no good. I also tried the plain square caramels, but they also ended up a little too hard once cooled. I finally landed on Rolos. That's right, Rolos--those little chocolate covered caramels that come in the tube, wrapped in gold foil--what's not to love.

German Chocolate Cookies

Recipe tip--you'll get dough all over your fingers making these, so unwrap 18 - 20 Rolos first (16 - 18 for the cookies, plus a couple to eat while the cookies bake).

1 box of German chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup of soy milk (or real milk)
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
18 - 20 Rolos, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350
Mix the cake mix and the milk together first with a big spoon, then mix in the coconut and pecans. The dough should be just moist enough to stick together. Take a ping pong size glob of dough, stick a Rolo in it, then with your fingers, spread the dough around the bottom of the Rolo until there is no evidence that the Rolo is there.

Bake for 14 - 16 minutes. Let cool for a minute, then remove from cookie sheet to complete cooling. Eat at least 2 while still warm--they rock.

Makes 16 - 18 cookies

New Recipe--Buffalo Chicken Pizza

First note, whenever I say "chicken" I mean some sort of fake chicken, but of course, real chicken could be used as well.

I'd been craving that "Buffalo Wing" flavor for a couple of weeks, so last week I bought a bottle of Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce. Then I had to figure out what to do with it.

Partner this with the fact that one of my favorite cooking tricks is to highly supplement cheap frozen cheese pizzas, and my plan was almost set.

I interviewed a couple women I work with about what they might put with Buffalo chicken on a pizza and we decided that broccoli and sauteed onions would work.

It was really, really good. I make BBQ chicken pizza often--Buffalo is even better. This recipe is interesting enough to share with guests, yet just one step up from "bar food." The flavors go together perfectly.

I'm a weenie when it comes to spice, so this is a mild version. The sauce is not overly fiery and calms nicely when mixed with all these other ingredients.

Recipe
Buffalo Chicken Pizza

1 Frozen Cheese Pizza for 2 (Whatever brand you like)
The equivalent of one chicken breast--about 5 oz of fake chicken, cut into small chunks (cook first if real chicken)
Between 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup of Buffalo Wing sauce depending on your desired level of spice
1/2 cup of raw broccoli cut into very small florets
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin and sauteed in oil until just cooked through
1 cup of shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup of blue cheese crumbles

Layer all of the ingredients, topping with the shredded cheese last, so it melts and holds all the ingredients down. Drizzle the final product with a little bit more of the Buffalo sauce before it goes in the oven.

Cook according to directions on the box, except:

1. I lower by 25 degrees and cook for 5 - 8 minutes longer to make sure it gets hot all the way through with the extra ingredients.
2. put a piece of foil on a lower rack in oven to catch any dripping cheese, then cook the pizza right on the next rack up.

For BBQ Chicken Pizza I use Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce, fake chicken, carmelized onions and pineapple chunks. Also, I mix some cheddar with the mozz that I put on top.

May you never look at a frozen cheese pizza the same way again.

First ever snow camping--pics and dinner

Snow camping was on my list and I got to check it off this weekend--my Valentine's day present from my S.O. We took our dog, Chaos, and camped Saturday night. It was cold as you may expect, and it was really fun. We camped near the location of the fire lookout from 2 weeks ago--SE side of Mt. Hood near Dufur, OR. There was a lot more snow than last time we were there.

It was snowing when we arrived and pretty much didn't stop snowing until Sunday morning.

It was gorgeous and great skiing once we got rid of the giant backpacks.

You can see the rest of the pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhextreme/sets/72157613876471742/

For dinner, I put together campers' spaghetti.


It was 18 oz to carry in (not including water). It made a ton of food and was really yummy. I forgot a can opener, so my S.O. opened the can with his knife--whew.

Recipe

A handful of angel hair pasta, broken in half --use angel hair instead of traditional spaghetti because it takes only 3 min to boil instead of 10 min, conserving fuel
I brought about 2 inches in diameter of pasta for the three of us
1 can of tomato paste
1 envelope of spaghetti seasoning
1 oz of chili flavored oil (I usually carry flavored oil when camp cooking, to cut down on extra ingredients)
1 cup of shredded cheese--I used mozz/parm combo--the beauty of snow camping--cheese isn't going to spoil.

Boil the pasta for 3 - 4 minutes with a little of the oil in a large sauce pan (large for camping)
Drain.
In the same pan throw in the spice, the paste, a 1/2 cup of water and the rest of the oil.
Mix over the stove on low. Once it's all mixed together, throw in the cheese, stir through and serve.

I pulled out about 25 % of the pasta first and added some cheese and that was Chaos' dinner. He loved it.

By the way, we use a Primus brand camp stove and wow it works well. You have to keep the fuel warm, we laid the fuel can on one of those pocket hand warmers. It boiled the water in just a couple of minutes--did I mention we were in the snow?

We later supplemented the evening with Little Debbie heart shaped chocolate cupcakes since it was Valentine's Day.