WTF Cookbook

wtg

15 July 2008

White Castle Stuffing from MattG’s Mom

This is NOT my recipe, and I have never had it, either. But, my mom made it one year and everyone that tried it loved it (or so it is said). You'll need White Castle hamburgers, which are usually available frozen at grocery stores if you're not near an actual White Castle outlet.

INGREDIENTS
10 White Castle hamburgers (remove pickles)
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/4 teaspoons ground thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons ground sage
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth

DIRECTIONS
Tear the hamburgers in to small pieces, and place in a large bowl. Toss with celery, thyme, sage, and pepper. Pour in the chicken broth while stirring to moisten the stuffing. Stuff into the cavity of a turkey just before roasting. This makes enough to stuff a 10 to 12 pound bird.

wtg

15 July 2008

Jodi’s Bread Stuffing with Chard and Sausage

5 T butter
1 pound hot or mild Italian Sausage crumbled, casings removed
1 1/4 C chopped celery
1 lg. onion, chopped
1/4 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 pounds Swiss Chard or spinach (ends trimmed) rinsed well and finely chopped
1/2 C raisins
1 1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
1 1/4 t. each dry rosemary leaves, and dry oregono leaves
1/2 pound sweet French or Sourdough bread cut into 1/4 inch cubes (8 cups)
1 C dry white wine

In a 5 - 6 quart pan, melt butter on medium heat. Add sausage; cook and stir often until browned, about 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove sausage to a large bowl.

To the pan, add celery and onion. Cook until vegetable are limp, about 5 minutes; stir often. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to sausage. Add mushrooms to pan; stir often until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to sausage. Add chard to pan; stir until it is wilted and juices are evaporated. Stir chard into sausage mixture with raisins, parmesan, rosmary, and oregano.

Soak bread in wine, then work with your hands until is is mashed. Combine bread and sausage mixture, mixing well . Fill turkey with stuffing, place excess stuffing about 1 inch deep in a buttered baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven, uncovered, until top is lightly browned, about 25 minutes. Makes 8 cups, 8 - 10 servings.

wtg

15 July 2008

Mary Anna’s Cornbread Dressing for a Crowd
Cornbread

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a tablespoon of bacon grease in the bottom of two black iron skillets. Place in oven to heat while stirring up batter. Mix 3 cups self-rising cornmeal (not cornmeal mix!), 3 eggs, and enough milk to make a very thick batter. Divide batter between pans, pouring directly into hot grease. It should sizzle for the best crust. Bake until light brown on top--about 10-15 minutes.

Dressing
Put turkey neck and giblets in a saucepan. Add half a bunch of celery, minced fine, including some of the green feathery part. Also add a bunch of finely minced green onions. Cover with water and simmer an hour or so to make stock.

In the meantime, hard-boil nine eggs.

Crumble the cooled cornbread into a large casserole. Sometimes I use the pan I roasted the turkey in. Crumble in a couple of pieces of dry white bread and/or a fistful of saltines.

Take the neckbone and giblets out of the stock. Reserve giblets for gravy. Pour stock, celery, and green onions over the cornbread. Drizzle some turkey drippings over the top. The mixture should be moist throughout, but with out liquid standing in the bottom of the pan. If you need more liquid, you can use canned chicken broth. Chop six of the boiled eggs and stir into mixture. Season to taste with sage, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees until lightly brown on top. Serve with giblet gravy.

Giblet gravy
Cover the bottom of a skillet with vegetable oil or melted shortening. Add two or three tablespoons of flour and cook over medium-low heat while stirring until the mixture is light brown. Pour in the rest of the turkey drippings, then thin with water or chicken broth to the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chop giblets and stir into gravy. Slice the remaining three hardboiled eggs cross-wise to make disks of yolk and rings of white. Float atop the gravy and serve.

wtg

15 July 2008

Salads

Jodi’s Thai Beef Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

I modified it somewhat from a cookbook called "The Frog Commissary Cookbook":

Dressing:

1/2 c unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1/3 c olive oil
1 T. sugar
3/4 t. minced garlic
1 1/4 t. minced fresh ginger
2 T. lime juice
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 t. Guilin chili sauce (it's in the asian food section, you can vary the amount depending on how spicy you like things)
1 - 2 T soy sauce (depending on how salty you want it, sometimes I add less salt and more soy sauce)
salt to taste (I think I left this out and added extra soy sauce)
1/2 cup chopped salted roasted peanuts

Salad:

Thin strips of beef that have been marinated in part of the dressing (just enough to coat them) for about a half hour, then stir-fried til done and chopped into bite sized pieces, OR pre-cooked sliced bits of leftover steak from a previous meal - as much or as little meat as you want. (reserve the rest of the dressing for the salad, don't dress your salad with anything that has touched raw meat...)

2 cups english cucumber chopped
tomatoes (cherry, grape, or chopped large tomatoes)
Several cups of leafy greens and reds - romaine, chopped red cabbage, spinach, whatever you like
1 large red or yellow pepper sliced
And whatever else you feel like throwing into the bowl (I lightly sauted some shallots and broccoflower and tossed those in too)

Mix it all together and enjoy.

wtg

15 July 2008

Cindysphinx’s Guacamole Salad (from the Barefoot Contessa)
[Cindy's notes with *]

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow pepper, seeded and 1/2 inch dice
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c. small-diced red onion (*or sub green onion)
2 T minced jalapeno, seeded
1/2 t lime zest
1/4 c. freshly squeezed lime juice (2-3 limes)
1/4 c. olive oil (*maybe cut this back)
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
1/2 t minced garlic (*extra is good)
1/4 t ground cayenne pepper (*I usually skip this)
2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled and 1/2 inch dice
Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together everything else except the avocados. Pour dressing over veggies. When ready to serve, stir in the avocados.
Serve at room temperature. Serves six.
Here's a pic off of the internet, but I think this pic is way too bean-y, and the beans are too light. Goya brand tends to be darker and nicer looking. Use more veggies so the black beans are just a nice accent, not the star of the dish. The avacado should the dominant veggie, IMHO.

Note on the beans: I usually use canned beans if color and texture are important in a recipe. If I cook them myself, they tend to get more mushy. I suspect a bit of oil in the water while they cook would fix the problem, but I don't care enough to experiment.

Store brand and some Italian brand tend to be overexposed. Progresso and Goya work better for me.

wtg

15 July 2008

Mik’s Quick Ceasar

1/4 c mayo
2 T EV Olive oil
two cloves of garlic peeled
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 c parmesan
4 anchovies
Blend in whatever appliance you like. Toss with Romaine and croutons, preferably homemade. A lot like Bravo's dressing.

wtg

15 July 2008

Apple’s Salad

i never used commercial dressing.

i just sprinkle with herbs, a salt blend (usually Canadian Steak seasoning), olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice.

a great salad i like is cauliflower chopped, avacado, onion, fresh rosemary and above dressing.

wtg

15 July 2008

Veggies

Apple’s Gazpacho
July 17, 2007

i just food process tomatoes, a small onion and a peeled and seeded cucumber.. maybe a hot pepper and some green like cilantro or Italian parsley. we eat it a couple times a week.
salt.. a little lemon perhaps.. you can't miss and you can add just about anything.. destringed celery is good too.

wtg

Nina’s Gazpacho Garlic Trick
July 17 2007

Take about a half of a day-old (or older, it can be rock hard) decent but dried up dinner roll, about 2-3 tbs of good olive oil and at least 1 big clove of garlic, more if you are a garlic fanatic.

Whir the bread and garlic together in your food processor until it's completely pulverized. Add the olive oil slowly, together with maybe 1/2 cup or so of your gazpacho. Whir around until it's completely blended/emulsified.

Add to your gazpacho for a great garlic flavor without the pitfalls of chomping down on a hunk of raw garlic.

Also a few shakes of Tabasco (probably about 1/2 tsp) adds a nice flavor and a very subtle kick.

I'm also really fond of mincing up green (bell) pepper in gazpacho.

EDIT: the amounts above are for a LOT of gazpacho-- like 8 qts or more.

wtg

15 July 2008

Mary Anna’s Cooler

And today, another summer cooler--my mother picked her first cucumbers and we had some sliced, mixed with chopped tomato, and sprinkled with red wine vinegar, salt, and cayenne pepper.

wtg

Plays88keys’ A Taste of Summer Bliss
July 18, 2007

2 slices of artisan white bread (like Ecce Panis Neo Tuscan) or even something less wonderful like Pepperidge Farm white bread
1 extremely ripe garden tomato (not those nasty store bought things)
Duke's mayonnaise (or, if you are unfortunate enough to live outside their distribution area, Hellmann's will do)
salt and cracked black pepper

Eat over your sink.

wtg

Kathyk’s Brussels Sprouts
One of my favorite holiday veggies is ridiculously simple: Roasted brussel sprouts. Toss them in olive oil with salt and pepper, spread them on a cookie sheet and roast them for 20 minutes or so at around 400 deg. until the edges of the leaves start to char. Sometimes I think the simplest foods are the best.

wtg

Cindy’s Green Beans With Roasted Garlic

6 servings

The green beans can be prepped and steamed a day ahead, then tightly covered and refrigerated, so this side dish will take just 5 minutes on the Thanksgiving day stovetop. If you opt to add the lemon juice, the beans are likely to discolor if they stand around for a while. Adapted from a recipe mentioned on the Chow magazine Web site.

1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut in half lengthwise on a slight diagonal, or use haricots verts
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 to 2 teaspoons roasted garlic puree*
1 teaspoon toasted ground cumin*
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)

Working in batches, steam the green beans in a steamer basket set over a large pot of barely boiling water for 5 minutes or until they are just crisp-tender. (At this point, the beans can be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day.) Set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic puree and cumin, stirring to combine. Add the green beans and toss to coat evenly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 minutes, until the beans are fragrant. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl and sprinkle with the lemon juice, if desired. Serve immediately.
*NOTES: Roasted garlic/puree is available in some grocers' produce sections. To roast garlic, slice the top off a head of garlic so that the tops of the cloves inside are exposed. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated 425-degree oven for about 45 minutes or until the garlic has softened and browned. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then squeeze the softened garlic cloves out of their skins. Cut off and discard the stem ends.

Toasting ground cumin releases the spice's natural aroma and oils. Place the ground cumin in a dry skillet over medium heat and cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant.

Per serving: 51 calories, 1 g protein, 6 g carbohydrates, 3 g fat, 8 mg cholesterol, 2 g saturated fat, 52 mg sodium, 3 g dietary fiber

wtg

Desserts

The recipe that started it all:

SAS’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup Quick or Old Fashioned oats (uncooked)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup to 1 can (for moister cookies) Libby’s pumpkin (I use almost the entire can)
1 cup to 1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips (I used the whole bag because I like chocolate!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients, set aside. Cream butter and sugars, add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add pumpkin to the butter/sugar mixture and mix well. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips. For each cookie, drop 1 tblsp. cookie dough (in the shape of a piano) on a non-stick cookie sheet. The recipe says to bake for 20 minutes, but I only bake mine for 17 minutes.

wtg

Sharon’s FROSTED MAPLE PECAN WHITE CHIP COOKIES from Steve Miller

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup (one stick) butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (12 oz. Package) Nestle Toll House premier white morsels
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Maple frosting (recipe follows)
About 60 pecan halves ( 3 1/2 - 4 oz.)

Combine flour and baking soda in a medium bowl. Beat brown sugar, shortening butter, eggs, maple flavoring and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and chopped pecans

Bake in a preheated 350F degree oven for 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let stand for two minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Spread with maple frosting; top each cookie with pecan half. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

MAPLE FROSTING

Combine 4 cups powdered sugar, 4 to 6 tablespoons milk, 1/4 cup softened butter and , 1 teaspoon maple flavoring in a medium bowl. Stir until smooth.

wtg

Josephine’s Gingersnap Cookies from ChickGrand

What I liked about this recipe is that they are that perfect in between. Nice and crunchy on the very outer shell, but chewy just underneath, if you don't overbake them. I lean toward the shorter cooking time to ensure that.

Steve Miller’s Comment
Using butter in recipes that call for shortening makes the cookies spread out more. The reason is that butter melts at a lower temp than shortening.

You can offset this somewhat by chilling the dough before you bake the cookies.

(Hat tip: Shirley Corriher)

Plays88keys’ Comment
I'm going to bake the gingersnaps tonight. I even made a point of getting a bag of that "sugar in the raw" to roll the dough in for extra crunch.

When baking with butter instead of shortening (which I do exclusively) it's best to use a hand mixer and break up COLD butter, not softened, then blend into the flour and other stuff.

wtg

Plays88keys’ Chocolate Peppermint Bark

2 bags of semi sweet chocolate chips
a bunch of candy canes, crushed

Melt the chips over very low heat until smooth. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment or waxed paper. Spread crushed candy canes around, then pour the melted chocolate over it all. When it hardens, break into pieces.

Just TRY to stay away from it.

Jodi’s Comment

You know, I shorten this process a LOT. I break up those little candy canes into a few pieces and throw them into a dish along with a bunch of chocolate chips and eat them at the same time. (I'm serious!) It's completely addicting.

wtg

Bernard’s Lemon Bark
Here's the Lemon Bark recipe, ultra-easy and yummy yum yum...

1 12-oz. bag white chocolate chips or equal amount of bar white chocolate
1/2 cup lemon drop candies, broken into smallish pieces

If you melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, the recipe can be whipped up in 5 minutes. Line a pan with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate chips, add the crushed lemon drops, pour into prepared pan. Use pan size to achieve about 1/4" deep bark. Put in fridge until hardened. Break into pieces. Addictive.

To crush the lemon drops, I put a bunch of them in a plastic bag and whack them with a hammer. Actual recipe calls for 1/4 to 1/2 cup. I used 1/2 cup plus.

wtg

Lilylady’s Walnut or Pecan Dreams
A bag or two of whole walnuts, depending on how much you want to make

A half box or bag of light brown sugar

one stick of butter (or two, depending)

cinnamon to taste

Melt butter and add sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl - it should be crunchy stage not wet. Add walnuts or pecans. Toss.

Put on a cookie sheet and into low oven for 10-15 min. When you take out, keep tossing making sure that all the butter/sugar is coated onto the nuts. Let harden while you are still tossing. When harden they should kinda be in a clumped up candy stage. Gift in a tin or glass jar. Always a hit. Good for the Postman or Aunt or Cindysphinx's MIL!

wtg

Cathys’s Candy

Here's my contribution and the only one I made after getting home. I always get comments when I send out a mixed box on these in particular. Very simple and melt in your mouth. My kids say when you put them in the fridge they turn into ice cream.

3 8oz Hershey Bars (no nuts)
1 13 oz cool whip frozen
Chopped nuts (if you like)
Crushed vanilla wafers (1/2-2/3 box)

Melt chocolate over water. While that's melting beat the air out of the cool whip, then pour in the melted chocolate and mix together with the nuts (if you like nuts). Scoop into balls and roll in vanilla wafer crumbs.

Refrigerate

Makes about 60+ balls.