Liane's Famous Beef Stroganoff

My mother-in-law, the Barefoot Contessa, has been visiting us for the past week or so, and we've been enjoying some of her cooking. It's been really nice because this is our busiest time of the year, with the beginning of school and both girls in soccer, etc. Let's just say that I'm getting really tired of fast food.

Last week the Contessa made her famous Beef Stroganoff for us, and Zoe Bug especially was in Heaven. I'm glad I have at least one kid who likes mushrooms because not even Peanut Head will touch them.

This recipe is one that the family has been begging the Contessa to write down for ages. You know how some people are about their recipes. "Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that. I don't really know what all the measurements are. I just throw it all together. Anyone can do it. It's nothing really."

And then, Heaven forbid they take the recipe with them to the grave. It's a crime.

My great grandmother, Nano, made this unbelievable coffee cake when I was growing up, and when she died there was no recipe. It makes me sad to think about it. I remember Nano wearing her faded apron, dusted with flour, carefully forming the dough into a round loaf. I even remember the way the dough tasted when I snuck little pinches of dough off it, before it went into the oven, and I can still smell it. When the coffee cake came out of the oven, Nano would let the kids have a cup of coffee to dip it in. It was awesome.

Hey, it was the 70s. People didn't wear seat belts. Kids smoked candy cigarettes. We drank lots of Kool-Aid. We lived dangerously.

Well, we're not going to let the Contessa take this recipe to the other side with her, hopefully sometime in the very distant future. When the Contessa caved to our demands to make her Stroganoff this week, I insisted that she let Zoe Bug write down all the steps and ingredients so we could finally get it down on a recipe card.

And now here I am, spreading it all over the internet for her. You're welcome, Contessa.

No Bake Chocolate Cookies

I was just looking through my archives to see when the last time was that I posted a recipe. It was over a year ago! I shouldn't be surprised because I really didn't cook a lot this last school year.

Since I organized my scads of recipes to try, I've been slowly trying new things, and now I have a stack of recipe cards to make. Not that I'll get around to making them all into recipe cards, but it's good to have goals.

The one I'm posting today was e-mailed to me by my sister in 2007. Yikes! When we were teenagers she used to make these for us all the time. You know, when she wasn't beating us up. Anyway, I think most people have had one version or another of No Bake Chocolate Cookies, but I never had a recipe card for them before, so now I can make them whenever I want.

Zoe especially loves these and begs me to either make them or let her make them. I say let her make them. Now that my girls are getting older it's really nice to have them cook for me. They're always complaining that I only had kids so I could have a slave. You know, because I make them do soooooo many chores.

In reality I never considered this extra benefit of having kids. "Sweetie, I don't feel like running downstairs for my purse. Run along and fetch it for me, will you?"

"Pick that up for me, please. I'm old and I don't bend."

Etc., etc.

I'm just living the life.

Anway, super easy recipe that doesn't require the oven. Make some today and enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake

I have a fantastic recipe for you today which I've adapted slightly from the May 2012 issue of Taste of Home magazine. 

The shortcake ends up being a cross between a biscuit and a scone, but the orange zest gives it a very special touch. The original recipe calls for grated orange peel, but I have bad luck with graters (knuckles get in the way), so I used my micro plane for a more subtle showing of orange peel. I also amped it up a bit because I don't think 1 tablespoon was enough. For me at least.

This is the biscuit mixture after "cutting the butter in." I don't have much luck with that either, so I tend to get in there with my hands and smash the butter into the flour. It takes awhile, but it works well.

I like the look of scalloped edges, but the only scalloped cookie cutter I have is a heart shape, so I went with that. I know it's June, but I'm not sorry.

Right before popping the biscuits into the oven, the recipe calls for brushing the biscuits with the whipping cream and sprinkling them with coarse sugar. This step is optional, and I assure you, you'll still be able to choke these down if you forget this part. I forget it at least half the time.

Oops. I bet you just realized that I've made these a few times since I received my May issue of Taste of Home. Busted.

Make them today. You won't be sorry. 

I like the recipe so much, it was worthy of a recipe card. Remember to click on it first for the best resolution, then save it to your computer. Enjoy!

Sun-dried Tomato Bowtie Pasta

I realize that it's been forever since I posted a recipe card on this here blog, and I figured it was time to get back to that. I still have oodles of recipes I want to share, and oodles of recipes that I still need to make recipe cards for, so let's get on with it, shall we?

This recipe is one of my favorites because it is full of flavor, it's easy to throw together, and I can pack the leftovers for lunch and actually be excited about what's in my lunch box the next day. 

Here's what you need to pull this one off: bowtie pasta (or Farfalle if you want to get Fancy Nancy), pine nuts (don't look at the price when you buy them, trust me), olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil or vacuum packed), green olives with pimentos, salt, pepper, and garlic.

I made this for dinner last night, and I took it for lunch today. Now it's gone and I'm sad. I have only these pictures and my memories now. Sniff.

Here's the recipe card if you want to give it a try. Enjoy!

Basil Pesto

With the weather turning cooler, I recently picked all my basil and turned it into pesto for the winter. It turns out that I only had about 8 cups worth of basil, which translated to about a cup and a half of pesto.

Next year I'll start making the pesto earlier, before my basil starts going to seed.

I follow a pretty basic recipe for my pesto, with pine nuts being my nut of choice. Sadly the pine nuts are around $18 a pound, so walnuts might be a better choice. I googled "why are pine nuts so dang expensive," and I learned that it's because they are a very labor intensive nut to produce. It takes a lot of time to separate the nuts from the pine cone. That, and demand for them has increased, so the price has too.

Somehow it doesn't make me feel better about buying them, so I think I'll use walnuts next time.

I couldn't find my back up ice cube trays, so I used this pan intended for brownies. It worked out great and left me with cute little 2 T pesto hearts. How cute is that?

This is the recipe I use. It's not difficult at all, and so worth it. I put the pesto on pasta, fish, and even as a spread for sandwiches. Yummy!

Don't forget to click on the recipe for the best resolution before saving it to your computer. Enjoy!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

It has been forever since I posted a recipe on here, but I'm sort of making peace with my for now inadequate digi software. Life must go on and all that.

This recipe for meatballs is another of the many recipes given to me by my mother-in-law, the Barefoot Contessa. It's super easy to make, and it makes plenty to freeze for future meals. I love that part.

All you need to make it is: ground beef, onion, garlic, parmesan cheese (the cheap stuff in the green can is fine), dried bread crumbs, eggs, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper.

The first step is to simply combine all the ingredients. I like to use food prep gloves because squishing raw meat together creeps me out.

Keeping the gloves on, the next step is to form the meatballs into 1-1/2 inch balls. I don't measure them or anything, but I make them into a size that seems good to me. When Peanut Head helps he makes them a little smaller so they go farther.

I will not make a joke about that. Actually, I just did but then I deleted it because it wasn't appropriate.

The Barefoot Contessa browns her meatballs in oil, but I'm lazy so I just pop mine in the oven on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes or so, and they turn out great.

In fact, I dare you to not sample them when they come out of the oven. The smell will make you whimper, I promise.

We always have spaghetti and meatballs the night we make these. Usually we spoil our dinner because we overindulge when sampling the meatballs.

There's always plenty to freeze several baggies full of meatballs for future spaghetti nights in a flash. They make good meatball subs too.

Here's the recipe card. Remember to click on it before saving it to your computer so you get the best resolution. Trust me.

Turkey Salami Wraps

I realize that it's been ages since I posted a new recipe, and believe me, it has been weighing heavy on my conscience. My excuse, and it is an excuse, is that I'm still just completely irritated with the Mac version of the Creative Memories digiscrapping software, and my jobsy wears me out. Whine, whine.

Never mind about that though, I snagged this amazing recipe from Smashley quite awhile ago, and I think you're going to like it. She brought these decadent little guys to a crop one night, and they were devoured in no time. 

Here are the basic ingredients, although you can change them up however you want: deli turkey (or whatever), hard salami, powdered ranch dressing, roasted red peppers, flour tortillas, cream cheese, and leafy green lettuce.

I know that bag of lettuce is upside down. It's bugging me too. It wouldn't stand up the other way though, so just pretend you're okay with it. I thought about Photoshopping the label out and rotating it, but my heart just wasn't in it. I've let it go.

See me letting it go.

Of course you have to wash and dry your lettuce, but you also have to remove the fibrous ribs. Basically that means remove the hard parts that won't allow the tortilla to roll up without tearing. That pretty much leaves the leafy green parts. Pun not intended.

Smashley's original recipe only calls for 8 ounces of cream cheese, but I ended up doubling that because I just couldn't stretch that amount of cream cheese out amongst ten tortillas. That, and I'm not afraid of cream cheese. Like butter, it's my BFF.

This is sort of time consuming, but it yields a lot so it's totally worth it. Trust me. After the cream cheese is on, start layering the rest of the ingredients. 

Roasted red peppers come next.

Then the pesky lettuce. I say pesky because the lettuce is what makes the rolling up part most difficult.

I'm spatially challenged, so I always have to concentrate when I'm getting ready to roll the tortillas up. You want the tortillas to have all the ingredients in every bite, so you need to start rolling parallel to the rows. It's easiest to watch the peppers because they form the tidiest line.

If all goes well, it should look like this when it's done. 

All the wraps need to be wrapped in plastic to keep the tortillas from drying out. Then they need to be refrigerated for at least a few hours to soften up a bit. Possibly there's another reason, but it sounds good to me.

See what I mean about a lot of wraps? Peanut Head and I take these in our lunches for days when I make them. They keep well. The girls love them too, and they're pretty picky.

If you're making them for an appetizer, you just slice them up (remove the plastic wrap, of course). Do I really need to say that?

Probably.

They are very pretty as an appetizer. You can't call them wraps after you cut them though. Once you cut them, you have to call them Roll-Ups. Smashley says.

She's very bossy.

You must try them.

And finally, a new recipe card. Enjoy!

Water Chestnuts Wrapped in Bacon

Smashley introduced me to the yummiest appetizer recently, and I'm so excited to share them with you.  They are to die for.  Aren't they pretty? They're water chestnuts wrapped in bacon. I know it may not sound that exciting, but trust me, it is. It's the perfect blend of crunchy, chewy, and tangy. And it has bacon! Everything is better with bacon. Everything.

Smash brought all the ingredients over to my house for our last crop night, and then she let me snap pictures of the whole process.

This is all you need to make these yummy things: bacon, whole water chestnuts, ketchup, and brown sugar. Oh yeah, and some toothpicks.

Smashley is very finicky about her bacon and insists that we cook it a little before we wrap the water chestnuts.

She's an OCD freak like me, so I was making fun of her opening and closing the microwave with her flippers. She wouldn't touch the handles because her hands were slick with raw bacon slime.

Maybe I'm too easily entertained, but I dang near gave myself an asthma attack laughing hysterically at her. I want to take her to Sea World so she can visit her friends.

I guess you had to be there.

Here are the water chestnuts wrapped in the bacon and impaled with their toothpicks. I tried to help with this step, but Smashley kept snapping at me for putting the double bacon wrapped parts down on the pan instead of on top. Some yada yada about the bacon not cooking well enough on the double layers. 

Sheesh. She's so picky about her bacon.

I missed the rest of the steps because I was showing Melanie-Who-I-Almost-Killed-With-Pie how to make a banner. This is the finished product though. Smashley was nice enough to share the recipe, so of course, I made a recipe card. You have to make these. I promise, you will love them.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I have a quick recipe to share with you today. It's one of Peanut Head's favorite dips. He pretty much likes anything with artichokes and cheese. I know, kind of girlie of him with the artichokes, but it really is good. It's one of those dips that's better hot. Also, just a word of caution, go slow with the addition of the red pepper flakes, because they tend to increase the heat after they've had a chance to hang out in the dip and permeate the rest of the ingredients. Does that even make any sense? Anyway, you can always add more if you want more heat, just do it carefully.

Enjoy!

Harvest Potatoes with Apples

I realize that it's been two weeks since I've posted, and I apologize for that. I don't have a good excuse, so let's just suffice it to say that I lag.

I do have a sweet recipe to share with you though. Call it make up food if you'd like.

This is one of my favorite fall dishes, and I discovered it at a church potluck several years ago. I never did find out who brought the dish so I couldn't wrestle the recipe from them, and I was forced to try to recreate it through trial and error. I think I've got it now.

Here's what you need: yams, Granny Smith apples (or any firm baking apple), cinnamon sugar, butter (of course), water, cornstarch, brown sugar, and salt. And while we're on the subject, why do we call yams sweet potatoes when sweet potatoes are not the same? I don't get it, but I cave to peer pressure so I'm calling the yams potatoes too. Sue me.

By the way, do you like my new counter tops and back splash? Oh, oh, oh! There's an excuse. My kitchen has been torn apart. And okay, that was three weeks ago, but I've been recovering.

Yeah, that's it.

I'm actually going to do a before and after post, but I've got to clean the cabinets first and put the new hardware on. It could be January before that happens. Or summer. I did get my Christmas letter for last year out in August, so it will happen, it's just a matter of when.

Anyway, enough of the blathering on about nothing, here's the recipe card. I think you should make this. The world needs more beta carotene.

Enjoy!