Recipes

Archive for October, 2005

Also known as Watergate Cake and coverup icing from the 1970′s Nixon scandal.
1 box plain white cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) box instant pistachio pudding mix
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup ginger ale
3 large eggs
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350
degrees F. Lightly mist a 13 x 9-inch pan with vegetable oil, then
dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.
Place cake mix, pudding mix, oil, ginger ale and eggs into a large
mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.
Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber
spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more,
scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well
blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top
with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven. Bake the cake
until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 35 to 40
minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to
cool completely, 30 minutes more.
Meanwhile, prepare frosting.
Frosting
1 (3.4 ounce) box instant pistachio pudding mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1 8 ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed
Whisk pudding mix and milk together in a large mixing bowl. It should
thicken up but not set, from 2 to 3 minutes. Gently fold in whipped
topping. Spread the top with frosting. You can sprinkle toasted nuts
over the top, if desired. Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
I am serving this cake at Christmas. The pudding makes it lightly green. The pistachios are a holiday favorite of my husband.

1 whole chicken
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
3 – 4 garlic cloves, crushed
salt and pepper
Place chicken in stock pot. Add vegetables and seasoning. Cover with water. Bring to a boil, turn down heat. Cook until the chicken is tender and the meat is falling from the bone.
Remove chicken from stock. Set aside on a baking sheet and allow to cool. Carefully strain the vegetables from the hot stock.

Dumplings
Bring the stock back up to a low boil. Begin adding strips of Anne’s Dumplings to the pot 3 or 4 at a time. With a long handled spoon move them around in the stock gently allowing them to begin to cook through before adding more. Once all of the pastry strips are in turn the heat down to a simmer. Check and stir often. Dumplings will settle to the bottom and stick and scorch. Scorched dumplings are not good.
While the dumplings are simmering, pick the meat from the chicken and shred or tear into bite size pieces. Put the carcass into another pot with water and those limp cooked vegetables and set to boil again. Believe me there is still a lot of flavor in there to cook out.
Add the meat to your dumpling pot. At this point you can also add a small package of frozen peas and carrots. The bright colors dress up the dish and make it more interesting to the eye.
As the dumplings cook they will absorb alot of the stock. If the stock remains thin like soup you can add a can of cream of chicken soup to get a creamier consistancy. If it gets thick, beyond stew like, the chicken pieces you have boiled the second time, use that stock to thin it out. Add a can of cream of chicken soup to get a creamy consistancy. You can add a few peas and carrots to add color.
Before serving, taste the dumplings. Dumplings need salt, you may have to salt the pot while it simmers.
Whatever stock that you have left, strain out the veggies and carcass pieces, freeze it for use later in other soups or stews or to make noodle soup with. Pick through the bones and you will find a good bit of meat slivers to set aside for noodle soup.
For noodle soup you simply need a quart of stock and some egg noodles. Bring the stock to a boil, add the noodles, cook until tender. Perfect soup every time.
Something my old Aunt’s did to dress up the dumpling pot – Once the dumplings are cooked make a pastry crust and seal the top of the pot. Brush with butter and bake like a pie. It is so nice to break through the crust and scoop up a creamy helping of the chicken and dumplings.

1 pumpkin 5 – 8 lbs
2 baking potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
1 med onion, diced
8 -10 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
Vegetable or chicken stock
butter
salt and pepper
Wash pumpkin well with soapy water, rinse and dry. Split pumpkin in half. Scoop out the fiber and seeds. Rub the halves with olive oil inside and out. Place flesh side down on a greased baking sheet (or silpat). Bake at 375 degrees until the meat is fork tender and orangey-yellow.

Preparing to roast the pumpkin.

At the same time, individually wrap the baking potatoes and sweet potatoes in foil. Place in the oven on an upper rack to bake until soft. The pumpkin and potatoes should be done about the same time.

Roasted pumpkin set to cool.

When cool enough to handle scoop out the flesh of the potatoes and pumpkin into a large clean bowl. Add a couple tbsp of butter and let melt into the mixture.
In a skillet brown the bacon rendering the fat. Remove the bacon to drain. Pour away all but about 2 tsp of the remaining fat. Return to heat and add the onion. Cook until clear.
Add the onions to the potatoes and pumpkin. Using a stick blender or food processor, puree the mix.

This is my 6qt stainless mixing bowl. I used a 8 – 10lb pumpkin, 2 each of the potatoes, and almost 2 quarts of stock to make this much soup.

Pour the puree into a stock pot. Slowly add the stock until the mix is the consistancy of soup that you prefer. We like a thicker soup. You might like a thinner soup. Heat through and allow to simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is a beautiful color. Some recipes will call for heavy cream to be added. To me it isn’t as nice of a soup when it has cream in it. I save the cream for my pies.

When serving use the bacon crumbles on top as garnish.
For freezing allow soup to cool. Pour into freezer containers. Lable and freeze.
**Note: I prepared this today when I was cooking a pork roast. I had plenty of broth from the pork so I used it in place of chicken/vegetable stock. It tastes great.
I am serving this soup with sandwiches made of fresh toasted bagels with a slice of roasted apple, cheddar cheese and ham. Absolutely delightful.

1 quart chicken/vegetable stock (saved over from other recipes)
egg noodles
chicken slivers (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Bring stock to a boil with any leftover slivers of chicken. Add a half cup of noodles. Cook until tender, 4-8 minutes. Season to taste.
Serve with crackers, bagel chips or a sandwich.
This recipe is perfect for lunch or a light supper. It is also one of those waste not want not recipes. Plan a little ahead and use what you have to stretch yur meals and budget. It pays in the end to do a little extra in the beginning.

I make these sandwiches in the fall. The apples are in season and the holidays are coming lending itself to cooking more with cinnamon and nutmeg (at least for me).
I like to serve these with my pumpkin potatoe soup for a warm hearty supper on cool evenings.
1 apple sliced into 1/2inch rings
cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
sliced cheddar cheese
thinly sliced ham
bagels
In a skillet add the butter and allow to melt on low heat. Be careful butter will burn quickly. Add 2 tbsp brown sugar and let it begin to melt. Add the apple rings and sprinkle with cinnamon. The apples will sautee and begin to soften. Turn to coat each side and for the apple to cook through but not into mush or applesauce. You want the apple slice to retain its shape.
Split and butter one bagel for each sandwich. Slide under the broiler to gently toast.
Build your sandwich from the bottom up.
Bagel bottom, slices of ham, slice of roasted apple and thinly sliced cheddar cheese, top with bagel top. The warmth of the apple and bagel will gently melt the cheese.
This is an excellent sandwich to serve for a Sunday brunch when you have guests also.