Honey Orange Ham - Sis 1

Due to the "Obama Lunches," my children are very reluctant to eat school lunch. They often take sandwiches and I have been buying lunch meat, something I haven't done on a regular basis in years (OK, never.)

I was reading a post by Donna Freedman on MSN Money--I like a lot of her ideas--and was reminded that actual real meat costs less than lunch meat and tastes A LOT better, too. So I bought a ham. The way I cooked it makes it fall-apart tender, though, so I might have to chill it a while before I can slice it thinly for sandwiches.

Honey Orange Peel Ham

the peels from 1 medium orange, in pieces
water
1 ham, bone in is good
1/2 cup honey

Place orange peels in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and drain water. Repeat. (This will take the bitterness out of the peels.)

Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of a large crockpot. Place the ham inside. Drizzle honey all over the top of the ham. Drop the orange peel over the ham. Put the lid on and cook on the high setting for 6 hours. If you happen to be home, turn the ham over about halfway through cooking.

 Remove the ham and strain the orange peels out of the juices. (You can eat them, if you want.) Serve the ham and put the juices (still in the crockpot) in the fridge. I'm using it to make soup for tomorrow.

Chocolate Pie Crust - Sis 1

It's just too easy and cheap to make a chocolate cookie crust. There's no reason to go to the grocery store and buy one. In fact, I would wager that you can have it made in the time it would take you to drive to the store, buy one, and get home.

Chocolate Cookie Pie Crust

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dutch cocoa powder
1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Mix sugar and oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 1 minute and stir again. Mix in flour, cocoa and salt. Stir until mixture resembles crumbs. Press into pie plate. Bake about 15 minutes, or until crust appears to be done. (Specific, huh?) Cool and fill with any filling you would normally use in a chocolate cookie crust.

HOT CHOCOLATE ORNAMENT GIFTS- Sis 1

This year for my daughters' friends, we made ornaments filled with cocoa mix. I bought the plastic ornaments from amazon. (I have Prime, and I live in a very small town where I can't find a lot of the things I'd like to buy.) You could probably get them at a craft store like Jo-ann, or, you might even get the clear glass ones and use a funnel to fill them.

I also had to order the ribbon online because I couldn't buy it in town like I thought I could, so these were a bit later than I had hoped. I already had Tulip Slicks fabric paint in assorted colors, but I only used 3, black, red and green. I wrote Each girl's name on a ball and embellished it with holly. (I'm no calligrapher, but the girls are between ages 6 and 11, so I'm hoping they don't mind.)

I let the balls dry overnight, then I filled them with cocoa mix, attached a candycane and instructions with a ribbon, and viola! a yummy, personalized gift for a little girl. For boys, I wouldn't have done their names in cursive, and maybe I'd have drawn snowmen instead.

Hot Cocoa Mix

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups powdered dry milk
1 1/4 cups non-dairy creamer
1/8 teaspoon salt, scant
3/4 cup dutch cocoa powder
1 large box jello, raspberry or orange, optional

My powdered milk is very fine, like creamer, so I just dumped everything together in a big bowl and mixed it up with a wire whisk. If your powdered milk is coarse, like some is, you may have to use a food processor to make it a nice powder first.

Since I was giving candycanes with my cocoa mix, I didn't add the jello for the girls, but I made another batch with it for our family. Yum!

Mix 3 heaping tablespoons of mix with one cup hot water. Enjoy!

Chocolate Custard Ice Cream - Sis 2

Do you love ice cream?  Especially during the sweltering, hot summer?  It has been a sweltering hot summer.  So I decided to make some Chocolate Ice Cream to cool us off.

Chocolate Custard Ice Cream

3 cups Sugar
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
8 cups of milk
6 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a heavy saucepan combine sugar, flour, cocoa and salt.  Then add the milk.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly so the milk does not burn on the bottom.  Keep stirring and cook for about 8 more min after it boils, or until it thickens up a bit.  Remove from heat, and cool slightly.

Beat egg yolks.  Then whisk a small amount of the chocolate mixture  into the egg yolks to temper them.  Add the egg yolks to the rest of the chocolate mixture and cook over low heat until the mixture coats the back of a metal spoon.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Next, pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and then put the bowl into a bowl with ice water  to cool the mixture off quickly.   After it cools for ten minutes in the ice water, remove.  Cover the top of the custard with saran wrap, pushing it down onto the top of the custard, so it does not form a skin.  Refrigerate for several hours. 

When ready to freeze, stir in the cream.  Then freeze in ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's directions.

Note:  This ice cream is very rich!!

To make rocky road: just add 2 cups mini marshmallows, 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips, and 1 cup chopped almonds after churning in the ice cream freezer.

Cashew Chicken Stir-fry

Here is a new recipe I made up tonight.  It turned out very good.  My husband loved it, and even my kids liked it. 

Cashew Chicken Stir- fry

1 lrg chicken breast, cut in small pieces
salt, pepper, garlic powder
3 heads of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1  cup beef  broth
1 tsp corn starch
1/2 cup salted, roasted cashews

Generously sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder over raw chicken.  Heat frying pan with 1 tbsp oil over Medium High Heat.  Cook chicken pieces in the pan until they are just done.  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.  Add 2 tbsps oil, and the broccoli to the pan.  Sprinkle the sugar and salt over the brocolli and stir once.  Then add the mushrooms.  Stir fry the  vegetables until the broccoli is tender/crisp and the mushrooms are tender.  Add the beef broth and bring to a boil.  Sprinkle the corn starch over the cooked chicken and mix it together, then add the chicken back into the frying pan.  Cook the mixture long enough for the sauce to tighten a little bit.  Remove from heat and add the cashews.  Serve over rice, immediately.

Change Your Attitude - Sis 2

I spent the past weekend in Las Vegas, and let me just tell you, I'm so happy I don't live there.   Now, that I got that out of the way, I went to Las Vegas to go to a seminar with my husband.  The seminar  was called "Mastery Mindset" with Paul Finck, who is a life coach.  Some of the information I thought was good, and some of it not as good.  But he did talk about one thing that I thought was very good and applicable to me.  He said, "Just decide to change your attitude and do it."
Now, this was nothing new to me.  I have heard it many times in the past.  One time inparticular I remember.   When I was in sixth grade I remember one of my teachers putting a slide on a projector.  Unfortunately, I do not remember everything the slide said, but it was a quote about changing our attitude.  It really had an effect on me, becuase I still remember seeing the slide on the projector screen on the wall.  I remember writing the whole quote down and thinking about how I really am in control of my attitude and I can decide whether I am happy or not.  This is the first time I remember realizing that I really was in control of my attitude.  Now this may seem weird to you, that I had not realized this before.  I might have been taught it before, but this was the first time I think it really sunk in. 
Bu,t then life happens, and I a somewhat of a pessismistic person and sometimes I need to be reminded of the fact that I can change my attitude by simply deciding to do it.
Now, try an experiment with me. Just SMILE! How does it make you feel? Does it make you feel bad or do you suddenly feel uplifted, or happy, just from smiling?
Let's  remember that we can change our attitude about things in our life.  We can decide to be happy and find the good things in life. 

German Pancakes

I had not made German Pancakes for years, but then one day I was looking through my cookbooks trying to find something to make for dinner and I found a recipe for German Pancakes.  As I remember I didn't make the pancakes for dinner, but I made them the next morning for breakfast.  My kids LOVED them.  My six year old especially  loves them, and asks for them about once a week now.
If you are wondering what German Pancakes are; they are made from an egg based batter, poured into a 9x13 pan and baked in the oven.  They come out fluffy, puffy and golden brown.

I also have a recipe for maple syrup.  I bought some pure maple syrup from Costco one time, but my kids wouldn't eat it and my husband did not like it either.  So I just make this fake maple syrup.  It is very easy to make, my kids like it, and it doesn't have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it like all the syrups you buy at the store.  It does have lots of sugar though.

Here is the recipe.  I have changed the recipe a bit, from the one I found, but I got the original recipe from a cook book by Nancy Kimmerle.

German Pancakes

3 Tbsp Butter
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  Put butter in a 9x13 pan, while the oven is heating up put the pan in the oven to melt the butter.   Put the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend well.  Scrape the sides of the blender with a rubber spatula and then blend again for 2 min.  Pour the batter into the 9x13 pan and bake for 25 min or until golden brown on top and sides.  Serve with syrup.


Fake Maple Syrup

3 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp mapleine  (This is imitation maple flavoring)
1/2 tsp butter flavoring  (You can find this and the mapleine by the extracts at a grocery store.)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring just to a boil over med heat.  Remove from heat and then use on pancakes.  This makes a lot of syrup, so I put it in a store bought syrup bottle and store it in the fridge.