PISTACHIO PUDDING with a twist

Today's post is more of an idea, rather than a real recipe. Picky-picky husband loves the old Watergate Salad. I never thought of it as a salad, but that's what they called it: instant pistachio pudding, Cool Whip and crushed pineapple...talk about shades of childhood!!

I re-discovered the old recipe recently and remembered that I haven't made it in years because Cool Whip now gives hubby indigestion, part of getting older I guess.

I decided to experiment and see if I could substitute real whipped cream for the Cool Whip. The result was delicious and much fresher tasting than using the non-dairy topping of yester-year.

Beat 2 cups of whipping cream + 1/2 cup milk with a small (4 serving size) box of instant pistachio pudding until you get stiff peaks, then fold in an 8 ounce can of well drained, crushed pineapple and a half cup (loosely packed) sweetened coconut. Chopped maraschino cherries would go well in this, but I didn't have any.

Chill for about an hour or so (it keeps well and doesn't deflate). Makes about 4 cups of pudding.

JAM BARS

I saw this great recipe on Monica's web site Lick the Bowl Good, the other day and thought picky-picky husband would enjoy them (I was right!!). They are similar to a raspberry shortbread bar that I posted about a year ago, but even easier to make.

This fruit bar gets even more tasty on day two and three. They are heavenly (in spite of my  emergency substitution in the almond department). I hope you try them, you will love the crumbly, buttery, sweet, nutty crust (it has just a hint of cinnamon). This recipe is a keeper.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed (I use dark brown sugar)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup sliced almonds (I used walnuts)
1/2 cup of your favorite fruit jam (I used an extra 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (my addition)

Preheat your oven to 350 and butter an 8" square baking dish (I didn't butter the pan, instead I lined it with parchment paper and left the ends long so that I could easily lift out the whole square after it cooled...easier to cut that way).

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder, set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars on high speed until they are light and fluffy; beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract.  Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture.

Stir in the nuts. Note: I used walnuts instead of almonds and I used my food processor to chop them fairly small.

Gently press half of this mixture, evenly,  into your prepared baking dish. Stir the jam (I used raspberry) with a spoon to loosen it up and gently spread it onto the bottom half of the bars, leaving a 1/4" jam free border so that the jam doesn't stick to the sides of the pan when baked.

Top the jam layer with the rest of the flour-nut mixture ad spread evenly, pressing lightly to make the layers stick to each other.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes (my oven took 35 minutes) or until the top is golden.

IMPORTANT: Cool completely before you try to remove these bars from the pan. Cut bars with serrated knife.

QUICK STEAK and GRAVY

This great week night dinner is fast and satisfying for sure.  It is  made with cubed beef steak and is versatile enough to feed two or twenty.  It's rich brown gravy is flawless and the whole thing is table ready in about 35  minutes (depending on the thickness of your cube steak).

 

The ingredients listed here are for one pound of cubed beef steak (it makes about 2 cups of gravy). Double or triple the ingredients as you like.

1 pound cubed beef steak (see note)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon flour (to add to gravy)
little extra flour to coat the cubed steak
(1) 4 serving size envelope of Lipton's Beefy Mushroom soup mix (see note)
2 cups water
(no salt...there's salt in the soup mix)
pepper to taste

Cut the cubed beef steaks into serving size pieces and dust them with pepper (no salt). Coat them in a little flour (shake off the excess) and brown them in 2 tablespoons of vegetable (or Canola) oil.

Remove the browned meat to a plate.  Mix 1 tablespoon flour with the dry soup mix and mix it all into the oil and meat juices in the same pan that you browned the meat in. Whisk in two cups of water and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any browned bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan. Stir till the gravy is thick.

Put the  meat back in the gravy and turn it way down to a slow simmer.  Simmer (covered) until the meat is tender (see note below).

Serve over rice or mashed potatoes for a quick and easy dinner that even Picky-picky husband loves.

 

NOTE:   Some people have said they can not find Lipton's Beefy Mushroom soup mix. You can also use Lipton's Onion soup mix.

NOTE: How long you let the meat simmer in the sauce depends on how thick (and how tender) your cubed beef steaks are. The ones I buy are fairly thin, so I usually simmer them in the gravy for about 30 minutes. If you have thick cube steak (or if it looks a little tough) it may take more like 45-60 minutes to get fork tender.

PEANUT BUTTER KRISPIE TREATS

This recipe has been around forever; it is one of those classic sweet treats from our childhood.  Picky-picky husband is a big fan of the old fashioned Rice Krispie treats made with melted marshmallows, so he initially resisted this peanut butter version (he resists change).  However, this evening, I noticed that the pan of treats, on the kitchen counter, had been seriously noshed upon.

This recipe is SUPER easy and uses all pantry ingredients, which is a good thing.  It goes together in just minutes (the longest part of this recipe is the cool down time). They cut beautifully if you let them cool all the way down and they travel well.

1 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispie cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips (see note)

Mix the syrup and granulated sugar in a heavy saucepan, over medium heat (stirring). Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat; stir in peanut butter until smooth and well mixed.

Pour over Rice Krispie cereal and stir to coat evenly.  Press into a lightly greased 11" x 7" pan (see note) and press down evenly with slightly damp hands.

Melt the chocolate chips and stir until smooth (I melted mine in my microwave at 60% power for about 1½ minutes).  Spread evenly over bars.  Cool about an hour before cutting.

NOTE: This recipe calls for half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half peanut butter chips, but any combo would work well.  I found a similar recipe that used half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips for the frosting (they called them Scotcheroo's).

NOTE: The size of the pan is not really important. Just remember that the smaller the pan is, the thicker the treats will be and the bigger the pan is the thinner they will be.

SPAGHETTI

On snowy winter days, when it is good to stay close to home, I enjoy making dinner in the slow cooker. One of our favorite's is spaghetti; our kids were raised on this recipe and it is one of picky-picky husbands favorites.

The thick and hearty sauce and tender meatballs really need a solid six hours or more in the slow cooker, so don't be tempted to rush this recipe. I love the way my kitchen smells when I make this sauce.


MEATBALLS

1 pound of lean (90% or better) ground beef

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all of the meatball ingredients and shape into walnut size meatballs. Bake in a 350 oven for 15 minutes then drain well before adding to sauce.

 SPAGHETTI SAUCE

(1) 14 ounce can of tomato sauce

(1) 12 ounce can of tomato paste

4 cups water

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely diced carrot

1 clove of minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons dried sweet basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

Saute the onions, garlic and carrots in the olive oil until they are very aromatic (they don't need to be cooked through). Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil.  Put EVERYTHING in the slow cooker and add the baked meatballs. Cook on high for 6 hours.

The last couple of hours, leave the slow cooker lid open just a crack so the sauce will reduce and thicken. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

NOTE: If you like mushrooms, add them the last hour of cooking.

NOTE: No matter how hard I try to make a "smaller" batch of spaghetti sauce, it always ends up making too much, so now I plan on it. The sauce that we don't use on night one, goes into a lasagna casserole for the freezer. Some sauces just need to be cooked in big batches I guess.

CHOCOLATE SILK PIE

Have you ever had a cream pie dessert that, was (not only) outrageously delicious, but the  "mouth feel" was absolutely sublime? That is the perfect description for this chocolate silk pie; it is the smoothest, creamiest, chocolate filling we have ever eaten!!

 



 

 

CHOCOLATE SILK FILLING

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups heavy whipping cream (divided)

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

In a small microwave bowl, mix the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the cream. Heat on 50% power for about 2 minutes, then stir. If they aren't completely melted and smooth, continue microwaving on 50% power (30 seconds at a time), stirring each time.  My microwave oven took the initial 2 minutes plus about 20 more seconds. COOL MELTED CHOCOLATE FOR 20 MINUTES BEFORE USING!!

In a different bowl, mix the remaining 1½ cups of whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on high until stiff peaks form, set aside.

In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy, gradually mix in the melted chocolate mixture, beating until very smooth.  Gently fold in the whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Do this slowly so you don't deflate the air in the whipped cream..

Fill your favorite pre-baked pie crust with the filling, smooth the top and chill at least 4 to 6 hours (better overnight).

 

 

This recipe overfills a 9" pie

or is perfect for a  10" pie

 

Top with whipped cream and enjoy!!

 

 

 

ALMOND TOFFEE GRAHAMS

If you like Almond Roca candy,
you will love this recipe !!

The first time I ate Almond Toffee Grahams was at a cookie exchange about 20+ years ago. With tons of cookies to choose from, I noticed people kept going back to the Almond Toffee Graham plate; one taste and I was "hooked".  When I found out how simple and fast they were to make, I was shocked (they taste complicated). I made them for some friends this Christmas and they were a huge hit !!

What do they taste like? Well, the cooked caramel sauce bakes into the graham crackers and produces a thin layer of candy that tastes like almond roca, then, with the melted chocolate and nuts added, what can I say; they are delicious !!

 

graham crackers
1 cup unsalted butter (no substitutes)
1 cup brown sugar packed (I like dark, but light is good too)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups sliced almonds (toasted)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. 

Now, a word about the pan:  This recipe uses a jelly roll pan (mine is 10½" x 15½" x 1").  The recipe says to grease the pan, but I don't like to do that (it makes for a greasy bottomed cookie). Instead, I use the new non-stick aluminum foil by Reynolds Wrap and I don't grease it at all (if you haven't tried it yet, it is well worth the price).  If you use regular foil, make sure you grease it.

Arrange graham crackers in a single layer on the jelly roll pan (should take about 15 graham crackers?). Try to leave as little space between the crackers as possible, but don't overlap them, you may have to break some of the crackers to make it all fit.

In a small saucepan, mix the butter and brown sugar. Bring to a gentle boil, and then set your timer for three minutes (stir constantly).

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.  Pour the caramel evenly over the graham crackers and bake in preheated 350 oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with the chocolate chips.  Wait a few minutes for the heat of the candied crackers to melt the chocolate chips, then spread the chocolate with a knife.
Sprinkle the toasted sliced almonds over the melted chocolate.

Let the whole pan cool in the fridge for about 20 minutes (to set the chocolate).  When the grahams are completely cool, and the chocolate is set, lift out of the pan and peel off the non-stick aluminum foil. Break into pieces and enjoy.