Monday, April 13, 2009

Spinach Dip

1 10 oz. box of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 16 oz. container of sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 pkg. vegetable soup dip
1 8 oz. can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 green onions, chopped

Mix ingredients together, cover, and chill for 2 hours. Can be served in a round bread bowl. Serve with bread, cut up vegetables or crackers.

Artichoke Dip

8 oz. sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
4 oz. Parmesan cheese
1 can drained and chopped artichokes
8 oz. cream cheese

Mix altogether and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes (stirring every 10 minutes). Serve with Fritos, tortilla chips, or bread.

Egg Drop Soup

Serves 4

4 cups (2 cans) chicken broth, divided
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives (or dried)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
4 eggs
1 egg yolk

Reserve 3/4 cup chicken broth and pour rest into large sauce pan. Stir the salt, ginger, and chives into the saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining broth and cornstarch until smooth. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk together using a fork. Drizzle egg a little at a time from the fork into the boiling broth mixture. Egg should cook immediately. Once the eggs have been dropped, stir in the cornstarch mixture gradually until the soup is the desired consistency.

Magleby’s Syrup

*Use a large pan*

1 cube butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla

Melt together butter, buttermilk, sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a low boil on medium heat. Add 1 tsp. baking soda. Stir fast—it gets BIG! Boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add 2 tsp. vanilla. Mix well and enjoy.

Serve hot over pancakes, waffles, ice cream . . . anything!

Chocolate Éclairs

1 cup water
½ cup stick margarine or butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 box instant vanilla pudding (make & store in refrigerator)
Chocolate frosting (store bought is easy!)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat water and margarine to rolling boil in 2 1/2-quart saucepan. Stir in flour. Reduce heat to low. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat.
3. Beat in eggs, all at once, continue beating until smooth. Drop dough by scant ¼ cupfuls about 3 inches apart onto un-greased cookie sheet and shape each into finger 4 ½ inches long and 1 ½ inches wide, using a spatula.
4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool away from draft. Cut off top third of each puff and pull out any strands of soft dough.
5. Fill puffs with vanilla pudding. Replace tops. Frost with chocolate frosting. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Refrigerate any remaining dessert.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

I substitute Heath bar chips for the nuts. Use Nilla wafer crackers and chocolate or honey graham cracker sticks to dip with.

8 oz. cream cheese, must be softened!
1/2 c. butter, must be softened!
1/2 tsp vanilla (if using real vanilla I would only use 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 c. powdered sugar
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1 bag mini chocolate chips (must be the mini size, regular do not work for this)
1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts or pecans
Cookies or sweet crackers to dip with

In medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add sugars; beat just until combined. Stir in 3/4 c. chocolate chips and 1/2 c. chopped nuts. Place on large piece of plastic wrap and form into a ball, wrap up and refrigerate for at least two hours so it can harden up a little bit. Just before serving, roll cheese ball in the remaining mini chocolate chips.

Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

With this recipe I use the dough setting on my bread machine. It’s way easy—just add the ingredients in the order listed and it does all the work! If you don't have a bread machine, mix the water and yeast together and let it dissolve. Then add the remaining ingredients and let it rise for about an hour or until doubled. The thing that makes this recipe really good is the caramel on the bottom of the pan. You really could use any cinnamon roll recipe and then add the caramel to the bottom. For frosting I usually just cheat and buy whatever cream cheese frosting is on sale!

Dough:
1 cup warm water (110 degrees f)
1 egg
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons instant powdered milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon instant yeast

Caramel:
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup brown sugar

Filling:
1/2 cup butter, softened (for spreading)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:
1. Place water, egg, bread flour, white sugar, powdered milk, salt, 5 tablespoons butter and yeast in bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select DOUGH setting, and turn machine on.
2. Meanwhile; in a small saucepan, melt 1/3 cut butter. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar and ice cream; bring to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes. Pour caramel into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees c)
4. When machine has finished cycling remove dough from pan and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rectangle. Spread with softened butter and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Crumble 1/2 cup brown sugar over the top. Roll up, and seal edge. Cut into 12 rolls, and place in prepared pan of caramel. allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees c) for approximately 20 to 25, until golden brown.