Thanksgiving Pie? Oh My!

 J.J. aproved pies! Just in time for Thanksgiving!

  Butterscotch Pie

Ingredients

• Flaky Pecan Pastry
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk, divided 
• 3 egg yolks 
• 1 cup milk 
• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Meringue for Pie

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare Flaky Pecan Pastry. On a lightly floured surface, slightly flatten dough. Roll dough from center to edge into a 12-inch circle. Wrap pastry circle around rolling pin; unroll into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it. Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pastry even with edge of plate. Crimp edge as desired. Do not prick pastry. Line pastry with a double thickness of foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes more or until pastry is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

2. For filling, in a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in about 1/2 cup of the evaporated milk. Whisk in egg yolks until combined. Whisk in the remaining evaporated milk and the milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Cover and keep warm. Prepare Meringue for Pie.

3. Pour warm filling into pastry shell. Gently spread meringue over warm filling, sealing to edge of pie. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Chill for 3 to 6 hours before serving; cover for longer storage. Makes 8 servings.

Flaky Pecan Pastry: In a medium bowl, stir together 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in 1/4 cup shortening and 1/4 cup butter, cut up, or shortening until pieces are pea size. Stir in 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons ice water and 2 teaspoons vinegar. Sprinkle mixture over part of the flour mixture; toss gently with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat with 2 tablespoons additional ice water until all of the flour mixture is moistened. Gather mixture into a ball, kneading gently until it holds together. If necessary, cover and chill about 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Meringue for Pie: In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar; set aside. In a large bowl, combine 3 egg whites and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add sugar mixture, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on high speed until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).  -----I personally don't like meringue...I use whipped cream.

 Peanutbutter Pie

• 1 prepared graham cracker crust.
•  2 cups powdered sugar,
• 1-8 oz. cream cheese,
• As much peanut butter as you like to your taste.
• 1 small tub of cool whip.

Mix first four ingreadents together till smooth. Fold in cool whip. Chill and enjoy.

Onion Please!

This will be a short post just to share my famous onion dip.

J.J.'s Onion Dip

• • 1 16oz container of Sour Cream - I like Daisy
  • 1 1/2 packets of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
  • 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

  Mix all ingreadents till well combined, do this at least eight hours befor serving. Chill! Enjoy!  is good with chips and vegetable trays.

Chesapeake Chicken

I haven’t wrote in forever. No one wants to send me recipes!
This weekend I was able to dine and take my very good friend, Melissa, to a couple of my favorite restaurants. We had lunch at the many time mentioned Los Portales. The food was awesome as usual. We tried the chorizo dip. That was OH EM GEE good. White queso with sausage? Yes, Ma’am I will have some more!
For dinner last night we went to Sullivan’s. Sullivan’s is a local steak house up the street from my house. They have this crab did that is to die for. I had the Chesapeake Chicken as well. This is two grilled chicken breasts topped with the crab dip and Monterey Jack cheese. The also have these monster loaded baked potatoes.

I will be having a Halloween get together next weekend. I will be writing about the goodies for that and even maybe post some pictures. I already know that the infamous buffalo chicken dip will be on deck. Maybe, I will divulge my super secret onion dip. Tune in to find out!

Cheese Steaks, Watermelon, and Pancakes? Oh my!

As I sit here eating a lazy man’s lunch of SpaghettiOs, I am thinking about all the delicious stuff I have been cooking. I could have cooked a lunch today, but seriously…every good cook deserves a break.

I made cheese steaks a couple weeks ago at the request of the kid. They by far weren’t as good as anything you would get in Philly, but for homemade they was phenomenal. There were simple to make as well. I mean you need some Steak-umm’s, cheese, onion, mayo, and buns. I also made homemade fries as the roommate has purchased a deep fryer. And yes, that is cheese on my fries.

I also made a Plugged or Spiked Mellon…a delicious kind of watermelon. Not to hard to make either.

How to Plug, Spike, or Cork a Watermelon

Ingredients

• Watermelon
• Liquor

Steps

• Use a small knife to gently cut a round hole into the watermelon to create a "plug." It is best to not cut a square or triangular hole, as that may cause your watermelon to crack, rendering it useless for this activity.
• Use a corkscrew to remove the plug of watermelon rind from your watermelon. Trim the pink watermelon attached to the plug and eat it, this is also a good chance to try out the liquor you want on the watermelon flesh without tainting the melon with a potentially poor liquor for this job.
• Take a teaspoon and scoop some of the flesh out of the hole you made to make some space for the spirits to flow into the fruit. Two or three spoonfuls should do it. Eat this as well, mix with other liquors if you feel like trying something new before you pour the rest into the melon.
• Next, take something long and skinny, a kabob skewer, thin knife, or some other implement works well, poke it into the flesh of the watermelon a few times at different angles.
• Lance the watermelon to puncture the naturally occurring airspaces and pockets within it; by lancing these small pockets you are creating channels for the spirits to flow freely through the melon.

• Do not poke the skewer all the way through the other side of the melon! That will make it leak. 
• After that, pour about one cup of your favorite booze into the watermelon. How much liquid the melon will absorb depends on the size of the melon you have purchased, and do not forget that you are filling the fruit with liquor to fit your and your guests tastes.
• Pour in a little bit at a time and let it settle in. Vodka, rum, and bourbon whiskey are popular for filling the melons, though you could get adventurous and try out something new.
• Replace the plug of watermelon rind you set aside into the watermelon.
• Place the watermelon with the "plug side" up back in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours to let the spirits percolate through the flesh and to cool the melon.
• Slice, serve, and enjoy!

  

Saturday morning I made pancakes. I like peanut butter pancakes. I add a ½ cup to ¾ cup of peanut butter to my favorite pancake mix. Then I cook like normal. When syrup is added they taste like peanut butter pancakes.

AWOL - again!

I suck! I know! Time just gets away from me and before you know it, I haven’t written an entry in ages. I will blame World of Warcraft. It is an evil addiction I love! Speaking of WoW…there is a cookbook I am dying to get and try! The Original and Stricly Unoffical Tauren Chef Cookbook.

This is not to mean I haven’t been cooking, I have. Just yesterday I baked a beautiful chicken with stuffing. The key is low and slow. I start it on 200F for like four to five hours. I also put a bowl of beer with rosemary in the oven to let it seep into the chicken and it also made the house smell wonderful! Also the key to beautiful chicken is to rub the skin with olive oil before you bake it. I used to use butter but yeah, you know the healthy thing.

Two weeks ago I made beautiful chicken and bean/cheese/onion enchiladas for Melissa. The were OMG good. I used ground chicken instead of cubed chicken breasts and I will only use this from now on. It gave them a whole new texture and I ate leftovers happily for three days. I also used far free, reduced calorie everything but the cheese, because lets face it…low fat cheese sucks!

I will write more soon…I have tons of photos and my adventures in making cheese steaks at home, pancakes, and a plugged watermelon!

Absentee Chef

I know I know...there has been no Fat Kid updates...sadly real life takes over my Internet stardom.

I have that Crazy Cake recipe and pictures.  I must say is was quite good and very delicious.  The day I made it, Genea and I, that's all we had for dinner. Ha! I shared with my neighbor too and she enjoyed it as well.

Sue's Crazy Cake

• 3 cups of flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 6 tablespoons coco powder
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 12 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla

• 2 cups cold water

Make 3 deep impression in the dry mixture.  In one hole add the oil, one hole add the vinegar, and one hole add the vanilla...pour the water on top of all of the ingredients and fold until mixture is moist. The mixture will be runny.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Do not over bake! This cake drys out easily.

Now the icing if you so choose to ice it is:

• 1 pound of powder sugar
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• milk to moisten

I whipped that up with an electric mixer...I used less sugar.  This worked out for me as the cake is pretty sweet and rich.

Many Delicious Things!

Missing I have been, I know. I don’t really have a following anyway, so have I been missing?
I haven’t been cooking much. I haven’t had much inspiration.
I did however Monday find some energy and make some banana pudding. I love banana pudding! I cheat a lot in my making of it, but it is delicious.

J.J.’s Banana PuddingPOUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Let stand 5 min.

• 4 cups cold milk (Want it really rich? Use heavy cream!)

2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding (I use the banana flavor!)

30 NILLA Wafers

3 medium bananas, sliced

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed (Screw this…use real whipped cream!)

ARRANGE half of the wafers on bottom and up side of 2-qt. serving bowl; top with layers of half each of the banana slices and pudding. Repeat all layers. Cover with whipped topping. (If you opt for real whipped cream don’t cover till you serve!)

REFRIGERATE 3 hours. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

I also made White Chili yesterday. This stuff is killer…I have made it thicker to use for enchiladas. It is good just as chili though.

J.J.’s White ChiliSpice Mix – these are the approximate spices. I cheat and get the McCormick White Chicken Chili Mix

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves -- cut in 1" cubes
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 can chopped green chilies
• 1 can cannellini beans – drained
• 1 can black beans – drained/rinsed - optional
• Cheese – Optional
• Sour Cream – Optional
• Tortilla Chips – Optional

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cilantro

1. Mix spices together to make Southwest Spice Blend.

2. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and onions; cook 4-5 minutes.

3. Stir in broth, green chilies and Spice Blend; simmer 15 minutes.

4. Stir in beans. Simmer 5 minutes. Garnish with Monterey Jack/Mexican Blend cheese, sour cream, chips, if desired.

Good stuff!  I also made my own tortilla chips to go with the chili.  They turned out well and were better than the store bought ones!

Last night the roommate brought home White Castle's as well…the roommate is a truck driver and was in NJ yesterday and imported them home for me. Nothing better than White Castle Burgers to munch on while playing World of Warcraft!