Squash Saute

I call this dish Squash Saute. Why? Because I wasn't sure how to spell sauteed, as in sauteed squash. It's just not the same without the accent mark over the "e." Something else about me, I hate to put anything inside quotation marks that isn't what I'm trying to talk about, such as a period (.) or a comma (,). It just looks so unnatural. It feels bad. But it looks worse if you put them outside the quotation marks.

Sorry, was I wandering?

One of my absolute favorite vegetables to grow and eat are summer squash. It's a toss up as to which variety I like the best. It used to be zucchini all the way, but then I started to really enjoy the yellow squash. And then, I discovered patty pan squash. Wow, are those good! Once I tried to give a friend some zucchini from my garden after they ran amok in the monsoon rains. She told me she didn't *like* zucchini. And I was like, well how do you cook them? And she said "I steam them." It's no wonder she didn't like them. Who wants to eat rubbery zucchini?

Anyway, moving on... You can tell a fresh summer squash at the grocery store by looking at the skin. It should be smooth, thin, and as blemish free as possible. The darker yellow a crookneck squash, the older and thicker the skin is. Don't even bother with those, they're just not worth it.

This recipe will leave your zucchini, slightly crunchy and caramelized on the outside and al dente on the inside! The taste is so heavenly. You've got to run out and try it!

4 summer squash sliced 3/4 inch thick
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
large flake sea salt

Melt butter in pan with olive oil. Saute squash over medium high heat in a non-stick skillet if you've got one. You want a pretty good sizzle, and high heat to quickly caramelize the outside but leave the inside with a bit of firmness and bite. Cook them for about 3 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with salt, and eat warm. (I turn mine with bamboo tongs so I don't scratch my Teflon pan.)

Corn Tortillas and How to Cook Them

You might ask why someone would need a lesson on how to cook corn tortillas. Well, most people cook them in oil of some sort. Be it a lot of oil or a little, they very often come out a bit greasy. I have come up with a method that reduces the oil to a minuscule amount. I use an 8 inch cast iron skillet.

Heat your skillet over medium high heat.

When the pan is very hot, add 3 drops of olive oil. Yes, only 3 drops.

Immediately place one corn tortilla on top of the oil.

With your hand lightly touching the tortilla, quickly spin it in the oil so that the pan is evenly coated. I don't pre-oil the pan, because it will smoke as it heats and nobody wants a smoky kitchen.

Cook the tortilla for 3-4 seconds and then...

Flip to the other side and cook for another 3-4 seconds. Repeat with remaining tortillas. I stack my cooked tortillas in between layers of napkins and cover the whole stack with foil to keep them warm. Add more oil every 4 tortillas or so, or if they begin to stick.

Once you have cooked your tortillas, be sure to enjoy them with the full complement of taco toppings. We ate ours with brisket, re-fried beans, sour cream, cotija cheese, Mexi-corn saute, salsa, cilantro, and lime juice. So delicious!

Apple Crisp

Ooooohhhhh! Apple crisp! Don't ya' just love it? I can't totally claim this recipe as my own. It's an adaptation of my friend Melissa's recipe. I just changed a few things up a bit. She deserves total credit for the addition of orange juice though. That's what sets this apple crisp apart.

4 large granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Place apple slices in an 8 x 8 baking dish, add orange juice, and stir gently to combine. Mix together dry ingredients. Sprinkle topping evenly over apples. Bake for 45 minutes. If you like your apples crunchier, bake for 30 minutes.

Pink Salad

Would you look at that. It's a pink fluffy pile of goodness. A blast from the past. It's that salad that your grandma probably made for you. But wait! Do not run away just yet. This stuff is tasty. If you aren't lucky like me, and can't get fresh strawberries right now without selling your birthright, go ahead and use a 1 pound bag of frozen whole strawberries with no sauce. Thaw them a bit and cut them into quarters. Feel free to experiment with different fruits and jello flavors. They're all good, but this strawberry version is the best.

1 lb fresh strawberries, quartered
1 (8 ounce) container cool whip, softened
1 (16 ounce) container small curd cottage cheese
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello
1 banana, sliced

Stir the jello and cottage cheese together. Add cool whip and stir gently to combine. Fold in strawberries and banana. You can let it sit for 15 minutes, so the jello dissolves completely.

Roasted Carrots and a Bonus Recipe!

I love roasted vegetables, especially in the winter. In the winter, you don't mind heating up your kitchen by boosting the oven up to 450 F. It's so easy, healthy, and the caramelization is just delicious. Especially on carrots. If you don't have time, use a 1 pound bag of baby carrots. If you've got time buy a bunch of regular carrots, peel them, and cut them into baby corrot sized pieces. The effort you put into using the big carrots, is totally and completely worth it. They just taste better. Thank you Diana for teaching me this.

1 lb baby carrots
2 tablespoons olive oil
Nature's seasons

Preheat oven to 450 F. On a large cookie sheet, place carrots. Drizzle with olive oil. Use more or less as you find necessary. Toss the carrots with your hands and spread them out. You don't want them to touch very much. Sprinkle with ample Nature's seasons. You won't need extra salt. Bake for 30 minutes, shaking pan at 15 minutes to roll the carrots around. If you want you can stir them, but I'm too lazy.

I served these carrots with a delicious crock pot recipe from the folks at Pillsbury called French Onion Beef. It looked fabulously delicious in the picture and I must admit that it was pretty darn tasty. You're not going to get a picture of it though. It was one of the ugliest looking things I've ever made. You 'd better believe the picture in the magazine was totally set up, and not cooked according to the directions. I cooked mine for 4 hours on high, and if you cook yours on high be sure to add at least 1 extra cup of water because it can get a bit dry during cooking. I used turkey stuffing mix instead of herb flavor, and it was a good substitution.

French Onion Beef

1 1/4 pound boneless beef round steak
1 package (8 ounces) slice fresh mushrooms (3 cups)
1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed French onion soup
1 package (6 oz) 10 -minute herb stuffing mix
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cut beef into 6 serving-sized pieces. Layer half each of beef, musrhooms, and onion in a 3 1/2 to 4-quart slow cooker; repeat layers. Pour soup over ingredients in slow cooker.

Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 10 hours or until beef is tender and no longer pink.

Before serving, in medium bowl, mix stuffing mix, melted butter and 1/2 cup liquid from slow cooker; toss to mix. Place stuffing on top of contents in slow cooker.

Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 10 minutes longer or until stuffing is fluffy. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover; cook until cheese is melted before serving.

Crab Rangoon

You know those little crunchy wonton appetizers that they sell at Chinese restaurants for way more than they're worth? They've got cream cheese and crab, and come with that strange nuclear red sweet and sour sauce for dipping. Don't you just love them? I'm sure they have never heard of them in China, but that's not the important part. The important part is that you, yes YOU, can create them in your very own kitchen en masse for a fraction of the cost.

Note to self: Don't ever use Melissa's wonton wrappers, they're coated with so much flour that they don't stick closed, no matter how much water used. Oh wait...sorry...I was talking to myself. What about you ask? Just another almost cooking disaster. I painted and pasted and painted and pasted those darn wrappers with water, and they still popped open when I fried them. The comapny said that they recommend that the extra flour be dusted off. Who has time to dust off 60 wonton wrappers? I recommend any other brand of wrapper, except for Melissa's.

2 (8 ounce) packages 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) package imitation crab, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 (60 count) square package wonton wrappers
water
sweet and sour sauce for dipping

Soften the cream cheese for 1 hour or so. Or, if you do things at the last minute like me, put the cream cheese into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds then stir, and repeat microwaving and stirring for about 3 times. Please remove the cream cheese from the wrapper before microwaving unless you like fireworks and fire in your microwave. Stir in crab and green onions.

Working with a few wrappers at a time, lay them out on your work surface. Don't do more than 6 or so at a time because they are prone to drying out. Place a small amount, approximately the size of an hard-boiled egg yolk, of the crab-cheese mixture into the center of each wrapper. Then using your finger and the water, paint two edges of the wrapper making a right ange. Please see the above picture if you are confused. Press wrapper shut sealing edges, and place completed rangoons into a container and shut the lid for Pete's sake so they don't dry out! Repeat with remaining filling and wrappers.

Heat oil over medium-high heat. I know the oil is ready if it sizzles when I dip in the corner of a wonton. Whatever you do, do NOT walk away from your hot/heating oil unless you want to burn down your house. If you don't have your oil hot enough, they will be greasy! Cook each wonton for about 20-30 seconds on each side. Drain on paper towels and eat while still warm.

To reheat: Crab rangoons can be easily reheated in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes. Place them so they dont' touch on a cookie sheet.

Funk, Photos, and Biscuits

I've been in kind of a cooking funk lately. Ok, it's not just my cooking. You know how it is. Nothing sounds good. I've been wondering what I'm going to blog about, because nothing's really working out. I made Japanese curry, but the pics aren't great. I made some raspberry cheesecake brownies, but they didn't taste spactacular. I made the biscuit above, and it wasn't made with my usual recipe, and it just tasted ok. I can't find my regular recipe, it's packed up in a box somewhere.

Do you ever have those times when you just can't get anything you cook to come out? I went to a restaurant of Friday, and even they couldn't get anything to turn out right. Maybe there's hope and it's not just me. At least I know I'll pull out of it. I'm not so sure about that restaurant.

My photos haven't been that great either. I do really like this one of the biscuit,it makes me think of the '50s, although I don't like the photoshopped edge that is clearly visible at the top of the biscuit. It does need some more work. I'm going to get really smart like Hannah at Bittersweet Blog and invest in some poster board. Then I won't need to try to photoshop out all of the junk my children have left all over my kitchen.

Barbecue Chicken Tortilla Wraps

This recipe is probably one of the easiest dinners you could make and still impress friends and family. It comes from that book I've mentioned before, here, called Southwest Slow Cooking. Barbecue flavors match surprisingly well with Mexican ones. You can use plain old Monterey Jack cheese like the recipe calls for if you want, or you can get all crazy and wild and use Pepper Jack cheese. It's really up to you and how brave/daring you feel. I also liked lime squeezed over the tacos, but again, your acoutremants are up to you.

4 bonless chicken breasts
2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce
Flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 avocados, peeled, seeded, and sliced
Fresh Cilantro

Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker and cover with barbecue sauce. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken and shred with a fork. In the center of a warm tortilla, layer shredded chicken, cheese, avocado, and a pinch of cilantro. Roll up and enjoy!

Makes 6+ Servings

Marshmallow Krispie Bars

Kind of an unassuming name isn't it. Diabolical doesn't even begin to describe these bars. You have a combination of fudgy brownies, rice krispie treats, and peanut butter, all rolled up into a dessert the likes of which you cannot comprehend until you actually try to combat it's substantial powers. Resistance is futile. Make this dessert and see what I mean. The recipe is from the Favorite Brand Name Bake Sale Cookbook. I doubled the amount of rice krispies but you certainly don't have to.

1 package (19.8 ounces) Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix
1 package (10.5 ounces) miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 9x13 inch pan.

Prepare and bake brownies following package directions for fudgy recipe. (Not the cake-like.) Remove from oven. Sprinkle marshmallows on hot brownies. Return to oven. Bake for 3 minutes longer.

Place chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chips are melted. Add rice cereal; mix well. Spread mixture over marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled. Cut into bars.

Makes about 2 dozen bars