Creamy Scallop Chowder

Hello Everyone,

A couple of weeks ago my husband begged me to make this. I kept putting off, not because I didn’t want to make it for him, it’s just as I have said before I hate the smell of cooking seafood. I have no idea why I just do… Here it is for you to try, he loved and ate most of it! 🙂

Creamy Scallop Chowder:

1 lb. scallops, rinsed and drained

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 oz. fresh sliced mushrooms

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tsp. salt

1 pinch of pepper, or to taste

1 cup shredded swiss cheese

2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

Wash and drain scallops. If scallops are large, cut in half. In a medium size saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Saute onions and mushrooms until tender; add in garlic. Stir in flour. Pour in milk and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Add in wine, scallops, salt, pepper, cheese, and parsley. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Serve immediately.

I met another lady with Sarcoidosis today. She is the only other person I have met with this. It was nice to talk to her, she has a lot more problems with it than I do. Hopefully I’ll get to see her again at the Y and have a chance to chat.

Until next time everyone!!

Amanda 🙂

 

Chocolate Chip Fudge Cookies

Hello Everyone,

Here is a recipe I made up for my husband, he loves chocolate chip cookies so I thought I would try something different. The verdict is that he like’s regular chocolate chip cookies instead. Give this recipe I try I loved them!!

Chocolate Chip Fudge Cookies:

1 cup unsalted butter, 2 sticks softened

1-1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar together, until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time. Add remaining ingredient’s and blend in just until mixed together. Be careful to not overmix, or the cookies will be tough.. Drop dough by rounded tbsp. onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, just until slightly firm to the touch. Enjoy! 🙂

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Please remember all the veterans, people still in service and those that have died for our country today!  

Amanda 🙂

 

Lemon Blueberry Cake

Hello Everyone,

I have a had a busy week, had a lot going on… Friday I made an apple blueberry crisp and butterscotch brownies, for Ronald McDonald house.. I did some shopping and it was raining like crazy!! I hate being out in it, but didn’t have much choice. Ray for a couple of weeks, well all the time really, begs me to make stuff with bacon. I picked up some shrimp to make bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops for his scallop stew. Made Ray very happy tonight with his goodies!! I don’t often cook seafood or fish, because of the smell, but this wasn’t to bad… Today I made a spaghetti dinner for a family that was moving. I’m not sure how many people they had helping them. I fixed veggie spaghetti, salad, garlic/herb dinner rolls, a tomato/zucchini/green beans topped with a cheesy, crispy panko bread topping. I cut up 2 cantaloupes and made this lemon blueberry cake. We took everything to their new house, and got a tour of their house. This lemon blueberry cake is from my Betty Crocker booklet, and I changed it a little. I made it in a 9×13 cake pan instead of baking in round cake pans, so it would be easier for them to serve. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

Lemon Blueberry Cake:

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 large eggs

1-1/4 cups whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup lemon juice

For Frosting and Topping:

3 cups powdered sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/8 tsp. popcorn salt

1/4 cup lemon juice, or more to taste

2 cups fresh blueberries

Grease and flour a 9×13 cake pan, and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl cream the sugar and butter together until fluffy, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, just until blended. Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Combine the 1 cup powdered sugar and lemon juice. With a fork poke several holes in cake and pour lemon mixture over top. Let cake cool completely before frosting. Cream all frosting ingredient’s (expect blueberries) until creamy. Spread over cake, and top with blueberries.

Well until next time everyone..

Amanda 🙂

 

Lime Coconut Cream Cake

Hello Everyone,

Here is another recipe from my Betty Crocker booklet I bought awhile back. It’s suppose to have Key lime juice, but in my state we don’t get them to often, plus they are more expensive.

Lime Coconut Cream Cake:

1 cup graham crackers crumbs

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

3 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup heavy cream

4 tsp. lime zest

1/4 cup lime juice

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. lime zest

4-5 tsp. lime juice

2 tbsp. flaked coconut, toasted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. In a small bowl, mix cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and 3 tbsp melted butter; set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat, 3/4 cup butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low-speed, alternately beat in flour mixture and cream. Add 4 tsp lime zest and 1/4 cup lime juice; beat just blended. Stir in 1 cup coconut. Sprinkle half of cracker crumb mixture in bottom of pan. Spoon half of batter over mixture in pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture; top with remaining batter. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely before icing. In a small bowl, stir together the 1 cup powdered sugar 1/2 tsp. lime zest and 4-5 tsp. lime juice. Spoon glaze over top of cake, sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Please pray fo my husband’s family. Several of them were in the Joplin. MO. tornado. So far they are all doing ok, no word on their homes yet..

I am baking the mission cake this week. Its going to be a simple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and drizzled with chocolate syrup. I have been sick the last 2 days, it’s just my medication stuff. Can be so annoying at times, especially when I’m trying to get stuff done. I just need to keep praying that Jesus will heal me!!! 🙂

Until next time..

Amanda 🙂

 

No-Bake Cheesecake

Hello Everyone,

I made this cheesecake for Ronald McDonald House last Friday. It’s very easy to make and so tasty too!! It’s from an old family friend and I’m not sure where she got it. I don’t remember seeing it anywhere else either..

No-Bake Cheesecake

1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 (8oz.) container Cool Whip topping

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla

1 can pie filling, or you can use chocolate or caramel sauce

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy, fold in Cool Whip, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Pour into crust and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, top with your favorite topping.

I made 2 of these plus 2 different batches of cookies from the Food Network Magazine, I’ll talk about them in a later post. Had a good day baking there! Afterwords, Ray and I went to lunch and did some shopping.

Until next time..

Amanda 🙂

 

Russian Food Festival

Hello everyone,

Last Saturday Ray and I went to the Russian Food Festival that is held in Boise. All the proceeds go the Russian church and community. I didn’t post anything about yet it, because I was looking for the menu they gave us. Ray and I also went to a huge parking lot yard sale after we ate, and it was hot!! I got sunburned on the neck and my arms and I ended up with sun sickness Sunday. Feeling much better now!!! We love this festival, the food and music is fantastic!  Here is what we decided to sample..

Pelmeni: Russian Stuffed dumplings, with beef and or beef and pork. We had the beef ones with a little sour cream on top. It was my favorite dish of the day!!

Piroshki: Russian turnovers, they had them stuffed with a variety of fillings. Potato and beef, apricots/apples/ and raisins, potato/mushroom, cabbage/beef, and eggs/green onions. We had one of the Potato/beef and Ray ate the other one and I don’t remember what that one was. They were pretty good, not my favorite.

Blini: Russian pancakes, they had some with beef/mushrooms and some filled with some kind of sweet cheese. I loved these, so tasty!!

Mushroom Zakuson: Russian style marinated mushrooms, they had a pickled flavoring to them and spicy These were really good too!

Carrot Salad: Russian style marinated carrot salad, this was also pickled. We bought some of this to bring home, and were still eating it! lol!

The others items we chose to sample was the Shish-Kebab with rice, it was just ok, the meat was too overcooked for my taste.. We had some kind of dough that was fried and had a meat filling and I’m sorry I can’t remember what it was called. This is just a small listing of what they had, there was so much food there! We took a take-out dessert box, filled with amazing treats, like Baklava, almond cookies, and a peanut cake. We also brought home a Russian chocolate log, it has almonds and vodka, were still nibbling on that! It’s really strong!!!

I almost forgot to add that Ray bought me the cutest Russian doll set. They are absolutely the cutest dolls ever! They are hand made and painted..

The Greek Food Festival is in a couple of weeks and you can bet we’ll be going to that one to!

Later everyone!

Amanda 🙂

 

Apple and Blueberry Pie

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all enjoy my new site! I have been working on it for the last couple of hours. I have a lot still to learn and add to it! I figured out how to add pictures!! Hopefully I’ll be adding pictures with the recipes soon! It’s a work in progress!! 🙂

I made this pie for Ronald McDonald last week. I was there again today and one of the people who is staying there asked me if I was making it again, I said no umm, I’m sorry! He said rats, I loved that pie!! It was great to hear that! Enjoy everyone!

Apple and Blueberry Pie:

Pastry for double crust (9-inch) pie pan

3 lbs. tart apples, I like to use gala, or rome

2 cups fresh blueberries, it’s important to use fresh ones, or your pie won’t set up properly

1/4 cup butter melted

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp. cornstarch or clear jel

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

For topping:

2 tbsp. heavy cream

2 tbsp coarse sugar

Divide dough in half so that one portion is slightly larger than the other; wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle. On a lightly floured surface, roll out larger portion of dough to fit a 9-inch deep dish pie plate. In a large bowl, combine the apples, blueberries, butter and lemon juice. Combine the sugar, cornstarch or (clear jel), cinnamon and nutmeg; add to fruit mixture and toss to coat. Place in crust. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Brush top with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar. Cut slits in the top for steam to escape. Bake at 375 degrees for 55-65 minutes or until golden brown and filling is bubbly. COver the edges with foil during the last 30 minutes to prevent overbrowning if necessary. Cool on wire rack before slicing.

Until next time everyone..

Amanda 🙂