Spritz Cookies

Made these for the first time today.  They are really good!  Have always liked them growing up, but finally had the chance to make a batch (or two). The key... as I am told... is to have a hand cranked sprtitzer.  The automatic sprtitz machine is too unreliable.  Cookie doughs change too much from batch to batch to have  a set mechanical way of making them.

Ingredients:
1 C Shortening (use the butter flavored stuff)
3/4 C Sugar
1 Egg
2 C Flour
1/8 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Almond Flavoring
Food Coloring (pick the color you want)

Start out with a medium sized mixing bowl.  If you use a stand mixer it works pretty nicely.  Add in the shortening, sugar, egg, salt, baking powder, and almond flavoring.  Mix until it is combined fully.

-Add in the flour one cup at a time.  When you are done, the dough should kinda look and feel like playdough.
-Add in the food coloring of your choice.

-If the dough is too try, try to add a bit more almond flavoring, or food coloring, or Shortening. Just a bit usually does it.
-If the dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.  Don't get crazy. Usually only add a tablespoon at a time to check it.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

The first batch that you do on a pan... you should crisco the pan so that they don't stick.
These cookies are super easy, but they are also super finicky.  The size of the shape that you are making is going to change the time that the cookies cook and the amount that you need to put on the cookie sheet.  You will have to play with the time and the size a bit to get it right.  If you spritz out a cookie and it looks like crap, throw it back in the bowl.  If there is not much to the size of a cookie... cut the time way down.  If you are making cookie kind of like the ones pictured above... use the 8-9 minutes.

Usually for a decent sized spritz cookie it will take anywhere from 8-9 minutes.  BUT make sure you are keeping your eye on the cookies.  I like mine a little bit less done.  Some people like them with a bit more dark area.  You are going to have to play with the time and the size.

Take them off the pan as soon as they come out of the oven.  Otherwise they continue to cook.

They are really good cookies!  Have fun!

--Thanks Jack!

Prime Rib

Okay, so you are thinking what is there to a hunk of meat? Well, you can make it taste really good or you can eat a hunk of meat.  I got this one from Sanders 1907 in Grand Forks.  Real nice with garlic mashed potatoes.  It helps if you can prepare the Prime Rib the night before.

Ingredients:
A hunk of meat--should look something like this

--Olive Oil
--Garlic Puree
--White Pepper (or normal pepper) Not that big of a difference
--Sea Salt
--Basil
--Rosemary
--Oregano
--Bay Leaf (3-4)

-Clear out a large place in your fridge.
-Start off by placing your Prime Rib in a cookie sheet.  I usually start with the bottom side of the rib.  (Opposite of the picture up there.)
-Pour a little of the Olive Oil over the rib.  Make sure it is covered on the ends as well.
-Now you want to take the garlic puree and put it on pretty liberally.  You are just putting the garlic on the outside of a (huge) hunk of meat so don't be scared.  It should not form a solid crust or anything, but it should be spread out pretty decently.
-Now you are just going to use the rest of the ingredients, minus the Bay Leaves, to cover the rib in layers.  I usually do it in the order that the ingredients are listed, but I don't think that it matters.  Again, Huge Chunk of Meat so don't be scared.
-Turn the rib over and repeat.
-When everything is covered, place the bay leaves on the rib.  Spread them out.
-Cover the entire rib with plastic wrap and put it in the place you cleared out in the fridge.

It should look something like this...

...notice the ends are covered in seasoning!!  This is the piece you want to fight someone for.  Trust me.

So now you have the easy part covered.  Congrats!  If you can... drop the cooking, grilling, baking off on someone else.  It all depends on how done you want your prime rib.

USE A Thermometer! You can have one that just sits in the oven with it, or one that you check every once in a while, but use one.  I like my prime rib med-rare.  This will get you close to that.  But remember "all ovens and grills will cook at different levels".  I think that they just say this so that you don't call them and complain that it is not done enough or over done.  So don't call me either.

-Take the prime rib out of the fridge about two to three hours before you cook it.  This will get it up to room temp.
-Turn the oven on to 250 degrees.
-Place a pan slightly larger than the one that you are cooking the prime rib in  on the rack below it.  This will catch any drippings that spill over.
-Put the prime rib in the oven and turn the oven down to 200 degrees.
-How long do you cook it for???  Who knows..  I have usually done this recipe with about a 11-14 pound hunk of meat. It usually takes about 3 hours for those to cook. Cook the roast until it reaches 124 on your thermometer.  (Don't freak out!!)  Take the roast out and cover it with tinfoil until the temperature stops going up.
-As you are waiting for the roast to finish cooking on the counter... crank your oven up to 500 degrees.
-When the temp stops going up, place the uncovered roast in the oven again for about 10-15 minutes.  This is to get a nice crust on the prime rib. Not to mention your place will smell amazing and people will be drooling.
-After the 10-15 minutes are up, place the roast on a cutting board and let it sit for a couple of minutes covered.
-Cut the prime rib in to pieces a little larger than an inch and you have one hell of a meal on your hands.

**This should get most of the prime rib done to the same temperature.  If you like your prime rib so that it is a little more al a carte... (many different temperatures throughout the roast) you can cook it the same way you always do.  Just don't get mad when you can't have an end cut done at medium rare.

Spinach Con Queso

Got this one from the Moose.  It is really good, but kind of makes a mess in the crockpot.  Oh well.  It is worth it.

Things you need:
Crockpot--> try and get one that is the right size.  If you are making a normal batch of this you can usually put it in a larger dip style size.  If you are making a larger batch, basically double everything for enough for 10-15 people, then use a crockpot that is round rather than oval.  The oval ones have too much surface space on the bottom and it burns everything.

Pepper Jack Velveeta. --> Yeah this stuff is a little expensive, but it is the only thing that I have found that melts right.  This is not available in all stores... so you have to try and find it.

Ingredients:

2 Boxes of PepperJack Velveeta--I think they only come in that small sized box

1/2 White Onion

1 Package of Frozen Spinach-Thawed

Some jalapeno (depends on how spicy you like things)

Jalapeno Juice

3-4 Roma Tomatoes

Sour Cream
Milk 

--Cube up the Velveeta into smaller pieces.  Places these in the Crockpot.

--I usually turn it in on a medium setting.  The stuff takes a little bit of time to melt, but otherwise you have it too high and you get burnt stuff all over the place. 

--Let the "cheese product" melt for a bit.  You can also add just a little bit of milk to help it along.  Stir the cheese every once in a while to make sure it is not burning on the bottom.

--(Several Years Later/ Cheater Code) You can melt the cheese in an oven safe container with some milk and the entire process goes a little faster.  

--When the product is melted, stir in the chopped jalapeno.  I also add some of the juice from the jalapeno jar.  This is where you can add more heat if you want.  More jalapeno juice equals more heat. the consistency you like. 

--You will need to add some milk to your mix to make it the right consistency. How much? it depends on how thick you like your dip. Unfortunately, this is something you will have to play with to get 

--Chop up the Onion.  Again you can use more onion if you like.  I also try to get the onion to a pretty fine chop. Put this in the Crockpot.  

--Take the thawed Spinach and make sure to squeeze out all of the water.  Then put in with the rest of the ingredients. 

You are now at a point where you can just let it sit on low for as long as you want.  You will still have to stir it every now and then, but you can have it sitting waiting for when you are ready for it.  

--Just before you are ready to serve the Queso add in the chopped tomatoes.  Also add in a couple of heaping teaspoons of Sour Cream.  Stir everything together and you are set.  This stuff is really good!

Asian Sauce

Usually use this one on wings, but it is also good on shrimp and pork.  This one came from the Mooser Days.

You can cook your wings or whatever any way you like.  The sauce you can either use as a dipping sauce or you can toss the wings in a bowl with the sauce in it.

This is the sweet part of the Asian sauce. 

This is the 'hot' part of the Asian sauce. 

I usually make it with about a 4 to 1 ratio of sweet to hot.  If you like it a little bit more tame, then mix it at about a 5 to 1 ratio.  

*This sauce goes really well with ranch dressing.  But make sure to make your own ranch at home.  The stuff you buy is nasty.

French Bread

Ingredients

4 cups bread flour
2 tsp active quick rising dry yeast
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water

1. Put 1/4 cup of bread flour on your clean counter top and reserve. Place remaining 3 3/4 cups bread flour in your mixer bowl. Spoon the yeast on one side of the bowl, and the salt on the other side. Pour in the warm water and with your regular mixer paddle, mix on low speed until the dough comes together in a mass. Switch to the dough hook. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Dough should clear the sides but stick to the bottom. If it is too sticky, add 1 T of flour at a time. If too dry, add 1 T of water to dough to adjust. After 2 minutes, let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

The dough should look like this during the rest:

2. Turn the mixer on again and mix for 3 minutes. Take the dough out and place on the counter. Remember that 1/4 cup of flour that we reserved? We’ll use it now. As you knead the dough by hand, incorporate more flour as you need. You might not need it all. Knead by hand until the dough is very satiny, smooth, tight and formed into a nice, compact ball:

Place this dough in a large lightly oiled bowl (I use Pam spray). Turn dough over so that all sides have a thin coating of oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm place for 1 1/2 hours. Dough should almost double in size. Punch dough down and form back into a ball. Poke your finger on the surface – the dough should give into the pressure and slowly creep back up.

3. About 1 hour into the rest stage, preheat your oven to 450F (convection 425F). Place your pizza stone, inverted baking sheet or covered cast iron pot into the oven to heat up.

4. Ok, here’s the fun part. Cut the dough into half – you’ll shape one half at a time (keep the other piece under wraps) Pick up the dough – stretch it out until it forms a big rectangle. On your countertop dusted with flour, fold over the ends like this:

Now do a little “karate chop” lengthwise down the middle of the bread and stretch out the long ends again. Fold over in half. The karate chop helps get the middle tucked inside. Pinch all sides shut. This is important – you want to make sure that all ends including the short ends are pinched tightly to create a seal. This allows the bread to rise & expand up and out evenly. If the bread looks a little lopsided, you can try to fix it by letting it rest 5 minutes and gently stretching it out again. Just don’t knead the dough again – you’ll pop all the beautiful gas that took 1.5 hours to create!

Here’s what it should look like:

5. Turn the bread over so that its seam side down. Cover the loaf with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat with the other dough halve. Leave the loaves to rest on your well-floured pizza peel or cutting board for 30 minutes. After resting, take a sharp paring knife and make 3-4 shallow, diagonal slashes on the surface of the loaf. This allows the steam in the bread to escape so that it expands evenly during the baking process:

When you are ready to bake, remove your baking vessel. Carefully slide the gorgeous loaf into or onto your baking vessel. I like baking one loaf at a time.  The most important equipment to have is an instant read thermometer to measure temperature of the bread.

If you are using pizza stone or inverted baking sheet: You can probably fit both loaves on it at the same time if you wish. -> Get a 1/2 cup of water ready next to the stove. Open the stove, put your bread in the oven and throw the water in a small pan that is located below your stone or baking sheet. Immediately close the oven door. This creates your steam. -> Bake 20-25 minutes. Check temperature of the bread – internal should be 190-210F. Remove and let cool before cutting into it.

If you are using a long cast-iron pot or covered baker: -> Before closing the lid on your pot/baker, put 1/4 cup of water directly in the pot. Cover immediately. Put pot in oven. -> Bake 10 minutes. Remove lid of pot. Bake another 14 minutes. Check temperature of the bread – internal should be 190-210F. Remove and let cool before cutting into it. Repeat with other loaf. (For convection ovens- bake 8 min covered, 10-12 min uncovered. Check temperature of bread) To re-crisp the crust, put in 375F oven for 5 minutes. Eat one loaf, share the other loaf with a friend!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

So this one is a really easy way to get a good Chicken Tortilla Soup.  Kind of like the one at the ground round if you have had it there before.

Ingredients
2 Cans Enchilada Sauce (One hot and one mild)
2 Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
2 Cans of fiesta nacho cheese soup
2 Soup cans of milk
2-4 Chicken Breasts cooked and shredded

-Cook the Chicken breasts however you would like to cook them.  Grill, boil, whatever.  Let them cool a bit and then shred them.
-Put all of the rest of the ingredients and the chicken in a crock pot for about two hours or until hot.
-Make sure to stir every once in  a while.
-That's it.  Seriously

You can add some tortilla strips and shredded cheese once you serve it.  It is pretty good.
*Thanks Kalee!

Sea Salt

Okay.  So this is not something that I make.  It is something that you should have in your kitchen though.
This first one is really good on vegetables.  Don't know if it is the clay in the salt that makes it work so nice, but it is good!!!

This second one is really good on Steaks and in burgers.  Pretty much good on any kind of meat.  Really nice for a salt crusted steak on the grill!!!

Both of these products are available on this website... http://www.tropicislemusic.com/food/salts3.htm.  You can also try and find it on other sites, but this one always has it in stock. 

The shipping is a bit of a pain, but it helps if you buy a lot of the stuff at once.  See if there are other people who want some as well and it will help if you get a larger order.  This stuff is crazy good and worth the price. 

Chex Mix--The original

This is right off the box.  Sometimes they don't have the recipe on generic cereal boxes though.  I only bake mine in the oven.  The microwave doesn't do the same thing for me.

Dry Ingredients
3 C Corn Chex                             3 C Rice Chex
3 C Wheat Chex                           1 C Mixed Nuts
1 Cup Pretzels (what ever kind you like
1 Cup Garlic Flavored Bagel Chips

Flavoring Ingredients
6 Tbsp butter                                 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 tea Season Salt                     3/4 tea Garlic Powder
1/2 tea Onion Powder

-Preheat oven to 250 degrees
-In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients.  I will usually put a little bit extra Wheat Chex and Mixed Nuts.

-In a small microwavable bowl melt the butter.
-After the butter is melted add in the rest of the flavoring ingredients.  Whisk together.
-Carefully drizzle the flavoring butter over the dry ingredients as you toss them together in the large bowl.

-Make sure to get all of the seasoning out of the small bowl.  Toss the dry ingredients until they are coated.
-Spread the mixture out on two cookie sheets so that it is all uniform.

-Bake the mixture for 15 minutes.  Stir around a bit.
-Bake for 15 minutes. Stir around a bit.
-Bake for 15 minutes.  You get the idea.
-Bake for 15 minutes.  Take out of the oven and spread out over some newspaper or paper towels to cool.

I usually store the Chex mix in a couple of gallon zip-loc bags.  It stores well in the freezer!!!  They are my favorite.
Chex mix goes really well with an ice cold Coke.

Monster Cookies

These cookies are really tasty and can be as big as you want them to be.  I like to make them a little bit bigger and under cook them a bit.  That way they are crunchy on the edges and gooey in the middle.

1 1/4 C Brown Sugar                            1 C M&M's (Plain)

1/2 C Butter                                          1 C Chocolate Chips

1 tea Vanilla                                          3 C Oatmeal

1 C Flour                                              2 tea Baking Soda

1 C Peanut Butter                                 3 Eggs

1 C Sugar 

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Mix in a large bowl all of the ingredients

-Start with the eggs, soda, vanilla, butter, and sugars.

-Add in the peanut butter

-Mix in the flour, then the oatmeal

-Finally mix in the Chocolate chips and M&M's

-don't over mix. just get the Chocolate chips and M&M's into the batter 

-It will be extremely lumpy!

-Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.  The cooking time will vary depending on how large of a cookie you make.  10-12 minutes is about right for a tablespoon sized scoop.  Cook until just starting to brown on the edges.  Watch closely!!!  They seem to go from looking raw to burnt really quick.

-Move onto a cooling rack after letting them firm up for a minute or two.

-You might get used to this, but they are really good with cold milk or ice cream. 

Apple Crisp

Might as well start out with the first recipe that I really like to say is one with my twist to it.  Friends ask me to make it when I am coming over or call to ask how to make it if they are having people over.  It is pretty easy and is super good with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Body of Apple Crisp                       Topping of Apple Crisp
4 Cups Sliced/Peeled Apples          1 Cup Butter (soft)
1 Cup Sugar                                   1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbbp Flour                                  1 1/2 Cup Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon                               1 Cup Oatmeal
1/2 tsp Salt

-Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
-Place a cookie sheet or other pan in the middle of your oven below the rack that you will be cooking the apple crisp on.  Sometimes the sugar and apples bubble over the pan when cooking and it is a pain to clean if you don't have something under your pan.

-Butter a Square pan  9x9 (glass or metal works) Pie pan will work, I just like corners.
-In a small mixing bowl combine the 1C sugar, 1 Tbsp flour, 1 tsp Cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp Salt.  Mix.
-Arrange the apples in layers in the pan.  Make sure the apples are not too thin.  Uniform cuts make a better dish.

-When you get half of the pan filled-- sprinkle about half of the mixture over the apples.
-Continue to fill the pan and sprinkle in the rest of the mixture.
-Be sure to not over fill the pan.  You still have a topping to put on.

- In a medium sized mixing bowl cut together the butter, brown sugar, oatmeal, and flour.  You want the butter to be soft, but not so soft that it is melting.  I like to use a dough cutter to do this.  A fork will work.  Mix together until it is crumbly.

-When the topping has come together sprinkle it over the apples.  You can push it down a little bit if it looks like it is going to spill out.  It should look a little something like this.

-Bake for about 45 min.  Check to get the topping a nice golden brown
-Let cool for a good half hour to hour before serving.
Serve with Ice Cream or Cold Milk and Enjoy!

*Use your favorite type of apples.  Some people like Granny Smith's, Bareburn, or right off the tree in the back yard.