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The Masters Pimento Cheese

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Veronica

Me and pimiento cheese go way back.  Although Mom fed us a very healthy diet growing up, cheese (and butter, thank God) was always present in our house and to this day, my favorite food in the whole world is a cheddar cheese sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and onion.  Mom would occasionally indulge in one of her favorite treats and buy a tub of pimiento cheese, and I was always more than OK with that.

But there’s quite a difference between store bought and homemade!  I didn’t try making it at home until a few years ago, and haven’t looked back.  I used to follow a Paula Deen recipe that’s quite good, but I have now found an even better recipe.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s the BEST, or at least the best I’ve tried.

This one includes Parmesan cheese, which I never would have thought to put in pimiento cheese, but it makes it so good!  You just gotta try it.

The Masters Pimento Cheese

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1/4 cup (2 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (4 oz) mayonnaise
1/2 cup (4 oz) sour cream
1/8 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp minced dried onion
2 cups (8 oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup (1 ½ oz) shredded Parmesan cheese
1 (4 oz) jar diced pimientos, drained
Salt to taste (I don’t use any)

Using a mixer, whip the cream cheese until creamy, then beat in the remaining ingredients.  Beating them will help break down the cheese and pimientos.

Veronica’s note: I used reduced fat cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream and you couldn’t tell – it was so good.

Recipe source: adapted from Plain Chicken

28 Comments

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Special Egg Salad

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Veronica

I have a couple easy and delicious sandwich fillings for you this week!  This one I got from one of my favorite people, Marsha of The Better Baker.  And her last name just so happens to be Baker – how cute it that?  Anyway, I bought her cookbook several months ago (she has a new one coming out soon, too!) and she made a list of her family’s favorite recipes in it for me.  This was one of the first one I picked – her description of it being the “best egg salad” sold me.

Usually I make my egg salad crunchy, with celery, red, green, and yellow or orange peppers mixed in.  I just like to have some crunch that boosts the nutrition.  But if I made enough for leftovers, it tended to get watery from the veggies and it’s a pretty loose salad to begin with because I only used Miracle Whip as the binder.  Although this one has absolutely no vegetables in it, it really is the best egg salad I’ve ever had.  It’s got a wonderful, creamy texture (the cream cheese is just brilliant here), and incredible flavor.  And if you serve it the way Marsha suggests, on toasted wheat bread with lettuce, you do get a very satisfying crunch.  I served mine on multigrain bread and thought it was just over-the-top wonderful.

Photo courtesy of Jaclyn H.

Another tip for this salad – to make easy work of the eggs, you can use a pastry blender as Marsha mentions in her cookbook, or you can try using a cooling rack! My friend, Jaci, introduced me to this idea and at first I thought I’d never try it, because chopping eggs isn’t that hard. But when it came to dicing up six eggs, pushing them through my cooling rack only took a few seconds and was a real time saver. Thanks, Jax!

Special Egg Salad

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1 (3 oz) package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup reduced fat mayonnaise or Miracle Whip*
1/2 teaspoon sugar*
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the mayonnaise, sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper; fold in the eggs. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before serving. Will keep for several days in refrigerator.

*You probably won’t need the sugar if you use Miracle Whip since it already has sugar added.

Veronica’s note: Although my method of hard-boiling eggs probably isn’t the best one, it works for me: put eggs in a pan and cover with an inch of water.  Add several dashes of salt (I heard this helps with something, maybe peeling them, but can’t remember. I just do it out of habit.)  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high and continue to boil for 15 minutes.  Carefully drain off water and fill pan with cold tap water.  Pour off water and fill again with cold tap water.  At this point you can add ice to quickly cool the eggs, or keep the cold tap water running so that the pan is continually being cooled. Once  the eggs have cooled to room temperature or lower, which shouldn’t take too long, you can peel them and continue with the recipe.

Recipe source: The Better Baker

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Bread Machine Hamburger (or hot dog) Buns

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Veronica

It’s been so long since I posted the recipe for Rosemary Sage Burgers with Chive Mayo that many of you may not even remember this picture:

Yeah, I posted that over three years ago.  I put that delicious burger on a delicious homemade bun, always intending to share the recipe. And didn’t.  Then I won a red ribbon for that recipe and still didn’t share the recipe.  I guess better late than never, right?

These buns are nice and soft with great flavor.  Making the dough in the bread machine makes them fairly easy, too! The only work you really have to do is shaping the buns, the rest is just waiting.

Bread Machine Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns

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1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons non-fat milk powder
2 tablespoons shortening
2 1/2 – 3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 cups all-purpose & 2 cups white whole wheat or whole wheat flour)
1 packet instant/bread machine yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
Optional: egg white & sesame seeds or poppy seeds

Measure all the ingredients into the bread machine pan in the order given, making a little well in the mound of flour to put the yeast in. Push pan in place, select the dough cycle, and push start.

When cycle finishes, turn out onto a floured board and punch down. Knead 4 or 5 times; add a little more flour as you knead if necessary to keep it from sticking. Cover dough with a clean dishcloth and let rest for about 30 minutes. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal or flour.

For hamburger buns: Press dough into a circle and cut into 8 even wedges; form each wedge into a ball then flatten into a smooth and fairly even circle.

For hot dog buns: Shape these into long somewhat narrow snakes. (Makes about 12 or so.)

Place dough shapes on the baking sheet, cover with parchment paper or a clean dish towel, and let rest for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. If you’d like to add sesame seeds or poppy seeds to the tops, brush them with beaten egg white, then sprinkle the seeds on top.

Bake at 375 for about 17 to 18 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Makes 8 hamburger buns or about 12 hot dog buns.

Recipe source: The Cooking Photographer

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Homemade Sloppy Joes (look Ma, no cans!)

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Veronica

I follow a lot of blogs and some of them I rarely comment on (if I commented on every blog I follow it would be my full-time job), but will pin their recipes almost daily.  Such as Plain Chicken and Jam Hands.  Everything they post is like, “Oh that is the most fattening and delicious thing I’ve ever seen. I must make it!”  FYI, I really love fattening recipes, especially right now.  (And more and more am not loving sweet stuff!  To the point that I almost would have rather died than taste the frosting on the last order of cupcakes I made, though I made myself do it to make sure it was good. I couldn’t tell if it was good, I hated it so much.  Oh well, fat is better for you than sugar anyway.)  This one  isn’t fattening, but I won’t hold that against it because it is family friendly.  And maybe that’s a better way to classify Ali’s recipes (she has two little girls).  I love family friendly too, even if it doesn’t have a pound of butter in it.

I pinned Ali’s Best Ever Sloppy Joes over a year ago and finally made them recently.  I have never made them from scratch so I don’t know if this is the best-ever recipe from personal experience, but it sure beats using a canned sauce!  Totally delicious.  I ate two sloppy joe’s for dinner the night I made this, and Dennis ate the rest of the pan! I think he had at least four!  So I guess you could say this is husband-approved.  Like I said, family friendly.

*I didn’t serve these with bakery fresh buns, but her instructions to do so reminded me I have an award-winning buns recipe I need to share! Will do that soon!

Best Ever Sloppy Joes

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1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped green or red bell peppers (I use a small bell pepper)
1/2 cup chopped celery (I used three stalks)

Cook ground beef and chopped onion. Drain fat off meat. Add back to large pan. Add remaining ingredients. Mix. Reduce heat to low and cook 40 minutes. Serve with fresh bakery buns.

Recipe source: Jam Hands

30 Comments

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Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Veronica

You know, I could share a banana bread recipe on my blog every day for 22 days straight. That’s how many recipes I’ve made (worth sharing-I’ve made more that aren’t) that I haven’t posted on my blog yet.  In fact, I think I will pick a few of my favorites and share them this summer. I have them all on my Facebook page, but I think the best ones should also be available on my blog!

I cut this with a really cruddy knife-if you cut it with a sharp one your slices with be so gorgeous. The texture on this bread is outrageous.

This particular banana bread is so different and so delicious, I had to share it right away.  It is so moist, almost fudgy, with a great balance of chocolate and banana flavor.  The chocolate chips stay soft, perhaps from the moisture in bread, and this adds to the fudgy texture.  We enjoyed this bread so much that Dennis and I ate the entire loaf ourselves.  Usually we will each have a small slice and then I’ll bring it to work and give the rest away.  I was so not willing to share this one, and neither was Dennis.  Be forewarned, you may want to make this in secret so that you don’t have to share either. :)

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

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1 1/2 cups (6 ¼ oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 ½ oz) Dutch process cocoa (Hershey’s Special Dark works great)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ( 7 oz) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups (12-14 oz) mashed overripe bananas (about 3)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray the bottom of a 8×4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside.*

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl, stir well, and set aside. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, and oil until well combined. Whisk in the banana and vanilla until incorportated, then add the flour mixture and stir in just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and spread batter into prepared pan.  It will be quite full, don’t be alarmed.

Bake 60-70 minutes (mine needed a full 70 minutes) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

*I used a Williams Sonoma Goldtouch pan, which releases baked goods very easily, so you may need to grease your loaf pan very well or even use Miracle Pan Release if your pan isn’t nonstick, otherwise you may have a disaster on your hands when you try to get the loaf out.

Recipe source: The Sisters Cafe

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Creamy Mushroom-Parmesan Chicken

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Veronica

Would you like to know the recipe I use from my blog more than any other?  You might be surprised.  It’s Breadless Breading, a gluten-free alternative to breading for meats.  It has such incredible flavor (click the link to check out the recipe and you’ll see why it’s so flavorful) that I use it all the time, usually coating tilapia with it before cooking it in olive oil on the stove top for a 5-minute dinner alongside some microwaved veggies.  This coating is also fabulous on chicken!

This is a super simple recipe but oh so delicious!  The breading does all the flavoring for you–when you have a batch of it in the fridge, you can use it in so many ways and you will always have a delicious meal.  I’m also going to give the “recipe” for the corn in the photo that is my husband’s creation, which is only two ingredients and so incredible!  The heat and flavor of the sriracha is a nice contrast to the sweetness in the corn.

Creamy Mushroom-Parmesan Chicken

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Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
Breadless Breading
Olive oil
1 can reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup

Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a skillet, enough to coat the bottom. Lightly coat the chicken chunks with Breadless Breading and add to the heated pan, cooking on all sides until cooked through. Add the cream of mushroom soup, stir, then stir in enough Breadless Breading to thicken and flavor the sauce. Serve hot.

For the Sriracha Corn: add a touch of sriracha (start with a little and add more to taste) to a can of corn and stir together in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until hot and serve immediately.

12 Comments

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Easy Cream of Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Veronica

I know you expected a pregnancy update today but the weekend was so busy I forgot to have Den take a picture of me, and what is an update without a picture? Boring.  So I hopefully will have that tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a soup recipe for you.  (P.S. Cookies in July swappers, I will be sending your matches later today!)

While I enjoy baking year-round, I try not to turn the oven on in the summer for dinner (I save it for more important stuff, like pie!) and lean toward simple stovetop meals like last week’s Easy-Peasy Cheesy Tuna Noodle Bowls, or grilled cheese with tomato soup.  I usually wouldn’t be eating hot soup in the summer, but baby is digging it lately and who am I to decline to deliver “womb service?”  I have a feeling I’m going to be turning on the oven for dinner if baby decides s/he needs some sort of casserole, too.

from www.umberttheunborn.com

I’m not above heating up canned soup (I love the roasted red pepper and tomato soup in the cartons you can get at Aldi now!), but I came up with this recipe when I had a tomato soup emergency (i.e. I really wanted needed it!) and no canned tomato soup, using ingredients I found in the cupboard and fridge.  Emergencies make the most delicious dinners sometimes!

Easy Cream of Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

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1 (14.5 oz) can Italian style diced tomatoes (with basil, garlic & oregano)
½ cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained
1/3 cup V-8 Hot & Spicy juice (optional, will be thicker without)
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar, or to taste
½ teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat to simmering. While heating, use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. Serve hot.

Serves 2-3

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Easy-Peasy Cheesy Tuna Noodle Bowls

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Veronica

I haven’t been wanting to cook lately.  And when I do, it’s super simple stuff like this most of the time–a stove top recipe that starts with a box.  While I’ve been making this for over a decade, this is the first time I considered sharing it.  I finally realized there are probably a lot of busy people out there who don’t mind using a convenience food item now and then if it means dinner in 15 minutes. You can easily double or triple this recipe to feed a family, and it still only takes 15 minutes!

My best friend’s Mom used to make this all the time and I thought she was a genius because the addition of tuna and peas really ups the health-factor of boxed macaroni and cheese, while still tasting wonderful.  I gobbled this up alongside her children, so I think it’s safe to say this is kid-approved.  The only change I’ve made is to add in extra cheese to help flavor the added ingredients a little more, and a little mayonnaise to make it extra creamy (the latter is a new addition and the photos show it without – it’s so much more creamy with it!).

So yummy, so easy!  So cheesy! :)

Easy-Peasy Cheesy Tuna Noodle Bowls

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1 box macaroni and cheese
milk and butter as called for on box (usually 1/4 cup each)
2 ounces (or more) finely shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 can of tuna packed in water, drained very well
1 cup frozen peas, microwaved until hot

Cook pasta according to box directions. Meanwhile, heat peas in the microwave until hot. Drain the macaroni when it has the bite you desire, then stir in the butter until melted and combined. Add the milk , cheese, mayonnaise, and the cheese powder from the box and stir until blended and the cheese is melted. Add the tuna and peas, and stir until combined. Spoon into bowls and serve hot.

Serves 2-3

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Grandmother Bread

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Veronica

So I guess you guys know all my dirty little yeast bread secrets, about all the loaves I’ve ruined over the years…

But hey, I’ve also won two ribbons for yeast bread!  So I’m not totally helpless, right?  I mean I have like some sort of maybe talent sort of.

Anyway, fellow Kansan blogger, Diana Starenisic Deane, a local historian and author of Shadow on the Hill, asked me to do a guest post for her on bread.  Yes, she knows all about my bread failure escapades and she still asked me!  Her book, which I’ve read and highly recommend–it’s a true life murder mystery!–features bread dough as one of the clues to Florence Knoblock’s murder, and she thought it would be groovy to have a food blogger to do a bread post.  Heck to the yes, I’m all over that, qualified or not!

I don’t do many step-by-step tutorials any more, but I did for this post since it’s special, and I hope you’ll do me the honor of stopping by Diana’s blog to check it out today.  Besides,  you’ll want the recipe for this old-fashioned white bread.  It’s super simple, without any fat, eggs, or milk, and wow you won’t believe how good a loaf made with just flour, water, sugar, salt and yeast can be!  Especially when you slather it in butter.  :)  Click here to check it out!

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American Potato Salad

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Veronica

Haus and I grilled a ton of meat last Saturday (we feel like we’re wasting the charcoal if we don’t load the grill up at least twice) and while it was grilling, I made up a batch of this potato salad from the current issue of Cook’s Illustrated. Reader Kerry C. gifted me with a subscription to Cook’s Country (LOVE it!) for Christmas, and they sent me a complimentary issue of the regular Cook’s Illustrated mag this month-lucky me!

We were starving since we started grilling late, and as soon as the potato salad was mixed together, I took a big bite and hollered for Dennis to come taste it. We agreed it was the best potato salad EVER! We polished off the entire batch, which equals about a pound of potato salad each, and ended up skipping the meat. This potato salad was so good, it turned into our dinner for the night and we just refrigerated all the meat to eat as leftovers throughout the week.

The potato salad was so good I made a second batch within an hour of making the first one, because I knew we’d want it to go with our leftover meat. Luckily we made the second batch last for two whole days, which is like a miracle, people. This potato salad is good. If you don’t have a great recipe for classic American potato salad, Cook’s Illustrated has got you covered. They tested every ingredient, every method, and every amount to get it just so for us. Thank you Cook’s Illustrated!

American Potato Salad

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2 lbs. (3-4 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 medium celery rib, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons minced red onion
3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup mayonnaise (see note)
3/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
3/4 teaspoon celery seed*
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 large hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes (optional)

*You can use celery salt in place of the celery seed, omitting the 1/2 teaspoon salt from the dressing.

Place potatoes in large saucepan and add water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil over medium-high heat; add 1 tablespoon salt, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring once or twice, until potatoes are tender, about 8 minutes.

Drain potatoes and transfer to large bowl. Add vinegar and, using rubber spatula, toss gently to combine. Let stand until potatoes are just warm, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir together celery, onion pickle relish, parsley, mayonnaise, powdered mustard, celery seed, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Using rubber spatula, gently fold dressing and eggs, if using, into potatoes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour; serve.

Veronica’s Notes: We actually ate the first batch warm and I prefer it that way, though it’s great cold too.  Cook’s Illustrated says the salad can be refrigerated up to one day. Well ours was just fine after two days and I’m sure it would be great after three or four days.

Recipe source: Cook’s Illustrated

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