Week Six: 2010 Holiday Special #1: Turkey and Cookies

Hello, everyone! With the holiday season fast approaching, a lot of people all over the country are preparing for the cooking flurry of the season, myself included. For this Holiday Special, the first of the 2010 year, I’m going to be sharing with you my favorite turkey recipe and two of my favorite cookie recipes. :D

This Week’s Recipes Are: Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast, Mocha Cookies, and Rum Cookies

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:

· 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

· 1 large oven roasting bag, such as Reynolds

· 6 lbs. of boneless, skinless turkey breasts, defrosted if frozen

· 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

· 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend

· Salt and black pepper to taste

· 1 medium-sized onion

· 4 cloves fresh garlic, or two tablespoons bottled minced garlic

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Place the flour in the roasting bag, close it, and shake to coat the bag well. This will keep the bag from bursting as the turkey cooks. Place the bag in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish and fold the edge back to keep the bag open. Set the pan aside.

3. Remove any packaging from the turkey. Rinse the turkey breasts inside and out and pat them dry with paper towels. Rub the oil all over the breasts. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning and salt and black pepper over the skin. Place the breasts, meaty side up, in the prepared roasting bag.

4. Peel and quarter the onion and place the pieces in the bag, around the turkey. Peel the garlic cloves and place them with the onion pieces, or sprinkle the minced garlic over the turkey breasts. Seal the bag with the tie provided and cut six ½-inch slits in the top of the bag.

5. Bake the turkey until an instant-read meat thermometer registers 170 degrees Fahrenheit when inserted in the thickest part of the breasts (test every breast individually), about 1 ½ hours (15 minutes per pound). Remove the turkey breasts from the oven and let it stand in the bag for at least 10 minutes. The internal temperature will rise to 180 degrees Fahrenheit while the turkey breasts are standing.

6. Carefully open the roasting bag and transfer the turkey to a platter. Discard the vegetables with the bag. Slice the breasts and serve.

Review-

This recipe is actually really simple for the time it takes. If you have the oven access, this is definitely worth trying. Just be aware that 6 pounds of turkey breast can be costly if you don’t shop around. You can also lower the amount of turkey and adjust the cooking time to match, however, so don’t be intimidated by the cost. Overall, this recipe goes really well with some Sweet Roasted Corn and mashed potatoes (I use instant mashed potatoes and mix in a lot of cheddar cheese). This recipe puts a new spin on holiday turkey. :D

Mocha Cookies

Makes: About 2 ½ dozen cookies

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Chill Time: 1 hour

Bake Time: 7 minutes per sheet

Cool Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

· 1 large egg

· 2 tablespoons instant coffee crystals

· 1 cup granulated sugar

· ½ cup butter or margarine, softened

· 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

· 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

· ½ cup baking cocoa

· ¼ teaspoon baking powder

· ¼ teaspoon baking soda

· ¼ teaspoon salt

· For Caramel Drizzle:

· 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar

· ¼ cup caramel topping

· ½ teaspoon vanilla

· About 2 tablespoons milk

1. In a medium bowl, beat egg and coffee crystals with electric mixer on medium speed until crystals dissolve. Add granulated sugar, butter and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in remaining cookie ingredients (if using self-rising flour, omit baking powder, baking soda, and salt). Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour until chilled.

2. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll dough 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with 2 ½-inch cookie cutters. On ungreased cookie sheet, place dough about 1 inch apart. Bake about 7 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

3. Caramel Drizzle: In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar, caramel topping and vanilla until crumbly. Stir in just enough milk until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over cookies.

Review-

Be sure to know your oven before making this recipe. My oven burns hot, so I found that it only takes 6 minutes to make soft cookies, but 7 minutes makes harder cookies. The drizzle, however, will soften the cookies quite a bit. My fiancé, who hates coffee, loves these cookies. In fact, everyone I know who’s tried these cookies has enjoyed them. As long as you like chocolate, you’re solid.

Rum Cookies

Makes: 48 cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes

Ingredients

· 3 cups all-purpose flour

· ½ teaspoon baking soda

· ½ teaspoon salt

· ½ teaspoon baking powder

· 1 cup butter

· 2 eggs

· 1 cup white sugar

· 1 teaspoon rum flavored extract or rum

· ½ teaspoon almond extract (rum can be used to substitute)

· 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and butter until the mixture resembles cornmeal.

2. Combine eggs, sugar, rum extract, almond extract, and nutmeg until well mixed. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Stir until well blended. Divide the dough into two equal halves. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out until it is 1/8 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter cut the dough into cookies (whatever shapes you please). Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet.

5. Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden, 7 to 9 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Optional Rum Glaze for Rum Cookies:

Ingredients:

· 1/3 cup butter or margarine

· 2 cups powdered sugar

· 4 tablespoons rum

1. In 1 ½-quart saucepan, melt butter over low heat, and then remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and rum.

2. Stir until smooth and consistency of thick syrup. Glazes on 12-cup bundt cake, 10-inch angel food or chiffon cake, top of an 8- or 9-inch layer cake, or lots of cookies.

Review-

This was one where I took an existing recipe for vanilla glaze to make a rum glaze, which turned out to be incredibly good. You can choose to use the glaze or not – either way, these cookies are delicious. I highly recommend them to anyone willing to try them. :D

Week Five: Ravioli, Teriyaki, and Pizza Rolls, Oh My!

Due to preparations for Halloween, this one is coming to you a little bit late. While I don't have any money-saving tips for you this week, I can promise that next week will be a Holiday Special focusing on turkey and interesting cookies. :)

This Week’s Recipes Are: Ravioli Soup, Teriyaki Stir-Fry, Homemade Pizza Rolls

Ravioli Soup (pg. 19 of Cheap! Fast! Good!)

Photo by Me

Serves: 4 Start to Finish: Under 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

· 2 teaspoons olive oil

· 1 large onion

· 8 ounces fresh button mushrooms

· 1 clove fresh garlic, minced, or 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

· 2 cans fat-free chicken broth

· 1 can diced tomatoes seasoned with garlic and onions

· 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

· ½ teaspoon dried basil

· 2 cups mini cheese ravioli

· Shredded or grated parmesan cheese, for serving

1. Heat the oil in a 4 ½ - quart soup pot over medium heat. While the oil is heating, peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the pot as you chop. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 minutes.

2. Rinse, pat fry, and slice the mushrooms, discarding any tough stems. Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook until they begin to release their liquid, about 2 minutes.

3. Add the garlic, broth, tomatoes with their juice, Worcestershire sauce, and basil. Raise the heat to high, cover the pot, and bring the soup to a boil.

4. When the soup is at a rolling boil, add the ravioli. When it returns to a boil, cook until the ravioli are just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve at once.

Review-
Most people wouldn't think that ravioli and soup would go together - ravioli is a pasta, after all, and that usually involves sauce, not broth. This recipe will surprise you. It smells amazing, and while it may look questionable on paper, it looks amazing in person. This recipe combines that mom's-best-soup feeling with age old Italian style. I highly recommend this recipe, as it is one that is sure to amaze you.

Teriyaki Stir-Fry

Photo by me. Pictured vegetables: baby corn, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, celery, red pepper, carrots.

Serves: 4 Start to Finish: Under 25 minutes

Ingredients:

· 1 Tbsp sesame oil

· 4 meat fillets, ¾” thick (can be salmon, chicken, beef, pork, etc: )

· ¾ Cups teriyaki sauce

· Any selection of stir-fry or wok vegetables

1. In a large skillet, heat the sesame oil over medium-high heat (I use medium heat, as my stove burns hot). Add the fillets and move them around so they do not stick to the skillet. Cook for 4 minutes on each side.

2. Add the teriyaki sauce and vegetables. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until fillets are cooked thoroughly, about 5 to 7 minutes. When fillets are cooked thoroughly, serve teriyaki stir-fry on plates and enjoy.

Review-

This is a recipe that I often cut my fillets into bite-sized pieces for, since it allows the chicken that I typically use to cook more thoroughly in a shorter period. Sometimes, cooking fillets can take longer than the recipe says, so be prepared to cook the fillets for longer or shorter based on what kind of meat you’re using. Don’t take any chances, especially with pork and poultry.

This is another recipe that I adore; it’s tasty, it’s delicious, and it reheats like a dream. I like to serve this with white rice, which can be on the side, or in a bowl with the stir-fry over it, or even just in a side bowl.

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Serves: 2 – 4 Prep Time: Less than 15 minutes

Ingredients:

· Pepperoni

· Shredded cheese (mixed, mozzarella, pizza blend, etc; )

· Pizza sauce

· Ready-to-bake crescent rolls (such as Pillsbury)

1. Preheat the oven according to the directions on the crescent roll packaging. Separate the crescent rolls and spread them into triangles on a non-stick cookie sheet.

2. Place a few pepperoni slices in the center of each triangle, as well as cheese and optional pizza sauce. Fold the two longest points of the triangle inward, so that they overlap, and then roll the crescent roll so that the third point wraps around the pizza roll.

3. Place the pizza rolls on their seams on the cookie sheet, and bake according to the directions on the crescent roll packaging. Serve at once, dipping in or drizzling pizza sauce over the rolls.

Review-

This is a recipe that a friend of mine taught me. Very simple, and oh so delicious. One package of crescent rolls will make more than most packages of store-bought pizza rolls, and they’ll be more filling and healthier for you. You can use any kinds of filling you want – sausage, hamburger, ham, or even just plain cheese – and it’ll turn out fantastic. Just make sure that your crescent rolls get fully cooked, and you’re goof to go. :D

Week Four: Grocery Inventory, Shrimp, Chicken, and Deviled Eggs

Be sure to check out Week Three's entry! This week was a two-for-one due to midterms.

One major part of menu planning is the grocery inventory. Knowing what you already have will help you to plan what you need to buy. I’ve saved $20 on weekly menus because I keep track of what I already have. Very often, I look at a menu, write down what I don’t have, and find that in order to make Mu-Shu Pork, I just need to buy the pork. Keeping track of what you have does in fact save you money. This is especially true of spices and herbs, which can be incredibly expensive, let alone when you buy them and don’t need them yet. Keeping a food inventory is simply keeping yourself up to date on what food items you have available to you to use this week. Here are some key ways to maintain a food inventory:

1. Organize refrigerator, freezer, cupboards, etc; so that similar items are grouped together. This means actually using your vegetable drawers for vegetables, and your meat drawer for meat. The reason for this is so that you can just glance inside the fridge and see how much of what kinds of meat you have available to you, or how much of what vegetables and fruits are still unused. This helps so that you use what you have, which helps you save money because less food goes to waste, and thus you waste less money buying things you already have.
2. Every three months, clean your refrigerator, your cupboards, and your freezer. Take note of what foods you still have that maybe were buried behind those cans of tomatoes, or that box of noodles. Then, either make a menu that will use the older items, plan a day to donate them to a food pantry, or if they’re past their expiration date, throw them out. Do this for your condiments, too. Do this every three months – mark it on your calendar.
3. If you have a large chest freezer, you might try making an actual inventory list for the door. Go through every shelf, and write down what food is on what shelf. When you use that pound of frozen beef, cross it off your list. When you buy more pork chops, add those to the list. Attach and pen with a string to this list to make it more convenient for you to keep track of these things. Renew your list every month or so, because a quick look at it will help you plan out your menu for that week, and will save you time in the long run when you no longer have to dig through it for ten, twenty minutes every week to see if you have something or not.
4. Keep menu planning! Weekly menus will keep you buying only what you need, and so you save money and waste less food. In Cheap. Fast. Good!, the Desperation Diners say, “We were startled to discover that the average American household throws away 470 pounds of food every year and that as much as 12% of purchased grocery items are never used.” By menu planning and grocery inventorying, you can cut down the amount of food thrown away in your home, and cut back on how much is never used.

Now, onward to this week’s fast and cheap recipes!

This Week’s Recipes Are: Easy Shrimp Scampi, Chicken and Apples with Dijon Cream, and Delicious Deviled Eggs.

Guest Recipe & Review: Apple Butter, submitted by Jill B.

Easy Shrimp Scampi

Photographed by me.

Serves: 6 to 8 Start to Finish: Under 25 minutes

Ingredients:

· 1 lb. frozen, shelled, de-veined shrimp

· 1 package long pasta, such as angel hair or thin spaghetti

· ½ cup butter

· 4 cloves fresh garlic, or 2 tbsp. bottled minced garlic

· 1 cup dry white wine

· ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

· ¾ cup parmesan cheese

· 1 tbsp parsley

1. Boil salted water with noodles until al dente. Drain well and return to the pot. Rinse the shrimp under cold water to thaw, and then remove the tails. Set aside.

2. While the noodles are boiling, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When butter is melted, stir in garlic and shrimp. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes.

3.Stir in the wine and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 30 seconds while stirring.

4.Pour shrimp and sauce over drained pasta in pot (or serving bowl), and sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Serve at once.

Review-

This was one of the first recipes I learned how to make once I started cooking. I believe I found it originally on allrecipes.com, but there are a lot of good recipes there, so you never know. My fiance loves this recipe, being the big fan of shrimp and seafood in general that he is. This recipe is a very simple way to make shrimp scampi, and it works very well. The time consuming part is de-tailing the shrimp, but if you do that beforehand, this will go much faster.

I know a very good way to cheat if you don't have any garlic, and most college students can do this pretty well. If you have garlic butter from pizza orders saved in your fridge, you can add those to the butter mixture to get that garlic flavor. :) It's a shortcut that I've tested time and again, and it gets rid of the garlic butter that gets saved.

Chicken and Apples with Dijon Cream (pg. 150 of Cheap. Fast. Good!)

Serves: 4 Start to Finish: Under 25 minutes

Ingredients:

· Salt for cooking the rice

· 1 1/3 cups long grain rice

· 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

· 8 ox fresh button mushrooms

· 1 tbsp. vegetable oil

· 1 tsp. butter

· 1 small onion

· 2 large tart cooking apples (I use Granny Smith)

· ¾ cup apple juice

· ½ cup dry white wine, such as Chardonnay, or ½ cup additional apple juice to substitute

· 1 ½ tsp. sugar

· 1 chicken bouillon cube

· 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

· ¼ cup half-and-half or heavy cream (heavy whipping cream in many stores)

1. Bring 2 2/3 cups lightly salted water to a boil in a covered medium-sized saucepan. Add the rice, stir, and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, if the chicken is frozen, run it under hot water so you can remove the packaging. Place the chicken on a microwave-safe plate and microwave, uncovered, on high power for 3 minutes to partially defrost.

3. While the chicken defrosts, rinse, pat dry, and slice the mushrooms, removing and discarding any tough stems. Set aside.

4. Heat the oil and butter in an extra-deep 12” skillet over medium heat. Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the skillet as you chop.

5. Cut the chicken (fresh or partially defrosted) into bite-size pieces, adding them to the skillet as you cut. Cook, stirring occasionally, while you cut each apple in half and remove the core. Without peeling them, cut the apples into ¼ inch slices. When the apples are sliced, add them to the skillet along with the mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms just begin to soften, about 2 minutes.

6. Add the apple juice, wine, and sugar. Crush the bouillon cube between your fingers or with the back of a spoon and add it to the skillet. Stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until the sugar has dissolved and the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 4 minutes more.

7. Stir in the mustard and half-and-half. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is warm throughout, about 2 minutes. If you use half-and-half, do NOT let the mixture boil. Serve at once over hot rice.

Review-

This recipe is one of the easiest “fancy” recipes I’ve ever tried. You can make this recipe fairly quickly, with almost no multi-tasking, and yet it comes out with a fancy, restaurant quality taste to it that will keep anyone from doubting your abilities as a cook. This is one recipe that I call an ice-breaker recipe, in that people may not believe you’re going to make this, but once you have, they’re ever so grateful for it. I wouldn’t enter into any professional cooking competitions with this, because it is incredibly simple, but this could probably take a local competition with minimal effort.

This recipe brings together three unlikely flavors in one amazing dish. The taste of the apples, chicken, and that hint of Dijon mustard is anything but bland, and the interesting combination will have you eating more just to keep experiencing it. A must-have in any contemporary recipe book.

Delicious Deviled Eggs

Makes: 16 Deviled Eggs Start to Finish: Under 25 minutes

Ingredients:

· 8 large eggs

· 5 tbsp. regular or reduced-fat mayonnaise

· 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

· 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

· 1/8 tsp. black pepper

· Salt to taste

· Paprika to taste (optional)

1. Place the eggs into a 2-quart or larger saucepan and add cold or lukewarm water until all eggs are covered. Lightly salt. Place pan over high heat and bring the water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and place eggs in strainer to cool, running lukewarm water over them.

2. In the meantime, put mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and black pepper into a bowl. When the eggs are cool, peel them and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and add them to the mayonnaise mixture. Mix together until smooth, seasoning with salt to taste.

3. Spoon the filling into the egg whites. Dust the filled eggs lightly with paprika if using, and serve.

Review-

I’ve been a fan of deviled eggs my entire life, and I have to say that this recipe blows my old method (mayonnaise, yellow mustard, dash of whatever vinegar is around) out of the water. These are stupendous, and will be a big hit at any party or pot luck. The only person who I have had try these that didn’t care for them was my fiancé, who doesn’t like things with mayonnaise as a base ingredient. That said, this recipe works just as well for egg salad, and in whichever form I make it, it’s all gone by the next day. When it comes to sides, you can never go wrong with some nice, delicious deviled eggs.


Apple Butter Guest Recipe & Review by Jill B.
Serves: 6+ Start to Finish: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 large granny smith apples (or baking apples if you want it sweeter)
• 2 cups apple cider
• Cinnamon
• Honey

1.) Put the two cups of apple cider in a pot large enough to accommodate the apples and set on stove to boil

2.) Peel the apples and cut into cubes or smallish pieces

3.) Once the cider is boiling, carefully add the apple pieces. Sprinkle with cinnamon and honey and stir

4.) Turn the heat down to low and cover, simmering gently for an hour. Stir occasionally and add more honey and cinnamon to taste

5.) After an hour, remove the pot from heat and let sit for about ten to fifteen minutes to thicken

6.) To serve, simply dish it into a bowl and enjoy!

Review:

This recipe is one I discovered in a colonial cookbook one Christmas and I decided to give it a shot. It's now a family favorite and requested at all of the family gatherings! Over the years, I've tweaked it, added a few spins of my own (adding the honey and cinnamon in at the beginning for example so the flavor cooks right in), and it's one of the few things that I can cook without screwing it up somehow. So I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and me!