Apple / Kale / Raisin Salad

This is a salad - but i will also eat it as a dessert.

Ingredients

• 1 apple, cored and chopped
• 1 bunch kale, chopped
• 1 C raisins
• 1 to 2 T honey (adjust as you like it)
• 2 T lime juice
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/8 t pepper
• 1/8 t salt
• 1/4 C plain yogurt

Preparation

1. Core and chop the apple. Halve the cored apple vertically, then chop each half 4 x 4 - 32 pieces.
2. Wash the kale - then chop into thin ribbons, and cross cut into pieces sized similar to the apple chunks.
3. Mix honey, lime juice, olive oil, pepper, and salt. Pour over kale, and toss carefully.
4. Add the chopped apple and the raisins, and mix well.
5. Chill for an hour or so.
6. Toss again.
7. Serve.

Forgotten Cookies (aka Meringues)

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 - 2/3 Cup sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 C chocolate chips / crushed nuts

1. Warm eggs to room temperature.
2. Separate eggs, religiously keeping any egg yolk out of the egg whites.
   • I separate each egg into an empty cup, examine the white carefully, and ever so gently deposit the yolk in another cup.
   • If the yolk sits, unbroken, in another cup, then it's likely that the white is clean.
   • If the yolk breaks when deposited, then I set the white aside, and only use that one if I run out of eggs.
3. Beat / blend egg whites, until stiff and they form peaks.
4. Fold in sugar, vanilla, and nuts / chocolate chips.
5. Preheat oven to 325.
6. Drop egg mixture using a very clean teaspoon, onto a very clean cookie sheet. The cookies will not expand, so you can put them on the sheet as closely as necessary. Each cookie should be about one teaspoon of cookie batter. One batch = one 11" x 16" cookie sheet.
7. For best results, plan that all cookies are directly exposed to the heating elements in the oven. Only use one shelf in the oven, and place cookie sheets side by side, as best possible. Two 11" x 16" cookie sheets just barely fit beside each other, in a 16" deep oven.
8. Put the cookies into the oven, as soon as possible after putting them on the sheet.
9. If necessary, turn the oven temperature up, until it lights again. This is very important.
10. Leave the oven on for 5 minutes - no more - then turn the oven off. If you catch any odor of burning, turn the oven off immediately, but do not despair, and do not open the oven door.
11. Leave the cookies in the oven, and do not open the door, 4 hours to overnight. 8 to 12 hours is not too long, noting that you have turned the oven off. The cookies dry (harden) slowly - meringue bakes very gradually.
12. If time is short, you can accelerate the drying of the cookies. A couple hours before you are scheduled to remove them from the oven, turn the oven back on, and bring the temperature up to 200 or so for 5 minutes. Don't forget to turn it off after 5 minutes!
13. Remove the cookies from the oven, and from the trays, and place in an airtight container, stacked between sheets of wax paper.
14. Serve when ready (if you can keep folks from serving themselves).

Fudgies

• 2 C sugar
• 1/2 Cup OleoMargarine
• 1/2 C milk
• 3 T cocoa
• 1/2 C peanut butter
• 3 C rolled oats
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 t vanilla

1. Put sugar, oleo, milk, cocoa in saucepan, bring to boil, boil 5 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, melt in peanut butter, rolled oats, salt, vanilla.
3. Drop by spoonsful onto wax paper.
4. Cover, and cool in refrigerator.

Microwave Popcorn

Yes, this really works.

• 1 #6 paper sack (sandwich bag)
  
• 1/4 C popcorn
  

1. Take an ordinary lunch bag (#6 paper sack).
   
2. Pour in popcorn.
   
3. Fold the bag shut - I folded the top down 1", tightly creased, and the same again.
   
4. Put the bag on its side in the microwave oven, with the top fold down (hot air rises presumably).
   
5. Microwave on high for a total of 1:45 minutes. Here's where you have to experiment. I tried 2:30 the second time, and that was way too long. I have a 1100 watt oven - yours may vary. I do 1 minute, turn the bag over, shake well to spread the upopped kernels evenly on the bottom of the bag, then finish with the remaining :45 or so.
   
6. If it starts to smell badly burned, stop the oven, then back off 5 - 10 seconds the next time. Give it a few seconds to finish popping after you stop the oven - if it stopped popping before you stopped the oven, then back off 5 - 10 seconds next time. There will always be some slight burning, if you're going to pop most of the kernels.
   
7. Open the top of the bag carefully - a little steam may be left.
   
8. Pour the contents into a 2 quart bowl.
   
9. Enjoy.
   

Peanut Blossoms

4 cups sugar
16 tbsp. milk
4 cups brown sugar
4 tsp. vanilla
4 cups shortening
14 cups flour
8 eggs
4 tsp. soda
4 cups peanut butter
4 tsp. salt

Shape dough into balls. Roll in sugar and bake on ungreased cookie
sheet at 375 F. for 10-12 minutes. Immediately top each cookie with a
Hershey's kiss or star pressing down firmly to crack cookie. Makes a
heck of a lot.

Marshmallow Fudge

1/4 C butter / margarine
13 oz (1 can) evaporated milk
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 C sugar
12 oz chocolate chips
3 C miniature / 24 full size marshmallows
1 C chopped nuts - pecans / walnuts
1 t vanilla

• Combine butter, milk, salt, and sugar in a 3 quart casserole or mixing bowl. Loosely cover with lid or plastic wrap.
  
• Microwave on High (100%) for 3 to 4 minutes, or until boiling. Uncover.
  
• Microwave on High (100%) for 12 to 20 minutes (depending upon power of oven), testing every 2 or 3 minutes, looking for soft ball stage.
  
• When soft ball stage is reached, stir in additional ingredients, until cholcolate and marshmallows melts evenly.
  
• Pour mixture into a well greased baking dish, 12" x 7' x 2" size or thereabouts.
  
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours (at least) or overnight (best results).
  

Stuffed Mushrooms - Normal Recipe

This recipe uses much more maneagable portions of ingredients - and should be much easier to cook.

2 Lbs mushrooms, properly chosen and cleaned - 40 or 50
8 oz bread, crumbed
1/2 C finely chopped onion
1/2 C finely chopped celery
1/2 t green spices - marjoram, oregano, tarragon, thyme
2 cloves garlic
1/2 C powdered cheese - Parmesan or Romano
1 T olive oil

Buy a 16 oz loaf of bread - I used sourdough (Northern Californian specialty) several days ahead of time, cut the loaf in half, and preserve one half for normal eating. Take the other half, cut or break into slices or chunks, and let it dry out, in an oven if necessary. Turn them into crumbs, in a food processor. Dry crumbs are best - they get moistened later.

Remove the stem from each mushroom. This is where large, slightly stale mushrooms are best. Set the caps and stems aside.

Peel and finely chop the garlic - in a food processor. Remove the garlic from the food processor, and set aside.

Chop the mushroom stems in the food processor, into crumbs, next.

Chop the bread into crumbs, as finely as possible, in the food processor, last. The hard bread crumbs help scrub the mushroom and garlic off the food processor container. Mix the cheese into the crumbs while processing. Combine the bread crumbs and cheese thoroughly, and set aside.

Heat up a Dutch Oven until water droplets sizzle when dropped in. Add Olive Oil. Add garlic, saute very briefly. Crumble the spices (crush them with your fingers) into the garlic, add onions and celery, mix well and saute until onions are transparent and slightly soft. Add chopped mushrooms, mix well and saute until they start to give off water. Turn off the heat, and let the veggies cool a bit.

Add the cooked veggies to the bread crumb and cheese, mix well. The bread / veggies will turn into a thick ghooey paste - which is good. You want a pasty mixture so it will stick inside the mushroom caps.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Start stuffing the mushroom caps. I found it works best to just scoop up a teaspoon or so of stuffing, turn the spoon over and gently pack the stuffing into the cap. Scrape the spoon in both directions for an attractive, mounded effect. Just pack the stuffing in slightly, and put on a baking sheet. Mushrooms are not like cookies - you do not have to leave expansion room - they will shrink as they cook.

Fill up one baking sheet, stick it in the (by now) heated oven. Let it cook 15 - 30 minutes, until the stuffing is brown on the top, the mushrooms are giving off water, and they have shrunk. Take the sheet out of the oven, and use a spoon to pick up and transfer the cooked mushrooms to another, dry sheet. Set the sheet aside to cool. Stick the next sheet into the oven, and repeat. Pack the mushrooms tightly on the cooking sheet.

Cover each sheet of cooked, repacked, and cooled mushrooms with aluminum foil, airtight, and refrigerate. Refrigerated, and slightly hardened, mushrooms travel better, and tightly packed mushrooms have less air surface, and will slide around less, so get less damage when traveling.

Just before serving, sprinkle the tops with just a bit of cheese, and broil for 5 - 10 minutes until the added cheese browns just slightly.

Stuffed Mushrooms - 200 Of Them

Yeah, this recipe is for 200 of them. Here is another recipe, for a slightly less ambitious amount. And here is an account of my attempt, which lead to this recipe.

10 POUNDS mushrooms, properly chosen and cleaned
2 POUNDS bread, crumbed
2 C finely chopped onion
2 C finely chopped celery
1/2 C green spices - marjoram, oregano, tarragon, thyme
1 HEAD garlic
1 C powdered cheese - Parmesan or Romano
1/4 CUP olive oil
Lots of time
Full size food processor
2 or 3 large mixing bowls
4 11 x 18 inch cookie baking sheets

This is not an afternoons project - plan on at least 2 days of intensive work.

Buy 2 16 oz loaves of bread - I used sourdough (Northern Californian specialty) several days ahead of time, and let them dry out. Cut or tear into chunks, dry in oven if necessary. Turn them into crumbs, in a food processor. Dry crumbs are best - they get moistened later.

Remove the stem from each mushroom. This is where large, slightly stale mushrooms are best. Set the caps and stems aside.

Peel and finely chop the garlic - in a food processor. Remove the garlic from the food processor, and set aside.

Chop the mushroom stems in the food processor, into crumbs, next.

Chop the bread into crumbs, as finely as possible, in the food processor, last. The hard bread crumbs help scrub the mushroom and garlic off the food processor container. Mix the cheese into the crumbs while processing. 32 ounces of bread will be several batches, unless you have a pretty large food processor (I didn't). Combine the bread crumbs and cheese thoroughly, and set aside.

Heat up a Dutch Oven until water droplets sizzle when dropped in. Add Olive Oil. Add garlic, saute briefly. Crumble the spices (crush them with your fingers) into the garlic, add onions and celery, mix well and saute until onions are transparent and slightly soft. Add chopped mushrooms, mix well and saute until they start to give off water - and stems from 10 pounds of mushrooms will be a lot of water. Turn off the heat, and let the veggies cool a bit.

Add the cooked veggies to the bread crumb and cheese, mix well. Now you'll need a pretty large mixing bowl. The bread / veggies will turn into a thick ghooey paste - which is good. You want a pasty mixture so it will stick inside the mushroom caps.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Start stuffing the mushroom caps. I found it works best to just scoop up a teaspoon or so of stuffing, turn the spoon over and gently pack the stuffing into the cap. Scrape the spoon in both directions for an attractive, mounded effect. Just pack the stuffing in slightly, and put on a baking sheet. Mushrooms are not like cookies - you do not have to leave expansion room - they will shrink as they cook.

Fill up one baking sheet, stick it in the (by now) heated oven. Let it cook 15 - 30 minutes, until the stuffing is brown on the top, the mushrooms are giving off water, and they have shrunk. Take the sheet out of the oven, and use a spoon to pick up and transfer the cooked mushrooms to another, dry sheet. Set the sheet aside to cool. Stick the next sheet into the oven, and repeat. Pack the mushrooms tightly on the cooking sheet.

Cover each sheet of cooked, repacked, and cooled mushrooms with aluminum foil, airtight, and refrigerate. Refrigerated, and slightly hardened, mushrooms travel better, and tightly packed mushrooms have less air surface, and will slide around less, so get less damage when traveling.

Just before serving, sprinkle the tops with just a bit of cheese, and broil for 5 - 10 minutes until the added cheese browns just slightly.

Choosing and Cleaning The Mushrooms

When you're normally buying mushrooms for simple cooking, you probably look for small (1" or less in diameter), very fresh ones, and with very short stems. Believe me, when you're stuffing mushrooms, these will NOT be your favourite ones.

For stuffing, you will want large (2" or so in diameter), slightly stale ones, with long stems (1/2" or so). See below to understand why.

Having chosen 10 pounds of mushrooms, prepare to spend some time cleaning them. Those 10 pounds will not be all vegetable - some will be dirt, and THAT won't taste too good. You'll want to make several passes - fill a large container with water, dunk and agitate mushrooms, and drain. And repeat, until the drained water is clean. If the largest container you have is not at least twice as large as the volume of mushrooms being cleaned, you'll have to do it in batches. Clean the mushrooms well.

Having cleaned the mushrooms, let them drain really well. Then cover, in airtight containers, and refrigerate them overnight for best results.

Properly chosen, and cleaned, mushrooms will be much easier to prepare.

• To remove the stem, you need to grab and rock / twist it, so a longer stem gives you something to grab.
  
• With the mushroom slightly stale (and the stem starting to separate from the cap), the stem will just pop out of the cap, leaving you a nice hole to fill with the stuffing.
  
• If the stem doesn't pop off, you'll have to scoop it out with a spoon - and try scooping the stem out of a 1/2" mushroom, without breaking it.
  
• With 150 - 200 mushrooms to remove stems from, using a spoon will not be a favourite activity.
  

Automate the cleaning and preparation, and you can be done in a couple hours. Don't automate, and you could take all day. It's your dime.

California Hummous

Or is it hummus? homos? Who cares??!!




Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 cans garbanzo beans
• 2/3 C water
• 1 fresh lime, well squeezed
• 3 T Tahini
• 1/4 t oregano
• 1/4 t parsley flakes
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t cumin
• Trace of olive oil
• Pinch of parsley flakes, crushed

Preparation

1. Peel and dump garlic whole, into food processor.
2. Process on high until garlic is well minced, and pieces stick all over inside of bowl. Scrape pieces off sides.
3. Drain, then wash garbanzo beans, then drain again.
4. Puree garbanzo beans and garlic, mixing water while pureeing.
5. Add lime juice and tahini, blend again.
6. Add oregano, parsley, pepper, cumin; blend thoroughly.
7. Dump puree into large serving bowl.
8. Drizzle olive oil over top, crush and sprinkle parsley flakes on top.
9. Serve with chips or pita bread, or as sauce over baked potatoes.

Bean Salad

This is a very versatile recipe. It can be a side dish, or a main course. You can add or subtract ingredients, easily - just use a properly chosen container to marinate the beans - mix / stir frequently, for several days, for best flavour.

If you make this regularly, you'll want to buy juice in 128 oz plastic bottles. You can marinate the salad in a used empty bottle, cut the bottle open open to remove the salad, when done - then discard the bottle. A funnel, large enough to pass beans easily, yet small enough to fit inside the mouth of the bottle, will be very useful when pouring beans into the bottle.

Here, I substituted 8 oz of sliced mushrooms for the green and wax beans.

This is the veggies, marinating in the bottle. See the vivid colours? Each colour represents a different flavour.


Ingredients

• 2 Can black beans
• 2 Can garbanzo beans
• 1 Can green beans
• 2 Can pinto beans
• 2 Can red beans
• 1 Can wax beans
• 8 oz mushrooms - "bits and pieces", or "sliced".
• 1 onion (red is best), or 1 bunch green onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
• 1 sweet pepper (green or red), or 1 each, diced
• 1/2 C oil
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C vinegar
• dash pepper
• dash salt
• dash paprika and / or tumeric

Preparation

1. Drain and rinse beans thoroughly. Use a very large pot, and lots of water.
2. Mix beans, and other veggies. Make sure that all beans and veggie pieces will fit through the funnel or neck of the bottle. Dice as necessary.
3. Put veggie mixture in a bottle or marinating container. You may need more than 1 container.
4. Mix dressing mixture (oil, sugar, vinegar, spices) thoroughly.
5. Pour dressing mixture into marinating container(s).
6. Marinate 12 - 48 hours (longer is better). Mix or turn over the container, regularly. 1/2 of the vegetables should be draining, as the other 1/2 is soaking, constantly. This works best, with the bottle on its side, and turned end over end - not rotated.