Monday, August 23, 2010

Basic Cooking Class III

Now for the final installment of our basic cooking class recipes from Lana Bizzieri. These are her great tasting, easy to prepare recipes for dinner.

Cheddar Meatloaf

1 egg
3/4 c milk
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c quick cook oats
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 lb lean ground beef
2/3 c ketchup
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp prepared mustard

In a bowl, beat the egg and milk, stir in the cheese, oats, onion and salt. Add beef and thoroughly blend.

Shape into football shaped individual loaves. Place into a 9 x 13 pan. Combine ketchup, brown sugar and mustard and spoon mixture over loaves.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Immediately remove meat loaves from pan so they don't sit in the grease.

Pistachio Marble Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 box instant pistachio pudding mix
1/2 c water
4 eggs
1/2 c applesauce
1/2 c chocolate syrup

Blend cake mix with all other ingredients except chocolate syrup. Beat 2 minutes with mixer. Reserving 1/4 of the batter, add batter to greased bundt pan. Mix reserved batter with chocolate syrup, thoroughly blend. Add to bundt pan in large drops. Using a table knife, gently stir chocolate into batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Cool on wire rack for about ten minutes and invert onto cake plate. Cool completely before slicing. Sprinkle with confectionery sugar.

Fruit Cobbler

1 stick of margarine or butter

1 c self-rising flour
1 c sugar
3/4 c milk

Melt butter or margarine in a 9 x 13 pan in oven. Beat together sugar, flour and milk. Place dough over melted butter.

4 c fresh fruit
2 c sugar (artificial sweetener may be substituted)

Mix fruit and sweetener together. Pour sweetened fruit over dough and bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour.

Nick's BBQ Sauce

4 ounces tomato sauce
2 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black and red spice
1 Tbls ketchup
3 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 smoked Spanish paprika

Mix together and serve.

Nick's sauce tasted very good over the meatloaf. Lana served this with deli meat, delicious.

Basic Cooking Class II

Better late than never with these delicious and easy recipes for lunch from Lana Bizzieri. Truly, I am sorry this has taken so long.

Sauce for Macaroni and Cheese

2 Tbls a/p flour
2 Tbls margarine or butter
1 c milk

Melt butter in small saucepan; add flour and stir until it is thoroughly blended with flour; slowly whisk milk into mixture. Continue stirring until lightly boiling.

At this point add whatever cheese you are using. If doubling size of recipe - rule of thumb is one cup of cheese for every cup of milk.

Boil macaroni per instructions.

Cheesy Broccoli Casserole

1 pkg frozen chopped broccoli, 10 ounce pkg, thawed and drained*
1 c sour cream
1 c cottage cheese
1/2 c bisquick baking mix
1/4 c margarine, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease/spray the casserole dish. Spread broccoli in dish. Beat sour cream, cottage cheese, bisquick margarine and eggs with a hand mixer. Pour mixture over broccoli and sprinkle with parmesan.
Bake until golden brown and center is solid, about 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

*You can use a larger package of broccoli, if you wish. Lana has used as much as a 16 ounce package and she still has enough mixture to cover the broccoli.

Mayonnaise

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbls lemon juice
1 Tbls vinegar
1 egg, unbeaten
1 c canola oil

Add lemon juice and vinegar to dry ingredients; mix. Add egg and 1/3 c oil; beat until mixture begins to thicken. Add another 1/3 c of the oil, bet 1 minute, add rest of oil, and beat 1 additional minute.

Pita Snacks

1 Tbls parsley
2 Tbls Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1 Tbls margarine
1 package of pita pockets

Melt margarine. Combine herbs and add to melted margarine. Brush on whole pita pockets. Cut into wedges. Bake at 400 degrees for 9 minutes.

Soda Crackers

2 c a/p flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c butter
1/2 c buttermilk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift together flour, salt and soda. Cut in butter. Stir in buttermilk and egg mixing until liquid is absorbed. Knead dough for 5 minutes on lightly floured surface. Roll half the dough at a time into a rectangle 1/8 inch thick. Place on a sprayed baking sheet. Cut into 2 inch squares. Prick dough with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Store in airtight container. Makes 60 crackers.

Cream Puffs

Filling
2/3 c sugar
4 Tbls cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
4 c milk
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
4 Tbls butter, soften
4 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a 2 quart saucepan. Stir milk, gradually. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat stir in butter and vanilla. Cool before filling cream puff shells.

Shells
1 c water
1/2 c margarine or butter
1 c a/p flour
4 eggs

Heat water and margarine to rolling boil in saucepan. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each one. Drop dough about 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet or use parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees until puffed and golden approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in place away from a draft. Cut off tops. Remove any fragments of soft dough. Fill with filling. Replace tops. Dust with powdered sugar or chocolate.