Gelatin-flavored Popcorn

We're a popcorn family and I found a pile of popcorn recipes that are perfect for us. This is the first.

Gelatin-flavored Popcorn
from Allrecipes
makes 10 servings

Ingredients:
10 c popped popcorn
1 c butter
3/4 c sugar
1 package fruit flavored gelatin mix (3 oz)
1 T corn syrup
3 T water

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Grease a quarter sheet pan.  Generously butter a heavy 2 quart saucepan.
2. Distribute popcorn evenly on sheet pan.  Place in oven to keep warm.
3. In prepared saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, gelatin, corn syrup, and water. Heat to 250-265 degrees F (hard ball).
4. Pour mixture evenly over popcorn and stir until coated. Return popcorn to oven and bake 5 minutes. Stir, then bake five minutes more.
5. Turn popcorn out onto a large piece of foil. Let rest until cool enough to handle, then form into balls. Or let cool completely and break into clusters.

I used lime jello, because it's what I had, but it was a good choice.  We liked it, but I hated standing over the stove stirring the syrup forever.  It's basically the flavored popcorn you can buy at gourmet popcorn places.  Very good and very sweet. Brooke didn't like it, though, because it had strings of hardened sugar that she proclaimed as "grossy".

Zucchini Cake

I found a zucchini that was hidden in the plant and got bigger than I prefer. I don't know why I thought I should use it to make a cake. The kids were already asleep by the time I frosted it and Brian was still on his trip that day. Oh, well.

Zucchini cake
1 1/2 c flour

2 c sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 c vegetable oil (I substituted half the oil for applesauce.)
4 eggs
2 c shredded zucchini
1/2 c walnuts, optional

Frosting:
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter or margarine, softened
1 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
2 c powdered sugar
Additional chopped walnuts, optional

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Combine oil and eggs; add to dry ingredients and mix well. Add zucchini; stir until thoroughly combined. Fold in walnuts if desired. Pour into a greased 9x13-in baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool. For frosting, in a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix well. Frost cake. Sprinkle with nuts if desired. Store in a refrigerator. Yield: 20-24 servings.

It was good. I over cooked it a little, but the applesauce and zucchini kept it moist.

Creamy Cauliflower lettuce Salad

A sweet and lively taste make this salad a winner. This came from a Miracle Whip recipe card. I decided to take it to linger longer so there were be more vegetable options available.

3/4 cup Miracle Whip or Miracle Whip Light Dressing
1/2 cup kraft Ranch dressing
1/4 cup (2 oz) Krat 100% grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup each: sugar and finely chopped red onion
1 pkg. (8 oz) Oscar Mayer bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled
1 head cauliflower, cut into pieces
6 cups torn romaine lettuce

Mix dressings, cheese and sugar in large bowl.
Add remaining ingredients; mix lightly. Makes 8 servings.

Clever picnic tip: Clean and prepare lettuce as directed. Place in a sandwich bag and add to cauliflower mixture right before serving.


I used the clever tip. I worked okay. The bowl wasn't empty when we came home, so I assume that it wasn't a big hit. I thought it was okay, Big Chubb wasn't
fond of it, but ate it willingly.

E-Z Homemade White Bread

I don't really make bread. I should, but I don't. However, we really needed some, so I whipped up this recipe, the original bread machine recipe from our growing up! It says that the price is $.38 per loaf, but I'm sure that has gone up a little over the years. Did anyone else have this recipe memorized? I remember not even using the recipe after having put it in the bread machine so many times!

Thanks speedbump kitchen for the picture!

Ingredients for 1 1/2 lb. loaf:
1 1/8 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dry milk
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Guidelines at a glance (paraphrased):
1. Put ingredients in in order listed.
2. Set bread machine and let it go.

So, it was okay, but there are many other bread recipes that I actually like better. It was good to eat with our dinner that night.

Lemon Rice Pudding

Big Chubb invited the missionaries over for dinner on a Saturday that Big Chubb was going to be gone on a camp out/not official scout activity. I decided to make this because we had some milk to use up, plus I didn't really want to have to go to the store to get anything along with cleaning the whole house, plus making dinner, plus dealing with Little Chubb and Baby Chubb (they have been naughty lately).

Lemon Rice Pudding

Boil 1/2 up rice in 1 quart milk until it is soft. While still hot, but not cooking, add 3 beaten egg yolks, 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, 4 tablespoons sugar, the grated rind and the juice of 1 1/2 lemons and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Return to very low heat and let thicken, stirring constantly. Pour into a casserole. Top with a meringue of 3 beaten egg whites to which 6 taplespoons sugar and juice of 1/2 lemon have been gently folded in. Brown in a slow oven and let cool. The pudding thickens as it gets cooler. Serves 6.

Well, I didn't realize that this recipe was going to be so labor intensive. It took forever to boil the rice in the milk. I didn't know exactly how to boil the milk without it scorching, so I made sure to not ruin it. And, it took a very long time to thicken after adding all the other ingredients. Then the meringue turned out being funny and burnt in the oven (I'm pretty sure I had to take care of one of the Chubbs and got sidetracked).

It tasted ok. It isn't very sweet, so I would probably add just a little bit of sugar. I don't know what the missionaries thought. We haven't had them over again since this dessert.

Chili Bean Dip and Bonus Recipe!

I have a sheet labelled Select Snacking that has various snack type recipes on it. I was considering making one to take with us on our drive to Muncie, but never got around to it. However, I did make one of the other recipes on the back side of the page.

Chili Bean Dip

1 15 oz. can kidney beans
3 Tablespoons, drained bean liquid
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons grated onion
2 teaspoons chopped parsley



Place drained beans, bean liquid, vinegar and seasonings in blender. Blend until smooth. Remove from blender and add onion and parsley. Chill thoroughly and serve with fresh vegetables.

It was okay, but I didn't think there was enough flavor. In the future I will probably add more chili powder and cumin, plus add in some garlic powder. Big Chubb thought it wasn't spicy enough. The thing that I found interesting was the vinegar, which I thought gave it a sweet taste.


**BONUS RECIPE**

Farther down on the sheet it suggest making nachos with the bean dip.

Spread large tortilla chips with chili bean dip (above) then top with shredded cheese. Arrange on plate and microwave 30-40 seconds (until cheese starts to melt).

Little Chubb and Baby Chubb had this for lunch with me one day. They did not appreciate it. I thought is was good, It would have been better with real sour cream instead of Greek yogurt, but we are trying to be healthier.

Mexican Dinner in a Crust

We are big fans of Mexican food. When I saw these I realized it was similar to another dish that we love, so I figured we could have it for dinner and see if it is as good.

Crazy Crust:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4. solid shortening
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg

Filling:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. chili powder
16 oz. can (2 cups) kidney beans
6 oz. can tomato paster

1/2 cup chopped lettuce
1 medium tomato
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese

    Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour bottom and sides of a 9 inch metal or 10 inch glass pie pan. (Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off.) In bowl, combine all Crazy Crust ingredients. Stir together until blended (batter will be slightly lumpy). Spread batter thinly on bottom and thickly up sides to within 1/4 inch of pan rim.
    In skillet, brown ground beef. Add onion; cook until tender. Drain excess fat. Stir in remaining ingredients, except lettuce, tomato and cheese. Spoon into crust. Bake 20 to 30 minutes until crust is deep golden brown. Sprinkle with lettuce, tomato and cheese . Serve with taco sauce, if desired. Makes 6 servings. (crust may be covered and refrigerated, unfilled, up to 13 hours before filling and baking).

This meal was good, but our original one is better. I knew that I would have a hard time with just tomato paste and chili powder, so I added in a packet of taco seasoning. The crust was really good, and I would probably use it in our original recipe in place of just a regular old pastry crust. Little and Baby Chubb were undecided about it.

Bread Machine Calzone

I warned Big Chubb that I was going to mix up our usual Friday night pizza and make this calzone instead.

Thanks allrecipes for the picture!

1 1/4 cups water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered milk
3/4 cup sliced Italian sausage
3/4 cup pizza sauce
1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions
1. To make dough: place water yeast, sugar, flour, salt and powdered milk in the pan of a bread machine, in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle. After cycle is completed, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface.
2. Meanwhile, brown sausage for about 8 to 10 minutes in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain excess fat and reserve.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Shape dough into a 16 inch by 10 inch rectangle. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet, and spoon pizza sauce lengthwise down the center of the dough, followed by the browned sausage and the cheese. make diagonal cuts 1 1/2 inch apart down each long side of the dough rectangle, cutting to within 1/2 inch of the filling. Criss-cross water. Brush top of calzone with melted butter.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

I was confused by the sliced Italian sausage that needed browning. We had it with just pepperoni inside. There was a lot of bread to the filling.

Big Chubb and I liked it enough, but it was quite a bit of work for pizza. Little Chubb and Baby Chubb didn't care for it, and complained about eating it with no sauce. I will probably keep to regular pizza for our Friday Night Pizza.

Watermelon cake

This one isn't a recipe, just an idea for shaping and decorating a cake to look like a slice of watermelon. I thought it would be good to use this one when there would be lots of people to try it out.

This is a replica of what the instructions looked like. I left the original at Janet's.

 This is what it turned into. There was no powdered sugar, and we discovered it on Sunday morning! SO, I tried to make some, but it didn't turn out very good :( And, then I didn't want to make three different colors for it. Luckily, the chocolate candy corns turned out to be great seeds!

Macey said something along the lines of, "I like it, but I don't love it." That pretty much sums up everyone;s feelings, but it mostly all got eaten. I will probably try it again with a sturdier cake mix and real buttercream frosting.

Happy pre-birthday, Emily and Holly!

Cheesy Eggplant Casserole

Cheesy Eggplant Casserole

1 eggplant, peeled and diced
 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
 1 cup dry bread stuffing mix
 1 clove garlic, crushed
 2 tablespoons diced onion
 1 egg, lightly beaten
 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
 salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place the eggplant in a medium microwave safe dish. Cook, stirring once, in the microwave 5 minutes on High, or until tender. Transfer to a 9x9 inch baking dish. Mix in 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, stuffing mix, garlic, onion, and egg. Season with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Top with remaining cheese, and continue baking 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

This was a good eggplant dish, especially because I already had half a box of stuffing mix that needed to be used. Brian liked it as well. I don't think the kids ate much of it, but the eggplant was pretty hidden by the stuffing mix and cheese, so I don't know why not. It would also be good with tomatoes added in.