Spicy Corn and Zucchini with Ramen Noodles

This technically is not a Cupboard Project recipe. It is from a booklet called Easy Vegetarian Meals Mom brought a few years ago when she gave me her cake decorating books. I haven't used the cake decorating books a ton, but I have made several of the recipes in this book.

Spicy Corn and Zucchini with Ramen Noodles

Ingredients

Noodles
1(3-oz.) pkg. any flavor ramen noodle soup mix
Sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Stir-Fry
1 tablespoon oil
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (2 cups)
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (14-oz.) can baby corn nuggets, drained, rinsed

Steps

1 In medium saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add noodles from soup mix; boil 2 to 3 minutes or until noodles are tender. Drain; cover to keep warm. (Discard seasoning packet or reserve for another use.)
2 Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine all sauce ingredients; mix well. Set aside.
3 Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add zucchini, onion and garlic; cook and stir 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in corn and sauce mixture. Cook 2 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender and mixture is bubbly and thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in cooked noodles.
3 (1 1/3 c) servings

It wasn't out-of-this-world good, but it was good, and very fast and easy, which is great. I think Mom would have liked it, especially considering her fondness of ramen noodles. I think I could have eaten it all by myself, so I really doubt it would serve 3 unless there were some hefty side dishes included in the meal. I used some fresh broccoli instead of baby corn because I had some that needed used and I thought it would go well.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

I realized I never actually put this recipe up on the blog.

Props to foodnetwork for the picture.

4 cups fresh rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 unbaked 9-in pastry shell
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 slightly beaten eggs

Place rhubarb in pastry shell. Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg. Add eggs; beat well. Pour the egg mixture into pastry shell. To prevent over browning, cover edge with foil. Bake in 375 degree oven 25 minutes. Remove foil; bake 20 minutes more or until pie is nearly set (pie appears soft in center but sets upon cooling). Cool. Cover and store in refrigerator. Makes 8 servings.

It was pretty good. Big Chubb and I like rhubarb a lot, so we are always looking for recipes.

Company Casserole

This family favorite is still as good as ever. We gobbled it up, except for Thing 1, who talked it up big, but wouldn't touch it.  She doesn't eat anything if substance anymore though.

Company Casserole
via SOAR, the searchable online archive of recipes

9 servings

8 oz egg noodles
1 lb ground beef or turkey
3 T butter
16 oz tomato sauce
1 T chopped green peppers
2 T butter
1 c cottage cheese
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c thick sour cream
1/2 c grated onion

Cook noodles, brown turkey in 3 T butter, stir in tomato sauce. Remove from heat.  Mix together cheeses and sour cream.  Layer noodles, white mixture, and meat mixture in a 9x13 dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Pour melted butter over before serving (I did not do). 

 

Mint Tulip

This is the drink Mary Murray said she would help make a huge batch for when I got married. We didn't have it, but it made an appearance at book club one time.


2 c. mint leaves, packed
2 c. water
12 oz. can frozen lemonade
1 qt. ginger ale

Bring leaves, stems and water to a boil. Bruise with a potato masher. Let sit several hours or overnight. Strain, add lemonade, and 3 lemonade cans of water; stir. Add ginger ale. Mix well.

I love this drink. It might be an acquired taste. The ladies in book club said it was different, but good.

Impossible Pumpkin Pie

Here is a recipe to get you thinking about your Thanksgiving dinner.
This is from Sister Souslin. It was included in the recipe box that the Relief Society gave Mom when they moved. I made it the other night when we had the missionaries for dinner.

Thanks cdkitchen for the picture.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick baking mix
2 TBSP margarine or butter
1 can (13 oz) evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-10" pie plate. Beat all ingredients until smooth, 1 minute in blender or 2 min. with hand beater. Pour into pie plate. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean, 50-55 min. Garnish with whipped cream if desired.

Fast to make and good. Works for those who don't like regular pie crust.

Serves 6


Well, it was like pumpkin pie, but we didn't really get much crust on the bottom. The pictures I've seen online all look like they don't have a real crust either. But, we all ate it up, even Little Chubb who insisted he didn't like it. We only had ice cream to have with it, but whipped cream would have been much tastier.

Whole Wheat French Bread-- Requires no kneading!

Kudos to Jo for posting so many recipes and keeping us in business as I slack off.  The good news is that I have an awesome recipe for you.  This comes from the Fargo Stake Cookbook and I have been wanting to make it for a long time.

Whole Wheat French Bread
makes two loaves

Yield: 2 loaves

1 package yeast
2 C warm water
2 T brown sugar or honey
1.5 t salt
2 T vegetable oil
4 to 4.5 C stone ground whole wheat flour
or
2 C whole wheat flour and 2.5 C all purpose flour

In a large bowl, soften yeast in warm water.  Add sugar, salt, and oil and stir well.  Add sifted flour and mix well with spoon.  (Dough will be soft and sticky.) Cover bowl.  Work through dough with spoon at ten minute intervals for five consecutive times.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and divide in half.  Shape into two balls.  Let rest ten minutes, covered with a towel.  Roll each ball into a 9x12 in rectangle, then roll firmly as for jelly roll, starting with the long side.  Seal edge.  Place rolls on well greased baking sheet which has been sprinkled with corn meal or sesame seeds (optional). Make six diagonal slashes across the top of each roll.  Brush with cold water and let rise until almost double in size.  Brush again with water.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.  Bake at 375 to 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  Brush with melted butter while warm.

I liked this bread.  I did it at 375 for 35 minutes and kind of wished I did the opposite, because it was a touch more brown than I wanted, but it was still good.  We had it as the base for mummy pizza and thought it was good for that.  I'm sure it would make a good side for lasagna or other pastas.

The Official New York State Apple Muffin

The official muffin of New York State, the Apple Muffin, was created by elementary school children in North Syracuse.

Ingredients:
2 cups New York State Empire apples, coarsely chopped
2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon peel, grated
2 tablespoons melted butter

Cooking time: 25m

Directions
For topping: Combine ingredients and set aside.
Combine flour, sugar, salt, spices and baking soda; set aside.
Combine apples, raisins, walnuts, eggs, butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, a little at a time, to the apple mixture.  Stir until just combined.  Do not over mix.  Portion batter into muffin papers, sprinkle with topping.  Bake at 375̊ for 20-25 minutes. Makes two dozen muffins.

Sounds good, huh? They were just okay. Maybe it was because I didn't make the topping (I just sprinkled on some raw sugar), but I wasn't super impressed with the muffins. They seemed to have too much baking soda taste, which is weird since there are only 2 teaspoons for the two dozen muffins. Maybe my expectations were too high.