Buttery Cashew Brittle

Yummy!! I got the craving for peanut brittle when I saw a box of See's peanut brittle at my parent's house. Of course I ate the rest of the box, hoping that my parents didn't miss it. So, when I was going through my candy recipes the other day I thought I should try this recipe. I had some cashews that I needed to use up, and the weather was clear, so I decided to try making brittle for the first time this morning.

This is a keeper, for sure. I will watch the nuts better after I add them so they don't burn. I used roasted salted cashews, even though the recipe called for raw. I made sure that most of the coating was removed, and I split the cashews in half. I ate all of it for lunch!! Now, I am off to the gym ...

Buttery Cashew Brittle

2 c. sugar
1 c. light-colored corn syrup
1/2 c. water
1 c. butter
3 c. (about 12 oz.) raw cashews
1 t. baking soda, sifted

1. In a 3-quart saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Bring syrup to boiling. Add butter and stir until butter is melted. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low. Continue boiling at a moderate, steady rate, stirring occasionally, until thermometer registers 280ºF (about 35 minutes). This is the soft-crack stage.
2. Stir in the nuts and continue cooking over medium-low heat stirring frequently until thermometer registers 300ºF (10 to 15 minutes more). This is the hard-crack stage.
3. Remove mixture from heat. Remove thermometer. Quickly stir in the baking soda, mixing thoroughly. Pour mixture onto two buttered baking sheets or 15" x 10" x 1" baking pans.
4. As the cashew brittle cools, stretch it out by lifting and pulling with two forks from edges. Loosen from pans as soon as possible. Pick up sections and break them into bit-sized pieces. Store tightly covered. Makes about 2 1/2 pounds (72 servings).

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I have made these before, and I actually keep these in my "Candy" recipe box because they are more like candy than cookies. I will keep this recipe, even though it is sort of one of those recipes for kids. I can be a kid sometimes!!

Followup: I made these again and they failed. And worse, I didn't like them!! So, this recipe will not stay in my recipe file.

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

2 c. sugar
3 T unsweetened cocoa
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. milk
dash of salt
3 c. quick-cooking oats
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 t. vanilla extract

1. Bring the first 5 ingredients to a rapid boil.
2. Boil for 1 minute, then add the remaining ingredients.
3. Mix well and drop quickly by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.

One Dish Chicken & Rice Bake

This dish was really easy to prepare, and used everyday ingredients that most people have in their pantry. I liked it better on the first day, the second day I realized that I may not like paprika as a flavor. Thank goodness I am not Hungarian!! I won't keep this recipe, but other people will like it.

As usual I halved the recipe and made my family's tuna casserole with the remaining soup. I have to say that I liked the tuna casserole better than this chicken dish. I guess that is one way to get fish in my diet!!

One Dish Chicken & Rice Bake

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup water
3/4 c. uncooked regular long-grain rice
1/4 t. paprika
1/4 t. pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1. In 2-quart shallow baking dish mix soup, water, rice, paprika and pepper. Place chicken on rice mixture. Sprinkle with additional paprika and pepper.
2. Cover and bake at 375ºF for 45 minutes or until done. Serves 4.

Baked Garlic Chicken

This is one of several recipes that calls for "butter-flavored" crackers (i.e. Ritz crackers), so I thought I would try it. I have to say that this was more of a success than the Corn Flake recipes, but not spectacular enough to keep this recipe. If you have some Ritz to get rid of, by all means try this recipe, though.

Baked Garlic Chicken

2 c. sour cream
2 T lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 t. celery salt
4 t. Worcestershire sauce
2 t. paprika
1/2 t. pepper
8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 c. crushed butter-flavored crackers (about 50)
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. vegetable oil

1. In a large shallow glass dish, combine the first seven ingredients.
2. Add chicken and turn to coat.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.
4. Place cracker crumbs in a shallow bowl and roll the chicken in the crumbs until coated. Transfer chicken to a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish.
5. Combine butter and oil. Pour over the chicken.
6. Bake, uncovered, at 350ºF for 5o-60 minutes, or until chicken juiced run clear. Serves 8.

Mandarin Orange Salad

Yummy salad, I brought it to a pot luck dinner and it was a hit!! Definitely a keeper. I cooked up some chicken and added it to the salad. I didn't like the chicken, the salad was better without it, even the next day!!

Mandarin Orange Salad

Sugared Almonds:
1 T butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. slivered almonds

Dressing:
1/2 c. olive oil
1/8 c. balsamic vinegar
1/8 c. lemon juice
1/4 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. paprika
3 T powdered sugar

Salad:
1 bag Butter lettuce
1 bag Romaine lettuce
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 green onion, sliced
1 can of mandarin oranges, drained well

1. Melt butter in skillet. Stir in sugar until it begins to melt. Add almonds and stir until toasted, watching carefully. Sugar will begin to crystallize. Spread on foil to cool.
2. Mix dressing ingredients together and whisk until powdered sugar dissolves. Makes 3/4 cup of dressing.
3. Toss salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Add just enough dressing to moisten the salad. Sprinkle nuts on top of salad before serving.

Mayoneggs

These eggs were touted (by the Best Foods recipe card) to be "something special--the smoothest, creamiest ever". That much is true, they were smooth and creamy, and if you like wet scrambled eggs, then these eggs are for you. I prefer dry eggs, and won't be keeping this recipe. I thought it was strange that they just wouldn't get hard!! The ubiquitous egg-splash-cooked-hard pieces that are almost always on the edge of my scrambled eggs were not present, which was a good thing. I don't know if it was because of the butter added to the non-stick pan (which I normally don't add), or if it was that they were cooked at medium heat (I normally cook them higher), or the mayonnaise. I will test the butter and heat theories in the future to find out!! I added some shredded cheddar cheese.

Mayoneggs

2 eggs
2 t. mayonnaise
salt and pepper
2 t. butter

1. Beat eggs, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper until well blended.
2. Melt butter in small skillet.
3. Add egg mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until eggs are set. Makes 1 serving.

Variations: add snipped parsley, diced cooked potatoes, chopped green pepper, sliced mushrooms, finely chopped green chili peppers, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese, curry powder, mustard, or dill.

Tiger Cookies

While I was going through recipes for using up my corn flakes I found a recipe that uses Frosted Corn Flakes!! They happened to be on sale this week, so I purchased a box. I won't keep this recipe, as it didn't impress me enough. If you have kids they will have fun crunching up the frosted flakes, and they will like eating the crunchy cookies.

Tiger Cookies

1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 c. frosted corn flakes, crushed to measure 1 1/2 c.
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Stir together flour, soda, and salt and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture, mixing until well combined.
4. Stir in crushed cereal. Drizzle melted chocolate over dough. With knife, swirl melted chocolate gently through dough to achieve marbled appearance.
5. Drop by rounded measuring tablespoon onto un-greased baking sheets. Bake about 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove immediately from baking sheets and cook on wire racks. Makes about 5 dozen.

Corn Flake Cookies

I know, you are thinking "Another Corn Flake recipe!!" But, I had to use up the corn flakes I bought a couple of weeks ago and had so many disastrous recipes with. I am not doing so well with these cookie recipes. This one tastes pretty good, it sort of reminds me of a recipe I have called Crisp Cringles, basically a Rice Krispie cookie. What makes that cookie better than this is that the dough is nice and crispy, probably from the cream of tartar. I realized as I was typing the recipe up that I forgot the brown sugar and the baking powder (duh!!), perhaps that made a difference with the consistency. I won't be keeping this recipe, but other may like it.

Corn Flake Cookies

2/3 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 c. flaked coconut
2 c. crushed corn flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Beat butter, sugars, egg and vanilla together until creamy.
3. In separate bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in coconut and corn flakes.
4. Drop by teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto un-greased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool slightly, then remove from pan onto racks to finish cooling. Makes 4 dozen.

Crunchies

This recipe was a complete disaster. I don't know why it went wrong, except that perhaps the measurements were off. The final "dough" was not moist enough to hold together when I made the cookie. I baked them anyway, but only the portion of the cookie that had enough of the corn syrup mixture hardened up, the rest was still like a floury-sugary dough. I tasted the hard portions and it tasted good. I will include the recipe just in case someone can get the proportions better.

Since I hate wasting ingredients, I used the leftover flour-sugar-corn flake-coconut mixture and created a yummy bar cookie by adding more butter, brown sugar, an egg yolk, vanilla, flour and baking soda. I used a smaller pan, but wished I had used a larger pan because the middle didn't cook through. I will have to bake the middle again, but the edges were yummy!!

Crunchies

1 1/2 c. crushed corn flakes
3/4 c. sifted flour
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. shredded coconut
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 T light corn syrup
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Combine corn flakes, flour, sugar, coconut, and salt in bowl and set aside.
3. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add corn syrup and cook over meduym heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Add baking soda and stir rapidly to blend. When foam settles, remove from heat at once. Add vanilla and blend well.
4. Pour corn syrup mixture over flour mixture and mix thoroughly. The mixture will be dry and crumbly. Shape into rounds by pressing mixture by tablespoons against the side of mixing bowl. Arrange carefully on un-greased cookie sheet, placing cookies about 2 inches apart. Press with fork to flatten slightly.
5. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cook on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove carefully.

Peanut Butter Candy Cookies

These cookies were a bit difficult to shape, but they tasted good. I don't think I will keep the recipe, though. Someone with kids would definitely like these, they are easy to put together and with all the hand-work the kids can help out (and get a bit messy)!! I used half-and-half instead of evaporated milk because I didn't want to open a whole can of milk when I was cutting the recipe down.

Peanut Butter Candy Cookies

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 c. evaporated milk
2 1/2 c. corn flakes

1. Mix peanut butter, sugar, and milk to a smooth cream.
2. Stir in corn flakes until thoroughly blended with peanut butter mixture.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an un-greased baking sheet.
4. Bake in a 375º oven for 6 minutes, or until evenly browned. Makes 32 cookies.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Asiago

This was a recipe that I couldn't resist. I like spaghetti, I like chicken, I like peas, how could it go wrong?? But, it did. I had forgotten that I don't like canned peas, not that frozen or fresh peas would have worked any better!! I can't imagine who thought this recipe up, much less put it in the chicken cookbook where I copied it from. I ended up eating it, but left the peas in the bowl, at least as many as I could. Other people might like it, but I didn't.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Asiago

2 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
3 T olive oil
1/2 t. salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
8 oz. baby peas, un-drained
1 pound spaghetti
3 T grated Asiago
1 egg, beaten

1. Saute chicken in olive oil until golden. Season with salt and generous amount of pepper.
2. Heat peas in their own liquid in saucepan. Drain liquid from peas into chicken. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add peas to chicken mixture and season with more pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes longer.
3. Cook spaghetti in boiling, salted water until just tender, following package directions, and drain. Place in heated bowl.
4. Blend cheese and egg together. Pour gradually into chicken and peas. Stir until sauce is well heated. Toss half the chicken mixture with pasta. Spoon remaining chicken sauce on top and serve. Serves 4-6.

Chicken Croquettes

This is one of those recipe cards that is hand-written in fountain pen ink. It is from "Mrs. Graves", and is a bit vague. I did the best I could, but can't use this recipe again, sorry Mrs. Graves. I wonder if people back in the good old days of trading recipes ever messed up a recipe so that other people would not be successful, because that is what seems to have happened here!! The mix was so runny that I couldn't make decent patties. The first croquette was the only one that held together in the oil. I could barely eat it, and am wondering about the other "croquette" recipes in my files. I will write this one out exactly as it was written, even though it doesn't follow the standard recipe format.

Chicken Croquettes

1 pint of fairly chopped chicken (packed in solid) 1 cup
chicken broth - 1 tblspn of flour and 1 tblspn of butter
1 tspn of lemon juice - a little salt & pepper. 1/4 tspn of
onion juice - a little minced parsley - 1 egg. Put
both over to boil - add flour & butter - salt pepper & egg
well beaten. Cook until it thickens - Take from fire
and add chicken. When cold form into shape. Dip
in bread crumbs - then egg - then bread crumbs again
Fry in deep fat

Berry Crisp

I love crisps, especially apple crisp. I have a recipe that I have used for years in the Betty Crocker cookbook. I thought I would try this recipe because I had some strawberries that were about to get too soggy to eat. I won't keep this recipe. There was not enough crisp to cover the amount of berries. Perhaps I miscalculated when I quartered the recipe, but it ended up being better over ice cream instead of with ice cream. The strawberries got really liquidy, and the crisp did not hold together, but it did taste good. The recipe was a bit vague, not indicating what size pan to use or how much sugar to use to sweeten the berries. I also used regular oats instead of quick-cooking oats, so that may have made a difference.

Berry Crisp

4 c. blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries
1/3 to 3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. quick-cooking oats
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Place berries in baking pan ; sprinkle with enough sugar to sweeten.
3. Mix butter, oats, flour, and brown sugar together in a bowl until crumbly. Sprinkle over berries.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Cheese Potatoes

These potatoes tasted good, but were a bit difficult to prepare. The cheese forms a shell on the outside of the potato, so it makes it difficult to get a bite of cheese in each bite of potato. I used red potatoes with the skin still on, the fine grate on the grater, and poured the left-over melted butter over the top of the potatoes before cooking. Perhaps the next time I try these I will cut up the potatoes first and increase the ingredients so each piece is covered.

Cheese Potatoes

8 hot boiled potatoes
1/4 c. melted butter
1/2 c. grated cheese
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Roll hot potatoes in melted butter and then in cheese mixed with salt and pepper.
3. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Serves 8.

Broiled Chicken Patties

These chicken patties tasted good, but I don't like how they cooked up. They were crispy on the broiled side, but soggy on the other side. I re-read the recipe and it never said to flip the patty half-way through cooking. If I use this recipe again I would broil one side and then turn the patty over and re-butter the top, continuing to broil them.

Broiled Chicken Patties

12 saltine crackers
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
2 c. finely minced cooked chicken
1/2 c. half and half
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 t. lemon juice
1 minced parsley
1/4 c. melted butter

1. Crush crackers into fine crumbs between two sheets of waxed paper. Mix with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Blend remaining ingredients, except butter, together and work in prepared crumbs.
3. Shape into four patties about 1/2- to 3/-inch thick patties.
4. Place on broiler rack and brush edges with butter.
5. Brown about 3 inches from the sides and finish browning. Makes 4.

Peanut Brittle Cookies

This recipe was pretty good. I have some other recipes for something called Cookie Brittle which is similar, but this had peanuts in it. I should have used a larger pan so that the inside would have cooked longer. I quartered the recipe and used cocktail peanuts instead of dry roasted, and cut down the salt. I just realized that the recipe called for self-rising flour, I used all-purpose, so that may have affected the consistency of these bars. Also, I added the peanuts to the mix instead of sprinkling them on top. It's amazing that these bars came out at all with all the changes I inadvertently made!!

Peanut Brittle Cookies

1 c. butter
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2 c. self-rising flour
6 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped roasted peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Blend butter, salt, and vanilla. Add brown sugar and blend. Add flour and chocolate chips.
3. Press mixture into a greased and floured 15" x 10" x 1" pan. Sprinkle with peanuts.
4. Bake 25 minutes. Cool and cut into bars or break into chunks.

Strawberry-Filled French Toast

OMG, this recipe is definitely a keeper!! I had some leftover strawberry cream cheese from the PB & C Sandwiches last week. I had a bit of trouble downsizing the recipe, but decided to wing it. I used about 3 ounces of the cream cheese, about a teaspoon of sugar, 6 fresh strawberries (chopped), about 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, and a couple shakes of cinnamon for the filling. I used 2 eggs, about a tablespoon of half & half, a dash of salt, and 4 slices of bread. Usually I don't like the soggy egg bread part of french toast, so the next time I try this recipe I will only "egg" the outside portion of the bread. I tried this recipe with fresh blueberries, adding a bit more sugar, and it was also yummy!!

Safety note: Studies have shown that there are possible health risks to using raw eggs. Instead, substitute a pasteurized egg product.

Strawberry-Filled French Toast

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
16 oz. frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed and drained
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 t. ground cinnamon

French Toast:
11 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 t. salt
butter
24 slices of sliced white bread
confectioner's sugar

1. For the filling, mix cream cheese and sugar together until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well-blended.
2. For French toast, whisk eggs, milk, and salt together until foamy.
3. Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
4. For each serving, dip 1 slice of bread in egg mixture, turn once to coat, and place in skillet. Spoon about 1/4 cup of filling in center of bread. Dip another slice of bread in egg mixture, turning once to coat, and place over filling.
5. Cook 3-4 minutes or until underside is light brown. Turn and cook 3-4 minutes longer or until other side is light brown. Transfer to a warm plate, cover with aluminum foil, and place in a 200-degree oven until ready to serve.
6. Add more butter to skillet as necessary between batches.
7. To serve, dust each piece of French toast with confectioner's sugar. Makes 12 servings.

Carole's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My family is helping my sister move out-of-state this week, and I decided that for the 12-hour drive we would need some in-transit sustenance. I used a large ice cream scoop so that the cookies would be larger than usual.

I took the "Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies" recipe from the Quaker Oatmeal box and modified it a little bit.

Carole's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
3 c. oats
1 c. raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Beat butter and sugars and beat until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.
4. Add combined flours, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and oats. Mix well.
5. Stir in raisins well.
6. Use an ice cream scoop and place cookies 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 minutes. Switch oven shelves and bake another 5 minutes.
8. Cool on wire rack. Makes 16-24 cookies, depending on what size ice cream scoop used and how much dough was consumed!!

(NOTE: it is not safe to eat raw eggs, so I am not encouraging people to eat cookie dough)

Golden Potato Bake

Another disappointment with corn flakes. I figured that this would be a good accompanying dish for the chicken I made with corn flakes. NOT!! I will be cautious with corn flake usage in the future. But, this is not a keeper, and I don't know what I will do with the rest of these potatoes. Perhaps I could salvage them tomorrow ...

Again, it could be that I didn't get the corn flakes "crumby" enough. Also, I didn't realize that "pare" means to "peel". So, I peeled and cubed the potato, which may have made a difference to the recipe. Another thing is that I used the wrong sized pan, I used a loaf pan instead of a 9" square pan.

Golden Potato Bake

1/2 c. cornflake crumbs
1 t. salt
4-6 medium potatoes, pared
2 T butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.
2. Mix corn flake crumbs and salt.
3. Brush potatoes with butter and coat with crumbs.
4. Arrange potatoes in an ungreased 9" x 9" x 2" baking pan.
5. Bake uncovered for 1-1 1/4 hours or until potatoes are tender. 4-6 servings.

Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

I had high hope for this recipe. After all, my favorite part of my family's tuna casserole was the corn flake topping!! I was quite disappointed at how the corn flakes worked, or didn't work as the case may be, as a coating for chicken. Perhaps I didn't make the corn flakes "crumby" enough? This is definitely not a keeper recipe.

I used some chicken tenderloins for this recipe, and as usual I needed more of the coating than the recipe called for. I also had to research what "boiled salad dressing" is. Apparently I don't know this because I was raised in the West!! I just used mayonnaise as the base for this recipe.

Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

1 c. corn flake crumbs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 lb. chicken legs
1 c. boiled salad dressing or mayonnaise

1. Combine crumbs, cheese, and a light sprinkling of salt and pepper.
2. Coat chicken with salad dressing and dip each piece in the crumb mixture.
3. Bake in a shallow pan for 1 hour at 350ºF. Serves 4-6.

Potato Pancakes

I had overestimated the amount of potatoes needed for my last recipe, so I had one already-peeled potato floating in water in the refrigerator. For breakfast today I made Potato Pancakes. This recipe was satisfactory, but I have a lot of other similar recipes that might be better. I used slightly less potatoes than the recipe called for, and kept the 1 egg. So, I had to add more flour to make the better thick enough.

Potato Pancakes

1 egg
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/4 t. onion juice
2 c. grated raw potato
flour

1. Beat the egg until light and pale yellow, add the seasoning and the grated potato.
2. Stir in flour, a tablespoon at a time, using only enough to make a thick batter.
3. Drop by spoonfuls into a frying pan containing a little hot shortening and brown slowly on both sides. Serves 6.