Homemade gummy candy

Yesterdays menu:  Breakfast - fried egg with grape tomatoes, Lunch - leftovers from dinner, Dinner - a one pot dish with cabbage, broccoli, onions, peppers and polish sausage served over barley.

One of my favorite treats is gummy candy but I hate all the artificial gunk in them.  My husband and I were talking about this one day and he mentioned a woman he knew growing up who made all natural gummy bears to sell in his community.  Yesterday, I thought it was time to see if there was a recipe online.  The one I am sharing today is the first recipe I found.  It's not all natural since it uses packaged Jello but it was so easy that I was glad I started there instead of picking a complicated natural recipe.  My mom had said she wanted a particular jelly candy - it's similar to a gummy candy but with nonpareil candies coating it.  I rushed home and made this candy.  The gummy part is great.  I don't recommend trying to coat them in nonpareils.  They were hard to keep on the candy and by morning had disintegrated into a rainbow goo which stains (they were making lovely colors on my plates last night when they were being attached).  The candy replication for my mother was not a success but I did manage to make a really good gummy candy.  It was so easy that I may never buy gummy candy again.
I did not use a mold but poured it into a 9x9 glass pan.  They're not pretty but great for learning.  If you choose to use molds - do not grease and let the candies sit for awhile.  The recipe said 20 minutes but mine was still tacky (I did double the batch) which was perfect for adding the nonpareil mess but difficult for removing.  I just cut mine up with scissors to make bite sized candies.

Gummy Candy
1 3oz box of Jello
2 packages of knox gelatin
1/3 cup water
Add water to a saucepan and sprinkle on Jello and gelatin.  Let sit 5-10 minutes.  Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until all the gelatin has dissolved (2-5 minutes).  Pour into molds or glass pan (ungreased).  Let sit for 20 minutes before removing.
Easy Peasy!

Super Easy Cookies

It's one of those times of the year when baking seems to take over. There's parties and gifts all for one day - this time Valentine's Day. Want a cookie that is so easy and so versatile that it will make baking a joy no matter who many the kids say they need.
I love this recipe - it uses a cake mix. You can pick any variety and play with it. Some you can frost or add candies to, making a completely new cookie.

Easy Cake Mix Rounds
1 package cake mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease baking sheets and set aside. In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Drop dough by teaspoons onto baking sheets. Bake in oven 8 to 10 minutes. Let cookies cool slightly before removing from sheets.

PS - I still haven't forgotten about the baking mix. I just haven't had time but if all goes well I'll have recipes for you tomorrow.

Easy Drop Cookies

Rarely do I come across a recipe that I have to rush home and make. There are some out there that I dream about or crave but usually they are complicated beautiful recipes that I will probably never make. This one was an exception. After reading about this recipe on Mystery Lover's Kitchen Blog, I started planning it out. I knew I had the ingredients but I was sure I would only have 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. This recipe halved so easily that I think it will be our new favorite cookie.
It's so easy and takes a minute to throw together. The only disadvantage to this recipe is it requires sitting in the oven overnight. It was worth it. I wasn't sure how it was going to work but it did. This morning we had crisp chocolatey cookies sitting in our oven when last night there was chocolate chips and nuts covered with raw egg white. (I ended up skipping the salt because I forgot to add it)
Most people who bake should easily have these ingredients in their pantry. I think this will be fun to try with different chips and a variety of nuts.
Half this recipe made 8 cookies but I think I could have gotten 9 nice cookies since the dough does spread a little.

Easy Drop Cookies
2 egg whites, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients and drop by teaspoons on foil-covered baking sheet. Put cookies in the oven and turn the oven off. Let the cookies stay in overnight or for five hours.

Homemade Mac and Cheese

It's sweltering hot outside and do you know what my family wants to eat - Mac and cheese. No box mac will work for them - it has to be homemade. What we make is nearly as easy as a boxed dish so I don't really mind. I don't bake my mac and cheese like many people do and we serve it just like any pasta dish - noodles with the sauce on the side, unless I'm serving a big crowd and then I mix them together. My son's really enjoying some rice shells we got at the beginning of summer. While the noodles might be gluten-free, the sauce is not. To make it gluten free - use the almond sauce recipe, omit the seasonings and add cheese.

Homemade Mac and Cheese
16 oz bag of macaroni, shells or other small pasta
1/2 stick of butter
1/2-1 cup of flour
milk
shredded cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Melt butter in medium saucepan on a med high heat. Add flour until the butter is absorbed and you are left with a yellow paste (a whisk works best here). Slowly add milk (about 1/2 cup at a time) and stir into the paste until incorporated. It's best to work it until the paste is smooth to prevent future clumps but may not be easy with the first addition of milk. Continue to add milk 1/2 cup at a time and stir until the paste is smooth. At some point the milk will not turn into paste. It should be thick. Add another 1/2 cup of milk to make it slightly thin and stir until it thickens some. Add cheese.
The reason I did not say how much cheese is because this depends on taste and type of cheese. If I use a sharp cheddar, I add about 1 1/2 cups. Add cheese, stir until fully melted and taste. If you use a velvetta like cheese - melt about 1-2 cups in a glass container before adding to the saucepan.
Serve the cheese sauce on the noodles. You can serve with cauliflower or broccoli since you have cheese sauce. We had it this week with salmon patties and the sauce was better than tartar sauce.

Mediterranean Salad

With the summer heat, salads are a great meal that is cool and doesn't heat up the kitchen. This particular salad I created off of a deli salad I would find now and again. I loved the salad so much I would go in and buy it for lunch but it wasn't always available so one day I asked how they made it. It was so easy that it no longer made sense that I would buy it from the deli (that and it became less and less available). I often omit the onions because I don't like raw onions and I don't measure anything for this salad. It's all about what you like and the balance you want to create. It uses creamy italian dressing which really does taste different from regular Italian dressing. Experiment and see what you like.

Mediterranean Salad
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Onions
Sliced olives
Feta cheese
Creamy Italian dressing

Slice cucumbers and onions. Cube tomatoes. Mix together vegetables in a bowl. Toss in olives and cheese. Pour dressing over salad, mix carefully and refrigerate. Serve cold.

White Bread

I adapted this recipe from Martha Storey's cookbook on country cooking. I highly recommend that cookbook, it's my go-to book, because it covers a lot of the basics in detail. I'm not going to share as much because I just don't have the time or space (that and blogger ate my first attempt to share this with you).
Bread is an intimidating product but it's really not that hard once you understand the basics. This recipe is super easy and over time you'll find playing with it will be fun. The bread that comes out is a basic white bread, great for sandwiches and toast. It's simple to turn into rolls and other baked goods.
Kneading is the hardest part of making bread (and the waiting) so here a good tutorial on kneading bread.
This recipe does not contain salt so the bread will only last about 5 days before molding. To extend the bread's shelf life, feel free to add 1 teaspoon salt.

White Bread
2 cups warm water
2 TB honey
1 TB yeast
2 TB oil or melted butter
5-6 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered milk
Heat water until it's a comfortable bath temperature, you should be able to comfortably put your fingers in the water. Mix in honey until melted. Add yeast and stir. You want the yeast to be fairly mixed in. Let sit until you get about 1" foam.
In large glass bowl, pour in oil, 1 cup flour and powdered milk. Add yeast mixture and stir. Add 1 cup flour at a time until you can no longer stir the dough. Pour up to 1 cup of flour on a clean counter top and set the dough on top. Knead the flour into the dough and continue to knead until your dough is firm and even. Clean the glass bowl, dry and oil it. Roll the dough into a ball and set in glass bowl. Cover with clean dish towel and let rise in warm place. I turn my oven on to warm while I mix the dough, turn it off and set the dough inside to rise.
Let rise until the dough has doubled. Punch dough down and knead for several minutes. I do this in the bowl to save time and messes. Form 2 equal loaves and set in oiled loaf pans. Cover with towel and return to warm area. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes (do not open oven for the first 20). The bread should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. It is easier to remove bread from pan and slice when cold but it tastes so good right out of the oven.
To make rolls, use a 9x13 pan and roll the dough into equal balls (about 1/2 the size you want the rolls). It takes less time to cook so check them after 15 minutes.

Garlic Soup

The weather here has been rainy all week and I thought it's a good day for soup. This Garlic Soup recipe came out of the WSU Alumni magazine. Cougar Gold cheese is made here at Washington State University and is rather famous in a smallish circle. Our family loves the cheese and many restaurants feature a mac and cheese made with Cougar Gold. It's an unusual sharp cheddar, it's made in tin cans. Maybe next week I will give you a brief history of the cheese. It's a fascinating story. Here you can buy a tin for as little at $15 (for about 2 pounds). I hear there are places in Seattle that sell it for over $50. On special weekends the lines at Ferdinands (the local ice cream/cheese shop on campus) wrap around the block and the cheese actually sells out.
When making this soup, remember that hot soups have a tendency to explode in the blender so don't fill up the pitcher and give it a little air now and again to prevent pressure build up. Also, you can skip the blanching if you peel the garlic by hand (I use a cloth designed to help grip jars to peel when I want whole garlic and do the smash and peel when I want minced)

Garlic Soup
2 heads garlic, separated and unpeeled
5 tb olive oil
5 cups chicken stock
2 teas fresh thyme or 1 teas dry
white pepper
3 egg yolks
grated cougar gold cheese (or other sharp cheddar)
blanch garlic 1 minute, drain and peel. Cook but do not brown in half the oil for 10 minutes. Add stock and seasonings. Simmer 30 minutes. Blend the soup in a blender, carefully. Return to saucepan and heat. Beat egg yolks and gradually add remaining oil. Stir a couple of spoonfuls of soup into eggs . Remove soup from heat and add eggs in a thin stream. Stir well. Sprinkle on cheese and serve.

Asian Chicken Salad

This was a salad my husband created during his days at the deli. It was a great way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken. We now cook boneless skinless chicken breasts for this salad. Feel free to season your chicken anyway you want, this time we used citrus pepper and Mrs. Dash fiesta lime seasoning. The seasonings mentioned in the recipe are from the time we wrote down the recipe as he made the salad. There is a fair amount of oil in the dressing so you may want to experiment if you want a lower fat version. Also, my husband didn't realize we were out of rice vinegar and used rice wine by accident and the salad still turned out great. I like to eat the salad shortly after making it but my husband likes the noodles to get a little soggy. That is completely up to the person making the salad.

Rob’s Asian Chicken Salad
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, chopped, cooked and seasoned with citrus pepper, jerk seasoning and garlic powder
½ head cabbage, sliced or shredded
3 packages oriental flavored top ramen
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
½ cup rice vinegar
Mix chicken, cabbage and almonds in large bowl. Break up dry ramen noodles and add to bowl. Mix ramen seasoning packets with remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over salad and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Irish Whiskey Pie

St Patricks Day is a big deal in our house and has been for years. One of my family's favorite part of the meal is this pie. It's not one I can figure out how to make dairy free (or haven't really tried) but you can easily make it gluten free by taking gluten free chocolate cookies and making a crust. Over the years I started omitting the food coloring - feel free to omit it yourself. What you get is a lighter green that's not as pretty but it gets eaten just as fast.

Irish Whiskey Pie
1 chocolate graham cracker ready-to-use pie crust
1/4 cup Irish whiskey
1 pkg. unflavored gelatin
1 tbsp. mint jelly
2-3/4 cups whipped topping
2 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs, separated
Green food coloring
2/3 cup light cream
1 dash salt
Combine gelatin, 1 Tablespoon sugar, and salt in saucepan. Beat egg yolks lightly. Add egg yolks, cream and whiskey to gelatin mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens slightly. Stir in mint jelly. Chill until mixture begins to thicken. Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Beat in remaining sugar until mixture holds a stiff peak. Fold meringue and 2 cups whipped topping into custard mixture. Add green food coloring to desired shade. Turn into crust. Garnish with remaining whipped topping and refrigerate until firm. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours before cutting.

Smoothies

Growing up "smoothies" were a standard breakfast except in those days we referred to them as breakfast milkshakes. They are still a treat we like on hot summer mornings or really any time we want something cold and fruity.
There is no real recipe for our smoothies since they are catered to each drinker.

Start with frozen fruit. Our favorite has always been bananas. I have a freezer full of bananas. What I do is - when a banana has gotten to that point I know no one will eat it, I throw it in the freezer (peel and all). For me there's a lot of convinience in this. When I need to use a frozen banana, I run it under hot water for no more than 30 seconds and peel. I may need to use a butter knife to scrape all the stuff off but it doesn't take very long. Other family members, peel the banana and set it on cookie sheets to freeze and then pile them in freezer bags. My method has no freezer burnt bananas but it does mean a lot of slippery bananas falling out of the freezer when we over fill it. Either method works - it just depends on you.
You can also use any other frozen fruit. My grandmother would make them with frozen strawberries. The problem with strawberries is they are not always sweet and can make a pretty sour shake. I have used mixed berries, peaches and others but banana is what we seem to come back to.

We have a "bullet" type blender which makes everything in one serving. So I use 1-2 bananas, depending on their size and cover them with milk. Blend until smooth, you may have to stop now and again and add a little more milk to keep it smooth. Easy peasy - you have a basic smoothie. We like to add peanut butter and chocolate syrup to our banana smoothie but you can really add anything, including fresh fruit (with frozen fruit).

What I like best about this particular method is there is no added water - no ice chunks, nor is there any ice cream. The fruit acts as ice so if there are chunks - it's kind of nice. I like working my way through a piece of soft frozen banana, more than I like hitting a piece of ice. I, also, like that I have complete control of the nutrients, full serving of fruit and milk. And the best part is if they do melt, it's not a watered down version of the drink.

Pasta Carbonara (my version)

When I finished college, I got a job at a little Italian restaurant. I worked back in the kitchen and usually prepped all the fresh ingredients for sauces and what not. It was not a great job but I walked away with some knowledge of the restaurant business and Italian food.
One task I had was prepping the onions, green peppers and bacon to be fried for Pasta Carbonara. Being that I didn't assemble the actual dish, I had no idea they topped the entire thing with Alfredo sauce. When I can't remember what the name of this dish is - I head to the internet and am amazed by all the eggs and cream and what not that goes in this dish.
I am not so naive as to say this is a low fat version but it has to be lower than the normal versions.
This particular dish is our quick and easy go to. Great for unexpected company or any other occasion.

Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti or capellini noodles
butter or olive oil
1/2 pound bacon, chopped (I use kitchen shears to cut up the bacon)
1 onion, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped

Boil water and add the noodles (cook according to package). Fry bacon until starting to crisp. Add onions and let cook until translucent. Add green peppers and cook until tender and onions/bacon are crisp. Drain noodles and add butter or oil (I usually use about 1/2 stick of butter but you can cut back because the sauce is oily).
Top noodles with bacon mix. In this case, a little goes a long way and don't let anyone top the noodles with too much "sauce". The sauce should equal about 1/3 of the noodles.
Feel free to top with parmesan cheese.
I, sometimes, omit the peppers or use frozen ones and it comes out great. The more veggies you use will help stretch the dish.
Serves about 6 (or my family of 3).

Fruit Salad

I was craving fruit but the selection at the store was so poor that I ended up in the canned fruit aisle. My family has traditionally made a fruit salad with mixed canned fruit, cool whip, cottage cheese and jello. I have always hated mixed canned fruit and no one was especially excited about this salad for dinner. However, I really like the mix of fruit with the cool whip and cottage cheese.
My son and I stood in the canned fruit aisle trying to find something that would ease my fruit craving. We opted to buy pineapple which we all love and then we found something else - locally grown, no sugar added canned cherries. It was a shocker. The can of cherries was a little spendy at $3.50 but I figured it was less than what I would spend on fresh cherries. The ingredients were cherries, water and cherry juice so I figured it was worth it. We got some fresh bananas to round it out and made the family salad.
Here's how it went
2 cans chopped pineapple, drained
1 can cherries, drained
4 bananas, sliced into coins
1 container of cool whip
1 container of cottage cheese (both the "normal" sizes)
orange jello
Mix together the fruit. Fold in the thawed cool whip and cottage cheese. Sprinkle on about 1/3 of the package of jello to add flavor (or to taste). Chill and serve.
I saved the juices, mixed them together for the dinner drink.