Reivel Kuchen

Ingredients:

Base:

1 egg

3 T. sugar

pinch of baking powder

just enough flour to make thin paste

Topping:

5 T. brown sugar

5 T. white sugar

3/4 c. flour
3 T. shortening

Recipe:

1. Mix fruit of choice with first 4 ingredients.

2. Mix the remainder of the ingredients in a separate bowl with fork or pastry cutter.

3. Place fruit mixture on top of bread dough. Sprinkle with topping mixture and dust with cinnamon. *

4. Bake at 350-degrees for 30 mintes.

* I used the other half of pizza dough from here.

Rating: 4 of 5

I am biased though. This is the stuff my grandmas would make when we came to visit. I love the clumps of brown sugar and cinnamon on top. And peach is my absolute favorite!

Source: My Grandmas Norton and Lenhart. Two of the best cooks of all time!

Homemade Pizza Dough and Sauce

We chose to do Canadian bacon with pineapple and sprinkled Parmesan cheese on top.

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

About 12 plum tomatoes, seeded, skinned, and pureed in a food processor *

1 white onion, chopped fine **

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons garlic ***

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tablespoon red pepper

2 tablespoons minced garlic ****

* I didn't have that many tomatoes, nor will I buy that many for pizza sauce. So, I just used a can of tomato sauce.

** I don't like working with onions, so I replaced it with 1/3 c. dried chopped onion

*** I didn't have fresh garlic on hand so I used garlic powder to taste
**** I didn't have 2 T. of minced garlic so I used 3 t.

Recipe:

1. Heat your oil in an 8 quart pan. Add your onions–we want to sweat them until they are transparent. This should take about six minutes. Then, add your garlic. By now, your kitchen should be filling with a delectable aroma–excellent!
2. At this point, we want to add the tomato puree we made, along with the sugar, salt, and red pepper. Bring the whole mixture to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, as the sauce thickens. The sauce should be pretty smooth when we finished, provided we did okay during the food-processing.

Rating: 2.5 of 5

We liked this recipe ok. The red pepper was way too strong. Next time I think I will either eliminate the pepper or just cut it by half. There was enough sauce for 2 pizza crusts so I put the extra in the freezer for later.

Source: http://www.pizzasaucerecipe.org/

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

2 T. yeast

1 t. salt

2 T. sugar

2 c. warm water

4 c. flour

Recipe:

1. Mix together the water, sugar, yeast, and salt. Let is rise for 10 minutes.

2. Add approximately 4 cups flour and let rise for 20 minutes.

3. Divide dough in half and form into 2 pizza crusts. *

4. Garnish with sauce, cheese, and favorite toppings.

5. Bake at 375-degrees for 15-20 minutes.

*Because I was trying to do 5 things at once I let the crust rise after putting all the extra stuff on for about 20 more minutes.

Rating: 4 of 5

This crust was soft and tasty. We really enjoyed it!

Source: I believe this is my Aunt Renee's recipe.

Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon steak sauce
4 skinless, boneless chicken

Recipe:
1. Preheat the grill for medium heat.
2. In a shallow bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayonnaise, and steak sauce. Set aside a small amount of the honey mustard sauce for basting, and dip the chicken into the remaining sauce to coat.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken over indirect heat for 18 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until juices run clear. Baste occasionally with the reserved sauce during the last 10 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent burning!

Rating: 5 of 5

We had this one for Christmas Eve dinner with the Ames and then again 4 days later with Krista. It tastes best on really thin pieces of chicken.

Source: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Mustard-Grilled-Chicken/Detail.aspx

Outback Steakhouse's Steak Seasoning

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Onion powder *
1/4 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper **
1 dash Coriander
1 dash Turmeric ***

* I didn't have onion powder so I just took dried chopped onion and ground it to a powder.

** I didn't have cayenne pepper so I used chili powder instead and halfed it.

*** I didn't have turmeric, so I didn't substitute it at all.

Recipe:
1. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. To prepare steaks with this seasoning: Preheat a flat grill or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle some of the seasoning blend over both sides of each cut of beef. *
3. Grill the steaks on each side to your desired level of doneness. Be sure to use tongs to sear all the edges of each steak to a rich brown color. **

* I rubbed each side of the steak with olive oil and then srinkled the seasoning. I then seared the meat on both sides for 1-2 minutes.

** I actually cooked the steaks in the oven after searing them. The oven was at 500 and I had them in for about 5 minutes.

Rating: 4.75 of 5

Yeah, they were that good. So good, we almost didn't use A1 sauce.

Source: http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/164169/outback-steakhouses-steak-seasoning

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:
8 medium russet potatoes (about 4 pounds)
1 head peeled garlic cloves (about 15)
Coarse salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces

Directions:
1. Peel potatoes and quarter lengthwise; cut crosswise 1/2 inch thick.

2. In a 5-quart saucepan, combine potatoes and garlic cloves; cover with water (about 8 cups) by 1 inch. Add 1 tablespoon salt.
3. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 25 to 30 minutes.
4. Drain; return garlic and potatoes to pan. Stir over medium-high heat until dry, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. In a small saucepan, bring milk to a boil; pour over potatoes. Add butter and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mash until smooth and creamy.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

I liked these mashed potatoes. I didn't put enough garlic in so that taste wasn't stong, which was too bad. I'll have to add everything next time.

Source: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/garlic-mashed-potatoes-2?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/quick-potato-side-dish-recipes#slide_1

Garlicky Roasted Asapargus

Ingredients:
2 pounds asparagus, trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss asparagus with oil and garlic; season with salt and pepper.

3.Roast until tender and browned in spots, 15 to 18 minutes.

4. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

I love asparagus, so there's really no way that it could have turned out poorly. It was a good recipe, but not the perfect recipe that I have imagined in my mind. I guess I'll still have to hunt for that one.

Source: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/garlicky-roasted-asparagus?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/quick-vegetable-side-dish-recipes#slide_1

Chicken Corn Quesadillas

Now that I am back in town, I decided to get creative and have an experiment night tonight.

Ingredients:

1 can corn, drained

1 cooked chicken breast, shredded

1 shake of coriander seed

a small handful of dried chopped onion

a small drizzle of olive oil

shredded chedder and mozzerella cheese

tortillas

Recipe:

1. Combine corn, chicken, coriander, onion, and olive oil in a saucepan and sautee. Some pieces of the corn should be browned, but not too much.

2. Thrown the corn-chicken mix and cheese between two tortillas in a pan. Cook until cheese is melted to make a quesadilla.

Rating: 4 of 5

I was loving this tonight. It's got good flavor, thanks to the onion, and is just sweet enough, thanks to the olive oil. I felt so, so, so stuffed after eating a whole one of these. I'll have to see how LaDon likes it when he's around. Ally liked the corn and chicken mixture so that is always a plus!! I'm thinkin' next time I'll make some kind of green chili sauce or some kind of tomatillo sauce to dip in or serve over it.....that could be good.