Turkey Brine

As someone who has cooked more then her fair share of bad turkeys - this was amazing!

http://www.recipezaar.com/Kittencals-Brown-Sugar-Turkey-Brine-148225

Usually at our house we eat turkey the night it is made - freeze the rest - then avoid using it because it was so bad - in a few months throw away freezer burned turkey. These leftovers won't last the week!

Simple Sesame Noodles

Got this from The Pioneer Woman.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings: 8

Ingredients

* 12 ounces, fluid Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained
* ¼ cups Soy Sauce
* 2 Tablespoons Sugar
* 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
* 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
* 3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil
* ½ teaspoons Hot Chili Oil
* 4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
* 2 Tablespoons Hot Water
* 4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin

Preparation Instructions

Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed.
Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with green onions and toss.
Serve in a bowl with chopsticks. Yummy!

*****
This is very forgiving. I didn't have chili oil, so I used a few shakes of crushed red pepper flakes. It was too much heat for my daughter, but the husband and I both loved it. I also didn't have any fresh garlic (WHAT???) so I used garlic powder, no rice vinegar so I used red wine vinegar, and I didn't have any green onions so we were deprived of that. And I only had about 1-1/2 Tbs of sesame oil left in my bottle. It was still OH SO GOOD.

The other thing I did differently: She said to cook the noodles first and keep them warm, then do the sauce. What a PITB. I did the sauce while the noodles were cooking, and it was done well before the noodles were. I whisked it again after they were drained, then combined them. Yummy.

Broccoli Salad

This is another from Recipezaar. It's #24862. Dressing can be made ahead of time and makes plenty. It's very thick at first and then thins out as the sugar dissolves. I ended up having to add more broccoli to even out the flavor and texture. I used regular raisins and peanuts instead of sunflower seeds.

Ingredients

• 3 broccoli, heads (cut into bite-size pieces)
• 5-10 pieces crisp bacon, crumbled (Baco's do not work)
• 2 tablespoons red onions, chopped
• 1 cup golden raisin
• 3/4 cup sunflower seed (I use unsalted)

Dressing (best to add just prior to serving)

• 1 cup mayonnaise (low-cal will not be the same)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (optional) or 1/2 cup prepared mustard (optional)

Directions

1. Put all of the salad ingredients in a bowl and pour on the dressing.
2. Mix well.
3. Chill.
4. Keeps well in the refrigerator, but is best served within an hour or two while ingredients are still crunchy.

Cream of Potato Soup

This is a tasty and warm comfort food for those chilly days. I got it off of Recipezaar. It's #149810. I followed the recipe exactly and it was yummy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3 cups potatoes, diced
• 1/3 cup onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons parsley flakes
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups swiss cheese, shredded
• paprika
• salt & pepper

Directions

1. Simmer broth, potatoes and onion until vegetables are tender.
2. Stir in parsley flakes.
3. In small bowl, blend flour with a few tbsp of the milk.
4. Add to the potato mixture.
5. Stir in remaining milk, cooking until soup thickens.
6. Add the cheese, stirring until it melts.
7. Season with paprika, pepper and salt to taste.

pizza night

In conjunction with Amanda's post with pizza crust and sauce recipes, here's how we do pizza night with friends:

We set out all the toppings in their own bowls. We make a whole bunch of little crusts about the size of your hand, and everyone makes their own mini-pizzas.

I make our sauce, which is posted here. Our toppings include the usual Americanized stuff like pepperoni and black olives. We have multiple kinds of cheese like motz, block Parm (not the stuff in the green can), and goat cheese. We have Italian sausage, Italian spiced pulled pork, olive oil, diced bell pepper, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, capers, dried herbs like oregano and basil ... we use the "Jamie Oliver's Italy" book to get ideas for topping combinations.

The missionaries LOVE pizza night!
(And yes, the one with the beard has permission to grow it - he has a skin condition that makes it difficult to shave cleanly.)

Homemade Pizza

My husband LOVES pizza! High end, take and bake, take out, frozen, you name it - he likes it (he even eats those Totinos party pizzas - ewww!!)

After much searching and experimenting I think we have finally found the best homemade pizza

Sauce: from recipezaar - we add 1teaspoon water and up the sugar to a full teaspoon

http://www.recipezaar.com/Ultimate-Pizza-Sauce-114392

seriously this sauce is amazing! you could spread it on a saltine and it would be a pretty good pizza :)

Crust: just tried it today:

http://www.recipepizza.com/doughs/pizza_dough.htm

I cooked it on a pizza stone (you can buy an unglazed tile and it would work just as well - cost about a buck vs the $40 for a "pizza stone")

Toppings: you can figure that out - put on whatever you like - my one suggestion, don't put on too much cheese - it is easy to think you have to cover it in cheese... it is ok/better to still be able to see some of the sauce, once everything melts it will cover the sauce anyway

slumgullion

Well, I didn't make it to 50 recipes in 2009 - I got to 42. Oh well. It was a good effort.

I have no idea what the name of this is, but it's a pasta dish with a rather random combination of vegetables. It tastes good, is quick and simple to make, and is great for a cold winter day! It's from the "Chicken Soup for the Soul Cookbook."

8 ounces elbow macaroni (I used mini penne - just something small)
1 tbl. oil to saute
1 cup diced onion
1/2 pound hamburger
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup diced celery
3/4 cup diced green pepper
Worcestershire sauce
salt
cayenne pepper
sharp or Parmesan cheese - OPTIONAL

1. Make the pasta as normal.
2. Saute the onion and then add the hamburger and cook until browned and crumbly.
3. Add tomatoes, celery, green pepper, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and cayenne. Cook for a few minutes until everything is heated through.
4. Mix with pasta to serve.
5. Put grated cheese over the top if you want.

The Worcestershire sauce, salt, and cayenne all have measurements of 1 tsp or less, but I didn't measure any of them.

If you like it a bit more saucy, you'll want to add more tomatoes. It's pretty loose with not really any SAUCE to it.

The original recipe also called for the vegetables to all be minced. I did a fairly large dice on it all so they were more the same size as the pasta, and I like the combination of the tastes. We've actually made this before (I think Adam did before, and I did it today) - it's quick, easy, and good!

Brickle

I got this recipe from my mom, who got it on the internet. It's ridiculously simple, and everyone who takes a bite immediately says, "Wow, I need this recipe!" It's been my contribution to three different Christmas get-togethers so far!

Ingredients:
1 tube saltine crackers
1 lb salted butter (don't substitute)
1 C brown sugar
12 oz. pkg chocolate chips
5 Heath bars chopped up, or 1 bag Heath bits

Preheat the oven to 350.

Get a cookie sheet with a rim and line it with tin foil. BEFORE you finish this recipe, check to make sure it will fit in your freezer! (My biggest mistake...)

Then, lay the crackers out on the foil. They should pretty much cover it perfectly, but you may need a few more. Don't overlap; lay them all flat.

Melt the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the brown sugar. When the mixture starts to bubble, turn the heat to medium-low and stir constantly for three minutes. The mixture will be runny, but definitely caramel. Pour the caramel over the crackers.

Put the crackers with caramel in the oven for about ten minutes, or until the caramel is well-spread and bubbly.

Take out the pan and sprinkle the chocolate chips over it. Leave it alone for about five minutes until the chocolate chips melt. Then get a spatula and spread the chocolate out evenly.

Sprinkle the Heath bits on top of the chocolate.

Put the pan in the freezer and leave it for 4+ hours.

When you're ready to eat it, peel the tin foil off the back of the brickle. Then break the brickle into irregular pieces. (I used the edge of a plate for this.) Enjoy! FYI: This keeps best in the fridge or freezer so it doesn't get sticky.

peppermint cupcakes

Number 42 of 50 ... I'm closing in on the end, and it's a darn good thing because we're pretty much at the end of the year! We're going out of town in a week, and I still have 8 recipes to go!

Peppermint cupcakes

I made these as a test-run for Mindy's wedding on the 29th. The only change I made was that I put in 3/4 tsp of peppermint extract instead of 1/2. The flavor was barely there with the lesser amount, and I liked it a bit stronger. I took them to playgroup, and the whole batch was eaten right up. The other moms gave this a thumb's up and wanted the recipe too.

chocolate pretzels

This isn't in my count because we've made them before, but I thought this recipe would be fun for others who might want to try it for Christmas. We put them also in the box to Adam's brother. They're SO GOOD, especially with egg nog! Note that they're not chocolate-covered regular pretzels ... but soft-dough pretzels that are chocolate and sprinkled with sugar.

Oh, these are from a cookie cookbook that just has the title, "Cookies."

1 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup superfine sugar (put regular granulated sugar in the blender, then pulse it so you don't burn out your motor, until the sugar is like dust. It's different from powdered sugar, and really makes a difference in the texture.)
1 egg

1 egg white
raw sugar sprinkles

1. Sift together flour, salt, cocoa powder.
2. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and egg. Add the flour mix and combine.
3. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in wax paper, chill for 1 hour or freeze for 30 min.
4. Grease cookie sheets, preheat oven to 375.
5. When the dough is chilled, roll into small balls. (Recipe estimate is 28 - when we make bigger pretzels, it makes only about a dozen.)
6. Roll out each ball into a rope, then loop around to make a pretzel shape. Put on greased cookie sheets.
7. Brush the pretzels with the egg white and sprinkle with the raw sugar.
8. Bake 10-12 minutes, cool on wire rack.

The first time we made these, it was to give them away. We had to make a 2nd batch, because we ate the entire first batch within 30 minutes of them coming out of the oven.