Clam Chowder

3 (6.5 ounce) cans minced clams

1 cup minced onion

1 cup diced celery

2 cups cubed potatoes

1 cup diced carrots

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 C. milk

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Drain juice from clams into a large skillet over the onions, celery, potatoes and carrots. Add water Just to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in flour and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in vegetables and clam juice. Heat through, but do not boil.

Stir in clams just before serving. If they cook too much they get tough. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

Hamburger buns

I never have buns on hand and sometimes I just don't want to go shopping, so these are a good alternative. They took a bit of time to rise, but they were very easy to make overall.

Yield 10 buns:

13 1/ 4 to 3 3/4 cups flour

1 pack active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, margarine, or shortening

1 beaten egg

Sitr together 1 1/4 cups of the flour and the yeast. In a saucepan, warm the milk, sugar, butter, and 3/4 tsp. of salt until warm and butter almost melts.  Add to the flour mixture and beaten egg. Beat with an electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Beat on high for 3 minutes.

Turn out dough and knead in the remaining flour until you have a moderately stiff and elastic dough.

Place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise until double (about 1 hour).

Punch down and shape into 10 circles that you flatten into 4 inch circles. Place on greased baking sheet and let rise about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes.

Coconut Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix
1 can coconut milk
4 egg whites

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cube butter
3-31/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. coconut extract

Combine cake mix, coconut milk and egg whites then mix as the box directs (no oil or water). Bake 18-20 minutes, according to box directions

Mix frosting until smooth. Smother cupcakes, then dip them in shredded, sweetened coconut to make them extra pretty.

Chinese Orange Beef

Recipe taken from OurBestBites.com and slightly adapted from ATK Quick Family Cook Book

Ingredients
2-3 teaspoons grated orange zest (I just zest 1 whole orange)
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Asian chili sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons cornstarch
vegetable oil for pan
1-1/2 pounds flank steak, trimmed and sliced thin across grain and lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper (to clarify: that’s one steak, that weighs about 1.5 pounds)
3-4 green onions, sliced
hot white or brown rice for serving

Instructions
Whisk orange zest and orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger, and cornstarch together in a bowl.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Drizzle pan with oil and tilt to coat. Add half of beef, breaking up any clumps and let cook without stirring for one minute. Stir beef and continue to cook until browned, about 2 minutes; transfer to a bowl and cover. Repeat with remaining beef and transfer to bowl.
Whisk sauce to recombine, add to now-empty skillet, and cook over medium heat until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Return cooked beef, with any accumulated juices, to skillet and toss to combine. Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

Pizza Dough Part Deuce

Pizza Crust

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tsp. yeast

2 tsp. sugar

about 2 3/4 cups bread flour

1/3 cup semolina flour (optional)

1 tsp. salt

Makes 1 large pizza (so I double it to make 2)

Mix warm water, yeast and sugar in mixing bowl.  Let the yeast bloom.  When it is foamy on top, add the salt, semolina flour and about 2 cups of the bread flour (if making a single recipe).  Let knead in the mixing bowl and then gradually add more bread flour until the dough pulls together.  It is better to err on the side of slightly sticky rather than too stiff for this dough.  Let is knead for a few more minutes and then let it rise for about 1 hour.  

For pizza, roll out dough and place on a greased pizza pan.  Also, I like to spray the edge of the dough with a little oil so it browns better in the oven.  Top with sauce, cheese and toppings.

Bake at 500 degrees for about 9 minutes.

Eat!

Gnocchi Soup

While wandering aimlessly through Wal-mart, wondering what to make for dinner I realized two things: 1-It was super snowy, which means Mother Nature is basically daring me not to make soup, and 2-My husband was going to be late at work and probably wouldn't eat dinner with us so he wouldn't be disappointed if I decided to have soup for dinner (he doesn't like soup. Wha?) Boo-yah! So my mind started turning and kept getting stuck thinking about that gnocchi soup at Olive Garden. This recipe certainly isn't exactly like that soup, but it's what I came up with based on the ingredients I thought to get and what I already had.

4 Tbsp. butter :)
1 onion chopped
2 stalks celery chopped (I didn't have this, but it would've been good)
2+ cloves garlic minced
4 Tbsp. flour
8 C. chicken stock (or whatever you have supplemented with water)
3 carrots peeled and sliced
1 head cauliflower chopped small
cooked chicken pieces (rotisserie chicken, canned chicken, etc.)
1 pkg. gnocchi
1/2 bag spinach chopped
2 C. whipping cream :)
salt
pepper
thyme, parsley, nutmeg, whatever


Melt the butter then saute onions, garlic and celery until cooked. Add flour to make a roux. Cook for about a minute. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Let it thicken up a bit, then add carrots and cauliflower. Cook about 15 min. until veggies are good and soft.

At this point I would've liked to use my immersion blender to blend it up all creamy (which maybe would've eliminated the need for the cream), but my  immersion blender melted in the dishwasher, so I just went ahead and added the gnocchi. Let the gnocchi cook 2-3 minutes, or until it floats to the top. Add chicken, spinach and cream. Heat through. Add whatever spices your heart desires.

Serve with this French bread, but only if you read the recipe before you started cooking because the bread needs to be made first. You can whip this soup up while the bread bakes. And if you bake your bread on your silpat mat that was last used to make cinnamon rolls and your bread has a very slight cinnamon taste, it's a good thing.

Mmmmm.

Corn Bread

2 C. Flour
1 1/2 C. cornmeal
6 Tbsp. sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
4 eggs
2 C. milk
1 C. oil

This is a doubled recipe because that's how much my family likes it. For an 8x8 pan, halve it. But this goes in a 9x13.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the 2 Tbsp. butter in the pan and put it in the oven to melt while you get everything else ready. This is the best part about the cornbread. When you pour your batter in the melted butter it fries up around the edges and makes it delicious!

Stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Combine eggs, milk and oil in separate bowl and mix well with fork. Pour into dry mixture and stir until moistened. Do not over mix

Pour batter into hot pan of butter and return to oven for 25 min.