. . . While Visions Of Walnut Toffee Squares Danced In Their Heads

My crazy, busy semester has come to an end, thank goodness. My wrapping is not yet finished (and this is after noon on Christmas Eve Day), but last night I spent the night baking baking baking!

Here are the fruits of my labors, some of my favorites!

Walnut Toffee Squares

Walnut Toffee Squares
Photo (c) by Stephanie Miller 2013

Walnut Toffee Squares

12 whole graham crackers (or more, depending upon the size of your cookie sheet or jelly roll pan)

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

Assorted nuts and/or chocolate chips as desired.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet that has sides with aluminum foil and lay out the whole graham crackers to fill the pan.  I used a jelly roll pan, so I needed more than 12.  I also had to break some graham crackers in half to fill in some empty spots around the edges.  

Stir together butter and brown sugar in a 2 quart saucepan on the stove top.  Stir until boiling.  Boil 1 minute.

Pour the butter mixture over graham crackers.  Place the pan in the preheated oven.  Bake 3-6 minutes until it's bubbly.  Remove from the oven.

Cool slightly.  Sprinkle on toppings as desired (as shown: 1 cup chopped walnuts and 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips).  Also delicious: crushed pecans, chopped or slivered almonds, heath bits, white chocolate chips, etc.  

Cool completely.  Break each cracker into 4 sections (I use a butter knife when the toffee squares are nearly cool. I then place them on a wax paper lined platter or table to continue cooling so the toffee doesn't stick to the aluminum foil.)

Makes 48 rectangles (or more, depending upon the size of your pan).  

WARNING: These are addicting!

Rumchata Buttercream Frosting

Pumpkin.
Sugar.
Bread flour.
Cake flour.
Whole eggs.
Coconut oil.
Pumpkin pie spice.
Salt.
Baking soda.
Baking Powder.

Pumpkin cookies = Fall deliciousness.

I contributed for the conventional basket with Bountiful Baskets, a food co-op I enjoy utilizing.  With our preschoolers and my husband's schedule being crazy at times, I haven't been able to volunteer as I did in the spring.  I was so excited to pull into the distribution location parking lot and see the baskets all set up outside, in the wonderful fall weather.

Council Bluffs, IA, Bountiful Basket pick up location.
Photo (c) by Stephanie Miller
Taken 12 October 2013

Even though the service fee went up slightly to cover additional costs for transportation, I think our baskets were much more bountiful this week!  You'll notice that there is a "left" (vegetable) and "right" (fruit) basket to the set.  Here is what I got this week:

Top: The gorgeous pumpkin cookies.
Bottom: The conventional basket
Photo (c) by Stephanie Miller

I also splurged and contributed something like $4.50 for a dozen Pumpkin Cookies.  These beauties are like mini Pumpkin spice cakes -- so poufy, soft, and dense.  Very moist.  With the simple ingredients listed at the start of this entry.  Although they were beautiful as they arrived, I really wanted a cream cheese frosting with them.  

I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting.  You know.  The typical pairing for a pumpkin/spice cake.  No cream cheese frosting in can in the pantry.  My dear friend Amy is at WalGreens; they only have chocolate frosting in a can.  Took the cream cheese out of my fridge, and I discovered it expired April 2013.  WHAAT!?  

Plan B: Butter Cream frosting.  

And this is what I came up with: Rumchata Buttercream Deliciousness!  (Although you should know that my mixer even broke down in the midst of beating this.  I swear, forces were conspiring against me!)

Photo (c) by Stephanie Miller 2013

Rumchata Buttercream Frosting

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 capfuls of Rumchata (until you get the right consistency)

Place the softened butter and the powdered sugar in a bow.  Mix on low until blended, then beat on medium for another 3 minutes, adding the Rumchata until the frosting is the desired consistency.  

This should frost an 8x8 pan, or in my case, 12 lovely pumpkin cookies with some left over for sampling!

Sesame. Er, Teriyaki? Ummm, 5 Spice Chicken. Yeah. That's what we'll call it!

Several of my friends found a crock pot sesame chicken recipe floating around Facebook and posted it to their wall.  Interesting premise.  But I didn't want it to cook 4 hours.  It was 11 AM and I needed something NOW for lunch!  

I took that recipe and changed it up some.  It turned out pretty good!  Husband has actually given the "official okay" to add into a rotation (which is why I'm putting here on this blog so I can actually find the recipe again!).  

Now, is this Sesame Chicken like what you'll get in a Chinese restaurant?  Nope.  Not even close, though it does have sesame in it.  It's actually more like teriyaki, which my friend (who made the original recipe in the slow cooker) said.  But it's not really teriyaki, either.  My addition of the five spice powder to this recipe kicked it up a notch, yet the kiddos gobbled it up, so it wasn't too hot.  I also figured: If I'm making "Asian" food (I use quotes because I'm really just tossing stuff together here!), why use ketchup?  Yes!  The original recipe had KETCHUP!  Though I suppose that would make it easier for most people to approximate in their own home.  Instead, I used Hoisin sauce.  

So, here you have it!  Oh, and sorry for the lack of photos.  They all ate it up so quickly, I didn't have a chance to snap a photo.

Sesame, Teriyaki, Five Spice Chicken

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed.
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 of a yellow onion, sliced
1 - 2 carrots, peeled and cut into "matchsticks"
1 bell pepper, any color, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon five spice seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil

SAUCE: 
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
dash of five spice seasoning

small jar (maybe 1/4 cup) of sesame seeds

Mix the honey, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, and dash of five spice seasoning.  Set aside.

Place 1/2 cup of cornstarch and a couple dashes of five spice powder in a gallon size baggie.  Add the cubed chicken.  Close the bag and toss until the chicken is coated.  Heat the olive oil in a wok or large pan.  Cook the chicken (leave out the left over loose cornstarch) until golden brown and cooked through.  Remove from pan and set aside.  

In the same pan, add the onion, carrots, pepper, garlic, and five spice seasoning.  Cook/stir fry over high heat until  done.  Add the chicken back into the vegetable mixture.  Stir.  Pour the sauce mixture over the top and stir again.  Add in the sesame seeds.  Cook until mixture thickens up.  The cornstarch from the chicken helps, as does the honey.  

Serve over steamed long grain rice.  

Dang, I wish I had a photo!  It was beautiful!  

Vinegar Rinse. And Repeat!

Using a vinegar rinse (1 part vinegar to 10 parts water)

has extended the life of my produce incredibly! Read more below!

It seems like in years past, I might have had a gallon of white vinegar on hand for, oh . . . maybe 2-5 years.  I just rarely used it.  I knew it was good for pickling, and my mom used it to clean out the coffee pot and dishwasher.  But the smell of it made me gag, and I just wasn't a big fan of it, other than using a splash of it in regular milk to make instant "buttermilk."

However, I recently became a regular contributor to the food co-op, Bountiful Baskets.  I love it!  I contribute $15, and every other Saturday afternoon is a bit like opening up a present at Christmas.  You never exactly know what you get, but chances are, you'll love it!  Here's a photo of my "haul" (or contribution, as they called) from last Saturday:

My Bountiful Basket contribution from June 22, 2013.

Missing from the photo: two nectarines, about 1/3 of the blueberries, and one bunch of asparagus.

.

When you have this much produce on your counter top, you certainly don't want it to go to waste.  So, after reading several posts on the Bountiful Basket Facebook page extolling the virtues of vinegar rinsing, I tried it out.  (Instructions/Recipe below.)  Suffice it to say, I was amazed at the results of how long my produce lasted when vinegar rinsing.  Oh, and the items "missing" from the photo above?  Well, that's my fault.  I was out of town this weekend so my friend picked up my basket Saturday afternoon.  Then we had no electricity yesterday due to thunderstorms.  So FINALLY, today, I did my vinegar rinse.  The veggies had been kept at room temperature.  Things were okay -- except the asparagus, some blueberries and some nectarines.  

I found that when I vinegar rinsed 8 pounds of strawberries, they lasted about 7-10 days.  The pound I did not vinegar rinse: molding within 3 days!  The proof is in the pudding (or the peaches!).

Vinegar Rinse How-To

Mix 1 cup white vinegar to 10 cups water in a large bowl.  Add a few fruits and veggies at a time.  Let them soak a few minutes (or longer, if you're say . . . vacuuming the living room or something).  When done, rinse them off under running water.  I place mine in a colander under the running water and let them drip into the sink.  If they don't air dry or if they are fragile fruits or vegetables, lay a soft dry towel out on the counter and let them dry there.  Amazingly, the vinegar does not affect the taste of the produce!  I rinse everything but bananas, potatoes, and onions.

Zuchinni, blueberries, nectarines, and (very important!) the blueberry
packaging soaking in the vinegar rinse.

If you have rinsed something that comes in packaging (blueberries or strawberries) and you want to reuse the packaging, throw out the absorbent pad inside, if there is one, and do a vinegar rinse on the packaging to get rid of any molds there!  I use a half of a paper towel, folded, to put into the bottom of the clamshell packaging.  

Freshly rinsed and almost dry blueberries resting
in a clean package with a fresh paper towel for the liner.
Last time, my blueberries lasted almost two weeks like this!

On the same day I do the rinse (hopefully, the same day I pick up my baskets!), I take the lettuce, celery, broccoli, and any other produce that requires "handling" and chop it all up so it's ready for the week.  I find that otherwise I won't use it if I have to clean it up later.  

My Salad Spinner (with a built in mandolin) has been the best buy ever!  We've had romaine lettuce in our baskets quite frequently, so I just get it all ready to go!  Chop, spin, and then store in a zipper top baggie with a clean, dry paper towel in the bottom (and top) to absorb any extra moisture.  

I'm always sure to squish all the air out of the bag before storing the ready-to-go romaine in the fridge!  Lasts quite a long time!  

I encourage you to try this method next time you pick up some produce from the market, co-op, or even from your own garden!

Holey Moley! And an amazing Ranch Dressing Mix

Well, so much for switching over from Facebook to my blog and keeping all my recipes here.  I guess it's just too easy to keep using the "same old thing."  However, I was recently searching for the lettuce wrap recipe and ended up back here!

I want to share a fantastic ranch dip mix I found on Facebook.  I'm not sure when people started using Facebook like Pinterest.  I don't think they realize how absolutely difficult it is to find recipes and postings in their timeline.  Just use Pinterest --- or a blog!  By the way, you can follow me on Pinterest HERE or HERE!  Yes, two Pinterest pages.  The first one is more personal, with lots of recipes and household/family related items.  The second one is more professional, relating to my teaching career and curriculum.

I'm not sure of the original source of this Ranch Dressing Mix, though I did find it on the KORD 102.7 FM radio website.  It's super easy, better than anything I've ever eaten anywhere, and people love it!

Here's the recipe:

Ranch Dip Mix
1/4 cup black pepper
1 1/2 cups parsley flakes
1/2 cup garlic salt
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 cup granulated garlic
3/4 cup granulated onion (I used a mixture of powdered onion and onion flakes)
2 Tablespoons dill weed

Store in an airtight container.  Yields 3 1/2 cups dry mix.  I stored mine in Mason jars.  They made for a pretty gift for my sister's wedding, as well.

Ranch Dressing Recipe
Mix 2 Tablespoons (yes, this recipe goes a loooooong way!)
2 cups mayonnaise
2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups sour cream (I just made it easy and used 2 cups)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix together.  Makes 1 3/4 quarts.  Store in the refrigerator.  I stored mine in Mason jars.

I gave my sister a pint jar of the dry mix for her wedding gift.  She now has enough ranch mix to make gallons of dressing!  I also mixed up a double batch for her beautiful wedding and reception. People could make their own veggie cups: a dipperful of ranch dressing in the cup, then add your favorite veggies.  Kids and grownups alike loved it!

Build Your Own Veggie Cups
With Homemade Ranch Dressing
at my sister's wedding to Prince Charming.
Photo (c) 2013 by Molly Petersen