Living on the Edge

My Favorite Egg Timer

I like to cook.  Sometimes.  When I do, I love stuff that makes it easy and/or fun.  This is a fun tool that I grew up with. I can remember my dad using this timer to make his soft boiled eggs every weekend.  I hate trying to time boiling eggs.  I always lose track of when I start the timer.  Does it start when the water boils or when I put the eggs in the water on the stove? 

I love my Eggsact Eggtimer.  You just set it in the pan along with the eggs.

Tip for hard boiled eggs:  If you don't like them to crack when they boil...let them warm up to room temperature before you start boiling them.

Anyway, notice how nice and red the egg timer looks.

Now let the water boil baby!

You need not worry about overboiling. Well you probably could if you leave the house and go plant your vegetables in the garden.  But if you hang out in the kitchen, unload the dishwasher, mop the floor, scrub the breakfast pan...and then check on the eggsact eggtimer....

Remember that nice red color?  It is now totally dark.  This means that they are done!  If you want to make them medium or soft, then just boil the eggs until it reaches the marked lines on the egg.  It's so easy!!  So I'd show you the deviled eggs I made...but they didn't last long enough for me to take a picture!! 

Irish Recipes

When thinking of St Patrick's Day in America and Irish fare, I think of corned beef, cabbage, sausage and potatoes.  I love the corned beef...the cabbage unfortunately doesn't like me!  But I also love this day because DD does all the cooking!  I like to cook the bread though.  Here are two recipes to make for the holiday.  The Corned Beef recipe is my husband's "secret" method.  It's very yummy.

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups flour

4 tsps baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 1/2 cups raisins (I like those little tiny ones)

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a loaf pan.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, sugar and salt.  Pour over raisins and caraway seeds in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Mold the dough into a loaf on a floured board.  Place the loaf in a greased pan and bake for one hour, or until the bread is done.

My Irish Husband's Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe

(I told him I was only sharing his secret recipe with a couple friends!)

Corned beef brisket (buy one with the seasoning packet included)

small red or white new potatoes cubed (2-3 per person)

3 medium yellow onions cut in halves

4-6 large carrots, pared and cut into chunks

1 large head of cabbage quartered

butter

To prepare the brisket.  Take it out of its package and rinse it.  Place it fat side down in a large pot on the stove. Fill pot with water to level 3 to 4 inches above the brisket.  Add the seasoning packet.  Take ONE onion cut it in half and put it on the brisket.  Put the carrots and the potatoes on top of that. Bring it to a boil.  As soon as it boils, turn the heat down low and let it simmer very low for 2-3 hours or until the potatoes are done and you can break the meat of the brisket apart with a fork.

Next add the remaining onions.  Simmer till the onions are cooked. 

Now here's the big secret.  Remove it from the heat.  Let it stand.  Take another pot.  Skim the scum off the top of the water and toss it.  Take 8-12 cups of broth out of the meat pot and put into a second pot. Place the quartered cabbage (with the heart removed) into that pot.  Top it off with additional water till the cabbage is covered.  Boil until the cabbage is cooked.  You know the cabbage is cooked when you can stick a fork into the thickest part and it will fall apart.  This will only take about 3-5 minutes of boiling.

Skim the vegetables out of the pot with the brisket. Put into a serving bowl.  Remove the cabbage, put in a separate serving bowl and top with a couple tablespoons of butter.  Remove the brisket.  Cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices diagonally across the grain.  It's easiest to do if you place the brisket fat side down on the cutting board.

You can serve with assorted mustards, horse radish, brown beer, and Soda Bread. 

Side note/intersting fact:  While this is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner, it is truly an Irish American meal.  They never traditionally cooked this in Ireland!

Yummy Fettucine Alfredo

I found this recipe recently for fettucine Alfredo.  I'm always looking for a good recipe to make this from scratch.  We sometimes buy those packets where you just add milk...or worse yet the packaged kind.  How many preservative chemicals will you find in there?  Ick! 

I've tried to be creative and make it with whatever I have in the cupboard or in the fridge.  It's either too runny or too thick and you have to chisel it out of the pan.  No amount of garlic can compensate for that problem. 

So here's a recipe that turned out just right plus it's wicked quick to make after a long day at work.  We like to throw shrimp and peas in it and make it a complete meal!  I love the one pan method.  Makes for an easy cleanup too!

Prep Time: 5 minutes            Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 stick of butter

1 cup milk or cream

Garlic (we add lots--add what you like)

1 package (8oz) cream cheese

1 package (16oz) fettucine noodles

How to:

Bring a pot of water to boil for the noodles.  Add the noodles to the boiling water.  To make the sauce melt together the cream cheese, garlic and butter over low heat.  Add the milk and parmesan cheesse.  Whisk until the cheese melts and the mixture becomes smooth.  Add salt and and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and pour over the drained noodles and serve immediately. 

This makes 6 servings.

The Official Superbowl Dinner

CC wanted to watch the Superbowl this year.  She's 9.  She's a girl.  She doesn't like pink.  And she loves the Pastrami Sandwiches I make for our Superbowl Dinner.  The tradition first started before DD and I were married and has continued through all the years since (Almost 14 years now!)  I can still remember when Q was a toddler sitting in her daddy's lap during the game and picking at his sandwich.  Sometimes I even make it when we need a quick meal during the week. 

CC LOVES these sandwiches. She is her daddy's daughter...a carnivore.  Yet she is her mommy's daughter too.  She loves salads too! But on the other hand, my pre-teen Q, won't ever admit to loving them.  She  still picks them apart like when she was little!

So they are wicked simple to make.  If you want a quick dinner after work...these are perfect.  Here are the ingredients:       Preheat oven to 350 degrees

French or sour dough loaf of bread (one loaf makes two large sandwiches or 3 smaller ones)

sliced pastrami

red onion sliced thin

sliced provolone cheese

spicy brown mustard

aluminum foil

These sandwiches are pretty filling. I think it's the bread that fills you up the most.

Slice the french/sour dough bread.  If it's a really thick loaf I scoop out a bit of bread so the ingredients have a nice rounded spot to sit.  Spread brown mustard on the bottom piece of bread.  Pile on about 4-6 slices of pastrami.  Put thin slices of red onion on top of the pastrami, then top with the provolone.  One thick slice is good...two if the slices are thin or you just love cheese.  Now top it off with the top slice of bread.  Wrap it up in foil and pop into the oven for 15 minutes into a preheated 350 degree oven. 

Since everyone seems to like their sandwich just a little bit different, one trick I learned is to write everyones name on the foil with a sharpee before you put them into the oven.

Enjoy!

Fettucine Carbonara with Spring Vegetables

1/4 pound sliced cooked lean ham (slices or cubes)

1 cup carrots

3 eggs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 pound fettuccine or egg noodles

1 package frozen peas

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, keeping the ham slices in a stack, cut the ham into 1/2 inch wide strips.  Cut the carrots into very thin (1/8 inch) rounds.
3. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, Parmesan and pepper together.
4. Add the fettuccine to the boiling water and cook until almost done, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook with the pasta for 2 minutes longer, or until the pasta is al dente and the broccoli is just softened.
5. Place a colander over a large heatproof serving bowl. Drain the pasta and vegetables into the colander, letting the boiling water heat the bowl.  Pour the water out of the bowl and add the drained hot pasta and vegetables.  Immediately pour the beaten egg mixture over the hot pasta and toss to cook the eggs and coat the pasta.
6. Add the ham and toss. Serve hot.

Substitutions:  I didn't have frozen peas and carrots, but I did have fresh broccoli and it turned out yummy with it instead.  I served it with applesauce on the side:

Why did I take a picture of the applesauce?  I didn't!  My dear husband did.  He and the girls are all teasing me because I take pictures of the food before we eat it.  Actually if I stop and think about it, I might just think it is weird too!  But then who likes a recipe without a photo of what it's going to look like!?

My First Cheesecake

Happy New Year!  I made this yummy dessert for New Year's Eve this year.  It didn't last long!  It was soooo tasty. I'm glad we had people over because I'd have eaten the whole thing myself!  I can't wait to make it during the summer with fresh raspberries from my garden! 

I don't know why I've always avoided making cheesecake.  I thought it was hard...but it was sooo easy!  The only thing you have to keep in mind is that you have to let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Marbled Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

2 (8 ounce) packages light cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup light cream or half-and-half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 OREO pie crust

1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries, thawed and drained.  If you put them on too soggy, they will make the cheesecake soggy.  That's why fresh summer ones would be so much better!

Chocolate syrup...I drizzled this over the top.  Makes it look fancy doesn't it?

Sugar Cookies and Frosting

Well, what's Christmas without a batch of frosted and decorated cookies?  Lots of people send them off as gifts to the neighbors all wrapped pretty in a tin or plate with a big bow.  But these cookies are so yummy that you won't want to send them anywhere!

Here's the recipe I've used for a long time. I have absolutely no idea where I found it originally.  It's just written on a ragged piece of paper in my cookbook, my favorite cookbook that is falling apart at the binding from its years and years of use.

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 cup butter or margerine

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond flavoring (optional but yummy)

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix sugar and butter, add eggs and flavorings.  Mix thoroughly.  Measure flour and stir dry ingredients together and blend in.  Refrigerate dough 2-3 hours.  Be sure to cover it so it doesn't dry out while it's chilling--wax paper is fine to wrap it in.

Heat oven to 375 degrees and divide dough into 1/2 or 1/3.  Roll each section to just more than a 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured pastry cloth or cutting board.  Cut with cookie cutters and place on lightly greased cookie sheets and bake 7 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Makes 5 dozen 2 inch cookies.

Now to decorate you can make this easy frosting. Add food coloring if you like or just leave it white and add sprinkles, crushed peppermint sticks, mini M & M's, or whatever you'd like.

Sweet Sugar Frosting

1 egg white (we give the yolk to the dog-great for her coat)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat egg white and cream of tartar until foamy in a small bowl.  Gradually beat in sugar.  Continue to beat until frosting stands in firm peaks and is stiff enough to hold a line when cut through with a knife.  Keep frosting covered with a damp paper towel to keep it from drying as you use it to decorate the cookies.

The girls love this part.  I think they love it even more than the part where they get to eat them!

CC, chief cookie baker

We stopped by the book fair during conference week, just before Thanksgiving.  Nothing exciting this year.  She reads so much that it is hard to find something that she hasn't read.  But CC is always thinking.  Her teacher gave her an extra credit assignment to do different tasks over vacation.  One of the choices was to follow a recipe and cook something.  So at the book fair she picked a cookbook for her book choice!  (Not that we don't have a cupboard FULL of cookbooks....but this one is hers.) I have to admit, I liked her choice.  There are a lot of great recipes in it...that will ruin any holiday diet attempt!

This is the recipe she chose.  They look and taste just like Daddy's favorite cookie from Eureka.  They are called Lacy's cookies.   We can't find them here. In Eureka, they sell them at Costco!  One time at work, daddy was on patrol and found that the door was open in the back of the factory building where they were made.   He was really hoping they would have shown their gratitude by giving him an endless supply of Lacy's.  Alas, it wasn't the case. But CC is taking care of her dad.

Did you notice that one of the main ingredients is oats?  With oatmeal in them I think they fall into the breakfast food category!  Don't you think so?

She made them mostly by herself.  I just hovered enough to be sure that she added a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon for the salt (and things like that!) There's the cookbook...can't go wrong when chocolate is the main ingredient in every recipe.

Here's the final product of all her work...of course she set aside two to bring to her teacher.  She had to prove that she made them you know!  I wonder if she'll get extra credit for bribing the teacher bringing in cookies?  We sure liked them.  They didn't last two days in our house. Don't ask how many daddy ate!

Seriouseats.com

Are you looking for something new and different to make this Thanksgiving.  Do you have to impress a  picky Mother-in-law (no reference to you Mip!!  Colorado popped into my head for some reason LOL!) 
or maybe another relative or friend or boss that doesn't come calling often.  Well I came across a website that has some fun recipes...makes me want to eat sweet potatoes this year!

It's called Serious Eats. And there are some serious eats on there!  Even the Pioneer Woman has posted at least one of her amazing recipes on the site.  Check it out!

Well, did you notice things on the  site have been looking different?  Well, I've been trying to change the font size so it's readable...but it's annoying because they don't let you change the size within the web pages set-up unless you customize it. But then I lose my header!  So I'm going to have to come up with my own header picture to be able to customize the font size.  A project for later....

In the meantime I haven't posted many cool pictures lately.  So here's a picture from our field trip to Pullman last week.  CC's class went down there and had  classes on Birds of Prey, Chemistry and Antomology (OK, it was entomology--but CC kept saying "ant"-omology because it was about bugs! I thought it was a clever way to remember that it was a bug class)


Pretty cool Red Tail Hawk.  It is so amazing how their tail is so much redder than the rest of their feathers.  It's kind of like those teenagers that have blond hair and die the ends black or red or purple.  A striking contrast.













She was such a pretty girl, I had to show her front side too.  She has a irreparably damages wing, so she will always be an education bird...but Pullman did just release a rehabilitated Bald Eagle.

Pumpkin Pudding Cake

Here's another recipe for those of you that like pumpkin.  I got it from one of the schools I subbed for last week.  They were raving about it.  It was really easy to make.  Give it a try if you aren't counting calories this time of year.

1 large can Pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1 can evaporated milk

3 eggs

2tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 box yellow cake mix

chopped nuts (optional)

Whip cream

Mix ingredients (pumpkin through the salt) together.  Pour into a 9 x 13 greased pan.  Sprinkle one box of Yellow Cake Mix over the pumpkin mixture.  If you want, you can sprinkle chopped nuts over cake layer.  Grate one cube margarine over the top of the cake mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Better if served warm with whip cream on top.  You can also serve cooled with whip cream as well.