Beef Stroganoff

1 pound cubed beef stew meat
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup water
4 ounces cream cheese


In a slow cooker, combine the meat, soup, onion, Worcestershire sauce and water.
Cook on Low setting for 8 hours, or on High setting for about 5 hours. Stir in cream cheese just before serving.

Peppermint Crumble Bars

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups white chocolate peppermint candy (like Andes peppermint bits)
• 1 - 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter, sugar, and flour together until crumbly.
3. Press a little more than half of the crumble mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 lined baking dish.
4. In a medium saucepan over low heat, mix 1 cup of the white chocolate peppermint candy and the sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Pour over the crumb crust in the dish.
5. Sprinkle the remaining crumble and white chocolate peppermint candy evenly over top.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges begin to just barely brown.
7. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

16 string cheese sticks
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. Emeril’s Essence
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups panko crumbs
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Canola oil for frying
Dipping sauce
19 oz. can tomato sauce
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper or to taste
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Emeril’s Essence
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Mix all ingredients together for Emeril’s spice. You will think of a million things to put it into.
Unwrap cheese sticks and cut them in half. Using three bowls for dipping, place the flour and Emeril’s Essence in the first bowl. Beat the eggs with the milk in the second bowl and then in the third bowl add the panko crumbs, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Now start to dip the cheese sticks. First in the flour, then egg and finally panko. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze for 20-30 min. I think I may keep some of these in the freezer. Great appetizer for kids and adults alike. Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a small sauce pan and add the garlic and saute for 1 min. Add the tomato sauce, red pepper, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 15 min. Heat a few inches of the canola oil in a wok or large deep frying pan. Place sticks in the oil and fry to golden brown. Do not overcrowd the pan. Fry them in batches. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. Serve with the tomato sauce immediately

Chocolate Fondue

--1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet, dark, milk, or white. Your choice.)
--1/2 cup heavy cream
--1 tsp vanilla

optional
you can doctor this up with:
--1 T Grand Marnier
--1 T rum
--1 T Peppermint Schnapps
--1 T Bailey's Irish Cream
--1 tsp peppermint, orange, coconut, etc. extract
--pinch of espresso powder

The Directions.

Put chocolate chips in the crockpot. Add the heavy cream and teaspoon of vanilla. Cover. Plug in and cook on low (or the ON setting for the LD) for about an hour. Stir.

Serve with apple chunks, banana slices, cubes of pound cake, strawberries, or marshmallows. Or all of them and invite me over.

Peasant Bread

4 cups (1 lb. 2 oz) all-purpose flour* (do not use bleached all-purpose)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups lukewarm water**
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons active-dry yeast***
room temperature butter, about 2 tablespoons

1. In a large mixing bowl whisk the flour and the salt. Set aside. Grease a separate large bowl with butter or olive oil and set this aside. (This is optional actually — I now just let the bread rise in the same bowl that I mix it in. My mother, however, always transfers the dough to a greased bowl.)
2. In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast over top. There is no reason to stir it up. Let it stand for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and/or bubbling just a bit — this step is just to ensure that the yeast is active. (See photo above.) Now, gently stir it up, and add to the flour bowl. Stir this mixture up with a spatula or wooden spoon. Mixture will be wet. Scrape this mixture into prepared greased bowl from step 1. (Or, if you’re feeling lazy, just cover this bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel.)
3. Cover bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour. (If you have the time to let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours, do so — this will help the second rise go more quickly.) This is what my mother always does: Preheats the oven at its highest temperature for just one minute, then shuts off the oven. UPDATE 01/05: Do not allow the oven to get up to its highest setting and then preheat at that setting for 1 minute — this will be way too hot. Just let the oven preheat for a total of 1 minute — it likely won’t get above 300ºF. The goal is to just create a slightly warm environment for the bread. Next, she runs a tea towel under hot water and rings it out so it’s just damp. Finally, she covers the bowl containing the bread with the damp tea towel and places it in the warm, turned-off oven to rise. It usually takes about an hour to double in bulk, but letting it rise for an hour and a half or up to two hours is fine.
4. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Grease two oven-safe bowls (such as the pyrex bowls I mentioned above) with about a tablespoon of butter each. (My mother might use even more — more butter not only adds flavor but also prevents sticking). Using two forks, punch down your dough, scraping it from the sides of the bowl, which it will be clinging to. As you scrape it down try to turn the dough up onto itself if that makes sense. You want to loosen the dough entirely from the sides of the bowl, and you want to make sure you’ve punched it down. Take your two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions — eye the center of the mass of dough, and starting from the center and working out, pull the dough apart with the two forks. Then scoop up each half and place into your prepared bowls. This part can be a little messy — the dough is very wet and will slip all over the place. Using small forks or forks with short tines makes this easier — my small salad forks work best; my dinner forks make it harder. It’s best to scoop it up fast and plop it in the bowl in one fell swoop. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes or until it has risen to just below or above (depending on what size bowl you are using) the top of the bowls.
5. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º and make for 22 to 25 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and turn the loaves onto cooling racks. If you’ve greased the bowls well, the loaves should fall right out onto the cooling racks. If the loaves look a little pale and soft when you’ve turned them out onto your cooling racks, place the loaves into the oven (outside of their bowls) and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

Pecan Pie Cookies

For Cookies:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder

For Filling:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine all cookie ingredients except flour and baking powder in large bowl.
3. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed
4. Shape dough into 1-1/4-inch balls.
5. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets
6. Make indentation in each cookie with thumb; rotate thumb to hollow out slightly
7. Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl; fill each cookie with 1 rounded tsp. filling
8. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets

AWESOME Meatloaf

• one pound of ground beef or turkey
• 1 egg
• 1 box stuffing mix
• 1 cup water

Mix everything together, put in a loaf pan, and bake at 350* for about 45 minutes.

Honey Beer bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
• 4 Tbsp. (half stick) butter, melted (**You can double this if you’d like**)

Method:

(Makes 1 loaf)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed. (I recommend popping your honey in the microwave for a few seconds beforehand to make it easier to stir in!)

Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter. (Use a pastry brush to spread it around if you’d like.)

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve immediately.

Simple Au Jus

Ingredients

• 3 cups water
• 4 teaspoons beef bouillon ( or 4 cubes)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Place the water in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to low; whisk in the beef bouillon.
3. Whisk in the soy sauce, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste.
4. If you like a thicker Au Jus gravy, you can also whisk in a little flour to thicken it.