Swedish Rice Pudding

I was talking to a neighbor yesterday about rice pudding. I told I had a recipe that Mom has made for as long as I can remember! The recipe came out of an old Betty Crocker cookbook Mom got when she was in high school I think.   I was typing up a copy to send to my friend and figured I'd post it here too.


4 eggs
2 C milk
2 C canned milk - (the original recipe is light cream - but we never had that in the fridge at home)
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (I like the nutmeg in it, but I don't think my mom ever used it)
3 C cooked rice
2/3 cup raisins ( I never put these it- but for the sake of completeness included them in the recipe)

Scald the milk and canned milk (or light cream).  Beat the eggs. Put all the ingredients in a 2 qt casserole (I use a glass oven proof mixing bowl) and mix thoroughly.  Place casserole in a pan filled 1 inch deep with hot water ( I use a 9x13 baking dish). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes (mine always takes 60+) until a knife inserted halfway between the center and edge of dish comes out clean. Serve warm or cold with or without cream. (we pour milk over ours when it's hot.)  Pudding will bake with a custard layer on top. For a more even distribution of rice (and raisins), stir pudding carefully after 30 minutes of baking.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

I like the flavors of lemon and blueberry together. I recently had some blueberries in the fridge I need to use so I found a recipe to make muffins- It's pretty good. I haven't decided if its my favorite or not yet.  The original recipe I found as this website: http://thecafesucrefarine.com/2014/04/bakery-style-blueberry-lemon-muffins/  I'm re-posting it here with changes I made to it.

CRUMB TOPPING
5 tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup oatmeal

MUFFINS
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk- I don't ever have buttermilk- so I used 1-2 tsp lemon juice in milk (enough to make the ½ cup) and let it curdle - it works the same.
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups fresh blueberries

The original recipe has a glaze - 3 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 cup powdered sugar - I made it, but it was WAY too runny. So I don't think I'll use that again.It didn't drizzle nicely on the muffins- it was more like pouring water on them.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. (I needed 16- the original recipe must have bigger muffin tins)
2. Make the crumb topping by combining the melted butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and salt. Stir with a fork until crumbs form. Set aside.
3. Beat butter for 1 minute until soft and fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat for 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time and beat just until incorporated. Add milk, vanilla and lemon zest and mix on low until combined.
4. Add the baking powder and salt.
5. Add flour mixture and stir, by hand, until flour disappears. Do not over mix or muffins will be tough. Gently stir in blueberries.
6. Divide mixture evenly in the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle with the crumb topping.
7. Bake at 350˚F for 22 to 25 minutes or until light golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack. (drizzle with the glaze if you made it)

Homemade Oreos

We love homemade Oreo Cookies and they are super easy. But I always misplace my recipe. So I decided to post it here:

Cookies:

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix - any brand works I've tried a bunch of them

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil 

Mix everything together. Roll dough into small balls- about 1 inch. Put balls onto a cookie sheet. I line my cookie sheet with a Silpat mat - I love those! Cook them at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheet.

Filling:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened -OR- 1/4 margarine spread - I use either - they both work

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla - I think clear would work better, but I use regular too - but not very much or it makes the filling look brownish. 

Mix the cream cheese and butter/margarine together. add vanilla. Add enough powdered sugar to make the frosting a consistency that you like. It might take more or less than 2 cups - that's my best guess.

Put a spoonful of frosting on to the bottom of a cookie and cover with second cookie- gently press together. Not too much or all the frosting squishes out. 

I refrigerate the cookies because of the cream cheese frosting. But they seem fine when they are left out- I've done that too. They never stick around long enough to go bad anyway!

I don't have any pictures - but if you want to see some beautiful ones look at this website. Her recipe is about the same as mine- I think everyone's is. But she has some other interesting recipes too:
http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2010/11/homemade-oreos.html

Sesame Crackers

Ryan made sausage leek soup for dinner tonight- I thought we needed something to go with it. Sesame crackers sounded good. I found a recipe on http://www.sandraseasycooking.com - It needed some changes though - and this is what we came up with.


2 cups wheat flour
2 Tbs. Baking powder
2 Tbs. Sesame Seeds + extra for sprinkling
1 Tbs. Sugar
1/2 Tbs. Salt
2 Tbs. Butter and extra melted for brushing
1 cup of warm milk
kosher salt for sprinkling


Preheat the open to 375 *. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and sesame seeds. Add the butter and cut in with a fork. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add milk. I heated it for 1 min in the microwave first. Mix is to make a dough. I had to add more flour because it was too sticky. Divide the dough in half. Put each half on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat mat. Press or roll it out as thin as possible (like a pizza crust or thinner). Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with sesame seeds and kosher salt. Bake for approx. 15 minutes or until golden brown. Put baking sheet on a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool completely (or until you can't wait anymore). Break into pieces and serve. We put fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil leaves on ours. It was yummy! We ate most of it before I even thought of getting a picture. So use your imagination!


Note- I thought it was a bit too salty- the rest of the family thought it was good though. I think next time I will leave out some of the salt.

German Pancakes with Bacon

Most of you know I like to read- and I like reading books with recipes in them. Over the years, I have found some really good recipes. We have always liked German pancakes at our house- but they were always plain eggs, flour and milk. I never thought of putting anything in them. But then I found a German pancake recipe in a Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke.  Here's the version we came up with:

 

1 (12 to 16oz) package of bacon
8 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
8 oz package of cream cheese





Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cook the bacon and crumble it into the bottom of  the cooking dish.

Beat the eggs and half of the milk until light and fluffy. (Ryan said I didn't do this long enough the last time we made them, so the pancakes weren't as fluffy.) Add the vanilla and salt and continue beating. Then add the flour and the rest of the milk and beat some more.

Pour half the egg mixture over the bacon. Cut the cream cheese into 1 inch square pieces and place evenly over the eggs mixture. Then top with the rest of the egg mixture - I really don't know why we bother to layer the stuff in there - it all seems pretty liquid and just seems to mix around anyway.

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. The originally recipe says 45-55 minutes, but Ryan says that is too long and makes it too crispy. - Do whatever works for you. We usually can't wait an hour because we are hungry now!

-Genevieve

A New Chicken Puff

I'm sitting here with Charlotte asleep waiting for Ben to get home. Dinner is made and ready to go into the oven and even though I've never tried this new recipe I made up, I'm just so confident that it will turn out and be fabulous that I'm posting before I've even tasted!

CHICKEN POT PIE PUFFS

4 Chicken tenders cooked and chopped(with some sort of spice to flavor your chicken)
Onions
Celery
Carrots
Broccoli
Frozen peas
1 Can cream of chicken
2 Cans crescent rolls
Spices- I used a Johnny's Garlic Spread & Seasoning (which is a garlic and parmesan spread basically)
Handful of grated cheese

Cook chicken. Saute onions and celery. Steam carrots and broccoli until soft. Combine everything with cream of chicken, handful of cheese, and spice to taste.  Roll a spoonful of mixture onto crescent roll dough and make into a ball.  Cook at 350 degrees for about 15-20 min, watch and take out when golden.

Hope they are good!
*I don't measure anything so just do quantities to your desired taste, or just what looks good.

*UPDATE: We ate the entire pan almost, I think they are pretty darn tasty!