Curry

Wow, somehow I managed to delete this post within seconds of posting it. So here goes take two.

This is a dish that Ethan introduced me to shortly after we got married. He bought the stuff and made it one day when I was at a night class, so I came home to dinner already made. It looked kinda weird  and it smelled even more weird. I'd never eaten anything like it before. I was pretty skeptical, but I have to say I ended up really liking it, and it's something we've had fairly often since then. I love it because it's quick, easy, and you can just kinda throw in whatever you've got laying around. It's pretty hard to mess up.

What You Need:

1 box (or bottle) curry seasoning (you can use whatever brand you want, but after some experimenting, we've decided to stick with this one)

S&B Golden Curry. It comes in a whole range of spiciness levels, so you can pick what works for you. I never had any trouble finding it in Thatcher or Rexburg, but only one of the three stores here carries it.

1lb cubed meat ( use the pork roast chunks I keep on hand, but you could also use raw pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, lamb, or anything else you have handy, although I'm not sure what else one WOULD have handy)
1 onion, diced
2 cups water, unless you're using a pre-made sauce in which case you don't need water (start with a little less than this and add more if you decide you want it)
A little oil or butter for stir-frying
Veggies, we use carrots and bell peppers, but you could also but celery or anything else you've got laying around.
Rice (start this cooking when you start your curry and they should be done around the same time)
If you're doing this with already cooked meat it's pretty simple, here's What to Do:

Stir fry your veggies until they are crisp/tender (meaning they're mostly soft, but still have some crispness left in them, you don't want mush). Add the meat and water (or sauce if using a bottled variety, if you are than you are done now) and bring to boil.

Waiting for my water to boil. 

Now turn your pan down so it will simmer, break your bar of curry seasoning into pieces, and stir in your curry seasoning. Stir until it dissolves and then simmer for a few minutes to let it thicken. Start with about half the bar and then taste it to see what you think. I don't normally put in the whole bar, it's just a little too strong. I think I leave out one of the pieces.
Serve over warm rice or noodles and you're ready to go.

For cooking this with raw meat:
Stir fry your meat and veggies until your onions are just starting to brown. Add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until meat is done. Break apart your curry seasoning and add to skillet. Simmer a few minutes to thicken and then serve over rice.

Chocolate Praline Pumpkin Pie

Can she bake a pumpkin pie Billy Boy, Billy Boy? She CAN bake a pumpkin pie, she's the apple of our eye, she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother!

This year Abigail made the pies for Thanksgiving --her first attempt. The crust was the obvious challenge and it was pretty challenging. Abby tried a new recipe for crust that was said to be "no-fail" but it did NOT live up to the name. The recipe called for oil instead of shortening and it was far too flaky to bend, which made fluting the edges impossible. But Abby pushed and poked and finally sort of made it work. The filling was delicious as always and Abby learned how to do marbling. The crust was really flaky and tasted okay. But I think she will be looking for a new recipe for crust.

Chocolate Praline Pumpkin Pie

1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

3 eggs

1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk

½ cup milk

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces

1 9-inch deep dish pie shell with high fluted edge (do not prick)

Praline pieces

Whipped cream

Stir the pumpkin, sugar, and spice together in a large bowl. Add eggs and lightly beat into mixture. Stir in both milks and transfer ½ cup of mixture into a small saucepan. Pour the rest into the pie shell. Add the chocolate pieces into the saucepan and cook over low heat until they are melted. Carefully spoon the chocolate mixture over the filling in the shell and gently swirl with a narrow spatula to marble. Cover the edges with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for 30 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. (BTW-the chocolate will sometimes stick a little to the knife, even though the pie is done. If it has been in for more than ten or so minutes longer and the top begins to seriously crack - the pie is done, even if the knife isn't completely clean.)

Praline Pieces:

In a small heavy skillet, combine ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon margarine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 6 to 8 minutes until the sugar turns a rich brown color. Spread the mixture on a buttered baking sheet or foil and separate into clusters. Cool. Break clusters into smaller chunks. Garnish each piece of the pie with whipped cream and sprinkle the praline pieces over top.

Prickly Pear Raspberry Lemonade

This stuff was delicious. Before serving it I dropped frozen raspberries in each cup to serve as the ice cubes (and because it looked cool)

Ingredients:
1 qt. prickly pear juice
1 bag frozen raspberries
1/2 c. lemon juice
between 2-3 quarts water
lemon berry and/or raspberry lemonade drink mix (I used the single serving sized packets that you put in your water bottle) OR sugar (optional)

1. In blender, blend prickly pear juice and raspberries
2. Pour in 1 gal. pitcher and add lemon juice.
3. Fill the pitcher the rest of the way with water.
4. At this point you can be done, it all depends on how strong and/or sweet you want it. If you like the taste, stop. I liked it, but I wasn't sure if our guests would like the strong prickly pear after taste, so I added 1 packet each of lemon berry and raspberry lemonade to help with the flavor.

Flourless Crepes

Crepes Ingredients:
3 eggs
3 TBS milk, half and half, or heavy cream
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar (or 1/4 tsp sugar substitute)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling Ingredients:
2 oz cream cheese
1-2 tsp milk, half and half or heavy cream
1 tsp sugar (or 1/4 tsp sugar substitute)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Jam
(that's at least what we used...you can fill these with just about anything sweet or savory)

Directions
1. Make the filling first. Mix the cream cheese, milk, sugar and vanilla together until blended (I just used a fork).
2. In a bowl (I used a large pourable measuring cup), mix all crepes ingredients together and beat.
3. Heat a pan to medium, medium high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Pour a small amount (about 1/8 c.) of batter into the middle of the pan and tip/swirl the pan to spread the batter out evenly. You're supposed to get a circle...I got oblong shapes with holes...but it still worked fine.
5. Cook for about 30 sec. to 1 min. Flip and cook the other side until done (slightly browned).
6. Remove from pan, fill, and eat! These get cold fast, so if you want to eat them warm you'll have to eat them as they come off the pan. For these today I put a little dollop of the cream cheese filling and a little dollop of raspberry jam and spread it in the crepe before I rolled it up. Mmmmmm.

This will make 9-10 crepes. I know, it won't look like you've made that much batter when you mix it up. I was skeptical at first, but I think we got 9 decent sized crepes out of this.