Party for Two

I'm not married, nor do I have a significant other but I have friends who are and they are always looking for ways to save a little money, especially when the bills rise along with the temperature. Make a stay in date night special with a party for two! All it takes is a little planning. The week before place an invitation to your party somewhere where he or she will find it - their briefcase or purse, on their pillow, even in the mailbox (just make sure the mails come first!) – and let the anticipation build. Next plan the meal, something that you both love but don’t have very often, for me it would be a nice steak with mashed potatoes, green salad with lightly flavored lemon water to drink and a big ole slice of cheesecake for dessert (one slice, preferably from the Cheesecake Factory, two forks). For the place setting, if you have china – use it, if you don’t - use the nicest dishes you own. For atmosphere, dress the table with a table cloth and candles; turn the lights down low and have soft music playing in the background. (You can make it extra special if you have the music that was played at your wedding.) And there you have it, a romantic evening in that will be sure to have you “dancing in your socks.”

One Last Summer Hurrah

On the list of our favorite recipes, brisket and the accompanying sides are right there at the top. When we have special occasions any time during the year, it seems someone wants brisket. We've discovered the jalapeno corn is excellent served with Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas ham, too.
Your family probably couldn't eat these recipes alone. This is for a special weekend when you've got the time to wake up early, put the brisket in the oven, and get ready for some fun company. An end-of-summer swim party would be the perfect time to serve these recipes. Labor Day is coming up, you know!
Add some fruit salad and lemon cheesecake and you've got an evening your friends will remember fondly for a long time.
Grape Kool-aid and ice go well with this meal!

Barbecued Brisket

8 lbs. Beef brisket, or a boned pork loin roast
Onion salt
Garlic salt
Celery salt
2 tsp. Sugar
Worcestershire sauce
A few drops liquid smoke

Cover both sides of meat with seasoned salts, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke. Rub seasonings into both sides of meat with fingers. Refrigerate overnight in foil-lined roasting pan, covered tightly with more aluminum foil.

The next morning . . .
Onion salt
Garlic salt
Celery salt
Worcestershire sauce
A few drops of liquid smoke

Season meat again before baking and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake at 250 degrees for 8 hours (or one-hour per pound). Remove pan from oven. Open foil and drain off grease.

1 1 lb., 2 oz. bottle barbecue sauce (we use KC Masterpiece)
1 sm. can tomato sauce
½ to ¾ c. brown sugar


Mix above ingredients and heat. Pour over meat. Save some for serving. Return brisket to oven, covered with foil, for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cool and slice with grain of meat.

Potatoes Supreme

Marybeth Bohn

8 med. Potatoes (or make instant mashed potatoes for 8-10 servings)
8 oz. Cream cheese, softened
½ med. Onion, minced
1 c. Sour cream
Grated Cheddar cheese

Mash potatoes with milk, butter, and salt. Mashed potatoes should be stiff, not runny. Add cream cheese, onion, and sour cream. Put in a 9x13 casserole. Top with Cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.
Jalapeno Corn
Marybeth Bohn

12 ounces of cream cheese
½ c. milk
4 T. butter or margarine
1 tsp. salt
3 or 4 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (make sure to get rid of all the seeds so the recipe won't be too hot)
4 11-oz. cans Green Giant shoepeg corn

Mix cream cheese, milk, butter, and salt until cheese is melted. Add corn and jalapenos and put into casserole dish. Bake at 375 degrees about 30 minutes--until bubbling.
Bootlegger Beans
Shanna Maylett

5 strips bacon, chopped into bite-size pieces and fried until almost done
1 small onion, chopped
½ green pepper, chopped

Saute bacon, onion, and pepper, until bacon is crisp then drain off grease. Add . . .

1 32-oz. can pork-and-beans
3 T. brown sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar
2T. ketchup

Simmer ½ hour, stirring often. Beans will thicken as they simmer.
Serves 8-10 people.
Lemon Icebox Cheesecake
Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen
Icebox cheesecakes are a delicious paradox: delicate and light yet rich and creamy. We thought simply adding lemon juice would turn a standard icebox cheesecake into a fresh lemon-flavored one. But test after test yielded bad results: The lemon flavor was alternately fleeting or harsh. We wanted an icebox cheesecake with bright lemon flavor front and center—not just as an afterthought. Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries
· In a baked cheesecake, tart lemon juice is mellowed by the heat of the oven. For our icebox version, we needed to dial back the lemon juice to compensate.
· Lemon curd, a rich, tangy spread made from eggs, butter, cream, sugar, and lemon juice, added crisp lemon flavor without the undesirable “chew” of zest or the processed flavor of lemon extract.
· Using lemon cookies instead of graham crackers for the crust created an additional layer of lemon flavor.
· Lemon Icebox Cheesecake

· Serves 12 to 16
· Let the dissolved gelatin mixture cool down for a few minutes, or the gelatin will seize when combined with the filling. We tested our cheesecake with several store brands of lemon sandwich cookies; all worked well.

CRUST
10 lemon sandwich cookies, broken into pieces (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
CURD
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon heavy cream
FILLING
1/4 cup lemon juice from 2 lemons
1 envelope (2 3/4 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, cut into 1-inch pieces and softened
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, room temperature
1/4 cup of the lemon curd

· 1. MAKE CRUST Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Process cookies in food processor until finely ground. Add butter and zest and pulse until combined. Press mixture into bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake until lightly browned and set, about 10 minutes (Marybeth will bake it only 5 or 6 minutes next time). Cool completely on wire rack, at least 30 minutes.
· 2. MAKE CURD While crust is cooling, whisk egg, egg yolk, sugar, and salt together in small saucepan. Add lemon juice and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick and puddinglike, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cream. Press through fine-mesh strainer into small bowl and refrigerate until needed.
· 3. SOFTEN GELATIN Combine lemon juice and gelatin in small bowl and let stand until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Microwave until mixture is bubbling around edges and gelatin dissolves, about 30 seconds. Set aside.
· 4. MAKE FILLING With electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, sugar, and salt until smooth and creamy, scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Slowly add cream and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add gelatin mixture and ¼ cup curd, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until smooth and airy, about 3 minutes.
· 5. CHILL CHEESECAKE Pour filling into cooled crust and smooth top. Following photos, pour thin lines of remaining curd on top of cake and lightly drag paring knife or skewer through lines to create marbled appearance. Refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours. Remove sides of pan. Serve. (Cheesecake can be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
STEP BY STEP
Layers of Lemon Flavor
An extraordinary icebox lemon cheesecake requires more than a squeeze of lemon.
LEMON SANDWICH COOKIES Instead of the standard graham cracker crumbs, we used crushed lemon sandwich cookies for our crust.
LEMON JUICE AND ZEST Divide and conquer—we added 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice to the filling and 1 tablespoon lemon zest to the crust.
LEMON CURD We mixed tangy, homemade lemon curd into the batter and swirled extra on top of the cheesecake.

STEP BY STEP
Cheater's Cheesecake
Homemade lemon curd can’t be beat. don’t have the 15 minutes it takes to make it, though? You can find jarred curd in the jam section of the supermarket. But be forewarned: all brands are not created equal. The only one we can recommend is Wilkin and Sons, which captures the taste of real lemons and is creamy enough to use in our lemon icebox cheesecake (you will need 1/2 cup). Just so you know: it costs about $9.


STEP BY STEP
Swirl Showstopper
Remember what Grandma said? Pretty is as pretty does. At Cook's Country we generally agree with Grandma. Just this once, however, we don't think she'd mind a fancy effect. Making a swirl with the lemon curd on top of the cheesecake is absurdly easy and awfully impressive.
1. Use a measuring cup to pour the curd in four thin lines on top of the cheesecake.
2. Drag a paring knife or skewer perpendicularly through the lines to create a marbled design.

Back into the Groove

Get your kids dancing into the new school year with school themed music. Here's a few of our favorites:

Back to School
The Four Tops
From the Album: When she was my girl


Back To School
Leanda
From the Album: Back To School (Single)

School Day (Ring Ring Goes The Bell)
Chuck Berry
From the Album: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best Of Chuck Berry

The First Day Of School
Timmy Wells - The Orange Band
From the Album: The First Day of School

School Days
Cedarmont Kids
From the Album: 100 Singalong Songs For Kids

High School Musical
High School Musical Cast
From the Album: High School Musical 3: Senior Year

School Days
Aretha Franklin
From the Album: Aretha (1980)

Kid on the First Day of School
Big Bang Boom
From the Album: Songs Your Mom Will Like

Linus And Lucy
Vince Guaraldi Trio
From the Album: A Boy Named Charlie Brown

Cafeteria Lunches at home

We all remember school lunches - the one that were definitely not fit to be served to my worst enemy and the ones that were surprisingly delish). In Texas it's all about the choices (I don't remember having so many choices in Utah, Maryland, Mississippi or California) so today we are giving you 3 entree recipes and 2 dessert recipes, take a poll and serve the most popular or the one you remember best! Of course schools can't get away with not offering a veggie so serve your favorite!

To make dinner extra cafeteria-like eat from foam or plastic trays with plastic utensils (remember the spork?)

Entree:

School Style Sloppy Joes

(from recipegoldmine.com)

1 pound hamburger
Chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup with water to make 3/4 cup
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Shake of Worcestershire sauce
1 can tomato soup (undiluted)
Brown hamburger with onion and drain. Add other ingredients and simmer until warm through. Serve over hamburger buns.

OR
City School Pizza
Source: Los Angeles Times - 9/23/82
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1 (8 ounce) can tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
3/4 teaspoon oregano
Salt
3/4 teaspoon dried sweet basil
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 pound ground or chopped luncheon meat
French Style Pizza Crust
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, water, oregano, salt to taste, basil, garlic powder and luncheon meat. Sauté until mixture comes to a boil. Simmer a few minutes. Spread sauce on prepared French-Style Pizza Crust in pans. Sprinkle each crust with cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes or until cheese layer is bubbly and browned.

French-Style Pizza Crust:
2 packages dry or cake yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 1/2 cups lukewarm water
9 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Add flour and salt. Knead until smooth. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Cut into 2 portions. Let rest 15 minutes.

Pat or roll to even thickness in 2 (15 1/2 x 10 1/2-inch) jellyroll pans.

Serving size: 24

OR
High School Meat Loaf
1 pound hamburger
1/2 pound pork sausage
2 cups dry bread crumbs
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup onion, minced
Mix. Place in loaf pan. Bake 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F. If desired: Remove loaf from oven 15 minutes early, cover loaf with catsup, continue baking.

Dessert:

Cafeteria Tapioca

1 quart milk
1/3 cup tapioca
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat milk until scalding. Stir in tapioca gradually. Cook mixture over boiling water or direct low heat 6 to 8 minutes, until tapioca is done.
Beat egg yolks until pale in color. Beat with 1/4 cup sugar and salt. Stir into tapioca. Cook and stir until mixture thickens slightly. Stir in vanilla. Cool slightly.
Beat egg whites and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until stiff. Fold into hot pudding. Cool thoroughly, covered with wax paper.
To serve, spoon into dessert or parfait dishes. Garnish with whipped cream and maraschino cherry, if desired.
Makes 12 (1/2 cup) servings.
This is a wonderful recipe! It is very easy and makes an especially creamy pudding.

OR
1952 City School Ranger Cookies
Source: Los Angeles Times - recipe provided by Los Angeles Unified School District.
These are also known as "Flying Saucers."
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups cornflakes
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Cream butter with granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time.
Sift flour with baking powder, salt and baking soda. Stir into butter mixture. Add vanilla extract, oats, cornflakes, coconut, chocolate chips and nuts and stir until blended.
Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten to 4-inch diameter. (Use square of wax paper to keep dough from sticking to fingers or whatever you're using to flatten dough.) For small cookies, drop by rounded teaspoon. Do not flatten.
Bake larger cookies at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. Cookies should be slightly soft when removed from oven. Bake smaller cookies at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes.

22 large cookies or 6 dozen small cookies.
Each small cookie: 77 calories; 56 mg sodium; 13 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 11 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein

Back to School

It's that time of year again ... you know, the time kids dread and parents secretly wish for all summer!

Next week the kids in Texas start another year of school. In honor of the momentous occasion we suggest a back to school night, featuring the 'school lunch'.

Growing up I usually packed a sack lunch from home, mostly consisting of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, potato chips, and possibly a cookie or two (which is remarkably similar to the lunches I still eat everyday at work - yep I'm a creature of habit, for sure). On occasion I would buy a school lunch - always hoping it wasn't "mystery meat" day. I especially loved chicken nugget and mashed potato day!

We will be suggesting two menus this week: the sack lunch and the cafeteria lunch.

Today the sack lunch:

a sandwich of your choice
chips (or veggie sticks or to combine the two and have veggie chips)
a piece of fruit (apple, orange, or banana)
Dessert (brownies or cookies- your favorite, of course)
and a drink (juice boxes, water bottles, can of soda, whatever your family likes to drink)

Pack in individual lunch boxes (or brown paper sacks) for each member of the family. To make it extra fun for the little ones, have everyone pack thier lunch in a backpack, head to the school and have a picnic in the school yard - when the kids are done eating they can play on the playground equipment while you relax.

Milkshakes and 45s

A few things reminder us of the '50s - thick malted milkshakes in true milkshake glasses and 45 rpm records

So we'll use both in decorating the table tonight! What could be funner than a milkshake flower arrangement and record serving dishes!

For instructions on how to do the flower arrangement go here.

For instructions on how to turn your old vinyl records into serving bowls go here. You could also use a record as a place mat!

The Birth of Rock 'n Roll

During the late '40s and early '50s the nation learned to dance to a whole new sound - a combination of the blues, country music, jazz and gospel music - coined Rock and Roll by Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed. Early rock 'n roll either had a piano or saxophone as the lead instrument, but these were generally replaced or supplemented by guitar in the middle to late 1950s. The beat is essentially a boogie woogie blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, the latter almost always provided by a snare drum.

With musicians like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Hank Williams redefining the entertainment industry and Carl Perkins pioneering the creation of rock music with "Blue Suede Shoes" (I know we all know it as an Elvis song but it was a chart topper when it was written and first recorded by Perkins, too). And speaking of the king, his music typifies the 1950s musical revolution!

I love '50s music! The liveliness, the clean lyrics, the happy, optimistic tunes! I've been listening to it all day today and had to restrain myself from dancing in my chair at work! (that would have been slightly embarassing)

Instead of a playlist, because you'll be reading all night if I try to list all the ones I'd like to and I would hate to leave off a really great song, I suggest going to pandora and creating a "'50s rock and roll station" like I did today! It'll have you swingin' with the spatula!

1950s Blue Plate Special (OK not really)

Red Vinyl booths around stainless steel edged laminate tables, 45s spinning in the jukebox, the T-birds and Pink Ladies in the corner - who wouldn't want to have dinner in a '50s diner! The kind of place where you stopped by for a quick bite and stayed for hours to hang out with friends, gossip with the ladies, or talk sports and politics with the old men. The kind of place you go to so often your waitress knows your name and your order. Rose would get me a great big burger (with fresh grilled pineapple on it) nestled in a red basket full of thick, golden fries smothered in ketchup and a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream. If I decided to eat healthy that day (not likely) she'd get me a salad with ham, turkey and cheese, hold the hard boiled egg and tomato (I'm not a fan) on a bed of lettuce, topped with croutons and sprinkled with dressing, with a chocolate milkshake, hold the whipped cream.

I don't have time to make thing from scratch so I rarely do and Marybeth skipped town to spend time with her family so you get my kind of recipes!

Hamburgers and Fries
Grab some pre-made hamburger patties from the freezer and grill until you consider it done (well sacrificed for me). Lightly butter the hamburger buns and grill the insides until lightly browned. For grilled pineapple, place on grill for 30 seconds to a minute on each side. Grab the thick cut fries from the freezer and cook according to the directions on the bag (I leave them in a little longer than recommended for the perfect crunch). Prepare desired toppings and condiments.

Milkshake
Put scoops of vanilla ice cream in a blender with milk (I put in a little at a time until I get the thickness I desire that day) and chocolate syrup. I use about 3 scoops for 1 milkshake.

Salad
I'm sure you can do this one without my help :)

Tip of the Week: Seeing is Believing

For this weeks tip we thought we'd share a little decorating ideas for Mexican dinner night.

First flowers: a nice bouquet goes a long way but remember not red and no Marigolds. I'm seeing white daisies in a vivid colored vase (I'm thinking orange).(that could possibly be because I'm painting them for my sis-in-law but I just love the simplicity of them against the bright colors of Mexico). Have the kids make a party banner to hang above the table. It's easy, see how to here. (If you don't want to use punches like Martha does just fold it as instructed in step 1 and cut it like a paper snowflake.) They'll love being apart of the dinner preparations and will be kept plenty busy while the meal is being prepared! Happy Friday!

The Mexican Guitar

We got the main dish recipie for this week's dinner from Marybeth's mother's cookbook, below the directions was the suggestion "serve with Mexican guitar music." We took that suggestion and provided a few of our favorite guitar selections with a few ballads in the mix, just for the fun of it.

La Heroica Sebastopol / Anonimo by Jordi Moratò From the Album: La Guitarra Mexicana

Hasta Alicia Baila by Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
From the Album: Lagq: Latin

Danza de Jalisco by Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
From the Album: Lagq: Latin

Rodrigo/York: En Aranjuez con tu amor by Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
From the Album: Lagq: Latin

Jarabe Tapatio (Mexican Hat Dance) by Mariachi Aguila Real
From the Album: World Music Vol. 5: The Sound Of Mexico

La Paloma (Traditional) (The Dove) by Julio Iglesias
From the Album: Moments

Amor by Julio Iglesias
From the Album: My Life: The Greatest Hits

Family Dinner in Mexico

In Mexico the family is central to society. The extended family is very important and family members will go to great lengths to help each other. Tonight pretend your family is taking a trip to Mexico and joining in on a family dinner. A few tips before you go:

1. Bring a gift - flowers (white NOT red) or sweets, no marigolds please as they symbolize death, wouldn't want to spoil dinner! Warning: gifts are opened immediately so don't bring something embarrassing and open any gifts you may receive immediately as well.
2. Arrive at least 30 minutes late, nothing ever starts on time and it is considered rude to be on time - so take the extra time to buy that last minute gift, do your hair or makeup, scrub the kids' faces, or take the scenic route, just don't get lost.
3. When approaching the table, do not sit until you are invited to and told where to sit (wouldn't want to take Uncle Raul's seat). Always wait until the hostess has started her meal before beginning yours, and always keep your hands visible with your wrists resting on the edge of the table.
4. When you have finished eating, place your knife and fork across your plate with the prongs facing down and the handles facing to the right. And whatever you do, DO NOT clean your plate, leave a few morsels behind for the dog out back.

Menu: Arroz con Pollo (chicken with rice), refried beans, and tossed salad. Dessert: Sopapillas.

Arroz con Pollo

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 28-oz. can stewed tomatoes, cut up the tomatoes
1 to 1 1/2 cups white rice

Boil chicken till tender, adding water to keep meat covered.  Salt the chicken lightly.  Remove chicken and cool.  Keep the water in the pan which is now chicken broth.  Add to chicken broth all ingredients EXCEPT the cooked chicken and rice and let simmer 1/2 hour.  Add rice, cook on low heat until done and broth is absorbed.  Shred the chicken and add to rice mixture. 

Refried Beans (from scratch!!!)  OR, if you are like Sandy, open a can of refried beans!

1 lb. dried pinto beans, cleaned
5 cups of water
1 or 2 medium-sized onions, diced
1/2 to 1 cup hot bacon drippings, butter, or lard
Salt to taste

Soak beans in cold water overnight.  The next day, bring beans to a boil with water and onions and cover pan.  Simmer slowly until beans are very tender, about 3 hours.  Mash beans with potato masher and add bacon drippings or butter or lard.  Mix well; continue cooking, stirring frequently until beans are thickened and fat is absorbed.  Salt to taste.  Makes 6 - 8 servings. 

Sopapillas

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup lard or shortening
honey, cinnamon, sugar

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder with water.  Knead until dough is soft.  This is done with the hands, tossing dough from hand to hand, shaping and thinning to flat, thin pancake, about 5 inches in diameter.  Cut each round into 4 parts.  Heat lard or shortening and fry dough.  It will raise and puff up.  Serve hot with honey or cinnamon and sugar