Kitchen Decor Issue?

Our trusty Amana convection wall oven is currently a kitchen hazard - doesn't cook properly (or at all?) DH is working on the resolution of our problem . In the meantime - spice drawer on the floor and pan lids in drawer in dining area - even more confusing than my normal life here on Buhlaland. But it IS good my DH is so clever at repair. Even gooder (my blog my vocabulary!) - I can't bake anything - a good thing here on Buhlaland (the home of overindulgence in all food with butter and sugar)

Yes it is good on Buhlaland for our cholesterol, waisterol and fatterol I cannot make THESE right now - but nothing says YOU can't!

Mini Chip Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup shortening
• ½ cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
• 
  FILLING:
• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars until light and fluffy.
• Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda;
• gradually add to the creamed mixture until blended. Fold in the
• chocolate chips and pecans.
• Set aside a third of the dough for topping. Press remaining dough
• into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 8
• minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla. Spoon over crust.
• Drop teaspoonfuls of reserved dough over filling. Bake at 350°
• for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Cover
• and store in the refrigerator. Yield: 3 dozen.

Not Goats - really

A blog posting with no goats! I'm not sure I remember how to do a recipe, I actually cooked today and it turned out well. Our main dish was a variation on turkey tetrazinni with a simple salad and bakery so called "artisan" bread (good crusty french bread). Dessert was a butterscotchy almond bar cookie.

Picture with several ingredients shows what I thought I was using and the picture with the flour, butter and nutmeg shows what I forgot to put in original picture - so DUH I don't remember how to do this! Today has been a beautiful warm winter day - great church service today and as usual - on Buhlaland it has been good. Perhaps a little fattening but good.

Turkey and Penne Pasta Bake

12 oz. box Penne Pasta (cooked and drained per package instructions)
¼ cup butter
Melt butter in a medium sized saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk or stir in
¼ cup flour ,
½ teaspoon white pepper ,
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg ,
1 tsp. salt,
½ teaspoon dried tarragon .
Return to medium high heat and whisk or stir in
2 cups chicken broth and
1 cup heavy cream,
1/3 cup dry sherry.
Bring to a boil and stir until smooth, thickened slightly.
Remove from heat - stir in 2 cups cooked turkey,
One 4 oz. jar diced pimento ,
Two cups coarsely chopped re-hydrated wild mushrooms ,
½ cup grated Parmesan,
½ cup coarsely chopped Italian flat leaf parsley .
Stir together and spread into a 9 X 13 inch baking dish which has been sprayed with olive oil
Sprinkle ½ cup Parmesan over the top of pasta
Bake covered with aluminum foil at approximately 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Recipe can be adapted to use ham or cooked chicken, mushrooms can be fresh and sauteed or canned, I used probably an extra ¾ cup of turkey because that is how much I had in the package from my freezer. Of course you can use an equivalent amount of any favorite cooked pasta - I used a whole wheat penne.

Almond Butterscotch bars

Preheat over to 350 and grease an 8x8 baking pan.

Melt 1/4 cup butter

Stir in 1 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 egg

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup sliced almonds

Bake for 25 minutes - don't overbake! Cut into bars while still warm.

MacaMacaroons

The buttery deliciousness I had planned -- wasn't. Tried a new recipe for one of my old absolute favorites. Snickerdoodle cookies are a sure thing for me,butter and cinnamon with a sugary outside on a tender cookie. But I said to myself "self - a new recipe quite different might be better". Baked 'em, tasted and said to myself - "crud, no - they were very much not better".

NOW - to an oldie which is easy but sadly enough does not contain butter!

Macadmia Coconut Macaroons (hence the Macamacaroons)

1 (14 ounce) pkg. coconut

(I used Angel Flake by Baker's)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

4 egg whites

1 tsp. almond extract

Mix coconut, sugar, flour, salt in a medium sized bowl. Stir in egg whites and almond extract until well blended. Drop by tablespoons on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper (OR greased and floured cookie sheets).

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until the cookie edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven, transfer to cooling racks.

Melt a cup of chocolate chips in the microwave. Smear a little chocolate on top of a cooled macaroon - dip into a small bowl of chopped macadmia nuts. Cool in the refrigerator then seal into a plastic bag.

If you prefer - use some other kind of nuts or ignore the whole variation and put a half of a candied cherry on top of the cookie before baking it.

They are a tasty extra for a cookie platter . Keeping it real - I wish the Snickerdoodles had turned out well! It is all good on Buhlaland the occasional disappointing cookie isn't a big deal - probably a good thing so I didn't eat too much!

By my reckoning - this may be my 100th post for the year of 2008 - I'll go back and check the numbers but I promise not to repeat the "100 boring as heck things about me" I did for the original 100th blog post!