Creamy Scrambled Eggs

Even though I have a dishwasher, I don't like to get bowls dirty. The trick is to add the eggs last. Here's a way to make scrambled eggs in the skillet:

Melt butter (about 1/2 T) in small skillet over low to medium heat.
If adding chopped green onions and/or Canadian bacon, add now, increasing butter to 1 T. Heat/fry till hot.
Add 1/4 c milk, 1/4 t salt, dash pepper, and then a handful of grated cheese, if desired.
When milk is hot, add 2 eggs.
Scramble.

beans

just a note on how to prepare dried beans for cooking....

I used to soak them overnight to get them softened up for cooking. I accidentally discovered an easier and faster way a few years ago.

Pour boiling water over the beans (or else cover the beans with water and heat in the microwave oven for a couple of minutes). Let the beans soak for an hour (or more, depending on the hardness, mineral content, of the water). Then they're ready to cook.

Fudge

This is the recipe I (and probably many others) use for fudge. Here are my adventures the last time I tried this recipe.

3 c sugar
3 1-oz squares Baker's unsweetened chocolate
2 T Karo syrup (It doesn't matter if it's dark or light syrup.)
1 c evaporated milk (I usually substitute regular milk.)
2 T butter
1 t vanilla (not necessary)
1/2 c chopped nuts (not necessary, but I usually use pecans)
Cut chocolate over sugar in large pan. (It's not necessary to cut the chocolate up.)  Add syrup and milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to boil. Cover and wait for 2 minutes. Remove cover and stir occasionally until mixture is at the soft ball stage. Remove from heat. Add butter. Let cool. When still warm, beat mixture until smooth. Add nuts and vanilla. Pour into greased 9" x 13" pan. Let sit for a while and then cut into squares.

Note:  A family favorite is chocolate covered popcorn.  It was my dad's mom's recipe.  Pour the fudge over popcorn before cooling and fold - being careful not to burn your hands from the hot mixture.

Tags: fudge, candy

Swedish Pancakes

This is a traditional Swedish recipe to be served especially on Thursdays.  The thin pancakes can be eaten with jam (as a lot of Swedes do) or with lemon juice and powdered sugar (as a lot of English people do) or by themselves.

1 egg
1 c milk
½ c flour
½ t salt
1 T melted butter
1 T butter for skillet

Beat egg. Add flour, salt, and half of milk. Beat until there are no lumps. Add butter and rest of milk. Let sit 10 min. Melt butter in skillet. For each pancake, add ½ c of mixture to skillet. Fry until browned on one side. Flip and brown the other side. Makes 6.

Pumpkin Cake

1 16oz can pumpkin

1 package spice cake mix

3 eggs

1 can evaporated milk

3/4 C. chopped pecans

Pour pumpkin into greased 9x13

Mix eggs and milk and lightly stir dry cake mix into milk mixture.

Pour over pumpkin and sprinkle with nuts.

Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 mins or until done with toothpick as usual

from Suzie
(haven't tried this yet)

Chocolate chip custard pie

I needed to get rid of some milk (since the boys have left to go back to university), and I didn't want the milk to spoil. Also, I had some chocolate chips that were in bad shape after being exposed to heat from the oven, and I felt like something chocolate. So, here's what's in the oven right now. It's supposed to make its own crust. I thought I'd write it down in this journal so I would remember it. So, here goes:

Combine 2 eggs, 1/2 c sugar, 1/4 c flour, 1 t vanilla. Beat well. Add 2 c milk. Put 1 c chocolate chips in bottom of pie plate. Pour mixture on top. Bake 1 hour at 350F.

The pie turned out ok. The chips made a nice surprise at the bottom of the pie. And the flour did form a crust at the bottom. Next time I'll grease the pie plate and add 1 or 2 more eggs.

baking powder

Since I don't like the taste of baking powder, I've been trying to substitute baking soda where possible.  However, the last time I tried to bake a cake from scratch, the results were much less than perfect.  In fact, the cake didn't rise at all.  Though, I'm not completely positive that I added any baking soda at all.

This led to a discussion with one of my sons about why cakes rise.  Since baking soda is a base, he decided that there must be some acid in the ingredients to react with the baking soda to produce bubbles and to make the cake rise and be "light".

After researching the subject on line, I found out that beating the shortening is the first step in adding air bubbles to a cake.  (That's why one should beat the shortening and then gradually add the sugar.)  Beating the egg(s) also produces small air bubbles.  However, the main ingredients to produce the bubbles are the acid and base.  Baking powder can be made by combining baking soda and cream of tartar and corn starch.  Cream of tartar when dissolved in water produces an acid.   When baking soda is added to this weak acid, bubbles of hydrogen are produced.  The corn starch seems unecessary except for storage purposes.

So, if there is something acidic like sour milk, orange juice, or lemon juice in the recipe, one can substitue 1/4 t baking soda for 1 t baking powder -- though the recipe probably already calls for baking soda instead of baking powder.  Otherwise, one can substitute 1/4 t baking soda plus 1/2 t cream of tartar for 1 t baking powder.