Zucchini Soup

This is really delicious! Yes, my kids sometimes call it slime soup because of the color - but they love it, especially with peasant bread. You can also use yellow squash in this too. This is my new go to St. Patrick's day meal, served with French bread or peasant bread and some cold milk with green striped paper straws. Easy! No green food coloring required. Or, just add it to your zucchini recipe file for the end of the summer when anonymous neighbors leave zucchini on your porch in the middle of the night.


Some other great St. Patrick's Day food would be Broccoli Bow Tie Pasta Salad, Key Lime Pie, or Rainbow Jello.

1 cup chopped onions
2 Tbs butter
3 cups sliced zucchini
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup half -and-half cream (or milk for a lighter version)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
4 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, then crumbled
In a large saucepan cook onions in melted butter until tender. Add sliced zucchini and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender (about 15 min.) Add salt and pepper. 

Cool slightly, then pour mixture into blender and puree it. Stir in half-and-half cream. Return to saucepan and reheat, but do not boil. Garnish with grated cheese, sour cream and bacon. 

Makes about 6 servings.

 

Mint Brownies

From the kitchen of Aunt Kaye: Yes, you read right. There are 5 1/2 sticks of butter in this pan of brownies. And yes, this recipe makes a ton, but the amount of butter alone should tell you how good these are. I think we figured out one time that one brownie contains about half of your calories for the day, so if you are going to splurge, this is the way to do it.

Brownies:
3 c. flour
3/8 c. powdered milk
3 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. cocoa
1 rounded tsp. baking powder

Add :
2 1/2 cubes melted butter
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. water

Bake in jelly roll pan at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Mint Frosting:
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. soft butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cap peppermint extract
red food coloring (make the frosting pink)
little milk

Mix well and frost brownies evenly. Put in fridge till firm.

Chocolate Topping:
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips (12 oz.)
1 stick butter

Melt together. When shiny, spread over top of mint frosting in a very thin layer. Cool.

Cut off the edges before serving.

These need to be kept in the fridge until just before serving.

The Best Sugar Cookies You Will Ever Eat

The best part about this recipe is you don't have to refrigerate the dough before you use it! So they are fast and easy, plus they have the added benefit of being the best tasting sugar cookies you will ever eat. They are soft and cakey with just a hint of nutmeg. I have had people who swear they don't like sugar cookies ask me for the recipe. I honestly can't decide if I like them better frosted, or just plain without the frosting.

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
3 1/4 c. flour (double batch = 6 c. flour)

Mix well. Roll out to about 1/4 in. thickness on a floured surface and cut shapes. Don't roll them out too thin. No crunchy sugar cookies allowed. You do not need to grease the cookie sheet.


Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. You want them to be soft. Frost and top with sprinkles or other decorations if desired.

Here's a good frosting recipe.

Gingerbread Cookies

Go make yourself some festive gingerbread men, or as we like to call them, cookie boys.

1 c. sugar
1 c. shortening
1 egg
1 c. molasses
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. boiling water
1 Tbl. ginger
1 Tbl. cinnamon
1 Tbl. soda
3-6 cups flour to make soft dough (I used 5 c.)

Roll out dough on floured counter and cut cookies.

Bake at 350 for 7-8 min so they are still soft.

Originally posted 11/25/07 without picture

Thanksgiving Edition: Fancy Green Beans

Once my family tasted this recipe, there was no going back to green beans with mushroom soup and french fried onions. The bacon will win people over every time.

1-2 bags frozen green beans
1 lb. bacon cut into small pieces
1 onion, diced

Brown the bacon until very crispy. Remove beans from pan, and drain grease from pan (save for later).


Saute onion in a little bacon grease. Add green beans and onion and cook until beans are done. If necessary, add extra bacon drippings to green beans as they are cooking.

Add bacon back in with the beans before serving.

Thanksgiving Edition: Sweet Potatoes

Do you have sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner? I know some people like marshmallows on top of theirs. My friend Emily lives for the sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving, and she swears by this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.

3 large sweet potatoes (2 lbs.) peeled and cut up
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. melted butter
1/4 c. milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/4 c. flour
1 Tbl. melted butter

1. Wash and peel sweet potatoes. Cut off woody portions and ends. Cut into quarters. In a large saucepan, cook potatoes, covered, in enough boiling salted water to cover for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender; drain.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Transfer potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Mash lightly, "so it's still a little chunky," says Emily. Stir in sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Transfer sweet potato mixture to a 2-quart casserole dish.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, pecans, flour, and 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.

4. Bake, uncovered in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Thanksgiving Edition: Mashed Potatoes

I'm realizing I don't have pictures of all the dishes for Thanksgiving dinner. I'll post the recipes for now. Those that don't have pictures? Rest assured they will after Thanksgiving Day.

Here's how we make our mashed potatoes. My favorite.

Peel your potatoes. I like the large baking potatoes from Costco. They are so big they are a cinch to peel.

Cut the potatoes into similar sized chunks, about 1 to 2 inches wide. Often we'll get the potatoes ready to this point and then keep them in a bowl or pot with water covering them potatoes until we're ready. For our Thanksgiving dinner, it just helps to do the prep earlier.

Boil them in a large pot with water just covering the potatoes. Simmer, covered, until soft when poked with a fork. (about 15 to 20 minutes)

Drain off the water, and transfer potatoes to a large bowl. Add butter, cream or milk, and salt to taste. This will of course depend on how many potatoes you make. For my sake, make them creamy.

I love gravy on my mashed potatoes. That recipe, of course, is for another day.

Thanksgiving Edition: Grandpa's Pecan Pie

Welcome to Thanksgiving Edition of Lovin From the Oven. Stay tuned for a full week of posts with all you'll need for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

First on the list is my Grandpa's Pecan Pie.


Are you impressed with my grandpa? Me too. He is famous for his pecan pie.

First, you'll need 1 cup pecans, broken or slightly chopped. Place the nuts in a Marie Calendar's Deep Dish Frozen Pie Crust.

3 eggs
2/3 c. sugar
3/4 c. light Karo syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. light vinegar
2 Tbl. melted butter

Beat the eggs in a bowl, but don't let them get foamy. Ad other ingredients and pour over pecans.

Bake at 325 for 50 minutes.

Birthday Cake Roll

I don't like birthday cake and ice cream. Not even a temptation to me. But this cake roll? Love it. For my birthday I either want this, or chocolate zucchini cake.

Chocolate cake mix
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

Make chocolate cake mix as directed on the box. Bake in a jelly roll pan that is lined with foil and sprayed with PAM. Bake for a shorter amount of time because of the different pan (about 15 min).

Let cake cool and then remove from pan by carefully lifting out the foil liner. Line pan with a piece of plastic wrap and replace cake in pan with foil side facing up. Carefully peel the foil from the cake.

Let ice cream soften slightly and slice into ½ inch slices and completely cover the top of the cake with ice cream. Use a spoon dipped in hot water to smooth over top of ice cream and fill in all gaps.

Slowly roll the cake into a roll using the plastic wrap to help you. This takes 2 people.



Leave entire cake roll wrapped in plastic wrap, wrap in foil, and freeze until ready to slice and serve.

Yummy Mummies

Made these for the first time Halloween 2007. A great addition to dinner in a pumpkin, and definitely a new Halloween tradition. Very easy (near impossible to mess up) and tastes good too. The hardest part was making the mustard eyes small enough.

Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold (thaw about 1 hour)

Hot dogs

Mustard

For each Mummy Dog cut one dinner roll in half. Roll each half into 22 to 24 inch rope. Wrap one rope around hot dog from bottom up 4 1/2 inches. Cut a 1 1/2 inch piece off the second rope and set aside.

Wrap the second rope around the hot dog from the bottom up 4 1/2 inches going the opposite way. Wrap the 1 1/2 inch piece around the top of the hot dog. Place Mummy Dogs on a sprayed baking sheet and bake at 350 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, cool slightly and add mustard eyes.

Serve warm with ketchup and mustard.

Barbara's Potato Casserole/Ham and Potatoes

I think most people call these "funeral potatoes." We always have them on Easter Sunday with ham.

1 can cream of chicken

1 c. sour cream

1 c. milk

1 Tbl. dried onion

1 c. shredded cheese

3 Tbl. melted butter

Spray 9 x 13 pan. Fill pan with frozen hash browns. Mix rest of ingredients. Pour over potatoes but do not stir. Sprinkle with corn flake crumbs (what I do) or the following topping.

Topping:

1/2 c. cornflake crumbs

3 Tbl. melted butter

3 Tbl. parmesan cheese

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 min. to make crispy.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Or, for another look:

So this year for Halloween I added too much water and it was more of a soup than a casserole AND I forgot the chow mein noodles. Still tasted good.

1 lb. hamburger
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 stalks celery chopped
3/4 c. Minute Rice
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 3/4 c. water (off of the celery)
chow mein noodles

Boil celery and onion. Brown hamburger. Mix all ingredients together. Bake covered 1/2 hour at 350. Uncover and sprinkle with chow mein noodles. Bake uncovered another 15 minutes.

Serve with more chow mein noodles.

*We bake this in a pumpkin on Halloween and serve it out of the pumpkin. Serve by candlelight with orange jello topped with cool whip ghosts and chocolate chips eyes, root beer, and yummy mummies.

Breakfast Pizza

This is a tradition for our family on Christmas morning and every six months for General Conference. On Christmas we have it with orange slices topped with powdered sugar, and for Conference sometimes we'll make orange julius to go with it.

2 packages crescent rolls
1 package sausage, cooked
1 1/2 c. frozen grated hashbrowns
12 eggs
salt and pepper
grated cheese
parmesan cheese

Roll out the packages of crescent rolls to cover a jelly roll pan (3 long ways, and 1 across the bottom). Pinch the seams together to seal and be sure to make a crust around the edge of the pan or the eggs will run underneath.


Sprinkle the sausage and hashbrowns evenly across the pan. Whip the eggs in a separate bowl and pour over the sausage and hashbrowns. Top with salt and pepper and grated cheese. Finish with parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with ketchup. It's good without ketchup too. :)

Mom's Jello

A staple at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and other fancy family dinners.

1 large package raspberry or strawberry jello
1 large can crushed pineapple
3 bananas sliced
1 container frozen sweetened strawberries (in the frozen fruit section)

Make jello with 1/2 the water called for (2 c. instead of 4 c.).

Add pineapple (with juice), bananas, and berries.

Chill. Serve with whipped cream or cool whip.

Orange Rolls

These rolls are very similar to Kaye's Easy Homemade Rolls. They are sweet enough to be served as a dessert, or I've also had them as part of a meal and they are soo good. Don't let these directions fool you. These are easy.

To make these rolls you will need a pastry cover board and a sock cover for your rolling pin. You can make one out of cotton duck fabric sewn like a pillow case to fit over a board or thin piece of masonite. You can find the rolling pin socks at kitchen stores. These two things are the secret that makes the rolls so light. You rub the flour into the cloth and the dough doesn't pick up as much flour.



Start by proofing your yeast.

2 Tbl. yeast, disolved in 2/3 c. warm water with a small amount of sugar, about 1/2 tsp. (proofing the yeast)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the following ingredients:

2 cups warm water
1/2 c. dry milk
3 Tbl. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs

Add your yeast mixture. Wisk in 4 c. flour. Add 2 additional c. flour with a wooden spoon. (6 - 6 1/2 c. flour total)
Cover dough and let raise approximately 1-2 hours, or until it doubles in size.


Roll dough out into a rectangle on floured board (rub flour into cloth and scrape off excess). Then, taking a stick of softened butter, spread about 1/4 of the stick on the dough, then fold the dough in half and roll out again. Do this 4 times and use about 3/4 of the stick of butter. You should end with folded over dough rolled to a rectangle.


In a small bowl melt about 3/4 stick of butter. Put about 3/4 c. sugar in a second bowl, and the zest of one orange in a third bowl. Sprinkle a little of the orange zest on the top of the sugar.

Using a sharp pizza cutter, cut the dough in half horizontally, the in 1/2 inch strips vertically.

Take each strip and wrap it around your index and second fingers of the left hand. Then dip it in melted butter, then into the sugar/zest mixture. The place the roll in a muffin pan (sprayed with PAM) so that the butter and sugar is on the bottom. You will be able to do a few rolls before you will need to sprinkle a little more zest on top of the sugar so that you get some zest on each roll.






Let them rise about 20 minutes in the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. This dough rises so fast that I preheat the oven while I am rolling out the dough, and by the time I have got most of the rolls in the muffin pans the first ones have risen enough to put into the oven.

When the rolls are lightly browned, spread the orange glaze over the top of each roll like frosting on a cinnamon roll. Make the frosting from 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar and enough orange juice to make a glaze (2-3 Tbl.) You want it to be thick frosting.


This makes about 3 dozen rolls. They taste the best hot out of the oven, but don't store very well. They taste best when eaten the same day.

Edit: I used to make my orange zest by sticking the whole orange peel in the blender, and while very good, it was a little bitter. I have since gotten a zester similar to this (only a few dollars at Target), and it makes all the difference. No more bitter peel flavor, just yummy orange goodness. And my latest and greatest zester works even better.