This thread is a place to collect all our shared recipes in one place.

I'm in--I should have time next week to type some of my faves in.

Nice idea - I have a few recipes people here have enjoyed and will put them in soon.

WTF Cookbook

Appetizers

Plays88keys’ Pimento Cheese Spread
August 13, 2007

This spread is wonderful on crispy melba toast rounds as an appetizer or snack, on bread with a grainy mustard, a slice of Vidalia onion and/or lettuce and sliced tomato. You need to have a food processor to make it.

1 pound sharp cheddar
6 T. mayonnaise
1 jar sliced pimentos, drained
heavy pinch of cayenne

Cut the cheese into cubes and process until crumbled up. Add in the mayo and cayenne, process until smooth. Add in drained pimentos and pulse 6-8 times until pimentos are in pieces.

When did I start playing 99 keys, Rusty?

Whoops!

You're obviously very very good!

(I'll fix it, and then people won't know what we're talking about!)

First one is just for Piqaboo

TerryTunes Fruit Tart

All fruits; banana, strawberries, mandarin oranges, raspberries, kiwi, blueberries (especially good for edges) etc.
pizza or tart pan ; basically any type of pan with small edge that can be placed in a 350 degree oven.
I doubled the following recipe when I used a 14” pizza/tart pan
Base:
½ cup butter (room temp)
1 cup flour
¼ cup confectioner sugar
Mix ingredients and press gently into pan
If too sticky, try placing a piece of plastic wrap over dough and rolling with a smooth glass jar
Bake 350; 10-15 mins or until light golden brown
Let Cool
Middle Layer:
8oz cream cheese
1tsp vanilla
½ cup granulated sugar
Mix and spread onto base
Layer fruit until all of the cheese layer is covered
Overlap fruit for complete coverage
Glaze (these ingredients do not need to be doubled if using a 14” tart pan)
2 tbls corn startch
1 tbls lemon juice (fresh or bottle)
½ cup sugar
1 cup liquid
Use mandarin orange juice from can then add any fruit juice/orange juice to make 1 cup
Bring to boil and let thicken; cool slightly and then spread over tart. Pastry brush can be used if so desired.


Terry Tunes Fumi Salad

Medium size head of cabbage; shredded
Or 1.5 pkgs shredded cabbage

1 bunch of scallions chopped

½ cup or more slivered almonds toasted (or any kind of nut)

½ cup sesame seeds toasted

3 pkgs ramen souple noodles (any flavor)
Fat free are (supposedly) crunchier


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Toast nuts and sesame seed and let cool
Crush ramen soup noodles
Add cabbage & onion

Combine above ingredients
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dressing

Packets that come with noodles
4 tbsp sugar
1 cup veg oil (or olive oil)
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic

Shake dressing ingredients and pour over cabbage approx one hour
before serving.

Before my disc crashed last year, I had lots of forums recipes in my files...I have most printed out but no time now to retype...

One my favs is Plays Dreamcycle Cookies and Bernard's curry dip..yum....

Thanks Rick for setting this up!!

Pistou-Inspired Veggie Soup

In a large soup kettle, add:

1 large onion, diced
2ish TBS of butter or margarine
1 leek, sliced

Saute until soft. Into this mixture, add:

6 cups beef stock (I use water and cubes, personally)
1 big potato or two smaller ones, diced
1 cup fresh green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 can diced tomatoes
Pepper--about 1 tsp

Simmer until potatoes are just starting to get soft--you can put a fork in 'em, but they give a bit of resistance.

Add 1/2 cup of uncooked spaghetti noodles, broken into 1 inch pieces.

Cook for about 10 more minutes, until noodles are soft.

In the meantime, in a small bowl, mix together:
2 large gloves garlic, minced
2 tsp crushed basil (dried) or more if fresh
1/2 tsp crushed thyme
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
2 egg yolks
1/4 c olive oil
2 tbs tomato paste
2 tbs parmesan cheese

Once this is mixed, add a bit of the hot soup to the mixture in the small bowl, stirring constantly to keep the eggs from cooking on the spot. Continue adding hot soup until everything looks mixed up, and the temperature in the small bowl is hot.

Add contents of the small bowl back into the main soup pot.

Serve, sprinkling a tad more parmesan cheese on top of each person's bowl.

Cheese-potato soup

2 cups raw diced potato
3/4 c minced onion
1/2 c diced celery
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups water

Combine everything in a soup pot, cover and took until tender.

In the meantime, make a roux:
4 tbs flour
4 tbs butter

then add
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1 1/2 tsp thick bottled meat sauce (I use A-1)
2 cups milk

Cook slowly until thickened, then add:

1 1/2 c grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Stir until melted and add back into potato mixture.

Then add 1 can tomatoes (recipe calls for 1 cup but I use the whole can)
1 tbs minced parsley

Good Variation: I steam up a bunch of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces. Save the broccoli water and add more if necessary to bring amount back up to 2 1/2 cups. Use this veggie-infused water as the base, instead of just plain water.

Add the broccoli back in at the end, with the tomatoes and parsley.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

2 lbs broccoli, cut into smaller pieces
1 stalk celery
1 onion, sliced
1 bay leaf
4 peppercorns
1 tall can evap. milk
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Cook broccoli with celery, onion, bayleaf, and peppercorns, in just enough water to cover. Drain and KEEP LIQUID--add water if necessary to make 2 cups total.

Put into blender and puree the thing to death. This may have to be done in batches, depending on the size of your blender--mine takes about 3 passes.

Pour back into your big broccoli boiling pan, and add evap. milk. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste. The nutmeg is important!

*********************

CINDYSPHINX'S SPICY CHICKPEAS WITH GINGER

3 T mustard oil or vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
1 bay leaf
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T grated ginger
2t ground coriander
2 t ground cumin
1/4 ground cardamom
salt and pepper
2 Tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 1/2 c. chickpea broth or water
2 15-ounce cans of chick peas
Juice of 1/2 lemon

For garnishes: little dishes of diced onion, minced jalapeno, chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes

Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion and cook until well browned, 12-15 minutes. Lower the heat and add bay leaf, garlic, ginger, spices, 1/2 t salt and pepper, and tomatoes. Cook for 3 minutes, then add chickpea broth and chickpeas. Simmer until liquid is reduced to sauce. Taste for salt and add lemon juice. Serve with garnishes.

******************

Cook's notes:

Mustard oil? You gotta be kidding me. Use olive oil.

Ditch the garnishes. Who has time for that? Just serve it over basmati rice.

Go hog wild with the garlic and spices (double and then add more if it is bland). Double or triple the ginger. Don't chop the ginger; the texture of grating is important. You will wind up with some huge strings of ginger when you finish grating; chop those to break them up so no one bites down on a mouthful of ginger.

Throw in some red pepper flakes at the end.

Double the recipe. It makes great leftovers.

Feel free to increase the onions and tomatoes. You can never have too much of that stuff. Big dice works fine; no need to dice finely.

Don't peel the tomatoes. That's just lame.

Cardamom is expensive. Feel free to skip it.

Main Dishes

Pique’s Thanksgiving Turkey
November 22, 2006

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken or turkey
1 large lemon, cut into halves
sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
butter or olive oil, whichever you prefer

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Rub butter or oil over the skin of the chicken/turkey until it is completely coated.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and any other seasonings you prefer.

Take a knife and gently separate the skin from the breast meat;

Slide lemon halves under the skin with the peel side up, one on each side.

This way the juice from the lemon will release into the breasts.

Place sprig of rosemary into the chicken/turkey.
Cover and bake for 30-45 minutes.

Remove cover and continue to roast until juices run clear, basting every 15-20 minutes.

If you've followed these steps correctly, your chicken/turkey should look like the one in the picture below.

Frycek’s Pot Roast
May 2007

This works best in a small iron soup kettle with a lid. (My Dad gave all the credit to the pot the last time I cooked this for him since I took my own with me to Charleston not knowing what I'd find in the kitchen.)

3-4# Chuck/rump roast - salt & pepper and dredge in flour

Brown roast in small amount of olive oil. Half way through browning add 1 chopped up carrot & 1 chopped up celery rib. Allow these to brown/scorch along with the roast.

Add 3 cups of beef bouillon (I make mine up with the cubes, medium strong). Add 2 large bay leaves, <>1/2 tsp pepper, <> 1 Tbl dry parsley (more fresh). Cover, bring to boil and simmer on top of stove.

Meanwhile scrape 6 or so large carrots. Cut carrots into 2-3" segments.

Peel and slice 4 large onions and carmelize in olive oil. Sprinkle a little sugar on the onions to help them carmelize. Make sure they are brown. This is the secret and it takes awhile.

Add carrots and carmelized onions to pot.

Deglaze the onion skillet with a little water and add to roast.

Cover roast pot and place in 325 degree oven. Turn about every half hour (if you can remember -I usually don't) for about 3-4 hours. (170 degrees internal temp.)

Degrease gravy as well as you can and serve with mashed pototoes or rice.

AdagioM’s Middle Eastern Lamb Stew
(except I used beef, because the lamb at the store didn't appeal)
May 8, 2007

Ingredients
1 pound lean leg of lamb, stew meat, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup canned beef broth
1 large onion(s), chopped
1 large garlic clove(s), minced
14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes, undrained
15 oz canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 tsp ginger root, freshly grated
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions
Place lamb in a 5-quart slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients, except lemon juice; stir well. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 7 to 8 hours.

Stir in lemon juice and let stand for 5 minutes for flavors to blend. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving. (Note: Serve this stew in bowls.)
I usually thicken it up a little with about 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with water, right at the end. Also, it's nice served over couscous or rice, but not necessary to do so.
Enjoy!

Mary Anna’s Chicken Spaghetti
August 4, 2007

My mother's recipe is very simple. She just stews a whole chicken and a cut-up onion, then separates the meat and the broth from the bones and the fat. Then she cooks spaghetti in the chicken broth. When it's done, she puts the spaghetti and cut-up bits of chicken in a casserole dish, then tops it with shredded cheese and bakes it till the cheese melts.

I start with her method, but I like to improvise on the theme. I'll usually add sliced mushrooms and a big handful of those petite frozen green peas. I like my chicken spaghetti to have a saucy base, so I'll either make a white sauce or I'll use cream of mushroom soup if I'm feeling lazy. Then I top it with cheese and bake it. Sometimes I throw some chopped pecans in with the cheese.

Peggy's chicken spaghetti was of the white sauce variety, and she'd added pimientos for color. (Sometimes I add tomatoes to achieve a similar effect.) She'd also included some kind of hot pepper--jalapeno or something. I really like that, so I'll toss it into the mix, next time I make a batch. It's possible that Peggy used jalapeno cheese whiz, but I've never actually descended to the culinary level of cheese whiz. It was delicious, whatever she used.

Lilylady’s Chicken Roaster

Kitchen is cold so got a Chicken Roaster to cook today in the big oven. I don't use the oven much - the Toaster Oven does lots.

But I want to do two things at once. Cook lots and keep the kitchen warm. Darn though, the new ovens don't leak much, but I do open at the end to let the heat all out!

So, today's roaster...

Sprinkled with dried rosemary, thyme, chives, sage...all from the garden; pepper. Basted.

First time trying roasted small carrots with herbs and basted with olive oil until the chicken gave me some drippings. Recipe said 425 but in the lower rack of chicken cooking at 325. This might not work????

Rice with herbs on top of the stove.

This should last me a week!