Function Overload: Brownies to the Rescue

This time of year there is an endless stream of parties. Between the graduations, promotions, end-of-school-year parties, bbq's, and end-of-season sport functions, I'm TIRED. We have been on the go for two weeks straight.

I always get called to bring a food something to a function. I really don't mind cooking, but my friend taught me a new trick for when I'm just too tired to really put any effort into cooking.

My friend is a really good cook. She knows some terrific short cuts. She told me that when I'm called to bring something, offer to bring brownies. Why? Because she goes to Safeway (one of the main grocery stores around here) and buys about 20 boxes of the brownie mix when it's on sale for about $1.25 a box. That's a very good deal.

To whip up a box of brownies is NO EFFORT AT ALL. If you can crack two eggs, measure out 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, and mix it up, you're in.

What my friend does to give them special appeal is that she sprinkles chocolate chips on top of the brownies before they go into the oven.

Yummmm....... chewy, rich, home-made tasting brownies with no fuss. All in 30 minutes or less. I'm not joking.

I brought these brownies to a function recently and they all disappeared despite other brownies present. I take that as the highest of all compliments:)

Salame Roll-Ups

It's Christmas party season, and we have been invited to several of them. Lately there has been an overabundant appearance of variations of bean dips on the buffet table. I have a bean dip recipe I use as a go-to for parties. Walking in with my bean dip seeing 6 of them already there made me realize I needed to change gears. I have an easy go-to appetizer using salame and cream cheese to bring and share and it is always a hit. Most of the time I solicit the help of one of the kids to do it for me.

Salame/Cream Cheese Roll-Ups:
Good quality salame (about 3/4 pound or so)
1-2 eight oz. packages of cream cheese softened to room temperature
about 3 pickles sliced match stick style.

Smear a thin layer of cream cheese on salame, place a pickle match stick on it, and roll up. That's as complicated as it gets, folks.

I know posting this so close to Christmas seems useless, but think of the next wave of parties you could bring this to like New Year's parties, and also Super Bowl parties.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Yummmmm..... Turkey cooked just right is delicious! However, I know many of you have been turned off by dry, chalky, over-cooked turkey. I know because it happened to our family this year. My sister-in-law hosted Thanksgiving, and the turkey was dry despite the fact that she went out and bought the most expensive turkey she could find. The rest of the extended family knows I'm a fairly decent cook, and I was given the "please cook us turkey tomorrow so we can have a good meal" look at the dinner table.

So, I obliged them...

Over the years I have tried and tested several methods. This one has yet to fail me:

ROAST TURKEY
In the bottom of a deep roasting pan place:
2 quartered onions
about 3 celery stalks cut into 2" pieces
a couple of carrots cut into 2" pieces
2 bay leaves
about 1 and 1/2 cup of dry white wine

Rinse your turkey and remove giblets and other assorted body organs. Remove the plastic thing near the butt. Pat turkey dry inside and out with paper towels.

Rub the turkey with a mixture of:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons sage
1 teaspoon thyme

Loosely place a quartered onion and a cut up celery stalk inside the turkey cavity. Place turkey UPSIDE DOWN (breast side down) in the roaster and loosely crimp foil to cover. Bake at 325* for about 4-5 hours (depending on turkey size).

During the last hour or so of baking, carefully flip turkey over breast-side up and baste. Continue baking uncovered until done. This will brown the breast and get the skin crisp.

Do not put stuffing inside the turkey during the baking process. It absorbs all of the moisture and leaves your turkey dry and baking is uneven. You will have a burned outside and raw inside. I always bake my stuffing in a separate baking pan basted with the juices from the roasting turkey to give the stuffing a nice brown crunch on the top and flavor.

Red, Red Wine

Yes, this is a cooking blog, but wine and food go hand in hand. Living in the wine country of California naturally exposes me to just about every wine known to mankind.

No, I'm not one of those obnoxious, pretentious wine snobs. They should all be lined up, shot and killed. Don't let anybody intimidate you about wine. All of their phrases and words are uppity, self-important bs. Here's my philosophy: If the wine tastes good to you, drink it. I don't care if it's Two-Buck-Chuck. If you LIKE it, then DRINK it.

Don't be afraid to ask for recommendations for the budget conscious. There are LOTS of delicious wines that won't put you into the poor house. Your real friends won't care how much (or how little) you've spent for a bottle of wine -- as long as it tastes ok. Finding an inexpensive red wine is like getting lucky on a treasure hunt. AND, I have been served plenty of so-called "expensive" reds that I wanted to spit out.

Canning Tomatoes

Our garden is producing an overabundance of tomatoes. I can't let them rot. I decided to give canning a try. I have always been intimidated by the canning process, but gave it a go. Here's how I did it:

Blanch tomatoes in boiling water for about 30 seconds;
With a slotted spoon, scoop them out and shock them with a quick dip in ice water;
Skins should easily slip off -- remove core.

Get a large kettle full of boiling water;
Place clean canning jars + lids + rings into boiling water and boil for about 5 min;

Using care, remove jars one at a time and fill with skinned, cored tomatoes until about 1/2 inch away from the top. I put in a little fresh lemon juice and salt as well. I also put in a couple of fresh basil leaves. Place lid on; and twist ring on loosely.

Put filled jars back into large kettle of water making sure that water does NOT cover tops of jars (you may have to remove some water). You don't want your jars totally immersed in the water. Water should come up leaving jars sticking out about an inch or so. Cover large kettle and gently boil for about 50 - 60 minutes.

Again, using care, remove jars from kettle and place on counter top to cool. You may want to use a towel underneath to absorb the water. The "popping" sound is music to the ears, as that means the jars have sealed properly. It may take a full 12 hours for all the jars to "pop" so be patient. If the jar does not seal properly, use immediately. You can tell a jar is properly sealed if when pressing on the lid it does not have any "give." The lid should be inverted enough not to allow any air movement from underneath. Just think of a baby food jar. If the baby food jar top "clicks" you know it's not sealed when the lid is pressed; whereas, sealed (unopened) baby food jar will not 'click' when the lid is pressed.

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

We eat a lot of pasta at this house. When I run short of time (which is a lot) I will simply boil some pasta and dump some tomato pasta sauce on top. A variation of this is to add about 3/4 cup of cream to the sauce and warm in a saucepan. It makes for a richer, creamer meal that will stick to the ribs for a little longer. The flavor and texture are nice.

Corn on the Cob

Another summertime staple around here is corn on the cob. My hubby grows it in our back yard. It's also readily available at the supermarkets this time of year. However, there is no taste comparison for fresh. Everybody loves it, it's easy to prepare, and it goes with just about any summer meal/BBQ you could imagine.

Last year, when our English friends were visiting, I was preparing corn on the cob in the kitchen. The cobs were quite large, so I simply snapped them in half. CG looked at me in an astonished manner as she tried to half corn on the cob with a knife. It's like sawing a tough log! It was one of those slap-your-hand-on-your-forehead-why-didn't-I-think-of-that-before kind of moments.
The point is that I think of CG every time I snap a corn cob in half.

Here's how I prepare my corn on the cob:

Bring a large pot of water to boil.
Add a few pinches of salt and about 1/3 cup of milk.
Add corn cobs and gently boil for about 10 minutes.

That's it.
Simple is good.