Alice in the Kitchen

Black-Eyed Peas and a Happy New Year!

When I was growing up, we would have corned beef, cabbage, and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.   Since I don’t have any corned beef fans to cook for these days, I had to at least have some black-eyed peas today, and since it is a serious football watching day, I thought the perfect recipe would be some kind of dip.  I know everyone has seen those “Texas Caviar” where black-eyed peas get mixed in with a basic salsa – but I wanted something warm.  I think this creamy dip turned out pretty good, and it’s very simple.  All you’ll need:

• 2 cans black-eyed peas, drained and mashed with a fork
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup picante sauce
• salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350.  Then mash the black-eyed peas with a fork.

Then stir in all your other ingredients.

Spread the mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve with tortilla chips!

Favorite Christmas Truffles

Around here, once we know what we like, we make that thing a lot.  So, for Christmas goodies this year, I made three old standbys (with cute new packaging).

Oreo Truffles – https://aliceinthekitchen.com/2009/11/25/oreo-truffles/

Gingerbread Truffles – https://aliceinthekitchen.com/2009/12/25/gingerbread-truffles/

Cookie Dough Truffles – https://aliceinthekitchen.com/2010/08/13/cookie-dough-truffles/

A peak inside the truffles:

Shrimp and Crab Lasagna

Matt was out of town at a bachelor party a few weekends ago, so I wanted to make a nice meal for him to come home to on Sunday.  After spotting a good deal on lump crab meat at the Costco, I settled on some sort of seafood lasagna.  I had to basically create my own recipe since I couldn’t find one that combined all the ingredients I wanted to use, and it turned out pretty well.  This would be good to serve to company – but it’s SO rich, don’t expect to do much damage to the leftovers!!

Ingredients:

• 16 lasagna noodles
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups grated Romano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound cooked shrimp
• 1 pound lump crab meat
• 1 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.   Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the lasagna noodles until they are just done, about 8 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet.  Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute more.  Over medium-low heat, stir in the flour with a whisk

Gradually add the half-and-half, allowing the sauce to thicken slightly before adding more.  When the sauce has thickened to about the consistency of whipping cream, add the cheese and stir well.

Add the salt and pepper and stir again.  Add the seafood and turn off the heat.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the sauce from the skillet into the prepared pan.  Cover the bottom of the pan with 3 noodles, placing them side by side.   Spoon 1/3 of the sauce over the noodles.  Repeat twice – layer 3 more noodles and 1/3 of the sauce.  For the top layer, do not spoon any seafood on top of the noodles; just use the sauce.  Tuck in any edges of the noodles so they’re all coated with sauce.  Top with the Parmesan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, uncovered, until bubbly. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

Cranberry Daiquiri Cocktail

Lauren gave me this recipe, and it is a really nice holiday drink (thanks Lauren!).  It’s a unique change from the standard holiday drink fare.  I made a double batch in the pictures below.  They were really yummy, and the house smelled delicious from the boiling cinnamon sticks!  These would have more of a daiquiri feel if served over crushed ice – and obviously, the glass at the bottom is probably a double serving!!  I also think adding ice would help the cranberries float on top, rather than sinking to the bottom as they did in my version.

Cranberry Daiquiri (as served at the Gramercy Tavern in New York)

Starting Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

½ cup cranberries
½ cup light rum PLUS 1/3 cup light rum (1/2 cup to spike the berries, and 1/3 cup for the drink)
1/3 cup dark rum
1/3 cup cranberry juice
1/3 cup lemon juice

Preparation:
Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat (sugar, water, cinnamon, orange peel).

Mix in 1/2 cup cranberries.  Cook till cranberries begin to pop.

Cool; discard cinnamon.  Pour mixture into a jar and add 1/2 cup light rum. Chill.

Strain syrup into a pitcher (reserve cranberries). Add 1/3 cup dark rum, 1/3 cup light rum, 1/3 cup cranberry juice, and 1/3 cup lemon juice.

Refrigerate pitcher.  Serve topped with reserved cranberries (would be good over crushed ice – but we didn’t want to water down the punch!)

Pumpkin Ice Cream

I figure after Thanksgiving, I won’t have many more chances to make pumpkin focused recipes, so I wanted to make pumpkin ice cream before it was too late.

I probably should have strained the custard mixture, so if you make this, I’d pour the custard through a sieve.

Overall, I liked this recipe.  It tasted like frozen pumpkin pie!

Ingredients:

* 1 cup canned pumpkin
* 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 5 egg yolks
* 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
* Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and vanilla bean paste. Sit aside.

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 1/2 cups of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Cook until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, the remaining 1/2 cup cream and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth and the sugar begins to dissolve.

Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice water, stirring occasionally until cool. Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the custard. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the instructions.  Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart.

Hot Wing Dip

Directions:
Using a hand mixer or brute force, mix all the ingredients together, with the exception of the last 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.

Voila:

Put the mixture into a small casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 until bubbly (about 20 minutes).  You can also do this in a crock pot, which is good too because it stays nice and warm.

Pizza Casserole

Everyone knows that Matt loves pizza, so I’m not sure what took me so long to make pizza casserole!  This is really easily adaptable – you could add any ingredients you like on your pizza – black olives, green peppers, mushrooms, anything!

• 1 pound rotini noodles
• 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 pound mild sausage
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup sliced pepperoni
• 32 ounces pizza sauce
• 1 – 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Let’s get started.

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cook noodles according to package directions.
3. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and sausage.   Stir in the pepperoni and pizza sauce, and mix well.

By the way, if you are wondering what that strange utensil is in the pan, it is the Pampered Chef Mix N Chop – it’s amazing for cooking ground beef and sausage!!

Add the noodles.

Pour half the mixture into a casserole dish, and layer with half your mozzarella.

Top with the other half of the casserole mixture, then the remainder of the mozzarella and some pepperonis.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the mozzarella is bubbly.

And serve – so easy, so good!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Two Ways

Every since the great Canned Pumpkin Shortage of 2010 began to wind down, I’ve been keen to find as many ways as possible to use the canned pumpkin I had hoarded from last fall. I’d especially been craving some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and I had found a number of recipes that looked good and worthy of a try. With the holiday today, I had some extra time to bake, so here are two different recipes for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

The first recipe is super easy and only calls for three ingredients:

Mix together one spice cake mix, one 15-oz can of pumpkin (the smaller size), and two cups of chocolate chips.

Scoop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet, and bake in a 350-degree oven for 12-15 minutes.

Smack the cookie sheet onto the counter a few times to keep your cookies from becoming too puffy.

Not the prettiest cookies ever, eh? A little on the rustic side for my liking.

So on to recipe #2:

Pumpkin Pie Bites

Honestly, my mom should get credit for these.  I’ll never forget the year I asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for my birthday, and she had a little issue with the stacking of the two round layers, so she crumbled the cake into a bowl and poured the frosting on top.  She called that “cake mash,” and it was delicious.  Now her idea takes a decidedly autumnal turn in these pumpkin pie bites – I hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Bites

1 box French Vanilla cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 can cream cheese frosting
1.5 pounds semi-sweet chocolate (or white bark or whatever you prefer)

Preheat your oven to 350.

Beat the cake mix with the pumpkin, spices, water, oil, and eggs, and bake in a 9 x 13 pan.

Crumble the cake in a bowl and add the can of cream cheese frosting.

Beat with an electric mixer until the cake mix holds together.

Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball.

Melt your chocolate.  Dip in your balls with a spoon and place on a waxed paper lined pan .

Decorate how you like!  Would be cute with little nuts, but I went with an orange colored drizzle to help identify the pumpkin.  The ones I dipped in white chocolate actually turned out much cuter!

Store these at room temperature and enjoy – thanks Mom 🙂

Pumpkin Apple Crisp

I wanted to find a recipe to put some of that pumpkin butter I just made to use, and the first thing I came across was a recipe for an apple cobbler-like dessert.  I modified it a little, and I think it turned out great!  Definitely a keeper for fall.

• 6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin (I used three gala and three granny smith)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 cup pumpkin butter
• 1 box pumpkin bread mix
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat your oven to 350.  Toss the apple slices with the cinnamon and sugar.

Add the cup of pumpkin butter and mix well.

Spread your apples in a pan and sprinkle the box of bread mix on top.  That’s right, just pour the bread mix on top.

Yes, dump it on.

Drizzle the melted butter over the dry mix, trying to cover thoroughly… but just do your best.

Pop in the oven for 45 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!!