Peanutbutter Roll Candy

I remember that you can find peanut butter rolls everywhere around Kentucky, especially during Christmas time. You would find them at church bazaars, craft fairs, bake sales and even gas stations. This is the first time I have ever made these. It was pretty easy with simple ingredients.

• 1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
• 1 stick very soft butter
• 16 oz. jar peanut butter
• 1 tsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  

Mix soft butter and 1 lb sugar, vanilla and milk together with a fork; make soft ball. Pour a coating of sugar on a sheet of wax paper; sprinkle sugar on ball to keep from sticking. Put another piece of wax paper over ball. Roll out the ball thin. Remove top wax paper and spread on peanut butter. Roll up and cool in refrigerator about 1 1/2 hours. Cut into pin-wheel pieces and serve.

Jerk Chicken Pasta

While I don't have pictures of this dish, this is really good. Invest in some good, but mild jerk seasoning. I suggest mild so you can use more of it for a richer flavor.

Gather together:

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (cut in to bite sized pieces)
  
• 1 teaspoons jerk paste (more if you like it really spicy)
  
• 1 package of your favorite paste
  
• 1 tablespoon canola
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small onion (rough chop)
• 1 red bell pepper (sliced)
• 1 small box of frozen spinach (thawed and drained of juice)
  
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• juice from 2 limes or about 2 tablespoons of lime juice
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, cook the noodles until al dente, and drain. Lightly oil the pan. Cook chicken with the juice of 1 lime until fully cokked. Remove from pan. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the garlic, onion red pepper and spinach until the onion is just translucent. Mix in the chicken stock, 1 tablespoon jerk paste, juice of 1 lime, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and stir in the heavy cream. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Do not allow it to boil. Add the chicken back to the pan. Serve sauce over noodles.

This stuff was good. I used jerk seasoning powder on the chicken while it was cooking--I like things spicy, but like I said, if you can find a mild jerk seasoning, you can add more or less if you don't like things as spicy.

Pumpkin Fudge

I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit. It's like pumpkin pie on crack.

Pumpkin Fudge
2 tbsp butter
2.5 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup white chocolate chips
7 oz marshmallow creme
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil.
2. Heat milk and sugar over medium heat until boiling, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
3. Mix in pumpkin puree and cinnamon and bring it back to a boil again. Stir in marshmallow creme and butter. Bring to a roiling boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 18 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add vanilla and white chocolate chips. Stir until all melted and then pour into pan. Cool, then cut into squares.

Sorry there are no pictures! It was quite popular.

Bacon Cake

Samara had a milestone birthday recently and I didn't know what to get her. Gift choices are limited here in Dillingham, so I had to be creative. Anthony and I were sitting around trying to think of something funny and something Samara would like when I had a moment of brilliance. A bacon cake! I can make fondant! I can make cake! And so I made it happen.

I won't bore you with the actual cake part. I baked a butter cake and it was fine. Nothing too special, but tasted good. The important part of this cake is the decorations. First off I had to cut the cake so it resembled bacon. Here is the wavy sort of cut I did to try and get the bacon look.

I then had to color the fondant. This was a feat! The pink was easy, the red/brown color was not. I was struggling with the stickiness of the fondant and needing to add more color and powdered sugar. It was a mess and looked like I had killed someone on my kitchen counter. I eventually got it to the shade I liked.

I then had to figure out how to get the marbled bacon look. I decided to make "snakes" out of the fondant (it really is like play dough) and stick them together. I then rolled it out so it would be all smooshed together. (That's a real technical cake decorating term.) Because I had used so much food coloring my fondant was sticky, which posed some problems. Mostly the fondant sticking to the parchment paper I was using to transport it from the counter to the cake. Overall, though, I was happy with how it turned out. Samara thought it was funny and hopefully one of her more memorable birthday cakes.

Chicken Fricassee--the easy way

I don't want anyone to be fooled in to thinking that I slave over the stove for hours to feed Aaron. He doesn't care much about food so to do so would be a waste of time. I however love food...LOVE FOOD! But that doesn't mean that I have tons of time to cook. So here is an easy dish (think 30 minute meal) to whip up on any random Tuesday.
Gather together:

• 1lb boneless chicken bits
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 small bunch of carrots (about 4 large carrots) sliced--I used yellow carrots since they were in season
• 3 or 4 celery stalks--sliced on the bias
• 2 cloves of garlic-crushed
• 2 tablespoons of canola oil
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• 1 cup of white wine or chicken stock (add more if needed to thin out the sauce)
  
• 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 2 bay leaves
  
• salt and pepper

In a frying pan add the canola oil and over medium heat cook the chicken bits until they are browned on both sides. Remove them and add the onion, carrots and celery along with the butter. Cook until the vegetables are tender crisp. Then add the flour to the pot. Once the flour is made into a roux whisk in the wine and return the chicken to the pot along with the bay leaves and tarragon. Allow this to cook for another 10-15 minutes on simmer or low. Remove bay leaves and add salt and pepper to taste.

I served this over noodles with a simple green salad and garlic bread. This really is an easy recipe.

Mini Cheesecake

Erin and I subscribe to the "Good Things Catered" blog. This is a really good blog. It is also where we got this next recipe. I liked the idea of making mini cheesecakes with vanilla wafers and not having to make a crust or a water bath for a big cheese cake. This recipe is good if you just want a few bites of cheese cake.

gather together:

• about 30 Nilla wafers
• 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbsp sour cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Line mini cupcake tin with liners and place Nilla wafers into bottom of cups (you may have to trim these slightly)
• In bowl of stand mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar.
• Beat to combine well until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
• Add sour cream and egg, mixing well to combine.
• Scrape down sides of bowl, add lemon juice and vanilla and mix to combine well.
• Remove from stand mixer, scrape sides and hand beat to make sure mixture is combined well.
• Using mini cookie scoop or teaspoon, fill each liner almost to the top.
• Place in oven and bake 15 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool.
• Cover tightly and place in fridge overnight, or at least 4 hours before serving. (yeah, like that happened...we put them in the fridge until they were cool enough to eat)

As you can see, we topped ours with fresh blueberries and cherry pie filling. We had to hurry and take the pictures because Anthony was eating these as fast as we could top them.

Tokyo Sushi--Lexington, Kentucky

I recently went on vacation back to Kentucky. I call it vacation, but it was really more like we had business to tend to, namely Aaron needed to get sworn in to the Kentucky Bar Association. (YAY!) During our trip we managed to eat out, everyday. One of my favorite places to go is Tokyo Sushi, but I don't go there for the sushi--Aaron loves the sushi--I go there for the bulgogi.

This stuff is a Korean dish and is so flavorful and can be a bit spicy. I love this stuff and I had been craving it since I left Kentucky. I've had bulgogi at other places, but this place has the best. Plus you get a 5 little dishes of picked vegetables including kimchi (or kim chee). If you live in Kentucky, check this out. If you don't live in Kentucky, go to your local Korean restaurant and order this; you won't be disappointed.
And Aaron ordered Sushi. Like I said, this is a good place to go.