Dilled Shrimp Salad with Herb-Dill Dressing

This recipe comes from the South Beach Diet book. It is our favorite recipe so far.

Dilled Shrimp Salad with Herb-Dill Dressing

Shrimp:
1 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
1 lemon, sliced
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Herb-Dill Dressing
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 medium red onion,sliced
1 large head romaine lettuce
4 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
fresh dill sprigs (optional)

To make the shrimp: Combine the wine, mustard seeds,pepper flakes, bay leaves, and lemon in a large saucepan. Add water to fill the pan two-thirds full. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the shrimp, and cook for 2-3 minutes or until shrimp have turned pink and are no longer translucent in the center. Drain and cool. Discard the bay leaves.

To make the herb-dill dressing: In a screw-top jar, mix the olive oil, red wine vinegar,water,basil,dill,garlic,mustard and onion. Shake well. Place the shrimp in a large bowl and add the dressing. Toss well, cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve the shrimp mixture on romaine leaves and surround with tomato wedges and mushrooms. Garnish with dill sprigs if using.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies

1 box cake mix (I use spice and carrot)

15 oz can of pumpkin

1/2-1 cup of chocolate chips

Mix cake mix and pumpkin together. Stir in chips. drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 oven for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Cappuccino Cookies

I made these last week to take camping. The get better after sitting in an air tight container for a day or two. The recipe is from the Taste of Home cookbook The Best of Country Cooking 2003

Chocolate Cappuccino Cookies

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

1 tablespoon hot water

1 egg white

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

In small bowl, dissolve coffee granules in hot water. In a mixing bowl, combine the egg white,3/4 cup sugar, oil, corn syrup,vanilla and coffee; beat until well blended. Combine the flour, cocoa and salt; gradually add to coffee mixture.

Roll into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten to 1/4 inch thickness with a glass dipped in the remaining sugar. Bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes or until center is set. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an air tight container. Yield: 3 1/2 dozen. (I got closer to 50 cookies)

The dough is sticky, it helps to dampen palms when rolling into the small balls.

Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

From the Recipe Blog called Tammy's Recipes

Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
Sun, 2006-08-20 16:03 by Tammy Tags:

* Chicken
* chicken broth
* make-ahead
* milk
* Miscellaneous
* Soups
* stove-top

Recipe Name:
Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
Picture:
condensedchickensoupban.jpg
Description:

A flavorful condensed cream of chicken soup base recipe for use in dishes that call for canned creamed soups
Yield:

3 cups (about 2 cans)
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chicken broth*
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon onion powder**
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder***
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt (or less; taste to test)
1/4 teaspoon parsley
dash of paprika
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour
Instructions:

1. In medium-sized saucepan, boil chicken broth, 1/2 cup of the milk, and the seasonings for a minute or two (longer if using fresh onions or garlic).

2. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of milk and flour. Add to boiling mixture and continue whisking briskly until mixture boils and thickens.
Additional Notes:

*I use the broth from my oven-roasted chicken. Refrigerate broth and then take fat off the top. If you're using chicken bouillon + water for your broth, you may want to add a little extra seasonings, such as lemon pepper, extra garlic, or seasoned salt, since my broth normally has bits of those in it. You can also add bits of chicken, but if you have good rich chicken broth, you probably won't need any chicken in it.

**Or, diced onions (boil with broth for a few minutes)

***Or, fresh minced garlic (boil with broth for a few minutes)
Preparation Time:

5 minutes
Cooking Time:

10-15 minutes
Tammy's Review:

I think this is an excellent substitution for the store-bought cans of condensed soups. It's so flavorful (even without MSG)! ;) I like to make this with leftover chicken broth (or even turkey broth!) and then freeze in 1 1/2 cup sized portions. Then, when I need a quick "can" of soup for a recipe, I just thaw some! I have made this in large batches (3-4 quarts at a time) and it saves even more time rather than having to make a small amount each time you need some. My rating: 10/10.

Molli's Mullberry Pie Recipe

mix 3 to 3 1/2 cups of mulberries with 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. place mixture in unbaked pie crust. dot the top of the mulberry mix with a total of 2 tbsp of butter. place top crust on the pie and cut slits in it. let the pie rise in the ... refrigerator for 30 mins. then bake at 400 degrees for 15mins. turn the heat down to 350 and continue to bake for 30mins. let the pie cool and your done! i left the little stems on them.

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

Linking a friend's recipe from her blog. This is so easy and good!

http://www.gwens-nest.com/family-favorite-recipes/tag/cream%20of%20mushroom%20soup%20recipe

To use: melt 2 T butter in skillet. Add 1/4 cup flour;stir til pasty. Add 1 cup milk and 1 cube mushroom mix. Stir. Add to casseroles calling for canned crm of mushroom soup.

Coffee Concentrate

I found this on the Taste of Home web site Bulliten Board. Thought it sounded very interesting. I'll have to try it sometime.


Coffee Concentrate
Posted by cookygram
Source: Family Favorites Hawaiian Cookbook

7 – 8 cups COLD water
1 pound coffee, any grind
For filtering, you should have:
Large receptacle
Strainer
2-4 layers coffee paper filters (Mr. Coffee/basket-style
filters work best)*
Put coffee and water into stainless steel or glass bowl; cover and let sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours. Line a strainer with coffee filters. In batches, use a ladle to put grounds and water into the lined strainer, discarding grounds (and filter papers, if needed) in about 10 minutes and reline and refill. It will take about three fillings of the strainer before you are finished. You will end up with 28 – 32 ounces of concentrate. Pour concentrate into any capable 1-quart container with lid and store in refrigerator. To reconstitute, use 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of the concentrate (or the amount according to personal taste) per 8 ounces of boiling water. *If using cone coffee filters, keep them flat, and shape and overlap them to line the strainer, making sure to completely cover all the mesh.