Microwave Hard Boild Eggs

One 3 quart microwaveable dish with lid (I use Corningware French White)
6 eggs
Enough HOT water to cover eggs

Place eggs in dish and cover with water to about 1/2 an inch over the eggs. Cover and cook on high for 4 minutes. Let rest about 30 seconds. Cook for 5 more minutes on high. Let stand in dish for 20 minutes without removing lid. Rinse with cold water.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

1 (25.6-oz) box nonfat dry milk powder
1 (6-oz) jar powdered non-dairy coffee creamer (Coffeemate)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 (16-oz) can instant chocolate drink mix (Quik)
½ cup dark cocoa powder

Grind up nonfat dry milk powder using food processor to make sure the milk powder is very find. Sift all ingredients into a large bowl. Mix well. After mixing, sift again, then put in a large airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place. Can be stored up to 6 months. To make hot chocolate, add 3 tablespoons mix to 1 mug of hot water. Stir to dissolve. To make cafe mocha, use 1 cup of hot coffee instead of water.

"Ounce" ingredients are by WEIGHT, not measure. If you can't find containers in the right ounce size, weigh out the ingredients.

Fantastic Fried Mozzarrella Sticks

3/4 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
3/4 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
4 eggs
1 package string cheese ~ mozzarella flavor (Borden worked much better than Frigo)
1 tablespoon salt
Touch of water
1/2 cup parmesan (the "saw dust" real Kraft stuff works great)

Mix bread crumbs and parm in a dredging bowl.

Wisk the eggs and a touch of water to make an egg wash.

Open and slice string cheese in half. Dip string cheese halves in egg wash, move to bread crumbs and coat. Move back to egg wash and repeat.

Place double coated cheese sticks on cutting board or cookies sheet and place in freezer. Allow to freeze at least two hours.

Remove from freezer and deep fry in 350 degree oil until sticks float and are golden brown. Serve with marinara or jarred spaghetti sauce. Makes a wonderful snack or fun dinner.

Crab Cakes

1 pound crab
1 egg plus 1 egg white
1 and 1/4 stick butter
1 1/4 cup bread crumbs ~ I used crushed Panko but any plain bread crumb will work
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons citrus grill seasoning by McCormicks
1 tablespoon celery salt

Melt butter and allow to cool. Crumble crab in mixing bowl and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. "Reconstitute" parsley by adding it to lemon juice and allow to soak while butter cools. Once butter cools mix butter, eggs, and lemon juice parsley mix in a bowel. Whip until frothy. Pour over breadcrumbs and crab. Mix, fold, blend. Form into patties. Chill for a couple hours up to two days. Saute in pan of butter/olive oil combination until both sides are browned, cooking slowly to maintain cake form. DON'T DEEP FRY. Serve with your favorite tartar sauce and hot sauce.

Ooey Gooey Teriyaki Chicken Wings

First ingredient in this recipe is patience because they are baked, not fried.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In sauce pan combine:
1 Bottle World Harbor Teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
Dash grated fresh ginger

Heat until bubbly.

Wash one pound (or more if you like) package of chicken "winglets" (whole wings would work but the winglets are the generally the drumlet portion only)
Layer in a shallow cooking dish.

Pour bubbly sauce over winglets slightly covering about 1/3 of the bottom.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn. Bake 10 minutes, turn. Repeat a couple of times so that wings get glossy. When internal temp reaches 170, pull from oven and place wings in remaining sauce and coat well. Place wire cookie cooling rack in baking sheet and place wings on top of cooling rack. Place wings back in oven 5-7 minutes depending on desired crispiness of outside.

Cool and eat.

For variety and a touch of spice add a tablespoon of Sweet Chili Sauce, adds a nice bite to the wings.

Mac and Cheese

Original Recipe courtesy MexicoKaren from DC

3 tbls butter
3 tbls flour
2 cups milk (whole or 2%)
8 ounces pasta of choice
3 cups grated cheese
Whole Nutmeg
4 ounces Crumbled bacon
Salt
White Pepper
Onion powder

Boil pasta for 8-10 minutes, rinse, set aside and allow to cool. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

While pasta is boiling grate 2 cups of cheese. Use your favorite blend or just straight cheddar. The dish above has cheddar, mozzarella, and Velveeta. Grate 1 more cup of cheese to reserve for topping, the above is straight cheddar.

In a large saute pan melt butter and add flour. When slightly bubbly and well blended, gradually add milk and whisk,. Remove from heat and gradually add cheese, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste. When mixed thoroughly, add cooled pasta to cheese sauce. Butter a baking dish and pour mac and cheese into dish. Top with bacon and cheddar cheese. Bake 15 minutes until cheese topping is melted.

For a bit of extra creaminess, serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Ultimate Bar Pan Brownies

This recipe was written for use with Pampered Chef's Stoneware Bar Pan

2 boxes Duncan Hines Fudgy Brownie Mix
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup
2 handfuls Hershey's milk chocolate chips
2 handfuls Hershey's dark chocolate chips
~~~~~~~~
Topping:
Heath Toffee Bits
Chopped Pecans
Sweetened Condensed Milk

Mix brownie mix, water, sweetened milk, vegetable oil, syrup, and eggs. Pour in to greased bar pan. Add chocolate chips and mix while spreading batter into pan.

After batter settles sprinkle with pecans, then toffee bits. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes. Brownies are done when toothpick comes out clean.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. I hope to post thoughts and recipes and just have a good time here expressing myself through my passion for cooking I hope you enjoy. Unfortunately, I have to add the following because of some spam recently received from one of four people at the only site I have linked here. Next message received and I start naming names of the suspects. It's truly sad that people behave in such a way to spam people with unkind words hiding behind "anonymous" and fake names.