"Swig" Cookie

"Swig" Cookie

1 C Butter (room temperature)
3/4 C Vegetable Oil
1 1/4 C Sugar
3/4 C Powdered Sugar
2 T Water
2 Eggs
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Cream of Tarter
1 t Salt
5 1/2 C Flour

Cream together Butter, Vegetable Oil, Sugars, Water, and Eggs. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture.  Mix until everything is combined.  Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all.  I like them small, so use a tablespoon of dough and roll cookies into a ball.  Put 1/4 c of sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish (this is in addition to the sugar and salt listed above.)  Stick the bottom of a glass in it.  This is going to be your cookie press. Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball.   Bake at 350 for 7 minutes.  They should just barely be browning on the bottom.    Move cookies to a cooling rack.  Once they are cool put them in the fridge.

Sour Cream Frosting

1/2 cup room temperature butter

3/4 C Sour Cream

Approx 1 2lb Package of Powdered Sugar 

1 t salt

1/4 C half and half or cream

Red Food Coloring

Start by creaming together butter and sour cream and salt.  Slowly add powdered sugar.  When it gets so thick its not frosting like,  add a splash of cream.  Alternate this process until your frosting is the desired consistency.  Add 1 drop of red food coloring and whip on high for 1 minute.  Frost cookies, the thicker the better. 

**Recipe adapted from vintagerevivals.com.  There is a cute place in St. George called Swig that sales drinks and treats.  They are famous for their cookies and their dirty diet cokes.  Both delicious, but I happen to think this recipe is better that the real thing!  More flavor and more frosting! And I prefer these cookies cold.  Mmmm!

Mom's Cranberry Sauce

Mom's Cranberry Sauce

1 bag fresh whole cranberries   (2 cups) 1-2 oranges peeled 2 apples, cut and seeds removed 1 cup sugar or more Mix in food processor with coarse blade until desired consistency is reached.  Store in refrigerator. **The only cranberry sauce worth eating.  I love this stuff on a sandwich about 9pm Thanksgiving night!

Green Chile Pork

Green Chile Pork

4 lbs pork cut into small cubes
2 C chopped green chiles (either canned or fresh roasted new mexico hatch chiles)
1/2 C water (and more if needed)
1/2 t salt
1/8 C sugar

Place all ingredients into a large pot and cook over medium low to low heat for 4 hours.  Stirring often to make sure there is always liquid, adding small amounts when necessary.  Done when pork is tender, but still maintains shape.  Adjust seasonings to taste.

**Shout out to Mizti for this great family fave! You are always a source of delicious and beautiful food!
**Great for burritos or enchiladas.  Absolutely amazing in a burrito with cheese, and this Tomatillo Sauce over top.
**I'd be interested to see how much the taste would change if I added a lot more sugar...hmm.
**My sisters in law that have lived in New Mexico have always brought me bags of green chilies in late August that have been roasted and steamed.  And I spend a few hours peeling and taking the seeds out and bagging them up for the freezer.  That way in the middle of the winter we can have awesome mexican food with amazing flavors.  But now (August 24th)  Harmon's in Orem is roasting hatch green chilies! Wahoo, or you can just use canned and be perfectly happy!

Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

FOR THE CAKE:

2 cups Flour

2 cups Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa

2 sticks Butter

1 cup Boiling Water

1/2 cup Buttermilk

2 whole Beaten Eggs

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Vanilla

 FOR FROSTING:

1-3/4 stick Butter

4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa

6 Tablespoons Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan (cookie sheet size with sides) and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.  Best served warm with ice cream on the side. 

**Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman.  It isn't pretty, but it's divine! This has been served at every basketball team dinner I've ever hosted and last year one cute kid told me he had a dream about it the next day (Cole). Funny.

Zucchini Soup & Zucchini Sauce

Zucchini Soup 

Disclaimer:
This recipe was given to be by my mom and never written down.  I just watched her and did what she did.  Then I added one more step to make it a sauce.

8 C zucchini sliced (if it's over grown and a bit big, just remove the seeds because they can be a bit woody)
2 T butter
1/2 t salt
1/4 C to 1 C milk, half and half or cream

Place zucchini in a large pot and fill half full with hot water.  Put on lid and cook until water has boiled for 5 minutes.  Place zucchini in a strainer and press out extra water.  Put directly into a blender. Add butter and salt and blend.  Add your choice of liquid a little at a time and mix until desired soup consistency. Adjust salt seasoning. Serve while hot!

**So amazing with sweet cherry tomatoes on top.  Grayson could drink a gallon of this soup.

 Zucchini Sauce

To the above recipe, throw in 1 C of fresh basil leaves and blend until smooth.  It turns it into a healthy pesto pasta sauce.

**Truly, I've never measured, so just taste and adjust!  It is so worth it and so good!  And so perfect in August when your zucchini plant is going crazy!

Oatmeal Pecan Pancakes

Oatmeal Pecan Pancakes

1 ½ C quick oats

½ C flour

1 t baking soda

½ t salt

1 T powdered sugar

2 lg eggs

2 C buttermilk

¾ C pecans chopped (I like them toasted)

Mix  dry ingredients then add eggs and buttermilk.  Add pecans or leave them out. Cook on griddle. Serve with buttermilk syrup and top with slice bananas, peaches or blueberries. (It just happens to be peach season right now!)

**These have been a staple for us forever!  Thanks to Breanna who turned me on to them years ago!  We used to have them every time we went camping...such a great filling, slightly healthy pancake!

** I prefer the pecans toasted and in the batter, but when the little people are involved, it's just a little easier to add them on top and not listen to any complaints.  Ps. They love these and have no idea there's oatmeal in them!