Dinner When No One Is Home

 

Dinner When No One Is Home

Often in our house, no one is home at dinner time,  it's sad really, but we're doing our best.  I use to leave a pot of soup on the stove, or something in the fridge, but it never got eaten!  If it isn't in front of their faces, they don't realize it's there!  So these are meals that I make earlier in the day and then I set them on a tray out on the counter and the kids warm them up at their convenience.  It's usually when I'm running a carpool or at a bball game and some kids have to stay behind for homework or dance class.  It has turned out to be a beautiful thing.

Paninis

Ciabatta Rolls

Turkey

Bacon

Avacado

Cheese

Spinach

(Or any combination of fun sandwich fixings)

Assemble sandwich so there is cheese on both sides of bread and some in the middle to keep it together. Grill in a panini press.

Bagel Breakfast Sandwiches
Bagels
Eggs
Cheese
Bacon
(Or any combination of breakfast foods)
Break egg in a bowl, about the size of the bagel, lightly scramble and cook a few seconds at a time in the microwave.  Assemble sandwiches as desired.

Grilled Burritos

Tortillas

Shredded Chicken (Don't tell the kids, but I have totally used canned chicken out of the food storage and NO ONE has noticed, even my food snobs! It seriously gives me great delight! I mix it with the salsa to get rid of the canned flavor.)

Beans

Salsa

Cheese

(Or any combination of fun burrito foods)

Place in tortilla and grill in pan until crispy and will stay closed!

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Cookies
Ice cream

Place cookies in a zip lock and place in freezer.  When cookies are hard and firm, get ice cream and cookies out of the freezer.  Scoop ice cream onto cookie and press with top cookie, working quickly.  Wrap in tin foil and place in the freezer immediately. Enjoy a little later.

**When I was little, my mom made a bunch of these sandwiches with ginger snaps, and I remember them in the freezer stacked in nice silver tin foil towers.  I mean really, who would eat a fat boy when you can have a homemade one that is soooo much better!
**Any cookies will work as long as they are frozen first, but through my experience, Breyers natural vanilla ice cream is the best! 
**I'm obsessed with the spicy molasses cookie ice cream sandwiches at the moment...this ice cream was a tad thick, a little too hard to eat, but man was it the best "fat boy" I've ever seen!  I made mini ones at this exact same time....1 1/2 inches wide....really tiny, but the kids love them!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup
    
 3-4 C chicken, cubed
8 C broth
½ t salt                     
¼ t pepper                  
½ t basil
1 t parsley                  
1 1/2 C carrots
1 1/2 C celery
Add pam or oil to large soup pot and cook chicken until no longer pink.  Add broth, salt, pepper, basil and parsley.  Bring to a boil, add carrots and celery, continue cooking for 10 minutes.  While soup is cooking prepare egg noodles.

Egg Noodles
1 beaten egg                  
½ t salt
2 T milk                  
1 C flour (maybe a touch less depending if you aren't using a lg egg)
Mix and roll out as thin as you can, let stand for 5 minutes, cut into small squares using a pizza cutter and add to boiling soup.  Cook and additional 15 minutes.

**This is an awesome soup that everyone enjoys. The little square noodles are so fun and a little thicker than normal noodles.  It's also a great soup to take to a sick friend...right Kathy? :)
**If you don't want to bother with the noodles, just add 2 C cubed potatoes when adding the carrots and celery, and cook until tender!

Spicy Molasses Cookie

Spicy Molasses Cookies

2 1/4 C unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces) 
1 t baking soda  
2 t ground cinnamon  
2 t ground ginger  
3/4 t ground cloves  
1/4 + 1/8 t ground allspice  
1/4 t ground black pepper  
3/4 t table salt (I actually like a bit more...1 t)
12 T unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool 
1/3 C sugar
1/3 C packed dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces) 
1 large egg yolk  
1 t vanilla   
1/2 C molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark
1/2 C sugar for rolling cookies

 Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/2 cup sugar for dipping in a bowl.  Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.

 Using 1/4 C measuring cup (we like big cookies around here), scoop dough and roll between palms into a ball; drop ball into cake pan with sugar and repeat to form about 4 balls. Toss balls in sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, press down slightly with a flat surface (I use the bottom of a glass) spacing them about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. 

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 10 minutes. Do not overbake.

Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)

 **Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen. I added a lot more spice, it's how we like them.  

**1 T cookie dough balls bake for 6 minutes.  Makes 32. Awesome for ice cream sandwiches.  

Pecan Wedges

Pecan Wedges

Crust:
1 C flour
1/3 C brown sugar
1/4 C pecans, toasted and chopped coarse
1 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
6 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled

Pecan Filling:
1/2 C brown sugar
1/3 C light corn syrup
4 T unsalted butter, melted
1 T dark rum (optional)
2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
1 egg
2 C pecans, toasted and chopped coarse

Crust: Line a 9 inch square pan with foil, allowing extra foil to hang over allowing for ease in removing from pan.  Spray foil with pam. Place flour, sugar, pecans, salt and baing powder in food processor and pulse until resembles coarse cornmeal, about 5 pulses.  Add butter and pulse about 8 more times until mixture resembles course sand.  Pat mixture evenly into prepared pan and bake at 350 until crust is light brown and springs back when touched, about 20 minutes.
Filling: While crust bakes, whisk sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, rum, vanilla, and salt together.  Whisk in egg until incorporated.  Pour filling on top of hot crust and sprinkle pecans evenly over top.  Bake until top is brown 22-25 minutes. (Original recipe said bake until cracks start to form...I never saw any cracks.) Let cool to room temperature on wire rack, 1-2 hours.  Use foil sling to remove from baking pan and use sharp knife to cut into wedges (to feel more like a piece of pie) or bars.  Amazing on their own, but great served as a dessert with whipped cream.

**These were insane! If you like pecan pie, you'll love these.  I made these for our Thanksgiving (Wednesday night) because I was taking 2 pecan pies to our real Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and just wanted to switch things up.  My Mom and I couldn't get enough!
**I am dying to know how they would taste different if you mixed the pecans in the filling instead of pressing them on top. Hmm, might try it next time just to see.

Pumpkin Pie Cake Crumble

Pumpkin Pie Cake Crumble



2 packages (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter or margarine, at room temperature
4 large eggs
2 cans (15 ounces each) pumpkin
1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 C butter, chilled
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Whipped cream for garnish

Spray a 9x13 with pam. Measure out 1 cup of the cake mix from the 1st cake mix and reserve for the topping.  Place the remaining cake mix (from the first box), the butter, and 1 egg in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, 1 minute. Using your fingertips, press the batter over the bottom of the prepared pan so that it reaches the sides of the pan. Set the pan aside. For the filling, place the pumpkin, evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, remaining 3 eggs, and cinnamon, blend on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the mixture lightens in color and texture, 1 to 2 minutes more.  Pour the filling over the crust in the pan, spreading to the sides of the pan with a rubber spatula. Set the pan aside.  For the topping, place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, the  1/2 C chilled butter, and the reserved 1 C cake mix, plus 1 more Cup from 2nd box of cake mix,  in a food processor.  Pulse until just combined and crumbly. Stop the machine and pour in the pecans, pulse 2 or 3 more times to mix in pecans. Distribute the topping evenly over the filling mixture. Bake the cake at 350 until the center no longer jiggles when you shake the pan and the pecans on top have browned, 70 to 75 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack, 20 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature, but whipped cream is a must!

**If you are wondering why the wasted 2nd cake mix...it's because the crumble topping NEEDED to be doubled.  I've made it both ways and doubled it is way better! Promise.  You'll use the unused portion when you make it again in a few weeks.
**Hans thinks this name is hilarious and that we should add cobbler to the end of it, then it will hit every dessert avenue....except cookie.
**A huge hit for Thanksgiving...kids love it much more than pumpkin pie.

Creamed Corn

Creamed Corn

6 C frozen sweet white corn (from Costco)

1/2 C whipping cream

1 C milk (whole is best)

1 1/2 t salt

1/8 C sugar

pepper to taste

¼ c. melted butter
¼ c. flour

Mix corn, cream, milk, salt, sugar, pepper in pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.  In a separate saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter, whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Add to corn, mixing thoroughly.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.

**So when I went to Austin a few months ago, I sat next to a guy named Nick....a fellow foodie.  We talked food the entire flight, driving our fellow passengers crazy.  We were heading to the BBQ and smoked meat capital of the world....Nick's heaven, he's a smoker...of meats that is.  He was kind enough to share some family recipes with me and since then I've have been in touch with his darling wife talking food and running. Story continues....I was asking Breanna the other day what the biggest hit at the Thanksgiving table is at her house....creamed corn....her recipe was almost exactly the same as Nick's "sugar corn."  So I made a few adjustments...a little less cream than Nick's, a little more corn than Breanna's, and now it is a Magleby favorite....Grayson had four huge helpings on Thanksgiving!  Thanks Nick and Breanna!

**For Thanksgiving dinner, I made it earlier in the day and put it in a crock pot.  I put it on warm about an hour before we ate and it was perfect for the huge crowd.