Grandma's Fondant

4 Cup sugar 

1 - 1 1/2 cups cream

1/4 Cup corn Syrup

Combine in pot on stove. Stir together continuously on medium or medium low heat until boiling. Turn down to low. Let simmer until reaches soft ball stage. Cool to room temperature. Beat until starts to lighten. Add a few drops flavouring. Continue beating until fondant changes consistency and become a big dough ball....don't worry, it's a big obvious change. 

*To make as fudge, add 3Tbsp Cocoa at start with other ingredients

*If using for chocolates, you can keep in the fridge in a ziploc bag for a day or two until ready to cover in chocolate. Let fondant get to room temp and work a bit before rolling into your balls for dipping.

*If making chocolates, heat and stir chocolate until melted and smooth. Let cool to solid state again. This is called tempering the chocolate. Heat chocolate again until melted, and let cool before dipping. If chocolate is too warm, it will melt the fondant. While cooling the second time, you take wax paper, line cookie sheets with it. Take your finger and make chocolate swirl dabs for the chocolates spaced roughly 1.5" to 2" apart. These will become your chocolate bottoms. Once chocolate is cool enough to roll fondant in, use a shallow dish to put some chocolate in as it makes rolling easier. Roll chocolate, and place on your pre-made dots. If chocolate forms a skirt at bottom of chocolates...either chocolate is too warm or there is too much chocolate covering the fondant. It takes practice, but well worth the time. 

Beef Stew

1 tablespoon oil, divided

1 pound small white mushrooms

Cooking spray

2 cups chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

*1/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)

2 pounds lean beef stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

2 (14-ounce) cans less-sodium beef broth

2 cups (3/4-inch) cubed peeled white potato (about 1 pound)

1 1/2 cups (1-inch) slices carrot (about 12 ounces)

2 (14-ounce) cans less-sodium beef broth

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

*If doing GF, use 2 Clubhouse GF gravy packets or your choice of GF Flour

STOVETOP DIRECTIONS

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, and sauté for 5 minutes or until mushrooms begin to brown. Spoon mushrooms into a large bowl. Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add onion mixture to mushroom mixture.

Place flour in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add half of beef mixture; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Add browned beef to mushroom mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining beef mixture and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Add thyme and broth; bring to a boil. Stir in beef mixture. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 hour or until beef is just tender. Stir in potato and carrot. Simmer, uncovered, 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beef and vegetables are very tender and sauce is thick, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Discard bay leaf. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

CROCK POT DIRECTIONS

Omit oil, unless you desire to brown onions and garlic before adding to crock pot. Add all dry ingredients to crock pot and stir to coat vegetables and meat with flour and spices. Add beef broth and stir. Cook low(4-6hrs) or high (2-3hrs). Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with thyme sprigs if desired.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

I took a few recipes and tweaked until I was satisfied. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Wet ingredients
1 cup butter
1.5 cups white sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp flavoring. (I use almond, but vanilla is nice too.)
1 cup sour cream

Dry ingredients
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4-4.5 cups flour

Directions
Once the butter and eggs are at room temperature, cream butter and white sugar together. Add other wet ingredients. Set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Make well in center. Add wet to dry, and mix together.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. After greasing your hand or spoon, use it to spread and even out cookie dough on cookie sheet. If you do not want to ice them, simply sprinkle dough before baking. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350F. If icing, do so after completly cool.

Slice into squares and enjoy!

Disney Marinated Lamb Chops with Couscous Tabbouleh and Mint Mojo

Serves 4

Lamb Chops
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
8 to 10 lamb chops
Light olive oil, for cooking

Couscous Tabbouleh
2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
1 (10-ounce) box couscous
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 small red onion, finely diced
1/2 European cucumber, seeded and finely diced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Mint Mojo
1 1/2 cups mint jelly
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 bunch mint leaves (about 1 packed cup)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For lamb chops:  Whisk together oil, lemon zest and juice, oregano, cumin, and pepper in a shallow dish. Add garlic. Add lamb chops and turn to coat.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Remove chops from refrigerator and shake off excess marinade. Set aside.
Heat a large grill pan or skillet over high heat. Brush pan lightly with oil. Add chops and cook 2 1/2 minutes per side for medium-rare.

For couscous tabbouleh: Bring vegetable stock to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Meanwhile, place couscous in a medium heatproof bowl. Drizzle with olive oil. When stock boils, carefully pour over couscous; cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside 5 minutes.

Uncover and fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in lime zest and juice, cumin, salt, and pepper. Add tomatoes, garlic, onion, cucumber, cilantro, and chickpeas. Stir to combine.

For mint mojo:  Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until well combined.

To serve: Spoon a portion of couscous into the center of a plate; place 2 lamb chops onto the couscous. Drizzle mint mojo around the plate and garnish with a sprig of mint, if desired.

Starting something new

I have been enjoying recipes I find on Pinterest for quite a while. I am also going to be printing this blog into a book for my birthday, so I figured I could not only share the recipes I am enjoying from Pinterest, but also make it easier to access them again once they are in my recipe book in January. Starting today, I will be posting atleast 1 recipe every other day, if not more often. Here is today's:

Puffed squares

½ cup butter

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

6 heaping TBSP. cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla

10 cups puffed wheat or Puffed Rice for GF version

Measure the puffed wheat into a large mixing bowl and set aside. 

Melt the butter with the corn syrup, sugars, and cocoa powder in a large saucepan over medium heat. 

Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute. 

Remove from heat, add the vanilla, and stir well.

 Pour the mixture over the puffed wheat and mix until the puffed wheat is evenly coated.

 Press into a 9×13-inch pan that has been lightly sprayed with non-stick spray.

Allow to cool and then cut into squares. 

Store in an airtight container to maintain ooey-gooey freshness!

*TIP*

If you put water on your spatula or spoon, it works better than butter on your hands while pressing flat in the pan.

Quinoa Pizza bites

Ingredients:

1/2 c. uncooked quinoa

1 large egg

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. fat free shredded mozzarella

1 t. minced garlic

1 T. dried basil

1 t. dried oregano

pinch of salt

pizza sauce for dipping

Directions:

1. Cook your protein-filled quinoa! Boil the quinoa and 1c. water and cover. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes (until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender).

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of your ingredients (except the pizza sauce) in a mixing bowl until it is well mixed.

3. Lightly spray the bottom of a mini-muffin tin with olive oil spray. Using a Tablespoon, scoop ~1T. into each muffin tin, it should fill almost all of them!

4. Bake them for 15-20 and let cool. Serve them warm with pizza sauce to dip in!

*You can also toss in 1/4 c. diced cherry tomatoes, mini pepperoni slices, diced peppers...