Fun with Dr. Seuss!

This semester we've been reading books or fairy tales and making recipes that go with them. A couple weeks ago we read Dr.Seuss' The Sleep Book. In the book the moose dreams of moose juice and the goose dreams of goose juice... So we made Moose juice and goose juice! This was really easy and fun. Claire had some friends over so I let everyone pick which "juice" they wanted.

To make Moose juice: Combine orange sherbert and Sunny delight (or you could use orange juice) in a blender and blend.

To make Goose Juice: Combine lime sherbert and green Lemon-lime kool-aid in a blender and blend.

Very simple to do, but a very big hit with the kids!

And if you still haven't voted for our Peeps dioramas you can do so here. Thanks for helping with our contest!

Apple cobbler (Round Robin)

I'm joining Amy's Round Robin today.



I just tried out a new recipe that was really yummy and would be great for the holidays. I found it on http://www.allrecipes.com/ That's a great site! I seem to have an inability to follow recipes exactly. I don't actually use recipes much...I'm more of a make it up as I go kind of cook, but I actually almost followed this one! The only thing I did different was I added cinnamon to the struesel topping. It was really good!

Apple Streusel Cobbler


Submitted By: EAGLE BRAND®
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 50 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 5 Minutes
Servings: 9


"Assemble this cobbler in minutes, and fill your kitchen with the sweet aromas of apples and cinnamon as it bakes!"


Ingredients:
2 (21 ounce) cans apple pie filling
2 large eggs
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND®
Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup cold butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup oats

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread apple filling in buttered 9-inch square baking pan.
2. In large bowl, beat eggs, sweetened condensed milk, melted butter and spices; pour over apple filling. In small bowl, combine brown sugar and flour; cut in cold butter until crumbly. Add nuts and oats. Sprinkle over top.
3. Bake 50 minutes or until set. Cool. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (optional). Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 11/11/2010

How to: Making Eggrolls

I made homemade eggrolls for dinner last night. Several people asked how I did it so I'm posting a little "how to". Let me start off by saying I'm sorry...I don't really use recipes when I cook so I don't have exact measurements and such!


I shredded 1/2 of a head of cabbage. I added a couple of baby carrots too. You can add more carrots if you want, or broccoli, or black pepper...whatever your taste. I shredded the cabbage with my salad shooter. They don't make those anymore, but I think you can buy it pre shredded for coleslaw.




I stir fried 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts in a little oil, soy sauce and garlic powder. I shredded it in my food chopper. You need it to be shredded finely so that you can pack the filling in. Mix it with the shredded cabbage.




You find the egg roll wrappers in the produce section at the grocery store. Lay them out one at a time and put 2-3 spoonfuls of the filling on the wrapper.



Fold the bottom up over the filling and then fold the sides over. When folding the sides over (one is done below), dip you fingers in some water and brush it on the wrapper. That will help seal it.

Once you have both sides moistened and folded over begin rolling it. You will need to moisten the end of the wrapper and make sure it is well sealed. The picture below shows one almost rolled completely and one that is finished.

Then fry them in about 2 in. of cooking oil until they are golden brown. Be sure to flip them so they are browded evenly. The eggroll wrappers came in a package of 20 so that is what this recipe made. We like to dip them in sweet & sour sauce!

I hope this makes sense. I took pictures because it's a little hard to explain rolling them with words! You can also try variations using pork, shrimp, vegetables, or whatever you'd like in your eggroll!

Banana Rum night!

We brought back a bottle of banana rum from the Bahamas and we didn't know what to do with it so I searched the web for some recipes yesterday. Well, looking at all those recipes got me in the mood to cook! I ended up making a whole Island themed dinner last night...grilled Hawaiian Chicken, Rice pilaf, multigrain bread, fruit salad and of course, Banana creme daiquiris and Banana Rum cake! It was sooo good. I'm actually eating a piece of the leftover cake right now! It has a crust of rum sauce and roasted pecans that is fantastic! I had extra rum sauce left over so I drizzled it on the ice cream...that was really good!

Banana Creme Daiquiris

Banana Rum Cake

Here is the recipe for the Banana Rum Cake. It made a lot of glaze so you could probably cut the glaze recipe in half. I used banana rum wherever it says rum, but you can use regular rum. I also added some cinnamon and sugar to the pecans as I was roasting them.

Ingredients:

For the Dark Rum Glaze: 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 1/4 cup water 1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup dark rum

For the Cake: 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar 5 large eggs, at room temp 1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas) 2 tsps pure vanilla extract 3 tbsps dark rum 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10-cup tube pan with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle the pecans in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the mashed bananas, vanilla, and rum. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt over the batter and fold in using a rubber spatula, just until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the buttermilk. Spoon the batter over the nuts in the pan and spread to the edge of the pan.

To make the glaze: Combine the butter, water, and sugars in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Set aside and keep warm.

Bake cake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Use a wooden skewer to poke holes all over the cake and pour 1/4 cup of the warm glaze over the cake. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes more. Place a serving platter over the pan and invert to release the cake onto the platter. Spoon the remaining glaze over the cake, a little at a time, and let stand until the glaze is completely absorbed into the cake. As the glaze hardens, this will encase the cake in a rummy, sugary shell. Let the cake cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving.