November 2010 ~ Colie's Kitchen

Nov 24, 2010

Libby's Pumpkin Roll (Recipe)

This is fantastic and a great presentation if you want to give it to someone as a gift, or make it for a great after dinner treat. We make at least two each Thanksgiving. They do not last very long in our family. I have even known people who sell these in their office for $8-$10 each. Shesh.. or just make it for $4? This is a must for Thanksgiving! So if you are sitting there right now wondering what you should make tomorrow this is it!!

Ingredients:

Cake

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Filling:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

Directions:
CAKE:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts. BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack. FOR

FILLING:
BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired. COOKING TIP:Be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel when rolling up the cake so it will not stick.

Fiesta Oyster Cracker Mix (Recipe)

I love these crackers. Not only are the inexpensive to make but they spicy (not hot) and yummy, and a great grab and go snack for a holiday party. You can use any ranch dressing, but the fiesta ranch adds a nice tangy zip to the crackers. Last Christmas I took these to a holiday party and they were a big hit!

Ingredients:

2 TBS of Fiesta Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix
1 bag of Oyster Crackers
1/3 cup veg oil (I don’t suggest Olive oil because it alters the flavor)
2 paper bags (lunch bags)

Directions:

Add oil, and Fiesta Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix to a bowl and mix well
Fold in the Oyster Crackers and mix until they are well coated
Evenly distribute the Oyster Crackers into two paper bags
Close your paper bag up well and shake. Shaking every once in a while for a few hours (the purpose of the bag is to absorb the excess oil)
Remove from the paper bags after they have sat for three hours and store in an air tight container. I used this great Rubbermaid container
Enjoy!

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Wordless Wednesday

My husband refers to my food storage containers as my “Redneck Tupperware.” The fact of the matter is if there is a plastic container that has come into my house with food in it I have always tried to reuse it like sour cream and cottage cheese containers until a few days ago. After reading a scary article about how dangerous it can be to re-use certain plastic containers I decided I better do some house cleaning

Clearly I was in desperate need to do so anyway because they were taking over the cabinet they were in. I had a laundry basket full of containers. Most were missing lids, or the lids were missing their containers. After inspecting the triangles on the bottom of some of my containers I realized I had many that needed to be thrown away. I think I will start sticking to Tupperware, Gladware, and Ziploc, and so on! Rubbermaid Premier are my favorite!! Here is the article if you are interested!

Cheesy Cabbage Casserole

I made the mistake of making this casserole as a main dish. I have been trying to incorporate two meatless meals in our menu per week, but I haven’t been very successful. I made this for dinner thinking what a great meatless meal it would be when it truth it would have made a much better side dish. I don’t blame the recipe I blame myself.

As for the dish in general it has a great flavor, makes a great presentation, and doesn’t cost much to make. It smells great cooking, and turned out perfect. As I said before it would make a wonderful side dish for me the word casserole was misleading. Thank you Wildflour for the great recipe.

Ingredients:

2 quarts chopped cabbage
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of celery soup 1/4 cup milk
1 cup packed shredded American cheese or 1 Velveeta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt, less if desired
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup finely crushed butter flavored cracker
4 tablespoons melted butter, more if needed

Directions:

Cook cabbage 5-7 minutes in salted water, drain well.
Combine soup, milk, cheese, salt and pepper in large bowl.
Microwave til cheese melts and is creamy. Stir occasionally.
Fold in cabbage.
Pour into 1-1/2 quart casserole dish.
Mix cracker crumbs and melted butter.
Sprinkle evenly over top.
Bake in 350º over for 30-40 minutes til bubbly.

Wordless Wednesday: The Texas Renaissance Festival

Each year my husband and I go to the Texas Renaissance Festival. Normally we have gone for our anniversary. Last year we missed the Renn because we were in Vegas, and this year we did it a little later than our anniversary waiting on the cooler weather. Saturday was the perfect day to partake in the festivities. After sitting in traffic for almost two hours we were just ready to get there. Sadly the traffic put us getting there really late, and in all honesty pretty much ruined the day.

In the end we had a great time, and are hoping to go back after Thanksgiving for closing weekend.

My favorite event is the jousting of the knights

The sun was blasting me in the eyes at this point. I really didn't think the pictures would turn out, but I did get a nice action shot!

The knight that was fighting for our side of the arena

Our knight didn't win, but they all looked great doing it.

A piece of serenity in the middle of the Renaissance Festival …the Enchanted Garden.

Hammy Cream of Potato Soup

I started off making one recipe tonight, and then changed in the middle of chopping. So this was another recipe that has been modified to something I thought might be better, and I was right it’s fantastic. The weather here is nasty! Cold and rainy weather has soup written all over it. This is a very rich and hearty recipe. The flavors work so well together, and it’s just down right good!

Soup Base Ingredients:

4 cups peeled cubed potatoes
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups of beef broth
1 cup thinly sliced carrot
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup finely diced onion

Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups diced ham

Directions:

In large dutch oven, add all of your Soup Base Ingredients
Cook soup base until the vegetables are. Do not drain.
While your soup base is cooking add your flour and butter to a saucepan and begin to whisk to insure you don't get lumps
Once your butter is melted gradually add your milk while whisking, then add your salt.
Once your mixture is well combined add the cheese and allow it to melt. Don't forget to keep whisking
Fold in ham.
Gradually add your cheese sauce mixture to your vegetable mixture, and stir well.
Simmer until ready to serve. Make sure it's not cooking too high or it will burn quickly.

My husband loves to vacuum! He calls it his therapy. I don’t stand in the way of his happiness in fact I encourage his “therapy”! If vacuuming makes you happy then have it! A husband who loves to vacuum is pretty wordless.