Slow-Cooking Saturdays: Crockpot Picante Dip

At this very second there are six inches of snow covering my yard. There is more snow falling, and to top it off sleet is covering the snow, making our city one slick, wintery mess. In a few hours I have to go to work so my wonderful husband is shoveling the driveway. It's taking awhile, God bless him, but we Southerners just aren't used to this mess and don't have the tools to deal with the aftermath. When he ventures back inside, cold, wet and sore from all that work I'll have two things waiting for him: cocoa and this picante cheese dip. (Well, three things if you count his cute, smiling wife.)

This would be a great Super Bowl appetizer, too, if you happen to be a fan of those two random teams playing this year and you're having a party to celebrate their success. (We're Steelers fans in this house and we'd rather not talk about this season. Can we discuss the previous one instead?) This is definitely one for the Man Food Files, but we girls can appreciate it, too, because it's so darn easy to make. (But we won't discuss the calorie content. Let's just pretend that party food is calorie-free, um-kay?)

Crock-potting is having a comeback. (I think I just made up that verb, but stay with me, here.) Cooks who at one point turned up their nose at anything involving a slow cooker are embracing them now. I grew up watching my mom use her crock pot, and it was one of the first things added to my wedding registry. I use it at least once a week, and although it's a pain in the astronaut to clean it's definitely this working mom's best friend.

So if you, like us, are covered with snow and ice it's time to break out the crock pot, cook up some cheese dip, and settle in for movie night!

Crockpot Picante Dip
Adapted from About.com
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Ingredients
1 pound vegetarian meat crumbles (or browned ground beef)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 pounds Velveeta, cubed or shredded
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 a large onion, minced
2 T chili powder
1 bottle spicy picante sauce (feel free to tone down the heat)

Directions
1. Spray crock pot. (I know there are bags you can use to line your crock pot, but I'm not into cooking my food in plastic.)
2. Pour browned beef into crockpot. Cover with remaining ingredients. Cook on low 1 and a half hours, or until cheese is melted. Stir well and serve with chips, toasted pita bread or chopped vegetables.

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Many parents dream of their little ones growing up to save the world in some way. Doctors, lawyers, maybe even president - it all sounds good to them. Of course if my children decide to take one of those journeys I'd be as proud as any mama would be, but I really only want them to be happy, healthy and loved. I'm hoping that their health comes from a love of being in the kitchen and preparing their own food, which is why I'm trying to get started early with Cash.

You may have noticed a new section in my side bar titled I'd Like To... This isn't a list of resolutions for the year because you know how I feel about those things. I can add to it, take away from it, and I hope mark through some of it this year or sometime in the future. And you may have already noticed that I have marked through one: Bake cookies with Cash for the first time. As satisfying as it was to check off a goal on that list (I'm a list-maker, are you?) It was even more satisfying to have such a cute, helpful sous-chef. He knew exactly what it meant to dump the sugar and flour in the bowl. (But of course he did. You should see his playroom. Dumping toys is his, uh, forte.) And he took immense joy in eating a cookie! (Of course he did; he's a toddler! They learn the word "cookie" pretty early.)

I'm not quite sure if he understood that these were cookies he helped Mama make. I'm not sure if playing chef will help him expand his palate (but this mama sure hopes so.) And I'm not sure if he'll even always be willing to help me in the kitchen. But it was definitely fun to spend time with him and open a new door for him.

President? Hrmph. How about White House Chef?



White-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from MyRecipes
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Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups quick-cooking oats
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then add vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder. Gradually add to butter mixture, and mix until combined. With a wooden spoon, fold in oats, white chocolate and pecans.
4. Drop by tablespoon-fulls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 12 minutes, or until cookies are just browned. Cool on sheets about three minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Pork Paillards with Sour Cream-Paprika Sauce

This was one of the simplest meals I've made in a long while. It seems I too often get caught in the Flavor Means 1,000 Ingredients camp, and my meals take too long to prepare and get eaten too quickly. That has to change.

My life is scheduled to death. I have a full-time job, a part-time job, a toddler(!), a husband, and a (somewhat messy) house. The joy of preparing our meals is lost on me these days, and I really want to get it back. I have to admit that pounding these porkchops was quite satisfying because I was able to pound out my stress! (Although let it be known that Cash was not pleased with Mama's pounding on the countertop; my boy, he's a gentle soul.) This meal also came together quickly and was so satisfying that as I sat around the table with my beautiful family I almost forgot about my list of 1,001 Things to Do. And isn't that what dinner should be? A moment to come together and forget what's whirling around us, to focus on each other, and to savor our bounty (instead of swallowing it whole in five minutes?)

I hope I run across a few more recipes like this one, and soon.

Pork Paillards with Sour Cream-Paprika Sauce
Adapted from Martha Stewart
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Ingredients
8 thick-cut pork chops, pounded thin (to make them paillards) and cut in half
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup chicken broth
4 ounces fat-free sour cream
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions
1. Season paillards on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat, and cook paillards until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes per side. Set aside.
2. Pour chicken broth into skillet, using wooden spoon to scrape up brown bits, and let cook about 1 minute or until broth reduces a bit. Pour any juices from meat back into skillet and reduce heat to medium. Stir in sour cream and paprika - feel free to add more sour cream if you want a thicker sauce. Remove from heat and pour over paillards. Serve with egg noodles.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle

Have you ever seen the show Crossroads? It's really great. A country artist and an artist from another musical genre are paired, and they blend their styles to come up with something even better, in some cases, than what they're originally known for. (For example: Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's Raising Sand. Go listen. I'll wait.)

That's kind of what I got with this recipe. I had never heard of something so wonderful as Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle - a cross between a cookie and a piece of candy - but a quick Google search showed me that a lot of you are already in on the act. I'm unsurprisingly late to the party, but better late than never, right? There is no scooping involved, which is nice. And the dough is very crumbly; I expected the outcome to be a chocolate-chip shortbread, which flavor-wise it's exactly that because of the butter. But at the same time it's ... brittle. It's crackly. It's not really sandy like shortbread, and it's certainly a bit sweeter, and it's so good. It's got a great texture: crunchy bits of cookie with smooth bits of chocolate in every bite. It won't satisfy a chocolate-chip-cookie craving, but it will definitely hit your dessert sweet spot.



Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle
Adapted from Everyday Food, via Bless Us O Lord
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Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 10x15 baking sheet with parchment paper. (I used a 12x17 sheet.)
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add salt and vanilla and mix well. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour. (Dough will be crumbly.) Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Press mixture onto prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake about 20 minutes. Cool on pan 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Break into pieces and serve.

Oven-Crisp Potato Wedges

If I must admit to my weakness before I can rise against it I must say this: I love French fries. They are my one true weakness. You can have your chocolate. You can have your bread and butter. You can even have your wine. For me it's those golden, crisp, hot, salty, deep-fried pieces of potato goodness that I. must. have.



And I don't discriminate. I like them all ways: shoestring; steak; curly; hand-cut; twice-fried; sweet-potato - you name it (or put it in front of me) and I'll eat it. (Just ask my hips.) I love them dipped in ketchup or sprinkled with salt and pepper or with a side of garlic aioli. I like them with sandwiches, steak and with chicken nuggets (of course).



But here's the rub: I don't make them at home. If I made them at home more often they would be baked, not fried, and better for me. But the hassle - oh the hassle of making French fries at home. There is the peeling and the slicing and the soaking and the frying and more frying, if you want them done right. It's just too much.

That's why these potatoes are a God-send. I love them, and luckily they're much more heart- (and figure-) friendly. I've made a lot of roasted potatoes in my day, and I honestly can't pick my favorite, but when I'm craving French fries (which happens often) I turn to this recipe. These wedges have a crisp exterior and a fluffy, creamy interior. They have a bit of punch, thanks to the red-pepper flakes. And they are a fabulous side dish to almost anything else you're making for dinner.



Oven-Crisp Potato Wedges
Adapted from: Time Life Recipe Card
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Ingredients
1.5 pounds small red potatoes
2 T olive oil
4 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions
1. In small bowl or ramekin, place oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cover oil with plastic wrap and let sit on counter at least 1 hour (longer, if you can.)
2. Preheat oven to 525*. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil, and lightly spray it with oil.
3. Quarter potatoes and place in large bowl.
4. Drain flavored oil and discard garlic and flakes. Pour oil over quartered potatoes. Toss until potatoes are well coated. Place potatoes in single layer onto foil-covered sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Roast 20 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes.
5. Put oven on broil. Cook potatoes until crisp, watching closely that they don't burn, about 1 or 2 minutes.

Roast Chicken Legs with Lemon and Thyme

Baby, it's cold outside. I went to wash the salt and dirt off my car today, and there were icicles hanging off the car-wash entrance. I can see my breath at noon. I'm wearing boots, coats, scarves and mittens to work. (If you know me at all you know I wear flip flops as long as I possibly can every year, and I often forgo coats because I can always run from my car to the door. Who needs a coat for a 20-second jaunt?) But not this week. This coldfront is gripping the nation; it's threatening Florida's beautiful citrus crops, and it's burying parts of New York under - gasp - 55 inches of snow or more.

This weather calls for roast chicken. Now I realize that roast chicken can be a very personal thing. Some like crisp skin; some like it rotisserie-style; some like it roasted with vegetables and basted; some like it with a simple slathering of butter, salt and pepper; and some, like me, will take it any way they can get it. When I was a kid there was a restaurant in town that served its food buffet-style - at least it did when we were there. I can only vaguely remember going to eat there, and the only thing I actually remember eating were chicken legs and roast potatoes. I'm not sure why they stick out in my head; maybe it's because I was being picky and that's all I would eat. Or perhaps it's because even at my young age I knew the chicken was perfectly roasted - definitely not fried - and had this fabulous, lemony skin. I don't think the restaurant exists any more, and I have no idea how the chicken was actually made, but I'm guessing it was a Greek recipe. When I saw this recipe, Roast Chicken Legs with Lemon and Thyme, I knew it would give me a big dose of nostalgia and warm my bones up, too, on these cold, winter days.

Roast Chicken Legs with Lemon and Thyme
Adapted from Epicurious
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Ingredients
2.5 pounds drumsticks (or thighs and legs)
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 tablespoon dried)
2 garlic cloves, smashed
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 (1/4-inch-thick) lemon slices

Directions
1. Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 500°F.
2. Toss chicken with oil, thyme sprigs, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl, then transfer to a large (17- by 12-inch) shallow heavy baking pan (1 inch deep).
3. Bake chicken 10 minutes, then add lemon slices to pan. Continue to bake until chicken is golden and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes more. Serve chicken with lemon slices.

Amish Friendship Bread

I'm not much of a believer in resolutions; that's probably because I've broken almost every one I've ever made. I do believe, however, in making fresh starts no matter what time of the year it is. There is always room for improvement, and in my opinion putting the effort off until the first of the year is simply a waste of time. But since I never learn from my mistakes I'm going to do the obvious now and, uh, make a resolution, but I think I'll call it a goal instead. I like goals. They're much easier to meet than silly ol' resolutions.



I resolve to spend more time with friends - cook with them, cook for them and eat with them, too. I want to share recipes and meals and coffee. I want to catch up more often and invite them into my home. I want to share laughs and stories and maybe even a few secrets over handmade pastas, more-extravagant desserts and even simple grilled meals.

I think this is definitely a resolution I can keep.



The last few months I've made a lot of this bread. It's Amish Friendship Bread, and I'm sure it's made the rounds where you live and work and play, too. It's a bread you just can't help but share - unless you want to have loaf after loaf after loaf of it in your kitchen. You see, the starter just grows, and it's meant to be shared with friends and family. And trust me, I gave starter to just about everybody I work with and to my mom and sisters. I have to admit that at first I wanted to don my frilly apron and pearls and call myself a 1950s housewife; I mean who else makes bread from starter?

But then I tasted it. And I was a convert. I made the bread plain, which was fabulous. I made it with chocolate pudding and walnuts. I made it with butterscotch pudding and dried apples. I made it plain but with pecans. I made it with chocolate chips. I made it with banana pudding and pecans. I made loaves. I made big muffins and mini muffins. I froze it all. Um, yeah, I kinda made a lot of it. And you can, too, or you can share it with your neighbors and friends and family. It's the perfect answer to a New Year's resolution that's delightful to keep.



Amish Friendship Bread
From my neighbor, who got it from a friend, who got it from a friend...
* Don't worry. You can make the starter if you don't have someone to give you a bag.
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* Do not use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing.
* Do not refrigerate the starter.
* If air gets in the starter bag, let it out.
* It is normal for starter to rise, bubble and ferment.

When you have the starter in hand:

Day 1: Do nothing.
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: Mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Add to the bag 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of milk and then mush the bag.
Day 7: Mush the bag.
Day 8: Mush the bag.
Day 9: Mush the bag.
Day 10: Make your bread.

1. Pour entire contents of bag into non-metal bowl.
2. Add 1.5 cups of flour, 1.5 cups of sugar and 1.5 cups of milk. Stir.
3. Into four one-gallon plastic bags put 1 cup of mixture into each bag. (There will be batter remaining in the bowl.) You can keep a bag of starter for yourself or give all of them away. Be sure to write on the bag the day you created the starter. This is Day 1.
4. Preheat oven to 325*.
5. To batter remaining in bowl add:
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 small box instant vanilla pudding
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce)
6. Grease two large loaf pans and dust pans with cinnamon and sugar.
7. Pour batter into the two pans and sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.
8. Bake 1 hour. Cool until bread looses from the pan, about 10 minutes. Serve warm or cooled.

* Note that if you keep starter for yourself you will be baking bread every 10 days. It freezes beautifully, however, and you can also make muffins. It took my muffins about 30 minutes to bake so start there and check every 5 additional minutes to see if they are done.