Martha A. Cheves's Blog, page 103

Corn Dip

One of the men at work made this dish and brought it in today.  I'll be posting it to my site but thought I would send it out to you just in case you miss it.  This is simple, delicious and a little hot.  1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened1 stick butter, softened1 pkg. frozen white corn  (the kind that comes in a bag and the pieces are loose.  Not the box type.)1 jar hot peppers, drained (unless you want this to be super hot, make sure you drain and don't include any of the seeds)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix cream cheese, butter and corn.  Spoon into a shallow dish (pie pan works great).  Bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10.  After 20 minutes, layer peppers on top (as many as you want.  Of course, the more the hotter).  Serve hot or cold with "scoping" type chips.  If you want it hotter, use seeds and juice in cream cheese mix.  

Chocolate Snickerdoodles

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These cookies are just in time for holiday baking and they are kid friendly.  

Bottom center - press a thumb print into the cookie ball before baking.  Fill hole with English Toffee Bits.  Place a pecan half on top of toffee.  Bottom Left - press candies into unbaked cookie balls.  Top Left - Press a large chocolate candy into unbaked cookie ball.  Top Right - Roll in cinnamon sugar before baking.  Bottom Right - Roll in cinnamon sugar with chocolate sprinkles.  Center - Roll in cinnamon sugar and press a pecan into the center of unbaked cookie ball. (makes 4 dozen)

These are just a few ideas.  Get the kids in the kitchen and come up with other ideas.

Find the full recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet

Consuming Fruit Correctly

EATING FRUIT...
This was sent to me by a friend and I found it quite informative, even though it is long.

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths.  It's not as easy as you think.  It's important to know how and when to eat. What is the correct way of eating fruits? 
 
IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS!  FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.
 
If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
 
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD. 
Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.  The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.  In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.....
 
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals!  You have heard people complaining "every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat during my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc" actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach.  The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT
from the cans.  Don't even drink juice that has been heated up.  Don't eat
cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all.  You only get
to taste.  Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice.  If you
should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because
you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.  You can go on
a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body.  Just eat fruits and drink fruit
juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends
tell you how radiant you look!
 
KIWI: Tiny but mighty.  This is a good source of potassium, magnesium,
vitamin E & fiber.  Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon
cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total
antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from
cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE : Sweetest medicine.  Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as
lessens the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also  packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system.  They are also a key source of lycopene * the cancer fighting oxidant.  Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content.  Guava is also rich in fiber, which
helps prevent constipation.  Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for
your eyes.
 

Turkey Burritos

When I review a book for an Author, I request they submit one of their favorite recipes.  I post the review and their recipe to my site A Book and A Dish.  Mary is the Author of Down to the Needle and when I asked that she send her recipe, she sent 2.  I posted her recipe for Nut Stuffed Acorn Squash with my review and decided, due to the holidays, I would share her leftover turkey recipe with everyone.  This is a good one!

Turkey Burritos

Sprinkle 1 large flat flour tortilla with a Hand full of Shredded Cheese (4-Cheese Mexican adds to the flavor.)
Liberally crumble left over Stuffing all over
Dot liberally with left over mashed potatoes (can also use steamed rice instead)
Layer small chunks of leftover turkey all over the top of this
Dot with butter or margarine.

(Do not include Yams. They will ruin the taste. Serve them on the side, if your wish.)

Roll into a burrito shape. Roll up in a paper towel.

Heat in microwave 1 minute, 1 1/2 minutes if you've made yourself a super burrito.

Serve with, of course, left over Cranberry Sauce.

This is the next best way to eating all the ingredients other than fresh from the oven. This is delicious, too, because you get a mouthful of all the flavors at once.

Cheers!

Mary Deal
Author, Painter, Photographer2009 Eric Hoffer Book Award Winner2009 Pushcart Prize NomineeWriting site: http://www.WriteAnyGenre.comArt Gallery: http://www.MaryDealFineArt.com

Mini Rolls

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These are just in time for holiday entertaining.  They are versatile, simple to make and oh so good.

(2 on the left side of the plate are Cinnamon Minis
The other 4 are Sausage Mini Rolls)

For the Cinnamon Mini Rolls I used:
1 tube of Crescent Creations
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup fine chopped pecans
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Unroll the crescent onto a sheet of waxed paper/foil/parchment paper lightly sprinkled with flour.  With a knife cut the crescent in half.  On another sheet of waxed paper/foil/parchment paper lightly sprinkled with flour, place one half of the crescent.  Gently rub a light sprinkle of flour on each side.  With a rolling pin, roll out the crescent, keeping it as square as possible, until it's about 1/4" thick.  Brush with melted butter.  Mix brown sugar, pecans and 1 tsp. cinnamon.  Sprinkle over crescent dough.  Carefully roll creating a log.  Cut into slices about 3/4" thick.  Place into muffin tins lined with papers.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  Mix powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk, start with 1 tsp. You want your glaze to be the consistency of cake icing.  You can actually use cake icing for this if you like.  Drizzle over rolls while still hot.

For the Sausage Mini Rolls I used:
1 tube Crescent Creations
1 lb. cooked, crumbled sausage, well drained
Shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Follow the directions above for preparing your crescent.  Brush with melted butter.  Sprinkle with cheese and sausage.  Roll into a log.  Cut into 3/4" slices.  Bake 10-12 minutes.

Both of these are delicious.  You can easily change both recipes.  For the sausage you can change to bacon bits, you can spread with soft spread cheese instead of shredded.  You can spice it up with sauted onions and/or peppers, well drained.  For the Cinnamon Minis you can spread a thin layer of apple sauce or apple butter instead of the butter.  You might want to add some raisins or change the flavor completely by using other spices such as nutmeg, cloves or apple/pumpkin pie spices. 

Brownie Cupcakes - A Kiss Dish

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These cupcakes make a wonderful, tasty gift for teachers, friends, neighbors, etc.  They are so simple!

1 box brownie mix
1 cup mini-marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350.  Fill muffin tins with liners.  Mix brownie mix according to package directions.  Add marshmallows and nuts.  Spoon into tins filling them 1/2 full.  Bake 20 minutes.  Makes 24

Changes - use coconut instead of nuts. 

A Review for Stir, Laugh, Repeat all the way from Las Vegas!

This is a review that was just posted to Amazon for my book Stir, Laugh, Repeat

Stir, Laugh, Repeat (Perfect Paperback)
I highly enjoyed this book. The stories accompanying the recipes add a special flavor, making them even more delicious. It's a non-conventional cooking book, a little gem to be read and treasured.

By Liliana Badd (Las Vegas)

Pesto Tortellini - Another KISS Recipe

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1 pkg (9 oz.) Sweet Italian Sausage Tortellini (I used Buitoni)
1 pkg (.5 oz.) dry Pesto Sauce Mix

Cook Tortellini according to package directions.  Make Pesto according to directions.  Drain Tortellini.  Pour pesto over Tortellini.  Serves 2.

You can't get any simpler than this.  Serve with a little garlic bread, a salad and maybe a glass of wine and you have dinner.  When I came up with this idea I wasn't sure I would like the end results.  Turns out that I did but if I had found this something distasteful I did have an alternative plan.  Simply pour the pesto sauce off the Tortellini (you could even rinse it off with hot water if you wanted).  Put the Tortellini in a baking dish, cover with spaghetti sauce, a little cheese and bake until hot.  This was a win-win dish either way.

Root Beer Sundae

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For those of you who enjoy a good old root beer floats, you are going to simply love this one.

Vanilla Ice cream
root beer (I used Uncle Scott's all natural)
caramel topping
copped nuts

So simple!  Spoon your ice cream into a bowl.  Drizzle with caramel topping.  Add root beer and sprinkle with nuts.  The proportions are up to you and your own taste buds.

Banana Bread - Sugar vs No Calorie Sweetener

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Today I made 8 loaves of Banana Bread to take to our Veteran Housing near my home.  Since I know that there are some of these wonderful men and women who are diabetics I decided to make half using Ideal sweetener instead of sugar.  I followed my recipe for Brown Sugar Banana Nut Bread (found in my cookbook Stir, Laugh, Repeat) and substituted the sugar and brown sugar using Ideal's no calorie "sugar" and brown "sugar." 

Above you will see the finished products.  The bread on the left is made with sugar and brown sugar.  The one on the right is made with Ideal.  The one on the left does have more of a golden brown color and it is a bit moister than the one on the right.  But, not only does the one on the right have no sugar added, it came out with more of a bread texture which great as it is but it is also perfect for slicing, adding a touch of butter and toasting.  As for flavor, I found no difference.  Both breads are delicious.