Herbed Garlic Cream Cheese

 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t do the entertaining that I used to. When the late Mr. O-P was still with us, we entertained every week. We didn’t always have big parties every week, but we did at least once a month. He was an avid cook, and did as much, if not more, of the cooking than I did, so it made entertaining a lot easier than it is for me today.

 

  Because I now host just one or two people at a time, I like to keep things on hand to serve with cocktails, or as a little evening snack. This includes crudités, fresh fruit, cornichons, a wide variety of olives (I have quite the collection), a wide variety of condiments (ask me about my mustard collection), crackers (they freeze beautifully, in case you were not aware), and this cream cheese spread.

Not only is this good with crudités and crackers, but it is also creamy enough to spread on a morning bagel, or use in a wrap-type sandwich. I often enjoy it on its own, using my made-for-one charcuterie board, a recent acquisition, and one that I absolutely love.

Herbed Garlic Cream Cheese

 1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

½ c. sour cream

3 T. grated Parmesan cheese

1 t. Melissa’s minced garlic

½ - 1 t. fresh lemon zest

1½ t. dried oregano

1 t. dried parsley

¼ t. dried thyme

¼ t. dried dill weed

¼ t. dried basil

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

1/8 - ¼ t. Johnny’s Seasoning Salt

Place all ingredients into a medium bowl, and beat until creamy and well combined. Chill in refrigerator at least eight hours, preferably overnight to allow the flavors to meld. Keeps refrigerated for one week.

 

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Peanutty M&M Cookies

 

I am quite a zealous shopper. When I get excited about something I want to buy the jumbo size. There are perfectly acceptable reasons to do so: larger sizes tend to be cheaper, I don’t have to worry about quickly running out, and if ever I need that product, I always have it on hand. Therein lies the problem. I always have it on hand. It is always going to be in my pantry, it is always going to be taking up space. It is often going to get knocked to the floor because there’s no room for so many jumbo size products in my not so jumbo pantry.

 You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this. I’ll tell you. I bought the jumbo size package of peanut M&Ms because I love them. I love the combination of salty and sweet. The thing is, after a couple of days I got pretty tired of them, after a week, I was sick to death of them, and after two weeks, I stuffed them into the back of my pantry, physically removing them from my sight. It was that bad. No way was I going to waste the money that I spent by getting rid of them, so I decided that I needed to use them in a way that I don’t normally do, so I took out a little of my frustration with a meat mallet, and shattered quite a lot of them. I then decided to use them in a cookie along with semi-sweet chocolate chips and cocktail peanuts, to see if I could come up with something different. These are good! As someone who loves nuts and a cookie, my opinion is that you can never have too many. Next time I make these, I think I’m going to add more.

Peanutty M&M Cookies

1 c. butter (2 sticks)

¾ c. dark brown sugar

¾ c. granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 t. vanilla extract

2½ c. flour

1 t. baking soda

½ t. salt

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1 c. cocktail peanuts

1 c. crushed peanut M&Ms*

 Cream the butter with the brown and granulated sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

 In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanuts, and crushed M&Ms. Refrigerate for one hour.

 Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a baking sheet with PAM or top with parchment or a Silpat.

Using a cookie scoop, drop mounds of dough, 2 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheet. Bake the cookies until they're golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.

Makes approximately 48 cookies.

*If you like, you can set some of these aside to sprinkle on top of the cookies before baking.

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Copycat Slow Cooker Chipotle Black Beans

 

I have never been to Chipotle before, but I have recently become acquainted with their burrito bowls. As I understand it, they are customizable, filling, tasty, high in protein, with a relatively low calorie count. All of this sounded really good to me, so I started looking around for assembly instructions, as well as a recipe for their black beans. There are a number of recipes that claim to be copycats of Chipotle's black beans, but I opted for the one that I deemed to be the easiest because it is made in the slow cooker, customizing it in my own special way. The last thing I want to do in the heat is boil beans on the stove top. I was pleased with the results; they are very good, but I think made even better by the inclusion of minced jalapeño, but that’s just me.

Copycat Chipotle Black Beans

 1 lb. dried black beans, rinsed

1 yellow onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, minced

4 c. vegetable broth

2 c. water

1 t. ground cumin

2 t. dried Mexican oregano

1 t. adobo

2 bay leaves

Juice of one lime juice

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

Into a slow cooker, place black beans, onion, garlic, chipotle chili, broth, water, cumin, oregano, adobo, and bay leaves; stir to combine. Cook on high for 6-7 hours until the beans are tender. Discard the bay leaves and add lime juice and salt and pepper, to taste.

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Salted Peanut Crisps

 

Last month I told you about the new Betty Crocker Found Recipes cookbook. I have spent a good bit of time going through that cookbook, and it has been a real struggle trying to decide what to make first. I was in the mood for cookies (When am I not?) so I decided to make these salted peanut cookies. I cut the recipe in half because it claimed to make six dozen, and I thought that was way more than I would need, until I realized that the described six dozen cookies were very small, and I tend to use a cookie scoop for both ease and what I consider to be the perfect size. Once I tasted these, trust me when I tell you, I was sorry I’d cut that recipe in half.

Salted Peanut Crisps
From Betty Crocker Found Recipes*

1½ c. packed brown sugar
½ c. butter, softened
½ c. vegetable shortening
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
3 c. Gold Medal all-purpose flour
½ t. salt
½ t. baking soda
2 c. salted cocktail peanuts
Granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets with shortening or spray with cooking spray.

In large bowl mix brown sugar, butter, shortening, vanilla, and eggs until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredients except peanuts and granulated sugar. Stir in peanuts.

Shape dough by rounded a teaspoonfuls into balls. Onto each cookie sheet, arrange 12 balls about 2 inches apart. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in granulated sugar. Bake one cookie sheet 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

 Immediately remove from cookie sheet cooling rack. Repeat the second cookie sheet.

Onto completely cooled cookie sheets, continue forming and baking cookies as directed I steps 3 and 4.

 *Originally printed in the 1979 Gold Medal Century of  Success Cookbook.

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Happy Birthday, Stanley!

 

 It has been a while since I last gave you an update on my sweet boy, Stanley, so I thought today, being his birthday, would be a good time. Today he is six years old. I am so happy that the last 4½ years of his life have been very good ones, and with me. As a dog person, owning a cat has been filled with a lot of surprises, and much delight. However, owning Stanley doesn’t make me feel as though I have truly owned a cat, because he’s very un-catlike in many ways. First of all, other than the bed, he never jumps up on anything. He will not get up on my lap, he will not allow me to pick him up, he flinches if I move too quickly, refuses to see anyone other than me (some people don’t believe I have a cat because they have never seen him), and totally freaks out if I yell at baseball. That is unfortunate, because I love yelling at baseball. Second, he refuses to play with any toys (trust me I have tried them all), and refuses to use any type of scratching post (we’re not going to talk about some of the furniture), with the exception of a circular rug that I have under the king chair in my bedroom that I decided to give to him to use on his claws. The rug was inexpensive, and it’s well worth it to me to have to replace it every couple of years so that he has something of his own.

He’s not all that enamored with poached chicken or salmon, but I can absolutely own him with a piece of cheese. He can be anywhere in the house, and all I have to do is open a package of cheese, and he is standing right next to me. He doesn’t get people food, mind you, but I do like to give him a treat on his birthday.

 

He does like to snuggle with me when I’m watching television. I will stretch out on the bed, and he will snuggle right up to me, insisting that I put both arms around him. If I don’t, he will reach out with his paw, grab it, and pull it towards him. He has brought me so much joy... and so much cat hair. That was a new experience for me, having only ever owned dogs. Cat hair has a life of its own. It’s so lightweight that it freely wafts through the air. It has also required the purchase of different types of cleaning equipment that I find I use regularly in order to keep things at bay. I don’t know how cat owners deal with all the cat hair, particularly if more than one cat is involved. Still, that’s a small price to pay for so much furry love.

Despite all of his strange little quirks, I know he is happy with me. It’s calm, and quiet, and he feels safe. This cat, whom the owners of the shelter told me was the type of cat likely to spend his entire life in a shelter because no one wanted to take a chance on such an abused creature has really been the one to rescue me.Happy Birthday, Stanley!

Deck Gardening 2024: Heirloom Tomatoes from Seed

  

 Have you priced seeds recently? I was shocked when I went shopping for them this spring. The prices have doubled and, in some cases, tripled over what I paid last year. Generally speaking, I don’t plant a lot of things by seed because it takes longer to get to the harvest. But I also find that unless I want to pay top dollar for specific seeds because plants aren't readily available at local garden centers, I need to come up with a better alternative…and I have. Harvest my own!

 Case in point, these beautiful heirloom tomatoes. I love heirloom tomatoes, not just for taste, but also visual appeal, and I love that there’s a history behind them. These beautiful tomatoes pictured came from Melissa’s Produce. I used them in this salad. While I was slicing them for that salad, I pulled out some of the seeds and set them aside to dry. Two days later, I planted them, and within a week they had sprouted, and with great gusto, I might add. (I'm still kicking myself for failing to harvest seeds from the yellow tomato.).

 

I cannot tell you how happy I was to see these little tomato plants coming up in the pots on my deck. Will they reach fruition this year? Who knows, but I will certainly have a wonderful time growing them, and I will keep you posted as to what happens.

Since that time I have planted seeds from an all red heirloom tomato, as well as a charentais melon that I also got from Melissa’s Produce. All of these are organically grown, so I know the seeds are going to be free of toxins, and these are the most comfortable I feel growing and eating.

Alstroemeria update.

They are thriving! A fuchsia petunia self-seeded beneath them, so it is quite a lovely display.

  “Who plants a seed beneath the sod and waits to see believes in God.” 

-- Anonymous

Herbed Chicken Casserole

 

This is a recipe that dates back to the 70s. I remember my mother making it, and, once my young self got past the worminess of the baked chow mein noodles, I loved it. I was recently missing those days, and those casseroles that I so enjoyed, so I decided to make it for myself. I added a bit more seasoning to it than the original called for, and because I had a box of Stove Top Stuffing (sacrilege!) on hand, used it instead of the called for Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. It was wonderfully comforting. It’s easy to put together, can serve 6 to 8, and freezes quite well. If you’re missing the good old days (and with the current state of things, who isn’t?) give this recipe a try and reminisce.

Herbed Chicken Casserole

3 c. cooked chicken, cubed or shredded
½ c. chopped onion
1/3 c. chopped celery
1 8-oz. can sliced water chestnuts
¼ c. + 2 T. milk
1 10.5-oz. can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 10.5-oz. can chicken with rice soup, undiluted
1 c. La Choy chow mein noodles
¼ t. Montreal chicken seasoning
1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper

1/3 c. butter, melted
¼ c. sliced almonds
1 c. Stovetop Stuffing*

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8” x 8” casserole dish with PAM; set aside.

In a large bowl stir together chicken, celery, water chestnuts, milk, both soups, Chinese noodles, and seasonings. Turn out into prepared dish. In a small bowl mix together melted butter, sliced almonds, and dry stuffing mix. Sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Bake, uncovered, for one hour.

* I used “Savory Herb.” You can also use Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing.

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