Cottage Cheese Dip

I am not a cottage cheese lover, yet cooking with cottage cheese is wonderful. I love both hot and cold recipes made with cottage cheese. This dip is wonderful with cut up veggies making a very low calorie, healthy snack.

Cottage Cheese Dip

32 ounces cottage cheese (I use low fat or non fat)
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch original salad dressing
3 green onions, chopped
1 large avocado, chopped

Mix the cottage cheese and salad dressing mix together. Add in the remaining ingredients, stir and chill.

Audrey :)

Seafood Mold

Seafood Mold

1 small package Knox gelatin
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces cream cheese
1-2 cups of salmon, crab or shrimp, cooked and flaked
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 cup chopped green onions

Heat the soup. Add remaining ingredients mixing and heating on low. Place in mold and refrigerate for several hours. Unmold and serve with an assortment of crackers.

Audrey :)

Cheesy Onion Breadsticks

Cheesy Onion Breadsticks

1 cup baking mix
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon butter, melted

In a bowl mix together the baking mix, milk, cheese, onions and garlic powder. Knead the dough 8-10 times. Roll into an 8x6 rectangle. Then cut lengthwise into eight strips.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Brush with melted butter.

Audrey :)

Asian Asparagus

I love the flavor of asian food. This is a wonderful recipe during asparagus season.

Asian Asparagus

4 cups water
1 pound asparagus, remove the ends
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Bring water to a boil. Add asparagus and boil a few minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour over cold asparagus. Serve.

Mexican Casserole

Those who know me, know that I just love mexican food. This is a very simple casserole with a great mexican food taste:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef or ground turkey
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 - 16 ounce can refried beans
1 - 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 - 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 - 2 1/4 ounce can sliced ripe olives, drained
3/4 cup green onions, sliced
6 - 8 inch tortillas
1 package taco seasoning mix

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and drain. Add in the beans, tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes.

In a casserole dish, place 2 tortillas side by side. Spread 1/3 of the meat mixture over the tortillas. Next, sprinkle 1/3 of the tomatoes, green onions, olives and cheese. Repeat these layers twice more. End with cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Slice and serve with a dollop of sour cream and a slice of avocado.

Audrey :)

Leftover Chinese Food

I love chinese food, however we always end up with leftovers. Take your leftover chinese food, including the rice and dump it into a casserole dish. Add a little broth mixed with soy sauce and then bake at 350 degrees until heated through. The chinese food casserole tastes great and uses up all of those leftovers.

Audrey :)

Easy Apple Cake

Easy Apple Cake

2 cups apples, cut into 3/4" pieces
1 cup sugar
1 cup walnutes, chopped
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream together the sugar and butter. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a 9x9 dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Audrey :)

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

These are an interesting pancake. The cottage cheese makes them very light.

1 cup cottage cheese
4 eggs seperated
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, buttermilk and egg yolks.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry mixture to the cottage cheese mixture.

Stiffly beat the egg whites and fold them into the mixture.

Cook in frying pan until brown on both sides.

Audrey :)

I'd like to thank Tammy from http://www.cookin-at-home.com/ for offering the following information:

Beware of spices which contain wheat flour! Many manufacturers use wheat flour to keep spices from clumping.

Knox un-flavored gelatin is readily available in regular grocery stores in the baking supplies area. It adds moisture and helps bind ingredients. It is a welcome addition to bread recipes with gluten-free flours.

Besides commercially prepared Egg Replacer, Flaxseed can be used as an egg substitution. Mixing one tablespoon ground flaxseed with two tablespoons warm water for each egg. Let it sit after adding. If you are soy tolerant, add one half teaspoon lecithin to this mixture plus one teaspoon baking powder to help the leavening process. When substituting this mixture for a regular egg, add one extra.

Duck eggs are often tolerated by those who have problems with chicken eggs. They can be hard to find. Look for them in Chinese markets.

Coconut milk is a good substitute for cow and soy milk.

Xanthan gum can be substituted for guar gum.

Rice bran can be substituted for rice polish.

Sweet rice is a rice that is low (10 to 18 percent) in the starch compound called amylose.

White rice can NOT be substituted for sweet rice (it is not sticky enough).
Tapioca flour works roughly the as tapioca starch.

Gluten free breads should be beaten by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula. A whisk doesn't work - the batter should be a bit too thick for this. The mix master over-beats them and they get too fine a texture and tend to fall.

If you put 1-1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1-teaspoon of baking soda in for two loaves, they do not interfere with the yeast but help the bread to rise and keep it up during baking. Limit the use of potato, bean, arrowroot and tapioca flour to about 25-percent maximum. If the bread is 'sticky' when baked, cut these flours down further.

See also: Gluten Free Recipes

~ ~
Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

How To Make Matzah Balls

I think most everyone has tried chicken soup with matzah balls. When my old workmates discovered I knew how to make matzah balls from scratch they used to beg me to make a batch of soup and bring it in for lunch.

I’ve found many recipes over the years and for the most part they all taste the same. In the “old days” chicken fat was used instead of oil. This made the matzah balls quite tasty, but today most people won’t use chicken fat due to the nutritional or lack of nutritional content.

Here’s the basic recipe:

½ cup matzah meal
4 eggs
4 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon salt

Mix the oil and eggs together in a bowl. Beat in the water and salt. Slowly add the matzah meal and blend thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate 30-60 minutes.

Boil a pot of water. Wet your hands with cold water and form small balls. Drop the balls into the water. They will expand in the water. Simmer about 45 minutes.

Serve matzah balls in a bowl of hot chicken soup.

Depending on how dense you want the matzah balls there are a few things you can try. You can add more matzah meal, making the balls heavier. You can substitute seltzer for the water. This should make them a bit lighter. You can try refrigerating them longer. I’ve actually covered them and refrigerated overnight. Other people separate the eggs and first beat the egg whites, then add the yolks and oil to mix.

One of things my kids have always loved about matzah balls is frying them up the next day. We slice them in frouths and then slowly cook them so they heat through in a frying pan. If you put some butter in the pan, they’ll come out almost like pancakes.

Matzah balls also freeze quite well. Put them in either water or chicken soup and store in a plastic container in the freezer.

Enjoy experimenting and finding a consistency and density that your family enjoys.

Audrey :)

Seven Tips For Preparing Buffet Style Meals

We’ve all eaten from buffets. Sometimes we struggle with how get a small sample of everything on our plates and sometimes we struggle with how to serve enough to fill everyone’s plates.

Here are a few secrets I’ve learned over the years when preparing a buffet:

1. Use small plates and let folks come back several times. If you serve large plates, folks try to fill them. If you use small plates, they will get filled. Some folks will come back for seconds. Some will not.

2. Place the silverware and napkins at the far end of the buffet. It’s very difficult to carry a plate, silverware and a napkin while trying to place food on your plate. If guests can pick up their silverware and napkins at the end, they’ll be able to better put the food on their plates.

3. Place desserts on a separate table. An overcrowded buffet table is not appetizing. If you have space, put your main foods on one table, your beverages on a second table and your desserts on a third table.

4. If you have guests with any type of dietary restrictions coming, consider placing small cards next to each item. Perhaps one dish has peanut oil in it. Your card can say “contains peanut oil” so that anyone with an allergy to peanuts will pass on this dish. If you know someone does not eat dairy, and your dish contains cheese, your card can say “contains cheese” or “dairy product”.

5. Have a garbage can very handy so that folks will throw out their plates and start over with a clean plate when they come back for seconds. I’ve attended a few parties where we had to ask for the trash can.

6. Make ice ahead of time. Some folks really like ice in their drinks. Put tongs in the ice bucket. This will discourage folks from using their fingers.

7. Put serving utensils in every dish. There’s nothing worse than someone taking a fork from their mouth and using that fork to serve themselves from your buffet table. If you are serving fruit, either put a fork or colored toothpicks out, again so that your guests are not using their meal silverware or fingers to pick up the fruit.

Buffets are a lot of fun to serve. Your guests will enjoy their meal more with the above secrets for your buffet table.

Audrey :)