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Archive for Food

My Favorite Post

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Renee Spindle

In honor of my one year Blog-iversary (thanks Creative Noshing!), I wanted to share my favorite post with all of you from this past year. It was called “For the Un-Love of Mayo”. I thought it would be fun to share this with all of you since this is a never-ending story for me. I always get asked by various family members if I want any mayo yet. Sometimes when we’re out to eat Travel Man tries to sneak me a packet of mayo. But this girl is set in her ways. My un-love of mayo will remain. Enjoy the read, and leave me a comment with your yay or nay vote for mayo.

For the Un-Love of Mayo-

Raise your hand if you are not a mayo lover! I have my hand-held high as I have not yet acquired any sort of taste for mayo. This is an homage to my Dad and my Grandpa, bless their loving hearts.

Growing up my Dad would say to me on occasion, “Oh, you’ll learn to like mayonnaise. Just keep trying.” And, I just remembered this also applied to ANY sort of salad dressing. Well over the years I did keep trying the mayo and to this day I have yet to acquire even a smidgen of love for the stuff. The salad dressing (only the vinegar and oil varieties) is another story. I did learn to like those in my mid-twenties, and have had occasion to make some yummy homemade dressings.

There is a running joke with my dear Grandpa, who I don’t get to see that often, that he always has a jar of mayo waiting in his fridge for me. Ready at any moment for my sandwich of the day. And once again to this day mayo and I just don’t get along.

So you may be asking yourselves how can I get along in this world without mayo. Well, once I learned to like vinegar and oil salad dressings it was easy for me to have a “non-dry” sandwich. Otherwise I would just eat a sandwich dry, and with or without veggies.

As for dishes like potato salad, or a macaroni salad, I steer clear of anything at the buffet bar that even remotely looks or smells like it has any mayo in it. Over the years I have learned to make a killer sour cream, potato salad (this is the no mayo allowed variety). For many years my kids were not even aware that there was any other form of potato salad. And now my potato salad is such a hit at family parties that my kids pass the recipe along to their friends!

So to my Dad and Grandpa- thanks for all your mayo loving ways. But I will forever remain in the Non-Mayo world.

2 comments Posted in Around the House, Blogging, Family, Food

Peach Crisp – A yummy summer treat.

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Last week while Travel Man was home I made a Peach Crisp with fresh peaches of course. This is a nice treat for my Travel Guy, as he really misses the home cooked meals when he is on the road. I saw the recipe on my Facebook news, and it was a post from recipe.com. This was a really delicious dessert. A yummy summertime treat. And just a little bit different because the crumbliness has graham crackers in it, and not so much oatmeal. That made the crunchy crustiness extra yummy.

The Ingredients:

1/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
7 cups 1/2 inch fresh or frozen peach slices (8 peaches – about 3½ lbs.)
2 Tbsp. honey
2/3 c. coarsely crushed graham crackers (5 squares)
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. oatmeal
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 c. butter

The Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2) For the filling; in a bowl stir together sugar, the 2 Tbsp. flour, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Add peaches and toss to coat. If you are using fresh peaches peel and slice the peaches first, and then coat with this mixture.

3) Spread the peaches in a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Drizzle honey over peaches and set aside.

4) For the topping; in a bowl stir together crushed graham crackers, brown sugar, 1/3 c. flour, oatmeal, and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon.

5) Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

6) Sprinkle topping evenly over the peach mixture.

7) Bake, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

8) Serve warm with you favorite vanilla ice cream on top. Makes 8 servings.

Now go to the store or your favorite farmer’s market, get your peaches, and get your crisp on. A nice summertime treat. Enjoy!

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Food, Recipes

Birthday Cheesecake – New York Style

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Renee Spindle

For my son, Zach’s, 21st birthday he requested a cheesecake, a baked cheesecake, the rich and yummy kind. Well there’s no better recipe than a New York style cheesecake. While at Sam’s Club doing my birthday party shopping I picked up a 3lb box of cream cheese. And lo and behold there was a recipe for New York style cheesecake right on the side of the box, so I did not have to go any further for the recipe.

Gather your ingredients:

1c. graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
2½ lb. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 c. sour cream
4 eggs
Fresh fruit or (1) can of pie filling for the topping

Then follow these simple directions:

Preheat the oven to 325º. Find your silver 9-inch springform pan. Look in the back of your cupboard, this is not one you use all of the time. If you are using a dark, non stick pan reduce your oven temperature to 300º.
For the graham cracker crust: Mix crumbs, 3 Tbsp sugar, and melted butter together in a small bowl with a fork. The mixture will be crumbly. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the springform pan, and a little bit should press up the sides of the pan. About ½ an inch up the side of the pan. Bake this for 10 minutes.
Beat the cream cheese, 1 c. sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream, mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low-speed after each just until blended. Pour this mixture over the crust.
Bake 1 hour 10 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool cake, and then refrigerate in the pan overnight to be sure the cheesecake is completely set. To remove from the pan, run a knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen the cake. Top with fresh fruit or pie filling before serving.

For the topping on this birthday cheesecake, the birthday boy requested fresh raspberries. They are in season right now and were delicious. You could also used a canned pie filling or any other fresh fruit of your choice. This recipe make enough cheesecake to serve 16 slices. It is a very rich cake, and will be all the rave at your next party. If you haven’t made a baked cheesecake in a while this is a great “go-to” recipe for a yummy, delicious dessert.

**Photo credit to Elaine Zee for the lovely cheesecake pic. Thanks Elaine!

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Food, Recipes

Strawberry Cream Cupcakes

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This recipe is from my neighbor at Maggie’s One Butt Kitchen. They look amazing and oh so summery! Enjoy.

No comments Posted in Blogging, Family, Recipes

Aggression Cookies

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This recipe makes the yummiest little oatmeal cookies. I had forgotten how much I like them, and how fun they are to make. I got this recipe from my Mom many moons ago, and I’m not sure what the original origin of the cookies is. I’m sure my Mom can help me out with that information. For my baking session today, I had my helper with me from Camp Grandma. My grandson, Evan of course. These cookies are made to be mixed by hand. You mix by hand to get rid of your stress and take out all of your “aggressions” on the cookies! Here we go with the recipe.

Ingredients:

1c. brown sugar
2 sticks margarine, softened
1 tsp. baking soda
2c. quick oatmeal
1c. flour

Directions:

That’s all of the ingredients, just a 5 item recipe. This is my kind of cookie. Now, measure and place all ingredients in a large bowl. Get ready, get set, go and mix up all of the ingredients with your hands. Take out your aggressions, and stress, until formed into a big glob of dough, with all of the dry ingredients mixed in.

Spoon dough by teaspoonfuls or with your favorite cookie dough scoop onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes. These cookies bake fairly quickly so watch them carefully while they are in the oven. Cool and enjoy with a chilled glass of cold milk. This recipe makes 2-3 dozen cookies.

This is a wonderful recipe for a beginning baker. A great recipe to get your kids into the kitchen for the first time. As you can see by the pictures Evan had lots of fun mixing and mushing the ingredients together. And the bonus was when he was done mixing there was no spoon to lick off, just his hands. Of course I had to take over getting the dough onto the cookie sheets to bake while Evan “cleaned” his hands off. A wonderful afternoon of learning and making messes here in the kitchen at Camp Grandma.