Saturday, September 27, 2008

Mango and Raspberry Tart

Mango and Raspberry Tart

1 pie crust
1 cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cup sliced ripe mangoes
1 ½ cups plain yogurt
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 basket raspberries, rinsed

Press the pie crust into a pan or use a muffing pan to make individual tarts. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Line with foil and bake at 450° for 8 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 5 to 6 minutes more. Cool completely. In a medium saucepan stir sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Place mango in food processor and blend until smooth (about 1 ½ cups). Stir the mango and yogurt into sugar mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for two minutes more. Remove from heat. Slightly beat egg yolks. Gradually stir 1 cup of hot mixture into yolks. Pour egg yolk mixture back into hot filling. Bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in lime juice. Fold in raspberries. Pour filling into the crust. Cool for a bit, and then chill in fridge for at least four hours.



...from Better Homes and Gardens Baking Book

Hashbrown Casserole

Hash Brown Casserole

1 thawed package (2 lb) frozen hash browns “southern style” the little cubes work best
½ cup chopped onion
1 can (10ish oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups (16 oz) dairy sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients except bread crumbs and butter in a large bowl. Put mix into greased oblong glass baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top. Bake uncovered at 350° for 45 minutes.

...from my sister's college roommates.

Beer Batter Pancakes

Beer Batter Pancakes

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 can or bottle of beer (could be cheap champagne, soda, hard lemonade, etc)

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, leaving a well in the center. In another bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. Fry on a griddle or frying pan. Pancakes are ready to flip when most of the bubbles on the uncooked side have popped and the edges are starting to dry.

Awesome things to add: blueberries, cinnamon, apples, raspberries, pumpkin, top with bananas, pecans, throw in some oat ground up oatmeal… The theme of this meal is “hey, what do I have laying around that can be turned into actual food?” One of the best batches I ever made was the day after college was over forever and I didn’t want to leave the house. Instead, I used the bottle of mike’s hard lemonade from my old housemate that had been sitting in our fridge since December and an apple that was about to pass its prime. Yummy!

...from a cheap and easy vegetarian cookbook.

Cuban Chicken

Cuban Chicken

I have no idea what makes oregano "Cuban," but I do remember this being tasty when I was a meat eater.


Chicken
¼ green pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped up
1 medium onion, diced
¼ teaspoon oregano
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup water

Fry the chicken to brown, but not done. Take the chicken out of the grease. Add green pepper, garlic, onion, and oregano to the grease (mmmm grease). Sizzle everything lightly and add tomato sauce and water. Place chicken back into mixture and simmer until tender. This recipe is for one chicken, increase veggies as needed.

For Cuban tofu or other not-meat products, cut the tofu into whatever sized chunk you desire. For the amount of sauce this makes, you’ll need a whole block. In another pan, fry everything in veggie broth with some olive oil instead of chicken grease. Follow the rest of the recipe.