Fudge-(Chocolate and Peanut Butter)

Fudge is one of those things that I really had to perfect.  My mom and grandma always made it around the holidays, then when I got older I attempted and failed too many times!! And then, I perfected it.  This is a curse and a blessing, as sometimes I really get a craving for fudge.  Knowing how to make it, is that much more dangerous.  Its very important that you follow this recipe to a T as candy making is an art form all in its own. 

Here's what you'll need:
Large stock pot
candy themometer
1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
4 cups of sugar
1 can of marshmallow cream
1 stick of butter
1 can of evaporated milk
lined (either with aluminum foil or wax paper) 13x9 pan

To make things easier, if you don't have an extra set of hands, I always scoop out my marshmallow cream and add the chocolate chips to a bowl so that I'm not having to work as hard to get the cream out of the jar.  You need to be quick as sometimes the fudge can start setting up quickly.

In the large stock pot on medium heat (not too hot, you don't want to scald your sugar), melt the butter.  Add in the evaporated milk and sugar.  Stir gently.  Place your candy themometer in the pot.  Bring to a boil of 260 for 10 minutes.  Its important to maintain that temperature.  If it looks like its getting higher, give it a quick stir to get the temp back down.  Once you've reached 10 minutes, remove heat and quickly add the chocolate chips and marshmallow cream.  Once the heat is removed, the formation will start to take place.  Vigorously stir in the cream and chips until all of the cream has melted.  Pour this mixture into your lined pan.  Let stand for 1-2 hours. 

After the fudge has set up, you can remove it with the foil or paper, flip it upside down and cut into squares. 


For the Peanut Butter fudge, you'll follow the same directions as above, only instead of a whole stick of PB you're going to need just a half stick.  Compensate the other half with a half cup of PB.  The PB fudge is usually softer.

Baked Potato Soup

This is the perfect time of the year for soups. They warm the soul and are easy on the budget.  I've made this a few times now and it always turns out so wonderfully.  I like to leave the potatoes a little chunky so it has more texture to it.  But, as always, you can do it your way and make it as creamy or as thick as you'd like.

Here's what you'll need:
about 6-8 medium sized potatoes
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable stock
8 slices of thick bacon, chopped
2 tblsps of butter
5tbslsps of sour cream
1/4-1/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the potatoes and preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place potatoes on a cookie sheet and bake until potatoes are cooked all the way through.  Your cooking time will depend on the size of the potatoes.  Usually it takes about a half hour for me.  When potatoes are done, let them cool for about 15 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooling, in a large stock pot over medium heat, add butter and chopped bacon.  Cook bacon to tender crisp.  Remove from pot and leave the drippings in the pot, reduce to low heat.

After the potatoes are cooled enough for you to handle, cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the insides with a a spoon.  Discard skins.  Over low heat, add the potato into the pot.  Give it a quick stir to get all the potatoes lightly coated in the drippings.  Gently mash the potatoes, add milk, stock, sour cream and salt and pepper at this time.  Turn heat to medium, cover and let cook for 10 minutes.  Add bacon and cheese into the pot and stir gently. 

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

One of my favorite parts about holiday meals is the stuffing!  There are so many different kinds, for instance, my husband's mom's side of the family makes a TO DIE FOR stuffing that includes ground beef.  Its amazing. 

This is one I started doing a couple years ago.  Its pretty simple and goes well with poultry and pork.  Here's what you'll need!

half loaf of wheat and a half loaf of white bread, let it sit on the counter overnight to get stale
1/2 cups of dried or fresh cranberries
3 granny smith apples, cored and chopped-you can sub your apple here, just be sure its a sturdy, tart apple (honeycrisp, gala...)
4 tablespoons of butter, divided
1/2 cup of stock(chicken, turkey, veggie...)
2 tsps of dried sage
1 tsp of dried thyme
2 cups of water

Between your butter and stock, you don't need to add any extra salt. 

With a sharp knife, cube your bread (and really you want it to be pretty stale so its able to soak up those juices without turning to mush.

In a small saucepan, add one tablespoon of butter.  Add apples and cranberries.  If you're using fresh cranberries, be sure to keep an eye on this as when the cranberries heat, they pop and then you'll end up with something looking like a cranberry sauce.  And we'll get to that another day ;) You want your apples to soften slightly.  Stir the cranberries and apples as they cook, for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit.

In a larger saucepan, add the water, stock, butter and herbs.  Bring to a boil.  Add your cubed bread and stir until all liquid is absorbed.  Then add cranberry and apple mixture.  The green apple and red cranberries give it a nice festive look!

 

Enjoy:)

FOB Frahlich

"La vie en rose" Edith Piaf

Fall off the Bone Roast Chicken

Roast chicken is a staple meal in our house. I usually buy a few fryer chickens when we make our monthly trip to the meat market.  I make my turkey's about the same way I do my chickens.  Poultry can dry out real easily if you're not careful.  I don't like to use flavor injectors, so I have had to find other ways to get flavor into the chicken.  Because we are a family of six, I will make at least two of these at a time.

Here's what you'll need:
fryer chicken (whole)
1 tablespoon of butter, softened
1 medium sized yellow onion, cut into 1/8ths
1 garlic clove (one for each bird)
season salt
ground black pepper
a drizzling of EVOO

On the bottom of the pan, drizzle EVOO.  Arrange the onion on the bottom of the pan.  Lay the birds down on top of the onions.  Rub the bird's skin with the butter, season with season salt and black pepper.  Place on clove of garlic on top of the bird.

Cover the pan in aluminum foil, tightly!!! This is essential in locking in all that flavor and steam.  The birds are going to put off some juices, so there's no need to add stock or water to keep them from drying out.  You don't need to bast them, just let them do their magic.  Let them cook at 350 for about two hours.  Check in on them and when you notice the skin and meat breaking away from the bone, remove the foil and let them cook another half hour or so.  This will ensure they get a browning on their skin.

Sugared Acorn Squash and Sweet Potatoes

I love acorn squash.  I can usually find it at my farmer's market for around 50 cents! It has about a 3-4 month shelf life if stored properly.  The only downside is the peeling, seeding and all that goes into actually enjoying the squash.  If you're looking to get more squash (which is really good for you!) into your diet, this is one of the ways to do it.  This recipe is slightly time consuming, but if you're making for a holiday meal, it could certainly be arranged the night before you need to have it on the table. 

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 acorn squash, seeded, peeled, then cut into pieces.
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of butter
1 tsp cinnamon

The best way that I can tell you to peel an Acorn Squash is this:
Cut it in half, horizontally
seed it
quarter it
then slice it like you would to get watermelon triangles, in this case they will most likely look more like a horseshoe!
cut the skin off
then cube the flesh.

Like I said....time consuming.

Mingle your cubed potatoes and squash, cut up the butter so that its evenly distributed all over the squash and potatoes.  Sprinkle of the top your brown sugar and cinnamon.  Cover and bake at 350 for about an hour. 

 

Enjoy :)

FOB Frahlich

"Check yo'self" Ice Cube

Holiday Cheeseball

These next few weeks I'll be posting some of our holiday favorites.  I'll have everything from appetizers to main dishes.  I've been slowly working on some things, blending some ideas with family recipes.  Hope you all enjoy!

This recipe is a long time family recipe from my mom.  She used to make it from about Thanksgiving all the way through New Years.  It wasn't uncommon for us to go through several of these a month! The great thing about this is, you can spread it on crackers, bagels and veggies! Its incredibly simple and so good!

2 packages of cream cheese at room temp
5 or 6 shakes of the worcestershire bottle!
1 jar of dried beef, finely chopped
1 small jar of diced pimentos, juice drained
about a cup, a handful? of shredded cheddar cheese
1 green bell pepper finely chopped

In a mixing bowl, with a hand mixer, mix all ingredients until well incorporated.  At this time, you can shape the cheese mixture into a ball, or just leave it in the bowl.  I'm lazy, and its going to get messy anyway...so I usually just leave it be! If you choose to make it into a ball, you can coat it in the left over mixture of beef and cheese. 

Enjoy :)

FOB Frahlich

Written to the musical likings of "Going up the Country" by Canned Heat and "Forever" by Chris Brown

Peanut Butter Cookies

Every now and then, I get a huge craving for anything peanut butter!  The other night, was one of those nights....plus I usually pack a cookie in their lunches for school, so that gave me another excuse ;)

1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of flour
1 tsp of baking soda

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add peanut butter (I used a little more pb since I like my cookies to have a big pb taste), mix well.  Add rest of ingredients.  Drop onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool for two minutes on the cookie sheet before transfering to a cooling rack.