Apple Banana Bread

I often make this cake when I have apples and bananas that are to old to eat. 

1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 stick butter
3 ripe bananas
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
2 or 3 peeled, chopped apples

Beat sugar, eggs, and butter. Slice in bananas. Mash them with a spoon or a potato masher.  Add baking soda, vanilla, and flour. Fold in chopped apples. 

Place a round piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the crockpot and rub butter around the sides. Cook on high for 1 hour and then cook on low for 1 or 2 more hours until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. 

You can also bake the cake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven instead of the crockpot. 

Tip: When the cake is cooling remove the lid. We forgot to do this so our cake was a little gooey on the top. 

Strawberry Short Cake

Well after 16 months of living in Korea without an oven we finally have one. So of course I had to make my favorite dessert.

Strawberry Topping:

4 cups of  whole frozen strawberries

2 tablespoons of sugar 

1 cup of heavy cream

1/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Yellow Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup milk

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1. Remove the strawberries from the freezer. Place them in a bowl and add 2 Tbs of sugar. Let them defrost. As they melt use a fork to pry them apart. You can mash them up if desired.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch pan. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.


3. In a large bowl, cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating just to combine. finally, stir in vanilla. Pour batter into the prepared pan.


4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.


5. When the cake is cooked let it cool. 10 minutes before you are ready to serve the dessert prepare the whipped cream.


6. Place the heavy cream in a blender (A mixer is better, but I only have a blender). Add the 1/4 cup of sugar and the tsp of vanilla. 


7. Blend the mixture until it thickens. 


8. Slice the cake. Place the strawberries on top of each slice and then top them with the cream. 

Skillet Ramen Noodles with Pork

2 packages of instant Ramen noodles of your choice
1 package paper thin sliced pork

1 package of mushrooms, chopped

1 egg

2 Tbs of butter

1.     Add the ramen noodles to a pot of water and the mushrooms, bring the water to the boil.

2.     After the noodles have cooked for about 5 minutes, drop in the pork.

3.     Cook for another two minutes.

4.     Drop the egg into the water and stir it.

5.     Drain the water.

6.     Add butter and the seasoning packets to the noodles.

7.     Serve warm. 

Crockpot Ham Sauté with Cranberry Orange Barley Pilaf

Chris and I love food. We have tried dieting off and on for the last three years since we got married but nothing seems to take the weight off. We have decided to take a different method to dieting. Instead of depriving ourselves of the things we love, which we would only be able to do for a limited amount of time, we have decided to add healthy things to our diet instead of taking bad things away. Our theory is that if we had enough healthy items we wont have as much room for the bad stuff, but can still enjoy them once in a while. We are not going to diet we are just adding good things to our menus.

A few months ago, I was reading an article in the Kids Times about how healthy barley is. I had never cooked with it before, but decided to give it a try. Koreans really like barley and drink lots of barley tea. Chris tried the tea when he was sick, but said it tasted too grainy. So I decided to look up some recipes. I found several. The next step was to find barley. Most American recipes calls for Pearl Barley. I could not find it. Instead in Korea I am using Sweet Barley.

This recipe is a combination of two recipes that I found and combined together. Most of the barley recipes that I am going to try I found at www.barleyfoods.org

Start with the Pilaf, it takes some time to cook.

Cranberry Orange Barley

1 TBS olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup pearl or sweet barley
1-1/2 cups cranberry apple juice
3/4 cup fat-free chicken broth
1 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

In a frying pan heat the oil. Add the garlic and sauté  for 1 minute. Add the barley and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cranberry juice, broth and grated orange peel. I grated the orange right over the pan. Bring it to a boil. The next step it is lower the heat and let it simmer for 45 minutes. I don't have the space or proper pan to do this so I throw the mixture into my Crockpot on low for 45 minutes and the barley comes out just right.  This also leaves the frying pan available to make the ham saute. When the 45 minutes are up add the cranberries, almonds and orange slices to the pot and cover and cook for 10 more minutes.

Start chopping all the vegetables for the Ham Sauté as soon as you are done with the Pilaf. It takes a lot of time to chop all the vegetables.
Ham Sauté

1 TBS Olive oil
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/2 cup celery sliced
1 cup carrots sliced
1 cup mushrooms sliced
1 cup chicken broth or water
1 tsp gingerroot minced
1 TBS cornstarch
3 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS rice wine vinegar
2 TBS honey
2 Tsp sesame oil
1 cup cooked ham or pork tenderloin

Sauté the onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms for 1 to 2 minutes in olive oil.  Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil for 3 minutes. 


In another bowl combine the cornstarch with the remaining ingredients minus the ham.  Add it to the pan of vegetables. Cook until thick about 3 minutes. Add the ham and stir until the ham is warm. 


Serve over the Barley Pilaf. 

Crockpot Potato Soup with Clams

This recipe was for plain potato soup but the soup was bland so we added clams to it, which improved it greatly.

6 small potatoes chopped not peeled
1/2 medium onion chopped
water
3 strips of bacon
1/2 lb (200 grams) fresh shelled clams chopped
2 cups of milk
1 TBS Butter.

Place chopped potatoes and onion in crockpot. Add just enough water to cover the potatoes. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Add the clams and turn the pot to high.

Fry the bacon in a frying pan. When crispy, crumble it and place it in the pot. Add about 2 cups of milk or cream and the butter.

Stir just until the milk or cream is warm.

You can add all the ingredents in the morning. We don't because we often forget to buy the clams early. We like to use only fresh clams and we often forget to buy them the night before. (Except the bacon, it is best added just before serving.

You do not have to use a Crockpot to make this meal. Just boil the potatoes like you would for mashed potatoes. When they are soft add the other ingredients. Heat until warm and serve.

Chris likes this as a soup. I prefer clam chowder. So I took the leftovers (only one serving) the next night, and put it in a frying pan. I brought it to a boil slowly being careful not to scorch the milk. Then I took half a cup on cold water, added 1 TBS flour and shook it up. I added it to the pan and stired until it became thick. So I had a nice filling chowder.

Skillet Beef Oriental

This is one of our favorite recepies. Chris' mom use to make if for him when he was a child. We enjoyed making it in college because it was quick, cheap and easy to clean up. One day I asked my mother-in-law why this recipie was called Beef Oriental when there was nothing oriental about it. She said that it was not the original recipe, she modified it to save money. I tried the original recipe. We liked it but still think the simple recipe is better. I will post both.


Simple Beef Oriental


1 lb ground beef
2 envelopes/cans of cream of mushroom soup
2 envelopes/cans of Milk
3 stalks of celery, chopped
4 cups of cooked rice*


*I often would forget to make the rice until the beef oriental was finished. To solve the problem I printed out the recipie and wrote "MAKE THE RICE FIRST" in large letters at the top of the page. It worked.


Cook ground beef, celery, and onion until done. Drain. Pour the soup envelopes over the meat mixture. Add milk to each envelope and then pour it over the soup. This is an easy way to measure with out using an extra dish and it gets all of the soup mix out of the envelope. Mix and simmer for 15 minutes.


Turn off the burner. Add the rice to the mixture. Stir and serve.

Chicken Gravy

Chicken Gravy

Oil from cooked chicken

Flour

Milk

Salt

Chicken bullion

When you are finished frying your chicken do not remove the oil or clean the pan. Instead take 2 table spoons of flour and mix it well with a cup of cold water. Pour this into the pan with the oil. Bring it to a boil. Add as much milk as you need to make the amount of gravy that you want.  Add one teaspoon of chicken bouillon (I use Better Than Bullion from Costco). The gravy should thicken as you stir it. Add salt to taste.  Serve over Crispy Garlic Chicken or Creamy Mashed Potatoes. 

Crispy Garlic Chicken Cutlets

Crispy Garlic Chicken Cutlets

Serves 3 to 4

Look for cutlets that are between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick or make your own by slicing 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in half horizontally.

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves , minced, plus 6 cloves peeled and smashed

6 thin-cut, boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (about 1 1/4 pounds), trimmed

3 slices hearty white sandwich bread , torn into large pieces

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 large egg whites

1 tablespoon garlic powder

4 tablespoons cornstarch

Salt and pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Combine 3 tablespoons oil, minced garlic, and cutlets in a zip-lock bag and

refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients. Pulse bread in food

processor until coarsely ground. Bake bread crumbs on baking sheet until

dry, about 20 minutes.

2. Spread flour in shallow dish. In another shallow dish, whisk egg whites

until foamy. Combine bread crumbs, garlic powder, and cornstarch in third

shallow dish. Remove cutlets from bag and season with salt and pepper. One at a time, coat cutlets lightly with flour, dip in egg whites, and dredge in crumbs, pressing to adhere. Place cutlets on wire rack set over baking sheet and let dry 5 minutes.

3. Heat 1/2 cup oil and 3 smashed garlic cloves in large nonstick skillet

over medium heat until garlic is lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Discard

garlic and fry 3 cutlets until crisp and deep golden, about 2 minutes per

side. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate and place in warm oven. Discard

oil, wipe out skillet, and repeat with remaining oil, garlic cloves, and

cutlets. Serve.

Save the garlic oil for chicken gravy.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

5 to 7 Potatoes (2 per person)

Butter

Milk

Salt

Decide if you want your potatoes peeled or not. We like ours with the skins on because that is where all the nutrients are. If you are not peeling them scrub them real good. If you do peel them rise them after you have removed the peels.

Cut the potatoes into bite sized diced pieces.  Put them in a large pan. Add enough water to cover them and then turn the burner onto high. Cook the potatoes until you remove one and you can smash them easily with a fork. Or you can taste one and see if you like the texture.

When the potatoes are done to your liking, strain them in a colander removing all of the water. Place the drained potatoes back into the pan and add several pats of butter, at least ¼ a cup.  Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. When the butter is melted add the milk, at least half a cup. Then add salt. Taste the potatoes and keep adding these three ingredients until you like how they taste. Be careful with the milk because you don’t want them to be too runny. Also don’t add the milk while the potatoes are still steaming or the texture will come out wrong. If you don’t have a potato masher you can mash them with a large spoon or a fork.

Goes great with chicken gravy

If you need to make the potatoes ahead of time you can keep them warm in the crockpot for up to 3 hours on a low setting. Try to stir them every hour. You will have steaming potatoes when it is time to eat. 

Crockpot Coffee Cake

Crockpot Coffee Cake

Batter:

1 ½ cups flour

2 ½ cups baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 egg

¾ cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping:

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup flour

¼ cup butter, softened

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.  Beat eggs until frothy. Beat in the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended. Add the milk and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients slowly; do not over mix or it will be dry. Pour into a well greased crockpot. (I rub butter along the bottom and sides.

Mix together the topping ingredients and pour over the batter, spreading evenly, but do not mix it in with the batter.

Cover the crock pot for two hours turning it on low. Check after 1 ½ hours.  It is done with the sides are crisp and it is not longer gooey in the middle. Try not to lift the lid too often or it will not cook evenly.