Frog Eye Salad

I went to my book club today and decided to take Frog Eye Salad.  While I was at the store, I called my mom to inquire on some of the ingredients, and she could not find her recipe!  So, after buying a few items that I knew were in the salad, I went home and looked for the recipe she had given me from before.  It looked like I had quickly written it down, and some things were not as clear as they should have been, and I know she had added other ingredients normally.  So I found another recipe online, and did a combination of the two.  This is the two recipes combined.  It turned out great!

Recipe for: Frog Eye Salad

*Note: Best if you let salad sit overnight before adding final ingredients, so plan ahead.

What you need:

1 cup of Acini Di Pepe (Pasta) – it looks like this:

1 Tbs. vegetable oil, plus a dash of salt (for boiling water)

1 large can crushed pineapple (I used a 20 oz. can)

1 large can mandarin oranges (I used a 15 oz. can)

1 cup of sugar

2 Tbs. of flour

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp lemon extract

1 tsp of salt

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup shredded coconut (optional)

8 oz. Cool Whip

Maraschino cherries (optional) I spooned out about 17, with just a touch of juice.

Directions:

• Add 1 cup of Acini Di Pepe to some boiling water with a little salt and 1 Tbs. of vegetable oil. Cook 8-10 minutes.

• Drain and rinse well under cold water.

• Drain juices from pineapple and mandarin oranges into a medium size saucepan.

• In a large bowl, mix drained pasta, pineapple, and mandarin oranges. Set in fridge.

• Mix 1 cup of sugar and 2 Tbs. of flour in a separate bowl. Add to juices in saucepan.

• Stir in 1 beaten egg, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1 tsp lemon extract, and 1 tsp of salt. Cook until thick. Cool to room temperature.

• Stir into bowl with fruit and Acini Di Pepe.

• Set back in fridge, overnight.

• Add 8 ounces of Cool Whip and 1 cup of mini marshmallows.

• May add maraschino cherries.

Enjoy!

I Finally Made Freezer Jam!

Well, technically, I am in the process of making it, but the hardest part is over. I am just waiting for it to set, which according to the recipe I have, takes about 24 hours.

So... about a couple of years ago, under Cultivating New-ish Hobbies, I mentioned that I wanted to learn how to make Freezer Jam.  I bought the containers to put the jam in, but I never tried making it until now.

As I opened the package to the containers, as well as to the Sure-Jell, I noticed I had various options on Freezer Jam recipes.  I originally was going to do my mom's version (a recipe she got from somewhere, but I am not sure where), because I remember it being so good.  However, the one on the Ball containers called for less sugar, and I would need to go to the store to get more sugar if I wanted to make my mom's version.  I also do not have a potato masher, which they suggest over a food processor.  My mom suggested using a pastry cutter, so that is what I did.  I would not suggest doing that.  I had to keep pulling strawberries out of the cutter.  It got very messy.  I would think one of those metal potato mashers, with the zig-zag bottom would work best.

After crushing the strawberries, I was reading all the various instructions on each recipe.  My mom's and the Sure-Jell said you needed to cook the pectin with some water.  The Ball recipe did not, but it said to make sure you use "instant" kind, and of course, their brand.  My Sure-Jell said "Quick and Easy," which probably meant instant, but I did not want to risk it, in case it needed to be cooked.  Hence, I walked to the nearest store, for either some more sugar, or some instant pectin by Ball.

The store I live closest to, puts some things in the weirdest places.  It took forever to find the pectin, and when I finally did find it, I did not see any with the label, "instant" on it.  Oh well, I know my mom's recipe is good, so I bought more sugar.  It took about three times as much sugar as pictured above.

I added 6 cups of sugar to 4 cups of strawberries, and let them sit for 10 minutes.

I stirred in a whole box of Sure-Jell into 3/4 cups of water, then let it boil for 1 minute.

I poured the boiling pectin slowly into the fruit mixture, and stirred for another 3 minutes.

Then I quickly put my jam into the containers.  I did not have enogh containers for the recipe I made, so I had to put the rest in one of those disposable containers you get from the store.  They are good to keep around for leftovers.  Hopefully they are okay for Freezer Jam.

I cannot wait to taste it!  I added the full recipe down below:


Freezer Jam (source: unknown)

1. Prepare containers. Use glass or plastic containers (1 pint or less) with tight fitting lids. Wash, scald and drain or use automatic dishwasher with hot (150 degrees or highter) rinse water.

2. Prepare fruit. Use fully ripe fruit and prepare exactly as directed below. Measure into large bowl. If neccessary, add water for exact amount.

3. Make jam. Thoroughly mix sugar into fruit, let stand 10 minutes. Mix 3/4 cup water and Sure-Jell in saucepan. Bring to boil and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir into fruit. Contim=nue strring 3 minutes (2 minutes for Blackberry and Raspberry Jams). A few sugar crystals will remain. Ladle quickly into containers. Cover at once with lids. Set a room temperature (takes up to 24 hours). Store in freezer. If used in 3 weeks, store in refrigerator.

For Strawberry Jam use

1 qt fruit, completely crush one layer at a time, fully ripe strawberries.

2 cups or 1 pound of prepared fruit, 1 box sure jell, and 4 cups or 1 3/4 pounds of sugar. Yeild 5 1/2 cups of jam.

Sandwich

The other day I wanted to make a sandwich similar to Panera Bread's "Asiago Roast Beef." It is listed on their menu as: "Oven-roasted beef, smoked cheddar, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions & creamy horseradish sauce, on our Asiago Cheese Demi."  Mine is slightly different, but it really hit the spot.  Here is how to make my version, minus the Asiago, and with an addition of mustard:

Start with a french roll.

Add some slices of medium cheddar cheese.

Layer on some quality roast beef slices (I bought mine in the deli section of Fred Meyer).

Next, a couple of slices of tomato,

sliced red onion,

and green leaf lettuce.

Squirt some hot horseradish and some yellow mustard on the top side.

Blend them both together.

You're sandwich is done!

Yummy!

Nanaimo Squares

Last night, I made Nanaimo Squares for the first time. I have had them several times before, just never made them. I also found out just last night, that Nanaimo is a city in British Columbia, Canada that claims the cookie originated there. Anyway, after the cookies were all assembled, I found out that I did not quite make them right. The recipe I have seems poorly written. I am not sure if I got the recipe from my mom (who just happens to be Canadian), or somewhere else. All the recipes online are slightly different and vary. The recipe did not make sense to me until after I was finished - but here it is, the way it was written:

Nanaimo Squares

Melt over hot water:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 T cocoa
1 t. vanilla

Cool slightly and add:
one egg, beaten

Mix:
2 cups crushed graham crackers
One cup shredded cocoanut
2 cups chopped walnuts

Combine with other ingredients and press
Into 9 x 9" pan. Cover with Icing mixture.

2 cups icing sugar:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
2 T custard powder

Chill. Cover with 4 squares chocolate
(1/2 semi sweet and 1/2 bitter) melted
With 1 T butter

Where I went wrong, was in the amount of the icing sugar. It says "2 cups of icing sugar," then gives the ingredients below. What I did not realize, as I was too busy putting the ingredients together, is that the ingredients listed below does not make "2 cups!" I guess I should have known, since it only lists a 1/2 cup of butter (which is a heck of a lot of butter anyway).

What I don't understand is why wouldn't they say the amount you need to make the 2 cups of icing sugar, or at the very least say, "you need 2 cups of this, but you will have to quadruple the recipe!" I guess it is because when you get to that part, you realize how much butter you are consuming. You might as well just eat 4 sticks of butter! With the addition of the other butter in the crust, it would be less butter to consume!

Anyways, if you make this recipe, the right way, the icing sugar alone to make "2 cups" will probably take you 4 sticks of butter. You will need more for the crust and the chocolate topping. If you don't want to use that many sticks of butter, just use one for the icing sugar. Then your recipe will turn out exactly like mine did. Still pretty good, but not quite the same as what I have eaten before. Have some milk on hand. These are pretty rich.

Afterthought notes: After a discussion on the ingredients for this recipe, I realized that you don't need 4 sticks of butter, or that you need to quadruple the recipe. The recipe reads "icing sugar" and has a colon afterwards. That is wrong. It is actually part of the ingredients for the icing mixture. It should read "icing sugar" without the colon. Which is powdered sugar.

Just in case some of the other ingredients, instructions are hard to understand, here is a key to some of it:

icing sugar = powdered sugar
custard powder = dry pudding (most use vanilla)
T = Tablespoons

Also you need to chill each layer before adding the next one. You have the crust, cool slightly before adding the "icing mixture" (cool for at least an hour). Then add the hard chocolate top.

Hope your squares turn out right the first time!

Leftover Turkey Tostada Pizza

So did everybody have a good Thanksgiving? I did. I actually did all the cooking myself this year, with the exception of my dad's excellent cranberry relish that he found on the cooking channel last year. All the food turned out really yummy too, so I was pleased!

After Thanksgiving, I had to house/cat sit at my aunt's, so I was combining leftover ingredients from my fridge and hers, and created something of my own that turned out quite tasty and easy to make.

At first, I experiemented with turkey on a typical tostada that I usually make, but that was not as good as I had hoped, so I ended up making this instead, which seems more like a cross between a tostada and a pizza (hence, the name). So now, I am sharing my recipe with you! If you try it, I hope you like it too! Here is the recipe:

What you need:

• flour tortilla(s)
• refried beans
• chopped onion (or you could just tear it into bite-size pieces, like I do
• leftover turkey (in bite-size shredded pieces)
• shredded cheese
• chopped tomatoes
• roasted red pepper vinaigrette

Basically you put it together like you would a pizza.

First, spread your beans over an uncooked flour tortilla:

Then, lay or sprinkle onions on top of the beans:

Next, shred your cold, leftover turkey and place over the onions (sorry, I forgot to take a photo!).

Sprinkle shredded cheese over the whole thing:

Place in microwave, and heat it on HIGH for about two minutes, or until cheese is melted.

After you take your tostada pizza out of the microwave, sprinkle chopped tomatoes over it.

Finally, drizzle some roasted red pepper vinaigrette to finish it off.

Eat and enjoy!

Green Eggs & Spam

So sometime this month I saw in the P-I a recipe for “Green Eggs and Ham” which I found intriguing, because of the famous Dr. Seuss story, and also by the picture. It looked pretty good. The eggs were not green themselves, really, but they had spinach mixed into them, so they had kind of a fancy appearance. I just printed the recipe, after finding it on my computer, so I may try it…. Or not…

Here is the link if you want to try them, or just out of curiousity, see what is in them:

Recipe for Green Eggs & Ham

Another article, was about new food products. One item mentioned was “3oz Spam Lite Singles.” Now that is just wrong.

There is a reason why all the unwanted email in your account is called “Spam.” It is often disgusting, unsavory, and useless - just like the food product!

I personally cannot stand the taste of Spam. If Spam was the only thing left on this Earth to survive I would probably die starving. I honestly cannot imagine any reason for having a single serving of it lying around somewhere, let alone a whole can!

I might eat green eggs, but I will not, I cannot eat Spam.