Carmelized Onions in the Slow Cooker

So...

Don't be shocked.

I have a recipe.

A real recipe.

It's a cool recipe, too, for something I rarely have the patience to make.

But this new, improved recipe involves a tiny bit of work and a great, big, wonderfully scrumptious yield.

It involves three ingredients, Pam, salt and pepper and one appliance.

Are you ready for the ingredients?

Onions
Olive oil
Butter
Salt and pepper

Are you ready for the appliance?

A slow cooker.

So...

Buy some sweet onions (I could only fit five into my slow cooker).


Spray your slow cooker with Pam. Turn it onto high.

Cut your onions in half and then cut them into half-circles.


Throw them all in your slow cooker.


Put a few small pats of butter on top of the onions.


Drizzle a little olive oil on top of the onions.

Shake some salt and pepper on there, too.

DON'T PUT THE COVER ON. PERIOD. AT ALL. NOT EVEN FOR A LITTLE BIT. PRETEND YOU LOST THE SLOW COOKER COVER.

Now...

Walk away.

Whenever you can't stand the suspense walk by and stir the onions.


They will reduce.

And reduce.

And reduce.

Your slow cooker might be faster or slower then mine, but after about 8 hours I was left with glorious, delicious, beautiful, golden, savory and EASY carmelized onions.


Let them cool.

Divide them into little freezer ziploc bags and tuck them away for whenever you want to add them to hamburgers or pizza or sandwiches or...

Geez.

This is making me hungry.

Give it a try.

I mean, if you like carmelized onions.

But I guess if you didn't you wouldn't be reading this anyway, right?

And then, after you make some...

...invite me over for dinner!

Puleeeeeze!

Hope you had a berry happy weekend...(Tattoo dresser update, too!)

We did!

My blackberries are producing like crazy.

The two oldest Grands took them door to door in our cul-de-sac to raise money for camp!




Today, I picked a whole bowl full and then made the best blackberry/raspberry cobbler with them! It was a really unusual recipe and I was unsure if it was going to turn out...but...WOW! I'll post the recipe at the very, very end of my picture laden block post today for you to try!







AND...although, I didn't finish the dresser, I'm moving right along. I have one side to finish painting and then I am going to glaze over the painting areas and antique them a bit to knock the color down a little bit and give it dimension. But here's where I'm at now!




...and that's my Monday update! I have some funny little kid stories but this post is too long as it is, sooooo...

If you want to have a berry happy week, make this cobbler. For serious.

BLACKBERRY COBBLER

3 cups fresh blackberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted (one stick)
Ice cream

Stir together blackberries and sugar. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 375.

In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and milk. Stir in melted butter JUST until blended. Do NOT overmix the batter. Just handle it gently and as little as possible.

Spread batter into an UNGREASED square 8 inch pan.

Spoon fruit mixture over top.

Make 45 - 55 minutes at 375 until dough rises and is golden brown. Serve warm.

WHAT I DID: I doubled everything and made a 13 x 9 pan but it was over-full and dripped all over my oven. I didn't have quite enough blackberries to double the recipe, so I used 4 cups of fresh blackberries and 2 small containers of red raspberries. I'm tellin' ya. This is the best berry cobbler I have ever made.

Outrageous Coconut Cream Cupcakes

If you like coconut, these are yummy.

If you don't like coconut, you are dumb.

Oops! Did I say that out loud? Yikes! I hate when that happens.

OK.

Moving on.

So...

Get these ingredients:

1. A yellow or white cake mix to make 24 cupcakes and all the stuff you need to make them (don't yell at me if you don't have enough eggs...I can't read the box from here)
2. Coconut extract
3. a 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
4. a 15 oz. can of cream of coconut
5. 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
6. 3 T. granulated sugar
7. 1 teaspoon white corn syrup (optional)
8. 1 cup or more of sweetened, shredded coconut

Take a box of yellow or white cake mix and follow the package directions EXCEPT add 1 teaspoon of coconut extract to the mix.

Underfill your cupcake tins slightly and I'll tell you why in a minute, OK?

While the cupcakes are baking stir together the sweetened condensed milk and the cream of coconut.


Take the cupcakes out when they're done and then poke them with a fork several times. Pour the thick, milk-y, coconutt-y liquid over each of them slowly. Let it absorb before you pour more on.



Cover them with saran wrap and stick in the fridge for three or four hours or even overnight.

BUT...

If you didn't want to make cupcakes you could totally make this in a 9 x 13 pan

OR...

If you wanted to take these on a picnic, you could totally make these as cupcakes in a jar. If you didn't see how to do that just click here. If you made them in a jar, wouldn't it be scrumptious to put some lemon curd on there before you put on the icing?

OK...

Now you are ready to frost the cupcakes (or the cake, or the cake in the jar, depending on what strikes your fancy!) and to do that...

Whip together the heavy cream, 1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract, 1 teaspoon of corn syrup (Karo) and the 3 T. granulated sugar.

(If I was making the cupcakes in the jar or the big cake, I might make 1 1/2 recipes of the icing, though...and that would be 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 3/4 teaspoon of coconut extract, 1 1/2 teaspoon of corn syrup and 5 T. granulated sugar. If you want to double the recipe, you have to do your own math...sorry!)

When it's all fluffy and lovely, pipe or spoon it onto your cupcakes (cake or into the jar) and then sprinkle sweetened, shredded coconut over the top of that.




TaDa!!!!!



I'm telling ya. These are excellent. And Mr. Jenny thinks so, too, obviously, because when I went to get a few more out for a background picture, he ate the one on the plate!



This yummy, albeit slightly confusing recipe, is brought to you by Alphabe-Thursday's letter "O". Perhaps I should have linked it to the letter "C", but I didn't make them that week of Alphabe-Thursday. So there.

To see other "O" links, just click here!

P is for Preserved Lemons, Moroccan Style

So...

There I was...

Perusing my March 2009 issue of Coastal Living magazine...

Huh?

Yes, I live in Arizona.

We have a coast here.

It's true.

OK, it's not.

It's a lie.

But we could someday...if there is a really big earthquake and California becomes an island...

Oh no!

I hope I haven't offended anyone that lives in California.

It's just a rumor.

I'm sure a false one.

I'll cancel my subscription to Coastal Living Magazine just to prove it.

OK.

Bye now.

Darn.

I forgot where I was.

Oh yea, Preserved Lemons.

You know those weirdly salty, sour lemons that you find in Moroccan dishes that are uber-expensive to purchase?

Well.

On page 106 of the soon-to-be-cancelled magazine I mentioned earlier, there was a recipe to make Preserved Lemons.

And since we have these in our front yard...
... and the recipe said it took four minutes of prep time I figured I should try making my own.

So...with these little beauties... ... which I thoroughly washed in the sink...
...I prepared to become exotic.

Here's the actual recipe:

Preserved Lemons
Prep: 4 minutes Stand: 3 weeks

5 to 6 organic lemons, washed and cut into wedges
3/4 cup kosher salt
1 teaspoon pink peppercorns
Fresh lemon juice

Toss together lemon wedges and kosher salt in a bowl. Pack into a pint jar and sprinkle with pink peppercorns. Cover wedges with fresh lemon juice.

Let stand at room temperature for 3 weeks, turning and shaking the jar every day.




It has been one week since I made these.

I'm going to open a jar and take a picture of the insides so you can see how things are progressing.

Be right back.

I tasted the liquid and it is kind of lemon-y salty and starting to have the right flavor.

And if you click here you can see a bunch of recipes to use preserved lemon in.

I hope you enjoyed this exotic Moroccan stop on your little journey through Alphabe-Thursday's Letter "P".

Even if you're from California.

Don't worry.

Really.

I promise it'll be OK.

Sigh.

This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday's meme for the letter "P".

H is for Helen...

...and Helen makes a Honey of a recipe for spaghetti sauce and meatballs.
Helen is the mother of Joan, one of my very best friends in the world.

She lives in Ohio....and I miss her.

Her Mom used to always make spaghetti sauce when I visited but she has gotten older and probably doesn't like me much anymore because it hasn't happened the last few times I visited there.

If Helen isn't making spaghetti sauce with meatballs for you either I thought I would share the recipe so you can make it yourself.

And I also wanted to share a little Helpful Hint for your salad dressing to serve with Helen recipe.

There is the best pizza restaurant here and they have this yummy dressing...but I could never figure it out because it is reddish like french but tastes almost like a garlick-y Italian. So after years of trying I finally got out out of the waiter.

Here's how they make it: Prepare your usual italian dressing (and this works with store bought, too) and then stir in about 1/4 cup of your spaghetti sauce.

It sounds weird.

I know.

But try it.

It is delicious!

And now...here is Helen's Hellacious recipe!

NO SUBSTITIONS OF BRANDS IN CANNED TOMATOES OR WINE… TRULY… USE THESE EXACT NAMEBRANDS AS IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE

2 large onions, coarsely chopped
5 minced cloves of garlic
Olive oil
2 29 ounce cans Hunts tomato sauce
2 12 ounce cans Contadina tomato paste
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 ½ teaspoon of dried thyme
Salt and pepper (start with about a teaspoon of salt and ½ a teaspoon of pepper)
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups MOGAN DAVID CONCORD GRAPE wine (yes, this is technically real wine and don’t substitute)Over low heat sauté onions in several tablespoons of olive oil until they are starting to get translucent…. Don’t brown. Stir in garlic and continue to cook for several more minutes…. Again…. Don’t brown. Sprinkle onions and garlic lightly with salt and pepper. Stir in tomato paste and thyme and cook for several more minutes. Then add all remaining ingredients except butter and wine.

Simmer for approximately 1 hour. Taste the sauce. You may need to add a bit more thyme or even several sprinkles of garlic salt.

Then stir in the wine and the butter and simmer for an additional hour. Simmer is low heat, just a little bubbling with no cover or the cover mostly ajar. While the sauce is cooking make your meatballs.

2 pounds of lean ground beef
½ cup breadcrumbs (either homemade or prepared)
1 large onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic
½ t. thyme
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of pepper
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 egg (lightly beaten with a fork)
2 – 6 tablespoons of water (add a bit at a time)
Mix all ingredients EXCEPT WATER together in a bowl. Use two forks or your hands but handle the meat gently and don’t compact it. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time until the meat mixture is slightly moist but holds together still.

Bake meatballs in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until lightly browned and cooked. Add meatballs to sauce and simmer for the last 20 minutes of time … don’t add when you put the wine and butter in….

Helen doe fry her meatballs in olive oil but it’s so messy and I think the oven method works just fine.

And this Honey of a recipe is brought to you by the letter

"G" is for GALATOBOUREKO

No, you don't need to say "bless you" because this wasn't a sneeze. It is the name of a fabuloud Greek dessert.

One of my dearest, forever friends in Ohio is an amazing Greek woman named Joanne.

Joanne is not only a lovely soul inside and out she is an amazing, amazing cook.

Although I adore all her food my favorite is Galatoboureko which is almost like a custard pie wrapped in crispy phyllo dough.

It is a very simple dessert...not too sweet...satisfying...comforting...delicious.
Although it has a few steps to it give it a try sometime. Although you won't start dancing around breaking plates and yelling "oppa!" I think you will definitely start running around the house trying to hide a piece for later.

GALATOBOUREKO
Makes 8 to 12 servings

Thaw 1 pound of Phyllo leaves in the refrigerator overnight

In a large sauce bring to a simmer:
5 cups whole milk

Whisk into the milk:
¾ cup of cream of wheat

Stir constantly until thickened. Remove from the heat.

Whisk two eggs in a small bowl. Add in about 1 cup of the hot milk mixture and whisk together thoroughly.

Add egg mixture back into the pan and then quickly whisk in:

1 stick of unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 Additional beaten eggs

Set mixture aside to cool.

Layer ½ of the phyllo leaves into a 9 x 13 by brushing each layer with butter. When pan is filled with ½ of the leaves add the cream mixture. Spread evenly with the back of a spoon.

Layer remaining ½ of phyllo leaves on top of custard mixture. It is tricky for the first one or two leaves but layer each with butter. Continue until all leaves are used.

Chill the completed pan of custard and phyllo in the fridge for about 20 minutes. When top has hardened score with a knife in a diamond pattern (just like Baklava)

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes until deep golden brown.

While custard is baking boil together until a medium syrup consistency:

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
1 stick of cinnamon
juice from one fresh lemon
1 whole orange rind

Set syrup mixture aside to cool.

When you remove your pastry from oven, let cool for FIVE MINUTES. Set your timer. Then pour the cool syrup over the warm pastry.

Refrigerate any leftovers.

This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday for the letter "G"!

Piecrusts and Promises

So...

It's been kind of time of deep and serious introspection for me lately and...

...quit laughing. I can so be all deep and serious. I just try not to be too much cuz it usually makes me run my mascara or something.

And the reason I've been all thinkful lately is because...gulp...my oldest daughter is turning 30 on Saturday.

Acccckkkk!

I can't even start the whole "I remember when her little head was covered in beautiful golden peach fuzz and her little rosebud mouth"...

NO!

Can't go there.

Must maintain some semblance of control. Must! Must! Must just say that she was just the sweetest little thing and I remember this time....

NO!

Stop! Must maintain control.

What the heck was this post about anyway?

Oh yea. Piecrusts.

When I was a young married girl filled with idealism and hope I felt confident that I could actually make piecrust. My Mother had never really made GREAT piecrust but for some reason I felt certain that it would be a snap for me.

After all I could cook and bake like nobodies business and I was really good at it.

But piecrusts became the bane of my existence and I became famous, or perhaps a better word is avoided, for my cardboard crusts. Until I went to a piecrust class.

It wasn't a real class like in a school or anything.

But one of my friends had a friend, Debby, who could really make piecrust. After years of begging the friend of the friend agreed to teach a piecrust class to six of us.

One of the group had a huge kitchen in this amazing 1802 restored Western Reserve farmhouse. We gathered there in her history steeped home to make our own piecrust history.

The piecrust teacher lady person was really serious.

I was a little afraid of her because, to be honest, my track record with teachers of arbitrary subjects hasn't always been ... ummm.... the best.

My nervousness increased when she took out a piece of paper for each of us with printing on it and said we needed to read it and sign it before she would start teaching the class.

It was a little contract that said we would never divulge the piecrust recipe even under torture. OK, I just threw the "under torture" in there to be funny but the rest of it is true.

I'm not sure what the threat was if we actually did divulge it but I was too afraid of her to even ask.

So the piecrust class started.

And it lasted for several hours.

And I learned to make great piecrusts. Flaky, amazing, look-of-wonder-on-peoples-faces piecrust.

And because of that I got to be "that lady!" The one who was asked to bring pies to every event. The one who modestly said "oh, it's nothing, please have another piece" and who firmly, firmly refused to ever give the secret recipe because somehow I felt the pie police might be watching me.

But over Thanksgiving I wasn't feeling so hot and my stepdaughter was visiting and offered to make the pies.

WHAT????

Make the pies!!!!???????

You're talking sacred ground here, stepdaughter. Back off!

She's sweet and lovely and all but invading my piecrust territory! Come on!

AND I couldn't share my recipe with her because after all a promise is a promise!

So I looked in several cookbooks which all had the same recipe!

And then...

EUREKA!

In my Chickberry Patch cookbook I found the "secret" recipe. Yup. There it was printed out for all the world to see so I told her to use that recipe.

And she did.

And the pies turned out wonderfully. Almost as good as mine. Grrrr...OK, as good as mine... man, that hurt just to write that in black and white for public consumption.

And because it is written down in somebody elses cookbook I can share the recipe with you!

The end.

.
.
.
.
Oh wait.

OK, so the reason that I'm telling you this strange story is not to share "the secret" piecrust recipe with you but to explain while I've been all serious and deep in my posts down memory lane of late.

It's because my daughter is turning 30.

And she wants me to make her a cherry pie for her birthday. Which makes me remember the time when she was little and...

NO!

Can't go there.

Must maintain some semblance of control. Must! Must!

And now I need to sign off right now cuz I think I got something in my eye.

Of course I'm not crying.

Crying? Me? Silly you! You can actually find my picture in the dictionary next to the word self-control.

Sigh...



Jimi's No Fail Pie Crust (see, it's not Debby's recipe so I'm not breaking any promises - so there!)

3 cups flour
1 1/3 cup shortening
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
5 T. cold water
1 T. apple cider vinegar

Mix the flour and the salt together. Cut the shortening in. Stir the egg and vinegar into the very cold water and gently toss the liquid into the flour. I live where it is super dry and sometimes I have to add a bit more water. Form into a flat disc and refrigerate for several hours. This will make double crust.

And if you liked this recipe I know you will want to visit this post for another great one to try!

Of all the weird New Years traditions...

...I've oftened wondered about the whole eating black-eye peas and/or cabbage ones.

I don't know about you but those two particular items make me... ummm.... ummmm... ummm....

OK, let me phrase this a bit more delicately by quoting a great poet of another generation:

"Beans, beans the magic fruit,
the more you eat the more you toot."

And you can pretty much substitute the word "cabbage" there. At least for me.

But actually I have to tell you I have to use a different tense when referring to this problem....because it actually only USED to and it doesn't ANY MORE!

And no, this isn't an blog-ad for bean-o.

It's not a blog-ad at all.

It's really just part of the full-service I want to offer to you, my lovely and beloved readers.

And here's what it is.

Crystallized ginger.

Yup, you just whip up your favorite "poetry inducing" pot of something but throw in a few finely diced up pieces of crystallized ginger into the pot. It doesn't effect the taste at all AND it eliminates the possibility of having to quote that little poem to a room full of people.

AND ginger is supposed to be very healthful for you!

So pick up a big jar of this stuff and keep it in your fridge.

So that your New Year can be spent in endeavors other then reciting poetry.

You're welcome.

Sigh.

Dulce de wwwwwhhhatttt????

I have been working on neighbors gifts today. Making the dulce de leche I made yesterday look pretty. Making little tags for it to tell people what they can use it for. Getting a stomachache from eating too many of these addictive cheez-it ranch crackers.

It's been a good day!

The dulce de leche is something we see a lot of here in Arizona. It is a thick, very caramely mixture. So you can use it like caramel. Thin it a bit and pour it over ice cream. Use just as it is to frost cupcakes or cookies. It is fantastic swirled into your favorite brownie batter. You can use it to fill crepes or jelly roll. Or take a nice teaspoonful and stir it into some hot cocoa or hot coffee. If you swirl it into hot cocoa it is nice to put a little whipped cream on top and then add a tiny sprinkle of coarse sea salt.

It is just a delicious, smooth, sweet mouthful of caramely goodness.

Oh my.
I know I posted the recipe earlier for the addictive cheez-it snacks but here's a picture of all the stuff I use to make them and what they look like!
And now I am off to have more holiday merriment. Too many things to go to this weekend. I just want to lay on the couch and watch TV with the fire crackling merrily and the cheez-its going merrily into my mouth!

But since that's not gonna happen I need to go get a shower and start getting ready!

Snowflake Quesadillas!

Have you seen these? I think these are the coolest thing since ...well ...ummm...ummm....ummm....

Well, I just think they are cool. But remember I don't get out all that much so I might just be unduly impressed.

You can go to Martha Stewarts website to see the extremely complex (NOT!) directions on how to make these! Or you can just wing it! Unless my tortillas were really soft I would probably nuke the top one for a few seconds to make it very pliable before I folded it. Oh wait!

Oh, oh, oh! I know! I know! These are the coolest thing since pre-shredded cheese! Nice little reference there...get it? Quesa (Spanish for cheese) and shredded cheese!

Get it?

Hey, don't hate me because I'm all intellectual!

Sigh...

PS. I really do think they are a "good thing"!

A recipe for chicken with tomatoes and some other stuff....

...or, in today's lingo...

Pan-roasted free-range chicken with carmelized tomatoes, olives and capers with a tomato herb scented au jus reduction...

Ha.

That was cool.

I just impressed myself.

First of all I have to say that I used to be an amazing cook. And a fabulous baker. And then I was hit with some ridiculous diet restrictions that made me a) crabby and b) not too inspired to cook.

But then I remembered this recipe that I modified from Martha (yea, she said it was OK and all) and I thought it is tasty even for people without food restrictions and it is healthy and low fat and all that blah, blah, blah so I thought I'd share an actual recipe with you instead of my cheating recipe for just putting almonds in a bowl. (yes, if you read that post I am still ashamed of myself...sigh...)

Now this ain't no Pioneer Woman recipe so be nice to me.

But it is actually really good. And if you can eat regular food like regular people it would be great with some mashed potatoes or rice or a couple of big ol' hunks of french bread.

Here's what you need:
1 pint grape tomatoes or a 16 oz. can of whole tomatoes
16 large black olives such as pitted Kalamata or just the plain, old kind kinds put on their fingers
3 tablespoons of capers (rinsed if you don't like salt-y)
Spray olive-oil (the real recipe calls for 3 T. olive oil but I made it a lot lighter)
2 boneskinless chicken breasts pounded out to about an inch thick and cut in half but I'm not showing a picture of this because raw meat is gaggy
Salt and pepper
Thyme

Heat oven to 475 degrees. Yes, that is smokin' hot.

Toss tomatoes, olives, capers, pepper together in a small red bowl. You can probably use any color bowl. I suspect it won't matter. If you don't care about the calories toss these veggies together with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.
Heat an oven-proof skillet to smokin' hot on the top of the stove. Don't catch your kitchen on fire. That would be a bad thing but if you do it's not my fault cuz I warned you here. If you are doing the spray thing, spray the pan, throw the chicken in and sear one side until it is a purty golden brown (about 4 minutes) If you are using oil use the remaining tablespoon to cook the chicken in.

Flip the chicken over then throw the tomato-caper-olive mixture on top of the chicken.

Pour a tablespoon or so of chicken broth into the pan. If you use the oil, though, don't use the chicken broth.

Put the whole danged thing in the smokin' hot oven.
Roast until cooked through and golden brown - 15 - 18 minutes. Remove chicken to a serving platter.

Crank up the heat under the pan juices and throw about 1/2 teaspoon of thyme in the pan, the tomato juices from the canned tomatoes (if you used them) and a little bit more chicken broth. Boil like crazy until it reduces by about half. Serve over the chicken (or the potatoes if you can eat them)

And voila! It is a real recipe. And it is delicious.

And now you can never say..."Oh, that Jenny Matlock blog. She is hardly worth reading cuz there is never a decent recipe on there."

Well, you can say it if you want but it is a big, fat lie now so I don't really care.

OK, I do care which is why I posted the recipe in the first place.

Sigh...