[cook]

[grandpalovegood]

Hey... This is not right.. I did go buy a brownie mix and I have had to hide the york peppermint patties from my family so they would not eat half the bag before I get to the kitchen... I think I'll do that one in a few minutes.. My family needs a pick me up.. NOW I want to make THIS one too...

Noooo keep them coming I'll try them all I just LOVE cookies and Brownies. Best happy desert there is.

[fangsfan1]

I heard Miss Charlotte made brownies for her family this weekend. Went I went to work yesterday a nice coworker of mine had made brownies for my birthday-with my name written in orange frosting. Then when I came home from work my sister had made brownies with peanut butter cups in them. So I'm officially dubbing this-The Weekend of the Brownie!!

[grandpalovegood]

Oh this is so wrong... I might even delete this comment later on.. but I have to say this right now.

Have you ever heard of "special brownies?" Well.. I've always scratched my head trying to figure out how in the world anyone could eat any and not see the little dried leafy bits in there.. Shows I have never seen any to know what I was even thinking about.

Well.. the other day when I had my brownies cooking, making the house smell soooo good. I also had on the television set. I was not paying any attention to what was on. Well.. I sat down and saw they had this guy who was making butter using the oils he got from plants he grew. He didn't call it a high but a medication. Honestly it was completely leagal because he was making this for patients in a hospital. He was actually commisioned through legal means to grow a particular strain of plants cross breed well not cross breed.. but I'm sure you get what I am saying.. Still, he had a plate full of goodies.. all sorts of cookies... peanut butter cups candies fudges etc. You never would know for looking at it what it had inside, besides chocolate chips.

[Rom The House Elf]

Oh I just LOVES being all sneaky like.. He he he.



On my tiptoes I come back in this office. I just came from a neighboring wizards house.... only to see an owl standing there on top of his head pulling handfuls of the wizards hair as if he was a marionette... helping him cook of all things.. picking up this... dropping in that... then jumping off onto the counter to the side of the big pot... Sniffing just to make sure things are just right... This ain't natural!

SO.. I thought something was odd about this... I tiptoed over to the card he had sitting up next to the stove.. Yep he turned his back to go choose some of the most perfect looking potatoes.. Once I saw the tail feathers sticking up in back I knew I had to make my move for it. ~POP~ I was outta there... So here it is...

Rom tacks up on the cork board the source of what was causing all of the delicious arouma... the recipe he witnessed being made to come to life.




Duddahs

Fillet Mignon, Asparagus and Baby New Potatoes Dinner for 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Four 3" 12 oz. Thick Fresh Fillet Mignon steaks.
1/2 cup of Sweet Butter
1/8 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
4 Fresh or Dried Bay Leaves
1 Stalk of Fresh Rosemary stripped off the stalk
1 large bunch of thin young Asparagus cut ends snapped off (ends are tough)
1 package of Swiss Norr brand Holinday Sauce
20-25 small silver dollar sized New Potatoes, red or purple.
Salt
Pepper
1 Cup of Cognac.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a pot bring a salted water to boil and add New Potatoes and set timer for 10 minutes.

In a low wide sauce pan with lid, put about 1" water in and bring to boil.

In a small sauce pan with lid, take the Swiss Norr Package of Hollandaise Sauce (I only use Swiss Norr's Holidays mix or make it from scratch but theirs is honestly better than even mine) Add the water and butter that it requests and once made turn to lowest warm temp and put to the side.

Take a large Non Stick preferred fry pan and add the butter to the pan. Bring to medium high heat and place the bay leaves and rosemary directly into the melted butter. When fully heated and bubbling, place the Fillets directly into the fry pan, grind salt and pepper over the top and quickly turn and salt and pepper the other side. Leave to cook for about 3 minutes on this side. Now roll the sides of each Fillet in the butter making them golden brown. You should now have a slightly darker brown side, a very light side and gold brown actual sides of the fillet.

Quickly drop the asparagus into the boiling water and then turn the burner off and cover with lid. You MUST check the asparagus every two minutes. When your fork can pierce the asparagus but still has resistance, DRAIN and put to the side.

Going back to your sizzling Fillet Mignon in the Butter, Rosemary and Bay leaf saute, now place the lighter side of the fillet side down and pour half the Cognac over the top of the Fillets and bring to full high boil. When Alcohol has burned off, flip the steaks, repeat with the last of the Cognac and now sprinkle the Parsley on the steaks.

The Fillet should now have two sides that are glazed darkened brown.

Take the Fillets directly off the pan, and remove asparagus and plate, then drain and place 4-6 potatoes per dish.

Quickly go back to the sauce pan, and pour a little more cognac into the pan to deglaze the pan using a wooden spoon, stir all the bits and pieces and juices until the alcohol has once again burned off. As soon as this is done, usually just a minute, pour the mixture over the Fillet Mignon Steaks.

Then take your sauce pan of Hollandaise Sauce and liberally poor over both the New Potatoes and the Asparagus....

Grind Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste and serve....

I happen to enjoy a nice Merlot with this meal and a side of Carbonated Seltzer Water (I use Polar Seltzer as it is fairly inexpensive and just as good as all the other brands including Pellegrino and Perrier).

Duddahs

Four 3" Thick Fresh Fillet Mignon

1/4 cup of Sweet Butter
1/8 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
4 Fresh or Dried Bay Leaves
1 Stalk of Fresh Rosemary stripped off the stalk
1 large bunch of thin young Asparagus cut ends snapped off (ends are tough)
1 package of Swiss Norr brand Holinday Sauce
20 small silver dollar sized New Potatoes, red or purple.
Salt
Pepper
1 Cup of Cognac.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a pot bring a salted water to boil and add New Potatoes and set timer for 10 minutes.

In a low wide sauce pan with lid, put about 1" water in and bring to boil.

In a small sauce pan with lid, take the Swiss Norr Package of Hollandaise Sauce (I only use Swiss Norrs Holidays mix or make it from scratch but theirs is honestly better than even mine) Add the water and butter that it requests and once made turn to lowest warm temp and put to the side.

Take a large Non Stick preferred fry pan and add the butter to the pan. Bring to medium high heat and place the bay leaves and rosemary directly into the melted butter. When fully heated and bubbling, place the Filet's directly into the fry pan, grind salt and pepper over the top and quickly turn and salt and pepper the other side. Leave to cook for about 3 minutes on this side. Now roll the sides of each Fillet in the butter making them golden brown. You should now have a slightly darker brown side, a very light side and gold brown actual sides of the fillet.

Quickly drop the asparagus into the boiling water and then turn the burner off and cover with lid. You MUST check the asparagus every two minutes. When your fork can pierce the asparagus but still has resistance, DRAIN and put to the side.

Going back to your sizzling Fillet Mignon in the Butter, Rosemary and Bayleaf saute, now place the lighter side of the fillet side down and pour half the Cognac over the top of the Fillets and bring to full high boil. When Alcohol has burned off, flip the steaks, repeat with the last of the Cognac and now sprinkle the Parsley on the steaks.

The Fillet should now have two sides that are glazed darkened brown.

Take the Fillets directly off the pan, and remove asparagus and plate, then drain and place 4-6 potatoes per dish.

Quickly go back to the sauce pan, and pour a little more cognac into the pan and using a wooden spoon, stir all the bits and pieces and juices until the alcohol has once again burned off. As soon as this is done, usually just a minute, pour the mixture over the Fillet Mignon Steaks.

Then take your sauce pan of Hollandaise Sauce and liberally poor over both the New Potatoes and the Asparagus....

Grind Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste and serve....

I happen to enjoy a nice Merlot with this meal and a side of Carbonated Seltzer Water (I use Polar Seltzer as it is fairly inexpensive and just as good as all the other brands including Pellegrino and Perrier)

[grandpalovegood]

OH I wish I could post the pancake recipe that I just finished making. It's from the HP cookbook. I never thought to put lemon juice or lemon zest in a pancake mix. (Thought of you Fangsfan.) Oh they were so good. I normally just cheat and grab a box mix.. even then I usually mess that up.. but these came out perfect. Well....

Oh and something that Duddah had once said about the quality of pans to use... Yep.. even though I always thought the best cooking utensils, pots and pans really do make a difference in how the end product comes out.... This was a tester without meaning to test this thought. See, this recipe had it to where you cook one pancake at a time.. So I thought, why not have two separate pans going at the same time? One was the good pan.. the other was the cheapy bargain pan I bought at Walmart. There it was... proof the better pan won out hands down.

Anyway... normally I like to put cinnamon on my pancakes when I cook them... just to make an extra batch to grab as a snack throughout the day without needing the syrup... (We do use the syrup in the morning when they are fresh and hot.) Still... I held back to stay true to this recipe. This one suggests not to use syrup.. but instead to serve it with a dusting of powdered sugar (I know I hear someone back there yelling, "Oh yuck.. gag." LOL. ) OR to use marmalade of your choice. Hubby loves marmalade, but I noticed we were out. My goodness..

anyway... I liked these very much.

[fangsfan1]

I think all these pancake hints sound great. I like to put fruit in my pancakes. Once I even put in cranberries-I loved them but I was the only one who did!

[grandpalovegood]

Funny.... because I was looking right at my package of dried cranberries sort of like raisins. Then decided not to add anything new to this recipie.. but they were goooood. Mmm.

[fangsfan1]

Funny.... because I was looking right at my package of dried cranberries sort of like raisins. Then decided not to add anything new to this recipie.. but they were goooood. Mmm.

Those sound like something I bought called Craisiins. They had a recipe on the package for cranberry raisin chocolate fudge which was delicious. Back in a sec to post a recipe.

[fangsfan1]

Soup Kettle Supper
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can or package condensed onion soup
2 cups milk
2 cans cream style corn
2 4 0r 5 oz cans Vienna sausages.

Mix soups with condensed onion soup.
Add milk and corn. Slice sausage links and add.
Cover. Heat slowly til very hot.

This is a meal I remembered my mom used to make sometimes when we were kids. I don't know where she got it from, I searched and found it handwritten in the back of her Fannie Farmer cookbook.. I remember it was really good-looking at the recipe I see it's really easy to make too. A little high in sodium though, something I never used to have to think about back then!

[grandpalovegood]

Hey that sounds good. I honestly never heard of one with these specific types of soups. But when you said Vienna sausages.. that was a jaw dropper. LOL! I have one similar to this one.. but it makes a chicken cheese dip/sauce that is served as a meal over tortillas..

Oh and I will soon start to clean out my kitchen.. SO don't be surprised if I make a posting spree soon on this thread... just to keep some recipes from getting lost.

[Duddahs]

Oh, I am so under the weather.. Could use some soup.. Any soup!

[fangsfan1]

So sorry to hear you're not feeling well Duddahs. I know soup usually makes me feel better-hope you're well soon.

[grandpalovegood]

OH my.. I too hope you are feeling better soon. I really wish I had a recipie for soup that I could share. As for eating anything that I prepare.. it might make things worse.


Hmm? Let me see.. some things I do put in my home made soup...


Lots of tomatoes, stewed of course.. scrunched up into a big pot on the stove.

Throw in some other vegies as to how I feel... like corn, green beans, carrots, peas... OH and maybe even some ground beef that I cooked and drained just before using some spices that have black pepper in it. Lets see... Oh and I also like to add chopped onions.. sprinkle some garlic salt.. the California seasoning by McCormick... Once this is all cooked I add it to the pot of stewed tomatoes... then sprinkle in a few elbow noodles or a small handfull of rice.. or both. depending upon how I feel. Once the noodles are fully cooked.. I serve the soup with cornbread.

[fangsfan1]

My sister and I splurged and went to the "Harvest on the Harbor/Savory Samplings" today, I wish I could have taken you all with me. You pay one price and there are about 140 venders offering free samples-tiny so that you can try a lot of things.
Some ot the things we tried: seafood chowder, pulled pork with Carolina barbecue sauce, gourmet popcorn, mini crab cakes, shrimp and vegetable alfredo, sausage, pumpkin soup with candied bacon, chocolate bread pudding, pumpkin cheese cake, brownies, black bean dip, pita bread with dipping sauce. Also saw a demonstration of how to make a chocolate cream pie and we got a sample of that too. Also, I remember how we talked about whoopie pies, they had free samples from a place called "Wicked Whoopies." They have their own web site too, don't know if I'm aloud to post the link but you can probably figure it. out.
They also had live music. It was so much fun, I thought the House Elves thread was the perfect place to post it on!

[grandpalovegood]

Oh this is killing me.. I have not had lunch nor dinner yet.. No wonder my tummy's growling.. Now I come here for a second and just got a chance to read your post.. It looks like you had a real fun day.

I've seen some ... not festivals but more like convention where they have a warehouse sized room with a hundred candy venders there. They were putting on a ... I don't really know what to call it.. exibition where they have brand new candies that are not yet on the market. They invite a certain group of people who I believe are wanting to sell the candies they choose. I can't explain it properly.

Basically every vender hands out tiny samples of the candy they created to everyone who walks by.. most of the time they are very creative aiming at the unique type candies that no one else has thought up. I remember one was the lollypop that lights up.. sort of like ring pops but with a light. Things like that. Some were bizarre.

Anyway, the people walking around doing the sampling were there to try them out to see if they might be able to enter into a contract to sell this new product. They usually bring their families. These people also would rate how they liked/disliked the product.

I thought this was a brilliant idea and wanted to be one of the few who were just extra there to try out the new stuff. It reminded me a lot of honeydukes.

SO when I read your post.. I thought of this show I had seen a while back. I'm glad you shared your experience with us. Thanks.

[grandpalovegood]

Oh I just did something really gross today. I was attempting to create a merange to go on top of a lemon pie. I checked the pie filling lable for instructions. It said to make the merange to use two eggs and three tablespoons of sugar. Well... It was yellow and I knew that was not right. So I had a faint memory of trying it with egg whites only... then the sugar.. but I took the mixer directly from one bowl to the other... Still.. this time it was white yet it never would peak. Finally I broke down and got online. As usualy I did EVERYTHING they told us not to... Keeping my fingers crossed... Now that I just got home with another batch of eggs.. Maybe things will do as I wish on this front. I'll let you guys know.


Now for the gross thing... Here I scrambled up the two egg yellows I took out of my second try..... then this got me to thinking of what froth was still in the bowl from my first attempt.. I mean... what is scrambled egg than one that has been mixed up a lot right? ;D YEP... IN the frying pan it went.. the whole first attempt.. I stirred it up and guess what... Eventually it did return back to the egg in a scrambled egg form again. LOL.. Oh I had to taste it .. yes very sweet.. I forgot about the sugar being inside it. NO I didn't eat but a bite... It was just the strangeness of it all. I had to see what would happen.

[grandpalovegood]

You want to hear something funny? I made my first Lemon Merange pie and it was gone in less than three hours. I was lucky to get a piece for me. All of this from people who can't stand my cooking? ;D

[Duddahs]

Very quick and simple but delicious for the holidays.

Oh that is easy, it is my mother and grandmothers and her mothers French Canadian Potato Soup recipe!

Enjoy!

10 medium or 7 large sliced (1/2" thick) Red or New Potato's
1 Large Sweet Onion, diced or Chopped into small sections.
1 clove garlic finely chopped.
2 Tablespoons Chopped Chives
2 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Parsley
1 Stick Sweat Butter or 1 Cup Olivio
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
1 cup Chicken Stock
Milk or Light Cream (I use 100 Percent Fat Free Lactaid Milk and Olivio).
3 strips of bacon chopped fine.

Bring to boil in a pot the Sliced Potato's in about 4-5 cups of water depending on how large the potatos are. Just be sure to barely cover the potato's before boiling.

In a large pot bring 2 tablespoons of Butter or Olivio to melt with the Onions and Garlic and chopped bacon over medium heat. Cook till very tender.

When Potato's are just tender, do not overcook potato's do not cook till soft, just so you can pass a fork through without too much resistance but still cooked.

Poor water from boiling potato's over the cooked Onions, Garlic and Bacon. Now add the Chives and Parsley and salt and pepper to taste bring to a boil. Now add the Chicken broth and return to a boil.

Smash the Potato's but do not Mash. This means you will leave some chunks and fiber to the potato's and they will not be smooth.

Turn Broth and Onions etc down to medium and add the Potato's and the the Butter or Olivio that is left over. Then add about 1 cup of Milk or Light Cream at a time until your desired thickness is achieved. I like mine a little on the medium thinner side but with some volume or chunkiness to the potato's.

Now grate or sprinkle about 1teaspoon of nutmeg over the lot. Bring to a soft roll but not a boil..

Serve with crusty french bread prior to the Salad course of your holiday meal or eat it as a meal in itself.

This is also fantastic COLD!

[fangsfan1]

That sounds delicious Duddahs!

This is not a recipe but a cute idea from a wedding my sister attended. Instead of a bar afterwards they had a "penny candy bar." I had never heard of this before. You got a plastic cup and filled it up with all kinds of candy, they had M&M's, SKittles, gummy bears, PB cups, Snickers, licorice, etc, etc. Not something you'd want to do every day but I thought it was a fun idea.

[Duddahs]

You know FF1 that is a great idea! Sometimes it is a struggle to come up with fun things for parties.. I am going to do this for my tree trimming in a week and a half and thank you for the allowing me to snitch the idea! I will give you credit, no worries about that.