[cook]

[grandpalovegood]

Hey Fang's fan...

Funny you posted about this book. See, the other day I went shopping at Sam's Club. Something caught my eye that had the words 'Harry Potter' written on it... then I sighed when I noticed it was this cookbook. LOL... I didn't know you could not find it where you are. Anyhow, I'm so glad you got one for your birthday. I've been eyeballing mine for a little while now.

As for your cake.... It sounds so fun. One of the things I noticed while watching the film... did you see HOW Hagrid spelled the words upon the cake? It always made me smile. But I don't think the book spelled it that way. Oh well. And it was so fitting that your sister put the spider and the pumpkins on it. I never did think about anything like that. She's got good instincts as well as taste.

Once again, Happy Birthday.

[grandpalovegood]

OH good! Meatballs to make. THanks Duddah!

[Duddahs]

Right back atcha! ;D

[grandpalovegood]

Wow.... at least they were fresh and not frozen.


Goblin Goo

2 cups frog slime
1/2 cup haunted tree sap
3 tsp ugly ogre toe jam
1 dash jeepers creepers

Stir until ooey gooey
Season to taste with Witch warts.

[grandpalovegood]

.........

Taco Lasagna

~ Brown some hamburger meat and drain off the grease.
~ Put in your favorite taco seasoning.. or a packet if you like. (Follow the packet directions for making the taco meat.)
~ Take your favorite corn chip... could be Doritos's or White Corn chips.. Frito's whatever.
~ Grate a block of cheddar cheese.

toppings of your choice.

In a casserole dish, take turns layering with chips, then the seasoned meat, and the cheddar cheese. Do this until all of the meat is gone. End with the cheese. Then cover with plastic wrap and pop it in the microwave oven. Heat until the cheese is melted. Mine took about two minutes.

You can add in your favorite taco toppings to your own portions... I like sour cream and black olives. Also, those onions that are long like celery.. but sliced into bits. Oh and since my family does not like anything hot... I also add a bit of taco sauce to mine. I think next time I'll try some salsa or guacamole.

There are other things that you could add to this recipe according to what you like on your tacos. I was quite surprised when I made this tonight that I didn't have any left overs. Now what am I gonna have for lunch tomorrow?

[Duddahs]

I am making Baby Back Ribs for dinner today and thought I would share with all of you how I do mine.

I know that when it is really snowy or rainy as it is here today, that I love to make things that remind me of the great outdoors.


1. Complete slab of Baby Back Ribs.
Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs with a very sharp small paring knife. This will allow the rub to introduce itself better into the meat. It will be well worth the few minutes of extra work.

Then in a small bowl add the following dry ingredients;

4 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar Dry of course.
1 Teaspoon Black Ground Pepper
1/2 Teaspoon Finely Ground Sea Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon Hot Hungarian Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Coriander
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (more if you like your ribs spicy)

After washing and patting the slab of ribs very dry, lay on a cookie sheet and proceed to rub the combined and mixed dry ingredients liberally to both sides of the slab. Be sure to also rub the ends and tips of the bones.

Place the cookie sheet and ribs that are now covered in Plastic Wrap for between 2 and 3 hours at the minimum. It is even better to do this the night before cooking as it will infuse even more of the rub flavors into the meat.

After the allotted marinade time, remove from the frig and allow the meat to come to room temp. This normally takes about 1/2 and hour on the counter.

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees F.

Once the oven is up to temp, Take the plastic off the ribs and cookie sheet and then replace that with Aluminum Foil on the top very loosely of course.

Depending on whether you have a hot or controlled cooking temp in your oven, you will want to cook the covered meat for 3 hours and then turn over and cook for an additional 1 1/2 hours.

You may put additional BBQ Sauce on your Ribs (I use KC Masterpiece for this rub recipe when I use any. Tonight will be just the rubbed ribs though). Brush very liberally on the BBQ Sauce on the ribs and replace in the oven for the last 1/2 hour. You may want to place under the broiler for the final 5 minutes for the sauce to caramelize. Some of my friends love this. I like the really sticky kind myself too.

Prepare this with a nice simple Potato Salad of cubed Red/New Potato's mixed with a small amount of white wine vinegar, Mayonnaise, a half cup of sour cream, salt, pepper, dill and finely chopped celery and finely chopped Bermuda onions and a splash of Lemon Juice.

This is served with a very cold side Caesar Salad too.

Bon Appetite.....

[grandpalovegood]

OH Duddah... This sounds soooo good. I'm meat hungry right now and this sounds perfect.

[grandpalovegood]

Hey.... It's that time of year again. Turkey TIME!!!! We are having ours tomorrow instead of on Thursday. (Then some of you had yours last month.) So I already have my turkey set to thaw out. It should be ready to prepare for the oven in the morning. Anyway... I was just wondering what are your normal menus for Thanksgiving dinner? I usually go all out and for me this is going all out. Here is my menu for tomorrow:

Roast turkey (whole)
Stuffing (not dressing HUGE difference) and I put it inside the bird too. Makes the turkey stay moist every single time.
green beans (fresh)
corn.... This time I'm making it steamed on the cob.
mashed potatoes (whipped with my hand mixer)
gravy (brown or turkey)
Pumpkin pie
Banana pudding (from scratch)
deviled eggs (which reminds me I need to post my recipe. Mine does not taste as like stong mustard as most people's do.)
celery sticks with pamento cheese or peanut butter
dinner rolls
cranberry sauce (I don't like cranberries or the sauce. My family ONLY will eat that gell in a can that has no berries either.) shivers

Peacan Pie also sounds good.
Soon after Thanksgiving I'll make my Christmas Fudge.



SO.... what normally is on all of YOUR Thanksgiving dinner menus?

[Duddahs]

Oh, the Thanksgiving Day Food Fest!

Here goes;


Appetizers;

Fresh Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail with spicy Cocktail Sauce and Horseradish sauce.
Cheese and Fruit platter. Crackers
Large round Pumpernickel Loaf hollowed out and filled with hot Artichoke dip. The scooped out bread is then cubed and used for dipping in the Artichoke dip.

Soup
Freshly made Squash Soup topped with Cinnamon and Nutmeg and a splash of Maple Syrup

Salad
Mixed Greens salad with Clementine slices, dried cranberries and walnuts topped with a Red Wine Vinegar Dressing.

Entree
Main Course of
Two 15 lb. Farm Fresh Turkeys which have been brined for 24 hours in solution of salt, sugar and herbs.
Classic Yukon Gold Mashed Potato's
Mashed Rutabaga/Turnip. Topped with Butter and Clover Honey
Fresh Baby Carrots
Steamed Fresh Broccoli
Steamed Fresh Cauliflower
Mixed Pearl Onions (sweet, white and Bermuda) in Butter and Wine sauce with Tarragon.
Traditional in the Bird Stuffing from scratch.
Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce from Fresh Cranberries, Orange Juice and slivered fresh orange peal, Honey and Maple Syrup and cloves.
Giblet Gravy
Crescent Rolls

Desert
Home made Pumpkin Pie
Home made Deep Dish Apple Pie
Vanilla Ice Cream to go with the Pies
Fresh Whipped Cream to top both pies.

[grandpalovegood]

Wow... the diversity of each of our regions Thanksgiving menu. I don't think I've ever eaten some of those things on your list. Sounds good though.

....

Lately, I've been a bit frazzled. I can't seem to find my recipe for Pumpkin Pasties. I have some of my ingredients but not the instructions.

*shuffles through my cookbooks and pages I've copied from the computer. I'll post what I have when I find it IF I find it.

[fangsfan1]

Miss C I think there's one in The Harry Potter Cookbook but I don't know if it's the same recipe you're looking for. I remember I thought for ages that pumpkin pasties was something JKR made up until our friend Fawkes posted a recipe for us on the first Lovegood Lounge. Speaking of the Harry Potter Cookbook, I made 5 batched os cookies today and one of them was ginger biscuits from that book. Came out great and very easy to make too.

[Duddahs]

Orange Biscotti


2 Cups Butter
2 1/2 Cups Sugar
5 Whole large eggs (room temp)
2 Tablespoons Orange Oil
10 Ounces Slivered Almonds
7 Tablespoons Brandy or Water if you like non alcoholic cooking
5 Cups All Purpose Flour
5 Teaspoon Baking Powder

In your mixing bowl/Mixer, cream the Butter and Sugar thoroughly.
Add 1 Egg at a time to this creamed mixture until all 5 eggs have been added.
Pour in slowly the Orange Oil (try Whole Foods for Orange Oil. If you can not find try Orange extract but Orange Oil is best for this recipe).
Mix in to the mixer the Brandy or Water. Then add the Almonds to the mixer and continue to blend. Then slowly add the Flour and the Baking Powder.

Once Mixed

Kneed on a flowered board till not too sticky.
Shape in 4 loaves 1 1/2" high X 2" wide.
Bake on cookie sheets 350 Degrees "F" 20-30 minutes.

Cool the loaves and THEN slice into section. Put back onto the cookie sheets on their cut sides up in a 325 Degree "F" oven till toasted (10-15 minutes per side of 2 sides).

Cool down before eating or wrapping as gifts. These biscotti will stay well in advance for the holiday and are great for Breakfast or Desert.

Enjoy

[grandpalovegood]

OH my mouth is watering. I do want to try this recipe... but it might have to wait until next month.

Thanks for posting to share this with us.

[fangsfan1]

I had been cleaning to get ready for a new washing machine as mine finally gave out. We have this cupboard in the kitchen-it's full of all kinds of stuff-dishes, all kinds of cookbooks. I have a goal to clean it out as it's stuffed so full of things something is always falling on the floor. So I was picking stuff up and I found ths little notebook on the floor that I didn't remember seeing before. It was full of hand written recipes of my Mom's that she had copied out. It was a real treasure and my sister, who's a much better cook than I am, loved it too. I will have to post some of the recipes sometime-nothing fancy at all, but some good easy recipes for family meals.

[grandpalovegood]

We all look forward to checking them out.

[Duddahs]

Panko and Dijon encrusted baked Chicken Breast.

While experimenting last night, I made a nice baked skinless and boneless chicken breast for dinner.

Here goes.

2 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast pairs from your Butcher. Both sides of the chicken so this is actually 4 breast by the grocery store standards.
1 Cup of Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
1 Teaspoon Basil
1/2 Teaspoon Tarragon
1 Teaspoon Rosemary
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper
2 Cups of Panko Bread Crumbs (if you do not have panko, you can substitute with seasoned Italian Bread Crumbs but Panko works best of all for this recipe)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

In a bowl, mix together the Dijon Mustard, Olive Oil and all the dry ingredients except the salt and pepper.

Using a baking rack, place into foil lined pan to keep drippings from sticking to pan. Shiny side up.

Take washed and dry patted chicken breasts (the thicker the better for this recipe).

Now season both sides of the chicken with Salt and Pepper to taste and let sit for a moment.

Now using the back of a spoon, spread the Mustard mix onto the chicken until it coats all of the chicken, both sides.

Now place the Bread Crumbs into a pie tin..

Lightly press the coated chicken breasts into the bread crumbs until they are evenly coated.

Place the chicken on the rack (avoid touching the other pieces with each other) with the shiny/finished side of the chicken up.

When the oven has come to temp, place in middle of oven for 55 minutes. No need to turn over chicken when they are on a rack.

Now, I made simple white rice that at the end, I put one tablespoon of Olivio into when it was completely cooked, a dash of Onion Powder and two beaten whole eggs.. The eggs must be mixed into the rice to avoid turning into scrambled eggs. Salt and Pepper to taste and a sprinkling of Parmesan Cheese.

A nice mix of Corn, Carrots and Broccoli as a vegetable with nothing more than a little salt and pepper to taste.

All of this was served with a nice cold Bloody Mary for an appetizer..... Cold Iced Seltzer was served with the dinner.

Desert was simple Sugar Cookies from a mix.. Easy, fast and always great...

[grandpalovegood]

Ooo.... that sounds good. I used the Panko Bread Crumbs on pork chops the earlier this week.... Just settled for Hamburger Helper tonight.

[Duddahs]

Chicken Ranch....

OK, this one is really very easy so I hope you will enjoy it anytime.

Miss Charlotte and I were recently discussing Fried Chicken and it got me to thinking about making a simple chicken dish since I am home alone for the next few weeks..

Chicken Ranch..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 Whole Chicken Cut up or any assortment of Skinless Chicken parts that you enjoy eating (I love dark meat best but find whole chicken is far more affordable so I have it cut up by my butcher, I skin it myself , leave in the bones as chicken is more juicy and tender when cooked on the bone and I also get to use the parts left over and the Giblet etc for stock).

1 Whole Chicken Cut Up and Skinned.
1 Small Bottle of Fat Free or Reduced Calorie/Fat Ranch Dressing
1 Package of dry Ranch Dressing powder/mix (Hidden Valley is best here)
3 Cups Panko Bread Crumbs ( you can substitute for regular bread crumbs but Panko are best for this recipe).
1 Teaspoon of finely ground Pepper.


Take a resealable storage bag and place all of the skinless chicken parts into the bag. Pour the entire contents of the small bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch pre-made Salad Dressing into the bag... Seal the bag and proceed to move the chicken around until all the pieces are completely coated with the Ranch Dressing.

Then slightly unzip the bag and expel as much air from the bag as humanly possible, reseal and then place in the refrigerator for 24 hours to marinade.

Once the marinade time of 24 hours has expired, take a large baking pan with a wrack inside so you can cook both top and bottom of the chicken without having to turn the pieces. Place a sheet of Aluminum Foil shiny side up in the bottom of the pan to keep any dripping from caramelizing inside the pan and to facilitate in a much easier clean up after cooking is completed.

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Take marinated chicken out of Frig, and then take the Panko Bread Crumbs and place them in a dish and mix the package of dry Hidden Valley Ranch mix to the Panko Bread Crumbs.. After thoroughly mixing Panko and Ranch Powder you can not take each piece of chicken out of the marinade bag and pressing the chicken into the Panko mixture insuring that the entire surface is coated well.

Tap each piece over the bread crumbs to knock off any excess as you will find that since a great deal of the marinade stays on the surface of the chicken, it will also hold a greater amount of bread crumbs too.

After placing all of the now marinated and Panko seasoned coated chicken onto the rack in your backing pan, place in the center to lower center level of your oven...

Set your timer to 1 hour and do not open the oven door during the cooking process... What you will have when you are finished is a very light colored but crisp coated chicken that is very tender and juicy as well as very flavorful.. It will not taste like Ranch Dressing does on your salad but I assure you that you will absolutely enjoy this flavorful chicken if you like juicy breaded chicken....

I served this with very simple Long Grain White Rice that I seasoned the water prior to cooking with Salt, Pepper and some Onion Powder and a teaspoon of Canola Vegetable Oil. Bring rice to boil and then promptly cover and reduce heat to lowest setting and cook on low for 20 minutes. The ratio of Rice to Water is 1 1/8 cup of rice to 2 level cups of water.

Just before rice is served a small dollop of Olivio to additionally flavor the rice...

Side vegetable of Frozen Baby Peas seasoned only with Sea Salt and Freshly cracked Black Pepper.

Desert was a sliced Mango along with a sliced Kiwi fruit and a large glass of Seltzer with a wedge of Lemon....

Bon Appetite!

[grandpalovegood]

I've been eyeballing those large pans with the racks inside since last Christmas.

This recipie really does look easy.. and sound yummy. I wish I didn't wait until today to read this post, because last night I made a pot of rice for dinner. I could have made it this way.

Thanks for sharing.

[grandpalovegood]

I'm going to go to the grocery store at the end of the week. I'm going to get the makings for this one. Thanks for posting it.