Prime Rib with Au Jus

We used this au jus recipe for years in our restaurant on prime rib and as au jus French dip recipe. It is a clear broth that compliments any kind of roast beef. It is a short cut to making a true au jus sauce and we never had a complaint.

Ingredients:
1 Ounce    Beef Base
1 Qt.          Water
1                  Bay Leaf
½ Cup       Burgundy
2 Tsp          Chopped Garlic

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.

If you ever wondered, “How do you make au jus,” here it is. This is an easy roast beef au jus recipe but a good one. I hope you enjoy it and come back and visit often!

Dill Dip

This dill dip recipe is quick to put together and it complements vegetables so well. When we first started making it we called it our dill vegetable dip but as we used it we found it was good on crackers and potato chips also. So if you want to learn how to make dill dip just follow the steps below!

Ingredients:
1 cup    Sour Cream
1 cup    Mayonaise
1 oz.    Onion, minced
1 tsp    Dill weed
1 tsp    Parsley Flakes
2 drop    Tabasco Sauce
1 tsp    Mrs. Dash
¼ cup    Dill Relish and juice

Directions:
·    Combine all ingredients
·    Add extra dill relish and juice for flavor and consistency
·    Refrigerate overnight for best flavor.

I am including a carosal below to show you a few of the kitchen tools you might use in making dill dip in your own kitchen.

Cookie Dough Brownies

This recipe for chocolate brownies makes layered gourmet brownies that are different from any homemade brownies you have ever had. As you can see from the ingredients these are special brownies that your family will love as much as ours does. Each of the three layers has a different texture and they truly are a chocolate lovers gourmet brownie.

Ingredients:
2 cup             Sugar
1-1/2 cup    A/P flour
½ cup          Cocoa
½ tsp           Salt
1 cup            Vegetable oil
4                     Eggs
2 tsp             Vanilla extract
½ cup          Chopped walnuts, optional
Filling
½ cup          Butter, softened
½ cup          Brown sugar, packed
¼ cup         Sugar
2 tbsp          Milk
1 cup           A/P flour
Glaze
1 cup           Semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces)
1 tbsp          Shortening
¾ cup         Chopped walnuts
Directions:
·    In a mixing bowl combine, sugar, flour,cocoa,salt,oil,eggs and vanilla
·    Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes, stir in walnuts if desired
·    Pour in a greased 13×9x2-baking pan
·    Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until done. Cool completely
·    For filling, cream butter and both sugars. Add milk and vanilla and mix well
·    Beat in flour and spread over cooled brownies
·    For glaze, melt chocolate chips and shortening in a double boiler
·    Stir till smooth and spread over filling. Sprinkle with nuts and press gently
I am adding a link for Cooking.com which has one of the most complete online cooking supply stores we have found on the web. They also have complete lines of commercial/restaurant equipment and supplies and all at very resonable prices. We also have a banner for Taste Of Gourmet which I hope you will browse through for unique gifts and foods.

Shrimp Creole over rice

This shrimp Creole recipe is an old favorite. It makes a low fat shrimp Creole that is spicy but not outrageous. If you are asking, “how do you make shrimp Creole,” this is an easy recipe to make. Shrimp or chicken Creole is usually served over rice. Even though it is hot in the summer time this shrimp Creole recipe is a good one for a summer meal.

Ingredients:
½ cup    Onion, diced
½ cup    Celery, diced
1 teas    Garlic, dices
3 tbs    Shortening
16 oz    Tomatoes, can
8 oz    Tomato Sauce, can
1 ½ teas    Salt
1 teas    Sugar
1 tbs    Worcestershire Sauce
1 teas    Chili Powder
Dash    Tabasco
2 teas    Cornstarch
12 oz    Shrimp, P&D
½ cup    Green Pepper, diced

Directions:
·    Sauté, onion, celery and garlic in shortening till onion is transparent
·    Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder and   Tabasco
·    Simmer uncovered 45 minutes
·    Mix cornstarch and 1 tbsp cold water and stir into sauce
·    Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly
·    Add shrimp and green pepper and cover
·    Simmer 5 minutes
·    Serve over rice
·    Makes 6 servings
This is a traditional creole recipe and a good one. You can use either chicken or shrimp. If you fine you like this recipe I will include a link for cookbooks that highlight creole cooking. I hope you enjoy this recipe and come back and visit often.

Frozen Yogurt Pie

This recipe for frozen yogurt pie is very easy to make but so refreshing on a hot summer day. When you make this yogurt pie it is important to pull it out of the freezer an hour or two before serving and let it stand in the refrigerator to soften. Our recipe for frozen yogurt pie can be flavored any way you like just by using your favorite flavor of yogurt.

Ingredients:
2                 8 oz. containers of any flavor yogurt
8 oz.          Cool whip
1                  Pie Crust (normally graham cracker but can be pastry)
1 ½ cup    Fruit, if desired
Directions:
1.    Fold Yogurt into whipped topping, blending well.
2.    If desired fold in fruit.
3.    Spoon into crust.
4.    Freeze until firm.  Let slightly soften before serving then return unused portion to freezer.
We have been using this recipe for years and it is a favorite because it is not heavy nor rich but very satisfying and we can make it sugar free with no problem. I am also going to include a banner, below, from Cooking.com. This is an online company that we feel has anything you might want for either commercial cooking and restaurants or your own kitchen at home. I hope you will take a few minutes and look around their store. We have found it is easier to shop online and in most cases cheaper. Thank you.

Lemon Pie

This easy lemon pie recipe is quick and hard to beat on a hot summer day. We have also called it a lemon icebox pie recipe mainly because of the ice used in it plus it needs to be refrigerated. This lemon pie is our favorite for just being able to throw a quick but refreshing dessert together.

Ingredients:
1 pkg.    3 oz. Of any flavor Jell-O
2/3 cup     Boiling water
2 tsp.    Fresh grated fruit rind to compliment Jell-O flavor
2 Tbl.    Lemon Juice (or appropriate fruit flavor)
2 cups    Ice Cubes
1-8 oz    Cool Whip
1    pie crust, pastry or graham cracker
Directions:
1.    Dissolve gelatin completely in boiling water – stirring for 3 minutes.
2.    Add fruit juice, rind and ice cubes.
3.    Stir until gelatin is thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove any unmelted ice.
4.    Using wire whisk blend in whipped topping until smooth.
5.    Spoon into pie crust and chill for 2 hours.  Garnish as desired.

I have linked a couple of words in this recipe to a section of pie making gadgets that I thought you might find of interest to go an look around.

Easy Pancake Recipe

This pancake recipe is so simple; there is no need to buy pancake mix again. You can mix the dry ingredients together and have your own homemade pancake mix. With this basic pancake recipe you can adjust the amount of milk to make a thin pancake recipe with more milk or a thick fluffy pancake recipe by using less milk. We usually use this easy pancake recipe once a week and use a variation for different tastes.

Ingredients:
1    Egg
1 cup    All-purpose Flour
¾ cup    Milk
1 Tbl.    Sugar
2 Tbl.    Melted shortening or vegetable oil
3 tsp.    Baking Powder
½ tsp    Salt
Directions:

1. Beat egg with hand beater until fluffy.
2. Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth.  For thinner pancakes, stir in additional ¼ cup milk.
3. Grease heated griddle if necessary. (To test griddle, sprinkle with few drops water.  If bubbles skitter around, heat is just right.)
4. For each pancake, pour about ¼ cup of pancake batter onto hot griddle.
5. Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges.
6. Turn and cook other sides until golden brown.

Variations:

• Blueberry: Stir in ½ cup fresh or frozen, thawed & drained blueberries.
• Buckwheat: Substitute ½ cup buckwheat flour and ½ cup whole-wheat flour for the all-purpose flour.  Use 1-cup milk.  If desired, sprinkle 1-teaspoon whole bran or wheat germ over each pancake just before turning.
• Ham: Omit sugar.  Stir in 1/3 to ½ cup ground or cut-up fully cooked smoked ham.
• Whole Wheat: Substitute whole-wheat flour for the all-purpose flour and packed brown sugar for the granulated sugar.

It is so much easier to make pancakes on a large griddle and you can cook any bacon or sausage first and then the pancakes and hold it in a warm oven until your eggs are cooked also.  I have embedded a link on the word griddle
so you can see some of the griddles available online. Usually if you compare prices with an online store like Amazon it is cheaper even if you have to pay shipping and you do not even have to leave the house.

Brown Sauce or Sauce Espagnole

This Brown Sauce Recipe is a simplified version of Sauce Espagnole, which is one of the grand sauces, or mother sauces, which mean they are the basic sauce from which many sauce variations, are made. This recipe for brown sauce is one we use as a base to make mushroom or onion gravy for beef dishes and I have used it for a pork tenderloin and the sauce was called a Robert sauce. This brown sauce is very rich and has a vegetable flavor to it.

Ingredients:
2 ½ oz    Flour
2 ½ oz    Butter
2 oz    Carrots, large dice
2 oz    Celery, large dice
4 oz    Onion, large dice
1 ¼ oz    Tomato Paste
1 tsp    Pepper
2 ea    Bay Leaves
6 cups    Water
1 ½ oz    Beef base

Directions:
·    Melt butter in a large stockpot and add carrots, celery and onion
·    Sauté until onion is transparent
·    Add flour and tomato paste and cook five minutes, stir constantly
·    Add bay leaves and water and beef base and bring to a slow boil.
·    Boil until thickened
·    Simmer for an hour
·    Strain for sauce of leave veggies in for gravy

I have found beef base at our local Wal-Mart in their soup department. Beef base is different from the granulated beef bullion that is in most grocery stores. I hope you enjoy this recipe and when you are experimenting with different foods to put in, like mushrooms and onions, make sure and sauté them in Burgundy and add that in the sauce also.

Strawberry Cake

This homemade strawberry cake recipe is moist and juicy. It is an easy recipe for strawberry cake and is a crowd pleaser. It almost comes off like strawberry shortcake with frosting! This strawberry cake is classified as a strawberry poke cake because of poking holes in it to let the strawberry puree drain into the cake.

Ingredients:
1 Pkg             Duncan Hines Moist Delux Strawberry Supreme Cake Mix
20 ounce    Sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed
TOPPING
1 Pkg            Vanilla pudding mix (4-serving size)
1 cup            Milk
2 cups         Whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease and flour a 9×13x2 inch pan
• Follow cake directions for basic recipe
• Poke holes in top of baked warm cake, 1 inch apart, using handle of a wooden     spoon
• Puree strawberries and juice in a blender
• Spoon evenly over top of cake allowing mixture to soak into holes
• For topping, follow pudding directions
• Fold whipped topping into pudding mixture
• Spread over cake
• Refrigerate at least four hours
• May garnish top with fresh strawberries

We make this cake regularly and it is always well received. I hope you enjoy it also.

Blueberry muffins!

This is your basic muffin recipe and you can add ingredients, such as blueberries, and it becomes a blueberry muffin recipe! The basic muffin recipe makes a moist, tasty muffin that is hard to beat. You can mash up bananas and add to the batter or add bran for a healthy muffin recipe. We really enjoy this basic muffin recipe with all its variations and hope you will too.

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups       All-purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup            Sugar
2 ½ tsp          Baking Powder
¾ tsp             Salt
1                       Egg, well beaten
¾ cup            Milk
1/3 cup          Cooking oil or melted shortening
Directions:

1. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into bowl.
2. Make well in center.
3. Combine egg, milk, and oil.
4. Add all at once to dry ingredients.
5. Stir quickly just till dry ingredients are moistened.
6. Fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full.
7. Bake in 400-degree oven about 25 minutes.  Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Variation:  Blueberry Muffins
Prepare batter above.
Toss 1-cup fresh or thawed and well-drained blueberries with 2 Tbl. sugar, 1 tsp. Cinnamon and ¼ tsp nutmeg.
Gently stir into batter.
Bake as above

This is a basic muffin recipe that is hard to beat Add blueberries, bananas, bran or most any kind of fruit to make a real treat.