Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Triple Chip Nut Surprise Bars


I felt like making something yesterday. I had no flour (well, other than whole wheat pastry flour), and wanted to make something I could take to school and share. So with some lookse change I went to the store and spent a little over a dollar on a box of cake mix and experimented. And the results were edible, and I got quite a few yums. Only two complaint, one person said that it was too dry (theirs wasn't wrapped well). And another that the pretzels were stale. But that's because they were.
Triple Chip Nut Surprise Bars
named by Cressie

    1 box white cake mix
    2 eggs
    1/4 cup oil
    2 tablespoons water

    2 tablespoons white chocolate chips
    2 tablespoons butterscotch chips
    1/4 cup chocolate chips
    1/4 cup raisins
    2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
    2 tablespoons peanut halves

    25 mini pretzels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13x9 pan.

In a medium-large bowl, beat cake mix with oil, eggs, and water for 30 seconds or until too thick for mixer. The dough will appear elastic, sort of like pizza dough. Fold together with spatula until there are no chunks of the mix left.

Combine all remaining ingredients except pretzels and fold into the batter as evenly as possible.

Pour batter into prepared pan and press down with spatula or hands.Press pretzels into dough in 5 rows of five.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, covering top with foil halfway through, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Supposedly Simple Supper (Serves 4.)

DSC03890_

Last Friday I decided to make dinner so that I could see Aunt Annette and Uncle Larry and still get to bed on time.
Of course, the unpredictable variable (Dad) was the last to get here, by an hour and a half, and he was supposed to grill the pork for me. And of course, we couldn't eat without him.
A meal that should have taken 40 minutes took two and a half hours... I partially blame Dad, and I partially blame the kitchen. I couldn't prep and be with Uncle Larry and Aunt Annette at the same time.

Adapted from Cooking Light May 2006 page 162
Spice-Rubbed Grilled Pork Skewers

Pork
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 pork tenderloin (approx. 1 lb)
  • teaspoon chile paste

  • Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil


  • 1. Combine first 7 ingredients.
    2. Cut pork in half crosswise; cut each half into 4 lengthwise strips.
    3. Combine pork strips and chile paste in a shallow dish, toss (or rub) to coat. Sprinkle spice mixture over pork and toss to coat. Let pork stand 10 minutes (or if you're me, an hour in the fridge)
    4. Thread 1 pork strip on each of 8 wooden skewers.
    5. Grill into cooked (Dad did this, so I don't know how long.)
    6. Drizzle sauce over pork.

    Grilled Tomatoes
  • 16 cherry tomatoes

  • 1. Skewer 4 tomatoes onto each of 4 skewers.
    2. Grill (once again, that was Dad. I was making the couscous.)

    Green Peanut Couscous
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 5.7 oz couscous
  • 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon peanut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 2 tablespoons chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
  • 2 sliced green onions

  • 1. bring broth to a boil in a 1 1/2 quart pot.
    2. Stir in couscous, cover, and let stand 5 minutes.
    3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine soy sauce, peanut oil, crushed red pepper, and granulated garlic.
    4. Fluff couscous with fork and stir in soy mixture, peanuts, and green onions.

    And then of course, there was dessert. Aunt Annette and I made dessert after dinner. It was very simple. It was a way to use up the strawberries in the fridge. It was all the strawberries that hadn't gone bad (about 20 or so), sliced and evenly distributed among four bowls and topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!