Butter Cookies

I've been really slow at doing everything for Christmas this year. I still haven't finished shopping, I didn't send out any cards, I didn't get to make edible gifts like I thought I would BUT I did find the time to bake some Christmas Cookies with my sister, Danielle and her three beautiful children, Sofia, TJ and Emily. We had a rough start and had to make a couple of runs to the store to replace a broken hand mixer and a missing cookie press but alls well that ends well. We had a great time, the kids had fun decorating the cookies and eating them!



This recipe has been in my family for years. I'm not sure where my mother got the recipe from but it's been around for as long as I can remember. Usually we use a pastry cutter to mix the dough but we tried using a hand mixer and found that the cookies were much lighter and softer. I will definitely use a mixer from now on.

Butter Cookies


1 cup confectioners sugar
2 sticks butter
2 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. In a seperate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to butter sugar mixture a little at a time until all the flour is incorporated.

If you would like add food coloring to a portion of the dough or all of the dough. We like to do different colors for different shapes so we mix the color in batches. Add dough to cookie press and follow directions to press cookies.

Decorate with sprinkles, chocolate chips or whatever you like.


Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Butter Cookies

I've been really slow at doing everything for Christmas this year. I still haven't finished shopping, I didn't send out any cards, I didn't get to make edible gifts like I thought I would BUT I did find the time to bake some Christmas Cookies with my sister, Danielle and her three beautiful children, Sofia, TJ and Emily. We had a rough start and had to make a couple of runs to the store to replace a broken hand mixer and a missing cookie press but alls well that ends well. We had a great time, the kids had fun decorating the cookies and eating them!



This recipe has been in my family for years. I'm not sure where my mother got the recipe from but it's been around for as long as I can remember. Usually we use a pastry cutter to mix the dough but we tried using a hand mixer and found that the cookies were much lighter and softer. I will definitely use a mixer from now on.

Butter Cookies


1 cup confectioners sugar
2 sticks butter
2 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. In a seperate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to butter sugar mixture a little at a time until all the flour is incorporated.

If you would like add food coloring to a portion of the dough or all of the dough. We like to do different colors for different shapes so we mix the color in batches. Add dough to cookie press and follow directions to press cookies.

Decorate with sprinkles, chocolate chips or whatever you like.


Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Blogging out Hunger Campaign - We Can't Let This Bank Fail!

Deb from Jersey Bites coordinated a blogging campaign to help make people aware that the community foodbank of New Jersey is in need of some help. Click here to read her post.

I don't have to tell you that times are tough for everyone right now but what you may not know is that food banks are suffering more than ever. More people are in need of a warm meal and there are less people who are helping to provide those families with food. These people are in our own communities even here in New Jersey.

Did you know:

At the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), requests forr food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. - CFBNJ

Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism. - CFBNJ

In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state’s food banks. – “No Food on the table,” By Judy Peet, The Star-Ledger, Oct. 23, 2008

What you can do to help:

• Donate money.
• Donate food.
• Host a food drive.
• Spread the word.
  
  
  To find a local food bank in New Jersey click here

To help out the Community Food Bank of New Jersey see their website.

Participating Bloggers for “We Can’t Let This Bank Fail” campaign

1) JerseyBites.com

2) RedBankGreen.com

3) Jersey Girl Cooks

4) Simply Sable

5) John and Lisa are eating in South Jersey

6) Padma's Kitchen

7) Chefdruck

8) Life Lightly Salted

9) My Italian Grandmother

10) Cook Appeal

11) Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars

12) Mommy Vents

13) This Full House

14) Paper Bridges

15) Motherhood Avenue

16) The Kamienski Chronicles

17) Down the Shore with Jen

18) Fits and Giggles

19) House Hubbies Home Cooking

20) Nourish Ourselves

21) Partybluprints.com

22) Tommyeats.com

23) Off the broiler

24) Mrs. Mo’s New Jersey Baby

25) IamNotaChef.com

26) SimplyBeer.com

27) HistoryGeek.com

28) Savy Source Newark

29) Momlogic New Jersey

30) SurvivingNJ.com/blog

31) SurvivingNJ.blogspot.com

32) JerseyGirlGuide.com

33) Best of Roxy

34) Citizen Mom.net

35) Lynetteradio.com

36) Jersey Beat

37) Pop Vulture Phil

38) JerseySmarts.com

39) LongBeachIslandSummers.com

40) WildwoodSummers.com

41) Mike Halfacres Blog

42) Somerset08873

43) Family, Friends and Food

44) KateSpot.com

45) NewJerseyMomsBlog.com

46) JCRegister.com

47) New Jersey Real Estate Report

48) Riverviewobserver.com

49) More Monmouth Musings

50) Man of Infirmity

51) Another Delco Guy in South Jersey

52) SweetNicks.com

53) Average Noone

54) Cleary’s Notebook

55) Welcome to my Planet

56) The Center of New Jersey Life

57) Sharon’s Food Blog

58) Morristown, Chatham, Summit, and Madison NJ Real Estate

59) Midtown Direct Real Estate News

60) New Jersey Real Estate

61) BlowUpRadio.com

62) LazlosDen.com

63) The Ridgewood Blog

64) Book a Week with Jen

65) Banannie

66) Cartoongoddess.com

67) Matawan Advocate

68) Take Back the Kitchen

69) The Joy of Toast

70) Route 55

71) Montclair Kids.com

72) SaveJersey

73) Stompbox

74) Joe the Blogger

75) Environmental Republican

76) Stacey Snacks

77) Subversive Garden

78) New Jersey Pathfinder

79) Cooking With Friends Blog

80) Triple Venti

81) Read All About It

82) Rich Lee on Media

83) Likelihood of Success

84) Cape Cuisine

85) The Business At Hand

86) NewJerseyTaxRevolution

87) Figmentations

88) MiddletownMike

89) Caviar and Codfish

90) A Day in the Life

91) Mack’s Journey Through Life

92) Alice’s Restaurant

93) Tiger Hawk

94)Politics Patrol, The Bob Ingle Blog

95) The Food Chain

96) Henson’s Hell

97) Cranbury Conservative

98) Baristanet

99) New Jersey: Politics Unusual

100) Jersey Shore Blog

101) Plainfield Today

102) Beacon Bulletin

103) Journal Square Jersey City 07306

Meatballs and sauce...You ask and I deliver!!!

When I asked some of my friends what they would like to see on my blog I was told Meatballs. I've posted sweet and sour meatballs but not the regular meatball recipe I use in my sauce. My mom makes veal meatballs which I always loved but then I met Steve and he won't eat veal. So now I make beef meatballs using his mother's recipe and I now prefer them to veal. Sorry mom, your meatballs are still awesome but I have to do for Steve what you did for Daddy!!!

It makes me laugh when people say "Spaghetti and Meatballs" because growing up in an Italian American household we never had meatballs when we ate spaghetti. Sundays were usually tubular pastas such as penne, ziti, rigatoni and occasionally fusilli (I loved them as a child, I called them roller coasters) and Thursdays (yes we also had pasta on Thursdays) we had spaghetti, linguini or angel hair, but that was never served with meatballs but instead a meat sauce (ground beef) or what my Mom called a Chicken Gravy (made with chicken legs and thighs), a marinara sauce with no meat at all or a tuna sauce (basic marinara with canned tuna added). My point is that Italian food has become so Americanized and when I hear Spaghetti and Meatballs I think Chef Boyardee...which you will never find in my house. EVER. I'm not sure about other Italian households but we also never ate our meat (sauce meat we called it)at the same time as the pasta. (However, I did take a picture of it together because I was too lazy to fish all the meatballs out of the pot.) It was always served in a platter as a second course with the salad. In my house salad is always served at the end of the meal. We even ate it in the same plate as our meat. That's just how we did it.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here's the recipe.


Lyn's Meatballs

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef (85% lean)
½ large or medium onion, chopped
4-5 gloves garlic (minced)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ cup milk
2 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
½ cup bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients together and then form meatballs. Brown on all sides in olive oil. When browned put in sauce to cook thru. Makes approx. 18 meatballs.









Notice the little one for the cook!!! Yum!!!






Michele's Basic Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cans Tuttorosa crushed tomatoes (use whatever brand you like)
1 medium onion, diced
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
fresh basil, to taste (dried or frozen can also be used)
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (if you like more spice add more)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp. sugar (optional)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning and basil. Stir to combine flavors.

2. Add crushed tomatoes and stir. Fill about 1/3 can with water and swish around to clean tomatoes from sides and then pour into next can and do the same thing. Add to pot. Stir and add sugar, salt and pepper.

3. Let sauce come to a boil and add fried meatballs to the pot and stir gently. Reduce heat and let sauce simmer for 2 hours stirring frequently. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

If you want to add sausage, beef steaks, pork ribs or neckbones saute them in oil in the same pan as the meatballs and add to sauce when you add meatballs putting heavier meats in first.

Meatballs and sauce...You ask and I deliver!!!

When I asked some of my friends what they would like to see on my blog I was told Meatballs. I've posted sweet and sour meatballs but not the regular meatball recipe I use in my sauce. My mom makes veal meatballs which I always loved but then I met Steve and he won't eat veal. So now I make beef meatballs using his mother's recipe and I now prefer them to veal. Sorry mom, your meatballs are still awesome but I have to do for Steve what you did for Daddy!!!

It makes me laugh when people say "Spaghetti and Meatballs" because growing up in an Italian American household we never had meatballs when we ate spaghetti. Sundays were usually tubular pastas such as penne, ziti, rigatoni and occasionally fusilli (I loved them as a child, I called them roller coasters) and Thursdays (yes we also had pasta on Thursdays) we had spaghetti, linguini or angel hair, but that was never served with meatballs but instead a meat sauce (ground beef) or what my Mom called a Chicken Gravy (made with chicken legs and thighs), a marinara sauce with no meat at all or a tuna sauce (basic marinara with canned tuna added). My point is that Italian food has become so Americanized and when I hear Spaghetti and Meatballs I think Chef Boyardee...which you will never find in my house. EVER. I'm not sure about other Italian households but we also never ate our meat (sauce meat we called it)at the same time as the pasta. (However, I did take a picture of it together because I was too lazy to fish all the meatballs out of the pot.) It was always served in a platter as a second course with the salad. In my house salad is always served at the end of the meal. We even ate it in the same plate as our meat. That's just how we did it.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here's the recipe.


Lyn's Meatballs

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef (85% lean)
½ large or medium onion, chopped
4-5 gloves garlic (minced)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ cup milk
2 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
½ cup bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients together and then form meatballs. Brown on all sides in olive oil. When browned put in sauce to cook thru. Makes approx. 18 meatballs.









Notice the little one for the cook!!! Yum!!!






Michele's Basic Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cans Tuttorosa crushed tomatoes (use whatever brand you like)
1 medium onion, diced
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
fresh basil, to taste (dried or frozen can also be used)
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (if you like more spice add more)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp. sugar (optional)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning and basil. Stir to combine flavors.

2. Add crushed tomatoes and stir. Fill about 1/3 can with water and swish around to clean tomatoes from sides and then pour into next can and do the same thing. Add to pot. Stir and add sugar, salt and pepper.

3. Let sauce come to a boil and add fried meatballs to the pot and stir gently. Reduce heat and let sauce simmer for 2 hours stirring frequently. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

If you want to add sausage, beef steaks, pork ribs or neckbones saute them in oil in the same pan as the meatballs and add to sauce when you add meatballs putting heavier meats in first.

Stuffed Mushrooms

These are a great appetizer or side dish. For a more elegant appetizer top cooked mushrooms with a little bit of sauce and shredded mozzarella. Place under broiled until cheese melts and serve.


Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

10 large white mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs (use enough to fill mushrooms)
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel and pull off stems. Reserve half of the stems and chop them.
2. Saute garlic and stems in mixture of butter and oil. Add breadcrumbs and parsley and stir together just until breadcrumbs start to brown. Remove from heat and cool.
3. Drizzle pan with a little oil and place mushrooms in pan. Drizzle mushrooms with oil and fill with breadcrumb mixture.
4. Top each mushroom with a small dab of butter.
5. Bake at 350˚ for 10-15 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked through.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Stuffed Mushrooms

These are a great appetizer or side dish. For a more elegant appetizer top cooked mushrooms with a little bit of sauce and shredded mozzarella. Place under broiled until cheese melts and serve.


Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

10 large white mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs (use enough to fill mushrooms)
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel and pull off stems. Reserve half of the stems and chop them.
2. Saute garlic and stems in mixture of butter and oil. Add breadcrumbs and parsley and stir together just until breadcrumbs start to brown. Remove from heat and cool.
3. Drizzle pan with a little oil and place mushrooms in pan. Drizzle mushrooms with oil and fill with breadcrumb mixture.
4. Top each mushroom with a small dab of butter.
5. Bake at 350˚ for 10-15 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked through.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Pumpkin Mousse Roll for the Baking Challenged

So anyone who reads this little blog regularly knows how much I love bakespace. My new friend Danielle who I have met there shared this fabulous recipe with me. Of course, I managed to make a few mistakes but it didn't matter because at the end it all turned out so well. I made this a second time and it came out perfect! Thank you Danielle for helping me find a dessert recipe that come out good even when I screw it up!!!!

Don't forget that everyone's oven is different. I needed to bake the cake for an extra 5 minutes to cook it all the way through.



Ingredients:

3 Eggs
1 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Pumpkin
1 teaspoon Lemon juice
3/4 cup All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Filling:

8 ounces Cream cheese -- softened
4 tablespoons Butter -- or margarine
1 cup Powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla


Directions:


1. In large bowl, combine eggs and sugar, beating well. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, mixing until blended.

2. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture, mixing well. Spread batter into greased 10-by-15-inch jelly-roll pan lined with waxed-paper.

3. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes. Place cake on clean tea towel sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 10- inch side, roll cake up in towel. Set aside.

4. While cake is cooling in towel, prepare filling. Beat together cream cheese and butter; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth.

5. Unroll cake. Evenly spread filling over cake. Roll up cake (without the towel). Wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Slice before serving. Keep leftover slices refrigerated. This pumpkin roll freezes well.

Homemade Manicotti

Growing up Nanny made homemade, manicotti, ravioli, cavatelli and tagliolini. She made them all by rolling out the dough by hand. I remember when she made the manicotti and ravioli it seemed like it would take forever before we would start cutting (my favorite part because I could help). Nanny always said it had to be thin enough for you to see through it. In the past few years I have gained more knowlege about cooking and realized that what Nanny made were not really manicotti but cannelloni. Manicotti are crepes made from a very thin batter and cooked in a pan on the stove. Since I'm baking challenged and am not very good with a rolling pin this seemed like something I could do. I never thought I would be able to say I made homemade Manicotti but I did it for Thanksgiving! It was surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it. Once you start making a few, you will get the hang of how much batter to use. It all depends on your ladle. You want the crepes to be very thin and delicate. Once you get that part down you're golden!

I used a recipe for the crepes from a cookbook I bought years ago when I worked at Barnes and Noble. It's called Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking by Frank Pellegrino. This recipe can be found on page 55. I only used the recipe for the crepe part. For the filling, I just went with what I know.

I made some small changes to the recipe. I used an 8 inch nonstick omelette pan and used much less batter than stated in the recipe. Instead of oil I used cooking spray and cooked them slighly longer than 30 seconds (at least it felt like longer). I got over 20 crepes which was probably because my pan was smaller than a crepe pan but the size was perfect in my opinion.

Crepes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Approx. 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used cooking spray)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. When well combined, whisk in flour until smooth. Set aside to rest for about 1 hour.

2. Heat a nonstick crepe pan over medium-high heat. Lightly brush it with vegetable oil and return to heat. Pour a little less than 1/2 cup of batter into the pan, swirling to cover the bottom evenly. Cook for about 30 seconds or until it is just set and the bottom is lightly browned. Turn the crepe over carefully with a spatula or a fork. Cook for an additional 15 seconds or until set. Remove from pan and place on a piece of waxed paper. Continue cooking and stacking crepes until you have at least 14. The extra 2 will allow for breakage.

Filling:

I don't measure the cheese for the filling. I just taste it before I add the egg and add more cheese as needed.

2 lb container of part skim Ricotta
1 lb part skim Mozzarella block (of course fresh mozzarella can be used)
Locatelli Romano cheese approx 1 cup
parsley fakes
1 large egg
salt and pepper to taste
Marinara sauce, prepared (I used 2-28 oz cans crushed tomatoes and had enough for two batches of crepes)

1. Mix ricotta, romano cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Taste. Adjust seasoning according to taste and then stir in one egg.

2. Slice mozzarella into matchstick size pieces.

3. Lay crepe on flat surface. Place about 1 tablespoon of ricotta (more if larger crepe) into the center of crepe and spread out to edges. Add mozzarella to center. (If you cut them into long sticks which I did with second batch you only need one stick). Fold one edge halfway over and then fold the other side to form a packet. Don't roll them or they will be too thick. They should be sort of flat.

4. Spread a layer of sauce onto a baking pan. Lay manicotti side by side and arrange manicotti until the pan is filled. Add another layer of sauce on top and sprinkle with romano cheese.

5. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes and sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted.

Manicotti can be frozen two way. Arrange rolled crepes on a wax paper lined pan and freeze for about 1 hour. Take out of freezer and put the frozen manicotti in a freezer bag between layers of wax paper. Store in freezer until ready to use. You could also prepare with sauce and place the whole pan in the freezer if you have the space. Let defrost and then bake when ready.

Homemade Manicotti

Growing up Nanny made homemade, manicotti, ravioli, cavatelli and tagliolini. She made them all by rolling out the dough by hand. I remember when she made the manicotti and ravioli it seemed like it would take forever before we would start cutting (my favorite part because I could help). Nanny always said it had to be thin enough for you to see through it. In the past few years I have gained more knowlege about cooking and realized that what Nanny made were not really manicotti but cannelloni. Manicotti are crepes made from a very thin batter and cooked in a pan on the stove. Since I'm baking challenged and am not very good with a rolling pin this seemed like something I could do. I never thought I would be able to say I made homemade Manicotti but I did it for Thanksgiving! It was surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it. Once you start making a few, you will get the hang of how much batter to use. It all depends on your ladle. You want the crepes to be very thin and delicate. Once you get that part down you're golden!

I used a recipe for the crepes from a cookbook I bought years ago when I worked at Barnes and Noble. It's called Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking by Frank Pellegrino. This recipe can be found on page 55. I only used the recipe for the crepe part. For the filling, I just went with what I know.

I made some small changes to the recipe. I used an 8 inch nonstick omelette pan and used much less batter than stated in the recipe. Instead of oil I used cooking spray and cooked them slighly longer than 30 seconds (at least it felt like longer). I got over 20 crepes which was probably because my pan was smaller than a crepe pan but the size was perfect in my opinion.

Crepes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Approx. 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used cooking spray)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. When well combined, whisk in flour until smooth. Set aside to rest for about 1 hour.

2. Heat a nonstick crepe pan over medium-high heat. Lightly brush it with vegetable oil and return to heat. Pour a little less than 1/2 cup of batter into the pan, swirling to cover the bottom evenly. Cook for about 30 seconds or until it is just set and the bottom is lightly browned. Turn the crepe over carefully with a spatula or a fork. Cook for an additional 15 seconds or until set. Remove from pan and place on a piece of waxed paper. Continue cooking and stacking crepes until you have at least 14. The extra 2 will allow for breakage.

Filling:

I don't measure the cheese for the filling. I just taste it before I add the egg and add more cheese as needed.

2 lb container of part skim Ricotta
1 lb part skim Mozzarella block (of course fresh mozzarella can be used)
Locatelli Romano cheese approx 1 cup
parsley fakes
1 large egg
salt and pepper to taste
Marinara sauce, prepared (I used 2-28 oz cans crushed tomatoes and had enough for two batches of crepes)

1. Mix ricotta, romano cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Taste. Adjust seasoning according to taste and then stir in one egg.

2. Slice mozzarella into matchstick size pieces.

3. Lay crepe on flat surface. Place about 1 tablespoon of ricotta (more if larger crepe) into the center of crepe and spread out to edges. Add mozzarella to center. (If you cut them into long sticks which I did with second batch you only need one stick). Fold one edge halfway over and then fold the other side to form a packet. Don't roll them or they will be too thick. They should be sort of flat.

4. Spread a layer of sauce onto a baking pan. Lay manicotti side by side and arrange manicotti until the pan is filled. Add another layer of sauce on top and sprinkle with romano cheese.

5. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes and sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted.

Manicotti can be frozen two way. Arrange rolled crepes on a wax paper lined pan and freeze for about 1 hour. Take out of freezer and put the frozen manicotti in a freezer bag between layers of wax paper. Store in freezer until ready to use. You could also prepare with sauce and place the whole pan in the freezer if you have the space. Let defrost and then bake when ready.