Great Review for Stir, Laugh, Repeat

Jewel of a Cookbook, December 30, 2009 By Cynthia Chappelle – See all my reviews Martha has written a jewel of a cookbook!! Great southern recipes! The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients are easy to fine, most things you already have on hand. I love the helpful hints that are included. I have made several of the recipes and some of my favorites are the Cracker bars, Sugar Cookie Bars and the Outside-In Cake. I have received great response from everything I have made. My family exchanged food baskets this year and I included the recipes mentioned and everyone has enjoyed their treats. I also like the fact that you can change some of the ingredients like using milk chocolate in place of white chocolate without ruining the recipe. I can’t wait for the next book to come out!!

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Great Review for Stir, Laugh, Repeat

Chili Verde for the Crockpot

It was cold yesterday.? At least by Southwest Florida standards.? I think we reached a high of about 60F for the whole day.? I’m not complaining.? I live for the cooler weather but I knew that I needed something to warm us up for dinner.? Knowing that we would

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Chili Verde for the Crockpot

Celery Tips

Don’t throw away those celery leaves. The outer leaves can be used as seasonings in soups, stuffings or any other cooked dish. The inner leaves add a nice flavor to tossed salads. And to keep your celery fresh and crips… wrap it in paper towels, place in a plastic bag and refrigerate. The towels absorb excess moisture. This works great for lettuce too.

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Celery Tips

Cookie Tips

Let cookies cool completely before storing. To keep them fresh, store soft and chewy cookies in an airtight container and crisp cookies in a jar with a loose-fitting lid. Use shiny cookie sheets when baking. Dark pans absorb more heat and can cause them to over brown. To loosen cookies that have been left in the pan too long, return the pan to a 350 degree oven for minutes, then remove them from the pan. (This works on cakes too.) Quick-cooking oats, browned in a small amount of butter or margarine can be substituted for chopped nuts in most cookie recipes. A simple way to make round shaped cookies without rolling and cutting is to roll the dough into 1″ balls and place on the cookie sheet 2″ apart. Flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.

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Cookie Tips

Ice Molds

Having a party? Add an ice mold to your punch. Pour 2 cups of ginger ale into a cakepan. Freeze at least 4 hours. Arrange about 1 cup of fruit over the frozen ale and top with 1 cup of ginger ale. Freeze completely. To unmold, let the pan sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes or until the mold is loosened. Carefully place into your punch.

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Ice Molds

Seafood Tips

Scallops – Scallops are highly perishable so cook them within two days of purchase. Before cooking, always wash to remove sand and grit. Crabmeat – Crabmeat becomes tough, watery and looses it’s flavor when frozen. Use crabmeat in a recipe and then freeze. Fish – frozen fish should not be kept longer than one day before cooking. The flavor is better if it’s cooked immediately after frying. Fresh fish has practically no “fish” odor. The odor becomes stronger with age so smell your fresh fish before purchasing.

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Seafood Tips

Muffin Tip

While making muffins, there have been times that I have more muffin cups than muffin batter and I usually don’t discover this until after I’ve sprayed the full pan with non-stick spray or greased all cups. There is a way to keep the spray or grease from baking onto the cups. For those that you don’t fill with batter, fill them about half way full with water. The water also keeps the empty cups from smoking while your muffins are baking.

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Muffin Tip

Crab Pesto

I love Pesto and I love pasta salads but have never tried combining the two. The idea came to me in steps as I started making up my Pesto to go over some spaghetti. I first decided to add the black olives and then added a little mayonnaise to thicken and allow the pesto to stick a little better to the pasta. Then I spotted a package of imitation crab meat. It sounded pretty good so why not? Then I thought about adding the cheese and allowing it to melt. I have a best friend, Dusty, who loves any seafood and any pasta dish so she and her husband were perfect to test this one on. She called me later to tell me that it was perfect just the way it was but her husband Richard decided to spice it up by adding a little garlic and onion powder to his. The only other thing I might try adding would be some French fried onions on top of the cheese while melting. You can also use real crab or shrimp. View the full recipe by going to Martha’s Kitchen Korner

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Crab Pesto

Fruitcake Icing

I can’t say that I like Fruitcake so I don’t even bother to make it. But I do sometimes find myself with leftover dried fruit and nuts that would normally go into the making of fruitcake. What do I do with them? Until today I’ve always tossed them into candy. One of the things I don’t like about fruitcake is the taste the fruit ends up with after it’s baked. Then I came up with an idea…. use them in cake icing. They keep their original taste and aren’t cooked. So since I had a mixture of dried pineapple, coconut, papaya, raisins and nuts I decided to experiment using a coconut sheet cake. For my icing I mixed 1 8oz. pkg of cream cheese, softened, 1 7 oz. jar of marshmallow cream, 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and

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Fruitcake Icing

Cake Baking Tips

I don’t make layer cakes very often but when I do I want them to come out perfect. No sticking to the pan! These are a couple of things I do to make sure my cakes come out of the pan clean and complete. When a recipe calls for a “greased pan” it means to use solid shortening, not oil. And a greased pan means bottom and sides. Plus, you can add a wax paper liner to the bottom of the pan. This is done by tracing an outline of the pan on the wax paper and cutting it out. Place your liner in the bottom of the cake pan, pour in your batter and bake. When done, invert the layer on a rack to cool and gently peel off the wax paper while the cake is still warm. I hope these tips will make your cake baking easier too.

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Cake Baking Tips

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