Annual Trivia Night

Tonight we are going with friends to the 11th Annual Casey Ann Hohman Trivia Night at St. Louis University. Of course, everyone brings snacks to enjoy while we play. I am bringing our perennial favorite mini sandwiches:

King’s Hawaiian Ham and Swiss Sliders

For a sweet snack I am making Paula Deen’s Pecan Pie Bars. I saw her magazine in the checkout lane at the grocery store and picked it up for the cover recipe, an Apple Cream Cheese Swirl Bundt Cake . It looks like a wonderful Fall dessert that I’d like to try, but the Pecan Pie Bars were also in this edition. I blind baked the crust and used the last of my Louisiana Norris’ Cane Syrup to make the filling. We’re heading to Florida on vacation in a couple of weeks and I’ll need to replenish my stock!

Paula Deen’s Southern Pecan Pie Bars

Fall is Back – Time for Trivia and Baking

Here it is. October is back again already. That means the air has turned brisk, the kitchen is cooler for baking and Trivia season has begun. Once again we’ll join our team tonight to compete in the Casey Ann Hohman Memorial Association Trivia Night . This event generates funding to provide apartments for families of patients who undergo heart transplant surgery. For more information:
Heart Transplant Association
Our table always has an abundance of delicious food from savory snacks to sweet treats. I am making a Pumpkin Caramel Pull Apart Loaf and Pesto Chicken Sliders for the event. I got the Pumpkin bread recipe idea from a post by my friend Cindy, who is now living in Colorado. When I saw it I knew it would be perfect for Trivia Night. The original recipe was a video so I’ve transcribed it for you here.

Pumpkin Caramel Pull-Apart Bread

3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just pumpkin)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 13.8-oz. tube ready-to-bake pizza crust
caramel Ice Cream topping or caramel
flour for dusting

In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, chopped nuts and cinnamon. Mix well. Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Roll the pizza dough out into a rectangle. I bought Schnuck’s brand because it was a few cents cheaper. Next time I will spend a few more pennies to buy Pillsbury! The dough stuck to the liner of the tube and didn’t come out in one solid piece! I had to patch it back together to get a sloppy rectangle Use about 1/2 of the melted butter to brush a 8 x 5″ loaf pan and brush the remaining butter evenly over the pizza dough rectangle. Using a spatula, pour the pumpkin mixture onto the pizza dough. Spread the pumpkin mixture evenly over the dough with the scraper spatula or use an offset spatula. Drizzle the top with caramel sauce or syrup. Using a pizza cutter, cut the rectangle into about 18 even pieces. Turn the loaf pan onto one short side with the opening facing you. Put one piece of the dough, pumpkin side up on the short edge of the pan, continue stacking the pieces, dough side to pumpkin side, until you use all of the pieces up, putting the last piece pumpkin face to pumpkin face. You may need to tip the pan backwards slightly to keep the pieces from sliding out of the pan. Gently lay the pan flat on its long side. Reposition the layers to even them out a bit, if you have a little dead space left over. I only have a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, so I had a LOT of deadspace. That did not seem to be a problem. Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the pizza dough has a browned crust. Remove from the oven and carefully flip out onto a serving plate. I’m sure it is best when eaten immediately, hot from the oven, but ours will cool and be covered for transportation later this evening.

This recipe idea comes from Pinterest. The photos were enticing and it looked like just the right size of a sandwich when we will have so much food to share at our table with three other couples who are also bringing delicious food. I made a few changes to the recipe and here’s how I put it together.

Chicken Pesto Sliders

4 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
1/2 cup prepared pesto sauce
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
baby spinach leaves
12 to 16 whole wheat dinner rolls
12 to 16 slices of provolone cheese

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the shredded chicken breast, pesto sauce, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Mix until the meat is well coated with the sauce and seasonings. Stir in the toasted pine nuts. To assemble the sandwiches, slice each dinner roll in half, places 4 to 6 spinach leaves on the bottom half, add a layer of the chicken mixture, add a slice of cheese (may need to tear it in half and stagger the halves for it to fit under the bun), top with the other half of the bun and skewer with a frilled toothpick. Repeat until all of the ingredients are used. Depending on how generously you distribute the chicken, you should end up with 12 to 16 sandwiches. These can be served immediately or stored covered and refrigerated until serving time. The filling would also be good served warm. The combination of the salty pesto and the crunchy pine nuts is great and the spinach and whole wheat buns add a nice texture. We’re about ready to leave now.

Wish us luck!

Leftover Corned Beef=Reuben Sandwiches

One of my favorite things about St. Patrick’s Day is having enough leftover corned beef to be able to make Reuben Sandwiches. I never really thought about why it’s called a Reuben……until today. It’s sort of like who wonders why Kleenex is called Kleenex and not facial tissue? You are just happy to have one when you want one. I did a little internet browsing and there are several possible origins, but this one seems to be the most likely to me.
The story goes that the owner of a chain of hotels in Nebraska sent his son, Bernard Schimmel, to Switzerland for a year to train to be a chef. When he returned he started working at the Blackstone Hotel, in Omaha, Nebraska, where his father played poker every Sunday night. The poker players would reserve money from the pot to order “a midnight lunch” from room service. One night one of the players, Reuben Kulakofsky, asked for a sandwich with corned beef and sauerkraut. Young Chef Bernard mixed the sauerkraut with Thousand Island dressing then stacked it on the sandwich with dark rye bread, Swiss cheese, and corned beef and grilled it. Needless to say, the sandwich became very popular and it took Reuben’s name for all posterity. To be authentic, you should serve it as Chef Bernard did with a sliced kosher dill pickle, a rose radish and potato chips. Here is my take:

Reuben Sandwiches for Two

4 slices St. Louis Style Robust Rye Bread (or your favorite rye bread)
soft margarine for buttering the bread
4 1/4-inch-thick slices leftover cooked corned beef
1 8-oz. can crispy sauerkraut (use as little or as much as you like)
Thousand Island Dressing
2 thick slices Swiss cheese

Butter one side of each slice of bread and place two slices on two dinner plates. Spread a thin layer of Thousand Island dressing on all four slices of bread.

Place two slices of corned beef on one slice of bread on each plate. Add a loose layer of sauerkraut on top of the corned beef, spreading it out to the edges of the sandwich. Place the Swiss cheese on the other slice of bread then carefully stack it on top of the bread-meat-and sauerkraut stack.

Preheat a non-stick skillet for a few minutes then carefully place the first sandwich in the pan, retaining all of the ingredients in the stack. Cook until golden brown then ever-so-gently turn the sandwich and cook the second side for same amount of time. Cook the second sandwich in the same manner and serve immediately. We had crisply Cabbage Slaw and pickled beets as our sides. Only 360 days until next St. Patrick’s Day.

Sweet and Savory Snacks

The coming of Spring also brings the start of Trivia Night season. We went to our first game tonight and placed in the top 4, which is a respectable showing. We also were the high bidders on some excellent Cardinal Baseball tickets on the Silent Auction while supporting the Youth Mission group at the church holding the game. With every Trivia Night, there must be food. Tonight I made the ever-popular King’s Hawaiian Roll sandwiches, which has been posted previously on this site, but here is the link:

King’s Hawaiian Roll Sandwiches

For a sweet snack I pulled out a recipe that I hadn’t made for quite a while that just sounded good. It’s from an old Midwest Living Magazine and was a $1000 contest-winning entry. If you make these delicious bars, you will probably agree that it’s a winner. It’s very rich so I cut the bars into about 1 1/2″ squares. The surprise ingredient is club crackers. I used Keebler Original Club Crackers, which give the bars a nice crunch. It takes a bit of time and patience to assemble, but the results in the end are worthwhile.

Salted Caramel, Chocolate and Peanut Cracker-Stack Bars

8 ounces rich rectangular crackers
1 1/2 sticks butter
3/4 cup honey
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups finely crushed graham crackers
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (use a 9-ounce package or 6 1 1/2-ounce packages)
2 cups dry roasted peanuts, unsalted
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (9 ounces)
1/3 cup butterscotch-flavored chips
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter

Line a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan with nonstick foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Arrange half of the crackers in a single layer over the bottom of the prepared pan. The pan I used was slightly wider at the top than on the bottom so I had to slightly overlap some crackers or break small bits off to get them to lie flat.

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, honey, brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add graham cracker crumbs, reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon of the sea salt. Pour half of the caramel mixture over the crackers in the prepared pan, spreading to cover (a long offset spatula is a great tool to use). Sprinkle with chopped peanut butter cups and peanuts.

Pour remaining caramel over. Arrange the remaining crackers in a single layer over the caramel (going in the same direction as the bottom layer for easier cutting later). Push slightly on the crackers as you place them to secure them in place.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate and butterscotch chips. Microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each heating time, for a total of 2 to 3 minutes until melted. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Gently spread chocolate mixture over cracker layer; immediately sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Chill bars for 2 hours or until very firm. Using the edges of the oil as handles, lift the uncut bars out of the pan. Place on a large cutting board and cut into 32 or 40 squares, or smaller, if desired. I store these in the refrigerator to keep them firm and I think they also taste best chilled.

New Year’s Resolution

Well, here we are in 2015. It’s a time to start fresh again, to make resolutions, to see how long you can stick to your resolutions………..
Each year we vow to lose weight, eat more healthy foods, drink more water and exercise more. These self-promises begin with good intentions and a serious desire to improve, but they never seem to last more than a couple of weeks, at best maybe a month.
I’m going to try again this year. Why not?
It would be even more disappointing not to even try.
The first three promises are more likely to be successful for me, because I personally think that exercise can be dangerous for people who have never really been dedicated to it. Winter for me seems more suited to hibernation than regularly scheduled, structured, physical exertion!
I am going to try to bring healthy foods to work for breakfast and lunch each day. If I’m making lunch for one, it’s just as easy to make it for two. My husband is (willingly) going on this same plan. Today was our first day back at work since New Year’s and I prepared our meals last night. We’ll be repeating them for tomorrow. Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal topped with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and chopped Granny Smith apple, craisins and some pecan halves served with unsweetened almond milk. I don’t want to get sick of making the same thing all of the time, but we had some turkey left over from supper Sunday night so we’re using it up. I pulled the New American Heart Association 25th Anniversary Edition off the shelf to plan some menus for this week. My book is the 6th edition, printed in 1998, but the recipes still seems to be contemporary. Here’s my version of the recipe:

Turkey Garden Wraps

2 tablespoons Greek non-fat or low fat yogurt
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 10-inch Garden Spinach Herb tortilla wraps
1 cup chopped Romaine lettuce, or other lettuce leaves
2 ozs. thinly sliced roasted or pan sautéed turkey breast
2 slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese
8 thin slices of cucumber
1 Roma tomato, ends trimmed, sliced into 8 thin slices
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the yogurt, mustard, honey and black pepper in a small bowl and set aside. To assemble, place each tortilla on a serving plate (I use deli paper to wrap them for lunch). Spread half of the yogurt-mustard-honey-pepper mixture on each tortilla, leaving about 1/2 -1″ bare around the circle. Place a lettuce leaf or shredded lettuce in the center of the tortilla, covering about the same space as a piece of sandwich bread. Next stack the turkey on top of the lettuce.

Layer 1 slice of cheese, half of the cucumbers then half of the Roma tomatoes on each tortilla. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste. Fold two sides of the tortilla to the center. The Greek yogurt is thick and will act as glue to hold the wrap together. Fold the remaining two sides in, carefully tucking in any ingredients that may try to escape. Serve immediately or refrigerate. These can be eaten cold or heated in the microwave on high for about 1 minute to melt the cheese. They are good enough to eat two days in a row!

Teacher Appreciation Lunch

School is drawing to a close and only a few days remain before everyone is free for the Summer. My husband asked me to make food to carry in for a lunch to show his appreciation for the help and support of his co-workers this school year. He asked for some of his favorite foods. He wanted chicken salad for dollar roll sandwiches and a Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Pound Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze. We had a fair amount of Pasta Salad left from the weekend picnic. So as not to waste it, I moistened it with a little more mayonnaise and some St. Julian Red Wine vinegar and sent it along as a side dish. I thought for certain that I’d published the chicken salad recipe before, but it didn’t pop up in my search of the archives.
I first found this recipe in an English Tea book that I think my sister Julie shared with me many years ago. I modified the recipe a bit using apricots instead of peaches and made the salad for Kevin’s Aunt Wilberta for her retirement luncheon that we hosted at our house. She was affectionately known as Willie to her family and friends. She has passed away, but this salad has ever since been known as “Willie’s Chicken Salad” and I can’t help but think of her whenever I make it. She was a kind, gentle and generous soul and she is missed. This can be made using the original proportions or it can be easily multiplied to feed a crowd. I used 5 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts to feed about 15 to 20 people using dollar rolls for the sandwiches.

Willie’s Chicken Salad

1 1/2 cups cooked boneless, skinless, chicken breast, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely chopped
2 tablespoons English walnuts, finely chopped
1 green onion, finely sliced
4 dried apricots, finely diced
2/3 cup mayonnaise (light mayo works well)
2/3 cup (1 single-serve container) apricot (or peach) yogurt- Greek yogurt is good!
salt and white pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and combine well until evenly moistened throughout. Refrigerate until serving. It’s very good on dollar rolls or can be served open-face-style on toasted canapé bread slices or crackers as an appetizer.

Sorry I didn’t take a photo of the chicken salad, but there is one to follow this recipe of the dessert.

Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Pound Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
3 cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup whole buttermilk
1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan (or spray with Baker’s Joy). In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared pan, and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Carefully turn cake out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. When cool, drizzle with the Cream Cheese glaze.

Cream Cheese Glaze

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon milk

In a small bow, beat cream cheese at low speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until combined. Add milk, beating until smooth. Transfer the glaze to a Ziplock baggie, cut a small tip off of one corner and use the baggie like a pastry bag to drizzle the glaze all over the cake Refrigerate until ready to serve and refrigerate any leftovers.

Kevin brought home one, single, solitary piece this evening. That’s all that was left. It is that good. Try it out and see for yourself!

Omelet to Go

Tonight we had soft tacos for supper and there we some leftover toppings. I returned the sour cream to the original carton, but in looking at the remaining items, it seemed like they might make a good omelet. I need to make some breakfast sandwiches for my husband (I prefer cereal on weekdays, he wants something more substantial) so I put away the black olive slices, which he doesn’t care for, and pulled out the remainder of a ham steak we had earlier this week, and diced it into 1/4-inch cubes and a portable omelet idea began to take shape in my mind. Here’s the recipe I threw together and a link to how to chiffonade greens and herbs.

What is the chiffonade technique?

Omelet-on-the-Go

1 tsp. olive oil
1/3 cup cubed ham steak
2 green onions, sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, rolled tightly and cut in chiffonade
4-6 Cherry tomatoes, cut in small dice
1/2 cup shredded Colby and Monterey Jack cheese blend
6 eggs
1/4 cup skim milk
Salt and pepper to taste
6 English muffins, split and toasted on bagel setting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is warming, heat a small non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for a minute or two on the stovetop. Add the olive oil. Swirl to coat the pan, add the ham cubes and heat through. Remove the ham and set aside. Next add the green onions and cook for only a minute or two, until they begin to soften. Leave the onion in the pan and add the spinach. Stir with a heat-resistant spatula just until the spinach is wilted. Turn the heat off and set the pan off the burner to cool. Break all of the eggs into a medium bowl. Add about a teaspoon of salt (or to your taste) and a few grinds of fresh black pepper, add the milk and whisk until the eggs are frothy. Add the ham, spinach, green onions, tomatoes, and shredded cheese to the mix. Stir with a spoon until well mixed. Spray a 6-muffin jumbo muffin tin with non-stick spray. I used a gravy ladle to divide the mixture among the six cups, making sure to evenly distribute the ingredients between them. Carefully place the muffin tin in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes until the eggs are set and the omelets pull away from the sides of the pan and appear firm. Place the toasted English muffin on a piece of deli paper, carefully lift a mini omelet out of the muffin tin, loosening it around the edges with a heat-resistant spatula. Top with the muffin lid and wrap in the paper. Wrap the remaining sandwiches in similar fashion. Store in a ziplock baggie and refrigerate until ready to serve. When ready to eat, remove from the baggie, leave wrapped in the paper and heat each sandwich for 1-2 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave, until heated through. Breakfast is done for the entire week!

Hawaiian-Themed Trivia Night

Tonight we are going to a Trivia Night with friends. We reserved a table for eight and there is a contest for best-decorated table. We chose a Hawaiian theme and a quick internet search helped me to put together a menu of food to go with it. We’re bringing Spam Sushi Rolls, King’s Hawaiian Roll Sandwiches, Fruit Skewers and Coconut Cupcakes. Some people hate Spam or think it’s a food you only eat out of economic necessity for a good source of protein. I don’t consider it to be much different than eating hot dogs. Hawaiians have a love of Spam that originated around the time of World War II. For anyone who’s afraid of sushi because of the raw factor, this might be a good introduction to non-raw sushi rolls. It may look difficult to make a sushi roll, but with a little patience, you can put one together relatively easily. The secret to the rice is to make sure it’s cold and to sprinkle it with rice wine vinegar right after it’s cooked to keep the grains separated. Here are the links to the recipes and some photos of the finished products.

Spam Sushi Maki Rolls

King’s Hawaiian Roll Baked Sandwiches

Ina Garten’s Coconut Cupcakes

Fruit Skewers
Assorted Fruit, cut in cubes. I used cantaloupe, honeydew melon, Crimson seedless Grapes and fresh pineapple chunks Cut the fruit in similar-sized cubes, and wash the grapes. Using 4-inch wooden skewers, place one piece of each fruit on each stick to make as many skewers as you desire. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

We go to the trivia games for fun and occasionally we win. Tonight we know we’ll at least have some good food to enjoy while we play.

Wish us luck!

Italian Subs, Pretzels & Dips, Red Velvet Cupcake Cones

I started working this afternoon on preparing food for tonight’s Trivia Game Night. The first thing I did was make the frosting for the Red Velvet Cupcakes Cones that I baked last night.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confestioners’ sugar
sprinkles or colored sugars for decoration (optional)

Place the cream cheese in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Switch the speed to low and add the milk and vanilla, Beat until incorporated. Add the confectioners’ sugar a little at a time, scraping down the sides occasionally, until all of the sugar is mixed in and the consistency is smooth. Put the frosting in a 16″ disposable piping bag (or use a gallon-size Ziplock baggie with one corner snipped off) and completely cover the top of each cupcake cone, mimicking an ice cream swirl. Decorate with sprinkles or colored sugars .

This batch of frosting was more than enough for the cupcakes. You can refrigerate it and save it for another use. I used the surplus on the mini loaf cake that was baked out of the excess cake batter. I split the cake horizontally into three sections and put frosting between the layers, decorating the top with sprinkles.

Next I assembled two LARGE Italian Submarine sandwiches. There are 10 people on our team tonight so I want to be sure to have enough to go around. Here are the quantities to make a single sandwich:

1 large loaf soft Italian bread (about 24 inches long)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon prepared basil pesto
1/4 pound baked ham, thin slices
1/4 pound Volpi or Oldani hard salami
8 slices Provolone cheese
3 slice prosciutto
10 slices mozzarella cheese
shredded lettuce

If you are transporting the sandwiches, tear off two sheets of aluminum foil and assemble the sandwich on it for easier transfer. Mix the mayo and basil together. Slice the bread horizontally in half and spread basil mayo all over the cut side of the top half of the bread. Layer the ingredients in order. Use 4-inch wooden skewers to secure the sections of the sandwich. Can be sliced to desired sizes at the event, although I went ahead and cut it into five portions so it’s ready to serve. Wrap tightly with the foil and refrigerate until ready to serve. I wrapped it up before I took photos so I’ll try to remember to take a picture before we devour it.