Silverthyme

A CookBook Recipes & Other Stuff or How to Keep the Kids from Developing Beriberi After They've Moved Away From Home

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Brownies


I don't remember where these came from, but after much experimentation - they are the best - that is if you like chocolate, and if you don't I can't see why you'd be eating brownies in the first place ....

4 oz baking chocolate

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

5 tbsp butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup nuts

Preheat oven to 350F & grease an 8x8 inch pan

Melt butter with chocolate in microwave - about 1 minute on high - or until butter melts and then stir chocolate til it melts

Beat eggs and sugar together, add extract and beat some more

Stir warm chocolate and butter mixture into eggs.

Stir in flour and nuts.

Pour into pan and bake for 25 minutes

While the brownies are baking you can scrape the bowl - but if and only if your eggs have been in the fridge for less than 6 months or so - or you will prolly die of salmonella and the brownies will burn ...

If you would like less Chocolate tasting brownies (Liz), use milk chocolate instead of unsweetened. For Normal people (other than Chris and Michael) - you really should add walnuts.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Sweet Potato Rolls

These are stolen from James Beard, in a fit of desperation – well, more like hopelessness – no matter how often I tried, no one would ever attempt to like sweet potatoes. After one last attempt, I used the leftovers (which weren’t really leftover, as none had been eaten) to make these – and they were accepted in a way the originals had never been!

Just an update - I actually put closer to 3/4 - 1 cup sweet potatoes in these - I think you are all old enough to handle this information ...


2 pkgs yeast

¼ cup sugar

½ cup warm water

3 tbsp. melted Butter

1 tbsp. Salt

3 eggs (room temp)

Flour

½ cup mashed sweet potatoes

something to glaze rolls – egg, cream, milk …


Proof the yeast with 1 tbsp. Sugar and warm water.

Add sugar, butter, salt, and 2 eggs and stir

Stir in the sweet potatoes and then the flour

Knead until the dough springs back, and shape into a ball

Place in a buttered bowl, cover and let rise

When risen, punch down and shape into golf-ball sized rolls or any other shape you like

Place on a buttered baking sheet, cover and let rise again

Brush with the remaining egg

Bake in preheated 375F oven for about 20 minutes

Labels:

Pork Chops and Apples



This recipe is quite old - well, old in the sense that I've had it forever - I remember an Irish source, or at least one that claimed to be so. I don't make pork chops often, since buying a pork loin seems so much easier and satisfying, and pork chops - at least the way I've made them, seem to end up tough and dry ...

This recipe keeps them moist and tender and they can safely be over cooked. Pepper is important here - so use more than you think you might need.





Center cut pork chops - at least 1/2 inch thick

Onions

Apples - about 1 large/chop

Salt

Pepper

Thyme

Brown the chops in a bit of oil or whatever.

Peel and cut the apples in rather large pieces.

How To Chop an Onion

This is where that infamous Paint-derived onion picture appeared in the first edition
- I won't attempt to repeat it here - it was one of those once in a lifetime achievements which don't lend themselves to repetition ...

http://www.ehow.com/how_13796_chop-onion.html


See how nice it is to live in modern times - someone else is always willing to do all the work for you!


Any way - I now prefer to slice the onions in thick slices, rendering this advice useless, but only for this recipe, chopping an onion is still a quite useful skill ....

To get on with it, chop or slice the onions -

In some sort of casserole thingy - anything with a lid that is also oven proof - layer the onions, apples, chops, repeat etc. Sprinkle each layer with salt and pepper, and perhaps a pinch of thyme - or better yet a fresh sprig.

You could, if you like, deglaze the pan the chops browned in with a small bit of wine, apple juice, water, or something and add the result to the casserole.

Bake at 350F for about an hour, or until the chops are fork tender. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Not All Pictures are worth a thousand words ...

Someone needs to let me know if this looks appetizing or more like something out of a culinary nightmare ...

It is, if you can't tell a picture of the about to be posted Pork chops and Apples. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Waffles with Syrup


Having been informed that waffles have a better appearance with the application of syrup and butter - I tried it and here is how they looked before I ate them.


They also taste better this way ...Posted by Picasa