Grilled Sweet Potatoes

I love this. We make them every time we grill now to replace french fries. We're still tweaking how we do it, so I might adjust this post with time.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes
by Brooke Cheesman Hochstein

• 2 Sweet Potatoes
  
• Olive oil
• Seasoning to taste (eg. Rosmary and Basil)
  

Scrub the sweet potatoes clean, but do not peel. Slice potato into 1/4" slices. I try to angle my cuts to make them a little longer and more oval-shaped. I'm sure there is a term for that which I do not know. In a small bowl, mix the oil and seasonings in a small bowl, and then brush the mixture on each side of the potato. Place the potato slices on a medium-hot grill. Cook for 5 minutes on each side (This time will vary depending on the thickness of the potato slice and the temperature of the grill). Only flip once if you want clean grill marks.
Notes: I've been playing with different spice combos. Sometimes I use different peppers to give it a kick, sometimes I use more subtle spices to just enjoy the potato. I'm no pro on spices so it's more of an educational experiment each time I make these.

The Perfect Boiled Egg

For Easter, we boiled eggs, but I wanted them to be good, so I did a search for the perfect boiled egg. This is what I found on eHow.com

Instructions

Place eggs in the saucepan, it does not matter if it is 2 or 12 eggs, this way works. Just cover them with cold water, not too deep. Do NOT salt the water. Place on burner on HIGH heat.

Place on burner on HIGH heat. Once they start to boil turn on the timer to 3 minutes.

When the timer goes off, quickly take off the heat, put on the lid and reset the timer to 8 minutes.

When 8 minutes are up, take to sink and run cold water over them for about a minute, let them soak a bit to cool off. They will peel best if you set them in the refrigerator for about 1/2 to 1 hour, but you can eat them now!

Never have green or gray yolks again!

Easter Bunny Buns

We made these this year for a gift basket. I didn't put faces on the bunnies, but they sure did taste good. This is copied straight from Mason's April 2011 Friend Magazine.

Bunny Buns

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 5 1/2 cups flour, sifted
• Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter

1. Wash hands with soap and water.
2. Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.
3. In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.
4. Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.
5. Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.
7. Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.
8. Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.
9. For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

Illustrations by Julie F. Young

Note: I used butter instead of crisco. Same amount.

Chocolate Covered Clementines

I love the chocolate oranges you find during the holidays, but I'd never tried REAL oranges dipped in chocolate! And it's so easy! And juicy!

Chocolate Covered Clementines
by Brooke Hochstein

• Dark Chocolate
• White Chocolate
  
• Clementines

Peel the clementines and separate the slices. (I left two together sometimes if they were really small). Melt the dark chocolate. Dip the slices in the dark chocolate, lift out with a fork and tap on the side of the bowl to shed the excess. Place on wax paper to harden. When you've finished dipping all the slices, melt the white chocolate. Drizzle white chocolate over the covered slices for garnish. For best taste, refrigerate and eat chilled.

NOTES: I didn't list quantities because that's all up to the candy maker. I would probably only dip half the slice next time. It would probably be prettier.

Pork Chop and Pineapple Pie

I love Paula Dean. Justin loves her food. He couldn't say enough about how much he loved this meal. He was disappointed when I made pork chops a few days later and didn't make this again. I didn't do it exactly her way, since we only have a gas grill and it was below freezing outside, but it sounds like a fun way to cook when you have guests over. I'll list her original recipe, and then explain how I cooked it.

Pork Chop and Pineapple Pie
by Paula Dean

• 1 boneless pork chop per person
• 1 slice red onion per person
• 1 slice green bell pepper per person
• 2 canned pineapple slices per person
• 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce per person
• 1 tablespoon margarine or butter per person
• Salt and pepper

For each serving, lay a pork chop on a large square of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Top each chop with the onion, green pepper, and pineapple slices. Drizzle with the teriyaki sauce. Top with the butter and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in the foil, rolling ends to completely seal the package. Freeze or refrigerate.

When ready to eat, place packages directly in coals for 15 to 20 minutes. Check to see if the pork chop is cooked through; rewrap and cook a little longer, if necessary.

NOTES: First off, Paula loves butter, so I cut it down to about 1/4 of what she asks for. And that is still usually a bit more than I'd like. I didn't marinate this at all, since I usually don't think about dinner till 1/2 hour before I want to eat. I browned the pork chops a bit on each side first, splashed them with teriyaki sauce, then added the veggies and pineapple. I put a small square of butter in each of the pineapple holes and splashed more teriyaki sauce on it. I cooked these covered in my chicken fryer for about 15 minutes until we were ready to eat! I noticed some people mentioned they added cheese and bacon and such, but I thought it was great just the way it was listed (minus a lot of butter)! I served it with rice pilaf.

Thanksgiving Turkey Again!

I am using the same method of baking my turkey as last year, since it was easy and delicious and I don't feel like experimenting with my husband' s Thanksgiving work party turkey! I don't think I have to bake the "real" thanksgiving turkey this year, since I'll be with FAMILY! ! ! woohoo!

Sweet Potato Soufflé

I LOVE Thanksgiving! ! ! ! I especially love the food that only seems to appear on the table at this time. I made this for a church dinner the other night, and it was a hit. I made a few adjustments to my mom's recipe, not that it needed it. I just wanted to experiment. I'm posting the original recipe for future use. Thanks to my Granny for reading this whole thing to me over the phone :)

Sweet Potato Soufflé
from the kitchen of Carol R. Cheesman

• 3 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans

Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add ½ cup butter. Beat until smooth. Spoon into greased 2qt. casserole.

Combine flour, sugar, 1/3 cup butter. Add pecans. Sprinkle over top of casserole.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

NOTES: I threw in a dash or two of nutmeg and cinnamon while I was beating the potatoes in my kitchen-aide. I'd seen a few other recipes which called for them and it seemed very holiday-ish. I really couldn't tell that it was in there, but it tasted really fabulous, so I thought I would mention that I did so.

I also substituted marshmallows in for the streusel on top. Add the marshmallows AFTER you bake the sweet potatoes, then put in the oven just long enough to melt the marshmallows. I also sprinkled some brown sugar on top because I thought it might look cool, but there was no cool factor at all. I'd leave that out next time. I toasted the marshmallows on accident, but I think I like it better that way.