OH Delmonico Potatoes!

Mmmm... I start to drool whenever I think about Delmonico Potatoes.

We've all experienced what many call "Mormon Potatoes" or "Funeral Potatoes." Basically, some sort of cheesy, gooey, potato casserole served on Sundays with a roast.

Think of Delmonico Potatoes as those potatoes taken up a *whole lotta notches."

I came across this recipe in "Cook's Country," a cousin to my favorite "Cook's Illustrate

d" magazine. Delmonic Potato Casserole was served as the signature side dish in "Delmonico's Steakhouse" in New York, the longest continually running restaurant in the US (that's a picture of it above). Just reading the ingredients made me want to throw out my mom's Mormon Potatoes recipe (sorry, mom). I know you'll agree once you've tried them. Everyone I've cooked them for eats loves them to the point of scraping every last little bit out of the casserole dish. That is DEFINITELY a sign of a good recipe!

Oh, and don't be alarmed that the only cheese in these babies is Parmesan. The cream and other flavors more than make up for it. You don't even miss the cheddar.

Delmonico Potato Casserole

(serves 8-10, ha ha)

Cook's Country says: "We prefer the buttery flavor of Yukon Gold potatoes here, but all-purpose and red potatoes also work; do NOT use russets--their high starch content will make the casserole gluey. We had good results with Ore-Ida Country Style shredded has brown potatoes, available in the freezer section of most supermarkets.

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 onion, chopped fine

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 1/2 c heavy cream

1 1/2 c chicken broth

2 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

salt and pepper

1 tsp grated zest and 2 tsp juice from one lemon (can be optional)

5 c frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed and patted dry with paper towels

3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 c finely chopped fresh chives (optional)

1) Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in Dutch oven (a heavy wide pot) over med-high heat. Cook onion until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in 2 c cream, 1 c broth, Yukon Golds, nutmeg, 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are translucent at edges and mixture is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Of heat, stir in lemon zest and juice.

2) Transfer potato mixture to a 13-by-9-inch backing dish and bake until bubbling around edges and surface is just golden, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt remaining butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook shredded potatoes until beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add remaining cream, remaining broth, and 1/2 tsp pepper to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in 1/2 c cheese and 2 Tbsp chives.

3) Remove baking dish from oven and top with shredded potato mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and continue to bake until top is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cook 15 minutes. SPrinkle with remaining chives. Serve.

Dress Up Those Carrots!

It's been a few days since I've posted. Sorry I was away... the family and I were in San Antonio, playing away! I need to make some contingency plans for this blog, though. My goal is one new recipe for my readers per day, and I forgot to bring some with me to keep my entries current. Not good! So, I'll start back with a really great, simple recipe. This one should make any carrot-hater a carrot convert.

I'm always looking for new ways to serve veggies because, frankly, I'm not a veggie fan. I grew up with all veggies over-cooked and swimming in cream sauce. A step up from that is my husband's way of doing veggies: steamed with butter and salt. But if you're looking for a little more, give this recipe a try (and if any of y'all have been to "Charleston's" restaurant in Nebraska or Arizona, these might taste a little familiar!).

Glazed Carrots

from Cooks Illustrated

1 lb carrots, peeled

1/2 c. chicken broth

3 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp butter, cut into 4 pieces

1/2 minced thyme

Slice the carrots on the bias into pieces that are 1/4" thick and 2" long. Combine carrots, broth, 1 Tbsp of honey, and salt in a 12" nonstick skillet. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook covered, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are almost tender, about 5 minutes.

Uncover, return to a boil, and continue to cook until the liquid has reduced to about 2 Tbsp (about 2 minutes).

Stir in the butter, thyme, and remaining 2 Tbsp honey. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until t he carrots are completely tender and the glaze is lightly golden, about 3 minutes.

SYRUP? Oh Yes!!!

My brush with fame... Obama, Bush, McCain, and I at the 2008 Freedom Festival 5K

We had company over for dinner two Sundays ago. They have five kids, 12 and under, and so we thought we'd do something fun. I will definitely be posting the recipes for what I made, but that will be for another post. The one recipe I WANTED to be sure you all had first off was for my syrup!

I'm pretty picky with syrup. The brand I grew up with, Golden Griddle, is the only kind I like out of the bottle (okay, I can tolerate Mrs. Butterworth's). Here's the problem: no one sells Golden Griddle in Texas! What?!?!?! Okay, so I lived without it when we lived in San Antonio for 5 years, but I thought that for sure I could find it in the DFW metroplex. Man, was I wrong.

So, when I sent Mark to get syrup, I told him to make SURE it was Mrs. Butterworth's. Apparently he forgot (I should have known! Men are predictable!), but he got some no-name brand instead. So, I thought back on to my favorite restaurant syrup, at Magelby's in Provo, and improvised.

Ironically, I received an email from my sister Hayley with a recipe for syrup she claims is also very similar to Magelby's. Haven't made it yet, but it looks delish! So, if you've got some plain syrup that you need to spice up, try my recipe. If you have a little more time and a few more ingredients, then try Hayley's.

And if you want the REAL THING, go to Magelby's for their all-you-can eat french toast and syrup! It's a 4th of July tradition for the Tintle family, right after we burn a lot of calories running the Freedom Festival 5K! (hence the picture)

Lindsey's Syrup

1 bottle syrup, any brand (we recently used "Log Cabin"

1 cube of butter

1/2 jar caramel (optional... only if you have it)

Pour syrup into a pot over medium-high heat. Add the butter [and caramel] and stir until melted and bubbly. Pour hot over your pancakes, waffles, or french toast! I keep it in the frig just to be safe. Reheat in the microwave.

Hayley's Syrup

Hayley Says: "I got this syrup recipe a few weeks ago and have made it to go with waffles at least a dozen times since. It is SO yummy. Comparable to Magelby's Fresh syrup."

1/2 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 T. Karo syrup

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugar, Karo syrup, and buttermilk, and boil. Once boiling and beginning to foam, add vanilla and baking soda. Serve over waffles, pancakes, or french toast! Yum!!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup by SUSIE!

With as busy as I have been for the past several days, I'm surprised I'm still alive. For that matter, I'm surprised my kids are still alive on the kind of *garbage* food they've probably been eating. I hate it when life gets too busy to cook. I had plans to clean the house and make a nice dinner tonight, neither of which now (at 4pm) are likely to materialize. So, how grateful am I for my super sister-in-law Susie for sending me a recipe???!!! And one that we ALL need at this time of year, whether or not our families have the flu (believe me, I've already been through it twice in the last 6 weeks!).

Before I post Susie's recipe, though, I want to make sure y'all have a link to her blog (I didn't ask, Sus, I hope this is okay!). She is a fellow English major and stay-at-home mom, who has recently taken up her pen and started writing again. She'll be published in the Ensign soon and has already been published in the online version of the "Wasatch Woman" magazines. Her writing is flawless, funny, and unforgettable. Look her up!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

from Susie Angerbauer

Susie Says: "I never even considered making homemade chicken noodle soup until last year, when I tried this on a whim. Can I just say . . . YUM! All of the kids love it and ask for seconds. I don't think it would be the same without the homemade noodles, so I highly recommend making them - they're way easier than I ever thought they would be."

1 whole chicken or 4 to 5 bone-in chicken breasts

2 to 3 quarts water

1 large onion, quartered

3 celery stalks, quartered

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 to 3 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon thyme

2 carrots, thinly sliced

Frozen peas, chopped broccoli, frozen corn, sliced mushrooms (all optional)

Homemade noodles or 1 (8 oz) pkg noodles

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, put chicken, water, onion, celery, parsley, bouillon, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Remove chicken from broth. Strain broth and skim fat. Return broth to pot.

Remove chicken from bones and add to broth. Add carrots, celery, and other vegetables as desired. Bring to a boil again; reduce heat. Add packaged or homemade noodles. Cook 10 to 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender and noodles are cooked.

Noodles

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

1 egg, beaten

Mix flour and salt in a medium bowl, making a well in the center. Mix together milk and egg in a small bowl. Pour into flour well. Stir until mixture forms a dough. Knead on a floured surface 8 to 10 times. Roll very thin. Let stand 20 minutes. (Can let dry 2 hours before cooking.) Cut into 1-inch strips, as wide as desired (pizza cutter works great). Drop into boiling broth.

C is for Cookie

Yesterday I think I made about 300 chocolate chip cookies.

Not because I wanted to eat them, mind you. Quite the opposite (especially since I promised my personal trainer I would lose some weight this month!)... I want OTHER people to eat them. Mark and I are having a booth at our neighborhood fall festival and figured cookies are a great way to get people to stop by (why else would you stop by a dentist's booth?).

I have a really good recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but I thought I'd try a new one. One of my all-time weaknesses is Otis Spunkmeyer frozen cookie dough. Let's just say I prefer the dough over the baked cookie! So I googled "Otis Spunkmeyer recipe" and saw some promising recipes. I printed one out, doubled it, and set out to baking them.

Luckily for me (and my waistline) the "knock-off" recipe dough wasn't even close to tasting like the real thing. Unfortunately, the baked cookies weren't any more impressive. They were bland, mostly flat, and looked like albino cookies (they didn't brown... probably because the recipe called for baking powder instead of baking soda. I should have known; baking soda helps food turn brown!). They were just okay, okay enough to give away a ton of them and not worry that I don't think they're the best.

I knew I needed more cookies, so this time I doubled the recipe right off the Nestle chocolate chip bag. The dough this time tasted better. The baked cookies... not so good. Let's just say that these cookies browned, but they were flatter than roadkill. *sigh* It teaches me to trust un-proven recipes (well, I guess if it's printed on the back of a back then someone has tested it, but apparently not in my oven) over my own tried-and-true.

So, instead of giving you one of the yucky cookie recipes, here is an EXCELLENT one for cookies that taste oh-so-good this time of year: molasses spice cookies a la Cook's Illustrated. ENJOY!

Molasses Spice Cookies

Makes about 22 cookies. Published January 1, 2002. From Cook's Illustrated.

Measure the molasses in a liquid measuring cup. If you find that the dough sticks to your palms as you shape the balls, moisten your hands occasionally in a bowl filled with cold water and shake off the excess. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time. If baked two sheets at a time, the cookies started on the bottom rack won’t develop the attractive cracks. The cookies should look slightly raw and underbaked when removed from the oven. If you plan to glaze the cookies (see recipe below), save the parchment paper used to bake them.

1/3	cup granulated sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces), plus 1/2 cup for dipping
2 1/4	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces)
1	teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2	teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2	teaspoons ground ginger
1/2	teaspoon ground cloves
1/4	teaspoon ground allspice
1/4	teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4	teaspoon table salt
12	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
1/3	cup packed dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1	large egg yolk
1	teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2	cup molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark

1. 1) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/2 cup sugar for dipping in 8- or 9-inch cake pan.
   
   

2. 2) Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.

3. 3) In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.

4. 4) Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough and roll between palms into 1 1/2-inch ball; drop ball into cake pan with sugar and repeat to form about 4 balls. Toss balls in sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

5. 5) Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)

LENTIL SOUP OF THE GODS

We had soup for dinner tonight.

No, it's not the recipe I'm posting, but it did bring up an interesting discussion of soup.

The soup I made today was your typical leftover-hambone-plus-white beans-and-veggies. If you are one of the few whose mother did not make this for you a few days after a big ham dinner, let me know and I'll send this yummy recipe to you. Eating this soup, however, brought up the other kind of soup that is synonymous with the name Lawrence Angerbauer (that's my father-in-law, in case you don't know): Lentil Soup.

My father-in-law, bless his heart, is 89 years old (yes, that makes him 55 years old when Mark was born! Crazy!). He's a widower and has lived alone for 18 years. He has simple tastes... cracked wheat mush, no sugar, whole milk for breakfast, a piece of homemade bread for lunch, and a helping out of his large pot of lentil soup for dinner. He's able to live off this "humble fare" as he calls it probably because he has no sense of taste anymore (honestly). His lentil soup has no taste, either. It is a mixture of mostly lentils, crunchy celery and onions, maybe a carrot for color, and little or no spices other than salt. Palatable, but not desirable.

Enter Cooks Illustrated.

This is where I get my best recipes. I can honestly say that, after years of using recipes from their cookbooks and magazines, I've only been disappointed once-- and it wasn't on their lentil soup (some sort of sauteed spinach recipe, I think). For my siblings who've eaten at Der Rheinlander in Portland, this soup is *gasp* even better. So now, thanks to Cooks Illustrated, whenever I think about Lentil Soup, I can quickly switch mindsets between blah and YUM!

LENTIL SOUP

3 slices bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces

1 large onion

2 med. carrots, peeled and chopped medium

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. minced fresh thyme leaves (or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried)

1 c. lentils, rinsed and picked over

1 tsp. salt

pepper

1/2 c. dry white wine

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 c. water

1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1) Fry the bacon in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, 3-4 minutes. Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, bay leaf, and thyme; cook until fragrant. Stir in the lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until vegetables are softened and the lentils have darkened, about 8-10 minutes,

2) Uncover, increase heat to high, add wine, and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken broth and water; bring to a boil, cover partially, and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape, about 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

3) Puree 3 cups of the soup in a blender until smooth, then return to pot. Stir in the vinegar and heat the soup over medium-low heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Serve. Garnish with minced fresh parsley leaves.

VARIATION (haven't tried it yet, but it sounds good!)

Add 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp, ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper with the garlic; substitute lemon juice for balsamic vinegar.

Hello, and Homemade Snickers

HELLO EVERYONE!

I've gotten a little bored with blogging about my family. Not that I will stop, I just wonder how many people really look at it (which is just my immediate family, based on the few comments I get) or really care to hear about the silly little mundane family things going on. So, I'm going to blog about something that everyone loves: FOOD!

A few years ago I put together a recipe book of Tintle Family Recipes. It had all the recipes and stories from when I was growing up (plus some from in-laws, yummy!). I had a friend ask me yesterday how long it took, and if you don't count the two times my computer crashed with near-finished copies of the recipe book, the real thing took 3-4 months. I've been thinking about doing an update to that book, but remembering how laborious it was to put it together had me searching for easier ways to put a database of "new family favorites" together. Hence, this blog.

My goal with this blog is to include yummy recipes, but here's the key: I want everyone to share their yummy recipes with me! So send me your recipe and a picture (if you can) and I would LOVE to post it! I will post as many as I get! I want this to be a HUGE database of YUMMIES for the entire internet to share!

So, to start off, a new favorite DESSERT recipe! This was served at a recent church event, and is terribly sinful!

HOMEMADE SNICKERS

recipe from Susan Thurman

2 c. milk chocolate chips (divided)

1/2 c. butterscotch chips (divided)

3/4 c. creamy peanut butter (divided)

1/4 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. evaporated milk

1 1/2 c. marshmallow creme

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. salted peanuts

1 pkg. (14 oz) caramels

1/4 c. whipping cream

first layer: Melt together 1 c. chocolate chips, 1/4 c. butterscotch chips, and 1/4 c. peanut butter in a pan over low heat. Spread into a lightly greased 9x13 pan and cool.

second layer: In a pan over med-high heat, melt butter, sugar, and evaporated milk together and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the marshmallow creme, 1/4 c. peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix and add peanuts and spread over cooled first layer. Cool completely.

third layer: Melt caramels and whipping cream together over low heat. Spread over second layer and cool completely.

fourth layer: Repeat first layer.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares and serving.