Coconut Cream Pie

Coconut Cream Pie
I decided, since I had all of the ingredients, to make this as a snack for tonight. I was a little impatient with the thickening process, so it was slightly runnier than it should have been. It still tasted delicious though. The recipe is from a Revised Edition New York Time's cookbook (1990) that I own.

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
2 cups scalded milk (this means bringing milk to the point right before boiling)
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup grated coconut
Baked 9 inch or deep 8 inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix 1/4 cup sugar with the cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in the scalded milk. Then add the butter. Cook this mixture in a double boiler or you could use a glass bowl that is oven proof fit over top of a cooking pot with about an inch or so of water in it. Stir this constantly until it thickens. Beat egg yolks and then add a little of the mixture from the double boiler to temper it. Then add this to the mixture into the double boiler.Cook and stir until this is thickened. I believe that it should be of pudding consistency (please correct me if I'm wrong). Take off heat and let cool slightly.
Add vanilla and 3/4 cup of coconut; then mix it up. Pour into the baked pie shell.
Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff, but not dry. Spread this over the pie filling, making sure that the meringue touches the crust at all points. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of coconut and bake until lightly browned on top or about 15 minutes. Cool before serving.

Even though this tasted delicious, I feel like this was a flop for me, just because it was not of the right consistency. It's my fault for getting a little impatient sometimes, waiting for something to happen and tonight this seemed to take forever to thicken. Just part of the learning process for me; must be more patient. Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think. Enjoy. :)

Sausage Gravy & catching up

Sausage Gravy
This recipe was from the Southern Cooking cookbook that I had been borrowing from the library. We had this the other night as part of a breakfast type dinner, which we like doing sometimes. I would have posted this way sooner, but things have been pretty hectic lately and I haven't had alot of time to get on the computer.

3/4 lb. ground pork sausage
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half & half or milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Brown sausage in a large, heavy skillet, stirring until it crumbles. Drain on paper towels, reserving 1/2 cup of drippings in skillet. Whisk flour into drippings until smooth. Cook over medium high heat, whisking constantly for 3 minutes or until browned. Stir in sausage. Gradually add milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Stir in salt and pepper. Serve over biscuits. Makes about 3 cups.

I cheated with the biscuits after a hard day's work. I just used the refrigerated type that you separate and bake. But this was our breakfast type dinner; scrambled eggs, sausage gravy biscuits, and fried potatoes. It was tasty. :)  

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
This is a great recipe that I found in the Southern Cooking cookbook.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping (recipe below)

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix at low speed after each addition. Then stir in vanilla.
Pour batter into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes or until toothpick stuck in center of cake comes out clean.

Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted

Combine all ingredients to make the topping.

This has got to be one of the best tasting coffee cakes I have ever tried. Try it, you won't regret it. It's wonderfully light and moist and tastes best while still warm. Now I am off to watch the second episode of the new season of Hell's Kitchen..yay. :)

Update

I'm sorry that I haven't posted any new recipes lately. I can't really afford to splurge on any more ingredients for new recipes at the moment. I am looking forward to trying some more new recipes out very soon though. I received my new Master Chef cookbook in the mail a couple days ago, so looking forward to trying out some of the delicious recipes from that. I did make my homemade mac and cheese a couple nights ago and have plans of sharing that with you real soon. I am still perfecting it, but it is the dish that I am most known for by my family and friends. I just keep trying to improve on it, even more so. So, please be patient with me because things have been hectic lately. :)

Cookie-Sour Cream Cake

Cookie-Sour Cream Cake

This recipe came from that Betty Crocker cookbook I have been borrowing from the library. 

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
8 Oreos

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and lightly flour a round cake pan. Beat all of the ingredients together, except for the Oreos in a medium bowl on low speed for 30 seconds and then on medium speed for 2 minutes. Coarsley crush up the 8 Oreos, then stir them into the batter. Pour into cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Frost with Sweetened Whipped Cream and garnish with Oreo cookies.

Sweetened Whipped Cream

For 1 cup of whipped cream, beat together 1/2 cup of heavy cream with 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar in a chilled bowl until stiff.

This was such a good cake, one that I would definitely serve to company. It is a very light, moist cake. The crushed cookies in the cake are wonderful because they are not hard at all, they taste like just another part of the cake. It is really easy to make too; it took no time at all. Try it you may like it..we all did. :)

Crunchy Pecan Chicken

Crunchy Pecan Chicken

Found this recipe in that Southern Cooking cookbook I talked about.

1 cup jiffy mix
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon creole seasoning
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup unsalted butter

Mix first 5 ingredients together in a medium bowl; stir well. Dip chicken into buttermilk then dredge in the pecan mixture. Place chicken in an ungreased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Drizzle butter over chicken. Bake in a 350 F oven, uncovered for about 50 minutes.

First of all, I poured too much butter over the chicken rather than drizzling it over as the recipe stated. This was due to the fact that I doubled the recipe because I used 4 whole chicken breasts. So, although good tasting, it would have been even better with less butter, in my opinion. I had no complaints from the family though. :) Also, unless you have a food processor or the slap chop, prepare a little extra time, because it takes awhile to finely chop pecans, lol.

Horseradish Meat Loaf and a new season of Hell's Kitchen

Horseradish Meat Loaf

2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 cup uncooked regular oats
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard

Mix first nine ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Form into a loaf and place in a loaf pan if you desire. I, myself like to cook mine on a cookie sheet. Then mix 1/2 cup ketchup, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon horseradish and mustard in a smaller bowl; make sure to stir it well. Spoon half of this sauce over the top of the meat loaf. Bake uncovered for about an hour and 15 minutes. Then spoon the remaining sauce over the top of the meat loaf and cook an additional 10 minutes.

I found this recipe in a Southern Cooking cookbook that I have also borrowed from the library. First of all I must say, that I could not, for the life of me find any horseradish at our local grocery store, so I made this with horseradish sauce which is a bit mellower in taste. Also, I used a half of an onion, because a whole onion, in my opinion, would have overpowered the other flavors in the meat loaf. This was definitely a success for me because everyone finished it and my husband said that it was the best meat loaf he had ever had. :) So, I was very happy that something I enjoy doing also has rewards not only for myself, but others too.
Okay, so the new season of Hell's Kitchen started tonight. I love that show and the new Master Chef show; they are great. Chef Ramsay is someone who I look up to in the cooking world and it must be a great honor to be a part of his restaurants, as well as getting to learn firsthand from him on Hell's Kitchen. I would love that opportunity. Well, I have to work in the morning, so this is all that I had for today. Goodnight to all. There's more to come tomorrow. 

Mandarin Orange Cake

Mandarin Orange Cake
This cake, although good was not made completely from scratch, since it uses a boxed cake mix. I would have liked to find something a little more challenging; but still all in all a good tasting cake. I found this recipe online and switched it around some, but it still needs a few more alterations.


1 box orange cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can (11 oz.) mandarin orange segments, undrained
4 eggs
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, undrained
1 box (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup whipped cream, thawed


Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease bottom only of a 13 x 9 inch pan.
In a large bowl beat cake mix, oil, orange segments and eggs for 30 seconds on low speed and then 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour into 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool thoroughly.
For frosting, stir together the pineapple, dry pudding mix and orange extract. Gently stir in whipped cream; then spread onto cake. garnish with shredded coconut and mandarin orange segments if you desire. The coconut really helps if sprinkled over the whole cake; which I did after this photo; since it gives it a different texture, along with the textures already there.

This cake was a good tasting cake and was moist to boot. The frosting was a bit too runny in my opinion, but still had a good flavor to it. I wound up using the whole container of cool whip to try to stiffen it up some, but it just didn't work. I would suggest either using less of the juices from the can of crushed pineapple or a bigger box of vanilla pudding mix. As I stated in an earlier post, my presentation of the food I am making is not the best, but I will learn in time. :)

Sweet and Sour Pork

Sweet and Sour Pork

This is a stir fry dish that I found in a Betty Crocker cookbook that I am borrowing from the library.

2 lbs. of boneless pork loin chops
vegetable oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 can (20 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained and syrup reserved
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 carrots cut diagonally into thin slices
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1 green bell pepper, cut in 3/4 inches slices
4 cups hot cooked rice

First of all trim excess fat off of the pork and slice it into 3/4 inch slices. Heat at least an inch of vegetable oil up in a deep fryer or dutch oven (I used a deep fryer) to a temperature of 360 F. Beat flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup cold water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and an egg until smooth, with a whisk. Place the pork slices in this batter and stir to thoroughly coat the pork. Deep fry this pork for about 5 minutes or until golden brown, stirring at least 2 or 3 times. Drain on paper towels and keep warm until ready to use.

If the pineapple juice that you saved from the pineapples does not equal 1 cup, add water to reach this measurement. Heat this up in a wok, if you have one (I currently do not), along with the brown sugar, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, soy sauce, carrots and garlic to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for about 6 minutes or until carrots are crisp-tender. Mix the 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of cold water, then stir into sauce. Add pork, pineapple and green pepper. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for about 1 minute or until green pepper is crisp-tender. Serve over rice.

This recipe was good, but here is what I would change about it after discussing it with my husband. In place of the green bell pepper, I would use the snow pea pods. Also, I used white vinegar since it was not specified what type of vinegar to use; next time I would try apple cider vinegar. I would also add chili peppers to this recipe, to add a slight bit of burn, but not in huge quantities or it would take away from the sweet sour taste of the sauce. My husband and I also talked about serving it as a side dish of sorts, along with some type of dinner roll and some type of garlic shrimp. Being that I am an amateur at cooking, the presentation is not what it should be, but I am sure that over time, it will improve for me. As it is quite late and I need to get up early, I will post the mandarin orange cake recipe tomorrow.

Amateur Cook

Hi, my name is Kim. I am 44 years old, happily married and a mother to four sons; one of whom also shares a love for cooking. I have always enjoyed cooking, although I lost sight of that for awhile due to feeling discouraged. The job that I now have has brought that love for cooking back in sight for me. What is that job? Well, I'll tell you. I work in our town's local grocery store in the deli. I am responsible for the production case, which I fill with sandwiches, salads, and other items that I prepare there each day.

Being busy has kept me away from the joy and achievement that I feel when I actually go all out on preparing a meal that does not come prepared in a box or the frozen food section. It is hard for me to excel in the whole learning process of becoming a better cook and learning new skills related to cooking, due to the fact that my family is pretty picky about what types of foods they like. This has kept me in a little box of what I can prepare. But  have decided that this is something that I want to become better at, so I am going to try out these recipes regardless. So, since I had the day off from work today, I decided that today would be the day that I start. I have been excited all day about this and it turned out fairly well.

Tonight for dinner I prepared sweet and sour pork, which is a stir fry dish; and for dessert I made a mandarin orange cake. Between my husband and I, we came up with some things that we would change about the recipe and the qualities of each recipe, including textures and flavors. I thoroughly enjoyed myself tonight, even though I was very nervous about how well my family would accept these new dishes.

 I will type out the recipes in my following blog post, for anyone who would like to try them out and then explain the alterations that my husband and I decided for the next time I may prepare these dishes.