#75 Squash Souffle

3 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups mashed butternut squash (I used banana squash)
6 egg yolks well beaten
6 egg whites, beaten stiff but not dry.

Grease a 2 quart souffle dish.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt butter, add the flour and spices and cook over low heat. remove from heat and slowly stir in the milk. Cook and stir over med heat until it thickens. Remove from heat and add the squash. Let it cool for a few minutes and then add the beaten egg yolks, stirring briskly. Gently fold in beaten egg whites and the poor into the dish. Bake about 40 minutes.

#74 Shrimip and Eggplant Stir-Fry

6 garlic cloves, 1 pressed and 5 thinly sliced
1 pound large shrimp, peeled deveined
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
6 large green onions, greens cut into 1-inch pieces and whites sliced thin
1/2 cup cashews, unsalted
1 medium eggplant diced

Combine pressed garlic with shrimp, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and salt in medium bowl. Let shrimp marinate at room temp for 30 minutes.

Whisk together soy sauce, oyster sauce, sherry, sugar, sesame oil, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch in a small bowl.

Combine sliced garlic with green onion whites and cashews in small bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet over high heat just until smoking. Add eggplant and cook, strirring frequently, until lightly browned. 3 to 6 minutes. Add greens from green onions and continue to cook until greens begin to brown and eggplant is tender. 1 to 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl.

Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet and heat untill just smoking. Add garlic, green onion, cashew mixture and cook, strirring frequently, until just beginning to brown, about 30 seconds. Add shrimp, reduce heat to medium-low and cook stirring frequently until shrimp are light pink on both sides, 1- 1-1/2 minutes. Whisk soy sauce mixture to recombine and add to skillet; return to high heat and cook, stirring constantly until sauce is thickened and shrimp are cooked through. 1- 2 minutes. Return vegetables to skillet and toss to combine and serve over white rice.


*** the first time I sliced all of the green onion in thin slices and cooked it with the shrimp. It was good. The second time, I didn't have any green onions (rather Kent's was out, so used a diced white onion, it was still good!)

#73 Blueberry Muffins

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms only of a 12 muffin tin (or use papers).
Beat egg;stir in milk, oil and blueberries. Stir in remaining ingredients all a once, just until flour is moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.

# 72 Double-Chocolate Rum Cake

Serves 16
Prep Time 8 Minutes
Baking Time 50 to 55 minutes
Assembly Time: 10 minutes

Cake:
Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour or unsweetened cocoa for dusting the pan
1 pkg. devil's food or chocolate cake mix
1 3.9 oz (small size) pkg chocolate instant pudding mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup gold or dark rum
1/2 cup vegetable oil or applesauce
4 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Raspberry Sauce:
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup gold or dark rum

Chocolate Glaze:
2 tbls. butter
2 tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray and dust with flour or cocoa, shaking out excess. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

2.Place the cake mix, pudding mix, water, rum, oil, and eggs into a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low for 1 minute, then increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Batter will be thick and smooth. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan, and place in center rack of oven. Bake 50-55 minutes, or until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. Place on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.

3. Prepare the raspberry sauce; place jam and rum into a small pan on low heat, stirring until jam is completely melted, about 2 minutes.

4. Poke holes in the top of cake with a skewer. Spoon (I used a basting brush) sauce over the warm cake, allowing the sauce to seep into the cake and drizzle down the sides and center.

5. Prepare the chocolate glaze: Melt butter in a pan over low heat; add cocoa and cream and stir until thickened. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Spoon glaze over the cake. Allow the glaze to set and the cake to cool before slicing.

Store , covered in plastic wrap, in the fridge, for up to one week, if it lasts that long.

Recipe from "The Cake Mix Doctor" by Ann Byrn. I substituted applesauce for the oil, in a half-hearted attempt to make it semi-healthy. Oh well.

#71 Rhubarb Pie

Pastry for a 2 crust pie

1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cups of sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel (optional)

4 cups cut-up rhubarb

2 tablespoons butter

Hear oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Lay one half into a pie pan. Mix sugar, flour and orange peel in a small bowl. Put half the rhubarb into the pastry lined pie pan. Sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture. Top with the rest of the rhubarb and then the remaining sugar. Dot with the butter. Put the top crust on, cutting some vents for the steam to escape. Flute and cover the edge with foil. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, removing foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

Let cool.

#70 Radish Potato Pancakes

Grate 4 large potatoes

Grate 2 cups of radishes

finely chop 1 meduim onion

3 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Mix well and fry on a greased griddle until browned on both sides. Serve hot.

My neighbor had a bumper crop of radishes and gave me a large bagful. I found this in a garden cookbook. It was good! I sprayed a nonstick electric griddle with olive oil spray. I think if you fried these in a 1/4 inch of oil they would be nice and crispy. I was trying to keep the fat down.

#69 Blackberry Pie

Pastry for a 2 crust pie (I use an already pie crust, but your favorite recipe is fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 16 oz. bags of frozen blackberries, slightly thawed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter

I used a 10" glass pie pan, so I reduced the oven temperature from 425 degrees to 400 degrees. If you are using a metal pie tin, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line pie pan with half of the pastry. Mix sugar and flour in a bowl. Add blackberries and toss gently. Put mixture in pie pan. Mound the berries in the center if it looks like they will overflow. Sprinkle lemon juice over berries. Dot with butter. Top with the other half of the pastry and crimp edges. I like to cover the edges with foil to keep the crust from getting too dark. Bake 45 to 55 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to allow the crust
to brown.

Cool.

#68 Misty Graveyard Chowder

This recipe comes from "Little Monsters Cookbook" by Zac Williams. It has a bunch of kid-friendly Halloween recipes. I just finished dinner and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups chopped red potatoes, with skins
1 cup sliced carrots
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (15 ounce) can of kernel corn (I used frozen corn)
1/2 cup diced ham (I cut it in big chunks)
1 cup cream (I used half and half)
1 tablespoon flour

Directions:

In a medium saucepan ( I used my dutch oven) over medium heat, add the butter and onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft but not brown. Add water, potatoes, carrots, pepper, and salt.

Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Drain the can of corn. Add corn and ham to the chowder.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour into the cream and then slowly pour the mixture into the chowder while stirring. Continue to simmer, stirring frequently. When the chowder is thickened and bubbly, it is ready to serve.

They gave an option of garnishing with grated cheese and sour cream but I didn't and I don't think I would in the future either. It just didn't need anything added.