Categories
Appetizer Snack

A good dip recipe can go ‘onion’ and on

Onion and corned beef cream cheese dip is an addictive addition to the snack table and takes almost no time to put together.
Onion and corned beef cream cheese dip is an addictive addition to the snack table and takes almost no time to put together.

When I rented my first house after I graduated from college, I got the experience of regularly mowing my lawn—a chore my dad normally claimed when I was a child.

My first lawnmower was electric, leading to me learning to wrangle an extension cord around the yard and moving it to various outlets as I reached different corners.

I’m proud to note that I never managed to accidentally run over the cord in the process.

Now that I’m married, Joey has lawn mowing duties—something I was all too happy to relinquish with my grass allergies, but I couldn’t help but have flashbacks with all the rain this week to having to clean out a clogged lawnmower when Mother Nature soaked the grass for a few days in a row.

Part of that memory of mowing my first lawn is the distinct smell of onions.

A past owner or renter of the house must’ve had a vegetable garden at some point, and mowing the backyard meant encountering quite a few volunteer green onion plants.

I never minded the aroma, actually preferring it to cut grass, and once I figured out where the patches were, a few onions made their way into my kitchen, too.

I don’t know how those of you who have gardens are faring so far with the floodwaters, but I hope the green onions still manage to make their way into the local grocery stores and farmer’s markets this summer.

My favorite way to use green onion is in a cream cheese dip my mom makes for family get-togethers. I’m sure the recipe exists somewhere online or in a cookbook, but I know this as one of her specialties.

A couple notes: the corned beef it calls for is a small package, sliced for sandwiches. If you can’t find corned beef, another thin-sliced beef can be substituted. The idea is to have little wisps of meat throughout the dip rather than big chunks.

Also, you can form this into a cheese ball rather than keeping it in a bowl for serving once it sits in the fridge over night, but I’m a firm believer in making it easy to store leftovers and not making more dishes than necessary, so I always just serve it straight out of the bowl.

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Onion and Corned Beef Cream Cheese Dip

Onion and corned beef cream cheese dip is an addictive addition to the snack table and takes almost no time to put together.
Course Appetizer, Snack
Keyword corned beef, cream cheese, dip, onion

Ingredients

  • 2, 8- ounce blocks cream cheese
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1, 2- ounce package sliced corned beef
  • 1 box of sturdy crackers

Instructions

  • Slice the green onion into about quarter-inch slices and dice the sliced corned beef into small pieces.
  • In a microwave-safe bowl that also has a lid for storage, add the cream cheese and microwave on half power for about 30 seconds, until it’s soft and easy to stir.
  • Dump the green onion and corned beef into the cream cheese and stir to combine well.
  • Cover and store the dip in the refrigerator over night and serve with your favorite crackers (my recommendations are Wheat Thin or Ritz type crackers).

If you’re not a fan of onions, you won’t be a fan of this dip (if that wasn’t obvious on its own). Our family loves it. My mom will often double this recipe for our get-togethers, because it’s always a huge hit. Make sure to have plenty of crackers on hand to enjoy every last bit of it. Also, definitely let it sit in the fridge overnight. The flavors will meld much better, and the consistency will be perfect.

Since I no longer have free onions out in my backyard, I had to resort to the grocery store for my ingredients this time. Maybe someday I’ll have to try growing my own.

For now, though, with all the moisture, our backyard has begun to resemble a jungle more than a garden. Maybe I’ll have to try growing something tropical instead.

This piece first appeared in print on May 30, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

Coffee cake comes highly rec’almond’ed

Almond coffee cake is pretty to look at and delicious to eat.
Almond coffee cake is pretty to look at and delicious to eat.

I only have a few rules for choosing recipes I want to try.

First, it has to be decently easy and not need a bunch of weird kitchen implements. Second, the ingredients need to be something I can find locally and not have to order online. Third, I have to want to eat it.

I feel like that third one goes without saying, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.

This week’s recipe just barely met my criteria, because I had no idea almond paste even existed until I examined the ingredients list. I was able to find it in my local grocery store, so I’m hoping the rest of you can, too. If not, there are also other recipes online to make it yourself.

It also nearly upset my rules because the part of the recipe where you’re supposed to “spread” the batter is not an easy task. This stuff is thick and tough to spread, so I recommend dolloping the batter and filling into the pan before spreading it so you have an easier time.

The recipe’s author said she used her fingers to spread it, but I had more luck with a rubber scraper instead.

I found this recipe on the blog “Curly Girl Kitchen.” You can find the original at https://www.curlygirlkitchen.com/2013/01/almond-cream-cheese-coffee-cake.html. I doubled the almond extract and cinnamon.

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Almond Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Almond coffee cake is pretty to look at and delicious to eat.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword almond, almond paste, coffeecake, cream cheese

Ingredients

Streusel Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons cold butter
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Filling Ingredients

  • 8 ounces almond paste
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Batter Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare a 9-inch springform pan by coating it with cooking spray.
  • For the streusel, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl, add the cold butter and use a pastry cutter or fork to work it in until it’s nice and crumbly and stir in the almonds. Put in the refrigerator for now.
  • For the filling, beat the almond paste, sugar and cream cheese until it’s smooth and set it aside (you’ll add the almonds later).
  • For the batter, beat the butter and sugar for about three minutes to get it light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla and almond extract until it’s well combined.
  • Beat in the sour cream.
  • Once the mixture is smooth, beat in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until everything is just combined.
  • Put half of the batter into your prepared springform pan and spread it to an even layer (it’s a thick batter, so this is easier said than done).
  • Spoon the cream cheese filling in dollops all over the batter layer and spread it out as best as you can. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of sliced almonds on top of the filling.
  • Spoon the remaining batter in dollops on top of the almonds and spread it again.
  • Bake the cake for 15 minutes.
  • Remove it from the oven and top it with the streusel and then bake for another 40 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (don’t stick it all the way down to the filling layer, since that will stay gooey even after baking).
  • Let the cake cool for about 20 minutes before removing it from the pan. Let it cool completely and then store in an airtight container if not serving right away. (I kept mine in the fridge.)

While this recipe was a bit more complicated than I often choose, it was totally worth it. The cake was beautiful, and it would be great for breakfast or dessert.

And although it stretched rules one and two, definitely fit rule three, since I managed to eat more than one slice of this cake before it was gone. I guess one out of three ain’t bad.

This piece first appeared in print on May 23, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Pressure Cooker

Even ‘piggy’ eaters will love some pulled pork

Pulled pork is actually an easy recipe to accomplish with a pressure cooker.
Pulled pork is actually an easy recipe to accomplish with a pressure cooker.

Several years ago, we had a planned trip to Kansas City, and Joey announced that he really wanted to do his own “Kansas City barbecue tour.” I was game for an adventure, so I agreed.

Little did I know just how much Joey loves barbecue. He managed to find a barbecue joint for every lunch and dinner we had during our time in Kansas City. I’m still convinced that if he could have figured out how to include a barbecue breakfast, that would’ve happened, too.

While I do love some good, slow-cooked barbecue, I didn’t make it as long as Joey did during the excursion. For our last meal, I ended up eating a salad—with barbecued meat on top, of course—because I just couldn’t do another big plate of meat and beans.

We haven’t tried for another barbecue tour since then, although Joey can normally twist my arm into eating it at least once when we’re up in K.C. I’m also always game to try whatever barbecue experiments he tries on his smoker if he has the time to play with it.

This past weekend, we had no time to get the smoker set up. There was just way too much to do, but I did find some great pork roasts on sale at my local grocery store, so I decided to try the next best thing to real barbecue and break out my pressure cooker for some pulled pork.

I found this recipe on the website “Recipe Teacher.” You can find it at https://recipeteacher.com/best-damn-instant-pot-pulled-pork/. I didn’t change a lot, but I did double the garlic powder and the Worcestershire, eliminated liquid smoke and changed the cooking time.

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Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is actually an easy recipe to accomplish with a pressure cooker.
Course Main Course
Keyword pork roast, pressure cooker, pulled pork

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds pork roast
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground mustard
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • serve with barbecue sauce

Instructions

  • Trim any excess fat from the pork and cut it into four pieces of roughly equal size.
  • Add the olive oil to the pressure cooker and turn to saute.
  • While the pot is coming up to temperature, combine all of the dry spices into a large bowl and roll each piece of roast in the spice rub to coat them.
  • Once the pot is hot, add two pieces of roast and saute for about two minutes on each side to get a good sear on the meat.
  • Remove the roast from the pot and repeat with the other two pieces. Remove the last two pieces and set aside.
  • Add the chicken broth to the pot and scrape the bottom to get any cooked-on bits off the pot.
  • Add the Worcestershire. Give the mixture a little stir and then place all four pieces of pork into the pot, spacing them evenly.
  • Seal the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 50 minutes. Let the pressure cooker release naturally for 10 minutes and then manually release the rest.
  • Remove the pork from the pot and shred it using two forks.
  • Serve with barbecue sauce and/or the liquid from the pot as an au jus.
  • To keep the pork moist when reheating, dump some of the liquid from the pan into any leftovers before refrigerating.

Clearly my pressure cooked pulled pork was nowhere near as delicious as the stuff you get off the smoker, but it was tender and had great flavor and was done quickly, which was also a bonus.

Plus, it reheats well out of the fridge, so we have plenty of great leftovers for our lunches this week.

Someday I may be willing to go on Joey’s barbecue tour again, but I honestly think I’m still recovering, even though it was years ago. An old episode of “Friends” references a character getting the “meat sweats” from too much consumption, and while I’m not 100-percent sure that’s a medically recognized condition, I do believe it’s real.

This piece first appeared in print on May 16, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Here’s the ‘ravi-only’ quick dinner recipe you need

An easy ravioli bake is a quick crowd pleaser for nights when you need to get dinner on the table without a lot of time.
An easy ravioli bake is a quick crowd pleaser for nights when you need to get dinner on the table without a lot of time.

There’s something about May that makes Joey and I busier than normal, it seems. I think it’s just the rushing around of all the end-of-school items that need to get into the newspaper, along with all the excitement of events coming up in the summer that keep us on our toes.

That, unfortunately, means May includes a lot more trips to eat out for dinner, as it’s normally not easy to cook a meal when you and your spouse are both getting home from work at almost 8 p.m.

But the other night ,I actually arrived home at a fairly decent hour, and I excitedly preheated my oven, knowing I had the perfect recipe to make on the fly that could be ready before Joey walked in the door.

The recipe I used is labeled as a “lazy lasagna” by the author, but I will say it’s more like a pasta bake than a lasagna, since it doesn’t really hold together like a lasagna does.

That’s not to say it isn’t awesome, though.

The recipe I got was from the website “InstruPix.” You can find it at https://www.instrupix.com/3-ingredient-ravioli-bake-lazy-lasagna/. The original recipe just calls for the ravioli, sauce and cheese. I added some spices to it, because I tend to think jarred sauce lacks some pizazz, but if you have a favorite one that is spiced the way you like it, skip my additions and just toss those three ingredients together.

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Easy Ravioli Bake

An easy ravioli bake is a quick crowd pleaser for nights when you need to get dinner on the table without a lot of time.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword casserole, cheese, ravioli

Ingredients

  • 25 ounce bag frozen ravioli any variety
  • 24 ounces marinara or alfredo sauce
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • ground pepper to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 2-3 cups shredded mozzarella

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a 9-by-13-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • Spread about a quarter of the jar of sauce onto the bottom of the dish.
  • Arrange ravioli in a single layer on top of the sauce.
  • Spread half of the remaining sauce over top of the ravioli and sprinkle the listed spices evenly over the sauce (I didn’t really measure. I just eyeballed it.) Sprinkle on half of the mozzarella.
  • Layer on the rest of the ravioli (I didn’t have quite enough to make a full second layer, so I just spaced them out a bit more than I did on the bottom), spread the rest of the sauce on top, and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese.
  • Cover the dish in aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
  • Let the dish cool for about 10 minutes and serve.

Joey was pleasantly surprised to come home to a meal that didn’t come in a styrofoam box, and I was super happy to actually use my kitchen for the first time in about a week.

This also reheated really well as leftovers for lunches later on in the week, which was a nice bonus that we appreciated.

For a family meal, pairing this with some garlic bread and big salad or some veggies would be perfect.

I’m sure Joey and I have several more restaurant meals in our future over the next couple of weeks, but I’m glad I have a quick recipe to use if I have a spare 45 minutes to spend in the kitchen.

And with being able to choose from a wide variety of ravioli fillings and sauces at my local grocery store, I don’t think we’ll get tired of this one any time soon.

This piece first appeared in print on May 9, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

Egg rolls in a bowl will get you ‘egg-cited’

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.
To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.

When we were kids, my sister and I often had conflicts over our favorite places to eat. Any time I was in the mood to visit the Chinese buffet, she balked, claiming she hated Chinese food.

If my parents were kind enough to push the issue and decide to go anyway, she always seemed to find plenty to eat, but it was still a struggle to convince her every time.

It was a few years ago that she mentioned going to eat Chinese food with her husband, and I was shocked to learn that she now has a taste for it.

I tried to convince her she owes me compensation, but she seems to think that her acts of denying me Chinese food all those years isn’t that big of a deal. I guess some childhood feuds never end.

Now that I can get Chinese food whenever the mood strikes, I’m a huge fan of egg rolls. There’s something about the seasoned meat combined with some slightly crunchy cabbage that always seems perfect.

Of course, the fried outer shell is less than perfect as far as calorie consumption is concerned, which is why I was very interested in trying a recipe that keeps all the goodies from the inside but gets rid of the egg roll wrapper completely.

The recipe I tried is from the blog “Mostly Homemade Mom.” You can find her post at https://www.mostlyhomemademom.com/eggroll-in-bowl/. I increased the amount of garlic and ginger and added pepper.

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Egg Roll in a Bowl

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword cabbage, egg roll, sausage

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground sausage
  • 8 to 10 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • ground pepper to taste
  • 1 bag dry coleslaw mix
  • one bunch green onion sliced

Instructions

  • In a large skillet, brown and drain the sausage over medium heat, crumbling it as it cooks.
  • While the sausage cooks, combine the garlic, ginger, soy sauce and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
  • Add the cabbage/carrot mix and stir it to combine it with the sausage.
  • Dump the sauce mixture over the top of the sausage and cabbage and stir. Let the mixture heat through for about five minutes. The cabbage will still be pretty crunchy. If you’d rather have it softer, place a lid on the pan and check it every five minutes until it reaches the level of wilted you’d like.
  • Top with the sliced green onions and serve.

I really liked this recipe. The increase in ginger and the addition of pepper did kick up the spice level just a tiny bit, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you might back those off.

Also, while this did reheat fairly well as leftovers, it left quite a bit of juice in the bottom of the storage container, which let the cabbage get soggy quickly, so I wouldn’t leave it in the refrigerator for too many days before finishing it off.

Eating an egg roll in a bowl wasn’t as good as the real thing (I mean, when you take away the fried dough part, how could it be?), but it satisfied a craving, and it was easy to make, which I appreciated.

My younger self would have been glad to see that I was getting to enjoy one of my favorite things. I think I’ll take this dish to a family potluck, just to see if my sister enjoys it, too. I’ll try not to take it personally if she doesn’t like it—and especially if she does.

This piece first appeared in print on May 2, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Try a cake that will have you ‘plum’ ready for summer

A plum cake is not only visually appealing but a delicious addition to a summer dessert table.
A plum cake is not only visually appealing but a delicious addition to a summer dessert table.

Summer fruits and veggies are just starting to make their appearance in the grocery stores, and I’m getting so excited for when gardens are in full swing and all of those delicious offerings are coming from local growers.

For Easter with my family, I volunteered (as I normally do) to bring dessert, and as I walked the produce department at my local grocery store, some beautiful, purple plums caught my eye, and I knew what I was going to make.

The cake I made was not only visually appealing, but it was delicious, too, and it wasn’t all that hard to put together. I can’t wait to see how this cake will turn out with plums later this summer when they’ll be even more flavorful.

I found this recipe on the blog “Once Upon a Chef” by Jennifer Segal. You can find it at https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/late-summer-plum-cake.html. I changed up the spices and their amounts in my version to suit what was in my spice cabinet and for a bigger pop of flavor.

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Plum Cake

A plum cake is not only visually appealing but a delicious addition to a summer dessert table.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, plum

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon all spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk I used skim
  • 1 pound plums pitted and quartered

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a nine-inch baking pan and set aside. (I served mine straight out of a nine-inch pie pan. The author suggests using a springform pan.)
  • Beat the butter and one cup of sugar for about three minutes.
  • Beat in the egg and vanilla.
  • Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk, and mix until everything is just combined.
  • Pour the batter into your pan and spread it evenly. Placing them skin-side up, place the plums in concentric circles around the pan, leaving a little bit of batter between each.
  • Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of sugar all over the top of the cake, and bake for about 60 minutes or until the cake is golden brown a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake part comes out batter free.
  • Let the cake cool before slicing and store it in an airtight container.

One of the happy side effects of making this cake was having several plums left over, which our schnauzer, K.C., was extremely happy to help me eat. (Side note: always remove the pits before giving plums to pups.) As a fruit and veggie fan herself, she’s looking forward to more fresh produce coming into the house, too, especially carrots.

Unfortunately for K.C., only the humans got to enjoy the finished cake, though. It got good reviews from my tiny cousins all the way up to the older members of the family. 

It will be a great summer recipe to have on hand—as soon as Mother Nature cooperates.

This piece first appeared in print on April 25, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Snack

Even granola bars can get into the mix

Trail mix granola bars come together without the oven and with lots of flavor and protein.
Trail mix granola bars come together without the oven and with lots of flavor and protein.

I made the cardinal sin of grocery shopping while hungry recently and came home with some awesome trail mix. 

It had raisins and craisins, pepitas, sunflower seeds, peanuts, etc.

Joey saw it and commented that it looked like the perfect mixture to go into some granola bars.

As always, he was right, and I started looking online for the right recipe to use my trail mix in.

The recipe I found comes from the blog “The Chunky Chef.” You can find it at https://www.thechunkychef.com/no-bake-chewy-trail-mix-granola-bars/. If you want to make your own mixture, see her post to get the amounts of each item, or just use your favorite trail mix. This recipe is infinitely customizable. I upped the amount of vanilla and cinnamon in my version, too.

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Trail Mix Granola Bars

Trail mix granola bars come together without the oven and with lots of flavor and protein.
Course Breakfast, Snack
Keyword granola bar, peanut butter, trail mix

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick oats
  • 2 1/2 cups trail mix a combo of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc.
  • 1/3 cup peanut butter crunchy or smooth
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

  • Prepare an 8-by-8-inch pan by lining it with waxed paper, hanging the paper out over the edges to easily remove the bars later.
  • Add the oats and trail mix to a large bowl and stir to combine.
  • In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the mixture is smooth. (It won’t take long.)
  • Pour the mixture over top of the oats and trail mix and stir until the dry ingredients are well coated.
  • Dump it into the prepared pan and top with another piece of waxed paper. Using a glass or another pan, compact the mixture down as much as possible in the pan so it’s as dense as you can get it.
  • Refrigerate for at least two hours before removing from the pan and slicing into bars. Refrigerate the bars in an airtight container.

The best part about this recipe is you can literally use whatever trail mix ingredients you want. If you’re into the raisins, M&Ms and peanuts mix, that would be delicious, or if you just want to put your favorite kind of nut or dried fruit in, that would work, too.

My bars fell apart a little, which I think was because I cut them long and skinny instead of a little wider and shorter. I also wonder if I didn’t compact them down as much as I should have.

But falling apart or not, they were really good. The honey and vanilla added just the right amount of sweetness, and the cinnamon gave them a warm, homey flavor.

These would be a great summertime snack to have around, especially since you don’t have to heat up the whole house to make them, and it’s nice to have a granola bar that isn’t full of preservatives, too.

I’m always in the mood for a good trail mix. Having some peanut butter and oats tossed in makes it even better.

This piece first appeared in print on April 18, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Appetizer Main Dish Snack

Pizza sticks will make you say, ‘Yes, cheese!’

Cheesy pizza sticks are great for a quick snack an especially good recipe for beginning cooks to try their hand in the kitchen.
Cheesy pizza sticks are great for a quick snack an especially good recipe for beginning cooks to try their hand in the kitchen.

While my sister was still pregnant with my now almost 1-1/2-year-old niece, I noticed my shopping habits change.

I was constantly picking up this cute outfit or that cool toy even before our beautiful Emi graced us with her presence.

My only problem has been patience, as I always seem to find toys or outfits that she’s not quite ready for yet.

The other day, it was a child’s apron and baker’s hat. It was adorable, and I nearly shoved it into my cart before I thought through the fact that (1) this outfit was clearly made for someone more the size of a five-year-old and (2) my niece, while smart and sassy, is just now completely conquering solid foods and probably isn’t quite ready to help prepare them with me yet.

That being said, I have, on occasion, gotten to cook with kids over the years, and it’s always fun to watch them learn a life skill and enjoy their creations afterwards.

The recipe I found this week on the blog “I Wash, You Dry” is one I’ll be setting aside for Emi and I to try out when she’s a little older. It’s so simple there isn’t much to adjust, but I decided to change up the spices a bit. You can find the original post at https://iwashyoudry.com/cheesy-pepperoni-pizza-sticks/.

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Cheesy Pizza Sticks

Cheesy pizza sticks are great for a quick snack an especially good recipe for beginning cooks to try their hand in the kitchen.
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Snack
Keyword cheese, kid-friendly, pepperoni, pizza

Ingredients

  • 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough
  • 40 slices pepperoni I used turkey pepperoni
  • 10 mozzarella cheese sticks
  • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine melted
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  • Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with tinfoil and spraying it with cooking spray.
  • Unroll the pizza dough onto the baking sheet (don’t worry about trying to roll it out thinner at this point, just get it flat).
  • Cut the dough into 10 equal rectangles.
  • Place four pepperoni slices and one cheese stick on each rectangle, and then pinch the dough to seal it around the cheese and meat.
  • Lay the pizza sticks, seam side down, about an inch apart on the baking sheet.
  • In a small bowl, combine the melted butter and the oregano, basil, parsley and garlic powder.
  • Brush it onto each pizza stick. (I used a spoon to get the remaining goodies out of the bottom of the bowl and spread them out, too.)
  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the dough is golden brown on top.
  • Let the pizza sticks rest for at least 10 minutes before digging in.

I didn’t have a kiddo to share these with, but the adults who sampled them deemed them a success. They’d be great with some marinara dipping sauce, too.

They did have quite a bit of cheese spill out of them, which was OK in my book, since I love some slightly browned, melted cheese, but that also made me very glad I used aluminum foil to make clean up a breeze.

As summer is approaching and some of you are looking for good recipes to try out with the kids in your lives, I’d recommend this one.

And if you need a good lead on a kid-sized apron, let me know. I’ve got you covered.

This piece first appeared in print on April 11, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

Do ‘nut’ miss out on some delicious cookies

These classic white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies are a real crowd pleaser.
These classic white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies are a real crowd pleaser.

According to the “New World Encyclopedia,” the macadamia nut hails from Australia originally, but once the Europeans discovered them in 1828, the evergreen trees they grow on eventually made their way to Hawaii in 1881.

It wasn’t long before they became a commodity, and while the United States produces quite a few, Australia is still the leader in growing them.

The website “Australian Macadamias” notes that the nuts were considered a delicacy by Aboriginal people and were used in trade and ceremonies for a long, long time. They even had a special legend for how macadamia nuts came to be.

I’ve always loved macadamia nuts. I will sometimes pick them first out of a bowl of mixed nuts, and every time I was ever approached over the years to buy cookie dough from my students, I opted for white chocolate chip macadamia nut dough.

To be honest, most of that dough ended up as a snack out of the freezer, but I really like the baked cookies, too, so I decided to whip up a batch this week—avoiding the temptation to polish off the dough before it made it into the oven.

The recipe I used comes from the blog “Back for Seconds” by Stephanie Brubaker. You can find the original at https://backforseconds.com/the-best-chewy-white-chocolate-macadamia-nut-cookies/2/. I doubled the vanilla in my version.

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White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

These classic white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies are a real crowd pleaser.
Course Dessert
Keyword cookies, macadamia nuts, white chocolate

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
  • In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until very well combined.
  • Beat in the vanilla and eggs until smooth.
  • Beat in the salt, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder and flour. Stir in the chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
  • Drop the dough about two inches apart in about two to three tablespoon scoops onto a baking sheet.
  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown around the edges.
  • Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for about five minutes and them place them into an airtight container to keep them soft.

I wish I could say more of these cookies made it out of the house to be shared with others than they did, but we thoroughly enjoyed them over the course of the week.

They were a nice change from my normal inclination to make something with darker chocolate or oatmeal, and the taste of macadamia nuts always makes me think about summer, too.

It also makes me thankful to those folks in Australia thousands of years ago who first started harvesting those little treasures so that they made it to my kitchen in 2019.

This piece first appeared in print on April 4, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Salad Side Dish

Sometimes even salad can be comfort food

Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.
Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.

When I close my eyes and picture my grandpa, I see his mischievous smile—one that went clear up to his eyes—and I can hear his laugh. I see his large hands, calloused from years of hard work, which were always willing to help anyone who needed him. And I’ll never see a pair of suspenders, stretched over a plaid shirt, without thinking of him, too.

We lost my grandfather, Bill Franklin, this past week. He was the epitome of a Kansas farmer, constantly working and fixing, even long after he “retired” from planting grain and milking cows.

He was an imposing figure at over 6 feet tall with a wide frame, and he was strong beyond his 83 years. No one would ever mistake Grandpa for a frail old man.

But he was also gentle and kind. He could create some of the most delicate woodworking I’ve ever seen and was always quick to scoop up a great grand-baby.

And although he probably would have argued with me, he was a life-long learner, too, mastering new technology and doing tons of research on his family tree.

What I admired him for most of all, though, was the love he showed my grandma. They knew each other for practically their entire lives, and they never got tired of each other. He loved to tease her, and she loved to pretend she was shocked by whatever it was he said. They walked hand-in-hand wherever they went, and the look he gave her in their wedding photos was the same one he gave her over 60 years later.

He also liked to eat, and while he had a lot of favorites, the one dish that pops into my head is a salad my mom and I took turns bringing to family meals just because we knew he loved it, so in honor of him, I’m sharing that recipe with you. I don’t have an original source for it. It’s one of those recipes that gets passed around families and loses its origin.

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Oriental Salad

Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.
Course Salad, Side Dish
Keyword ramen, red cabbage, sunflower seeds

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces shredded cabbage I buy the bagged coleslaw mix with carrots
  • 1 bunch green onion chopped
  • 1 package ramen noodles I use beef flavored
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup oil I use canola
  • Flavor packet from the ramen
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar I use apple cider
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • In a large salad bowl, combine the cabbage and onions.
  • Place the uncooked noodles into a small plastic zippered bag. Zip the bag and crush the noodles (I normally use the handle of a kitchen knife, but a rolling pin or the smooth side of a meat mallet would also work well.). Break them up into about 1/2-inch pieces. Dump the sunflower seeds into the bag and set it aside.
  • In another small bowl, combine the oil, flavor packet, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.
  • Just before serving the salad, pour the noodles, sunflower seeds and oil mixture over top of the cabbage and mix well.
  • Refrigerate any leftovers.

As we gathered this week to share stories of Grandpa in the days leading to his funeral, this salad graced the table with tons of other food from the wonderful people in our family’s life. Grandma’s fridge won’t be empty for quite awhile.

And while the love we all have for each other will keep us going, there will continue to be a piece missing from our get-togethers.

The hole a man like my grandpa leaves is large and a tough one to fill.

This piece first appeared in print on March 28, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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