Chocolate

Here are the recipes from our Chocolate night. Lots of yummy treats and lots of good company. Sorry we missed you if couldn't make it.

Quick Pots de Creme
from the Kitchen of Karen Nations
2/3 cup whole milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons hazelnut flavoring syrup or 1 tsp. vanilla
4 (6 oz.) custard cups
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Mint sprigs, for garnish, optional
Directions
Heat milk in a small pan over moderate heat until it comes to a boil.
In blender or food processor combine egg, sugar, a pinch of salt, semisweet chips, and flavoring. Run processor or turn on blender to low setting. Pour in boiling milk in a slow stream. The hot milk will cook egg and melt chocolate. Process or blend 1 minute, until smooth.
Spoon chocolate into 4 custard cups and chill. After dinner, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add a little sugar and beat to combine. Top the chocolate cups with a dollop of cream and garnish each cup with mint sprigs.
Place cups on saucers and serve.

Chocolate Spots:
From the kitchen of Krysten Hill
Ingredients:
Vanilla Wafer Cookies
Round Pretzels
1 bag of Hershey's chocolate Kisses
Valentine Candy Hearts
M&Ms

Instructions:

Cookies:
Preheat over to 200 degrees.
Place vanilla wafer cookies 1-inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Set a Hershey's chocolate Kiss on the center of each cookie.
Bake at 200 degrees for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and gently press an M&M or Heart Candy into the center of the softened Hershey's Kiss.
Allow to cool completely to let the chocolate harden again.
You can cool in the fridge, but the chocolate will soften again after coming out of the fridge.
Just allow them to sit long enough to harden up again.

Pretzels:
Place pretzels 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Place a Hershey's chocolate Kiss in the center of each pretzel and bake for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and gently press an M&M or heart candy into the center of the softened chocolate.
When pressing down you may need to wiggle the chocolate around a little to fill in any gaps between the chocolate and the pretzel.
This will help the chocolate stick to the pretzel.
Allow to cool completely (same as above).

Turtles
From the Kitchen of Cathy Gordon
Mini pretzels
Rolos
Pecan halves

Place pretzels on parchment paper on cookie sheet. Place Rolos on top of pretzels. Bake at 350 for 4 minutes. Remove from

Chocolate Cake

From the Kitchen of Jill Urmston and Elizabeth Garner
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Satiny Chocolate Glaze

From the Kitchen of Elizabeth Garner and allrecipes.com

/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.
Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.

What's Cookin This Month

Chocolate

When: February 19

Time: 7:00pm

Place: Jill Urmston's Home

919 Foxcroft Lane

Bring you favorite Chocolate dish, or just come, and sample other chocolaty dishes from friends.

Send me your recipe so that they can be posted on the is blog for all to enjoy.

Cookies

Thursday November 13

7:00pm

Jill Urmston's Home

Hope all can make it and please submit your cookie recipe to me.

Bread Recipes

Our Bread and Muffin night was a huge success. If you haven't sent in your recipe please do or just leave it as a comment. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear about them so please e-mail my or just leave a comment.

Wild Blueberry- Banana Bread
From the Kitchen of Julie Mulkay

2/3 C sugar
1 ½ C all purpose flour
¼ t salt
2 t baking powder
¾ C quick-cooking rolled oats (oatmeal)
1/3 C vegetable Oil
2 lightly beaten eggs
2 large mashed bananas
3/4C fresh or frozen wild blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift together sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Stir in oats. Add oil, eggs, bananas, and blueberries, and stir just until ingredients are mixed and moist. Pour into greased and floured 9x5 loaf pan Bake 60-65 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, remove, and let cool on a wire rack. Wrap and store in refrigerator for several hours before slicing. Tip: Substitute raspberries or strawberries for blueberries. Makes 1 loaf.

Oatmeal Muffins
From the kitchen of Jessica Badillo

2 c. oats 2 c. flour
2 c. buttermilk 2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. shortening 1 tsp. soda
1 c. brown sugar 2 tsp. salt
2 eggs

Soak oats in buttermilk for 10 minutes. Mix in shortening, brown sugar, and the eggs. Separately, mix flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Stir ingredients together. Fill baking cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

From the Kitchen of Elizabeth Garner

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Raspberry Bread
From the Kitchen of Willow Moore

(Who we missed last night. )

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 (10 oz.) packages of frozen raspberry (juice reserved)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil

-- combine dry ingredients
-- mash berries
--add egg and oil to the dry ingredients
-- mix in berries and any extra juice from the packages
-- pour batter into 2, lightly greased, 9'' rounds, or equivalent-- bake 1 hour at 350

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

From the kitchen of Tarin Hansen

3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 c canned pumpkin
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Sift dry ingredients. Mix oil, eggs, pumpkin and sugar. Add dry ingredients, mix well until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips. Grease and flour 3 loaf pans. Bake 350 for 60 minutes.

Lion House Rolls

From the kitchen of Jill Urmston

2 tablespoons yeast

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup shortening

2 teaspoons Salt

2/3 cups nonfat dry milk

1 egg

5 to 6 cups flour

Melted butter

Mix yeast and water together and let sit for 5 minutes.

Add sugar, shortening, salt, dry milk, egg, and 2 cups of the flour to the water/yest mixture. Beat together until smooth. Gradually add the rest of the flour until dough is soft. Knead in a lightly floured surface for about 3 minutes. Place in a greased bowl; cover and let rise for one hour. Punch down after an hour and knead again for 3-5 minutes. Then Shape into rolls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise for another hour. Before baking brush with melted butter. Bake in a 400 oven for 15 minutes. After they are done baking brush more butter on the tops.

Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter

1 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whip butter. Gradually whip honey and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Breads and Muffins

Mark your Calenders for the next

What's Cookin Night

When: Thursday October 23

Time: 7:00pm

Place: Jill Urmston's Home

919 Foxcroft Lane

What to bring?

Your Favorite

Bread or Muffins.

Please submit your recipe(s) by e-mail to urmston6@sbcglobal.net

Can't wait to see you there.

Soups On recipes

We had a great time and lots of yummy soup at our last "What's Cookin" night. Here are the soups that were shared. If you have soup recipe that you would like to post on the blog please e-mail it to urmston6@sbcglobal.net

From the Kitchen of Jessica Badillo

Potato Soup

6 medium potatoes
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
6 Tbls. butter melted
4 Tbls. flour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cheddar cheese

Wash and cut up potatoes, onion, and garlic. In pot, bring water to boil. Add potatoes, onions and garlic to pot. Add water to cover potatoes. Cook covered till cooked.

Mix butter and flour to form paste. Stir into pott. Season with salt and pepper and add cheese.

From the Kitchen of Elizabeth Garner

Pureed Pumpkin and Lentil Soup with Orange Juice

Prep: 15 minutesCook: 52 to 58 minutesServes: 6Orange juice (preferably freshly squeezed) lends a citrusy-sweet flavor to this interesting soup. I like to use any variety of winter squash such as butternut, acorn, or even pumpkin. You can also use canned pumpkin puree, provided it is unsweetened.

1 cup dried lentils

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 medium onions, diced

½ teaspoon cinnamon1

teaspoon honey

1 small carrot, sliced1

celery rib, finely diced

8 cups vegetable or reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill or ½ teaspoon dried

Grated zest of 1 orange

1 cup cooked and mashed pumpkin or butternut squash or solid-pack canned pumpkin

½ cup orange juice

Chopped fresh dill or parsley1 cup sour cream1.

In a medium bowl, soak lentils for 15 minutes and discard any impurities. Drain.2. In a soup pot or heavy Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat and cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in cinnamon and honey. Add carrot, celery, and broth. Cover and bring to a rolling boil. Add drained lentils, dill, and orange zest. Lower heat to medium. Cover and cook until lentils are tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Stir in cooked squash and orange juice and simmer 10 minutes.3. To serve, ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with dill, and serve with sour cream on the side.- Taken from 365 Ways to Cook Vegetarian by Kitty Morse

From the Kitchen of Willow Brooks

Tortilla Soup
Ingredients:

1/2 --> 1 Cup shredded cooked chicken

1 small onion, chopped

2 --> 5 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups chicken broth

2 - 14oz cans chopped tomatoes

1- 4oz can diced green chilis

3 TBSP fresh cilantro,

chopped1/2 --> 1tsp ground cumin

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 tsp sugarJ

uice of 2 limes (more if desired)

1 cup broken tortilla chips (or more as desired)

1/2 --> 1 cup shredded Monterrey jack and/or cheddar cheese

cilantro sprigs for garnish

Directions:-- In a 6 qt. pan combine onion, garlic, and broth. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.-- Add all remaining ingredients except cheese, chips, and cilantro sprigs. Stir mixture well, then cover and simmer for 30 more minutes.-- If liquid cooks down too much, add water to make 8 cups total soup.-- When ready to serve, bring soup to a boil. -- Put heaping TBSPs of cheese and a handful of chips in each bowl. Fill with hot soup. Arrange several sprigs of cilantro on top of each bowl of soup for garnish.

From the Kitchen of Jill Urmston

White Chili

2 cups cooked chicken cubed

2-3 red, orange, or grean bell pepers chopped

1/2 onion chopped

2 cloved crushed garlic

2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped

3 15-151/2 ounce cans white kidney beans rinsed

2teaspoons cumin

1/2 tea. salt

1/2 tea. oregano

31/2 cups chicken broth

Tortilla chips and Cheese(opt.)

Place all ingredients in a crock pot and cook for 8-10 on low or 4-5 on high.

Garnish with chips and cheese.

From the Kitchen of Clarissa Wilstead

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Recipe on it's way!

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