Baked Feta Cheese

baking a block of feta cheese seems counterintuitive, since feta is usually served cold, but this recipe got very good reviews and is really easy to make.

 
this can be prepared and stored in the fridge up to a day in advance.



 - you can use any size block of feta, depending on how many people you are serving.




 - place unwrapped feta on a piece of foil

- drizzle with olive oil

- sprinkle basil and oregano

- top with capers








- fold foil over to cover and crimp edges to seal


- bake at 350 for 35 minutes





- open foil and drain off liquid.  (the liquid is the brine that is used in the making of the cheese; without it the cheese becomes mild and creamy)

 

 - serve with crackers and sundried tomatoes. (if using the sundried tomatoes that are packed in oil you could use that on top of the feta instead of the olive oil and spices before baking)

Top Secret! Sugar & Spice Walnuts

Here it is - the recipe everyone asks for!

They are very simple to make, and are very addicting to eat.



1. in large bowl, beat 1 egg white with 1 tbsp water.

2. toss 1# walnut halves to coat.

3. in small bowl combine
1c. white sugar,
1 tsp cinnamon,
1/4 tsp nutmeg.

4.  stir well, then toss with walnuts.

5. spread on greased cookie sheet.

6. bake @ 325 for 25 minutes.

7. spread on waxed paper to cool.

Important: do step 7 right away - if the nuts cool on the cookie sheet they will become welded to it and it is difficult to scrape them off.

I will need to find a recipe that uses all those leftover egg yolks...

Savory Burger & Blue Cheese Roll!

Yet another use for Pillsbury dough! They should be paying me or something... :)


1. Cook 1# of ground beef, or moose, or whatever you have 150 lbs of in your freezer.



2. Unroll pizza crust dough on greased cookie sheet, spread with barbecue sauce, then spread layer of cooked meat.  Don't spread all the way to the far end - you want a little flap for closing the roll.


3. Top with crumbled blue cheese and shredded mozzarella.


4. Roll from near short end like a big jelly roll with closing flap last; this keeps it from unrolling while it cooks.  It will look like some kind of big white larvae from a sci-fi movie, but trust me that it will look better when it is cooked!

5.  Bake according to dough package directions.  Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella for last 5 minutes.



6. Slice to serve with bbq sauce.

Turkey Dinner Pie!

This recipe came about as part of my quest to find out what else I can put into a pie.  It is really very easy, and got excellent reviews from my test group :)


You could use leftovers from a turkey dinner,
or just cook about 1 1/2 lbs of turkey meat.  I think the flavor is better with roasted turkey meat, but if you don't have that just simmer the meat in chicken broth with some spices for about an hour.

Press shredded turkey meat into bottom crust.

Top with gravy.

Spread stuffing in even layer.  For best flavor I like to make the stuffing according to package directions but replacing part of the water with one can of chicken broth.  Reduce the remaining quantity of water by 1/2 cup to make stuffing a little more crumbly - it will absorb moisture from the other ingredients during cooking and if it starts out too wet it can overly soften the top crust.


Place top crust and crimp edges together.

Cut several slits in crust to let excess moisture escape.

Bake @ 350 for 50 minutes, covering crust edge with foil after 20 minutes.

Serve with cranberry sauce.  (I don't normally like cranberry sauce very much, but it really adds a lot to this combo of flavors.  Just use a can of jellied cranberry sauce and stir it a bit until smooth)