A couple of nights ago, I fixed some barbecued ribs for our supper. These were “country ribs” which means they had a lot of meat and little bone, because most of the bone had been trimmed away. They turned out delicious! Here’s what I did:

I placed the ribs, fat side up, in a baking dish. I poured a cup of ketchup and a cup of Coca Cola over them. I covered the dish tightly with foil, and baked them about two hours.

When they came out, they were fork-tender and tasty. No other seasoning was needed. I had mashed potatoes and succotash with them, so the meal was heart-warming and hearty fare for us all.

Technorati Tags: barbecued ribs, country ribs

I’ve just come from visiting so you wanna be a Domestik Goddess and find myself delighted in what’s offered there. Not just cooking, but a slew of other things we domestic engineers can make good use of.

I particularly liked the Meringue Cookies recipe. It’s only three ingredients, and I do love three ingredient recipes! I’m going to be trying this very soon, although mine might not be as beautiful as hers are. Those are like little jewels.

I hope you’ll visit her site and give her a high five in comments!

I. Am. So. Hungry. I am sitting here smelling the aroma of supper as it cooks, and it’s making my stomach think my throat’s been cut!

I brined some chicken wings and fried them. I’ve also got rice, corn, and green beans in the steamer - separately, of course. I added about a tablespoon of onion soup mix to both the rice and the green beans. As usual, I added a pat or two of real dairy butter to the corn.

I just popped some home made special biscuits in the oven, too. We used to call these “Square Biscuits” because I would pat them out in a square and cut them into squares. However, it’s not the shape that makes them special. It’s the recipe. Yes, yet another biscuit recipe I use.

You are welcome to pat them out and cut them into squares. Or, you can use this recipe as you would drop biscuits. Either way, they are yummy and just perfect for a fried chicken dinner.

Square Dinner Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 cups milk

Method

Mix ingredients together well. The dough will almost be a batter, it will be so soft. Turn out on generously floured board. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough and gently pat it out into a square 8 inches by 8 inches. Cut into 2 inch squares.

Melt 1 stick of real dairy butter in a 9 inch square pan. Place the biscuits in the melted butter, turning once. Bake in hot (425 degree F.) oven until just lightly golden brown. Serve hot with honey and butter.

For Drop Dinner Biscuits, just skip the part where you pat them out. You may need to add an additional couple of tablespoons of milk to the batter. Drop into the melted butter in either a square or round pan. Flatten slightly with the back of your spoon and flip them once. Bake as usual.

Technorati Tags: supper, brined, chicken wings, steamer, biscuits, Square Biscuits, Drop Dinner Biscuits

This is a very simple recipe for biscuits that are low in fat. In fact, you don’t add any fat at all to them, yet you get a very tasty, tender biscuit.

Low Fat Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour*
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk

Method

Mix the flour and baking soda together very well. Add the buttermilk and mix gently until you have a soft dough. Turn out on floured surface. Knead 4 or 5 times, then gently pat out to about 3/4 inch thick. Using biscuit cutter, cut your biscuits. Place 1/2 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F. until golden brown.

This produces a lofty, tender biscuit with no added fats. The secret is in gently patting out the dough so that you don’t remove air pockets that are trapped when you knead it.

*If you don’t have self-rising flour, then add 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt to each cup of flour.

Technorati Tags: biscuits, low in fat

This Strawberry Blueberry Parfait is a dessert that’s simply beautiful and tasty, too. The best part is that it only took about five minutes to prepare this elegant looking dessert.

Strawberry Blueberry Parfait

Ingredients:

• Fresh strawberries, sliced
• Fresh blueberries
• Real whipped cream or your favorite whipped topping

Method:

Using a pretty stemmed glass, place 1/3 cup of whipped cream in the bottom of the glass. Tap the glass to make the whipped cream go all the way into the bottom or smooth it down with a spoon. Place a layer of sliced strawberries on the whipped cream. Add another 1/3 cup of whipped cream. Place a layer of blueberries on that. Add another layer of whipped cream, then another layer of strawberries. Top it off with whipped cream you form into a peak, then add a fanned strawberry to the very top. Serve immediately so the whipped cream doesn’t have time to collapse.

This is very tasty and it’s also very beautiful. This particular example is already gone. Brandon ate it and remarked how delicious it was!

P.S. I made one for me, too. Yum!

Technorati Tags: Strawberry Blueberry Parfait, dessert, whipped cream, stemmed glass, strawberries, blueberries

Mackerel patties are one of my favorite, basic foods to fix for supper or lunch. (I’m in the south, so here it’s “supper”, not “dinner”. )

These are super simple to fix. You can also used tall canned salmon or a couple of cans of tuna this same way.

Drain the canned fish, reserving the liquid. With a fork, mash the fish including the bones (calcium source) until very fine. Add one egg and about 1/2 cup of flour. Mix well.

Using your fork, dip out a forkful of the fish mixture and drop it gently into a heated skillet that has about 1/2 inch of oil in it. Flatten slightly with the fork.

Let brown on one side, then flip to brown on the other side. Remove to a plate with paper toweling on it to absorb excess oil.

If you want, you can add salt and pepper or other seasonings to the fish mixture, but I find it’s salty enough as it is and has a fine flavor.

So, what about the reserved liquid? You’ll make gravy with that. Just an ordinary flour based, skillet gravy. The fish flavor in the liquid lends itself very well for a topping for the fish patties. I often also fix biscuits to have with this along with a couple of simple vegetables such as sliced tomatoes and sliced cucumbers.

Ok, I know some of you are thinking this is a kind of croquettes. Call it what you will. It’s easy, inexpensive, basic home cooking. You will serve this up in about 15 minutes, so it’s also a time saver.

Technorati Tags: Mackerel, salmon, tuna, canned fish, skillet, croquettes

Sometimes, I don’t want any flavorings in my iced coffee. It’s really pretty good when it’s the regular flavor. So, here’s how I made my iced coffee this afternoon:

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 4 tablespoons liquid sugar (or 2 tablespoons regular sugar stirred into the milk until it dissolves)
• Double strength brewed coffee

Method

Using a 16 ounce tumbler, pour the milk and liquid sugar into the tumbler. Stir. Add ice till the tumbler is half full. Add cooled coffee to fill the cup. Stir.

That’s all there is to it. I enjoyed a glass of this after I came home from town today. It was really hot out and this helped cool me down and tasted so good!

Ever seeking ways to make wannabes at home for things I’ve had while dining out, I came up with this three ingredient recipe for making a simple mocha style iced coffee at home.

Ingredients 

• Coffee, brewed double strength
• Chocolate milk from the grocery store
• Ice

Method

Brew your coffee with double the amount of coffee you’d normally use. Cool it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

For each tumbler of iced mocha coffee: Fill the tumbler half full of ice. Add chocolate milk to cover the ice. Pour in the chilled coffee. Stir well.

That’s all there is to it! I’m going to be experimenting with other flavors, too, such as vanilla and cherry. I’ll post when I try them and let you know how they turn out.

Technorati Tags: three ingredient recipe, Coffee, iced mocha coffee

This is a variation of Thai coffee, that Brandon makes. I love it. It’s also another three-ingredient recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups coffee of your choice (I use Columbian)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 gallon water

Method:

Mix together in a large pan. Bring to a boil. Gently boil for ten minutes, stirring so sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Filter into a half-gallon container. Let cool in the refrigerator for several hours.

Serve over ice, if desired. You can add cinnamon and whipped cream for a real taste treat.

This coffee is very strong but very good and refreshing on a hot summer day.

Technorati Tags: Thai coffee, three-ingredient recipe, coffee, Columbian

These delicate and tasty mints need to be refrigerated until served since they do contain real cream cheese . However, after a day or two, they tend to be dry enough to be safely kept outside the refrigerator.

We have used these at parties and given them as gifts. You can use any flavoring you want but be sure it is real flavoring and not imitation or the taste just won’t be as nice. We used peppermint in ours.

You may also add a drop of food coloring if you want. We left ours white but they are pretty when lightly colored. Divide the “dough” and make a few small colored batches.

I liked just rolling the candy out and cutting it into little pillows with a pizza wheel. However, it’s perfectly suited for tiny cookie or candy cutters so you can have pretty shapes.

Cream Cheese Mints

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 lb. powdered sugar
• Flavoring and coloring as desired

Method:
Mix all ingredients together with a mixer until stiff, adding powdered sugar a little at a time. When it is very stiff, knead with your hands. Shape as desired.

May also be used as the centers for chocolates or you may add nuts, etc.

Technorati Tags: mints, cream cheese