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I've always liked meringue, but it look me a really long time to figure out how to succeed at meringue when it was used as a pie topper. If you still can't succeed at meringue on pies, this recipe is for you.

Easy Lemon "Meringue" Pie

Ingredients:

1 deep dish frozen pie crust (9 inch pie crust)
1 box (4.3 oz) Jell-O Cook and Serve Lemon Pudding and Pie Filling (as well as the sugar, water, and egg yolks called for on the package)
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1/4 cup milk
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip Whipped Topping

Directions:

Bake pie crust according to package instructions. Let cool.

Prepare lemon pudding and pie filling according to package directions. Once pudding and pie filling is set, spread into the bottom of the pie crust. Place in the refrigerator while preparing the "meringue."

Microwave marshmallows and milk in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until marshmallows are completely melted, stirring after 1 min.; stir until blended. Refrigerate 15 minutes or until completely cooled. Whisk in Cool Whip; spread over pie. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

Source: This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe from the Kraft website. I made quite a few changes. You can find it here.

Notes: The original recipe called for a crumb crust made from Nilla wafers and a filling that used Jell-O (not the pudding, the gelatin). I was worried about the Jell-O filling and that it might be too much like Jell-O. Well, I was right. I made the recipe found on the Kraft website and was disappointed. It was jarring to have an almost Jell-O layer in a pie. Plus, the crumb crust was all wrong. The "meringue," however, was spot on. It is an amazing stand-in for meringue. It is a little sweeter than real meringue, but it is very similar...and much easier and faster to make than real meringue. I felt that this had potential, so I made it again the week after Thanksgiving and substituted a regular frozen pie crust for the crumb crust. The combination of the lemon and the meringue just needed a flaky pastry crust instead of a crumb crust. I also missed the more traditional lemon filling, so I substituted the package of lemon pudding and pie filling for the Jell-O concoction that was called for in the original recipe. I really loved how it turned out. It was refreshing, light, and delicious. Good stuff!

Did You Forget to Thaw the Turkey? Bake it from Frozen!

 

If you are like me, you either forgot to thaw the turkey in the refrigerator five days in advance, or it is hard to make room in the refrigerator when you have so many other Thanksgiving feast items and ingredients in there.

Well, Thanksgiving isn't ruined. You can bake your turkey from frozen! This isn't a fancy turkey, this is a "get the job done" turkey. You won't be able to brine this turkey or inject all sorts of fancy seasonings, etc., but you will have an actual cooked turkey to serve if you blew it in the thawing department.

Here the the sources I found to back this up:

1. Williams-Sonoma blog
2. the kitchn website
3. The Mayo Clinic (of all places!)
4. Wikihow 

Here's what you do:

 

Cooking a Frozen Turkey

Ingredients:

Frozen turkey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Unwrap turkey and place in roasting pan. No need to wash turkey. Bacteria won't have time to grow.

Place the turkey in the oven and bake for two hours. After two hours, check to see if the turkey is thawed enough to remove the giblet packet. If the packet is a paper packet, you can actually cook it in the turkey, but if it is plastic, it has to be removed, otherwise it will melt. If the giblet packet is plastic and it melts, it will contaminate your turkey with harmful chemicals and you will have to throw the whole thing out (packet, turkey, and all). My packet was made from paper, but I still opted to remove it. I wasn't able to remove mine until around the three hour mark though. I never did get the neck out (until I was actually cleaning the bones after carving the turkey), however, the neck can safely cook inside the whole time.

From completely frozen to completely cooked, your turkey will take about 50 percent longer to cook than normal. So, if you have a 21 pound turkey (like I did) that would normally take about 5 hours to cook, you have to add a 50 percent longer cooking time--or 2 1/2 hours--for a total of 7 1/2 hours of cooking time.

The turkey cooks as it thaws, and all bacteria that might have an opportunity to grow as the turkey usually thaws has no opportunity to grow and do any damage when you bake the turkey from frozen.

The skin on my turkey started to brown pretty early, so I tented it lightly with a little aluminum foil to keep it from over-browning and drying out.

You will want to use a meat thermometer to test different parts of the bird, but when all of your readings come out at 165 degrees or higher, your turkey is done.

Estimated Cooking Times for Frozen Turkeys:

8-12 lb. turkey: 4 to 4 1/2 hours
12-14 lb. turkey: 4 1/2 to 5 3/4 hours
14-18 lb. turkey: 5 3/4 to 6 1/4 hours
18-20 lb. turkey: 6 1/4 to 6 3/4 hours
20-24 lb. turkey: 6 3/4 to 7 1/2 hours

Source: The four websites listed above.

Notes: Surprisingly, my turkey was well done throughout and yet still quite moist. The moisture frozen within the turkey acted as a natural basting process as the turkey cooked. This worked great!

On the actual day of Thanksgiving this year, I made my turkey in a slow cooker (I bought two full turkey breasts and cut out the backbone and fit them into my two slow cookers). However, I had bought a full turkey to make around Christmas time just so we could have turkey sandwiches. I ended up getting a terrible cold right before Christmas break and I was too sick and tired to cook a turkey. I ended up making the turkey in February! It was a very last minute decision. One morning I thought, "I should see if I can bake a turkey from frozen." When I found out I could, I thought, "Great. I am getting that turkey out of my freezer and baking it today. We are having turkey sandwiches for dinner tonight!"

Oh, and since one of the sources is the Mayo Clinic, you know this has to be a safe thing to do!

Also, I didn't think to take a picture of the finished turkey before I started carving it, so the only pictures I have were after I sliced the turkey up to put it in the fridge.

It's a Sign of the Season

 

I just have to make at least one thing (or five) with pumpkin during this time of year. However, with a new baby, I needed a shortcut. This is the perfect shortcut for pumpkin bread (unless you want the ultimate shortcut of picking up some pumpkin bread through the drive through at Kneaders).

Cake Mix Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix
3/4 cup white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can solid-pack pumpkin
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

Stir cake mix and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat pumpkin, eggs, and milk with the cake mix mixture until you have a smooth batter. Stir chocolate chips into the batter, if using.

Pour batter into prepared bread pan.

Bake bread in preheated oven until top is golden and springs back when lightly pressed, and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 60-70 minutes.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by paisleyorchid. You can find it here.

Notes: This tasted just like the bread at Kneaders, so I was satisfied. Besides that, my quick bread recipes are unreliable up here on top of the mountain I live on because of the high altitude. If I use a cake mix, my bread is guaranteed not to fall.

The recipe found on Allrecipes had the option to create a smaller loaf of bread and 24 mini muffins. I didn't want muffins, so I just poured it all into one loaf pan. As a result, it needed a long time to bake. I pulled mine out of the oven at around 60 minutes...but I should have left it in for another 10 minutes or so.

Quick Substitutions: Coconut Milk

Do you need coconut milk, but don't have any in your cupboard? However, do you happen to have some flaked coconut on hand? If so, you can make your own coconut milk!

Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

1 cup flake coconut
1 cup milk

Directions:

Simmer 1 cup coconut in 1 cup milk until mixture begins to foam. Strain. Use in beverages, or in baking and in cooking.

Refrigerate any leftovers.

Source: I found this recipe on the back of a package of sweetened flaked coconut (Kroger brand) and thought it was definitely a handy thing to know!

Notes: I haven't actually tried this, but I wanted to keep it in a safe place so that I could try it when the need arises!

Cooking When You Have Young Kids, Part 4: Shortcut Sandwiches

 

I just shared a few pizza shortcut recipes the other day. So, now I thought I would share some sandwich shortcuts. Sometimes you want a filling meal that takes the same amount of time as throwing in a store-bought frozen dinner into the oven...but you want it to taste better than a frozen dinner.

That's where shortcuts come in to play. These sandwiches take so little preparation, it's ridiculous. If you want to go all out on preparation, go to town on the side dishes, but take it easy on the main dish with these recipes.

The first sandwich is a French dip/Arby's style sandwich. Now, I know that some TV shows (particularly Family Guy and Simpson's) make fun of Arby's. But I love Arby's. I don't know why they get a bad rap sometimes. I like their roast beef!

The second sandwich is a more casual take on Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Take it easy and have a sandwich!


Shortcut French Dip Sandwiches (Arby's Style Sandwiches)

Ingredients:

14-16 oz thinly sliced roast beef
1 can French onion soup (condensed, from a 10.5 oz can)
1 can beef consomme (10.5 oz can)
1 cup water
6 hoagie rolls or hamburger buns

Directions:

Place beef in a slow cooker (separate each slice of beef, don't just place the beef in the slow cooker if it is still stacked together). Pour French onion soup, beef consomme, and water over top.

Cook on high for 1 hour.

Toast hoagie rolls or hamburger buns. Place drained deli roast beef slices on top of rolls or buns. Dip in slow cooker dripping/au jus, if desired.

Source: This recipe was inspired by a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com (though I didn't follow their recipe exactly). You can find that recipe here.

Notes: Basically, the changes I made were to add a can of French onion soup and omit the Provolone cheese. I felt like I didn't need the extra calories from the cheese.

Also, if you would like, you can do a big batch of this and use a slow cooker instead of heating it on the stove top. Though if you use the stove top, it is ready in only a few minutes.

You don't need to use fancy deli roast beef for this recipe. I've made it twice now. The first time, I used freshly shaved roast beef from the deli counter. The second time, I used 2 containers of Kroger - Deli Thin Sliced Roast Beef 96% Fat Free. I actually preferred the pre-packaged roast beef for this recipe. It will save you a lot of money too.

Above: Here are the sandwiches served on a hamburger bun to more closely resemble an Arby's style sandwich as opposed to a traditional French dip sandwich.

Shortcut Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwiches

Ingredients:

6 frozen breaded chicken patties
6 slices of ham
6 slices of Swiss cheese
Honey mustard dressing
6 rolls/buns
Sliced tomatoes
Green leaf lettuce
Additional toppings, if desired (see notes below)

Directions:

Cook chicken patties according to package directions. During last 5 minutes of cooking time, add a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss cheese to each patty. Cook until the chicken patties are done, the ham is warmed through, and the cheese is nicely melted. Serve on top of roll/bun.

Source: This recipe was inspired by Betty Crocker. You can find their original recipe here.

Notes: The first time I made this, I slightly changed their recipe. They spread their rolls with honey mustard and placed lettuce on the sandwich as well. I didn't do it that way originally because I don't associate honey mustard with chicken cordon bleu. It was a delicious, easy, satisfying sandwich the way I made it, but I tried it following the recipe and it was really yummy their way too. Make it to suit your own tastes.

 

Above: This is the honey mustard dressing I used and it worked beautifully. Tasty stuff!

Above: This is the kid friendly version. Stripped down and simplified. Just croissants, chicken, ham, and cheese.

Above: This was fantastic with the added toppings. The croissants were quite large compared to the chicken patties this time around, so I used two patties on my husband's sandwich. Just build this sandwich to suit your own tastes!

Cooking When You Have Young Kids, Part 3: Pizza Shortcuts

Now there's nothing better than going all out and making homemade pizza dough and pizza sauce and making pizza from scratch. But it also takes all day! For me, that kind of a meal is only a special occasion type of thing these days.

But kids love pizza and I love meal shortcuts with my little ones. So, I thought I would share some easy pizza recipes with you today.


French Bread Pizza

Ingredients:

French bread (the number of loaves depends on how many people you need to feed)
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Favorite pizza toppings (pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, pineapple, Canadian bacon, etc.)

Directions:

Slice French bread in half lengthwise. Place bread on a foil-lined jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Spoon and spread pizza sauce evenly over bread halves. Sprinkle desired amount of mozzarella cheese over bread and pizza sauce. Add favorite toppings.

Place French bread pizza in the oven and broil on high for 2-3 minutes (just until the bread is warm and toasty and the cheese is melted). Be very watchful because the broiler can burn things quickly.

Source: I just put this recipe together out of experience. Basically, it's a case of trying a food and then recreating it myself.




Easy Homemade Pizza

Ingredients:

15-20 frozen Rhodes Dough rolls
1 jar of pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Favorite pizza toppings

Directions:

Place Rhodes Dough rolls in a zip top bag and allow them thaw and rise. You want them to rise long enough so that the rolls fuse together into one large mass of dough. Depending on how warm your house is, this can take anywhere from 5-12 hours. Sometimes, I let the dough rise overnight.

Once the dough has risen and you are ready to start making your pizza, cover a pizza pan or jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Lightly flour the pan. Remove the dough from the zip top bag and stretch it to your desired pizza shape (round for a pizza pan--15 rolls, rectangular for a jelly roll pan--18 rolls). Flour your hands, if necessary, to keep the dough from sticking.

Spoon and spread desired amount of pizza sauce onto the dough. You don't want to do too much, otherwise the pizza will be super messy when you're eating it. I would recommend about 1 cup of pizza sauce spread over your dough.

Top pizza sauce and dough with desired amount of mozzarella cheese and the toppings of your choice.

Place pizza in a 425 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until dough is browned and cheese is melted.

Source: This recipe is basically a combination of a number of Rhodes Dough pizza recipes that can be found on their website. Rhodes Dough's website always uses a pizza pan for their pizza recipes, but you can also use a jelly roll pan. It works great either way!

 

Above: My boys love pizza with pepperoni and olives...or just olives!

 

Above: This is a BBQ pork pizza. I used BBQ sauce in place of the pizza sauce, topped it with shredded mozzarella, and then put some leftover pulled pork (that had been warmed) on top. Yum!

Below: Here is a Hawaiian pizza (Canadian bacon and pineapple tidbits) made in a jelly roll pan.