3 Quarters Today

My Life, my photography, my passions

Food

Day 26/365: Swedish Tea Ring

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Christmas is full of traditions and this one is no exception. My Mother used to bake this same Swedish Tea Ring at Christmas time for my God Mother. It had been almost 40 years since I had my last one.  My fiancee’s Mother baked this one and it instantly brought me back. It was just as delicious as it looks.

Day 26/365: Swedish Tea Ring

Day 22/365: Homemade Clam Chowder

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New England Clam Chowder is one of my favorite soups, normally I open a can of Campbells Chunky soup, but since I’ve had success in making homemade soup I thought I would give it a try. Yes the recipe is below. Some of my favorite recipes are from Taste of Home and rarely do I follow a recipe to the letter and this was no exception.

The result was wonderful and was given the thumbs up from my friend Beth and my daughter.

Day 22: Homemade Clam Chowder

Nebraska Clam Chowder

  • 4 potatoes, cubed
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup chicken broth (or chicken bouillon cube and 1 additional cup water)
  • 8 oz Clamato juice
  • 1 med onion finely chopped
  • 1 celery rib, chopped
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 tsp dried parsley flakes
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 TBSp all purpose flour (cornstarch or whole wheat flour can also be used)
  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 2 cans chopped clams (called for draining, I used juice)
  • 2/3 cup process cheese (Velvetta)
  • 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

In a large saucepan, combine the above ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce hear; cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. In a small bowl, combine flour and cold water until smooth. Stir into potato mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce hear. Add clams and cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Stire in milk, heat through.

Yield: 9 servings

Feel free to add more potatoes, onions, chopped carrots, cheese,  other seafood, or dill according to your taste. Soup is wonderfully forgiving and invites creativity. If a thicker soup is desired use more flour or cornstarch.

Day 13/365: Christmas Cookies

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Cookie baking is over for the season. They are ready to ship and distribute. Tried a few new recipes, one I will definitely keep is the Molasses Spice Sugar Cookies. Wow! They are  delicious, especially dunked in milk. Recipe will be following, so subscribe to the RSS feed at the top and it will be arriving shortly.

Couldn’t decide on one picture today, so here are two.

Day 13/365: Christmas Cookies, Ready to Ship
Day 13/365: Getting the tins ready

Pork and Beef Enchiladas

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It has been a while since I posted about food, although I have been preparing, consuming and photographing my food all year. The difficult part is remembering the recipe. But in cooking the recipe is only the starting point, I’m all about being creative and flexibility is a must in my kitchen.

I only use recipes as guidelines, and often I just “wing it”, this is one of those times.

Pork and Beef Enchiladas

  • Ingredients:
  • 1 package flour tortillas
  • 1 can Refried Beans
  • 1 Pckg shredded Mexican cheese
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 can Green Chile & Pork
  • Homemade salsa
  • 1 lb hamburger (pre-cooked, frozen and thawed)

Directions

  1. Pour Green Chile mixture into sauce pan, add thawed cooked hamburger, and 1/4 cup salsa,  heat and stir.
  2. Using a large pan or cookie sheet, pour salsa on the bottom and dip tortillas.
  3. Stack tortillas on plate and microwave on high for 20-30 seconds. (this makes them soft and flexible)
  4. Spoon meat/chili mixture across the tortilla, spread refried beans on tortilla, top with cheese.
  5. Roll tortilla and place on cookie sheet, flap side down,
  6. Repeat and nestle enchiladas next to each other.
  7. Mix tomato sauce with appox. 1 cup salsa and pour over enchiladas. (add any of the left over “bits” from the dipping the tortillas)
  8. Sprinkle liberally with cheese
  9. Bake at 350F until cheese is melted and enchiladas are heated through (approximately 20 min)

My intention is to freeze leftovers, but they don’t last long enough at my house. Excellent as leftovers the next day.

Enjoy!!

Finished & Ready to Eat!

Homemade Original Chex Mix Recipe, a Passion

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Chex MixHomemade Chex Mix Recipe

There is a reason why I only make the original Chex Mix a few times a year. It disappears in no time at all.  I would have to take out a loan just for the cereal. Seriously, I make a double batch and it’s gone in 3 days.

I’ve even been known to buy the pre-made bagged Chex Mix at the convenience store when I’m having a craving.

Yes, I know my kids could and would live on cereal alone if I let them. Chex Mix I guess gives them that excuse.

But, it’s more than that, maybe the tangy Worcestershire sauce? The Lawry’s Seasoning Salt? My daughter loves that stuff so much she puts it on everything, popcorn, corn on the cob, eggs you name it. She calls it “Special Salt”

What is better than eating original recipe Chex Mix? Eating it from a custom snack bowl. The best Christmas gifts for the family addicted to Chex Mix.

We eat bowls and bowls every year. That’s why I love this super cute snack bowl you can even buy homemade Chex Mix on Etsy.

Whatever the appeal we love homemade Chex Mix and I should know the recipe my heart. But I never want to get it wrong so I always go to my handy AllRecipes website and look it up. I don’t know why I even look at recipes anyways, I change them all the time.

The secret to the BEST Chex Mix Recipe? Use REAL Butter

Seriously, butter makes everything better – why use only 6 TBPS of butter when you can throw in the whole stick!

That means I have to add more Worcestershire sauce, and that means more cereal and pretzels. Before I know it, my VERY large Turkey roasting pan is overflowing with my own custom make, scrumptious Chex Mix.

To lower the cost of this addiction and save some money I use the generic varieties of cereal. This time I used the Walmart toasted cereal. It’s half the price of the Crispix cereal or Chex brand name. Can’t tell the difference it disappears just as fast.

Original Chex Mix Recipe Oven Method

The original Chex Mix recipe

There are a lot of original recipe Chex Mix sites out there, but I find mine published on the back of the box. This is truly the ORIGINAL Chex Mix Recipe. To make Chex Mix party mix you need cereal, nuts, pretzels and “goodies”. In my case that is the garlic bagel chips.

Chex Mix For Christmas

Give Chex Mix for Christmas. Make some Chex Mix party mix, package it in a mason jar and add a custom label found here.

Don’t forget to give Chex Mix for Christmas. Seriously the easiest gift ever. Package in a Mason jar and attach a cute label. You don’t even need to design it, just print it off here.

Make Chex Mix Seasoning Yourself

You can buy the pre-made Chex Mix seasoning packets but you can also you can make your own Chex Mix Seasoning yourself.

Honestly, I only did this myself because I ran out of the little freebie packets they give away near the cereal section during Christmas. But homemade Chex Mix seasoning is so much tastier and you can vary it any way you like. Me, I add more garlic powder.

Original Chex Mix Oven Recipe Directions

The original Chex mix recipe oven method is super easy. Pour in your cereal, add your goodies, and pour over your seasoning mix

  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees
  2. In large roasting pan, (the one you fix the turkey in)
  3. Mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and Rye Chips (Rye Chips are important) – set aside.
  4. In a small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on high about 40 seconds or until melted.
  5. Stir in seasonings.
  6. Pour over cereal mixture, stir until evenly coated.
  7. Place in oven and “toast” for approximately 50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
  8. Cool on paper towels and store in airtight containers.
The original and popular Chex Mix recipe, made for a crowd
My VERY Popular Chex Mix

The stirring is important, and I set a timer so I won’t forget. Every 15 minutes I stir. Within 30 minutes the aroma and smell make the kids hover in the kitchen. They don’t even wait for it to come out of the pan. They eat warm Chex Mix by the handful.  During Christmas, I store Chex Mix in large Christmas tins and we spoil ourselves for two weeks. The rest of the year it goes in Ziploc bags.

If you don’t have time to make homemade Chex Mix you can have a whole case shipped to your kids as a college care package from Mom and Dad via Amazon.

There’s my foodie obsession of the day. Enjoy!

Party Snack Ideas

Bag up Chex Mix in sandwich bags and attach these labels to the top. Great for Sunday school gifts, teacher gifts, or give to neighbors and friends. I think I will even sell Chex Mix at the local Farmers Market and Holiday Extravaganza.