Easy Microwave Fudge

My, my, my!!  It's been so long since I've posted anything, I'm not sure I'm even doing it right!  I guess we'll find out!

BUT.... what better to add than....  

                                    C H O C O L A T E    ! ! !  

I found this recipe on Facebook a while back.  It's so easy, I'm having a hard time calling it a recipe and the stuff is really, really good!!!  The hardest part of this is waiting for it to cool and set up.  But I suppose we could always just eat it in its soft, warm condition, just stirred up after coming out of the microwave!!  Tee hee! Oh yeah, I'm bad!

I made it a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome!!  ...and honestly, it's the easiest thing imaginable!   I actually used a 6x10" baking dish (it was the closest one to grab!) in place of the 8x8" called for in the recipe.  In addition to the sweetened condensed milk, I used equal amounts of semi-sweet, milk chocolate, white chips plus a cup of chopped pecans.  Yummy!  What's not to like... chocolate and nuts!  WOW!  

I just made another batch, using 2 cups of semi-sweet chips, one of butterscotch chips and a cup of chopped pecans, of course.  OMGosh!  It is awesome, too!  I don't think you can go wrong with this sinful little treat!  With the holidays coming up, I bet this recipe gets used a lot!  Enjoy!

Easy Microwave Fudge

1 - 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

3   cups chocolate chips
1   cup chopped nuts (opt.)

1. Line 8x8 dish with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. Pour milk into bowl.  Add chocolate chips and stir until they 
          are well coated.

3. Microwave on high for 1 min.

4. Stir until fully combined and smooth.  (After stirring, I heated 

          for another 10 seconds before adding my chopped nuts.)

          Stir in any other ingredients you desire at this point.

5. Pour into foil-lined dish.

6. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

7. Remove from dish with foil edges and turn upside down. 

          Remove foil and cut into pieces.

8. Enjoy!

Meringue-Topped Rice Pudding

This is my all-time favorite rice pudding recipe. It makes a special dessert for family or company.  Of course, I could probably eat all the meringue off the top before it ever gets to the table!!  I love meringue!

I learned some things this time, however.  I know you've seen pictures of beautiful  meringue desserts where there are soft peaks and curls across the top of them.  There's a very good reason for them, I found out.  I'm not sure you can see the top of my meringue, but there are little beads of golden-colored moisture scattered around and the meringue has pulled away from the sides of the dish significantly.  I baked it too long and that's what caused these problems.  It doesn't affect the taste, still yummy, but presentation is very important.  I mostly smoothed out the meringue then felt the need to brown the entire top... Don't do that.  Swirl it up with the back of a spoon and make those cute little peaks and curls... brown only THEM and your meringue topping will turn out much better.

Something else I learned during some research into meringue making is that if you put the meringue on HOT filling, be it rice pudding, pies or whatever, it bakes up nicer.  Apparently the heat from the hot filling starts the cooking process to the underside of the egg whites and reduces shrinking. 

NOTE:  I used Jasmine rice, non-fat dry milk, reconstituted, and next time will use at least 1/2 cup raisins and maybe even 1/2 cup sugar instead of 1/4 cup in the pudding part.  Use your own preferences here.

Also, after the dessert was cool, I stood toothpicks around in corners and a few across the center to hold the plastic wrap up off the meringue so it wouldn't stick.

One more instruction contained in the original recipe is as follows:
"The key to good rice pudding is its texture.  So for the best rice pudding, cook it slowly.  Overcooked pudding will have the texture of a solid mass rather than the creamy mixture that makes this dessert so desirable.  Long-grained rice works best.  Try basmati, jasmine, or popcorn rice for even more variety."

I like this dish because everyone always has the ingredients on hand and there are no tricky methods involved. 

I hope you like this as much as I do.  Try it soon! 

(BTW...the dark spot in this picture is a raisin!  ha ha... It looked funny to me, hence the explanation.)

Meringue-Topped Rice Pudding
Serves 10

1 t. butter, room temperature
3 C. long-grain white rice
4 C. whole milk, room temperature, divided (3 c & 1 c)
3/4 C. sugar, divided (1/4 c & 1/2 c)
1/4 t. salt
4 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract, divided (1 t & 1/2 t)
1/3 C. raisins
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. cream of tartar

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Butter a shallow 2-quart baking dish; set aside.

2.  In a medium-sized heavy-bottom saucepan, combine rice, 3 cups milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick and creamy, about 30 minutes.

3.  While rice is cooking, being careful to stir it frequently, in the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the eggs whites until foamy.  Increase speed to high and gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, cream of tartar and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.  Beat until stiff, but not dry, 3 to 4 minutes.  Set aside

4.  In a liquid-measuring cup, whisk together the egg yolks, remaining milk, and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.  Stir in a little of the hot rice mixture to temper the egg yolks a bit, then stir into rice.  Add raisins and cinnamon.  Cook until raisins are heated through, about 2 minutes or so.  Pour rice mixture into the prepared baking dish.

5.  Using rubber spatula, spoon meringue on top of the rice, covering entirely.  Transfer to the oven and bake until the meringue is golden brown, about 5 minutes.



Beef Taco Bake

Looks like I'm on a Mexican roll, two in a row.  I forgot to take a picture of this before we dove into it, so I accept that a partially eaten casserole isn't the most appetizing way to present this recipe, but it tasted pretty darn good and was so easy and quick. 

This was originally off the Campbell's website, but I made a few minor changes to suit our tastes.  First, I sauteed 3/4 cup of chopped onions, then added a pint of my bottled hamburger rather than using fresh burger.  I also added a can of corn and stirred in a little dry cilantro before putting mixture into baking dish.

The original recipe called for 8 corn tortillas, I used 10 since I added the corn and the onions, thus stretching it a bit.  It still fit nicely in a 2-quart baking dish and was still plenty saucy.

Those were my only changes, but I think chicken would be a good substitute for the hamburger, or even leftover roast beef or pork.  I did, however, cut the corn tortillas into 8ths rather than 1" pieces.

Here's the recipe as I made it:

Beef Taco Bake

1 lb. Ground Beef

3/4 cup Chopped Onion

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Tomato Soup

1 cup Pace Picante Sauce (or substitute brand)

1 can (16 oz.) Corn

1/2 cup Milk

6 Flour Tortillas (8") or 10 Corn Tortillas (6"), cut into 1" pieces

1 1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese (about 6 oz.)

1.  In a 10" skillet saute onions in a little oil until transparent, then

      add the beef and cook over medium-high heat until well

      browned, stirring often to separate meat.  Pour off any fat.

2.  Stir in the soup, picante sauce, corn, milk, tortillas and 1/3 to

      1/2 the cheese into the skillet.

3.  Spoon the beef mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish.

4.  Cover the baking dish.

5.  Bake at 400 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until the beef mixture

      is hot and bubbling.

6.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Give it a try!  :)

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Whew!  I can't believe how long it's been since I posted something, but it just might be a long time before I do another one, too!!  I make no promises when the next one will show up, so just come back every so often to check.

This recipe was so easy, and tasted so good, with stuff that I bet is already in your pantry, that I thought I better share it with you. 

The hubby had to leave early this morning to start meetings at 6 a.m., so I thought I'd surprise him and actually have something for us to eat when he/I got home from church this afternoon.  (Trust me, it IS a surprise when I cook something, especially without him asking "So, what's for dinner?" first!!  I really hate that question!  I always feel like saying:  "I don't know, what are you fixing?!"  I know, I'm bad!)

The recipe came from allrecipes.com, makes 8 servings and is super easy!  Hope you like it.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 lb. shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 oz.) can whole peeled
       tomatoes, mashed
1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth
1 t. cumin
1 t. chili powder
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen corn, or a can of corn
1 T chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chilies, and garlic into a slow cooker.  Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High for 3 to 4 hours.

2.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

3.  Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.

4.  Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes.  To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

(I used green enchilada sauce, canned corn, 1 pint of my bottled chicken and garlic powder.  To garnish the soup, I sprinkled grated cheese over the tortilla strips then added a dollop of sour cream on top.  Oh yeah, and I didn't have any cilantro, so I just threw in some dry basil and dry parsley.)

OK, so...

OK, so apparently I misunderstood the e-mail system with the blog.  I thought by removing the sign-up gadget on the right side of my blog page, it would stop the e-mail notifications from going out when I add a post - I was wrong.  They still travel through cyberspace from my house to yours.  And I guess I'm OK with that.  I just miss seeing that you've stopped by for a visit to my blog and maybe even that you left a comment or two - and it's nice to see my counter number change!  Whatever, I will continue to share new recipes with you periodically -  so when you can, pop by and take a gander.  I love company!! :)  (And, I have replaced the sign-up gadget, as you can see.)

Also, I fixed the Microwave Coffee Cup Scramble (below) this morning for the Mister and me, this time adding some bacon bits.  It was really good and he liked it, too.  I love that I can make these, each cup of eggs taking only 1 minute a piece and not even have to wash a pan!!  Strictly for presentation purposes, in the future I'm gonna try a few different containers, ramekins, bowls, etc.

Microwave Coffee Cup Scramble

I found this recipe in the October 2011 Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  I thought it looked like fun... a quick and easy breakfast.  It was good -  really -- and fun to do.  It was even quicker than the instructions say.  Each microwave is a little different, so the timing will depend on your unit.  I cooked mine for the first 45 seconds on high like instructed, then only 15 seconds on the second time.  It was perfect!!  Fluffy, moist but not slick, and not rubbery. 

I bet some bacon bits or a few pieces of diced ham would be really good, too --  maybe even some diced green chili or salsa --  mmmmmm! 

In the picture at the top,  it doesn't look like very much of a serving, but the cup is tall and narrow so the perspective is weird.  The ingredients are all in there - I promise!

Give it a try... I think you'll like it.  Just be sure to work with your own microwave -- don't over cook it.

 

Microwave Coffee Cup Scramble

2 eggs

2 T. milk

2 T. shredded cheese

   Salt & Pepper

1.  COAT 12-oz. microwave-safe mug with cooking

        spray.

    ADD eggs and milk; beat until blended.

2.  MICROWAVE on HIGH 45 seconds; stir.

    MICROWAVE until eggs are almost set, 30 to 45

        seconds longer.

3.  TOP with cheese; season with salt and pepper.

A little change....

I have decided to remove the e-mail notification sign up part of my blogs, this one and http://www.tinas-talk.blogspot.com/ because no one actually goes to them anymore when I post something new.  Please check them  periodically or add me to your list of blogs you follow...  I'm trying to be better about posting (at least this one), so hopefully I'll add a recipe you'll like every so often!!

Hope your new years is going splendidly!
xox