In the Kitchen with Kate

GR and I have been testing a few new recipes lately and I thought I'd share our results.

My friend Katrina over at Baking and Boys, posted a recipe a couple weeks ago for Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta that I suggested to GR we try. Saturday was our first open night and so he purchased the needed supplies and set to work making them. We cooked ours on the grill, and everyone cleaned their plates. I used the leftover chicken for Sunday nights dinner. Rotini noodles, cream of chicken soup thinned with milk and leftover chicken diced up - also very yummy.



I've been looking through past issues of Food & Family (the free Kraft magazine) for new recipes to try. They had basic instructions for an "old fashioned" poke cake ... make a cake, while warm, poke it with a fork, pour a hot, concentrated solution of jello over the warm cake, chill in fridge for 3 hours, frost with cool whip and serve. They had a little chart with suggestions of flavor combinations. They had a spice cake paired with orange jello and since I had all the ingredients in the pantry I gave it a try ... the jury is still out on this one. GR described it as a lot of intense flavors, and Sunday night that was true. It mellowed as it sat in the fridge over night. The kids loved it, even Rebecca who typically avoids intense tastes.



Our All-American dinner was oh so yummy, although I don't think anyone got the correlation. And we did make it over to Ben & Jerry's for our "I Voted" ice cream cones! I made my own patties this time ...


~2lbs of hamburger meat
1 envelope onion soup mix
1/3 cup dry onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs
a little water (1/4 cup)
salt and pepper

Mix all together and gently form into patties and cook until desired doneness.

After my request for a Dutch Apple Pie recipe, April called and gave me her families recipe. They don't exactly measure anything over there ... it's just done to taste and feel. But I think even with that handicap, after an eatable first try, I've produced a really good version of her family's recipe. Don't you love the dish I baked it in? A birthday gift from my sister ... LOVE it!


I used a made-from-scratch, pie crust (Heather's recipe that's posted on Mormonchic with her peach pie is excellent), 'cause I now have a food processor and am too cheap to purchase pie crust from the store if I can make it work here at home. Then 6 or so sliced apples (it was hugely mounded when I put in it the oven), mixed with 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, 1 tablespoon of butter, and 2 tablespoons of tapioca (the instant variety - I tried the non instant and that didn't turn out so well). The crumb toping ... 1 stick of butter, 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of sugar. I have learned that I prefer crumb toppings made with brown sugar instead of white, but they both taste quite yummy. Baked at 400 for 50 minutes.

I really should have put a cookie sheet or foil under my pan, cause it made a royal mess in my oven. Now I have to figure out how to clean my oven.
. . . .
Alexander was in a massively destructive mood yesterday. I spent his entire waking day, cleaning up after him ... so today we're taking advantage of a sunny crisp day and going to the park and hopefully meeting up with some of our playgroup friends. Then I hope to try this recipe ... I think it will make a great addition to this years brunch menu!