Best Pecan Pie

The Pioneer Woman's Recipe for Pecan Pie is the easiest and prevents overbrowning of the pie crust.
The recipe includes leaving aluminum foil over the crust while it bakes for the first 30 minutes and removing it for the remaining 20 minutes. I tried another pecan pie recipe and the pie was good but looked burnt.

Here is the recipe copied from the Pioneer Woman's website. Please note the pie crust I used was my own recipe and includes both butter and a couple tablespoons of canola oil, my favorite oil for baking.

For one 9 inch pie:

Yields 12 small servings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes total, cover for 30 minutes with foil and remove for 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 unbaked pie crust
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup melted butter (recipe says "salted" but I use "Unsalted.")
3 whole eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 heaping cup of chopped pecans including some whole ones which will float to the top of the pie.

My fiancee, Larry, suggested we use both chopped pecans and some whole ones as he is a pecan pie expert.

***ONLY THE WHOLE PECANS FLOAT to the Surface!***

Directions: preheat oven to 350 F

stir granulated and brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, cooler melted butter, eggs and vanilla being careful with the eggs and hot butter.

Pour chopped pecans and whole ones into the crust, arranging the fewer whole nuts around the pie.

Pour the syrup mixture over the top of the pecans.

Bake for 30 minutes with foil, remove foil and bake another 20 minutes being careful not to burn the crust. Pie should not giggle too much on removing from the oven.

Should the pie wiggle too much, put the foil over the pie again and bake additional minutes.

Allow the pie to cool for several housrs and serve in thin slivers.

Matzo Balls with Avocado Oil

These Matzo Balls are tasty, tender, and do not fall apart on gently cooking in boiling water. Freshly chopped parsley adds color and a splash of springtime. They are great for the Passover meal.

INGREDIENTS

2 large eggs - separated
2 Tablespoons avocado oil
2 Tablespoons broth or water
1/2 cup Matzo meal -- scant, measured accurately
dash onion powder
chopped parsley (optional)

Separate eggs and gently beat egg yellow with avocado oil
Beat egg whites
Gently fold in egg whites and Matzo meal into the egg yellow/oil mixture
Refrigerate at least 20 minutes
Wet hands and gently form balls

Boil water, reduce heat and add matzo balls and cook for 30-40 minutes.

Cousin Yetta's Incredible Library Brownies

In the past, I have posted low fat brownie recipes including ingredients such as black beans or Greek Yogurt, but here is a full fat brownie recipe that I make for special occassions.

When I made these brownies for a bake sale at work, I would be called all day long to see if any might be left.

My cousins would say, Mommy never froze these brownies as they barely made it out of the oven. The kids would be standing in front of the oven waiting for these brownies to bake. Don't think my cousins ever ate a cooled brownie. They freeze well for me and are a very special treat at two sticks of butter!

4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
4 squares of chocolate (4 ounces)
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of flour
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/2 cup nuts

Cream all the butter but for a about a tablespoon, add sugar and slowly add one egg at a time. Melt chocolate with the tablespoon or little bit of butter and add to creamed mixture. Add flour, nuts, and vanilla.

9x12 pan
Bake 20-30 minutes at 350 F.

Fresh Blueberries

My great-niece picked fresh blueberries at Messenger Century Farm in Chagrin Falls/Auburn, Ohio, and baked muffins from scratch and a blueberry cobbler.

Tips for Cooking when Solo!

We become solo for many reasons in our life. Some prefer to be single, some get divorced or need to separate, others are widow(er)ed. I am searching for helpful tips and secrets from cooking for a family to cooking for one lonely person -- me! Going from cooking for two or three, to cooking for one, is a challenge. If you have been following this blog since 2008, you will notice posts about the meals I lovingly cooked for my Mom and my husband.

Operating on autopilot, as happens in some circumstances, I found myself making the same amount of oatmeal as I did for my husband, Jules, and found that when I do this by mistake, it is best to put half of it in the refrigerator for the following day or day after. Cooked oatmeal does well in the refrigerator and it is fun not to have to cook it the next day. I have never been successful with making it in the microwave and I prefer traditional oatmeal to instant. Being on a restricted sodium diet many "instant" type foods have more sodium.

I spend much time in nature and see that even the geese have mates that they follow around in the pond. I find it is easier to eat in another room than where I ate with family. I rarely eat on the kitchen or dining room table these days. I eat in the living room using a coffee table and look out the window at nature. When weather permits, I plan on eating out on the deck or take my lunch to a park. One day, I will be used to the empty seats at the dinner table, but not yet.

Rather than spending the early "solo" days with a group when one is not up to it, invite a few people that are close to you to dinner at your house. I invited my sister and her husband for Thanksgiving dinner. I decided to try new recipes and this kept my mind totally occupied. I knew if I had any problems or if my eyes teared-up, my sister and her husband would understand as they were sharing the losses. I am blessed to have one very special local sister.

Here are my first suggestions from "solos":

Invest in some smaller pots and pans or plan on washing your small ones over and over again. Using the large pots tends to make some of us sad as we remember the family that once was.

When making homemade soups, freeze portions in freezer bags. Once the soup has cooled, put it into freezer bags and leave it flat on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen the bag can be stored upright or continue to keep it flat. This is very useful if one is on a restricted diet, such as low sodium as canned and store prepared soups are too high in sodium. It is also more economical.

Once frozen, they can be stacked vertically as in the door of a freezer or kept flat.

Buy foods you like and may have refrained from buying or eatting in the past. Try new spices, recipes, attend cooking classes, try new grocery stores as walking down the isles of the favorite foods of the loved one can be difficult.

Find a group of like-minded individuals and go out to lunch, thus one is not always eating alone and has an event to look forward to.

** The photo at the top of this column is a cucumber sandwich on blueberry/cranberry bread. The recipe for one large sandwich included 1/3 cup thinly sliced cucumber, 1/4 cup diced carrots, a cut up small compari tomato (or a few cherry tomatoes), 3 Tablespoons yogurt, and some sliced almonds (optional). Half a sandwich is pictured with the remaining cucumber filling which would make another generous half sandwich.**

Please forward any suggestions to rosaraskin@gmail.com or post in the comments. Thanks to everyone for reading this post.

Eggless Recipes

Our nephew was allergic to eggs so my sister learned to substitute water for the eggs in a baking mix! Although my late husband could tolerate eggs baked in something, eating an omlette often caused him to break out in hives. I left eggs out of most recipes, no eggs in Challah or any home baked products. I tried egg substitutes but realized plain water worked too!

To make something rise in baking, one gently stirs in vinegar (a weak acid) at the end of a recipe containing a base like baking soda.

More specifically, Vinegar + Baking Soda = (Sodium ion + acetate ion) + CO2 gas + water

I remember from Chemistry class, Acid + Base = Salt + Water (plus CO2 gas in the case of baking soda).

Rosie's Favorite Lower Sodium Food List

Happy & Healthy 2023! 

My New Year's resolution is to start a personal list of my favorite low sodium, prepared foods, on my preciouscooking.blogspot.com blog, as sometimes I am too tired to cook food from scratch. Note the serving size when checking the sodium on the label. I like to check the number of servings in the product.

I don't like to bake bread in the hot summer and have had problems finding a low sodium bread that I liked. The brands that I like include some loaves of ,"Daves" and "Ezekial" In Dave's the thin-sliced, organic, sweetner is organic fruit juices, Powerseed at 1 lb 4.5 oz has 90 mg of sodium per slice compared to other brands that very from 150-250 mg sodium per slice. The Ezekial bread that I lean to at the moment is their sprouted grain bread at 75 mg sodium per thin slice.

Dave's Bread

Sodium 90 mg/slice

fat 1.5 gram

protein 3 grams per slice

Ezekiel 4:9 Fourless Sprouted Grain Bread

Sodium 75 mg/slice

fat 0.5 gram

protein 5 grams per slice

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I found the pasta sauce by browsing the pasta section at my local Marc's. 

*** Francesco Rinaldi Original Recipe No Salt Added Homemade pasta sauce recipe. (green label) by LiDestri foods, Fairport, NY ***

 Per 1/2 cup: 

Sodium - 40mg 

Calories  - 60 per serving

Fat - 1g

Potassium - 490mg

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Kuner's No Salt Added Chili Beans: Original in Chili Sauce

KunersFoods.com

Sodium 10 mg per 1/2 cup serving,  15 ounce can 3 1/2 servings, total sodium in can 35 mg

Potassium 390 mg per serving

Protein 7 g per serving 

Fat 1 mg per serving

Other Kuner's No Salt Added beans about 5 mg per 1/2 cup serving

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V8, Low Sodium Original

Sodium 98mg per serving which is a small 5 fluid ounces can

Fat 0 g

Protein 1 g

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Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Sodium 10 mg per 1/4 cup, 6 servings per 14 ounce can = 60 mg per can

Fat 0g

Protein 0g

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Bumble Bee SNACK ON THE RUN Tuna Salad Kit with crackers. 3.5 ounces

Sodium Tuna portion 220 mg, Crackers 130 mg -- total snack 350 mg

Calories total 300

Fat total 22g

Protein 7g

SNACK ON THE RUN also includes snacks with lower fat tuna and chicken salad options

I love the little spoon that comes with the can and the tightly wrapped crackers in the box! I tried all the tuna and chicken flavors and love them all for a snack to take to the park, eat at home, or for a quick lunch!

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The lower salt cheeses that I have found are Swiss, fresh mozarella, some goat cheeses. If eating the cheese with bread, two slices of bread can be 500 mg of sodium. I search for low sodium breads but to date the only one I like is Dave's. In the winter I bake my own!

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TV DINNERS

The lowest sodium TV dinner that I have found is Healthy Choice Margherita Balsamic Chicken at 360 mg sodium.

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Glady's Harcourt's Strawberry Jello Salad

Trust me, this is the best gelatin salad I have ever had! My friends' Mom would made the most creative and beautiful side dishes. She was the first to introduce me to the concept of a "layered salad." This strawberry jello salad can easily serve as a dessert. I hope to try to make it with fat free sour cream or fat free Greek yogurt.

Note: use only canned pineapple as it will not set up with frozen or fresh pineapple

3 packages strawberry jello

2 mashed bananas

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen strawberries

1 can crushed pineapple NOT drained

1 carton of sour cream

Dissolve jello in 2 cups of boiling water. Add bananas, pineapple & strawberries.

Pour half the mixture into a pan. 

Chill until firm.

Spread sour cream over the top.

Add remaining jello mixture.

Photo of the salad coming soon.

Microwave Popcorn

I have made popcorn in the microwave two ways, one using a brown paper bag and the other using a glass pyrex safe for the microwave bowl.

 It is easiest to make popcorn in the microwave using a brown paper bag.

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1 tsp oil (such as canola) or 1/2 tsp oil and a few thin slivers of butter  Note: fat is OPTIONAL

1 brown paper bag 

Microwave for 2 minutes

Mix the popcorn kernels with the oil. This method also works with NO fat, just the kernels in the bag, in which case I prefer to use only 1/4 cup kernels. I buy whatever kernels are on sale.

If using oil, I mix the oil with the kernels in the measuring cup. Any type of seasoning can be added at this point and mixed into the oil and kernel mixture.  Place the kernel/oil mixture into a paper bag. Fold the top of the paper bag twice, about 1 inch for each fold. Place in microwave for 2 minutes. I have reused the paper bag shown below a few times.

If using "NO fat," I prefer using 1/4 cup kernels and stop my microwave at about 1:45, at which time there are almost no un-popped kernels in the bag.

                    Fold the bag over twice, about 1 inch for each fold.

                         See inside the brown paper bag, fluffy popcorn!

To make popcorn with no oil, no fat and no brown bag, I use a microwave safe Pyrex glass bowl and cover it with parchment paper, place a few slits in the parchment paper for steam to escape, and fasten the paper to the glass bowl using a large rubber band. I have found that using the glass bowl method increases the time in my microwave to almost 4 minutes.

Be cautious in popping the kernels in the glass Pyrex bowl as the bowl gets very hot!

The paper bag method of making popcorn is much easier, takes only 2 minutes in the microwave, and one does not have to handle or clean the very hot glass bowl. I am so pleased I did not have to buy another air popper to make air popped corn as it is very fluffy and fast to pop corn in the microwave!

Pumpkin Butter - Easy Recipe

 

It is hard to believe it is the middle of September already and pumpkin items are in the stores!

During the pandemic, I purchased a case of pumpkin puree and am trying to use it up. Today, I came across a simple recipe for pumpkin butter using pumpkin puree. 

This recipe makes your house smell wonderful too!

I can't wait to add the pumpkin butter to my plain Greek yogurt for that "fall feeling!"

The recipe is simple and includes the following:

1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Stir all the ingredients together in a small saucepan and cook for 10 minutes at medium heat stirring constantly. Pour the hot pumpkin butter into a glass container, let it cool, and place the lid on top. 

Store the pumpkin butter in the refrigerator.

Pumpkin butter is a great substitute for preserves or apple butter!

A Sweet Yeast Dough -- Nondairy

A favorite recipe for a "traditional" yeast dough for bakery treats such as long rolls or shaped into three- cornered pastry called Hamantaschen. 

This yeast dough is fun to make and what is most important, it is easy to handle. It was not the holiday of Purim so I did not make hamantaschen but used the dough to make a prune-filled roll. I used canned prune filling for the dough as had it in my pantry and time to use it. The filling seemed a bit runny so I added a bit of honey, lemon juice, and ground almonds that I keep in the freezer.

This recipe involves letting the dough raise two times, doubling in size each time.

The ingredients I use for the easy- to- handle dough are as follows:

1 1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar (or a bit less)

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

2 cups unbleached flour -- plus a few pinches of flour to knead the dough

I mixed the yeast with the warm water and added a bit of the sugar and waited a few minutes until bubbles appeared. then added the remaining sugar, oil, egg and the two cups of flour.

I mixed all the ingredients and kneaded the dough until smooth and no longer sticking to the side of the bowl. I added a couple pinches of flour to keep the dough from sticking. I floured the bowl, covered with a kitchen towel and allowed it to raise for about an hour. 

I love parchment paper and lined a large cookie sheet with the paper. I rolled the dough on the parchment paper and the paper helped me roll the dough in a long roll.

I rolled the dough into a rectangle and added prune filling and some cinnamon to the middle,  rolled it up and put it in a cold oven to rise for another hour or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 375 F.

A reference to this dough is at:

Reviving a Yeasted Hamantaschen Recipe Nearly Lost to the Soviet Era — Jewish Food Society

Blintz Souffle made with Greek Yogurt

My long term friend, Connie Inukai, made the incredible blintz souffle with sour cream.  Since sour cream is not in our diet, I use nonfat Greek yogurt. The sour cream version is most delicious. Connie put the ingredients in a blender and poured it over the frozen blintzes.  I include 2 blintzes per person and double or triple the recipe for a crowd. For my husband and me, I make the souffle with 6 blintzes and substitute Greek yogurt for the sour cream. We enjoy reheating leftovers in the microwave.

Mix the following in the blender on high speed until airy looking:

1 cup of nonfat Greek yogurt (or sour cream)

4 eggs

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons melted butter

2 Tablespoons vanilla extract

We eat about 2 blintzes plus batter per person and love any leftovers.

After blending, pour the batter over the frozen blintzes into a baking dish.

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes.

Served immediately from the oven, the souffle is puffy and has a beautiful color. This recipe is linked to many wonderful memories of friends and family!

Cake in a Cup

I saw Lee Drummond bake a single serving cake in a mug and had to try her recipe. I modified the recipe and increased the time as our microwave is 700 watt. My sister was surprised to learn that the cake rises and she suggested it would be great torn up in a triffle or strawberry shortcake.

The link to Lee Drummond's chocolate recipe is

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/chocolate-cake-in-a-mug-3158576

I modified the recipe for a vanilla cake in a mug as follows:

1/4 cup flour
3 Tablespoons sugar (I used only 1 Tablespoon)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons of Milk
2 Tablespoons of oil (I used only 1 Tablespoon of canola oil)
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 strawberry or equivalent fruit (optional)

Using a fork, mix the dry ingredients in a microwave proof cup (flour, sugar, baking powder). Add the liquid ingredients and mix with the same fork.

Microwave for 90 seconds (110 seconds for a 700 watt microwave.)

Enjoy

Easy, lower fat, delicious Brownies

One box of family-sized brownie mix 1 or 2 eggs 1 cup of nonfat or low fat, plain Greek Yogurt Mix all together in a bowl, spread in 9x9 or 9x13 pan that has been sprayed on the bottom. Adding a bit more yogurt makes the brownies creamier. The eggs may be omitted, but I prefer the brownies with at least one egg or one whole egg and one egg white.

Farfel, Farfalle, Egg Barley, Egg Drop Barley

For about six months now I have been trying to find traditional farfel, egg barley, the kind that is toasted or one toasts slightly in a sautee pan before adding onion, mushrooms, some liquid, and baking it in the oven.

This was much harder than I imagined. The product I was looking for is called EGG DROP BARLEY, not just EGG BARLEY. I went to every grocery store I could think of and found it close to home (in Highland Heights, Ohio) in the Kosher food section.

I purchased every farfel type product. They are all made with duram flour and egg. The only exception is what is called bow-tie pasta, used in Kasha with bow-ties, for example. The dried Italian Farfalla, bow-tie pasta, includes no eggs, just duram flour and water. I have been to several events where the word "farfel" caused much confusion, some expecting what I call "traditonal farfel" and others expecting and Italian pasta.

I wanted to try every product marked Egg Barley (there is no barley in the product, the "barley" describes the look of the product.) The product I wanted reminds me of the German Spaeztle, which is a 15 minute pasta so easy to make it is not worth buying the dried Spaeztle in a grocery store.

Tonight I made a side dish of Egg Barley, not the product I wanted, but I had to try it. I added peas, onion, herbs, as the pasta product is tasty but plain. The photo shows left over egg barley made as directed on the package (boiled in 4 cups water). Some bits of salmon are in the photo of leftovers, as I served the egg barley as a side dish with Alaskan, freshly caught salmon as we do not eat beef, and very little poultry.

The Egg Barley from Gelfen, tastes delicious, but it is not the traditional farfel that I remember, often eaten with beef. It looks machine made, while what I term the "traditional" looks more hand made, irregular in shape, and has the word, "Drop" in it. Such as how one "drops" Spaetzle dough into boiling water using a knife to move tiny amounts of dough from the cutting board to the boiling water. My best friend in Cincinnati, Marion, taught me the traditional way to make "spaetzle' which I later saw my aunt in Germany prepare for us. My mother would use a spaetzle maker (looks like a ricer through which she dropped the dough into the boiling water, I never saw my Mom make spaetzle the traditional way.) Spaetzle taste best made the traditional way (sorry, Mommy, I know how busy you were working and cooking for us all.)

You may have guessed my German, Jewish background by now. I grew up with "Spaetzle" as a beloved staple, farfel was a special treat!

I hope these products do not confuse the reader. My advice is, do not send anyone to the grocery store to buy traditional Egg Drop Farfel, as they will most probably come home with the Italian Farfalle, Egg Barley (the tiny machine-made pasta), Bow-tie pasta, or as one friend recently mentioned ---- "Kasha," which is another product made from buckwheat and often made to include the bow-tie pasta.

The farfel I love is made from a traditional Ashkenazi noodle dough. My sisters and I recently discovered we are much more Ashkenazi than we possibly imagined and could this be why we have been craving Egg Drop Barley? Now, where can I find my cousin's incredibly delicious "wild rice stuffing recipe?"