Recipes

Any recipe of mine in a post has its happy home here!  This will be updated periodically, but if I miss something, send me a note and I"ll add it for ya.  Enjoy!

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Baked Brie
1 round of Brie
1 pie crust (like for apple pie, or a pillsbury pre-made)
preserves of your choice (I like apricot)
Egg white

Preheat oven to 350.  Lay crust out flat, and place brie in the middle.  Trim crust so that you'll be able to fold it all together nicely at the top.  I like to do it in a square, and then pinch/fold sort of like for an apple dumpling.  Anyway, put about half the jar of preserves on top of the brie, then fold the crust over it all and try not to make a huge mess.  Pinch it all shut, baste with an egg white, and place in the oven.  Bake til browned, typically 20-ish minutes, but my oven is cranky so don't take my word for that.

If you have a brie bowl that's oven safe, it will be a lifesaver.  These things fall apart and make a mess like nobody's business.  But they are soooooooooooo good!!!

Green Beans with Almonds
Bag or several handfuls of green beans, washed, trimmed
Slivered almonds
1/4c olive oil
pepper
garlic salt (I like the fancy kind with parsley in it)

Lightly toast almonds in the oven.  While that's going, place oil in a skillet and heat.  Add beans, and sprinkle liberally with pepper and garlic salt.  Let sit on medium heat, stirring periodically, until browned and cooked-feeling.  Add almonds a couple minutes before they're done, and mix in.  Season to taste.  Serve.

Kate's Balsamic Vinagrette
I wing this most of the time, but this'll get you started.  Get a jar, and add all of the following to it.  I use old olive oil jars that have the easy-pour caps, because, well...they're easy to pour.

1/2c olive oil
1/2c balsamic vinagar
1T sugar
dash salt
1t Bread dipping mix (http://www.amazon.com/Rossa-Maria-Blend-Bread-Dipping/dp/B000YFZ9XY)

Shake it all together, stick a finger in, and taste.  Adjust as needed.  This will improve with time, the longer it sits.  I don't clean the jar between batches usually, because the seasonings that have been sitting in there the longest usually have the best flavor.

Beer Bread
Use the following link as your base: http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440
I'd either add a dash of salt to the mix, or mix in all the butter.  Otherwise, it has that odd taste that bread gets when there isn't enough salt.  I also think this would be best in muffin tins, although I loved the loaf I made.  Loved it too much, actually *adjusts pants*

Sweet Potatoes, Mashed
This is pretty basic...if you want more details, ask, otherwise we'll skip the 101 version and go right to 201.  Boil sweet potatoes, then mash them.  Add at least 1/2 stick butter for every 2 potatoes.  Add a pinch of salt, several tsp brown sugar, dollop of cream (or whatever you have), a dash of: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves.  Mix, taste, adjust.  When it tastes deliciomundo, put it all in a pie pan, top with marshmallows, and bake til hot and 'mallows are browned.  I forget the time, but usually, if it smells really good, it's probably time to check.  Not more than 20 mins tops.