Homemade Dogfood

Special thanks to CarolAnn who knows more about this than anyone else, and has instructed John, who is now the dog food chef extrodinairre.
Suggested ingredients
2 – 3 pounds ground beef or turkey (to be used raw)**
3 cups uncooked rice
3 cups shredded veggies* (eg carrots and broccoli)
good leftovers such as cheese, cornbread, multi grain bread, oatmeal
beef broth
eggs

Cook the rice and dump it into a huge bowl and let it cool. Lay a large piece of wax paper on the counter. Get out the zip lock bags and have them ready on another piece of wax paper. (You don’t want to be getting raw meat on anything else around the kitchen once you get started.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well with your bare hands. Use beef broth and/or eggs to make a sticky consistency. At this point, the dog can taste it, and let you know how you are doing.
Roll into balls (golf ball sized up to tennis ball sized, depending on the dog’s meal size) and arrange on the wax paper. Put 4 balls into each Ziploc bag and freeze. Thaw each bag in the fridge before using.

*dogs should NOT get onions, peppers, eggplant or tomatoes
**our vet said to cook the patties, because of the bad bacteria that can be found in ground meats. However, Carol Ann says dogs have enzymenes to protect them (makes sense, since they would eat raw meat in the wild). Because Cleo is so sick, I'm not taking any chances and I flatten it and fry it in a saucepan.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

7 oz Scharffenberger bittersweet chocolate
½ lb European unsalted butter
4 eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
1/8 teaspoon salt

Put the chocolate and butter in top of a double boiler over simmering water to melt slowly.
Preheat oven to 350. Grease the sides and bottom of 10” springform pan, line bottom with parchment paper and grease it as well.
Separate eggs – whites in smaller bowl and yolks in larger bowl. Add half of the sugar to the yolks and beat with an electric mixer several minutes until it is pale and thick like custard.
Add the cocoa and salt to the melted chocolate and stir up. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg yolk bowl and fold gently until well blended.
Beat the egg whites with cleaned beaters until they form soft peaks, gradually add the remaining sugar, beating until firm, glossy peaks form.
Add about a quarter of the whites to the chocolate-yolk mixture and gently fold until blended. Carefully fold in the remaining whites, trying to preserve as much volume as possible.
Slide the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out almost clean, approximately 40 minutes. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes. Run a think knife around the inside of the pan to release the cake, and unlatch an remove the side of the pan.
Let the cake cool completely before cutting; it will be fragile while still warm. As the cake cools, it will collapse like a fallen souflee – that’s fine.

Serve with fresh raspberries and whipped cream, or ice cream.

Potato-Tomato-Cheese Casserole

Potato-Tomato-Cheese Casserole

2 lbs potatoes (8 small or 5 medium)
6 Tbs butter
1 ½ lbs ripe tomatoes (12 small)
basil leaves (12 or more)
2/3 lb mozzarella cheese
6 hard-boiled eggs
2/3 cup fresh parsley
½ cup Parmesan cheese (plus more)

Boil the potatoes until they are just barely tender, drain them, peel them and cut in thick slices. (Do slicing and make the topping while they cook.)

Melt 2 tbs butter in the bottom of a large shallow casserole dish. Arrange potatoes in one layer and salt them. Slice the tomatoes and arrange them on top. Add salt and pepper and basil leaves (whole or snipped up). Sliced mozzarella makes the next layer.

Topping
Peel and grate the eggs into a bowl. Add 4 tbsp melted butter, snipped up parsley and Parmesan. Mix. Spread over the top of the casserole and sprinkle on a little more parmesan.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Mint Ice Cream Dessert

Food snobs laugh at this dessert, and choose the tiramisu, but then end up sampling this and loving it.
Helping to demonstrate the creation of this delicious summer dessert (perfect for your weekend barbecue) is Daniel, from Holland. He can't wait to try it when he gets home. Unfortunately they do not have Oreos in Holland. And they do not have mint chip ice cream.

Ingredients:
1 package of Oreo Cookies
1 cube butter or margarine
1 carton of Mint-chocolate chip ice cream (the inexpensive kind that comes in a box)
Hershey’s syrup

First make sure the large rectangular glass pan will not be needed for marinating chicken or roasting potatoes.

1. In a large bowl crush the Oreo cookies until they are small crumbs. This is harder and messier than you would think.

2. Meanwhile melt the butter. Use the wrapper to grease the bottom of the pan.

3. Add the melted margarine to the cookie crumbs and mix well.
At this point the sous-chef should open the carton of ice cream and start making rough calculations as to how many slices will be needed to fill the pan.

4. Set aside about one half cup of crumb mixture and press the rest evenly in the pan.

5. If the ice cream layer does not come out perfectly, simply shift some ice cream around and smooth it over with a spatula.
6. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top of the ice cream. Drizzle with a pattern of Hershey's syrup.

6.5 Daniel added a Dutch-touch to this dessert by adding those famous Dutch sprinkles.


7. Cover with foil and put in the freezer. (Realizing there is not enough room in the freezer will encourage a quick clean out.)
8. Let it thaw for a few minutes before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!

Real Cherry Pie

Real Cherry Pie

This makes two cherry pies, because by the time you are done, you will want to have at least two pies to show for it. Freeze one pie or plan to have the neighbors over for a barbecue. First you need a friend with a sour cherry tree. Go there on a hot day in early July with your kids and plastic bags. Argue over who gets the ladder first. If you don’t get the ladder, climb the tree so that you are higher than the ladder anyway.
Most cherries can be pitted by pulling gently on the stem, otherwise use a handy cherry (and olive) pitting tool (available at our T & C) Kids can do this out on the porch in old clothes.

Crust:

4 cups flour
2 teaspoons of salt
1 1/3 cups of shortening
4 tablespoons of cold butter
1/2 cup very cold water

Sift flour and salt together. Cut the shortening and butter into the flour with two knives until it is pea sized. (This is very boring, but don’t try any shortcuts.) Sprinkle in the water and mix with a fork. Add a little more water if necessary to hold it all together. Divide into four balls and keep in the fridge until cherries are ready.

Cherry filling:

8 cups of pitted sour cherries
2-21/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup quick cooking tapioca
1/4 cup Kirsch or a few drops of almond flavoring

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir a little. Lit it sit for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450. Roll out pie crusts. Fill with fruit. If freezing pie, make a solid top crust and do not prick until it is time to bake. Otherwise make a nice lattice top. Bake 10 minutes at 450, reduce heat to 350 and bake about 40 minutes longer. When the pies are cool, start making homemade vanilla ice cream.

Summer Berry Dessert

Ingredients:

Mini (individual sized) angel food cakes
Ben and Jerry's Pistachio Pistachio Ice Cream
Lots of berries
Whipped Cream

Put the angel food cake in the dessert bowl. Place a small scoop of ice cream in the center of it. Add lots of berries. Add lots of whipped cream. Add more berries.

Birthday Fruit Cake

Birthday fruit cake is quite different from fruitcake. First of all it is delicious, second, requires no baking and third is healthy!
Recipe kindly shared by Sue.

Tools Required: Corer, Long wooden skewers
Ingredients: Seedless watermelon, Cantaloupe, Honeydew melon, Pineapple (or star fruit)
Steps:
Cut seven one-inch thick slices of watermelon. Leave the rind on the first level and decorate it with the corer tool to make the green/white pattern. Alternate the rest of the layers of watermelon with smooth cut and zig-zag cut edges. (Olaf, experienced with sharp tools, did this part.)
Make the candles: Use the corer tool to make cylindrical shapes of honeydew and cantaloupe. Alternate the fruits onto the skewers. Top each with a wedge of pineapple or a slice of star fruit. Done!