I do believe doom begins with a B. As in Basket. A basket of the chocolate kind, filled with fruit. Looking for work craft ideas I came across ChildMade and discovered the Chocolate Fruit Basket. If I could figure out a good method to double boil the chocolate at work, I could see this as a fun lunch craft at work. We are weird like that. Doesn’t it look yummy?

So, has anyone tried this? If you have, how did it go?

Ingredients:
¼ cup of butter
1 lg onion
3 lg tomatoes diced (or 28oz canned tomatoes)
1 md/lg cauliflower broken into small florets
½ tbsp ginger, diced
1 tbsp garlic, diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground red pepper
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp water
3 red potatoes (optional)

Directions:
On low/md heat, melt the butter in a large pot.
Add onions and cumin seed.
Stir together and cook until the onions are creamy and translucent
Add coriander, turmeric and salt. Stir well.
Add ground red pepper and tomatoes. Stir well.
Add ginger and garlic. Stir well.
Add cauliflower and water. Stir so that the cauliflower is covered by sauce.
Add Potatoes if desired.
Cover pot and simmer for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add garam masala. Stir well.
Continue cooking until the cauliflower is soft. Mash if desired.

Remove the lid and allow the liquid to boil down.
Continue to stir until desired consistency is reached.

Ingredients:
1 md tomato
1 md onion
1 cucumber
16oz of plain yogurt
1 tsp ground cumin (or to taste)
1 tsp ground red pepper (or to taste)

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix yogurt, cumin and red pepper.

Dice tomato, onion and cucumber.
Add diced vegetables and mix well.

Refrigerate for at least one hour. Taste to see if more cumin or red pepper is needed.

Add cooked chick peas or cooked potatoes if desired.

Ingredients
2 cups Dal Masoor (orange lentils)
1 onion diced (md or large)
2 tbps diced garlic (or ten cloves, diced)
1 md tomato, halved and sliced thin
3 bay leaves
1 ½ tsp ground red pepper (or to taste)
3 Bay leaves
2 tbsp of Shan dal Curry Mix (or to taste)
½ cup of butter
6 cups of water

Directions:
Begin by soaking the lentils in a bowl for about 3 hours. They will absorb the water. This just makes the cooking time shorter.

In a large pot, cook (md heat) the onions in butter until translucent.
Add garlic, Shan Dal mix and tomatoes to pot. Stir until the dal mix is well distributed.
Carefully add 6 cups of water to the pot.

Drain and rinse the soaked lentils. Carefully add them to the pot.
Add bay leaves.

Turn to low heat and cover.
Cook until the lentils reach desired consistency, stirring occasionally.  Remove the lid and let dal continue to boil to assist in thickening.

Keep an eye on the mix as it may boil over if the heat is too high.

I attempted to make soup this afternoon. My goal was to come up with an easy to make recipe. I failed. Josh said it wasn’t bad, but it needed more tomato. I used V8, water, mixed vegetables and spices. The water to V8 ratio was off. I am experimenting in small batches and a 2:3 ratio of V8 to water doesn’t taste too great. So, it is back to the notepad for me. I had to post it though. For future reference.

If there is ever a time when you see a bottle of Sauer’s barbecue sauce, pick up a bottle or three. I’ve rarely found a barbecue sauce that I want to use on everything from eggs to mashed potatoes (yes, I said mashed potatoes). Sauer’s is one of them. You may find some bottles with the older style label. Don’t worry, the label doesn’t make the sauce!

Josh got me started and his parents have been our sauce enablers. While we were visiting Josh’s parents over Yule, we went on a search to bring more Sauer’s home with us. Unfortunately we were only able to procure two bottles. Hardly enough to last us a year. Thankfully Josh’s father came to our rescue when he spotted some at his local grocer. He purchased and shipped to us, five more bottles. That might last until next Yule.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp Lemon/Pepper Blend
2 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp honey
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup yellow mustard

Mix all ingredients together.
If using chicken, marinate for about 20-30 minutes.

Ingredients
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

1 – In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast.
Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

2 – Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough
on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn
dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk,
about 1 hour.

3 – Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into
loaves, and place into two well oiled 9×5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30
minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

4 – Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Ingredients
1 16oz container of cottage cheese
1 10oz package of frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
4 eggs (beaten)
1 bell pepper (any color)
1 md onion, chopped
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried oregano leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix all ingredients
Pour into greased 9″ pie pan*
Bake for 40 minutes or until center is set

* I have been using a casserole dish and it works too.

Josh got this from somewhere and I think some of it is from memory.

Ingredients:

2 ? lbs boneless chicken breast
? stick butter
3 medium potatoes
3 medium onions
28oz can diced tomatoes
28oz can butterbeans
1 ? tsp salt
1 ? tsp red pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp flour
16oz can corn

Cube chicken and put chicken in pot.
Cover with water and boil on High for 15 min.
Add onions, potatoes, and butter, cook on medium-low for 1 hour.
Add tomatoes and cook on medium-low for 1 hour, stir well at all times.
Add butterbeans and seasonings, and simmer on low for 3 hours 15 minutes.
Continue cooking and add corn, let corn cook for 30 minutes and turn heat off and continue stirring until served.

*The stew will boil down. When a desired thickness is reached, put the cover on and continue cooking and stirring.
Stir often. This stew is known to stick.