Chicken Fried Venison

I have made this for the family and for company many, many times.  It's great for using less tender cuts of meat.  I always serve it with mashed potatoes and gravy.
1 cup flour
1 Tbl Adobo - or spices of your preference, like salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, etc.
1 egg
2 Tbl water
1/4 c. oil
2 cups milk
6-8 thinly sliced venison (or pork, beef, etc.)steaks, pounded to tenderize.  I do this with a wooden mallet that's designed for tenderizing meat, and I bring the mallet, meat, and chopping board out on the deck so I don't splatter meat bits all over my kitchen.  I also wear an apron.  Just saying.
Put all dry ingredients in a ziplock bag.
Beat eggs and water into a shallow bowl.
Dip meat into dry ingredients, then into egg/water bath, then back into dry ingredients, and fry in oil until cooked.  It's okay for the meat to still be a little pink.
After all meat is fried, mix milk and 1/4 cup of the flour mixture from the ziplock bag together with a whisk, and pour into frying pan.  Bring to boil, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir until thickened.  If there is no oil left in the pan at this point, you may want to add a bit of butter before making the gravy.
My favorite accompaniments to this meal are steamed green beans, peas or corn, and homemade applesauce.  Rolls are overkill on carbs, but greatly appreciated by the crowd.  

Chicken Noodle Soup

I got this recipe from a Consumer Report magazine in 1993.  They had tested all different brands of CNS, and decided their own was best.  We love it.  Since Bart and I are both sick today, and had to cancel our date plans for dinner and Rochester Philharmonic's Mardi Gras Concert, I made soup and corn bread.

Chicken breast half, with skin
1/4 c. finely chopped shallots
4 c. water
10 1/2 oz can condensed chicken broth, reconstituted, or 2 1/2 c. ready to serve.
1/2 c. finely chopped celery
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp thyme
pinch black pepper
3 oz medium-width egg noodles

Place chicken, skin side down, in preheated three-quart saucepan.  Brown over medium heat long enough to render out some chicken fat (about 5 minutes).  Remove chicken.  Reduce heat to low.  Add shallots and stir briefly (1-2 minutes).  Do not brown.  Return chicken to pan and add remaining ingredients except noodles.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low simmer and cook 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.  Remove chicken.  Cool.  Discard bones and skin.  Dice chicken, and return meat to pan.  (Soup can be refrigerated for future use at this point.)  Just before serving, return soup to boil.  Add noodles and cook for required time (about 8 minutes).  Yield: about 6 1/2 cups.

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

adapted from a lemon cupcake recipe at AllRecipes

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
grated zest and juice of a lemon
1 cup milk, divided

Preheat oven to 375 F and line 24 muffin tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture a third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of flour. Beat until just combined.

Fill the prepared tins and bake for 20 minutes, until springy to the touch. Tip the cupcakes in their tins to help them cool. Let cool completely before frosting. If you like sprinkle with colored sugar. Makes 2 dozen.

Fresh Raspberry Frosting

1 cup fresh raspberries (or thawed from frozen)
1 cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar

In the bowl of a food processor, puree the raspberries until smooth. If you like, press the mixture through a sieve to get rid of the seeds.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and half the sugar until smooth. Add the raspberry puree, then more sugar until you have a fluffy, spreadable consistency. Add a splash of water, too (a tablespoon or two) if it needs it.

Huevos Rancheros

I had this for breakfast this morning, and it's yummy.  I have it on a pretty regular basis, I guess, and have served it to company.
eggs
tortillas
salsa
shredded cheese (Mexican is best)
fat free sour cream (optional)

Fry eggs - best not to leave them too runny in this case.
Put eggs on a plate + keep warm (cover)
fry tortillas on one side for just a minute or two, then flip and sprinkle with shredded cheese.  As soon as the cheese melts (you can cover the pan if you want softer tortillas), take off pan and put an egg on top.  Put a spoon of salsa and a spoon of sour cream on top.  A clip of cilantro looks pretty over the sour cream.  But ask if your guest like cilantro, because some people don't.

Brownies From Scratch

Why do this, right?  Brownies from a box are delicious.  Okay, true, but these are even better, and not hard at all.  And you can taste that they're homemade, so if you make them as a dish to pass, it's obvious you went the extra step to make it special.  They're gooey and extra chocolatey, just the way I like them.  I've been making them since at least 1996 when I made them on Groundhog's Day for guests.
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 - 1 oz squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup semi sweet morsels (optional)

1. Beat together eggs, sugar, butter, and chocolate - I let the mixer run for at least a few minutes, until it's turned a lighter color and is fluffy.
2. Add vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt, mixing after each addition.  You're almost done already!
3. Stir in nuts and/or morsels if desired.
4. Pour into a greased (crisco) and floured (cocoa) 13x9 pan.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
5.  Let cool for 45 minutes before cutting.  If you can stand it~!

I made this yesterday (2/5/12) for Superbowl Sunday where I work.  We all brought in something to share, and ordered pizza and wings.  Luckily not many people call during the Superbowl, and we had it playing quietly on the tvs hanging from the ceiling on "the floor".  It was very professional, with people quiet and doing their jobs and glancing up when they had a minute.  No yelling/distractions.   It took the sting out of having to work during the Superbowl, anyway.  That was nice.

Favorite Chocolate Fudge Cake

My earliest recorded time to make this was Dec. 1994.  There seems to be an earlier time I wrote that I made it in my cookbook when we had Frams and Hyldahls over, but the date has worn off.  I also made this for Mollie's 2nd (with Fran, Hank, McAllisters and Boones) and 3rd birthdays, Mollie's first communion, Father's Day 2001, once for G+G Miller, Maver and Jerry, for Irene's 16th birthday, and most other birthdays for everyone in between.  I had to give up writing when I made it in the cookbook because the page ran out of room.  This recipe is from Applehood and Mother Pie.
Cake:
4 oz unsweetened chocolate (if you get the premelted, it saves worry and effort)
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water

1. Put Crisco in 2 cake pans, and cover bottom and sides.  Sprinkle cocoa in and tap pan to cover crisco.
2. Melt chocolate (if necessary - I do this in the microwave)  Set aside to cool.
3. Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.
4. Cream butter in mixing bowl.  Add brown sugar and eggs.  Beat at high speed until light and fluffy, for 5 minutes.
5. Beat in vanilla and chocolate.
6. Stir in dry ingredients alternately with sour cream.
Beat well with a wooden spoon after each addiction, until batter is smooth.
7. Stir in boiling water.  Batter will be thin.
8. Pour at once into prepared pans.  Bake.  350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.  Put a toothpick in the middle to test - if it comes out clean, it's done.  If it has batter on it, keep baking.  I put the pans onto cookie sheets in case they spill over.
9. Remove from pans.  Cool completely.  Frost with Chocolate Fudge Frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting (addictive as crack)
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter (one stick, you sillies)
1 one-pound box confectioner's sugar (powdered - about 4 cups)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Melt chocolate and butter in microwave.  Don't over do it, or it may burn.
2. Combine sugar and milk in a medium-sized metal bowl.  Add chocolate mixture and mix.
3. Set bowl in ice water and beat with a wooden spoon until thickened.  You can put it in a sink full of snow in winter.  Stir in vanilla.
Spread on cooled cake.