The 15 Minute Turtle Pumpkin Pie

Ah, the holidays! So much to do, so little time. Here's a light, easy dessert to make for your family gathering on Thanksgiving.

Takes 15 minutes to make!

You'll need:

1/4 cup of caramel topping/syrup, the kind you pour over ice cream sundaes
1 ready-made honey graham pie crust
1/2 cup walnut or pecan pieces
1 cup milk
2 packages of vanilla instant pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 large can of real whipped cream
1/4 cup of chocolate chips, optional

Drizzle 1/4 caramel topping into crust, sprinkle with pecans,
and add chocolate chips (optional) for that 'turtle' flavor.

Beat milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices with fork or whisk until blended. Stir in 1 - 1/2 cups of whipped cream
Spread this into the pie crust

Refrigerate 60 to 90 minutes.

Before serving, add your real whipped cream on top, and on this, sprinkle walnuts and drizzle a little of the caramel sauce.



I'll return the day after Thanksgiving with some great recipes on what to do with those turkey leftovers.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Brown Sugar Chocolate Pudding Cookies

Here's an easy and delicious cookie recipe that's perfect for you and the kids!

You'll need:

2 sticks of butter (softened)
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 small box of Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 package (6 squares) White Chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Heat over to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy.
Add dry pudding mix and beat until blended.
Gradually beat in flour and baking soda.
Stir in white chocolate pieces.

Drop tablespoons of this dough, two inches apart, onto greased baking sheet or cookie tray.

Bake 10 to 13 minutes until edges are browned.

My Amazing Cream Sauce

This is the absolutely best Cream Sauce you will ever have.

Earlier this week I posted a recipe for Cream Chip Beef. In hindsight, I should have posted the versatility of my amazing cream sauce. It's very inexpensive and is ready in about five minutes. This is what I'll do today.


You can use it with a variety of meals, the cheese of your choice optional, and pour it over meals such as:

Grilled steak with mushroom taragon

- Steamed or boiled veggies, such broccoli, aspargus, cauliflower, and with these, add your favorite cheese.
- baked chicken for an old fashioned Southern meal if you don't mind getting your hands messy.
- Lumps of crabmeat dish, with or without mushrooms. Note: Imitation crabmeat is just as good and a lot cheaper.
- Pasta meals. Cheese and frozen peas or broccoli optional.

My mother used flour to make the sauce, but I improved it by substituting pancake mix one day when I was out of flour. It's very rich and filling, and perfect on many dishes.


Required utensils:

You must have a spatula, and preferably a teflon frying pan. You'll need to work fast. Takes less than five minutes to make and is very inexpensive.


Ingredients:

Whole Milk, at least a cup. Have it next to the stove and ready to pour.

A stick of real butter, but you'll only need a third of this.

1/3 of Pancake Mix Complete, (dry). I use Aunt Jemimah's Complete or Hungry Jack Complete. Dont' worry, the sauce won't taste a thing like pancakes.

Put 1/3 stick of butter in pan. Your fire light is high.

As soon as butter starts to bubble, slowly add pancake and flour mix, while smashing or grinding it into a smooth consistency. Work fast or it will burn.

Turn down fire and add milk slowly, and keep on smashing and grinding with the spatula. This is so your cream will be smooth. Although I said use about a cup of milk, it might be a little more or less depending on how thick or thin you want your sauce.

Depending on the dish you'll use it on, you can add various spices.

For example, on a juicey fried or grilled steak as seen above, add a touch of taragon spice, chopped shallot onion, a dash of dry white wine, and salt n' pepper to taste.

Wah-lah!

Your man will swear you can do more than make noise in the kitchen. And you know what? He's right.

The Best Creamed Chip Beef You Ever Had

This is the absolutely best Creamed Chip Beef you will ever eat.

My mother used flour for the sauce, but I improved it by substituting pancake mix one day when I was out of it. It's a very rich and filling dish, and perfect for brunch.

Surprise! This cream sauce can be used for any dish requiring a cream sauce.

Feeds two hungry people or four pretending they ain't greedy.

You must have a spatula, and preferably a teflon pan. You'll need to work fast. Takes five minutes to make and is very inexpensive.

Ingredients:

Two 2 oz. bags of chip beef, pastrami beef or ham, chop it up, or 4 or 5 oz. fresh from the deli, thinly sliced.

Milk on hand, at least a cup.

A stick of real butter, but you'll only need a third of this.

1/3 of Pancake Mix Complete, (dry). I use Aunt Jemimah's or Hungry Jack.

Four slices of toast.

Put 1/3 stick of butter in pan. Your fire light is high. As soon as it starts to bubble, add pancake and flour mix.

Smash it or grind in into a smooth consistency. Work fast or it will burn.

Turn down fire and add milk slowly, and keep a stirring/smashing pace with the spatula. This is so your cream will be smooth. Although I said about a cup of milk, it might be a little more or less, depending on how thick or thin you want your sauce. If it's too thin, just let it simmer on low and keep stirring, and it will thicken.

Pop your bread in the toaster.

Add your beef, pastrami or ham to the cream. A little cheese optional (I liked shredded mozzarella or diced Velveeta sometimes), and I like sprinkling a little black and red pepper on mine.

Pour or spoon over your toast.

Ummmmmmm goood.

Kickin' Chicken & Do Right Dumplings!

This is the perfect soul food meal to stick to your ribs. Ladies, the brothas like that and you do too. So do the kids, especially when they have a cold. Grandma knew this, so now I'm passing it along to you in case you've lost the recipe.


Kickin' Chicken

Place a 3 lb chicken into a large pot and cover with water, a teaspoon of salt and generous sprinkles of chicken seasoning made by companies like McCormick or Weber. If you don't have that, add a couple chicken bouillon cubes. If you like a slight onion taste, throw in one. If you want it spicy like I do, add black and/or red pepper.

Once it starts boiling, reduce to simmering. Check every 20 minutes or so to skim away any foam that forms in your pot. Simmer for at least an hour. Add a cup of rice (optional).

Taste broth to see if it's salty and seasoned enough for you, if not add more of what you like, and simmer under low light another 20 or 30 minutes, or until that baby is tender. Don't overcook.

Remove chicken from pot, and as soon as it's cool enough to work with, debone the breast, rib and thigh meat it into small pieces (like when you make chicken salad), but not the wings and drumsticks.

Give excess parts you don't want like the skin and fat to your dog or cat (mine gets the liver and gizzards), and toss out the bones.


Do Right Dumplings

You'll need:

2 Cups Flour (Grandma sifted hers but you don't have to)
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
5 Tablespoons Butter
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Whole Milk or Butter Milk
1/2 Teaspoon of your chicken seasoning

Making dumplings are a breeze. Mix your flour, salt, egg, butter and milk until a ball forms.

You can either form your dumplings by rolling out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick on a cutting board and cut your dough into bite size pieces, or do it easy and make smaller bite-size dumpling balls by hand.

Optional: Grease the board with a thin coat of butter and roll each mini-ball around it. This will help keep your dumplings from sticking together once you boil them.

Get that chicken broth boiling again!

Here's the fun part I liked as a child and yours, if applicable, will love helping you with and listening to their giggles is worth it. Drop dumplings quickly into pot one at a time and dunk them because they will float.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook about 8 minutes.

Add chicken to pot until it's hot again (takes a minute or two), and wa-lah! Your Kickin' Chicken and Do Right Dumplings are ready!

Sounds like a lot of work, folks, but it isn't. My mama would have that dish whipped up in no time.

Now you and your fam or that fine bro or sis are ready to throw down! Enjoy!

No Bailout Spicy Sweet Barbecue Pork Ribs

The only bailout most of us want is in the kitchen!
Here's my own recipe. Eat yo' heart out, Wall Street!


Da Secret's In Da Sauce!

Takes only 10 to 15 minutes to make!

1 can tomato sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon cloves
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon black pepper
1 serrano chile, seeded, finely chopped

Place all ingredients in a large saucepan and simmer for 4-6 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before using.


Ribs:

Parboil ribs with salt in pot of water until almost cooked.
Drain, salt n' pepper.
Put aluminum foil and add a little water in your cooking pan.
Put ribs in, brush on sauce.
Bake at 400. Brush more sauce on every 10 minutes.
Should be ready in half hour.
Feast.

Engagement Chicken

You ain't hardly trying to get engaged, but you wanna to win the heart of that special brotha or sista. The stomach is usually the fastest route.

This recipe was lifted from Glamour Magazine and republished at the Huffington Post in May 2008. I tried it on my family first, and they went nuts. Then I tried it on my boo. He wasn't my boo then, but after that he was my summer romance boo! So give it try and enjoy!


Engagement Chicken

(serves 3 to 4 unless y'all greedy)

5 lb. whole roasting chicken, extraneous fat removed
3 whole lemons, washed
about 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
kosher or other big-grain salt
fresh pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Wash chicken inside and out, and dry with paper towels. Drain it in a colander. Ideally, chicken should be out of the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before cooking.

Liberally sprinkle lemon juice over and inside chicken.

Follow with salt and fresh pepper, again liberally and all over outside and inside cavity.

Puncture lemons with a fork all around, five or six times; place inside cavity. (If lemons are hard, roll them on the countertop before puncturing, using some pressure; this will help release juices.)

Turn chicken breast side down and roast in the center of the oven at 400 for 15 minutes. (You may use a rack but it's not required.)

Lower heat to 350 and turn chicken breast side up. (Use wooden spoons or mitts to do this safely.) Continue roasting for about 30 minutes. A meat thermometer should read 180 degrees, or you can jiggle the leg --- if it wiggles easily, chicken is done; if you feel resistance, continue cooking and re-check in six or seven minutes. Timing will vary depending on the oven and the size of the chicken.

Your Kitchen Angel Welcomes You

Welcome to my kitchen!

I will be your angel and guide you through my favorite recipes that will make ya smack your head and holla! Look for a new post twice a week. If real life don't get in the way or I'm not running on CP time, I'll try to keep to a Monday & Friday schedule.