Internetless :(

After tonight I will be without internet for awhile, so I hope you all have a great weekend &will be catching up with everyone soon!

1 to 100!!!!

My 100th post! It's so exciting :) :) :)
I have been thinking about what I should do & decided on another Sweet Montana Give-Away. This time I have 4 Items-

Huckleberry Jam
Huckleberry Honey
Huckleberry Taffy
Huckleberry Chocolate Bar

So to enter my 100th post Give-Away all you need to do is leave me a comment telling me which one of my 100 posts was your favorite. You have until July 15th, then I will draw the winners name out of a hat, a Montana Grizzlies hat of course ;)

Rhubarb Rules!

Rhubarb pie is my favorite pie. I like to freeze batches of rhubarb so that I can make it all year round. The recipe for that and for my pie crust come from my Grandma,

Grandma makes the best pies, of course.

Ok. lets get started here is my wonderful Rhubarb

And here it is all ready for pie


This wonderful pie is going to my Father-In-Law for Father's Day, Rhubarb Pie is his favorite also. Of course I made 2 so that I could sample it, we have to make sure it's edible right ;)

Cheesecake

I adapted a recipe from Allrecipes to make these, they turned out wonderful.

Mini-Chocolate Cheesecakes

Ingred;
1pkg mini vanilla wafers
2-8oz pkgs cream cheese
3/4c. white sugar
2 eggs
1t.vanilla
1/4c. cocoa powder

Oven 350, line mini muffin pan with papers, place a mini wafer in each one.
Beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs & vanilla until fluffy, beat in the cocoa powder. Fill each cup 3/4 full, bake for 15-20 min. until the top has just set firm. Chill and top with cherry pie filling, or whip cream. Lol, or both!

Potstickers

I had Pot Stickers for the first time at Panda Express about 2 months ago, & was hooked. The second time I had them I wasn't quite as impressed, I decided that they were one of those things that can be varied quite a bit from place to place.I wondered how hard they were to make, & began searching the internet for recipes & how to's on Pot Stickers. To my surprise they were super easy, so I combined & messed with several recipes to come up with one that I love and here it is-

Pot Stickers from Start 2 Finish

A lot of the recipes I found said to use store bought wonton wrappers, but the dough recipe I found for them was so easy I don't know why anyone would want to-

Pot Sticker Dough
Ingred;
2c. Flour
1c. boiling water

I place the flour in the bowl of my kitchen aid, put on the beater attachment. Turn it on to the lowest setting and slowly pour in the boiling water. Once it's all mixed together, I turn it up and let it knead it for awhile until the dough is smooth, like this

Set your dough aside and prepare your filling.

The filling for your pot stickers can be basically whatever you like, I have tried chicken & sausage so far. For the sausage ones this is what I did
Sausage/Pork Pot Stickers
Ingred;
1/4lb ground sausage/or pork
a small handful of Chinese cabbage
2 baby carrots
1/4 of a small onion
1 clove garlic
1/4t. sesame oil
1/2t. soy sauce
1/4t. salt

Cook the sausage until just done, place the carrots in the food processor, pulse until finely minced, add the onion & garlic and repeat, then the cabbage. Pulse until all are finely minced and blended. Add in the sausage and seasonings, scrape the sides and pulse until you have a well mixed, finely processed filling.

Divide your dough in half and roll into 2 ropes about 1" in diameter, slice into 1" pieces. Roll dough out into small circles and place about 1 spoonful of filling into each.

Fold dough in half and pinched closed.

When you have 6 ready heat 1T. olive oil in a large skillet, with a lid, when it's hot turn heat to med and place pot stickers into the pan

Let cook about 1 min, until bottoms are golden colored. Get your lid ready, pour 1/2c. water into pan and quickly close the lid. Leave sit for about 5 min. or until all the liquid is gone. Remove from heat. Repeat with the rest of your dough and filling. Serve hot with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce
Ingred;
1/4c. soy sauce
2T. water
1/4t. sesame oil

Stir together.
There are lots of dipping sauce recipes out there and they are all very easy, this just
happens to be our favorite.

I feel like Chicken tonight.....

This is a great no fuss meal that we enjoy, & I thought I would share with you all.

Mexi-Chicken

Ingred;
5 chicken breasts
olive oil
salt & pepper
1t. each minced basil, parsley & oregano
1 can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies

Oven 350.
Place chicken in a 9x13 pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Place pan in the oven. Stir together the herbs and tomatoes. After chicken has cooked for 1/2 hour take out & top with the tomato mixture then return to the oven. Cook for another half hour, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve with rice.

The leftovers from this are wonderful in wraps or in chicken tortilla soup, which is what I plan on doing with mine tomorrow.

'Shrooms & Wontons

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingred;
1 pkg lg stuffer Mushrooms
1/2 pkg (4oz) Cream Cheese
1/4c. shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/4c. Crab (can use imitation)
2 Green Onions, sliced
1t. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4t. each Garlic & Onion Power
1/2t. salt

Oven 400
Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel, remove their stems and place caps on a cookie sheet. Lightly drizzle them with olive oil. Put the cream cheese in a food processor and blend, add in the remaining ingred and process until smooth. Using a spoon fill each mushroom cap with about 1t. of the filling. Place pan in the oven and cook for about 30 min. I did try wrapping some of them with half a slice of raw bacon, they turned out pretty good that way but had to cook about 10-15 longer.

Herb & Shrimp Wonton Cigars
Ingred;
Wonton Wrappers
4 oz Cream Cheese
1t. each fresh minced, Parsley, Basil & Oregano
1/4t. minced Garlic
1T. minced Onion
1/2t. Salt
1/2c. fresh Salad Shrimp

Oven 400.
Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil, lightly brush each wonton wrapper with olive oil, both sides. Place about 1t. of the herb cheese in middle of each wonton, spread in a vertical line, top with 4-6 shrimp and roll into a cigar. Repeat with remaining ingred. Place in oven and cook for about 30 min, until they are crispy. Serve with cocktail, or sweet & sour sauce for dipping.

Better Than S**

This cake is referred to by many names, but it's most popular one is R rated so I won't share it on here :) My Sister-In-Law calls it Bishops Delight because my Father-In-Law doesn't like the other name. She first made it for us years ago, & it became one of our favorite stand-by dessert for parties & potlucks.

Better Than S** CakeIngred;
1 box Devils Food Cake Mix (Duncan Hines is my favorite)
1-1/3c. Water
1/2c. Oil
3 lg Eggs

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 jar Hot Fudge Ice Cream Topping (we prefer Mrs. Richardsons)
1 reg container Cool Whip- thawed

Mix and bake the cake according to the directions on the box, let cake cool until it's slightly warm. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the top of the cake, pour the s.c. milk over the top and spread to cover. Heat the hot fudge in the microwave for 30 sec. stir, spread evenly over the top of the cake. Let cool completely, then spread the cool whip on top, store cake in the fridge until serving.

Mochi Cake

I am really enjoying this new find, Mochiko flour makes such yummy cakes. Very moist, dense & chewy, very different from your normal cakes.

Now I thought mochiko would be hard to find, so the first time I went looking for it I went to a specialty store. It was there, of course. But since then I have found it in almost every grocery store I shop at!


Lemon Mochi Cake

Ingred;
1- 16oz box of Mochiko Flour
2c. Sugar
1-1/2T. Baking Powder
1 small pkg of Instant Lemon Pudding Mix
1 can (2c.) Coconut Milk
1c. reg. Milk
1/2c. melted Butter
5 Eggs, beaten
2t. Lemon extract/ or Juice

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan.
Stir together flour, sugar, b. powder, & pudding mix. Whisk in both of the milks until smooth. Stir in the butter, then the eggs, then the extract. Pour in to prepared pan and bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool, then slice using a plastic knife.

You can vary the recipe by replacing the pudding & extract flavoring to other kinds.


Strawberry Mochi Cake


This is my entry for Rach's June Baking Challenge. The ingredient for this months challenge is Strawberries. I can't wait to see all the other goodies that people come up with!

Beef Stroganoff

This is one of my favorite dinners, the family- not so much, so I don't make it very often. They like tomato based things more I think.




But every once in a while I start to get a craving for this and they just have to deal, poor little family :)



Beef Stroganoff

Ingred;
1lb Steak Sliced into strips
1 T. Olive Oil
1T. Minced Garlic
1/4c. Finely Chopped Onion
1/2c. Quartered Mushrooms
1/2c. Butter
1T. Worcestershire Sauce
Salt & Pepper
1/2c. Flour
4c. Beef Broth
2t. Minced Fresh Basil
1c. Sour Cream

Heat oil in a large pan, add the steak. When the meat is half cooked stir in the garlic, onions, & mushrooms. Season with salt & pepper, stir in the worch. sauce. Add in the butter, gently stir until melted. Sprinkle the flour over top and stir until its all mixed together, slowly pour in the broth stirring until it's well mixed. Bring to boil, stir in the sour cream then remove from heat. Sprinkle the top with fresh basil & serve over rice or noodles.

Missing 1 Krazy Woman....... reward offered

Just kidding, here I am :)

It seems like too many things caught up with me at once, we took a load of things to our new house this weekend & I am back packing up the rest. The party was a blast, of course I forgot my camera, BUT I do have lots of yummy recipes from it to share so as soon as we are settled in our new place I will get those posted.

My herbs are growing WONDERFULLY, I am so excited. They are growing so fast I keep having to find new ways to use them everyday, parsley in your scrambled eggs folks is pretty darn good :)

While we are finishing up the moving & all, I will be taking a bloggy break :(
I have too many other things that I have to be doing, darn it, but when I get back will have lots of fun stuff to share.

Stuff to come-

Recipes;
Stuffed 'Shrooms
Herb & Shrimp Wonton Cigars
Potstickers
Mini- Chocolate Cheesecakes
Green Tea Truffles

Crafts;
How to re-cover a bar stool
Kids Sundress step by step
Twirl Skirt step by step
and a 2 new mini- books

I hope everyone has a great few weeks & I will be back in July!

Mochiko Mochiko Mochiko

That is just a fun word to say isn't it??? I think so :) Mochiko is a flour made out of sweet white rice, it looks similar to powdered sugar.
I first read about it on a blog post about Mochi a little doughnut made with it then filled with a sweet bean filling, sadly I forgot to save where I found that.
But I did find another blog with a recipe that describes how to make Daifuku, which is a type of Mochi, I can't wait to try making it! Then I found a Blog where the Mochiko is used to make little teacakes, yum.
So I thought this might be a good, easy recipe for me to start out on using the Mochiko, see I can't stop using it! It's almost as fun to type as it is to say, you try it :)

I am gonna be using these beautiful Cherries-

We live only about an hour from Flathead Lake where there are lots of Cherry Orchards, so we get some really great, fresh cherries! And here is the group of ingred. It had to be re-taken it because I realized the evap. milk was MIA-

I am not going to give you the recipe here, because it's not mine, so if you want it you can jump on over to The Food Librarian's Blog and get it. I will say that this recipe was very quick & very easy, the hardest, most time consuming thing was pitting the cherries. It seems I need another kitchen tool ;)
So here we have the finished product-



Aren't they cute. I used the rest of the batter in a loaf pan, I am going to slice it and top with strawberries! Here it is before the strawberries-

Today & Tomorrow I will be getting ready for a SURPRISE party for my Sweet Sister-In-Law, I am making an Appetizer & Dessert Buffet. So after Tuesday night I should have some yummy recipes to show you!!

Fresh Herbs

I went down to a plant nursery here in town where my cousin works and found some TREASURES.
It seems like I am constantly buying fresh herbs from the grocery store and the market, so I thought it would be great to grow my own. Now I have tried this before & I have to tell ya I have no green thumbs or fingers :( I usually end up killing them, it is really sad.
BUT I am trying again, I had a couple of matching blue pots from previous house plants that ummmm went to plant heaven shall we say.
I got 6 different herbs. 3 for each pot, it's been almost two weeks since I potted them and look......They're alive!!!!!

It's a miracle! I actually have trimmed down the basil twice already, now if I can just keep them alive.........

Pot #1 has- Oregano, Parsley, & Cilantro

Pot #2 has- Lemon Balm, Basil, & Rosemary

Now if I keep these growing I might have to go pick up a few more like Sage, Thyme, Lavender, Summer Savory...............