Short Cut Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe uses ready-made croissant dough to produce petite sweet rolls that you can brag on, with lots better home-made taste than the refrigerated cinnamon rolls in the same display case. It's so easy I'm almost embarrassed to write directions.

First things first

🠞 Preheat Oven at 350°F (177°C), yes, a lower temperature than package directions.

🠞 "Butter" (Margarine, Veggie Oil, or, heck, bacon grease) an 8-inch by 8-inch  (20-cm by 20-cm) or larger baking sheet or pan.

Ingredients

✔ 1 8-ounce (226-grams) Refrigerated Crescent Dough Sheet

✔ 3 to 4 Tablespoons spreadable Margarine or salted Butter

✔ 3 to 4 Tablespoons Granulated or Brown Sugar, or mix 'em 

✔ 1 to 2 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon

✔ Caramel Sundae Syrup

Directions

1. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the dough sheet.

2. Slather on margarine or salted butter evenly, leaving half-inch clear on one short edge.*

3. Sprinkle on sugar evenly, again leaving half-inch of short edge clear.*

4. Sprinkle on cinnamon evenly, again leaving half-inch of short edge clear.*

5. From opposite of clear short edge, roll sheet up toward clear short edge, rolling close but not tight, then pinch clean edge against roll to finish.

6. Cut roll into 1 to 1½ i-inch (2.5 to 3.8 cm) pieces. Wet knife blade before each cut. Makes 7 to 10 rolls.

7. Place on baking sheet or pan, close together will promote height and softer edges, well-spaced will promote spread and browner edges, but not by much either way, so don't agonize over it. Or do both.

8. Bake 15 to 20 minutes (longer than package directions) until golden brown.

9. Remove from oven, cool for a few minutes, then apply the caramel sauce. WARNING: If you apply too much caramel sauce, you may find it necessary to lick up the excess from the pan. Just sayin'. 

* Amounts can be varied to taste.

;^)

Easy Pasta Carbonara

While not a true pasta carbonara, as I've taken a few shortcuts, like using ramen, I think the ease of this recipe more than makes up for any alteration.

Carbonara is traditionally made with pancetta, but I prefer the additional robustness that bacon brings to the dish. Both pancetta and bacon are made from pork belly that has been cured with salts and, often, other spices. But bacon is also smoked, though usually "cold-smoked," at temperatures that do not cook the meat. Both pancetta and bacon should be cooked before consuming.

Ingredients

- 1½ Cups water
- 1 Package Ramen Noodles, flavor as preferred
- 2 Tbsp Bacon Bits, to taste; real bacon, please
- 1 Egg, large, whipped smooth
- 1 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese, grated, or more, to taste
- ¼ to ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper, liberal amount, to taste

A few notes about the ingredients

- Keeping in mind that this is a certified Effort-Less recipe, I'm suggesting the use of prepared ingredients, but feel free to prepare your own.

- The Black Pepper is more an ingredient than a seasoning, so it should have a noticeable presence in the eating.

- The Egg will not be fully cooked but will manifest as a creamy sauce

- The amount of water is less than the usual 2 Cups. That and adding the seasoning before the noodles is meant to concentrate the flavor in the noodles, since the pasta is to be drained.

Preparation

- In an appropriately-sized sauce pan, add the Ramen seasoning (from the included packet) to the water and bring to a boil.

- Add the noodles and boil for three minutes, or according to package instructions.

- Whip or beat the egg until smooth, blending-in the Parmesan Cheese and liberal amounts of Black Pepper.

- Drain the pasta.

- Immediately stir the egg mixture into the hot noodles.

- Mix in the Bacon Bits, amount to taste.

- Plate the noodles and top with more Black Pepper and Parmesan Cheese.

Serves 1

;^)

Ice Cream Cone Sundae

I enjoy the standard waffle cone as much as I do the ice cream. This recipe emphasizes that delicious cone taste.







Ingredients
Toaster Waffle
Ice Cream
Toppings (optional)

Directions                               Preheat Toaster Oven to 400°F
In a pre-heated toaster oven, BAKE (do NOT toast) the waffle directly on the wire rack. The purpose is to crisp the waffle throughout, not just on its surface. In my toaster oven, this takes about seven minutes.

Serve
Topped with Ice Cream, flavor of your choice
Enhanced with toppings, as may be desired

;^)

Gazpacho, Cold or Hot

This recipe is so easy, I'm mad at myself for not thinking of it years ago.

Ingredients

- Chunky Salsa. I use Safeway Select Southwest Salsa, Hot. The more vegetables in the salsa, the better. As an example, the Safeway salsa has tomatoes, Jalapeno Peppers, Green Chili Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Green Bell Peppers, Black Beans, Corn, Onions, and Garlic, besides the usual herbs and spices like Cilantro, Basil and Oregano.

- Vegetable Juice Cocktail, like V8© , though there are usually store or generic brands that I find very comparable

Preparation

- Combine the Salsa and the Vegetable Juice in a 1:5 ratio (adjust the ratio to taste).

- To serve cold, the soup should be thoroughly chilled in the refrigerator. To serve hot ... do I really need to explain this?

- Can be garnished with sour cream, avocado slices, cucumber slices, tortilla chips, crackers, shredded cheese, boiled egg slices or your favorite whatever—or no garnish at all.

;^)

.

Easy Homemade Chicken Soup or Chicken n' Dumplings

Photo**

This chicken soup is so easy, I’m going to list all of the measurments in metric, just so you feel like you’ve done something special.

Ingredients

- 1 Whole Deli-roasted Chicken from the grocery store (day-old is good, if the price is marked down) NOTE 1: Roasted chicken, not fried. NOTE 2: Turns out, counting chickens is the same whether in imperial or metric systems. Go figure.

- 2 Liters Water

- Noodles, pasta or dumplings of your choice, amount by personal preference (I like a lot.) Try angel hair pasta broken into 2 cm pieces.

- (Optional) Mirepoix (chopped onion, celery and carrots)  As much or as little as you want, for both color and flavor. NOTE: Mirepoix (MEER-pwah) is the fancy-schmancy French cuisine name for this basic flavor combo, traditionally, two parts onions, one part carrots, and one part celery.

Preparation

- Drop the chicken in a large pot. (Add mirepoix)

- Cover with water (use more water as necessary).

- Bring to a boil and then simmer one hour, covered.

Kroger's roast chicken.

- Remove chicken and taste the broth, add salt, pepper or spices to taste. NOTE: Usually these deli-roasted birds are so heavily salted and spiced that no further seasoning is needed. If you think it needs more spice, try adding some poultry seasoning.

- Bring the broth to a boil and add your pasta, noodles or dumplings, cook according to their directions.

- While the noodles are cooking, carefully (it’ll be HOT) break apart the chicken and pull the meat into bite-sized chunks. Use two forks if the chicken’s too hot to touch.

- Add the meat back to the broth.

- Serve

Variations

Chicken and dumplings**

Chicken Vegetable Soup
- Add some mixed frozen or canned veggies to the broth with the noodles.
Chicken and Dumplings
- Including mirepoix and/or other vegetables, especially carrots and onions, is common.
- Stir in a little roux (you can always add more) to thicken the finished broth. (Presto! Broth becomes stew.)
- Cut refrigerator biscuits into bite-sized pieces, drop on top of simmering stew.
- Cover and simmer about 20-25 minutes.
- Pull the chicken into chunks, add back to finished stew.

;^)

Bean Salad

Also known as Three Bean Salad, Five Bean Salad, Seven Bean Salad, etc. (In some quarters it's bad form to use an even number of bean types; I've heard it said an even number can mess with your bean Ch'i. Just sayin'.)

A bean salad dressed up with
red bell peppers, peas and onions.
(Image courtesy**)

This is another salad that can escape notice because of the somewhat atypical base ingredients—canned beans. It can also serve as a side dish and will meet most vegan standards. Essentially, this recipe is a marinade for beans; therefor, some post-assembly wait-time is involved.

Ingredients
~ Three (or more) 15 oz. cans, one each of any of the following: kidney beans, navy beans, red beans, black beans, fava beans, lima beans, green beans, yellow (wax) beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), pinto beans, soybeans, and in Half Cup amounts, corn (can, fresh or frozen), green peas (ditto), diced carrots (ditto again), diced (fresh or frozen) bell peppers (red, green, orange or yellow), diced (fresh) onions or green onions—or whatever strikes your fancy. Onion is probably the most common non-bean addition. Go for good color and texture variance.
~ Half Cup apple cider vinegar
~ Quarter Cup vegetable oil
~ Quarter Cup sugar

Preparation
~ Drain the beans well. If they are packed in a sauce, rinse them with water.
~ In a mixing bowl, combine the vinegar and sugar and whisk together thoroughly to dissolve the sugar. Add the oil and whisk again. Taste the marinade and adjust the ingredients to your preference. Whisk again as necessary.
~ Mix in the beans (and what-all), gently. All of the beans and any other veggies should rest in the marinade; if you need more, whip some up.
~ Put the bowl in the 'fridge to chill for at least 90 minutes.

Serve
Drain about half the marinade (for service, we don't want the beans swimming in marinade) and put the beans in a serving bowl. A slotted serving spoon is preferred. Serve cold.

Variations
Limited only by your imagination. Both the vegetable ingredients and the marinade are primed for creativity. Pimento, diced avocado, sliced olives, sliced bananas (just kidding), diced chiles, diced jicama, minced garlic or, just before serving, add some diced pepperoni, ham or corned beef. Of course, there goes your vegan crowd.

;^)

Paczki – Polish "Doughnut Holes" the Easy Way

Traditional, carefully-prepared pączki

awaiting final coatings. Don't worry.
yours don't have to look like this.
(Courtesy **)

Pączki (pronounced POHNCH-kee) are a traditional treat on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins). The recipe here, however, isn't traditional; it includes a major shortcut that should make this treat even more popular. Maybe they're not as good as some egg-rich dough recipes, but they’re still delicious, prep time is cut from hours to minutes and dishes and clean-up are practically done away with, so there’s a lot to like.

Ingredients

~ Pot of hot oil for deep frying, 350^o-360^o (F) Maximum caution when using hot oil, especially if kids are in the area.

~ 1 (or more) 7.5 ounce refrigerator breakfast biscuits tubes. These smaller-size biscuits work best. They’re ten to a tube and the tubes often come in packs of four.

~ Powdered (confectioner) sugar, a bunch

~ A lunch-sack size paper bag (or a large bowl)

~ Pot of coffee, large glass of milk, or even apple cider to accompany the eating

Preparation

~ Open the biscuits, separate them and allow them to rest at room temp for 10-15 minutes (allows better rise). Don’t mash or handle them more than necessary.

~ Heat the oil to temp.

~ This next part will happen fast, so you’ll want to have handy a spider, large slotted spoon or tongs to retrieve the pączki from the hot oil and some brown paper or paper towels on which to drain them afterward.

~ Assuming a full-sized pot (if smaller, “fry-baby” size, go with two batches), carefully drop the biscuits into the hot oil. Try not to drop them on top of one another.

~ After about one minute, flip or prod a biscuit to turn it over. We’re looking for a dark brown carmelized color (color = flavor). If it’s not there yet, turn it back for another half minute, then check another biscuit. Frying time can vary depending on unspecified factors. When good color is achieved, flip all the biscuits and fry for not-quite the same length of time.

~ Remove the pączki to the draining paper. Allow to drain about a minute.

~ Put ¼ Cup powdered sugar in the paper sack.

~ Drop three pączki in the sack, roll the top tight and shake until the pączki are coated. Repeat with the remaining pastries, adding more sugar as necessary.

~ Alternate (Green) method: Think of the powdered sugar as what it really is—insulation. Pour a layer of the sugar into a wide-bottomed bowl. Carefully place the pączki in the bowl. Cover with another thick layer of powdered sugar. Now both warmth and flavor are retained by the insulating powder. (May even be eligible for energy-conservation tax rebates. Try including it in your tax return; let me know what happens.) Carefully probe for the pastries with your fingers, then lift carefully, retaining maximum sugar coverage (and R-value) right to your mouth. After biting, quickly dip exposed portion into insulating powder.

~ Other alternates: Pączki can be rolled in granulated sugar, sprinled with cinnamon, or even glazed. If you feel ambitious, you can pipe fruit paste into them.

Serve fresh and hot. Pączki’s peak flavor has a half life of about 20 minutes.

;^)

Five Cup Salad

A fancy-dress version of the
Five Cup Salad (Image **)

(also known as: Ambrosia)

This is an easy one that many people know, but, because of the somewhat unusual combination of ingredients, folks tend to overlook it when shuffling through their on-board memory files. It can serve as a side,  salad or even dessert. It's always popular at potlucks, too.

Ingredients

~ Canned mandarin oranges (15 ounce can, or more)

~ Canned pineapple, small pieces (15 ounce can, or more)

~ 1 Cup shredded, sweetened coconut

~ 1 Cup miniature marshmallows

~ 1 Cup sour cream

Preparation

~ Drain the fruit well. (The juice can be saved for other purposes, basting, for instance, or even for drinking, with the addition of a proper thinning agent, like, ohhh, maybe vodka, tequila or rum.)  

~ To combine, first thoroughly stir together the sour cream and the coconut. Next, stir in (gently) the fruit. Finally, mix in (gently) the marshmallows.

~ Chill (the salad, not you). (Well, you too. After all there is that leftover juice.)

You will be tempted to eat this right away. Don’t. If you chill it in the ‘fridge for at least six hours, the flavors will meld and the cold will bring up the sweetness. It will taste 47.5% better. Guaranteed.

If you want to dress this up

Drain a small jar of maraschino cherries (no stems), then let the cherries rest on a paper towel for at least 10 minutes. (If you don’t get all the juice drained off, the cherries will bleed messily on the salad.)

Put the salad in a decent-looking serving bowl or container and smooth the top. Dot the cherries in a pleasing pattern on top.

Serve cold.

Variations

Yogurt or whipped topping can be substituted for all or part of the sour cream.

Other fruits can be added or substituted, including grapes, bananas, strawberries or other sweet berries, or crushed pecans.

;^)

Thick, Rich 'n Easy Tapioca Pudding

While it is still a cooked pudding, this recipe lets you bypass the tricky
parts—it's cheek-to-cheek tapioca grinning with vanilla flavor.


Ingredients
~ 1 Box of Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding (4 half-cup servings size)
~ 1 12 ounce can evaporated milk + 4 ounces (half cup) water
~ 2 or 3 Tablespoons Tapioca

Preparation
~ Combine ingredients in a medium-sized sauce pan, whisk together thoroughly
~ Allow to stand 5-10 minutes.(this softens the tapioca)
~ Whisk thoroughly again (the tapioca likes to clump together; you have to train it not to).
~ Cook according to package directions, stirring thoroughly and often.

Serve hot, warm or chilled.

I imagine this approach might work with other flavors of cooked pudding as well.

;^)

Caramel Apples

Real Easy Carmel Apples (Original post)

(Updated graphic)

Ingredient List
~ 1 bag wrapped caramels (for this recipe, I prefer Brach's)
~ 8-12 (pending size) apples (I prefer Granny Smith)

Preparation
Sit in a comfortable chair (I prefer a recliner). Unwrap 1 caramel, place in mouth.
Take a bite of apple. Chew.
Add additional caramels or apple to taste.

;^)