Author: mitchellmeals

Black Cat Cookies

If a brownie married a sugar cookie, you’d get these wonderful chocolate cookies. I think these are called “Black Cat Cookies” because they started as a recipe from one of those Halloween recipe books many years ago, like the small ones you’d find at the checkout stand. I remember the cats had candy corn eyes and red hot candies for a nose. We’ve made those, but I’ve also used cookie cutters to make bats, witches, cats, and vampires. The dough holds pretty well with the cookie cutters even after baking in the oven–I don’t bother rolling out the dough; I just smash pieces of the dough flat with a cup and then cut them out with the cutter.

If you’re making these gluten free, they turn out pretty well but do tend to crack a little. Just replace the flour with cup for cup gluten free flour and add a few tablespoons extra–and cook it the full amount of time, not the minimum. Here’s how the gluten free ones turn out:

Black Cat Cookies

  • Servings: 24
  • Difficulty: medium
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Rich, chocolatey, and great for Halloween.

Ingredients

  • 1 c. Butter, softened
  • 2 c. Sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 3 tsp. Vanilla
  • 3 c. Flour (or gluten free flour with xanthan gum, plus a few tablespoons extra)
  • 1 c. Baking Cocoa
  • ½ tsp. Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp. Baking Soda
  • ½ tsp. Salt

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Roll dough into 1 ½ inch balls. Place 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Pinch top of cookie to form ears. For whispers, press a fork twice into each cookie. Alternatively, you can press dough into cookie cutters, then remove and place on the cookie sheet and decorate with sprinkles. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set. (Optional decoration: Immediately after removing from oven, press on candy corn for eyes and Red Hots for noses.) Makes 2 dozen.


 

Apple Crumb Pie

It isn’t Thanksgiving without apple pie. And for those of us who prefer their pie topped with sweet crumbles instead of dry pie crust, this is the winner. We make this every year the night before Thanksgiving, sometimes even making two pies. Just make sure to test your apples so they’re done to your level of preferred softness. This recipe is adapted from the famous Better Homes and Gardens red checked cookbook. That thing is full of lots of great recipes!

Also, of course apples vary in size. So I like to cut apples one at a time and place them in the pie crust before mixing with anything, just so I can make sure it’ll fit. It seems like a waste of apples if you cut them all only to find that they won’t all fit.

I haven’t made this one gluten free yet, but it should be easy enough to switch out gluten free flour (and make sure you use a gluten free pie crust). Or if you don’t want to bother with a gluten free pie crust, you can always opt to make gluten free apple crisp.

Apple Crumb Pie

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: medium
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Sweet and perfect for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 c. Sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. Flour (or gluten free flour)
  • ¾ tsp. Cinnamon
  • 6 to 8 tart Apples, pared, cored, and sliced (6 cups)
  • 1 9-inch unbaked Pie Crust (or gluten free pie crust)
  • ½ c. Flour (or gluten free flour)
  • ¼ c. Sugar
  • ¼ c. Butter (usually use 6 Tbsp. butter for larger crumbles)

Directions

Combine first three ingredients; stir into apples. Then place in pie crust. Combine remaining flour and sugar; cut in butter till crumbly. Sprinkle the mixture over apples. Bake at 400° for 45-50 minutes or till done. If pie browns too quickly, cover edge with foil.


 

Beef/Hamburger

You can make a lot of great weeknight meals with hamburger, and a lot of special dishes with steak or roasts. Whatever your craving, beef is what’s for dinner. 🙂

Using Ground Beef (Hamburger)

Using the Fancier Cuts (steak, roasts, etc.)

Chicken

Whether you’re looking to use chicken breasts from your freezer or a rotisserie chicken, here are several ideas for your main course:

Using Chicken Breasts

Using Thighs, Legs, or Whole chicken

Using a Rotisserie Chicken

Easy Chicken and Rice Soup

Great for cold weather or when your stomach is upset, especially if you need something gluten free. This is adapted from a great recipe on twopeasandtheirpod.com

And as previously mentioned, this one is naturally gluten free.

Make it a meal with:

Easy Chicken and Rice Soup

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy-medium
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Mild and great for cold weather or upset stomachs.

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 1 Onion, chopped
  • 2 Garlic Cloves, minced (abt. 1 tsp. minced)
  • 2 medium Carrots, chopped
  • 2 Celery ribs, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
  • 1 tsp. + Dried Thyme Leaves
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 2 qts. Chicken Stock or Broth (I often just do 3 Tbsp. chicken base and 9 cups water)
  • 1 c. Water
  • 1/2 c. Rice, uncooked
  • 2 c. Shredded Cooked Chicken (can use about 1/2 rotisserie chicken)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Place a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Add the rice and chicken; season with salt and pepper.
Cook on medium-low until the rice is tender, about 25-30 minutes.


 

Ikea’s Swedish Meatballs

When the pandemic hit and people couldn’t go to Ikea for their Swedish meatball fix, Ikea generously posted their recipe for everyone. Granted, it’s not 100% the same, and the sauce is secret–so they posted a similar sauce. But it’s great. I generally ended up doubling the sauce and making a few other slight adjustments, so here’s the final recipe. Of course you should serve with lingonberries if you can find any (it’s hard unless you buy some at Ikea), but I have served it with cranberry sauce or I think even raspberry jam once.

Every time I make it, I forget the stipulation that you should refrigerate it for 2 hours. I usually just refrigerate it like 20 minutes to an hour. I don’t mind if my meatballs are a little flatter, because they hold together well enough. Last time I made it, I doubled the meatball recipe, which almost filled up a whole cookie sheet. And I made 1 1/2 times the sauce in the recipe below, and it was a good amount of sauce. If I’d doubled the sauce, it would’ve been tons. Also, I’m not sure it needs so much cream. I think next time I might use half cream, half milk. Haha, or just use all half and half. And frankly, one time I made it dairy free with coconut and almond milk, and Jeff didn’t notice.

If you’re making this gluten free, I did try it once using crushed tortilla chips instead of breadcrumbs. Haha, I’ll never do that again. It ended up tasting like oily chips. So you could use gluten free breadcrumbs or ground up Rice Chex, cornstarch instead of flour, and gluten free soy sauce, which is what I did last time (it’s the one in the picture)–and it was delicious.

Make it a meal with:

Ikea Swedish Meatballs

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: medium-hard
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Adapted from Ikea’s officially released recipe.

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 1 lb. Ground Beef
  • 1/2 lb. Ground Pork
  • 1 small Onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove Garlic (about 1/2 tsp. minced)
  • 100 g. Breadcrumbs (or gluten free breadcrumbs or crushed Rice Chex)
  • 1 Egg
  • 5 Tbsp. Milk (or almond milk for dairy free)
  • Generous Salt and Pepper

Cream Sauce (doubled from original, with some modifications)

  • Dash of Oil
  • 6 Tbsp. Butter
  • 2/3 c. Flour (or 1/3 c. cornstarch)
  • 2 1/2 c. Beef Broth
  • 2 c. Cream (or 1 can full fat coconut milk for dairy free)
  • 1 Tbsp. + Soy Sauce (or gluten free soy sauce/tamari)
  • 2 tsp. Dijon Mustard

Directions

In a large bowl, combine beef and pork, and break up any lumps with your hands. Add onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, and egg, then mix well. Add milk and season well with salt and pepper. Shape mixture into small balls, and place on a cookie sheet in the fridge for 2 hours (this will help them hold their shape while cooking). In a frying pan, heat oil on medium heat, then add meatballs and brown on all sides. When browned, add back to the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
For cream sauce: Melt butter and whisk in flour or cornstarch, stirring for 2 minutes. Add stock and continue to stir. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, allowing sauce to thicken. Add meatballs (not with the grease from the pan) and stir. Serve over mashed potatoes with lingonberry (or other berry) sauce.


FYI, here’s the original recipe from Ikea:

Jalapeno Cheddar Soup

This is another decadent cream-based soup based on a Harmons deli soup recipe. It makes quite a lot. (Check out the tomato basil soup also.) I’m so glad the deli director at Harmons was always happy to share any recipe you’d ask for, because everything that Harmons makes is so amazing. Anyway, at the hot soup bar, you can find their turkey cheddar jalapeno soup. I adapted it to use chicken (cheaper and more convenient), cut the broth in half, and I also added more ingredients so it wasn’t so much broth in relation to chicken. It also calls for a lot of butter–I feel like I cut it in half the last time I made it (to 1/2 c.), and it was good.

This soup is great, spicy, and best with chips and cheese on top. Depending on how spicy it turns out, you may need to add sour cream. This is another soup where we freeze the leftovers in gallon bags–sometimes the potatoes can get a little mushier after thawing, but mostly it heats up and tastes just fine. And this soup still has a thin broth instead of a thick gravy like a stew–so I put cheddar and sour cream on top of the soup for the picture, and of course they both just sank right in. Haha. 

If you’re making this gluten free, make your roux with the cornstarch instead of flour.

Make it a meal with:

  • Corn Muffins
  • Tortilla Chips
  • Grapes

Jalapeno Cheddar Soup

  • Servings: 15?
  • Difficulty: medium-hard
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Spicy and delicious–you can freeze leftovers in gallon bags.

Ingredients

  • 1 c. Butter (or 1/2 c. for less oil on top of the soup)
  • 1/2 c. Flour (or 1/4 c. cornstarch)
  • 6.5 lb. Chicken Breasts, cubed
  • 1/4 c. Canola Oil
  • 1 Onion (.6 lb.)
  • 2 Tbsp. Minced Garlic
  • 1 Red Pepper (3.25 oz.), diced
  • 1 Green Pepper, diced
  • 1 Jalapeno (1 oz.), diced
  • 1/4 c. Water
  • 1 oz. (about 1+ Tbsp) Member’s Mark Chicken Base
  • 1/2 gal. Chicken Stock (2 boxes)
  • 1 qt. Cream
  • 2 qt. Milk (8 cups)
  • 1/2 Tbsp. Salt
  • 1 tsp. Black Pepper
  • 1/2 Tbsp. Red Pepper Flakes
  • 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced  
  • 1 lb. sharp or extra sharp cheddar, grated
  • 1/2 bag Frozen Corn

Directions

In a separate pan from the stock pot, create the roux by melting the butter and adding the flour or cornstarch to cook. In the large stock pot, brown the chicken. Add oil, onion, garlic, peppers, and jalapeno and cook until onion is translucent. Add water, stock, base, cream, and milk. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and bring to boil. Add potatoes and cook until they’re done (about 15 minutes). Reduce heat and add roux and cheese. Stir until soup thickens and cheese melts, then add corn. Adjust seasonings as needed (add more red pepper flakes to make it spicier). Serve with sour cream, extra cheese, and crushed tortilla chips on top.