Scandinavian Spice Cookies

I also made these for the multi-cultural night at David's school.
These are kind of like Oatmeal raisin cookies, but a little crispier (even when I removed them after 12 minutes) and it uses nutmeg - yum. I've seen some with cardamom too, but I didn't have any.

Scandinavian Spice Cookies

1 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add egg and mix well. Beat in salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla until well-blended. Stir in flour, oats, and raisins. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until light golden brown. Remove cookies immediately from sheet. Makes 5 dozen cookies.

Norwegian Butter Cookies

We made these last night as part of multi-cultural night at David's school. Since he has Norwegian heritage, I thought the kids might enjoy these. It's a very different ways to make butter cookies. But they are really good. I think they would have been better with some almond flavoring, and authentic as well. Almonds seems to be in a lot of Norwegian baking.

Norwegian Butter Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Hard boil the eggs and separate the yolks. Cream the butter and hard boiled egg yolks. Beat in the sugar and add the flour vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly. Put through a cookie press or arrange by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

These are great in a cookie press (Spritz) as well.

Mediterranean Couscous and Beans

This comes from my new Betty Crocker Cookbook. I thought it was good, and Aaron said it needed more spice. I would agree. The kids wouldn't eat it. Although Timothy did pick out the raisins and some of the garbanzo beans. Part of that stemmed from the fact that my feta cheese had gone bad and I had to substitute mozzarella. It would have been much better with the feta. If I made this again I would be sure to have fresh feta and play with the spices a little, maybe some garlic, or flavored couscous. It is also VERY fast (as long as you used canned beans- soaked and cooked dry beans).

3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 cups uncooked couscous 1/2 c raisins or currants
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper(cayenne)
1 small tomato, chopped (1/2 c)
1 can (15-16 oz) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 c crumbled feta cheese


Heat broth to boiling in 3 qt-saucepan. Stir in remaining ingredients except cheese; remove from heat.
Cover and let stand about 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed; stir gently.
Sprinkle each serving with cheese.

Cheese Manicotti with Spinach

When our friends moved to Chicago they gave us all of their opened food they couldn't take with them. I had a half a box of manicotti with only 7 shells, so I had to make this when Aaron wasn't here, or I couldn't feed everyone. I'm out of ground beef at the moment, so this is what I found. I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and topped it with Mozzarella instead of more Parmesan. I didn't have any marinara, or spaghetti sauce, so I made the marinara sauce below - with modifications of course. I actually had a picture to go with this, but I can't upload the pictures until Aaron re-installs Nikon View. I'll update it later.

Cheese Manicotti with Spinach

8 manicotti shells
2 cups ricotta cheese
3 oz cream cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. parsley
1 egg
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach

1. Cook manicotti shells in boiling, salted water until barely tender (package directions). Rinse with cold water. Drain.
2. Combine cheeses, parsley, egg, onion and salt; mixing well.
3. Fill shells with cheese mixture.
4. Arrange in lightly oiled baking dish.
5. Cover with marinara sauce.
6. Sprinkle with additional 1/4 cup Parmesan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, cook spinach according to package directions. DRAIN WELL.
9. Spoon down center of baked manicotti just before serving.
10. Garnish with parsley.

Marinara sauce

1. 1(28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2. 1-1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
3. 1 teaspoon white sugar
4. 1 teaspoon dried parsley
5. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
6. 1/4 teaspoon salt
7. 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
8. 1/8 teaspoon dried basil
9. 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and simmer for 20 minutes.

Gnocci

This is a dish Aaron learned to make this on his mission in Argentina. (In Italy it's spelled gnocchi - but not in Argentina)
This is his recipe:
potatoes
eggs
flour

Ha! I could never make them! I'll have to ask him when he has time to see if there are more specific directions. i know you mash boiled potatoes and mix 2 eggs and flour, he added some salt this time.

You roll a portion of the dough into a long rope

and then cut them into 1/2 inch segments.

We have a gnocci maker (ours doesn't have a handle, just a hole at the top),

but you can use a fork.

Put the pasta on the fork and quickly roll it down the fork (or gnocci maker) with your thumb. (even though the picture show you can use any finger)

Eventually you boil the fresh pasta in salted water until they float to the top.

I found the pictures here.

Aaron made a white sauce and added garlic salt, sage and salt and pepper. Again no amounts, because this is Aaron's recipe!

Skillet Barbecue Pork Chops

This also comes from my new Betty Crocker Cookbook. I didn't have tomato sauce with onion, celery and green bell peppers, so I chopped up some of my own, sauteed them and added 16 oz of tomato sauce and the remaining ingredients and then added it to the chicken. I thought the sauce was pretty good.

4 pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick (about 1 1/4 lbs)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 can (15 oz) chunky tomato sauce with onions, celery and green bell peppers
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ground mustard

Spray 12-inch non-stick skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium heat. Sprinkle both sides of pork with salt and pepper. Cook pork in skillet about 5 minutes, turning once, until brown.
Stir remaining ingredients into skillet. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pork is slightly pink when cut near bone.

I forgot to cover it so it took longer, and it wasn't as tender as I expected. I kept wondering why it didn't say to cover it, well I missed that part - oops! So to cook fast and to make it tender, follow the directions and cover the skillet!

Mediterranean Skillet Chicken

I made this last week, but haven't had time to post it. It was really easy and very good. It comes from my new Better Crocker Cookbook. It calls for 4 chicken breasts, but I only used 2 very large ones cut into about 6 chunks each.

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)
1 can (14.5 oz) Italian style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1/2 c sliced ripe olives
1 tsp grated lemon peel


Heat oil in 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in oil about 6 minutes turning once, until brown.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.