Buckeyes

My family always made these rich, "crack bombs", if you will for Christmas time when I was a child. One batch makes quite a few depending on how big you make them, and they will take awhile to eat up, so I'd suggest freezing the left overs. (unless you are an absolute chocolate-peanut butter fiend!)

3/4 lb margarine
2 lbs powdered sugar
1 pint peanut butter
12 oz chocolate chips (semi sweet)
1 7oz jar marshmellow creme
1/4-1/2 cake paraffin

Mix first four ingredients well. form into balls . refrigerate for several hours. melt chocolate chips and paraffin in double broiler. Dip the balls into the chocolate with a toothpick. Let cool

(Some number of) layer dip

This is the dish that I bring to almost every pot luck I go to and is frequently requested by friends. It actually makes really good leftovers, however, I've only had some left once so don't take this to a party expecting to eat it for lunch the next day. XD

Difficulty: Casual

Taco Meat:
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp salt
1.5 Tbs chili powder
3/4 cup salsa
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs olive oil if the beef is really low fat

Layers:
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I use reduced fat and no one notices)
Small container sour cream (again, I use reduced fat)
2 medium avocados
12 oz can of tomatoes with green chilis
Ranch style beans (if I've made them)
Onion (I don't include this, but my mom does)

Brown the beef with all of the taco meat seasonings and pour into the bottom of a large Pyrex baking dish (mine is 9.5*13.5*2). Slice avocados and layer on. Drain can of tomatoes and pour on for the next layer. Repeat with the beans and onions. For the final two layers coat the dish in sour cream and then add the final layer of cheese. Serve with chips.

This dish is so easy to make, but will be a HUGE hit with your gaming group. Feel free to go on about how much work you put into the dip, I won't tell. ;)

Banana Bread

Difficulty: Easy

For this delicious recipe, you want to be using an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan. Feel free to add or omit the lemon, apricots, or nut meat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift before measuring:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Resift with:
2 1/4 teaspoons double acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Blend until creamy:
1/3 cup of shortening
2/3 cup of sugar
3/4 teaspoons grated lemon rind
Beat in:
1 to 2 beaten eggs
1-1 1/4 cups ripe banana pulp

Directions:
Add the sifted ingredients in about 3 parts to the sugar mixture. Beat the batter after each addition until smooth. Fold in:
1/2 cup of broken nut meats
1/4 cup of finely chopped apricots
Place the batter in a greased bread pan. Bake the bread for ~1 hour, or until done.
Cool before slicing.

That's all there is to it! Quick, easy, and delicious!

Peach Upside Down Cake

This is a very yummy dessert cake, and you can serve it with or without the topping. I've also never had the liqueur on hand, so I've always just added extra pure vanilla extract. Good Luck!

Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. butter

1/2 cup brown sugar large pinch nutmeg (can also use some cinnamon too)

2 cups peach slices (I recommend fresh or frozen, canned are too sweet mushy)

1 tbsp. amaretto or almond liqueur (plus more for topping)

1 1/3 cups cake flour (All Purpose will do, but cake flour is lighter and fluffier)

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tbsp. butter, room temperature

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

Topping:

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon Amaretto or almond liqueur

1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons slivered blanched almonds

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F. In an 8-inch square or round pan, melt butter; sprinkle with brown sugar and nutmeg, mixing well and distributing evenly.

2. Arrange peach slices, slightly overlapping the slices, evenly over the brown sugar. Sprinkle with the amaretto or almond liqueur.

3. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter. Stir vanilla into milk and stir into the flour mixture.

4. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add egg, and beat for 1 more minute. Pour batter over peaches.

5. Bake for 35 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick.

6. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before inverting with a sharp thump onto a serving dish. Leave the cake in the pan upside-down for several minutes to help free it from the pan.

Topping: Serve with freshly whipped cream sweetened with powdered sugar and a little Amaretto. Sprinkle whipped cream with slivered almonds. Alternatively, vanilla ice cream may be used as a topping.

Variation: 2 or 3 tablespoons blanched almonds can be ground in a processor and sprinkled over the brown sugar for what eventually becomes the topping after the cake is inverted.

Spaghetti Sauce

I have never been a fan of spaghetti sauce from a jar. My mother always made sauce from scratch so the store bought kind just flat out tastes bad to me. Fortunately, it's really not hard to make sauce from scratch which allows you to tweak the recipe a bit to suit your tastes. Below is my basic recipe and you'll notice it's vegetarian. In the past I've added sausage and it has been a great success, so feel free to experiment.

Difficulty: Easy

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup red wine
1 Tbs Butter
2 tsp sugar
1 bay leaf
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
salt to taste
6 mushrooms sliced
2 large sausage links (optional)

Melt butter in the bottom of a large pot and brown garlic and sausage if you are using it. Add everything else and let simmer for about an hour stirring regularly, until sauce starts to thicken. Remember to remove the bay leaf when serving over pasta.

I have also been known to put leftover sauce on a baked potato.

Real Baked Potatoes

So when I was growing up we nuked potatoes despite my mother being a generally fabulous cook. It wasn't until I moved to Seattle and started hanging out with true foodies that I learned there was a better, much tastier way. Sorry for the dark picture, my kitchen has TERRIBLE light.

Difficulty: Casual

Russet Potatoes
Bacon Fat (You can also use butter, olive oil or any other fat product if you haven't been draining your bacon)
Salt
Pepper
Seasonings of your choice (I use chili powder and cumin)

Preheat oven to 350
Rub potatoes with about 1/2-3/4 tsp bacon fat each depending on the size. This will give your potato a nice, crisp skin.
Sprinkle a bit (1/4 tsp or so) of salt, pepper and spices onto the potato and rub the skin with them. The fat will cause the seasonings to stick.
Throw potatoes into the oven (you can put a pan on the next rack to catch the drippings)
Bake for 45 min to one hour depending on the size. To check if they are done insert a knife into the potato, if it feels hard toss it back in for a few more minutes.
Pull potatoes out of the oven, slice down the middle and squeeze the sides (careful, the potatoes will be hot)
Top with whatever the hell you want.

Cocoa Brownies

Rating: Easy (I promise!)

This is one of those recipes you can use to impress a date or just because you don't feel like using a box mix.  This is also one of those recipes where if you're hoping for the best taste or to impress someone, seriously, spring for better cocoa.  I've made these with $2 a box cocoa powder and $10 a box cocoa powder and believe me, the more expensive cocoa was incredibly worth it.  The recipe is so simple with so few ingredients that the ones you use really need to be good because there's no other flavors to cover it up.  Scharffen Berger makes an absolutely fantastic cocoa that you can use here that will give just stupidly amazing results and a single can is enough for two batches - so while the $10 price tag looks hefty, that's about $5 a batch... only a dollar or so more than a cheap box of brownie mix.

But you can still use plain old Hershey's powder and they'll be good!  I've scattered in some photos of the process so if you see a link that will take you to a pic of what that stage should look like.  Because I made these at night some of the photos are not food blog quality so hopefully you'll forgive me.  Follow the link at the end of the post for nicer, fancier, professional photos taken by someone else.


You will need:
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt if you aren't using salted butter
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (can be skipped)
2 large eggs, cold
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

 Preheat your oven to 325F/160C.  Line an 8x8 pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and grease the foil with cooking spray or a little butter.  Leave enough foil outside the pan that you can use it to pull the brownies out to cool later.

Mix together the sugar and cocoa powder and butter in a microwave safe bowl (you can also do this with a double boiler if you do not have a microwave).  Microwave it in short bursts, stirring often, until the cocoa/sugar/butter mixture is sort of gritty and is almost uncomfortably hot to the touch if you stick your finger in there.  Let the gritty mix sit until it is warm to the touch but no longer hot (so that you don't scramble the eggs), and then mix in the eggs and vanilla until it is glossy and smooth. 

Add the flour and stir until you can no longer see white streaks in the batter; mix another 40 strokes or so after that.  Pour into the prepared 8x8 pan and bake in a 325F oven for about 20-35 minutes or until they are set on the top and a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out moist with batter and crumbs.  I go with 30 minutes as a default and they are generally ready to come out of the oven around that time.  Let them cool completely on the counter or put them in the fridge partway through to help speed it up.  These will be pretty damp, dense brownies that are a little difficult to cut cleanly.  Serve with just about anything, or by themselves.  Two small squares made with the Scharffen Berger cocoa and a glass of nice red wine is a really simple but very impressive dessert for a date night in!

These are from Smitten Kitchen, which if you have a wee tiny kitchen or are trying to get by with not a lot of kitchen tools is a pretty good resource for that sort of thing.  Several of my favorite recipes are from there so that blog will show up again!