Bogey Catching Sunrays

Bogey's Favorite Peanut Butter Doggie Treats

2 1/2 c Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
6 tbl Margarine
1 Egg
1/2 c Skim milk
1/4 c Creamy peanut butter
2 ts water, cold (approx.)
2 Egg whites lightly beaten
Sesame seeds (optional)

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt. With a pastry blender or a fork, cut in the margarine until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
2. Beat egg in a small bowl. Stir in milk and peanut butter (mixture will be lumpy). Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir. Stir in the water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the dough forms a ball.
3. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 3 minutes. Roll dough out to a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. Brush with beaten egg whites and, if desired, sprinkle with sesame seeds.
4. Bake in a preheated 350'F oven until firm and golden, about 30 minutes.

Cool throughly before storing or feeding to your pet.

Game-Day Corn Chowder

Game-Day Corn Chowder

My friend, Electa, brought a crock pot cookbook to work this week. All of us are trying to eat better and cut out all the fast food. Fast Food places are so convenient. By the time I leave work, drive home, and cook dinner, we end up eating at 8PM. Too late for my sensitive stomach. I copied some of the 5 ingredient crock pot recipes from Electa’s book and this is the first one I tried. Libby, my daughter, deemed it a “make again.” It’s called game-day corn chowder and was submitted by a woman named Laura Fuller from Fort Wayne, IN.

Game-Day Corn Chowder
1 Lb smoked pork sausage
3 cups frozen hash browns with onions and peppers
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
15 oz can creamed corn
10 ¾ oz can cream of mushroom with roasted garlic soup
2 cups water

Brown sausage in a skillet over medium heat, drain and cut into bite-size pieces
Place sausage in crock pot; top with hash browns and carrots
In a medium bowl, combine corn, soup, and water. Mix until blended.
Pour over sausage mixture.
Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours. Serves 6.

In keeping with my family tradition of using what is available in the pantry, I did not have pork sausage or the hash browns. So, I Mommy McQuivered, and used Lite Turkey Sausage, diced up 5 real potatoes and 1 small onion. Libby calls my culinary talent for coming up with edible dinner concoctions Mommy McQuiver meals. Based on the economy and my finances, we have many, many Mommy McQuiver meals. Some work, some don’t; this one paid off.

What's in a Nickname?

In my Italian-American family, we had nicknames for everyone and everything. Because we all lived in such close proximity to family members, I guess outsiders needed to know which kid belonged to which parent. Traditionally, the first-born son or daughter was to be named after his paternal grandparent; the second-born, after his maternal grandparent. So be it that my Dad, Vito, a second-born son was named after his mother’s father. Due to the fact that Vito Rinaldi is such a common name, my Dad became Vito "Shape" and I, Vito Shape’s daughter. I asked him why he was called Vito Shape and he said because his friends thought he had “mare” legs; legs shaped like a woman’s. Since we had such a tremendously large family, I guess they ran out of surnames or tags like “little” and “big” by then and started using animal parts to end all the confusion of who belonged to whom.

We had nicknames for food too. I guess some of the names of certain recipes got lost in the translation or just got Americanized as my second generation of family members did not speak or understand much Italian; except for the curses. We all know how to curse in Italian

In keeping with the theme of nicknaming things, depending upon which family member you asked for a stuffed squid recipe; you would get several different recipe headings. Some called the dish, stuffed calamari, others said, “Oh, you mean my recipe for Airships.” Gramma Rinaldi called them Devil Fish. Millie “Mock,” the next door neighbor, referred to the recipe as Calamari Ripieni. Aunt Carmel said ripieni meant filling or stuffing.

Again, trying to write down a family recipe is almost as confusing as its name. It sure is a lot easier to write down the recipe as you are watching the cook to approximate the measurements. Here goes:

Stuffed Squid

Filling:
White Bread Crumbs (use as much as you want and use “day old” bread)
4- Cloves Fresh Minced Garlic
Chopped Squid Tentacles
6-Anchovies
Parsley
Enough oil for dampness
Thoroughly clean about 5lbs. of squid. Remove tentacles. Stuff the squid. (Do not over stuff because the filling will swell while baking.) Line up stuffed squid in a 13x9 pan. Drizzle plenty of olive oil over top of squid. Bake in a 350◦ oven until done! My test for doneness is when they start to break open and the filling is steamy, approximately 40 minutes.

Any extra stuffing was used to stuff hot or mild cherry peppers. Nothing gets wasted in our family.

Smores

Paula’s Smores

I think Libby’s friend Paula has the culinary expertise like that of Mrs. Flax, the character Cher played in the movie Mermaids. I have never actually seen Paula cook a whole dinner. She never comes to our house empty handed but always brings a dessert or appetizer. On many occasions, Paula has been asked to bring her version of Smores. In keeping with the Mrs. Flax Fancy Finger Food use of marshmallows, this is an appropriate recipe for the comparison of both women. They’re not made over a camp fire but in the oven and are quite good. I don’t have a picture of Paula in a mermaid costume so Lil Red Riding Hood will have to do.


Paula’s Smores

· 1 1/2 cups butter, melted
· 1 14.4 oz box of graham crackers
· 2 small bags of your choice of chocolate (She uses milk chocolate chips)
· 1 bag of miniature marshmallows. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).
1. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Crush up graham crackers. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs. Press the graham cracker mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven.
4. Immediately spread marshmallows over mixture once removed from oven.
5. In the microwave or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt chocolate chips, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from heat and spread over the marshmallows.
6. Let cool overnight in airtight container and then cut into squares the following morning.

These Smores have been a hit at every get-together. They get gobbled up fast. Mrs. Flax would be proud.

Aunt Katie's Calzones

Aunt Katie made the best fried chicken. To me, no one ever could duplicate her crispy, juicy fried chicken. I watched her dip each piece of chicken in what seemed like plain old flour, salt, and pepper. Yet, mine or anyone else’s ever came out like hers; since it’s a mystery I can't post her technique. Aunt Katie came to our house once to cook us dinner since my Mom was in the hospital. She made us real fried chicken, not Shake and Bake, like my Mom baked in the oven. Dad also had her make her famous Calzones, also fried. We kept the olive oil vendors in business that week! She usually only made Calzones at Christmas time but I think she felt sorry for us that week since neither Dad or I could cook.

It is sometimes very difficult to write down the family recipes because so many of them were never really written down or measured. Meals were prepared from memory or whatever ingredients were available in the cupboard. For example in the recipe below; 3 or 4 cans of chickpeas, which Aunt Katie and Gramma called ceccies. Or, Large Coconut Cookies? What brand of cookies is another mystery. I saw Aunt Katie use those dry, square coconut cookies, like Voortman’s. So, just use the kind you currently like to eat. And, my favorite notation "Use judgement in mixing dough." If you never watched Aunt Katie mixing the dough ,how would you know what should be the perfect consistency?

The picture I inserted is of Aunt Katie helping me get dressed for my Confirmation. Aunt Katie passed away this year; she was 93 and this is my favorite memory of her. When I asked her to be my Sponsor, she danced around the kitchen table singing, "I'm gonna be Dorothy's sponsor, I'm gonna be Dorothy's sponsor." Check out the red beanie on my head!


Italian Filled Cookies (Chocolate Calzones)
Filling:
3 or 4 cans of chickpeas (save water for filling)
½ box raisins
10 Large Coconut Cookies
2 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup dark cocoa
1 extra large chocolate bar (esp. Hershey)
Juice from 1 or 2 oranges
Dough:
10 cups flour
2 eggs
½ large jar honey (or 1 cup sugar) – prefer honey
1 ½ cup Crisco
½ bottle beer
½ cup lukewarm chickpea water

Note: Use judgement in mixing dough.
Roll dough and cut strips of dough. Put 1 tsp. of filling on dough. Fold over dough and press seam using a ravioli cutter to cut into squares. Fry in deep oil until golden . Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

The Red Velvet Cake

I saw a request for a Red Velvet Cake recipe in the Tampa Tribune so I submitted the recipe and the story of how my Dad, Vito Rinaldi, obtained the recipe from New York's Waldorf Astoria. The story and the recipe appeared in the Baylife section of the Tampa Tribune on January 18,2009. I bought several copies of that paper and sent them to everyone I knew. So began my recipe storybook tales and here is that recipe.

Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 Lb Butter
1 Tbsp. Cocoa
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
2 oz Red Food Coloring
2 Eggs
2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Tsp.White Vinegar
1 Tsp. Baking Soda

Directions:
Cream butter, cocoa, and sugar.
Add food coloring.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Then add, flour, salt, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat well.
Mix vinegar and baking soda in a cup, then fold gently into batter with spatula.
Pour batter in two 8" pans.

Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven 40 minutes

Icing:
Mix 5 Tblsp. Flour and 1 Cup Milk, heat to boiling while stirring with wire whisk. Cool thoroughly!
In a separate bowl, mix;
1/2 Lb. Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Beat butter mixture until fluffy, then add flour mixture. Beat well.
Keep iced cake in refrigerator since icing tends to melt when left out at room temperature.