Recipes You'd Kill For...Part 5.

Crescent Rolls:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of milk
 3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
 1 egg
 1 Tablespoon salt
 2 Tablespoons yeast
 2 cups of warm water
 about 9-10 cups of flour
 at least 1 cup of butter
Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl,
for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably
be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.
We are going to add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast
straight in (it would kill it!). To cool it down stir in 1-2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and
 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring
cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it
sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.

**Keep track of how much flour you are adding!!!
**Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!
**Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour (counting the flour
you have already added to cool it earlier). I would recommend only adding 2 cups at a time
and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.
**At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your
hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then
smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it raise.
**Gather a list of things for which your family is thankful. Type it up in columns, then print it out.
Cut the list into strips with scissors or a paper cutter. Then set them aside.
**When your dough is close to raising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside.
**Let the dough raise until it has doubled in size.
**Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough
out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball.
Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect.
**Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is
rolled out spread the top with butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.
**Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up
with 12 triangles from each circle of dough.
**If you would like to add the thankful notes, now is the time! Place one thankful note lengthwise on the triangle
of dough. Make sure you spread plenty of butter when using these notes, It will prevent them from sticking!
**Whether or not you include a thankful note, you will roll the dough starting with the wide end of the triangle.
**Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows,
with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls!
**Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise.
Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven ’till they are golden brown. About 10 – 15 minutes.

Recipes You'd Kill For...Part 4.

Lava Cakes:











Ingredients:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter
8 oz (1 cup) chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks (yes just the yolks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur (Kahlua) OR 1 tsp. instant coffee powder

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray 6 -6 ounce custard (ramekin) cups or cupcake tin.
In a medium microwavable bowl, melt chocolate chips and butter in the microwave for 60 seconds
and then in 30 second increments until smooth (about 1.5-2 minutes total). Add flour and sugar to
chocolate/butter sauce. Stir in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Add vanilla and coffee liqueur/instant
coffee and mix everything until combined. Divide the batter evenly among the each cups. Place cups
on top of a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. The edges should be firm but the center will be runny.
Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates or you can serve each molten lava cake still in the cup.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on top, add a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

Recipes You'd Kill For...Part 3.

                                                   Fry Bread: 

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
Oil, for frying

Directions:
Put flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well, add warm water and stir
until dough begins to ball up. On a lightly floured surface knead dough. Do not over-work
the dough. After working dough, place in a bowl and refrigerate for 1/2 to 1 hour.
 

Heat oil to 350 degrees in a frying pan or kettle. Lightly flour surface and pat and roll out
baseball size pieces of dough. Cut hole in middle with a knife (so the dough will fry flat) to
1/4-inch thickness and place in oil and cook until golden brown and flip over and cook opposite
side until same golden brown. Dough is done in about 3 minutes depending on oil temperature and thickness of dough.
 

After fry bread is done, add your favorite toppings!

Recipes You'd Kill For...Part 2.

Apple Pie Egg Rolls:









Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

4 cups apples, peeled, cored, and diced

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 pkg. egg roll wrappers (you don't have to use all of them)

vegetable oil for frying

for garnish:
 1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Cooking Directions:

In a medium size pan, melt butter, add apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon. 
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often until apples are tender. 
Pour into a bowl and place in the refrigerator to cool, about 3o minutes.

Place about 2 tablespoons of apple filling into each egg roll wrapper,
wet edges of wrapper with water, roll up sealing edges.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.
 Heat oil to about 350 degrees, add egg rolls two at a time, turning to cook all sides, remove
to paper lined plate and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Repeat with remaining egg rolls.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. It’s so good it should be illegal!

Recipes You'd Kill For...Part 1.

This recipe is for a large quantity (8-10 dozen) of tamales. If you don't want to make such a large quantity, you can figure out the numbers to make a smaller batch.

Tamales:

Pork Butt:
3-4 pounds boneless pork butt, trimmed of fat
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt

Masa:
5 pounds masa, also known as "cornmeal flour"
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 cup salt
4 cups vegetable shortening, softened
3-4 cups stock (eyeball it)

Chile Sauce:
10 dried red new Mexico chiles
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried cumin
1-2 cups stock (eyeball it)

2 packages dried Corn Husks, Place in a large bowl of hot water (1 hour) to soften. ----->
Black olives

Cook your pork butt in a large dutch oven or stock pot. Add peppercorns and salt. Add enough water to pot to cover pork butt by at least 2-3 inches. Let cook for about 2 hours. Remove from pot & let cool to room temp. DO NOT toss out the water (stock) from pot. You will need this for your masa & chile sauce. Once cooled, you can shred it by hand or in your blender or food processor, then set aside. To make your chile sauce, remove stems from chiles, and then toss out the seeds. Boil your chiles on the stove until softened, then place in a blender or food processor. Add your salt, cumin and 1 cup of your stock. Keep adding your stock a bit at a time until it looks like sauce. Set Aside. In a large pan, add your masa. Mix 1/4 cup water with your baking powder in a cup until it starts to fizz, then pour it evenly over masa. Add your salt, and then work the masa with your hands to mix it evenly. Melt 4 cups vegetable shortening, and 1/2 of your chile sauce, then pour over masa and knead masa with hands again. When it starts to feel thick like fudge, you know it's ready. Spread it flat in your pan, and set aside.

Grab your pan of pork that you just shredded. Add the rest of your chile sauce to it and make sure you mix it well. 

If you haven't already, make sure your corn husks are soft, but not soggy.

Make your assembly line, in this order, if possible: husks, masa, meat, olives, then to stove --->

Take one of your corn husks and using a spoon, spread a thin layer of the masa on it, but only on the widest part of the husk. Add a spoonful of meat, going down in a straight line. Add 1 black olive. Starting at a corner, roll your husk up and then fold the bottom up, and then tie with a piece of a smaller corn husk---->

To make your steamer for cooking your tamales, you can use just about anything. I took a large square pan, placed a smaller square baking pan inside, upside down, then put a cooling rack on top of it. Place your tamales on the rack, standing up in rows, until your pan is full. Either place a lid on it, or cover with foil wrap. Steam cook them for 1-1 1/2 hours. When eating, just unroll the husk and eat what's inside. DO NOT eat the husk! I have seen many people try to eat the husk.

And that's it! I hope you understand this recipe, as it's in my head and not on paper. Let me know how yours turns out!

<----------Yep, that's me when I was 6 years old. Cute eh? Don't let that sweet, innocent smile fool you. Behind that cheesy ass smile is a rotten, defiant, sarcastic little bratty kid who loved to get her siblings into trouble. I am the youngest of 5 kids, and I KNEW I could do whatever I wanted and not get into trouble for it...or so I thought.

I used to torture my brother to the point where he would beat the daylight out of me until I screamed my head off, which lead to him getting into trouble instead of me. He was an easy target. Just staring at him pissed him off. Yes, most of the time he did beat the crap out of me, but I still see it as a win for me because he was the one who got grounded while I got ice cream to heal my wounds.

So, that's me. And not much has changed, actually I think I have a bigger attitude problem now than I did way back then. At least that's what I'm told. I don't see it as a problem, so it's not a problem, right? As you can see above, my blog is named "Widget the World Watcher". I know what you're thinking. "What the hell does it mean?" It (the name) is after a cartoons from the early 90's ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_(TV_series)). I was given the nickname "Widget" by my math teacher when I was a freshman in HS...why...I have no clue. I was high as a kite most of my HS years...yep..my nickname was "Widget" and I was a pothead. Kids, pot makes you stupid. Don't do it. And it makes your penis shrink, as in "can't get it up". HA HA.

I will hopefully be updating this blog thing here often, unless I get bored or go to jail for kicking someone in their taco for pissing me off. Sorry, I have anger issues. It angers me when people cannot see that I am right and they are wrong. I am me...deal with it. I say what's on my mind and I don't sugarcoat shit. And if I hold my tongue, you're one lucky SOB. It does not happen often. So, stick around...It might get interesting around here. I may kick someone in their taco. Just sayin'.