Jen's snowpocalypse eggnog

In a large stainless steel pot, beat together 3 eggs, 2 tsp. real vanilla, and at least a teaspoon of nutmeg. Add to this 1 can sweetened condensed milk and 2 cans Pacific condensed milk. Beat together well with a whisk.

Place pot over a high heat and whisk constantly until nearly at a boil. It should be making boil noises but not be showing boiling bubbles. Keep it there as long as you can and whisk vigorously, scraping as much of the bottom and corners as possible. You don't want it to boil because that will scald the milk but you do want it to cook because it's made with eggs. You'll know when it's done because the mixture will be just slightly thicker and it will barely start to have a carmelized smell. If you're uncertain about how to not scald milk, get a thermometer and aim to keep the mixture at 167 degrees Farenheit.

Once cooked, remove from heat and keep stirring. Very slowly whisk in 3/4 L of regular milk (you can use any milk you like - I used 0% and it made the right consistency for me). Mix thoroughly. Pour into pitcher and chill in fridge until cold (but taste it warm because it's good like that too). If there was any that got stuck in the corners, scoop it out with a spoon. It will be custard-like and delicious.

If you are the kind of person who likes booze in your eggnog, mix it after it's cooled in the fridge.

If you're feeling brave and would like to try more of a custard eggnog, add a quarter cup of cornstarch to the original mixture before cooking and finish with pre-whipped whipping cream (instead of milk) that's been beaten until it's stiff (I think about 15 minutes on a high speed).

Best homemade pudding ever

This recipe is adapted from what I found on the internet.

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanila
3 cups milk (any kind)
1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Mix cornstarch and sugar together in a pot. Add milk. Whisk vigorously. Add high heat and whisk constantly, scraping the bottom of the pot. The split second it gets thick (it will get thick pretty much instantly when it does), remove it from the heat and whisk in the chocolate chips until melted. Serve hot.

Yum!

Variations would include other kinds of chocolate chips (I don't like milk chocolate but maybe you do) - milk, white, unsweetened, etc., or butterscotch chips, or mint chips, or a combination of butterscotch or mint and chocolate... other extracts for flavour instead of vanilla... etc.

Probably would be extra awesome with fresh homemade whipped cream on top, but if you think I'm going to the store at 8 pm to get cream and whip it, you're crazy!

Bean and rice stuffed peppers

This recipe makes 3 stuffed peppers.

24 hours ahead of time, soak enough mixed beans for 3 stuffed peppers. I'd guess about 1/3 cup beans per pepper as they grow in the water quite a bit...

Cook 1 cup water with 2/3 cup jasmine or aborrio rice. Cut tops off peppers and clean out insides. Line bottom with mozzarella cheese.

Mix spices:
Heaping 1/4 tsp season salt
1/16 tsp dry mustard, garlic powder
1/8 tsp marjoram, oregano
1/4 tsp basil
heaping 1/4 tsp sage
1/4 cup parmesean cheese.

Add just enough V8 juice to make the spice mix into a paste. Mix it into the rice when the rice is cooked. Add the beansa nd about 1/2 cup no alcohol white champagne. Continue to cook on low until liquid is absorbed. Rice should be slightly overcooked.

Stuff peppers with stuffing and more mozzarella in the middle and cover with mozzarella on top. An alternate cheese would be white cheddar.

Cook 1 hour at 350F in a covered container with a scant amount of liquid in the bottom to keep them from going dry.

Might be awesome with guacamole?

Chocolate Dishwasher Vodka

Ingredients:

1 glass bottle of vodka
1 cup of finely chopped or grated chocolate (baker's chocolate, candy bar, flavoured chocolate, whatever you want)
1 dishwasher

Method:
Empty 1 cup of vodka from bottle. Either save for later or consume.

Fill bottle to almost full with the chopped or grated chocolate and return lid to bottle. Invert several times.

Place bottle in top rack of dishwasher and run short wash cycle without soap.

Shake bottle well.

Repeat dishwasher cycle and shaking until all chocolate is melted and fully incorporated into vodka.

Serve neat with adequate adult supervision as it will, at this point, simply taste like candy.

New addition

Hi all,

Just a quick note to tell you that I've invited a fabulous friend to join this blog! Nakita is properly educated about things like nutrition, and she's been spending the last long while in Morocco running Bassma Primary School. I've always wanted this blog to be a bit more of a collaborative effort anyway so... here we go!!!

Love,
Jen

French Onion Soup

It's flu season, and there is absolutely no better way to kill the flu than with French Onion Soup. And it's tasty too!

Here's what you do:

Saute 3 sliced yellow onions and 3 cloves of garlic. When they're cooked, add 2 cans Campbell's beef broth (or your own homemade beef stock if you have it). Add to that 1/2 tsp marjoram, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1 heaping tsp hot dry mustard mixed into just enough water to make a medium paste.

Next make croutons: break apart old stale bread (best if it's been in the freezer for at least a year) onto a baking sheet. Cover in fresh Parmesan cheese. Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.

Slice mozzarella cheese - DO NOT use the partially skimmed crap! It tastes like cardboard and will ruin your soup. Go out of your way to find a deli that has real mozzarella.

You have enough soup for 4 onion soup bowls (oven safe, usually with handles). Into each bowl layer some croutons, ladle a scoop of soup, add a layer of mozzarella. Repeat. This should fill the bowl. Top with more fresh Parmesan.

Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes with no lid - you want it heated so that your cheese is gooey and brown on top, but not so long that it is runny .

Om nom nom.

Baklava Cake

Like baklava but hate working with phylo pastry? I can't even spell it so you know I just described myself! This is a modified recipe of a Greek walnut cake that, with syrupy goodness, is baklava in cake form. (If you are averse to syrup you can totally use cream cheese icing...)

Cake:
Beat 7 eggs for something crazy like 5 minutes.
Add 1 tbsp almond extract and 1 tbsp real vanilla extract.
Add a mixture of half oil half milk that comes to 1 1/2 cups liquid.
Beat again. Give it a good thrashing.

Combine in a separate bowl 3 1/2 cups flour, 2 cups white sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1 tsp ground ginger. Mix evenly.

Add to wet mixture 1 cup of crushed walnuts - crush with rolling pin (releases oil, totally yummy) and measure after crushed, not before.

Beat the wet bowl like mad.
Add the dry stuff a cup at a time and beat it.
Then when pretending you're Michael Jackson no longer works and it's getting too thick, add a splash or sploosh of milk to adjust consistency. And beat it some more.

Pour into a big cake pan lined with parchment paper. What size is big, you ask? Bigger than a square cake pan but not as big as a lasagne pan. I've never measured my cake pan. I inherited it from my grandmother, and her cakes were always awesome.

Bake in a 350F oven for about an hour (at Saskatoon altitude - more in Edmonton and less in Estevan). Cake is done when knife in centre comes out clean.

Syrup:
Combine in a pot approximately 2 cups brown sugar (this is an excellent use for your rock hard brown sugar - it doesn't have to be an exact amount, just close) with 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 short cinnamon stick, and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Boil until thicker. Refrigerate to cool. Pour over cooled cake. Om nom nom!