Donuts!

Donuts are something I love to eat, but I tend to only make them two or three times a year. But since I found this recipe, I'll be making them more often. : )  Especially since I figured out I can make the dough the night before, stick it in the fridge to have it's first rise over night, pull it out and cut them in the morning and fry them up.  With a few minutes work the night before, they turn into a pretty quick breakfast, relatively speaking. : )

Dunkin Donuts

2 ¼ t. Yeast
2 T. Warm Water
¾ c. Warm Milk
2 ½ T. Butter, Softened
1 Egg
⅓ c. Granulated Sugar
1 t. Salt 
2 ¾ c. Flour
3 c. Vegetable Oil
Glaze:
⅓ c. Melted Butter
2 c. Powdered Sugar
½ t. Vanilla
⅓ c. Hot Water
1 c. Chocolate Chips (For Chocolate Glaze)

Directions: 

In a medium bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the milk, butter, egg, sugar, and salt, and blend with an electric mixer until smooth. Add half the flour and mix for 30 seconds. Add the remaining flour and knead the dough with flour-dusted hands until smooth. Cover the bowl of dough and leave it in a comfy, warm place until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour. You can tell that the dough has risen enough when you poke it with your finger and the indentation stays. Rollout the dough on a heavily floured surface until it's about ½ inch thick. If you don't have a donut cutter, and don't intend to buy one, here's a way to punch out your dough: you can use a standard 15 ounce can.  Be sure to wash out the can very well, and punch a hole in the opposite end so that the dough won't be held inside the can by a vacuum. However, here in South Asia, you can usually find a cutter for those veda things from South India that they put into sambar.  That's what I have and it works great! When you've punched out all the dough (you should have about a dozen unholed donuts), it's time for the holes. Find the cap to a bottle of lemon juice or Worcestershire sauce, or any other small cap with a diameter of about 1 ¼ inches. Use this to punch out holes in the center of each of your donuts. Place the donuts on plates or cookie sheets, cover, and let stand in the same warm, comfy place until they nearly double in size. This will take 30 to 45 minutes. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Bring the oil to about 350 degrees. It is easily tested with scrap dough left over from punching out the donuts. The dough should bubble rapidly. Fry each donut for about 30 seconds per side, or until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on paper towels. For either the plain or the chocolate glaze, combine the margarine or butter with the powdered sugar in a medium bowl and blend with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and hot water. Mix until smooth. If you're making the chocolate glaze, melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave for 30 to 40 seconds. Stir, then microwave another 30 seconds and stir again until completely melted. Add to the plain glaze mixture. Blend until smooth. When the donuts have cooled, dip each top surface into the glaze and then flip over and cool on a plate until the glaze firms up, about 15 minutes.

Mango Chicken Pasta

Here is another recipe from DebbieR!  I've had this before, and it looks interesting, but it is really great!

Mango Chicken Pasta
16 oz. uncooked rigatoni pasta
1 T. olive oil, divided
3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 mango, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 c. fresh cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 T. grated cheese, or more! : )

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add rigatoni pasta, cook for 8 minutes until almost done.  Drain.

Heat 1/2 the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Place chicken in the skillet and cook 10 minutes, or until juices run clear.  Remove from heat, and set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet, and cook the onion and green pepper until tender.  Mix in the garlic, and mango, and continue to cook and stir five minutes, or until mango is soft.  Gradually mix the heavy cream into the skillet, and cook five minutes, until thickened.

Return the chicken to the skillet.  Cook and stir 2 minutes, until ingredients are well blended.  Mix in the cheese.  Serve over pasta.

Enjoy!

Fried Okra

This is one of my favorites! I can't resist them, I have no will power when a place of fried okra is sitting in front of me.  I even open the fridge and eat a few cold for a snack! : )

2 pounds Okra, Well Rinsed
1 Egg, Beaten
2 t. Water
2 c. Buttermilk
4 t. Salt 
1 t. Cayenne Pepper
2 c. Flour
2 c. Smashed Saltine Crackers or Ritz-like crackers
Black Pepper
4 c. Vegetable Oil


Cut the stems off and slice the okra ¼ inch thick.  In a large bowl, mix together the egg, water, buttermilk and 2 t. salt.  Add okra.  In another bowl, mix together the flour, cracker crumbs, remaining salt, and the cayenne and black pepper.  Remove okra with a slotted spoon and add to flour mixture.  Toss and remove to a rack to shake off excess flour.  Heat the oil to 350˚.  Add the okra by spoonfuls and fry to golden brown.  Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.  Keep warm while you fry remaining okra.  Serves 8-10. 


One way I love to serve this is on "Cracker Barrel Veg Platter" night. : )  We have fried okra, mashed potatoes, cinnamon apples and biscuits as our meal.  Yes, it's good. : )

Frozen Mango Dessert

I can't wait to try this!  It's from a friend living in Eastern Europe.  Her husband grew up in Africa and his mother used to make this for him. She says:


We can't get graham crackers so I just bought some British style butter cookies (they are called Petit Buerre here), crushed them in a food processor, and sauteed them with enough butter to bind into a thin crust that I could press in the bottom of the pan. It turned out pretty good.


Frozen Mango Dessert


2 mangoes (for an 8 inch baking dish) or 3 mangoes (for a 9x13 dish)
3/4 cup sugar (1 cup if you use 3 mangoes)
1 egg white
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup chilled whipping cream

Cut the mangoes up and process them in a blender or a food processor. Add the sugar, egg white and lemon juice, and blend for 5 minutes until slightly thickened. In a chilled bowl, beat cream until stiff: fold mango mixture into cream. Pour into a baking dish. Cover and freeze until firm.

My container of whipping cream had about twice as much as I needed, so I just added a layer of plain whipped cream on top. My kids are crazy about whipped cream. The whole family really liked it.

Enjoy!


Megan's Notes: I made this yesterday, and it is really tasty! I used the pie crust recipe on the cheesecake recipe, only all hobnobs, no gingernut cookies.  One thing to be aware of is that in my freezer at least, it was not frozen after six hours! I made it in the afternoon and had it in the freezer by 2:30.  At 8:30 when we pulled it out to eat it, it was still very jello-ish and not frozen at all.  This morning, it was frozen stiff and was perfect for cutting into.  So plan far enough ahead! : )

Key Lime Pie

From RachelR:

My brother made this for me when we were on STAS.  It was great.  You can get all the ingredients locally, so that is a definite bonus!  And those little lime/lemon things are going to be everywhere soon.

 

This is a Paula Deen recipe.  I’m giving the recipe as is, and then below I’ll tell you a few things I usually do differently.

 

Ingredients:

 

Crust

5 tablespoons butter, melted

1-1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (or Hob Nob crumbs...I don’t recommend Marie Gold b/c they don’t stick together very well)

1/2 cup slivered almonds (or chopped almonds...I usually toast these for a few minutes, but they will also get a little toasted when you bake the crust)

 

Filling

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (this is one 400 g can of Milk Maid sweetened condensed milk)

1/2 cup Key lime juice

2 teaspoons grated lime zest

2 eggs, separated

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (for meringue)

1/4 cup sugar (for meringue)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust, combine ingredients and pat down into a 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, combine the milk, lime juice, and 1 teaspoon zest; blend in the egg yolks. Pour the filling into the crust.
For the meringue, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the sugar and remaining teaspoon zest until the mixture is stiff. Spread the meringue over the filling; spread it to touch the edge of the crust all around. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the meringue is golden brown.


The key lime pie should be chilled before serving, and it is best after it sits for a day (or overnight).  A great summer dessert!