What is Danish Dessert?

During the recent Progressive Dinner at my house many of you asked me. . .

"What is Danish Dessert?" and "Where can I find it?"

Here's the Answer. . .

Danish Dessert is a powder that comes in a box that you mix with water and heat on the stove top. It turns into a gel like substance and is exactly like the strawberry pie filling you would get in a strawberry pie from the grocery store or a restaurant like "Marie Callendar's Restaurant" or "Village Inn"

Here's Where You Can Find It. . .

You can usually find it in the gelatin (JELLO) section in your local grocery store. I did a search for danish dessert on the internet for those that can't find it locally and I found a set of 12 boxes of Danish Dessert available for purchase on AMAZON.

Junket has their own website and they even have a section for recipes that you can download.

Below you will see a few other links to places you can purchase Danish Dessert online. . .

• Junket Desserts.com
• Walmart
• Amazon
• Scott's Hometown Foods

Here's the LINK for the Strawberry Trifle Recipe just in case you didn't remember to pick one up before you left the party. ENJOY!!!

Pumpkin Spice Cake

It's time for one last Sneak Peek before tomorrows BIG unveiling of my newest MBS project and to help celebrate (and to make the waiting sweeter) I've baked you one of my favorite Fall Desserts called Pumpkin Spice Cake. If you take a closer look you'll see one of the projects peeking out from under the cake plate and fall berries.

Mmmmm. . . Yummy Goodness!!!

Pumpkin Spice Cake
Recipe given to me by my friend, Christie!

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Mix the following ingredients in a bowl:

• One 15oz. can of Pumpkin
• 3/4 cup Canola Oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar

Add to the mixture:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (I googled pumpkin pie spice ingredients, go here)
  
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Pour mixture into a greased and floured jelly roll pan (that measures 13" x 18" x 1" deep). Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes Let cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Mix the following ingredients in a bowl:

• 8 0z. package (softened) cream cheese
• 8 tbsp. (softened) butter
• 3-4 tbsp. milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 6 cups powdered sugar

Spread frosting over the cooled cake and top with...

• 1 cup chopped pecans (more if you like lots of pecans)

We love to keep our pumpkin spice cake in the refrigerator and serve it with a cold glass of milk. Yummy Yum Yum!


We'll see you tomorrow for the BIG unveiling of my newest project on Moda's Bake Shop and I'll be announcing another fun giveaway that I'll be sponsoring on my blog to help WELCOME the Wonderful FALL Season.

Don't you just LOVE the seasons?

The Turkey Master

My husband Mark has perfected the making of our Thanksgiving Turkey and this year he has reached the Turkey Master Level of achievement. The Turkey has been hailed as the BEST TURKEY EVER by everyone who attended this years Thanksgiving Feast. It was moist, tender, full of flavor, and just plain brilliant. We will be talking about this turkey for years to come or at least until next Thanksgiving. Great JOB Mark, we all loved it and appreciate your efforts in preparing our TURKEY this year and in the past years!!!

Here is a play by play of the Turkey Master's preparations. You'll also get a glimpse of his Turkey apprentice, Kenna, helping with the vegetable cutting.

Here's Kenna helping Dad prepare the turkey brine.

Mark is preparing the vegetables for brining.

Here's the Turkey in it's brine.
It was in the brine for 12 hours.

Rinsing the turkey before cooking.

Adding the aromatics to the cavity of the turkey. That's one apple, half an onion, 3 sprigs of rosemary and one sprig of thyme.

Applying canola oil to the turkeys.

The two turkeys ready to go in the oven.

Here's the turkey after cooking for 30 minutes at 500 degrees. According to Alton Brown, the high temperature sears and seals in the juices. Then you reduce the temperature to 350 degrees for the remaining cooking time. Notice the tinfoil tent, this protects the breast meat from getting too brown and becoming over cooked.

Turkeys in the oven. They cooked for an additional two hours until they reached 161 degrees.

Here they are all ready to be carved.

After watching Alton Brown of Good Eats on the Food Network he wanted to get a carving knife. So he looked them up on the internet, did his research and we headed down to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy a Cuisinart Carving Knife. It was really cool and has two blades. One for carving meat and the other for carving breads. Mark said it cut beautifully and wondered why he never bought one before this year. I think we just never thought about how cool it was to use and how nicely it cut the slices.

Another view of the turkey carving.

Mark is preparing the vegetables for the turkey stuffing.

Doesn't he look cute in his pilgrim hat?

All in All we had the most wonderful and relaxing day with our Family!
The food was EXCELLENT too!

Thanksgiving Bonus:
Here's the Recipe we followed this year and we think it's the best we've ever tried.

Ingredients

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
• 1 gallon iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

Favorite Breakfast Quiche

This is a yummy and satisfying breakfast dish. I'm sure many of you have made it in it's many variations but yesterday at the hair salon the lady sitting next to me had never heard of quiche made with a hashbrown crust. I enlightened her and she gave me her email address so I could mail it to her. Since she had never heard of it before I thought I would just share it with each of you. It's pretty simple to make and a delicious yet sophisticated looking breakfast to serve to a group of people for breakfast or brunch. You can add fruit and pastries to the menu along with orange juice and toast if you like. Enjoy!

Breakfast Quiche

By Kim Walus

Ingredients:
1 pkg. Ore Ida Frozen Hash Browns (Shredded) or Costco's hashbrowns
1/2 Cup Butter (melted)
2 Cups diced Ham, Bacon, Sausage, Polska Keilbasa or any combination
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Colby, or both
Green Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms are optional
1/2 cup Milk
5 eggs (beaten)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Empty hash browns into a 9”X13” ungreased pyrex dish. Drizzle melted butter over the top and place in a 425 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes. Combine meat, cheese, green peppers, onions, mushrooms and spoon over hash browns. Spread evenly. Beat the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the ingredients in dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Serves 6-10 depending on how BIG you cut the pieces. In my family we're lucky to get 6 pieces. My kids could each eat TWO pieces they love it so much.

Apple Brickle Dip

I've been cooking again today since the kids are home for General Conference weekend. They wanted me to make their favorite breakfast quiche and for lunch I'm making this extra yummy Apple Brickle Dip and sandwiches with chips.

I first made this recipe for a Hidden Oaks Christmas Gathering in December of 2001 and it was a big hit and everyone wanted the recipe. I have since given it out to several people and it’s always a favorite. The only problem is that it’s so good you want to keep going back for more. There’s rarely any leftovers on this one! This Recipe is from the December/January 2001 issue of the Taste of Home Magazine page 66.

Here it is. . .

Apple Brickle Dip
Taste of Home Magazine Dec/Jan 2001 Issue

Ingredients:
8oz. package cream cheese, softened (do not use fat-free cream cheese)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 package Heath English toffee bits (10oz.)
3-4 medium tart apples, cut into slices or chunks ( I like Fuji or Honey Crisp)

Instructions:
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugars and vanilla. Fold in toffee chips. Serve with apples. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 2 cups

Extra Special Spinach Salad

This is by far the MOST requested salad I've ever made in my entire life!!! I first enjoyed it at a Cookie Exchange Luncheon at Christmas time over 9 years ago. I loved it so much that I did a bit of begging just to get the recipe. Over the years this salad has been enjoyed by hundreds of people and at many different kinds of functions.

This recipe was shared with me so I wanted to pass it on to each of you. It's just one way of saying thank you for sharing your creativity with me through all of your wonderful BLOGS! ENJOY!

Here's a close-up of the salad.

Extra Special Spinach Salad

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 bag baby spinach
• 1 bag spring mix salad
• 1 bag of sliced almonds (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 bag of Ocean Spray Craisins (more or less if desired)
• 12 or more slices of thick sliced bacon (cooked and cut into slices)
• 1 fuji apple (cut, sliced and diced)
• Fresh grated parmesan
• 1 bunch green onions (slice and dice)

Mix salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add dressing just prior to serving.


Poppy Seed Dressing:

• 1 cup Canola Oil
• 1/3 cup Red Raspberry Vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. poppy seeds

Mix dressing ingredients in a 2 cup container with a lid. Shake dressing until sugar is dissolved. Pour dressing over salad and serve.

I'm SURE this salad will become a Family Favorite too!!

Baked Potato Soup

With all of the Klutz's at our house I needed to make some COMFORT food. Yum! Yummy! Yum! So, this is what I made . . . It's everyone's favorite soup so here it is my "Baked Potato Soup" recipe that a friend gave to me almost 10 years ago. Enjoy another low fat recipe. LOL! You can make it lower fat with 1% milk or 2% instead of whole milk and use lower fat sour cream. That should help!

Baked Potato Soup

Thick and creamy. Uses leftover potatoes.
Prep time: approx. 10 minutes
Cooking time: approx. 25 minutes
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup butter
• 2/3 cup flour
• 7 cups lowfat milk
• 4 potatoes- baked, cooled, peeled, & cubed
• 12 slices bacon- cooked, cut up into narrow slices or crumbled
• 1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic chopped (optional)

Directions:

In a soup kettle or dutch oven melt butter. Stir in flour. Heat and stir until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Add potatoes and onions. Brint to a boil, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper, and stir until cheese is melted.

Serve the soup with a garnish of grated cheese, dollop of sour cream, bacon, and green onions if you like. My husband added asparagus to his soup and he said it was delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. . .Oh My!

My husband loves to search the internet and find fun and interesting things to cook. I like to do that too and have found some great recipes from my blogging friends. Tonight we have two recipes from my husband that he made for dinner and I provided the dessert thanks to Bakerella whose blog I found on a blog of a blog of a quilting friends blog.

I'm pretty sure it was from Thimbleanna's friend Melly's blog that I went on to a link to Bakerella's blog, very very complicated, I know. The name of the dessert is Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. . .Oh My! It's a recipe from the Nestles Classic Recipe Book printed in 2003.


It gets complicated when you start looking at everyone's blog. You almost forgot where you found something if you don't at least bookmark it. Bakerella has a wonderful website with lots of inspiring pictures and recipes. Go have a look, her pictures are beautiful. You can just about smell it cooking in the oven. Here's the recipe. The one thing I changed was I sprinkled chocolate chips and pecans on the top. Don't they look pretty?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell*
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• Serve with ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven 325 degrees F.
Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high until foamy.
Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
Stir in morsels and nuts and spoon into pie shell.
Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm.
Recipe is from Nestle Classic Recipes printed in 2003

* If using a frozen pie shell, use deep dish style and thaw completely. Bake on baking sheet and increase baking time slightly.

Dinner deserves it's own blog post so I'll end it here and start anew. Hope you enjoyed tonight's dessert.

Tortilla Crusted Chicken & Mexican Rice

This was Sunday's dinner compliments of Chef Mark who loves to search the internet for fun and interesting food. That's what I love about my husband, he's not afraid to cook and has become quite a good chef. Infact, some of our favorite shows are Hell's Kitchen, Iron Chef, Kitchen Nightmares and the Next Food Network Star.

I'm pretty sure that the Iron Chef Judges would give Chef Mark the highest points for plating, flavor, and originality. The mexican rice was the best I've ever had and it had remarkable flavor. I loved it!!! So did the kids!!! The Tortilla Crusted Chicken was moist and tasty!! Chef Mark also made homemade guacamole to go with it along with sour cream and salsa, too. Excellent meal!!!

My kids like to tease me when I take pictures of the food but it just looked so great when Mark set it down on the table to start eating. He was very patient as I took three pictures just to make sure I got the best one. I'm sure you'll all appreciate my efforts!! Right?

Here's the website he got the recipes from: www.cooking.com

Mexican Rice

Ingredients:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white rice, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 1/2 cups water or chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 jalapeno chiles, chopped
Fresh cilantro sprigs

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan until hot. Add the rice, stirring constantly, until slightly browned, or, as old Mexican cooks like to say, it sounds like tissue being crushed. Strain the rice and return it to the saucepan.

Combine the tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a blender until smooth. Pour the mixture over the rice and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spatula, for about 5 minutes. Add the water and salt, stir, then put the chiles and cilantro on top. Lower the heat, Cover, and simmer for approximately 25 minutes or until the rice is tender but firm.

For a popular variation to this recipe, add 1/3 cup each cubed potatoes, carrots, and peas with the water.

Recipe reprinted by permission of Weldon Russell. All rights reserved.


Ortega Tortilla Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 ounces tortilla chips, finely crumbled
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup Ortega Salsa - Roasted Garlic (Medium)
1/2 cup guacamole, (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream, (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Whisk together eggs and milk in a shallow dish. Dip chicken into egg mixture, then into crumbled tortilla chips. Place in prepared baking pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center and chips are golden brown. Top with cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

Recipe reprinted by permission of Ortega®. All rights reserved.

Strawberry Trifle

This is the most awesome summer dessert. I made it for Father's Day and it was our first TRIFLE of the season. Fresh strawberries and raspberries are my most favorite berries and I love pineapple and watermelon too!

We had a wonderful dinner together with my kids and my grandkids! It's so fun being a Grandma! I took some pictures of the trifle and I've included the recipe and tell me what you think if you have a chance to make it for your family! ENJOY!

Strawberry Trifle

Ingredients for making trifle:

• 1 white cake mix

• 1 package cream cheese, softened (8oz.)

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1/2 cup sugar

• Danish Dessert

• Fresh strawberries

Instructions for making the trifle:

1. Follow the directions on the white cake mix using a 9x13” pan to bake it in. Let cool. Set aside.
2. Take softened cream cheese and beat in 1 cup sugar.
3. Take heavy cream and beat in 1/2 cup sugar.
4. Fold both creams together. Set aside.
5. Follow Danish dessert recipe for fruit sauce. Let cool before making trifle.
6. Cut up the strawberries and add to the Danish dessert. You may use as many strawberries as you wish.
7. Cut up cake into small squares.
8. Layer the trifle by starting with the cake, cream, strawberries, and repeat until the trifle bowl is full making sure to end with the strawberries and cream on top.
   

Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Serves: 10-12 people.

Minty Fudge Brownies

Here's one of my favorite brownie recipes, especially if you like mint brownies. I haven't made them for a while and recently a friend asked for the recipe and that made me think, "Hey, I ought to make those for Sunday Dinner." So here's the recipe, ENJOY!

I've also included a picture of the brownies but it's not the best picture because I already gave most of what was left to our neighbors and all that was leftover were the end pieces. But, trust me they're awesome brownies. At least the birds appear to like them! LOL!

Minty Fudge Brownies - Five-Star Recipe

Brownie Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup butter
3 Tbsp. water
10 oz. package mint flavored chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 Cup chopped Walnuts (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, butter and water; bring to boil. Remove from heat. Add mint chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir until morsels are melted and mixture is smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Gradually blend in flour mixture; stir in nuts. Bake 30-35 minutes in greased 9” x 13” pan.

Brownie Filling:
1 envelope knox gelatin
1/4 cup boiling water
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 tsp. Peppermint extract (more or less to taste)
2-3 drop green food coloring

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir and let coo. In a large bowl combine dissolved gelatin and 2 cups powdered sugar. Add butter, shortening, mint extract, and food coloring; beat 1 minute or until smooth. Blend in the remaining powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Spread filling evenly over cooled brownies.

Brownie Frosting:
6 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbsp. Butter

Melt Chocolate Chips and butter in microwave for 30-40 seconds. Stir and heat for another few seconds if necessary. Spoon chocolate evenly over chilled brownies. Refrigerate. Cut and Serve.