Pretzel Dogs

Near our house, there is a bike path for bikers and walkers. While I was out walking, I passed a tiny woman pushing a stroller. Inside the stroller, there was a Pit bull bigger than her. I couldn't help but smile. He is one spoiled puppy.

Every year, I make the mummy hot dogs for my children. This year I wanted to try something different. So, I made Pretzel buns with bratwurst inside. I knew my husband would love it and I was right. I just wasn't sure about the kids. I shouldn't have worried since they have asked for me to make these mummies again. I will say I was surprised by how sweet the bread tasted but it was still a nice combination.

 Pretzel Buns with Bratwurst aka Mummy Dogs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1 packet active dry yeast
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, grated
3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup bread flour
8 links of Bratwurst sausage
3 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. 
2. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, 1/2 cup water, sugar, and honey until the mixture reaches between 105 to 110 degrees F.
3. Slowly, add the milk mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
4. Sprinkle the yeast mixture over the milk mixture and let rest for 15 minutes for the yeast to bloom.
5. Wipe out the small saucepan. Add the butter and garlic over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. 
6. In another bowl, combine the all purpose flour with the bread flour.
7. Add the flour to the yeast mixing bowl with the melted garlic butter.
8. Mix the flour and garlic butter into the milk mixture on medium speed for about 5 to 7 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic plus pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
9. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured clean surface and form a ball.
10. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets. Cover and place in a warm place to rise for 15 minutes.
11. Roll out each ball into a log and place onto the baking sheet to rise for another 30 minutes. Make sure to cover and place in a warm place. 
12. While the buns are rising, heat the bratwurst in a small skillet over medium heat with 3 Tbsp water and 1/2 tsp vegetable oil until golden brown. Set aside to cool. 
13. Cut each bratwurst in half and set aside.
14. With a sharp knife, slowly and carefully cut each bun down the middle vertically but leave one bun alone.
15. Place the cooled Bratwurst in the center of the bun and press the dough together. Continue with all the buns until the one bun is left.
16. Take the last bun and cut off about 1/2 tsp of dough. Roll the dough into long, vertical pieces. Continue making long pieces until all the dough of the last bun are just pieces of dough like . Secure the pieces of dough over the buns with the Bratwurst inside. Cris-cross the dough over each other and press down to flatten. 
17. Sprinkle with the sea salt if desired.
18. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place one oven rack high and the other in the low position.
19. Place the baking sheets into the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure to rotate the baking sheets halfway through baking so the top sheet is on the bottom rack and the bottom sheet is on the top rack.

Recipe adapted from Jeff Mauro of the Foodnetwork. 

One year ago...........................I made Chicken Enchiladas.

Did you already know...
-Other names for the Pit Bull is the American Pit Bull Terrier.
-The Pit Bull usually weighs between 22 to 78 pounds.
-Some dog associations do not accept blue eyed or merle coats for a Pit bull into the registry. 
-The Pit bull was first bread to be an all around farm dog.

Crab Rangoon

Are you scared yet? Are you scared of all this fried food? I don't like to make a lot of fried foods. I refuse to buy a deep fryer but we have a cotton candy machine. We know what is important in this house, right?

If you are going to fry, you might as well make more than one recipe like the Sausage Dumplings. I don't keep the grease since I don't want to encourage it in our daily meals. We make these recipes once a year or every other year even if my oldest would make these monthly, weekly, or even daily. They have a soft, creamy filling with a crisp shell. Oh, they are so delicious that I'm glad we rarely make them. If you like the restaurant versions, you will really like these homemade fresh ones.

Crab Rangoon aka Witch's pouches
2 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened
2 scallions, chopped finely
1/2 cup of crab meat or imitation crab meat
1/2 tsp sugar
1 package of wonton wrappers
2 cups vegetable oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, scallions, meat, and sugar.
2. Place 1 Tbsp of the filling in the center of the wonton wrapper.
3. Lightly dampen finger with water and dampen the edges of the wonton wrappers with finger.
4. Fold the wonton wrappers so the opposite corners touch. Press down firmly to seal.
5. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat until the back of a wooden spoon bubbles.
6. Gently add the crab rangoon into the hot oil. 
7. Fry each side for about a minute or until golden brown before flipping.
8. When the whole crab rangoon is golden brown, remove from the oil and place on a paper towel covered plate.
9. Allow to cool before serving.

Recipe given to me with permission by Mary.

A year ago I made ..........Cheddar Bay Biscuits (my oldest favorite).

Did you already know...
-Imitation crab meat is surimi seafood.
-Surimi seafood is fish protein from Alaska pollock or Pacific whiting.
-Imitation crab meat has Omega-3. 

Fried Sausage Dumplings

I was trying to think of scary names for these sausage dumplings.  So, I asked the children if they wanted to help. I provided some examples but they didn't like any of them. Then my son said the dumplings name was Red Goblin Noses. I suggested how about just Goblin Noses but my son said it had to be Red Goblin Noses. I said but there is no red. My son replied so. Who am I to argue with such logic?

The first time I made sausage dumplings were over ten years ago. I can't even believe it was that long ago. I had never heard of a blog. I would watch a lot of Food Network for recipes. I learned how to make egg rolls from my Dad but I wanted to make some dishes with it when I saw this Oriental Pork Wrappers recipe. My pork was raw inside. I tried several other ways to cook the wrappers. When I served them to my family, they liked them. Well, my daughter really wanted to cook up some dumplings and crab rangoon (recipe posting soon). I think she did a pretty good job.

Fried Sausage Dumplings aka Red Goblin Noses
1 lb. ground pork
2 stalks of scallions
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 package of wonton wrappers
2 cups vegetable oil

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, brown the pork for about 3 minutes over medium heat. 
2. Add the scallions and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Remove the skillet from the heat and mix in the hoisin sauce.
4. Add salt and pepper and incorporate well.
5. Place about 1 Tbsp in the center of the wonton wrapper. 
6. Moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper with water and fold over to form a triangle. Press securely to seal.
7. In a large Dutch oven (large pot, deep fryer) , heat oil until the back of a wooden spoon bubbles.
8. Carefully add the sausage dumplings one at a time without over crowding. Cook until golden brown and flip about a minute per a side.
9. With tongs, remove the dumplings and place on a plate lined with paper towels.
10. Allow the dumplings to cool for a few minutes before serving.
11. Serve with a dipping sauce if desired.

One year ago I made..........Pork Chops with garlic and herbs.

Did you already know...
-The word Goblin is derived from the Greek word for rogue.
-Some goblins reside in grottoes which are caves if not your house.
-One of the most famous goblins is Rumpelstiltskin.

Chocolate Cookies

We always decorate cookies at Christmas time but when I saw this posting I figured it was time to create some monsters. 

I wanted to use a dark cookie since I thought it was more appropriate for Halloween. Since the cookies are pretty plain tasting by themselves, I wanted a sweet filling. My daughter just happen to place the jar of Nutella on the counter. I think she thought she needed to take a spoonful to make sure the newly opened jar still tasted good. After I assembled the cookies with the Nutella filling, we created our monsters using candy corns, Reese's pieces, marshmallows, and other candies. The kids loved it. Don't be afraid to make some crazy cookies!

Chocolate Cookies (1 1/2 dozen cookies)
3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1 egg yolk
4 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a medium  bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.
2. In another bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy.
3. Into the creamed butter, add the egg, egg yolk, chocolate, and vanilla until incorporated.
4. Slowly, add the flour and beat until just combined.
5. Shape into a disk and refrigerate for 1 hour. (The dough will feel really soft.)
6. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough to 1/8 thickness.
9. Cut out 2 inch circles. 
10. Space the circles onto the parchment paper 1 inch apart.
11. Bake the cookies for about 7 to 9 minutes or until set.
12. Allow the cookies to cool before filling.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies

Nutella Filling
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup Nutella spread
1-2 Tbsp milk

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, cream the butter.
2. Add the sugar and incorporate well.
3. Add the Nutella to the butter mixture. Mix well.
4. Add 1 Tbsp milk and mix. Add more milk until the desired filling consistency. 

Recipe by Jen of Sweet Morris. 

One year ago I made................Sloppy Joes (even with a funny face).

Did you already know...
-The fear of Halloween is called Samhainophobia.
-The fear of the color black is Melanophobia.
-The fear of teenagers is called Ephebiphobia.

What to do on a rainy day! The Artist!

Roasted Vegetable Panini

We just started to decorate for Halloween. I have several containers full of spooky stuff. I even have some of my sister's decorations. I had stored her scarey crows away and the kids thought they were great. I did have to remind them that she will want them back. Instead, they decorated my house with them. When I saw them, I told my husband the bad news how some black crows had actually entered our home. He said he saw them and didn't know how our cat was going to take the news. It wasn't our cat that we should have been worried about but our dog. He kept staring at them. My husband thought it was funny to make one chase our dog while making cawing noises. Our dog retaliated by jumping up on him. Don't worry the crow is safe.

My youngest daughter calls these broccoli sandwiches. I guess she is right. I think of them as roasted vegetable sandwiches. I tried to make the photo look like claws. The kids thought it looked scarey or acted scared.

Ahhhh..........

Roasted Vegetable Panini (aka Scary Claw Sandwich)
2 cups broccoli, cut into small florets
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
1 cup cremini mushrooms
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
4 oz. butter
1 clove of garlic
 8 thick slices of french bread (I ask the bakery to slice the loaf)
4 slices of provolone cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler on high.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Toss the broccoli with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place the broccoli on the parchment paper and broil for about 5 minutes.
5. Remove the baking sheet.
6. Add the mushrooms, bell pepper, and zucchini to the broccoli. Toss.
7. Broil the vegetables for about 5 more minutes, tossing once while in the oven.
8. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
9. In a small microwave safe bowl, add the butter and garlic.
10. Microwave the butter for 1 minute or until melted.
11. Brush two slices of the bread with the melted butter.
12. Place the slices in a heated panini press or skillet.
13. Top the bread with the vegetables and a slice of cheese.
14. Place another slice of butter bread on top.
15. Cook until golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats.

One year ago I made...............Black Forest Cherry Torte. 

Did you already know...
-The old English word wicce (witch) meant wise women. 
-It is said that witches held meetings on Halloween.
-Witches is a popular costume in the U.S.

Does she convince you that she is scared?