Wonder Box or Thermal Box Cooking Recipes

I just found this site with quite a few recipes using the Wonder Box. Enjoy it HERE.

Now that we are only hitting temperatures in the high 80's, I haven't been as motivated to use it, but will probably for Thanksgiving, it could make a good second oven for something that needs to cook slowly . . . like maybe the green bean casserole ?!?!?

THEN I found this site that has recipes like we would be more familiar with!! Check it our HERE. This is using quite a fancy doo-dad of a thermal cooker, pretty sleek gadget, but it would also work with my gizmo made from styrofoam beads and old sheet.

GUAVAS !!!

We have the cutest little guavas, with the white center from our BB. Hubby and I tried one, they taste really good, but boy howdy, all the seeds. Pretty entertaining watching my ole boy dealing with them. I found directions for making juice which I plan to do and then make a guava chiffon pie for dinner. I'll post some pictures for your enjoyment!

To make guava juice

1. Choose firm, ripe guavas. Wash, cut off ends, and slice.

2. Place slices in a large pot with enough water to just cover them. Boil until fruit is very soft (15 - 20 minutes).

3. Pour fruit into a bag made of cheese cloth, muslin or two thicknesses of clean flour - or sugar - sack. For clear juice, do not squeeze the bag.

4. Serve as a drink immediately, or use for making jelly, or bottle for future use. (The leftover pulp may be pressed through a strainer and used for making guava sauce.)

Tomorrow is pick up day for BB. We are getting Guavas . . . never tasted one in my life!

Here are some really yummy ideas that I found on the internet, what did we do before this source?

GUAVA CHIFFON PIE

Printed from COOKS.COM

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1 env. unflavored gelatin
4 eggs, separated
3/4 c. sugar
Few drops red food color
Whipping cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 c. guava juice
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
9" baked pie shell

Soften gelatin in lemon juice; set aside. Combine egg yolks, guava juice and 1/2 cup sugar. Add red food color. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens, add gelatin mixture. Cool until consistency of egg whites.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar to stiff peaks, add 1/4 cup sugar, beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in gelatin mixture, pour into pie shell. Chill, top with sweetened whipped cream.

GUAVA DELIGHT

Printed from COOKS.COM

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2 tbsp. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. all purpose flour, plain
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. Guava sweenten

Cream butter and sugar together; add milk, mix flour, salt, and baking powder together and add to other ingredients. Mix well. Pour into 9 x 12 inch greased pan on top of Guavas. Sprinkle sugar on top.

TIARA GUAVA CREAM CHEESE CAKE

Printed from COOKS.COM

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1 box cake mix (18 oz.)

FILLING:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese
2 tbsp. Guava concentrate (12 oz.)
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. Cool Whip

TOPPING:

1 can Guava concentrate (12 oz.)
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 c. water

Mix cake according to box directions. Divide into 2 Tiara cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes or longer until cooked. Cool and invert.

Combine cream cheese, concentrate and powdered sugar. Fold whip cream into cream mixture. Spoon onto crust and chill.

For Topping: Bring concentrate to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water and stir into Guava concentrate. Simmer until thick and clear. Cool. Spread over cream cheese mixture. Chill.

Just want to share info my little friend, Elizabeth found. I thought the website had some prCtty yummy looking recipes . . . and being the pie lover that I am, think I will make the Guava cream Cheese Pie!

guava pulp: place 6 or so of the ripe guavas with ends cut off into a food processor with 1/4 c water and process until smooth. then strain through a mesh strainer. i also added strawberry to mine. 2 or 3 parts guava, 1 part strawberry. the cake turned out good, but not great. the frosting was an egg white one. i think next time i will just make a buttercream frosting. here is the link to the recipes i used. i kind of combined guava chiffon cake and guava cake number 1. i liked the idea of butter better but i wanted a chiffon cake. maybe those two things can't be combined, but it tasted good, but wasn't as light as an angel food cake.
http://alohaworld.com/ono/viewrecipes.php?category=Cakes

PERSIMMON Party!!

We all got persimmons in our BB (Bountiful Baskets) this last pick up. what a bunch of cowards we all are! Every one I run into asks the same question, "Have you tried the persimmons? What do you do with them?"Here's the answer . . . . . . eat them already! I caved in and tried them last night. I found it to be a mildly sweet lovely flavored little piece of fruit. "What is the big deal", I asked myself. Made me giggle and wonder just what we all expected. I quartered it, cut out the fibrous middle and chowed down. I did peel some of it with a peeler and enjoyed the texture a little better.

Here is one recipe I found on recipezaar.com We also got green beans, so this one was perfect!

Sauteed Persimmons with Green Beans with Chives Recipe #13420

20 min | 5 min prep SERVES 8

• 1 1/2 lbs. petite green beans, trimmed & cut into 1/2 " pieces
• 3 T. olive oil (virgin gave it a wonderful flavor)
• 3 ripe persimmons, diced into 1/4" slices (oops, diced mine)
• 1/ pieces ( all I had was dried, made it yummy)
• pinch of sugar, fruit was nice and sweet, didn't bother

1. Cook green beans according to directions. Usually frozen say to cook for 2-4 minutes
2. After draining, immediately plunge beans into a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking and drain.
3. In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat until hot and sauté persimmons until lightly browned and softened, about 4 minutes.
4. Add a pinch of sugar to help sweeten the persimmons.
5. Add beans and 1/4 cup chives and sauté, stirring gently, until hot.
6. Transfer mixture to a platter and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup chives on top.

Add a little grilled chicken on the side (or some left over from the back of the fridge) and lunch is served! OK, it was dinner, we were so busy and got so much done, it was worth the wait!

My husband was in the kitchen loading up his plate and I heard, "Hey! These green beans are good!" Excuse me, did I hear surprise in that voice??

Babara's Persimmon Jam

• 2 qt. fresh persimmon pulp
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• grated rind of 1 orange

· Combine all ingredients in a 4-quart enameled or stainless steel pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often until thickened, usually about 20 minutes.

Pour into 6 sterilized half-pint jars and seal at once.

YIPPEE!!! LOOK WHAT I JUST FOUND!

After much agonizing and searching, mumbling, grumbling. I finally found the old information and can get back in business again.

Tonight I will make brownies using the recipe from a 1944 Better Homes and Garden cookbook. It was a wedding gift to my mom. Back then they didn't have chocolate squares available, so the recipe uses powdered cocoa, all pantry items . . . . it was during WWII after all!

I will post the pictures, original recipe and make-a-mix version as well.

Mexican Gray Squash

This last weekend we got Mexican Gray Squash in our Bountiful Baskets. I have only tried it once and it was pretty unimpressive. I was commenting on it when Maria told me how she fixes it. It sounded so good that I had her email the recipe to me. One guess what supper will be tonight!!

MARIA'S MEXICAN GRAY SQUASH     
May 3, 2010  -  UPDATE @ BOTTOM 

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 med chopped onion
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2-3 cups squash, diced
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen, I sometimes add 1 can of creamed corn
• 1/2 cup chopped mild green chile, roasted, with skin removed OR bell pepper you don’t need to removed skin
• 1 cup diced tomatoes (I use Roma tomatoes) OR 1 small can of diced tomatoes
• 6 green onions, chopped (optional)
• ¼ bunch chopped fresh cilantro
• ¼ to ½ cup cream/half & half OR grated Mexican cheese (cheddar, monterey are good too)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the onions over medium until onions are transparent. Add the garlic and cook.

2 minutes more.

2. Add the squash and cook about 5-10 minutes until softened.

3. Add corn, scallions, chiles or bell pepper cook 3 minutes.

4. Stir in the tomatoes and then the cilantro.

5. I used to add cream I don’t any longer (my for my cardiac diet) heat through,

6. Add cheese and season with salt. Serve hot or warm.

I have some leftover ground beef already cooked and will probably use a little of that in it to make it a complete meal in a dish, my favorite!

May 3, 2010 Update 

Tonight I made this again and added:

•  2 - chicken thighs, diced & sautee'd first.
•  2 -  of the jalapeno peppers, diced.  
•  1 - lime squeezed over it in my dish.
•  1/2 oz. -  grated cheese. 

I have my whole meal in one dish and it is yummy!

SHARRON'S FAVORITE QUICK BISQUITS

Many times, I didn't have the time to make bread and let it rise, etc. Since necessity is the "mother of invention", I had to come up with some other ideas. If you want to review my favorite muffins click HERE.

So here are my favorite quick biscuits!

SUPREME BISCUITS (from Better Homes & Garden cookbook)

2 cups sifted flour (if you don't want to sift it, remove 2 T.)

4 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t cream of tartar

2 t. sugar

1/2 c. shortening or butter

2/3 c. milk

Sift or mix the dry ingredients together using a whisk. Cut the shortening or butter in. (I use the hand mixer to do it quickly). When it looks evenly crumbly, add milk all at once and mix with a fork until it is evenly moist and you can push it into a ball that will hold together loosely. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it just enough to make it hold shape a little better. DO NOT OVER KNEAD!!

Roll it out to about an inch thick and cut the biscuits. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Makes about 12 average size biscuits. I usually use a larger cutter, even have used a tuna can if I think we might use some of them to make sandwiches later.

BUTTERMILK SUPREME BISCUITS

To use buttermilk, add 1/4 t. baking soda to dry ingredients. Use same amount of buttermilk or soured milk. If you are going to sour milk with lemon juice or vinegar, add the souring agent first thing, stir and set aside for it to sour while you do the rest of the recipe. It will make a bigger difference.

GARLIC CHEESE BISCUITS (like Red Lobster's!)

Mix 1/2 c. finely grated cheddar cheese with the dry ingredients.

Half way through the baking, brush with melted garlic butter. When you take them out, brush them once again with the garlic butter. To make the garlic butter, mix 1/3 c. melted butter with 1/2 t. garlic powder. This will make it fairly mild flavored. Some recipes call for 2 - 4 cloves of garlic, which would ward off cold germs for a day or two . . . maybe even vampires or amorous husbands ;>}

Tomorrow I will be making a bucket of the mix and will take more pictures of the process and equipment then. I was in a hurry today and couldn't take the time to take the pics. I will also post the amounts for a volume mix.

Sharron's "Half Fat" Butter

I have been threatening to come up with a good way to get my buttery taste on my veggies without being totally "wicked". So tonight I came up with this to dip my artichoke in.

SHARRON'S "HALF-FAT" BUTTER

1 cup buttermilk

1 T. cornstarch

1/2 c. butter

1/2 t. salt

Mix the cold buttermilk and corn starch using a whisk. Start cooking over medium heat, stirring. When it starts to thicken, add the butter and salt. Continue stirring until well blended.

I thought it was pretty good dipping the artichoke in it and then tried it over some

steamed broccoli. It stayed on the broccoli, didn't just run to the bottom of the bowl and tasted great. I forgot to take pictures, so I will make another batch tomorrow and take the pics then.

I just spread it on some toast. It made the toast a little soft but tasted good with jam and as cinnamon toast .

Tomorrow I will try it on corn on the cob . . . YUM!

I tried it and loved it! My daughter who tends to be a little pickier also tried it and said that it was good.

March 25, 2010

I just made a batch of this Butter Sauce with only 1/4 cup of butter.  it's good but not really quite yummy.

After making it several times, I have realized that as soon as it thickens, it is best to add the butter, blend and remove from heat.