Clam dip

We have always liked clam dip in our family.  It's one of those recipes that's not really a recipe.  It isn't even written down.  My mom used to make it all the time.  I loved it and thought I better start making it so that I could perfect it.  Every recipe turns out a little bit different.  I thought I would make some and try to record the amounts for an actual recipe.  I did alright.  But there's always some tweaking to do.  Adjust the seasons, of course after you taste it.

Clam Dip

1/2 pint cottage cheese

1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. worchestershire sauce

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp season salt

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1 can chopped or minsed clams, drained-reserve juice

Mix cottage cheese and cream cheese together with electric mixer.  Mix until well combined, but it will not be smooth.  Add seasonings and spices.  Mix well.  Add clams.  Add some of the clam juice until you recieve the desired consistency.  I like mine not too thick.  If too thick it's hard to dip into without breaking the potato chip.  Now go ahead and taste it.  Adjust the seasoning and spices, keeping in mind that it will get better and stronger with age.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.  It will stay great in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Best Burger I had in Hawaii

I saved the best for last.  The best burger I had while in Hawaii was at Teddy's Bigger Burgers.

They have several stores on Oahu.  Check them out HERE. We ate at the Waikiki location, right across the street from the zoo.  This is a traditional walk-up counter burger joint.  They had burgers, sandwiches, fries, onion rings, shakes and more.  We, of course, made our usual selections.

Mark ordered the bacon swiss burger.  Check out those fries, thick and crisp too.  I ordered my standby, american cheese.  These burgers came with their own "special sauce".  I assumed it would be similar to Utah fry sauce.  I was wrong.  It was a mustard based cream sauce.  For those of you who know me well, you know I hate mustard.  But boy was I suprised by this sauce.  It was delicious!

 

Conclusion:  The Best Burger we had in Hawaii.  It was also the cheapest.  A combo meal with burger, fries and drink was around $8.00.  We also had a coupon from one of the many magazines we had.  So we got 50% off the second meal.  Teddy's will be our first stop for a burger when we return to Hawaii!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

My cute daughter-in-law has a gluten intolerance or celiac disease.  She can't eat any gluten or she gets VERY sick.  I love to check out new recipes that are naturally gluten free.  I also like to adapt recipes so that she can eat them too.  This one is a great, fast cookie to make.  It's also good because I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  That's easy because there's only 4 ingredients.

Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg

Mix all ingredients until well combined.  Batter will be only slightly thicker than the peanut butter. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. (I always use a small cookie scoop and parchment paper)

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Let rest on pan for additional 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

Burger # 2 - Kua Aina

Serving burgers on the North Shore of Oahu for over 20 years is Kua Aina sandwich shop in Haleiwa.  We stopped by one afternoon for a great lunch.  We had been to Kua Aina before and knew it would be worth a repeat.  They serve 1/3 pound and 1/2 pound burgers.  They also have sandwiches and salads.  I opted for the 1/2 pound cheeseburger with american cheese (I know, I know,  but I love the way american cheese melts).  Mark had the grilled Ahi sandwich.  Both were excellent.  Cooked to order and to perfection.  They come with lettuce, tomato, mayo, grilled onions and a large carrot stick.  Ketchup and mustard are on the tables.

Their fries are the homemade, shoestring style.  Although I generally prefer thicker fries, theirs are great.  Fresh and made to order.

They have a great menu with quite a few options.  Someone next to us ordered the avocado burger and it had half an avocado on top of the hamburger.  My burger was $7.95 and Mark's sandwich was $9.95.  A large order of fries was $4.00.  We tried their lemonade.  But I prefer a sweeter one and wouldn't order that again.

Conclusion:  We would definately go to Kua Aina again.

Sorry about the pictures.  We were halfway through the meal before we thought about snapping a few pics.

Burgers in Hawaii

We're just back from the islands.  I'm sure you're thinking, why would you go to Hawaii and have a hamburger.  Well,  I Love a good cheeseburger.  In fact a cheeseburger is just about my favorite food.  So, while away we thought we'd try out a few.  Some we'd had before.  Others were new to us.  I'll be sharing more in the coming days, but today I'll post about a good ole standby. 

Cheeseburger in Paradise.

We ate at the restaurant in Waikiki.  But there are others.  Check them out Here

It was a good burger.  Plenty of choices too.  I went with american cheese, my favorite.  I even tried the sauteed onions, which I generally don't like.  Mark went with the bacon swiss burger.  We also tried their cheese fries.  I loved the sauce on their burgers.  The service was poor but the food was good. 

Burgers were priced around $10.00.  Too expensive for a regular meal, but hey, we were in Hawaii!

My American Cheeseburger in Paradise

Mark's Bacon Swiss Burger

Cheese Fries,  good but not great

Conclusion: 

A really good burger.  Expensive but a great treat while on vacation.  

Have you eaten there?  What's your opinion?

Creamy Crockpot Chicken

I've been busy cooking and baking.  But not so good at putting it on the blog.  But I did capture some of our dinner.  This is an easy crockpot meal. It can be assembled in the crockpot (if it has removable inside pot) the night before and then just put in the heating unit and turned on in the morning.

Creamy Crockpot Chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 package Italian salad dressing mix (dry)
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, cubed
1-2 pounds chicken breasts

In crockpot combine soup, cream cheese, milk and dry salad dressing mix.  Stir to combine.  Then place chicken breasts in sauce.  Cook on low for 6 hours.

Some of my family like the meat shredded and some like it more whole.  The chicken will start to fall apart but if you like it that why, then go ahead and shred it.  We like this creamy chicken served over rice.

My daughter informed me that these pictures don't really look appetizing.  I agree. 

It really is yummy. Give it a try.

Banana Bread

My family loves banana bread.  So do I.  So when there are old bananas, it's time to make some bread.  I have my old standby recipe but I wanted to try something a little bit different.  While shopping I noticed Smart Balance buttery spread and thought I would try it out.  I don't usually buy margarines but I thought I might try this one out for cooking and baking.  So I substituted the shortening called for in my normal recipe and used Smart Balance spread instead.

The bread turned out great and I couldn't taste the difference.  Goodbye Crisco.

The recipe is pretty forgiving.  I usually double it but if i'm shy a banana I go ahead and make it with less.  It still turns out good.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup shortening

3 eggs

3 large ripe bananas

1 cup sugar

3 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup chopped pecans (optional-no one likes it that way at my house, so I never add the nuts)

Cream sugar and shortening together.  Add bananas, vanilla and eggs and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until all is incorporated.  Fill greased bread pans half full. 

I like to use small and large bread pans.

Bake at 350 degrees about one hour for large pans and around 40 minutes for small pans.  The toothpick test works well with this bread.  Cool for about 5 minutes in pans and remove from pans and cool on rack.  Or go ahead and slice it up, lather it with butter and enjoy!