The Silver Screen Oasis

Here's a spot where we can ask and exchange some ideas for recipes, (not necessarily movie-related ones, of course). To kick us off, here's my small dilemma:

Okay, I received my marching orders from a local rug rat for a Fall Bake Sale. I'm instructed that I need to make something for a bake sale involving brownie mix & peanut butter, (preferably crunchy). Anyone like to suggest an easy way out of this moral obligation?

Thanks in advance for any tried and true or new recipes.

Hi Moira - try this site: www.allrecipes.com

I like this site because you can search for recipes according to ingredients, i.e. brownie mix & peanut butter. This is where I go when I'm in the mood to bake something and am limited to what's in my cupboard.

Moira:

Believe it or not, a dessert was made Friday of just that thing! On the Food Network, there is a lady named Sandra Lee who has a show called Semi Homemade recipes. She makes all sorts of things using partly fresh foods, added to boxed mixes. There's also another lady called the Barefoot Contessa who was actually the one who did the brownies with p/b. She simply added a tablespoon of p/b to the mix, put it in the pan to bake, and dropped dollops of p/b around the top then marbleized it with a knife and baked as usual.

If you Google the Food Network, and look them both up, I'm sure you'll find more things.

Anne

My favorite recipe is " Let's Eat Out ".

ken123 wrote:My favorite recipe is " Let's Eat Out ".

--Which reminds me of a friend I once worked with who asserted that she
was on a very special diet. She could only eat food that had been handed
to her through a car window.

A food reference in a movie seen about a month ago has stayed with me:
2010 ; In a spaceship orbiting Jupitor, John Lithgow has a speech
about, "Did you ever go to a game at Yankee Stadium? Say, late August?
They fork up a weiner that's been floating in that brown water since May?
Now THAT'S a hot dog!"

Moria, if you have to go with the boxed brownie mix, I suggest the Ghirardelli brand. Hands down, the best brownie mix I've ever tried. If you didn't have to swirl peanut butter into them, I'd tell you to go with the Turtle flavor.

If you wanted to, you could always buy a bag of those peanut butter chocolate chips (I think Nestle makes those) and mix those into the batter as well. Or even some extra nuts for a little extra crunch.

Now I want brownies.

Ahhh, Sandra Lee. I used to watch her religiously, only because the woman was obsessed with "Cocktail time! The best time of the day!" I've never see someone get so excited over making drinks. I've seen a lot of her episodes and she's never failed to crack me up. Plus, she has a recipe for making chocolate truffles out of chocolate frosting which I've always found hilarious. Just eat the frosting out of the can!

I love the Barefoot Contessa though. She's been my favorite for years. I swear, that woman has my dream life. She and her husband are adorable together and her recipes are amazing.

Here's one, Moira, that sounds decadent!
http://baking.about.com/od/triflerecipe ... terbro.htm
Now I've gotta find a wine to go with it...
I LOVE Ina Garten ("Barefoot Contessa.") She reminds me of my sister-in-law.

Here's one:
I posted this on another site and it looks gross but it's fun...

WANT TO HAVE FUN AT A PARTY? PREPARE THIS RECIPE! COMPLETELY EDIBLE,
BUT YOUR FRIENDS MAY NOT THINK SO!


On a recent visit to our veterinarian to get shots for our cat I found this recipe on the waiting room bulletin board. After recovering from hysterical laughter, I obtain Ed a copy from the office staff so that my wife could make it, which she refused to do. I took it to work and gave the recipe to a lady at work who loves cats The pictures below show the results of her work. It doesn't look very nice, but it's actually quite tasty, so I decided to pass it along.

CAKE INGREDIENTS:
1 box spice or German chocolate cake mix
1 box of white cake mix
1 package white sandwich cookies
1 large package vanilla instant pudding mix
A few drops green food coloring
12 small Tootsie Rolls or equivalent

SERVING "DISHES AND UTENSILS"
1 NEW cat-litter box
1 NEW cat-litter box liner
1 NEW pooper scooper

1) Prepare and bake cake mixes, according to directions, in any size pan. Prepare pudding and chill. Crumble cookies in small batches in blender or food processor. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup of cookie crumbs. Mix with a fork or shake in a jar. Set aside.

2) When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with half of the remaining cookie crumbs and enough pudding to make the mixture moist but not soggy. Place liner in litter box and pour in mixture.

3) Unwrap 3 Tootsie Rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable. Shape The blunt ends into slightly curved points. Repeat with three more rolls. Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture. Sprinkle remaining white cookie crumbs over the mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top.

4) Heat 5 more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from the litter box. Heat the remaining Tootsie Roll until pliable and hang it over the edge of the box. Place box on a sheet of newspaper and serve with scooper. Enjoy!
"Kitty Litter Cake"

vallo

moirafinnie wrote:Here's a spot where we can ask and exchange some ideas for recipes, (not necessarily movie-related ones, of course). To kick us off, here's my small dilemma:

Okay, I received my marching orders from a local rug rat for a Fall Bake Sale. I'm instructed that I need to make something for a bake sale involving brownie mix & peanut butter, (preferably crunchy). Anyone like to suggest an easy way out of this moral obligation?

Thanks in advance for any tried and true or new recipes.

Moira my Mother in law makes this brownie thing you use a brownie mix then instead of the icing she uses melted marshmellos on top of brownie mix then lets it set and the top layer is melted chocolate ,rice crispies and peanut butter, melt the chocolate and peanut butter together and then stir in crispies its really good .You can add a bit of butter to that mixture when you are melting those ingredients.

Vallo, I've actually been at a party where the Kitty Pan was served. For some strange reason everyone was repulsed except the teenage boys...

Inglis, that recipe sounds like a killer!

I'm often asked for the following cookie recipe:


Use all the ingredients on the Traditional Toll House Cookie recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Use a HUGE mixing bowl.
Put all the wet ingredients on one side.
Put all the dry ingredients on one side.
Use REAL butter.
Add one extra half cup of dark brown sugar.
Mush it all together with a wooden spoon.
(It just works better with the wooden spoon.)

Add a large bag of pecans.
Add a large bag of chips.

If you want airport-size cookies, drop by a large tablespoon onto an
AIRBAKE cookie sheet. (This retards burnt bottoms.)

Bake at 375 degrees, just like the package recipe says.

If you double the recipe, which I often do, add two large bags of
chips and one to one and a half bags of pecans.

What I don't bake, I wrap in tube shapes (like the Pillsbury refrigerator cookies) in wax paper, twirl the ends until they keep the air out, wrap in foil the same way, and put in the freezer until you have another cookie emergency.

Slice the frozen cookies the same width and still bake at 375 degrees until done.

The first one is free. Charge anything you want for the succeeding cookies.

Use Hurricane Price Gouging rules. You will discover that humans will pay any price you ask for these babies. (Equivalent in popularity to Soylent Greeeeeeeeeennnnnnnn!)

Sue Sue Applegate wrote:Vallo, I've actually been at a party where the Kitty Pan was served. For some strange reason everyone was repulsed except the teenage boys...

Inglis, that recipe sounds like a killer!

I'm often asked for the following cookie recipe:


Use all the ingredients on the Traditional Toll House Cookie recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Use a HUGE mixing bowl.
Put all the wet ingredients on one side.
Put all the dry ingredients on one side.
Use REAL butter.
Add one extra half cup of dark brown sugar.
Mush it all together with a wooden spoon.
(It just works better with the wooden spoon.)

Add a large bag of pecans.
Add a large bag of chips.

If you want airport-size cookies, drop by a large tablespoon onto an
AIRBAKE cookie sheet. (This retards burnt bottoms.)

Bake at 375 degrees, just like the package recipe says.

If you double the recipe, which I often do, add two large bags of
chips and one to one and a half bags of pecans.

What I don't bake, I wrap in tube shapes (like the Pillsbury refrigerator cookies) in wax paper, twirl the ends until they keep the air out, wrap in foil the same way, and put in the freezer until you have another cookie emergency.

Slice the frozen cookies the same width and still bake at 375 degrees until done.

The first one is free. Charge anything you want for the succeeding cookies.

Use Hurricane Price Gouging rules. You will discover that humans will pay any price you ask for these babies. (Equivalent in popularity to Soylent Greeeeeeeeeennnnnnnn!)

I am going to try this one Christy Thanks .My kids are always after me to bake cookies and I do,its just that I don't always have the time but these cookies sound great! tasty too!

I'm going to look for my "SNOWBALLS TO THE STARS" recipe, rumored to have been popular with the Anglophilic Tennis set in Hollywood in the 20's and 30's.

It had whisky, orange juice, iced tea, sugar, and fresh key lime juice.

Well, I guess that's pretty much it. You just mix all that up to your taste,
freeze it, scoop it out, and serve in the fancy glassware of your choice.
And Voila, you're discovered a la Lana at Schwab's!

John, I envy your ability to bake from memory! Do you mean like cakes, cookies - that sort of thing? I once made a regular vanilla cake and it was so dry. I used a substitute of corn starch and flour for cake flour (from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook). Never again! I did make a mocha cake once and it turned out pretty good.

I tend to cook from memory though. Soups, sauces, stews - things like that I never follow a recipe for. I've inherited my cooking skills from my mother. It's kind of bad though - I once made Sweet and Sour chicken for my friends. One of them asked for the recipe and I couldn't give it to her because I just know how to make it without measuring anything.

If anyone is wondering, the sauce consists of a can of crushed pineapple, water, vinegar (somewhere between a 1/4 and 1/2 cup), a little bit of ketchup, sugar (I use Splenda) and red food coloring. Serve with chicken (battered and fried) and white rice. I try not to eat out or buy fast food because frankly, I don't trust the people making it.

JohnM wrote:Cooking is what I do best. I spent the better part of today, cooking for a party that I am catering, on Saturday. I will be baking tomorrow. Everything from scratch, but I make nothig from a recipe. So, anytime somebody asks me, it's always a big deal to try to estimate measurements, because I do everything by sight. My wife is always amazed that what I bake actually comes out.

I don't cook much but, like you John, I do bake from scratch, and without recipes, although I generally follow a recipe the first time I make something, and then tweak it to my own tastes afterward. Taste is the operative word -- I don't think I even measure everything by eye, but by smell and taste. If I'm asked, for example, how much cinnamon or somesuch I use, I say "until it smells the way I want it to," or "until it looks the right color." It was common among my mother's friends to instruct "put about a mouthful" of something into a dish being prepared. I don't think anyone actually took a mouthful and spat it into the dish, but it was a way of saying "a comfortable quantity that you would want to taste once it's cooked."