My secret sauce

So everyone will figure this about me pretty fast, I am a throw this and throw that in a pot add a bit of sugar and love and BAM (thanks Emeril) voila I have dinner! Sometimes I can recreate, sometimes it is a one hit wonder! But this sauce that I made by complete accident I make over and over again for my Hubby! It is pretty spicy, so I and my wee lil' boy don't eat too much of it, but my Husband eats the WHOLE bowl! It is especially good with sauteed chicken served with onion rice and steamed broccoli. You can make this is as spicy as you would like!

Click here for Printable Recipe

Todd's Favorite Sauce
Serves 2-4

• 1/4cup Hoisin Sauce
• 1/8 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tblsp Red Curry Paste
• 1 Tblsp Soy Sauce
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (to your specified taste)

Mix all ingriedients in a small sauce pan and bring to a slow boil.

* Different brands of Hoisin sauce are sweeter than others. I prefer using a darker colored one instead of the more red toned ones. But since it isn't always available at my grocery store I just add a little bit more brown sugar or a touch of molasses to give it the flavor I like.*

Apple Crisp

For dessert tonight, I made an Apple Crisp. Last summer (2008) I bought a huge container of ground flaxseed at the MN State Fair. I don't know why. I'd ever used flaxseed before. I didn't really understand its purpose or function.

Before today, I'd only used a few tablespoons here and there on yogurt or in a smoothie. I've heard that you can use it to substitute flour, fat, and eggs, but making those substitutions makes me really nervous. When I bought the flaxseed, I was given a small packet of recipes they'd found online that used flaxseed. Today, more than a year later, I finally braved up and tried out a recipe.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 cups fresh sliced Braeburn Apples, or your favorite apple (I used a combination of red and green apples because that's what I had on hand)
• 1 T fresh lemon juice
• 2 T plus 2 tsp white sugar
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c ground flaxseed
• 1/4 c brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 c quick cooking oats (I used old fashioned)

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Coat a baking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Combine apples (I peeled before slicing) and lemon juice in baking dish and toss gently to coat.
3. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Stir with a whisk to blend.
4. Add cornstarch mixture to apple mixture and toss well to coat.
5. Combine flax, remaining cinnamon, brown sugar, and oats in separate bowl. Sprinkle evenly over apple mixture.
6. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown.

Again, I promise to take more, and better, pictures for future posts.

Sneaky Baked Ziti

I LOVE being sneaky. Ever since my husband came home with a borrowed copy of The Sneaky Chef, I've been hooked. I love how easy it is to sneak in veggies without affecting the taste at all. I've tried quite a few recipes and never been disappointed! I highly recommend this series of books to anyone who has trouble eating veggies or getting their spouse or children to eat their veggies. The recipes are simple and delicious!

I'd been wanting to try this Sneaky Baked Ziti recipe for quite awhile. It has pureed tofu in it, so I bought that and was ready for this dish--except it feeds 8-10, and we are only 2. I waited and waited for the perfect opportunity until the expiration date of the tofu was only a week away! I needed to use it and use it fast...so I invited our home teacher and his wife and son over for dinner. I still thought it might be too much food, so I invited my parents as well. The good thing is that my husband loves that I'm sneaking veggies into his meal. The bad part is that he likes to know what it is. It's never made him not eat what I've prepared, but I'm not sure if our dining guests always appreciate knowing.

Ok, ok...so this introduction has gotten quite lengthy...

Unfortunately, since I love The Sneaky Chef so much, I just don't feel right posting the recipe on my blog, since it's only found in The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals. It's not included in one of their free recipes that can be found online. Even though I'd totally give credit, I just don't feel right posting the entire recipe.

I will tell you to check out the book from the library or buy it on Amazom.com or Barnes & Noble.com or your favorite book retailer. I promise you will not be disappointed.

This recipe is chock full of Orange Puree. Can you guess what's in it?

This is then mixed with pureed tofu and store bought spaghetti sauce. It's all tossed with cooked penne or ziti noodles and mozzarella cheese. Mozzarella and Parmesan are sprinkled on top. Cover with foil, and bake.

Sorry about the poor picture. I wanted to take a picture of it when I took it out of the oven, but it seemed too weird with our guests. With time, my picture taking while prepping meals will get better, I promise.

Delicious! Everyone approved. Well, some wished for meat. I don't think that adding some hamburger or ground turkey would be a bad idea. My parents actually suggested pepperoni and sausage. Sounds good to me! We might be having this for dinner again on Sunday.

Welcome to our blog!

This morning, I thought, "Hey! I should totally create a recipe/cooking/baking/kitchen blog. I'll call it Clarinda's Kitchen."

Then I was chatting with my sister on Facebook, and she got really excited about it. She thought it sounded like fun, so I told her I could make her an author, too, so she could share her favorite recipes.

Well, Clarinda's Kitchen, just wouldn't cut it if we both contribute our favorite recipes, so...

Tale of Two Sisters and Their Kitchens was born.

We're both very excited to begin sharing with the world our favorite recipes and our adventures in our kitchens.

Please stay tuned for exciting recipes that we hope you'll just love.

Recipe: Krusczyki

For Mother's Day, my step-mom put in a special request for an angel food cake. I was happy to oblige. Unfortunately, it left me with a lot of left-over egg yolks.

I scoured the Internet for a delicious way to use up the egg yolks. Most of the recipes I found were for sponge cake or something that would be baked in the same type of pan as the angel food cake. Now, that wouldn't work for me because, well, I had an angel food cake in that pan!

I was delighted for find this recipe for Krusczyki on Allrecipes.com (posted by SHARONA669). I'd never heard of it before, and there was no picture to go along with the recipe, but I thought I'd take a gamble.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 14 egg yolks
• 1 pint sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups shortening
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix together all ingredients except shortening and confectioners' sugar. Stir into a ball, then turn dough out onto a floured surface . Knead dough for 1/2 hour. If you have a mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix for about 15 minutes.
2. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into strips that are 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. In the center of each strip, cut a 1 inch slit, lengthwise.
   
   Pull one end of the strip through the slit to form a bow.
   
   (This is my interpretation of making a "bow". They kind of look like little bow ties, right?)
4. In a frying pan or an electric skillet, melt shortening and heat to about 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). in a frying pan this would be on medium high heat.
5. Place cookies in hot oil. Cook on both sides until lightly browned then remove to a paper towel.
6. Dust finished cookies with confectioners sugar.

I brought these over for Mother's Day brunch. Everyone loved them!! They are not a real sweet cookie but are more like a little doughnut. I was surprised at how well they were received.

Dinner Last Night: Chicken Enchiladas

I found this recipe for the Easiest Chicken Enchiladas Ever on my friend's blog. It sounded so good!

But... I didn't have any enchilada sauce. :-(

I was going to go online to find my own, but instead found this recipe for Easy Chicken Enchiladas on Allrecipes.com. It sounded really good, too.

I had to make a few modifications:

• I only had about 2-3 oz of cream cheese, so I added1/3 cup of sour cream as well.
• I used a can of chicken instead of the chopped, cooked chicken breast.
• I had some leftover white beans in my fridge, so used those instead of the pinto beans (I used the same amount of beans as chicken, using the empty can as my measurer).

These turned out to be so delicious! I'll definitely make them again. They are not saucy like regular enchiladas, which I actually kind of enjoyed.

Jeff even liked these so...two thumbs up here!!

Dinner Tonight: Mexican

Dinner turned out so great tonight! Mexican rice, black beans and cheese quesadillas...all from scratch! I was so impressed with how tasty everything turned out.

A week or so ago, my friend taught me how to make Mexican rice from scratch the way her mother-in-law taught her (Her mother-in-law is from Mexico). I had to modify it slightly with what I can in my cupboards/fridge, but I was so happy with the results. It was very flavorful. Unfortunately, some of the rice was still a little hard, so it's definitely not perfected.

The black beans I made a few days ago and just had to reheat. These were not from a can! I did a quick soak with them (boil for two minutes and then let sit for a few hours), and then I boiled them for about two or so hours, adding salt during the last 1/2 hour or so. I thought they turned out delicious, but Jeff didn't really get a chance to taste them by themselves because they went right into a taco soup. On their own tonight, he said they were delicious, which made me smile.

No secret to the quesadillas. We just love those!!