Not Fancy

We had guests for supper last night.
Here is the table..

This is about as fancy as we get around here.   My Mom likes to make placemats and potholders for Christmas.  I used to have several other sets of Christmas Placemats but lost them one year when we had a cousins get together...they may have gotten tossed away.

The comfort food was plopped down in the center of the table and everyone served themselves.  Like I said Not Fancy.  I made chicken in its own gravy and kuchen for dessert. Our guests are bringing a vegetable. 

Chicken In Its Own Gravy a recipe from my sister
1 chicken skinless floured (I forgot the floured part)
Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a glass baking dish  Bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees

Mix 1-2 cups of grated cheese (I used Co Jack)
1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (I used Cream of Chicken)
1 can evaporated milk
Pour over chicken ...cover...Bake 1 hour
* Serve with white rice ( I made both white rice and wild rice)

Far Side

Dried Cherry Kuchen

Connie's Kook-Ken

Here is the recipe I adapted for my own use.  This makes 2 pie plates of Kuchen.

1 package of Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls there are 8 in a package.

Take 4 rolls smoosh them all together and roll them out.  Place in buttered pie plate.  Repeat for second pie plate. Prick with fork and bake at 350 for 10 -15 minutes. 

Filling
2 cups or 1 Pint of Heavy Whipping Cream
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
dash of salt
Vanilla
Crack eggs into a medium size pot beat with a fork until frothy then add sugar, salt and vanilla and beat some more....slowly add cream stirring constantly and vigorously!

Cook on medium heat stirring constantly...mixture will thicken.  Take it off the heat before it burns!

Lay fruit on the dough, add filling and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake 350 for 25 minutes

We like fresh fruit and have tried raspberries and blueberries.  Both were good.  I prefer the raspberries!

Yes it is possible to use dried fruits...I used tart dried cherries.   Our friends gave it two thumbs up!

You can always make a plain kuchen...I did this time...one was with dried cherries and one was plain.  We added fresh raspberries to the top of the plain one.

We discussed what our friends grandmothers used to put in kuchen...peaches, apples (perhaps they were cooked a bit no one remembers!), plums and all kinds of berries.

Most of the recipes I looked at called for a sweet dough for the crust.  I tried the cinnamon rolls just as an experiment because I am lousy at pie crust dough and the sweet dough recipes made like 8 crusts...and I just wanted 2 crusts.  You could always make some kind of gluten free crust also.

Here is a photo of the dried cherry kuchen....as you can see most of it was eaten!  ( I am not very good at getting the dough up on the sides of the pie plate)

It was very good.  I still like raspberry the best!

Supper with our friends is always great!  They served a pot roast with roasted vegetables...carrots and squash.  Next month it is our turn and I will have to come up with something delicious to serve!

Far Side

Viola

The 6th mulching was accomplished.  We cleared out the grates that are in front of the door and in the walkway.   The weather sounds like it will turn rain/snowy and cold again.  We are caught up with lawn work for the moment.  Perhaps the rain/snow will bring down the last of the leaves.

Menus were made for the week.  Kuchen was made for a night out with friends.  This time I experimented using dried cherries in one of the kuchen...we will see how it tastes!

Viola

Far Side

Connie's Kook ken (Kuchen)

Kuchen  is a dessert  that Russian and German settlers used to make.   There are many many old recipes out there.  I like to read recipes...and I also like to experiment.

The crusts were all a bit different and most recipes were for 8  yes eight kuchen.  I didn't need 8 I just needed one.

I had a plan...most were a sweet dough recipe..don't they sell cinnamon roll dough? Sure enough.

I buttered a pie plate... I thawed out the dough of five cinnamon rolls...I made a big ball of dough and then pressed it into my pie plate...I then pricked the dough with a fork and baked it at 350 for 10 minutes.

 Meanwhile I made the filling.   I whisked 3 eggs violently and added a half a cup of sugar and whisked some more then I added a pint (2 cups) of heavy whipping cream. ( I am certain in the old settler days this was skimmed off the top of a cooled pail of milk as cream rises) I heated this mixture stirring constantly over medium heat...stir and stir some more....when you are real tired of stirring it may become a thick mixture or start to burn on the bottom of the pan ...so you quit so you won't ruin the whole thing.

Add your fruit to the pie plate with your partially baked dough...I used raspberries. But you can use any fruit you like...frozen fruit should be thawed out first.

Pour on your creamy mixture and top with some cinnamon sugar.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes...cool and store in fridge.

yes my crust could have been neater and I should have added some vanilla. This makes two kuchen...my other one was without a crust and featured frozen blueberries...so it was more like a pudding.

The Raspberry Kuchen got high marks from our friends who buy Kuchen every time they are in North Dakota.

Our friends did lamb on the grill, with oven fried potatoes and marvelous vegetables. ( Far Guy and I both like lamb...at least the way they prepare it!)

I said I would bring dessert...orange sherbet was the back up.
It was a successful foodie adventure!
Far Side