Homemade Corndogs and Funnel Cake

As a family, we set aside one night a week for Family Night. One night my husband came up with a fantastic idea: Carnival night! We started with homemade corndogs (from the amazing Alton Brown), then played some carnival games (ring toss, knock over the bottles, and throw the ball into the bucket). The kids had to "earn" their tickets for the games by answering gospel and scripture questions. Over all it was a really fun night, and only a few tears and threats of an early bed time.

My favorite part of the night was of course: the food. Homemade corndogs are suprisingly easy, and really good. And homemade funnel cakes? I may never buy an over priced one again. Maybe.

Now I just need to get one of those cotton candy makers and I think we're set.

The only bad thing about this recipe is the cornstarch.  Does any one else my disdain for cornstarch? I am not talking about taste here (does it even taste like anything?). It is that cringing squeaky noise it makes when you touch it. Gives me the heebie-jeebies. I avoid it at all costs, but unfortunately you kind of have to use it here. I have nightmares of someone throwing me into a pool full of cornstarch...

:shudder:

Corn Dogs
from Alton Brown

1 gallon peanut oil
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons (approximately 1 large) jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced
1 (8.5-ounce) can cream-style corn
1/3 cup finely grated onion
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons cornstarch, for dredging
8 beef hot dogs

Special equipment: 8 sets chopsticks, not separated. (I used bbq skewers and popsicle sticks)

Pour oil into a deep fryer or large heavy pot and heat to 375 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl, combine the jalapeno, corn, onion, and buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients all at once, and stir only enough times to bring the batter together; there should be lumps. Set batter aside and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Scatter the cornstarch into a dry pie pan. Roll each hot dog in the cornstarch and tap well to remove any excess.
Transfer enough batter to almost fill a large drinking glass. Refill the glass as needed. Place each hot dog on chopsticks, and quickly dip in and out of the batter. Immediately and carefully place each hot dog into the oil, and cook until coating is golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. With tongs, remove to cooling rack, and allow to drain for 3 to 5 minutes.

Easy Classic Funnel Cakes 
from food network magazine


1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup milk, plus more if needed
Canola oil, for frying
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Whipped cream and/or fruit sauce, for serving (optional)

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the egg with the granulated sugar until pale. Whisk the milk into the egg mixture, then gently fold into the flour mixture. It should be a bit thicker than pancake batter but thin enough to pour. Add up to 3 tablespoons milk to loosen the batter, if needed.

Heat about 2 inches of canola oil in a large high-sided skillet or pot over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 375. Meanwhile, mix the confectioners' sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Hold a funnel in one hand with your finger plugging the hole at the bottom. Pour 1 cup batter into the funnel. Hold the funnel over the hot oil and remove your finger from the hole, letting the batter drop in a spiral pattern all over the surface of the oil. It will look like lots of individual pieces at first, but as you continue to add batter, the pieces will fuse together. Cook until the batter floats and the underside is golden brown, about 30 seconds. Flip with tongs and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 30 more seconds. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate and repeat to make 5 more funnel cakes. Dust with the cinnamon-sugar and serve with whipped cream and/or fruit sauce, if desired.

Themed Food: St. Patrick's Day

We love to celebrate holidays at our house ("we" meaning me and I con the kids into it). St. Patrick's Day holds many food traditions for us, so I thought I would share some of them.

One thing I do is dye just about everything green. A few things I have dyed: milk, eggs, pancakes, waffles, mac and cheese, sugar cookies and homemade bread. Other ideas I have are to dye white sauced pasta or soup, or vanilla pudding. I have also heard people making green jello!

This year I bought green colored sandwich bread at a local bakery. This bakery will dye bread any color you want, even rainbow! So for breakfast we did our egg in a hole with the green bread, then for lunch we had peanut butter and jelly on the green bread too (with a side of green milk).

For dinner we always have Rueben sandwiches. This day we paired it with green beans and green apples. I love Reuben’s, and this recipe is the only one I have ever used (why mess with perfection?)

Reuben Sandwich
Dressing:
1 c mayonnaise
¼ c ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp parsley
1 tsp grated onion (or onion power)
1 tbsp horseradish
Sandwich
6 slices rye or marble rye
Butter
1 ¼ pounds corned beef
12 oz well drained sauerkraut
6 slices swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Make dressing by mixing all ingredients together, and then set aside. Assemble Reuben by toasting the bread and buttering it, and then layer the dressing, cheese, meat and sauerkraut. Place assembled Reuben on a baking sheet and put it in the over for 5-7 minutes.

 This year I also made a special St. Patrick’s Day dessert: and Irish cream chocolate trifle! This was fun to make, but next time I will be sure to have an actual trifle dish to put it in. I also did not buy liquid coffee creamer, I bought powdered, and so I had to make it liquid in order to use it in the recipe. To do this I added 1 cup of boiling water to 1 cup of the powdered creamer and whisked until smooth. From here you can add up to a cup of cold water, depending on how strong you want the flavor.
*Side note: coffee creamer is just flavoring, it is not coffee, nor does it taste like coffee; it is more like flavored milk.

Irish Cream Chocolate Trifle

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) devil's food cake mix
1 cup refrigerated Irish creme nondairy creamer
3-1/2 cups cold milk
2 packages (3.9 ounces each) instant chocolate pudding mix
3 cups whipped topping (I dyed it green)
12 spearmint candies, crushed (I did not use these because I didn't have any. If you want the mint flavor, jusy add some mint extract to the cool whip)

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using a
greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.
With a meat fork or wooden skewer, poke holes in cake about 2 in.
apart. Slowly pour creamer over cake; refrigerate for 1 hour. In a large bowl, whisk the milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set.
Cut cake into 1-1/2-in. cubes; place a third of the cubes in a 3-qt.
glass bowl. Top with a third of the pudding, whipped topping and
candies; repeat layers twice. Store in the refrigerator. Yield:
14-16 servings.

Themed Food: Heart Sandwiches

On Friday I was watching my friends kids for a few hours, and for lunch I served them heart shaped sandwiches. One of the kids was fascinated by me taking pictures of food. She begged me to take a picture of her sandwich with her hands lovingly wrapped around it. She also told me "Teacher, I loooove my sandwich"

These are simple (obviously). We did peanut butter and jelly, but you can pretty much do any kind of sandwich. Assemble the sandwich and then use a cookie cutter to cut out the shape. You can eat the scraps, or you can feed them to your one-year old like I did.

Themed Food: Heart Shaped Pizza

Why buy a heart shaped pizza when you can make one! My husband and I went on our traditional valentine's date to chuck-a-rama (local buffet), so we left the babysitter and the kids with a heart shaped pizza. Of course I used my dough recipe, and shaping it into a heart was super easy!

Themed Food: "Turkey" Sandwiches

Today I made the kids "turkey" sandwiches for lunch! I love it when you can turn food into somethign else, and kids love it too!

First make your sandwich. We really did use turkey, but you can make it with whatever you want!. After it is all assembled, use a cicle cookie cutter to cut out the body. Try and cut it out towards one end, because you will need to use part of the sandwich to make the head. After you cut out the circle, take your extra piece and cut out a rectangle shape with a knife, this will be your turkey head. Lay the rectangle piece on the circle. Decorate the head with eyes (you are supposed to use olives, but I used choclate chips), a beak (cut a slice of cheese, and then cut off the corner to make the triangle shaped beak) and a red pepper for the waddle (or you can use ketchup). After the face is done, you can put on the feathers. I used carrot sticks, but the original recipe uses red and yellow peppers. I also added some "bird poop" ranch dip for the carrots. The kids loved this, and Tanner even ate his carrots, which he never does.

Other  ideas: cut out circle sugar cookies, decorate with frosting and use candy corns for feathers and beak.

Or, butter both sides of a piece of bread, use a thanksgiving shaped cookie cutter to cut out a shape in the bread (like a turkey, a boat, corn on the cob...). Place bread on a heated frying pan and then crack an egg in the hole of the bread. Let the bread and egg cook for a few minutes and then flip to cook the other side. Don't for get to toast up your bread cut out too! We call this egg-in-a-hole.

Do you have any fun themed Thanksgiving food to share?

Themed Food: New Moon

If food wasn't already fun enough, themed food is even more fun!

Some girls and I in my neighborhood had a New Moon movie party on Friday. Part of the party was a themed dessert potluck.

I brought Vampire Bites and Vampire teeth

Vampire Bites (Cake Balls from Bakerella )

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake) (you can use any kind of cake mix)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.) (you can also make your own!)
1 package chocolate bark (you can use any kind of melting chocolate, I have even used chocolate chips!)
wax paper
1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)
I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It’s easier to work with when it’s hot. To top them off I used red sugar crystals, but you can be creative and add anything you want like different colored chocolate, little candies, frosting, mini-chocolate chips, coconut, chopped nuts...)


Vampire Teeth (Chocolate Covered Apples Slices)

As many red apples as you think you will use
Melting chocolate (the darker the better in my opinion)
Wax paper

Slice apples into slices (about about 8 per apple). Melt chocolate in microwave. What usually works for me is melting it 30 seconds at a time, and stirring in between. Dip apple slices flesh side down into the chocolate so that only the peel is showing after dipped. Set dipped slices on wax paper and decorate (I used the red sugar crystals again, but really you can be creative). The great thing about this is the apples don't brown (or maybe they do) because they are covered in the chocolate! Either eat right away, or store in the fridge. Eat within 24 hours of making!

Some other ideas: Make red velvet cupcakes, top with white or black frosting, and use a fork to hold up a quote from New Moon. Buy chocolate covered peppermint park (or make it your self) and label it "vampire teeth." Buy some Jones Soda in a red flavor and put a label on the bottle that reads "Bella's Blood"

What New Moon or Twilight themed food have you come up with?