Rants & Raves From Montana

For those who are too lazy (people like myself) to read through the post to get recipes, here they are. But it’s more fun to read the stories behind them….

Snickerdoodles

1 c. butter or margarine

1 ½ c. sugar

2 eggs

2 ¾ c. flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix it all together in a bowl. (Doesn’t get much simpler than that huh?) In a separate bowl, mix ¼ c. sugar and as much cinnamon as you want. Take the dough, roll it in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and bake for about 9 minutes at 400 degrees.

a peach and huckleberry cobbler. Which will be really easy, and gives me an excuse to turn the oven on.

Peach & Huckleberry Cobbler

Filling:

One Quart Jar of Peaches

Two handfuls of Huckleberries

¼ c. ish of sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice
Topping:

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons softened butter (or margarine. I’m old school, I like butter)

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Cardamom (you don’t really need this, I just like it)

1 c. rolled oats

Heap the filling into an 8×8 greased baking pan (or any pan that is clean and at hand. I just add or decrease filling size to match the pan). Mix up the topping in a separate bowl until the butter isn’t in chunks, more like the size of small peas, and put it on top of the filling. Bake it at 350 degrees and take it out when the fruit is bubbling a bit, and the topping is slightly brown and crispy. Usually about 30 minutes, give or take quite a bit.

Slow-Cooked Apple Pork Loin

Ingredients

Pork loin

Apple butter

1 Onion, chopped

1-2 Apples, sliced up

Some lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced and sauteed in butter with some basic, thyme, and rosemary

Chicken broth, vegetable broth, apple cider, or apple juice, or even some water (about a cup or enough to fill an inch of your crock pot)

Slice pork loin down the middle, and line it with a thin layer of apple butter. Put half the onion in the slit along with the apple slices (skinned or not, depending on your preference). Also put a few drops of lemon juice in there too. Pour the garlic mixture over what is already in your split pork, and tie the whole thing up with kitchen string. Then add the chicken broth or whatever your choice is, the rest of the chopped onion, and if you have it, a few sprigs of mint. Fresh grind pepper over the entire mixture, put the lid on and cook. How long, depends on how much meat you put in. I usually cook until the apples and onions are tender, and make a test cut in the meat to make sure there isn’t any pink left. (I haven’t died of E.coli yet).

Scalloped Potatoes  
3 large russet potatoes

¾ c. butter

1 large onion

¼ c. flour

2 cloves garlic minced

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon rosemary

fresh grated parmesan cheese

milk (Whatever fat percentage you prefer)

salt

pepper

Skin the potatoes and cut them into thin rounds, about 1/8 inch.  Grease a casserole dish, grease it, and layer the bottom evenly with potato rounds.  I prefer to mince the onions, but you may, of course, chop them however you wish, and layer on top of the potatoes.  Cut butter into squares and layer on top of the onions.  Sprinkle flour and a pinch of salt and generous pepper atop what is already there.  Repeat layering until the casserole pan is nearly to the top with potato layers.  Mix the sage, rosemary, garlic, and parmesan (how much depends on how much you like cheese) and sprinkle evenly on top of everything.  Pour milk into the pan until it reaches the top layer.  How much milk, depends on the dish size.  Bake at 350 degrees until the potatoes are tender and the top layer is nicely browned.