Schaumtorte

Spring! Spring means strawberries. Strawberries mean dessert. This is a yummy, lowfat dessert (well relatively lowfat as desserts go) that includes those wonderful strawberries. You can also make it in the summer with fresh peaches. It seems most cultures have a version of this meringue dessert. This is the German version. There used to be a rester . . .restara . . .resterau . .. place to eat here in town that served German food. This was the only dessert on the menu. People came from miles around to eat there and enjoy the Weinerschnitzel, Spaetzle, and Schaumtorte. Unfortunately, they are no longer in business, but the Schaumtorte lives on!

1 cup egg whites (6-8 eggs- doesn't have to be exact)(Save the yolks. You can mix them with 1/2 tsp. salt, put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them for later use. A great way to use them is in Egg Yolk Cookies- recipe follows)

1 tsp. vinegar

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Combine the above ingredients and Beat at high speed until very, very stiff. Leave the mixer on and very slowly add the 2 cups sugar. Butter or spray well two glass or ceramic pie pans (not metal) Be sure to spray the sides and lip, too. Divide the mixture betwee the two pans. Bake at 300 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 and bake for 30 minutes more. Then turn off the oven and DO NOT open it. Just leave the tortes in there for about three more hours without disturbing.

Remove from oven. Very carefully remove the top peak from each torte. Fill with fresh, sweetened whipped cream ( 1 pint cream beaten with 2 T. sugar and 1 tsp vanilla) and fresh strawberries or peaches mixed with sugar. Top with the piece of broken torte. Oh my gosh, yum!

Egg Yolk Cookies

Now, what do you do with all those saved egg yolks? One idea is to make these yummy, rich, buttery snickerdoodle-like cookies.

1 cup butter or shortening (I used butter flavored crisco)
1 1/2 cups sugar
Egg yolks (just throw in all you saved from the schaumtorte or put in 6) You can use 3 whole eggs instead
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1- 2 tsps. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon extract (opt)
1/2 tsp. orange extract (opt)

Cream butter and sugar til fluffy. Beat egg yolks with extracts and add to creamed mixture. Blend well. With mixer off, add dry ingredients, then turn on and mix in. Blend well. Form into balls. Roll balls in granulated sugar and place on sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes(longer if you like crispy).

Ritzy Baked Chicken

If I had a signature dish, this would probably be it. I have made this for years- especially on Sundays (I made it today). My family loved/loves it, it's easy and quick.

Ritzy Baked Chicken

6 chicken breasts (or equivalent tenders)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 - 2 cups sours cream

1 tube ritz crackers, crushed

1/2 cube butter, melted

Poppy seeds sprinkled on top, opt.

Put chicken breasts in the bottom of a sprayed 13 x 9 pan. Mix the soup and sour cream together and pour over. Sprinkle on the crushed crackers, then drizzle with the melted butter. Bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes (I usually use my time bake on my oven on Sundays so it's ready when we get home). Serve over hot rice.

Cinnamon Streusel Cake

I got this recipe from my amazing Mother. I made a few minor changes. I made it yesterday for a birthday shin-dig and got lots of compliments. It is very moist, pretty, and easy!

Batter:

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding (I used 1 cup van. pdg. from a number 10 food storage can)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used a little less)

1 1/3 cups water

2 eggs

Streusel:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 T butter, melted

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 T milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a ten inch tube pan or bundt. In a large bowl, blend batter ingredients (cake mix, pudding, oil, water, and eggs). Beat 2 min. Spread 1/2 of the batter into your greased/floured 10-inch pan or bundt. Combine streusel ingedients. Sprinkle streusel mixture over the batter in the pan. Spread remaining batter over streusel. Bake 40-50 minutes. Cool in pan for 25 minutes. Remove from pan and glaze. Enjoy!

Granola

I've tried a few granola recipes, and this is my favorite. It makes a LOT: 2 large cookie sheets full. It is already pretty much gone and I made it less than two days ago. I found it on allrecipes.com under "Megan's Granola." I added and substituted a few things to make it more inexpensive and healthy. You can pretty much add whatever you have on hand. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook, so about 40 minutes total. It is packed with yummy, mostly healthy ingredients!

• 8 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups wheat germ
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 to 1 cup honey
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups raisins or sweetened dried cranberries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
2. Combine the oats, wheat germ, ground flaxseed, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, walnuts, coconut and pumpkin seeds in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through. Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.

I took a pancake turner/spatula and flattened the granola as it came out of the oven. That helped to make it more clumpy, and gave me the option of cutting half of them to make into granola bars. I used a pizza cutter to cut the cooled, smushed granola into bars, then wrapped the bars individually in tinfoil. This took some time and patience, but it is nice to have some inexpensive, preservative-free, healthy, yummy bars waiting when I need a quick snack!