Beneath the Surface

5# potatoes
2# smoked sausage
1 jar sauerkraut
1 qt. chicken broth

Peel and cut up potatoes, cut up sausage, mix together and put in a dutch oven. Top with sauerkraut, pour chicken broth over all. Cook at 350 for 2-3 hours.

(This is one of those things I make all the time and know by heart, but am writing it down here so that I'll have the recipe on hand if I ever forget it. :))

I am sick, coughing, tired. slept all afternoon.

But yesterday I made super-easy barbecue ribs, which I'm writing down what I did so I can find it if I forget.

Stupidly Easy Ribs:

3# or more of country style ribs
bottle of BBQ sauce of choice (or make your own)

Put ribs in a 9X13" pan, cover with foil, bake at 350 for two hours. Pour sauce over, bake covered for half an hour; remove foil and bake uncovered for half an hour.

1 lb. butter (NO, margarine is not acceptable!)
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
2 c. mixed nuts
1 12-oz pkg chocolate chips

Melt butter in a heavy 3-quart pan. Add sugar and water, bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium (not low), add nuts. Stirring frequently, bring to 300 degrees F.

(Recipe books always say to stir toffee constantly. I don't. Just keep an eye on it--if your pan is heavy enough it'll be fine. If not, maybe you should stir constantly after all. I'm just trying to save you some work here.)

Pour into am ungreased jelly roll pan, spread the mixture around until the pan is covered. Don't lick the spoon, you'll burn your tongue. Immediately fill the pan with hot soapy water and start it soaking, along with the spoon--you'll be glad you did in the morning.

Scatter the chips (the better the chip, the more evil the toffee--maybe Ghirardelli instead of Hershey's?--but still pretty evil with store-brand chips as long as they're real chocolate) around the toffee while it's still hot. Wait a minute or two, then spread the melted chips around with a spoon.

Let cool enough for the chocolate to harden, then break into pieces. The toffee layer will set first, so you can eat it sooner if you don't mind licking melted chocolate off of your fingers.

You don't have to use mixed nuts, I just happen to like them. You could use pecans, cashews, macadamia nuts, whatever.

Take 24 oz. chocolate, do yourself a favor and don't use Baker's (Ghirardelli is nice), use either all bittersweet or semisweet, or 1/3 unsweetened and 2/3 bitter- or semisweet, depending on your chocolate tolerance. Milk or white chocolate might work but what would be the point? Chop very very finely (a food processor is helpful).

Take a healthy 1/4 c. of heavy cream, heat to boiling, and pour into the food processor, process. Add 4 Tbsp. of whatever liqueur you prefer (or that much more milk if you're making them plain), process.

Put in a bowl and refrigerate for an hour.

Take a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and drop the chocolate onto it in spoonfuls. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Form the shapeless globs of chocolate into roughly spherical globs of chocolate, roll in cocoa or whatever else you like. Refrigerate and keep refrigerated. Eat eventually, wait until they firm up a bit at least.


This I learned by first trying two recipes that might work fine when the kitchen is 70 degrees, but when it's 85 the chocolate is entirely unmanageable even after refrigeration. You can also freeze the balls and then dip them in melted chocolate or white chocolate, but I figured that would just be asking for trouble. Today's selection: plain rolled in cocoa, hazlenut rolled in powdered coffee (pretty heavily COFFEE!!!! but should be okay with the chocolate-covered-coffee-bean-eating set, which is pretty much everyone around here), raspberry rolled in ground almonds. (I love my food processor.)

And I think I won't do this again until winter. :)