Ready for Winter in Indiana? Cutting the last herbs and hanging the bird feeders.

Onion Chives, Rosemary, Garlic Chives, Thyme, and Sage.

I love the aroma of all kinds of lovely things, not the least of which are fresh herbs.  When the first hard freeze is forecast as it is here for tonight I gather up the last of anything I haven't used, brought in, or in some way readied for winter.  A few weeks ago, early for me, I brought in many plants and a few herbs in small pots.  These herbs are plants too big to drag in so I have just sniped them off, bundled them with string, and hung them in the sill of the kitchen window where they smell like heaven.

They delight me as does the fact Brian readied a pulley system Sunday for me to be able to fill my bird feeders this winter in the big front tree without having to drag out the ladder and climb up on the side of a hill to fill it.  Love that man!

The leaves are almost all gone and the birds act like they are starving already.

Always this day comes too soon.  We never seen to be ahead of the winter.  We did lay lattice board across the fish pond to keep the leaves out so the big gold fish and koi can winter through and not be killed by the poison gas forming from rotting leaves.  We leave the pump and fountain going and it will not freeze solid.

Mother said it is snowing today in Indianapolis and Diane, my best friend said it is snowing now in Bloomington, Indian so I guess it must be time for winter in Indiana.

Delicious Hot Crab Rangoon Dip and Helpful Hints.

Delicious Hot Crab Rangoon Dip.

A friend and a very good cook, Mickey Thienes recently shared a "Helpful Hint" and chef's secret with me and I tried it out today in this recipe.  It worked wonderfully well and furthermore enhanced the flavor of this dish!

The idea is to freeze whole fresh lemons.  I washed and dried mine and stashed a very large one in a freezer bag a week or so ago.  Then when a recipe calls for lemon, be it juice or zest or whatever, you just use a box grater and grate the whole lemon onto a dish and slide it off into the recipe. 

This recipe calls for the juice of 1/2 of a lemon, instead I grated into the dip about 1/3 of a large frozen whole lemon.  The taste was wonderful.  Evidently this is a chef's trick and done rather routinely in fine restaurants.  I like it a lot!  So, I am sharing it with you.

This recipe is adapted from one I saw on Ally's Sweet and Savory Eats.  It is much spicier than any Crab Rangoon I have ever eaten but we liked it a lot.  In fact we liked it more than any hot crab dip we have ever eaten.  I hope you enjoy it this upcoming Holiday season.

Ingredients for hot Crab Rangoon dip:

8 oz, softened cream cheese
1 C. mayonnaise
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 cans of crab meat drained and cleaned (Look over and remove any shinny pieces of cartilage you may see.)
1/2-1 t. ground red pepper (I used 1/2 t.)
1 t. salt
1 t. ground black pepper
1/3 of a large grated frozen lemon (or juice of 1/2 lemon)
4-6 green onions, sliced including green stems (You might want to save some back for garnish.)
6 T. Panko breadcrumbs for topping

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine all of the ingredients except the Panko crumbs in a medium sized mixing bowl and stir well to combine.  Pour into a shallow baking dish and top with the crumbs.  Bake for 25 minutes until bubbling hot.  If desired sprinkle with additional green onion tops and serve warm with tortilla chips, pita chips, toasted baguettes, or fried wonton wrappers.

Cover and refrigerate any remaining dip and reheat to serve.  Yield 3-4 Cups Crab Dip.

Anise Biscotti a mix from King Arthur Flour

I have had this package of mix for a good while.  It may have been a gift from my sister who knows I love King Arthur Flour and have liked every product I have ever ordered from them.  Anyway, I have never made a Biscotti from a mix before but why not, especially one from King Arthur, it is bound to be good.

Note:  Most traditional Biscotti recipes do not call for any oil or fat and are a bit harder even than this recipe.  I would call this an American style Biscotti as it really seems to be in line with them.

Simple to mix up with a fork.  2 eggs, 3 T. oil , and 1 T. water stirred up with the mix in about a minute.  Makes a nice dough,  just a little sticky but easy to form into a 12" x 3" log and place on a sheet of parchment.  Baked at 375 degrees for 30 minutes and cooled for 10 and sliced into 1/2" cookies.   Then place slices cut side down back on parchment and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.  Cool and store in an airtight container until time to dunk into my morning coffee and enjoy!

Yields about 2 dozen cookies.
*Note,  if your local market does not carry King Arthue products or only a limited selection you can order from kingarthurflour.com and they also have a wonderful catalog for mail order.