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Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Featured Recipe - Apple Dip

This year I will sporadically be featuring recipes from the long awaited Family Cookbook (please don't ask me when it is coming - it is).  If you have a recipe that you are wanting to still add, please let me know and we can make it happen.  In the meantime, try this easy appetizer - it's always a big hit!

Apple Dip


Recipe Submitted By :Tracy
Preparation Time 20 minutes
Categories : Appetizers

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 package cream cheese -- I prefer the whipped
2 cups powdered sugar -- Just add enough until you thinks it tastes good
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 can spanish peanuts
1 jar caramel topping -- I like fat free
10 whole granny Smith apple -- sliced 1/2" thick

Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and lime juice.
Pour mixture into a shallow bowl.
Pour a layer of spanish peanuts over the top.
Pour caramel topping over the peanuts so that the peanuts still show through.
Slice the apples and sprinkle with additional lime juice to preserve the color.
Arrange the apples in a separate bowl or on a platter for people to dip!
Serve and Enjoy

Sunday, January 02, 2011

It all led up to something wonderful . . .

(Double Click to Enlarge)
A few years back I received a catalog from a place called Sur La Table.  First of all, I loved the cool French name but most of all I loved the kitchen paraphernalia that was contained in that catalog.  It is so wonderful it could make a grown man cry.  It was heaven but it had a pretty big price tag. 
A few weeks ago the pioneer woman posted this recipe for Mulligatawny Soup.  It made my mouth water and I knew that I would have to make it - soon - very soon.  But in what?
A few days ago I received a very unexpected and fantastical present under my tree from my dear friend who knew about my love of 'all things kitchen' and my deep desire for Mulligatawny Soup - made in the proper vessel, of course!  Oh yes - it was my very own Le Creuset Dutch Oven.  It too was French and Fabulous - the perfect cooking vessel. 
Et Voila - it has all led up to something wonderful . . . this adaptation on the pioneer woman's Mulligatawny Soup.  Make it yourself - you won't regret it.
Mulligatawny Soup In Cherry Le Creuset
2# Organic, boneless, skinless chicken cut into 1/2" cubes
Salt & Pepper to taste
4 Tablespoons of butter (I will be experimenting with an olive oil/butter combination next time)1 Large Onion diced
1 Large Clove of Elephant Garlic finely minced
1/4 cup of flour
1.5 tablespoons of curry powder
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

38 ounces of organic chicken broth
2 cups of coconut milk
2 Large granny smith apples
- diced roughly
2 tablespoons of brown sugar - to taste
Salt & Pepper - to taste
Cayenne Pepper - to taste
Acquire proper cooking vessel.  Prepare the onions, garlic, and chicken.  Heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat and add the chicken; stirring and allowing the chicken to brown.  Remove the chicken once it has browned and there is a nice glaze on the cooking vessel.  In the same vessel, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the diced onion and garlic.  Cook and stir.  Sprinkle the flour over the onions and continue stirring.  Add in the curry and turmeric and continue stirring.  Allow the mixture to cook for one to two minutes - still stirring.  Pour in the chicken broth and stir.  (lots of stirring in this recipe)  Let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes then add the coconut milk, salt, pepper, and sugar.  Stir them thoroughly for about 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the chicken and diced apple and cook for 10 additional minutes.  Turn off the stove and allow the soup to stand with a lid for 10 minutes before serving.  Add cayenne pepper to taste into the whole pot or individual bowls.  Enjoy!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Enchilada Casserole - Crockpot Edition

This is an extremely versatile dish - you can swap in and out your favorites!

What you'll need:

1 package of tortillas
(Size depends on the shape & size of your crockpot.  I have a oval shaped crockpot and I buy the 8" tortillas and use three for each layer)
(Type depends on your taste and how "wet" you want your casserole.  Some tortillas sop up more juice)
1 pound of meat (You can use left over chicken, rotisserie chicken (precooked) from the grocery store, or you can brown up some ground meat)
1 can of enchilada sauce (I use 28 ounces)
3 Peppers (any color you want - mix and match)
1 can of black beans (you could use refried or pinto beans but I ♥ black beans)
1 can of olives
1 can of tomato paste
1 package of shredded cheese (or better yet - shred your own and add to your desire)
The fixin's (sour cream, ranch, taco sauce, red hot, guacomole, salsa, etc.)

You could add corn to this recipe - I think I'll try that next time.

Put it together.
Combine chopped or shredded chicken with the enchilada sauce.
Layer the tortillas on the bottom of the crockpot (I use three).
Layer the ingredients:  Checken/Sauce mixture, chopped peppers, black beans, olives, corn, & cheese.
Repeat the layers starting with the tortillas again.  Finish the top with tortillas and a sprinkling of cheese.  Pour any of the liquid that from the chicken/sauce mixture that didn't make it in - into the bowl.

Cook on low (usually 4 - 6 hours) - avoid taking the top off so that there is enough moisture in the recipe.
When it's ready cut it like lasagna!
Serve with the fixin's.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bannanna Peze - Fried Plantains

The best way to eat Pikliz is to eat them on fried plantains. It is the perfect combination of slightly sweet and spicy. They were so delicious that they were devoured before I had a chance to get a picture of the final product. The biggest challenge for me on this recipe was figuring out the best oil temperature to keep it from splattering. This was tricky with the new gas stove but after a few minutes I managed to settle the oil down and keep the kitchen from burning down!


This is the last of my Haitian Dinner Cuisine Posts. One last thing that I made was Fwuitponch (Fruit Punch). It was divine and it actually was the "dish" that took me the longest to prepare; several hours of squeezing and pressing the watermelon, grapefruits, and minolo oranges. A healthy dose of sugar was added and the fwuitponch was chilled and consumed lickety split!
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Mais Moulin

Mais Moulin is a delicious corn dish.  It can also be called corn mush but I think it sounds a lot better to call it Haitian Pollenta.  It is served with avocados or with the sos pwa nwa.  I like it best with both!  It has a sweet and ever so slight nutty flavor to it.  The course corn meal gives it "good bite." 
Sweat out the onions in the butter (oops, some tomatoes hopped in while I prepared the onions).  Then add the tomatoes, paste, garlic, and thyme.  Cook them all down until they are soft.
Add water and bring it to a rapid boil
Whisk in the course corn meal. 
Isn't course corn meal pretty?


Simmer and add the coconut milk.


Voila - it's done!

\
Serve warm or cold!

Sitwon Poul - Lime Chicken














Ingredients:  Lime, Honey, Garlic, Dry Mustard, Cayenne Pepper, Paprika, Pepper, Salt, Olive Oil, Fresh Basil (not shown:  Bone In Chicken Thighs)












Marinate four hours in the refrigerator.












Bake in the oven approximately 1 hour.  Serve hot and forget to take a picture until over half of them have been eaten!

Refreshers





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Monday, August 23, 2010

Sos Pwa Nwa - Black Bean Sauce

I have to admit this dish doesn't look one bit appetizing but I LOVE IT!  It is delicious through and through.  It tastes like I remember - spicy, warm, creamy, flavorful.  It is a actually a very complex set of flavors all mashed into this. 















Here's what's in it.
Black Beans, Onions, Ground Cloves, Garlic, Jalapeno, Habeneros, Bacon!
and tomato paste!  almost forgot it!















If you are going to indulge in these (above) - you must have a pair of these (below)











And to make that marvelous mess - the food processor!


This recipe was fantastic and comes from a blogger who you can find at:  http://www.watchingthewaters.com/2010/07/sos-pwa-nwa-black-bean-sauce.html

Pikliz

Pikliz is Haitian Spicy (really super spicy) coleslaw.  It is fabuously wonderful especially when served on bannanna peze (fried plantain slices).  More to come on that!  The main ingredients are shredded cabbage and carrots (I should have shredded my cabbage more finely next time.  I will use the food processor next time), habenero peppers (these babies are what make this so hot, whole cloves and whole peppercorns.

I shredded up the cabbage and coleslaw and then began to layer these veggies into widemouth canning jars with the habenero peppers, cloves, and peppercorns tucked in between.  Then I added white wine vinegar up to the top of the jar and seal them up and let them "pickle" and "heat up" for 24 hours.  The longer they pickle, the hotter the pikliz.  (PEEK' LEEZ)  Around 3pm today I am going to extract the cabbage and carrots so serve as pikliz.  The rest will find its way to the compost bin.   
I may have told you this before, but a while back I brought this for my potluck dish at church.  It was a big hit.  There wasn't a single bannanna peze left over.  I put a big sign on it saying that this was a dish I fell in love with on our mission to Haiti.  The sign proceeded to say HOT - EXTREMELY SPICY.  As I was walking down the stairs into the fellowship hall I overheard a little boy (maybe 6 years old) saying to his mom, "Make it stop!  Make it stop!  My tongue is on fire!"  He was dragging his mom by the arm with steam coming out of his eyes.  Apparently he didn 't read the sign.  I just smiled and kept walking!

The recipe I used was from FouyeRecipes.com.
http://www.fouyerecipes.com/recipes.php/1679

Caution: Hot & Spicy Food Ahead

Over the next few hours I'll be posting the recipes, links, and pictures of the Haitian Cuisine I have been working on for tonight's dinner party.  I'm very excited!  Your assignment is to learn a little, try some new and exciting ingredients, and test out the recipes yourself.  So, while you wait for the posts to come, follow these links and find out a little bit about Haiti!

Where in the world is Haiti?  Why it is right here.
So did you hear that Christopher Columbus made it to Haiti?  Yes he did, here's the history.
Where does Haitian Cuisine get its influence?  Here's the history.

Now, repeat after me:  "Ou grangou?"  (are you hungry?)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Quintessential Quinoa

Try something new ~ Quinoa (Keen 'wah)
A seed that acts like a grain.
A complete protein.
High in Magnesium, Manganese, and Copper.
Plenty of fiber.
Won't make you hungry after you eat it.
Gluten Free (Yeah!)
Delicious and easy to make.
Read about the benefits here!


For my new recipe I prepared 1 cup of dried Quinoa (makes almost 2 cups prepared), 1 cup of beets, 8 oz of firm feta, 1/2 cup of yellow pepper, 1 cup of chopped broccoli (stems included), 1/4 cup of chopped kalamata olives, 2 T of olive oil, and salt & pepper.  Try it and let me know what you think!

This is what the Quinoa looks like when prepared: 
translucent in the center with a white ring around it.


Oh - by the way - I used Trader Joe's Organic Quinoa.  Here are some other resources for this marvelous "grain"!
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Harvest Feast

Double Click to Enlarge

This past Monday my friend, Amanda, and I made a harvest feast.  It started out as just making soup but it turned into a whole lot more.  We had a grand time.  The Gazpacho Soup was a take on Alli's Spicy Gazpacho Soup recipe.  The red portion is spicy hot and made of tomatoes, onions, Mrs. T's Spicy Bloody Mary Mix, cayenne pepper, and red hot sauce.  The green portion was simply freshly minced garlic, cucumbers, onions, and zucchini.  We placed a dollop of fresh plain greek yogurt on the top.  We then thought that we should have something to sop up the soup with and so we oiled and salted some hearty bread we bought off of the clearance rack at Holiday Market.  We placed the bread on the grill and when it became crispy we rubbed it down with garlic.  This is my version of Fett'unta.  Protein was in order so we grilled some natural Amish bone-in chicken thighs with a mix of herbs and spices.  Lastly, the eggplant was ready so we cut it in 3/4 inch slices on the bias and grilled them up too!  Lastly, to top off the meal we had Amanda's homemade pickles.  It was a perfect combination of tastes!  Needless-to-say we no one needed dinner that night. 

Friday, June 26, 2009

Crazy Cookin' Fool

Today I woke up late - yuck - I feel so unproductive when I do that.

I did get to visit with Dad for a few minutes before he headed back to Atlanta. I love to see him if even for just a few minutes. I went running afterward and then took a really long grocery trip in which I went up and down every single aisle and looked at everything they had. And well. . . they have everything, except for the canned whole cranberries that I needed for one of my recipes. I hurried home - emptied the dishwasher and loaded up the stranded dishes from the sink. Then the cookin' began.
Here's what I made: Kay's Chip Dip, Roasted Sweet Potatoes on the Grill, Cranberry Chicken (my best variation yet), and Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Kay's Chip Dip is a brand new recipe to me. Pete and Emily's friend Kay made it this past weekend for Alaina's party and I couldn't get enough. You can substitute out the full fat items for the lowfat!

8 ounces cream cheese
16 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 dashes red cayenne pepper -- to taste
8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 large red bell pepper -- diced

Mix together cream cheese, sour cream, garlic salt, cumin. Make sure that the cream cheese is thoroughly incorporated.

Mix in 4 ounces of the shredded cheese.

Mix in diced red bell pepper.

Pour mixture into a serving dish. Top with remaining 4 ounces of cheese

Serve with Multigrain chips.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes is a standard favorite in my heart. Peel the sweet potato. Sharpen your knife and then cube the sweet potato into 1-2 inch pieces. Mix in a bowl with a small amount of olive oil. Place 1 layer thick on a sheet pan (or foil if you are going to grill)


Cranberry Chicken is a recipe that I have been trying to perfect for a LONG time. Tonight – I may have gotten it! I made it on the grill this evening. One of the key factors is that my ground ginger is especially good from Penzey’s Spices. There is a shop not too far from my house – but you can mail order too!

1 pound chicken
1 can cranberries -- whole
2 tablespoons onion flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons brown sugar -- heaping
2 tablespoons flour -- heaping
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing


Mix cranberries, onion flakes, cinnamon, ground ginger, brown sugar, flour, and Italian salad dressing.

Prepare chicken for baking. I prefer to pound the chicken flat.

Place the chicken in a baking dish (or in a foil bowl if you are going to use the grill) and cover with the cranberry sauce.

Cook at 350 degrees (or low on the grill) until the chicken is cooked through.

Cranberry & White Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have been trying to make this recipe for several weeks now but it’s been simply too hot to turn on the oven. This is my neighbor Lois’ favorite cookie recipe. I lost the recipe and had to go to her house to ask for it even though I had given her the recipe in the first place. The recipe was on the back of a bag of dried cranberries. It is now the recipe that I make to say thank you to my neighbors. The lucky recipient will be: Lois & Chuck for always being great neighbors, for Bob for letting me borrow his wheelbarrow and the cutting knives for the sod, and Gene & Vicki for turning of the main valve to my water when it was spurting ALL OVER my basement when the washer hose busted! Thanks neighbors. I feel like I should make a batch next week too for the garbage men; especially the guys who loaded up my 90+ leaf bags after the sodding extravaganza.

2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together butter, brown sugar, and honey. Add egg and vanilla, mix well.

In a large bowl stir together flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; add to butter mixture and mix until well combined.

Stir in cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Place dough 2" apart on an ungreased baking sheet until edges are slightly browned and centers are still soft (around 12 - 15 minutes) Do not over bake.

Cool completely and Enjoy!

And one last thing I did in the "cookin'" world was to make Southern Sweet Tea for the girls doing the Esther Study with me this summer. I brewed 3 quarts of tea, added true lemon, and a cup of simple syrup that I made on the stove. Needless to say - It was a big hit!

Now get out there family - and get cookin'. Let us know how it all works out!

Love, Tracy

Monday, August 06, 2007

Cookbook and a Spicy Gazpacho Soup

Wow - 218 recipes have been entered to the cookbook! I am going to post the list as soon as Tim can help me compile it! (sometime in the next week) In the meantime enjoy this Summertime Staple: Spicy Gazpacho Soup



Spicy Gazpacho Soup
Submitted By :Tracy Nadeau
Serving Size : 6


Amount Measure Ingredient
1 medium peeled cucumber -- seeded and chopped
1 medium green bell pepper -- seeded and chunked
2 whole celery stalks -- chunked
1 medium white onion -- chunked
1 clove of garlic -- peeled
1 1/4 cups low sodium vegetable juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper sauce, hot
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium plum tomato -- seeded and chopped

- - - - - Preparation Method- - - - - - - - - - -
In a food processor, combine the cucumber, pepper, celery, onion and garlic; pulse 8-10 times to break up. Add the vegetable juice, vinegar, pepper sauce and salt; process to a fine dice. Transfer to a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Serve, sprinkled with the chopped tomato.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 34 Calories; trace Fat (5.4% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 203mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Other Carbohydrates.


NOTES : My modifications: I process the veggies much more than what they list so that the soup isn't chunky at all. I also add more of the vegetable juice/vinegar/hot pepper sauce mixture per serving. (I like the soup to be red, not green.) And if I'm making a batch to eat over a week, I generally keep the red juice mixture in a separate container than the green veggies and only mix the two right before I eat it.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Cookbook & Candy Apple Delight

Well - I am closing in on having the recipes entered into the cookbook. When I finish I post a list of all the recipes that I have so that you can send me the ones that you want to include but aren't listed. To keep you all excited about the cookbook - I am going to post a recipe each week! This weeks recipe is a BIG HIT at potlucks - I never bring any home! Candy Apple Delight Salad. I love that this dessert has "salad" in the name! At least it sounds healthy.
Enjoy

Candy Apple Delight Salad
Recipe By :Evelyn Nadeau
Categories : Desserts

Amount Measure Ingredient
8 ounces cool whip Lite® -- thawed
16 ounces crushed pineapple -- drained
3 whole granny Smith apple
3 whole snickers candy bar
1/2 cup peanuts

-- Preparation Method--------
Combine cool whip and pinapple in bowl.
Peel, core, and slice apples.
Cut snickers bars into small pieces. Chop peanuts.
Fold all into coop whip mixture.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 266 Calories; 12g Fat (41.8% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 2mg Cholesterol; 60mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Fruit; 2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.
NOTES : From Grandma Nadeau