I got this recipe from my mother...I grew up on it (and I'm fairly sure it's NOT healthy). My mom got it from a friend in a recipe exchange. I have no recommendations because I make this the same way as it's printed on the little recipe card.
Ingredients
1 can (13 oz) cling peach halves
2 lbs broiler/fryer chicken
1/4 c shortening (Ok, I would make this into vegetable oil or peanut oil)
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2c diced celery
1 c ketchup
1 c white dinner wine
2 tbsp brown sugar
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Method Drain peaches, saving 1 c syrup. Cut chicken into serving pieces, rub with salt. Melt shortening (or heat oil) in skillet; add chicken and brown evenly. Remove chicken and saute onion and celery until tender. Stir in peach syrup, ketchup, wine and brown sugar. Add chicken, cover tightly and cook over low heat for 35 minutes.
Uncover, add peaches and sprinkle with cheese.
Cook uncovered for 10 minutes or until chicken is fork tender.
If you can't find bulgur, I'd suggest going to an Indian grocery store and asking if they have daliya. It's the Indian name for bulgur. :D
Ingredients
1 cup bulgur
1 cup boiling water
2 6-ounce boneless chicken breasts, with skin
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 large scallions, thinly sliced
2 Haas avocados, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 medium fennel bulb (3/4 lb) cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 clam shell of cherry tomatoes
Method
Preheat oven to 500. In a heat proof bowl, cover the bulgur with the boiling water. cover he bowl with a plate and let stand until the water has been absorbed and the bulgur is tender, about 30 mins. Meanwhile, on a rimmed baking sheet, coat the chicken breasts with 1 TBSP of the grapeseed oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the chicken on the top shelf for 15 minutes or until golden brown and just cooked through; let cool. Slice the breasts on the diagonal, about 1/4 inch thick.
In a small bowl, whisk the orange juice with the basil, lemon juice, scallions and the remaining 1/4 c of grapeseed oil; season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
Cut cherry tomatoes in half, setting aside.
In a large bowl, toss the bulgur, chicken, avocados and fennel with the vinaigrette; season with salt and pepper. Mound the salad onto plates, garnish with cherry tomatoes and serve.
Make ahead The salad can be refrigerated for up to 2 hours.
We're moving into fall - well, at least where I am in California it seems like fall never really quite left from last year - and now I'm falling (no pun intended!) back into my cold weather comfort food and treats. It involves bacon, of course.
Ingredients
* 4 slices bacon, cooked, fat reserved
* 1 tablespoon maple syrup
* 1/2 cup corn kernels
* 1/4 cup cooking fat (use the reserved bacon fat and extra olive or vegetable oil to make 1/4 cup of popcorn cooking fat)
* 3 Tablespoons sugar
* 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt (depending on your taste)
Cook off bacon until brown and crisp. Set aside to cool. Once cool, chop into small bits and toss with maple syrup.
Carefully measure out the hot bacon grease. If you don't have 1/4 cup of fat, add some vegetable or canola oil to make 1/4 cup of oil for cooking the popcorn.
In a large pan over medium high heat, heat the bacon fat and oil mixture. Add the corn kernels. Sprinkle over the sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and wait for the popping to begin.
Once the popping begins, use two good pot holders the hold together the pan and the lid and shake the pot. Feel free to take the pot off the flame to give it a good shake. Just be careful and then return the pot to the flame. Shake often throughout the popping process. This will help ensure that the sugar doesn't burn the pan and the popcorn.
Once finished popping remove the lid and salt with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon more salt. Use a large spoon to stir the popcorn. You don't want the hope sugar to burn you. Pour in the bacon and maple mixture. Toss together and serve.
I call these cookies a sin because it combines peanut butter AND chocolate. I know these cookies aren't good for you. They're terrible. Mean. They'll kick your dog. They'll smack your momma. Then they'll sit between your fingers and look so innocently sweet...and tempting.
It's why I advise you to eat these fast and furiously. Don't give them a chance to wreak havoc.
Get them before they get you.
Needed - 2 mini muffin pans.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 cup Peanut butter -- creamy
3 Whole eggs
1 cup Butter -- softened
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1 1/4 cups Dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
2 cups Flour
2 bags of Reece's MINI Peanut Butter cups that have the foil and paper cups removed (please try to refrain from eating the PB cups as you shell them...you'll feel sick later if you don't. Not that I'm speaking from experience...oh NO...never.)
METHOD
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk.
In a large bowl, blend sugars using a mixer at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the flour mixture and mix at low speed until just mixed. (Do not overmix).
Grease mini muffin tins.
Roll peanut butter ball into a 1 inch diameter. Put one ball into each slot of the mini muffin pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
Remove from oven.
Place a peanut butter cup in the center of the cookie and push down gently until it is slightly (or completely submerged - it's up to you how you want it done).
Let cool, then remove from tins...eat them before they harm your loved ones.
I love Indian food. Vegetarian, non-vegetarian...I love it. I love kebabs and I wish I had a tandoori oven. Alton Brown had a suggestion for making a tandoori oven - must find that crazy episode. I digress - on to the fabulous recipe.
Bold italics = my notes/suggestions
Courtesy of Laxmi Hiremath.
Ingredients
1-½ inch piece fresh ginger
5 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-½ cups thinly sliced onion
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 inch cinnamon stick
10 whole cloves
8 green cardamom pods
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 scant teaspoon ground fennel
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon turmeric
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups finely chopped tomatoes
¼ cup roasted unsalted cashews
1 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
Sprigs of cilantro, for garnish
SHOPPING LIST
CONDIMENTS & OIL
Vegetable oil, 1 fl oz.
DAIRY
Unsalted butter, 1.01 oz.
Plain yogurt, 8.75 oz.
POULTRY
Chicken breast (skinless, boneless), 32 oz.
SPICES & SEASONINGS
Salt, 0.22 oz.
Cardamom, 8 pods
Cinnamon, 2 inch stick
Cloves, 10 whole
Coriander seeds, 0.12 oz.
Paprika (sweet), 0.08 oz.
Turmeric, 0.04 oz.
VEGETABLES
Fennel (ground), 0.06 oz.
Garlic, 5 large cloves
Ginger root, 1.5 inch piece
Onion, 8.57 oz.
Tomato, 12.86 oz.
MISCELLANEOUS
Cayenne, 0.5 tsp.
Roasted unsalted cashews, 0.25 cup
Sprigs of cilantro, for garnish
METHOD
Combine the ginger and garlic with 3 to 4 tablespoons water in a blender. Blend to a smooth paste, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Set aside.
Transfer to a plate. Add the butter to the pan and, when hot add the ginger-garlic paste. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is fragrant and light brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom pods and stir for a few seconds.
Add the coriander, paprika, fennel, cayenne, turmeric and cook stirring until the masala takes on a beautiful orange-red color and becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the chicken and sear until light golden and no longer pink, about 3 minutes per side. Add the tomato with juices and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomato is very soft, 6 to 8 minutes.
While the tomatoes are cooking, combine the cashews with 2 tablespoons water in the blender and blend to a smooth paste. Add to the chicken.
Whisk the yogurt and stir into the pan. Add the reserved onion and salt and mix well. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, and simmer until the chicken is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a warm serving dish, then ladle the sauce over it, decorate with cilantro sprigs, and serve.
Serve this classic north Indian dish with crusty French bread or freshly cooked basmati rice.
I'm not a fan of spinach. I know, I know. But hubby is. One of the very few ways I can tolerate spinach is if it's warm. Here is my way of tolerating spinach - I throw in some bacon.
Bacon makes everything good and in some cases, bacon makes it better - just check out my peanut butter bacon cookies!
Ingredients
2-3 TBSP Olive Oil
4 slices of thick cut bacon (you can use pancetta if you like)
3 shallots sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar OR 3 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar with a tsp of sugar thrown in
2 lbs of prewashed spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste (you can leave this out)
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for topping
Method
Pan fry the bacon in the olive oil. When the bacon is crispy, remove from pan. Crumble bacon and set aside. DO NOT REMOVE THE OLIVE OIL AND BACON DRIPPINGS FROM THE PAN. You will be using them in the next step.
Add shallots and garlic to pan, cooking for about 3 or 4 minutes. Drop in your 3 TBSP of whichever vinegar you've used - remember to step back when doing this because man...that vinegar stings if you inhale it.
Place spinach in the pan, but do not cook it through, just warm it through and wilt it. Just turn it a few times
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg (if you choose).
I've been looking over Market Manila's blog and I realized how sad my baking blog is. I love to bake. I really do. As proof, I've got a batch of pizza dough rising as I type. Only 30 minutes left until I can punch it down, roll it out and then drench it with pesto for a late pesto pizza lunch. Of course, I'll have greens, too. More than likely it will be a spinach salad.
I get lazy and I post everyday over at my other blog, completely neglecting this one. My other blog is not about food. Au contraire! It's about my other passion - nail polish. One day I'll condense all of it into one thing, but I keep all my blogs separated. I'm a jewelry girl by trade, baker by night!
Anyway, I made some pork shoulder the other night that really sent hubby and friends into a tizzy. I served it with brown rice. My secret to lovely brown rice is to toast the rice with a pat of butter, browning it. Instead of cooking it with water, I use a low sodium chicken broth. That's it. :)
Enough of my paltry rambling and on with the recipe!
Ingredients
1 red onion, cut into quarters - no need to try and make a pile (for easy distribution later)
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 to 4 pounds of pork shoulder
3/4 cup to 1 cup white vinegar
1 12 oz bottle of the BBQ Sauce of your choice
1/4 to 1/2 cup of water
METHOD
Cut the pork into 6 pieces, removing excess fat.
In a medium pot over medium heat, put the 6 pieces of pork at the bottom - do not stack but try to give them enough space when placing in a single layer. They can touch! :)
Add your liquids - vinegar, bbq sauce and water. Drop garlic in and add the quartered onion throughout the pot.
Bring to a light boil, bring heat down to low, then cover and let simmer for 2 hours or until pork is tender. Check an hour later, making sure that all the liquids do not completely boil out.
After 2 hours, remove the pork and put on a cutting board, letting it rest for five minutes. Do not discard the braising liquid!
For this step you can either use your hands (make sure to wash them first!) or 2 forks to shred.
Place shredded pork on a serving dish or bowl. You can either add the braising liquid to the dish or put it on the side.
If my arteries and slow metabolism would let me, I'd eat cake batter ice cream all day long - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Such is not the case.
I have this love of Cold Stone's cake batter ice cream. While I think I can easily find a recipe to replicate their brownies (I LOVE their brownies because they're so soft and moist), I think it's harder to find a recipe to do so for the cake batter ice cream. I don't like the store bought cake batter ice creams - it just doesn't taste cake batter-y enough for me.
Below is a recipe I've concocted in my head and it's not too shabby. It's no Coldstone, but I think I'll have to try a different cake batter...or I'll just dump raw batter into the mix or something like that - even though that's a no no in my eyes...See my notes below. Must go back to the drawing board...
Ingredients
1 c milk
1/2 c white sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c heavy whipping cream
1 c yellow cake mix, sifted (Butter Golden from Duncan Hines**)
Method
Whisk together milk, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, cream and cake mix in a sauce pan until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon - almost like a custard consistency OR the mixture reaches 160F (70C) and stir frequently. If you're not using a thermometer, be careful to not overcook the custard because then you'll have a lovely sugary egg mixture. I've been there. I've done that. And I was annoyed with myself.
While the above is cooking, get a large bowl out and fill it halfway with ice. Place a medium bowl over the ice. Make sure the medium sized bowl can contain all of the custard that you have just made.
When custard is ready, pour custard into the medium bowl that is over ice. Take some saran wrap (cling film) and place it over the custard to ensure that when it goes in the fridge, it won't have that thick skin that develops. Leave mixture in refrigerator until it has completely chilled.
When completely chilled, remove and place custard mixture in your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. NOTE: when ice cream is done in your ice cream maker, it will not be firm. It will be in a soft serve state and you need to freeze the ice cream for 2-4 hours or overnight.
When it's done, enjoy!
** Why Butter Golden and not White Cake? Because I think the butter golden/yellow cake batter will have a more pronounced taste than vanilla/white cake mix. I've been making white cake forever and have been finding that now it just tastes a bit...bland and a little too blah for my old woman taste buds.
Also, I did think about just dumping plain old pre-made cake batter into the custard during the process where it's in the ice cream maker, but I seem to recall that Cold Stone had a small problem with this when they did it - the uncooked cake batter caused a small outbreak of salmonella. So word to the wise - follow my instructions! :)
2 1/4 c all purpose flour (no self rising, please)
1 c sugar
1 c chopped pecans
1 c butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 c raspberry preserves (or whichever preserve you prefer) Method
Heat oven to 350°F. Combine all crumb mixture ingredients in large bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 2 cups crumb mixture; set aside.
Press remaining crumb mixture on bottom of greased 8-inch square baking pan. Spread preserves to within 1/2 inch of edge. Crumble reserved crumb mixture over preserves.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely; cut into bars.
1/8 c All purpose flour
3/4 c Plain malted milk powder
1/2 ts Baking soda
1/4 ts Salt
1 c White sugar
1/2 c Light brown sugar; firmly
1 c Salted butter; softened
2 lg Eggs
2 ts Pure vanilla extract
2 tb Sweetened condensed milk
12 oz Milk chocolate chips
Method
Preheat oven to 300. In medium bowl combine flour, malted milk powder, soda and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk. Set aside Blend sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer set at medium speed. Add butter and mix, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla and condensed milk, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and choc. chips, and blend at low speed until just combined.
Do not overmix.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake 24-25 minutes until cookies are slightly brown along the edges.
Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface with a spatula.
And just like her, this recipe doesn't need any tweaking...
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons red food coloring (I using a dash less)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
Method
In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Turn mixer to high and add the egg. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.
In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.
Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth.
Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar. Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.
Spoon batter into a paper lined cupcake baking pan and bake at 325° for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.
Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then place them of a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Yields 12 cupcakes
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, cold (I used room temperature)
scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method
Beat the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-slow speed until it comes together and is well mixed.
Add the cream cheese all at once and beat on medium to medium-high until incorporated.
Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes, or until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.
Do not over-beat as the frosting can quickly become runny.
Peanut butter...and bacon, together?! Oh yes! Seriously worth it. Mmmm. As always, bold italic is merely a suggestion.
Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies
Modified from The Gourmet Cookbook
Makes around 15 palm sized cookies
Ingredients
1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar)
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
about 6 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and diced (If you can, use Maple Bacon. It gives that slightly sweeter and saltier taste!)
Method
In a skillet cook bacon until cooked through. Let cool on a paper towel. Once cooled, dice up and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes. Fold in cooked bacon.
Roll into large walnut sized balls and create a cris-cross pattern with a fork. If you’d like, roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before making the cris-cross pattern. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to um...your mouth! :D
Dumplings to go with your chicken and dumplings dish. These are light and fluffy and my new recipe. I got tired of my dumplings sinking to the bottom of the soup and being heavy lumps. I no longer wing it, I actually follow a recipe!
Taken from Cook's Illustrated September/October 2009 issue.
I haven't included a chicken recipe because it's really just chicken noodle soup and dumplings. You can google your own recipes for chicken soup, but I usually just do it on the fly. I suggest using chicken thighs and drumsticks. I found my soup far more tastier that way than when I used to just use a whole chicken. I also use chicken stock from the store when I make my chicken soup so it's a nicer, richer broth. That's all I can advise. :) It's all trial and error - god knows it's taken me a while to get the right stuff together for my chicken soup.
Ingredients
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp table salt 3/4 c cold buttermilk (see note) 4 TBSP (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted 1 large egg white
Method
Whisk flour, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk and melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps; whisk in egg white. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl.
Make sure stew is simmering. You can either use a greased tablespoon measure (or #60 portion scoop) or a teaspoon to drop over top of the stew, spacing about 1/4 of an inch apart. You should have about 24 dumplings...or in my case, 9 big fatty ones. Hah! Wrap lid of Dutch oven with a clean kitchen towel, keeping the towel away from the heat source (You don't want to set your kitchen on fire, do you? ) and cover the pot. Simmer gently until dumplings have doubled in size and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 13 to 16 minutes.
I love this time of the year and I've got to share a whole bunch of ginger cookie recipes. I know I've got a ginger molasses cookie out here already, but I just love, love L O V E big soft ginger cookies.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water (I tend to use orange juice because it brings out the flavor of the ginger)
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons white sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside
In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Forget buying vanilla extract, girlfriend! Make your own...plus, your own vanilla extract will totally surpass that store bought stuff in terms of taste. It also will be far easier on your wallet!
Ingredients
1 vanilla bean 3/4 c hot vodka A one cup (or 2 cup if you double the recipe) sealable container
Method
Split a fresh bean length wise and scrape out the seeds. Place the seeds and split pod in the container. Then add 3/4 c hot vodka and let the mixture cool to room temp. Seal the container and store at room temp for one week, shaking gently everyday. Strain the extract (if you want to) and store in a cool dark, place.
