From the Archives

Hello everyone and I am sorry for my long absence.  While I was in England, I wasn't able to do much blogging but it doesn't mean I didn't do any cooking!  I actually tried quite a few experimental recipes and found some great resources and recipes in the UK.  I had to buy a new suitcase just to make room for the new members of my cookbook family! 

Watching Jaime Oliver, The Great British Bake-off, The British Food Revival, and River Cottage; I loaded up on ideas.  Weekly trips to the Pavillion Tea Room (mmm cake!) didn't hurt either.  The major theme was using products at your fingertips...fresh, local, seasonal ingredients.  I felt excited and inspired.  I was really enjoying reaping the benfits of fresh veg from a friend's allotment (garden plot); especially trying out new veggies I had never seen in the states. 

I made myself a challenge: one recipe a week using an ingredient that is fresh and/or locally produced starting with an A ingredient, like artichokes, through to a Z...if I can come up with one.  I had hoped to start the first week of January and work through but of course with any hobby, life comes in an inturupts the fun!  My job hunt took priority and my blogging stayed on hold! 

So here is the plan; I have a new job (yeah!) but will be doing a bit of couch surfing for a while.  As soon as I am settled, I will start my challenge!  In the meantime, I will try to pull some of the recipes and ideas out of my personal archive, like a few that I tried in England, and post them to the blog.  I have a couple that were complete fails and I might post a couple of them for your reading enjoyment. (feel free to laugh)  Maybe one of you can take on my fail and make a sucess out of it!  If you do, feel free to share!  Oh!  And comment if you have any ideas for Z.

White Chicken Chili Casserole

So maybe I might have mentioned this but, I love all foods Tex-Mex.  Back when I was doing Weight Watchers with my BF, I tried to come up with some creative ways to eat those flavors without all the calories.  This is tough when you are a  mouse like me and feel the more cheese the better!  I created a recipe for a White Chicken Chili that I could eat with a few chips and used a bean puree as the base to keep it rich and creamy without a lot of cream.  The key to making the chili "white" is omitting the traditional tomato base in the recipe and using white beans instead of red kidneys.

I found this recipe the other day and decided I would make it again.  It has some really nice flavors and fun ingredients.  It, like many of my home-made concoctions, can be made with plenty of changes and substitutions to suit your palate.  It isn't very spicy but you can easily spice it up with addition of jalapenos or perhaps a bit of cayenne pepper in the base. 

Now, this finished dish isn't very pretty--but since green is my absolute favorite color, I think it was a nice visual journey as it went along! (Don't panic...it isn't green at the end) Best part, the smells that come out of the kitchen while you are making it are fan-tas-tic!

Wondering about tomatillos?  Click here...

Now for the recipe:

White Chicken Chili Casserole
Bake Time 30-35 minutes
Yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-5 tomatillos, diced
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped fine
• 1 cans white beans (navy and or cannellini), rinsed and drained
• 3/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (can use 2%)
• bunch scallions chopped (for garnish)

For Sauce

• 1 can of white beans (navy or cannellini), rinsed and drained
• 2 cans of green chilies
• 1 T cumin
• 1 T chili powder
• ½ cup sour cream (low fat or non-fat does great)

Directions

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Put chicken thighs in a saucepan filled 2/3 of the way with water.  Season the water with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Cook on high and bring to a boil.  Cook about 15 minutes until chicken is white and cooked through.

2.    While the chicken is boiling…sauté onions, tomatillos, and garlic in 1T olive oil on medium high until soft.  Add cilantro and sauté an additional 2 minutes; remove from heat and set aside.

3.    In a blender or food processor, puree 1 can of the white beans, both cans of green chilies, cumin and chili powder until smooth.  Add sour cream and blend again until incorporated.

4.    Drain cooked chicken and transfer to a cutting board to cool a bit then shred the chicken with two forks.

5.    Add chicken and other can of beans to onion and tomatillo mix.  Spread this in the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish.  Pour bean puree over top.  Bake, covered, in a 350⁰ oven for 25-30 minutes. 

6.    Remove lid and sprinkle the top with cheese, bake an additional 5 minutes uncovered.

7.    Serve with scallions and a side of tortilla chips. 

Look at those beautiful spices!  They bring such a nice color to the bean puree...

Post sour cream...all blended into submission!

To pep it up, you could add jalapenos into the puree, chunks into the saute or fresh slices on the top as garnish.  Having them as a choice of garnish is a nice option to keep the dish mild and allow people to add the spice to their own taste.  Other nice garnish options are more fresh, chopped cilantro and some lime wedges (for the Corona's, of course!).  Another possible substitution to make this dish to your taste is monetary jack cheese-which would add to the "white" theme of this chili dish.  The possibilities are almost endless!

Now...we just need something cool and creamy (with a hint of green) to eat for dessert!  Coming up in the next blog...Mint Chocolate Pudding Pots!!

Yumalicious Dishes!

Apple Oatmeal Cream Pies

Father's Day is a great excuse to do some baking; not that I need an excuse.  I asked Dad, cake or pie and he voted for pie.  I figured a standard Apple Pie was the way to go.  I can make a good dang apple pie and I am pretty sure it tops out the list of most men's favs.  After I hit the grocery store to pick up the apples I had a change of heart.  Apple pie just felt kind of, well, boring to me.  I thought I would rather make a apple cookie.  I knew my sister had made some cookies with shredded zucchini so I went in search of a zucchini cookie that I could switch up. 

I found the perfect thing.  I had a recipe for Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches (whew! That's a mouthful and a half) from good ol' Martha.  This looks like one of those Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies Dad used to eat all the time in his lunches.  This one was kicked up a notch...or two.  I subbed out apple for the zucchini and pecans for walnuts.  The luscious cream cheese frosting was way better than anything I can remember that was sandwiched into a Little Debbie. 

What I liked was it encompassed the flavors of the apple pie; apples, cinnamon, vanilla, butter--but in a different little package.  I decided adding some apple pie spice to the cream filing would add a nice touch. 

When I was baking them, I wished I had a way to bottle up the smell and share it with you here!  The smell drew Dad into the kitchen for one of his investigations.  He stated a phrase I have heard so many times, one of my childhood quotes to my Grama, "I smell something good to my nose!"

Now for the recipe...
Apple-Oatmeal Cream Pies
Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Yields 12-14 sandwich cookies


Ingredients
For Cookies

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Coarse salt
• 1 stick (8 T) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely grated apple
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

For Cream Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice

Directions

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Beat 1 stick butter and the sugars until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.

2.    Beat flour mixture into butter mixture. Mix in apple, oats, and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
 

I put my apples through the grater attachment of the food processor...two large did the trick!

3.    Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Keep your bowl-o-batter in the kitchen between trays of baking. 
The chilled dough keep the cookies from spreading too thin while they bake!

4.  Beat together remaining 1/2 stick butter, the cream cheese, and confectioners' sugar until smooth.  Add apple pie spice and whip until incorporated.Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of 1 cookie, and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining filling and cookies.

 

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Aren't they pretty!

I stored these little cream pies in a airtight container in the refrigerator.  I separated them with a layer of parchment because I knew such a moist cookie would stick to the others.  They were good served at room temperature but also just as yummy cold, straight from the fridge. 

We all really enjoyed these and I think I would have really liked the original recipe since I am a big fan of baking with zucchini.  If you want, you could even throw some raisins or dried cranberries in these guys.  I think the zucchini version with a cupful of mini-chocolate chips mixed in could be fun too!  This recipe has a lot of room for playing! 

Yumalicious Dishes!

Kitchen SNAFU...

So in the making of this blog I have had a few all out disasters.  Recently when experimenting with a recipe for S'mores Brownies thinks took a bad turn.  I carried the mess of a dish to my sister's house, where her kids happily ate my ugly concoction.  She asked me if I going to blog about that and I wasn't sure what to do.  I had planned to blog about it until I saw and ate the final product. 

So, I want to know from you; would you want to hear about my kitchen nightmares?  We all have them, even Martha Stewart must have things go terribly wrong every once in a while. 

As I type this, I am snacking on my last smashing success, Apple Oatmeal Cream Pies.  I will blog about that one soon!  Wish you were here to taste this...you will just have to make it yourself!

Yumalicious Dishes!

Ricky Who? -Cherry Lime Cups

In Raleigh, if you are looking for a cool summer treat, you go to Goodberry's.  It is a little frozen custard "shack" with outdoor seating that serves up icy cold yummy goodness!  (Well, except the fancy one in Cameron Village!)  One night we went there and my friend ordered a Cherry Lime Ricky.  This is some sort of drink.  I didn't try it cause it sounded too much like lemonade, which I don't like, and I don't know who Ricky is. 

This month, when my Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine arrived (a must have subscription), I noticed a recipe for Cherry Lime Cups.  They made me think of that drink.  Now, we've established that Dad likes lime things and Mom likes cherries so this seems like a home run sweet treat.  Problem was, could I get away with giving Dad cherries, which he thinks he doesn't like?

I had bought some fresh Bing Cherries from the supermarket and the key lime juice from previous cupcake ventures.  This recipe was ready to unfold without any additional trips to the store.  I love baking something without having to make a "special trip".  When I was a kid, I always knew we had ingredients for peanut butter or oatmeal raisin cookies...just in case I got the hankering and wanted to convince Mom to bake some.

I went to work baking these little tatties.  In attempts to avoid getting dough under my nails, I tried some creative things to press the dough into the cups!  (I used a medicine bottle wrapped in a cupcake liner!)  Afterwards I realized I didn't it tampered down as much as I should so they did not have much room for the lime custard filling.  The crust was so yummy that it did not turn out to matter.  They may have been a little cuter if I had better followed the directions (ie: using my fingers) or used a tart tamper (which I am dying to have--note to self, buy one of those).

In the midst of my halving and pitting the cherries, Dad came in to investigate what was being concocted.  He asked me what kind of fruit I had there (really?  apparently he is only familiar with maraschino cherries) and in an effort to prevent him from not being willing to try them I said, "it is kinda like a plum."  This was not a lie.  It is, kinda like a plum.  They are shaped and colored similarly.  They have the same texture and pits inside.  Am I right?  That answer sufficed and after he tasted and gave his approval, I explained they were, in fact, cherries!  (He still happily ate them!)

Now, on to the recipe...

Cherry-Lime Cups

Total Cook Time 45-47 minutes
Yields 6
Ingredients

For Crust:

·         7 tbsp. unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

·         2/3 cups all purpose flour

·         2/3 cups crushed graham crackers

·         ¼ cup sugar

·         ½ tspn. coarse salt

·         2 large egg yolks

·         ½ tspn. pure vanilla extract

For Filling:

·         2 large eggs

·         3 tbsp. all-purpose flour

·         2/3 cup sugar

·         ¼ cup plus 1 T. key lime juice

·         ¼ tspn. coarse salt

·         9 bing cherries, halved and pitted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350⁰. Spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.  In a food processor; process butter, flour, graham crumbs, sugar, and salt until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add yolks and vanilla and process until dough comes together when pressed (dough will be crumbly).

2.  Divide dough into 6 pieces.  Roll each into a ball and place in a muffin cup, pressing evenly into the bottom and up the sides*.  Line each crust with a cupcake liner and fill with dried beans or pie weights.  Bake until edges are dry, 15 minutes.  Carefully remove liners and weights ; bake until crusts are dry and barely golden, an additional 5-7 minutes.

3.  Meanwhile, make filling:  In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, four, sugar, lime juice, and salt.  Place three cherry halves into each crust and divide filling among each.  Bake until filling is set, about 25 minutes.  With the tip of a knife or a small offset spatula, remove cups from pan.  Let cool completely on a wire rack.  (To store, refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 1 day.)

The original recipe called for all flour in the crusts but I felt some graham flour would add a nice touch and better balance the tartness of the filling. The crust was super good so I would do that again!
 

These were really yummy and the crust was tender, buttery, and delish.  I would use this crust recipe again and make different fillings.  You could put in a lemon or chocolate chess filling or even just put in fresh fruit and top it with a glaze.  You could also omit the cherries (if they aren't in season) and top with a little fresh whipped cream and a touch of lime zest as a garnish! 

Yumalicious Dishes!



Cinco de Momo parte dos...Chile Rellenos

During one particularly good restaurant experience at Dos Taquitos Centro, I ordered a dish that I remembered as a Chile Relleno...I think it was actually what they call Chiles en Nogado.  What I remembered was a Chile stuffed with meat, raisins, and nuts.  It was really yum.
I looked it up and found a Chile Relleno to be a stuffed poblano pepper with ground beef and cheese in an egg batter, fried and served with a red sauce.  The Chile en Nogado has the meat with nuts and raisins and a cream sauce.  Mom doesn't really like the breading part on the traditional number so I thought I would try something different.

One of my tricks when I want to take on a new recipe is to see what has been made on Bobby Flay's Throwdown on the Food Network.  Sure enough, there was a Chile Relleno throwdown which gave me some pointers.  The men on the show didn't bread and deep fry theirs and I liked the looks of their sauce and used it as inspiration for mine.

Well, my experiment was not what I would call successful.  I mentioned the disastrous yet creative attempt to blister the poblanos with a blow torch...I think the broiler would have worked a bit better.
The filling was very good but was defiantly not what I think Mom thinks of as a Chile Relleno.  I browned up ground pork with seasoning (cumin, s&p, garlic) and threw in golden raisins and chopped walnuts.  I also put in about 2 oz of goat cheese...it seemed an appropriate pairing for this dish.

I cut a pocket in the pepper (which was a bit underdone from my botched roasting) and stuffed them with the meat mixture.  Then I topped them with a home-made sauce.  The sauce was very tasty (spicier than I planned) with a nice smokey taste and brightness from the fresh cilantro.  It was easy to make and would be worth making again for any Mexican dish I might try to whip up!

To make the sauce...

2T olive oil

3 Roma tomatoes chopped and seeded

1 large onion, rough chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

fresh cilantro

2-3 chipotle peppers (they come in a jar)

1-2 dried ancho chiles (reconstitute by soaking in warm water)

1.  In a small saucepan add oil and heat up on medium high.  Toss in onion and garlic and saute about 2-3 minutes.  Add tomatoes.

2.  Cook until tomatoes are soft and onions are translucent.

3.  Pour into blender (be careful it is HOT!) and add fresh cilantro, chipotles, and reconstituted ancho chile.

4.  Whir this around until smooth...hold down the lid because a hot mixture causes pressure in there and it might pop off!

5.  The sauce will be warm and can be spooned right over the relleno, a burrito, or enchilada!  You could also put it over a dish that is being baked.

Even though this dish was not completely successful it was still yummy.  I learned a lot and may take a stab at it again some time.  I will probably do it a bit differently but I will make the sauce again in a new creation!

Yumalicious Dishes!

Cinco de Momo

Everyone who knows me well knows if you ask me what I am up for eating, I will most likely choose something of the Mexican variety.  Getting good Mexican food or authentic is a bit tough in our area.  Raleigh has several top notch places that serve modern, gourmet Mexican food; my favorites are Jibarra and Dos Taquitos Centro.  In Williamsburg, you will find a nice selection of Americanized-Mexican establishments.  The food is still good; and what I am used to eating, but not really authentic (or so I am told).  None-the-less we love what we are used to.  I really love fresh salsas, the flavors of peppers and cilantro, and most of all, ewey, gooey cheese!

My favorite standby to order at a not-as-great Mexican place is cheese and onion enchiladas.  You can't really mess up a cheese enchilada.  Or at least that has been my experience thus far.  It seems to be a safe bet whereas ordering the chicken or beef can sometimes go terribly wrong.  Mom's favorite though, is a Chile Relleno.  She has tried one in every place we have been to and has had some that were good and some terrible ones.  When we were on vacation in Savannah, several years ago, she got a hankering for Mexican.  I got out our trusty area guide and found a fancy place in town.  We had passed by a hole-in-the-wall joint earlier in the week and she wanted to try that instead.  It was a risk that proved a bad move.  Our waiter was defiantly Puerto Rican and her Chile Relleno was a mass of meaty goo with little traces of poblano pepper covered in a bit of cheese.  It seemed more like a beef and chile casserole (which actually sounds really good) and she was far from impressed.  I don't even think the chips were very good-it is really sad when the chips are no good!

Another time, while she was visiting in Raleigh, Tee and I took her to our favorite downtown mexi-spot, El Rodeo. ( I love their Tierras de Pollo dish which is chicken in a spicy chipotle cream sauce)  There she had a Chile Relleno that had not been battered fried and she deemed it the best yet.  

This past Mother's Day was right after Cinco de Mayo and I was itching to cook up some Mexican.  I decided to try my hand at Chile Rellenos for Mom and figured Cheese and Onion Enchiladas would be a nice pairing.

Everything turned out to be very good although I did run into a few minor issues with the roasting of the poblanos.  I wish we had videoed me outside by the grill trying to blister the peppers with a blow torch (Mom's range is a glass flat top...no gas flame).  The blow torch method didn't exactly work.  It was a fun attempt.

For the sake of those looking for an easy peasy recipe, I will share my quick recipe for the cheese and onion enchiladas with you.

Easy Peasy Cheese and Onion Enchiladas (Mexika Style)

Preheat oven to 350

12 oz Mexican style cheese*
6-8 flour tortillas
1 large onion, rough chopped
3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and rough chopped
1 can green chiles
1 can enchilada sauce  

*I used one package of a Kraft cheese blend with a touch of Philly cream cheese...I thought it would add a nice smoothness and it did.

1.  Spray a 9x13 casserole or cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2.  In a bowl, combine 10 oz of cheese, onion, tomato, and green chiles.
3.  Spoon a generous amount of the cheese mixture along the center of a tortilla.
4.  Roll the tortilla around the mixture and place seam side down in the baking dish.
5.  Continue until the cheese mixture is used up.
6.  Pour the enchilada sauce over all and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
7.  Bake for about 30 minutes until bubbly!

How simple is that?  There are lots of ways to tweak this recipe to your taste or even step it up by adding your own home-made sauce.  You could add in ground beef or chicken.  You could add jalapeno to spice them up.  You could throw in some black beans or even some vegetables...like spinach or chopped zucchini.  I prefer corn tortillas, but our store only carries really small corn tortillas and the flour ones are very soft so they bake with the sauce and filling to make a really nice tender enchilada. 

About my Chile Rellenos...well, that's another story!

Yumalicious Dishes!