October 28, 2003
Simple Chicken Stew
1 large boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 large potato, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
4 cups chicken broth (1 box of Swansons stock)
1 chicken boullion cube
2 cups water
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp basil
dash cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 cup cornstarch disolved into 1 cup cold water
Put the chicken broth, 2 cups water and boullion into a large pot. Chop the veggies - except the peas - and add to the stock before you turn on the heat (medium). Add the rosemary, parsley, basil and pepper, and stir occasionally as it heats.
Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the chicken. Cook until it turns white, about 3 minutes. It doesn't have to be completely cooked through. Add it to the stock and veggies.
Once the stock reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer uncovered about an hour or until potatoes are tender. Add the peas for about the last 10 minutes. Fish out the rosemary stems.
Turn the heat back up. Whisk the cornstarch in the cold water until well blended, then slowly pour it into the stock while stirring constantly. Bring back to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often as it thickens.
Go light on the ceyanne pepper, because it will sneak up on you. You won't need to add salt, the boullion cube does that for you.
Rachael really liked this. It's easy to make, basically just chopping and heating, and full of good-for-you stuff. You could probably add some white wine to the stock as it simmers for flavor, or even a jar of chicken gravy for added body. I'll be making this again.
Posted by: Ted at
02:24 AM | category: Recipes
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 358 words, total size 2 kb.
October 22, 2003
Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
1½ cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2¾ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, 1½ cups sugar, eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
3. Mix the 2 Tbsp white sugar and ground cinnamon together in a small dish.
4. Shape the dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. Roll balls of dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets to cool completely.
Makes 4 dozen.
Posted by: Ted at
08:29 AM | category: Recipes
Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 181 words, total size 1 kb.
October 21, 2003
Mock Octopus Chowder
1 can mushroom soup
1 cup pencil erasers
Combine. Heat and serve.
Posted by: Ted at
12:49 PM | category: Recipes
Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.
October 12, 2003
My oldest daughter used to be my taste tester on these recipes, especially the Mexican ones. Wife and Mookie, being extremely picky eaters, want nothing to do with most of the food I like, and oldest daughter is away at college, so I recruited a neighbor and her daughters to help. I didn’t tell them anything beyond ‘enchilada’ when I took a tray full over to them. I’ll give you their (and my) reactions about these after the recipes.
Note: The first recipe calls for a simple Tomatillo sauce. My store didnÂ’t have any tomatillos, so I settled for a bottled Chile Verde (green chile sauce). If at all possible make the homemade stuff because it puts the bottled sauce to shame.
Tater Enchiladas
2 cups diced cooked potatoes
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
2 Tbsp lime juice
3 green onions, chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
½ tsp salt
¾ cup sour cream
8 corn tortillas
3 cups Tomatillo sauce (recipe below) or chile verde
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can of sliced black olives
directions
Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl.
Soften the tortillas in heated tomatillo sauce.
Spoon equal amounts of potato mixture onto tortillas and roll up.
Place enchiladas seam-side down in a shallow baking dish.
Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Garnish with olives.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.
Tomatillo Sauce
1 pound tomatillos
8 fresh New Mexico green chilies, roasted and peeled *
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp oregano
Husk and wash tomatillos. Slice into wedges. In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Pour into a blender and pulse to desired consistency. (Makes about 4 cups sauce).
* Try to get New Mexico chilies instead of the ubiquitous Anaheim variety. Different chile, different flavor.
Zucchini Enchiladas
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
2 tsp chili powder
2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated monterey jack cheese
2 cups zucchini, diced
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup onion, chopped
2 green chilies, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 corn tortillas
2 cups tomatoes, diced
directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and set aside.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour and chili powder to make a roux (thick paste). Gradually add the milk a little at a time, whisking well after each addition. Add both cheeses and heat gently until melted.
Steam the zucchini until just tender (about 10 minutes).
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat and cook onion, green chilies and garlic until limp – about 3-5 minutes. Don’t let the garlic burn, add it at the very end or stir constantly.
Add zucchini and 2/3 of the sauce. Toss gently to coat.
Spoon filling into each tortilla and roll, placing seam side down in baking pan.
Spoon remaining sauce over all and sprinkle with tomatoes.
Bake for 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
I made a third type of enchilada with the leftover ingredients of these two, using my homemade enchilada sauce.
Reactions:
My taste testers said they really liked these, even after I told them to be honest (it is a test recipe after all). Their favorite was the potato kind. Myself, I didn’t care for the potato enchiladas at all, but I have some ideas about that and I’ll try it again. First, I’ll have to make the homemade sauce instead of that lousy jar stuff. Second, dice the potatoes into smaller chunks and don’t use as much lime juice, it really overpowered the mixture instead of adding that ‘hint of lime’ you expect. Now I loved the zucchini enchiladas and will definitely be making them again. One of my taste testers hates zucchini but loved these.
I don't see why you couldn't add yellow squash to the mix for a nice change, and probably grill it with the onion and garlic instead of steaming.
These were fun to make and tasty. Making enchiladas isnÂ’t particularly difficult, and itÂ’s pretty impressive to set out dishes of several varieties of these at a party. Chicken, cheese, beef, and now two kinds of veggie, I loooooove Mexican food!
Posted by: Ted at
09:28 AM | category: Recipes
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 792 words, total size 5 kb.
October 05, 2003
How many parents (or aunts and uncles) have made the little ones green eggs and ham? A couple of drops of blue food coloring in the scrambled eggs and you're good to go. Doesn't matter what they say though, they taste different! You'll probably go "ick". Unless you were in the military way back when, in which case you'll say "hey, where did you get c-rats?"
So in honor of the season, here's a french toast recipe I made up a long time ago. Little kids love it, older kids roll their eyes at how hokey it is while asking for seconds.
Mutilated Monster Fingers
White bread (slightly stale is better)
Eggs
Milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon to taste
red food coloring
blue food coloring
powdered hot chocolate mix
strawberry pancake syrup
Directions
1. Heat a frying pan.
2. Cut the bread into fingers (4 'sticks' per slice of bread).
3. Beat two eggs with a good splash of milk, add vanilla and cinnamon. Whip until well mixed. Add blue food coloring - a single drop at a time - until you get a really putrid green color.
4. Drop the bread fingers into the egg mixture. Let it soak a few seconds. Flip them over to get both sides.
5. Put the fingers in the hot frying pan. Splatter some red food coloring over them to make drops of blood. Spinkle the hot chocolate mix over them for graveyard mold (you want the mold to be clumpy, so don't be neat about it).
6. When done on one side, flip 'em over to finish cooking.
7. Serve on a plate laying in a pool of strawberry syrup.
You can make more egg mixture as you go along. Don't call it french freedom toast, it's Mutilated Monster Fingers! Yum.
Posted by: Ted at
08:04 AM | category: Recipes
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 325 words, total size 2 kb.
71 queries taking 0.0874 seconds, 176 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
