Friday, February 25, 2011

Peanut Butter and....

I have been thinking about this recipe/project since the very start of the recipe book. I felt it was a great way to blend my three passions: photography, food and peanut butter. Let this be a guide for you on those days when you think, "Wow, I really would like to have a sandwich, make it peanut butter, but I am not sure what I want with it". I am sure this is a pretty pressing question for most people, so I thought I would offer a guide of ideas. Please enjoy!

Peanut butter and raisins, celery, bacon, marshmallow fluff, mayonnaise, apples, chocolate, honey, chips, jelly, agave, banana. Some of those sound REALLY strange...but hey, give it a chance.

Do you have any other peanut butter pairing ideas?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Chicken Wings

Ahh the chicken wing...how I love to hate you. Rose gave me this recipe after she brought it to a party and was asked by numerous people for the recipe. You know it is good when people want your secret. I was about ready to make these up when I got to the "cut-up chicken wings" part. What the heck does that mean?! I decided to wait on the wings and get a little more clarification from Rose. I called her up and she said that you simply cut at the joint to make it easier to eat. GROSS! I got the wings, I got the scissors, I was ready to go....I changed my mind, threw the wings in and neglected the cutting step. I couldn't being myself to do it! This brings me to eating the chicken wing. The flavor was amazing but I am still not so keen on eating off of a bone. It went a little something like this, "Mmmm, yuck, mmmm yuck". Good thing Jeff was there to finish up the rest.

Chicken Wings
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
½ tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of dry mustard
Splash of mustard
Fill 9” x 13” pan with cut-up chicken wings. Heat and stir the above ingredients. Pour over chicken wings. Cook at 350 (or 325 for glass containers) until the sauce caramelizes. (This generally takes over 1½ hrs. Be careful though as, once the sauce does caramelize, it burns easily.)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Apple Butter

Apple Butter - Oh the possibilities! You could put it on:
1. toast
2. crackers
3. cream cheese with crackers
4. a donut
5. a sandwich
6. pork chops
7. cottage cheese
8. oatmeal
7. tortillas
8. pancakes
Do you have any apple butter ideas?

Crock-pot Apple Butter (From my mom)
• Apples
• 4 cups sugar
• 4 tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. cloves
• ¼ tsp salt
Cut and peel apples, fill crock-pot full, over an cook on high for 1 hour. Pour rest of the ingredients and pit on low heat. Heat till dark and thick - stir often so it doesn't burn! Freeze or can.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Fish and Chips

Hello! As you can tell I have lost a little steam on this project. Life got in the way of blogging about life...funny huh? I have been a busy bee getting out there and having fun and have dropped blogging and editing the recipe book by the waist side. I will keep trucking though, thank you for hanging in there!

So I have never been a huge fan of fish. I didn't eat much fish as a kid and everything still has the 'fishy' taste to me. I tried this fish fry recipe from Rob's mom Gayle and changed my mind a bit. It was really good! I suppose I would think anything was good fried :)
How to make sweet potato fries even healthier? Coat them in egg whites instead of oil and bake them in the oven. Tip from Rose.

Beer Batter for Fish
1 C Flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 egg
2/3 cup Beer (or milk if you prefer)
1 T oil

Mix, coat fish and deep fry.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Guest Recipes!

Pesto Mac and Cheese. My sister is a culinary genius. I mean come on, look at the box of Kraft Mac and Cheese with a little pesto powder added in. Amazing!
Breakfast Burritos. I am sure you can figure out this recipe...scrambled eggs, cooked sausage, cooked hashbrowns, bag o' cheese, bag o' tortilla. The recipe book is also an idea book though...and this is a good idea.
My mom's world famous Pumpkin Roll. A favorite of my cousin Jade's. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this one.
Cheese ball. So I already have a cheese ball picture, but this is pretty classy!
Strawberry Salad. I am pretty sure this is way too soupy...but I didn't have the heart to make it again for a photo. I am not a huge strawberry or marshmallow fan...
My mom's banana bread.
Pesto Mac and Cheese
• Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
• Water
• Pesto
Boil some water in a pot. Add some pesto. Follow directions on Kraft box. When water is drained and cheese has been added, add a little bit more pesto. Stir. Serve and Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Latin Soup with many Roots

This recipe is great! It was so different from anything I have tasted and is full of veggies (bonus). There is quite a kick! Jeff and I brought the ingredients over to his parent's house to cook up the soup. The whole house was brimming with intense spice flavor. This recipe looks a little tough and the ingreidents are a little different....but give it a try. Recipe from Katie.


Latin-Style Pork Stew with many Roots
• 2½ lbs. Latin roots and tubers, including at least two of the following: malanga, yuca, boniato and true yam
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 lb. boneless pork loin or butt, trimmed of excess fat and cut into half-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. minced red or green chili pepper of your choice
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• Juice of 1 lime
• Whole cilantro leaves for garnish (optional).
1. Peel roots and tubers (if using yuca or true yams, be sure to peel off the bitter under layer), dice, and set aside in a large bowl with water to cover.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large sauté pan until hot but not smoking. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; add to the pan, and brown on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and set aside.
3. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of fat out of the pan, add the onion, and sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, paprika, chilies and cumin, and sauté, stirring, for 1 minute more.
4. Add stock and reserved root vegetables, and just bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until pork is tender and roots are easily pierced with a fork. Stir in the lime juice, sprinkle with cilantro if desired, and serve.
Yield: 6 servings.
It looks complicated but it is worth it! You could even make this into a vegetarian meal and not include the pork, or even substitute pork for chicken. I really like the taste of the yuca and the yams, so I add more of them. I recommend looking up pictures of some of the roots so you know what they look like. I have also added some purple potatoes before (not too many). I always make sure that mine has a good kick to it so depending on the temperature of the jalapenos I may add more.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Chocolate Cinnamon Pancakes

Ready for an easy recipe? My little sister has submitted Chocolate Cinnamon Pancakes. The toughest part of this recipe is finding cinnamon chips. Cinnamon chips are similar to chocolate chips in the baking aisle but can only be found in certain stores at certain time and I couldn't tell you any more details. Sorry, don't kick me! Thankfully, my mom had a stash of the cinnamon chips that perhaps she was saving just for this occasion. I had to enlist my professional pancake maker (Jeff) on this one. I have tried and tried but I can't seem to make a decent looking pancake. Burnt, undercooked, lopsided, uneven.....
Jeff is a pro though!

Cinnamon-Chocolate Pancakes
• Pancake Mix (and ingredients to make mix)
• Chocolate Chips
• Cinnamon Chips
Once you make the pancake batter per usual, stir in a mixture of chocolate chips and cinnamon chips. Mix them around. The pancakes taste wonderful with the cinnamon chips.