A Toast to Me!

Every Christmas my sister-in-law’s mother makes this amazing fudge.  Every year I go home and hope that there’s some left for me.  What is it with this fudge?  It’s creamy, yet firm.  It’s chocolaty, but not overly sweet.  I’ve asked for the recipe, but haven’t been so lucky as to get it.  What I do know is that there’s supposedly a dab of instant coffee in it, and that you have to stir for a certain amount of time.  I know that my sister-in-law helps her make it, and I know that I want to make it too.

Every year,  just before the holidays, I scour the internet in hopes of a recipe that will come out similar, but haven’t had much luck.  And, I just finished watching the Christmas episode of Ree Drummond’s show Pioneer Woman — in which there was fudge, but of course that was the one recipe that wasn’t shared.

If you, or anybody you know, makes an amazing fudge… please, please, please, for the love of Holidays, please consider sharing it with me.  Please?

General, Recipes

So I made tamales for the first time in my life, why?  Because we challenged one of the guys in our office to a Tamale Cook-Off.  What was I thinking?  I’ve never made them before!  But how hard could it be, right? So I’ve spent the last 2 weeks searching on-line for the perfect tamale recipe – man there are a bunch out there!  To be honest, it was a bit overwhelming.  I mean, you can make them sweet or savory, out of creamed corn, strawberries, pork, chicken, meat, pineapples, just about anything really. Then there’s the masa (the dough), it can be flour based or corn based.  And then the husks which can be corn husks, banana leaves, basically anything that was an outer encasement of a fruit or vegetable that’s large enough to wrap around the filling.  The decisions alone can be enough to make you just say *&^%-it and buy them already made from the nearest Latin market instead.

So what do I do?  I go to the closest Latin market and avoid the pre-made displays of tamales at all costs.  Instead I figured that I would just make it up as I go – I mean why not?  I can cook, I know the basic concept and it should be fun to make — and what’s more fun than experimentation??

I purchased corn husks, there were two kinds – One had a label that was all green & red and had cluttered writing on it, the other had a clean label, easy to read — so I bought the simple one.  Then I went over to the butcher and surveyed the protein options — ohh, looky here, the chicken thighs were on sale, I’ll take 12 of them please .  I go over to the chili section and there were SOOO many to choose from — I think I’ll just use the green chili sauce I have at home.    Off  to the produce — we’re good, I’ve got carrots, celery and garlic at home.  And the last stop would be the masa – I saw some premade corn and flour masa (dough) over by the butcher, close my eyes and pick a bag from the refrigerated display and flour masa it is.  Alright, let’s do this!

At home, I fill a pot with water and set it to boil.  I separate the skin from the thighs and throw them into the pot, followed by some shredded carrots, chopped celery and a little bit of chicken bouillon powder.  I let it all boil for about an hour.  Once the chicken is practically falling off of the bone, I take the chicken out and shred it.  I then strain the broth and place the carrots, celery and shredded chicken into another pot.  Add the green chili, garlic, salt, pepper, garam marsala (because I had it and I just like the flavor), celery salt and parsley (because I’m not a cilantro fan) and cook it all together. Filling is DONE! (oh, I put the broth in some containers and will use them later for another recipe — it’s yummy stuff!)

Time to assemble.  I get the pre-made masa and the corn husks, which I’ve been soaking in water for the last hour in order to help make them more pliable) and arrange my work area.  Grab a husk place a thin layer of dough in it and then place some filling in the center.  Fold the tamale – which I found to be not so easy probably because I’m so used to unfolding them, that folding them is a new concept to me, tie it and set them aside.  Once they were assembled, I set up my steamer with about 4 inches of boiling water, and arranged the tamales.  They steamed for about 3 hours until the masa pulled away from the husks on their own.

Today I tried them for the first time and they were yummy!  Now that wasn’t so hard

Recipes

On occasion, I’ll visit a local restaurant who has AMAZINGLY, DELICIOUS food, where the wine list is affordable, the appetizers are decadent and unique and their main courses are apparently just as appetizing.  Truth be told, I’ve never made it there for an actual main course – really who needs to order a meal when the appetizers are so incredible?  If you’ve ever been to Mixers in Valencia, you know exactly what I’m talking about!

Anyways, one of my absolutely favorite items on the Mixers menu has to be their Risotto Balls.  There’s just no way that I can go to Mixers without ordering some — and if I don’t, it’s because I’m out of my right mind at that moment.  I have been fascinated as to how can something so luscious be encased in breaded deep fried goodness.  *shrug*  beats me!

This brings me to Thanksgiving day when my friend’s mother told me about a new show she’s hooked on — The Chew on ABC.  She told me that I had to watch it — so that evening, I went home, searched for it and set it to record.  I know I switched topics, but you’ll see, it will come round full circle, I promise.  Anyways, my first episode of The Chew was this Monday.  I got home from work, turned on The Chew and made myself comfortable.  Guess what the first recipe was — Fried Risotto Balls!!!!!!!!!!  I think I must have rewound it 3 times just to make sure that my eyes weren’t deceiving me.  Chef Michael Symon was making this dish he called “Arancini” — to me they looked just like the ones that Mixers makes — I’m so excited!

The recipe seems easy enough and this weekend I think I just may try and make them.  Basically it’s left over risotto, and egg, Parmesan cheese, seasoning, and breadcrumbs.  Mix the risotto with the egg, cheese and seasoning – scoop up a little ball worth, cover it with breadcrumbs and place it in the fryer.  I’m sure you can probably bake them some how, but why would you do that when you have access to a fryer?  So excited!  I may be over-simplifying the recipe, but it looked easy enough to me. 

Here’s Chef Symon’s recipe:

Step 1 – make risotto (you can get his recipe here from The Chew’s)

Step 2:   When the rice mixture is cool, remove it from the refrigerator and add the 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 cup Parmesan, and ½ teaspoon of salt. With damp hands, form balls of about 2 tablespoons of rice mixture. With your thumb, make an indentation in the center and place about 1 teaspoon of the diced mozzarella in the center (you’ll use about 8 oz of mozzarella for the entire recipe). Close up the indentation by reforming the rice around the mozzarella to keep it inside. You should get about 16 arancini. Store in the refrigerator until ready to bread and cook, up to 1 day.

Step 3:   Heat up the oil in your deep fryer to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, coat the arancini in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess. You want to bread these immediately before frying them so they don’t get tacky and gummy. Deep fry the arancini for 2 ½ minutes or until very golden brown. Remove from the fryer and lightly season with salt. Serve with your favorite tomato sauce and enjoy!

If you’ve made these — let me know how they came out.  I can’t wait!!

See, told you I’d make it back around

Recipes

Today I feel like my mind is just about everywhere — thinking about new possible ventures, exisiting work, relationship, things like that — but what I should be thinking about is what the heck are we going to serve at Sunday’s wine pairing linner?  In case you were wondering, “linner” is that meal that you fit in between lunch and dinner — in this case, the first course will be served somewhere around 2:30pm.

Last night I was reviewing some of my recipe books and everything looked delicious, as you can imagine.  But, it seemed that everything required extensive amounts of time in the oven — and since its still fairly HOT outside, the oven is probably one of the last appliances I’d like to turn on.

Which brings me to today, where I find myself glued to foodnetwork.com in search of inspiration and recipes for this Sunday.  I have no doubt that the menu will eventually be amazing — but, man, this planning has stumped me!  I did find one recipe by Bobby Flay that looks simple, delcious and gourmet enough to make the menu and its for Grilled Potato and Goat Cheese Napoleon With Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette.  It sounds refreshing and fulfilling, and it can be served as one of our courses.  My next thought is a Smoked Salmon, Avocado and Mango sandwich which is also refreshing and smooth at the same time.   As for the other three courses, I’ll keep you posted!   Oh and the Wines?  What about the wines?  I’ll figure that out later too!

Recipes

About 3 months ago, I moved.  That’s a mouthful, I know.  Moving can be so stressful.  Couple that with limited funds and the stress triples.  But here we are, thank God that everything seems to be working out just fine.  (Thank you God).

Things have been coming around slowly and of course the To Do list has been growing.  Yesterday my parents came over to help me check some of those items off my list — my Daddy-Do list that is.  That’s the list of all the things I needed my Dad to help me with — like hanging curtains on one of the two tallest windows in the condo, mounting the television, and laying outdoor carpet on the balcony to cover up the hideous wood floor slats.  Don’t worry about my mom — she had her own list to accomplish — consisting of the most important item on the list – making Biscotti (Don’t worry, I’ll give you the recipe below… so keep reading)

The first task tackled was the balcony.  I really would never have thought of this on my own — truth be told, I was spying over at my neighbors balcony and noticed that their floor was green.  I wasn’t sure what it was because our balconies aren’t exactly touching — they’re actually an entirely separate building separated by a rather wide walk-way.  Anyways, I set my dad out on a mission to find an outdoor type of carpet and he was able to find a solution at a really inexpensive price — Score!  He brought with him a green outdoor carpeting that was a breeze to lay down.  Enter staple gun and scissors and viola!   It completely transformed the balcony from something drab to something beautiful.  And, I think the biggest reward was this morning when Corky went out there and fell asleep laying on the floor soaking up sun.  Thanks Dad!

I love the new floor!  Once this was done, we hung the curtains and then the television.  I love that the Sun won’t be heating up the rooms this summer (no disrespect Mr. Sun, but you tend to make the electricity bill go up in the summer time),  and that my wines have a dark place to live.  And the television mount rocks because I literally can watch TV from anywhere!

My mom kept herself busy with Corky and with making one of my favorites — Biscotti.  It is so easy to make and I’m so happy that I had all of the ingredients – including the most important one — my Mom!  I’m not sure where she got this recipe, so I’m just going to say that it’s hers because she’s been making Biscottis for as long as I can remember.

My Mom’s Biscotti Recipe:

3 eggs

¾ cup oil

1 cup sugar

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla flavor, and/or anise and/or almond

Mix liquid first with sugar and flavor in a mixer, gradually add flour and baking powder.  Once dough is made, Shape into two long strips of dough on a  cookie sheet.  Bake 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Cut logs into strips (short wise) to get the biscotti shape, lay the cookies down on their sides and place back in oven to dry out for another few minutes.  Take out and enjoy!

Once you’ve made them and tried them — you’ll see why they’re my fave!  And they freeze really well too, so you can make a bunch at one time!  Enjoy and a HUGE thank you to my AWESOME parents — Love you Mom & Dad!

General, Recipes balcony, biscotti, Recipe, To-Do

Smoked salmon, avocado and mango sandwich — probably one of my favorite sandwiches ever construed!  Thanks Chef Tom Colicchio for this little gem, it’s delicious!

1 small unripe mango, peeled and julienned
juice from 1/2 lime
kosher salt
bread – he recommends Pulman white bread, I used country flat bread
1 ripe avocado
drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil — I used meyer lemon olive oil
fresh ground black pepper
8 oz smoked salmon, thinly sliced
12-15 basil leaves

Toss mango in lime juice and season with salt, lightly toast the bread.

Place avocado on 4 slices of bread and gently mash and spread.  Drizzle avocado with olive oil and season with pepper.  Top with mango, smoked salmon an basil.  Add the top slices, cut and serve.

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!

for more recipes like this one, check out Chef Colicchio’s cookbook, ‘wichcraft.  It’s full of delicious sandwiches that you would never have thought of on your own!  (or at least I wouldn’t have!).  Because of this recipe, mangos have a whole new purpose in the kitchen!

Recipes avocado, foodie, mango, Recipe, salmon, sandwich, smoked salmon

Nope.

Points, Recipes, Weight Watchers Points, Pumpkin, Recipe, Scones, Weight Watchers

So if you know me, you’ll know that I am definitely a Starbucks addict!  My poison?  A Venti Chai Tea Latte with Soy, no water, no foam.  My recent vices?  Scones!  They are delicious!  BUT, they are so high in calories, thus high in points… aarg!  So I scoured the Internet in search of a pumpkin scone recipe that would be just as good as the ones found at Starbucks, but without all those points.  I did find one that looked promising and when I placed the recipe into WW’s Recipe Builder, it came out to be 4 points per serving.  I will definitely be making these in the next couple of days (if not tonight) to see if they are worthy of even being compared to the ones at Starbucks.  The following is the recipe:

Pumpkin Scones

1/4 cup Granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Pumpkin pie spice
2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
3 teaspoons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3 tablespoons Smart Balance Omega-3 Light Spread
1 cup Pumpkin — canned
1/4 cup Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees; coat a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar and pumpkin pie spice until well mixed; reserve 1 1/2 teaspoons. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the remaining sugar-spice mixture; mix well. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in the margarine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl with a wire whisk, beat the pumpkin and buttermilk until well combined. Add to the flour mixture; toss with a fork just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

On a floured surface, gently knead the dough until smooth and no longer sticky. Shape into a ball. Place on the cookie sheet and press into a 9-inch circle. Sprinkle with the reserved sugar-spice mixture. Cut into 8 wedges; separate slightly. Bake for 18 to 24 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

4 Points per serving

Points, Recipes, Weight Watchers Points, Pumpkin, Recipe, Scones, Weight Watchers

Friday night I wanted to make a healthy, low fat, low points dinner.  I came across the following recipes, which were healthy, filling and delicious!  Since the focus was on the food, I didn’t plan ahead of time to pick out the wines, however I would recommend a light Pinot Gris or even a fruity California Chardonnay – I think either would go beautifully!

Apple Braised Chicken (5 pts per serving)

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 pound(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 4-oz pieces
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 large onion(s), sliced
2 medium apple(s), firm, cored and sliced
1 cup(s) apple cider
1 cup(s) fat-free chicken broth
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cornstarch
In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, warm oil over high heat. Toss chicken with flour in a medium bowl, patting off excess. Place chicken in skillet and brown well on both sides. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
Reduce stove temperature to low and add onion to skillet. Sauté, stirring often, until onion is tender and lightly browned.
Stir in apples, cider, chicken broth, salt, ginger and chicken. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken, onions and apples to a serving dish.
In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 2 to 3 tablespoons of pan juices. Combine cornstarch mixture with remaining pan juices, whisking constantly. Simmer for one minute. Pour sauce over chicken and serve. Yields 1 chicken breast and about 3/4 cup of apple-onion mixture per serving

Modifications – I didn’t have apple cider, so I used apple juice.  And, after making the sauce from the pan juices, I think that this is optional because I don’t think it really made a difference.  The chicken was moist and flavorful without the extra sauce.  Also, by mistake, I bought 1 pound of chicken brest tenders, which worked out wonderfully!

Stuffed Apples (3 points):

2 large apple(s), Rome
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp raisins
1/8 cup(s) chopped walnuts
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions

Halve the apples crosswise (we decided that this meant to cut through the core of the apple), then partially core them to create a small cavity. Cut a paper-thin slice from the bottom of each apple half so they stand upright. Place the halves, core-side up, in a microwavable pie plate.
In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar, the raisins, walnuts, honey and cinnamon. Spoon into the cavities, then sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar.
Cover the pie plate with plastic wrap, venting it. Microwave on High until the apples are tender, 5-6 minutes. Carefully remove the plastic wrap; place the apples on 4 dessert plates.
Microwave the pan juices on High until syrupy, 2-4 minutes. Spoon over the apples. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Points, Recipes, Weight Watchers

Yesterday I tasted Glühwein for the fist time and it was interesting.  I can’t say that I had ever heard of warm wine before, but Peter (my boss) assures me that it is very popular and has been for quite a while!  Being the curious person that I am, naturally I googled it this morning – and of course he was right!  According to Wikipedia, the authoritative recipe can be found in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management at paragraph 1961 on page 929 to 930 of the revised edition dated 1869:

“1961.-TO MULL WINE.

INGREDIENTS.- To every pint of wine allow 1 large cupful of water, sugar and spice to taste.

Mode.-In making preparations like the above, it is very difficult to give the exact proportions of ingredients like sugar and spice, as what quantity might suit one person would be to another quite distasteful. Boil the spice in the water until the flavour is extracted, then add the wine and sugar, and bring the whole to the boiling-point, when serve with strips of crisp dry toast, or with biscuits. The spices usually used for mulled wine are cloves, grated nutmeg, and cinnamon or mace. Any kind of wine may be mulled, but port and claret are those usually selected for the purpose; and the latter requires a very large proportion of sugar. The vessel that the wine is boiled in must be delicately clean, and should be kept exclusively for the purpose. Small tin warmers may be purchased for a trifle, which are more suitable than saucepans, as, if the latter are not scrupulously clean, they spoil the wine, by imparting to it a very disagreeable flavour. These warmers should be used for no other purpose.”

Who knew?  Well probably a lot of people, but certainly not me!  Nevertheless, I watched as Peter made his tried and true family recipe of Glühwein — a little bit of this, a lot of that, and some of this.  His recipe is a secret, so it’s not like I can post it on here, but it was good!  As first I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as his concoction cooled to lukewarm, it was delicious.  You could make out some of the spices, definately appreciate the taste of the wine, and the secret ingredients definately brought about a warmth and glow promised by the name, which means “to glow” because of the “warmth”!  Definately a special treat to consider for the upcoming holdays!    Thanks Peter for sharing!!!!

General, Recipes Glühwein, mulled wine