Cilantro Jalapeno Chicken aka the perfect pot luck dish.

Cilantro Jalapeno Chicken:

 aka the perfect pot luck dish. 

I am always at a loss as to what to bring to pot luck dinners.  Making salad is a bit of an easy out, there are always too many desserts, never enough main courses. But who wants to prepare a difficult meal, pack it to go and hope it survives the trip? Especially when it has to be re-heated. I usually go for the side dish. My standard is a dish of  mixed boil in a bag rice, a can of diced chili's, a can of beans, a can of diced tomato's and some taco mix. It's a standard dump and go dish that's cheap, feeds many and easy to make on site.  I love easy, I particularly love cheap, easy and quick. However it was always lacking in something. So I kept looking. That's when I found this dish. It's not overly expensive. It makes a ton and it's a standard dump and go that reheats well.  This dish is perfect and a real crowed pleaser.

It also looks really pretty if you make it in a bunt pan. Or as I did in little individual bunt pans.

Cilantro Jalapeno Chicken

Don't let the name fool you. There is just a bit of heat. The Jalapeno's are just for flavor and boy o' boy does this have great flavor.

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked rice
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
• 1 lb diced chicken breast meat
• 1 can (12 ounces)  evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon diced pickled jalapenos, or fresh if you have them

• 1 tbs Garlic Powder
• Salt to taste

Garnish (optional)- sour cream and whole jalapeno rings

Procedure 

Heat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except garnish.  Spread into a large casserole dish and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Garnish if desired.

Breakfast on the go

Breakfast on the go

I am not a breakfast fan. I would rather eat leftover lasagna than eggs and bacon. OK, I am lying about the bacon...who doesn't like bacon. I also tend to get up about 10 minutes prior to having to leave for work...not enough time to cook and trying to eat cereal in the car is not a good idea. The milk gets all over. Add this to the fact that I am not a morning person, cooking, food, people...just about everything annoys me in the morning. Even my students know that I am not functional or human until after the 2nd cup of coffee . My seventh graders are very adept at telling if I have had the proper amount of coffee in the morning. Store bought breakfast sandwiches are expensive, full of fat and preservatives. Cereal involves messy milk and more sugar and preservatives.  Bad for the wallet and the waste line. So whats a picky breakfast eater to do?   I admit that breakfast is just as important as coffee, ok... maybe not for my sanity and other peoples safety, but for health and making it through the day. 

 So what to do? Burritos... the all around answer.  

Why burritos you ask? because they are cheap (this recipe makes 30 for about .40$ each), portable, easy to make, easy to store, only 4 weight watchers points each, take 2 minutes to heat up and can be filled with what ever you want. 

These are also GREAT for camping. Only difference is in the wrapping. Use tinfoil with a bit of pan spray to wrap each one, throw on the camp stove to heat up and serve. 

Ingredients:

30 small flour tortilla
2 dozen eggs (for a healthy version use only the egg whites)  
1 onion
1 cup spinach
1 cup low fat mozzarella  
1 cup bell pepper diced
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs parsley
2 cups shredded potato
1 lb turkey bacon cooked crisp and cut into small pieces
optional: saambal or a package of taco seasoning if you prefer a different taste)

In a large bowl combine the egg, onion, pepper, spinach, garlic and parsley.  Scramble the mix until cooked in a pan over medium heat.  

Cook the potato shreds with a bit of salt until browned (i bake mine in the oven on a greased pan for about 20 minutes at 350)

Cook the bacon until crisp. 

Let everything cool and in a large bowl add in the egg mixture, bacon, cheese and potatoes (if you are going for the tex mex flavor add the taco seasoning now)

If you are using saambal or hot sauce this is where it comes in ( i prefer the spice to the taco seasoning myself)

Spread saambal onto one of the tortillas, add two heaping tablespoons of the egg mixture, roll up into a burrito. Wrap in a piece of plastic wrap and repeat until all ingredients are gone. Then freeze. Grab and go. Heat on high in the microwave for 1 minutes, flip and heat for another minutes, then eat and run or run and eat which ever.  

    
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A side note- 
I have made this recipe tons of times with lots of variations. You really can add in anything you like, leftover veggies, meat galore, cheesey variety....it's all good.   But each time I make this I get a little lazier in the area of preparation. Don't judge, we all have our lazy moments...Who doesn't. This is a time saving recipe after all, it should not take all day to make.  Instead of cooking each individual component, I now buy a large container of egg beaters, (the egg whites kind if I am being healthy or if I am really lazy the preseasoned south western omelet kind) and mix it with all the other goodies. Dump it all into a large shallow (not too shallow it will spill over) baking dish and bake like a casserole in the oven. Let it cool, cut into desired small portions and wrap each portion with tortilla. :) Even faster, same results. Gotta love it. 

Bento Madness

I love to cook, I particularly like Asian foods, so a trip to the Asian market (which is 2 hours from my home) is always a treat. This time I decided to share the bounty. One of my co-workers has a son who is an adventurous eater. So I decided to make him an over loaded bento.

I had originally just planned on making  some rice balls and some kimbap (korean "sushi" type rolls) but I got really into it and made a plethora of tasty treats. I made curried pickled eggs, Taegu, Myeolchi bokkeum, two type of kimbap, roasted eel stuffed rice balls and a bit of  Spicy Korean Rice Cakes or (TTEOKBOKKI)


The Taegu is my all time favorite. Sweet, spicy and very mildly fishy. Its one of the most addicting things in the world. I had to ration myself or I would have made a meal out of it, instead of just a bit of a treat. 

Korean - Taegu (Seasoned Codfish)

2 1/2 tablespoons honey 

1/2 teaspoon paprika 
 3 teaspoons sesame seed oil 
1 package taegu fish (dried codfish), (4 oz.) 
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, roasted 
1/2 teaspoon chili powder 

Shred codfish into small pieces. Mix all ingredients together, place in a jar, and let stand for a day before eating. 

Myeolchi bokkeum: These are dried anchovies about the size of your pinky nail. Tiny, not at all what you would think of when you think anchovy. Deliciously spicy and crunchy. 
Ingredients:

• 1 cups dried anchovies, 
• 1 tbs olive oil, 
• 1 tsp sugar,
• 1 clove garlic, 
• 1 tbs hot pepper paste,
• 1 tsp sesame oil,
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

 

1. Make sauce by mixing 1 tbs of hot pepper paste, 1 tbs of sugar, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 tbs water in a small bowl. Set aside
2. Stir 1 cup of small dried anchovies in a heated pan for 1 minute.
3. Add 1 tbs olive oil and stir it for another minute.
4. Push the cooked myeolchi to the edge of the pan away from the heat.
5. Add the sauce to the cleared spot on the pan.
6. Tip the pan so only the sauce is over the heat and simmer until the sauce looks shiny.
7. Mix the  anchovies with the sauce and then remove from the heat.
8. Add 1 ts sesame oil and 1tbs sesame seeds. Serve with rice 
9. You can keep it in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks until you finish eating it.

 Kimbap

Ingredients:

• Dried seaweed (nori)- 4 sheets
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp salt
• TRADITIONAL FILLINGS
• 1 carrot, julienned
• cucumber, cut into long strips
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 pound of spinach, parboiled
• pickled radish, cut into strips
• imitation crab

 2nd Type Filling

• Dried seaweed (nori)- 4 sheets
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp salt
• Roasted eel
• kimchi
• fresh or seasoned vegetables for vegetarians

Preparation:

1. When rice is almost cooled, mix with sesame oil and salt.
   
2. Stir fry carrots briefly with a dash of salt.
   
3. Stir fry cucumber with a dash of salt.
   
4. Whisk eggs until evenly yellow and fry into flat omelet.
   
5. Cut cooked egg into long strips.
   
6. Using a bamboo sushi roller or a piece of tin foil, lay the dried seaweed shiny side down.
   
7. Spread about ½ cup of rice onto 2/3 of the seaweed, leaving the top 1/3 bare (if you moisten your fingers or a spoon to pat down the rice, you'll get less of a sticky mess).
   
8. Lay the first ingredient down around 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the seaweed.
   
9. Lay the other fillings down on top.
   
10. Roll from the bottom (as if you're rolling a sleeping bag), pressing down to make the fillings stay in.
    
11. As you continue to roll, pull the whole thing down towards the end of the bamboo mat.
    
12. Spread a tiny dab of water along the top seam to hold the roll together.
    
13. Set aside and continue with other seaweed sheets.
    
14. Cut each roll into 7-8 pieces.

Bruschetta in a Jar

I adore Bruschetta, but it is expensive to buy it pre-made and the taste varies from brand to brand, and not always in a good way. Not to mention the preservatives reek havoc on me. So I normally make my own, from scratch, every time I am in the mood for it. So I was actually really really happy when i heard you cold can it successfully.  I was worried at first that it would lose some of that fresh flavor, or the tomato would be to mushy.  In a happy turn of events the canned version was just as good as the day I made it.

Bruschetta is one of those dishes that I adore with a bit of fresh mozzarella on some crusty bread, or with nice roasted chicken breast. Its lovely in the summer as a cool refreshing treat, or  a as a reminder of sunshine in the winter.  Really, there is no wrong time to eat it.

Ingredients:

• 8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cu fresh basil
• 7-8 cups fresh diced tomatoes

Directions:

1. Heat water to simmering in your boiling water canner (or any pot large enough to place the jars in the canner and have the water 1-2 inches above the tops of the jars). Get your lids simmering in a small pot, and set the bands aside.
2. Pour hot water into your clean jars and let them sit until you’re ready to add the tomatoes.
3. Mix the garlic, vinegars, water, and salt in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.(taste and adjust at this point)
4. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes or until all the flavors are combined. 
5. dice the tomatoes and slice the basil into ribbons, toss the two together.
6. Pour the water out of the jars, and fill with your diced tomatoes, leaving a 1/2 inch head space.
7. Spoon the hot vinegar mixture over the tomatoes and basil, leaving a 1/2 inch head space. Remove any air bubbles, wipe the rim, put the lid on and twist the band on.
8. Place in canner and make sure the water is 1-2 inches above the tops of the jars.
9. Process for 20 minutes. Remove from the canner and let cool.

So what to do with the bruschetta once it was made....well after about a month I could not wait to try it. I opened my first jar and to my delite it was delicious. So I had some on toast and for dinner the next day I had Bruschetta chicken with fresh mozzarella.  Simple, easy and very yummy.

Ingredients:

1 french baguette
2 cups bruschetta
1 ball fresh mozzarella (about 1/4 lb)
2 8oz boneless skinless chicken breast
2 tbs butter
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp italian seasoning
3 tbs balsamic vinagar
1/2 tbs sugar
1 tbs olive oil

Procedure:

Slice each chicken breast into two thin halves.  Place in a shallow bowl. Combine the Italian seasoning, balsamic vinegar and sugar and pour over the chicken, let sit for 15 minutes. 

Slice the baguette in half long ways, then cut into 4 pieces about the size of the chicken fillets. save any extra for another meal.  Butter each piece with  1/2 tbs butter and toast in the oven until golden brown (300 degrees about 5 min)  When they are golden brown and crisp, take each clove of garlic and rub over the bread.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add oil. When it is hot but not smoking brown the chicken on both sides (this happens quickly so watch you do not over cook). The chicken does not need to be cooked through, this will happen in the oven.

Remove browned chicken and place in a baking dish. Slice the mozzerella and place thin slices on top of each piece of chicken.  Add bruschetta to the top of the chicken.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until cheese melts and begins to brown at the edges.

Serve over the garlic toast.

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Spicy Korean Rice Cakes

Spicy Korean Rice Cakes 

 (TTEOKBOKKI)

This was my dinner tonight. Spicy Korean Rice Cakes.  Its delicious, tasty and any other adjective for yum you can come up with. Not to mention simple to make. I followed Beyond Kimchi's recipe to a T! I wouldn't change a thing.This is a popular Korean Street food. That many people can't be wrong. Try it out.

Click the link over Beyond Kimchi's picture to go to the recipe on her blog!

Beyond Kimchi

Sweet N' Sour Pork

I love sweet n sour chicken....but i was out of chicken. I was out of beef, fish...matter of fact the only meat in the house was a lemon herb marinated pork tenderloin. I did not want that. I wanted sweet n sour chicken. So i figured pork, the other white meat. 

Sweet n Sour Pork

1.3 lbs of pork tenderloin
1 cup corn starch
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 egg
1/3 cup canola oil

Sauce

1/2 cup ketchup
4 oz pineapple
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbs corn starch
3 tbs brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinager

This is actually a pretty easy recipe. Heat the oil in a pan until it begins to smoke. While it is heating cube the meat into 1" pieces. Toss the meat in the one egg to coat.  In a separate bowl  mix corn starch, garlic powder, paprika. Toss the pork and coat it in this mixture. Place into heated oil and brown on all sides.

While browning your meat, put all of the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and heat to a simmer. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Remove the meat from the oil and drain on a few pieces of paper towel.  Toss meat in the sauce to coat. and serve over rice.

Eggplant Ravioli Filling

Normally I would post a picture of what the filling looks like, but then my readers would run screaming...its not pretty. What it is though, is yummy. I normally like eggplant two ways. As a parmesan or as a roll up stuffed with ricotta. But I had a few left from a farm market excursion (ok so I had 3 of the white ones and one long skinny purplish one) so i decided to get creative.I figured they would make great raviolli, then I figured "why not can the filling for another day!" (actually at this point i was just to lazy to make the raviolli dough so i decided saving it was a better idea. Turns out I was right. It saves on half the work when you already have the filling made.

Eggplant Filling

3 medium white egg plants (ok so, any egg plant will do)
1 long skinny purple egg plant (i think they are Chinese eggplants)
Olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
salt
pepper
2 large purple onion
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbs chili flakes (optional)

Roughly cut up all of the vegetables and toss with oil and a touch of salt. Roast in the oven at 300 degrees for about 40-50 minutes.

Let cool and then pulse to mince all ingredients in the food processor.

Prepare your jars and pressure canner as usual. Fill the hot half pint jars and leave 1/2" head space. Place in the pressure canner and following the directions for your canner, can for 85 minutes. The finished product will settle a bit in the jars but thats to be expected.

Never by Hot sauce again.

I love hot sauce, I love peppers. Sriracha is my all time favorite, but in a pinch any hot sauce will work to spice up a meal. But like everything else you buy these days there are additives that do not agree with me...not to mention a bottle of this stuff is almost 5.00 (granted it lasts). So I decided to try to make my own. I found a recipe for my own chili sauce but, it wasn't as flavorful as it could be. I like flavor with my heat, hot for the sake of hot is not something I enjoy.  I found that this is versatile, the cost is roughly 1.20 per 1/2 pint and can easily be turned into a kick ass wing sauce with the addition of a bit more vinegar and brown sugar.

MY HOT SAUCE

3 lbs red hot banana peppers (seeded)
3 Thai Chili
1 handful red chili peppers (i forgot to measure)
2 Poblano chili peppers 
3 tbs Gochutgaru (Korean Chili powder) regular chili powder will work in a pinch though. 
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
3/4 cup water
1/8 cup shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tbs fresh ginger-grated
10 cloves fresh garlic
1/2 cup brown sugar (possibly more to taste)
1 tsp salt
3tbs fish sauce




Here is the easy part.

After chopping and de-seeding the peppers (you can leave some seeds in but the more you have the hotter it gets) put it all in a blender and puree.

Put it in a non aluminum pot over low heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Stir often. Place into canning jars leaving 1/4 inch head space, can in your pressure canner for 85 minutes.

Mix and Match Marinade

Some days my larder gets to the point where tumble weeds roll through it. It usually happens this time of year because of vacations. No point in shopping if I am not going to be here to eat it. So when I come back, there is always a day or two of scrounging to make a meal.  In my hunt for food I found some rice (always a staple), a jar of peach preserves that had grown dust. I am not a preserve/jelly/jam fan. I make two kinds for my own use Hot and Hotter. But the sweet stuff isn't really my thing. This jar my best friend gave to me. She makes the sweets. I found one 1/2 good onion (a bit of judicious pealing and there was roughly a 1/2 cup still edible), and yellow squash was found hiding in my garden (I am a plant and hope gardener so it is always a shock to me when something actually grows).  I also had one poor lonely block of tofu, all other protein sources were frozen solid. These are the things that were left to me.  So lets just say I was a bit skeptical on what I could do with this. But it turned out surprisingly yummy.


Normally I would insert a picture here but you will have to wait until I make this again....it didn't stick around long enough to get its picture taken.

One block extra firm tofu (pressed) and cubed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup peach preserves

1 tbs minced garlic
1/2 tbs fresh ginger (minced)
1/2 cup red onion
1 tsp sriracha
3 tbs rice wine vinegar

Mix the ingredients and pour over the tofu and let marinade over night (I did intend to eat this the day I scrounged up everything but I got to this point and was invited out for sushi....sushi won). After marinading over night, pan fry and serve over white rice.

"Ricotta" Roll Ups

 I love Ricotta cheese...unfortunately it does not like my diet, even the light version. So i found an alternative. Greek Yogurt. Gotta love non-fat, low cal Greek yogurt. I know what your thinking...the consistency isnt the same....Sure it is, if you drain all the liquid out. I have blogged about making yogurt cream cheese, its the same recipe only using Greek yogurt for a bit more tang! Who knew yogurt was so versatile.

 Ingredients:

2 cups of "Greek yogurt ricotta"  (see the yogurt cream cheese recipe for directions)
2 tbs minced garlic
1/4 chopped scallions
1 tbs Italian seasoning
6 tbs parmesean cheese
2 cups panko bread crumbs
"i cant believe its not butter spray"
1 nice sized eggplant.
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
3 egg whites
1 jar pasta sauce of choice

Directions
Mix together in a bowl the yogurt ricotta, scallion, garlic, italian seasoning and 1/2 of the parmesan cheese, then set aside.
In another bowl combine the panko and remaining parmesan, garlic and onion powder.Heat a frying pan over medium heat, spray the pan with the butter spray.
Slice the eggplant into long strips.  Dip the eggplant in the egg white and then coat with panko mixture. Brown the strips on both sides in the pan (about 3-4 minutes per side)
Remove the browned strips and place on a plate, stuff with about 2-3 tbs of the ricotta mixture, roll the strips and secure with a toothpick. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
In a glass baking dish, pour in pasta sauce, settle each roll up on top of the sauce (do not pour sauce over the roll up or your crunch will turn to mush). Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve.

My mother often looks at what I eat like its something alien. After a bit of persuasion I did get her to try this, she raved over it and ate 2 servings, which if you know my mother is a lot! 

Can IT- Peach BBQ sauce

 

I love bbq sauce, but all those nasty preservatives, well....they dont like me. I spend most of my summer canning veggies, freezing veggies, dehydrating veggies and making the occasional jelly or jam. All this preserving of the harvest (the harvest is all from the farmers market, i dont garden...to much dirt)  saves me a ton of money and provides good quality food and I dont need a dictionary to sort out the ingredient list.This year I branched out into sauces. I have to admit, this one was really really really really really kick ass. Really! I also made a spicy jam, good on crackers with cream cheese or as a glaze for pork or chicken.

 

Peach BBQ Sauce

• 1/2 bushel of peaches
• 2 cups sugar (this varies to taste you may need more if your peaches arent that sweet)
• 3 cans of tomato paste
• 4 tbs garlic powder
• 4tbs onion powder
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/4 cup lemon juice ( vary amount dependent on the tang you prefer)
• 1/8 cup spicy mustard
• 1 tbs paprika

 Cut peaches in half and remove the pit, Blanch the peaches and remove the skin. Cook with 2 cups water until dessicated. Puree peaches and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let reduce until it cooks down an 1" on the side of the pot. Bring back to a boil and add in the remaining ingredients. Reduce and let simmer 15 minutes to combine flavors. Hot pack it into prepared canning jars. Process in a water bath 40 minutes.

 

Peach Habanero Jam

• 1/2 bushel of peaches
• 6 cups sugar
• 3 tbs ground habanero pepper
• pectin (packages vary. read the back and it will give you the amount)

• Cut peaches in half and remove the pit, Blanch the peaches and remove the skin. Cook with 2 cups water until dessicated. Puree peaches and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let reduce until it cooks down an 1" on the side of the pot. Bring back to a boil, add sugar, habanero powder and pectin and stir until dissolved.  Hot pack it into prepared jelly canning jars. Process in a water bath 40 minutes.