Holm Family Cookbook

The Magic Corn Trick

Sat, 26 May 2012 15:05:00 +0000

Here in California we already have fresh sweet corn showing up in grocery stores that has been grown in California and not Mexico. It hasn't hit the farmer's markets yet, so it must be coming up from Southern California. We've already had it a few times for dinner.

When it comes to cooking, I will take shortcuts to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as I can as long as it does not impact the flavor of the dish I am making. When I discovered this magic corn cooking trick I was elated because there is minimal cleanup, I don't have to spend a lot of time trying to get the silk off of the corn, and the overall prep and cook time is shorter. An extra bonus of the magic corn trick is that I don't boil all of the nutrients out of the corn.

Are you ready for this? Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat or an ear of corn out of the husk.

1. Remove a few of the outer husks that might be dirty.

2. Cut the bottoms off of the corn.

3. Place a moist paper towel on the bottom of the microwave or on top of the carousel and place the corn on the paper towel.

4. Use this guide for your cook time. Remember the cook time can vary for each microwave.

1 ear - 2 minutes
2 ears - 3 to 4 minutes
3 ears - 5 to 6 minutes
4 ears - 7 to 8 minutes
6 ears - 8 to 9 minutes

5. After cooking, let the corn sit about 4 or 5 minutes. It will continue to cook and will be cooler and easier to handle.

6. Pick the cooked corn up by the top (you might want to use an oven mitt if it is too hot to handle) and squeeze and lightly shake out the ear of corn. It should just slide out leaving the silk and all of the husks intact.

7. Just like magic, your corn is cleaned and cooked!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

~merry~

Dutch Oven Enchilada Pie

Wed, 09 May 2012 04:50:00 +0000

Enchilada Pie made in a Dutch oven and cooked over coals

We had our annual Calhoun family reunion on Saturday at the family party barn and my sister Nancy and I had the Dutch ovens going. One of our cousins brought some great butternut squash enchiladas that she made in a Dutch oven at home. We normally have a lot of Portuguese dishes at this family reunion, but since it was Cinco de Mayo I guess we all decided to go with Mexican themed cuisine--plus we needed something to complement all of the tequila we had.

Tequila!

We had a great time at the reunion. Our great aunt Ruth celebrated her 100th birthday. And, in addition to last Saturday being Cinco de Mayo, the Kentucky Derby was also held that day. As is the tradition at the reunion, we had a Kentucky Derby contest with a little bit of wagering involved. This year when I announced the name of the winning horse, "I'll Have Another," everyone said, "OK, but what's the name of the winning horse?" "I'll Have Another." Badaboom. It was one of those who's on first situations.

Enchilada pie was one of the dishes that I made that day in the Dutch ovens. It was a recipe that I made at a CattleWomen's Dutch oven cook-off last November and won a first place.

Enchilada Pie – Serves 6

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 16-ounce can cream corn

1 tablespoon chili power

1 16-ounce can refried beans

2 tablespoons taco sauce

1 10-ounce can enchilada sauce

1 4-ounce can chopped green chilies

1 package Jiffy style cornbread mix

1 egg (or amount required for cornbread mix)

1/3 cup milk (or amount required for cornbread mix)

1/2 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese and ½ cup more for serving

Directions

Brown beef, onion, and garlic in a large skillet or other Dutch oven; drain well. Stir in enchilada sauce, corn and chili powder, set aside. Prepare cornbread mix according to instructions on the package, then stir in half the can green chilies and set aside.

Use a 12” Dutch oven and line with foil. Lightly coat foil with oil. Spread refried beans evenly on the bottom of the Dutch oven. Spread the taco sauce over the refried beans. Sprinkle the rest of the green chilies over the beans. Spoon the beef mixture evenly over the refried beans and chilies. Sprinkle a ½ cup of cheese over the beef mixture. Pour the cornbread mixture evenly over the cheese and beef mixture.

Bake with 8 coals on the bottom and 12 on top for about 30-35 minutes or until cornbread is golden brown. Serve with shredded cheese. This dish can be made in a conventional oven with a preheated cooking temperature of 375 degrees F.

Dutch oven lined with foil and refried beans spread on the bottom

Corn bread mixture with chilies added and then poured over top of layered beans and beef

~merry~

Tamales - Costa Rican Style

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Our friends Ernie and Diane were heading to Costa Rica for 4 months to help out a congregation in the small town of Sarchi; so of course, any excuse for a party! We decided to try out some Costa Rican recipes to prepare their bellies for the adventure ahead. There aren’t many cookbooks featuring Costa Rican cuisine available, so I found a few recipes online and sent them to the guests for a potluck. After our ravioli-making day, we planned to have a tamale-making day, so on this occasion we made the standard pork tamales and Costa Rican tamales. What sets the Costa Rican tamale apart is the addition of potatoes and rice to the filling, they are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks, and are boiled instead of steamed.

Arroz con leche, Costa Rican tamales and pork tamales fill the stovetop!

We searched high and low for banana leaves, an ingredient not often used by us Californian’s, and Diane finally found them in the freezer section at Ranch 99 Market.

A staple on the Costa Rican’s menu is Gallo Pinto (beans and rice). A couple who spent a number of years in Central America and the Caribbean brought a pot of these herbed black beans and rice, something they had eaten plenty of during their stay in the tropics. Another friend brought a delicious Ensalada Palmito, a light fresh salad of hearts of palm with a homemade mayonnaise dressing.

Ensalada Palmito with homemade mayonnaise

Also on the menu was Ensalada Rusa, a hearty salad of potato, beet and carrot (turned bright pink from the freshly roasted beets!), along with Tico Rice and for dessert Arroz con Leche, a sweet rice pudding. I made a batch of Picadillo, a vegetable chorizo mélange.

Picadillo with chorizo and chayote

This was the first time I had ever purchased a chayote, and couldn’t figure out why each chayote came in a little plastic bag. Good thing I looked it up on google, as you can have an allergic reaction to the skin, it’s best to wear gloves to peel.

We all shared in making the tamales, an all-afternoon affair, plus some preparation in advance. A number of us cooked huge pork butts (actually shoulders) the day before, low and slow, along with the Tico Rice and potatoes for Costa Rican tamales. Chef Bruce (you met Bruce previously in Nonni’s Ravioli blog!) taught us all how to make the masa using lard, homemade broth and cumin.

Spreading the masa in traditional tamales

We used the same masa for both varieties of tamales, making batch after batch after batch throughout the afternoon, as dozens of tamales were assembled and rolled!

Tanner and Bruce on the tamale line

Costa Rican Tamale Recipe

3 lbs pork shoulder roast

2 tbsp olive oil

coriander leaves (cilantro), salt, black pepper, cumin, oregano, achiote (I didn’t have this ingredient on the hill!)

8 cloves of garlic, peeled

½ lb sweet or hot peppers to taste

1 large onion

32 ounces chicken broth

2 ¼ lbs potatoes

2 lbs instant corn masa mix

2/3 lb lard

5 cups cooked Tico style rice

2 ¼ lbs banana leaves (corn husks can be substituted, or if desperate aluminum foil)

Rub the pork roast with olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon black pepper. In a deep roasting pan add the peppers, onion, garlic and chicken broth. Roast at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes until the skin browns, then lower the temperature to 300 degrees and roast until very tender, 3-4 hours. Reserve the broth. When the meat is cool shred or chop finely.

Chopping the roasted pork

While the meat is simmering prepare the potatoes and rice.

Peel the potatoes chop into ½ inch cubes. Boil with salt, cilantro, and oregano to taste until soft, about 10 – 15 minutes.

Rice Tico style

3-5 sprigs cilantro

1 small or half a medium onion

½ small red or yellow sweet pepper

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups white rice

3 cups chicken broth or water

½ teaspoon salt

Chop cilantro, onion, and sweet pepper very fine. Add 1 tablespoon oil to a large pan and sauté the dry rice for 2 minutes over medium high flame then add the chopped onion, sweet pepper and cilantro and sauté another 2 minutes. Add water or chicken broth and salt, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer until rice is tender, 20-25 minutes.

Tamale fillings ready to roll: roasted pork, potatoes and tico rice

To prepare the masa, allow the meat broth to cool until it is just warm. To the dry masa add 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, and and mix dry. Then add the lard, mixing with hands or machine, while adding the warm broth. It should take about 2 1/2 cups to make a paste the consistency of mashed potatoes. Mix and add slowly, and if you over shoot on the broth and get it too thin, add a little more masa.

Wash the banana leaves then cut them into 15 inch squares. Spread 2 tablespoons of masa paste in the center, add 1 tablespoon each of potatoes, rice and meat.

Costa Rican tamale ingredients ready to wrap

Fold as shown and tie with cotton string, or strips of corn husks.

Little wrapped packages ready for the pot!

Cook the tamales in gently boiling water for about one hour. If you substitute corn husks, you will need to make slightly smaller tamales, pack the pot full and steam them rather than boiling them, because the husks won't hold together.

A plate packed with our Costa Rican cuisine!

They made it! Diane & Ernie in Grecia's central park, Diane and Linda shopping at the market in Sarchi Costa Rica!

Pura Vida! Nancita the hungry gringita

The Crispy Potato Roast

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:35:00 +0000

The crispy potato roast with thinly sliced and seasoned potatoes

About four weeks ago I got a cough/cold thing that has just stuck with me. During the first couple of weeks I didn't have much energy, but I did spend several hours sitting in my big old leather chair going through magazines so I could toss them. I found some great recipes and hope to try them some time soon. One recipe that I found and have tried already was a crispy potato roast. In this recipe the potatoes are thinly sliced, seasoned, and arranged vertically in a baking dish. When cooked and ready to serve it is a very attractive dish and my photo doesn't do it justice.

The potatoes are ready to eat!

Crispy Potato Roast - Serves 8

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter, melted

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (a mandolin works best to slice)

1 shallot, thinly sliced (you can substitute with yellow or red onions)

Coarse salt (Kosher works great)

Pepper

1/8 teaspoon thyme

1 shake of cayenne pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine melted butter and oil. Brush the bottom of a round or oval 9-inch baking dish with the butter mixture.

Put the potatoes in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper, thyme, and cayenne pepper. Add the shallot slices. Mix well and then add about half of the butter mixture. Mix the seasoned potatoes with the butter mixture.

Arrange the potato slices vertically in the baking dish. Brush on the remaining butter mixture. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for about 1 hour and half or until top is a nice golden brown and potatoes are soft.

Mix seasoned potatoes with butter and oil mixture

Arrange seasoned potatoes vertically in a baking dish that has been brushed with a butter and oil mixture

Happy Saturday!

~merry~

The Cowgirl Luncheon

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:50:00 +0000

Yesterday my friend Kim Bonde and I attended the 11th Annual Cowgirl luncheon in Oakdale, which was a fundraiser for the Oakdale Cowboy Museum and one of the events kicking off rodeo week in Oakdale. Tickets for this event went on sale February 15th and the 460+ seat event sold out in less than four hours. Kim drove the hour drive to Oakdale the day the tickets went on sale to get our tickets. The luncheon was held at the Oakdale Community Center.

Oakdale is also known as the "Cowboy Capital of the World," which is a title the town claimed long before its rodeo cowboys won 24 world championships. The small Texas town of Stephenville also claims to be the cowboy capital and says it has more cowboys per square foot than any place in the world. Hmmm. Wouldn't want to be the referee in that battle.

The Cowgirl Luncheon was held at the Oakdale Community Center

This was the first time Kim and I attended the luncheon--or even heard of it for that matter--and we wondered if we would know many people. When we got in the line in front of the community center, we stood behind Bobbie Telles, who we have known for many years. Bobbie told us she stood in line for two hours to buy her tickets for the luncheon. Throughout the day we saw at least 25 people we that we knew and hadn't seen in a long time, so we had a great time chatting with everyone. We even saw my cousin Stacie Holm Brown.

We saw my cousin Stacie Holm Brown at the luncheon

As we walked into the event, we were served champagne by some of the local cowboys and they continued to pour champagne for us throughout the luncheon. When it was time for lunch to be served, the cowboys lined up and began serving lunch to the female guests. The lunch was catered by Steve Medlen's House of Beef in Oakdale. This was one of the best catered lunches I have ever had. If the lunch the House of Beef catered for nearly 500 people was so good, I'll bet the restaurant is great.

The cowboys lining up to serve lunch

Lunch consisted of grilled steak with peppercorn sauce, garlic red potatoes, and salad

Bottles of Cowgirl Sisterhood wine were on each table

A few of the cowboys serving lunch were world champion cowboys while I was in high school. I have to admit it was a bit of a thrill to see these folks that we looked up to when we were kids. One of the servers sat at our table to eat his lunch when he was done serving. He was Daniel Green, who was a world champion roper around 2008-2010 (many years after I graduated high school). Daniel told us his daughters' year-round softball games and his son's sporting activities currently keep him from competing nationally. Good man, that Daniel--making his children a high priority!

World Champion Roper Jerold Camarillo filling my glass with champagne

Ace Berry, champion roper and bronc rider

Champion roper Daniel Green

For the last few years a woman involved in rodeo has been honored by the Cowboy Museum at the luncheon. This year the honoree was Emma "Pee Wee" Burge Ott. Emma was born in 1919 in Giswil, Switzerland and immigrated with her family to the United States when she was 9 years old. After passing through Ellis Island, her parents found work on a dairy farm in the Imperial Valley of California. Emma became proficient in riding dairy calves and at the age of 17 was hired to ride steers in an exhibition. Three years later she was roping competitively. She was taught to ride saddle broncs and it was the thrill of her life. She was only 5 feet tall and weighed less than 100 pounds, which earned her the nick name of “Pee Wee”. She took up trick riding, bronc riding, and relay and flat races for six years--riding at some major rodeos, which included the Pendleton Round Up. She retired from her career in rodeo at the age of 27. Pee Wee married a dairyman, Joe Ott, and they had four daughters. At the age of 50, she went to college and became a licensed vocational nurse. Pee Wee died last year at the age of 92. Her daughters and granddaughters were at the Cowgirl Luncheon to accept her award. What a story and what a gal that Pee Wee must have been!

Saddle bronc riding Emma "Pee Wee" Burge Ott. Photo borrowed from Oakdale Cowboy Museum's Farewell Facebook Page.

Kim and I sure had a great time at the Cowgirl Luncheon and have plans to attend again next year. On our way home we encountered some bad weather, including passing through extreme rain, hail, and winds that had accompanied a tornado in the area!

Funnel cloud seen in the area we were driving through on the way home

Besides the Cowgirl luncheon and the Oakdale Rodeo, which by the way is this weekend, Oakdale is also the home of the Testicle Festival. The American Cowboy Magazine lists the festival as one of the top 101 events to attend in the west.

~merry~

Potato Breakfast Casserole

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:10:00 +0000

Mushroom, bacon, and potato breakfast casserole

Instead of a fun spring break this year, my daughters and I got to experience "spring broke." My oldest daughter came home from college for spring break with a cough/cold thing she'd had for two weeks and the first Monday she had off, she went to the doctor to get a prescription for a sinus and ear infection. Towards the end of her spring break she started feeling a little better, but I got the cough/cold thing and she went back to school without getting to do anything fun. My youngest daughter started her spring break with a severe sore throat, swollen glands, chills, and a fever and the doctor told us it could be mono or strep throat. Fortunately it was neither, but she got to spend her spring break with me and my hacking cough and on and off fever, on the couch watching movies.

By the time Easter weekend rolled around, we were feeling better and were ready to entertain our cousins from Yuba City for the weekend. We usually have a family event on the Saturday before Easter at the party barn and on Easter Sunday at cousin Wendy's house, so on Friday night my sister Nancy and I try to show them a good time in Livermore and fit in as many places as we can.

On Friday night we met Nancy in downtown Livermore a little after 5:00 and went straight to Demetri's for flaming saganaki and shots of ouzo. Demetri stopped working for a moment and had a shot with us. That ouzo is great for hacking coughs (Nancy has the same hacking cough as I do). Next, we stopped at the First Street Ale House for salads (ok, I had a Paulaner hefeweizen too). The Black and Bleu Salad is our favorite. It has strips of thinly sliced marinated tri-tip on top and crumbled bleu cheese mixed with red onions, tomatoes, carrots, and mixed lettuce. After a bit of shopping, we headed out to the Underdog at Concannon Vineyards for dessert and wine. As usual, the desserts were fabulous.

On Saturday morning I planned to make apple French toast casserole, but discovered I did not have brown sugar, which is a required ingredient for that dish (note to my kids: when you use something up, put it on the shopping list!). So, I decided to improvise my favorite potato and ham bake casserole with a lower fat mushroom and bacon version. I keep of bag of crumbled bacon in my freezer for moments like this.

The bag of crumbled bacon from my freezer

The casserole can be made the night before and heated before serving in the morning. I have provided my improvised recipe directly below and the original recipe at the bottom.

Mushroom, Bacon, and Potato Casserole - Serves 9

Non-stick spray or olive oil

1/2 to 3/4 package frozen hash browns, thawed

Salt and pepper to taste

1 8-oz. package fresh sliced mushrooms

1 chopped shallot or 2 tablespoons chopped onions

1 - 2 tablespoons of crumbled bacon

1 to 1 1/2 cup 2% milk shredded Mexican four cheese blend

4 eggs

1 1/3 cup non-fat milk

Cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Sautée the mushrooms and shallot until brown in olive oil or in a skillet sprayed with non-stick spray .

Use the non-stick spray or olive oil to oil a 8 1/2 - by 11-inch baking dish. Season the thawed hash browns with salt and pepper. Line the baking dish with the thawed hash browns, pressing them firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan as you would when making a graham cracker pie crust. Spray the hash browns with oil or brush with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until crispy.

While the hash browns are baking, whisk together the eggs and milk. Season the egg and milk mixture with salt and pepper and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Remove from the oven and put the sautéed mushrooms and shallot into the browned crust. Sprinkle on the crumbled bacon. Cover with the cheese. Pour on the egg and milk mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and an inserted knife comes out clean.

The browned hash browns on the left, finished version on the right

Here's the original, fully loaded recipe

Potato and Ham Bake Breakfast Special - Serves 6

This recipe was given to me and my sister, Susie Calhoun, by Raelene Vieux. The Vieux family are local cattle ranchers who are used to serving large meals to many people. You can double the recipe to serve twelve people—use a 9- by 13-inch baking dish. When I make this dish, I use hash brown patties and omit the butter.

1/2 (30 ounce) package frozen hash browns, thawed

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1 1/2 cups diced ham

1/2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained

1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 2 ounces)

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (about 2 ounces)

2 eggs

2/3 cup half-and-half

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Line a 12-inch pie pan or an 8- by 8-inch baking dish with the thawed hash browns, pressing them firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan as you would when making a graham cracker pie crust. Pour the butter around the edges. (If using patties, omit this step.) Bake for 20 minutes or until crispy. Remove from the oven and arrange the ham, chilies, and cheeses in layers on the browned crust.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and half-and-half and pour the mixture over the layers. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and an inserted knife comes out clean.

Here's to a happy and healthier spring!

~merry~

Nonni's Ravioli

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:35:00 +0000

Our friend Bruce Burton loves to cook for and with people, foods from scratch, that take hours and hours, such as ravioli, tamales (that's the next blog!), and the like.

Our Executive Chef

We had tasted his ravioli before, including butternut squash ravioli that just melted in your mouth, but we never had the opportunity to cook with Bruce. We finally found the time to “whip up” his Nonni’s (from Italy) ravioli. We passed out the ingredient list to friends, set aside a Saturday afternoon in the party barn, and got to work. We were making the dough, the filling, and the sauce. In hindsight, next time we may make the sauce, or filling, or both, the day before, as this was an all day process with multiple hands at work!

We really started from scratch by grinding our own meat. We had a couple of pork butts and a chuck roast that we sliced into strips and ran through the grinder.

The Meat Grinder

We didn’t follow the recipes to the tee (as usual!). We didn’t have chicken, so we doubled the pork, and for the sauce, we didn’t have canned tomatoes, we only used tomato sauce. Then the chopping began--lotsa chopping--and it had to be diced fine to fit into those delicate little pillows! Bruce’s Sous Chef, Joan (his wife!), was the chop master, with oysters, half a dozen fresh herbs, spinach, Swiss chard, onions, and, of course, lotsa garlic!

Our Sous Chef hard at work

We put our Italian friend Kristin (maiden name: Amicucci!) to work on the garlic.

The Italian Garlic Princess - Ms. Amicucci

Some of the same ingredients were used in the filling and the gravy (which we American’s would call sauce), we were working on those simultaneously. We needed to get the gravy on early so it could stew for about 3 to 4 hours. It was really amazing how much was happening on the party barn ping-pong table, multiple stations along the progress of our ravioli adventure.

Nonni's Gravy

Once we had the filling all chopped and mixed, and the gravy back in my kitchen on a slow simmer (the hot plates in the barn couldn’t cut the mustard), we got to work on the ravioli dough. Just like Mario Battali, Bruce started the dough with a pile of flour, made a well, dropped in the eggs, oil and salt and got to kneading.

Nonni's Dough

Three batches later, we were ready to starting rolling out the dough in the machine.

Once it was just about see-through, very thin, but not so thin it would tear, we placed it over the floured ravioli pan, made little divots, spooned a small amount of filling into the hole, watered the edges, and placed another layer of dough on top.

Then we used a small rolling pin to roll all the edges,

flipped the pan over onto a corn floured baking sheet, and got on to the next batch.

The final step was boiling the ravioli in a large pot of salted water. You dump the ravioli in and when they float, mission accomplished, about 5 to 6 minutes. We poured a bit of sauce on the plate, placed the ravioli on top, and poured more sauce over the top, and dug in.

My first bite was worth all the effort, these little pillows of loveliness melted in your mouth! I don’t remember ever tasting pasta that soft and velvety, I was so overwhelmed with eating that I never did get the “money shot” of the finished product! This picture doesn’t do those ravioli justice.

Nonni's Ravioli

So the next occasion you have multiple hands available, a lot of time, and the ingredients on hand, “whip up” some ravioli, it’s well worth the time and effort, and for those of you without an Italian Nonni like me, now you have a recipe!

Mangia! Nancy

NONNI’S GRAVY (SAUCE)

1 – 28 ounce can Italian plum tomatoes

1 – 15 ounce can tomato sauce

½ small can tomato paste

1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tsp. red pepper

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. dried thyme

pepper to taste

Blend plum tomatoes in cuisinart. Put in a 6-quart pot with remaining ingredients.

In cuisinart chop:

½ bunch parsley

10 large fresh mushrooms

½ cup dried mushrooms (soaked in water, squeezed and chopped, use strained liquid)

Add ingredients to the pot.

Fry:

1 pound ground beef

Chop in cuisinart to a fine texture and add to pot.

1 leg and 1 thigh of chicken

2½ cups water

1 pound boneless chuck roast

Cut big slices through the chuck but leave in one piece. Brown the chuck and chicken pieces. Cook with 2 ½ cups of water to make broth. Strain out the meat and chicken bones, add broth to the sauce and cook for 3 or more hours.

NONNI’S RAVIOLI FILLING (1/4 batch, 5 ounces = 1 dozen ravioli)

¼ pound sirloin

½ pound pork butt

¾ pound chicken (we didn’t use chicken, but more pork)

½ jar fresh oysters, chopped

¼ cube butter

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 bunch green onions, finely chopped

¼ cup celery, finely chopped

1 tbsp. Thyme and rosemary, finely chopped

½ bunch parsley, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ cup spinach, finely chopped and cooked

1 cup Swiss chard, finely chopped and cooked

6 eggs

3 tbsp. olive oil

8 ounces ricotta cheese

¾ cup Parmesan cheese

¼ cup breadcrumbs

Grind the beef, pork and chicken. Fry celery and onions in butter and olive oil. Fry the pork, then beef and chicken. Mix with the remaining ingredients to stuff the ravioli.

NONNI’S RAVIOLI DOUGH

1¼ pounds of flour

3 eggs

2 tbsp. Oil

¼ tsp. Salt

Hot water if needed, use oil in hot weather

Make a well in the mound of flour. Place the eggs, oil and salt in the middle of the flour. Mix together, kneed, put in bowl, cover and let rest for 1 hour or so. Roll out, add filling, top with dough, cut into raviolis.

Fry-day @ the Workplace!

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:45:00 +0000

We recently declared Friday “FRY-DAY” at the Bankhead Theater when we made fried green tomatoes on the back loading dock and smelled up the entire theater for a day! This round we ventured into some Asian cooking, and planned ahead with Arthur Barinque, our resident Filipino (B-Boy and Commissioner of the Arts!), to make lumpia from scratch, and Rebecca would bring in her pork filling and show us how to make pot stickers. I made some Asian Cole Slaw to throw something green into the menu. Arthur had always found rolling lumpias with his mother tedious when he was young, but was willing to venture out on his own for the first time, and make them from scratch with us. Being young and resourceful, he went to wikiHow and found a recipe to follow! They both made the filling in advance at home, and then we wrapped and fried at work.

When wrapping the potstickers, it works best if you are sitting down for some reason. You place a small amount of filling in the center of the circle, pull the ends together and squeeze the top together, flattening the bottom, then you fold a small portion of the layer facing you toward the center, three times on each side, and squeeze the edges together to seal (if that makes any sense at all!).

As we wrapped them, we kept them in a covered dish so they wouldn’t dry out. I brought in my electric frying pan for the occasion, you lightly sear the bottom of the potsticker with a bit of peanut oil, and then steam for 5-6 minutes to cook the pork through. We had a delicious chili sauce to dip them in, and some soy sauce.

For the lumpia, wikiHow tells you to scoop up a good 3 tablespoons of the cooked mixture near one corner in a diagonally direction. Try to leave at least 1 1/2 inch space at both ends of the wrapper.

Grab the corner nearest to the filling and fold it over the filling. Keep rolling and when you reach around the middle, tuck in both sides.

Continue to wrap, but be sure to roll tight to keep everything in. When you reach the end, use a little water to seal the edge and then wrap it to create your roll.

Cover the rolls to keep them moist. Fry the lumpia 4 – 5 at a time for about 1-2 minutes in oil (we used peanut), drain on a paper towel, and dig in! They were hot and delicious.

As usual, I get so engrossed in eating, I forgot to take pictures of the finished product! The occasion changed Arthur’s view on rolling lumpia, cooking is now a cultural occasion, not a chore!

LUMPIA

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil or Canola oil

1 pound of ground pork or beef

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1/2 cup of chopped onion

1/2 cup of minced carrots

1/2 cup of chopped green onions

1/2 cup of thinly sliced green cabbage or string beans

1 teaspoon of ground black pepper

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of soy sauce

30 spring wrappers

2 cups of vegetable oil or Canola oil (for frying)

PORK POT STICKERS

This recipe is from Rebecca Schoefer, our graphic designer, adapted from the cookbook China Moon. Her daughter Sierra made these pot stickers in a 3rd grade Enrichment Class at Almond Avenue School. Her family claims these are the BEST pot stickers they’ve ever had! Now they only eat pot stickers at 2 restaurants, when you’ve had the best, who needs the rest!! And we agree!

¾ pound Napa cabbage, diced

2 teaspoon kosher salt (for cabbage)

1 pound ground pork

2 scallions, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon dry sherry

1 teaspoon kosher salt

round pot stocker wrappers, about 50

To cook dumplings: Heat 2 tablespoons oil (we used peanut) in fry pan on medium-high heat. Place dumplings into pan, plump side down. Cook for 1-2 minutes until bottoms are browned. Add 3-tablespoons water and cover pan with tight fitting lid. Turn down to low and cook 5 minutes more. If pot stickers are frozen, cook for 7 to 8 minutes at this stage. We used a

Soy-Sesame-Honey dipping sauce: Use a combination of soy sauce in a 2:1 ratio with the following: dry sherry + rice vinegar + sesame oil + honey; sometimes I add a little mustard and/or orange juice as well. Add salt and pepper to taste. (We used “MAE PLOY” Sweet Chili Sauce from the grocery store, we only had so much time to cook at work!)

Next on our Fry-day menu…rolled tacos and guacamole with Ed!

Happy FRY-DAY!

Nancy

Old Sac and Pink Slime

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

A sample of the some of the things to do in this area of Sacramento

A couple of weekends ago I attended the California CattleWomen's Spring Meeting that was held at the Embassy Suites on the edge of Old Sacramento. I looked forward to a weekend out of town, however, I either had a cold or really bad allergies and took naps some of the free time we had when we were not in meetings. I was also recovering from a surgical procedure that I had on one of my big toes and could not wear shoes or walk long distances, so I was not able to venture very far from the hotel.

The Embassy Suites in Old Sacramento

I love staying at Embassy Suites, especially when kids are involved. The rooms are very spacious and the kids can stay in one room, parents in the other. I was sharing the room with my friends Kim and Melinda, so it was nice to have all of the extra space and the living room area with a couch and chairs where we could sit and visit. Nearly all of the Embassy Suites that I have stayed at have been very clean and well decorated. They also have complimentary cocktail receptions every night with some receptions being better than others. The Sacramento River runs right by the Embassy Suites and there is a riverwalk along the river. When standing in front of the hotel you can see the State Capitol just blocks away.

The Sacramento River runs along side the Embassy Suites

The California State Capital can be seen from the front of the Embassy Suites

One of the speakers at the California CattleWomen's meeting was an expert in certified meat products and the co-owner of a family owned broadline food service distribution company. His primary focus was to teach us about cuts of beef and he provided a demonstration on the difference between USDA Beef Quality Grades. The demonstration turned out to be quite tasty as we got to taste the difference between steaks that were choice and select grades. He had the steaks prepared and cut up into pieces in the hotel's restaurant.

Since we had an expert at our disposal, someone asked the question to the answer everyone wanted to know, "What exactly is the pink slime we have been hearing so much about from the media?" The expert told us that "pink slime" aka Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB) is lean meat that has been separated from fat using a process similar to the process used to separate milk from heavy cream. Ammonia hydroxide, a natural occurring compound is used in the process. The ammonia hydroxide is a microbial inhibitor, which is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. It makes the meat safer and is used in the processing or production of many other food products such as dairy, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, breakfast cereals, eggs, fish, sports drinks, beer, and other meats. Hmmm, I think the media forgot to tell us that. By the way, the fat that is separated from the LFTB goes on to make soaps, cosmetics and other beef by products. So, enough about that.

Kitty corner from the Embassy Suites is a Joe's Crab Shack. Kim, Melinda, and I had never been to a Joe's Crab Shack before and made plans to go. The guy that checked us in at the hotel told us to get there before 7:00 because later than that the wait is 2 hours or more. We got to Joe's at about 6:15 and at that time there was a 1 hour, 20 minute wait. No worries. They take your cell phone number and call you when your table is ready, so you can hang out in Old Sac until your table is ready. Joe's Crab Shack is a fun restaurant. It's loud, lots of parties going on, and nearly every 30 minutes the servers break into dance. Some of the fun loving customers get up and dance with them--we weren't some of those customers. Joe's has an exciting drink called a Shark Attack made of Barcardi Limon, Skyy Vodka, Blue Curacao and sour mix. There is a vial of grenadine "blood" the server pours into the drink when the drink is served along with bells being rung and the servers shouting about a shark attack. The popular foods served at Joe's are steam pots and buckets of crab. We enjoyed our dinner at Joe's.

Joe's Crab Shack in Old Sacramento

Our other dinner during the weekend in Old Sac was at the Embassy Suites. During the cocktail reception I ordered an onion soup. The soup was served in an hollowed out onion that was sitting on top of rock salt. It was really quite tasty. We also ordered prime rib French dip sandwiches that we took to our room. The bread on the sandwiches got a bit mushy in the to go boxes, so we would recommend eating them in the restaurant.

The onion soup at the Embassy Suites is served in a hollowed out onion

Well it was nice to get away for the weekend and get that pink slime mystery cleared up. I hope to get back to Old Sac again soon since I didn't get out to see all of the sights during this trip.

~merry~

Ideas for Using Your Leftover Corned Beef

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:55:00 +0000

Beef barley soup, corned beef hash, and Rueben sandwiches were made with our leftover corned beef

Our mom is currently in the hospital receiving care for the side effects from the chemo-like drug she is taking to hopefully prolong her life in her fight against metastasizing melanoma. So, even when she is not in the hospital, my sisters and I usually try to bring meals to our parent's house or cook something there. On Friday my sister Nancy bought a huge corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots to make a traditional corned beef and cabbage meal for our father and anyone else that happened to be at our parent's house at dinnertime. And, I bought the same things to make my family the traditional dinner on St. Patrick's Day. It should come as no surprise, between the two houses, we had a lot of left over corned beef.

When I prepared the corned beef at my house I cooked mine in my slow cooker. I removed the visible fat from the outside of the meat. I put the spices in a cheesecloth pouch so the little round balls (I think they are peppercorns) wouldn't surprise us later when eating the cabbage or the soup that I planned to make. Instead of using plain water to cover the corned beef, I used the beef version of Better Than Bullion, which would be like a beef stock or broth. I also added a couple of carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. These were added to add flavor to the meat while the meat cooked--the veggies tend to get too mushy if they are cooked the duration of the time the meat is cooked. Just about an hour before the meat was done I added the carrots, potatoes, and cabbage that we would eat with the meat. If you do this and the meat is done cooking and you need to add the veggies, just remove the meat and put it in an oven safe covered dish with some of the broth in a 200 degree F oven to keep it warm while the veggies cook.

Beef barley soup was made with the leftover broth, beef, and veggies

After we ate dinner I began to make soup to freeze for meals on other days. I strained the mushy veggies that cooked with the meat from the broth and coarsley chopped the mushy veggies. I added the chopped veggies back to the broth and added about a 3/4 cup of pearl barley. I brought the broth to a boil and simmered about 45 minutes until the barley was soft. I cut up some of the corned beef and added it to the soup. I also cut up some of the cooked carrots, cabbage, and potatoes and added them. Had I remembered, I would have added a bit of red wine.

Corned beef hash was made with the leftover corned beef

Yesterday morning I made corned beef hash and eggs with some of the leftover meat. To do this I cut up four red potatoes with skins on into cubes. I boiled the potatoes until they just started to soften, which was about 7 minutes. I finely chopped 1/2 red onion and sautéed the onion in olive oil in an oven proof skillet until they just started to brown. I chopped up five slices of corned beef. I preheated the oven to 450 degrees F. I drained the potatoes and then added them and the chopped meat to the skillet with the onions and cooked until the potatoes began to brown. During the cooking I seasoned with pepper, garlic salt, and a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper. I cracked eggs onto the top of hash and seasoned them with salt and pepper, covered with a lid and put the skillet in the preheated oven. I baked the hash and eggs until the eggs were cooked the way I like them (yokes hard). Instead of cooking the eggs in the oven, some people will place poached eggs on top of the hash. The poached eggs placed on the hash are aesthetically more appealing, however, I was pressed for time and found this method much faster.

Rueben sandwiches were made with the leftover corned beef

Yesterday for lunch there was a gang of people to feed at our parent's house, so Nancy and I made Rueben sandwiches with the corned beef Nancy made for our father on Friday. To make the sandwiches we used rye bread, sauerkraut, Havarti cheese (Swiss works well too), Thousand Island dressing, and slices of the corned beef. To make the sandwiches we buttered the bread and in this order we added the cheese, corned beef, Thousand Island dressing, and sauerkraut--and of course the second piece of bread. We then grilled the sandwiches. We usually use a sandwich press to make them, but did not have one handy, so we placed a piece of foil on top of the grilling sandwich and placed a cast iron skillet on top to press it. We normally use marbled rye to make the sandwiches, but all of the stores Nancy went to in search of bread were out. One store was even completely out of dark rye. It appears a lot of other people were making sandwiches with their corned beef as well.

Thousand Island dressing, sauerkraut, dark rye bread, Havarti cheese, and corned beef were used to make the Reuben sandwiches

All of this and we still have leftovers!

Happy Monday to you all.

~merry~

Wine in Calaveras County? Yes!

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:40:00 +0000

Wine tasting at the Brice Station Winery in Calaveras County

It has been a tradition for several of my friends and I to go to the mountains over President's Day weekend. Since everyone's kids have grown, one of the snow days has turned into a wine tasting day. We have been heading up to Calaveras County in the California Gold Country and attending the President's Wine Weekend for the past several years. This wine country continues to mature! 2012 marked the 16th Annual President's Wine Weekend with 23 participating tasting rooms.

Brice Station Map

The President's Day Wine Weekend is a two day event and we attended on Sunday, which is day two of the event. Our first stop that day was the Brice Station Winery where we picked up our glasses for $10. This was one of the few stops with glasses left. I limited my tasting as I was the designated driver. The favorite appetizer here was the seeded baguette with almond and Gorgonzola spread, broiled and topped with a fig orange peel jam. Also on the Brice Station Winery property is a blacksmith shop that offers blacksmithing classes, and Quyle Kilns. This cooperative kiln offers a variety of pottery and styles. There were various animals around the property including chickens, dogs, geese, and llamas.

Brice Station Tasting Room

We drove on down the hill to Murphys, where the main street is lined with shops, restaurants, and tasting rooms. We stopped at the Vina Moda Winery, which is in a unique building. Across the street was Tanner Vineyards where they were serving the guests out in their gardens. I tasted the Syrah, which complemented the sausages hot off the grill.

Tanner Vineyards Tasting Room

My friends really enjoyed the Zinfandels at Milliare Winery. They particularly enjoyed the Clocksprings from Amador County. In fact, they picked up a bottle for our Kale Soup dinner. It was a wonderful Zinfandel!

Frog's Tooth Winery offered a wide variety of red wines. For food they were serving meatballs in a Tempranillo cranberry sauce.

Frog's Tooth Tasting Room

There were so many tasting rooms in this area, that even though I was driving, my friends could not stop at all of them! My "must visit" wineries are Stevenot Winery and Newsome-Harlow. Chuck Hovey, the winemaker at Stevenot and Scott Klann, owner and winemaker at Newsome-Harlow are judges at the Alameda County Fair's Best of the Bay Wine Competition and Zin Challenge. I bought a bottle of Viognier at Stevenot and a Syrah at Newsome-Harlow.

Entrance to Stevenot Tasting Room

Inside the Stevenot Tasting Room

Both the Stevenot and Newsome-Harlow tasting rooms are very friendly. The owners of Stevenot, the Oliveto family, were pouring that day. They were serving delicious sausages from the Big Trees Market in Arnold. At Newsome-Harlow, Scott Klann was pouring. His wife, Melanie, was busy with The Kitchen at Newsome-Harlow. They offered fried root vegetables from their garden, a colorful variety of treats. The Courtyard has seating, a gas fire pit, and heated tubes, offering an alternative to the busy street and tasting rooms.

Newsome-Harlow Tasting Room

The courtyard at the Newsome-Harlow Winery

The last stop of the day was the Black Sheep Winery where Jane Drummond–Mullarkey purchased the Raspberry Sparkling Wine. Her Bunco group loves it!

Should you have an opportunity to visit Calaveras wineries – do so! You won’t be disappointed.

~Susie Calhoun~

What do you do with left over beef tri-tip? French Dip Sandwiches!

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:25:00 +0000

French dip sandwich made from leftover beef tri-tip

In my teens and twenties the only food I would order when I ate out in restaurants was French dip sandwiches. Not only was my diet very limited, but so was the distance I had traveled. However, at that time I could have told you where you could get the best French dip sandwiches from Livermore (in the San Francisco Bay Area) to Lake Tahoe and south to San Diego. I very rarely order French dip sandwiches these days--I find that a lot of restaurants use beef that looks and tastes like lunch meat in their French dips, and I prefer hand carved roast beef.

Recently my friend Kim Bonde provided a French dip sandwich lunch at a fundraiser that we hosted. Her sandwiches were just delicious and reminded me of how much I used to like them, so when I had some tri-tip roast left over last week, I made French dip sandwiches with the leftover meat.

As long as you have the beef on hand, they are quick and easy to make. It's so easy, you don't need a recipe, just follow the directions under the photos below.

Split open and spray olive or spread some butter on sourdough or ciabatta rolls, place the rolls cut-side down in a skillet on medium heat until toasty brown

Thinly slice left over roast beef

Following the manufacturer's directions, mix up some au jus

Heat up the beef with a tablespoon or two of the au jus

Place the beef on the bread and serve with the au jus.

To dress the sandwiches up a bit, you can add cheese or grilled onions.

That was easy.

~merry~

Beef Tri-Tip Roast and Garlicky Oven Roasted Potatoes

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Beef tri-trip roast and garlicky oven roasted potatoes are easy to make

Last Sunday night I was sort of watching the Academy Awards and I needed to make dinner. I had seen a few of the movies nominated for awards and wanted to see if George Clooney would win Best Actor for the Descendants, which was my favorite movie. Since I can't see the TV from the kitchen, I wanted to prepare a dinner that would not take a lot of preparation and did not need to be stirred, turned, or watched frequently while cooking. I had a tri-tip roast that had passed the "buy by" date the day before, so tri-tip roast and oven roasted potatoes was an easy choice to make.

My family loves meat and potatoes, which can be one of the easiest dinners to prepare. Baked potatoes are probably the easiest way to prepare potatoes. The second easiest has to be oven roasted potatoes, which do not require peeling--only washing, cutting, and seasoning. At my house we all love garlic, so I decided to make my oven roasted potatoes garlicky.

To prepare my meats for roasting or grilling, I use a house seasoning mix that I found on Paula Deen's website. We had prime rib for Christmas that I seasoned with the house seasoning and my husband roasted on our gas grill. It was one of the best prime ribs ever. I keep the house seasoning in a stainless steel canister in the kitchen counter and use it often. The recipe was a great find and I've provided it below.

The house seasoning I keep in a stainless steel container on my counter

House Seasoning

Ingredients

1 cup salt

1/4 cup black pepper

1/4 cup garlic powder

Directions

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Beef Tri-Tip Roast and Garlicky Oven Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

Tri-tip roast (if tri-tips are not available in your area, just about any beef roast will work)

House seasoning (recipe above)

5 large russet potatoes or several small potatoes

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 or 2 cloves of garlic*

Kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Rub the roast with plenty of the house seasoning. Place the roast in the middle of baking pan. Wash and scrub the potatoes. Cut the potatoes lengthwise into quarters. Put the potatoes into a bowl and drizzle olive oil over the top of potatoes. Use a garlic press to squeeze garlic over the top of potatoes. Mix potatoes with your hands to coat with the olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle the potatoes with kosher salt. Place the potatoes in the baking pan around the roast.

Bake the roast for 15 minutes at 500 degrees F. Cooking at this temperature will give the roast a nice brown crust. After 15 minutes, REDUCE the temperature to 350 degrees F. Turn the potatoes over and place the roast and potatoes back into the oven. Bake for 30 or more minutes until a meat thermometer reads medium or 160 degrees F (I have a convection oven, so my meat takes less time to cook). Remove the roast from the oven and let the roast sit for about 5 minutes before carving.

*If you don't like garlic, season the potatoes with salt and pepper or lemon pepper.

Use a garlic press to squeeze garlic on potatoes

Seasoned roast and potatoes ready for the oven

Let the roast rest for 5 minutes before carving

Merry's been there, done that cooking tip: When cooking the roast, be sure to set the timer for 15 minutes, especially if you are using a glass baking dish. The baking dish will crack if cooked much longer at 500 degrees.

~merry~

IT'S A CRAB BOIL! WHERE SOUTH MEETS WEST

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Our friends the Blume’s hale from NOLA (New Orleans Louisiana), and boy do they know how to cook! We recently put our heads together during crab season, and decided it was time for a good ol’ fashioned crab boil. In the Blume's old neighborhood, blue crabs are king, in our ‘hood, it’s Dungeness all the way. So we met somewhere in the middle (that somewhere would be 99 Ranch Market in Pleasanton, this place is amazing!), and went a little overboard on the seafood.

Live Dungeness at 99 Ranch Market

We wanted everyone to feel at home, so we got a bit of everything…Dungeness AND Blue crab (we found them both live!), jumbo gulf shrimp, a pair o’ still kickin' lobster, crawdads (not so live), and of course, some okra. It was a shopping event to remember and we hadn’t even started cooking yet.

Crustacean Alert! Blue & Dungeness Crab, Crawdads, Lobster & Shrimp

For the crab boil, we threw everything in a huge pot o’ boilin’ water: corn on the cob, red potatoes, onion, lemon, garlic, artichoke, salt and pepper, and of course, a bag or two of Zatarain’s Crab Boil.

It's a crab boil with all the fixin's!

Oops, don’t forget the crab.

Fresh off the California Coast - Dungeness Crab

We made an awful mess of their kitchen, but well worth it. We decided for next season, it would be necessary to get a big gas burner for out of doors and really do things right. It was a bit too cold to rollout the newspaper on tables outdoors for the gang to crack and eat at the same time, so a few of the fellas did the crustacean crackin’ outside, and brought it ready to eat inside..

You may have read about my foray into okra last summer, the only kind of okra we didn’t cook was fried. Well, we took care of that! The fried okra was absolutely delicious, and really easy, again, thanks to Zatarain’s seasoned Fish-Fri, Crispy Southern. We had every burner going on the stove, so we brough in the electric frying pan to get the job done.

Crispy fried okra

Just toss the sliced okra rings in the Fish-Fri and into the hot oil, voilà! Delicious crunchy little morsels that melt in your mouth, and to dispel the myth to those in California that don’t eat okra, it wasn't slimy at all!

The only thing we didn’t need Zatarain’s for was the dirty rice, our Southern friends whipped up a batch from scratch, with a dash of Tony Chachere’s! (I cheat at home and do use Zatarain’s Dirty Rice in a box, I'm from California after all.)

We really didn’t use any recipes for this meal, just threw it all together. I couldn't write fast enough as Deana was making her dirty rice, there were too many pots and pans boilin', I'll get that recipe next time! We served the crustaceans with pounds of melted garlic butter, spicy cocktail sauce and my family's thousand island crab dressing. This was definitely a meal to remember, and to repeat!

Laissez le Bon temp rouler…in California!

Nancy

Tiny Treats Cupcakes

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:45:00 +0000

Maple Bacon Cupcakes!

I started baking just for fun and family get-togethers about a year ago. My mother in law asked me to bake some cupcakes and cake pops for a church group event she was hosting and I jumped at the chance. She kept telling me to make up some kind of price list because the women there were going to want to order more cupcakes from me after this, and I kept procrastinating. Finally, I sat down the night before delivery and made up a few price points for cupcakes and cake pops. From that one party I have filled over 100 orders! It has tree branched/snow balled into quite the busy little hobby for me. I have done everything from 1st birthdays to funerals.

Guinness Cupcake (the manly cupcake!)

The most interesting thing has been all of the different people I have met throughout my baking adventures. From people who love my cupcakes and cake pops, to people who have never had a cake pop, and are a little scared to try one. I love it when people come to me and ask me to make a flavor I have never made before – like the Apple Pie. A customer asked what kind of autumn flavors I could make and the first thing that came to mind was of course, Pumpkin Spice. She agreed and asked if I could maybe try to make an Apple Cupcake that tasted like pie as well. I told her to give me 2 days to work this out and when I did she would be the first to taste it. I figured it out and let her try it and she fell in love with it. It is a lightly spiced vanilla cupcake with homemade apple pie filling in the middle and vanilla butter cream on top. She also loved the Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes as well (which has Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting on top) and ordered 2-dozen of each!

The Apple Pie Cupcake

Baking helps me relax after spending all day taking care of all the duties of a stay-at-home mom. So for me it's not about orders to be filled, it's more about how I am helping someone out that doesn’t have the time to bake for themself. And as stressful as it can be, in the end, when I deliver their orders and see how excited they are about how I have decorated their goodies and personalized something as simple as a cupcake just for them – that is a really good feeling for me.

Pumpkin Cupcake

Lavender Honey Cupcakes

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons dried lavender (you can usually find it at health food stores like Van’s)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup milk

Honey Frosting (recipe below)

Dried lavender (optional for a light sprinkle on the top of the frosting)

Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Meanwhile line cupcake pans with cupcake papers. In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder, 2 teaspoons of lavender and salt.

In another mixing bowl mix together the butter and eggs with a hand mixer or stand mixer. Once mixed together add sugar, honey and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour and the milk.

Spoon batter in to cupcake pan with liners and fill about 3/4 the way full.

Bake 10-12 minutes (Depending on your oven, you will need to keep an eye on them. For me it takes about 15 minutes but I am constantly checking in them after about 10 minutes). Cool completely, then frost and sprinkle with dried lavender.

Honey Frosting

1-8ounce package of Cream Cheese

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powder sugar

3 tablespoons honey

Beat together cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add vanilla and honey and beat well. Add powder sugar slowly (or it will blow up and into your face!) and mix well. Continue to add powder sugar until the frosting forms peaks and they don’t move. If your frosting is too thick add about one teaspoon of milk to thin it back out.

Good luck and happy baking!

~ Cousin Kellie Alcon

Tiny Treats Cupcakes - Click the Facebook icon for more information about Kellie's Tiny Treats.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:35:00 +0000

I love enchiladas, but they do take some time to make. Last week I made an enchilada casserole that tasted great and took a lot less time to make than traditional enchiladas. I had purchased a rotisserie chicken at Costco that I planned to use to make the casserole. When it was time for me to start making dinner I got the chicken out of the fridge and all that was left was a leg--my family had been eating it all day long!

I had a bag of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, so I got out four and started the process of defrosting and cooking them. I nuked them until they were soft enough to cut. I then cut them into smaller pieces and started to cook them in my cast iron skillet. I sprinkled them with cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder and covered them during the cooking process. When they were cooked through, I shredded them. A lot of liquid had accumulated in the skillet during cooking, so I drained the liquid before putting the chicken in the casserole.

Had I known the rotisserie chicken would not be an option, another cooking process I would have used for the chicken would have been to cook the chicken breasts in the crockpot using this recipe: http://www.holmfamilycookbook.com/apps/blog/show/3445730-easy-shredded-picante-chicken.

Excuse the photos of the casserole--not some of my best, but again, the casserole was great and would be a good dish to take to a potluck or serve to guests.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients

4 large chicken breasts, cooked, seasoned, and shredded

12 corn tortillas, torn in half

1 28-ounce can green enchilada sauce

1 16-ounce package shredded Mexican or taco style cheese

1 8-ounce container reduced fat sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Heat the tortillas in a non-stick skillet. Pour about 1/2 inch enchilada sauce in the bottom of a medium baking dish, and arrange 6 tortillas in a single layer. Top with 1/2 the chicken, 1/3 cheese, 1/2 the sour cream, and 1/3 of the remaining enchilada sauce. The sour cream is not easy to spread, so put several dollops of over the top of the chicken and cheese. The sour cream will spread out during the cooking process.

Repeat another layer of tortillas, chicken, 1/3 of cheese, and sour cream. Coat the remaining tortillas thoroughly with remaining enchilada sauce, and arrange on top of the layers. Pour on remaining enchilada sauce and sprinkle on the last of the cheese. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool slightly before serving.

~merry~

Flaming Saganaki - Try This at Home!

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Flaming σαγανάκι cheese at Demitri's Taverna

My work buddies and I drop by Demitri's Taverna, which is a Greek Restaurant in downtown Livermore, about once a month for flaming σαγανάκι cheese (saganaki) and ouzo. At Demitri's the flaming saganaki is cheese that has been doused with ouzo and lit on fire. One of my work buddies describes ouzo as liquid Good & Plenty--it's a sweet anise or licorice flavored Greek liquor. After drinking a shot of ouzo you shout "opa!" (just like in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding). At Demitri's the same thing is shouted after the saganaki is lit. A few times after our saganaki has been served, I have seen other diners call our server to their table to ask what the saganaki is. Once they find out the diners usually say, "That's what we're getting next time!"

The saganaki at Demitri's is served with grilled bread and a side plate of sliced onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and capers. The way I like to eat the saganaki is to spread the cheese on the bread and eat it like an open faced sandwich with the vegetables on the top. It is so good!

For weeks I have been trying to make flaming saganaki at home, but I couldn't find ouzo at the grocery stores where I shop. I finally made it to BevMo and bought some ouzo there. I couldn't find the Greek Kasseri or Kofalotiri cheese, so I used asiago cheese instead.

If you try this recipe at home, be sure to do it in an area that is not near any combustible items. If this recipe looks too hazardous to try at home, drop by Demetri's--he's a real personable guy and will be glad to serve you saganaki and ouzo!

Flaming Saganaki

Kasseri or Kofalotiri cheese (asiago works too)

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons Ouzo

4 slices of bread - sourdough or peasant bread work well

2 romaine lettuce leaves

1 small tomato sliced thin

1 tablespoon capers

1 slice of red onion, cut into strips

Cut cheese into slices 1/4 inch thick. Melt butter in a small skillet and place the cheese in the skillet. Broil on high 4 to 6 inches from heat until cheese bubbles. Remove from heat. Pour ouzo over the cheese and ignite immediately. Squeeze lemon juice over the top and serve with grilled or toasted bread and veggies.

Romain lettuce leaves, tomatoes, onions, and capers to eat with the saganaki

Grill or toast some bread

Melt the butter in a small skillet

Place slices of cheese in skillet

Place under broiler until cheese bubbles

Quickly ignite the ouzo after pouring it over the cheese

Squeeze lemon juice over the cheese

Saganaki is ready to serve!

Opa!

~merry~

Best Valentines Gift Ever

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:30:00 +0000

My best Valentines gift ever

Our blog posts are usually about food, travel, entertaining, and adult beverages, but today’s post is not about any of those things. This year on Valentines Day I received the best gift ever and wanted to share it. This year my younger daughter Whitney gave me a small book she made titled, "25 Reasons I Love You." She found the idea to make the book on-line and did a fabulous job making it. It really made my day and it continues to make me very happy each time I look at it.

To make the book she took a deck of playing cards and used sandpaper to rough up the cards. Doing this made the cards look worn and probably made them more porous so that paper would stay glued to the cards.

Roughing the cards up with sandpaper gave the cards a worn appearance

She punched two holes on the side of each card. Then she printed the reasons why she loves me on 25 ivory colored paper. She cut out each reason and made a border for each piece of those papers by gluing larger pieces of red colored paper behind them.

The reasons have a red border around them

She glued each reason why she loved me on the face side of the cards. Some of the reasons were accompanied by a photo.

Some of the pages had photos on them

She then ran black ribbon through the holes and tied each ribbon in a bow.

And there it was. Best. Valentines. Gift. Ever.

~merry~

West Coast Crab Feeds

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:15:00 +0000

Dungeness crab

During the fall and winter months in the San Francisco Bay Area and other communities along the west coast, many organizations hold crab feeds as their major yearly fundraiser. The crab feeds are typically held at an event center that can hold 200 - 300 people. The crab being served at the crab feeds are Dungeness crabs. Good, fresh Dungeness crab meat is sweet, tender and tastes great. The Dungeness crabs have hard shells and the crabs have usually been cleaned and cracked, but are still in the shell. Occasionally I hear about crabs feeds where the crabs are served already shelled, but it is really a lot of fun sitting around shelling and eating crab with your friends while wearing bibs.

The Shrine Event Center in Livermore is a venue for several crab feeds every year

The menu at nearly all of the crab feeds that I have attended included all you can eat crab, salad, pasta, and garlic bread. Several crab feeds in the Bay Area also include all you can eat shrimp. I would imagine that if someone were to attend several crab feeds during the crab feed season, they could easily pack on 25 pounds.

There is a group of friends and family members that I usually attend at least one crab feed with every year. Last Saturday night we attended the Livermore Rotary's crab feed. When we attend a crab feed, we don't just show up and eat. There are things to bring and some planning involved. Our friend Kim brings butter warmers, butter, and hand wipes. Although there is seafood sauce on the tables, my aunt Patsy brings her crab dressing, which I prefer over the seafood sauce. I bring light appetizers, such as crudités. Everyone brings tools to help make extracting the crab from the shell a bit easier.

One of Kim's butter warmers

Aunt Patsy's crab dressing

The tools we use to extract the crab from the shell

The salad

The pasta

A bowl of the all you can eat crab at the Livermore Rotary's crab feed

This was the first time we attended the Livermore Rotary's crab feed and fortunately, the Rotarians and their guests were well behaved. The event was much more low key than crab feed we attended a couple of years ago where there were "chick fights," dirty dancing, and wardrobe malfunctions (all performed by mom's that had way too many cocktails at this church affiliated crab feed). The emcee for the Rotary's crab feed was Juliette Goodrich from CBS 5 news. It was a lot of fun seeing many old friends and coworkers at the event--even more so seeing them wearing bibs.

Emmy award winning reporter Juliette Goodrich emceed the event

It was a lot of fun seeing many old friends, like Jacob, at the Rotary Crab Feed

Aunt Patsy's Crab Dressing

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon Worcestershire

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce, and blend well.

~merry~

So, the West Coast has crab feeds, what kind of feeds do you have in your part of the country?

Super Bowl Leftovers = Super Nachos

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:55:00 +0000

Super nachos made of leftovers from Super Bowl Sunday

On Super Bowl Sunday we had an impromptu party of 10 and as usual we had enough food for 20 or more people. There were pizzas, wings, veggies, chips and dips, a pot of chili, beer bread, brownies, BBQ beef, cupcakes, candies, turtle chex mix and more. Needless to say, there was a lot of food left over.

By the way, one of the favorite candies at the party were Hershey's Almond Joy pieces. My daughter picked them out as they met our criteria for the Super Bowl teams' colors (blue and white). The Almond Joy pieces and the wings were about the only foods that were totally consumed.

We also had Patriot punch, which was made with fresh blueberries, blueberry flavored vodka, and lemonade. I'm not a fan of the Patriots--just thought it sounded better than Giants punch.

Since the room was full of Raiders and 49er fans, we were not as focused on the game as we could have been. There was a lot of talking and laughing, and when the commercials came on everyone quieted down and the sound went up. One of my friends from elementry school is a movie/commerical editor and we watched for his commercials along with all of the other clever commercials that air during the Super Bowl. My favorite work of his this year was the Honda CRV commercial with Mathew Brodrick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkDdayA4iA

Our Super Bowl fare included veggies, candies, scoop style tortilla chips, and chili

Artichoke dip, pita strips, BBQ beef, turtle Chex mix, and sweet and sour chicken wings (click here for wing recipe)

To get rid of some of the leftovers I've been packing them to work the last couple of days for my coworkers to eat. Tonight I made some super nachos with the leftover chili, chips, cheese, and veggies. Below is my recipe.

Super Nachos

Ingredients

Leftover chili

5 oz. or more of Scoop style tortilla chips

1 cup or more of shredded cheese (cheddar, Mexican cheese, or cheddar/Monterey Jack mix)

1 tomato, chopped

1 avocado, scooped out of shell and cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons chopped onion (or more if you like onions)

1/2 lime or lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Cilantro, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the avocado and onion. Squeeze lime juice over the top and mix. Salt and pepper avocado mixture to taste and set aside.

Place a layer of chips on the bottom of a cast iron frying pan or ovenproof pan with the scoop side up. Spoon half of the chili into the chips. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the top of the chips and chili. Place another layer of chips, chili, and cheese over the top. Bake for 7 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Sprinkle the chopped tomato over the top. Spoon the avocado over the top and sprinkle with the cilantro. Serve immediately.

~merry~

"Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl." ~Bill Peterson, football coach