eazy peezy tuna salad

I was so hungry for tuna salad but I didn't feel like eating the mayo or ranch dressing depending on who's making the salad...

I remembered a friend of mine used avocado to bring her tuna together... It tasted so good!!


2 cans of tuna, drained
1 whole avocado
1 t. lemon juice
celery salt to taste

scoop out one cup and settle on some baby spinach and drizzle with hemp oil vinaigrette

2 spoonfuls hemp oil
2 spoonfuls balsamic vinegar or lemon juice depending on taste
stevia
salt



You can add a side of grapefruit salad...

3 grapefruits, just meat, no pulp or membrane... makes for a bitter salad
2 cara cara oranges or 5 cuties
strawberries
halved grapes
cantalope
stevia or honey
a dusting of cinnamon or 1 T mint leaves, finely chopped

Mango vinaigrette with hemp oil

I am on this detox diet based on the book Clean by Alejandro Junger, M.D.  and it's HARD!!  There are recipes in the back of the book for you to follow and they are wonderful but I am all about coloring the sky pink or orange or anything other than what is normal.  I will follow basic concepts in cooking, but given a recipe, I WILL NOT FOLLOW IT.  I don't know what it is.  I squirm when I have to use measuring tools...

...oh never mind...


anyways.. the vinaigrette...

I have found a wonderful dressing that is very good for you... salads have awoken again...anything vegetable even fruit salad can bathe in this and be good for you...

6 spoons of hemp oil
1 cup mango (I used frozen mango pieces that may or may not have included pineapple and peaches)
2 spoons of balsamic or red wine vinegar
1/2 c. lemon juice
1 minced clove of garlic
1 T minced ginger root
1 pkt stevia or to taste... some like it sweeter
salt
pepper

Put all the ingredients in a pint jar... the blender blades will fit over any small mouth jar.  Blend until creamy.  My mango pieces were frozen so the process took a little longer.

I plan to use on my salad tonight along with my chicken breast.

(caution:  do not use hemp in cooking when it calls for cooking above 325 degrees... you loose the quality.)

Enjoy!!

palates, plates and pâtes

I was going through all of my cookbooks to purge, combine and reminisce when I came upon my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook.  I grew up with this as my only viable cookbook.  Even at age 6, I knew Mrs. Crocker knew what she was doing.

Now, as an adult, I have taken to the computer to glean advice from Giada, Alton Brown, Taste of Home, Allrecipes.com, etc., etc. etc.

Is there still room for Mrs. Crocker and her gooseliver bonbons?

warming the kitchen with chicken and wild rice casserole

So, I've been frozen for the past month and just now crawled out of my cryogenic phase to warm my kitchen for some much needed warmth...

My aunt had an awesome casserole she always made which included beef.  I'm not much of a beef casserole type person.. so I used my ground chicken instead....

Pour 4 cups of water over 1/2 cup of  uncooked wild rice and 1/2 cup of uncooked brown rice ( or 1 cup wild rice).   Let stand 15 minutes.

Drain

In a 9 x 13 baking dish with the drained rice...

add 1 package of french onion soup mix
2 cans of mushrooms
2 cups of  chicken stock
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 or 1/2 cups ...peas, corn, diced carrots, cabbage, broccoli (opt.)

Saute until translucent :
3/4 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. red onion
1 T minced garlic

Add to the above mixture in the baking dish.

Brown 1 lb of ground chicken or turkey, season with
season salt
pepper
celery salt

Add to above mixture.

In the same pan as you cooked the meat add 3 T butter and 3 T. of flour, white or wheat and blend in to make a rue over med low heat.

Add 1 cup of chicken or beef stock slowly, whisking all the while.

Add in 1 cup of milk and turn up heat to med high.  When mixture come to a simmer, let cook for 2 minutes then add to the mixture in the baking dish.  Mix all ingredients well.

Put in 300 degree oven for 2 hours if you need the heat or 350 for 1 hour if you're hungry.  Add more chicken stock if it becomes dry.
 

It's great warmed over several times... actually, it gets better.  You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken instead of ground chicken.  I had some leftover smoked chicken from a neighborhood Texas BBQ restaurant.. AMAZING!!

It's great also to freeze in smaller containers to take to work, which is where the remaining casserole went this morning ....  so no pictures to post... Sorry!

Almond Toffee

Here's one for you candy makers... a non-thermometer toffee recipe.  It's my husband's grandfather's recipe.  I ALWAYS make it for Christmas and it makes the house smell so yummy.  I have tried to make it in the summer and it was a flop, literally.  You need to flash cool the toffee otherwise it doesn't taste at all the same.  Don't get me wrong.  You can never screw this up.  There's a quick fix called ice cream.

    Good luck!



1 lb butter
2 cups sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup whole almonds

Make sure you have your equipment handy... the process goes fast.

2 cookie sheets with sides, oven mitt, hand blender or mixer and a wooden spoon.

Put the butter and sugar into a non-teflon sauce pan. Slowly melt the butter and sugar while mixing them with a hand blender

Mix on on high over high heat until the butter disappears.

Mix with your wooden spoon continuously until it turns a light caramel.

Add the almonds.  You will start smelling a little burning.... don't panic.  It's the caramelized butter smell.  Keep mixing.  Your arm will get tired.  Keep mixing.

When it gets to the point you start freaking out.. "AM I BURNING IT!!"  stage, it's time to pour onto your cookie sheets.

See the puffs of "steam"... it's done.   Don't try to take pictures and cook toffee...dangerous and  just those few seconds can make the toffee a little too "toffee-ish"

The bottom of your sauce pan will be burnt, that only means you did it right.  Don't freak out... it's sugar.. it will come off.   There will be small ribbons of darker toffee throughout your last cookie sheet.

And yes, you can put chocolate chips over the toffee before you take it outside.... let the chocolate chips melt (won't take long) and spread over the toffee.  Then take it outside to cool.

Carefully transfer the cookie sheets with the toffee out into a nearby snowbank or on your deck to cool.  When the bottoms are cooled, bring them indoors.

Taking a knife, point down, break it into pieces.

My advice is to bag it all up save for a handful and give it away.  When it's all out of the house, eat the pieces you have saved.




You're welcome.

Bailey's Irish Creammmmmmmmm

I am a happy person when I get to make this...

1 c. light cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 2/3 c. Irish whiskey (or that bottle of Jack that someone got you instead of Captain Morgan)
1 t. instant coffee
2 T chocolate syrup
1 t. vanilla
1 t. almond extract

1 pinch of fairy dust to remove the calories (optional )  Never tastes the same after that, though.. Kinda ruins the whole experience.

Blend for 20 seconds on high.  Chill or pour over ice and enjoy!!!

light rye protein bread - for bread machines

2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. rye flour
2 T olive oil
2 T honey or molasses
2 T chocolate milk
1 1/2 t. bread machine yeast
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. water
1/3 c. whey protein isolate (https://www.nutrabio.com)

Put all ingredients into the mixer and select dough.  When it's finished mixing then rising.  Knead on a floured counter. Spray a bread pan with cooking spray and place kneaded dough in the pan.  Let rise until 1 inch above the bread pan.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

My kids love this bread for breakfast with butter and brown sugar.  Mmmmmmm.

Blueberry almond crisp

A package of frozen blueberries were burning a hole in my freezer.

1 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 c. sliced almonds
1/2 - 1 c. honey (depending on sweetness)
1/2 t. cardamom
1 egg white
1/4 c. melted butter
1 pkg frozen blueberries

Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray.  Pour the blueberries in.  Mix together the ingredients and pour over the blueberries.  Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or until the top turns golden.

Waffle pretzel peanut butter chocolates

My husband calls them snowshoes


1 c. peanut butter
2 T. softened butter for smoothness
powdered sugar - (I don't know the measurement based on different types of p.b I've used and it's also based on individual taste)

whip this until it's  Oh, so creamy and dreamy and spoon into a quart-sized ziploc and cut one of the corners.

melt any kind of chocolate you prefer... dark, milk chocolate, or just chocolate bits

Place....

waffle butter pretzles

down over waxed or parchment paper and squeeze some of that creamy peanut butter mixture on the pretzles and then using a spoon drench them in chocolate.

I let my kids do the chocolate.... I HIGHLY suggest you do that....

I'm not doing pictures for your sake and surprise.

ENJOY!!

A try at copy cat Sweet Baby Rays BBQ

1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/4 katsup
1/2 c. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. water
1 T worcherstershire sauce
2 1/2 t. ground mustard
2 t. smoked paprika
1 1/2 t. salt
1 t. pepper
2 t. onion powder
1/2 c. grape jelly or molasses
2 T. frozen O.J.

blend up and slather...

... or put it back in a Sweet Baby Ray's bottle and see if your husband will notice...

spaghetti sauce

My kids LOVE this!

1 lb hamburger or venison burger
1 T season salt
1 T minced garlic
2 T italian seasoning
1 T onion powder or 1/4 cup fresh chopped onion

saute until the meat starts to brown

Then add:

1/2 - 3/4 cup of red wine
1 pkg sliced mushrooms (opt)

Let that simmer down until almost gone, then add:

1 c. roasted red pepper and tomato soup
1 jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
1 cup or 1 can of diced tomatoes (optional)


Bring to a hard simmer then turn down to low and simmer until time to eat (20-30 minutes) stirring frequently.

Thanksgiving at Monte Cristo

I always have to do something different at Thanksgiving even though the very wise and talented Giata says "NEVER try something new at Thanksgiving", that just is the push I need to prove someone wrong.

Thanksgiving Monte Cristo

2 turkey breast without the bone
1 hickory flavored ham

I soaked the turkey with 1 T salt, 3 springs of rosemary and lavendar and 1/4 c of brown sugar for 36 hours.

I took the turkey out of the water 4 hours ahead of time and pounded them out until they were somewhat flat.  I then cut the ham in 1/2 inch slices and rolled the turkey with the ham setting it in a roasting pan.  It was a thanksgiving miracle it came out looking like it did... honestly.

I added 2 T of melted butter to 2 cups of cornbread stuffing and patted that over top.  Then on either side, I added 2 fresh springs of rosemary.  Covered it and said a prayer.

The oven was set on 400 for 15 minutes, then 300 until the inside temp read 180.

The Gravy  - (yes, capitalized because it was SOOOOO good)

Wolfgang Puck's recipe

1/2 c white wine (Gewurztraminer)
1/2 c.Yulumba Muscat dessert wine - he used Madiera
2 c. Turkey broth
Reduced to 1/2 then added
1 c. chicken broth
2 T butter
3 T flour

Chicken thighs CAN be cooked inside!

Once the weather is warm enough to stand outside in a sweatshirt (45 degrees or higher), I stock my freezer with chicken thighs because nothing is better than marinated grilled chicken thighs with a nice cold beer.

However, I bought more thighs than the weather could hold out and I stood in front of my oven wondering...
1. Do I remember how to use this?
2. How can I make chicken thighs indoors????

My first attempt was "eh".  We threw away most of it away because it just didn't have the flavor we remembered and it was too fatty.

My second attempt was...After throwing the rest of the uncooked ham (recipe and pictures to follow) from thanksgiving into the slow cooker with some brown sugar, I got an spark of an idea with my chicken thighs.  I had watched Alton Brown make his sauced chicken wings and thighs are about the same.  So....

Saucy Chicken Thighs

1 pkg of frozen chicken thighs

and my
basic chicken seasoning... you can add anything else to this to make it taste like mexican, italian, teryaki, etc....

1 T onion powder
1 T garlic powder
1 T season salt
2T brown sugar
1 T chicken bouillon

All of this went into my dutch oven.  I turned it on the lowest possible setting and put the lid on and basically forgot about it until the smells started wafting. (2 1/2 hours)

I let it cook until the meat was falling apart.  I mixed together...

1 1/2 c.Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce 
1 t. liquid smoke (opt)
2 T honey

I put the chicken in the sauce, gently mixed it around until all the pieces were covered and placed the pieces on a broiler pan with foil to catch the drippings underneath.  I put the oven on 225 and just let it cook until it was dinnertime.  (1 hour)

I ate it in a lavash bread wrap with carmelized onions and melted gouda cheese.  My daughter had an ooey-gooey BBQ hoagie samich and my youngest and husband just used their fingers.

Chicken Rubs and 1 Marinade

I'm constantly coming up with rubs, sauces and marinades because I'm not good with repeating the same flavor.  So, I need to write these down before they get tweaked again.

By the way, I'm not here to teach anyone cooking so if your cooking gets, well, royally fornicated, it's not my fault.  I'm just giving you the ideas and concepts.  Good Luck!!


Orange zest chicken

1/4c. brown sugar
2 T season salt
1/T onion powder
1/2 t. ground cloves
1 T orange zest
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. garlic



Wisconsin meats India Chicken

1/4c. maple syrup
1T curry
2 t. season salt


Summertime Chicken

1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 T. lemon zest
1 t. pepper
1 T season salt
1/8 t. allspice
1/2 t. ground rosemary
1 T Countrytime Lemonade

Cheeeeesecaaake

This being my first food blog post, I decided to post my favorite dish to make which causes the most smiles from the mouths that are eating what I have just served them.

 

Orange Zest Cheesecake with maple syrup sauce

3 hours before dessert....

1 pkg low fat or fat free cream cheese
1/2 can fat-free sweetened condensed milk or 1 pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 container fat free whipped cream


Set out cream cheese until room temp. With hand mixer, blend cream cheese and condensed milk until fluffier than when you started. (whatever you have time for.) Fold in the whipped cream with a spatula.

*If you are using the pudding mix, beat the cream cheese with 1/4 cup of milk or creamer, fold in the whipped cream and slowly sprinkle the dry pudding mixture so you avoid pudding lumps.  

Pour into a refrigerated large pie pan over your idea of a crust (melted and chilled chocolate, graham crust....)

Keep chilled until 20 minutes before serving. Then add the details....



Ideas to add on calories...


Turtle: melt your favorite solid chocolate bar or chocolate chips in a pie pan, chill in the freezer, add cream cheese mixture and chill again in the freezer. 20 before serving, let pie defrost and add the caramel sauce, chocolate shavings and pecan bits.



Blueberry: Add ground cardamom into cream cheese mixture. Add fresh blueberries with lemon zest.

Raspberry/Blackberry: Juice or quickly boil berries and strain seeds. Make a reduction by combining the juice with a merlot or berry wine and simmer until it makes a syrup. Add raspberries and blackberries on top with honey.

Strawberry: Boil 1/2 cup water and 1/2 c. sugar until a syrup is made. Turn off the heat and add a cup of fresh strawberries. Add fresh minced basil. Serve over a semi frozen cheesecake.


Orange zest: Add orange zest into the cream cheese mixture. Add maple syrup over and around the cheesecake. Or my husband's favorite, forget the maple syrup.... chocolate shavings!

Cookies n Cream:  Crush oreo cookies or snickerdoodles or gingerbread and add 1/4 c. of butter and pat in bottom of pie pan.  Add cream cheese mixture and add more of the same cookies over top.  (Crap!  Just thought of that...I'm going to have to make that... NOW!!)


Bananas Foster: Caramel Rum sauce with butter-sauted bananas.


Oh... I could go on and on... just use your imagination.  It's cheesecake for pete's sake!  What could go wrong!!