Soft Ginger Cookies

The ingredients seem odd, it was kind of thrown together based on about 3 other recipes combined, and using what I actually had on hand, and um, experimenting. the result is some pretty taste, soft and aromatic cookies. yum. just in time for fall.
you're welcome.

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c. unsalted butter (a stick and a half) at room temp
1 c white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar, tightly packed
1 egg
1/4 c honey

in one bowl mix the first set of ingredients(the dry ingredients). set aside. in another large bowl cream together the butter and sugars. add egg, mix well. add honey and mix thoroughly. slowly add dry ingredients to bowl until completely combined.
preheat oven to 350
drop teaspoon full at a time onto cookie sheet a couple inches apart.
bake in preheated over for 9 minutes.
let rest on cookie sheet for 5 min then move to wire rack to cool.

enjoy with a hot cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or even apple cider.

again, you're welcome. ;)

Chicken Alfredo

you ll need some fettechini(sp??) noodles and ....

Chicken

2 Chicken Breast
    (Boneless, Skinless)
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Dried Chopped Onion
1/2  Tsp Garlic Powder
2 Tbs Olive Oil
 

Sauce

 1 stick Unsalted Butter

1 Tbs Fresh minced Garlic -about 3 med cloves
3 leaves Fresh Basil, chopped
1/4 Tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1/4 C Olive Oil
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp White Pepper
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
2 C Heavy Cream
1 C (packed) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

 

Put all ingredients listed under “chicken” in a Ziploc bag, shake well so it‘s completely coated and marinade about 30 min.

Melt butter in med pot over low heat. Add garlic, basil and red pepper. Let cook 5 min. Add olive oil. Turn heat up to medium. Add salt, white and black pepper, and cream and bring to rolling simmer, until it starts to boil up (about 10 min) stirring occasionally. Once simmering, turn heat to low and add cheese. Continue to cook another 5-8 min until sauce thickens up.

While sauce is cooking, put 1 tbs olive oil in med-lg saucepan on medium heat. Once oil is hot, add contents of chicken Ziploc bag to pan. Cook until golden brown but not overcooked and dry.

Cook fettuccini pasta in salted water until al dente

Serve sauce over noodles topped with chicken...

FRESH Salsa

MMM, this is really yummy salsa. And made without canned tomatoes... so its also a bit more expensive to make. instead of using all fresh tomatoes, substitute one lb tomatoes for a can of Rotels(mmm, green chilies) tastes pretty yummy as well, but then thats cheating, because its not fresh ;)

 

2 Tbs Fresh Jalapeño
(Seeds removed for med, keep for hot)
2 Tbs Fresh Garlic
½ C Fresh Cilantro
½ C Red onion, chopped
2 Lbs. Tomatoes
2 Tbs Lime Zest(about 1 lime)
Juice from 1 Lime1 Tsp Sugar
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Pepper
½ Tsp Cumin

Put Jalp, Garlic, Cilantro and Onion  in food processor and pulse until small. Add rest of ingredients and process until desired consistency. Let sit in refrigerator about an hour to let flavors mature.

Ranch Dressing/Dipping Sauce

1 c Mayo
1/2 c sour cream
2 tbs fresh parseley
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 tsp oregano
4 tbs whole milk

blend well with hand mixer whish. store in fridge an hour or more to blend flavors.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Im still perfecting this recipe. The flavor is AMAZING, the texture is a bit watery. So this is a "rough draft" of the final project. Any tips on how to thicken it up would be welcome.


(2) 14 oz cans of Artichoke Hearts, drained well and diced
1 lb of FRESH spinach (if you want to wash it, do it the day before and make sure its completly dry first!)
1 1/2 c. sour cream
1 package (8 oz) Cream cheese
3/4 c. Mayo
2 Tbs Fresh Garlic, minced
1 Tbs fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp Red pepper flakes
4-5 Cups Parmesan Reggiano, grated
2 Roma Tomatoes, diced

Combine all ingredients besides spinach into a Large(8 qt.) pot over medium heat. Stir contents mixing well. Add spinach a handful or two at a time (as it heats it will shrink up). Continue to cook until all spinach is added and mixed well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add contents of pot  to 9X13 casserole dish and bake in over for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with Bruchetta

Bruschetta:

5 leaves Fresh Basil, chopped
4-5 Cloves Garlic
Handful Italian Parsley, stems removed
½ C. Parmesan Cheese
1 C. Olive Oil(Extra Virgin)
Salt(Kosher/Sea)
French Baguette

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees. Cut Baguette into ½” slices. Combine basil, garlic and parsley in food processor and process until chopped fine. Add Parmesan cheese and leave on. Slowly add olive oil while processing. Take mixture and spread about a teaspoon onto each baguette slice. Sprinkle each slice with salt. Place baguette slices on cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven about 5 min. Then turn to Low Broil until browned (only a few minutes, watch closely!)

Great with Spinach Artichoke Dip!

Hot Honey Wings Sauce

1 stick butter
1/4 c louisiana hot sauce
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 c honey
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt

put all ingr together in pot over med heat. bring to boil and let boil 5-7 min until sauce thickens up whisking constantly. turn heat off and let cool in mason jar. makes about 1 cup sauce.

Peach Rosemary Lamb Chops

Heres another recipe that was thrown together based on what I had available. Ive never made Lamb before, and it turned out quite yummy.

Ingredients:

1 Overripe Peach
1 Tsp Fresh Rosemary, chopped
2 Tsp Fresh Basil, chopped
¼ Tsp Ground Ginger
¼ Tsp Ground Nutmeg
¼ Tsp Oregano
¼ Tsp Paprika
¼ Tsp White Pepper
4 Lamb Chops

Mash Peach well, mix in herb and spices. Put Mixture in a Ziploc bag and add Lamb Chops. Marinate 6 hours (or overnight).
Heat a skillet on med/high heat ad spray nonstick cooking spray to coat. Pour entire contents of Ziploc into skillet and cook about 8 min per side or until desired internal temperature is met and outside is browned.

Basil-Lime & Garlic Ribeye with Basil-Garlic Potato "chunks"

Dinner tonight was amazing. We had some steaks that were getting "aged" and needed to be eaten up asap. They were tender and delicious, and here is a quick, last minute recipe to cook some up. Its raining outside so this recipe is cooked using stove top pan frying, which is not, by any means my fav way to cook a steak... I'm sure grilling would be 100 x's better. You'll have to try it and let me know! ;)

STEAKS:

2 Rib eyes
Texjoy(heres where you can find it) its a steak seasoning, but we use it on EVERYTHING.
1 med sized Lime
Fresh Basil, about 6-7 leaves, chopped
Fresh Lemon Balm(optional) 2 leaves, chopped
1-2 cloves Garlic

Lightly Sprinkle steaks with Texjoy(or any other, not quite as good as the best, steak seasoning). Add Basil, lemon balm and garlic. Press into meat well so seasonings stick and flavors will lock in.
Squeeze 1/2 of lime juice onto steak and let rest for about 15 min.

Set frying pan on med/high. Add steaks, squeeze rest of lime juice into pan and cook until done but tender. (however "done" is to you. If you like your steak brown all the way through, don't come bitching to me when it has no flavor, isn't tender, or doesn't taste good... that's NOT how a steak should be cooked. Grab some ketchup, take your steak and go elsewhere)
Once cooked to desired temp, remove from heat and let rest about 5 min.

POTATOES:

4 or 5 Gold potatoes, chopped into "chunks"
2 tbs. Fresh Garlic, minced
1 Tbs. Fresh Basil, chopped
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 c. all purpose flour
Oil for frying








Set fryer at 375 degrees.
Wash potatoes, cut into cubes and dry on towel.

In a bowl, mix rest of ingredients.
Add potatoes to bowl and coat well.


Once hot, fry potatoes for about 3 minutes. Shake off excess oil and put back in flour mixture bowl. Toss in flour mixture well while still hot and coated in oil. Put bowl with potatoes in fridge for about 20 min.


Dump entire bowl contents into fryer and cook for about another 5-8 minutes until potatoes golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot!



I added some season salt to these and they were just perfect!

Pineapple Chicken (and Pineapple Terryaki Chicken)

Find the Chopsticks! Asian(ish) food time! I serve this over white rice. When cooking I add about a 1/2 cup more water to the rice than directed so its slightly sticky and not too dry.


For Pineapple Chicken use the following recipe (For teriyaki, see below*)

1 tbs. sesame oil
1/4 c. plus 1 tbs. soy sauce
3 cloves of garlic, minced (about 1 tbs)
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 tbs. white rice vinegar
2 tbs. brown sugar, packed
2 tbs. orange marmalade
1/2 tsp. season salt (Lawry's)
1/4 tsp. crushed red peppers
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
2 chicken breast, sliced into thin pieces
1 (20 oz.) can pineapple sliced, in 100% juice. DO NOT DRAIN.



Place skillet or Wok on med heat. Add sesame oil and soy sauce to pan. Once hot, add garlic and onions and cook about 5 min until tender, not brown. Add vinegar, b. sugar, marmalade, season salt, crushed red pepper, and ginger. Stir well.
Add green and red peppers and about 1/2 the juice from the can of pineapple. Cover and let cook about 6-8 min until peppers start to get soft.
Add chicken. Add remainder of juice and pineapple slices from can(you can cut them up if you'd like, i just kind of mash them in the pan while cooking).
Cover and continue to cook about 10 minutes or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally.
Serve hot over white rice.

*the only difference for the teriyaki chicken is that i usually marinade the chicken strips for at least 24 hrs prior to cooking in glaze, plus i use about 1/2 bottle of glaze. Then when cooking, after adding the chicken, i add the rest of the bottle of glaze to pan.

"Kids" Mac N' Cheeze

I was asked to make mac and cheese for a friends daughters 1st bday party. And I was challenged with what to do! GO figure. I can make some damn good spicy adult mac n cheese, but for kids I was stumped. So I went with the staple... Velveeta. Its fake, creamy and cheesy... perfect for kids! I couldn't leave it at just that, and simply follow the recipe on the package, so here is what I did: (and let me tell you, it was tasty! the adults couldn't keep their hands off it either!!)

1 stick (unsalted) butter
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 c AP flour
1/8 tsp Ground Mustard
1/2 tsp Pepper
2 cups whole milk, divided
1 egg
32 oz Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 lb box uncooked pasta shells
1 c. Cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt butter over med heat. Add Salt. Once butter is melted, whisk in flour, stir CONSTANTLY and cook about 5 min, until it starts to thicken up. Add g. mustard and pepper. Beat egg with 1 cup milk and add SLOWLY to roux mixture. Continue whisking. (it will turn to this thick paste almost at this point...its ok, the cheese will mix with it nicely!)  Add rest of milk. Mix well, and add cheese, about 1/3rd at a time and mix often. Cook pasta al dente while cheese sauce is cooking. When pasta is done drain well and pour into 13X9 casserole dish. Then add cheese sauce and mix well (you want to get the cheese all crammed up into those shells!). Top with cheddar cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20min, or until cheese is melted. ENJOY!

mmmmm, cheese sauce.