Oven Roasted Pork Chop with Fruit Salsa over Mango-Eggplant Risotto

So really, I have been cooking.  I've just been incredibly slow on the blogging front.  And I started having trouble with some of my photos, which just won't do.  And yadda yadda yadda.  Enough on the excuses.

This recipe I made for me, not for The Husband.  Sometimes he's very adventurous - I was so proud the other day in Charleston when he ate and enjoyed a pesto-based pizza!  But other times, not so much.  Pork chops are one of his boring things.  He thinks they should be grilled with bbq sauce.  Period.  End of story.

Well that just wasn't going to cut it for me.  I had a mango that needed to be used.  I had an eggplant that needed to be used (by the way, expect a lot of eggplant recipes, I'm swimming in them!).  I was going to use them!  And boy am I glad I did!  The meal even got a tolerable "I guess it's okay but BBQ sauce is better" from The Husband as he cleaned his plate.

The mango really added an interesting flavor to the risotto.  The sweetness was subtle, but the way the mango interacted with the chicken stock and the eggplant was - to my mind - quite fantastic.

Ingredients

Fruit Salsa

3 small heirloom tomatoes, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 peach, diced
1/2 mango, diced
1 cayenne, minced
handful of fresh cilantro
juice from 1/2 lime

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Let sit for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

Pork

Pork chops
juice from 1/2 lime
splash of white wine

Loosely wrap chops in tinfoil with the lime juice and the wine.  Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

Risotto

2 T evoo
1/2 c rice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 eggplant, diced
1 quart chicken stock
1 cayenne, minced
1/2 mango, diced
1/2 c white wine

Heat the oil in a saute pan.  Heat the chicken stock to a simmer in a separate pan.

Add the rice and garlic to the saute pan.  Stir until the rice becomes transparent.  Add the eggplant and cook for another minute or two.  Add a ladle of hot chicken stock to the pan, stirring constantly.  When the stock is nearly evaporated, add another.  Continue in this manner, always stirring constantly until the rice becomes tender and creamy.  At this point, add the cayenne and mango, and then the wine.  Stir and cook a minute or two more, then serve hot.

Sweet and Sourdough Muffins

I had an extra cup of sourdough starter hanging around and about 30 minutes in which to use it.  The solution?  Muffins!  Muffins are perfect.  Fast, simple, and you can have endless variety.  I went with cheesy muffins this time, but I was very close to doing a cranberry one.  Next week, maybe!

Ingredients

1 c sourdough starter
1 c bread flour
1/2 c sugar
dash salt
1 t baking soda
1 egg
1/4 c oil
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese.  Or fruit.  Or nuts.  Or whatever your little heart desires!

Combine all ingredients.  Grease muffin tin and fill cups about 2/3s full (this made 9 muffins for me).  Bake at 430 for 20 minutes.

Trail Bread

Sorry for the slow posting lately!  Things are starting to get a bit hectic around here - I just spent a week backpacking in the Grand Canyon, and am rushing to finish this months HH6 challenge while also prepping for Thanksgiving and then the movers will be here in less than three weeks and we're off across the country once more!

I've been meaning to post this particular recipe for months now.  The picture isn't all that good, and I didn't think to get a shot of us actually eating this bread in the canyon!  Anyway, this is a variation on a recipe from Alaska Roadhouse Recipes.  It's definitely not an every-day bread - each piece packs about 400 calories (I haven't done the exact math)!  But when you're doing long hikes and backpacking, you really need the extra fuel.  In addition to being calorie dense, durable and lightweight, this trail bread is also delicious, sweetened with molasses and honey.  This is a bonus for me, because sometimes when I'm burning that many calories I start not wanting to eat, but I'd never turn down a piece of this bread!

Ingredients

4 c whole wheat flour
1 c water
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c honey
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c molasses
3 T powdered milk
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/3 c chopped nuts
1/3 c dried fruit
1/8 c chocolate chips

Mix everything together.  Pour into greased pan.  Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cut into 12-16 pieces.

Pumpkin Apple Cake

Dear blog, I have been neglecting you!  I am very sorry and will try to remedy this.  I have, in fact, been cooking, but just haven't gotten around to posting everything I've cooked!

It's fall (I think - it's hard to tell by looking out the window here!), and that means some of my favorite foods.  Pumpkins and apples just scream autumn to me and they work so well together that I just HAD to mix them up in a cake!

Ingredients

• 2 c flour
• 1 t ginger
• 1 t baking soda
• 3/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground allspice
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 1/3 c oil
• 1/3 c molasses
• 1/2 c apple cider
• 1/2 large apple, diced
• 1/2 large apple, sliced thinly
• 2 T brown sugar
• dash cinnamon

 Preheat oven to 350.  Mix everything but the last four ingredients in a bowl until the batter is smooth.  Stir in diced apples.  In a small bowl, toss sliced apples with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Grease a 9x9 pan and pour in half of the batter.  Spread the sliced apples over top, then cover with the remaining batter.  Bake 40-50 minutes.

Berrymisu

Who doesn't love tiramisu?  Well, my mom for one.  And many people who do not like the taste of espresso.  Now, I'm actually one of those espresso-haters, so I was a tiramisu-hater for the longest time.  Until my friend made tiramisu using the Best Recipe Ever.  Seriously, if you make tiramisu any other way... well, you shouldn't.

However, sometimes I'm in the mood for some mascarpone-cream goodness, but not for the traditional espresso and chocolate.  So I took tiramisu and gave it a fruity twist.  This is a great change for a hot summer and the sweet cream and tart raspberries complement each other perfectly.

Ingredients

1 c peach nectar or other sweet fruit juice

6 T brandy

6 large egg yolks

3/4 c granulated sugar

Pinch of table salt

1/2 c heavy cream

16 oz mascarpone cheese

6 oz raspberries

2 sleeves ladyfingers (more if you get the smaller kind)

Combine 2 T brandy with the fruit nectar in a shallow bowl.  Set aside.  Put egg yolks, sugar and salt in the mixer.  Beat at medium-high for four minutes.  Egg mixture should be pale yellow and frothy.  Add the cream, stirring well.  Hold bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for five minutes or until the mixture reaches 160.  Pour into another bowl and cool to room temperature.  Back in the mixer, add the mascarpone and 1/4 c brandy to the egg and cream mixture.  Beat at medium or medium high for about 3-4 minutes, until smooth and thick.  Puree 4 oz of the raspberries and stir them into the mascarpone mixture gently.

Dip the ladyfingers one at a time into the fruit juice, rolling quickly (2 second total!).  Line the bottom of the pan with dipped cookies.  Spread 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture over top.  Sprinkle on the rest of the raspberries, pushing them gently down into the cream.  Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers and another layer of cream.

Cover and refrigerate.

Vegetable Stew with Turkey

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to win a copy of Vegan Family Meals from Saraplicious! Kitchen.  Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am the FARTHEST thing from a vegan that there is, but I was really excited about this book as a chance to learn how to make veggies tasty.  Both The Husband and I are focusing a lot more on our diet and getting the proper amount of veggies is usually a struggle.  If this recipe is anything to go by, I think our struggles might be over!

As soon as the book showed up in the mail, I was off to the grocery store.  I decided to try a variation (meat good!) on the book's South American Veggie Stew.  One of the best things about this recipe is how simple it was to make.  I didn't have to spend hours chopping and dicing, or prowl through six stores to find some weird ingredient.  Easy-peasy, and amazingly delicious!  The dried fruit gives the whole thing a sweetness that I never would have expected.  So, here is my decidedly non-vegan variation on Ms. Gentry's theme.

Ingredients

6 dried apricots, chopped
6 dried plums, chopped
2 c warm water
2 T olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can plain diced tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste
a handful of baby red potatoes, chopped
1 green pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 c corn
1 can kidney beans
Roasted turkey, cut into bite-size pieces
pepper to taste

Soak the dried fruit in the water for 3-24 hours.  Strain, reserving both fruit and liquid.  Heat the olive oil in a pot and sautee garlic and onion until translucent.  Add tomatoes and sauce, stirring well.  Cook for three minutes, then add the potatoes and the liquid from the fruit.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 12 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the bell pepper is tender.

No Guilt Peach "Cheese"cake

If you're anything like me, you love to eat.  Delicious, delicious things.  And, if you're anything like me, you also wouldn't mind losing a few pounds.  But the real question is can you do both?  Well, this dessert can help!  It doesn't taste quite like "real" cheesecake, but it's certainly close enough to satisfy the craving.  At about 1/3 the calories and practically no fat, it's a great trade off!

Ingredients

32 oz fat-free Dannon yogurt (don't use Yoplait!)
Coffee filters or cheesecloth
Grahm cracker crumbs
1 can peaches
2 T quick-cooking tapioca
1/2 c honey
1 t vanilla
2 T arrowroot powder
1 1/2 t cinnamon
6 T egg white beaters (or two eggs)

The day before, strain the yogurt using either coffee filters or cheesecloth.  Put in the refrigerator for 24 hours to completely strain.  Discard liquid.

Mix the grahm cracker crumbs with a bit of water and press them into the bottom and sides of your cheesecake pan.  Chill the pan.

Preheat oven to 325.

Drain the peaches, reserving juice.  Mix juice and tapioca in a saucepan, cooking over low until just thickened (3-5 minutes).

In a large bowl, begin mixing together the strained yogurt, honey, vanilla, arrowroot and cinnamon.  Carefully stir in the tapioca mixture and finally the egg mixture.

Pour half the batter into the pan.  Layer half the peaches, sliced thinly, on the batter, then top with the remaining batter and peaches.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake for 60 minutes, then chill for several hours.

Solar-Powered Tea

Okay, so this is a little lame, but I've also been on the road for a month straight and only just got a kitchen back. Anyway, the HH6 challenge this month was to prepare a dish using a technique you've never used before.  Needless to say, my kitchen isn't yet functioning, so I needed something easy.  As it happened, this PCS took us to somewhere quite warm, so the idea popped into my head "How about using the sun to cook?"

I thought about trying to fry an egg on my balcony, but we're east-facing, not west, and I still haven't been to the commissary yet.  What I do have a lot of, though, is tea.  So, why not iced tea?  Perfect, especially given that I got very dehydrated my first day here and have been forcing myself to chug lots of water (I really don't like drinking water).

At my visit to Stash tea a few weeks ago, I picked up a box of raspberry orange iced tea mix (Of course, you don't need to use a tea made specifically for iced tea - any tea will do!  You do want to use about three times as much tea as you would for plain water though.).  I tossed my teabag into my brand new .99c pitcher, filled it up with water, set it on the balcony, and continued cleaning the new apartment.

A few hours later I came back and pulled the tea back inside.  I then added some ice and pureed peach, and started drinking!  Delicious!

Summer Trifle

This is a fantastic, healthier dessert for as the weather starts warming up.  As an added benefit, it's incredibly simple as well.  I think my mom and I first found this recipe when I was in high school - it's been a favorite ever since!  I make it a little differently every time, by using fruits that are in season, or just whatever fruits I want!  Using different amounts of fruit also changes the dish in enjoyable ways.  I prefer to err on the side of more, but if you like a little less that works too!

Ingredients

2 angel food cakes
4-8 c mixed fruit
1/4 c fruit juice or fruit flavored liquor

Simmer the fruit and the juice until the fruit is quite soft and has released its juices.  Mash the fruit coarsely and set aside.

Tear the angel food cakes into bite sized pieces.  Places one layer over the bottom of a medium bowl or trifle bowl.  Ladle some of the fruit over top.  Add another layer of cake, then another layer of fruit.  Continue until you run out of cake and fruit, but make sure to end with cake on the top.

Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Using another bowl (or pretty much anything else), place weights on top of the cake.  The plastic wrap should be loose enough to allow the weight to compress the cake.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.  Remove weight and serve with fat-free whipped cream.

Mascarpone-Berry Turnovers

We're looking at a PCS in the near future and part of getting ready to move means eating your way through your freezer.  I had a sheet of puff pastry there and almost two gallons of frozen berries, so turnovers it was!  The berries were mostly blueberries, but with a fair amount of crowberries mixed in.  Yum!  Make sure to taste the filling and adjust the sugar based on the tartness of your berries.

We enjoyed our dessert with a white port.  White ports are made from a different grape than tawnies and rubies.  Most of them are not worth the glass they are bottled in, but this particular one is absolutely fantastic.  To my mind, it has the flavor of a tawny, but is much lighter, less syrupy.  Open it early, perhaps even a full day, to let it breathe.

Ingredients

1/4 c berries
2 T sugar
1 T flour

1 t vanilla
1/2 c berries
2 T mascarpone cheese
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

Bring the berries, sugar, flour and vanilla to a boil.  Mash the berries to release their juices.  Remove from heat and stir in the remaining berries and mascarpone.  Set aside to cool.

Roll the puff pastry until it is about 12x12.  Slice in half (or in quarters for smaller turnovers).  Place a 3T (3t for smaller turnovers) filling on each piece of pastry.  Fold in a triangle, like a flag, and seal the edges.

Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve hot, with ice cream!

Salmon Salad

A few months ago, we were wandering through New Sagaya and were offered samples of their crab salad.  It was, not to put too fine a point on it, one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted.  Since then, I've had a hole in my heart and tried to fill it with this.  Now, this isn't QUITE as good as the crab salad (but really, when does salmon compare to king crab?), but it's still a great little snack, hors d'oevre, or even sandwich!

Be sure to make this the day before serving - it benefits immensely from having a day for the flavors to meld.  Additionally, do not neglect the tomato!  This is one of those magical combinations where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!  The proportions are easily adjustable.  The amount below made two meals for me.

Ingredients

1/4 salmon fillet

Season salt, ground pepper, garlic, cayenne

1/4 granny smith apple, diced

1/2 stick celery, diced

1/8 c grated asiago (substitute fresh Parmesan if you'd like)

2-4 T mayo

pepper, cayenne, cajun seasoning

1 tomato, sliced

Rub the salmon fillet with the salt, pepper, garlic, and cayenne.  Grill until flaky.

Shred the salmon with a fork and mix with apple, celery and cheese.  Stir in the mayo a little at a time until the salad reaches the right consistency.  Blend in further seasonings to taste.  Serve on sliced tomato.

Pecan Pie Cookies and Bananas Foster Pastry

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, each month the HH6 club puts out a cooking challenge.  The challenge for March was to come up with a concept dish for an MRE.  For those of you who do not hail from the military world, an MRE (meal ready to eat) is a box of portable, lightweight rations designed to support military members in locations where chow halls aren't readily available. 

MREs are not (despite some misconceptions) dehydrated or freeze dried.  They are actually preserved using a variation on the canning technique.  The pouch containing the food is not plastic, but more thin layers of aluminum which can be sealed airtight and processed the same way you would process canned fruits or veggies.  While this yields a significantly heavier ration (due to water content) than dehydrated or freeze-dried food, it is quicker to prepare and can even be eaten with no preparation at all if time is an issue (and in combat, it certainly could be!).

Since MREs are more canned food than backpacking food, there are actually a lot fewer restrictions in the food composition than you might otherwise have.  For example, you can have larger pieces of meat than if you were dehydrating the food first.  Still, canning tends to work best with "saucy" type things.  Rice is notoriously difficult, though apparently the military has figured that one out already!

MREs used to be, to put it plainly, awful.  In recent years as the preservative technology has advanced, they've become quite edible - though the menu choices are still fairly boring.  Click here to see the 2011 entree list.

See why we want to spice it up?

Here's a picture of the contents of a Beef Ravioli MRE.

Included:

Beef Ravioli
Beef Snack Stick
Vegetable Crackers
Jalapeno Cheese Spread
Toffee Cookies
Chocolate Chip Toaster Pastry
Orange Flavored Electrolyte drink mix
Acessory Pack
          o Xylitol chewing gum
          o Water-resistant matchbook
          o Napkin / toilet paper
          o Moist towelette
          o Seasonings, including salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, and/or Tabasco sauce

A common complaint about MREs stems from a very significant lack of fiber.  Most MREs are lucky to contain less than half the fiber that they ought to.  I plan to address this with my concept MRE.

Concept MRE: Mardi Gras Edition!

Chicken Etouffe
Whole-grain Cajun Rice
Wheat Crackers with Maple Pepper
Hard Aged Cheddar slices
Pecan Pie Cookies
Bananas Foster Pastry
Hurricane Flavored Electrolyte drink mix

Yes, we're going with the Mardi Gras theme here!  Let's break it down a bit.

Chicken Etouffe

I already blogged this recipe here.  It's fantastic and flavorful (unlike most MREs!), but not overly spicy.  I don't know anyone who doesn't like etouffe!  Traditionally you would see shrimp etouffe.  Apart from my undying hatred of shrimp, I went with chicken because eating canned meat is moderately less pleasant than eating fresh meat, but eating canned seafood is just plain nasty.


Whole-grain Cajun Rice

It's not etouffe if you aren't eating it over rice.  Plus, it's a great way to sneak a few veggies in, not to mention the fiber from whole grains.  I mentioned earlier that canning rice is very difficult, but since the MRE gods have already figured this one out, I'll leave the logistics to them.


Wheat Crackers with Maple Pepper

MREs already feature crackers quite regularly.  Seems like it would be pretty easy to just use wheat instead of white (with more fiber to boot!), and maple pepper sounds odd but is to die for on crackers.  See a fancier version here.


Hard Aged Cheddar Slices

Away with that nasty faux-cheese spread!  Dairy products are not recommended for canning by the FDA, but a good hard cheddar can (and is!) aged for years in parafin.  It'll last as long as the MRE will, and will just get better as time goes by.

Pecan Pie Cookies:

These tasty little treats are hand-held, durable versions of the traditional southern dessert.  A little chocolate brings out the flavor and you'll never notice the wheat flour - but you'll get the fiber!  Hat-tip to allrecipes for the base.

Ingredients (makes 6-8 cookies)

Cookie

3/4 c flour
1/4 c wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 c brown sugar
6 T butter
1/2 egg
1 t vanilla

Filling

2 T butter
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 T honey
1/2 t vanilla
1 t dark rum
1 t cocoa powder
1/4 c chopped pecans

Melt the butter.  Stir in the sugar, honey, vanilla, rum, and cocoa.  Once all the ingredients are blended, mix in the pecans.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Whip the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla, then slowly beat in the flours and baking powder until dough forms.

Spoon dough into cupcake tins.  Use your fingers to form the dough into a "cup" running about 1/4 to 1/2 inch up the walls of the tin.  Fill each cup with 1 t filling.  Bake 13 minutes.

Bananas Foster Pastry
This recipe is the only one that would need to be significantly altered before being incorporated into an MRE.  However, since they already include various flavors of toaster pastry, it should be easy for them to make a bananas foster version.

Ingredients (makes 3)

1 sheet puff pastry
2 bananas
1/4 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c tuaca or other fruit-flavored liquor
1/4 c dark rum

Cut the pastry sheet into nine squares.  Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the brown sugar and cinnamon, stirring until well dissolved.  Add the liquor and carefully flambee until the alcohol is burned off.  Add in the bananas and cook for 5-10 minutes.  Remove bananas and slice thinly.

Grease a sheet pan.  Lay out three squares of puff pastry.  Place 3-5 (depending on thickness) slices on each sheet of puff pastry.  Spoon over some sauce, then cover each with another sheet of pastry.  Add bananas and sauce again, then cover with the final slices of puff pastry.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.  You may have to turn the tray to ensure even browning.

Serve with icecream, drizzle with any remaining sauce.

Hurricane Flavored Electrolyte drink mix

Come on, if they can make orange and lime flavors, they can make hurricane flavors!  Heck, I'm pretty sure Jello had a hurricane flavored mix a few years back.

Strawberry-Balsamic Reduction

Well, it's been a hectic few weeks.  Between crazy work schedules, getting sick, Fur Rondy and what have you, it's been hard to motivate myself to blog!  Next week is Spring Break though, and I've already got a few recipes planned for the few days before I go on my SuperAwesomeTrip.  Now, on to the food!

This sauce is, to put it simply, amazing.  It's simple, easy to make, and delicious on just about anything.  Serve drizzled over roasted veggies, or top your ice-cream with it - you can't go wrong!  The only thing to be careful of is your vinegar.  This will make or break your sauce, so don't use the generic stuff.  Shell out a few extra bucks for something good.

Ingredients

1/3 c water
1/4 c honey
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
1 c chopped strawberries
2 T ruby port

Bring the water and vinegar to a boil.  Add honey, strawberries, and port.  Simmer until reduced by half.  Transfer to food processor and puree until smooth.

Strawberry Tartlets

Yesterday was, of course, Valentine's Day.  It was also the Husband's birthday, so I went all-out cooking.  Last fall, Husband had requested that I learn how to make pie crusts.  With that request in mind, I decided that these strawberry tartlets (based off of this recipe at Epicurious) would be the perfect dessert.

This was my first venture into crust-making, and it was a good thing I started the crusts a day early because my first attempt was a complete and utter failure!  I made some adjustments, and the second time worked like a charm.

We paired the tart with a vintage character port - fantabulous!

Recipe makes four tartlets or one full-size tart.

Ingredients

4 mini tart pans or one large tart pan with removeable bottom

Crust

1 1/4 c flour
3 T sugar
1/4 t salt
7 T butter
1 egg yolk
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon juice
3 T ice-cold water

Slice the butter into small pieces.  Put flour, sugar, salt and butter into the bowl of a food processor.  Process until well blended, with butter being no larger than pea sized.  Mix together the yolk, vanilla, lemon and water, then slowly add to the flour mixture, processing just enough to form a dough.

Gently knead for a minute or two.  Press to fill greased tart pans, then place in the freezer for an hour or until completely frozen.

Preheat to 375.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Add greased pie weights and bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned.  Cool for at least 20 minutes.


Filling

8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/4 c powdered sugar (or a little less)
1 t vanilla
3 T ruby port
1 T milk (or more)

Using a hand-held mixer, whip the first three ingredients until smooth.  Add the port until a light purple color is achieved.  Add milk as needed to smooth and thin out the filling.


Strawberries and glaze

1 pint strawberries
2 T sugar
3/4 c ruby port

Thinly slice the strawberries and toss with the sugar.  Let sit for 30 minutes.  Drain, reserving the liquid.  Mix the strawberry juice with the port in a small saucepan and simmer until reduced by half.'

Spread the mascarpone filling in the tart shells.  Layer the sliced strawberries on top, pressing gently.  Spoon glaze over top and refrigerate 20 minutes before serving.

Apple-Peach Cream Cheese Bites

This is one of the gems in the Double Musky cookbook.  Prefacing the recipe, they mention that few guests at the Double Musky have actually tasted this - whenever they make it, the staff eats it before it can be served!  I can certainly see why!  This is, without a doubt, the most delicious AND the easiest cheesecake I have ever made.  It takes all the best parts of a fruit pie and a cheesecake, melding them into one sinfully delicious bite.

The mini-cheesecake is an optional format.  This works equally well in a traditional springform or a pie tin.

Ingredients

Crust

1 package grahm crackers
1/2 c sugar
3 T butter, room temperature

Fruit layer

3 c fruit of your choice, diced and sliced
1/2 c sugar
2 T flour
cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste

Cream Cheese layer

1 8oz tub of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c cream
1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 400.

Crush the grahm crackers with your hand, then place in food processor with the sugar and butter.  Process until completely blended.  Press into pan.  If using a pie tin, do not extend the crust all the way out.  If using springform, make sure to press the crust up the side of the pan.

In a bowl, mix together sugar, flour and spices.  Gently stir in the fruit until well coated.  Spread evenly in the pan.

Bake the fruit and crust for 10-15 minutes.  Reduce oven to 350.

Meanwhile, blend the sugar and cream cheese well.  Beat in the eggs, then add the cream and vanilla, just until completely mixed.  Pour on top of fruit and bake 20-40 minutes, or until center is firm and the outsides are just starting to brown.  Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Chicken Etouffe and Mulled Cider

Merry Christmas!  This was our Christmas Eve dinner, thanks to The Husband for finding the cookbook.  Usually you expect Shrimp Etouffe, but I am not a shrimp fan, so chicken it is.

Ingredients

Brown Sauce

2 c beef stock
Burgundy wine to taste
Beef base
brown roux (flour, butter/margarine blend)

Combine first three ingredients in a medium pot.  Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 30-60 minutes.  While this is simmering, make the roux by melting 1 c of the butter blend and adding 1 c of flour to the melted butter.  Whisk constantly to ensure that the roux doesn't burn.  If the roux burns, throw it out and start over.  Continue whisking and cooking the butter and flour (adding more flour as needed) until the roux darkens to a reddish milk-chocolate color.  At this point, remove roux from heat and continue to stir.  Add a little bit of stock to the roux to help cool it down (be careful!).  Remove stock from burner and begin whisking in the roux until the sauce thickens, a little at a time.  Adjust consistency with more roux or more wine.  Simmer for another hour to blend flavors.


Etouffe

1/4 c butter
1 T garlic
1/2 T parsley
1 c diced celery
1 c green onions
1 c chicken stock
1 c diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 t hot pepper sauce
2 t thyme
2 T garlic
black pepper
1 c brown sauce
1 chicken breast, cut into slices

Melt butter with garlic and parsley.  Add in celery and onions and simmer until celery is half cooked.  Add stock, tomatoes, bay leaves, hot pepper sauce, thyme, garlic, and pepper and reduce heat to simmer until sauce thickens.  Remove bay leaves and add brown sauce.

Meanwhile, brown the chicken in a skillet with salt and pepper.  Add to the sauce and cook until chicken is done.

Serve over rice.

Mulled Cider

In a crockpot, combine cider with 2 sticks cinnamon, 1/4 c cranberries, 1 orange (sliced and studded with cloves), and a dash of ginger and cayenne.  Cook on low for several hours.

Caramel Apple-Cranberry Gingerbread

Excuse the horrible picture.  I'm using the little point and shoot and it came out bad so I had to fudge it a bit, but it was too tasty not to post!  Thanks to Bay Area Bites for the idea!

Tip: if your apple slices are too big, a round cookie cutter will fix them!

Ingredients

Gingerbread - use a mix or mix your own!

1 apple, minced
a dozen cranberries, minced

1 dozen apple slices

2 T butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 dozen cranberries

Mix up your gingerbread.  Stir in the minced apples and cranberries.  Grease or line your muffin tins and preheat the oven.  Fill the muffin tins.  DO NOT OVERFILL!

In a skillet, melt the butter.  Add in the brown sugar and cranberries, stirring until a caramel is formed.  Dip each apple slice in the caramel, then lay on top of each muffin.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean!

Apple Crisp Cupcakes

A while back I was complaining about how we can't go apple picking up here and how difficult it is to find good apples.  My mom, being a most excellent mother, went out to an apple stand and mailed me a box full of crunchy, fruity goodness.  In fact, she mailed me so many that I could scarcely eat them all!  I need another use for apples.  I considered a pie, but didn't feel like making a crust.  So, apple crisp cupcakes it was!

Ingredients

Two apples, diced
1 T butter
cinnamon and sugar to taste

1 c sugar
1/2 c melted butter, cooled to room temperature
2 eggs
3/4 t vanilla

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder

2/3 c milk

1/2 c brown sugar
3 T butter, room temperature
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c oats


To start, make the filling.  Combine apples, butter, cinnamon and sugar in a small saucepan.  Simmer over medium heat until the apple soften and the sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and cool.


Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, cream the sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.  Slowly add the flour mix to the sugar mix, alternating with the milk.  Blend well.


Grease your muffin tin, or use liners.  Put one small scoop of batter into each cup, just enough to cover the bottom.  Spoon in some of the apple mixture, then top with more batter.


In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and oats until they are well mixed.  Sprinkle atop the cupcakes.


Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Halibut with Peach-Pear salsa, Roasted Pear Salad with Peach Vinaigrette

Hurray!  The photo uploader is working again!  I can continue to share my deliciousness with you!

This is a fantastic dish, tasty and healthy, full of fruits and veggies.  As a bonus, it's really easy to do.  I wanted to do a macadamia crusted 'but for this one, but it's really hard to find macadamia nuts in Alaska.  Go figure.

Ingredients

1 halibut fillet, cut into quarters
1 c seasoned bread crumbs (just add some salt and pepper!)
1/4 c diced onion
1/2 jalapeno, diced
1 pear, diced
1 peach, diced

baby spinach
roasted walnuts
dried cranberries
1 pear, sliced

3/4 c EVOO
1/4 c vinegar (changing the type of vinegar changes the final product... experiment!)
2 T peach preserves or pureed peaches

First, prepare the salsa.  Mix the onion, jalapeno, pear and peach together in a bowl.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Second, the vinaigrette.  Oil and vinegar do not want to mix, as you will see.  I like shaking them together in an old water bottle to force the mixing.  Blend in the preserves as well.

Now, preheat the oven to 350.  Take the halibut pieces and dip them first into the vinaigrette, then coat them in bread crumbs.  Bake until flaky, approximately 10 minutes per inch of thickness.  While they are baking, sprinkle the pear slices with vinaigrette and roast in the oven.

While the fish is cooking, mix the spinach, cranberries and walnuts together.

To serve, place a bed of salad on the plate along with a few slices of roasted pear.  Top with halibut, drizzle with vinaigrette, and top with salsa.  Enjoy!

Teriyaki Salmon and Pineapple-Chili Halibut

The Husband's uncle and girlfriend were in town, so we made some inroads on our remaining fish and had a great big seafood extravaganza - necessary, since we're going out fishing again in less than two weeks.  I opened up with white wine clams, then had these two dishes as entrees as well as some king crab legs.  Fantastique!

Thanks to Ed's Kasilof Seafoods for the ideas!

Teriyaki Salmon

Ingredients
Salmon fillets
1/4 c brown sugar
3 T olive oil
3 T soy sauce
1 t garlic powder
1 t ginger
1/2 t cayenne

Blend all but the salmon in a plastic bag.  Add the salmon and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Flip over and refrigerate another 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Pineapple-Chili Halibut

Ingredients
1 halibut fillet, cubed
1 cup sweet chili sauce
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/4 c olive oil
juice from 2 limes
1/2 c rice vinegar
2 t cayenne

Blend all but the halibut in a plastic bag.  Add halibut and refrigerate for 1 hour, turning halfway through.  Bake at 350 until cooked through and flaky, about 8 minutes.  Alternatively, skewer and grill!