To-Try

I'll be adding to this post as I find recipes I want to try.

Crockpot sloppy Joes
Goldfish crackers
Philly Cheesestake Sloppy Joes
Shortbread Slice Cookies
Honey Lemon Olive Oil Muffins
Breakfast Taquitos (freeze ahead of time)
Skillet Apple Cake
Lemon blueberry cream cheese muffins
Chicken Egg Rolls
Fried Rice
Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Spicy Molasses Cookies
Hash Brown Quiche
Great Harvest Copy-Cat Scones
Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones
Blueberry Cobbler (Success--March 2 post)
Homemade Hamburger Buns in a Jiffy (made March 13--good)
Banana French Toast

Easy Chicken Curry (sounds like the one we make but w/o cream of chicken soup!)

Butternut Parmesan Pasta Sauce

Coriander Cookie Thins

I haven't tried these yet, since I don't have a mortar and pestle... and I haven't looked to see if you can buy ground coriander--I have such an abundance of the seed every time the cilantro goes to seed!

(Recipe from Wendy Olmstead)

2 c. Flour
1 c. Sugar
2 T Ground Coriander Seed
3/4 c. Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp vanilla

Mix first 3 ingredients in bowl. Add butter and cut in with pastry blender. Blend egg and vanilla and work into mixture with hands to form a smooth dough. Roll in 1/2" balls and put on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with moistened bottom of measuring cup dipped in white or colored sugar.

Bake at 400 degree F for 6 minutes. Makes 7-8 dozen.

Ugali

(Kenyan Beef Stew--“Ugali” actually refers to just the corn flour cake, but since this is the only thing we eat it with, we call the whole dish Ugali)

This is one of my favorite meals! Mmmmm

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium size onion, chopped
2 T oil
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
½ cabbage head, sliced
1-2 lbs beef cut into small 1cm x 1cm cubes
½ - 1 tsp salt (to taste)
1-2 beef boullion cubes

3 to 4 cups corn flour
6 to 8 cups water

Stew: Fry the onions and garlic in the oil for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and bring to a gentle boil for 3-5 minutes. Add beef and salt and cook until beef is done. Add cabbage and cook until done (about 7-10 minutes). You can add some water to help the cabbage cook if it's not super juicy (depends on your tomatoes and how many you use). 

Cake: Heat water to boiling in a saucepan. Slowly pour the corn flour into boiling water, stirring constantly to avoid forming lumps. Mash any lumps that do form. Add corn flour until it is thicker than mashed potatoes. Cook for three or four minutes; stirring constantly. Turn corn cake onto serving plate (same technique as with an upside down cake – flip the pot over onto plate). Cover and keep warm until serving.

Serve stew with corn flour cake and eat with your hands – as they do in Kenya!

Chicken Enchiladas

We LOVED this recipe! I didn't have any black beans, so I cheated and used refried beans (so skipped all the bean prep instructions). I also leftover Turkey I had frozen. I'm usually a fan of the sour cream based enchiladas, which Andy hates, so we were happy to find something we both loved.

(Original recipe here)

3 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
Pinch or two of cayenne pepper
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 c. grated cheese
6-8 Tortillas

Topping:
1 can green enchilada sauce (or homemade tomatillo sauce)
1 roma tomato, chopped
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped

Combine the chicken, garlic, onion, cumin, chili powder and cayenne pepper in a skillet and saute with a bit of oil over medium heat until onions have started to tenderize. In a bowl, mash the rinsed beans together with 1 tbsp. olive oil until a thick paste is formed. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

In each tortilla, spread a thin layer of the black bean mixture into the middle; leaving a bit of room on top and bottom areas. Sprinkle with cheese and top with a spoonful of the chicken. Roll the tortilla up and place in a greased baking dish. Spoon all of the tomatillo sauce over the tops of the enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and top with roma tomato and cilantro. Bake, covered, at 350 for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Melissa's Molasses Cookies

½ c. Crisco shortening
1 c. Blue Bonnet margarine, softened to room temperature
1 c. White sugar
1 c. Packed brown sugar
½ c. Molasses
2 eggs
4 tsp. Baking Soda
4 ½ c. Flour
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 375°. Mix shortening, margarine, and sugars together. Add molasses and eggs and blend together. Add rest of the ingredients and mix until well blended.
Refrigerate dough until firm. Roll dough into 1” balls between palms and then roll and coat in white sugar. Place on cookie sheet 1 ½ to 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Bake shorter for more doughy/chewy cookies and longer for more crispy.

Pão de Queijo

“Pão de queijo” is typical Brazilian and it’s a delicious snack, which can be found at every bread store in Brazil.

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 package tapioca starch (450 g)

3 eggs

200 grams grated parmesan cheese

Bring to boil in a big pan the water, the milk, the oil and the salt. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tapioca starch. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cool down.

P ut the mixture in a bowl, add the eggs and knead well. Add the grated cheese and keep kneading until the dough is smooth. Roll 1 tablespoon of mixture into small balls. Tip: Grease your hands with oil before making the balls. Wash your hands once in a while if necessary.

Place the balls on a baking tray greased with oil or lined with baking paper. Bake the cheese rolls in hot oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes:

• This recipe makes about 70 small cheese rolls.
  

• Tapioca starch can be found in Asian grocery stores. It comes in a clear plastic bag, or a white paper bag, and the standard pack has either 400 or 450 grams.

• Brazilians usually knead the dough by hand, but it is easier to use a mixer to knead the dough.

• Formed “Pão de queijo” can be frozen and baked directly from the freezer. Place the cheese rolls on a tray lined with baking paper. Put the tray in the freezer. When the cheese rolls are frozen, put them in a plastic bag and put them back in the freezer. It works great to freeze "pão de queijo", but cooking time will be approximately double.

Feijoada

This is like the Brazilian version of spaghetti in that every cook has their own spin on it. Andy learned how to make this from a lady in one of his areas in Brazil. Feijoada was originally a slave food made from the leftover pieces of pig that the rich didn't want. This is the "light" version without pig ears, etc. :)

1 link mild Italian sausage (can use more)

1 lb pork (tenderloin, shoulder, etc), cubed

some slices of bacon

3-4 cans black beans or 2 cups dried beans

2 T vegetable oil

salt (or Tempero Completo if you have it!)

minced garlic (2-3 cloves), chopped onions (probably about 1 medium onion), bay leaves (2-3) (We don't measure these ingredients...)

Brazilian method (Pressure cooker):
 Heat oil in pressure cooker. Fry onions and garlic in oil, then add bacon, pork, and sausage until browned. Add dry beans, bay leaves, and salt. Add water to 1½ to 2 inches above the rest of the food. Bring to to pressure according to pressure cooker instructions and cook on low or medium low (the pressure cooker should just barely be steaming) for 50-60 minutes or until beans are soft. Serve over rice.


Brazilian Rice: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, fry some chopped onion and garlic in oil in a large pan with lid. Add rice and salt (to taste) and fry rice with garlic and onion until rice turns goldenish. Pour boiling water into pan with rice; cover and cook on low for 15-20 minutes or until rice is done.

Americanized (canned beans) method: (we've actually never made it this way, pressure cooker all the way baby! but go for it, it should work great!)

Add canned black beans to a medium sized pot with oil, salt, garlic, onions, and about 6 bay leaves. Cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat and set aside.

In a separate pan, cook cubes of pork and slices of bacon with salt and garlic. Add the sausage and stir over medium heat until all the water is gone.

Add the cooked meat to the pan with the black beans. Cook for 10 minutes or longer to let the flavors blend. Serve over white rice.

Granola

So I have been meaning to make granola for a long time. Well, I've made it before, but haven't been happy with the results. I liked how this had so much flour in it, so it would be nice and clumpy. I'm pretty happy with the result, but I would definitely add more sugar next time, either replacing some of the water with more syrup, or just adding in some brown sugar. I would also try using all whole wheat, as I'm not sure what the purpose of the white flour is...

Granola
(Original Recipe here)

4 c. whole oats
2 c. wheat flour
1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. wheat germ
1 tsp salt

1/2 c. oil
1 c. honey or maple syrup
1/2 c. applesauce or 1 c. water

Stir together dry ingredients. Add in liquids and mix well. Add nuts and spread onto two large rimmed sheet pans. Bake for 1 1/2 - 2 hours in a 250* oven stirring every 20 minutes. Since this granola is chunkier than the kind you get in the store I often break up the clumps while stirring to give a variety of sizes in the end. After it is finished baking add in your dried fruits and store in an airtight container. Recipe yields about 1 full gallon size ziplock bag (about 9-10 C).

Things to add:
seeds, nuts, dried fruit, 1T brewers yeast or nutritional yeast, coconut (sweetened or not) Add as much or as little as you want - it is about consistency, not exact measurements.