Clam Chowder for those cold winter nights......

I LOVE clam chowder!! There are so many varieties. Some people like it thin and runny, some people like more liquid. I like mine thick and filled with veggies and clams....and when I'm feeling sassy....I'll make it a seafood chowder and add shrimp and scallops too.

I made a huge pot of this last night cause its just so cold outside and nothing warms the soul like clam chowder and sourdough bread that's been heated in the oven....right???? I cant wait for leftovers tonight!!

3 large potatoes, cut into chunks
2 large carrots
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, diced
1 lb bacon, diced
2 tall cans clams
1 bottle clam juice
flour or cornstarch for thickening
1 quart half and half
4 cups water or stock such as fish stock or chicken stock

In a large stock pot cook diced bacon and cook completely. Add potatoes, carrots, onions and celery cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. Deglaze pan by adding bottled clam juice, plus juice only from canned clams, and stock. Simmer approximately 20 min until potatoes and carrots are cooked. Add half and half and clams and bring to a boil. Add either cornstarch or flour and water mixture to thicken chowder to desired consistency. I used cornstarch and I used 3 Tbl and 3 Tbl of water, mixed together and added to boiling soup, stir until thickened. Serve hot with sourdough bread.

El Salvadorian Pupusas

First of all..I would like to apologize for the poor picture quality!! I took the pictures with my Iphone and normally they don't come out this bad.....but this time they look super dark....so for that I'm sorry!! That said....no matter how poor the picture...it doesn't affect the taste!! If you've never had a pupusa before, well your just missing out!! My husband is from El Salvador and my mother in law taught me how to make these when we first got married. I have been making them for 17 years now and I think I'm damn good at it now!! There are several varieties of filling for them, but this recipe is my favorite. This is a pretty authentic recipe since it came straight from my husbands grandma.

Pupusas

2 lbs Chicharrones

8-10 Roma Tomatoes, seeded

1 large onion, cut into wedges

5 cups of Masa

2-3 cups water

1 Tbl season salt

Chicharrones is basically pork meat with the fat marble through it (you can use butt roast or whatever you find that is boneless and fatty), you chop into bit size pieces and put in a pan and cook it down. Eventually in the cooking process the fat will liquefy and 'fry' the pork meat. When the pork meat is golden brown it is done. Wash tomatoes and cut in half and squeeze the seeds out. Cut onion into wedges. Put 1/3 of pork, tomatoes and onion in food processor or blender and blend until pretty well blended together. Repeat until all ingredients are gone. Add salt to taste. In a large bowl add masa and season salt and combine well. Add water starting with 2 cups. Dough must be very moist but still firm enough to maneuver. Grab golf ball sized piece of dough and form a 'bowl' with the masa. See below

Now that you have your dough bowl fill it with the pork mixture.

You want enough filling to cover the entire pupusa once you flatten it. Close the top of the bowl so that you cannot see the filling any more and flatten between your hands.

Pat it with your hands to form a round shape that has the filling inside of it. Now fry on a oiled griddle or pan for about 6-8 minutes on each side. Serve hot.

Serve these with salsa and/or with this recipe for curtido which is a delicious cabbage salad that goes perfectly with them. Enjoy and good luck!! If you have any questions feel free to contact me through this blog!!

Pumpkin Oatmeal

Soooo......it's no secret......I love pumpkin.....pumpkin EVERYTHING!! Pie, cake, bread, pancakes, muffins, cookies....and the list goes on!! Well I was cruising the internet this morning and found a recipe for Pumpkin Risotto here and it made me think of oatmeal!! So I thought.....I wonder what it would taste like with pumpkin in it. Im sure other people have done the same thing.....but here is my version!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!! This oatmeal came out so rich and thick and creamy and the pecans gave it a great texture. It would make a perfect Thanksgiving morning breakfast, or any fall day really!!

3 c old fashioned oats
1 c milk
2 c water
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg, allspice and cloves
2 Tbl butter
1/4 c brown sugar (I used agave) or more to taste
dash of salt
pecans, chopped

Just put everything in the pot and bring to boil according to package directions.
Top with chopped pecans, butter and a drizzle of agave or more brown sugar, if you dare.

Alfredo Chicken Roll

Ahhhhhh.........Alfredo Chicken Roll.......brings back memories........it was many many years ago....the first Pampered Chef party I ever went to. The demonstrator made something similar, well the only similarities were the crescent rolls, chicken and garlic....lol. Anyways, I thought it was good, but I thought I could make something great!! So I came up with this, and......it WORKS!!

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, grated
3 green onions, chopped
6 mushrooms sliced
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 jar of Alfredo sauce
2 pkgs refrigerated crescent rolls

In a large frying pan cooked chopped chicken breasts. When almost done add in mushrooms and season mixture with salt and pepper. Add in remaining ingredients and stir until mixed well.

Open crescent rolls and separated each roll. On a round pizza pan or baking stone arrange crescent rolls to look like a 'sun' with the point part facing out of the pan and the wide edges over lapping each other on the pan. Press those wide edges together and flatten out to form a nice sized circular base for your chicken mixture. There should be an open center in the middle. Along the inner edge of the crescent roll sun, place your chicken mixture so it forms a circle as well. Now take the pointy edges of the dough and bring over the top of the chicken mixture to tuck into the center. Brush top with 1 beaten egg. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and crescent roll dough is cooked completely.

Lemon Blueberry Scones.....absolutely perfect!!

Ok.....I mighta got a little carried away with the amount of blueberries I put in these......but.......it's all good!! These were beautiful scones and tasted wonderful. The only thing I did differently to the recipe was add freshly grated nutmeg to the batter. I found the recipe here: http://livlifetoo.blogspot.com/2010/08/lemon-blueberry-scones.html 
But here it is:

Lemon Blueberry Scones

adapted from Tyler Florence

2 cups unbleached flour, plus more for rolling berries

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

⅓ cup sugar

1 Tbs lemon zest

¼ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut in chunks

¾ cup buttermilk or cream

1 egg

1 cup fresh blueberries (I used frozen... do not thaw)

milk for brushing (optional)

raw sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 400º F.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and lemon zest; mix thoroughly.  Cut in butter using 2 forks, a pastry blender or your fingers. The butter pieces should be coated with flour and resemble crumbs.

In another bowl, mix the buttermilk and the egg together, and then add to the flour mixture. Mix just until partially incorporated, do no overwork the dough.

Toss the blueberries in flour to coat, this will help prevent the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the scone when baked. Fold the blueberries into batter, being careful not to bruise.  Pour sticky dough out onto a well floured surface.  Pat to a ¾ inch height and cut with a pizza cutter into desired triangles or squares.  Place on a non stick baking mat or a baking sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray.  If desired, brush the tops of the scones with milk and sprinkle with raw sugar.


Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until brown. Cool before applying lemon glaze.

Lemon Glaze:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted (may need a bit more or a bit less)
• 2 - 3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbs lemon zest

To prepare Lemon Glaze: combine butter, sugar, Lemon zest, and juice over a double boiler.  Cook until butter and sugar are melted and mixture has thickened.  Remove from heat and whisk until smooth and slightly cool.  Drizzle or brush on top of scone.

Appetizers anyone???

K......so maybe I watch a little too much Food Network........
This plate was super fun to make though, and all recipes are ones that I made up.....I mean obviously there are similar recipes out there.....but I didn't follow any recipe...just threw some ingredients together and made these.
This plate was for my sons youth pastor and his wife. The youth group decided to have a date night dinner for them to show how much they appreciate them and Kim (whose idea it was to have the dinner) asked if I could make the appetizers. Well of course!!!!!! I <3 to cook!!!!

Blue Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

3/4 c blue cheese
2 slices of ham/prosciutto/bacon chopped or 1 c cooked sausage
1/2 Parmesan cheese
1 c panko bread crumbs
1 tsp parsley
salt to taste
pepper
12-15 cleaned mushrooms with stems removed

Preheat oven to 400. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and stuff mushrooms. Bake in greased baking dish with about a 1/4 water in bottom.

Creamy Artichoke Parmesan Stuffed Puff Pastry

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
2 cloves grated garlic
2 green onions, chopped
pepper
2 thawed puff pastry sheets
1 beaten egg

Cut each puff pastry sheet into thirds along the fold. Then each third into thirds, so each sheet will yield 9 squares.

Stir all ingredients together, brush two sides of puff pastry squares with egg, put a spoon full of artichoke mixture by egged edges. Fold over to make a triangle. Press down edges to seal. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.

Mozzarella Stuffed Rice Balls

2 c cooked seasoned rice
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp fresh basil
1/4 cup marinara sauce, more for garnish
mozzarella cheese, I used cheese sticks and cut them into chunks
2 eggs beaten
2 cups Panko bread crumbs

Mix first four ingredients together. Make a golf ball sized rice ball and shove a chunk of mozzarella in the center. Drop into egg mixture then into the panko. Deep fry in oil that is 350 degrees until golden brown. Put the remaining marinara sauce either in a bowl to dip the rice balls or under them on the plate.

Pumpkin Pecan Crunch

Well I definitely don't want to offend anyone........but.......I think this is better than pumpkin pie. *ducking* Don't throw things at me....until you try it....you can't say I'm wrong!! There is something about they pumpkin on the bottom then the buttery, nutty cake topping.......can you excuse me.....I need to go get more.......

K......I'm back.....thanks for your patience!!! I got this recipe on a recipe exchange website that I have, my friend Amy posted it!! I appreciate her posting this more than she knows!! :) BTW.....you can use yellow cake mix, butter cake mix, white cake mix, or I've even tried spice cake mix!!

Pumpkin Pecan Crunch
1 large can pumpkin
1-12oz can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 package cake mix such as yellow, white, butter or spice
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
3/4 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with non-stick spray.

Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice until smooth
Pour into baking dish
Sprinkle cake mix (dry) over pumpkin mixture.
Sprinkle pecans over cake mix
Pour melted butter over top.
Bake uncovered 50 to 60 min. until knife inserted in center comes out
clean.
Serve with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.