Beggar's Chicken

One of the recipes from our cultural dinners years ago for China that I most liked was Beggar's Chicken -- which came from the International Cookbook for Kids. I think Nate appreciated the story behind the recipe more than anything, but he also enjoyed the finished product.

The legend is that a beggar stole a chicken from a farmer. The beggar built a fire and began to roast the chicken, but quickly heard the farmer coming on his horse.  So, he pulled the chicken off the fire, wrapped it in lotus leaves and buried it.  The farmer couldn't find his chicken, so he rode away.  The beggar dug up the chicken and found that the mud had created a shell around the hot chicken and cooked it perfectly.

Ingredients:
4 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups milk (I used coconut milk)
3 T canola oil
extra flour for kneading
6 medium sized chicken breasts
1/2 lb ground pork
1 green onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/4 cup chopped bamboo shoots
1 t salt
1 T hoisin sauce

Place flour in large bowl.  Combine milk & 1 T of oil, pour into flour and mix well into a soft dough. ( I needed to add about 1/2 cup more flour)
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until it is smooth.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, place in bowl, cover with towel and let rest for 30 - 40 minutes
Heat a wok on medium-high heat.  Add 1 T oil and heat for a few more seconds
Add ground pork and cook until browned (4 - 6 minutes)
Remove pork and add remaining 1T oil.  Add onions, celery & bamboo shoots.  Stir-fry for 2 minutes.
Return pork to pan and add salt and hoisin sauce.  Cook for another minute or 2, making sure all is well combined.
Put stuffing in a bowl and cool completely.  Refrigerate until ready to use (this is the stuffing to put on top of the chicken.
Preheat oven to 375
Unwrap the dough and divide into 6 equal pieces.  Roll out each piece to about 6 inches wide.
Lay 1 chicken breast in center of dough.  Top with 2 T pork stuffing.  Gently fold dough over the chicken and seal edges.
Place chicken in greased baking pan.
Repeat for all chicken breasts.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes.
Serve hot.
I don't have a picture of the final product, but it was a pretty dish.  It could be cut up with knife and fork, or even eaten out of hand.

New Favorite Chili Recipe

Olive oil
2 lb flat iron steak, cubed (or any meat you can chunk. I'll confess I don't know what cut of beef was frozen in the freezer - but it chunked nice and tasted great)
1/4 cup tequila or water
6 cups diced tomatoes
2 green bell peppers, seeded & diced
1 white onion, diced
3 T Fajita seasoning (either make your own or use store-bought)
2 T minced garlic
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can tomato paste (the tiny cans)
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can corn (or 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh)
2 T lime juice

Heat 1T oil in soup pot or dutch oven over med-high heat. Brown half the meat and transfer to slow cooker. Brown remaining meat in additional 1T oil and transfer to slow cooker. Deglaze pot with tequila, scraping all the bits into the liquid and then pour in slow cooker.

Add tomatoes, peppers, onion, and Fajita seasoning. Stir in beef broth and tomato paste. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.

Stir in beans, corn, and lime juice. Cook another 20 - 30 minutes.

We top with shredded cheese and serve with cornbread.  Delicious!

Easy Peasy Holiday Fudge

There are only 3 ingredients -- 3 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet), 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 cup butter.

I melted the ingredients together in a large Pyrex bowl in the microwave, ran the microwave 1 minute at a time and stirred to mix it all together and when the chocolate had a good sheen I mixed in a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and poured it into a buttered 8x8 pan.  It set up in the refrigerator, and tasted yummy!  It would be easy to add in other mix-ins -- we were thinking of peanut butter, or marshmallows, next time.  Really it took me 5 minutes from start to finish!  If you want an easy fudge recipe, I highly recommend this one!

Portuguese Chicken Soup

Ingredients
3 bone-in chicken breasts
3 stalks celery
1 large onion
3 crushed garlic cloves
liberal sprinkle of red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
zest from one lemon (from our backyard!)
juice from 2 lemons (again, our yard!)

rice
juice from another lemon

Directions
Cover chicken breasts with about 2 extra inches of water in large pot.  Coarsely chop celery and onion.  Add spices to taste.  Add lemon zest and lemon juice.  Bring to boil and then turn to simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove chicken breasts and set aside to cool a bit. Strain broth and discard vegetables.  Return broth to pot and bring to boil.  Add rice (the recipe called for 1/4 cup, which didn't seem like enough to me.  So I threw in a cup, which was too much, but it was what was left in the bag I had in the cupboard.  Luckily, I also had chicken broth in the cupboard, so I just added more broth later and it all worked out fine.  I should have done 1/2 cup)  Simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.

Remove chicken skin and shred chicken.  Add to broth.  Add juice from another lemon.   Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.  Enjoy!!

I really enjoyed the zing the lemon juice gave the soup, and the soup received a thumbs up from all 5 members of my family.   If I would have had any carrots, I would have added them in as well.  The original recipe called for mint, but I didn't have any.

Emily's Potato Corn Cheddar Chowder

This recipe is a go - to Lent recipe in our house!  Perfect for Fridays in Lent, matched up with Irish Soda Bread!

oil, butter or water for sauteing
1 large onion
red, yellow, and green peppers, chopped (frozen is fine)
1 cube bullion or canned soup stock (optional - use veggie stock to make it a vegetarian meal)
4 to 8 good size potatoes, diced
1 can (or small bag frozen) corn
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk (fat-free, soy, whatever)
1 8 oz package of cubed or shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste
extra milk if you like a thinner chowder

In large soup pot, saute peppers and onions until soft in water or oil. Place potatoes in pot and cover with water one inch higher than potatoes. Add bullion if desired and boil potatoes for about 15 minutes (less for smaller pieces), until potatoes are soft enough to chew but not dissolving, and turn heat down low.

While potatoes are cooking, melt butter/margarine in separate small sauce pan and stir in flour, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Add milk and stir until mixture thickens (you're making a white sauce at this point.) Add cheese and stir until melted. Add undrained corn to soup pot (and a bit of water if using frozen corn), and heat through. Add cheese sauce to soup pot and stir thoroughly, adding milk if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with oyster crackers.

Feeds 4 - 5

Crustless Pumpkin Pie (Dairy-Free)

I tried this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie's blog because I needed a dairy-free pumpkin pie. My sister LOVED it, so it's been added to the  rotation!  I modified the recipe a bit, and it works great for us like this.  You could make it gluten-free by using a gluten-free flour, but it's recommended not to use coconut flour.

• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/3 cup flour 
• 1/3 cup plus 2 T brown sugar 
• 1 (15-oz) can pumpkin puree 
• 1 cup milk (of your choice, I usually use almond) 
• 1 tsp corn starch 
• 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 400 F, and grease a 10-inch round pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine first 7 ingredients, and stir very well. Add wet ingredients into dry, stir to combine, then pour into the pan and bake 35 minutes. (It’ll still be gooey after baking, but that’s ok.) Allow to cool completely before transferring uncovered to the fridge to “set” for at least 6 hours before trying to slice.

Crockpot Cranberry Sauce

Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag fresh cranberries
• 3/4 cup orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup juice or water (we use cranberry-cherry juice)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to slow cooker and stir.
2. Cook on high 2 - 3 hours, covered.
3. When cranberries start to pop, stir and squish berries.
4. Uncover last 20-30 minutes to thicken.

Crustless Cranberry Pie

One of my sister's favorites!  A staple during the holidays in our house.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 9 inch pie pan.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Stir in the cranberries and the walnuts, and toss to coat. Stir in the butter, beaten eggs, and almond extract. If you are using frozen cranberries, the mixture will be very thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Apple Cake

My husband LOVES this cake. It came from an old Cooking Light magazine.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1/2 c stick margarine or butter, softened
1 t vanilla extract
6 oz block-style, fat-free cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
3 t cinnamon
3 c chopped, peeled Rome apples (2 large)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Beat 1 1/2 c sugar, margarine, vanilla, cream cheese at med speed until well-blended.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, beating at low speed until blended.

Combine 1/4 c sugar and cinnamon. Combine 2T cinnamon mixture and apple in bowl. Stir apple mixture into batter.

Pour batter into 8" springform pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 for one hour to one hour, 15 minutes.

Cut with serrated knife after cooling on wire rack.

Serves 12

Greek Chicken Salad

This recipe is a staple in our house when we have summer gatherings. Serve with a fresh fruit salad and it's a great lunch! This recipe came from an old Cooking Light magazine.

3 cups cooked chicken (we usually grill skinless, boneless chicken breasts)
1 cup diced, seeded, peeled cucumber
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup fresh, chopped parsley
1 small can pitted, sliced black olives
3/4 cup plain, fat-free yogurt
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 T dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, minced

Combine first five ingredients in large bowl.

Combine yogurt, mayonnaise, oregano and garlic in small bowl.

Pour over chicken mixture; toss well.

Cover and chill at least 2 hours.

Serve in pitas or croissants lined with lettuce leaves

Orange Julius

From the cookbook "Top Secret Recipes". My DH loves Orange Juliuses and says that this tastes 'just like them'. You can cut the sugar and it's still yummy.

1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
1/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 heaping cup ice

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender set on high speed for 15-30 seconds.

Irish Soda Bread

This is a "MUST HAVE" for St. Patrick's Day, but it's yummy any time of year! I use the SACO brand powdered buttermilk instead of real buttermilk. You can usually find it in the baking products aisle. For this recipe, for the 1 cup of buttermilk, add 4 T powder to the dry ingredients and 1 cup water to the wet. For 1/4 cup buttermilk, add 1T powder to 1/4 cup water and mix before adding to the melted butter **

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. You can make one very large loaf, or two smaller loaves.

In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.

Cheddar Coins

Easy to make, freezes well, everyone loves them! Started making these when Colin was a toddler.

Cheddar Coins

1/2 Cup Butter Or Margarine
1 1/2 Cups Unbleached Flour; Sifted
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Dash Cayenne Pepper
2 Cups Cheddar; Extra Sharp, *

* The Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese should be finely grated.

Stir the dry ingredients into a bowl and then cut in the butter to resemble cornmeal. Blend in the cheddar cheese with a fork until well blended. Mix in the remaining ingredients and shape into 1 1/2 to 2-inch rolls. Chill for 30 to 40 minutes in the refrigerator and then slice each roll into slices about 1/4-inch thick. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool.

Store the cooled crackers in airtight containers in a cool place. They will keep for several weeks this way and if you freeze them, they will last indefinitely.

Mom's Chicken Enchiladas

My mom sent me her recipe for chicken enchiladas a couple years ago when we were having some friends over for dinner. I always get many raves when I serve these. The funny thing is I dislike enchilada sauce, so I always keep some to the side and top mine with only salsa.

approximately 24 small flour tortillas
3-4 cooked chicken breasts, sliced, shredded or chopped (we grill the chicken after marinating in olive oil, garlic and lime juice)
1/2 cup salsa
1 1/2 lbs shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 small onion chopped fine
1 small can chopped black olives
1 jar enchilda sauce (divided)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 soup can milk
salt & pepper

In large bowl combine half of cheese, chicken, 4-5T of salsa, onion, olives and salt and pepper. Mix well.

Warm the tortillas (stack on wax paper, about 5 at a time for 30-40 sec in microwave)

Grease a 9x13 or larger casserole.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the tortillas. Roll and place side by side in casserole. (I do seam side down)

Combine cream of chicken soup with 1/2 soup can of milk and 1/2 can enchilada sauce, and rest of salsa. Poour over endchiladas, being sure to get all the edges. Top with remaining cheese and drizzle rest of enchilada sauce over top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

You can cover (carefullly) with an aluminum foil tent and let them sit in the oven until serving time.