Chicken Pot Pie - Sandra Lee Style

I love Sandra Lee-style meals (semi-homemade).  This chicken pot pie recipe can go MANY ways.  You can use canned or frozen or even fresh veggies (if you cook them a little first), you can use different combos of soup mixes, and you can use different types of chicken.  I have used leftover chicken from other dishes, rotisserie chicken, and even boiled breasts and cut them up for this.  I have done so many different ways but it always turns out great.  One of my favorite things though, is the refrigerated crust.  In my opinion, for this dish, it is not worth your time to make the dough from scratch.  Tastes the same and takes forever, plus rolling it out is a chore.  I am a huge fan of doing things homemade, so go for it if that's your thing, but using premade crust and soup mix makes this meal that you can prep in 10 minutes, tops.  This is one of Glenn's favorite and most requested meals.  

What you need:
- 2 refrigerated pie crusts (they usually come in a 2 pack)
- 3 to 4 cups of cooked and cut up chicken
- 2 cans of veg-all, drained (or 3 cups of frozen veggies) 
- 2 cans of cream of chicken soup (or one cream of chicken and one cream of celery)
- 1/2 cup of milk
- dash of Worcestershire
- black pepper to taste
- egg white 

What you do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, add soup, milk, black pepper, and Worcestershire and mix up.  Add veggies and chicken and stir up.  Lay the first crust out over the pie pan and add the chicken mixture. Unroll the second pie crust and place gently on top.  Cut a few slits in the top for steam to escape and then use a fork to close the edges.  If you are dorky like me, you can take the extra crust from the top and make a seasonal theme for your pot pie ( I intended to post this a few weeks ago for Halloween, but baby brain hit me hard).  Brush the top of the pie with egg whites and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.  Some people like to cover the edges of the crust with tin foil so it doesn't get burned, but I have found with cooking it at a lower temperature you don't need to do this step.  Probably depends on the oven too. 

Enjoy!
-hayden

Irish Cream

When it starts getting chilly outside and the stores are full of holiday cheer, I always feel like that's the perfect time for Irish cream.  And I really like to make it myself, because I can tweak all the ingredients to my own personal preferences...for instance, I put more whiskey in it than I'm admitting to here in this recipe.  I made 2 jars (yes, jars...I live in Kentucky now, so a Mason jar just felt appropriate for my booze), one of them with a peppermint twist on the original.  I didn't use the blender this time, because The Beeb was sleeping and she's not a big fan of the blender sounds.

I dunno', how would you pose a jar of booze?

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 2/3 cup Irish whiskey

1/3 cup cold coffee

1/4 cup chocolate syrup (I like Hershey’s Special Dark syrup)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract (OR ½ tsp mint extract)

Instructions

1)  Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend.

2)  Chill, serve over ice, slurp!

OR, you can do it the Kentucky way:

1)  Put all the ingredients in a Mason jar and shake vigorously.  Step 2 remains the same.

enjoy!

 ~ j

Ham and Potato Casserole

YUM

Think scalloped potatoes with ham.  This is a simple and hearty meal.  Good for those cold nights during the winter.  I am finding myself wanting comfort food more and more and this one definitely hits the spot.  Trust me, your husband will thank you...if you don't wait til 845 to serve it like I did.  This is a quick meal to put together but it takes a while in the oven.  My recipe served 4 as the main course.  I made it in a small pyrex dish, (think half size of normal casserole dish) but you could easily double this recipe to serve more.

What you need:
-about a half pound of ham, cut up (I had leftovers from a whole ham, but you could use a hamsteak cut up or even sliced ham if you wanted)
- 3 medium potatoes, washed and sliced thinly (if you have a food processer, use it...takes about 15 seconds)
-  1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1/2 cup of milk
- dash of Worcestershire sauce
-black pepper
1/2 block of cheddar cheese, shredded
-cayenne pepper

What you do:
Preheat  the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium bowl mix together soup, milk, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Spray pyrex with cooking spray (or if you are naughty like me, coat with butter. Butter makes everything better!).  Layer 1/3 of the potatoes so they overlap slightly, 1/3 of the soup mixture, 1/2 ham and repeat until used. On the top of the last layer (should be cream mixture) sprinkle cheese and cayanne.  Cover with tin foil (tip- spray tin foil with cooking spray so cheese doesn't stick) and put in oven for an hour.  Uncover after an hour and test potato tenderness with a fork, let cook on a high shelf (if your oven has a top burner) for 15 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy!
-Hayden

Bell's Brewery - Two Hearted Ale

I have suspected for a while now that I may have a problem, well, now it has been confirmed.  I am addicted to IPAs.  In fact, I am also ruined by them…most other beers just can’t cut the mustard.  I am an appreciator of all beers (including the likes of PBR), but a good IPA just hits the spot for me.  Which brings me to one of my favorite IPAs, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.  I first had this while on a work trip to the Outer Banks on a recommendation from a colleague, and have been a fan ever since.  Some IPAs can blow you away with hops (which is a good thing!), but this one has just the right amount of hoppy and malty flavor.  Upon first sniff it may not seem all that impressive, but the first sip will make you a lifelong fan, I promise!  At 7.0% alcohol, it has enough kick to do you right, but not too much to beat you up if you have more than 2 or 3 (or 10).

Happy Drinking,

Squatch

EASY Apple Dumplings

These are super quick and easy (as the title might imply), and quite tasty.  I found this recipe (on allrecipes.com, and then tweaked it…just like pretty much every recipe I make), because I had a bunch of apples that were starting to reach their shelf life.  As you can see from my photo, I didn’t quite follow my own directions.  I didn’t peel the apples (much to The Squatch’s dismay), and I didn’t place the dumplings seam-side down in the pan (I didn’t wrap them with the seam on the flat side of the apple halves, next time I will try it that way).  Next time I will also make sure I have some freshly whipped up whipped cream…but The Beeb was sleeping, so I didn’t’ want to fire up the Mix Master.

Ingredients

1 (16 oz) can refrigerated flaky biscuit dough (jumbo biscuits)

4 apples – peeled, cored & halved

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup water

½ cup butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

chopped walnuts (optional)

ground cinnamon

Instructions

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2)  Lightly grease 9”x13” baking dish.  Separate biscuits and flatten each one into a circle.  Wrap one biscuit around each apple half and place, seam side down, in pan.

3)  In a small bowl, combine sugar, water, melted butter and vanilla.  Pour mixture over dumplings in pan.  Sprinkle walnuts on top of each dumpling (optional).  Sprinkle cinnamon over the dumplings.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until golden.  Serve hot.

enjoy!

 ~ j

Candy Corn Pretzel Kiss Treats

My apologies for the stupid name on this recipe, I didn't know what to call it.  This is another really easy Halloween treat recipe, just 3 ingredients and no real cooking involved!  I found these on Pinterest, along with pretty much every new recipe I’ve tried lately.  That website is brilliant!  ANYHOW…

These are so good, and so easy to make…and so easy to walk by and pop into your mouth about 873 times a day.

Ingredients

mini pretzels (you can the square ones, or regular twists)

Hershey’s Hugs (or regular Kisses if you aren’t into white chocolate)

candy corn

Instructions

Shiny Hugs being smooshed.

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2)  Line baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.  Arrange pretzels on foil in a single layer, not touching.

3)  Unwrap Kisses and place one on each pretzel.  Put baking sheet in oven for about 3 minutes, just until Kisses start to get shiny.

4)  Take baking sheet out of oven and smoosh down each Kiss very gently with a candy corn.  Let cool and then transfer to serving platter/bowl/your mouth.  (I put them in the fridge for about 20 minutes to speed up cooling.)

enjoy!

 ~ j

Halloween Candy Toffee Bark

I’ve made this overdose of candy treats twice now.  It really does sound like a ridiculous amount of chocolate, candy, and sugar -- but it's also ridiculously yummy.  The first time I basically followed this recipe:  Halloween Candy Bark.  Ryan took it on a backpacking trip for one of his classes, and of course college students loved it.  :)   The second time I did a combo with this recipe:  Chocolate Graham Toffee Bark.  I preferred my second method.  Ryan took it into school, and people (full-blown adults, not just students!) were asking for the recipe right away...so here it is:

Halloween Candy Toffee Bark

Ingredients:

½ box (approx.) graham crackers

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 lb bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 Butterfinger candy bars (or 8 fun-size bars), roughly chopped

3 toffee candy bars (or 6 fun-size bars), roughly chopped

8 peanut butter cups (or 16 mini cups), cut into wedges

¼ cup honey roasted peanuts

3 oz. yellow & orange M&Ms, coarsely chopped

3 oz. good quality* white chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 10”x15” jelly-roll pan with non-stick foil**.  Arrange whole graham crackers to cover the bottom of the pan in a single layer, breaking up the last few to fit the entire space.

2)  Melt butter on stovetop over medium heat.  Add brown sugar and white sugar, stirring to combine.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and let mixture gently bubble for about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat.

3)  Carefully pour butter/sugar mixture over the graham crackers, spreading to cover evenly with a rubber spatula.

4)  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest until bubbling subsides.

5)  Melt chopped bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler, stirring frequently until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Pour the chocolate over the graham crackers, spreading evenly to cover with a rubber spatula.

6)  Evenly sprinkle the chopped candy and peanuts over the melted chocolate.  Press gently to adhere the candy to the melted chocolate.  Place in refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.

7)  Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler, until smooth.  Drizzle white chocolate over the chilled candy bark.  Return to the fridge and let chill again until the white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes more.

8)  Peel the sheet of chocolate away from the foil and break into irregular pieces.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve.

*Don’t cheap out on this.  The first time I made this with store brand white chocolate chips, and it did not drizzle well at all.  When I used good white chocolate the second time, it melted and drizzled perfectly.

**Don’t be dumb like me and decide to use waxed paper because you have a lot more of it than foil…the paper will stick to the bottom of the bark and be a pain the rear to peel off.

enjoy!

 ~ j

Soft Chocolatey Chocolate & Mint Chip Cookies

I finally did what I've been wanting to do for about 9 months now.  No, not finish gestating something, I made the super yummy Soft Chocolatey Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Cookies with mint chips instead of peanut butter chips.  And here's what I have to say...do yourself a favor, find these somewhere, and buy them...you can thank me later:

Mint lovers, these cookies are fantabulous!  I replaced the 1 cup of peanut butter chips with 1 cup of these Andes baking chips, and I also added 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract.  BUT, next time I am going to replace ALL the chips with mint (so that would be no chocolate chips, no peanut butter chips, just 2 cups of mint chips).

enjoy!
 ~ j

Witch Hats!

Okay, so this isn't exactly cooking...but it's something cute I made in the kitchen and took pictures of, so it works for me.  I saw these around on the interwebs somewhere and had to make them because they looked so freakin' cute.  Well, they don't look quite as cute in my photos, but I think you get the idea.  I need to take a class on food photography.  Do you think there is such a thing?  I also need better lighting in my kitchen for food photos.  ANYWAYS...

I've been cooking up all sorts of stuff lately, and remembering to take pictures!  So hopefully I'll get my slack-ass in gear and actually start posting again.  I made these, and Ryan took them into work, and everyone thought I was cool.  So make them and get lots of props with hardly any work...it's fabulous.  And now, finally, what you've been waiting for...Witch Hats!!

Ingredients:
fudge stripe cookies
Hershey's kisses
orange Wilton decorator icing in a can (or tube, I guess)

Instructions:
1)  Turn cookies upside-down.
2)  Squeeze some icing onto the bottom of a kiss.
3)  Smoosh kiss onto the middle of upside-down cookie.
4)  Get mad kudos with minimal effort.

enjoy!
 ~ j

mashed sweet potatoes

Wow. It has been a while since I posted anything.  Can we say slacker?  I had a good reason for a while, we were packing up our house, moving, and then remodeling our kitchen.  But the kitchen remodel has been done for a few weeks now, so I have no excuses. I am back on the wagon with this really easy and delish side dish.  Makes around 6 servings.

What you need:
4 sweet potatoes
3/4 c milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar
dash cinnamon
salt to taste

What you do:
Bring around 6 cups of lightly salted water to boil, while the water is boiling peel and cube the potatoes into dice sized pieces. Add potatoes, boil for 20 minutes or until fork tender.  Drain water, mash potatoes slightly (i used a hand mixer but you could certainly use a stand mixer) add butter and all sweeteners and mix some more, then slowly add milk until it is the desired consistency, you may need a little more than 3/4 cup but I found that was about right for the amount I had. Serve warm!

 These were very good and I will definitely be making them again. Look for more recipes soon! I have a few stored up, many without pictures but I am going to post them anyway bc they were so good.

Enjoy!
-Hayden

Cherry Skillet Chicken with Risotto

This cherry chicken recipe came from a cookbook full of recipes for preparing ahead of time and freezing in bulk.  I actually prepared the cherry chicken dish months ago, so I'll give instructions for the way I made it (freezing and cooking).  The recipe called for dried cherries, but I used cherries that I had "marinated" in port wine (they were left over from making chocolate covered cherries).  I drained all the liquid from maraschino cherries, replaced it with port wine, and let them soak for weeks (a trick I learned from my mom for making chocolate covered cherries).  The chicken can be served over pasta, rice or even on a salad.  I tried it over pasta, but definitely prefer it over the risotto.  I love risotto, and it's such a great side dish for so many meals.  I used to be very intimidated by risotto, but when I actually decided to make it I realized it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had feared.  This is a very basic risotto recipe, you can certainly get much snazzier with it.

Cherry Skillet Chicken
Ingredients

my frozen meal

2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup port wine marinated maraschino cherries (or 1/3 cup dried cherries)
(1/3 cup hot water, if using dried cherries)
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup tbsp port wine from cherries
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
For cooking:
2 tsp olive oil

Instructions for preparing & freezing
1)  Flatten chicken breasts by laying each between two sheets of wax paper and pounding to 1" thick with either a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.  Place chicken into a 1-gallon freezer bag.
2)  If using dried cherries, put into a small bowl and cover with hot water.  Let stand for 5 minutes.
3)  Add to freezer bag with chicken:  cherries (if using dried cherries, drain water and add cherries to the bag), chicken broth, vinegar, port wine sugar and salt.  Seal and gently shake bag to mix ingredients and distribute cherries.
4)  Freeze.

Instructions for cooking
1)  Completely thaw in refrigerator.
2)  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the chicken and cook until it begins to brown, about 3 minutes each side.
3)  Reduce heat to medium-low, and pour cherries and juice over the chicken.  Cover and simmer about 12 to 15 minutes.


Risotto
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
4-5 cups hot chicken broth
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
assorted fresh or dried herbs (I used oregano, parsley and basil)

Instructions
1)  Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Saute onion in oil until translucent.  Add rice and stir until grains are all coated with oil.  Add wine and stir constantly on medium heat until wine is absorbed.
2)  Add 1 cup hot broth, stirring until liquid is absorbed.  Continue cooking for about 20 minutes, adding the broth 1 cup at a time and stirring almost constantly.  The rice creates its own creamy sauce, adding more liquid makes it creamier...so add liquid to desired texture.
3)  Remove from heat, stir in cheese and herbs, and serve immediately.

enjoy!
 ~ j

Thai Peanut Sauce

It's been a long time since I've posted a recipe...that would be thanks to 7-week old Ivy Sharp!  The lack of having time to cook anything spiffy or new is totally worth the smiles and beginnings of giggles that I get every day.  :)  Anyhow...pretty much the only thing I've cooked of late is stir fries.  I just made this peanut sauce the other day and combined it in the wok with some stir fried vegetables and chicken, which I served over rice noodles.  It's quick and easy, and versatile.  I didn't get any photos, but it was so good that I had to share it!  I will be making it again, and I'll make sure to get a picture next time (although I must admit that I don't know how well it will photograph).

Ingredients

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 can (10 oz) light coconut milk

1/2 cup light soy sauce

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp Thai chili sauce

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger root

Instructions

Whisk together all the ingredients and combine with stir fried veggies, meat, tofu, or use as a dipping sauce for spring rolls or anything you'd like!

enjoy!
 ~ j

20 minute meal

Israeli Couscous with pan grilled veggies

A delicious 20 minute meal? YES! I love Israeli couscous. It has got a great texture and goes well with so many things.  If you haven't tried it, this is a great way to start.  I like to do vegetarian meals once a week or so (mostly when I forget to set meat out to thaw) and this was an impromptu delicious dish.  You can choose whatever veggies you have on hand, this time I threw in some potatoes to try something new.  I used the fajita seasoning that I posted in my chicken saltados recipe from January.  A side note: Chicken Saltados have become a favorite here at the Martin house and I made a huge batch of the fajita seasoning to keep on hand- saves time for me.  The ingredients I used are staples in my kitchen so you will probably see these ingredients often but feel free to jazz it up and let us know what you did.  This makes 3 servings, 2 good sized dinners and a lunch portion.

What you need:
1/4 onion - sliced thinly
1/4 green bell pepper - sliced thinly
 5 mushrooms - sliced
1 small to medium zuchinni - sliced
2 red potatoes- chopped into small cubes
Israeli couscous
Fajita Seasoning
Veggie Oil - about 1 tablespoon

Fajita seasoning - this is the base recipe for a small batch.
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon each L dried crushed oregano, salt, ground red pepper, ground black pepper
dash of garlic and dash of onion powders

What you do:
Cook the Israeli couscous in a pot as directed, adding in a teaspoon of Fajita seasoning at the end.  While the couscous is cooking, heat a pan (we used cast iron- I love them) over medium-high heat and toss the potatoes in (side note, I cut the potatoes first, then while the potatoes and the couscous were cooking, I cut the rest of the veggies).  Stir the potatoes frequently to avoid sticking to the pan, and once they are almost done - about 10 minutes (depending on the size of the cube, small is good)  add in the rest of the veggies and cook them stirfry style until done- I like mine a little crisp still so it didn't take long at all.  In the end, add as much fajita seasoning as you like and add veggie mixture on top of couscous. Dinner is served.  Yum Yum.  All in 20 minutes, how can you resist?  We even had time to enjoy dinner out on the patio while it was still light out!
Glenn gave it his seal of approval.

Enjoy!
-Hayden

Pass that guacamole!

Guacamole is one of our favorite random things to whip up in Casa de Sharp.  Ryan knows my recipe by heart now, and will even volunteer to make it...which is nice when I don't feel like getting green goo all in my cuticles.  Pretty much every time we have guac, I think of this commercial...  "Pass that guacamoleee!"  (You have to wait until the very end for the big pay-off!)

ANYHOW...this is definitely a recipe that I never use measurements in, so I'm going to do my best to guesstimate how much of everything I use (but just a warning, I could be way off...or even just way off for your own personal tastes).  According to other recipes I've been looking at, I think this recipe would be considered to be about 8 servings (sure seems like a lot less than 8 in our house, though!).

Guacamole
Ingredients:
6 avocados, mashed
1 - 2 limes, juiced
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
3/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

Instructions:
Combine all your ingredients in a bowl, and stir!  Serve with tortilla chips (Tostitos "hint of lime" are our personal favorite with guacamole).

enjoy!
 ~ j

Spanish Flan

A couple months back, Ryan got the word "flan" stuck in his head for some reason.  He said it all the time, "Let's get some flan." "I want flan." "Can you make flan?"  I asked him if he even knew what flan is...nope.  I had never made flan, and for some reason had it in my head it would be a pain in the arse.  Yesterday Ryan got his first publication officially accepted to a big, peer-reviewed journal (very exciting in our nerdy little world!), so I asked him what he wanted for dinner to celebrate.  He's easy, he asked for burritos, so I decided we would need some guacamole to start (guac recipe to come later) and something good for dessert.  Well, the first thing I thought of was...flan!  It went with the dinner theme, and would be a fun surprise for Ryan (even if he didn't know what it was).  Much to my delight, flan turned out to not be so tough.  I also got to try a new baking technique, the water bath**.

Spanish Flan
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color.  (Stir the sugar a lot, but you don't need to stir constantly, just make sure it isn't sticking and burning.  The sugar will get chunky before it liquefies, so don't let that worry you!  And if the sugar does not completely liquefy, that's okay too, it will continue to melt when you put the whole thing in the oven.)  Carefully pour the hot syrup formed by the sugar into a 9" round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides.  Set aside.
3) Place eggs, condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla in a blender and mix just until smooth (this only takes a few seconds).  Pour egg mixture into baking dish.  Cover with aluminum foil (I forgot to cover mine, and it turned out fine, just a bit more browned on top, but not burnt).  To make the water bath**:  place flan dish into a slightly larger baking dish or roasting pan.  Place this in the oven and carefully pour water into the outer dish/pan to within an inch or so of the top of the flan dish (or as high as the outer dish will let you without spilling over).
4) Bake in preheated oven 60 minutes.  Let cool and then place in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.
5) To serve, carefully go around the outside edge with a small knife to unstick the entire flan and then carefully invert onto a serving plate (it must be completely cooled!).  Make sure to let plenty of that delicious caramel pour all over it!
6) If you're feeling extra sassy, feel free to dress it up for serving.  Try sprinkling some cocoa powder on top, fresh berries, whipped cream, sliced almonds, shaved chocolate...anything that sounds good to you!  I read a recipe that called for preparing a box of chocolate cake mix and pouring that over the top of the flan before baking it all.

** This is the first time I ever used a water bath for baking.  If it's new to you too, and you want to know more about how/why/when to use this baking technique, check this out:  How to make a water bath

enjoy!
 ~ j

Falafels and Tzatziki

Falafels

This is exactly the recipe I followed to make these.  I thought maybe they were just a little bit too salty, so next time I'll cut back to 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Falafels are usually fried, but after looking at several recipes and reading the reviews, it sounded like baking them would work fine.  So I baked them and thought they turned out great, but you can definitely fry them in oil.

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

1 small to medium size onion, chopped

½ cup fresh parsley

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 egg

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

1 dash ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground red pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup dry breadcrumbs

Instructions:

1)  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a large bowl mash chickpeas until thick and pasty (don’t use a blender, this will make the consistency too thin).  In a blender, process onion, parsley and garlic until smooth.  Stir into mashed chickpeas.

2)  In a small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, black & red pepper, lemon juice and baking soda.  Stir into chickpea mixture, along with olive oil.  Slowly add ½ cup of the breadcrumbs.

3)  Form balls and roll each in the remaining breadcrumbs (you can flatten them if you prefer a patty to a ball), then place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, then turn them over and bake for about 5 more minutes.

Tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber dip)

I read a few tzatziki recipes that used regular (not Greek) yogurt, which required a few hours (or overnight) straining through cheesecloth.  I also read a number of reviews of these recipes that recommended using Greek yogurt because it is already strained.  So I used the Greek yogurt, but I think next time I’ll try the regular yogurt and straining method just to see how it turns out.**

Ingredients:

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded & grated

1 1/3 cups plain non-fat Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, crushed

dash dried crushed mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp dried dill weed

salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1)  Place cucumber between two towels and press to get most of the moisture out  (I used a cutting board to press).

2)  Mix all the ingredients together.

3)  Refrigerate for a couple hours before serving.

** I have to confess that I took a bit of a shortcut when I made this tzatziki.  I just sliced up the cucumber (did not peel or seed it), pressed the slices in a towel and threw everything in a blender.  It tasted great, but was runnier than tzatziki would usually be.  So if you’re being lazy like me, and don’t mind a soupier dip, that works fine.  :)

enjoy!

 ~ j

Biscuits & Gravy

I know I've mentioned breakfast being our favorite meal around Casa de Sharp, and here's another breakfast recipe for you.  I made both recipes and then froze them for enjoyment at a later (lazier) date.  I froze the gravy in muffin pans and then transferred the little gravy muffins to a big zip-loc bag.  The biscuits are star-shaped because I don't have a biscuit cutter, but do have lots of fun cookie cutters.  The stars were just the right size, and I think they make pretty darn cute lil' biscuits.

Cute little stars served up with
some Boca breakfast sausages

Freezer Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 packages dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

5 cups flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

1tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

2 cups buttermilk

Instructions:

1) Dissolve yeast in warm water, set aside.  Sift flour, cut in shortening.  Add yeast and buttermilk to dry ingredients; mix well.  Knead quickly 20 to 30 times.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

2) Punch down, roll 1/2" thick.  Cut with biscuit cutter.  Place on a cookie sheet, then freeze.  After frozen place in freezer bag until ready to serve.

3) To prepare:  Place unthawed on cookie sheet in cold oven.  Bake 400 degrees until brown, 25-30 minutes.

**My biscuits turned out a bit on the dense side, but everything I bake here in Denver turns out dense.  I will never be able to adjust for the elevation, so I've given up...but mostly because we're moving down in the world in a few months!  (good for many, many reasons, not just for my baking)  I also think the yeast I used was a little bit on the old side, AND of course, I refuse to use white flour.

The Boca Crumbles definitely made the
gravy less photogenic - I swear that's not cat food!

Country Gravy
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
pinch of ground thyme
4 cups milk

Instructions:
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour, salt, pepper and thyme until smooth.  Cook and stir over medium heat until browned, about 10 minutes.  Gradually stir in milk so that no lumps form, and continue cooking and stirring until thickened.  If they gravy becomes too thick, you may thin it with a little more milk.
** I added Boca crumbles to this batch of gravy while I was heating it, which made it look a bit like canned cat food and not very photogenic...but it was really tasty!!

enjoy!
 ~ j

Spicy Cauliflower

It's been a while since I've posted.  I've been in a food rut. UGH.  Been making a lot of my old standby's and pantry meals.  We are moving soon and we are trying to use up a lot of what is in our pantry so we don't have to move it.  So I'm pulling this one out of the vault.  I made it a few weeks ago and forgot to post it.  Don't forget to email us your favorite recipes to try and post here at hayjucook@gmail.com

A side dish. This might be the first side we have posted.  I love cauliflower, but struggle with ways to make it 'more fun'.  Don't get me wrong, I like it raw, steamed, plain, or with a little butter, but sometimes you wanna spice things up a bit.  So for this easy recipe, I added a few asian-esque things and served it with pan seared venison that also had an asian-inspired sauce (yes, we eat a lot of venison in this house).

What you need:
1/2 head of cauliflower- steamed
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 cloves garlic- minced
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (we like sriracha brand)

What you do:
Heat oil up over medium or medium high heat.  Add garlic to infuse into the oil.  After about 30 seconds add pre-steamed cauliflower and saute for a few minutes adding in the hot sauce at the last minute.  Easy as pie!

Enjoy!
-hayden

note: I thought I had a picture saved of this, but I wiped my computer last week and must have only saved the blog folder that contained the recipes. Hopefully they are still on my camera.  Whoops.  Use your imagination for now!

Tofu Stir-fry with peanut sauce

 Know someone, perhaps yourself, who doesn’t appreciate tofu? This is an awesome recipe for a tofu beginner. The tofu has a nice crispy texture but the real star in this dish is the sauce.  It is complex and you get a whole range of flavors in each bite. Peanut, ginger, garlic, a little spice. YUM!   Don’t be afraid of the fish sauce.  I was afraid of it at first, it smells horrendous in the bottle, but after a few tries it has become a key ingredient in many of our stir-fry recipes and marinades.  Like any stir fry, you can add whatever veggies you want, but I decided this time to keep it simple (shocker, I know).  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and like always modified it to make it mine, but one thing about this recipe that stands out to me is the frying technique… we have always used flour or cornmeal for a frying batter, and this recipe called for cornstarch. I was floored how crunchy it came out! Also- we used a deep fryer to do the tofu but you can do it in the pan too. I’m putting the recipe for the pan since I am guessing some of you don’t have deep fryers. One more thing, I don’t often keep cilantro and ginger around in the fresh form cause they go bad too quickly, but I do keep tubes of the stuff around, and substitute them for fresh, works great! You can find the tubes in the produce section of your local supermarket.

What you need:

1 package firm tofu, drained and cubed (I bought the already cubed tofu)

1 yellow bell pepper cut into strips

4 green onions, chopped

2 cups baby spinach

1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger

1 teaspoon seasame oil for stir-frying the veggies

¾ cup peanut sauce (recipe below)

2 eggs beaten

1 cup cornstarch

salt and pepper

½ cup vegetable oil for frying tofu (or use deep fryer)

What you do:

1.Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet/wok over high heat and add veggies and ginger (except spinach) and cook for about 3 minutes, add spinach and then take out of pan and put on a plate (I put in a Tupperware bc I was expecting leftovers and didn’t want to dirty another plate).

2. Place the eggs in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Dip tofu cubes first in the egg, then the cornstarch mixture to coat.

3. Heat up the veggie oil over medium heat and fry tofu for about 5 minutes, turning occasionally. (Since I used a deep fryer, I’m not sure if there will be excess oil when the frying is done, if so, drain before next step).

4. Add peanut sauce to the tofu and let it simmer for a minute, then add veggies and stir to coat. 

Serve over rice- we served over rice noodles and they seemed to kinda suck up all the sauce.  Also- you can use the premade peanut sauce from the grocery store, but this sauce is AWESOME. 

The Best Thai Peanut Sauce Recipe from allrecipes.com : I doubled it because I wanted to use the whole can of coconut milk – I plan on freezing the rest and  using as needed. Helpful hint, if you freeze in ice cube trays, you can easily portion out how much you want to use. In addition to doubling the portion, I also used crunchy peanut butter to add another layer to the sauce. I barely modified the sauce, so I am posting the link to it.

all recipes thai peanut sauce

* just remembered i did add a little sesame oil into the sauce (abt a tablespoon), and the sauce is even better after sitting overnight.  This recipe makes a LOT.

 my handsome hubby- the fry king!

 enjoy!

-hayden

Salad Dressing & Pack Ratting

A sample of my bottle collection

I save bottles.  Lots of them.  And not because I'm a pack rat, regardless of what Ryan says.  I save them because they can always be repurposed.  Recycling is a great option, but I really like to reuse things if I can.  I use them for things like salad dressing, barbecue sauce and flavored vinegars.  I actually don't buy salad dressing anymore, I make my own.  All you really need is some oil and vinegar, but of course ONLY oil and vinegar wouldn't make a very interesting post for a recipe blog.  So here are a few of my favorite salad dressing recipes (I'll post the barbecue sauce separately).

 Balsamic Vinaigrette

I make this all the time, and almost always have a bottle of it in my fridge.  I put lots of herbs in mine!
1/2  cup olive oil

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp white sugar

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp ground mustard

pinch salt

ground black pepper to taste

minced fresh or dried herbs (thyme, basil, parsley, oregano, whatever you want!)

Add all ingredients to a bottle, jar or other container of your choosing, cover tightly and shake well until blended.  Put in fridge for an hour or more before using (I would recommend overnight).  This dressing will tend to get thick when it is refrigerated, which is totally normal.  If you don't like it thick on your salad, just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds and shake well.

Onion-Mustard Dressing

This recipe came from my mom, and goes great with a spinach salad consisting of fresh baby spinach, crumbled bacon, red onion slices, sliced mushrooms and sliced hard-boiled eggs.  SO yummy!

1 cup olive oil

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 medium onion, chopped

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp mustard

Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and process until well blended.  Pour into bottle, jar or other container of your choosing.  Cover and refrigerate overnight or longer.  This dressing will tend to get thick when it is refrigerated, which is totally normal.  If you don't like it thick on your salad, just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds and shake well.

Sesame Poppy Seed Dressing

I use this dressing over a spinach salad as well.  This salad consists of fresh baby spinach, sliced fresh strawberries, slivered almonds and feta cheese.  (There will be a photo of this salad in my Valentine's Day dinner post.)

Putting my bottles to very good use with
Sesame Poppy Seed Dressing & BBQ Sauce!

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

a few turns freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients to blender or food processor and process until well blended.  Pour into bottle, jar or other container of your choosing.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or until ready to use.  This dressing will tend to get thick when it is refrigerated, which is totally normal.  If you don't like it thick on your salad, just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds and shake well.

Spicy Cilantro Dressing

This creamy dressing is great for a Tex-Mex style salad with avocados, black beans, corn, whatever you'd like!

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 whole green onions, chopped

2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded & chopped

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayonnaise

salt & pepper to taste

Place all ingredients EXCEPT sour cream, mayo and salt & pepper into blender or food processor.  Process until well blended and smooth.  Add sour cream and mayo.  Process again until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the container as necessary.  Season to taste with salt & pepper.  Pour into bottle, jar or other container of your choosing.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Soy-Sesame Dressing

I love this dressing on any Asian-inspired style salad, add mandarin orange slices, crunchy Chinese noodles, sliced water chestnuts or anything creative you'd can come up with!  It's also great on edamame or as a spring roll dipping sauce.

1/4 cup olive oil

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp minced ginger

2 tbsp chopped fresh garlic

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper flakes

Place all ingredients in blender or food processor, and process until well blended.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or until ready to use.

enjoy!

 ~ j

Berry Crisp

YUM. I love love LOVE dessert. Pies, cakes, cookies, ice cream, and anything with fruit. Especially fruit crisps. Crisps are easy to put together, and delicious to eat. It’s a win/win situation for everyone involved. For this particular crisp, I used what fruits I had on hand – blueberries and blackberries (picked last summer at Ichuaway and put into my freezer) but you could use just about any fruit. Some variations may be apple with cranberries, plums and nectarines, peach, pear and blueberry, really the possibilities are endless. Serve this dish with a little whipped cream, ice cream, or by itself.

What you need:
5 cups fruit
1 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons flour (separate)
3 tbsp white sugar
optional – ½ cup coconut (adds a lil fiber- everyone needs fiber)
dash nutmeg
dash cinnamon
dash ginger
½ cup butter – cut up into small pieces

What you do:
Combine fruit, 3 tbsp flour and white sugar in a square 9x9 baking dish. In a separate bowl, mix up oats, brown sugar, ½ cup flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and coconut. Mix in butter to the oat mixture with a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your hands until it looks like a crumbly mess (I have found you can either mix the butter in or you can sprinkle it over the top and it turns out fine). Sprinkle this mixture on top of the fruit. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling and the topping is brown.

Enjoy!
-hayden

Note: The sugar and flour mixed in to the fruit in the beginning was to make a bit of a syrup, but its not necessary. If you skip that step, expect your crisp to be more on the runny side when using fruits other than apples.

Light & Fluffy Banana Pancakes

I said we like breakfast in my house, I wasn't kidding!  And I also mentioned that Ryan is typically our breakfast chef...also, not kidding.   ;)   Ryan made these pancakes this morning and they were great, very light and fluffy!  Taking a page from the cookbook of Julie, he found a recipe on allrecipes.com and added his own touches (including the bananas).  We topped with maple syrup (100% real, none of that maple "flavored" corn syrup crap here) and fresh blueberries.  But, after living in Maine for a summer a couple years ago, Ryan has become a total blueberry snob and they don't seem to be good enough unless they're straight off the bush.  So here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

Pancakes are hard to take good photos of,
the syrup sinks in too quickly!

3/4 cup milk

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 cup flour

2 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

dash of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 ripe bananas, mashed

cooking spray

Instructions:

1)  Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour.”

2)  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk.  Stir in bananas just until evenly mixed.  Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are almost gone (you’ll probably still have some banana lumps).

3)  Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

enjoy!

 ~ j

Potato & Spinach Frittata

Breakfast is probably the favorite meal in our house, and it's not just for morning (although I did make this particular recipe in the morning). In fact, we just had breakfast burritos for dinner that I made a few weeks ago and froze. Usually Ryan is the breakfast cook, but once in a while I get myself in cooking mode in the morning. I usually make random frittata or quiche-type dishes, and just throw whatever I can find into them. I kept track of what I was doing last time, and here’s what I came up with. Oh, and it was a hit, or I wouldn't be posting the recipe!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
3 medium potatoes
½ red pepper, diced
1 cup torn fresh spinach
4 green onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
salt & pepper to taste
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk
½ cup shredded mozzarella
1/3 cup feta cheese
parmesan cheese

Instructions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F, lightly grease 9” casserole dish.
2) Heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Place potatoes in skillet, cover, and cook about 10 minutes (until tender, but firm). Mix in red pepper, spinach, onions, garlic and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on low heat for 1-2 minutes.

3) In medium bowl, beat together eggs and milk. Mix in cheeses, and then potato mixture from skillet. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top and cook in oven for about 45 minutes, or until eggs are firm. Remove from oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

enjoy!
~ j

Dogfish Head - 90 Minute IPA

It was a long week sitting in my cube with the interwebs staring back at me.  The prospect of kicking back and having a beer Friday night is always in the back of my mind.  So what better way to celebrate than with a 90 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head!  People tend to be lovers or haters of IPA's, there are few that land in the middle.  Why is this?  Because it's strong, hoppy and loaded with flavor.  Some IPA's can really knock you over with the hop flavor (see Great Divide's Titan), but 90 Minute will satisfy just about any palate.  It is not overwhelming, but rather unassuming with a nice rich aftertaste.  To me, the best part of sipping on a 90 Minute is the almost instant warmth you feel as it enters your bloodstream...aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Happy Drinking!

Squatch

Crock Pot Chili Con Carne

I found this recipe on one of my favorite sites – allrecipes.com – and modified it a bit. This is one of those Sandra Lee style meals, you know…semi-homemade. Chili con carne is typically made with meat and peppers. This particular recipe has no tomatoes. NO TOMATOES? WHAT? My first thought was “how is it chili without tomatoes?”. But this recipe is tasty. There is more liquid than any chili I have ever made, but it was still pretty delish. And in my family, chili is served over rice with cheese on top. That is the only way, I’m telling ya. I used venison because it’s what I had and we like to cook with it, but I think you could substitute beef and it would be quite good.

What you need:
3 pieces bacon - cut up
2.5 lbs of venison - cubed
1 large onion - diced
2 cans kidney beans - drained (15 oz each)
2 cans beef broth (10.5 oz each)
1 can green chili peppers (4 oz)
2 cloves garlic - minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons cumin
1 ½ teaspoons paprika

What you do:
Over medium-low heat, cook the bacon. Once its almost done, add the meat, onions, and garlic and cook until meat is browned. Add browned meat to crockpot along with the rest of the ingredients. Cook on high 2 hours and then switch to low for the last 2 – or cook on medium for 4-5 hours. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

-hayden

Maui Brewing Co. – CoCoNut Porter

Hello everyone, 
I would like to thank the lovely gals at "Hay, Ju Cook?" for letting me have a guest spot on this here blog.  I like beer and to a certain extent, beer likes me.  There is a little beer store down the street from my house and it lets you hand pick a six-pack from their vast selection of beers (and living in Denver, trust me, there is a bunch!).  I saw this offering from Maui Brewing Co. and had to give it a try.  Now, I am not a connoisseur, but this beer is NICE!  When you bring it up to your nose for a quick whiff, nothing extraordinary happens, and thus your guard is down.  Then you take a sip…this dark, rich porter goes down smooth with a hint of coconut and an even bigger hint of coffee.  This is a great sipping beer to enjoy for dessert after you eat one of the many delightful dishes seen on these pages.

Enjoy,

Squatch