Rasberry pancakes from scratch

Why mess with the Bisquick. Why fool with Aunt Jemima's pancake mix. Make pancakes from scratch which taste better. This recipe will make four pancakes.

1 cup flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup of oil
2 TBLS sugar
1 tsp lemon juice concentrate
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinamon
3/4 cup fresh rasberries
Mix ingredients & cook in oil in skillet.

Spicy Spegetti Sauce

I make a spicy spegetti sauce. It is good.
Ingredients:
1 pound of hot spicy sausage
2-16 ounce cans of tomato sauce
1-16 ounce can of diced tomatoes (Do not drain)
1-8 ounce can of tomato paste (Add a little bit of water to get the remainer out of the can)
4 fire roasted sweet red pepper sections, sliced. (I use Roland brand).
1/2 white onion diced
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp Louisana hot sauce
1/4 cup red wine
1 & 1/2 tsp each of sugar, crushed basil, oregano, & tyme. You can add more of these spices to
taste.
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
Saute the sausage, 1 tsp of the garlic & 1/4 cup of the onion until the sausage is cooked.
Then add the remaining ingredents.
Simmer on medium low heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to low and simmer another 45 minutes. Serve over a pasta.

Laura's Cranberry Chicken in Amaretto Sauce

The dish featured today was inspired by my favorite Italian restaurant-Luigi's of Harrison Township, Michigan. It has been around for over 25 years and even though I have only been going there for about four years, I have never had a bad meal, everything is fantastic. There is one in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, but they are not associated with the Harrison Township restaurant. I read in the newspaper that their round pizza was ranked number 16 in the nation.
However, the one item I love to eat is the Michigan Cherry Chicken in Amareto cream sauce served over angel hair pasta. Of course, I found out what was in it and made it at home with a twist of my own using the Ocean Spray bagged cranberries. I will share the recipe and I guarentee it is great. This serves about four.

First cook up about 8 ounces or half a bago of angel hair pasta
You will need:
A large copper bottomed skillet.
Two large boneless chicken breasts cut into 1" cubes
1 1/2 quarts heavy cream
4 TBSP's butter
1-6 ounce bag of Ocean Spray Cranberries (or if you prefer use the dried bing cherries)
1/2 cup Amaretto
1/4 of a white onion minced
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp of basil (crush into fine powder)
1 1/2 tsp of thyme (crush into fine powder)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
Saute the chicken in 2 TBSP's of the butter, garlic and onion until browned
Then add the rest of butter and melt
Then add the cream, the dry seasonings, cranberries and Amaretto.
Thicken over medium low heat stirring constantly for about 20 minutes or until it reaches a gravy thickness consistancy. Serve over the pasta.

Clam and Cranberry cream sauce over angel hair pasta

Here is another recipe for those who love cream sauces. This is not a spicy dish.
This serves two to four people.
Cook about 8 ounces of angel hair pasta first.
Ingrediants:
2 cans diced clams (Do not drain)
1 red bell pepper diced
8 large fresh mushrooms sliced
1 small white onion diced
2 garlic cloves sliced thin
8 ounces frozen spinch thawed
1/2 cup white wine separated
3 TBSPs butter
3/4 Cup bagged Oceanspray cranberries
1 tsp thyme
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 quarts heavy cream
In a large teflon copper bottomed skillet saute the red bell pepper, onion, mushrooms and garlic in the butter and 1/4 cup of the white wine for 5 minutes on medium heat.
Add the spinach, clams, and the rest of the white wine
Then add the cream, basil, thyme, salt, white pepper and cranberries
Stir on medium heat until cream thickens. Turn heat down to low and let sit for about five minutes. Serve over the angel hair pasta.

Black beans from scatch

I like black beans cooked from scatch. So here is my way of making them.
I rinse and cover 8 ounces of beans with water and let them soak over night in a my copper bottomed 5 quart pan.
Then I boil the beans until they are soft. When the beans are cooled off I drain most of the water, but save a cup of liquid in case I have to add moisture.
I then mash the beans and add the following seasons to taste.
Cumin
Chili powder
Cayenne powder
Minced garlic
White diced onion (Optional if you do not want onion)
Salt
Pepper

I use the beans on tostado shells, or melt cheese over the beans.

When I was in Guatemala, I had a black bean soup that was delicious. This is done by draining as much liquid off to create the ratio of liquid to beans that you prefer. Then mix in the above seasonings & sour cream into the liquid. Sour cream thickens the liquid. Heat and serve.

Chili Con Carne

Today I am going to share my chili con carne recipe with you. In addition to making this for myself, it also was served at a coffee/cafe vendor in the now defunct Metro Center in Phoenix. However, I would make 25 pounds at a time for that establishment. This recipe is on a medium spice level for spicy hot lovers of chili and hot for people who like chili bland. If you prefer bland use mild chili powder and leave out the Tapitito chili sauce.

Note: You must use a 5 quart copper bottomed sauce pan to avoid the chili sticking to the bottom and burning. Do not use an iron sauce pan.
Now if you do have a copper bottom sauce pan, once you bring the chili to a boil you can transfer it to a crock pot or other slow cooker and finish simmering it that way. The object is to avoid burning the chili, since it does have to cook for an hour.

Chili Con Carne southwestern style
This recipe makes about 5 quarts. Whatever you don't eat in one sitting, store it in the refrigerator overnight so it will thicken, or you can let it cool, store overnight in the refrigerator and then serve the next day.
Saute until browned
2 pounds 80/20 ground beef in
1 TBSP each of chili powder, cumin, cayenne powder, Spanish parika and cilantro.
1/2 small white onion
1 TBSP minced garlic
1 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of salt
When ground beef is browned add:
1 red bell pepper diced
1 orange bell pepper diced
1 green bell pepper diced
1/2 small white onion
1 TBSP minced garlic
2-16 ounce cans of diced tomatoes (Do not drain)
1 can of green diced chilis or 1 whole jalepeno if you want if hotter
3-15 ounce cans of Ranch Style beans or chili beans (Do not drain)
1 TBSP each of chili powder, cumin, cayenne powder, Spanish paprika, and cilantro
1 or 2 TBSP of Tapitito chili sauce or any hot red chili sauce
Bring to a boil stirring constantly.
Then turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer and let cook for an hour checking every 15 minutes to make sure the chili does not clump and burn on the bottom of the pan.

Chili also tastes good over white rice or my Mexican rice recipe above.
Ole'!

Another Mexican food recipe tomorrow.

Tuna With a Twist

Ah yes the lovely can of tuna fish. My five sisters and I were raised on canned tuna fish being made into tuna sandwiches by my mom. She usually bought the least expensive 6 ounce canned tuna in oil. She would open two cans, drain the oil, add salad dressing, a little bit of yellow mustard, spread the tuna onto white bread and serve it for lunch. Since I was always hungry as a kid, I ate the sandwich as though it was my last meal. However, since two cans of tuna only made about five sandwiches, I would end up making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on top of that and drink a glass of milk.

Since my mom was not a very adventurous cook, as a kid I never thought about adding anything other than salad dressing or mustard to the tuna to kick up the favor. Plain food with a lot of salt was how my dad liked it. I did, though, once venture beyond the plain boundry by making a salad dressing for the iceberg lettuce dinner salad, that contained generic brand Miracle Whip, basil, thyme, and rosemary with a few sprinkles of red food coloring. I was so proud of my creation until I sat it on the dinner table. Wrong move. My dad had a fit and washed my salad dressing off the lettuce. Then to make his point he took the French dressing from the refrigerator and poured about half the bottle into the bowl until the lettuce was swimming in the dressing. So much for creativity.

So for years I made tuna fish, packed in water, the same way until up to about five years ago when I met a guy who loved spiced up foods and I began experimenting with spices. The following tuna salad recipe is an example of that experimentation. It is good and I tend to eat most of it in one setting. So give it a try, you'll like it.

Twisted Tuna
6 ounce can of chunk light tuna in water
3 TBSPs pickle relish
1 tsp hot chinese mustard
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp Mongollian fire oil (can find this in the oriental section of any grocery store)
Miracle Whip (as much as you want)
1/2 stick cropped celery
1 tsp Indian curry powder
1/2 tsp of my Mexican spice mix (mix 2 TBSP's of mild chili powder, cumin, cayenne and
Spanish paprika together)
You can also add cropped green onion or white onion optional.
Mix and serve as you wish.

Tomorrow Chili Con Carne.

The Bland Devil'd Egg

It was a typical Saturday except for the great block party that my friend took me to. The organizer created some fantastic pulled pork, saucy and crispy meaty ribs, & chicken, plus the usual suspects, hot dogs and hamburgers. Of course, two different dishes of devil'd eggs were served-one made with bacon and green onion, (tasty but nothing to write home about). The other made with just mayonaise and mustard with a dash of paprika on top. (Definitely bland-which is not a word in my vocabuary).

So today I will share how I make my kicked up filling for a dozen (or 24 halves) of devil'd eggs. Since most people know how much mayonaise or Miracle Whip and mustard they use, do the same for this recipe.

The filling contains:
Miracle Whip
Hot chinese mustard (about 1 TBSP)
Pickle relish
Indian curry powder (about 1 TBSP)
salt
white pepper
Mix together & fill the eggs.
Sprinkle paprika on top of eggs when finished.

Tomorrow: Tuna.

Eating good vs. bad Mexican Food

I lived in Arizona for over 42 years and dined on Mexican food quite frequently. Since there are a variety of Mexican restauants located all over the Phoenix Metropolitan area, at least twice a week I dined at a decent Mexican restaurant. (No Taco Bell does not qualify.) Even though the Mexican food in Phoenix was good, I looked forward to the authenic cuisine in the fishing town of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), a four hour drive from Phoenix, Az. The trip through the barren desert was worth it because upon reaching Gringo Pass for a final gas stop before crossing over into Mexico, it would only be about 15 minutes before I had my Mexican food fix at the taco stand in Vasquez. The food was inexpensive and good. $1.00 for three soft tacos with diced carne and topped with cabbage, or 2 cheese quesadeas or 2 tamales. I usually ate 3 taco and two quesadeas. There were five different toppings set out in a self serve Tupperware container-pico de gallo, diced red onions, guacamole sauce, and green and red chili sauce. The latter two being hot.

Down in Rocky Point, I would dine at the different restaurants where unlike the inexpensive prices at the taco stand, American pricing was the norm. There were, though, taco stands all over the place, so I never ran out of my daily food fixes. Well, all that ended when I moved to Michigan and discovered in order to get good authenic Mexican food one has to travel on down to the city of Detroit to dine in Mexican town. However, it is a 35 minute drive by freeway and when one gets off the freeway, one is navigating through areas that are fine to travel during the day, but I, myself, would not want to be exploring at night. I do have to say in all fairness, it is worth the drive.

Now out in suburbs where I am, I can fagettaboutit in finding top notch cuisine and therefore, I make my Mexican food from scratch. Some of the restaurants I have been in could be categorized in the "one step above Taco Bell". For example, a place that in my never to be humble opinion that qualifies for that category was called Salsaritos. We had a half off the second entree' coupon and when my dining partner and I entered and noted it was an assembly line type cafeteria style joint, we should have walked out. Instead, we gave the place the benefit of the doubt and ordered. I gave Miss perky blonde an order for the three enchilada plate and she proceeded to take 3 flour totillas, and sprinkled some yellow sheded cheese on them and popped the trio into a toaster oven for 45 seconds. Then she removed them and passed the plate onto a man who put some carne on and chicken on another and then asked what I wanted in them. Now this is where the sub sandwich shop topping arrangement came into play. Bins of toppings and sauces. I chose onions, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa for the filling and then the man asked if I wanted red or green chili sauce. I chose the red sauce and then decided to try the cheese sause. Mistake. Of course, it came with rice and either refried or black beans. Dining partner ordered a taco salad. When I took my first bite, I was less than impressed. The so called enchaladas were not hot and the cheese sauce tasted like a cheese pudding. The rice tasted similar to Taco Bell rice and the black beans were bland. Since I was very hungry I did eat about 85% of the order. Dining partner about 75% of his. Needless to say, Salsarito's will not be seeing my face there again. But in all fairness, the two authenic items in the place was the bottle of real chili sauce from Mexico on the table and the fountain Coke. Other than that, subjective.

Now, in closing I want to pass on my recipe for a southwest style spanish rice. (I also have a recipe for Guatemalan style rice that I will post another time).
You will need to:
Dice up half a small white onion
Two green onions
2 TBSP of mince garlic
You will also need 1/2 C of capers. (However, this is optional). Capers are a tangy item that adds contrast to the rice.
In a 5 quart sauce pan pour enough oil to cover the bottom and heat on high.
Add 1 1/2 cups of white rice.
Fry the rice unti brown.
Then add a 15 ounce can of red enchalada sauce (fill the empty can with water and add)
1 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 can of green chilis
The onions and garlic.
Add 3 cups of water
Then turn the heat down and simmer until the water is absorbed.
Then season with rice with 1 TBSP of cumin, mild chili powder, cilantro and cayenne powder. (Now if you do not want the rice spicy, leave out the cayenne powder).
Add the capers.
Serve.

Brownie Mousse

In a double boiler melt
3-2 ounce sqaures of unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup butter
When melted add
3 eggs
1 and half cup sugar.
Cook until 165 degrees.
Take off heat & cool for about 15 minutes.
Then whip in a quart and a half of heavy cream.
1/2 cup Amaretto
1 tsp of vanilla.
Then pour the mixture into a 3 quart Pryex dish & put into the freeze & freeze until firm then serve.