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Recipe:Ginger Soy Chicken

Brannon’s new low carb dinner. YUM!

Ginger Soy Chicken
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons gluten free tamari (or regular soy sauce if you’re not concerned about gluten)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot water
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Fresh grated ginger

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in 1/2 cup warm water, then add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.Add mustard/garlic to taste.

Marinade Chicken tenders in sauce mixture for 2 hours. saving some to the side for dressing the salad. Grill chicken till cooked through.

Dice chicken and top on Baby Spinach. Drizzle with remaining dressing. and enjoy.

Total Carbs: 3 for 3 tenders over the spinach.

Recipe: Lottie’s Oatmeal Cookies

Need a classic recipe, but want to change it up? Try Brannon’s Aunt Lottie’s Oatmeal Cookies. They are similar to a regular oatmeal cookie in that they both contain oatmeal, but these are so much better (at least so I am told – I really don’t love oatmeal…however, the ladies at work beg for them, so I am assuming they are great!).

Image came from: www.preparedpantry.com

Lottie‘s Oatmeal Cookies
Aunt Lottie

1 ½ cup All Purpose Flour, unsifted
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
2 cups Brown Sugar, packed
1 cup Shortening
2/3 cup Butter
1/3 cup Oil
2 Eggs, beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extra
3 cups 1 Minute Oatmeal
1 cup chopped nuts
10X Powder Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°

Cream the butter, oil, shortening, sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs in, one at a time. Add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder to the creamed mixture slowly. Add the Oatmeal and chopped nuts, and combine. Place the mixing bowl in the refrigerator, allowing the dough to chill.

Once chilled, place the dough on wax paper, and roll into a 1” tube. Chill again if need be. Slice the cookies about ½” wide. Roll each one into a ball, and roll them in the powder sugar to cover them. Place on a ungreased cookie sheet, and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Cool on a cooling rack—if they make it that far!

Recipe: Wisconsin Trio Fondue

How could you go wrong with this great combination? YUMMMMMM!!!!!
From: Melting Pots: Chef’s Corner

Wisconsin Trio Fondue
and 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Butterkase
1 and 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Fontina cheese
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 tsp. chopped shallots
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup crumbled Blue cheese
2 tbsp. chopped scallions
And don’t forget bread (torn into bite size pieces), vegetables (carrots and broccoli are the most common), and fruits (apple and pears are good!).

Toss the Butterkase and Fontina cheeses with the flour in a bowl. Place a metal bowl over a saucepan filled with two inches of water. You may also use a conventional double boiler. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the wine and sherry into the bowl. Stir in the shallots using a fork. Cook for 30 seconds stirring constantly.

Add half of the cheese blend, and stir constantly until the cheese is melted. Add the remaining cheese blend a small amount at a time stirring constantly. Fold in the pepper and Blue cheese. Pour into a warm fondue pot and keep warm over low heat. Garnish with the scallions.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Found a recipe that sounded good, made a few alterations, and found a winner. If you like Peanut Butter and Chocolate chips, you will love this cookie:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks of butter at room temperature
1-1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 medium eggs (or 2 large/extra-large eggs) at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup peanut butter (see note!!!)
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Semisweet chocolate chips (see note)
Peanuts (optional)
Chocolate ganache (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the batter, alternating it with the peanut butter until all combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks and peanuts.

Using an ice-cream scoop ( I think mine is a 2oz), scoop out some dough, using the sizes of the bowl to flatten/level the scoop. Drop the ball of dough onto a piece of parchment paper or silicon pad. For regular size cookies, cut the dough balls into half, roll them into balls and place on a cookie sheet. For smaller cookies, divide the dough balls into 1/4s, and then roll them into balls and place on a cookie sheet.

Once on the cookie sheets, press the cookies down with the back of your fingers (make bunny ears, fingers slightly bent but together, and use the finger area between the nail and the 2nd knuckle), until the cookies are round and about 1/4 inch thick. Put into the oven and back for: Regular size 15 minutes, for smaller size around 11minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

NOTE: Peanut Butter – The original recipe only called for 1 cup of smooth peanut butter (I used Peter Pan), but I found the cookie lacking in taste and texture. So on my second batch, I used 1 1/4 cup of Kroger brand of crunchy Peanut Butter, that uses actual whole pieces of peanuts instead of finely chopped pieces, and that was a whole lot better.

ALSO, I used a typical peanut butter with the recipe. If you use peanut butter that is much sweeter (like Reese’s brand) or use an all natural (just crushed it yourself), then you will need to alter the sugar a bit to fit your brand.

Chocolate Chips – The original called for 1 lb of chocolate chunks, and since I didn’t have chunks, I used regular chocolate chips, and felt that they were just to big. So in the 2nd batch I wanted to use 1 small bag of mini chocolate chips but couldn’t find any, so I used 1 bag of regular chocolate chips, but chopped them up…and that helped with the texture greatly.

Peanuts – depending on how you like your cookies texture and what style of peanut butter you use, you might want to add more chopped up peanuts. I have decided I will put in about 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts in the next batch.

And lastly, Chocolate Ganache. While having the mini or chopped up chocolate chips helped, I think either dunking the cookies into a chocolate ganache half way (think full moon cookies here), or drizzeling them with chocolate after they cool, will help with that Reese Cup flavor.

Image came from: Fare to Remember

Recipe: Super-duper Hamburger

Hall made these for dinner friday night, and OMG! They were fantastic!

Super-Duper Hamburger by Hall
1LB Ground Beef (no lean meat here…fat = flavor 80/20′ll do)
1 cup Italian Bread crumbs
Worcestershire
Jasper Hill Bayley Hazen Blue cheese (or favorite blue, not to strong but needs to be soft not crumbly)
French style hamburger buns or pretzel buns

1 Medium Onion diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp olive oil
dash of salt
1.5 TBSP Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire
1/2 tsp butter

Portion out hamburger meat. Pour desired amount of Worcestershire on meat and set aside to marinade. We’ll get to the other stuff in a sec…

Dice onions to desired size and thickness. sprinkle with kosher salt and toss in olive oil in small bowl. place skillet over med high heat. Toss in onions and saute till translucent. add Garlic and continue to cook until onions caramelize (slight browning) reduce heat to med low and add Worcestershire and Balsamic vinegar. Cook over med low heat until all liquid has reduced and thickened. Add butter and remove from heat.

Coat hamburger meat in breadcrumbs and spray with non stick spray. Cook on grill. Just before burger meat is done cut buns in half and lightly butter. Place hamburger buns on grill long enough to lightly toast… watch your buns closely they could burn if you walk away from them. (yes, I just said that ;) !) JUST before serving place blue cheese on top of burgers and place the top cap bun on top of cheese turn grill off. Remove and plate the bottom bun and place the onion reduction on bun. Place burger with cheese and top bun on top of that and enjoy!

TIPS: The creamier the blue cheese the better it will slice and the less it will crumble. While you cook all this stuff up let your blue cheese sit out and come to room temp, it will slice better.

Onion smell killer!! Keep your onions in the fridge or at least place it in the fridge for a few hours before hacking it ta pieces. This will cut down on the sulfur that onions release when their cells are broken and you and your family will keep from looking like you just watched Old Yeller!
What ever! you know you cried at the end of that movie too!!!

Recipe: Citrus Honey Chicken

Brannon came up with this recipe one day while we were driving home from work at WDW. It sounded so good, that we had to stop at Publix to get the ingredients. That night he made it and it was fantastic. It is such a great recipe for the spring and summer, since it is light and fruity.


Citrus Honey Chicken
½ cup Green Bell Pepper
½ Orange Bell Pepper
2 small Yellow Onions
10 springs of Cilantro Leaves
1 tbsp minced Garlic
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 small can of Pineapple Juice
2-3 cups of Orange Juice
2 tbsp Clover Honey
Boneless Chicken Breast

Chutney: Toss the bell peppers, onions, Cilantro, Garlic and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until mixture is chunky.

Sauce: Over medium heat, add the Pineapple Juice, Orange Juice and Honey in a sauce pan. Reduce the mixture until about 1/3 of the original amounts remains.

Chicken: Preheat oven to 350°F. Rub each breast with kosher salt and pepper. Sear on each side, and then place in the oven for 15 minutes to finish cooking.

To Finish: Place the chicken on a plate, and place a small amount of the chutney on the chicken. Spoon the sauce over it and serve!

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Recipe: Black and Blue Salad

With the temperatures finally hovering around the 90s, it’s time for some cool salad. My favorite is

Black and Blue Salad

1 package of Romaine Lettuce
1 ½ cups of favorite crouton
6 oz.. Steak, cooked and sliced into strips
¼ cup Parmesan, shredded
¼ cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
¼ cup cooked Bacon
¼ cup Caesar Dressing

In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, bacon, Parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing. Add the croutons and steak slices to the top, and sprinkle on the Blue cheese crumbles.

Tips: For a lighter tasting salad, add some mix greens to the romaine lettuce. And instead of Caesar dressing, use balsamic vinegar.
For a more fulfilling version, saute some bites sizes of zucchini, squash and asparagus and top the salad with them, while they are still hot. YUM!

Recipe: Frogmore Stew

From: Stephanie Childers
“Southern favorite…kind of like a crab boil but it’s red taters, smoked sausage, corn and shrimp boiled in a large pot with lots of old bay seasoning. served with some fresh cocktail sauce and garlic butter…it’s what I call “easy pleasy” -everybody here loves it.”

Frogmore Stew

6 quarts water
3/4 cup Old Bay Seasoning TM
2 pounds new red potatoes
2 pounds hot smoked sausage links, cut into 2 inch pieces
12 ears corn – husked, cleaned and quartered
4 pounds large fresh shrimp, unpeeled

Directions
1. Bring water and Old Bay Seasoning to boil in a large stockpot.

2. Add potatoes and cook for 15 minutes. Add sausage and cook for 5 minutes more. Add corn and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in the shrimp and cook until shrimp are pink, about 5 minutes. Drain immediately and serve.

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Recipe: Port of Desire

Love dark chocolate and port wine together? They make such a lovely combination. And they are even better combined together!

Port of Desire

1 1/2 Sticks of Butter
1 2/3 cup of Sugar
3 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2/3 cup Dark Chocolate Cocoa
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/3 cup Port

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Once light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, thoroughly incorporating each one before adding the next. Once the eggs have been added, add the vanilla.

Combine the Cocoa, flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder together. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture slowly, alternating it with the port. Beat until smooth.

Pour the batter into the 2 9″ greased cake pans or a lined cupcake holder. Bake for 20-25 for cakes and 12-15 minutes for mini cupcakes and 15-20 minutes for regular cupcakes.

Ice with a good dark chocolate butter cream icing…and add some port for extra flavor.

Recipe: Ginger Peach Chicken

Brannon made this recipe while we were living in Lakeland, FL, since we had TONS of juicy peaches that we just couldn’t seem to get rid of (I think they kept multiplying). It is a great spring/summer time recipe.

Ginger Peach Chicken

1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
1 6oz package froze pea pods, cooked and drained
4 small skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2-3 peaches sliced and sprinkled with sugar (keep the juice)
Water
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add the chicken and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked all the way through, and golden brown. Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm.

While the chicken is cooking, drain the peaches, pouring the juice into a 1/2 cup measuring cup. Add enough water to the juice to equal 1/2 cup. In a bowl, mix together the juice mixture, cornstarch, ginger and salt. Once thoroughly mixed, add the mixture to the skillet. Stir until sauce has thickened and starts to bubble. Continue cooking and stirring for an additional minute, before adding the chicken, peaces and water chestnuts. Heat thoroughly.

Serve over rice. Makes 4 servings.

Category: Entrees, Recipes  Tags: ,  2 Comments