Oven Corn on the Cob with Molasses Cilantro butter

  Nope... I have drifted off into the wild blue blog-o-sphere.  I'm still here!  I've had a few rough months and blogging is the last thing I've had on my mind.  I've got yet another surgery coming up this Tuesday and hopefully that will bring me some much needed relief from pain.
I'm still facing eating challenges but its slowly improving.  I've not done much cooking... lack of appetite, pain and eating issues just killed my desire.  Unfortunately, its also played havoc on our finances!  Time for me to get my but in gear and start making meals for the family again and staying on budget.
Yesterday was another hot and muggy day... perfect burger weather!  Homemade hamburgers are THE best.  I would rather have a burger cooked on the grill at home than any fast food or restaurant burger.  Maybe its the touch of my husband... man, does he cook a good burger!  I had some corn on the cob and tried a new technique; for me it was a new technique. It was pretty darn good corn!

Keep the corn in its husk and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  I just laid the corn straight on the oven racks; no sense getting more dishes dirty!  Let the corn cook for thirty minutes.  Remove from the oven and shuck.  Easy Peasy.

I was going to leave it like that but figured for my blogging friends I would go the extra mile... hey! You're worth it!  I found a recipe for a Molasses Cilantro Butter and while it looked icky (sorry, brown is just not the eye appealing color for food unless its chocolate!) the flavor was a nice touch to the sweet corn.

I found the original recipe here at delish.com    I had to substitute dried cilantro for the fresh since mine isn't growing too well yet and I really wanted that molasses flavor so I upped the amount.  
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon molasses (it originally calls for 1 teaspoon)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried cilantro

Combine ingredients to blend completely.  The recipe says it makes enough for eight ears of corn.  We used about a teaspoon on the butter mix per ear of corn.  We really liked the extra molasses addition but I think starting off with the 1 teaspoon and adding more to taste would be ideal for most people.

Secret Recipe Club: Crumbs and Chaos Butterfinger grape salad

 

This month I had the honor of stalking the wonderful blog of Crumbs and Chaos for my Secret Recipe Club assignment. SRC pairs us up with another blog which we must then challenge ourselves to make one of their recipes.

Crumbs and Chaos is a blog created by four sisters.I loved that they had an index for their recipes (look under Crumbs) and spent many an hour browsing through the recipes. I couldn't decide on one recipe, so I actually made two of them for our Fourth of July celebration: Cream Cheese Corn and her Candy Bar and Grape Salad

While we all enjoyed the creamy deliciousness of the corn, it was the grape salad that stole the show. The response went from "What?" To "Oh my gosh this is fabulous!"

I made a few changes: cutting the grapes to make it appropriate for my grand daughter and using vanilla and honey Greek yogurt, leaving out the sugar from the original recipe.



Butterfinger Grape Salad
adapted from Crumbs and Chaos
1 1/2 cups Red Grapes, cut into fourths (I did this because our grapes were HUGE and I had little ones eating)
1 1/2 cups Green Grapes, cut into fourths
4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
3 ounces Vanilla and Honey Greek Yogurt
2 reg. sized Butterfinger Candy Bars

Directions:
Rinse grapes and cut into fourths; Place into a large bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth and creamy. Pour mixture over grapes and stir, gently, to combine. Coarsely chop the Butterfingers candy bars and divide in half. Combine half to the salad and stir to mix in. Top with the remaining half prior to serving.
As an added note, this recipe did not really keep well since I cut the grapes into fourths. I added the cream cheese/yogurt mixture prior to serving to keep it from having to much liquid..

Cream Cheese Corn

from Crumbs and Chaos

1 pound frozen corn, thawed
3 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste ( I used scant half teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper)
paprika, optional for topping

Directions:
Cook corn according to package directions ( I like to steam mine in the microwave to retain all the nutrients!). If boiling the corn, drain off excess liquid after cooking. Add cream cheese and butter to cooked corn and stir in to combine. I had to microwave mine for an additional thirty seconds to get everything to cream up nicely. Add cayenne, salt and pepper and mix well. Top with Paprika, if desired. Best served warm.

Indian butter chicken

Last winter I picked up a jar of butter Chicken sauce at the ethnic market.  It was OK, but the flavor was intriguing enough that I knew I wanted to try making it from scratch.  There are numerous recipes out there for butter chicken.... some quite elaborate and time consuming.  Several recipes mentioned using a bit of lemon or lime juice as well as chilies or chili powder. I liked the rather simple recipe of Life Ambrosia so adapted her recipe with the addition of lemon and diced chilies. I also liked that the recipe used chicken thighs rather than breast meat as money has been tight lately.  The family liked it so will certainly be making this again.  

Indian Butter Chicken

adapted from http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2010/09/indian-butter-chicken-recipe.html

Serves 4     

For the marinade

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/4 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs, diced  (debone them yourself as its less expensive!!)

For the Sauce 

5 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, diced

1 (15 ounce can) tomato sauce

1/4 cup lowfat plain yogurt  ( i used a plain Greek yogurt as I had it on hand)

1 tablespoon garam masala

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons diced green chilies (optional... I just wanted a bit more spice)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder (optional)

Directions:

To make the marinade, combine the garam masala, salt, ginger, garlic, oil and lemon juice and pour over the diced chicken. Cover and refrigerate for about two hours, turning at least once.  I find it easiest to just put everything into a plastic bag and give it a few squishes to coat everything. 

In a large skillet over medium heat, pour the chicken and marinade into the pan and cook chicken until browned. Cook chicken until browned.  Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Using the same pan,  melt butter over medium heat and add onions and chilies; cook until the onions become soft and translucent. Add the chicken and remaining ingredients to the pan; simmer for thirty minutes.

Serve over rice.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

I was craving something fresh and fruity when I saw that this month's "Have the Cake" challenge was strawberries. I really want to make it down to the U-pick farm and get some fresh strawberries but they aren't ready yet, so I used store bought strawberries. You know how it is when you buy fruit at the store, the fruit can either be good or blah. I hate when that happens! Luck was on my side and the berries were just fabulous!
The directions call for using mostly whole strawberries and while it worked out, I think next time I will quarter them.  This is another one of those recipes that I had stockpiled prior to my blogging days.  I have no idea where the recipe came from.  I printed this recipe out in early 2000!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 (9-inch) baked pie crust

3 pints strawberries, stems removed and hulled  

3/4 cup sugar (recipe called for one cup but my berries were pretty sweet)
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt

Take 2 pints of your prepared strawberries and arrange the berries, stem side down, on your prebaked pie crust; set aside.

In a medium size sauce pan mash the remaining one pint of strawberries; to this add the sugar, water, cornstarch and salt.  Stir over medium heat and allow the mixture to come to a boil; after it is at a boil cook for one minute more.  Remove the pan from the stove and allow the strawberry mash mixture to cool before pouring over the berries in the pie crust.
Refrigerate for three hours to allow the pie to "set".  Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Almost Olive Garden Breadsticks

 The other day I made a soup and wanted to serve some sort of bread with it.  I know my family loves the Olive Garden Breadsticks so I tried my hand at a copy cat recipe.  The family liked them... a lot... I'll still have to just take their word on it as bread and I  can't exist together these days.  The recipe made twelve humongous bread sticks.  Next time I will make sixteen instead of the twelve to make them a bit smaller.  The recipe also called for 1/4 a cup of butter and I found that to be a bit much and had about two tablespoons left over.  I've had this recipe in my arsenal for several years now and it was prior to my blogging years.  Therefore, I do not have the source of this recipe.  I know that there are many copycat recipes out there and I would give credit where credit is due.  But for now, just go make yourself a batch of these and enjoy!

Almost Olive Garden Breadsticks

recipe source unknown

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

for topping:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

I use my Kitchen Aid for making all my bread dough so the directions allow for that use.  Adapt as you please for your favorite method.  

In a mixing bowl, bring the water, yeast, sugar and salt together and gently stir to just combine.  Allow the mixture to become nice and foamy; add the melted 2 tablespoons of butter.  On low speed, start adding the flour until the dough begins to start pulling away from the bowl... I didn't need the last 1/4 cup of flour so just see for yourself if the dough needs it.  Using the dough hook attachment, kneed the dough for about five minutes until the dough becomes smooth.
Lightly grease another large bowl and add the dough, turning once to coat all sides with a bit of the grease, and let rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

Punch dough down and knead just ever so slightly so that you can cut the dough into 12 to 16 pieces depending on your preference.  Roll pieces into about 10 inch lengths and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.  Cover and let rise for a second time, about 30 minutes.  

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Make the topping mixture by combining the melted butter with the garlic and salt.  Bake the dough for six minutes, remove from oven and glaze the breadsticks with the butter/garlic mixture.  Return breadsticks to the oven and bake for another six to ten minutes (breadsticks should become lightly golden) and remove from oven; glaze the breadsticks with the garlic/butter mixture a second time.  These are best served warm.

Rustic Italian Tortellini Soup

 Since soups fall under the category of " foods I'm able to eat," I made this for dinner the other night.  I'm still having a difficult time swallowing and ended up sticking my serving into the blender.... nummy.... pureed soup.  Seriously folks, this is getting old.

But at least there was flavor to be had and it met with rave reviews.  Even my grandsweetie had two bowls!  The original recipe is from an old Light and Tasty magazine and can be found here  I doubled the recipe and added a few other things.  This is definitely a keeper recipe that will certainly be on my soup rotations this fall. My husband, bless his heart, is becoming more brave with foods every year.  But since I love this guy so much.... so very much... I accommodate him by giving the tomatoes a quick whirl in the blender.  My broth turned out to be quite red because of that.  If you leave the tomatoes whole the broth will be clear.

Rustic Italian Tortellini Soup

adapted from taste of home magazine

Ingredients

3 Italian turkey sausage links (4 ounces each), casings removed

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, grated

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each)  chicken broth

1-3/4 cups water

1 can (14-1/2 ounces)diced tomatoes with roasted garlic, undrained

1 can (16 ounces)  cannellini beans, drained and rinshed

1 package (9 ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini

1 package (6 ounces) fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped (I chopped mine more fine)

 3/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Shredded Parmesan cheese, optional

Directions

In a dutch oven or large soup pan, crumble and brown the sausage until it is no longer pink.  Remove the sausage from the pan and let the grease drain off onto a paper towel.  Safe just a slight remainder of the grease, in the pot, and drain off the excess; add the onion, carrots, garlic, basil, pepper and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft and onions are translucent.  Stir in the broth, water and tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Add the tortellini and cook for about eight minutes or until the noodles become tender.  Reduce the heat and add the spinach; cook until the spinach is wilted, about 3 more minutes.  Serve with fresh Parmesan cheese, if desired.

 Yield: 6 servings (2 quarts).

adventures in all things food: Flax seed bread

I'm so sorry.... This was supposed to have been posted yesterday and it never went up. I feel awful... No blog deserves to feel orphaned. Please forgive me!
For this months Secret Recipe Club assignment I had the privilege of having Adventures in All Things food. She has an excellent blog and mad cake decorating skills. There were so many things I wanted to try but I ended up choosing the Flax seed bread. While my picture does not do it justice, my hubby and mom said it was good. I'm still not able to eat breads so I have to take their word on it. She made it in her bread machine and I used my Kitchen-aid. I also added a bit of wheat germ to the bread, just because I had some and like to throw it in baked goods.

Flax seed honey wheat bread

1 1/2 c. Water, room temp.
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil (or Canola for milder flavor)
1/4 c. Honey
2 1/3c. Bread flour
1 2/3 c. Whole wheat flour
1/3 c. nonfat Dry Milk powder
3 Tbsp. Flax Seed
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 1/4 Tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
2 1/4 tsp. SAF yeast

In a mixing bowl, combine the water, yeast and wheat gluten.  Once it starts getting all foamy, add the oil, honey, salt, dry milk powder; mix together to combine.  Gradually add the wheat germ, flax seed and flours.  Using the dough hook, mix on medium speed for about seven minutes.  Allow bread dough to rise until doubled, about an hour, punch down and knead for about thirty second then put into a greased bread pan.  Allow bread to rise for about thirty minutes.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.