16

Food / Santa Fe Stuffed Chicken

« on: April 28, 2016, 05:13:56 AM »

Santa Fe Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients

8 oz. pkg. Monterey Jack cheese - divided in half
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 1/2 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup butter - melted
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 sm red bell pepper - diced
1 sm green bell pepper - diced

Directions

Place 1 chicken breast between two sheets of wax paper. Working from the center to the edges pound with a meat mallet until flat and rectangular shaped. Repeat with remaining breasts.

Cut half of the cheese in 8 slices. Wrap each flattened chicken breasts around a slice of cheese. Secure with wooden picks or uncooked spaghetti noodles.

Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt, cumin and pepper. Roll the secured chicken pieces in the melted butter and then in the bread crumb mixture. Place chicken breasts in a 13" X 9" baking dish, being careful not to crowd them. Drizzle remaining butter over the breasts.

Refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze to bake later (baking time will be increased by about 5 to 10 minutes).

Bake in 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until chicken cooked through.

Grate remaining cheese. Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour. Whisk in milk. Bring to a simmer. Add cheese and reduce heat. Simmer until thick, stirring constantly so cheese doesn't burn.

Place chicken on plates, pour sauce over, and top with diced peppers.

17

Food / Simple Angel Hair Pasta Salad

« on: April 27, 2016, 11:29:02 AM »

Simple Angel Hair Pasta Salad

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) packages angel hair pasta
1/2 pound cooked bay shrimp
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 cups ranch-style salad dressing

Directions

Cook the pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse under cold water.
Mix together the pasta, shrimp, green onions and ranch dressing, then carefully work the shrimp into the pasta with your hands. (Note: As the salad sits, it will absorb some of the dressing; add a little dressing right before serving).

18

Food / Crawfish Pasta

« on: April 26, 2016, 11:27:16 AM »

Crawfish Pasta

Ingredients

2 sticks butter
crawfish
garlic powder
seafood seasoning
Cajun seasoning
half and half cream
parsley, chopped
green onion, chopped
pasta

Directions

Saute cajun seasoning in butter. Add crawfish, garlic powder, and seafood seasoning. Cook till crawfish are warm. Add 3/4 container of half and half. Cook until bubbly. add cooked pasta. Toss until warm. Sprinkle with parsley and green onion.

Note: This is another recipe from New Orleans. Crawfish (more widely known as crayfish) come into season once a year there. When they do the locals go crazy over them. They tend to look like mini-lobsters.

The recipe for cajun seasoning can be found on line here.

The recipe for seafood seasoning can be found on line here as a more well known spice mixture called Old Bay.

As a last note, I have no connection to any recipe site I offer you a recipe from on line other than in the interests of making it easy for you to obtain ingredients you might not have available locally. Please feel free to use any site you so wish. I only offer links as a convenience to the reader.

19

Food / Spaghetti Pizza Pie

« on: April 23, 2016, 01:16:40 AM »

Spaghetti Pizza Pie

Ingredients

8oz spaghetti, cooked and drained
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1lb ground beef or sausage, whichever you prefer
2 cups spaghetti sauce
8oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Toss spaghetti, Parmesan and egg. Place in 9-in pie plate. Press along bottom and sides to form a crust. Mix cooked meat and spaghetti sauce. Spread mixture over spaghetti crust. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated, let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

20

Food / Shrimp Creole

« on: April 21, 2016, 12:57:20 AM »

Shrimp Creole

Ingredients

2 pounds shrimp
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2 (14 1/2 oz.) cans tomatoes with juice
1/4 teaspoon thyme
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
2 bay leaves
Salt and cayenne pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions

Saute in 2 tablespoons butter the green pepper and onion. Add the tomatoes and juice and other seasonings. Blend in the cornstarch using a wire whip. Simmer covered 1 hour.

Saute the shrimp in 3 tablespoons butter that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.
Add to the sauce.

This is better if made a day ahead of time. Can be frozen. Serve with white rice.

21

Food / Nacho Grande

« on: April 20, 2016, 01:36:41 PM »

Nacho Grande

Ingredients

1 lb. hamburger
2 (30 oz.) cans refried beans
2 lg. onions, chopped
1 bell pepper
3 c. grated Cheddar cheese
1 can enchilada sauce
2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies
1 1/2 c. sour cream
1 (6 or 8 oz.) can black pitted olives, sliced
see salsa recipe below

Directions

Saute hamburger and one chopped onion and drain. Set this mixture aside. Mix together well: The refried beans, one chopped onion, and one cup grated cheese. Grease a baking dish and spread in bottom of dish. Spread meat mixture over bean layer. Spread enchilada or taco sauce over meat layer. Sprinkle with two cups grated cheese, two cans green chilies. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and spread guacamole over top layer. Add sour cream over guacamole. Dot with chopped olives. Scoop up with taco chips.

Now I add salsa to it when I put it in the bowl. I put in a handful of corn chips followed by lettuce in shreds, then the cooked mixture above (maybe 5 tablespoons) then salsa, sliced and diced fresh tomatoes, sliced black olives, sour cream, extra jalapeno peppers on top, and eat up. Great stuff. Like Taco Bell's Nacho Bell Grande but at your costs.

Instead of green chilies I use in place of that jalapeno peppers which is bought by the gallon as we use a lot of them. In place of chedder cheese I use shredded pizza and montery jack or 4 cheese packages.

Salsa

1 can of diced tomatoes
1/4 onion, roughly quartered
1/4 bell pepper, roughly quartered
a good dash of lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cilantro
1/4 tsp. chili powder
jalapeno peppers to taste

Directions

Put tomatoes in a blender, add all other ingredients. Key to good salsa is not to blend it too long. You would like to have bits of visible onions and peppers in the mix. Chill for a couple of hours after making so that spices soak in.

Note: Fresh tomatoes are better than canned for this recipe. If they are out of season then canned works.

22

Food / Easy Chicken Salad

« on: April 19, 2016, 02:17:00 AM »

Easy Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 c. diced, cooked chicken
1 c. diced celery
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. finely chopped pickles
1 c. chopped hard-boiled egg

Directions

Mix well and serve. You may also use tuna fish or ham in place of the chicken.

23

Food / Baked Eggplants with Tomatoes and Mozzarella

« on: April 18, 2016, 01:13:57 AM »

Baked Eggplants with Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Ingredients

2-1/4 lb large eggplants
olive oil for cooking
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2-1/4 lb ripe tomatoes, preferably plum, peeled and chopped (see note)
10 oz mozzarella cheese
2-3 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
3 or 4 large fresh basil leaves, finely sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cut the eggplants into thick slices. Sprinkle with salt and leave in a colander. preferably overnight, to draw out the excess water. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Heat enough light olive oil for shallow-frying in a pan over medium-high heat and add the eggplant slices in a single layer. Shallow-fry on both sides for a few minutes until the slices start to brown slightly. Make sure that the oil is hot before adding the eggplants to the pan. so that they do not absorb too much oil. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Make a tomato sauce by heating a little oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft and transparent, before adding the tomatoes and basil. Season with salt and black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes until the tomatoes have broken up and reduced into a pulpy sauce.

As soon as the sauce is ready, arrange alternate layers of eggplant, tomato sauce, slices of mozzarella, and Parmesan in a greased baking dish. Make sure that you press down the ingredients well, so that you end up with compacted layers. Finish off with a layer of sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes to allow the ingredients to set slightly, then cut into individual portions while still in the dish. Carefully slide out onto serving plates using a spatula, and serve hot.

Note: Peeling tomatoes It is not such an onerous task, peeling fresh tomatoes. Simply score the skin slightly with a sharp knife, blanch in boiling water for 10 seconds or so until the skin starts to soften and split, then refresh in cold water. This makes it far easier to use a sharp knife to peel away the skin.

24

Food / Champagne Jelly

« on: April 16, 2016, 02:31:57 AM »

Champagne Jelly

Ingredients

3 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups champagne or rose wine
1/2 bottle liquid fruit pectin

Directions

Stir together sugar and champagne (or rose wine) in 3-quart glass casserole dish. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Remove the cover. Stir mixture, replace cover and cook another 4 minutes.

When mixture comes to a boil, stir again, and microwave 1 more minute. Remove from microwave and remove cover.

Slowly add 1/2 bottle liquid fruit pectin while vigorously stirring until pectin is completely dissolved. Place one spoon in each wine glass to help disperse the heat and protect container. Ladle mixture over the spoon and into each glass. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. Fills 3 large wine glasses.

If jelly will be kept for an extended period of time, seal the top with paraffin.

25

Food / Veal Marsala with Egg Fettuccini

« on: April 15, 2016, 07:37:43 AM »

Veal Marsala with Egg Fettuccine

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds veal cutlets for scaloppini, from the butcher counter
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour, a couple of scoops
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 4 turns of the pan total
1 large or 2 small shallots, chopped
24 crimini (baby portobello) mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup Marsala
1/2 cup beef stock, from canned soups aisle
1 box, 12 to 14 ounces, egg fettuccini, cooked to al dente
Finely chopped flat leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions

Season veal with salt and pepper. Place a large piece of plastic food wrap on a cutting board or work surface. Arrange veal between cutlets on the plastic wrap. Cover veal with additional plastic wrap and a sheet of waxed paper. Gently pound out veal with meat mallet or a small, heavy frying pan. Fold veal up in its plastic and waxed paper wrapper and set aside.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Build an assembly line between the veal and the hot pan: veal, shallow dish with flour, butter and olive oil, pile of shallots and sliced mushrooms, Marsala and beef stock. Place a large platter over low heat on the burner adjacent to your veal pan. Warm it, then turn off the heat.

Begin cooking the veal Marsala just before your egg fettucini goes into cooking water; the veal will take 12 minutes, the pasta 7 or 8. If you are serving the suggested side dishes or a salad, these dishes should be assembled before the veal.

Dredge the veal lightly in flour. Saute cutlets in a single layer 2 minutes on each side. For each batch of veal, use 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan, and 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer cooked cutlets to the warm serving platter. If you have a 12 to 14-inch skillet, you should be able to make just 2 batches. Add another tablespoon extra-virgin oil and 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet. Add half of the chopped shallots and all of the sliced mushrooms to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Saute the shallots and mushrooms for 5 minutes. Add Marsala to the pan and bring up pan drippings. Add 1/4 cup beef stock and when it bubbles, add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan to gloss your sauce. Spoon mushrooms and Marsala down over the veal. Return the pan to the stove. Add remaining extra-virgin oil, butter and remaining shallots to the skillet. Cook shallots 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup beef stock to the shallots and add the egg fettucini to the pan. Toss fettuccini with broth and butter and season with salt and chopped parsley. Transfer pasta to a serving dish and serve with warm veal Marsala.

26

Food / Bananas Foster French Toast

« on: April 13, 2016, 11:17:03 PM »

Bananas Foster French Toast

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons butter, divided
8 large croissants, halved
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup chopped pecans
6 ripe bananas, halved crosswise and lengthwise
1 teaspoon rum extract

Directions

In a shallow dish, whisk together eggs, cream, and cinnamon. In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Dip 4 croissant halves in egg mixture to coat both sides. Using a fork, remove croissants from egg mixture, letting excess mixture drip off. Place croissant halves in hot skillet. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side or until lightly browned. Repeat procedure with remaining butter and croissant halves. Set aside and keep warm.

In a large skillet, combine corn syrup, brown sugar, maple syrup and pecans. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer for 2 minutes. Add banana halves and rum extract. Coat with the syrup mixture, and simmer 1 minute. Spoon over French toast. Serve immediately.

27

Food / Breakfast Casserole

« on: April 11, 2016, 02:50:21 AM »

Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

6 eggs
1 cup half and half
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
Salt and pepper
Butter to grease pan
6 slices of Texas Toast (thick cut, crusty white bread)
1 pound spicy pork sausage, cooked and drained of fat
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Directions

In a small bowl, beat the eggs until they loosen up. Add the half and half, and green onions. Mix well, highly season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Butter a 12 by 10-inch baking pan. Line the pan with the bread, cutting and rearranging, if needed. Sprinkle the bread with the cooked sausage and cheese. Pour the egg mixture over the entire pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook covered for 25 to 30 minutes or until the egg mixture is set.

28

Other topics / The Natchez Trace

« on: April 11, 2016, 02:35:52 AM »

The Natchez Trace

I thought I would start a thread about this park. It's one I've been on and had the forethought to actually take pictures. The camera is substandard but still it will be good enough to see the images. I'm not a photographer so bare in mind the quality will be lacking in that respect.

For a little history on this park, it goes back to the days before the United States was settled as a nation. For a time, there were the original 13 colonies in the North, with Georgia being a penal location and there were the French and Spanish settlements in the south along the Coast. But there was nothing really connecting the two together. The only way to go from the northern colonies to the southern settlements was either by canoe along the Mississippi River, by sea, or over land. Part of this involved traveling through Indian held country where the traveler was at serious risk as it was pretty much a foot trail that war parties used to raid other tribes. Anything found along the trail was fair game for raids.

Over time and use, the trail expanded into a dirt road of sorts. Connecting the north and the south of the nation. After the Eastern part of the nation begins to be settled, goods travel the Mississippi river by barge from north to south, the party then sells the goods and the barge and then travels The Natchez Trace back north to home.

Later during the Civil War period the Trace is used for troop movements and mail. This follows with people using the Trace to go west during the Westward expansion.

This is a sort of photo record I will be posting of this vacation trip along with explanations along the way of what you are seeing in the images. Mostly people will not be seen. I'll photoedit the images as I go, as most of them are wallpaper sized.

The park is unusual in that it is a long park. It is both a National Park as well as a state park for Mississippi and Tennessee. It takes several days to travel through the complete park and we didn't do it all. Still there will be enough photos here for you to get an idea by seeing them as to what's there.

Given the forum's participation I expect it will be interesting to say the least.

29

Social network | SEO - Social network / Metal foam obliterates bullets – and that's just the beginning

« on: April 09, 2016, 11:17:57 PM »

Metal foam obliterates bullets – and that's just the beginning

30

Food / Baked Eggs

« on: April 09, 2016, 03:09:59 AM »

Baked Eggs

Ingredients

3 c (12 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
12 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 c medium onion, chopped
1/4 c sweet red pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 c butter, melted
8 oz cooked ham, cut into julienne strips
3 c (12oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
8 beaten eggs
1 3/4 c milk
1/2 c all- flour
2 Tbsp snipped fresh chives, basil, tarragon, thyme or oregano
1 Tbsp snipped parsley

Directions

Sprinkle 3 cups cheese in the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch bakeing dish. In a saucepan, cook the mushrooms, onion and red pepper in the butter until vegetables are tender but not brown; drain well. Place vegetables atop cheese. Arrange ham strips atop vegetables. Sprinkle remaining 3 cups cheese atop ham. Cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

To serve, combine eggs, milk, flour, chives, and parsley. Pour over cheese layer. Bake in a 350°F oven for about 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.