Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bacon and Cheese Puff



Ingredients:


8 slices bacon
2 medium onions, sliced
12 slices white bread, quartered
1/2 pound Swiss cheese, shredded
8 eggs
4 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 dash red pepper sauce(or to taste)

Method:

Cook bacon until crisp; remove from pan, drain and crumble. In bacon drippings cook onions until soft.

Arrange half the bread slices in a single layer in bottom of greased 9 x 13 pan or casserole.

Sprinkle with half the crumbled bacon, onions and cheese

Combine remaining ingredients; pour over top layer in pan. (May be prepared to this stage in advance and stored in refrigerator until an hour before serving time.)

Bake at 375 degrees until mixture is set and top is puffed and golden, about 50 minutes.

The recipe can be halved and baked in an 8 inch square pan for about 40 minutes.

Recipe by: Gourmet Recipes

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Baked Potato Pie



Prep: 10 min, Cook: 35 min.
  • 1-1/2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 Tbs. parsley, chopped
  • 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/4 tsp. paprika

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place potatoes in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover saucepan and steam 12-15 minutes or until tender. Drain water and return potatoes to saucepan. Add parsley, butter and salt and pepper to taste. Mash potatoes until very smooth. Stir in beaten egg and mix thoroughly. Transfer mixture to a buttered shallow baking dish. Smooth top with a knife. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake 20-30 minutes or until top is golden.

Recipe by: Meals for you

Thursday, June 5, 2008

SOME LIKE IT HOT



By Mark R. Vogel

Do you like hot food? I mean really hot food? Are you a chile head? Then let’s talk hot peppers. Chile peppers, of which there are almost 200 varieties, have been cultivated since 6200 B.C. All chile peppers get their fire from a compound called capsaicin, (kap-SAY-ih-sihn), the greatest deposits of which lie in the veins of the pepper.

The Scolville Scale measures chile peppers’ heat in increments from 500 to 400,000. Your average jalapeno registers about 3,500-4,500 Scolville units, while the mighty habanero, the hottest pepper on earth, tips the scale at 300,000-400,000. Chiles are available in fresh and dried forms. A fresh chile’s dry counterpart will be somewhat hotter since dehydration intensifies the heat of the remaining substance. Aside from the heat, chile peppers offer a distinct flavor, unequaled in the culinary world. Moreover, they are high in vitamins A and C as well as good sources of potassium, folic acid, and vitamin E.

It is advisable to wear rubber gloves while cutting them, especially the very hot ones. Capsaicin from the pepper quickly infiltrates the skin and can linger even after washing. I learned this the hard way one day when I put my contacts in after cutting up habaneros. Yes, just imagine shoving a sharp pencil into your pupil.

There are countless hot pepper sauces on the market today. I prefer Franks, (made from cayenne peppers), and the classic Tabasco, (made from tabasco peppers). Steer clear of the ultra hot sauces. You can recognize them by the small bottle, the crazy name, and the price. These super hot sauces are an intensified extract of capsaicin.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Pasta withTuna, Tomatoes, Capers, and Olives



Ingredients:

8 ounces tube shaped pasta or whatever you like
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes or 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
1-2 tsp chopped capers
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1/8 cup dried
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 of a large 15 can olives, sliced (feed the other half to the kids while they're waiting for dinner, along with some sliced carrots and celery!)
2 small cans water packed tuna (12 oz total), drained
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup grated Parmesan

Direction:

Put the water on to boil and cook the pasta when it's ready. No oil; just a bit of salt in the water.

In the meantime, drain the canned tomatoes or chop the fresh ones and put them in your serving dish. Add the olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, capers, tuna, salt and pepper and stir together. When the pasta is done, drain it and add to the tuna and tomato dish and mix it all up. Add the Parmesan cheese, mix, and serve.

Recipe by: Cheap Cooking




Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Baked Spaghetti

Ingredients:

* 1 c. chopped onion
* 1 c. chopped green pepper
* 1 tbsp. butter or margarine
* 1 (28 oz.) can tomatoes with liquid, cut up
* 1 (4 oz.) can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
* 1 (2 1/4 oz.) can sliced ripe olives, drained
* 2 tsp. dried oregano
* 1 lb. hamburger, browned
* 12 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained
* 2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1 can cream of mushroom soup
* 1/4 c. water
* 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, saute onion and green pepper in butter until tender.
2. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, and oregano.
3. Add ground beef.
4. Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.
5. Place half of the spaghetti in a greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish.
6. Top with half of the vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with 1 c. cheddar cheese.
7. Repeat layers.
8. Mix soup and water until smooth; pour over casserole.
9. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
10. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Six to 8 servings.

Recipe By: Rachel Paxton

Monday, June 2, 2008

Creating A Recipe



Creating your own recipe can be a lot of fun, especially if you make it a group effort. It's all about being creative and finding complimentary tastes. I love cooking and my husband is an artist, so you'd think we'd be naturals, right? Not exactly.

We patrolled through the local grocery store aisles, looking for something to create our masterpiece recipe. At first, we couldn't agree on flavors or even the type of dish we wanted to create. It's easiest to first choose the basics. For instance, do you want to bake, fry, broil, etc.? do you want to experiment with fish, beef, poultry or pork? Pasta, potatoes or veggies? It's all a matter of taste, literally.

It's good to play on what you know. Think of some of your favorite recipes and what makes them your favorite. Is it texture or subtlety of taste or even a mixture of colors? Also think about some of your favorite dishes from restaurants you like to visit

Don't expect to get it perfect on the first try. Great recipes are developed over time. Be open to suggestions from family members and friends, and don't take their words as harsh criticism if they suggest, "Why don't you try . . . instead?" Try different brands, subtle changes in flavors, textures and colors. Cooking is an artwork that takes time to develop and perfect.

Lastly, be creative! A recipe is your own design, so make it your own. Add something a little unexpected or perhaps your signature ingredient. Everything, down to the dish's name, is up to you!

What recipe did my husband and I come up with? We call it, "Cheese Ravioli with Clams." (It was temporarily and unofficially titled, "Darth Vader's Cheese Ravioli with Clams" because we figured, hey, it's our recipe, we can call it whatever we want! Maybe Darth Vader would have loved this dish! In the end, it was misleading, though. People would think he created it, and we wouldn't get the credit.)

Our recipe starts off very simple, it's still not perfected, but we enjoy it on occasion. The ingredients are: 1 package cheese ravioli, prepared according to package's instructions, 1-2 tbsp. Olive oil, 1 tbsp. Butter, 1 clove garlic, finely chopped, 1 can whole baby clams (drain and reserve juice), 1-2 tbsp. clam juice reserve, salt & pepper to taste, parsley, parmesan cheese.

Here's how you make it: Glaze a pan with olive oil. Add 1 tbsp. Butter, 1 garlic clove finely chopped, 1 can whole baby clams (drained), 1-2 tbsp. reserved calm juice. Toss with cooked cheese ravioli and top with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese.

By Tonia Jordan