Toastados with Spicy Cilantro Sauce

Hello, everybody!  I have a delicious recipe for fish tostadas. (Actually, this could be set on rice or salad, too, but I like some crunch with my veggies.)

Ingredients:

One package of breaded fish fillets, or bread and fry up your preferred fish

two cups corn

two cups black beans

four avocados

3 small tomatoes, chopped

4 tsp chopped onion

Veggie sauce:

2 tsp olive oil

3 tsp honey

4 tsp lime juice

dash of cumin

dash of cayenne pepper

Cream sauce:

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp fresh cilantro fresh cilantro

4 tsp lime juice

1 cup mayo

1/4 tsp cayenne

4 oz canned green chiles, mild

salt to taste

4 or 5 corn tortillas

salt to taste

Oil for frying

So, chop the avocados, tomatoes, onion and add to the corn in a medium bowl. 

 Mix the lime juice, cayenne pepper, honey, salt, and garlic together and add to the veggies above.

 Random pictures of chopped tomatoes. *sigh* These were from a store. How I miss fresh tomatoes right now!

 Prep the cilantro so it's ready to add as a garnish. I'm NOT a cilantro fan. Even the smell of it makes me queasy. But my husband loves it, so here we are... lots of cilantro. Because love.

 I love fresh limes. :)

Heat about 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil in a small pan until hot enough to crisp corn tortillas. 

I also made some corn chips for those who preferred mostly veggies and just some chips for a garnish.

                                                    
As soon as the tostada is out of the oil and cooled, pile on the veggies and beans. This is a bit of a deceptive photo since the reality was almost all the ingredients were separate because I have picky eaters, so people were adding what they wanted, with or without sauce.

 Now, add the mayonnaise, garlic, lime juice, cayenne pepper and cilantro to a blender and blend completely. Add salt to taste.

 The fish should be cooked or near cooked by now. I picked up the wrong fillets so these weren't as crunchy as I wanted, but they were still good.

 Add the cilantro cream sauce and garnish with fresh cilantro.

A shot of the tortillas. If I wasn't so scared of hot oil, I'd make fresh tortilla chips every day!

Enjoy!

Italian Biscotti **Mangia, Mangia! Recipes from the Walla Walla Italian Heritage Association**

Hello, everybody! I bring delicious Italian goodness!

I was at our homeschool girls' book club last week and spent a few glorious hours in a warm and beautiful kitchen, eating apple crisp with piles of real whipped cream topping! Even though I had eight BAZILLION things to do (like get my hair cut and go to Home Depot- those things are not related).

 

Now, as I was chowing down on that deliciousness, I spied a little cookbook on my friend shelf. You all know I love a good cookbook.

 But... I had an ulterior motive. See, she makes the most AMAZING biscotti. If I could get my hands on that recipe, I could have biscotti every day, as much as I wanted! A devious plan was hatched.

 She so sweetly let me borrow the cookbook. I got it home and started to page through it. You know how you can tell a person's favorite Bible verse by how the page looks? Well, I didn't have to look far for her favorite recipe. Past the braccioli, past the tarduci, past thecardiletti, the latte dulce and the cassata alla siciliana, there it was...

 Behold, the page of the biscotti recipe! Ooooo, I rubbed my hands together in maniacal glee! I was never going to want for biscotti again!

1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
3 eggs
3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp anise flavoring
1 c chopped nuts
 (The recipe was submitted by Pam Daltoso Hamilton, but there was another underneath by Anna Perfetto, and another by Mary Locati and another Carmy Destito, under that one by Rose Zaro.
Since Terri is a Biagi, I'm assuming she knows her biscotti. And if not, I'll just have to TRY THEM ALL.)

 Small child is having a wonderful time chopping walnuts from our tree. I don't have the heart to tell him that we only need a cup.

 Ooooh, what a pretty bowl! I wonder where I got that? It smells like... biscotti.

 So, cream the butter, sugar, eggs. In another bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add them, mix well. Now add the nuts and the anise flavoring. (Of course, I didn't have anise flavoring. I don't even like anise. When I lived in France they drank anise liqueur and it was DISGUSTING. So, I'm assuming that vanilla will be just as good.)

 The dough will be very sticky. Grease the sheet well. Heat the oven to 350F. Shape the dough into long rolls.

 While the biscotti cooks for 30 minutes, browse the rest of the recipes.

 Edna is murmuring to herself. "Questa sembra delizioso!" A few minutes later, she makes a noise. Apparently, the pork sausage/ cinnamon spice cake was not meeting with her approval, even though it says it's great with a caramel frosting. I peeked over her shoulder and said she should definitely try the pizza-by-the-yard recipe. "Vorrei un piatto con formaggio..." she mutters. And there's even a recipe for making your own cheese that dries in a string in the basement! This book has everything! (Of course, we have no basement, but that's no matter...)

 The oven beeped and I checked the biscotti. They were huge and fluffy. But I'd set the timer for 20 minutes, just in case my oven ran hotter than the recipe needed. I put another ten minutes on. Edna was eyeing my new Pinterest activity. It's a heart cut from a map, and the place is my honeymoon. Edna snickered and said it looked like a broken heart! She's so funny. Now all I can see is a framed broken heart.            
     Che romantico!!

 After 30 minutes, remove the biscotti and let cool for 15 minutes. Slice diagonally. Put them back in the oven for ten minutes. This is what makes them super crispy.

 I couldn't even wait for them to cool. It was BISCOTTI time.

Now, I hear these keep well in tupperware, but they were GONE by the next morning. It wasn't me, I only had two.
Okay, maybe four. I lost count. I admit it! I'm a biscotti glutton.


  Fino alla prossimo volta, i miei amici!!

 

Grab and Go, Quick Morning Egg Muffins

Hello, everybody! I have a quick/easy breakfast dish that may have shown up here before, but I'm not sure what it was called so... here we go! 

Breakfast. I'm not a breakfast person. But I've been trying to be more mindful of not just drinking four cups of coffee in the morning and calling it breakfast. It's not enough. And it makes me cranky. And cranky is bad.

 I think my aversion to breakfast food comes from the TIME it takes. The longer you take eating breakfast, the earlier you have to get out of bed. (See how that works?) And I'm all about the time I get to stay in bed. So, if I skipped breakfast, that meant I could stay in bed while all those crazy breakfast noshers were at the table.

 But that means by noon, everyone else is going strong and I'm about ready to crumple into a ball. So, in the interests of eating breakfast AND staying in bed, I've been looking for easy recipes that can be cooked the night before and then either warmed, or eaten cold. (And not pop tarts or cereals. That does nothing for me, Five minutes later, I'm hungry again. I'd rather have the five cups of coffee.)

So, here is some leftover hamburger meat with orange and red peppers, onions and garlic. You can make your Egg Muffins meatless, too. Just add mushrooms, green onions, red peppers, even olives. Anything you want. But I've found that it helps to sautee whatever it is for a few minutes because they won't thoroughly cook in the oven.

 Sprinkle on cheddar, mozzarella, or any other kind of cheese. These had pepper jack left over from another recipe.
For a single muffin tin, it takes about five eggs. Whisk together with 1/2 cups of milk and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I also added black pepper in thyme in mine because I like eggs with thyme or rosemary. Sprinkle a little more pepper jack or other cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Let cool. Slide a knife around the edges and carefully lift. I was afraid these would stick to the pan but I think the cheese and meat have enough grease that they came out really easily. I made a triple batch and they were just as good the next day, when we took some to a picnic lunch in the park

I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to summer! Our Farmer's Market has opened and I'm feeling the need to cook a lot of fresh food. Or maybe it's the 105F heat. Either way, I can't wait to see what happens in my kitchen in the coming weeks!

Until next time!

Easy Cream Cheese Brownies For The Chocoholic!

Hello, everybody! I have a delicious little recipe a friend passed on to me. It's probably the usual cream cheese-brownie recipe but this one has MORE chocolate. How can we go wrong?
You'll need to preheat the oven to 350F.
Ingredients are:
1 package cream cheese
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips, dark

1/4 cup butter
another cup of chocolate chips, dark
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
 2/3 cup flour
1/2 baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

 So, soften your cream cheese and blend with one egg, and a 1/4 cup sugar.

 See? Just so. (Ignore the lumpy cream cheese on the sides.)

 Blend 1/2 cup sugar and two eggs together/ Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Mix. At this point, I was a little skeptical. This did not look like enough for a batch of brownies.

 Melt the butter and cup of chocolate chips in a pan. When all mixed, add to the batter.

 Like so.

 Put the brownie batter in the pan first, then add the cream cheese mixture. Oh, so pretty!

 At this point, I review the recipe and realize I've forgotten to mix in the other cup of chocolate chips into the cream cheese batter. *SHHHHH* We will tell no one.

 Bake at 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

 Gratuitous random brownie shot. I knew most of my kids would not appreciate me messing with perfection so I actually made two batches.

 Here they are, living peaceably, side by side. Why can't we all just get along??

Close up of the cream cheese version and the chocolate chips inside. As of this writing, it's been 40 minutes and they're all gone. Having on ravenous husband, two teens, two preteens, and two preschoolers is good for my health. No leftovers to tempt me in the midnight hour!

 Until next time everyone!

Lenten Salmon patties!

 

Now, it's Lent so I was making a meatless meal tonight. We don't eat that much meat, usually. We're more pie and ice cream people. All day. Every day. (I'm just kidding. Please don't call CPS.)
So, this recipe is probably pretty standard for salmon patties but instead of cracker crumbs, I added flavored croutons. A friend of mine said she always made them that way and once I tried it, I liked it better!

1 can of salmon (or fresh salmon, which I had, so I used that)
1/3 cup minced onion
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning or other Cajun seasoning (or, seasoned salt, which I used this time because one of my kids asked for "plain" salmon patties)
1 TBS fresh parsley
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice (my friend uses zest but I never have)
1 cup of crushed crackers (about 20) or a cup of crushed croutons
1 egg
3 TBS of water or chicken broth

 I boiled the salmon instead of roasting it in foil with lemon and garlic like we do sometimes. reserve a half cup of the salted water if you don't use a can of salmon.

 Break into smaller chunks.

 Add onion.

 And croutons and spices and eggs.

 Form into patties. And this is where I left the kitchen since I hate hot grease. My husband took over and look what a great job he did!

 Obviously, this is his plate since it has a big serrano pepper. And beets. I'm not a fan of beets. I had plain salad, some sliced tomatoes and a few slices of fresh lemon..

I had trouble taking this picture because it was steaming up my camera lens.

Wishing you a prayerful Lenten season, everyone!

Quick Shrimp Stir Fry with Yaki Soba Noodles

Hello, everybody!! I hope everybody's keeping warm.
We had a little snow, and then freezing rain. We've only had one minor accident and four hours stuck in a pile up as hubby commuted to work... with no real injuries out of all the cars involved so we're off to a good start here in Eastern Oregon.

But, my husband took this picture and posted it on facebook with the comment "Ya comenzaron los estragos con el mal tiempo." Boy, howdy, yes.... But my comment was, "WHY ARE YOU OUT OF THE CAR??" First rule in a pile up (especially in the dark, on a windy road) is do not exit the vehicle! 

Posts like this shorten my lifespan. He also told me that the woman who sidelined him was turned around the opposite direction and sliding sideways (after clipping a semi) before she and hubby made contact. That was also information I didn't need. Can we hear it for some "lalalalalala"-ing? (Poor woman. She was fine. And I hope she drives a little slower next time.)

 So, anyway, moving on! This dish doesn't need a lot of ingredients, but what it does need is probably not something you keep in the cabinet (if you're like me). I saw something like this on youtube when I was researching Japanese cooking (my next book is set in Kyoto). I needed something that was simple, savory, and something it didn't take a genius to make.
Yaki Soba noodles from the refrigerated Asian foods section. I saw this in three different stores in our area, and it was always near the tofu, near the fresh produce. (Sauce is MSG free and seems pretty normal, not high salt or anything.)

 Ok, technically not Japanese, but this was how annatto powder appears in my grocery store. Some people can find it in the spice aisle in the usual little containers. (You can click the link and read up on it.) I learned that a lot of Hispanic food also uses annatto. It gives a warm, nutty flavor that's hard to define, but absolutely essential to some dishes, especially simple ones. (This was a revelation and I think I'll have to re-try several dishes I could never get quite right, because I think this might have been the missing ingredient.)

 Dried garlic. You can use fresh, but the recipe I saw on youtube was flaked garlic, and since this packet was $1.29, I figured I'd use it.

 Heat several tablespoons of olive oil and add a teaspoon of garlic and a teaspoon of the annatto powder.

 Stir over medium high heat until mixed together. From what I could tell on the video, you can add salt or not. I decided not to, since I knew the noodles would have flavoring.  Add about ten large, cooked, tail-on shrimp. The oil is already hot so this won't take long. We don't want to overcook the shrimp.

 Add in some thin slices of bell pepper and a bit of green onion. The garlic and annatto are delicate so we don't want to overwhelm them. I had some snow peas so I threw those in and stirred on high for about 3-4 minutes.

 The Yaki Soba noodles take about 3 minutes in the microwave. Think Top Ramen but not fried and dried. They're fresh, but have been sealed and then refrigerated. The "sauce" packet was already added here and it's also a delicate flavor, which smelled delicious but also wasn't too salty or too strong-smelling.

 If you use the entire Yaki Soba  package, there will be three large bowls of noodles or you can cook the noodle packages one at a time, saving the other for the next day for lunch. This was a great dish for those dinners when the kids wanted pizza and I didn't, or I cooked something that everyone loves but hubby. It took less than five minutes and there was enough left over for his lunch in the AM.

Over all, I'd give this recipe 9/10. Easy, fast, great flavor, looks delicious. The only thing that keeps it from a 10, is that you need all the specific ingredients before-hand. But it's definitely worth the effort and I'll be making it again. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everybody!