Roasted Almond Goji Cilantro Quinoa

Ingredients (Serves 4 as a side dish)

1 cup quinoa
2 tablespoons whole raw almonds
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 green onion chopped
1 tbsp goji berries (or raisins)
Salt (or Braggs) and pepper to taste

Method

1. Place the quinoa in a sauce pan with 1 1/2 cups of water. Stir, bring to a boil, cover with a tight fitting lid, and turn the heat down to simmer for 15-20min (or until all the water has been absorbed by the grain)
2. Meanwhile, in a small skillet or in toaster oven, toast the almonds over medium heat until lightly golden, about 3 minutes; remove from heat. Let cool then chop them.
3. When the quinoa is ready, add the almonds, oil, green onion, goji, and cilantro. Season the mixture with salt and fluff with a fork.

Pork and topping

Pork and Sauce

Sauce:

1 tbs butter
dash salt
2-3 pieces cooked bacon crumbled
1/4 cup sweet onion
2-3 baby portabello mushrooms ( optional)
1 tbs sweet mustard
1 tbs dijon mustard
1/4 - 1/2 cup white wine
1/2 pint heavy cream

In pan melt butter, add dash salt; add crumbled bacon, mustards, wine, onions brown for 1-2 min add cream and then simmer for about 20-30 min.

Pork:
Very thin pork pan cook in butter until cooked , will be browned on both sides. Serve and spoon sauce 1/4 cup or more over the pork.

Good to have some nice bread to soak up the extra sauce.

ZUCCHINI BREAD

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup wesson or crisco oil
2 cups grated zucchini
3 tsp vanilla
Mix these together and set aside

Mix:
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
2 cups walnuts

Mix both together.

Bake at 350 about 30 min - 45 min

I like to use the small loaf tins and then can wrap up some to freeze or give as gifts

PECAN PRALINES

Stir together
4 cups sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
1 12 oz evaporated milk
1 stick real butter

Cook over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved and begain to take on carmel color.

Add:
3 cups of pecans and stir until cand reaches the softball stage (234-240 degrees)

Remove from heat and add:

1 tsp vanilla

Let cool 15-20 min , then beat until candy becomes very thick and begins to lose its gloss. Quickly drip in spoonsful onto cookie sheet or foil

STRAWBERRY CAKE

Great for Christmas or Valentine's. Also makes great cupcakes.

1 box white cake mix
1 Small box Strawberry jello
1 cup Wesson oil
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup coconut
1 1/2 cup pecans

Mix dry together. Add in oil and milk. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in rest. Bake at 350 about 35-40 min

Icing:
1 stick parkay butter
1/2 cup drained frozen strawberries
1/2 - 1 cup pecans
1/2 cup coconut
Cream butter and sugar and add in rest.

SHRIMP

SHRIMP
PEPPER
BUTTER

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In cassarole pan melt one stick of butter. Leave shrimp in shells. Wash and place on towel. Pepper more than you would even think possible. Black. Place shrimp in melted butter. Bake until pink ( about 5-10 min).
Serve in small bowels with fresh bread or rolls to dip the pepper butter.

Chicken

Okay so I made the easiest chicken tonight that melts in your mouth. It reminds me of a BBQ chicken I guess. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs but I'm sure if you used chicken with bones it would be good too.

1 cup ketchep
1 can of regular coke
1 tsp of worcestershire sauce

Place chicken in casserole dish 9x13 and salt and pepper to taste. In a seperate pot mix all ingred. until boiling and por over chicken. Place in 350 oven for 1 hour.

I placed it over rice and it was wonderful.

What do Texans order in German restaurants?

Mark and Beverly - you'll have to let us know how the food was. This plate looks amazing.

Garden time!

Its time to get hands dirty and get serious about growing our food again. Its a bit early to fertilize, plants are still a bit stressed from the heat and are putting resources into respiration. But it is a good time to get a jumpstart on the greatest time for a Texan wanting to garden, the FALL GARDEN!! Here are a few things that I'm starting now,in not-to-sunny spots. I try and put these guys, especially the leafy guys, in the shade of a summer veg like the okra.

Chard (from plant)

beans (from seed)

cauliflower (plant)

broccoli (plant)

kale (plant)

collards (plant)

kohlrabi (plant)

cucumbers (seed or plant)

summer squash (seed or plant)

carrots (seed)

Margaritas

OK, here's a dangerously addictive margarita recipe that our local liquor store sales clerk cursed us with last week. And while I'm at it, I'll throw in my all time favorite avocado margarita recipe that is for special occasions.

Key lime classic:

1 part key lime juice

1 part BOLS triple sec (BOLS is a brand, and important)

2 parts 100% agave tequila; TRES ALEGRES COMPADRES is the cheapest we've found.

MOST IMPORTANT PART: fill a large glass with all liquid ingredients listed above, and LOTS of ice, then SHAKE IT about 20-30 shakes, in other words, a bunch. This step cuts the lime a bit and chills everything nicely.

Avocado margarita:

Start with a blender FULL of ice, add:

1 large, or 1 and 1/2 small avocados

palm full of destemmed cilantro

8-10 ounces of tequila

12 ounces of mix*

*for the mix, I've usually used a standard store-bought margarita mix, but I'm tempted to substitute it for the BOLS/key lime mix in the above recipe.

Good luck.

French Dark Chocolate Mousse

No cream, no sugar added, just good ol'chocolate and eggs!

Ingredients (4-6 servings)
2 bittersweet (60%) baking chocolate bar (8 oz total)
6 eggs (ambient temperature)

Method
1. Separate the yokes from the whites
2. Beat the yokes in a bowl
3. Break both chocolate bars in small pieces.
4. Slowly melt the chocolate in a sauce pan (or in the microwave) with 3 tbsp of water. Make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Turn off the heat and add the yokes to the hot chocolate right away as you stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. The chocolate will start thickening.
5. Beat egg whites until thick. You will get better results if the eggs are at ambient temperature.
6. Transfer the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and incorporate the egg whites one spoon at a time with a wooden spoon keeping the bowl inclined. This is the tricky part; make sure to take your time in order to obtain a thick airy mousse. This step alone should take 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Transfer the chocolate mixture into small individual ramekin or a large family style bowl. Put in the refrigerator for a day (the longer, the better).
8. Garnish with berries and mint for a nice paring with the chocolate.

Bon Appetit!

Easy Shrimp/ Sausage Gumbo

2 tabl butter
3 garlic cloves chopped
bread crumbs for toppings (optional)
1 teas herbs de Provence
12 oc andouille sausage or a mild sausage if you prefer, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, i liked red to add color
1/3 cup flour
1 cup frozen shelled edamane
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
1lb med - large shrimp, peeled

in large pot or dutch oven cook sausage until browned and tranfer to plate. add onion, pepper, butter, garlic, herbs and cook until vegs are crisp-tender (5 mins). Add flour and stir until mixed. add 2 cups of water and bring to boil over med-high heat. add the sausage back, edamame, white beans until simmering again. Add shrimp until fully cooked. Add salt/pepper if desired.


I made this last night and thought it was very good and pretty easy. It would be great during the winter!!!

Shrimp

Apparently, they're currently inexpensive. Anybody have recipe suggestions?

Medina Chili

On a recent summer evening I threw a simple chili together in the crock pot. I used two particular ingredients that made me think of two communities that lie on either side of Medina Lake. The base of the soup is a Cajun 15 Bean Soup (Hurst’s Brand) and reminds me of the Cajun Festival of Lakehills. The meat in the chili is a link of Alsatian Sausage from the Dzuik’s meat market in Castroville. It turned out to be quite a good combination.

Let the chili wars begin

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized onion

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 medium-sized zucchini

1 bag Cajun 15 Bean Soup (Hurst’s Brand) including spice packet

1 link Alsatian Sausage

1-2 tbsp olive oil

Dried garden thyme/oregano to taste

Salt to taste

1 glass of white wine (for chef when sautéing onions)

Thin tortilla chips

Grated cheese

The first time I made this, I started by soaking the beans in water for the better part of a day (maybe 6 hours). I then emptied the water, added new water, just covering the beans, and set for high heat in a crock pot. Let this cook for about an hour.

After pouring a glass of wine at sunset I warm the oil on medium heat in a sauce pan and add the sliced onions. Let them sizzle slightly for a few minutes and then add diced zucchini and mashed-sliced garlic. Let this cook for a few minutes, stirring from time to time, then add the sausage (sliced).

Once the sausage has browned on a few sides (no need to thoroughly cook), add all of these ingredients from the pan into the crock-pot. Add spice packet and garden herbs.

Set crock-pot to low setting and let it simmer for a couple of hours. I liked to eat this poured over a bowl of tortilla chips and with grated parmesan cheese on top.