Amy's Chile Verde

2 jalapenos

2 anaheims

2 lbs tomatillos (papery outside peeled off.)

5 cloves garlic

1 onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, pasted

2 lbs cubed pork, sprinkled with salt and pepper

Oil for sautéing onion, garlic, and pork

1 bunch cilantro

2 cans (4 cups) chicken stock

Palmful of oregano

Dash of ground cloves

Roast first four ingredients till outsides char.  Brown onions and garlic in oil, add salted and peppered pork chunks and fry till brown.  Blend cilantro and all roasted vegetables.  Add to the pot.  Add chicken stock, oregano, and cloves.  Simmer 2 hours or until liquid reduces by 1 inch.  Serve with chips, rice, or tortillas, topped with sour cream, cheese, etc.  You can also use this to smother burritos, etc.

Chocolate pudding

6 tbs granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 4-oz bars bitter sweet chocolate, broken up
4 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, whisk sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt to combine.  Slowly whisk in milk and cream.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, whisking constantly.  Reduce heat and continue cooking until mixture thickens (1-2 minutes.)  Remove saucepan from heat and add chocolate, butter, and vanilla.  Whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is blended.  Scrape pudding into a bowl and press plastic wrap over the surface while it cools.  Refrigerate until chilled.

Milk chocolate pudding:  Follow recipe above, reducing sugar and cocoa powder to 3 tbs. each and substituting milk chocolate for the bittersweet.

White chocolate pudding:  follow recipe above, reducing sugar to 3 tbs and omitting cocoa powder.  Substitute white chocolate for bittersweet.

Press-in Butter Crust

This is a good crust for cheese cake or any other cream-type pie.  Makes a nice change from graham cracker crusts, plus uses ingredients you have on hand.

3/4 cup butter (No substitutions, 1 1/2 sticks) at room temperature, cut up
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 lg. egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and salt until pale yellow and well blended.  Beat in egg, then vanilla, until well incorporated, scraping side of bowl occasionally.  Gradually add flour, beating just enough to incorporate flour and until dough forms large clumps. (do not over mix.) Divide dough in half and form each half into a 1 inch thick disk.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 day.  (Can be frozen at this point for up to 3 months.)

With hands and fingers, press dough disk into even layer against bottom and up side of 9 inch pie plate or tart pan with removable bottom.  Freeze 10 minutes or until firm.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  If crust puffs up, very gently push down bubbles with spoon witout cracking crust.  Cool completely on wire rack before filling.  Makes 2 nine-inch crusts.

White peppermint hot chocolate

In a small pot combine 1 cup whole milk and 1 peppermint tea  bag.  Bring to a low simmer, cover and steep for 3 minutes.  Remove tea bag and whisk in 2 oz white chocolate chips.  Stir till melted.  Pour into mug and top with whipped cream and crushed pepeprmint candy.

Creme Fraiche

I've often seen recipes that call for this but I didn't know what it was or if there was something I could use instead.  It was nice to see this recipe in a magazine because it gave a substitution to use in a pinch, but also a way to make it so you can have it on hand because apparently it's amazing stuff but it's expensive.  (And the substitution is only sour cream, which isn't as creamy and also curdles if it gets too hot.)

Creme Fraiche

1 cup heavy cream
3 tbs. buttermilk

Pour cream into a clean glass jar with a tight lid.  Stir in buttermilk until well blended and cover jar. Let it stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.  (until cream has thickened.)  Store in fridge up to 2 weeks.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I have found two recipes for beef stew made in the crock pot.  The first one looks easier (and is a smaller batch) because you don't have to pre-brown the beef, but for that reason I wonder if it will still be good.  The second one is a lot like my own recipe other than it's cooked in a crock pot so I'm pretty sure it'd be good.  Anyway, I wanted to put them both in here so I'd have them when I wanted to try them.  The first calls for a bag of frozen stew vegetables, which are potatoes, carrots, pearl onions, and celery.  I assume I can use fresh if I don't have frozen.  

Recipe 1:

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon Spice Islands Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands Rosemary

1/4 teaspoon Spice Islands Pepper, Black Fine Grind

1 bag (16 ounces) frozen stew vegetables

1 pound beef stew meat, cut in 1 -inch cubes

1/4 cup red wine OR water

1 Spice Islands Bay Leaves

1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

Mix flour, sugar, garlic powder, salt, rosemary and pepper in a small bowl. Place frozen vegetables in bottom of slow cooker. Sprinkle with flour/spice mixture. Add stew meat, wine, bay leaf and tomatoes. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours or on LOW for 8 to 10 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Recipe 2:

3 pounds cubed beef stew meat

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup baby carrots

4 large potatoes, cubed

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups boiling water

1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

3 tablespoons butter

3 onions, sliced

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup warm water

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Place meat in a large plastic bag. Combine 1/4 cup flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt; pour into the bag with the meat, and shake to coat.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. In batches small enough to prevent crowding chunks of meat, cook until evenly browned on the outside. Transfer to a slow cooker along with the carrots, potatoes, parsley, and pepper. In a small bowl, stir together 2 cups of boiling water and dry soup mix; pour into the slow cooker.  In the same skillet, melt butter and sauté onions until softened; remove to the slow cooker. Pour red wine into the skillet, and stir to loosen browned bits of food on the bottom. Remove from heat, and pour into the slow cooker.  Cover, and cook on High for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to Low, and cook for 6 hours, or until meat is fork tender. In a small bowl or cup, mix together 2 tablespoons flour with 1/4 cup warm water. Stir into stew, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until thickened.

Spinach and Artichoke Potato Casserole

1 lg. pkg frozen hash browns, thawed

1 ¼ cup chicken broth or stock

½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic salt

8 oz cream cheese

1 jar (7.5 oz) marinated artichoke hearts

6 oz chopped baby spinach (can use frozen, reduce to one pkg chopped, thaw and squeeze excess moisture from spinach before use.)

½ cup sliced green onions

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Pre-heat oven to 425, spray 9 x 13 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Heat broth, garlic salt, parmesan and cream cheeses, and artichoke hearts in medium saucepan and mix till cheeses are melted.  Stir in spinach and cook till wilted.  Set aside.  Put thawed hash browns in baking dish, stir in sliced green onions.  Add cheese/broth mixture and stir to cover potatoes well.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top and cover loosely with foil.  Bake 30 minutes.

3 2 1 Cake

Mix an angel food cake mix and any other flavor of mix that you like in a bowl (chocolate, carrot, cherry, white, etc.) Just the dry mix, nothing else. Put the mix in a storage container.  When ready to cook do this: In a mug put 3 TBS of mix, 2 TBS of water and cook 1 minute in the microwave. (That’s the 3 2 1 in the title.) 

I am going to try it with drizzling a tablespoon of hot fudge topping or hot caramel topping over the mixture right before microwaving it, just like those commercial ones.  I have high hopes for this, because the problem with the other “cake in a mug” recipes that I’ve tried is that they either have no egg at all, which makes for a poor quality, or they have a whole egg, which is way too much for one serving of cake. By mixing the angel food cake mix with whichever other flavor of cake you’re looking to have for your snack, that should take care of that problem.