ROASTED POBLANO & CORN GRITS W/ CHORIZO

Roasted Poblano and Corn Grits W Chorizo

OMG this is so good. I saw this first on Pinterest and there were a few recipes for it, so of course, I picked and chose ingredients and here is my results above.  YUM.  You can add cheese if you want, but it does not need it..and I personally don't like cheese on my grits.
Okay, this is going to  give you a double batch..makes enough for 5...in my house we eat big and all of the recipes I saw online, one cup of grits would not satisfy my family.  If you have a small eating family, half this.

Roasted Poblano and Corn Grits w Chorizo

4 medium poblano peppers
Oil for brushing on your peppers, I used peanut
2 C milk
6 C water
2 T garlic, chopped fine
salt and pepper to taste
2 C quick cooking grits, NOT instant
2 C frozen corn, thawed
4 T butter
1 T butter
10 links chorizo sausage

Pre-heat oven to 400°
 Brush the peppers with oil and set on a foil lined sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and cut in half, remove seeds, stems and  thin layer on skin as best you can.  Chop into pieces, set aside

Put 1 T butter into saucepan and saute chopped garlic until lightly browned. Add milk and water salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Add peppers and grits..and bring back to a boil.  (stir so you don't burn it on the bottom).  Lower to simmer and stirring often, simmer for 5-7 mins until thickened.
Add corn and cook two minutes.  Add butter.

While you are cooking the grits, put the chorizo, sliced into medallions into frying pan, and cook until browned.
Serve grits in bowl, with chorizo on top..the grease from the chorizo makes the grits even better.  Offer a slab of butter in case anyone likes extra.

Chocolate Decadence A Rich, Dark, Fudge-like cake

Chocolate Decadence
 (makes one 8 inch cake)

preheat oven to 325°F

In a heat-proof bowl:

1 lb of dark chocolate, cut into cubes,  or semi sweet chips 
1¼ sticks of unsalted butter, cut into about 10 pieces

Set bowl over a small sauce pan of just simmering water and stir until melted.

Remove from heat.

Whisk in 5 large egg yolks

In your stand mixer or a bowl with a hand mixer, beat 5 large egg whites and ¼ tsp cream of tartar
and gradually add 1 Tbsp sugar beating until soft peaks form.

With a rubber scraper, fold half of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then the other half.
Scrape into a greased and wax paper lined 8 x 2 inch round pan (not springform)

Set the pan in a large shallow baking dish or roasting pan, set the baking dish in the oven and pour boiling water into the baking dish (not the chocolate cake pan) until water is halfway up the sides of the chocolate cake pan. (This is called a waterbath, for those new to this).

Bake for 30 minutes.  The cake will have a thin crust but still be gooey.  Set the cake on a cooling rack and cool completely and then refrigerate for at least 4 hour, or overnight.

Slide a knife around the cake pan edges and invert onto a plate and remove wax paper.
You can use a doily or stencil and sprinkle with confectioners sugar if you want for decoration.

Remove from refrigerator one hour before serving.Slice into very small wedges, this is a rich dessert.

Everyone should have this in their kitchen..its the bible of cooking.  I have about 10 favorite go-to recipe books, and this is the first one I always pick up to look up recipes.  There are probably newer editions, any edition will do.

Make your own Almond Extract (lemon, orange, vanilla, coconut, mint too)

I was so disappointed that my store stopped carrying the big size almond extract, because I use it more than vanilla extract and I use it A LOT!
Here is a recipe to make your own. These are great gifts for friends too.  You can put them into a cute jar and label them up for gift giving.

Almond Extract
Add 1 cup of chopped raw almonds to a half-pint size canning jar.  Cover with Vodka and put the lid on tightly.  Store it in a cool dry place for a month, swishing it around every day. strain the almonds and store. Storing 2-3 months will make for a stronger extract, but if you can't wait, one month is fine.

You can also make mint, lemon, orange, coconut and vanilla extracts.

Vanilla Extract
2 oz vanilla beans for every pint of vodka

Lemon or Orange Extract
zest from one lemon or orange per 1/2 cup vodka

Mint Extract
add 1/2 c mint to 1 c vodka

Coconut Extract
1/3 C freshly grated coconut (or unsweetened grated from a bag)
1 C vodka

Fresh Spinach and Cheese Ravioli w Garlic Parmesan Lemon Sauce

You can buy fresh spinach ravioli, or make your own, its pretty easy.  You can either make the noodles w spinach in them or put them in with the cheese or both.

Here is my pasta and ricotta recipes from previous posts if you want to venture total homemade from scratch.  I also have a basil pasta recipe if you want to play with your homemade pasta recipes. I promise your family will love you for it.

This lemon sauce recipe was adopted from a coworker who is a fellow "real food" foodie.  I changed it up slightly. He makes a pasta w asparagus lemon sauce.  I was out of asparagus and happened to have some fresh spinach ravioli from the market.  I am making this today again but with homemade ravioli, because my family loved  it so much!

(this is for one pound of pasta, I double it, it goes fast)

Make and boil your pasta..meanwhile...

In a sauce pan that is large enough for that pasta you are cooking..

1/4 C coconut oil (he uses olive, I really don't care for olive, use what you like)
heat and add
2 T fresh lemon zest and  5 cloves of fresh garlic, right before you are going to put the pasta in..heat a min or two, but don't burn the garlic (duh, stating the obvious for the oblivious lol)
Pour in the pasta and toss.
Add the parmesan cheese and any herb you might want..don't over power the lemon, its a fresh light recipe.  I like a little parsley.

Serve

Today I am making basil linguine and putting the lemon sauce over it w asparagus and chicken.  It was requested by my husband.  He is off at work and I am making linguine from scratch. Some Italians make Italian cuisine out to be rocket science, but Italian food one of the easiest cuisines to make.

Chili

Everyone has their own version, here is mine..basic, but adaptable to your own liking. Omit the hot peppers if you don't like it hot. Remember, I do not measure, so this is estimates of what I add...go more or less of anything you like, add what you like, omit what you don't.
This recipe makes a lot so I make  it in a big stock pot.

Chili 

5 jalapeno and hot peppers (I mixed varieties from my garden), chopped

4 green peppers chopped 

3-4 onions chopped 

3 lbs beef (I use organic)

4 slices bacon, diced (I use organic)
handful of Oregano
Cinnamon (pinch or two or three)

1 bulb garlic (yes, I used thew whole bulb), rough chopped

Fry this up in the stock pot, no need to dirty a fry pan. No oil, your beef will create its own.

When the beef is browned, add...

Approximately 20 tomatoes, seeded and skins removed (or use canned, diced and stewed, I do in the winter time, about 2 cans stewed tomatoes and 2 Large cans diced, with juices)

2 mugs water (i'm too lazy to grab my measuring cups)

3/4 C chili powder

1/4 c minced garlic (the dried type, we love garlic)

2 T celery seed

4 T paprika

1 T cumin

2 T cayenne pepper (more or less)

salt and fresh cracked pepper

simmer about two hours (more or less)

Add

2 cans black beans (normal size)

2 big cans kidney beans 

the amount doesn't matter, how many do you like, we like a lot you can use any type of beans you like

Cook another half hour

Serve with diced raw onions and cheese and Tabasco 

CREAMY CLAM CHOWDER ♥ I LOVE ROUX

Let's talk about measuring one more time...I don't do it. I add more of what I love and less of what I don't.  There is my cooking lesson for today.

I made a big batch of this, because my sister in law had surgery and I wanted to take her some and food doesn't leave my house easily unless there is plenty for everyone. You can half this batch if you have a four pack.

For the bacon, I just judge a cup, you all know I don't measure.  I just slice a quarter of the pack, while frozen, and put the whole pack back in the freezer for the next recipe)

bacon 

1 whole celery, diced (pack of celery, whatever ya wanna call it, 6-7 stalks))

2 onion, diced

8 cloves garlic 

6 fresh sprigs Thyme (about 1 T fresh  or 1 tsp dry)

2 ~ 51 oz cans clams

12 potatoes diced

1 T Old Bay

1 stick butter 

½ C flour (really I don't measure, who am I kidding, its a roux)

2 C milk 

bacon 

1 whole celery, diced (pack of celery, whatever ya wanna call it, 6-7 stalks))

2 onion, diced

 Saute bacon, celery and onion  in a soup pan (this is where you are making the soup, so make sure its big enough) until cooked, add garlic and thyme and cook another minute. Remove half and put into a frying pan. 

Add all of the juice from the cans of clams and 1 T old Bay. Add diced potatoes and bring to a boil, until potatoes are cooked. Add clams and cook another minute.

Make a roux...take the other half of the celery mixture that is sitting in a fry pan waiting...add butter and begin to saute.  When its melted and hot enough, add flour and cook, stirring constantly, scraping the pan or use a whisk, until the flour is cooked,   You will want to do this on lower heat so you don't burn the butter.  Add 1 C of the milk or cream or creamy milk..whatever ya got, we got raw thick full fat milk. whisk like crazy until thickened (okay, not really fast, just constant, but its a good arm workout if you wanna whisk like crazy. Add roux mixture to soup, add another cup milk and heat.  

 Salt and pepper to taste

Dammit, I failed to take a pic of the beautiful roux. I am no photographer..I just cook. If I think of a pic, I get one. 

Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque w Crab and Shiitake Mushrooms (vitamix)

Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque w Crab and Shiitake Mushrooms (vitamix)

This is fast and simple to make..you use your vitamix for most of it, with the exception of using the fry pan for the mushrooms.

Into the vitamix:

Half of a butternut squash, cut up (not cooked)
2 stalks celery
2 large carrots (or three smaller ones)
2 cloves garlic
1 cup milk (you will stir in another cup of milk at the end, it would fill the vitamix too full if you do it now)
1 hot pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 red onion
1 whole avocado (of course scoop it out of the shell)
1/4 c hemp seeds
Turn on high speed for about 5-7 mins or until hot. If there is room, you can add more milk.



In a cast iron fry pan, melt 2 T of butter and add a little coconut oil to prevent it from burning. Toss in the shiitake mushrooms, fry up and break up with a wooden spoon.

Pour the soup base out of the vitamix into a pot or serving dish..you may want to heat it hotter, but it was heated just right in the viatmix for us.  Stir in another cup or so of milk to thin it out a bit. (we use raw milk, you can use rice milk or whatever milk sub you like)  In my other recipe I use water, you can do that also, but this makes it nice and creamy.

Stir in cooked mushrooms and 16 oz crabmeat (any, claw, lump etc) and roasted red pepper strips.