Friday Food Fest VIII

I'm in a rush today, so I'm going to post a quickie. My father LOVED to eat stuffed cabbage and my mom would make it regularly for him when we were little (and they were still married..) I LOVED it too and still do. I don't make it that often nowadays, but on occasion I do...

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Recipe Ingredients

large head cabbage
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, grated
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1 large can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
3 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
3 to 4 teaspoons lemon juice (1 large lemon)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper



Recipe Method

Remove about 15 large leaves from the cabbage;
cut off very thick part of each leaf.
Pour boiling water over the cabbage to wilt the leaves.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine ground beef with the rice, grated onion, eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place a mound of meat mixture in cupped part of each softened cabbage leaf.
Fold over sides of cabbage leaf; roll up.
In bottom of Dutch oven, place a few of the remaining leaves. Arrange layers of cabbage rolls, seam side down, and sliced onions in a Dutch oven or large casserole.
Pour on tomato sauce, tomatoes, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil on stove top.
Bake, covered, for 1 hour.
Uncover and bake 2 hours longer.

Not as nearly as good as my mom makes (hint, hint) but pretty good!

Bon Apetit!

Friday Food Fest VII

Today I'm not actually sharing a food recipe with you.
I'm sharing a drink recipe. I got this from my fiance's
boss and I tried it out last weekend and it was really good!

HOMEMADE KAHLUA

Recipe Ingredients

4 cups sugar
1 cup instant coffee
3 cups of water
3 tablespoons of Vanilla Extract
2 cups of Vodka (or more if you like :)

Recipe Method

Bring the water, sugar and coffee to a boil.
Simmer 5 minutes.
Cool.
Add 3 tablespoon vanilla extract and 2 cups vodka.

Enjoy!

This is sooo much better than the expensive store bought Kahlua.
I'm going to try making it with instant Kona coffee and see how it comes out
this weekend. You can also add a couple of teaspoons of chocolate syrup and
make Chocolate Kahlua..yum!

It's so easy to make, and much more fun to drink!

Bon Appetit or should I say, CHEERS!

Friday Food Fest VI

Today's recipe is for Oka. Oka is the Samoan version of Sashimi or Poki. It's absolutely YUMMY!

Recipe Ingredients

4 nice size filet's of Mahi Mahi or Yellow Fin Tuna
* You can use other types of fish, but I find a white meat fish works best. Bonita Tuna (Not sure what other name it goes by) tends to be too bloody and does not taste as good when made into Oka.

1 Can of Coconut Milk (or about 2-3 cups of fresh squeezed coconut milk)
2 Med. sized cucumbers
10-15 Cherry Tomatoes
4 Lemons
2 tsps. of Salt

Recipe Method

Chop the fish filet's into small bite size cubes
Cut cumbers in half length wise and clean out the seeds.
Then cut them length wise again (you should have four long pieces). Which you then chop into bite size pieces.
Cut Cherry tomatoes in half
In a bowl mix the fish, cucumbers, tomatoes and coconut milk.
Squeeze in the juice of all 4 lemons, being careful not to get any seeds in.
Add your salt and mix everything together.

You can eat this right away, but I like mine better after is been refrigerated for about an hour and the lemon and coconut milk has had a chance to really soak into the raw fish.


It may sound like a strange recipe, but I guarantee you this is a light, refreshing and delicious way to eat fish!!!!

Bon Appetit!

Friday Food Fest V

Time for Salad! A nice delicious pasta salad that the kids and adults are sure to love!

Recipe Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package tri-color rotini pasta
1/4 pound sliced pepperoni sausage
1 cup feta cheese (or more if you LOVE feta cheese like I do)
1 (6 ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced
1 (8 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 (16 ounce) bottle Italian-style salad dressing

Recipe Method

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente
Drain and rinse twice in cold water.

In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, pepperoni, olives, Feta Cheese, mozzarella cheese and dressing.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

* note : you can add a can of whole kernel corn (drained) if you like.

Bon Appetit!

Friday Food Fest IV

I'm giving you a quickie today since Im busy, busy, busy!

An Apetizer that I absolutely love love love! It incorporates two of my favorite things, Bacon and Mushrooms...YUM!

Bacon Wrapped Mushrooms

Recipe Ingredience

25 slices bacon or more if you like :)
30- 50 mushrooms depending on the size


Recipe Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Cut bacon strips in half (Its easiest to do this when the bacon is still slightly frozen and just cut right through the middle of the pack)

Depending on the size of your mushrooms, you can choose to cut them in half or leave them whole. I normally use the button type mushrooms they sell over at Joeten in the little blue styrofoam. Sometimes I get some that are so big, i break the stem off and chop the top in half and I end up with three peiced to wrap. Most of the time, I pop the stem off, wrap it and then wrap the whole top part and end up with two pieces. It's really up to you. But whatever you decided Don't make the mushroom too small. You want a nice juicy chunk of mushroom in there and the mushroom shrinks considerably when cooked!

Wrap each mushroom with a strip of bacon, and secure with a toothpick. Arrange the mushrooms on a medium baking sheet.

Bake approximately 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bacon is evenly brown.

Serve hot.

I normally make this dish as an appetizer at family gatherings. Everyone in my family loves it and half of it usually dissapears before it even reaches the table, so make sure to make plenty!

Bon Appetit!

Friday Food Fest III

I got a slow cooker for Christmas and I have been wearing it out with my Cornbeef and Cabbage obsession. I needed to try something new, so here is a recipe that I normally make in my oven, but it also works with my slow cooker/crock pot.


Recipe Ingredients

4 pork chops (or more if you have a bigger family :)
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 10-3/4-ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

Note: You can also add 1/2 cup of water or broth if you don't want your gravy too thick. I like mine thick!

Recipe Method

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat,add pork chops and brown evenly.
Drain off fat.
Place browned pork chops in slow cooker
Throw in diced onion, mushroom soup,Worcestershire sauce, and mushrooms

Note: You can also add some crushed garlic or garlic powder if you like.


Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 4-6 hours.


UNCOVER AND CHOW!

A slow cooker is especially great if your a working woman. Just throw every in the cooker in the morning set it on "low" and when you get home from work 8 hours later, you have dinner all ready.

Bon Appetit!

Friday Food Fest II

Today I'm going to share one of my "secret recipes" with you, "Coconut Curry Ribs".
This recipe is soooo easy, and super delicious! My kids absolutely LOVE this stuff!

Recipe Ingredients

1 Family pack or Family bag of pork ribs. ( I usually get the ones that are cut really short like for soup, they are much easier to eat once cooked. I find that the bones in these ribs add a lot of flavour to this curry)

2 Cans of Coconut Milk

1 Package of Golden Curry (You can use another brand but Golden seems to be the most available on island and it comes in mild, medium and hot. I use the medium because I like mine a little spicy)

1 onion chopped

Recipe Method

Boil the pork ribs in fresh water for 1 hour or until meat is just about tender. (your going to have to test one of the ribs to check for tenderness. I have found that every time I make this recipe the length of time I have to boil the ribs to get them tender always varies..sometimes it takes half an hour sometime almost two. I guess it all depends on the quality of the ribs. Your going to boil them again for complete tenderness later.)

Drain water

pour in two cans of Coconut Milk and bring to a boil again.

Add half a package of Golden Curry mix and stir well. (If you like thicker or stronger curry you can add the whole package, if you like a milder thinner curry, just add one or two squares. Your best bet is to add one square at at time and stir while it dissolves, you can then add more until you get the thickness and taste you desire. If you throw the whole package in at once, there is no going back :)

Throw in your chopped onion

Allow to boil long and slow in the coconut milk curry until the meat is completely tender and practically falls off the bone.

Stir occasionally.

Pictured is Chicken Coconut Curry


NOTE : I have also used shrimp, chicken, and soft shell crab. You can totally skip the first step of boiling to tenderize with shrimp, chicken or crab (and with the power rates, that's a good thing). They all come out just as delicious..actually anything cooked in coconut milk and curry would probably come out Delicious..ha ha...

Bon Appetit!

Friday Food Fest I

(I'm doing another "meme")

JAMBALAYA


The only thing I love to do more than cook, is EAT! So in the spirit of my new love for "meme's" , every Friday I'm going to try to share one of my favorite recipes with you. This Friday I'm sharing one of my absolute favorite comfort foods, JAMBALAYA (it's also one of my favorite songs *Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio *) Ok, enough singing...

Here is my recipe for my fairly simple version of it :


RECIPE INGREDIENTS
2-3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

1/2 pound of Sausage ( I have used all different kinds. I prefer polish sausage or something not too spicy, but if you like spicy by all means use hot or spicy sausage.)

1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Cans of chopped tomatoes (Some people prefer to use fresh celery and bell peppers or other vegies..I'm allergic to bell peppers and I love tomatoes, so I usually throw in a can or two of chopped or stewed tomatoes for more flavor)
1 1/2 cups rice (I normally use long grain or "American" type rice, I have no idea if Calrose will work in this recipe, but if your brave enough, try it! Oh, and Joeten sometimes carries Saffron rice, I used that once and it was DELICIOUS!)

3 cups chicken broth ( I have used water when I didn't have broth..not as tasty but works)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Bay Leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 pound cleaned shrimp ( I have also used boneless skinless chicken instead of shrimp and its really good too...or use all three if you like..its up to you!)


RECIPE METHOD

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
Add sausages and cook until browned.
Transfer sausages to cutting board. Cut sausages into 1/4-inch slices.
Pour off all but 2-3 tablespoons fat from the pan.
Add onion, and garlic to saucepan.
Cover and cook over medium-low heat until onions become clear looking, about 3 minutes.
Add rice, broth, chopped tomatoes, sausage, cayenne, bay leaves and salt. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Stir in shrimp. Cover and simmer until shrimp is just done and rice is tender, about 3 minutes longer.
Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, about 2 minutes.


*NOTE : Joeten use to carry JAMBALAYA seasoning in it's seasoning section (I'm not sure if they still do) but I bought it one time and it makes this recipe a lot simpler since you don't need to add that salt, bay leaves and cayenne pepper, just use the ready made seasoning. The seasoning also has a quick easy recipe on the back you can follow.



This is stuff is really good! If you haven't tried it before, now is your chance...The great thing about Jambalaya is it is so versatile..You can pretty much put in what ever you like, sausage, shrimp, chicken, muscles, etc...same with the veggies, you can use bell peppers, celery, tomatoes, okra, etc...

Let me know if you do try it and how it turns out!