Green Chili Cheese Ball ( I love a good Cheese Ball)

Ingredients
•4 large Anaheim chile peppers ( I used a Container of frozen Chopped Green Chili’s from hatch NM)
•1 1/2 pounds shredded pepper jack cheese
•2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
•2 cloves garlic, minced
•1 teaspoon salt
•1 teaspoon ground black pepper
•2 cups finely chopped pecans

Directions

1.Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat, and lightly oil the grate. Cook chiles on the preheated grill until the skin of the peppers has blackened and blistered, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the peppers, or the skin will not come off easily. Turn the peppers often to cook evenly. Place the blackened peppers into a bowl, and tightly seal with plastic wrap. Allow the peppers to steam as they cool, about 20 minutes. Once cool, remove the skins and seeds. Chop the peppers.

2.If using frozen, defrost and strain juices.

3.Combine the chopped peppers with the pepper jack, cream cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper. Form the the mixture into a ball and place on a plate covered with wax paper. Place the cheese ball in the freezer until very cold, about 15 minutes.


4.Spread the chopped pecans on a large cutting board or baking sheet. Roll the frozen cheese ball in the pecans. Use your hand to pack any areas that are not covered by pecans, making sure the entire outside of the cheese ball is covered with a nice layer of pecans.


I made this for a weekend barbq up in Phoenix. It travels well freezes well and one batch makes two huge cheesballs. Everyone loved it!

Thai Beef with Chilies and Coconut Rice

We had two exceptional, really easy meals this week. My favorite was this recipe that I saw on a TV few month's back: Thai Beef with Chilies and Coconut Rice. I have had it in the back of my mind ever since. It took me a while to find fish sauce (3 out of 4 local grocery stores didn't carry it). I kept looking though, I knew I had seen it before.

Once I had the fish sauce it was extremely easy to make. So easy that in the process of cooking it, I thought this just isn't going to be good. It really is as simple as browning ground beef. But the flavor is so much more interesting then just ground beef. Both Frank and Cait declared that they could eat this every week.



We made the coconut rice as suggested, it was good but not quite what I expected. I wanted it to have a little coconut flavor to it. But mostly it just tasted like rice with a really nice sticky texture. While I liked the texture it just isn't worth all of the extra fat that the coconut milk added. Plain rice for us next time.

Warning: It is not a good idea to slurp chili peppers like spaghetti (as if you couldn't figure that out on your own).
After dinner, Cait was complaining that she burned her lip. I really didn't think the dish was very spicy, the peppers were a little hot but I had taken out the seeds and ribs so they were pretty mild in the end. After asking her exactly how she managed to burn her lip, she explained that she had been slurping the red pepper slices like spaghetti. Leave it to the kid to find a way to make dinner dangerous.

MUFFINS!!!

I made these for an office pot luck and boy were they both a hit. I HIGHLY recomend making the flavored butters that go with each one it is a party in your mouth!

Apple Pumpkin Muffins
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 eggs
2 cups sugar 1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda 2 cups finely chopped peeled apples
1/2 teaspoon salt

STREUSEL:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons cold butter or margarine

Directions
1.In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.
2.Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from ans to wire racks.

Maple Butter
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Directions In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice until well blended. Chill in the refrigerator, for about 30 minutes. Form into a roll using waxed paper and store wrapped. It can be frozen for later at this point if desired.


Cornmeal-Cranberry Muffins
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup cranberries
Preparation
1. Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Add buttermilk and next 3 ingredients, and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter evenly into 12 paper-lined muffin cups, filling two-thirds full.
2. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans to wire racks; let cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Orange Honey Butter
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoon honey
Zest of 1 small orange
Directions
1.In a small bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Mix in honey and orange zest.

Chocoflan

I know I know shock and aw Sh&%$ Angie is posting! :) I am not one for words but I made this recipie and was truly supprised. Not one big on flan but thought what the heck I would give it a try. This really goes for pretty much anything I make. Very rarly will I make something twice. With so many great recipies out there why oh why would you not want to try something new? So here you go. New and exciting and deffinatly a crowd pleaser. Hope you enjoy! :)

Ingredients
• 12-cup capacity Bundt pan
• Softened butter, to coat pan
• 1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce
For the cake:
• 10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
For the flan:
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For garnish:
• 1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
Directions
Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta and put it in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)
For the cake: Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture, and 1/2 of the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture. Blend until well incorporated.
For the flan: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.
Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.
Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake 1 hour, until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cake is done, remove from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.
Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, giggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining cajeta from the pan onto the cake, garnish with chopped pecans and serve!

Filipino Style Chicken Adobo

Okay, so my wonderful Filipino neighbor had me over last summer for a little neighborhood get together. I took over some pico da gallo and chips and she had made some chicken adobo, along with some other dishes. Well, let me tell you that the chicken adobo made a huge impression on me. It was just mouthwatering delicious. The meat just fell right off the bone and the taste of it was just simply wonderful.

So, I tell her that it is just wonderful and she replies, "Oh, Rachel, it's nothing, just chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, onions, garlic and water." Still, I can't believe how easy it is to make and yet it tastes so good. After the dinner I went home and haven't really thought about it until today. Today with the rain and cool weather all I could think about was my neighbors chicken adobo. So, I start researching how it is made and she was right, it's just chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, water, onions, garlic and in some recipes ginger.

I headed to the store and bought some chicken thighs and came home and just started to throw the ingredients together and this is the recipe that I came up with.


Filipino Style Chicken Adobo
cooking time about an hour
Serves 4

1 onion diced (any color, I used red because that is what I had on hand)
1 head of garlic diced
2-3 teaspoons of fresh chopped ginger (optional)
4 tablespoons of oil
1 pound chicken thighs (I bought the deboned, skinless ones, but my neighbor used the ones with bones and skin in hers.)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar (I used 1 cup of vinegar and it was a little too tangy for my tastes, so next time I will just use a 1/2 cup)
2-3 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons paprika or smoked paprika
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

• Saute the onions, garlic and ginger in wok or a large pan. Once it is all sauteed, probably about 2 minutes add the chicken thighs and brown both sides.
• Once the chicken is browned add the rest of the ingredients except for the corn starch and bring to a boil and turn the stove down medium-low, to let the mixture simmer. Simmer for at least 30 minutes until chicken is nice and tender. My neighbor says that this is a dish that you could just let simmer for hours if you wanted to. I just let mine go for 30 minutes because the family was starving.
  
• After the 30 minutes is up take the chicken out of the pot and place in a pan of hot oil and braise for a few minutes on each side. Then place the meat back into the pan with the sauce and add the cornstarch to the mixture so that the sauce will thicken just a little bit. Once the sauce is thickened the chicken is ready to be served over a bed of rice.

So, there ya have it. The only thing that I will change the next time that I make this, is that I will use 2 pounds of chicken thighs. One pound was just the right amount for our family, but I would like to have enough for leftovers next time. That way we can have the leftovers for lunch the next day or something.

Racholee's Spaghetti Carbonara

Wench #2 here. So, as I was making dinner tonight, I thought this would be a good recipe to post on the blog. It is a recipe that I have adapted from good ole Martha Stewart's Great Food Fast cook book. I've made it more than a few times over the past two years and the whole famdamily loves it. Which really means something when you have the pickiest four year old - soon to be five year old son.

If that hasn't sold ya, it only takes about thirty minutes to make.
Racholee's Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 4-6

1 package of bacon
Salt and pepper to taste (I like to use shallot pepper also)
1 pound of pasta (I used mini farfalle this time)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 cup or more of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil, add some oil and salt (for the pasta). Begin cooking the bacon on a skillet until the bacon is nice and crisp. I like to get it really crisp because it tends to soften a little when added to the pasta.

My kitchen helpers frying up some bacon.

2. Once the water is boiling add the pasta and cook until al dente.
3. Meanwhile in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and shallot pepper. Set aside until pasta is al dente.
4. Drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pan. Working quickly, add the egg mixture to the pasta. Add the bacon to the mixture and toss all to combine. Usually the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs. Although I have noticed that sometimes it is still a little runny after tossing it. When this happens I just throw the pot back on the stove on medium and let it cook for a few minutes.

I also like to throw in a few mushrooms with this meal sometimes.

Well, there ya have it, a really easy meal that everyone will love. As long as you're not a vegetarian.

Picky 4 year old boy approved!

Spicy Peanut Chicken

This is going to be a shocker to Wench #2 & #3. They made me promise to post something; I don’t think they believed I actually would. Up until now I’ve managed to avoid most social networking stuff. So they are going to be amazed that not only am I posting, but I am the first of the Wenches to post a recipe. Ha!

Living in rural middle America has it's perks. Great take-out is not one of them. We have tried the only take-out in town and was very disappointed. We almost never get take-out, since it doesn't seem worth it to drive 20 minutes to another town to get it and then drive 20 minutes to get home.

Tonight we had a great meal that was very easy to prepare. It has all of the great flavors of takeout and it can be prepared quicker then it would take us to go get it elsewhere. It was inspired by this recipe I saw prepared on TV. I made a few adjustments to accommodate what I had in the house and made it my own. Cait said it was as good as Global Noodle, which in our little family is pretty high praise. It also means that this sauce would also be great tossed with pasta and shrimp. Tonight we served it alongside fried rice.


(not a great picture, but not bad considering it was taken with my phone)

Spicy Peanut Chicken
Serves 4-6

Sauce:
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Sriracha Hot Chili sauce (or to taste)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Stir-fry:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ pounds boneless chicken, diced into 1-inch cubes
1 red bell pepper, diced into ½-inch pieces
3 carrots, julienned
1 teaspoon Sate seasoning, or your favorite curry powder (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 inch ginger, grated
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 bunch scallions, sliced into 1-inch pieces
½ cup peanuts

Stir together sauce ingredients and set to the side. Don’t worry about mixing thoroughly it will all come together when the heat is applied.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet. Season chicken with Sate seasoning, salt and pepper. Add chicken to hot oil and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add bell peppers and carrots and stir-fry for 2 more minutes. Remove chicken and vegetables from pan.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Stir-fry garlic and ginger in pan for 15 seconds, and then add sauce ingredients to pan. Stir sauce to combine ingredients. Peanut butter will melt and thicken sauce. Add chestnuts and scallions to sauce and heat through for 1 minute. Add back chicken, peppers and carrots to pan. Add scallions and toss to coat in sauce. Serve over hot rice.