Twice Baked Potatoes

A favorite family side dish!

INGREDIENTS:

Large russet potatoes

bacon, cooked and crumbled

Sausage, cooked

Green onions, sliced/chopped

Mild cheddar cheese

Milk

Butter

Sour cream

Salt

Pepper

***

Note: I didn't specify amounts because it really depends on your taste. You decide how much you want of each ingredient (if it was up to my husband they would have a TON of sausage and bacon).

***

Wash potatoes, cover them with aluminum foil and bake. When potatoes are ready, remove the foil and cut an opening on each potato. You then take a spoon and scoop out as much baked potato as possible, place the potato filling in a bowl. Make sure you leave some close to the skin or the skin will collapse. You want the potatos to keep their shape, like in the picture below.

You can also just cut the potatoes in half (easier) and remove the filling, again, leave some along the skin. Once you have scooped all the potato filling and it's ready in a bowl, proceed to add butter, milk, sour cream, salt and pepper. Mix well, you want the potatoes to be creamy. When the potatoes are ready, add the sausage, bacon and green onions and mix well.

***

Stuff the potato shells with the filling you just made. Be generous, because you will have a lot of filling. Top with cheese and return back to the oven. Bake at 350 degrees farenheit for about 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Also, if you'd rather just put the potatoes on a baking dish, you can do that as well, that's what I did with all the extra.

Chilaquiles Verdes (Green Chilaquiles)

This dish is practically the same as Enchiladas Verdes only easier to make. It is very yummy and one of my favorites!

INGREDIENTS:

Green Salsa (click here for recipe)
Corn tortillas (I used about half the tortillas in a large packet...it made a lot)
Fresh Mexican cheese (you can use Mozarella or Monterrey Jack instead), crumbled or shredded
1 onion, finely chopped
olive oil

Cut the tortillas into large strips, then cut strips into squares. Typically you deep fry the tortillas, but I like to just place the tortillas squares in a cookie sheet (lined w/ aluminum foil) and then drizzle olive oil over them. I then bake them at 350 degrees F. for about 20 minutes or so. You should check them every so often and use a wooden spoon to mix them around so that they cook evenly. You want them toasted. (Fried or baked, either way is good).

When the tortilla chips are ready, place them in a casserole dish, and cover with the green salsa (if it looks like it's not going to be enough salsa, add more water to the salsa when you blend it, otherwise your chilaquiles will be dry). Top with the onions, then the cheese. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. Serve with rice and sour cream. Enjoy!

Same Day Amish Friendship Bread

Years ago, I received a starter baggie for Amish Friendship Bread. I had never heard of this bread and was a little intrigued (and can't deny it...grossed out) by it. The thing is that you receive this batter in a ziplock bag and you keep it in your kitchen counter for 10 days. Most of the days you just mush the bag and a couple others you add a few other things to it. Along with the starter and instructions, our neighbor also gave us a small loaf of the bread and oh my goodness that bread was delicious! That's really why I was intrigued, because it tasted so good and at the same time, all I keep thinking was that the contents of that baggie would spoil (if they hadn't already). I guess the purpose of it was for the contents to ferment. Anyway, I did try to follow the instructions but by the 6th day, my husband accidentally added the wrong type of flour into the mix so we had to throw it away. I really liked this bread and I wanted to try it again, but definitely didn't want to do that whole 10 day thing. After a lot of searching and not finding a recipe for same day, I combined several kinds for starters and ended up with a pretty good one. Try it, I think you'll like it.

***

STARTER:
1 pkg Active Dry Yeast
1 c milk
1 c sugar
1 c flour

You can warm-up the milk a little if you like. Mix all ingredients and set aside. If you actually wanted to do the whole 10 day deal, I'm sure you can use this starter and find the directions online.

MIX the following ingredients and add to your starter:

3 eggs
1 c vegetable oil
1/2 c milk
1 c white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c flour
1 large instant vanilla or chocolate pudding mix
1 c chopped nuts or raisins (optional)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 large loaf pans. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Dust the greased pans with half the mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the batter. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Cool until bread loosens from the pan and turn onto serving dish. For muffins, bake at the same temperature for 30 minutes.

Pupusas

Pupusas are a traditional dish from El Salvador. You dish them up salsa and with curtido, which is a Latin type of slaw. I really like these, although I don't get to eat them often.

To make them you are going to need Maseca which is a masa corn flour. You can find it in the Latin section of your grocery store.

INGREDIENTS FOR PUPUSAS:

MASA/DOUGH:

2 cups Maseca

1 cup flour

1 and 3/4 cup water

pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients until you have a soft pliable dough (it shouldn't really be sticky). If the dough is sticky add a little more maseca, but not too much because you don't want the masa to be dry.

INGREDIENTS FOR CURTIDO:

1/2 cabbage, finely shredded

2-3 carrots, shredded

1/4 c vinegar

1/2 onion

salt

Mix all ingredients and set aside. This has to be prepared hours in advance so that the slaw cures. If you don't have the time and need to make it right away, boil 4 cups of water and pour hot water over the shredded cabbage for about five minutes. Drain, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.

PUPUSA FILLING:

I made mine with cheese (and Jalapenos because I wanted them a little spicy). You can use shredded Mozarella cheese. Pupusas are generally filled with cheese, pork, or refried beans.

TO MAKE PUPUSAS:

You'll need a hot griddle to cook the pupusas on. Grab some masa and begin rolling it into a ball, put a little bit of olive oil on your hands as you roll it. With your fingers make an identation on the masa ball and fill it with your filling of choice. Bring sides of masa in to cover the filling (shape it to a ball again) and then begin to flatten it. Place on hot griddle and let it cook on each side for about five minutes (it might take more or less). Serve hot and top with curtido. Enjoy!

***

Note: I didn't do this, but you really are supposed to put some oil on the griddle before you place the pupusas to cook.

Beer Batter Salmon

This beer batter recipe is simple and AMAZING.  It is so light and crispy.  Perfectly paired with fresh Salmon. 

3/4 cup beer
3/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil
2 eggs, separated

To prepare, place flour in a mixing bowl and add egg yolks, salt, oil, and beer. Stir batter until thoroughly mixed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or as long as 24 - the longer the better, to a point. Just before using batter, stir it well again. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; gently fold egg whites into batter. Cut Salmon into about 2 inch. squares and fry in oil at 375 F for 2 1/2 min.  Makes up to 2 lbs Salmon.

New York Rye Bread

New York Rye Bread is a light, soft rye bread, typically shaped into oblong or round loaves. It complements any meal or makes delicious deli meat sandwiches.

Recipe Source: Kitchen Aid Best Loved Recipes Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast)

2 1/2 cups bread flour

2 cups rye flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

Pam spray

Cornmeal

*Note:  I found Rye flour in the health food section at my grocery store, not in the baking section where I thought it would be.* 

Directions:

Stir together warm water, sugar, salt, oil, yeast in bowl of mixer until yeast is dissolved. Add 2 cups bread flour. Turn mixer to low and mix about 2 min. Gradually mix or stir in rye and wheat flours, 1/2 cup at a time, and add enough remaining bread flour until dough begins to form a ball. Knead 7 to 10 min. or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Spray Pam in a large bowl and place dough in bowl. Spray pam to grease top of dough. Cover and let rise in warm place 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

Grease 1 large cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Punch dough down. Divide in half. Shape each half into a football shaped loaf, about 10 inches long. Place loaves on cookie sheet.

Cover and let rise in warm place 45 to 60 min. or until almost doubled in bulk. Heat oven to 375 F. Carefully cut 3 (1/4 inch deep) slashes on top of loaf with a sharp serrated knife.

Bake 25-30 min. or until loves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from cookie sheets to wire rack.

While Bread is warm, brush tops with melted butter. Let cool.

Spicy Shrimp

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb medium uncooked shrimp, cleaned and deveined

1 small onion, diced

1-2 tbsp of butter

3 roma tomatoes

4-7 red dry peppers (chiles de arbol) found in the Latin section of your grocery store

1 small can of tomato sauce

1 tbsp sour cream (optional)

salt

****

In a small pan, boil the roma tomatoes and red dry peppers with a little bit of water. When done, place in blender and add some salt. I suggest you start out with the minimum amount of peppers and then try it to see how spicy it is for you. You can add more peppers in the blender according to how spicy you want them. When I first made it, I just added 6 peppers right from the start, it was pretty spicy and got a little worried, but when you add the tomato sauce, it wasn't bad at all.

****

Sautee onion in butter and then add shrimp. When shrimp is done and pink, add the sauce from the blender, the tomato sauce, and the sour cream. Again, the sour cream is not really necessary, I'm sure it will taste fine without, but it could be a good option in case the sauce turned out too spicy for you. Enjoy!

Brazilian "peteleco" chocolate cake

Okay, this is a Brazilian recipe so I don't know if it will work in the USA. It is pretty simple to make though so it's worth the try. Before you do the topping be sure to put tin foil over it for an hour or so to keep the humidity and it will get really soft and moist.

Here it goes:


Batter:
3 C (not heaping, just enough) flour
2 C sugar
2 C boiling water
1 C cocoa powder
1 C oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. bakind soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix in a large bowl the flour, sugar, cocoa, oil, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the boiling water and mix again.

Put it in a regular cake pan (make sure to grease it first) on 350 F preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Chocolate sauce:
250 grams (about 8-9 oz) Sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
3 tbsp. water

Mix everything in a pan on the stove top and pour it over the cake while it's still hot (the sauce that is). It should get a little hard after it cools down.

I made this without the sauce and it was still pretty good. It was even better the next day because it got really moist. We ate it with Häagan Dazs ice cream and it was pretty dang good!

Peanut Butter Meltaways

In case you aren't in the mood for Brownies yet...

Source: Bettycrocker.com

Ingredients:

Brownie:

1 pkg brownie mix

1/4 c water

1/2 vegetable oil

2 eggs

Peanut Butter Topping:

3 c powdered sugar

1/2 c creamy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

about 4 tbsp milk

Chocolate Glazing:

1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips

1 tbsp shortening

Directions:

Heat oven to 350º. Line rectangular pan, 13x9x2", with aluminum foil, leaving 1-inch of foil at opposite sides; grease foil on bottom only.

Stir brownie mix, pouch of Hershey's Syrup, water, oil and eggs in medium bowl about 50 strokes or until well blended. (Mixture may be lumpy.) Spread in pan.

Bake 27 to 29 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2" from sides of pan comes out clean or almost clean. Cool.

Beat powdered sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and 1 tbsp of the milk in medium bowl with electric mixer on low speed until well mixed. Beat in remaining milk, 1 tbsp at a time, until spreading consistency; spread over brownies. Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until topping is firm.

Melt chocolate chips and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Drizzle evenly over topping. Refrigerate about 10 minutes or until chocolate is firm. Lift out foil and brownies. Cut into 1 1/2-inch squares. Refrigerate any remaining squares.