Monthly Archives: February 2010
Jamaican Coffee Brownies with Pecans
This week, the secret ingredient for BSI is flour, an ingredient, most of us use, even the Gluten Free Blog. The hostess for this week Veronica from Recipe Rhapsody. That was a good choice.
Be prepared when you eat these. They are hard to walk away from but that taste. Coffee and chocolate are natural together but in this brownie, they compliment each other to make the best brownie. You use fresh ground coffee to get the taste and I did not use the full amount and still it was rich with coffee flavor.
Jamaican Coffee Brownies with Pecans Bon Appétit ( adapted)
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Ingredients: My flour mix. This makes three cups. Rice Flour Mix: for 3 cups Nonstick vegetable oil spray 3/4 cup pecan pieces 1 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces) 30 thin strips crystallized ginger Method: Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9x2-inch metal pan with nonstick spray. Combine sugar, butter, cocoa, ground coffee, and salt in large metal bowl. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and whisk until butter melts and ingredients are blended (texture will be grainy). Remove bowl from over water; cool mixture to lukewarm if necessary. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour over and fold in. Mix in pecans. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake brownies until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool brownies in pan. Place chocolate chips in small bowl. Bring brewed coffee to simmer in small saucepan; pour over chips and stir until melted and smooth. Let ganache stand until cool and beginning to thicken, about 1 hour; spread evenly over brownies. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; let stand at room temp
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Corn Soup with Potatoes
This recipe originally was made with lard and ham steak but being kosher, I eliminated these from the recipe. To give the recipe some additional flavor, lacking the “treif” ingredients, I used a frozen container of Tyler Florence’s corn soup.
Corn Soup with Potatoes Bon Appétit | May 2006 This photo is a small amount of soup to show you all the delicious vegetables in it.
Yield: Makes 8 servings
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The soup was delicious and I give Tyler a great deal of the credit. This is a Caribbean recipe although I am not sure what makes it so. I have to do some research and see if it is the corn and the peppers that give it the flavors of the Virgin Islands. I am submitting this to Super Sundays. 
Pecan-Pineapple Crusty Salmon
I was trying to think of what kind of salmon to make and the word, pineapple, came to mind, so I concocted something, I chose to name, Pecan-Pineapple Crusty Salmon. We have not eaten it, yet. Too early for dinner. Hubby tasted it and said, it was strong but he didn’t mind. I am trying to figure what it was he tasted.
Pecan-Pineapple Crusty Salmon
Ingredients:
one half 16 ounce can of pineapple
1/2 cup pecans
2 teaspoons pineapple juice
honey lemon pepper
to taste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Cajun spice
pinch of crushed red pepper
Method:
Place pineapple, some pineapple juice, pecans and seasonings in food processor.
Whiz until it is a little lumpy. Place salmon in pan. 
Pour remaining juice over salmon.
Take coating and put on top and sides of salmon pieces.
Add pineapple tidbits to pan.
Add two tablespoons soy sauce to pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 30 minutes, until done. 
Feels like Springtime Mousse
This month’s 5 Star Makeover Challenge is to create a MOUSSE with a twist. I think the marshmallow is unusual and it works well with many flavors.
I don’t use raw eggs which often are found in mousse recipes. I decided marshmallow would be a good filler and thickener. This turned out to be creamy and smooth and delicious. I want to make this again with peaches or apricots.
cups of frozen strawberries and blueberries
8 ounces Marshmallow Fluff or Marshmallow Creme
Creamy Mushroom Conchiliette
My husband asked me to defrost a vegetarian chili which he had left for me. Looking in my freezer, right up front,
was a plastic container, labeled chili. I could not imagine why he thought that meant, “vegetarian” but I removed it, anyway. Later in the day, when I removed the lid, I saw MEAT. I don’t eat meat on Mondays. Actually, I rarely eat meat. I decided pasta would be the choice for dinner and hubby could have it as a side.
This is how I do my last minute cooking. Look and see what is lurking in the refrigerator. A whole package of mushrooms. Aha! Dinner was being created, as I took out the mushrooms.
For two people:
1/2 pound conchiliette or any small pasta
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon oil
1 cup of organic mushroom soup – you may need more
1 cup sour cream
Method:
Cook the pasta, following directions on package. (I have not used corn pasta since the few times and tried it and did not like it. This was good. I think rice pasta may be better. This cooks without sticking and although I rinsed it, it did not have the odor that rice has. With the sauce, it was firm and tasty.
In a little oil or margarine or butter, saute the mushrooms for three minutes.
Add soup and cook until it is warm.
Add sour cream. Mix it into soup while continuing to heat the mixture. 
Place pasta in a bowl. Pour as much of the mushroom mixture, as you like, over the pasta.
Enjoy.
The soup, I used, was not overly flavorful so the mushrooms still held a dominant roll, rather than the seasonings in the soup.
Join in the fun and send your pasta recipes to Ruth of Once Upon A Feast , the creator of Presto Pasta Nights. Our thanks to our wonderful hostess Michelle at Italian Mama Chef . Go check out her homemade lasagna. It looks out of this world delicious.
Broccoli Cheddar Breakfast Bake – without baking CEiMB
Despite the name Breakfast Break, this was not eaten for breakfast, nor was it baked.
This is Ellie Krieger’s recipe and as usual, it is a success. While, it would make a scrumptious breakfast, we had it for dinner. The recipe chosen for this week, is slightly different because it includes bread, which I don’t use, unless it is gluten free and I did not want to start baking. In Ellie’s first book, she has the same recipe, just without any kind of bread product. I followed that one. almost, until I ran into an equipment problem. Regardless, the results are basically the same and certainly as good.
It is an easy recipe, stir fry the veggies, add the eggs and the cheese. Instead of just cheddar, I used a combination of cheddar and mozzarella. I also dramatically cut the recipe which should serve 8.
I would have baked it but I don’t have a pan that I can use on the stove and then put in the oven, which would be the suitable size for this egg. As it was, I used a fry pan that was two big. Since, I did not bake it, I should have flipped it, in the pan, but it was too big for me to maneuver. Instead, I folded it, with the gushy cheese leaking out of the folded egg.
I am not sure that eggs and cheese can go wrong and this certainly did not. It was melt in your mouth good and we easily finished it.
The recipe for this delight is found in The Food You Crave on page 32 and in So Easy on page 52.
This recipe was chosen for Craving Ellie in My Belly by Chef Zero. You will find the recipe there. There is a variation of the recipe in the first book which does not use the baguette.
Salmon in the Blink of an Eye
Life has been hectic in our household, recently and there have been moments, I felt, I could not hold my head above water. We do, though, almost no matter what. It is amazing to me, how pressured we can feel, over the little challenges in life and when the biggies, come our way, we are so much stronger. We should always have the ability and faith to climb the mountains that stand before us.
This leads to a silly salmon. Rushing around, trying to get everything done, I wanted to make salmon. How does salmon get to look like that mountain, blocking our way? I have no idea but that is how I was feeling. The solution was to make the simplest recipe, I could think of and sure enough, that is what I did. This was right before I threw that coleslaw in the bowl.
I took my salmon, put it in a baking pan, mixed a few ingredients, poured it over and like I made coleslaw, I made salmon. Pressure – all gone.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
2 salmon fillets
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method:
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
Pour water on the bottom of baking pan. I used a pan that the fish filled up. If you use a larger pan, add water to cover the bottom, ever so slightly.
Add the salmon to the pan.
Mix all other ingredients.
Pour over salmon.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. I bake it the longer period of time because I am paranoid. I want to make sure it is thoroughly cooked.
This was delicious with the coleslaw, I did not take to our friend’s.
Gluten Free Meatless Mondays
Please leave a gluten-free meatless recipe linked to Mr Linky. I would like to eventually make a list available to all our gluten free bloggers and non gluten free bloggers. Please help me get the necessary information. Thanks to all. It would be nice if you would post a link to this site so others can take advantage of this information.
Out the Door Coleslaw
We were going to someone’s house for dinner, Friday evening, and I told my friend, I would bring dessert and coleslaw. 
Of course, I made dessert, first thing, in the day. That was fun and the best dessert, I have made.
As we were about to leave, maybe fifteen minutes left, until our targeted time, I remembered the cole slaw. I threw this together in record time and was rewarded with a delicious salad. I am doing my best to recreate it.
I had bought a bag of shredded green cabbage and another of red shredded cabbage. Whew, I could get started. I threw that in the bowl.
I grabbed my immersion blender and took out the chopper. Then, I ran around, grabbing from the shelves, grabbing from the refrigerator, just grabbing whatever met the eye. From the fridge – out came apples, carrots, red onion, red pepper, mayo and lemon juice. Off the shelves flew brown sugar (I have never used brown sugar in coleslaw before – I will do this again.)
Into the chopper attachment, went sliced carrots, chunked apples, red pepper in eighths, and the red onion in eighths. On it went until I got chopped pieces and not pureed. Out they came, not only into the bowl but all over my counter, flying onto the stove and floor. Hurrying does not always produce what one wants. The floor would get cleaned up when we got home. Ditto the stove and counters.
Now the bowl contains all the vegetables. I looked around and remembered that Tyler Florence put nuts in his cole slaw, at least I think is is Tyler. Tyler is the greatest so I don’t feel badly if I made a mistake. I grabbed some craisins and some pecans. I put the pecans in the chopper and took the smaller pieces and covered the salad.
As quickly as possible, I took a small bowl, scooped out some mayo, poured some Brownulated sugar on top and straight from the bottle, poured what I hoped was a tablespoon of lemon juice.
Mixed it up and we ran out the front door. Coat, what coat….and we were walking. Back home, we went, put the mayo back in the fridge, got my coat and the chocolate dessert, and we took off again.
We knocked at the door and calmly and sedately greeted our friends, who never knew how this salad got made, but they did love the salad, and I know this because, it was almost gone and we brought tons. I saved a little and I am going to see if I can get a photo. No, I did not have time for photos.
1 bag shredded green cabbage (16 ounces)
1 bag shredded red cabbage (12 ounces)
1 small red onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1/4 cup craisins
1/4 cup, chopped pecans
1/4 red pepper, chopped
2 apples, chopped (shredded works also)
Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I added a little bit more.)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 – 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
In a bowl, place all chopped fruits and vegetables.
Add nuts. Mix.
Mix the ingredients for the dressing together and put on top of cabbage mixture.
Mix dressing and cabbage.
Enjoy.
Green Pea Soup – Nigella Lawson
Image via Wikipedia
I am making an honest effort to feed the family healthier meals. My husband is the happiest, in the winter, with soup, each night. This evening, I made two different soups. Tonight,we had the green pea soup and tomorrow’s will be butternut squash soup. Both are such pretty colors. Both also, have distinctive flavors.
I was concerned that my husband was not going to like the balsamic vinegar in the pea soup and tensely waited to hear if he had something to say. Silence – uh oh – he doesn’t like it. I look over at him. Of course, he is quiet. He is busy enjoying his soup. Then an exclamation. This is good soup! I did not like the balsamic vinegar or perhaps, I put too much in. It is really more important that hubby likes it. I have no restrictions on my diet and he certainly does. Green Pea Soup (I added the sugar.)
Easy Pea Soup - serves 4 –
Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat.
Ingredients 2 cups vegetable stock
3 cups frozen peas
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper 2 teaspoons sugar
Olive oil
Method:
1. Warm the stock over medium to low heat in a saucepan. Add the peas; cook until tender
2. Transfer peas and stock to a blender, and process until smooth, adding the balsamic vinegar and sugar toward the end.
3. Pour in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and pour a little bit of olive oil on top.
Related Articles
- Dinner for $1 Recipe: Split Pea Soup with Ham Hocks (lifescript.com)
- You: Nigella Lawson’s kitchen confessions (guardian.co.uk)
- Nigella Lawson says diets are a fat lot of good (mirror.co.uk)
- Nigella Lawson should be applauded for her approach to food and dieting (mirror.co.uk)
- Fill Up with The Eight Most Filling, Low-calorie Vegetarian Snacks (quazen.com)
