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I've got three things in my freezer...what can I make?

I had a craving for chocolate cake. I always have a craving for chocolate cake. It usually ends up with Matt and I driving all over town and ending up at the grocery store buying some buttercream awfulness. So, it's that time again. Time for cake. Got no money. Got no eggs. Got bananas, walnuts and Kahlua. Vegan recipes to the rescue!

Chocolate Banana Walnut Cake with a Kahula Glaze*

Dry Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 2 cups
Sugar (See Notes) 1 and 1/2 cup
Cocoa Powder 2/3 cup
Baking Soda, 1 and 1/2 teaspoon

Wet Ingredients:
Canola Oil 1/4 cup
Hot Water 1 and 1/2 cups
Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon
Bananas, mashed or pureed 1 cup

Okay, so this is generally what was in there. I actually used 1 cup Splenda and 1/2 cup Sugar AND I added about a tablespoon of agave nectar, just because I bought the crap and want to get rid of it.

So, mix dry ingredients in bowl. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine. Fold in about a cup of chopped walnuts.

Bake in cake pan of your choosing for 45mins at 350

Now, here comes the good part. All of that cake crap you just made is a vehicle for Kahula Spectacular.

Kahula Glaze

Kahula 1 cup
Agave nectar 2 tbs (again, if you just happen to have it lying around)
Splenda 1 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup

Bring to boil for about five minutes. Stir...contently. Turn down to low when it becomes a tasty syrup (meaning you can't taste the booze) that takes some effort to suck off your finger. I could bathe in this shit!

When the cake comes out of the oven, it's going to look a little dry on top. Poke it with a toothpick or butter-knife a few thousand times and pour the glaze over it. You could probably wait until the cake cools, but I always have trouble with that part.

Eat.

*find the original cake recipe here. Kahlua Glaze was all me.

I think the recipe still needs some work. A little too sweet, even for me, but I think that's because of all the added agave nectar. I like the taste of it with the kahlua, but could live without it. Overall, the cake seems pretty healthy, considering. And it's nice to have a c-cake recipe that I don't have to buy much of anything for.

Spicy Nut Mix
I couldn't comment on Tracy's original post so I'll make a new one!
I finally got around to making the Spicy Nut Mix and it is YUMMY!
I didn't have any ground ginger, though. So, I'm wondering what I'm missing without that ingredient. Guess I'll have to make it again. This batch isn't going to last long, anyway! :0)
I modified my version, also. I used roasted soynuts and left out the roasted edamame. WHY??? Because they are the same thing! So... why have two cups of soy nuts when you can sub 1 cup with pistachios instead!!?? So, I used a cup of pistachios in place of edamame and Tracy's sub of pepitas.
I'm thinking next time I'm going to user hotter chile powder.
I've lost FIFTEEN pounds! YAY for me!!

Whole Grain Chicken Tostadas

Super Easy and pretty darn tasty!

Put 2 to 3 chicken boobs in a crockpot with 1 can HOT Rotel. Cook until chicken is done, a couple hours.

Shred the chicken.

Warm up a can a black beans.

I used Flat Out flat bread (walmart deli section) for the Tostada. Brush a small about of Olive oil on both sides of the flat bread and sprinkle with salt. Bake in 350 degree oven on the rack until nice and toasty. ~10 mins.

Add as much chicken and a spoonful of black beans on the warm toasty flat bread. Sprinkle with fat free cheese, light sour cream and homemade salsa.

Fridge Cookies

Like Terri used to make, only Splendid.
Har, har, har...

1 cup Splenda
1/4 cup margarine (I used smart balance)
2 tbs. unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup natural peanut butter

Combine in pot over medium heat. Stir until everything is melty and mixed together. Then add:

1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional, but I added pecans and walnuts. Very good!)
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats

Drop in spoonfuls on to waxed paper and chill in fridge for about 2 hours, if you can stand to wait that long. I lasted 45 minutes.

Next time I make these I'll add the oats a little at a time. I didn't like the final oat to melty mixture ratio. It needed less oats. Mine didn't hold together very well as I was shoving four of them in my face.

Chile Rellenos Bake

I made this last night for dinner and I could have eaten the whole pan. Can't go wrong with green chile and cheese. Mark liked it too. Sarah, I don't know if you have roasted green chile but you can use canned green chile.

Enough roasted, peeled and seeded green chile to make two layers in a 13x9 cooking dish
4 cups grated cheese ( I used 2 cups mexican and 2 cups sharp both were 2%)
5 eggs ( I used Egglands Best Cage Free)
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1 tsp. chile powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Heat oven to 375.

Lightly coat baking dish with olive oil. Line bottom of dish with a single layer of opened green chiles. Top with two cups of cheese. REPEAT with chile and cheese.

In a small bowl beat eggs, then add milk, chile powder and cumin to eggs and mix well. Evenly distribute over chile and cheese.

Bake covered with foil for 15 minutes then bake additional 30 minutes uncovered until nice and brown. I liked mine good and toasty on top.

Eat it piping hot with some sour cream or salsa or maybe a toasted whole grain tortilla.

Option: you could add thinly sliced onion to one of the layers if you like.

Delicioso!

Breakfast of Champions

I had to hurry and blog this one! So good! Warning: This is a Phase 2 breakfast treat.

Wholesome Oat Muffins

3/4 cup + 2 tbs. oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup brown sugar substitute
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 425.

In a small bowl combine the 3/4 cup of oats and the buttermilk. Let soak while you prepare the following.

In a medium bowl combing the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, sugar substitute and walnuts. Make a well in the center and add the oil, beaten egg, and vanilla. Combine with dry ingredients until a batter forms. (It's really more dough like.)

Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbs. of oats over the muffins. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes. Eat while warm with fake butter!

I forgot the oats on top so mine got a little too brown. I also didn't have brown sugar substitute and just used regular Splenda. Matt liked them so much he didn't believe they were on the diet!

Housewifery

So, for whatever reason, I can't make comments on previous posts today. Can y'all? Anyway, I'll make them here real quick.

Tracy, I wasn't sure if you were doing South Beach, but I thought you had before and might have tricks to share here on the blog. Are you doing it again?! Our family is seriously too much alike! I need to find a picture off all three of us together for over there. --->

Mom, (who is both Mom and Aunt here now!) thanks for the shrimp shell tip! Too bad I already bought the pre-shelled kind. I'm making "Big Easy Shrimp" tonight! You know... we're not supposed to have cocktail sauce. :\ But there's a recipe for a South Beach version. Maybe I'll make that tonight too and blog the results. Anyway...

Peanut Butter Stew

I can't find the recipe on the South Beach website, because I'm not a member, but some lady posted it here. Please ignore her awful spelling: http://www.bigoven.com/169219-Peanut-Butter-Stew-recipe.html

I wish I had made much, much more of this. It was soooo good! Like everything else, I didn't really follow the recipe. I forgot that I was saving my tomato paste for this soup and used it instead in the Indian Tomato Soup. So with none of that reserved, I decided to just add the ITS leftovers to the browned steak, onion, peanut butter, bay leaf and water.

I could eat my quickly waning weight in this stuff! I love that natural peanut butter. Btw, when you're buying nat nut butter, make sure to read the label. I found three that had sugar in them to keep them from separating. Sneaky.

Dinner after work again...

Put a big pot of water on the stove with some Zatarain's crab boil. Kick off your shoes, put on your warm cozies. Make a salad. When the water comes to a boil dump in 2 pounds of frozen or thawed shrimp WITH THE SHELLS ON. That is very important because the preshelled shrimp have no flavor. The shell helps to trap the herbs around the shrimp. Slice some lemons. Put some hot and spicy cocktail sauce in little bowls. When the shrimp turn pink they are done. Drain them in a colander. I made the little cheese crackers last night but I burned them. We have shrimp and salad left over for tonight. I'm going to pan fry two little tenderloin steaks in an iron skillet to go with. Or should I say I'm going to FLAT IRON some steaks. :)

I've been bringing our lunch to work. I hate packing up leftovers and toting them to work and then washing the containers and hauling them back home. I was buying frozen dinners to bring to work. It's very difficult to find a frozen dinner with no potatoes, rice, or pasta! Also, they have very little meat. Mostly chopped up beyond recognition veggies. Pretty yucky.

This week I discovered refrigerated roasts and chicken. So far I've tried Hormel pork roast in au jus (not gravy) and turkey roast in au jus (all white) meat. I added vegetable steamers as a side. I've tried the sugar snap peas and green peas. I must say it's pretty darn good! I can microwave it right in my office. I feel like Jane Jetson! No mess to clean up or tote back home, either!

Isn't it funny how we all decided to go on the South Beach diet without talking to each other about it. There should be more family weddings to encourage us to stay healthy!

Spicy Nut Mix

Here is my first contribution for a sweet, salty, a little spicy, and crunchy treat. I modified it slightly from the Southbeach.com. I needed something to snack on during the day.

2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 large egg whites
1 cup unsalted soy nuts
1 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup walnut halves
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 granulated splenda

1. Preheat oven to 225. Mix first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Whisk in spice mixture. Add nuts and splenda and toss to coat.
2. Spread mixture evenly on two nonstick cookie sheets (I used a large cookie sheet that wasn't nonstick and it worked just fine). Bake 1 hour until nuts are dry and toasted stirring every 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet.

Serving size is a 1/4 cup (20 servings)
You can substitute any cup of nuts for what ever you like.

South Beach Crackers

I thought I'd share a South Beach trick that's been pretty helpful...

On nights that I don't want to cook, Matt makes tuna or egg salad. It grosses me out to eat it all by itself and we can't have crackers, so what's a girl to do? I'm pretty sure I read this in the book, but if you slice up cucumber and sprinkle on some salt, instant fake crackers. It's the salt and the crunchy noise that does it for me, so make sure to cut them thick!

I'm still looking for a substitute for tortilla chips. I don't think salsa on cucumber crackers would be that good! As for tortillas themselves, then you get into Phase 2, Mission has a whole grain tortilla that is actually pretty tasty!

Easy Pork Chops After Long Day

Buy boneless pork chop filets that are about 1 inch thich with very little fat on the edges.
Heat an iron skillet over a medium flame.
Throw the pork chops in the skillet and cover with a lid.
Turn every few minutes (I usually do it during a commercial break) so you can cook them a long time, all the way through, without burning.
Cook em till they are crispy brown.
Heat up a can of green beans.
Serve with a salad (I make salad and keep it in a large covered container so it lasts all week) and raspberry dressing. Make SURE you get the dressing on your pork chop cuz it's DELISH!
That's my contribution for today! :)
Maybe I'll be more creative tonight. Hmmm... I forgot to get anything out of the freezer!
Guess I'll make boiled shrimp and salad tonight. No garlic bread, of course.
I loaned my South Beach book to Sue. Guess I'll depend on your posts for my recipes! Or, the internet.

Sorbitol Cookies! Hooray!

These Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies are not good. First of all there's WAY too much fake sugar in such a small portion. Also they crumble too easily and will leave a rather large raspberry colored spot on your rug.

I'm not even sure if they are allowed in Phase 2, but I made them anyway. I wish I could get those 140 calories back. I would spend them on something more enjoyable. I would also like the natural peanut butter back. That shit's expensive!

And finally, I'm pretty sure this picture was taken before the cookies were baked. Mine were as pretty and perfect as these pre-baking. Post-baking was quite different!

These definately go on the "do not bake" list.

The Politically Correct Indian, Indian Soup

So, I guess we missed out on archiving our Rachel Ray recipes! The only one that has survived in my house is the cheese-burger-bell-pepper-meatloaf thing. I change that recipe every time I make it, but basically, line pie plate with roasted bell pepper then fill it full of a hamburger/cheese/salsa/cracker crumb mixture. Bake at 350. It needs some work.

Anyway, so now that the whole family is successfully doing South Beach (and now that I'm down to such a weight that my wedding dress falls off of me) I figure it's time to start blogging again...

From the South Beach Cookbook I bring you Indian Tomato Soup severely altered:

In a soup sized pan heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add minced garlic; one medium onion, finely chopped; three or four roasted red chilies; and three or four chipotle chilies with some of the adobo sauce. Brown or sauté or whatever.

Add a can of fat-free chicken broth, two cans of tomato paste and one can of stewed tomatoes (with juice). Add another couple three cans of water until it looks soup like.

Add two teaspoons of curry powder. See the Indian? Salt and pepper liberally.

Pour eight ounces of white wine in a fancy wine glass. Pile up on the couch. Simmer until the husband gets home. (The soup, not you.) Try not to think about garlic bread.

South Beach Survival Note: Sugar free candy in the diabetic section of Wal-Greens is pretty dang good! A lot more appetizing than that ricotta cream crap they suggest in the book. (Not that they're a trade off, but I can't seem to give up chocolate.)

Our blog is seriously behind!!

Sarah,

We need to blog our RR recipes and pretend like they are our own!

Enchilada De LaNora

These enchiladas are made from a recipe that I learned as a child from LaNora Young. LaNora lives in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Before the Hatch chile became famous worldwide this is how the people I grew up with made enchiladas!

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in an iron skillet over medium heat.

Add flour until all the oil is absorbed (about 3 tablespoons).

Brown the flour until it's the color of an old penny.

Mix together 2 tablespoons of chile powder (I used chile powder from a chile farm in Rincon, New Mexico), 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 quarts of water. If you mix it in a jar you can shake it up until everything is blended.

When the flour is brown pour in the chile mixture, stirring quickly so it doesn't lump. Simmer until it begins to thicken then turn off the heat.

Now, layer corn tortillas and sauce with whatever ingredients you like. I use browned ground beef, onion, and cheese. Bake the layers in the oven or in a microwave until the cheese melts.

YUMMY!

Tostadas, Rice, and Many Leftovers

The tostadas were, of course, excellent but it was the rice recipe I created from two recipes in the cookbook that rocked my week.

The Best Spanish Rice in Illinois

Brown 1 onion and 2 coves garlic, both chopped, in cast iron with much Crisco.
Add 1 cup dry white rice. Brown for 10 mins or so.
Add 2 large tomatoes and 4 or 5 green chilies, all chopped.
Pour in 3 or so cups of chicken broth(how ever much comes in those fancy broth boxes)
Add some salt and pepper.
Bring to boil.
Reduce heat.
Let simmer uncovered until liquid is absorbed.
Try your hardest not to stir it.

It was pretty dang good!

With ample leftovers of chicken, tortillas, beans, and cheese I was able to make to following...

Chicken tacos (fried up con queso) with rice.
Chicken, bean, and cheese quesadillas with rice.
Chicken, bean, cheese and rice burritos.
Chicken, green chile, cheese sandwiches (grilled up and wonderful).

It was a good week.

On the left, my kitchen was a mess, which never happens. I blame the full moon. On the right, notice the huge bite taken out of the tostada. I guess Matt just couldn't wait! Also notice the fried-at-home tortillas. ;)

Tostadas

First two Dan ate...
He added a little salsa... My plate is prettier...
These are taken with my phone! I'm too lazy to get out my camera. That's why they are blurry.

Tostadas Estilo Patricia

Or: Tostadas in the style of Patricia (whoever that is!) I just call these YUMMY tostadas.

I cheated. I had no chicken so I used ground beef. OH MY GAWD! They were good. Dan ate FOUR!

Fry some corn tortillas until crisp and hard. Spread with refried beans. Then add in layers: Shredded boiled chicken, sliced avocados (or guacamole), sliced tomato, salte, grated Monterrey Jack chees, shreed lettuce, green chile sauce, top with sour cream.

Okay, this is how I did it :)

Bought some tostada shells at the store. Made refritos from some leftover beans. Fried up some ground beef. Combined the beans and ground beef (stays on the tostada better that way). Sprinkled cheese on top. Put them in the oven until the cheese melted. Then, I added chopped onion, lettuce, tomato, and put a HUGE dollop of guacamole on top. Served them with salsa on the side. I must say, I could eat them again tonight. Too bad there weren't any left over!

Sopa De Mexico Recipe

1 Pound Pork Loin
2 T. Fat
1.5 Cups canned corn
2 cups chopped zucchini
4 large tomatoe peeled and chopped
2 quarts beef stock
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 to 2 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese
2 avocados, peeled and sliced
Cut the pork into small prtions and fry in fat fifteen to twenty minutes, pouring off fat as it accumulates. Five mintues before removing, add corn, zucchini and tomoatos. Heat stock, add meat and vegetables and simmer, covered, thirty minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Before serving add cheese and avacado slices.

OR (this is how I made it):

Fry the pork and put it in the beef stock. Simmer it for a really long time while you watch movies and do laundry so it will be really tender. Saute the corn in butter. Remove it and saute the zucchini, remove it and saute the tomatoes. Put all the sauted stuff in with the simmering pork and simmer for a few more minutes. I didn't add the cheese but I did add the avacado!

Sopa De Mexico

This soup is DELICIOUS! I will post the recipe tomorrow. Don't have the cookbook with me. As Sarah said, it IS simple and delicious. I made cornbread with it. I added 4 HOT green chiles to the cornbread mix. I ate THREE pieces.

Mexican Soup

I kept thinking I was leaving something out. This recipe -- which someone, as she lies in bed all sickly and bored, will hopefully supply readers with later -- was beautifully simple and quite tasty.


I was brave and included the cheese cubes, although that doesn't mean I ate them! I also simmered the crap out of it all for about and hour and a half instead of the half hour the recipe suggests.


I think we will enjoy these left overs far more than we did the Tamale Pie. The meal itself wasn't very photogenic, despite my killer plating skills, so I have included instead a picture of my new dining "room". Above is a close-up of my new table cloth. I wish I had a matching apron...

Bunuelos

I forgot to mention that I made bunuelos from the cookbook on Saturday night! They were muy bien!! I cut the recipe in fourth. The recipe made 24 bunuelos. I made 6. Also, I didn't roll them out as thin as the recipe called for because they were sticky and I couldn't roll them. I probably didn't alter the recipe perfectly and put too much water in the dough. Anyway, they were so good I ate five of them. Dan ate one!! They puffed up to about 1/2 inch in thickness so they weren't crispy like they should have been. But, they were very good. I will definately be making them again. Next time I may try to make them thinner. Also, the recipe said to punch a hole in the middle. Didn't do that, either, because of the stickiness. They were like fried dougnuts without a hole and sort of "eggy" (due to the eggs in the recipe!) Recipe and page number to follow at another time.

Tamale Pie (Oklahoma Style)

I should have known from the title…

This dish was not good, at least it wasn't good on the first day. Today, the third day, it is tolerable. The recipe should have had us refrigerate the concoction for 24 hours before eating. It helps the mush set up a bit and resemble pie, slightly.

What was absolutely great about this meal -- and what actually made it a meal -- was my very successful attempt at refried beans. The cookbook gives a recipe for pinto beans y refritos, but neither seemed very interesting. Instead, I tried to make pinto beans as close as possible to my mommy's and then mashed them up in a skillet with much butter, vigor, and zest. I bought and used salt pork for the first time, which was exciting…probably only to me. I also put four cloves of garlic in there, some onion (just the spare parts from the Tamale pie onion), a little cumin, and a lot of pepper. Amazing.

I'm not sure it's even worth the time to provide our readers -- who am I kidding? reader -- with the recipe, but I will do so for the opportunity to annotate it with ingredients I added to make this mush into flavorful mush. Also, this is a good opportunity to point out how badly written this recipe was, as many of them are. Gives the book character, I guess.

"Tamale Pie (Oklahoma Style)

1 c cornmeal
4 c water, 1 t salt
1 medium onion
1 green bell or chile pepper [I used a green-orange bell pepper and four or five green chilies]
3 t cooking oil [reserved meat grease]
2.5 c cooked tomatoes [Mexican festival Rotel]
1 t salt
dash cayenne or chile powder [A dash equals a tablespoon or two. Like mother like daughter. ]
[garlic? yes, lots.]
[cumin? sure!]

Cook corn meal, water and salt in top of double boiler for 45 mins. Chop onion and pepper and fry in hot oil. Add tomatoes, meat, salt and cayenne or chile and cook until thickened. Line greased baking dish with half the mush [RED FLAG: this meal will not be good. It will instead be mush.] pour in meat mixture, cover with remaining mush and bake in hot oven [oh, a hot oven. Good idea!] (375 degrees). 30 min. or until top is slightly browned [adding some cheese to the top is not a bad idea either]. Serves 6 to 8. Use 3 cups of cooked rice instead of first 3 ingredients, if desired [yuck]."


I don't have an opinion on what we cook next, just mo' beans please!

Pastel de tamal

Monday night Sarah and I used the same recipe from Cocinando en dos Idiomas (Cooking in Spanish and English). Sarah chose the recipe on page 106 for Tamale Pie. As I cooked I remembered that my Aunt Bessie used to make Tamale Pie. This was the same type of dish only she used bisquit dough for the crust. This recipe called for cooked cornmeal.

I had my doubts about this recipe when I read the ingredients for the meat mixture that went between the cooked cornmeal. BELL PEPPERS??? I substituted 7 roasted green chiles (HOT not mild). Instead of a "dash" of chile powder I used two tablespoons. I was trying to turn gringo cooking into a mexican dish! I don't think I would try making this again. But, if I did, I would use masa harina so the batter would be more like that of a tamal instead of like corn mush.

This dish was like sloppy joes in corn pone. It was not good. HOWEVER, the corn mush with butter and sugar I ate before I compiled the cassarole was DELICIOSO!

I get to choose the next one!

Quiche de Reciprocation

Matt and I decided that, after my mom’s success with the Pollo de Casarol, we’d try our best to add a little French flair to the dinner menu. We chose three recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I know, it’s not “the cookbook” guiding this blog, but I still think the meal is worth mentioning. I made Quiche Lorraine while Matt made a-beef-steak-with-red-wine-and-mushroom-sauce-type-thing. His recipes took a little longer and were way more complicated than my quiche, but in all that work, we learned how to “revive” canned beef stock and thicken gravy pretty easily. I got to use pinto beans as weights as I baked my quiche crust, something I was excited to try. I don’t know why I look forward to these kinds of things! Anyway, it all turned out pretty well. I think quiche might become a staple in our new home, since it is just a high-falutin’ word for bacon and eggs.

Chicken Casserole or Pollo de Casarol

My favorite daughter, Sarah, is moving across the nation to Champaign, Illinois. We thought having dinner together in different locations would be a nice way to be together, even though we will be apart. I purchased two copies of a cookbook with regional recipes. One for me and one for Sarah to take with her. I hope it will help to remind Sarah of her heritage and home.

Sarah's fiance, Matt, was at our home last evening. We sat round the dining room table looking at cookbooks and reading recipes to one another. I chose one from our duplicated cookbooks and tried it out for supper. It was chicken casserole. Simple to make and delicious. Basically, it was chicken breasts layered between bacon and onions, with milk and butter on top, baked for 1 hour. I must say that it may have been my extreme hunger that made it so tasty. I began cooking it at 7pm.

Matt purchased some chef's books with procedures and techniques at our local used bookstore (same place I found mine and Sarah's cookbooks). From them he learned to make some really great garnishes. He made a pig and a bunny rabbit out of limes, while Sarah made Tequila Dorados (tequila, honey, and lime) from the cookbook, and I cooked. It was fun. I hope that we can continue to do this at least one night a week, preferably Sunday. It will be a nice way to be together apart.