Guacamole

I wasn't always a fan of avocados.  At Mexican restaurants, I was known to shove the "green slime" to the farthest corner of my plate.

That all changed with my first stuffed avocado from Trudy's restaurant in Austin.  Since that first bite, I've been an avocado fiend.  I use them in everything from sandwiches to salads.  I even created a dish incorporating the beloved avocado into a stir fry.  Surprisingly, though, I had never I made fresh guacamole until tonight.  This guac was phenomenal- even by itself!

Based on For the Love of Cooking

INGREDIENTS
2 ripe avocados, seeded and diced
1/4 small red onion, diced finely
1 roma tomato, diced
1 small handful of chopped cilantro
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 jalapeno, diced finely (if you want it spicy)
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of 1 lime

DIRECTIONS
1.  Combine all ingredients.  Cover and let stand in refrigerator 15 minutes.  Serve.

Crockpot Carnitas

This slow cooker carnitas was tender and spicy.  It was nice to venture away from my usual beef tacos.  I parsed the leftovers into individual servings and froze them.  They reheated well- you couldn't tell it had ever been frozen!

An Ommy Noms original

INGREDIENTS
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp pepper
Small pork shoulder (about 3-4 lbs)
4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup chicken broth

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine spices. Pat pork shoulder with spice mixture.
2. Pour chicken broth into slow cooker and add onion and pork shoulder. Place chipotle peppers on top of shoulder. Cook on low until meat is tender and easily shredded with a fork, 9-10 hours. Turn over halfway through.
3. Shred meat, removing the bone and fatty material. Enjoy!

White Northern Beans

Put away your canned pork-and-beans, it's time to let the white bean shine!

I've cooked many a pot of black and pinto beans, but had never paid any mind to the smaller white variety.  Then, I saw a drool-worthy picture of these northern beans at Gina's Skinny Recipes and headed out to the grocery store!  These beans turn out thick and hearty and were delicious with crackers and an avocado wedge. Thanks, Gina!

Based on:  Gina's Skinny Recipes

INGREDIENTS
1 lb bag dry white beans (aka northern or navy beans)
2 smoked ham hocks (you can find this in the ham/sausage section at the grocery store)
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3 chipotle peppers with adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeño, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste



DIRECTIONS
1. Soak beans in water overnight. The next day, discard water and fill pot with 8 cups of water. Add 1 onion, ham hocks, and green pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

2. Add bouillon, cumin, chili powder, chipotle peppers, cilantro, and garlic.

3. In a separate pan, sautee onion and jalapeno in olive oil until onions are soft. Add to pot of beans and stir well.

4. Continue cooking for 30-45 more minutes until beans are tender and thickened to your liking. Discard ham hocks and serve over rice.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Winter weather is upon us, and I made this hearty soup to help usher it in.  My husband didn't care for the egg noodles in it, so next time I'll use a different type of noodle.  I thought it was tasty, and the leftovers were even better.

I froze some of the soup base (sans the pasta and milk).  I'm looking forward to enjoying it again!

From So Tasty, So Yummy

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 small onion, diced
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
½ teaspoon parsley
½ teaspoon thyme
¼ cup flour
7 cups chicken stock
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 cups egg noodles
1 cup milk

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat. Sauté onions and chicken, until the onions are translucent. Add carrots, parsley and thyme, sauté for a few minutes until the carrots begin to soften. Stir in the flour until it is incorporated, about 2 minutes.

Add broth, salt and pepper, stir and bring to a boil. Add noodles and boil for 10 to 15 minutes more, stir in milk during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Banana Crumb Muffins

These muffins are great for using up ripe bananas.  They always turn out moist, and the crunchy topping is delicious!  I usually add a handful or two of chocolate chips to the batter.  

From Allrecipes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Crawfish Etouffee

This etouffee is fool-proof and delicious. I made a double-batch and froze the leftovers.  It's just as good out of the freezer as it is fresh!  From the detailed recipe website.

Veggies and butter- how can you go wrong?

The finished product:  not pretty, but VERY tasty!

From Detailed-Recipe
Serves 6

INGREDIENTS
1 pkg frozen crawfish, thawed
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup onions
3/4 cup bell pepper
1/3 cup celery
1 bay leaf
1 cup chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup green onions, thinly sliced
4 cups chicken stock
Salt & pepper
Cayenne
Hot Sauce

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter over medium heat. Add celery, bell pepper, onion, tomato, garlic, and bay leaf. Increase temperature to medium high. Sautee about 5-7 minutes, until veggies are soft.

Add flour, stir constantly. Cook one minute. Add crawfish and tomato paste, stirring constantly. Cook about 5 minutes.

Add 3 cups of stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, adding extra stock as needed. Season to taste, add green onions. Cook about 5 minutes. Serve over rice.

Bread = Fail

Boredom overtook me at about 11:00 tonight.  I figured I'd try my hand at baking bread for the first time. I heated the water, stirred in the honey, and added my super amazingly active insta-yeast. (You get the idea.) I was a pro! Precisely ten minutes later,I mixed in my flour, kneaded 'til the cows came home, and flopped that perfectly imperfect lump into a buttered bowl. Splendid.

An hour later, I could hardly wait to see my dough, doubled in size. "Double dough," if you will. I lifted the towel from atop the bowl in grandiose fashion... and saw that my "double dough" turned out to be a "double didn't". That's right. Staring back at me was that same teensy perfectly imperfect lump of the hour before.

Where had I gone wrong? I had measured, mixed, and kneaded my little heart out. A few minutes on the internet was all it took to learn where I had gone astray. It was in that first little step. You remember- the "I was a pro" step. It turns out the point of mixing all that water, honey, and yeast served a greater purpose than to showcase my killer whisking skills. It's called proofing the yeast. It's supposed to foam up to show you that the super amazingly active insta-yeast is still super amazingly active.

Oh, it had proofed all right. It had "proofed" to be about as flat as a half-empty can of Mountain Dew on a redneck's nightstand. I'll have you know that I baked that lump of dough anyway. It came out as dense as a hockey-puck. Ah, well. I'll have to try it again with fresh yeast. I will conquer you, sandwich bread!

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

This roasted cauliflower was delicious! It turned out tender, but not mushy. Don't let the large volume of garlic deter you- it wasn't overpowering.

Based on the Allrecipes dish by the same name.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large head of cauliflower, separated into florets
Dash Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425. Grease a large casserole dish.

Combine garlic, oil, and cauliflower in a Ziploc bag. Shake to combine. Pour into casserole dish. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Cover with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Top with parmesan cheese and return to oven, uncovered, for an additional 5 minutes.

Blade Steaks with Herb Wine Sauce

My husband and I were both very disappointed when we found out Gourmet magazine was no more. We were always sure to find something interesting to cook in each issue. When I saw a copy of the Gourmet cookbook in our local Half Price Books last week, I snatched a copy and started tagging recipes to try right away.

This steak dish turned out delicious. The steaks had a very beefy flavor and the sauce complemented them perfectly. I wasn't sure about using white wine in a steak dish, but it definitely worked.

I altered the original recipe by decreasing the amount of parsley and upping the cook time for a nice medium instead of medium-rare.

INGREDIENTS
4 (1/2-inch-thick) top chuck blade steaks (18 oz)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

Pat steaks dry and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Add steaks and cook 3-4 minutes per side, flipping once. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to skillet and cook shallot over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and carefully add wine and any meat juices that have accumulated on plate with steaks. Simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve steaks with sauce poured over.

Brownie Frosting

This brownie frosting hails from Allrecipes. It is very rich and indulgent, but DELICIOUS!

INGREDIENTS
6 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1 dash vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine the milk, butter, and sugar together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Allow to cook at a rolling boil for 30 seconds and immediately remove from heat.

2. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla to the milk mixture and stir until the chips are completely melted. Pour immediately over warm brownies.

Mom's Sugar Cookies

These sugar cookies are the best thing since sliced bread. As a kid, I helped Mom make a big batch of these cookies every Christmas. I loved cutting them out with cookie cutters. They are not your typical cakey sugar cookie. These are very thin and crisp. Mmm...

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until well-blended. Stir in flour.

2. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350.

4. Roll out dough on lightly floured board or pastry cloth to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters.

5. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 10-12 min or until light golden brown. Cool and decorate as desired.

Yields about 6 dozen.

Onion Rice

This dish hails from Allrecipes. It is a very easy way to dress up plain rice. We had it with burrito bowls.

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups chicken broth

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until almost tender. Stir in rice, and continue cooking until coated with oil.

When onion is tender and rice begins to brown lightly, season with pepper, and pour in the broth. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

Cookies n Cream Cupcakes

These cupcakes are a Beantown Baker original and are delicious!

Cookies n Cream Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 pkg Oreo Cookies (~45 cookies)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat over to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves, also for garnishing.

Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 Tbsp flour and set aside.

In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.

Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 stick butter at room temp
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS
Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes

These cupcakes were a HUGE hit.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Pinch salt
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 egg whites
2/3 c. thawed frozen strawberry daiquiri concentrate
1/2 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with liners. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth.

Add just enough food coloring to turn the batter a light shade of pink.

Scoop batter into liners (fill about three-fourths full). Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting (see below).

Daiquiri buttercream icing

INGREDIENTS
3 c. + 3 Tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. pink lemonade concentrate
Milk to thin, if necessary

DIRECTIONS
Add the butter, confectioner’s sugar, salt, lemonade concentrate, and a few drops of food coloring to the stand mixer and mix on low using the paddle attachment until combined.

Chicken Scallopini

When I saw this recipe on Stephanie Cooks, I knew I had to try it. This was great- the kind of entree that tastes like you slaved away over a hot stove all day.

Rather than spend five bucks on a package of prosciutto, I paid sixty-eight cents for two slices at the deli counter.

INGREDIENTS
2 chicken breasts
2 slices prosciutto
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt
pepper
Sage
1 tbsp. olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Pat the chicken breasts dry. Season each side with salt and pepper. Sprinkle dried sage on one side of the fillet. Press the prosciutto on top of the sage, pushing it into the chicken so that it sticks.

Whisk an egg in a shallow dish. In a separate dish, combine the flour and parmesan cheese. Dip the chicken breasts into the egg and then into the flour mixture.

Heat oil in a nonstick-skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Place chicken into hot skillet, prosciutto-side down. Cook chicken on both sides until the coating is crisp and the chicken is cooked through.