Mangos, Mangos, Mangos

Note: I just published a post from December 15, if anyone is interested, it had been posted previously and removed almost simultaneously due to technical difficulties in which the bulk of the text had disappeared, most likely because of user error.

I was at the grocery earlier this week and found them on sale for 4 for $5 and couldn't resist, so I came home with 4 mangoes and have enjoyed them all week so much that I bought a couple more today.  I ate some plane for breakfast, made a mango chicken stir fry one day, and today made mango salsa, as well as a mango salsa chicken crockpot dish, that I served over rice.

Wonderful Mangoes.

Chicken Mango Stir Fry

Crockpot Mango Salsa Chicken - made this for some friends, it would have
fed a couple more, sorry I didn't invite you.

Just plain Mango.

Crockpot Mango Salsa Chicken
1 can black beans
1 pkg frozen corn
7 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 cups mango salsa (mangoes, jalapeño, onion, lime juice, cilantro)

Cooked on low for 8 hours and served over rice.  With some guacamole and chips, as well as some leftover mango salsa.

Dreams and Unexpected Visitors

The Colonel called me up today and wanted to spend some time in the kitchen and it just happened I had gotten my Penzy's catalog and was interested in trying a recipe that was in the latest issue, so I readily agreed.  We got a later start though because I wanted to get a bike ride in today since it 60 degrees, spoiling me for the cold weather that will all to quickly return - but oh so grateful for the nice weather to have come on a weekend.  

The Colonel is a big fan of cheese and for Christmas I had found a cookbook that basically had his name written on it - "Cheese Glorious Cheese."  He had set his sights on making something called Lemon Blueberry Dream - for me most anything with blueberries in it is a dream, my beloved blueberries, so of course it took no convincing words with this chose of recipes.

 Lemon Blueberry Dream

1 jar lemon curd
8 oz mascarpone
1/2 cup heaving cream, whipped

Mix together curd and mascarpone.
Fold in whipped cream.  Chill 1 hour.

1-2 pint blueberries
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp orange flavoring

Dissolve sugar in water, add flavoring.
Macerate blueberries in solution 1 hour.

Layer curd and then blueberries with
liquid in dishes as a parfait.

Whipping the cream.  Love that KitchenAid.

Are you "Dreaming" yet?

 I had a few different options for an accompaniment to the dreams, but as soon as the Colonel saw the Pineapple Rasam recipe in the Penzy's catalog there was no was no more discussion, that was what we were making.  I had showed the recipe to a couple of other people and they thought a little too interesting, but the Colonel came through, and we were delighted by the outcome, even my dad asked if there was some left for dinner tomorrow.

Pineapple Rasam

1/4 tsp mustard seed (+) (it was Colonel Mustard adding that so of course he was very generous, but he actually use a special mustard with whole mustard seeds that he got for Christmas from Vanilla Bean)
2 tsp butter
2 tsp cumin seed

2 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tsp turmeric
2 dried chilies (we use thai hot)
20 oz can pineapple in 100% juice
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Cilantro, chopped

Heat peppercorns 1 minute in microwave (also 1 tsp cumin seed with this but we used ground) and then grind.  Puree pineapple in blender.  Set aside.  Heat butter in skillet, add mustard seed when hot.  Cook till crackling and popping, add rest of spices, including whole chilies and sauté for 1 minute.  Add pineapple and water, stir over medium heat then add salt and brown sugar.  Increase heat and cook 3 minutes.  Serve with chopped cilantro.

Peppercorns and our "cumin seed"

Heating the Colonel's special mustard seeds.

Sautéing the spices.

the final 3 minutes....

Sorry Vanilla Bean - cilantro, chilies, cumin, turmeric, mustard.
I wouldn't recommend this for you, but it was very tasty.

And what Indian inspired dish is complete without some naan bread.  Added extra prep time to our meal but oh so worth it.

We had on unsuspected visitor to our evening and much to my mother's dismay that was sort of true bug.  It seems they overwinter as adults and the warm weather this weekend had them active, unsure how they got in the house, but we found three of them this evening, two are dead and one is in a jar as Tinbugs tries to identify it.  So far the most likely candidate is the tarnished plant bug.

The "x" you can see on its bag is indicative of true bugs.

Christmas Fondue

Christmas 2012 dawned clear and cool here in the midwest.  A far cry from the deluge of white that came through on the 26th.












We kicked off the day with some tasty grilled and stuffed pancakes. (The insides were spread with blueberry jam and sprinkled with blueberry white stilton cheese.  Folded up, the pancakes were  buttered and sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar mix before being crisped again in the pan.  Served on the top was  marscapone mixed with a little sugar and lemon white stilton.)

Even a few of the sheep got a bit of a taste of  the greener grass on the other side of the fence.

After such a tasty and delicious brunch, we didn't begin working on our annual christmas dinner till much later in the afternoon.

First Course was Cheese Fondue:

Cheeses included Gruyere, Emmenthaler, and Pearl Valley Swiss; liquids included apple cider, buttermilk, and a dash of sweet wine. Very tasty.Dippers included broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, and bread (French and Basque Shepherd). 

Second Course was Green Salad with Pear, Fig, Pecans, and Gorgonzola Cheese with a vibrant Citrus Vinaigrette.

Juicing a Lemon for the Vinaigrette

 Citrus (Lemon) Vinaigrette
     1 cup olive oil
     Juice from one lemon
     2 Tbsp lemon curd
     1 tsp salt
     1 Tbsp of honey
     1 tsp dijon mustard









Third Course was a Coq a Vin Broth Fondue with meat dippers to cook in the fondue:

While this was a very tasty course, if we repeat this, we will choose a fondue pot with an electric dial to regulate the broth temperature.  With the time between each  bite, you definitely savored each and every one! 

The broth included some of the red wine brewed by a friend of ours (see the Viking note below).

A bottle of the Viking's wine.

The heat on the electric skillet worked well, but the broad bottom
made the broth too shallow, switched to a fondue pot but then it took longer
to cook the meat. 

After all this wonderful feasting we took an intermission to go see Les Miserables with Violin Fingers, her sister, and the Viking.  (Saturday Night Football)  Wonderful company and a really beautifully filmed rendition of Les Mis.

Coq au Vin Broth Fondue

4 slices bacon

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup red wine

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

2 cloves of garlic

2 tsp herbes de provence

salt and pepper to taste

Fry the bacon, until browned, add flour and cook 2 minutes.  Add rest of ingredients, and bring to boil. After hot transfer to fondue pot (works better with electric fondue pot to manage heat).  Enjoy with chicken, beef, lamb, shrimp, mushrooms, ravioli, etc.

We also served with horseradish, mustard, and sweet and sour dipping sauces for the cooked meats.

Dessert Course:

Dessert course was waiting at home- Eggnogg Cheesecake and fruit (apples, pears, pineapple) for dipping in a Dark Chocolate Fondue. The Colonel pulled off a perfect cheesecake with not a single crack in sight. A sweet ending to a special day spent with family and friends.

Merry Christmas

Wish you were here!

Noodled

When you think Christmas Eve, the first thing you think is noodles, right?

Life has been a little interesting these past couple weeks as I slowly ease into eating on a food rotation basis (food allergy diet), and I have been finding the absence of easy to use grains the most difficult part. Mostly it has gone pretty smoothly (Thanks largely to the  "Wow! This is Allergy Free Cookbook" by Mary Yoder.  On the agenda for today was making three batches of noodles - barley, kamut, and rye noodles.

Gathering all the ingredient together before starting.

The recipe (p.39 wow) for all three was basically the same- 2 cups of flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 3/4 c water (2/3 for rye), mix together in the kitchenaid mixer and then allow to sit for 30 minutes to let the dough "bloom".

Once the dough had had a chance to sit and do its thing, it was time to roll it out.  I used the tortilla press for the initial flattening of the dough (preparing a golf ball size chunk of dough at a time) and then rolled it out as thinly as possible. The sheets of dough were then (theoretically) hung on the drying rack to dry.

I say theoretically because only the kamut noodles made it on the drying rack.  The barley noodles took quite a bit of elbow grease to roll out, and we ended up just cutting them straight into noodles and into the pans for drying.

The kamut noodles rolled out fairly easily. The flour was a wonderful golden color, and remained so even as the noodles were drying.

The rye noodles rolled out the easiest. Two or three quick rolls out of the tortilla press and the dough was almost thin enough to see through.  Lovely for rolling out. Super fragile for moving about.  The one sheet that made it onto the drying rack began dropping off in pieces after only a minute or two on the rack. The rest of the sheets went straight onto towels spread out on the counters.  After allowing them to dry for an hour or so, the sheets of dough were then chopped up into noodle size pieces.  All the noodles made for quite a few stacks of baking dishes, cookie sheets, and spread out towels.

Hallelujah noodles

Of all the noodles, the kamut noodles appeared the most in the holiday spirit, curling up their ends to the sky as if they were raised in song with the  angels.


Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom and Dad! and Merry Christmas everyone!