Sweet Roasted Almonds

One of our family's all-time favorite snacks. Even the baby loves these. We usually just make them at Christmastime, but now we make them whenever anyone has the hankering for one. They are sooooo easy to make and I love that there are only three ingredients. Well four, if you count the almonds. We give them as gifts at Christmas and Thanksgiving and people always comment how much they taste like the almonds you get at the mall during the holiday season. Well I can tell you this for sure. They are not the same. The ones you buy at kiosks at the mall or at other stores are loaded with corn syrup and other ingredients. Although these are coated in raw sugar, you won't find the ingredients so complicated or so unhealthy. Enough talking. Here is the recipe.

2 cups raw almonds
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons butter (use coconut oil for a vegan treat)
1 cup organic or raw sugar

Spread almonds evenly on rimmed cookie sheet. Place in 350° oven and roast about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until well roasted.

Meanwhile, on medium heat, heat honey and oil to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add almonds; simmer and stir for two minutes, until almonds are evenly coated.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer almonds to a lightly greased baking sheet, or sheet of wax paper and spread in a single layer. Cool slightly. Toss almonds with sugar until coated.

This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled, etc. Great as a compliment to fruit, cheese, and other dishes. Or on their own as we prefer them!

Avocado and Black Bean Salsa

This is HF's new favorite salsa. We are addicted. I've concluded that this salsa tastes good on everything from chips to salads. I got this recipe from a good friend, Kate, who is the queen of amazing salsas. She doesn't have a food blog so it is up to me to share this with the rest of the world. I hope you like it. It makes a lot and is great for all ocassions and gatherings.



Combine the following ingredients in order:

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can white shoepeg corn, drained
1/2 red onion finely chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro finely chopped
Juice from 2-3 limes
4-5 ripe avocados diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 package Good Seasons Italian Dressing, made according to the package directions
1/2 cup sugar

Kate suggests you serve it with Lime flavor tortilla chips. She also said that the ingredients must be added in the order listed or it won't turn out. I don't see why it wouldn't, but it's true she says.

arancini: italian rice balls

Annabel Karmel writes some of my very most favorite children's cookbooks. I have made so many yummy recipes from her books and she inspires me to use my own creativity and ideas for recipes and ways of feeding my family.

These rice balls are from her book, Cook It Together. The reason they are so great? The whole family likes these, they can be put in bentos, and for some reason, making these somehow makes me feel as though I am  one with the Italian side of the family. They would be so proud.

I usually double or triple this recipe.

1 tsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. diced onion

1/3 cup risotto rice

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

3 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

5 1/2 oz. mozarella, cut into 5 x 3/4 inch cubes

2 Tbsp. breadcrumbs

1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

oil, for frying

1.  Heat the oil. Cook the onion. Add rice and stock. Simmer for 25 minutes until cooked, stirring often. Add 2 Tbsp. Parmesan, salt and pepper.

2.  Cool then refrigerate the rice for 3 hours or until firm. Then break it up, divide it into 5 portions, and squash into balls.

3.  Make a hole in each ball and push in a piece of cheese. Squish the rice around the cheese.

4.  Mix the breadcrumbs with the remaining Parmesan. Dip the rice balls into the egg.

5.  Roll the rice balls in the breadcrumb mixture.

6.  When the balls are completely coated, fry them in oil for 5 minutes or until golden.

Serve with your favorite tomato sauce. Or eat them like us! Plain.

baked brie with pepper jelly

First, get your wheel of brie. This one is from Costco and it's prety big. Just over 19 oz.

Plop it into an oven safe dish.

We love pepper jelly. Not just any ole pepper jelly however. Our favorite is an Oregon company called Rose City Pepperheads. We have been known to order a few from time to time. Our favorite is Apricot With Attitude. We have however found a couple of good substitutes at our local farmer's market since.

What you do next: Bake your brie in an oven safe dish without anything on it. Do not remove the rind. You will bake it at 500 degrees for about 7 minutes, or until Brie is soft.

When you remove it from the oven, you will pour your favorite jam or jelly over the top of your Brie. Another yummy way is cranberry sauce. I have a recipe for another version that I will share at a later time.

Yum. The inside will be nice and melty. It is best served pretty much immediately. This wheel serves a lot of people. So if you want to have it for a smaller crowd or just 2 of you, get a small Brie wheel. This is great served with apples, pears, fancy crackers, etc. You can also make your own pepper jelly. This recipe is delicious!

spring rolls

I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the entire package so you know what it looks like, but this is rice paper, or spring roll wrappers. You can purchase at any Asian market most likely.

They are thin and hard, but very delicate. Once you wet them in water for 2-3 seconds, they become almost transparent, soft, and filmy. This makes it easier to roll up burrito style.

These are the ingredients I used: green bell pepper, chopped lettuce, chopped mint (mixed with lettuce), bean sprouts, shredded carrots, fresh basil, and bean thread (a kind of noodle).

chicken with a teriyaki marinade.

This is all on top of a rice wrapper, but you can't really see it. Pretty, huh.

A close up of the spring roll all wrapped up. I'm still working on my wrapping technique.

You can get really fancy and put leaves of cilantro, basil, and/or mint so that when you roll it up you see pretty, whole green leaves showing through. That was too hard for me. . .

There are endless possibilites what to put in these, but here are the basics:

Rice wrappers for spring rolls

1 pound chicken breast, cooked and diced

2 ounces rice noodles (vermicelli)

1 cup chopped lettuce

2 Tablespoons Thai Basil, chopped

2 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped

1 Tablespoon mint, chopped

1 cup bean sprouts

1 cup shredded carrots

Boil vermicelli for just 3-5 minutes, or let soak for 20 minutes. Drain. Chop and prepare all ingredients and place in rows on a tray. Fill a pie pan with water. Soak a rice wrapper for 3-5 seconds (the package will tell you how) and place in front of you on a clean work surface. Place a small amount of chiken on lower half of rice wrapper. Then place equal small amounts of the remaining ingredients on top of chicken. Fold like a burrito (package will also show folding instructions). Let rest a few minutes under damp cloth while you continue to roll the others. These are best eaten right away and do not make for good leftovers. Eat with your favorite peanut dipping sauce. I like this one: Peanut Love Sauce.

mini spinach and bacon quiches

Here is what I did: I started with Paula Deen's Quiche recipe. I didn't do a pie crust. I got a package of Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry (sold in the freezer sections at grocery stores) and let it thaw on the counter for about 40 minutes. Then I unfolded it and cut it into circles with my smallest round cookie cutter. I sprayed my mini muffin pan lightly with Pam and these little circles fit perfectly, just coming up a little on the edges. You'll want to press down lightly to make sure it's gathered in the edges of the cup.

I chopped the spinach extra fine since these are tiny quiches and put a pinchful in each cup. I didn't really do any measurements, just what I thought looked good.

I chopped the bacon as fine as I could as well. I put a pinch in each cup.It probably was about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of bacon.

Then I put 1-2 teaspoons of shredded swiss cheese on top.

For the egg mixture, I actually used egg beaters. I had a case from Costco and we didn't like how they tasted so we decided to use them up in baking recipes. In place of the 6 eggs, I used 1 1/2 cups. I put 1 Tablespoon in each cup.

When you are making miniature appetizers or hor d'oeuvres, you cut the baking time to 1/3. So depending on the oven you would bake these at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are starting to brown. Cook them in the center of the oven and I think that the browning is the best done indicator.

Don't they look good? They tasted so good. I was looking for ways to use up all our spinach before it went bad and this was perfect. I've also made 2 large ones to freeze for a later meal. Everyone loved them. These would also be great in regular muffin tins. You would just cut larger circles out of the pastry and adjust the cooking time. After these came out of the oven I let them sit for a few minutes and then carefully removed them to a cookie sheet to further cool down. We ate a dozen or so and then freezed the rest. We froze them by sticking the cookie sheet in the freezer for an hour or so and then put them in a large ziploc bag all together and stuck it back in the freezer. To reheat you would just put them on a cookie sheet and reheat at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. I think these quiches are hard to ruin. You can do a number of varieties such as mushrooms, diferent cheeses, onions, ham, etc. Oh, and this made about 60 mini quiches!

yummus hummus

We love hummus. We've been making it a lot lately. It is a popular middle eastern dish containing chickpeas or Garbanzo beans. We've tried different flavors, but this one suits us best. I know it doesn't exactly look appetizing, but it is delicious and nutritious! I warmed up some pita bread and cut up orange and yellow bell peppers to dip with it. I sent a batch to work with HF and the officers enjoyed it as well. There are many varieties of hummus, the most popular probably being Red Pepper Hummus. We like this basic recipe. You can adjust it to your taste and add other spices and ingredients if desired.

HUMMUS

4 garlic cloves, minced and mashed

2 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

2/3 cup tahini (roasted not raw)

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ cup water

¼ cup olive oil

½ tsp. coarse salt

In food processor, combine garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, water and olive oil. Press until smooth. Add salt a little at a time, to taste. Serve with warm pita bread, crackers, chips, or raw vegetables.

fried zucchini

The zucchinis that came out of our garden this year were humongous. It was amazing to check them one afternoon and see that they were still fairly small. The next day they had grown by leaps and bounds it seemed. The giant ones I shredded up for later use and stuck in the freezer in freezer bags. The smaller ones I cut at an angle into coins for fried zucchini. They were delicious! The measurements for the ingredients are just a guess. You may need more or less of the flour, milk, and bread crumbs. You will notice I didn't use any egg. It didn't need it at all.

1-2 zucchinis
2 cups milk
1-2 cups flour
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
oil for frying

First cut your zucchinis into desired thickness. Not too thin, but not very thick or it won't cook well. Place coins in container along with the milk. I let them soak for a few minutes, making sure that none of them are stuck together. Next I put the flour into a gallon ziploc bag or a large bowl. I remove the zucchinis from the milk using a slotted spoon and dump them into the bag of flour to coat evenly. You will probably have to break some apart as they like to stick together. Once they are coated evenly, you will dip them one by one in the milk once again and immediately coat with the breadcrumbs. Once all the zucchinis are breaded, they are ready for frying. Place a couple of paper towels on a plate and place a few zucchinis in hot oil. Fry on one side until golden brown, then flip over and fry the remaining side until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel covered plate. Serve with ranch dip if you like.

Here are some other zucchini recipes I might try to mix things up a bit.

Zucchini and Rice Casserole from All recipes
Zucchini Cakes from the Pioneer Woman's friend, Ryan. I think these are also called Zucchini Fritters.
Spinach and Zucchini Soup from 101 Cookbooks.
And last but not least, it's the Zucchini Weenie as seen on Al Dente. Fair Food. I think it actually looks pretty tasty! It would have to be a Hebrew National hot dog for me to eat it though. . .

guy food part IV

*another non-atrocious recipe from HF! (except don't listen to him when he says to use tapatio or KETCHUP of all things!) I prefer just the beans, the entire package of cream cheese, the monterey jack cheese, and the salsa. That's it.

Okay world, this recipe turns out some freaking awesome bean dip.

WARNING: make sure you have a friend or family member eat this with you, otherwise you won't be able to stop yourself from eating the entire thing. As good as this is going to taste, you don't want to eat the entire thing.

Here's what you need:

1 can of refried beans

Monterrey Jack Cheese

Fresh Salsa

Tapatio hot sauce

1/2 a package of cream cheese

For best results you're going to have to do some prep before you start cooking anything.
First shred the cheese. You want to shred a man sized fist amount of cheese. What's a man sized fist you ask? It's the size of your fist partially open as if it's holding a baseball. That's just one example of how we measure ingredients in the Cro-Magnon's kitchen y'all.
Next, remove the cream cheese from the box but keep it in its foil wrapper and cut it in half. Put the half you're not going to use back in the box and put it in the fridge.
Now you're ready to start cooking stuff. Empty the can of refried beans and it's accompanying juices into a pot.

Add about a finger tip's length of water to the pot. Don't ask me why, just do it.

Now turn up the heat on the stove (medium high) and start mashing the beans up with whatever heat resistant cooking utensil you can find. It's important to keep stirring the beans throughout the entire cooking operation. If you don't, they'll burn and stick to the bottom of the pot and you'll get in trouble with your wife.

Once you get the beans mashed up pretty good, go ahead and dump in that half block of cream cheese (make sure you take it out of the foil first), and mix it in. You may have to mash up the cream cheese as you mix it depending on how soft the cream cheese was when you added it to the beans. Don't worry though, it will start melting pretty fast once you put it in. REMEMBER TO KEEP STIRRING!!!

Once you have the cream cheese melted pretty good and mixed throughout the beans, add the cheese into the mix. KEEP STIRRING.

After the cheese is melted, add 3 heaping spoonfuls of fresh salsa. KEEP STIRRING.

Now that you've got the salsa mixed in good, it's time to add the secret awesome ingredient: Tapatio hot sauce.

Put in as much as you like. If you don't want it hot then don't put in a lot. KEEP STIRRING. Mix it all in until all you see is the creamy light brown of the beans.

When everything is mixed in nice, remove from heat, pour in a bowl, and enjoy!

My bean dip can be enjoyed hot or cold.

Now it's important to note that there are some alternative ingredients for those of you who don't like hot, spicy, picante, etc. bean dip. Instead of fresh salsa you can opt for a mild canned salsa like Pace Picante sauce or whatever generic brand is available. If even that's too spicy for you, go with good old Ketchup. It may sound gross using ketchup but you need that tomato flavoring in there for the end result. I've had it both ways and it's great either way. Lose the Tapatio too if you can't take the heat.

Man D'oeuvres

*Here's another "atrocity" from HF. Except it's not an atrocity! It's incredibly delicious. I have a recipe for a homemade version here if you don't have a good brand of pepper jelly in your area. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I got it. HF does a variety of things like this with cream cheese and different spreads. Sometimes they are good, sometimes not good. This one is his absolute favorite. It was actually his idea to do this with the cream cheese. I didn't have the recipe at the time so I'm doubly impressed with him. He didn't know that this was something people did.

I bring you: Man D'oeuvres. This is one of those snacks that if you're not careful you'll end up eating the entire entree yourself and then you'll feel like a loser. So make sure you have at least one other person around to share this with. This is incredibly easy to make. Here's what you need:

Crackers: I used Ritz this go around but I also use Triscuits and Wheat thins.

Cream Cheese: Any brand will do

Rose City Pepperheads Jelly: Any flavor will do. I used Apricot with Attitude

1. Set a block of cream cheese out on a plate and let it get a little soft. Or if you're in a hurry, you can stick it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it.
2. Next you spoon your favorite flavor of Rose City Pepperheads Jelly on top of the cream cheese.

Now you're done and can start dipping crackers into the spread.

The jelly is what really makes this great. My sister in law introduced me to the Rose City Pepperhead Jelly company a few years ago and I've been hooked ever since. Whenever she visits from Oregon she brings me a few jars and I love her for it. We've even had a box shipped before. It is only sold in Oregon as far as we know. The peppers give this a sweet and picante bite that is immediately cooled a bit by the cream cheese. So those of you who are inexperienced in the way of the pepper won't suffer.

This snack can pull double duty for you. It's great for watching the game and it's equally good for impressing your wife when she's preparing a more formal dinner party. Enjoy!

sweet chili meatballs

Mr. Fuzz loves these meatballs. We've made them for parties and get-togethers and they are gone lickety-split. (I don't think I've ever actually said lickety-split before). They are great by themselves, as shown above in a bowl with chopsticks, or served inside a hoagie roll to make a sandwich. I just stick these babies in a crockpot for a few hours and they're done. It's that easy. You can make your own meatballs if you have a recipe you like to use. I have found a frozen pre-made brand that I like. I have also noticed that sometimes brand matters.

sweet chili meatballs

2 (32 oz) packages of homestyle meatballs (I'm not sure if Italian style would make a difference)
1 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 (12 oz) grape jelly (I like to use Welch's)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 (12 oz) chili sauce (I like to use Homade brand)

Combine ingredients and heat in a crockpot on high until heated through. Serve in hoagie buns or by themselves. If using homemade meatballs, cook them thoroughly before heating it with the sauce. These are the brands that I use: