Month: May 2023

Not Really Chicken Scampi
For a quick weeknight meal, chicken breasts and portobello mushrooms are combined with linguine, tomatoes, and a squeeze of lemon.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook the linguine at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite about 11 minutes; drain.

Heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion mushrooms and garlic in the hot oil-butter mixture until slightly softened 2 to 3 minutes.

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a separate skillet; cook and stir chicken in the hot oil until no longer pink in the center about 10 minutes.

Transfer chicken to onion mixture.

Spinach Con Queso
For guests and potlucks, a creamy and easy appetizer to prepare is spinach queso dip, a spinach and cheese dip. Just delicious.

In a 3-quart saucepan with medium heat, combine butter and olive oil; cook and stir onion until translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for about a minute, or until fragrant.

Add red bell pepper and jalapeno pepper to onion mixture and cook for about 5 minutes, or until softened.

Reduce heat to low and stir in the pepperjack cheese and spinach into the onion mixture.

Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the mixture has thickened.

Add salt after slowly adding enough evaporated milk while stirring continuously into the cheese mixture to achieve the desired consistency.

Cook and stir over low heat for an additional minimum of five minutes to ensure complete warming.

Mo’s Spicy Beef Stew
Canned diced tomatoes with green chilies and hot pepper sauce bring a little heat to this beef stew recipe for the slow cooker.

Mix flour garlic salt and black pepper together in a shallow dish.

Gently press beef cubes into the flour mixture to coat evenly.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir beef in batches in hot oil until browned completely about 5 minutes per batch.

Remove browned beef with a slotted spoon to a bowl until all beef is browned.

Stir water and beef stew seasoning mix together in a slow cooker until the seasoning is dissolved into the liquid.

Add browned beef potatoes onion diced tomatoes with green chile peppers and hot pepper sauce.

Cook on High 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours.

Add frozen corn and continue cooking until the corn is hot about 30 minutes more.

Stuffed Pork Chops with Cranberries
Thick pork chops are stuffed with a seasoned mixture of dried cranberries and pine nuts, seared to a golden-brown, and finished in the oven with a cranberry-wine sauce reduction in this easy yet elegant fall dish.

To prepare the cranberry filling: Soak 1 cup dried cranberries in the boiling water for 20 minutes.

Drain the cranberries reserving 1/4 cup of the water.

Place the cranberries reserved water 2 tablespoons pine nuts cinnamon cloves and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in a food processor.

Process until finely chopped; set aside.

Bring the chicken stock to a boil over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the chicken stock has reduced to half its original volume about 15 minutes.

Add the white wine red wine cranberry juice and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.

Continue cooking until the sauce has reduced by half again about 10 minutes.

Keep warm.

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Scacce Ragusane (Sicilian Stuffed Flatbread)
Chef John’s rendition of the scacce, a Sicilian stuffed flatbread, is a tasty success, with a center that resembles lasagna and a crust that resembles pizza.

Pour 1/3 cup warm water into a mixing bowl and sprinkle yeast over the top.

Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes to make sure yeast is active.

Add olive oil semolina flour and salt to the yeast mixture.

Mix with your hand to form a relatively stiff ball of dough adding more water if needed to bring the dough together.

Transfer dough to a work surface and knead until smooth about 5 minutes.

Cover with the mixing bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.

Uncover and knead the dough for another 3 or 4 minutes; divide dough into 2 portions and shape each into smooth balls.

Use damp hands to help smooth the dough out if needed.

Purple Hooter
My all-time favorite shooter, this drink is responsible for cutting my I.Q. in half on a few occasions.

Put ice in a cocktail shaker and add the raspberry liqueur, triple sec, and vodka.

Shake while covered until the shaker’s exterior has frozen.

To serve, strain into a chilled martini glass.

Uli’s Apple Red Cabbage
Grandma was an excellent housewife. She could cook, and she taught home economics. My brother and I would eat the apple red cabbage she made with or without potatoes, hot or cold.

In a stockpot over medium-high heat, melt the butter.

Add the bacon, stir, and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, or until it just starts to crisp.

When the onions are translucent and lightly browned, add them and continue to cook and stir.

6–8 minutes

Grilled Greek Chicken
Greek chicken cooked slowly over indirect heat with a heavily seasoned marinade is succulent and delicious.

In a sizable bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt.

In the thigh section and the leg section of each leg quarter, make 2 and 1 slashes, respectively, on the skin side down to the bone.

By doing so, the pieces will absorb more marinade and cook on the grill more quickly.

Kosher salt should be generously sprinkled on the chicken’s both sides.

Place in bowl with marinade, coating all surfaces completely.

Refrigerate covered for 4 to 12 hours to marinate.

Transfer chicken to a sheet pan lined with paper towels so it can slightly drain.

Ground Beef Lo Mein
With ground beef and vegetables cooked in an Asian-inspired sauce, ground beef lo mein is a simple, cost-effective stir-fry dish.

Large pot of lightly salted water should be brought to a boil.

Spaghetti should be cooked in boiling water for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but still firm to the bite.

In the meantime, cook the ground beef in a sizable skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until it is browned and crumbly but still slightly chunky.

Take out of skillet and place aside.

In a small bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, water, sherry, sesame oil, cornstarch, and brown sugar.

In the same skillet, heat the olive oil to a medium-high temperature.

Add the celery, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, red bell pepper, onion, and snow peas.

For about 5 minutes, stir-fry the vegetables until they are soft.

Back in the skillet, combine the ground beef well.

Low-Carb Zucchini Pasta
Zucchini sliced into thin strips, or zoodles, can replace spaghetti for a lower-carb or gluten-free meal. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce.

Using a vegetable peeler, cut slices of zucchini lengthwise, stopping when you reach the seeds.

Once all of the zucchini is in long strips, flip it over and continue “peeling” it.

Discard the seeds.

Slice the zucchini into spaghetti-like, thinner strips.