Category: Food & Drink

Tonight I'm invited to a party that will feature homemade limoncello, and all of the guests have been asked to bring lemon-y foods. I was going to go for some kind of obvious dessert, but then I remembered a casserole recipe that I was pretty sure was buried in my recipe box.

The card is in my handwriting, so there's no telling where it originated (although the presence of Miracle Whip as an ingredient suggests that it may have come from Kraft). It was intended to be served as individual portions in bowls made from deep-fried egg roll wrappers.

For practical reasons, I'm not going to spend my afternoon making a dozen little fried bowls and then attempt to keep them intact on a 30-minute car trip, so I've modified the recipe to sidestep that requirement.

Lemon Chicken Casserole

• 2 tsp. minced onion
• 1 cup minced celery
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup Miracle Whip
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. grated lemon peel
• 2 3/4 cups cooked chicken, cubed
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar
• 1 cup chow mein noodles or other crispy fried noodles

1. Mix together the onion, celery, almonds, Miracle Whip, salt, lemon juice, lemon peel and chicken.
2. Place in a standard casserole dish and top with cheese followed by fried noodles.
3. Bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes or until heated through and lightly browned on top.

If you want to go the individual portion route, form each egg roll wrapper into a bowl around an empty 1-pound metal can, deep fry (removing the can before the wrapper hardens too thoroughly) and drain on paper towels. Fill each with a scoop of the hot casserole (sans chow mein noodles) and serve.

I haven't had this dish in years but I remember it being quite tangy from the lemon, Miracle Whip and sharp cheddar. I'm looking forward to trying it again this evening.

Post-Cooking Update: I found a big container of fried wontons at my grocery store in the deli/bakery section. I crunched some up to make about a cup of crumbs for the top of the casserole and it was delicious.

Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to my Pampered Chef microplane grater. It was the best tool for zesting a lemon that I have ever used. I'm not being compensated in any way for that opinion, but it had to be said.

Photo credit: Moyan Brenn

Because my microwave has chosen this completely inopportune time to start sparking and making scary noises, Cagey was generous enough to invite me to her house last night to start my holiday candy extravaganza.

I began with peanut brittle because it’s so easy. This recipe is awesome and I’m pretty sure it came from one of the bloggers I read regularly, but I failed to make a note of where I got it. If you recognize it, let me know: Update: It’s from Shaker Gourmet. Thanks, Copyscape!

Peanut Brittle

In a large microwaveable bowl combine:

1 ½ cup sugar
¾ cup white corn syrup

–Microwave at High for 4 minutes.

–Add a 12 oz. can of cocktail peanuts to the mix (may substitute dry roasted peanuts, cashews, pecans, almonds. If you use unsalted Spanish peanuts, add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt during the next step.) Stir well. Microwave at High 3 to 5 minutes, until light brown.

Add 1 ½ teaspoon butter
Add 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Blend well

–Microwave at High 1 to 2 minutes. Peanuts will be lightly browned and syrup very hot.

Add 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

–Stir gently until light and foamy.

–Spread mixture onto lightly greased cookie sheet*, or ungreased non-stick cookie sheet. Let cool ½ hour to 1 hour. Break into small pieces and store in airtight container.

This makes about 1 to 1 ½ pounds.

Microwave power varies with make and model. You may need to adjust times accordingly. Watch closely and be aware of the smell so you’ll be able to tell if you need to cut back on the time.

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See that asterisk I added where it talks about the lightly greased cookie sheet? Yeah, I should have paid more attention to that part of the recipe. Instead, I poured the hot mixture onto waxed paper and guess what happened? Some of the people eating my peanut brittle will be consuming the little shreds of waxed paper that refused to come unstuck from the candy. Next time I’m using my silicone baking mat.

Once the peanut brittle was cooling, I moved on to making the centers for Coconut Bon-Bons. The recipe I linked to isn’t exactly like the one I used growing up, but it’s close. Instead of shortening, I just used all butter and I added about 3/4 cup of finely chopped pecans. Also, I cover the entire ball with chocolate, not just the top, and my chocolate mixture includes semi-sweet chocolate chips, Hershey bars and a little square of paraffin to make the coating shiny.

Candy making mishap #2 came when I opened the can of sweetened condensed milk I’d brought from my cupboard. It looked like a solid can of caramel. I sniffed it and detected the faint odor of dairy past its prime. A peek at the expiration date showed that it had been sitting in my cupboard for a rather alarming number of years. We went to the store and picked up a fresh can.

By the time we got back, it was after 8:00 p.m. and I knew that there was no way we’d have time to refrigerate the candy properly and get it dipped in chocolate before it got too late. We went ahead and rolled the centers and placed them on a cookie sheet, then Cagey was kind enough to lend me her microwave to take home. I’m going to see her Saturday, so that gives me an evening and a morning to finish the rest of the candy I was planning to make, including Peanut Butter Bon-Bons and Rum Balls.

Even though I really don’t eat that many sweets these days, I still love making them.

What are you planning on making or baking for the holidays this year?

Every year for the past four years I've attended a chili cookoff hosted by @joshokun and @laceymjohnson. I've brought chili every year and although some of them were pretty good, I could never manage to bring home the coveted "chili champ" apron…until this year. (Obviously I wasn't expecting to win or I might have arrived less shiny, squinty and messy-haired.)

After having exhausted all of my ideas for traditional ground-beef-and-beans chilis, I decided to see what I could do with some of the Carolina-style pulled pork I had in my freezer.

Because I'd never made a pulled pork chili, I did a little searching online for a recipe to get me started. This Texas-style chili recipe became my framework. Because the poster mentioned that the chili wasn't hot, I started thinking of things to add that would increase the spiciness. One of the other recipes I found during my research had 1/2 cup of chili powder in it, which emboldened me to jump in and start adding spices in large quantities. Here's my final recipe:

Spicy Pulled Pork Chili

3-4 pounds of leftover Carolina-style pulled pork, chopped
2 whole onions, diced
2 15-oz. cans black beans, drained
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies
2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
1 11-oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (chop peppers finely, add them and the sauce)
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 oz. chili powder*
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. salt

Put the meat in a large pot and add all other ingredients. Stir and simmer for 30 minutes or more to blend flavors (I simmered mine for about an hour).

*I purchased my chili powder from the authentic Mexican spice section of my local grocery store. Rather than choose a variety that was just ground chilies, I bought "Menudo Mix Molido," which contains chili powder, paprika, onion, oregano and cayenne. I used the entire package.

I could tell from the moment the chili began to heat up that it was going to be spicy and delicious. I've always held back a bit with spices, but this batch taught me the error of that approach. The vinegar flavor of the original pulled pork recipe really added a lot in combination with the other flavors. The smoky adobo sauce with the chipotle peppers contributed a distinctive note as well.

The competition was very stiff this year with a large variety of meats represented, including another pulled pork entry, ground venison, ground bison, and beef roast. After tasting all of the other chilis, the one thing I might change in my recipe would be to add some corn for a touch of sweetness and texture.

Now who's coming over this afternoon to help us eat some of these leftovers?

Photo credit: Josh Okun

For the past couple of months, I've been having meal replacement shakes for breakfast. They replaced the PowerBars I'd been eating forever, and I think they're a lot more filling and definitely more nutritious.

I thought I'd share some of the "recipes" for my favorite varieties. They all start with:

8 ounces skim milk
2 scoops vanilla shake powder (use your favorite kind)
1/2 cup or so of ice

The other shake ingredients I keep on hand at all times include:

Frozen whole strawberries
Frozen peach slices
Frozen mixed berries and/or blueberries
Bananas (which I peel and freeze if we're not using them up fast enough)
Oatmeal (uncooked)
Peanut butter
Honey
Cinnamon

So far, my favorite combinations are:

• Strawberry and banana
• Peanut butter and banana (sometimes with oatmeal)
• Peach, oatmeal and cinnamon (a touch of honey is nice, too)
• Plain strawberry
• Mixed berry and strawberry

I tried working with frozen cherries, but never ended up with anything I particularly liked.

When I add oatmeal, it's just a scant handful. I happen to have the old fashioned oats right now, which add a nice chewy texture. Instant oats would probably blend in more smoothly.

Do you have any shake varieties you recommend? Am I missing out by not getting a chocolate shake powder to play with? Let me know!

While I was on vacation last week, I rediscovered the joy of cereal. I spent most mornings at home alone while my husband slept, so once I'd had my early morning PowerBar (which is what I eat for breakfast every morning), I'd often get hungry again before lunchtime. That's where the cereal came in. See also: late-night dinner.

I got on this subject in a conversation with Media Enthusiast and Dustin tonight and we got to talking about what kinds of cereals we like. That's when I realized how incredibly boring I am when it comes to cereal.

Here are my top five all-time favorite cereals that I will buy without hesitation:

• GrapeNuts
• Cheerios
• Post Raisin Bran
• Chex (any kind)
• Frosted Mini Wheats

With the possible exception of the Frosted Mini Wheats, I have the cereal preferences of an elderly person.

It's not that I don't like Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries, Cookie Crisp, Alphabits, Honeycomb, Golden Crisp (née Super Sugar Crisp), Corn Pops (née Sugar Corn Pops), etc. I got to try them all throughout my childhood, although they were definitely treats rather than staples. 

Now, though, they're just too sweet for me. They make the milk weird – and I feel very strongly about buying quality milk for my cereal. If the cats hesitate to drink your milk once your cereal has been soaked in it, I think that's a bad sign.

So now that I'm a grown woman who is free to purchase any cereal she wants, it turns out I want high fiber and low sugar. Feels like it's only a matter of time before I'm using the last of my cereal milk to swig down a Geritol while I'm at it.

When I was at my cousin's engagement party a couple of weeks ago, she served a wonderful pasta salad that I knew I had to duplicate as soon as possible.

Well, today's the day. I'm going to a get-together this evening, so I took advantage of the opportunity to try my hand at replicating the deliciousness. Here's the recipe, created by my cousin and her daughters:

Country French Pasta Salad

1 lb. (dry weight) mini penne pasta, cooked, drained and rinsed with cold water
1 cup Penzey's Country French Vinaigrette dressing, prepared according to package directions
1 pint grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, seeded and sliced in halves or quarters
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced in halves
6 oz. crumbled feta cheese
Chopped fresh basil leaves, to taste

Combine all ingredients and chill for several hours or overnight to blend flavors.

Yum!

While I was cleaning out my giant tubs of office junk, I ran across a recipe for sparkling margaritas that a friend had e-mailed to me in 2000. My sister makes a similar recipe and they're really good.

Sparkling Margaritas

12 oz. can of frozen limeade
1 bottle Corona beer
12 oz. 7-Up
12 oz. tequila (the good stuff – don't cheap out)

Combine the limeade and tequila in a blender and blend just long enough to smooth out any frozen chunks. Pour in the beer and 7-Up and give it a light stirring on the lowest blender setting – not so much that you take out the fizz. Serve your guests and starting thinking ahead to the next batch.

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At the next edition of my drinking-oriented book club, we're reading "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" (yeah, yeah, I've already read it) and I decided I'll be making zombies for us to drink.

Naturally I couldn't make just *any* recipe for zombies, so I searched for the Trader Vic's version and here's what I found at the WikiTender:

Zombie
"Bartender's Guide," by Trader Vic, 1947

1 oz. Jamaican rum
2 oz. Puerto Rican rum
1/2 oz. 151 Demerara rum
1 oz. orange Curaçao
1 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. orange juice
1/2 oz. Grenadine
1 dash Pernod

Mix in a mixing glass with a large piece of ice; stir well and pour over cracked ice in a 14 oz. chimney glass. Serve with straw.

* * *

If you follow the link above, you'll find some significantly different variations and it's possible that I'll end up choosing something else depending on availability of ingredients. Still, it's interesting to find out what exactly people were drinking in those big tiki mugs at the Kona Kai restaurant when I was a kid.