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Happy Cooking

Oriental Express Beef Lettuce Wraps

1 ½ lbs. ground beef chuck

½ cup hoisin sauce

½ cup Asian peanut sauce

1 medium cucumber, seeded, chopped

¼ cup torn fresh mint leaves

Salt and pepper

12 large Boston lettuce leaves (about 2 heads) or iceberg or romaine lettuce

Fresh mint leaves

1. Brown ground beef in large nonstick skillet over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until beef is not pink, breaking up into small crumbles. Pour off drippings. Stir in hoisin sauce and peanut sauce; heat through.

2. Just before serving, add cucumber and torn mint; toss gently. Season with salt and pepper. Serve beef mixture in lettuce leaves. Garnish with mint.

Summertime Chicken Sandwich

Pan-fried chicken breasts with a fresh cream cheese dill spread and tomatoes and lettuce on toasty French bread, YUMMY! Oh so good with a glass of wine or lemonade! You can also grill your chicken breasts for extra flavor."

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 teaspoons dried dill weed, divided

4 tablespoons minced garlic, divided

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 small tomato, diced

1 leaf lettuce

4 French bread

1.In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 2 teaspoons of dill, and 2 tablespoons of garlic. Set aside.

2.Melt about half of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Season chicken breast halves with remaining garlic and dill. Cook for about 8 minutes per side, or until the meat is firm and juices run clear. Remove from the pan, and set aside.

3.Spread the remaining butter onto one side of the slices of bread, and toast in the skillet until golden. Spread the cream cheese onto the other sides of the bread, and make sandwiches with the chicken breasts, lettuce, and tomato.*

*I also but thin slices of cucumber on my sandwiches.

I'm Back

I have been having some technical errors that prevented me from adding any posts, but that has now been resolved and I am happy to announce that I will start adding more posts shortly. I am so sorry about the absence. Happy cooking!

Tequila Chicken

Requested by a good friend of mine, here ya go. A recipe that requires tequila :) This recipe is simple enough, but its best prepared the day before you want to eat it. The longer you wait, the more tequila you'll taste!

Tequila Chicken

• 1 1/4th cups lime juice OR margarita mix
• 1/2 cup tequila
• 1/2 cup of triple sec or orange juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into thick strips
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thick strips
• 1 large onion cut into wedges

Vegetable Marinade

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (combine all ingredients for marinade in a bowl and set aside)

In a bowl combine first 6 ingredients. Add chicken and marinate chicken for 2 hours or overnight. (the more you marinate the chicken the stronger the tequila taste will be)

Marinate peppers and onion in the Vegetable Marinade for 3o minutes.

Preheat outdoor grill to medium heat. Remove chicken from marinade and grill, turning once, until juices run clear, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Drain peppers and onions, grill in a grill basket (or i just cook them in a frying pan) until tender. 

Slice the chicken breast into 1/2 inch strips. Serve with peppers and onion, cheese, salsa and sour cream. This tastes great as a Fajita or over rice. Enjoy!

Battle of the Magazines

I'm not too familiar with all the cooking magazines out there, where I live they are hard to find. But my grandmother did get me a subscription to Gourmet.... and honestly Gourmet magazine really lives up to it's name. Half the recipes in there I cannot even pronounce. And I find that there are more advertisements than recipes. But overall, I do like it. I enjoy the writing style and stories from abroad.

A cooking magazine that i love however, is Cooks Illustrated. It's really set up nicely. It has information that is really useful for the normal cook. The recipes are easy to follow, and with the more complicated recipes, they give step by step instructions with pictures. I read the magazine cover to cover rather than skipping to the back to see if any of the recipe titles are in english. 

But that's just one girls thoughts. Are there any other decent Cooking magazines out there?

My Favorite Chili

Now I don't know about you, but I love chili. This recipe I have modified over the years. It is absolutely amazing. I think it is the fresh vegetables that give it a special taste. Also easy to prepare vegetarian. 

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

10 fresh mushrooms, quartered

6 tomatoes, diced

1 cup fresh (or frozen does the trick too) corn kernels

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

3 (15 ounce) cans black beans drained and rinsed.

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

salt to taste.

1 pound ground beef, cooked with juices.

DIRECTIONS

Heat Oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. sauté the onion, bell peppers, jalapeno, mushrooms, tomatoes and corn for about 10 minutes. Season with all the seasonings. Stir in the black beans, chicken broth, and bring to a boil

Remove 1 1/2 cups of the soup to food processor or blender; puree and stir the bean mixture back into the soup. 

This is great on its on with some cheddar cheese and onions sprinkled on top, or even over rice. And there is nothing like a good Corn Bread to go with it. Enjoy!