Roasted Cauliflower

One head cauliflower, cut into florets; 1/2 tsp. each salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder. (I threw all the ingredients into a Tupperware container and just shook it up.) Roast at 400F for 10 minutes, stirring 1/2 way through.

Had this at a party and it was good - on the must try list!

Jim Beam Glaze

Got this recipe from Red Robin....YUM!

1 cup Jim Beam bourbon whiskey
1/2 cup brown sugar
Combine the brown sugar and bourbon in a 3 qt. sauce pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol.

Add to the pot:
1 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pinch dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

- Whisk the ingredients together and bring to a simmer. Cook the sauce over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken slightly and the flavors have married.

- Remove the sauce from the heat and cool completely. Use to baste meat, especially chicken or salmon, while cooking

Oriental Salad

Oriental Salad:

1 lb. fresh spinach, washed (I used baby spinach - it looks nicer and doesn't have so many stems)

1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced ( I buy the presliced ones)

3/4 cup drained bean sprouts ( I used fresh)

1/2 lb. fried bacon, crumbled

3 hard boiled eggs, diced

dressing:

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/6 cup catsup ( not the 1/2 cup I originally tried!)

2 T. vinegar

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Toss salad ingredients together.  Mix dressing ingredients; add to salad.  Toss and serve. 

Eat immediately after adding dressing - not good the day after.

Asian Slaw Salad

Asian Slaw Salad:

2 pkgs. beef flavored ramen soup mix (3oz each)

16 oz cole slaw mix

1 cup sliced almonds (toasted - on cookie sheet in oven or toaster oven)

1 cup sunflower kernels/seeds (I used unsalted but the recipe says either)

1 bunch green onions - chopped

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

1/3 cup white vinegar

Crush uncooked ramen noodles.  Layer noodles, slaw, nuts, seeds, and onions in a bowl.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl combine flavor pack from soup mix with sugar, oil and vinegar.  Mix well.  Pour dressing over salad and chill.  Serves 8-10 people ( if they eat a lot otherwise serves way more!).

Good the day after too.

White's Chili

Chili:

3/4 lb ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 16 oz. can tomatoes, cut up

1 16 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

2 to 3 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. dried basil, crushed

1/4 tsp. salt (optional)

1/4 tsp. pepper

 

    In large saucepan cook ground beef, onion, green pepper, and garlic until meat is brown.  Drain fat.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, salt, and pepper.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat.  Cover, simmer for 20 minutes.  Makes 4 main dish servings.  (I had doubled the recipe)

Smokey Sweet Potato Souffle

I keep seeing recipes that I'd like to try, so I'm adding a "TO BE TRIED" label for those recipes. Once I try them, I'll update the pose and remove that label.

Saw this while I was watching 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network with Little Lady #1 recently. Looks fantastic!

Ingredients

• 5 pounds sweet potatoes, pricked with a knife
• 1 pound sliced bacon
• 1 chipotle in adobo, chopped, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
• 1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
• 5 eggs, separated
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Roast the potatoes on sheet tray until fully cooked, about 1 hour. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile cook the bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels, reserving the rendered bacon fat. Chop bacon and set aside, reserving 1/4 cup for garnish.

Peel the sweet potatoes and mash. Add the potatoes to a large bowl. Stir in the chopped chipotle, adobe sauce, maple syrup, chopped bacon and egg yolks. Mix together until combined. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a separate large bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add 1/3 of whipped egg whites to sweet potato mixture and fold to create a lighter base. Fold in remaining whites until just incorporated, leaving some white streaks.

Grease a 2 quart baking dish with some of the reserved bacon fat and gently pour in sweet potato souffle mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped bacon. Put the baking dish on a sheet tray and bake 40 minutes.

Slow Cooker Cider Applesauce

Like most New Englanders, we always have tons of apples come Fall. I made my very first apple pie this year and it was YUM! Another favorite is apple crisp - although I have yet to make one this year. Have to rectify that STAT!

Last year I started making apple sauce to use up apples we had sitting around, and then I freeze it. It's pretty good if I say so myself! Usually, I just cook the apples on the stove until they're good and soft and then call it a day. But this year I ran across a recipe on Pinterest for Cider Applesauce in the slow cooker! It's crazy easy and tastes delish.

I modified it a little bit, but the original recipe can be found using the link above.

Ingredients
enough apples to fill your slow cooker, any flavor of your choosing - peeled, cored and cut
2 tsp Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend*

Directions
Layer apples and spice blend until the slow cooker is full. Cook on high about 4 hours, or until apples have completely softened. 

Serve hot, or freeze for later use.


*The Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend is a Pampered Chef product that includes cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and orange peel. It's a great substitute when making apple pie or pumpkin pie.
The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.