Today is National Baked Alaska Day. I’ve already shared my go-to Baked Alaska recipe, so I needed something a little different. Something special to share with you today. And so it was that last week I went in search of recipes for Baked Alaska to sample. That’s when I saw this recipe from Taste of Home and knew we had to give it a try.
Author: Rosemarie's Kitchen
I'm a wife, mother, grandmother and avid home cook.I believe in eating healthy whenever possible, while still managing to indulge in life's pleasures.
Slow-Cooker Spicy Orange Marmalade Chicken
We eat a lot of frozen Chinese Dinners in our house. Beef and Broccoli, Orange Chicken, General Tso (a Chinese American dish), the list goes on and on. Why frozen Chinese dinners? For one thing, I can cook up several different types of food all on one sheet pan. I line the pan with foil, building dividers into the foil liners to separate the different sauces. Another reason for the frozen dinner is convenience. We love Chinese food, but there’s a great deal of work involved when cooking from scratch. Still, the frozen route was getting old, and processed foods aren’t exactly on my heart-friendly radar. It was time to do a little Chinese cooking from Scratch cooking.
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Polenta and the Feast of John Bosco
John Bosco was born near Castelnuovo in the archdiocese of Turin, Italy in 1815. He was raised by his mother, Margaret, as his father had died when John was a toddler of only two. Saint John Bosco founded the Salesian Society and dedicated his life to the welfare and education of the youth. He is the patron saint of apprentices; boys; teachers; laborers; schoolchildren; students of all ages and (my personal favorite) juvenile delinquents.
Continue reading “Polenta and the Feast of John Bosco”Wing Stopping Lemon-Pepper Chicken Wings
Every year Hubby, Kiddo and I take the short drive over to a neighboring small town to attend their Chocolate Festival in the town square. There are more craft vendors than chocolate vendors, but still it’s a hoot. Plenty of goodies to sample and gadgets to buy. We love small town festivals and street fairs.
Greek Salad with Kalamáta Olives
Did you know that Kalamáta is not only the olive but a city in the south of Greece? There’s even a 13th Century castle and a Byzantine-era Church. Yeah, I feel like a dumb American. I thought Kalamáta was a type of olive popular in Greek cooking. Hey, give me some credit. At least I know enough to know the difference between Sparkling Wines and Champagne.
In our house, we serve up two salads when making a Greek Salad. The first is your traditional salad, the second is the salad minus the olives and Feta cheese. I’m not sure what you would call that, since the latter clearly lacks all those ingredients that make the salad Greek. I suppose a Greek Salad without Greek Olives and Feta Cheese it would be a Tossed Romaine Salad with a Lemony Olive-Oil dressing. Both Kiddo and I are avid olive eaters. We both love Feta Cheese. Hubby not so much. In certain dishes he will tolerate olives, but there is no way this man would intentionally pop a whole olive in his mouth. This doesn’t mean we don’t have Greek Salads. When I make my salad, I simply pull out some of the salad before adding the olives. Then I dress the salads, the dressing is the same, minus the Feta Cheese. If you have non-olive eaters in your house, it’s an easy solution and a delicious win for all concerned.
Greek Salad with Kalamáta Olives
The Salad
1 head Romaine Lettuce
2 Firm Red Tomatoes
1 English Cucumber
1 small Red Onion
1 cup Kalamáta Olives, pitted
Wash lettuce well. Tear leaves into bite-size pieces. Spin or pat dry. Place lettuce into a large bowl or serving platter.
Cut tomatoes in half, core and seed each half. Cut tomatoes into large pieces. Add tomatoes to the lettuce.
Cut cucumber lengthwise in half. Cut each half in half again to create quarter strips. Cut the strips of cucumber width-wise into 1-inch sticks. Add to the lettuce mixture.
Peel and thinly slice the red onion into rings. Break up the rings and add to the salad bowl.
Cut olives in half, toss into the salad mixture.
Toss salad well to evenly distribute the vegetables throughout the bowl or platter. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
The Dressing
3 tablespoons Olive Oil, extra-virgin best
1 lemon, freshly squeezed
1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano
Kosher Salt to taste
Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Feta Cheese, crumbled
Measure olive oil in a non-reactive container such as a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
Squeeze lemon over the olive oil. Add oregano, a pinch or so of salt and the fresh ground pepper.
Shake jar to emulsify the ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
Set aside until ready to use.
To serve: Shake dressing well, pour over the salad. Toss to coat in the dressing mixture. Crumble feta cheese over the top and serve.
Looking for more salad ideas? Then check out my Ode to the Salad with everything from Arugula to Winter Salad recipes.
Picante-Marmalade Glazed Chicken Wings
I know, enough with the chicken wings already! This is my last wing recipe (for this week) – I promise. I’ve been reading some of my older easy recipe cookbooks and I keep finding delicious recipes I had forgotten about. Besides, you can never have too many chicken wing recipes or too many choices for finger foods, right? These spicy-sweet wings are just a little different but oh so tasty.
Continue reading “Picante-Marmalade Glazed Chicken Wings”Portuguese Grilled Burritos
One Sunday, I made what I consider the perfect Sunday supper, at least when I was growing up, and that’s Buttermilk Pan-Fried Chicken. Of course, you can’t have buttermilk chicken without a big pot of mashed potatoes, plenty of gravy, sweet corn and fluffy biscuits.
As you know, most dinners and it’s just the three of us. While Hubby and Kiddo both have healthy appetites, left overs are to be expected. And so it was with all that delicious chicken. I put the chicken into a gallon zip-lock bag and stuck it in the refrigerator for future use. There it sat, next to two Tupperware containers of left over soups.
Hubby and I had talked about how both the inside and outside refrigerator were beginning to fill with left overs, and that there were only so many lunches to be made. It’s the slow season in the Event business, the lull after the holidays. Kiddo only works a few days a week, so it’s just Hubby turning left overs into hot lunches at the office. While there was a big Chuck Roast in the outside refrigerator just waiting to be transformed into my wonderful Mexican Roast Beef with Chipotle Cream Sauce, such a delicious meal was bound to render more left overs.
It was time to get creative. As I stood in front of the open refrigerator door and stared at all the containers, a thought came to mind. We had plenty of tortillas on hand, always do. Portuguese Liguica Sausage wouldn’t take long to thaw. We had cheese, and sour cream and several cans of fire roasted tomatoes. It wasn’t long before a delicious stuffed tortilla recipe began to form in my mind. Kiddo had the day off. He joined me in the kitchen as we piled ingredients on the counter and bounced ideas back and forth. His input as far as seasonings and extras was of great help. Kiddo’s been working so much, I’ve missed these creative sessions we once enjoyed. One taste and between the two of us, we knew we had a hit on our hands.
Portuguese Grilled Burritos
2 Cups Cooked Chicken Meat
1 teaspoon Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Mexican Chili Powder
1 Link Liguica Sausage, diced
1 Can Ro-Tel Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chilies
2 roasted Jalapeno Peppers
6 Large Flour Tortillas
6 tablespoons Sour Cream
1 cup Mexican Cheese Blend, shredded
Chop chicken into small pieces. Place in a mixing bowl.
Season chopped chicken with Cumin, Cayenne Pepper and Chili Powder. Work seasoning into the meat with your fingers. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
Dice Liguica into small pieces. Set aside.
Heat a dry cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add sausage to the skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, until hot.
Add chopped chicken to the skillet. Stir and let heat through.
Open canned tomatoes, and pour into the skillet with the sausage-chicken mixture. Lower heat and let simmer.
Roast jalapeno peppers in a small cast iron skillet until just beginning to blacken and blister.
Stem peppers, dice and add to sausage-chicken mixture. Include seeds for more heat, discard pepper seeds if looking for a filling that is more to the mild side.
Heat a flat griddle over medium heat. Spray griddle with a little cooking spray.
Heat tortillas, spraying with cooking spray as needed to make tortillas pliable.
Stack warmed tortillas on a plate.
Spread sour cream inside tortilla, one at a time. Pile cheese down the center of the tortilla. Be generous. The cheese is going to add gooie deliciousness to every bite.
Spread several spoonfuls of filling over the top of the cheese. Fold in the ends, then fold/roll tortilla tightly.
Place filled tortilla on the griddle and grill until golden brown and the cheese has melted.
Repeat until all the tortillas have been filled, grilled and ready to serve.
Enjoy with a side of refried beans and a few more roasted jalapenos, if desired.
Easy Grilled Chicken Fajitas with a Side of Seasoned Black Beans
The beauty of using packaged Grilled Fajita meat is obvious – you can enjoy grilled Fajitas no matter the season. Raining outside? No problem. Buried in snow? No problem. So hot, it feels like an oven outside? Again, no problem.
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Rejoice! It’s National Blueberry Pancake Day!
Don’t you just love it when National Whatever Day works with your taste buds? I’d rather have Blueberry Pancakes than Figs and Dates any day. No offense to those who feel otherwise.
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Louisiana Hot Chicken Wings
The Big Game is coming, the Big Game is coming! Sorry about my crazy enthusiasm, but as I’m writing this piece, I’m watching one of my favorite comedies from 1966, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians are Coming!
My Big Game Day Menu
While Hubby watched the two remaining play-off games, I began the rather difficult task of putting together this year’s actual Super Bowl Game Day menu. (Truth be told, I was hoping it would be Kansas City and New Orleans Saints in Atlanta. How easy is that? Barbecue and Cajun dishes with a southern spin! Didn’t happen, but that’s okay, too).
Continue reading “My Big Game Day Menu”Super Bowl Munch Fest 2019
Can you believe it? Next week is Super Bowl 53! Wow, the Super Bowl is middle-aged. Another few years, and the Super Bowl can start collecting Social Security. Think about that for a moment. Let me ask you, have you ever gone to a Super Bowl game?
Continue reading “Super Bowl Munch Fest 2019”Weekends and Buttermilk Blueberry Waffles
Recently, I had a craving for some good, from-scratch waffles. (As Hubby sums up cooking from scratch – always tastes delicious but makes a huge mess. That’s only because he’s the one that cleans up after me.) My craving made for a good excuse to try a recipe from Add-A-Pinch. It’s funny, when I’m working with a new recipe for just about anything, I’ll play around a bit and come up with my own take on things. Pancakes, waffles and all things baked (muffins, cakes . . . you get the idea) I stick to the original recipe the first time around. Guess I don’t trust my own instincts when it comes to baked-goods. Baking is a science all its own. It means being precise rather than a pinch here, a dab there. Cooking can be forgiving. Baking not so much.
The original recipe will make a lot of waffles. I cut her recipe in half for my little band of three, and there was still way more waffle batter than we could eat. Next time I’ll cut the recipe again. The waffles come up so buttery-delicious, you might not want to add more butter. Be sure to cook until dark golden for the waffle to reach a crisp exterior.
Don’t forget to cook up some delicious maple sausage links. (Check out my Perfect Link Sausage Every Time) To round out breakfast, serve with a few pints of fresh orange juice.
Oh, and one more little tip. If you want to keep waffles warm until you’ve cooked up enough for everyone, place a baking rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Place cooked waffles on the rack and hold in a warm oven. The rack will allow the air to circulate around the waffles, preventing them from getting too soft.
Buttermilk Blueberry Waffles
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup blueberries, plus more for garnish
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients – flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
Rinse blueberries and allow them to drain for a few minutes, then toss the blueberries into the flour mixture. Gently fold in the blueberries until nicely mixed and coated.
In another bowl, mix together buttermilk, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mix and stir together just until combined. Make sure everything is moist, no pockets of dry flour remaining.
Warm waffle iron, and cook to your iron’s instructions. Be careful not to over-fill iron, the batter will rise and spread out as it cooks.
Serve immediately with warm syrup and soft butter as desired. These waffles can also be garnished with a few extra blueberries.
Rethinking the Taco Ring for the Big Game
Let me start by saying I am sorry I did not photograph the “process” as I should have for prosperity and this post. My family was waiting for supper, and had a movie on “hold” until I could join them, so I was in a bit of a rush. Besides, I wasn’t entirely certain that what I was attempting to do would come out beautifully or turn into a giant blob in the end. As it turns out, what I had imagined in my head actually translated nicely for the finished bake.
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It’s Friday – Let’s Pan-Fried our Tilapia
Before I share with you today’s Fish Fry, I need to go off on a rant for a moment. I wanted to do a little research into the types of fish Jesus might have eaten. He was Jewish, so the fish was scaled and not skinned, as in no catfish. Tilapia was and still is very common throughout the world. Personally, I like it for its mild flavor and flaky fry. Anyway, as I was floating around the internet I came upon a question posted way back when. It was a woman looking to bake bread for her mother’s church communion. And so begins my rant.
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Welcome to Rosemarie's Kitchen 