Pineapple Curry

I see that some die-hard out there has been looking at this blog and maybe hoping for a new recipe.  So here's a good one:

PINEAPPLE CURRY

1 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. red curry paste
3/4 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut in about 1/4-inch slices
1/2 small onion, peeled and sliced from "pole to pole" [that's how cooking people say it; slice from root-end to top—or the other way around :-)]
1 small red bell pepper, sliced
1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk
1/2 - 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
2 Tbsp. pineapple juice
1 1/2 Tbsp. flour
salt to taste
1/2 can (a 20 oz. can) pineapple chunks, drained [use this juice for your 2 Tbsp.—above]
kaffir lime leaves, shredded [I've not found any of these yet, but the recipe is good without them]
fresh basil leaves (optional)

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok.
2. Saute the curry paste until foamy.
3. Add the chicken and brown in the curry paste.
4. Stir in the onions and peppers and saute for 2 minutes.
5. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar and bamboo shoots; cook until the vegetables are tender-crisp.
6. In a small bowl, mix the pineapple juice and flour together to make a thin paste.  Add to the pan and stir to thicken the sauce.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Stir in the pineapple and lime leaves and/or basil leaves.  Cook until pineapple is heated through.
9. Serve hot over rice. [I like Jasmine rice.]

This would look really cool served in pineapple boats! (Which would be awesome for a dinner date, but would make a HUGE meal for each person.)

• Slice a pineapple in half lengthwise, splitting the leaves as well so there are some attached to each half. 
• Scoop out the pineapple with a sturdy spoon leaving a 1/2-inch shell. 
• Set the pineapple aside to use another time (freezing it for pineapple smoothies come to mind).
• Place the pineapple shells hollow-side-down to drain while the rice and curry are cooking.
• When the food is all cooked, place each pineapple shell on a plate (hollow-side-up this time!). 
• Scoop some rice into each shell, then top with the pineapple curry.
• Garnish the plate with edible flowers or those little paper umbrellas or something.

Nice!

  

Apple-Snickers Salad Again

I've actually posted this recipe on my blog before.  You can see it here.

But at Camp Steiner, along with an abundance of bananas, we were sent an abundance of apples.  So I had to make Apple-Snickers Salad.  The difference is that at Steiner I had to make it for about fifty people.  I really think the recipe for fifty is better than the small recipe, but I'm not going to the trouble of reducing the recipe by five. If you want to divide each ingredient by five and make it smaller, more power to you. ;-)

APPLE-SNICKERS SALAD

(serves about 50)

25 of your favorite apples, cored and diced
28 regular-sized Snickers candy bars, sliced about 1/2-inch thick
3 cups milk
2 pkg. (3 oz. each) white-chocolate flavored instant pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip (I like the extra creamy kind)

1.  Toss diced apples and sliced Snickers together in a huge bowl.
2.  In a smaller bowl, mix the pudding and milk together.
3.  Pour the pudding mixture and Cool Whip into the huge bowl with the apples and candy.
4.  Mix well to coat everything with the yummy sauce stuff.
5.  Refrigerate until ready to serve—but not longer than an hour or two.


Oh, all right! Try this to serve 6 to 10:

5 apples, cored and diced
5-6 regular-sized Snickers bars, sliced
about 2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 oz. instant white-chocolate pudding (You'll need a food scale for this one! Or you could measure how many tablespoons of pudding mix are in a box, divide that by 2.5 and put that measurement in. Good luck.)
1/2 cup Cool Whip

See if that works. :-)

Loralee's Banana Cream Goodness

While we were at Camp Steiner we were plagued with an abundance of bananas—about two to three cases of them every week. I'm not sure why commissary thought 50 people could, or would, eat 150 bananas a week, but it was driving me crazy.  And then they brought us so much milk one day that I didn't have room for it in my miniscule refrigerators.  I was very irritated.

In my cranky state, and having just had a scoutmaster give me a couple dozen real eggs, I came up with an idea, and here it is (whittled down to normal porportions, rather than the 50-person dessert I made at camp):

LORALEE'S BANANA CREAM GOODNESS

one small pie tin (about 8 inches)

CRUST:
Lorna Doone cookies (I have no idea how many you'll need—enough to crush and line a small pie tin)
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter

FILLING:
3/4 cup sugar
3-4 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. rum extract

sliced bananas (I have no idea how many—I'd guess two or three would do for one pie)

whipped cream

CRUST:
1.  Crush the Lorna Doone cookies and put them in the pie tin.
2.  Add the 2 Tbsp. sugar and 3 Tbsp. melted butter to the crushed cookies and mix them together.
3.  Press the cookie mixture onto the bottom of the pan and up the sides.
4.  Bake it at 350 for about 10 minutes.
5.  Remove from oven and let it cool.

FILLING:
1.  Mix the sugar and cornstarch together in a medium saucepan.
2.  Add the milk and egg yolks; whisk to blend.
3.  Cook over medium heat, whisking until thick and bubbly.  Cook another two minutes or so.
4.  Remove from heat and blend in the butter, vanilla, and rum extracts.
5.  Place plastic wrap (actually, I use a grocery bag) directly on top of the pudding and let cool to room temperature.
6.  Spread half of the pudding over the crust in the pie tin.
7.  Top with the bananas.
8.  Spread remaining pudding over the bananas.
9.  Place plastic directly on top of the pie and refrigerate until ready to serve—at least an hour.
10.  Top with whipped cream and eat it up!  Yum!

Apple-Snickers Salad

Hi Tami! I believe you are the only die-hard who still reads my cookbook blog—a belief that stems from Melanie telling me that you do read it regularly. So, this recipe is for you, and it is to die for!

We had this the other night at our Cub Scout Blue-and-Gold Banquet. From a distance I thought it was potato salad; then, as I got closer to it I thought it looked more like apples. But what were the darker colored chunks? Ham? Bacon? Maybe grapes?
I was standing in the line, and had just determined to try it out, when the chef of this salad said, "It's really good. I know, it sounds weird, but it is so good." And so I found out that it was, indeed, apples, and the darker bits were chunks of Snickers bars. She didn't have to convince me that it would be good. It sounded excellent!

Just imagine getting one of those great-big, gourmet candy-apples—the ones that are double-dipped in caramel, and then coated in chocolate, and then possibly more chocolate, and then dipped in nuts. Well, take one of those, slice it up, and then dip it in dunk it into a sweet, creamy dip before taking a bite. Heavenly!

Now, I don't know if you can rightfully call this "salad" since it has candy-bars in it. But Michelle Moon, who gave me the recipe, says it is healthy because there's apples in it. So you can decide for yourself. Here is the recipe:

APPLE-SNICKERS SALAD

1 large pkg. instant vanilla pudding

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 tub Cool Whip
8 regular-sized Snickers bars
6 medium-size tart apples [I think Granny Smiths are too tart. Try Jonathons, or Pink Ladies.]

In a large bowl, mix together the pudding, milk and Cool Whip.
Cut the Snickers bars into bite-size pieces. [You could use the bite-size bars, but I think the regular ones are better because you get more caramel and a tiny bit less chocolate.]
Add the Snickers to the pudding stuff; mix in.

Core and cut the apples into bite-size pieces. (Peeling them is optional.)

Hurry and mix the apples in with the rest of the stuff before they turn brown!
If it seems too thick, mix in about 1/4 cup more milk.
Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Enjoy it with other people. It's not that healthy!

Oven-Baked, Blueberry-Stuffed French Toast

This is a traditional Christmas breakfast dish in our house. It's great for Christmas because you prepare it the night before, and then in the morning you toss it into the oven and by the time you're through opening your gifts your breakfast is cooked. And it is sooooo yummy! I should really make it for other occasions than Christmas. Like tomorrow. Mmmm.


Oven-Baked, Blueberry-Stuffed French Toast

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
a drizzle of maple syrup, about 1 Tbsp.
12 oz. white bread cut into cubes (about 3/4 of a loaf)
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. nutmeg
2 1/2 cups milk
3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
cinnamon
additional nutmeg
1-2 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into about 1/4-inch cubes

Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar and maple syrup until well-blended.
Put half of the bread cubes into the baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Dollop the cream cheese mixture over the bread in the baking dish.
Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the top of the bread and cream cheese.
Put the remaining bread cubes into the baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg; then press it all down a little.
In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, 1 tsp. nutmeg and milk. Blend well.
Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread. Press it all down again, if necessary, to make sure all the bread cubes are moistened.
Scatter the little butter cubes over the top of it all.
Spray a piece of foil with cooking spray and then cover the baking dish with the foil. (Cooking-spray side down, right?)
Put it in the refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, put the French toast into a cold oven.
Turn heat to 350 and bake for about 1 1/2 hours—until it's not soggy anywhere.
Remove from oven and serve it warm.
It's really delicious as is, but I suppose you could top it with blueberry syrup. Or whipped cream on top would be yummy.

Merry Christmas!

Accidental Applesauce

Every year, for Thanksgiving, I bake an apple pie. For Jason. He loves apple pie and since I am a nice mom, I make it for him once a year, on Thanksgiving.

Well this year I blew it. I overcooked the apples (enough for two pies!) and had to make them into applesauce. It turned out to be the best applesauce I've ever had! Really! And I already liked applesauce.

And, yes, I did buy more apples and I still made apple pie. And it was delicious.



ACCIDENTAL APPLESAUCE

I don't really like Granny Smith apples, which are traditionally used in apple pies (I'm sure this is because they are too sour to just eat them). So I use several different kinds of apples in my pies—these are the ones I chose this year:

8 honeycrisp apples
4 Granny Smith apples
4 Jonagold apples
4 Braeburn apples

You also need:

2 Tbsp. lemon juice
about 1 cup water
sugar, to taste (I probably used 3/4 to 1 cup)

Peel, core and slice all the apples. This takes forever!
Put them into a great, big pot and toss with the lemon juice.
Add the water.
Cover the pot and put it on the stove, over low heat.
Go to your sister's house (or a friend's house) and forget all about the apples for about an hour. When the lightbulb goes on, call your kids and shriek into the phone, "Turn off the stove! Yes, the burner where the apples are."
Hurry home; check out the apples. Are they too mushy to use in a pie? Good.
Use your magic wand to blend it all into applesauce.
Stir in sugar, to taste.
Put the applesauce into smaller containers and refrigerate.
Eat it before it grows mold (within a week or so).

Makes about 3 quarts of really delicious applesauce!

Pineapple, Cucumber and Mint Salad

I tried this new recipe just last night. On the first reading, I thought it sounded pretty good so I put it on this weeks' menu. When I looked at it again (yesterday afternoon--just before dinner time) I thought it sounded a little weird, although it might be good. But I was committed--I'd already bought all the ingredients--so I made it.
And . . .

Yummy! It is unusual, but very good. :-)

PINEAPPLE, CUCUMBER AND MINT SALAD

1 cup fresh pineapple, coarsely chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. fish sauce (I used oyster sauce)
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar

Toss all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Raspberry Trifle

OK. You could probably make this with a cake mix and instant pudding. But that’s just not as cool.

So this recipe actually involves a series of recipes (see below). And you really could use any kind of fruit—I think pineapple would be great, or strawberries, or blueberries, bananas, blackberries . . . But the raspberries were really delicious, and they made it look very pretty, too.

RASPBERRY TRIFLE

1 recipe Sour Cream-Vanilla Pudding
1 recipe Raspberry Puree
1 recipe Sponge Sheet Cake
3 cups fresh raspberries
lightly sweetened, freshly whipped cream

To assemble the trifle: Cut cake into approximately 2-inch squares. Cover bottom of trifle bowl with cake pieces. Tuck 2-3 fresh raspberries between outer cake squares; scatter some more berries over center (use about 1 cup berries). Spread 1/3 of raspberry puree over center. Cover all with 1/3 of Sour Cream-Vanilla Pudding. Repeat two more times. Before serving, top with whipped cream.


SOUR CREAM-VANILLA PUDDING

5½ Tbsp. cornstarch
1⅛ cup sugar
⅛ tsp. salt
6-7 large egg yolks
4¼ cups whole milk
vanilla, to taste (1-2 tsp.)
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter (1 stick)
1½ cups sour cream

Mix cornstarch, sugar and salt together in a medium saucepan. Whisk in egg yolks and in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. [Do not let it boil.] Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter; stir until butter is melted and completely incorporated. Cover closely with plastic, and let cool to room temperature. Mix in sour cream. Refrigerate, closely covered, until ready to use.



SPONGE SHEET CAKE

6 large eggs, separated and brought to room temperature
½ tsp. cream of tartar
½ tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
½ cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract (optional; but if you don’t use it, increase the vanilla to 1 tsp.)
2 Tbsp. hot water
1 cup cake flour

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a jelly-roll pan; line pan bottom with waxed paper, allowing 1-inch overhang on each end. Do not grease paper.
In a large bowl, whip egg whites at medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt, increase mixer speed to medium-high, and beat to soft peaks. Slowly sprinkle on 3 Tbsp. sugar; continue to beat until whites are shiny and thick, 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix egg yolks, vanilla and hot water; beat at high speed 1 minute. Slowly add ½ cup sugar; beat until mixture is pale, shiny and almost as thick as marshmallow cream—4-5 minutes longer.
Scrape yolk mixture over egg whites; gently fold with rubber spatula until about 2/3 mixed. Sift flour over egg mixture; gently fold until flour is completely incorporated. Spread batter in prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula. Bake until lightly browned and center springs back when gently pressed, about 12-15 minutes.
Immediately after baking, free the cake edges from the pan sides with a knife and smooth a sheet of waxed paper over the cake top. Place another sheet pan or cookie sheet on top of the cake. Flip over as shown, then lift off the baking pan. Let the cake cool completely, then gently peel the waxed paper off the cake bottom, removing the bottom crust. Flip the cake top side up, then peel off the second sheet of waxed paper, removing the top crust. (Can be wrapped in plastic, then in foil and refrigerated for 1 day).

RASPBERRY PUREE
Sounds kind of like “Raspberry Beret.” But I don’t really know that song.

2 cups frozen raspberries, thawed
3-4 Tbsp. sugar

Puree berries and sugar in blender or food processor. Strain through fine sieve, pressing on solids to release juice; discard seeds. (Can be covered and refrigerated 1 day.)

Now that all the ingredients are made, you can assemble the trifle, as described at the very beginning of this post. :-)

Quick & Easy Fruit Smoothies

This tasty treat is actually pretty healthy, and relatively low-fat. And did I mention it's very tasty? Can't beat that!
I don't actually measure the stuff I put into these, so this is an approximation:

QUICK & EASY FRUIT SMOOTHIES
Makes enough for 2

Freeze some milk in an ice tray
---about 6-8 milk-cubes
3/4 to 1 cup frozen fruit (or 1 large banana, sliced and frozen---peel it first!)
1-2 Tbsp. sugar
vanilla (optional) to taste
additional, non-frozen milk

Put frozen milk cubes, frozen fruit, sugar, vanilla and a little non-frozen milk into the blender. (How much milk? A dribble. The kind of dribble your four-year-old makes when she's pouring her own cup of milk.) Blend until smooth. If it's too thick, add a little more of that non-frozen milk.
Cool, easy and delicious---healthy too!