Food Adventures of a Comfort Cook

Saturday, April 30, 2011

I wanna be lazy, but just can't do it.

I want to do it, use those convenience dinner kits in a box, but just can't do it. Did you ever read the ingredient label? I need a degree in science, or Latin, to decipher most of it. Thinking about it, how hard could it really be to make from scratch, what can be produced from a box?

Ok, so I have chicken, now what do I want to do with it? Alfredo? Don't want to be whisking sauce on the stovetop. Spicy? Just not in the mood for that taste. Chili? Already made my Sirloin Beef Chili last weekend, let's not be too boring about it. So I dig around in the fridge and freezer, pull out bags of this or that, lay it out on the counter and plot.

After some sauteing,boiling, mixing and a final baking; you know what? I did much better than any of those boxed meals. Yeah, I knew I could from the get-go, but it's always an ego boost to prove yourself right.

Enjoy!

Two Cheese Chicken Noodle Bake

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1” pieces
1 cup diced red bell pepper
½ cup diced onion
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp each of salt and garlic powder
1 (16 oz) package wide egg noodles
1 (16 oz) package frozen peas
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 (10.5 oz) cans cream of chicken soup
1 ½ cups milk
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 3 qt casserole dish with nonstick spray.

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, heat the olive oil and brown the chicken pieces; halfway through, add bell pepper, onion, black pepper, salt and garlic powder; mix and continue to brown chicken. While chicken is cooking, prepare egg noodles.

In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken mixture, cooked noodles, peas, Parmesan, soup and milk; pour into casserole dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes; uncover, spread cheddar cheese evenly over top and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Mary Cokenour
April 30, 2011

Friday, April 29, 2011

Celebration of the Fairies

Spoutwood Farm Center
4255 Pierceville Rd.
Glen Rock, PA 17327

717-235-6610

Website: http://www.spoutwood.com/fairie-festival/

Today is the beginning of the Fairie Festival in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania; a celebration dating back to ancient times of May Day, or Beltane. It is the rejoicing of the season of Spring, the impending Summer, and of the abundance that is promised to come. Of all cultures who acknowledged this holiday, the Celts of the British Isles are most known for this celebration, and the dancing round the May Pole.

I have attended this celebration for many years, but since moving to Utah, can only enjoy the joyous memories of my time there. If you happen to be in the area, or in one of the surrounding areas such as York or Lancaster PA; don’t miss out on this festival. Costumes and/or wings are not a requirement, but are encouraged....sadly, my celebration outfit sits in storage.

...and here is a recipe fit for a fairy...fairy cakes.

Fairy Cakes
Fairy cakes, as they’re referred to in the United Kingdom, are smaller versions of what Americans call cupcakes. While they are mostly served to children, they can be enjoyed at tea shops, or as part of the daily “tea time” faire. The name, Fairy Cake, refers to the look of the little cake; the top carefully scooped off, cut in half, and placed on top of the icing to simulate the wings of a fairy. The icing itself is typically butter cream which will stay fluffy, and not dry out and harden; food coloring can be added to different batches. Small edible decorations, or sprinkled colored sugar, may or may not adorn the little cakes.

Basic Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 cup self rising flour

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line 2 – 12 cup mini muffin pans with mini baking cups.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add one egg at a time and beat until well incorporated; add vanilla extract and slowly add milk till smooth.

Gradually mix in flour into bowl; scrape sides to incorporate all ingredients well.

Fill each baking cup ¾ full; bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool before frosting.

Makes 24 mini cupcakes.

Buttercream Frosting
This white frosting can be divided into batches and made into different colors using food coloring.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

Preparation:
In a large bowl, medium speed, beat butter till smooth. Add in confectioner’s sugar; reduce speed to low and incorporate well into butter.
Increase speed back to medium, add in salt, vanilla extract and cream; beat for 3 minutes.

If frosting needs a stiffer consistency, gradually add more confectioners’ sugar; if it needs to be thinner, add a tablespoon of heavy cream till desired consistency is achieved.

Makes 2 ½ cups.

To Make the Fairy Cakes
Using a tablespoon, carefully carve out top center of each cupcake; cut in half and set aside.

Fill scooped out center with frosting and finish off entire top of cupcake with frosting. Place cake halves on top, standing upward, and “brush” some frosting upwards from the bottom of the halves. This will give the appearance of “feathered” wings.

Colored sugar or edible decorations can be placed on the frosting.

Mary Cokenour

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Pasta Jay's; now that's Italian!

Pasta Jay's

4 S. Main Street
Moab, UT, 84532

(435) 259-2500

Website: http://www.pastajays.com/

Pasta Jay's is located on the Main street (Rte 191) of Moab, Utah; across from the Slickrock Cafe and if you are looking for great Italian food, then this is the place to go. There is indoor seating, there is also a patio area: heated during cooler weather, and open air during the warmer temperatures. We elected to sit in the patio area, were comfortable, and enjoyed watching the world outside while eating our meal.

Our waiter, Chris, was very friendly, but makes a really mean pot of coffee - I'm still plucking the hairs that had grown on my chest. Otherwise, he made our visit to Pasta Jay's very pleasant. Now Pasta Jay's focuses on one cuisine - Italian, and that's a really good thing. The menu has appetizers, salads, soups, pizza and pasta dishes. There is also a specialty focus each night of the week.

Roy chose the Wednesday night special which was lasagna, and I had cheese tortellone with a side of meatballs (2). The entrees came with a delicious garlic bread, crispy on the outside and edges, soft inside, buttery and garlicky. The entrees come put piping hot, on beautiful ceramic dishes, and the helping is enough for two people to share. The sauces were awesome, and spreading some on the garlic bread was like having a treat. The pasta was baked perfectly, the fillings plentiful, and the meatballs are most certainly homemade; not those rubber ball types you find in the frozen food section of the supermarket. We only ate half of each meal because we wanted to try a dessert; but the leftovers were taken home for enjoyment another day.

Dessert was Turtle Cheesecake; smooth cheesecake, rich caramel and chocolate sauces with a generous serving of whipped cream. Just putting a spoonful in the mouth, letting it melt and slide down the throat - pure ecstasy.

I related to our waiter that next time we visit, dessert might be the main course. Hey, life is short, eat dessert first! But we are looking forward to trying Pasta Jay's out again.

Mary Cokenour

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Gotta love them dogs!!!

Hot Dog Sauces – New York Style

In New York City, one of the most popular places to eat is at the local street corner vendor. A colorful umbrella covered push cart; some with jumbo soft pretzels and knishes, but all with the most popular item – Sabrett hot dogs in steaming water with an assortment of condiments: ketchup, mustard, relish and spicy onions in sauce.

Coney Island, the birth place of the famous Nathan’s hot dogs, has a distinctive sauce of its own. A slow cooked, spicy chili type sauce loaded with ground beef and minced onion.

New Yorkers know this is the best quickie, on the go, meal in town; and all self-respecting guide books recommend it to visiting tourists from around the world. If you haven’t stopped at a push cart and had a hot dog with onion sauce, or gone to Nathan’s in Coney Island, then you haven’t really experienced a big piece of New York City.

Spicy Onion Sauce

Ingredients:
1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced thin and chopped
1 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp corn syrup
2 Tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup white vinegar

Preparation:
In a large sauce pan, heat oil on medium heat; sauté onions till softened, but do not brown.

Dissolve the cornstarch in the water; add to the onions with rest of ingredients, except the vinegar. Mix together and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add vinegar and continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

Makes 1 ½ cups.

Mary Cokenour
March 17, 2008

Coney Island Chili Sauce

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 small onion, minced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup water
1 Tbsp each dry mustard and chili powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp each of celery seed, cumin and ground black pepper

Preparation:
In a large sauce pan, on medium-high heat, brown ground beef; halfway through, add onion and garlic; drain excess oil.

Add all remaining ingredients; mix and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for one hour; stirring occasionally.

Makes 2 ½ cups.

Mary Cokenour
July 8, 2008

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Bring some Thai into your Pad.

Ok, so the title is a bit hokey, but you get the gist of it. After I finished my previous blog post on a local Thai restaurant, I thought, what if folks don't have such a place nearby, how do they experience the food? The best way I could open that door is to give you the simplest recipe: Pad Thai. It's a one pan noodle dish full of flavor, and the person making this dish can decide on what protein, if any, they want in it: seafood, beef, pork or chicken. I'm not fond of tofu, but if that's what you like, you can add that too.

The rice noodle is what makes this dish so light, and distinctive; but if hard pressed to find it, Japanese Udon, or even a flat pasta such as linguine or fettuccine could be substituted, but then it really wouldn't be Pad Thai, and that's what you really want.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) package of rice noodles
2 Tbsp peanut or canola oil
½ small onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups shredded cabbage (use mixture of white and red for color contrast)
1 cup bean sprouts
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp Thai chili sauce
¼ chopped peanuts

Preparation:

Soak noodles in cold water for 30 minutes; drain and set aside.

In a Wok, or large deep skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat; sauté onion and garlic till onion softened; do not let garlic brown or burn. Add eggs and cook until firm; add in rest of ingredients and noodles; mix, breaking up fried eggs and cook for 10 minutes, or until noodles are tender. If desired, mix in 1 pound of precooked protein item; cook additional 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

Mary Cokenour
July 8, 2008

Sing Ha Thai Restaurant

Sing Ha Thai

92 E Center Street
Moab, UT, 84532

(435) 259-0039
Fax: (435) 259-0005

Website: http://singhathai.com/
This link is for the main restaurant located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu; the Moab restaurant is part of the Sing Ha Thai Restaurant Corporation.

Being fond of Thai cuisine, we were looking forward to trying out Sing Ha Thai; several of Roy’s coworkers had eaten there, and said the food tasted good. We were to find out later on that there was more to the story than first told.

To enter the restaurant, you need to walk up a set of stairs, past a couple of offices, and near the back is the entrance to the restaurant itself. The interior is smallish, too many tables, so you cannot help but see what your neighbor is eating, and hear their conversation. However, a friendly greeter will take you to a table, and then you can peruse the menu which is ala carte; there is also a tea menu.

We ordered two appetizers: Spring Rolls, crispy, but with the typical large shreds of cabbage inside we’ve been seeing in Asian restaurants in the Four Corners area. Crab Rangoon, crispy wontons with smooth cream cheese, but tiny flecks of crab, so we were not sure if it was real crab or imitation.

The main entrees were Chicken Pad Thai, not exactly what we were used to; while it tasted good, it had an unusual flavor we couldn’t identify. The Sweet and Sour Shrimp was very good; rice was extra though, and that seemed chintzy on their part, considering the prices charged for the menu items. The portions are not large, so if sharing, consider ordering more than one main entrée.

At first we considered this a place to go back to if we were truly in the mood for Thai; however, we changed our minds several hours later when we both were not feeling very well. When Roy went back to work the next day, his coworkers asked him about his experience with Sing Ha Thai. He told them, including how we both fell ill the same evening. Surprise, surprise; his coworkers said they had experienced the same thing, but didn’t tell him, so he wouldn’t be negatively influenced beforehand. They couldn’t be sure if it was the food or not, but our experience, coupled with their comments, indicates it most likely was. Was it the large amount of shredded cabbage, the unusual taste we couldn’t identify?

So, we will not be visiting Sing Ha Thai restaurant again.

Mary Cokenour

Monday, April 25, 2011

Chilly? Make Chili.

Once again Mother Nature decided to throw a curve ball in the game called Spring. As the temperatures last week were in the 60's, higher in Moab, looked like winter was finally in hibernation. We awoke yesterday morning to find a dark, dreary sky and intermittent showers of rain or hail. It was chilly in the house, so the heat was turned back on; and the crock pot came out of the closet. This was the perfect type of day to make chili and cornbread.

So, while the crock pot cooked up this wonderful concoction called chili; hubby and I cleaned out boxes of clothing. We downsized from 10 large Rubbermaid boxes to only 5, and wished we had done this before our big move from PA to Utah. He loaded bags of used clothing into his car, and it will be going to the local charity shop in Moab before he goes to work.

Several hours later, the batter for red chili cornbread was in the oven; timed just right to be ready at the same time as the chili. The cornbread recipe is located on my March 22, 2011 blog post, and all I did was add 1/4 cup of diced red chile peppers.

...and here is my recipe for chili.

Sirloin Beef Chili

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless beef sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 Tbsp flour

1 large onion, diced

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles plus one (10 oz) can.

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 ½ Tbsp ground cumin

2 Tbsp chili powder

½ tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation:

Set 6-qt crock pot on low, place in beef, flour and onion; mix thoroughly and let cook for 2 hours before adding rest of ingredients. Continue cooking on low for 4 hours more. Serve as is, or garnish with sour cream and/or shredded cheese.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Note: the type of, and amount of, beans used is flexible; 2-5 types can be used, as desired.

Mary Cokenour

October 13, 1991

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