Pineapple Marinade

Submitted by Casey Van Camp via Derrick Riches on www.about.com

This sweet, fruity marinade works great on any cut of pork or chicken or steak.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup honey (Casey says to double the honey)
  
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered cloves

Preparation:

• Mix all ingredients together and use immediately (only good for up to 7 days).
• Soak the meat in the marinade for at least 20 min. prior to cooking
  

Notes: This is so yummy! For best results, use a grill. Avoid hamburgers because the marinade will make the meat fall apart from too much awesomeness. True story.

Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas

Submitted by Marcia Brisson via McCormick
This recipe is not on their website. I even called about it! I have copied it down lovingly for you :0)



http://www.mccormick.com/Products/Herbs-and-Spices/Recipe%20Inspirations/Garlic-Lime-Fajitas.aspx

Ingredients:
1 tsp. Minced Garlic (dry)
1 tsp. Minced Onions (dry)
¾ tsp. Ground Cumin
¾ tsp. Oregano Leaves (dry)
½ tsp. Cilantro Leaves (dry)
½ tsp. Coarse Ground Black Pepper
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup orange juice
2 tbl olive oil
1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 medium green or red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
8 flour tortillas (8-inch)

Directions:
1. Mix juices, oil, and all spices & salt into a small bowl
2. Reserve 1/4 of marinade
3. Place chicken into a large resealable bag or dish and add the 3/4 of the marinade. Make sure pieces are well coated
4. Refrigerate 30 minutes or longer for extra flavor
5. Cook and stir chicken in a large heated skillet on medium-high heat until lightly browned
6. Remove from skillet
7. Add bell pepper and onions with the reserve 1/4 marinade
8. Stir about 5 minutes or until tender
9. Return chicken to skillet
10. Cook 2 to 3 minutes until all is well heated and well mixed with the marinade
11. Serve in warm tortillas and enjoy!

Notes: I love peppers so I added probably double what was called for and sprinkled in extra spices. Also, it is really good if you have some shredded cheese, sour cream, rice, beans, cut limes etc. for sides

Cranberry and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe

Submitted by Marcia Brisson via Elana's Pantry
http://www.elanaspantry.com/acorn-squash-with-cranberry-apple-stuffing/



Serves 4 Portions Cranberry Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients:
•2 acorn squash
•boiling water, or apple juice
•2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
•1/2 cup dried cranberries
•1 teaspoon cinnamon
•2 tablespoons melted butter or oil
•salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, optional

Preparation:
Cut squash in half and with a spoon, remove pulp and seeds. In a large baking dish place squash cut-side down. Pour 1/4-inch boiling water into dish (or use 1/4 inch room temperature apple juice for extra sweetness). Place dish in oven and bake squash for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine apples, cranberries, cinnamon, butter, salt, and fresh ground black pepper to taste to make stuffing. Remove squash from the oven after the 30 minutes. Turn halves over and stuff center of each squash half with apple mixture. Return to oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or longer) until squash and apples are tender

Slow Cooked Apple Butter

Submitted by Marcia Brisson
This is from a recipe book I received at church but no author is cited.

Ingredients:
5 to 6 large cooking apples (7 cups) chopped
1 cup apple juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Directions:
1. Core, peel, and chop apples
2. Combine with sugar and juice in crock pot
3. Cover and cook either on low for 6-8 hrs or on high for 2-3 hrs (both work great)
4. Remove mixture from crock pot and blend on high until smooth (try to use a blender because otherwise it will splatter all over)
5. Return apples to crock pot and add spices
6. Cook on low for 1/2 to 1 hr until mixture reaches desired consistency (I like mine really thick)
7. Taste it and if you want to add more spices go right ahead :0)

Notes: I have used all kinds of apples from tart to sweet and they all turn out really well.

Hawaiian Haystacks!

Hawaiian Haystacks
Serves...6 people?

Recipe by Linda Peterson

Just to be fair, I will say I looked at melskitchencafe.com to get a basic idea. But then I did what I wanted to do!

Ingredients

Chickeny Saucy Goodness:
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
4 heaping tbls brown sugar
1 1/2-2 lb chicken (3-4 chicken breasts), chopped in big cubes or shredded
1/4 cup freshly chopped onion OR 1 1/2 tbls dried chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp Chinese five spice*
crushed red pepper
5 tbl soy sauce (more if desired)**
1 1/2 tsp Worstchershierisreisire sauce (i have no idea how to spell it...)
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 tbls sour cream

Other Possible Haystack components
Rice (required)
chow mein noodles
pineapple
mandarin oranges
coconut
chopped bell peppers
green onions
celery
shredded carrots

*Chinese five spice is made up of cinnamon, anise, fennel, ginger, and clove (in that order of quantity). If you don't have it in your cupboard but you have some of the constituent spices, just shake in some of those in whatever seems like a good ratio to you!

**You may especially want to dash in more soy sauce if the pan seems dry or the mixture seems too clumpy as you're adding the flour. You can probably add up to a 1/4-1/3 cup and it would be great!

Directions:

1) In a large pan (I used a 14-inch roasting pan with deep sides), put the butter, brown sugar, chicken, onion, garlic, five spice, soy sauce, and worsterchireshrires sauce. Shake as much crushed red pepper as desired across the surface (1 to 1 1/2 tsp is a pretty safe amount, more if you want a kick).
2) Cook over medium heat until chicken is done
3) Gradually shake in flour, stirring thoroughly so it gets incorporated well. It will start to clump up a little bit around the chicken. (Add more soy sauce if desired)
4) Gradually pour in milk, stirring thoroughly to incorporate the flour/sauce mixture. Sauce should thicken a bit as mixed and heated.
5) Stir and heat till mixture starts to bubble a bit (NOT a full boil). Continue to stir and heat for about 40 seconds.
6) Add sour cream. Stir and heat till steamy--it's ready to eat!
7) Hawaiian Haystacks are a self-assembled meal. You put out the chicken mixture, the rice, and any desired stackers (mandarin oranges, peppers, etc) and people put whatever they want in their stack! Yum!

Storming of Normandy

Once upon a time...Linda and Marcia decided to pay homage to those great heroes at Omaha Beach.



Here are some closer shots:

c

The finished product!


Very surprised Dad & Keith :0)


And...we won 1st Prize!

Dead Bunny Cake

Submitted by Momma Crumb & Marcia Brisson

**This is basically a yellow cake mix with shredded bunny. I will get more specific directions later but I really wanted to add these photos :0)

First...save your chocolate Easter Bunnies or buy them when they go on sale! We keep them in the freezer so we can use them all year long. Chocolate is very expensive so this is a great way to save money!



Next...cut that yummy bunny up, shred it, chop it, however you want!


Then...make a yellow cake and sprinkle the chocolate on top. If the cake is warm it will melt pretty easy but you could put it back in the oven for a few minutes just to be sure.


Then...serve it up when cooled. I mean, look how delicious that is!



To add insult to injury, I even ate it on a bunny shaped plate. Mwa ha ha!


Viola! Try that on for size Bunnicula!

Bison Chili

Submitted by Casey Van Camp & Marcia Brisson

Ingredients:
Kidney Beans Dark
Kidney Beans Light or Red
Mushrooms any type your choice, I recommend portabella
2 Bell peppers
3 Banana Peppers
2 Hot Peppers, depends on how hot you want the chili to be
1 Vidallia Onion
Black Olives sliced
Salt and Pepper
Oregano
Basil
Olive Oil, Flavored if wanted
Chili Mix Powder
Meat

Directions:
Cook all the veggies in the olive oil when done mix with the beans in a large pot
Cook the meat then mix in with the veggies and beans in a large pot
Pour in the chili mix and other seasoning
Stir all together and let simmer for about an hour

Notes: Casey and Marcia are making this tomorrow and I will tweak the recipe as needed :0)

Nectarine Cobbler

Adapted from joythebaker.com
Submitted by Linda Brisson Peterson

Yield: makes 8-10 modest servings--good for a small gathering

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of cloves
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups sliced ripe nectarines, skins left on (about 3 nectarines)
1/3 cup brown sugar
black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a medium fry pan, melt and brown the stick of butter till nut brown (a little lighter than when browning butter for Milk Toast, Brissons). Don't let the butter burn.

3. Pour butter into 8 or 9 in square baking pan. This recipe will not fit in a pie dish.

4. In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder, and spices. Add milk and vanilla and stir it up!

5. Evenly pour the batter mixture over the butter in the baking pan. DO NOT MIX OR STIR. Ribboning the mixture over the butter works well.

6. Gently and evenly arrange the nectarine slices on top of the batter and butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar, then lightly dash black pepper over top of it all.

7. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown. The batter will magically migrate on top of the nectarines

8. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, and serve warm with something ice cream or whipped cream.

Delish!

Chewy Fudge Brownies

Submitted by Marcia Brisson from Kate Moses http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/dining/26feedrex.html?ref=dining

Time: 1 hour, plus several hours’ resting

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks), plus more for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups walnut halves (optional)
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour.

Directions: 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13-by-9-inch glass baking pan. If using walnuts, spread on a baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool.

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat, add chocolate, and cover pan until chocolate is melted, about 10 minutes. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, salt, sugar and vanilla just until thick, creamy and beginning to lighten in color.

3. Whisk the butter and chocolate until smooth, then mix into the sugar-egg mixture just until well combined. Using a spatula, fold in the flour, using as few strokes as possible, until it disappears. Fold in the walnuts, if using. Spread the batter evenly in the baking pan.

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, checking after 22 minutes to avoid over-baking. When the tip of a knife inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs, but not liquid, remove brownies from the oven. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and leave in the pan for several hours or overnight before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container.
Yield: 24 brownies.
**Note from Marcia - These brownies are really rich so cut them smaller than a normal brownie portion. Get the milk ready!

Puss ‘n Chunks

Submitted by Marcia Brisson from Jayne Carlton

Brown in a Large Pot:
1 lb. Link Sausage, cut into 1” pieces, remove from pot
Sauté in the drippings until barely soft:
1 onion, chopped
1 ½ cups celery, sliced
½ lb. Mushrooms, sliced

Add:
2 med. Potatoes (already cooked and cut into pieces),
or 1 can potatoes, cut into ½” pieces
2 cans Cream of Celery Soup (Marcia does Cream of Mushroom)
Heat through, but do not boil

Add:
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (or can be served on the side)
Thin with milk as needed


**The great thing about this recipe is that you can use whatever vegetables you have...but the sausage is the most important part!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Banana Flavored!

Submitted by Marcia Brisson from Jenny Medlock

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 package instant banana pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon banana extract (the recipe calls for vanilla but I like to give it extra banana kick!)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together the flour and baking soda; set aside.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture gradually. Stir in chocolate chips.
3, Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Note: These are so so delicious!

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Dublin Coddle

Submitted by Marcia Brisson from Jared Gillins
From Restaurant Eve chef Cathal Armstrong

Ingredients:
8 ounces bacon (preferably Canadian or Irish bacon, aka back bacon)
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound sausages, preferably Irish breakfast variety
6 medium potatoes
2 medium onions
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Salt
White pepper

Directions:
Cut the bacon into one-inch squares. Bring the stock and heavy cream to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add sausages, then bacon, replace the lid, and simmer for about five minutes. Remove sausages and bacon, reserving the liquid. Cut each sausage into four or five pieces and remove the casings. Peel the potatoes and cut onions and potatoes into thick slices.
Assemble a layer of potatoes in a Dutch oven or flameproof casserole, followed by a layer of onions and then half of the sausages and bacon. Sprinkle the layer with some salt and white pepper, then repeat the process once more and finish off with a layer of potatoes. Pour the chicken stock and heavy cream over.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for about an hour. Salt and pepper to taste and serve warm in a casserole dish topped with chopped parsley.

Irish Stew

Submitted by Marcia Brisson from Jared Gillins
From The Irish Heritage Cookbook, ed. Margaret M. Johnson

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds boneless stewing lamb, cut into chunks and trimmed
2 to 3 onions, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 small turnip, peeled and sliced (optional) [I did not include this in our stew]
2 to 3 large baking potatoes, thickly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
1 1/2 cups water, homemade lamb stock, or canned low-salt beef or vegetable stock

Directions:
In a large Dutch oven or flameproof casserole over medium heat, heat the oil. Cook the lamb in batches on all sides until all the meat is browned. In the same pan, alternate layers of meat, onions, carrots, and potatoes, ending with potatoes. (If using turnip, add it with the carrots.) Sprinkle each layer with salt, pepper, thyme, and some of the parsley. Add the water, stock, or broth and cover tightly with a lid. Cook until the meat is tender 2 to 2 1/2 hours. (Alternatively, bake the stew in a preheated 300 degree Fahrenheit oven for the same amount of time.)

Check the pan occasionally and add more water or stock, if necessary, to make sure you have a thick gravy. Before serving, brown the potatoes under the broiler for a few minutes and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

Mills Inn Brown Soda Bread

Submitted by Marcia Brisson from Jared Gillins
From The Irish Heritage Cookbook, ed. Margaret M. Johnson

Ingredients:
2 cups coarse whole-wheat flour or 1 cup each wheat bran and old-fashioned oatmeal [I did the whole-wheat flour option]
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cold butter
2 cups buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, stir the flours or wheat bran and oatmeal, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and sugar together. With a pastry cutter, 2 knives, or your fingers, cut or work the butter into the dry ingredients to the texture of coarse crumbs [you can also do this pulsing in a large food processor]. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk. With a wooden spoon, mix until a soft dough is formed.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead lightly, just enough to form a large ball. Flatten slightly. With a sharp knife, make a cross on the top. Place the dough in the prepared pan and bake until the bread is lightly browned and sounds hollow when tapped, 35 to 40 minutes.

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Submitted by Courtney Mangum via Marcia Brisson
From Katherine Reed, Hypnobirthing Instructor Extraordinaire

Ingredients
1 package German chocolate cake mix
1 small (3.9 oz) package Jell-O INSTANT chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
2 cups chocolate chips
½ cup hot water

Directions
Combine all ingredients up through sour cream, adding hot water just as all the ingredients are coming together. Once thoroughly mixed, add chocolate chips. Pour into a well-greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure it’s completely done, and don’t overbake. Remove promptly from pan and let cool on a cooling rack. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

**Note from Marcia
It is best served warm the next day, the first day I could taste the powder from the pudding mix. I drizzled chocolate frosting on it but it was way too rich. I think it would be better with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.