Red Chile Caesar Dressing

Based on the Great Caesar Dressing in the book, The El Paso Chile Company's Burning Desires; Salsa, Smoke, and Sizzle, by W. Park Kerr.

Combine in a food processor or blender:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 large egg at room temperature
4 to 6 anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tbl. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbl. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground red chile

Process until smooth.

With the motor still running, add through the feed tube in a quick, steady stream:
1 cup corn oil
1 cup olive oil

The dressing will thicken up nicely. Refrigerate in a covered storage container. Can be prepared up to three days before using.

Roasted Vegetables

Ready to go into the oven

Scrub, peel (if necessary), and slice thinly:

Sweet potatoes
Onions (any kind: red, white, yellow, or green--or a combination)
Sweet red, green, yellow, and/or orange peppers
Carrots

You can also add any kind of root vegetable, like turnips

Place all in a large pyrex dish. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with thyme and fresh ground pepper.

Roast at 400 F. for at least an hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Check to see if vegetables are tender. If they still need more roasting and are getting too brown, cover the pan with aluminum foil. At our altitude (3900 feet) I roast them for a total of an hour and a half.

Whole Grain Waffles

2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups skim milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together wet ingredients; sift together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet, stir well. Bake in waffle iron. Serve with blueberry syrup. Source:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Grain-Waffles/Detail.aspx

Italian Pignoli Amaretti - Pine Nut Cookies

These holiday cookies are a legend in Beez's family. They are expensive to make, so will only be making another appearance at our house next Christmas. 

Thank you, DonnaSue, for this recipe. 

2 (8-ounce) cans almond paste (not marzipan), coarsely crumbled*
1 1/2 cups powdered (confectioners') sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons mild honey
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) pine nuts 

* It is important to use canned almond paste only (the type sold in tubes is too crumbly and will not give the cookies the right consistency).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Either line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat. 

In a food processor, pulse almond paste until broken up into small bits, then add powdered sugar and salt; continue to pulse until finely ground, about 1 minute. Add egg whites and and honey; process until well combined. 

NOTE: Have a bowl of water near to dip your fingers in before rolling each cookie. This will keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. 

Using a rounded teaspoon for each cookie, roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared cooking sheets. Lightly flatten each cookie and press some pine nuts into each cookie to cover. 

Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, approximately 12 to 15 minutes until lightly golden brown and soft and springy. Remove from oven and and transfer to wire racks to cool completely before serving.

The cookies can by prepared up to 3 weeks ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

*****

Here are a couple more notes for you: Auntie Bucksnort and I found that the dough could be mixed in a KitchenAid stand mixer. Use care with whatever machine you use; the dough is heavy and Cousin DonnaSue broke her food processor mixing it, making the cookies even more expensive this year. 

We sprayed the cookie sheets with Pam, rather than using a Silpat, because we had no idea what that even was. Of course, we now know that it is a no-stick silicone baking mat, but we didn't know then. They are expensive, too.

Let the cookies cool just a minute--no longer--before removing them from the pan or they will stick. 

Cranberry Muffins

I was looking around for a way to use up bits of leftover cranberry sauce and orange-cranberry relish and came across this recipe on MomCentral. Since my homemade sauce had lots of orange in it, I let that be a substitute for the lemon zest. The recipe made 12 nice, big muffins--very delicious and grainy, as I used whole wheat flour.

• 2 ½ cups white whole wheat or all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup plain Greek-style yogurt (whole milk or low-fat milk)
• ¼ cup milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• ½ tsp. lemon zest
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray (or line with muffin liners).
2. Measure flour by spooning into a dry measuring cup, level with a straightedge or back of a knife, then pour into a mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
3. In a separate mixing bowl whisk eggs until slightly frothy. Add yogurt, milk and canola oil. Whisk well until smooth. Add lemon zest and brown sugar, mixing well. Add cranberry sauce and stir with a spoon until thoroughly combined.
4. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just moistened. The batter should still be lumpy with a few little spots of dry flour. Do not over mix. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each to the rim.
5. Bake in center of oven 22 minutes, rotating muffin tin once halfway through, until muffins are a lovely golden color on top. Remove tin from oven, transfer muffins to a cooling rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

Southwestern Style Pea Soup

Strange as it may seem to those who dislike it, pea soup has always been my ultimate comfort food. The other day, after several hours spent in the chair at the dentist's office, I wanted something warm and easy to eat, and came up with this soup with a Southwestern kick.

You can use homemade pea soup if you wish. I've always loved plain old Campbell's Green Pea (no ham) soup best. It's your choice.

1 can Campbell's Green Pea Soup
1 soup can of milk
1 cup of fresh salsa

Place ingredients in blender, whir until smooth, thinning with additional milk if necessary. Heat by the cupful in the microwave. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, if you wish.

Makes 4 servings.

Fresh Salsa

I keep a batch of this going all the time now. Sometimes it is served almost like a side dish or vegetable with the meal, although it is also quite delicious on a turkey whole wheat sandwich. When it starts to get low, I just add more tomatoes or avocados, whichever I have on hand.

1/2 cup medium or hot salsa
1/2 sweet white onion, finely chopped
2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
1 large avocado, finely chopped
6 New Mexico-type green chiles (roasted, peeled, seeded), finely chopped
1 tsp. fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Juice of one small Key lime (to taste)

Add all the finely chopped vegetables and the cilantro to the salsa. Add lime juice to taste. Keep covered and refrigerated.

White Trash Fudge

The blogging world is a wonderful one. I have "met" people online through their blogs or their comments on mine, and have come to feel that they are friends even though I have never seen them in person.

I have, however, met Mary and her wonderful husband, Pat, for real, face to face, and they were just like family. We had first chatted online and when they came to our part of New Mexico for a visit, we all got together for a wonderful evening. You would think that strangers might have a problem finding things to talk about, but from the first hug we were friends for life. We cried when they left.

I recently got a package from Mary and Pat, who are now back in Massachusetts getting their house ready to sell so they can move out here and be our forever neighbors. In the package was some fudge, and it was oh, so delicious--addictive, even. There was also a note that was to be read only after the fudge was consumed. Here it is, word for word:

I once read on your blog, Clair, that Velveeta Cheese is only good for mixing with salsa or Rotel tomatoes to make queso.  Now that you have tasted (and hopefully approved) the fudge, I will provide the recipe.


1/2 pound Velveeta Cheese
1/2 pound margarine or butter
2 tsp. vanilla (I used almond extract as we were out of vanilla)


Mix together and melt over low heat or in microwave.


2 lbs. powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa


Mix together sugar and cocoa. Pour melted Velveeta mixture into sugar mixture and stir until thoroughly mixed. Pour into buttered pans and refrigerate until set.

*****

By the way, if you try this recipe and like it, let me know. You can also send along a comment to Mary, a "reluctant" blogger.

Vinegar "Recipes" for Around the House

I like using simple cleaning methods. I've always heard about the many uses of vinegar and have been finding it to be very helpful around the house. I know you can find sites with probably thousands of uses, but wanted to pass on some tried and true methods I've been using and can personally vouch for.

Coffee maker: Our water here in the desert is terrible. It smells when it comes out of the hot water tank or if it stands for very long. It eats faucets and makes them all spotty (see below). Even though I use filtered water to make coffee, I figure it can't hurt to clean out the coffee maker every once in a while. Fill the reservoir with vinegar to the two-cup line, and run the coffee maker through a cycle. Dump out the vinegar (actually, save it for one of the uses below) and run through the cycle twice more with clean water. Wash and rinse the glass pot well.

Windows: Use a solution of half white vinegar and half water. Wipe on with a damp cloth, wipe off with newspapers.

Drains: Our smelly water makes for smelly drains, so this method works to make them fresher smelling. Pour into drain 1/2 cup baking soda, then follow with 1/2 cup white vinegar. Then pour in 1 cup of boiling water. Let sit for 10 minutes, then flush with lots of cold water.

Glassware: Our water makes glassware cloudy. Dip a damp cloth into white vinegar and rub the inside and outside of glasses. Wash and rinse as usual. Much better!

Faucets: Wipe with a damp cloth dipped in vinegar. Spot free!

Pergo-type floors: This is today's exciting discovery. Our kitchen floor was pretty, but all spotted up. No matter how I scrubbed, I couldn't get it to look clean. After a little Internet research, I mixed one cup of white vinegar with four cups of warm water, dipped in the mop, and wrung it out. I wiped down the floor and then skated around on a terry-cloth towel immediately to dry it completely. The results? A glowing floor, and a wonderful time for the pup!

Little Pete works hard

Finished! This pup is hard to get in focus, as he rarely pauses in his chores.