I was Featured at our KrAzY kitchen #6

This month's winners:

Let's Dish ~ Home Made Ding Dongs

Frugal Creativity ~ Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

Cook with Sara ~ Springtime Shells

Secrets of a Southern Kitchen ~ Coconut Macaroons

The Greatest Brownies EVER - Save Room for Dessert

Hello, everyone! Welcome to yet another trip to the land where all things are sweet...Save Room for Dessert!

Today I bring you a brownie recipe that fulfills what are, for me, the two most important rules for brownies:

1) Easy to make
2) Fudgy as all get-out

Yep, these brownies fit the bill and then some. 

The recipe is a snap!

You'll need:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Microwave the butter in a large bowl and add the sugar, stirring well to combine.

Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.  Once all the eggs are added, stir in the vanilla.

In another bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.  Then add the dry ingredients to the wet.

Time to break out the old elbow grease, my friends.  Unless you're smarter than me and you use your stand mixer, if you have one.  I didn't use mine.  And as we all know, brownie batter is thick!!

Finally, time for the best part:

Mmmmm...a cup of semisweet chocolate chips.

Just use them.  It's your duty.  You'll thank me later.

All of this gets spread around your pan...

And gets baked for 35-40 minutes.  I lean towards 35 because I love the fudginess - but it's up to you!

Either way you'll end up with gooey, yummy, decadent, fragrant and all-around wonderful brownies.  They're pretty much to die for.  I'm serious.

Try them yourself!

BALSAMIC BERRY SAUCE

It's shortcake season and I thought I would change it up a bit with this awesome BALSAMIC BERRY SAUCE.  I hope you like it.

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup fresh blackberries, pureed large
8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained slightly
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the berries, pineapple, sugar, and balsamic vinegar.
• Cook until the strawberries are heated through and darkened to a deep purple.
• Spoon berries over shortcake or ice cream and serve.

Simple Saturday - Tabbouleh

Hello foodie friends! Martha here bringing you a simple Mediterranean salad this week. Have you ever had Tabbouleh Salad? It's definitely a must try and it's very easy to make. It's a perfect light, cool, flavorful salad in the warm summer months.

Just combine about 2 cups diced tomatoes, 2 cups seeded and diced cucumber, 1 cup chopped parsley, 1/2 cup cooked bulgar wheat, (chopped onion is common in this salad but optional). Squeeze the juice of 1-2 lemons over veggies, add salt and pepper to taste. Mix all ingredients together, cover and refrigerate for several hours.

This is a great salad to serve with falafel or wonderful served with hummus and pita for a nice light meal. I always feel healthy and refreshed after eating this, it's one of my favorites. Give it a try!

Don't forget to visit me at my food blog Seaside Simplicity and every Monday at The Motivation Station.

Have a great weekend, and please don't forget to observe the real meaning of Memorial Day this weekend!

FDF - Grilled Fajita Chicken Stuffed Burritos

It's Fire Day Friday on Memorial Day Weekend so I hope everybody is breaking out their grills!
Want to do something easy but different on your grill? Try taking your favorite burrito recipe and finish it on the grill. It's way better than Taco Bell's grilled stuffed burritos, I can promise you that. It's also flexible because you can put whatever you want in yours.

The one I made last night was simply some grilled fajita chicken, rice, onions, cheese, and smashed kidney beans. Here's the easy fajita chicken recipe if you want to try it. I only used two of the breasts for a total of 5 burritos.

Grilled Fajita Chicken
Serves 4

4 ea chicken breasts, boneless, skin on
1 cup beer
1 cup Herdez Salsa Casera (you can substitute Rotel)
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cumin

Mix all of the ingredients (except chicken) for your marinade.

Marinate the chicken in a gallon zip bag for 4 - 6 hours.

Grill over a 350f fire, flipping every 5 minutes until the breast hit an internal temp of 160f. For me, this takes right at 20 minutes.

Slice and serve.

Like I said, use whatever fillings you want for your burrito. But for me, I do like to mix all of my ingredients up together and then put them in my burrito. You can build it in layers if you like, but I don't like when I bite into one part of a burrito and get just beans and then bite another part and get just cheese. That's just a personal preference.

To roll the burrito...

Fold 1 down.
Fold 2 up.
Lift 3 and fold over the mixture, tucking ends in.
Roll to the end 4.

What? You're flour tortillas don't come with dotted lines on them? :)

Make sure that your grill grate is very clean, you don't want icky black stuff on your burritos. You could also just do this on a flat top griddle or a hot cast iron pan.

Place the burrito seam side down on the hot griddle. Give it a slight press with a spatula to flatten it just a touch. If you just cooked the chicken at 350f, your griddle plate should be just the right temperature.

Cook for 2 minutes, just until the burrito gets crispy like this.

Flip and cook another two minutes on the other side.

Serve with pico de gallo or guacamole and enjoy!

I think the toasting of the tortilla makes grilled stuffed burritos just a little more flavorful and it adds texture to an otherwise boring tortilla.

Caribbean Salsa - Eat better, eat healthier, Eat fresher, Eat tastier

Everybody paying attention?  In the spirit of my chosen OKK assignment, I CAN COOK THAT, last week I gave you a cooking... truth.  Menu planning is much more than a long shopping list for a week.  In fact, menu planning should be more about using what you buy for the best tasting, freshest tasting, healthiest for you and your family; food on your table week after week, without wasting a gram of food.  Nothing goes into the trash till you have extracted everything possible from what you buy.  Like last week...and the week before... When I bought a rotisserie chicken, ddn't throw the bones away, but made a fresh Chicken Stock that I used to make an incredibly rich and flavorful Spanish Rice.  In order to make Spanish Rice, I needed to buy onions and red peppers.  I could buy onions and red peppers cheaper if I buy 2 or 3 of each prepackaged by the store.  Sure, these are usually on the far side of still fresh, but close to borderline; and sure, these usually have a bad spot or two hidden by the packaging you don't see till you get home; BUT, these are to be diced up and cooked same day you buy them.  Cut around the bad spot and dice away... and use up everything you buy.

And SALSA!  what a great way to use up veggies.  Make your own, it is very fast, and much healthier than the stuff you buy in the jars.  Read the ingredient list... why is there sugar in a salsa???  and what are those preservatives for... why artificial coloring???  Why all those words with more syllables than there are letters in O-N-I-O-N???  And salt... don't get me started on salt...  More often than not, salsa is offered to be scooped up by SALTED chips.  You don't need all that salt.  I know I don't.

But if not with chips, how about a nice side of fresh salsa (without chips, it can be called a diced tomato side dish if you like), served with Spanish rice and a seafood enchilada...

And while we are using up the red pepper and onion that you bought to flavor the Spanish Rice you were making because you had extra fresh made chicken stock, let's make this a Caribbean Salsa by using up that pineapple that you bought in order to garnish your wife's rum drink.

Here's what I did...

My salsa recipe is a matter of proportions.  You don't have to measure accurately to the smallest gram weight.  If you have a little more onion, fine, if you have a little less pineapple, fine, but here's how to make it in what ever quantities you need...

1 part (either 1 cup, 2 cups, or 1 TBS) of diced Onion

1 part (either 1 cup, 2 cups, or 1 TBS) of diced Red Bell Pepper

1 part (either 1 cup, 2 cups, or 1 TBS) of diced Pineapple

2 part (either 2 cup, 4 cups, or 2 TBS) of diced Roma Tomatoes

A NOTE ABOUT DICING - try to dice everything the same size

1/2 part (either 1/2 cup, 1 cups, or 1/2 TBS) of minced Parsley

1/2 part (either 1/2 cup, 1 cups, or 1/2 TBS) of "not your Grandmother's HERBES de PROVENCE"

Juice of 1 lime

And if you like a runny salsa, more dip-able, take 1/4 part of additional tomatoes and run them through a mini chopper till they are liquefied.

Mix it all together, and you have fresh made salsa!

Use what you buy, eat better tasting food, eat healthier food, think about what is in your fridge and what you can do with it.

By the way, I LOVE making up a batch of "not your Grandmother's HERBES de PROVENCE".  It is a GREAT way to always have an herb mixture on hand.  I make up about 2 months worth at a time, and my "not your Grandmother's HERBES de PROVENCE" is far fresher than what you find in those little packages you buy in the store pre-assembled.  Here's my formula...

I use this almost anytime a recipe calls for a mixture of two or three herb spices.  It tastes great on a focaccia bread, add to oil and balsamic for a great bread dipping oil.  I add to fish and chicken for a light taste accent. It is just great to have sitting around... ready

5 TBS dried Tarragon
5 TBS dried Oregano
5 TBS dried Dill
5 TBS dried Thyme
5 TBS dried Rosemary
5 TBS dried Garlic Flakes
2 TBS Sea Salt
2 TBS Fresh ground Pepper
1 TBS dried Lemon Zest

Store in a sealed plastic ziplock bag, airtight in a dark drawer, and stays fresh for 6 months or more.  

Better tasting and it will save you money in the long run!

Come back next week when I finally get around to the main course... A wonderful seafood enchilada!

Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. It really is just this easy!  


 ... I CAN COOK THAT! 


And so can you!

...

Three is Better Than One Muffins

The pot is on the stove and I have plenty of these muffins so come on over and visit a spell at Comfy Cook or My Sweet and Savory.

Three is Better Than One Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine, melted  (I used oil.)

1/2 cup Rice Dream or milk

1/2 cup Egg Beaters or 2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups combination of cranberries, blueberries and black berries

I used fresh blackberries and frozen blueberries and cranberries. Do not defrost until ready to use.

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease or line 12 large muffin pans. There will be some left over to make a mini cake or two additional muffins.

In bowl, stir together the margarine, rice milk and eggs.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, baking powder and salt.

Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the wet mixture all at once.

Stir until blended. There will still be lumps. So not overmix.

Fold in the three kinds of berries.

Divide batter into prepared cups and sprinkle the remaining 4 teaspoons of sugar over the batter.  Another option is making a streusel with ground or chopped nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon and a slight amount of oil to make the streusel moist, not wet.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden. Check at 25 minutes.  The berries added moisture to the muffin and I think it needed more time than normal, for muffins.)

Mystery Ingredient Challenge: COCONUT!!

Usually, I'd be here with a new recipe for you to try, but sadly that's not the case.
I have to interrupt the normally scheduled post with a plea:

This is the LAST WEEK of the
Mystery Ingredient Challenge: Coconut Edition,

and unless my eyes are deceiving me, we haven't received ONE Coconut recipe. =(

I sure hope y'all are saving the best for last, because time is quickly running out! I know there's a TON going on here, all day, every day, so I'm hoping it's just slipped your collective minds... go here for a Challenge refresher!

PLEASE comment with your
Favorite Coconut Recipes
before the end of May!!
Link 'em up on the left, and comment here to be sure and be counted.

Don't forget to visit me at The Bad Girl's Kitchen for more fabulous recipes!


**Tune in June 1st to find out who wins!**

Low-Fat Cannoli - Save Room for Dessert

Hello, friends! Did you have a good weekend? Well I hope you saved room for dessert!

Recently my husband and I discussed the idea of healthier, or at least less unhealthy, desserts.  And I guess he has a point.  If I have to make a dessert a week, they should probably not all be totally disgusting and artery clogging. 

And they can still be tasty!

So I bring you today's offering: Low-fat cannoli!

It's pretty simple, really.  The most time-consuming part of draining the ricotta - you want it to be dry so it's not runny and messy when you pipe it into the cannoli shell.  I used a knee high stocking to drain, but that's only because I never see cheesecloth in the story when I'm actually thinking about it.  So I buy new knee highs and voila! :-)

I dumped all 2 lbs of part-skim ricotta into my mixer.  After whipping for a bit, though, I knew it was going to keep its grainy texture so I moved everything to the food processor.  I'm sure the blender would work just as well, of course!  When it was in the mixer bowl, I added...

2 tsp of vanilla extract

And 1 cup of powdered sugar.  I'm sure this is all "to taste" - maybe if you like a little liqueur flavor you could add that as well.  I know there's all sorts of things you can add but I like to keep it simple.  And from what I understand from my husband, aka The Cannoli King, the taste is pretty much spot-on.

Whir it around and around until it's smooth.

Then fold in 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips.  This is the good stuff here, people.

This filling went into my Pampered Chef decorator with the biggest tip I could find - those mini chips can clog up a piping tip, let me tell ya.

And once the shells were filled (you can find them at just about any grocery store), I sprinkled more chips on the ends.

The texture is still a liiiiiittle off of your normal cannoli, but then you're trading texture for a lower amount of fat.  And that's not a bad thing, right?

Enjoy!

CAST IRON SKILLET ROAST CHICKEN with APRICOT MAPLE PINEAPPLE GLAZE

Do you like those rotisserie chicken from the market? I do, but on average they are only 2-3 pounds and cost anywhere from $5-$8 or even more. My local grocer ran a unadvertised special the other day and I got this 5.86 pound beauty for 97 cents a pound.

I love my cast iron skillet too! There is nothing better for even cooking heat! I like to roast my chicken in there so the sides are always radiating an even heat to whole chicken.

CAST IRON SKILLET ROAST CHICKEN

1 5-6 pound roasting chicken

4 tablespoons butter, softened

salt & pepper

1/2 onion, wedged small

1 cup apricot pineapple preserves

1/4 cup PURE maple syrup

• Wash chicken and dry.
• Spread butter along the inside of the cast iron pan and all over the chicken.
• Generously salt and pepper the chicken.
• Place onions along side the chicken.
• In a small bowl whisk together the preserves and syrup. Set aside and allow to come to room temperature.
• Roast at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
• With a pastry brush spread preserve mixture all over the chicken every 10-15 minutes until skin is crisp and chicken is cooked through. This should be from 30-45 minutes based on the actual weight of your chicken.
• 
  
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Veggie Tales by Kris!

Well hello there! My name is Kris, you may know me from Behold the Metatron, Where to Vegan?, AND/OR The Motivation Station. If you don't, get to know me! I'm just a click away! ;o)

I am a vegetarian flirting with the Vegan lifestyle ever so slightly. But I'm not going to dive deep into a 100% Vegan dish with you lot just yet. For my first post, I'd like to share a sweet and savory salad with you that is absolutely perfect for summer. Enjoy it with a delicious sparkling rose like this one on a steamy Friday afternoon, and you're starting off the weekend just right!

Asparagus, Grapefruit and Arugula Summer Salad
(serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a starter- I could eat the whole thing though! haha)

What you'll need:
5 cups fresh baby arugula (Organic please)
1 bunch asparagus (each stalk halved lengthwise)
Cooking Spray
1 grapefruit (just the wedges, peeled with no pith)
1/2- 3/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese (remember to slice an extra piece for yourself while you slave over this! hehe)
1 lemon, halved (you'll use each half's juice separately)
1/4 cup your favorite Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing (I like Newman's Lite)
salt and pepper to taste

What you'll do:
Prep you grapefruit by peeling the skin and pith, and cut into wedges. Prepare your arugula by placing it on a lovely platter or bowl. Heat a skillet on medium with a little cooking spray. Add in the halved asparagus and sautee for about 2 minutes. Add some salt and pepper and the juice of 1/2 the lemon. Let cook until tender, yet crispy for no more than 5 minutes. When the asparagus is done, remove from heat and place it atop the bed of arugula. Top the salad with the other lemon half, the dressing, the grapefuit wedges, and the cheese. Add a little more salt and pepper. Toss right before serving.

et voilà!

Fire Day Friday: Meatloaf On The Grill ? ! ? !

If I recommended cooking a meatloaf on a grill, you might ask me to "let you sleep on it" or you might run away like a "bat out of hell", right?

I thought it sounded weird too when I first heard of doing it that way, but I tried it two years ago and it is my favorite way to prepare meatloaf now. You just prepare your favorite meatloaf recipe and instead of cooking it in your oven, turn your grill into a fire roasted oven by cooking with indirect heat (fire or burner on one side, food on other side, lid closed).


"I Would Do Anything For Loaf" Meatloaf recipe
adapted from Underground Deli's Meatloaf Sandwich

Ingredients
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons Dry mustard
1 teaspoon Black pepper
1 teaspoons Garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic minced
2 tablespoon basil, fresh chopped
1 tablespoon Dried oregano
3 Eggs
3/4 cup Ketchup
1/2 teaspoon Hot pepper sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons Horseradish
1 cup Onion; chopped
2 1/2 pounds Ground beef; 80/20 mix

Instructions
In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, mustard, black pepper, garlic powder, basil and oregano. In a large bowl, combine eggs, ketchup, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and horseradish. Mix in the onion and ground beef, then add the bread crumb mixture.

TIP: One reason people don't like meat loaf is because they've been served one that is greasy because it cooks in it's own grease in the loaf pan. Only use the loaf pan for a mold to shape the loaf and let it chill for an hour in the fridge.

Then when ready to cook, invert the loaf pan onto a raised drip pan set up like this and all the grease will drip away from the loaf while cooking in the oven or the grill.

Cook the loaf at 350f.

After 45 minutes, brush with a glaze of your choice.
-Typical meatloaf glaze: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 oz apple cider vinegar
-Sweet glaze: commercial BBQ sauce like Blues Hog.
-Spicy glaze: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup Chok On Dis Blaze n' Glaze, 1/4 cup brown sugar

Cook until the loaf hits an internal temp of 160f. This should be a total cooking time of 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Try that inverted meatloaf technique the next time and I think you'll like your standard meatloaf a little bit better. The final product is just moist enough but not greasy at all. PERFECT for meatloaf sandwiches, my favorite.

And consider cooking it on the grill too. Since I started cooking it on the grill, anytime I think about cooking one in the oven, I think, "I would do anything for loaf, but I won't do that!"

(All apologies to Michael Lee Aday)

Spanish Rice... And a Call to Stewardship (or cheapness)

I know a lot of you are diligent about menu planning.  And that is a very good thing to do.  It saves money, it saves LOTS of time.  For a very long time, I thought it just meant a long shopping list.  Figure what you were going to cook, and make sure that you have the ingredients on hand.  But there is one more aspect to menu planning that I am finally learning... Waste not, want not, be a steward of the earth, PLAN how to use everything you buy.  Buy fresh, eat healthier, but PLAN how to use everything you buy before it goes bad.

Oh yeah, and be cheap, save money.  Honest, my main concern is saving the planet, has nothing to do with me being cheap, nothing... honest (have you ever been lied to by a man, of course not).  This post is all about being a good steward, eating healthy fresh and planning to not waste.

From bread that you let get moldy because you don't make a single serve bread pudding, to bananas because you don't mix a killer Funky Monkey frozen chocolate rum drink (or banana bread if you must, but the funky monkey is a better use for soft bananas... but I digress), to that Pineapple you buy for a garnish for your wife's Painkiller rum drink recipe... If you buy it, plan how to use it all.  If I clean out my refrigerator and I have to throw away a single produce item, I have failed to be a good steward of the Earth (and I wasted money... one of those two things REALLY bothers me).

Are you paying attention, last week I posted a ROTISSERIE CHICKEN STOCK recipe.  I will use that recipe to clean out my produce drawer once a week... Carrots, celery, onions, fresh herbs, almost anything can be tossed in the pot to help flavor the stock.  A great way to "use up" what would have been thrown away.  I do make that stock once a week.  It does freeze, but I like to keep a bag of it in the fridge for use during the week.  I always end up using the entire bag.  It can be used in so many things.  Think about all the things you cook with water and consider substituting the chicken stock if you were to have some handy.

Like RICE!

And let me interrupt this rice post with scenes from coming attractions... See all the things in the photo above... there is a sea food enchilada made with blackened tilapia, and some fresh made Caribbean Salsa... Come back in the next couple of weeks to see those recipes.  But, since I am being a good steward of the Earth (cheap), using everything I can, I need to show some things that I will explain better next week...

Like this...

I made my rice in the same pan that I made my blackened tilapia, that I used to make my seafood enchiladas.  All that butter and spices that I blacken the fish with worked GREAT to season the rice.  Waste not, want not, eat better, make better tasting food... What a concept.

So, just imagine you have a pan of flotsam from cooking the fish.

Add 1/2 cup of diced onion to the flotsam, and 1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper.  Heat the mixture till you can see the onions start to become clear.  Add some fresh herbs of choice... Cilantro, Herbs de Provance, dill, chives, whatever you have on hand...

Add 2 cups of chicken broth to the pan and get the liquid boiling... Add 1 cup of rice and cook til the liquid is absorbed...

And there you go... Better tasting food, less (no) waste, save money...

And come back next week for an amazing Caribbean Salsa Recipe!

Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. It really is just this easy!  


 ... I CAN COOK THAT! 


And so can you!