Russian Roulette Jalapeno Poppers

It's finally October. The weather, while still pretty warm, is cooling off gradually, Halloween has taken over the stores, leaves are turning, pumpkins are everywhere. I love this time of year.  Scary movies are a big highlight of this time of year for a lot of people and sometimes that includes me. Right now I'm really into American Horror Story. This season's theme revolves around a bizarre cult and plays on the fear of clowns. The clowns are just incredibly creepy, and not very friendly. Lots of scary things going on in this season!! All the movie channels are featuring the usual suspects- Halloween with Michael Myers, that nasty Jason Vorhees who haunts Camp Crystal Lake in the Friday the 13th movies (funny, too, because we have a Friday the 13th this October!), zombies, vampires and probably a Frankenstein here and there if I look hard enough.

I've been invited to a Halloween party this year so........ I need a costume idea. It's so hard to decide what I'd like to be. I prefer to make my own costumes rather than buy store bought ones, they're always so cheaply made and most women's costumes are borderline hooker wear. Sexy witch. Sexy cat. Sexy bat. Sexy cop. Sexy vampire. Sexy doctor. Sexy nurse. You get the idea. I don't really wanna go that route, and who wants to stand around in high heels and fishnets all night anyway? Not this girl. So I have to dig deep into the imagination and find something fun and cute and fully clothed.

Once October rolls around in Iowa the pumpkin patches, corn mazes, apple orchards and fall festivals are in full swing. Families make the trek out in the country to find the perfect pumpkin for jack-o-lanterns, a nice bushel of Iowa apples, apple cider, Indian corn. It's also the end of gardening season, and end of the farmers market season. Another year has gone by and I did not make it to the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market but that's ok.

My friends continue to share their garden goodies with me, this time a big bag of jalapeno peppers. My love for peppers is well known and my friend Lisa brought a big bag to work for me. Half of them were Mammoth jalapeno peppers, great big peppers with the normal heat level and the rest were a cultivar known as Coolapenos, which look and taste exactly like their hot counterparts but have zero heat. They are just as mild as green bells but still have that distinctive jalapeno flavor. Just to make it fun, I piled them all together to make Russian Roulette poppers- you don't know if you're getting a hot one or a cool one. Fun, right? Another fun twist to the recipe, some of them are wrapped in bacon, and some are not, but they are just as delicious both ways. Seriously delicious.

Unlike the breaded and fried jalapeno poppers, these guys are filled with a mixture of cream cheese, Colby Jack, and just because I had some hanging out in the fridge, a scoop of goat cheese, caramelized minced onion and garlic, and mild pork sausage. The filling is wrapped with a strip of smoky bacon and baked until hot, bubbly and golden brown. These easy poppers are great to make ahead and store in the freezer. They are quick to heat from frozen and make great party snacks, football nibbles or a nibbles for a night of scary movies! They are also super easy to prepare and take to a Halloween party if you happen to go to one. What a great way to use up all those peppers at the end of garden season!

Super Easy Party Poppers

fresh jalapeno peppers*

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

1/2 medium onion, minced

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb mild pork sausage

2 lb bacon

pepper

*This quantity of filling made quite a bunch of poppers. I had a couple pounds of jalapenos to use up. If you make the filling and have extra, freeze it for future batches of poppers.

Prepare the peppers by halving the jalapenos lengthwise. Remove seeds and membrane. Set peppers aside.

Crumble the pork sausage into a small skillet, break up into very small pieces and brown the sausage until cooked through. Drain well and cool. In same skillet heat a small amount, a teaspoon or so, of cooking oil and add the minced onion. Cook over medium heat until softened and just turning golden. Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional two minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese and Colby Jack cheese together. Stir in the cooked onion and garlic, and the sausage. Season with pepper.

Use a spoon or knife to stuff the filling into the halved jalapenos. Cut the bacon slices into halves or thirds, depending on the size of the peppers, and secure with toothpicks.

I left some without bacon and they are just as delicious

Place the peppers on parchment lined baking sheets and transfer to the freezer. Freeze until solid, the place peppers in zip top storage bags and freeze.

To serve, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place frozen poppers on baking sheet and place in oven. Bake 25-35 minutes until bacon is crispy and filling is bubbly and browned.

These are great to have on hand for all kinds of occasions. Many nights I get home from work and just don't have the energy to cook a whole meal, and if The Chef is at work, it's just me, a small pan of poppers go in the oven for a quick and easy dinner.

Sous Vide Cooking- Starting Easy with Eggs

Every day I come home from my day job I see the box starting at me. Daring me. Willing me to open it and play. I honestly have no excuse. At first it was "I'm not sure what to do with it" but that evolved into reading loads of recipes and hints and blogs online. Pinning dozens of recipes and ideas. Then it became "I need to find a friend who has used one before" which of course, was easy. I've even joined a Facebook group of sous vide enthusiasts to get ideas and suggestions and hints. Discussions had, ideas shared, and still.......the box sits there. Judging me. It's time to break out the immersion circulation and end this standoff!

Originally I had bought a nice pork loin to cook for my first recipe. Grabbed some fresh herbs to throw in the bag. Lots of garlic. However, I over estimated the size of my stockpot and discovered that I don't have a large enough vessel to cook in. Ugh, that threw a wrench in my plans, and I ended up using the pork for something else. I thought about some Rubbermaid containers I used to use for herb storage, don't laugh, I had a HUGE herb garden, but must have gotten rid of them. The pressure canner? Surely that would be deep enough.

Once I got my cooking vessel issue sorted out I narrowed down my recipe selections and decided (after sitting in the drive thru of a very very very slow Starbucks one morning) that I need to start by coming up with a copycat version of their sous vide egg bites, and that is what I did. In the course of reading all different types of recipe ideas I came across quite a few recipes for eggs and creme brulee and other soft foods that are cooked in 4 ounce canning jars rather than bags. Genius! The heat of the sous vide is much lower than a canner, so the jars would be perfectly safe, as opposed to food BAKED in canning jars- that kind of dry high heat of an oven can weaken the glass and cause jars to explode. Serious safety hazard. The immersion circulator uses temps much lower than the rapidly boiling water and pressurized heat used in home canning and we know they are food safe.

Cooking eggs in the sous vide is foolproof. Butter the inside of the jar, crack in a fresh egg, one per jar, and plain eggs can be cooked to any temp, from coddled to hard boiled. Beaten in a separate bowl, the eggs can be combined with any kind of omelet ingredient you can imagine- cheese, sauteed vegetables like peppers, onions, mushrooms, cooked and drained meats like ham, sausage or bacon, or even bits of crab or lobster. Fresh herbs. Beaten eggs. While this looks and sounds like something truly luxurious, it's actually quite healthy- you're not frying your eggs in a skillet full of butter and if you keep the add-ins on the healthy side, you get the idea.

Since we are going to be cooking with the immersion circulator today, let's unpack this bad boy and get it set up. The pressure canner pot is the perfect deep vessel for this circulator. There is a spring-loaded clamp on the side of the unit that helps stabilize it on the side of the pot. It's not a tight clamp but works perfectly fine with the curved side of this pot.

For our first batch of eggs we are going to use some familiar flavors- scallion and cheese. You're going to love the soft creamy texture of the eggs. It's almost fluffy. We're adding cottage cheese to add body and to lighten up the texture. I HIGHLY recommend using a blender or food processor to mix your egg mixture. You'll incorporate air into the egg mixture, especially using a blender, and that will keep your eggs super fluffy.

Sous Vide Eggs in Jars

4 large eggs
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used colby jack)
1 scallion, chopped, white and green parts
salt and pepper
butter or cooking spray

Set up the sous vide per the manual's instruction and set to 172 degrees. 

Lightly butter the inside of four 4 ounce canning jars or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a food processor or blender, combine the ingredients, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour into the jars, dividing equally. Fix the lids and rings on the jars and place in the bath.

Cook the eggs in the immersion circulator for one hour. Remove from the bath. 

To serve, you can eat from the jars (perfect for taking to work) or loosen the sides and carefully remove the eggs and place on a late. You can brown them under the broiler if you like a little color. I personally don't like my eggs browned so I prefer them NOT broiled.

How easy was that? This, for me, is a Sunday food prep recipe, not something I'm going to make in the morning, but the eggs reheat easily in the micro for breakfast at the office or a snack. Two eggs make a serving, so I can easily see myself setting up a couple dozen eggs, an assortment of vegetables, cheeses and meats, and making a large batch. Like canned foods, you can double stack these little jars in the bath, so long as the lids are completely covered by the hot water, by at least a couple inches they will cook properly. Now I just need to work out some combinations!

Instead of the cottage cheese, use sour cream, cream or half and half, cream cheese

Cheese- use Swiss, Gruyere, Havarti, Colby, Colby Jack, Monterrey Jack, white cheddar

Vegetables- saute until softened:  garlic, onion, celery, bell peppers, hot peppers, mushrooms, asparagus tips, cubed zucchini or summer squash, broccoli or broccolini, scallions, leeks, shredded cooked potato, uncooked chopped Roma tomato, fresh herbs, salsa or pico de gallo.

Meats- diced ham, cooked and crumbled sausage, cooked crumbled bacon, diced turkey or chicken, diced seafood such as crab, shrimp or lobster

FINAL NOTES ON THE TAYAMA- A lot of people I talked to before my first sous vide experience have other brands. I didn't find anyone else who has a Tayama unit. I only had reviews on Amazon to go by and some of those were not that good. However, I was really pleased at the ease of setup and programming. I did not buy a separate plastic tub for the water bath and instead used a great big stockpot and it worked out perfect. The Tayama unit fits snugly against the side of the pot and didn't slip or fall over. It's a very quiet unit. Except for the beeping when it reaches the programmed temp, it's absolutely silent. I would highly recommend this unit to anyone else looking to get started. It's an excellent unit for the price.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Crockpot Au Gratin Potatoes

It's Christmas Day. I'm up early, not to open presents, as I have no little ones at home anymore, but to get started on my potatoes to take along to my son's house later today as we get together to celebrate all that we have to be thankful for, enjoy the kids and all their new toys and goodies, and share our annual Christmas Dinner. The Chef is still snoozing away and I have the television quietly playing A Christmas Story. I always watch it at least once or twice and since it's just me and the fur kids up and around, this is the perfect time. I love the story of the movie but I especially love the kitchen. How awesome would it be to cook in a kitchen like that with that fantastic old gas stove? It also does not escape my keen eye that the mom goes down to the cellar to get jars of home canned vegetables for meals prepared during the movie. Simpler times, indeed, but surely there was a lot of hard work involved.

For my contribution to out holiday meal this year, I am going to be taking advantage of one of the most handy convenience appliances ever invented- the crockpot. I remember my dad buying a crockpot back in the 70s and it changed the way my dad cooked meals. As you might remember, my dad, back in the 70s, was what we today would call a foodie- very interested in cooking and cookbooks and fine dining. I inherited every one of those genes. My dad sought out crockpot recipes to try every week. Short ribs with onion gravy, chicken cacciatore, all kinds of roasts and stews and soups, even bread pudding and desserts. We even had overnight crockpot oatmeal, and believe me, if you ever have a crowd overnight like the holidays and need a breakfast idea- toss together some oats, raisins or craisins, chopped apples or pears and some brown sugar and cook that on low overnight. Breakfast is ready and holds at serving temp as the family wakes up. Delicious! Anyway, the crockpot is a veritable savior for busy cooks and families on the go. Assemble your meal ahead of time, pop it in the crockpot, turn it on and out the door you go, returning home to a perfectly cooked meal. Tender roasts, slow simmered sauces, even desserts, and these days the internet and Pinterest are goldmines of slow cooker recipes. 

Many times for the holidays I'll make a family favorite, Fat Ass Potatoes. This year however I wanted to try something new. I've made au gratin potatoes in the oven dozens of times, and it's easy enough to put together, but when you have a large group all juggling dishes for oven time, why not try making some adjustments and making these cheesy delights in the crockpot? Saves time, saves oven space, and can be served right from the crock. This truly is one of the easiest potato dishes ever. Unlike traditional au gratin recipes, there is no need to pre-cook the potatoes or make a pot of bechamel before assembling. Instead, the slow cooker does all that for you, cooking the potatoes evenly and turning the evaporated milk and cheese into a cream sauce. If you like, you can briefly saute the onions to get a little color in them but I just used them fresh and loved the flavor. Most of the ingredients you might even hand on hand. This dish comes together quickly and you can get it all assembled, pop it in the crock and head back to bed for a snooze before the big get together. I used a big oval crockpot but you can use a smaller one if you need to feed a smaller crowd- just adjust down the milk and use a little less.

This recipe is so easy you'll never go back to the mix junk again. It's better for you too- you know exactly what goes in the pot, you can choose the variety of potato you like best (I used russets) and you can use whatever cheese you have on hand and your family loves. For my recipe I also used Signature Seasoning from Sinful Food and I highly recommend it. You can use whatever seasoning mixture you have but Sinful Foods mixture is so savory without being too salty.

Easiest Ever Au Gratin Potatoes in the Crockpot

4-5 lbs of potatoes, scrubbed, skin on

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1/4 cup butter

Sinful Food Signature Seasoning

handful chopped chives

3 cups half and half or light cream
3/4 cup flour

Scrub the potatoes thoroughly. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then slice crosswise into half circles. Cut the onion the same way and separate the slices into half rings.

Ready to go in the crockpot

Using a large slow cooker layer about 1/4 of the potatoes and onions. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, some chives and season with the Sinful Food seasoning. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, pressing down on the potatoes if necessary. Top with remaining cheese, the last of the chives and Parm, and seasoning.

Check the potatoes often once you've hit the two hour mark.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour with about a cup of the cream until smooth. Whisk in the remaining cream. Pour the cream mixture over all. Slice the butter into pats and place all over the top to the potatoes. Pop the lid on and cook at High for about 2-3 hours until tender. Check your potatoes at two hours- some crockpots vary in temp, and you may need to go as long as 3 or 4 hours.

If you like them extra cheesy, toss another handful of cheese
on top at the end of cooking, cover and let melt.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free as part of a random drawing. There was no requirement of using the products and then providing written promotion. This post is entirely of my own writing. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe are of good quality and safe. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Recipe Re-do: Santa's Whiskers

One of our family favorites for many years, Santa's Whiskers is an old recipe from an old old version of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. You know the book- the red and white checked cover, widely thought of as THE handbook for new cooks just starting out on their own. For many years I made this version of the recipe which is a sugar cookie base with red and green candied cherries and nuts mixed in, then rolled into logs, rolled in coconut, chilled, sliced and baked. While the original version is pretty easy, you do have to plan ahead so allow the logs of dough to chill completely. My revised version is a drop cookie dough with all the delicious ingredients mixed in. Super easy to make ahead and then scoop and bake as needed or make up at the last minute and bake immediately.

This is a large family sized batch, great for cookie exchanges, bake sales and family baking days. I used a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop for even cookies. They bake up soft and chewy so be sure to store in an airtight container or ziptop bags to stay fresh.

Our Family's Santas Whiskers

2 cups butter, room temperature

3 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped red candied cherries

1 cup chopped green candied cherries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup flaked coconut

Using a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Gradually mix in the combined flour, salt and baking powder until dough is completely mixed.

Stir in the cherries, nuts and coconut.

Scoop the dough onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on pan, then remove to rack to cool.

Another No Recipe Cooking Weekend

We all know one of those planning kinds of people. You know the ones, they sit down with a notebook and a cup of coffee, their calendar and some coupons and plan an entire week's, or more, worth of menus, and actually stick to it. I am NOT that person. Oh I tried, and tried, and tried. I failed. I threw away uncooked vegetables that went bad because I didn't stick to my plan. I just did that in fact, this morning, tossing weepy organic arugula and green beans that I forgot to use for meals during the week. Darn me. I HATE when that happens. I regretfully had to toss an unopened package of beautifully prepared chili lime grilled chicken breast strips because I got lazy and didn't make dinner a few times. I just can't plan ahead! 

A few basics in the pantry and you can make a whole
takeout menu full of recipes for pennies.

Unless.......... it's a manageable amount of food- like say, six bone in chicken breasts. I had a package in the fridge that needed to be cooked or meet a freezing fate in the freezer, so I decided it's time to make some Planned Leftovers. Easy- line a baking sheet with foils, and arrange the chicken breasts on top. Season them liberally. I used the last teaspoon of some Fines Herbes from Penzey's, some garlic salt, Montreal Steak seasoning (I use this for everything), a sprinkle of smoked paprika and some tomato basil seasoning I found on the shelf and rubbed all over the chicken. I popped the chicken breasts into a 350 degree oven and roasted them for about an hour, then I let cool, popped in the fridge, and when cold, pulled the chicken off the bone and saved for some easy meals over the weekend, and I was soooo glad I did. I think I'm going to do this again- on purpose!

Dessert is a snap when you start with a mix

Having had a fairly stressful work week, the weekend was my relax time, my time to do nothing. Cooking wasn't even on my radar. I was whiny, sad that I am missing out on the Italian American Festival and the American Cheese Society's Festival of Cheese- and come on!! Who want to miss these events? One of my Foodie Resolutions was to attend more food events in 2016- and so far it's been a tough one to meet. Not for the last of wanting, however, I have had to miss out on several awesome tastings, cooking classes, and a few other events and I'm not too happy about it. So I had a teeny meeny pity party over missing out. Cooking just wasn't in my game plan this weekend. Thankfully, that roasted chicken will come into play a couple times this weekend.

Faced with certain starvation and a fridge with some pretty tasty ingredients contained therein I opted for the easy way out- a salad. Rescued from the veggie drawer, a mostly full bag of organic baby spinach formed the foundation of my salad. I wish I'd also had some fresh basil leaves but i was forced to make do. A couple of very ripe and juicy Roma tomatoes get cut up into bite size chunks and tossed in the bowl. Half a ball of fresh mozzarella, cubed, goes in next, followed with a generous handful of cut up leftover roast chicken breast. Whip up a quick vinaigrette with some olive oil, Dijon mustard and Balsamic vinegar and toss the whole thing together with some crunchy Italian bread croutons. I didn't have any croutons and I missed that crunch. It was a great light dinner I'd definitely make again.

Sunday was a lazy day. Neither the chef nor I wanted to cook again.....and we still had veggies and chicken to use. Sounds like a crazy stir fry of some sort, with rice, was in order.

Out of boredom, I thought I'd check the pantry and maybe whip up some kind of dessert. I spied some good recipe basics on the shelf and decided a cake of some kind would be easy to pull off. Simple to throw together, mix up a one layer yellow cake mix as the package directs. Pour into 8x8 pan. Grab a can of pie filling of choice- I used red raspberry, and spoon it randomly onto the cake batter, swirling a bit. Sprinkle with a topping if you like- I had some leftover pecan brittle from the Naughtiest Bacon so I used that. Chopped nuts, coconut, a streusel recipe- all would be great. Popped into the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes and it was perfect. No frosting needed, a little whipped topping or vanilla ice cream would have been great. 

This quick dessert is a great dish to use and experiment. Use your favorite cake flavors and different pie fillings, or fresh fruit, leftover fried apples, whatever!

Happy Hour Small Plates- Peppadew Tapenade

Small plates are hot right now. Lots of trendy nightspots are featuring these tidbits that are perfect for sharing with friends and gives you a chance to taste several different things rather than one big entree. They are also perfect for entertaining, especially this easy-to-fix tapenade, that includes one of my favorite things to make for entertaining- Peppadews!

This is super easy to throw together and keep in the fridge for at least a couple weeks, and the food processor makes quick work of it. So, to make my Pepper Olive Tapenade you will need-

• 1/2 cup Peppadews, packed
• 1 cup black olives- I like to use a mix of common black olives and Kalamatas, use whatever you like
• 1 cup green olives- any kind you like, again I use a mix of different green olives
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tb capers
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• small palmfull fresh parsley (leaves only)
• 1 lemon- juiced and zested
• 3-4 tb olive oil

Combine Peppadews, olives, garlic, herbs, capers and lemon zest in food processor. MAKE SURE that the olives are PITTED. Pulse/process until you have a finely chopped mixture. 

If you have one of these choppers they are perfect for a chunkier
tapenade and you won't accidentally over-process into puree

Scoop into bowl and toss with lemon juice (use an amount based on your taste- sprinkle in a teaspoon and taste it- add more if you like) and olive oil. 

This is the consistency I am looking for, finely minced

Chill well and serve with toasted slices of baguette or crackers, toss with pasta or with pita chips.

All the colors of the peppers, olives, herbs and pop of fresh lemon

A few things here- first of all, if you're not familiar with Peppadews, you need to meet these guys. They are a South African sweet/hot pepper that is bright red and so delicious. If you are lucky enough to have a supermarket with an olive bar, they likely will have Peppadews as well. 

If not, you can find them in the pickle aisle in jars. If you absolutely cannot find them you could use pimiento or roasted red pepper as a substitute but it won't have the same sweet/hot kick. When I shopped to make this recipe, incredibly, the store had NONE- not a single Peppadew. I had to go with sweet pickled cherry peppers but the flavor and texture were very similar. I just removed the stem and seeds and they pretty much were the same with very little difference in flavor. The cherry peppers are a little meatier and I think less "crispy" but they certainly were very similar in the sweet with a hint of heat character.

Olive bars- the bane of my existence! Gateway Market in Des Moines has the best gourmet olive bar anywhere, and I am officially grounded from going there- I can spend my entire grocery budget on those darn things. We have a chain of grocery stores in Iowa called HyVee and they also have nice olive bars and most have Peppadews on the bar. If you can, seek out an olive bar- you can mix and match the olives you want and not have to open a bunch of jars and cans to get 1 cup of olives. They are sold by weight so go crazy and mix it up! 

I chose a varied mix from the bar- Kalamata, big pitted and briney green olives, smaller black olives, and oil-cured red olives. I made sure to get all pitted olives so I wouldn't have to mess with pitting them. I also was careful not to choose any stuffed olives- while they are all delicious, they really wouldn't work with this dish.

Some of the olives I chose were marinated and the mix included chunks of Provolone. Of course I scooped a few of those in the tub- that's for snacking while I'm prepping the rest of the dish!

Soooo delicious. Fresh, herby, lemony and briney. Yum.

So what exactly is tapenade anyway? Well, simply put, it's a relish. It's an ancient French food typically made from olives, capers and olive oil, often flavored with fresh herbs, anchovies or lemon. There are about as many versions of tapenade as there are chefs, ranging from a pate-like spread to a chunkier relish style condiment. I'm looking for somewhere in between- I want to still see bits of the components and be able to pick out the flavors while still enjoying the tapenade as a whole. I also plan on serving it on toasted slices of baguette, similar to bruschetta. Once you've made it I'm sure your imagination will take you in different directions. Stop back and tell us what you're cooking with tapenade!