SALMON SALAD STUFFED APPLE BOATS

SALMON SALAD STUFFED APPLE BOATS

Yummy and just plane yummy and healthy.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Crisp Large Apples like Gala.  Peeling optional.
1  Salmon Steak.  Tuna also goes great with this.  
1/2 White onion.
2 Table spoons capers small.
1 Red bell pepper.
3 stalks of celery.
2 table spoons mayannios. 
1 garlic clove minced or grated very fine.
1 Pablono.   

NOTE: The pablano and garlic are optional.  I like the heat, but if you don't leave it out.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:

FIRST: Cooking the Salmon
While the salmon is cooking you can dice the onions, bell peppers, pablono, celery and mix in the capers and garlic in a bowl, and put in the refrigerator.

Put the Salmon steak skin side down in the pan.  Turn the pan to low and cover with a lid that fits.  Keep your eye on the color of the salmon. At first it will be bright reddish pink, and as it cooks it will turn into a lighter pink.  Also watch for white drops of fat to appear on the out side of the salmon as it cooks.
Next: Now if your looking at your salmon that is cooking and it appears to be done on the out side, it may not be done on the inside. Turn off the burner and take off the lid. Take two forks and very carefully pull the salmon apart and look in.  Try to pull it apart by the grain.  If you see dark red inside, it still need to cook more. Put in back on the burner on low to finish cooking.
 If it is done, then when you take the forks and pull the salmon apart gently it will flake apart really easily, and it should all be the same even light pink, no dark pink.
When the salmon is all the way done take a metal spatula and scoop the whole salmon up off the skin that will be stuck to the pan.   Put the salmon on a plate and let cool a bit then remove all the bones and then flake apart.

SECOND:  
Peel the apple , then cut them in half into 4 equal parts.  Use a small knife and carefully make a small circle to pop out the core and throw away.  Next either using a melon scoop or a knife carefull cut in a circle and make the apple into a boat.  And check this out if your if your getting a little frusterated don't hesitate to grap the big knife and chop the apple up. :)  and top it with the tuna salad.  Either way it going to be yummy.  
Oh and don't forget to add the apple you cored to the salad.

When you have your little apple boat made stuff with the salmon salad.

mmmmmmm.

ENJOY!

REFRESHING COCONUT & BLACK BERRY SUMMER DRINK.

REFRESHING COCONUT & BLACK BERRY SUMMER DRINK

Uhhhh... yeah you heard me right uhhh. It's 109 today and very humid.  Air conditioning and cool drinks is all I need.  :)     When it cool down to around 89 in the evening we stopped by our favorite black berry bush and pick away.  Ice cool drinks are a great way to relax in the heat.

SERVES ABOUT THREE

NOTE;  Like I always say I give you the ideas and you can make it your own.  If it's too sweet add less sugar.  The sugar is in case the berries are a bit tart.  Play around with it until your taste buds say yes.   We're not all born with the exact same taste.

INGREDIENTS:

2 to 3 Table spoon COCONUT MILK per glass
Black Berry syrup recipe (provided)
Ice cubes, Crushed or whole.
One of these.  Ice water. Sparkling Mineral water or soda water.   

INGREDIENTS FOR BLACK BERRY SYRUP.
2 to 5 Tablespoons of sugar.  
1 cup of Black Berries.
1 Tablespoon of water. 

NOTE: Take care this will stain your cloth.  

METHOD:
Put all in a pan turn on medium heat. Cook for (about) 12 minutes using wooden spoon so smash berries apart. When the liquid start to bubble on the stove turn off.
I like leaving the seeds in, but if you don't you can strain them out.

Next make a ice bath to cool the syrup.  Pour the syrup into a large glass, put the glass into a large pot and fill it up with ice cubes and water. This will cool the syrup.

ASSEMBLING.  

1. Three normal size glasses or fancy. :)
2. Fill the glasses with ice cubes.
3.  Spoon about 2 to 3 tablespoons of coconut milk per glass.
4. Spoon about 3 to 4 tablespoons of black berry syrup per glass.
5.  Add your choice of water/mineral/soda water.
6. Stir with a stir stick and taste to adjust flavor.

SIT BACK AND AHHHH!  :)

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFT OVER CHICKEN.

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFT OVER CHICKEN

Let say you cooked a bunch of chicken up, fried, baked, grilled, soup or your out in the wild with a wild look in your eye and you feel ferral by a open fire pit.   And you suddenly realize you've cooked too much or not all the food was eaten by your clan.   Ok now what?    What I would suggest is to use it in your next meal, that is the opptimal thing to do.  Shread off all the chicken from the bone and (KEEP THE BONES) for stock.  My suggestion if your not going to use the meat right away and want to freeze it, freeze it in broth. This way when you thaw it out it won't have that lovely freezer taste.  
NOTE: If your pulling frozen chicken in broth from the freezer and thawing it out in a pan on Medium low with the lid on.  Strain the broth and refreeze it for another meal or soup.   

Ok on with the show.   You can shread, dice or chop your chicken anyway you want it.

You can use this for Fajitas, Tacos, Salad topping, Quesadillas or Soup.   Or do you have a new idea that I haven't thought of.   

Now I understand that every one has different taste buds so adjust these recipes to your liking.
And also adjust to how much chicken you are using.  :)

HERE ARE SOME IDEAS.

1.  4 peeled garlic cloves
     1/2 of a Pablano
     1/2 lime juice.
     1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame seed oil or olive oil.

Get a pan or small pot add oil and squeeze lime all the way.   Next use a very fine grater or a nutmeg grater and grate the garlic and the pablano the best you can.  Or chop the pablano very fine.
Next turn the bruner to med high and when the mixture begins to lightly bubble around the edges add the chicken and turn to med low and stir.  The point is not to cook the chicken rather warm it and coat it in flavor.    

2.  1 inch of Ginger 
     1 clove garlic
     1 Tablespoon of honey
     1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
     1 Tablespoon of Rice vingar.

Grate the Ginger and garlic and pour in the vingar and honey with the cinnamon.   Mix on medium high until you see light bubbles and add chicken.  Same method as above.

3. 1 inch of Ginger
    1 Jalopeno
    3 cloves of garlic
    Hand full of minced Cilantro
    1/2 Tablespoon  Toasted Sesame seed oil
    1/2 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar.

Grate Garlic and Ginger and mince the Jalopeno and clinotor very fine.  Add to pot with oil and vingar.  Same as method above.   

4.   1/2 of a small lemon squeezed
      1/2 of a lime squeezed
      1 tablespoon honey
      Cilantro minced fine.

Same as above.  


HAVE FUN CREATING. 
      
    

SUPER EASY DOUNUT ROUNDS

SUPER EASY DOUNUTS ROUNDS

This is a win win situation. It's easy to make and it's easy to eat and then you can top these with anything and every thing.  Cinnamon and Sugar is really good, bananas and honey even better, cream cheese and blue berry jam the list is endless.  Enough talk lets get going.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups of All purpose Flour.
1/2 Cup Coconut milk
1/2 Cup Water  
1 Teaspoon Baking soda
1 Table spoon of  sugar. 
Peanut oil for frying.
A deep pot for heating the oil in for fying.

1/2 cup of cinnamon with a teaspoon of cinnamon mixed in for dusting the dounuts.  If you desire to do this method.  

METHOD OF PREPARATION

FIRST: MIXING
Put flour in a mixing bowl and mix in the baking soda then bring water and coconut milk to a boil and add to the flour.  Do not use your hands to mix, but rather use the back of a spoon to incorporate liquid into the flour.  A rough dough should form. The dough should not be dry, but moist and not to wet.  If the dough is wet add more flour.  Touch with your finger to see if it has cooled down enough to touch.  If it has knead the dough until smooth and cover to rest for about 20 minutes.

SECOND:  Have a bit of flour in a bowl handy.
NOTE: The dough ball should be half the size of a walnut.  But remeber you can make these smaller or bigger. Play around and see what size is good for you.
Take your dough ball and cut it in half and cut again to make four equal pieces.  Leave one out and put the rest in a covered bowl.  Now Pinch off little chunks of dough and roll into a ball, pat the ball in a bit of flour and with a rolling pin flaten until you have a two inch disk or a little bigger.

THIRD: Frying
When frying I add the oil to the pot and turn it on high and add a tiny piece of dough. When the dought floats it closer to being to the temperature.  Roll out a piece of dough and put it in the oil.  When it is golden brown on either side pull it out and drain it, then dust is in cinnamon and suger mixtuer.
Put a plate in the oven and turn the oven on the lowest setting and as you make them and dust them put them in the oven to keep warm.

SEVEN:  ENJOY

EASY TUNA WRAP WITH GRAPE TOMATOES

EASY TUNA WRAP WITH GRAPE TOMATOES.

Summer isn't suppost to be here for another two to three weeks, but were haveing a heat wave.  Oh joy.   From 100 to 95 degrees....well it's not that bad, but when coupled with humitiy is feels worse. Bleh.  Getting home from window painting and I feel zapped and there is no way I feel like standing over a hot stove.   So Tuna Wraps are what's for dinner.  There so easy, so fast and yummy.  
Easy is the key word here.

Note: I allways have a stash of homemade tortillas frozen in the freezer.

INGREDIENTS:

Tortillas homemade or store bought.
A small container of Grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes.  Cut in half.
Spinach
Any type of tuna will do.  Skip Jack or Albacore.  And Salmon is really good to.
1 to 2 tablespoons Mayonnaies.
A quarter of minced white onion.

1. Open and drain tuna well, add mayonnaies and onion and mix in well.  
2. Add two tablespoons of tuna to tortilla.
3. Add about 4 grape tomatoes.
4. Add a small handful of spinache.

That it's.  Quick & Easy.    And make a great meal with little effort.

BEING CREATIVE WITH LEFT OVER DIRTY RICE.

BEING CREATIVE WITH LEFT OVER DIRTY RICE.  

Making food last as long as possible is all about being creative.   Dirty Rice is a wonderful adaptive meal that can really go a long way. The two things I like to do with it is add it to soup broth and put it between fresh home made tortillas with veggies and cheese and a bit of hot sauce. I provided the dates of the recipes so you can find them.  Mandarin Pancakes are really good with Dirty Rice too.  

INGREDIENTS:

Dirty Rice Recipe from  9/23/14
Tortillas:  Tortilla Recipe from  8/30/14  or Maderian Pancakes Recipe from 6/23/14
Shreded Cheese Mild chedder is good. 
Hot sauce (optional)  
1 or 2 Anihime Peppers. Chopped   Or add red bellpeppers, red onion instead of white. 
1 or a half of white onion. Chopped.
5 Whole peeled garlic (Optional)

Add onion, pepper and garlic to a pan and sautee on high till onions and peppers have a light  brownish carmilized look to them.

On a warm Tortilla sprinkle your cheese add hot sauce and then add a spoonful of Dirty rice and a spoonfull of veggies.    

Now if you have made every thing ahead of time.  This makes for a really quick meal.

Now keep in mind  if you have just about two to three spoonfull of Dirty rice and a bit of veggies left.   And you have soup broth ice cubes in the freezer.  Don't hesitate to throw the cubes into the pot heat them up and add the Dirty rice and veggies.  This makes for a really good soup.

Or Maybe you can create something new.

Have Fun Making your own creations.  :)      

  

STUFFED CHICKEN TIGHTS

STUFF CHICKEN THIGHS                 Sigh how I miss my BBQ.  One day I'll get it back!

I have to add unfortunately the skin dose not get as crispy in the oven as it dose on the BBQ. :(    
But by all means if you think 325 is not the right temp...turn it up to 350.    Remeber you are in contorl of what you cook.    

Note: By all means BBQ it you can! It make the chicken skin really cruchie and flavoriful.   

My hubby love this recipe because the skin is crunchy and the meat is so juicy and yummy.   This is a great recipe for a picnic with cole slaw or german potato salad.  I think I just gained a few pounds talking about this. This is a recipe I created, because I love to marinade things.  This allows the meat to marinade as it cooks taking on all the flavors.   Ok on with the show!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Flat of chicken thighs, completely thawed.
1 Whole head of garlic.   
1 Whole leamon cut in to thin wedges.  (Optional)  
 S * P * I * C * E * S   &   H * E * R * B * S
Mix and Match or add a new one.    
A tea spoon of each spice or a good pinch of herbs.   
Cinnamon.
Sage minced
Cumin
Paprika 
Cilantro minced
Rosemary
Black or White Pepper.
Oregano

METHOD OF PREPARATION!

NOTE: When handling raw meat.  'WASH YOUR HANDS!" Before and after.  And make sure to wash what ever the meat touches!   

FIRST: MIXING, MINCING & PEEL 
Mix all the dry spices together and mince all the herbs and add to the dry spice.   Peel the garlic until you have one whole garlic piece per chicken or two small piece per chicken depending on their size.
Slice your lemon if your going to use it.   Cut the slice in half so it fits in with the garlic.
{Have a glass dish or plate ready to put the chicken in once it is stuffed.}

SECOND:  PREPING THE CHICKEN.     WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!
Open the package of chicken and stick your nose really close to it and take a big huge sniff.  Meat of any type should have a nice clean smell.  Use a fork to flip a couple of peices smell again.   If you detect any kind of smell that smells off, musty or make your eyes roll. Toss it out.

 -------------------------------------------SAFTY IS PARAMOUNT--------------------------------------------

Take the meat out of the package and put on a big plate or platter.  Take some paper towl and pat each piece dry as best you can.
Now stick your finger under the skin and creat a pocket.   Each piece of meat is different some work some don't.  With the ones that don't have enough skin I just season them and cook them up.
Once you have created a pocket in each piece of chicken one by one open the pocket up and add one teapoon of seasoning and stuff in your garlic piece and half wedge of lemon.    Continue until all the Chicken is stuffed.   WASH YOUR HANDS WHEN YOU ARE DONE!

FOR THE OVEN:    
If you are going to use the oven, use a broiler pan.  With metal tongs set all the meat on the pan and put in the oven on 325 and cook for 45 mintues to an 1 hour.  
*When checking for doneness always check the biggest piece of chicken.   Remove it with tongs and place on a plate that is slightly at an angle.  Let it be for about three mintues. If the juice run clear, every thing is done.   If not let it cook longer.   If the chicken piece are really big you might cook 30 minutes longer.   If their small 45 minutes is fine.

FOR THE BBQ:       ------------------------> Gas grill turn to med.
BBQing is really complicated so I'm just going to give a rough explination.
1. Pile the brickets in a pyrimid.
2. Use lighter fluid so ignite.  Be carful.
3. Let brickets burn for 30 to an 1 hour.  (Depending on how many use used)
4.  Thing of the BBQ as a dart board. The middle is high, the second outer ring is med and the third outer ring is low.
 Low: you can hold your hand about a inch above the grill surface.
Med: you can hold your hand about 3 inches above the grill surface.
High:  Your hand is high above the grill.  
This is a approximation, each grill will be different.

Place the chicken with the metal prongs in and around medium part of the grill.  You don't have to be exacting.  Put the lid down or on.   Open the vents a bit.
Please find some video's on BBQ if you are unsure.   BBQing is one of these thing you have to watch to understand.   But it is so worth it.  
Cook the chicken for 45 to 55 mintues.  Or until the skin is nice and crips.  Check the meat the same way as above.

Throw away the knife and fork and dig in. :)    And don't forget to Eat the Garlic. YUM!