valosin's Moscow Mule

valosin made me this drink once! I can vouch that it is divinely delish.

• 2oz vodka
• 1oz fresh lime juice
• Ginger beer (This can be hard to find. Ginger ale will work ok, but ginger beer is darker, a litte sweeter, and more intense. It adds a lot to the drink).

Combine ingredients over ice in a highball glass. Garnish with a slice of lime.

sylph's Mock Sangria

Mix together 1 cup of orange juice, 1 cup of lemon juice, and 1 cup of sugar. Add 8 cups of grape juice--the 100% kind, not the cocktail. Chill this, then just before serving, pour it into a punch bowl with an ice ring or just a bunch of ice, add 2 cups of chopped fruit, which you can buy already done, and then add 4 cups of club soda. That will make 16 servings.

invisible girl's Sherbet Punch

Ducklet asked for punch recipes for a shower... I stole them for the recipe blog.

• Sherbet (raspberry, orange, whatever your pleasure!)
• Equal parts ginger ale & pineapple juice

Mix together for a nice fruity, frothy, spritzy punch!

Note from Britomart: I've had this punch with vodka, too. Yummy!

blue artemis' Chicken & Potato Enchiladas

blue artemis made these in her weekly cookfest this weekend. I thought they sounded wonderful, so asked for a recipe. Thank you, ba! She does warn that this is one of the approximate recipes - it was one she learned from her grandmother, so exact measurements were never involved. (In my opinion, these types of recipes always ended up being the best.)

• Chicken (can be leftover from baking or stew or something) shredded.
• Potatoes
• Green (tomatillo) salsa (TJ's works fine)
• If you want, a can of French cut green beans
• Cheese (either queso ranchero or jack or mozzarella)
• corn tortillas
• Oil for frying

Peel and chop the potatoes into little pieces. Using a non-stick frying pan, cook them (with a little oil) and some seasoned salt, until they are soft. Once they are cooked, throw in the shredded chicken and mix.

You will then need two small frying pans, in one, heat oil for frying, in the second, heat the salsa. Take your tortillas (unheated) and fry them, one at a time, until they are kind of golden, but not fried to a crisp, they should still be bendy. Then take them (one at a time) and dip them in the heated salsa. (Basically, fry them enough that they don't fall apart when you do it, but not enough to make tostadas).

Put your tortilla on a plate, then use a bit of the chicken and potato mixture to fill, throw on some shredded cheese and a bit of the green beans (if you want them), and roll your enchilada. Top with a bit more sauce and shredded cheese. Make as many as you want (or have enough chicken and tortillas for).

BeachBum's Gin of Mellow Delight

• Pour 1.5 ounches Tanqueray over crushed ice.
• Add tonic to taste.
• Squeeze many lime wedges, then drop in glass.
• Drink.
• Sigh with mellow delight.

Britomart's Pink Grapefruit Margarita

As I babbled about in the Hizzy, I recently had the most divine grapefruit margarita in a restaurant on Bainbridge Island. After much dedicated experimentation, I offer this recipe!

• 1 part tequila
• 3/4 part fresh-squeezed pink or red grapefruit juice
• slices of fresh red or pink grapefruit
• 3/4 part Cointreau
• 1/4 part fresh lime juice
• dash of seltzer water*
• coarse salt

Mix all of the ingredients (except the salt!). Rub a slice of grapefruit around the outside edge of a glass, then dip the glass into the salt. Add ice to the glass and pour in the mixed margarita ingredients. Garnish with the grapefruit slice.

* I'm a huge fan of champagne margaritas and was thinking earlier that a dash of champagne, instead of seltzer, would be delicious indeed.

adharas' Lime (or Lemon) Rice

Best recipe EVAH for leftover rice. This is soooo good. And soooo easy to make. And when mujer stayed with me recently, we discovered that this was fantastic middle of the night drunken munchy food.

• 3 handfuls of old, cooked rice - preferably a day old (leftover rice from Chinese food is perfect!)
  
• About 2 TBSP Oil or Ghee
• Small handful of yellow split peas
• 1 green chili (whole)
• 1 TBSP mustard seeds
• 1/8 tsp asafetida (powdery spice available at Indian grocery stores)
• tumeric to taste (1 teaspoon or so)
• Juice from 1-2 limes (or lemon)

Heat oil at medium heat, add mustard seeds and cover pan. Once the mustard seeds are done popping, add the split peas and fry until golden brown. Add the whole green chili (you can cut in half or quarters if you'd like this spicier), the asafetida & salt to taste. Turn off heat and add rice, breaking it up well. Add lime juice and stir in well.

Let it sit of for a couple minutes and taste, adjusting lime & salt as needed.

adharas' Dal Be-Aab

When I stayed with her the other weekend, adharas made this for me and it is so divine. You'll be in danger of addiction. I know I am.

• 1 ½ c black urad dhal, available only in Indian store, and make sure it’s whole black, the white one will result in mushy mess.
• 1 t turmeric
• 1 t red chili powder
• Salt
• 2 T butter/ ghee/ oil (ghee gives best flavor)
• 1 ¾ t cumin seeds
• 2/3 c onions, chopped
• Green chilis, according to taste
  
• 1 T ginger, chopped
• 2 t garam masala
• ½ c tomatoes, chopped
• 2 T cilantro
• ¼ c lemon juice (not lime)
• 1 t ginger paste
• 1 t garlic paste

Wash lentils in running water and boil in approx 6 c water, with turmeric, red chilies powder and salt until cooked. You can make it dry, or as liquid as you want.

Melt ghee in pan, add cumin, sauté until it begins to crackle, and add onions, gr chilis, ginger, sauté until onions are light brown. Add dal, reduce heat, stir few minutes. Add garam masala, tomatoes, cilantro, lemon juice. Cook few minutes. If too thin, just let it cook for a while, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Add ginger garlic pastes, stir & cook for a few minutes.

Britomart's MadCon Blue Cheese Dip

I threw this together for Misa since she's a fellow blue cheese nut. It ended up being a hit with many. I was worried, in fact, that if I didn't post it soon, valeriel would do me harm! I'm kinda embarrassed to even share it because it is soooo ridiculously simple. Everything else I made for MadCon was, of course, ludicrously complicated and took days to make. ::snort::

Oh, the only accurate measurement is the cream cheese. And, actually, I think I used part of another package, so um, yeah. I think this is pretty close, though. Just keep tasting.

• 8 oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2-4 oz Maytag blue cheese (room temperature)
• 1 1/2 C raw pecans
• 2 TBSP butter (melted)
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop pecans coarsely and drizzle with melted butter, making sure all the pecan pieces are evenly coated. Lightly salt pecans and bake for approximately 8 minutes (check a couple times to make sure that they're not getting too brown.)

In a bowl, mush cream cheese and blue cheese together with a fork. Taste to make sure you have the desired amount of blue cheese. (I recommend you add the blue cheese incrementally so that the dip doesn't become too strong.)

Once they've cooled a bit, put pecans in food processor - if you have one of those wee, adorable ones, that's best. Grind until they're as small as they can be. (If you don't have a food processor, or don't feel like using it, you could just chop the bejeezus out of them until they're very fine.)

Stir pecan mixture into cheese mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

MartianIceQueen's Fruit Compote/Sauce Thingy

Martian threw this together a couple weeks ago & served over angel food cake. Appropriately, it sounds divine...

Cut up some rhubarb (I used 3 stalks), add some sugar (I used about 2/3 cup), some powdered clove and cinnamon, two handfuls of dried cherries, and some orange juice (not quite covering the amount of rhubarb). Simmer until tender. Slice about 2 pints of strawberries, and stir into the rhubarb mixture (once you've taken it off the stove). Cover and chill in the fridge. It turns a really lovely color, and is tart-sweet.

valeriel's Asparagus and Cherry Tomato Salad

val doesn't love me enough to email me recipes anymore, but it sounds delicious, so I worked through my pain and posted it.

Here are her notes about the recipe: If you use cherry tomatoes, cut them in half. The key with a salad like this is to make all the pieces bite-sized or smaller.

Using asparagus with more slender stalks is recommended. Thicker stalks are tougher and can give your salad a “woody” taste.

This salad is very fresh-tasting, so using fresh ingredients is best, but using regular salt, pepper and lemon juice won’t hurt the end results.

Doubling the recipe is recommended for potlucks or any large group. You won’t have any leftover, I promise!

Once you have your serving of salad, sprinkle the top with a pinch of kosher salt. It really brings out the flavors!

• 1 lb. asparagus
• 1 pint cherry (or grape) tomatoes
• ½ red onion, finely diced
• 3 T capers, drained
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 T olive oil
• 1 ½ T red wine vinegar
• 1 T fresh lemon juice
• Kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
• Freshly ground black pepper

Trim the tips from the asparagus, about 1 ½ inches in lengths. Cut the woody stem ends from each spear and discard. Cut the remaining stalks into 1 ½ inch pieces.

In a medium pot, bring three cups of water to boil. Add the asparagus and blanch until tender, 1-1 ½ minutes. Remove with a strainer, and refresh in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Drain and put into a large bowl.

Add the tomatoes, onion, capers and garlic. Toss with olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

adharas' Asparagus Soup

adharas reported in the Hizzy that she made this soup & pronounced it delicious. Enjoy!

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 cup sliced shallots (about 6 large)
• 2 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 14-ounce cans vegetable broth

• 1/4 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add asparagus and coriander; stir 1 minute. Add vegetable broth and simmer until asparagus is tender, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in blender. Strain into same pan, pressing on solids to release liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Stir crème fraîche, lemon juice, and lemon peel in small bowl. Divide soup among bowls. Top with dollop of lemon crème fraîche and serve.

valosin's Sesame Pork Loin

valosin emailed this to me last week! I somehow lost it in my inbox. Thank god she said something about it in the Hizzy! You know I'm stressed when I'm missing recipes... Anyway, valosin writes: I mentioned this recipe to sylph and I told her I'd send it to you to put up on the blog. It's from the Joy of Cooking.

Mix:

• 1/4c Soy sauce
• 1/4c Hoisin sauce
• 1/4c honey
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp peeled, grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Trim 2 pork tenderloins (~12 oz each). Place the tenderloins in a heavy plastic bag. Add marinade and turn to coat evenly. Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hrs.

Spread 1/2 c sesame seeds on a plate.

Remove meat from the marinade and drain the excess. Roll in the seeds to coat. Place in a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast at 500 F until an instant read thermometer reads 150 to 155 F (20 to 25 min). Let the pork stand, loosely covered with foil for 5 to 10 min (the temp will rise 5 degrees or so), then slice. Serve with rice and stir-fried vegetables.

SaraWolfe's Bourbon-Glazed Peach Chutney Ham

Sara told us in the Hizzy how wonderful this recipe is, then kindly shared it! Thanks, Sara!

• 6-7 lb bone-in shank portion smoked ham
• 12 oz peach preserves
• 1/3 cup bourbon whiskey
• 2 tbs dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups sliced peaches (1/2" pieces)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325. Trim skin, and most of the fat from the ham. Place ham on foil-lined roasting pan, on a rack, cut side down. Score fat 1/4" down, in a diamond pattern. Roast about 1 hour, 45 minutes, or until 140 degrees.

In small saucepan, over medium heat, stir preserves, whiskey, and mustard for about ten minutes, until thickened. Cool slightly, then brush over ham several times during the last half hour of cooking.

In another pan, boil the vinegar and sugar, and stir in the remaining ingredients. Simmer until thickened. This is the glaze for the peach slices.

lostdwarf's Quinoa Salad

I was such a brat about this recipe, I can't believe lostdwarf still shared it. Thanks for being so wonderful, lostdwarf!

• 1 ½ cups quinoa, rinsed well
• 3 cups vegetable broth or water (chicken broth works too)
• ½ cup Basic Salad Dressing (I just use as much as I’d like)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed
• ¼ cup red onion, diced
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced or 1 shallot, chopped (I just use green onion, include the white)
• ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped (dried works too)
• ¼ cup parsley, chopped

Add quinoa to broth or water in a medium sauce pan, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer; then cover and cook 15 minutes without stirring or until liquid is absorbed. Remove ingredients from saucepan and place in a bowl. Cool slightly and toss with salad dressing and remaining ingredients. Add more dressing if desired and adjust seasoning to taste. Add any leftover veggies for variety. (12 servings)

Basic Salad Dressing
(2 – 3 Servings)

• ¼ cup flaxseed oil (or 2 tbsp. each flaxseed and olive oils) – I only use olive oil
• 1 – 2 tbsp vinegar (apple cider, tarragon, rice, red wine, balsamic, ume plum) – I like apple cider best and I use 2 tbsp
• ½ - 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp Dijon-type mustard (optional but delicious), whisked in to liquid for easy mixing
• Whole or minced garlic, oregano, basil or other herbs of choice

Mix well in a shaker jar and store any leftovers in your refrigerator.

My additions: I will typically throw the salad dressing in a blender to liquefy the garlic. I find that it’s nicer to not chomp on a huge piece of garlic. I will also throw the red onion from the quinoa recipe in the blender with the salad dressing (doubled because I like red onion) for the same reason. It also gives it a lovely reddish-purple colour. Most of this is to taste. I prefer it cold so I’ll make it the day before and let the dressing just seep into the quinoa.

Snuggle Muffin’s Easy Peasy Chocolate Chip Easter Bunny Cookies

So SnuggleMuffin made the coolest, absolutely adorable House & Wilson bunny cookies, then generously offered the recipe. I, of course, accepted the offer immediately! She writes, "This is a real cookie recipe that I adapted and turned into bunnies, if eating bunnies isn’t your thing then just make them as cookies. This makes about 10 Bunny Cookies. I’ve included a diagram in case my instructions are a bit hard to follow, the bunny making method I made up myself and I wasn’t sure how to word it." SnuggleMuffin rocks!

• 4 oz (100g) margarine
• 2 oz (50g) light soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tea spoon vanilla essence
• 8 oz (225g) plain flower
• ½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 to 3 oz chocolate chips (optional: You can make plain bunnies with
• chocolate chip decoration, chocolate chip bunnies with no decoration, or
• chocolate chips bunnies with chocolate chip decoration)
• I also added some (about half a table spoon) ground almonds, but you don’t have to you don’t want to.

Heat the oven to 375oF, 190oC, gas mark 5. Grease on e or two baking sheets/trays. Put the margarine in a bowl with the sugar and beat until soft and creamy.

Mix in all the remaining ingredients until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

Divide the dough in to balls leaving some for the heads and ears, they should be about 2 to 2 ½ inches across when flattened and ½ an inch thick. Make the heads in the same way and they should be about an inch and ½ across when flattened. Then sort of squish them onto the bodies. (See diagram.)

Use the spare dough to make the ears: roll pieces of dough into sausage shapes about an inch long and stick on the heads. Use chocolate chips, raisons or bits of died fruit to make eyes on the bunny biscuits. (You could even make little chocolate chip bow ties and add a little cookie cane to one of them.)

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

MisaGoddess' Coconut Chicken Curry

Thank you, Misa!

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Black pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons of chicken soup base (Penzey’s)
• 2-3 tablespoons of red curry paste (I used Roland’s)
• 1/3 to ½ cup of lite coconut milk (also Roland’s - nice coincidence)

I washed the breasts, rubbed them with black pepper and placed them in a glass pan. I poured the coconut curry mixture over them and baked the dish, uncovered, at around 375 degrees for about an hour (or until just done). I served them over brown rice but I also tried them with orzo pasta. Yummy with both.

Eilan's Pork Tenderloin Yumminess

sylph was cooking a (doomed) pork tenderloin today (doomed because she forgot about Alan Rickman!), so Eilan kindly submitted this recipe. Apparently, this recipe is by Nancye DeLoach. Who is she? I have no idea. Why does she have a weird, extraneous "e" at the end of her first name? I do not know.

2 pork tenderloins, 1 pound each

Marinade:

• ¼ cup bourbon (Jim Beam)
• ¼ cup (or less) vegetable oil
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Mix marinade ingredients, stirring well. Pour over the thawed tenderloins. Cover and refrigerate overnight to two days. (If you freeze it for a couple days, it’s even better, just thaw before cooking.) Cook 4 – 8 inches high over hot coals and grill for 15-20 minutes, basting occasionally. Or put into a casserole dish and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, basting twice. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more.

Eilan's concocted (appropriated/bastardized/whatever) recipe

Eilan wrote in the Hizzy: So I had some veggies in the house and needed to cook them. It's something that probably a lot of people have on hand (or should), so here's an easy dinner when you don't have a lot of time.

Cut some potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips (I didn't have these tonight), and whatever else into bite-sized(ish) pieces. Parboil them briefly in some salted water. Meanwhile, dice up a couple shallots and sautee them in some oil/butter/whatever (I used Ghee, since I had some). Put in the vegetables, and some chopped (canned or frozen) artichoke hearts. Sautee those for a couple minutes until soft(ish). I also put in some fresh rosemary, because what isn't improved by fresh rosemary? (I probably would have put in some other fresh herbs, but all I have is rosemary.) Then sprinkle with some (toasted) bread crumbs and enjoy!

Eyeroller's Fusion Carrot Slaw

This is another "what's in the fridge?" dish from Eyeroller's Kitchen.

The original version used rainbow carrots, but if you can't get those, regular carrots will do just fine--but not those baby carrots, and don't use the pre-shredded carrots. I know that anybody reading this is smart enough to use a grater.

Wash four carrots, but do not peel. Grate. Set aside.

Chop four spring onions, white and green parts; add to carrots and mix.

Toast 1/4 c. chopped walnuts. (Stovetop toasting method: heat a dry frying pan until a drop of water sizzles; add nuts and stir constantly for 3-4 minutes, until you can just smell the nuts. Remove from heat.)

Dressing

• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp grapeseed oil
• 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp grade B maple syrup
• Juice of half a lemon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

Combine ingredients in a bowl, mix with a fork until a smooth emulsion forms. Correct seasoning to taste.

Toss dressing with veggies. Add toasted nuts and serve.