Chef Lisa

I came up with this recipe as a variation of the Firecracker burger (from Allrecipes.com). The kids asked for the burgers. I didn’t have hamburger buns, but I did have a box of penne in the pantry.

Firecracker Pasta

 
2 small onions, finely diced
1 lb ground beef
2 tsp garlic powder
2 – 4 oz. cans chopped green chiles
1 lb penne pasta
1 3/4 c. shredded chipotle cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese
1/4 c. shredded sharp cheddar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook penne according to the package directions. Drain and keep warm.

Cook the onions in a large pot until soft. Add ground beef and garlic powder, and cook until there’s no pink showing in the meat. Drain the fat off the meat and onions. Add chiles, including all the liquid in the cans, to the meat mixture. Cook for 2 minutes. Add past and mix thoroughly.

Pour pasta into a greased 9″ x 13″ pan. Cover with cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This is one of Ari’s favorite breakfast dishes. If there are leftovers and we don’t put them away, she will calmly go and snatch pieces and eating them without telling anyone. One day, she’d eaten an entire cake before we’d realized it.

We usually have Cowboy Coffee Cake for Sunday breakfast, along with scrambled eggs and breakfast sausages (another of Ari’s favorites).

Cowboy Coffee Cake

 
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
2 well beaten eggs

Preheat oven to 375.

Grease and flour two eight inch round cake pans.

Combine with pastry blender flour, salt, brown sugar and shortening. Reserve 1/2 cup of crumbs.

Add baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg to remaining crumbs and stir.

Add milk and eggs and mix until blended. Pour batter into prepared pans (half in each). Sprinkle reserved crumbs on top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpicks inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serves 12-16.

A Paula Deen recipe from Food Network. Ari loves Paula Deen, and when she plays “cooking show” Paula’s the one she pretends to be. She’s got Paula’s speech down pat – including Paula’s accent. It’s hilarious to watch. Anyway, I made a variation in the recipe from the way originally written. It calls for more orange zest than I was able to obtain, but I think I like it with the lesser amount. I may, one day, try it with more. Until then, though, I like it this way.

This bread tastes really nice warm. The raw batter tasted very sweet, and I was worried that it would still be so sweet, but the orange zest helped cut it and made for a very nice bread.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

 
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp orange zest
Whipped cream, for serving
Zucchini ribbons, for serving

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.

I manage to score two big zucchini. And I mean big – they were 3 lbs each. Luckily, we love zucchini bread. I’m trying out several different recipes to see which ones we like best. This is the first one. It tastes okay warm (plain, with no butter or anything), but tastes 100 times better when it’s cooled completely.

We based this recipe on one I found at the Food Network. We like it with a bit more cinnamon than they recommend.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini)
Turbinado sugar or other crystallized brown sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour, or spray with non-stick cooking spray, a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Stir the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. When well combined, stir in the oats.

Make a well in the center of the ingredients. Whisk the eggs, oil, and vanilla together in a small bowl then pour the mixture into the well. Combine lightly, then stir in the zucchini. Don’t overmix.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, mounding it up in the center. Bake for 60 or 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack covered with a clean dish towel to prevent indentations. Let the bread cool at least 10 minutes longer before slicing.

Yet another recipe we tried from Rachel Ray. What can I say? We like her recipes, and just because I work at home doesn’t mean I want to spend all day cooking. It’s not that I don’t agree with the Slow Food movement, but see no reason why I can’t make quick and healthy meals. Besides, my daughter seems to be willing to eat anything she’s seen Rachel cook on her shows, so who am I to argue?

This recipe serves 4, and there were absolutely no leftovers. We had to try hard not to lick even the serving dishes clean. Click on the picture to get a larger version, less blurry version to see.

Lime Rickey Chicken and Almond Rice Pilaf

1/4 cup honey
Juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon bitters (i.e. Angostura)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds chicken cutlets or tenders, sliced into thin strips
8 scallions, sliced on an angle into 2-inch pieces

Salt and pepper
1/2 cup fresh or frozen green peas
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
One 6-ounce box rice pilaf mix, prepared according to package directions
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

In a small bowl, mix together the honey, lime juice and bitters and stir to dissolve the honey. Be careful when dealing with the bitters – got a bit on the counter from the measuring spoon and it left a nice pinkish stain on my counter.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat until smoking. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the scallions and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the honey mixture; toss for 1 minute to coat.

Stir the peas and cilantro into the prepared rice rice pilaf. Add the nuts and fluff with a fork.

Serve family style on a platter, putting the chicken on top of a serving of rice. (The original recipe said to leave the extra sauce in the pan, but I just poured it all over the rice and I think it was the better for it.)