Nutella – The Food of the gods!

Today is World Nutella Day.

I know this for a fact because I saw it on the internet  (http://www.nutelladay.com/)  I have no idea what dear, dear person came up with this idea in 2007 over at the Nutella company but I think they should be given a promotion, a raise and one of those big fat bonuses like U.S. CEOs  get when they run their companies into the ground. I am eternally grateful to my German sister-in-law for introducing me to Nutella back in the days when we couldn’t get Nutella here in the states and they couldn’t get decent peanut butter over there so we traded mass quantities of the stuff at Christmas, along with tons of Milka candy bars. Now, unfortunately, the German high command does not allow us to mail packaged food into their country. At least we can buy our own Nutella in the grocery stores now. I’m always looking for ways to eat the stuff besides on crepes and my finger. If you are too, I highly recommend that you go here http://www.nutelladay.com/nutella-recipes/ where the Nutella think-tank has gathered about 400 recipes using Nutella from all over the blogging world.  I have a couple of my own favorite recipes to share with everyone. Enjoy!

Nutella Brownies (Food of the gods Brownies)

1 1/4 c. hazelnuts, toasted
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
4 oz. milk chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 c. nutella
1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs

In a food processor, pulse toasted hazelnuts until coarsely ground. Melt chocolates with butter & Nutella. Cool slightly. Add eggs and sugar. Sift together flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Stir in flour mixture and hazelnuts into chocolate mixture until just combined. Pour batter into greased pan that has been dusted with cocoa powder. Bake @ 350º  for 35-40 min. DO NOT over bake. Toothpick inserted into brownies should have fudgy crumbs stuck to it.

Nutella & Almond Buttercups

CRUST:                                                       
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FILLING:                                                       
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup almond paste

In large mixing bowl, combine all crust ingredients. Blend well. Place 1 TBSP. of crust mixture in each mini muffin cup and tap down with a tart shaper.

Prepare Almond Filling by beating eggs in mixer bowl until foamy. Gradually add sugar and almond extract, beating until thick. Blend in almond paste; mix well. Fill each tart shell with 1 tsp. filling.

Bake at 350° for 20 – 25 minutes until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cooled, top with nutella and a slivered almond.

Breakfast Tacos a la Cara

I’ve been buying a delicious green onion sausage from Ainsworth Meat Market since we’ve moved here and I discovered it 3 months ago. Most meat markets in this part of Texas make green onion sausage. It is very flavorful with a bit of an unexpected bite to it. My only complaint is that I can’t buy it in bulk form, so the first step in these yummy breakfast tacos is to take the sausage out of the casing, place the desired amount in a medium-hot skillet and crumble it as it cooks.

Thoroughly whisk desired number of eggs in a bowl. As soon as the sausage is completely cooked, pour the eggs over  and quickly scramble ’til the whole mess has reached the consistency that you like.

Serve the eggs and sausage with warm tortillas, pico de gallo, and Mexican Crema to drizzle over for an added creaminess.

Enjoy a little Tex-Mex breakfast!

Chicken Verde

This is my own little invention for nights when I need something fairly quick and uncomplicated; another non-recipe recipe. It’s a wee bit spicy. This recipe uses bottled Salsa Verde (you could use canned), which is a Mexican green sauce made from tomatillos, cilantro and jalapenos. It is easy to find in our Texas grocery stores but if you live elsewhere , you may have a difficult time locating it. Enjoy! 

Bake boneless skinless chicken breasts in a baking pan with a lip at 350° until done. (I told you it was uncomplicated!) Take the pan out of the oven. Pour some bottled salsa verde (Mexican green sauce) over the chicken breasts, then top each with a slice of pepper jack cheese. Put the pan back into the oven ’til the cheese is melted and bubbly. Top each breast with avocado slices and serve.

Sour Cream Muffins

This is the recipe I chose to accompany my last post about Paula Deen. This is one of her best. If you’ve never made Ms. Deen’s sour cream muffins, the recipe will look very odd to you. It only has 3 ingredients and doesn’t sound very appetizing. Oh but it is!  They are called muffins but are more like extremely tasty biscuits. The muffins fall apart in your hand and they melt in your mouth. Don’t put a thing on them except maybe a wee bit of honey or jam; you don’t want to cover up the delicate flavor. I don’t even want to know how terribly unhealthy they must be. Enjoy!

Sour Cream Muffins

2 cups self-rising flour

2 sticks butter, melted

1 cup sour cream

Combine all ingredients and spoon into 24 mini or 12 regular muffin tins (ungreased). Bake at 350° for 20 – 30 minutes.

Cheese Cracker Chicken

I promised to post this “recipe” for the benefit of my son in the Buffalo, NY area. I learned to make this dish from my maternal grandmother about 25 years ago. My hubby and all the kids love it. I can’t even pretend that it is healthy but it is definitely delicious. Enjoy! (As soon as I get my camera up and working again I will add some of my terrible photos! I really need help in that area.)

Cheese Cracker Chicken

Grease a 9″ x 13″ casserole dish. Place uncooked chicken in the dish; you can use boneless skinless breasts, thighs, or tenderloins, bone-in pieces, or a whole chicken cut up but with the skin removed; it doesn’t matter. I made it with 6 large boneless skinless breasts today but I prefer the whole cut up chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika. Smear a pint of sour cream over the seasoned chicken. Crush about 1/2 – 2/3 of a 16 oz. box of cheese crackers and pour over the sour cream layer . Pour 6 TBSP. melted butter over the top and cover with foil. Bake at 350°   – and here’s the tricky part –  ’til the chicken is cooked through. I honestly don’t know exactly how long I bake it because #1 I use different types of chicken and #2 I haven’t ever actually timed it. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Then remove the foil and bake for about 10 minutes longer.

2 Over Ripe Bananas

Our family drives 45 minutes to Bible class and  worship on Sunday mornings. As many of you know, we are not morning people (except for hubby); so I always prepare a breakfast item on Saturday that’s okay to eat in the car during the long drive. Today I’m making banana muffins to be consumed tomorrow morning. Hopefully there will be a few left over to share with one or two of the unmarried guys. This is the banana bread recipe that my mother always made for us. DELICIOUS!! nuff said! Enjoy! 

Banana Bread

 1/4 cup butter 

 1 cup sugar

 1 egg

 1/2 cup sour cream

 2 cups flour

 2 tsp. baking powder

 1 tsp. baking soda

 1/2 tsp. salt

 2 over ripe bananas (mash ahead of time unless seriously over ripe)

 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine the dry ingredients; set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, sour cream and banana; mix well.  Mix in the dry ingredients. Stir in the pecans.  Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan or muffin tins. Bake at 350° until a tester comes out clean. Let sit in the pan for 15 minutes then dump out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.

 

Gravy, Gravy, Gravy

I have two delicious gravy recipes for everyone today. The base recipes for both come, once again, from “Cooking from Quilt Country”, but both have been somewhat changed by me. I do not usually use dried minced onions but in these two recipes I think they really add a yummy flavor. Feel free to use fresh chopped onion or leave it out completely, but be advised that it will change the gravy’s flavor. Same thing with the cream –  feel free to substitute with milk, but it will affect it a bit. Enjoy!   

Until I met my husband, I had never in my life heard of tomato gravy. It didn’t sound particularly appealing. When I got my copy of the above mentioned cook book, there it was – tomato gravy! I decided to try it out and I was very pleasantly surprised. It was rich and flavorful. I have since heard of several different versions of tomato gravy. Which version you prefer seems to depend on where you grew up. Some versions are a basic cream gravy with a can of diced tomatoes added and some are much like this recipe with chunks of tomatoes in it. I prefer this version – so there! And I do NOT suggest replacing the bacon drippings with another fat!

Tomato Gravy

2 TBSP. bacon drippings

1 TBSP. dried minced onion

3 TBSP. flour

1 1/2 cups tomato juice or V-8

1/2 cup milk or cream

1 TBSP. light brown sugar

1/4 tsp. celery salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Heat the drippings in a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion but do not let it get brown. Whisk in the flour and cook ’til the flour is a golden color (several minutes). Add the tomato juice and whisk ’til smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients; cook and whisk until the gravy thickens to the desired consistency.

 

Sausage Gravy

1 lb. bulk breakfast sausage

1 TBSP. dried minced onion

6 TBSP. flour

3 cups milk

1 cup cream

1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning

2 TBSP. light brown sugar

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

   Cook the sausage in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, breaking the meat up into small pieces as it cooks; do not allow it to get crisp or overdone. When the meat is nearly done, add the onion.  Drain off all but 2 – 3 TBSP. of the meat drippings; If your sausage did not give off enough fat, add a little oil to equal about 3 TBSP.. Whisk in the flour and cook ’til it is golden in color and bubbly. Pour in the milk/cream all at once and the remaining ingredients. Cook and whisk (scraping the bottom) until the mixture thickens.

Surprise – I’m Back!

New Fave Food! Last week, while watching Mexican Made Easy, on the Food Network,  I decided to leave my comfort zone and try something new. I’m so glad I did, because I discovered a delicious dish; Chicken Tostadas. This is another one of those non-recipe recipes so feel free to play around with it. Enjoy!

Chicken Tostadas

crispy tostada shells (warm)

refried beans (warm)

Shredded Rotisserie chicken (warm)

very thinly sliced radish

shredded lettuce

purple onion rings

Mexican Crema

avocado slices

Queso Fresco

 

Simply layer the ingredients in the order given and eat!  I left out the purple onion because I’m just not a fan, but my hubby loved it.

 

 

Lindor Truffles

Did I get your attention? I love a good chocolate! I don’t eat too much at one sitting,  just a couple of bites will do. I have a brother who has been a resident of Germany for well over 20 years. He was stationed there  while serving in the Army, met a wonderful German farm girl, and the rest is history! My oldest son was stationed there for several years and my grandson was born there.  I said all that to explain why I (traitorous as it may sound) prefer European chocolate to American chocolate. I don’ t know what makes it different; maybe someone could enlighten me. My husband bought me flowers and candy for Valentines day. Part of the candy was a bag of  Lindor Truffles and unfortunately it has been so cold here that the centers were no longer that liquidy chocolate. I commented on this unfortunate fact on my Facebook page and my lovely young friend Janette commented that if you take a couple of the truffles out of their wrappers, put them on a small plate, and zap them in the microwave for just 6 -7 seconds, they will once again be back to their wonderful little selves! Ok – technically not a recipe, but – enjoy!

Another Cornbread Recipe

Cornbread is good for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner! If you were paying attention during ‘Cornbread Week’ then you know how much I love cornbread in just about any form. I got a recipe for a yummy cornbread breakfast casserole from my daughter about a year ago and I decided to change it up (like I do most recipes I come across) to meet my needs. Our family drives 1 hour each way to church twice on Sundays and once on Wednesday nights. On Saturday, I usually make something that we can eat in the car Sunday morning on the way to church. I turning my daughter’s casserole idea into a “muffin”. Enjoy!

Cornbread Breakfast Muffins

1 cup cornmeal 

1 cup flour

2 TBSP. sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 lb. bulk breakfast sausage (cooked & crumbled)

1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)

2-4 TBSP. chopped green chiles

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl; add the milk, egg, and melted butter; stir until thoroughly mixed. Stir in remaining ingredients. Using a large scoop, drop into greased muffin tins and bake at 350° for 25 minutes or ’til browned and done in the middle.

Note: I happened to have bacon grease on hand so I replaced the melted butter with that.