Zucchini Soup

This weekend was our Church's General Conference - where members of the Church gather to hear the messages prepared by the leaders of our Church. So yesterday and today, my family all gathered at my parents' house to watch the broadcast and spend time together. This naturally includes lots of delicious foods. We usually have a nice big lunch between the morning and afternoon sessions. Today's lunch was this delicious soup. This is a great way to use up some of those huge zucchinis left in your garden - just shred them up and put them in a soup! We ended up tripling the recipe because there were so many of us.


Zucchini Soup
1 1/2 lb. zucchini, unpeeled and sliced thin (or shredded)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 can chicken broth (or equivalent of water and bouillon)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup light cream (or evaporated milk)
Parsley for garnish (optional)

Saute zucchini and onion in butter til limp. Add chicken broth and simmer covered 15 minutes. Puree in blender. Add cream of chicken soup, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and cream. Mix well. Heat through and serve.

My sister Michelle made some amazing rolls to go with the soup. She has posted the recipe on her blog Fabulous Food! so go check it out!


Also, stay tuned here for the incredible cake that I made for yesterday's dessert!

My Kitchen My World - Ecuador

This was a very fun one! This week's country for My Kitchen My World was chosen by Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch. She chose to take us to Ecuador. My husband Jeff served a mission for our church in New York, working with the Spanish-speaking people there for two years. In that time, he met several Ecuadorean families. He says that the Ecuadoreans are known for two foods in particular - ceviche (fish "cooked" in lime juice) and cuy (roast guinea pig). Guess which one I chose to make. And it's not the guinea pig. When I looked up Ecuadorean cuisine online, I also came across something called tronquito. Look it up to see why I decided against this particular dish as well.


So Jeff and I decided to make ceviche. I've heard about it, but never really thought I would make it. Here's a brief description from Wikipedia: "Ceviche is marinated in a citrus-based mixture, with lemons and limes being the most commonly used. In addition to adding flavor, the citric acid causes the proteins in the seafood to become denatured, which pickles or 'cooks' the fish without heat. Traditional style ceviche was marinated up to 3 hours. Modern style ceviche usually has a very short marinating period. With the appropriate fish, it can marinate for as long as it takes to mix the ingredients, serve and carry to the table." The recipe we decided on calls for 4 hours of marinating - I felt more comfortable with a nice long marinating time, to make absolutely sure the fish was done denaturing!

Together Jeff and I decided on a recipe to use, then we headed to Wal-Mart to find the cheapest fish we could (yet still good quality - that's important in ceviche). I don't know if our recipe is truly an authentic Ecuadorean ceviche - each Central and South American region seems to have their own take on this dish. But Jeff gave it his authoritative seal of approval, so we forged onward.


Here is the recipe with our frugal substitutions in red:

Ceviche
1/4 teaspoon white sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons*(see note) sea salt (regular)
1/2 teaspoon chili paste or sauce (purchased on major clearance a couple months ago)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (no substitute here - bottled isn't acidic enough to properly denature the proteins)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (ours wasn't freshly ground)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (Canola)
1 clove garlic, minced (bottled)
1/4 cup minced red onion (yellow onion)
1 ripe tomato, finely diced
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro (1 tbsp. dried parsley)
1 pound very fresh salmon fillets (sushi-grade preferred), thinly sliced (tilapia - it was the cheapest - but whatever fish you choose, be sure that it is very fresh)
1 avocado, sliced

In a large glass or plastic bowl, dissolve the sugar, salt, and chili paste in the lime juice. Season with pepper and cumin. Stir in the olive oil, garlic, onion, tomato, and cilantro. Gently mix in the salmon, then cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours.

To serve, drain the excess liquid from the salmon, then gently stir in the avocado slices, and allow to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.

*Note: This amount of salt really seems like too much. Jeff says that ceviche needs to be really salty to keep from allowing bacteria growth. But even he agreed that this tasted too salty. Maybe try just 1 1/2 tbsp. of salt instead of 2 1/2.

Food safety note: Since we're working with uncooked fish, finish eating it all on the first day - try not to leave any leftovers. It could go bad very quickly. In Ecuador (and New York, and anywhere else where they eat ceviche) this is a big deal. They will invite friends, family, and neighbors over for dinner when they prepare ceviche, specifically so that it all gets eaten right away. So don't leave leftovers!


Okay, now that all that recipe and food safety stuff is out of the way - how did it taste? It was great! Like I pointed out, it was quite salty, but despite the saltiness the flavor was amazing. I've never had ceviche, so I have nothing to compare it with, but Jeff said it tasted pretty authentic to him. The texture of the fish was tender, a bit different from fish that has been actually cooked, but definitely nice. My favorite part was the avocado - I love avocado in just about anything!

We chose to serve this with some very simple accompaniments. The Ecuadorean people serve their foods with thick tortillas and, like most Hispanic cultures, rice and beans. So we used our trusty Maseca (masa harina) to make nice thick tortillas:


And we cooked up some simple beans and rice. Seriously simple. We didn't even season them.










All in all, this was a delicious meal! Check out what the other My Kitchen My World-ers made this week!




I'm also submitting this to Frugal Fridays (1 meal for four, under $10) - though I know I'm cutting it close because it's Saturday morning. Here's the price breakdown:

Tilapia - $4.10
Limes - $0.50
Avocado - $0.58
Tomato - $0.50
Beans - $0.40
Rice - $0.60
Maseca - $0.40
Everything else - too cheap to list

Total Price: $7.08 :-)

Some Like it Hot!

We've had some tasty little jalapenos in the fridge waiting to be used. Today, we finally decided to use up most of them. I've been wanting to make jalapeno poppers, but upon checking the jalapenos, we realized that they were much too small to make decent poppers. So Jeff took several peppers and turned them into some really insane hot sauce. This stuff seriously needs to come with a warning label, but we figured a biohazard sign would be sufficient.


Jeff's Insane Jalapeno Hot Sauce
1/3 cup onion
1/3 cup jalapenos
2 tsp. minced bottled garlic
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. parsley
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. bacon bits (optional)

Combine in food processor and process until finely minced. Pour into one half-pint jar. Microwave uncovered about 2 minutes. Put lid on and let cool at room temperature. When Jeff made this, the lid actually popped down, like lids do when you process food in jars. But since we didn't process it, and I'm not sure about the food safety stuff involved, it's best to store this in the refrigerator.

This is very spicy, especially when you use (as we did) tiny jalapenos that have been sitting in the fridge for a while, because they heat up the longer they sit. Yum!

Jeff says that this can be added to stuff like ketchup or salsa to spice them up, or just use it like you would any hot sauce. If you're brave enough...




This sauce is really good, but I wasn't satisfied. We still had lots of jalapenos left, and I was still craving poppers. After thinking about it, I realized I could have the jalapeno popper flavor, without actually making poppers. I made it into a hot spread by taking the ingredients normally found in poppers, mixing them together, and baking them.


Jalapeno Popper Spread
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
2 tbsp. bacon bits
Several jalapenos, seeded and chopped
Bread crumbs

In a 9-inch pie plate, combine first four ingredients. If your jalapenos are particularly small and spicy, you might want to microwave them in a bowl with about a tablespoon of water first (cooking dulls the bite). But if you're like my husband, and start washing some dishes right in the spot where the steamy air shoots out the side of the microwave, be prepared for the jalapeno steam to hit you full in the face and make you choke a bit. As you're coughing, be sure to rub your eye with the fingers you got jalapeno juice on while you were chopping them. Yell a lot, and go running to the bathroom to rinse your eye thoroughly as your wife giggles at you.

Here's a pretty picture of the spread just after I added the jalapenos. I hadn't mixed them in yet, and it looked so pretty and colorful!


After you've combined the cream cheese, Colby Jack, bacon bits, and chopped jalapenos, spread it out evenly in the pan, and top with a sprinkling of bread crumbs. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

This turned out so fabulous! It had all those great jalapeno popper flavors - cream cheese, bacon, melted cheese, and spicy jalapeno. Jeff and I absolutely loved it. I didn't particularly care for the fact that as I ate it my nose started sweating and running - but that's just what happens to me when I eat spicy food. TMI? Sorry...

Anyway, this wonderful spread can be used for crackers, chips, pita bread, or ... Focaccia Sticks!


Focaccia Sticks
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup water
Oil
Seasonings - garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and water. Plop dough out onto a greased baking sheet. Pour oil in your hands and spread the dough out flat. Sprinkle with seasonings. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly, then cut into 16 bread sticks.

I handled the different baking times and temps thus: As the bread was baking at 425, I was busy preparing the jalapeno spread. As soon as the bread finished baking, I removed it from the oven, turned the temp down to 375, and popped in the spread. The bread was cooled and sliced by the time the spread was done in the oven. It worked perfectly!



Since the jalapeno popper spread was too spicy for the kids to eat, I made a simple Italian-style tomato sauce for them to eat with their focaccia sticks: I combined 1 can diced tomatoes with 1 tsp. Italian seasoning, 2 tsp. minced garlic, and about 1/2 tsp. salt. They loved both the focaccia sticks and the sauce.


Here's the whole spread, on the table and on my plate!



And we still have four jalapenos (see picture at top of post) to use somehow!

Rice Pudding

This is one of those great recipes to have on hand because it uses leftovers. I love eating foods with rice. I sometimes purposefully make too much rice so that I can use the leftovers to make this delicious comfort food.

Rice Pudding
3 cups cooked rice
3 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Nutmeg

Combine the rice, milk, sugar, and butter in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thickened - about 30 minutes, stirring often.

Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into individual dessert dishes or one large serving dish and sprinkle with nutmeg. Serve hot or cold.

Taking pictures of this tonight was sort of an afterthought. I downed mine, then decided I wanted to post the recipe, so I took a quick picture of my daughter's serving before handing it to her (sorry it isn't a prettier picture - but it's better than nothing). I also took one of her eating it, because as Jeff said, "She's just so cute!" :-)


Feel free to adjust the ingredients as necessary. I always just use the rice I have leftover from something else, and it rarely ends up at exactly 3 cups. More often I have something like 1 1/2 cups. So I adjust the proportions of the other ingredients to fit how much rice I've got.

My Kitchen My World - India

I'm a procrastinator. I've known that the country for MKMW this week was India (chosen by Aunt Lolo of The Chow Review), ever since the beginning of the week. But I didn't do any planning or special shopping or anything. So when Saturday rolled around, I wasn't sure I was even going to do it this week. I'm not officially on the blogroll so no one would notice. But I wanted the fun involved, and I love trying foods from different cultures. I did a search on allrecipes.com for Indian recipes, and found one for Chicken Korma. It looked really good, and although I definitely didn't have all the ingredients, I realized I had acceptable substitutes for most of them. Since I changed the recipe around so much, I don't really feel comfortable calling my dish Chicken Korma; it probably isn't very authentic at all - I was simply using what was available in my tightwad American kitchen. But it tasted very Indian to me, and it was delicious!


Spicy Indian Chicken with Rice
3 tbsp. oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. curry powder
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 cup tomato juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1 tbsp. lemon juice plus milk to equal 1/2 cup)
Cooked rice

Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, and curry powder. Cook for several minutes, until the onions are mostly tender. Cut each chicken breast half into four pieces and add to the skillet; cover and cook for 5-8 minutes.

Season with salt, red pepper, and cumin. Stir in the tomato juice and water. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Add buttermilk and cook for 5-8 minutes.

Serve over hot cooked rice.


This was a spicy, flavorful chicken dish, and I absolutely loved it! It also would have gone well with chapati, along with or in place of the rice. Check out the other Indian delights from My Kitchen My World!

Microwave Mug Cake

I've seen this recipe floating around on a variety of blogs, and finally gave in and tried it. I have a microwave cake recipe that you make in a bowl, but I like this one better; it's more chocolatey. And it looks funnier too.


I was having a rough time last night, so I made this cake (at 10:30 pm!) and ate it all up. And it was good. Today, I showed my sister how to make it. And it is still good. These pictures are of my sister's cake.


Microwave Mug Cake
4 tbsp. flour
4 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp. oil
3 tbsp. chocolate chips (optional, but not really. Add them!)
Small splash vanilla

Measure flour, sugar, and cocoa in a large mug. Mix well.

Add egg and mix well.

Add milk and oil and mix well.

Add chocolate chips and vanilla and mix well.

Microwave for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise up over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed. All the recipes said to not be alarmed when the cake rose. But my microwave is weird, and I was alarmed anyway as I watched my cake spill over and drip down the sides. But don't worry, a regular microwave won't have this problem. My sister's cake (made in my mom's microwave) rose properly and didn't spill or anything.

Here it is rising in the microwave

Let cake cool briefly, and tip out onto a plate if desired. Then eat it!

Four Grain Batter Bread

I wanted to make some bread today, but I had a huge list of requirements that needed to be met. I wanted it done before lunch. I didn't want a recipe that included a bunch of kneading, shaping, rising, and all that stuff. But I didn't want to just throw the ingredients into the bread machine. You know, sometimes I'm just not in a "bread machine" mood. But I wanted a bread that was bigger and more filling than my oft-favored, very fast and easy yeastless focaccia. Boy, was I hard to please this morning, or what!

Luckily, one of my blogging buddies, Jeanette, happened to post a delicious batter bread recipe just this morning. I knew when I read her description that this was the recipe I wanted to make: "This is one of my favorite breads to make because it is quick and easy. It only takes about 1 1/2 hour from start to finish." Sounds good to me!

A batter bread is a yeast bread that does not use kneading or lots of rising time. The gluten in the flour is developed by stirring or beating the dough instead of kneading it. The dough rises in the pan and then you bake it. For a yeast bread, this makes it very simple and quick.


Four Grain Batter Bread
Cornmeal
4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups all purpose flour or bread flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast (2 packets)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ (I used wheat bran, because that's what I had on hand)
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

Grease bottoms and sides of two 8x4 inch loaf pans and sprinkle with cornmeal.

In a large bowl, mix 3 1/2 cups of the all purpose flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and yeast.

Heat milk and water until very warm (120-130 degrees). Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Beat with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

Stir in whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oats and enough remaining all purpose flour to make a stiff batter. Divide batter evenly between pans. Round tops of loaves by patting with floured hands. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about 30 minutes or until batter is about 1 inch below tops of pans (I either let mine rise too long or used a bit too much yeast - mine ended up rising about an inch above the tops of the pans - whatever, it still worked out great).

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake about 25 minutes or until tops of loaves are light brown.


I'm glad I chose to make this recipe. It turned out very delicious, and I'm sure I'll make it again and again.

P.S. This is a very healthy bread, with the wheat germ, whole wheat flour, and oats. And an added bonus is that, besides greasing the pans, there's no added fat. Hooray! (although of course, that benefit is reduced somewhat when I spread about an inch of butter on the fresh-from-the-oven slices...)