Sweet N Hot Pepper Jelly

 Have you ever had pepper jelly?  It's fabulous.  I just had it for the first time when my Mom bought us some when she was out visiting in April.  I was a little skeptical, but very delighted to find it was delicious on crackers either by itself or with the additon of cream cheese!  Yum!  So, naturally I tried it at home and was thrilled with the results so here's the recipe.  Here's a handy reference for canning.

Sweet N Hot Pepper Jelly (adapted from SureJell Hot Pepper Jelly recipe)
1 c. finely chopped, Hot Red Peppers (Red Jalapenos or Serranos)
3 c. finely chopped, Sweet Peppers (Red, Orange or Yellow Bell Peppers, etc...)
1 c. Apple Cider Vinegar
1 box SureJell (or other brand) Fruit Pectin for canning
1 t. Butter/Margarine
5 c. Sugar
Sterilized canning jars, rings and lids. (See this page for more info.)

These are the cute little sweet peppers I used.  I got them in a bag and there were just perfectly 3 c. of them once I chopped them up!

 1.  Get all of your ingredients measured and ready to go.  

2.  Place finely chopped peppers all in a large pot.  Add in vinegar and pectin.  Stir together and bring to a boil.

 3.  Once it come to a boil, stir in the sugar and keep stirring until it boils again.  Add in butter/marg. to help manage the froth level from the boiling.  (rolling boil see this page for more info)   Let it stay at a rolling boil for 1 minute.  

4.  Then remove from heat and place into prepared canning jars.  Fill the jars to about 1/8" from the top, wipe and place lids and rings on them.  

5.  Process in a water bath for 10 minutes at sea level or refer to this chart for other elevations.

6.  Place on cooling rack until cool.  Then store in pantry (or give as gifts).

Here's a favorite way in my house to eat Pepper Jelly.  Layer Cream Cheese and Pepper Jelly and spread on crackers!  Yum!

Ready to store, eat or give!  :)

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How to make Boiled Peanuts or Roasted Peanuts

My sis just had her baby three weeks ago, so this has been such an exciting and busy time in my house.  My husband and I went up to visit my sister and her family two weekends ago and had a great time.  Our newest niece is just the most precious, and beautiful little girl I've ever met!  We got to see my parents while we were up there too, and then my parents came to visit us in NC.

While they were here we made a trip out to the coast (Oak Island Area) and had a nice time despite the cool temps.  One day we even made it to a local farm market where we found some "green" peanuts!  I was super excited to be able to buy green peanuts so that I could boil and roast some!  So here's how y'all can do it too!  :)

note:  Although we know peanuts as "nuts" they are truly legumes, so here is one method of preparation as a legume (boiled) and one basically as a nut (roasted).

The green peanuts.

How to Boil Peanuts:  

Take your green peanuts, put them in a large bowl and rinse them off thoroughly.

 Then place them in a pot and add about 1/4 c. salt for every cup of green peanuts.  Cover with water.

 Bring to a rolling boil, and then let simmer for about 1 hour or until done.  

Serve warm so people can enjoy the experience of cracking open the shell in their mouths, sucking out the salty water and eating the fresh boiled legumes inside.  :)  Enjoy! 

How to Roast Peanuts:

Start off by rinsing off your green peanuts.

 Then toss the rinsed peanuts with some salt (as much or as little as you'd like) and place one a sprayed baking sheet.

 Roast (or "bake" really) in a 325degree oven for about 1 hour turning every 15minutes or so.

Enjoy at room temperature!  :)

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I had a hankering for this comfort food today, so I tried my hand at it.  You may recall I made something similar back in December called Chicken Kiev and it turned out really well!  So here's my Chicken Cordon Bleu, that turned out equally as well! (If not better!)  :)

 Chicken Cordon Bleu:
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (one per person or so)
Sliced Ham (Deli meat, leftover from spiral, etc...)
Mozzarella Cheese (Shredded or sliced)
Bread Crumbs (Plain or Italian)

 1.  Preheat oven to 375degrees.  Pound each breast until it's flat and thing enough to roll up. (Tip:  Try pounding one breast at a time in a Gallon size Ziploc with just the flat (not the bumpy) side of a meat tenderizer.  Much less mess!)

 2.  Place a slice of ham and some cheese in the middle (or so) of the pounded chicken.

 Get bread crumbs ready on a plate.

 3.  Roll up the chicken keeping the ham and cheese inside!  Then carefully roll in the bread crumbs.

 4.  Place on a greased baking pan.

 5.  Repeat process for each chicken breast.  

6.  Once they are all put together and placed on baking pan.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until done.  If yours are thicker then they will take more time, etc...

Just out of the oven!  Look at all that ooey gooey cheese ooozing out! :)

 7.  Plate and serve with your desired sides.  (Like salads, veggies, etc...)  I just hadn't gotten the rest of my plate together yet for pics...

Yum!  Just as good (if not better) than restaurant and store-bought ones!  :)

Whole Grain Crackers

I never realized how easy crackers were to make at home until I just made them yesterday!  They are also tasty, and I know exactly what is in them! :)  Plus they are super versatile....whole wheat, whole grain, whole lotta options!

My basic whole grain cracker recipe:
1 c. Whole Grain Flour
1 c. All Purpose Flour (or whole grain)
1 T. Olive Oil
2 t. Honey
1 t. seeds (optional)
1/2 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Salt

My rye cracker recipe:
1 c. Rye Flour
1 c. Flour (1/2 c. Whole Wheat & 1/2 c. All Purpose)
1 T. Olive Oil
2 t. Honey
1 t. Caraway Seeds
1/2 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Salt

1.  Mix together all of the ingredients.  The dough will be sticky.  Preheat oven to 400degrees.

2.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it is easy to work with and not sticky anymore. (Just a few kneads really.)

3.  Roll out to about 1mm or so thin, and cut into your desired shapes.  I used a round biscuit cutter because I felt like round crackers.  Do whatever makes you happy! :)

 4.  Place on baking sheet.  (I actually used my holey pizza pan to sure crispness, but you can do whatever you want!) 

 5.  Once the pan is filled up, be sure to poke several holes in each cracker with a fork before baking.  (See example a little below as to why we poke.)

 6.  Once they have been poked with the fork, you can bake them for about 7 minutes.  Be sure to check them after 5 minutes though.  Also you can turn them halfway through if you'd like.  I did a combo of things on mine to see what I liked best.  If you make thicker crackers they will need to bake longer in order to get crispy.

7.  Once they are done baking, immediately remove them from the baking pan and place them on a cooling rack until cool.  Then store them in an airtight container.

 In the above picture you can see the difference between a cracker that has holes poked in it verses on that doesn't.  :)  So I recommend the holes, unless you like puffy crackers.  :)

 Homemade crackers.  Yum.  :)

Cream cheese on my new homemade cracker?  Yes please.  :)

Homemade Noodles

These homemade treasures aren't rocket science, but they sure are delicious!  Here's how to make them yourselves!  :)

Homemade noodles:

~2 c. flour

3 eggs

Pinch of salt

1.  Place the flour in a bowl or on a pastry board.  Make a well in the center of the flour.

 2.  Place the cracked eggs in the center of the well, like this...but put all three in there, I just didn't get a pic with them all in it.

 3.  Mix with a fork or by hand until well combined.

4.  Turn out onto a flour surface and knead just until smooth.  (Add flour if necessary.)

5.  Roll out as thick (or thin) as you would like.

 6.  With a knife or pizza cutter cut into noodle strips.  :)

 7.  Let rest/dry for about 30 minutes (or more).  

8.  Either place in bag and freeze for later, OR place into boiling water/broth.  They only take about 3 minutes to cook when they are freshly made like this.  You can use these in your homemade chicken noodle soup or chicken 'n noodles, or whatever else you think of!  Enjoy!  :)

Yum!  I love comfort food, don't you?

French Toast

Super easy, super economical and super yummy!  I love breakfast for dinner, don't you? :)  Here's how I do it...

This is what you'll need for 4 pieces of bread, so if you use 8 double it, if you use 12 triple it, etc.... :)

French Toast:
4 slices of bread
2 Eggs
3 T. Half and Half
1 T. Sugar
Pinch Salt
Pinch of Cinnamon
Little Pinch of Ginger

1.  Mix together the eggs, half n half, sugar, salt and spices.

2.  Dip each piece of bread into the mixture quickly getting each side covered.  (don't soak though, or else they'll get soggy.)

3.  Immediately after you dip the bread in the egg mixture place on a preheated skillet/griddle and repeat step 2 until the pan is full.

4.  Flip when the first side gets golden.

5.  Serve warm with butter and maple syrup!  (Or whatever else you'd like!)  :)

Enjoy!   Yummy!

National S'more Day!

Don't forget to celebrate with a S'more or two.  :)  You can also use homemade graham crackers for a real treat!  :)

Hibachi at home

Have you ever had a to die for meal at a Japanese "Hibachi" steakhouse before??  Like Benihana, Gasho, Kanki, Shogun, etc.?  I sure have.  I just love those places.  In fact, when my Mom was out here visiting in April we went took her to the one here.  Sure enough, it was just as good as the ones we'd had in CO and elsewhere.  :)  They start out with that crisp salad with ginger dressing, onion soup, depending on the place and time of day shrimp appetizer and then the real show and meal!  Steak or chicken perfectly cooked with veggies to compliment and rise to finish.  Oh and the sauces.  They seem to be the thing that varies the most between the different steakhouses, but they are always yummy! I just love, love, love it!  Can you tell?!? ;)  I just did the veggies, meat and rice (and one dipping sauce) this time.  But next time I will add more, and add more to this post too! :)

Anyway, when I got to feeling like some Hibachi yummy on the way home from work yesterday I remembered that I'd gotten some "Hot Oriental Mustard Powder" at Savory Spice last week.  So...I stopped at the store to grab some veggies and whipped up some delightful hibachi at home!!  :)  When my hubby walked in the door, I greeted him with "Welcome to Cindy's Hibachi House", dinner will be ready soon.  We both cracked up after that too....  On to how I did it! So you can too!  :)

Hibachi at Home:  Serves 4 Adults

1 lb. Chicken or Beef (count on 4 oz. per serving)

2 Onions, sliced

2 Zucchini, sliced

2 c. Mushrooms, sliced

1-2 c. Bean Sprouts (fresh)

Soy Sauce

Vegetable Oil (or other) 

1/4 c. Butter

Jasmine Rice, 2 c. uncooked rice prepared.

Sesame Seeds, optional

1.  First, cut up your meat into bite size pieces.  Cook it up in some preheated oil in a skillet or wok, adding some soy sauce when it is about cooked through.  ( I only seemed to manage to get a pic of the chicken cooking....)

 2.  Once the meat is cooked place it in an oven safe bowl and in a warm oven.  Slice onions and start cooking in a little bit of oil.

 3.  Separate onions and add soy sauce.  Let them cook until they are starting to get tender.  Then place them in an oven safe bowl and place in the warm oven.

 4.  Melt butter.  You could use oil again, but the butter gives it the real flavor of the restaurants.  :)

 5.  Add the sliced zucchini to the melting butter.

 6.  Add in the sliced mushrooms too.  Stir together and let cook for about 5 minutes with a lid on it.  Whip up sauce/s at this point if desired.  :)  The hot mustard sauce was a breeze with the powder.  All I had to go was add water.  :)

 7.  Add in fresh bean sprouts.  Let cook for 2 minutes, without lid.

 8.  Stir in the onions and add a tad more soy sauce.

 9.  Plate the meal.  Rice, veggies and meat.  

Hibachi Chicken

 Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

Hibachi Steak

This actually tasted just about identical to *what I remember* the actual restaurants tasting like.  The only difference was the sauces.  I didn't do a veggie dipping sauce (kind of just forgot) and the mustard was better yet also way HOTTER than any of the restaurants.  So next time I will definitely try to make a veggie sauce, and I may see if I can make the mustard taste more like the restaurant ones....or maybe not. ;)  

I also want to do the salad next time.  My Mom gave my sister and I a few years ago, a great recipe for a salad dressing like theirs.  So sorry, I won't be adding it on here.  But, I'm sure you can experiment with it for yourselves!!  Happy cooking!!!!