I’m putting these suggestions out here because I keep getting visitors based on searches for bear meat recipes. My mother has cooked bear meat and recommends the following:

Cook the meat in a pressure cooker with a cup and a half of water and a half tsp of salt. (The length of time depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the meat–your pressure cooker should give some guidelines.) In general a two-three pound roast takes an hour to an hour and a half.

The pressure cooker method is good because it will keep the meat tender and not allow it to dry out. You can use beef or chicken broth in place of the water and salt.

You can also cook bear meat in a crockpot–this will take much longer, more in the neighborhood of 6 to 8 hours.

If you are worried about bear meat being “gamey” soak the meat overnight in milk, although mom says it was quite mild in flavor and not fatty. You can also cook the bear roast for a few hours in the crockpot and then dump off the liquid and start with fresh liquid in the crockpot. This cooks off a lot of the gamey flavor.

If you want to try herbs in the mix, I’d recommend sage with thyme. If you aren’t partial to those two, try rosemary, but remember it can be strong so go easy with it. In both cases a few onions will also be a nice addition.

Once the meat is cooked, you can serve it a variety of ways–if it is strong in taste, consider making it into a curry. If it is mild, use it in stew or chile. You can probably use the meat in burritos as well–but always pre-cook the bear roast before putting the beans and chiles into the mix. This will allow you to determine if the meat is tender enough and mild enough for your dish.

For non-fatty cuts of meat, you might try jerky.

For ground bear meat, I recommend a nice pot of chile.

In crockpot combine:

Two beef bones and beef stew cuts (about 1/2 to 3/4 pound of meat) The bones are critical in getting enough flavor in the soup. If you leave them out, make sure you use beef stock in place of any of the water.

4 diced celery stalks with leaves
1 diced potato
1/2 diced large onion
1 can tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup sliced green beans
3/4 cup barley or a mix of wild rice and barley
8 cups of stock/water (I use two cans of store beef stock and three cups of water. At the end, I add one more can of chicken stock to blend all the flavors. The canned stock contains a lot of salt, so no additional salt is required.)
1 cup diced carrots

Cook on high in crockpot, covered for 6 to 8 hours, until the meat falls into tender pieces. Add chicken or beef stock as it cooks if more liquid is needed. The barley/rice will soak up the liquid so check it several times. About two hours before you wish to eat, add 1 tablespoon of minced rosemary leaves (optional.)

At the end, remove the bones. Cut any large pieces of meat. Serve with toasted, buttered fresh bread.

This recipe is derived from several attempts at fajitas. I believe that the method of cooking is probably as important as the marinade. Use a flank steak—tenderized or not. Flank steak is generally a little more expensive than skirt steak, but it is miles better.

Marinade

¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
2 dashes of liquid smoke flavoring
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp black pepper

Place 1 to 1 and ½ pounds of fajita meat inside a bowl and cover with marinade. Store covered in the refrigerator for 6 to 8 hours, turning the meat once or twice.

When it is time to cook the meal, prepare an iron skillet by melting a tablespoon of butter and stir-fry at least one sliced onion. You can add peppers too if you like them. These should cook down in the skillet for about twenty minutes.

Grill the steak, but make sure you save the marinade.

After the meat is done, remove the onions from the iron skillet and set aside. Slice the meat across the grain into nice fajita strips. Heat the iron skillet very hot. Put the fajita strips in the skillet with half the marinade. Let it sizzle for a few moments, add half the onions, add half the remaining marinade, add the rest of the onions and marinade and let it sizzle. Most of the marinade should be soaked up when this dish is done. Serve with refried beans, salsa, sour cream and cheese.

Salsa

I love fresh salsa!

Refried Beans

Home made refried beans like grandma used to make!

Spanish Rice
Spanish Rice

This recipe is for one pound of beef, sliced 1/4 inch thick. Obviously this recipe works for venison too!

Marinade:

1/4 tablespoon meat tenderizer
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup water
2 finely minced garlic cloves
1/4 tablespoon black pepper
1/4 cup liquid hickory smoke
1/4 cup worcestersire

Marinate the meat in a large sealed plastic bag overnight. Make sure the meat is properly coated (turn and mix a few times).

Dry for 24 hours at 140 degrees in a dehydrator. If using an oven, use a drip pan underneath. Hang strips from topmost rack. Do not allow pieces of meat to touch one another or fold over such that the two ends are touching. If you want the jerky strips to look their best, fold and use a weak clamp at one end of the strip of meat to avoid a large fold in the middle of each piece. Dry at 140 degrees for 24 hours.

When the jerky is done, use a 5% vinegar spray on both sides and allow to air dry. This keeps mold from growing for longer term storage. You can also freeze the jerky, but when you take it out of the freezer, you must thaw flat on paper towels to avoid moisture accumulation.

Sausage or Bacon
I generally cook sausage ahead of time (Jimmy Dean Hot or Sage) and keep it in the freezer. For burritos for two you’ll need about 1/3 cup of cooked sausage or 1 cooked and chopped strip of bacon.

Small Potato:

You’ll need about 1 cup of diced, cooked potato. The fastest cooking method is microwave. Stick a small raw potato several times with a fork (this keeps the potato from exploding).
Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes on high.
Turn the potato over and cook for another 2 minutes. Test doneness with fork. If soft, remove and dice. If not quite ready, microwave for another minute and test. Repeat until the potato is soft. Dice.

Cooking

In a non-stick skillet reheat the frozen sausage (or cook the bacon, dice and drain extra grease from pan).

For fluffiest eggs, scramble two eggs in a bowl with 2 tsp of water.

Add the two scrambled eggs and the diced potato to the skillet. Cook on medium heat, stirring often, until the eggs are done. Because of the meat, you likely won’t need salt or pepper.

Warm precooked flour tortillas or using another griddle type pan, prepare two uncooked tortillas. We use pre-formed, but not cooked tortillas. These are sold here at Wal-Mart in the bread section and also at other grocery stores. Because you basically “grill” them yourself, they are very fresh.

Line the tortillas with the burrito mix, sprinkle shredded cheese and flavor with a spoonful or two of fresh salsa!

I fell in love with Carrabba’s Caesar salad from the first time I tried it. Luckily, the owners of the restaurant published a cookbook with the recipe:

Ciao Y’All by Damian Mandola and Johnny Carrabba

If you want the exact recipe, I’d advise you to get the book or check it out from the library. I tried the recipe, but even with perfection, I had to have my own additions/subtractions, tweaking here and there until the dressing I made was distinctly my own. That said, I certainly do recommended the recipe in the cookbook!

One other note: I keep getting searches by people who want to make caesar dressing without anchovies–try anchovy paste and/or worcestershire sauce as a substitute, but keep in mind anchovy is the heart of caesar salad dressing.

Here’s my version of Caesar Salad Dressing:

Open and drain 1 can (2 oz) of anchovies. Place the anchovies in plain water. This removes some of the salt and since the oil in the anchovies is permeated with the fish, it also keeps the anchovies from being too strong in the recipe.

Soak the anchovies for five to ten minutes and drain the water and oil off.

Mince four large cloves of garlic and put in bottom of blender with 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Blend on low speed (you won’t get much blending at this stage).

Add to blender:
1 tablespoons capers
8-10 anchovies (1 can) –or 1 1/2 tablespoons anchovy paste
Blend on low speed until completely mixed.

Add:
1 and 1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp sugar
Blend again on low speed.

Add:
3 egg yolks with a little of the egg whites
Blend on low speed until everything is creamy and well-mixed.

After everything has mixed well, continue blending on slowest speed and drizzle slowly into the blender:

1 1/4 cups olive oil.
Adding it slowly allows the mixture to “cream.”

When everything is well blended:
Add 8-9 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
juice from 1 medium lemon

Blend

Add 1 cup grated (not packed) romano or asiago cheese and blend again.

For the salad, tear romaine lettuce and slice fresh mushrooms. Toss. Use about 2 tablespoons of the salad dressing per salad serving. Serve with extra romano, parmesan or asiago cheese on top!

This recipe is actually derived from the standard “tuna casserole” that you probably ate as a child. I never loved tuna so I started changing it and this is the result.

Note about Green Chile: I get mine straight from New Mexico, but that won’t be possible for everyone. You can find canned green chiles in the Mexican food section of most grocery stores. You can also buy it fresh and roast it yourself. Roasting should be done on an outside grill. Once roasted, chiles must be peeled and eaten or frozen. If you are roasting it yourself, roast on low heat on an outside grill, turning occasionally until the skins are blackened. Cool, peel and chop—you might want to use protective gloves. Chile oils will soak through your skin and can cause severe irritation and burning. If you wear contacts, DO NOT try removing your contacts after peeling hot chilies. Trust me on this.

Discard the peelings. Depending on how hot the chilies are, you may want to remove the seeds. For this casserole, I recommend removing the seeds. If the chiles are extremely hot and you intend to freeze them, remove the seeds before freezing. Chiles freeze very well in plastic bags, but the seeds become hard and rubbery and you’ll have to remove them when you thaw the frozen chiles. I travel to New Mexico at least once a year and obtain a hefty supply of these to get me through the year.

Recipe

Boil 12 oz of dried pasta

Mix in bowl:

4 oz cream cheese
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can of chicken breast meat (you can substitute grilled chicken of course)
Approximately 3 chopped green chiles (you can leave this out if you can’t find them, but they are yummy!)

Microwave the bowl of cheese and other stuff for one minute at a time, stirring between heating for a total heating time of about 3 minutes. Add the rinsed hot pasta and stir.

That’s it. It’s a simple meal and I think it is a vast improvement on tuna casserole.

Katsu is a Japanese deep-fried cutlet. I make mine more like stir-fry, but I do use “Panko Flakes” which are Japanese style bread crumbs. These crumbs are very light and flaky, but larger flakes than store-bought American crumbs. They are more like crackers than bread.

Katsu is served over steamed white rice.

The secret to good katsu is two-fold:

• Milenese cut meat or chicken breasts pounded thin
• Katsu sauce

Katsu sauce is a vegetable and fruit sauce made from sugar, vinegar, apple puree, salt, tomato paste, prune paste, carrots and the old secret “spices.” I’ve never tried to make my own. This sauce is readily found in Asian stores. More and more frequently regular grocery stores are starting to carry it. The only brand I’ve ever seen in the US is “Bull-Dog.” It is also referred to as “Tonkatsu Sauce.”

To make one pound of Katsu: (Serves 3 to 4 people).

Prepare your steamed rice and any vegetable for the meal before you start the katsu cutlets.

Pour approximately one cup of panko style breadcrumbs on paper plate or waxed paper.
In large, flat bowl, beat one egg with 1/4 cup of water.

Dip the meat strips in the egg.

Place the strips, one at a time, on the breadcrumbs. Coat both sides carefully, pressing the crumbs lightly to help them stick.

Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a skillet and heat the oil.

Place the cutlets in the hot oil. You only want to turn these once so let the first side cook until the color of the top side starts to turn white. You can lift the cutlets to check the bottom, but try not to do it more than once.

It takes about five minutes for each side to cook, medium heat. If your cutlet is thick (1/2 inch) you will want to cover the pan while it is cooking. Milenese cuts or thinly pounded cuts cook fine without covering.

When both sides have browned, place on a clean paper plate to help drain any excess oil.

For a pound of meat, I use two skillets to cook all the cutlets at the same time.

For serving, cut the meat into strips and place on top of steamed rice. The katsu sauce can be served in a separate dish and used as a dipping sauce or you can make a nice design with the katsu sauce across the top of the cutlet.

The key to a good sandwich is to start with good bread and in this case, good chicken. I recommend that you first marinate and grill chicken breasts, but this recipe can be made with canned chicken.

Dice 2 grilled chicken breasts
Dice 4 stalks of celery. Use the inner stalks and dice them very fine.
Mince 2 tablespoons of a sweet onion
chop 1/2 cup of pecans
dice 1/2 of a sweet apple such as gala (apple is optional).

Mix all these ingredients in a medium bowl with enough mayonaise to keep all ingredients together. Mix in two tablespoons Miracle Whip (this will sweeten the mix–you could put in a pinch of sugar if you don’t have miracle whip, but it won’t be *quite* the same.)

Serve on bread with slices of tomato, lettuce and alfalfa sprouts.

These dumplings are not hard to make, but they do take about a half hour prep time. I buy the wrappers pre-made from an Asian market. Most grocery stores carry these wrappers, although Asians stores will give you a larger choice of brands. In the Asian store where I shop, I buy them frozen. They thaw within minutes. The square ones are generally a little bigger than the round ones and a bit easier to work with.

You can add more or less vegetables to the recipe (or none at all.)

One package dumpling skins

One pound premium pork Jimmy Dean Sage or Hot Sausage
4 ounces minced mushrooms
Minced green onions (2 onions)

Hand mix the minced mushrooms into the sausage. Drop about two teaspoons of the sausage/mushroom mix onto a dumpling wrap and fold the dough over, pressing along the edges. The dough won’t stick in every place, but will adhere during cooking or freezing.

Other vegetables that you can add to the sausage mix:
Minced Chinese Cabbage (2 leaves, finely minced)
Minced sweet yellow onion (1/4 cup) instead of green onions
1 finely minced Jalapeno

I would not add minced carrots. I’ve tried carrots and they impart a strong flavor and tend to take over the dish.

To cook:

Steam method
Line a bamboo steamer with Chinese Cabbage and place the dumplings on the cabbage. Steam over a pot of boiling water for twenty minutes. (The bamboo steamer should be covered during cooking.)

Stir fry method:
Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large flat skillet. Place dumplings in the pan and cook, covered, over low heat. When the first side has lightly browned (about 5 to 7 minutes) turn and cook the other side, again, leaving the skillet covered.

Dumpling Dipping Sauce

Dumpling sauce is very easy:

1/2 cup light soy sauce
1/2 tsp minced ginger (I buy the kind in a jar, but ginger root is readily available in the grocery. Cut off the dark outer skin and grate the root.)
1 tsp sesame oil (Get 100 percent Sesame oil, not one that is mixed with other oils.)

Let sit at room temperture for about 15 minutes before serving.

Serve dumplings with steamed rice.
As a meal, you will need about six dumplings per person.

Freezing
Dumplings freeze well. I do not cook before freezing. Lay dumplings flat in a large freezer bag (not touching one another as much as is possible). Store frozen for up to about a month. Do not thaw before cooking. Place directly in the steamer or fry pan and cook. If the dumplings are stuck together, heat gently (a few seconds in the microwave) and peel apart.

Important: Use linguini or other thin noodle. The best kind is the fresh pasta found in the refrigerated section. Contadina is my favorite, but there are other brands. You’ll need about a ½ pound of pasta to feed two people.

Start your pasta water boiling while you fix the rest of the dish.

Mince 2 to 3 cloves of fresh garlic.

Next, sauté or toast the garlic in 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep skillet. It burns easily so be careful!

When the garlic is done, add 2 tablespoons fresh, minced parsley.

Add two cans of minced clams including juice and heat slowly.

Add about ¼ cup chardonnay. Splurge and get a decent wine—not one from the “cooking” wine section of the store (salt is added to ”cooking wines”). I use Fairbanks.

Simmer this whole mixture for a couple of minutes. It’s going to be mostly water.

Finish the pasta. When the pasta is done, add it to the pan with the clams. You need to simmer again, very low. You don’t want to boil off the juice, but you want some of it to soak into the pasta. I usually heat it through, turn it off and let it sit five or ten minutes, and then heat it up again.

Last, take 2 tablespoons of cream or olive oil and a splash of chardonnay and toss the whole mix around and around. Cream will help the clams stick to the pasta a little bit. The last splash of chardonnay will bring a sweet, lingering taste.

Serve with parmesan cheese and garlic bread.

Note: You can substitute shrimp for the clams—if you do, you’ll need to add bottled clam juice or about 1 cup of chicken broth. Add the chopped shrimp right after the parsley and cook through before adding the clam juice and chardonnay.

Wild Side While the mixture is simmering, add a dash of roasted pepper flakes! Not too many, just enough to hint at heat.

Egg drop soup depends heavily on the taste of the broth so if you make your own broth from bones (chicken, pork or a combo), your soup will have more flavor. This Chicken and Rice recipe includes a recipe for making your own broth.

If you are using canned broth, I highly recommend that you enhance the flavor by steeping such items as: ½ cup of cabbage, dried porcini or shitake mushrooms.

To make the soup, pour two cans of chicken broth (approximately 30 oz of broth) in a saucepan:

Add:

4 or 5 minced baby carrots
½ cup minced onion
1/3 – ½ cup minced celery with leaves
¼ - ½ cup cooked sage sausage
3 or 4 diced white mushrooms
(½ cup cabbage/two dried porcini or shitake mushrooms for flavoring)

When the vegetables are tender, remove the cabbage, porcini and/or shitake mushrooms.
Mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water and add to broth while stirring.

Scramble one egg in a bowl. Pour about half the egg into the chicken broth in a thin stream back and forth across the broth. Wait a few seconds until the egg begins to float to the top. Stir. Add remaining egg in a thin stream. Wait and then stir. Add about a tsp of sesame oil to the soup and stir well.

Kernel corn is another common addition to this soup. To make it meatless, omit the sausage, use vegetable broth and add a pinch of sage.

Homemade granola is quite good and lower in salt and sugar than most store-bought granola snacks. Here’s my recipe:

4 cups of oatmeal
1 cup bran cereal
1 cup grapenut cereal
(You want about 6 cups of cereal–you can pick your own favorites!)
1 cup flour
1 cup powdered milk
1 cup chopped pecans

In small bowl mix:
1 cup melted margarine or baking-type olive oil
3/4 cup honey warmed slightly in microwave for easier stirring
1/2 cup buttermilk

Mix everything together in 9/13 oblong baking pan. Make sure it is mixed well–any cereal or powdered milk not coated with the liquid mixture isn’t going to bake well.

Cook at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir once after 15 minutes. The longer you bake it, the crunchier the granola. If it isn’t sweet enough for your taste-buds, up the honey to 1 cup and/or when eating this mix as cereal, you can always add sugar!

This recipe started from a newspaper clipping from at least twenty years ago. I’d give the chef credit for his/her part in it, but have no idea who submitted it or what paper it came from! It’s an excellent dish and simple to make, but a tad high in calories if you’re watching that sort of thing.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 to 3/4 cup of chicken broth
2 small cans of green chilies, chopped (or you can use fresh roasted and diced green chiles)
2 tsp mustard

1 cup cream

4 oz Monterey jack cheese, grated

Hot cooked rice

Marinade
Marinate the chicken breasts for at least four hours in:

1 tablespoon honey
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil

Cooking Instructions:

You can grill the chicken breasts for additional flavor, but if not, in ovenproof skillet, sauté the chicken breasts and garlic in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When they are almost cooked, add chicken broth, chopped chilies and mustard.

Cook on pretty high heat until the liquid has cooked down some. Add cream and simmer. Sprinkle with cheese and then put the skillet under the broiler until cheese melts.

Serve over the rice. Steamed asparagus or steamed brocolli goes wonderfully as a side for this dish.

This green chile enchilada recipe is a casserole. Think of it as Mexican lasagna. It freezes very well, which is a good thing because it takes about a half hour to prepare.

Two dozen corn tortillas

16 oz sour cream
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 to 1 pound grated monterey jack cheese (or mix some cheddar in there too!)

Sautee:
1 minced garlic clove
6 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
1 large sweet yellow onion, diced
6 fresh green chiles, diced (about 1 1/2 cups) You can use roasted chiles also.
2 diced jalapenos
1 pound hamburger

When hamburger and vegetables are cooked through, mix in the sour cream and cream of mushroom soup.

Spray bottom of large casserole pan with non-stick spray (glass or metal). Use at least a 9×11 pan a deep pan is best.

Layer the bottom with a row of corn tortillas. Spoon a thin layer of hamburger mix across the tortillas and then a layer of cheese. Add a layer of tortillas and so on until the casserole dish is completely layered, ending with cheese (you should get about 3 to 5 layers.) Refrigerate for two or three hours to let the flavors begin to meld. Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes until the center is hot. You can bake covered or uncovered.

Serve with Spanish Rice and refried beans. Creamy jalapeno sauce is an excellent toppping for this casserole.

This sauce is commonly used to smother burritos, tacos, and enchiladas (where green chile is already in the enchiladas, but the sauce is poured over the top for additional flavor). The sauce uses previously roasted and peeled green chiles.

In skillet, heat 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil. Saute the following:

1 minced garlic clove
1 small onion, diced

When the onions are soft, add
1 small fresh roma tomato, diced (if you’re using canned tomatoes do not saute merely add at the end)

Heat until tomatoes have softened.

Add six to eight roasted, peeled and diced green chiles and ½ cup to ¾ cup chicken stock. (Note: If you do not have roasted chiles, you need to sautee the fresh chiles with the onions!)

Simmer on low heat for five to ten minutes so that the flavors merge. Serve on top of your favorite recipes!

Can also be served as a salsa. Can be eaten as a side dish lightly smothered with monterey jack cheese.

Look here for instructions on how to roast and freeze green chiles.

Grilled chicken breasts can be used in a variety of dishes: chicken salad sandwiches, chicken casseroles, chicken in alfredo sauce, chicken in pasta salad.

All require a nice, simple marinade to keep the chicken juicy and flavorful. Here’s my favorite:

Marinate chicken and ingredients for 3 to 4 hours. I usually start with frozen chicken. Marinate until the chicken is thawed, turning several times.

4 or 5 breasts of chicken
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil

The olive oil will keep the chicken from sticking during cooking. The soy and honey will carmelize just slightly when grilled, giving a wonderful depth to the chicken. Once the chicken is grilled, top it with sauteed mushrooms, onions and cheese. Or dice the chicken and use in quesadillas or one of the other dishes described above.

Grill or pan broil.

Enjoy!

The secret to grilled salmon is to avoid overgrilling. If anything it’s better slightly cool in the middle than overcooked. When you overcook it, that is when the fishy smell and taste enter the picture.

Start with fresh salmon, not frozen. It’s easier to grill with the skin on. If there are scales on the non-skin side (the eating side), rinse them off and pat dry. Sprinkle the eating side with seasoning. I use furikake flakes–I prefer Aji Nori or Nori Komi. (Furikake can be found in Asian stores. It’s a mix of salt, sugar, roasted sesame seeds and small pieces of nori seaweed. It’s very flavorful–mostly a fruity sweet sensation. The sugar in the mix helps helps the salmon sear. Delicious!)

If you don’t happen to have furikake flakes, I’d advise dissolving a 1/2 tsp sugar per salmon serving (about 1/4 to 1/3 of a pound), or a 1/2 tsp of honey or 1 tablespoon orange juice in soy sauce and water. Brush the eating side of the salmon before grilling.

Grill skin side first and then eating side last. If you aren’t sure when it is done, take it off and see if the middle flakes apart–a bit of resistance is okay! It takes about 15 minutes total to grill a 3/4 pound piece of salmon.

When the salmon is done, peel the skin off, cut to individual serving size and serve with salad and wild rice!

This recipe bears a resemblance to my chicken casserole recipe, but instead of pasta, it’s made with rice. Instead of chicken, it uses hamburger. It’s a good meal that can be thrown together quickly because most ingredients can be kept on hand (frozen hamburger, cream cheese lasts forever in the fridge, onions, canned green chiles if you don’t have fresh, and garlic.) The mushrooms are an important ingredient and hard to keep fresh on hand, but you could use canned or leave them out. I also have a rice maker, so that makes this dish speedier and easier. Here’s the dish, with the preferred ingredients:

In skillet brown/sauté the following:

1 pound lean hamburger
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium chopped onion
3 chopped Anaheim chile or two chopped poblano chiles (can substitute a can or two of chopped Anaheim chiles found in the southwest section of most stores, usually with taco supplies.)
4 to 6 ounces fresh chopped mushrooms

You’ll need three cups of cooked rice. After it is done cooking and has “rested” for five to ten minutes, add 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 4 ounces cream cheese.

When the hamburger mixture is cooked, add it to the rice.

Voila! You have homemade hamburger helper!

Additional, optional toppings:

• Bacon bits
• Slivered almonds
• Toasted pine nuts

Imitation crab purchased in the store is extremely high in salt. Luckily it is very easy to make your own imitation crab–without the salt, but just as delicious!

Thaw and drain excess water from 1 pound of frozen Pollock fish. Marinate in:

4 tablespoons sweet white wine (I actually use a nectar pear wine–you can use chardonnay.)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon honey

Directions:
When the fish is ready to cook place flat on lightly greased (I use olive oil) tin foil.

Bake in oven at 300 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until the fish flakes apart.
Drain as much water as possible from the fish and chop. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. The sesame seeds are particularly good in California rolls.

Add and mix well: 1 tablespoon regular sugar. (Imitation crab is highly sweetened!)

Higher Salt Alternative Seasoning:
To make it taste even more like crab, add one can of real crab (or fresh, cleaned crabmeat.) Be aware that canned crabmeat is quite high in salt, but mixing in one can with the pollock dilutes the salt and adds to the overall taste! I rinse the canned crab meat which also helps take some of the salt out.

Use the fish in place of most any imitation crab recipe—salads, California rolls, and dips. Because it is not “pressed” or colored, it may not work for recipes that call for crab sticks.

There are many types of curry dishes—curried rice, stews, curry flavored vegetables. This recipe most closely resembles curry that I had while in Japan. It is best described as a thick stew. I use a store-bought curry sauce rather than making my own curry roux. I do this not because I am lazy, but because I really like the flavor. Curry is not a single herb, which is why curry dishes vary so widely in types and flavors. By using the store-bought roux, I get a consistent flavor. The roux is available in most Asian markets: S&B Golden Curry Mix and it comes in hot, medium and mild. I use the “hot,” but it isn’t very spicy. Other people I know mix half mild and half hot because the curries do seem to have a different flavor. Some Albertson’s stores used to carry this brand also.

Add to a crockpot approximately:

1 ½ cups diced potatoes
1 ½ cups diced carrots
1 ½ cup chopped onion
1 stalk celery, chopped (optional)
enough water to just cover the vegetables (about 4 cups)

approximately 6 oz curry block—it comes in various sized packages I use about a small package and sometimes throw in an extra block or two (half a package) depending on the size of the batch.

2 grilled chicken breasts, sliced into bite-sized morsels (you can use beef or shrimp also—for those who hunt wild game that is gamier than you like, such meat is good in this dish—simply soak the wild game in milk overnight, drain and then grill it or cook in a pressure cooker. Add it to the curry crockpot mix and let cook for several hours.

Cook all ingredients in the crockpot until vegetables are tender, checking occasionally to see if more water is required. The sauce should generally be about the consistency of a cream soup such as a clam chowder, but can be made thin like a broth soup.

Serve over fluffy white rice.

Warning: Do not add salt to this dish if you are buying a prepackaged curry sauce mix. There is more than enough salt in the curry blocks.

We have a smoker, but smoking meat is time-consuming. Here’s a short-cut method or one to use if you don’t have a smoker.

Marinate 1 to 2 pounds meat (ribs, brisket, even roast) in the following:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tsp sage
2 minced cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons lime juice
1 tsp mesquite liquid smoke
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Rudy’s!)
2 or 3 bay leaves

I marinate the meat overnight. In the morning, grill the meat on an outdoor grill, burning the fat and browning the rest.

Put the leftover marinade in a crockpot and add the grilled meat. Add 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1/4 tsp celery seeds. Cook for 4 to 6 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low.

The meat will be very tender and taste as though you smoked it for several hours.

Serve with BBQ beans and potato salad.

First, I would just like to say that I really don’t like fish. Or at least I’m very picky about fish dishes. I prefer that my fish not taste like fish at all. For this dish, I use tilapia or basa. Always get the freshest fish that you can find. I’ve found that grocery stores usually have the freshest fish on Tuesdays and Fridays. Go to place that has a decent-sized fish counter and ask when they get deliveries of the particular fish that you want to buy. Most of the time they will tell you! This recipe was made with just under a pound of fillets. Adjust the ingredients if you are making more or less fish.

Mix juice from ½ lemon, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and ¼ cup of sherry or white wine into a cup.

Mince a tablespoon of fresh parsley.

Mix a ½ teaspoon of seasoned salt with half cup of flour and coat both sides of the fish fillets.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter or margarine in a skillet. Add the parsley and the fish fillets. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the lemon juice mixture around the sides of the pan (don’t pour it over the fish). When one side of the fish has browned, turn it and then cover the skillet with a lid. Cook until the fish is tender and flakes with a fork, about 10 minutes.

That’s it! The fish takes on the flavor of the wine with a hint of lemon.

1 pound boneless flank or sirloin steak

Marinade:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons dry sherry
4 teaspoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

Other ingredients you will need:

3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 to 5 dried red chili peppers
1 or 2 bunches green onions, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 bunch of asparagus or broccoli cut into edible pieces
Peanut oil

Partially freeze the flank steak for easier slicing. Slice into 3×1/2 inch strips, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, water, sherry, sesame oil, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper.

Reserve ¼ cup marinade in small dish. Place beef in remainder of the marinade and coat well. Cover and refrigerate for four hours.

Add cornstarch to the reserve marinade and refrigerate. If more liquid is required to help the cornstarch dissolve, add two to four tablespoons of water.

When ready to cook, heat 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a large wok over medium high heat. Place green onions, dried red chili peppers and asparagus (or broccoli) in the hot oil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook 6 minutes, or until tender. Remove vegetables and set aside.

In the same wok, heat another 3 tablespoons of peanut oil over medium high heat. Add beef mixture and sauté for 5 minutes, or until the beef is thoroughly cooked. Return veggies to the pan and add the remaining marinade and the cornstarch mixture. Sauté for 30 seconds or until slightly thickened and heated through.

Serve over steamed rice.

Nikuman is a Japanese meat filled bun. These buns are usually steamed and are served in many a quick-stop store in Japan. They are also sometimes filled with curried meat/veggies or a red bean paste. The recipe below is based on American ingredients (because that is what I can buy here!) but I’ve found these nikumans to be a satisfying substitute. I also usually bake mine, because it is easier than steaming and quicker. I make about a dozen at a time and freeze them for later use.

For the bun part, I purchase frozen dough–either frozen bread loaves (about 3 loaves are needed) or frozen raw dough buns (usually one package of frozen buns is enough.)

Frozen dough takes all day to thaw, so start it thawing the night before or very early the morning you want to use it. This dish is easiest to prepare if you make the filling and let it cool before rolling out the dough. Hot stuffing on the dough tends to result in the dough turning mushy.

Ingredients:

2 one pound packages of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage (Any breakfast sausage will do, but if you use plain pork sausage, you’ll need to add other ingredients such as garlic and additional peppers to flavor it.)

8 to 10 cups of chopped Chinese cabbage (Use close to the whole head of cabbage, but some of them run very large!)

6 green onions, chopped (you can substitute regular onion–you need about a cup of onions)

2 jalapenos with seeds, chopped very fine/minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh sage (if you use sage flavored sausage, you can leave this out.)

1 tsp minced ginger

2 tablespoons sesame oil

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

Brown the sausage in very large skillet or wok. As it browns, add the onions, jalapenos, sage, Chinese cabbage and ginger. I add the Chinese cabbage about two cups at a time. This allows the cabbage to cook down, leaving more room in the pan as you’re adding things. When the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, remove from heat. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil. You don’t want to add the sesame oil early–this is a flavoring oil and if you add it too early, the flavor will cook off.

Stir the mixture well and allow to completely cool.

Roll out the dough into six to eight inch circles. Drain most of the liquid from the filling (I use this liquid to steam rice that I then serve with the nikumans.)

Place several spoonfuls of filling in the center of the dough and close the ends by pressing the dough together tightly. Place in freezer bag or cook immediately.

To bake frozen nikumans, place one or two in a tin foil pocket that has been sprayed with a non-stick spray. The foil should be loosely wrapped around the nikumans. Follow the temperature directions on the frozen dough package. For example, some bread is cooked at 450, while other recipes I have made from scratch have a lower cooking temperature (325). When in doubt, go with 350 degrees. Cook for approximately ½ hour with the tinfoil covering them, then open the tinfoil to expose the top of the nikuman. When the nikuman is lightly browned, they are done!

To bake nikumans that have not been previously frozen, less cooking time is required. That’s about the only difference!

Serve over fluffy white rice.

Steaming:

To steam nikumans, place the buns in a bamboo steamer lined with extra cabbage leaves (the leaves are good steamed and they also provide a nice non-stick surface for the buns!) Steam for 30 to 40 minutes if the nikumans were not previously frozen. For frozen nikumans you will have to steam them close to an hour.

Summertime isn’t my favorite time for soup, but when you have tomatoes…you gotta use’m up! My neighbor actually made this little soup and brought some over. I’ve changed it here and there, but it’s a good summer soup with lots of veggies (you can put almost anything in here.)

2 cans chicken stock (4 cups)
2 cans water (4 cups)

Bring to almost a boil. Dip 5 to 7 tomatoes into the stock for about 5 minutes so that you can peel them. I do this using the soup stock so that the flavor and whatnot from the skins goes straight into the soup. When the tomato skins split, remove them from the stock using prongs. Set them in a bowl to cool.

Add three celery stocks (these do not have to be cut as you will remove them after cooking.) to the broth and simmer.

Dice two small zucchini and add to the broth, continuing to simmer.
Add 1 tsp thyme
Add 1/2 to 1 tsp finely diced fresh rosemary (This is a strong flavor so you might want to start with 1/2 tsp and go up from there if you like it.)

When the tomatoes are cooled, dice them carefully, saving as much juice for the stock as possible. Add the diced tomatoes to the stock.

Add 1 tablespoon sugar.

Optional: Dice in some cooked sausage. I used Wisconsin beef sausage (sliced about an ounce, grilled it, and then diced it.)

Simmer, covered for about an hour.

You can add meatballs, cooked beans (white northern, pinto or red) and other vegetables (onions, garlic, parsley). After the soup has simmered, remove the celery stalks and discard.

Prepare two cups of dried pasta by following the directions on the bag. Little shells, small elbow pasta or any small noodle will do.

Add the noodles right before eating.

It’s a simple soup, but a very nice tomato based soup. It is quite good, even on a hot summer day!!

An excellent pasta dish with or without meat.

Start water boiling to prepare a pound of pasta. I use linguini or pasta bowties for this dish.

Ingredients:

Fresh asparagus spears
1 cup fresh broccoli
1 medium chopped onion
½ cup chopped carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet yellow pepper or 1 sweet red pepper or half of each
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 or 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
½ tsp salt
1 cup grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
¾ cup whipping cream
½ to ¾ cup chicken broth

Use the chicken broth to steam:

Fresh asparagus cut to 1 ½ inch pieces
broccoli
Add pinch of sugar and pinch of marjoram

Sauté in 2 tablespoons olive oil:

onion
garlic
carrots
1 medium yellow and red/yellow sweet pepper
mushrooms

When the vegetables are crisp-tender, add the cream, salt and chicken broth from the asparagus/broccoli. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add asparagus, broccoli, and pasta. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of Romano cheese and toss. Add basil, another 2 tablespoons of Romano cheese and toss again. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 5 to 10 minutes. This allows the cream and flavors to blend into the pasta.

Serve with Romano sprinkled on top of each serving. This dish is enhanced by adding shrimp/scallops or grilled chicken!

Red beans and rice is often a side dish in the south, but it makes a perfectly good “soup” or meal. I make mine in a pressure cooker, but you can also make them in a crockpot. I also use a summer sausage in mine rather than the more tradional ham bone or salt pork.

In pressure cooker:
16 oz red beans sorted, washed and soaked for 2 hours (some restaurants use kidney beans or a combination of beans. I like the small red beans.)
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 large stalks of celery, diced
5 baby carrots, diced
2 jalapenos, diced (with seeds for more heat)
6 oz chopped summer sausage
1 tablespoon crushed thyme leaves
1 tsp sage
2 bay leaves
1 tsp minced fresh parsely

Cook under pressure for 1 hour. After cooling, taste. Sprinkle additional thyme, salt and pepper if needed. Remove bay leaves and serve over white rice or a combination of wild rice mixed with white rice.

If you are cooking in a crockpot, cooking time will be 6 to 8 hours. I would advise searing the sausage, onions and celery in a skillet before adding to the crockpot. Make sure to add the grease from the sausage as this is important in flavoring the beans.

Today I made red chile sauce.  This is a very time-intensive work of art.  The recipe isn’t difficult, but it requires straining the soaked red chile through a vegetable mill (sometimes called a rice mill.)   This milling is done twice (sort of like first pressed olive oil and second press. )  So today I made a wonderful batch of the stuff.  This chile sauce is then used to slow cook meats or is added to beans and other dishes.  It has a wonderful flavor that cannot be duplicated, although many a restaurant cheats and thins the sauce with tomato sauce or uses dried chile powder to attempt the same sort of sauce.  Trust me, it isn’t the same.  This method is native to New Mexico, probably originating somewhere in Mexico with the indigenous Indians there.  They make a mole type sauce that is similar although chocolate or tomatoes and other ingredients (such as garlic, onions, other chile types) are usually added.

I pretty much make the sauce much like tomato sauce is made, only I don’t have to cook it down.  The chiles are rehydrated from a dried state, and so to get the right consistency it’s a matter of adding just the right amount of water.

Making the sauce is very messy because the chile stains pretty much everything it touches–instantly.  When I’m finished, everything goes straight outside to be hosed down.  This morning, I did just that. I was pretty pleased with myself. The dishes were clean and the lawn got some water. I walked around the corner of the house to rinse my hands a final time and to shut the hose off. When I came back around I saw my work sabotaged!!! Or maybe he was trying to help dry the dishes…The neighbor’s cat was licking my nice clean dishes. He looked up with a very innocent expression on his face when I demanded to know just what he thought he was doing. He then proceeded to stick his nose right inside one of the pans and slurp up the remaining water.

Sigh.

I came back inside, washed the dishes again, and began moving the containers to the freezer–only I set one on the door where it wasn’t secure.  The next time I opened the door, it slid out, smashed on the tile floor and spattered EVERYWHERE.   We’re talking have to paint some lower walls…throw out the rug that was there and someone is in serious need of a bath.

It took me the better part of an hour to clean the freezer, the doors, the walls and the floor.  I was already hot and sweaty so may as well make a day of it.

Anyway, I’ll be very happy to have the marinated pork or marinated beef in a few days.  It’s a wonderful dish.  I’m trying not to cry over the container of missing, splattered chile, but it’s hard.
Click on the photos for larger images.

Red Chile Sauce

Growing up, my grandmother and mother both made a delicious red chile sauce from red chiles. The chiles were picked after they were red and then dried—often by laying them out on my grandmother’s tin roof and turning daily. This sauce, as far as I know, is unique to the New Mexico area. Restaurants seem to mix a red sauce that includes dilutions such as tomato sauce or is made from red chile powder, rather than the chiles themselves.

Once chiles were completely air and sun dried, they were seeded and the tops and stems removed. This process was done with gloves because the cayenne in the chiles is very potent and after handling the chiles for a few minutes, the cayenne enters skin and will start to burn!

Here’s the recipe for making the sauce:

After cleaning the chiles, soak them in warm water.
Change the water two or three times, depending on how dirty the chile is.
Fill a blender with chile (lightly—do not pack!).
Add water to almost fill the blender
Blend the mixture

Using a vegetable or fruit strainer, strain the blended chiles. The idea here is to separate the skins and tough parts away from the succulent sauce. Some vegetable strainers will do this—others may not, so you’ll have to take that into account if you’re purchasing a strainer! The basic idea is some sort of paddle that “smashes” the mixture against a strainer. This smashing process forces the sauce through the strainer into a container of some sort.

Discard the chile skins—they should remain on the top of the strainer as you press the mixture.

Once you have the sauce, freeze it and use it as needed. My grandmother liked to either mince garlic into the chile or put in a whole clove when heating it. Don’t thin the sauce before freezing. If it is too thick, after you thaw it, add chicken broth or water to thin it to desired consistency. If a particular batch of red chile is too hot (this happened a lot), buy mild chiles and mix that sauce into the hot chiles.

Making chile this way is a lot of work, but the sauce is unique and very good.

The following enchilada recipe uses just red chile sauce, no additions.

Red Chile Enchiladas

Dip corn tortillas into red chile sauce. Make sure both sides are lightly coated with chile sauce.

Layer the tortillas in a casserole bowl with:

Lightly sautéed Onions
Cooked hamburger
Cheese
More chile sauce (if the sauce is mild enough you can be very generous. If not, go easy on the sauce.)

When you have three or more layers, bake at 350 until hot in the center (depending on how big the casserole is, this usually takes about ½ hour to 45 minutes).

Enchiladas are often served “meatless” with just the cheese and the chile sauce. Some people prefer to use raw onions or leave out the onions entirely. In New Mexico it is quite common to serve enchiladas with an egg, cooked over easy in the center.

Other Dishes

I use red chile sauce to spice hot and sour soup, and it is a must-have spice for posole (meñudo).  It’s also wondeful in a dish called carne guisada or carne adovado.  Basically pork (or beef) chunks are grilled lightly and then covered with the chile and slow cooked (in a low-temp oven or crockpot) for about 5 or so hours.  The crockpot method is much easier, although in the case of oven cooking, you don’t have to grill the meat first.  Add salt, garlic and onions to the mix and then serve on warm tortillas with guacamale, sour cream and refried beans.  There is nothing like it in the world!!!

Refried beans seem to be an art, not a recipe. My grandmother made them without apparent thought, and I still can’t make them as good as she did.

Pinto beans usually darken as they age–so when purchasing beans, note the overall color and health of the bean. The lighter the bean, the better.

Sort and clean about 3 cups dried beans.

Soak the sorted pinto beans in water overnight or for at least four hours.

Drain the water and add fresh water–enough to cover the beans by at least an inch–before cooking.

Add 1 tsp salt before boiling.

Stovetop: Boil low, partially covered for about 2 hours until tender. You may have to add more water. Always make sure the beans have some water over the top. Watch to make sure the beans to not boil over.

Crockpot: Cook on high for about 5 hours.

When the beans are nearly done, chop four to five strips of bacon into very small pieces (think bacon bits). Cook the bacon in a fry pan until bacon is crisp. Add the bacon and the grease to the boiling beans.

Finish cooking the beans, removing heat when the beans are tender.

Cool to managable temperture and transfer the beans into large skillet. Be careful not to splatter!

You should still have enough water to just cover the beans, but not so much that you have to “search” for the beans.

Over medium heat, smash the beans with a potato masher and stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you need to add a bit more fat to get the right consistency/color/taste, you can either add a tablespoon of oil or even better, add a few slices of cheese.

Note: To make refried beans without bacon grease, just add about three tablespoons of vegetable oil when you smash the beans in the skillet. You can also substitute cheese for the vegetable oil. Each ingredient will give the beans a slightly different flavor. Restaurants often use vegetable oil and then top with cheese.

I’m posting this “recipe” or technique due to searches on the website. See here for a red chile recipe.

Green chiles are often used fresh. For some dishes, including green chile sauce, I recommend roasting and peeling the chiles first. I generally only roast mild chiles such as Anaheim, Poblano or similar varieties. It is especially convenient to roast thick-skinned chiles in order to discard the skins.

Roasting:

To roast green chiles, you really need an outdoor grill. The hotter the chile, the more cayenne will get in the air during roasting, so trying to roast them in an indoor oven or small toaster oven can be dangerous. If enough cayenne gets into the air, you will be unable to breathe. Cayenne in the air is equivalent to pepper spray. Only roast chiles indoors if you are positive they are mild enough.

In New Mexico, green chiles are often roasted in giant fifty-gallon drums over an open flame. The drum has a handle that turns the drum round and round until the chiles inside are blackened.

When roasting on an open grill, take care not to breathe in chile air! You may want to poke each chile with a fork before placing on the grill. This will prevent the chiles from “popping” as they heat.

Place the chiles in a fish basket or if they are large enough to not fall through the rack, on the open grill. Use low flame.

Blacken one side (takes about five minutes) and turn, using tongs. You may want to “roll” larger chiles so that they are evenly blackened.

Remove the chiles with the tongs when they have blackened and deflated.

Cool completely before peeling. The roasting causes the chile skin to “blister” so it should be easy to remove. For hotter varieties or if peeling a large batch, use gloves. Chile juices can and will seep into your skin and will not wash off. You hands will later “burn” similar to a bad sunburn. If you touch your eyes—look out! It’s like dripping chile juice right into them. If you do enough chiles, the burning sensation can last for a couple of days.

Freezing
Once roasted and peeled, chop and use the green chiles immediately or place in a freezer bag and freeze. You can store chiles with or without seeds and with or without the tops. I have found that keeping the seeds makes for a hotter chile.

Frozen seeds when thawed can be “rubbery” and are therefore not appetizing to chew on. I remove the seeds and tops (rinsing them with water), drain and store in freezer bags. The seeds can be removed after freezing by rinsing.

I have had zero luck “blanching” or peeling chiles using water. The entire chile becomes rubbery.

The secret to good scalloped potatoes is to cook them hot enough that the milk boils and soaks into the potatoes, taking some of the potato back into the milk. If you’ve ever tried making them and had the dish turn out tasting like potatoes sitting in milk, you probably didn’t cook the dish hot enough and/or you needed more cream or butter in the dish.

For creamiest potatoes, use cream. If you’re trying to diet (what are you eating scalloped potatoes for???) and want to cut back on fat, you can use 2 percent milk–but put in some half and half or 1/4 cup of butter. The fat helps the potatoes cook properly.

2 large idaho potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 large onion sliced
place in ovenproof casserole bowl that is large enough so that at least an inch remains free at the top–this dish is going to boil and you don’t want it to boil over!

Dissolve 2 tablespoons flour in a cup of milk. (This will help the mix thicken while cooking. You can substitute 1/4 cup mashed potatoes.)

Add the milk/flour and enough additional milk (2 percent is fine) such that the final layer of potatoes are still dry

Top with half and half or cream so that only a few tops of potatoes are sticking above the milk mixture.

If you don’t want to use half and half or cream, add in 2 to 4 tablespoons butter or margarine.

Cook until bubbly at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. A fine, browned layer should form across the top. You can stir the potatoes once after about 1/2 hour; but you don’t want them to cool. Do not cook covered.

You can add cheese to this dish (au gratin usually has cheese and a high content of cream) during cooking or after. Bacon, ham, grilled shrimp or even hamburger are also other nice additions.

These fajitas can be made with shrimp and scallops or just shrimp. I have found that the shrimp have a better flavor if you buy them raw and cook them rather than using pre-cooked shrimp. Serves two (maybe three) people.

Marinade for Shrimp

15-20 large peeled and cleaned shrimp or mix of large shrimp and large scallops (3/4 lb seafood)
½ cup chardonnay
2 tsp minced cilantro
3 dashes of woodsmoke flavoring (approximately ¼ tsp)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tsp honey

Leave the seafood in the marinade for about two hours. (Prepare Pico de Gallo below if you intend to serve with the meal)

When ready to cook, sauté the following ingredients in 2 tablespoons olive oil:

3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 sliced onion
½ sliced yellow or red bell pepper
1 sliced Anaheim or poblano pepper

When the vegetables are tender, remove from heat and sauté the seafood in olive oil. When the seafood is cooked through, add the marinade and the vegetables back into the skillet. Cook down for two or three minutes. Remove from heat. Squeeze juice from a wedge of lime onto the mixture.

Serve wrapped in warm flour tortillas with juice from additional lime wedges, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and Pico de Gallo. Another excellent side is Spanish Rice.

12 to 14 large shrimp, peeled and cleaned or 2 cups of smaller shrimp (marinate in chardonnay and soy sauce)

5 to 10 napa cabbage leaves (Chinese cabbage) chopped into two inch pieces (Depends on size and taste preference, but about two to three cups) If you can’t find it, add a couple stalks of chopped celery.
¾ cup diced carrots
4 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 cup broccoli
large handful of snap peas
sesame seeds

¼ tsp minced ginger
2 minced garlic cloves
1 ½ tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons light soy sauce

dissolve 3 tablespoons cornstarch in 2 cups chicken stock

1/8 cup mirin (sweet rice wine) or chardonnay

In skillet, sauté (or roast if you know how to do so without burning it!) the garlic in two tablespoons olive oil.

Add vegetables and sauté until cooked, approximately 10 minutes.

Add the minced ginger, oyster sauce and wine. Simmer for about five minutes.

Remove veggies from skillet and sauté shrimp and sesame seeds in a tablespoon of olive oil. You can also add/sauté scallops for this dish at the same time.

When the shrimp is cooked through, mix veggies back into the skillet. Add cornstarch/chicken stock and stir until thickened. Add soy sauce. If you wish to add imitation crab to the dish, add at this time (it is pre-cooked—adding it earlier tends to make it mushy).

Serve shrimp with vegetables over steamed rice.

Notes: Using precooked shrimp tends to make the dish lack seafood flavor. If the shrimp is precooked, you may want to add an extra half tablespoon of the oyster sauce, but be careful with this sauce. It can be very overpowering. Ginger can also be overpowering. If you don’t like ginger, sauté slices of this root with the garlic and remove the slices before adding the veggies. If you love ginger, you can double the amount of minced ginger, but be careful with it!

You can marinade the shrimp in the wine and soy sauce, saving the marinade for when you start cooking. Run it through a strainer before adding it back to the cooking mixture and make sure to cook thoroughly.

Mirin: Mirin is a Japanese sweet rice wine. You can substitute other rice wines, but they are usually salty rice wines, rather than “sweet.” Best substitute is probably a Chardonnay.

This is a simple recipe because I use any Italian dressing as the seasoning. My favorite is Olive Garden dressing, but use your favorite Italian dressing.

Chop the following ingredients into bite sized pieces:

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Onions (green onions or regular onions. Purple or red onions add a nice touch of color.)
Fresh Mushrooms
Baby Carrots
Celery

Boil pasta of your choice and rinse in cold water. Toss pasta and veggies with dressing. Add green olives and sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Chill.

For added flavor try adding Italian sausage tortellini or cheese tortellini in place of some of the plain pasta. I usually use Buitoni brand and use about half of a package of tortellini. You can also use colored pasta to make the dish more interesting. On occasion, I will also put in halved grape tomatoes, pepperoni or grilled chicken.

A friend of mine makes this same pasta salad, but cooks the vegetables and serves it warm. Green, yellow or red peppers look very good in this salad.

Serve with warm buttered bread or garlic breadsticks!

Sort and wash 16 oz pinto beans. Cover the beans with cold water and soak overnight.

For at least two hours, marinate a 1 pound roast in soy sauce, juice from a whole lime, and a quarter cup of either sweet wine, brandy or 2 tablespoons honey (you want something sweet to help sear the meat later) Add 3 dashes of liquid smoke flavoring (mesquite is my favorite). Turn at least once.

After the meat has soaked in the marinade, sear both sides of the roast on a BBQ grill–don’t worry about fully cooking the meat, just get both sides browned well.

Place roast, soaked pinto beans, remaining marinade and 1 can of beef stock in crockpot. Add just enough water to cover the beans.

Add:

2 minced garlic
1 cup diced tomatoes
10 mild diced green chiles
2 minced jalapenos
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon chili powder (or to taste—if you don’t like chili powder add less).
½ tsp salt or to taste
dash of fajita seasoning or 1/2 tablespoon cumin powder (add more if you like cumin)

Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours until beef flakes apart and beans are tender. Stir occasionally.

Cut the roast or flake apart and add salt to taste.

Serve on hot flour tortillas with sides of sour cream, grated cheese and salsa. To smother, use green chile sauce. A good side dish is Spanish Rice.

Spanish rice varies greatly depending on the cook. I change mine around depending on ingredients I have on hand. In general, the main ingredients are as follows.

Using 2 Tablespoons of oil, stir fry until lightly toasted:

1 cup of uncooked white rice

add and sauté a bit longer:
1 diced medium onion
¼ cup of diced mild green chilies, such as anaheim or poblano or even green bell pepper

Add 2 and 1/4 cups of chicken broth (you can substitute 1 chicken bullion cube dissolved in 2 1/4 cups of water)
¼ cup tomato sauce
½ cup canned diced tomatoes with juice
½ tsp red chili powder
1 minced garlic clove

Cook covered over low heat until liquid is absorbed. I use a skillet and it takes about thirty minutes. If you use a rice cooker, it burns on the bottom because the rice cooker tends to burn the tomato sauce.

Vary the spices to your taste. My mother doesn’t bother to stir fry the rice ahead of time and it turns out just fine, but if you wonder why it doesn’t taste like restaurant Spanish rice, it is likely the toasting. Toasting imparts an almost nutty flavor to the rice. When toasting (sautéing in oil or vegetable oil) let the white rice uniformly change color to a dark brown. This means that you must stir it almost constantly while browning.

For a slightly different taste, mince 1 to 2 tsp of cilantro and add when you turn off the rice. Let it sit covered for at least 5 minutes and then stir in. It will steam slightly and infuse the rice with a citris flavor.

To help keep tomatoes fresh longer, first rinse with cold water. After they have completely dried, microwave them for six seconds. If you microwave more than one at a time, make sure the tomatoes are not touching one another. If they touch, they will begin cooking. This microwave trick works for both freshly harvested or store-bought tomatoes.

Microwaving onions or tomatoes in this manner kills bacteria and helps preserve the vegetables longer.

Freezing Tomatoes

Freeze without Blanching
Freezing tomatoes is very easy. You can wash them, dry them and simply put them in freezer bags. When thawed, the skins fall off easily. If you use your tomatoes in stews or crockpot recipes, you must thaw the tomatoes and remove the skins before putting them in the pot.

To avoid having skins at thaw time, blanch the tomatoes first, then freeze.

Freeze after Blanching

Blanching tomatoes is simple. Place them in boiling water long enough for the skins to crack and peel away (2 to 5 minutes).

Boil water in a large pot. (Stock pots are great for this).
Using tongs, place tomatoes in the pot one at a time.
As you add tomatoes, make sure to spin the ones already in the pot so that the surface of each tomato is covered or subjected to the hot water.

When cracks begin to appear on the tomato skins, use the tongs to take the tomatoes out.

If the tops of your tomatoes have green shoulders, the green part of the tomato will not peel. Cut that part off AFTER you blanch them and before you put the tomatoes into freezer bags.

Drain and cool. The skins will peel away easily. You can chop the tomatoes at this time, or simply put them whole in freezer bags and freeze.

I like to freeze them in the quart-sized freezer bags. Each bag holds two to four more tomatoes that you would find in a 14 oz can of tomatoes. I do not squish the tomatoes into the bag; rather just press them comfortably together.

Having some of the tomatoes chopped in the freezer saves time later; however chopping them is messy (juice runs all over the place!) It is easier to chop them partially thawed just before use.

Green Tomatoes
Freezing tomatoes should work with green tomatoes also, but I have never tried. I’m not certain how well they would peel using either method. (Many people like to eat fried green tomatoes.) I do not think the green tomatoes would be very good for frying after being frozen, but they could be used in stews or sauces.

I stuff mainly fresh Atlantic Salmon or Tilapia, but the stuffing is good with flounder or any mild fish. Optional ingredients for the stuffing is in parenthesis.

For two people you’ll need two salmon (or other fish) fillets that together weigh just under a pound. In the case of salmon, skin it and rinse before stuffing.

Stuffing:

1 or 2 large wheat hamburger bun crumbled (or a mix of cooked white rice and bread)
Sauté the following in 2 tablespoons olive oil:
4 tablespoons minced celery (including some leaves)
2 tablespoon minced onion
3 tablespoons minced pepper (Mild Anaheim, yellow or red bell. You’re not looking for heat here, but a hint of seasoning flavor.)

When veggies are tender, remove from heat and cool. Then mix in a bowl:

1 tsp thyme
Bay Seasoning to taste (2 or 3 healthy shakes—1/4 tsp)
Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese—1/2 to 3/4 cup
Cooked veggies
¾ cup diced/shredded imitation lobster chunks or imitation crab (you can also substitute or add pre-cooked cocktail shrimp)
4 tablespoon mayonnaise—just enough to keep the stuffing together (you can use olive oil instead).

I refrigerate the stuffing for several hours before dinner, letting the flavors meld. I stuff the fish right before cooking and sprinkle with additional bay seasoning.

Cut the fish into 6 or 8 oz portions and cut a slit in the middle of each, leaving the ends intact (a sort of long “O” shape.) Fill the fish with stuffing. Do not “pack” the stuffing into the cut—rather allow some to layer over the top of the fish. Cook at 400 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes. I cook it uncovered on tinfoil in a toaster oven. Salmon should flake easily, but do not overcook as the salmon will become very dry.

Chili is the ultimate Superbowl food, but it’s pretty darn good on an any cold winter day. I serve mine over fluffy white rice, but it’s awfully good with a side of sweet buttered cornbread as well.

In a crockpot combine:

16 oz tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz) chili beans or ranch style beans (you basically want pinto beans with spices)
1 can (15 oz) of diced tomatoes
I usually throw in a extra tomato or two if I have fresh ones from the garden–peel them by blanching and dice before adding to the pot.

Brown in skillet:

1 pound hamburger
2 medium-sized cloves of minced garlic
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 minced jalapenos or one large red/yellow/green bell pepper

When the meat is cooked, add it to the crockpot.

Add:

2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Cook on low for about four hours. (About halfway through, taste the sauce and adjust spices to your taste!)

Serve over rice with extra chopped onions and grated cheese!

For cornbread I use Martha White’s Sweet Yellow Cornbread or Pioneer brand. Most excellent!

Sushi Rice
Making sushi rice is an art and a science. You may have to play with the amounts of water to get the rice sticky, but not gummy. You may want a little more sugar, a little more vinegar. Use the ingredients below as a starting point. The rice was made in a rice cooker, which means very little water boils off. It was also made with sushi rice—meaning the rice kernel has all the “grain” polished off, so less water is needed in order to cook the rice. You can use normal long-grained rice to make sushi rice, but it is harder to get the proper consistency. You will need to add more water for long-grained rice.

You cannot use instant rice. If you use a regular sauce pan to cook the rice, use a large one—when you stir in the vinegar mixture you’ll need room to mix it in properly. Also, if using a regular s