Mexican Minestrone Soup

1 (15oz.) can of kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1/2 C prepared chunky salsa
1 C corn
1 (15 1/4 oz.) can of vegetable broth ( or 2 C vegetarian chicken broth or regular chicken broth for non vegetarians)
3/4 C elbow macaroni
1 C combined ( red and green bell pepper) diced
1 C sliced cabbage
1 TBS Adobo Seasoning

Combine all
Bring to a boil
Reduce heat and simmer until macaroni is tender

Enjoy!
Peace in the Kitchen!

Tomato Lentil Soup

Fall = Soup! Another simple equation!

I will try to list all of my soup recipes on this page at a later date.


1 TBS olive oil
2 C chopped red onion
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp chile powder
1 tsp garlic powder
pepper to taste
3 C water
2 C dried lentils
3 ( 14oz.) cans vegetable broth
2 (14oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained

Heat oil in a Dutch Oven
Saute onion 3 minutes
Add:
spices
water
lentils
broth
tomatoes with juice
Bring to a boil
Reduce , simmer on low for 45 minutes

Blend 1/2 of the soup in a blender and add it back to the pot
Stir well
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper

Enjoy!
Peace in the Kitchen!

Corn Pudding

I love corn. I've talked about this many times on the blog. I can't seem to get enough recipes with corn. I have Corn Pudding , Corn Timbale, Creamed Corn, Texas Creamed Corn, Texas Spoon Bread and Sweet Corn Pudding from Farmhouse Rules.
This is an original recipe. I was making changes as I was putting it together. We had it last night for dinner and it was everything I hoped it would be.

2 TBS butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 C corn
1/4 C flour
2 C milk
1/2 C corn meal
1 (4oz.) can of diced green chiles
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 eggs, well beaten
Chimayo Chile Powder (or what ever Chile Powder you have)

In a large skillet:
Heat butter
Add:
onion
garlic
Saute 3 minutes
Add corn, cook 3 minutes
Add flour, stir well
Add milk and simmer stirring constantly
Don't allow to boil

Add corn meal and chiles
Mix well
Remove from heat
Add salt and pepper

Process the mixture in a blender
Pour into a large bowl and allow to cool a bit before adding the eggs.
Whisk in the eggs.

Pour into a deep dish pie pan sprayed with a vegetable cooking spray.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with Chile Powder just before serving.

Enjoy!
Peace in the Kitchen!

Corn Soup with Roasted Chiles and Smoked Gouda Cheese

It's Soup season for me. It's Hatch Chile Season too. I love Smoked Gouda Cheese.
Here's the recipe that combines them all well:

4 TBS butter
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 pound of red potatoes, skin on, sliced
1 TBS fresh thyme
6 C water
4 C frozen corn
3 roasted hatch chiles, seeded, peeled, diced ( you can use 1 (4oz) cans of diced green chiles, well drained, if you don't have access to Roasted Hatch Chiles.
1 C half and half
1 C grated smoked gouda cheese
salt , to taste
chopped chives for garnish

in a large saute pan on medium heat:
butter
onion
saute for 10 minutes
transfer to a slow cooker and add potatoes, thyme,water
Cove and cook on low for 4 hours

Use an immersion blender and blend some of the potatoes, not all of them, just enough to thicken it

Add:
corn
chiles
half and half
cheese
salt
continue cooking for 30 minutes more

Serve garnished with chives

Enjoy!
Peace in the Kitchen!

Chocolate Butterfinger Cake

Chocolate Butterfinger Cake:

A friend of mine sent me this recipe. Thanks Lauren. I changed the name.
It sounds like another family gathering, church function cake.
I would make it in a 9"X13" pan.

Prepare your favorite boxed Chocolate Cake recipe as directed in a 9"X13" pan.

You'll also need:
1 (14oz.) can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 - jar of Caramel Topping
5 Butter Finger Candy Bars, crushed
1 (8oz.) package of Cream Cheese , softened
1 (12.oz) container of Whipped Topping

Mix Caramel and Sweetened Condensed Milk together.
Poke holes in the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Pour Caramel mixture evenly over the entire cake.
Sprinkle 1/2 of the crushed candy bars evenly over the Caramel.

Chill completely in the refrigerator.

Mix Cream Cheese and Whipped Topping together  with a hand mixer , until smooth.
Spread evenly over entire cooled cake.
Sprinkle with remaining crushed Candy Candy Bars.

Enjoy!
Peace in the Kitchen!

Pumpkin Butter / Thanksgiving 2013

Fall is about the flavors of the season. I love Apple, Pumpkin, Squash and Corn recipes for Fall. I make a lot of  Fall Soups and a lot of Fall desserts.

Here's another great recipe that's been shared and shared.......

This one comes from Citronlimette via The Fountain Avenue Kitchen.

The process I use in determining a recipe that I post goes something like this:

When I see a recipe shared online, I'll research online and in the hundreds of cookbooks that I own, dozens of recipes similar to the one I like. I may adapt it, change it and make it my own, or I may get permission to copy and post it on the blog.

If I find that a recipe has been shared my many with no reference to an origin, I'll simple post it.

I've stated in the past that I never post someone else's photographs. I only post my own. 

After seeing this recipe for Pumpkin Butter and researching dozens of others, I've chosen this one to write about.

Other recipes include clove. Clove is a very strong and fragrant spice that needs to be used in recipes with other strong flavors that can work well with it. I believe it would be too strong and overpowering in Pumpkin Butter. I've seen them with granulated sugar. I happen to like the added flavor of brown sugar in Fall recipes. Many times I use half brown sugar and half white sugar when a recipe calls for only white sugar.

I'll be making this soon and will post photographs.

Pumpkin Butter:

1 can ( 29oz.) pumpkin puree , not Pie Pumpkin ( I used 2 - 15oz. cans)

1 C brown sugar

3/4 C apple juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

juice of 1/2 lemon

In a large saucepan:

Whisk all ingredients well, except for the lemon juice.

Bring to a boil

Reduce to low heat, simmer 30 minutes

Stirring occasionally

Remove from heat

Add lemon juice

Cool completely

Pour into jars, sealed with a lid and refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Peace in the Kitchen!

Fall Fruit Crumble

New Update, 9/20/2013 I bought Peaches today to make this with only white sugar and the addition of baking powder. I'll update when it's done. I'm convinced I'm going to create the perfect crumble..... it may already be perfected! More to come.........

I just made a new one with firm Peaches and a new topping, 9 /26 / 2013. I Sliced the Peaches, cooked them in the same amount of sugar and cinnamon as I did  the Apples. I only used white sugar and I added 1 tsp of baking powder. The end result is totally different. The crumble is not "crumbly" when its prepared. It has the texture of dough. I simply crumbled it  as I dropped it in the Spring Form Pan. I still placed it on the bottom and then on top of the fruit. I baked it at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. I'm keeping the original recipe because I prefer a crunchy crumble and I'll keep this addition because my wife likes a cake like crumble. So both turned out great.
The next time I'll use firm Pears.


9/19/2013
Here's the final recipe. It's been perfected and taste tested........! This is a Best of the Best Recipe!
It may seem common, but all of the recipes I've seen, only have a topping they don't include a bottom.
When I lived in Germany, the family I lived with made something similar to a fruit crumble with a bottom and a top crumble. I've been getting nostalgic about my time spent in Europe when I was a college student and this is a fond memory. I only had to come up with the correct quantities of the ingredients to be pleased with the result.

Here's how this came about:
I wasn't planning on posting this because I didn't really have a recipe. I needed something for a dessert at the last minute and put this together.
It actually turned out really nice. I'll make it again with other fruit or pie filling.
In place of Apples you can use fresh firm Pears or fresh firm Peaches and prepare them like the Apples.
You could even use 1 can of your favorite fruit pie filling. You could even spread a jar of your favorite jam in the center.


2 pounds of Granny Smith Apples ( I used 4), peel, core and slice thin. I prefer Jonagold but the store I went to today did not have them,

3 TBS granulated sugar
1/8 tsp  cinnamon

Cook the apples in a saucepan just until tender.

Make a basic crumble:

2 C flour
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1 stick of butter,  softened.

Place all of the crumble ingredients in the bowl of a Stand Mixer with a dough hook.
Mix until it forms a crumble.

Sprinkle 1/2 of the crumble in a 9" spring form pan, (I buttered the pan on the bottom and sides).

Top it with the fruit
Sprinkle the remaining crumble on top of the fruit.

Option:
Top the cake with 10 walnuts halves and sprinkle with 2 TBS of raw sugar. ( bake as directed)

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack in the pan.
Transfer to a platter to serve.

I left it on the bottom of the pan when I transferred it to the plate.
My Spring Form Pan has a tempered glass bottom so I could easily have slid it onto the platter.

Note: I baked the pan on a cookie sheet to collect some of the juice that came out.
The next time I make it I will double wrap the Spring Form pan with heavy duty foil. I use this method for my Cheese Cake Recipe.

Enjoy!
Peace in the Kitchen

This one has 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 granulated sugar in the flour mixture, no baking powder.
 This crumble is crunchy. I like this one.

This is Peach, with the cake texture crumble.
It has all white sugar and baking powder. 

Same as above, out of the spring form pan.