Recipe Exchange

I got one of those chain emails, one of the only ones I ever bother to forward on; the recipe exchange email. You know, put your name in the number 2 position and put my name in the number one position and send it out and everyone sends a recipe to the person in the number one position and so on and so forth. Absolutely baffling to some of my less tech savvy relatives, but still a fun way to get some new recipes, or at least get you thinking of variations that you might actually eat.
I think it's hilarious the varied responses I got (from mojitos to random dumpings of things in casserole dishes to actual recipes), and so I've decided to post them here (typos in tact, I don't have time to edit for everyone you know). If you end up making any of them, please let me know! A couple of them frighten me a little, I'll admit. . .

SHRIMP CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP

1- can of 46oz. Tomato jucie*
1- can Tomato paste*
1- quart heavy cream*
1/2 bottle cocktail sauce*
3 tablespoons worcester sauce*
3 tablespoons hot sauce* to your taste
1 tablespoon seasalt or table salt* to your taste
1 tablespoon onion/flakes * (optiional)
* bring all above ingredients to boil then simmer.

2 lbs. chop and/or whole shrimp meat
1 lb. imitation crab
1 cilantro bunch chopped
1/2 cup Vin Rose Wine*
Add above ingredients simmer for another 5-10 minutes
Enjoy!

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Let's call these: Stuffin' Meat Muffins, because, well, funny, and they had no name when they were sent to me

1 lb. Lean Ground Beef (Turkey)
1 pkg. (6oz) Stove Top Stuffing
1 C. Water
3/4 C. Shredded Cheese

Mix meat and stuffing mix and water. Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 30 min. Top with a bit for cheese and bake another 5 mins.

Yummy! You can add same salsa before cooking too. Or BBQ sauce.

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Mango Mojitos

1 serving (serving size: 1/2 cup)

Ingredients

• 2 lime wedges
• 5 fresh mint leaves
• 1/4 cup club soda
• 3 tablespoons rum
• 2 tablespoons simple syrup
• 1 tablespoon mango nectar
• Crushed ice

Preparation

Squeeze the lime wedges into a small glass; add wedges and mint to glass. Crush with the back of a spoon for 30 seconds. Add soda, rum, Simple Syrup, and nectar; stir gently. Serve over ice.

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Curried Chicken

This is so delicious, not spicey, sauce is great over rice!!! Oh, and easy...

1/2 cup chutney

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 TBS curry powder

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup golden raisins

2 1/2 cups orange juice

5 pounds chicken, cut up

Add all ingredients to a pot, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for an hour.

Serves 10

Enjoy!!

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Brisket 3-5 lbs

1 bottle chili sauce, by catsup, Heinz is a common brand

I envelope onion soup mix

2 onions-thinly sliced

2 ribs celery-thinly sliced

water

Put brisket in bottom of crock pot. Pour over the chili sauce, then fill up the sauce bottle half way, shake and then add this half bottle of water to the pot. Put in the onions and the celery, sprinkle with the onion soup. Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8. Serve over egg noodles.

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I package angel food cake mix....

1 med. can crushed pineapple

dump cake mix into bowl

dump pineapple into bowl with dry mix and mix by hand

cook in angel food pan as directed on box...

delicious, refreshing, low calorie and easy....

yummy yummy

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More to come as I receive them because, well, why not.




Breakfast Fritata (great for company/easy to make)

Ingredients:
6-8 eggs
one can evaporated milk (low fat)
1 package (30oz) shredded hash browns (frozen)
2 cups shredded colby jack cheese
1 can diced green chiles
1/2 medium onion diced
1 green or red bell pepper diced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Beat egg and evaporated milk, stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into a lightly greased 13x9x2 pan. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until set.

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Chicken Pozole
Serves about 6

1-whole or 1/2 chicken
4-5 cans of chicken broth or make your own
1-can of white hominy-can be purchased at Safeway or small hispanic owned grocery stores in SSF
3-Ancho dried chiles-can be purchased at Safeway or small hispanic owned grocery stores in SSF
1-small cabbage
2 tomatoes
1-lemon or lime
1- onion
1/2 bell pepper
salt
garlic
oregano


1. Make chicken soup:
a. whole cut up chicken, water and or chicken broth, salt and garlic (to taste)
chop 1 tomato , 1/2 onion and 1/2 bell pepper (this is how I make my basic chicken soup)
cook until done.

Add all ingredients below after the chicken soup is done.

2. Ancho chile sauce:
a. In a separate sauce pot place 3 ancho chiles and 1 whole large tomato and let simmer adding water as needed until chiles (they're purchased dry) are soft.
b. Place tomato and chiles in a blender or in a magic bullet puree
c. Pour into stock

3.White Hominy 1 can, 1lb:
a. Open can drain and pour hominy into soup

Bring to a boil chicken soup ancho chile sauce and white hominy.

4. Serve with thin slices of cabbage, finely chop 1/2 onion, lemon and oregano (to taste).

Chocolate and raspberry

Chocolate Ganache Cake with Raspberry Coulis
Once upon a time I had this great idea. I love chocolate and raspberry together; they’re a match made in heaven (and anyone who tries to tell you chocolate and orange are a better combo is clearly working for demonic forces, back away slowly). I was watching some cooking show or other and saw them make ganache. It’s. . . chocolate . . . with heavy cream. I can do that. Watching something else showed me the beauty of the store bought chocolate pie crust (or maybe it was that Better Than Candy Pie – I can’t be sure). Well obviously I should make this ganache, and pour it lovingly into this chocolate crust, and make a raspberry coulis to spread on the plate below this heavenly creation – it’s like Oreo wrapped fudge! With raspberry sauce!
Without a thought to what such a creation might actually mean for my health in the long run, I made it for my father’s birthday one year as he is a chocolate raspberry fan as well.
Unfortunately, this treat became a bit of a hit with certain members of my family (I’m looking at you Mom, and maybe you too Dad – though you don’t demand it of me, so I can’t be as sure as I am with Mom). By this time I had realized that I was serving calories, fat, and clogged arteries in chocolate and raspberry clothing. Alas, it was far too late for us to save ourselves, but perhaps there is another way. . .
Whether or not this is any better for you, I doubt, but at least it’s not just a giant slab of ganache.
I’d wait to start on the coulis and ganache until after the cake is ready. The coulis can be refrigerated if you decide to make it in advance, but the ganache might get too firm to work with if you let it sit too long. Best to deal with it while it’s still a little warm.

Here is a flourless chocolate cake recipe, but I haven’t tried it yet.

COULIS:
1 package of frozen raspberries (and if they’re in season, fresh for garnish)
sugar (or Splenda!) to taste – sometimes I don’t need to add sugar at all

Dump your raspberries into a small sauce pan and heat over medium - low. Stir occasionally to move the frozen areas to the bottom. Once the berries start to liquefy and burble, you can decide if you need to add sugar.
Recipes for raspberry sauce may give you a specific amount to add, but that’s crazy talk. Some berries are sweeter than others, so I really think you need to add sugar in small increments until you have a tart/sweet ration you’re happy with.
Once the berries are completely broken down and smooshy, let cool a bit, then press through a strainer to remove the seeds. Some people seem to think seeds are okay. They are not. More devil’s work.

GANACHE:
1 pkg good quality semisweet chocolate chips, I like Ghiradelli. Please let the record show you can also grab a good bar (hello Scharffenberger) and chop it into small pieces, up to you.
1 small container of heavy cream, or perhaps we try that TJs ff ½ & ½ ?

Chop up your chocolate if you’ve opted for the bar – you can do this while your raspberries are heating.
Create a double boiler by placing a bowl over a small saucepan with a couple of inches of water in the bottom. You don’t want so much water that it touches the bowl, but not so little that it will boil off. The steam is what you’re using to melt the chocolate.
Put your chocolate into the double boiler and stir periodically as it begins to melt. Once you have more melted chocolate than not, you can bring the cream into the equation.
Again, recipes abound with exact amounts, but I’ll be damned if I ever pay attention (aside from my first attempt – if you’ve never done this before you should probably find one of those). I just pour a bit in until it looks right. How’s that for unhelpful? The cream acts to soften your chocolate so it won’t harden back to solid, but will stay squidgy and awesome. Add too much and it won’t firm up enough. Science is tricky! The beauty here is that you can flavor it however you’d like (with extracts or liqueurs), or leave it plain and chocolatey delicious.

Then you take this melty goo and pour or spread it all over whatever it is you’re pouring it over. In this case, the cake. It is equally amazing on brownies, for fondue, on yellow cake, rice krispie treats, fruit, your fingers, the spoon, uh, anything really.