Chile Cheese Egg Casserole

This recipe was in the Sunday Parade magazine a few months ago.  I've made it once, and my mom has made it several times.  She often cooks it Saturday night, and it reheats beautifully for Sunday morning.  Very filling and delicious.

Chile Cheese Egg Casserole

1 stick (½ cup butter)	1 quart (4 cups) cottage cheese
10 eggs	½ cup marscapone cheese
2 egg whites	1 lb. shredded Monterey Jack
½ cup flour	2 (8 oz.) cans diced green chiles
1 tsp. baking powder	Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350°.  Melt butter, and pour half into a 13x9 baking pan, and set the other half aside.  Beat eggs and egg whites lightly in a large bowl.  Stir in flour, baking powder, chiles, all cheeses, and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.  Pour egg mixture into baking pan.  Pour reserved butter over the top.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350° and bake 35-40 minutes or until casserole is set.

(That's the way the recipe appeared.  I did make a few alterations-- I just dumped 12 eggs in there, without separating the 2 egg whites.  And my family isn't a huge fan of spicy foods, so I only put one can of chiles in.)

Knox Blocks

I never remember what proportions of Jello and Knox Blocks go in this recipe.  I made them a couple of weeks ago, though, and this recipe turned out just right.  Better write it down before I'm scratching my head and wondering again in a month.  Evan remembers this treat from childhood, and loves it.

Knox Blocks

3 envelopes Knox gelatin	4 cups boiling water
4 pkg. (3 oz. each) Jello

Mix gelatin and Jello in a heat-safe bowl.  Pour in boiling water and stir briskly until completely dissolved.  Pour in a 13x9 pan.  Cool in fridge for 4-5 hours.  These are very firm blocks, easy to eat with your hands!

You can choose any four flavors of Jello.  We like 2 boxes of grape and 2 boxes of cranberry, but it's fun to try new combinations!

Pork Chops with Raspberry Sauce

And, tonight's supper!  For a side, I have some sweet potatoes cooking in the crockpot, a yummy-looking recipe from the new slow cooker recipe book from Cook's Illustrated.  I'm hoping that turns out good.  I've made these pork chops several times since I first saw the recipe in Family Circle magazine, they're super yummy and easy!

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries	½ cup water
1/3 cup sugar	1 T butter
¼ cup raspberry vinegar	Pork chops, 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick
1/8 tsp. ground ginger	½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg	½ tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cloves	½ tsp. rubbed sage

In a medium saucepan, combine raspberries, sugar, vinegar, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  Stir in ½ cup water and bring to a boil, crushing berries with a wooden spoon.  Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Take off heat, stir in butter.  Meanwhile, heat oven to 350°.  Heat grill pan over medium high heat.  Season the pork chops with the spices.  Lightly grease grill pan and grill chops 5 minutes per side.  Place chops in baking dish and bake for 10 minutes, or until internal temperature is 145°.  Allow to stand 5 minutes.  Serve with warm sauce on the side.

Fish Tacos

Here's what's for supper tonight, courtesy of Cook's Illustrated The Best Skillet Recipes.  Lots of yummy recipes in this book!  This recipe is one of my favorites, and once I learned the right order to prepare it all in, it's a pretty quick meal.  Eun Hui, the California girl, even pronounced it "authentic".  The recipe calls for cod, but I tend to buy cheaper fish, like tilapia or swai, which has the advantage of frying much faster, too.  The chipotle mayonnaise is excellent on sandwiches as well, so don't worry if you make too much!

Fish Tacos

Chipotle Mayonnaise

¾ cup mayonnaise	1 T lime juice
1-3 tsp. minced chipotle pepper	1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 T minced cilantro leaves	Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together and set aside

Cabbage

¼ head green cabbage (12 oz.), shredded (about 4 cups)	1 tsp. vegetable oil
3 T minced onion	½ tsp. salt
2 T cider vinegar

Mix all ingredients together and set aside

Fish

½ cup flour	1 tsp. salt & ½ tsp. pepper
1 T chili powder	1 ½ lbs. white fish, cut into strips

You will need oil for frying, and tortillas for serving.  The recipe suggests corn tortillas, but I usually have flour on hand, so I use those.

Whisk together the flour, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl.  Dredge fish gently, letting excess flour fall back in bowl.  (Can shake gently in a mesh strainer to remove excess).  Heat about ½ inch of oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Oil is ready when a little piece of the chopped cabbage bubbles quickly when placed in the oil.  Add the fish and cook on one side, 1-2 minutes.  Carefully flip, and finish cooking (another minute or two), until fish flakes easily with a fork or paring knife.  Place fish on a paper towel-lined plate.  Heat tortillas, smear on chipotle mayo, place a few pieces of fish on top, and top with cabbage mixture.  Eat while the fish is hot!

Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese

While it does involve a little more measuring and grating some cheese, this is just as fast as Kraft Dinner.  From the time you first think about having this meal until it is making your mouth happy is less than 15 minutes. 

Alton Brown’s Stove Top Mac & Cheese

½ lb. elbow macaroni	1 tsp. kosher salt
4 T butter (1/2 stick)	Freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs	¾ tsp. dry mustard
6 oz. evaporated milk	10 oz. sharp cheddar, shredded
½ tsp. hot sauce

Boil salted water and add macaroni.  While the macaroni is cooking, grate the cheese and whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard.  Drain the macaroni when it is al dente and return to pot.  Melt in the butter and toss to coat.  Mix in the milk mixture, then add the cheese.  Stir over low heat for 3 minutes or until creamy.

Notes: You can't buy 6 oz. cans of evaporated milk.  I just use the five ounce can and dollop a little whole milk in.  Evan prefers this with a mixture of monterey jack and cheddar, although I love I with just cheddar.  I use Frank's Red Hot for the hot sauce, but next time I want to try Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce.

Doubled recipe:

1 lb. elbow macaroni	2 tsp. kosher salt
8 T butter (1 stick)	Freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs	1 ½ tsp. dry mustard
12 oz. evaporated milk	20 oz. sharp cheddar, shredded
1 tsp. hot sauce

Chicken Curry

This recipe sounds slightly exotic, but it's the height of comfort food, and my kids love it.  Bethaney just called to get the recipe, such as it is, for the second time, so I decided to type it out while I still had the card out.  This is a Rosemary recipe-- Rosemary often made it for us while she was at our house.  She got the recipe from a man in Bermuda.  There are few measurements here-- use what you have!  I would say it's around 1 1/2 pounds chicken, 1 small onion, 3-4 cloves of garlic, and maybe a half teaspoon of cornstarch if needed.  I like the taste of the green curry powder, but red curry is an option.  I have used curry paste, too, with fine results.

Chicken Curry

Chicken, cut into chunks	2 cubes chicken bouillon
1 T curry powder	1/3 cup hot water
1 tsp. chili powder	1 can coconut milk
Onion, minced	Cornstarch
Garlic, minced

Mix chicken with curry and chili powders.  Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil.  Add chicken and cook until brown.  Dissolve the bouillon cubes in the hot water and add to the cooking chicken.  Continue cooking until chicken is cooked through.  Add one can of coconut milk and let simmer for a minute.  If you want a thicker sauce, sprinkle some cornstarch in and mix in.  Serve with rice (Jasmine rice is best!).

Bacon Scrapple

This recipe is from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham.  There are lots of breakfast recipes in that book that will make you hungry no matter what time of day it is.  I took this up to Vaughans' this weekend and it disappeared like snow in a ditch.  Crispy on the outside, tender in the inside, and SO GOOD!

Bacon Scrapple

½ pound sliced bacon	1 ¼ tsp. salt
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal	½ tsp. coarse-ground pepper
1 cup cold water	1 bay leaf, crumbled
3 cups boiling water	Reserved bacon fat

Fry the bacon until crisp, pat dry of excess fat and chop into small pieces.  Reserve the fat from the pan.  Stir the cornmeal into the cold water (always stir cornmeal into cold liquid before adding it to boiling liquid to prevent lumps).  Boil 3 cups water.  Stir in salt, pepper and bay leaf.  Stir in the cornmeal and ¼ cup bacon fat, lower heat to medium, and cook, stirring often.  (Cornmeal will sputter, so be careful).  Cook for about 20 minutes, until mixture is no longer runny and plops off spoon.  Remove from heat and stir in bacon pieces.  Press mixture into greased bread pan and chill for at least 4 hours.  Cut into thin slices, and fry in bacon fat until brown and crisp around the edges.  Serve hot.