Monday, September 30, 2013

Chilaquiles with Chicken and Roasted Tomatillo Salsa


 

Chilaquiles are popular breakfast food
in Mexico, but we like them for a quick
dinner.

They originated as a leftover dish using up
the stale tortillas and leftover red or green
sauce, meat and cheese.  Sometimes they
have scrambled eggs on top for a 
breakfast dish.  Our favorite is
with green sauce and chicken then topped
with cheese.



I chose to fry my own corn tortillas but we have made
them with tortilla chips when we were in a hurry.

I also made my own salsa verde but you can use
a bottled or canned variety too.



The tortillas are topped with the salsa and chicken
and then cheese is added and melted on top.

You can cook your finished chips in the salsa verde but
I like to keep mine crispier so I just top them with the salsa.

Chilaquiles with Chicken and 
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

1 dozen corn tortillas cut into strips or triangles
oil for frying tortillas or tortilla chips

2 C. cooked chicken, cubed
salsa verde (homemade recipe follows or
we like World Table Salsa Verde from Wal Mart 
or Herdez Salsa Verde)
3 C. monterey jack cheese

Fry the corn tortillas in oil brought to 350 degrees in
small batches until crisp.  Drain on paper towels

Layer the chips, salsa verde, and chicken and top
with lots of cheese on an ovenproof or microwave proof
dish.  Drizzle a little additional
salsa verde on top.  Heat until the cheese is melted
in a 350 degree oven or in the microwave.

Dig in and enjoy.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
1 1/2 C. fresh tomatillos, rinsed
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno chile, seeded
1 1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon powder
3/4 C. water
1 medium white onion, chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Place cleaned, chopped tomatillos, garlic and
seeded jalapenos in a large skillet.  Cook over
medium high heat until tomatillos are blackened
and soft.  Do not use oil.  Remove and let cool
a few minutes.  

Place the water, bouillon and the chopped onion
in a saucepan and cook until the
onions are soft. Remove and let cool a few minutes.
Place the tomatillo
mix and the onion mix in the food processor
with the cilantro and puree.
Transfer the salsa to a saucepan and
bring to a 
boil and simmer until a nice salsa consistency. 
 Best if refrigerated for
about 3 hours, but it is great right away.

Makes about 1 quart

This salsa verde has a great fresh tangy
flavor.  We loved it.
a cookbook printed in 2005 that was left in 
our Cabo home for me to inherit - fabulous. You can 
buy it from Amazon.  Everything we have made in it is great.)



Don't miss out on this traditional Mexican favorite.
It is super quick if you use tortilla chips
and canned salsa verde.  I really like Wal Mart's
World Table (my favorite) or Herdez's Salsa Verde.
You can have it with or without chicken and you
can also serve it with scrambled egg, but this is
our favorite way to serve it.


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Hot Snickerdoodle Sundae with Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream


If you love Snickerdoodles and cinnamon 
you will love this combination with
warm soft Snickerdoodles and
homemade Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream 
topped with easy Caramel Sauce.


The homemade Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream is the perfect 
topper but you could use vanilla.

Snickerdoodle Sundae 
with Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream
(Make this the day before and let ripen in
the freezer or early in the day so it can freeze
hard enough to scoop out.)

4 C. heavy cream
2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. brown sugar
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 T. vanilla

Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl
and mix until the brown sugar is dissolved.
Place in your ice cream container and freeze 
according to the manufacturers directions.
If you have followed me for a while you know
I love the Cuisinart 2 Quart Ice Cream Freezer.
It makes enough for us and freezes it firmly.
If you are going to ripen it overnight,
place it in a chilled 2 quart container
and cover and put in the freezer.  If you
are going to serve it later that day you
can place the freezer container that you 
made it in directly into the freezer to ripen.

If there is one thing I hate, it is homemade ice
cream that melts into soup before you can eat
it so we always make it ahead, at least early
in the morning.


Caramel Sauce
(Make this ahead of time and reheat.)
2 C. brown sugar
1 C. butter
1 C. light Karo syrup
1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients except the vanilla
in a medium sized saucepan.
Bring to a boil and boil about 5 minutes
on medium, stirring the whole time.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
Let cool.  Store covered in the fridge.

This is the same recipe that I use for
my caramel apples and my caramels
for dipping only I cook it
longer for both of those.


Snickerdoodles
(A variation of Betty Crocker's Recipe.)

You want to have these hot out of the oven
as you assemble the sundaes.

1 C. butter, softened
1 1/2 C. sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 C. flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 C. sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400

In a large mixer bowl cream together the
butter, sugar and eggs.  In another bowl mix the
flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt.  Stir the
two together to make the dough.

In a small bowl mix the sugar and cinnamon.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls and roll
in the cinnamon sugar.  Place the balls on baking
sheets covered with parchment paper.  Bake 8 minutes
or until tops are dry.  You want them very wet inside
and they will continue to cook a little once you get
them out of the oven.

To assemble, place a hot Snickerdoodle on
your serving plate, scoop out a generous scoop
of the Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream and
garnish with whipped cream and additional
cinnamon sugar.  Drizzle the warm Caramel
Sauce on the top.

Enjoy!!!




We love to make homemade ice cream
any time of year and this was one of
our favorites with the hot cookie and delicious
caramel.  You can always tell it is a hit
when nobody is talking!


Monday, September 23, 2013

Cinnamon Peach Bread In A Jar


Fresh peaches are one of my favorite
fruits and we have tons here right now.

I decided I needed to make a bread 
filled with peaches and touches of 
cinnamon.


Of course everything is more wonderful in
a jar.  I made a batch and filled
5 jelly jars and had enough left over to
make a small loaf which we were able to
sample before I brought these to a luncheon.


They were a hit hot out of the oven and just as good the next
day once I topped them with a dollop of frosting, a fresh peach
slice and some cinnamon sugar.  The peaches gave the bread
a wonderful moistness.

Cinnamon Peach Bread In A Jar Recipe

1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. white sugar
1 egg
1 C. buttermilk
2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 C. mashed fresh peaches
1 tsp. cinnamon

Crumble
2 T. softened butter
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 C. flour

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream the butter and sugars together, scraping the sides
of the bowl.  Blend in the egg.  In a separate bowl mix the
flour and soda together.  Add the flour mix and the buttermilk
and blend until smooth.  In a separate bowl mix the peaches and
cinnamon together.  Stir them into the batter.  Set aside.

Mix the ingredients for the crumble together with
your hands or two forks.

Spray jelly mason jars with Pam with flour and fill the
jars 1/2 full.  Sprinkle the crumble on the top of
the batter.  Place the jelly jars on a pan and
bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick
inserted in center comes out clean.

Frosting
1/4 C. softened butter
2 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch salt
2-3 T. cold water

Mix in bowl until smooth and fluffy

When the breads are cool, top with a dollop
of frosting, a slice of peach and cinnamon sugar.

Serve additional frosting on the side if desired.
Makes one loaf (bake for 45-50 minutes if in a
loaf) or about 10 jelly jars.



Fresh peach season is one of my favorite times of year.
Alas they come and go so quickly!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Missionary Moment - Welcome to Korea


Our missionary son has been in Seoul, South Korea
for a few weeks now and he has already been 
introduced to a canned delicacy there
Silkworm Pupas.

You can see that they are being taken from the 
pop-top can and being scooped out with
the traditional Korean spoon.  

He said they chased them down with
a cola drink.

I think a friend just wanted to see if he would
eat this because they really do have wonderful food 
in Korea and Elder Chase says that the Koreans
pride themselves on their food.


Here he is (the missionary on the left with the glasses)  
enjoying a huge feast in someone's home.

It is customary for missionaries to eat whatever
unique and unusual foods are given to them
to honor their hosts.

Chase had the chance to travel on business
with his father to China and there he
ate duck tongue, dog, donkey and snake.
His Chinese host was so pleased that he didn't
turn his nose up at any of their traditional
meats and we felt it helped prepare Chase
for a mission to Korea.

                                여수그리스도 후기성도교회
(I am not sure what this means, but it was his subject heading on 
his email that included the picture of the feast and he started
his email with Welcome from Korea, so maybe that is what it means.)

We are so thrilled to have a son out serving our Savior
Jesus Christ, bringing the Good News to the world.
This is our third son to serve a two year mission
for the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Our oldest served in Argentina, our middle son served
in Seattle, Washington and now this one is in Seoul, Korea.
(It's a long ways from home!)

I will be posting with
Spiritual Sundays



Thursday, September 19, 2013

Walnut Grape Jam


What's a girl to do with an abundance 
of grapes this year?


Walnut Grape Jam,
does that sound as intriguing to you as it
did to me?
Rettabug at The Gazebo House
posted a comment on my


saying if she were me, she would be making
Walnut Grape Jam,
and that her parents and grandparents
had grape arbors and they always
made Walnut Grape Jam.


I had planned on trying my hand at 
grape juice
so I went out and bought a steam juicer.


They also had half gallon jars at the
Mending Shed
in town where I bought the juicer
so I bought a case of six of those.
What fun it was to juice more than 20 lbs. 
of Concord grapes and bottle the juice.
(I was able to get 4 half gallon jars - almost
full out of that many grapes.)


I couldn't stop thinking about Rett's
idea so I got on the internet and searched
for Walnut Grape Jam and a recipe
came up for
by Wenger Grapes that added 1 C. of walnuts
to the recipe.  So I decided to give it a try.
I left a couple of jelly jars plain grape jelly
for those who didn't want nuts in theirs.
I got excited about the combination.
My sister Jean in Texas always brings me
a peach topping with pecans in it, so why not
grape with walnuts. 

I just followed the recipe in the 
Sure Jell
box for freezer grape jelly
using my already preserved grape juice
and added the walnuts before spooning
the jam/jelly into the jelly jars.
I had Trader Joe's Candied Walnuts on hand
and those worked great.

Walnut Grape Jam
(or Jelly if you want)

2 C. grape juice
4 C. sugar
 2 T. water
1 envelope Certo Sure Jell Pectin
(I used the liquid pouches)
1 1/2 C. sugared walnuts, chopped
(or you could use plain - I would toast them for flavor first)

Directions (I just followed the package directions.)

Place the grape juice in a bowl and add sugar, measuring 
accurately.  Stir occassionally for 10 minutes.  Then in a small bowl
place the water and pectin and stir together.  Stir it into
the grape juice mixture.  Stir for 3 minutes.  The sugar should
be almost completely dissolved by now.

Now stir in the walnuts.  I only used 1 C. walnuts as I didn't
put walnuts in all of my jars, so if you don't want walnuts in
some, spoon the jam into sterilized jars that are to be left plain
before you stir in the walnuts to the remaining jam.  Spoon
the remaining jam with walnuts into sterlized jars.
This makes about 6 C.

Cover with sterlized lids.  Let sit on the counter overnight
to jell.  Store in fridge if you are eating it right away
or in the freezer.



If you are a nut lover, you are going to love this
great combination.  We ate some on toast
and some just by the spoonful.  I think this
calls for a batch of homemade rolls - ooh, a major
downfall of mine!

Thanks Rett for the great suggestion.  
My daughter with four kids chose a jar
without nuts, but she loved the one with nuts herself.

I will be posting with




Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Lemon Basil Chicken Salad


If you are like me the basil is at it's peak and
just screaming to be used in so many recipes!

This wonderfully refreshing chicken salad
is perfect for using that basil in.


Basil has to be one of my favorites.  Wish it could winter over
but last year I did cut a sprig off and put it in a cup of
water.  It sprouted and we had fresh basil in the kitchen
until Christmas.


The flavors of lemon and basil are wonderful together



and everything is accentuated by the punch of 
toasted almonds.  I ate way too much of this!

Lemon Basil Chicken Salad

3 C. cubed grilled chicken
3/4 C. mayonaise
1/4 C. sour cream
1/2 C. fresh basil (measure without cutting up the leaves)
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1/2 C. toasted slivered almonds

Place the mayo, sour cream, fresh basil and lemon juice
in the bowl of your food processor and pulse until the
basil is finely minced.  Place that in a large bowl and
stir in the cubed chicken, celery, toasted almonds and 
salt.  Stir to blend.  Cover and refrigerate for at least
an hour for flavors to blend.  

Serve as is or on croissants for a sandwich.
This was so yummy as it is, that I couldn't
do anything but eat it with a fork and I
am going to have to make it again soon
while the basil is here!



I do like that in our market you can buy fresh basil in a little
potted plant during the winter months, but try this out
now when you have your own basil.


Monday, September 16, 2013

Pesto Twist Breadsticks


You can always tell it is fall at
Purple Chocolat Home
because we start baking again,
especially bread.


These are a variation of our
favorite breadsticks that my
daughter brought home from her
junior high cooking class.
You know they are EASY
when they are teaching them 
at the junior high.


The biggest mistake that people make when making 
bread is making the dough too stiff.  This is a moist
dough so you might be tempted to add more flour,
but don't!  Wait until it has risen and it will be much
less sticky. 

 Look at those beautiful air bubbles in this
wonderful dough.


Roll the dough out into a rectangle and then spread
your homemade or ready made pesto on the top
and cut into strips with a pizza cutter.

We have so much fresh basil this time of
year it is fun to make homemade pesto.



The strips are then dipped in melted butter that you have
poured into the bottom of your baking pan.  

Fold the breadstick in half with the pesto coated side together.
Twist a few times and place on the buttered pan.

Or as I found after a few and after I took this picture,
it was easier to fold in half and then dip.  When I
am dipping both sides in butter I have to do it
as pictured above but since the one side is already
full of goodness, it was easier to fold first and then
dip.


These rise so quickly and are getting ready to pop in the oven.

Top with parmesan cheese and bake.


Ooh Wee - I like fresh bread almost as much as 
chocolate!

Pesto Twist Breadsticks

1 T. yeast
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 C. warm water
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 C. flour

1/2 C. pesto
1/2 C. butter, melted
1/2 C. parmesan cheese

In your large mixing bowl mix the yeast, sugar and water and let
sit for a few minutes to foam.  Add salt and flour and using your
dough hook knead for 5 minutes.  The dough might not pull
completely away from the bowl, but don't worry, you want this soft.

Remove the dough hook and spray the dough with Pam.  Cover
the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise about one hour.

Flour your counter and turn dough out onto the floured surface.

Knead a few times incorporating a little flour if needed.

Roll the dough out into about an 15 x 10 inch rectangle.
Spread the pesto on the dough.

Cut the dough into about 12 strips.

Place the butter in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.

Fold the breadstick in half with the pesto sides facing and
then dip both sides in butter.  Twist several times and
place in bottom of pan.  Move completed breadsticks aside
so that you can continue dipping the remaining breadsticks.

Cover lightly and let raise for about 20-30 minutes.

Sprinkle with grated parmesan.

Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until golden.

(I needed a large batch this day so I made 1 1/2
the recipe and did it in a 13x18 inch bun pan.)



These were wonderful!



There is always something good coming from the
oven this time of year.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.

(I splurged and bought myself the 
MacKenzie Child's Courtly Check Cannister Set
 so I had to feature it somehow!  - Definitely a splurge - see what a bad
influence some of you bloggers are on me?!!)




Follow me on Instagram