Grape Leaves

Grape Leaves
(recipe from Dania Zahlouk)

Ingredients for filling:
1 cup short rice
3 oz. ground beef
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. nutmeg
salt
1 tsp. all spice
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp chili powder
1 jar grapesleaves

For Broth:
4 Tbsp lemon juice
5 cloves garlic

Instructions:
1. Wash the rice and leave it in the water for ½ half hour
2. Rinse the rice and add all remaining ingredients (mix together to create filling)
3. Rinse the leaves and remove the stems
4. Fill the leaves with the filling and roll them up
5. Make a broth by combining water, salt and fresh garlic. Cook in broth for 2 hours on low heat. Add lemon juice the last 15 minutes.

Cafe Rio Pork and Dressing

Café Rio Barbeque Pork
3 lb. Pork Roast
12 oz. can of coke
Sauce:
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 c. barbeque sauce
3/4 c. ketchup
1/3-1/2 c. brown sugar

1. Place roast in crock pot (with net) and add can of Coke. Cook on high for 1-2 hours, then turn to low for 7-8 hours.
2. Remove roast and clip off net, shred with 2 forks. Strain juice and reserve about 1 cup for sauce.
3. Sauce: Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl. Place shredded meat back in crock pot and pour sauce over. Stir to coat all meat. Add 1 cup of the reserved juice to further moisten meat.
4. Continue cooking on low until warmed through.

Note: She uses the picnic roast with the net around it but you can use any kind of pork roast. I tried it with a sirloin roast and it tasted the same. When I made this the first time I served it on rolls. The next time I made it into burritos like Café Rio does. I just made white rice and warmed up a can of Bush's Black beans. I melted cheese on a tortilla than added the rice, black beans, meat, pico de gala, guacamole and some of the dressing on top. I've turned it into a salad too.

Café Rio Dressing
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. milk
1 envelope Ranch dressing mix
2 tomatillas, outer layer removed (these look like small green tomatoes)
1 serrano pepper (if you don't like it spicy only add half)
1/2 bunch cilantro, rinsed

Put all ingredients in blender and mix well.

**Amber sent me these recipes. Thy are to die for! I think I've made it 7 times and gained 3 pounds!

Coconut Rice Pudding

Caribbean coconut rice pudding

½ cup Jasmine Rice (I’m assuming regular rice would work too)
2 cups whole milk
2 cups coconut milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp raisins (I left these out)
½ tsp vanilla extract

Wash the rice thoroughly in several changes of water, put in a deep pot. Add milk, coconut milk and rice, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook milk gently boiling for 1 hour or until the rice is thoroughly cooked and the milk has thickened to a pudding consistency. Add sugar and vanilla extract, cook about another 5 minutes. Distribute pudding into 4 serving dishes and garnish with raisins and coconut flakes. Chill for 1 hour before serving. Yield: 4 servings.

***I just served it right out of the pan in bowls. It was good hot. Also, it would have been yummy with the fresh mango, and I didn’t have to cook it for a whole hour.

Spicy Black Beans

Spicy Black Beans

Yield: 2½ cups
Time: 1½ hours (+ bean soaking and cooking)

Ingredients
o 2 c pinto or black beans, soaked/cooked or canned
o 3 T sesame or olive oil
o 1 c onion, diced
o 3 cloves garlic, minced
o 1-2 t cumin
o 1-2 t salt
o 1-2 t black pepper, ground

Directions
Heat the oil over medium heat, add the onion, and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and continue sautéing for another minute or two.
Stir in the beans, spices, and ½ c of reserved soaking liquid. Mash the beans into the liquid. If they seem too dry, add more liquid. Taste and adjust the spices.
Notes Sesame oil adds a wonderful flavor to refried beans.
Reheat refried beans in a T or two of oil, preferably sesame.
Refried black beans are divine topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and red onion.

**I love this recipe. I found it online a year or two ago and I still make it. I never mash the beans, I just leave them whole. Also, I don't know why they are spicy, but they are. It must have something to do with the sesame oil and the salt.

Ginger-carrot soup

GINGER-CARROT SOUP

WHAT YOU'LL NEED
2 T olive oil
2 medium onions chopped (I use sweet onions)
2 pounds carrots chopped
2 sweet potatoes (1and1/4 total) peeled and chopped (I use 1 usually)
1 piece fresh ginger (2 inches long) peeled and finely chopped (2 T) (I put
a bit more)
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced sodium chicken broth
course salt and ground pepper
2-3 tsp sugar
2-3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (from one lemon) ( I put more sugar and
lemon juice, do it to your taste)
1/4 heavy creme (optional) (I've never tried adding the crème but it's
probably tasty)

WHAT TO DO
1. In a large (5 quart) saucepan, heat oil over medium; add onions and cook.
stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add carrots,
sweet potatoes, ginger, broth, and 4 cups water. Season with salt and pepper
(sometimes less water just eyeball it)(If you have a vegi chopper just chop
your vegis electronically because you end up putting them in the blender
anyways)
2. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until vegetables are
tender, about 20 minutes, Working in batches, puree' mixture in a blender
until smooth; add sugar and lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and
pepper, if necessary.(if freezing proceed to step 3) return soup to pan;
heat over medium, stirring in cream if desired.
3. To freeze: Cool to room temperature. Divide among airtight containers
(leaving 1 inch space at the top) and freeze up to 3 months. To heat, place
container upside down under hot tap water to release block of soup; place in
a medium sauce pan. Cover, and cook over medium-low, adding water to this,
if necessary stir in cream, if desired.

**This recipe is originally from Anne. I've had a couple of people ask me for it. Here you go!

Crépes

Crépes

1 cup flour
1½ to 2 cups milk (depending on how thin or thick you like them)
1 egg
1½ Tbsp oil (I use less)
pinch of salt


Combine all ingredients and mix until batter is smooth. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat on stove top. Pour 1/8 cup of batter into the pan. Lift the pan and spread batter to completely cover the bottom of the pan. Cook it on both sides. Serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit or nutella.

**I'm putting this up because people always ask me for the recipe. It is so simple, but they must seem hard to make, or something. Here it is...enjoy!

Chocolate chip cookies

Ruth Wakefields Chocolate Chip Chip Cookies
1 stick or ¼ pound unsalted butter softened, but no liquid
1 jumbo egg
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup white sugar
½ cup light or dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon imitation vanilla extract
1 1/8 cups flour. If the cookies come out too flat and runny,use a little more flour next time.
3 cups chocolate chips (I prefer 6 ounces)
1 ½ cups pecans whole or chopped
Preheat oven to 365 degrees F. Arrange oven racks so that your cookie rack is in the middle of the oven.
1. In a large bowl, add softened butter, and egg.
2. Sprinkle the ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon of salt over the butter and egg.
3. Add ¼ cup white sugar and ½ cup brown sugar.
4. Pour 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract over the brown sugar.
5. Mix ingredients just until evenly moist.
6. Add 1 1/8 cups of flour and stir until incorporated.
7. Add chocolate chips and nuts stirring until evenly blended.You may want to break up the nuts by breaking them into pieces before stirring them into the batter. I usually leave them whole and let the stirring process break up the nuts.
8. Spray cookie sheets lightly with a aerosol oil like Pam.
9. Use a teaspoon measure walnut size clumps of cookie dough onto cookie sheets. Do not crowd cookies. Leave space for them to spread out a little and not touch. Women seem to prefer smaller cookies. Men and children prefer larger cookies.
10. Bake one cookie sheet at a time for about 13 minutes. Do not over bake.
11. Cool cookie sheets on wire racks. Separate the cookies from the cookie sheets with a spatula or pancake turner before they cool completely.
12. Store in closed container at room temperature. As with all quality baked goods, chocolate chip cookies taste best if eaten within 24 hours of being baked. After 24 hours the texture and taste of the cookies degenerates.
Notes
A recipe that contains so few ingredients shouldn't require artfulness to prepare, but it does. Although most recipes call for creaming the eggs and sugar before adding other ingredients, that process turns what should be a great chocolate chip cookie dough into something that tastes overly processed, something more like a mall cookie.
Do not use an electric mixer or food processor to make this recipe.Both appliances ruin the texture of chocolate chip cookie dough.
Do not refrigerate or freeze cookies. Even putting the cookies in a cold room overnight can change their flavor. They should remain a room temperature until they are eaten. If you can't eat all of the cookies you make, share some with a friend or neighbor.


***I just found this recipe on line, but it has been my favorite Chocolate Chip cookie recipe so far. (and I have made a lot!)