Chuck's Teriyaki Chicken

Check out the teriyaki chicken my hubby made. All he did was season the meat with salt and pepper, then let the meat sit over night in the marinade. He cooked it over the charcoal grill. I think using thigh meat is best with this because it stays so juicy. The sugar in the teriyaki marinade gave the chicken a nice crisp char, that's my favorite part.

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Setting the Table

I've learned that the place you eat should look as good as the food you are serving.

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Cheesecake Cookies "by Abby Sweets"

Greetings,

I LOVE trying recipes out, I often put my own spin on them. I found a recipe for Cheesecake Cookies on a blog called Abby Sweets. I love all things cheesecake, so I had to try them out. I did not have graham crackers, so I got creative and used crush Frosted Flakes and pecans. The cookies came out very good, I put caramel and chocolate chips in the middle of my cookies, however, I would recommend a fruit filling instead. A fresh strawberry puree or even preservative would be great. You definitely do not want to over bake these cookies. I had a batch I left in a little too long and they came out dry, but my second batch was PERFECT!

THE RECIPE BELOW IS COPIED FROM -April at Abby Sweets(http://abbysweets.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-1-cheesecake-cookies.html)

Cheesecake Cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
Graham Cracker Crumbs, for coating

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Mix in vanilla extract. Stir in the flour until well combined.

Scoop the dough and form into 1" balls. Roll in graham cracker crumbs so cookie is covered.

Place covered cookie balls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tops are slightly puffed.
******

THESE PICTURES ARE OF MY COOKIES :)

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Crock Pot Jerk Chicken

When the temperature drops, it time to pull out the Crock-Pot. Nothing warms the body like this spicy taste of the tropics. Theres' a bunch of ingredients, but it's super simple and super yummy! As you can see in the picture below I use a big Crock-Pot(her name is Bertha), so you may adjust the amount if yours is smaller. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:
4 lb pack of chicken legs
2 tsp rosemary
2 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and allspice
1 tsp each of thyme, ground ginger, salt & blk pepper
2 dashes each of nutmeg and cinnamon
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 (8 oz) can of pineapple slices
1 cup baby carrots
1 cup chopped veg blend
4 cloves of garlic
1 hot pepper (whole)
1 container of Lawry's Caribbean Jerk Marinade
2 cups of water or enough to cover

Directions:

1) Place your washed chicken in your Crock Pot.

2) Add all dry ingredients

3) Add veggie blend, garlic, carrots, pineapple and pepper

4) Pour entire bottle of marinade, liquid smoke and add enough water to cover chicken

Cover and set timer for 6 hours

Enjoy!

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

 

Thanksgiving leftover recipe 3

Greetings,

This will be the finally recipe using Thanksgiving left. Remember, by day 4 all leftovers should be eaten, already frozen or disposed of. We don't want a belly ache after all, right?

2 cup of leftover ham
4 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp of flour
1 cup whole milk (warm)
1 1/2 cup heavy cream (warm)
I used 2 (7oz) bags of uncooked pasta
2 cup combined smoked gouda, smoke gruyere and cheddar cheeses
1/3 cup each chopped onions and red bell peppers
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Boiled pasta in salted water, when they were done drained them and put 2 tbsp of butter in. This keeps it from sticking and adds flavor.

In separate skillet sweat your onions and peppers in a little oil and then add the ham.

In a large pan melted butter (2tbsp) over a medium heat, then added flour. Continue cooking until the mixture is the color of peanut butter. (Congratulations! You've made a roux.) Add your warm milk, heavy cream and add some salt/pepper. Cook this for about 5 min or until it's thicker. Add your cheese and let it melt. Once your cheese is melted add it your pasta and ham mixture. Mix everything in well and season as needed.

**Once I got everything mixed I added more cheese and chicken broth for moisture. You can adjust as needed.

Enjoy!

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Thanksgiving leftover recipe 2

The recipe today is super simple and super delicious. I call this, Thanksgiving...on a bun.

The amount of the ingredients are totally up to you.

• Leftover turkey
• Leftover ham
• Leftover dressing (mine was crawfish dressing)
• Leftover cranberry sauce
• Leftover rolls (I had Hawaiian rolls)
• Smear of cream cheese
• butter to toast the bread

I warmed my meat, dressing and toasted the buns over the stove. (I compressed and warmed my dressing in a small round bowl to give it a shape)

I smeared the cream cheese on the bottom bun since that's where I placed my turkey. (My son dipped his sandwich in leftover gravy as if he was eating a French dip sandwich)

That's it, enjoy!

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Thanksgiving leftover recipe 1

Tired of leftovers already? Try my fried rice recipe.

1 tbsp each of butter and vegetable oil
1/2 cup of leftover turkey (Chopped)
1/2 cup of leftover ham (Chopped)
1/2 cup of shrimp
about 2 cups of white rice cooked
3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup of chopped veg (onions, celery, peppers)
12 oz pack of steam in bag vegetables (corn, peas, carrots green beans, or what every you have)
I used 3 sauces; soy sauce, cholula chili garlic sauce, sriracha hot chili sauce,
The seasoning I used are garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, sea salt, roasted ground ginger, red pepper flakes, rosemary and tarragon.

In a large skillet add your butter and oil, once it melts add your chopped veg. Let your onions sweat then add your shrimp. Once your shrimp is nearly done, add in your eggs and scramble them in. Once that is done, add in your steamed vegetables, rice and meat. Pour in your sauces to your own taste, I like it spicy. Mix and season well. Comment below and let me know what you think?


Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Going Ham

This year I made a ham with my own glaze creation. It was yummy! I used a blood orange marmalade, a brown sugar mustard sauce and a host of my own spice mixtures, including clover to keep it traditional.

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Tips for an over crowded fridge.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It's 9pm, all your guest have gone home and you are left to figure out what to do with all the left overs, well have no fear, I have a few storage tips for you.

1) Ditch the plastic bowls- Let face it, our matching set of plastic bowls are perfect for storing every day dinner, but the bowls take up far to much space to store all the Thanksgiving foods. Instead try using freezer bags. They sell them in all sizes, In fact, I fit 1 and 1/2 hams in one gallon size bag.

2) Slice it up- You'll get more space if you cut your turkey and ham, then when you are ready to go digging for left overs, it'll be already slice. Win Win!

3) 4 days max rule- It's a good rule of thumb to eat your refrigerated left overs within a 4 day time frame, 3 days for seafood. If you have more food than you can eat within 4 days, freeze it instead of placing it in the fridge. (Example: Half the turkey in the refrigerator and the other half in the freeze.)

4) Trash it- So Aunt Hatty brought her green bean casserole that no one eats, everyone is gone home and you are left staring at a huge disposable pan of the monstrosity. Trash it!! You know good and well you are not going to eat it or make the kids eat it, so why take up valuable space in the fridge?

5) Doggy bags- If you are like me, you get tired of eating left overs, so send your guest home with plates. Buy a few packs of the Styrofoam plates with the lids. Not only will this save space in your icebox, but it will also make clean up a little easier on you.

That's all I have for tonight good friends. I have a chronic case of turkey-ritis.

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

5 Things To Do Wednesday to Make Thursday Easier.

     Thanksgiving is tomorrow and you should be pretty well prepped, but here are 5 more ways you can help yourself get done cooking Thanksgiving dinner swiftly.

1) Bake the cakes- Today is a great day to get all your cakes and pies baked and set aside. This will not only save time tomorrow, but it will also free up space in your oven.

2) Cut the cheese- Preshred your cheese for macaroni and any casseroles. This will save you tons of time.

3) Season your meat- Season and/or inject your turkey today. This will allow the meat to marinade and taste extra tasty tomorrow.

4) Fix your dressing- get all your dressing together in the pan so that all you have to do tomorrow is place it in the oven.

5) Set your table- Put your table together so that you'll have one less thing to worry about tomorrow. Have your table settings and decorations already laid out.

That's all I have for now because I got dressing to out together.

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

5 Things To Do Tuesday to Make Thursday Easier.

As a home cook, I'm guilty of over extending myself. I wake up before dawn Thanksgiving morning and begin cooking so that I can have everything freshly prepared by time my guest arrive. Well this year I plan on sleeping until 9am at least and I will still have all my food ready by dinner time, here's how.

Tuesday

1) Make a menu- So you've already done your shopping and now it's time to make your menu. Use your menu as a itinerary, the better prepared you are the smoother everything will go.

2) Get to chopping- Chopping all your vegetables will give you a huge advantage. Things like onions, garlic, celery and peppers can be cut up and stored for easy uses.

3) Prep sweet potatoes- Peel and slice your sweet potatoes, but them in a large freezer bag and sprinkle them with about 1/2 cup of sugar (more or less). Place them in the freezer until you are ready to cook them Thursday. I like slicing mine in circles, when it's time to cook them, I bake them with butter, sugar, nutmeg and a little salt.

4) Cook your corn bread - If you make corn bread dressing Tuesday is the perfect day to get it the corn bread cooked. After you cook it, break or chop it, place it in a freezer bag and refrigerate it or leave it out.

5) Cook your greens- There are some things that get better the longer they sit, greens (Collard is my preference) are one of those things. Cook your green Tuesday, but leave about 30 minutes to an hour of cook time on them. Freeze them, and when Thursday comes all you have to do is reheat them. The flavors and seasonings have time to set in and your greens will be amazing.

Check back with me tomorrow to see 5 things you can do Wednesday to make Thursday easier.



Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J

Back to Basics

I'm the type of person who loves to cook with exotic herbs and spices. Trying new flavors excites me, but recently I have been going back to basics and I love it. When I say basics I mean simple salt (Sea salt) and pepper. I recently made some burgers using nothing but garlic, salt and pepper and they were amazing. So, my invitation to you is try going back to the basics. Fry an egg using nothing but salt and pepper. You'll find that you taste the item you are cooking in a new light.

Hungraciously Yours,
MiMi J