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Vegetarian Chopped Liver

I am hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for my in laws and friends in Atlanta this year.  I called my Mom and got the recipe for Vegetarian chopped liver.  This stuff is amazing - for some reason the ingredients come together and taste like chopped liver.   Sauteed onions, green beans, and cashews just do something wonderful together.  To be more classy you could call it vegetarian pate. 

This is actually a family recipe that goes back to my great grandmother who made it for a vegetarian family member.  And kept making it because its good.  We sometimes had real chopped chicken liver pate and this next to each other.   It's good with matzoh, too.

VEGETARIAN CHOPPED LIVER

3 Tbs olive or canola oil

3 cups chopped onion

2 cups cashew pieces

1 lb. bag of frozen string beans

2 Tbs fresh lemon juice

Salt & pepper to taste

 

Heat oil in large saute pan, add onions & cook slowly until caramelized (very brown).  Toast cashews on a sheet pan in 350 oven until they smell toasted.  Steam or cook string beans as directed on bag until well done.  Drain stringbeans.  Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender & blend until you have a relatively smooth paste.  Adjust salt & pepper.  Can be refrigerated for several days or frozen indefinitely.  The perfect spread for any gathering.

It is Thanksgiving, so put the appetite suppressants away and enjoy yourself then take a nice walk after to get your digestion going.

Pollo Campero - Drive Through Flan!

On the way back from the pumpkin patch today hubby called and said could I pick him up a drink.  I had the boys in the car, so I wanted to go through a drive through to limit the hassle of getting them out, putting them in, etc.

I happened to go by a fast food joint called Pollo Campero, and went through the drive through because it looked interesting.  I decided to pick up dinner while I was at it. Turns out, this place is fantastic.  I got a grilled chicken and 2 sides - the chicken is in a lime adobo type marinade and so tasty.  Nice juicy grilled chicken, too with lots of meat on it.  I got it with black beans and rice, and mashed potatoes.  (They had plantains and other sides, but I decided to get the mashed for hubby.)

The meal came with a bunch of tortillas.  And they had flan. Flan is like my favorite thing ever.  Who ever heard of drive through flan?  What a fantastic world we live in.

I looked up the place and I see that it is a Guatemalan chain.  A good find, I imagine I will get this again some day.  It seems like a relatively healthy choice for fast food.

Homemade Greek Yogurt

DSC05849
Originally uploaded by mar1annec

As promised there is a picture of my first batch of homemade greek-style yogurt. The Donvier yogurt cheese maker (strainer) is a very nice design and easy to use. As the yogurt got thicker I just kept adding more to the top.

Everyone at my yogurt with fancy strawberry jam for breakfast but I went for the honey. Yum.

Next up - frozen yogurt pops!

Homemade Yogurt

I am posting late tonight because I had to wait for my first batch of homemade yogurt to be finished.  I just peeked at it and it looks perfect.  I made it in my new yogourmet yogurt maker.

2 quarts (8 cups) of 2% organic milk

1/2 cup organic powdered milk

10 grams yogourmet yogurt starter culture

I heated the milk to 180 degrees F, and then let it cool to 108 degrees.  Please note - add the powdered milk to the cold milk before you start.   Put some water into the bottom of the yogurt maker as per the directions.

Once the milk is cooled to 108 - 112 degrees pour into the yogurt maker and add the starter to some of the milk in a bowl to mix it, and then add it all back in.   Let it "incubate" for 4 1/2 hours then put it in the fridge.

I will now let it sit in the fridge til it sets up, and then strain it in the Donvier wave yogurt cheese maker to thicken it into greek style yogurt. 

I just saw a blog post where a lady makes frozen yogurt by adding honey and then freezing it in a freezer bag til soft frozen and then squeezing it out of a pastry tip.  Neat.  I think I am going to try using the freezie pop mold I have for the kids and making them frozen yogurt pops.  I was thinking that I could heat up some jam or jelly and then mix it into the yogurt to flavor and sweeten it before putting it in the molds.  I will let you know how it goes.

Blog post about homemade frozen yogurt a la California's famous Pinkberry: http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/2007/05/homemade-frozen-yogurt.html

Considering this makes a huge batch of yogurt, and the ingredients are not too expensive, I think this could be a great way to help save money and eat healthier.   If I can make it through these lean times perhaps we can start saving up for a vacation next summer.  Maybe shop different Myrtle beach vacation rentals. 

I bought some local tupelo honey as well and I am really looking forward to some home made greek yogurt with local honey.

It's Boston Market Time

As I mentioned in previous post this weekend (tonight is the last night) Boston Market has a 50$ off coupon on  their family meals.

I am currently doing a BzzAgent campaign for them, by the way.  I was really happy that one of the things they sent in the package was a catering menu, because I just used to to make a list for hubster of what he will get when he goes to pick up the meal.

My plan is this - I am going to get the meal for 6 with the 6 large sides and Turkey.  Then I am going to add on another entree of meatloaf.  So this will be dinner for the 4 of us for 2 days.   Turkey on day 1 an meatloaf tomorrow.  I actually calculated this out and it will come to about $3.24 for each person's  meal.  Nice.  Very nice. 

New and On Sale - Timothy's World Coffee Original Donut Blend K-Cups

Let's face it, strange as it may seem Dunkin Donuts coffee is one of the best cups of coffee around.  It is fresh, flavorful, yet pleasantly mellow and not bitter.  Strong enough to stand up to a yummy old fashioned donut, yet with a mellow "breakfast blend" taste that doesn't make the spoon stand straight up in the cup. (Yes, Dad I am talking trash about your Puerto Rican espresso)

Now all us Donut shop coffee lovers have a new choice.  Brand new from FANTASTIC coffee roasters, Timothy's, is their Timothy's Original Donut Blend K-Cups .  Amazon is currently taking pre-orders which will ship soon.  They are offering a pre-sale price of $19.00  for a two pack of24 K-cups (48 total.)  That comes out to .39 cents per cup of coffee.  Orders over $25 ship free, and as well Amazon is offering .99 cents shipping on grocery items shipped by them, right now.

 

By the way, one of my personal favorite K-Cups is the Timothy's Kona Blend, K-Cups .  It is so smooth with the most wonderful coffee flavor.  I always heard that Kona coffee was fantastic and it's apparently true.  Timothy's is known also for their superior roasting which does not create that burned taste you get with a Starbucks brew.

 

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

My little guy had a Preschool assignment to bring in a favorite family recipe.  I asked him what his favorite thing was that I cook for him and he said Mac and Cheese and Hot Dogs.  ::: sigh :::  So I came up with Chocolate Chip Pancakes because I know that he loves them.

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Adam’s Chocolate Chip Pancakes

 

4 TBSP Butter, melted in microwave

1 ½ C Milk

2 Eggs

2 Cups Flour

4 tsp baking powder

3 TBSP Sugar

½ tsp salt (optional)

Chocolate chips as desired

 

The secret to tender fluffy pancakes is to melt the butter and then add it to the cold milk.  It forms little clumps and helps to leaven the griddle cakes.

 

Beat milk, melted butter, and eggs in bowl.  Add dry ingredients and stir until mixed.  You may have to add a little bit extra milk if it looks too thick.   The mixture will be lumpy, that’s fine – don’t over mix.  Just mix until all the flour is all wet.

 

Heat griddle and drop pancakes onto the griddle.   Sprinkle some chocolate chips over the pancakes, and flip when you see the bubbles popping.  Brown the other side, and serve.

 

* If you use self rising flour, omit the baking powder. 

Cheapest Price on K-Cups Still Available

Many of my readers have taken advantage of Amazon's fantastic low price on K-Cups.  Get the pack of 50 with subscribe and save and they are .32 cents  piece! (I did the subscribe and save with re-order in 6 months which will give me plenty of time to run out)  The most popular to order has been the Donut Shop K-Cups from Deidrich.  This is a mellow coffee, perfect for your breakfast cup.  It is is copy of Dunkin Donuts coffee, which anyone who knows, knows is one of the best cups of coffee around. 

Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig .32 cents a piece

I save so much money by making my coffee at home and I can get it to taste just like a creamy Dunkin Donuts cup of coffee by adding organic half and half, and organic sugar.  Yummy.   Even with buying a small container of good fresh half and half, and organic sugar, it still comes out so much cheaper than cruising through Dunkin' Donuts.  The half and half has a really long shelf life in the fridge, too.  For some reason it goes bad so much slower than regular milk so I can use it for weeks.

And the Keurig brewer is so fantastic - I never have to clean it or deal with any wet grounds, measuring or what to do with the rest of a pot of coffee.  I am the only one who drinks it in the house, so the one cup is so perfect for me.  Did you see the totally cute small size brewer they have out now?  Perfect for your desk at work or dorm room.

Something Different for Your Keurig - White Cocoa K-Cups and Canarino

I wrote earlier about the lowest price K Cups on sale for the Keurig brewer, using Amazon's subscribe and save I bought Gloria Jean's Hazelnut K-Cups for .32 a piece with free shipping.

But what to do if you are looking for something really new and different to brew in your machine and have on hand for guests.  (Isn't it fun to be able to offer guests a variety of coffees and teas in a beautiful carousel?)

Here are two options I have not seen before: White Hot Chocolate K-Cups and Italian Canarino.  Apparently Canarino is a lemon beverage used in Italy for sore stomachs.  People say it tastes good with sugar or honey when you have a cold as well.  White Chocolate sounds so good - I would mix it with coffee for a White Chocolate Mocha.

And if you just want to try a bunch of different K-cups try the Timothy's World K-Cups Variety Pack which contains 2 each of:

-Parisian Nights extra bold
-Italian Blend
-Kona Blend
-Breakfast Blend
-Decaf Colombian
-Colombian Dorado
-Rainforest Expresso extra bold
-Hazelnut
-Chai Tea
-English Breakfast Tea
-Chinese Green Tea
-Italian Hot Lemon Beverage (Canarino)

For those looking up and not sure how to spell: Kurig, Keurig, Kuerig, K-Cup, k cup, coffee pod

Twecipe - Micro Recipies in 140 characters or less

Tweet your recpipes!  Here is a list of abbreviations for tweeting "Twecipes" from the Lunch Box Bunch.

Twecipe Measuring Lingo:
One cup = 1C
1 1/2 cups = 1.5C
1/2 cup = .5C
1 Tbsp = 1T
2 1/2 Tbsp = 2.5T
1 tsp = 1t
2 1/2 tsp. = 2.5t
1 liter = 1L
sprinkle = sprnkl
dash of salt and pepper = dshS&P

Here's my example for Crock pot baked potatoes.

Crock pot baked potatoes. Poke pots,wrap in foil. Fill crockpt w/

6-12 pots. Cook on Low 8-10 hrs or High 2 1/2-4 hours. Don't add water!