Blue’s Goat Cheese Salad

TO DIE FOR PEEPS!  You’ll love it.  Trust me.  If there’s any two things I know something about, it’s goats and salads.  Well, maybe not so much about goats, other than the fact that they produce some freaking awesome cheese.

Ingredients:

Goat cheese (log style)
Ritz crackers (my personal preference), or bread crumbs
1-2 egg whites
Olive Oil
Lettuce of choice
Cherry tomatoes
Almonds or pine nuts or candied pecans (any kind of nut will do here, even my nutty Tia Loco)
Perfectly ripe avocado
Blue’s Balsamic Vinaigrette

Directions:

Slice the log style goat cheese with dental floss, or fishing line, or thread (this works waaay better than a knife).  You’ll want slices about 1/4″-1/3″ thick and you’ll wind up with lovely little rounds of goat cheese when you’re done.

Lightly beat the egg whites with a dash of water.  Crush the crackers finely.  Dip each goat cheese round in the egg whites and then coat with the cracker crumbs – push the cracker crumbs firmly onto the cheese (but not so firmly that the cheese falls apart).  At this point you’ll want to refrigerate the breaded goat cheese in the fridge for at least 10-15 minutes (or longer, you can do this ahead).

To me the whole point of this salad is to make a salad that not only presents a powerful taste pop, but is also beautiful to look at. With this in mind…

Have your remaining ingredients ready to go before you cook the goat cheese.  Your lettuce should be washed and dry, your tomatoes should be washed, the nuts should be standing by (comments from the peanut gallery are welcome).  Your avocado should be sliced into lengthwise slices.  I’d even go so far as to plate these up on individual salad plates, taking care to make sure the presentation is gorgeous.  Place lettuce on the plate, then tuck the tomatoes on one section on top of the lettuce.  Fan out the avocado slices in a pleasing manner and put them on top of the lettuce.  Sprinkle the nuts on top.  Drizzle with Blue’s Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Now we’re ready for the best part – the goat cheese.  Pour a little oil in a skillet and heat the pan and oil over medium – medium high heat.  Carefully put the breaded goat cheese rounds in the oil (don’t walk away, they cook quick!).  When they are golden brown on the first side, flip them gently and cook a little longer until the other side is golden brown.  The cooking process literally takes a couple of minutes.

Place several goat cheese rounds on each salad plate, and enjoy!

Blue’s Balsamic Vinaigrette

If you’ve had this at my house, you remember it.  It is the most amazing balsamic vinaigrette recipe I’ve ever found.  I’ve made this for years.  It keeps indefinitely in the fridge and is far better if you make it a day or so in advance.  Also, when kept in the fridge, it has a tendency to solidify a bit.  Just give it a good stir or let it sit out for a little while.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon sugar
2 pressed garlic cloves (or some garlic powder)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/4 cup olive oil
A heaping large spoonful or two of mayonnaise (this binds the dressing)

Directions:

Mix.  TAAA DAAAAH!!  It’s that simple.  Ok, I usually whisk it all together really good.  Then store it in the fridge.  This dressing is *perfect* on Blue’s Goat Cheese Salad.

Kewl Kohlrabi

I bought kohlrabi at a farmer’s market today (yes, the farmer’s market is open for business this last day in February in San Antonio).  I’ve never had it, never cooked it, and it was one of the few things that was left at 4 pm.  Kind of like the runt in a litter.  THANK GOD.  I now love-love-love kohlrabi.  Kohlrabi=yummy in my tummy=a cross between potatoes and spinach and artichokes.  Tommy likes it too, he went back for a second taste

3 kohlrabi bulbs with leaves
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup finely chopped cooked bacon (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Trim and peel the kohlrabi bulbs. Rinse the leaves (discard the stems and yellow leaves), and pat the leaves dry with paper towels. Coarsely chop the leaves and set aside. Cut the bulbs into chunks.

Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil, and add the kohlrabi chunks. Reduce the heat and simmer until tender (about 15 minutes).

Meanwhile…….

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, another minute or two.

Add the kohlrabi leaves to the skillet along with 1/4 cup water. Cover, and cook 5 minutes. Then uncover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has evaporated, 3-5 minutes.

Add the drained kohlrabi chunks to the skillet, stir, and add the heavy cream and the bacon.  Stir for a few minutes until everything is heated and enjoy immediately.

Chipotle Bacon Jam

Chipotle Bacon Jam with Cream Cheese and Crostini

This dish was the first place winner at our annual Bacon cook-off at work!  It’s quite delicious.

Ingredients:
20 oz of cooked, crumbled bacon (weight after cooking)
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 chopped onion
8 chipotles en adobo (or to taste, depending on your tolerence for heat)
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
1/2 tablespoon allspice
3 tablespoons ground chocolate
3 cups of brewed coffee
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
Black pepper to taste

Instructions:
Cook the onion and garlic in two tablespoons of bacon fat or oil for a couple of minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer on low for two hours, stirring occasionally. If jam starts to get dry, add water, 1/4 cup at a time.

Serve warm over cream cheese accompanied by crostini.  This would also make incredibly decadent and delicious sliders – it smells like pulled pork while it’s cooking.   Mmmmmmmm.

Crostini

Once you make these from scratch you will never buy crostini (or maybe even crackers) again.  They are SO good.

French bread or Baguette bread
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Thinly slice bread.  Place slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Lightly brush both sides of sliced bread with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.

Bake in oven about 10-15 minutes, flipping once about halfway through cooking.  The crostini are done when they are lightly browned.

Pineapple Pound Cake

This cake is moist! Of course anything with half a pound of butter and a half dozen eggs is going to be good.

Open the can:

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple

Divide into

3/4 cup undrained pineapple in a small bowl
1 cup drained pineapple in another bowl

You don’t use the juice although I think it would be good to use it in the cake instead of milk.

Sift together then set aside:

3 cups King Arthur unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream together until fluffy:

1 cup room temperature butter, unsalted
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (butter flavored Crisco)
2 cups granulated sugar

Beat in one at a time:

6 room temperature eggs

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture a half cup at a time, alternating with:

1/4 cup milk

Add:

3/4 cup undrained pineapple
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Mix well and spoon batter into a greased and floured 10 inch bundt or tube pan. Place in cold oven, set the oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until top springs back when lightly touched or an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

While baking, mix up the pineapple sauce:

1 cup drained pineapple
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

When cake is done remove it from the oven and let it stand for a few minutes. Gently loose around the edges and place a cooling rack on the pan then flip it. Shake gently and let the cake gently slide out onto the rack. Pour the sauce over the cake while it is still warm.

This cake is even better topped with fresh berries or fresh pineapple.

Bran Buttermilk Pecan Pancakes

I developed this recipe to avoid having the sugar rush and subsequent blood sugar drop that you get when you have pancakes made with white refined flour only. The fiber in the pancakes slows down the digestive process and helps avoid the extremes of the sugar rush.

Mix together in small bowl, allowing to sit for 2-3 minutes:

1/2 cup Kellogg’s All Bran cereal (or other brand cereal you have)
1/2 cup milk

In a medium size mixing bowl, add and whisk together:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup fine chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt (less if it’s not kosher)

In a small mixing bowl, separate two eggs then whisk together:

4 Tablespoons melted butter
2 egg yolks
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the 2 egg whites until soft peaks form. I like to use my old fashioned egg beater and do this by hand. While I’m beating the eggs, I watch the foam start to make big bubbles then little bubbles and relish the luxury of doing this the old fashioned way. Pancakes are a journey.

Add the bran and milk mixture and other liquid ingredients (except the egg whites) to the flour mixture. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

Cook by the scoop full (approx 1/3 cup of batter) to a 400 degree heated pancake griddle. Flip when bubbles begin to appear, and put on heated platter covering with a kitchen towel until all pancakes are done. This yields eleven to twelve 5″(approximately) pancakes.

Serve with real maple syrup and butter.

We also like to serve this with chopped peaches (canned is fine) that are sprinkled generously with cinnamon. When you add the peaches, it is a little like having cobbler for breakfast! This is also good for the “breakfast for dinner” meal.

Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad

One of our favorite meals in Hawaii was a mixed plate lunch. Hawaiian mixed plate lunches always include pasta salad. I have taken a basic Hawaiian style pasta recipe and modified it to suit my taste. I added the cabbage, lemon juice and vinegar because that’s what I like but you can make the salad without them. If you do, it will be bland. I just love this recipe, it’s creamy and has less fat than most pasta salads. Relatively simple, easy to make, goes with everything.

Pour: 3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (approximately 1 pound)

Into: 4 quarts boiling water
2 teaspoons salt

Cook until soft. Al dente won’t be as good. This will take 10-15 minutes or does at the Lubbock elevation. True Hawaiians say, “Cook it till it’s fat.”

While it’s cooking, mix the dressing and shred the veggies:

2 carrots, shredded
1/2 head cabbage, chopped and shredded fine

Dressing (Whisk together in small mixing bowl):

1 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk
pepper & salt to taste
1 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 Tablespoons Bragg’s apple cider vinegar

Drain cooked pasta, reserving some pasta water to add back to the salad. While pasta is still warm, add shredded veggies and dressing, and 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Put in airtight container and refrigerate until cold if you can stand to leave it alone. Add more pasta water to loosen it up if needed.

Life-Like Stained Glass Sugar Cookies

When Grue and Blue were young, we used to make Christmas Cookies with this recipe. I would mix up three batches of this dough, refrigerate overnight, then roll out the following day. The dough was painted as described below before baking. We would invite our friends over and we had a table full of kids painting Christmas cookies while the Moms baked them and rolled the dough. Then we’d split up the cookies with the other families and have cookies for the entire season. Well, that is, if you hid some where the kids couldn’t find them.

The cookie dough:

3/4 cup Parkay margarine (don’t substitute butter)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add combined dry ingredients; mix well. Chill 4 hours or overnight. Roll out half the dough on floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutters, (the kind with the detail inside the cookie cutter) pressing firmly on cutter; place on greased cookie sheet.

Paint with Stained Glass paint after baking, or Paint Box Paint (below) before baking at 400 for 5 to 7 minutes. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Stained Glass Paint

Combine one teaspoon of light corn syrup with a few drops of food coloring for each color. Colors will be intense but transparent. Mix six different colors in a six muffin muffin tin (red, blue, green, yellow, pink, orange). Paint on baked cookies.

Paint Box Paint

Blend three egg yolks with 3/4 teaspoon of water. Divide the mixture into six muffin muffin tin and color with food coloring, adding drops of color until you get the desired colors. Combining the basic colors will give you a wider variety of “paints”. Using small artist brushes, paint the Life-Like sugar cookies before baking them. Use your imagination when painting the cookies, following the lines or coloring large areas. One Christmas, a State of Texas cookie was made into pregnant angels! Kids think of great ways to vary the cookies. If mixture thickens, add a drop or two of water. Bake and cool cookies as usual. For an added sparkle, sprinkle the painted cookies lightly with granulated sugar, then bake as usual.

Peanut Patties

Margie brought this recipe into the family, it makes the best peanut patties you ever ate. I had lost the recipe and found it recently in a file where I had dumped a lot of loose recipes that I used to have in a recipe binder. Thank goodness! I’ve tried dozens of recipes but none were as good as this one. This is a well-loved Texas treat.

3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup light Karo
2 cups raw peanuts (red -skinned, preferably)
few drops of red cake coloring if you can’t find the red- skinned peanuts

Mix the sugar, cocoa, and salt in a heavy bottomed pan. Cook over medium heat to a boil, then add peanuts and food coloring. Cook to soft ball stage. Remove from heat and “beat” (stir rapidly) with a wooden spoon until “creamy”. This will take several minutes. Mixture will become lighter when ready to make patties. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let them cool.