My Miracles

These were so yummy! I am so excited to share this one with you! I am also determined that soon I am going to start including pictures in these posts! Hopefully with my next recipe!

This recipe was from Crock Pot The Original Slow Cooker Recipe Collection binder. It's really got some pretty good recipes! I may post some others from there at some point also.

I should start this one by explaining what chouriço is. Chouriço (For the Wikipedia:) is a spicy red pork sausage. The official title of the recipe in the book is "Chorizo Burritos" and you may find this type of sausage in your store by that name. The sausages are similar but chorizo is Spanish and chouriço is Portuguese. I typed it as (and used in my recipe) chouriço or chorico because I come from New Bedford, MA, which has a large Portuguese population, and that is what I grew up with. I don't know that I have ever had true Spanish chorizo, I'm not exactly sure what the difference is.

On to the recipe!

My changes from the original: I went with green pepper, the original called for red or green, I also changed the flour tortillas it called for to wheat. The recipe called for canned corn, I used frozen because that's what I had, I think I would just stick with that in the future, I see not need to used canned in this recipe. The recipe calls for 1/2 tsp each of cumin and cinnamon, I used slightly less cinnamon and slightly more cumin.

Chouriço Burritos

15 oz Chouriço cut into quarters lengthwise then 1/4 inch slices
1- 15 oz can Red Beans (drained and rinsed)
1- 14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes, undrained
1.5-2 cups Frozen Corn
2 Green Peppers
1 cup Chicken Broth
1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin (see my changes above)
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon (see my changes above)

8-10 Wheat Tortillas
Hot cooked rice (I think I made 1 cup uncooked?)
Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (alternately the recipe said you could also use sour cream, we used the Monterrey jack and it was really yummy!)

Place everything except the last 3 ingredients in the crockpot, mix well and put on low for 6-8 hours (your house will smell yummy!!!)

Serve in tortillas with the rice and cheese.

That being said I tend not to try a lot of new recipes in the summer. I get more inspired in the winter!  I do have a few recipes to share though!  Hopefully I can get them up in the next few weeks!  

This was a simple and healthy version of fried rice that came out of Annabel Karmel's First Meals book. I made probably 70% of Anna's baby food and that book was such a great resource!  It's got some great recipes and snack ideas as they get older too!  Definitely a good investment!

Egg Fried Rice with Chicken and Shrimp

1 C. Basmati Rice
3.5-4 T. Vegetable Oil (this is the one ingredient I want to play with a little, she calls for 4, I think you can use a bit less)
1 Small Onion peeled and finely chopped
1/2 C. Red Pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
Salt and Pepper
1 Egg, beaten
1/3 C. Frozen Peas
1/3 C. Frozen Sweet Corn
1 Large Green Onion, sliced
1 Chicken Breast, cut into thin strips
1/4 lb. cooked shrimp
1 T. Light Soy Sauce

Cook rice according to package directions. (if you have cooked Basmati before then you know this is different from regular rice)

Heat half of the oil, in a large frying pan or wok (I use the Pampered Chef family skillet), then add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes, add the red pepper for another 7-8 minutes. 

(I did this different from Annabel's recipe) Season the egg with salt and pepper and make a well in the middle of the veggies. Pour the egg in and cook it until firm breaking it up like scrambled eggs but into tiny pieces. Once it's cooked all the way remove the pan from the heat to make sure it doesn't overcook or burn while you break up the egg to be sure there are no big pieces then mix it together with the veggies. 

Return the pan to the heat and add the corn and peas to cook until tender. Remove veggie/egg mixture from pan and set aside. 

Add remaining oil and sauté green onion for a minute then add the chicken and cook until no longer pink and season with salt and pepper. 
Add the cooked rice and toss on high heat for 2 full minutes. (I think this helps to dry out the rice to absorb all the flavors. It was kind of fun to do, you definitely need to keep stirring though!), then add shrimp (my shrimp usually needs to be cooked, I just cook it with the chicken and leave it in there for the rice part, no big deal). Return the egg/veggie mixture to pan, add soy sauce and toss together until heated through. Serve and enjoy!!


Note:
Even though the first word in the title of this recipe is "egg," neither Chad nor Anna like egg and they both still gobbled it up. There is so little that you don't notice it. It's not a big deal, however it is easily skipped for an egg allergy :-)

Don't even ask me how to pronounce this recipe, all I know is that it was yummy!! LOL I saw this on the TLC show "The Kitchen Boss" a couple of months ago and thought it looked really good so then when I saw it again recently I decided to make it. It came out so good and it wasn't really hard! Even Anna really liked it!

I'm not sure I have many notes on this recipe, I made it according to the directions and it came out. The online recipe does call for water but someone commented that in the episode he used chicken broth and that sounded a lot better so I did that and that is reflected in my ingredient list. The only other thing I did different was I didn't use the optional Parmesan rind.

Pasta e Lenticchie
1 Tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
2 slices extra thick cut bacon, cut into dice (I used 3 slices of Oscar Mayer thick cut)
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine
salt
2 plump garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 cup brown lentils
1- 14.5 oz can plum tomatoes with their juice cut or torn into pieces (I just bought crushed plum tomatoes)
5 Cups chicken broth
Chunk of Parmesan rind (optional)
1 cup just undercooked (or cooked al dente), drained and rinsed (to stop the cooking) ditalini, or other small pasta shape (one cup before cooking)

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Add olive oil and bacon and stir to coat bacon in oil. Allow to cook until softened and some fat is rendered. Add the celery, carrots and onions and stir to coat. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and saute until softened. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Next add the lentils and just stir to coat then stir in the tomatoes, water, a pinch of salt and Parmesan rind (if using). Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20-30 minutes until lentils are just tender. Add the pasta and continue cooking another 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked to taste. Adjust the seasoning with salt and serve.

I served with a bit of shredded Parmesan on top and some good Italian bread on the side. (Buddy also recommends a drizzle of good, fruity olive oil and fresh grated black pepper on top)

Original recipe as found on the Kitchen Boss TLC website:
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/pasta-e-lenticchie-recipe.htm

Not a baking blog... However, yesterday I decided to try my hand for the very first time at some made from scratch brownies and they came out so good that I had to share! I do also have a great Sicilian pasta dish for you too but for now, some fantastic (and not hard) brownies!!

If you like cake-like brownies, you may not like these. These are a bit more of a "fudgey" brownie, but not overly dense and chewey. They are really soft and moist! I used Ghiradelli cocoa, highly recommended but ultimately cocoa is something that does matter, just like when you buy a chocolate bar to eat, would you rather buy a delicious ghiradelli chocolate or a store brand chocolate bar? Same with cocoa, it does matter in the end product...

I doubled the recipe and made it in a 9x13 pan but did not double the frosting and there seemed to be just the right amount of frosting on top so my guess is that making the recipe as is would make a pretty thick layer of frosting on top (which some may like!). The frosting does add a nice touch! Another tip on the frosting, the original recipe said to just used softened butter but in reading the comments on the recipe (which I have linked at the end) I melted it completely, which was the right choice, also, I added just a bit of warm milk to make it a bit more spreadable but you want to gently and slowly spread it on the brownies as soon as they come out of the oven and that will help you to spread it so it doesn't need to be really thin, it can be thicker than you might think as the heat will help you spread it.


Best Brownies Recipe

1/2 Cup butter (1 stick)
1 Cup sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder (don't go cheap here)
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Meanwhile beat Eggs well in a small bowl. Remove butter from heat when melted, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder, stir for about 50 strokes or so with a wooden spoon, you don't want to overmix but you want to get everything well mixed and smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Do not overbake! If you know your oven tends to overbake things then set the time for 20 minutes and check it (I had set my timer for 20 minutes with the 9x13 pan and it took about 25 minutes to be done) Take it out when the toothpick is just about clean. While baking mix together all but the butter of the frosting and just melt the butter and add when the brownies have a minute left.

Frosting:
3 Tbls butter
3 Tbls unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbls honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup powdered sugar

Blend all ingredients together with a fork. Slowly incorporate a small amount of warmed milk until it's just smooth enough to be able to spread (but still thick). As soon as it's ready and the brownies are out of the oven, slowly and gently spread it on top of the brownies (watch your hands on the hot pan!). The heat from the brownies will help you spread it the thick frosting.


This recipe came from Allrecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/best-brownies/Detail.aspx