All I had to cook with was carrots and I happened to come across Mark Huxsoll’s recipe modestly called Butter Roasted Carrots from Cook’s Country Magazine. It’s very similar to a lot of other recipes I did with carrots so I thought it would be good. due to what I have around the house I did change a few things. For the recipe I didn’t have goat cheese or parsley so I used a good quality feta cheese and cilantro instead. I also didn’t have fresh thyme so I used dried. I do think that it makes more crunch topping than is needed so add it to your liking. You can always use the extra in a salad or on chicken. I also didn’t think that this needed added oil with all the butter that was used so I left that out. Feel free to dress with olive if you care to. They say that this recipe makes 6-8 servings. I’m not sure that you will get that many servings. My carrots shrunk a lot when they caramelized. To me it’s looking like 4 servings…We’ll see and maybe I’ll update.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1/4 cup skinned hazelnuts – crumble

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds – crumble

1 Tablespoon coriander seeds – crumble

1 teaspoon dried thyme – crumble

1 lemon – just the grated zest – crumble

1/4 teaspoon sea salt – crumble

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter – melted – split into 4 Tablespoons + 1 Tablespoon

3 lbs carrots – peeled – cut in half long ways and cut in half short ways

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper

4 oz Good Quality Feta Cheese – crumbled

3 Tablespoons pepperoncini – stemmed and sliced into thin rings

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, parsley, or scallions or a combination of all

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Get a sheet pan with a rim and spread out the hazelnuts, sesame seeds, coriander seeds in an even layer. This goes on lowest rack in the oven for 7-9 minutes or until hazelnuts have browned some and everything is fragrant. This needs to cool off before you can process it. Set it to the side.

Turn up the oven to 450 degrees F.

4 Tablespoons of melted butter go on a rimmed baking sheet. The carrots go in a big bowl and get tossed with the one remaining melted tablespoon of butter, salt, peppers, Roast this on the lowest rack until the carrots are fork tender and nicely caramelized (40-50 minutes).

Transfer carrots to a serving dish. Sprinkle with crumble (to your liking), cheese, pepperonchini, thyme, lemon zest, and cilantro. Serve warm or at room temperature.

A Special THANKS!!!! To Mark Huxsoll and Cook’s Country Magazine so I could come up with what I got here.

I made an EZ Roast chicken that was delicious but the skin didn’t crisp up like I thought it would so I remedied. I pulled the skin off didn’t add a thing and in around 30 minutes shattering crisp skin. By The Way…The stuffing was EXTRA EASY and also came out extra delicious. I just used 1 cup of leftover take out rice that I saved, added some store bought kimchi and a few minor things, stuffed it into the bird and it came out FORKING Delicious too. Serving size is always difficult to judge. Chickens run different in size and people run different with their portion sizes. I got 6 – 4oz dinner portions and two – 3 oz lunch portions of chicken. I only got 4 small servings of the delicious stuffing……….You can double the stuffing recipe but you won’t be able to fit the stuffing all inside the bird so it won’t taste as amazing…..Do what you need to do.

Ingredients for at least 4 portions

1 whole chicken (remove packet of insides….I cooked some of it and sprinkled with olive oil on tray for around 25 minutes 350F and gave as treats to my dogs….gizzards you have to slice)

2 oz gochujang -(or to taste…they all are different. I recommend to buy one from an Asian Market because it will taste better. I used one small tube that I buy from Asiana Market. ( like buying the tubes because when I used to use the tubs they’d dry out before I could finish them.

6 cloves garlic – ground to paste

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 cup cooked rice – stuffing

1 cup kimchi (you might need to lightly chop) – stuffing

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin – stuffing

2 teaspoons ginger – grated – stuffing

1 teaspoon soy sauce – stuffing

1 teaspoon rice vinegar – stuffing

2 tablespoons cilantro – chopped – stuffing

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl mix together the gochujang, garlic and canola oil. This gets rubbed all over the chicken, under the skin, and into the cavity.

Then you mix up the stuffing mixture. In a medium bowl mix together the rice, kimchi, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, cilantro.

Stuff the rice into the cavity.

Roast for 30 minutes uncovered. Then cover with foil and cook another hour. You can shut the oven off for an hour or so and then heat the oven up again to 350 F to crisp the skin.

This needs to rest and cool down for an hour or more. When cool enough to handle just pull off the skin and place in a single layer on a sheet tray. The chicken skin goes on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven. After 12- minutes turn the skin over and cook another 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

The whole house smells really great. If you have dogs they will stay in the kitchen for food.

To serve – pull the chicken, remove stuffing, serve gochujang chicken stock on side, and crispy skin on side.

ENJOY!!!!

I had sweet potatoes, cabbage, chestnuts, one homemade turkey chorizo link and chimayo chili powder that needed to be used so this is what it became. It did come out delicious……I’m so glad I thought of using the chimayo chili powder…..It has a unique delicious taste. It’s almost raisin-ee and also almost chocolate-ee.It is also smoky, and has a mild delicious heat. Chimayo chili powder is hard to find. You have to look it up on-line and find it. Serving size is always difficult to judge. I’d say that this makes either 4 small side orders or two meals…..so I’ll round it to three servings.

Ingredients for around three servings

1 lb sweet potatoes – peeled, diced (around 3/4 inch I used two different types of sweet potatoes but it doesn’t matter)

1/2 medium cabbage – core removed, diced (around 1 inch)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste

fresh ground black pepper – to taste

2 1/2 oz chorizo

3.5 oz packaged cooked peeled chestnuts – slightly chopped

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 Tablespoon chimayo chili powder

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

Sweet potato cubes and cabbage cubes go on sheet pans. Spray or sprinkle generously with olive oil. Then salt and pepper them to taste.

This goes on the middle rack of your pre-heated 400F oven until the cabbage is crispy and the sweet potatoes start to brown. In my oven this took around 25 minutes but all ovens differ.

While the vegetables are roasting heat up your chorizo in a fry pan on medium-high heat. If yours has casing squeeze it out of the casing and cook it up. Then toss in the chestnuts. Take off heat and set to the side.

In a small mixing bowl combine the lemon juice, honey, and chimayo chili powder.

In a large bowl toss the cooked sweet potatoes, cabbage, with the chorizo, chestnuts, and small bowl of lemon hot honey with chimayo chili.

Serve and ENJOY!!!!!

This recipe method was adapted from Food Network Magazine. I cut out the coffee, cut back a little on the sugar, and added more chocolate, rounded some things. This was my latest spin on this recipe. This is a recipe that is not to skip. It’s one of the biggest crowd pleasers ever.

In case you didn’t know….Pots de Creme is the ultimate chocolate pudding. If you like chocolate pudding then you will LOVE chocolate pots de creme. I tried this dessert for the first time at a small French Bistro Restaurant that used to be in business called Amuse Bouche. As soon as I tasted it I had to learn how to make this dessert. Most methods require a hot water bath in your oven that can be dangerous. The Food Network method is brilliant. On the stovetop you thicken your milk, cream and yolk mixture and then add your chocolate and blend till smooth. This is best done with a stick blender. You pour into cups. Chill over night and you have incredibly rich, smooth, chocolaty, FORKING AMAZING pots de creme. You can top with a little whipped cream if you desire. I do very small servings for this because it is very rich and satisfying……but you might want larger servings. For me this made 20 small servings. For you this might make 10 servings if you do them in coffee cups like they are normally done…..so I will round the servings to 15. This freezes perfect. When you thaw from frozen it still seems fresh made.

Ingredients for around 15 servings

12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

12 oz 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips

4 oz milk chocolate chips

3 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

12 egg yolks – beaten

10 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

In a sauce pot on medium-ish heat (just slightly more than medium) add the milk, cream, beaten yolks, sugar, and sea salt. Whisk or blend. Occasionally whisk until thickened and then take off the heat and add the chocolate. Blend till smooth and pour in cups. When they cool down to room temperature refrigerate over night.

You might want to serve with a dab of whipped cream. (1/2 cup heavy cream blended with 1 Tablespoon 10x sugar is very good for whipped cream but I find that for a crowd people enjoy playing with the canned stuff more)

It’s so rich and so smooth and so CHOCOLATEY!

A Special THANKS!! to Food Network Magazine so I could come up with what I got here.

ENJOY!!!!!

Our local supermarket often has specials on ground turkey. I also happen to have lots of turkey stock in my freezer. I was reading a Vietnamese watercress soup recipe………Then I got the idea to do something Vietnamese Inspired…… So then I read a few Vietnamese meatball recipes. This came out to be a mishmash of my thoughts and what I read. it’s different from the way I’d normally make a meatball. I do note that the meatball raw meat mixture comes out very loose and is impossible to roll into balls. I used my small scooper and didn’t even worry about rolling them. This recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredient for around 4 servings

1 lb 93% lean ground turkey – meatballs

1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin – meatballs

1 egg beaten – meatballs

1 Tablespoon fish sauce (preferably Red Boat Brand) – meatballs

2 teaspoons ginger – grated – meatballs

1 Tablespoon sugar – meatballs

1 garlic – ground to paste – meatballs

1 Tablespoon lemongrass powder (fresh is better but it’s always rotten at the stores near me. Powdered lemongrass is easy to buy on-line) – meatballs

3/4 teaspoon sea salt – meatballs

1 teaspoon ground white pepper – meatballs

neutral non-stick spray

2 Tablespoons canola oil – soup

1 onion – chopped – soup

4 garlic cloves – ground to paste – soup

6 1/2 cups stock (I used home made turkey but you can use what you want or have) – soup

1/2 small cabbage – chopped – soup

1 Tablespoon sugar – soup

1 Tablespoon rice vinegar – soup

1 teaspoon lemongrass powder – soup

2 teaspoon ginger – grated – soup

1 teaspoon fish sauce – soup

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (or to taste) – soup

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste) – soup

Lime wedges for serving (1/2-one lime)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

Set oven to 350 F degrees.

Spray a sheet pan with non stick spray and set to the side.

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat and add the canola oil. When the oil is hot add the onions and cabbage. Lightly cover with foil. Stir occasionally. Cook till vegetables are moist. Add the garlic. Cook till you smell it (around a minute). Then you can add the stock, sugar, vinegar, lemongrass, ginger, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer.

Make the meatballs. In a large mixing bowl combine the ground turkey, scallions, egg, fish sauce, ginger, sugar, garlic, lemongrass, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Scoop out 16 balls. This goes on your middle rack of a 360 F preheated oven for 15 minutes or until done.

Serve 4 meatballs per person with soup. Add a lime wedge or two. Top with some fresh cilantro.

ENJOY!!!

Recently Robin Miller’s recipe for crispy parmesan garlic potatoes was in our local newspaper and I thought it looked good and sounded really tasty. Safeway had some really great sales on russet potatoes so I have a bunch of them to cook with. I had to make some changes to Robin Miller’s recipe in a few different ways. One I’m using russet potatoes instead of small red skin potatoes because that is what I have. I also added the seasonings and the cheese to the tops of the potatoes instead of all the seasoning and cheese on one side because that little Emeril Lagasse quote just kept rolling threw my head…….”I dunno where you get your (insert ingredient) ……”Where I get mine it don’t come seasoned on both sides.” So I thought that the potatoes might be a little better if I seasoned them the same on both sides. I also have a fully packed spice cabinet and I make up my own blends of spices so I had to change up the spices since I used my Italian spice blend. In the end this did come out delicious and it is a variation of Robin Miller’s recipe so I have to give her credit. My Italian spice blend makes around twice the amount of seasoning that you need for the recipe. But it is amazing in sauces and on chicken.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 Tablespoon sea salt – Italian seasoning

1/2 Tablespoon granulated garlic – Italian seasoning

1/2 Tablespoon granulated onion – Italian seasoning

1 Tablespoon dried basil – Italian seasoning

1 Tablespoon dried oregano – Italian seasoning

1 Tablespoon fennel seeds – Italian seasoning

2 teaspoons ground black pepper – Italian seasoning

1 small Calabrian chili – crushed – Italian seasoning

4 oz unsalted butter

2 pounds potatoes – If using russets Cut Diagonal in thirds and score one side 1/8-1/4 inch deep like a hash mark.

3/4 cup parmesan cheese – grated or shredded (divided in 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup) (it will stick better if grated fine)

2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

Make the Italian seasoning. In a small bowl combine the sea salt, garlic, onion, basil, oregano, fennel seeds, black pepper, and Calabrian chili. Mix well and set to the side.

The 4oz of butter goes on a baking dish or pan with sides. This goes in the preheated oven until it’s melted and bubbling then take it out.

In a small bowl mix together the parmesan cheese with a heaping Tablespoon of the Italian seasoning. Put at least half on the pan.

Potatoes go on pan score side down. Spray or brush the tops of the potatoes with oil. Add the rest of the seasoned parmesan on top.

This goes on the middle rack for around 40 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked and soft.

Someone thinks they smell very good.

You should let them cool a little before you scrap them off.

A special THANKS!!!! To Robin Miller for her scrumptious recipe so I could make what I got here!

This is just an easy marinated chicken thigh recipe. I was inspired by restaurant that I go to in Carefree AZ called Confluence. They make delicious fried chicken and serve it with a Chiltepin Mustard Sauce that really makes it POP! Chiltepin pepper is hard to find if you don’t go to Mexican Markets. It’s an extra delicious but very HOT heat. The chiltepin are around the size of black peppercorns and should be a reddish pink. You can find them on-line but I haven’t seen reasonable pricing for them on-line. Try a Mexican market first. This recipe makes around 6 servings.

3 lbs chicken thighs (I used boneless skinless but it really doesn’t matter)

1/2 cup honey – marinade

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – marinade

1/4 cup dijon mustard – marinade

2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard – marinade

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice – marinade

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt – marinade

4 Tablespoons dijon mustard – sauce

2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard – sauce

2 Tablespoons honey or date syrup – sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice – sauce

5 chiltepin – or to taste (you might want less or more hot….start with three and taste) crushed with fingers – sauce

non stick spray

optional splash chicken stock – heated – sauce

Directions

In a medium mixing bowl mix together the honey, olive oil, mustards, allspice, and salt. Pour it into a gallon ziplock bag and add the chicken *****NOTE if you are doing chicken with bones you might want to split the sauce and chicken into TWO bags. Give the chicken a good massage in the bag with the sauce and be sure to spread the sauce all around the chicken. Squeeze out all the air and then ziplock the bag(s) shut. refrigerate over night.

The next day it doesn’t really matter how you cook the chicken as long as you bring the thigh meat to at least 165F degrees. I did mine on the oven because I felt that this might make a great mess on the grill. I did mine on non stick sprayed grill pan in the oven preheated at 400F degrees. My chicken was done in around 25-30 minutes. I browned one in the pan for the picture because mine didn’t brown much.

The sauce mixes up fast in a bowl. Just add the mustards, honey or date syrup, allspice, and do the chiltepin to taste….Start by trying three of them…I did 5. Add a splash of heated chicken broth if you happen to have any around.

SERVE

ENJOY!!!!!