Nicole Wilker

Just me, in your face!

Archive for category Recipes

African Sweet Potato Soup

Jun 11

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OMG – found this recipe the day prior to some wonderful organic sweet potatoes showing up at my door. Have i told you how much I love Door to Door Organics! Every other week i have them drop off a box of wonders! This box also had fava beans…  You expand your veggie/cooking comfort zone!

African Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion – chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves – minced
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 28 ounces chicken broth (2 cans)
  • 14 ounces water (1 can)
  • 1 sweet potato – peeled and cubed
  • 1 small potato – peeled and cubed
  • 1 can diced tomato
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp cayenne
  • ¼ cup peanut butter

Preparation:

  • Saute onion and garlic in oil.
  • Once softened and aromatic, Add chicken broth and water
  • Add potatoes
  • Add diced tomatoes with juice
  • Add spices and peanut butter
  • Simmer till soup is consistency desired. (I let it boil for 15, then simmer for another 30-90)

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Crop Schedule…

May 7

Posted by nwilker in Ramblings, Recipes | 1 Comment

Who knew, well obviously lots of people knew, but for me, i knew stuff was in season only by the lower price and all the co-workers and friends pawning tomatoes and zucchini of me (tickled pink as i was)

I found this little calendar the other day and figured it might be useful to others!

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Mexican Chocolate Cookies

Apr 25

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I was in the mood to bake some treats for friends we were going to visit and these fit the bill!

We really liked the result and they will definitely be on the list from now on!

Ingredients

  • 5  ounces  bittersweet (60 to 70 percent) chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 3/4  cup  all-purpose flour (about 3 1/3 ounces)
  • 1/2  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
  • 1/4  teaspoon  baking powder
  • 1/4  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1 1/4  cups  sugar
  • 1/4  cup  butter, softened
  • 1  large egg
  • 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
  • Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through red pepper); stir with a whisk.

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add egg; beat well. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla; beat just until blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven. Cool on pans 2 minutes or until set. Remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack.

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Sweet Potato Casserole

Apr 5

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I decided to make this, because I had enjoyed at thanksgiving…

I did not realize it could actually stop your arteries…  It was super yummy, but i killed me to actually pour a whole stick of butter onto the casserole!

I found the recipe on myrecipes.com – i usually only go for cooking light, but i branched out…

I ended up not using the milk, and i split the results into 2 bread pans and baked it that way, so it would fit in my crock pot to keep warm!

Ingredients

  • 3  large sweet potatoes
  • 2  sticks (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1  cup  sugar
  • Salt
  • 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
  • 2  large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/3  cup  milk
  • 1/2  cup  chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 1/2  cup  all-purpose flour
  • 1  cup  packed light brown sugar

Preparation

In a large saucepot, cover sweet potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil until sweet potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Using tongs, remove potatoes from water and set aside to cool. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and mash them in a large bowl.

Cut 1 stick of butter into equal pieces and place in bowl with warm mashed sweet potatoes. Add sugar, salt and vanilla extract and mix together well. Whisk in eggs and stir until mixture is well-combined and smooth. Stir in milk, 1 Tbsp. at a time, just until mixture is moist and no longer stiff (you may not use all of milk).

Preheat oven to 350°F and mist a 7-by-11-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour sweet potato mixture into baking dish and spread evenly. Melt second stick of butter. In a bowl, mix together nuts, flour and brown sugar. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture completely over potatoes and drizzle top all over with melted butter.

Bake until topping is browned and crispy and sweet potato mixture is cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot.

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Grilled Eggpland and Yogurt Dip

Feb 8

Posted by nwilker in Recipes | 2 Comments

I needed to find a gluten free vegetarian appetizer that i could make with what I had in the house…  arg…

But then I came across this recipe and with some modifications made an amazing yummy dip!!!

The recipe calls for roasting the eggplant, I had already cubed and fried mine up for something else, so i used it in that fashion.

Grilled Eggplant and Yogurt Dip

Ingredients

  • 1  eggplants
  • 1  medium minced fresh onion, divided
  • 3  minced garlic cloves, divided
  • 1 1/2  cups  plain low-fat yogurt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8  teaspoon  cayenne pepper
  • 1/4  cup  chopped fresh mint (or parsley)

Preparation

1. Prepare Eggplant:  peel eggplant, slice in 1/4 – 1/2 inch slices. Place on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 30-60 minutes.  Flip over, sprinkle with salt again and let sit for another 30-60 minutes.  Pat dry and wipe off the salt. Cut each slice in little cubes.

2. Spray frying pan with non stick spray. “Fry” the eggplant till it has a char, spraying and stirring as needed. Set aside to cool or cool over night.

3. Spray frying pan with non-stick spray. Add 2/3 of the diced onion and garlic to the pan. Stir the onion and garlic till complete.

4. Meanwhile, mix the remaining onion and garlic with the yogurt; then season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne.

5. Once the eggplant, onion and garlic is cool a bit, mix with the yogurt dressing. Chill if time allows, or just serve at room temperature; garnish with mint or parsley.

It had a great flavor and made a ton!!  Yummy as a sandwich filler!

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Instant Chai Tea

Dec 30

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I made this for my sister, MIL and SIL for Christmas. I put it with bags of black tea because i couldn’t find the instant unsweetened tea, until right after i packed the box and shipped off the presents! I found the recipe on Busy Cooks It makes a ton, so get a big bowl!!!  And i could never find vanilla powder in the store and on line it was more money than I wanted to spend, but using liquid vanilla is fine, just let it try before putting everything in the blender!

I also limited the sugar, figuring more could be added later, but couldn’t be taken out.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
  • 2 cups powdered non-dairy creamer
  • 2 tsp. vanilla powder  (see bottom for options)
  • 2-1/2 cups sugar  (i used stevia or splenda from the bag – less than 2 cups)
  • 1-1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea  (leave this out and add the mixture to a cup of black tea or earl gray)
  • 2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. ground cloves
  • 1 tsp. ground cardamom

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. In a blender or food processor bowl, place 1 cup at a time, and process until mixture is blended and the particles are fine.Add 2 heaping serving tablespoons Chai tea mixture to a mug of boiling water and stir to mix well.

*If you can’t find vanilla powder, mix 2 tsp. vanilla extract with some of the sugar until blended and dry. Then process with remaining ingredients in blender or food processor.

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Popcorn!

Dec 27

Posted by nwilker in Crafts, Ramblings, Recipes | No Comments

Popcorn!

So quickly we forget!
Prior to Christmas I found an awesome caramel corn recipe and made it the first time with a microwave bag of popcorn.
After that first time and how yummy it was I determined I needed to find a different way to pop popcorn.
Then i went back in my memory banks and recalled a time when there was no microwave and we have a big metal contraption to pop the popcorn and corn came in a bag… Oh yeah.

I did some research and to my joy I found one could pop popcorn in the microwave without a brown paper bag nor oil! Woohoo!

Basically you get 2 soup bowls, shift then just a tiny bit so the steam can escape, pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes and 45 second for 2 tablespoons of kernels and whala – you have a bowl almost fully popped! Sweet!

It was just a sad state that we had come so far as to forget how to pop popcorn…  Didn’t the pilgrims and native americans do it ages ago, over an open fire even…

Technology just might kill us!

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Caramel Corn

Dec 27

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Caramel Corn

Ingredients

    Cooking spray
    1 cup packed dark brown sugar
    1/2 cup light-colored corn syrup
    1/4 cup butter
    1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    12 cups air-popped popcorn (6 T kernels)

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat a large jelly roll pan or baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a medium or large heavy bottomed saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring 3-4 times to scrape down the sides of the pan and keep the mixture from bubbling up. If you have a pastry brush, dip it in cool water and use it to brush down the sides of the pan. Be careful; the mixture will burn you if it boils over. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Place popcorn in a large bowl; pour sugar mixture over popcorn in a steady stream, stirring to coat.  (find a second person or spouse to stir while the other pours!)

Spread popcorn mixture into prepared pan. Bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven; stir to break up any large clumps. Cool 15 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

Let the popcorn cool completely before storing. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Serving size is about 2/3 cup.

Number of Servings: 18

(for some extra umph – melt chocolate in the microwave and sprinkle it over the popcorn – put the tray in the fridge to harden the chocolate)

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Mocha Fudge

Dec 24

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Mocha Fudge

This was a Sunset recipe that i gutted due to what I have in my house. But it turned out tasty and could be very bad to my “bottom” line! I’m sure the recipe creator is rolling in their grave since I removed the whole essence of the fudge, but we like it!

Time: 30 minutes, plus at least 2 hours to chill. There are few treats in this world better than a smooth, chocolaty, decadent morsel of fudge, and this recipe is one of the best we’ve tried.

Yield: Makes 36 pieces (1 in. square)

Ingredients

  • 1  pound  bittersweet chocolate, chopped 2 cups chocolate chips
  • 3/4  cup  unsalted butter, at room temperature 3/4 cup margarine, at room temperature
  • 3  tablespoons  instant espresso powder
  • 2 1/2  cups  sugar
  • 1/4  cup  corn syrup
  • 1  can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
  • 2  cups  chopped toasted almonds

Preparation

1. Line a 9- by 13-in. pan with foil, letting foil hang over edges. Set aside. In a bowl, combine chocolate, butter, and espresso.

2. In an 8- to 10-qt. pan (i’d suggest bigger than 10), combine sugar, corn syrup, and milk, then bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon to prevent boiling over, until mixture reaches 235° on a candy thermometer, about 15 minutes.  (use the thermometer! more like 20-30 min)

3. Remove pan from heat and pour chocolate mixture into hot milk. Stir until smooth. Pour fudge into prepared pan, smoothing top with spoon. Chill at least 2 hours.

4. Invert fudge onto a cutting board and peel off foil. Cut fudge into 1-in. squares.

Make ahead: Up to 1 week, chilled airtight, or up to 2 months, frozen.

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Cayenne Beer Brittle

Dec 24

Posted by nwilker in Crafts, Recipes | No Comments

This is a conglomerate of 2 or 3 different recipes!

I like how it turned out. Up or remove the heat to your taste!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

1 cup beer

1 tbl butter

1 tbl Cayenne peppter

1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation:

Line a jelly roll pan with a silpat

Combine sugar, corn syrup, beer , cayenne and butter in a heavy sauce pan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar disssolves.

Cook 30 minutes or until a candy thermometer registers 275.  (use the thermometer)

Stir in the peanuts.

Remove from heat, stir in baking soda and salt. Mixture will thicken, bubble and turn opaque

Quickly pour mixture onto prepared pan.  Spread to a 1/4 inch thickness using a wooden spoon coated with cooking spray (or just use the one you used to stir everything with!).

Cool completely.

Break brittle into bite sized peices.

(while still setting  the brittle can be scored for more even breakage once hard)

Other options:

Chardonnay Brittle – replace beer with wine, remove cayenne, add 1 tsp vanilla

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