New Orleans Bread Pudding

This bread pudding is very dense and a small piece can be very filling. Cut into small squares and freeze them individually.

New Orleans Red Beans & Rice

Milk Chocolate Truffles

This recipe is from ehow.com...just in time for Valentine's Day...

3 1/2 tablespoons salted butter

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

2 egg yolks

1/3 cup heavy cream

12 oz. milk chocolate

Melon baller or small ice cream scoop

Additional confectioner's sugar (optional)

Cocoa powder

Soften the butter by bringing it to room temperature or heating it for a few seconds in the microwave. Add ¼ cup confectioner's sugar and mix it together until creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat until it's thoroughly mixed.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and mix it into the butter, egg yolk, and sugar mixture.

Bring the cream just to a boil over medium heat in a small saucepan. Stir constantly while you heat the cream to prevent burning.

Pour the boiling cream over the pre-mixed ingredients and stir thoroughly until the chocolate is completely melted.

Place the mixture into the refrigerator to solidify it completely. This will take about 2 hours. Chill the melon baller or ice cream scoop in the freezer while you wait.

Put about a cup of mixed cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar in a bowl. For a fairly sweet coating, use a 1:1 ratio of cocoa and sugar. If you want the traditional bittersweet coating, use straight cocoa powder. Adjust this to suit your taste.

Use the chilled melon baller or ice cream scoop to make balls of the chocolate filling, and roll in the cocoa and confectioner's sugar mixture. You can put the bowl of filling inside a larger bowl of ice to keep it chilled while you work. If it becomes too soft and sticky, return it to the refrigerator for 15 minutes before continuing.

• Store your truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
• You can use any kind of milk chocolate, but baking chocolate is the highest-quality milk chocolate readily available. Milk chocolate chips or (plain) milk chocolate candy bars also work well. If the truffles are too sweet, you can reduce or eliminate the confectioner's sugar or use semi-sweet chocolate instead.
• To make flavored truffles, add 1 teaspoon flavoring extract or 1 tbsp. flavored liqueur to the filling before adding the hot cream. For a Mexican twist on this recipe, add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the filling before you pour in the hot cream.

Chicken Noodle Soup

This is a family recipe for the magical soup that will cure what ails you!

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 carrots, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

8 cups prepared chicken broth (there are low-sodium options)

½ teaspoon black pepper

3-4 cups cooked chicken, chopped

6 oz egg noodles

salt to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and pepper; bring to a boil. Stir in the chicken. Add the noodles. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the noodles are tender, about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Veganaise Cole Slaw

1 cup Veganaise 

1/4 teaspoon celery seed 

2 tablespoons sugar 

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 

1 teaspoon ground mustard 

16 oz bag preshredded cole slaw

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Add a 16 oz bag of preshredded cole slaw and toss well. Chill to blend the flavors before serving. This cole slaw also makes a great topping for BBQ sandwiches.

Cold Couscous Salad

I first made this salad one hot summer when I was in graduate school. It's healthy, crunchy, and light. You can use whatever flavor of couscous you like best.

Ingredients:
1 box couscous
1 can corn
1 small to medium red onion, chopped
6-8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or to taste)
1/4 cup light olive oil (or to taste)
kosher salt to taste

Cook the couscous according to box directions. Place cooked couscous into large bowl to cool. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Put in the fridge for a couple of hours to allow the flavors to blend.

Sauteed Chicken in Tarragon Cream Sauce

This chicken recipe uses tarragon in the cream sauce, which has a really nice, rather sweet flavor. In place of heavy cream I've used skim milk in this recipe and it was good, it just had fewer calories. 

Chicken:
2 tbsp butter
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper 

Sauce:
2 tbsp yellow or white onion, chopped
1 tbsp flour
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a large pan, heat butter over medium heat. Season the chicken with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper and add it to the pan. Cook the chicken until brown, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook until just done, 4 to 5 minutes longer. Remove the chicken from the pan and put it in a warm spot.

Reduce the heat to medium low. Stir in the onion and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onion and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium, whisk in the wine and the tarragon, and cook until the sauce starts to thicken, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cream and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour sauce over the chicken and serve.

Greek Salad & Dressing

I worked at a Greek restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago when I was a teenager. I was strongly influenced by the food prepared by Greek cooks. I learned to love feta cheese, cream of chicken soup with rice, Greek salad, Athenian steak, and last, but certainly not least, lemon. Lots of lemon. This recipe makes a flavorful Greek salad that doesn't use lettuce but instead, includes tomato, red onion, and feta cheese. 

Salad:

1 lb grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced 

1 cup Greek feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing:

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove

1/2 small shallot, chopped

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon dried Greek oregano

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 large basil leaf

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper

In a food processor or blender, combine the red wine vinegar with the garlic clove, shallot, mustard, oregano, thyme and basil and puree until smooth. With the machine on, slowly add the olive oil. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the tomato halves, sliced onion and crumbled feta cheese. Toss with the vinaigrette and serve the salad immediately.

I learned this word at the Greek restaurant--Opa! 

A Greek word or pronouncement of celebration; the celebration of life itself.

Baked Mini Meatballs with Feta Cheese

I felt like making meatballs recently so I looked up a few recipes, modified them, added my own touches, and came up with the recipe below. Since lean ground beef is used (90/10 or 85/15) make sure you don't over cook them or they will be dry. This recipes makes about 36 2" meatballs so if that's too many, you can freeze them. You can easily double the recipe if you need a larger quantity. Enjoy!

Baked Mini Meatballs with Feta Cheese

1 pound lean ground beef

1 egg

1/8 cup sweet onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup feta cheese

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Coat a cookie sheet with baking spray. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Shape beef mixture into 2" meatballs and place on cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes. Sprinkle with kosher salt (I always use kosher but you can use whatever you'd like. I think kosher brings out the flavor of food better.)

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

Remember my previous posts where I told you how good veggies are when they are roasted in the oven? Roasting brings out their natural sugars and you get that lovely carmelization action going on. This is an easy and quick recipe for the next time you're craving the little green sprout.

1 pound Brussels sprouts, rinsed, trimmed and halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 oz. bacon, diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 450. Toss all ingredients together in a baking dish. Roast until the sprouts are tender, about 20 minutes.  Balsamic syrup would make a wonderful topping after the sprouts come out of the oven...enjoy.