Make Your Own Mojo: Garlic-Citrus Marinade

Until a friend of mine who lives in the South introduced me to mojo, I'd never heard of it. You may have seen it in your grocery store where it's bottled and marketed as a marinade. In Cuban cooking, mojo is a sauce made with olive oil, large amounts of garlic, and a citrus juice and in Puerto Rican cooking, cilantro is often added. Sour orange, lemon, or lime juice, or some combination thereof, can be used in mojo. Use equal amounts of fresh orange & fresh lime juice to make a substitute for sour orange juice. I use this homemade fresh lime juice version to marinate pork tenderloin. Mojo adds massive flavor and can also be used to marinate chicken, beef, or fish. 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
16 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 1/3 cups freshly squeezed lime juice
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, minced

Heat a sauce pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until it's a light golden color. Be careful, it cooks fast. Add the lime juice and stir, slowly bringing it to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add the salt, pepper, and cilantro. 

Put your meat of choice in a 13" x 9" baking dish lined with parchment paper. Let the mojo cool, then pour it over the meat to be cooked. Put the covered baking dish in the fridge overnight. 

Goat Cheese & Prosciutto Stuffed Sweet Peppers

This recipe makes pretty, red appetizers that you can pick up and eat in one or two bites. These sweet cherry peppers are found in the grocery store. This appetizer has a great crunch with a nice blend of flavors and textures, and goat cheese and prosciutto make a great combo on just about anything.

Ingredients:
2 slices prosciutto
4 oz. goat cheese
1 rib celery, cut into 1/2" pieces
8 sweet cherry peppers, tops removed, seeded, rinsed, and dried

Spread each slice of prosciutto with a thin layer of goat cheese. This is easier to do if the goat cheese is a bit soft. Cut each slice of prosciutto into four pieces, then wrap a piece of celery inside each piece. Stuff a prosciutto slice into each sweet cherry pepper.  Appetizer, anyone?

Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms

This dish makes a great appetizer and everyone loves it.

Ingredients:

24 medium mushrooms, about 1 pound
6 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 (3-ounce) package low-fat cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, or 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 cup dry bread crumbs 

Remove stems from mushrooms. Chop enough stems to make 1 cup. 

Melt 2 tablespoons margarine in a medium saucepan. Brush mushroom cap tops with margarine and put them top side down in a shallow baking pan. Brush undersides of caps with margarine. Heat the remaining margarine in same saucepan. Add the chopped mushroom stems, onion, and garlic, and cook until tender. Stir in cream cheese. Add Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, and bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly. 

Spoon about 1 tablespoon stuffing mixture into each mushroom cap. Bake at 425 until heated through.

Tip: To make ahead, prepare, but don't bake. Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Then bake as directed.

Easy Irish Soda Bread

EASY means there is NO kneading required. That's my kind of bread. The buttermilk give this slightly sweet bread that nice little tang, with the added olfactory benefit of your house smelling wonderful.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup raisins

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Blend the egg and buttermilk together and add it to the flour mixture. Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter and raisins. Pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 325 for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and wrap in foil for several hours or overnight. The bread tastes even better after it sits for a few hours. 

Vegan Peanut Butter Smoothie

My favorite smoothie of all time is fresh peach but this vegan peanut butter smoothie could be a tie for first! Just toss all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 cup ice
1 cup soy milk (or rice, almond, chocolate soy)
3-4 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp raw sugar

Orange-Cream Cheese Tea Bread (Makes 2 Loaves)

You have to really like orange for this most delicious recipe found on www.justapinch.com. I modified the recipe-by using skim milk and low-fat cream cheese. It seemed appropriate to add the word "tea" to the title of this creamy bread, because the loaves are smaller than ones baked in your typical larger loaf pan. This bread is dense, similar to a pound cake. Tea (pinkies up), coffee, and especially a glass of cold milk hit the spot with this fragrant orange bread.

Ingredients:

1 8 oz package low-fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter flavored shortening

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Combine cream cheese and shortening, creaming well. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well after each addition.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix well after each addition. Stir in walnuts and orange peel.

Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 8" x 4" x 3" inch loaf pans. Bake at 375 for 50-55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the orange juice over the loaves and transfer bread from pans to a wire rack so they can finish cooling.

Thai Butternut Squash Soup

I have a variety and abundance of squash in my freezer which I picked, sliced into small pieces (5"x5"), seeded, baked, and froze in quart size freezer bags. Over the holidays I've been thawing some of this beautiful squash for soups and pies (pumpkin--it's a squash). I peel off the skin once the piece of squash is thawed--very easy. I've made this Thai butternut squash soup twice now, once in the crock pot and once on the stove. I like the crock pot version a little better. It's silky smooth and luscious. The cilantro, red curry sauce, ginger, and lime provide an oh-so-lovely Thai flavor.  I don't know exactly how much squash I used but I'm estimating 5 cups. Enjoy. This is what winter soup is all about.

5 cups of cooked butternut squash

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 14 oz. can light, unsweetened coconut milk (Trader Joe's)

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped 

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons red curry sauce (Trader Joe's)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (Penzey's is great)

A couple of good shakes of:

-black pepper

-paprika

-garlic powder

Put it all ingredients into a crock pot (slow cooker) and stir.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  To get the creamy, smooth, silky texture use an immersion blender to blend the soup until completely smooth.  You can also transfer the soup into batches to a food processor or blender, or use a potato masher to mash the soup until nearly smooth.  I used to food processor method.  Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with:  a) finely chopped cilantro, b) finely shredded lime peel, c) chopped nuts, d) a small dollop of sour cream, or, e) all of the above. 

Homemade Applesauce

Last night I made homemade applesauce for the first time in my life. It is so easy! This morning for breakfast I had this delicious, thick, homemade applesauce with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

I used fuji, cameo, and delicious apples of the red and gold variety. I used 20 medium-sized apples which made about a gallon of applesauce. 

Ingredients:
20 apples of any variety, unpeeled, cored, cut into quarters
1 cup sugar
3 cups water
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

In a large saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  

Cover and cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes, or until apples are soft.
 

Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher. After mashing, remove the biggest pieces of apple peel. The peel comes off of cooked apples much easier than it does on raw apples.

If you'd like, you can freeze the applesauce in freezer bags. Store any remaining applesauce in the fridge.

This recipe is a great way to use up apples if you have an abundance. You can also use applesauce as a healthy substitute for oil in recipes. 

Rigatoni Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

So many different ingredients can be added to pasta. And there are so many different pastas to add ingredients to! Tonight, my choices were what was conveniently located in the pantry and fridge.

1/2 package rigatoni pasta
1/2 package sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Boil the pasta according to package directions. I cooked the rigatoni for 11 minutes, and then drained it for a minute and shook out the water. Don't rinse it with cold water unless you are planning to make a cold pasta salad.

While the pasta is cooking, add the olive oil to a small frying pan that has been heated over medium heat. Remember: hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick. Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook until the garlic is just starting to get brown. Remove from heat.

Place the drained pasta back into the saucepan in which it was cooked (I used a 4 quart pan). Mix the garlic-tomato-olive oil into the pasta. Spoon into a plate or pasta bowl. Sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Mom's Apple Crisp

Autumn is here.  The smells, the sights, the sounds (mostly of rain around here).  Here is an easy recipe for an apple crisp, and a great way to use your fall apple harvest.

4 large apples, cut into chunks
Cinnamon and nutmeg as you choose
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter cut into bits

1/2 cup each of walnuts and pecans
Dash of salt

Preheat over to 350.  Put apples in a pie pan.  Dust with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

In a food processor, chop nuts with a few short pulses.  Add sugar and flour and process to combine for five seconds.  Add salt and butter and pulse 8-10 times, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Sprinkle topping over baked apples and continue baking until topping is lightly browned and crispy – about 30 minutes.

You can mix in 1/4 cup of apple cider with the apples, but not necessary if the apples are juicy.  Be sure to have a cup of hot apple cider with your crisp while you sit by the fire!