FOODBOOK!

Artichoke Altuna - Yumm!

koupob — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:07:17 GMT

I finally found a recipe I considered good enough to put up here. It's from a magazine called Cooking Light, whose aim is to create very tasty dishes that are a little better for you than traditional fare.

This one took me about 5 minutes to prepare (had to chop the green onions and artichokes) and 4 minutes in the oven. The red pepper adds bite, so if you like a little bite to your food, add some more, if you prefer it more smooth, omit it entirely.

PS: It is very artichokey. If you don't like artichokes, I wouldn't recommend.

Here it is, straight off of their website:

------------------------------------------------------

If the citizens of Altoona, Pennsylvania, want to adopt our world-class variation on this classic café sandwich, we grant them full latitude.

Ingredients
1/2 cup drained canned artichoke hearts, finely chopped
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (6-ounce) can albacore tuna in water, lightly drained and flaked
2 English muffins, split and toasted
6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) grated provolone cheese

Preparation
Preheat broiler.
Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl. Divide evenly among muffin halves; sprinkle with cheese. Place on a baking sheet; broil 5 inches from heat for 4 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield
2 servings (serving size: 2 muffin halves)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 374(26% from fat); FAT 10.8g (sat 4.7g,mono 4.3g,poly 1.3g); PROTEIN 27.6g; CHOLESTEROL 38mg; CALCIUM 303mg; SODIUM 845mg; FIBER 0.5g; IRON 3.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 41.8g

hummus

sunneyone — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:39:27 GMT

I want to make some homemade hummus. I've tried store bought and it was nasty, but I had some homemade not too long ago and it was so good! So I want to try to make my own. I need a good recipe, but I also need to know if I can make it with a regular blender. We don't have a food processor and I don't have the money to go out and buy one. Anyway... does anyone have a good recipe and how do I work without a food processor?

Easiest Worlds-Best-Dips Ever

captainshen — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:48:23 GMT

I have two for you! One with salmon, One with Tuna. Both of them made 'to taste,' as in, with the amounts you want.

Salmon Dip

This is from when I visited my mom's hawaiian best friend in Oklahoma. She's awesome.

Ingredients:
-Smoked Salmon
-1 whole tub sour cream
-1 whole cream cheese stick

'lox,' or bagel salmon, dosnt work as well as real smoked salmon. I was fortunate enough to be at someone's house who's brother lives in alaska and smokes salmon. The sour cream, you just need your regular tub... and the cream cheese, make sure to get the little box and not the tub.

Mix one stick of cream cheese in a bowl until it's soft enough to mix other things in. Then start dumping the sour cream tub in. eventually, you'll want the entire thing in there. while you're doing this, your friend can start flaking the salmon in with a fork. either that, or you can wait until you're done and do it yourself. that's it-- just put plenty of salmon, and have lots of crackers on hand so you can taste it as you go!

This is good with 'high end' crackers, like crackers with seeds on them, wheat crackers, or 'club' crackers. this is also awesome spread on little toasts and such.
________

Tuna Dip

I stole this from a place in Statesboro, GA called 'ocean galley.' MMM! it's simple, but theirs always comes out just a tad better somehow...

Ingredients:
-Can of Tuna
-Some cream cheese
-liquid smoke

Just mix the tuna and cream cheese (about equal parts, a little heavier on the tuna if you like) until they are VERY!!!! smooth. then add a teaspoon, maybe, of liquid smoke. add more if you like it! I've made it without the liquid smoke, but it's definately not the same.

This is good with saltines.

Yaaay! Alive!

captainshen — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:32:19 GMT

Alright! After posting that, I fixed our layout. now it's not freaky!
Also, thanks to Congogirl for aaaall those posts :). I'm gonna start posting more, too!

Mangled Tofu

captainshen — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:24:23 GMT

I will share my breakfast with you guys this morning, because it was so surprisingly good.

Sorry about the flash (ew) but my camera is still out :(.
Oh yeah, it makes a lot more than this. I just had eaten
most of it already. :)

Usually, when I go to the store, I buy 'Hawaiian tofu,' which is much more coarse than the other kinds. this time, all i could find was Azumaya Lite Tofu, so i bought it anyway. It has a pretty silky texture, but if you press the water out, it crumbles well. It can also be fried into sticks pretty nicely. Anyway.

I had about a third of this stuff left, so I cut out half of that (totalling... you got it... a sixth of the pack!).

I scavenged the fridge and took away two thinly sliced rings of onions (just two individual circles, not whole slices, you know?) and a thin slice of spam. I diced both of those things up (really small) and tossed them into a hotwarm skillet with some soy sauce.

after they were a little bit cooked, i set that pan on the back burner and smash/mixed my tofu up in a pyrex measuring cup with a fork. i then added a small plod (i guess about a spoonful) of sesame seeds, and mixed it up more. i cut celery leaves up and dropped them in, then crumbled some leftover korean seaweed into the mix as well. then i dumped the spam and onions from the skillet into the pyrex thing, and mixed them all up well. Go ahead and set the pan back on the hot burner.

After they were all mixed up, i dumped everything into the skillet and proceeded to cook it sort of like scrambled eggs-- brown until you like it (its not like anything in there is raw) and add a couple more drops of soy sauce.

MMM-MMM, SURPRISING!

Peanut stew

congogirl — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 03:14:54 GMT

Last week, I bought a huge hank of collard greens, because, well, I guess because I've been trying to eat more greens, and because they only cost $2.00.

Last week, I washed and cut up about 2/3 of the greens and made Greens in Peanut Sauce from the Congo Cookbook. I was hoping for something akin to Ma Cecile's Pointe Noire, which was made with easier-to-digest spinach and without fresh tomatoes. But I figure, almost anything is better with a fresh tomato.

Man, I ate that dish all week. I had so much, I gave some to my roommate, put it in burritos, and I still had some left!

Last week, I didn't use up the greens, and I had also bought a sweet potato that was calling my name this evening.

This week, I made a modified souped-up version of the same dish. And man, it's good, and it made so much, I'll have to share with my roommate again!

Here's what I did (which looks to be at least 4 servings):

1. Chopped a good 15 leaves of collards
2. Grated a large sweet potato
3. Put them on to boil, then turned down the heat and cooked for 10min
4. Chopped 2 fresh tomatoes
5. Rinsed a can of pinto beans
6. Drained 1 1/2 to 2 c. of the water from the pot into a dish
7. Drained the rest of the water into the sink
8. Added 1 6oz. can of tomato paste and 6-8oz. peanut butter to the dish of hot water
9. Mixed up the peanut mix and added a generous squeeze of Sriracha hot garlic sauce and a generous dash of salt
10. Put everything (greens, potato, beans, tomato, sauce) back in the pot and covered and cooked on low till it was all hot -- mmmmm!
11. Washed it down with an Uncle Nut's Nut Brown Ale

So, --vegetarian. --cheap. --healthy. -yummy!

Sweet Potato Smush

congogirl — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 06:47:32 GMT

I made dinner with bananapouch the other night. My new successful made-up recipe is as follows, for the dish pictured above at 9 o'clock:

Makes 2-3 servings

1 Very Large Sweet Potato, grated
1 1/2 c broth (I used water and 1 spoonful chicken soup powder)
1/2 c raisins or other dried fruit (I used yellow raisins)
3/4 tsp hot curry powder (I used hot red stuff straight from Chennai, India)
Optional: Marshmallow Fluff, as needed

Grate your Very Large Sweet Potato and put in a pot. Add water/powder or broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce to med-low heat. Add curry powder and raisins. Stirring occasionally, simmer till potatoes are a nice, smushy consistency and most of the liquid has boiled off. You may want to begin with the pot covered, to ensure that the potato cooks, since it isn't pre-boiled.

Put on a plate. Dollop with Fluff as desired.

Also optional: I have made a similar recipe from Lorna Sass' Short-Cut Vegetarian in which she adds red beans and doesn't use raisins. Beans would add protein. No raisins would take away the sweet that balances out the curry.

I can't vouch for this, but...

congogirl — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:35:21 GMT

bananapouch shared this with me, I haven't tried it yet, but I will as soon as I have a chance!

Habanero Lime Cheesecake

No-Bake Strawberry Pie!

bloodclotkimono — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 22:04:19 GMT

Wow, I regret not getting to putting this up sooner. My friend Orlando and I decided to make a pie for a friend's birthday party and it's very easy ( and cheap) to make and delicious!

No-Bake Strawberry Pie

1 pint Homemade Style Vanilla Ice Cream
1 lb frozen Sweetened Strawberries
1 pack strawberry jello
1 graham cracker pie crust

First set the frozen strawberries to defrost either in the bag submerged in a bowl of hot water or in the microwave. At this point also please take out the ice cream and scoop it into a large bowl to thaw and melt.

Once the strawberries are thoroughly dethawed separate them into another container and collect the juices into a measuring cup. You should have 1 cup of juice, if not use what you have and fill to 1 cup with water.

Place the juice into a small 2 or 3 cup pot and set to high heat. At this point if you used UNSWEETENED strawberries, add sugar to taste, we used about 1/8 a cup.

Once the juice boils add in the strawberry jello and mix until thoroughly dissolved.

At this point your ice cream should be pretty runny almost like soft serve. Pour the dethawed strawberries and jello mix into the bowl and mix until the filling is a even shade of nice pink.

There are plenty of ways to present pie filling. Orlando and I prefer to use a smaller crust so that the strawberries are packed into the pie, but you may use a larger one if desired.

We recommend scooping out the strawberries first and spreading them evenly throughout the pie crust before letting the "liquid" section of the filling drench and sumberge the strawberries.

Once to the brim, or a bit over the edge like ours ^_^, place into a fridge for 4 hrs or overnight, the jello will harden and create a lovely strawberries and cream texture to the pie.

If you're lucky you will have some extra liquid filling or maybe a strawberry or two, if so I recommend pouring it into cups and setting into the fridge to have has a snack or quick breakfast treat!

It's an instant fave of mine now, and the extra bonus is this recipe is top notch for fire safety! ^_^

mmm... beans

bad_bytch — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 17:07:12 GMT

can anyone tell me how to cook black beans like the ones at cucos??? they are awesome there.. thanks :)

Hi!

fierceliketiger — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 04:24:53 GMT

Hi everyone! I joined about a month ago, and forgot to announce it. I'm 19, almost 20 years old. I currently live in Iowa, but I grew up in California. I am starting culinary school in Minnesota in October. I am actually switching schools and majors (after a knee injury trounced my previous plans).
Well, that's about it...I guess.
Glad to be here!
~Sara

pickle-ham-cream cheese delights!

vego — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 23:12:50 GMT

this is a lil dish my aunt terry used to make for parties. they're lil bite sized treats perfect for ANY time. even great for sandwiches!! all through jr. high i ate it. XD

what you need:

whole kosher dill pickles
softened cream cheese
deli sliced thin ham

how to make!:

grab a butter knife and spread the softened cream cheese on the slice of ham. if it's not softened, it WILL rip the meat. trust me. then, roll a whole pickle up in the ham, making sure the pickle is covered as much as you can. (you CAN you two pieces of ham if the pickle is a real biggun.) the cheese should make the ham stick to the pickle, but i always stick a tooth pick in it to hold it in place. after the pickle is wrapped up, slice it into good size chunks. they should look something similar to little green steaks. XD!
you can stab a toothpick in each one, or not, and place on a platter for an AWESOME lil treat. also, you can use this stuff to make a kick ass sandwich. :)!

ENJOY!!

it's that time again...!

captainshen — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 23:02:24 GMT

Post a recipe!

i'll have one of mine up tonight, i hope.

GREAT news!

captainshen — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 00:03:24 GMT

i found green onions growing out back!!! woohoo!!!
i ate some on dinner tonight :)

roux

captainshen — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 02:20:58 GMT

does anyone make real roux? my goal was to learn it from my grandmother's yard guy, the most cajun man i've ever met. he's so sweet :)! but, i'm curious and impatient all in one.

Explanation in my Journal...

billzbub — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:51:30 GMT

My room mate used fish to make art. I did too.....

Paella Stuffed Red Snapper
1 4 lb whole Red Snapper - cleaned
1 small octopus - cleaned and cut into 1/2" pieces
10 Jumbo shrimp - headed, cleaned and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 small chorizo sausage - diced
1 cup cooked rice
1 jalapeno pepper - fine dice
1 lg tomato - diced
1 med yellow onion - diced
4 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cup warmed dry Sherry
2 strands saffron - soaked in warmed sherry.
approx. 1 tsp each cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper
Olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 375.
Sautee garlic, onion and chile until onions are opaque
Add chorizos and tomatoes. Cook til soft and a bit dry.
Add saffron/Sherry. Reduce a bit.
Add peas and seafood. Cook for a minute or less, then add rice and other seasonings. Warm through, then remove from heat. You don't want to overcook the seafood or rice, as it will continue to cook with the fish.
Put the snapper in foil, stuff as much of the paella into the salted cavity as possible. The rest of the stuffing can be baked seperately.
Drizzle olive oil over the fish, salt and pepper, then place lemon slices on top of it. Close foil, place on a rack in a baking dish, with liquid beneath it (stock, water or sherry...or a combo thereof..)
Bake, sealed, for about 1 hour. Open the foil, checking fluid in the pan, and bake until flesh is flakey.

Strawberry Shortcake

cajunsweets — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 05:20:06 GMT

Seems like a pretty well-known reciepe, but as I was making one today I decided to post it just incase some of you don't know it.

Strawberry Shortcake:

Ingerdiants:

1 box cake mix: butter receipe (3 eggs and 1 stick of butter need to make batter)
~4 containers of fresh strawberries (containers = green plastic baskets they come in, I forgot what they are actually called
~20 oz Strawberry Glaze
Whip Cream (preferably cool whip)

Notes:
-The fresh strawberries and strawberry glaze amounts are only an approximation because the amount varies depending on how thick the person baking want the strawberry layer to be. Usually I make it 1" at the thickest.
-I usually make it the day before I plan on eating it. It seems to be just right when it gets to sit overnight.

Directions:

1- Pre-heat the oven and grease a 13x9 pan really well
2- Make cake mix and place into pan
3- Bake cake
4- While cake is baking cut strawberries into smaller pieces. I usually cut them into 4 pieces each. 2 pieces if its a small berry.
5- Mix cut strawberries and glaze into a bowl.
6- When cake is finished baking, allow to sit for a few min. Make cuts into the top of the cake but do not go too deep. Do NOT remove cake from pan
7- Apply strawberry and glaze on top of the cake
8- Place in refridgerator
9- When ready to eat, apply generous layer of cool whip on top.

sunneyone — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:42:02 GMT

is it wrong to buy cake at a store for no reason except you want some cake? like a birthday cake?

The Cakes

bloodclotkimono — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 01:07:36 GMT

Okay, not a recipe but I know how captainshen is a cake freak. So I went to the 50th wedding anniversary of Johnny and Charlotte Lazerotti last weekend and Char has been a cake decorator for over 20 years.

Well, they say if you want it done right DO IT YOURSELF! So here are pics of the cakes she amde for her own 50th anniversary, flavours and whatnot will be added under the pictures!

Pretty! Everything on the cake is edible minus the doves. The flowers are created by using almond paste and airbruhsed confectionary dye. The display as a whole is also gorgeous.

This cake also has three flavours:

1. Italian Creme
2. Red Velvet
3. White Chocolate

closer

A closer view of the Red Velvet. the lighting isn't all that grand for detail purposes, but I think it's very eerie and appropriate! Creepy lighting against the innards of a ravished piece of beauty! It even looks like it spashed blood on the flowers . . . k, I'll stop now . . .

Char and Johnny

Sorry again about picture quality, I really should have checked my true white settings, my apologies! Thanks to captainshen for touching up the color tremendously!

ANYWAY, The types of cakes from left to right:

1. Belgian Chocolate
2. Dark chocolate w/ shavings and semi-sweet chocolate cake
3. White cake with chocolate buttercreme frosting

AWESOMELY MOIST, AWESOMELY YUMMY!!!

Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

cajunsweets — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 08:18:01 GMT

I made a batch of cheese stuffed mushrooms for my boyfriend and I last night. The receipe called for Feta cheese, but my bf doesn't like feta and requested I substitue munster instead. It turned out really well, but now it has me wondering what it would have tasted like with feta.

Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients
3 Dozen Mushrooms -- large
1 Teaspoon Garlic -- chopped (I put 2 tsp because I really like garlic)
1/2 Cup Munster Cheese
1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice -- or to taste
Butter of Margarin

1.) Remove stems from mushrooms
2.) Place mushroom caps on baking sheet
3.) Chop mushroom stems and place aside.
4.) In a non stick frying pan, saute' garlic in margarine.
5.) Add mushroom stems until tender.
6.) Then add lemon juice, munster cheese and bread crumbs. Mixture should be a little moist.
7.) Fill mushroom caps with mixture. (Then I added a thin slice of cheese on top of each stuffed mushroom to give it a lil more cheese taste)
8.) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or when mushrooms are getting dark in color.
9.) Remove from oven and consume!

ENJOY!

super salmon power tasty snack

captainshen — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 06:11:34 GMT

ingredients

small amount of salmon
chopped walnuts
soy sauce
peanut oil
onions

some mexican rice if you have any (perfect for leftovers)

directions

pour some peanut oil in your saucepan and let it heat before throwing a half-handfull of walnuts in. move them around a bit.
put your salmon in the pan and pour soy sauce on it.
while its cooking, stab it with the spatula and cut it up, moving everything around a lot.
suddenly remember your onions, and run over there chopping them up. you decide how much you want. aha, leave the stove a sizzlin.
drop your minced onions in the pan and let them carmelize before putting everything in a small bowl. mix mexican rice in if you want to, but it's really not nessecary.

the salmon and walnuts should be crispy and crunchy, and the onions should be perfectly carmelized. enjoy!

marshmallow mashlets

captainshen — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 20:54:09 GMT

ingredients
   marshmallows (white, any size. big might be easier)
   a few big fat dark chocolate bars ( i guess you can use milk choco)
   toppings like cinnamon, sprinkles, chopped peanuts, coconut shavings, graham cracker crumbs.
   some milk
   some sugar
   some vanilla
   toothpick
   wax paper

Method
   put some finely chopped chocolate in a saucepan. add a bit (spoonful) of sugar, and a small amount of milk if the chocolate doesnt melt smoothly. keep stirring it. *edit: add a small bit of vanilla!!! (thanks cajunsweets)

   sprinkle little piles of your different toppings on your wax paper.

   after chocolate is good and supermelted, stick a tooth pick in a marshmallow and dip it in. make sure its pretty much covered with chocolatey heaven. then, using another toothpick, pop that marshmallow off that toothpick and let it land in some toppings. either roll it around with the toothpick or sprinkle more stuff on top, dosn't matter.

oh, i guess that's all! once you do all the marshmallows you want, put them in the freezer for... how long is secret window? i guess like an hour and a half or even an hour is good. i dont know, i went off and watched movie. anyway, pull them out of there and put them in the fridge, then you can eat them whenever you want!

options
   this is probably as optional as you can GET with recipes. use your imagination. dip fruit chunks, i want to dip little cakes even. anything can be a topping.

EAT!!!

Okra suggestions?

congogirl — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:30:22 GMT

Hey there, I just joined this community after seeing it on billzbub's friends list. I would love to contribute at some point, but currently am hoping one of you might have a good okra recipe. Bought some over the weekend and have access to lots of veggies, some meat but not so much seafood (e.g. shrimp and okra cajun dishes). Thanks!

Spices

cajunsweets — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 21:17:17 GMT

Ok, this isn't a receipe, but a question about cooking instead:

I seem to have a problem with spices. I LOVE spices; all kinds of spices. My problem lies when I try to decide what spices mix well together and which spices test best on which kinds of food and how much to use.

Any one can help me with this?

For Shen!

bloodclotkimono — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 02:46:48 GMT

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
So to make an entry there's a . . .well . .not a recipe .. a concoction if you will . . .

Ramen Ala BAM!

This is actually just something I came up with when I was craving Japanese and (cheap)Mexican food at the same time!

Basically cook ramen noodles with out the flavour packets, drain it. Throw it on a bowl and put in as much Taco Bell Fire Sauce as you can ( I also recommend this recipe to anyone who has a cold or sinus problems! -_-;;) but if you love hot food like me, it's a cheap, fast treat!

Also, it actually tastes good with prepared beef ramen!