Monday, September 6, 2010

Hi Lauren
I thought a little blue cheese sounded good in your salad with the peaches. Give it a try!

Anne's Chicken with Peach and Green Chili Salsa

Marinate 8- 10 Chicken Breasts for several hours or overnight in the following marinade:
IT Cumin
IT Chili Powder
1 1/4 c. Orange Juice
1/4 C Olive Oil
2t salt

Peach and Green Chili Salsa
1c. Honey
1c. Chicken Broth
2 green chilies roasted pitted and chopped, or 1 small can diced green chilies
2 peaches peeled pitted and diced. I have also used canned peaches for this but don't put them in the marinade to cook for the whole time.
1t. minced garlic
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Remove chicken from the marinade and grill. Serve with the Salsa and Exotic Rice and grilled zucchini and summer squash.



Allison's Beef Brisket

On a brisket that has the fat trimmed sprinkle generous amounts of:
Salt
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Cover and Bake at 325-350 for 3-5 hours
I seal mine in heavy duty aluminum foil but I'm sure a covered roasting pan would work well too. If your brisket is smaller check it sooner and cook it at the reduced temperature. If your brisket is larger cook it longer. Cooking longer and slower is a good rule with briskets.

Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes. Then slice it and return it to the pan. Cover with the following glaze and return it to the oven at 300 for 20-30 mins.

Glaze:
I jar Apple Jelly
1/3c Cider Vinegar
3T Dijon Mustard
1 1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. pepper
3/4 curry powder

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat until the jelly is melted and all the ingredients are combined. Remove from heat and pour over brisket.

Pasta Salad ala Allison

Okay since I am on a roll here is my Pasta Salad Recipe:

Cook some pasta, rotini, penne, whatever! Don't cook it too much, you definitely want it al dente for pasta salad.
Then in any amount you choose marinate the following chopped vegetables in Mrs. Leeds dressing, I use a ziploc bag, but for those of you who are more ecologically responsible than I am you can use any certified "green"container you wish:
Carrots
Broccoli
Red Pepper
Black Olives
Cherry Tomatoes

Marinate the veggies for a while, or at least a couple of hours. Discard the marinade. If you use the marinade as the dressing it is to watery and you will have an anemic tasting salad.
In a large bowl add the chopped marinated veggies and the pasta a toss with Mrs Leeds Dressing.

Then add:
1c fresh basil chopped (About!)
A small bag of spinach juilliened- Sometimes I add more because I have more and because spinach is very healthy you know.
Crumble 1/2c-1c feta cheese
Toss the salad again, and serve.

If you want to make it a main dish you can add chicken. I marinate the chicken in Mrs. Leeds Dressing and then barbecue it, cool it and cut it up for the salad.




Sugar Cookies

Yes it is true Allison Warner is finally posting on the blog! Don't faint. Here is my famous sugar cookie recipe that I got from Robynn Wood.

1c butter
1c shortening
6 eggs
1T vanilla
7c flour
2t soda
1T cream of tartar
1t nutmeg
1/2 t salt

Cream the butter, shortening, and sugar till fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, add vanilla. Mix together flour, soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg, salt. Add to creamed ingredients and mix well but don't beat it to death. The dough will be soft. I split the dough in half and spread it about an inch thick on some aluminum foil and chill it until it is firm. Roll the cookies out about 1/2 in. thick and cut out with a cookie cutter. These cookies spread so I use a 2 in. cookie cutter. Bake at 350 for 12-13 min. Don't let the cookies brown at the edges, Robynn says the cookies sizzle at the end and that' how you know they're done.

Frosting
1 80z package cream cheese
1 cube of butter
1t vanilla
Beat in enough powdered sugar to make it all stick together. (Someday I'll figure out this amount exactly, but you know me....for now I just taste it until I get the little sugar zing in the back of my mouth. You can add any color food coloring you want to make them festive. To frost the cookie I put the frosting in a pastry bag with the plastic coupler in it and pipe the frosting onto the cookie in a swirl. I start in the middle and circle to the out side but you could start at the outside and swirl to the middle. Don't skimp on the frosting!

I think these cookies are better the second day (they get softer) so I always make them a day ahead and put them in the fridge. They stay good for a long time, at least a week or more. Also the dough freezes well so make some ahead and pull it out when ever you need it . Sometimes I cut the cookies out and them freeze them and bake them later.

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