Mexican Wedding Cookies

I have my last Spanish class on Wednesday, so I thought I'd make something to take to class. I decided on Mexican Wedding Cookies. I used this recipe, and while the finished product turned out well enough, it didn't go quite as I had planned.

You're supposed to chill the dough for 3 hours. Well, I was a bit busy on Sunday, so the dough ended up chilling for about six hours. When I took it out of the fridge, it was hard as a rock. There was no way I was making the cookies right away. I let it sit out on the counter for about 2 hours, and the dough was finally workable.

The recipe says it makes 18 servings, but I didn't know if that meant 18 cookies, or if there was more than one cookie per serving. I used the tablespoon to scoop out the dough and I think the recipe made about 35 cookies.

So all in all, they turned out OK, but I think I might try a different recipe next time!

Baked Chicken Chimis

We started getting Penzey's Spices monthly catalog a few months ago. Among the tons of spices for sale, there are lots of tasty-looking recipes submitted by Penzey's customers.

One of them, in this month's catalog, was a recipe for baked chicken chimichangas. We made it for dinner Sunday night. They're pretty much crispy burritos. They turned out really well, but we made them a little too spicy. I was sweating by the end of the meal!

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

2.5 cups chicken, cooked, shredded (can substitute cooked ground beef or chopped steak)
2 tbs. vegetable/canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onion (1 small)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 4-oz. can chopped mild green chiles
1 tsp. medium hot chili powder
16 oz. salsa
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1.5 teas. ground cumin
salt, to taste
6 10-inch OR 12 6-inch flour tortillas
1 cup canned refried beans (we always use vegetarian refried beans)
2-4 tbs. vegetable/canola oil for basting
Optional: sour cream, guacamole/avocado, tomatoes
We also added: 1/2 a jalapeno, a few too many shakes of habanero pepper powder and some shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in the green chilies, chili powder, salsa, cilantro, cumin and salt. Stir in the shredded chicken. Let cool.




Grease rimmed 15x10x1 baking pan with 2 tbs. oil. Working with one tortilla at a time, spoon a heaping tablespoon of beans down the center of each tortilla. Top with a scant (?) 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture (less if using the smaller tortillas) and some cheese. Fold up the bottom, top and sides of the tortilla; roll up as though you were making a burrito and secure with toothpicks if necessary. Place the chimis in the baking pan, seam down. Brush all sides with oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden, brown and crisp (we had to turn on the broiler for a while). Serve with toppings as desired.

They were really good, but super big! We used the 6 10-inch tortillas, and everything could have fit into 7 or 8 tortillas instead. We had ours with the rest of the refried beans and some random bulgur we had left over--it worked out well, because it cut the heat a bit!

Please Vote: Family Recipe Revival Contest!

This contest, called the Family Recipe Revival, looked very intriguing, so I thought I'd submit a recipe. The contest is being put on by chef Michael Feker of Wauwatosa's Il Mito restaurant, a really great Italian restaurant I've been to a few times.

It didn't take me long to come up with a recipe that meant something to my family--sauerbraten and bread dumplings. It's something my parents have been making for as long as I can remember, and I have always loved it--especially the bread dumplings with gingersnap gravy. YUM!

So I submitted the recipe, and it's been accepted. Please go in and vote for it. I would appreciate it! If I win, I believe the recipe would go on the menu for a while and the proceeds from those meals would go to a charity of my choice. Plus, I think I get to cook with the chef if it all works out.

Thanks!!

Sunday Brunch

I absolutely love brunch. There are so many places in the Milwaukee area that serve a great brunch. One place that is often named as one of the best brunch places in Milwaukee is Hotch-A-Do, on Milwaukee's east side. I had never been before, and was excited to try it when my friend Ann suggested it.

I was torn between two different menu items, but ended up going with the Hotch Hash (below): cheese potatoes, broccoli, red peppers, onion and goat cheese cooked together on a griddle and mixed with organic eggs. Served with toast. It was fantastic. The goat cheese really made it.

Ann got the other menu item I was interested in, the Eggs Benny: 2 eggs poached on an English muffin with ham, hollandaise sauce and avocado. Served with fresh fruit and cottage cheese.

It's a cute place with a great menu. And they served us complimentary scones! And the mimosas were two for one! I definitely recommend it.

A Bit of Greece at Home

Nate and I went on our honeymoon to Greece in September 2006. We visited Athens and three of the islands. It was a wonderful--and tasty--experience. We fell in love with Greek food, beer and ouzo while we were there. Since then, we've had good Greek food at restaurants and enjoy making it at home.

One of our favorites from our honeymoon was souvlaki, usually grilled meat served on a pita with tomatoes and onions and tzatziki. Friday night, we recreated chicken souvlaki sandwiches with roasted potatoes. For an appetizer, we had grape leaves.

We live pretty close to two Greek grocery stores. The one we went to Friday is Olympia Fine Foods. It's not too big, but they have a good selection of fresh feta, Greek olives, tubs of freshly-made tzatziki and canned imports from Greece, like the grape leaves (below) we tried.

Also, maybe most importantly, the store had Mythos beer. I actually gasped when I saw the six-packs of it. We haven't been able to find it anywhere. We absolutely had to buy a six-pack.

For the chicken, I cut two breasts into about 1-inch pieces, and for about two hours in the fridge, marinated it in a bag with minced garlic, olive oil, freshly-squeezed lemon juice and oregano. Since it's a bit chilly, instead of grilling the chicken, we just cooked it on the stove top until it was done. The chicken was served atop a pita with tzatziki and topped with tomatoes, lettuce, red onion, crumbled feta and a bit more tzatziki.

For the potatoes, I cut them into cubes and mixed them with olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. I baked them at 375 for about 25 minutes.

Delicious!

Salmon a la Trader Joe's

Nate and I try to make a monthly pilgrimage to Trader Joe's at Bayshore Mall. It's not like it's that far, but it's far enough for us not to do our usual, weekly shopping there.

We often stock up on frozen meals--frozen pasta, enchiladas, Chinese food, etc. A lot of these meals you just heat in a skillet with a tablespoon or so of water, and 10 minutes later your meal is ready.

This time, however, we opted for a bit of a different frozen meal. We always eye up these things, but we've never bought one--until now.

The salmon fillets with baby shrimp, cucumber and dill were very easy to cook (defrost in fridge overnight and then bake at 350 (?) for 20-25 minutes) and really good. I am, though, a sucker for anything that has cream cheese in it! And I have to admit I didn't realize they had shrimp in them until I read the packaging when we were done.

We served them with frozen green beans and peas and some bulgur we had leftover from a stew or something. I have to admit, the picture doesn't look all that appetizing, but it was a tasty, filling meal.

Starting the Morning

There is nothing too exciting about this tid bit. But I was recently asked if I ever post about breakfast, and other than the recent brunch blog, I don't think I do talk about it much.

So here goes.

Many weekday mornings start with oatmeal. I like oatmeal, I really do, but I mostly eat it because I know it's good for me. I used to buy the sweet, packages of quick-cooking oats, but maybe about a year ago I started buying the regular, old fashioned oats.

The additions to my oatmeal are usually the same: I combine 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 rice milk, a couple dashes of cinnamon, a heaping spoonful of both ground flax seed and wheat germ, a sprinkle of almonds (or walnuts or pecans--whatever I might have) and some raisins. I microwave everything for 3 minutes at 50% power. When it's done, I drizzle a bit of honey on top. That's it! Delicious. A typical breakfast usually includes a yogurt and a cup of coffee, too.

And while I enjoy my oatmeal this way, I could stand to mix it up a bit. How do you like your oatmeal?