Best Brownies in Great Valley

Ah, yes, the legendary Best Brownies of Great Valley. Looks like I'm the first to post this one. :) I won't include the story, but if someone else wants to add it to my post, I'm OK with that.

1-1/4 cups butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1-1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 ounces chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the following mixtures in three separate bowls:
1) Cocoa Mixture-In the largest bowl, melt butter then stir in cocoa.
2) Flour Mixture-Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder.
3) Egg Mixture-Mix together eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

Alternately add the dry mixture and the egg mixture to the cocoa mixture. Stir just until smooth. Add chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Bake in a greased 9x13" pan for 30 minutes. *Put into the refrigerator immediately.

*The keys to success are to not overcook (they will not look completely done at first), and to let them cool completely before serving.

A couple of notes..
-I made this recipe twice over the last year or so and they were really bitter - I was using regular cocoa and semi-sweet chocolate chips. So unless you want really bitter brownies, it looks like "dark chocolate" doesn't work. I used milk chips this time and they turned out perfectly.
-Also, normally I do not like nuts in things, but I love nuts in brownies. I know I'm a little strange, but you're all used to me.
-Since moving to Arizona (both in Phoenix and where we are now), brownies and bar cookies take much longer to cook than they did back east. Sometimes up to 30 minutes longer. Anyone know why this is? I haven't taken the time to experiment with different temperatures and baking times.

White Chicken Chili

This is Mom. I made a variation of the white chicken chili recipe from Our Best Bites. If you want the original, you'll find it at http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/09/white-chicken-chili/. 

The soup was delicious! It's got some kick, but mellow Dad still loved it. We've been eating off it for 3 days, and I was going to warm up the last of it for our Sunday lunch today. But Dad said, "No, wait, I was hoping I could take that for lunch the next couple of days." A bowl of that soup, four or five saltines, and a little container of berries make a great lunch for him. Becca, you can see we're violating the 72-hour rule, but it still seems good.

White Chicken Chili

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
2 (15-ounce) cans Great Northern beans
3 cups chicken chunks cut from rotisserie chicken
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (3.5-ounce) can green chilies
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 (16-ounce) can chicken broth

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for about 2 minutes, just until it starts to become translucent.
2. While the onions are cooking, drain the beans and rinse with cold water; set aside. Cut up the chicken. Add the garlic to the onions and cook another 2 minutes (but don't brown the garlic!).
3. Add the chicken, the green chilies along with all of the juices in the can, the beans, oregano, salt, and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine and then add the chicken broth.
4. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered about 10 minutes to blend flavors.

The original recipe called for 1 pound raw chicken that you then cook with the onion, a full onion, 1/2 tsp. cumin, 1/2 tsp. coriander, the juice from one lime, and 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. I didn't have any of those, so I didn't use them, yet we still loved the flavor. The original recipe also suggests possible toppings of sour cream, chopped cilantro, shredded pepper jack or Monterey Jack cheese, avocado, tortilla chips, lime wedges. We didn't use any of those items, but it was still delicious.

Sweet Pork

This is one of many versions of Costa Vida's sweet pork I've seen. This one came from the Gilbert Ranch Ward cookbook.

This is my first foray into posting pictures and it makes me wish I had a nice granite countertop and lots of pretty serving dishes. But alas I'm just a normal gal in a normal house.

Sweet Pork
3-7 ounce cans tomato sauce
2-7 ounce cans El Pato tomato sauce (found in Mexican food section)
2 cups dark brown sugar
4-5 pounds pork roast (again, I prefer the boneless type)

Mix the sauces and brown sugar then pour over pork roast in a crockpot. Cook on low about eight hours. Shred and serve on burritos, nachos, or salads.

I like to top it with lettuce, tomato, onions, black or pinto beans, rice, cheese, and a creamy salad dressing.

A note about quantity: I only used about 3 pounds of pork and we've eaten this for three meals and we still have quite a bit of meat left.

We had burritos the first day and I made these delicious nachos today.

And...a note on leftovers: We've been making a lot of fried rice with leftovers. This is not good as fried rice, not sure why. :)

The dressing I tried is from Our Best Bites. The pork is so flavorful that you don't really taste the dressing much but it does have a little bit of a kick to it. Adrian also adds sour cream to his, but I'm fine without it.

Creamy Cilantro-Lime Ranch Dressing
from Our Best Bites
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
1 lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons lime juice)
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (just the dry mix)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 cup green salsa
Hot sauce (I used 1 teaspoon of Tabasco)

Combine mayonnaise, milk, lime juice, and the contents of the packet of ranch dressing in a blender. Add garlic, cilantro, and green salsa and blend to thoroughly mix all the ingredients. Season with hot sauce, if desired. If possible, refrigerate for several hours to allow the dressing to thicken and the flavors to meld.

Makes about 2 cups.

Chicken Tostadas

After spending 18 months in the San Diego area, working mostly among Mexicans, I got to the point where I craved Mexican food and could have eaten it three times a day and been happy.  Well, 8-ish years later, it's been a while since I've tried cooking real Mexican food.  This recipe for chicken tostadas is AMAZING and took me right back to eating the authentic food cooked by the Mexican families I worked with.  The leftovers were great.  I ate them for about 4 consecutive meals and could have kept going.  For the leftovers, make sure you fry up the tortillas fresh.

Check out the recipe at Epicurious  Chicken Tostadas Recipe

Tortilla Bowl Taco Salad

So, this is the first real meal I've cooked in a long time. AKA not pasta, pizza, or grilled cheese.

My mother-in-law gave us these pans a couple months ago and I honestly thought they were the actual taco bowls, not pans to bake taco bowls in. I figured out the truth when I was cleaning my pantry this past weekend and took a closer look. 

First, I thawed and trimmed a frozen boneless skinless chicken breast.

I am pretty picky with my chicken (along with most of the Schows), so I ended up cutting it into little chunks for quicker cooking and to clear all veins and fat.

I greased the pan with spritzes of olive oil and seasoned the chicken with Johnny's seasoning. 

You can use butter or oil to keep the meat from sticking to the pan and you can use whatever seasoning you prefer.

While the chicken cooked, I diced a small tomato and 1/4 of a white onion.

I cooked the onion in a small pan with olive oil. Craig and I aren't big raw onion fans, so I generally cook them.

I used raw tortillas, so they needed to be slightly cooked in a pan before I placed them into the shaped pans. I cooked the tortillas in the oven at 400 F for 7 minutes so they would hold their shape.

For the whole assembly: tortilla bowl, iceberg lettuce, chicken, tomatoes, cooked onions, sour cream, and salsa.

I ended up throwing some ranch dressing on top for a little extra flavor and moisture. Then I dipped the extra tortilla in the salsa and sour cream.
Overall I was very happy with the tastes and textures. One thing to put it over the top is to sprinkle the tortilla with shredded cheese before baking it.

Tortilla-Bowl Taco Salad

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

1 Chicken Breast, cut into 1" chunks

1 T Olive or Canola Oil

1/4 White Onion, diced

1 Tomato, diced

1 Head Iceberg, sliced

4 Tortillas

Seasoning for Chicken (taco seasoning, Johnny's, salt & pepper)

Salad Dressing, optional 

Sour Cream, optional

Salsa, optional

Shredded cheese, optional

1. Trim chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Cook in a pan with oil and seasoning.

2. Dice onion. Cook in pan with a little oil.

3. Dice tomato and slice lettuce. Place in fridge to keep cool until all ingredients are assembled.

4. Warm tortillas. If you have tortilla bowl pans, follow instructions.

5. Place tortilla in a bowl and top with lettuce, tomato, onion, and cheese (optional).

6. Serve with dressing, sour cream, and/or salsa. 

Do any of you have different ingredients you like to add into taco salad??

Yellow Chicken - An Indonesian Specialty

This is a favorite recipe of Adrian's family, from their Indonesian father. It's absolutely delicious! You'll find the lemongrass and galanggal at the Asian market (galanggal is a spice, lemongrass is a grass that comes in a bag in the freezer/produce section). I just made a discovery: lemon grass in the produce section at Wal Mart. It is in a squeeze tube by the fresh herbs.

2 chicken breasts, cubed or thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon lemongrass
1/4 teaspoon galanggal
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cans coconut milk

Sauté onion and garlic in oil. Add all the spices to the onions and stir. Add the chicken, cook on medium/low heat stirring occasionally until cooked through. Add coconut milk, bring it to a soft boil, then remove from heat. Serve over cooked white rice.

It will seem like there's not enough liquid to cook the chicken in, but the chicken adds enough liquid. Adrian's dad would use a whole chicken (and perhaps make more of the sauce) but I'm not a fan of bone-in meat so I just used chicken breast.

The final product has a lot of sauce which is really good to put on the rice. You could probably add more chicken without affecting it too much. Adrian's dad used a whole chicken.

It's a really quick and easy recipe to make.

Best-Ever Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I recently discovered a really delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe. Adrian says it's the top one or two chocolate chip cookies he's ever had. I usually make the Mrs. Fields recipe but he doesn't like oatmeal in chocolate chip cookies, thus my search for an equally delicious (and successful) oatmeal-less recipe.

The problem I've found with many recipes is that the cookies end up really thin, crunchy, and flat. But these are perfect! I think the trick that I've missed before is to refrigerate the dough balls before baking.

 

The dough is extra soft and messy, so the next time I make it I may refrigerate it in the bowl for a little bit. Also I start by placing the balls on a cookie sheet then chilling before I put into a plastic container to freeze until ready to bake. I've found that it's best to first chill them for a while on a cookie sheet otherwise the balls become one big mass that you have to chisel from and then re-form into balls.

 

I do not use European style butter and they turn out fine. I also haven't used unsalted butter which I would recommend trying if you have it as they are a little salty. I used the Kirkland brand dark chips from Costco...that's as fancy as I'll get with the chocolate.

 

Best-Ever Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America

Found at http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/best-ever-thick-chewy-chocolate-chunk-cookies-144100966.html

2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup European-style unsalted butter, room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate chunks

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt until well combined.

In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between additions and scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla extract and mix. On low speed or by hand, stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, mixing until just incorporated. Do not over-mix. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

Using a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop, or two spoons, form dough balls and place on prepared cookie sheets with a few inches of room in between. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 F with rack in the center. Line cookie sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.

Bake for 10-13 minutes (depending on the size of your dough balls), until they are golden brown around the edges and puffy in the center. Let cookies cool a few minutes on baking sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. They are best if not over-cooked and are very gooey.

A note for higher altitude baking: We are at about 4000 feet which makes a difference from baking in Phoenix. We lower the temperature to 350 F and bake for 11 minutes.

 

Happy baking!