Freezing Cilantro

I used to be afraid to buy cilantro because it would go bad
before I could use it.

Thanks to Kalyn’s Kitchen, I no
longer worry about it.

Kalyn wrote a post about freezing her basil with a little oil.

I have now experimented the same thing with cilantro.

Here is what it looks like frozen with oil.

So todays lunch was Oven Fried Perch and Cheddar Bay Biscuits.


If you don’t buy bisquick you can use the homemade bisquick recipe at
the bottom of this post. I also add a little lemon zest to the flour for the fish.

Oven Fried Perch

Serving Size : 6

2 pounds perch fillets
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons cilantro — chopped
3 tablespoons butter — melted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
lemon wedges to serve

Preheat oven to 400. Combine the flour,cornmeal, salt and cilantro.

Dip fish fillets in the milk and dredge in the flour mixture.

Place fillets in individual baking dishes then drizzle with the butter and lemon juice

Bake for 15 -20 minutes or until fish flakes. Serve with lemon wedges if desired.

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Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Serving Size : 12

— FOR BISCUITS
2 1/2 cups bisquick® baking mix
1 cup cheddar cheese — grated
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter — melted
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
— BRUSH ON TOP
1/4 cup butter — melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cilantro — chopped
1 dash salt

Preheat oven to 400

Combine biscuit ingredients well and drop 1/4 cup portions on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Combine the topping mixture and brush on the unbaked biscuits.

Bake 14-16 minutes until browned.

NOTES : I got this from Todd Wilber’s Top Secret Recipes,
it is a copy of Red Lobsters. http://www.topsecretrecipes.com

________________

Homemade Bis -Quick

5 lbs all purpose flour (20 cups)
2 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk
3/4 cup baking powder
3 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
cut in:
2 lb. vegetable shortening (4 cups)

Mixture should look like coarse cornmeal. Store at room temperature in tightly-covered container.

NOTES : (can be used in any recipe which calls for Bisquick)

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Supper-Lemon Spaghetti with Chicken, Desert- Clafouti

I added about 1/2 c white wine to this and used small amount of butter
in place of margarine.
When pulling chicken from leftover roasted chicken I don’t believe
I could dice it, so it was shreaded and not browned as in recipe.
I also combine some wheat pasta with regular. About
1/2 and 1/2.
I usually do that with spaghetti because I don’t care for
all wheat pasta. I do like the combination. It was very good.
Parmesan was also a good addition.

Lemon Spaghetti with Chicken

16 ounces Spaghetti, Thin Spaghetti, or Linguini — uncooked
4 tablespoons margarine
16 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts — cut into bite-size pieces
2 12-ounce cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
4 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
OR
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
Salt and freshly ground black pepper — to taste

Melt margarine in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat.
Add chicken and brown until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes.
Remove chicken from pan.

Add remaining ingredients to pan, except spaghetti. Bring mixture
to a boil and add spaghetti. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for
about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cut chicken into
2 × 1/4-inch strips. Add to the spaghetti mixture. Cover and simmer
5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

Source:
“National Pasta Association”
S(Internet address):
“http://ilovepasta.org/”

The Clafouti, pretty good but I’ve had better
fruit filling
3 c pitted cherries with some splenda
for batter
1/2 c egg beaters
3 T splenda
1 T honey
1 t rum
2 T orange juice
1/2 t vanilla extract
dash salt
1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 c plain yogurt

Mix the batter.
Pour over the cherries mixed with splenda
in a sprayed casserole.
Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until the center is set.
Serve at room temp or warm with powdered sugar if desired.

Cilantro- Weekend Herb Blogging

Weekend Herb Blogging is back at Kalyn’s Kitchen this week. Check out her site for more WHB!

Cilantro is a member of the parsley family but has no resemblance to the parsley taste.
Even the seeds from the cilantro plant taste nothing like the green from the plant.

The seed from the plant is called coriander. Coriander is sweet while the leaf of the plant tastes a bit pungent
in my opinion, and takes some getting used to.

The seed is mentioned in the Bible, speaking of the provision of manna provided
Israel in the wilderness.
Exo 16:31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna:
and it was like coriander seed, white;
and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

To learn more about cilantro you can go to this link –
Cilantro Link

I have never attempted to grow cilantro (yet) but I do grow tomato,
and I think there is nothing in the world to compare
to the beauty and convenience of Pico De Gallo.
While it is simple, the taste is also beyond description.
I used a combination of red and yellow tomato and white onion in place of the red in this WW recipe.

Pico De Gallo- Weight Watcher Recipe

3 tomatoes — chopped
1 green bell pepper — seeded and diced
1/4 red onion — chopped
1 tablespoon minced cilantro
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 jalapeño pepper — seeded, chopped
= (wear gloves to prevent irritation)
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium nonreactive bowl, combine the tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeño and salt. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve, at least 1 hour.

This recipe yields 6 servings.

Comments: Literally meaning “rooster’s beak,” this is a hot, sharp salsa. Serve it as a dip with baked corn chips, as a topping for baked potatoes or on the side with grilled chicken, etc..

Search for Foxgrapes

I started down our wooded path to look for foxgrapes.
I don’t know why I call them foxgrapes. I guess foxes like them.
They are sweet and make a great juice. They grow wild in our woods.

There were signs of fall all down the path.

This little guy was there the last time I visited which was three days ago.
I moved him to a safer place to keep from running over him with the tractor
when we mow the path next week.

I sat for a spell to rest.

This honey bee was busy nearby.

A butterfly socializes with the bees here.

I finally found some grapes. They were so high in the trees with a thicket all around.
Mother Nature knows how to protect her bounty. I could only reach one lone grape.

Here is my harvest along with a load of pictures.

Maybe next trip will fare better.

The Glory Of Food Photography

You know, taking food photos isn’t what it is cracked out to be.

Here is our lovely candlelight breakfast.

By the time I got through taking pics it was cold and soggy.
On top of that hubby had wolfed his down and there sat mine to be reheated in the microwave.

At any rate hubby said it was good but the ambiance of the moment was lost.
I believe I got this from an old Cook’s Mag. Not sure though.
I used ground mace instead of the fresh nutmeg here.

Yogurt Waffles

6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 3/4 cups white flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
Salt
4 eggs
2 cups plain yogurt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

I know, I know, the silver placement..duh..Ms. etticut I ain’t. I might crash your posh party in a baseball cap!

Food In The News

Food In The News

Spinach is the food in the news this week as all across the USA
grocery stores pull spinach from the shelves because of a
E. coli outbreak.

Link
___________

In my own personal news I must report that the Crabapple Liqueur that I was experimenting with has turned out awesome.

You know that wonderful warm feeling you get in your mouth and stomach when sipping a desert liqueur? I am heading to the ABC store on Wend. to get more vodka. I thought that with that wonderful color and taste
it would make wonderful Christmas gifts for the tee toddlers( Or is it totalers? What the heck we certainly look like toddlers on some Chritmas Eves), in my family.
Placed in pretty small clear bottles with a ribbon and maybe a copy of the recipe.

I ran the apples through my food processor rather than halving them and added the whole cloves instead of the cinnamon. I think I may have left it more like 4 weeks but refrigerated it after about 2.

Crabapple Liqueur

Many crabapples
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vodka
1 stick cinnamon (optional) — or whole cloves

Take a quart (or litre) mason jar, fill it with quartered crabapples, add sugar (lots of room between the quarters) and vodka. Toss in a stick of cinnamon or a few cloves. Place on its side (make sure you’ve put the lid on -tight-), rotate 90 degrees every day so that the sugar gets mixed and all crabapples get equally soaked. After 2 weeks, filter out the apples.

Waste Not Want Not and Survivor!

The garden is about spent. While we still have tomatoes and peppers
the chill in the air gave us the incentive to dig potatoes last week.

I also got up the last of our cabbage, This one didn’t grow as
large as some of the others so I made vegetable spring rolls with it.

I used what I had on hand which was some grated carrot, sweet and
hot peppers, green onion, cabbage with soy sauce, ginger and
a little sherry to taste.

This filling is cooked well in advance to chill because it will
tear the wrappers if hot.

The wrappers are
2 c all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1 beaten egg
about 1/2 c water ( more or less) to form a stiff dough.

Let the dough rest about 10-15 minutes then roll and cut to size.
Place in filling, roll and then pop into your deep fryer.

I get about 10 large spring rolls.

Of course you also need some chicken fried rice to go with that.

fortune cookie say waste not want not.

Speaking of which –Survivor!

Those guys can’t waste nothing!
I will be watching close this season because Cowboy is a local.

It is even on “Cook” Islands this season.

Cowboy does a friend of a friend of a friend’s nails..You know how that
goes. Spelling is actually “Cao Boi” .

Cao Boi Link

Anyway.. Last night they showed him eating coconut so here is
one of my fav coconut recipes. I love the convenience of this
recipe and while I haven’t made them in a while ( sorry no photo)
I love the things. I often sub vanilla chips for the butterscotch and
chocolate graham crackers for regular.

Seven Layer Bars

1/2 stick butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
7 ounces coconut — flaked
6 ounces chocolate chip
6 ounces butterscotch chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk — can use fat free
1 cup chopped pecans

Melt butter in a 9×12 baking pan. Add ingredients as listed abouve in layers.

Bake at 325 about 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into small bars.

Call Me Driven

Call me driven. I have to utilize. I spent the morning freezing yellow tomatoes even though my heart was not in it.

I have to peel tomatoes when I freeze them. I have tried freezing without peeling ,and while it does work, I didn’t like it.

Peeling for freezing is easy though so no big deal.

Just drop them in boiling water until the skins crack.

Then transfer them to cold water and the peel just slides off easily.

I always wear gloves because, while it isn’t as bad as doing hot peppers, the acid is still rough on your hands.

Bag those babies up and mark and date your bag.

It is better to mark and date before you bag but I often choose the harder route in life.

I am thinking that when the occasion calls for a sauce I could add tomato paste to the yellows and while it might fade the color, it is doubtful my family would even notice. Caramelizing the onion and adding red wine might help also. I am trying it tomorrow.

At any rate the yellows are frozen for future use and there are so many more beginning to turn it had better work.

I have never had this many yellow tomatoes before.

I hope to goodness I have freezer room for mangoes. I want to buy up several to freeze next week. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in my neck of the woods mangoes become impossible to buy after September.

You can buy firm mangoes, peel and slice. Single layer them on cookie sheets to freeze then transfer them to freezer bags.

Check to make sure you have freezer insurance in case of an outage! lol..

Yellow Tomato, Lemon and Basil Jam- WHB

For Weekend Herb Blogging,
being hosted this week by Kalyn’s Kitchen herself,
I thought I would share this jam.

Being covered up in yellow tomatoes I had to
figure something to do with them.

I have several recipes that call for lemon marmalade,
so I thought I could substitute this jam I found in a old
Food and Wine magazine in any of those recipes.

The jam came out very good so if your covered in yellow
tomatoes and have a little basil, sugar and lemon your set to go.

I tripled the recipe. I had to have some just to keep in the
fridge for biscuits.

You could skip the water bath and just cap
it for the fridge if your only making the original amount.

I didn’t peel but did spot off any tough parts of the tomatoes.

It has the taste of lemon with just a hint of basil.

Yellow Tomato, Lemon and Basil Jam

2 each lemons
3 pounds tomato — yellow, chopped
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon chopped basil — packed, finely chopped

Using a sharp knife peel lemons.
Discard the seeds and membrane leaving the sections.

Peel any tough skin or discolor from the tomatoes.

Combine the lemon sections with yellow tomato, sugar and basil in a
large pot.

Bring this to a boil and then lower the heat to moderate.
Cook stirring often about 40 minutes until thickened. Ladle out
foam on top of tomatoes as needed.

After about 40 minutes ladle mixture into sterile jars and process
10 minutes in a canner or hot water bath.

Source:
“Food and Wine – July 1994”
Yield:
“2 pints”

The Curse of the Yellow Tomato

My gosh!

I have made soup..

I have made curry..

I have stuffed the buggers..

I even made a lemon and basil yellow tomato jam.

It is like the curse of the yellow tomato! They are still coming out my ears.

You can’t make a lovely spaghetti sauce or salsa. Well I guess you could…. but it wouldn’t be very appealing would it?

You can’t can the things.

While I don’t necessarily believe they are lower acid, I am no rocket scientist, so I don’t think I want to risk it.

I don’t want a freezer full of yellow tomatoes either. My neighbors don’t want them as they are trying to unload theirs on me!

I guess I’ll just save them for Halloween and throw them at the trick or treaters!

Suggestion box open.