Coconut Shrimp with Pineapple-Jalapeno Sauce

Okay, so here I go again, promising to be a better blogger. Yada yada yada. It's a new year, so I'm going to try again. With the new year there is a new 52 weeks of cooking challenge. Week one is appetizers. I've been meaning to make this for so long, so I finally have something to push me.

So here's what you need for the coconut shrimp...

1 lb large shrimp, shelled and de-veined
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
honey/water mixture, about 1 tbsp of each mixed together
parchment paper

Peel and de-vein your shrimp...

Mix the honey and water together...

Mix the coconut, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder together...

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Then set up an assembly line.

Dip each shrimp in the honey-water mixture, then coat with the coconut mixture. Set each coated shrimp on the parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, then flip them over and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

While they are cooking mix together the pineapple-jalapeno sauce.

Here's what you need for the sauce...

1/2 cup pineapple preserves
1/2 jalapeno, minced
juice from 1 lime

Serve the shrimp with the sauce and enjoy!

Baked Brie with Honey and Berries

Brie is great! It can be savory or sweet, depending on what you serve it with. I really like it sweet.

1 wheel of brie
2 sheets of puffed pastry
1 egg yolk
Honey
Berries
Water crackers

Defrost the puffed pastry according to package directions. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. When it's defrosted, lay the sheets of pastry out flat. Put the brie wheel on one sheet.

I don't bother to take off the rind. It doesn't bother me. Start wrapping the brie in the pastry. Make sure the whole thing is covered by pastry. I didn't need the second sheet this time, but sometimes I do, so I'll use some of the other sheet to be decorative.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, the place the brie, seem side down on the sheet. Add any decorative touches to the pastry, then get the egg wash together.

Beat an egg yolk in a bowl, mix in just about a tablespoon of water, then beat a little more. Use a pastry brush to brush the sides and top of the brie with the egg wash. This will give the pastry a nice, golden brown color. Now put the brie in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed up.

I like to put it on a platter, then drizzle a generous amount of honey on top. I serve it with berries, water crackers and sliced baguette.

Buffalo Chicken Dip (Take Two)

Okay, this is my second recipe for buffalo chicken dip, and this one isn't so spicy you can't eat it. I've made it before, so I'm  sure about this, and every time I make it, people ask me for the recipe. 

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 12oz bottle of your favorite hot sauce (I prefer Frank's Red Hot)
1 8oz block of cream cheese
1 cup of shredded cheddar
1/4 cup of ranch dressing
Tortilla chips
Celery sticks
Carrot sticks

The morning of the gathering put the chicken and hot sauce in a crock pot. I set mine on low for about 8 hours. This may seem like too much sauce at this point, but trust me, once you shred the chicken later, it will get absorbed.

After the 8 hours are up, start shredding the chicken with two forks. mix it back in with the sauce, then add the cream cheese and mix well. Next add the shredded cheddar and ranch and mix it all in.

Serve this with celery, carrots and tortilla chips.

I usually just leave it in the crock (I use a small one for this), but for the pictures I put it in a bowl this time. 

Cranberry Cream Cheese Spread

I had something very similar to this at a friend's wedding and had to recreate it. Here is what I've come up with...

1 8oz brick of cream cheese
1 6oz bag of craisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp sugar

Let the cream cheese sit out for a bit to soften. When it gets to the point that you can start mixing the other items in, add about half of the craisins.

Using a fork, fold the craisins into the cream cheese until well incorporated.

Next, add the other half of the craisins and mix them in. (It just seems to be easier to do it a little at a time, instead of all at once.) Now add the cinnamon and sugar and mix those in really well.

By now the bowl you are using is probably pretty messy looking. Spoon the mixture into another bowl so that it looks prettier for presentations sake.

Either serve it immediately or cover it and put it in the fridge for later use. I serve this with crackers, graham crackers, or a sliced baguette.

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Dip

My version of buffalo chicken dip...

2 boneless chicken breasts, diced into small pieces12oz bottle of Frank's Redhot (I put that s#*t on everything!)
Cream cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4oz pkg of crumbled blue cheese

My crock pot is in use right now, so I'm trying something a little different with this. I want the chicken to cook slowly and stay moist, so I put it in a pot on the stove on low heat and added the hot sauce. Stir this often! You don't want it to burn. Okay, so this step only took about 45 minutes. So much for slow cooking on the stove top!

Once this has cooked for about an hour, use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the sauce and shred using two forks. Set the shredded chicken aside in a bowl as you work. When it's all shredded, put the chicken back in the pot with the hot sauce.I had about 6oz of cream cheese in an 8oz tub, so I added that next. Let the cheese start to melt into the chicken mixture, stirring every five minutes or so.

Once the cream cheese was well incorporated, I decided it needed to be thicker and cheesier, so I added about a cup of shredded cheddar cheese. I turned the heat up to medium and stirred every five minutes until it was all warm and bubbly.

It's hours before game time, so I went ahead and put the dip into a small Pyrex dish. When it cooled I put it in the fridge for a few hours. When you're about a half an hour from serving, top the whole thing with crumbled blue cheese. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. When the oven reaches temp, put the dip in the oven for about 20 minutes. Serve with celery sticks and tortilla chips.

Crock Pot Ribs

Here's another one that I'm making up as I go...

1/2 a large yellow onion, diced
2-3 racks of pork spare ribs, cut into individual sections (I only have one rack. I didn't really know how much was there because it was given to me, already wrapped and frozen. This will make a nice Superbowl snack,)
Salt and pepper
1 lemon, cut into 8 sections
Apple juice
BBQ sauce

Place diced onion in the bottom of the ceramic insert. Place individual ribs on top of the diced onion. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Add lemon wedges. Cover everything with apple juice and set the cooker on low. Cook on low for eight hours.

 When eight hours have past, using a slotted spoon, remove ribs from cooker. Dump liquid, lemons and onions out of the pot. Put the ribs back in the bottom of the pot. Pour on your favorite bbq sauce with about 1/2-1 cup of water. Put back in cooker for about an hour.

 And the finished product...

Not even close to staying on the bones.


*Extra tip:
I only used about half the bottle of apple juice, and since I know I won't use the rest before it goes bad, I poured the remaining juice into ice cube trays and froze it for future use. I do this with all kinds of liquids. Wine, stocks and broths, juices. Anything that you know won't get used, but you don't want to waste.

Atomic Buffalo Turds, or ABTs

OMG! These are those yummiest things ever!!!! I know the name doesn't sound all that great, but man oh man, I swear they are awesome! Really, it's just kind of like a grilled jalapopper, but even that description doesn't do it justice. These are really versatile little snacks, because you can put whatever you want in them. I'll tell you how I do it, then I'll offer up some variations. I even have a vegetarian option!

You will need...
tooth picks
About 10 whole jalapenos
1 lb of bacon (Regular slices, not thick cut)
1 pkg cream cheese
1 lb ground pork
2 cloves minced garlic
some fresh grated ginger
your favorite seasonings

The first step is to prep your jalapenos. WEAR GLOVES!!! I can't stress this enough. The first time I made them I did not wear gloves, or use any tools to remove the seeds and membranes. My hands were on fire for about three days! I also wear safety glasses. Again, the first time I made them I didn't wear safety goggles and I got shot in the eye with jalapeno juice. Add to that the fact that the oils were all over my hands, and I was one very miserable red head! So now that you have your gloves and safety goggles, cut the tops off of each jalapeno, then cut them in half, length wise. I use a tomato corer to remove the seeds and membranes. Set these aside and start prepping the meat.

Saute the ground pork in a large pan on your stove top. Add some garlic and ginger and any other seasoning you want. Drain the grease and set the meat aside in a bowl. This usually makes too much, so I put the leftovers in a baggie and freeze it for the next time.

Now create an assembly line of the peppers, bacon, cream cheese, and meat. I like to fill the jalapeno with some cream cheese, then add the meat, then wrap a slice of bacon around the whole thing and secure it with a toothpick. Once they are all ready, sprinkle any seasoning you want all over the bacon. Grill over indirect heat for an hour, turning once, with a drip pan underneath. I have also done this in the oven, on a cookie sheet, with racks on the cookie sheet, but I prefer grilling them.

Once they are cooked don't allow too much time for them to cool, or by the time you go to get one, they will be gone!

Now for variations. I have seen these made with little smokies instead of the pork mixture, but I don't recommend it. Yes, it's easy, but not very yummy. My step dad always uses pulled pork for filling. That's yummy, but more effort than I want to do. You could try shrimp, ground beef, sausage (remove casing and cook first). I have even made vegetarian ones. For those I used crumbled veggies burgers for filling and veggie bacon. They were surprisingly yummy, and the girl we made them for was so pleased that we wanted to make sure she could have some too! I also cut the cooking time in half for the veggie ones so they wouldn't get over cooked.

These take a lot of effort, but they are worth every second you spend putting them together. I hope you enjoy them, and please let me know if you come up with any tasty variations.

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

These are a little time consuming, but delicious. There is usually a little extra stuffing left over, so I've also come up with a recipe for that! I'll post the original recipe that I found on Kraftfoods.com, then I'll tell you what I did differently.

Kraft's recipe:

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1-1/2 cups  hot water

40 fresh mushrooms (2 lb.)

2 Tbsp.  butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pkg.  (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

1 cup  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

HEAT oven to 400ºF.
MIX stuffing mix and water in large bowl; set aside. Remove stems from mushrooms; chop stems. Melt butter in skillet on medium heat. Add chopped stems and garlic; cook and stir until tender. Add to prepared stuffing with spinach and cheeses; mix well.
SPOON into mushroom caps. Place, filled-sides up, in shallow pan.
BAKE 20 min. or until mushrooms are tender and filling is heated through.

What I did differently...
First of all, two cloves of garlic are never enough. I love garlic! I used about six cloves. All the better to keep the sparkly vampires away! I wanted to be sure there was a lot of extra stuffing for my dinner the next night, so I added some extra bread crumbs and extra cheeses too. I also used about 4 tbsp of butter instead of two. Next time I may add bacon!

Also, for removing the stems and hollowing out the mushrooms I have a really great tool. It's a melon baller on one side and this other thing on the other side...

I use this for mushrooms, scooping out jalapenos and coring tomatoes. It is one of my favorite kitchen tools.

Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Skewers

This is so easy, and yummy too! It's a great appetizer to take to a party, or don't use the toothpicks and make a salad instead.

grape tomatoes

sm fresh mozzarella balls

fresh basil leaves

Fresh ground black pepper

Grab some fancy toothpicks and the ingredients listed above. Simply  put a tomato, a basil leaf and a ball of fresh mozzarella on each toothpick and arrange on a serving platter. Dust with fresh ground black pepper. Sometimes I drizzle a little olive oil or balsamic vinegar over them too. Just be careful not to use too much. Balsamic vinegar has a very strong flavor.

Hummus

I can't say enough good things about hummus! It's quick, easy, delicious, healthy. The list goes on and on!

1 15 oz can chick peas, drained, reserving the liquid
fresh garlic cloves
freshly squeezed lemon juice from 2 lemons
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste, If you can't find it in your grocery store, try an Indian market)
hot sauce, cholula is my favorite, but use whatever you like
salt and pepper
olive oil

Place all ingredients, except olive oil in food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until coarsely mixed. Taste for seasoning. Add a bit more hot sauce, salt and pepper if it needs it. Add about 2 tbsp of reserved liquid from chick peas and blend until smooth. Add a little olive oil and process for just a few seconds more.

There are so many variations that you can add. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination! Try roasted red peppers, olives, feta, scallions, chives, dill, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, whatever! Also, let me know if you have any ideas for added ingredients!

Serve hummus with toasted pita wedges, crackers, carrots, celery, cucumber slices and more.