Superbowl Follies (3)

This is the final post on some of the foods I served for our Superbowl party.  Some of the foods served were not featured as I've posted about them previously.  These include the moose meat chili, beef chili, spiral ham, cheesy hash brown casserole and baked beans.  I like bringing out new dishes and combinations for our guests to try.  Some of these end up being duds but some go on to being staples in my repertoire of of entertaining dishes.

So it was with the fruit tray I set out.  Honestly, it was empty within 10 minutes!  I cut the apples then soaked them in citric acid to prevent browning then added strawberries and mandarin oranges to the tray.  The dip was made using dulce de leche.  This is a thick, creamy and very, very thick caramel sauce.  It can be purchased in larger centres or made at home using sweetened condensed milk.  I personally find dulce de leche too rich and sweet but it is great used in baking or fruit dips. 

Dulce de Leche
source: Garden Gnome and Garden Gnome's Daughter

my method:
Remove the label from a can or two of sweetened condensed milk.  Place in a sauce pan on a trivet.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil on medium-high heat.  Reduce to a low boil and cook for 90 minutes.  Remove the can(s) and allow to cool. The dulce de leche is now ready to be used and unopened will keep for a year in the pantry.

my daughter's method:
Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a microwave safe bowl.  Cook on high for 1 minute then stir.  Repeat until the milk is thickened and caramelized, about 8 minutes.  The dulce de leche made this way will keep in the refrigerator for one week.

Dulce de Leche Fruit Dip
source:  Garden Gnome

1 c sour cream
4 tbsp dulce de leche
sprinkle of ground cinnamon

Place ingredients in mixing bowl or blender.  Mix well.  Pour into serving bowl.  Refrigerate 1 hour.  Serve as a dip for fruits. 

M & M Meat Shops Hot Dipz

M & M Meat Shops is a Canadian specialty frozen food store that I have mentioned before on this blog.  One of our friends owns a franchise so I do shop there from time to time but not on a larger scale basis.    The store is focused on foods for entertaining as well as individual serving sizes.  My three main purchases there are Atlantic wild salmon steaks, an oriental party appetizer mix and Asian style vegetables although from time to time I will try a different product for entertaining.  I doubt I spend much more than $150 a year there but what I do spend helps to support our friend.

During the holiday season my husband picked up two of the Hot Dipz.  One was spinach, artichoke and cheese dip while the other was roasted garlic cheese dip.  The 8.8 oz dip comes frozen in a vacuum sealed pouch inside a small box.  Each dip costs $3.79 regular price but it does go on sale fairly often.

To warm the dip, you remove it from the pouch and place in a heat proof dish.  For this particular dip the instructions said to microwave on high for 2 minutes, stir then microwave on high for another two minutes.

I make the vast majority of snack type dips from scratch but I have also buy a snack dip here and there.  As pre-made dips go, the M & M Hot Dipz are more than reasonably priced if not a bit lower in price than some dips in the dairy section.  The flavour of the spinach, artichoke and cheese dip was quite nice and it did get several compliments.  I served the dip with Tostitos Scoops, one of my favourite chips for dip.  The hot dip would have gone equally as well with pita bread wedges. 

All in all, I was quite pleased with the M & M Hot Dipz.  As a convenience product, the quality was quite good but then that is something I have come to expect from M&M Meat Shops.  Even though the price of food is a bit higher at M & M, the quality of the food is superior to most grocery store frozen foods focusing on entertaining or single serving size.  The Hot Dipz will be a product I keep a couple of packages on hand as something a bit different for entertaining.  I may even try experimenting with a homemade, freezable clone recipe.

Salmon Dip

Yesterday I posted about a lovely seafood dip we had as an appetizer at ChaCha Coconuts in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Two things stood out in their dip.  The first was a creamy texture and the second was  presentation.  The very next day I made my own version using left-over grilled salmon.  It was not identical as I only used salmon but the results were quite similar.

Left-over fish can present a problem usually because there isn't enough to do anything with and reheating can cause the fish to toughen.  I  like using what little fish we have in sanwiches, dips or salads.  Salmon is one fish I like to cook a bit extra for use in another dish simply because fresh cooked tastes so much nicer than canned salmon.  This time I used the salmon for a cloned recipe of ChaCha Coconut's seafood dip.

Salmon Dip
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

3 oz. grilled salmon
¼ c chive & onion cream cheese
¾ c sour cream
¼ c Miracle Whip salad dressing
¼ tsp prepared horseradish
¼ tsp prepared mustard
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 c ribboned Romaine lettuce

Pull salmon into pieces.  Place salmon, cream cheeses, sour cream, salad dressing, horseradish and mustard in blender.  Pulse blend until well mixed.  Transfer the mixture to a small mixing bowl.  Stir in the parsley and onion.  Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.  Wash the lettuce.  Remove large centre vein.  Roll from one side of the vein to the other.  Start at the top cutting thin strips across the roll.  Place the ribboned lettuce on a serving platter.  Spread the dip mixture over the lettuce (it becomes part of the dip).  Place crackers of your choice on the serving platter for spreading the dip on.

Faux Crab Dip

I am not a huge fan of anything imitation, faux or artificial especially when it comes to cooking.  We are in high gear preparing for our upcoming move so I'm using the pantry rule of using one thing from the pantry and one from the freezer for each meal while avoiding the sales.  This will reduce the food we will have to move but in reality we start moving in the midst of the tomato harvest so I will be canning, filling up a lot of the empty jars.  Anyway, my husband picked up two packages of imitation crab meat when it was on sale.  At a $1 a package it was worth the try so I made the first package into an imitation crab meat salad.  Yesterday I spotted the remaining package in the freezer so used half of it to make a creamy dip.

I make a lot of dips for entertaining.  Much like my salad dressings they are created as I go with the ingredients written in my kitchen journal.  My base is always a combination of Miracle Whip or mayonnaise and sour cream or plain yogurt.  Those four ingredients give a nice base to build on.  From there I add vegetables, fruits, herbs, seasonings to create a unique dip for my guests.

I made a faux crab dip using half of a package of the imitation crab meat.   The flavour was quite delicious so I can't wait to make the dip using real crab meat.  It will change the flavour and texture slightly but will still be rich and creamy.

Faux Crab Dip

1/2 pk imitation crab meat
1/3 c sour cream
1/3 c cream cheese
1/3 c Miracle Whip
1 green onion
1 tbsp red onion
1 tbsp radish
2 tbsp chopped cucumber

Place sour cream, cream cheese and Miracle Whip in food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Add in crab meat and pulse twice.  Chop vegetables fine then add to mixture and pulse twice.  Spoon into serving dish.  Refrigerate 1 hour for flavours to meld.  Serve with corn scoops or crudites. 

Hummus

One thing I've learned over the decades of entertaining is to listen to our guests especially the little chit chat that goes on during entertaining.  A few years ago I started hearing little tid bits about vegetarian dishes.  At one time I think all of our guests were omnivores but over time some have for whatever reason given up meat entirely or stopped eating one type of meat.  Others have developed a food insensitivity.  As an hostess in tuned to the needs of her guests I try to offer a variety of dishes that all can enjoy.

Most of my dip recipes are mayonnaise and sour cream or yogurt based.  I wanted a vegetarian dip to add to my offerings for those who want a dip other than dairy based.  Hummus is a vegetarian type dip made from chickpeas that satisfies what I was looking for.  It is a versatile dip that can be used with breads, crackers and raw vegetables as well as a spread on sandwiches. 

I served the hummus with whole wheat sandwich thins that had been cut into 1 - inch wide strips.  This is a new style of sandwich bread that is quite similar to Greek style pita bread only oblong in shape.  The hummus went over well.  Even the grandkids were eating it!

Hummus
By Garden Gnome

2 garlic cloves, minced and then mashed
16 oz cooked chickpeas
⅓ c tahini
1 tbsp  freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ c water
1/8 c olive oil
pinch of sea salt
toasted pine nuts and parsley (optional for garnish)


Combine all ingredients in food processor.  Process until smooth   Smooth into dipping bowl.  Garnish if desired. Serve with pita bread or raw vegetables.

Bacon Potato Salad

I usually make most dips from scratch so the question always arises what to do with the leftover dip.  A little thinning down with milk or water easily turns leftover dip into a salad dressing.  Left as is the dip can be stirred into mashed potatoes for a nice flavour sensation.  I wanted to make a rather spruced up potato salad.  Here's what I came up with.

Potato salad is a summertime staple and most times I make it the same way I always do but sometimes adding a bit of sparkle is in order.  I decided to take advantage of a bit of leftovers to create a unique potato salad.  I used the leftover onion and garlic dip that I made using one of my basic dip base of sour cream, cottage cheese and MiracleWhip®.  The end result was a lovely, tasty potato salad with just that extra twist of flavour that  I will definitely be making again.

Method:  I cooked the bacon pieces until browning then drained and steamed the potatoes then let cool.  I combined the potatoes with the bacon then stirred in sliced green onions and fresh chopped chives then stirred in the leftover onion and garlic dip.  I garnished with more fresh chopped chives.

Basic Dip Base

½ c cottage cheese
½ c sour cream
⅓ c MiracleWhip® salad dressing
1 finely chopped green onion
1 - 2 tsp herb or seasoning blend of choice

Place the first three ingredients and herb or seasoning blend into a mason jar if using the mason jar blender method or into the blender if not using this method.  Blend until smooth.  Remove from blender.  Stir in green onion.  Refrigerate 1 hour to allow flavours to meld. 

Note: This basic dip base is easily modified for both flavour and texture.  Add 2 tbsp of milk when blending to make a creamy salad dressing.

New Beau Monde Vegetable Dip

Yesterday I wrote about two very different beau monde seasonings.  The first is a rich, warm, spicy and aromatic blend originally made by Old World Seasonings.  It is no longer being made.  The clone recipe is Old Beau Monde Seasoning.  The second is a lightly seasoned blend known as New Beau Monde seasoning.  It is a clone of the Spice Islands Beau Monde seasoning blend.  These beau monde blends are not interchangeable.

Homemade dips are very easy to make and they are less expensive than store bought.  You can  create unique dips that you can't buy too.  The base ingredients I use for dips include cream or cottage chees, sour cream and mayonnaise or MiracleWhip® salad dressing.

I used the mason jar blender method to make New Beau Monde Dip.  This dip has a light, creamy flavour that pairs nicely with crudites.  It would also be a good dip for chips. I would be tempted to stir in a tablespoon of finely chopped red or yellow sweet peppers as well.

New Beau Monde Dip

½ c cottage cheese
½ c sour cream
⅓ c MiracleWhip® salad dressing
1 tbsp minced red onion
½ tbsp dried parsley
½ tsp new beau monde seasoning

Place all the ingredients except onion and parsley into blender.  Blend well.  Stir in parsley and onion.  Chill 30 minutes before serving. 

RV Cooking Show - Tucson's Greatest Guacamole

By far the smallest kitchen I ever cooked in was in our self-contained travel trailer aka RV. The kitchen counter was about 6 feet long and included a small double sink and cooktop effectively removing work space for food prep. The total work space available worked out to about 4 square feet. Surprisingly I was able to get a lot of good food coming out of that tiny kitchen.

RV cooking presents a few more problems besides space issues because they are self-contained units meaning you are essentially hauling all your needs (cooking fuel, electricity, water). The fuel used is propane. We had 2 - 30 lb propane tanks on our unit designed to equalize. Running out of propane in the middle of cooking dinner is definitely not on my top 10 favourite things to do.  All water used in the unit (toilet, shower, sinks) goes into a holding tank.  A water pump provides pressure.  Running out of water while cooking or clean-up is not a lot of fun either.  Used water goes into a holding tank that must be emptied at the dumping station or into a portable tag-a-long blue container.  If the holding tank gets full it will start backing up in the sink and shower stall.  When not plugged into electricity the unit runs off of battery power so you do learn to be quite conservative with energy usage.  An RV refrigerator differs from a normal refrigerator in that it uses ammonia as the cooling agent.  To aid in cooling a solar powered fan is often needed.  Heating up an RV via cooking is always an issue but more importantly moisture from cooking can cause a lot of problems given the design of RVs.

Here is a video I found of a full time RVer. Full time means she lives in her RV year round so this is the kitchen she has to work with. This kitchen is fairly typical of most RVs. The white cover towards the wall is the stovetop cover that covers the propane burners typically 3 or 4 burners depending on the model and some units do not have this cover.  Most sinks have some type of cover to increase the working space or a large cutting board will work.  I do not recommend using a glass cutting board as shown in the video as glass cutting boards will dull your knives.  I like the grocery bag tip for cutting the jalapeno pepper.  Leaving the seeds and pith in the chopped jalapeno pepper will add to the heat.  The recipe for the guacamole is at the end of the video.  Enjoy!

Steis's Villiage Inn, Lexingon, Michigan

During out boating break last week we enjoyed eating out at two highly recommended restaurants. As mentioned in my post about the food at Cadillac House, harbour towns tend to have wonderful little restaurants. Harbour town restaurants are usually family friendly and casual with reasonably priced food. Steis's Village Inn is located at 5523 Main Street in the picturesque harbour village Lexington, Michigan. It is only a block away from the Lexington harbour. While Steis's is well known for their handmade pizza we decided to go with an appetizer and full dinners. Unfortunately they do not appear to have a website which is a shame but don't let that stop you from visiting!

Steis's Village Inn is packed full of atmosphere. You can't help but like it! It's comfortable and cosy with very friendly wait staff. Their food is excellent and very reasonably priced. Both my husband and I gave this restaurant two thumbs up. It is definitely on our list of must stops on our next boating trip to Lexington.

Hot Spinach Dip

We ordered the hot spinach dip appetizer. This generous sized appetizer came with with a lovely tasting spinach dip and warm pita bread wedges. Hot spinach dip make a lovely, easy to make appetizer at home. Change the flavour by adjusting cheeses used and amounts

Method: Wash fresh spinach. Steam until just limp. Place spinach, about 1/2 c of mayonnaise, cream cheese and shredded cheeses about 1/2 cup each in food processor. Pulse on chop a couple of times. Pour into oven proof serving dish. Bake at 350ºF until cheese is melted and bubbly. Served with warmed pita wedges.

Panfried Walleye

My husband ordered the all you can eat walleye. Walleye is a mild, Great Lakes fish that is sure to please. The meal came with herbed mashed potatoes, tarter sauce, lemon wedge and a generous helping of panfried walleye. Now just look at this lovely presentation. The coating on the fish was much like I would do on any fresh caught fish at home. It is simply dredged in a little seasoned flour with cornmeal then pan fried to a crispy golden brown leaving the fish moist and tender. When my husband was finished his meal another helping of fish came out.

For those who are dieting, fish is one of the best foods you can eat. It is low in calories especially if baked or grilled. Pan frying will add a few calories but not a lot. So lean towards having at least one meal of fish per week.

Broasted Chicken

Broasted chicken is a true delight! It is cooked in a pressurized deep fryer so the meat is very moist and tender yet the outside is nice and crispy. Unfortunately this cooking method cannot be duplicated at home because it includes a special marinating procedure and special equipment only available to restaurants. The special pressurized fryer equipment is called a broaster, hence the name. The end result is the broasted chicken is moister but less greasy than fried chicken. This really is a specialty dish that is available only when dining out.

The meal consisted of a half of broasted chicken, baked potato and baked beans. Now this was quite lovely and well worth ordering. As promised the chicken was moist and tender yet the coating was nicely crisped. For those with smaller appetites they will package up left-overs to go.

A Taste of Summer

I don't know about you but I am more than wintered out! It's been a long, cold winter that started early and just doesn't want to go away. At the start of this week I decided to make a couple of dishes to give us a taste of summer. It was just the little change we needed!

Lunch Goodies

My husband takes a homemade lunch to the office. Sometimes it is left overs but quite often I make him something different. Lunches tend to be garbage free meaning no paper, no wrappings and anything compostable is brought home. I have a few plastic lunch containers used only for cold foods (more on the plastics issue later). Anything that needs reheating is sent on a regular dinner plate or in a covered glass dish. Monday's lunch was chicken caesar salad (1). I assembled the salad in a lunch kit (2) leaving the dressing separate to prevent the romaine lettuce from becoming soggy. This is a hard plastic lunch kit that came with a small container perfect for dressing or sauce and a fork in the outside compartments. This is a perfect container for salads and wraps but nothing that will be reheated. Despite the fact the container is labeled as being microwave safe, it will only be used for foods that do not need heating.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a 24 mini cup Wilton muffin pan. While I have a 12 mini cup muffin pan, it is used mainly for freezing small amounts of things like roasted garlic. I thought the larger Wilton pan would be perfect for making snack and grandbaby sized muffins. Tuesday I made bran muffins using the new pan. Half of them went to the office for my husband's snack. Tuesday night I made a lovely batch of tuna salad, a summer favourite.

Guacomole

When the winter drags on who can resist the beautiful bright colours of fruits and vegetables to brighten the day? I just love the colours of the fruits and vegetables in guacomole almost as much as I like eating guacomole! I make guacomole using ripe avocados, ripe tomato, onion, lemon and lemon. Aren't they just simply gorgeous?

I simply chop half of the tomato and half of the onion fine. They I cut the avocados in half and remove the pits for growing. I scoop the avocado flesh into a small mixing bowl. I cut the lemon and lime in half and squeeze the juice over the avocado and mash to make a smooth, lightly chunked mixture. Then I stir in the chopped onions and tomatoes. That's it. It's nice and simple yet very tasty and always goes over well.

I usually serve guacomole with round corn tortilla chips (if I'm serving as a snack. However, two ways I really enjoy guacomole is using it as a filling for either soft tortilla shells or leaf lettuce. Both are very tasty appetizers sure to please!

Fish & Chips (Perch)

We decided on a fish themed weekend. Eating fish I had caught the previous year then froze is always a treat. It is always a very frugal, simple and and laid back meal.

Fish & Chips

We eat a lot of fish but seldom fish & chips. I have to admit that I am not a real French fry fan. Give me a baked potato any day and I'm happy or of heavily coated fish. Saturday's dinner was lightly coated pan fried perch.

I used a deep fryer for the fries on the fries setting. These were store bought crinkle cut fries served with a simple fry dip or malt vinegar.

Fry Dip1 c Miracle Whip®
1 - 2 tsp prepared mustard

Blend just enough mustard into the Miracle Whip® to make the mixture buttery yellow. Spoon into individual dipping bowls or into a squirt bottle for serving.

Perch
Method: Perch fillets are small but is very easy to prepare. If fresh caught clean the fish and proceed with the coating. If fresh caught then frozen, thaw and proceed with the coating. There are commercial fish coatings available or you can make your own usning a little flour and Old Bay Seasoning or seasonings of your choice. The coating should only be mildly seasoned so as to not overpower the perch. If you want a little more crunch, stir in a little cornmeal. For this meal, I did not use the cornmeal.

The tricks to frying perch are: oil, pan and timing. For best results use a good quality vegetable oil. I like peanut or grapeseed oil for this purpose but other multipurpose vegetable oils will work too. To coat the fish, place the fish in the coating mix, jiggle to coat then turn and repeat. For best results use a cast iron pan. Heat the oil until it splatters when a small drop of water is dropped into it. Place the coated fish into the pan. When that side is golden brown, carefully turn over using tongs. Since this is a small fillet, keep a close eye on it. You want it lightly golden brown and not over cooked.

Superbowl Party Recipies

Today is Superbowl Sunday so that means about 25 guys all giving me their undivided attention, at least when it comes to food and snacks. On the menu is venison chili, homemade buns, crudite tray, cheese tray, mexican layered dip, several snack type items, mulled apple cider, . Since there are a couple of recipes to be posted today, I'll keep the chit chat to a minimum.

Mexican Layered Dip
recipe by: Garden Gnome

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese
1 -2 tbsp miracle whip or mayonnaise
2-3 tbsp taco seasoning
4 - 5 tbsp homemade salsa (or store bought)
1 - tbsp homemade taco hot sauce (recipe in earlier entry)
2 large leaves of lettuce, chopped fine
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 medium tomato, chopped
8 - 10 olives, sliced (optional)
3/4 c grated cheddar cheese
nacho chips

Mix first two ingredients then add taco seasoning to taste. Spred the mixture evenly in a 8" X 11.5" casserole pan. Spread a thin layer of salsa and taco hot sauce. Layer with lettuce and vegetables. Top with shredded cheese. Serve with nacho chips.

PS. three of the other wives sent similar versions of this dish so we did have a lot! There certainly are a lot of versions of this dish.

Basic White Buns (ATM or Kitchen Aid)
recipe by Garden Gnome
1 2/3 c milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp organic honey
2 tsp sea salt
4 1/3 c unbleached flour (+extra 1/3 c if necessary to get right texture)
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Use a breadmaker or mixer to knead the dough. Divide into about 15 balls. Set ball onto a cookie sheet. Cover and allow to rise until doubled. Bake at 400ºF convection heat for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350ºF convection bake until buns are golden brown.

Spiced Apple Cider

1/2 gallon apple cider
1 cinnamon stick
4-6 whole cloves
dash of nutmeg

Put the cider and spices into a medium size slow cooker. Allow to heat until hot then serve. You can put the spices into a cheese cloth bag if you would like but it really isn't necesary.

Note: I'm not sure what it is about hot apple cider but seriously I can only drink one cup without it affecting my vocal cords.