Posted on 09/21/2016 5:03:37 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
The Avon lady who visits my office building brought us the new catalogs this week; and I noticed that Avon is currently offering cookie cutters for making a cookie version of the sugar skulls, or ‘calaveras’ that are traditional for the Mexican holiday ‘The Day of the Dead’.
I didn’t know much about this holiday, and while doing a search on it I happened to find a really wonderful website/blog devoted to decorated cookies: Sweetsugarbelle.com.
Along with all the other fantastic cookies, one entry includes a tutorial on making the skulls; and anyone who likes decorating cookies will love this site in general:
http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2011/10/el-dia-de-los-muertos-day-of-the-dead-cookies/comment-page-1
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There are certain dishes and foods that are readily available to us the year around, now, but still somehow always remind us of certain seasons. For me, the Acorn Squash is one of those, and seems to speak of Autumn whenever I see it. This is my favorite way to cook it; the recipe originally came from the book 'Hollyhocks, Lambs and Other Passions' by Dee Hardie, who used to write for House Beautiful magazine:
Stuffed Acorn Squash (Serves 4, increase amounts for a larger crowd)
2 whole Acorn Squash
2 Cups dry bread cubes
3 T. grated Parmesan Cheese
3 T. chopped fresh Parsley
1 tsp. Poultry Seasoning
6 T. chopped Spring Onions
4 T. diced Celery
3 T. Butter
2 Eggs, beaten
4 T. Water, if needed
Salt and Pepper
Bake whole squash for 45 minutes in a 400-degree oven, or until soft.
While the squash is baking, combine bread cubes, Parmesan, parsley and seasonings.
Cook onions and celery in the butter until soft. Add the eggs to bread mixture and toss lightly. Combine with the vegetables, adding water for moistness, if needed.
Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Fill the squash halves with stuffing mixture. Bake stuffed squash for 20 minutes.
(I always salt and pepper the squash halves and put a sprinkle of olive oil in there, before stuffing; and I sprinkle more olive oil on top, before baking. And I probably use a lot more butter and Parmesan than this recipe calls for ;-)
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I like the Nordicware novelty cake pans, and found a little Acorn Cakelet pan at the thrift store; there are many ways to decorate these little cakes, and here is Nordicware’s own recipe:
https://www.nordicware.com/recipe/maple-acorn-cakelets#.V-MazvPR9OI
-JT
Grilled Chicken Breasts With Peach Preserves.
The peach sauce along with the smokey flavor of the bacon give this chicken such a great flavor.
Make sure you let the peach sauce caramelize some when grilling the chicken on the BBQ grill for added flavor.
4- 6 Chicken Breasts: Boneless, Skinless
Directions:
In a small bowl mix together ketchup, peach preserves, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, brandy and garlic together. Wrap each breast with a slice of bacon, using toothpicks to hold bacon. Coat chicken with the peach sauce mixture; grill about 5 minutes or until sauce has caramelized;turn chicken over and apply more sauce and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until sauce has caramelized on the chicken.
NOTE: For liberals only - remove toothpicks before eating.
I had some home made Vietnamese pork head cheese last Saturday.
It wast fine.
Not my favorite cut.
LOL!
That is a keeper! I’ll have to try it - I really enjoy the savory-with-sweet recipes.
Not sure that would help, the problem is that I have a bad shoulder.
Sorry, I didn’t understand. But, crumbles are good! And a lot of things can be topped with puff pastry - which I always call ‘the bacon of bread-y things’.
Since you grow your own, do yourself a favor. Plant some of these next year.
http://www.rareseeds.com/flat-white-boer-pumpkin/
Try it in any pumpkin/squash recipe.
Then try this:
http://simply-delicious-food.com/grans-pumpkin-fritters-pampoen-koekies/
The photo is from the Nordicware website, and you might like their recipe. It would be nice to make two or three different kinds.
We had a parish festival last Sunday, with different ethnic foods served, and there was a delicious Mexican soup with little white bits that tasted like potatoes but not quite - they were some kind of grain. I asked the cook and she said “corn.”
No hulls - aha! First time I ever had hominy. And thanks to Chef Google and Chef Wing-it, on Monday we had Pozole Verde con Pollo. Which you have to say in Spanish, because Green Hominy and Chicken Soup does not taste nearly as good. The Hominy isn’t green anyway; the soup is.
1 qt good quality chicken broth
1 29 oz can hominy, drained and rinsed.
some quantity of chicken breast - anywhere from 1/4 lb to 3 lb.
1/2 cup thin sliced white onion
2 largish garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp each oregano, ground cumin, marjoram
salt to taste
Put the hominy, onions and garlic in the pot, pour in the broth and put the chicken in on top. Poach the chicken until it is done, which depends on how much you put in. Then remove the chicken and cube it or shred it, as you like, and return a reasonable amount to pot. (See? You didn’t have to cut up raw chicken.) If you cooked a lot of chicken, save some for another meal.
Now the salsa. In a blender, mix:
5-6 tomatillos
1 Tbsp white onion
fresh, seeded jalapeno or other pepper, to taste - my jalapeno had no heat at all
juice of 1/2 lime
a good handful of cilantro leaves.
Slice a green lettuce into thin ribbons. Maybe some kale or bokchoi, too. Slice up a couple more limes. Avocados slices optional.
Serve the soup in bowls with room on top. Let the diners stir in some salsa and lime juice, and top with a generous amount of lettuce ribbons.
That looks good. I was raised on hominy and love it, and have wanted to try a pork pozole; but yours looks like a better recipe for a first try.
Yes, now that I have discovered hominy I bought a couple more cans so I can make a pozole rojo with pork.
The enthusiastic little voice in my head is starting to sound like Speedy Gonzales: pozole, cilantro, jalapeno, tomatillo, poblano, rojo, all the o’s drawn way out...
Oh my gosh, those acorn cakelets are adorable! I want to cuddle them & then devour them.....
I remember these gorgeous little petit four cakes that my Aunt used to serve at her DAR luncheons - it seemed like a tragedy to eat them. But we always did, because they were as tasty as they were pretty.
It’s a delicious cuisine.
Hominy is great with breakfast, too - just fry it up in the grease from your bacon or sausage.
Thanks! Or King Arthur Flour. They have really neat stuff - haven’t gotten their fall catalog yet...but when I do...I’ll be spending ALL of the Grocery Budget there, LOL!
Plain old pork lard, Manteca in Spanish.
Yummo
Do you buy hominy in cans, or does it come in other forms as well? The recipes I saw all said use the cans; the quality is good.
I love scrapple and maple syrup.
There is canned hominy, dried grits and then there is dried masa in order from course to fine texture
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