I recently asked a lady I work with for some of her favorite recipes from her homeland of Iran. You would have thought I had given her a gift. She was so sweet and so willng to share, it was really beautiful.

This got me thinking. Food is universal, we all love it, we all need it, and we all have our favorites. Lets's each post a favorite recipe or two, or three for that matter! And if it's just a favorite dish that you make without a recipe (which seems to be most of my cooking), give us the gist of it so that maybe we can try it out!

You know those Bertoli food in a sack skillet things? The chicken alfredo one is gooood!

Bertoli!

*struggles to maintain restraint*

i got yer Insti-Italian right here...

i'd pass along recipes, but then i'd have to kill you. professional secrets and all...

Chiana has finally arrived! She is now an official Smart Ass!

heh. Heitie's got a lot of ideas.

That guacamole was fantastic, by the way.

recipes...hmm...well, I like to make scrambled eggs with a couple dashes of worcestershire sauce and a little cheddar cheese mixed in. Sometimes a bit of mustard as well. Hard scrambled. I cannot abide raw egg bits.

Recipes, huh? Speaking my language, hehehehe.

BAKED BLACKBERRY OATMEAL CAKE
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup milk(skim or regular)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar or splenda
1/4 cup syrup(sugar free or regular)
1 tbsp cinnamon or pumpkin spice
dash of nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup blackberries

Wire Whisk all wet ingredients together first, then add the dry ingredients and whisk til blended. Pour into about a 5" by 5" baking pan sprayed with pam cooking spray or smeared with crisco or butter. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour. Do the butter knife check to see if it comes out clean, after about a half hour of baking.

ICING
1/2 cup ricotta cheese(fat free or regular)
one large banana
1/4 cup sugar or splenda(more if you like it sweeter)
dash of cinnamon and nutmeg

Mash all these ingredients together with a whisk or fork, and spread on the cake when it's done baking.

You can also substitute blueberries for blackberries, or any other fruit.

Chicken Enchiladas
(These are so easy!!)

1 cup bottled mild green taco sauce or salsa (I used chunky salsa)
1/4 cup cilantro sprigs
1/4 cup parsley sprigs
1 tablespoon lime juice (I nixed this)
2 cloves garlic
2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzerella cheese
6 flour tortillas (7 inch diameter)

Heat oven to 350. Spray rect. baking dish. 11x7x1 1/2 inches, with nonstick spray. Place taco sauce, cilantro, parsley, lime juice and garlic into blender or food processor. Cover and blend on high speed about 30 sec or until smooth. Reserve half of mixture. Mix remaining salsa mixture, the chicken and 1/4 cup of the cheese. Spoon about 1/4 cup chicken mixture on to each tortilla. Roll tortilla around filling; place seam down on baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered 20 to 25 min or until hot. Serve with lime wedges if desired.

I never know how recipes that I follow are going to come out because Rachel is pretty picky. But we both loved this one.

Argy's Soy and Ginger Fish Fillets

INGREDIENTS

1 dash of Olive Oil
1 teaspoon of minced Garlic
1 teaspoon of grated Ginger
1/2 cup of Soy Sauce
2 Cod fillets

METHOD

Heat fry pan to low heat, just above a simmer. Line pan with Olive Oil. Add Garlic and cook until slightly brown (or soft, or seems cooked through). If Garlic begins to spatter turn heat down, or off momentarily.

Add Ginger and stir into Garlic. Add Soy Sauce and stir well.

Make sure you have chosen Cod fillets that look tubular. Slice fillets into circular pieces of about half an inch in thickness. Add slices of Cod to the mixture in the pan, and turn immediately. Stir Cod so that the sauce has covered each piece of fish thoroughly.

Continue to cook fish on low heat, turning every now and then to avoid burning one side.

Remove fish once it starts to take on a golden or slightly crisp appearance on the outside (make sure the inside is completely cooked - there's nothing worse than undercooked fish). There should be no sauce left in the pan as it will have soaked well into the flesh of the fish.

Serve with a slightly chilled, buttery Chardonay.

This probebly the most famous food from Scandinavia. And one of my favorites to. This is a simple basic recipe for meatballs. Not to complicated. My mom usually serve them with potatoes, brown sauce and lingonberry jam, wish I suggest. It tastes the best.

I took the recipe from the site Scandinavian Cooking that seems to be a very good site with a lot of swedish recipes and other scandinavian recipes as well. I suggest you check it out if you are intrested in scandinavian food.

Swedish Meatballs:
Smörgåsbord Favorite

Swedish meatballs are probably one of the best-known Swedish cooking specialties, definitely a necessity on the smörgåsbord. Norway, Denmark and Finland have their own versions, too. Every Scandinavian cookbook has at least one recipe, usually several. The varieties are staggering to think about! Why so many? How should you pick one?

Remember that meatballs were probably a way to use up leftovers, and then the mystery of all the different recipes clears up. The cook used the meat that was on hand, a filler that was available, and ingredients for the sauce based on not only regional or family preference, but what was handy.

Some recipes call for half beef, half pork. Other recipes have half veal, half pork. Some have one-third each of pork, beef and veal. If you have dietary or political objections to any of the meats, substitute others. Once, as a way to include a vegetarian friend in a smörgåsbord I was serving, I made a recipe using only a vegetarian substitute for ground beef (and only vegetable oil, no dairy or meat products in the sauce). It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, either.

For flavoring, some recipes use nutmeg and dry mustard for flavoring, others use minced onions and allspice, others use thyme and marjoram. White pepper is a common ingredient. I once made them with only minced capers for flavoring, and loved it.

Then you'll want to choose oven-frying or pan-frying. I think that oven-frying is a lot easier, but pan-frying gives a better result. I choose oven-frying when I'm short on time and patience.

Sauces? Some prefer a brown gravy, others a white sauce. Sour cream mixed with a bit of pan drippings tastes great. Gjetost (goat cheese) with some parsley or dill in the white sauce or sour cream makes a tangy treat.

So I've developed my own basic Swedish meatball recipe, building in the variations. Each time you make them, you can vary the meat, spices, filler, and sauce, depending on what you have in your refrigerator or pantry, or what your taste preferences are.

Jone's Swedish Meatballs

Meat: (the main ingredient)
2 pounds ground lean meat: use beef, pork or veal
(may use some textured vegetable protein ground beef substitute)
Filler: (to give the meatballs the right consistency)
2 eggs
1 cup milk, cream, meat broth or water
1/2 cup all-purpose flour OR 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs OR 1 cup torn bread OR 1 cup mashed potatoes
Salt and Pepper:
Salt to taste (1 1/2 teaspoons suggested)
Pepper to taste (white or black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon suggested)
More Flavor:
Option 1:
1 minced onion
1/4 tsp dry mustard or 1/4 teaspoon allspice
Option 2:
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

By hand or on medium speed with an electric mixture, thoroughly blend the ground meat, filler, salt and pepper, and other flavorings. Beat until very well mixed. Form into balls about 3/4"-1 1/2" in diameter: do this by hand, or use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop, or a melon baller. Makes 30-150 meatballs depending on how large they are. Serves 6-8, more on the smörgåsbord.

Cooking methods:

Pan-fried: Heat a skillet with 2-3 tablespooons of cooking oil to medium-high heat. Fill the skillet about half full with the meatballs, and fry them for about 10 minutes. Shake the skillet gently during cooking to keep the meatballs turning and to cook them evenly, about 10-15 minutes depending on size. You may need a spatula to encourage some of the more stubborn meatballs to turn over properly. As soon as meatballs are browned, take them out of the pan, let them cool and drain a bit, and keep them warm (try using an oven-proof dish in a barely-warm oven) until ready to add sauce and serve.

Oven-fried: Use ungreased baking sheets -- the kind with rims on all four sides. Separate the meatballs slightly, bake at 450F for 10-15 minutes. Remove carefully from the baking sheets..

For most sauces, you'll stir the meatballs into the sauce then transfer them to the serving dish. Meatballs can be prepared ahead, and refrigerated in a covered container for 2-3 days or frozen in airtight containers for several months. You can freeze cooled meatballs spread out on a clean, cool baking sheet, then transfer them to airtight containers, if you want to be able to make a large quantity of meatballs and remove just enough at one time. Thawed or refrigerated meatballs should be heated in a single layer on an ungreased rimmed baking sheet for 10-15 minutes at 375F.

Brown sauce or red wine sauce or sherry sauce:

2 tablespoons pan fat
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef broth (may be made from bouillon) or 1 can condensed beef broth
1/2 - 3/4 cup water (to taste)
3 tablespoons red wine or sherry (optional)

Add the flour to the pan fat in a saucepan, mix thoroughly. Discard the rest of the fat from the cooking pan, then rinse the pan in some of the broth to loosen the bits of meat from the pan. Add the broth to the fat/flour base in the saucepan. (Tip: at this point, mixing the flour/fat mixture and the broth mixture in the blender removes all lumps thoroughly.) Heating this mixture, slowly add the water to taste. Bring to a boil. (Add red wine or sherry if desired at this point.)

Sour cream sauce or Gjetost sauce:

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded gjetost

Transfer the meatballs to the serving dish. Discard the fat from the cooking pan, stir the sour cream into the pan to pick up the rest of the pan drippings and the bits of meat. Heat slightly, do not boil. Stir in the shredded cheese if desired. Pour hot mixture over the meat.

White sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup half and half or cream
1/2 cup water or chicken broth (may be made from bouillon)
Fresh dill leaves or parsley leaves (optional)

Add the flour to the butter in a saucepan, mix thoroughly, turn on heat to low heat. Discard the fat from the cooking pan, then rinse the pan in the water or broth to loosen the bits of meat from the pan. Add the water or broth to the butter/flour base in the saucepan and mix thoroughly. (Tip: at this point, mixing the flour/fat mixture and the broth mixture in the blender removes all lumps thoroughly.) Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low, and add the half and half or cream slowly. Simmer until a good consistency. Add dill or parsley if desired. Stir the meatballs into the sauce until heated through. Transfer to the serving dish and serve immediately.

KOFTA or KAFTA RECIPE

This mixture is great on skewers over charcoal, as patties, or as the Lebanese dish Kofta bi sanniyeh, baked in the oven with potatoes and tomatoes.

* 2 1/2 lbs finely ground lamb or beef
* 2 cups tighly packed washed and picked parsley
* 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves or 1 TBS dry mint leaves
* 1 large onion, cut up for food processor
* 1 tsp Bhar Helou* or 1/4 each ground cinammon, cloves, nutmeg
* 1 tsp salt, more to taste
* 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, or to taste

IN a food processor, chop onion extremely fine. Add parsely and mint and until you have a fine - not liquified - homogeneous mixture. PUT the meat in a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients and spices to meat, combine and mix thoroughly with your hands. PLACE bowl in fridge covered with plastic wrap. Helps flavors of the mixture blend.

FOR SKEWERS:

SOAK wooden skewers (usually found at your local supermarket) in water for a couple of hours or more. SHAPE egg-sized balls of kofta and work evenly onto skewers.

IN THE OVEN:

FOR kafta bi sanniyeh add 1/2 cup bread crumbs, one or two tablespoons of water and an egg (optional) MIX well. PLACE in lightly greased pan. Lightly pat down to 1 inch thickness and surround with partially boiled potatoes sliced about 1/4 inch thick.

BAKE in a moderate heat (250̊ F) oven for 20 minutes or until kafta is golden and tomatoes soft.

Kofta bi sanniyeh

what we found out about the above recipe...
it needs more more time and more heat than 20 minutes @ 250. more like 30-45 @ 350, or maybe an hour @ 250. but it's mighty tasty (which is a good thing cuz we made plenty)!

Here you go Argy!

Cheesy Potato Soup

6 medium potatoes, diced
6 cups chicken broth or enough to cover potatoes with a little room to move around
1 cup milk, 2%
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic
4 cups cheese, grated
1/2 cup sour cream

1. Cover potatoes with chicken broth

2. Cook until potatoes are tender.

3. Using a masher, mash potatoes inside pot as much as possible.

4. Add onion, seasoning and milk.

5. Simmer for 1/2 hour.

6. Add grated cheese. Mix until disolved.

7. Add sour cream and serve until smooth.

8. When serving garnish with cheese and bacon bits.

If any of this sounds confusing or you have any questions....lemme know.

Tiggsy's Poor Man's Stew

Ok guys, this one is really simple. You're gonna need. Ground Beef, Cream of Potato Soup, Chicken Stock/broth, Beer (yes, Argy, I said beer. HeHe...it is optional though) Potatoes and carrots. The amounts really depend on how big a pot u wanna make.

First you brown the meat, DO NOT drain when finished. You can toss some garic and/or onions for flavor.

Then you add 1 part potato soup, 1 part beer and 1 part chicken stock. Let this simmer for a bit.

Somewhere in the first two steps add spices, whatever you like. I use anything you would put in any italian dish. Basil, oregeno, garlic salt...

While that's simmering dice up some potatoes and slice some carrots. After about ten minutes or so, add the veggies.

Let simmer until mixture has thickened up, just a bit. Then serve. Particularly good with biscuits or homemade bread.

You can add whatever veggies u want. Celery, Tomatos... I suggest that the softer the veggie the later you add that veggie.

Voila, you're done!

Enjoy

Buffalo Style Chicken Wings

I dunno if youre Supermarket will carry them or whatever
But you need(Obviously) Chicken wings

If you get Whole wings they need to be cut at the joints....

You should have a white meat upper wing bone like a small drumstick sorta...
a dark meat lower 2- boned wing section
& a small wing tip which is discarded...
theres no meat there ...

You Deep fry the wings at a standard deep fry temp for Chicken....
{Hay I was a drunken 22 year old when people were showing me this....I dont care much for Wings myself but some people LOVe them.}

Ok,fry them till they float maybe a bit longer
they are better kinda Crispy.

then you put the still hot wings in a bag & Shake them to get the Sauce all over them.

the sauce is equal parts vinegar, butter,&hot sauce*.
you dont need alot unless youre making ALOT of wings...1/4 of each is probably more than enough
for a sampler.

the sauce ingredients can be microwaved til liquid.

*Hot sauce usually used around here is Frank's Louisana Hot Sauce But any Cayenne-type hot sauce will do..

I think the standard recipe is too vinegry.
I use less vinegar.
But that does make them hotter....
less butter makes them stronger....more milder

You get the picture right..???


I hope you like them. Oh yeah, Eat them while theyre hot temperature wise.I alomst forgot...
Celery cut like McDonald's fries & a GOOD Blue cheese Dressing for dipping the Celery&/or the wings Completes the snack.Its finger food.


I would be interested in your local food thing oo.
I hear theres something called Poutine (Canadian I believe}that sounds great.
Might be french fries cheese curds & gravy...YUM!!
SO teach an old mangy flea bitten dog some new tricks,ok???


PS
ANY Chicken Wing with a tomato-y sauce or a barbeque type sauce is NOT anOFFICIAL buffalo wing, just so you know..LOL
I hear they are being passed off as such..tho probably only in the past.They DO go great with Beer.

Yeah...I dug this one up.

For those of you that like flavored ice tea.

Plantation Iced Tea

7 tea bags
1/2 cup sugar
1 6oz can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 12oz can pinapple juice

Pour 4 cups boiling water over the tea bags and sugar in a pitcher. Steep for 30 min.
Remove tea bags. Prepare lemonade according to instructions and add to tea. Add pinapple juice and stir.

(This actually calls for mint in the beginning when your steeping and then you pull it out with the tea bags but I never put it in. It's up to you.)

I love this stuff.