Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

4 to 5 red peppers
1 to 3 jalapeños
3-5 roma tomatoes
Several cloves of garlic
Butter
Flour
Milk

Rise vegetables, and then cut into quarters. Peel, but don’t chop, the garlic. Put everything into a bowl and lightly coat with olive oil. Wrap with foil and place on a grill or in an oven until vegetables are very soft and easily pierced with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes and then throw everything into a food processor. Blend until everything is kinda liquidy, but still has a few small chunks.

In a sauce pan, combine equal parts flour and butter (I usually use a ¼ to ½ cup). Combine over low heat until blended, but still solid. Pour pepper mixture in and stir until combined. Then pour small amounts of milk in, stirring until combined. Keep adding milk until sauce is the consistency of alfredo sauce and then continue to cook until hot enough.

Pour over prepared pasta of choice (I like it with a penne or tortellini) and top with fresh grated Parmesan or asiago cheese. Cut up some smaller pieces of red pepper to throw in the finished pasta as well. It's also really good with broccoli


...from my old boss at Stromboli's

Mango and Raspberry Tart

Mango and Raspberry Tart

1 pie crust
1 cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cup sliced ripe mangoes
1 ½ cups plain yogurt
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 basket raspberries, rinsed

Press the pie crust into a pan or use a muffing pan to make individual tarts. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Line with foil and bake at 450° for 8 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 5 to 6 minutes more. Cool completely. In a medium saucepan stir sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Place mango in food processor and blend until smooth (about 1 ½ cups). Stir the mango and yogurt into sugar mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for two minutes more. Remove from heat. Slightly beat egg yolks. Gradually stir 1 cup of hot mixture into yolks. Pour egg yolk mixture back into hot filling. Bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in lime juice. Fold in raspberries. Pour filling into the crust. Cool for a bit, and then chill in fridge for at least four hours.



...from Better Homes and Gardens Baking Book

Hashbrown Casserole

Hash Brown Casserole

1 thawed package (2 lb) frozen hash browns “southern style” the little cubes work best
½ cup chopped onion
1 can (10ish oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups (16 oz) dairy sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients except bread crumbs and butter in a large bowl. Put mix into greased oblong glass baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top. Bake uncovered at 350° for 45 minutes.

...from my sister's college roommates.

Beer Batter Pancakes

Beer Batter Pancakes

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 can or bottle of beer (could be cheap champagne, soda, hard lemonade, etc)

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, leaving a well in the center. In another bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. Fry on a griddle or frying pan. Pancakes are ready to flip when most of the bubbles on the uncooked side have popped and the edges are starting to dry.

Awesome things to add: blueberries, cinnamon, apples, raspberries, pumpkin, top with bananas, pecans, throw in some oat ground up oatmeal… The theme of this meal is “hey, what do I have laying around that can be turned into actual food?” One of the best batches I ever made was the day after college was over forever and I didn’t want to leave the house. Instead, I used the bottle of mike’s hard lemonade from my old housemate that had been sitting in our fridge since December and an apple that was about to pass its prime. Yummy!

...from a cheap and easy vegetarian cookbook.

Cuban Chicken

Cuban Chicken

I have no idea what makes oregano "Cuban," but I do remember this being tasty when I was a meat eater.

Chicken
¼ green pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped up
1 medium onion, diced
¼ teaspoon oregano
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup water

Fry the chicken to brown, but not done. Take the chicken out of the grease. Add green pepper, garlic, onion, and oregano to the grease (mmmm grease). Sizzle everything lightly and add tomato sauce and water. Place chicken back into mixture and simmer until tender. This recipe is for one chicken, increase veggies as needed.

For Cuban tofu or other not-meat products, cut the tofu into whatever sized chunk you desire. For the amount of sauce this makes, you’ll need a whole block. In another pan, fry everything in veggie broth with some olive oil instead of chicken grease. Follow the rest of the recipe.

Refried Beans

Refried Beans


1 pound of dried beans (pinto, canary, or flor de mayo)
½ onion
1 clove of garlic
1 chile de arbol
Vegetable oil (enough to cover the bottom of a large skillet)
Salt to taste


Dried beans can take a while to cook...so in order to speed up the process, wash them, and then soak the beans overnight in water to soften them (if you don’t do this, it’s not a fatal error, but they’ll just take longer to cook).

Put the beans (pre-soaked or not...but definitely washed) in a large pot with plenty of water. Add the onion, saving a small peice for later – one petal will be enough, the peeled clove or garlic, and about a half teaspoon of salt (we’ll add more later). Cook the beans until very soft (so that you can easily smash them between your fingers). The cooking time will vary greatly depending on whether or not they were soaked, and what kind of bean it is. Be careful as you are cooking them not to let all the water evaporate – add water as needed until they are fully cooked.

In a big saucepan, heat the vegetable oil with the onion petal that you saved and the chile de arbol until the onion is browned (it will be very hot – careful!). Take the saucepan off the heat and let the oil cool down a bit before adding in half of the strained beans (VERY IMPORTANT: If you put the beans in the oil while it is still really hot you will create a burning oil shower that is not pleasant in the least). After you put the beans in the pan add salt and stir. Let the beans cook on high for about 5 minutes, then begin using the back of a big spoon to smash the beans in the pan as they cook until you have smashed most of them. Take out the chile and the onion before serving.

You can refry the rest of the beans as well, or you can put them in an airtight container and refrigerate or freeze them for another day!

...From my cousin who lived in Mexico for several years.

Peanut Butter Globs

Peanut Butter Globs

Because even I have to admit that corn syrup and peanut butter can be really wonderful...

½ cup karo
¾ cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
2 heaping cups corn flakes

Boil sugar and karo. Add peanut butter, mix well and add corn flakes. Drop on cookie sheet or wax paper.