Individual Beef Wellingtons OMG!!

Every year at Holiday time my Mother-in-Law sends us a shipment of dry aged beef tenderloins, every year I make them into these beauties, its a well loved family tradition. I know Beef Wellington can be rather intimidating but honestly its so very EASY! 

Ingredients:

1 lb. Fresh button mushroom chopped

1/2 C. finely chopped onion or shallots

1.tsp. salt

1/2 tsp.ground pepper

1/2 C. Dry Sherry or dry white wine

1/4 C. Butter

1/4 C. Chopped Parsley

6 1oz. slices of Pate' (Goose, Duck or Pork)

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

6 8oz Beef Tenderloin Filets

1 Pkg. frozen Puff Pastry

1 egg mixed with 1 tsp. water for egg wash

Dijon Mustard

Method:

Preheat Oven to 450 degrees

1. In a large skillet combine mushrooms, spices, onion, dry sherry, butter and parsley, cook until liquid is absorbs and it resembles a thick paste. Allow to cool. 

2.  Heat oil and heavy pan and brown both sides of filets, 1 minute each side for rare. Transfer to plate and allow to cool completely.

3. Roll out puff pastry and cut into 6 equal squares.

4.  Spread dijon mustard to taste on all filets, top with mushroom mixture then a slice of pate'.

5.  Place each filet mushroom mixture down on the puff pastry, wrap and seal with egg wash then brush with egg for a golden appearance.  Don't try and flip the meat over, just place the pastry on top and and then gently flip over and seal. 

6.  Place each wellington seam side down on prepared baking sheet, I use parchment paper. 

7.  Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until thermometer reads 140 for medium rare.

8.  Remove from oven and allow to set for 10 minutes before serving.

***NOTE***  You can choose to eliminate the Pate' or Dijon Mustard, it is not necessary for this to be AMAZING...Personally I can do without the Pate' but the one time I forgot the Dijon I found the Wellingtons to be bland.

Purple Asparagus!!!

Found this at our local Safeway! When cooked it changes to green! DELISH

Sweet Soft "Avanti's" Style Bread!

I was born and raised in the community of Normal, Illinois! It was a GREAT place to grow up, not too big not too small, 2.5 hours to Chicago and home of Avanti's Restaurant!! If you grew up in Central Illinois you for SURE know about Avanti's and their famous bread. :-) I live on the West Coast now but still have a yearning for that sweet soft bread, this recipe is dead on and will fool even the most diehard Avanti's bread fan.  Its a lot of work but very worth it.

This recipe yields 6 loaves, I typically get 9 out of it but as you can see my loaves are a tad smaller.

Ingredients:

2 pkg. Active Dry Yeast

3 cups water

3 Tbsp. oil

3 Eggs

1 tsp. salt

1 1/4 C. sugar (its sweet)

10-11 cups ***gulp*** flour! Thats a lot of flour

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water; add remaining ingredients& knead for approximately 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth& elastic.
2. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to bring greased side up.
3. Cover with a cloth& let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until dough has doubled in bulk (1 1/2 to 2 hours).
4. After first rising, punch dough down in bowl& turn over; let rise again until double (30-45 minutes).
5. Cut dough into 5 to 6 portions, each about the size of a grapefruit.
6. Let rise, covered for 10 minutes.
7. Flatten dough, pressing out all the air, and form into long loaves, about 12" long.
8. Place loaves on greased& floured cookie sheets; cover& let rise again (50-60 minutes).
9. Preheat oven to 350F.
10. Bake loaves for 20-25 minutes, until tops are golden brown& loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Iron Skillet Pizza

We moved into our new home 2 months ago now and I am now the proud owner of a beautiful Electrolux Gas Range! I have started to make my pizza's in a iron skillet...crispy and delicious.  Oh the adventures I have yet to experience! 

Our submission for the website Cats in Refrigerators

Loki was a sport!  

Paleo Pancit WOW who needs rice???

I made this for dinner last night, it was a HUGE hit!  The only thing I would do differently is buy a larger head of cabbage and tone down the quantity of meat used!  I cannot wait to adapt this recipe to some of my other favorite Asian foods, you HAVE to make this, Paleo or not its DELICIOUS.

Ingredients:

1 Large head of cabbage

3 bunches of green onions

1 lb. of pork tenderloin 

1/2 lb. wild caught shrimp (uncooked)

1.5 lbs. chicken

4 carrots

2 Tbsp. Tamari or Soy Sauce (adjust to taste)

2 Tbsp. Fish Sauce (MUST HAVE INGREDIENT)

2 Tbsp. olive or coconut oil

Preparation:

1.Slice cabbage into thin strips, set aside in large bowl

2.Shred carrots, I used my food processor add to bowl with cabbage

3.Thinly slice green onions, save some for garnish if you like. Add to bowl with other veg.

4.Cut the chicken and pork into small bites, place in med. sized bowl

5. Add Soy or Tamari and let sit for 1/2 hour, I added about 5 cloves of crushed garlic as well but that is not necessary, we just LOVE garlic.  Ginger is good to add here too if you have it.

6.Remove shells and devein shrimp, place in small bowl

7. Heat up wok with olive or coconut oil

8.Add pork and chicken, stir fry for 5 min. or until cooked.

9.Remove meat to another CLEAN bowl, set aside

10. Add cabbage, carrots and onions to wok with fish sauce, fry at high temp for aprox. 8 minutes or until cabbage is cooked but not mushy. I think I overcooked mine but it was still good, cabbage is a very forgiving veg.

11.  Add shrimp and stir fry until pink

12.  Add pork and chicken, stir fry for a few minutes and its DONE!!!

I did add some crushed red pepper for a little heat, it is totally no necessary but we like our  spicy food around here! :)  I hope you try it, we LOVED it..

Example of a delicious Paleo lunch!

This is a pretty straightforward lunch when eating Paleo! OH OH OH I have lost 4 lbs., I don't expect this to be my normal weekly weight loss but I am pretty darn happy..:)  OK so this salad consists of 1 whole organic tomato, load of chopped romaine lettuce, 2 Tbsp. shredded cheese, 1/2 avocado, 1 can tuna (not albacore due to mercury) packed in water and a fairly large amount of hot banana peppers (my guilty salty pleasure).  I used a store bought organic balsamic vinaigrette, not sure how Paleo friendly it is but if I am going to eat salads like a crazy fool I do have to have tasty dressing!!! :)  

English Peas My FAVORITE Snack

Yummy Paleo Breakfast and Why I have ignored my blog!

Hello BLOG I sure have missed you!

Life certainly can get in the way at times and my poor blog has taken quite a hit, for that I am sorry. :(  I will continue to post my yummy bakery creations but you will find that I will be posting mainly Paleo deliciousness.   YES folks, I am on a D**T...I am pretty darn tired of hauling around this extra weight and kinda really want to look good in a wetsuit..HAHAHA  The best thing about Paleo is I can have both spinach and wine so I did not need to change the name of my blog! YEA

The above plate is what I had for breakfast this morning!  If you are not familiar with Paleo eating, it can be summed up pretty simply NO PROCESSED FOOD AND NO GRAINS.  Its not low carb as such (I hated Atkins), I can eat all manner of fruits and veggies and of course lean protein.  Today I had 1/2 zucchini cut into thin strips sautéed with a small leek in 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tomato and a small amount of Creekside Smokehouse Cold Smoked Salmon (the best on the planet).  I am attempting to watch my sodium so the only "salt" came from the salmon and my guilty pleasure TAPATIO.  

OH and the reason I have not been blogging is because I suffer from extreme Procrastination Disorder with a tinge of Laziness Disease! I am working on that too...:)  

Thai Beef Curry with spicy pickled cucumbers

Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Bread with chocolate chips

Chocolate Bagels with Chocolate Sprinkles

Swai with Pesto and Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

Swai is another name for Thai Striped Catfish, I am NOT a fan of Catfish here in the US, just not a flavor I am fond of BUT, Swai is totally different!  The flesh is somewhat flaky and holds together nicely when pan fried or baked like below.  I am constantly finding ways to incorporate more fish into my families diet and Swai fits perfectly, light, not fishy and the kids like it!! :)  I don't really have a recipe to go with this meal, I lightly oiled a baking dish, placed the Swai in, spooned some ready made Pesto on the fish, covered and baked at 375 for about 20 minutes, turned out excellent!  The Brussel Sprouts were quartered and cooked with 3 strips of diced bacon, red pepper flakes and a dash of salt...WOW they were delicious!  This was truly a quick, easy and healthy meal....

So many ways to use SMOKED BUTTER!

OK I am sure you are wondering what the heck this is...WELL its cold smoked butter, think cold smoked cheeses and salmon except BUTTER!    The ONLY place this is produced is in a small artisanal  smokehouse on the Northern California Coast in the lovely town of El Granada and they sell LOTS of it.  I have used it in LOTS of ways but, my favorite is in Parmesan Potatoes (smoked butter and smoked Parmesan), ALL veggies, fish and a nice little pat on a perfectly grilled steak is DIVINE.  This stuff is addicting and thinking up uses for it can be mind boggling....woohoo smoked butter!

EASY Vegetarian "Hamburger Helper"

I had Mushrooms and Spinach to use up, I wanted a quick and healthy lunch, I ended up with a bowl of comfort food and enough to freeze for future lunches or quick dinners!  I am calling it "Hamburger Helper" only because of the type of noodle and the cooking process, cooking the pasta in the sauce makes for a wonderful starchy broth, perfect for this kind of meal.  

Ingredients:


1 Red Onion, diced
1 Tbsp. EVOO
1 Pkg or 2 cups sliced Mushrooms
1 can Tomato Soup (I used Cambells)
3/4 C. Uncooked elbow macaroni
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 tsp dried chili pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. Salt (or to taste)




OK so here it goes...Its easy!  Heat pan, add olive oil and diced onion, cook till onion is shiny and translucent. 
Add Mushrooms and saute for 3 minutes, add tomato soup, refill can with water twice and add to pan, stir.  Add salt, pepper and chili pepper flakes, bring to a boil, add elbo macaroni, cover with lid or foil and cook at medium heat for aprox. 1/2 hr... I recommend stirring it a couple times and keep an eye on the liquid, you might need to add another can of water for pasta to cook properly.
Once pasta is done, add the spinach, replace lid, turn off heat and let the spinach release its liquid.  
You do not have to limit yourself to the mushrooms, onions and spinach, this recipe lends itself to all combinations of veggies!  The tomato soup can also be replaced with sauce or diced tomatoes and their liquid, I feel the tomato soup adds a bit more of a "comfort food" experience to it.

Hamburger buns

Cold Smoked Salmon From Creekside Smokehouse in El Granada CA

Orange cookies

Broccoli Chicken

I made this for my family for the first time last night, it was delicious!!  If you do not want to velvet the chicken and fry it in oil, it would be fine stir fried at a high heat with minimal fat.  I might also add some freshly grated ginger as well, the recipe is easily adapted to other veggies ect.  

• Sauce:
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• To Cook Broccoli:
• 1 pound broccoli
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar, or to taste
• Other:
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 2 cups plus 4 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil, for frying
• 3/4 - 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• To Velvet Chicken:
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

1. Cut the chicken into 3/4 to 1-inch cubes. In a bowl, mix together the egg white, cornstarch and salt. Add the egg white mixture to the chicken cubes, tossing or using your fingers to coat the chicken in the mixture. Marinate the velveted chicken in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce and vegetables: for the sauce, mix together the oyster sauce, light soy, dark soy, and water in a small bowl and set aside. In another small bowl, mix the cornstarch and water thickener and set aside. Wash and drain the broccoli. Cut the stalk diagonally into thin slices. Cut the flowerets into 3 or 4 pieces. Crush the garlic.
3. Preheat a wok. Heat 2 cups oil in the wok until it reaches 275 degrees Fahrenheit. (Test the heat by placing a piece of chicken in the wok - it should float). Add the chicken cubes, and let cook until they just turn white (about 30 seconds), using a wooden spoon or chopsticks to gently separate them. Quickly remove the chicken cubes from the wok as soon as they turn white, and drain in a colander or on paper towels.
4. Drain the oil out of the wok or preheat a second wok on medium high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the crushed garlic and stir fry for 10 seconds.
5. Add the broccoli, sprinkle the salt and sugar over, and stir fry briefly, turning down the heat if necessary to make sure it doesn't burn. Add the 1/2 cup water, and cook the broccoli, covered, for 4 - 5 minutes, until it turns a bright green and is tender but still crisp. Remove from the wok and drain.
6. Clean out the wok and heat 2 more tablespoons oil. Add the broccoli and the velveted chicken, stirring and tossing to cook the chicken through. Add the sauce and cornstarch mixture in the middle of the wok and stir quickly to thicken. Mix everything together and serve hot over steamed rice.