Classic Rub for Meats, Poultry and Fish - Cajun Spice Mix

I literally make huge jars of this stuff I use it so much! This is the herb and spice combination that is used to make "Blackened" meats, but it is a versatile mix that you will find yourself using on a lot of a variety of things. I will be posting some recipes that will call for this spice mix in the near future, so get your palettes ready for a culinary delight!

Part of this recipe calls for Cayenne Pepper. If you are adverse to spicy foods, then you can simply leave it out, it will not effect the flavor.

Classic Rub - Cajun Spice Mix

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoon Paprika
• 2 tablespoons Salt
• 2 tablespoon Onion powder
• 2 tablespoon Garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon White pepper
• 1 tablespoon Black pepper
• 2 tablespoon Thyme
• 2 tablespoon Oregano

**You can use 2 tablespoons of black pepper in lieu of the white pepper if you don't have any.
**Just double or triple this recipe if you want to make more at one time.

Just mix all ingredients well, and store in an air tight container.

Potato Soup is another one of those comfort foods that most of us think fondly about. One great thing about Potato Soup, is that it is an easy dish to make, and you probably have the ingredients in your pantry already. There are many variations to Potato Soup, a lot use Leeks as an ingredient in lieu of onions, which is just fine, if you don't mind having to clean them! And who has Leeks just sitting around in their house? I love onions, so I just use onions, it's a heck of a lot easier. But hey, if you really love Leeks, then simply substitute equal amount of Leeks for Onions in this recipe.

Potato Soup

Ingredients

(Serves about 4)

• 1 quart chicken stock (have more on hand in case soup is too thick for your tastes)
  
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  
• 2 pounds baking potatoes, like russets, peeled and diced
  
• 1/2 pound yellow onions. peeled and chopped
  
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
  
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 baked potato (yes, in addition to the other potatoes)
  
• 12 ounces Cheddar, shredded
• 4 tablespoons scallions, for garnish
• 4 tablespoons bacon, cooked and crumbled, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a heavy 1 1/2-gallon pot, heat the chicken stock to a simmer. Add thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Just throw the thyme leaves in whole, stems and all, you can fish them, and the bay leaf, out later. Some of the thyme leaves will come off stems, and that's just fine to leave in the soup.

In a food processor (or blender), puree raw potatoes, garlic, and onions, using some of the chicken stock to help puree. Add to stock.

Simmer slowly for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, covered. Don't have the heat up too high or it will burn, and be sure to check it and stir it every so often. You don't want a rapid boil, just a nice, slow simmer.

In the meantime, bake off two large baking potatoes (I just do it in the microwave for about 5 to 7 minutes). You don't want these potatoes to be over cooked, you want them au dente, otherwise they will just disintegrate in the soup. Leave them sit until ready to use it. When ready to use, remove peeling (it just scrapes off) and dice into uniform pieces.

Add whipping cream and diced baked potatoes, and gently stir. (If soup becomes too thick, thin with some chicken stock). You may think "I will just use regular milk instead of the cream", but if you do, it will curdle, so use the cream.

To serve, ladle 8 ounces of hot soup into an oven proof serving bowl. Top with 2 to 3 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese. Place under the broiler for 4 to 6 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Place on plate. Top with 1 tablespoon diced scallions, and 1-tablespoon bacon, and serve.

Homemade Chicken and Noodles

What is the ultimate Comfort Food? We each define our own Comfort Foods, which we develop growing up, depending on what foods your family had that brought you good memories and of course good flavor!

For me, the ultimate Comfort Food has to be my mom's Chicken and Noodles, with homemade egg noodles, served over a helping of real mash potatoes. It's a rib sticking, delicious meal, which brings me back to some great and fond memories growing up with each bite.

The noodles take time to prepare, and simmering a whole chicken and then de-boning it probably makes some people say "oh, not for me", but let's not be lazy, the taste and love showed by the effort of doing it right will far outweigh anything you can do from a package or (gulp) fast food.

Plan this dish ahead of time, and make the dough for the noodles a day before, keeping in the refrigerator in a covered bowl overnight. This will allow the glutton to relax, and makes for a much easier time rolling out the dough. But you CAN make this same day, it will just be harder to roll out.

Mom's Homemade Chicken and Noodles

For the Egg Noodles:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt (or a "pinch")
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter (cold)

In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Add the beaten egg, milk, and butter. Knead dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. If dough is too flakey, add a little bit more milk if needed. Let rest in a covered bowl for at least two hours, or overnight.

On a floured surface, roll out to 1/8 or 1/4 inch thickness. I find it a lot easier to divide the dough into two and roll out each separately, saves space. Cut into desired lengths and shapes, i simply use a pizza roller. Or if you have a pasta machine, go for it.


Allow to air dry before cooking for at least two hours. I simply hang the noodles on hangers, works really well.


Cook fresh pasta in a large pot with the chicken stock from when you simmered the chicken (see below). Cook until al dente, and remember that fresh pasta does not take as long to cook as store bought.

For the Chicken:

1 Whole Chicken
1 tablespoon salt
1 onion, sliced in half, peeling left on
1 rib celery, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
2 springs fresh rosemary
8 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf

Mashed potatoes (your recipe)

Place chicken in large pot, add all the ingredients, and add cold water to cover the chicken.

Place on stove top over med-hi heat until it comes to a boil, then reduce heat to about medium-low, cover and allow to simmer for at least an hour. Make sure it is simmering and not boiling. You want to have some bubbles, but not a rapid boil. This will keep the chicken moist. I usually let the chicken simmer until it is falling off the bone.

Once chicken is done, remove chicken from pot, it may fall apart, which is just fine, and place it on a large platter, and put in the freezer for 15 minutes so it will cool down enough to de-bone.

While the chicken is cooling off in the freezer, strain the stock, and return to the pot, and start making mashed potatoes. You can actually make the mashed potatoes earlier, just set aside in a covered bowl. The heat from the chicken and noodles will heat them up just fine.

Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, separate the skin and bones from the meat, being careful to leave out the smaller bones.

Get the stock to a boil, and then add your egg noodles. If you don't feel you have enough stock, simply add some water to make up the difference. When noodles are done, add the chicken meat and mix. The flour used in making the noodles should thicken up the stock some.

Season to taste! Serve over mashed potatoes.

Rhonda's Banana Bread

My cousin, Rhonda Doan Forshey, gave me what I consider the best Banana Bread recipe I ever had. It is simply wonderful! With Rhonda's blessings, she is allowing me to share her recipe with everyone else, so without further adieu, here it is!

BANANA BREAD

¾ Cup marg (room temp)
1&1/2 Cup Mashed ripe bananas
1teasp vanilla
1teasp Baking soda
1&1/2 Cup sugar
2 Eggs
2 Cups flour
1 teasp salt
½ Cup sour milk (or 1/2c reg milk and with
1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice)

Cream margarine and sugar.

Add bananas, eggs and vanilla. Blend well.

Sift flour, soda and salt together.

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternating with milk.

You can add ½ cups chopped nuts....Rhonda adds about ½ bag chocolate chips instead of the nuts.

Pour into greased and floured pan.. Bake at 350 until bread test done. I use the tooth pick method to see if is done. It takes an hour or a little longer to bake.

Makes 2 med size loaves.

The secret is to then hide it for a couple of days so no one eats it. Rhonda says it tastes better after it sets a couple of days.

If you have a lot of ripe bananas go ahead and double this and the baked bread freezes well.

Spiral Ham with Citris Glaze

Personally, I LOVE a good ham for Christmas! I always get a spiral cut ham, and add a simple glaze to it to hook it up. This recipe here includes a really tasty glaze that I tend to always go back to. Hope you get to try it!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/2 cup peach nectar
• 4 to 5 chipotles peppers, minced
• 5 pound spiral cut smoked ham

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and honey. Set aside.

In another small bowl, mix together the orange juice, peach nectar and chipotles peppers.

Arrange the ham, cut end down, in a large baking dish. Pour a few tablespoons of the juice mixture over the ham and in between the layers. Bake for 30 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with the remaining juice mixture.

Remove the ham from the oven. Reserve about 1 1/2 cups of cooked juice from baking dish. Brush the honey mixture on the ham and return to the oven to bake for an additional hour until a crust forms and the ham begins to caramelize. Remove from the oven to a serving platter and serve with the reserved baking juice.

Roasted Turkey Breast with Zesty Dry Rub with Gravy

Do you like a little spice? Then check out this Turkey Breast recipe! You will be having thoughts of N'Orlans with every bite!

Ingredients

• 1 whole turkey breast on the bone (6 to 7 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Dry Rub:

• 2 teaspoons onion salt
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Gravy:

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken or turkey broth or stock
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat large roasting pan with nonstick vegetable-oil cooking spray. Rub turkey on all sides with olive oil and lime juice.

Dry Rub: Mix onion salt, chili powder, dried oregano, cumin, garlic powder, allspice and cayenne in small bowl. Rub 1 1/2 tablespoons mixture over turkey.

Roast turkey in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours or until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F on instant-read thermometer. Remove turkey to a warm place; let stand 10 minutes.

Gravy: Pour off all but 2 tablespoons drippings from roasting pan. Sprinkle flour and 1/2 teaspoon of remaining dry rub over bottom of roasting pan; cook over medium-high heat, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan, for about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in chicken broth until smooth; cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Strain gravy through sieve into gravy boat; keep warm.

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with Pan Gravy

If you and your family and guests only desire the white meat, then definately go with just using a Turkey Breast rather than the whole bird. This particular recipe is fantastic, and if tradition doesn't keep you held to the whole bird, you will find yourself using this one more often than not!

NOTE: Use FRESH herbs! Not the dried herbs!

Ingredients

• 1 small (golf-ball sized) onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 lemon, scrubbed clean
• 12 fresh sage leaves
• Large handful fresh flat-leaf parsley (about 1/2 cup, from 12 stems)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling pan
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
• 6 fresh bay leaves
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 boneless turkey breast halves, skin on (about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds each)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup apple or regular brandy (recommended: Calvados)
• 2 to 3 cups apple cider
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Oil a roasting pan and set it aside.

Put the onion into the bowl of a mini food processor. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zest from the lemon in thin strips, being careful not to cut into the bitter white pith. Add the lemon zest to the food processor and reserve the whole lemon for another use. Chop the onion and lemon zest until fine. Add the sage, parsley, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon salt and pulse until it forms a coarse paste.

Put 2 of the bay leaves and the butter into a small pan and heat over medium-low heat until the butter is bubbling. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Put the turkey breasts on a work surface. Carefully run your fingers between the skin and the flesh from one end, being careful not to pull it completely off, creating a pocket. Season the turkey breasts generously with salt and pepper. Stuff half of the herb paste under the skin of each breast, and spread it evenly under the skin. Transfer the breasts to the roasting pan, and slide 2 bay leaves underneath each one. (The heat of the pan will release the bay leaf oils and flavor the breast.) Using a pastry brush, baste the breasts with half of the bay butter. Place the turkey in the oven and immediately decrease the temperature to 400 degrees F. After 20 minutes, baste the turkey breasts with the remaining butter, and roast for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until cooked through, and a thermometer placed in the thickest part of the breast registers 170 degrees F.

Remove from the oven, transfer to a platter, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes before carving while you make the gravy.

Put the roasting pan over the burner on medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over the pan juices, and cook, stirring, for a few minutes. Add the apple brandy, and scrape the pan to lift the bits that are stuck to the bottom. Cook for a minute to burn off the alcohol, then, while stirring, pour in the apple cider. Bring to a simmer, and stir until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice the turkey breast on the diagonal, and serve with warm gravy.