…Will Cook for Heels
Sides
Jazzy Jiffy & Scallion Butter
Jul 28th
Digging up Patti’s Cookbook (mentioned in the previous post) I also found The New Woman’s Day Cookbook. I think it belongs to my mom but after these great recipes, I think I’m going to have to keep it. The recipe called for a cake pan but I put it in a muffin pan. I made these muffins with Patti’s (almost inedible) Cabbage Shuffle and coupled with the scallion butter….they were the highlight of the dinner. In fact, I honestly cannot recall what I served as the entree. This is a MUST TRY. You will not regret it.
Recipe Ingredients
Cornbread
- 2 boxes (8 1⁄2 oz each) corn muffin mix
- 1 can (11 oz) vacuum-packed Mexican-style corn
- 2⁄3 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp stick butter, melted
- 1 cup (4 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese
Scallion Butter
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butter
- 2 Tbsp minced scallions
Recipe Preparation
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly coat a 9-in. round cake pan with nonstick spray.2. Stir first 5 ingredients in a bowl until blended; fold in cheese. Scrape into prepared pan.3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut in wedges.
4. Serve with Scallion Butter: Mix 1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butter with 2 Tbsp minced scallions.
Note: If you use a muffin pan, it takes a little less time (as you can see, it’s a lesson I LEARNED, lol)
When hot is NOT sexy…Patti’s Cabbage Shuffle
Jul 28th
Ohhh Weeeeee…this was a HOT one! I once prided myself as being able to eat some pretty hot stuff so diving right into the “Spicy like Me” chapter of Legendary Patti LaBelle’s Recipes for the Good Life cookbook happened without the least bit of caution. But baybaeeeee, this songbird put me in my place….stagehand. lol Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious!!!! However, it got to the point that I was picking out the minced pieces of jalepeno and habanero peppers with my fingers (at the dinner table) to get the tiniest bit of relief. It didn’t work. It was insufferable and my diners, Greg and Tera, shared my sentiment. lol I definitely recommend this dish………….MINUS 2/3′s of the peppers. TRUST ME! A Fiercefodie is ALWAYS HOT but panting and gagging is NEVER sexy….well, unless you’re into that I guess. lol
(Below, the recipe I believe will work next time with 1/3 of the heat)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (I used Yukon Gold instead, since that’s what I had in the house–it was fine)
2 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut, crosswise, into thick slices
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 large red bell pepper, well-washed, cored, seeded, membrane removed, and sliced
1/3 habanero chile, trimmed and sliced, or to taste
1/3 jalapeno chile, trimmed and sliced, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 medium head green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, or water
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (I’m not really a big cilantro fan so I skipped this, but I bet it helps to cool off and balance the heat from the peppers.)
Instructions
1. Place a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When just hot, add the oil.
2. When the oil is hot, add the potatoes, carrots, onion, bell pepper, chiles and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or just until very fragrant and beginning to soften. Add the cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring, for 4 minutes.
3. Add the broth, stirring to blend. Lower the heat and cook, tossing and stirring, for about 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the flavors have blended.
4. Remove from the heat, stir in the cilantro, and serve.
You can’t have ham without yams!
Jan 6th
This recipe comes to you by way of my boss. She makes this for our holiday party every year and it is ALWAYS a hit. I doctored it up a little with vanilla, cream and cinnamon to give a little more fierceness ; ) but it was still great as it was.
While doing the meal planning with my friends at work we discussed having mashed potatoes vs sweet potatoes and I was the only one to insist the lunacy of NOT HAVING YAMS with our ham!! I was really passionate about it and realized they were all looking at me like I was crazy, lol. But really, mashed potatoes? Come on….
Ingredients:
- 5 large mashed sweet potatoes (approximately 6 cups)
- 2 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 teas. Pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 heavy cream*
- 1 tea. cinnamon
- 1 cup melted butter
*you can definitely use all (1 ½ c.) milk if you don’t have cream.
Topping:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup flour
- 2/3 cup melted butter
- 2 cup chopped pecans (one 6 oz. bag.- try to get the pecan halves (instead of pre-chopped) and chop yourself. The closer they are to you cracking them open yourself, the fresher and better. And the lack of uniformity in the pieces gives the dish a real homemade feel in my opinion.)
Preparation:
Boil the potatoes until fork tender. Peel and mash. Combine first 6 ingredients. Pour into a buttered casserole dish. Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over top. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, until hot and browned. (I ended up baking mine for an hour because of the depth of my pan (2 inches), so check it and make sure that it’s hot.)
NOTES: I am going to work on cooking for two, but in the meanwhile, this recipe can easily feed 12. Please halve it, lol. Literally, cut the measurements for the entire recipe in half. I have a conversion page in the works and will do my best to make them more suitable for a regular sized family and not the one I grew up in. : ) Additionally, baking the potatoes would have been better because I noticed that my boil water was reddish brown in the end and I was sad b/c I knew that I’d lost some of the good, natural, sweet potato flavor. (However, I did make the mistake of piercing one and it fell open so it could have just been the product of it not having it’s protective skin for the duration of the cooking)
YUMMY! THAT CRUST IS SICK!! No marshmallows needed, Donyale. I promise. ; )
No Meat Needed Collard Greens
Jan 3rd
All of my cooking life, I have been warned of the perils involved in purchasing pre-cut fresh greens because they are notorious for being too “stemmy”. You know, big pieces of bitter, twiggy collard green stalks that interrupt the pleasure of eating cooked greens. However, for the first time, I bought GLORY pre-cut collards and they were surprisingly ok. Don’t get me wrong, I DID have to pour them into a pan and re-de-stem them, lol. But I think mommy would be as pleasantly surprised as I was that they weren’t full of stems.
If you know me, you know that I DO NOT cook collards. I’ve always associated greens with cooking a day before the meal. You know, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, Easter Eve(?)…you get it, lol. That, coupled with the fact that I have always been hell-bent on cooking them without pork fat, made them unappealing. Today, on New Year’s, I got over all of that and put on a pot of greens!! I’m not superstitious but eating a good bowl of greens aint never hurt nobody! : )
You WILL Eat Carrots!! Yes, You Too…
Dec 22nd
After you make these carrots, you will be able to get even the biggest veggie-haters to indulge. The best part, it only takes 3 ingredients.
Directions:
Slice 1 lb. baby carrots lenghtwise. Heat in a skillet with 3 Tbsp butter and 3 Tbsp brown sugar. Sprinkle a little salt and cook at Medium for 15 minutes. Add black pepper just before serving. Absolutely Excellent!
Note: You could also use regular carrots but you’d have to peel them but it may be worth it to you because I was chasing these little ones down with every cut.
