In the spirit of unnecessary end-of-the-year countdowns, I've decided to post my top ten recipes of 2006, and to continue the obnoxious trend, I'm going to do it in two parts! These aren't necessarily the best meals that I've made this year, but rather the go-to recipes that I have made in excess of three times in the past 12 months. (And yes, making something that many times is quite remarkable for me.)
I urge you to post the same. And impress your friends, neighbors, and postmen with these tasty (I'm resisting the urge to use the cliche of treats here) menu items.
10.) Christy Salad
This is easily the best salad around, and sadly I can take no credit for it. It's all the lovely Christy Scheuer.
The trick is Christy's special dressing which consists of
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup basalmic vinegar
Infuse garlic in olive oil for approx. 30 minutes. Mix with basalmic before serving.
For said salad, I recommend Romaine lettuce, some sort of fresh fruit (I've used pears, apples, cranberries, and strawberries), some sort of nut (pecan, walnut, almond), and some sort of soft crumbled cheese (feta and blue cheese work best). Toss with dressing, salt, and pepper. Serve. Note that any variation (roasted red peppers or dried cranberries instead of fruit, cubed havarti instead of feta, etc) is equally excellent. Serve as a side or sear some salmon and serve on top with roasted orange peppers and cilantro. Whatever. Your guests will totally marvel that you made your own dressing. And that it rocks as hard as it does.
9.) Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies
I'm not a huge sweets fan, but a good chocolate chip cookie never treats me wrong. While I love cookies that are 80% butter, I can't actually bring myself to eat them. This recipe makes fluffy cookies that still have a nice crunch to them. The below recipe is my patented Lazy-Man's food processor version. Great for last minute baking.
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips, or chunks
Preheat oven to 375. Place butter and both sugars in the food processor. Process until blended. Add eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Repeat. Add flour. Process until forms a solid ball. Remove from food processor and add chips. Spoon dough onto greased cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake for approx 12 minutes or until done. Cool. Eat with cold glass of vanilla soy milk. (Because it's tastier than that cow crap.)
8.) Erin's Slow-Cooker Split Pea Soup
This was my favorite pre-game meal in my hockey days. It somehow manages to be both light and stick to the ribs. I recommend the slow-cooker method, but you can always do it over the stoves as long as you soak your peas overnight. (Or do a quick-soak in the morning.)
In a slow cooker combine:
1 lb dried split peas
2 quarts chicken stock
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 bay leaves
2 tbp marjoram
salt & pepper to taste
Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with sour cream and grated cheddar cheese. (This last part is a necessity for the mashed-potatoes-as-supper feel of the meal.) Heats up excellently and, as per most things, can be frozen for later tastiness.
7.) Erin's Hot and Slow Mac & Cheese
8 oz. maracaroni (cooked and drained)
1 tall can evaporated milk
1½ cups milk
3 cups shredded sharp cheese
1/4 cup blue cheese
¼ cup margarine
2 eggs
5 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tbp cayenne pepper
1 tbp crushed red pepper
1 tbp black pepper
1 tbp salt
1 tbp paprika
1 tbp dried parsley
1 tbp onion powder
Mix all ingredients together. Put into crock pot. Cut several thin slices of sharp cheese and place on top. Cook 3 to 4 hours on low.
Note: You can substitue sharp cheddar for any cheese lying around. Also, don't skimp on the pepper. It's what makes it so magical.
6.) French Coconut Pie
Paula Dean's recipe is a staple. Partially because I always have everything around the house. Partially because it's amazingly buttery and delicious. (I mean Tiffany was a convert to coconut from this dish alone!) Sure it's not the prettiest or fanciest pie around, but who bitches about pie? No one.
Keep posted for recipes numbers five through one, coming soon to a blog near you. In the meanwhile, kiddies, keep that spice rack filled and those recreations of leftovers a'goin'! (Might I recommend this for cranberries and mashed potatoes and this for turkey?) Until next time, this is Erin E. saying goodnight and good duck.
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