Lemon Caper Scallops

Ingredients

• 10 large scallops
• 5 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Lemon, for garnish and juice.
• 2 Tablespoons capers
• 2 Tablespoons Parsley chopped
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup white wine
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder

Directions

1. Season scallops with Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb
2. In large skillet, melt 1 Tablespoon butter over medium high heat.
3. Add seasoned scallops, cook until golden (about 3 minutes). turn often.
4. Transfer to plate.
5. Melt remaining butter.
6. Add capers, squeeze lemon juice to taste, garlic, mushrooms and parsley and anything else on the counter. Season with Garlic and Herb and Chili powders.
7. Cook on medium heat for 1 minute and add white wine and scallops.
8. Bring to a boil and simmer to reduce wine to one-half.
9. Squeeze lemon juice over scallops when served to taste.

Updates January 2020

General Tso Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 egg white
• 5 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 3-1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 Tablespoon honey
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 bunch green scallions sliced thin
• 4-6 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 jalapeno chopped (optional) Or better yet... One Habanero chopped.
• 1 head steamed broccoli
• 2 cups cooked rice

Directions

1. Cook Chicken first and while it is cooking make the coating and sauce.
2. Heat wok over medium high heat and add 1-1/2 Tablespoon oil to coat. 
3. Carefully add chicken (it might splatter hot oil), into a single layer. 
4. Cook turning once until meat is no longer pink (about 5 minutes).
5. Add scallions, jalapenos and garlic and stir fry for about a minute.
6. Combine sesame oil, remaining 1-1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon corn starch and 1/2 Tablespoon ginger. Stir in the honey and vinegar.
7. When chicken is cooked, add sauce to wok. Cook about 2 minutes, stirring to coat chicken.
8. Whisk the egg white, 4 Tablespoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon Soy Sauce and 1/2 teaspoon ginger to make the coating.
9. Stir coating into the chicken until coated and sauce thickens (about 2 minutes).
10. Server with rice and steamed broccoli.

Jalapeno Poppers Dip

This dip actually tastes like jalapeno poppers.

Ingredients

• 2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese (Monterrey Jack / Cheddar)
• 1/2 Parmesan cheese
• 1 or 2 - 4 oz can chopped Green Chiles - do not drain
• 1 or 2 - 4 oz can diced Jalapenos - do not drain

• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 stick melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F
2. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a mixer or food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Spread dip into a greased casserole dish or pie pan.
4. In a separate bowl, combine Panko, Parmesan cheese and melted butter.
5. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over the dip.
6. Bake for 20 minutes until heated through and gently bubbling on the edges. Don't over cook.

Artichoke Dip

Ingredients

• 1 can non-marinated Artichoke Hearts, drained and diced
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
• Lemon juice
• Garlic powder to taste
• 1/2 package cream cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F
2. Mix all ingredients together and spread evenly in a baking dish
3. Bake for 20-30 minutes

Serve with cut up toast squares or crackers.

Ed's Hot Wings

Ingredients

• 4 lbs bag of chicken wings (about 25 wings)
• 1 cup flour
• 2-3 eggs beaten - add about 1 Tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup Chile Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Mrs Dash Extra Spicy seasoning
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon jalapeno powder (optional)

     Wing Sauce

• 1 bottle of Texas Pete's or Franks Hot Wing Sauce
• 1/4 cup butter

• oil for frying

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
2. (Optional) Remove chicken skin.
3. Thoroughly mix all powdered ingredients in a bowl.
4. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick oil.
5. Roll chicken wing in egg mixture and roll until coated in the flour mixture.
6. Place on cookie sheet.
7. Repeat until all wings are coated and on cookie sheet. Beat more eggs, if needed.
8. Allow coated wings to sit for 15-20 minutes before putting into oven.
9. In the meantime... Start heating the cooking oil on low.
10. Mix the butter and Wing Sauce in a pan and simmer until butter is melted.
11. Cook wings in oven 15 minutes, turn wings over and cook another 15 minutes.
12. Use a meat thermometer and measure thickest part of a couple of chicken wings and make sure temperature is at least 160 deg F.
13. About 5 minutes before taking the wings out of oven, put the cooking oil on high.
14. Remove wings from oven and when oil is hot, place wings in a single layer in the oil. Keep oil hot. Rotate the wings after about 1 minutes. Repeat that until wings are crispy. (May need to do multiple steps of frying in oil depending on your pot size.)
15. Place wings on paper towel to remove excess oil and put on to a large bowl or platter.
16. Finish frying the remainder of the wings, remove excess oil, put on platter.
17. Pour the Wing sauce over the wings and serve while hot.

Server with beer and lots of friends.

Cinnamon Baked Apples

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon butter or spray on cooking spray
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons raw sugar or just add another 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar.
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 6-8 large apples peeled, cored and sliced
• 3 Tablespoons water

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Grease a large baking dish with butter or spray on cooking spray.
• Mix sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon in a small bowl.
• Layer the baking dish with 1/3rd of slices apples and sprinkle mixture on top.
• Layer the next 1/3rd and sprinkle.
• Yep, guess what? Use the remaining apples for the final layer and sprinkle the remaining mixture on top.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
• SLOWLY add the water over the top of the apples and continue baking 15 additional minutes, or until apples are tender.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Ingredients

• 12 lbs of apples,peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions

• Place apples in a large slow cooker and cover. Set on High and cook 4-8 hours depending on your slow cooker. Our slow cooker cranks and we only had to cook the apples on High for 4 hours before they were soft.
• Stir in remaining ingredients and cook on LOW for an additional 2-4 hours, until apples mush easily with a potato masher. Taste and adjust seasoning while cooking.
• Mush until the texture is smooth. Bare feet mushing is not recommended since it is hot!

Canning instructions

Follow normal canning instruction found in cookbooks or online. Basically, pasteurize the glass canning containers and lids. Spoon in mixture until about 1/2" from top of jar. Close jars loosely so air can escape and place in to a boiling bath or canner for 10 minutes (above 6000' - 20 minutes). Remove HOT jars carefully and tighten lids. Allow to cool. The lid seal should be sucked in and concave indication that there is a good seal. 

Hot Bajan Chicken

This recipe can be very spicy due to the Habaneros.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 Chicken Breasts, cut into 1" strips or cubes.
• 4 Habaneros, finely chopped - yes, I said four!! Or, about 6-8 jalapenos.
• 2-4 jalapenos, finely chopped
• 6 scallions, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 Basil leaves, finely chopped
• 1/2 Lemon or Lime squeezed until it screams

• 1 egg
• 3-4 Tablespoons Lite Soy Sauce
• 1+ Tablespoon Frank's Hot Sauce (or similar Hot Sauce)

• 1 cup Flour to coat chicken
• 1/2 cup Corn Meal to coat chicken
• 1 cup Bread crumbs to coat chicken (Or, finely crushed plain corn flakes.)
• About 2 cups vegetable oil to deep fry chicken
• Serve with yellow rice and corn, or corn on the cob.

Directions:

• Cut chicken breasts into 1" strips or cubes, depending on your preference.
• Boil chicken for 20 minutes, while you are making the marinade.
• If you are making yellow rice, start it cooking now.
• While that's cooking, pour yourself a glass of Mt Gay Bajan Rum and coke, but don't get carried away!! Things move pretty fast once the oil is hot and the chicken is boiled.
• Start heating the Vegetable oil in a large pot, or Fryer on medium heat. I use a stock pot with high sides to avoid splattering. This is just to get it warm so you don't have to wait too long to get it really hot later on. There should be at least 1" of oil in bottom of pot. Enough to cover the chicken at least halfway.
• Very Finely dice all ingredients (habanero, jalapenos, garlic, scallions, basil), mix with hot sauce, Soy Sauce, screaming lemon juice, and the egg. Whisk until completely combined. You want very small pieces to stick to the chicken.
• (Optional - place all of the vegetables into a food processor and chop them finely, or even into a slightly liquefied mixture.)
• Put flour, corn meal, breadcrumbs into a large plastic bag and mix well.
• Chicken should be done by now, but if not, have another rum and coke. Remove and drain chicken and allow to cool.
• Combine chicken and marinate mixture in a bowl and mix well to coat chicken. NOTE: You can leave the chicken in the marinate for up to 24 hours and then heat the oil to deep fry it at a later time. Refrigerate and cover until ready for use. It's best to heat the marinade and chicken mixture up before coating.
• Pour off extra Soy Sauce mixture and pour the well coated contents into the Flour mixture in a large gallon baggie.
• Shake and kneed until all pieces are covered in flour mixture. Allow to sit in flour mixture for at least 2 minutes. NOTE: Best to keep it coated for 5-10 minutes before deep frying, but depends on your time limits.
• Oil needs to be HOT! Place as many coated pieces of chicken into the hot oil as you can get to cook them all evenly, without splashing the hot oil over your feet and arms or setting the kitchen on fire. Cook chicken in the hot oil and turn to make sure the coating is cooked and crunchy.
• Dry chicken on paper towels.
• Serve right away.

Serve with Yellow Rice and corn, or corn on the cob, more Bajan rum and enjoy the evening.

Note: Bajan means it is from Barbados where the BEST Rum is made!!

Mexican Red Posole

Ingredients:

• 1 large can white hominy, drained
• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 1-1/2 pork tenderloin cut into 1 to 1-1/2 inch cubes
• 8 cloves garlic sliced
• 1 large onion diced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 Tbsp of dry Mexican oregano (Mexican oregano, but not the kind you smoke)
• 1 large can Mexican Red Enchilada Sauce

 Directions:

1. Use a large pot and sear the meat cubes in olive oil until brown.
2. In a frying pan, saute the onions until translucent (whatever the heck that means - cook them until they are cooked!) and add the garlic during the last 2 minutes. Add to pork.
3. Add rest of ingredients into pot, bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 1 hour.

 Serve with warm tortillas and shots of tequila.