Peppermint White Hot Chocolate

This is a dreamy white hot chocolate, with just a hint of peppermint.  Easy to mix, using either spearmint or peppermint candies.  Add a squirt of cream from a can, or whip your own, then sprinkle with colored sugar - red for Christmas, or green for St. Patrick’s Day.

A good friend shared this recipe, and it is the ultimate hot chocolate.  In the time it takes to warm milk on a stove, you’re practically done.  

She did tell me that she tried it with mint extract, and it tasted just a little ‘off’ - so peppermint was just the right flavor.

Reduce the amounts to serve fewer (or just yourself).  Since this contains extract - the flavor will evaporate if you refrigerate it and reheat it later - so it’s best served right after you make it.

For the recipe, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

  

A Little Luck for St. Patrick's Day...

I really miss having kids around for St. Patrick's Day.  It's (a tiny bit) boring not being able to pinch anyone, or morph a meal into shades of green.  St. Patrick's Day hasn't always been a big holiday around here, even when my family was young - but I always tried to serve at least one thing green for either breakfast or dinner.  Now I love to see what happens with the grandkids.


Here are a few recipes that have worked well in years past.  They are either green, or they incorporate Irish favorites like cabbage, corned beef, etc...


Check back tomorrow for a warm, before-bed treat that will make up for it if you didn't have time to officially celebrate St. Patrick's Day...

Trix-Treats
(Kids have fun pulling out the green & blue's)

"Everything" Layered Salad
Lots of crunchy green, with pasta.

Mint Condition Brownie Bites

Key Lime Mousse Pie

Bully Beef Dip
What to do with your corned beef leftovers.

Oriental Cabbage Toss-Up

Ensenada-Style Baja Fish Taco
(you'll love the shredded cabbage)

Donna Lee's Buttermints

Fresh Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
Great on anything.

Favorite Irish Bread

If you are looking for traditional Irish Soda Bread - this isn’t it.  This is more of cake, and you might even agree it could be dessert.  This is delicious with butter and mint/apple jelly.  It’s a far cry from earliest known published recipe for Irish Soda Bread.  That was first published in the Nov 1836 Farmer’s Magazine in London.

I enjoyed reading up a little bit on Irish Soda Bread.  Irish Soda Bread became a staple food after the Famine years (from 1845 - 1852).  One site pointed out that if your Irish/American ancestors left Ireland for America during the Famine years, they never learned about making soda bread while they were in Ireland.  

If your soda bread recipe has raisins, it’s called “Spotted Dog” or “Railway Cake”.  If it contains raisins, eggs, baking powder, sugar, or shortening, it’s called “cake” and not bread.  These ingredients make it taste better, but they aren’t used in traditional soda bread.  

The ONLY ingredients in Irish Soda Bread are flour, baking soda, sour milk (or buttermilk), and salt.  That’s all, period!  This was a daily bread that didn’t keep long and had to be baked every few days.  It was not a festive cake, and didn’t contain any extras like caraway seeds, raisins, candied fruit, etc.  Times were hard, and there weren’t ‘luxury’ ingredients available to make things taste better. 

So, this is a far cry from traditional.  But it really is good.  Be grateful our circumstances allow us to add other ingredients that are so readily available.  

Spread it with butter, jelly, honey, or whatever else you like - and it becomes a fun NEW tradition for our Americanized St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

You might want to make the traditional Irish Soda Bread to serve side-by-side this “luxury” version (just for contrast... it will make you thankful for all you have)  That recipe is listed at the bottom of this post...

For the recipe, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Bully Beef Dip... new life for St. Patty's leftovers.

Corned Beef (or “Bully Beef” as it’s sometimes referred to in the UK) is rarely seen any other month than March here in the US.  "Bully” beef seemed appropriate for the season of March Madness.  This is a great way to use what remains of your St. Patrick’s Day corned beef brisket.  Delicious with slices of baguette and fresh veggies.

Most people have strong feelings about corned beef.  You either love it, or hate it.  Rarely do you find one who doesn’t have an opinion when it comes to this traditional cut of beef. 

Like a lot of people, I feel obligated to serve it on St. Patrick’s Day.  In the days following, even those who love it sometimes have had enough - leaving me with a chunk of beef that goes to waste.   Since I don’t have many people stopping by for meals any more, I tried to come up with an appetizer for watching all the March Madness games the next several days.

I found the dip idea on tasteofhome.com, but found it had too much “sauce” and not enough beef.  I’ve changed the mayo & sour cream it to make it “dip-able” instead of “dunk-able”.  Much better.  The dill becomes even more pronounced if you let the dip refrigerate overnight, but it’s still delicious served immediately.  

For this fun way to use that abundant "bully beef" - go to:

www.changeabletable.com.  

Cabbage... friend, or foe?

Cabbage often gets a bad rap.  After all, how many people's favorite food contains it?  I would dare say, very few.  


But around St. Patrick's Day - I try to fall in love with it again.  I found these quotes about cabbage that illustrate how some of us view this cruciferous veggie... which camp are you in?


“Cabbage as a food has problems. It is easy to grow, a useful source of greenery for much of the year. Yet as a vegetable it has original sin, and needs improvement. It can smell foul in the pot, linger through the house with pertinacity, and ruin a meal with its wet flab. Cabbage also has a nasty history of being good for you.”
Jane Grigson (1928-1990) ‘Vegetable Book’ (1978)


“An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup."  H.L. Mencken


You form your own opinion, but I like to take the idealist's view.  While cabbage is in the spotlight for the next few days, I thought I'd remind you of a few past recipes that contain it.  Enjoy your greens!  (And the last one is a reward for eating your cabbage)

Ensenada Style Baja Fish Tacos

UN-Stuffed Cabbage (shortcut for cabbage rolls)

Crunchy Oriental Tossup

Mint Condition Brownie Bites

Day sixteen (of sixteen days of GREEN) - Key Lime Mousse Pie for a great finish!

For over two weeks you've seen nothing but GREEN here.  After today that will change, but I hope you've gained a few new ideas for including this fresh color in every meal of the day.

I thought it would be best to end on a sweet note.  Irish cooking is certainly a unique cuisine, and I've learned a lot.  But I'm ready to change colors.

The only ‘heavy’ part of this luscious mousse pie is the buttery shortbread crust.  No eggs, no baking, and no fuss - all add up to a silky smooth dessert.  This could almost fool you into thinking it’s a mint pie, so you may want to add just a hint of lime zest.  This pretty dessert can be ready to serve in 2-3 hours from start to finish.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and we have maxed out on mint at my house.   I can’t forgo a green dessert, so I’ve turned to lime instead.  Lime and mousse seemed like a great pair, so I went hunting for a recipe that could be combined and piled into a crust.  I changed the crust on a mousse recipe from half-bakedbaker to a baked buttery shortbread.

Unlike many key lime recipes, this one has no eggs.  It does use sweetened condensed milk - which reacts with the lime juice and thickens into a tart and creamy custard.  Unflavored gelatin takes it from there to make it firm enough to slice and hold it’s shape.  

Making this pie in a springform pan makes serving easier.   Lining the bottom with parchment paper allows you to place the chilled pie on a pretty serving plate after a short set-up time.

For this sweetly tart recipe with photo tutorial, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Maybe next St. Patrick's Day I'll look for recipes that call for a PINCH of this, and a PINCH of that? 

Chicken Broccoli Curry - from casseroles of yesteryear...

Here's a hearty St. Patrick's Day meal.  Lots of green (under cover)

This recipe is from the good old days when the CASSEROLE reigned in it’s glory.  It really is a great one-dish-meal though - in spite of the bad press the ‘casserole‘ typically gets.  Today I tried using broccoflower instead - a cross between broccoli and cauliflower.  The touch of curry gives it a warm, rich flavor.

Over thirty two years ago my husband was finishing up his college degree.  We spent our first two years as newlyweds in married student housing - complete with our induction into budget cooking.  It was in the seventies when casseroles were all the rage.  And not just any casserole - but the ones with creative TOPPINGS.  Do crushed potato chips, cornflakes, and other “budget” ingredients ring a bell with any of you from my generation?

This was the hot recipe in 1978 in many of the Relief Society cookbooks - with at least three different versions of the same recipe.  I still have my original tattered pink mimeographed cookbook... “BYU 44th Ward” in carefully hand-scripted calligraphy on the front & scattered throughout with inspirational quotes.  This same recipe had three different titles in that book:  Chicken Licken, Chicken Delight, and Chicken Divan.  I gave it my “real life” title listed above - so boringly simple!

Whenever I make this - it brings back memories of balancing the checkbook (almost daily), NEVER throwing out any leftovers, and making agonizing decisions every time I went grocery shopping.  I can’t believe I’m saying this - but I miss those days.

This isn’t health food (as you can tell) with the cream soups, real mayonnaise, and BUTTERY bread cubes.  But it makes a great comfort-food meal.  You can’t judge it fairly until it’s bubbling hot on your plate - the flavor is hard to describe.

For step-by-step photos and this complete recipe - go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Day fifteen (of sixteen days of GREEN) - sneak in a little green while you can...

Try talking big strapping teenage boys into trying (what they call) "chick food"...  It's a losing proposition most of the time.  But my sons have given me less resistance when I spiff it up a bit.  


Here are some GREEN ideas that have worked for me:

First, try disguising the green.  At first glance, a bacon-wrapped burger looks innocent enough.  Little do they know it's a turkey burger, and that it's filled with sauteed spinach and cheddar cheese.  My teenage son's male response  = "not bad."  (recipe for Stuffed Turkey Pockets is HERE)

Next, try adding pasta.  (And the bacon doesn't hurt, either)  Somehow the addition of pasta wears their resistance down a little.  (The link for "Everything" Layered Salad is HERE)

Sometimes it helps to arrange greens on a nice plate.  Even teenagers notice that it took some effort.


Give them a "dipping" bowl or cup.  Container magic.  Can't hurt.

Start out with plain old ranch dressing - you know, the only kind in the school cafeteria.  Then pull a fast one on them - change it to something exotic like "Green Goddess".  There's so much green going on, they won't even notice.

If you get that far, you're almost home.  Now try a new green vegetable (in this case it's "broccoflower"   Adding melted butter, salt, and pepper makes it irresistible (to mothers anyway)

In case you've never heard of it, Broccoflower™ (pronounced “BRAHK-uh-flower”) is the trademark name owned by California growers Tanimura & Antle, used exclusively for their version of green cauliflower, a cauliflower-broccoli cross.   Broccoflower™ is similar to both of its parents - though in appearance, it favors the cauliflower, rather than the broccoli, side of the family. 


Tomorrow wraps up the Sixteen Days of GREEN...  Thanks for your ideas, input, recipes, and links to your great websites!

Day fourteen (of sixteen days of GREEN) - fresh, creamy Tomatillo Dressing

This dressing is a stretch for St. Patrick's Day (Mexico is a far cry from Ireland!) - but it does fit into the GREEN category!  (About now you may be tiring of Irish fare...)

In my neighborhood we used to have mini cooking demonstrations where we share our favorite recipes with each other.  A few years ago, Carol - a great cook - hosted a demo of Pork Barbacoa with this lightly seasoned creamy dressing.   

This is a knock-off of one of the specialties at Cafe’ Rio in the SL Valley.  Am I the only one that feels like I'm reliving the Seinfeld episode of the "Soup Nazi" when I go to Cafe Rio?  I love the food, but I get intimidated that I can't decide immediately what I want and end up getting YELLED at.  I know.  I need to get over it...


  

This dressing is great with any mexican dish - but we also like a little squirt on soups (like Fire Roasted Garlic Tomato) This keeps a few weeks in your refrigerator and is extra easy to use in a squirt bottle.

A tomatillo is a fruit that belongs to the same "nightshade" family as the tomato.   Also called a "Mexican green tomato," it does look like a small green tomato with a papery husk in place of skin.   But it has a tart flavor all its own. 

For this yummy GREEN dressing recipe, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

For the Fire Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup recipe, go HERE.


Three more days to submit your GREEN recipes & website links... please email them to me at appetersen@changeabletable.com