The Recipe Thread (NON-CANNABIS RECIPES)

[Vicki]

A friend of mine just requested this, so I thought I'd post it here too.

Erupting Volcano Cake Recipe

8" round cakes stacked to form a volcano shape that actually erupts delicious red foam "lava" and huge clouds of mysterious, safe, odor-free, disappearing "smoke"!

For this special effect you will need;

Six 8" baked round cakes (your favorite)
Brown and green frosting
One fresh egg with shell scrubbed clean
One small juice glass or 1 1/2" cookie cutter
2-3 drops red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 pound dry ice
Aluminum foil
1-2 ounces hot tap water

Make six 8" round cakes using your favorite mix or buy the cakes from a bakery.

Buy two or three dollars worth of dry ice (depending on when this book was made) from an ice cream store the day you will need it. Keep the dry ice in the freezer. Be sure to handle the dry ice with gloves or tongs just to be safe. If your ice cream store doesn't have dry ice just look in your local Yellow Pages telephone directory under Dry Ice. It's easy to find everywhere (so this book says). Now use your juice glass or cookie cutter and cut out a hole in the center of the top two layers of cake. This hole will form a well in the center of the cake and hide the special effect.

Now construct the Volcano Cake, round pyramid style, on a cake platter or large dish. Trim each layer into successively smaller rounds and stack and frost them into a mountain shape using the last two layers with the holes as its top.

With a small peice of aluminum foil, line the well in the center of the volcano cake. Use the juice glass as a mold and form the foil around the glass.

Now frost the cake, smoothing out the small step-like ledges. Use chocolate frosting for the whole cake first. Then use green frosting as highlights around the mountain to resemble vegetation.

When you are ready to serve the cake, make the "lava". Separate the cleaned egg and discard the yolk. Put the egg white in a small mixing bowl with one and one half teaspoons sugar and two or three drops of red food coloring. Beat until the egg white starts to thicken. You don't want stiff peaks to form, just a thick, foamy texture.

Now place two or three small chunks of dry ice into the foil-lined well of the cake and pour in the red egg mixture. Nothing much will happen yet. Now fill your juice glass with hot tap water and take the Volcano cake and water to the table where your guests are. When you are ready to produce the special effect, simply pour one or two ounces of the hot water into the egg and dry ice mixture and your realistic Volcano cake will erupt large quantities of orange, foamy "lava" and white "smoke" for several minutes while you serve your delighted guests Pieces of genuine Erupting Volcano Cake!

[Zeked]

Salmon w/ squash and cheesy rice

I had posted this in another thread but i thought that it bared repeating as it is SO good!!!

Olive Oil
lemon
yellow squash
zuccinni
minced garlic
butter
rice
grated parm
salt and pepper
salmon
milk

Heat up an inch of olive oil in a frying pan with slices of lemon zest (the skin). Put in your salmon skin UP first. Squeeze out half a lemon over the top of the skin when the under side is half way cooked. Flip the fillet over onto the skin side. Now drop some minced garlic into the olive oil. (Use amount of garlic that suits your taste) Squeeze out the other half of the lemon over the skin free side and allow to simmer until cooked through.

In making the squash/zuccinni, simply slice them into discs, heat up a frying pan with a generous amount of butter. You can throw in a little bit of minced garlic here too if you want to. I usually just season it with salt and pepper as I am cooking it. Now the key here is to get it cooking on just slightly lower than medium heat and cover them. Now you get a duel pan fry and steam effect. VERY good!!!

To make the rice you just make the rice as you regularly would and toward the end, you simply poor in buttloads of parm cheese, the very same stuff you put on spaghetti, and a little bit of milk to help mix it.

This meal goes REALLY well with a nice Pinot Grigio and might even go better with a full
Reisling, depending on your taste for wine. Also a good substitute if you aren't into wine is a nice unfiltered wheat beer.

[Vicki]

BBQ Grilled Steak Wraps

1 beef sirloin steak (1 lb.)
1 onion, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 each: red and green pepper, quartered
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
8 flour tortillas
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat greased grill to medium heat.

Grill steak 1 min. Add vegetables to grill. Cook 8 to 10 min. or until steak is medium doneness (160ºF) and vegetables are crisp-tender, turning occasionally and brushing frequently with the barbecue sauce for the last 5 min. of the grilling time.

Cut steak and vegetables into thin strips. Spoon evenly onto tortillas; sprinkle with cheese. Roll up.

[Vicki]

Cinnamon Bars

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg, separated
1 cup chopped pecans
*sugar for sprinkling

Prep:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and egg yolk with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.

Press into a 16 x 11 inch jelly roll pan or similar size cookie sheet.

Rub the unbeaten egg white over the dough and pour off any excess. Sprinkle with pecans and press into dough lightly. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake for 30 minutes. Cut into bars while hot.

[Vicki]

Chicken Fajita Salad

1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp. chili powder
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1 each: red and green pepper, quartered
8 cups torn leaf lettuce
1/4 cup chopped red onions
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup ranch dressing

Mix lime juice and chili powder; pour over chicken in shallow dish. Cover; refrigerate 20 min. to marinate. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade.

Preheat grill to medium heat. Grill chicken and peppers 5-7 min. on each side, or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF) and peppers are tender.

Cut chicken diagonally into thin strips; set aside. Cut peppers into thin slices; place in large bowl. Add lettuce and onions; mix lightly. Divide among four salad plates; top with chicken. Sprinkle evenly with cheese; drizzle with dressing.

[Vicki]

This one is a little more complicated than the recipes I usually post, but I love BBQ, and pulled pork, so I thought I'd share.

North Carolina-Style BBQ Pulled-Pork Sandwiches

1 (8-pound) bone-in pork shoulder, with skin
1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
3/4 cup Memphis Shake, recipe follows

5 cups apple or other wood chips, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes and drained

2 batches North Carolina-Style Vinegar BBQ Sauce, recipe follows
8 to 10 soft hamburger rolls
Dill pickles

Make small holes all over the pork shoulder with a thin sharp knife and stuff in garlic cloves. Rub the meat all over with the Memphis Shake; cover and refrigerate overnight.
Prepare an outdoor grill with an indirect medium-hot fire with a mix of briquettes and hardwood charcoal in half of the grill. Set grate over coals. Place pork, skin side up, in an aluminum pan with about 1 1/2 cups water on the cooler side of the grate. Toss 1 cup of the soaked and drained wood chips onto the coals and cover the grill, making sure the lid's vents are directly over pork.

When the coals cool to medium-low heat, preheat a chimney-full of hot briquettes and hardwood charcoal. Whenever smoke stops coming out of the vents, about every hour, add more hot coals and 1 cup of soaked and drained wood chips to the fire. The goal is to maintain a medium-heat, smoky fire (but don't worry if it is hotter when the coals are added and cooler while preheating the coals). Rotate the pork when you add coals so it cooks evenly. Cook the meat until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the pork registers 180 degrees F, about 6 hours.

Set aside 1 quart of the North Carolina-Style Vinegar BBQ Sauce. Once the pork reaches 180 degrees F, begin mopping the entire surface of the meat every 20 minutes with some of the remaining sauce and the pan drippings. Continue to cook the pork, covering the grill between mopping, until an instant-read thermometer registers 200 degrees F, about 1 to 2 hours more.

Transfer the pork to a cutting board and let rest for at least 15 minutes. Remove the outer skin and discard. Cut large chunks from the bone and shred, using 2 forks or your fingers, (when cool enough to touch) or chop. Toss with about 1 cup of the reserved barbecue sauce for every 3 cups of meat. Tuck the pork into the soft rolls and serve with pickles.

Cook's Note: Toss the extra sauce with shredded cabbage, or you can serve it on the side for those who want more spice. Use leftover pork for nachos.


Memphis Shake:

1/4 cup sweet paprika
3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon celery salt

Whisk paprika, brown sugar, oregano, garlic, ancho powder, salt, and celery salt in a small bowl. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 2 months.
Makes about 3/4 cup

Shopsmart: Ancho powder is simply finely ground dried ancho chiles. Anchos are the sweetest of the dried chiles and are not terribly hot, so don't be put off by the amount used in this recipe.


North Carolina-Style Vinegar BBQ Sauce:

3 cups cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Heat the vinegar and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Off the heat, stir in the ketchup, honey, salt, red pepper, and black pepper.

[Vicki]

**Here's something a little easier.

BBQ Bologna Sandwich

1 (3-pound) bologna
1 cup canola oil
1 loaf Texas toast, sliced 1-inch thick
Prepared cole slaw, for topping
Your favorite BBQ sauce, for drizzling

Prepare a smoker.

Using a large, 2-pronged fork, poke several holes into bologna. Place bologna in the smoker and smoke for 3 hours over indirect heat, or until ends of bologna start to swell.

Pour oil into a heavy bottomed medium-size frying pan. Heat oil to 350 degrees F.

Cut bologna into 1/2-inch to 1-inch thick slices. When oil is hot, fry bologna slices, 1 at a time, for 1 minute each. Remove each slice to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Place each slice of bologna between 2 pieces of Texas toast, first topping with a small scoop of cole slaw and then drizzling with BBQ sauce.

[Vicki]

Garlic Hasselback Potatoes with Herbed Sour Cream

16 ounces red new potatoes **You can substitute small regular Idaho potatos
3 to 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Herbed Sour Cream, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a wooden spoon as a cradle, place each potato in the spoon and make several parallel slits into each potato top making sure not to slice completely through. Place 3 garlic slices between slits at the crown of each potato. Toss in a medium bowl with butter and olive oil. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake until tops are crispy and potatoes are cooked through, about 1 hour. Transfer to a platter and top with Herbed Sour Cream.


Herbed Sour Cream:

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Season, to taste, and refrigerate until use.

[Vicki]

**I'm making this tonight with the Garlic Hasselback Potatos, but I'm scaling both recipes down quite a bit.


Oven-Baked Herb-Crusted Chicken with Parsley Olive Oil Sauce

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
12 (5-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Olive oil cooking spray
Parsley Olive Oil Sauce, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In 2 large zip-top bags, divide half the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, oregano, thyme, salt, and black pepper between each bag. Place 6 chicken breasts in each bag. Seal bags and shake to coat. Remove chicken from bag, shaking off excess coating.

Transfer chicken to baking sheet and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until chicken is golden brown and cooked through.

Serve 4 chicken breast halves with Parsley Olive Oil Sauce for this meal and refrigerate remaining chicken until ready to use.


Parsley Olive Oil Sauce:

1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
In mini-food processor, place parsley leaves. Drizzle in olive oil and process to combine. Add more olive oil until desired sauce consistency is achieved. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon over chicken and serve.

[Vicki]

Stacked Heirloom Tomato Sandwich

A fresh, farmers’ market take on the classic BLT! This open-faced sandwich is perfect for summer. If heirloom tomatoes are not available to you, try using fresh vine-ripened tomatoes. You may even be able to find a variety of vine-ripened colors, such as yellow and green.

INGREDIENTS:

4 slices crusty bread (sourdough or French baguette)
4 medium heirloom tomatoes, in assorted colors, cut into 1/4-1/3 inch slices
1/8 pound bacon, crumbled (approximately 4 slices)
Balsamic or red wine vinaigrette dressing
20 small, fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 1/2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper or Italian seasoning blend, to taste

Thoroughly cook bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat until crisp and transfer to a paper towel to drain.

Brush each bread slice with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper or an Italian seasoning blend. Bake in the oven at 400º F for 3-5 minutes. Remove and place on a cooling rack.

Crumble the bacon. Place one slice of toasted bread on each plate and divide tomato slices among them. Stack tomatoes with bacon and chopped fresh basil between each slice.

Top with remaining basil, bacon and cheese. Drizzle your favorite balsamic or red wine vinaigrette dressing over the tomatoes and serve.

**If blue cheese isn’t your favorite, try crumbled Gorgonzola, feta, goat cheese or fresh sliced mozzarella.