Cornbread

1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon butter
2 jalapeños, seeded and minced
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
1/4 cup chopped pimento
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspooons baking powder
1 1/2 tablesppons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sauté onion in butter. Remove from heat, and add jalapeños, corn and pimento. Mix dry ingredients in bowl. In another bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Combine corn and liquid mixtures, then add to dry ingredients. Don’t overmix. Bake in greased 9- by 9-inch pan 25 to 30 minutes. Note: Stale cornbread works well in black-eyed pea pie, so make cornbread a few days ahead of time.

Festive Milk Punch

Recipe from Rebecca Rather of Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe, Fredericksburg.

1 1/2 gallons premium-quality vanilla ice cream
1 quart whole milk
2 cups bourbon
1 cup rum
1/4 cup brandy
nutmeg, for dusting

Remove ice cream from freezer and let sit at room temperature until it begins to soften, 15 minutes or more (cut into chunks to speed process). Put milk, bourbon, rum, and brandy in a large punch bowl and stir to combine. Spoon ice cream into bowl and stir lightly so that some is mixed in and some floats on top. Dust with nutmeg and serve immediately.

Makes about 30 eight-ounce cups, or almost 2 gallons.

Recipe from Rebecca Rather’s The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes From the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Café (co-written with Alison Oresman and published by Ten Speed Press).

Chocolate Meringue Cookies

3 egg whites
1 c 10x sugar
1/2 c saltines
1 c saltines
1 c chocolate chips (melted)

beat egg whites tp stoff mpt dru  Add in sugar, spoon in saltines, add chocolate.  Cook 12 mins at 340 on greased cookie sheets.

My Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Ingredients:

4 eggs 2 cups white sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 cups sour cream 2 cups blueberries Streusel:  2T flour + 5 T sugar + 2T butter + 1/2t cinnamon

DIrections:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2.	In large bowl beat eggs, gradually add sugar while beating. Continue beating while slowly pouring in oil. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda.
3.	Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with sour cream. Gently fold in blueberries. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. Streusel: Combine 2 tablespoons flour, 5 tablespoons sugar ,and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle over batter in muffin cups.
4.	Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

My Chili

10 c (serves 8)

1T olive oil
1 onion diced (1 c)
1 red bell pepper, diced (1c)
2 carrots diced (1/2 c)
2 t ground cumin
1lb ground turkey
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 c water
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
2 t adobo sauce from teh can of chiles
1/2 t dried oregano
s/p
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can kidney or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can "turkey chili"

Heat oil in large pot over med heat.  Add onion, bell pepper and carrots, cover and cook, stirring occasionally til vegs are soft, about 10 mins.  Add cumin and cook, stirring for 1 min.  Add the meat, raise the heat to high and cook, breaking up the meat until no longer pink.  Stir in tomatoes, water, chipotle and adobo sauce, oregano and s/p.  Cook partially covered, stirring occasionally for 20 mins.  Stir in beans and cook, partially covered 20 more mins.  Season to tast with s/p.

Tj's Chicken Serenada

Seasoned chicken breasts with coco caribe sauce topped with poblano peppers.

grilled chicken breat seasoned with garlic, pepper, lemon and salt

Chinolatino sauce:  the brown sauce
tomatoes                 olive oil
water                      brown sugar
garlic                      soy sauce
pineapple juice
scallions                 ginger
cilantro                   sesame seeds
salt                          jalapeno peppers
rice starch

Coco Caribe Sauce:  the green sauce
coconut milk               water
cilantro                        brown sugar
lime juice                     olive oil
parsley                         salt
lemon juice                  scallions
garlic
red chili pepper            pepper
rice starch


Red bell peppers - grilled, on top
Yellow bell peppers - grilled, on top
Onions - grilled, on top
Poblano peppers - on top