Miscellaneous

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Different from your regular guacamole because it doesn't have tomatoes, garlic, or onions.   It's creamy and stays green for over a week in the refrigerator. 

Ingredients:

4 Large jalapenos

3 Large tomatillos

1 avocado

1/2 c oil

1 bunch cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cut jalapeno stems off and cut fourths lengthwise.  Scrape off seeds and membranes and discard.  Wash husked tomatillos and rub off stickiness with water.  Cut into quarters.  Put jalapenos and tomatillos in pot and add about 1 cup water.  Bring to boil and simmer 10-15 minutes till soft.  Drain and put into Blendtec, Vitamix or blender.  Add rough chopped cilantro, flesh of 1 avocado, oil, salt and pepper.  Grind till smooth.  Store in airtight container.

This is the easiest way that I know how to store ginger a long time.  One way is to freeze ground ginger, the other is to refrigerate chunks of ginger in vinegar or liquor.  The ginger will keep for months.

Ingredients For Frozen Type:

Ginger

Ingredients For Refrigerated Type:

Ginger

White vinegar or liquor

Directions For Frozen:

Peel ginger, slice and grind in food processor.  Spread in a small flat pan 1/4"

thick.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Freeze till hard.  Remove from freezer, let sit a few minutes, then cut into squares.  Carefully put into ziploc bag, then immediately freeze until ready to use.  Take out as needed.

Directions For Refrigerated Type:

Peel ginger, cut into chunks and stuff into a jar.  Cover with vinegar or liquor such as wine or hard liquor.  Keep refrigerated.  Use anytime.

A fancy way of making eggs.   When peeled, it comes out almost looking like stained glass!  Hint of Chinese spices will have everyone asking how you did this.

Ingredients:

12 eggs

1 T vinegar

1 t coarse salt

2" piece of ginger, smashed

1/4 c black tea leaves

3 whole star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 c soy sauce

2 T Chinese 5 spice

1/4 c sugar

2 T coarse salt

String

Cheesecloth

Directions:

Put eggs in a medium sized pot and cover with water.  Remove eggs.  Bring water to a boil and add 1 T vinegar and 1 t salt.  Carefully lower eggs into water.  Bring back to a boil and cook for 8 minutes.  Place eggs into icy water until cooled.  Drain out water.  Gently crack each egg all over with the back of a spoon.  In a large pot, add 8 c water.  Make spice bag by placing ginger, tea leaves, star anise and cinnamon stick in a 6" square of cheesecloth.  Gather and tie with string.  Place in pot.  Add soy sauce, 5 spice, sugar, 2 T coarse  salt. Stir well.  Lower eggs into solution.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour.  When done, discard spice bag and put eggs in a container and cover with the liquid.  Eggs may be kept in liquid up to a week for a deeper color.  When ready to eat, carefully peel off shells and rinse eggs of any residue and shells.  To serve, cut in half lengthwise.  Can also be made into deviled eggs or egg salad for sandwiches.

This is a butter made from Lilikoi or passion fruit.  It can also be a spread or a jam for breads, bagels, crackers, ice cream, basically anything you can think of!

Ingredients:

1 c sugar 1 1/4 c lilikoi juice

1/2 c butter

1 T lime or lemon juice

10 egg yolks

Directions:

Put sugar, juices and butter in a pot and bring to a boil on med-hi heat.  Stir with a whisk occasionally to dissolve sugar and butter.  In medium sized bowl, crack yolks only and whisk till just blended.  Use whites for something else.  Continue whisking and pour about 1 cup hot juice mixture slowly into yolks, then pour it into the juice mixture on the stove, whisking to blend well.  Turn stove to med-low, whisking every so often till very thick, about 20 minutes.  It is ready when a metal spoon dipped into butter is turned sideways and  2 thick droplets come together to form one drop.  Strain into a 2 cup pyrex bowl with a pouring lip.  Carefully fill sterilized hot 3-8 oz canning jars up to 1/2" from the top.  If there are any drips to the top of jars, put some vinegar on a paper towel and wipe off any residue.  Put hot sterilized lids and screw down caps finger tight.  Let sit on counter on a towel or rack to cool.  Jars are sealed when finger is pressed on lid and it's firm to the touch and doesn't click.  Tighten jars when cool.

Note: 

All equipment must be sterilized.  Wash bottles, lids and caps.  Fill a large pot with water about 1/2 full.  Bring to a boil and put strainer, pyrex bowl, whisk, spoon and spatula.  Boil for ten minutes and remove to plate.  Put bottles in upside down in water and boil for 20 minutes.  Put lids and caps 

and boil for 5 minutes.  Remove lids and caps to a medium bowl and pour the boiling water over to cover the lids and caps.  Keep the bottles in the water on low while the butter is cooking.  When ready, take the jars out of the water and place on a rack or towel.  

Boiled peanuts are a popular snack in many countries and many parts of the U.S.  Usually the seasoning is just salt and sometimes Cajun seasoning and chile flakes.  They also contain more antioxidants than roasted peanuts or peanut butter.  This recipe is made the Asian way with Chinese spices and are delicious.  Some people like it crunchy but I prefer them very soft so the cooking time is several hours.

Ingredients:

2 lbs raw, unshelled peanuts

2 quarts water

2 T coarse salt

3 star anise

1 T Chinese 5 spice

2" piece of fresh ginger, unpeeled and smashed

3 bay leaves

1 T Szechuan peppercorns (dried red prickly ash)

Directions:

Rinse peanuts and soak in water overnight.  Weigh down with a plate and weight (like canned good sealed in a plastic bag) to keep peanuts submerged.  Drain, rinse and drain again and put peanuts in a large pot.  Add 2 quarts (1 gallon) of water and add salt, star anise, 5 spice, cinnamon bark and ginger.  Cover and bring to a boil, simmer 1-5 hours or more, depending on desired tenderness.  Drain, remove and discard spices.  Serve peanuts hot or cold.  Refrigerated, it keeps for about a week.  Frozen, it keeps for several months.  If using an instant pot, it takes 1 hour to become very soft.  If you like it crunchy, try 30-45 minutes. 

So fresh and so delicious.  I will never buy or use whipping cream that you spray from a can because it contains chemicals.  Make this in 5 minutes using only 3 ingredients.  Once whipped, it keeps in the refrigerator for several days without deflating.  Use this to top cakes, pies, other desserts,

soups, sauces, eggs and beverages.

Ingredients:

1 c whipping cream

2 T sugar

1 t vanilla

Directions:

In a deep bowl add cold whipping cream.  Beat at high speed until soft peaks form.  Add vanilla and gradually add sugar, beating till stiff peaks form.  

This can be used as a drink by adding hot water or just eaten as is and drinking the honey.  It's very soothing to the throat and helps when you feel a cold coming on.

Ingredients:

Fresh ginger slices

Fresh lemon slices

Honey

Directions:

Layer in any size jar, ginger and lemon.  Pour honey over to cover.  Refrigerate and eat as desired.

 This is the easiest and healthiest gravy ever.  The vegetables used to support the turkey while roasting become soft and are ground to make the gravy.  There is no flour or oil from the drippings and no seasonings are necessary. I'd rather have this than the traditional gravy.  Besides, it saves a lot of time. 

 Ingredients: 

All the vegetables and liquid from the roasted turkey. 

 Directions: 

Scrape all vegetables and drippings from the roasting pan into a bowl.  Carefully skim and  ladle off all grease and butter and refrigerate or freeze till somewhat firm.  Pour vegetables and liquid into a Blendtec, food processor, Vitamix or blender.  Grind on low speed or higher until it's the consistency of gravy.  Will only take seconds.  Pour into gravy bowl for serving. 

 How To Make The Turkey: 

https://youtu.be/mmVafEaFI5k 

 Learn to cut pineapple for a nice presentation rather than just cutting off all the eyes and wasting the fruit.  Growing up, everyone cut pineapple this way.   Now people just don't make the time to spend a few more minutes to make food look nice.   You'll impress your friends and family when you serve pineapple that has been specially cut with love.  

Ingredients: 

Whole pineapple  

Directions:

 Use a large serrated knife to cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple.  Stand on one end and Slice downward all around the pine, leaving some of the eyes exposed.  See video for specific instructions on how to make the V cuts with the knife or the pineapple tool.  Follow the diagonal pattern of the eyes.  Rinse pineapple, cut in half lengthwise, then in quarters.  Slice off core and discard.  Cut each quarter in three or four pieces.  Arrange on platter. 

 There are many versions of stuffing but mine is simple and (fool proof) with minimal ingredients.  Some people add eggs, water chestnuts, Chinese lup cheong sausage or other types of sausages.  Some use cornbread instead of bread.  There is no right or wrong, experiment according to your taste preference.  People often bake stuffing separately but I prefer it stuffed in the turkey so all the drippings permeate the stuffing and the taste is amazing.  Just be sure to cool the dressing well or refrigerate before putting in the neck and stomach cavity. This is enough for an 18-20 pound turkey.  If you like, add giblets, chop it up and add after the sausages.  

Ingredients: 

1 lb pork sausage 

1 Portuguese sausage, diced

1 large onion, diced

5 stalks celery, diced 

2 medium potatoes, cooked, peeled and mashed 1/2 c milk

1/2 c chicken broth

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t salt 

1 t pepper

8 oz pkg of toasted bread cubes or 1 small loaf of bread, toasted and cubed 

1 T chopped sage or 2 t powdered 

Directions: 

In a large skillet or wok, brown pork sausage, then Portuguese sausage.  Add onion and saute till translucent, then do the same to the celery.  Mix in mashed potato, then bread cubes.  Add milk, broth, salt, pepper and sage. Mix everything till well combined.  Cool on tray or refrigerate.  May be made a day earlier and stored in zip closed bag until ready to stuff turkey.   Do not stuff hot stuffing into a cold turkey.  Everything should be room temperature.