Blueberry Sauce

Heather, almighty Queen of Shake-Shake, submitted this fabulous recipe that is fantastic on pancakes and waffles! Enjoy!

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup water
1 cup orange juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cold water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon


In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, 1/4 cup of water, orange juice, and sugar. Stir gently, and bring to a boil.

In a cup or small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract and cinnamon. Thin sauce with water if it is too thick for your liking.

Baked Beans...Please Eat in Small Doses for the Consideration of Those Around You

3-4 Cans of baked beans (I use Bush's Country Style Baked beans, any will work, though.)
1/2 C of BBQ sauce (I use KC Masterpiece)
1/4 C of Louisiana Hot sauce, not to be confused with Tabasco!
1-2 dashes of Tabasco
3 TB of brown sugar
4 slices of cooked bacon, cut into bite-size pieces

In a crock pot, mix the ingredients and set to high for 3 hours, reduce to low for 1 hour. Serve.

Feeds a crowd.

Traditional Southern Shrimp Boil

3-4 lbs of fresh shrimp
2 packages of Zatarain's shrimp boil
5 lbs of red potatoes, cut in half or quartered, depending on size
12 half ears of corn (we always use frozen)
2 packages smoked sausage cut into 3 inch pieces (we use 1 package of regular smoked sausage and 1 package of cajun smoked sausage, Conecuh brand)
Cocktail sauce

In a 5 gallon pot, fill about halfway full with water and bring to a boil. Add 1 seasoning pouch, add vegetables and sausage and cover. Cook until potatoes are done, approximately 10 minutes. Shut the heat off and remove the vegetables and sausage. Bring water back to a boil and add second seasoning pouch. Add shrimp and cook 3 minutes, shut off heat. Allow shrimp to soak for 5 minutes, covered. Pull shrimp out of water. Serve with cocktail sauce.

Serves 4-6 adults.

Related Recipes: Cocktail Sauce

Cocktail Sauce

1/2 C Ketchup
3-4 TB Horseradish, or to taste
1 TB Worcestershire Sauce

Mix the above ingredients and serve with shrimp or seafood.

Related Recipes: Traditional Southern Shrimp Boil

Chicken Pot Pie

Yet another delicious submission from Impostor Mom! This one is great, and could come in very handy next month with all those Thanksgiving leftovers!

2-3 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded (also works with turkey)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 bag frozen peas and carrots
1 cup bisquick
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1 cup milk

Mix chicken, veggies, soup and broth together and pour into a non-stick sprayed casserole dish. Mix bisquick, butter and milk together and pour over chicken filling. Spread batter to the edge of the casserole. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until the top is brown. Serve, salt and pepper and enjoy!

Three Cheese Eggplant Bake

1 medium to large eggplant
1/4 C Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 3/4 C Ricotta Cheese
1 1/2 C Mozzarella Cheese, shredded. 1/2 C reserved for topping
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Marinara Sauce (see recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray. Cut skin off of eggplant and slice lengthwise into 1/8 inch strips. (Don't worry if you end up with short pieces of eggplant, you can combine these pieces together later.) Place the eggplant strips on cookie sheets and drizzle olive oil evenly over each piece. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 10 minutes, change positions of the cookie sheets (top to bottom/bottom to top shelf.) Bake an additional 5 minutes.

While the eggplant is baking, begin the marinara sauce and make the cheese filling. To make the filling, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses.

Spray an 11 X 7 casserole dish with cooking spray. Place 2-3 TB of filling at the end of each eggplant slice and roll up. Combine the smaller eggplant slices to make longer strips if needed. Place each roll-up in casserole dish. Spoon marinara sauce over each. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 C of mozzarella cheese over casserole. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serves 2-6, depending on your side dish. If you serve with pasta (which I don't because of my carb-phobic husband), this dish goes further.

Related Recipes: Marinara Sauce

Jennifer's Marinara Sauce

1 28 oz. can of name-brand* crushed tomatoes
1 garlic clove crushed
3 TB of Extra-virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Basil
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1 TB Sugar

In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, cook the garlic clove in the olive oil just until the clove begins to brown. Remove from heat, remove the garlic clove, and allow the oil to cool. Once cool, add the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer over low heat until thoroughly heated.

*I use Hunts or Contandina. I have an aversion to generic tomato products, they seem much more acidic than the name brands.

Related Recipes: Three Cheese Eggplant Bake

Ovaltine Brownies

This recipe makes me love Devan even more. Since MOST of you hadn't ever had Ovaltine, I was so excited when Devan posted this recipe on her blog. She gave me permission to post it here.

I'm vindicated! Mwa ha ha!!
**********

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c butter
1/2 cup flour
1 and 1/3 cup rich chocolate ovaltine
1/4 tsp baking powder

Mix sugar, eggs and vanilla. Cream with butter. Add dry ingredients until well blended. Grease pan (8x11) and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes approximately. They have a yummy crusty top and sides, while the middle is squishy, chocolately goodness. I like to cut two, put ice cream in the middle and freeze for a short while.

They tend to get a little chewy around the edges while the middle is still soft, so the recipe isn't perfect, but still yummy.

Technorati Tags: brownie, Ovaltine

Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken

Another delicious contribution from Impostor Mom...This recipe reminded me of the sauce on the Asian Almond Shrimp at Zea.

1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp frozen OJ concentrate
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, more or less to taste
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp olive oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro, chopped (optional*)
green onions, chopped (optional)
slivered almonds (optional)**

In a small bowl, combine honey, orange juice, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.

In a skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add chicken, salt and pepper to taste, and brown, about 4 minutes per side.

Add honey mixture to the skillet and cook, turning to throughly coat the chicken. Cook 2 more minutes or until sauce begins to thicken.

To serve, place chicken on plate, spoon sauce over the top and sprinkle with cilantro,green onions, and slivered almonds.

Serves 6

*My husband didn't like the cilantro, so I suppose it's optional. I liked it MUCH better WITH the cilantro.
**I added slivered almonds to the original recipe.
***I'm going to try this sauce with grilled shrimp.

Technorati Tags: recipe, chicken, spicy, easy recipe, zea restaurant, cilantro