I ran across this recipe a week or so ago and have been waiting to try it. I have to “own up” to being a soup fanatic, well particularly in the winter and cool months. What can be better than a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold winter’s night or chilly afternoon?

This soup looked so easy and yummy…and healthy to boot! How could it go wrong?! I was right, it is so yummy!

There is a baked tortilla chip recipe to go along, but it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to, so, I’ll be playing with that a little more and tweaking it some. The taste is great for the soup and chips! Look for the chips in the future…

Spicy Corn Soup

1 – 16 oz package of frozen corn, thawed and divided

2 cups milk, divided (I used 2% milk)

¼ cup salsa

1 cup chopped onion (this is about 1 medium onion)

1 tablespoon water

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese for top of soup

Low fat sour cream for top of soup

1. Place 1 cup of corn and 1 ½ cups of the milk into a pot, bring mixture to a boil on medium heat. Really watch the milk at this step because if the heat is too high and you don’t watch it might scorch on the bottom and make a brown film on the bottom of the pan. Just be sure to stir to keep the milk from scorching or burning.

2. Combine the onion and 1 tbsp of water in a bowl, cover and microwave for 1 minute

3. Place the remaining corn and ½ cup of the milk in a blender and process until smooth. (I used out stick blender or immersion blender and it worked great!)

4. Add pureed mixture to the corn mixture in the pot.

5. Stir in the salsa, onions, and salt- cook for 12 minutes over medium heat.

6. Pour into bowls and garnish with cheddar cheese and sour cream.

Served with seasoned lime tortilla chips.

Enjoy!!

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

The other day I shared one of the newest and latest recipes Tall & Handsome and I tried. I had adapted Stir Fried Pork with Honey, Ginger and Lime from a Kylie Kwong’s cookbook. T & H really enjoyed the dish, so we moved on to another recipe we wanted to try – Chicken with Cashews.

I’ve had many variations of Chicken with Cashews over the years, but I’d never cooked it at home. It’s nice to have a recipe to cook at home, because we love Chinese, eat a lot of chicken and love cashews. It’s a win, win, win situation.

If you can, try to find and patronize your local Chinese market. We’ve been spoiled over the years in that we’ve had one very near to where we live. Our “local” market where we live now is all the way downtown. I joke with T & H and tell him we need to open one up on this side of town. The ingredients you find at a Chinese specialty market tend to be superior than what you can find at your local big box market plus you’ll also be able to find those hard to find ingredients like cloud ears, rice stick, really good oyster sauce, etc. Local Chinese markets usually carry produce, too.

One adaptation to this recipe: Kylie uses 2 tablespoon of cornstarch in the marinade for the chicken. We tried that and it created a huge mess…it gunked up in the bottom of the wok. We decided it would be better to make a slough with the cornstarch and water then quickly stir it into the dish right before serving to thicken any juice. I personally think it would be good without that step period.

Chicken with Cashew

1 lbs. 10 oz. boneless chicken breast cut into 1 inch bite size pieces

¼ cup vegetable oil (again, I use peanut oil when cooking Asian)

1 cup unsalted Cashews (you can use salted but, eliminate salt and just season slightly to taste)

6 cloves garlic, minced finely

2 tablespoons dry sherry

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup green onions finely sliced

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Marinade:

2 tablespoons dry sherry

1 tablespoon lite soy sauce

1. Marinate chicken in marinade for 30 minutes.

2. Next heat 2 tablespoons oil in hot work until oil shimmers. Add half the chicken and stir fry 1 minute or until chicken begins to lose pink color. Remove from wok with slotted spoon and place on a platter.

3. There should be enough oil left in wok to stir fry remaining half of chicken. (If not add just a touch of oil and allow to get hot.) Add remaining half of chicken and stir fry at least 1 minute or until chicken is not longer pink. Remove chicken from wok and place on platter.

4. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok. Over medium heat stir fry quickly garlic and cashews for 30 seconds.

5. Return chicken to the wok with the garlic and cashews, turn heart back on high. Add sherry and stir fry 30 seconds.

6. If using unsalted cashews adjust seasoning with kosher salt and continue cooking another 30 seconds or until chicken is lightly brown.

7. If needed, you can now use a slough of 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water t0 thicken any juices. Pour into wok and stir quickly. I think it would be just as good without!

8. Add half the sliced green onions and stir fry 10 seconds.

9. Pour on platter and garnish with remaining green onions. Serve with rice.

Enjoy!!

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

This recipe from Taste of Home looked so yummy, I had to share. Per my usual (could I call it a need or desire, practice…) to tweak recipes, I think I might add a touch of cinnamon to the recipe!

These muffins from The Novice Chef looked so yummy on a winter’s morn, I just had to share.

Many years ago, and I do many, my sister and I took Chinese cooking classes at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham). We had a great time and learned a lot. I bought my first wok at that class…a wok I used to this day. (Tall & Handsome and I have another wok we purchased to use when out of town and traveling. Yes, it’s true. We love cooking and Chinese that much.)

Flash forward those many years and my sister and her husband flew to China to bring home their first child, Abbi, who is the light of my life. Now when I cook Chinese I can’t help but think of my little sweetie and the paths life takes sometimes and how blessings enter our life when we least expect them.

This week (Jan. 23) started Chinese New Year, the most important holiday for Chinese culture. It’s a time for families and reunions. This year happens to be the year of the Dragon. For us in Central Alabama it was a day of tragedy as we dealt with yet another outbreak of tornados. The devastation is staggering. We will be glad to move forward to happier things.

Tall & Handsome and I use the kitchen and cooking to spend time together and ease our minds of the cares around us. Nothing takes you mind off of worries like throwing a good meal together. And, lately, that has been Chinese! Wonder why?

Today’s recipe is adapted from one by Kylie Kwong. I just took some of my Chinese cooking knowledge, my taste buds and made some adjustments I thought would enhance the dish. The end result? T & H said he’d like to have it again. I guess that’s a thumbs up.

Stir Fried Pork with Honey, Ginger and Lime

1 pound and 4 ounces boneless pork loin, cut into ¼ inch slices

¼ cup vegetable oil (for Asian cooking I like to use peanut oil)

2 green onions, cut into two inch sections

1 tablespoon malt vinegar

1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon water

2 limes, quartered

Marinade:

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons dry sherry

Zest of one lime

Juice of ½ fresh lime

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (this type is a little thicker)

2 teaspoons Five Spice Powder

½ teaspoon sesame oil

1. Combine sliced pork and marinade. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok on high until the oil is hot and shimmering.

3. Add ½ of the pork and stir fry until pork loses its pink color. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a platter.

4. Add the other 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok and allow it to get hot. Then add the remaining pork stir fry until it loses its pink color.

5. Next, return the first batch of pork to the wok along with green onions, vinegar, soy sauce and water. Stir fry for about 1 minute.

6. Add quartered limes and stir.

7. Serve on platter. Served with rice.

Enjoy!!

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Although we do eat a lot of chicken, we also enjoy the “other white meat”. That would be good lean pork loin or tenderloin. A study completed a few years ago revealed lean pork was a good food for dieters because it leaves a person feeling satisfied longer (thus lowering the urge to snack), is lower in fat and high in protein.

One of our favorite ways to cook pork loin is to grill it…of course, when you live with a grillmaster that has to be the way.

Looking for something a little different today, we opted to go ethnic again and try a jerk pork recipe. (I keep telling Tall & Handsome how much I love jerk and that some of the best barbeque I ever had was on St. Thomas, VI…different, but fabulous!) So, this evening’s fare is Boneless Jerk Pork with Glazed Sweet Potatoes, a recipe adapted from a Weber cookbook. (The recipe calls for tenderloin but we had a loin roast and used it.)

Jerk Pork Tenderloin

2 – 1 pound pork tenderloins

For the paste:

8 green onions

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (we used canola oil)

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh ginger

2 tablespoon fresh lime juice

2 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

½ jalapeno pepper, seeded and deveined (You can you a hotter pepper if you want more heat)

1 tablespoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar.

1. Place paste ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, for about 2 minutes.

2. Cover tenderloin with the paste. (We found placing the tenderloin in a zip lock bag and pouring the paste in worked the best.)

3. Marinate and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours. Before grilling allow to stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Grill over direct medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes (for tenderloin) or 45 to 50 minutes for a pork loin roast and pork is slightly pink inside (internal temp should be about 180°.)

Glazed Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes (1 pound each)

Grated zest of 2 limes

¼ cup lime juice

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon kosher sale

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl mix the ingredients together for the glaze.

2. Peel and wash the sweet potatoes. Cut into ½ inch slices.

3. Brush both sides on potatoes with glaze.

4. Grill on direct medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, turning and basting with the glaze every 5 minutes. Also, baste the tenderloin when you baste the potatoes.

Enjoy!!

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

By Beverly Hicks Burch

At our house, Thai food is usually a top choice if it’s being offered or cooked for that matter. We prepared stir fried, curry, soups, desserts and now, as a first a “beer can” or roasted chicken.

Beer can chicken can be a misnomer. I was talking to my dad about it the other day when I was telling him was we were cooking that night. (We had given him a chicken roaster similar to T & H’s Weber’s chicken roaster.) I’m not sure who invented “beer can chicken”. But, as I told my Dad, in my mind he had to be some good ol’ boy that was in the center field at Talladega and was three sheets in the wind and decided it would be a GREAT idea to stick the south end of a whole chicken on a beer can and cook it on the grill. It must have worked, because it became a revered way to cook a whole bird.

Safety minded folk must have decided there was a better way to execute this concept and invented the chicken roaster for the grill. The bird grills upright, so the fat runs down, and there is a well in the center of the roaster to fill with whatever liquid you desire to permeate you bird with flavor and moisture.

One year as a gift I gave T & H a nifty little cookbook called, you guessed it, Beer Can Chicken: and 74 Other Offbeat Recipes for the Grill. Today’s recipe is a recipe adapted from that book. I would make one suggestion concerning the sauce. We used regular chunky peanut butter and found it a little oily…I blotted and skimmed most off, but next time, I’ll use a low fat peanut butter. Other than that, the sauce tastes great!

Roasted Thai Coconut Chicken

For the Rub:

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh minced lemongrass (if you’re unable to obtain this Thai ingredient, 2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest will do)

1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger

3 tablespoons vegetable oil (since this is a Thai recipe, I used peanut oil)

Reserve 1 tablespoon of the rub for the basting glaze.

For the roaster well:

¾ cup lite coconut milk (or as much as you well will hold)

1 stalk fresh lemon grass or several strip fresh lemon zest

2 chunks (about the size of quarters) 0f fresh ginger

And:

1 – 31/2 to 4 pound whole chicken

1. Prepare rub by placing ingredients in a blender and making a paste. Reserve 1 tablespoon for the basting glaze.

2. Remove the giblets from the chicken. Wash, clean and blot dry the chicken. Rub the paste onto the chicken, covering completely. Place in a large zip lock bag and place in the fridge for about 4hours.

3. Just before cooking, place the ingredients for the well of the roaster into the well.

4. Next place the chicken onto the roaster. Tuck the wing tips behind the chicken’s back.

5. Grill over indirect medium heat for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours or until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reaches 180° After the chicken as cooked 45 minutes, begin basting with the basting glaze and baste every 15 minutes until the chicken is done.

6. When done, let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving.

Coconut-Peanut Sauce

2 tablespoons peanut oil

3 shallots, finely minced

2 gloves garlic, finely minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced

1 to 2 Thai Chiles or Jalapenos (we used Jalapenos and deveined and seeded them)

1 teaspoon ground coriander

¾ cup lite coconut

¾ cup low fat chunky peanut butter

2 tablespoon lite soy sauce (you can use fish sauce)

1 – 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro

1. Heat oil on high heat.

2. Next add shallots, garlic, ginger, chiles, and coriander. Stir and cook about 3 minutes until golden and tender.

3. Stir in coconut milk and bring to a boil.

4. Stir in peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, and black pepper.

5. Reduce heat and cook about 5 minutes or until thickened.

6. Adjust seasoning by adding soy sauce and lime juice as needed.

7. Stir in cilantro.

Makes about 2 cups.

Enjoy!!

Thai Coconut Roaster on the roaster for the grill

Coconut-Peanut Sauce

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Indian Style Rice with Cashews & Raisins

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I use canola or peanut oil)

1 ½ cups basmati rice (can use other long grain rice, but basmati has a wonderful, beautiful texture)

1 14 oz lite coconut milk

1 14 oz. can low sodium chicken broth

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric (this was originally omitted from the recipe and should not have been)

2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

1 pinch crushed red pepper

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 bay leaf

¾ cup raisins

¾ cup cashews

1. In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat until hot.

2. Add rice and cook for two minutes or until toasted and slightly golden.

3. Next stir in coconut milk, chicken broth, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, salt, turmeric, bay leaf, raisins and cashews.

4. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Adapted from a recipe from Kylie Kwong

This recipe is easily doubled and most of the time we stir fry two pounds of asparagus at a time.

Stir Fried Asparagus with Garlic

1 pound fresh asparagus

2 tablespoon peanut oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

2 tablespoons dry sherry

1/3 cup chicken broth or stock

1 ½ teaspoon sesame seed oil (can adjust to your taste)

1 – 2 splashes of low sodium soy sauce

1. Prepare asparagus by washing and removing woody ends. Cut on the diagonal in half.

2. Heat oil in a wok on high. Add garlic and salt and stir fry just a few seconds…about 10.

3. Then add asparagus and stir fry for one minute.

4. Next add sherry and continue cooking 30 seconds.

5. Add chicken broth and stir fry and additional 30 seconds.

6. Season with sesame oil and a couple of splashes of low sodium sauce. Give a quick stir and serve immediately.

Enjoy!!

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

I’m still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact another year has past and 2012 is here. Even more so that we’re well into a decade of the infamous 2000s!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, glorious holiday season. My best gift was spending it with my Tall & Handsome.

I know many of you, especially my Southern friends, family and reader have a certain tradition for New Year’s Day food. And, that would be black-eye peas and greens (collards, mustard, turnips, etc. Before I became a greens eater, I substituted green beans or broccoli. ) This combination is suppose the grant you health, happiness and prosperity. Of course there are a few variations on this menu, but I guarantee you, mine is the most diverse variation you’ll find…for a Southern gal that is.

You see, when T & H and I got married, I wanted to keep some of the traditions he had enjoyed in New Mexico. A melding of traditions as you say. So, we started our own tradition of having Posole for New Year’s Day every year. Posole is a southwestern pork, hominy and green chile stew. Serve it with warm buttered flour (or whole wheat tortilla). Drizzle with red enchilada sauce. You can find the recipe here. Every year (and every pot I fix) he tells me, “Wow, you got a good scald on this!” which is T & H speak for, “OMGosh this is fatastic!”

Posole drizzled with enchilada sauce

Then of course, yesterday was my birthday. T & H whipped me up my Red Velvet Cake Made Easy (at my request ). This is one of the easiest Red Velvet Cakes to make. It is based on a recipe I found in The Cake Doctor cookbook, but I tweaked it to make it lower in fat. It’s still yummy and the best T & H says he’s every had. Click on the link for the recipe.

Red Velvet Cake Made Easy – and yes, it has been cut

I’m looking forward to sharing more great and wonderful recipes and food experiences with you in 2012!

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved