February 2006

3 green onions
3 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 lemons
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 Tbsp. butter
2 broiler chickens, split into halves
salt and pepper, to taste
Paprika

Combine all ingredients except chicken, salt, pepper and paprika in boiler. Warm.

Place chickens on broiler pan, cut side down. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn chickens; cover with half the sauce. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn and add remaining sauce.

Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and paprika. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour longer.

Yield: 4 servings

Unique and worth the trouble!
Joi

For more chicken recipes, check out 50 Favorite Chicken Recipes - a little e-book compiled by two of my daughters.

Starbucks 2-lb. Whole Bean Coffee, Kenya

Do you experiment with different coffee beans, different flavors, levels of boldness, etc? For the love of everything right and decent in the world, I hope so! The whole coffee experience is too delicious to confine to Folgers after Folgers after Folgers. Once you start branching out and trying new types of beans, you’ll open up a whole new world of taste….you’ll wonder what took you so long!

One of the first new flavors you should try is Kenya. It has a wonderful fruity flavor and seems to be incapable of making a bad pot of coffee. The link above is to Starbuck’s - a giant in the world of coffee if there ever was one. If you click on over to their site, you’ll find tons of information on not only Kenya, but others as well.

I could restate everything they say there here, but I’ve pretty much put myself in the mood for a cup of coffee…so it’s off to the kitchen.

Have a fun weekend. Try something new!
Joi

Okay, so my post title may be a little over zealous. Chamomile tea won’t necessarily make your dreams any sweeter, but it will cause them to come sooner.

Chamomile is used the world over as a sleep aid, but apparently this herb is as overly zealous as my post title! It is also used as a pain reliever, antispamodic, relaxant, and anti-inflammatory.

Chamomile tea can be found in any grocery store, but be warned, without sweetener, this tea isn’t exactly a pleasure to your palate. In fact, I use a little sugar, lemon, AND a honey. By the time I’m finished with it, a diabetic couldn’t get in the same room with the cup!

2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 hard-boiled eggs
2 TBS onion
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup almonds, sliced
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 - 3/4 cup Ritz Crackers, crumbled

Combine all ingreidents in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Top with cracker crumbs and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I love this stuff!

When our daughter Emily was barely old enough to talk, the word Valentine’s was just beyond her, so she called Valentine’s Day “Love Day” - I kind of think that’s a more appropriate name for it anyway!

Through Buttermilk Press, we sell a series of cookbooks in PDF form. These include:

50 Favorite Chicken Recipes

131 Ice Cream Maker Recipes

65 Traditional Amish Recipes

South of the Border Recipes

More are in the works….especially since people are nearly demanding sequels to the last two!

An amazing ebook that we haven’t gotten around to selling yet, Chocolate Recipes for Chocolate Lovers, is just sitting in our files waiting to be loved! Frankly, it takes a lot of work to set up a salespage - plus we’ve enjoyed using the chocolate recipes as a special “Thank You” bonus for people who buy our other collections.

Anyway, in the honor of today, if you click the chocolatey link above, you’ll see that I’m giving you this e-book as a gift. Open it up, save a copy and enjoy the culinary heaven that is chocolate.

Happy Love Day!
Joi

There’s a great article at Prevention.com waiting for you:

8 Simple Nutrition Principles to Boost Your Heart Health

Take a little time from your busy Monday and give it a read. Click the links and even print the information out.

Get serious about your health and take the advice to heart!

Have an awesome Monday,
Joi

If you’re familiar with the Taste of Home Magazine, you’ll know why I wholeheartedly recommend (and buy) anything with their name attached. No other publication on the market has more consistently usable and reusable recipes. I think it’s because their recipes come from their readers rather than some test kitchen. We all know that our home kitchens produce the best food known to man or his taste buds!

The TASTE OF HOME PRIZE WINNING RECIPES COOKBOOK hardcover cookbook features 180 just such recipes. Each recipe features a photograph as well as an antecdote from each contributor (I live for those!).

If you click the links above, you can purchase this cookbook from Avon for under $10.00. At that price, you could buy a little perfume, cologne or make-up while you’re at it.

I absolutely love Avon! Their make-up, lotion and bath products are better than most you find in stores. In fact, I’ve always wished their goodies were more readily available - if they had a shop in the mall, for example, I’d be there more than the workers. At least they have a website - they process the orders quickly, sometimes it seems as though you have your order faster than the Avon lady would show up with it.

I also love the fact that the company gives so much back to the community. They’re as active in Breast Cancer research as any company I’ve ever read about. Very commendable.

Joi

1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tsp. coconut flavoring
1 package frozen coconut (6 oz.)
1 tsp salt

GLAZE:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp coconut flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix oil and sugar together. Add other ingredients, mix well and bake in a greased and floured bundt pan for 50-60 minutes.

Glaze: Boil sugar and water for 1 minute. Add flavoring. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes. Punch holes in cake with a fork and spoon on glaze.

This cake is sheer heaven for me because it combines two of my culinary addictions - coconut and Buttermilk. Delicious! Oddly enough, this cake is even better after sitting a couple of days. It also freezes well.

Joi
Self Help Daily

4 Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 Bottle Barbeque Sauce
1 (12 oz.) Coke
1 Medium Onion (optional)

Combine Barbeque Sauce and coke. Mix well. Slice onion, add to sauce. Add Chicken Breast, cover and simmer on medium heat for about 25 to 30 minutes. Take Chicken out and pour sauce over it.

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 TBS plus 1 tsp baking powder
1 TBS sugar
1/3 cup lard
3/4 to 1 cup scalded milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift together the dry ingredients. Cut into the lard with a pastry blender. Add enough milk to form a soft dough and knead briefly.

Roll out 1/4 inch thick on a floured board. Cut out with a 2 inch biscuit cutter (or round cookie cutter) .

Bake for about 10 minutes - until risen and browned. You don’t want to overbake them, though, so check after 8.

Serve with plenty of butter and preserves. These are incredibly good and taste just as you’d expect: Like biscuitish corn muffins or corn muffinish biscuits. Ridiculously delicious any way you say it!

Joi