Cowboy Caviar

January 29, 2024 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

It’s been way too long since I’ve attended to my blog, and not because I haven’t been cooking. I’ve come to the realization that part of the reason I blog, in addition to wanting to share food with friends, is because I often have to search through my archives to find recipes that I’ve made, and want to make again. Like this recipe for Cowboy Caviar. This works great as a dip with corn chips or just on it’s own as a side salad. The fresh squeezed citrus gives it a bright, fresh taste. And it is SO colorful. I brought this to our Saturday Nighters group as my passing dish last weekend. As snack foods go I think it’s pretty healthy, and except for the chips, pretty low calorie! Lots of chopping is involved, but it comes together pretty quickly.

Cowboy (or Texas) Caviar was actually invented in the 1950s by Helen Corbitt. She was the food director for Neiman Marcus, and she first served this on New Years Eve at the Houston Country Club. Apparently the very humble ingredients are what inspired the name “Cowboy Caviar.” Regardless of what you call it, it is delicious.

Ingredients:

1 cup tomatoes diced

1/3 cup red onion diced

1 can black beans

1 can black eyed peas

1 1/2 cups frozen sweet corn

2 bell peppers diced

1 jalapeño diced

1/2 cup cilantro

1/3 cup olive oil

3 T fresh squeezed lime juice

2 T red wine vinegar

1 T sugar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Dice the tomatoes, red onion, bell peppers, and jalapeño into pieces about the size of the beans and corn kernels.

Drain and rinse the black eyed peas and black beans.

Remove most of the stems (a personal preference) and chop the cilantro.

Add all of the beans and diced ingredients into a large bowl. Make your dressing.

Whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, sugar, and garlic powder. Pour over the beans and vegetables and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy! With or without chips.

NOTE: I chose to use a red and a yellow bell pepper but any color will do. If you want a little more kick do not remove the jalapeño seeds or use the jarred pickled jalapeños. You can also add diced avocado.

Cowboy caviar tastes best if prepared a few hours before eating.

Granola

August 25, 2014August 25, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

Granola is great with yogurt and fruit, as a topping on ice cream, adding a little crunch and texture to hot cereal, or just as a snack by itself. I’m sure there are many other ways to enjoy it!

I made a batch this morning and am looking forward to having some with my yogurt as soon as I’m done posting this recipe.

In a large mixing bowl combine:
3 cups of oats (I use old fashion oats)
1 1/2 c nuts, rough diced (I use a combination of pecans, walnuts, and almonds)
1 1/2 c coconut shavings (not the sweetened coconut you find in the baking aisle)
1/2 c wheat germ, quinoa flakes, or flax seed…I used flax seed in this batch
2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a smaller bowl combine wet ingredients:
1/4 c coconut oil (warmed), mild olive oil or canola oil (I like to use the coconut oil)
1/2 c agave syrup, honey, or maple syrup (I used 1/4 c each of agave and honey)

Pour over dry ingredients and, using a wooden spoon, stir well. Pour mixture onto a large jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides) and spread evenly.

Bake at 300 for 30 minutes stirring mixture every 10 minutes. Granola should be a light golden brown when it’s done.

I spread butcher paper or parchment paper on my counter top and spread the granola out to cool.

While it is still warm stir in:
1 c dried cherries
1 c golden raisins
Or 2 cups of your favorite dried fruits (apricots, cranberries, figs, etc)

Once the granola has cooled store in tightly sealed containers.

Enjoy!!!

White Enchiladas

August 25, 2014September 13, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

Enchiladas with a little twist. Red on the inside, white on the outside. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

Chicken breast
2 cups chicken broth
2 cloves of garlic

Poach a chicken breast (mine was approx 12oz) in chicken broth along with a couple cloves of garlic. Once the chicken is done set it aside to cool and save the broth to use in the sauce.

1 medium onion diced
1 sweet red pepper diced
1T olive oil
Sauté over medium heat in olive oil.

1 cup fresh or frozen corn (thawed)
1 cup black beans
1 small can mild green chilies chopped
1 can or jar of stewed tomatoes
2 chipotle chilies in Adobe sauce finely diced

Stir into onion/pepper mix and simmer over low heat.

2 T cumin
1tsp garlic powder
1 T oregano
Salt to taste
Stir into veggie mix.

Using two forks shred the chicken breast.

Add the chicken to the veggies. Remove from the heat.

Now for the sauce.

4 T butter
4 T flour
1 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c half-n-half
1 T Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
1 1/2 c shredded cheese (sharp white cheddar, Monterey Jack, any combination of your choosing)

Melt butter and whisk in flour. Continue whisking for a bit over medium heat to work in the flour. Gradually stir in the broth and half-n-half and continue whisking until the sauce begins to thicken. Reduce heat and add cheeses a little at a time stirring to blend. Stir in Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

Now it’s assembly time. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread about a third of the sauce in a 9×13 pan. I line mine with the magical non stick Reynolds foil.

10 tortillas (flour or yellow or white corn)
Warm the tortillas in the microwave or over a flame on the stove.

Spoon a generous amount of filling in the center of the tortilla and roll. Place the filled tortilla seam side down in the prepared pan. Continue filling the warmed tortillas until you’ve used all the filling.

Pour the remaining sauce over the tortillas and top with additional grated cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly and browning on top.

Use as many garnishes as you like:
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Lime
Avocado
Black olives
Jalapeños
Salsa

Enjoy!!

For those of you that would rather go meatless add additional beans, corn and other veggies such as mushrooms, summer squash, etc) and omit the chicken. Veggie broth can be substituted for chicken broth.

I’m a little shy of really spicy dishes but you could add more chipotle chilies or a T of hot chili powder.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

August 24, 2014October 1, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This morning I made chocolate chip cookies. I had an admirer who, years ago, studied for the priesthood. He said my chocolate chip cookies were quintessential…apparently Latin for an A-one cookie! My daughter says they are the best…sweet and a little salty.

Here we go. You too can make the quintessential cookie!

Preheat oven to 375°F

Cream together:
1 c shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)
1 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2 tsp good vanilla

With a wooden spoon stir in:
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 generous cups chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)

Using a small scoop, place dough on un-greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 11 minutes.

Enjoy!!

A couple notes:
I use Airbake cookie sheets exclusively. I love them!

Once you put the cookies in the oven, don’t open and close and open and close the oven door to check on their progress.

These cookies, like most, are best right out of the oven. But I’ve found the best way to store them is to package individual servings (three or four cookies) in Ziploc sandwich bags in the freezer.

Canned Stewed Tomatoes

August 21, 2014September 13, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

Today was a canning day. Stewed tomatoes for lots of soup and chili days this winter. I bought a bushel of beautiful tomatoes from the farm market yesterday.

Because I was making stewed tomatoes the first thing I did was diced one large sweet onion, two sweet peppers and three or four stalks of celery. I did red and yellow peppers but green will work too.

Next step was to peel and core the tomatoes. I core and then put them in a pot of boiling water for a minute or so until the skins crack and slide off easily.

I core and peel about a quarter bushel at a time. Then I did a bite size dice and put them in a large stainless steel kettle over medium heat.

Once the tomatoes begin to simmer I stir in my diced vegetables and simmer them about 30 minutes.

We like garlic so I stir minced garlic into the tomatoes just before I begin filling my jars.

I use a canning funnel to ladle the hot tomatoes into jars that have been sterilized in boiling water. Once the jars are filled I add 1/2 tsp of sea salt and 1/8 tsp of citric acid.

The last step is putting the jars into a hot water bath making sure I have a couple inches of water over the jar lids. Once the water comes back up to a boil set the timer…35 minutes for pints, 45 minutes for quarts.

Now I have awesome tomatoes to enjoy all winter long.

Canning is a bit time consuming but not difficult at all. A half bushel of tomatoes yielded about 28 pints of stewed tomatoes. I will omit all the veggies for the second half bushel and hot pack a simple diced tomato.

Home-canned tomatoes make the best soups and chili and tomato sauce!

Pesto

August 21, 2014August 25, 2014 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

A good friend gave me a beautiful bouquet of fresh basil from her garden.

I find my salad spinner to be the best tool for washing fresh herbs.

Once the basil is clean and dry it goes into the food processor:
2 cups of packed basil leaves
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
and pulse until leaves are finely chopped. With food processor running on low add in a slow, steady stream:
1/2 cup good olive oil

Add salt and pepper to taste.