KNR, p. 257 “Jalapeno Tex-Mex Cheese Bread”
During the pandemic, we’ve tried a few quick bread recipes, because yeast cannot be found anywhere. This bread is so creamy and moist that it’s going to be on the menu at the Kerrian house long after Covid19 has left the planet. Sheila played around with the balance of peppers, and finally decided to leave out habanero pepper, since that one is harder to find in the average grocery store. We can toast the cheesy bread for breakfast or serve it for lunch/dinner with chili.
"Jalapeno Mexican Cheese Bread"
Author: Sheila Kerrian
Recipe type: bread
Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon powdered garlic
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 6 ounces (1 package) shredded Mexican 3 or 4 cheese mix
- 1/4 cup drained, diced jalapeno peppers (canned Old El Paso works well)
- 2 Tablespoons diced fresh red bell pepper
- 1 extra large egg
- 1 cup 2 % milk
- 3 Tablespoons melted margarine
Instructions
- Thoroughly whisk dry ingredients together in large bowl.
- Add shredded cheese, jalapeno peppers, and red bell pepper, and stir.
- Combine milk, egg, and butter in small bowl and beat lightly with a fork.
- Make a well in the center of the cheese/flour combination and pour the liquid into the well. Blend dry and wet ingredients together with a large spoon, being careful to spread the peppers throughout.
- Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 9”x5” bread pan.
- Bake for 45+ minutes in 350 degree oven until golden brown on top and done in the center - skewer inserted in center will come out clean. Edges of the loaf should pull away from the sides of the pan in final five minutes of baking.
- Cool in the pan on a rack. Slice, serve and enjoy.
First and foremost, the listed ingredients have been easy to find at the store. We make extra every time and pass it around to the neighbors. Give it a try. 🙂
* Photos taken in the Kerrian Kitchen
KNR, p. 255 “Easy Chicken Soup”
Honestly, it’s been odd doing the grocery shopping during this time of shortages. I head to the usual aisles for the produce and find a ready supply of celery and carrots, but not always potatoes of any kind. Fresh onions and garlic? None in sight for days. Our store makes rotisserie chicken every day, so when we can’t find raw chicken in the meat section, we grab a cooked garlic roast chicken which can serve four hungry people – more if you make soup with it.
We picked this soup recipe for Kerrian’s Notebook because the ingredients have been available every day, no matter which large grocery store we visit. We’ve made it several times during the last three weeks, so it’s definitely been taste-tested. Adjust the spices to your family’s palate.
"Easy Chicken Soup"
Author: Charlie & Sheila Kerrian
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: American
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 32ounce box of low sodium chicken broth (Swanson’s has a nice organic version)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1.5 cups sliced fresh baby carrots
- 1.5 cups diced fresh celery, 1/4 inch pieces
- 1 cup canned diced potatoes
- 1/2 cup potato water from diced potato can
- 1 heaping teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 heaping teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cooked rotisserie chicken
- 1/2 cup canned young sweet peas
Instructions
- In large soup pot, sprinkle sea salt evenly on bottom of pan.
- Add carrots, celery, and one cup of the chicken broth, cover the pot and simmer on medium high heat until carrots and celery are tender, ten to fifteen minutes, stirring every five minutes.
- While celery and carrots are simmering, chop the rotisserie chicken into 1/2 inch pieces, (about 3 cups) and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium, add diced potatoes, potato water, garlic powder, and onion powder to pot and stir.
- Add 3 cups chicken broth to the pot and stir.
- Add 3 cups chopped chicken to the pot and stir until well mixed.
- Cover pot and heat soup mixture for about ten minutes until it bubbles around the edges, stirring occasionally.
- Add peas to the pot, tossing gently, and heat another five minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve with crusty bread or crackers.
As with any home prepared food, the leftovers keep for up to four days in the refrigerator.
Good news: it can be frozen in individual portion containers, and freezing extends the shelf life for two weeks. So double the recipe and you’ll have enough for another night. You might want to add more chicken broth when reheating.
Enjoy!
KNR, p. 253 “Bacon Wrapped Pineapple”
Our football pals have never asked for fruit on the table at our Game Day gatherings. Somebody always brings the fresh veggies that we use to scoop up the dips, but fruit never entered the conversations about football food. Until this year.
After Sheila and I got over our surprise, we chatted and came up with a way to keep the diehard ‘meat only’ guys and gals happy and to accept the intruder onto the tried and true menu. Veggies are a way to deliver dips, but fruit? It’s more like dessert to our crowd.
Bacon & pineapple – that’s the combo. We fixed a few spears of pineapple and bacon, and surrounded the platter with straight pineapple and whole slices of bacon – for those that liked either one, but not the two together.
Take a look at the easy prep and give it a try at home. There were a few scowls when the platter first came out, but I promise you, nobody died that tried it.
This may be the hardest part of the whole process – Choosing the ripe whole pineapple: hold the pineapple in one hand while pushing against the slightly yellowed/golden sections near the bottom with the other hand. If the sections give a bit, the pineapple is most likely ripe. Give it a sniff as well. There should be a mild pineapple aroma when up close with your nose. No give? No aroma? The pineapple is not likely to be ripe enough for this dish.
Fresh pineapple is very juicy, so keep that in mind when choosing the cutting surface. Using a large knife, carefully remove the crown and the base. Then, slice off the outer pineapple skin, just enough to get rid of the rough and brown parts. For this recipe, you will keep the fleshy part, but toss the crown, the core, and the outer rough skin.
KN, p. 253 "Bacon Wrapped Pineapple"
Author: Sheila & Charlie Kerrian
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12-20 servings
Ingredients
- 1 whole ripe pineapple
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 pound center cut bacon
- Optional: pineapple rings for decoration
Instructions
- Keep the pineapple upright and slice sections from top to bottom, each about six inches long. Then slice those sections into inch wide spears, about 11-12 in all.
- Cut 11-12 strips of bacon in half and arrange on parchment or aluminum foil lined shallow baking dish (or cookie tray with sides).
- Bake the 22-24 pieces at 375 degrees for ten minutes only and remove from oven.
- The partially cooked bacon pieces will shrink a bit, but should still be long enough to wrap once around the pineapple.
- Cut pineapple spears in half, about 3” long each.
- Place brown sugar in a bowl and roll each pineapple spear in the sugar, lightly coating.
- Line the bottom of a clean, shallow baking dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
- Wrap one piece partially cooked bacon around one pineapple piece, tucking the bacon ends underneath the pineapple, then place in the clean baking dish, tucked ends on the bottom.
- Repeat the wrapping process until all the bacon halves have been used.
- Bake tray of bacon wrapped pineapple for an additional 10-15 minutes at 375 degrees until bacon is cooked all the way through, nicely browned.
Remove from cooking dish, drain if necessary, and place onto serving platter. Can be eaten warm or cold.
Enjoy!