Chuck's Tomato Dip

This quick and easy dip recipe is similar to a salsa. Try it in place of salsa in your favorite recipes, or just use it as the name describes, a dip. It's great with tortilla chips.

Chuck's Tomato Dip

* 1 20 ounce can of diced tomatoes
* 1 onion, finely diced
* 1 bell pepper, finely diced
* 4-6 jalapeno peppers, finely diced
* 1 clove of garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 cup vinegar
* 1/4 cup ketchup
* 1/4 teaspoon each of thyme, oregano, basil and rosemary

Place everything in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, store in an airtight container and refrigerate. Serve with chips.

Ground beef pistolets

Generally known as "French rolls" pistolets are are used for stuffing, frying and handy sandwiches. If you're doing stuffed pistolets, such as these, look for rolls that aren't well browned. If you can find 4-6 inch long brown and serve dinner rolls, those would be perfect. If all you can find are browned rolls, those will be fine too.

Pistolets can be stuffed with any number of things. Crawfish, shrimp, sausage, veggies, whatever you like. It is a good way to use up bits of leftovers. This recipe is for approximately 50-60 sandwiches, or a small invasion force. Feel free to reduce the amount. One pound of meat will make about 10-12 sandwiches.

Ground beef pistolets for a crowd

* 50-60 french bread rolls, 4-6 inches long
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 3 onions, diced
* 2 stalks celery, sliced
* 1 bell pepper, diced
* 5 pounds ground beef
* 1 large box Velveeta cheese
* 40 ounces of frozen chopped broccoli, defrosted and drained well
* salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Hollow out the bread by cutting off the tip and pulling out the insides. Save the tip. Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the onions, celery, and bell pepper and sautee. Add the ground beef and brown well. Stir in the broccoli and add in the Velveeta. Add salt and pepper if you feel it needs it. Fill the hollowed out bread with the ground beef mixture. Stick the tips back on, otherwise the filling runs out everywhere. Brush with some melted butter and arrange on baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes.

Pistolets for not so big a crowd

* 10-12 french bread rolls, 4-6 inches long
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 onion, diced
* 1 stalk celery, sliced
* 1/2 bell pepper, diced
* 1 pound ground beef
* 1 small box Velveeta cheese
* 10 ounces frozen chopped broccoli, defrosted and well drained
* salt and pepper to taste.

The directions are the same as for the larger amount above.

Easy Summer Cooking.

Summer's here and most of us are looking for ways to stay out of the kitchen and stay cool. Here at Chez Jal, we eat lots of salads and cook on the grill as much as we can. Following is one of my favorite salads, and I like it anytime of the year.

Wheat Berry Salad

1/2 cup wheat berries
3 cups of water
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced radish
1/2 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
5 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 medium tomatoes, seed and chopped
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Place the wheat berries and water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and simmer until berries are tender, usually at least one hour.
Drain berries and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors mingle. Serve cold or at room temperature.

quickie

Before I go to bed, I thought I would post a quick recipe that I tried recently.

Mango and Avocado salad
adapted from Prevention magazine.

2 mangoes, diced
4 avocados, diced
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 packed cup parsley, chopped
1/4 packed cup mint, chopped
juice and zest of 2 limes

Toss ingredients together, chill for 1 hour. Serve as an accompaniment to grilled meats.

One World, One Plate: Tuna Surprise

One World, One Plate: Tuna Surprise

Ham Fried Rice Surprise

This was NOT what was supposed to be for dinner tonight. I was going to make a hash with leftover Easter ham and sweet potatoes. However, the bag of frozen diced orange things in my freezer were not sweet potatoes. They were carrots. SURPRISE! Luckily I thought to taste them before I dumped the whole bag into the skillet. So I just didn't use the whole bag, cut back on the amount of ham I was going to use and added some precooked rice with raisins I had in the fridge. It was FANTASTIC!!! It was so good, mom made me go make some more rice so I could make another batch of it.

Ham Fried Rice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup shredded or diced ham
1-2 tbsp of ham juice/drippings
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet until smoking hot. Carefully add the carrots, celery and onion. Stir fry until onion is translucent and beginning to color. Add the rice and raisins and mix into the vegetable mixture. Toss in the ham and mix it in along with the ham juice. Add salt and pepper and heat the mixture thoroughly.

Cake

I hope everyone had a great Easter. I've been doing some baking this week. not for Easter, but just because. The first cake I made was from scratch, the second one used a mix. I'll try to give you the recipes, but I have a tendency to not measure. First is the homemade cake. This is a basic 1-2-3-4 cake. Look at the ingredients list and you'll see why!

Chocolate Chip, Pecan and Coconut Cake

1 cup oil
2 cup sugar
3 cups self rising flour
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla, coconut or butter extract/flavoring
8 tablespoons liquid (I used water, but feel free to use what you have)
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cup angel flake coconut

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare your pan by spraying with nonstick spray (I use Bakers Joy when I bake). Whisk the oil, sugar and eggs together until light and lemony in color. Stir in the flour, incorporating it well. Add the liquid and mix well. Stir in the pecans, chips and coconut, blending well (lots of wells...it's a deep cake!). Pour the batter into your prepared pan(s). Bake until golden brown and a tester comes out clean (not including melted chocolate chips!).
Allow to cool on in the pan for about 10 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to finish cooling. Frost, glaze or leave plain as you like.

This one is a dump cake. You basically dump everything into your pan, stir it up and put it in the oven. Lots of people use pie filling, I find that too sweet, so I use either canned or fresh fruit. Use whatever is in season.

1 cake mix
1 can of fruit, drained, juice reserved
1/2 cup nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Read the directions on the back of the cake mix. Gather those ingredients together, using the juice from the fruit instead of water. Dump the fruit into the bottom of an 8x8 pan, then the nuts, then sprinkle the cake mix on top. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, oil and liquid. Pour over everything and mix it together lightly. Place in the oven and bake until set. It should take about 30-45 minutes. Allow to cool until you just can't stand it!