Haitian *Iced* Coffee and Vanilla

This is a little creation of my own. I was able to get a lot of Haitian Coffee and Haitian Vanilla since I went to Haiti February-April. It has really great flavor partially because it is just so fresh! The Vanilla is almost sweet, it is so good in drinks. I have been putting just a little in my coffee and have no need for sugar.

I really like iced coffee, so I will often pour it over ice. There are two ways you can do this, you can put your coffee in the refrigerator, then when it is cold pour it over ice. This will keep it strong and it won't taste bitter like if you let it sit out. The other way you can do it is to pour the hot coffee over ice. This will make it more like iced tea, it's mild, but it just depends what you like. I like both, and especially with Vanilla. You can add cream and sugar if you like it as well.

If sugar is desired, mix first with cream or a little coffee
Fill glass with ice to the brim
Pour hot or cold coffee over ice
Add Vanilla and enjoy!

I'm in Haiti - You'll enjoy this recipe!

Well, I've enjoyed the past 6 weeks in Haiti, the food is good. Sometimes the beans and rice we eat every day for lunch gets a little tiring, but it's not bad so I have no complaint. We have potatoes every day in a form which I call "Haitian Fries" they are good, and with American ketchup, you'd think it was fast food.

~Haitian Fries~

Peel potatoes according to the quantity you wish to eat. Slice them 1/8 inch or so thick and put them in a bowl of salt water. Heat a pan of oil and deep fry the potatoes. When they are golden and crispy, use a slotted dipper or spoon to remove them carefully. Drain them as well as you can and serve them hot.

I will have more to share about Haitian food and how to prepare it soon.

Cassaroles de la Opera

I have been making a lot of cassaroles lately. With 8 people and some working on different schedules, it's nice when there is food, and even better when everyone is home. I generally work an early shift which is 5:00 am to 12:00 pm, my day starting at 4:00. I get home in the early afternoon and relax for a while, and sometimes take a nap, then I get back to work on home projects.

I'll sometimes make Lunch, but more often I make Dinner. Nobody has a schedule as far as plans for meals go. I usually ask my sisters if they have any plans for dinner, and mom will usually mention it if she has something going. When I do get free range in the Kitchen, I just plain old love to create new and exciting recipes. Cooking is an extra joy for me, I feel like I've done a job well if everyone is full and satified, and the plus is, when a meal is made, everyone sits down together and we enjoy family time and make good conversations.

Cassarole Techniques

We bought 50 lbs of Hamburger recently for .99 a lb and it came in the 5 lb logs. I like to get the meat out of the freezer ahead of time, because this usually inspires us all to cook meals and think ahead on them. So, "10 lbs of chicken thawed is worth 50 in the freezer." Right? ;) When I use hamburger logs, I take one third for the meal I am making and seperate the other two thirds into Ziplock bags for two other meals. (This ensures that it will be used evenly and nobody comes out short when trying to prepare food.)

I recently discovered that while I brown the Hamburger, Saute' the Onoins and prepare the other ingrediants, I can start the oven and put about 1/2 inch of Rice or Cornmeal in my cassarole dish and cover it with an equal amount of water. This is an advantage because, number one, I don't have to use another pan, and number two I don't have to cook it completely before adding the other ingrediants. The other thing I like about it is the way thickens so nicely on the bottom and absorbes excess moisture. (This kind of keeps it from falling apart when it's served.)

My new blogspot friend Retired Homeschool Mom was sharing a recipe for Zesty Sausage and Beans, I am planning to make a variation of it as a Cassarole. Yummy!

Rice, Beans, and Sausage topped with Salsa and Sour Cream.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1 C. Butter
1 C. Sour Cream
1 TSP. Vanilla

1 1/2 C. Sugar
1 TBSP. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt

Cream together in Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, other Mixer or by hand.

Add the following 1 Egg plus 1 C. Flour at a time, mixing each time on a low setting until smooth again.

3 C. Flour
3 Eggs


Filling/Topping

1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Sugar
1 TBSP. Cinnamon

Wisk together.

Oil your pan with cooking oil-spray or butter. A 10 in. spring-form pan works best. Put half of the batter in the pan, then pat it flat with a rubber spatula. Add half of the sugar filling, and spread it almost to the sides. Pat the next layer of batter flat and smooth the remaining sugar mixture on top. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, Bake for 45-60 minutes (Oven time may vary). When cake does not jiggle like pudding when moved slightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack until cool enough to handle (10-15 minutes usually), then use the spring mechanism of your pan to remove the sides. Let cool completely or serve warm. May be frozen.

Are you “Zuched”? Zuchinni recipes.

Well, we are “Zuched”. We didn’t even plant a garden this year, but one of my older sisters did, and she has Zuchinni “coming out her ears”. OK, you can relate, right? Here’s a newly discovered recipe from our kitchen -

Zuchinni Potato Salad

8-10 medium sized boiled Potatoes, chilled and cubed
One large Zuchinni, grated
1 small-medium Onion, chopped (optional)
3 sticks of Celery, chopped (optional)
5 boiled Eggs, (optional)
1/4-3/4 cup Mayo
1-2 tsp Mustard (optional)

Stir together and serve chilled as a side dish.

Zuchinni Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs (at room temperature), lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded zuchinni
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter twelve 2 5/8 x 1 1/8-inch (about 3-ounce) muffin cups.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. In another bowl, stir together oil, eggs, and vanilla until blended. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; add oil mixture and stir just to combine. Stir in zuchinni and nuts, if desired.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of one comes out clean.
Remove muffin pans to wire rack. Cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing muffins from cups; finish cool on rack. Serve warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container and cool room temperature.
These muffins freeze well.
Makes 12 muffins.

Bread Making Pictures

buy the e-recipe here (This recipe is also in a text post below)

No-bake Cheese Cake Recipe & Sugarless Chocolate!

I was in a dessert making mood last night... I don't like to use a lot of sugar, so I've been working on a suger-free chocolate recipe using stevia for the sweetner. Well, the experement involved butter, unsweetend chocolate powder, almond flavoring and stevia (it is a lot like splenda). The one thing I would do differently is that I would use unsalted butter, because the salt brings out the bitter taste in the chocolate, and stevia doesn't mask it like sugar does (I added some frutose to cover it in the end). So, any way, Chocolate is usually made basically with cocoa butter, sugar and cocoa powder, mixed in different ratios to get different types. Butter is a lot like cocoa butter, but it's less expensive. Anyway, that's what I was doing last night. It started with making my own graham crackers, then it went to the Chocolate mixture I was melting in a small pan on the stove, then my graham crackers turned out hard because I didn't put any soda in them. (I should have followed a recipe.) :) Well, they tasted about right, so I ground them up in my Vita-Mix and added butter and cinnamon. It made a nice crust so I patted small amounts into a mini muffin pan and poured chocolate in them. I put them in the fridge, and went on to other things. I used the graham cracker crist in a pie pan and poured the last of my chocolate on in a thin layer, then I mixed up one package of cream cheese and 1 cup of sour cream in the Vita-Mix. I added about a 1/4 tsp of Lemon Extract and put about a 1/8 cup of frutose and a few dashes of stevia until it tasted good. Then, I smeared that onto the crust and smoothed it out. the final layer was the sour cream scrapings and a little bit of cocoa powder and stevia mixed together like chocolate mousse. I spread that out on top and sprinkled unsweetend coconut on top. After refridgerating it all night, we ate it for breakfast, and it was really good! You'll have to try it!

Going bananas! Banana Bread Recipe

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
4 ripe bananas
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Mash the bananas with a potato masher or use your kitchen aid mixer. Add the egg and milk, then sugar, salt, baking powder and flour. Mix well. Butter two or three bread pans, and fill them half full of the batter. Bake at 350 for 55-65 minute.

I made 10 x this recipe yesterday with th 40 bananas that were going "down hill". It was loads of fun! My little neice, who is 20 months, helped me stir and managed to fling quite a bit around the kitchen. We wore matching red aprons. She loves to work in the kitchen!