Spanish Paella

There are tons of variations of this dish. Feel free to add or delete ingredients to your taste.

6 cups chicken broth (strong)
1 onion, peeled but left whole
1 t saffron

Place these first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside.

6 - 8 chicken pieces, legs, thighs or breasts cut in half
olive oil
3 bell peppers chopped - any combination of red, green, yellow or orange.
2 onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic - minced or put through a garlic press
1 lb sausage - any kind you like, Italian or Chorizo, cut into bite sized pieces
3 cups paella rice (short grain) or if you don't have it I like plain old Uncle Ben's
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
seafood of choice - I like shrimp, mussels, clams and catfish - cleaned 1/2 to 1 lb each
1 lb frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 bunch chopped green onions
lemons for garnish

Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and brown with olive oil in a large dutch oven or wok until brown on all sides - 7 - 8 minutes per side. Set aside on a plate - chicken does not need to be cooked through at this point.

Add a little more olive oil to the pan and sauté the peppers and onions until soft. Add the garlic and sausage and cook until sausage is browned. Add rice and stir until coated with oil. Add bay leaves, 5 1/2 cups of the chicken stock and 1/2 cup white wine. Add about 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. This amount depends on how salty your broth is. Push the chicken pieces into the rice along with the catfish, and any seafood that needs a little while to cook. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the frozen peas, shrimp and other shellfish and cook for 10 more minutes or until the shrimp is pink and the shells have opened for the clams and mussels. Remove from heat and stir in parsley and green onions.

Serve with lemon for garnish. Take out the bay leaves before you eat it. Goes well with crusty bread and a green salad.

This can be finished in the oven at 350 degrees instead of the stove if you have a short flat paella pan.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake

taken from a friend's Facebook page. Have not tried it, but looks delicious!

☆.•♥• Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake Recipe! •♥•☆

For the batter~
3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

Topping~
1 cup butter, soft to the point of almost melted*
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together except for the butter.
once mixed ...slowly pour in the butter.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined.

Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Glaze~
2 cup powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

While the cake is warm ~ drizzle the glaze over the cake. :)

Whole wheat pancakes made with wheat berries 2

You need a good blender for this. From Leisa Card "I Dare You to Eat It"

I have another version of wheat blender pancakes on this blog, but this one is better. Delicious!

1 c raw whole wheat kernels
1 1/2 c buttermilk
2 eggs
2 T butter, melted
2 T cornmeal
1 T brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1 T baking powder

Blend the wheat with buttermilk in a blender on high until it is ground. It could take up to 10 minutes. Mine doesn't take that long. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until mixed. Spoon onto hot griddle. Yum!

If the initial wheat and buttermilk is too thick for the blender just add some extra regular milk in there.

Cooked Wheat Berries

From Leisa Card "I Dare You To Eat It"

4 cups raw whole wheat
10 cups water
1 T salt

Grease a large crock pot and fill with ingredients. Cook on low for about 8 hours. You want the wheat to be soft, but not mushy. The time might vary according to your crock pot. You can then refrigerate or freeze them for later use.

These are great eaten like oatmeal with a litle maple syrup and cinnamon or can be used in place of rice (like in Chinese fried rice) or as a filler for ground meat recipes. Give it a try!

Wrinkled Potatoes and Aioli

From the Canary Islands in Spain

1 lb tiny potatoes (the ones just larger than grapes)
3/4 c table salt (yes I do mean 3/4 cup. Don't worry, it doesn't get absorbed into the potatoes)

Add the salt with potatoes and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes can be pierced easily with a fork. Drain the water and raise the heat to medium-high. Shake the potatoes over the heat until all the water evaporates and they wrinkle a little bit.

Aioli dipping sauce
2 egg yolks
1/8 t sugar
4 t lemon juice
2 or 3 crushed garlic cloves
3/4 cup canola oil
salt & pepper to taste

I've only done this with a food processor. I'm sure a blender would work too. Mix the first 4 ingredients for about 10 seconds. While still running, drizzle the oil in VERY SLOWLY. It will thicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Delicious!

You can use other dipping sauces with these potatoes too. If you don't want the raw egg, just mix some crushed garlic & lemon juice with store bought mayonnaise. They are good with a spicy pepper sauce or a cilantro based sauce too.