Spanish Rice

Long-grain rice

Vegetable oil

Tomato paste

water

garlic salt

chicken bouillion cubes

red pepper flakes

In a small omelet-size frying pan (or the bottom of a saucepan), cover the bottom in corn oil. (***If you have extra or want to include it, you can toss in one small chopped onion to the oil at this point.***) Then add in the amount of rice you'd like to use (we generally do 1-2 cups for our family if we're having it as an add-on to our meal). Saute just a minute or two until the rice turns clear and is coated in the oil.

Then, cook rice as you normally would, but to your normal rice & water pot, FOR EACH CUP OF RICE, add in:

• 2 cups water
• 1-2 tsp. tomato sauce
• 1/2-1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 chicken bouillion cube
• red pepper flakes to taste.

Pancakes & Syrup

Here are my go-to from scratch recipes for pancakes and maple syrup.

• Homemade pancakes
• Homemade maple syrup (yes, it's fake, but overseas, it's a great pinch-hitter)

Tempura Batter

This recipe is from my Japanese friend, Ai, who spent several family holidays with us during college, and taught us this basic recipe.

• 1 egg
• 2 c. ice water
• 2 c. flour

Combine, and coat fish, shrimp, veggies, whatever you want, in this batter, drop into frying oil, fry, and serve over rice! Delicious.

Kristy's Enchilada Sauce

This one is very non-specific, and I'm sorry about that. I just wrote down the basics when my friend made it several years ago, and I'm basically posting it here to remind myself.

• Sautee garlic & 1/2 onion in butter.
• Add: milk, sour cream, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (is this the same as paprika? I can't remember...)

Use this to pour over whatever kinds of enchiladas you want.

For chicken enchiladas: Flour/Corn tortillas, each with shredded chicken & salsa inside.

Chicken Cracker Casserole

3 chicken breasts, or 6-8 chicken thighs

2 sm. cans cream of mushroom soup (or, 2 prepared packs of cr. of mush. soup)

1 pack of twisty/swirled noodles (egg noodles work great for this)

16 oz sour cream

1/2 c. butter

1 pack saltine crackers

1. Cook & shred chicken.
2. Melt butter, set aside.
3. In a 9 x 13 casserole dish, combine chicken, cooked noodles, soup, sour cream & mix well.
4. Stir crumbled saltines into butter, until moist. Top casserole with buttery crumbs.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until top is golden brown & crunchy.

Serves 8.

Bread Machine- Country White Bread

This is a classic white bread recipe, good with butter, or for sandwiches. It's intended for use in a bread machine.

1 cup + 1 Tbsp warm (not hot) water

2 & 3/4 cups bread flour (all-purpose works OK too)

2 Tbsp dry milk

3 Tbsp sugar

1 & 1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp butter/margarine, cut into 4 pieces (total)

2 tsp active dry yeast

1. Add water to the pan.
2. Then add dry ingredients, except yeast, to the pan. Tap bread pan to settle ingredients, then level with spoon or spatula, pushing some of the mixture into the corners.
3. Make 4 little "wells" on each corner of the pan, and place 1 piece of butter or margarine in each well.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; add yeast.
5. Lock pan into bread maker and set for regular (Basic/Specialty) cycle. Choose desired bread color.
6. Remove from pan when ready and let cool on metal rack.

It is easy to make up 5-10 baggies of this bread mix at a time, and then just add your water, butter, and yeast to the pan when you're ready to bake bread.

White Hot Chocolate

2 c. heavy cream

6 c. whole milk

12 oz. white chocolate, finely chopped

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 block dark chocolate

1. Using a vegetable peeler, shave chocolate into curls; set aside.
2. Place white chocolate in medium heat-proof bowl; set aside.
3. Place milk & cream in medium saucepan set over medium heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges of the pan (about 4 mins). Do NOT boil.
4. Remove mixture from the flame. Immediate pour over white chocolate. When chocolate begins to melt, gently stir to combine.
5. Whisk in vanilla. Continue whisking until light foam forms.
6. Serve immediately. Garnish with chocolate shavings.

Recipe makes 8 cups.

Cuban-style Black Beans

This recipe is for a 1 kg bag of black beans. To do a 1-pound bag, you'd need to divide everything in this recipe by half, and then use slightly less than that amount. Sorry I can't be more specific.

Ingredients:

1000 g. bag dried black beans (sort them, and pull out any bad beans or -gasp!- stones)

1-2 garlic heads, crushed

4 Tbsp. dried oregano

1 bay leaf

4 Tbsp. olive oil

2 lg. yellow onions, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 Tbsp. cumin

2 jalepeno peppers, seeded & chopped

4 Tbsp. vinegar (I use lemon vinegar, it's all we have here, and it works fine.)

salt & pepper to taste

STEP ONE:

Presoak the beans. Choose one of the following (don't do both):

• Boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and let stand for 2 hours. (I prefer this method, and think the beans are less smushy this way.)
• Soak beans for 8 hours overnight in fridge.

After soaking beans, drain in strainer & rinse with cool water.

STEP TWO:

Return beans to pot or dutch oven. Then add:

• 8 c. water
• 12+ cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 Tbsp. crushed oregano
• 1 bay leaf

Bring to boil. Simmer 2 hours. Drain & return to pot.

STEP THREE:

In small skillet, heat 4 tsp. olive oil. Add 2 lg onions (chopped) & chopped red bell pepper. Heat until softened. Add 2 Tbsp cumin & 2 seeded & chopped jalepeno peppers. Heat 1 minute more.

STEP FOUR:

Add 4 Tbsp. vinegar & onion mixture to beans. Salt & pepper to taste.

If desired, these beans can then be mixed with 2 cups of rice to make black beans and rice, or added to soups, casseroles, Black Bean & Corn salsa (add in chopped red onions, 1 bag frozen corn, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and 2 chopped tomatoes), or any other Mexican dish you can dream up. We often use them as one of the options for make-your-own burritos with large groups of guests. They're delicious just by themselves too! Enjoy!