Red Pepper Fire Sauce

We love the corn patties - but they always seemed to be missing something. We invented a new sauce to top them and we just tried it tonight. Very good and only a few ingredients:

- 2 Red Bell Peppers
- 1 Jalapeno
- Maybe 3-5 assorted small sweet peppers.
- A little Salt and Pepper (not much)
- half a small red onion
- Some Tomato soup

Directions:
- Put oven on broil
- broil all of the peppers together. Turn them from time to time until they are all black and charred
- Remove them from oven and place them in plastic bags so they get humid and shed the skin (maybe 15-20 minutes)

- While the peppers are in the bags, dice and sautee the red onion. Put it to the side.

- Take the peppers and remove skin. Removethe seeds fromthe bellpeppers. Leave the seeds from the jalapeno. This will give it a kick.
- Put the peppers and onion into a blender and liquify it. If it is too thick - add a little tomato soup until it liquifies without getting stuck on the sides of the blender. Bullet works really good for this since it is so small
- When done - put the liquified mixture in a pot and heat it for a few minutes.

It is now ready... put a spoonfull on each corn pattie (julie calls them veggie burgers). Gives it a spicy kick.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Sweet Potatoes

This is a great combination of sweet (the potatoes) and savory (the robust brussel sprouts). We make this as a side dish or toss it with whole wheat spiral pasta noodles. Mmm mmm delicious! Think you don't like brussel sprouts? Give this a try - you'll be surprised!

Quartered Brussel sprouts - peel off outer leaves first (they fall off easily)
Sweet Potatoes - peeled and cut into small bitesize pieces
Olive oil
Salt, pepper (we like to use a Tuscan Salt blend that has salt, red pepper flakes, lemon peel, and rosemary)

That's it! Combine the above, put in a 13x9 baking dish and bake for ~30 minutes at 350. Stir occassionally to make sure the mixture doesn't get stuck to the bottom. The vegetables are done when the sprouts are slighly browned and the potatos are soft.

What is in Season in the Fall?

Apples
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts (Check out these bad-mamas!)
Cauliflour
Collards
Grapes
Kale
Pears
Persimmons
Pumpkins
Winter Squash
Yams

Anyone know anything about kale or persimmons?

Chickpea-and-Corn Patties

In an earlier recipe of the Autumn medley my mom had asked if it was a main dish or a side. It is a side. In fact we made that side with this recipe for Chickpea and Corn Patties and I liked the mix. We got this from cookinglight.com too.. We actually cut corn off the ears like it says but I'm sure you could get away with canned or frozen corn just fine. We put some tabasco on ours as well. Here are ours on a new tray we bought at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival on Sunday.


Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons cornmeal, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
Cooking spray

Preparation
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn, onion, and thyme; sauté 2 minutes. Place onion mixture, chickpeas, breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, salt, and red pepper in a food processor. Pulse 2 times or until combined and chunky. Divide chickpea mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty; dredge patties in 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add patties; cook 5 minutes. Carefully turn patties over; cook 5 minutes or until golden.

Yield
4 servings

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 253(19% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 0.7g,mono 2.4g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 10.3g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 54mg; SODIUM 488mg; FIBER 5.9g; IRON 3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.1g

Autumn Vegetable Medley with Rosemary and Nutmeg

Here is the recipe that insipired the food blog. I didn't have any parsnips so I left them out. We got a fennel bulb at our local Farmer's Market. Very easy and soo delicious!

1 (9-ounce) fennel bulb with stalks
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices parsnip
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices carrot1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
Cooking spray
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°.

Trim tough outer leaves from fennel. Cut fennel bulb in half lengthwise; discard core. Cut each half into three wedges. Combine fennel, squash, and next 7 ingredients (through nutmeg) in a large shallow roasting pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 425° for 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle vegetable mixture with cheese, if desired. Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup vegetable mixture)

CALORIES 106 (22% from fat); FAT 2.6g (sat 0.4g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 2g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 78mg; SODIUM 237mg; FIBER 4.2g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 20.9g Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2007

You can print out a recipe card from:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1662871

Sauce-less Grilled Pizza

We had grilled pizzas last night and lately Julie has realized she likes Pizza that has no red sauce. We came up with this one on the grill which was very good. (Doesn't have to be on a grill but we learned this from Amy and Greg and love it). The key concept here is that garlic olive oil is sub'd for red pizza sauce.

1 Ball of Pizza Dough (We like the white dough at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's)
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 Garlic Clove
Mozzarella Cheese or 4 Cheese Blend
Chopped Fresh basil
Dried Oregano
Flour (to deal with the dough)
Toppings of you liking.

1.) Warm up the grill - Medium to low heat

2.) 1 Dough ball makes about two thin crust large pizzas. Our rule of thumb is 1 ball per 2 people. Me and Julie break it in half and make two pies - each choosing our own toppings.

3.) Pour the olive oil into a small cup and crush the Garlic clove into the oil Stir the garlic into the oil.

3) After Grill is heated place the two pie crusts on the Grill with nothing on them. Put them directly on the grate for about 2 minutes on each side. After flipping the dough once, brush the garlic olive oil onto the crust while it is still on the grill (this begins to cook the garlic just a bit).

4.) Remove the pizza crusts from the grill - bring them in - re-brush with a bit more garlic oil if they have dried up. Top with Cheese, Basil, Oregano and any other toppings you choose.

5.) Put the pizzas back on the grill for 8-10 minutes. Watch them and reduce the heat if the crust begins to burn.

6.) I also like to cut avocado slices and top with avocado after removing them from grill. It makes them taste really clean.

RAQUEL'S CHICKEN TINGA A LA MEXICANA

Familia,

I inherited this recipe from my sister Jessica and added/changed some ingredients.

"BUEN PROVECHO"

Tinga A La Mexicana

Ingredientes:

6 Half Boneless Chicken Breasts (Or 3 chicken whole breasts)
1 large onion
4 large fresh tomatoes diced
2 cans diced tomatoes (12 to 14 ounces each)
1 can Rotelle Tomatoes
2 pickled chipotle peppers
1 to 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

A dash of ANY other spices you like that are NOT too overwhelming such as oregano, cummin, rosemary....nothing that strong. I use different ones each time, from the spice rack.
Boil chicken breasts in medium pan for about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove chicken breasts from liquid and let cool. Save chicken broth.

Cut up onion and dice tomatoes into small pieces. in large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil to medium heat, add onions and sutee until transparent, adding more oil if needed. Add fresh tomatoes ,can tomatoes and rotelle tomatoes, cover and simmer in low heat.

Shred Chicken breasts, stir into tomato/onion mixture, add chipotle peppers whole, season to taste, cover and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes. Add some of the chicken broth as needed. (I like my Tinga a bit drier, not too "soupy", but it's a matter of taste). Stir occassionally and use the spoon to break up the chipotle peppers.

Serve as a main dish, or over rice, or over tostadas that have been spread with refried beans, or use as filling for Burritos, or in a plain tortilla, or anything else you'd like.

!BUEN PROVECHO!

MoonRaka