MEALS | Annie's Chamorro Kitchen

Archive for MEALS

Ground Beef Stir Fry

Posted on February 23, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 6 comments

Stir fried lean meat and vegetables are delicious and healthy meal choices. Use your favorite vegetables or whatever is in season.

I like using the leanest ground beef I can find — I used 96% lean ground beef in this recipe. Broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions were my vegetables of choice today, but I also love adding eggplant, zucchini, and carrots. Use your favorite vegetables.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Ground Beef Stir Fry

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon Dashida
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 broccoli “crown”, cut into pieces
1 medium onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 container sliced mushrooms (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, more or less, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef with the garlic, Dashida, and black pepper.

2. Add the broccoli, onions, bell pepper and mushrooms. Stir to combine the ingredients.

3. Add the hoisin sauce to the pan. Stir to combine. Turn the heat up to high; cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are done to your liking.

4. Stir in the soy sauce. Cook over high heat for another minute or two.

5. Serve with steamed white or brown rice and ENJOY!

Posted with Blogsy

Posted in Beef, Dinner, Healthy Alternatives ~ Recipes, MEAT

Hannah’s Carne Asada Tacos

Posted on February 21, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen Leave a comment

My daughter loves to cook as much as I do, and she loves to experiment with new dishes. This is her take on Carne Asada Tacos, complete with her recipes for the Marinade, Guacamole, and Pico de Gallo.

Give her recipes a try. I think you’ll like them. 🙂

Hannah’s Carne Asada Tacos

Ingredients:

4 pounds skirt steak, with excess fat trimmed off
12 corn tortillas
Sour cream
Guacamole
Pico de gallo
Shredded Mexican cheese blend

Hannah’s Carne Asada Marinade:

1/2 cup lime juice
The juice of 2 oranges
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup of chopped cilantro

Hannah’s Pico de Gallo:

1 large tomato, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 cup chopped cilantro
The juice of 2 limes
Salt, to taste
Optional: chopped hot peppers

Hannah’s Guacamole:

3 large avocados, peeled, seeded, and cut into small pieces
1 small red onion, finely minced
The juice of 3-4 limes
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons chili powder
Optional: 1 medium tomato, diced (the guac pictured here doesn’t have any tomatoes since I made pico de gallo)
Optional: diced hot peppers, like jalapenos

1. MARINADE AND GRILLING DIRECTIONS:

Mix all marinade ingredients together. Pour over the skirt steak (I recommend marinating the steak in a ziplock bag). Let the steak marinate for at least 2 hours. Grill until done to your liking. Slice the meat against the grain (so that it isn’t tough when you bite into it).

2. PICO DE GALLO DIRECTIONS:

Mix all the Pico de Gallo ingredients together. Let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to develop. Serve with your carne asada tacos.

3. GUACAMOLE DIRECTIONS:

Mix all the guacamole ingredients together. I like to gently stir my guacamole so that you still have chunks of avocado. If you prefer, you can mash the avocados with a fork for a smooth texture. Serve with your carne asada tacos or with chips.

4. TACO ASSEMBLY:

Grill a tortilla until warmed. Fill with slices of carne asada, some guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream and cheese. Enjoy!

Posted in APPETIZERS, Beef, Dinner, ETHNIC, FAMILY RECIPES, Hannah's Recipes, Lunch, Marinades, MEALS, MEAT, Mexican, SAUCES & SEASONINGS

Stuffed Biscuits

Posted on February 9, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen Leave a comment

Create a super easy breakfast or brunch with my recipe for Stuffed Biscuits. You can have it all prepped and served in about 30 minutes.

Start out by making a batch of my Soft & Fluffy Biscuit dough (click here for the recipe). An egg gets baked right into the biscuit dough, then top with your favorite breakfast foods (bacon and cheese top the list in my family).

Serve and ENJOY!

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Stuffed Biscuits

Ingredients:

1 batch of biscuit dough (click here for my recipe)
1 package of bacon (we love maple bacon)
1 dozen large eggs
Garlic powder (to taste)
Black pepper (to taste)
Dashida (to taste)
4 stalks green onions, sliced
Grated sharp cheddar cheese, as much as you like

Optional Ingredients:

Red pepper flakes
Chopped mushrooms
Tomatoes, diced small
Cooked and crumbled breakfast sausage

Directions:

1. Cut the bacon into small pieces. Fry until crisp; place on paper towels to drain excess oil. Set aside.

2. Separate the biscuit dough into 12 pieces. Spray a muffin tin with butter-flavored cooking spray. Spread each piece of biscuit dough into each of the 12 cups of the muffin tin, making sure you pull the dough up and around the sides, creating a “biscuit cup.”

3. Crack one egg into each biscuit cup.

4. Sprinkle garlic powder, black pepper and Dashida seasoning over each egg.

As an option, before baking, sprinkle on top of each egg: red pepper flakes, mushrooms and tomatoes.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until the sides of the biscuit are a golden brown. The eggs will be soft-set.

6. After baking, top with bacon, green onions, cheese, and any other of your favorite toppings. Serve immediately and ENJOY! 🙂

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, MEALS

Pillow Soft and Fluffy Biscuits with Homemade Gravy

Posted on February 8, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen Leave a comment

Biscuits and gravy is a classic breakfast dish. A serving (or two or three) of soft, fluffy biscuits topped with a savory, meaty gravy is a perfect way to start the day.

These biscuits are so soft, they practically melt in your mouth. Seriously.

These biscuits are so soft that you tend to smoosh them when trying to spread butter on them. That’s why I like making a Honey-Butter Sauce that you can just drizzle on top–there’s no need to spread anything on them! 🙂

Aside from serving these for breakfast, you can also serve ’em up with some fried chicken and a side of hot buttered corn for an absolutely delightful dinner.

Give my recipes a try. I think you’ll like them. 🙂

Be sure to scroll down for my Homemade Gravy and Honey-Butter Sauce recipes.

Soft Fluffy Biscuits

Ingredients:

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup corn starch
10 tablespoons buttermilk powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

1. Place the flour, cornstarch, buttermilk powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine all of the ingredients.

2. Add the pieces of butter to the bowl. Use a pastry cutter (you can also do this in a food processor) to cut the butter into the flour.

3. Add the water to the flour mixture. Gently mix with your hands until a dough forms. Do not knead or over-mix the dough.

4. Place the dough onto a floured surface.

5. Roll the dough out into a rectangle or square, about 1/2 inch thick.

6. Use a dough scraper to cut the dough into evenly sized squares. I prefer to make square biscuits rather than round ones. Using round cutters leaves you with extra dough that has to be re-formed and rolled out again, causing you to over-handle the dough which turns out tough biscuits. By making square-shaped biscuits, you roll the dough out once, yielding incredibly soft, fluffy biscuits.

I rolled out the dough a little less than a 1/2 inch thick. They still bake up nice and tall if you roll the dough out less than a 1/2 inch, but if you like tall biscuits, keep the dough at 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Less than that and you’ll yield about 30 little biscuits, cut the way I did below. Thicker and you should get about a dozen or so biscuits.

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the biscuit squares onto the baking sheet, about an inch apart.

Brush the tops of each square with milk. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes. My oven runs hot, so mine bake up nice and golden brown after just 15 minutes. Again, this was 15 minutes for dough rolled out a little less than 1/2 inch. 20 minutes of baking should suffice for dough rolled out to between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick.

Serve these fluffy wonders with Homemade Gravy or drizzled with Honey Butter Sauce and ENJOY!

See how fluffy they are? Yum!!

Homemade Gravy

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef (or you can use your favorite sausage)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons Dashida seasoning
3 cups milk (I used 1 1/2 % reduced-fat milk)

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet.

2. Add the flour and all the seasonings to the skillet.

3. Stir to combine all of the ingredients. Turn the heat up to medium high.

4. Pour the milk into the skillet. I use a whisk that can withstand the heat and be used for cooking (see the photo above) to stir as I add the milk.

5. Stir constantly until the gravy thickens.

6. Serve with my soft and fluffy biscuits and ENJOY! 🙂

Honey Butter Sauce

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Place all of the ingredients into a microwave-safe bowl.

2. Microwave in 30-second intervals until the butter melts.

3. Stir to combine the ingredients.

4. Drizzle over freshly baked soft and fluffy biscuits and ENJOY! 🙂

Try sprinkling some cinnamon over the warm honey butter sauce. Yum!

Posted in BREADS, Breakfast, MEALS, Quick Breads

Chocolate Chip Scones

Posted on January 16, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 7 comments

I love scones. My favorites are chocolate chip or blueberry scones. They’re perfect for breakfast, along with a steaming hot cup of coffee.

You can buy really delicious scones at your neighborhood coffee shop, buy why waste your hard-earned money? These scones take almost no time to make. You can mix up a batch in just a few minutes and have them out of the oven in no time.

My recipe below turns out very moist and not-too-crumbly scones.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
2 tablespoons Saco brand (powdered) cultured buttermilk blend (see note below)
1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup chocolate chips (I use bittersweet chocolate chips, semi-sweet works well too)
1 large egg
1/2 cup water (see note below)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons milk, for brushing the scones before baking

NOTE:

If you can’t find powdered buttermilk, you can use fresh (liquid) buttermilk in place of the buttermilk powder and water in my recipe. Just add the buttermilk along with the eggs and extracts, as described in the directions below.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place the flour into a large mixing bowl.

Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt to the mixing bowl.

Add the brown sugar to the bowl.

Add the powdered buttermilk.

Stir the mixture to combine all of the ingredients.

Add the pieces of butter to the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender (the tool pictured at the top of the photo below), “cut” the butter into the flour.

This is what the mixture looks like after cutting the butter into the flour. You want to see small chunks of butter in the mixture.

Add the chocolate chips to the flour mixture.

Stir to combine. Set this aside for now.

Crack the egg into a small mixing bowl.

Lightly beat the egg with a fork.

Mix the water, vanilla and almond extract with the beaten egg.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture.

Use a spatula to mix the ingredients together. Gently fold the mixture until it comes together.

Using your impeccably clean hands, form the mixture into a large ball. Do not knead or over mix. You still want to see those little chunks of butter (see the photo below).

Place the dough onto a large cookie sheet (I used a round baking stone). Gently flatten the dough into a circle, about 10 inches in diameter, and about 1 1/2 inches thick.