• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 Tbsp corn syrup
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla

Bring sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda to a boil. Cook 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Note: The 7 minutes stirring needs to been done to exactness or it will not caramelize correctly

I usually love garlic, but I would be really careful about adding any more than what is on this recipe.  It gets a little too potent and makes the tzatziki sauce unbearable to eat.

Tzatziki Sauce

 Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt (Preferably Greek or Fage)
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 lemon, juiced and zest
• 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 1-1/2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 5 mint leaves, chopped fine
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. The night before making Tzatziki, place the yogurt in a paper towel lined strainer over another bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight. This thicker yogurt-cheese is the perfect consistency for Tzatziki. This step is not necessary if using Greek yogurt.
2. Peel and seed the cucumber. Place the cucumbers in a strainer over a bowl and cover with salt. This will leech out a lot of the water and help assure you have a thick sauce.
3. In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients. Process until well-combined.
4. Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor, over night is suggested.
5. The first 2 steps are very important. If not followed you will make Tzatziki soup, not sauce.

You can use a blender instead of a food processor to mix the batter. To add the butter, remove the center cap of the lid so it can be drizzled into the whirling blender with minimal splattering. This batter looks almost like a thick pancake batter and is very fluid.

INGREDIENTS
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), plus 1 tablespoon, softened, for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups cake flour (6 ounces), plus 1 tablespoon for dusting pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (8 3/4 ounces)
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest plus 2 teaspoons juice from 2 medium lemons
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze (Optional)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup lemon juice , from 1 or 2 medium lemons

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon softened butter; dust with 1 tablespoon cake flour, tapping out excess. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In glass measuring cup or microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter, covered with plastic wrap, at full power until melted, 1 to 2 minutes. (Alternatively, melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat.) Whisk melted butter thoroughly to reincorporate any separated milk solids.
3. In food processor, process sugar and zest until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Add lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla; process until combined, about 5 seconds. With machine running, add melted butter through feed tube in steady stream (this should take about 20 seconds). Transfer mixture to large bowl. Sift flour mixture over eggs in three steps, whisking gently after each addition until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue to bake until deep golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack.
5. If using lemon glaze, while cake is cooling in pan, bring sugar and lemon juice to boil in small nonreactive saucepan, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened slightly, about 2 minutes.
6. After turning cake onto wire rack, poke the cake’s top and sides with a toothpick and brush on Lemon Glaze (see illustrations below). Cool to room temperature, at least 1 hour. (Cooled cake can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.)

I can’t remember which site I found this recipe on, but it’s delicious.  The roasting of all of the veggies really ads a nice flavor to the salsa.

Note that this makes a lot — a big mixing bowl full.

•  16 full size tomatoes, or nearly a produce bag full of roma tomatoes (we used roma)
• 2-3 yellow onions
• 20-25 Serrano peppers (remove caps) Note: this many peppers makes it hot. Feel free to reduce # of peppers, or scrape the seeds out of them
• 8-10 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 Tbsp salt
• 1-2 bunches cilantro

1.  Halve the tomatoes and onions and lay cut-side up on a cookie sheet along with the peppers and garlic
2. Roast at 375 till the onions look nice and translucent (see bottom left of the next picture), tomatoes look soft, and peppers are getting a nice char on them
3. Let it all cool a bit, then run through the food processor with salt and cilantro (we had to do this in two batches)
4. Stir it all together and eat!

Storage

It’ll last at least a week in the fridge in a Tupperware-type container, although it’ll rarely stay around that long. You could potentially freeze some if you wanted to store it for longer (then defrost it in the fridge), but really, it is at its best when it’s still hot from roasting!

Spiciness

Varies a lot based on personal taste and individual peppers. Sometimes you’ll get a batch of extra hot peppers and other times you might as well have used bell peppers.  If you are very sensitive to spice, cut the seeds out and just use the meat of the pepper. Also, roasting the peppers longer will bring out the sugars in the peppers which will make it less fiery. Use fewer peppers if you’re wary.

Roasting

You can definitely do this on a grill instead of the oven, in fact, that is my preferred method. I typically roast the onions until they’re translucent, the garlic until it’s browned (not too black), and the tomatoes and peppers until the skins are mostly blackened.

• 2 Lbs Pork Tenderloin
• 2-3 TBSP Dijon Mustard (I usually add more)
• 1/2 – 3/4 Cup White Cooking Wine or regular White Wine
• 1/8 – 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

1. Put pour into a large enough glass casserole dish or marinating container (a large Ziploc bag works well).
2. Slather mustard over the top of the meat.
3. Pour wine and soy sauce into the container.
4. Cover tightly, and refrigerate.
5. Can marinate overnight.
6. Grill for approximately 7-10 minutes per side.

Check for doneness.  Too long of cooking time will cause meat to lose tenderness and flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt (Preferably Greek or Fage)
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 lemon, juiced and zest
• 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 1-1/2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 5 mint leaves, chopped fine
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. The night before making Tzatziki, place the yogurt in a paper towel lined strainer over another bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight. This thicker yogurt-cheese is the perfect consistency for Tzatziki. This step is not necessary if using Greek yogurt.
2. Peel and seed the cucumber. Place the cucumbers in a strainer over a bowl and cover with salt. This will leech out a lot of the water and help assure you have a thick sauce.
3. In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients. Process until well-combined.
4. Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor, over night is suggested.
5. The first 2 steps are very important. If not followed you will make Tzatziki soup, not sauce.

Total Time: 10 minutes + Cooling

Ingredients:

• 1 Stick unsalted Butter (8 Tbsp)
• 1 ½ Cups Sugar
• 1 ¼ Cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 ¼ Cups Heavy Cream
• ¼ Cup Sour Cream
• 1 tsp Instant Coffee Granules
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat
2. Stir in sugar, cocoa and salt.  Mixture will be thick and creamy.
3. Combine heavy cream, sour cream and instant coffee in a bowl
4. Gradually add cream mixture to chocolate until blended and smooth.
5. Cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is smooth and hot to the touch.
6. Do NOT boil.
7. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
8. Cool icing at room temperature until spreadable.
9. Icing may be chilled until completely cold, and then warmed gently in the microwave until spreadable.  Heat at high power in 20 second intervals, stirring well after each interval.

Use with Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake Recipe!

I made them for a family dinner on Memorial day and they were a hit!

Chicken:

• 4.5 pounds chicken wings/chicken drums
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 cloves minced garlic
• 8 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoon grated lime zest
• 1 ¼ cup fresh lime juice
• ½ cup honey
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 ½ tablespoons of chilies with adobo sauce
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Prepare the wings:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Toss the wings in a bowl with salt, pepper, minced garlic and olive oil.
3. Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer.
4. Cook until just cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Make the sauce:

1. Combine the sauce ingredients in a blender.
2. Pour sauce over the warm wings and let marinate at least 30 minutes.  (I let mine marinate for 2 hours, tossing them with the sauce occasionally.)
3. Preheat a grill to medium.
4. Grill the wings until marked, 10 to 15 minutes, turning as needed.
5. Transfer the marinade to a saucepan and cook until slightly thick.
6. Toss the cooked wings with the sauce.
7. Top with Cilantro if desired & serve.

*If you don’t have a grill, you can use a grill pan indoors, bake them in the oven or broil them in the oven.

* To make ahead/freezer meal - Place wings and sauce in a gallon sized freezer bag and allow to cool. Once cooled, freeze. When ready to prepare, defrost and grill as outlined above.

3 cups of Oil (Canola, Corn, Peanut or Olive Oil)

¼ cups of hot red chilies (dried & crushed)

Instructions

1. Combine oil and crushed hot chile in a heavy-bottomed pan. Starting on the lowest heat possible, bring oil temperature to 140 degrees (use a deep-fry or candy thermometer), and maintain temperature for 10 minutes.
2. Take oil off of heat and let stand until it comes down to room temperature. Let sit for at least 1 day before using. Pour into a clean, tightly sealed glass jar and refrigerate. Use within 1 month.

This is great with balsamic vinegar to dip bread into.  Works well brushing onto a chicken prior to cooking.