I don't know if I have mentioned them before or not, but this is the time of year my local midwestern grocer gets my flavorite summer seasonal treat: Rainier cherries! If you see very pretty red and maize colored cherries a little larger than a quarter - pick them up! They don't really last long on the stand or in your fridge: on the stand because they are very sweet and can get brown spots from the high sugar content but also because they are so yummy you'll want to eat them like grapes. They're usually pretty expensive, this year the cheapest I have seen them locally is $4.99/lb. I highly recommend you try them - they're almost like mini sweet peaches. Let me know if you try them - I want to know what you think!

I've got to say that I love Mexican food, but the food Americans think of as Mexican is actually Tex-Mex and THAT is my favorite type of Mexican food. I was thinking about this yesterday because there were some fabu dining establishments out in Baltimore while I was living there. One was The Golden West Cafe which cranked out the absolute best Huevos Rancheros you'll ever have in your life!
Anyhow, I was feeling texymexy last night so I found the following crock pot recipe:

Last Night's Recipe: Tex Mex Pork Stew

Tex Mex Pork Stew

1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs. boneless pork top loin (the butcher told me to cube up top loin pork chops)
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 t salt
1/8 t white pepper
1/2 t cumin seeds
1/2 t dried oregano leaves
15 oz. can chili beans in sauce, undrained
14 oz. can diced tomatoes with onions and garlic, undrained
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups frozen corn

Add onions and garlic to crock pot, then cut pork into 1-1/2" cubes and place on top of onions. In small bowl, mix cornmeal, salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano. Sprinkle over pork cubes and mix to coat. Add undrained chili beans, undrained tomatoes and chicken broth to pork mixture.
Cover crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until pork is thoroughly cooked. Add corn, cover crockpot and cook on high until stew is thoroughly heated.

This is so good - we keep making it for dinner - believe it or not it's very filling.

Last Night's Recipe: Anything & Everything Salad

Anything & Everything Salad

• (1) nice big head of romaine lettuce
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup craisins
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup walnuts
• (2) large chicken breasts
• 1/2 package bacon (preferably thick-cut)
• 3-4 eggs
• (2) medium Roma tomatoes
• ranch dressing

Fry bacon to a crisp, cool on paper towels, and then crumble.
Pour hot water into two medium saucepans, bring both to a simmer. Add eggs to one saucepan to hard boil the eggs. Wait for the second saucepan to boil, drop in the chicken breasts, bring heat down to simmer for 12 minutes. Allow both eggs and chicken to cool.
Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise, scrape out seeds using your finger, then dice.
Wash and tear romaine into bite size pieces, add to large salad bowl.
Peel and slice eggs; add to bowl.
Cut chicken into bite sized bits, then add to bowl.
Add bacon, tomato, walnuts & craisins.
Toss, top with Ranch & serve w/rolls.

Last Night's Recipe: Vegetable Beef Soup

Vegetable Beef Soup

2.5 lb. chuck roast
2 medium onions, chopped
2 c. diced celery
4 qts. cold water

Simmer 2-3 hours in a big pot.
Remove meat, cut off all fat & remove any floating fatty pieces.
Dice roast, replace meat, then add:

1 8 oz. pkg. frozen corn
1 8 oz. pkg. frozen cut up green beans
1 8 oz. pkg. frozen spinach
1 8 oz. pkg. frozen peas
2 c. cut up celery
2 12 oz. cans tomato wedges & juice
8 beef boullion cubes
2 Tablespoons vinegar
3 Tablespoons sugar
4 whole medium onions (I used 1/2 bag of frozen pearl onions)
2 c. diced carrots
2 c. diced potatoes
Simmer 2-3 hours / until done, serves 12 !

Last Night's Recipe: Christmas Nuggets

Christmas Nuggets

2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped dates
2/3 cup shortening
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375. Cream peanut butter and shortening until thoroughly blended and soft. A small amount at a time, add
sugar to peanut butter mixture, and be sure to cream well after each addition. Set mixture aside. In separate bowl, add
beaten eggs to milk. Next, sift flour, salt and soda together. Alternately add flour mixture with milk and egg mixture to the
creamed mixture. Again, blend well after each addition. Next, add oats, nuts and fruit. Drop batter by teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake approximately 15 minutes or until brown.

Last Night's Recipe: Chicken Nachos

Adam created this recipe from throwing ingredients together on the fly from the grocery store's 'Mexican' aisle. I asked him what he used because they were yum!

Chicken Nachos

1 lb chicken breast fillets
1 packet taco seasonings
1/3 bag tortilla chips (remainder after being eaten)
4 oz shredded cheese
Small can sliced black olives
Small can Mexican salsa
Sour cream
Canola oil

Preheat oven to 375. Slice chicken into bite sized pieces, then fry in a frying pan until cooked using oil. Drain. Add water/seasoning packet per instructions, reducing “gravy” until slightly thick. Add chips to baking dish, making a bowl by using most whole chips on edges of dish. Pile chicken evenly in center of tortilla bowl. Add a layer of salsa. Then add a layer of cheese. Then the olives (allow some olive water spill onto nachos). Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cheese is golden brown. Serve with jalapeno slices &/or cream cheese.

EAT

-Adam

Last Night's Recipe: Montana Panini

This was pulled from a recipe website, I place no claim on it whatsoever, just wanted to pass along something DEELISH! Sourdough is the greatest bread known to mankind. Sorry Naan.

Montana Panini

1/4 cup ranch dressing
1 small avocado, pitted, peeled and mashed
12 slices sourdough bread, 1/2 inch thick
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3/4 lb thinly sliced cooked turkey (from deli)
12 slices turkey bacon, crisply cooked and broken in half
1 large tomato , sliced
6 slices (1 oz each) Colby-Monterey Jack cheese

In small bowl, mix ranch dressing and avocado.

Spread 1 side of each bread slice with butter. On work surface, place 6 bread slices butter sides down; top with turkey, bacon, tomato, cheese and dressing mixture. Top with remaining bread slices, butter sides up.

In 12-inch skillet, place sandwiches. Cover and cook over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until bread is crisp and cheese is melted.

Last Night's Recipe: Iceberg & Watercress Salad w/Bleu Cheese

This dressing was the BEST! I couldn't believe something so good would come out of some pretty simple ingredients. We debated if the bleu cheese was expensive or not, at $2.50 I didn't think so. The original called for chives & celery but we skipped both. I would think the celery would make it more interesting for sure, but the chives might be superfluous. This dressing was FAR AND ABOVE anything we've bought in the store -- plus the store bought adds tons of corn syrup (WHY?!) and soybean oils (????). I highly recommend this one if you like bleu cheese dressing you won't believe how good it is.

Iceberg & Watercress Salad w/Bleu Cheese

Salad
2 bunches watercress
1 head iceberg lettuce

Clean above ingredients, discard coarse stems of the watercress and slice iceberg lettuce crosswise.

Dressing
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
1 4oz. package crumbled blue cheese
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1-2 tbsps milk or water

Whisk all ingredients except milk or water, then thin to desired consistency with water or milk (we used 2 tbsps milk).
Enjoy! This made enough for about four people.

Last Night's Recipe: Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala

This could turn into a new feature for supah.com I like testing out fun recipes in the kitchen! I tend to use the crock pot a lot because I like to slow cook a lot of stews & soups & misc. So here's what I did with Chicken Tikka Masala which is usually used as a sort of marinade for grilled chicken - it's re-purposed to be made in the crockpot!

Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala

1.5 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast diced into large cubes
1 tablespoon dijon mustard (my substitution for mustard seed oil)
2 ounces milk
5 ounces natural yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 small can of tomato sauce
5 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 can chopped green chilies
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons garam masala*
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Whisk together all of the ingredients minus chicken in your crockpot. Then mix in diced chicken. {{ FROM ORIGINAL RECIPE >> If you want to marinate at this point, place mixture into the fridge to marinate for 24 hours. It may not be safe to leave chicken which has previously been frozen for longer than 24 hours, but fresh chicken should be left to marinate for 48 hours for best results. If you do not wish to leave the chicken to marinate, simply continue to the next step.}} Turn the crockpot on low until the chicken is cooked throughout. Most people serve over Basmati rice (?), but I'm kinda weird - I would serve over some new potatoes had we had them in the house, instead - we had them with one of our staples: texas rolls (frozen dough that you thaw - let rise & then bake).

I would give this recipe 4/5 supah stars. Since it's the first try, I think next time it might be a 5. Over rice (even though i usually HATE rice) sounds like it would even everything out. The sauce was AWESOME and such a pretty color too. The yogurt makes everything nice & creamy and delish!

*= Note about the garam masala
Adam didn't find the garam masala at the store, so I threw together 1/4 tsps. of each of the following (if we had it in the spice rack), threw it into a coffee grinder and added it to the crock pot. All of the spices are supposed to have been roasted, but ... I'm no martha.
• coriander seeds
• nutmeg
• cardamom
• cumin seeds
• black peppercorns
• caraway seeds
• cloves
• cinnamon