Mango Coconut Compote

The first time visiting Hawaii, we stayed at a place that served coconut syrup at the breakfast buffet. In addition to the tropical landscape, endless pineapples, and a Mai Tai option at ever corner, the coconut syrup was one of the most memorable aspects of the trip. That was four years ago.

I actually never sat down to figure out how to make it until the other day in the midst of making this compote for Saturday pancakes. I had the realization that the creaminess in the coconut syrup was probably from coconut oil. So at the last minute, I stirred in a spoonful. It made all the difference.

It is always a risky move to stir something into a self-concocted recipe...right at the end. I had committed a good 20 minutes to this compote and was so relieved when the the coconut oil made it even better. It rounded out the sweetness. Let this be a lesson in life. Round things out at the end by taking a calculated risk from time to time. It might just be worth it.

Mango Coconut Compote
Makes about 1/3 cup

3 mandarin oranges, peeled
1/2 cup frozen chopped mangoes
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Place oranges in a blender; blend until completely pureed. Transfer orange juice to a small saucepan; add mangoes, water, vanilla extract, and honey. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until reduced to a syrup consistency, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in shredded coconut and coconut oil.

Cheesy Eggs with Tortilla Chips

Thanks to having the best job in the world, I was inspired to make this dish two nights in a row this week. My colleagues threw a breakfast party last week that featured migas, which was new to me. We received an email in the morning to join the party in the cafe. Not knowing what migas were, my cube-mates and I followed the seductive aromas up the stairs.

If you could bottle the sensations of weekend brunch, this would have been an exact replica. Coffee brewing, onions and red peppers sauteing, eggs and cheese scrambling, orange juice pouring...and the low lull of conversation weaving through the warm, humid air.

A colleague was crunching and folding tortilla chips into a huge skillet of scrambled eggs and I was enlightened. How has this never crossed my mind? Basically crossing breakfast burritos with tacos with tamales creates a salty skillet of perfection.

We were driving home from a weekend at the cabin on Sunday and little by little I realized all the ingredients for migas were in my kitchen. What a great way to spend Sunday evening after a relaxing, sunny weekend in the mountains. Migas and beer for dinner is pretty much heaven on a plate.

Cheesy Eggs with Tortilla Chips
2 servings

Basically sauteing any variety of vegetable with onions will do the trick. Wrapping a corn tortilla around the cheesy, veggie-inspired eggs is even more of a treat. Serve a green salad alongside for a complete meal.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 red peppers, thinly sliced
2 cup chopped cauliflower
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and black pepper
1 cup tortilla chips, roughly crushed
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese


Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet; saute onion, red peppers, and cauliflower until tender and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper. Fold tortilla chips into vegetable mixture; keep over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a separate small skillet over medium heat. Whisk eggs and milk together in a small bowl; pour into the hot oil. Cook egg mixture, stirring very gently, until scrambled, about 5 minutes.

Fold scrambled eggs and Cheddar cheese into vegetable mixture until cheese melts.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

It is the first Monday of the month, which means: Recipe Swap time. Christianna of Burwell General Store sifts through a vintage cookbook for a unique and sometimes very unique recipe for us to alter and make our own. This month was 'Stuffed French Pancakes'. It entails simmering a creamy, chicken-based sauce that is poured into the center of a pancake. The pancake is rolled around the sauce and served with a ladle of Morney sauce. Upon reading this, my stomach kind of turned. But then in all fairness, I considered ham and cheese-filled crepes, realizing savory crepes are quite nice. This wasn't so bad.

Timing worked out perfectly with the Super Bowl yesterday. T was having her annual party and a chicken-inspired dish was the perfect addition to the snack table. Buffalo chicken dip seemed to be quite a popular topic in conversation at work this January, so why not make a cheesy chicken dip for the swap and the party?

My natural inclination is to use creative liberties to change recipes, especially if it can be made healthier or a little lower in fat. But keeping the spirit of calorie-dense food consumption on game days, I bought full fat cream cheese and regular ranch dressing. But I did at least buy Annie's dressing, and was pleasantly surprised to learn Frank's Hot Sauce only has five ingredients, none of which are artificial red food coloring. The sauce is naturally red from cayenne peppers. So all in all, not so bad...and quite delicious.

Super Bowl parties are about the socializing, the food table, and the halftime entertainment for me. Even though I am not football's number one fan, I do love a national gathering day that brings friends and families together. I was laughing with some of the friends at the party at how we only see each other once a year at this party. It is always a great opportunity to invite other groups of friends for a merging of friend circles. Although most people are getting pumped up for the actual football game, there are so many other great parts of the day that form and maintain the bonding spirit. Woot woot!



Buffalo Chicken Dip
Yields many servings
Inspired by an Allrecipes.com recipe

1 chicken breast
1/2 cup hot sauce (such as Frank's(R) Hot Sauce)
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup ranch-style dressing (such as Annie's(R))
1 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add chicken breast. Cook at a rolling boil until chicken is completely cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove chicken from water and place on a cutting board. Shred chicken using two forks.

Heat a skillet over medium heat; add chicken and hot sauce. Bring to a simmer and stir in cream cheese, stirring continuously until cream cheese melts, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in ranch dressing and cook until dip becomes smooth and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Fold in Cheddar cheese and parsley; cook until Cheddar cheese melts, about 5 minutes. Transfer dip to a fondue pot or slow cooker. Serve with celery sticks.

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

A few years ago I dedicated a post to peanut butter. A few readers were disappointed after committing themselves to a recipeless post. So now, two years later, I have made a set of the miniature balls of decadence. It was quite a thrilling exercise to finally make the little confections; it was like walking behind the scenes. I am from Ohio, and have consumed dozens of them in my life, but have never coated my hands in peanut butter and done the deed. It should be a right of passage to make them at least once.

There was a certain sense of pride seeping into the kitchen the afternoon, the Midwest and the Northwest combining forces. I was humming a little bit more while gliding around the kitchen. The sun seemed to be shining brighter through the blinds. Going beyond peanut butter and chocolate and embracing my roots was so grounding. The rest of the day felt like an open canvas. Now I just need to remember that feeling and do something inspiring, however small it is, everyday...who knows where it could lead. Buckeyes sure are memorable little things.

Peanut Butter Buckeyes
Makes 15 buckeyes
Inspired by an Allrecipes.com recipe

3/4 cup natural peanut butter (such as Adam's(R))
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pinches salt

1/4 10 ounce bag good quality dark chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter

Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar, softened butter, vanilla extract, and salt together in a medium bowl until evenly combined. Roll peanut butter mixture into 15 ping pong ball-sized balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate peanut butter balls for at least 1 hour.

Heat chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon butter in the top bowl of a double boiler over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth.

Insert a toothpick into a peanut butter ball and dip into the melted chocolate until the majority of the ball is covered; transfer back to the parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls. Pinch the tops of the buckeyes back together to close the hole where the toothpicks were used. Refrigerate buckeyes until chocolate has solidified, at least 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Biscuits

The eve of 2013 has arrived. It is a passageway from one year of experiences to a road of possibility. A clean slate to start eating better, being nicer, or taking a new vacation. Every year around Christmas when I am home in Ohio, my family and I fill our wine glasses, pull out our pens, and gather around the dining room table to write our resolutions for the upcoming year. Since 1999, we have carefully placed our resolutions into individual envelopes that are collected into one large envelope, that is ceremoniously tucked into a hidden venue until the next year. Then after Christmas, we contribute new plans and goals to the growing stack of papers. It is always interesting to review goals of years past. There are always a few that get rewritten and added to the next year. And there are ones that get crossed off...those are the most satisfying.

One of my resolutions this year is to be open to seeing life with a new perspective. You never know who you may meet that will change your life or what corner you may turn that will lead to a new path. This pumpkin for example was left over from Thanksgiving and needed to be either be roasted or composted. I chose the former, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was brimming with seeds that got tossed into oil and roasted, and meat that was cooked, pureed, and refrigerated until inspiration hit. I was at the gym and as usual, day dreaming of what to have for breakfast the next day. There is a bakery near my house that serves sweet potato biscuits with egg and cheese. These breakfast sandwiches have been creeping into my mind for weeks. But when I have a day off, I often like staying home to drink coffee and make a fancy meal. So why not use the pureed pumpkin to create a similar meal?

So let's allow the pumpkin biscuits to symbolize change: transforming an ordinary pumpkin into a colorful breakfast biscuit. Go the extra step to make a small difference. Eggs and Cheddar cheese have never looked so cheery.

Pumpkin Biscuits

Makes 10 to 12 small biscuits

Inspired by an Allrecipes.com recipe

This was originally a sweet potato biscuit recipe that pumpkin was swapped into. Feel free to use sweet potato instead. I simply had a spare pumpkin that needed to be roasted and found its way into the biscuit dough.

1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Using your hands, mix butter into dry ingredients until butter is fully incorporated. Stir in milk until dough is sticky and well mixed. Refrigerate dough for 15 minutes.

Transfer dough onto a well-floured surface and knead until dough is smooth, about 1 minute. Roll dough using a floured rolling pin into a 1/2-inch rectangle; cut into about 2-inch squares. Place biscuits onto a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Place baking sheet and biscuits in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Remove from freezer and bake until biscuits have risen and are lightly browned, 15 to 18 minutes.