2 cups heavy cream

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin

1/2 chipolte  pepper (canned)

S & P

Blend the cream and pepper in a blender. Layer with sweet potatoes in casserole dish.  Add salt and pepper to layers as needed.

Bake 350 until potatoes are tender. About an hour.

Add more peppers for a spicier dish, but be careful!

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• 1/2 pound butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1/2 pound proscuitto, chopped
• 1/2 pound mushrooms
• 1/2 cup sherry
• 1 & 1/2 cups chicken broth
• Cornstarch for thickening
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 ppounds tortellini

Saute first four ingredients until soft.

Add mushrooms–cook until soft

Add the Sherry and Broth.

Thicken with cornstarch.

You can make the above ahead of time. Then add the heavy cream and reheat.

Pour over 3 pounds cooked tortellini

This is the epitome of comfort food. Really good.

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• 4   cups cubed (1/2 to 1 inch) seedless watermelon–about 3 pounds
• 2   cups cubed ( 1/2 inch) peeled jicama
• 2   cups cubed (1/2 inch) peeled and seeded cucumber–1 1/2 pounds
• 1/2   cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4   cup chopped fresh mint
• 1/4   cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4   cup chopped fresh basil
• 1   teaspoon salt

Toss together all ingredients in a serving bowl.  Serve immediately.

Watermelon and vegetables can be cubed and combined 6 hours ahead and chilled, covered.  Right before  serving add lime juice, herbs and salt.  Herbs can be chopped and combined 6 hours ahead and chilled, covered.

I made this for Book Club night.  It was a big hit and I loved it!

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This accompanies the Spinach Ring

• 3 Cups Cherry Tomatoes
• 2 Small Cloves of Garlic, Minced
• 2 Shallots or Green onions, Finely Chopped
• 1/3 / Cup Butter
• Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Chives or Parsley

In a heavy skillet sauté garlic and shallots in the butter over low heat for 1 minute.  Add the cherry tomatoes and cook, shaking pan frequently until they are just heated through and slightly soft, but not mushy.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, chives or parsley,  serve at once.

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Just served this dish for a ‘pre Easter Sunday Buffet’ dinner at our house.  It got great reviews.  It served 13 with some leftovers.  There were several other side dishes, but I think this would have been enough to serve 10 easily.  I used 4 cups of frozen spinach, thawed with the moisture squeezed out.  I used a dish towel to do this—did not cook the spinach.  It didn’t come out of the ring mold easily and had to be pieced together. I put it on an oven proof dish and baked it about 30 minutes more.  After reading this, if you still want to try this dish, read on.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups Milk, Scalded
• 4 1/2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Minced Onion
• 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
• 4 1/2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
• 3/4  Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 3 Eggs, Well Beaten
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 3 3/4 Cups Well Drained  Spinach

Butter a 2 quart ring mold generously. Bring the milk to a boil with the butter.  Sauté the onions with a small amount of butter until transparent.  Scrape onions into a mixing bowl and add the parmesan cheese, flour, salt and nutmeg.  Mix well and add the beaten eggs.  In a thin stream, add the hot milk and the butter mixture, beating constantly.  Add the lemon juice and spinach, mix well.  Turn into the prepared mold and set in a pan of boiling water.  Place in lower third of preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 1 hour or until firm.  Remove from water and let set for 5 minutes.  Run knife around edge and reverse on a  warm platter.  Fill center with sautéed cherry tomatoes.  Serve immediately.

I made this early in the day and reheated before adding the cherry tomatoes.  See separate recipe for Sautéed Cherry Tomatoes.

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Cooking Spray

• 2 Medium Zucchini (about 1 pound)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (3/4 pound)
• 1/4 Cup Dry Bread Crumbs
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly Ground Pepper

Preheat Oven to 450 degrees.  Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch rounds—In a bowl toss with olive oil.

In another bowl, combine parmesan, bread crumbs, salt and pepper.

Dip each round into the Parmesan mixture, pressing mixture to stick on both sides. Place on baking sheet.

Bake Zucchini rounds until browned and crisp–about 25-30 minutes.  Serve immediately.

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• 3 pounds sweet potatoes, baked until just tender
• 2 pears, cut lengthwise into eights
• 2 golden delicious apples, cut as the pears
• 1/4 cup lemon juice tossed with apples
• 1/4 pound butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 Tablespoons rum
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cook, in a sauce pan, the butter, brown sugar, honey, rum and cinnamon on the stove until the sugar dissolves. 

Peel and slice potatoes diagonally, 1/4 inch thick. Arrange the fruit and potatoes standing up in a 13 inch pan.  Spoon sauce over all. Bake in a 400 degree oven 20 minutes, basting, until bubbling.  Brown under a broiler if desired. You can garnish with orange zest. 

I give Sharon Walters credit for this recipe.  Always a winner that can be prepared– up to the baking part– in advance.

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• 8 oz Fresh Kale
• 1/4 cup coarsely grated carrot
• 1/4 cup shredded red cabbage
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 & 1/2 tsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp good salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Remove stems from kale and cut or tear into bite size pieces.  In a large bowl, toss the kale with the carrots and cabbage. Combine the remaining ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously.  Pour the dressing over the kale and toss well to coat. Let sit 30 minutes before serving. Actually, this salad can stay in the fridge for a day or two and it’s still good.

I often prepare this salad for Book Club meetings. And the reason for the sit time is this:  The flavors get to know each other.

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Baby Bok Choy and Peppers

I didn’t know how this would work, but it did.  I did not add as much chili sauce as listed. You must grill with care because it cooks fast. Try it!

Serves 4

• 4 heads of baby bok choy(about 1 pound)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tomato-based chili sauce
• 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• coarse salt and ground pepper

1.  Heat the grill to low.  Trim large leaves from baby bok choy; halve the heads lengthwise.  Rinse well under cold water to remove grit.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar, chili sauce, sugar and oil; season with salt and pepper.  Add bok choy, toss to coat.  Remove from bowl but reserve the sauce.

3.  Place bok choy cut sides down on grill, cover and cook until tender..about 5-10 minutes.  Serve bok choy drizzled with reserved sauce.

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Serves : 10                                  Preparation time : 1 hour

Ingredients

• 3                               Large green, red and yellow bell peppers, roasted and peeled
• 1                                Large tomato
• 1                                medium sweet onion, or Maui Onion
• 1 teaspoon               sugar
• 1 lb                            pasta – tortellini, penne or farfalle (bow ties)
• 1/4 cup                     balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup                     pesto sauce or more to taste
• 7 0z                           crumbled Feta cheese
• 3/4 cup                    Greek olives, pitted or not
• fresh basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh grated Parmesan cheese

To roast the peppers :  Put directly over flame or broil whole peppers. I  usually use the outdoor grill. Char and turn until the peppers are blackened evenly. Remove to a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let steam until cool enough to handle. Slip the charred skin off the peppers, open and remove seeds and then rinse gently. The less water you use in this process, the more flavor the peppers will have.

In a bowl, mix the sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper. Trim off the rough edges of the peppers and cut into narrow strips. Put them in the bowl with the vinegar mixture. Cut a tomato in half, place cut side down on a cutting board and slice into thin strips. This also goes into the bowl. Do the same with the onion and *1 Macerate all this together.

Boil the past, salt the water while the pasta is boiling, drain, and mix with the pesto. Start with a 1/2 cup of pesto, but you might want more. Remember the past will absorb the sauce as it sits. Add a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Pour the past into a shallow bowl. Spoon the pepper mix all around the edges. Top the past area with the crumbled feta cheese. Throw a handful of olives over the top, add more gratings of Parmesan cheese, and garnish with fresh basil leaves. Use the entire leaf to garnish, also cut some leaves in *2 Chiffonade to garnish. Separate, or not, and put a little on the salad

*1 Macerate means to mix it up good, even using your hands to blend all the flavors, but dont mash the ingredients).

*2 (Chiffonade means “made of rags” in French). Roll a few leaves together cigar style and then cut across the roll to make strips

NOTES : David Paul, a chef who has a wonderful and trendy restaurant in Lahaina, gave cooking classes once a month at the Kaahumanu Mall in Maui. These were free demonstrations. This salad was one of his lessons. I’ve made enough changes to have it now be my own pasta salad. To make a hardy salad, use tortellini pasta, fresh or dried. Farfalle (bow ties) are my pasta of choice, but penne pasta works as well. I use whatever prepared pesto looks good to me and a pinch, just use the roasted peppers from a jar.

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Serves : 6

Ingredients

• 1                               Eggplant
• 1 teaspoon              Salt, coarse
• 6 + tablespoons     Olive oil
• 1                                green bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into julienne strips
• 1                                red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into julienne strips
• 1                                large onion, slivered
• 12 oz                         fresh cultivated mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup                    flour
• 8 oz                          lasagna noodles
• 3 cups                      tomato sauce
• 1  1/2 cups              Bechamel Sauce
• 1/4 cup                    freshly grated parmesan cheese for garnish
• 5 oz                          goat cheese
• 1/2 cup                   fresh basil, slivered
• 8 oz                         mozzarella cheese

1. Slice the eggplant into 1/4 ” slices. Sprinkle them with the coarse salt, and let drain in a colander for one hour. Wipe off the salt and pat dry
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the peppers and onion, and saute over medium low heat for about 10 minutes,  until cooked through but not browned.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the peppers and onion from the skillet. Add another 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute the mushrooms for about 5 minutes, until cooked.
4. ** SEE NOTES **  Remove the mushroom from the skillet and add 3 more tablespoons olive oil. Dredge the eggplant with the flour, shaking off the excess and saute the slices on both sides, over a medium heat until lightly browned, adding more olive oil as needed. Transfer the cooked eggplant to paper towels.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
6. Bring 4 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the lasagna, and cook at a rolling boil until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water and drain again.
7. Spread a small amount of tomato sauce on the bottom of a 13 x 9 ” dish. Arrange half the lasagna noodles over the sauce. Cover with the peppers, onion, mushroom and eggplant in layers. Mix the béchamel sauce and parmesan together, and spoon half of it on top of the vegetables. Crumble the goats cheese over the béchamel sauce, and sprinkle on half the basil. Top with more tomato sauce, and then layer the remainer  of lasagna noodles. Spread the remaining béchamel over the lasagna noodles, and sprinkle with the remaining basil. Top with remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella.
8. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until brown and bubbly for another 15 minutes.

NOTES : Here is my variation to this recipe. In step #4, Broil the eggplant, eliminating the flour and all that oil. Spray or brush the eggplant with olive oil lightly on both sides. Put the slices on a foil covered cookie sheet and broil on both sides. Be careful, it broils very fast. Also, you could use commercial sauces instead of preparing from scratch. This recipe is labor intense but the finished product is worth it….Also, it serves more than 6.

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Serves :   1                        Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pint                       Cherry Tomatoes halved or Roma tomatoes cubed
• 1 head                      roasted garlic
• 2 tablespoons        drained capers
• 2 tablespoons        olive oil
• 1 tablespoon          balsamic vinegar, or more to taste
• 1/2 cup                   calamata olives, pitted and chopped
• 1/2 cup                   parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup                   basil, cut into thin slivers
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh mozzarella, as much as you like, cubed
• fresh parmesan for garnish

Cut the garlic head in half (across) and squeeze the pulp out. The cloves should ooze out easily. Combine all the rest of the ingredients with the garlic in a glass bowl and let it sit at room temperature while you boil the pasta of your choice. We like bow ties. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water to use if pasta nee Quickly drain the past and toss in the sauce. Grate fresh Parmesan on top.

Serving Suggestion : We serve this with crusts of bread and a green salad

NOTES: Be creative with this recipe. Change the cheese to smoked Gouda or whatever. You can add hot pepper flakes for more punch. All the quantities can be to your taste.

Recipe By : Linda McBride

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Serves : 2                             Preparation  Time : 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 oz                          Cavatappi or other spiral shaped pasta
• 1                                small butternut squash (1 pound approx)
• 5 cups                      fresh spinach leaves
• 3 cloves                   garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons            lemon juice, fresh
• 1/2 cup                    freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup                    chopped parsley or basil for garnish
• salt and pepper to taste

Fill a 4 quart kettle three quarters full with salted water and bring to the boil for cooking the pasta.

Peel and quarter and seed the butternut squash. Cut into 1/2 cubes. Coarsely shop the spinach and mince the garlic.

In a large heavy skillet heat some oil over a moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and saute the squash with salt to taste, stirring occasionally, until tender (about 7-10 minutes). If more liquid is needed to avoid the squash from sticking to the skillet, add a little white wine, broth or water.

While the squash is cooking, cook the past in boiling water until al dente. RESERVE 1/2 cup of cooking water and drain pasta in a colander

Add spinach and garlic to the skillet with the squash and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until all liquid has evaporated. Add pasta and reserved cooking water and bring to boil. Season pasta with lemon juice and salt and pepper. Remove skillet from heat and toss pasta with Parmesan. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and/or basil.

Suggested Wine  : White

Serving suggestion : Great as an entre, or side dish with chicken or port

NOTES : The butternut squash is labor intensive. I used a potato peeler to peel it. You may want to quarter and seed it first, but I think peeling the whole squash is easier.

Recipe by : A variation from Gourmet Magazine

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Serving Size: 8                                    Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 5 cups                              Fresh spinach, or kale or Swiss chard
• -                            (lightly packed and to torn into small pieces)
• 2 medium large              sweet potatoes peeled and cut in 1″cubes
• 1/4 cup                             Olive oil
• 3                                        onions, finely chopped
• 4                                        garlic cloves, minced
• 2                                        celery ribs,sliced
• 8 cups                               vegetable broth or water
• 1 1/2 cups                         chopped canned tomatoes (Use large can) — with juice
• 1                                         carrot sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon                    nutmeg
• dash cayenne and salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat, add onions, garlic and celery, and saute stirring often for 10 min. Stir in all the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the greens.

Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue stirring occasionally for 45 min, or until the potatoes are tender.

Remove 2 cups of the soup and puree it, then return it to the pot.

Stir in the spinach, or other greens, and cook about 5 min. until the greens are tender.

Recipe By: Joyce

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Serving Size : 10

Preparation Time : 30 min                  Cook time     : 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2  lbs                       Asparagus, tips reserved, stalks cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1/2 lb                      Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2  tablespoons       unsalted butter
• 3  medium              leeks, white and tender green parts only — thinly sliced
• 2 1/2  cups              chicken broth(stock)
• 2  cups                     water
• 1 large                      thyme sprig
• 1 1/2 cups                milk
• 1 1/4 teaspoons      salt
• 1/4 teaspoon          white pepper, freshly ground

Chive oil (recipe separate)

In a saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch the asparagus tips until crisp-tender, about 1 min. Drain the asparagus tips in a colander and refresh under cold water. Pat dry, halve the tips lengthwise and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan (pot). Add the leeks and cook over moderate heat, stirring until softened, about 5 min. Add the asparagus stalks, potatoes, stock, water and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 min.

Discard the thyme sprig. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender and then transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the milk, salt and white pepper. Let the soup cool to room temp, then refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Ladle the soup into chilled bowls and drizzle with Chive Oil. Garnish with the asparagus tips and serve.

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Suggested Wine: Sauvignon Blanc–1999 Caymus Vineyards or 1999 Silverado

NOTES : This creamy soup is the best the next day, after the flavors have gotten to know each other. Season generously before serving.

Recipe By      : Bon Appetit

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