What’s Cooking in the Kitchen?
Chef Bo's Avocado tomato salad 🥑🍅
This is a great little salad, taco filling, chip dip, or topper for a piece of protein. I made this for dinner last night to go with our grilled chicken tacos. Give this a try and enjoy some fresh, summer flavors. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 avocados (diced)
1/2 pint grape tomatoes (quartered)
1/2 red onion (Minced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
1 lime (zest and juice)
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste
Steps:
1. Diced and mince all fresh ingredients into a bowl
2. Add the zest and juice of one lime
3.Add a splash of red wine vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil, and a splash of hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Adjust your flavors as you like. I like this with a little extra heat and extra vinegar I think it brings out a really nice flavors.
4. Serve as you like. We used it as a fresh salad for the top of our tacos. But it would also make a great vegan taco stuffer, good scooping for chips, or just eaten by itself.
Chopped Summer Salad with Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette
As is, this is a vegan gluten free salad but feel free to add any protein you like. Cheese, chicken, tofu, even a scoop dollop of Greek yogurt would work. You'll see that I added some grilled chicken thighs for my family. I think it's a refreshing and healthy salad. The spicy arugula goes great with the sweet strawberries and apple, and the spicy lemon dressing brings it all together in the end. Enjoy- Chef Bo
Ingredients:
For salad:
Chopped romaine
Chopped arugula and spinach blend
Fresh strawberries
Red onion
Raw pecans
Apple (Honeycrisp)
For vinaigrette:
1 lemon -- juice and zest
1 tbsp. fresh thyme (1 tsp dried)
3 tbsp. honey
1/3 C white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. sriracha
1 C Canola oil (any mild flavored oil will work -- avocado, soybean, or any vegetable oil)
Salt to taste
Steps:
1) Wash all fresh produce
2) Chop romaine, spinach, and arugula -- toss in a large bowl
3) Quarter strawberries, add to bowl
4) Thinly slice the red onion and apple, add to bowl
5) Add raw pecans to an empty skillet and put on medium/high heat -- moving continuously until the pecans begin to toast or the natural oil starts to come out. Probably about 5 minutes, sprinkle with salt and add to bowl
6) Next assemble the dressing: In a different bowl add all ingredients except the oil
7) Set the bowl on a towel so it won't slide and grab a whisk; slowly drizzle the oil into the vinegar mixture while whisking briskly
8) Taste for seasoning. Add more of what you like -- perhaps more sriracha for more heat, a touch of salt, or maybe more thyme. Make it how you like it!
9) Drizzle the dressing over the greens and toss lightly, serve and enjoy!
Who Misses Cookies?
It's no secret that Beaumont cookies are a staple of the Beaumont experience, and while this recipe isn't THE Beaumont cookie it is a cookie in the style of the Beaumont cookie! I just baked them for my boys and they're a huge hit. I used milk chocolate, feel free to use bittersweet or semi-sweet if you like. Also, bake to your desired doneness. Beaumonsters like them very soft in the middle. I like to add a pinch of sea salt to the cookie when they are done baking because who doesn't love salty and sweet? Enjoy and let me know if you try making these! Chef Bo
Ingredients:
2.25 C AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 lrg eggs
2 C chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)
Flake sea salt for finishing
Steps:
1. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt
2. Cream the butter, vanilla, and sugars together
3. Next beat in one egg at a time, then combine the remaining dry ingredients until a nice batter is formed; scrape the sides of the bowl
4. Mix in chips until incorporated
5. Because Beaumont cookies are quarter pound cookies that are the size of your head, used a large ice cream scoop to portion out the dough
6. Once portioned, chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, this helps stop the cookie from over spreading out
7. After the dough is properly chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees
8. Bake the cookies to your desired doneness and based on how big you make them. For these big guys, I baked them for about 14 minutes. You want to edges to start turning golden brown
9. When they are done, remove and immediately add a sprinkle of flake sea salt to the top while the cookie is still hot
10. Let them cool until you are ready to eat. My boys grabbed theirs as soon as they were cool enough to be held, but still warm in the middle.
Candied Citrus Peels 🍊🍋🍈
Fruit fans will love this week's Foodie Friday recipe: The recipe is a breeze and a nice sweet treat! I used oranges, limes, and lemons.
1. Pick your citrus and wash them.
2. Score the fruit all the way around and gently peel the rind off, then slice in 1/4” strips
3. Pick an appropriate sized pot/pan and cover peels in cold water. Bring to a boil.
4. Once boiling, strain the peels and repeat the process anywhere from 4-6 times. (Note: some citrus is more bitter than others. Lemons and grapefruits you may want to boil 6 times, oranges, limes, or tangerines 4 times should be good.)
5. After boiling the appropriate number of times, submerge the peels in a simple syrup. For this recipe I did 2:1 sugar to water. I ended up needing 3 cups of sugar to 1.5 cups of water.
6. Bring the syrup and peels to a boil and allow to boil for a minimum of 15 minutes or longer. You want the pith (the white part of the rind) to begin to turn translucent.
7. After boiling, strain, and roll in sugar. Place candies on a wire rack to cool and dry out. Then enjoy!
These make great treats and freshen your breath too! Enjoy! Chef Bo
Random Veggie Salad Recipe
Chef Bo is back with a creative way to clean out the fridge and make a delicious, healthy meal!
Chef Bo's Sweet and Sour Chicken
This recipe is flexible! You may want it sweeter, or perhaps a bit more sour, or add different vegetables -- you do you! That's the great thing about savory dishes, you change them around to what you and your family like. Here is how I did it for my family.
Ingredients:
The juice and zest of 1 orange
1 carrot (sliced in large round slices)
1/2 of a large onion (cut into strips)
1 large green bell pepper (cut into strips)
1/2 C piquillo peppers (diced) this is something I had in the fridge -- they are a mild and tangy pepper
1 C white vinegar
1/2 C brown sugar (again add more or less depending on how sweet you like it)
A pinch of crushed red pepper flake (add as much or as little as your heat tolerance allows)
1 star anise (if you have this that's great. You could also substitute 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp five-spice powder, or leave out all together)
1 package of boneless skinless chicken thighs (diced)
1 TBSP Corn starch for thickening
Rice cooked to your liking
Steps:
1) Dice and sauté chicken meat in 2 tbsp of oil until cooked through, transfer chicken and juice to a plate
2) Add carrots, onions, bell peppers, piquillo peppers, crushed red pepper, and star anise back to pan or wok. Sauté until vegetables are cooked about 1/2 way through
3) Add orange juice, zest, and the vinegar to the pan; bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper to taste
4) Stir in brown sugar (taste as you go. You can always add more but you can't take it out. You may not want all the sugar; you may want more!)
5) Add chicken back into pan and boil
6) Take corn starch and mix with a bit of cold water; the slurry should be the consistency of cream; stir slurry into boiling liquid
7) Sauce should thicken up nicely. Re-taste and adjust for flavoring. At this point you may want to add more vinegar, a splash of water, or a bit more salt and pepper
8) I like to serve this dish by taking a large ice cream scoop of rice and put it in the middle of the bowl; then spoon the sweet and sour mixture around the rice and some extra sauce over the top.
9) Enjoy!
I really miss cooking for you all and wish we could all be back together. Until then: keep cooking, keep smiling, stay healthy, and trust in God. -Chef Bo
Chef Bo's Gluten Free No-Bake Cookies
This is a great recipe because it is versatile. You can change it around to what you like, in fact I called an audible mid-recipe and added chocolate. These are gluten free but can also be made vegan by substituting almond milk and solid coconut oil or margarine for the butter. If you have a peanut allergy, any nut butter will do. Have fun with these because they are easy, delicious, and addictive!
Ingredients:
3 cups white sugar
3/4 cup milk (or vegan substitute)
3/4 cup butter (or vegan substitute)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cup creamy peanut butter (any nut butter will do, creamy or smooth)
4.5 cup Quaker oats
1 cup milk chocolate chips (I added this on a whim and it was a great addition!)
1 tsp kosher salt
Steps:
1. In a sauce pan mix sugar, butter, milk, salt and vanilla and over medium heat bring to a boil
2. In a separate large bowl mix dry ingredients: chocolate chips, oats, and peanut butter
3. Once the milk mixture is boiling and the butter is all melted, poor that hot mixture into the bowl with the oats
4. Stir until it is all incorporated and thoroughly combined
5. Line cookie trays with wax or parchment paper; scoop oat mixture onto line trays in heaping tablespoons or with a small ice cream scoop
6. Allow to cool for 30 minutes or more and then enjoy! They will store perfectly in the refrigerator in a sealed container
Chef notes: This is a great clean out the panty cookie. Add in whatever you like to make these your own. Shredded coconut, crushed pretzels or potato chips, any random nut you may have, white chocolate, butterscotch chips, raisins, etc. Anything you find delicious will work well in these cookies.
Ms. Cathy’s Spicy Lenten Tomato Sauce
2 large cans of tomato sauce
6 hot banana peppers
1 onion
5 cloves garlic
4 or 5 filets of canned anchovies
Olive oil
Steps:
Cut banana peppers and fry in olive oil
Add onion, anchovies and garlic, anchovies will disappear.
(DONT BE AFRAID YOU WONT TASTE THEM)
Add tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
If you like it spicy add red pepper flakes
Let simmer for a couple hours.
We like angel hair pasta but you can use anything.
We also bread some kind of fish to go along with it. You could also add shrimp or any seafood you prefer.
Manga!
Chef Bo’s Extra Spiced Gingerbread Cookies
Mix the following together:
2.5 cups AP flour - sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground clove
1/4 tsp. ground all-spice
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. mace
1 tbsp. ground black pepper
Beat together in a bowl:
1 egg
2/3 C dark molasses (coat the measuring cup with cooking spray or a touch of vegetable oil so it won't stick)
1.25 C light brown sugar (you could also use dark brown sugar)
6 tbsp. softened butter
Steps:
1) Add flour mixture to egg/molasses mixture and mix until well blended. In two portions, wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or until the dough is chilled.
2) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
3) Dust your work area and rolling pin with flour and roll out dough a portion of the dough to 1/4" thickness.
4) Using your favorite cookie cutters (we had ties and bow tie cutters handy), dip in flour and cut out dough and place the cut-outs onto a parchment lined cookie tray.
5) Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until slightly firm to the touch. If you prefer softer cookies, cook closer to 8 minutes, for crispier cookies cook closer to 10 minutes
6) Let cookies cool on a wire rack and decorate how you would like. We used food coloring, powdered sugar and a splash of milk to make our icing. You can use raisins, candies, frostings, or leave them plain, however you like them.
7) Have fun and enjoy!
Chef's notes: I love fall flavors and if I am making a cookie like this I want to taste the spice. So I went heavy with the spices and basically pulled out all my baking spices from my pantry. These cookies, as they are, tend to be heavily spiced with some warmth from the black pepper -- I love them! If you don't like such a heavily spiced cookie, reduce your spices to your liking. Remove the black pepper, cut out what you don't have, or increase spices you like. Get creative -- if you want a warmer/smokier cookie, add a 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper; more mild then leave out the nutmeg and mace. If you follow the basic dough recipe you can adapt to your liking. If you get festive and make these, email over a picture -- if not, then bah humbug! Stay well, Beaumont!
Chef Bo's Two Trick Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 eggs
1 cup raisins
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 sticks salted butter -- I used Kerry Gold, it's the best.
1 cup brown sugar (I used dark -- you can use lite too)
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp. baking soda
1 tsp.cinnamon
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups Old fashion oats
2.5 cups AP flour
1 cup milk chocolate chips (you can use or not use chocolate. I had milk chocolate on hand, you could use dark, semi or bittersweet if you like)
Steps:
1) gather all ingredients
2) TRICK #1 -- marinate your raisins in the eggs and vanilla for at least 1 hour. This will rehydrate the raisins ensuring that they are plump and delicious in the cookie
3) TRICK #2 -- brown your butter (beurre noisette for our French students). Life is so much better with brown butter! Throw your butter in a small pot and over medium heat, melt it and allow the natural salts in the butter to turn a nice golden brown. This will develop a rich hazelnut flavor and add some incredible depth to the cookie. Once it is starting to brown, pour the butter into a bowl and allow to cool and start to come back together. You can throw it in the fridge for 30 minutes to help it to cool.
4) Pre heat over to 350 degrees
5) Cream your room temperature butter with both the brown and white sugar
6) Add the remaining dry ingredients to the butter mixture
7) Add egg, raisin, and vanilla mixture to the bowl and mix thoroughly
8) Scoop golf ball size amounts of the batter (it will be dry) onto a parchment lined baking trays and bake for 12-15 minutes
9) Once the cookies are just starting to brown on the top and edges, remove from oven and let cool
10) Enjoy and send me a picture if you make these!
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