SECOND CHANCE NEWSLETTER           JULY 6, 2004

          I really wanted to call this issue "What I Did On My Summer Vacation", but that sounded too much like what it really is, so instead we'll call this the "Occasional Issue Of Nothing But Recipes".   The family spent a few days at the lake cabin over the 4th of July holiday,  and we made up several recipes that Lynn thought were worth repeating.  (The cabin is really conducive to new food creations, as we end up "making do" with what's available, hence..... new recipes.)
         Remember that recipes are not carved in stone; if you don't have something called for below, just substitute.  If it works out, write it down, and do it again later.

Chicken Tres
Four boneless chicken breasts
four green onions, chopped coarse
three sweet apples, sliced 1/2" thick, skins on
olive oil and/or vegetable oil

          In a large cast iron skillet, brown the chicken in a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil.  Once the chicken is lightly browned on both sides, remove the chicken, and line the bottom of the skillet with the apple slices.  Return the chicken to the the top of the apple slices, tope each with shopped green onion, and dribble enough olive oil over the top of each breast to cover it.
          Cover the top of the skillet with foil, and place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes.  After removing the foil (be careful of the steam escaping), dribble a little more olive oil over the top of the chicken.  Use a spatula to remove each breast, still on top of the apple slices, and serve with buttered, steamed white rice, and English peas.

Notes about Chicken Tres:  The name came from making this up on July 3rd.  Unflavored olive oil can be used for the browning and the dribbling.  If you use a flavored olive oil for the dribbling, use a plain olive oil or a vegetable oil for the browning.  I used a roasted pepper flavored olive oil, which gave the chicken tops a nice red color.  If you don't have a big cast iron skillet, just brown the chicken in whatever skillet you have, and transfer it all over to a casserole dish that's large enough for the apple slices and the chicken.  The apples slices caramelize, and provide a nice accent to the chicken.

Classico Green Beans

One can of green beans
Classico Pesto Sauce

         Put the beans in a saucepan, add one heaping tablespoon of pesto for each can of beans, and heat until just past the point of a rolling boil. 
        
Notes about Classico Green Beans:   The way we usually prepare green beans is to add olive oil and whole dill seed, and let it simmer hard until the water is almost gone.  We had no dill at the cabin, so Lynn subbed the pesto we'd brought from SCG.  Man, this was good.  I'm not much of a green bean guy, but I finished off the pot that night.

Banana Boats
One banana
chocolate chips
mini marshmallows

         Slice the skin (just the skin) of the banana along the inside curve for the length of the banana, leaving the ends intact.   Spread open the peel, and pack the cavity inside with chocolate chips and marshmallows.  Wrap loosely in foil, and place "curve up" in the oven at 400 degrees for 5-8 minutes, or until the chocolate has melted.  Unwrap, serve on a saucer, and just scoop out the insides with a spoon at the table.
         Make one for each diner.

Notes about Banana Boats:  I'm not a Martha Stewart fan, but there were a lot of her magazines laying around, and I can't help reading mags with recipes in them, so...... this one came from one of those magazines about two years ago.  We had four bananas, but no mini-marshmallows or chocolate chips.  I found some stale, big marshmallows in the back of the fridge, so I cut them into little slices, and they worked great.  For chocolate, I peeled frozen Hersheys kisses, put  them in a zip lock, and broke them up with a hammer.  I also didn't heat the oven. I put the foil wrapped monkey-sticks on the grill after the steaks came off, and after 5 minutes, the marshmallows were melted just right, as was the chocolate.  Lynn usually almost passes on dessert, but her banana was gone in five minutes. Thomcat's went faster than that.  Just pull off the foil, and eat it right out of the banana skin "boat".  Really good, really easy, and no messy cleanup.  Apparently stale marshmallows don't matter, as these melted and couldn't have been any better than fresh ones would have been.

Roast Corn
Whole ears of corn, with shucks and silk still on

         Put these directly on the hot coals in the grill, and turn with tongs when the bottom becomes black.  No foil, no soaking, etc.  Just corn directly on the hot coals.  In about 10 minutes, pull them off the coals, pull back the blackened shucks and silks, add a pinch of salt, and chow down. 

Notes on Roast Corn:  I learned this one from our friend Cary last October.  We were doing a late night cooking with our friends Jay, Mike, and Dave, and Cary had brought corn to cook.  We put the pork chops on one end of the grill, and the corn on the coals on the other end.  They got ready about the same time, and I still think that was the best corn I've ever tasted, and one of the best evenings I've ever spent.

Greek Beans And Rice
One pound dry beans (black, red, or brown)
one can black olives
6-10 green onions, chopped
one bell pepper, diced (less seeds and white membranes)
black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, bay leaves, oregano
white rice, 2 cups

Soak the beans overnight in plain cold water (no salt).  The next day, drain the beans, cover with enough cold fresh water to cover them twice their depth, and bring to a low boil.   When then beans have just about lost their crunch, add the can of olives, liquid and all.  Add the onions and bell pepper.  Add two bay leaves and 1/2 to 1 T of each of the spices, or to taste.  Remove the lid when the beans are tender all the way through, and allow the liquid to boil on low until reduced to the top of the beans.

Bring 4 cups of cold water to a boil, add the rice, stir, turn the heat down to low, and put the cover on.  Don't remove the lid.  After 14 minutes, turn off the heat, and the rice will be ready in about three minutes.  Just remove the lid and fluff with a fork before serving.

Serve the beans over the rice, with Louisiana Hot Sauce on the side.

Notes on Greek Beans And Rice:  The liquid in the olives is probably salty enough for the entire dish, add more salt only if needed toward the end of the cooking.  The liquid in the beans should be thickened by the time it is served.  Think of this as Red Beans And Rice made by somebody from Athens.  Black beans really help make it more Mediterranean in nature.  Rinsing the beans and adding fresh water after soaking will greatly reduce, and almost eliminate, the flatulence factor of the beans.  Louisiana Hot Sauce or Green Tabasco Sauce goes well with this.  Neither is anywhere near as hot as red Tabasco, and both are more flavor than heat.  If you use black beans, a dollop of sour cream or plain (plain, not vanilla) yogurt, and maybe a sprinkle of fresh mint, on the top of each dish adds a nice touch. 


Two Brief Non-Recipe Mentions

          First, SCG still has a good supply of flea and tick collars, tick capsules, flea spray, etc for your pets, all for way, way less than the BSP.
         Second, a new shipment is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, so Thursday, Friday, and Saturday should be great days to shop!


"Now go home and have a feast. Share your food and wine with those who don't have enough. Today is holy to our Lord, so don't be sad. The joy that the Lord gives you will make you strong." The Levites went around calming the people and telling them not to be sad on such a holy day. So all the people went home and ate and drank joyfully and shared what they had with others, because they understood what had been read to them. "   Nehemiah 8:10-12, describing the joy the people experienced after they understood the reading of the Law.

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