Coconut Macaroons

These are really, really good. They are also super super easy to make. Nuff said.

Coconut Macaroons:
3 cups flaked coconut
1 1/2 cup sugar (eliminate if using sweetened coconut)
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/8 teapsoon salt
3 egg whites
4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, combine the coconut, sugar, flour and salt. Stir in egg whites and vanilla; mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Dip top in chocolate suace and cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Sauce:

1/2 bag  of dark chocolate chips or chunks (about two cups)

2 tablespoon butter

Make a double boiler, using a ceramic or glass bowl that fits snugly on top of a pan, not touching the bottom. Add about 2 inches water and heat on stove at about medium temperature. Add chocolate to bowl on top, stir slowly as chocolate melts, it will get dry, when it does, add butter to make chocolate smooth and melted. Keep on a low temperature. Use to dip tops of macaroons in. Then place on a rack to cool. Refrigerate macaroons overnite to harden chocolate top.

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2 tablespoons butter

Gran's Breakfast or Lunch Casserole

Every Christmas, my family dined on this delicious casserole. This is an original family recipe passed onto to me from the one who originally created it, my grandmother, who is 97 currently and still attempting to cook when needed. I have set out to reinvent it in my home, with a few touches of my own, for times other than holidays.


Sausage & Apple Breakfast Casserole:
1 1/2 pounds spicy ground pork sausage
6 slices bread, chopped in pieces with crust removed
2 apples, peeled and sliced
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon paprika
6 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
6 ounces of shredded cheese (grated)

Brown sausage in a skillet, breaking it up as you cook it. Then drain on paper towels. Reserve half of the drippings in the pan and saute the sliced apples in it. Put sausage in the bottom of a glass casserole pan (medium sized). Remove the crust from bread and cut into pieces. Combine the bread, apples, mustard, paprika, eggs, cheese, and milk and salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix well. Pour this mixture over the sausage and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Refrigerate overnite, covered. Next morning, remove from fridge. Bake covered at 350 for 30 minutes, remove cover and bake another 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Thank you Grandmother Jean Wessell.

Essential Southernisms: Collards, Conebread, & Fried Fish

Essential Southernisms

After living in San Francisco for 7 years, my mouth gets homesick for southernisms, mostly food like the seafood and Bojangles chicken, the only way to get back to my roots, cooking food that fills me with comfort and memories.
When I was a kid, roadtrips with my mother always began with a pit stop at the local gas station. For $2 you get enormous fried fish pieces stuffed between 2 pieces of white bread with mayo, and hot sauce on the side. It followed by licking your fingers off of delicious fish grease and tartar sauce between picking out the fish bones. This meal is my travel back in time.

Don't it look good!

Fried Fish:
4 fillets of fish (we used Dovre Fish)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 large ziploc storage size bag
1 quart oil (fill pan to about 1 1/2 inch deep with oil)
candy thermometer

Make egg wash: mix one egg well with the milk, soak fish fillets in it for a minute or so. Meanwhile heat oil to 350 (we use a candy thermometer), medium to medium low on a electric stove. Prepare batter by combining all dry ingredients together, mix well and reserve in plastic bag to coat fish. Once the fish have been soaked in the eggwash, coat fillet, one at a time in the bag, shake excess batter and place fillet in oil. Fry until golden in each side. By keeping the oil at 350, it will ensure well fried fish. Place on paper towels to soak up oil in fish. Serve immediately. Eat with tartar sauce or ketchup.

Collards, cooked and ready to eat!

Collards:
1 bunch of collards, chopped in 1-2 inch thick, with stems removed.
1/2 cup vinegar
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 cups water
add salt to taste
3 strips bacon, chopped and diced
1/2 onion, chopped and diced
hot sauce (Crystal preferred) to taste

In a pot heated to medium, add bacon and onions, cook down until the onions start to caramelize  in bacon grease. Add 2 cups water and vinegar. Let water heat up to a simmer (about medium to medium low) but not boiling, add collards and garlic to water and cook for an hour or until tender. Add hot sauce to you liking.

Cornbread:
1 pack Jiffy cornbread
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Follow directions on box for cornbread, whip batter well in an electric mixer. Pour batter into  greased iron skillet. Sprinkle top with brown sugar, bake until golden. Serve with butter.

New Family Traditions: Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini bread holds a memory in time for me. It was on my first trip to Texas and my first time to visit my man' s family that I tasted what would become a staple in my own home. It was my first dessert in Texas. After flying for 5 hours with 3 month old Sula, we touched down in San Antonio, we were swept up into his Grandma's home, and subsequently served Louisiana Gumbo, fried chicken and for dessert: zucchini bread. . Since tasting such deliciousness, I was prompted to ask for the recipe. When I returned home to San Francisco from Texas, we planted zucchinis in our garden to continue the family tradition. Zucchini bread became a staple breakfast or snack item, since morphed into zucchini muffins. You can make it however you like, it is still good. The recipe goes like this:

Zucchini Bread/ Muffins:

3 eggs

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups grated zucchini with skins, drained

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 325. In an bowl with an electric mixer, beat the eggs until light and creamy. Add sugar, butter, vanilla, and zucchini and mix lightly, but well. Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon to batter and mix well. Add walnuts. Pour batter into a well greased and floured bread pan. Bake at 325 for 1 hour or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

For muffins: scoop batter into paper muffin cups, filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until muffins are golden and toothpick comes out clean in the middle.

Re Roast Beef

An $18 roast from Whole Foods gets tiring when you've been eating it for 3 days, but the budget is tight, so why not make something American more Mexican, and take Roast beef to a whole new level. Introducing roast beef tacos.

Roast Beef Tacos!

Roast Beef Taco Filling:
Left over roast beef
1/2 cup to 1 cup roast broth or gravy

Roast Beef Tacos in the making...

1/2 cup to 1 cup onions chopped
1/2 bell pepper chopped
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 tablespoon solidified fat from roast pan

Taco Toppers:
6-8 taco shells (warmed in oven)
sour cream (dollop per taco)
pickled jalapenos (optional)
1/2 cup shredded monterrey jack cheese (optional)
hot sauce of choice

Warm the taco shells like this in the oven...

Get out a skillet. Saute onions and bell pepper with taco seasoning in the roast fat until onions are translucent, add roast beef with broth or gravy
(amount added depends on how saucy you want it) from roast pan, cook all together for about 10 minutes until meat is warm enough. Scoop into taco shells. Top with cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, and hot sauce. Serve immediately!! Leftovers are soo good.

Mr. Renfro enjoying a taco.

The Cookie in a Cookie Cookie

A good motto for life: Eat dessert first, life in uncertain. I came across this cookie mix after falling short in chocolate chips in a hand to mouth craving involving the old fashioned chocolate chip cookie. The trick to this cookie is to have some big chunk of oreo in your batter, so don't over mix it. Also the baking soda with the hot water dissolved does something magic to the cookie texture. What happened next was unimaginably good, quite possibly the best cookie ever.

The cookie in a cookie 

Cookie in a Cookie Cookie
1 cup butter

the batter..

1 cup white sugar 
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups broken oreo type cookies
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter and sugars together. Beat in an egg, 1 at a time. Add vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and add batter, add salt, then add flour. Mix well. Then mix in oreo pieces, chocolate chips, and walnuts, drop in dollops onto un-greased baking sheet and bake in oven until golden, about 10-15 minutes. ( makes 20-30 cookies).

Cookies in the making...

Viola!

Choppin & Gratin

Another meal to keep you warm in San Francisco on a Friday night....

Choppin & Gratin

Chris' Curried Chops

Daddy's Curried Chops
2 medium sized pork chops (organic preferred)
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons crushed black pepper

Raw Chops

Rinse chops and pat dry on a plate. Coat one side of chop evenly with salt, paprika, garlic, and crushed black pepper. Lightly pat ingredients into chop. Turn over chop and sprinkle curry powder on this side. Lightly pat curry into chop side.  Marinate in fridge for one hour. Preheat oven to 400. Take chops outof fridge, let sit until room temperature, about ten minutes.
Use cast iron skillet or baking pan out, one with a safe handle. Put tablespoon of butter in skillet, smear both pork chops curried side up in buttered skillet. Cover skillet with aluminum foil. Let cook for 35 minutes in oven. Check to see if tender, or pink inside. Once this is done, remove foil and set oven to broil for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and enjoy.

Mama's Cheesy Squash Potato Gratin

7-8 medium sized creamer potatoes (or red potatoes) sliced sliver thin

Yeah, it looks this good when its done...

2  large zucchini sliced sliver thin

1 cup scalded milk

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

2 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon paprika and set aside

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

1/3 cup shredded cheddar

Pre heat oven to 400
Mix flour, paprika, chile flakes, pepper, salt, garlic powder and set aside.
In a small casserole dish, melt 1 tablespoon butter on bottom. Swish around so bottom is well greased.

Gratin in the making

Start with a thin layer of zucchini, sprinkle a touch of flour mixture on top of zucchini, add a potato layer, sprinkle super lightly with flour mix and gorgonzola, then add a squash layer, sprinkle a little more flour mixture on top of this zucchini layer, then continue with a layer of potato, top with remaining flour mixture, remaining gorgonzola cheese, and sprinkle shredded cheddar on top, lightly sprinkle some cracked pepper on top. Heat up milk and remaining butter until its hot. Pour over potatoes and cheese. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes with foil, after 30 minutes remove foil and golden brown top of gratin, its done when fork easily pokes through layers and is golden and bubbly on top. Let sit to cool for 5 minutes and eat.

From the oven to the plate...hmm.hhmm

Pigs in Purgatory

What better way to use up leftover breakfast sausage than to use it make spaghetti sauce?

Pigs in Purgatory

Spaghetti Sauce
1 container pasta sauce of choice (I used "classic" from 365 brand)

Spaghetti Sauce

1 1b. container of ground spicy pork sausage
1/4 onion chopped fine (reserve 1/3 for chard
1-2 sprigs fresh sage, chopped fine
1-2 sprigs fresh marjoram, chopped fine
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon red chile flakes

heat large cast iron skillet to medium low, add butter, when melted add in onions, season with salt, cook for about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions are lightly translucent, add in ground pork to onions, turn heat up to medium, start to brown sausage, add in marjoram, sage, and chile flakes, continue to brown sausage, after sausage is browned, add to pot with pasta sauce and heat up sauce

                                                                                    Sauteed Chard:

Sauteed Chard

1 head rainbow chard (well washed, leaves chopped thick, ends chopped thin)
remainder of onion
sausage drippings in skillet
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

After sausage is transferred to pasta sauce, turn heat on skillet down to medium low, add remainder of onions to skillet oiled by sausage drippings, season with salt and pepper and add in about a 1/3 of chopped chard ends (you can add all the chard ends, but I prefer to add only a little).

Choppin Chard

Cook this down for about 5-7 minutes until onions become clear, add chard leaves to skillet, lightly sprinkle salt over chard leaves so they sweat, stirring the concoction occasionally, sprinkle balsamic near the end of cooking over the chard and mix in well. Chard should cook down for about 15-20 minutes, when chard is done it will greatly shrink in size and will be tender when eaten.

Cooking Onion with Chard Ends

Pasta:

(can start while chard is cooking, so chard stays hot)
Pasta of choice, I used 4 egg pasta nests
water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Bring large quart of water to a rolling boil, add 1 tablespoon olive oil so pasta doesn't stick, cook until tender, strain and spoon on plate. Top with warmed purgatory sauce and can sprinkle goat cheese if you would like. Serve with chard on side.

 Dinner is served!

Foggy Days, Foggy Dinner

A cold foggy day warmed by food from grill and the oven to warm your belly and your house. This dinner is a great way to wind down your day an into an evening spent cuddled in a down comforter a spoon, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's by your side.

Chris' Spiced Extra Juicy Chicken

Chris' Spiced Extra Juicy Chicken
2 medium to large chicken breast
1 Teaspoon Paprika
1 Teaspoon Garlic Salt
1 Teaspoon Cracked Pepper
1-2 Tablespoon Sriracha sauce (watch out its spicy, so you can add more or less)
1 tablespoon Worschestire sauce
1/4 cup dark beer

Marinade:
Season each chicken breast side lightly with garlic salt, paprika, layer each side with cracked pepper. Call it my three layer system. Spread each chicken breast with Sriracha Hot Sauce, Worsterchire, and beer. Place marinade and chicken in sealed plastic bag and refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours.

To Grill:
Prepare Grill by stacking charcoal into a pyramid shape, but before it is stacked, tightly roll a peice of non-toxic paper, soak it in lighter fluid, put it in the center of charcoal pyramid and then continue to stack pyramid of charcoal, follow instructions on lighter fluid on how to light the grill. Once charcoals are hot, or glowing red, place chicken on grill, lightly oil grill first. Pre-heat oven to 300. Cook chicken on grill about 4 minutes on each side. Place chicken in skillet, put chicken in oven an bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes, cut and eat. Good enough to eat with no sauce and dip lightly in sauce from Asparagus with Red Veggies and Gorgonzola medley below.

Asparagus with Red Veggies and Gorgonzola Medley

Asparagus with Red Veggies and Gorgonzola Medley
1 bunch of asparagus, with rough ends chopped off
4 medium sized beets
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1/8 of a medium onion or shallot, sliced thin
4-5 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon rind
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Roast Beets:
Pre heat oven to 400
Chop head off of beets and scrub well
place unpeeled  beets in pan fill half way with water and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Place on oven and cook for about an hour or until beets are tender to poke fork through easily.
Remove from oven, let beets cool until warm to the touch. With clean hands gently peel off skin of beets, chop beets into chunky slices and cool in fridge until ready to use.


For the of the Medley:
Season asparagus, tomatoes, and onion with salt and pepper, lemon rind and drizzle with olive oil. Mix well and refrigerate for 20 minutes or up to an hour in small casserole pan.
Preheat oven to 400. Remove veggies from refrigerator. Add beets to casserole pan (Don't have to mix, will color other veggies pink). Sprinkle top of veggies with gorgonzola cheese. Bake in oven for about 15 minutes or more depending on thickness of asparagus until are tender.
Serve with Chris' Chicken and dip chicken in sauce from veggies

A Dinner For Kings & Queens and Family Folk

Renfro Family Pizza

Renfro Family Pizza with Baked Onion and Garlic

thawed frozen pizza dough

1/3 cup  or so cornmeal and flour

olive oil

2 cooked sausage of choice cut-up (bratwurst or italian)

pizza or pasta sauce

fresh marjoram, basil (about two sprigs) (or herb of choice)

1/2 of large onion sliced thick

2 large mozzarella balls, sliced thin

1/3-1/2  cup shredded cheddar cheese

small dash of anchovies (optional)

3 large cloves garlic chopped in half

salt and pepper to taste

So, so good....

Pizza dough:

pre heat oven to 450

thawed pizza dough

cornmeal and flour 

olive oil

Baked Onions and Garlic

place garlic and onions in oven (at 450) with drizzled olive oil (about 2-4 tablespoons) and salt and pepper for about 15 minutes or until tender and browned.

For Dough:

sprinkle dry surface with flour and cornmeal, place dough on surface and sprinkle a little flour and cornmeal on top of dough, begin to flatten dough with a roller , spreading dough out as you roll from all sides. If roller sticks to dough sprinkle a little more flour and cornmeal to stop it. Should take about 5-10 minutes of rolling to flatten to a pizza dough pie to size of your cookie sheet. Start from center of dough and roll out to the edges and repeat. Grab a cookie sheet or pizza pan and place pizza pie dough on it so it fits. Fold over edges of dough so it create a crust around pizza. Brush olive oil over top of pizza dough and sprinkle a touch of salt and pepper. 

For Pizza:

Take out baked onions and garlic and use for pizza topping. (Set aside a small amount of onions for salad)

Spread pasta or pizza sauce over pizza. Sprinkle chopped up marjoram and basil over sauce. Add on a layer of sausage, bell peppers, onions, and thin slices of mozzarella cheese. Add one light layer of pizza/pasta sauce over layer and layer again with sausage, peppers, garlic cloves, jalapenos, onions, and layer of shredded cheddar cheese and sliced mozzarella, and a dash of anchovies of you so desire.

Bake in oven at 450 on center rack until crust is golden brown on edges and cheese is melted thoroughly about 15-25 minutes.

Let cool about 5-10 minutes cut, serve and viola!

Renfro Sweet & Savory Salad

Renfro Sweet & Savory Salad

2-3 cups spring mix

1/3 cup thinly sliced baked onion (from above)    

handful of walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese chunks
1 small carrot chopped thin (optional)

Toss and serve with dressing of choice, the savory gorgonzola and sweet pop of cherry tomatoes make this a refreshing salad that compliments the spicy heat of the pizza.

Perfect ending to a great meal...