Spicy Snacks, the word cloud

So, today I found this fun site, wordle.net where you can make word clouds from any string of text.
The cool part is the text size varies depending on the frequency of the word, making the fact that I eat lots of bread and rice very apparent. Also, the word "add" comes up a lot in recipes. Well, you can also edit the colors, font, and type of arrangement for the words.

And so I present the Spicy Snacks word cloud, about 100 words that frequent my blog.

Green beans and beef

1 lb beef [very thin slices or hamburger]
1/2 cup diced round onion
1/2 diced celery
1-2 cup green beans cut to 2" length [canned is OK]
1-2 tbs garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Jalapeno (optional)

In an oiled skillet place beef, salt and pepper to taste. Stir occasionally. Add onion and celery. Season again. Add green beans and garlic and cover to simmer until tender.

If you want a thickened gravy: mix a 1:1 mixture of butter and flour, and add stirring constantly. Let bubble until thick.

If you like it spicy add 1 jalapeno diced.

Homemade Apple Pie

Our apple trees, wildly growing all over the farm, untended, have begun to bear fruit in a big way. So we're trying to think of as many things as possible to use them for. Pie comes to mind rather early.

Pie crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 6 Tbs ice cold water

Pie filling:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 6 cups thinly sliced apples

First, the pie crust.
In a bowl, cut the shortening into the flour. [You can use a fork or board scraper for this. If you feel like it, you can get a putty knife from a hardware store too, that works ok.] Once all the shortening is about pea sized, add the water one Tb at a time. At this point, try not to mix it much, and keep it cool, the hotter it gets, and the more you touch it, the tougher it gets.

Split into two portions, and shape them each into a ball shape. Roll out one and place in your pan. Roll out the second, wrap in plastic wrap, and place both the flat one and the one in the pan into either the fridge or freezer while you make the filling to keep them cool.

Now, the filling.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Make sure all your apples are peeled, cored and sliced. Then mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Then mix in the apples, making sure all the apple slices are coated with the mixture. Take out both pie crusts from the fridge/freezer. Next, place all the apples into the pie crust-covered pan. Now place the top crust on top carefully, trying not to tear it.
Crimp the two crusts together, and if the top crust tore, crimp/pinch the pieces together.

Poke some holes in the middle with a fork [or cut some holes with a knife, whichever you like the look of more] so steam can come out. Cover edges with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning, remove 15 min. before finished. Bake until crust is browned and the filling bubbles out of the steam holes. 40-50 min.

"Classic" French Bread

"Classic" French Bread
---(The quotes are because I didn't learn it from someone that was French, and don't have proof that it is at all like real French bread, except that it's crusty like my favorite French bread.)

I used this bread for the pizza snack earlier, it's a very versatile recipe. You could make traditional style pizza with it too. Just spread out/roll out the dough in a circular/square (depending on your pan) shape and put pizza stuff on it, and bake around~ 350 degrees F. (until crust is brown on edges, check after 15 min, then every 5 min.)

• 1 1/3 cups warm water [75-85 degrees F or 24-30 degrees C] (it's the right temp if you can stick your finger in without scalding yourself --if it's too hot, the yeast will die, too cold, the yeast won't wake up)
• 2 tsp. Butter/margarine, softened
• 4 cups Bread flour (all-purpose, if you don't have bread flour, it's not the same, though.)
• 5 tsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 tsp. Bread machine yeast (if you're not using a bread machine, you can use the instant packets of yeast, but let that sit in water to bloom for a few minutes)

Place the water, butter, flour, sugar and salt into the pan in the order listed. (If you're doing it by hand leave 1/3 cups of the water out.)
[If you're using a bread machine, use your finger to make an indentation in the flour, so that no water seeps in, then put the yeast in there. Carefully put the pan in the machine, plug in the machine, and start the machine. Follow the machine's instructions and take out when it's done. You should be able to eat it anytime after it's done...]

If you're doing it by hand, bloom the yeast as described above with the 1/3 cup of water. Mix the ingredients in the pan until just together. Then mix the yeast in, water and all. Make sure it's well mixed (No obvious lumps). Leave it to rise for 20 min. Then knead the bread well. Leave it to rise again for 20 min. "Punch down" the bread. (Just give it a decent squish in the middle with a fist.) Let it rise for 55 min.
Once the mix/knead, rise, knead, rise, punch, rise process is finished, you can bake it. a 350-400 degree F oven depending on how crusty you want your bread or what kind of shape you're using, until it is brown on the outside. Then check it by inserting a knife or toothpick, to see if it's wet in the middle. If it still isn't baked all the way through, bake it at 300-350 degrees F, and cover it with aluminum foil to keep it from browning too much.

If you have questions about particular baking processes (like what to do for pizza, or buns, etc.), you can always comment, and I'll do my best to help you out.

Keep checking out this webpage, spicysnack.blogspot.com for mostly consistent updates! Delicious/quick/easy/spicy recipes is our forte!

Fried rice, delicious, homemade

My friend at my temp job asked me for a recipe for this, so here you go! :D

• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil (sesame oil preferred if you have it)
• 1/4 sweet onion, diced
• 2 cups rice (cooked or steamed)
• 2 Tbs. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. oyster sauce
• 3 tsp. - 2Tbs. sugar (according to taste)
• 1/4 cup - 1/3 cup frozen vegetables (can use mix or just carrots, peas, etc. by preference)
• 1 - 2 eggs

In a hot wok or pan, put the oil, and saute onion. Then add rice and fry until thoroughly heated, while mixing. Mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Once rice is warm, add the mixture, stirring rice as you add. Add frozen vegetables. In a bowl, scramble the egg(s), this will be your last ingredient. As soon as the vegetables are brightly colored and thawed, turn the heat off and add the egg and stir. Serve. You can add cayenne pepper to taste if you like it.

You can add any meat to this dish to make chicken fried rice, pork fried rice, etc (shrimp! crab! looooobstar!). Just dice the meat and add it right after the onions. Doesn't matter if it's cooked (like leftovers) or raw, just make sure it's cooked before you add the rice.

If your rice is dry (taste it before you add the egg), you can add any kind of broth to moisten it. (chicken, beef, vegetable) If you don't have any broth, water is okay, but broth adds flavor. Add enough to moisten, and let it steam with a lid over the pan for no more than 5 minutes. If you're impatient, you can taste it, but the more times you take off the lid, the longer it'll take (and the moisture you lose). You can always add more water/broth, but don't put too much broth, it'll get salty. Also, if you add too much liquid, it'll get mushy, so err on the dry side when adding liquids.

If you have leftover fried rice and it's dry, just add broth/water to it in a warm pan and let it steam. All the warnings from the previous paragraph apply.

Tacos

So today tacos were requested so this is it:

• 1 lb. hamburger
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning (recipe at end)
• 1 cup water
• soft tortillas or taco shells (in the recipe, ignore the warming/folding if you're using taco shells)
  
• 1 cup of diced onion (small onion)
• 2 tsp diced garlic
  
• shredded lettuce (to taste)
  
• diced tomatoes (to taste)
  
• cheese (mozzarella and cheddar, but you can use any you like)
• sour cream (optional)
  
• hot peppers, sliced (optional)
  

First, brown the hamburger and drain off the fat. Then add the taco seasoning, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and 1 cup water and simmer for about 30 min. Put it to the side.
Next, warm your tortillas, so that they're pliable. You can do this by dampening two paper towels (soak them with water then squeeze most of it out), then put one on a plate(bigger than your tortillas) put a few tortillas on it, then cover them with the other paper towel.

If you want, at this step you can set it up like a buffet and just have everyone do their own. Or you can do it yourself. If you're doing a buffet set up the ingredients in this order, going along with the path you want everyone to move on:
Plates, tortillas (keep them covered with the paper towel so they stay warm and moist), hamburger, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, peppers.

Assemble like this:
Put a tortilla on you plate, spread some hamburger on it, then sprinkle your lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese on it, then put a dollop of sour cream, and sprinkle some sliced peppers on it. Then fold the bottom edge up and roll the tortilla from left to right.

For diabetics, this should be a great meal, as it's got minimal starch with plenty of protein and vegetables. try to keep the ratio of vegetable to meat/cheese at 2:1 when assembling.

Taco seasoning:
6 parts chili powder
2 parts cumin
1 part cayenne pepper (you can increase or decrease depending on taste)

Mix the amount you need together, if you have too much you can store it in an empty spice shaker and store it in the pantry or spice rack.

The cooked hamburger is very versatile, try eating it on a bun or in salad!

Mushroom Chicken

• 1 Package of Mushrooms (whatever kind you like, as long as it's good for pan-cooking)
• 1 Chicken Breast
• 1/2 medium-sized onion
• Salt
• Pepper
• Additional spices (optional)

Slice onion, reasonable size, however small you'd like to eat, probably bite-sized or smaller. Slice mushrooms until bite-sized (for plain white buttons, cut off stem, then in half). Put pan on medium heat, when hot, add oil and onion. Spice. Cook until onions being to get brown. Add mushrooms, stir, put chicken breast in middle of pan, with full contact to pan. Add more spice now if necessary. Put on lid, cook. Flip chicken when first side is browned, cook until done.

You can walk away while it's cooking, but once the smell starts to waft about, check every 5-10 min.
Also, if you like, when it's done, you can take out the chicken breast and slice it.

If you want a pretty presentation, slice the chicken into thin slices (1/4 in. or less?) lay it in a fan across plate, and pour out the mushroom/onion/sauce over the chicken. Add garnish. Serve.

If you don't care what it looks like, just eat it. It's delicious, you'll find yourself eating more than you should.