Recipe: Dennys Double Chocolate Biscotti

Dennys Double Chocolate Biscotti

What else do you have to do while snowed in? C'mon, baking these cookies is a real OMG moment!

Just imagine those wonderful brownie chocolate smells wafting all over the house and leaking out through the cracks in the windows traveling miles down the road.

Suddenly everyone in the neighborhood wants to be your new best friend! Make some new friends this New Year! Make Dennys Double Chocolate Biscotti! (How's that for shameless marketing? Not bad, huh?!)

Seriously though here's my New Year's blessing to you: May this New Year 2009 find all who read this healthy, well employed in this tough global economy and most especially, may this New Year find you all well loved by many! (Group hug.)

Denny


Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog:
Comfort Food From Louisiana

Photo by mamamusings @ flickr

Recipe: Mediterranean Fish

Looking for a healthy recipe for your New Year's diet? Look no further! Here is a wonderful baked fish intensely flavorful with sweet sundried-tomatoes and fresh basil.

From: Love Your Heart by the American Heart Association.

Serves 4 - each portion is a 3 oz. fish plus 2 Tablespoons tomato mixture per serving.


Ingredients:

Vegetable oil spray

4 dry-packed sun-dried tomato halves, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons water

8 kalamata olives, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons diced pimento

2 Tablespoons finely snipped fresh parsley

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves

1 Tablespoon olive oil

4 mild, thin fish fillets, such as snapper/tilapia
(about 4 ozs. each)

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with vegetable oil spray.

In a small microwavable bowl, stir together tomatoes and water. cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on 100% power for 30 seconds or until the water is very hot. Let stand for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft. Drain well.

Return the tomatoes to the bowl. Stir in the olives, pimento, parsley, basil and oil.

Rinse fish and pat dry with paper towels. Put fish in single layer on baking sheet. Sprinkle with paprika, cayenne and salt.

Bake for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Spoon the tomato mixture on top to serve.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 152 calories

Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Since Louisiana might as well be called the Land of Seafood and Sweets - rather than what the car license plates tell you - it's the Sportsman's Paradise.

Here's an easy pie recipe to enjoy from the River Road Recipes IV: Warm Welcome.

Photo by N8tr0n @ flickr who made the pie in a rectangular pan.

At our house when we eat rich sweets we serve them in tiny portions like the size of a truffle - so we don't break the calorie bank or take our blood sugar for a wild ride! :) Of course, our neighbors and co-workers are always glad to share!


Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Makes 2 pies to serve 12 - 16. A chocolate cookie crust and a little bit of coffee give this pie a chocolate cafe or mocha flavor.

Ingredients:

2 cups creamy peanut butter

16 ozs. cream cheese, softened

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

2 (9-inch) chocolate cookie pie shells

1 cup (6 ozs.) semisweet chocolate chips

7 Tablespoons hot coffee


Directions:

With an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and cream cheese until creamy, scraping the bowl occasionally.

Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Blend in the vanilla.

Beat the whipping cream in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture and spoon evenly into the pie shells. Freeze for 30 minutes or longer.

Mix the chocolate chips and hot coffee in a bowl until smooth. Spread the chocolate mixture over the tops of the frozen pies. Freeze until serving time.

NOTE from Denny: Since so many people and children have peanut allergies you could consider substituting another nut butter in this recipe. How about almond butter? Yum!

Recipes: Hot Drinks in Cold Winter

Even in Louisiana come January the temperature drops down cold enough to drink hot, spiked cider or mulled wine. December 11th, in 2008, just 3 weeks ago it actually SNOWED in south Louisiana! AND the snow stayed on the ground for two days before it all melted off. Pretty amazing as we made snowmen on our front lawns just like I did as a kid when our family lived in Maine for a few years. Will wonders never cease?

However, what was joyful for us silly Southerners was not a lot of fun for our Northern and Western and even Midwest cousins in the country. Even now so early in the New Year the majority of the country has been experiencing record snowfall and cold. This is when those hot winter drinks come in handy to warm our insides.

Hot, Spiked Apple Cider

Per serving: Take a cup of cider or apple juice and heat it in the microwave. Now drop a shot of rum into it. You could also add other variations: orange juice, cranberry juice, cinnamon, cloves and orange slices. Just make sure you add the liquor AFTER heating the juice.

Wassail

This is really popular all over America in cold weather: Wassail. Often it's used to toast good things to others like wishing them good health. You get to look like the great guy giving good cheer to others while sipping a yummy drink. Now aren't you clever?!

Bring a pint of water to a boil on the stove. Add a cup of your favorite honey, 5 whole cloves and 3 sticks of cinnamon. Heat for 5 minutes. Add a sliced lemon and now an entire bottle of good red wine. Heat to a simmer and serve with a lemon slice.

Mulled Wine

Now here's a cold weather drink that's as old as the hills! It's been around for at least 500 years since the Middle Ages. There is no hard and true recipe just the basic ingredients you can experiment with at will to your personal taste.

The basic recipe starts with a bottle of inexpensive hearty red wine. Add a couple of cinnamon sticks, some cloves and 1 cup of sugar. Add the mixture to a saucepan and warm it until the sugar dissolves - without boiling - and then serve it in a cup with either a cinnamon stick as a garnish or for Christmas try a peppermint candy cane.

Alhambra

This one is often served to revive folks at ski resorts.

To your cup of hot cocoa just add to spike it: a shot of rum, brandy OR peppermint schnapps. Garnish with an orange peel or even marshmallows.

The variations used are: peppercorns, bay leaves, cardamom, nutmeg, brown sugar, anise, rosemary, brandy, herbal tea, citrus slices as garnish too.

Hot Buttered Rum

Into your mug place 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon butter and 4 whole cloves. Now add a shot of rum. Stir well and fill with boiling hot water.

Variation: Some people replace the butter with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Add brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg.

Hot Toddy

Lots of variations on this theme with hot tea.

Fill a mug 3/4 full with hot black tea like Luzianne (not a bitter tea like other national brands. These guys specialize in taking the bitterness out of black tea and now have moved on to developing their own coffee line!).

Add a shot of scotch, 1 Tablespoon of honey and a slice of lemon.

Variations: Can use rum, brandy or bourbon.
Add cloves, a cinnamon stick or a grind of nutmeg - even a dash of Angostura bitters (which has an orange flavor).

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Recipe: Crawfish & Artichoke Bisque

Crawfish & Artichoke Bisque

From: "Recipes From a Chef" by Patrick Mould

Serves 6

Ingredients:


1 stick butter

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1 (14 oz.) cans quartered artichoke hearts, drained

1/2 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

3 cups half-and-half

1 lb. Louisiana crawfish tails

1 teaspoon hot sauce

salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley


Directions:

Heat butter in a large saucepot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, bell peppers, garlic, thyme and bay leaves, cook for 5 minuts.

Check artichoke hearts and remove any tough outer leaves. Add artichoke hearts to vegetable mixture and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add flour and stir until incorporated.

Stir in chicken broth and cook for 2 minutes until chicken broth starts to thicken. Stir in half-and-half and simmer for 2 minutes until bisque is smooth and creamy.

Add crawfish tails and hot sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.

Taste for seasoning and add salt, black pepper and cayenne to taste.

Stir in green onions and parsley. Serve and enjoy!

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate