Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Cecilie’s Favorite Coleslaw

A hybrid salad that combines spicy vinegar and mayo for the dressing, Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw is our go-to recipe whenever coleslaw is on the menu.

Food Lust People Love: A hybrid salad that combines spicy vinegar and mayo for the dressing, Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw is our go-to recipe whenever coleslaw is on the menu.

I am not a fan of gloopy mayo heavy coleslaw so I used to make one that was more like cabbage with vinaigrette dressing until it occurred to me that I could add some mayonnaise and have the best of both worlds.  

In my recipe files, I’ve been calling this New Year’s Day Coleslaw for years because it’s the one I always make when you gotta eat cabbage for money and black-eyed peas for luck. But a couple of years ago, when my younger daughter Cecilie asked me for it, I had to send her a Word file which made me I realized that I had never shared it here.

With this third installment of our Alphabet Challenge for 2024 being brought to you by the letter C, it seemed like the perfect time. And, in honor of her love of this salad, it seemed appropriate to rename it Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw. 

Cecilie’s Favorite Coleslaw

Don’t get too caught up on the size of your onion or cabbage. This is one of those salads, like most salads, where some more or a little less really doesn’t make a difference. 

Ingredients
1 small hot red chili pepper
1/2 small purple onion
3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 small cabbage or half a larger one
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
Freshly ground black pepper 

Method
Finely mince the chili pepper and slice the purple onion as thinly as you can. 


Put both in a large salad bowl with the vinegar. 


Stir well and leave to macerate for at least five minutes. This helps mellow the sharpness of the onion while also making sure that the chili pepper flavor and heat will be well distributed throughout the coleslaw. 

Slice the cabbage as thinly as you can, removing the hard stems and any tough ribs as you go.


Add the mayonnaise to the onion bowl and stir well. 


Now we are talking a nice, spicy not too mayo-heavy dressing! 


Add the sliced cabbage to the bowl and stir well/toss to coat it with the dressing. 


Add a few good grinds of black pepper and toss again. 

Food Lust People Love: A hybrid salad that combines spicy vinegar and mayo for the dressing, Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw is our go-to recipe whenever coleslaw is on the menu.

This coleslaw can be eaten immediately but it also keeps well and tastes even better if left for at least 30 minutes. If you are not eating it within 30 minutes, do cover the coleslaw and refrigerate it because of the mayonnaise. I actually like it better chilled but you do you.

Food Lust People Love: A hybrid salad that combines spicy vinegar and mayo for the dressing, Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw is our go-to recipe whenever coleslaw is on the menu.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it’s time for our Alphabet Challenge and today’s recipes are brought to you by the letter C. Many thanks to our organizer, my dear friend and fellow blogger, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the C recipes below: 

Pin Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw!

Food Lust People Love: A hybrid salad that combines spicy vinegar and mayo for the dressing, Cecilie’s favorite coleslaw is our go-to recipe whenever coleslaw is on the menu.

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Monday, January 29, 2024

Blueberry Banana Muffins (Small Batch) #MuffinMonday

Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend! 

Food Lust People Love: Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend!

I never worried about getting rid of ripe bananas when my mom was around. Her attitude (and my maternal grandfather’s, for the matter) was that when it comes to bananas, the darker, the better. Sadly, after several months of declining health, Mom passed away three weeks ago. I am blessed to tell you that she was here at home with us and her transition was peaceful. 

After she died, I had one last black banana to use up so I made these muffins. She would have really liked them but I console myself that in heaven, there are probably all the muffins she wants. And all the super ripe bananas too. 

Banana Blueberry Muffins - Small Batch

This recipe makes six normal sized muffins. My husband declared them chock full of blueberries and so they are. We think that’s a good thing and I hope you agree. 

Ingredients
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan
1 medium overripe banana (mine weighed 65g without peel)
1/3 cup, packed, or 66g brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup or 125g frozen blueberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Prepare your six-cup muffin pan by brushing it will a little canola oil. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.


In another bowl, add the banana, oil and egg. Mash the banana with a fork. 


Then use the fork to mix the three together thoroughly. 


Add all but six of the frozen blueberries to the dry ingredient bowl and fold gently so they are covered with the dry ingredients. 


Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl.   


Fold until well combined. Adding the frozen blueberries to the batter while they are still frozen means they don’t mush or fall apart while you fold them in. They do add moisture as they thaw while the muffins bake so don’t be worried that the batter is more like a dough as you spoon it into the muffin cups. 


Spoon the batter equally into the 6 muffin cups. Top each with a single reserved blueberry.


Bake for 5 minutes in your preheated oven then decrease the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C WITHOUT opening the oven door, and bake for 15-18 minutes more until domed and set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with just a couple crumbs attached.

Food Lust People Love: Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend!

Let cool for a few minutes.

Food Lust People Love: Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend!

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend!

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means it’s Muffin Monday time. Check out the muffins my fellow bloggers are sharing below.


#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.


Pin these Blueberry Banana Muffins! 

Food Lust People Love: Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend!

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Sunday, January 28, 2024

Chili-Fritoque

Sort of a precursor to nachos, chili-fritoque is a great appetizer made with broken tortilla chips, chili con carne and pinto beans, topped with cheese and jalapeños.

Food Lust People Love: Sort of a precursor to nachos, chili-fritoque is a great appetizer made with broken tortilla chips, chili con carne and pinto beans, topped with cheese and jalapeños.

Pronounced free-TOKΕ-ay, this dish is found on the World War II–era menu of the Original Mexican Restaurant in San Antonio. It was founded in 1899 and sadly closed in 1960. (There another restaurant by the same name now used by permission of the Farnsworths, the restaurant’s owners.) 

The original recipe included just beans but there was also a version called chiltoque with chili con carne instead of the beans. You know I had to take it one step farther and use both. As I was writing up this post, I google searched Chili-Fritoque and I'm not the only one who made this good decision.

Personally, why would anyone order just beans and cheese or just chili and cheese when you could add all three to this tasty corn chip dish? 

Chili-Fritoque

The recipe is adapted from The Texas Cookbook by Arthur and Bobbie Coleman, published in 1949.  For the chili con carne, homemade is always better than canned. I use this recipe here: Classic Chili con Carne. An oldie but goodie. 

Ingredients
2 cups or 360g cooked pinto beans (canned are fine but rinse them!)
2 cups or 540g chili con carne
2 cups (or more) broken tortilla chips (I'm a fan of more.)
2-4 small dried red chili peppers
1 cup or 113g grated cheddar or American cheese

For serving: sliced jalapeños 

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. 

Use a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle to grind your dried chili peppers finely.


Mix the beans, chili con carne and ground chili peppers together in a large bowl. 


If you are baking all the chili-fritoque servings at once, mix in all the broken tortilla chips. 


If not, separate the mixture and the broken chips and only mix the chips into the portions that you are ready to bake and serve. Place the chip/mixture in individual baking dishes.


Divide cheese evenly, sprinkling a fair share over each one. 


Bake in your preheated oven just long enough to melt the cheese and heat the beans and chili through, about 10-15 minutes. You can broil right at the end if you’d like the cheese to brown a little. Top with a few slices of jalapeño. 


Serve with extra chips and a spoon for scooping, if desired. 

Food Lust People Love: Sort of a precursor to nachos, chili-fritoque is a great appetizer made with broken tortilla chips, chili con carne and pinto beans, topped with cheese and jalapeños.

Enjoy! 

Tomorrow is National Corn Chip Day so my Sunday Fun Day friends and I are sharing recipes that will help you celebrate this foodie holiday. Check out the links below: 

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


Pin this Chili-Fritoque appetizer!

Food Lust People Love: Sort of a precursor to nachos, chili-fritoque is a great appetizer made with broken tortilla chips, chili con carne and pinto beans, topped with cheese and jalapeños.

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