Paco's Apple Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing

Inspired by the strawberry cake I've been making with chunks of sliced strawberries in the batter AND by my friend's love for apples, I've come up with an apple cake. Super easy and fool proof, I had my 11 year old son make the cake part.

Summer 1975 Strawberry Cake

Taken from the Imperial 150th Anniversary Cook Book and altered a little bit. All I have of this recipe is a picture taken of a photocopy from a magazine. I have yet to find this recipe in digital form.

Paco's Slow Cooker Chili Beans (revisited!)

Prep: 30 minutes, Cook: 8-9 hours

Chili and Cheese Rellenos (reh•YEH•nos)

It's that time of year again when green chili hits the stores and the lovely smell of roasted green chili wanders into my nose. That's New Mexico for ya! This year, for some strange reason, like never before, I've had a really strong hankering for chili rellenos! To top it off, I have one more week to wait until I am able to purchase my eighty pounds of roasted green chili to put away in the freezer for the next year! 

Have no fear! I was lucky enough to get fresh green chili in my bountiful basket food co-op this weekend, so I was saved! For then time being...

This is a recipe handed down to me from my Mom. I've looked online and haven't found anything close. My Mom never really measures so I tried to write it as close to it as I could.

Chili Rellenos

Ingredients:
About 12 fresh roasted & peeled green chili
1¼ c flour
1t baking powder
1c 0% milk
2 eggs slightly beaten
½ t salt
½ t garlic salt
½ t paprika
About ¼-½ lb block of your favorite cheese - depending how much cheese you like
Canola oil for frying

I started with roasting my green chili on my charcoal grill. I set them on a high heat and was constantly turning them until all sides of the peelings looked like they had pulled away from the meat of the chili. Be sure not to leave them on one side too long... Once roasted, I placed them in a gallon plastic bag so they can steam for at least 10 minutes or longer (I went DQ and got some ice cream while I waited).

CAUTION: If your chili is hot, make sure you wear non-laytex gloves before peeling chili. At the sink under running water, I peeled each of the chili, taking care not to puncture the meet of the chili. With my thumb, I tore a small slit at the top of the chili near the seeds. Optional: I ran water inside and rubbed the seeds out - I have a hard time eating the seeds.

With a paper towel, I patted each chili dry as much as I was able. I sliced up my block of cheese to about ⅛-¼ inch thick. I then broke the cheese in half longways so that I could slide them into my chili through the slit I created to clean out the seeds. If you make the slit too long, like I did, just fold over the edges of the chili. Set them aside until finished with the batter.

For the batter, whisk the eggs together in a small bowl and set aside. In the KitchenAid mixer with a wire attachment, mix flour, baking powder, salt, garlic salt & paprika. Add milk and eggs. If you want a thicker batter add slightly more flour. Try not to mix too much, mix only until smooth. Scrape sides and mix for 30 seconds more.

Pour oil into frying pan on a medium heat, using enough oil to half way cover the chili (fatter cheese stuffed chili might need more oil vs flatter, less cheese stuffed chili). Oil is ready when you drop a drop of batter into the oil and the batter immediately bubbles and floats to the top.

When the oils is ready, completely submerge one stuffed chili into batter while holding the chili stem and a fork and the other end, remove from batter and lay into hot oil. Repeat until pan is full, but at the same time watch the chili cooking and turn over when the bottom half is brown. Remove from oil and place on rack or paper towel covered plate.

If there is leftover batter, fry it up too and make kiddie rellenos w/o chili or cheese. I'm not a kid and I still enjoy the kiddie rellenos! - just pour batter into hot oil making 2 inch round patties. Flip when bottom side is brown...

Best served warm!

Aunt Virginia Been's Jalapeños

Ingredients:

3½ c water
5 c white vinegar
2 c white wine
3 tbls salt
¼ c sugar
5 lbs jalapeños
garlic cloves
onion wedges

Non-laytex gloves

Slice the jalapeños. Thickness is a matter of preference. I wanted to use my food processor to slice, plus i knew my jalapeños were hot so I wanted a smaller bite size slice.

Bring to boil the water, vinegar, wine, salt and sugar to make brine.

Tightly pack jalapeños into pint or half pint jars, with one clove of garlic and one onion. 

Pour brine over jalapeños.

Seal with hot lids and bath for 2 minutes.

Let them sit for 3 weeks to pickle before opening.

Jacquie's Baked Beans

This recipe was passed from one friend to another, which I am so glad I was able to be on the receiving end of this recipe. We made these to go with our 4th o' July ribs and they were super simple AND delicious! They were gone before I thought to take a picture.

Ingredients:
2 large cans Bush Home Style beans, drained
1-2 tbls of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce
1-2 tbls of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce
½ c diced onions
1 tsp season salt
3 pieces of bacon chopped with grease
½ c coffee
½ c chopped jalapeños (I used my home canned Jalapeños)

Directions:
Add all ingredients to crock pot and warm on high for 1 hour or low for 2 hours.

Pan Fried Crouton & Parmesan Crusted Rainbow Trout

6 or 7 whole gutted and rinsed clean trout, heads removed(optional - I do not like my food to look at me while I eat it)
1 bag of seasoned croutons crushed
½ c fresh grated parmesan cheese
¼ c corn meal
2 tbls flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
¼ tsp fresh grated pepper
½ c buttermilk
2 eggs
½-1 c olive oil for frying
lemon wedges

In a deep bowl as wide as the fish, mix the croutons, parmesan cheese, corn meal, salt, garlic salt, parsley and pepper. In another shallow bowl as wide as the fish, mix the buttermilk and eggs.

Warm oil in pan on a medium heat. Pat dry the fish with a paper towel. Dip fish into the milk and egg batter, making sure you coat the inside of the fish. Transfer the fish to the crouton mix and press the dry mixture to the outside and inside of the fish.

GENTLY shake off excess crumbs and place fish into oil and cook for 4-5 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish). Flip the fish using tongs and cook another 4-5 minutes. Timing matters, otherwise you will end up with raw undercooked or mushy over cooked meat.

Remove fish from the oil and place on a paper towel lined plate for the excess oil to drain off.

Now you are ready to eat. Garnish with lemon juice squeezed from the lemon wedges. If cooked right, the fins and tail should pull right out of the fish. Using a fork, starting from the middle of the side, gently tug meat from the bones, skin should pull off easy and the meat slides right off the bones.