A STORY TO GO WITH NEISI LEKA'S CINNAMON ROLLS

Your cinnamon roll recipe sounds yummy!!! I plan to try them soon!  When I saw this recipe posted, it reminded me of one of my favorite stories from when you were young.  (Before I relate the story, I have to insert that up until this incident, I prided myself in being a mostly-from-scratch-cook.) I picked you up from kindergarten one rainy winter day. On the way home, I told you that I was planning to make cinnamon rolls when we got home. I knew this would be happy news to you, but I never expected the response I got.  You excitedly said, "Oh boy, I can hardly wait to hear the can pop open!" I realized then that taking care of three children, age 5 and under, had definitely impacted my cooking flair!

QUICK HEALTHY SMOOTHIE!

I was in the grocery store yesterday, putting some buttermilk in my cart, when a woman shared an idea with me.  She said she makes a simple smoothie out of just buttermilk, a banana and some ice.  She said it tastes so rich, almost like there is cream cheese in it!  Well, since a neighbor had just given me some bananas she couldn't use, I tried it as soon as I got home.  This is what I used:

1 cup buttermilk
1 medium banana (ripe but not over-ripe)
2 Tbs sugar (this is optional/to taste)
5 ice cubes
I put all in the blender and mixed well.

It really was delicious and so refreshing on a hot, hot day! Also, it's quite healthy- high in protein, calcium and potassium, and low fat/low calorie! It's my new favorite breakfast!

CINNAMON ROLLS

Cinnamon Rolls
By Paula Deen

You will need:
Dough:
1/4-ounce package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:
1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional

Glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 6 tablespoons hot water

Directions


Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.

Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.

Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls.

My thoughts and opinions: This was a really easy and time efficient recipe. The cinnamon rolls turned out delicious! I know this because the first words out of my hubby's mouth after he took his first bite was "Oh my God!" I have to admit this was my first time making cinnamon rolls by myself from scratch, I had looked through many different cinnamon roll recipes before I chose this one. My goal was to make the cinnamon rolls before my hubby got home from work and this recipe looked to be the best in taste, time, and ingredients that I already had. The cinnamon rolls would have been ready on schedule except for the fact that I have an eleven month old and duty calls lol.
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HAWAIIAN CHICKEN WINGS

From A Taste of Tradition Pg.1
Appetizer

You will need:
2lbs. wingettes or drumettes
1 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. sesame oil
2 T. sesame seeds
4 green onions, chopped

Flour chicken the night before and store in paper bag in refrigerator. Fry wings in 1-inch oil to light brown. Cool. Mix soy sauce, sugar, garlic. oil. sesame seeds, and onions. Dip wings in sauce and place on cookie sheet. Warm in oven to set sauce and reheat wings.

My thoughts and opinions: This is a very simple easy affordable and yummy recipe. When I took the first bite I knew I would be making this again. The chicken was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and perfectly seasoned. After I made the Hawaiian Chicken Wings I realized I had a decent amount of sauce leftover so I decided not to let it go to waste and ended up marinating boneless skinless chicken breast in it for tomorrows dinner.

POLYNESIAN HALF-MOON PINEAPPLE PIES

PINEAPPLE HALF-MOON PIES

(Known as Pai Faina in Tonga)

(Known as Pai Fala in Samoa)

INGREDIENTS and DIRECTIONS:

Crust:

5 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup butter

1 can (14 ounces) coconut cream

Mix all of the above until a smooth ball forms. Divide into 6 pieces and roll each out into an 8-inch circle.

Filling:

4 cups crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup pineapple juice

Heat pineapple, sugar and milk until hot. Mix cornstarch with pineapple juice. Add to heated pineapple and mix well. Let cool.

Spoon in pineapple filling into middle of each dough circle. Fold over to close edges. Press edges together and seal with a little water. Use fork to puncture top of dough about 3 times for ventilation.

Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 6 turnovers.

This recipe is from an article in the North County Times newspaper, written by Ruth Marvin Webster.  You can find it online at:

 http://www.nctimes.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/article_53990f9e-d53f-540b-934b-c9b23549a5a3.html#ixzz1RdZM81Xi

MELI’S COMMENTS:

This was my first time to make these.  They are very popular in the islands, as well as in the Tongan and Samoan communities here in The States.  To my palangi (caucasian) friends/family, you may find these a bit bland for your tastes.   In fact, when I first tasted them, I was going to tell my son that I thought I needed to make some changes in the recipe.  But then I saw the look of reverie on his face, as he bit into one. It seems he was flooded with memories of the months he spent in Tonga several years ago.  He said these were one of the foods that he loved from when he stayed there.  Apparently, the recipe is exactly as it should be! But I do have a few comments to make.  I am sure that most people learn to make these by being shown by someone else.  But if a person is just going by the recipe, they do need some basic cooking knowledge. 

These are the instructions I would add:

CRUST: 1) Be sure butter is cold. 2) Cut the butter into the flour before adding other ingredients. Should look crumbly.  3) Don’t over-work the dough or it will be tough.  4)  Lightly flour the board and rolling pin before rolling out the circles.

FILLING:  1) When you add the cornstarch and pineapple juice, the recipe just says, “mix well”.  It neglects to tell you to continue cooking until mixture starts to boil and thickens.  2) Also, it is important to know that you should stir frequently at first and then constantly as it starts to heat up, otherwise it will quickly burn.

One of the Small Pies

When I made these, I followed the recipe and divided the dough into 6 portions. The pies are quite large and only 4 would fit on my cookie sheet.  For the second cookie sheet, I decided to divide the 2 remaining pieces of dough each into half (creating 4 smaller pies). I actually liked this size better and would make them all that way next time.  The only other thing I did differently was on those 4 smaller pies, I brushed the tops with egg white before cooking, to give them a nice finish.  I also sprinkled the smaller ones with sugar and cinnamon as soon as I took them out of the oven.  These were minor changes which I don’t think detracted from the integrity of the recipe. Oh, also, I found they took 20 minutes to bake, so you may have to adjust the cooking time.

Overall, I found the finished product to be exactly what I was looking for; authentic Polynesian-style pineapple half-moon pies!

MELI'S CHICKEN ADOBO and EMBELLISHED RICE

I have heard of chicken adobo since I lived in Hawaii, quite a few years ago, yet had never tasted it.  A few days ago, I looked for a recipe so I could try my hand at making some. What I found is that there are two variations; the Filipino style and the Mexican style.  So, being the adventurous (or reckless?) cook that I am, I decided to combine the two styles and came up with my own recipe.  According to my college-student son, it turned out awesome!  I humbly have to agree!  So, here is the recipe for Meli’s Chicken Adobo!  I also am adding instructions for the rice dish I “threw together” to accompany it- nothing fancy but it was quite tasty for a simple rice side dish. By the way, as I was raiding my garden for fresh herbs, I randomly decided to throw in a couple squash blossoms (since the bugs get to the actual squash before I can!).  The blossoms are totally NOT a required ingredient (but I do like the hint of flavor they gave)!

MELI’S CHICKEN ADOBO

INGREDIENTS:

Adobo Sauce:

2 Tbs cooking oil

1 small onion, chopped

3-4 medium cloves garlic, chopped

8-10 dried guajillo peppers

1-1/4 cup chicken broth

3 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs packed brown sugar

3/4 tsp salt

Chicken:

6 chicken breast halves, cut as directed below

2 limes, cut in 4 wedges each

DIRECTIONS (Note: my directions look long but that’s because I add extra helpful details.):

Prepare dried peppers by cutting off stems, making a slit lengthwise, and scraping out seeds and veins.  Cut into 2 inch pieces; set aside. Saute the chopped onion in a skillet or heavy saucepan, in hot oil, over medium-high heat until it looks clear (about 4-5 minutes).  Add garlic and saute about 3 more minutes (do not let garlic get dark or it turns bitter).  Then add the dry peppers and saute another 3 minutes or until they are dark.  Add the remaining 4 ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer for 7 minutes, stirring frequently. Let mixture cool until not too hot for your blender (or food processor). Put into blender or food processor and pulse until mixture is smooth.  Let it cool.

Meanwhile, remove any fat from chicken pieces.  Cut each breast into 4 pieces, slicing across the short way (this makes large chunks rather than tenders).  Put cooled adobo sauce into a large zip lock plastic bag.  Add all the chicken, making sure each piece is well-coated.  Close bag securely and put in frig for 4 hours to overnight.

To grill:  Heat stovetop grill to medium-high (be sure to oil the grill with vegetable oil).  Remove chicken from plastic bag, allowing excess sauce to drip off (discard leftover sauce).  Place chicken pieces on grill and cook on both sides until just done (inside will be juicy but no longer pink). I try to only turn them over once so the grill marks look nice.

Serve with lime wedges, to drizzle over chicken, if desired.  I like to serve this dish with a side dish of rice.

MELI’S EMBELLISHED RICE

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/2 cups medium or short grain white rice

3 cups chicken broth

1 medium clove garlic, grated

1/3 cup fresh mild chile pepper, minced (i.e., Anaheim chile)

3 Tbs fresh minced chives (can substitute 1-1/2 Tbs dried chives)

1-1/2 Tbs fresh thyme leaves (can substitute 3/4 tsp dried thyme)

zest of 1/3 lime

(TOTALLY optional: 2 squash blossoms, chopped finely)

1 tsp salt (if broth is unsalted, use 1-1/2 tsp salt)

1 Tbs butter or margerine

DIRECTIONS:

Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan (a heavy pan is best).  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then cover and lower heat to where rice slowly simmers (otherwise your rice will burn on bottom of pan). Simmer for 15-20 min, until liquid is absorbed. Serve with main dish.