Carnival Night was a great success! The bunny may not have been impressed with the meal, but Uncle Carlos and Aunt Linda brought him bananas and basil so he couldn't really complain. And the people in attendance enjoyed celebrating the bunny's birthday with some awesome tasting food.
Deep Fried Salad with Kale Chips
Handful of green beans, one pack of button mushrooms, one jar of pickle spears.
Dry out the pickles, clean and destem the mushrooms, clean green beans and take off the strings if you need to.
To coat the veggies you'll need three bowls. One with flour, one with a milk & egg wash and one with corn meal. I used corn masa flour for the first bowl. I seasoned the milk and egg mixture with hot sauce and the corn meal I left alone.
Dip. Dip. Dip. Into the hot oil. Not rocket science. The green beans didn't really need that first bit of corn flour, they weren't moist enough to take any of it on. But the three dip process I've found really works wonders. Fish, squash...it adds a nice crunch to pretty much anything. And if you need to be gluten free the corn flour and corn meal is the way to go.
The kale chips were really tasty. Not everyone liked them, they can be a little bitter. But with enough seasoning I could be convinced to eat them every day!
Clean the kale, remove the ribs, toss with olive oil, salt and paprika and bake them in the oven in a single layer around 325 for about 15 minutes. When they're crispy they're done!
Pot Roast Sundaes
Believe it or not I've never made a pot roast. I'm not even sure if I've eaten one. I must have, it's not brain surgery. Big ole piece of marbled meat seared then cooked in the crock pot with celery, carrots, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and stock. Man I love my crock pot! I did it the day before the party, because food like this always tastes better the next day. I put the meat, veggies and juice in a smaller bowl and put it in the fridge so the fat would come together at the top and I could take it off. The next day I sliced the mean up cold, pureed all the veggies together and put it all in a pot on the stove to heat up, fall apart and come together in tastiness.
In a separate pot I made the mashed potatoes and then they went in the crock pot to stay warm! Love that crock pot, I tells ya!
Two scoops of potatoes, a scoop of pot roast, a sprinkle of cheese and a cherry tomato. I ate two of them. Crazy tasty.
Chili Cheese Dog Pizza
I had planned to make two kinds of pizza, this and a veggie. But the Chili Cheese Dog pizza was such a hit I made it twice. A few folks were brave enough to put mustard and relish on it! My husband made the chili for this one, good thing because I'd planned on just opening a can. GASP! I know. But I didn't feel like making a whole vat of chili for one or two pizzas. Thankfully my husband jumped at the chance to get back in the kitchen.
Chili, sliced hot dogs, cheese (mozzarella and cheddar)...we all wondered aloud why this was the first time our mouths were experiencing this. Incredible. Some suggested slicing the hot dog thinner, but that was nitpickyness. This was an amazing pizza combination. Talk of a pizza truck surfaced as someone suggested calling it "Vizza" :)
But it was not the time to be discussing business options and nicknaming a national dish after me. I had dessert to be making!
Cadbury Creme Eggs baked in a biscuit and served with Orange Butter Sauce.
OMG
Okay, the key here is to freeze the
Cadbury Creme Eggs so they don't melt while the biscuit is baking. I used biscuit mix because I had it, but you can use any biscuit recipe you have, you could probably use the dough that comes in a can. Just remove the foil from the frozen creme egg (duh) and surround it with biscuit dough. My dough was sticky so I found myself using two hands to strategically plop, drop and slop bits of biscuit around it's entirety. Cover every little bit, no chocolate should be showing through and then plop onto parchment lined cookie sheets.
Mine baked for about 12 minutes. You'll need to add a little cook time because the center is frozen. That dough will need a bit more time to cook, trust me. My practice run was still doughy in the middle. If you've done a good job of covering the eggs in biscuit dough you won't have to worry about melted chocolate running out.
The sauce was just orange juice, a tiny spoon of sugar, butter and a corn starch slurry. I squeezed three oranges into a sauce pan and added the sugar and butter. In a separate cup I mixed water with a spoon of corn starch. When the sauce was reduced enough I added the cornstarch to thicken it. You could also use chocolate sauce, whipped creme, ice cream. Whatever your heart desires.
These were killer. No doubt about it. I had one the next day heated in the oven and I think it was even better. Or maybe they're just so good.......
Check out the
video with music by
In It For Storms!
And check out this month's
Alternative Control \m/
-HH
