Bratten's Clam Chowder

I am far too young to know what Bratten's really was. All I know is that it was a fabulous restaurant in Salt Lake I grew up eating it's famous clam chowder. I've never had one better. One time when I was little, I thought I was helping my mom cook the clam chowder. I drained the clams in the sink for her after she had opened the cans. As it turns out, you need the clams and the clam juice for this recipe. I guess I didn't get the hint because a month later my mom was making clam chowder, and sure enough, I "helped" her by draining the clams again. Now I will always remember NOT to drain the clams into the sink.

Ingredients
2 cans clams

1 C onions chopped

1 C potatoes

1 C celery

3/4 C flour

3/4 C butter

1 QT half and half

1 1/2 tsp salt

white pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

Instructions

Drain clams. Place vegies in medium pan. Add clam juice and water to cover. Simmer covered over medium heat until potatoes are tender - almsot 20 minutes. In the meantime, melt butter, add flour and blend. Cook 1 min or 2.  Add add half and half. Cook and stir until smooth using a whisk. Add undrained veggies, clams, salt, pepper and sugar.  I like to use fat free half and half because you can cut some of the calories witout loosing out on any of the flavor.

Almost Cafe Rio Salad

For better or for worse, we've been able to track down a recipe that's almostlove my Cafe Rio Pork Salad, but after reading this recipe, there's no more being in denial. See, Cafe Rio is a huge date joint. All the men order burriots, and all the girls protect their identity and stick with the salad. Salad is "safe"....right? Nope. It has more calories than the burrito...but that's what makes it oh so good!

For the Pork:

3 lbs. pork loin

16 oz. chunky salsa

1 can Dr. Pepper (not diet)

2 cups brown sugar

Put pork loin in crock pot and cover with water. Cook on high for 5 hours (or on low for several hours). Drain water, cut pork into thirds, remove fat and shred with forks.  Mix sauce together (salsa, Dr. Pepper and brown sugar). Pour over pork and cook another 3 hours on high. Leave on low until ready to serve.

Café Rio Rice:

4 tsp. chicken bouillon

4 tsp garlic

½ bunch cilantro

1 tsp cumin

1 can green chilies

¾ tsp. salt

1 Tbs. butter

½ chopped onion.

Blend all ingredients in blender then put in pan; add 3 cups water and bring to a boil; add 4 cups rice and simmer 30 min.

Tomatillo Dressing:

3 Tomatillos – peel off paper and chop

1 packet hidden valley ranch dressing

1 cup mayo

1 cup chopped cilantro

2 cloves garlic – chopped

1/3 to ½ cup butter milk

Mix all ingredients in a blender and serve. This tastes better if you make it the night before using it. You may have to add more buttermilk the following day to thin out dressing.

To make Café Rio Pork Salad:

Grill in a skillet individual tortillas topped with cheese until cheese melts. Assemble with rice, black beans, the pork, lettuce, tortilla strips, sour cream, guac and a spritz of lime.

Fajitas!

Every time my brithday comes around, my mom asks me what I want to eat for dinner. She'll make anything I request - and still does! I rotate between the same meals - Fajitas, Ogura Chicken and Patricia's Fondue. It's not that I don't like a lot of different foods, it's just that these three meals are some of my most favorite things in the entire world.  Why not enjoy them - made especially by my mom - on my birthday?

Fajita Marinade

1/2 C Soy Sauce

1/4 C Vinegar

1/4 C Water

1 T Sugar

1 T Chile Powder

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Ground Ginger

Instructions:

Whisk together all the ingredients. I like to double this recipe because if there's something better than some marinade, it's more marinade... Slice up flank steak into fajita-sized strips. Marinade the beef in the marinade for at least 1 hour.  Cook over the stove with red and green bell peppers and purple onions. Boil the extra marinade so that you can serve up the peppers, onions and beef all together in a maranadalicious bowl.  I like Fajitas with steamed flour tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro, salsa, tomatoes, and shredded cheddar cheese.

Note about Fajitas:

They truly are one of my most favorite foods.  Mike and I went on our honeymoon to Mexico where I vowed to find the best Fajitas in Puerto Vallarta.  I ordered Fajitas for 5/6 dinners - and no - I didn't get sick of them. The above Fajita recipe totally competes with even the best of the best in Puerto Vallarta.

Jaylene's Corn Pop Treats

Everything you could ever want in an evil treat. Calories. Addictiveness. Nuts. Sugar. Crunch. These are so good I have to be careful not to make them for small events because if there are leftovers, I can guarantee that I'll eat them all up by myself.  Whenever we're having a big party or need a treat, I always request that mom makes this. This is a great alternative to carmel popcorn - and I can promise your guests will enjoy it more than popcorn.

Ingredients
1 C Cashews
2 Packages Corn Pops (cheap, in the bag, sold in the chip aisle and sometimes hard to find)
3 C Sugar
1 T Dark Karo Syrup
1 lb. Butter

Instructions
Spread 1 cup of Cashews and 2 packages of corn pops on two Teflon (or well greased) cookie sheets.  In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, Karo syrup and butter. Cook fast and remove from heat when temperature just reaches 240. Pour over corn and nuts. Stir around to cover all over.  When it's cool and hard, it's ready to eat!

About Jaylene
Jaylene Young was a family friend of my parent's when they first lived in Michigan. The first time they lived in Michigan it was just my parents and my brother Steve - they lived in Birmingham.  Jaylene and her husband Russ were there while Russ completed his surgical residency at Providence Hospital.  They had a little boy, Jason, and a dalmation dog named Sydney. As a result, every time that Steve Jr. would see a Gernsey Cow (the black adn white spotted ones) he called them, "Sidney Cows."  Coincidently, Russ served his mission in Paris right before my dad did.  Little does Jaylene know, we've been using her Corn Pop Treat recipe in the family for almost 30 years now.

Mom's Beef Stew

Every mom knows how to make a killer beef stew for her family. As I am becoming a mother myself, I thought that I really needed to learn how to nail this recipe. It seems to be the type of recipe that mom's keep in their hip pocket until the perfect cold winters' night comes - and everyone is in the mood for hot soup. My mom made this a lot growing up. It really has been an Eror Family Staple Meal. When I went to get the recipe from her, I learned that she doesn't use a recipe. I spent 10 minutes working with her on a cooking-stew-play-by-play and (luckily) was able to transcribe the directions. I then converted "squirts" and "you'll know how much" to actual measurements. Now? I have this tried and true recipe for basic beef stew. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 lbs stew beef

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 onion

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1/4 C ketcup

2 T Worcestershire Sauce

2 Beef Boulion Cubes

Garlic Salt

Pepper

Instructions:

Brown the beef in your soup pot. Season it with garlic salt and pepper. After the beef is browned, add ketcup, worcestershire sauce and beef boulion cubes. Add 3-4 cups of water. Put a lid on it and let it simmer. (Note: It can simmer all afternoon for very tender beef, or just a half hour. If you're simmering all afternoon, you most likely won't need to cheat and add beef boulion). 30 minutes prior to eating, add the carrots, onion, potatoes and an additional 4 cups of water. Let cook for 30 minutes. You may choose to thicken with cornstarch.

The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars

Someone reccomended this book to me when it first came out. I have always intended on getting back to it. I thought now might be a good time. Especially because all three of us appreciate chocolate... in particular Catherine. I seem to remember a time in collage when she told me she had to have atleast one bite of chocolate everyday.

The Birth of Frankenstein

Today in the Daily Report from the Chronicle of Higher Education, an article wasy published about how the Shelleys worked together in the creation of the piece of literature. Many scholars have argued over the past 200 years about who really wrote Frankenstein. This article offers many new insights.

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i11/11b01201.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en