A Visit to the Pacific Islands: Kelaguen

by Jan Drexler

Welcome to summer! I mean real summer. Hot days, afternoon thunderstorms, cloudless blue morning skies, cooking outdoors on the grill (or not cooking at all!) These are lazy summer days!

There are a few recipes that I save for summer only, and this is one of them. I cook the chicken in the early morning and mix this salad up around lunchtime. By supper time, it's been in the fridge for a few hours and ready to go.

The key ingredient in this dish is unsweetened coconut. In the grocery stores it's easy to find the sweetened coconut flakes that are so essential for fruit salads and Christmas goodies, but that version would make this dish too sweet.

You can find unsweetened coconut in some health food stores, or you can find several different brands by searching for "unsweetened coconut flakes" on Amazon. I find mine at E&S Sales, my favorite bulk food store in Shipshewana, Indiana.

I've shared this recipe before, but it deserves another look. I especially love sweet Thatcher's face in the last picture! I miss that dog...although his successors are doing a fine job following in his footsteps. :-)


Kelaguen


Because of my husband's job as a hospital food service director, he goes to a lot of food blogs. And he comes into contact with a lot of different recipes.

Recipes he rarely brings home!

So imagine my surprise when he gave me this recipe a couple summers ago!

He says the guy who posted the original recipe on the blog is from the Philippines. I Googled the dish, and learned that it's found all over the Pacific Islands.

Originally, it seems the islanders used this recipe to ferment seafood - basically "cook" it in acid and salt. When other meat sources were introduced to the islands, the recipe was adapted to include them. Even Spam! Although one of the sources said the Spam version is only popular among beer drinkers.

Draw your own conclusions :)

The version I make uses cooked chicken.

Kelaguen

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked, diced chicken

1 hot pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced

1/4 cup lemon juice (or juice of 2 lemons)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut - dried or fresh

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for at least two hours. Serve with warm tortillas or with a green salad.

Since this is an ancient recipe, pretty much anything goes.

Use whatever meat - or even tofu - you choose. I use diced, cooked chicken breasts. You can also use seafood, beef, canned tuna...whatever!

Use whatever pepper you want - or even none. I like the zing a hot pepper gives the dish - although I don't like too much of it. I used one of these - I think it's a Serrano?

Green Bell Peppers would work well, too.

And, of course, for the coconut I used some of the huge bag that I dug into last week to make my Delightful Coconut Dreams (recipe here).

Paired with a green salad, this makes a wonderfully quick, nutritious cold dish for summer!

Someone else thinks so, too!

What's your favorite go-to dish for hot summer days?

And while you're enjoying the hot summer, don't forget to think about Christmas! If you missed my Christmas novella last year, Bethany House is releasing it in ebook form for this year!

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and growing-fast border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

Tasty Chicken Skillet

Jan here, with an easy recipe that is so good. Perfect for a quick supper!

AND perfect for summertime!

And if you're a vegetarian? Just leave out the chicken! Easy-peasy!

Tasty Chicken Skillet

ingredients for four servings:

4 boneless chicken breasts

2 Tablespoons oil, divided

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 - 2 cups chopped zucchini

1 teaspoon oregano

2 cups diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

Using one Tablespoon oil in a skillet, cook the chicken until done, browning on both sides. Remove the chicken to a plate and keep it warm...

Actually, since I cut the recipe in half, I just shoved the chicken to one side in my skillet and cooked the sauce on the other side!

Add the other tablespoon oil to the skillet and add the onions, garlic, zucchini and oregano. Cook and stir about two minutes, or until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown. Stir in the tomatoes and rosemary. Cook for an additional two or three minutes.

Place the cooked chicken breasts in the sauce, turning once to cover in the sauce, and simmer for a few more minutes.

Serve with pasta (or spaghetti squash) of your choice and a nice salad.

We enjoyed this simple supper on our deck, complete with our view of Mt. Rushmore. *sigh* It is my happy place!

And speaking of Mt. Rushmore, things are getting interesting as we prepare for Independence Day around here. For the first time since 2009 there will be fireworks at Mt. Rushmore!

Why the gap? For a decade, the state, local, and federal powers that be were fighting the pine beetles. Large areas of the forest were devastated by this little creature.

I took this picture in 2011 - at the height of the pine beetle infestation. It was so sad to hike through an entire forest of dead trees!

But after years of work and mitigation, the forest is healthy again. A couple years ago the forest service announced that the pine beetle was under control!

So, with careful eyes watching out for possible problems, the fireworks are on again this year. President Trump is planning to attend, and I can't imagine how crowded the place will be!

We're planning to watch from our deck. The view won't be as good as it would be close up, but the traffic congestion will be nil!

Are you planning to watch the fireworks this year?

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and growing-fast border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

Deviled Eggs - a Summer Favorite

by Jan Drexler

I try not to talk too much about my Instant Pot here at the Cafe...

...but my dear husband tells people that he's afraid I am going to divorce him and marry my Instant Pot. (Like that would ever happen!)

I've had my pot for a year now, and I thought I'd celebrate his birthday by sharing one of my favorite ways to use him:

Boiled eggs!

Yes, yes, I've talked about this before, but bear with me.

Okay, so the Instant Pot (or another brand of counter-top electric pressure cooker) is the best way to cook boiled eggs. If you have a new cooker, you'll need to experiment a little bit to get the perfect combination of cook time and pressure release time.

I cook mine for three minutes, let the pot sit for five minutes, and then release the pressure. When the pressure releases completely, I open the pot, carefully remove the cooked eggs (I use a silicone oven mitt), then run them under cold water to stop the cooking.

When I cook them this way, they are always perfectly cooked and super-easy to peel. Win/Win!

My favorite way to eat boiled eggs is...

Deviled Eggs for One

1 or 2 boiled eggs

1 teaspoon mayonnaise per egg

seasonings of choice

Peel your eggs and cut in half. Carefully remove each yolk half and put in a bowl.

Mash the yolks with a fork or a spoon, and add the mayo. Mix well until the yolks/mayo mixture is smooth.

Now you get to have some fun! Here are some of my favorite mix-ins (the measurements are for one egg):

Basic Deviled Eggs:

1/2 teaspoon finely minced onion

1/4 teaspoon prepared mustard

pepper to taste

Deviled Eggs Florentine:

1/2 teaspoon frozen shredded spinach, cooked and cooled (I reserve some from a previous meal)

1/2 teaspoon Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Garlicky Deviled Eggs:
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Southwest Deviled Eggs:
1/2 teaspoon Southwest Hot mustard
1/2 teaspoon finely minced onion
Chipotle Chili Powder

And my new favorite:

Wasabi and Soy Sauce Deviled Eggs:
1/4 teaspoon wasabi powder
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Do you like to experiment with deviled eggs? Or do you stick with the basic stand-by?

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Caprese Salad to Beat the Summer Heat

Mindy here and we are definitely in the dog days of summer.

104 in the shade. :0

Then again, this is Texas, the Lone Star State. Home of longhorns, wind farms, oil wells... And heat and humidity. Not that any of that can diminish our Texas pride. So I can’t help but give you a glimpse of our new front doors that arrived last week.

Still, when it’s this hot, the last thing I want to do is cook. So we settled for caprese salad instead. I mean when something this good is so easy, not to mention cold, why not?

First, we need some yummy tomatoes. Like this Campari variety.

Very tasty.

 

Chop three or four of those babies and toss them together with some cubed fresh mozzarella.

Fresh mozzarella is the kind that comes in a ball, not a brick. Very soft with a mild flavor.

 

Then we add some chopped basil, a bit of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, and some fresh ground pepper.

Toss it all up and voila!

Heaven in a bowl.

You know, even though I complain about the heat,

there's still plenty to enjoy here at the ranch. Like some creative photography on the pier.

Not to mention another gorgeous sunset.

Yep, when I've got things like this to help me beat the heat, I'd say life at the ranch suits me just fine.

Speaking of ranches, have I mentioned my latest release? This is the first book in my Rocky Mountain Heroes series and, as of today, it’s available on Kindle and other e-book versions, as well as paperback.

Isn't that a great cover?

Now it's your turn.

What's your favorite hot-weather dish?

Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband and the last of her five children. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

A Summertime Fave - Revisiting Kale Slaw

Last week I talked about salads and how, now that the temps are heating up, I 'm eating more of them. So I thought I carry that over and revisit one of my favorite summertime salads.

I will confess that, aside from this recipe, I don't eat kale. However, the combination of flavors in this dish is so good (IT HAS BACON!) and the hint of citrus makes it a perfect candidate to beat the heat.

So here we go...

Here's what you'll need:

l head kale, stems removed and thinly sliced

1 large carrot, grated

1/2 an orange, juiced

1/2 a lemon, juiced

salt

ground black pepper

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 red onion, sliced thin

 1 slice bacon, cooked crisp and chopped (since I don't dare have real bacon in the house, I used a heaping tablespoon of bacon bits)

1 rounded Tbsp. mayonnaise

Place the kale into a salad bowl. Toss with carrot, orange juice, lemon juice, and salt. Using your hands, rub the acid into the kale. Basically, pretend you're giving it a massage.

Set kale aside.

Prepare a large bowl of ice water and a saucepan with boiling water.

Place the sliced  onion into the boiling water for 15-30 seconds.

Remove and immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process. This removes the bitter taste of the raw onion.

Drain the water and blot the onions with a paper towel.

Add the onion, bacon, olive oil, salt, and pepper to kale and toss well.

Add the mayonnaise and mix the slaw well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be made several hours in advance.

Just look at all those vibrant colors.

This is so yummy, y'all. Though the next time, I think I'll add the juice of the entire orange. That citrusy flavor lends just enough sweetness to make it addicting.

Now it's your turn. How do you feel about kale? What's your favorite way to eat it?

Revisiting a Fave - Strawberry Spinach Salad

Since we're into the dog days of summer, I thought I'd repost a favorite salad of mine. Last time I shared it was right after our youngest daughter's bridal shower, hence the fancy pictures. But this salad is a treat, no matter what the occasion. 

Here's what you'll need:

• One 10-12 oz package baby spinach
• Half a small red onion, thin sliced
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• Blue cheese crumbles
• Sliced fresh strawberries
• Your favorite red wine vinaigrette

Toss together the spinach, onion, almonds, strawberries, and blue cheese. Add 1/4 cup of dressing and toss again, adding more dressing as desired.

This looks really impressive served in a pretty bowl. And the only thing better than impressive is impressive, easy, and yummy. And this recipe has it all.
Plus it's a great way to beat the summer heat. No cooking involved. You know it's hot when you get out of the pool and you're sweating.
We take in stride, though, and savor the air conditioning.

Is it hot in your neck of the woods? What are you doing to beat the heat?

Extra Fancy Pasta Salad and Another Cover Reveal

The last two weekends have been big family events for our group. Of course, Father's Day was this weekend. And, last week, we came together to celebrate the life of Helen Obenhaus, my mother-in-law. After a long, full life, she passed peacefully in her sleep at the age of 92. 

Naturally, both events called for lots of food. Some graciously brought by friends and other meals cooked up by yours truly as a means of stress relief. There's just something about doing for others that takes our minds off of ourselves and our troubles. 

When the weather's hot--not to mention extraordinarily humid--one of my favorite dishes is pasta salad. Pasta Salad is one of those versatile recipes that you can easily tweak to fit just about any taste.

The one thing you absolutely must have for pasta salad is, well, pasta. You can use whatever shape(s), color or variety you like. One of my favorites is the tri-colored pasta because it's so colorful. But since I wanted to try to keep it Trim Health Mama approved, my best option was the Dreamfield's rotini.

Just cook your pasta per the instructions on the package, drain and then rinse to cool it, which also stops the cooking process.

From here, you can let you imagination take over.

On this occasion, I kept things simple, knowing I had some picky eaters.

Chopped red onions and black olives was about the extent of things for this group. And the Italian dressing is what brings everything together, but we'll get to that later. If I hadn't been surrounded by pickies, I would have also added some chopped broccoli, maybe some colorful bell peppers, grape or cherry tomatoes, cucumbers... You get the idea.

So add whatever you like to your pasta.

Oh, but wait. This is Extra Fancy Pasta Salad. So about now you're probably wondering what makes it so fancy, right?

Tah-dah!

You'd be surprised what imitation crab meat can do for pasta salad. It has a little bit of sweetness that, when paired with the tang of the Italian dressing, turns into this wonderfully harmonious treat. 

Of course, it doesn't look so fancy when it comes out of the package.

You can try to pull each piece apart, or do what I did and just roughly chop it before throwing it into the bowl.

Stir everything together.

Then stir in your Italian dressing to taste.

Note on the Italian dressing: I recommend using the regular as opposed to a light variety. The light dressings have more water in them that absorbs into the pasta, making the end product kind of dry. 

Okay, so it dawned on me when I saw Jan's gorgeous cover yesterday, that I have never shared the cover for my August LI.

So, without further ado...

Once again, the art department did a wonderful job. I just love the hulking mountain in the background. 

Yes, it's available for pre-order and, if I did things correctly, clicking on the image should take you to that link.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

A Visit to the Pacific Islands: Kelaguen

Because of my husband's job as a hospital food service director, he goes to a lot of food blogs. And he comes into contact with a lot of different recipes.

Recipes he rarely brings home!

So imagine my surprise when he gave me this recipe a couple summers ago!

He says the guy who posted the original recipe on the blog is from the Philippines. I Googled the dish, and learned that it's found all over the Pacific Islands.

Originally, it seems the islanders used this recipe to ferment seafood - basically "cook" it in acid and salt. When other meat sources were introduced to the islands, the recipe was adapted to include them. Even Spam! Although one of the sources said the Spam version is only popular among beer drinkers.

Draw your own conclusions :)

The version I make uses cooked chicken.

Kelaguen

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked, diced chicken

1 hot pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced

1/4 cup lemon juice (or juice of 2 lemons)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut - dried or fresh

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for at least two hours. Serve with warm tortillas or with a green salad.

Since this is an ancient recipe, pretty much anything goes.

Use whatever meat - or even tofu - you choose. I use diced, cooked chicken breasts. You can also use seafood, beef, canned tuna...whatever!

Use whatever pepper you want - or even none. I like the zing a hot pepper gives the dish - although I don't like too much of it. I used one of these - I think it's a Serrano?

Green Bell Peppers would work well, too.

And, of course, for the coconut I used some of the huge bag that I dug into last week to make my Delightful Coconut Dreams (recipe here).

Paired with a green salad, this makes a wonderfully quick, nutritious cold dish for summer!

Someone else thinks so, too!

What's your favorite go-to dish for hot summer days?

Copycat Cracker Barrel Grilled Chicken Recipe

Hi everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a tasty little recipe for summer! I found this recipe on this silly girl's life and it's delicious... but I adjusted it a little bit. So, check out the original and then you can decide whether you want to go with mine or hers. (Don't worry. I won't get my feelings hurt!)

 1 lb chicken tenderloins
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1 tsp lime juice
3 tsp honey (originally 1 1/2 tsp)
2 tsp minced garlic (none in the original)
a splash of soy sauce

Ok, so I mixed it all together and gave it a taste. I know it's just a marinade but I thought it needed just a bit more honey. Then I thought.... it needs garlic. Maybe it would have been more awesome without, but I LOVE garlic.

 Ok, put in the chicken and let it marinade for an hour or two.

 Then, plop it all in a skillet and let it cook on high until almost all the sauce is gone and the chicken is cooked through. At this point I added 1 1/2 tsp of soy sauce and it started to smell really, really good.

 And now I make a confession. I've never been to Cracker Barrel.  We don't have them around here. So, really, this recipe should be called "Copycat Cracker Barrel Grilled Chicken Recipe By Someone Who Has Never Eaten There". Since I'd already fiddled with it, I decided to go all the way and start adding more things... like broccoli!

 While I was waiting for the broccoli to finish steaming, I was treated to a lively show by the construction crew. Pretty sure one of them is a pirate, but we won't tell the policeman pushing the red wheelbarrow with a giant pancake inside.

 And this little guy told me a long, long story about his racer man. I asked about the ninja mask and was corrected: that is his "bug wrap". You know, to keep out the bugs while he's zooming along. He also wants one for his birthday which is THIS WEEKEND. Can you believe it? My baby is FOUR. I don't think I'm ready for this. We've always been the house in the neighborhood that had a baby. Sort of a community service we provided friends and family. "Need baby snuggles? Come on over! Fresh baby always available!"  Oh well, I guess if they teen snark, preteen discipline issues and little boy lego stories, we're the place to go.

 Ok, so the chicken is out and placed on a bed of fluffy white rice. (Stop zooming in. So it's not exactly fluffy... More like sticky. Or clumpy. I still haven't mastered rice.)
                                      
Verdict? DELICIOUS! Hubby needed a bit of convincing since it wasn't burn-your-face-off hot. But he added a few red peppers and was perfectly happy.

I love summer. I get out all my little bottles and fill them with roses and lavender. 

                                          A close up of this vintage ink jar. Isn't it pretty?

 By the time you all are reading this, we'll be headed down to grab a spot at the local drive in. Not sure if anyone else has one of these, but I've got some great childhood (okay, and teen and adult) memories of our drive in. And now my kids love it, too. It costs our whole family about $20 to get in and besides the super fun atmosphere, there are tasty snacks like homemade pizza for the intermission. YUM.

 I pulled this picture from their facebook page. This is the way you watch a movie at the drive in. But we'll just bring the Tahoe and our lawn chairs. And some blankets and some candy. :)

 A nice shot of the sunset...

 One of their workers. It's a family business so the workers are from age 7 all the way to... well, we won't say.  :)

At the fiftieth anniversary, the had free admission for classic cars. That was a sight! Lots of Mustangs and 50's Fords.

Blue Sky Studio

We're going to see Rio2 and since I'm not really a movie person, I'm bringing my paper AA's of Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread! It will be a working movie date, because that's how this mom of six rolls during the summer!

 Until next time, my friends!