Peruvian Chicken

Peruvian Chicken is a little weird, but mostly good. It has cloves, turmeric, nuts, onions, olives, orange juice, and lime juice, just to name a few ingredients. Serve with rice or boiled potatoes.

Ingredients:

- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 onion, peeled and quartered
- 1/2 piece fresh ginger (or ground ginger)
- 6-8 whole cloves (or ground cloves) (don't use too much)
- 1 to 1 1/2 lb chicken breasts
- 2-3 dried aji mirasol chiles, or 1-2 teaspoons ground chile powder
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 slices of bread
- 1/2 cup evaporated milk or half-and-half
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 red or yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 1/2 teaspoons palillo or turmeric (optional)
- 3-4 small yellow, red-skinned, or purple potatoes
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 cup chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts (or lightly toasted walnuts)
- hot cooked rice
- hard-boiled eggs, cut into wedges (optional)
- olives
- cilantro or Italian parsley

Directions:

In a pot, combine chicken broth with the quartered onion, ginger, and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the chicken and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook the chicken in the barely simmering broth for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, if you are using dried chiles, remove the stems and seeds and place the chiles in a bowl. Add the orange and lime juices and let soak for about 20 minutes to soften. Place the chiles or the chile powder in the orange and lime juices in a blender or food processor, and liquefy.

Remove the poached chicken from the broth. Shred chicken breast into pieces.

Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a large saucepan and add water to cover. Add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently until tender (15-30 minutes). Drain and keep warm.

Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and the palillo or turmeric, and saute until the onion is translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the chile puree and continue to cook, stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated (8-10 minutes).

Without washing the blender, place the bread and evaporated milk in the blender and puree. Add the bread mixture to the skillet and cook, stirring, for a few seconds. Add 1 cup of the broth and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened and a spatula leaves a track on the bottom of the pan (about 10-15 minutes).

Add the shredded chicken to the skillet. Add 1 cup of the broth to the sauce. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spatula (about 10 minutes). Stir in the nuts. Adjust the seasonings, adding salt to taste. Serve with boiled potatoes and, if desired, hot rice. Garnish with eggs and olives. Sprinkle with cilantro or parsley.

Paul's Grandma's Lefse

Paul's Norwegian grandmother put this lefse recipe together after years of experimenting.

Ingredients:

- 2 1/2 lb potatoes (2 1/2 lb before peeling)
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1 cube (1/4 lb) butter
- salt
- 1/2 cup flour for each cup mashed potatoes

Directions:

Boil potatoes slowly until tender. Rice them in a potato ricer. Add butter, cream, and salt to taste. Mash and mix to smooth consistency. Chill. Work flour into potatoes. Form into roll. Cut off into 2-oz sizes.

Keep in refrigerator until ready to roll. Roll very thin on lightly floured board. Bake until bubbles form and is lightly browned. Turn over. They should be soft and tender so they can be rolled up with cinnamon sugar or mashed potatoes. Bake 450 or 475 to 500 degrees.

Chocolate Pretzel Candies

A sweet-and-salty combination of chocolate and pretzels that is really tasty and really easy to make! You can use just about any type of chocolate you want, and pick from a variety of possible toppings - make them how you like them. Tip: use Hershey Hugs (white and brown striped) with green and red M&Ms on top for a festive holiday treat.

Ingredients:

- miniature pretzel twists
- Hershey kisses (any variety, unwrapped), Rolos, or other similar chocolate
- M&Ms, pecans, or something else to go on top.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Lay the pretzels out flat on the foil.

Put a Hershey kiss or other chocolate on top of each pretzel.

Bake for 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate has softened. White chocolate and filled Hershey kisses will soften faster than solid chocolate.

Remove from oven and immediately press an M&M or pecan into the center of each pretzel, pushing the chocolate down to fill the pretzel.

Immediately place in the refrigerator to let the chocolate set. Refrigerate for 10-20 minutes or until the pretzels can easily be removed from the foil. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough

What's better than good old chocolate chip cookie dough? Form it into small balls then dip in melted chocolate chips! These are great, truffle-like treats -- make them bite-sized or a little bigger if you prefer. Warning: it's hard to eat just one.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 to 1 cup miniature chocolate chis
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

- about 12 oz chocolate chips (white and/or semisweet)
- a little bit of shortening

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.

Gradually add the flour, alternating with the milk. Beat well after each addition.

Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts, if desired.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for about 2 hours or until dough can easily be formed into 1-inch balls.

On low heat over the stove, melt the chocolate chips with whatever amount of shortening is needed to make the chocolate runny enough to coat the dough balls.

Dip each ball in the chocolate coating. Allow the excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets.

Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

If desired, remelt chocolate coating and drizzle over the candies in a decorative manner. Semisweet chocolate drizzled over white chocolate is very pretty.

Store in the refrigerator.