G, I Love Easy International Recipes!
 How do you say alligator in Portuguese? Y-U-M-M-Y!
  My lack of sentence structure is mirrored by my lack of shame. Many of my favorite international recipes were gleaned from international people. Recipe sniffing instincts know when to activate:
 Chicken Cacciatore
 Chicken cacciatore - best no salt meal EVER.
When you look around the internet, you'll find a dozen different varieties of chicken cacciatore. This recipe is by far the simplest I've seen. 'Cacciatore' refers to the way Italian hunters used to prepare wild game. I immediately turned around and made it for the kids at the Kids Cafe. You know its good when kids lined up at the kitchen for seconds, and thirds! The woman that gave me the recipe used bone in chicken breasts, but I've made it with different cuts too. Always a winner.
 Sweet Potato 'Pone'
 Southern sweet potato 'pone' upgrade
After harvesting a 7.3# sweet potato from our backyard garden, I had to find a recipe as memorable as the root vegetable that birthed it. To ease my guilty conscious, I kept the skin on after a thorough washing. On top of that, I found yet another way to sneak Dump Cake into the mix. Hope you enjoy!
While I worked at the Food Bank and shared easy and healthy recipes for Sweet Potato Souffle, many Southern cooks would share recipes for 'pone.' Don't ask me to pronounce it but, traditional sweet potato souffle is the one-legged stepchild of this Southern holiday delicacy. The secret is using raw grated sweet potatoes instead of mashed sweet potatoes. The blueprint for my version came from Cyndi Allen's Sweet Potato Casserole recipe on Suite 101, but I made several changes based on other key ingredients Charleston, SC cooks shared with me and the supplies I had on hand. Charleston, SC cooks I talked to also add fresh orange zest to their recipes. One of the main ingredients in my 'pone' was a half gallon of (almost free with coupons) coconut milk that sat frozen in our chest freezer just waiting for its day in the spotlight. Since I wasn't sure how flavorful my ginormous garden sweet potato would be, I did add some mashed sweet potato to the mix. I also doubled the recipe because I was taking it to a local Slow Food Harvest Potluck. Enough said, let's get this sweet potato 'pone' party started! Sweet Potato Filling 4 cups coconut milk 1 cup skim milk 4 cups fresh grated sweet potatoes (skin on) 2 cups mashed sweet potato 2 Tbsp grated fresh orange zest Juice from 1/2 navel orange 1/2 stick butter, cubed 6 medium sized fresh eggs (4-5 large eggs would work) 3 cups sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp rum flavor 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut (Earth Fare) Dump Cake crumb topping 1/3 box dry yellow cake mix 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut 1/4 cup whole oats 1/2 cup pecans, chopped ground cinnamon to taste 1/2 stick butter, cubed Butter flavor cooking spray Measure the coconut and skim milk into a large bowl. Shred the sweet potato directly into the milk to keep it from turning brown. (I did this, but had to use a cup measure to spoon out the grated potato into a smaller bowl to make sure I had enough). I added the potato back to the large bowl with the milk and added the mashed sweet potato. I took me longer than I expected to get this recipe oven ready so to speed up the baking process, I placed the sweet potato-milk mixture and the butter in a pot over low heat to warm. In a smaller bowl, I combined the eggs, sugar, vanilla and rum flavor and coconut and mixed until smooth. Slowly incorporate about 6 tbsp (2 tbsp at a time) of the heated sweet potato-milk mixture into the eggs. This keeps the eggs from scrambling. Once you've incorporated all 6 tbsp of heated milk, slowly whisk the eggs and sugar mix into the pot with the heated milk. In another bowl, mix the first 5 dump cake ingredients and set aside. Coat a large baking dish with cooking spray. Slowly pour the heated pone mixture into the baking dish. Bake the sweet potato custard for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until the pone starts to set. Remove it from the oven and cover it with the dump cake topping. Dot the topping with the remaining butter and return the dish to the oven and bake until the sweet potato pone is set and the dump cake topping is golden brown, about 30-45 minutes. The illustrated step by step version of this recipe is available at our Coupon Blog: Culinary Tourette's page. Salmon (Stew) and Rice
 Easy canned salmon recipe you'll love
Salmon and rice was one of our favorite meals growing up. When I got to college and joined the International Student group, I called my mom for the recipe. Canned salmon - okay, onions - yup, hot sauce - gotcha, KETCHUP - say what????
If she hadn't told me, I never would have guessed that the secret ingredient in this symphony of seafood flavor came out of a ketchup bottle. Anyway it's super good and quick to put together. On the night that we prepared it, my husband also made his delicious cabbage recipe. No cabbage recipe could be simpler but oh so good... Salmon and Rice (In the picture, I doubled the recipe to ensure leftovers and lunch)
Heat oil In a large pan and saute onions until softened. Prep the salmon (see pics below), crumble it in the pan and season with garlic powder. I like to use the liquid the salmon is packed in instead of water to add more flavor to the stew. Cook until salmon is heated through. Some Southerners would consider the dish ready to serve with rice at this point. Add ketchup and water (if not using salmon liquid). Stir until thoroughly mixed. Add hot sauce and serve with rice.          Cooked Cabbage
Before I met my husband, I thought my mother made the best cabbage on the planet. Now, we all beg my husband to fix it for dinner. I could never figure out how he got it to taste so good. After watching him make this batch, I think the secret is simplicity. Cabbage (and any other greens) are served with rice. That's one tradition that my mom didn't take with us to Ohio. I try to remember to make some for my husband.
In a large pot, brown the onion in oil over medium heat. Once the onions are soft, season with the garlic. Add the cabbage in batches to the pot, stirring occasionally. Cabbage wilts a lot. Once the cabbage has reached your desired texture, stir in the sugar, pepper and salt and cook an extra 10 minutes. Variation: My mother would steam fresh okra on top of the cabbage the last 30 minutes or so that it cooked.    DIY Chitterlings
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 Asian Pasta Salad
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