Easy Hot Cocoa Bombs

The nice thing about these hot chocolate or hot cocoa bombs is that there is really no limit on what you can put inside these little treats along with the cocoa mix. They are all the rage this year and are getting hard to find, but are fairly easy to make at home, especially with the right mold. And what a great gift idea!

What makes this recipe easy is the large mold that enables you to not have to fuse together two different halves like this…

I tried that, but I just didn’t have the time or patience to try to get the two halves to get together. That is when I decided to try a different mold….

These molds are large enough to fit all the goodies in, and then you can just spread the chocolate over them, chill, and remove!

This is all you will need…

  • Hot cocoa mix
  • Miniature or dehydrated marshmallows
  • Candy melts
  • Any other candies or sprinkles you would like to add to the bombs
  • The candy mold above.

There are several brands, flavors and colors of candy melts available, depending on what kind of a flavor you want….

One bag of these are enough to make 6 of the bombs.

Melt the candy melts in a double boiler or microwave at 15 second intervals until they are melted. Use a paint brush or small spoon and paint about a tablespoon of the melted chocolate into each circle.

Make sure all sides are covered and place in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Remove and put 1 tablespoon of marshmallows in each circle.

There are only 5 here because one cracked and I had to eat it! Then add 1 tablespoon of cocoa mix to each circle.

Then add baking chips or m&m’s or sprinkles, or crushed candy canes, heath or caramel or peanut butter chips? Or – just use your imagination! Maybe a spoon of something like this? Get creative!

I used rainbow colored baking chips and some snowflake sprinkles.

Spoon the rest of the melted chocolate onto the top and spread over the top of the circles.

Place back in the freezer and let sit for another ten minutes until hardened, then turn over and pop them out of the molds and trim any loose strands of chocolate off the bottom. Here is what you now have.

For the top, I melted a few red and green candy melts and piped the squigglys on with a piping bag.

Then I added some sprinkles on top.

That’s it! Add one bomb to 8 ounces of steamed milk and enjoy! They da bomb!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!

Morrison’s Cafeteria Deluxe Cornbread Pecan Dressing

Fall is here in Middle Tennessee and there is a chill in the air! The holidays are fast approaching, and it’s not too soon to be planning for Thanksgiving. I have made a variation of this stuffing every year for almost 40 years for family and friends.

The recipe is adapted from a Morrison’s Cafeteria recipe which had been a time honored classic in the south for many years. If you were born or raised in the south, there is a good chance that you have devoured it somewhere along the way with sliced turkey breast and gravy on top. Most likely Sunday’s after church.

Sadly, Morrison’s Cafeterias are now a thing of the past, (I think there may still be one in Mobile, Alabama owned by Piccadilly Cafeterias) but some of their recipes live on.

(Diners in Morrison’s Cafeteria in Tallahassee, Florida on November 15, 1984. Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida.)

The original recipe is for 120 servings, and on Sundays, we would quadruple the recipe at Morrison’s. On Thanksgiving, we prepare about 1000 servings! I have broken the recipe down to yield 10 servings.

Photos from newspapers.com

Some of my most viewed blog posts have been adaptions of Morrison’s recipes, so I thought I would share another one with you. Below are the links to Custard Pie and Beef Stew.

https://kerrysfoodthymes.blog/2019/04/24/morrisons-cafeteria-custard-pie/

https://kerrysfoodthymes.blog/2019/06/28/morrisons-cafeteria-beef-stew/

Servings – 8-10

Cook/Prep time – about 3 hours (less if you cook and dry the cornbread the day before)

For the cornbread…

  • 1 3/4 cups corn meal
  • 1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and spread batter on a greased pan. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let it cool. If you are making the cornbread the day before, let it cool and dice into 1/2 “ cubes and let it dry overnight. If you are making it the same day, after dicing into cubes, put it back in a 175 degree oven for about an hour until good and dry. This will make more cornbread then you need. You can just eat the rest while it’s warm!

** if you are making the cornbread the day before, you can also dry the bread cubes, too.

*** for a shortcut, you may use a cornbread mix, but don’t use a sweet one like Jiffy.

For the dressing….

  • 1/4 lb dried bread cubes
  • 1/2 lb dried cornbread cubes
  • 4 cups chicken broth or stock
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 cup diced onions
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp salt (less if using salted broth)
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 boiled egg, chopped (optional)
  • 1 tbsp cooked, diced chicken or turkey giblets (optional)

I never use the boiled egg or giblets, but the original recipe calls for them so I have listed them here.

Heat the canola oil in a skillet. Add the diced celery and onion and cook just a few minutes, removing from the heat while they are still firm. Let them cool.

Add the dried bread and cornbread to a mixing bowl. Pour the cooled chicken stock over them, stir and let them set for 20 minutes.

Add the cooled onion, celery and oil and mix together.

Add the salt, pepper, chopped pecans and baking powder and mix well. Whisk the raw egg and blend it in. If you are adding the giblets and chopped boiled eggs, add them also and mix them in well.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add the mixture to a greased pan and place in the oven and cook for 45 to 60 minute until well browned.

Remove from oven and serve immediately!

That’s it! Enjoy!

Easy Cheesy Grilled Skirt Steak Pinwheels

If you like steak, cheese and spinach, (three of the main food groups) you will love these cheesy pinwheels! They are quick and easy to make and will impress your guests with their attractive display.

If you can’t find skirt steak, no worries! You can use flank steak. I prefer the skirt steak because it has a beefier taste to me.

Cook / Prep Time: about an hour
Servings : Two (about 4 pinwheels)

Special equipment needed: a meat mallet or tenderizer and some kitchen twine.

  • 1 lb skirt steak
  • 3 ounce baby spinach leaves, chopped
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1 lg shallot, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 oz shaved or shredded parmesan
  • 4 slices provolone cheese
  • 1 sprig fresh basil leaves
  • 1 tsp ground thyme
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Pound the skirt steak into a rectangle about 1/4” thick.

Season both sides with salt and pepper. Turn the skirt steak vertically on a counter. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil together and brush onto the beef. Sprinkle the thyme leaves on it. Spread the chopped shallots and garlic evenly onto the meat. Pinch the basil leaves and dot them over the shallots and garlic. Evenly spread the Parmesan cheese over it. Spread the chopped spinach over the parmesan cheese. Add the provolone slices evenly on top.

Roll the meat up jelly roll style and it should look like this…

Cut 4 pieces of kitchen twine about 12” in length.

Tie them around the skirt roll and cut off the excess twine. Season with more salt and pepper if necessary. At this point, you can pop it in a 350 degree oven if you want and cook for about 30 minutes until desired doneness, or you can slice them and fry them or grill them. In my case, I grilled them.

Place them on a hot grill and grill them for about 4 minutes on each side and them place them in a 350 degree oven for about another 6-7 minutes for medium rare. They will tend to be tough if well done or overcooked. Let them rest with tented aluminum foil over them for about 5 minutes and serve.

Enjoy!

Interesting Recipe for Grilled Sunflower Heads

It’s sunflower season! Would you try these?

Click on the link below for the recipe. Shared from dailymail.com. and rareseeds.com

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8623441/Foodies-divided-recipe-suggests-grilling-sunflower-head-eating-like-corn-cob.html

Meatless Monday: Pan Fried Mozzarella Marinara

Just another meatless Monday… Who doesn’t love fried cheese? I sure do – especially with homemade marinara sauce – and it’s easy to prepare!

You can make it even easier if you use store bought marinara sauce! Just skip the steps to prepare the sauce.

Or if you want to use fresh tomatoes for the sauce, you can find my recipe for that here…

https://kerrysfoodthymes.blog/2019/09/05/homemade-marinara-sauce-using-fresh-tomatoes/

Cook/Prep Time – about an hour

Servings – 2

Ingredients:

For the Marinara sauce…

  • 1 – 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 small carrot
  • 1 small celery rib
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 small bell pepper
  • 2 large cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp fresh basil
  • 1/4 cup dry red wine
  • Salt
  • Black pepper

For the Mozzarella….

  • 3 – 1/4 inch slices of loaf mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup dry red wine
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp fresh basil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup AP flour
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 cup panko
  • 1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1/4 cup canola oil (for frying the cheese)

For the sauce, finely chop the carrot, shallot, celery, pepper and garlic. Place the olive oil in a saucepan or Dutch oven on medium heat and add the chopped vegetables. Sauté while stirring for about 10 minutes. Add the red wine and cook another 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and turn heat down to low. Chop the basil coarsely and stir it in. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low heat, stirring frequently for 30 minutes.

While the marinara is simmering, prepare a cheese marinade by adding the olive oil, red wine, basil and crushed garlic and a dash of salt and pepper to a dish and add the sliced mozzarella and marinate for 15 minutes.

For the breading, whisk the egg and add the milk and stir together. Set up a breading station with a plate or dish of flour, and another with the panko mixed with the Italian seasoning.

Keeping one hand wet and one hand dry, grab a slice of cheese with your wet hand and place it in the flour and press the flour onto both sides with your dry hand. Place the floured slice into the egg wash and wet both sides with your wet hand. Remove the slice with your wet hand and place it in the panko mixture, pressing it onto both sides with your dry hand. Repeat the process with the rest of the slices.

Heat the canola oil in a skillet on medium heat. When the oil gets hot, fry the cheese slices until browned and flip and brown the other side. Remove from skillet and top with the hot marinara sauce. Serve with your choice of pasta. (I used pappardelle)

Enjoy!

Suggested songs to listen to while preparing the goodness…..

How about Luciano Pavarotti‘s “Pavarotti: The Duets” released in 2008 featuring duets with Elton John, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Sting, Frank Sinatra and others?

“Manic Monday” – written by Prince and made famous by the Bangles from their 1986 album Different Light. Just substitute the word “meatless” in place of “manic” while preparing this dish!

Grilled Banana Leaf Wrapped Chilean Sea Bass & Asparagus

I consider Chilean Sea Bass the king of the sea with its thick white flaky texture and delicate flavor almost reminiscent of King Crab but not as rich. This easy recipe uses banana leaves that create steam and lock in the flavor of the fish, herbs and spices.

We have several banana trees in the yard. They are easy to grow but are hard to get to fruit before the first freeze comes along. They die back in the winter but come back up in the spring. I did get one to flower last summer but the blossoms eventually dropped off.

Banana blossom

If you don’t have banana leaves available, you can usually get some from a Latin market.

Cook / Prep Time – about 30 minutes

Servings – 2

Ingredients:

  • 2 – 6 oz. Chilean Sea Bass Filets, fresh or frozen
  • 1 lb fresh asparagus
  • 3 large banana leaves
  • 1 small bunch baby leeks (or green onions)
  • 2 sprigs fresh Rosemary
  • 3 tbsp herb butter
  • 1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
  • 1 tsp Cajun seasoning (or something similar)
  • 1/2 lemon, quartered

For the herb butter:

  • 3 tbsp butter, softened
  • 1 tbsp fresh herbs, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt

I mixed fresh dill, chives, thyme, rosemary and tarragon from my herb garden, but feel free to use any of your favorite herbs.

Step # 1 – If using frozen fish filets, thaw overnight in the refrigerator or under cold running water. Prepare the herb butter by adding the chopped herbs and salt to the softened butter and mix well. Spoon the ball into wax paper and roll up into a tube shape. Place back in the refrigerator to harden.

Step # 2 – clean and trim the asparagus then parboil it in boiling water for just a few seconds until it turns bright green. Rinse with cold water and set aside.

Step # 3 – rinse the banana leaves and dry them with a paper towel. rinse the sea bass and pat dry with a paper towel. Set the three banana leaves on the counter and set the asparagus in the middle of one, and the fish filets in the middle of the other two.

Step # 4 – if you are using a charcoal grill, get the coals started. Season the fish and the asparagus with the lemon pepper and Cajun seasoning. Unroll the herb butter and add a tablespoon slice to each fish filet and the asparagus. Add the baby leeks, lemon wedge and rosemary sprigs to the fish and wrap each fish filet and the asparagus tightly with the banana leaves. Secure with toothpicks or use these ovenproof rubber bands like I used.

I used Lawry’s Lemon Pepper and Trader Joe’s Chile Lime seasoning.

Step # 5 – if using a gas grill, turn on medium heat and preheat you oven to 400 degrees. Place the fish and asparagus in the banana leaves on the grill. Grill the asparagus for two minutes on each side and remove from the grill. Grill the fish for about 8 minutes per side and put all three leaf packages on an ovenproof tray and place in the oven for about 6 more minutes until the flesh of the fish is tender, white and flaky.

Unwrap the fish and asparagus and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Suggested music to listen to while preparing the Sea Bass…..

This is a sort of a tropical dish, so how about some reggae? It doesn’t get much better than Bob Marley and the Wailer’s “Legend” featuring all of his best songs on one album, recorded from 1972 – 1983.

And “The Name Game“ by Shirley Ellis from 1964. “ Banana nana fo fana fee fi mo mana – banana” !!

Nashville’s Cookbook | Visit Nashville TN

Here is a link to a digital Nashville cookbook that I would like to share from visitmusiccity.com. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes: A Taste of Music City is a digital collection of recipes from some of Nashville’s most beloved restaurants and chefs. Get cooking!
— Read on www.visitmusiccity.com/nashvilles-cookbook

Some Sights and Scenes from Savannah

We recently took a road trip to the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia. Here are a few pictures from our walking tour around their historic 22 squares and the riverfront.

Air Fried Mini Meatloaves

Here is an easy recipe for some comfort food goodness! Because #everythingsbetterwithbacon.

Note: I will be taking a break from new blog posts for the next couple of weeks, but I am going to repost a few of my most viewed recipes starting with this meatloaf recipe that I prepared again today. This recipe is still getting views daily, and has been viewed from a dozen different countries more than a year after the original post.

In fact, the original post is no longer available because while trying to “reblog” it, I accidentally deleted it, so I’m posting it all over again. 😖

Original Post – February 2019

Cook/Prep Time – about 2 hours

Servings – 2 – 4

Ingredients…

  • 1 pound 80/20 ground chuck
  • 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1 large shallot
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 mini sweet pepper (any color)
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 3 tbsp ketchup
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 3 strips bacon (optional)

Add the panko and the milk to a mixing bowl and let them soak for a few minutes. Chop the shallot, pepper, garlic and rosemary finely. Add the salt, black pepper, egg and 1 1/2 tbsp ketchup to the mixture. Add the ground chuck and gently blend with the panko mixture. Do not over mix.

Spray two mini loaf pans with pan spray. Cut some wax paper to fit in the pans like this, leaving enough so that the wax paper can hang over the edge of the pans.

Divide the meatloaf into the two loaf pans. Press and pack firmly. Turn the loaf pans upside down onto a baking sheet and grip the wax paper to pull the loaves out of the pans. Make sure that the baking sheet is deep enough to catch the fat that will be released. I recommend using a drain rack. Place the loaves in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm.

**Note: you can skip the wax paper and cook in the loaf pans if you want to, but they would be cooking in the fat and make a greasy mess. Forming them and baking them out of the pans will make a much healthier and non greasy meatloaf.

Next, I’m going to top one of these with ketchup for my wife Susan to make it more weight watcher friendly while I top mine with bacon because everything’s better with bacon. Set the three strips of bacon down on a cutting board and set the meatloaf on the bacon and roll the bacon around the meat. Spread the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp ketchup over the other meatloaf.

Put them in the air fryer and set for 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Not all air fryers cook the same (we have a toaster oven style air fryer) so check every 10 minutes and cook to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Enjoy!

Suggested music for your listening pleasure while preparing the meatloaves…

“Bat out of Hell” Meatloaf,s debut album released in September 1977 featuring the tracks “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad”

“Green – Eyed Lady” by Sugarloaf from their debut album “Sugarloaf” released in August 1971 and “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You” from the album of the same name released in November 1974. This song features a guitar melody from Beatles song “ I Feel Fine” as well as a riff from Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”