Sonoran Honey Streusel Coffee Cake - The New Southwest Cookbook Giveaway!!!

Before we talk about the Giveaway, let me just

Do you ever have one of those days...where you wonder if you shouldn't have even stepped foot in the kitchen that morning?

Saturday ended up being a day of discoveries.

I discovered that my dishwasher door is being weird...it's sticking shut while the handle that you squeeze to unlock it just sorta disappears into itself.

I also discovered that my oven takes foreeeeeeeeeever to heat up to the proper temperature. As in, after the preheat phase....and the required 45 minute baking time, the temp was 100' below the needed 350'F mark. That happened as I was baking this delicious coffee cake. I opened the oven door as the timer went off...toothpick in hand, ready for the plunge (do you know that this is probably the only reason I own toothpicks?) and I stopped breathing...in total disbelief as I tugged on the rack and witnessed the soppy center sloshing around.

My mind raced....did I set the timer right? Forget to put in an ingredient? Did I measure everything correctly? Is my oven ON? (oh yes....the heat is steaming up my glasses, it's definitely on). I double checked the recipe...everything looks good there. So I got out my oven thermometer, pushed the rack back in, along with my mess and reset the timer (a few times)......

Aaaaand that's when I broke out the bourbon. It was well past 5:00pm, so it was an overdue action anyway. (But that's another story for a different post).

I could tell the cake was finally cooked when it smelled delicious as the aroma filled the house.

Anyways...the moral of this story is...when things aren't going right...don't just give up. Think a minute...try and salvage the situation before you toss in the towel. I mean...what's the worse that could happen? You might have to toss it anyway. But....maybe not....

Thank God that wasn't the case this time because the is one good coffee cake. Especially if you're a honey lover....as in Pooh bear kind of honey lover. I suggest you use your favorite honey for this recipe if you can't get Sonoran honey. But then again....is there such a thing as a honey that doesn't taste good? phhht....silly bear.

And the topping....oooh my oh my. It almost caramelizes and gets crunchy. This might be my favorite streusel.

Sonoran Honey Streusel Coffee Cake
Printable Version

for the cake:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground canela (or cinnamon)
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup Sonoran honey (or your favorite local honey)
2/3 cup buttermilk

for the topping:
6 TB cubed butter, chilled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350'F

Line a 9" square baking dish with parchment paper

Cream together the butter and sugar until light an fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in the eggs and vanilla and continue to mix until incorporated.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, canela (or cinnamon) and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture gradually, alternating with the honey and then buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Pour into your prepared pan.

In a medium bowl, using your fingers, combine the chilled butter cubes, brown sugar and flour until you have uniform crumbles. Sprinkle over the batter evenly.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a cake tester toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the pan.

Slice and serve and totally enjoy the richness of this coffee cake.

I've only tried 3 recipes from this book, two of them were my choice (the first one was chosen for the group). It was really hard to pin down just two. There are so many more I have tagged for trying later....such as an almond-crusted pear tres leches cake (holy cow!!) and the stacked squash enchiladas...and and...roasted crema. Ok, I'll stop there (for now). My mouth is watering. You should see all these photos! And did I tell you? In the front of the book is a whole section dedicated to the southwestern pantry. What you should have, what it is, what it looks like, what you do with it. If you're just getting into making southwestern food....fear not, Megan will hold your hand right through the learning stage.

And now for some more good stuff.......

The contest! And I'm not the only one giving away The New Southwest Cookbook.

There are more than a dozen of us participating. And that means there are more chances for you to win. Woooo hoooo!!!

1. Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this blog post letting me know what your favorite Southwestern dish is.
2. Tons of optional entries in rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Hippocrene will be supplying 14 copies of The New Southwest by Meagan Micozzi for this giveaway, in conjunction with The New Southwest Cookbook Spotlight. Contest is open to anybody with a shipping address in the USA. Submissions will be accepted via the rafflecopter widget through 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, November 3, 2013. Fourteen winners will be chosen by random draw, verified, and be notified by email (from Heather at girlichef) within 48 hours of the close of this contest. The winner should respond within 24 hours of notification, or a new winner will be drawn in their place. Good Luck!

This post is part of The New Southwest Cookbook Spotlight sponsored by Hippocreneand hosted at girlichef.

Navajo Tacos

Navajo Tacos. Say what?

Say....mmmmmm. This is one amazing dish! What we have here is a great infusion. Navajo Fry Bread topped with New Mexico Green Chile Stew.

Now don't go thinking you can pick this baby up with your hands and eat it like a traditional taco. Unless you're into totally messy food! Not that there isn't great totally messy foods to do that with (burgers, burritos, traditional tacos) but I think you'd probably end up with most of that stew back on the plate. At best. Just get out your fork and knife and go to town on this baby. And use that last bite of fry bread to sop up any juices that might be left over cuz seriously, you won't want to leave anything behind.

This is another great recipe from Megan Micozzi's (of ScarlettaBakes.com) cookbook, The New Southwest. If you missed it, I posted a recipe last week of hers, Mushroom and Leek Migas. At the time, my copy of the cookbook hadn't arrived yet. When I got home from work on Friday, I was thrilled to see the little (somewhat worn) package on the table. Apparently it went to the wrong address first. So I grabbed the book as I raced out the door, headed to my friends house. Once there, I curled up on her couch with a little sip of something (much needed at the end of a long week) and thoroughly browsed the lovely pages.

Gorgeous, hard cover...lots of amazing photos to make anyone drool...even if they aren't hungry.

I'm not sure exactly what made me choose Navajo Tacos. I think part of it had to do with the fry bread. I have 3 different American Indian tribes running through my blood yet I've never eaten American Indian food. Although Navajo is not among the three....I couldn't help but being pulled in.

So, I'm going to be sharing two recipes with you here. One for the Navajo Fry Bread and one for the New Mexico Green Chile Stew.

Important Note about the Navajo Fry Bread: Before I begin, I need to let you know that there is a type-o in the cookbook regarding the fry bread. Megan was contacted and it has been confirmed. The book lists 2 cups of water, which is incorrect. Please adjust the amount to 1/2 cup water.

Navajo Fry Bread
Printable Version

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting your hands
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 TB powdered milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup very warm water (corrected amount)
1 quart vegetable oil for frying

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Pour in the warm water (water should be as warm as possible but not so warm that you can't comfortably work with it). Using your hand, mix the water into the dry ingredients, moving in a circular motion until all of the dry ingredients have absorbed the water. This is a very dry dough. If you can't get the dough to come together, add a tiny bit more water...1 TB at a time. Be careful though, you don't want the dough to be too wet.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large pot to 350' F.

Pull off a plum sized piece of dough and using your hands, dusted with flour, flatten the dough into a disk, about 1/4" thick

Carefully place into the hot oil and fry for about 60-90 seconds per side, until puffy, crisp and cooked through. Place on a paper towel lined plate and continue with the remaining dough. This makes about 12 pieces of bread.

Now, for the New Mexico Green Chile Stew. I made two changes. One by choice. The other by necessity. Instead of using pork and beef stock, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and chicken stock. The other change was in the actual usage of chilies. I only had about 1 cup or so of Hatch chilies so I roasted some Anaheim chilies to fill the gap. Only apparently 12 Anaheim chilies do not yield 2 cups. So I added some canned diced green chilies of unknown kind. It was still amazingly delicious!

New Mexico Green Chili Stew
Printable Version

6 TB olive oil, divided
2 lbs boneless pork loin, cut into 2" cubes (I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs)
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 TB minced garlic
1/4 cup masa harina
3 cups beef broth (I used chicken broth)
1 TB ground cumin
1 TB ground coriander
1 tsp ground oregano, Mexican oregano if possible
3 cups Hatch green chilies, roasted, peeled, stemmed and *seeded (I used a combination of Hatch, Anaheim and canned)
Salt and pepper to taste

*if you like heat, leave the seeds in.

In a large, heavy bottomed pot such as a dutch oven or bean pot, heat 3 TB of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches so that the meat is in a single layer, brown all sides of your meat. Remove from pot and set aside. Continue until you have all the meat browned.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions to the now empty pot. Cook until tender, caramelized and very fragrant, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Add in the minced garlic and stir for 2 minutes. Add the masa harina and the remaining 3 TB of olive oil, stirring together and cooking for an additional 2 minutes.

Stir in the broth, de-glazing the pan if necessary. Add the cumin, coriander, oregano, chilies and chicken. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 40 - 50 minutes. If you find that the pot is too hot for a simmer, pull the lid slightly to side to allow a crack for some of the heat to escape while cooking.

Stew is done when the meat is tender and the stew has thickened. It will thicken more as it cools. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I did add some salt but I didn't think it needed the pepper.

To serve, place Navajo Fry Bread on a place and top with the stew.

Garnish if desired. I used Queso Fresco. Avocados and cilantro would also be wonderful choices.

There are about 15 of us playing around in The New Southwest Cookbook so by all means, check them all out. You can find us all listed here:

http://www.girlichef.com/2013/10/TheNewSouthwest-CookbookSpotlight.html

Last week we all made the same thing...with some delicious variations. This week, we all got to choose what we wanted to make. Aaaaand....next week we'll be hosting a MEGA GIVEAWAY! Lots of copies of this gem being given to lots of lucky people.

This post is part of The New Southwest Cookbook Spotlightsponsored by Hippocrene and hosted at girlichef.

Mushroom and Leek Migas

It's that time again....time to Spotlight a new amazing cookbook. I'm sure most of you are acquainted with the author in some form or another. She's a fellow blogger (I love when this happens!) by the name of Meagan Micozzi. She has an amazing blog (of course) called Scarletta Bakes

She's been giving away some amazing stuff lately so I highly, highly recommend that you give her visit and see if you can win something.

So...she has this new cookbook, The New Southwest

and I'm here to tall you about it...during the next 3 weeks. Aaaaaaand (this is a BIG and) during the 3rd week, I'll be giving this cookbook away to one of you lucky people.

But let's explore a little. See what's inside. I mean, you never buy a cookbook without browsing through the pages first, right?

So for this week, Mushroom and Leek Migas is on the menu. It's typically a breakfast dish but how many of you love to eat breakfast for dinner? I'm a huge fan, that's for sure. Which is why I chose to make this for dinner. It's quick, easy and delish! I had all of the ingredients on hand

...except for the leek. Oh...and the cheese. So I ran to the store...(because I needed a bottle of wine anyway) and picked them up. Not long after I got home, dinner was served. But honestly, if you don't want to run to the store...you can use any kind of cheese you want. If you don't have a leek on hand, use whatever onion you've got.

It's all good.

Talk about a great meal for those busy weeknights. Loaded with flavor and guaranteed not to send you to bed hungry. Do you have a vegetarian in the house? Peeeerfeeeeeeect! Can't go wrong there.

And one more thing, if dirty dishes aren't your thing...then you're going to love this even more. One pan is all you need.

Mushroom and Leek Migas
Printable Version

4 5" corn tortillas
1 1/4 cups oil (divided)
10 large eggs
1/4 heavy cream (milk will do if that's all you have)
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz crimini mushrooms (or whatever you prefer would be just fine)
1 leek, ends removed and sliced
2 TB minced garlic (or to taste)
1 cup shredded Manchego cheese (or whatever you have on hand)

Cut the tortillas in half then slice into thin strips (about 1/2"). Heat 1 cup of oil in a large heavy bottom saucepan over medium high heat.

Working in batches, fry the tortilla strips for 1 to 2 minutes or until browned, flipping as needed. Keep an eye on them. They go from golden brown to burnt real quick.

 Remove from pan to a towel lined plate or baking sheet.

(if you really really want to save time, you can buy tortilla strips from the market, but honestly they're not as good. Just sayin')

Whisk together the eggs and heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Once you're finished with the strips, rinse out the pan and heat up the remaining 1/4 cup of oil over medium heat.

Saute the mushrooms for about 3 minutes or until tender (ooooh they smell so good). Add the leek and saute for another 2 minutes. Then add the garlic.

The aroma level just jump up several notches! Seriously!

Saute for a minute before pouring in the egg. Stir constantly in a circular motion until the eggs begin to solidify then add those lovely crispy tortilla strips.

Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the eggs are cooked through.

Remove from heat, top with the amazing, tangy Manchego cheese and serve. If you'd like, chop up some cilantro, avocado, maybe a little tomato and sprinkle on top as well

Holy moly....good stuff I tell ya! I can't wait to try something else from this book.

Stay tuned for the next feature....coming your way in the very near future.

There are about 15 of us playing around in The New Southwest Cookbook so by all means, check them all out. You can find us all listed here: http://www.girlichef.com/2013/10/TheNewSouthwest-CookbookSpotlight.html

This post is part of The New Southwest Cookbook Spotlightsponsored by Hippocrene and hosted at girlichef.

Mushroom, Jalapeno, and Cilantro Salsa

There are a lot of different kinds of salsas running around out there. There's red tomato, tomatillo, strawberry, mango...etc etc. But have you tried Mushroom, Jalapeno, and Cilantro Salsa?

Let me start off by telling you a little secret. Sometimes I get stuck on being a purist. I get attached to the original and am reluctant to embrace the new. I kinda have to mull it over....consider it....talk myself into it and then ease on in. It's not often that you'll see me among the first to jump on a bandwagon.

With that said...in making this salsa....I was...timid. Not sure what to expect and how it would fill the roll that red tomato salsa has. Well...it doesn't. But that's not a bad thing. It has it's own roll. It's own flavors and it's own character. Once made...it's best after it has sat for a couple of hours and served at room temperature. It's even better the next day. I mean way better. Sitting here thinking about it, I want some with a tray of nachos. Not the kind you get from fast food places...but real nachos. Tortilla chips with melted cheddar cheese all over them....smothered in this salsa. I wish I had thought of that when I still had some. Gee darn....guess I'll have to make more.

Are you wondering where this recipe came from? Well, lemme tell ya. The gals over at Muy Bueno are releasing a cookbook very soon. October 1st to be exact. What does all this have to do with Mushroom, Jalapeno, and Cilantro Salsa? Well....I happen to have a copy of said cookbook. I'm participating in the Muy Bueno Cookbook Spotlight & Cook-Off sponsored by Hippocrene and hosted at girlichef 

And you know what else? You will have a chance to WIN the Muy Bueno cookbook. I will be hosting a GIVEAWAY the first week in October..so be on the lookout! 

Mushroom, Jalapeno, and Cilantro Salsa
Printable Version

1 lb fresh white mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed and finely chopped
Handful of cilantro, chopped
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 TB olive oil
Salt to taste

(the peppers in the above picture are from my garden. The fat red one is a jalapeno. The others are unknown. My point? Salsa is not an exact science.)

In a bowl, combine the mushrooms, red onion, jalapenos and cilantro. Add the lime juice and olive oil and gently toss. Salt to taste.

Let it sit for a couple of hours or...if you have time and you've thought in advance, stick it in the fridge over night. Serve at room temperature.

Now....the night I made this, we had carne asada soft tacos for dinner. I dipped my tortilla chips in it, I spread it all over my tacos...and enjoyed it. (photos came out like crap so I'm not showing 'em).

The next night....(this is how I can attest to the fact that its sooooo good after a day) I decided to grab a bolillo roll, and make a carne asada "sub". I reheated the carne asada covered in melted cheese...and heated up a extra large spoonful of the Mushroom, Jalapeno, and Cilantro Salsa and added that to the sandwich, along with some sliced avocado......

Oooooomg!! One of the best sandwiches EVER!!

This salsa not only has the traditional salsa experiences; jalapeno heat, crunchy onion, soothing cilantro and limey tang....but add to that the meaty texture and earthy flavor of mushrooms. It's a whoooole new level for salsa.

Southwestern Lasagna

Do you like nachos? Those ones that are fully loaded with the works?

Ya, me too. We had that for dinner about 2 weeks ago and it was good.

Last night we had it again, sorta. Only it was more organized. Less messy and oh em gee good!

I've made this a few times in the past....but it's been a while. So long ago that Sir Sportsalot didn't even remember ever having it.

I knew everyone liked it back then, but you know how tastes change? Things change? I was afraid no one would like it anymore.

Ya I know....my insecurities are showing.

Anyways, let me just say this.....Sir Sportsalot refuses to eat leftovers. Even if he didn't eat the dinner the first time around, he won't eat it the next day. (wtf? to him they aren't really leftovers, are they?). But today he said....he would eat more of this if we had any left. Which we didn't...but still!!

Think taco....and you pretty much have the ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, seasoned with mexican seasoning or salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, cumin, paprika
• 1 zucchini, sliced or chopped
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped jalapeno (or to taste)
• 2 avocados, sliced thin
• 8 corn tortillas cut into 4ths, like a pie
• 1 15 oz can of black beans, drained
• 1 15 oz jar of salsa
• 6 oz Cheddar cheese (or to taste)
• 6 oz mozzarella or jack cheese (or to taste)

Preheat your oven to 425' F

Season your chicken. I used a chicken seasoning that I got from the Mexican market. 

It has great flavor....but it also has MSG....so I rarely use it.

Saute your chicken in a hot skillet until cooked through. Remove from the pan and let cool. Once it's cooled off, slice it thin.

Toss the zucchini into the pan and let it cook until its crsip / tender.

Combine the cilantro, green onions, jalapeno and zucchini

Now I think you're ready to assemble. Oh wait....spray or oil an 8"x 8" casserole dish. 

This is going to be a two layer dish....so use half of everything as follows:

Line the bottom of the dish with tortillas, beans, chicken, zucchini mixture....

Mmmmm...it's starting to look pretty darn good and we still have more stuff to add.... avocado, you're favorite salsa and cheese

Oh man...i wish I had some Ranchero, Queso Fresco!!! But noooOOOOoooo, I had to be out of it. 

Ok....add your second layer on...you might have to smash it down a bit cuz it's gonna get full. 

Cover Tent the dish with tin foil.....set on a cookie sheet and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue cooking for another 15 - 20 minutes. You want the cheese to be all melty and bubbly and even a bit brown in some spots......(drool)

Let it cool for about 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy

If you'd like a printable version of this recipe, you can go here: 

Southwestern Lasagna Printable Recipe