Chicken Victoria

If you haven't tried Emeril's All Natural Chicken Rub, run out and get some. It's been responsible for a lot of chicken parties in my kitchen lately!

One thing that's obvious by looking at this picture is I'm a spastic with a knife. Oh, the knife is sharp, I just can't use one when it comes to cutting up chicken. Veggies, bread, beef, ribs...I can but them beautifully, but give me a whole chicken to cut up or a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts to cut in half...you get what's sauteing in the pan above.

This is four boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half, seasoned liberally with Emeril's All Natural Chicken Rub. Brown them in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. About 5 to seven minutes per side. Move to a platter and tent with foil.

Return the skillet to the stove and saute 1/2 medium onion diced, 2 tablespoons minced garlic and 1 cup of white button mushrooms for about 7 minutes, until onions are translucent and mushrooms are golden brown. De-glaze the pan with 1/2 cup of your favorite white wine for 1 minute and season with 1-1/2 teaspoons of Emeril's Essence.

Return the chicken to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with a generous helping of risotto and you have a very nice and quick mid-week meal.

Topping the chicken with mushrooms kinda hides my carving sins!

Coney Islands

TGIF and I've missed all of you so much, sorry about my unavoidable absence.

This is A.J.'s favorite "snack" food during football season. I kind of think he looks forward to football season more because he seriously chows down on these Coney Islands. I started making these for A.J. during our first football season after we were married and he hasn't gotten tired of them or me yet.

They are so simple and satisfying.

Here's all you have to do:

Makes 8 Coney Islands -

1 package of hot dog wieners

1 package of hot dog buns

1/2 medium red onion diced

16 oz. your favorite chili (no beans)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Pre-heat oven broiler. Line baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup.

Heat chili of over heat. Place buns on baking sheet, place heated wieners inside of each bun. Sprinkle diced onion over each hot dog. Ladle a generous helping of chili over each hot dog and then sprinkle with cheese.

Heat under broiler until cheese has melted.

It's just as man pleasing and so not healthy as it looks.

Lime Banana Coconut Cake

Reeni from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice posted this cake a couple of weeks ago and I just had to make it. It spoke to me, it really spoke to me. After my first bite, this cake and I were kindred spirits. Ok, the cake just really rocks!

Here's the stuff you will need:

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 3)
1 tablespoon grated lime zest (about 3 limes, save them after zesting for the glaze)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift first, then measure)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Lime Glaze (to follow)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

In a dry saute pan toast the coconut flakes over medium-low heat until golden brown, turning often. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl beat the sour cream, banana puree, lime zest and vanilla together about two minutes with an electric mixer on low.








In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, 3/4 of the toasted coconut and salt.











Add the butter and 1/3 of the banana puree. Beat for a minute on medium speed. Add another third of the banana puree and beat until well incorporated.







Repeat with the last third of the banana puree.








Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.









Let cool for 10 minutes and remove the sides. While still warm brush with glaze.

Lime Glaze

Juice of one - two limes
Confectioners' sugar

Make a very thin glaze start with the juice of one lime and gradually add the sugar a little bit at a time. Whisk well. If it gets too thick add more lime juice, it should be very thin. Almost a watery consistency.

Poke holes in the cake with a chop stick or butter knife about an inch apart over the entire cake while still warm. Brush the glaze over the cake and especially into the holes. Repeat.

Once the cake has finished cooling, use the remaining glaze to make a thicker icing. If there isn't any left start again. I didn't, I flat out couldn't wait. Wait until you make this and the cake vapors all over your house, in every single room, you'll see!

But any way as Reeni was saying, with the juice of one lime, add confectioners' sugar a little bit at a time and whisk well. This should be thicker than the first glaze but not as thick as a standard frosting. Taste - it should have a very strong, pronounced lime flavor. Add more lime if needed. Once the cake is cooled glaze and sprinkle with the rest of the toasted coconut.

Zesty Bacon Grilled Shrimp

The title is the grabber to get you in here and reading today. The Cafe' is bustling with activity. Not only is my husband, A.J., going to grill some mouth watering shrimp for you, we have gratuitous soccer photos of the homegirlz and awards! Let's get busy!

What are you making for Labor Day? Do you need ideas? Do you want to jazz everyone? Do I ask way too many questions?

My husband, A.J., has your answer. Yes, I relinquished the grill back to A.J. and he did not disappoint with this tasty treat. Yes, sometimes even I can chill out...but just a little.

Peel, de-vein and butterfly the shrimp. I think he is working with about one pound of 31/40 shrimp here.

Clean and de-seed two jalapenos. Slice the jalapenos into very thin slices. Place the jalapeno strip into the shrimp as shown. If you read my post about our herbs and veggies then you know about the red jalapeno. Yes, the little rascal met his fate. If you're new to this blog, pretend the jalapeno is green...it's a long story.

Brush them with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder.

Place the shrimp on a grill pan and place on a medium-high heat to slightly sear. You have to quick because the shrimp cook fast.

Pre-cook cut strips of bacon (cut the bacon into 2 inch long strips) to about halfway done. You want most of the fat cooked from the bacon and the bacon to still be pliable. Wrap the a bacon strip around the shrimp and fasten with a toothpick. NOTE: We precooked the bacon indoors in an effort to keep the grease drippings from causing the grill to flare up and possibly burn everything else we had cooking on the grill.

Finish cooking over moderate heat and watch how fast these little suckers disappear!

We're heavy into the beginning of high school girls soccer. The homegirlz have been working very hard.

Starting line-up at one of the tournament games this past weekend. My baby, Kaitlin, is #6, fourth from the left in blue, hands on her hips and my oldest, Lauren, showing plenty of attitude is #16. Yes, hands on h on her hips looking to her right. ~Sigh~ DNA I guess...from A.J.'s side.

She's, little, she's fast, she comes out of nowhere and no one can get the ball back from her once she gets possession!

My baby, getting ready to go on the attack. she's tougher than she looks.

To be honest, I have no idea what's going on. I'm in the bleachers, I yell, I take pictures and say a thousand prayers that my babies don't get hurt. That's about all you're going to get.

Now for awards! Whoo-hoo!

Carol from The Writer's Porch gave me this fantastic BINGO BEAUTIFUL BLOG AWARD! thank you so much Carol! This is how it works:

The B-I-N-G-O Beautiful Blog Award was started by Bookin With Bingo Blog.

BEAUTIFUL......Mary from One Perfect Bite and Elra from Elra's Baking

INFORMATIVE...Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies and Gigi from Afterthoughts

NEIGHBORLY......Betsy from Joyful Reflections and Chris from Nibble Me This

GORGEOUS......Pam from Sidewalk Shoes and Chef E from Food~Wine~Fun

OUTSTANDING....Mrs. G from the Women's Colony and Greg from Greg's General Store

Pass It On!!

Boyd's Creek Salad

It's August, people don't even want to think about turning on their stoves or ovens, except me.

Close your eyes and picture it...well open them and read this, then close them and picture it.

It's a beautiful and somewhat cool summer evening, the children are at a soccer game scouting an upcoming opponent. Your spouse isn't home, you're home alone for a couple of hours and you don't have to cook dinner.

What do you do? Watch a movie, read a book, take a walk or a run? Want to know what I did?

I created the most labor intensive and best tasting salad I have ever made in my life. Yes, I am Katherine and I have a problem. One taste of this salad and you won't care what kind of problem you have.

But let's just overlook my OCD and check out this salad that serves two.

Boyd's Creek Salad -

First, let's make some spicy and sweet walnuts as a salad topping. Pecans would be excellent prepared this way too.

Spicy and Sweet Walnuts

1 cup of walnuts

3 tablespoons of Lea & Perrins
3 teaspoon hot sauce

Emeril's Essence or Creole Seasoning

Toss the walnuts in the Lea & Perrins and the hot sauce.

Spread the walnuts out in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle with Essence or Creole seasoning. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Set the walnuts aside to cool slightly.

In a medium sized pot, add 1/2 cup of sugar.

Add just enough water to wet the sugar. Don't stir.

Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil over high heat for 3 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add walnuts. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar turns white and crystallizes.

Spread walnuts on a parchment paper lined pan to cool.

Wash, drain and tear 2 cups of romaine lettuce. Peel, core and thinly slice one Gala apple. Soak the apple slices in freshly squeezed lemon juice and set aside.

Spring Onion Vinaigrette -

1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup of canola oil

2 tablespoons of clover leaf honey

4 spring onions or scallions, green tops only, blanched

Salt and black pepper to taste

Place all of the ingredients in a blender to emulsify and you have a dreamy, velvety and tasty vinaigrette.

Now let's assemble our masterpiece!

Place the lettuce, apple slices, some shredded sharp cheddar cheese (goat or feta cheese would be really good and for you bleu cheese lovers, I bet that would work too) and the pecans in a chilled bowl. Pour the vinaigrette over the top and toss.

This is a salad that is meant to be enjoyed slowly. Then I thought, who is Boyd and why is a creek and a highway and now a salad named after him or her?

Chicken Satay

Whoever "They" are, "They" say you shouldn't try out a recipe for the first time on guests.

Normally, I am a very rules oriented person, but when it comes to the creating in the kitchen and entertaining, I lean more towards coloring outside of the lines quite a bit, ok a lot.


Since everything that was being served to our guests was going to be homemade and I was being held to a criteria that I had committed to, when I came across this recipe at Eating Well dot com and I thought it would be perfect for our little get together last Saturday. Yes, sometimes at the Cafe, we get a little health conscious. This came together quickly and I knew the peanut/coconut flavor combined with the the grilled chicken would be marvelous.


The morning after A.J. opened the fridge looking for leftover Chicken Satay for breakfast, (yes he colors outside of the lines too) and was disappointed to find none. He settled for the real breakfast of champions, salsa and chips.


That's just how good this turned out!


Chicken Satay (adapted from EatingWell.com)

6 tablespoons lime juice
6 tablespoons canola oil
4 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
4 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 lbs. chicken tenders
Spicy Peanut Sauce (recipe follows)

To marinate chicken: Whisk lime juice, oil, soy sauce, fish sauce and crushed red pepper in a shallow baking dish until combined.

Add chicken and turn to coat. Let marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to high.

Thread each chicken tender onto a wooden skewer. Grill the chicken skewers until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle. Serve warm or chilled with Spicy Peanut Sauce for dipping.


Spicy Peanut Sauce:

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons coconut coconut cream
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste

Whisk together peanut butter, coconut milk, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar and crushed red pepper in a small bowl until smooth.


Don't wait to have a party to try this because then you'd have to share!

Have a great weekend!