Kansas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Cream together sugars and butter; beat in eggs and oil. Combine dry ingredients and gradually add to wet mixture. Stir in flavorings. Refrigerate overnight. Form into balls and roll in sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet and stamp with cookie stamp or bottom of a glass. Dip glass or stamp in sugar before stamping each ball of dough. Bake at 350* for 12 minutes.

To make tasty jello flavored cookies: omit 1/2 cup of sugar and the vanilla. Reduce almond flavoring to 1/4 teaspoon and add a large envelope of jello powder. I recommend strawberry!

Recipe from my Grandma Billington!

Fiesta Salad

Ingredients

3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 large tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 red onion
1 bunch cilantro
2 avocados

Dice and chop tomatoes, peppers, onion and cilantro. Combine with beans and corn. Pour dressing over the top and chill. Add diced avocado just before serving.

Dressing

2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 lime, juiced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper or cayenne
2 teaspoons cumin
salt to taste

This recipe comes from my Aunt Nancy. With the addition of avocado, we like to call it Cowboy Caviar and serve it with tortilla chips.

New Mexican Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon-Ancho Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
• Salt
• New Mexican Spice Rub, recipe follows
• Bourbon-Ancho Sauce, recipe follows
• Sweet Potato Tamale with Pecan Butter, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat olive oil in a medium saute pan, over high heat. Season pork with salt on both sides. Dredge pork in the spice rub and tap off any excess. Sear the pork on both sides until golden brown. Cook in the oven to medium doneness, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Let pork rest for 5 minutes before slicing into 12 slices. Plate 3 slices per plate. Drizzle with the Bourbon-Ancho Sauce. Place a Sweet Potato Tamale, topped with Pecan Butter next to the slices of pork.

New Mexican Rub:

• 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon pasilla chile powder
• 2 teaspoons chile de arbol
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons allspice

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Bourbon-Ancho Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 3 ancho chiles, soaked, seeded, stems removed and pureed
• 6 cups homemade chicken stock
• 1 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
• 8 whole black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add the bourbon and cook until completely reduced. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until reduced by half. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, return mixture to the pan, and cook to sauce consistency, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of bourbon and cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt.

Sweet Potato Tamales:

• 20 dried corn husks
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels, preferable fresh
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 head roasted garlic, cloves removed
• 2 cups chicken stock or water
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 large or 2 medium sweet potato, roasted at 375 degrees for about 1 hour or until soft, then peeled and flesh mashed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• Pecan Butter, recipe follows

About 2 hours before you plan to form the tamales, clean the husks under running water. Soak them in warm water for 2 hours, or until softened.

Puree the corn, onion, roasted garlic, and stock in a food processor. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and cut in the butter and shortening. Using your fingers, mix in the cornmeal, honey, and salt and pepper until there are no visible lumps of fat. Fold in the sweet potato puree, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and maple syrup. The mixture will be a lot looser than you think it should be, but when the tamales are steamed it will dry out.

Remove the cornhusks from the water and set aside the best 20 husks. Drain and pat dry. Tear the remaining husks into 1-inch wide strips to be used for tying. Lay 2 husks flat on a work surface, with the tapered ends facing out and the broad bases overlapping by about 3 inches. Place about 1/3 cup of masa mixture in the center. Bring the long sides up over the masa, slightly overlapping, and pat down to close. (If the masa drips out a little at the seam, that is no problem.) Tie each end of the bundle with a strip of cornhusk, pushing the filling toward the middle as you tie. Trim the ends to about 1/2-inch beyond the tie.

Arrange the tamales in a single layer on a steaming rack, cover tightly with foil, and steam over boiling water for 45 minutes. To Serve: slice a slit on top of each tamale and push both ends of the tamale toward the middle to expose the masa. Top each with 1 tablespoon of Pecan Butter.

Pecan Butter:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• Pinch cinnamon
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Scrape into a ramekin and refrigerate until solid, about 2 hours

By Bobby Flay at Foodnetwork.com.

Hummus

Ingredients

• 2 cans garbanzo beans, reserve liquid
  
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed is best
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  
• 1 pinch cayenne
  
• 1 pinch paprika
  
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley or green onion
  

Directions

1. Place the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, cumin and cayenne in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add some of the reserved liquid if it needs to be thinned out. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl.
2. Drizzle rest of olive oil over the garbanzo bean mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

Tahini is a sesame seed paste--reminds me of peanut butter. I found it in the European section of international foods at Wegmans. The jar cost around $8, but it was large enough to keep me making hummus for a few months!

Adapted from allrecipes.com.

Pita Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all purpose flour (I like to use 1 cup whole wheat and 2 cups bread flour)
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep. (I don't have a bread machine, so I use my stand mixer, proofing the yeast in the water with sugar first, and kneading for about six minutes.)
   
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Adapted from Peppy's Pita Bread at allrecipes.com.