Iowa Short Stack Omelette

Today I thought I'd share the first recipe I ever entered in a contest.  It won 2nd place and I was thrilled!  We had just moved from L.A. to Iowa so Bob could be the evening TV news anchor, and I'd read about an egg cookoff in the local paper.  I've always liked cooking and goodness knows I love to play with my food, so I came up with an idea that's actually current for today, almost 20 years later.
Today the hottest trend is a cake with a zillion thin layers, and now you can impress brunch guests with an OMELETTE stack, every bit as pretty as a cake (see the photo below).  I layered it with Iowa products such as ham and cheese, and called it the Iowa Short Stack (but there are other variations I've listed below).  I surrounded it with flowers and berries, then sliced it into wedges.  Bingo-- gorgeous enough to be a centerpiece, and a fun way to serve an omelette to a crowd.

Here's what you need:
2 eggs
1 tsp. water
1/8 tsp. salt
1 dash pepper
2 tsp. butter
6 thick slices of ham
6 slices of your favorite cheese
1 small onion, sliced and grilled
1 chopped tomato, or a scoop of thick salsa
Garnishes: Fruit, berries, flowers, or parsley

1. Beat eggs lightly with water, salt and pepper.  Coat a hot, 7-inch frying pan with butter, tilting pan to coat evenly.  Add egg mixture and shake pan to spread eggs across surface. Lift with spatula to allow uncooked eggs to flow beneath if necessary.  When surface is set, turn omelette out of pan onto serving plate.  Repeat to make 3 more omelettes.
2. Assemble the stack: Place first omelette on serving platter.  Cover with ham slices, overlapping as necessary.  Top with second omelette.  Cover with cheese slices.  Add third omelette.  Cover with grilled onion.  Top with final omelette and place tomato or scoop of salsa in center. Surround with garnishes.  Cut into wedges.  Serves 4-6.
Variations:
* Sour cream, mild green chilies, avocado, and black olives
* Crab, Jack cheese, bacon, and sauteed mushrooms
* Flaked salmon, spinach, hollandaise sauce, and green onions
* Sausage, mozarella cheese, pizza sauce, and mushrooms

Italian Quick Bread

Quick breads are so dreamy, are they not?  They're always moist (or should be), and make wonderful gifts, as well.  They're perfect for impatient people who don't want to wait for dough to rise, then rise again.  I made this one up for an olive contest, and though it didn't win, you're going to love it.  It's literally bursting with those yummy Italian flavors everyone adores.  Unless you hate olives, in which case you can give BOTH loaves away.  Your friends will love you for it.

5 Cups flour

2 Tablespoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons dried basil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 Cup FINELY grated mozzarella cheese

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

1 (12.5 oz) bottle green Spanish olives, with juice

1 Cup plain yogurt or sour cream

4 eggs

½ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons honey

1 Cup pine nuts

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic powder, basil, oregano, fennel seeds, and cheeses.

2. Using kitchen shears, coarsely cut olives in the jar.  In another mixing bowl, combine olives (with juice), yogurt, eggs, oil, honey, and nuts.  Add to dry mixture but do not overbeat.  Pour into 2 greased 9x5-inch loaf pans and bake for 70 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto cooling rack. 

Makes 2 loaves.

 

Jamaican Seafood Chowder

For a few years there it seemed I was creating tons of recipes with Jamaican Jerk Seasoning in them-- it figured into that delicious Eggs Benedict that won me a killer trip to France, and now it figures into a delicious chowder that won a Caribbean cruise for the family.
If you like seafood, you'll love this-- and it's so easy because there's no meat to cook up ahead of time.  It's both creamy and spicy, but not so spicy that it overwhelms the flavor of the seafood.  It was sponsored by Chicken of the Sea, so I used several of their products and the result is truly scrumptious:

1 (6 oz.) can Chicken of the Sea shrimp, drained
1 (6 oz.) can Chicken of the Sea crab meat, drained
1 (6 oz.) can Chicken of the Sea minced clams, drained
1 (6.5 oz) Rice-a-Roni Red Beans and Rice mix
2 Cups lite sour cream
3 Cups milk
4 Cus grated pepper jack cheese (or use regular Monterey Jack for a milder version)
2 Tbsp. Jamaican Jerk Seasoning (Schilling/McCormick)
1 (15 oz.) can corn, drained
1 (5 oz.) can mild chopped green chilies
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Cup grated cheddar cheese, optional

In a large kettle, prepare rice according to package instructions.  Over moderately low heat, add shrimp, crab, clams, sour cream, milk, pepper jack cheese, and jerk seasoning.  Heat until cheese melts, but do not boil.  Stir in corn, chilies, and lime juice.  Serve hot, sprinkled with cheddar cheese. Add some crusty bread and you'll feel transported to a fisherman's wharf in the Caribbean.

Savory Beef & Cheese Roll-Ups

Okay, all the world has had those nifty little appetizers made from beef and cheese rolled up in a tortilla and then sliced, right?  But I betcha you didn't have 'em before 1995, because that's when I won 3rd place in the National Beef Cookoff with this original creation.  They can be cut in half and served as sandwiches, or just keep on slicing and make them hors d'oeuvres-- but this is how it all started:

1 lb. well-trimmed deli roast beef, thinly sliced (shoulder is good)
2 (6 oz.) pkgs. garden vegetable flavored soft spreadable cream cheese
4 (10 inch) flour tortillas
1 Cup shredded carrots
1 Cup Monterey Jack cheese
8 leaves green leaf lettuce

Spread cheese evenly over one side of each tortilla; top each with 1/4 Cup shredded carrots and 1/4 Cup Jack cheese.  Layer lettuce and deli roast beef over carrots, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge.  Roll up tightly; wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate 30 minutes-- or up to 8 hours-- before serving.  To serve as sandwiches, cut each roll diagonally in half.  Serves 4 (serving size: 2 roll-up halves).

Pesto Pepper Chicken Rolls

I love pinwheels.  Roll-ups, roulades, spirals-- I guess I love to play with my food. And a number of my pinwheel-themed dishes have won prizes in recipe contests, such as the tortilla roll-up that uses deli-sliced beef that won 3rd place in the National Beef Cookoff years ago, and which you see in every deli in the land now, and at every potluck. 
This one was the Grand Prize Winner in a contest sponsored by Gold Kist Farms Chicken.  It's really colorful and showy (scroll down to see the picture!) but it's also really easy-- only five ingredients!  Perfect for guests but also a good go-to meal for weeknights with the fam'.  Enjoy!

6 Gold Kist Farms boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (15 oz.) jar mild pesto sauce
2 Cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (16 oz.) jar roasted red peppers, drained and cut into large pieces to fit chicken breasts
2 Tbps. black peppercorns, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place each chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound to about a 1/4-inch thickness.  No, I will not mention the similarity here, to getting a mammogram.  Spread a generous layer of pesto sauce ove
r each breast, then sprinkle with jack cheese.  Top with pieces of roasted red peppers.  Roll each breast jelly-roll style, secure with wooden picks.  Press crushed peppercorns evenly into chicken rolls.  Place rolls in a shallow baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray.  Bake 45 minutes.  Slice to reveal pinwheel pattern.  Serves 6.