Smashed Avocado

The avocado is home to Mexico; there are larger varieties of avocado, the Haas has the creamiest, most delicious flesh. Nearly all avocados grown in Mexico are Hass.

Cracker Candy

In 1894 Milton Hershey’s started the Hershey Chocolate Company. 

Salmon Balls

People have been enjoying salmon as a food ever since this beautiful fish appeared in the Earth's waters.

Debo's Yogurt Dip

Food historians generally agree the genesis of yogurt and other fermented milk products was discovered accidentally by Neolithic peoples living in Central Asia. These foods occured naturally due to local climate and primative storage methods. About milk. Yogurt has long been associated with good health and long life. Yogurt became popular in America after WWII. 

Debo's Zesty Pepper Ranch Crackers

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

Crushed red pepper is a condiment consisting of dried and crushed (as opposed to ground) red chili peppers. Crushed red pepper is made from hot dried red peppers. Crushed red pepper shakers have become as standard as salt and pepper on tables at Italian restaurants and especially pizza parlors in the United States. Crushed red pepper is not made of one type of chili, but from various combinations of ancho, bell, cayenne and more. Often there is a high ratio of seeds, which intensifies the heat of the pepper. Crushed red pepper is used in pickling, chowders, gumbos, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and sausage. As chilis have become more popular the styles and varieties of peppers used to make crushed red pepper has also increased.

By http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crushed_red_pepper

Would you like to share a family recipe with us on Christine's Pantry? If you are interested, please send me an email at, christinespantry@gmail.com. You don't have to have a food blog to share a family recipe with us, everyone is welcome.

On 9/10/11 my rainbow pepper boats made top 9 on Foodbuzz. Awesome! 

Debo's Zesty Pepper Ranch Crackers

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

Ingredients:

4 sleeves buttery rounds baked crackers

1 1/4 cups canola oil

1 package dry ranch dressing mix

1 package dry fiesta ranch dressing mix

2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Place crackers in 2 gallon zip lock bag. In a bowl, add oil, dry ranch dressing mix, dry fiesta ranch dressing mix and crushed red pepper flakes, mix well. Pour mixture in the bag with the crackers and shake lightly until all the crackers are coated. Let crackers stand for one to two hours (preferably overnight), you want the crackers to soak up the mixture. Place crackers in airtight container. Enjoy!

 

Coconut Honey Bananas

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

 

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The history of honey is rich in tradition. This ancient substance has been used for food, drinks, medicine, gifts for the gods, barter, cosmetics, cooking, food preservation, cosmetics, art, etc. It has been used in religion, art, mythology, legends and literature as well as studied by scientists.

The oldest written reference to the use of honey is thought to be Egyptian, of about 5500BC. At that time Lower Egypt was called Bee Land while Upper Egypt was Reed Land. By the 5th dynasty (c.2600BC) apiculture was well established and is shown in several reliefs in the temple of the Sun at Abusir. The use of honey was taken to India by its Aryan invaders and became associated with religious rites. Honey is also mentioned on ancient Sumerian clay tablets, possibly even older than the Egyptian reference. Later Babylonian tablets give recipes for "electuaries" medicines based on honey. An electuary mentioned in the 1st century AD by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder included powdered bees. It was said to be a cure for dropsy and bladder stones.

The Oxford Companion to Food, (Oxford University Press:Oxford) 1999 Alan Davidson (p. 384)

Honey in first aid. In Ancient Egypt honey was the most popular medicament of all, it is mentioned some 500 times in the 900 remedies that are known. Honey was also a common ingredient of medieval medicines, for it was often the only substance available to make some of the more nauseating ingredients palatable. But in early cures and remedies, for instance those described in medieval leech books, honey seems to be cited for frequently for external than for internal use. Many properties have been attributed to honey which have no foundation in fact, as a cure for serious disorders such as consumption and the plague. Nevertheless, honey is used today in hospitals proprietary and dispensed medicines.
A Book of Honey, Eva Crane (Charles Scribner:New York) 1980 (p. 96-99)

There is a trivia quiz on the Internet that asks Which food does not go bad? The answer provided is honey. In fact, we have evidence of several foods that can last hundred of years (and still be edible) as long as they are properly treated and stored. Some of most ancient are honey and dried,salted,frozen meats. Notes on the longevity of honey:

In 1800 some archaelogists working in Egypt found a large jar of honey. They opened it and found that it tasted perfect even though it was thousands of years old.
Sue Shepard (Simon & Schuster:New York) 2000 (p. 11)

The shelf life of honey is sometimes quoted commerically as 2 1/2 years, but honey does not go bad as many foods do, it is still wholesome after decades. The oldest honey I have seen is in the Agricultural museum at Dokki in Egypt, where two honey pots from New Kingdom tombs (c. 1400BC) still have their contents in them. It is important to store honey under suitable conditions. If honey is not kept sealed it can deteriorate through fermentation, if it is stored at high temperatures...honey can deteriorate through abnormal chemical reactions.
A Book of Honey, Eva Crane (Scribner's:New York) 1980 (p. 41-2)

Honey bees were not native to the Americas. Aztec and Mayan cultures of South and Central America kcpt colonies of native, stingless bees for their honey and wax, mainly for use as a medicine. We do not know precisely when the first colonies of honey bees were brought to North America. Ships crossing the Atlantic in the winter carried bee colonies to Virginia before 1622 and to Massachusetts prior to 1638. The honey bee did very well in the forest clearings of early colonial America, using the abundant nectar and pollen available from the trees and shrubs native to the eastern U.S. As European settlers spread across the U.S., they took bee hives with them. Bees were recorded in Florida by 1763 and west of the Mississippi by 1800. Russian settlers carried bees to Alaska in 1809 and to California by 1830. The Spanish may have brought them from Mexico into the southwest before that date.

By http://ag.udel.edu/enwc, University of Delaware 

Coconut Honey Bananas

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

Ingredients:

4 bananas, peeled and cut in halve lengthwise

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons coconut

cool whip, optional

Directions:

Peel bananas and cut in halve lengthwise. Drizzle honey over bananas. Sprinkle with coconut. Add dollop of cool whip. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

 

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

 

Cookie like hard wafers have existed for as long as baking is documented, in part because they deal with travel very well, but they were usually not sweet enough to be considered cookies by modern standards.

Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century Persia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. They spread to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Spain. By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society, throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors.

With global travel becoming widespread at that time, cookies made a natural travel companion, a modernized equivalent of the travel cakes used throughout history. One of the most popular early cookies, which traveled especially well and became known on every continent by similar names, was the jumble, a relatively hard cookie made largely from nuts, sweetener, and water.

Cookies came to America in the early English settlement, the 17th century, although the name "koekje" arrived with the Dutch. This became Anglicized to "cookie" or cooky. Among the popular early American cookies were the macaroon, gingerbread cookies, and of course jumbles of various types.

The most common modern cookie, given its style by the creaming of butter and sugar, was not common until the 18th century.

By http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Copyright 2011 Christine's Pantry. All rights reserved.

Ingredients:

1 (18.5 oz) triple chocolate fudge cake mix

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cup water

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients. Stir well. Using a tablespoon, drop batter on cookie sheet. Bake for 7 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy!