The Recipe Chick

My Craigslist Table Redo Update....

2010-07-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Remember my Craigslist table I found for a whopping $60? Well, it's time for the unveiling! First let me say, I have never taken on a project like this before and was a little worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew, but that was all for nothing. This project was pretty easy and with the help of my amazing husband, super quick to do. In fact it only took us half of Saturday and part of Sunday to complete. The longest part of the project was waiting for the poly to dry and cure so we could finally eat on our new table.

The day we picked up our Craigslist find we headed straight to Lowes. I was searching for a reasonably priced sander, not wanting to spend over $30.00, but there were none to be had. So instead I picked up the rest of my supplies, stain, paint, poly, deglosser, and disposable gloves. After we left Lowes we headed to Walmart since it was close, I found a 1/3" Black and Decker sander for $19.99! With the sander we also picked up some sandpaper and headed home to get right to work.

We hauled our table out to the balcony and started to sand her down. I was very surprised it only took us one hour to sand down the top of the table with a 60 grit sandpaper. After we cut through the poly coating and got down to the bare wood, we went over it with a finer grade, 150. That took us another 30 minutes.

To give you an idea of what the table top looked like before:

Mid-sanding

Sanded and ready to go

After we sanded we gave her a good wipe down to make sure all of the saw dust was off. After letting the wood dry completely we started to stain. I like the look of a darker stain with the black legs so we choose Winwax Special Walnut 224. We applied one coat of the stain and the wood just soaked it up. We let that sit 8 minutes and wiped it off and applied another coat, this time leaving it to sit 15 minutes. Wiped that down and achieved the exact color I was going for.

Just a quick note, this stain will look totally different if using another wood. We used this on our old table we plan to sell on Craigslist and it came up much darker.

Table top completed we moved on to the legs and base. Since I love a farmhouse table I decided I wasn't going to sand down or fill in the nicks, I loved them just the way they were. Instead we bought a product I read about called Klean Strip liquid sandpaper. It roughs up the surface so the paint will stick. I choose not to prime, the reason I choose not to prime was I want the table to naturally distress overtime. This may have been a mistake, only time will tell. We choose Valspar Satin Black latex enamel paint. It took only took 2 coats of paint and we let each coat fully dry before applying the next.

After we stained and painted it was time to poly the table. I gave the table a quick wipe down with a dry lint free cloth to make sure there wasn't any dust that would mess up the poly. For this we chose Minwax fast drying polyurethane satin finish. We applied 3 coats of the poly because we plan to eat off of the table and I wanted to make sure the table wouldn't have any water marks. When we finished all the coats we let the table cure for 7 full days to ensure it was ready to stand up to my families abuse.

Finally after a week of waiting, she was ready for us to sit down and enjoy a family meal.
Isn't she lovely?

My table and chair transformation is not quite complete, and this isn't her permanent home, but I couldn't wait to share how the table turned out. It's amazing what a little paint, a weekend and some elbow grease can do!

Breakin' it all down:

$60 table from Craigslist
$20 sander
$ 4 in sandpaper
$ 6 Klean Strip Liquid Sandpaper
$ 6 Paint
$ 9 Minwax 1/2 Pint Polycrylic Protective Finish Semi-Gloss
$ 7 Minwax Quart Wood Finish
$ 2 disposable gloves

One "new to me" family table, priceless. :}

Refinishing my Craigslist table.

2010-07-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

I've had a couple people ask where I've been, so I thought I'd pop on here with an update. My daughter wants to know why I am going to blog about Craigslist on my recipe blog, so I told her, you need to eat somewhere right? Recipes, cooking, eating, dining room table, it all fits here. :}

So here I am again with the apologies for neglecting this blog. My reasons are good ones tho, I promise. The summer is here and I've found that my apartment's air conditioner can't keep up with the heat of the day. We live on the top floor and the insulation here is terrible. So, at 4 PM it's 80 degrees in here and if I cook something it heats up even more. I thought living in a newly constructed complex we wouldn't have these problems, but I was wrong. Guess this place wasn't constructed properly.

Lucky for me we are moving in August. Tampa baby, can't wait! The new place will be shaded from the afternoon sun and the AC unit is larger so I won't have these problems. In the meantime, I have been making meals that require little or no cooking. Salads, sandwiches, meals from the freezer like pulled pork and meatballs in marinara I can just re-heat in the crockpot. I am also trying to clean out my pantry and freezer so there is less to move.

So where have I been since I haven't been in the kitchen? I have been lost in Craigslist Land. I will admit it, I am addicted to Craigslist. Since finding blogs where I have read what people are doing with Thrift store and Craigslist finds, I have become obsessed with finding my own treasures and breathing new life into them.

Last year when we moved from Pennsylvania, we wanted to travel as light as we could, figuring we would replace furniture when we moved here. Our large dining room table was the first to go. We had a table that seated 10-12 people that would never fit in our new place. We also had a little table that my daughters used in their bedroom that would seat 4. We figured leave the larger table, take the smaller, we'll get a new one later. Well, one year later and we still use that little 4 seater, and their are five of us living here. Hubby and I eat in the kitchen breakfast bar while the kids eat at the table.

Spending $1,000 for the dining room I want, just isn't in our budget right now. We also knew that we would be moving from where we are in a year so I wanted to wait and see what size dining room we would have at our new place. Now that I have found our new place, and I know the measurements of the room, I decided to hit Craigslist to find the perfect table.

I "lerve" a farmhouse table. I know I live in Florida, far away from the farm in PA, but my taste remains the same. I had to have a farmhouse table. I am not a fan of formal anything. I love furniture that invites you to sit down. A big chunky piece of wood that your family can beat up and it only adds character, that's what I am after.

To go with that table I also wanted windsor chairs. Anyone looking for dining room furniture knows that a good quality windsor chair will cost you well over $100 per chair. In fact, the cheapest I found was $130. Now I'm not talking about the cheaper quality chairs you buy at Walmart, I mean a good quality sturdy chair. After hitting Craigslist for a month, I thought I would never find what I was looking for. Maybe if I still lived in PA it would be easier to find a farmhouse table and windsor chairs, here in Florida not so much.

Everyday I pop on Craigslist to see what is up for sale. I check the three areas that are within 2 hours of my home. Finding windsor chairs of cheaper quality was easy, finding good quality chairs was next to impossible. Finally after three weeks I found someone selling her windsor chairs, and not only were they windsor chairs, but they were captain's at that. I quickly snatched them up, 4 chairs for $100, unbelievably great deal! I can't even buy 1 for that amount. I know I need 2 more, and I continue to look for them, if I can't find two more I will look for some ladderbacks I think.

So here they are, not exactly the color I wanted, but I can work with them:

Sorry for the dark picture, it's very overcast here. Now that I had the chairs, I needed a table to go with them. The hunt was on. The table was harder for me to find since I had a vision in my head of what I wanted:

This is sort of what I am going for, but I want the chairs to be one solid color and the table top to be a bit darker. Tables are easy to find on Craigslist. One that looks like a farmhouse table, with a leaf extension that can seat six, a bit harder here. It took me 2 weeks longer to find the table I wanted. But the wait was worth it, the table is exactly what I wanted and it was only $60!!!! The table definitely needed work but for $60.00 I'm willing to do it.

So here is the table I found:

What you can't see in the picture is the scratches and the red stain on the top, or the uneven colors in the finish. What you can see is the chairs. She was asking $100, but I wasn't digging the chairs and I already had my windsors, so she knocked it down to $60.00. Perfect size, comes with a leaf, looks like a farmhouse table, and it was $60.00!!!! My obsession paid off. I can't wait to get started.

Don't they look perfect together? I know it is to big for this space, but our new dining room is configured differently, and this table's new home will be on our patio until we refinish her and make her shine.

I have big plans for this table.......BIG plans. Just you wait and see.

Crispy Fried Chicken

2010-07-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Okay I admit it, I have never fried a chicken in my life, except for wings, I'm an expert at that, if I do say so myself. The other day my hubby and I were watching Cooks Country, love that show, and they made fried chicken. My hubby turned to me and said, "mmmm, that looks good, you could do that next week right?" Ummm, yeah, sure I can do it. But there was a problem, I've never done it before, lucky for me Cooks Country takes all the guess work out of it, so I felt pretty confident.

In two months my family and I are moving to Tampa, so I am being very economical these days in my choices for meals. By economical I mean cheap and chicken legs are cheap, especially at $0.89 per pound. Not only are they cheap, they are tasty, and my kids love 'em. So onto the menu the fried chicken went.

Cooks Country uses the same method for getting their chicken crispy as The Pioneer Woman does, using a little buttermilk in the flour to get the craggy crispy coating. It really works well. This chicken came out juicy and crispy. I was surprised at how easy it was to fry chicken.

The recipe worked perfectly and I doubt I will search out another. I will however add my own spices, but this method is the one I will use from now on. I did tweak it a bit by adding a few more ingredients to the marinade, and next time I will let the chicken sit longer in the marinade as I felt it didn't pick up enough flavor. I do an oven fried chicken recipe that sits overnight and that chicken comes out very flavorful. All in all, a solid recipe that my family loved. One side note, if you are doing a lot of chicken like I did (4 pounds of legs) use separate pans. I fried one batch and then used that same oil to fry another, and the chicken came out darker than the first batch. I don't recommend this. :}

On to the recipe:

Start by marinading your chicken a buttermilk salt bath. I added garlic, hot sauce, and Dijon mustard to mine.

Next add a little buttermilk to the flour mixture, it will look like small pea sized crumbs. I tried to get a close up, but they didn't come out to well.

Flour the chicken and place on a wire rack set of a sheet pan until you are ready fry.

Put about 4 -5 cups of your fat of choice into a dutch oven, they recommended shortening or peanut oil. I used peanut oil since we don't have any allergies to it in our family. They said avoid canola because it gave "off flavors" to the chicken. Use whatcha like.

Now imagine you see a great shot of the chicken frying in the pan, mine was accidentally deleted. After the 8-10 minutes on one side, flip the chicken and fry 6-8 minutes longer. I used some pretty monster sized chicken legs and they took 10 minutes on the first side and 8 on the other. They were perfectly cooked.

Transfer to a paper towel to cool at least 5 minutes, serve and enjoy that crispy chicken deliciousness. Mmmmm, lip smackin' finger lickin' good chicken.

Extra-Crunchy Fried Chicken
Marinade

2 cups buttermilk -- divided

2 tablespoons table salt or 4 tablespoons kosher salt

My additions:

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, smashed

2 teaspoon hot sauce, I use Crystal

1 roasting chickens -- (3 1/2 lb) cut in 8 pieces (I used 4lbs legs)

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (I added 1/2 teaspoon)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon paprika (my addition)

Remove 6 tbsp buttermilk and set aside. To remaining buttermilk, add salt and whisk until dissolved. Add mustard, hot sauce, and garlic, stir to combine. Cut chicken in 8 pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, cut each breast in half). Place chicken in a gallon size freezer bag and submerge the chicken in buttermilk brine. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, thyme, pepper, garlic powder, paprika if using, and baking powder. Add reserved buttermilk and toss with fingertips to form pea-sized crumbs.

Drain chicken and transfer to breading, 2 pieces at a time. If you used the garlic in your marinade remove make sure it isn't on the chicken when you flour it. Pack breading onto chicken firmly. The more breading the crunchier the chicken.

Heat 4-5 cups vegetable shortening or peanut oil to 375°F It should be about 3/4" deep in the pot. Place chicken into hot fat, skin side down. The temperature will drop to about 300°F; maintain the temperature at 310-315°F Cover pot and cook 8-10 minutes; check chicken after 4 minutes to ensure even browning, and move pieces around if needed. After 8-10 minutes, turn pieces over; cook another 6-8 minutes until the second side is also golden brown.

Remove chicken and drain on paper towels. Allow to drain and cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

From "Cook's Country by America's Test Kitchen," episode 106, "All-American Picnic."

Crockpot Pulled Pork Braised In Cola. Yum.

2010-06-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is another pulled pork recipe in a short amount of time, and yes it is another pork recipe right after another. I can't help it, I love pork, I love BBQ, I love easy, ........oh and I love a bah-gain. This pork was a bargain. I bought a 7 pound roast for a little over 12 bucks the other day. I'll get 3 meals out of it, so yes that is a great bargain!

I cut the roast up into 3 roasts for my family. I already showed you what I did with the first roast, roasted pork loin with rosemary and balsamic vinegar, well this is the second, and third since I did a double batch. Which was supposed to be frozen for later use, but of course it is almost gone, my GP's devoured it. I can't complain, the GP's really love this pork. Nothing makes me happier than my family enjoying a meal I've made for them.

Since I was using a pork loin, a long and slow cook in the oven is out, it's just to lean. I usually do my pork loin in the crockpot with kraut, and it comes out perfect and almost pulled, so I figured what the heck, just pop it in the crock. So that's what I did.

My roast is a little over 2 lbs, I want to say 2 1/4 lbs. I know from experience with the pork and kraut not to let it go too long, so I only cooked mine on low for 5 hours. Here's how I started it.

First I seasoned the roast up with my favorite BBQ rub. Notice I really put a nice coating on.

Then I sliced up a large onion, feel free to use what you like, I'm using a Vidallia.

Place the all but a few of the slices of onion in the bottom of the crock and lay the pork on top. Separate the onion into rings and lay those on top of the pork roast. You can dice the onion if you like so you can blend it into your sauce later, but a couple of my GP's hate onions, and it drives me bananas when I see them picking through their food to get them out. Instead I sliced them a bit thicker and left them whole so they could be taken out later and added to mine and my husbands sandwiches later. They even still had a texture to them and weren't complete mush, which I like.

After the onions pour 1 cup of Coke, Cherry Coke, or Rootbeer over the roast, and 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Cover, turn on low, and let the aroma of yummy porkie-ness fill your home. Cook for 5 hours, or check to see that a fork slides in and out of the pork easily, if it does you are good to go!

Remove the pork to a plate, bowl, what ever you like, to pull it. This is what is should look like after the 5 hours. Shreds up beautifully. Pour the juices from the crockpot into a large measuring cup, it filled my 2 cup. Place the shredded pork back in the crockpot. Mix up 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce with 1/2 cup of the juices from the pork. Add some vinegar to cut the sweetness. Pour the sauce over the pork and mix it gently. If your pork isn't wet enough for your liking, add more juices, if it isn't BBQ-ey enough for your liking, yes that is a made up word, add more sauce. I find the ratio of 1 cup BBQ sauce to 1/2 cup juice was just right for us. And judging by the two sandwiches my tween daughter ate, who normally eats like a bird, I'd say this was a hit. Not to mention they also ate what was supposed to be frozen for a future meal. But hey, I'm not complaining. Having a meal that they go crazy for makes me happy. And when Momma's happy, everyones happy.

Okay so don't hate me for this, but I don't have a picture of the plated pork sandwich. I know, I know, I am so terrible at this. But close your eyes and imagine this beautiful pork on a toasted bun, with a steamed ear of sweet corn, and a side of creamy slaw. It would look a lot like this:

So please forgive me just this twice, third, or fifth time for being totally unprepared and bad at this blogging stuff. I promise you, the pork is worth it! It may not win you an award at the next BBQ championship, but sure as heck will satisfy your hungry family.

Now, make this:

Crockpot Pulled Pork Braised in Cola

Rub:
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
The Roast:
2 lbs - 3 lbs boneless pork loin
1 large onion, peeled
1 cup Coke A Cola (or any cola, cherry cola, rootbeer you like)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
The Sauce:
1 Cup BBQ sauce (homemade or your favorite brand, I used KC Masterpiece)
1/2 Cup drippings from roast
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

In a small bowl, combine ingredients for the rub. Liberally season the pork roast all over with the rub. You may have extra left over, I save it for later use in an empty spice jar.

Slice onion in half crosswise, then those slices in half again so that you have 4 large pieces, or dice it if you prefer. Separate the onion into rings. Lay almost all of the onion in the bottom of the crockpot, leaving a few rings for the top. Place roast on top of the onions and lay the rest of the onion on top of the roast. Pour cola and 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar over roast. Cover, turn on low, and cook for 5 hours. After 5 hours check to see if a fork slides into and out of the pork easily. If it does you are ready to shred, if not check it again in 30 minutes.

When the roast is ready, remove it from the crockpot. Pour out the juices into a large measuring cup or bowl. Set aside. Remove onion from crockpot. Either use them to top sandwiches, or slice them up and add them later to the shredded pork.

Using two forks, shred pork and return it to the crockpot. Mix 1 cup of BBQ sauce with 1/2 cup of juices, and 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Pour over the shredded pork and toss gently to coat the pork. If it isn’t wet enough, add a little more juice, if you like it thicker, add more BBQ sauce. Serve and enjoy!

A 2lb pork roast will feed a family of four nicely, 3lbs should feed a family of 6.

Click Me For The Printable Recipe

Now go.......

Roasted Pork Loin With Rosemary-Balsamic Glaze. Memories of my father.

2010-06-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Pennsylvania. Shortly after graduating high school I decided to pack up and move to Florida. I lived in Florida for 7 years before meeting my husband. I remember our first trip to Pennsylvania when we brought our new daughter home to meet her Oma and Opa. We stayed with my father on his farm. I remember the first dinner he made us, it was a pork loin glazed with a rosemary, garlic, balsamic vinegar glaze, and it was delicious. I remember walking into a house full of smoke, asking what he was making and why he was burning it. He corrected me and told me he was not burning it, he was searing it.

I also remember all of this because it was the first time my father and I talked about cooking and recipes. I was still pretty young and my idea of cooking was using Reynolds plastic oven bags for my roasts or jazzing up Prego. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But I was eager to move up, so I was happy to watch him and learn from him. It started my love of cooking. I remember asking him how to make it and being anxious to get home and give it a try. This was the first roast other than an eye roast out of a Reynolds bag I made and it turned out just as delicious as his. It gave me confidence in the kitchen that with a solid recipe and a little instruction, I could make great things. :}

From then on I began watching PBS cooking shows and Food Network religiously. I think I had a subscription to every food magazine I could get my hands on. I was learning as much as I could so one day I could impress him. Now he and I talk about food all the time, share recipes, and he even gives me the occasional call for advice on a recipe. It is true, food does bring families together.

The recipe comes from Caprial Pence. I believe she had a cooking show on PBS and that is where he saw the recipe. This is my favorite recipe for pork loin. Not tenderloin, just the loin. This cut of meat may not be as tender, but when prepared in this way, it comes out moist and juicy. Sliced thinly, it was perfect the next day for sandwiches my father made for lunch.

Now that all that reminiscing is out of the way, on with the recipe. I didn't capture a picture of making the glaze, or the veggies on the plate, what can I say, I'm new to this. I keep forgetting things. I'm trying to get better, I really am.

First you season up the roast with salt and pepper, make sure you really season it up as it's a thick piece of meat. After you season the roast, I set it aside and make the glaze. When the glaze is finished put a nice sear on your roast.

This is after 3 minutes per side, I thought the color was dark enough and my kitchen was smoked up enough so I stopped after the 3 minutes per side. You will smoke up your house with this recipe, unless you have a super duper exhaust fan, which I do not.

After the sear, glaze that meat baby. Really give it a nice coating. You'll roast the pork for 15 minutes and then glaze it again. Depending on the size of your roast, your oven, ect, ect, ......15-20 minutes later, zee roast, she is done.

Perfect every time. I like my pork with just a tiny bit of pink in the middle. Now just imagine there was some beautiful garlicky green beans on this plate, and ignore my lack of plating skills. Thank you Caprial Pence for such delicious recipe, and thank you Dad for sharing it with me.

Roasted Pork Loin With Rosemary-Balsamic Glaze

2 cloves garlic -- chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (I've also used thyme)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 pound boneless pork loin (mine was a bit under 3lbs, more like 2.75 lbs)
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (canola oil works here too)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Make the glaze:
Combine the garlic, rosemary, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar in a saucepan over high heat. Bring just to a boil, then turn heat to low and cook 5 minutes, until the brown sugar has dissolved. Set glaze aside.

Season the pork loin well with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a very large ovenproof saute pan over high heat until smoking hot. Add the pork and sear well, about 5 minutes per side.

Brush the pork liberally with the glaze, and set the pan in the oven. You can also transfer the pork to a baking dish if you don't have an oven proof pan.

Roast the pork loin for 15 minutes, brush with more glaze, and continue roasting 15 to 20 minutes longer for medium doneness. I pulled mine out of the oven at 20 minutes and a temp of 145 degrees F. Tented it for 10 minutes and it was perfect. Make sure to let sit about 10 minutes before slicing. Slice very thin.

Adapted Recipe By :Caprial Pence

Click Me For The Printable Recipe

Now.......

One meatball, two sauces.

2010-06-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

I love meatballs. Fresh, homemade meatballs. Not the frozen processed plastic golf balls you get at sub shops and cheaper Italian restaurants. I also love that they are easy to throw together, all the GP's love them, and they are dirt cheap to make.

Recently my husband found out he will be working in Tampa for the next couple of years, which means we will pack up and move again this summer. This way he can be closer to work, and we can have better schools for our children. Win, win. A move, plus summer time means our budget will be tight for the next few months, so I just love when I can find cheap eats that still taste delish.

That is where meatballs come in. Ground beef is always cheap and can be used in so many ways. My favorite is a good juicy hamburger fresh from the grill. But, I don't have one at the moment, and no way in heck am I using the community grill at our complex. It's rusted, sitting uncovered under a tree where birds nest, and I've seen my fair share of their presents left behind on it. It baffles my mind that people actually use that grill.

So burgers are out, but one of these days I will break down and purchase a cast iron grill pan so I can do them on the stove top. Especially since when we move I will finally have a gas stove. Which I am super excited about!!! Until then, I'll make meatballs.

I have yet another recipe I wanted to try from The Pioneer Woman for her BBQ Meatballs, but when my husband heard meatballs that I wasn't putting in marinara, he asked me to make his favorite Honey Garlic Meatballs.

I usually make them New Years Eve. My family likes to do a buffet of appetizers that we nosh on all night. The meatballs are always gone first. The recipe I used for the meatballs was a Cooking Light recipe for Beef Meatballs but I was out of eggs and Ree's doesn't use eggs so I went with hers.

I have to say I had mixed feelings about the final result. I only cooked mine for 30 minutes and they could have gone 5 minutes less. I did however love the method of rolling them in flour and briefly browning on top of the stove and that tangy BBQ sauce that covered them. Usually I just bake them meatballs in a hot oven and glaze them in the honey garlic sauce, but this time I did like Ree and poured it over top and baked. They were so tasty. But again, they were a bit over cooked and needed a bit of garlic to give them some umph for me.

All in all, the recipe is easy, cheap, and quick to come together. I think adding a bit of garlic and cutting back on the baking to 25 minutes would give me a much tastier ball - o -meat. Either way, you can't go wrong, my GP's gobbled up the honey garlic before the BBQ. Can't say I blame them, they were my favorite too!

I served them over jasmine rice because that is what I had on hand. Ree suggests egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or crusty French bread. The honey garlic meatballs are great little party appetizers too. Like I mentioned before, I didn't have egg so I used Ree's meatball recipe for the browning and baking but I'm giving the original recipe for how I make them.
Let's get cooking......

After you mix up the meatballs you pop them in the freezer for 5 minutes, then roll them in flour.

Then fry baby fry, or is it saute baby saute? Or brown baby brown?

Then pop them into a baking dish.

Then give em' some sauce and pop them in the oven.

Check them at 25 minutes.....mmmmm, look at those babies. Resist the urge to pop one in your mouth, those suckers are HOT!!!

And serve anyway you like, over rice, mashed taters, as a sandwich, or just by themselves. Just make them.

I'm giving both original recipes, but feel free to mix it up and use Ree's recipe for meatballs with the honey garlic sauce, you won't be disappointed.

BBQ Meatballs

FOR MEATBALLS
1 1/2 pound Ground Beef (I used 2 pds)
3/4 cups Oats (I used 1 cup of quick oats)
1 cup Milk (I used a bit more I think 1 1/4)
3 Tablespoons Very Finely Minced Onion (I used 4)
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt (I used 2)
Plenty Of Ground Black Pepper, to taste
FOR COOKING MEATBALLS
1 cup All-Purpose Flour (coating For Frozen Meatballs)
Canola Oil
FOR SAUCE (I cut this in half since I was making half a batch of honey garlic)
1 cup Ketchup
2 Tablespoons Sugar
3 Tablespoons Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
4 Tablespoons (to 6 Tablespoons) Onion
1 dash Tabasco

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all meatball ingredients. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place sheet in freezer for five minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove meatballs from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour.
Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish.
Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. (I cooked mine for 30 and probably would only go 25 next time, maybe my oven is hotter?)

Honey Garlic Meatballs

1 1/2 pounds ground round
1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
2 garlic cloves, finely minced, pressed, or grated on a microplane zester
Cooking spray
Sauce:
2 Tbsp. butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce (I use Lite)

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine the ground round, parm cheese, breadcrumbs, parsley, tomato sauce, mustard, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and 2 cloves of minced garlic in a bowl and mix well.

Prepare a broiler pan by coating with cooking spray. Shape mixture into 30 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until done. Drain the grease and set them aside.

While meatballs cook make your sauce.

Melt butter in saucepan and saute garlic until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add ketchup, honey and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer five minutes. Add meatballs to sauce. Return to a boil and simmer uncovered 5 until sauce glazes meatballs.

Now.....

No I'm not dead, I'm making chicken fingers.......

2010-06-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'm alive. Sorry I've been so neglectful of this blog, I promise to bring you more tasty goodness, just stick with me here. I also apologize for this pretty crappy pics I am posting today. My apartment did have much natural light and my pictures came out a bit blurry. What can I say? I'm a work in progress.

Now that that's out of the way........Last night I had a craving for chicken fingers. Crunchy, moist, tasty, chicken fingers slathered in honey mustard. The Pioneer Woman has a post on her blog I've been wanting to try for a long time so I gave them a go, adding my own touches of course. I just can't leave anything alone. She has a step by step photo instruction, you should check it out. She's my blog idol.

In her recipe she starts with just buttermilk, I seasoned mine and let my chicken go for a longer time in their buttermilk bath. Glad I did, these babies were moist and so full of flavor. Now this may not be the healthiest of dinners, but life is short, I'd rather enjoy it eating what I like.

My GP's went crazy over these. I used 1/4 cup of buttermilk because my little ones don't like when chicken fingers are too crunchy. I also cut my honey mustard with regular mustard to keep the heat low. My kids are not chili heads. If you prefer more heat use all whole grain dijon mustard.

Oh and I'm sorry about my awful plating, and about the honey mustard not being in the picture with the chicken, but I'm lucky I got a picture period. I poured my sauce in the pitcher took a quick photo in case something happened to it. Glad I did. As I finished frying up the strips, fed the GP's and turned around to plate my fingers for the picture, half my sauce was gone. Oh well, I can't be upset, I guess they really like it and that is the point right?

Homemade Chicken Strips

2 lbs Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Strips (sometimes Called "tenders" Or "strips")
1 cup Buttermilk
2 tablespoon dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, smashed so you can remove them easily
2 teaspoons hot sauce, I use Crystal use whatcha like
1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons (to 3 Teaspoons) Lawry's Seasoning Salt (or Spices Of Your Choosing) *I choose my own, 2 tsp paprika, 2 tsp salt, fresh ground black pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder*
Vegetable Oil
Honey Mustard Sauce
1 cup good mayo (I always use Hellman's)
1/4 cup of honey
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons whole grain course ground mustard (or more to taste depending on how hot you want it. Feel free to use spicy brown, dijon, or even sweet hot mustard)

Peel and smash garlic cloves, add them in a bowl large enough to submerge the chicken strips in. Add buttermilk, dijon, and hot sauce, stir and add chicken. Cover chicken and pop in the frig for a few hours. I let mine go 4 hours, you could even leave them overnight for more flavor. Pioneer Woman leaves her's in plain buttermilk for 15-20 minutes. Do watcha like.

In another bowl combine about 1 ½ cups flour and 2 to 3 teaspoons of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt (or other seasonings if you prefer). Mix this together well. Next, add about ¼ to ½ cup of buttermilk into the flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork as you add it. I used 1/4 because I didn't want them to crunchy.

Heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat.

Remove a few of the buttermilk-soaked strips and place them in the flour mixture, turning them over to coat them thoroughly. Place them on a plate. Continue coating chicken strips until they are all ready to cook. Leave those garlic cloves behind. They were just for flavor.

When the oil is sufficiently heated, begin cooking the strips a few at a time. Cook them for about a minute and a half or so on each side. When golden and crispy, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate. *I removed them to a rack set over paper towels so they didn't get soggy bottom. No one likes a soggy bottom. Oh and sprinkle those babies with a bit of salt as soon as they come out of the hot oil. Serve with your favorite sauce. Mine is honey mustard and here is how you make it:

Combine mayo, mustard, and honey, mix well and use right away or put it in a covered container and pop it in the frig. Simple right?

Now..........

Oven BBQ'd Chicken Drumsticks with Cola Q' Sauce

2010-05-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

Are you a leg person? I am. Actually, I like all the parts of the chicken, but my kids love the legs. I love that they are dirt cheap this week at the grocery store, $.89 a pound, how can you not love that?

I was in the mood for a little BBQ, when am I not? Almost never. I just wish I had my charcoal grill. Nothing beats chicken with a sticky sweet BBQ glaze right off the grill. Cold from the frig is good too. Ahhh, I can hear my daughter now while she's reading "ewwww mom, that's gross." She doesn't know what's she's missing. Cold BBQ chicken is awesome. So is fried. But that will be for another day.

I am a Coke A Cola fiend. I admit it. Next to sweet tea with lemon, it's my favorite beverage of choice. So I decided to throw together a cola sauce. We like sweet sauces with a little tang so this one is pretty sweet. Feel free to adjust the sugar. And don't limit yourself to just Coke, you could also use root beer, Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, ect, ect. But I wouldn't recommend diet sodas, since I don't drink them and I've never used them, can't say how they would turn out. Sorry.

So here we go. I started the chicken with a quick brine. My brine solution comes from America's Test Kitchen, I use it for pork too. Works great. Never to salty and the meat is always moist. I find it seasons the chicken perfectly. Just make sure to rinse it off. Of course I forgot to take a picture of this step. I'm new to this. Bear with me. It'll get better. Promise. :)

After you brine them you'll want to rinse them, pat them dry, and season them up ~ go ahead give then a little rub.

Once you have them seasoned I like to baste them with a little butter, cause it makes everything better. Feel free to use olive oil, canola oil, or even Pam.

Then preheat your oven to 400 degrees, spray a roasting rack with Pam ( here is the one I am using, cheap as chips: Professional Cross Wire Cooling Rack Half Sheet Pan Size) set over a pan lined with foil and pop them in the oven on the center rack. Roast them for 45 minutes. While they are roasting make your BBQ sauce. After they are finished roasting remove them from the oven and turn it to broil. Brush the legs lightly with BBQ sauce and put them under the broiler for 2 minutes, or until they start brown and get bubbly. Remove them from the oven and give them a little more sauce. Pop them back under the broiler until they are spotty black in spots. Not all black, that's burnt. After they are colored to your liking take them out and let them rest 10 minutes before serving.

Mmmm, look at that sticky yumminess.....

Oven BBQ'd Chicken Drumsticks with Cola Q' Sauce

3 lbs chicken drumsticks
1/2 stick unsalted butter -- melted
Brine
1/4 cup table salt
1 quart water
Spice Rub
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt (omit of brining)
Cola Barbecue Sauce:
1/4 cup onion -- grated on the large size of a box grater, with juice
2 cloves garlic -- pressed, grated on a microplane, or minced fine
1 cup cola (recommended: Coca-Cola)
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke -- 1 tsp if you prefer a smokier sauce
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

To make the brine:
Dissolve salt in cold water. Place chicken in gallon size ziplock freezer bag placed inside of a large bowl, or place chicken inside of a large bowl and pour brine over chicken. If using a baggie, squeeze out any extra air, zip bag closed. If not using a bag, cover the chicken with plastic wrap, I weigh it down so all the chicken is submerged. Place chicken in the frig for at least 30 minutes, I usually do for an hour. I wouldn’t go longer than 4 hours, but that’s me. Do whatcha like.

After the quick bath in brine, I rinse the chicken thoroughly and pat it dry.

Rub and Roast:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a roasting rack with Pam and lay it over a foil lined baking sheet, or you can line a baking sheet with aluminum foil sprayed with Pam.

Combine the rub ingredients, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, pepper, and salt **only if not brining. Sprinkle the chicken liberally with the rub. Take some melted butter and lightly baste the chicken with it. Pop it into the oven for about 45 minutes. While chicken cooks, make the sauce.

For the sauce:
In a heavy non-reactive saucepan over medium heat combine onion, garlic, cola, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, cider vinegar, 1/4 cup brown sugar,
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and dijon mustard. Give it a stir and gradually bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat slightly to keep a gentle simmer going. Simmer the sauce until reduced and thickened, about 30 minutes.

Back to the chicken……
After the 45 minutes is up, remove the chicken from the oven and preheat your broiler.

Baste chicken lightly with the sauce, pop it under the broiler for a few minutes, until it starts to bubble and brown. Every broiler is different, it usually takes about 2 minutes in mine. Remove chicken from broiler and baste again with sauce, this time lay it on a bit thicker. Pop it back under the broiler for a few minutes, until it begins to char in some spots, usually another 2-3 minutes. Broil until it’s the color you like. I like mine spotty black and charred in a few spots.

Try subbing Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, or even rootbeer for Coke. I have never tried diet sodas so can’t recommend it.

Enjoy.

Now.....

Homemade Soft Pretzels. Yum.

2010-05-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

Last night I was out of dessert for the little GP's, and just like old Mother Hubbard, I went to my cupboard, and it was bare. Okay, maybe not bare, but it had very little sugar and very little cocoa powder. I was also low on butter, so I searched through the mountain of recipes I have in my Mastercook and came up with pretzels. Hardly any sugar and butter, no cocoa and I still had yeast left from when I made Moomie's Buns. Saving me a trip to the store, bonus! Picking up one item from the store drives me bonkers. I don't know why, maybe because I spend so much time at the grocery store, maybe because I hate jumping in the truck during hottest part of the day to get there. Either way, I hate it, so I don't do it.

Onto the recipe. Can I just say making pretzels is pretty simple? I cannot tell you how much better homemade is than the store bought ones, and so easy to make too! No need to buy them again. But here is a tip, active dry yeast and rapid/instant yeast are not used the same. I followed Alton's instructions for combining the sugar, salt, and water in a bowl then adding yeast. When I returned to my mixing bowl, after the 5 minute foaming stage, there was no foam. I am not a baker, as I said before, but I have baked a few yeasty treats before and have picked up a thing or two. When using rapid rise yeast it works a bit different than active dry. If using rapid rise, add it to the flour, not the water, and heat your water to 120-130 not 110-115, unless you want dead yeast like me. Poor little yeasties.

After I fixed my yeast faux pas, I continued on with the recipe exactly the way Alton instructs. Very straight forward recipe. All of his are, which is why I love them so much. Now, mine looked like a 5 year old rolled them out, except for one or two that were pretty enough and actually resembled a pretzel. These are the ones I am showing you of course. Looks aside, they were sooooo yummy! Isn't that what matter's the most?

I have read a few comments about these being like a Philly pretzel, on that I will disagree. When I think of Philly pretzels, I think of the ones that they sell downtown on the streets. Those are very dense and chewy, and sticky too. These were not. They had some chew, but were not dense at all. I found 14 minutes in my oven produced a nice dark brown pretzel that was crusty on the bottom, soft and chewy in the middle, and devoured in less than a minute. I used a little melted butter mixed in with the oil to brush on the foil instead of all oil like Alton instructs. Using a little butter gave mine a nice crusty buttery bottom, I love buttery bottoms. I like buttery anything. It makes everything better. Oh, and here is a tip, Alton tells you to use parchment for a reason. That reason, so you don't have to peel your pretzels off of the foil and burn the crap out of your fingers like I did. So don't be like me, use parchment. Maybe I should have gone to the store after all?

I already have visions of pretzel variations dancing in my head. Cinnamon and sugar, onion for my hubby, maybe a bit of melted chocolate. You could do so much with this basic recipe and I plan to. The hardest part of making pretzels was waiting for them to cool 5 minutes before eating. My family loved them, yours will too. And if they don't, send them to me, with some spicy brown mustard, cause that's how I roll.

Risen dough, don't you just want to poke it?

Misshapen pretzels out of their bath and ready for the oven. Remember, don't be like me, use parchment.

Pass the mustard?

Alton Brown’s Homemade Soft Pretzels

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers, Mommies, Mums, and "Mutha's"....

2010-05-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

It's Mother's Day and for me that means I am barred from the kitchen. That's right, DH and the little GP's don't allow me to cook or clean up on Mother's Day. The cleaning up, I can deal with, but the cooking is killing me today. I've been reading so many blogs this weekend, and finding so many new recipes I want to try that I am antsy to get back in the kitchen.

Warning, this post is very long.....I can't help it, I love roasted chicken.......

Now if I were cooking today, something for myself, it would be a roasted chicken. Next to a nice juicy steak, nothing beats a perfectly roasted chicken with homemade gravy and mashed garlic potatoes. At least in my book. And since I am still working on my steak technique, I would cook myself a roasted chicken. Extra crispy skin, please. And pass the gravy.

But since I can't, I will just have to blog about the one I made yesterday. Guess, I had my roasted chicken after all. ;)

I wanted a simple roast chicken, nothing to herb-ey. Since I will be using the left over chicken carcass (carcass, every time I hear that word I think of buzzards picking at some roadkill, isn't there a better word?) to make chicken stock because my freezer is out at the moment. I was also out of a lot of fresh herbs, carrots, and celery, oh and to lazy to go to the store. Usually my favorite recipe for simple roast chicken is Thomas Keller's method, dry the chicken inside and out, let the kosher salt rain down on the skin, sprinkle with fresh black pepper, truss, and roast at 450 degrees for about an hour. But with this method comes a lot of smoke, maybe it's the pan I use or fatty chickens, I don't know. I do know I wasn't in the mood for being smoked out, and since it's 90 degrees here I couldn't open my windows, I went a different route.

Cooks Illustrated starts their chicken off with a brine, slathers on an herb rub, roasts on one side, flips and finishes on the other. I like this method. Since I didn't have homemade broth, I decided to skip the brine today. Last time I brined and used low sodium broth the end result was still a little too salty for the gravy. Don't know if I just didn't rinse the chicken well enough or not. I didn't want a salty gravy, or one I would have to dilute. Gravy makes my world go round, didn't want to mess it up, so I skipped the brining. Feel free to brine, or not brine, there is no question, a chicken roasted properly doesn't have to be brined.

Did I happen to mention I hate to clean a rack after roasting a turkey or chicken? I do, I hate it more than anything, so here is my solution. Foil. I love foil. I just take a small piece and wrap it around each rack grate (are they grates?) and the bottom that touches the pan. Saves me a ton of time (and cursing) during clean up. I also love foil when I run out of twine for trussing my chicken. Easy peasey made just for me-sey.

So here it is, a simple roast chicken for when the fridge is bare and you are too lazy to drive to the store:

Simple Roasted Chicken with Garlic Butter

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature (you won't need all of it, just make sure you have enough on hand)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small clove garlic
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth ( I prefer homemade or Swanson Organic)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth (can omit and use all broth)
1 sprig of rosemary or thyme (optional)
Cornstarch

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Set V-rack in small roasting pan and lightly spray rack with nonstick cooking spray, or cover the with foil like I did.

Remove the giblets from the inside of the chicken. I toss them except for the neck. Don't bother to rinse the chicken, rinsing your chicken is not necessary, in fact the FDA advises against it since you can contaminate your kitchen more so by doing it, so don't do it. K?

Take 1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature in a small bowl, press, finely mince, grate, put through a food processor, whatever is your chosen method for finely mincing one small clove of garlic, do it, and add it into the butter, then add about a 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and some fresh ground pepper black pepper, maybe an 1/4 -1/8 of a tsp (all depends on how much you like pepper, I lerve it!)

Loosen the skin from the chicken, careful not to tear it. Grab up some of that butter and rub it under the skin, I go heavy on the breasts since that is the favorite for the GP's and part of the chicken most in need of flavor and moisture. Lay it on thick, I do. Butter makes everything better. After the breast is done go down into the legs. Rub the skin down with some of the unflavored butter, or olive oil, and season it up with a little kosher salt and pepper.

Season the inside of the chicken cavity with salt and pepper. I don't have an exact measurement, just a pinch inside of kosher salt should do the trick and a few grinds of pepper. Now if you are a trusser, truss, if you are not, don't. I found myself out of twine so I ended up using foil, which was a heck of a lot easier! Just tear of a small piece of foil, going lengthwise, roll it, scrunch it, do whatever it takes until it looks like a piece of long rope. Cross the legs together and wrap the foil around the legs, twist it to tighten it so that it stays. I love foil.

I roast two at a time, using the same timing. These are breast side up, you want to begin with them breast side down. Notice the little necks. Great for the gravy.

Add the onion to the pan and place those necks right on top. Set your chicken on the rack breast side down and place in the roasting pan. Roast chicken for 30 minutes.

Remove roasting pan from oven; decrease oven temperature to 375 degrees. Using tongs or wads of paper towels, (or silicon heat resistant oven mitts like I have) and rotate chicken breast-side up; brush breast with 1 teaspoon oil or melted butter. Add 1 cup broth and 1/2 cup water to pan and continue to roast until chicken is medium golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast is 160 degrees, or thigh registers about 175 degrees, (an additional hour in my oven, but you should really go by the temperature of the chicken.) Tip V-rack to allow juices in cavity to run into roasting pan. Transfer chicken to a plate to catch any additional juices.. Let it rest at least 15 minutes before trying to carve, I wait 20. While you wait, make the gravy.

Remove chicken neck and onions, set aside for gravy. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up browned bits in roasting pan and pour into a fat separator, or into a freezer baggie set inside of a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Allow liquid to settle; once settled if you are using the baggie method, seal the baggie, it should be in a cone shape from the 2 cup measuring cup, snip of the end over a small saucepan. Keep the measuring cup close by, when you get down to the fat, plop the baggie in the measuring cup. Don't throw this down the drain of your sink, it will congeal and clog it.

Once you transfer the juices to small saucepan, then add wine, onions from the pan, chicken neck, herb sprig, and remaining broth; simmer over medium heat, until you have the flavor you want, about 10-15 minutes. Add accumulated juices from chicken and discard herb sprig and chicken neck. If you like a thicker gravy like I do, take a tablespoon or two of cornstarch and add enough water to make a thin paste, or a slurry. Whisk in a little at a time to your boiling broth, you may not use all of it, you may need more, depends on your preference. When you are happy with the consistency, adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.

Carve chicken and serve with gravy and savor that deliciousness. As you can see I make two at a time, I save the bones and wings for stock, and any leftover chicken is either used up the next day simmered in leftover gravy and poured over white bread, or if I'm out of gravy I use the leftovers for chicken salad. De-lish!

Beans, beans, the magical fruit......the more you eat......the more you....

2010-05-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

Come on sing along if you know the words. My grandfather used to sing the bean song to us when we would eat them, and now I sing it to my older daughter who just hates it. The song and the beans, along with her brother, and her father. Which is fine with me, because then there are more for me, and my littlest GP who loves them as much as I do.

Yesterday for Cinco de Mayo I made grilled chicken tacos. No recipe just rubbed them down with a bit of spices, grilled them on my Foreman grill, yes I said my Foreman grill. Apartment remember? With those tacos I made oven roasted corn from the farmers market, yum. And yes, corn again this week, it's the only vegetable we all like. I also made my favorite black beans, Frijoles De Lata.

I lived in Miami for about 4 years, maybe a little more. I loved the food in Miami, so many different cultures to choose from. One of my favorites was the Cuban food. I worked downtown, and little Cuban cafe's were plentiful. Cafe con Leche, (cuban coffee with milk) and pastelitos with guava and cheese were my usual breakfast. Afternoon snack of ham croquetas, but my favorite was dinnertime, mojo marinated grilled chicken breast with sweet caramelized plantains, and black beans and rice. Mmmmmmmm....I could eat that every day........how I miss authentic Cuban food.

Lucky for me I met a Cuban friend on a message board, and she shared a recipe for black beans. She called them "quick and easy black beans." I'm all for quick and easy, cause soaking and cooking beans is not my thing. The first time I tried them it brought me back to the days when I lived in Miami. They tasted exactly the way a little cafe from around the corner from where I worked made them. They are so flavorful and easy, I make them often. Serve them over top of white rice and you have a perfect side dish, or if you are a vegetarian, a complete meal. I've been told by my Cuban friends, everyone has a different recipe for black beans and rice, and everyone thinks theirs is the best, well here is mine. Are they the best? Absolutely.

Now if I could only get the sour oranges for mojo, and how to cook the plantains properly.........or find them in my store.

Frijoles De Lata (quick and easy black beans)

1/2 cup pure Spanish olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 medium size green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 large , ripe tomato, chopped, or 1/2 cup chopped and drained canned whole tomatoes
Two 16-ounce cans black beans, with their liquid
1/2 cup Cuban beef stock, canned beef broth or water
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Few dashes of Tabasco sauce, optional
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, optional
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chopped onion, minced fresh parsley, or minced fresh coriander
for garnish (cilantro)

In a medium-size saucepan over low heat, heat the oil until it is fragrant, then cook the garlic, onion, and bell pepper, stirring, until tender, 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook another 10 minutes. Add the beans, stock, cumin, Tabasco, and vinegar, stir to blend, correct the seasonings, and simmer, covered, until heated through, 20 minutes.

Garnish and serve with beans hot over Arroz Blanco (white rice)
Recipe courtesy of Gail CL board

Enjoy!

Crazy, wacky, depressed? It's all cake.

2010-05-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

Chocolate cake. Dense, yummy, not too sweet, chocolate cake. I've seen this cake named several things, wacky cake, Depression cake, even crazy cake. I read that this cake was made back during the Depression era, when dairy was hard to come by. I also read this cake is named wacky/crazy cake because of the wacky way you combine the ingredients to mix it up, ( I'm opting for the easier way.) I'm not absolutely sure on which is the proper name, because aside from not being a chef, I am also not a food historian. But we're here to eat anyway, not learn history.

Since I was out of extra butter this cake was the perfect answer to my dessert dilemma. In this house we must have dessert, sorry, the GP's must have dessert. If I do not offer dessert to the GP's, there is a "Great Depression" in this household. We can't have that now can we?

If the little GP's hear the clink of my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl they know I'm getting ready to bake something. My older daughter asked what I was making. Since I like to surprise them, or at least try to surprise them, I told her the usual, "oh nothing." Of course I wouldn't get off that easily, she sent her sister in to investigate. Little bugger. When my DD read off "Depression Cake," her older sister asked "why, do you get depressed after eating it?" Before I could answer my 9 year old said, "no, it's named for the Great Depression, they probably made it back then." She's so smart.

When I found the recipes for this cake none of them had an icing I could make without going to the store, and most just dusted them with powdered sugar. My older daughter was having none of that. She said "cakes need frosting." So I searched for a frosting, and I found one that also used very little butter, and cocoa powder, bonus for me no trip to the store. Of course that recipe was a disaster, so I came up with my own concoction. Recipes in place, I was ready to make my cake.

This cake comes together very quickly, I think it took all of 10 minutes to mix it up. It bakes quickly too, only a short 30 minutes in my oven. The results, a very dense, very moist, not too sweet chocolate cake. It kind of reminded me of a chocolate Tasty Cake. It has that same chocolate-tee-ness (yes I make up words all the time) and texture to it. Not a deep chocolate flavor. Not the holy grail of chocolate cakes. But it certainly will satisfy your chocolate and cake cravings.

I read this cake gets better with age, but there isn't a chance of finding that out here. Cakes don't last long in this house. Notice the little GP waiting for the cake to cool.......

Chocolate Crazy, Wacky, Depression Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup water

Spray an 8 x8 inch pan with non-stick spray and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined. Pour into prepard 8×8 pan.

OR if you want to get "Wacky"

Make three wells. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second, and vanilla into third well. Pour cold water over all, and stir well with fork.

Bake the cake for 30 minutes, or until it springs back when touched lightly, or until a cake tester comes out clean which ever is your prefered cake testing doneness method.

Allow to cool completely before serving. Top with powdered sugar or frost as desired.

This is the frosting I made, it's pretty sweet.

Chocolate Frosting

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup butter

In a large glass measuring cup, warm milk in microwave. Mine took 45 seconds. Add cocoa and powdered sugar. Stir to combine. Put back in the microwave for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir in vanilla and butter 1 tablespoon at a time. This should thicken up the frosting slightly. This isn't a thick frosting. But it did thicken slightly when cooled.

You could also do this in a saucepan, just Combine milk, cocoa, and sugar in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, and cook until combined about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla, beat until spreading consistency.

Mmmmmmm.............cake.

Creamy Coleslaw

2010-05-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I forgot to post the recipe for coleslaw, so I'm doing it now. :) This slaw is creamy, and a little sweet, just the way I like it.. If you want more zing add more vinegar.

  Coleslaw

  1 head green cabbage -- shredded*
  1 small carrot -- peeled and shredded*
  2/3 cup mayonnaise
  1/4 cup sugar
  2 tbsp. milk
  2 tbsp. vinegar
  1/2 tsp. salt
  1/4 tsp. pepper

Toss cabbage and carrot in a medium bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cabbage mixture; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

*Useful Tip: For extra convenience, use one package (16 ounces) refrigerated cole slaw mix (cabbage and carrots)

recipe source: Steph's Country Kitchen Goodness

I like big butts and I cannot lie ....you other Q'ers can't deny...

2010-05-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

Pork butts that is. I especially like them already de-boned. De-boning a pork butt would not only save me time, but stop me from exposing my young GPS to the swearing that went on in the kitchen yesterday morning while doing it. Okay I admit it, this was the first pork butt I have ever used for pulled pork. My usual cut is a boneless shoulder, but yesterday I decided to try something new. In trying something new I learned if the Boston butt does not read boneless, it is not boneless. Seems pretty simple now that I think about it. Hey, rump roast doesn't read boneless, or eye round for that matter, both boneless. Remember, I am not a chef.

Sunny Florida is heating up, and when it gets hot outside I have a craving for BBQ. But we recently relocated to Florida, and we are living in an apartment, which means we no longer have our Weber charcoal grill. So what's a chick to do when she wants BBQ and doesn't have a grill? Cook it indoors of course.

I have a great recipe for indoor Memphis style pulled pork that I usually use and it is de~lish, but when Cooks Illustrated (January 2010) came out with a recipe I had to try it.

In this recipe CI tries to get the smoky flavor you would normally have by using a grill, but you slow roast the pork in the oven. Now, I know BBQ is a very personal thing to a lot of people. BBQ pork in the oven is blasphemy to true BBQ worshippers. "It isn't BBQ if it isn't cooked outside on a grill." Yeah I know, but I don't have access to a grill and I WANT BBQ! I don't care that it hasn't slow roasted over a bed of coals or wood, and that it is missing a perfect smoke ring inside. I care that is satisfies my craving and that my GP's love it and think I am a kitchen goddess (which they do.) They don't know it's not true BBQ nor do they care.

I have to admit, I like the method of the recipe, brining, slow roasting, and drying out the meat a bit to get a nice "bark," but, the rub could have used some punch. I have never ever, ever, ever, made a recipe for BBQ that didn't have garlic powder in the rub. I love garlic, so I felt that was missing, and some onion powder why we're at it. Next time I make this I will definitely use my own recipe for rub. I thought it lacked punch. The slathering of the meat with mustard and smoke flavor added nice flavor to the bark, this is my first time trying that and I will definitely do that again. The brine perfectly seasoned the pork, but didn't impart a big smoke flavor. Good news for me because my hubs isn't a fan of really smoky meats. All in all the pork recipe its self is great for an indoor pulled pork. For those who don't like smoke, it isn't very smoky at all. Pork perfect, my problem was with the sauces.

I have been dying for a good Carolina mustard based sauce. I was hoping CI would deliver and well, they didn't. For me anyway. I know a few people around the web have tried this recipe and loved the sauces, sorry I am not in that crowd. Don't know if it was the brand of mustard I used, or the fact that the mustard ratio to other ingredients was way higher than any other I have seen around the web, but the end result was not a keeper in this house. In fact I dumped it because it went untouched at dinner. We also felt the Sweet and Tangy Barbecue Sauce lacked punch so I ended up making my own sauce. I'd give the recipe for that but I just threw together a bunch of ingredients until it tasted good. All in all this is a great indoor pulled pork recipe, but for my taste, next time I will change the rub and sauces.

Pulled pork on homemade buns, with a side of creamy slaw, and oven roasted fresh corn on the cob from the farmers market, life is good.

Indoor Pulled Pork
Cook's Illustrated (January 2010)

Serves 6 to 8

Note: Sweet paprika may be substituted for smoked paprika. Covering the pork with parchment and then foil prevents the acidic mustard from eating holes in the foil. Serve the pork on hamburger rolls with pickle chips and thinly sliced onion. Alternatively, use 2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce thinned with ½ cup of the defatted pork cooking liquid in step 5. The shredded and sauced pork can be cooled, tightly covered, and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Reheat it gently before serving.

INGREDIENTS

   1 cup plus 2 teaspoons table salt
   ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
   3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
   1 boneless pork butt (about 5 pounds), cut in half horizontally
   ¼ cup yellow mustard
   2 tablespoons ground black pepper
   2 tablespoons smoked paprika (see note)
   1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Dissolve 1 cup salt, ½ cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons liquid smoke in 4 quarts cold water in large container. Submerge pork in brine, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

2. While pork brines, combine mustard and remaining 2 teaspoons liquid smoke in small bowl; set aside. Combine black pepper, paprika, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons salt, and cayenne in second small bowl; set aside. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.

3. Remove pork from brine and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Rub mustard mixture over entire surface of each piece of pork. Sprinkle entire surface of each piece with spice mixture. Place pork on wire rack set inside foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Place piece of parchment paper over pork, then cover with sheet of aluminum foil, sealing edges to prevent moisture from escaping. Roast pork for 3 hours.

4. Remove pork from oven; remove and discard foil and parchment. Carefully pour off liquid in bottom of baking sheet into fat separator and reserve for sauce. Return pork to oven and cook, uncovered, until well browned, tender, and internal temperature registers 200 degrees on instant-read thermometer, about 1½ hours. Transfer pork to serving dish, tent loosely with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.

5. FOR THE SAUCE: While pork rests, pour ½ cup of defatted cooking liquid from fat separator into medium bowl. Whisk in ingredients (see below).

6. TO SERVE: Using 2 forks, shred pork into bite-sized pieces. Toss with 1 cup sauce and season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing remaining sauce separately.

Sweet and Tangy Barbecue Sauce

INGREDIENTS

   1½ cups ketchup
   ¼ cup light or mild molasses
   2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
   1 tablespoon hot sauce
   ½ teaspoon table salt
   ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

While pork rests, pour ½ cup of defatted cooking liquid from fat separator into medium bowl; whisk in sauce ingredients.

Lexington Vinegar Barbecue Sauce

INGREDIENTS

   1 cup cider vinegar
   ½ cup ketcup
   ½ cup water
   1 tablespoon sugar
   ¾ teaspoon table salt
   ¾ teaspoon red pepper flakes
   ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl with ½ cup defatted cooking liquid (in Step 5) and whisk to combine.

South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce

INGREDIENTS

   1 cup yellow mustard
   ½ cup white vinegar
   ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
   ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
   2 tablespoons hot sauce
   1 teaspoon table salt
   1 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl with ½ cup defatted cooking liquid (in Step 5) and whisk to combine.

Now....

Moomie's Buns ARE beautiful!

2010-05-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

Her burger buns that is, I've never seen Moomie in person so I can't speak for the other "buns."

This recipe is from the King Arthur Flour message board, the baking circle . Moomie, or Ellen which is her real name, is a contributor there that shared her recipe for homemade burger buns. They were so popular King Arthur added them to a cookbook and they quickly made their rounds on a couple message boards I frequent.

Today I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making these beauties......okay not the whole afternoon, they take longer to rise than to actually make and they are totally worth it! I don't think I will ever buy a store bought hamburger bun again. These were so quick and easy to make, I don't know why I waited so long to make them. Golden yellow on the outside, tender on the inside and so delicious. I made the mistake of letting the GP's taste one and now I think I have to hide them so I'll have them for dinner tomorrow. Which reminds me, stop by we're fixin' butts tomorrow. ;)

On to the recipe. Here is Ellen's Site if you want to check out her notes and variations. This really is a very versatile recipe. You can make burgers buns, hot dog buns, even dinner rolls using this recipe. Some people say they will try to make hoagie rolls out of the dough, but that's where I draw the line. As a chick who grew up outside of Philly, working in a hoagie/steak shop, we take our hoagie and cheese steak rolls VERY SERIOUSLY. There just isn't the right chew for to these to be hoagie rolls. Sorry Moomie, but I will be using these many other things. Like tomorrow with indoor pulled pork......mmmmmm pork.

Here is the recipe I used, since finding this recipe I've noticed a few slight variations, a little more yeast and a little more salt, than the one I used. There are versions for the bread machine and for a stand mixer, I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

Moomie's Beautiful Burger Buns

1 cup water (mine was lukewarm)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine (butter baby)
1 egg
3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast ( I opened two packages of rapid yeast to measure 1 tblsp)

Place all ingredients in your bread machine. Select dough. Allow to run cycle.

Dump out onto lightly floured surface. Divide into 8 pieces. With each piece, slap into a bun shape. Usually four or five slaps will do it. Place on greased cookie sheets or your bun pans, cover; rise about 30 to 40 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 12 to 15 minutes till golden. Cool on wire racks. I like to add a teaspoon of onion powder and about 1/2 teaspoon dried onion to the dough in the bread machine. It makes a light onion-y flavor that is wonderful!

When I do these for burgers, I split the bun, butter, and fry in a skillet till brown. Yummy! They make great sandwich buns too! Nice and soft! You can't go wrong with this recipe!

Tizzy notes:

Using your stand mixer, attach the dough hook. Mix on low to incorporate the ingredients, then turn up your mixer to about 2 or 3 speed and let it knead the dough until it forms a ball on your hook. It will be very sticky. Pour out onto a lightly floured surface and hand knead until it's nice and smooth. I kept adding flour to the top and board until it stopped sticking, wasn't much tho.

After you are finished kneading grease a bowl with oil. Drop your dough ball in there and turn it around inside the bowl to oil the surface of the dough. Either top the bowl with a tea towel or saran wrap and put it in a draft free place in your kitchen. I like to turn my oven on warm, turn it off in 30 seconds, and place my dough inside the oven.

Let the dough rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. After it has doubled punch it down (after you let your DD who is watching you like a hawk touch it)then divide it into 8 equal buns and slap it around 4 times (let DD slap it too because she says "what's more fun than slapping dough around?" obviously she doesn't get out much.)

After you have slapped the dough, form the bun shape and place on greased cookie sheets, or parchment paper like I used, no fuss no muss. Cover the pan with a tea towel or saran and let them rise again for 30 to 40 minutes. Then remove the cover, brush them with a little melted butter or egg wash if you wish and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 12-13 minutes or until golden brown. Split, serve, enjoy!

Now......

I love Gaaaarrlic bread. ♥

2010-04-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Not just the title, also the name of the recipe I forgot to post yesterday. Last night with the peppers I made our favorite garlic bread. Warning, this is NOT a light recipe. But who wants light garlic bread anyway? It's supposed to be buttery, garlicky, and toasty.

I know what you're thinkin' who needs a 'recipe' for garlic bread, ummmm I do. I know it's simple enough but I still seek out recipes for it. After finding this one we stopped. Actually, I was just a helper on this recipe the first time it was made in our home. My little GP's went to the library to find a recipe book geared towards them, and they picked out Emeril's "There's a Chef in My Soup!" We found a couple of really good recipes in there, if you have kids check it out.

Now, I'm not the cheesy bread type, okay maybe a little parm, but not the gooey mozzarella cheese. Nope, just garlic and seasoned butter and more butter and more garlic. Oh and a little more buttery garlic, and I'm a happy girl. I love garlic bread. It makes me happy, it makes my GP's happy, and hopefully it will make you happy to, unless of course you don't like garlic, then you are out of luck here today.

   I Love Gaaahlic Bread

  1 loaf French or Italian bread -- about 22 inches long
  12 tablespoons unsalted butter -- (1 1/2 sticks) softened
  2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  2 teaspoons Baby Bam (or any cajun seasoning you like)
  2 teaspoons minced garlic
  1 teaspoon dried parsley
  1/4 teaspoon salt

Make sure the oven rack is in the center position and preheat the oven to 350F.

Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Using a serrated bread knife, carefully cut the bread in half lengthwise. Lay the two halves of the bread cut side up on the lined baking sheet.

Place the butter in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir together with a spatula.

Spread the butter mixture evenly onto the cut sides of each loaf half. (This will thickly coat your bread, I don't use all of it, just enough to slather the bread)

Place in the oven and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 15 to 18 minutes.

Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the sheet from the oven.

Carefully slice the bread diagonally and serve immediately.

Yield: 1 large loaf, serving 6 to 8 as a side dish

Adapted from Emeril and his book "There's a Chef in My Soup!"

Obsessing over stuffed peppers.......

2010-04-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

I just can't do it. No matter how hard I've tried with Photoshop, I can't make this picture of my stuffed peppers look as good as they tasted. I've tried for over an hour, but there is only so much a chick can do with her little point and click camera (Cannon or Nikon fairy,if you are out there, please pay me a visit with one of your beautiful camera's...... I promise to love it, care for it, and put it to good use.)

My husband said, "quit obsessing, no one eats the photo, just post your recipe." So as hard as it is for me, I will do just that.

Tonight was my husbands birthday and he requested stuffed peppers. We already did the night out on the town this weekend, so tonight he wanted some homemade comfort food. These are one of his favorites and I rarely make them. Maybe it's because the little GP's only eat the inside and leave the poor lonely pepper on the plate, maybe it's because they are pretty labor intensive, or maybe I am so busy finding new recipes to try that I've over looked them. What ever the case, these are worth the steps involved, at least my hubby thinks so. And now that I've reminded him how good they are, I can bet I'll be making them a lot more often.

Melissa's Stuffed Peppers

6 green bell peppers

1 can tomato paste -- (6 oz)

6 oz water (I use the tomato paste can and stir the water to get the last bits of paste)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup finely chopped yellow onions

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 pound lean ground beef

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups cooked long or medium-grain white rice

2 cans stewed tomatoes (I prefer DelMonte and I whirl them in my food processor to make them smooth) or you can use 2 1/2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce

1/2 cup shredded mild flavored cheese like mozzarella -- monterey jack/colby, or a mild cheddar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Rinse peppers under cold water. Slice the top 1/4 inch off each pepper; remove seeds and membranes. Chop edible part of tops to equal 1 cup chopped peppers, and set aside. If the peppers won't stand up straight, take a small slice off the bottom with a paring knife to make a flat surface, try to remove as little as possible. In a large pot of boiling water, parboil the peppers until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on either a wire rack or paper towels. If you don't have your rice already cooked, you could use this pepper water to cook your rice in. I've used it for instant rice when I didn't want to dirty another pot.

Combine tomato paste, water, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar in a small bowl; set aside.

In a large saute pan or skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and chopped bell pepper tops, cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the beef, garlic, salt, black pepper, and cook until the meat is browned, stirring with a heavy wooden spoon to break up the lumps, about 6 minutes. *Very important, remove pan from heat and drain any visible fat from the pan, then return it to the heat. Otherwise you will have greasy peppers. Add the rice, parmesan cheese, and tomato paste mixture, stir well. Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, to taste. Depending on your cheese and tomato paste you may need a bit more salt.

Spray with a casserole or baking dish with Pam or lightly oil, then pour in stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce. Depending on the size of you pan, you may not need all of it. Pour in enough sauce so that it comes up to the bottom of the pepper about a half of an inch. Set the parboiled peppers into the prepared pan so they are evenly spaced and surrounded by sauce.. Stuff the bell peppers with the rice mixture. Spread a spoonful of the sauce over the top of each pepper. Bake until the peppers are very tender and the filling is heated through, about 30 to 35 minutes. Spoon a little tomato sauce over each stuffed pepper and sprinkle with shredded cheese; bake 8 to 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Serve the peppers with spoonfuls of tomato sauce from pan. Makes 6 servings.

Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double-beatloaf. I love meatloaf.

2010-04-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

No need for a screw driver and plumber's helper, my family will shove it in all by themselves. My daughter will love that. I think I will keep that statement. She reads my blog now, and I hear "Mommmmmmm" when she thinks I'm embarrassing her. Is it bad that I find joy in that?

Anywho, back to cookin'. My family loves meatloaf, well this meatloaf anyway. In fact they love it so much when I turned around to get my picture ready for the blog, there were only these two, puny, little pieces left.   From now on, nobody eats till I get my blog shot.

This really is a terrific meatloaf, dare I say the "Perfect Meatloaf" since that is the name of the cookbook I found this recipe in, by Pam Anderson. No, not that Pam Anderson, she may have assets, but I haven't heard that cooking is one of them. Although I wouldn't mind some of those assets.

Pam Anderson was the executive editor for Cooks Illustrated at one time. She wrote a cookbook called "The Perfect Recipe." She has some near perfect recipes in her book. If you haven't picked it up you should. Not only is this little gem in there, but a recipe for Prime Rib where you dry age the roast in the frig, turns out "perfect" every time. Her apple pie filling in the cookbook is also my families favorite for apple pie. I'll post that one some time in the future.

With this meatloaf I served another Cooking Light recipe, Asiago, Potato, and Bacon Gratin. The perfect meal to get you ready for bathing suit weather.......that my friends, is sarcasm. Hey, I served it with broccoli, not that the guys touched it. That just left more for us girls.

These potatoes are really rich tasting, but they only use 1% milk. I did not follow the recipe completely, do I ever? No, not usually.  When I came to the part where you coat the shallots (oh I didn't have shallots so I used a small onion and 2 cloves of garlic since I doubled the recipe) with flour and then add the milk, it turned into a freakin' disaster. I can do a roux and add liquid without lumps, but for some reason since there wasn't any fat on the shallots I could not get rid of them. It was so lumpy I had to toss it and do it the easy way, with cornstarch as the thickener. Just added half the amount they call for in flour, subbing cornstarch, stirred it into the cold milk. Easy and lump~less..

Since bathing suit weather is upon us here in Florida, I ditched the bacon on the meatloaf. I've made this meatloaf a million times and it's good with or without the bacon. I think I prefer it without the bacon because it's a little more healthy. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have sauteed the onions in a little bacon fat if I was going for healthy??? It was only 2 teaspoons, how bad could that be? Covering my eyes for all the nutrition experts who will tell me just how bad it is. I don't care...... "bacon, is good for me." ....anyone see that episode of Trading Spouses?

So here they are, my families favorite meatloaf and scalloped potatoes (well the light version anyway), hopefully they will be yours too. ;}


The Perfect Meatloaf (Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze)

Brown Sugar Ketchup Glaze

1/4 cup ketchup or chili sauce

2 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons cider or white vinegar ( I used cider)

Meat Loaf

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon dried thyme (I use a smidge less)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black paper

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce

1/2 up milk, buttermilk or low-fat plain yogurt

2 pounds meat-loaf mix (2 parts ground chuck, 1 part ground veal, 1 part ground pork)

2/3 cups crushed saltine crackers (about 16) or quick oatmeal or 1 1/3 cups fresh bread crumbs

1/3 cup minced parsley

6 ounces thin-sliced bacon

Glaze: Mix all ingredients and set aside. (Make extra glaze, it’s better than plain ol' ketchup)

Meatloaf: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add onions and garlic, saute until softened, about 5 minutes; set aside to cool.

Mix eggs with thyme, salt and pepper, mustard, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and milk or yogurt. In a large bowl add egg mixture to the ground chuck, pork, and veal. Next add oatmeal or crackers, which ever you prefer, parsley, cooked onion and garlic; mix with a fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to the bowl. (If mixture does stick, add additional milk, a couple tablespoons at a time and continue stirring (until mixture stops sticking).

Turn the meat mixture onto a work surface. With wet hands, pat mixture into a loaf approximately 9x5 inches.

To bake free-form: Cover a wire rack with foil, prick the foil in several places with a fork to allow drainage. Place rack on a shallow roasting pan lined with foil for easy cleanup. Set formed loaf on rack. Brush loaf all over with glaze, then arrange the bacon slices, crosswise, over the loaf. Overlap them slightly and tuck under the loaf to prevent curling. (Free - form is the only way to go!)

Bake loaf until bacon is crisp and loaf registers 160F. This will take about an hour. Cool for at least 20 minutes. Slice and Serve.

NOTES : Skip bacon and use this alternative way to cook: Adjust the oven racks to the upper (about 4-inches away from broiler elements) and middle positions and heat the broiler. Transfer the meat mixture to the prepared baking sheet and shape it into a 9- by 5-inch loaf. Broil on the upper rack until well browned, about 5 minutes. Brush 2 tablespoons of glaze over the top and sides of the loaf and then return to the oven and broil for another 2 minutes.

Transfer the meatloaf to the middle rack and brush with the remaining glaze. Change the oven temperature to bake at 350 degrees and bake the meatloaf for 40 to 45 minutes, until cooked through. Transfer the meatloaf to a cutting board and tent with foil. Let it rest for 20 minutes. Slice and serve, passing the cooked glaze at the table.

Recipe Source: adapted from Pam Anderson "The Perfect Recipe Cookbook"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Asiago, Potato, and Bacon Gratin

1 1/2 pounds peeled Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 teaspoon salt, divided
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons minced shallots ( I subbed in onion and a clove of garlic when I'm out of shallot)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated Asiago cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender. Drain. Sprinkle potatoes evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt; set aside and keep warm. (Okay, okay, I didn't follow this step either, I salted the water instead.)

Heat a medium saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add shallots; cook 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Sprinkle flour over shallots. Gradually add 1/2 cup milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Gradually add remaining 1 1/2 cups milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook over medium heat 9 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in 3/4 teaspoon salt, Asiago, chives, pepper, and bacon.

Arrange half of potato slices in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour half of cheese sauce over potato slices. Top with remaining potato slices and cheese sauce; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

Adapted from Cooking Light

Yes, I know it's a salad, but it's a great salad!

2010-04-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Caesar salad, one of my favorite things to eat. As much as I love to eat them, they are usually not that healthy. I like creamy Caesar salads, and that means mayo, and too much mayo is a no- no, unless you want to be round like a Ho-Ho. No wait, Ho Ho's aren't round, it's Ding Dong's that are round., and have creamy centers. MMMmmmm creamy centers, ....creamy centers make me happy. Which reminds me, I have to make those chocolate cupcakes again with marshmallow filling. You will love them. Trust me.

Back to salads. How are we supposed to think about salads when we were just talking about creamy caked filled goodness? Because if you eat more salads you can treat yourself to more cakes. Ahhh, see there ya go. Now, I ♥ Caesar salads. My husband used to ♥ them too, until one day when we decided to go to a fancy schmancy restaurant where they let him know exactly what is in that yummy dressing. See my hubby isn't a foodie, he doesn't live for food the way I do. He's perfectly happy left in the dark as to what ingredients go in what, unless we are talking mushrooms, I swear he can smell a mushroom a mile away.

So there we are sitting in this very nice restaurant, both ordering our Caesar salad to start, and out comes our salads, with two little anchovy filets looking my husband right in the eye. Those beady eyed little buggers ruined him for good on my favorite salad. He looked at me and asked why they were on top of his salad, so the secret was out. Yes there is anchovy in the dressing. From then on he refused to eat it. If there is one person who hates fish more than myself it's him, oh and all of my GP's for that matter.

But tonight he decided to be brave and let me fix him one. So I whipped out one of my favorite recipes for a Caesar, Cooking Light's Creamy Caesar Salad with Spicy Croutons. I added a grilled chicken breast to make it a complete meal. Just take your favorite cajun spice rub and sprinkle it on the chicken, drizzle with a little olive oil and throw it on a grill, or a grill pan, or saute it, or George Foreman it, doesn't matter it's all good.

This dressing is made with a fat free mayo, which I despise usually, but in this dressing I can deal with it. It makes the dressing a little zippy. Not a fan, use light or go full fat, it's your waist line, do whatcha like. If you aren't a fan of anchovy, skip it, throw in a half a clove of garlic instead. Won't exactly be a Caesar, but why should you miss all the fun?

This salad is yummy. Make it and let me know what you think.

Creamy Caesar Salad with Spicy Croutons

1 garlic clove, halved
1/2 cup nonfat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons white wine Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups (3/4-inch) sourdough bread cubes
18 cups torn romaine lettuce
1/3 cup (1 1/3 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Drop the garlic halves through the opening in blender lid with blender on; process until minced (I grated my garlic into the dressing, you can also press it if you have a garlic press, or use a food processor for this.) Add mayonnaise and the next 5 ingredients (mayonnaise through pepper); process until well-blended. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

Combine oil, Cajun seasoning, and minced garlic in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at high for 20 seconds. Add bread cubes; toss gently to coat. Spread bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet; bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. (Mine were done in 10 minutes so watch these babies.)

Place lettuce in a large bowl. Add dressing; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with cheese, and top with croutons.

Yield: 6 servings
Adapted from Cooking Light
Calories: 137 (27% from fat) Fat: 4.1g (sat 1.3g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.4g) Protein: 7.7g
Carbohydrate: 18.2g Fiber: 4.1g Cholesterol: 4mg Iron: 3mg Sodium: 836mg
Calcium: 176mg

Stir fry Sunday

2010-04-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Beef-Broccoli Lo Mein (well sort of.)

First let me say, I am not a food stylist. I am not a photographer. I am not a chef. I am a total amateur at all three. In fact I am such an amateur that my first day of food blogging I forgot to check my camera and make sure it had a battery. I was so excited, my first recipe entry into my new blog, went to take my first photo and of course my camera was dead. So this lovely photo is brought to you by my husbands Blackberry (thanks T! ♥) Not the prettiest photo, but this blog is a work in progress.

Now on to the recipe...........

Today was a lazy day, the only thing lazier than the day was me. I wanted to make something quick to feed my little guinea pigs (who from this post forward I will affectionately refer to as the GPs, my daughter will be so pleased.) Now, I mean guinea pigs in the nicest way possible. I really do have the best family that anyone who likes to experiment with recipes could have. My husband and youngest are always willing to try new things, my older daughter and son, not so much. If it's something recognizable they are all in, try to pull any funny business and they are out of there.

Okay, so where was I? Oh yes, I'm lazy and wanted a quick dinner idea. Not only lazy but hot, today it was hot here in sunny Florida, so little use of the oven is another plus. Since I was already chopping veg for lunch tomorrow, I figured why not a stir fry.

My family loves Chinese and one of their favorites is lo mein. I'm always on the hunt for a good lo mein recipe. Tonight I think I found it. Beef-Broccoli Lo Mein from Cooking Light, October 2003. Now before you run away screaming about hating broccoli, no need to fear, there is no broccoli here. Hmmm, funny.

I love broccoli, my daughters love broccoli, the men in my life HATE broccoli. I planned to cook it separately but my grocery store only had the prepackaged stuff today. I hate prepackaged produce. Especially when it is turning brown inside the package, nice. How I wish I still had Wegmans nearby.

So, since I wasn't using broccoli, I figured why not add some peppers and onions. Not that the two picky GPs like peppers or onions, but I solved that problem by making two separate batches. Which I would have done anyway because I doubled the recipe. I also doubled the sauce. I know Cooking Light is trying to keep the dish lighter and a little more healthy by cutting down on the sodium/fat/calories, but when I was reading the reviews of the dish others stated there just wasn't enough sauce. So I doubled it. I'm glad I did. It was the perfect amount.

Doubling the sauce and omitting the broccoli wasn't my only change. I also changed up the order in which I cooked the stir fry. I started with the meat first. A quick saute and then off the heat and into a bowl. Make sure your pan is nice and hot so you can get some good caramelization. No one likes grey meat. It isn't pretty and it most certainly is not tasty. Oh and you can sub any cut of beef you would normally grill or pan fry. Some have trouble finding flank, you could even use chicken, or do an all veg, it's your lo mein, add what you want, no one is judging you.

After the meat was done, I added the onion to the pan, then the ginger/garlic for 30 seconds, then the sauce. After the sauce the noodles joined the pot, and then the meat. Quick toss around to coat everything and it's dinner time!

Once prepped this dish came together in about 10 minutes. All in all this recipe is a definite keeper. The sauce has a nice balance of flavor. A little heat, a little sweet, a little salty. It all works perfectly together. My daughter said "it doesn't taste exactly like the Chinese place, maybe a little better." Coming from the pickiest of all the GPs, I'd say that was a pretty nice compliment.

So after that long drawn out post, I give you Beef-Broccoli Lo Mein (sort of)

Beef-Broccoli Lo Mein

Printer Friendly Recipe

4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups chopped broccoli

1 1/2 cups vertically sliced onion

1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed and cut across the grain into long, thin strips

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon chile paste with garlic

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Combine pasta and sesame oil, tossing well to coat.

While pasta cooks, heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add broccoli and onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add steak, and sauté 5 minutes or until done. Add pasta mixture, soy sauce, and remaining ingredients; cook 1 minute or until lo mein is thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)

Nutritional Information

Calories: 327 (26% from fat)

Fat: 9.3g (sat 3g,mono 3.6g,poly 1.6g)

Protein: 21.7g

Carbohydrate: 39.1g

Fiber: 2.9g

Cholesterol: 36mg

Iron: 3.6mg

Sodium: 382mg

Calcium: 47mg

Marion Winik, Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2003

Testing, testing, 1.2.3......

2010-04-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

Meet Humpty. My husbands Easter egg creation this year. Notice the blood, my husband is all about the details. Fitting that I choose an egg for my first post. I'm getting a little carried away with the whole chick theme, guess I'm all about the details too.

Anywho, welcome to my blog. I'm Tizzy, I love to cook. I love finding new recipes online and testing them out on my family, the guinea pigs. Thankfully, we haven't had too many disasters, and hopefully we won't have many more. In my family we have a couple picky eaters and a couple of adventurous eaters. We try to eat healthfully when we can, but I'm not going to turn down a piece of fried chicken if it made it's way on to my plate, or a big ol' brownie for that matter. Life is too short to deprive yourself. I splurge on occasion, maybe on to many occasions, but that is a discussion for another time. A much later time. Way off in the future.

I'm starting this blog to share recipes that I have found around the web either on other blogs, forums, or in cookbooks, and magazines. I will warn you now, if you are looking for a great fish dish, this isn't the blog for you. We don't do fish. Maybe some shellfish, but anything with fins will not be cooked in this kitchen. Sorry, we all have our dislikes. My family has a lot of them.

I am a self taught cook who loves to learn new things. By starting this blog, maybe I can pass on a thing or two. Who knows, maybe my kids will read it and want to learn to cook, maybe no one will read it and I will be talking to myself. Doesn't matter. I'll enjoy the adventure. Really isn't that all that matters anyway?