Tomato Soup

My willingness to eat tomatoes is very limited. I like them in ketchup, bbq sauce, salsa, pasta sauce and this tomato soup. It is seriously sooooo good.  It's silky, smooth, packed with flavor, good fruits (tomatoes are a fruit!) and veggies.  Just try it.  You won't regret it.

Ingredients:

   1 can of a 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce

   1 15 oz can of roasted tomatoes

   1 onion, diced

   1 cup chicken stock
   2 Tbsp olive oil
   1/2 cup celery, diced
   1/2 cup carrot, diced
   3 oz. cream cheese
   1/4 tsp salt
   1/2 tsp sugar
   1 Tbsp basil
   black pepper to taste


What to do:

   In a large sauce pan saute onions, celery, and carrots in 2 Tbsp oil. (the longer you cook them the smoother the soup will be.)  Once tender (or way more when we do it) add garlic and saute for about a minute.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and broth.  Boil for a long time, minimum 25 min, again, the longer it cooks the better the flavors meld and the smoother the soup will be.  Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.  Add basil and cream cheese.  Cook for about 5 more minutes.   Now, the equipment you have, or how chunky you like your soup will determine the next steps.  If you like it chunky.... your done. We have tried a food mill, that works too if you like chunks.   You can use an immersion or stick blender, or a food processor.   We like this soup to be smooth and velvety.  So, we put it in our Blendtec blender for about 45 seconds on high.   garnish with a little basil and enjoy.  Your Welcome.


If you are going to go all the way and do grilled cheese.. please do it right.   Use fresh french bread and garlic butter.  
   

Earls Potato Salad

    

In  June my family visited Whistler, British Colombia.  My family was kind enough to take the child with them when they went on a hike.  This left us to enjoy a day in the village by ourselves.  We decided to have lunch at Earls.   The whole experience was great and the food was fantastic and now has become a measuring stick of restaurant/ food quality for us.

 In order for the significance of this monumental event to sink deep, it is important to understand my extreme dislike for Mayo and or Miracle whip. Can't stand it.  I don't like the texture, flavor or even the smell of it.  As such, I don't eat traditional potato salad.  (Also, mustard, pickles and  hard boiled eggs also make me want to vomit.)   When I ordered my meal it came with two sides and I got the potato salad as one of them,  one because the others didn't sound to appetizing and what the waitress described didn't sound horrible.

It looked nothing like the yellow paste that is found at 4th of July parties and other summer picnics.   It had large pieces of potato, grilled corn, bacon, cheese, chives, and a mysterioso white sauce.  With trepidation I took a bite and was pleasantly surprised and continued till I ate the whole dish.  I set out to figure out what the sauce was made of.  Much to my dismay Earls wouldn't tell me.  But, the following is pretty darn close to what we ate there, and even if it isn't exact it is still so yummy.  For family dinner our fall back was bringing Jell-O salad (The yummy one described in a previous post),  but that is going to have to take a back seat for a while in lieu of this gem.   Enjoy.

  1 1/2 lb  baby/fingerling/ petite potatoes  (The small ones.  Do not use baking potatoes. The starch content is to high and will turn to mush.

  1 cups corn (frozen, fresh, canned - doesn't matter)

  3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed.  (pre chopped garlic works great too)

  2 tablespoons olive oil

  Salt and freshly ground pepper

  1/2 pound sliced bacon

  1/3 cup mayonnaise (I use light mayo)

  1/3 cup sour cream

  1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

   Dash dill to taste  (fresh or dried)

  1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

  2 Tbs cup melted butter or a few tablespoons of reserved bacon grease (totally optional, but it adds A LOT of yumminess to the salad)

  Sliced chives or green onions, for garnish

 Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil and set aside.  Cut the potatoes in half or into bite size nuggets.  Mix the potato, corn, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Mix well, be gentle.  Spread the mixture onto the cooking sheet.  

 Roast the potatoes at 425 for about 30-40 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden. 

 Cook the bacon using your preferred method.  We cook ours in the oven on a broiler sheet.  When it is done, set aside about 1 TBS of the bacon grease if you are going to add it to the dressing, if not discard as usual.  Cut into large pieces, about the size of an adult thumb nail. 

In  medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, dill, parmesan cheese and the melted butter or bacon grease.  ( I don't recommend using both butter and grease)  Stir well to combine.

When the potatoes are tender, remove from the oven.  If you used whole garlic cloves take them out and finely mince or smash them.  Add the garlic to the sour cream mixture.  If you used pre-cut garlic, disregard adding more garlic to the sauce.  Adjust seasonings of the dressing if necessary.

Mix potato and corn mixture with the now not so mysterioso white dressing.  Add bacon. Mix well....gently.  Sprinkle with chopped chives.  Serve warm, and if by some miracle there are left overs... eat them.    You can also share with your friends or chill and eat cold. 

 

Stuffed Chops

Gordon Ramsey would have approved of this meal.  It was so so good.  If we had more pork chops I would probably do it again next week.  It is essential to have a good sharp knife that has teeth.  

What you need:

Pork Chops  (most of the time you use a double chop to when stuffing, but we used single chops and it worked just fine.  A double chop is the thickness of two regular size chops.)  

Bacon

Smoked Gouda cheese

salt 

pepper

1)     Make sure your pork is completely thawed before beginning.

2)     Using your very sharp knife make a pocket in the side of the chop, the fatty side.  To do this insert your knife into the fatty side and keeping the insertion as small as possible wiggle your knife until you have a nice sized pocket.

3)  Crisp some bacon in a large frying pan.  Do not throw away the grease!

4)  Break the bacon into small enough pieces the get them into through the hole in the chop.  

5)  Stuff as much bacon and cheese as you want into the chop.

6) Over medium heat seer each side of the chop in the bacon fat.  About 2 minutes each side or until it has nice color.  reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for about 5 minutes on each side. Let the pork rest for 3 minutes before cutting.  Cutting it to soon will cause all the juices to run out.

     Garlic Mashed potatoes

Potatoes

Garlic

sour creme

butter

milk

salt

pepper

1)  You can do this two ways.  Depending on the garlic you have.

       a)    If you have fresh garlic just toss 3 or 4 cloves into the boiling water with your cubed potatoes and mash it up like normal.

      b)  If you have pre-minced garlic.  Prepare potatoes like normal and just add about 2 Tbs of garlic during the mashing process.

2) add butter, milk and sour creme, salt and pepper until it is smooth and delicious.

Enjoy!!!

 

Carmel Corn

In my home growing up we would always have caramel corn and watch the firework on the 4th of July.  We didn't do it very often besides that so it brings back special memories for me.  Recently our good friends moved back to Pennsylvania for school and we made them a treat bag to eat along the way.  It is a long drive and a good supply of sugar is needs. Caramel corn definitely satisfies that need. 
(A candy thermometer is recommended but not necessary)

What you need:
5 Quarts popped corn
2 C brown sugar (remember brown sugar is to be packed when measuring)
1/2 C light corn syrup
1/2 c butter
salted peanuts

What to do:

Combine sugar, butter and corn syrup in a sauce pan.  Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture boils.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  If using a candy thermometer you should cook it to a soft ball.  Remove from heat, pour over popped cor, stirring until all corn is coated.  Add peanuts while stirring caramel mixture if desired.

Beef Tenderloin with Cheese

Big thanks go out to Casey and Kelly for the meat and to Rachel Ray for inspiring this meal.

 

 We were given a bunch of meat and had no idea what to do with it, so I was searching foodnetwork.com and found a recipe for beef tenderloin with Gorgonzola cheese.   Neither Nikki or I had ever tried gorgonzola chese before so we went to Harmons to check it out.  In case you are wondering,   Authentic Italian Gorgonzola comes in two varieties; Dolce - meaning sweet; and Mountain - the sharper and firmer version. Dating back to ancient times, this member of the stracchino family is one of the world's classic cheeses.Almost spreadable, Gorgonzola Dolce is supple and luxurious with an unmistakable tangy creaminess. Its pale white interior is laced with streaks of blue, giving Gorgonzola Dolce a striking appearance to match its piquant flavor.  (Curtosey of foodnetwork.com)
                                          
If you like bleu cheeses, you might like it, but, we did not enjoy it.  So we were cruising the deli and saw two cheeses that looked promising.  One was a gruyere cheese, which is a type of swiss, and the other was a smoked Gouda cheese.  Both of which we tasted were amazing, so rather than decide between the two we got a little of both, and were ultra glad we did.


Here's how to do it.

Ingredients

• 4 (1 1/2-inch-thick) beef tenderloin steaks
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Gruyere or Gouda cheese

Directions

Let meat rest 10 minutes before beginning dinner preparation.

Place a large, flat griddle or skillet over high heat. When hot, using a pair of tongs and a folded paper towel, wipe cooking surface with oil and place steaks on hot pan. Seer the steaks, 2 minutes on each side. Reduce heat to moderate. Season meat with salt and pepper and cook 4 to 5 minutes longer on each side.
Preheat broiler to high.
Arrange steaks on baking sheet. Top each steak with enough cheese to cover the top. Place baking sheet 6 inches from broiler heat just long enough to melt the cheese.  Let meat rest 2 or 3 minutes, then serve immediately.


This was an amazing meal and would make it again with no reservations.  As you can see we at our dinner with some scones.  Real easy, get some frozen uncooked roll dough and thaw it out, smash flat and cook in hot oil.   Top with honey butter. (equal parts honey and butter mixed well.)

Harmons Meat Sale

For the most part we try and get the lowest price when we go shopping. That being said, you get what you pay for.  We bought some beef at WinCo a couple of weeks ago.... bad experience.  It was dry, huge chunks of fat and chewy.  Chewy meat is almost as bad as dry, burned meat.  However, I was at Harmons last week and they had a sale on their meat, 4 packages of meat for $20.  That may seem a little pricey, but for the quality of meat and the amount you get, it is not a bad deal.  The packages normally sell for 6-8 dollars.  That being said, I picked up some ground beef, a package of boneless pork spare ribs, and 2 NY strip steaks.  You can read about the spare ribs in the posting right before this one.  The steaks... were awesome.  Here is what we did,  cooking is just as much about being creative as knowing what to do.


What you need:
Steak
Butter
Garlic
Salt
Pepper

What to do:
The awesome thing about this is you can make it rich with garlic, or have just a hint.  Melt 2-3 tbs of butter.  Crush or finely chop 2 cloves of garlic, mix it in with the butter.  let this mixture cool before putting it on your steak or it will start to cook it.  When it is cool but not solid, pour it into a plastic bad, with the meat and let it marinate for 1 1/2 -2 hrs.  When you are ready to eat, heat a non stick pan, place you steak in the pan and you should hear a nice sizzle, let your meat cook on the one side until it has a nice seer on it, flip the meat and repeat the process.  The meat may be cooked to your desired temperature, if not, you can put it in the oven until it is done.  We also really like the steak just cooked with a generous amount of salt and pepper.  Enjoy!

Summer is coming

One of my favorite foods to eat in the summer is BBQ pork and corn.  It just screams summer.  With the weather getting warmer, and Nikki still not able to eat dairy, we decided to indulge in this dinner or BBQ spare ribs.  Now, we don't have a grill but the meat was so tender and juicy, I can't wait to eat it again.  One of the best things about this meal is how amazingly fast it is.  We cooked the ribs from frozen in 20 minutes, and they were so amazingly tender and moist.  Behold... the power of a pressure cooker.

What you need:
BBQ spare ribs
seasoning, what ever kind you like
BBQ sauce

What to do:
In the bottom of the pressure cooker add about 1-2 cups of water.  Pressure cookers need liquid to produce steam to create the pressure.  Season your spare ribs generously. We used the BBQ seasoning from McCormick.  Cook at high pressure for 20 minutes if frozen, 15 in thawed.  That's it... you're done.  We like to cover them in BBQ sauce, but if you want to you can just dip them, you can do whatever you like to them.
 

Chicken Noodle Soup

It turns out that our baby doesn't like it so much when Nikki eats dairy, and so, that means we get to find all sorts of foods to eat that don't have dairy.  It is way hard, just so you know.  That being said, this one is going to be worked into our regular routine.  Great for a coldish day, so I probably should have put this up at the beginning of winter, but, better late then never.

What you need:

1. 3 Chicken Breasts
2. 10 cups water
3. 1/2 C. chopped onion
4. 1/2 tsp black pepper
5. 3 T salt
6. 2 bay leafs
7. 1 C chopped carrot
8. 1 C chopped celery
9. 2 cup dried egg noodles. (As you can see we used Fusili Springs for our pasta because we didn't have any egg noodles. You can use what ever pasta you want, egg noodles are best, but the springs were great.  For extra healthy soup, you could use the colored noodles that have tomato and spinach in them.)
10. 1 tbs dry parsley
11. 3 cubs chicken bullion (This is our preference.  You can do more or less)

What to do:

       In a six to eight quart pan, mix water, onion, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil and add the chicken.  Return to a boil, turn down and boil the chicken until through.      While the chicken is cooking, chop carrots and celery.  (try to cut them as evenly as possible to ensure even cooking)  Remove the chicken from water- DO NOT POUR THE WATER OUT!!!- Cut the meat into bite size pieces and put it back in the water, add bullion and discard the bay leafs.  (If you want to make a game out of it, leave the bay leafs in and who ever finds them gets a prize... like they don't have to do dishes that night.)     Bring the broth back to a boil, stir in carrot and celery, simmer about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked to desired tenderness.
        One of the worst things about any soup is when the pasta is over cooked.  To solve this problem, we cook the noodles in a separate pan in salted water, then just mix them in.  The reason for this is two fold. 1) If the noodles are cooked in the soup they soak up a lot of the broth and then you don't have much left.  We really don't like our soup without broth.  2) If you put the noodles in to soon, either the noodles will be done and the veggies will be crunchy, or the noodles will be over cooked and the veggies just right.  Neither way is so great. 
       This meal is great with corn bread or fresh baked rolls. 

Ultra easy jell-o salad

This jell-o salad is always a hit at our family gatherings.  You can do it with a variety of fruits.  We have have done blackberries, raspberries, and peaches.  Blackberry and Raspberry were the best, peach... not so much.  It would probably be really good with strawberries; we just haven't tried it yet.


What you need:

1 large box of jello
1 small box of vanilla cook and serve pudding
8 oz whipping cream (one container of cool whip)
1 package of the same fruit as your jell-o
3 cups water.

What to do:

Combine 3 cups cold water with the jello and the cook and serve pudding.  Mix well.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.  Be careful, it can boil over very easily.  Pour mixture into a mixing bowl and chill until it is firm.  Using an electric mixer, beat the jell-o until there are not large chunks.  Fold in the whipping cream and then fold in the fruit.  That's it.  Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

 This is one of my favorite meals.  It is another one that is somewhat involved, but you can cut down on the last minute preparation by making the pie crust in advance and storing it in the refrigerator or in the freezer.  This is the same pie crust that is referred to in the Apple Pie post.

Foolproof Pie Crust

1. 4 C Flour                                                 
2. 1 T while granulated Sugar
3. 2 t Salt
4. 1 3/4 C shortening
5. 1 T white vinegar
6. 1/2 C cold water
7. 1 egg

What to do:

With a fork or pastry blender, mix together flour, shortening, salt and sugar.  In a separate dish, beat egg, vinegar, and water.  Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients stirring with fork  until all are moistened.  Using your clean hands, mold dough into a ball. Wrap tightly in plastic and chill at least 15 minutes.  Dough can be left in refrigerator for up to 5 days.


Pie Filling:
1- 10oz pkg frozen peas and carrots
1/2 C chopped onion
1/4 C buter
1/3 C Flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 tsp sage
1/8 test pepper
2 C Water
3/4 c milk
3 Cubes chicken bullion
3 C cubed chicken

What to do:
Cook peas and carrots. (Be very careful.  This will cook in the oven for a while, so if you cook them to the right doneness, they will be over done at the end.)  In a saucepan cook onion in butter until tender, not brown.  make a roux, by adding flour, mix well until all the flour is fully incorporated, then add salt, sage and pepper.  mix well.  Dissolve the chicken bullion in water, add milk, then add to the roux all at once. Cook and stir regularly until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in drained, cooked vegetables, and chicken.  Continue to cook until it is all hot.  Roll out pie crust into a pie dish, pour pot pie filling into the bottom pie crust.  Roll out second pie crust, layer on top and crimp edges together tightly.  Poke 5-10 holes in the top crust to allow ventilation.  Cook at 375 or 400 for 20-30 minutes or until top is golden brown.  If the edges are to browning to fast, place a ring of tin foil over just the edges.    Bon Appetit!

Stove Top tin foil dinner

We love tin foil dinners, but, we did not like the bacon was never crispy and the vegetables were unevenly cooked.  So to solve this problem we did it on the stove, which may make a few more dishes but is so good!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground beef
3 medium potatoes
1/2 lb bacon
onion
carrots
butter
cheese (optional)

What to do:

The ingredients should be cooked in this order for optimum flavor and doneness.   In a medium skillet cook bacon.  While the bacon is cooking, Melt 1 Tbs of butter in a second skillet, add onion and cook till tender. wash and cut potatoes into cubes.  cut carrots into small pieces. Once the onion is tender start cooking the carrot for about 4-5 minutes, then add the potatoes, season generously with salt and pepper.  Cover with lid.  ( don't forget about the bacon, you should flip it)  While all that is cooking.  separate the meat into 8 equal chunks. flatten the meat and put a cube of cheese in it. season the meat with your favorite seasoning, wrap the meat around the cheese and pack it tightly.  remember to stir the vegetables.  When nice and crispy take the bacon out, set on a plate with a paper towel under it, and pour out some of the fat.  Cook the meatballs in the bacon fat for extra flavor.  These need near constant attention, so that they don't burn.  Rotate them once one side is brown. Chop up the bacon into small pieces.  When everything is done, mix it all in one skillet, add some salt and pepper to taste.  Dig in!

Chicken Parmesean

When we go out to dinner, it is a rare occurrence that Nikki doesn't order chicken parmesean.  So, one day we found a recipe for it, and it was just as good, if not better than a restaurant.  This one does take a little time, so be prepared.

Ingredients:

1. 1 small onion
2. 1 clove garlic
3. 1 tbs butter
4. 1 14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes
5. 1/2 tsp sugar
6. 1/8 tsp salt
7. dash of black pepper
8. little bit of basil
9. 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
10. 1 cup bread crumbs or 3 cups croutons ( put in food processor until real small)
11. parmesean cheese
12. 1/2 oregano
13. 1 egg
14. 2 T milk
15. cooking oil
16. mozzarella cheese

In a medium sacue pan cook onion, garlic and butter until tender.  carefully stir in tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer utill desired consistency.  add basil right before serving.

Chicken:
While sauce is simmering, place each chicken breast half between to pieces of plastic wrap.  Using a hard object, like the side of a hammer or meat mallet,  pound the chicken lightly until it is about 1/4 inch thick, remove plastic wrap.  In a shallow dish, stir together bread crumbs/ crushed croutons, 3 tbs parmesean cheese, and the oregano.  ( you can omit the oregano if using croutons.)  In a second dish stir together egg and milk.  Dip chicken in egg mixture, then into the bread crumbs.  Pack the breading tightly.

In a large skilled cook the chicken in hot oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden.

Spoon sauce over chicken, and top with mozzarella cheese.  This is great when served with pasta.  Enjoy!!!

Pepper Steaks

This one is best done in a pressure cooker, but can be done without.  The advantage of a pressure cooker is you can use a lower quality of beef and the pressure cooker makes them super tender.

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb beef cubs
2. 1 T paprika
3. 1/4 t garlic powder
4. 1 can beef broth or 2 cubes beef bullion
5. 2 cups water
6. 2 large green bell peppers
7. 2 small or 1 large tomato
8. 1/2 soy sauce
9. corn starch
10. 2 C uncooked white rice. 

Pressure Cooker:

Cook white rice according to directions on package.  If you are using instant rice, wait until the end.  Place the meat, frozen or thawed, in the pressure cooker and sprinkle with paprika and garlic powder.  Add one cup water and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.  Release pressure, add beef bullion that has been mixed with 1 cup of water and sliced peppers.  Bring back up to high pressure for 8-10 minutes.  Release pressure, and add soy sauce and cut tomatoes.   Boil for 5-7 minutes.  mix cornstarch and water, and while stirring the pot, slowly pour in cornstarch until it is at desired thickness.       Serve over white rice.

Non-Pressure Cooker:

Cut steaks into smaller chucks or strips.  Sprinkle paprika and garlic powder on meat.  Brown the steak.  Pour in beef broth or beef bullion (dissolved in water), green peppers that have been cut into strips.  Cook about 1/2 hour or until meat is tender.  Add soy sauce, and 1/2 cup water and return to boil.    mix cornstarch and water, and while stirring the pot, slowly pour in cornstarch until it is at desired thickness. Add tomato chunks and cook until the tomatoes are heated thoroughly.  Serve over white rice.

American as Apple Pie

To most people, making a pie sounds to hard, and so they don't even try.  Pie is not that hard!  Here is our super easy recipe for Apple Pie.  The same crust will also be used for Chicken Pot Pie.  In fact, when you make the whole pie crust recipe, you will have enough for one full pot pie, and then one more bottom crust.  That is perfect because our apple pie features a crumb topping.   The dough can also be frozen for up to 12 weeks.

Foolproof Pie Crust

1. 4 C Flour                                                 
2. 1 T while granulated Sugar
3. 2 t Salt
4. 1 3/4 C shortening
5. 1 T white vinegar
6. 1/2 C cold water

What to do:

With a fork or pastry blender, mix together flour, shortening, salt and sugar.  In a separate dish, beat egg, vinegar, and water.  Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients stirring with fork  until all are moistened.  Using your clean hands, mold dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 15 minutes.  Dough can be left in refrigerator for up to 5 days.



Apple Pie Filling:

1. 6 C granny smith apples (you can use any apple but make sure and use a crisp one. Most grocery stores will have an apple guide to help you choose the right apple for your dish.  DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE ATTEMPT WITH RED DELICIOUS.)
2. 3/4 C Sugar
3. 2 T all-purpose flour
4. 1/2 t cinnamon
5. 1/8 t ground nutmeg
6. 1 T lemon juice

What to do:
Peel, core, and thinly slice apples.  Immediately put lemon juice on apples to prevent browning.  Add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour.  Mix well.


Crumb Topping:

1. 1/2 C all-pupose flour
2. 1/2 C tightly packed brown sugar
3. 4 T Butter
4. 1/2 C oatmeal

What to do:
Mix all dry ingredients.  Add melted butter.  mix well.



The Final Assembly!!!

There are many ways to roll out the pie crust, this is the one we have found to work best.  please leave a comment if you have any other ways that work for you.

On a well floured surface, using a rolling pin (or wine bottle, or other cylindrical object if you don't have a rolling pin) roll out 1/3 of the total pie crust until it is about 2-3 inches larger than an inverted pie dish.  Lightly flour the top surface of the pie crust, and fold the crust in half. (It helps to roll in backwards onto the rolling pin. Folding it in half helps in transferring the crust to the dish).  Carefully put the crust into you pie dish and unfold.  Trim the edges of the crust about 1/4 inch past your pie dishes' edge.  Fold the edge of the crust underneath it self, so that it is flush with the pie dishes' edge.  Using your you thumb and index finger make a V shape.  Using your other thumb crimp the edges so the look nice.   Scoop the apples into the pie crust.  You DO NOT want all the juice that is in the apple bowl, it will make it very soggy.  You should have a nice mound of apples.  Top the apples with your crumb topping, and smooth it out.  Bake at 375° for 30 minutes.  If the edges become to brown, you can cover them with a piece of tin foil.  To do this fold a piece of foil into a square, and cut off the corner, unfold and you have a ring.   

Let the pie cool for 5 minutes before you cut. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

German Pancake

This recipe makes for a great sunday morning breakfast because of how easy it is.  The proportions I will give make a pancake that feeds two, but can easily be multiplied to feed more than two.  If you are going multiply this recipe by more than two, I would suggest cooking it in two dishes.  If you try to much one of two things will happen. 1) It will overflow or 2)  It will not cook enough in the middle.

What you need:
1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Milk
3 Eggs
vanilla extract
nutmeg
cinnamon
1/2 Tbsp Butter

What to do:

1) Turn your oven on to 375 degrees.  Put 1 tbsp butter into an oven safe dish and put in oven to melt while oven preheats.
2) In one bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix them up.
3) combine eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Mix them and add to the dry ingredients.  Wisk together until nearly all the flour chunks are gone.
4) By this time the butter should be melted.  spread the butter over the walls of the baking dish.  pour your mixture into the dish.
5) Bake for about 20-25 or until the edges are a nice golden brown.
Cut and serve.
 (as the food cools, it will fall back into the dish)
We really like it with just cream cheese and maple syrup.  You can top it with whatever you like. Fresh fruit is especially good.

Cheesy Baked Rigatoni

2 1/2 cups uncooked rigatoni pasta
1/2 lb uncooked mild Italian pork sausage
3 cloves garlic
1 can crushed tomatoes, undrained
3 teaspoons dried basil
1 Cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese


What to do:
1) Cook the pasta a little under what the cooking time on the box directs.  It will continue to cook in the oven, and if you cook it just how you like it in the boiling water, it will be overcooked.
2) In a skillet, cook the sausage till it is no longer pink, drain any fat and set aside.
3) While the pasta and sausage are cooking, in a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes (with their liquid), basil, and the garlic that you have previously peeled and chopped (or crushed).
4) Spray a 9x13 glass cooking dish with non-stick spray.  In the dish layer half each of the pasta, sausage, mushroom (if you like to eat fungus), red pepper if you like them, Parmesan cheese, tomato mixture and mozzarella cheese.  Repeat layers. 
5)  Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until the mixture is hot and the cheese is golden brown. 

Winter Salad

Okay, this one is so easy and delecious

2 Pomegranates
5 Granny Smith Apples
1 C Whipping Cream
1/2 C Sugar 
1/2-3/4 C Milk chocolate chips

Prep:
 Chop the apples into small cubes, take the fruit out of the pomegranates, whip the cream with the 1/2 cup sugar.  

Assemble:
  Fold the whipping cream into the mixture of apple, pomegranate, and chocolate chips.

     Enjoy!

our weekly staple

Friday night is Pizza night at our house. We mostly stick with pepperoni and Canadian bacon or BBQ  chicken. Each week we modify the dough recipe because it is to dry or wet, sometimes sometimes to stiff, could be soggy when in comes out of the oven. But last night, we got it perfect! The dough was crispy, packed with flavor, it wasn't soggy at all. So, I thought I would share this with you.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 C warm water
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
3- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter
dry oregano

What to do:

Whisk 1 cup warm water (105 degrees F) and the sugar in a bowl; sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the olive oil.

If you have mixer that can handle bread dough just put all the dry ingredients in first, mix them up and than add the yeast, water and olive oil that you previously prepared. If not, don't dismay, you can do it by hand! (We did it for four months in Virginia, it turns our just as good.) Whisk the flour salt and oregano in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture. Gradually stir with a wooden spoon to make a rough dough. ( when you add the oregano, rub it around in your hands before it goes into the bowl. This helps to release some more of the flavors and helps to make sure you don't bite a big chunk.)

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes, dusting with more flour if necessary. Brush a separate large bowl with olive oil, add the ball of dough turn to coat with the oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour, 30 minutes. Shape as desired and roll out to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Transfer to the preheated pizza stone and bake until crispy and golden brown, usually 12 to 18 minutes (depending on the toppings). We do not use a pizza stone, but for an extra crispy crust it works great. For an extra bit of flavor we like to crush some garlic into olive oil, spread that on the dough and bake that for 5-7 minutes at 375 or 400. The first baking of the crust is crucial to making your pizza crust not soggy. When you pizza come out of the oven, lightly brush the crust with melted butter. yum!

A pulled pork experience for the ages

We had been in dire need of a new recipe.  As you will see in subsequent posts we eat a lot of chicken, and have found many uses for it.  We needed a new protein, and pork was a great option.  As we were grazing at Costco one day we ate some pretty great pulled pork.  We began to think that we could replicate it, and thus the quest began.  We bought a side of Boston Butt/Pork Butt on sale for $1.99/lb.  The pork weight (prior to cooking) was 2.5 lbs.  The seasoning for this is so simple you will think it isn't possible for it to be so good.  Just trust me. These measurements are estimates only, feel free to change the amounts as you wish.
       1 1/2 Tbs    Brown Sugar
       1 Tbs         Coarse salt
       1 tsp           Paprika
       1 tsp           Black Pepper


That's it.  Rub the butt the night before and put the frozen pork in the fridge.  The salt will help draw out some of the moisture which otherwise would create to much juice in the crock pot.(This is not to be done, however, when seasoning red meat as it will be far to dry.)   Put in crock pot.  Cook on low for 5-8 hours.  The extra time won't hurt it at all.  Shred (REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE BONE!) and put some of your favorite BBQ sauce in it.  If you take some out before applying the BBQ sauce, this is also a great meat for Tacos.  Serve on a toasted bun of your choice and enjoy!