Gourmet BLT

Hello,

This is intense. Not for vegetarians.

Ingredients:

Bacon… a lot of bacon.

Avocado

GOD (Refer to my recipe)

Tomato (Sliced)

Leafy Green: Spinach (Preferred), Kale, Romaine, Lettuce

Toast – Whole wheat (Or whatever you have bread style)

Directions: 

Put bacon in large saute pan and cook on medium heat slowly. 

This will take a while… 15-20 minutes.

Drink wine or beer or water while bacon cooks and make some GOD.

Then toast some bread to your liking.

Slather some GOD (Refer to my recipe) on your toast.

Slice a ripe avocado and place it on toast.

Put some leafy green on you sandwich!

Slice tomato and place on toast. 

PILE ON THE BACON.

Slice and eat.

Jonathan Anderson, food holder (Featured in Huevos rancheros)

 

Chili

This is one of my favorite meals to make when the weather during the day is sunny with a clear sky and during the night a little chilly and crisp. I like to eat chili in the evening while the sun sets. As the sun fades and the temperature decreases a bowl of spicy and filling chili is the perfect meal to warm my body and relax my mind.

This is a four hour recipe. It can be an 8 hour recipe if you leave the heat on low instead of high.

This recipe fits a small Crock Pot. You can double the recipe and it will fit a large Crock Pot.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef or ground venison

1 can Black Beans

1 small can of Corn (drained)

1 can of Diced Tomatoes

1 diced Green Pepper

1 medium diced White or Yellow Onion

2 or 3 Cloves Finely Chopped Garlic

1 Tbs. Honey

1 Tbs. Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Cup Black and Strong Coffee

Chili seasoning:

1 Tbs. Ground Cumin

2 tsp. Paprika

2 Tbs. Chili Powder (add more or less to taste. Medium spice level is good but you can use a hot chili powder too)

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp. Onion Powder

1 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp. Cocoa Powder

Directions:

1. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on medium high heat and cook the ground beef.

2. While cooking add the finely chopped garlic to the beef.

3. Once meat is browned turn heat to low and add the chili seasoning.

4. Mix well and then drizzle the honey over the meat and stir in.

5. Pour meat into crock pot and add the beans, corn, diced tomatoes, diced green pepper, and diced onion to the Crock Pot.

6. Stir all the ingredients thoroughly.

NOTE: If you like spicy chili, either use a very hot chili powder in the chili seasoning (chili powder sold at Indian groceries tends to be very hot) or dice up a jalopeńo to add in.

7. Set the Crock Pot on high and cover and let the chili cook on high for two hours.

8. After two hours add the apple cider vinegar and stir it into the chili vigorously.

9. After three hours of elapsed cooking add 1/2 cup freshly brewed black and strong coffee. Stir coffee into chili. Let chili finish cooking on high for the last hour.

NOTE: If doing an 8 hour chili cooking on low, then add the apple cider vinegar in at hour 5 and the coffee at hour 7.

After four hours eat the chili, but not too quickly because the temperature will be extremely hot. I like to top my chili with a little cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

 

Baker Bettie

It has been unseasonably warm in Kansas this winter.  It has been in the 50’s almost every day this week.  On Wednesday, it got up to 70!  I am definitely not complaining though.  I seriously hate the cold, and the past few years our winters have been rough.

I typically think of fruit salads as a summer type of dish.  I just usually crave fresh flavors like this when it’s hot, and warmer flavors in the winter.  But this was a nice change.  Have this as your breakfast,  a mid-day snack or a guilt free dessert!

I’ve been really trying to improve my pictures and learn my way around this new camera. Wyatt has been trying to help too.

This recipe was not only really delicious but also really fun to photograph.  I love colorful food!

Hope your weekend was relaxing!

Quinoa Fruit Salad with Greek Yogurt adapted from

View original post 156 more words

 

Rösti A.K.A. “Potato Pancake Thing”

This is a breakfast, lunch, or dinner dish. It is cheap, easy, filling, and delicious. It is also versatile concerning ingredients required.

Ingredients (2 Servings):

-3 Tbs. canola Oil
-3 Potatoes (Red Russet, Plain Russet, Yukon Gold (expensive), etc.)
-Salt
-Black Pepper
-1 Clove Garlic

You can add different spices or things to the rösti like bacon, onion, basil, oregano, savory, any herb, bacon fat, cumin, any Indian, Mexican, or Italian spice blend.

The ingredients above or only for the rösti, but I like to top it with many delicious things. Below is the topping ingredients

-1/4 Green Pepper
-1/4 Red Onion
-1 Clove Garlic
-1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese (I like cheeses that melt nicely like cheddar, Swiss, colby jack, etc. I usually buy a large block of cheese and shred the cheese myself because it is cheaper than buying pre-shredded cheese.)
-Diced fresh Tomato
-Diced fresh Green Onion

These are not the only topping one can use. Other topping ideas include sour cream, salsa, rep peppers, bacon, butter, cooked ground beef, a fried egg, turkey, anything!

Directions:

-Grate potatoes with a cheese grater.
-Put grated potatoes into colander and press water out of potatoes.
-Put drained grated potatoes into bowl and season. A simple way is salt, black pepper, and garlic.
-Heat medium to large nonstick frying pan, maybe a pan you cook pancakes in, with canola oil.
-When pan is hot, don’t burn the oil, add grated potatoes to hot pan and turn heat down to medium or medium high.
-Using a spatula press potatoes into the bottom of the pan and cover the entire bottom of the pan evenly.
-Cook 5-7 minutes.
-While it cooks put a little oil into a small saute pan and add garlic, onion, and green peppers and cook until slightly softened. Add salt and pepper to vegetables while cooking.
-Use spatula to unstick edges of the rösti and shake pan gently back and forth.
-Once the rösti slides around in the pan easily slide rösti out of plan and onto a plate.
-Cover plate with another plate that is turned upside down.
-Flip rösti and then uncover.
-Add a little more canola oil to pan and make sure pan is hot.
-Slide the rösti into the hot pan with the cooked side facing up and the not cooked side facing the down on the bottom of the pan.
-Cook for 5-7 minutes or until it slides around easily in the pan.
-Once it is finished cooking slide it out of the pan and onto a plate.
-Top the rösti with cheese and sauteed vegetables and sprinkle fresh tomatoes and green peppers on top.
-Cut it in half to share even if you might not want to share. Trust me, this is extremely filling and the potatoes expand in your stomach.

 

Honey Apple Challah

This recipe was the first bread I baked without a machine and without a pre-mixed store bought dough package. I used Janae Monir’s recipe as a guide. Here’s the link: https://janaemonir.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/harvest-apple-challah/

If that site is not available, then this site is a good alternative:

https://leaandjay.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/harvest-apple-challah/

This is a good recipe for beginners since it is not braided. The last 15 minutes in the oven your entire home fills with the sweet apple honey scent and makes it tough to wait to eat this bread. It’s well with the wait!!

 

Food Season

Personally, I don’t appreciate the historical romanticism of Thanksgiving, all the Indians sat down with all the white men and ate a bunch of food in peace.  Sure, sharing and feasting are fantastic but these fantastic things have a horrible history that still affects people currently.  I prefer to think of Thanksgiving as a part of the season that represents the shift from the crisp and sunny fall to a cold and bright winter.  A time to cook a lot, eat a lot and laugh a lot; spending time together.

During Thanksgiving I usually go to my relatives’ home and the food is always the same.  This does not mean it is not good… it is fantastic!  Unlike my cooking I always know what I’m getting for thanksgiving at my relatives’ house: French’s Green Bean Casserole, Home made mashed potatoes, home made turkey gravy, two 20 lb turkeys, all kinds of pie, pistachio fluff, deviled eggs, dill pickles, black olives, dinner rolls, butter, canned cranberries, Rice Crispy Bars and left-overs.

The one Thanksgiving I did not go to my relatives’ house, at least the one I can remember, happened two years ago.  I was in charge of making the mashed potatoes.  Caramelized onion and mushroom red russet mashed potatoes with feta and kalamata olives.  It tasted awesome but it was not quite the same as my aunts simple brown russet mashed potatoes with salt and butter.

This year I am once again not at my relatives house for Thanksgiving.  My Mother is also not home because she is helping my Grandfather.  Since Thanksgiving is already twisted for me this year my father and I are putting our own twist on Thanksgiving.  We are going to cook Cornish Game Hens together on Thursday afternoon.

I’ve never cooked, eaten, or seen a Cornish Game Hen but it sounds great.

 

Wild Rice Casserole

This can be vegetarian if you add no meat.

Ingredients:

1 Can Cream of Mushroom soup or Cream of Cerly soup if you don’t like mushrooms.

2 Cups Wild Rice

3 1/2 Cups Water

1 Large Onion: white, red or yellow or two medium onions

1/4 lb. Bacon

2 Cups Shredded Cheese (I like cheddar, marble jack, or colby jack)

1/2 Cup Beef Broth

1 Clove Garlic Chopped

Pinch of Salt

Pepper

Any other vegetables that can taste good like corn, celery, carrots, peppers, potatoes…

Milk

Italian Seasoning

Ground Beef or Ground Venison if desired

 

Directions:

Rinse wild rice.

Put 2 cups of wild rice and 3 1/2 cups cool water in a large sauce pan that has a well fitting lid.  Add 1/2 cup beef broth, bouillon cube also works.  Heat to boil then cover and reduce heat to low.  Let rice cook for 30 minutes on low.  DO NOT REMOVE THE LID!

While rice cooks…

Heat oven to 350

If using ground beef or venison brown that in a pan until filly cooked.  If using bacon cook bacon to desired crispiness.  Season with anything desired.

While bacon cooks chop garlic and set aside then chop any vegetables that are being added to the casserole.

Grate a lot of cheese, yum.

After bacon cooks set bacon on paper towel and saute garlic in bacon fat.  DO NOT BURN THE GARLIC! Take the bacon fat off the heat after bacon cooks so the grease can cool down.  After sauteing the garlic add vegetables to the pan and heat at medium-low for a few minutes stirring occasionally.

While vegetables saute put cream of mushroom soup into a sauce pot and heat on medium-low.  Add Italian seasoning and pepper.  Salt if desired.  Once heated add milk if desired.

Dump the cooked wild rice into a casserole dish and add cream of mushroom soup mixture.  Stir well then add the vegetables and bacon fat and mix everything together.  Crumble or rip up bacon and stir in.  If using ground meat add that to the concoction and mix it.  Mix in 1 3/4 cup cheese, leave a little left over.

Cover with tin foil and place in heated oven for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle remaining cheese on top and put back in oven uncovered for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes before eating.  It may feel like forever but it is worth the wait.

 

Fall Hot Toddy

Ingredients:

1 Small Crock Pot

Get a small Crock Pot and fill it 2/3 with non-alcoholic apple cider.  Turn the crock pot onto low heat.  When I write apple cider I do not mean that apple juice crap that claims it is apple cider.  If it is apple cider, it will be refrigerated and fresh and commonly sold at apple orchards.  Try to buy your apple cider local because it is fall which means a lot of apple orchards have plenty of delicious cider to sell you.

After adding the cider add the brandy.  I usually use 1.5-2 cups  of brandy but you can use more or less depending on preference.  Then add 2 cinnamon sticks.  If you prefer a lot or a little cinnamon add more or fewer cinnamon sticks.  If you don’t have cinnamon sticks ground cinnamon works too.  Maybe add 1 teaspoon because ground cinnamon has a much more potent flavor than an whole cinnamon stick.  I also add two cloves of allspice.  If you only have ground allspice use 1/4 or 1/8 teaspoon of allspice.

Allow the mixtures to simmer on low until hot.  Drink once hot enough.

 

Pie Crust

You are reading this correctly… I made a pie crust and now you get to read my recipe.  I will have to ask my Dad how it compares to my Grandmother’s pie crust.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick) NOT SOFTENED!!  Do not let the butter ever soften.

1/4 Cup Ice Water

In a mixer or bowl add flour and salt.

Cube stick of butter, cut butter into little baby chunks, and cut butter into flour until it forms into crumbles.  Sometimes butter has a tendency to soften when it gets poked a lot in a warm room.  If you need to put mixture in freezer periodically during mixing period to make sure the butter stays hard.  If it softens, it will be goo.  Goo is bad crumbles are good.

Once it forms crumbles slowly add 1/4 cup ice water while mixing flour-butter crumbles.  Once all the water is added it should form into a ball while mixing.

After it forms into a ball cover the pie crust in the bowl with plastic wrap in put in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.

When pie crust is needed spread a little flour onto a clean and flat counter top or cooking space and roll out crust on the flour so the crust does not stick to the counter.

This crust fits into a 9 inch pie pan.

 

 

Nostalgia

I’m abandoning cooking this evening for a nostalgic snack that almost everyone can reminisce, Dunkaroos. Graham Cracker Cookie with either chocolate or fun-fetti frosting.  They are delicious and every once in a while I eat and share a box with friends.