Recipes

Beef Stroganoff

I have been battling a cold for days now and haven't really felt like cooking. But tonight I knew my man needed a good home cooked meal. So I buckled down and tried to think of something warm and meaty, robust and soothing. And I had a pack of london broil that was begging to be used. I like it when my food talks to me. I actually have a couple different recipes for Beef Stroganoff - one that uses half and half and one that uses sour cream. So the only thing you have to decide is exactly where you want the fat to end up? Hips or thighs? And I guess it depends on taste as well. Some have preferences to sour cream saying it gives a nice tang. Others like the half and half or even heavy cream which gives it a smooth consistency and a well balanced flavor. Whichever you prefer, try making this for your family tonight. Then sit back and wait for the chorus of  yummms to ring in your ears. And maybe, just maybe, you will hear "Thanks mom", or "Your the best mom", or even "I am so glad you are my mom and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else or having anyone else cook for me". Ok, maybe not that last one, but one can hope!

Here's the cast of characters. Flour, London Broil, Half and Half, Dijon mustard, Beef Broth, Red wine, Butter, Egg noodles, mushrooms and onions.




Cut the meat into 1/2 in chunks and throw in a pan set on medium high heat with 2 Tbls olive oil. Sear meat on all sides. Remove from pan and add another Tbls of oil.



Then add mushrooms and onions and reduce heat to medium to medium low. My stove has notches on it between Low, Medium, and High. I put it on the first notch just below medium.



Saute, stiring often, until the onion softens and the mushrooms release their liquid. Couldn't you just eat that with a spoon right now?



Then add butter. Yes, butter. Don't be afraid of butter. It's your friend. Your smooth, creamy, hanging around your hips kind of friend. But remember to tell her that as much as you love her, she has got to stop calling out to you to have a second helping. You love her, but enough is enough!



Ok, back to the pan! Now add the flour.  And stir to incorporate into butter. I added a heaping Tbls of dijon mustard at this point but because my daughter was chasing my baby around the table in the kitchen and sing at the top of her lungs, I was distracted enough to forget to take the picture. Sorry.



Let it cook for about a minute to get the starchy taste out of the flour then add the red wine. NO, not to your glass. To the pan! I'm watching you!

Stir the wine into the flour then add the beef broth.



Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Stir well. Reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer, uncovered, for about 20 min. Take this time to boil some water and add the noodles.



After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and add the half and half, or cream or sour cream. Whichever you prefer. Make sure to stir well and you are ready to eat!

Ok, I have to hurry up now, cause my husband is chomping at the bit here. So here is the noodles with the beef stroganoff ladled over top and sliced tomatoes on the side. Cooking this helped clear up my sinus' a little and I actually had some feeling back in my taste buds, so I had some too. And it was very warming and just as comforting and chicken noodle soup. Speaking of soup, I haven't made any in a while. Maybe that will be a upcoming blog! Along with a bread bowl recipe! Yumm. Anyway, have a go at this dish and let me know what you think.





Beef Stroganoff for Noodles 
1 pound london broil (cut into 2 inch long and 1/4 inch wide)
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms, caps only thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine, optional 
1/2 cup beef broth
1 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup heavy cream (I used half and half)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tbls flour 
2 Tbls Italian seasoning
Salt and freshly grounded black pepper
8 ounces medium egg noodles, cooked


Heat large non-stick skillet over high heat and sear meat on all sides, for about a minute. Work in small batches so meat does not give off liquid. Remove to a plate. Add and heat butter. Sweat onions and add mushrooms and saute until onions are translucent and mushrooms are golden. While this is cooking, blend broth, mustard, heavy cream and sour cream together. Lower heat, add flour and cook stirring for a minute. Whisk in red wine if using. Whisk in liquids, and seasoning then simmer, without boiling until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Return meat to sauce and heat, without boiling until meat is warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper; spoon over noodles.
 

Mama Mia! Meatloaf!

I am not now, nor have I ever been a meatloaf lover. I have eaten it and I have made it before. But I have never ordered it when dining out. And I rarely, and I do mean rarely, make it at home. Mostly because it isn't very creative and it takes, I think, skill to make it have good flavor, not crumble when baked, and be moist at the same time. My father used to make a pretty good meatloaf. And we had it often in our house growing up. But since getting married and beginning my self education in the culinary world, meatloaf wasn't high on my priority list of "need to conquer" recipes. However, the other day a friend of mine mentioned she was making meatloaf for dinner and, for some odd reason, it actually sounded like a good idea. So I searched my recipe archives to see if I could find a doable recipe for tonights dinner. And not only did I find one, but I found a realllllly good one. Believe me, no one else is as surprised as I am that I liked the meatloaf. Mama Mia was it good! And even though I probably won't be making it on a weekly basis, it is definately on my list of monthly recipes. Which is saying a lot. I wasn't able to document the whole process like I wanted to, but I do have some pics to show you. The recipe is adapted from Tyler Florence's. 


Here is the finished sauce. Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving.


This is after coming out of the oven with the crispy bacon on top. Dripping with goodness.



Yum! And chunks of tomato and pepper. Double yum!






Meatloaf with Tomato Relish Recipe

Tomato Relish:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced
1/8 cup dried parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Meatloaf:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks by hand
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs 
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper 
4 to 5 bacon slices cut in half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes to create a base flavor. Throw in the red
peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften. Now add the tomatoes; adding them at this point lets them hold their shape and prevents them from
disintegrating. Stir in the parsley, ketchup, and Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes to pull all the flavors together. Remove it
from the heat; you should have about 4 cups of relish. I made this relish a couple hours before I was ready to make the meat loaf, so it was plenty cool enough to handle by the time I was ready for that.
Place the torn white bread in a bowl and add the milk to just barely cover, swish the bread around in the milk and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients for the meat loaf together. This is where you get your hands dirty! In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork with 1 1/2 cups of the tomato relish, the eggs, and
thyme;season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the soaked bread to the meat mixture.  Taste the patty for seasoning.
Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Transfer the meat mixture to the center of the cookie sheet and form into a log about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Coat the top of
the meatloaf with another 1/2 cup of the tomato relish. Lay the bacon across the top lengthwise. Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the bacon is crisp and the
meatloaf is firm. Rotate the meat loaf while it's baking every now and then to insure that the bacon browns evenly. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool a few minutes before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side. Unbelievably moist!

Time on my hands.

So now that two out of my three kids are in school I find myself with a little more time on my hands. Time to actually make myself a good lunch. Maybe not necessarily healthy but good. I had boneless, center cut, thick pork chops from my shopping trip the other day and needed to use them up. Hubby wouldn't be home for another day so I only needed to make enough for myself, but I ended up cooking all three chops. I figured it was less dishes if I cooked them all now and just reheated them later. Aren't I the smart one? Don't answer that!

Here's the cast of characters.
3 bonless porkchops cut thick, lemon pepper seasoning, salt, oil, white wine, capers, chicken broth and butter. Oops, I forgot to add the chicken broth to this picture. I'll get it later.



I rubbed the three chops with olive oil and sprinkled both sides with salt and lemon pepper seasoning. Then placed them in a pan set to medium heat with 2 Tbls olive oil. I seared them on both sides for about 4 min per side. 




Here is the liquid ingredients again. This time with the chicken broth added.




I flipped them to the other side then to get them cooked all the way through I poured in 1/8 cup white wine, 2 Tbls butter, 1 Tbls capers and 1/4 cup chicken broth, put the lid on and reduced the heat to medium low.



I turned the chops once and about 5-8 min later (depending on thickness) they are done and the liquid has reduced to a nice thick sauce. I served it with parmesan noodles and fresh sliced tomatoes.


Come here you little saucy thing! Excuse me folks. I gotta go find me a fork!

Pepper Steak

Is Pepper Steak an American dish or Chinese? I always see it on the menu at Chinese resturants so I was wondering if they invented it. If so, I think we have Americanized it over the years and made it our own. My parents have made it since I was a kid and over time I have developed my own version of that dish. I hope it makes you proud daddy. For such is my "baby of the family" curse to try and make people happy. Ok, back to the Pepper Steak.

Here is the cast of characters.




We have some garlic, tomatoes, peppers, onions, beef broth, red wine, cornstarch, Lawry's seasoned salt, Chipotle chili powder, Cumin and London broil.
Also, not shown, cause I'm human and fallible, are salt, pepper and rice. And I decided to use flour instead of cornstarch. I'll tell you more on that later.

First I chopped all my vegetables. Here's the peppers, well the orange one at least. I didn't take a picture of the green one.

Here's the onions and garlic.

I also chopped the tomatoes but I don't want to throw a whole bunch of pictures of me cutting things up at ya, so I skipped putting that one in here. And now the Meat!

I chopped up about 2lbs of london broil into 1 in pieces. Then added it to pan set on Medium High heat with about 1 Tbls of oil. Which is what I did here.




And I add the spices. Lawry's season salt, cumin and chipotle chili powder. You could use regular cayenne chili powder if you had that in your pantry.



Now the veggies. Add the peppers, onions, and garlic. Hold off on the tomatoes for just a few minutes.



Now, let them cook down for a few minutes. And enjoy the smell permeating your kitchen.. MMMMMMM



Well, Emma didn't think mommies peppers smelled good, she thought they were "stinky". Poor child, she is so uncultured.


Now add the flour.  I know the picture up top shows cornstarch, but I decided to use flour this time. But if you don't want to use flour, continue on with the rest of the recipe and after it has simmered for about 15 min add a slurry of 2 Tbls cornstart mixed with water to make a paste. Stir till it starts to boil and thicken. But I added flour, so back to that. Stir the veggies around to let their juices soak up the flour and it helps get out some of the starchy flour taste.


After the flour has cooked for a minute add the tomatoes.




After a few minutes the tomatoes will let loose of their juices and mix with the flour. BTW, please remember to peel your tomatoes first, unlike I did, if you don't like rolled up skins in your food.

Okay, do you see that beautiful brown stuff in the bottom of the pan? That is what life is all about. Well,second to bacon. And maybe butter, too. But anyway, see that stuff? That is FLAVOR baby!





So we are going to incorporate it into a sauce by adding red wine. Scrape up the bits off the bottom and they will melt into the wine as it heats up. See?




Try to make sure the "help" doesn't drink it all! Thats my husband, the lush!



Next add the beef broth.




Awwwww, isn't that a beautiful thing! At this point I added some kosher salt and pepper to taste.



Now simmer it for about 20 min and you will notice that the sauce will thicken and develop in flavor. The meat and veggies will soften and man oh man will you be eatin' soon! Take this time to make your rice. At least that is what I (and the chinese, btw) eat it on. Is there anything better?



After the rice is done, the pepper steak should be too. Get ya out a ladle and scoop up some of that goodness, pour it over your rice and dig in!



Go ahead! Try it. Let me know what you think.

Spinach cheese swirls

I found these on Pepperidge Farm website while brainstorming ideas for my two oldest kids birthday party. I wanted something that looked fun for the kids and delicious for the adults. These were really easy to put together ahead of time and then just slice and bake right before the party starts. Easy! Easy! Easy! I subsituted 1 Tbls Roasted Garlic for the garlic powder it calls for.  I prepared all the ingredients, spread the roasted garlic, piled on everything else and rolled it up. Then I wrapped it up and stored in the refrigerator till the next day. About 30 min before party time I pulled them out of the fridge, unwrapped then brushed with egg mixture. Then baked them as directed. It was great having them done ahead of time and less mess to clean up on the day of the party. Try these for your next party and let me know how many you have left. I bet there will only be crumbs left on the platter.

Here is the picture from their website. I will add my own at some point. Thanks again for bearing with me during my photography learning curve.

Avocado Cream and Guacamole

I love avocado's. I never used to like them at all. However, while we were living in Jacksonville, Florida some friends of ours tuned us into the joys of that ugly little fruit. Yes, I said "fruit". The name "avocado" refers to the fruit (really a berry) of the avocado tree that contains an egg-shaped pit. Odd, I know. But it is. And like other odd things in the hortoculture arena (tomatoes are fruits too) it makes me feel like there is one more thing in this big wide world I can't possibly understand. So I don't. I leave it up to the experts to decide what is and isn't fruit and I just eat'em. And I love to eat avocado's. Did I say that already? No? Okay, good. Here is a recipe for an avocado cream which can be used in many different ways. It would be good on fish or burgers. Or if thinned out with a little milk would be good as a salad dressing. Use your imagination and find your own ways to use this delicious cream.

Add all ingredients and mash. I use a potato masher. Add Salt and Pepper to taste.



Your done. Now how easy is that? I used it on my hamburger. It definately gives it a deeper flavor. Oh, and please ignore that spoon laying there. It um...I'm not sure how that got there?

Guacamole
1 Avocado Cream recipe, above
1 medium tomato
1 shallot, finely minced

Peel and dice tomato. Place on several layers of paper towels and salt. After several minutes, press with more paper towels to remove excess juice. Add with shallot to avocado cream and serve with pita or tortilla chips.

I actually used onion, instead of shallot. But here is the salt, pepper, tomato and avocado cream mix.





Dice the onion really fine. Sometimes I even use a microplane to shred the onion, because I am not a fan of raw onion.




Dice the tomato really small. Then place them on a paper towel and press to get out the juice. The last thing you want is runny guacamole.




Now add it all to the avocado cream mix, salt and pepper to taste and enjoy with some chips and a beer.

How to Roast Garlic

If you have never tried to roast garlic on your own before, NOW is the time to do so. Well, finish reading this post first then go forth and conquer! Roasting Garlic is not only a very easy thing to do, having it done and ready to put in your dishes will add a new depth of flavor you may not have previously experienced. I use it for my Avocado Cream, Spinach Cheese Twirls, and tonight I used it mashed up and mixed with olive oil as a base to my pizza instead of tomato sauce. There are endless uses to Roasted Garlic. And doing it yourself is so much better than buying it store bought with all those preservatives and additives and stuff. So grab some bulbs (of garlic silly, not 60 Watt) and lets get started.

 Here's the breakdown!  Only three ingredients - Garlic, salt and olive oil. (Aunt Gee this one is for you!)


First I cut the tops off exposing the bulbs inside. Please ignore my chubby hands and freckles. I try to imagine long slender fingers with soft ivory skin on my red-headed body, but that dream quickly evaporates when I see photo's like this.



Then shed the outer skin of paper from the bulb.



Place the heads on a sheet of foil and drizzle the tops of all of them with olive oil.



Then pull up the ends of the foil around the garlic like a purse. Don't bunch it up or pack it too tightly. Just bring it together at the top to keep in the heat and moisture. And please excuse this dark picture. I am still trying to figure out all this exposure, aperture, focus, macro and ISO crap and sometimes it isn't easy to just stop what I am doing to fix a shot. Especially with three kids! So please forgive my weakness and bear with me as I navigate this photography jungle. Thank you. You're so sweet.



Then you plop it in the oven, sit back and wait for the glorious smell of aromatic goodness to fill your kitchen. Which is what I did the other night while making dinner. It sat in the back of the oven while the chicken dish I was preparing cooked alongside. They became fast friends.

Chicken - "You sure are smelling nice tonight!"
Garlic - "Your looking might lean yourself!"

Ok, ok. Back to the task at hand.
Here are the beautiful golden pearls after they have emerged from the oven. Look at that sweetness. Soft and gooey and ready for the squeezing! Yep, we are going to squeeze those little suckers from their warm little home.



Ok, grab the heads by the bottom where the root is. Gently squeeze and watch them pop out of their papery shells. They have carmelized nicely and are soft and creamy. The flavor has mellowed some and will add a deeper flavor complexity to any dish you add it to.

I keep mine in a small ramekin covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. You'll never imagine all the uses you will find for this easy dish. Please go and try it yourself today. And tell me all about it.




Roasted Garlic
Each bulb will yield about 2 tablespoons of mashed garlic
3-4 heads of garlic
2 tsp Olive oil
Salt
Foil

Take the garlic heads and peel off the outside layer of paper. Cut a 1/4 inch off the top exposing the individual bulbs. Place on square of foil and pour oil over tops of all heads and wrap up like a purse. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Better yet, while you are baking dinner (not a cake) in the oven, throw the garlic in with it. Then you don't have to heat the oven at an odd time just for garlic. Let the package cool to the touch and then squeeze the bottom of heads to pop out the cloves (My 5 yo and 3 yo LOVE this part, "ewwwww" they say). Now comes the fun. You can mash them with a fork and serve them spread on toasted bagettes or, like I said earlier, use them in some recipes. To store them, place in a bowl cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. It's good tasting and good for ya. At least I think it is.

Sweet Paula Deen!

A few months ago we had company over to our house. I made appetizers and one of them was from a box. (Don't judge me) They were actually quite good. But lacking in some depth. In the box were roughly 30-35 chicken pieces wrapped in bacon and frozen. All one needed to do was place them on a pan and cook till done. They were good - as is just about anything wrapped in bacon, am I right? Later, I tried it with large whole breasts of chicken and it worked great that way too. However at that time I used pepper and ground thyme on the chicken and after wrapping it in bacon I rolled the whole thing in a paste of brown sugar, hot sauce, dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar. And it was great. So when I found this recipe from Paula Deen it reminded me of the appetizers from a box I had made before and the recipe I had come up with myself. I made them recently during a family gathering for my baby boys birthday and they were a big hit. This recipe makes about 30-40 appetizers depending on how you cut your chicken. Here is Paula's Recipe and my notations on how I altered it a bit. I think next time I will try rolling the chicken/bacon pieces in the paste of brown sugar, hot sauce, dijon and balsamic vinegar. I'm already salivating!

 Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps Recipe courtesy Paula Deen 

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
1 (1-pound) package sliced bacon
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden pick. Stir together brown sugar and chili powder. Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture. Coat a rack and broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken wrap on rack in broiler pan. Bake 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp.



**I used thin slice bacon and 1Tbsp of "Chipotle Chili" powder. Also I didn't use toothpicks the bacon just kinda stuck to itself when I wrapped it around. And I think it helped that I prepped all this 2 days before the party. I cut and wrapped the chicken and stuck it in resealable bag and plopped it in the fridge. I made the brown sugar spice mixture and put it in a bowl and covered it with wrap. Then a hour before party time I took them out and began rolling them in the brown sugar spice mixture and placing them on pans I sprayed with non-stick spray (I didn't use a broiler pan). It really made it all very easy.