I very rarely watch cooking shows where it’s a contest. Due to time, ego and ingredient restraints, you can get some really jacked-up recipes.  The inspiration for this came from Top Chef.  It sounded damn tasty and what’s more, was surprisingly easy to modify into something that could actually be cooked up in the midwest. Fast too.  Most of the actual work is in the alarmingly easy preparation and the cooking time is as close to nonexistent as it’s gonna get while still using a frying pan.  The secret is in the condiments and honestly I’ll try just about anything with Rooster sauce in it.

Ingredients

3 Tbs Mayonaise
1 Tbs Sriracha (Rooster) sauce
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (a mandoline if you’re consistency challenged like I am)
3 Tbs rice vinegar
1/2 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbs soy sauce
1-2 Tbs lime juice
1 anchovy filet, chopped (optional)
2 smallish catfish fillets (about 1/3 lb each)
2 toasted ciabatta or hoagie rolls

Stir the mayo and rooster sauce together, then cover and toss in the fridge.

Whisk together the rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt, then pour into a ziplock bag.  Toss the onions into the bag and squeeze out all the air before sealing, then toss into the fridge next to the mayo.

Combine the soy sauce, lime juice, anchovy in a quart-sized freezer bag, Add the fish, squeeze out the air and seal; then toss in the fridge so it can join the condiment party.  Let marinade for 20 or so minutes.

Heat a skillet over high heat and dry the fish on some towels.  Once it’s good ‘n’ hot, add 2 Tbs canola oil and sear the filets (1-2 minutes per side worked for me).  Spread the mayo on both sides of the bun and place a heaping bunch of the pickled onions on the top half of each bun before serving.

Note:  The pickled onions are crazy delicious. They’re gonna be going onto a lot of sandwiches around these parts from now on and may even be eaten by themselves.  The Rooster mayo is spicy, but not as bad as you’d think. If you’ve got tender tastebuds, add the rooster by quarter tablespoons.  The china was liberated from the fabulous Wright Quad Cafeteria at Indiana University.

This is another one of my Meatless Monday experiments that turned out to be tasty and easy to make. Relatively healthy too, after making some substitutions for some of the original full-fat ingredients.  Also, it’s essentially a half-sized recipe; meaning that (if you’re like me and not feeding a small army) you don’t have a butt-load of leftovers to freeze and/or get thoroughly sick of eating before it spoils.  My only issue is that it was a bit dry and could have benefitted from a bit more sauce.

Broccoli & Three Cheese Lasagna

Ingredients
1 tub low-fat Ricotta Cheese (15 oz)
1 lb broccoli florets, steamed & chopped (I had leftovers, use frozen; chopped and dried otherwise)
2 1/2 cups 2% shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
1 jar marinara sauce (16 oz) I like Bertolli Tomato & Basil
1/2 cup heavy cream (sorry… no substitution here)
8 no-boil lasagna noodles
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine ricotta, mozzarella, 1/4 cup of Parmesan, 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper, and broccoli in a big bowl.  In a smaller bowl stir the marinara and cream together.

Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of an 8 inch square baking pan.  Cover with two noodles, then top with 1/4 of the sauce and 1/3 of the broccoli-cheese mixture.  Repeat twice.  Top with remaining two noodles and sauce.  Cover with remaining Parmesan and mozzarella.

Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray and cover the lasagna before sliding into the oven.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until noodles are tender.  Uncover and bake another 10-15 minutes or until edges begin to brown and the cheese is gooey and bubbly.

Serves 6

This is a great tasting and super easy to prepare combo with mostly stuff you probably have in the pantry. You may be tempted to use boneless chicken, but if you do, you’ll wind up with shredded chicken once you take it out of the crock.  Which actually doesn’t sound too bad now that i think about it.  It’d be kind of a spicy chicken stew to serve over the rice.

Chipotle Lime Chicken
Ingredients
· 1 cup sliced onion
· 1 cup chopped celery
· 1 cup chopped carrots
· 4 pounds skinless chicken thighs
· Salt and freshly ground black pepper
· 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
· 1/4 cup lime juice
· 2 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce with 2 teaspoon sauce from can
· 2 cloves garlic, minced
· 1 avocado, diced
· 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
· Lime wedges, for garnish

Directions
Arrange onion, celery and carrots in bottom of slow cooker. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and arrange over vegetables.
In a medium bowl, whisk together tomato sauce, lime juice, chipotle chiles with sauce, and garlic. Pour mixture over chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours. Serve over rice (recipe below) and top with diced avocado and cilantro.

Ingredients
· 2 cups instant brown rice
· 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
· 1 cup water
· 1 (15-ounce) can red beans, rinsed and drained
· 1 teaspoon dried thyme
· zest of one small lime
· 1/4 cup chopped scallions
· Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
In a medium saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk, water, beans, thyme, and lime zest. Set pan over high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 5 minutes, until liquid is mostly absorbed. Fold in scallions and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Plate:  California Poppies for the Santa Fe Railroad by Syracuse China

I’ve been trying to find a something to replace a lost sloppy joe recipe I originally ganked from a cookbook of diner recipes and subsequently lost during a move. This doesn’t come close, but even though I loathe Rachael Ray and would rather have a badger in a sack put over my head and tied around my neck than listen to her insufferably perky, squeaky voice I have to admit that this isn’t a half bad recipe after some tweaking based on comments about the original recipe posted on the Food Network site.

Buffalo Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:
2 Tbs olive oil
2 lbs ground chicken or turkey breast
1 carrot, peeled and chopped or grated
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/4 - 1/3 cup hot sauce (or more to taste)
3-4 Tbs tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
8 hamburgerburger buns
1 cup bleu cheese crumbles
2 dill pickles, chopped

Instructions
Heat oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat.  Add ground chicken and cook for 5 or 6 minutes, breaking up the big hunks. Add the onion, celery, carrots garlic and jalapeno pepper and cook for another maybe 8 minutes.

In the meantime, combine the broth, tomato paste, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and pour the whole mess into the chicken/vegetable mixture. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until it reaches a nice sticky consistency.  Top with bleu cheese and chopped pickles.

China: Rose Garden by Lenox

Not so much a cupcake as a super-rich brownie masquerading as a cupcake topped with peanut butter frosting. My guinea pigs taste testers comments ranged from “My GAWD this is so rich I can barely eat the whole thing,” to “Why the hell didn’t you bring some milk with you?” to “It’s like eating a reverse peanut butter cup.” And it is rich.  Full of chocolate, butter and eggs.  Definitely not for the faint of heart or the heart-attack prone, but well worth breaking your diet for.

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

Cupcakes
3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet morsels, divided
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup chopped, toasted walnuts (optional)
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Put 8 or 9 cupcake liners in your cupcake tins.  Throw the butter, 1/2 cup chocolate chips and chopped unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler and stir until smooth and melty.  Remove the boiler to the countertop.  Whisk both sugars into the chocolate, then whisk in the eggs one at a time.  Follow with the vanilla, then the flour, walnuts, salt and remaining chocolate chips.

Divide the batter amongst the tins (about 1/2 cup each) and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Transfer cupcakes to a rack to cool.  Once cooled, ice generously.

Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not the natural kind)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbs whipping cream (more as needed)

Put the first four ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth.  Add whipping cream by teaspoons until the mixture reaches a nice spreadable consistency for frosting.

Notes: After trying this, I think I’d make this in mini-muffin tins because they’re too much for some people to eat at once.  Also, stirring 3/4 cup peanut butter chips into the batter instead of chocolate chips would be bucketloads of awesome.

China: Southampton Gardens by Lenox

My husband is nuts for cinnamon anything and while I normally think of monkey bread as a kid thing, I make it for him because, well, I’m pretty sure he’s still a six-year-old at heart.  It is yummy though and I definitely like it too.

Lots of people (you know, the ones who have lives) make this with refrigerated biscuit dough.  That offends my sensibilities.  It’s just not the same so since I have no life, I make my own dough.  Way, way better than what that dough boy dude puts out.

Ingredients:

Dough
1-1/3 C warm milk (120°)
4 TBSP butter
2-1/4 tsp yeast (1 packet)
1/4 C sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
4-5 C flour

Melt butter in milk.  Lightly beat eggs.  Put both in the mixer, add yeast and sugar and swirl around a bit.  Add flour a cup at a time until you get a nice soft dough that is no longer sticky.  Let the mixer knead it for about 7 minutes.  Turn out, form into a ball, place in a greased bowl turning to coat the top.  Cover with a towel and let rise for 2 to 2-1/2 hours. 

Filling:
3/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
1 stick melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Sauce:
2/3 C brown sugar
3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP cream or milk
2 tsp cinnamon

Punch down, turn out onto a floured surface and shape into a rectangle.  Slice the dough lengthwise then break off pieces to make 1” balls.  Pour about half of the sauce into the bottom of a bundt or tube pan (not the kind with a removable bottom because oh the mess you will make!) Dip the balls into the melted butter then into the sugar mixture and place in the pan making about 3 layers.  Only fill the pan about half way!  It won’t look like much but after it rises it will more than fill the pan.  Let rise for about an hour or so. 

Reheat the remaining sauce then pour over the risen dough.  You don’t have to use all the sauce but why wouldn’t you??  Seriously.  Bake for about 30 minutes in a 350° oven.  Turn out onto a plate immediately letting the sauce run over the top.  If you wait to turn it out, the sugar will harden and it will never come out...in that case, go find the chisel because you’ll need it.

Let this cool for a good 30 minutes because the sugar sauce is basically liquid napalm.  Really.

Make sure you remove it from the pan right away or you’ll be sorry, I am so not kidding.  Aslo make sure you let it cool before digging in.  You have not felt real pain until you have molten sugar hit the roof of your mouth and stick there! 

There is nothing better than cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Bill loves cinnamon rolls.  It’s his favourite sweet.  You get these ready at night and finish the rise and bake them in the morning.  Trust me, no one will sleep in when the smell of these baking is going on!  Make them on a Saturday night and your kids will love you Sunday morning.  Seriously, even the brats who give you attitude will be all, “My Mom rocks!”

Ingredients:

DOUGH
3 egg yolks + 1 whole egg at room temperature
1/3 C sugar
1 stick butter, melted
3/4 C warm milk
3-1/2 to 4 C flour
1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon zest

Generously butter a 13x9 pan.

Add yeast to warm milk (120°).  Let stand.  Beat eggs with sugar and butter until well blended.  Add milk/yeast and beat to combine.  Add salt and zest.  Slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the bowl.  Dough should not be sticky.  Knead for 7 minutes until smooth and elastic.  I my KitchenAid because it kneads for me.  Just let the mixer run on speed 2 for 7 minutes.  Form into a smooth ball and place in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top.  Let rise an hour or two until doubled.  Make filling.

Turn dough out onto floured surface.  Form into a rectangle by pressing with your fingers and palms...not pulling!  Use a rolling pin to get it about 1/4” thick and as uniform a rectangle as possible.  If the dough snaps back, let it rest a few minutes then roll again.  Brush dough with the 3 TBSP of melted butter from the filling ingredients staying clear about 1” from the top.  Use it all!  Sprinkle on the filling evenly and spread it out with your hands.  Use it all!  Then pat the filling into the dough a bit.  Start with the edge closest to you and roll tightly.  The more rolls you get the better.  It might seem like a narrow log.  That’s ok.  Turn the log so that the seam is facing up and crimp the edges to seal.  Seal it good!

FILLING:
1C brown sugar (I use dark brown because I like the deeper flavour)
1 TBSP ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
3 TBSP melted butter
Optional:
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C finely chopped pecans

Combine all except butter.  Stir well.

Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the log in half.  Cut each half into 6 even slices.  Some people use dental floss to get nice cuts but I like the serrated knife.  If you don’t press hard, they won’t squish.  Place each slice seam side up in greased pan.  Let rise half an hour to 45 minutes ONLY!  The should look like the picture below...nicely pouffy.  I like to let mine do a little rise first because the refrigerator will greatly restrict yeast growth.  And it seems to me, the less they have to rise in the morning, the quicker I dig in to a nice warm cinnamon roll!  I’m always thinking.  Seriously. 

Wrap them loosely with plastic wrap, not touching the tops of the rolls.  Put them in the fridge overnight - up to about 18 hours.  In the morning, take them out and remove the plastic wrap.  Cover with a towel and put them in a nice warm spot.  I just turn my oven on for 10 minutes then turn it off.  I put the pan on top of the oven.  Let rise for an hour or so.  Since they’re cold and the pan is cold, it will take them awhile just to come to room temp.  They will pop up in the oven even if you don’t wait the whole hour but try to wait.  I like to sprinkle a bit more cinnamon sugar over the top because, hey, what can it hurt!  Bake for about 25-30 minutes until they’re golden brown and your house smells like what I hope heaven smells like.  Make the glaze.

GLAZE:
1 TBSP corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 C sifted confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons cream or milk
2 TBSP melted butter

Put all liquids in a bowl.  Add confectioners sugar until you get a good drizzling consistency.  I use a fork to drizzle it over the warm rolls.  Don’t be stingy!

Serve warm.  If you don’t eat them all (yeah, right) you can wrap individual rolls in plastic wrap and mic them for a few seconds later on and they’re practically good as new.

So I’ve been dabbling with the whole Meatless Monday thing lately.  I’ve been noshing on salads and burritos because to me the idea of pigging out (pun fully intended) on factory-produced Boca or Morningstar Farms seems to defeat at least part of the spirit of the whole thing. Also it seems that a lot of vegetarian cooking can be time-consuming or expensive what with the roasting of the carb-laden root veggies and the purchase of vegetables that are more easily found at Whole Foods than your average grocery store in Upper Bubbastan.  I’ve found a couple of good-sounding fritter/patty recipes that I’ll be trying out soon, but this soup recipe that I’ve adapted from a 15 year old issue of Eating Well (?) was easy as heck, fast to make and only required a trip to the store for 2 ingredients.

Chickpea & Hominy Stew

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 minced, seeded Anaheim chile
4 cloves minced garlic
3 cups water
1 can diced tomatoes
3 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
(15 oz cans or equivalent amount of soaked beans)
1 can hominy, your choice of color
1 can vegetable stock
2 cups chopped spinach OR
1 pack frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper, flakes or to taste

Directions

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large pot.  Add onion, chile and garlic.  Saute until onion is just becoming translucent.  Toss in the next five ingredients (water thru broth) and bring to a boil.  Cover the pot, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Stir in spinach, black pepper, cumin and red pepper flakes and simmer a couple minutes more to allow spices to meld.

Serves 4-6

Soup Bowl:  Tuscan Orchard by Lenox.  Spoon:  Etruscan sterling by Gorham

You’ll need:
* 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
* 3 eggs
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
* 1 (14 oz) can coconut cream
* 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
* 1 cup heavy whipping cream
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1 cup flaked coconut

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, water and coconut flavoring. Beat for 2 minutes and pour into 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

3. In a medium bowl, combine coconut cream with sweetened condensed milk and stir until smooth. When cake comes out of the oven, poke holes into it in even rows using a large fork or chopsticks. Pour milk mixture over, allowing it to soak into the cake. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

4. In a large bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff. Spread over cooled cake. Sprinkle top with flaked coconut. 

Notes:
1. You can find coconut cream in the alcoholic mixer section of the grocer OR also sometimes in the Ethnic food aisle.
2. pour mixture over cake right away but let sit to room temperature before putting into the fridge.
3. Use your judgment on the mixture. I only used about 2/3rds of the 28 oz total.
4. Try toasting your coconut before putting it on top. It’s nice and crunchy. I think next time I’ll leave it un-toasted and see which one I prefer.
5. This is NOT diabetes friendly so don’t over do it. :D

I got this recipe out of one of those Pillsbury Bake-off books years ago.  It tastes about as similar to an Entenmann’s Louisiana Crunch Cake as you’ll ever get without buying one.  It’s quick, easy, moist and damned tasty.  This cake has a fine crumb with a tender bite.  (Sorry about the half-eaten cake picture.  I forgot to take a pic until after we got into it.  )

A note about making cakes:  make sure your butter and eggs are room temperature.  Add your eggs one at a time and get it mixed all in before you add another.  It will stop your batter from looking curdled.  If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add a TBSP of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk and make your own.  Let it stand for 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients:

3 c flour
2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c buttermilk
1 c butter, softened - no substitutes!
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs, room temperature
Butter syrup - recipe below

Preheat oven to 350°.  Have a bundt or tube pan handy.

Combine dry ingredients.  Set aside.

Beat butter until very fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add sugar and beat again, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next.  Add vanilla.  Alternately blend in dry ingredients and milk, ending with dry.  Beat only until combined.  Do not overbeat once the flour is all in or your cake will toughen.

Spray your pan liberally with PAM.  When making cakes, always spray right before you put the batter in because once you spray it, the stuff will run to the bottom and your cake might stick.

Add a tablespoonful of sugar to the sprayed pan and tap it around the bottom of the pan.  Add batter.  Bake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour, checking at the earliest point.  A toothpick will come out clean and the cake will be golden and firm.  Do not remove the cake from the pan.  Prepare syrup.

Butter Syrup Ingredients:

1/3 c butter
3/4 c sugar
3 TBSP water
2 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.  Cook and stir until completely combined and sugar is melted.  The sauce should be very hot but do not allow to boil! 

Poke holes in the cake all the way down or as deep as you can go.  I use a chopstick but once I used a wooden skewer and just moved it around to widen the holes a bit.  Pour all of the sauce over the cake being careful not to pour it through the hole in the pan (been there, done that) where it will wind up on the counter instead of the cake.  Let stand 5 - 10 minutes until the sauce is absorbed. 

Run a knife around the edges and tube of the pan to loosen.  Turn the cake out onto a dinner plate then invert it onto a cake plate.  You want the sauce side up, not bottom side up.  Cool completely.  This cake gets better the next day.  Oh and this is not a wet cake.  The spot you see that looks extra moist?  It’s where the sauce absorbed the most but it won’t have a wet, mushy mouth feel.

I don’t know why this is called Cajun Shrimp Stew except for maybe the original recipe calls for okra which just blech, ok?  I’m a good little vegetable consumer but okra and beets are two that I will never eat...I’m not so fond of eggplant either but neither here nor there. 

One of my friends ate a bowl of this at my house, liked it and revised it a bit.  She adds sausage and chicken to make it more of a semi jambalaya.  It’s a recipe you can do pretty much what you want with really.  It’s just so freakin’ tasty and easy and pretty much everybody has most of the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

1 small-ish onion, chopped
3 or 4 or 5 celery stalks, chopped
5 TBSP butter
5 TBSP flour
1 packet G. Washington Gold
salt
white pepper
1/8 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste basically)
1 TBSP dry parsely or 3 TBSP fresh
1/2 tsp thyme—I use powdered.  You can use fresh but I never have it so I don’t know how much.  I don’t use regular dry thyme because it doesn’t get soft when it cooks and I don’t like how it kind of pokes your mouth.  If you do use it, use 1 tsp and kind of crush it up a bit.  Powdered thyme is stronger, obviously.

2 cans low or no sodium chicken broth
2 cans (or more if you like) minced or chopped clams with liquid
1 large can stewed tomatoes
Tabasco
Frank’s RedHot Hot Sauce

1 lb shrimp, cleaned, tails off—I just use frozen large size shrimp thawed with tails removed

Directions:

Melt butter and add the onions and celery.  Cook until translucent.  Combine flour, G. Washington and spices.  Add all at once to celery and onion.  Cook and stir 5 minutes.  Add broth and clams with liquid.  Add tomatoes and juice, breaking up tomatoes with your fingers.  Bring just to a boil.  Season with tabasco and RedHot to taste.  You can make it as hot or mild as you like.  Turn off the heat and add the thawed shrimp.  Let stand 20 minutes or so.

I serve it in a bowl over hot white rice.  Serves 4-6 people depending on how much you pig down.

You really have to try this though.  Whatever you add...chicken, sausage, yucky okra...it’s just a really quick to make, low prep, tasty dish.  Since you really don’t have too much of a recipe to follow, you can add, subtract and adjust pretty much every ingredient.  I love this stuff.

This would actually work a bit better with a flatter fillet such as Sole, Perch or even Catfish, but Tilapia is cheap, the fillets are perfectly sized portions and they thaw really fast for a quick meal.

Ingredients:

2 Tilapia fillets (about 1/4 lb each)
1 egg white
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (the stuff in the green shakey bottle is fine)
1 Tbs garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cayenne (or whatever flavors you like)
1 Tbs Canola or peanut oil

Directions:
Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat.  Put the egg white into a bowl large enough to fit your fillet.  Combine Parmesan, garlic powder and, cayenne.

Dry each fillet, then dip both sides into egg white.  Dredge in Parmesan mixture and pan fry until browned on the first side before flipping for a total cooking time of 5-6 minutes.

China: Rose Garden by Lenox

It’s Bolognese in Italian and Bolognaise in French and on my plate it’s spaghetti with a meat sauce.
“True” Bolognaise sauces only have a small amount of tomato in them and this one is loaded so call it what you may, it’s still delicious!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic diced or minced
1 lb ground beef
1 15oz can tomatoes chopped
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
13 oz spaghetti

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is tender (about 2 minutes). Add in the ground beef and cook over high heat until the beef is well browned. Use a fork to break up any large pieces.

Add the undrained can of tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano and basil. Bring all of this to a boil then lower the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

Serve over cooked spaghetti with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

This will serve about 4 people or in my case (since the husband doesn’t LIKE spaghetti meat sauce) about 5 days worth. Mmmmmm

Notes:
- Usually I use about 4 to 6 large fresh tomatoes and a cup of water but the commissary didn’t have ANY tomatoes that looked nice so I opted for the canned tomatoes this time.
- Also, you can make this sauce up to 2 days in advance and just reheat it and serve over the pasta when it’s dinner time.
- I also add in a teaspoon of kosher salt because I really like salted food and in my opinion kosher salt is the only salt to cook with.

This turned out better than I expected, both as a pulled sandwich and sliced. If you have a large crockpot use a whole turkey breast cut along the keelbone.  If you’ve only got a 3.5 qt crock like me?  Your best bet will be to de-bone them or use breast fillets.

Ingredients

1 whole turkey breast (or 2 boneless fillets)
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbs Worchestershire sauce
2 tsp liquid smoke
1 small onion, chopped very fine
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

if using a whole turkey breast, place it flesh side down in the crock to make sure that the meat is covered by the sauce. If using fillets, just lay them in.

Whisk remaining ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the turkey. Cover and cook on low for at least 4 hours.

Slice and serve over rice OR…

Remove turkey to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.  Pour the stewing juices into a saucepan, add a nubbin of unsalted butter and reduce to the consistency you like.  Shred turkey before placing it on a bun and top with a nice dollop of the Q sauce. 

While lots of people go all buttermilk on their biscuits, it’s not something I keep around and I rarely remember to buy it.  I do, however, use cream in my coffee so I always have that around.  I forget where I got this recipe but it was definitely from one of the better known cookbooks.

These biscuits do not brown on top.  They stay very pale, though the bottoms will brown.  This is my favourite biscuit recipe.

Ingredients:

2 C flour
2 tsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 C cold butter cut in small cubes (1 stick)
1-1/4 C light cream

Preheat oven to 375°.  Lightly grease a quarter sheet pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a 2 qt bowl.  Cut in cold, cubed butter with a pastry blender, 2 knives, your hands...whatever...until it resembles coarse, pea-sized crumbs.  Add cream and stir just until combined.  Dough will be VERY sticky.

Very liberally dust your counter with flour.  Scrape dough out onto floured counter and liberally sprinkle flour on top.  Work the dough with your fingers a bit, adding a little more flour as necessary.  You don’t want to use too much flour or your biscuits will be dry and crumbly.  Press the dough out into a 9” circle about 1/2” thick.  Using a biscuit cutter, dip the cutter in flour and then cut straight down through the dough then twist to complete the cut.  Place 1/2” apart on prepared baking pan.  Bake 15 minutes.  Makes about 8 biscuits depending how big you cut them.

A good cook is not necessarily a good woman with an even temper. Some allowance should be made for artistic temperament.
~X. Marcel Boulestin

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• Stuffed Pepper Stew
• Pork and pozole stew
• Pork & chile stew
• Pork & chile stew
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• Hooray for the Messrs T
• Curried chicken stew
• Welcome to the family
• Mr Choppy, we hardly knew ye
• Andouille Sausage pobrecitos
• Rotini with tuna and mustard
• Sriracha-soy roasted chicken thighs and vegetables
• Stuffed Zucchini
• Sriracha Fried rice with Spam

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