Bagel Dogs

Superbowl Sunday, we had homemade bagels and bagel dogs for dinner. I can't take credit for the recipe--that belongs to Joy the Baker, who in turn was re-purposing the bagel recipe from Alton Brown.

The bagels (with and without hot dogs) were pretty easy. Yes, there is yeast dough involved, and you do boil the shaped bagels in a baking soda-water before baking. So its more work than buying something frozen. And a whole lot tastier. And the leftovers froze nicely (to be re-heated several days later.

Next time, I may make a few pizza bagels, adding pepperoni and cheese when baking.

Ham and Cheese Spoon Bread

Reminder to self: a 16-pound ham is more than 10 people can eat for a single dinner. So, leftovers. Lots of leftovers.

A spoon bread is kind of like a souffle, with cornmeal to add a bit more substance. This version has ham, cheese, onions, and a touch of bacon for tastiness

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (I used Penzey's Ancho Chili Pepper)
• 3/4 cup cornmeal (NOT cornbread mix!)
• 4 eggs, yolks and egg whites separated
• 1 tablespoon olive oil* (You may not need this)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 8 ounces chopped leftover ham
• 2 slices cooked bacon* (Or uncooked, see note)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 2 1/2 quart round casserole (a deep one) with cooking spray, and set aside.
2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and set aside.
3. In a 3 quart sauce pan, whisk the milk, sugar, thyme, and red pepper. Heat over medium-high until it begins to simmer.
4. Whisk in the cornmeal and continue to cook about 1-3 minutes, whisking, until it thickens. Scrape the mixture into a large mixing bowl and set aside off the heat.
5. Stir the egg yolks into the cornmeal mixture.
6. Saute onions, ham, and bacon (Note that I did option 1 because I had leftover cooked bacon. I think option 2 would add another yummy layer of un-light-but-tasty bacon flavor to the dish)
1. Option 1: In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmery. Add the onions and saute until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped ham and pre-cooked bacon and continue to heat until warm. Note I'm using leftover ham that was previously roasted to a nice brown. Cook longer if your ham needs browning.
2. Option 2: In a large skillet, fry the un-cooked bacon over medium-high heat until brown and crispy. DO NOT pour off the bacon grease. Add the onions to the bacon and saute about 5 minutes until brown. Add the ham and heat thoroughly.
7. Stir the ham and onion mixture into the cornmeal mixture.
8. Fold the egg whites into the cornmeal mixture.
9. Pour into the prepared casserole. Bake about 50 minutes until it is set in the center.

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

My cats are the only felines I have ever known who try to steal scraps of biscuit dough. I wonder if its the milk or the butter. But either way, our two 1-year old cats (no longer longer kittens) tend to claim the counter stools closest to my work surface with the same eager expressions on their face that my two-footed children do when I'm making cupcakes.

Tonight's baking was Cheddar Garlic Biscuits to go with a crock-pot pot roast. Homemade biscuits are easy to make and this version is tasty even though it calls for plain milk instead of buttermilk. With the cheese, these make great drop biscuits, so there is no rolling pin or floured counter to clean.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cold
• 2 tablespoons additional butter (for melting)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (fresh or jarred).

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 450.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt.  
• Using a pastry cutter (or butter knives or forks, or a food processor), cut the 1/2 cup cold butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.
• Stir the cheese into the dry ingredients.
• Melt the 2 tablespoons butter and garlic together in a ramekin in the microwave. 30 seconds on high was perfect.
• Stir the milk into the butter/flour/cheese mixture with a spatula just until it comes together.
• Drop the biscuit dough by fat spoonfuls onto a baking sheet about 2" apart.
• Brush the tops of each biscuit with melted garlic butter.
• Bake 10-14 minutes (longer for bigger biscuits, shorter for smaller ones).
• Makes 12-16 biscuits.

Bacon Cheddar Mac

This recipe for Bacon Cheddar Mac is another  super-fast dinner, totally inspired by what I had on hand:  a partial box of elbow noodles, a block of Sharp Cheddar with an expiration date fast approaching, and bacon. Everything's better with bacon. This made enough for one generous-sized portion or two merely normal portions (I ate the whole thing myself, so please don't count the calories for me..yummm...)


Ingredients

• 3/4 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 slices thick-cut bacon
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 3/4 cup shreeded sharp cheddar cheese
• pinch smoked spanish paprika
• pinch ground mustard
• sea salt
• fresh-cracked black pepper

Directions

1. Boil macaroni according to package directions. Prepare the sauce while its going (the timing was spot-on for me)
2. In a large non-stick skillet, fry the bacon until browned and crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan (save the grease! Emeril Lagasse would be proud! My family doctor would not!)
3. Return the pan and hot bacon grease to a medium burner. With a silicone spatula, stir in the flour until it is lightly browned (goes pretty fast in hot bacon grease).
4. Add milk and whisk quickly to distribute the flour. Cook over medium to med/low heat until the milk is thickened and bubbly (about 2-3 minutes, tops)
5. Stir in the shredded cheese, a little at a time, waiting for it all to melt before adding more.
6. Sprinkle in the paprika, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.
7. Drain the cooked macaroni (no need to rinse), and toss in the cheese sauce.
   Crumble in the cooked bacon and eat it quickly before guilt sets in.

Freaky Good Beer Can Chicken

Some time ago, I picked up a nifty little rack for making beer can chicken. Last weekend, we gave it a test drive.

Oh. Wow. Talk about good. And easy. And really funny looking. You might not even need the rack, but it did help keep the chicken upright. Oh, and you might want to think about a poultry thermometer also. You stick one of those into the thigh of the bird before it goes on the heat, and follow the markings for your doneness level. They come in a steak version too. Those suckers are good in an indoor oven as well as on the grill.


Ingredients

• One whole chicken, gizards and neck (and whatever else comes packed in the little bag) removed.
• One 12oz can beer. We used Heineken.
• One granny smith apple
• One sprig fresh rosemary
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Heat grill on high about 10-15 minutes and clean the grates.

2. Drink half of the beer. (Or pour it out, but you want your can half full).
3. Stick the sprig of rosemary into the opening on the can, put the can into the stand, and stuff the can+stand up the bottom of the chicken. Yes, it looks kinda pornographic. The beer makes it funnier.
4. Carve the apple down until it is the right size to plug the neck cavity. This will keep the bear steam from escaping and also flavor the bird at the same time.
5. Leave one burner on high and turn the rest off. Place the chicken over the side of the grill away from the heat (indirect), and roast about 60-70 minutes until thoroughly cooked.

6. Remove the chicken from the grill and let it rest about 10 minutes before taking it off the stand and slicing.

Easy Grilled Teriyake Chicken Kebabs

When I take over grilling duties from my husband, I still make him light it for me. That's because our trusty old grill,  hasn't had a working starter for about eight years :)

Kebabs are really easy. Most of the work involves a knife. My suggestions:
1. Use metal skewers, like these. They're easy to clean and no pre-soaking required (they also won't catch on fire if you get a bad flareup). Buy once, use for years.

2. Get a set of color-coded flexible cutting boards and extra knives. That way you can keep beef, chicken, fish, and vegetable ingredients separate until its time for the final assembly. If you only have one favorite chef's knife, always cut the vegetables before the meat (and wash with hot, soapy water when switching between meats).

This recipe feeds about 3-4 people, and is easy to scale up by adding more meat, veggies or fruit. Apples, peaches, thick pineapple chunks, and squash are all good choices.

Ingredients

• 2 bell peppers (I used 1 green, one yellow)
• 3 small yellow onions
• 16 oz baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and whole
• 3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Bottled teriyake sauce. I used Kikkoman Honey Pineapple:
  
  
• salt, pepper, and olive oil

Directions

1. Light a gas grill and turn all burners to high to preheat about 10 minutes.
2. While the grill heats, chop all of the veggies (except the mushrooms)into 1" chunks.
3. On a separate cutting board, trim any fatty bits off the chicken and chop the into 1" chunks. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Alternate veggies and meat on the skewers, ending with a mushroom on the pointed end (they will help keep the rest of the veggies from sliding off during transfers).
5. Turn the grill burners down to medium-high and clean the grates (Old gunk comes off really well when they are hot).
6. Arrange all the skewers on the grill. Cover and cook about 2 minutes per side.
7. For turning, I would take the skewer from the far right hand side, move it to the far left, and roll the rest of them down across the grates, then cook another 2 minutes. Keep rolling and moving that last skewer back to the beginning until all the chicken is cooked through and all sides are equally grilled. This helps account for hot and cold spots on an unevenly cooking grill :)
8. During the last 2-3 rotations of the kebabs, brush the teriyake sauce on teh top side using a long-handled grill brush. Careful not to leave the sauced-sides down for too long--the sugars in the sauce can burn.
9. If you need a carb fix, serve over steamed brown rice, or as wraps in tortillas.

Grilled Steak Fajitas

We eat a lot of steak in our house, almost all of it grilled. One of the dishes that I make as often (if not more often) than my husband (who is also a talented cook) is steak fajitas.

First, lets talk equipment. Grilling does not take a lot of fancy stuff, but there are a few essentials that I would recommend. A long-handled silicone basting brush for oiling the grates and/or basting. Grill tongs and spatula. A pair of Orka brand oven mitts, made of silicone and perfect for grabbing hot slippery foods off of open flames (For some reason my kids run around the house with them making barking noises. I have no idea why). A grill tray that will keep vegetables and small foods like shrimp from falling through the grates.

And, lest my lit make you think I'm a bit of a kitchen snob (which I might be, but you know, I really like to cook..), I present you with the photo of our actual grill. Note the handle that once resembled wood, the lid that has been repainted (they make spray paint specifically for grills!), the burners that have been replaced at least once (possibly twice?), and the missing right-hand knob. Hard to see in the photo, but we use a pair of vice grips to adjust the flame on the right half of the grill.

Steak Fajitas

Ingredients

• 1 pound beef flank steak (a typical one where I shop runs .75-1.5 pounds)
• salt and fresh cracked pepper*
• juice from one 1 lime (approx 1-2 Tbsp)
• olive oil or cooking oil
• 2 yellow onions
• 1-2 bell peppers

Note: You can get fancier with your steak seasonings, though you really don't need to. My husband's most recent combo included cumin, green chili pepper, garlic powder, and ancho chili powder in addition to salt and pepper. Other easy options are pre-mixed taco seasoning, steak seasoning, chili powder, or fajita seasoning.

Directions

1. Light the grill and turn all burners to high. Allow to preheat 5-10 minutes while prepping the steak and vegetables.
2. Remove the seeds, stem, and white ribs from inside of the bell peppers and cut the colored part into long 1/2" thick strips.
3. Remove the papery skin from the onions, plus the two tips. Chop the onions in half and then slice each half into 1/2" pieces. Don't separate the layers too much at this stage. They will cook easier in bigger chunks.
4. Rub both sides of the steak with salt and pepper (and additional seasonings, if using).
5. Now that the grill is hot, clean the grates with a grill cleaning brush to remove any baked on food (yes, do it when you're all done too, but a good cleaning at the start keeps tonight's food from sticking).
6. Turn the grill burners to medium high and lightly grease the grates with the cooking oil using a long-handled grill brush.
7. If your grill isn't big enough for the vegetable tray and the steak at the same time (ours really isn't), then do the steak first. Cook it over medium-high heat with the lid closed, turning every 2-4 minutes until the outside has a nice char and the inside is your desired doneness.  I usually aim for medium, which takes around 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the steak and how many flare-ups you get.
8. When the steak is done, remove from the heat, pour on the lime juice, cover your platter with foil (or wrap the steak tightly if you haven't yet started the veggies), and let it sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting.  This is really important. If you cut it too soon, the juices will be all over your cutting board instead of in your tortilla.
9. Spread the veggies on the tray an drizzle with cooking oil. Cook about 5-10 minutes, stirring every 1-2 minutes, until they are as done as you like them. Some folks want them lightly seared, some prefer their onions nearly carmelized.  Keeping the grill lid closed between stirs will help them cook faster.
10. Slice the steak across the grain, preferably at a slight angle and into the thinnest slices you  can.  The long strings of muscle in flank steak can be chewy but if you slice them so each piece has many super-short strings, it will melt like butter in your mouth.
    
    

Cinco de Mayo Main Course: Slow-Cooker Pork with Mole sauce

That would be pronounced mol-AY sauce. No relation to the small mammal. Mole is a Mexican chili-type sauce that frequently includes nuts and chocolate in its list of ingredients.

The actual prep time of this version is pretty minimal since the bulk of the cooking is done in a crockpot. I used a pork tenderloin for the meat (just one, because it's the right amount to feed my little family), but it would be quite tasty with a different pork roast. And there was way more sauce than I needed for my one lone strip of pork. I think you could easily go up to a 2 or 3 pound roast without doubling the sauce recipe.

You can serve this as a main dish or shred/chunk it and use for taco filling. Warning: the chipotle packs a punch. If you don't like your food picante you might want to cut back on that ingredient or substitute some mild chili powder instead.

Ingredients

• Pork roast (up to 3 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons chipotle chilis in adobo sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup whole almonds
• 2 ounces dark chocolate
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 slices sandwich bread

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Brown the pork on all sides then transfer to a slow cooker.
2. In a blender, combine the tomatoes, chipotle, garlic, onion, almonds, chocolate, cinnamon, and bread. Blend well. This will look like a thick chili sauce.
3. Pour sauce over the pork roast.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

30 Minute Chili

I have nothing against slow-cooked chili and I do use my crockpot frequently. But it is possible to make flavorful chili on a weeknight in about half an hour (including the time to defrost frozen ground beef!) and using a single pan.

Ingredients

• 1 pound 90% lean ground beef
• 1 30 oz (the fat size) can Brooks hot chili beans
• 1 30 oz can of tomato puree or diced tomatoes.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper
• 1 medium yellow onion
• About 1/2 cup chili powder
• Epazote* (optional)
• Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Directions

1. While the ground beef if defrosting in the microwave (I can never remember to thaw in the fridge ahead of time), chop the onion and pepper. Chop them at coarse or fine as you like. My peppers usually end up about 3/4" square and onions about 1/4" or so.
2. In the bottom of a 6-quart chili pot (stock pot, dutch oven, whatever you call it), heat the oil over medium heat until shimmering.
3. Add the peppers and the onions and cook, stirring often, until they begin to soften and brown a bit, maybe 3 minutes or so
4. Add the ground beef to the pot and brown it with the onions and peppers. Using the lean ground beef means there's nothing to drain, which saves me a step.
5. Turn on your vent. Or open a window. Trust me on this.
6. Add your chili powder, dry, to the hot pan with the meat and onions/peppers. Stir it in and cook about 3-5 minutes before adding any liquid. This may smoke a touch as the ground peppers release their oils. The hotter your chili powder, the less I would recommend inhaling deeply over the pot as it toasts. But, you have to stir and scrape the bottom to make sure nothing burns or sticks. Toasting the spice like this deepens the chili flavor quickly, bringing out some of the flavor that usually takes a long simmer.
7. Pour in the tomatoes and beans and epazote (if using), stir, then cover your pan and lower the temperature to medium-low. Simmer about 10 minutes (or longer if you have longer).
8. Before you serve the chili, taste it. Depending on what kind of chili powder you use, you may not need to add any salt and pepper, or you may need quite a bit. Add a little, stir, wait a minute or two, then taste again.
9. In our family, we serve chili with tortilla chips or cornbread muffins, shredded cheese, and a bottle of extra-hot sauce for myself and my husband (we haven't quite killed the kids' tastebuds yet).

*Epazote is a mexican herb that is supposed to act as a natural Bean-o and reduce the gassy after-effects of the chili. It's just a dried leaf that adds little in the way of flavor to the chili. Anecdotally, I think it works :) I buy mine at Penzeys as well as their chili powder (we keep medium, hot, and a few extra additions onhand, and custom-blend depending on who is eating).

Happy Pancake Day

Ok, so we make pancakes for dinner too often. Tonight I have an excuse. It is National Pancake Day.

I am happy that we Catholics aren't required to abstain from butter and eggs during Lent anymore, but Shrove Tuesday isn't complete without pancakes and bacon for dinner.

Yes, my bacon is slightly overdone. Don't believe the extra-dark color in the photo. It did not actually taste burnt. Just super-caramelized.

Back to the pancakes. Tonight: oatmeal.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil
• 1 egg

Directions

1. Heat a griddle according to your griddle directions. On mine, that's about 350-375 degrees.
2. In a small mixing bowl, mix the oats, milk, oil and egg. Set aside to let the oats soften.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. Add the wet to the dry and stir until combined. This will be lumpy because of the oats.
5. Pour onto a hot (and possibly greased) griddle and cook the first side until the top is almost dry. Then flip and cook until the second side is browned. Makes about 8 six-inch pancakes.

Sometimes I add a little cinnamon (about 1/4 tsp) to this recipe to really play up the oatmeal flavor, but I forgot tonight.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and the first of 40 days (plus Sundays) where I go chocolate free. No, the Church doesn't outlaw chocolate during Lent, but I was once encouraged to choose an activity that would be a daily reminder of the season, and there aren't many optional things in my life that I do on a daily basis. Yes, chocolate is one of them (and alas, neither the day job nor laundry count as optional...)

Wish me luck. Or maybe I should be asking for prayers...

Weeknight Roast Chicken and Vegetables

I love a one-pan meal that is quick to make after the work-school-carpool rush midweek, and last night I was in the mood for real food. You know, the kind that doesn't come pre-packaged or with a side of fries.  I didn't start this dish until almost six, and we were done eating by seven.

There are a couple of tricks I used to speed up the cooking. The main one is to cut the meat into smaller cutlets and then use a meat mallet to pound them to an even 1/2" thickness. That also turned two large-ish chicken breasts into about six smaller pieces, giving the kids their own piece and letting my husband and I each choose our portion size.  If you don't want to cut up the chicken you can buy smaller cutlets or boneless skinless chicken tenders.

Another trick is more of a technique than a trick. My frying pans are oven-safe (they have all-metal handles), so I can sear the chicken on the stove top and then finish the cooking in the oven without messing up a second baking dish.  When you take the pan out of the oven at the end, slip on a silicone handle cover or a pot holder over the handle and leave it there so you're not tempted to grab it with a bare hand.

I chose the veggies in this dish by one simple factor: they were what we had in the fridge. Feel free to subsitute something else (carrots, fennel, asparagus, fresh green beans, etc). If you want to roast potatoes, then you may need to adjust your cooking times or start them while you're searing the chicken (celery and peppers still taste good when crisp, potatoes not so much).

Ingredients

• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 3/4-1 pound
• kosher salt, pepper, olive oil
• 2 Tbsp Fresh thyme (or dried, or rosemary, or a salt-free herb mix, or just stick with salt and pepper)
• 2 ribs celery
• 1 cup white mushrooms
• 1 red bell pepper

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425.
2. Chop the veggies into about 1" pieces.
3. Cut the chicken into about 3-4 pieces each. Cover them with saran wrap and pound with a meat mallet until they are about 1/2" thick.
4. Dry the chicken breasts with a paper towel and sprinkle each with kosher salt and cracked black pepper.
5. Heat about 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat in an oven-proof frying pan on the stove top until shimmering.
6. Sear both sides of the chicken in the pan until golden brown. Yes, the middles may still be pink.
7. Add the veggies and herbs to the top of the chicken. I added an extra drizzle of olive oil at this point because my pan was kind of crowded and mushrooms tend to suck up all the oil in the pan.
8. Place pan in the oven and roast about 5-10 minutes until the meat reads 160 on a meat thermometer.
9. Remove the pan from the oven and let the dinner rest, covered (with foil or a pan lid) while you set the table.
10. This is very yummy served with mashed potatoes. Ok, so we had boxed mashed potatoes. Sometimes I can't completely avoid packaged foods on weekenights.

Shrimp Fajita Wraps

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound small shimp (70-90 count)
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried chipotle chili powder
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• tortillas, lettuce, cheese, and salsa (ok, and sour cream and avocado too, if you're into that sort of thing)

Directions

1. Slice pepper and onion into strips.
2. Mix all of the seasonings and sugar together.
3. Toss the shrimp with half of the seasoning mix and set aside
4. Toss the sliced vegetables in the rest of the seasoning mix in a separate bowl.
5. Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium to medium-high heat with about 1 tbsp olive oil.
6. Add the seasoned vegetables and cook, stirring often, until the onions are softened and beginning to carmelize, about 5-10 minutes. Remove the veggies to a serving bowl and cover.
7. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and add the shrimp.
8. Cook, stirring or flipping them often until the shrimp are pink and curled, about 2 minutes.
9. Serve the shrimp and veggies fajita-style, or make wraps, or skip the tortillas and just make salads.