So good Spaghetti Sauce!

2 cans tomato sauce
1 can of chopped tomatoes, if you have fresh just make sure you seed them.
1 pound of your favorite ground meat
half an onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 tablespoon thyme, oregano, basil, parsley
2 glugs of red wine (this is a technical term)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon red chili flakes

In a pot mix all ingredients together, there is no science to this, just combine, brown your meat, cooking thoroughly. Bring to a boil then let simmer for an hour, the longer it simmers the more the flavors will develop, if it gets to thick, add some beef or chicken stock to thin it out. I make this a head on the weekend and freeze it, for use throughout the month

Left over magic!

We have talked about kitchen fails, but what about kitchen victories. I have been down most of the weekend and am now finally starting to feel better. I put some vegetables in the oven, roasted them off, and put them in homemade chicken stock.

Vegetables:
Butternut squash(1)
Sweet potato(1)
onion(1)
garlic (2 cloves)
Carrots (3)
Left over chicken, beef, or lamb

1 teaspoon cumin, white pepper, and peri peri (Indian spice)
1 tablespoon salt
1 bay leaf
1 sprig Rosemary whole
2 boxes of chicken sock
1 bag of spinach
1/4 cup white wine

Roast all vegetables till tender, add to chicken stock already warming on the oven, add all spices, bring to boil, add the wine and let simmer for an hour. Use immersion blender to make smooth after removing bay leaf and rosemary. Add spinach let wilt, add meat let warm serve over rice or Quinoa

Deconstructed Chicken Cordon Blue

3 chicken breast, pounded out to a little over a 1/4 inch
Put them in the fridge after sprinkling garlic, onion powder salt and pepper. Let them sit for an hour or so.

1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
Mix these ingredients together, this is your flour dredge

Liquid dredge
1 large egg
1/4 milk

3rd stage dredge
2 cups Panko

Use a cast iron pan with a 1/4 cup of oil, heat on medium high.
Dredge in flour, fully covering it, shaking of extra, dip in egg mixture, then cover with Panko. Put it in the pan, and cook on both sides 1-3 minutes till brown. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, finish in the oven for 10 minutes. Make sure they go in together to ensure even cooking.

Cut 3 slices of ham and put right on top of the chicken the same time you put the chicken in, you can put the oven on broil for the last 4 minutes to brown the ham. Turn oven off and put a slice of cheese of your choice on top and let melt. We put Hollandaise sauce on ours, but that is optional.

Tortillas done right!

3 cups flour
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of each ingredient:
-salt
-baking powder
-onion powder
-garlic powder
1 cup warm water (may need to add more depending on many things)

Add all dry ingredients to the stand mixer bowl, turn on low for about a minute, then add wet ingredient. Mix on medium till combined, scraping the sides as needed. Let rest for 30 minutes. This is not perfect science, I had fun with it and made tortillas at different shapes. Pre-heat a cast iron pan to medium high. After rolling the a ball of dough out as thin as possible cook each side for 30-45 seconds. Over cooking will make them dry. This might take practice, I made the with butter as well, and surprising enough the vegetable oil was a better flavor.

Raised knots

1/4 butter, melted
2/3 half & half
1/3 water
Warm these ingredients to 110 degrees
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg, large
3-3.5 cups water
Put yeast and honey into mixer, pour in milk mixture, let sit for 5-10 minutes till foamy. Add egg and salt and combine, on a low setting. Add 2.5-3 cups flour, then mix. Continue to add flour till it does not stick to sides of bowl or mixer. Kneed for 2 minutes with dough hook or 5 minutes by hand. Cover and let rise for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 390-400 degrees. punch dough down and shape into cute little knots, put on a greased or parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Let rise for 15 more minutes and cook for 15 -20 minutes.
Topping
2 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of garlic and Italian seasoning
Any cheese that you like
Melt these ingredients together, except the cheese, after they cook brush on butter and sprinkle cheese, let melt

Cowboy Stew

2 pound roast beef cut into medium chunks
1 large union , cut in wedges
3 carrots, cut in thirds
5 white potato, cut in half
Half a carton beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoons oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
1/2 cup red wine
2 table spoons olive oil
1/4 potato flour, for thickening

Drizzle olive oil in pan, on medium high heat take your cubes of beef sprinkle with salt and pepper liberally, brown in a cast iron skillet, or any frying pan, I am just on a cast iron kick right now. Brown both sides of meat. I had to do mine in batches, when I was done with one bath I would splash some red wine at the end and cook it down. At this point throw everything in the pot except for the carrots and potato, oh and the potato flour. Cook on medium heat for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender. The last hour put the rest of the ingredients and call it done when the potatoes are tender. Buy or make a rustic loaf of bread, for gluten free dining make some corn bread!!

Meatloaf in a Blanket

 1 pound beef and a pound of pork, ground
1 small onion, diced, raw
8-10 slices of bacon, uncured
3 slices of bread, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire
1 tablespoon of steak sauce
1 healthy pinch of seasoning salt
1 heavy pinch parsley (these are very precise measurements, as you can see)
tablespoon of thyme, oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Finishing sauce:
3/4 ketchup, 1/2 teaspoon of mustard

Combine all ingredients except bacon, mix it really good, but don't over mix so it turns soupy, form into a loaf in an elevated rack with a cookie sheet underneath. Put bacon on top, and half the finishing sauce on top of the bacon. Cook 350 degrees for 45 minutes pull out put rest of finishing sauce on top and put back in the oven for 15 minutes. For crispy bacon put on low broil for 6-8 minutes at the end.

Big Game Chili

Big Game Chili (even though the hawks lost, this was a winner)

3 cans chili beans 1 can black beans, now I get the chili beans that already have all the spices in it, I doctor it up, but I also like a time saver. 
2 pounds ground beef
1 can of Mexican season diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 pasilla/poblano chili, diced
1 table spoon salt and pepper
1 tablespoon cumin

Throw chili beans in the crock pot, rinse black beans thoroughly and toss them in there too. Cook ground beef and throw that and all the juices in the pot, in the same pan sweat the onions down and add them in the crock pot. Add tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. If you desire hotter chili leave the seeds in of the jalapeno. Let crock pot do it's thing for 2-3 hours, taste and add heat, salt, pepper as needed or to taste.

Left over solution!

One of my least favorite things is leftovers, I am not sure if it is a childhood thing or what, but I won't eat leftovers. Drives my wife crazy, I found a way to eat some left overs and even give it a different taste. Egg rolls!! Who does not like egg rolls, all left over meat wrapped in deep fried goodness can't go wrong. I took a pork shoulder that I lightly smoked and cooked over the weekend, heated it up with any sauce of your liking and put some shredded vegetables with it and POOF!! Quick cooking, delicious with rice, potato, or any other side that you fancy.

All things BACON!!

We tried our hand at making bacon today, we did this 2 ways. I added about 1/2 cup a salt, 3 tablespoons pepper to a 3 pound slab of pork belly. I put it in my smoker for 3 hours at 200-250 degrees or until internal temperature is 150 degrees

2nd way we did it was taking a cup sugar and 3 tablespoons of molasses, 3 tablespoons of salt and pepper. We are letting it sit for three days moving everyday until we smoke it at the same temperature above.

This could potentially be dangerous, I personally love bacon. If I can fin a way to make it without all the garbage they put in it, I will be eating it even more. The first way is not as salty as the second. So it is good for those trying to watch their sodium intake.