Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter Ice Cream

Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter Ice Cream

So here in the mid-Atlantic there has been a buzz about Sweet Baby Jesus for the past few months. Duclaw Brewing Co., released this delectable brew a while back, but until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't gotten around to trying it. But recently Mitsy and I went out to lunch at the local taphouse and I gave it a go. It's rich with nice roasty chocolate notes. I don't think I could drink a sixer of it in an afternoon, but one or two on a cold winters today will do just fine. After tasting it, I started thinking about ice cream. And then I started researching ways to make beer ice cream. I have never tried beer ice cream, and actually I've never made it before either. But last summer, Mitsy and I got an ice cream maker as a wedding gift, and after reading various rave reviews on beer ice cream recipes, I decided to try one of my own. The result is a combination of a couple of different recipes I looked at. I still plan on making some tweaks and updates, but here is the maiden voyage as it were. This is a super rich and chocolaty ice cream, that you might just enjoy. 

Ingredients

2 cups of whole milk

1 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/4 cups Sweet Baby Jesus Porter

4 egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. smoked paprika

Directions

Use a double boiler (I used a heat resistant glass bowl on top of a large sauce pan filled with water), and add the milk and the chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate has melted into a nice chocolaty milk and then remove from  heat and allow it to cool down for a bit. 

While your chocolate milk mixture cools, take a large bowl and combine the SBJ porter, sugar, heavy whipping cream, paprika, vanilla and egg yolks and then whisk all together until fully combined. 

While continuing to whisk, start to add a couple ladles of the hot chocolate mixture. This will allow it to temper and bring it up to temperature so that you don't end up scrambling the eggs. Continue to add the hot chocolate mixture until everything is combined. Stick this bowl on top of some ice/ice bath to allow it cool down a bit. Then add it to an airtight container and put it in the fridge for at least 6 hours. I put mine in over night.

Once your mixture has cooled in the fridge, get out your ice cream maker and churn it to the manufacturers directions. I used a Cuisinart (had to freeze the mixing bowl overnight as well) and it took about 20 minutes to get to almost a soft serve consistency (it still wasn't quite that thick though). Transfer this to an airtight container and put it in the freezer for at least 2 hours, or until it gets to your desired hardness. Serve with some shaved chocolate or dark chocolate bits as garnish. 

Boom. Beer ice cream. 

Creamy Mexican-Style Turkey Soup

 

I can't believe it's been since the beginning of August since I last posted to the blog. The gardening is done, the canning complete, the vegetables in the freezer...gone. Yeah, had a mishap and the freezer went kaput on us and we lost all of our wonderful frozen veggies from the garden. Oh well. It was still a wonderful learning experience, and we will get a new freezer for next years harvest. Since the gardening season has finished, we have kept busy on indoor projects like remodeling the bathroom and basement. Now here we are the week after Thanksgiving and only three weeks until Christmas. How time flies! But even though Thanksgiving is over, there is still plenty of turkey to eat! Each year I look around the net for new and creative ways to use up some of the left over turkey. This year I went with a mexican-style soup that is a most excellent comfort food. I don't remember which site I got the original recipe from, but I think it was in a list of 10 great ideas for leftover turkey or something along those lines. At any rate, I made a couple of changes to the recipe to go with my own personal taste and ingredients that I had on hand. This is fairly easy to make and comes together quickly. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

 

2 Tbls vegetable or olive oil

1 carrot chopped into bite sized pieces (or you can cut up a bunch of those mini carrots. Thats what I did since that is all I had in the fridge).

1 stalk of celery cut into bite sized pieces.

1 sweet onion, diced

2 1/2 Tbls of minced garlic (jar or fresh)

3 cups stock (I used store bought chicken stock, but you can make your own from the turkey as well)

1 can diced chilies, drained

2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ancho chile pepper powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 1/2 cups shredded turkey

3/4 cup corn

1 bunch of cilantro leaves chopped

1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

 

Preparation

 

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, carrots and celery and saute' for a few minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat until its just simmering and add one cup of the turkey, the corn and the green chilies. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the turkey.

 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, flour, salt, ancho chile pepper powder and cumin. Stir this mixture into your soup pot and continue to stir for a few minutes as the soup thickens. Stir in the cheese and cilantro and let simmer a few more minutes so the cheese all melts in. Continue to stir occassionally throughout the whole cooking process to keep every incorporated and ensuring nothing sticks to the bottom of your pot. Serve hot and enjoy! Goes great with a glass of Pinot Grigio!

 

 

 

Zucchini Bread Recipe



The zucchini plants in our garden.

This year in our garden, I had originally planted 8 hills of zucchini. I have no idea why I thought this many was a good idea, since really one or two plants will feed a family of four for the summer quite easily. I think part of it was remembering the rows of zucchini plants in our garden when I was growing up. At any rate, this year I was fortunate that not all 8 hills sprouted. I planted them in a more shaded section of the garden and perhaps that is why they didn't all come up, or maybe I just had some bad seeds. Anyway, I ended up with 3 fairly massive zucchini hills, 2 of which  you see in the picture on the left.

 

Of course even just these have left me scratching my head as to what to do with all this zucchini that we seem to be picking every other day! Now I love zucchini just boiled and mashed with butter, but you can only eat that so many days in a row. So I decided to make some zucchini bread. And, if I may brag for a moment....this recipe rules. So here ya go:

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsps vanilla extract

3 tsps cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 cups white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 cups grated zucchini (I grated one large zucchini and this is approximately what I ended up with).

 

Directions

 

Preheat your oven to 325 F.

Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon together into a bowl. My sifter only holds a little over 2 cups, so I sifted 2 cups of flour first, and then did the additional cup of flour along with the other ingredients and then just mixed it together in the bowl.

With electric beaters, beat together the brown sugar, white sugar, eggs and vanilla extra in a separate bowl. Once well combined, start adding your dry sifted flour mix to the wet ingredients. Beat together until everything is well incorporated. Then add your zucchini. You can use beaters with this as well if you wish, however I just used a large spoon at this point. Once all ingredients are well mixed, pour it into two greased (I just sprayed mine with Pam) 8x4 pans. Place in the oven and then bake for 1 hour, then turn off the heat on the oven, but leave the bread in there for another 20-30 minutes. You will want to check it periodically after the first hour with a toothpick until the toothpick comes out clean. Once you remove it from the oven, let it cool in the pans for about 20 minutes and then remove and place on a cooling rack for about another 20-30 minutes.

 

This bread is so sweet and moist it's ridiculous. I keep mine wrapped in aluminum foil in the fridge and it makes a great addition to my morning coffee. I plan on making more, and then freezing it for later this winter. Enjoy!

 

 



The finished zucchini loaves.

First Attempt at Spaghetti Sauce and Canning

Sunday's Harvest

Now that we have rolled into August, we are in the full swing of one of my favorite parts of gardening.....harvesting! Finally the fruits of our labor can be enjoyed, almost daily.

This past weekend, we pulled over a dozen ears of corn, nearly a half bushel of tomatoes and a few peppers. With the tomatoes and peppers I thought I would now try my hand at making a spaghetti sauce from a recipe shared by my friend JC. I have never made my own spaghetti sauce from scratch before, so figured now would be a good time to start, since I don't think I could make enough salad to use up all these tomatoes.

Additionally, I decided now would be a good time to start the canning. While I was growing up, my mother spent many a Sunday canning all sorts of things, from tomatoes to peaches, applesauce and even making her own tomato juice. These would fill the shelves in our basement so we could feast on homemade and homegrown goodness throughout the year.

After working in the yard all day Sunday, I decided I would make the sauce and can on Monday night after work. Bad idea, as this is quite a bit of work, and not something I would recommend trying to get done in an evening before bed when you have to work the next day. Thinking back on all the canning my mom did when I was a kid, I have to say that I have even greater respect for her canning and cooking skills now that I have had a go at it!

Anyway, I started the sauce Monday after work. Prior to starting I went out and picked more tomatoes from the garden that had ripened, so I had filled the half bushel basket. Here is the recipe I used, (this includes some of my own additions and subtractions as I changed up slightly the recipe JC had shared).

Ingredients:

25 pounds of tomatoes (about 60-65)

3 onions, finely chopped

4 green peppers, finely chopped

8 garlic cloves, minced

3 (12 ounce) cans of tomato paste

4 tablespoons dried italian spice mix (includes oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc.)

1/3 cup of salt

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Wash and peel the tomatoes. To make peeling tomatoes easier, blanch them in boiling water for 60 seconds and then plunge them into ice-cold water. Core the tomatoes and cut them in halves or quarters. Put the tomatoes into a large pot and bring them to a boil over medium high heat. (Be sure to stir them constantly so that they don't burn on the bottom!) Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes start breaking down into small pieces.

 

2. Add the tomato paste to the tomatoes and stir to mix thoroughly.

3. Cut onions and green peppers into chunks and process in a food processor until finely chopped. Add to the simmering tomatoes and stir.

4. Mince the garlic cloves and add to the pot. ( I also just tossed these in the food processor and added them at the same time as the onions and peppers).

5. Stir to mix thoroughly and allow the sauce to simmer for 30 minutes. Continue to stir the sauce constantly.

6. Add the italian spice mix and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to mix thoroughly and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

I recommend using a very large pot for this. I started out with our largest pot, but by the time I added all the tomatoes, I had filled it to the rim and I didn't think I was going to have enough room to add the rest of the ingredients, even though the tomatoes will cook down some. So Mitsy ran next door and borrowed this big pot from the neighbor, and I made a quick transfer and put it back on the heat.

 This sauce came out pretty sweet, probably due to the type of tomatoes I grew in my garden. (Don't remember what kind they were) but they are large and have a great sweet flavor when we eat them fresh. The original recipe only called for 2 cans of the tomato paste, but I added a third to thicken it up a little more. You can also add more or less onions, peppers and garlic depending on your preference.

I also meant to add black pepper, but forgot before I started the canning process.

So by the time the sauce was done cooking, it had already gotten pretty late, but I decided to forge ahead with the canning process anyway. I put six jars in my big canning pot filled it with water (to about an inch above the jars) and set it on to boil to sterilize them. Once the water came to a rolling boil, I let them go for about 10 minutes and then came in to remove them from the heat and start filling them with my newly made precious sauce.

So imagine my horror when I pull out the first "sterilized" jar only to find it covered in a white film. Ugh. It was then I realized that I hadn't washed the jars or the canning pot prior to filling them with water, because, well, I'm an idiot. I figured this was all the dust that had been on them from sitting in the store shelves and the pot sitting in our basement for the last six months. So instead of starting all over with the jars with washing them, reboiling them, etc., I decided to wait a day, since it was already almost 11:00pm. I placed my pot of sauce in the fridge and went to bed!

Day 2

On Tuesday evening I came home and after dinner, got back to work on the canning process. I put the sauce back on the stove to heat up while I washed all the jars and the canning pot, and the put those on the stove to boil again. Once it finally came to a rolling boil (seems to take forever to start boiling with these big pots) I let it boil for 10 minutes again. Then I used my jar lifter to take out my first jar to fill with the sauce and..........it was covered in white film again. WHAT?!?! I was defeated. It was then that I realized that this was not dirt or dust collecting on my jars, but calcium and or limestone from our hard water that comes from our well. So now what? Doing a google search, I found that I could add vinegar to the water and do it all over again. Well I don't think I had enough vinegar, and quite frankly I didn't feel like boiling the jars for a third time! So what does a man do when faced with this type of dilemma? He calls his mother.

As I mentioned before, my mother has been canning for years, like probably at least 60 years, and at age 82, she is still canning every season! So I figured getting her advice on this matter would be better than any google search. Well mom said she doesn't boil her jars to sterilize them anymore, and hasn't for several years. She runs them through the dishwasher and then uses them and hasn't had a problem yet. Well I don't have a dishwasher (another project that needs to be done, and soon!), but I did fill up the sink with some scalding hot water and soap, rewashed the jars, and then rinsed them again in super hot water (seriously, I thought the skin on the back of my hands was going to come off from the heat). I then followed these canning instructions for the sauce:

Canning:

1. Add 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice to each jar. Do not use fresh lemon juice.

2. Using a funnel, transfer the spaghetti sauce into the jars. Leave a 1/2 inch headspace at the top. Release any air bubbles with a spatula. Wipe the jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Place a warm lid on each jar and hand tighten a screw band on. Do not over-tighten.

3. Place your jar rack in the water bath canner, suspending it with the handles on the edge and put your jars in the rack. Unhook the jar rack and carefully lower it into the hot water. Add more water if necessary to cover the jars with at least 1 inch of water. Heat the water to full, rolling boil for 40 minutes.

4. Remove your jars with a jar lifter and place them on a clean, dry kitchen towel away from drafts and allow them to cool completely for 12-24 hours. Test to make sure each jar has sealed and store in a cool, dark place.

I actually didn't do that whole thing with suspending the jar rack, etc. I just set the whole rack down in the pot and then added my full, capped jars one at a time using my jar lifter. I think I also boiled the batch a bit longer as well, probably more like 45-50 minutes, since I wasn't sure exactly when the full boil starter, and then at the end I was watching Conan O'Brien and didn't want to go out into the kitchen until the commericial break. Yeah, I know my precious sauce should be more important than Conan's jokes, but I think the extra five minutes was fine.

At any rate, I finished up the canning process a little after 11pm and didn't run into any issues with cracked jars or whatever other atrocities that can occur during a canning session. Oh, I did accidentally fill my canning pot to high with water, so when I added the full jars of sauce it overflowed over the top of my stove and all over the floor. I used a large measuring cup to scoop out the excess water, and then a quick use of paper towels to clean up the puddle on the floor and I was good to go. I ended up with the finished product below, and in checking the lids this morning I have a proper seal on all six jars. Mission successful!

 

I should mention that I still have more sauce, I think this would probably fill another 2-4 jars, so I may do some more tonight, or I may just make some spaghetti and start using up the sauce that way. Also this blog entry is not meant to be an instructional for how to can, as most websites on canning will recommend the sterilization procedure that I omitted after two failed attempts with the hard water. You should always take precautions with canning to ensure you have proper acidity in your recipes to avoid those fun things like botchilism. Or you can call your mom and follow her advice like I did. But call your mom, not mine.

 

Anyway, I 'm looking forward to chowing down on some good homemade spaghetti sauce this fall and winter, and now that I have my first session under my belt, I may make more. God knows we still have a ton of tomatoes coming in to use.

 

 

Culinary Smut

Earlier this week, Mitsy and I were out in the garden checking the status of our vegetables, picking some zucchini and cucumbers and just enjoying our garden area in general. Mitsy went down to see how close we were to start harvesting corn, when she saw a couple of the cobs that had some sort of blight on them. She called me over to investigate and in walking over I was greeted with this monstrosity.

 

This was the first crop of corn I have ever grown myself and I had never seen anything like this. Pulling out my trusty phone, I quickly Googled "blue mold on corn". I quickly had multiple images and articles come back about blue mold on a corn crop and so I began reading to see what I needed to do to protect the rest of my crop from being overcome with this blight.

 

Imagine my surprise when I found out this stuff was actually edible! While it can spread and infect a whole crop of corn, it can also be a delightful culinary experience. While generally in America, this stuff is referred to a "Corn Smut" (not a very appealing description), it has quite a history with our South American neighbors. In Mexico, it is commonly known as huitlacoche or cuitlacoche (pronounced QUEET-la-coh-chay).  It is commonly sold in markets and can fetch upwards to $3 a pound! It is most often used in soups and quesadillas, although searching more on the web, I found a host of recipes for it, including ice cream!

 

I , however, was still not convinced. I posted the picture above on my Facebook page and soon had several comments from friends recommending it as good eats. So I researched some more. The fungus usually occurs when rain/moisture get down into the growing corn cob and the kernels begin to rot. Still doesn't sound very appetizing, but the amazing thing is the transformation that occurs, in not only the way it looks, but the nutrient value skyrockets. Corn is pretty much devoid of lysine, one of those "essential amino acids" that the body requires but can't manufacture. We need it to fight infections and strengthen bones. However huitlacoche is loaded with it! It also has more beta-glucens than oatmeal.

 

So after reading all this, I decided to pull the four "infected ears" and try making a dish with it. After pulling the ears, I plucked off all the blue knobby kernels.

 

 

It looks almost like some kind of blue-gray deformed popcorn at this point. I had also picked a couple of jalapeno's, some cilantro and some tomatoes out of garden to go with my smut creation. In a large pan I sautéed the jalapeno's (seeds removed, you can add more if you like it spicier), 2 cloves of garlic and about a quarter of a sweet onion. Once that was cooked down, I rough chopped the huitlacoche and tossed it in. The larger fungus have black spores in them that look kind of like the underside of a Portobello mushroom. These are edible as well, although from what I understand the younger fungus has better/more acute flavors. Either way, the fungus kind of turns black and tarry looking anyway when its cooked. After sautéing on medium-high heat for a few minutes I cut the heat and added it to a warmed tortilla that had a bunch of slightly melted Mexican four-cheese mix on it. Then I cut up a fresh garden tomato and chopped up some of the cilantro and added this to my creation as well. 

 

I then wrapped up the whole concoction and topped with some salsa verde, a little taco sauce and a what was left of the fresh cilantro. It ended up looking like the picture below.

 



 

It was completely delicious! The huitlacoche has a flavor that is both earthy and sweet. The only way to describe it is a fresh corn flavored mushroom flavor. It mixed well with the other ingredients and my only regret is that I did not have more in my garden to add. I would also like to try the other recipes I found online. I highly recommend you try this odd looking yet tasty smut! I believe you can buy canned versions of huitlacoche online (I think amazon sells it) or probably at a local latin food store. I am only guessing, but I would imagine that fresh would be much better than canned. While I don't want my whole corn crop to turn into corn smut, I wouldn't having more of this in the future growing in my garden. 





Kale Chips

So I had been seeing different healthy snack ideas show up on my Pinterest feed, and recently there seemed to be an array of kale chip recipes. I had heard of these before and even seen them on the food network, but had never tried making them. Since I had a big bunch of kale in the fridge that I hadn't used yet, I figured I would try it out. The jury is still out for me on this one. While they came out fine, and I did find myself eating a whole plate of them, I can't decide if I really liked them enough to make them regularly, even though they were pretty addicting. They are pretty quick and easy to make, so give it a try.

Ingredients:

One big bunch of kale

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 tsp. red wine vinegar

Salt

Optional Ingredients:

1 tsp. dried taragon

finely grated parmesan cheese

Kitchen Equipment:

Parchment paper

1 or 2 baking/cookie sheet pans

Large bowl

Tablespoon

Teaspoon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 F. Rinse your kale well to remove any grit and then pat dry with a paper towel. Tear the kale leaves into pieces, basically about the size of potato chips. I removed most of the large stems, but left a few smaller ones on here and there. In a large bowl, add the olive oil and red wine vinegar, then add the kale. Toss the kale by hand until all the leaves have a light coating of the oil and vinegar mixture. Put a layer of parchment paper on your baking pan, and spread out your kale in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt (I was pretty liberal with the salt, but this is up to you). Then if you chose any optional ingredients, sprinkle on as well. I did one tray with the parmesan cheese and one tray with the taragon. I think I actually preferred the ones with taragon. Put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

 

The kale chips are very fragile when done, almost like parchment paper with the thinner leaves. They also don't make the most attractive display, so don't plan on fancying up your table with this as an appetizer. They are more just an interesting thing to eat, and depending on how much salt and cheese you decided to dump on them, they could be substitute snack for chips. I couldn't stop eating them for some reason, maybe it was all the salt.

Eggplant Rolls with Spinach and Fresh Mint

I love eggplant. A few years ago, I decided to plant a garden and was pretty excited about putting in eggplant. I was looking forward to having a bumper crop and making all sorts of eggplant dishes. Unfortunately the rabbits in my yard were also fans of eggplant, and within just a few short days of putting in the small plants, they had been eaten down to nothing with the exception of a few dilapidated chewed-on stalks. Oh well. I'll be trying again this year, within a fenced-in area that should keep the little critters out.

Anyway, I have been making this dish for the past three years or so and it is always a hit at the family gatherings. This is a great alternative to lasagna, can make a nice replacement if your are trying to cut back on heavier pasta dishes, as well as being a good and hearty vegetarian dish.

Ingredients

2 medium eggplants
1 bag of baby spinach leaves
2 large eggs
1 15-ounce container of whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cuts grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
1 large ball of fresh mozzarella
1 jar of Classico Tomato Sauce (I used the Garlic and Roasted Tomato)
Black Pepper
Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation

Trim the ends off of your eggplant and then cut them length-wise. Try to keep your slices even, around 1/4 inch thick. Using baking cooling racks or in a colander, spread out your eggplant slices and sprinkle them generously on both sides with salt and let them stand for at least 30 minutes and even up to an hour. This is "sweating" the eggplant, and will draw out a lot of the moisture and reduces the bitterness so common in eggplant.

 

I usually then rinse the eggplant with water to remove the excess salt and then pad them dry with paper towels. Then put your oven rack up about 5-6 inches from the heat source and get your broiler going. Arrange your eggplant slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet and brush the top side with olive oil. Broil your eggplant in batches, until they are tender and just beginning to brown, it normally only takes a few minutes per batch. I tend to do two cookie sheets at a time to get the process down quicker. Afterwards you can just stack your broiled eggplant on a plate to cool down some while you prepare the filling.

 

There are a couple of options for the spinach. You can bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and then add your spinach and boil them until just tender, usually just a few minutes. Then drain the spinach and rinse with cool water. Squeeze the spinach very dry, then chop coarsely. Then add the spinach to a large bowl.

 

A second option is to just chop the spinach raw and put it in the bowl. This is how I did it this past time, and it came out fine, although I may have had a little more liquid in the final result than normal, however this didn't cause any issue at all.

 

Once your spinach is chopped and in the bowl, stir in your ricotta cheese, 1 cup of the Parmesan, the mint, both eggs and the black pepper to taste. Stir everything together so that all ingredients are incorporated together well. Then slice up your mozzarella and set aside (do not add to the bowl of other ingredients).

 

Take a large glass baking dish and put half the jar of tomato sauce in, spreading it evenly over the bottom of the dish. Then take an eggplant slice and put a couple of tablespoons of your cheese/spinach mixture on one end.

 

Add a small slice of the mozzarella and then loosely roll up the eggplant slice, enclosing the filling. Place the roll, seam side down, atop the sauce in your baking dish and do this with each eggplant slice until you have filled your pan.

Once your pan is full, spoon the remaining half jar of sauce over the top and spread it evenly over all your rolls. Then take the remaining slices of mozzarella and place one slice on top of each roll. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan over the top and then cover with foil. Bake in the oven at 350 F for 30 minutes covered. You can bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered to get those little crispy brown spots going on the cheese. Your final result should look something like the picture below (I made a double batch this time for a family gathering).

While fresh mint may seem like an odd addition to this dish, it is not overpowering, and really kicks the dish up a notch with a touch of summer flavor, blending really well with the flavors of the other ingredients. Enjoy!

 

 



Crosshatch-Cut Stuffed Bread

From my understanding, the original basis of this recipe came from The Girl Who Ate Everything. I haven't read that particular blog as yet, but I have seen various versions of this recipe show up on other food blogs and on Pinterest.

So I decided to make my own version and see how it came out. There are multiple options for this, as you can pretty much stuff what ever ingredients in here that you want to have your own impressive display of cheesy bready goodness.


Ingredients

One loaf of sourdough bread
1 package of provolone slices (or have it cut at the deli)
1 package of mozzarella slices (again you can also have this cut at the deli)
Pepperoni Slices
1 Package of button mushrooms
1 bunch green onions
1/2 stick of butter

Preparation

Slice your bread loaf in parallel lines in one direction and then another set going the other direction, making a crosshatch pattern of cuts through the bread. Don't cut it all the way through though, just down to maybe about a quarter inch above the bottom of the loaf. The cuts should be about an inch apart. After cutting, put your bread on a foil line cookie sheet, it will make clean up much easier!

Take the provolone and mozzarella slices and stuff them down into the cut open sections of bread, alternating the cheeses. Or you could even do provolone on one side and mozzarella on the other. Then take the pepperoni slices and stick them throughout your bread as well.

Rough chop the mushrooms and slice up your green onions (use both the white and the green parts). In a large skillet, add 1/4 stick of butter and melt it over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, toss in the mushrooms and onions and cook them down for about 10 minutes. Then using a spoon, add the mushroom/onion mixture to the crevices in the bread with the cheese and pepperoni. You can use the spoon to push down your mixture to get it all in there. Then take your remaining 1/4 stick of butter and put it in the skillet that cooked the mushrooms and onions in. Melt it down over medium high heat and then drizzle the butter over your entire stuffed loaf.

Cover with tin foil and then put in a 350 F oven for about 20-25 minutes. (I did mine for only 15 minutes and the cheese down in the center didn't melt quite enough). Remove your bread from oven, transfer to a large serving dish and you're good to go! Great snack for Superbowl Sunday, or add a side salad and call it dinner. Or add a craft beer with a side of Serpico and you have a guys movie afternoon. Whatever you choose to do, you won't have any problem eating the damn thing. Its tasty.

Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

Well it seems as though everything is about food and recipes so far, but I have not currently been in gardening, brewing or project mode.  This recipe is not for the dieter or the the weak of heart (since this will probably cause any working arteries you have to seize up), however if you aren't worried about that and just want something that is easy to make and damn delicious, then please proceed with wild abandon.

You have a couple of options here with the chicken. You can buy raw chicken and then cook and shred it to your preference, or you can take the easy way out like I did, and just buy a rotisserie chicken from your local grocery store and dress it up from there. With cooking and prep this took me a little under an hour to make.

Ingredients

1 Rotisserie chicken
2 Cups Monterey Jack Cheese (shredded)
3/4 stick of butter
2 Cups chicken broth
3 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 4 oz. can of Green Chiles
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (feel free to add more for your taste preference)
1 tsp. cracked or ground black pepper
10 flour tortillas
1/4 Cup Fresh Cilantro chopped

Preparation

Remove about 2 cups worth of the chicken and shred it with a fork and knife. You can leave the skin on as well as it makes a tasty addition. If you have used raw chicken and cooked it yourself, just make about two cups shredded. Add the chicken to a sauce pan or large non stick fry pan. Put on a very low heat and add the cumin, garlic powder and black pepper. Stir well to ensure all the chicken is incorporated well with your spices and leave on low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a sauce pan on medium high heat melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, whisk in your flour. Continue to whisk for a couple minutes until the butter and flour are bubbly and thick. Then add the chicken broth. Whisk together and then leave on heat until the mixture thickens in consistency and  begins to bubble. Turn heat down to low so as not to boil the mixture as you are now going to incorporate your sour cream (but you don't want it to curdle in a super high heat). Whisk in the sour cream and then add the green chiles. Leave on the heat for a couple more minutes while continuing to stir and then turn off heat.

Now that the chicken has cooled some, you will add 1 cup of the monterey jack cheese to the chicken and mix it together. Put some of your chicken and cheese mixture on a tortilla and then roll it up and place it in a glass baking dish. Continue to do this with each tortilla until you have filled the bottom of your dish. I think I used a 9x12 pan and it held 10 of these, which used all of my chicken and cheese. Now pour your sour cream and green chile sauce over all of the tortillas. Add the remaining 1 cup of monterey jack cheese on top. Bake in a 350 F oven for 20 minutes. Then remove from the oven and turn your broiler on high. Place the dish under the broiler for about 1-2 minutes or until your cheese on top gets a nice crispy brown.

When you serve your enchiladas, top them with the fresh chopped cilantro. I also included a side of black beans. (1 15oz. can heated with 1 tsp of cumin).

These enchiladas are rich and tasty!

Spinach Cheese Wreath

Back a few years ago, my niece had a Pampered Chef party and invited me to come check it out since she knew I enjoyed cooking. So I figured I would stop by for a while and show her some support but didn't plan on buying anything really.

Somehow a few hours later I left with over $500 worth of Pampered Chef cookware and gadgets. Not really sure how that happened, I think someone slipped something in my drink and took advantage of my cookware coma. Nevertheless I have been quite pleased with the items I purchased, most of all the pizza stone. I am not really sure how I got through the years prior to owning a pizza stone, and I highly suggest you get one, Pampered Chef or otherwise.

So this past weekend, I decided to pull out the trusty stone and do a little baking. As if we didn't already have enough food in the fridge left over from Thanksgiving. But quite frankly, I was tired of turkey, ham, and sides, didn't feel like re-creating a Pinterest worthy dish out of leftover turkey, and just had a hankerin' for something different.

I made a spinach cheese wreath, which I have made several times a year ever since I got the pizza stone. The basis of the recipe comes from the Pampered Chef cookbook, although I make small variations to the recipe each time I make it depending on what I am in the mood for or what I have in the fridge. Here is the one I made last night....

Ingredients

2 packages of crescent rolls (16 total rolls) Leave in fridge until ready to use.
10 ozs frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
1 can of artichoke hearts
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 6 oz. package of feta cheese
1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of mayo
1 egg
1 clove of garlic, minced or sliced paper thin.
1 tomato
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation

Chop the spinach (if you didn't buy pre-chopped) and the artichoke hearts and put in a mixing bowl. Add the mayo, mozzarella, parmesan, feta cheese, egg, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix well until all ingredients are incorporated.

Remove the crescent rolls from the fridge and open and unroll. Arrange the first package of rolls in a circle on the pizza stone with the pointy ends facing outward. Do the same with the second package of rolls filling in the gaps between the first circle. A smaller version of it would look basically like this on your stone (or pan): 

 

Then spoon your cheesy mixture onto the thickest part of the dough on your wreath. Once you have made a complete circle with your mixture you are now ready for the tomato. Cut your tomato into slices, and then cut each slice in half length-wise. Place the tomato slices in a circle on top of the cheese spinach mixture.

 

Once this is complete, take a pointed edge of a crescent roll and fold it over the mixture in a clockwise direction. Do this with every other cresecent roll. Then fold over counter-clockwise the remaining crescent rolls. This will give you a braided look to your wreath. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

 

I didn't take any pictures last night of the wreath I made, so here is a couple I gleaned from the internet to give you an idea. I will take pictures next time I make one and replace these.

 

 

There are multiple ingredients you can use in this. I have previously made mine with a mix of swiss and mozarella cheese. Other ingredient options to consider:

 

Mushrooms

Pancetta

Ham

Sausage

Green Onion

Peppers

 

You can omit or add as your tastebuds prefer. It really is a versatile dish and awesomely delicious. Plus once you get the braid down, it makes quite an impression when friends or family are over for dinner. Another option is to use an egg white to brush over the whole outer roll and then sprinkle with slivered almonds, as seen above.

Enjoy!

 



Barbecue Pulled Pork

Pulled pork in all its tasty glory!

Here is a simple recipe to give you plenty of good eats for a weekend. I made this last Friday/Saturday and had enough for three of us to make several meals out of.

Ingredients:

5-6 lbs of boneless pork roast or pork butt. (I purchased two roasts that were around 2.8 lbs each.)
2-3 Cups of a good beef broth
Barbecue Sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's original recipe, about 1/3 of one of the big bottles)

Preparation

Put your pork roast in the crock pot. Add 2-3 cups of the beef broth. Turn heat to high and allow to cook for 3-4 hours. Turn heat to low and cook for another 7-8 hours. (I just let mine cook overnight). Remove roast, discarding broth and add to a large bowl or casserole dish. Using a couple of forks, pull apart the meat, shredding it, and removing any pieces of fat. Once all the meat is shredded, add your barbecue sauce, toss until well coated. The amount of sauce is up to your personal preference.

Serve on a soft bun with a side of coleslaw and a good dill pickle. Enjoy!

This recipe is great for football Sundays!