Food, Fitness, Photography

Food, Fitness, Photography

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Chicken-Fried Steak



What you need: Beef Cubed Steak, 1 egg, flour (I used whole wheat, white also works) bread crumbs, corn meal, crushed corn chex (or crackers, or other cereal)

Put flour on one plate, a beaten egg on another plate, and mix up the bread crumbs, corn meal, and crushed chex on a third plate. 




Heat a little bit of oil in a skillet (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan).

Cover a piece of steak with flour, then with egg, then with the crumb mixture. 

Put steak in skillet and cook evenly on both sides.




Tonight, I had my steak with a vegetable/tri-color cous cous medley. 


Chop and begin to steam: 1 carrot, 2 celery, 2 large radishes, and a big handful of leeks.

When you think the veggies are about half-way soft, add 3/4 c hot water and a dash of salt and bring to a boil as quickly as possible, then add 1/2 c cous cous.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season to taste. 

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

PUMPKIN!



Another one of my absolute favorite flavors.  Had a whole bunch of free time last night so what did I do...played in the kitchen til bedtime! Cooked myself some dinner and then decided that I still hadn't spent enough time in the kitchen. 
  
I've been craving pumpking muffins lately, so I dug out a big can of pumpkin from the back of my cabinet and whipped some up

2 eggs
1 c pumpkin
1 stick butter
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c brown sugar
1 3/4 c flour
chocolate chips

I did make a few alterations to the recipe this time...
  -instead of 1 3/4 c white flour, I used 1 c wheat flour and 3/4 white
  -I added 1/2 c quick oats
  -instead of mixing a whole bunch of chocolate chips into the batter, I put a few on top of each muffin

Bake at 350
   -45-55 minutes for bread
   - about 30 minutes for muffins
   -about 15 minutes for mini-muffins


Breakfast this morning was delicious! Eggs n bacon and a muffin.  And then another muffin.

After making the muffins, there was still a lot of pumpkin left, there were probably about 4 cups in that can originally.  I froze most of it, but I wasn't done playing in the kitchen yet.  I decided that I wanted to try making pumpkin sorbet. 

In a small saucepan, place 1 c water, scant 1/2 c sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, (stirring) then simmer for a little while, then let cool for a little while.  Stir in about 1/2 c pumpkin.  Put it in a glass container in the freezer overnight.  (I used 1 tsp salt...you can definitely taste it.  So I'm guessing on the 1 tsp...) 

It froze pretty well, but not quite rock hard.  I used a wooden spoon to shave it up in the dish for easier serving later.


Monday, August 29, 2011

Pork Chops and Roasted Sweet Potatos

Roasted Sweet Potatos
preheat the oven to 400

Heat some bacon grease in a skillet on the stove (or butter...or olive oil...)
Peel and chop a sweet potato into bite-sized chunks
Add the potato pieces to the skillet, sprinkle with mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano. 
Cook, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes. 
Transfer potato pieces to a baking sheet, leaving grease and seasoning in the skillet. 
Chop 1/4 onion and add to the skillet, cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until coated with seasoning. Then add the onions to the baking sheet. 
Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring at least once. 



Pork Chops
pour some flour on a small plate
beat 1 egg in a small bowl
prepare some kind of bread crumb/seasoning mix in a shallow container


coat pork chops with flour, then dip in egg, then coat with bread crumb mix


fry in a skillet with some bacon grease (or butter...or olive oil...)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Peachy Perfect Pizza

I was going to make a boring beef & cheese quesadilla for dinner.  But then I got to thinking...it has been far too long since the last time I made up a completely random kitchen creation.  Far. Too. Long.

It has also been quite a while since I made pizza.  So...what to put on it...besides beef.  Hmmm...I have 2 peaches in the fridge that need to be eaten one of these days...Peaches and beef?  Strange...ly good?  And of course, once I get a crazy idea like this...I can't let it go.  So Peach-Beef Pizza it is. 



Since it's just me tonight, and I've never been a fan of leftover pizza, I sort-of cut the recipe in half.  Meaning, I meant to...but I added more yeast than I should have, so it ended up slightly more than half, I guess.  I'll give you the full dough recipe, and just keep in mind that you should actually be filling the pizza pan with crust, not having space all around the edges like I did. 


Dough
1 pkg yeast
1 c hot water
2 1/2 c flour (I do a combo of wheat flour and white flour)
1 tsp salt
herbs/seasonings to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

knead it up and spread it out in a pizza pan


Sauce
I am a HUGE fan of mixing marinara and alfredo



Toppings
Sliced up beef chunks
Sliced peach
and...leeks...because I love them.




Cheese
as always...Colby/Monterey blend


Bake at 450 for 15-20 min


and by the way...it was absolutely delicious.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Scallops!

mmmm I love scallops.  Made some for dinner a few nights ago and sadly did not take any pictures, because the meal was beautiful.  Angel hair pasta in my super-secret home-made sauce, and baked scallops topped with crispy bacon and chives.  Soooooo yummy. 

However, I have, of course, taken pictures of scallops other times that I have made them...here's one from tonights dinner made with the leftovers. (with some added leeks and spinach cause I needed a vegetable)

To make the scallops:

I buy a bag of frozen scallops from the grocery store, not sure of how many ounces it is off the top of my head...but when I thaw them under running water and put them in a pie plate, they just cover the bottom of the plate. 

So, thaw the scallops in a colander under running water, make sure they are thoroughly rinsed. 

Melt about 4 tbsp of butter in a glass pie plate.  Substitute bacon grease for some of the butter if you keep some of that on hand like me.  You can also add some white wine if you wish. 

Once the scallops are thawed, spread them out in the pie plate.  Then sprinkle them liberally with some kind of bread crumb/herb mixture.  Mine has triscuit crumbs, bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, mustard powder, salt...maybe something else...I keep a shaker full of this creation on hand in my kitchen.  Stick it all in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 min. 


I love eating these scallops over angel hair pasta.  And yes, bacon on top is always welcome.  Someday I will defintely get a picture of that.

Here's some other pictures of scallops...

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Rise and Shine

I generally maintain that chocolate chip pancakes are the breakfast of champions.  However, it is possible that sweet-potato hash browns could give those pancakes a run for their money...

and all ya gotta do is chop up a sweet potato...(or about 1/4 of a sweet potato...save the rest for the next few days...) and throw the pieces in a pan with some olive oil. 

Add some scrambled eggs (or a spinach-beef omelet), and a muffin, and breakfast is served.


Don't forget the orange juice! (Breakfast drink of champions)

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Multi-Purpose Spinach Dip

Multi-purpose.  Yes.  While this is a fabulous dip with tortilla chips or freshly baked bread, it's also a great sandwich spread!  And I'm sure there are other things you could use it for as well.  Pasta sauce perhaps?  Let me know how that works out...I'm sure it will be tasty.  But I'm currently hooked on a light sauce of my own concoction that is still too top-secret-ly delicious to share.  I'm sure I'll share it at some point though. 

Back to the spinach dip...

This dip makes an appearance at just about every dinner party I throw, because it's such a great appetizer with, as previously mentioned, chips or bread.  And, it really doesn't take that long to make. 

Start with frozen spinach.  I usually buy huge bags of it, but I went with a smaller batch this time, and used a 10 oz package instead of my normal "family size" package.  As usual with my cooking, most ingredient amounts are approximate, but I'm pretty sure this dip will come out good as long as you don't go too crazy...

Follow directions on spinach package to cook the spinach. 

Put a large non-stick skillet on the stove, turn heat to medium.

Add 1 large spoonful of cream cheese, roughly 1/2 c alfredo sauce, roughly 1/4 c ranch dressing, a few handfuls of shredded cheese (I use colby/monterey jack blend).  Let these ingredients melt, stirring occasionally to break up lumps of cream cheese and prevent burning.  Once everything is melted, add garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, and salt.  (to taste...).  Add some mustard if you have some in the fridge.  I probably added some of the Jack Daniels Mustard from my fridge to this particular one, but I don't remember...it was almost a week ago.  Add spinach (and chopped artichoke hearts if you want spinach-artichoke dip!)

This makes a spectacularly yummy dip.  But I haven't told you my latest secret ingredient yet....  I used to make the dip just as stated above, and it was delicious.  But lately I've started adding something new, which makes it even more delicious.  Marinara sauce.  Roughly 1/4 of the amount of alfredo sauce you use.  You don't want to use so much that your dip becomes too obviously pink.  Just enough to add some extra flavor.  You might want to stir in a little bit at a time until you think it looks good.  It will change the color pretty fast!

So, like I said, this is a great dip.  But when you have leftover dip and don't feel like eating it with chips...it really does make a great sandwich spread.  That's my preferred method for getting rid of leftover dip.  Fabulous on turkey sandwiches.  And not too bad with roast beef. 

Saturday, August 13, 2011

GMcD's Delectable Chicken Salad



Chop some onion.

Chop some grapes.

Cook and shred some chicken.

Add almond slivers.

Add some Honey Mustard and some Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing.

Add some mayonnaise.

Dash of garlic powder, dash of salt, mix it all up.

Chill for awhile, then make a sandwich. 





Thursday, August 11, 2011

Whole Wheat Bread Pudding



GMcD's Whole Wheat Bread Pudding

cut approx. 1.5 loaves of sliced whole wheat bread into cubes, set aside

whisk together:
4 eggs
1.5 c heavy cream
3 c milk
1 c brown sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
3 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp vanilla extract

put the bread in a large bowl, pour liquid mix over bread, dig in with your hands and make sure all the bread gets saturated.  If you used stale bread, let it soak for awhile.  Fresh bread gets soggy very quickly so prolonged soaking is not necessary.  Grease a 12x18 pan with about 1 tbsp of butter, pour in the bread mixture and gently pat down. 

bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes



GMcD's Cinnamon Whiskey Sauce

In a saucepan on medium heat, bring 1.5 c heavy cream, 1/2 c milk, 3 tsp corn starch, 1/4 c whiskey, and 1 tsp cinnamon to a simmer.  (You probably want to whisk together the whiskey and corn starch before adding them)

Once it has simmered for a bit, or come to a boil, remove from heat.  Add 1 tbsp butter, 1 tsp salt, and 1/4 c whiskey.



Storage/Serving

Both the bread pudding and the whiskey sauce should be kept in the fridge.  When you want to eat some, put a slice of bread pudding in a microvable bowl, pour some whiskey sauce on top, and microwave for 45-60 sec (until hot). 

Yum.

Handy tip:  this is one of my better ideas...For easier pouring of the whiskey sauce...use a water bottle with this kind of top!