St. Patricks Day Eats

With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching I am already thinking about one of my favorite meals, corned beef and cabbage. Did you know that this dish did not actually come from Ireland? Cabbage was always a staple for Irish-Americans, however when the Irish came to America, they needed to find a product that was similar in texture and flavor to the traditional Irish bacon. In the late 1800’s immigrants living in New York City found a great alternative, corned beef. They also found that it was less expensive then bacon.

Here’s my take on this Irish-American dish. I like to add a little bit more volume to my recipe with the addition of potatoes, onions and carrots.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredient List

1 5-6 pound corned beef most will come with a seasoning packet.

2 medium onions, quartered

6 potatoes, peeled and chopped

6 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 medium head of cabbage, quartered, core removed

2-3 packets of beef bouillon

Preparation:

Place meat into an 8 quart stock pot. Cover meat with water and add seasoning packet, beef bouillon and onion. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for about an hour and a half, then add cabbage and desired vegetables. Cook for about another 45 minutes until vegetables are tender. Remove to shallow dish to serve. This meal tastes great topped with yellow mustad.

A great way to use the leftover corned beef is too make Reuben sandwiches. Slice leftover meat, and place on rye bread with Thousand Island dressing, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, cook as you would a grilled cheese sandwich.

For dessert Guinness Stout Brownies make a great treat. It may sound odd to have beer in brownies but the malt in the beer really brings out the chocolate flavor. You won’t even taste the beer. The amount of eggs used makes this decadent treat surprisingly light.

Guinness Stout Brownies

Ingredient List

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into cubes

8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped

¾ cup white chocolate chips

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 and ¼ cup (10 ounces) Guinness Extra Stout Beer, see note below

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.
Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and white chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.
Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in Guinness stout beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. Drop semisweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter (some will sink in).
Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes on center rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
Note: The Guinness should be at room temperature. This recipe uses a little less than a standard 12-ounce bottle of Guinness stout beer. Do not include foam in the measurement. Either spoon off the foam or let it rest until the foam subsides.
Yield: 36 to 48 brownies, depending on cut size.

Beef Stew

People have been bugging me for this recipe for years. I have never written it down because it is one of those recipes that you just throw everything into the pot. You can add or reduce the amount of veggies and beef to suit your serving needs.
Ingredient List
2 pounds stew meat, cubed beef
1 small can tomato paste
worcestershire sauce
powdered beef bouillion
garlic powder
black pepper
1 large onion, quartered
6 potates, peeled roughly chopped
flour

Place beef in a large pot, cover with water, in the pot I use I usually add about 8-10 cups of cold water. Add beef bouillon, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, black pepper, all of the seasonings can be adjusted to your taste, but remember it is better to start out with less at first, it is easier to add more later then remove them. To start I use about 3 packets of beef bouillon, bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to medium low, simmer for about an hour until the meat is tender, then add veggies, bring to a boil again and reduce again to a simmer, cook about 45 minutes until veggies are tender.To thicken the stew make a slurry of cold water and flour, bring back to a boil and mix into stew, I pour a little bit at a time in so that I can make sure it does not get to thick, once smooth, reduce heat to low and let simmer about 10 minutes, this ensures that there will not be a flour taste. It is important to taste as you go, so that you can adjust the seasonings, I like this to have a strong beef flavor so if needed you can add another packet of beef bouillon, and more of the seasonings. Serve with garlic herb bread.

KopyKat Recipe Cinnabon Rolls

These are better then the original

ROLLS:

1/2 cup warm water

2packages dry yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

3 1/2 oz. pkg. vanilla pudding mix

1/2 cup margarine, melted

2 eggs

I teaspoon salt

6 cups flour

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup margarine

I teaspoon vanilla

3 cups confectioner's sugar

I tablespoon milk

To make frosting, mix all ingredients until smooth.

In a bowl combine water yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved-Set aside

In large bowl, take pudding mix and prepare according to package

Directions. Add margarine, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast

mixture. Blend.

Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Place in a greased bowl. Cover

And let rise until doubled. Punch down dough and let rise again.

Then roll out on floured board to 34 x 21" size. Take I cup soft butter

And spread over surface. In bowl, mrx2 cups brown sugar and 4 teas.

Cinnamon. Sprinkle over top. Roll up very tightly. With knife, put a notch

Every 2". Cut with thread or knife.

Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2" apart. Take hand and lightly

Press down on each roll. Cover and let rise until double again. Bake at

350F for 15-20 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden.

DON'T OVERBAKE.

Frost warm rolls with cream cheese frosting

Makes about 20 very large rolls.

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Chicken Fried Steak

This meal is really great, it may seem complicated, but it really is not too hard. For the flour and egg mixtures I like to use glass pie plates.
Ingredients
5-6 cube steaks
All purpose flour in a shallow pan, salt pepper and garlic powder added for flavor.
2-3 eggs stirred
oil for frying steak in about 1-2 inches deep
2 tablespoons flour, 2 cups milk, chicken bouillon for gravy

to start off turn your oil to medium high heat, then dredge each steak in flour, then egg, then into the flour again, repeat with all of the meat, the oil should be hot by now, I usually sprinkle a little bit of the flour into the oil, if it sizzles it is ready. Depending on the size of the meat only add 1-2 steaks at a time to the oil, if you have too much overcrowding then the oil will cool down. Cook about 4 minutes on each side, the steak will be golden brown, place on paper towels to absorb the oil. After all steak is cooked drain all but 2 tablespoons oil off, place pan back on burner and add two tablespoons flour, once a paste is formed add milk, whisk until smooth, then you can add the chicken bouillon, I usually use 1-2 cubes, I also like to add a little garlic powder, salt and pepper. Taste to adjust the flavors to your liking. I serve this with corn and mashed potatoes, I like the gravy on the steak and the potatoes.

Pot Roast

It is freezing today, so I thought I should make something that will warm all of us up. Pot Roast is one of the best comfort foods, and it is really easy, I have once again decided to use my crock pot.The great thing about slow cooking meat is you can make even the most inexpensive cut of meat tender.

Ingredient List
1 4-5 pound roast, any cut will do
1 medium onion
tomato paste, just a couple of tablespoons
2-3 beef bullion packets
garlic powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

To start just place the roast in the crock pot, now just slice the onion and place on top of the roast,in a bowl combine the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, beef bouillon,and about a cup of water, pour this mixture over roast and onion. Set your crock pot to low and it will take about 8 hours. High and it will take about 6. The best way to tell that the roast is done is that the meat will fall apart. the next step is to make the gravy. Pour all of the liquid from the crock pot into a large saucepan, you need to bring this to a boil, while you are waiting for this, mix the flour with cold water in a bowl, a whisk is best for this make sure there are no lumps, now when the liquid is boiling add the flour mixture, using your whisk continue stirring the liquid after about 2 minutes you will see everything start to thicken up, if it gets too thick add more water, if it is too thin you can make another slurry (that is what the flour and water mix is called). Once things have thickened up you can turn the heat to low, and you can carve your roast. I like to make mashed potatoes, homemade bread and carrots to go along with this.

Sausage and Pepper Grinders, Smells like a Fair in Here

So I work at home yet I hardly ever use my crock pot, I like to use my hands more when I am in the kitchen, but this recipe is so good. I have used jarred sauce here, but I have also done this when I have leftover home made sauce. This recipe is also easy to adjust the amounts of, just be sure that your crock pot is big enough. This recipe will make about 4 good size grinders with a good snack leftover for the next day.
Ingredient List
6 Sweet Italian Sausages, you can use spicy
drizzle of olive oil for pan
1 Jar Spaghetti sauce
1 medium onion
2 red bell peppers
1 package rolls, at my grocery store bakery they are called steak rolls
yellow mustard or whatever condiments you want

So last night I thinly sliced the peppers and onion, I put them into the ceramic part of the crock pot and I put them into the fridge, then this morning, I browned the sausages in a little bit of olive oil, I then sliced them lengthwise and put them into the crock pot with the veggies, I had some of a 10 serving size jar of jarred sauce in the fridge so I poured that in then I added a little bit of water to the jar and shook it up to make sure I got everything, once everything is the crock pot make sure that there is a little bit of sauce on everything, I set my crock pot to high because I am home all day and thought maybe I would get an early snack, but you can set it too low, this is pretty simple you'll know it is done when the veggies are very tender. I like to put a couple of sausage slices on a bun with some of the veggies and a little yellow mustard, it is pure heaven. Who can resist a meal that makes your house smell like the fair. As far as sides go french fries or onion rings would be great.

It's not that Hard, Get into your Kitchen Now

So I have decided to start a blog, I must have been blind, I have just found out about this craze called blogging, so I figure if I am going to blog then I should really write about something that I love and that might help others. I love to cook, bake, anything to do with food I love, I also am obsessed with kitchen gadgets. So here I will show you how easy it is to create great meals, even if you don't have a fancy smancy kitchen. This will be a learning experience for both of us as I have never really written down any of my recipes, a lot of them come from remembering my mom cooking, some I created by accident.Stay tuned, the first recipe will be sausage and pepper grinders that simmer in the crock pot all day long.