Cooking thread

With you on the ice cream, I buy a little bit every year or two. But, with the bacon...

And I am not big on shakes, lots of calories. But, the bacon one, is one to have once a year or so.:drool

What kind of person 'discards' cooked bacon?

:-D

And, if you read the blasphemous recipe, the discarded bacon was cooked with maple syrup...

Again, this does not happen in the Fred_G household.

 

Exactly! Even if you didn't put it in the shake (and why wouldn't you, really), DISCARD it??? I hardly think so. At the very least pop it in your mouth. Betty's usually better than that. LOL

 

I was a little skeptical, but it was bacon so I gave it a shot. Oh. My. God. This is SO tasty! I added some garlic and some VooDoo Bell Pepper seasoning, but it didn't need much help. Definitely going into the rotation!

Creative Bacon Chili from the Loveless Cafe.

 

Time To Fire Up The Grill..!! Love to see what your favorite grill recipes are.

The night before I put either chicken breast, you can use dark chicken if you want, or sliced pork tenderloin or pork chops in zip-lock bag with 1 cup Italian Dressing and shake to coat chicken then place in bag refrigerator.
There are lots of variations on Italian Dressing you can pick from or make your own.
Cut up veggies of your choice, you can grill sliced potatoes, corn on cob, asparagus, green beans, peppers, onions, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash with good results.
Place cut up veggies except potatoes, they will turn brown if cut up night before:-D, in zip-lock bags and place in refrigerator. I don't like to put onions and peppers in bag with my other veggies overnight.
Next night for dinner fire up the grill(mine is gas)
Grill meat over med heat until no pink inside.
While meat is grilling I coat sliced veggies with sea salt, black pepper and olive oil then place on grill. If you don't have a grill pan for this just use foil and poke holes in it.
Grill to your liking, some take longer than others. I like mine a bit crunchy not mushy!
Dinner is done! Enjoy!

 

May as well bake dessert on the grill while it is hot.

Grilled Peach Cobbler

1 cup Self Rising Flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter.
1 large can peaches with the juice.
You can use frozen or fresh peaches. If you do mix 1 TBS flour and 2 TBS sugar and 1/4 cup water with peaches.

Preheat a grill to 375 º or medium-high.
Grease well a medium cast-iron skillet.
In a medium bowl whisk together flour and sugar together.
Mix in the milk and oil until just combined and consistency is a sticky dough mix.
Pour peaches in bottom of skillet.
Pour the dough mix over the fruit and sprinkle with sugar.
Cover with foil and grill until the juices are bubbling, about 25 minutes.
Remove the foil and let bake until golden, about 15 minutes more.
Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Top with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Note: You can substitute other fruits you like in this recipe.

 

Getting away from the decadent for a while... LOL

I just made this for dinner, and it was amazing! I highly recommend Vidalia over other sweet onion, especially since they're in season right now. I subbed grapeseed oil for canola, and agave nectar for honey (I was out), and opted for the fresh chives. Way tasty!

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/tomato_onion_cucumber_salad.html

 

Brings back memories of my grandmother's cooking. She use to make this in the summer only she used sugar instead of honey. She would sometimes use fresh broccoli instead of cucumbers also.

 

Bacon Wrapped Corn

Shuck corn and remove silks. Wrap each ear of corn with a bacon strip; place on a piece of heavy-duty foil. Some people like to sprinkle with chili powder, it is optional. Twist ends tightly.
Grill corn over medium heat 20-25 minutes, turn over after 15 minutes, continue grilling 10 more minutes. Check one to make sure the is tender and bacon is cooked.
If you want the bacon crispy remove the foil the last 5 minutes of grilling.

 

Added note: If you are not into grilling you can do this in the oven. Bake 425 degrees for 30 minutes.
We grill year round. And while we are grilling I like to do as much of the meal on the grill as possible.

 

I made the simplest, yet tastiest thing yesterday! Recipe from the Loveless Cafe: Watermelon & Feta Skewers. They were so good they're what I had for lunch today, too. :-D

 

rolleyesSorry Laura I did not say wrap the cob in the foil then twist the ends.

Sgt. Tibbs I love the Loveless Café in Nashville. Been there many times. Good home cooking!

 

Laura I am a aluminum foil junkie! I line every pan going in the oven that I can so the cleanup is easy, no pan scrubbing, just wash and dry and put away!

 

No! Foil is for the tinfoil hats!

Amateurs. :-D

 

Fred do you wear that tinfoil hat as a antenna to call your spaceship?:-D

 

No, use it to block the drones trying to brainwash me!:-D

 

This is a take on the old "Easy 1-2-3 Fruit Cobbler" recipe that has been around forever.

Easy Blueberry Cobbler
Pre heat oven 350 degrees.

2 cups frozen blueberries
1 and 1/2 sticks butter(you can use margarine)
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup milk(I use 2 %)
1 cup sugar(you can substitute splenda for sugar)
1 tsp. vanilla

Place stick of butter in the bottom of 9"X13" baking dish and place in heated oven to melt the butter.
Pour blueberries over melted butter.
Mix flour, sugar, and milk together then add vanilla. Mix. Pour this over the blueberries.
Cut half of butter stick into pieces and dot on top of flour mixture.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar on top.
Bake 1 hour or more until done. All ovens are different so you may need to adjust the time.
Don't be put off by blueberries turning the crust green where the two meet. This is a natural occurrence and does not affect the taste! Best served warm.
Believe me it taste good!

Next time I'm going to try frozen blackberries.
If you want you could bake this in two smaller baking dishes and adjust the time to 30 or 40 minutes. Have one now and freeze the other for later.

Original 1-2-3 Fruit Cobbler

Pre heat oven 350 degrees.
1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk mixed together.
1 stick butter melted in 9"X13" baking dish.
1 large can of sliced peaches with the juice poured over the melted butter.
Then pour flour, sugar, and milk mixture over the top. Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake 1 hour. Best served warm!

 

That blueberry dish sounds awesome! But I don't do artificial sweetners, so it is not in my diet (until I loose some more weight...)

But, I have tightened my belt one notch already, and my blood pressure has gone from borderline high or pretty damn high, to almost normal.

 

Fred if you are looking for something sweet but not too unhealthy you might try these. I ate them for breakfast.:-D


No Sugar Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
There is no eggs, flour, or sugar in this recipe.

Preheat oven 350 degrees

3 ripe mashed bananas
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups old fashion oats
1/4 cup almond milk or regular milk
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped Nuts (optional)

Mix ingredients together.
Drop onto lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake 350 oven 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

 

I just might try that this weekend. Thanks.

 

Anyone have some GOOD and EASY Pasta Sauce recipes? Spaghetti, marinara, or alfredo sauce maybe? I don't like mushrooms so it has to be flavorful without them. Crockpot recipes would be a plus.

I know there are thousands of recipes on the internet but I prefer recipes you have tried and can recommend. Nothing worse than spending hours on a recipe and the family does not like it. I want to make large amount and freeze some for another time. Thanks!

 

Basic red sauce (I usually use it in eggplant lasagna or spaghetti):
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves , minced
1 small onions , finely chopped
16 oz tomato sauce, low sodium
14 oz canned unsalted diced tomatoes , drain
1/4 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano leaves, minced
1 tsp basil leaves, minced
1/2 tsp thyme leaves, minced

Place a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and put 1 tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, and onions in the saucepan and sauté for approximately 5 minutes, or until the onions are tender. Pour in the tomato sauce, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, and thyme. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for another 30 minutes. Sprinkle salt and pepper for taste.

Alfredo Sauce (this is a quick, cheater version):
1/2 cup butter
8 ounces cream cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups fat-free milk (warm)
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat; add cream cheese and garlic powder and stir until melted and combined. Gradually add warm milk, stirring constantly, then add Parmesan and continue cooking and stirring until melted and combined. Season with fresh-ground black pepper to taste.

 

Last year we discussed Chili and there were some good Chili replies posted here. It's that time of year again! I am ever in search for the best Chili recipe ever!
So I am declaring the "1st Annual Major Geeks Chili Cook-off 2014".:yum

Anyone that has a good Chili recipe you are proud of please post it. Also if you tried one of the entrees from last year please review the recipe for us. Thanks and good luck.

Here are the links for last years entrees. I hope I found and posed all of them but if I did miss one please post it.

We need a few brave judges. Volunteers? Anyone? LOL

 

The Chili that is in the Crock Pot made from what I could find in the pantry today.

Chili
3 pounds lean ground beef, browned with salt and pepper added, drained
1 large yellow onion, chopped and sautéed in 1 tablespoon oil
2 packages chili seasoning plus 1 tablespoon chili powder
1 large can diced tomatoes, not drained
1 large can tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste mixed with 1 cup water
1 can refried beans
2 cans chili beans, undrained
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cocoa

Cook in large crock pot on high for two hours then reduce to low and cook for 3 hours or longer.
It needs just a bit of tweaking, maybe cumin which I don't have, maybe salt and pepper. Suggestions?

 

As I said I was using what was on hand without making a trip to the grocery. I did a little tweaking by adding 2 more tablespoons of brown sugar, little salt and pepper. Improved the taste a bit. I think it did not need the extra tablespoon of chili powder, hence the added brown sugar to counter act it.

 

Simple skillet steak. Salt and pepper the steak, let it come to room temperature, gently padding the moisture off of it. Get a skillet nice and hot, add your oil of choice, tried Canola today on the advice of the guy that taught me this... Higher flash point than olive oil? Is what I was told.

Once it is good and hot, toss that room temp dry steak into the oil. I cook mine for about 2.5 mins a side depending on the thickness of the steak. Flip once, let it sit for a bit, and enjoy some wonderful beef.

 

I cook for myself. And it was tasty.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=3863064

The color of the meat is not that important. I cooked this in a VERY hot skillet. And cooked from room temperature, not cooled meat.

You like yours burned ehh, go for it! :-D

You can see some cooked steaks here; http://www.omahasteaks.com/shop/

 

Aww, Kes, hopefully you will get over that one day. Spoiled meat is often brown... :-D

I used to like my steaks well done. No more.

 

Fred, that is the most beautiful, perfectly-done steak I've seen in a long time. Plus, you reminded me I have an Omaha Steaks gift certificate to use. :-D

katkat, I would love to volunteer on the chili-making, but since I'm finally back to work I'm lucky to get to cook once a week. I think I'd have a mutiny on my hands if every week I made a different kind of chili.

 

I love Omaha Steaks! I have heard Allen Bros is the best steak, but they are just way to expensive... And gift steaks are always the best!

My friend was right, the canola oil is better for skillet cooking a steak than olive oil.

 

Talking about Chili again. I was told I should use Dr Pepper as my liquid. Anyone tried that?

 

Never heard of using Dr. Pepper in chili, but I've heard of using it for roast so I imagine it would be all right. It would be interesting to see how it plays with the spices.

After I looked at it again, I remembered it was free stuff with an order, not just free stuff. So I put together one of their build your own packages so I could use it. Supposed to deliver on Halloween, I'm getting some steaks, some seafood-stuffed sole, some lasagna, and some berry tarts. My free stuff is burgers, chicken breast, and gourmet hot dogs. :-D

 

Have not tried Dr Pepper, but have used beer. I like the beer chili, but you have to get the right beer or it can taste funky. Guinness Extra Stout is what I normally use.

 

Fred hope this does not sound too dumb but since I have never cooked with beer I just wondered if there is any beer taste to the chili after cooking?

 

A little bit, but with the right beer, it blends in very well. Something like a Miller Lite would not taste good. You need a more hearty beer. I will say that Guinness beer tastes good when eating a bowl of chili made with Guinness.

 

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

1 Classic Yellow Cake mix
1 15oz. can 100% Pumpkin

With a mixer combine the two ingredients and spoon mixture into greased muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. This made 12 muffins.

 

Just for fun, this video might show you how not to do it. hehe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXGqpbOO-Xo&list=UUacMOTnzMtdYcCNV-RYfsrQ

 

Laura if you feeling adventurous you can use any flavor cake mix you want.

 

:eek Here's a thing I learned today! It's possible to have an electrical fire without burning down your house. Scared the crap out of me! :eek And now I need a new stove (or at least a new burner) and a new 4-quart saucepan. And until the guy can get here to figure out what we need and fix it, I'm down to the microwave and oven unless I can find my single-burner hot plate from college.

 

Wow Sgt. Tibbs that is scary! Hopefully all you will need is a new burner and not a new stove. I have a fire extinguisher under the sink and have not looked at it for years. I bet the thing is expired and useless. This reminds me I should check the thing and maybe replace it.

 

I'm assuming there was a short in the burner, or maybe the coil had a hairline crack. I must have set the pan down just right, and kaboom! What with a huge chunk of the coil being blown out I'll probably never be able to figure out what it really was.

It stopped itself, kind of. There was this huge electrical overload noise (if you've ever stood next to a transformer when it went online that's the closest I can describe it... but louder), a brownout, and then nothing. Ran out to the kitchen and the burner was still on. Quick turned it off, then ran to the basement to also turn off the breaker to the whole stove to make sure.

We do have a fire extinguisher, but like katkat's it's been there for a hundred years and probably wouldn't work. I'm also going to be fixing that next week when I have time, because this was not something I ever want to do again. The house could've easily burned down!

 

I have burned a few meals, but never burned a pan! :-D

Joking aside, glad you are OK an only had minor damage. Gonna get me a small fire extinguisher for my house as well. Hopefully you will just need a new element for the stove.

 

Hi Sgt. Tibbs, this happens quite regularly with electric stove elements. Your circuit breaker is supposed to open to prevent the element blowing out the outer casing. These elements usually have a nichrome resistance wire insulated by magnesium oxide powder which is mounted inside an incanel/incoloy or copper or stainless steel tube that is sometimes flattened for better heat conduction. The blowout is caused when the insulation powder breaks down and the nichrome wire comes in contact with the outer case which is at earth potential. I used to be an "A" grade electrician before I did electronic engineering and have changed many such elements. Usually the simmerstat (heat controller) blows out at the same time due to excessive current. You had one of the rarer type of explosions because it doesn't usually blow such a big hole in the pot. If you were deep frying in hot oil and the pot was ruptured then there would have been a major fire rolleyes
You were quite lucky and when you get a new element fitted please ask the electrician to check why the circuit breaker didn't trip as this is your protection against this happening again.
We don't have a fire extinguisher in our kitchen because they get old a stop working. Instead we have a cupboard with a tube mounted at the top and in the tube is a fire blanket. Fire blankets work very well at stopping small fires becoming big fires but they are useless against against big fires. My reasoning for the fire blanket is you can stop a small fire on the stove but if it is a big fire you shouldn't be there as it is a job for the fire brigade.
Good luck getting the stove fixed and maybe get the other elements checked to see if they are on their way out. The measured resistance from the inside conductor to the outer case should be greater than 1megohm. If it is less than 1megohm then the inside resistance is breaking down. I am sure the stove repairer will know this and although the elements will still work down to about 150kilohms they cause white hot spots to form on the outer metal tube. These white hot spots are what blow out
In Australia we have 240V AC and these resistance measurements are very important as there is a much greater voltage differential between the heating element and the earth potential of the outer case :cool

 

Joffa, thank you! All of that actually made sense to me (hooray for theatrical electrician training!), although I knew none of it before now. I'll be sure to mention that when he gets here. And I'm definitely having him check the entire stove out... if this never happened again it would be way too soon. Wouldn't surprise me if there were further issues, however. The stove is original to the house, put in 1963. We've replaced a couple of heating elements over the years, but since this happened I'm definitely paying whatever it costs to have the whole darn thing inspected.

Every time I look at it I get goosebumps. :eek

 

This is a very smart move and jeez 1963..... that stove can't owe you too much so spending a couple of dollars getting it checked will be worth it
If you get a new stove it won't have the same build quality as the old one as the oldies are so solidly built they are nearly indestructible :cool
I hope the sparky doesn't find too much wrong and it is a cheap fix