Week 14- Sandwiches

by Bannon

When I saw that the reddit challenge this week was sandwiches I smiled because sandwiches are something that I can most definitely handle.  I make them daily for the husband, myself and the kiddos.  The hardest part of this challenge would be coming up with a sandwich that isn't the run of the mill boring peanut butter & jelly that I serve daily for lunch.

For Easter today I had plenty of hard boiled eggs sitting around here and I remembered a recipe I had seen in the new Pioneer Woman cookbook made with english muffins, hard boiled eggs, cheese and bacon.  So I made it from memory and forgot to add the mayo and dijon mustard.  These were liked by everyone but I know they would have been loved if I hadn't forgotten those two ingredients.

From The Pioneer Woman

 

Make-Ahead Muffin Melts

Prep Time: 25 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 5 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 6

  

Ingredients

• 12 whole Hard-boiled Eggs, Peeled And Chopped
• 2 cups Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1 cup (Real) Mayonnaise
• 12 slices Bacon, Fried And Crumbled
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 3 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• 6 whole English Muffins Split

Preparation Instructions

Combine eggs with all other ingredients. Fold together gently. Cover and store in the fridge overnight.
Spread on English muffin halves, then broil for 3 to 5 minutes or until hot and bubbly. (Don't set them too close to the heating element.)
Serve immediately!

Week 13 - Russian food

This week our husbands went out of town together to Toronto on a guys trip to go see a soccer game.  They also got to eat poutine (yum!) and lots of other great foods, drink local Canadian beers that they can't get around here and enjoy a child free weekend.  While the boys were out having fun we ladies took the kids to the circus together and we found that Bannon's kids loved it and Kerry's son thought it was OK.

We also decided to work together to do our recipe for the reddit challenge this week.  The topic is Russian food, which neither of us have any knowledge of other than Russian dressing or vodka, so this was going to be a bit of an education for both of us.

After looking around on the internet a bit the recipe we finally settled on was this potato knedliky (or dumpling) recipe.  It was very simple to make and the kids enjoyed getting to help roll the dumplings.  Taste wise, bacon grease makes everything taste better of course!  I think they would be a bit bland without the bacon and onions.

Ingredients

• 4-5 baker’s potatoes
• 1-1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 4-5 pieces of bacon (or enough salo to render about 0.25 cups fat)
• 1 large sweet onion (finely chopped)
• Salt pepper to taste

Peel potatoes and then boil until soft. 

Drain the potatoes well and return to the pot. Mash them until uniform consistency. You may want to let the potatoes stand for a little while to cool down after this step if you plan on rolling the dumplings by hand. Otherwise, thoroughly mix in the 2 eggs, 1 cup of flour, salt and pepper.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Roll one dumpling for testing. Drop it into boiling water, it should drop to the bottom, and float to the top when it’s done. If it starts falling apart add another half cup of flour to the dough. Make the rest of the knedliky and drop them into the boiling water. Again, cook until they float to the top and remove using a strainer.

At this point, the knedliky are done and ready for serving whichever way you like. For the way my family served them. Fry some bacon in a skillet until crispy, let dry, and cut up into bacon bits. Drain and set aside some of the bacon fat.  Finely chop a sweet onion and fry in the bacon grease until caramelized, set aside.

Then using a spatula, fry the knedliky in the bacon grease (or butter  if you don’t want to use bacon) until lightly browned on all sides.

Serve with a side of the caramelized onions and the bacon bits.


Kerry and Bannon

52 Weeks - Cheese

by Bannon

This post is a few days late in coming and I'm sorry.  You know life goes sometimes.

Last week's food challenge was cheese and I made a simple yet very tasty recipe that the whole family loves.  I found it on Pinterest and it came from here.  I've altered it to my liking.

Ingredients:

4 potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Cut the potatoes into tiny pieces.

In a small bowl, combine the Parmesan and garlic and set aside. Next, toss the potatoes and oil together in a mixing bowl then add the bowl of cheese and seasonings and stir to coat.

Arrange them on a cookie sheet in a single layer.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes then remove from oven and turn over all the potatoes. Bake for another few minutes until crispy and golden.

This is an excellent recipe that always has the kids begging for more.

52 Weeks - Breakfast

by Bannon

This week's entry for the 52 week food challenge was an easy one.  Breakfast is something that most people have daily and sometimes in our house even twice a day.  It just so happens that we had breakfast for dinner tonight before I checked reddit.com to find out what the weekly challenge was.  The downside is that I have no pictures so I'm sorry.

I made an egg mess dinner tonight.  I cut up some red, orange and yellow peppers and some onion and cooked them in a little oil.  Then I added in some leftover Irish bangers and let all that cook for a bit.  I removed the food from the pan and then scrambled a bunch of eggs in the pan and when they were almost done I tossed back in the vegetables and bangers.  The finishing touch was a bit of salt, pepper and garlic.

The reaction was mixed from the family.  The kids thought it was ok; they aren't fans of the onions.  The husband loved it. 

52 Weeks - Coffee

by Bannon

Another drink I am not fond of: coffee.  First I complained this week about the tea and then I saw that the weekly challenge this week was coffee.  I find it bitter and too strong to drink unless it is drowned in an iced capp from Tim Horton's (and even those still have too much coffee in them.)

But first before the recipe let me tell you a story about coffee, and my husband's love of it.  Last fall my husband broke the glass carafe on our coffee maker.  Being busy he never got a replacement one ordered.  Eventually I realized he was spending more money sneaking up to Tim Horton's for a random cup than if he would just call the company that made the coffee pot and order the carafe.

This past weekend we were in Target and found a new coffee pot, a smaller, eight cup version that fits better on the counter on clearance for less than what the cost of the new carafe would have been on the old coffee pot.  Yay, right?  We get it home and dh is thrilled to finally get to make a cup of coffee at home again.  Then we find out that this brand new coffee maker's carafe has a leak in it where the parts were sealed together at the factory.

My poor husband just can't win when it come to his coffee.  We called the manufacturer and it sounds like it's a problem with all of them because it will be a three to six week wait for the replacement.  This isn't the end of the world though.  As long as he pours his cup over the sink he can still have his daily cup of coffee.  It's just a minor inconvenience until then.

On to the recipe. 

Everyone loved this when I made it tonight and it will be going into the dinner rotation.  I served it with Parmesan roasted potatoes from here.

Southwestern Steak and Peppers

 Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt, or to taste
• 3/4 teaspoon(s) coarsely ground pepper, plus more to taste
• 1 pound(s) boneless top sirloin steak, trimmed of fat
• 3 clove(s) garlic, peeled, 1 halved and 2 minced
• 3 teaspoon(s) canola oil, or extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 2  red bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 1  medium white onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon(s) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) brewed coffee, or prepared instant coffee
• 1/4 cup(s) balsamic vinegar
• 4 cup(s) watercress sprigs

---

Directions

1. Mix cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Rub steak with the cut garlic. Rub the spice mix all over the steak.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium-high heat. Add the steak and cook to desired doneness, 4 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest.
3. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to the skillet. Add bell peppers and onion; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add minced garlic and brown sugar; cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. Add coffee, vinegar and any accumulated meat juices; cook for 3 minutes to intensify flavor. Season with pepper.
4. To serve, mound 1 cup watercress on each plate. Top with the sauteed peppers and onion. Slice the steak thinly across the grain and arrange on the vegetables. Pour the sauce from the pan over the steak. Serve immediately.

52 Weeks of Cooking, Week 8-Slow Cooker

Hello, everybody!  Kerry here, with this week's recipe.  Since Bannon was kind enough to cover last week's love-themed recipe, I'm handling the crock pot this week!

I tried out two recipes for this week-one from Once A Month Mom, for slow-cooker refried beans, and the other from Allrecipes.com, for carnitas.  They were so easy, took minimal prep work, and (when combined with Mexican rice) made for one hell of a dinner!

To make the beans, you'll need 1 lb. of black beans, rinsed and picked over; 1 1/4 c. chopped onion, 2 T garlic, 5 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, and 9 c. water.  Simply combine all the ingredients in the crock pot, and cook it on high for 8 hours.  Periodically give it a stir, adding more water if necessary.  Once it is done cooking, drain the beans, reserving the water.  Mash the beans with a potato masher, or in a food processor if you like a smoother texture.  Add the reserved water as needed to achieve the desired texture.

I made the beans the day before, froze half, and kept the other half in the refrigerator overnight.  I then simply fried them in the skillet the next day, and melted some cheese over them because I don't have enough calories in my life.

For the carnitas, the recipe called for 4 lbs. of pork shoulder, but I just used half of a pork loin that I had in the freezer.  I only cook for three normally, so I can get away with that!  I also had enough left over for another meal, so I made it into BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.  Anyhoo, make a rub for the pork using 1 tsp. each of salt, garlic powder, and cumin; 1/2 tsp. each of oregano and coriander; and 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon.  I was out of coriander, so I added an extra 1/2 tsp of cumin, and used crushed garlic (4 cloves worth) instead of garlic powder.  Rub this all over the meat.  Before putting the meat in the crock pot, lay two bay leave in the bottom of the pot, then place the meat on top.  Then pour 2 c. of chicken broth along the sides of the meat, being careful not to rinse the rub off of the meat.  Cook it on low for 5 hours, turn it over, then cook for another 5 hours, or until the meat will shred easily with a fork.  I shredded it in the crock pot so the broth would keep the meat moist.

I served this up with the refried beans, and made some Vigo brand (insert Ghostbusters joke here) rice to go with it.  I had originally planned to make homemade tortillas to go with it, but ran out of time.  The recipe is also on OAMM's website.

Weeks 9-12 are as follows: coffee, movie/book inspired, breakfast, and cheese.  Bannon isn't a coffee fan (so uncivilized!), so I suspect I'll be doing next week's challenge.  I'm really excited for the movie/book inspired week-Harry Potter or LotR?  My life is full of difficult choices.

Speaking of choices, we want to choose you--to win some tea from Revolution Teas!!  Bannon and I did our first review this weekend, and tried 6 different teas.  We also have tea to give away!  Our review will post on Monday, and we'll be announcing winners on Friday.  Don't let this one pass you by-this stuff is amazing!

52 Weeks of Cooking Week 7: Love Inspired Cooking

 by Bannon

Love inspired cooking.  What was I going to make for love inspired cooking?  The only thing my kids were begging for on Valentines Day was red milk.  Reddit gave a very wide category this week so I was having a hard time coming up with something I considered love inspired.  Then one night I saw in the refrigerator a can of crescent rolls and remembered a recipe I saw on Pinterest for smores crescents and I knew I had found my recipe.  To most women chocolate = love.

These were super simple to make.  Just preheat the oven to what the package directions say on the crescent rolls.  Separate the rolls and place a few chocolate chips and a few marshmallows on each roll.  Then roll them up like a standard crescent roll taking care to keep the marshmallows and chocolate inside. 

Pop them into the oven, I think they cooked for 12 minutes.  I followed the crescent roll package directions again.

When they came out I saw the one flaw I made.  I should have closed off the ends of the crescent rolls a bit better to try to keep the marshmallows in because they melted right out.

But in the end it really didn't matter because they tasted really, really good.  Simple to make too and kids would love to help make these as well.


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I have to say I ignored the 52 weeks challenge the past two weeks due to illness and work but I wanted to let you know what I did.  Two weeks ago was the alcohol challenge and I went super simple and made bratwurst in beer.  The kids and I were sick most that week so I was not into doing anything related to cooking challenges or blogs. 

Last week I did complete the Brazilian challenge but I didn't get around to posting it.  The husband thought it was a bit bland and needed more onion.  I thought it was nice and light.


Brazilian White Rice

• 2 cups long-grain white rice
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups hot water
•  
• Place the rice in a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water; set aside.
• Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion in the oil for one minute. Stir in the garlic and cook until the garlic is golden brown. Add the rice and salt and cook and stir until the rice begins to brown. Pour hot water over rice mixture and stir. Reduce heat to low, cover the saucepan, and allow to simmer until the water has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.

A day late!! Week 3 - Soup!

Kerry here, with my surprisingly successful soup recipe!  This is an adaption of one I found on food.com.

Use Up That Hambone Soup

1 ham bone with visible meat (if you're worried there's not enough, add some more slices from the ham to the pot)

1 medium onion, diced

1-2 stalks celery, diced (1 if a smaller bone, 2 if larger)

1 tsp. pepper

4 potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1 stick butter

1/2 c. flour

2 c. half and half

2 cloves crushed garlic

2 bay leaves

2 tsp. chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

In a large stockpot, combine the first four ingredients.  Add enough water to just cover the hambone.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the meat can be easily shredded from the bone with a fork.  Remove bone and any extra pieces of meat from the pot.  Shred ham, discarding any fat and the bone.  Return the meat to the pot.  Add the potatoes, bring back up to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Be careful to not let the butter brown.  Add flour, whisking constantly until fully combined.  Increase heat to medium high, then gradually add half and half.  Be sure to continually whisk while you are adding the half and half, being careful not to scorch the mixture.  Once you have a creamy, bubbly, thick mixture that clings to your whisk, remove the pot from heat.  

Once the potatoes are fork-tender, gradually stir in the cream mixture, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed.  At this point, stir in the garlic, bay leaves, cilantro, and salt.  Simmer for another 15 minutes.  If the soup is thicker than you prefer, you can thin it with milk.  Remove bay leaves before serving.  We had the soup with a loaf of fresh baked bread and a simple salad.  It was great on a snowy evening!

Yes, I know I still owe posts for a throw pillow craft and for homemade Oxy Clean.  It'll get done before the end of the month, I promise!  

Week 2-Chinese

This may be a shorter/more abrupt post than usual, since I (Kerry) am an involuntary lefty for the evening.  Don't grab the handle of a cast-iron skillet that had just come out of a 350 degree oven, kids.

For our Chinese cooking challenge, my twin nieces who don't want to be named came over to help cook/eat with us.  We started out with egg drop soup.

It was pretty easy, and really tasty!  I was told to be prepared to make it again.  Here's your ingredients:

• 
  
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 
  
• Pour 3 1/4 c. of the broth into a saucepan.  Add the ginger, chives, and salt, and bring it to a rolling boil.  In a small bowl, stir together the remaining broth and the cornstarch until smooth, and hold on to for later.  In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolk with a fork.  Use the fork to drizzle a small amount of egg at a time into the boiling broth.  The eggs will cook immediately (and it's kinda cool to watch!).  Once all of the egg has been added, slowly stir in the cornstarch mixture until the soup is the desired thickness.
• 
  
• Our main course was a beef and broccoli stir fry with jasmine rice.  We actually prepared the meat marinade before we started the soup, so it had plenty of time to sit while we ate.  My nieces were really helpful during this part-they handled all the chopping, measuring, and mixing for me, so all I had to do was take pictures.  
• 
  
• For the stir fry, you'll need a 1lb. flank steak.  Cut it into thin strips (hint-this is easier to do if the meat is partially frozen).  For the marinade, you'll need 2 T. of red wine or dry sherry, 2 T. of soy sauce, 1 t. of minced ginger, and one green onion.  Chop the green onion into small pieces.  Mix all of these ingredients together and marinate the steak slices in it for at least 20 minutes.
• 
  
• While it's marinating, you could assemble the remaining ingredients.  Slice 2 red bell peppers into thin strips, and chop up about a half pound (or 2 decent size heads) of broccoli.  You'll also need 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 c. of beef broth, 1 T. of cornstarch mixed with 2 T. of water, 1 tsp. of sugar, and 4 T. of oil for stir frying.  
• 
  
• When you're ready to begin, heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat.  Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and briefly stir-fry it until it is fragrant, which will happen quickly.  Then add the meat (I dumped in the marinade with it), browning it quickly, then stir fry it until almost cooked through.  Push the meat to the side and add the broccoli, as well as more oil if needed.  Stir fry it for a couple of minutes, then add the peppers.  Stir fry a bit more, until the peppers are starting to become tender, then add the broth and the cornstarch/water mixture.  Turn up the heat and stir until the sauce has thickened.  Serve hot over rice or noodles.  The rice I used was Mahatma brand Jasmine rice.  I just followed the instructions on the bag, and it was that awesome combination of fluffy and sticky.
• 
  
• I know I also mentioned earlier that I was going to do a test run on an Oxy Clean recipe-I currently have a couple of items soaking for the test, so I'll post about it in a day or so, once I can get it washed.  So be on the lookout for that, a wild rice chowder recipe for the upcoming week's challenge, and a quick and cheap way to update your throw pillows! 
• 
  
• PS-I'm having issues uploading the rest of the pictures I had wanted to use, so until I can get it fixed, imagine shots of blond girls slicing meat and cutting up green onions, and a final shot of a tasty bowl of stir fry.     
• 
  
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•   

Reddit food challenge week one, erm, I mean week two

So if you remember Kerry and I were nuts enough to agree amongst ourselves to follow reddit's 52 week food challenge this year to try and expand our horizons.  Well, Kerry is very excited and I am nuts to agree to do this due to a few things.  I am a very picky person food wise.  I do not venture far from my favorites.  When I go to a restaurant I usually can only find one or two entrees that sound good to me on the whole menu.  I'm the only one in the family like this, I've taken great pains to make sure the boys try all sorts of foods.

Nothing makes me happier to see that week two's challenge (our week one) is Chinese food.  That is one type of food that I really do enjoy.  I just happened to have cold rice in the fridge Tuesday night.  I threw that in a pan with a little oil, two eggs, red pepper, bacon and soy sauce and fried it all together.  It took under 15 minutes and the husband and kids thought it was a great meal.

Next week's challenge is soup, which I love, love, love to make.  Plus since it's 20 degrees out it's perfect soup weather finally!

- Bannon

New Year, New Challenges!

Hello, all!  Kerry here, reporting on some goals that Bannon and I have set for ourselves for the blog.  We even discussed it at a quiet, sane point in our days, so you know this is legit.

We are going to follow along with reddit.com's 52 Weeks of Cooking Challenge!  Each week, a challenge will be given out, following a rotating format.  Week one is a specific ingredient, week 2 is a theme or cultural idea, week 3 is a dish type (examples being casseroles, breakfast foods, etc.), and week 4 is a particular cooking method.  We're a little late getting started-would you expect anything else of us?-but we're not too late to follow along!

Week one (Jan 2-8) was eggs.  I don't have a specific recipe to share, but I did make some killer breakfast sandwiches.  I fried some amazing pepper bacon from Bluescreek, then fried some eggs in the bacon grease, gently breaking up the yolk but not scrambling it.  Also, if you haven't done this yet, try eating some free-range, farm fresh as possible eggs.  Maybe it's just me, but I can't go back to eating the eggs from the grocery store.  I was surprised by how different the taste was to me.

Anyhoo, after you've fried up your protein spread, put some cheese on it and let it melt in the skillet while you toast up a soft egg bagel.  I used cheddar and Lender's bagels, but that's because it was what we had on hand.  Put your eggs/bacon/cheese tower on the bagel, and enjoy some total comfort food.  I don't recommend it for everyday consumption, but it was a nice treat!

Week 2, which we're in now (Jan 9-15) is Chinese food.  I'm not sure what we'll be making, but I'm thinking at least some fried rice, and maybe some sort of appetizer.  We're encouraged to shop from a local Asian foods store if possible, or the international section of our grocery store.  I'm not sure what Bannon will be posting (we didn't get that far in the convo, the Little Dude became very insistent on watching Blue's Clues around that time), but the goal is for each of us to try a recipe a week.  We may cover for each other if needed, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

To give you an idea of what you (and we) have to look forward two, the next 4 weeks will feature soups, pan frying, beer/wine/liquor, and Brazilian.  I'm not sure what to make for Brazilian week, I'll need to do some homework!

I've also decided to try to feature a monthly craft (with pictures!) and a monthly "green" activity.  The craft will be something for around the house, hopefully using or repurposing something you may already have around the house.  Think holidays, DIY decor, etc.   The green activity will be guiding you, and giving reviews, on things you can make for yourself-detergent, hand soap, play doh for the kids.  Save yourself some money, and feel better about avoiding dodgy ingredients.

Keep an eye out this week for a Chinese recipe or two, as well as a little experimenting with making your own spray-on Oxy Clean!