Not a Roast

Well, dinner time rolled around again and I was really not sure what I wanted. I need a little inspiration I guess....so I went to the fridge to see what there was. I decided to use the last bit of beef stew meat and mix it with some veggies and make an Un-Roast. You see, a roast comes from the rear hind quarters of the cow (called the round) and according to the Cattlemans Beef Association the stew meat comes from a part called "other". I don't want to really think about what "other" part that could be....Anyways, its an Un-Roast because I used all the same veggies you would with a roast. But, it's not a stew either since its not going to actually stew...

SO, here's what I did. You might want to share this with someone though because I had a bit too much food.

3/4 cup water
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/4 lb beef stew meat
2 red potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup carrots (I used the bagged ones...easy!)
1/4 cup onion- big chunks!
4 sprigs of parsley, roughly chopped
thyme


1. In a small glass baking dish, combine water and the bouillon cubes. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds so that you can dissolve the bouillon cubes.
**Before you add the stew meat to the dish, you might want to tenderize it....which means you get to beat the crap out of it :) Stew meat tends to be tough since they expect you to stew it for long lengths of time.
2. Add the beef stew meat and all of the veggies and parsley. Top with thyme. I gave the shaker of thyme a couple decent shakes...not sure how much I used, really.
3. Cook for about 40 minutes at 350. You want the veggies tender and the beef cooked.

The drippings or 'juice' on this is really thin, so this is probably pretty healthy. It's not covered in gravy or thick soupy-ness like a beef stew is. If you want a gravy, take the drippings in the pan and add about a teaspoon of corn starch to 1/4 cup of cold water. When they're mixed, add them to the hot drippings. Keep the drippings cooking over a burner and keep stirring the mixture. Eventually it will thicken and you can have gravy to go with the meal.


This was pretty tasty for a throw together type of meal! If you have anything you want to see made, let me know! I'm looking for new ideas! I think I'm going to make a mushroom and pancetta risotto soon. I had risotto in my fritatta this morning and I really liked it!


Happy cooking, y'all!

Amy

What do you call cheese that isn't yours?

NA-CHO CHEESE!!!!


Do you ever have a hankering for something, but don't have everything you need to make it? That's how I felt tonight. I wanted nachos but didn't want to go out and I didn't have any taco seasoning packets on hand. So, I did my best, and it turned out mui delicioso! I even topped it with some fresh homemade guacamole! I love avocados!


Here are the recipes for both!


Tacos Meat

1 teaspoon butter (kinda heaping...don't like level it off or anything...)
2 tablespoons green bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 lb ground beef

1. In a large frying pan, melt butter at about a medium heat. Add the bell pepper, onions and garlic salt and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the hamburger and the chili powder and mix with the onions, cooking until the hamburger meat has browned.

You don't need to drain it or anything...I used either 85/15 meat or 90/10 hamburger and there wasn't any excessive fat/fluid/grossness in the pan. Just spoon your hamburger meat over your favorite chips and top with shredded cheese and whatever else you like on your tacos/nachos!

Also, the chili powder you're adding isn't enough to make it hot, just enough to give it really awesome flavor. I don't have super expensive spices, and honestly, when I bought the bottle of chili powder I have, I bought the super cheap one because I didn't know what to expect.


MOLE! MOLE! MOLE!

I love guacamole.

2 avocados
1 teaspoon finely chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons fresh diced tomato
garlic salt--I just gave the container a few good shakes....Add it to your taste
Juice from 1/8 lemon

1. Prepare the avocados by cutting in half and removing the seed and the peel. (If you hit the HEB, they have vacuum packed avocados for pretty cheap and they're peeled and seeded and fresh.)
2. Cut the avocados into cubes and place in a bowl with the onion and the garlic salt. Mix together, mashing the avocado pieces as you go.
3. Add the tomato pieces and mix gently. You don't want to mash the tomatoes!!!
4. Squeeze the lemon juice into the avocado to help it stay green and give it some zip and you're set!

If you can make this a little bit ahead of time, do it! The flavors will mingle a little more and it'll taste even better. If not, it's still freakin' good.



I tried to take a picture of the nachos I made but it didn't turn out well...and then I realized I was starving so I ate them.

Have you guys ever had the "Julio's" brand tortilla chips? They are made out of San Angelo, Texas and are PHENOMENAL!!! They are thick and crunchy and they flavor them with paprika, but not too much so they're ick. Keep an eye out for Julio's chips! Bright yellow bag....delicious chips!



Alright y'all, Happy Cooking!


Amy

Mac and Cheese with a Twist

Here's the mac and cheese recipe I talked about the other day. With it I had a salisbury steak-like burger patty with fresh, homemade gravy. I didn't realize brown gravy was SO easy to make...seriously, why have I been using the junk in the package for so long?

With the macaroni and cheese, I made the macaroni and cheese from a few posts back, but I added about 4 slices of Canadian bacon that I had cut into pieces. If you add them to the cheese sauce before you add the noodles, the cheese sauce will get a little bit more of the flavor. Also, I put the whole mixture in a glass baking dish and topped with some of the Italian bread crumbs and mozzarella cheese and it made it even better! You might throw in a teaspoon of melted butter or soft butter to make the bread crumbs a little crispier.

If you find the original recipe of macaroni and cheese a little 'soupy' (honestly, I was a little worried it was at first) you can add cornstarch if you're making just the original recipe. HOWEVER, if you are making it with the canadian bacon and bread crumbs, don't thicken it. Baking the macaroni will dry it out a little and we don't want it to be extra thick and gross.



Here's the hamburger and gravy gig:

1/4 lb hamburger meat
dash of garlic salt
1 tablespoon butter
2-3 mushrooms sliced

2 cups beef broth, chilled
2 bouillon cubes
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Mix the hamburger and the garlic salt and shape into a patty. Heat in a large frying pan, staying to one side of the pan. On the other side of the pan, drop the tablespoon of butter and as it melts, add the mushrooms. Keep the foods on their respective sides of the pan.
2. Cook until the burger is done and the mushrooms are tender.
3. Remove the meat and add 1 cup of the beef broth and the bouillon cubes to the frying pan.
4. Combine the cornstarch with the remaining beef broth and blend well.
5. Slowly add the last cup of broth to the pan, after the bouillon cubes have started to dissolve. Cook together until it begins to thicken.
6. Add the burger patty back to the gravy mix and let it all simmer for a few minutes as the gravy thickens.

This will probably make more gravy than you need...in fact, I know it will. BUT, you can save some for use later in the week, or you can chunk it. Or, you can put some on top of your dogs food like I did. Yes, my dog is spoiled.


I hope you go and make your own gravy tonight! It is stupid easy!

Happy Cooking! I'll have a 'fresh' recipe for you later this week! I just didn't want y'all to think I'd finished cooking everything I wanted to.


ALSO, if you're not sure about the risotto, you need to just hush and make it. I tried risotto in a VERY fancy restaurant this weekend and mine was without a doubt better. And it isn't going to cost you nearly as much as my dinner did.

Do stuff and happy cooking!

amy

Mushroom Risotto and Thy/ime

I don't know if I've ever made something as good as the risotto I made tonight. Seriously. I followed a recipe from Giada Delaurentis from the Food Network, and adapted it for what I had and wanted to use. It was so good, I ate every morsel...Buddy Boy was kinda mad because I didn't save anything for him!

Ready to change your life? This is how to make Mushroom Risotto.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced onion
4 white mushrooms-finely chopped----this almost breaks my heart! I love sliced mushrooms!
1 small clove of garlic, minced
1/2 cup arborio rice
1/8 cup white wine (I used cheap-o chardonay!)
2 cups chicken broth, warmed (I used 2 chicken and herb bouillon cubes and 2 cups water)

1. In a large saute pan, melt butter and then add the olive oil. Mix and add the onion pieces and cook until they're tender over a medium heat.
2. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook until they are all tender and the liquid is mostly absorbed again in the mushrooms.
3. Add the rice and mix. Let it heat up and toast for about 2 minutes.
4. Add the wine and mix well. Cook until the wine is absorbed in the mixture. Add 1 cup of the broth and cook about 10 minutes or until the broth is absorbed.
5. Add the last cup of broth. It's going to look like a soupy mess, but I promise the rice will absorb almost all of the liquid. It will probably take at least 15 minutes or so.

**edit** I just realized I left out the cheese that Giada said to put in her recipe. However, I don't think this version needs it. She added Parmesan cheese and that would give it a saltier/sharper taste, but really, the way I made it was fantastic. I guess it couldn't hurt to add a little Pecorino Romano or Parmesan if you try it and think it needs a little more, but I don't think it needs it.**

This is the most creamy and delicious rice I've ever had. It is simple for the most part, but you have to stir it regularly. It's not a leave-it kind of dish, but it is so worth the effort!

With this, I made a baked pork chop. You know me, simple seasonings with it. My fall back herb for chicken and pork chops is rosemary, but I've been wanting to try thyme. It was a good change! It's not quite as woody as rosemary and there's no worrying about the stems when you use just dried thyme. If you're not a rosemary fan, I recommend trying thyme instead. It's very good!


Now, just so you don't think I'm a horrible slacker and I left you hanging for a few days, I did write a blog the other day about some bad ass macaroni and the easiness of real gravy, but it never actually posted. It was a gem, too. I'll have to work up the recipe and re-write the blog later...maybe tomorrow night when I don't have homework and taxes to do by midnight!

Happy cooking, y'all!

Amy

French Onion Soup

Do you realize how easy this soup is? It's ridiculous. And, whats awesome is that you'll be able to make it and not only impress yourself with its fanciness but you'll be able to double it and impress someone tall, dark and handsome!

Here's what you need:

2 table spoons olive oil
1 Sweet yellow onion
1/2 teaspoon plus a pinch kosher salt
Pepper
2 cups beef broth
1 thick slice of french bread, cubed
2 slices of fontina or gouda cheese

1. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil.
2. Slice the onion in half and then cut 1/4 inch half-moon slices from each side...I wish I could draw pictures on this thing...If this is clear as mud, let me know.
3. Take all the onion pieces and place them in the oil. Add the salt and give your pepper grinder a couple good twists over the onions.
4. Let them cook together for about 10 minutes. Then, add the beef broth and cook for about 10 minutes more.
5. When the onions are nice and tender pour the mixture into an oven safe bowl. I don't have a special french onion crock, so I just used a glass Anchor mixing bowl.
6. Top with the cubed bread and the slices of cheese. Place in oven under the broiler for about 10 minutes. ****WATCH THE SOUP! I burned the first bit of cheese because I didn't watch!***** When it's kind of brown and delicious looking, take it out and enjoy! Don't forget the bowl and soup will be hot!

Also, if you have a semi-crappy apartment oven, beware that the broiler will probably heat the cheese unevenly...argh. Don't worry though, mine tasted amazing.




There seem to be a lot of steps when you look at it, but really, it was stupid easy and so good! I may have to buy some of the french onion crocks so I can look fancy next time I make it!


Hope y'all enjoy! Happy Cooking!

Amy


P.S. Rich O'Toole read my blog today :) Check out his new video for "The Cricket Song". It's sweet and makes me wanna hug him! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqnJbF9Bypo

music

Have you ever tried to tell a high school kid about Texas country or red dirt music? They don't get it. The idea that there is amazing music beyond what the radio always plays just baffles them.

If you find a kid, enlighten them. Share with them something from Rich O'Toole, Casey Donahew, Eli Young, Honeybrowne or Josh Abbot. The cricket song is a personal favorite, but there are so many good tunes out there. Spread the word! Enlighten someone!

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An Amy Classic

When I was in college, my friends and I didn't exactly eat like poor college kids. We ate well. One of my friend's favorite things to eat (and mine!) was beef tips and rice, just like my momma made it. You may have noticed I haven't really full-out fried anything on here except the fried mac and cheese...and this. Here's the dish:

1/2 lb beef stew meat
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon House Seasoning from Fairy Godmother Paula Deen
1 cup veggie oil
1 packet brown gravy mix-prepared like the packet says

1. In a large frying pan, heat your veggie oil at a medium-high heat.
2. While the oil is heating, combine flour and house seasoning and flour the beef stew meat. Coat it well!
3. Place ONE tiny piece of meat in the oil and as long as the oil bubbles around the meat you're ready to go. If the meat just sits there in the oil and absorbs the oil, wait a little longer. If the oil isn't hot enough, your meat will get soggy and greasy. BLECH!
4. Brown the meat in the oil, stirring and rotating occasionally. After the meat has started to brown, pull out a larger piece and cut it open. When it's nice and brown throughout, it's cooked.
5. Place all the meat on a paper towel to drain. Set it aside for a few minutes while you do the next step.
6. Empty the oil out of your pan and wipe it down....no floaters in the gravy! Mix the gravy in the pan, just like it says to on the packet. After it starts to thicken a bit, add the meat back to the gravy and mix it all up.
Serve it over rice or even butter noodles. But, call your momma and tell her you're making this before you get started so she knows to expect to be slapped. It really is slap-your-momma good.

Happy Cooking, Y'all!


amy

The way the cookie crumbles...

Yeah, yeah. It's cliche.

Anyways, I decided to make cookies this afternoon (mostly because I didn't want to do homework...) so I pulled out the bag of chocolate chips and followed the directions.


WORST. COOKIES. EVER.

And it wasn't even a chef's error. The recipe was just bad. I mean, the dough was fine, but it was runny and I ended up having to manhandle the pan and spatula while mauling the cookies just to get them off of the pan. I don't have some crappy pan that's 10 years old, either. It's a good non-stick. So, this is my recommendation. Always buy tollhouse and use their recipe. NEVER buy the HEB brand chips to follow the recipe from. That is NOT what I like about Texas, HEB. You disappoint me.


That's my rant for the day. I needed to share this disaster with y'all.

Hope your cooking trials are going better than the crap I made today.

Happy Cooking!

Amy

Stuffed Tomato

So I think my pictures and food are starting to look prettier...don't you agree?

I have been kicking around the idea of a stuffed tomato for a few days and finally got around to making it. Not gonna lie...it was good.

Here's the deal:

1/4 lb lean hamburger meat
1 1/2 tablespoons diced onion
garlic powder
1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup cheese- I used the HEB Italian blend AND a little bit of mozzarella just for fun...
1 tablespoon diced tomato
1 finely chopped fresh basil leaf***almost forgot to tell y'all about this! it was the best part
salt & pepper
Olive Oil
1 large tomato

Preheat your oven to 350

1. In a small frying pan, brown the hamburger with the onion and a dash of garlic powder.
2. While the meat is cooking, cut the top off of your tomato...like you would a pumpkin. Use a paring knife and at about 1 inch from the center, start your cut and make a complete circle around to remove the stem area and the top. Chunk the small removed part.
3. Using your paring knife, carefully cut out sections of the middle so that you can begin scooping the tomato guts out with a spoon. Let the wall of the tomato be somewhat thick and be sure not to pierce them. It should be about 1/4 inch thick all the way around.
**The tomato should end up serving as a bowl-like device....bowls with holes aren't as effective.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, diced tomato and chopped basil. When the hamburger is done cooking, add this to the mix and toss together.
5. Salt and pepper the inside of the tomato and then spoon the hamburger, bread crumbs and cheese mixture into the tomato bowl.
6. Grease the bottom of a small baking dish with olive oil. You want enough oil so that the tomato doesn't stick to the bottom, so don't be stingy!
7. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the tomato is nice and tender.

This just tastes good, guys. And if you're looking for something healthy, this is it. Lean hamburger, a tomato, a little bit of low fat cheese and you're golden.


I ate this with a bit of rice and it was so good! If you don't try to make anything else I recommend, make this. You'll love me for it!



Happy Cooking, y'all!

amy

P.S. Don't pull an Amy and accidentally throw the jar of bouillon cubes across the kitchen while you're cooking. Its extremely inconvenient, and if you have pets, they will, OF COURSE, need to suddenly be in the middle of the stinking kitchen while you're trying to clean up glass. Ugh. Be careful, cooking is dangerous work, folks!

Veggies, A Chop and Good Ol' Cornbread

Generally the only channel I know how to find on my tv is the foodnetwork. Seriously. I usually just fish around until I find what I'm looking for or stumble across the tv line up channel. Because of this, I tend to get a lot of ideas and get REALLY distracted when working on my homework. (did you know I'm working on my master's degree?) So when I was watching today...I mean doing my homework, I kept going back and forth about what I wanted to cook. I posed the question to my facebook friends, and when I decided to make chicken, I discover I'm out of chicken. Typical! So that left me with a pork chop. And what a pork chop!

I think sometimes the flavor of the meat is under-appreciated. I like to season meat simply and tonight I just sauteed onions and garlic then added the pork chop that I had salted and peppered. Very simple, but very tasty. To compliment my meal I decided to roast some carrots and potato pieces and make a piece of cornbread...and I started with stuffed mushrooms. What...they weren't going to last much longer. And, you know Buddy ate a good part of my food...not the mushrooms.


The veggies were super easy, too. I just took about 1/2 cup of chopped potato pieces, 1/3 cup carrots (those cute little precut ones!) about 2 table spoons of olive oil, a good sprinkle of marjoram, basil, salt and pepper. I tossed it all together and threw it in the oven (in my handy dandy glass dish) and baked it at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes. I didn't watch the time really, I just checked them to see if they were tender and tossed them occasionally while they were cooking.

Here's how I made the cornbread and the mushrooms.

Cornbread
3 heaping table spoons of cornmeal
1 table spoon flour
1 table spoon beaten egg
1 table spoon veggie oil
2 table spoons milk
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 table spoon sugar

Preheat oven to 450
1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Grease small ramican or muffin pan and pour mixture into the pan.
3. Bake until the edges start to brown-about 20 minutes.

Stuffed mushrooms

1/3 cup Italian seasoned bred crumbs
2 table spoons shredded pecorino romano cheese
2 table spoons olive oil
1 tea spoon fresh, finely chopped parsley
6 white mushrooms-washed and with stems removed

Preheat oven to 400.

1. Mix the bread crumbs, cheese and parsley all together. Add the olive oil and mix well.
2. Stuff the mushroom with the mixture...put it where the stem was...it makes a little bucket :)
3. Pour about a table spoon of olive oil into a small baking dish to coat the bottom. Place the mushrooms in the dish and drizzle lightly with a olive oil.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops brown and the mushrooms are tender.

These turned out really well, but I feel like the mixture needs to be more moist. You might add a table spoon or two of water to help them out. I know when you get stuffed mushrooms at the OG, they have clams and maybe clam juice in them. (betcha didn't realize that!) I don't have clams or clam juice on hand, so maybe olive juice? water? melted butter? ....ooohh...melted butter would be good. Don't get me wrong, they're good like they are, but I think the stuffing shouldn't be dry.


I hope y'all try some of these recipes out! Happy Cooking!


amy

pizza!!

Tonight, I was craving pizza, so when I was wandering around the grocery store, I decided to browse the baking isle and see if I could find an easy to use pizza dough mix. I didn't find a mix, but I did find fleischman's pizza dough yeast packets. Genius. It's some kind of magic yeast that you really can't screw up....and I usually bomb when it comes to making bread type stuff that isn't bisquik based. So I grabbed the packet (its actually 3 doses in one packet), and checked the ingredient list. Normal stuff...flour, oil, water, salt and sugar. So, I figured I'd take the $2 plunge and try the recipe on the packet. It worked great! Even the dough that I forgot to add oil to was great! (Don't worry, that was aj's pizza. I made mine perfectly!)
So, I don't really have a recipe for you, but I do suggest you try the recipe on the yeast package. It was good and crazy easy. Just remember not to over do the sauce or go too lightly on the cheese :) My pizza was pretty. If you've never had pineapple and Canadian bacon on a pizza, you're just hurting yourself. Live a little. Eat fruit on pizza.

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Happy cooking!


Amy

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This week...

On hiatus till Monday night or Tuesday. Sorry for the delay! This week, I'm kicking around scalloped potatoes and homemade pizza.

Last night, I had scalloped potatoes that were life changing. Seriously. I've never been a huge fan of scalloped potatoes, but these were so creamy and cheesey and awesome. The waiter at Vic & Anthony's last night convinced me to try them and I figured why the heck not? Anyways, totally delicious and we had a fabulous dinner for Mom and Dad's 29th wedding anniversary and their 10th kidney anniversary. It was a great night...and possibly our last real family dinner in Houston. Mom starts her new job training Monday. She's going to do great at her new job! I just have to figure out my plan of action...


Hope y'all are having a great weekend!

Happy Cooking!

Amy