Vicki’s Slumgullion

Posted on June 16, 2010 by admin

One of my Mom’s staples, this is a version from my sister, Vicki. I wasn’t crazy about the results, to be honest. I’m not a fan of runny sauces, even though one definition I found for slumgullion was “watery tomato broth”. I’ll be trying it again, but changing it up a bit, and adding some spices since for me this was pretty bland, except for the salt from the canned tomatoes. First thing I’ll likely try is substituting sour cream or perhaps buttermilk for the milk. I also have an original version my Mom made, I’ll be trying that soon as well.

Ingredients:

1 pound of Meatballs (recipe follows)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Can tomato soup
8 ounces of milk (equal to the amount of tomato soup)
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1 Tbsp corn starch disolved in water to for thickener

Directions:

  • Put Olive Oil in a pan, add meatballs and brown.
  • In a saucepan, add tomato soup, milk, and tomatoes, bring to a simmer
  • Add cornstarch to tomato mixture until it thickens
  • If necessary, drain meatballs, and add to tomato mixture
  • Simmer for 5 minutes
  • Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles

Meatballs:

Ingredients:

  • 1 Pound lean ground beef or beef/pork blend, or turkey
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp oregano

Directions:

  • Add all ingredients to a large bowl, mix with your hands until blended, but don’t overwork the mea
  • Pull off about 3 Tbsp worth of meat, and roll between the palms of both hands to form a ball
  • Set on a plate, and repeat until all meat has been turned into perfect spheres!



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Spanish Lasagna

Posted on June 10, 2010 by admin

A fun recipe to play with the ingredients. You can make it totally mild or extra hot depending on how you feel, add more veggies, beans, rice, corn, olives.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground beef, turkey, or chicken
  • 1/2 lb chorizo
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped, or 3 oz of canned chopped jalapenos
  • 1 habanero seeded and chopped (optional)
  • 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 Tbsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp Cayanne pepper
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 can (6 oz) stewed or fire roasted tomatoes
  • 6oz hot sauce or taco sauce (or just use the entire can of tomatoes for a milder version)
  • 6-8 medium tortillas (I use flour, but try corn too!)
  • 1-2 cups of shredded cheese (cheddar or monterey jack)
  • 3 Tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
  • Put 1-1/2 Tsp (or 2 turns) of the Olive Oil in a skillet
  • Add onions and peppers to skillet, lightly brown
  • Add ground meat and spices, break up as it cooks until lightly brown
  • Add chorizo (if you got chorizo in a sausage casing, cut the casing, remove the chorizo from the casing, throw the casing away)
  • Add garlic
  • Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 2-5 minutes until there’s not a lot of moisture left
  • Stir in tomatoes and hotsauce, simmer for 5 minutes
  • Put remaining Olive Oil in the bottom of a medium baking dish
  • Cover bottom with a layer of tortillas, cut edges of the tortillas to fit in the baking dish
  • Put down a layer of meat/veggies
  • Put a thin layer of cheese
  • Repeat tortilla – meat – cheese
  • Finish with a layer of meat and cheese on top, you’ll probably have 3 layers of each.
  • Put dish in oven and cook for 12-15 minutes until cheese is melted and top is a little brown
  • Cut into individual servings, serve with green salad, spanish rice, and/or beans.
  • Garish with avocado, guacamole, and/or sour cream, if desired


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Devilish eggs

Posted on June 8, 2010 by admin

One of my favorite comfort foods, although I usually only make them when company is coming, since eating a dozen eggs in a sitting is probably not the best plan for a healthy lifestyle.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Dozen eggs
  • 4 Tbsp mayonnaise
  • 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 Habanero pepper, very finely chopped
  • 1 tsp Dave’s Insanity hot sauce
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp spicy paprika

Directions:

  • Hard boil eggs (boil for 10-12 minutes), and let cool
  • Peel eggs, cut in half, set halves on plate, put yolks in a large bowl
  • Add mayonnaise, mustard, chopped habanero, hot sauce, salt and pepper to yolks
  • Using a fork, stir until smooth. If filling is dry, add a little more mayonnaise and mustard until you get the consistency you want. It should be thick enough to hold its shape, but moist
  • Fill the egg half with the filling. Ideally, you would use a pastry bag, but you can just use a couple spoons as well, it just won’t look as elegant
  • Lightly sprinkle a little spicy paprika on the finished eggs
  • For a cute garnish, slice black olives in half long-ways, then slice into wedges. Use the wedges to make little “horns” for the eggs, and add capers for eyes. Or make the horns from jalapenos or habaneros.



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Posted in Sides, Vegetable | Leave a comment

PPP-Pizza

Posted on April 30, 2010 by admin

Pulled Pork and Pepper Pizza! Take pulled pork, bbq sauce, hot peppers, and top with some cheese for a spicy and different pizza!

Ingredients:

  • Pizza dough (make your own, or buy some. I use Trader Joes, because I’m not good at making dough yet)
  • BBQ Sauce (try my current favorite, Dragon Drool)
  • Pulled pork (learn how to make Kaydub’s forked pork here)
  • 2 Jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
  • 1 Serrano pepper, seeded and diced
  • 2 oz soft cheese, shredded (cheddar, mozzarella, jack, a mixture, go wild!)

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  • Spread dough on a pizza pan or baking sheet
  • Put enough sauce on to lightly cover dough, but don’t use so much that it pools up everywhere
  • Sprinkle liberally with pulled pork
  • Add diced peppers
  • Cover with shredded cheese
  • Bake in the oven for 8-12 minutes, until edges are crispy and cheese is melted
  • Remove, let sit for 2-3 minutes, slice and serve!


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Dragon Drool BBQ Sauce

Posted on April 29, 2010 by admin

A refinement of my BBQ sauce experiments. You can make hotter by adding more Dave’s Insanity, if you dare!

The result is a rich tomato flavored sauce, slightly sweet and smokey with a little bite.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup Catsup (remember, no high fructose corn syrup allowed!)
  • 1/2 Cup Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 Cup Soy sauce
  • 6 Oz India Pale Ale (or other beer of your choice, I recommend an ale)
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp dry mustard
  • 2 tsp spicy paprika
  • 2 tsp Dave’s Insanity (WARNING: Very Hot, don’t use unless you know what you’re doing!)
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions:

  • Put all ingredients in a medium sauce pot.
  • Warm over low heat. Don’t allow to boil, or the sauce will get bitter.
  • Allow to warm for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is so all the solids dissolve into the sauce.
  • If sauce is the consistency you want, use/bottle now, if you want it thicker, you can continue to warm it until it reduces more. To make it thinner, add more India Pale Ale.


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Posted in BBQ, Sauce | Leave a comment

Thousand Greek Island Dressing

Posted on April 26, 2010 by admin

A childhood favorite veggie coater, I use yogurt to make it much more healthy, and a little more sophisticated.
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We always had 1000 island dressing when I was a kid. It was tasty, and made those mandatory dinner veggies edible. Then, I got older, and 1000 island got put in the kids food category, like hot dogs and spaghettios. I move on to Ranch, Blue Cheese, healthier vinegar-based dressings.

But sometimes I like to revisit the foods of my youth, break it down, and reinvent it. In the case of thousand island dressing, we’re talking mayonnaise, catsup, and pickle relish. That’s a lot of fat and sugar, which is why we liked it so much as kids!

I saw a recipe by Alton Brown that replaced the mayonnaise with yogurt, and that gave me the idea for this!

Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup (16 oz) plain greek yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp Tomato Sauce (or organic catsup, just no high fructose corn syrup, ‘kay?)
  • 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 tsp dry mustard
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1-1/2 Tbsp sweet pickle relish (again, no HFCS, ‘kay?)
  • 1 finely chopped Jalapeno (optional)

Directions:

  • Put all ingredients in a large bowl
  • Stir until ingredients are well blended
  • Put in refrigerator for 1 hour prior to serving



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Beef Bourguignon

Posted on April 13, 2010 by admin

An easy to prepare, and very flavorful dish. There are a variety of ways to prepare, I consolidated my favorite ideas from a bunch of different recipes.

Ingredients

  • 4 Pounds beef roast (whatever’s cheap or on sale)
  • 2 Slices bacon
  • 2 Medium onions, chopped
  • 4-6 Garlic cloves, chopped
  • 4 Carrots, roughly sliced (2-inch slices)
  • 1 Bottle of red wine (Burgundy would be great, but Merlot, Zin, Cab will work fine)
  • 16 Oz (1/2 quart) beef broth
  • 4 Tbsp flour
  • 2 sprigs fresh Thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs fresh Sage
  • Salt & Pepper

Directions

  • Cut beef into 2 inch cubes, season liberally on all sides with salt and pepper, allow to warm to room temperature
  • Cut Bacon into 3 inch pieces, brown in a large pot or heavy bottomed pan (I used a large cast iron skillet)
  • Remove bacon pieces
  • Add beef cubes in batches to brown in bacon fat. Don’t overfill the pan, leave space between the pieces of beef, remove to a plate when brown
  • If all the bacon fat has been absorbed, add a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil replace it
  • Add chopped onions, brown for a couple minutes
  • Add 1/2 the wine and 1/2 the beef broth, deglaze pan
  • Tie herbs together, for easy removal later, and put in pan. If pan has room, add remaining wine and beef broth
  • Simmer for 10 minutes.
  • While sauce is simmering, add flour to a bowl, add beef and lightly coat with flour (you’ll likely need to do this in batches)
  • Add flour-coated beef to pan. Keep on a slow simmer over low heat, uncovered
  • Hint: If your pan can’t hold all the liquid and meat, use a dutch oven, and split the liquid/beef between the two while the liquid reduces
  • Every 15 minutes or so, give the ingredients a stir to prevent burning
  • After an hour of simmering, move all ingredients into a dutch oven, add the carrots at this time. Simmer for an hour or two more, until thickened sauce takes on a rich, balanced flavor.
  • At this point, you can serve immediately, or put aside and re-heat later. The flavors just get richer the longer it cooks.
  • Serve with potatoes or over pasta. I like a corkscrew pasta, cooked al-dente, serve in a bowl tossed with a small amount of butter, add Beef. Garnish with some of the reserved bacon, crumbled over the top!


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Chicken in Red Wine sauce

Posted on April 6, 2010 by admin

A quick, simple and tasty chicken dish.

Ingredients:

  • 2-4 boneless chicken breasts
  • 1 cup red wine, the more flavorful the better
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

  • Add EVOO to a large skillet
  • Brown chicken breasts on both sides for 4 minutes
  • Remove chicken from skillet, set aside
  • Add garlic to skillet, brown slightly
  • Slice chicken into 1/2 inch strips
  • Add chicken back to skillet along with remaining spices
  • Cook for about 2 minutes, flip, cook on other side
  • Cover, cook for another 5 minutes, or until done
  • Serve over rice or pasta, or with your favorite side dish


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Corned Beef Sandwich Spread

Posted on March 23, 2010 by kaydub

My Mom used to make sandwich spread from bulk bologna, pickles, onions, and I’m not sure what else. I never got her recipe, but it’s a common food in the midwest, so I made something up from the basic recipes I found. I got the idea, because looking at the ground corned beef I made to create the Corned Beef Sliders, it reminded me of Mom’s old lunch favorite.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup ground Corned Beef
  • 1 dill pickle, finely chopped
  • 1/4 white onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp mayo

Directions:

  • Combine all ingredients, stir well
  • Serve on sandwich bread
Posted in Beef, Meat, Recipe | Leave a comment

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Posted on March 20, 2010 by kaydub

A St. Patrick’s Day staple at our house, not because we’re Irish, but because it’s so tasty!

Ingredients:

  • Corned Beef (just make it yourself, it’s easy, and you’ll know what’s in it!)
  • 6 Red Potatoes, quartered
  • 1/2 head of shredded cabbage (or a whole head, if cabbage is small)
  • 6 carrots, peeled and chopped

Directions:

  • If making your own Corned Beef:
  • Add potatoes and carrots to the pot with the corned beef
  • Add water if necessary, and increase heat slightly
  • After 30 minutes, add cabbage
  • Cook an additional 15 minutes
  • Serve sliced Corned Beef alongside potatoes, carrots and cabbage!
  • Don’t forget the Dijon mustard and horseradish!
Posted in Beef, Recipe | Leave a comment