Friday is Pieday!

2 weeks ago Me and my husband and my husband's family FINALLY went apple picking. I say finally because it felt like we had been planning to go forever. So we drove to Masker's Orchards, about 1 hour and 30 minutes away from NYC.
It was Kevin's, my husband, first time apple picking, so that was a lot of fun. You paid 24.95 per bag of apples so Kevin shoved all our apples into one bag:

Our "one bag" of apples

We had tons of apples. But I had a list of yummy apple things to make! I made tons of applesauce. One morning for breakfast, I made some apple pie pancakes. Those were especially good. That recipe will be up in a little bit.

This entry is to show you I mess up too. I made an apple pie the next Friday we got back from apple picking. I never intended to post it here, so that's why I only took 2 pictures. I had a real tough time rolling out the pie dough. I don't have any good surfaces to roll it out on. I ordered a pastry mat from Pampered Chef, but it has not arrived yet.

So, here is the ugliest pie ever LOL:

It didn't turn out as great as I would have like, but it could not have tasted better! It was delicious and the pie crust was flaky too! Sometimes, the ugliest food turn out to be the most delicious.

Squash Season!

When I lived at home, every once in a while, my mom would buy acorn squash and make these really good roasted squash things. They were very yummy. Acorn squash was on sale last week, so I decided to revisit my mom's delicious squash.

So I started by cutting off a little piece of the bottom so it would sit up. Now, make sure you be careful and had a sharp knife, It was hard to cut through this thing! After cutting a small slice off the bottom, not too big. You don't want to open the hollow part in the center of the squash. I cut off the top next, making sure I could scoop out the seeds.

Then, I scooped out the seeds. I don't know if you can toast and eat the seeds of an acorn squash, but we never did so I just threw them away. I had the oven preheating at 375 degrees.

Then I smeared 2 Tbsp of butter all around the inside of the squash. Then I sprinkled about 2 Tbsp of light brown sugar on top of the butter. Then I put it on a baking sheet and into the oven for 1 hour.

This acorn squash was so good! I was scraping the skin of the squash to get all of it I could! Next time I might use a fork and poke holes all around the inside to see if that get a little more flavor to all of the flesh. This was a warm and delicious fall meal! It was also quite easy.

Oh I did lots of yummy fall stuff this weekend! We went apple picking! I made the ugliest apple pie you've ever seen. I never planned on posting the apple pie from the start, but when I saw it was so ugly, I took a picture to show you before and after it went into the oven. That will be the next post.

Birthday Cheesecake!

Cheesecake is one of the first baked goods I tried to make on my own. It was a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Thinking back on it, the recipe was quite ambitious for a very unexperienced baker. I was in high school and had barely made anything more than a boxed cake mix. But, I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it. And, since my mom wasn't going to make it for me, I had to do it.
Much to my mom's, and my, surprise, it turned out really, really good. I made two cheesecakes for my sister's baby shower, an apple toffee cheesecake and an espresso one. They also turned very good. I'm just really good at making cheesecake.
My husband loves cheesecake. More specifically, he loves Junior's Cheesecake. Junior's cheesecake is really good. Really good. If you have the money, it would be well worth it to buy one and have it shipped to you, but they're expensive.
Kevin's birthday was the 15th of October. He decided he wanted a Junior's cheesecake for his birthday cake. I asked him what kind and that I would go on Thursday and pick it up for him. He said that he'll pick it up on Thursday night while he is at work. He works in an upper level of Grand Central and there is a Junior's in their food court. He calls me on Thursday and tells me that you have to order a cheesecake at least 24 hours in advance. Oops. No problem, I'll make you one, honey.
There is a very uncertain pause on the other end of the phone. Then I realize I have never made my husband a cheesecake. In the 2 years we have been married, He's gotten no cheesecake from me. I try to reassure him, I'm really good at it, I promise. Reluctantly he agrees, but he sounds very very unsure of my cheesecake making abilities. I think I had talked myself up to much in the past, that he didn't think I was as good as I said I was.
"It will be better than Junior's!" That might have been shooting a little too far...
So I looked through my "Better Homes and Garden's New Baking Book" for my cheesecake recipe. This cook book, er, baking book is so wonderful. My mom actually bought it for me the Christmas I made that first cheesecake.

First, I made the crust. I was excited to get to use my Kitchen-Aid mixer and food processor on the same dish. I know I am a cooking dork. I put 24 graham cracker squares (not rectangles) in the processor with 1/3 cup of walnuts and let her rip. I chopped them till they were finely ground. Then I slowly poured in the melted butter. I took the mix and dumped it into a 9 in. round cake pan. Now, I don't have a spring-form pan, so if you're planning on taking out of the pan to put on display this is not a good idea. But, since we were just going to his mom's house to sing and have cake and ice cream, this was fine. I pressed the crust into the bottom and halfway up the sides, a measuring cup helped smooth it out very nice.
Next, I made the filling. You should let the 3 packages of cream cheese come to room temperature, they make it easier to mix with the other ingredients. I like to let the cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla, and lemon peel mix together at a high speed for about 10 minutes. I think it makes the cake lighter and a bit fluffier.

Then I mixed in the 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk. Don't over-beat your batter once you add the eggs. If you over-beat, it will add too much air and cause the cake to puff up and fall, making cracks. My cheesecake got cracks around the edges, I think because I filled the pan too full.
Then I poured the filling into the crust and put it into a 375 degree preheated oven. I am just noticing in these directions that it does say to put it in a shallow baking pan in the oven, but nothing about filling the pan halfway with water. I have never put my cheesecakes in a water bath. The always turn out good for me, but do what you like.

I baked it for about 40 minutes and let it cool for 15 minutes. I covered it in foil and when we got to Kevin's mom's house we put it in the freezer for an hour then put it in the fridge till time to sing Happy Birthday.
This cheesecake was so good. It was rich and fluffy.  I love graham cracker crust and this was exceptional. The walnuts added to the taste of the crust. Kevin even said it was better than Junior's cheesecake!!


He wanted cherries on it, and I was going to make that, too. But, the grocery store had no fresh or frozen cherries. So, we went with bought cherry pie filling.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!!

Here is the recipe I used:

• 1 3/4 cups finely crushed graham crackers (24 squares)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel (optional)
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup milk

For crust, combine crushed crackers, walnuts, and cinnamon. Stir in butter. If desired reserve 1/4 cup of the crumb mixture for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom and about 2 inches up sides on an ungreased 8 or 9 inch springform pan. Set crust aside.

For filling, in a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla, and lemon peel with an electric mixer until combined. Add the eggs and egg yolk all at once, beating on low speed until combined. Stir in milk.

Pour filling into crust-lined pan. If desired, sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Place in shallow baking pan in oven. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes for the 8-inch pan. 35 to 40 minutes for the 9-inch pan, or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken.

Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Loosen crust from sides of pan; cool 30 minutes more. Remove sides of pan; cool one hour. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.

Like I said, I don't have a spring form pan, so I just used a 9-inch cake pan and didn't do the loosen sides and stuff part of the last step.

What's been going on...

Sorry for the lack of updates! I have some really good sausage and peppers recipe coming. And, my really good birthday cheesecake I made for Kevin's birthday.

Yesterday we also went apple picking! So, we have TONS of apples. I'm going to make some pie, for sure. I might go make something now, thinking about it...

My camera was left in our car which is at the garage. It's a little bit of a walk and I'm having a bit of trouble walking upright recently. So the recipes & pictures are coming soon!

Arroz con pollo revisited a.k.a. spicier!

About a week ago, I made this Arroz con Pollo. We had more chicken thighs and I really wanted some more of the rice. So, I made it again.
This time, I made it spicier. Kevin and I love spicy food! I think I have convinced my mom & dad to try this recipe, but my mom doesn't like spice as much as I do. MOM & DAD NEED TO STICK WITH THE ORIGINAL RECIPE!

Here is what I changed:

• As I seasoned the chicken before browning, I added small dashes of cayenne pepperto the salt, pepper, and cumin. 
• While I was cooking the spices, I added 1 tbsp of red pepper flakes. Of course, if you like spice  but not that much spice, you can add less.

That isn't a lot of changes, but the end product was spicier. We really like our spice!

Enjoy!

Steak, cheese, peppers, & onions! Oh yum!

So, I was watching 30 minute meals the other day and Rachel Ray made a steak, cheese, and pepper sandwich thing that looked so good. Kevin and I were on out way home from his sister's house and stopped at the store to pick up something to eat for dinner that night. We were both hungry and I knew nothing was thawed out and ready to go at home. So when we stopped, I told him I could make some steak sandwiches and he looked quite excited about that idea.

The london broil was on sale, so I used that instead of flat iron. And we couldn't find provolone cheese, so I used monterey jack cheese. We used big hamburger buns instead of ciabatta bread. This sandwich tasted so good. It would've been tasty no matter what we used.

Here is her original recipe. They only have it in video format. It's not written out anywhere which is kind of annoying.

I started out with the peppers and onions. Make sure your burner is low because you have to cook these slow so they caramelize. I got a bit impatient at the end and turned my burner up, which is why they got a bit dark. Kevin doesn't like onions so I had to keep mine separate. It would have been a lot easier if they were combined and I could move them all around the pan. But, even the really crispy ones tasted good.

While those were cooking, I started on the cheese sauce. Cheese sauce for a sandwich sounded so good to me. I melted the butter and added the flour.  I let that cook for a bit to cook the floury taste out. Then I added my milk. I let it come to a boil and thicken. When it was thick, I added the whole package of shredded monterey jack. Normally, I would've shredded my own block of cheese, but the shredded cheese was half the price of a whole block.

I like my steak cooked medium. Medium rare and rare steak gross me out. So what if that's the best way to eat meat, how good can it be if I'm puking in the bathroom 30 seconds later? When I cook steak at home, it usually ends up well done, no pink in it at all. I'm okay with that. I'd rather have it cooked than still mooing at me. I really wanted this cooked with a little pink inside, and I got it, but only on the ends of the london broil. I seasoned it with just salt and pepper, but I should have put some sort of grill seasoning on it. It was still really good, but some garlic powder, dried onions, onion powder, just a little extra would have been much better. I just cooked it in a frying pan for about 15-20 minutes on both sides. I was going to use our grill pan, but it was dirty and we were too hungry to take the time to clean it. It's cast iron, so cleaning it is a little bit of a process. Then I let it rest on a cutting board for 15 minutes. I sliced it as thin as I could. It started out nice and thin, but the slices got thicker towards the middle. Oops.

While the second side of the steak was cooking, I put the buns on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 350 degrees till they were brown on the edges. I brushed a little olive oil on them before putting them in the oven.





Then it was time to assemble and eat. I was super hungry by now. First, I laid the open bun on the plate, then added some steak slices. Then I ladled on a good amount of the monterey jack cheese sauce. Next came some peppers and onions. I put the bun lid on the sandwich and sat down to enjoy. It was very good and definitely worth the wait.

Recipe:

5 cubanelle peppers
1 medium onion
8 oz. shredded cheese provolone, monterey jack, or any other white cheese
2 to 3 lbs. of your choice of steak
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
sandwich bread

Cut up peppers, removing veins and seeds. Cut onion, cutting very thin. Turn heat on low. Put some olive oil in pan and about 1 tbsp of butter. When butter melt and oil is hot, add peppers and onions. Cook until browned and soft.
Melt 2 tbsp. of butter. When melted, add 2 tbsp. of flour. Mix together well and let mixture cook for a minute. Whisk in 2 cup os milk. Let milk come to a boil and thicken slightly. Whisk in shredded cheese. Let cheese melt and sauce become thick. Reduce heat to very low until time to use sauce.
Season one side of steak with salt & pepper. Heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Put steak in skillet, seasoned side down. Season other side with salt & pepper. For medium-done, put it on for about 15-20 minutes on each side.
Toast bread in the oven at 350 degrees or in a toaster.
Let meat sit for 15 minutes. Slice meat against the grain as thin as you can.
lay bread out and put slices of meat on. Put cheese sauce on next, then peppers & onions. Top with other bread and enjoy!

Chicken Wiings

Like I have said before, I'm not really a fan of meat on the bone for some reason. Chicken on the bone is my least favorite. But, I do love me some chicken wings. I also happen to make them pretty well.

We usually end up getting a family pack of wings to cook. Kevin also loves chicken wings. When you open th chicken, make sure you look over your chicken to see if there is any feathers or stuff to clean and pull off the wing, that part is kinda yuck.

The seasoning for this recipe is really easy. For me, simplicity usually makes food taste better. Dishes start tasting weird when I add more "stuff". I just use salt and lemon pepper. I don't measure the spices, I just add enough to make the wings well coated.

I preheat the oven to 450 degrees. I like cooking my chicken at a really high temperature first and then finishing it at a lower temperature. This makes the skin nice and crispy. I put the chicken in the 450 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Then I turn the oven down to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes. Then i add on the barbecue sauce. I have yet to master making my own sauce. I want to make my own, and I will, soon. But, since I haven't, my favorite store bought sauce is Bulls-eye. They have a Texas style described as, "Smoky mesquite with the sting of hot peppers". That just sounded too good to pass up. You can of course use your favorite BBQ sauce.

So after 30 minutes I poured half the bottle over 2/3 of the wings. Kevin said he'd had barbecue chicken earlier and didn't want sauce on his (he later said he should have had me put sauce on all the wings because the sauce was so good. He really does need to start listening to me). I put them back in the oven at the same temperature for a final 30 minutes.

It sounds really simple, but it is very good.

Recipe:

5.34 lbs. chicken wings

about 1/4 cup lemon pepper seasoning

2 tbsp. kosher salt

1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle half of lemon pepper and salt on the wings after opening. Place the chicken wings in a dish, seasoned side down, big enough to lay each wing almost flat. Cover with rest of seasoning. Put wings in oven for 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees. Leave chicken in for another 30 minutes. Take out wings and cover in barbecue sauce. Put back in oven for another 30 minutes. Take out of oven!

I haven't a clue.

Sorry no recipes for a bit, I did a lot of cooking this weekend but have been very busy. Pictures and recipes will be up shortly. For now I am trying to figure out which cooking class to take next. I take classes at the Institute of Culinary Education, I.C.E., and can't decide. I'm not even sure if I want to take a cooking class or a baking class. The Food Media classes look very interesting as well. I just don't know what to do! Any ideas?

Arroz con What-o?

Ingredients

My sister-in-law makes this really delicious rice. About a month ago, I called and she told me how she makes it. Kevin, my husband, says it's basically like spanish rice. Okay, that's fine, it just tastes really good. So I was thinking about what I could make for dinner and remembered the huge package of chicken thighs we had in the freezer.
As I thought about it, I wondered if I could make the spanish rice and cook the chicken with it, making some sort of rice & chicken thing. So I called Kevin and asked him what he thought. I usually run my ideas by him to see if they sound like they will be edible. He does have to eat it, too.
"Oh, like arroz con pollo?" he asked in a kind of smart mouth tone.
"Um, no. Like that Spanish rice with the chicken thighs." I said, just as smart.
"Arroz con pollo. Chicken with rice?"
"Oh...I guess so."
Arroz con pollo sounds so fancy. I mean, I know I'm K. Gourmet and all, but I'm not ready to get as gourmet as arroz con pollo sounds. And that's one of my husband's favorite dishes, I didn't want to mess it up. So, right off the bat, I was nervous.

I started off by browning the chicken. Since I was going to cook it with the uncooked rice I figured I should put some flavor into the chicken before I boiled it. I opened the chicken and seasoned the up side of the chicken with salt, pepper, and cumin (picture 1 & 2). I put the thighs in the skillet, season side down, and seasoned the other side.I browned both sides of the chicken thighs until the were a light golden brown (picture 3 & 4).


While I browned the chicken I heated about 1/4 cup of olive oil in a dutch oven.  When the oil got hot I added one onion, 2 tsp. of garlic powder, 3 tsp. of cumin, 1 tbsp. of salt, 2 tsp. of pepper, 2 packets of Sazón with Azafrán, and half of a 12 oz container of sofrito (picture 5). That should be done cooking and blooming the spices as the chicken gets browned. Add the chicken to the dutch oven. Then add one can of chicken broth. Wait till the broth starts to boil, then add the whole 16 oz. package of rice. Then add the second can of broth. My pot got really full after this, but try to get all the rice in the broth(pictures 6 & 7). I also added about half a can of water.  Let the liquid come to a boil. Then reduce the heat and cover the pot (picture 8). Let simmer, covered for about 45 minutes. Stir after about 20 minutes so the rice doesn't stick and burn at the bottom of the pot.


This dish is so good! The rice is yummy and the chicken is fall-off-the-bone delicious!

When I call Kevin to tell him how good a dish I just made is, now he asks me if it's K. Gourmet good. And then this dish he said I couldn't post because I used 2 Sazón packets. I just rolled my eyes and said of course I could! The Sazón with Azafrán is the Sazón with saffron in it, that's what turns the rice a slightly yellow tint. Here, in NYC, they sell the Sazón spices and sofrito in the regular grocery store. I know in the small town where I'm from in Missouri you have to go to a special Spanish grocery store to purchase it. It is worth it! You can also make your own spice blend or sofrito. I know there are tons of sofrito recipes out there.


So here is my recipe for my Arroz con Pollo:


Family pack of chicken thighs (about 10)
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp. Cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 packets of Sazón with Azafrán
6 oz. sofrito
2 14.5 oz. cans of chicken broth
1/2 can of water
16 oz. of white rice


Season both sides of chicken with salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp. of cumin and brown in a skillet. While chicken is browning, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a dutch oven. Add the small onion, garlic powder, 3 tbsp. of cumin, 1 tbsp. of salt, 2 tsp. of pepper, 2 seasoning packets, and sofrito. Cook until chicken is browned. Add chicken to dutch oven. Add one can of broth. Let broth and chicken come to a boil. Add rice. Add second can of broth. Stir slightly so all rice is in broth. Let mixture come to a boil again. Reduce heat and cover. Let simmer, covered for 45 minutes, or until rice is tender. Stir occasionally.

Not so hard

A friend from high school asked me the other day how I prepare pork-chops. Hers, she said, always turn out tasting "blah". So I e-mailed her the three things I usually do with pork-chops. I was looking through the freezer two nights ago to see what I should set out to make, and we had some pork-chops. So I set those in the fridge to thaw.

I sometimes put them in the crock-pot with sauerkraut. We didn't have any sauerkraut, so my usual option 1 was out. I also make stuffing and bake the pork-chops on top of that in the oven. But, we didn't have any bread(thanks, french toast casserole), red pepper, or celery. So option 2 was out. Last time we had pork-chops I dunked them in flour and fried them, so I didn't want to do that again.

So I decided to use up some bread crumbs and bread and fry them. I'd never done that because it always seemed like a lot of work. I had some time to waste, so why not tonight?

I put about 2 cups of flour in one bowl with one teaspoon of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 2 teaspoons of pepper. I mixed the flour well with a fork. Then I added 4 eggs in another dish. I beat them till you couldn't tell between the yolk and the white. Then, in a third dish I added about 2 cups of bread crumbs. To them I mixed in one tablespoon of Italian seasoning.
Then I dipped a pork-chop into each dish (1st: flour, 2nd: egg 3rd: bread crumbs), making sure the pork-chop was coated well with whatever ingredient was in that dish

Before I started dipping the pork-chops, I turned the skillet on low and put about two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in the pan. After dipping the pork-chop in the bread crumbs, I transferred it right to the hot pan. My pan was only big enough to make two at a time.

To go along with the pork-chops tonight, I decided to steam some mixed vegetables. This particular variety had zucchini and squash. Kevin doesn't like either of those, so since he was at work, I figured it would be a good time to make them. They were really good. It was one of those "steam in the bag" kind. It d was really easy to make.





I cooked the pork-chops for about 10 minutes on each side. When I cut into the first one, it was still a little pink. I put the chops on a sheet pan and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, just to make sure they were done.

They smelled good and tasted even better! Breading and frying isn't as labor intensive as I thought it would be.

K. Frappe

I love those newish frappe thingys from McDonalds. I also love frappuccinos from Starbucks. Buying these things all the time can get a little bit expensive. So I got our blender out from under the counter.

As I set it on the counter, I thought about it. I've never actually used a blender. This one we got second hand from my aunt who probably used it once, if that. So I made a fresh pot of coffe and let it sit and made me some delicious homemade frappes.

The first one was a Nutella frappe.

Ingredients:

• ice
• coffee
• hazelnut creamer
• chocolate syrup

Put it all in the blender and set it on frappe for about a minute. My favorite to order at McDonalds is the caramel frappe, so of course I attempted on of those. 

Ingredients:

• ice
• coffee
• french vanilla creamer
• caramel sauce

Blender, mix, you get the idea. This one was SO good! Sorry I have no measurements, but I kind of just threw stuff in the blender...

I also made them pretty by making my own whipped cream. I made that first and put it in a ziplock bag so I could pipe it on top of the finished coffee drinks. I stored it in the fridge while I made the drink so it wouldn't get liquidy gross. After I cut of the corner of the zip lock bag and pipedon the whipped cream, I drizzled the syrup that was used in the drink on top of the whipped cream. Looked pretty fancy, if I do say so myself. And I do say so.

This kitchen is open all night.

The schedule at our house is kind of off to begin with. Kevin works nights doing IT work at an investment bank. He goes in around 2 or 3 p.m., Mon.-Fri. and is supposed to get off at 1 a.m., but usually walks in the door around 2 or 3 a.m. Now, sometimes I cook dinner and sometimes I don't because he get $27 each night to order food and I can just PB&J-it up. He's not always hungry when he gets home but he'll always eat if I made something.

Since starting K. Gourmet, I have been cooking a lot more just in general so that I will have more content for a cooking blog. If I had time stamps on the photos, you would find me cooking food at 11 p.m., 12 a.m., and sometimes 1 in the morning. I'm awake for a normal amount of hours, just not normal times. I'm pretty used to it by now.

Well, last night I decided since it was Friday, I'd make a really good dinner for Kevin.I had put a rack of ribs in the fridge the night before to thaw out. I got them out and started to make my dry rub. I made this dry rub up. It's really simple but, really really good. I'm weird about meat still on the bone (mostly chicken) so I rarely eat every single drop of meat of a bone. Last time I made these I literally licked the bone clean.  There was no meat left for Kevin to finish up. This rub is so good! This rub is proof to me that this is what I should be doing forever. Seriously, I made this rub up!

So here is the recipe:

1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Mix all spices together. Good for 5-6 lbs. of ribs. Massage 1/2 of rub mixture into the top of ribs. Turn over and do the same with 1/2 of the left over rub. Turn back over and spread on the rest of the mix. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Let ribs sit for 15 minutes before putting in the oven. After 15 minutes, put the ribs in the oven for 2 hours at 250 degrees. After 2 hours, turn the heat up to 400 degrees. Leave in for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes.

In anticipation of Kevin getting home around 1:30, I made the ribs and and let them rest so I'd have them be in the oven by 11:45 and be out by 1:45 and we'd eat, watch T.V. and go to bed. Sounded like a great night. Kevin came home around 1:15, almost as planned. I told him the ribs wouldn't be done until around 2, but didn't they smell good? He looked in the kitchen and asked me if I knew they were still on the stove.
"What?" I asked, looking at him like he was so dumb. "No, I put them in the oven like an hour ago."
"No, you didn't. They're on top of the stove."
I ran into the kitchen and saw the ribs sitting nicely right on top of the stove. Crap. I put them in the oven right away. When I left them to let the rub soak in, I totally for got about them while I was on the computer. The smell was the hot oven slightly heating up the pan they were in from underneath. So, they didn't really get into the oven until 1:20 which meant they didn't finish cooking till 3:50. I guess I could have covered them and put them in the fridge until today, but I didn't think of that.
I had also decided to make mashed potatoes with the rest of our potatoes. I had been this video on my friend's blog and really wanted to try it.

How To Peel a Potato in 10 Seconds on Howcast

It looked pretty easy and it worked really well. It took a little longer than 10 seconds, though. Now here is how I put together my mashed potatoes:

Ingredients:

• 7 peeled & boiled potatoes (Idaho, Russet, New, doesn't matter, this is just what I had in the fridge)
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 5 Tbsp butter
• Salt &Pepper to taste

I put all ingredients into a bowl at one time and mixed until smooth with my hand mixer. I tasted the potatoes and added salt and pepper until they tasted good. I also don't always use heavy cream. I use what ever I have on hand: Milk, half & half, heavy cream. Sometimes I also put a few tablespoons of sour cream in there.

My family loves mashed potatoes. My mom would often make at least 1 pound of them for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When you're making this much you can add a block of cream cheese in there, too. It makes them very creamy and really good.

Lazy Breakfast.

I know Kevin needs to eat before he leaves for jiu jitsu class. But, I also know that I am tired in the mornings. Very tired. So I was looking through my email and noticed one from Cooking.com. All I saw was french toast, and that was all I needed to see. I was going to look for a future cooking experience, but when I saw that I could make it last night and put it in the oven in the morning I had to make it for breakfast today. We didn't have french bread, but we did have half a loaf of sandwich bread.

I did make a few changes in the recipe and have a few that I will make the next time I make this dish. Overall, it was really good, especially if you like french toast and don't like cooking too much in the morning (or get up really early).

"Bread"

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Here is the original recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf (10 oz.) French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, optional

Directions:

Place bread cubes in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt if desired. Pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking. Dot with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 miutes. Serve with syrup if desired.

Now, the first change I made was the bread. I used just a regular loaf of bread. Next time I make it I want to have some challah bread on hand. In my opinion, challah bread makes the best french toast. In the morning, I decided to " Paula Deen" the casserole and use a whole stick of butter instead of 2 tablespoons. More butter can't be bad. But, it kinda made the top soggy, so next time I'll use half a stick of butter.When I made the cinnamon sugar mixture, I kinda made my own. I know you just need more sugar than cinnamon and I wanted a lot more than the recipe called for. I was glad I did because the inside of the casserole didn't have too much flavor. We thought syrup would fix that, but we were out of syrup. So, I sprinkled more cinnamon-sugar on each serving. Next time I will try drizzling syrup in the pan before baking it in the morning, and stirring it a little to get that maple flavor all throughout. This morning was great. I woke up, took it out of the fridge and preheated the oven.  I did some other just-woke-up things, came back and put it in the oven. Kevin's a huge protein eater so I also made him some bacon since that is all the breakfast meat we have right now. Again, watch the grease splatter. It splattered in my nostril this morning, and (in the style of charlie bit my finger) that really hurt! I also discovered something crazy delicious with my coffee. I have hazelnut creamer. We also have chocolate syrup left from the crepes. So I added my creamer and mixed in some chocolate syrup like when making chocolate milk. Then I added my coffe and one Splenda instead of two. Oh My Goodness!!!!!! Nutella coffee. It is so very very good! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner! Also, last night, I had 3 crepes left over and defrosted them. I spread Nutella on them and put sliced strawberries on the Nutella. I rolled them up and we had a delicious, quick, and easy dessert.

Never jiu jitsu on an empty stomach.

My husband, Kevin, practices the martial art, Jiu Jitsu. He has class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings before work. Now, I will be honest, I don't always make him breakfast before he leaves for class. I know, I know! I should. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? Well, a lot of times, I'm just super tired and he doesn't push me to wake up most of the time. When I do wake up and make him breakfast, it's usually pretty good.

Since I started this blog, Kevin should be very happy. I am going to want to wake up and make him breakfast a lot more often now. It's all good content for my cooking blog. So set my alarm for 9:30 a.m. so I could wake up and make him a delicious meal before he left. So, I woke up and asked him what he would like for breakfast (he'd apparently been awake since 8.). This is usually why I don't really enjoy making him breakfast everyday. He always wants the same stuff. This morning was no different; Bacon, grits, and scrambled eggs.

This is why my pictures and instructions are kind of sparse. Everything I made pretty much is made the same way or has great directions to follow on the package. Bacon: Fry in the pan, be careful the grease doesn't splatter you. Grits: Boil water and whisk in grits till it gets thick. Follow directions on package. Scrambled eggs: Here you can get a tiny bit creative, but not much. Beat eggs with a little bit of milk or water and cook in a frying pan on low heat. On and the coffee was for me.

Not too crazy, huh? But he did like it. The only kind of "odd" thing I did was with the eggs. I put in about 2 or 3 tablespoons of sour cream in them when I whisked. I used that instead of milk or water. That's makes them really good. So that was our yummy, boring breakfast this morning.

And, Kevin didn't even go to jiu jitsu today. But breakfast was still good. I also even packed him up some of the left over chicken to take to work for lunch. But since he didn't go to class, that means he was home for lunch too.

Mini Meat-loaves have less calories!

I was looking at my old wedding blog and found an entry when I made mini meat-loaves. I got the recipe from my Kraft Foods magazine. It was a free magazine that come spring/summer/fall/winter but is now something you have to buy. I just haven't been around to purchasing a subscription. They used to have some really good recipes in there. This one I found made mini meat-loaves 4 different ways based on what add-ins you chose.  So I decided to revisit this recipe and put my own twist on it because I didn't have StoveTop dressing or any cheese (astonishing). And to go along with it I decided to make the sweet potato fries I've seen show that Sandra Lee makes them on 1,000 times. They just look SO good and sweet potatoes were on sale last week.


So first I made the mini meat-loaves:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. ground beef
• 1/2 cup and 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt & pepper
• 2 Tbsp Mustard ( I like spicy brown)

In a bowl put you ground beef, 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce, bread crumbs, egg, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix with utensil to combine. I find that my hands do the best job of getting everything mixed together really well. Just make sure to wash your hands good before and after mixing. Get out a cupcake pan and spray liberally with cooking spray. Trust me, you'll definitely want to get these puppies out of the muffin cups! Make about 1 inch in diameter balls of meat. Your cupcake cups might be smaller or larger, so adjust the meat-loaf size accordingly. Just make them big enough so a little bit of meat over flows (so they kinda look like meat muffins, that sounds weird). Then mix the other 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and 2 tablespoons of mustard together in a small bowl.  spread over the tops of each meat-loaf. I pressed a little divot in the top with my thumb so the sauce had more room. It will be messy, but that's what makes 'em good! Then put them in the oven at 375 degrees for 60 minutes! Let cool for a minute when finished then dig in!

Then I made the sweet potato fries. I got the recipe from Sandra Lee and here it is:


Ingredients:

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon chili seasoning
• salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut potatoes in half, lengthwise, then cut into 1/2-inch thick fries. Place sweet potato fries in a large mixing bowl. Add oil and spices. Toss until they are thoroughly coated with spices. Spread fries in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Place in preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes turning once to ensure even cooking. Remove from oven and serve hot.

"Cut the sweet potato"

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And that was my very easy simple supper last night!!!!