Eating My way Across Iowa Day One

Hey Guys-

So the Dude and I are eating our way across Iowa- It all started when we go lost in Omaha because of the flooding of the Missouri River and we ate at an Applebees in Omaha.  Yes, I know Omaha is in Nebraska and eating at Applebees isn't really a culinary feat- but we were hungry and sometimes hunger wins out over culinary excellence. Besides, Chris Santos was in line with me at the Dunkin Donuts in the Airport and if Santos sometimes skips on culinary excellence, I figure I can too.

As a side note- the flooding of the Missouri River is awful and will have a major impact on farmers and food production, which translates into higher food costs for quite some time. Pray for those who were most affected by the flooding and give a little to your local food bank.

Anyhow- after we finally
got unlost and ended up at one of my favorite sister and brother in laws house, I got down and dirty in their kitchen.  We had these HUGE Iowa Chops on the grill, sweet corn and garden ripe tomatos- simple, delicious and perfect food.  I did a wicked fast marinade of garlic, orange juice, beer and Jack  For desert I used local apples to make an apple crisp- life was good.

Here is one of the recipes- what? I am on vacation
Pork Chops in Orange Garlic Marinade

•  4 Large (3/4-1 inch thick) Bone in Pork Chops
• 1/4 Cup Jack Daniels or other Burbon
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and rough chopped
• 1 can beer
• Juice of one orange
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 TBSP Kosher Salt
• 1 Tbsp Chili Powder
• 1 Tbsp Onion Powder
• Pinch of dry sage
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

In bowl, mix all ingredients except for the chops.  
Put the chops in gallon Zip Lock Bag
Pour the Marinade over the chops- reserve one cup of marinade
Seal the bag and put the bag in a bowl (to catch anything if the bag leaks)
 Let sit for at least 30 minutes or over night- if sitting for more than 30 minutes, put in the fridge


Remove chops and Grill on Hot grill-8-10 minute per side, or until a thermomemter stuck in reads at least 145 degrees farenheit- basting with the reserved sauce.


Let rest for 10 minutes and then enjoy....


Ahh- Back to the pool--- soon- gorging on fair food...
 

Busy Night- Garlic Shrimp to the rescue!

So the dude, also known as my husband, and I are crazy busy- and there are nights that finding time to make a meal at home is a challenge.  We try to eat at home, together, as often as possible.  On the nights that have us heading in different directions, we usually have salad and some sort of down and dirty protein- like broiled chicken, or, our favorite- Gambas Ajillio (Garlic Shrimp.)  This is a dish that can be thrown together in ten minutes flat and is awesome! It is also very easy for beginners to make and can make you look like a kitchen pro if you take it to a potluck.  It has the added bonus of making your house smell AWESOME!!  This was one of my favorite things to eat when I lived in Spain, so I was uber excited to come up with a rendition that was close to the Chicken-in-the Dirt version.
Here it is:
Garlic Shrimp

1 Pound EZ peel shrimp- NOT peeled- thawed
1 head Garlic, peeled- or 8-10 cloves of the pre-peeled stuff- sliced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Cup white wine
1 TBSP Kosher Salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Parsley- if you want

In a large skillet on medium heat, heat olive oil.  Once hot, put half of the sliced garlic in and stir for a minute then add shrimp, stir for 1-2 minutes, add the remaining garlic, wine, pepper flakes and salt. Bring to boil, once at a boil remove from heat and serve. 
Yes, you will have to peel at the table, but that is fun.  Serve with a salad and thick slices of French bread to sop up the juices.

This will become a family favorite!

Deviled Eggs & Peach Cobblers---OH MY!!

So, today was our church's home-coming picnic and barbeque.  This was my sixth home coming picnic at this church and we celebrated the 243rd Anniversary of the church. My Church- Old Pine Street was known as the "Church of the Patriots" during the Revolutionary War- it has been known, since 1768, as a place where socially minded progressives are welcome to come and worship God. Today, was also, as we know, the tenth anniversary of the horrible attacks on 9-11-01 on the  Twin Towers, Pentagon and Shanksville,PA. I would be remiss to not say that I didn't spend time thinking about all the lives that have been lost in pursuit of Liberty and Justice- whether by purposefully setting out to defend it, as our sailors & soldiers have done and continue to do, or as those who perished ten years ago did- just going to work and living the way they did. There is respect and honor in both. We need to remember this- the terrorists did not and will not win! We need to remember, and we need to proceed on with our lives.  Celebrating 243 years of service for the church that we have called ours since we moved to Philly seems an appropriate tribute.

Anyhow- My husband was the grill master and he did a pretty A-OK job- only a few of the hot dogs, burgers and veggie burgers were sacrificed to the coals in an attempt to feed our fellow parishioners. This picnic was also a potluck, and while there was a usual assortment of salads and deserts, there seemed to be an exceptional number of peach cobbler and deviled eggs.  For the first time in my life, there were left overs of both cobbler and deviled eggs. There were at least 4 different peach desserts (3 of which were cobblers) and 6 batches of deviled eggs- that's right- 6 batches!! Now, we all love peach cobbler, and deviled eggs, and most of us know that others love these dishes too, so it is fairly reasonable to see how and why we ended up with multiples.  I brought both (and a potato salad- I feel the need to over compensate...) I also talked to people who brought one or the other and the reason that was given was because they knew others liked them and that they just never thought to make them for just their household.  Why not?  Cobblers are easy.  Deviled eggs are easy.  Every body loves them.  Why shouldn't we make them for those we live with?

In that vein- here is my recipe for Cobbler:


4 Cups of fruit or berries- peel and chop pit fruit, wash and rinse berries, core and chop apples or pears.
2 cups flour
1 cup melted butter, devided
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup half and half or milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fairenheit
Put fruit in a 9x13 baking pan.
Pour 1/2 cup butter over the fruit
Sprinkle brown sugar over the fruit and butter mixture
In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients.  Once thoroughly mixed, spoon on top of fruit.
Bake for one hour.  Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or good vanilla ice cream.


Deviled eggs recipe to come...

Say a prayer for those that gave all, or are willing to give all, and those that love them


Old Pine Street Church

Chocolate Love

It has been a while since my last post- we have had a fairly stressful summer here in Kreieki land.  I am hopeful that we are done with family emergencies and no one else I love gets sick for a while. 

Last Monday my father in law passed away.  He would have been 92 in October.  He was one of the kindest, gentlest men I have ever known, and he, with his wife raised three great kids- Every one should have the blessing of being married into a great family.  The last line of his Obituary read "He loved his wife, his family, cake, ice cream and fudge." That about sums him up.  He was never very far from chocolate of some sort, usually mini chocolate bars.  His kids each had a story about his fudge addiction. My husbands favorite was how his dad would make fudge on Sunday nights to go with the popcorn they would have as a treat.  In honor of this great man-I say go forth and eat chocolate.

I can't give out my Mom's Fudge recipe under threat of being disowned, however, a close second, if you want to make fudge is to use the recipe on the back of Krafts Marshmallow Cream...

Black & Bleu Bacon Burgers- and a couple notes on friendly meat eating

I LOVE burgers, with a passion that is only surpassed in the food world by my love of steak. I don't want to offend my Vegan and Vegeterian friends- but I have always thought a nicely cooked piece of beef is heaven on a plate.  Because I love beef, and meat in general, I try to purchase humanely raised and farmed beef, pork and poultry.  I have a great butcher- Shameless Plug Here-- Giuntas, in Reading Terminal Market- he gets his product locally and naturally raised whenever possible.  I trust him, I trust he sources as he says he does, and I get awesome meat and poultry from him.  He is the only butcher I go to here in Philly- I have a fish guy- but that's another story for another day.
Back to friendly meat- whenever possible, I think you should source your meat from safe, reliable sources, local and natural, whenever possible. Netflix "Food, Inc"  or read Kingslovers "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and you will see why. It's good for the planet, it's good for the economy, it's good for your wallet, and it will keep you healthier.

Getting off my soap box now (should probably find a graphic for that)

Tonight I made Black and Bleu Bacon Burgers for dinner, and they were soooooooooo insanely good. Beef, bacon, Bleu Cheese, onions, I was in heaven, and the Dude was pretty happy too!! I have a vegetarian option for this in the notes that follow- yes, a veg version of a bacon cheese burger...  Rod (aka The Dude) and I are watching our carbs, so we skip the buns, but this would be really good with toasted potato rolls or an onion kaiser roll spread with a spicy horseradish-mayo blend. without further ado, here is the recipe.

Black & Bleu Bacon Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Ground Sirloin
• 1/4 cup Steak Sauce (I use A-1)
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• Salt and Pepper
• 8 slices bacon
• 4 oz crumbled bleu cheese
• 1 large onion- thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp Butter

Directions

• Move oven rack to top 
• Place a cast iron grill or griddle pan on the top rack
• turn oven to highest temp possible or broil
• While oven is heating, melt butter in a skillet on low
• Add onions to the skillet, stir, and leave them alone- on low (you can stir every 5-10 minutes , but seriously, you want these done LOW and slow) should take 30-40 minutes- they should be transparent but not brown or black when done
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix ground beef, olive oil, steak sauce, salt, pepper and garlic- use your hands
• Form meat mix into 4 equal patties- set aside
• on the grill pan, place 2-3 slices of bacon, cook until desired crispness, for me- about 3 minutes each side, 
•  drain cooked bacon on a plate lined with a few sheets of paper towel
• repeat with remaining bacon
• When all the bacon is cooked, place the ground beef patties on the griddle- in the bacon drippings
• For Med Rare burgers- cook for two to three minutes on each side
• After you flip the burgers the first time- place 1 ounce of bleu cheese on each burger- cook for an additional 2-3 minutes
• Remove the burgers from the griddle pan- let rest for at least 5 minutes
• Turn onions off
• To Serve: put burgers on plates, put 2 slice of bacon on each burger, pile onions on and serve

Variattions

• for Vegetarian burgers:
• Use Portabello Mushroom caps
• Marinate Mushroom caps in steak sauce, olive oil, salt, pepper and on tbsp cumin for 20 minutes
• grill mushrooms as desired, adding bleu cheese on the flip side 
• If desired, use veg bacon to sub for the real stuff
• Other-
• you can make this on a real grill- ie BBQ- just get your coals or grill hot and make the bacon in a pan on your stove
• You can make this stove top- pan fry your bacon, then fry your burgers in the bacon fat
•  MMMM Bacon

I will get pictures up soon

Carne Adovada--- Whole lot of lovely yummienss

 OK- First recipe- and it won the FB poll- Hope you enjoy.   Whenever possible, If I post a meat based recipe and there is a way to make a vegetarian option, I'll post that in the variations section.

This is a classic New Mexican stew. It's particularly good with home made tortillas. This makes a lot- and the leftovers are really good- it's one of those dishes that gets better the longer it sits. Your house will smell amazing while this is in the oven.

I know- I know- it's ninety billion degrees out there- why would you want to make a stew?? Think of it this way- you cook once and eat for a few days. 

 

Carne Adovada

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil- divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons New Mexico red chile powder
• 4 cups warm water or chicken broth
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 teaspoons chile flakes
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 pounds cubed pork stew meat
• 1 large onion, chopped in large chunks
• 1 head garlic, peeled
• 1 -12 ounce bottle of beer- whatever kind you have on hand

Directions

1. In a skillet or frying pan, heat half of the oil over medium heat. Stir in flour and brown until light golden brown. Blend in chile powder and flakes. Slowly add water or broth, stirring until lumps are removed. Add diced onion, pressed garlic, oregano, cumin, honey and salt. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and  set aside
2. In another large skillet, heat the other half of the oil over medium high heat.  Add pork and brown. You may need to do this in batches.
3. Place pork in a large baking pan or casserole pan.  Add onion, garlic and beer. Add chile mixture to pork and mix until pork is covered with chile.  Marinate pork for at least 12 hours or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
5. Bake pork in preheated oven for at least 4 1/2 hours, or until meat is well cooked, tender and falls apart.

Variations:

Stew beef works well if you do not want to use pork.

Rendering fat from smoked bacon and browning the meat in the rendered bacon fat will add another layer of flavor to the stew

You can make a vegetarian version by subbing out the pork with hearty, hard squashes, such as butter nut, or zucchini, fingerling or "baby" potato's will work too.   The veggie version doesn't need to cook for 4 hours- just until the veggies are cooked through.

Welcome!!!

Welcome to my attempt at blogging.  I am glad you are here.  I plan on blogging mostly about food, what I am eating, what I am cooking, recipes I am loving. I may throw in some politics or news about my family. I hope you enjoy this and will offer your feed back.

So- why is it this Blog called Not So Timid Cook?  Mostly because food, and the making of food can intimidate people.  I fully get that there are lots of books and shows and blogs about the right way to make a recipe. It can be intimidating to be surrounded by all these people doing and telling you to do things in a certain way. Here's a little secret, there are no recipe cops.  No one will come and arrest you if you opt to change something in a recipe.  Once I figured this out, I  became fearless in the kitchen. I have become the Not So Timid Cook.