Category Archives: Cooking

Cooking, Main courses

Beef Stroganoff

Best beef stroganoff ever.

Gather the following ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. of New York strip or other fine cut of beef
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
2 (8-oz.) packages of sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can of beef broth, about 2 cups
2 tbls. tomato paste
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 package (16 oz.) egg noodles
1/2 cup sherry
2 tbls. flour
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream

2 large pots

Cut the beef into 1/2 inch cubes. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
– the best this has ever turned out I actually used a beef flank recommended by the butcher who had used the same cut the day before to make his own beef stroganoff.

Add 3 tbls. of olive oil to one of the large pots. Heat over a medium-high heat. Sauté the beef and the mushrooms together for 3 – 5 minutes.

Beef and Mushrooms ready to cook
Beef and Mushrooms ready to cook

– The meat should be seared, not necessarily cooked through.

Stir in the broth, tomato paste, and mustard.

Reduce the heat to low and cover. Cook for 1 hour.

About half an hour prior to the beef mixture being finished start to boil the water for the egg noodles. – Try to time the noodles to finish shortly after the meat.

Stir the flour and sherry into the beef mixture, cook, stir constantly until it thickens.
– Mine never thickens. I just cook it a few minutes and move on.

Beef stroganoff with over egg noodles
Beef stroganoff with over egg noodles

Add the sour cream. Stir. Turn off the heat. Add the noodles. Stir. Serve.

Video for Beef Stroganoff

Cooking, Main courses

Stove Top Chicken Casserole

Stove Top and Chicken Casserole in forty minutes.

Gather the following ingredients:

Stove Top stuffing mix
1/2 stick of butter
Water

Chicken – rotisserie chicken, canned chicken, or another cooked chicken
Cream of chicken soup

Small glass pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stove Top stuffing, cream of chicken, and one cooked chicken
Stove Top stuffing, cream of chicken, and one cooked chicken

Make the Stove Top stuffing mix according to the directions.

After the necessary 5 minutes transfer the stuffing onto the bottom of the glass pan.

Add the chicken to the top.

Cover with the cream of chicken soup.

Cooked Stove Top and chicken, quick and easy
Cooked Stove Top and chicken, quick and easy

Cook in oven for 30 minutes.

Cooking, Main courses

Chicken Strips in Marinade

Chicken Strips in Marinade is a great topping for rice.

Gather the following ingredients:

Raw chicken cut into long strips
A salad dressing, something with lemon or raspberry

Large storage bag
Small glass pan

Optional:
Rice, Uncle Ben’s Chicken and Wild Rice is a good choice

Marinade and chicken ingredients, yep just two
Marinade and chicken ingredients, yep just two

Place the chicken strips into the storage bag and cover with the salad dressing. Allow this to marinade for 30 minutes.
– If it sits too long the acids in the dressing will breakdown the protein in the chicken and make it mushy. Do not let it sit longer than a few hours. 30 minutes to an hour is optimal.

Chicken strips in marinade
Chicken strips in marinade

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the chicken for 30 minutes.

Serve over rice if you like.

Video link to this recipe: Chicken and Dressing with Rice

Cooking, Main courses

Cheesy Hash Browns with Ham

A side dish or a main course, cheesy hash browns with ham.

Gather the following ingredients:

1 (32 ounce) package of frozen has brown potatoes
A cooked ham steak or cubed ham or frozen leftovers
2 cans condensed cream of potato soup
1 (16 oz.) container of sour cream
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar Chees
Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 large glass pan or 2 smaller glass pans
Huge bowl

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Break the frozen hash browns by dropping it onto cement or a hard floor. Do not body slam the package. It doesn’t end well.

Slice the ham into small cubes.

In an extreme large bowl mix the cream of potato soup, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and the ham. Mix in the frozen has browns.

Cheesy Ham and Potatoes, ready to be cooked.
Cheesy Ham and Potatoes, ready to be cooked.

Transfer the mixture into the glass pan or pans.

Top with the grated Parmesan cheese.
– Do not use shredded parmesan cheese for this. It will burn.

Bake for a full hour.

Cooking, Main courses

Pulled Pork

Pulled pork for sandwiches made in a Crock Pot.

Gather the following ingredients:

Pork shoulder or tenderloin
Rub – Find one you like or combine chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, and red pepper
Apple Cider Vinegar
BBQ sauce

Crock Pot

Buns

Optional topping:
Coleslaw

Cover the pork with the rub liberally. Place the pork into the crock pot, fat side down.

Pour 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar onto the bottom of the Crock Pot.
– Dot not pour over the meat.

Cook for 6-7 hours on low.

Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce, just stir.
Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce, just stir.

When the pork is able to be pulled apart with two forks remove it from the Crock Pot. Dump out the vinegar. Replace the pork and shred the meat.

Cover with your favorite BBQ sauce, stir, and cook for another hour.
– Sweet BBQ sauces can burn, and become bitter, if cooked too long in the Crock Pot which is why you wait until the end to add it.

Place the pulled pork between 2 buns and eat.

Add coleslaw on top of the pulled pork if desired.

Cooking, Salads

Coleslaw

A simple salad, coleslaw.

Gather the following ingredients:

Cabbage
Carrots
Miracle Whip
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar

Miracle Whip, sugar, vinegar, cabbage, and carrots
Miracle Whip, sugar, vinegar, cabbage, and carrots

Slice or chop the cabbage and carrots in a vegetable slicer.
– I don’t have one either. I chop the cabbage with a knife, bigger ones work best. I slice the carrot with a potato peeler.

Add Miracle Whip to cover the cabbage and carrots. Mix in 1 tbls. vinegar and 1 tbls. sugar to 1 cup of Miracle Whip.
– In my experience increasing the vinegar and sugar when increasing the Miracle Whip is not always a good idea. Especially the vinegar.
– It can take a surprisingly large amount of Miracle Whip to cover the salad depending on how covered you like the vegetables.

Stir and you are finished. Put in the fridge to chill.

Serve as a simple side dish or add to the top of a sandwich.

Cooking, Main courses

Spaghetti Casserole

Spaghetti Casserole – almost like mom’s

Whenever I made mom’s spaghetti casserole it just did not get the praise that hers does, so I made a few modifications.

Gather the following ingredients:

New York Strip – 3/4 lb. or more
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
Spaghetti
Marinara Sauce
Can of Artichoke Hearts
Shredded Mozzarella 2 cups

Large frying pan
Large pot
Large glass pan

Slice the New York Strip into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat the Olive Oil in the frying pan. Sear the outside of the steak to seal in the flavor, maybe 5 minutes on medium heat.

– The meat should not be cooked through. It will finish cooking in the oven.

Fill the large pot with water and heat on medium high until it boils. Take a large handful of spaghetti and break it over the sink. Add to the pot and cook as directed.
– I bite one of the noodles to check to see if it is done. It should be the same color all the way through and not taste pasty.

Drain the spaghetti and add the cooked noodles to the bottom of the glass pan.
Pour 1/3 of the marinara sauce over the noodles and stir. You just want to color the noodles slightly.

Marinara sauce over steak, artichoke hearts and spaghetti.
Marinara sauce over steak, artichoke hearts and spaghetti.

Drain the artichoke hearts and pour them over the noodles evenly.

Spread the cubes of steak over the top of the noodles evenly.

Cover all with the rest of the marinara sauce. Spread the sauce as evenly as possible.

Sprinkle the mozzarella over the top.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook for 30 minutes. The cheese should melt and turn slightly golden.

I like to sprinkle garlic salt over the top before eating if I do not have garlic bread or French bread to eat with it. This dish is very good the next day.

Cooking, Snacks

Doritos and Peppers

Doritos, Peppers, and Cheese

Having a party, or just a after school or work snack and you need this little treat.

Gather the following ingredients:

Doritos
Cheddar Cheese
Hot Peppers

Cookie sheet

Arrange the Doritos upon the cookie sheet without too much overlapping.

Sprinkle the Cheddar Cheese over the top.

Spoon hot peppers over the top as desired.
– I got mine at Pot Belly, but they sell jars of peppers, cauliflower, carrots, etc. at the grocers as well. You can also use jalapenos.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melted cheddar cheese over hot peppers and Doritos.
Melted cheddar cheese over hot peppers and Doritos.

Cook the chips for 3-4 minutes until the cheese melts. Any longer and the chips will burn.

Cooking, Main courses

Hash Browns, Eggs, Bacon

Three items for a full breakfast: Hash browns, scrambled eggs, and bacon.

Gather the following ingredients:

Bacon

Fresh hash browns (not frozen)
Eggs

Milk

Toppings:
Ketchup
Cayenne pepper
Cheddar cheese

1-2 frying pans, medium or large depending on how much you make

Fry the bacon over a medium heat for about 10 minutes or until cooked. Remove the bacon from the pan and place in a bowl for later. I used a medium pan to cook half the bacon as I needed the other half for a Basque Chicken Stew recipe.

Bacon in a frying pan
Bacon in a frying pan

Use that huge spoon that comes with your silverware and seems to have no purpose to spoon out most of the bacon grease into a container for later. Leave a few tablespoons worth in the pan.

I only cook half of the hash browns so the medium sized pan works well. Add the potatoes and cook them for 6 minutes on a slightly over medium heat. Spoon some of the bacon grease over the top near the 2 minutes to go mark. Do not stir the hash browns or check them during the first 6 minutes. Turn them and cook an additional 5 minutes. Start the eggs after you flip the hash browns and set the timer.

Crack eggs into a bowl. Crack the egg on the table or edge of the bowl and carefully pull apart the shell. Make sure none of the shell gets into the bowl. Add fresh ground pepper.

Peppered eggs waiting to be scrambled.
Peppered eggs waiting to be scrambled.

Add a dash of milk and mix with a fork.

Spoon about 2 tbsp. bacon grease into a second pan. Heat the pan over a medium-low heat and then add the eggs.

Stir the eggs occasionally to make sure they do not burn. This will also break them up.

Place the bacon, eggs, and hash browns on a plate and serve.

I like ketchup on my hash browns. I also like a little cayenne pepper on my eggs. You can also add cheddar cheese by removing the pan from the heat, sprinkling the cheese over the top, and covering the pan with a lid so it can melt on its own.

*If you do not have bacon you can use butter instead of bacon grease. The hash browns will be crisper with the butter. Melt 1/4 stick in the pan for the hash browns, place another 1/4 stick on the top of the cooking hash browns so it melt onto the second side. Use 1 tab of butter for the eggs.

Cooking, Main courses

Basque Chicken Stew

Basque Chicken Stew is one of my favorite stews. It is very light.

Gather the following ingredients:

1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 lb. tomatoes
1 lb. Yukon potatoes

1/2 lb. of bacon
3-6 chicken breasts

3 tbsp. garlic
2-3 fresh parsley sprigs
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 celery stalk cut into 3 or 4 pieces

salt
fresh ground pepper
cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth (you can use stock)

Large frying pan
Large stew pot with lid
Cooking string

Chicken Basque Ingredients

Cut the red pepper and green pepper into 1/2 inch slices and then cut them in half. Deseed the tomato and chop it up. Peel the potatoes and cut them into halves or quarters.
– I chop the tomatoes into large pieces.

Cut the bacon into 1/2 inch wide pieces. Separate the chunks and place them into a large frying pan.

Cut the chicken breasts into 1/2 or 1/3 pieces.

Heat the bacon on a medium high heat for 10 minutes. Transfer the cooked bacon with a slotted spoon into a large stew pot. Add the 3 tbsp. of garlic to the stew pot. Add all of the vegetables to the stew pot.
– Keep the bacon grease in the frying pan.

Add the chicken pieces to the frying pan. Cook on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes per side to brown the outside. Transfer the browned chicken into the pot.
– Do not drop the chicken into the bacon. If it splashes it will burn you.
– I use tongs to turn the pieces at 5 minutes and transfer them into the pot. It will cook in the pot.

While the chicken is cooking tie the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf onto the celery.

– I also like to measure out the wine, chicken broth, and flour.

Once the chicken is removed spoon out all of the grease in the frying pan until you have about 1 tbsp. of fat left in the pan, a light coating. Add the flour and cook on a medium heat blending the flour and bacon fat. Stir constantly for 1 minute. Add the wine and the chicken broth and continue to stir for another 2-3 minutes. It should thicken. Drizzle the mixture over the chicken.

Sauce

Add salt, fresh pepper, and cayenne pepper for taste to the pot. Put the tied celery stocks on top.

Chicken and Vegetables with herbs

Cover the stew pot and turn on the heat to simmer (2). Cook for 25 minutes.

Remove the tied celery and keep to the side. Stir the pot. Replace the tied celery and cook for another 25 minutes.

Discard the tied celery and serve.