Breakfast Cookies
Super tasty breakfast cookies by Joe C.
Servings: 6
Cost: $1 meeeelion
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork sausage cooked and drained
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tbsp whipping cream
- 1/3 cup almond flour fillibert flour is good too. Add a touch more
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Mix it all together and scoop onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper with 1 oz scoops. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes till a little crispy on the edges. Cool and refrigerate
Cast Iron Sourdough Pancakes
Courtesy of John A: Though they take a little initial preparation, they are worth it. You will need to start them the night before and let the sourdough starter do its magic
Servings: 3
Equipment
- 8" cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 1/2 C ripe sourdough starter See here for making your own: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe
- 1 C all purpose flour
- 1 C whole milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp sugar a tad extra for a little sweeter pancakes
- 1 tbsp butter plus more for serving
- 1-2 peeled apples or pears You can also use strawberries, blackberries, or most any fruit or berry
- maple syrup for serving
Instructions
- Mix the sourdough starter with the flour and milk. Let it sit at room temperature loosely covered with a cloth, overnight and up to 24 hours.
- After the starter, milk, and flour have sat, stir it down and wisk in the eggs, baking soda, salt, and sugar. The batter should be airy and like a milkshake. It it seems too stiff, add just a little milk.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, with your cast iron skillet inside the oven. Wait 5-10 minutes after the oven comes up to temperature to let the skillet get good and hot. Take the skillet out of the oven (use oven mitts) and swirl in the butter until it melts.
- Add your fruit in a thin layer so that you can still see some parts of the bottom of the pan. If using firm fruits like apples or pears, put the pan on medium heat and let the fruit sizzle a little until it softens a little. If using softer fruits or berries just add the batter right away. Add enough batter to totally cover the fruit and make a pancake about 1/2 inch in thickness
- Return the pan to the oven for 15-18 minutes until the top is evenly brown and the edges are crisp. Flip the pancake onto a plate with the fruit side up and serve hot with more butter and a good splash of syrup.
Microwave banana pudding
From John A: It takes only about 10 minutes to make and is right yummy
Ingredients
- 2 C whole milk
- 1/4 C corn starch
- 2/3 C sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 box vanilla wafers
- 1-3 bananas nice and ripe
Instructions
- heat the 2 cups of milk in the microwave on high for 4-5 minutes. Stir half way through
- wisk in the corn starch, sugar, salt into the milk and microwave on high for another 3 minutes, stirring half way through
- slightly beat the 2 eggs. Stir half of the hot mixture into the eggs while wisking and then stir the egg mix back into the remaining milk mixture. (this to prevent the eggs from cooking to a gloopy mess)
- microwave the mix for another 1 1/2 – 2 minutes
- stir in the butter and vanilla
- cover the bowl with cling wrap and cool in an ice bath till cooled (to prevent browning the bananas). Stir occasionally.
- line a bowl artfully with vanilla wafers and alternate layers of the mix, bananas, and more vanilla wafers. I like lots of wafers.
- place covered in the fridge till well chilled and nom on down
Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala
This is so amazingly good with naan and basmati rice. The sauce will want to make you bathe in it.
Servings: 6
Cost: $1 meeelion
Equipment
- Crockpot
Ingredients
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast or less if you wish
- 1/3 c plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander yumm
- kosher salt or pink salt
- fresh ground pepper
- 1 onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh minced ginger or 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp paprika smoked is really good
- 2 tsp garam masala heaping
- 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatos 1 can plain and one can rotel is great
- 1/2 c heavy cream
Instructions
- In the crockpot, combine the chicken, yogurt and coriander. Season with salt and pepper and let marinate for 15 minutes or so
- Stir in onion, garlic, ginger, and spices and add tomatos. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours till the chicken is cooked through.
- Stir in the cream and garnish with some cilantro before serving over naan or rice.
Crockpot Bean Soup
14, 15, or more bean. More is better. No soaking required. It's just amazing the amount of flavor that comes out of this massive mix of beans. In general you want 4 c. of broth for each cup of beans and scale up or down the other stuff. Hard to go wrong.
Equipment
- Crockpot
Ingredients
- 1 c 15 bean soup mix I like Hurst's HamBeens 15 bean soup
- 4 c chicken broth sub vegetable broth if you are vegeterian
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1/2 clove garlic or more
- 1/2 tsp chili powder optional
- 1/2 can diced tomatos meh
- 1 lb hambone, or some diced ham or sausage. Or firm squash like butternut
Instructions
- Rinse the beans and pick out any debris
- place beans and all the stuff, broth, seasonings, etc in crockpot
- cook on high for 5 hours or low for 7-8 hours until beans are tender
- add tomatos if you want them and the flavor packet (you don't really need it)
- cook another 30 minutes if you added the tomatos and flavor packet
Crockpot Pork Chops
Works best with bone-in pork chops. Boneless will be a little bit dry, but still good. Take the time to sear the chops. Makes a lot of difference. The gravy goes superbly on toast or biscuits.
Ingredients
- 4 pork chops thick with bone in is best
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp paprika smoked hungarian is THE best
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped however much you want
- 1 can sliced mushrooms a big can is best
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 3/4 c beef broth
Instructions
- mix the broth and soup in a bowl and have ready
- place the onion and mushrooms in the bottom of the crockpot
- heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the chops with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic. Brown the chops 3 minutes on each side
- Remove the chops and add the broth and soup mix to the pan and wisk to get the tasty brown crunchy bits
- Put the chops on top of the onion and mushrooms and pour the soup mix on top.
- Cook 7-8 hours or so. Serve over rice, noodles, spaetzel, mash potatos, or whatever
Dutch Oven Parmesan and Kalamata bread
A simple and ruggedly tasty bread recipe. This is an autolyse bread recipe that requires only a minimum of handling. Baking in the covered dutch oven is key to this style of bread. A big shout-out to my sourdough-sensei Jennifer who got me on the road of good bread making. It's really easy. Using a dutch oven is key to this type of bread. Get one if you don't have one. Check Goodwill or St. Vinnies.
Equipment
- cast iron dutch oven
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour all purpose will work
- 1 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives rinse to get most of the oil off
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 1/4 tsp instant bread yeast
Instructions
- Get in the right frame of mind. This is easy bread. It will turn out just fine. Relax. Think rustic thoughts of log cabins, conestoga wagons, and Volkswagens. Your bread is gonna be awesome!
- In a large mixing bowl that is large enough for all the ingredients add the 2 cups of warm water and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it sit a little bit to wake up
- In a smaller mixing bowl, add the bread flour, 1 cup of parmesan cheese, and the salt. Mix them together. Good enough is good enough for this.
- Have the sliced kalamata olives set aside and ready to add
- Take a whisk and gently wisk the water with the yeast to get it all nicely mixed up
- Dump the flour/parmesan/salt mix and the olives into the big bowl with the water and yeast. Use a spatula and mix it all together until the dough forms. It will be lumpy and ugly. That's ok.
- Wet your hands and gather up the dough and gently stretch and fold it in half about 8 to 12 times. As you do this, you will feel it start to toughen up a little. Don't over do it.
- Dump the dough back in the bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour. 70 degrees F is a great temperature, but lower or higher will be fine.
- After the 1 hour rise has completed, put the dutch oven (with lid) into the oven and set the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Wet your hands and gather up the dough and do the gentle stretching and folding again for 8 – 12 folds. Again, you will feel the dough toughening. Don't over do it and don't worry how it looks. It will be fine. Dump the dough back into the bowl and set your timer for 30 minutes
- At the end of 30 minutes, lay out perhaps 1 1/2 sq ft of parchment paper. Sprinkle a little flour onto your work surface. Flour up your hands and gently gather the dough and plop it down onto the floured surface. Sprinkle a light dusting of flour on the top of the dough and then gently fold it it around until you have sort of a ball with a somewhat smooth top. Turn it over in your hand with the smooth top down and gently plop it all down on the parchment paper. It's ok if it sticks to you a little.
- Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle it with the remaining parmesan. Gently pat down the parmesan so it sticks. Score a fairly large X into the top with a sharp knife or a razor to allow expansion and escape of steam.
- Try to work quickly, but safely here. Open the oven (hot-hot) and remove the lid of the dutch oven using oven mits or pads. Be careful where you put the lid as it is very hot. Grab the edges of the parchment paper and transfer the paper and dough into the dutch oven. Put the lid back on and slide it on into the oven and close it up. Set your timer for 30 minutes. No peeking.
- After baking for 30 minutes, remove the lid (remember – hot) and put it somewhere safe and set the timer for another 20 minutes to let the bread brown and get a crispy top. It may need an extra minute or two. Use your judgement.
- After the 20 minutes is up, turn off the oven and carefully take the dutch oven out and put onto a safe surface. Grab the parchment to lift out the bread. It should have risen considerably in the oven. Transfer the bread off the paper and onto a cooling rack and let it cool for at least an hour.
- After it is completely cool, dive on in! This makes awesome grilled cheese sandwiches. Store in a large storage bag. It will keep for about a week.
Notes
A few notes on making bread in a dutch oven:
- The covered dutch oven holds in the steam from the dough and helps the dough to “pop” to make a great rise
- If you go take a peek, you will let that steam out and it won’t help your bread. Also, it is very hot steam and you risk a scald burn
- Be very careful handling the dutch oven once it has heated up. It is very hot (450 degrees F). Think about where you will put it before you do so. When you take the lid off for the last 20 minutes, put that lid somewhere safe to cool
- Regular dried bread yeast will work great. If you use bread machine yeast, you will likely get a fluffier loaf.
- Add about 1 tablespoon more flour to make up for the reduced parmesan
- Leave out the kalamata olives
- Add 1/2 cup of pesto (drained of oil)
- 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds. If they are salted, rinse them in cold water just before adding
- 1/2 cup parmesan
- Add about a tablespoon extra flour to make up for the reduced parmesan
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds. If they are salted, rinse them in cold water before adding
- 1/2 cup parmesan
Hawaiian Butter Mochi
from Patty Y. This is a classic Hawaiian treat made with coconut milk and mochiko (sweet rice flour). Mochiko can be found in the Asian section of many grocery stores
Equipment
- 9" x 13" baking pan – well greased
Ingredients
- 1 lb mochiko sweet rice flour
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup butter
- 5 eggs beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract get the good stuff
- 1 can (12oz) coconut milk unsweetened
Instructions
- melt the butter and set aside to cool
- pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F
- When the butter is cooled, In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix with a spoon until the batter is smooth
- pour the batter into the baking pan and pop it into the oven and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Cool and cut into squares.
- Try to not eat it all in one sitting