Baked Garlic Prawns

As you know, I love being in the kitchen and spend quite a bit of time there. For the last two weeks we have been waiting to get our range fixed due to a gas leak. Not having a stove has forced me to get creative in the kitchen! Finding some lovely prawns at the store, and having a hankering for them, I brought them home to join me at the dinner table. I have always done prawns on the stove top, and I had to get creative with baking!

I came up with a simple recipe that takes about an hour to prepare and cook! Want to see what I did? Let’s start with a list of the ingredients!

1# large prawns
2 TBS Sauvignon Blanc (do have a glass with dinner!)
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
Dash of salt
3 twists of the black pepper grinder
1/2 cup of panko (or you can use a garlic herb, or Italian seasoned breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup of butter
Cayenne pepper
Lemon pepper
Parsley

Peel and devein the prawns. Now I gently pull the tail shell off the prawns as I do not like having to deal with shells when I am getting down to business eating! Feel free to leave them on if you like messing with them at the table.

In a mixing bowl, add the prawns, garlic, wine and salt and pepper. I let them sit for about 30 minutes before doing anything else.

Prawns mixed with wine, garlic, salt and pepper

While this is sitting take out the butter to soften.

After the half hour, in a separate bowl add the butter and the panko. Using your hands, mix this together until you get a nice crumbly mixture.

Butter mixed with panko

Turn the oven to 425 degrees. Oh, I can hear you saying, “Really? That high?” Yes, that high. Assemble the dish by putting the prawns in a small casserole baking dish.

Prawns are added to pot

Now evenly spread the butter/panko crumbles over the prawns. Then sprinkle with a bit of the cayenne and the lemon pepper.

Panko added then topped with cayenne and lemon pepper

Bake this for 15 minutes only, then remove from the oven.

Right out of the oven!

Mmmmm….Smells so good!

Serve this up and then top with some fresh parsley. Don’t forget to have a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc!

Prawns served up!

When you bite into these lovelies, they will be perfectly cooked!

Please let me know if you try this dish! If you are having a dinner party, this would be a good appetizer served in shells!

Thanks for stopping by today, and celebrate the end of the work week!

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Maple Glazed Ham for Easter

With Easter coming up, I thought that today I would re-feature my top post, which is my Maple Glazed Rotisserie Ham Recipe! What could be better on Easter than a smokey, juicy ham? Shall we get to it?

Ingredients
1 – 8 to 10# smoked ham, shank cut, bone in
1 cup of real maple syrup

Center the ham on the rotisserie rods and load into the rotisserie. Allow 15 minutes per pound in cooking. Make sure that the ham does not hit the heating element.

The ham goes on the spit!

I am making a 10 pounder so I will be cooking this for 2 1/2 hours.

In the midst of cooking…

Check the temperature to make sure that it is done – it should be at 155 degrees when you turn this off. One half hour before turning off the heat, brush with the maple syrup. Do this a few times before shutting down the heat. Now here is the really important part: Once the ham has reached 155 degrees, turn the heat off and continue to rotate the ham for about 15 minutes. This allows the juices to remain in the meat. Leave the door shut so that the heat stays in.

When done, remove from the oven to your cutting board. Let it sit 5 minutes before carving.

Ham is ready!

I like serving this with acorn squash and cheesy au gratin potatoes! Serve this dinner up with a lovely Mourvedre or Grenache. Chill the wine for 20 minutes before serving!

Thank you to all for making this my top post! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

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Chicken Carbonara! A Recipe from the Foothills!

Who doesn’t love a dish that includes bacon? OK, vegetarians…so other than them, who doesn’t love a dish that includes bacon? There is just something about that smokey, salty meat that is just so good! It goes with chicken; it goes with peas; it goes with pasta; it goes with eggs and cheese…and the list goes on…Today, we venture into the kitchen to combine bacon, chicken, peas and pasta by making some chicken carbonara!

Here is the list of ingredients:
6 slices of applewood smoked bacon, cut into bits
2 TBS bacon grease
1 1/2 #’s chicken, cut into chunks
6 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 # fettuccine, uncooked
1/2 cup of pasta water, reserved
1/2 cup of chicken broth
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup each of parmesan, pecorino and asiago

I like getting all the ingredients ready first for this dish. I realized after taking this photo below, that I left out the cheese!

Lovely ingredients

We start off with the bacon.

Who doesn’t love bacon?

Cook this over medium high heat until just done. Then remove to a plate covered with paper towel so that the bacon can drain.

Can you smell the bacon Joe?

Get the pasta started. In your colander place the frozen peas. When you drain your pasta, pour it over the frozen peas.

Drain the pan of the bacon grease and reserve 2 TBS. Add one TBS back to the pan and then add the chicken. Stir this continually until it is just done.

Chicken is just done

Remove the chicken from the pan and add the remaining bacon grease. Next add in the garlic and pepper, and when the garlic is just softened, add in the chicken broth.

Another pouring shot Conor!

Get this hot. While this is doing its thing, take the eggs and whisk in the cheese.

Poor shot of eggs blended with cheese, but you get the idea!

Now turn off the heat and add in the hot pasta with the peas, chicken, and bacon.

Pasta, peas, bacon and chicken, oh my!

Slowly pour the egg mixture over the entire thing mixing well. Add a bit of the hot pasta water to achieve a lovely creaminess!

Dinner is done!

Carbonara!

Now wasn’t that a quick and easy dish? Please let me know if you try this dish!

Hey, thanks for stopping by today, and have a wonderful Sunday!

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Burger Challenge – One Man’s Meat!

I subscribe to a wonderful food blog written by Conor Bofin called One Man’s Meat. In his most recent post he challenges Americans to a burger challenge. His post indicates that here in the US we eat 40,000,000,000 burgers a year! He doubts that we have the best burgers and challenges us with his “Donegal Beef and Cashel Blue Cheese Burger.”

Well, Conor, here is my incredible Bacon Cheddar Burger! This is not your ordinary burger topped with bacon and cheese then slapped on a bun! It is an easy burger to make with simple ingredients! So let’s head on into the kitchen!

We have 5 simple ingredients! They are:

1 1/2# ground sirloin
1 cup of thick sliced smoked peppered bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup of Tillamook Medium Cheddar, grated
3 TBS of a good quality, creamy horseradish
2 tsp. garlic powder

I love peppered bacon!

Peppered bacon

Isn’t that lovely? Can you smell it? No need to add any pepper to this burger with this bacon! I cook this ahead of time so that I can crumble it for this burger.

Here is a gratuitous shot of all the ingredients.

Simple ingredients

With all the ingredients gathered and prepped, combine it all early in the day so that the flavors meld. Refrigerate.

An hour before cooking, take the meat out of the refrigerator and shape into burgers.

Lovely bits of bacon and cheddar abound!

I like serving these with oven fries so I get these going while the burgers sit. Get your grill nice and hot, and start cooking! Five to seven minutes per side should do it and then serve them up! Check out the lovely bits of bacon and melted cheese that you will experience in every bite!

One cheesy bacon burger!

Such a lovely burger with excellent, simple ingredients! This is one heck of a good burger! I challenge you Conor to try this one! I would try your recipe but suffer from allergies and cannot handle the blue!

Check out Conor’s recipe by clicking here! Do you have a really good burger recipe? Add a link to your recipe in the comment section!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week and a lovely Monday!

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Al Roker’s Chili Recipe

I came across a recipe for chili with ingredients I liked and a twist added to it, so I just have to give it a try! I found the recipe in a magazine and it comes from Al Roker of the Today Show. I did make a couple of changes to this recipe. The recipe calls for doing this on the stove top, but I decided that this needs to be cooked in the crock pot. I am also going to increase the amount of meat as I like a really meaty chili! Allow one hour to prep and cook up the ingredients, and 10 hours in the crock pot on the low setting.

Ready to start cooking?

Ingredients
4# boneless chuck roast cut into pieces the size of your baby toe (Al uses 2#’s)
1# hot Italian sausage
2 TBS vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juices
1 15 oz. can each of pinto beans, cannellini beans, and kidney beans, drained

A lovely mix of beans

1 cup of water
1 TBS sweet paprika
1 TBS chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
Grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro

We start by adding the oil to a skillet and heating this over medium heat. Then we add 1/2 of the beef and brown. Remove this with a slotted spoon and place in the crock pot. Cook up the rest of the beef and remove it to the crock pot.

Brown the beef

Next let’s take the 1# package of hot sausage and breaking it up into little pieces add this to the pan.

Brown the sausage

If you use the sausage with the casings, remove the sausage from the casings. Brown this, and when this is done let’s add this to the beef in the crock pot.

The beef and sausage mixed together in the crock pot

Now we toss in the onions to the same pan and cook this up until the onion softens, about 4 minutes, and then we add the minced garlic. Smells really good! We cook this for 2 minutes. Next we add the paprika, chili powder and cumin to the skillet. At this point what is in the pan gets really thick!

The spices added to the onions and garlic mixture

So we add the tomatoes and the water.

Tomatoes and water added to the spice mixture

This is looking really good and the aromas are making my mouth water! How about yours? Turn the heat off. To the crock pot, add in the 3 beans and stir to combine.

Beans added to meat

Then add the tomato mixture and combine.

Tomato mixture added to the meat and beans

Do not worry that the liquid seems really low because as it cooks the juices will release! Now set the crock pot on low for 10 hours!

An hour before this is done is a good time to make some corn bread, which goes really well with chili! While this is baking how about we grate the cheese and chop up some cilantro?

Yippee! The timer just went off and dinner is ready! How about a bowl of chili and some corn bread?

Dinner is served!

To my Tumbling Tumbleweed friends, I made too much chili! Care for any?

Thanks for stopping by today! If you try this, let me know how it turns out for you! Have a lovely Sunday!

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Braised Lemon Zest Chicken!

A soft sauce, with the slight tang of lemon, the gentle flavors of pear, the surprise of a caper or two, and the subtle tones of garlic and thyme surround chicken in this lovely dish! This is an easy braised dish to make and total time in the kitchen is about a half hour with cooking time in the oven of about 45 minutes.

Lovely ingredients!

Let’s start by getting the ingredients together first, shall we? Here is the list of ingredients:

8 chicken thighs, bone in
3/4 cup of flour
4 grinds each of salt and pepper
3 dashes of garlic powder
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 TBS butter
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 1/2 cups of a good Pinot Grigio
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
The zest of one whole lemon
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 TBS drained capers
1 bay leaf

The first thing we do is place the flour, salt and pepper along with the garlic powder in a zipper bag. Shake this up to combine and then add the chicken and shake to coat. Next we add the olive oil and butter to a dutch oven. Turn on the heat to medium high to melt and combine the two. Then add 4 of the chicken thighs, skin side down, and brown for 6 minutes per side.

Start by browning the chicken

Turn the chicken

When these are done set them aside and repeat this process with the last 4 thighs. Remove these too. Drain off all but 1 TBS of oil from the pot. Turn on the oven to 350 degrees. Next, turn the heat down to low and add in the garlic. Enjoy the aromas of these lovely gems as they cook.

Soften the garlic

When the garlic has softened add in the wine and cook down until reduced by half. Next, rub the thyme between your hand to release the lovely scents and essential oils and drop this into the pot. Take the lemon zest and over the pot, holding both ends, gently twist to release the oil from the skin and drop these into the pot. Next add in the capers and the bay leaf.

Add in the thyme, lemon, capers and bay leaf

Then add in the chicken broth. Here is a pouring shot just for Conor over at One Man’s Meat!

A pouring shot Conor!

Stir all of this together to combine well and then add back the chicken skin side up.

Add the chicken

Cover and place in the oven and cook for 45 minutes. When this is finished, put the pot back on the stove, remove the cover, and reduce the sauce by 1/3.

Right out of the oven

Before serving, remove the lemon zest, the thyme leaves and the bay leaf. And dinner is served!

Dinner is served!

Let me know if you try this dish!

Thanks for dropping in and joining me in the kitchen today! Stay tuned as I am heading into the kitchen tomorrow to make Al Roker’s, from NBC’s Today show, Spicy Beef Chili!

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Foothills Beef Hash!

I love corned beef hash! But I also love the hash that I make using leftover roast beef! So, tonight I want to share what I do with leftover roast beef! Are you with me?

Ingredients
2 1/2 TBS butter
1/4 large onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/4″ cubes
10 oz. thick sliced crimini mushrooms
Slices of leftover roast beef cut into chunks

2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

The first thing you do in this recipe is get all of your ingredients together. Next, add the butter to a skillet and when the butter is melted and bubbly add the onion.

Start with the onions

When the onions become translucent add the potatoes and the mushrooms.

Add the mushrooms and potatoes

To get the maximum flavor from all of these vegetables, caramelize them. They will look like this when done.

Caramelized mixture

When this is done add the cubed beef to warm up the meat until it is steaming hot.

Add the beef to the vegetables

At this point you now want to add in the grated cheddar.

Add cheddar

Be sure to taste test and add salt and pepper to taste!

When the cheese is melted the dish is ready! Are you ready to serve? Here is what you will be serving!

Ready to serve!

I love serving this up with a good crusty toasted bread! A lovely Petite Sirah would be a good match for this dinner! Or, try a porter beer!

Please let me know if you try this dish! And, thank you for stopping by! I am wishing you a great Tuesday!

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Chili Bar Chili!

Here is a wonderful recipe for a heartwarming chili for those cold, cold nights! It is named after an area nearby that is called Chili Bar. The area became a mining camp for some Chilean miners who were run out of Garden Valley. Here is a photo of the area this last fall:

Chili Bar in the Sierra Foothills

For more history on Chili Bar click here! Are you ready for some chili? Let’s head on into the kitchen!

Ingredients
3# boneless chuck roast, cut into small chunks
1/4# applewood smoked bacon, cut into small pieces
3 pasilla peppers, seeded and cut into 1″ pieces
1/3 cup of chipotle chiles in adobo, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
3 TBS flour
1 TBS paprika
1 tsp each of salt and black pepper
29 oz. low sodium beef broth
28 oz. peeled tomatoes
3 TBS ground cumin
Grated cheddar cheese

I made this chili in my cast iron dutch oven, which is a perfect pot for cooking chili! When cooking in cast iron you do not need to set the heat very high as the iron does get really hot. I used medium heat (gas) for browning and bringing to a boil, and low for the simmer needed in this recipe. Ready to start?

The first thing that I do when preparing something to cook is to get all the work done on the ingredients. Take the flour and place it in a zipper bag, and add the paprika, salt and pepper and shake to combine. Add the beef to the bag and shake it up to coat. Once this is done, I get to cooking the bacon. You want to cook the bacon until it gets crispy, then set it aside in a bowl.

Browned bacon

Now pour off the bacon grease into a measuring cup, and then take two TBS and add it back to the dutch oven. Grab 1/3 of the beef and add it to the dutch oven to brown.

Start browning the beef

As the beef gets done with browning, move it off to the bowl with the bacon. Be sure to use the reserved bacon grease as needed when browning the beef! Repeat with the next third of the meat. On the last round of browning the beef, add the onion and garlic with it.

Last batch – include the onion and garlic

Looks lovely and smells great! When the last batch of beef is browned, add back the meat from the bowl.

Combine all the meat

Then slowly add in the beef broth scraping up the lovely browned bits that have stuck to the bottom of the dutch oven. Then add in the tomatoes, pasilla peppers and the chipotle chiles. Stir in the cumin to combine.

Add the beef broth and tomatoes

Isn’t this just lovely?

Joe – is your stomach growling?

Bring this up to a boil, then cover and turn the heat down to low so that it simmers. Set the timer for an hour and a half. Stir this periodically savoring the aromas when you lift the lid!

Half way through cooking

When the buzzer goes off, remove the lid and increase the heat a slight bit so that you keep the pot at a gentle simmer. This will cause the chili to thicken up a bit. Cook for another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Are you ready for some chili? Doesn’t this look good?

Chili is served!

Don’t forget to top this with some really good cheddar! I love the medium Tillamook!

Top with cheddar

I hope that you try this recipe as it is truly amazing! If you do, please let me know! Now go have a great Saturday! I am heading back into the kitchen as we are having corned beef cooked in beer for dinner tonight! You can check out this recipe by clicking here! Thanks for stopping by!

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The Best Short Rib Recipe Ever!

Are you shaking your head? I have done two recipes of short ribs. One was in the crock pot, the other was cooked in the oven. Well, what my kitchen was missing was a dutch oven, which my dear husband gave me for Christmas. Seven quarts! The best part: It is made of cast iron! There is something about cast iron that just seems to make a difference. So again, here is another recipe for short ribs with changes to the other recipes. I love playing with food, which you might have noticed! Check out what we are cooking up!

Looks good eh? This is what we are making!

Ingredients
12 short ribs
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup of flour
3 shakes of garlic powder
1 tsp of rubbed sage
1 tsp of thyme
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp of butter
64 oz beef broth
1/2 of a large onion sliced, rings separated
2 carrots, sliced
1 12 oz Porter beer
12 crimini mushrooms, each sliced in 4 pieces
1 bay leaf

So, what I did with this recipe was combine what I did with the crock pot and what I did in the oven. It came out beautifully, which Joe, you missed out on again! You need to visit more and stop telling yourself what a lucky guy Paul is…sorry…this was a personal note…

Take out the meat one hour before you start so that it warms up a bit. Sprinkle the meat with a bit of salt and pepper. In a plastic bag add the flour, garlic powder, sage, and thyme. Shake it up good! A side note here: Make sure that you turn on some music that gets you into the shaking mode…and that will carry you through cooking! Now you want to start the beef broth. Turn your pot of broth on and let it boil down to half so that you concentrate the fabulous-si-oso beef flavors!

While this is working, and let it do its thing, no need to interfere, heat the olive oil and butter in your cast iron dutch oven. Now turn up the music and start shaking baby! You and the ribs with the flour mixture! Wahoo! Feels good – eh? ♪♫ Shake it! Shake your booty….♫♫♪ Forgive me for I think that you might think that I am rattling…Hey isn’t that something you shake too?

When the butter has melted and olive oil is hot (medium heat does just fine with cast iron), blend them together with a spoon. Then add as many of the short ribs that you can fit…some on their sides, some on their backs, some on their fronts, some on that other side…Brown the meat. And, leave it to brown. Do not even think of lifting one of these lovely ribs to check to see how it is going. Give it between 5 – 8 minutes a side, depending on the thickness. Yes, four sides.

Browning short ribs

As they are done, remove them to a plate, and finish off the rest.

Browned short ribs

If you have any of the flour mixture left over, and there will not be much if you do, toss it. You can’t use it again.

Smells pretty good in the kitchen doesn’t it? While all this is going on is when I actually prepare the onions, carrots and mushrooms…

Porter, onions, mushrooms, carrots, oh my!

When the beef has been browned, and all the boney pieces are looking pretty on the set aside plate, add the onions and carrots to the dutch oven.

Look at those lovely browned bits

Stir it so that any browned bits start to lift. Cook until the onions are just transparent. Then slowly add the porter beer a little at a time. Enjoy the aromas as they waft up to fill your nose!

Porter added to onions and carrots

Once all the porter has been added, the beef broth should be reduced by half.

Reduced beef broth

Add this to the dutch oven. Now turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Next, toss in the mushrooms to the onions, carrots, beer and broth mixture, and bring this to a boil.

After adding the broth, the mushrooms go in

When it boils, turn the heat off. Arrange the short ribs so that all are in one layer. The broth mixture should come up to about 2/3 – 3/4 of the way up the ribs.

The ribs go back into the pot

Take that cast iron lid, cover the pot, and place this in the oven. Turn on the timer for one hour.

While all this is cooking, watch a movie, knit a cap, prune your roses… When the timer goes off, turn the ribs over. Cook another hour. Do some house work, or write a blog for this next hour. When the timer goes off on this hour, turn them once more.

Half way through cooking

Continue cooking for one half hour. Maybe while the last half hour is working on those ribs, you might want to pop one of the porters so you can imbibe! The beer aromas mixed with beef should now be making your stomach growl…right Conor? And, make some rice or mashed potatoes…and do not forget that green vegetable!

When the timer goes off, remove the dutch oven from the regular oven, and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Take the lid off and melt from the incredible aromas assaulting your nasal passages! Do not keel over! You have to now remove the bones. Toss the bones, and shred the beef a bit…or do what I did…let it cool, put it in the refrigerator, and have it for dinner the next night! The flavors will intensify! Ya, you betcha, they will!

Here is the finished piece!

Bones removed and dinner is ready!

Doesn’t it look lovely! The mushrooms were a nice addition. Most recipes do not add these, but they add a lovely earthly flavor. Well, dinner is served, and I will be thinking about what you are missing, that is unless you make this for yourself and your loved ones! Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know if you try this, or if you liked this wordy post! Hugs and until tomorrow – of course!

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Love – A WordPress Photo Challenge

This week’s WordPress photo challenge is Love. Love can encompass so many things. It is an emotion that we feel for one another. It is emotion we feel for the animals we keep around us. It is found in the passion we have for living life. It is found in the passion that we have those things we love to do. Real love is unconditional and is boundless.

One of my passions is my love for food! The most important ingredient in everything that I prepare, and leave out of my recipes as it is a given for me, is love! I prepare food injecting it with the love I feel for those I cook for. So this post is focused on my passion and love for food! Recipe links follow!

Cupcakes

Carne Asada Burritos

Asian Beef Skewers

Fresh fruit salad

Gregg’s Italian Chicken

Grilled Ham and Cheese

Hot Sour Soup

Pepperoni Pizza

Pinot Lamb Chops

Pork Loin in Raspberry Pear Sauce

Pork Piccata

Sauteed mushrooms with garlic

Slop

Tequila Lime Prawns

Are you interested in the recipe for any of these? If you are here are the links to the posts that featured these recipes!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bottomed Cupcakes – A-La-Kat
Carne Asada Burritos
Hoison Beef Skewers
The Salmon Fishing Queen Cooks Salmon
Fruit Salad
Gregg’s Italian Chicken with Orzo
Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
Hot Sour Soup
Pepperoni Pizza
Pinot More Lamb Chops
Jammin’ with Pork Loin
Pork Piccata
Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic
Slop
Tequila Lime Prawns

Did I give you enough recipes? Each link gives you the recipe and you can print them too! Check for the print button at the bottom of the blog post.

I love cooking, and thank you for taking the time to read and view my post on Love. Please be sure to check out some of the other interpretations of love in the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge. Click here!

Thanks for visiting today, and if you try any one of these recipes, please let me know how you liked them!

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