Pioneer Woman's Potatoes au Graten

   One of my favorite past-times is scouring the food network for ideas on what to make for dinner, however, in an attempt to save money we ditched cable tv. Now we pay 1/4 of the bill for Hulu and Netflix, and that's all good and fine... but I no longer have my cooking shows to watch.

   This changed as Netflix began adding seasons of "Good Eats" (Alton Brown is my hetero-man crush) and "Diner's, Drive-ins, and Dives". Last week, I noticed a few episodes of "Pioneer Woman", and to be honest, I had never seen Ree Drummond's show before. This got me into doing some searching, and I found this side dish.

   These potatoes come out cheesy and creamy, with a decent garlic flavor that isn't too overwhelming. It takes almost no real effort to make, and cooks in about an hour. You can see me make it here!

Ingredients

• 2 tbs butter, softened 
• 6-7 small potatoes, scrubbed clean
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1+1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbs flour 
• 3-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• pepper
• 1+1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar (I used white cheddar)
• fresh chives, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a shallow baking dish and set aside. 
2. Dice the potatoes. Place them in the buttered dish. Combine the milk and cream in a bowl. Add the flour, garlic, salt and pepper and whisk. Pour over potatoes.
3. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and and bake for another 20-30 minutes. Just before serving, sprinkle with cheese and bake for another 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
4. Sprinkle on the chives and serve immediately.

Cheese and Onion Enchiladas

  I love Tex-Mex food. I can't get enough of it, the spices and the flavors, of the two regions cuisines coming together.... Now, don't get me wrong, BBQ and steak certainly have their places of esteem, as does Cajun cooking, but I have a special place in my heart for enchiladas.

   My normal go to on enchiladas was a cream cheese chicken one that I was just getting too bored of. I wanted something with more cheese, less chicken, and not as time consuming to prepare. So after looking at a few recipes to get the gist of what I was doing, I tweaked my way to this rendition. You can see them made here!

Cheese and Onion Enchiladas

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups cheddar, shredded
• 1 cup of Monterey jack, shredded
• 1 cup of cheese reserved for topping
• 8 - 10 flour tortillas, depending on how full you make them
• one packet of taco seasoning (I used 2 Tbs. of homemade)
• 2 cans enchilada sauce (I also used homemade here, link to video is here!) 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Sauté onions in a pan with a little oil, until translucent. Allow the onion to cool before going to next step.
3. Combine the cheeses and the taco seasoning in a bowl. Add onions and stir.
4. On slightly warmed tortillas, add about 3 spoonfuls of cheese mixture, and fold over about 1/3 of the way, dragging it back toward you. This will force the cheese into a long roll the width of the tortilla.
5. Por approx. 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sauce (depending on thickness) in the bottom of a 9"x13" pan, and coat the bottom well. 
6. Roll the tortilla up, and place short-ways in the pan. Repeat until out to cheese mixture or the tortillas are all used. 
7. Cover enchiladas with remaining sauce. Top with remaining cheese. 
8. Place in oven for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.  
9. Garnish with sour cream or sliced fresh jalapeños and enjoy!

Spicy Enchilada Sauce

   Living in Texas adapts you quickly to several things.... a loathing for humid days that are 105 degrees in the shade, a yearning you only read about in trashy romance novels for Blue Bell ice cream, and a bold and spicy love for Tex-Mex.  The heat has gone for the year, Blue Bell is starting to recover and deliver again, but Tex-Mex is no-fail bliss all year long!

   In my trek to create amazing enchiladas, I had a slight set back when it came to sauces. The ones in the can were either loaded with salt and preservatives, while being light on flavor, or they were just completely gross and all-around inedible. So I scoured the interwebs for a solution to this debacle. I finally found a base that had 5 ingredients to it, and added a smidgen of this, and a touch of that, until I found what I consider to be the pinnacle of the enchilada sauces. You can see me make it here!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 4 Tbsp. chili powder (I used chipotle chili powder for more heat)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. oregano
• 2 cups chicken stock or broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. 
2. Add flour and stir together over the heat for one minute. Stir in half the chili powder and whisk into the roux, frying the spice for about 30 seconds. 
3. Add half the chicken broth and then the rest of the spices. 
4. Gradually add in the remaining stock, whisking constantly to remove lumps. Reduce heat and simmer 15 - 20 minutes until thickened and sauce coats the back of a spoon. 
5. You may add this immediately to your enchiladas, or store in a refrigerator for up to a week. 

3- Cheese & Sausage Lasagna Roll-ups

   So who out there loves Italian food? What about homemade lasagna? Cheese? Ok, ok, you can put your hands down, I get it. Well I am assuming that I am not the only one who just had both his hands, acting like a kindergartner who knows the answer to a question.

   I was cruising around Pinterest, and was flooded by all these lasagna roll-up ideas. They are coming in so many different styles and flavors that it was a bit mind-boggling! In the interest of maybe coming away with a new experience, I decided to try one. I must say, as a food lover, even the worst lasagna I've ever had was a good lasagna. So with that in mind, I embarked on this experiment, tweaking a bit here and there. All in all, it tasted like my normal traditional lasagna, just in a tighter and more compact size. The artistry you can get into it though, making it like a pinwheel once you cut into it, definitely earns points for style though. You can see me make it here.

Ingredients:

• 12 lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
• 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
• 1 lb sausage, casings removed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Red Pepper Flake, to taste
• 2 cups Ricotta
• 2 cups mozzarella (Plus more for topping, about 1 cup)
• 1 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 chopped parsley
• 2 eggs
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Fresh basil for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brown sausage and break up into small pieces, then cook onion until tender. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more, and season with red pepper flakes to taste. I used about 3 tsp., though I could have gone as high as a Tbls.
3. Mix together the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, parsley and 2 eggs in a large bowl. 
4. Lay out the lasagna noodles and top generously with cheese and sausage, leaving a 1 inch border at either end.
5. Roll them up and lay them in a 13×9 baking dish that has a layer of sauce on the bottom.
6. Cover the lasagna rolls with the rest of the sauce and mozzarella cheese, and bake covered for 30 minutes.
7. Uncover and put under the broiler until cheese is starting to brown and melted. Top with fresh basil, if desired.

Italian Bread Loaf

   Something many of you might not know, is that I suffer from a condition in my lungs. The symptoms are that of COPD, but it isn't nearly as progressive as that disease. It's closer to having an asthma attack 24/7, and while the doctors try to figure out what is going on (diagnosis range from pulmonary hypertension to just plain old scarred up lungs from years of asthma and pneumonia), I have few options for work. My previous employer was Apple, where I spoke to customers on the phone everyday, all day, fixing their computers, and phones, and such. So needless to say, now that I am unable to continuously speak for longer than 3 sentences, without sounding like I just ran a marathon, it's hard to preform on a phone.

   I told you all that, to tell you this... One of the things I miss most about having a job, other than a paycheck, was lunch break. Going to try all the different foods offered in whatever local I was in was a guilty pleasure. This is where I got the drive to actually expand my cooking abilities, because why spend money to buy it, if you can make it at home?

   My second most guilty pleasure in the food world (We will get to #1 another time) was Subway. The smell of the place was amazing. The cheddar jalapeño, the Italian herb ... all the breads we have come to love from that establishment excite my taste buds. So I figured out what I needed, and learned to make it here at the house. So, I give you my version on Italian bread loaf. As always, you can watch me make it here!

Italian Bread Loaf

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• whatever seasonings you want the bread to take on - Italian seasoning, cheddar and chopped jalapeño slices, and caramelized onions are some of my favorites!

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine water and sugar. Mix well until sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle yeast on top of the water, but refrain from mixing. Cover with a tea towel for 5 minutes until foamy.
2. Add flour to water and yeast and mix. Start with one cup of flour, and when that is combined, add your mix in's when the dough is about the consistency of pancake batter. Then continue to add flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough becomes shaggy.
3. Turn out on a floured work surface and knead the dough for approximately 5 minutes, building gluten to the point where you can poke it, and the dough pushes the dent back out. 
4. Shape the dough into a ball and place, covered, in an oiled bowl for 1 hour or until dough has doubled. Heat oven to 350 degrees F., and turn out dough once more. Spread dough into a rectangle shape, about the size of a legal piece of paper. Roll the dough up from the long end like a cinnamon roll, and pinch the seams closed. Fold the ends over, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, seam side down. 
5. Put in oven for approx. 30 to 35 minutes. 
6. Coat with 1 Tbsp. melted butter or olive oil once out of the oven and cooling. Cover with tea towel until it has completed cooling completely. 
7. Enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplings (Redneck Penicillin)

    Ahhhhh! The weather in Texas is FINALLY going to start heading for the cooler side of blazing hot. What's the cooler side, you might ask? Oh, about 88 degrees... but I'm certainly not complaining. So this got my brain to turning on cold weather, and what I'd like to be eating when it does get here.... sometime next month.

    One of the iconic dishes I grew up having in winter, was chicken and dumplings. Now my grandmother, for whatever reason, didn't use a real dumpling for hers. Instead she used something akin to an egg noodle, that while tasty, lacked something in the texture and flavor departments. Well I have adapted this recipe to reflect the flavors I like, and I think that you will too! You can see me cook it here!

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients

• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 2-3 boneless chicken thighs, skin on
• 1 1/2 T. olive oil
• 2 stalks celery, chopped to about 1/2" cubed
• 2 large carrots, chopped to about 1/2" cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp. table salt
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup frozen peas
• For the Dumplings:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. table salt
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 T. vegetable or canola oil

Instructions

1. Place the chicken broth, water, and chicken breasts in a large pot or Dutch oven. Bring the liquid to a boil, and boil until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and shred it with two forks. Set the chicken aside and keep the broth warm on the stove.
2. While the chicken is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots, and onion, and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 6 to 7 minutes. 
3. Once the chicken has been removed from the broth, add the cooked vegetables to the broth, along with the salt, thyme, and black pepper. Stir to combine, and bring the broth to a simmer.
4. In a small bowl, stir together the cold water and the flour. Slowly pour the flour mixture into the hot broth and vegetables, whisking constantly until well combined. 
5. Add the peas and the reserved chicken to the pot, and stir for 1 minute.
6. To make the dumplings, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and thyme in a medium bowl. In another bowl, stir together the sour cream, milk, and vegetable oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 
7. Heat the soup to boiling and drop teaspoons of the dumpling dough on top of the soup in a single layer.
8. When they are done, stir the soup gently to break up the dumplings. Serve hot.

Garlic Parmesan Potato Wedges

   So here's an interesting quirk my wife has... The woman, for the life of her, can not pass a bag of potatoes if they are on sale. I don't know how else to explain it. Even if we have 10 pounds at home she will come in the door from the grocery store, holding her newly acquired spuds up like a fishing trophy. So needless to say that this happened recently, prompting my digging this recipe up from obscurity. You can watch me make them here.

   These wedges have saved so much of my storage space from a tuber take over, they are quite the quick and easy solution to the ever-looming question "So, what do I make to go with that?". I have a few renditions of this if you're interested, from the spicy game day versions, to the savory loaded variety. You're imagination is the only thing that can hold you back with them, so don't hesitate to experiment! Potatoes are a blank palette of flavor, so don't be shy with the spices.

                        INGREDIENTS

• 3-4 large russet potatoes, sliced into wedges
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (You can find my rendition here)
• ½ cup parmesan cheese (from the green can)
• optional: fresh parsley (or cilantro), ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside.

Place potato wedges in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. In a small bowl whisk together salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. ( I skipped the mixing of the spices since I was going to mix the potatoes anyway and they turned out perfectly) Sprinkle potato wedges with the shredded cheese, tossing to coat, then sprinkle with the seasoning mixture. (Or just add it all and toss well once. Turns out the same, and easier on the wrist.)

Place potato wedges on prepared baking sheet in a single layer with skin-sides-down. Bake for 25-35 minutes until potatoes are fork-tender and golden. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and dressing for dipping.

Italian Seasoning Blend

    Have you even gone down the grocery aisle and seen things that you were certain you could make yourself? I do this with the baking/seasoning aisle all the time. I see all these blends of spicy this and Italian that. But what else are you getting inside those expensive little bottles? Why fun things, of course, like MSG, preservatives, and a ton of salt that you don't need!!! So, I thought that I would share with you one of my favorites. 

   I have been baking for a long time now, and I love a good Italian herb loaf. I make my own garlic bread from it, my own cheesesteaks, and some sub sandwiches that put a certain subterranean sounding sandwich shop to shame. Now, I will post the loaf recipe at another time, but I wanted to go ahead and share the seasoning first. 

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp Basil, dried
• 3 Tbsp Oregano, dried
• 3 Tbsp Parsley, dried
• 1 tsp Garlic powder
• 1 tsp Onion powder
• 1 tsp Rosemary, dried
• 1 tsp Thyme, dried

    Add them all to a bowl, and whisk away. 

    Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. 

   You can use this in any recipe that calls for Italian seasoning, sprinkle over garlic bread, pasta, or anywhere you'd like a taste of Italy. 

White Bread Loaf

   One of my favorite smells growing up was the scent of fresh bread baking. And when it came out of the oven, that first slice was magical, all warm and covered with melted butter! My grandmother was a school cafeteria cook, back when the cafeterias actually made food, instead of just opening cans and throwing stuff in a microwave. And one of the things she made everyday at work, was a yeast roll for every student in the school district. (Keep in mind, at that time in our sleepy little hick Texas town, we had a total student body of around 500 kids... and yes, that was grades K thru 12!

   So on Sundays, instead of spending the money on sandwich bread, she would make a loaf of white bread, just to feed the ensuing gathering of kids and grandkids after church. The woman was a saint, and if not for her, I would never have fed the passion I feel for cooking and baking. So below, I have jotted down her recipe for white bread, and it will make 2 loaves. I believe she adapted it from Julia Childs recipe. You can also watch it being made here!

Julia Child’s White Sandwich Bread

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 6-6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup butter, softened

   Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl and whisk in the sugar. Add the yeast, but do not stir it in.  Let sit for 5 minutes, unit foamy. (If the yeast doesn’t do anything, toss it out and buy fresh yeast.)

   Add the rest of the water and about half of the flour. Stir until well blended. Add the rest of the flour, a cup at a time, the salt, and butter, and stir until well combined and shaggy. Continue to knead until it’s smooth and elastic. Turn the dough out onto the countertop and knead a few times to make sure it’s evenly smooth. At this point, the dough should be tacky, but not clinging to your hands. It should also try to regain it's shape if you poke it. This is gluten at work!

   Shape it into a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it sit for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, until it’s doubled in size.

   Butter two 4″x8″ loaf pans. 

   Punch the dough down and pat each piece into a rectangle that’s bit bigger than a standard piece of paper.

   Starting at a short end, fold it in thirds, like a letter. Place seam side down in the loaf pans, tucking the ends in. Cover with the tea towel again and leave them for an hour, until they puff right up out of the pan.

   Preheat the oven to 375°F and put the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are honey brown. Immediately turn the loaves out of their pans and onto a rack to cool. Then rub the outside of the loaves with a stick of butter, and cover with your towel again. This will add a little flavor to the crust, while keeping it soft and moist. 

Dr. Pepper Cake and Frosting

   We all have those memories as a child of a treat that we couldn't get enough of. For some it was watermelon, for others, cotton candy. Mine was Dr. Pepper. I could drink gallons of this stuff, if it wouldn't put me in a comatose state, and I'm really not all that big of a fan of sweet things in general. Still, nothing compared on a long hot summer day to a cup of ice, the sound of the whoosh of carbonation as the bottle was opened, and the crisp taste of this ambrosia as it hit the back of a parched throat. 

   So when I discovered that I could have that and chocolate at the same time, no glass or ice required, I jumped on it! You can watch the Youtube video of me making this here, or just slide below to find the recipe. 

   The "frosting" resembles a ganache more, and forms a nice crusty shell to the cake. As this was more for my wife (a truer chocoholic can not be found) I used all the frosting, though keep in mind, it does make a lot! If you aren't that into contracting diabetes, you might want to cut it in half. You can see it made here!

Dr. Pepper Bundt Cake 

• 2 cups Dr. Pepper (do NOT use diet)
• 1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs

   Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously spray the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter it, dust with flour, and knock out the excess flour.

   In a small saucepan, heat the Dr. Pepper, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

   In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.

   In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy--do not overbeat, as it could cause the cake to be tough.

   Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

Dr.Pepper Frosting

• 1/3 cup of Dr. Pepper
• 1/2 c butter
• 6 Tbls. of cocoa
• 1.5 lbs powdered sugar

   Bring everything but the powdered sugar to a boil. Pour the hot mixture over the powdered sugar and mix well. Add Dr Pepper to thin frosting as needed.