Category: MISC

BUNLESS BURGER SERIES #3~BURGERS w/ CARAMELIZED PEACHES & RED ONIONS, GORGONZOLA CREAM CHEESE MAYONNAISE & MUENSTER

2-1/3 pound burger patties
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
sea salt & white pepper
grated Muenster cheese

Caramelized peaches & red onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 extra large red onion, thinly sliced into rings
2 small peaches, chopped
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Gorgonzola Cream Cheese Mayonnaise
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ounces gorgonzola cheese crumbles, room temperature
1/4 cup mayonnaise

  • In a small food processor blend together the cream cheese, mayonnaise and Gorgonzola cheese crumbles.
  • Combine ground beef, liquid smoke, salt and pepper to the meat and hand form the patties.
  • Grill burgers inside or out.
  • In a large sauce pan melt butter.  
  • When sizzling add onions and saute’ until translucent. 
  • Add peaches and saute’ until juicy.
  • Add balsamic vinegar and continue sauteing until moisture has sizzled away.
  • Plate burger.
  • Spread on Gorgonzola mayo.
  • Top with peaches, onions and then sprinkle with muenster cheese.  
  • I use the pan lid over the plate for a minute to melt the cheese.
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BOEUF FLAMANDE aka BEEF IN DARK BEER, well sort of

I found this recipe in the bottom of grams pile of magazine/book clippings to try one day.  It just screamed, “try me for the guys”.  BOEUF FLAMANDE translates into ‘Beef Stew in a rich sauce made with beer’. But I don’t like dark beer so I adjusted the recipe and it worked really well. The guys we’re asking when we’re doing the leftovers.  This will be perfect on a cold winter’s night!

BOEUF FLAMANDE
1/2 pound bacon, cut into 1/4″ cubes
3 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite size pieces (I used brisket)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
3 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large Vidalia onions, cut into thin slices
2 large carrots, sliced
1/2 cup flour + dredging flour
1/2 cup Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
3/4 cup Dr. Pepper (yep you read that right)
3 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons Better than Beef Bouillon
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
fresh parsley sprigs

  • Preheat oven 325 degrees.
  • Place the flour into a plastic bag.
  • Brown bacon pieces until crisp.  With a slotted spoon remove to drain.
  • Dredge beef pieces in the flour mixture.
  • Brown beef pieces in bacon fat*.  With a slotted spoon remove beef pieces to a colander to drain.
  • Add butter to saute pan. 
  • Saute’ carrots for several minutes.
  • Add the onions and garlic until fragrant and translucent.
  • Stir in 1/2 cup flour, salt, pepper and thyme.
  • Whisk together the hot water, sugar and bouillon. 
  • Add Country Bob’s sauce, Worcestershire sauce, champagne vinegar and Dr. Pepper until well blended. 
  • Add to veggies.
  • Bring to a fast boil.
  • Lower heat to a simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Spray a casserole with PURE.
  • Add browned meat to the casserole.
  • Top with onions and carrots.
  • Pour sauce over top and blend well.
  • Bake for 2 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
  • Serve over Parmesan Potatoes.

*May have to add a bit of butter or oil if not enough bacon grease.

THE perfect over medium egg!!

Do you love eggs?  I do and there is nothing better than a perfect over medium egg for me.  I like my whites done and my yolks runny so I can sop them up with my toast. So many times the yolks break trying to flip the eggs, but I have finally figured it out and it is soooooooooooooo simple!
THE PERFECT “OVER MEDIUM” EGG
per egg:
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon water
salt and pepper to taste
  • Melt the butter in your pan over a medium high heat.
  • Crack eggs into the butter.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • When whites begin to solidify add the water and cover.
  • The rest of this is a matter of watching closely.  When the whites are done they will no longer jiggle.  Turn off the heat immediately and your yolks will be perfect.
  • Serve with your favorite toast.

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Rum Cake – Cause they don’t even serve nuts on the plane anymore

That’s a bold statement.  But I would be willing to enter my Upside Down Pineapple Rum Cake in any taste test.
And I did try.  I have made half a dozen different rum cakes in my quest to avoid processed foods. Unfortunately, none of them have the smoothness, creaminess of this pudding cake with a shot.  You see, in the ingredient list is a box mix of cake, AND a box mix of a pudding.  I am against it.  I prefer to avoid boxes, and to be honest, I believe this is the only recipe I have used this year with a box as the main ingredient… let alone two boxes.
But, here is is…
The cake collects on the bottom (well, the top actually, but then you turn it upside and the top becomes the bottom).  Anyway, the cake on the bottom (in the photograph, and the heavier pudding collects on the bottom (as it cooks, the top when you flip it upside down… understand???) makes a fabulous mixture of textures.
I always make this when we have stateside visitors.
Like these two…
Tradition, there are only half a dozen planes that land each day, but most people arrive on the last one… 8:40 PM.  Takes a bit to collect luggage, and the 10 mile trip up hills, over dales and around the corners takes 30 minutes.  So, our guests arrive tired and hungry (the airlines don’t feed you like they used to … in fact, American now CHARGES $3 for a bag of snacks… not even peanuts… but I digress).
So, tradition, I make one of these on the first night our guests arrive.  But the next morning when we have a slice for breakfast (hic), it does taste better.
And I am going to justify all the calories…

Since you need energy to partake in all the relaxing we do here in paradise.
Being the expert I am now, I have another tip for you… Allow this to relax in the fridge overnight before you serve it.
But I digress from the recipe…
The inspiration comes from a recipe that Marguerite (call her Mags) at Cajun Delight, posted ages and ages ago…
Here is her original recipe…

Cajun Pineapple Rum Cake

This heavenly cake is so simple to make and the flavor is so fabulous that you will have a hard time resisting a second piece, cher! Worth the calories, cher!! Cest bon! Bon appetit!

1/2 cup pineapple rum
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped pecans

****************************************************************************************


Spray a bundt pan with “Baker’s Joy” baking spray. In large bowl, combine first six ingredients. beat at medium speed for two minutes. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool and remove to cake plate. Make glaze and drizzle over cake.
*****************************************************************************************
Glaze
******
Melt 1/4 cup butter, in saucepan. Add 2tbs. pineapple juice and 1/4 cup sugar. Cook and stir, until sugar is melted. Boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and slowly add 1/4 cup pineapple rum, until blended. Prick top of cake with a fork and drizzle glaze over warm cake. Divine!
*****************************************************************************************

Of course, I made a couple of changes… mainly that I dropped the bundt cake idea.  I do not have a bundt cake pan.  But I sure do like the idea of an upside down pineapple rum cake.  SO, I lined a rounded baking dish with pineapple slices.  I added some brown sugar to bring out the sweetness.

I was unable to find a simple yellow cake mix here.  So, I used a lemon mix and a lemon pudding mix.  I also did not have any pecans, so I left those out.
Other than those changes, I tried a little experiment…
I don’t have a photograph, but instead of putting the dish on the oven rack, I put the dish on a larger baking dish.  the dish had a 1 inch lip, about the same size as what did not brown on the cake below… make sense, can you picture it in your mind?  Remember this is an upside down cake, so when it was baking, the top was the bottom.
Alright, now that I have you completely confused, this method had an unexpected consequence…
The base (top while it was cooking, the part that was above the lip of the second baking dish) browned nicely.  It has a bit of a crunch and is almost all cake.
The top (bottom while it was baking, the part that was below the lip of the second baking dish) was only gently browned, and that was mostly the brown sugar and sugars in the pineapple rings caramelizing.  The “cake” part was much more pudding than cake.  If you look at the photo below, you will see the cake texture around the bottom (which, in an effort to REALLY confuse you is the top of the photo), while the top half (bottom of the photo) is more pudding texture.

I put the cake in the fridge overnight before cutting into it so it would set solid.
So, you now have two ways to get a slice of this cake…
Use the above recipe and make it yourself…
OR come visit the islands, you bring the sunscreen, I’ll bring the Rum Cake!
Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. It really is just this easy!  

 … I CAN COOK THAT! 

And so can you!

Korean Pancakes

I don’t know if other foodie bloggers find themselves, looking for new recipes, rather than making old favorites. I do. I love to try new recipes and see what turns out. No matter what the recipe tells me is going to happen, I really never know what I am going to turn out with. By now, you know, I tend to make changes in recipes. Oh, I have good reasons, like not having a necessary ingredient, or I may not like a particular ingredient or time causes a change in the method. The fun is in the doing and meeting new challenges and seeing the results. This is one of those recipes. The final results are definitely not what Emeril had in mind and not what I had in mind. Despite this, the resulting dish was filled with flavor and had an unexpected texture.
Ingredients:
For the sauce:
3 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce – gluten-free
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1 frozen chili cube
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons lightly toasted sesame seeds 
½ teaspoon sugar
pancakes:
9 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 bunch scallions, trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and cut into 2 inch lengths
4 ounces mushrooms, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups gluten-free flour mixture
1 ½ cups water
2 eggs
Method:
Make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, chili, garlic powder, sesame seeds and sugar in a small bowl, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside while you make the pancakes.
In a medium sauté pan over medium high heat, add 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil.
Next, add the scallions and mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms begin to wilt, about 3 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, water, and eggs and mix gently until just combined.
Add the cooked scallions, mushrooms, and salt and fold together briefly just to combine.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and, when hot, coat with 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil.
Add ½ of the pancake batter and use a spoon to spread into a 6 to 8-inch circle, trying to get the filling ingredients as evenly spread out as possible.
Cook the pancake about 4 minutes.
Once the pancake has begun to set and is golden brown on the bottom, flip the pancake to the other side, pressing with a spatula to compress ingredients.
Cook until golden brown on the second side, about 2 minutes longer, transfer to a warm plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm while you prepare the remaining pancakes.
Once all the pancakes have been cooked, cut into wedges and serve warm with the dipping sauce in small bowls for dipping.
Yield: 4 large pancakes or 10 appetizer servings 
Where I went wrong: Four minutes is a long time to cook a thin pancake and mine did not even change color at four minutes. I had this pale, emaciated pancake staring at me and telling me to cook it longer. I did. When it changed to a golden color, I turned it and cooked the other side until it became golden, also, longer than the prescribed two minutes. What happened, was those soft pancakes, hardened and became deliciously crisp. I know , this is not the way, they should be, but they were almost like a favorable cracker but not that crisp. The veggies were soft so I ended up with a crispy pancake with soft vegetables. Everyone ate them and my husband did his usual, mentioned that they were spicy. That was from the chili cube. Spicy is good in this recipe but if you are not a spicy lover, eliminate the chili flavoring. I am getting more and more used to spicy flavoring and like some of them. I have to say, my hubby was a doll, and took seconds. I am hoping, in time, he will adjust to a bit more spice, in his food. In the meanwhile, I modify, most times.
Please visit me at the Comfy Cook and My Sweet and Savory.
Don’t forget to link up to My Meatless Mondays.

And the winner is………

Congratulations to BloggerCool Lassi(e) who said…

Advanced Happy Birthday to your Blog!  My favorite appliance color is Silver. Well, I like Stainless Steel Appliances the best..if the color of steel is Silver, that is what I like best.
CSN will be contacting you with with details.
Be sure and check CSN stores for a wonderful online shopping experience  and it’s available right from your desk top. Whether you are looking for a sofa, TV stands, dining room furniture or cookware they have it all.

Disclosure: I did not receive any type of compensation for this post. CSN stores is sponsoring this giveaway and will handle prize fulfillment. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced to post them.

 

Aw Shucks, we’re blushing…again…

We’re blushing yet again, twice in fact thanks to The Overloaded Mommy and what a way to celebrate our birthday yesterday!  Thank you Casey!
The Rules:
•Thank the blogger who awarded it to you, which we sincerely do.
•Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience using five (5) words.

OUR followers are everything!

•Pass it on to 10 other blogs which you feel have real substance. That’s all of you.

We are also extremely grateful for our loyal followers, commenters and our wonderful creative cooking crew here at OUR KrAzY KiTcHeN and pass this award along to all of you!  There are “rules” for this award, but since we are a co-op so to speak we are bending those a bit.
The Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award. Which we do profusely.
2. Share 7 things about yourself. How about 10?  We’ll give you the 10 people who make up this blog and their home sites.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic! That’s all of you.
4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

MENU PLANS

Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie

 DATE BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER
MONDAY 6/28 CEREAL SANDWICHES Pork Chops & Broccoli Rice
TUESDAY 6/29 TOAST LEFTOVERS Lazy Chicken in Herb Sauce
WEDNESDAY 6/30 YOGURT SOUP Chicken with Cashew Cream & Onions
THURSDAY 7/1 FRUIT CHEESE & FRUIT Carnitas Tacos
FRIDAY 7/2 OATMEAL C.O.R.N. Boeuf Flamande
SATURDAY 7/3 pancakes leftovers Chicken Saltimboca
SUNDAY 7/4 out out Hamburgers & Potato Salad

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Save Room for Dessert: S’mores Bars

Save Room for dessert new badge 
Hi there, Min from The Bad Girl’s Kitchen and Try A New Recipe filling in here today, with a DESSERT that everyone who has ever camped simply must try!
This recipe comes from Rebecca of Cooking With My Kid, who’s actually a friend of a friend of mine, and who is on a mission to make 365 recipes in 365 days, with her kid. Although I like cooking with my kids, I still think it’s an ambitious project.
When she posted this recipe, I knew I had to make these right away. Just Had To. After all, I’d bought all the ingredients for s’mores recently, but before we could make them someone ate all the Hershey’s bars. Someone else snuck half a bag of marshmallows. And who knows who ate most of the graham crackers. It’s just the way it works around here I guess.
Note: when opening a jar of marshmallow fluff at altitude, just for a “taste,” be prepared to immediately make your recipe because it will just keep expanding and you won’t be able to “taste” that much without making yourself sick. Just trust me on this.
I didn’t do the shopping yesterday, and to be honest my entire grocery list was this:
1 large jar marshmallow fluff
2 king-size Hershey’s Special Dark bars
1 box graham crackers
=)
I took Rebecca’s advice and planned to use dark chocolate from the start. So Number One brought home 4 bars of Hershey’s Special Dark, in two sizes. I’m guessing that the 4.25 ounce bar is the “king size,” but I didn’t come to that realization until I already had the “giant size” bars unwrapped and discovered they wouldn’t fit as neatly as Rebecca’s had in the pan. Oh well, we’ve got some extra dark chocolate to eat!
Now that I’m thinking about it, I can’t say I recall ever eating marshmallow fluff. I know that seems like blasphemy for a Midwestern girl like myself to admit, but I just don’t remember it in my life. Of course I’ve seen the jars around, and of course when someone took that little taste, it tasted like heaven, but it didn’t ring any bells. I didn’t remember the stickiness, or anything. I do love it though, so I think that makes up for my possibly faulty memory.


The verdict: These are very good, but dare I say it, with dark chocolate, I think you need to use MORE fluff. There, I said it. It really needs more fluff!! Next time, I will try it with milk chocolate, which is probably the more classic flavor, and maybe just a little extra fluff.

Let me know which chocolate YOU would use, and how you like them!

S’More Bars
Prep Time:15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 to 35 minutes
Makes 16 squares
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (~7 full-sized graham cracker sheets, processed until fine)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 king-sized dark chocolate bars (*note: I believe “king-size” is 4.25 ounces. “giant-size” is too big, but will work if you use a little more than one bar. I know because we used “giant-size.”)
1-1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. (I used butter). Use an electric mixer to cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Set aside.
Meanwhile,whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.
Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side.
Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together). Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Be sure to cool completely before cutting into 16 squares.
Don’t forget to visit me at The Bad Girl’s Kitchen for more fabulous recipes!