Pretty dang yummy Baked Potato Soup w/Cheese

There was a little snow storm here and the wifey tried to get to work but 40 minutes later, was back home, having only gone a few miles. It was very cold too, so I whipped this up, and it's a keeper. Thanks always to the Internet for the inspiration and basic recipe!

Yields: 4 Servings
Total time: Less than an hour from prep to serve

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Cup Butter
• 1/3 Cup Flour
• 2 Cups Milk
• 1/2 Cup Half & Half
• 1 Cup Homemade broth (beef, chicken, whatever)
• (if you're lacking the broth & half/half above, just make sure you have enough liquid)
• 2 Large baked potatoes, unpeeled and cubed
• 1 TB chopped garlic
• 1 Tsp Seasoned Salt or S&P
• 3 slices of cooked bacon, chopped
• 3 slices (equal amount) of diced ham
• 1 Cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 Cup Sour cream
• Chives & Tarragon optional as garnish

1. In a large stockpan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour slowly until smooth and bubbly.
2. Gradually stir in the liquids, whisking until thickened (a few minutes)
3. Stir in the taters, garlic, salt, and half the meats. Bring to a boil
   
4. Reduce heat and simmer 10-20 minutes until you think to yourself, "Damn, that looks good!"
5. Stir in the sour cream and cheese until melted.
6. Serve in big bowls, top with ham, bacon, chives and tarragon if desired.

Meet Mario, a sausage lover who's worried his lover is tired of the same old grind...

It's no secret I'm a fan of stupid TV like COPS, America's Most wanted, high speed car chase type stuff, etc etc. Good wholesome couch potato stuff. Cheaters cracks me up with their cheesy lines, like "A computer programmer calculating his fiance is getting her 'hard drive' from another source". Cracks me up. They use words like gumshoe, watering hole and eatery. "A pastry chef who suspects her lover is getting her buns fluffed elsewhere." Hee hee.

ANYWAY! So this past weekend's experiment was two fold. Could I make my own tasty sausage, and would I save money? Would it be worth it?

The first thing I did was finally buy a grinder for my KitchenAid. They're not exactly cheap, but I had a $10 card for Kohl's and was able to walk out with one for under $50.00. The next step is of course meat. My local grocer seems to always have meat red-tagged, 50% off or $2.00 off or whatever. The day I looked, I hit the jackpot with pork chops, pork loans, a small pork shoulder and some pork stew meat, all marked down. All told, I spent $11.21 on 5.97 pounds of meat. After bones and trimming, it was right at $2.00 a pound. Not cheap by any means, but not bad!

The first step you do is to chop things up in strips or small chunks, then partially freeze it. This allows for a cleaner grind, less gumming up. I ground it up without spices, and here's what it looked like:



After everything was ground, I sprinkled the following "Italian Sausage" recipe on top, and worked it in, then ran it through the grinder again.

2 tbsp. table salt
1 tbsp. fennel seed, cracked
1/2 tbsp. coriander
1 1/2 tbsp. paprika ( I ran out, so i used some taco seasoning with paprika #1)
3/4 tsp. red chili pepper, flakes
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water (didn't use)

The sample patty:

Overall? Success! Plenty of things to change, it was more like breakfast sausage, needed more fennel, less salt, less sugar, and more fat as I used pretty lean meat. But it was FUN and I'll do it again.

Mexican Casserole, super simple

Campbell's has some really easy & tasty recipes on their soup cans, usually too simple in my mind but easy to modify to your own likings.

• 1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Creamy Chicken Verde Soup (not always easy to find)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder (I actually omitted and toasted up some fresh garlic & peppers)
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken (I didn't cube, I shredded. Grilled, not microwaved)
• 4 flour tortillas (8"), cut into strips (seems like too much, but it's not)
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (plus some shredded white cheese)

Directions: Mix soup, water, garlic powder and chicken. Stir in tortillas. Spread mixture in 2-qt. shallow baking dish. Top with cheese. Cover. Bake at 350ºF. 25 min. or until hot. I forgot to take a picture of it in progress, oh well!

Meatloaf and playing Hide The Sausage

Are there people that don't like meatloaf? Is it cause it was too dry or too much filler compared to the meat? Is the "right way" to have ketchup on the top that is cooked along with the loaf so that it kinda thickens up? Onions in it? (not me!). Tricks? Treats?

I like meatloaf and really have a bunch of "unique" things I do to make it all come together for me. I kinda have a written recipe thanks to my Pop, but really only use it as a guideline and mine is way off from his, trust me. First off, I use beef and ground sausage, usually half and half but at LEAST a good chunk of sausage. Second, I add a can of cream of mushroom soup in addition to eggs. Yeah, it's pretty wet. Lastly, I add a river of Mozzarella cheese in the middle plus more special surprises!

• 1.5 lb ground beef
• 1.0 lb ground sausage
• 2-3 eggs
• 1 can Cream Mushroom soup
• 1 cup or so shredded mozz cheese
• 1 cup or so bread crumbs, I use canned Italian variety
• spices of your choice and liking. Salt, pepper, celery seed, parsley, Italian blend

Pretty much mix it up and make a loaf! I usually have the bread crumbs on hand to adjust as needed, don't want it too soupy. I'll flatten mine out on a big cutting board then dump the cheese in the middle and kinda fold it up. It's not the easiest thing to do, kinda like playing darts with Jello. If you've not invested in a meatloaf pan, it's worth it. It's a two layer bread pan looking thing that has holes on the bottom for the grease to drip through. Cook for about 1 hour at 350, get your meat thermometer out and make sure it's in the 160 range. Undercooked sucks, trust me.

Here's the fun part! HIDE SOMETHING! It's not above me to sneak in things sitting in the fridge, or something getting a little stale in the cupboard. Years ago I was low on bread crumbs and used a bunch of crackers. What the heck, how about Cheetos's! I didn't smash them up, and the stark orange pieces was pretty funny looking, and tasted great! Somewhere along the line I added the cheese, man was THAT healthy! Then in another brilliant moment, how would Goldfish crackers look? Well, I can tell you it looks funny. This last one I made, I had a coupla hot dogs left, so what the heck right?

Banana Berry Foster ala Toddy

Paula Deen was my inspiration for this treat. If you know me, I don't have a sweet tooth, but Tracy does and I think she enjoyed it. She was making noises I've only heard... Oh, never mind.

Not healthy at all, so pass if you're weighing yourself every day. I'm at 192 these days by the way. BUTTA!

• 1 1/4 Cup Butter
• 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Malibu Rum
• 1/8 Cup Amaretto
• 1/4 Cup Pecans
• 1/8 Cup dried blueberries
• 4 Banananananas
• Ice Cream, Vanilla is perfect

Get your skillet going with the butter and brown sugar, bubbling but not burning so that it thickens up. Doesn't take too long. Add the booze, nuts & berries and meld it all together, then add the bananas last, or don't add them at all, put them on the ice cream. It'll look like this in the pan:

Get yer bowls of ice cream out, pour the gooey goodness over and serve. I bet you find it very tasty and will impress.

The blueberries I used were from Costco, whole dried in a bag and are actually somehow enhanced with sugar & stuff. Dried by very moist and juicy. This would be great with strawberries or near just about anything really. How about star fruit, now THAT would be interesting eh?

What's a Muffaletta?

Ever heard of one? Not me, but it sure sounded interesting. Ol' Bobby Flay and his Showdown's, truly an interesting show and always something new to learn. This is a big fat meat and cheeze sammich with lots of olives, certainly something up my alley. I guess it's a common item in the New Orleans area, but it was news to me. Overall worth the effort and pretty easy despite the amount of ingredient. We tried it first cold which is how it's commonly served, then heated up enough to melt the cheese, etc. I actually preferred it hot, which is no surprise, I'm a much bigger fan of hot sandwiches. Bobby lost this one, mainly cause (they say) he went too far off track with his variation, using mayo and mustard, and then getting funky with everything else. Check his version out here: Bobby Flays Muffaletta Recipe

• 1 Big round loaf of bread, get what you like.
• 1/4 lb each of sliced meats, ham, turkey, Genoa Salami, Pepperoni, Prosciutto, etc.
• 1/4 lb each of sliced cheeses, Provolone, Havarti, Swiss, Mozzarella, etc

Olive Salad:

• 1/2 Cup Green Spanish olives
• 1/2 Cup Black Olives
• 1/2 Cup Kalamata Olives if you're adventurous
• 1/4 chopped Pepperocini
• 1/2 Stalk of celery chopped
• 1/2 carrot chopped
• 1 TB chopped garlic
• 1 TB or whatever of mixed dried Italian herbs
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Pretty easy to make. Cut the bread in half, layer the meats and cheese to your liking, put a ton of olive salad on the other half and somehow slap them together. At that point I cut it up and served it in sections. To give it credence, Tracy is not a big olive fan and she ate it up.

Pozole Rojo de Puerco (Pork and Red Chile Hominy Soup)

My buddy Ray sent me this recipe and it is DAMN tasty. Even though it was 90 degrees out, I managed to eat two bowls. I did some of my own spin of course, comments in parentheses.

4 lb pork shoulder cut in to 1 inch chunks. (Remove chunks of fat)
60 ounces chicken broth or 4- 14 1/2 ounce cans.
2 TB veg oil
1 big onion chopped
6 to 10 cloves garlic chopped
3 medium carrots thinly sliced (next time I'll dice them)
2 to 3 TB ground ancho chiles or pasilla
2 TB chile powder, (I used taco seasoning)
1 TB ground cumin
1 TS dried thyme
1 TB Mexican Oregano
1 TS salt
4 15 oz cans white hominy or 2 big 28 oz cans rinsed ( I don't rinse)
1 big 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I used home made stewed tomatoes)
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
2 T masa harina flour. (I used regular flour)
Shredded cabbage as a garnish. (I did not do this)
Lime Wedges

Sour Cream

Put the pork pieces in a pot with one can chicken broth and a cup of water (I used two cans homemade beef broth). Bring to a boil and cover on low heat for 40 minutes. Reserve the meat in the broth off heat in another bowl.

In a big pot, heat the oil and fry the onions two minutes. Add the garlic and cook till onions and garlic gets limp. Add the carrots, ground chile, chili powder,oregano, cumin, thyme, and salt to the pot and cook 30 seconds.

Add remaining chick broth (I used two cans), hominy, tomatoes, cilantro, flour, and reserved pork and broth. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes. (I actually cooked it for about 2 hours)

Serve with chopped cilantro, lime wedges (a MUST!), chopped onions, oregano and sour cream as a side. Tasty-Tasty. Makes a lot, you'll have leftovers. Enough for 10 people .

In my opinion, the best sandwich ever

Or sammich as I prefer to call them. Why is that funny to me? This has been a favorite for years:

Whatzit: Tomato Bacon Mayo love

From where: Homemade

Date: 08/14/07

Prepared: See below

Rating:


Ingredients:

Potato Bread
Butter or bacon grease
Your favorite spice blend
Cooked bacon
Tomatoes
Mayo
Recommended for a twist: Pesto


It's a simple sandwich, kinda like a BLT but no 'L' and a little beyond basic. Potato bread is great cause it's thick and holds up well to all the moisture from the mayo and toms. Lightly spread butter on it or bacon grease, sprinkle it with your favorite spice blend, something red is usually good (BBQ rub, seasoned salt, etc). Fry the bread up on a skillet and start slicing the toms. Use good juicy fresh ones like Brandywines. From here I think you can figure it out, mayo on one side, pesto on the other, bacon and toms, slap it together and eat it up. It's easy to make this one over salty, so experiment. I can eat two, easy!

Look *away* from the sammich.... Look AWAY!