Za!

Finally tried this and was pretty happy with the results.
Cody's dough recipe:

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1 1/2 cups very warm water
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 3/4 cup bread flour
1/2 cup semolina flour

dump all the dry crap in, dump the water in run through dough setting

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Use the bread maker for the dough, the hardest part was spreading it out so a somewhat uniform shape:

Did put a LOT of flour on the paddle to keep it from sticking. Used Classico spaghetti sauce (with mushrooms) and then of course lots of meat! Black olives, mmmm. I melted a little butter and brushed it on the crust edges, then sprinkled with garlic salt.

I used a pizza stone and had the oven on 450. Put some corn meal down to keep it from sticking and watched it carefully after about 12-14 minutes:

  The end result:

Late 2009 tomatoes

Late prep, late planting, we are just now picking. Let's pray for a late freeze eh?

Shrimp Ceviche cocktail

Been awhile since I tried something new that struck me with YUM, and that happened last night with a shrimp ceviche cocktail I had at a friend's BBQ. Ingredients where jotted down on my iPhone, with the obvious recognition that the quantities are not measured accurately. The surprise ingredient was Clamato! A quick Google shows lots of recipes, will be posting mine when I tweak it to my liking....

Where's Hef?

Ah spaghetti!! One of my favorite dishes, especially with homemade sauce with fresh basil and good sausage. Eating this tasty batch, something caught my eye. See it?

Look closer!

A BUNNY!!! I got me a little Playboy bunny in my sauce. Golly Gee!!

Last of the Motomkins

I have to say I'm extremely pleased with our desert crop this year. It had a LOT going against it, time, soil, weather, etc and is no where near our KS crop last year. Overall we had plenty to keep me happy, though my favorite Brandywine tom didn't produce much. Everything's smaller, that's for sure, but plenty of Roma's to cook with, and plenty of super sweet dime size cherry toms. The very last batch picked before the cold snap wasn't enough to fill a five gallon bucket, but it was close! Enough to eat, share, make chili and can a few for winter soup. Too bad there are a LOT of green ones still left on the vine, but they will go back to earth by being compost.

Little Pizzas! Yum!!

Thanks goes to my buddy Brett and his wife Annette for introducing me to this easy tasty method of creating homemade Za. I haven't had the chance to do it for a group, but I can imagine it being a hit, as it's a hit here at home with me and T. It's so easy it's like a head slap to me, cause I've been disappointed in most homemade pizzas, the Boboli kind, homemade crust, etc. The exception is Tracy's deep dish stuff, it's dang good but not a traditional flat bread pizza. This is about as close as you can get. I've yet to really work with trying to make the crust crispier, with all the crap I tend to throw on as toppings, it can get soggy. Regardless, it's easy and quick and since it's individual, you put on what you want.


The whole TRICK of this is to use flour tortillas! Brush them with a little olive oil, and go to town on your ingredients. Cook meat beforehand, Get a can of sauce, we use homemade spaghetti sauce which is extra tasty, and just set out little bowls of what you like, and cheese, lots of cheese. I like the traditional sausage, black olive, Mozz cheese, sauce. Tracy used some goat cheese, sun dried toms and garlic on one. Just THINK of the possibilities! Go through the fridge, whatta ya got? Crab meat? Seafood PIZZA! Havarti, Swiss and provolone? Ultimate CHEESE Pizza! Peppers and corn? A Veggie Pizza!

Mutant Tomatoes Rule the Earth

Here's an oddball I picked from the garden o' toms. Weird eh? Looks like five of them trying to burst out from one. Tasted fine, but after I ate it I started to get this twitch and for some reason the dogs were barking at me.

Variation on a theme

I really do like this sammich. It's also good with fresh basil, which is what I have here. Getting close to the end of the tomato season here in Sparks, so I enjoy them when I can. Maybe another this weekend... Yeah.... Mmmmmm.

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 .

Tomatoes in the Desert, 2007

One thing I miss about Kansas? Tomatoes. Man did I have some killer crops. This was last year:

With room for 80-100 plants, it was fun to grow so many, all that variety of plants, and room for peppers and herbs. And we picked OFTEN! Flat out no contest winner is the Brandywine, a super red sweet luscious medium to large size 'mater that I love love love. Here's a plate:

Now I like salt, so that's how I eat them, but sometimes a couple splashes of balsamic, a little olive oil, fresh basil and some celery salt, yummy little salad is what you got there!



Fast forward to 2007. Thank God my wife loves me and knows what I like. Back oh, in April or May she built up for me a raised bed, best you can out here with sand and rocks. She got the concrete blocks and hauled them to the back yard and built it up, spread in soil and compost and planted about 15 plants, toms and peppers and basil. When I got here in July, it looked a bit scraggly, but with some fertilizer and a lot of water, I think it looks pretty good eh?

Turned out pretty good really. On the whole they are a lot smaller, none much bigger than a golf ball, certainly not a tennis ball, though on the vine some Brandywines are coming through that are larger. The mini cherries have been TASTY, and I'm going to make some sauce here really soon me thinks...

Farmer John's Pork Link Sausage

Whatzit: Farmer Johns Maple and Original link sausage

From where: Product of Los Angeles, bought in Sparks at Albertson's

Price: $0.79 for 8 oz on sale with coupon

Date: 08/19/07 for breakfast, 08/22/07 in spaghetti

Prepared: Simple pan cooked
Rating:


Just dang good! The Original Maple doesn't really scream maple flavor, but it's got a nice sweetness to it that is pretty tasty. Enjoyed with cheesy eggs from Tracy. For the spaghetti sauce, we used a pound of it cooked and chopped up with a spatula (it's skinless), and 1 jar each of homemade sauce and Classico (review pending). Gets a minor ding for having the hated occasional gristle, to be expected but still hated.

Stones says: "I stand by this sausage, or uh sit. Good boy"

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!

My Buddy Ray

Ray and I swapped a lot of tomatoes, recipes & prepared food over the past coupla years in KC, take a look at this article on him and his salsa:

Click here for article

Way to go Ray!