Mantastic Chili

Erik went wild boar hunting with one of his friends.

Now his chili's 'chuck of meat' is boar.

Mmm...sounds appetizing!

Mantastic Chili

chunk of meat
2 cans of black beans
2 cans of pinto beans
2 cans of kidney beans
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1/4 c. of bbq sauce
2 T. Italian seasoning
2+ T.  honey
1 t. chili powder
1 t. garlic salt

Crock pot for like 5-6 hours.

Add a can of refried beans to make it a bit smoother. Then make sure to add grated cheese and sour cream.



by Erik, grandson of Barbara

Bacon Pancake Dippers

image and recipe from here

Bacon Pancake Dippers
1 recipe of the Bisquick pancake batter including the ingredients to make the batter
12 slices center cut bacon
lite syrup

Cook bacon and set aside.
Mix batter according to the package directions.
Pour into a squeeze bottle with a big enough hole for the batter to pour from. I (recipe author) used a cheap picnic ketchup bottle. You know the tall skinny red ones. They also come in yellow for mustard. I cut the tip bigger. Heat griddle. I heat mine to 300 degrees. Squirt batter in a long oval shape a little longer and wider then the bacon and place a slice of cooked bacon in the center. Lightly press bacon into the batter. Squeeze more batter over the bacon. I just did a wiggle line. This is to protect the bacon from the griddle when you turn that pancake dipper over. Cook until the batter starts to bubble then turn over and cook a few minutes longer. Serve syrup in 4 ounce wide mouth mason jars.

Dee Notes:
I surprised Scott and Ian with these one morning and they liked them!

video of process at link below top picture.

I used a pancake mix Scott likes

Chicken and Dumplings

image and recipe from here

I love chicken and dumplings. 

I usually start with boiling rotisserie chicken leftovers with vegetables, 

then adding the dumplings. I 'winged it' for the soup, 

then used this recipe for the dumplings. YUM!

Chicken and Dumplings 1 large broiler-fryer chicken, cut up
2 celery ribs, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 (14-1/2 oz.) cans chicken broth
2 T. dried parsley
2 t. chicken bouillon granules
1-1/2 t. salt
1/2-1 t. pepper
water

Dumplings
2 c. flour
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
3/4 c. milk
4 T. oil

Combine chicken, celery, carrots, onion, chicken broth, parsley, chicken bouillon granules, salt and pepper in a large pan or dutch oven; add enough water to cover chicken.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until chicken is done.
Remove chicken and let stand until cool enough to handle.
Remove skin from chicken and tear meat away from bones.
Return meat to soup; discard skin and bones.
Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
Return soup to a simmer.
In a mixing bowl, combine dumpling ingredients and mix well to form a stiff dough.
Drop by tablespoonfuls into simmering soup.
Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

*SOUTHERN STYLE DUMPLINGS (heavier and chewier) 2 c. flour, 1 c. chicken broth, 2 t. baking powder, 2 beaten eggs. Combine flour, broth, baking powder and eggs; mix well to form a stiff batter. Drop by tablespoonfuls into simmering soup. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

(I didn't try these. The others were great!)

Crock Pot Pho

recipe and photo here

Erik taught us about pho, after learning about it from serving among the Hmong people in Central California. Pronounced "fuh", I also learned to love this Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup especially on those wet and cold days here in the Northwest. Last year I went with a local Hmong lady (who helped teach Erik the language in Merced), to some Asian markets to find the ingredients. She taught us how to make it along the way. Did I write it down? no, silly me. Have I made it? yes, winged it! Ian said it wanted to have it again, so I'm checking out this recipe online. I'll try to mesh it with what I remember and hopefully enjoy it after work tomorrow, if I can get the prep work done today!

Crock Pot Pho

This is a recipe for a 6.5 quart (or larger) Crock Pot. Any smaller really isn't that great - you won't get enough stock out of it...because the beef bones are really chunky and big. The thinly sliced meat for the bowls may be easier to slice if you freeze the chunk of meat for 15 minutes prior to slicing. You really want them as thin a possible. You can also do what I do - palm your butcher a $5 bill and he'll slice the meat for you on his fancy slicing machine.
[notes from author at Steamy Kitchen. It's a pretty funny read!] 
Servings: 4

For the Pho Stock:
4 pounds beef bones*
1/2 onion
4 inch section of ginger, sliced
1 package Vietnamese Pho Spices (or as many of these spices as you have: 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 t. whole coriander, 1 t. fennel, 3 whole star anise, 3 whole cloves, 1 cardamom pod) *
9 c. water
2 1/2 T. fish sauce or to taste
1 t. sugar

For the Pho Bowls:
16 oz. fresh or dried rice noodles
1/2 lb. flank, london broil, sirloin or eye of round steak, sliced as thinly as possible.*
11 oz. Vietnamese beef balls, cut into half*

For the table:
1-2 limes, cut into wedges
fresh herbs: cilantro, Thai basil, mint
2-3 chili peppers, sliced
2 big handfuls of bean sprouts
Hoisin sauce
Sriracha hot chili sauce

1. Bring a large stockpot with water to boil over high heat. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the beef bones and boil vigourously for 10 minutes.

2. In the meantime, heat a frying pan on medium-low heat. Add the Vietnamese Pho Spices and toast until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Dump the spices to the empty Crock Pot or slow cooker immediately. Return frying pan to medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger slices and the onion half. Cook until the ginger is browned on both sides and the onion half is nicely browned and softened. Add the ginger and the onion to the Crock Pot or slow cooker.

3. When the bones have been pre-boiled, drain, discard water and rinse bones briefly to clean them. Add the bones to the Crock Pot or slow cooker. Fill the Crock Pot with fresh, clean, cool water to just 1-1/2 inches below surface, add the fish sauce and sugar. Cover and set the Crock Pot or slow cooker to cook on low for 8 hours. Taste and season with additional fish sauce if needed.

4. When you are just about ready to eat, you'll prep the rest of the ingredients for the Pho bowls. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the beef balls and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove the balls, keeping the water boiling and now cook the noodles according to package instructions. If you are using fresh noodles, all they need is a couple of minutes. Drain immediately.

5. Strain the stock with a fine meshed sieve. Discard the solids.

6. Line up 4 large bowls on counter. Distribute the noodles, beef balls and thin steak slices evenly amongst the bowls. Ladle the hot Pho stock into each bowl. The hot stock should cook the thin steak slices. Serve with lime wedges, fresh herbs, chili peppers, Hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot chili sauce at the table.

These were the broth ingredient packages Yia said to get.
The orange has ground spices in a little bag (two per box).

* Dee notes: 

1-When shopping for bones, this was the part that took the longest.
We went to three markets. Yia (the Hmong friend),
just kept shaking her head and saying no.
She finally settled with some beef neck bones,
but I don't think they were exactly what she wanted.
Lost in translation I expect.  We did buy flank steak.

2-When I made this last, the final tasting broth wasn't
as tasty asI remember from all the times I've had it.
I did by the spice packets at the Asian market that Yia recommended,
 but maybe the instructions in the recipe online about toasting the actually spices—which I didn't do—would make the difference.

3-I don't care for the meatballs.

4-After trying this recipe, we were underwhelmed. The broth is not as tasty as it is in the restaurant. Maybe roasting the spices instead of using the orange boxed spice packet would help a little, but it's just not beefy tasting enough. Maybe a lot more beef bones than I used (just a couple smallish ones), and cooking it for longer. Also, the flank was tough, I had boiled it in the water for the noodles, as it was a bit thicker than I expected would go from raw to cooked enough with the pho broth in our bowls. I think the only answer may be regularly going out to get pho. There is a Thai cafe going into the shopping corner closest to our house, and pho is on their menu. It was supposed to open in September. My friends and I have been waiting impatiently. Walking for Thai. MMMmmm!

Prime Rib

recipe and image from here

We decided to try cooking a prime rib for Christmas Eve. 

Having a guest made it even more festive. 

Scott was the chef, and it turned out divine!

Prime Rib
1 standing rib roast (about 1/2 pound per person)
1 c. kosher salt
1/2 c. Pepper
1 bunch fresh rosemary

Remove rib roast from packaging and place in a roasting pan. Allow to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Generously cover all sides of rib roast with salt and pepper. Place roast in a roasting pan fat-side up. Arrange half of the rosemary in the bottom of the pan around the roast.

Cook the roast for 30 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and continue to cook for about 90 minutes (for medium rare). (Plan on about 15 minutes per pound.)

Remove roast from oven and cover with foil. Let rest 20 minutes.

To serve, slice along the ribs to remove them (Separate each rib and put them aside). Then, slice the roast crossways against the grain. Platter with the ribs and the remaining fresh rosemary.

TOTAL TIME: 3:10
PREP: 0:10
COOK: 3:00
LEVEL: MODERATE
YIELD: 12 SERVINGS



Scott's notes 2018:
Try next time less temp or time on the baking part. 
The outside was tasty!
You'll have to make separate au jus, 
as it didn't drip enough to make sauce.
Maybe try this chart we saw after cooking the rib roast.

Scott's notes 2019: 
5 lb roast—450 for 15 min., 325 for 70 min.
Cook longer–maybe 10-15 min.
use 1/4 of listed amounts of salt and pepper!

These are the notes from our 2018 try:
We had a smaller roast, so used the chart above.
We also halved the amount of salt and pepper, and it still seemed potent.
 I saw the recipe and thought maybe I'd incorporate the butter and garlic in next time.
Mmmm . . . will keep experimenting!

by Scott, Barbara's son

Autumn Squash Soup

recipe and image from here

I loved having this sweet soup at Panera, so found a copy cat recipe.

Panera Bread's Autumn Squash Soup
1 extra large butternut squash
2-3 T. extra virgin coconut oil
Salt and pepper to taste
15 oz. pumpkin
1-1/2 c. apple juice
1-1/2 c. vegetable broth
1-1/2 c. half-and-half
1-1/2 T. honey
1/4 t. curry powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
1-1/2 t. sea salt or kosher salt
1/4 t. black pepper
roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish
Preheat oven to 450°.
Peel squash.
Remove seeds and cut in chunks.
Place in baking dish or on cookie sheet and drizzle with oil.
Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Bake at 450° for 25-30 minutes or until fork tender.
Mash squash with a potato masher and place in a large stock pot.
Add pumpkin, apple juice, half-and-half and vegetable broth.
Puree ingredients with an immersion blender until well mixed.
Add honey, curry, cinnamon, salt and pepper and heat through about 10-15 minutes at a low simmer.
To serve, garnish bowls of soup with roasted pumpkin seeds.

NOTE: Adjust the apple juice, vegetable broth and half-and-half according to how large your butternut squash is. If the squash is smaller, decrease liquids. If it’s a whopper you may have to increase this amount. I increased these amounts above the original recipe because I had a whopper butternut squash.

Dee's notes: I just half, clean and roast the squash instead of cutting. I only had apple/pomegranate juice so used that. I used chicken broth instead of veggie. I used a bit of left over sweetened condensed milk with 2% instead of half and half. AND, finally, it didn’t taste as sweet as Panera’s…so I added a little brown sugar. But other than that : ) I followed the recipe!!

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries, Green Chili Pumpkin Soup

recipe and image from here

Today I'm posting a couple more recipes I want to try, but haven't yet.

Scott won't go for the Pumpkin Soup,

but said he is looking forward to the Cheesecake Strawberries!

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries
24 strawberries (medium to large)
8 oz. light cream cheese
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 t. vanilla extract
1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

1. Remove the tops of all the strawberries and and cut out a cone shape from inside the middle of each strawberry with a paring knife - a little well to be filled with cream cheese mixture.

2. Mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Fill a ziploc bag with the cream cheese mixture (filling it into one of the corners). 

3. Twist the top of the bag and snip the corner of the bag with the filling.

4. Squeeze filling into each strawberry and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

YIELD: MAKES ABOUT 2 DOZEN STRAWBERRIES

recipe and image from here

Green Chili Pumpkin Soup
4 oz. diced green chiles, divided
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 c. cilantro
1 small onion, diced
1 t. oil
1 can pumpkin puree
1 can vegetable broth
1/2 c. water
2 t. cumin
1/2 t. chili powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. ground red pepper


1) In a food processor, combine 1/2 of the chiles, sour cream and cilantro. Process until smooth. Set aside.

2) Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion and remaining chiles. Saute for about 5 minutes or until onions are softened. Add cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and red pepper. Cook for 1 minutes or until fragrant.

3) Add remaining ingredients to the pot. Bring a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If soup is not smooth enough, use an immersion blender to make it smoother…this is totally optional!

4) Swirl sour cream mixture into soup just before serving.

The sour cream mixture adds a cooling component and a little tartness to the the soup. I think it is the perfect compliment. Plus, you can get this to the table in under 30 minutes which means it is the perfect weeknight meal for fall and winter too.