Happy Holidays & 2018

I hope all had Happy Holidays and you had some
good food with family! Hope the New Year 2018
will be a great year for you all!

Oyster Stew

Dec 20 2017

Last night we had oyster stew, I always called it
soup. I am surprised the wife likes it. I used Paula
Deans recipe. A quart of half & half, a pint of
oysters, 1/2 stick of butter, green onions, salt,
pepper and I had a little hot sauce in mine.

The oysters were large, two bite size. we had some
good crusty sour dough bread and it all tasted
great!

My supper

French Onion Pasta Bake

Dec 16 2017

Friday nigh for supper Our son would not be
home for supper so I fixed a dish for the daughter
in law & grandson. She is mostly vegetarian but
will eat poultry. I found a new recipe to try,
French Onion Pasta Bake.

It had chicken tenders in it and I tried some new
Penne pasta you only had to cook for 10 seconds
in a microwave. I got the dish all together and in a
375 degree oven for 15 minutes. I put it on my
warm hold burner while I baked some 3 cheese
garlic knots. The French onions were caramelized
and gave it a little sweet taste.

It tasted pretty good.

Click here for printable recipe

My supper

Pork Country Style Ribs and Potatoes

Dec 15 2017
I had 3 CS pork ribs I seasoned with Galena St.
rub and smoked paprika. I sprayed my Instant
pot with some olive oil and added the ribs. I
added about a cup of beef broth and about 1/2
cup of BBQ sauce. I cooked them on Meat/Stew
for 30 minutes.

When they were done I had some fresh corn
thawed and skillet fried it. I had some new baby
potatoes in a microwave pack that had a seasoning
pack. I added a little butter to hem too.

I served it all with some English toast and tasted
great. The ribs were fork tender.

My supper

Italian Parmesan Chicken over Pasta

Dec 13 2017

I had some McCormicks Italian parmesan sauce

to use on chicken. I bought some thighs to use.

I placed them in a skillet with a little olive oil spray

poured the sauce over and in a 365 deg.

convection oven. I had spaghetti for the pasta.

After the chicken had cooked 35 minutes I

checked temps and added some mozzarella and

parmesan cheese to the thighs and in another ten

minutes.

Meanwhile I had cooked the pasta and drained.

We had a salad with it and some English toast.

My wife and I both liked it. I like the McCormicks

sauces but my groceries quit carrying it.

 My Supper

Pork Cutlets and Potato Cakes

Dec 13 2017

Last Sat. we had pork cutlet sandwiches on Naan
bread with potato cakes and applesauce. One of
our favorite meals. We both have mustard and dill
pickle on the sandwiches.

To hurry up some I just heated the Naan in the
microwave. That made the Naan warm but soft. I
recommend toasting the Naan in a skillet or on a
griddle, much better.

My supper

Beef Tips & Gravy over Noodles W/Peas

Dec 08 2017
The wife was busy most of the day yesterday in
the kitchen. No she was not making a big meal
just baking her pumpkin bread she does every
Christmas She gives them away as gifts. I had
supper covered with an easy Instant Pot meal
beef tips and gravy over noodles.

Not much prep for this meal. I had some sirloin
tip and a piece of chuck I cut into bite size pieces.
I added some olive oil to the pot and sauted the
beef until brown and added some chopped onion
and garlic flakes. I cooked until the onions got
soft. I then mixed a pack of Pioneer brown gravy
mix with 2 cups water and added it.

I set the pot to Meat/Stew for 18 minutes. When it
was about done I cooked 8 oz. of noodles and
microwaved a package of peas. I toasted some
English muffins. That was an easy meal and tasted
great! Meat was very tender.

My supper

Cold Weather Chili

Dec 07 2017

Turned cold so it was time for a pot of chili for last nights supper. For years each batch of chili was a little different. My wife said why don’t you get a good recipe and stick to it. I am now keeping pretty consistent with my recipe.Following is my basic recipe.

1 to 1 ½ lbs ground chuck

1 large sweet onion, chopped

1 - 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 can beans for chili, I used Bush’s

½ can of beer

1 cup beef broth

3 TBS chili powder or to taste

½ teaspoon cumin

Hot sauce to taste

If you like more beans add a can of pinto or little red beans

I brown the beef and drain off the grease then add the chopped onions and cook until soft then add in the chili powder and cook a while. Then add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Bring all to a boil then turn down to a simmer and cook 2 to 3 hours. After an hour check for seasoning.

The wife and I like shredded cheese on top and sometimes sour cream served with saltine crackers and butter. Last nights chili was great.

Ingredients

Onions added to browned beef

Chili powder added

All in the pot

My supper

Ham & Swiss Cheese Sandwiches W/Hominy

Dec 05 2017

Another sandwich night. I had a nice slice of my butchers smoked ham thawed out. I thought it would be good on Naan bread with Swiss cheese. I would have some fried yellow hominy with them.

I put the ham steak on my Traeger at 250 deg. I did it for about 40 minutes then removed to a skillet and in a 225 degree oven to hold while I fried the hominy and heated a griddle to toast the sandwiches. I threw some of the ham fat and bone in to flavor the hominy some. I toasted the sandwiches on the griddle. Using the Naan bread makes them almost like panini, pressed sandwiches. Tasted great!

With colder weather coming I will make some chili tomorrow night.

My supper

Smoked Brats W/ Spaghetti Squash

Dec 04 2017

If you are like the wife and me you don’t like a lot of bread on a sandwich. Lately I have started using, flat bread, pita bread and Naan. Last night I toasted some Naan on a griddle for brat buns. I did a spaghetti squash in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour.

I had 4 brats and a small sweet potato I did on my smoker 45 minutes at 250 degrees and 45 minute sat 285 seg. I placed the brats in a heated skillet while I toasted the bread. My wife had some mustard and kraut on her brat, I just had Maille mustard. Tasted good.

Sorry not doing too great on the photos but will try to get better.

My supper

Sheetpan Oven Chops

Dec 01 2017

Of all my cooking methods this has to be the fasted, no fuss, and almost no cleanup way to cook a meal. I had two center cut pork chops. ½ thick, I had marinated overnight in Caesar dressing. I had a sheet pan covered with non stick foil and placed the chops on it. I sliced some yellow potatoes ½ inch thick and placed them on it. I sliced some green pepper and onion and placed over the potatoes. I sprayed the potatoes with some olive oil and sprinkled on some coarse salt. Placed all in a 350 degree convection oven. In 35 minutes it was done and served it with applesauce on the side.

Chops were tender and the potatoes were nice and brown on the bottom side. Applesauce goes with any potato well but lit it with crispy fried the best.

Pork chops, chicken and cutlets are suited to sheet pan cooking and you can add potatoes and about any vegetable. A regular oven will take a little longer to get done.

My supper

Thanksgiving 2017

Nov 23 2017

I don’t care for turkey so we never had it too often. I just had to put my dog to sleep a week before and I had not been feeling up to par so I wanted something easy to fix. Chicken Pot pie is one of our favorite comfort foods and simple to fix. This is PA Dutch pot pie, chicken with flat square dumplings, peas and carrots. The only bought noodles that are good are Reames. Homemade would be better but I am not good at noodles. There is a recipe on the back of the package.

I did mine in a crockpot and did a double batch. I left the peas out since our son will not eat them. My sides were Bob Evans mashed potatoes, a must to serve the pot pie over, peas, and I had corn vac sealed from last summer. My wife is in charge of dessert and buys it mostly from Moulton Country Store that carries a lot of good Amish goods. She got a good sugar cream pie for this year.

You can use any cooked pulled chicken, I used a 39 oz. can of white meat from a local butcher. I had everything ready to go when Jasn, Tonya and Gavin came early to have some snacks. Sara Jane was here from BG. I heated the peas and put on my warm hold burner and put Jason to work skillet cooking the corn Nancy warmed up some Kings Hawaiian rolls. Now that was about the easiest TG meal I ever fixed.

Everyone said it was good and all had seconds so that made me feel good!

Nancy set a nice table

For the pot pie

Mashed potatoes

Pot pie

Jason frying the corn

My plate