Melty, Cheesy, Beefy, Juicy, Crispy Patty Melt

Hello, delicious patty-melt-on-sour-dough-because-I-don’t-like-rye….you are beautiful ;-)

Why no….I have no idea why my ass is currently 3 feet wide….do you?

Who doesn’t love a hot, melty, stringy, cheesy, crispy, grilled……..anything?! I didn’t grow up a fan of the patty melt – I hate rye bread. But at this stage of the game of life, I should consider myself lucky that I didn’t thank about swapping breads long ago- ‘cuz my caboose would be even bigger!

I don’t think y’all need to be told how make a patty melt – after all it’s just a patty of juicy ground beef (fyi, press it thin and make it a good inch all-around bigger than the bread if your meat is 80/20); lip-smackingly caramelized, grilled onions; Swiss cheese, 1,000 Island dressing and good bread. Yes, yes…..traditionally rye, but in this case – it as sour dough….about ¾ inch thick sour dough. The loaf was heavy, but we could tell the bread was ‘airy’ which told me ‘this will get totally crispy on the grill!’ (as opposed to a more dense bread that could get soggy on the inner sides).

What makes a patty melt different from a ‘grilled cheese with hamburger in it’? I don’t really know – but I can tell you this: it IS different! I think the trick to this awesome, juicy, cheese-oozing sandwich was time and temp on the griddle. The heat was not too high (you don’t want your sandwich to burn before the inside has gotten sufficiently melty) and not too low (butter on the outside takes so long to melt is hardly gets crisp ands golden…just more yellow). You want a good, medium heat and then, if you have a cast iron press (I used a cast iron bacon press), layh it on top of the sandwich to help concentrate that heat and get the most crispy, uniformly melted, hot sandwich ever!

Yeah, yeah, I know….my bacon press allowed me to create a ‘poor mans panini press’. If you have an actual panini maker, I’m sure this post will sound rather like a grandparent telling you how to crank up the old Victrola – but I beg you…indulge me.

Thanks much ;-)

You know…if you were making three or four sandwiches on a griddle, I imagine you could press the tips down with a bog ol’ cast iron pan and do all four at once! Who needs Oprah’s favorite Breville Panini Makes (at $119) when you can slap a pan on yer sammich?!

Anyhoo – on one of these cold days, treat yourself to a toasty hot, cheesy, dreamy, juicy patty melt – pick your own bread………….you know I will :-)

World's Best, Loaded, Baked Potato Soup!

I went to Heaven twice this past weekend. The first time was when my sister and I made this most delicious, loaded, baked potato soup. The second time - was when I made the soup again the next day! I'd sent a bunch home with my big sis since we'd cooked it up together - it's so much more fun to share the wealth ;-) But by the time my husband put clams and a handful of bay shrimp in his half of what was left, and my daughter and I had a bowl each - it was gone! And I have to tell you....this soup is SO freaking amazing I had no choice but to make it again.
Not only is this soup PERFECT when made to the letter of the recipe below - but I believe it could very well be the grand base for a million other soups (*note- the original recipe calls for whole milk - the first go-'round we used 2% as I never buy whole milk and it was PLENTY thick. Round two, I used skim as that's what I always buy and it was a thick and velvety as the first batch - trust me). I'd first halve the amount of potatoes in it and I'd probably dice them whereas in the original recipe, you simply put the scooped out chunks tater of any size right into the pot. Depending on what other ingredients I'd add, I also might use my immersion blender to make the soup silky smooth with tates rather than chunky at all. BUT...think of the varieties of soups you could make just by tossing in your favorite ingredients! Like I said, the hubs threw in a can of clams and a small handful of bay shrimp to create Slumgullion - but what I wanna try is a bag of frozen super sweet corn and a can or two of green chilies! But what about leftover ham, or sweet or spicy sausage? Maybe roasted garlic cloves or roasted peppers and onions - Holy Moly the list is endless...ENDLESS I'M TELLING YOU! Besides the fact that I adore this soup 'as is', it may be my my newest fave recipe only because it's SO versatile and I can make it the way I want it when the moods strikes me..whatever my mood might be! If I've ever wanted you to try ANYthing on this site before...this is THE one thing I beg you to cook up. It's super easy, really fast and insanely good!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:
9 baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups skim milk (can use 2% or whole as well)
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup bacon bits
4 green onions, chopped
10 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1, (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions:
Prick potatoes with a fork and cook in the microwave until soft baked (you can do this step ahead of time if you choose). Scoop out the baked potato flesh into bowl. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly till mixture bubbles, then cook a minute more to dispel a flat 'flour taste'. Whisk in milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly (will be very thick when first few additions of milk are whisked in - just keep whisking and adding in all milk). Stir until this mixture begins to thicken - about 5 minutes. Add in potatoes, salt, pepper, bacon bits, green onions and the cheese. Stir to incorporate. Add in sour cream and heat through. Serve topped with additional bacon, onions and cheese if desired.

Arriba! Mexican Shredded Beef!

You know when you buy a piece of meat on sale and you maybe cut it in half and freeze one-a the halves for later use? Can’t it be so easy to forget about that frozen hunk-a meat?! When we recently bought a rather large pot roast on sale, I vowed that when placed half in a freezer bag that I would not let it go to waste. And this past Sunday, we cooked up that wonder cut of beef and made it into the most succulent, delicious Mexican, shredded beef I’ve ever had. Shredded beef is a great change-up for tacos and nachos, etc. We use many different proteins in our Mexican, hamburger, ground turkey, chicken…but this was SO dang good and we’d always wanted to try it. Besides…after my daughter announced, the last time we had actual pot roast dinner – that she didn’t like pot roast – I knew we had to try something different with it….and you know what? She liked it! Ha!

All you have to do is make up the rub, poke garlic into the meat and toss it all in a crock pot with onions and peppers and leave it for 7 hours. I’m telling you it could not be any simpler! Totally give this a try – you will be glad you did J Yum, yum, yum!

Start by poking a few slits into the roast and filling each one with a peeled clove of garlic….
Spoon all of the rub ingredients into a bowl and mix’em up good – then rub’m all over the meat. Next, slice up the two jalapenos, onion and green pepper... Massage both sides of the roast with the rub, put it in the crock pot, cover with the peppers ands onions and pour in the liquid. It’ll seem like a very small amount if liquid, but trust me….this pot’ll brew up plenty of wonderful ‘juice’!

Cover the pot and go about your busy day for approx 7 hours for a 3 ½ pound roast.

Once it’s done, slap that chunk-a beauty meat down on a cutting board. Trust me, you’ll only need to use a fork to ‘smash’ through the meat as it be practically falling apart on itself – Note…remove any fat and all other ‘oogeys’ as you go! No one wants to bite into a blobbity! Leave the garlic cloves whole...smash through them or remove them – you’re choice. We left them whole – see – there’s one at about 9 o’clock!
Return meat to flavorful, brothy liquid until ready to serve. Depending on what you’re gonna do with it, you may choose to strain the meat (save the broth!) or simply let it drain of into the pot as you use tongs to remove servings of the tender, beef.
Now that your meat is done, you can use it in any way you choose..but here's what we did. We heated up some pinto beans (not refried beans...the whole ones are better here – and placed a few beans and some of the beef on a warmed small corn or flour tortilla.
Then dressed with a little lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes - (and some cheese if you choose) – all that was left to do then was to dig into juicy, beefy heaven!

Mexican Shredded Beef

Ingredients:
3 ½ to 4 pound pot roast
6 cloves garlic – peeled
1 tablespoon paprika (or smoked paprika)
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 large onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 jalapeno chili peppers, seeded & sliced
4 fluid ounces beer (can sub beef broth or cola)
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoons liquid smoke flavoring
1 can rotelle tomatoes with chilies and cilantro
1 can green salsa verde

Directions:
Poke as many holes in roast as garlic cloves you have, and push a clove into each hole. Combine all spices in a bowl, mix together and rub all over both sides of meat and place roast in crock pot. Slice onion and peppers and scatter over roast in pot. Combine all liquid/wet ingredients (last 5 ingredients) and pour over veggies & meat in pot. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low setting for 7 hours. Remove meat to cutting board or platter and shred with a fork. Return meat to liquid in pot and keep warm until ready to use. If not using right away, you can keep meat in it’s liquid in the fridge. A thin, top layer of fat will form on top once chilled in refrigerator. Once ready to reheat, you may choose to discard this or you can mix it back in as mixture reheats.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Do any of the following weather conditions apply to where you are right now?

Cold
Dreary
Gray
Rainy
Foggy
Nippy
Pleasantly sunny with a fall bite in the air

If so, you NEED to make this creamy white chicken chili! It is one of my all tie favorite dishes and I can hardly believe I’ve never featured it here before. I can also hardy believe I don’t have a better picture of it! Crap! While it looks rather washed out above, this chili if FULL of flavor with green chilies, tender chicken, creamy white beans and silky ‘broth’. It is a winner - especially in the winter – but it’s great ANY day.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into ½ inch pieces
1 medium chopped onion
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 T vegetable oil
3 cans (15 ½ oz each) great northern white beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chicken broth
2 cans (those small cans) chopped green chilies
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp pepper’1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
½ cup whipping cream (can use half-n-half)

Directions:
In large skillet, sauté chicken, onion and garlic in vegetable oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat**. Stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Heat through. Serve immediately.

Maple Bacon Pan-Cake

So many great things about this dish…. It’s easy, it’s fast, it’s cheap, it’s something different and it’s good! It’s got the sweet/salty thing going on and what’s better than that?

This hot and tasty breakfast dish came to me from allrecipes.com about two months ago. I clipped it together with all the other recipes I’ve printed off myriad recipe sites that I one day mean to make – but this one called to me way more than any of the others. I mean, the thought of bacon and maple syrup together was enough to make me print it in the first place, but those things nestled in a hot, oven baked pan-cake – with cheese no less…finally this past Sunday I could ignore it no longer!

I must admit – I changed things up just a titch…I had ‘Hormel Real Bacon Pieces’ on hand so I used those instead of cooking up actual, raw bacon – which I didn’t have. I don’t think it made one bit of difference with the exception of it being faster and easier than if I’d had fried up the bacon myself. Also, the original recipe calls for cheese in it as well as on it – but I didn’t want my daughter to freak out about the se cheese before she had a chance to like this dish, so I left it off the top. She never knew it was inside and even though I figured I’d tell her afterward, I thought, “why?” Because I want her to continue to like it! Matter of fact, she asked me to use sausage next time in place of the bacon……done ;-)

Mapley-Bacony Pan-Cake

Ingredients:
8 oz/ 1 cup bacon (REAL bacon ‘bits’ NOT ‘Bacos! Or actual cooked bacon, chopped into small pieces) - divided
1 cup baking mix – like Bisquik
¾ cup cheddar cheese – shredded
½ cup milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 T white sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Additional maple syrup for drizzling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees and spray a 9” pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. Cook and crumble/chop bacon if necessary. Mix all ingredients – save for 1/3 of the bacon – in nixing bowl until combined. Pour into pie dish and bake on middle rack of oven for 12 minutes. Sprinkle top of pancake with remaining 1/3 cup bacon and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until puffed and very light golden brown. Meanwhile, warm the additional maple syrup. Serve ‘pan-cake’ hot drizzled with hot maple syrup.

Kung Pao - Flavor Wow!

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Hearty Lentil Chili....

Continuing on our path to better eating, I perused some lentil recipes on the Taste of Home website a couple of weeks ago. I came across several recipes that sounded really good and finally got around to making one last night: Lentil Chili. I tweaked it a little bit in that I made it thicker by adding a slurry of flour and water and I also added a can of butter beans. I’d have added more beans, but for some crazy reason, I was down to just the single can in my pantry. I let the chili cook quite a bit longer than the 30 minutes the recipe called for as it took right around 50 minutes to an hour to get the lentils as tender as I wanted them – and they still had a bit of a bite. Best surprise about this recipe – the hubs loved it! He said it was great as well as a ‘keeper’ which was terrific to hear because this recipe has just 278 calories and 5 grams of fat for a cup and a half and an unbelievable 12 grams of fiber! This was so good and perfect for the windy, rainy weather we’ve been having – snuggle up to a hot bowl soon!

A few other ingredient changes I made... I used turkey sausages with the casings removed because it's what I had on hand rather than regular ground turkey meat. Turkey sausages come in all sorts of flavors so if you go this route, pick a fun flavor to give your chili extra zip! I also had a partial container of beef broth to use up - it measure out to just under two cups, then I just filled in with the chicken broth. Lastly, besides the slurry I said I made to thicken up the chili and the addition of the butter beans, I added a good tablespoon and a half of freshly minced garlic - gotta have garlic in chili. You can add or remove these items from your chili as you please :-)

Hearty Lentil Chili

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground turkey
**I used turkey sausages with the casings removed
1 can (49 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
**I used 16 oz beef broth and filled in the remainder with chicken broth
2 cups lentils, rinsed
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 medium onion, chopped
1 ½ tablespoons fresh minced garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flour whisked into 1/3 – ½ cup water
1 15 oz can butter beans - rinsed

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large pot and cook turkey meat until no longer pink. Drain and set aside. Drain and rinse butter beans and set aside as well. Cook onions and garlic in same pot for about 4 minutes over medium heat, season with salt and pepper. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, broth, lentils and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer 30 minutes. If you want your chili thicker, add the slurry and let boil once again. Return chili to a simmer for another 20 minutes. Check tenderness of lentils - if to your liking, add in turkey and butter beans then heat just another 5 minutes or so until entire mixture heated through. If lentils still have too much bite, continue to simmer, covered, checking every 5 or 10 minutes, adding the meat and beans once lentils are tender.

Autumn Warmth in a Flaky Crust...

What's a perfect, hot and comforting remedy for rainy weather? Homemade Individual Chicken Pot Pies!Buttery, flaky crust….rich, chickeny gravy, hearty chucks of chicken and tender vegetables…Mmmm….It’s easy and beautiful – but most of all – it’s delicious!

Here’s how to do it!

Get the crust dough made first - following your favorite recipe for a two-crust pie (as I’ve said before, I do what Betty Crocker says!). I make sure my butter is chopped straight from the freezer and I draw my tablespoons of water from a glass of ice cold water.

A few seconds in the food processor gives me fine-as-sand dough that just holds together. When mixing by hand with a pastry blender, you may have pebble-size pieces of butter – that’s fine too. But if you can use a food processor, the butter has no time to get warm and it makes a wonderfully flaky crust!

Once blended, shape the dough into a disk, then wrap it up and chill it in the fridge till it’s time to roll it out.

Next, I prepped all my other components. I chopped about ½ of a medium onion, ¾ of a green pepper, used the last quarter of a bag of frozen peas-n-carrots and chopped about a quarter cup of parsley. All tolled, veggies measured about 2 or 2 ½ cups worth. Use your favorites!

Then, I gathered other herbs and aromatics that were pleasing to my nose right then and there – Garlic powder, celery seed, cayenne, basil, coriander, big black pepper, the remainder of a spice blend from Pampered Chef and of course, chicken broth.

First I heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and added 2 breast worth of chicken, cut while raw into a half-inch dice. I then added salt, pepper and garlic powder and cooked it till almost all the pink was gone.

Next, I added the veggies….

…..and the herbs. I eyeballed all of these – but I’d guess that there was about 12 – ¾ teaspoon of each – and I stirred to combine everything well, then let this mixture heat through and cook until the veggies were just tender.

Meanwhile, I made a rue. I used about 2-3 tablespoons butter, melted it, then added approx. ¼ cup flour. Make sure you stir this well and heat it to bubbling. You want to cook out the taste of the flour, but you don’t want the rue to brown. Once the rue is done, remove it from the heat till ready to use.

After your rue is done and the veggies have cooked with the chicken for about 5 minutes, add the chicken broth - approx 2 to 2 ½ cups. Heat till almost boiling….

…then add in the rue. Stir constantly and heat to boiling. You want a thick-ish sauce and it will not reach it’s full thickness until it boils.

The boiling had just begun here – kinda hard to see. But once it does boil, it turns rich and thick and wonderful!

Lastly, add the chopped parsley and stir to combine. Remove the pan from the heat and get your ramekins ready to go!

I sprayed my ramekins with Pam before filling each to within about a quarter inch from the top.

After all are filled, wipe the rims with a cloth or paper towel.

Next, flour a rolling mat or your clean counter top and roll out the chilled pie dough to approx 1/8 inch thickness.

I placed a ramekin atop the dough, then used a paring knife to cut a circle ¾ inch larger than the circumference of the ramekin.

I made a wash of one egg beaten with one tablespoon of water and wetted the rim of the ramekin.

Using a small off-set spatula, I lifted the circle of dough from the rolling mat….

…and placed it on top if the egg-rimmed ramekin.

Then, I crimped the dough as I pushed down slightly, sealing the dough to the rim of the ramekin.

Then, cut two slits in the top so steam could escape during baking.

Aren’t they so cute?! I was so proud of them!

Lastly, I brushed each one with the leftover egg wash. The pot pies can now be refrigerated until you’re ready to bake them, or they can go straight to the oven. I chilled mine till dine time, but then baked then at 350-degrees for approx 45-50 minutes. I checked them every ten minutes or so after 25 minutes as I wanted to make sure the crusts were golden – not too pale, not too brown.

And – Voila!!!

The crust was tender, flaky and buttery. Inside, the sauce was flavorful, the chicken and veggies tender, hot and delicious!

VERY DELICIOUS!!!

I froze three for a later dinner and can’t wait to have them again. These were easy and are so pleasing to the eye, they’d be great for a small dinner party –each guest getting their own beautifully golden-crowned pot-o-pie. Served with a seasonal fruit salad it was a fabulous hot meal on a cold, rainy autumn day!

Recipe? Well, there really isn't one! This came out of my head. Suffice it to say that you make and chill pie crust dough, then, mix chopped veggies of your choice with diced, raw chicken and cook through in a little olive oil over medium heat with herbs and spices to your taste. Pour in chicken broth and add a rue to thicken. Spoon mixture into ramekins (or one big casserole),roll out rounds of dough to fit top of baking vessel(s) and bake until heated through and golden brown :-)