Elementary Chef

Last week I made hamburgers. I adored hamburgers and could eat them everyday. I thought it would be a nice easy meal to fry up some one night for a quick dinner. Lo and behold, my husband loved it and said it was the best burger he’s eaten in a long time. Wow. Something so simple as a hamburger earns me praise at dinner time. Why do I even bother trying new recipes?

For the hamburgers, I used ground chuck and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. I cooked them until they were well done. Then dressed the hamburger bun wit ketchup, mayo, and mustard.

We even had hamburgers again last night per the hubby’s request. This time we bought Angus ground instead of chuck. It was really good good and shrunk in size about the same as chuck.

So it’ll probably be another week before we have hamburgers again but I’m glad that my husband thinks they are so delicious. It’ easy to make and it’s one of my favorite foods. It’s a win-win for everyone.

My husband has been wanting to try a meatball pizza from Subway. Subway sells personal sized pizzas that you can top with basically anything you like.

Last night he was visiting with friends and picked up dinner in town. So he stopped at Subway. He ordered a meatball pizza and then proceeded to go to his friend’s house.

When he arrived his friend was making a grilled cheese sandwich and commented on the meatball pizza. Since the personal pizzas are too much food for one person, my husband gave a slice to his friend. His friend was very impressed on how good the meatball pizza tasted.

This week I’m making homemade pizza. In fact I may make two and use meatballs to top one of the pizzas.

I think I will use Parmesan cheese as well as mozzarella to add to the meatball pizza. It sounds yummy so hopefully it will be.

Last night I tried one of the recipes that I got from the Taste of Home Cooking Schools. This wasn’t one presented but was in a cookbook in the goody bag.

My sister-in-law makes a wonderful crockpot pizza so I was glad to find a pizza casserole recipe. It turned out really tasty but could use some improvements. I had to half the recipe since I didn’t have enough meat. So it could have used more pizza sauce and more pasta. I should have used all of the pasta and more pizza sauce.

It was nice to try a new recipe. I should branch out more often but find new recipes intimidating. Will it turn out OK? Will we like it? And with our oven so temperamental, it can be hard to judge just how long to cook something.

This week I plan to try a few more recipes from the cookbook. At least with the pizza casserole we have found a new recipe to add to our monthly meals.

Today was grocery day and after I’ve done all the damage to our checking account, I’m always interested in how to save money.

Chicken is one of the cheapest meats and is my least favorite to cook. But if you are looking to save money, then using chicken as a main ingredient will help to keep the cost of the meal down.

Pasta is another cheap food. You can also make meals more interesting by switching pastas. There’s spiral, spaghetti, elbow, etc. that you can use to make a meal.

Those weekly sales ads are worth checking out since you can find out which grocer has the best deals. I’m not one for shopping at several stores but if it means substantial savings, then I may just have to do it.

The best way to save money at the grocery store is to plan. Shop from a list and stick to it. We eat better and I take less trips to the store when I make a list.

It’s fun to experiment in the kitchen especially when you use some of your favorite ingredients. A few years ago, I was trying to use up some leftovers when I stumbled upon something that I thought tasted pretty good. I call it Southwest lasagna and it’s the easiest recipe ever.

What you will need -

Flour tortillas(whole wheat)
1 can chili
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Open your cans and then begin to put the dish together by starting with a layer of tortillas. Then add a layer of chili, black beans, and corn. Then add another tortilla and repeat with the layer of chili, beans, and corn. End with a tortilla layer and dribble the remaining chili on top. Then add cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

You can add your favorite Southwest flavors like black olives, sour cream, etc. to the top of the lasagna for more flavor.

This weekend we will be dying Easter eggs. I don’t eat hard boiled eggs, so we’ll make as many as my husband thinks he can eat. This will be the second year that we have dyed eggs with my daughter. She is three and really enjoyed it last year. So we’re sure she’s going to have a great time again.

First thing you’ll have to do is boil some eggs. Place the eggs in a saucepan of water. Make sure the water is covering the eggs by a few inches. Start with cold water and slowly bring the water to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, leave the eggs on the burner for about a minute and then remove. Let the eggs cool with the water.

The easiest way to dye eggs is to buy an Easter dying kit. The one I like best has the cups and dye included. You just need vinegar and hot water. If you don’t have a kit, then you will also need food coloring and a cup for each color.

Fill each cup with 1/2 cup of warm water and add 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Then add your food coloring or dye tablets. Wait until tablets dissolve to begin dying the eggs.

Next take a spoon to gently lower the cooled egg into the colored water. You can use your hands if you don’t mind getting food coloring on them. You can also use your hand just to dye half or a third of the egg one color.

Let the egg sit in the colored water for about a minute. Check to see if the color is what you want. If not then leave the egg in there for a few more minutes.

If you want to write on the eggs or draw a design, use wax to do it. The area on the egg covered with wax will not take the dye.

Remember to keep hard boiled eggs in the refrigerator while not hiding them for the hunt.

Last night I attended my first Taste of Home Cooking School and it won’t be my last. I had such a good time and learned a lot in just two hours.

Michelle Roberts from the cooking school made 8 delicious dishes that were then given away as door prizes. I was so hoping to win one but did win a small, Tupperware door prize. There was a nice goody bag that everyone received for their paid admission to the show.

In the cookbook were all of the recipes made during the show and many more. It was really inspirational and gives me some ideas for dinner.

One of the dishes involved salmon. It was good to see her cook salmon since I usually stay away from cooking fish. I just don’t feel confident in knowing when it’s done. But seeing it cooked and hearing a few tips makes me think that I might can make it after all.

It was great fun and if a Tast of Home Cooking School comes to your town, make sure you attend.

There were many tips that were shared during the show. It’s a lot of knowledge packed into just a few hours. Also there were a ton of other door prizes from local and national sponsors.

It was a great time and was fun to see a live cooking demonstration. I will be making at least a few of the recipes over the next few weeks. I am even more looking forward to dinner time. I think this cooking show helped to raise my interest in cooking.

A few months ago I bought a Jello no back cheesecake mix because I had heard that these no bake mixes were pretty good. But when I bought it, I didn’t have a mixer. So it has set in the pantry waiting for the day I have a mixer.

This week I bought a new stand alone mixer and couldn’t wait to give it a try. Since I adore cheesecake, I thought making the cheesecake was the perfect way to finally test out the mix and to use my new mixer.

The Jello cheesecake takes 15 minutes to prepare but then you must let it sit in the refrigerator an hour. There are two parts to the cheesecake - the crust and the filling. Do the crust first which is basically adding sugar and melted butter to the crushed graham crackers. Then spread them along the bottom of your pie dish.

Then mix the filling with 1 2/3 cups of milk. Blend for a total of 3 minutes 30 seconds. Then pour filling into pie dish and spread it out. Put in fridge for 1 hour. Place pie dish in hot water for 30 seconds to help make it easier to cut the crust.

I must say that it takes delicious. The crust fell apart but it is still divine. This would make an excellent quick dessert for your family or to take to a get together. It’s definitely one I will buy again. It could be very useful in the summer when it’s too hot to heat up the kitchen by turning on the stove.

If you are looking to new recipes that are tried tested and true, then take part in a recipe exchange. This is where cooks send each other their favorite recipe. So you know that you are getting some well loved recipes.

Recipe exchanges are also fun to get to know new people. Some recipe exchanges might be holiday themed. I took part in one that was all about Valentine’s Day so naturally I received quite a few sweets/desserts. That was fine with me as I have a huge sweet tooth. Some recipe exchanges might be to send your favorite recipe. Those are always fun. One of my favorite recipes is Taco Bake. It’s a simple recipe that I got from the back of a Campbell’s soup label.

Message boards and forums are a good way to find exchanges or to start one. See who might be interested and go from there. It might be some work to organize one but well worth the effort.

Last week I took part in a children’s consignment sale and netted me enough money to buy a stand alone mixer. I’m so excited as I’ve been needing a mixer for quite a while. I’ve tried winning one and finally decided that I just need to buy me one. And thanks to a little extra money I was able to do just that.

It’s a Sunbeam 2350 Heritage Stand Mixer.While I’ve been drooling over a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, I recently heard a few say that the Sunbeam was just as good as the Kitchen Aid for a third of the price. She has a friend who is a chef so I figure I can trust someone who cooks more than I do when it comes to small kitchen appliances.

I can’t wait to give it a try. I have been putting off some baking because I didn’t have a mixer. Now I can get to baking. We’ve been wanting to make some homemade cookies since that should be fun for the three-year-old.

With the bread machine and now the stand mixer, my kitchen wish list is nearly complete. Now for a dish washer and I’ll be all set.

I have been using my bread machine at least once a week and love it. After trying a few of the recipes that came with the bread maker, I found a few more in a leaflet. One recipe was for banana/chocolate chip bread. It sounded really good so I gave it a try.

I wasn’t that impressed with it as the chocolate was semi-sweet and just seemed a little bitter. It definitely needed more banana. So I thought I would try the recipe again but with more banana and to substitute the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips - hence why I named it Elvis bread. Elvis Presley loved banana and peanut butter sandwiches.

When I went to make the bread, my husband had eaten some of my bananas so I had only one - the same amount I added to the first loaf. But I did flavor the milk with banana flavoring and hoped that would help give it more banana taste.

This bread turned out really well. The peanut butter chips all melted into the bread. It still could use more banana taste and maybe more peanut butter chips.

It’s definitely better to me than the banana/chocolate chip bread. I cooked the bread on a white bread cycle. If there was a way to make this a sweet bread, then I think it would be divine.

Hopefully next time I will have more bananas to give it a richer taste. It can’t be Elvis bread without the distinct taste of bananas and peanut butter. I will just have to buy more bananas and hope they ripen before they are all eaten.

One of my favorite breakfast foods is pancakes. We don’t have them that often but when we do they are so good. Usually we go out to eat pancakes, but I’ve had made them at home.

The easiest way to make them at home is to buy a pancake mix. They are less than $1 and all you have to do is add water. Mix is together but don’t mix it too much because your pancakes will be dry.

I use my cast iron skillet to cook the pancakes. I spray it with a non-stick cooking spray and heat up the pan. Then I place about 1/4 cup of mix in the skillet.

I then turn the pancake usually about 1-2 minutes time. When you see a lot of bubbles coming up, that means it is cooked on the other side.

Pancakes don’t take that long to cook. Since I like a stack of pancakes, I put the cooked pancakes on a plate and set it on top of the stove. I add the butter to let it melt while I continue to make the other pancakes.

This is where my griddle came in really handy since I could make six pancakes at one time. The griddle also cooked them more evenly than the stove top. The griddle just took too much room in my cabinet to justify keeping it since I only used it about once a month.

Pancakes are an easy breakfast to make and are quite filling. They are so easy especially from pre-made mixes that only need water. Add some chocolate chips, pecans, and other pancake favorites to make your pancakes a real breakfast treat.

This weekend we have family visiting. My sister-in-law brought me a starting kit for Amish Friendship bread along with the recipe. Apparently this Amish bread is making the rounds in her hometown. I’m vaguely familiar with it but knew that you split your batter and then gave it to your friends. She did bring two loaves that she had made and I have to admit that it is really good bread. It’s a sweet bread that would make a great dessert to be served with coffee.

I recently bought a bread maker, so spending 10 days making one loaf of bread when I can do it in three hours is unappealing. But since I did taste the bread I know that it is worth the trouble. On the 10th day, you add the rest of the ingredients to make your bread. You can find variations on the recipe.

My instructions say that the only way to get a starter is to have one given to you. Well I’m too much of an Internet geek to believe that and found the Amish started recipe online.

You can’t use metal mixing bowls with the recipe and you shouldn’t refrigerate the mixture. There are several days that all you have to do is stir or mash(in a Ziploc bag) the starter. A good idea is to mark on your giveaway starters the date. That way it will be easy for your friends to remember which day they are on in case they lose track.

I can’t wait to break the bread and am tempted to save the other starters to do some bread experiments. I might give a few away but since I’ve been on a bread making kick lately, don’t hold me to it.

One of my favorite kitchen accessories is a silicone bundt baking pan. Not only can I use this in the oven but it’s microwave safe. I have made two cakes in the microwave using the silicone bundt.

The latest one I made was this week using a Jiffy yellow cake mix. I couldn’t pass up the 58 cent mix. I added a little extra water since my last cake dried out really fast. I set the microwave for 10 minutes and then waited.

The cake tasted OK at first but then was a little spongy. I think that since it was a smaller mix that I should have cooked it less. Since the yellow cake wasn’t that tasty, I probably will stick with the full sized cake mixes.

Baking a cake in microwave is a fast way to whip up a cake for any occasion. Plus it doesn’t heat up the house and the silicone pans are really easy to clean.

This week I made manicotti. It has been a while since I made any but my husband loves it. I’m not sure how authentic my recipe is to other manicotti recipes. I just kind of put in what we like and leave it at that.

For my filling, I use 1 pound lean ground beef and 1/2 pound of turkey sausage. Once it has browned, I drain it and then add some spaghetti sauce and about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.

I cook the manicotti for 9 minutes. I let the water boil and then add the pasta. I always wind up with at least two spilt manicotti. I just stuff and roll it up. I place more sauce on the bottom of my casserole dish and then place my stuffed manicotti into the pan. If I have some meat left, I just add it to the top with the rest of the sauce. I cover with cheese and then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

It’s probably missing some other ingredients you might find in other recipes but this works for us.