It’s time to renew my commitment to posting again. There was even a short period where I was offering a unique multi-course menu on a weekly basis. Each Sunday I would advertise a new menu and then I would go and cook in people’s homes. I had $100 available each month so that people could apply for a personal grant from myself so that they could get free meals cooked in their home. It was a lot of fun.

I guess this is my New Year’s resolution, write more about food :)

Meatloaf with Mashed potatoes.

The gelatin helps keep the meatloaf more moist and keeps it from splooging out grease onto the pan.

• 1 onion, diced fine
• 2 tsp garlic, minced fine
• 1 tsp dried or 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 c steak sauce or 3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 c dried bread crumbs or crushed crackers
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 tsp unflavored gelatin (optional)
• salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste

Topping:

• 1/4 c ketchup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Sauté the onion until translucent and add the garlic and thyme right at the end and cook until fragrant. In a medium bowl, mix the egg, onion mixture,  and steak or Worcestershire sauce. Add the breadcrumbs, beef and pork,  gelatin salt and pepper and mix until just mixed. Don’t overmix or the meatloaf will get a funky texture.

Place the meat mixture on a cookie sheet and form into a rough square about 2 inches thick.

For the topping, mix all ingredients, and spread over the top of the meatloaf.

Bake for 1 hour.

• 4 chicken leg quarters (drumsticks and thighs attached)
• 1 bottle favorite barbecue sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• hamburger buns or bread
• garnishes, such as pickles, onion, lettuce, cole slaw, etc.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Arrange chicken on a sheet pan, and add salt and pepper as desired. You can coat the chicken in sauce now, but if you do, I would add some foil so it doesn’t burn. I usually add the sauce at the end, though, because the chicken exudes quite a bit of liquid, and will make the whole thing runny.

Remove the chicken from the oven after about 2 hours, or when it is fall-off-the-bone tender. Let it sit until it is cool enough to handle and remove the meat from the bones and place it in a bowl. Reserve the bones and any leftover liquid for soup stock later.

Shred the chicken with your fingers or 2 forks. Add barbecue sauce to taste and serve.

• 1 – 15 1/2 oz. can pink salmon, bones and skin picked out (unless you like these)
• 2 packages cream cheese, softened
• 1-2 tsp. liquid smoke

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and spread on toasted bagels.

Here are some additional ingredients that I have added over the years, which I think enhance the experience:

• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 tbsp. minced capers
• 1/2 c. grated or finely diced red onion OR diced green onion
• 2 tbsp. minced fresh or 1 tbsp. dried parsley
• salt and black pepper (freshly ground) to taste

Of course,  if you want to make a non-ghetto version, use a small fillet of natural smoked salmon.

Es gezunterhayt! (Yiddish for “bon appétit”)

• 1 English muffin or 2 slices of bread
• 1 egg
• 1 slice bacon
• 1 slice cheese
• 1 tsp butter (optional)

Place the English muffin or bread in the toaster. Line a plate with those napkins you still have from the last time you got take out. Place the bacon on and microwave for 1 minute. Crack the egg in the bottom of a bowl, and beat with a fork. Remove bacon when done and discard the napkins.  Put the egg in the microwave for 45 seconds. It should be almost done. Place the cheese slice over the egg and microwave another 10 seconds. When the muffin or toast is done, butter it, and add the egg-cheese and bacon.

Alternate: Sausage breakfast sandwich

For this, skip the bacon part of the above recipe. Add some sausage to the bottom of a bowl, pressing it into the bow’s bottom. Crack the egg over it beat with a fork. Microwave for 1 minute. Add cheese. Continue to microwave until sausage is done. Finish as above.

For the broth:

• 1 turkey carcass with some meat still attached, quartered
• 2-3 quarts water
• Vegetable trimmings (carrot and potato peels, celery bottoms and leaves, onion ends and peels, etc.) or:
  • 1 onion chopped roughly
  • 2 celery stalks, broken in half or thirds
  • 2 carrots, chopped roughly
• 4-5 whole black peppercorns
• salt to taste

Add the turkey carcass, trimming (or vegetables), peppercorns and salt to the pot of water. You may also add any fat or gelatinous material to the pot and bring it to a boil. Boil for 1-2 hours until you have a rich, flavorful broth. Drain the broth through a fine-meshed strainer or a colander lined with cheesecloth or, if nothing else, just a colander. Pick all the meat from the bones and save them for the next part of the recipe. Make sure to let the bones cool first, though.

For the soup:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2-3 carrots, chopped
• 2-3 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1/4 c flour
• 2-3 medium potatoes, chopped
• 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained (or 1-2 medium tomatoes, diced)
• 1 can corn, drained (or 1 c fresh or frozen)
• 1 can peas, drained (or 1 c fresh or frozen)
• turkey broth (see above)
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 c milk
• turkey meat, picked from the bones, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh or 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In the same pan you made the broth in, melt the butter. When the foaming subsides, add the onions, celery and carrots, and saute them until translucent. Add the flour and continue to saute until the flour turns brown, about 1 minute. Add the rest of the vegetables and broth and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Add the remaining ingredients and let it simmer a few minutes until it is thick.

I have room on the front page for one banner ad under the first post that I am willing to dedicate to local websites, businesses or food sites. If you have any information about local ad networks that could help me facilitate this, please let me know.

Thanks.

p.s. looking for assistance implementing google adsense for search results, i.e. editing http://keldscookin.com/search.php and http://keldscookin.com/tabbedBox.php

Start with cooking your rice because it can cook while we prep everything else. Once your rice is boiling, turn the heat down and simmer on a low heat for about thirty minutes.

While the rice is cooking slice one large zucchini into cubes about one-quarter-inch small. Pre-heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, insert your ground hamburger and attack it with your spatula while salting and peppering until you have small chunks of slightly browned hamburger. Before the ground beef is completely cooked, dollop your stone ground mustard into the pan and give it a good stir.

Next, toss in all that zucchini we diced earlier. We won’t be draining the ground beef fat because we want to fry the zucchini and the rice in the juices. Splash some Worcestershire into the skillet and give your food a couple of good tosses. Don’t be afraid to dash in a bit more salt and pepper.

By this point your rice should be almost fully cooked. The technique I use is to pour rice into a small pot and then cover it with double the amount of water and then simmer it on the oven, covered, until all the water boils away. Just before the rice gets fluffy and when there is just a bit of water left is when I insert my ingredients for flavoring the rice. This time we are putting curry into the rice.

After approximately five minutes from the last step, dump all the rice into your skillet and keep the heat on high. Just five more minutes of cooking and stirring and just a pinch more salt and we will be done. In the last minute of cooking I sprinkled in some orange zest and mixed it into our dinner.

I think I changed point of view throughout the last few paragraphs from first person to second person and then back to first person again but I’m too lazy to go back and re-write it so don’t let it confuse you too much.

One rule that I follow is to always cook an extra portion in case an unexpected guest arrives. I live by this rule. I wouldn’t suggest it to those who don’t know how to eat leftovers, however.

avaoado apricot pork