I did it...

I couldn't help myself.  Truly.  I had to know what it was like.  Bacon wrapped cocktail wienies baked in brown sugar? How could one go on living without knowing what this was all about? ;)

I really have been holding off on making these, kind of like how I have never tried on a pair of Louboutins. I simply can't, because once I know what they look like and feel like on me, I'll have to have a pair. These little bites of goodness are now burned in my brain. 

It's a tough recipe kids, not for beginners. HA!

Heat your oven to 375.  Cut a pound of bacon in thirds, wrap each wienie and secure with a toothpick.  Jam them all tightly together in a greased pan.  Cover them with brown sugar and bake for about 45 minutes or until the sugar is all melty and the bacon is slightly crisped on the edges and cooked throughout.  Then try not to burn your mouth.

You are SO welcome.  :)

BAM-A-RAMA!!! BBQ MEATBALLS, KIDS!!!

Ask Lucas what he wants for dinner and he can barely contain himself.  BBQ MEATBALLS! About two years ago I found this recipe on www.thePioneerWoman.com . It was around then that I thought running away and finding myself an Oklahoma cattle rancher sounded like a good idea too.  Luckily for me and my potential cowboy husband, I got over that but I continue to cook bbq meatballs. 

This isn't exactly high class eating, but it is comfort food at its best, and sometimes that's all you want and need.  I (of course) had to modify quite a bit, but that's because that's who I am.  And I hate chunks of onion. Enjoy, kittens.

Ingredients

• FOR MEATBALLS
• 2 pound Ground Beef
• 1 pound Ground Pork
• 1 cup Oats - my grocery store now has bulk GF oats, awesomesauce!
• 1 cup Milk
• 4-5 Tablespoons Very Finely Minced Onion - till you practically juice it!
• 2 teaspoon Salt
• Plenty Of Ground Black Pepper, to taste
• _____
• FOR COOKING MEATBALLS
• Canola Oil
• _____
• FOR SAUCE
• 1 cup Ketchup
• 4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Vinegar - apple cider is my fave here
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
• 4 Tablespoons (to 6 Tablespoons) Onion - completely pulverized!
• 1 dash Tabasco or more...
• 1Tablespoon Cumin

 

 

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all meatball ingredients. Use a scoop for even sized balls.
Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish that you have sprayed the hell out of with PAM because the sauce does NOT like to come off.
Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes and the brussels sprouts below.

Mine all mine.

I haven't written much on here lately, but that is changing.  This is my space, my ideas, my loves and my recipes.  Some of you know that this was once a shared space, but that's no longer, and since it was my idea and I was the one who always posted, well, I'm keeping it.  It's mine.

I get a little OCD sometimes.  Like last night when I decided that I simply had to make this recipe that I found on Gluten Free on a Shoestring.   For some reason I was starving for crescent rolls, you know, the pop 'em outta a can kind.  This totally worked flavor and texture wise, but I had no idea what I had begun when I started mixing things up about 8:30 pm on a Sunday night.  Silly Lauren.

I ended up making some not very pretty at ALL croissants, but then I remembered I had FIGS to use! FIGS! PASTRY DOUGH! YUM! So I cut some of those babies up and mixed them with a little raw sugar and made god knows what they're called and they looked like hell but they were AWESOME.

Totally not my pic, btw.  These are pretty ones and I am going to need to start working on my form so they don't look like lumps of play dough.  I'm pretty sure Lucas could have made nicer ones than mine last night.

Recipe originated at Gluten Free on a Shoestring, but I have a problem with not tinkering with ingredients and amounts, so what's below is what I did.  :)

Gluten-free yeasted puff pastry recipe, made into croissants

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour and have a TON on hand for dusting!
• 1½ teaspoons xanthan gum
• 2¼ teaspoons instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 8 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• ¾ cup milk, warmed to about 100 degrees F
• 2 extra-large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, divided

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, xanthan gum, yeast, 6 tablespoons sugar, salt and 4 tablespoons butter (divided into tablespoons). Beat on low for about 1 minute, until the butter is incorporated into the dry ingredients. Add the ¾ cup warm milk, the whole egg and 1 yolk, and mix until the dough just begins to come together. Place a large piece of plastic wrap on a flat surface, and dump the dough out onto the plastic wrap. Press the dough together, and cover tightly with the plastic wrap. Place in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
2. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper into a rectangle that is about 10-by-15 inches, and about ¼ inch thick, no thinner. Dust with additional flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to the parchment paper. Take the remaining 12 tablespoons (chilled) butter and divide into individual tablespoons, and then space evenly over ⅔ of the dough, leaving one short side bare. With the bare short side facing you, fold it over the middle third of the butter (as you would a business letter), then fold the remaining third over to seal in the tablespoons of butter . Note: The chilled butter was a pain in the ass to work with and I'm not sure I would use completely chilled butter again.  I think I will break it outta the fridge about 30 minutes before I add it. But that's just me.
3. Roll the dough out again into a rectangle about 10-by-5 inches, and fold again in thirds. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes or until firm. Congratulations. You have just completed the first ‘turn.’
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, uncover it, and place it horizontally on a fresh sheet of parchment paper. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper, and roll out again into a rectangle about 10-by-5 inches. Fold once more, business letter style, and return to the freezer for another 15 minutes or until firm. Repeat the process once more. After 3 turns, cover and place the dough in the freezer for about 30 minutes (or in the refrigerator for at least an hour), until firm.
5. Once the dough has chilled once more, roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper into a smaller rectangle, this time about ⅜ inch thick. Using a pastry wheel or sharp knife, slice the dough in half, into two equal rectangles. Stack the rectangles on top of one another, with the edges squared. Using a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut the dough into triangles that alternate top to bottom.
6. On a large piece of parchment paper, separate and line up all the triangles in rows. For each triangle, with the base of the triangle facing you, slice a 1-inch slit vertically. Then, fold the two new points toward the outside edge of the triangle, away from one another. Press down gently to seal. Rolling away from you, roll up the dough toward the tip of the triangle until it is shaped like a coiled cylinder. Create a “U” shape by turning the edges toward one another. Repeat with the remaining triangles.
7. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and prepare a lined or nonstick baking sheet.
8. Arrange the shaped croissants about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Place in a warm, draft-free area to rise a bit (about 15 minutes). If they don’t rise much, don’t worry. Don’t bother waiting much longer. They will spring up in the oven.
9. Brush liberally with the remaining egg, beaten with a splash of milk. Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake, rotating once during baking, until golden brown (about 15 minutes).

She cooks alone...

After so much time with people, co-workers, conference attendees, friends, family, and new family, I'm here by myself in my kitchen. It feels sad and lonely and at the same time like I'm on the verge of a great new adventure. Here is where I am happy and myself and most at home. I feel centered again.
And today I'm making one of my old favorites, roasted veggies with brown rice couscous. A new favorite from my "gonna-be" Lee, bacon wrapped BBQ shrimp.

Quick and easy before we leave

Lucas and I are waking up at an ungodly hour tomorrow to get to Washington DC.
I tried to refrain from cooking because I was only home for two days but just couldn't help myself. My fingers got itchy this afternoon! I roasted a couple of chicken pieces and blended up one of my favorite treats, Brazilian cheese puffs! Have you ever been to one of those Brazilian steak houses? Where the cute guys carrying swords of meat stop and carve you a bit off? And they bring baskets of cheesy stretch apart goodness that I was convinced HAD to have gluten in them! They don't. Not at all. And they are as easy as adding eggs, milk, cheese, tapioca flour, salt and oil to the blender and then popping these babies in the oven.

2 cups of milk
8T butter
1/2 cup oil- canola or vegetable works best for me
2 cups of queso fresco
4 1/2 cups of tapioca flour (a little more sometimes, a little less others)
4 eggs
Salt to taste

Blend all this together till mostly smooth. Pour into mini muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until golden. I can just about eat my weight in these, seriously.

I'm so distracted by them now I can't write the rest of this post. Have another 100 pounds of cheesy puffs to make and eat.
Here's what was left of my plate when I remembered to take a picture. I'm sure there will be tons of food making this week, blog at ya as soon as I'm reconnected with my man and whipping up some love in the kitchen.

Mother's Day...

We cooked.  And ate.  And had some strooonnngggg margaritas courtesy of Leif, my brother in law.  The whole fam went over to my mama's house on Sunday for a cookout in her back yard, and Tom and I ended up manning (taking over?) the grill and kitchen.

 

 Cracked pepper salami, rice crackers, kaukauna cheese and double gloucester with chives.

 Mixed baby potatoes with OO, SP and chopped Rosemary and Thyme.

 Deviled eggs and steaks coming to room temp. 

 Roasted veggie kabobs.  Pretty sure we don't have enough food here...

 My personal favorite, gluten free brown rice couscous with oven roasted veggies and an apple cider vinaigrette.

 I roasted these baby potatoes in the oven and while they were still warm tossed them on top of the spinach so it would wilt/warm a bit.  I made a bacon vinaigrette (not yours Linny!) with a little over a tablespoon of the bacon grease, couple of teaspoons of Dijon mustard, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, SP and then some olive oil to bring it all together.  Whisk it together and drizzle over the potatoes and sprinkle bacon bits over the top of that.  You can leave the salad layered like above or toss it like I did right after this picture was taken.  And that chunk that's missing on the bottom left? My sister is vegetarian and so I tool some out for her before I added the bacon.  I also made her a vinaigrette without the bacon grease in it because I like her.

 Lucas's plate.

This was how we all felt after all that.  I can't help it, my niece Lily was in my arms a lot of the afternoon and I just couldn't stop cooing over her cuteness. The one pic I didn't get was of the margaritas, but I'm hoping Leif and Lindsey did.  This really was the best Mother's Day I can ever remember.  It was easy and relaxed and all about family and just hanging out together.  I was able to be with my mama, help my sister celebrate being a mommy for the first time, I had my baby boy with me (although he was more interested in playing Wii) and my love was there too! Someone once said that he didn't want to be happy, he wanted to be content, and I feel the same way.  On Sunday, the best gift I got was an afternoon of contentment with those I love. And margaritas thrown in for good measure.

Curry Cravings

I grew up in Hawaii, thinking that curry was this gloppy beef dish that looked, smelled and tasted terrible.  Wouldn't eat it for years. I didn't know that Hawaiian style beef curry was worlds apart from Thai curries.  As a teenager I'd go to a Thai place with friends and couldn't seem to branch out from chicken Pad Thai.  It was in my early 20's that someone convinced me to try Mussaman curry, and even before tasting it, as the waiter set it in front of me, I knew I was hooked.  Peanutty sauce, carrots, onions, potatoes and beef all served over steaming rice.
Lately I've been craving curry, but I don't want take out.  I want to see what I can work up with the crock pot, letting the protein (beef or chicken?) marinate overnight and then slow cooking all day. I'm planning on experimenting with it a little this weekend, pics and recipes to come.