Fried Garlic Pork Tenderloin

If you like garlic, you'll love this recipe. The pork is coated in a garlic mixture and then fried.

The Details:

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in skillet. Mix together 1/4 cup garlic, 1 teaspoon parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Rub well into 2 pork tenderloin chops. Fry until done, about 7 minutes on each side, or to 170 degrees internal temperature. Drain on paper towels.

Quick and easy. You can vary the amount of garlic used to taste.

Happy Cooking!

Mike's Burgers

So, one of my posts featured Mike's Beef Tips, and they were called that because I tailored them to my husband's liking. Mike himself actually is the one who makes these burgers. Well, he at least mixes them up. And might put the on the grill. I usually end up flipping them and taking them off. But I'll still give my hubby the credit. *big smile*

The Details:

1 lb ground hamburger meat

1/4 to 1/2 cup Dale's sauce

2 Tablespoons garlic powder

2 Tablespoon creole seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Place meat in bowl. Add Dale's sauce and seasonings. Mix well. Form 4 to 6 patties. Grill over medium heat, cooking each side approximately 7 minutes.

How much Dale's sauce you use depends on how strong you want the taste. And all the measurements are just estimates, because nothing ever actually gets measured. A lot of our recipes seem to be that way.

Happy Cooking!

Merry Christmas

Remember today the true reason we are celebrating.

Merry Christmas.

 "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:10-11 

Beef, Mac, and Cheese Casserole

I like to call this my 'Cheater's Lasagna.' What? I'm all about convenience! Don't judge me!!

Anyway, it's basically the same thing, but with elbow noodles and not so many different cheeses.

The Details:

2 cups elbow noodles, cooked

1 lb ground beef

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce

Seasonings to taste

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown ground beef in large skillet. Add cheddar cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and seasonings to beef. Simmer for 15 minutes. Combine with elbow noodles and spread into 9'x13' pan. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes.

For my seasonings, I used garlic, parsley, and oregano, but you can use whatever you prefer.

And another really nice thing about this recipe is you can refrigerate or freeze it and simply warm it back up in the oven. Make it ahead of time or save the leftovers for later!

Happy Cooking!

Barbecued Country Style Ribblets

Ok, so 'ribblets' might not be a real word, but it sounds good! I think it describes these small, barbecued, pieces of pork ribs quite well. And makes them sound cute.

The Details:

Cut county style pork rib meat off the bone and into bite sized pieces. Place folded aluminum foil or aluminum pan on hot grill. Place meat on foil and coat in favorite barbecue sauce. Turn meat after a few minutes, and coat with barbecue sauce again. Continue turning, using basting/pastry brush to reapply barbecue sauce each time, until cooked through.

Quick and easy. Could be served as the main dish, or as an appetizer. The day I made these I was needing something more to serve with the rest of the food I was cooking, but needed something smaller than the ribs. So I cut the meat up and threw it on the grill!

Happy Cooking!

Cornbread

Ok, so I left this one in a little bit longer than intended, but it still looks pretty good! And please not, this recipe is for unsweetened cornbread. If you add sugar, I will come to your house and feed you raw liver. *evil smile* But I know no one would ever do that.

The Details:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1cup flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 beaten egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place 10" cast iron skillet in oven with 1 tablespoon of oil. Combine corn meal, flour, baking powder, and salt in large mixing bowl. Add milk, egg, and oil, also adding heated oil from skillet. Mix until mostly smooth. Poor into heated skillet, and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Overturn onto plate and slice.

If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can use a greased square pan, but I can guarantee it will turn out right. Ok, so I don't really guarantee any of my dishes will turn out right, but I have at least tried the others. But I'm sure either way would turn out fine.

Happy Cooking!

Cloverleaf Rolls, Take Two

I made some cloverleaf rolls here, but this time I used a different recipe. As you can see in the picture, I made both regular rolls, and the cloverleaf, using the same dough.

The Details:

2 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons yeast

2 eggs

7 cups flour

melted butter

Combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt in saucepan and heat until butter is melted. Cool to 115 degrees. Dissolve yeast in mixture and wait until foamy. Beat eggs and stir into yeast mixture. Combine with flour. Knead on floured surface for about 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top, and cover. Let rise until doubled and punch down. Repeat two more times. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Divide each of those into three pieces. Roll into balls and place three pieces into each hole in two muffin tins. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

To make regular rolls, simple cut dough into 24 pieces and form a tight ball. Let rise and bake!

Happy Cooking!

Pecan Pie

My first time baking a pecan pie, and I used this recipe. For the crust I used this recipe. The only thing I had to change was it needed to cook a little longer. I ended up cooking it about 75 minutes. I also cooked it ahead of time and then froze it. Just popped it in the oven for about 20 minutes and it was ready to go!!

Don't it look good?

Happy Cooking!

Baked Mac and Cheese

I think this is one of my more popular dishes, or at least it is requested every time I give people an option as to what they want. Some have even told me they would be happy with just this, so it must not be too bad. The cracker topping gives it a crunch.

The Details:

4 cups milk

1 lb (4 cups) shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups elbow noodles, cooked

1 sleeve round butter crackers, crushed

1/2 cup melted butter

Combine milk, cheese, butter, flour, and salt in pot over medium high heat until butter and cheese is melted. Continue cooking until mixture starts to thicken. Add cooked noodles and place in 13'x9' pan. Mix together crushed crackers and melted butter and sprinkle over top. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

I've found that if you started the cheese and milk mixture and then start the noodles boiling, the cheese mix should be about done when the noodles are. I dump the crackers in a plastic storage bag and use a rolling pin to make sure they're good and crushed. And you might not need to use the full 1/2 cup of melted butter in the crackers. Just add enough to moisten the cracker crumbs, not to make them soggy.

Happy Cooking!

Collard Greens

Ok, so they don't look that appetizing, and I personally don't care for them, but I cooked 'em and by golly I'm gonna tell you how I did it!

The Details:

Wash fresh collard greens and strip from central stalk. Cut greens and place in pot. Cover with water and bring to boil. Add bacon or bacon grease for flavor. Simmer for several hours until greens are tender.

You can add ham hocks, or other chunks of pork, instead of the bacon, but I didn't have any this time. I made these for a friend and he said they were pretty good for my first time, so I'm happy with them.

And for those of you who still have no idea what collard greens are, it's a southern thang so don't worry about it.

Happy Cooking!

Hickory Smoked Turkey

So, this year we decided to smoke our Thanksgiving turkey. There's several ways to do this, but I'm just going to explain how we did it this year. And any mistakes we made. Not that we made any. I would never make any mistake.

. . .

Quit laughing.

The Details:

Soak hickory chips in water for a few hours before cooking. Fill smoker pan with charcoal and saturate with lighter fluid. Wait a few minutes to let the lighter fluid soak in and then light. While that is burning down, remove all giblets from thawed turkey and rinse with cold water. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, and seasoning salt, rubbing into skin and into body cavity. When charcoal has burned down, add some of the hickory chips to the coals. Combine 1/2 cup barbecue sauce and 1/2 cup Dale's sauce with enough water to fill water pan and place in smoker. Place turkey on rack. Close lid. Remember to check the water level often and add more water when needed. Add more coals and hickory chips as needed to keep the smoker at its ideal temperature according to its manufacture's instructions. Turkey is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees, about 8 to 12 hours.

We have this smoker, is case you were wondering. The mistake I mention? We weren't able to keep the smoker at its ideal temperature the whole time, and as a result had to stick the turkey in the oven the last hour to get it done in time. I think it would have gone better if we had a charcoal starter to start the charcoal before adding to the smoker while cooking. Or at least removing the turkey halfway through and restarting the coals. But either way it tasted great and we will be doing it again. Might try injecting the bird with some marinade next time. And keeping it hot enough, of course.

Happy Cooking!

The Feast

As promised, our Thanksgiving meal!

Turkey

We smoked our Turkey this year, and it turned out great! I will be sharing exactly what I did in a later post.

Baked Mac and Cheese

Cornbread

Rolls

I did two different types of rolls, but used the same recipe. The cloverleaf ones are similar to the ones I made here, but I used a different recipe, which I will share later on.

Collard Greens

Mashed Potatoes

Lima Beans

Black-eyed Peas

Pecan Pie

Will have recipes up starting next week! Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Happy Cooking!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

Psalms 100:4 NIV

 I will have pictures of our meal up later today, along with recipes to all of the dishes in the following weeks. Until then, here's a turkey!!

Can you really go eat turkey after seeing that?

Happy Eating!

Mini Party Pizza

I've started making these and freezing them to pop in the oven for a quick snack for the kids.

The Details:

Divide dough for one pizza crust into 8 pieces. Roll each into a ball and flatten. Top with sauce and toppings. Grease pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place mini pizzas on pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Ready to eat

To freeze, place pan in freezer until pizzas are frozen. Place pizzas in bags and leave in freezer until ready to cook. To cook, place on pan and cook at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

Ready to freeze

Simple and easy. I used the same crust and sauce I used here. If you use that recipe, it will make a total of 16 mini pizzas. You can make these ahead of time and use for parties, appetizers, or just about anything.

You can also make the crust and let everyone add their own topping before you bake them!

Happy Cooking!

Breaded Chicken Tenders

These are simply chicken tenders rolled in bread crumbs and fried.  Not too hard, but very tasty.

The Details:

Place 1 cup flour in bowl Beat 2 eggs in separate bowl. Mix together 1 cup bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste and place in separate bowl. Coat each chicken tender in flour, dip in egg, and coat in bread crumbs. Place chicken on heated oil in skillet and fry tenders approximately 7 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels.

You can also cook these in a deep fryer, just reduce total cooking time to about 7 minutes. You can also add garlic or your own choice of seasoning to bread crumbs. I like to make my own bread crumbs by taking day old bread, or toasting a few slices, and throwing them in the blender for a few seconds to get nice small crumbs.

Happy Cooking!

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits

The picture doesn't do it justice. It was heaven. With bacon. Of course, all I had eaten all day was a pop tart, so that might have had something to do with it. But seriously, it simple, quick, and easy to make. And it has bacon!

The Details:

Slice a biscuit in half lengthwise. I used the same recipe I used here for the biscuits. Layer a slice of cheese, a scrambled egg, and a slice or two of bacon in the middle. Done!

Told you it was simple. You could also use shredded cheese if you wanted to. And add more bacon. Or use a tortilla instead of a biscuit to make a breakfast burrito. With bacon. I like bacon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go heat up a pan.

. . .

What?

. . .

Yes, it might be to cook bacon. So what?

. . .

Oh, all right, I'll share.

Happy Cooking!

Venison Steak, Take One

Tried a new recipe for my deer steaks. It's similar to my beef tip recipe, but I used venison steak and changed the mix of ingredients a bit. The barbecue sauce gives the gravy a much different taste, but I rather like it.

The Details:

Brown venison steaks in large skillet. Add 1 cup water, 1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce, 1/4 cup vinigar, garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer over medium heat for approximately 30 minutes. For gravy, mix 2 tablespoons flour into 1/2 cup of cold water. Add to skillet. Simmer 15 more minutes. Serve.

As you can see, I served mine with mashed potatoes. You can also marinate the steaks to tenderize and add flavor.

Happy Cooking!

French Bread

A nice french bread to go with your dinner!

The Details:

5 Tablespoons yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups warm water

6 cups flour

cornmeal

1 egg white

1 Tablespoon water

Dissolve yeast, sugar, and salt in water. When foamy, add to 2 cups flour. Mix well. Continue to stir in remaining flour. Turn out unto floured surface and knead 7 to 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to greased top. Cover, and let rise until doubled. Punch down and divide in half. Roll out each half of dough into a rectangle approximately 10 inches by 8 inches. Starting on long side, roll dough tightly into loaf. Pinch seams to seal. Grease pan and sprinkle with corn meal. Place loaves on pan and cut 4 diagonal slices across the top of each. Whisk together egg white and water. Brush over loaves. Let rise 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, brushing on additional egg and water halfway through. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.,

If you don't want to cook both loaves at the same time, you can always refrigerate or freeze the second loaf. I usually just freeze the unformed dough after the first rise, and then defrost in the refrigerator.

This bread is good served as is, or you can do a couple different things to it. When I cooked it this time, I cut it in half lengthwise, buttered it and added powdered garlic. I then wrapped it in foil and placed in a warm oven until the rest of my meal was ready. I served this bread with my spaghetti recipe. If you want a more crispy garlic bread, place the loaf opened under broiler until lightly toasted. You can also cut it in half lengthwise, open up, and sprinkle with choice of cheese and/or herbs. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.

Happy Cooking!

Spaghetti

Yes, you could just cook the noodles and throw in some browned beef and store-bought sauce, but why? Ok, so that's basically all I did with the exception of making my own sauce. But whatever.

The Details:

1 lb spaghetti noodles

1 lb ground beef

1-12 oz can tomato sauce

1-6 oz can tomato paste

1 cup water

garlic

parsley

basil

salt

Cook noodles. Brown brown beef in skillet. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 15 minutes. Add to noodles.

Pretty simple. You can use less meat if you don't want so much, but we're a meat family. And you could add whatever spices you want, or just use an Italian blend.

I'm also going to be sharing my French bread recipe later this week, which goes great with this.

Happy Cooking!