Happy “Ground Zero of the Zombie Apocalypse” day!
1,979 years ago today, the plague began in incubation!!! I’m roasting my very first ham on Sunday to celebrate the rise of the the first zombie in widely-accepted-social-Christian history! Hopefully, this won’t be the ham-pocalypse! If all goes well, I’ll post pics and recipe!
Bex Chex
So I make a few versions of Chex Mix, and one was is so beloved by my cousin that I’ve renamed it Bex Chex. She requested the recipe, so I’m posting it now, but no pictures currently. Cool thing about this? SUPER easy to make vegan if you have friends/family with those needs!
Equipment
- Roasting pan or 2 cake pans
- Whisk
- Rubber spatula
- Small bowl
- Wooden spatula or spoon
- 2 large cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 1 C butter or margarine (use a vegan
- 4 T soy sauce
- 1 T Old Bay Seasoning
- 2 T garlic powder
- 2 T onion powder
- 4 C Wheat Chex
- 4 C Corn Chex
- 1 C Rice Chex
- 2 C unsalted mixed nuts
- 1 C pretzels
Pre-heat the oven to 250°F and melt your butter in your roasting pan. When it’s melted, pull it out and whisk your other ingredients into it, making sure to coat the bottom of the pan with seasoned butter. Scrape the excess out into a bowl to pour over your mixture later.
Now dump all the dry ingredients (chex, nuts, and pretzels) into the buttered pan and toss lightly to mix. Pour the removed butter over the top and stir till coated. Pop it into the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes for 2 hours, you’re going to jump up from whatever you’re doing, and stir the mix with the wooden spoon/spatula. After 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, pull out your roasting pan and divide the mix between the two cookie sheets to cool/dry. Store in an airtight container. This is totally shippable, and will keep for MONTHS in a cool, dry place.
Damn, I make good meatloaf. No recipe because I wing it every time.
Chicken Fried Steak
Equipment
- Heavy pan. Preferably cast iron. I am luck to have my great aunt’s cast iron to use for things like this.
- 3 shallow dishes. I use pie pans. I have a plethora.
- Serving plate or platter
- Fork or tongs for flipping
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 1-2 cube steaks for each person eating
- 1 egg for every 2 steaks
- enough milk to make an eggy batter
- 3-4 C flour
- asst. seasoning (salt & pepper, whatever tickles your fancy)
- oil, butter, or shortening
- milk
Method
Warm your pan and your fat on a medium-low heat while you bread your steaks. You’ll up the temp when you’re frying, but only to medium. Now get ready to get messy. Set up your pans in this order: meat, egg batter, flour, platter. Start coating your steaks as such: dip the meat in the egg batter to coat thoroughly, coat in the seasoned flour, back to the egg batter, back to the flour, onto the platter. Yes, it’ll get messy. Very messy, but it’ll be oh, so worth it.
Once all of your steaks are coated, turn the heat up on the pan (just to medium!) and add your first batch of steaks. Cook till golden, flip, repeat. Bits of breading will come off, that’s fine, it’ll make your gravy better! Remove the fried steaks and put on your serving platter. I keep my serving platter in my oven on warm, you can do whatever.
When you’ve finished frying, it’s time to make the gravy! Take some of the leftover breading flour and add it to the fat in the pan. using your whisk, cook it in the grease until the seasoned flour is browned and the lumps are gone. Slowly add milk, cooking and stirring. Add milk a little at a time, thinning out the cooked flour bit by bit. When the mixture has been thinned to a watery sauce consistency, stop adding milk and just keep stirring with the whisk.
Gravy is a funny thing, you’ll cook and stir and cook and stir, and nothing will happen, and then, suddenly, of nowhere, it’ll go from seasoned milk to GRAVY! When that happens, remove it from the heat, or it’ll go from gravy to paste just as fast.
Best served with mashed potatoes and something green to break up the brown. Leftovers are delicious slammed between two slices of bread. Enjoy!
Bit of a revamp…
So I’m going to stop reblogging things. I’ve been using this as a dump for recipes I wanted to try. I’m still using it as a recipe repository, but for dishes I’ve tried. I’ll include pictures when I try a new one.
Anyhoo… Yeah.
641. Schweinebraten
Schweinebraten is a German version of roast pork where you baste the meat with beer whilst it’s cooking. I love roast pork so I was really excited to give this one a try as an alternative Sunday dinner. As I knew I would be basting it I got a piece of pork without crackling and roasted it mostly covered in foil so that the beer would steam around the pork for the whole cooking time. The result was fantastic - the pork was super moist and flavourful. I cooked potatoes and onions in the same dish as the pork so these absorbed all of the sweet beer flavour too. I shall definitely do this one regularly from now on.
642. Braised Fennel
I served some braised fennel with it. I braised it in a saucepan just by frying it in a little butter, then simmering it in chicken stock until all the stock was absorbed and the fennel was barely solid any more it was so tender. The flavour was fantastic. Even Pie loved it and he usually hates fennel because of the aniseedy flavour it has. Over all this was a totally successful meal.
642 down, 1154 to go
The Eeveelution of Shots (Pokemon shot set)
Ingredients:
Eevee:
1/4 simple syrup
1 oz Bourbon whiskey
dash Angostura bitters
dash Orange bitters
Vaporeon:
3/4 oz Blue Curacao
3/4 oz Vodka
Jolteon:
3/4 oz Limoncello
3/4 citrus Vodka
1/4 tsp sugar to dissolve
Flareon:
1 oz Fire Water (Hot Cinnamon Schnapps)
1/2 oz Bacardi 151
1 pinch cinnamon
Espeon:
1 oz Hpnotiq
1/2 oz Gin
1/8 oz Grenadine
Umbreon:
1 oz. Kraken Black Spiced Rum
1/2 oz Coconut rum
Leafeon:
1 oz. Midori
1/2 oz. Light rum
1/3 oz. Gin
Glaceon:
3/4 oz Irish cream
3/4 oz Ice 101 peppermint schnappsDirections: All of but two of the shots (Flareon and Glaceon) can be made simply by mixing the ingredients in a shot glass. For Flareon, layer the Bacardi 151 on top and light on fire. Sprinkle the pinch of cinnamon over the fire for a cool effect. For Glaceon, layer the Ice 101 peppermint schnapps on top of the Irish cream.
“Because its genetic makeup is irregular, it quickly changes its form due to a variety of causes.” -Pokedex entry for Eevee in Pokemon Black and White
Drink created and photographed by Eddie Strickland.
The Sims 2 – Love Potion #8.5
I’ve posted this weeks Gourmet Gaming a day early so you can enjoy it on Valentine’s day!
Is Valentine’s Day usually a total failure for you? Are you left bitter and alone, ranting about the commercialism and inherent flaws of the day to faceless people on the internet when all you really want is a hug? I know how you feel (I really don’t). If you’re looking to captivate a boy or girl this evening or you simply need someone to play co-op with because sometimes achievements demand you play a game with another person, then this is for you. Allow me to be your Gypsy Matchmaker. One sip of Love Potion #8.5 will ensure love at first sight and will only set you back a meagre §350! Can you really afford to put a price on true love? Fruity, fizzy and optionally intoxicating there’s no better drink to enjoy with the Sim you love this Valentine’s.
What you will need: A tall glass.
Ingredients:
8 Raspberries
Crushed Ice
10ml / 0.33oz. Chambord Raspberry Liqueur (Or Raspberry Juice)
50ml / 1.5oz. Raspberry Lemonade
100ml / 3.3oz Champagne (Or Tonic Water)
Top Up with Lychee Juice
Mint Sprigs
Fresh Lemon Juice
Making Love Potion #8.5:
- Crush the raspberries and press them into the bottom of the glass then pour the crushed ice on top.
- Pour in the Chambord, followed by the raspberry lemonade, champagne then top it off with lychee juice. If you do it right you can create an impressive ‘layered’ look to the drink.
- Garnish with a sprig of mint and a twist of lemon juice.
I’m not sure I could have picked a cornier thing to make! While I think Valentine’s Day can be a bit shallow I do enjoy the excuse to be overly romantic and indulge a little more than usual in treating my significant other. In saying this, every relationship faces hard times. Ours was definitely when we played Borderlands together and he earned the name “Loot Hoover”. It nearly ended in divorce.
Like this? You might also enjoy the Diablo - Health Potion.
Grapefruit Tart with Shortbread Crust
Ingredients for the crust
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 2-3 teaspoons heavy cream
Ingredients for the filling
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons grated grapefruit zest
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (preferably Ruby Red)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Prepare the crust first. Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on low until light and well blended.
- Add the eggs yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the flour and mix until almost blended. Slowly add 2 teaspoons of cream, checking if the dough has come together. If it is still a bit dry, add the rest. Stop mixing as soon as there is no longer flour visible.
- Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, using the wrap to shape the dough into a flattened disk. Wrap tightly, then refrigerate for 1 hour.
- After the dough has chilled, lightly flour your work surface. Roll out the dough into a 1/4-inch thick circle, about 12 inches in diameter. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, drape the dough over a 9-inch flan ring, fitting the dough gently and pressing it into the edges. Chill the dough for 10 minutes.
- Using a sharp paring knife, trim the dough so that it is flush with the rim. Return the tart shell to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up and chill thoroughly.
- Preheat an oven to 375°F (190°C). Line the tart shell with parchment, allowing a 1-inch overhand. Fill lined shell with pie weights and bake until the pastry’s edges are beginning to colour, about 15 minutes. Remove parchment and weights, using the overhang of paper to assist. Continue baking until the pastry is light golden all over, about eight minutes more. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (still on parchment lined baking sheet).
- Turn the oven down to 350°F (175°C).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer or whisk, beat the yolks on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add condensed milk, zests, juices and salt, and beat to combine, scraping down side of bowl as needed.
- Pour the filling into the cooled prepared tart shell and bake until just set, about 10 minutes. Still on its parchment, transfer the tart to a wire rack. Cool completely, then loosely cover in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
- Allow the tart to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving; remove the flan ring and garnish with some softly-whipped cream, crème Anglaise or simply with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
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