Menu 7/16 - 7/22--2010

Friday--Family Movie Night with taquitos, chips, Rotel dip and another dip I will blog if it turns out right!
Saturday--Stroganoff (didn't make it last week)
Sunday--Hoppin John
Monday--Chicken Ranch Tacos
Tuesday--Breakfast
Wednesday--Cheeseburger Biscuit Bake
Thursday--I am going to adapt this yummy Salmon Pattie recipe for Tuna

Poached Fish

This is a super easy, really good way to fix many different kinds of fish. Personally I have used catfish, tilapia and salmon. Those are the types of fish that are cheapest most readily available around here. I am sure you could use almost any white, flaky fish you wanted. I have even cooked this while camping. In fact, the recipe originally came form my Great Aunt Margaret who made this for us at our land after we had caught a bunch of catfish too little to fillet. She was a wonderful cook and a fabulous fisherwoman and was not dismayed at all by our tiny catches. She skinned them and placed them into foil packets and stuck them right down in the coals of the campfire. To this day it is the most delicious fish I have ever eaten. So when I was too chicken to try to fry fish at home, I remembered Aunt Margaret and made foil packets up and put them in a 9 x 13 dish and cooked them in my oven. It worked like a charm. Then one time, I ran out of foil so I skipped that step and it still worked out fine. And a new family favorite was born! Here's what you need:

Salt, pepper, lemon juice, butter and fish. That's it! First step is cut up the butter. I do it like this:

It yields from six to eight thin flats sections of butter. I lay half of them in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish and then add a nice sprinkling of freshly ground salt and black pepper. Then pour in some lemon juice.

Now, remember, this is a fish dish so be on the lookout for pirates....

"ARGH ME HEARTY!!"

Lay the fillets on top of the butter sections, then repeat the butter, salt, pepper and lemon juice on top of the fish as well.

Bake in a 350 degree oven. The amount of time will differ each time you cook this. I always start off with about 20 minutes. Then I check the fish to see if it flakes easily with a fork. This time I put it all back in for another 5 minutes.

You may be able to tell in the picture that the bigger piece on the left wasn't quite done yet. So I served the other pieces and put Mr. Big back in for a few more minutes until he flaked nicely for me. I paired this with some Parmesan noodles and a nice salad of baby spinach and spring greens. Now don't panic like my husband did when he looked in this pan. He said, "How much butter did you use?!" Remember there is lemon juice as well in there, and you don't exactly get a spoon and drink the juice in here. I like to think that this dish is actually a healthy option (please don't burst my bubble by disagreeing). The butter keeps it from sticking and gives it a little flavor too. Hey.....has anyone seen what happened to those pirates??

Pop Tart Ice Cream Sandwiches

Last week my local grocery store was having a big "Buy One Get One For a Penny" sale. Among the items in the sale were Pop-Tarts and Blue Bell Ice Cream Cups. Neither of these are items I buy very often but I remembered a recipe I had seen a long time ago and even made once so I hurried down to get the necessary ingredients:

You could use whatever kind of ice cream you like and there are several flavors of Pop-Tarts that would work too. I think the pictures for this recipe speak for themselves...

I think they like 'em!!

Panko-Breaded Catfish

Our neighbor goes fishing a lot and usually ends up with more catfish than he and his wife can handle. Luckily, he is a very nice man and will bring us a big bag of filleted catfish every so often. There is usually enough fish in each bag to feed us twice, so this week I planned out two meals with a bag. First up is fried catfish! We do own a deep fryer and have cooked the fish that way before but since we didn't have enough oil this time, I just made it in a skillet on the stove. I had my personal photographer (Raley) take the pictures and the most excellent sous chefs (Pattie and Clay) you could ever ask for helped me every step of the way.

The Ingredients:
Lovely fillets of fish
Panko crumbs
Flour (I use Kentucky Kernel Seasoned Flour)
2 eggs

Set up a little assembly line for yourself. Take a piece of the fish

Dredge it in the flour.

Then the egg.

And finally the panko crumbs.

Place in a skillet with about a half-inch of hot canola oil (or whatever you like to fry things in). There are loads of ways to see if your oil is hot enough. You may even have a thermometer for the job. I use the old trick of throwing a panko crumb or two in the skillet and if they sizzle, you're ready to rock; or cook, as it were.

When they are lovely and brown on one side, turn them over to cook on the other side. The time this takes will depend on the size of the piece of fish. the smaller pieces took just a minute or two but we had a couple larger pieces that took a while longer. nobody wants to bite into a fried piece of fish and get sushi, so take your time and don't let the oil get too hot.

Menu 7/9 - 7/15--2010

This is my 50th post on the food blog!! I know I have enjoyed writing it and I know several people who read it and have liked the recipes so I guess I will keep going. I am hoping that I can keep up with it a little better for the rest of the summer. Something about the hot days and late evenings makes me want to skip cooking most nights!

Saturday--Panko-Breaded Catfish with Mac & Cheese
Sunday--Chicken Enchiladas
Monday--Pork and Rice
Tuesday--Breakfast
Wednesday--Stupid Chicken
Thursday--Poached Fish and pasta

Shredded Beef Au Jus

This recipe is from my Taste of Home 2010 Annual Recipes cookbook. I'm a little embarrassed to blog it because I have made it twice now and haven't ended up with shredded beef, but it has been delicious and moist sliced beef each time. I don't know if my crockpot is not working so great (it was a wedding gift in 1997) or if the cut of meat I used wasn't just right although it is what the recipe calls for. In any case, just the Au Jus (broth) this makes is worth it!!

Ingredients:

1 boneless beef chuck roast (3 pounds)

2 cups water

2 tsp beef bouillon granules (or 2 cubes)

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp seasoned salt

1/4 tsp dried rosemary (I used thyme instead)

Hamburger buns

First things first, arrange for competent supervision:

Next, I trimmed the fat off the roast. This is easily done with a sharp knife. Pull the edge of the fat with one hand and run your knife along the seam where the meat and fat touch. This way you lose very little meat to the trimming process:

Cut the roast in half and place in crock pot. In a small bowl, combine the water and spices.

Pour the sauce mixture over the roast.

Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. If it turns out right you can shred the meat with two forks. If it turns out like mine you can slice it thinly and have some wonderful sandwiches for dinner.

I sauteed some onions to put on my sandwich too! As I said before the broth from this is so good I want to pour it in a glass and drink it but I am an adult so I just poured some on my sandwich instead. I also freeze the leftover broth and use it in a future recipe that calls for beef broth. Last time I made Lasagna Soup with it and it was deelish!!

Deep Dish Peach Pie

We used to call this peach cobbler in my house, but some people would argue with that name so I will call it a deep dish pie instead. The recipe is from my Betty Crocker Cookbook (mine is the 1996 edition). Betty calls it "Peach Pie":

Ingredients--

Pie crust for two-crust pie (I buy mine)

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon (can be omitted)

6 cups sliced peaches (can use frozen)

1 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp stick butter

When peaches are fresh and cheap abundant, I buy a whole mess of them and make this favorite pie of mine. I used to ask for this instead of birthday cake as a kid!! It takes a little work to prep the peaches but here is the way I do it. Run your knife around the peach using the natural "crack" it has as a guide.

Then spin the two halves apart. This works best with ripe/very ripe peaches and freestone peaches are especially easy. When you are done you will have a very fragrant lovely mess that looks like this:

Now for the pits that are left on one side. I poke my thumb in the spot where the stem would have been and press in and lift the pit out.

Next up is peeling and I just use a paring knife and get a little messy. I am sure there are other methods but this is just they way I like to do it. It's one of those mindless tasks that are therapeutic I guess. Once the peels are removed, chop the peaches up into bite sized pieces and put them in a large bowl and add the lemon juice. In a smaller bowl, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon.

Pour flour mixture over peaches and stir to combine. Try to resist eating this mix by itself!

Here's where the "Deep Dish" portion comes in. I don't bake this in a pie plate, I use a round casserole that is about 8 1/2 inches wide and 3 inches deep. Lay one pie crust inside (there will be folds of crust in a couple places and those slices are my favorite!) and pour in the peach filling. Dot with chunks of the butter.

Lay the other crust on top and trim to fit. I also push the edges down to meet the other crust to form a seal and poke a few holes in the top. I also like to use the excess crust to make a fun decoration on the top. My boys were coming home after 10 days away which made me happy; can you see the smiley face?

Bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. I like to let it cool and love it even more after a night in the fridge. If you are so inclined, serve it up warm with a scoop of ice cream. Enjoy!