Make your own

Grind Your Own Meat: My First Home-Ground Beef for Hamburgers

June 28, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Thanks to KitchenAid FGA Food Grinder Attachment for Stand Mixers, which I’ve rarely, if ever, used before, I ground up a two-pound blade steak last night for hamburgers. (Froze 1 pound for later use.) You have to cut the meat up into 1″ cubes or long thinner strips. This is probably a bit easier to [...]

Tostados with Refried Beans Borracho

March 4, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

My youngest asked for my refried beans, which she likes so much better than the canned ones. They do taste better. Bacon grease makes everything taste better!  But you can limit the amount of bacon grease or leave it out if you’re vegetarian or just watching your fat. First I cooked up a pound of [...]

Desperate for Gyros? A Ground Beef Substitute

February 22, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

These are poor-man’s gyros, made from ground beef and not spit roasted and d thinly sliced off the rotating hunk o’ meat…but they’re darned good in a pinch!  They are in no way authentic Greek as far as I know. We used to only get gyros once a year, at the county fair. Now we [...]

Chopped Salad with Oil and Vinegar Dressing

January 28, 2010 by Ellen · 2 Comments 

Learn to mix up a quick vinaigrette and you will have endless variations of salad dressings available to you at the drop of a hat. The trick in making your own oil and vinegar salad dressings is to find the ratio of oil to vinegar (or lemon juice) that you prefer, like finding the right [...]

Chicken and Sour Cream Enchiladas

January 15, 2010 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Feeds 4 with lots of rice and beans and maybe a salad. Okay, I need to perfect this. It doesn’t have quite the flavor I was hoping for. I think the sour cream is key. I think maybe a tomatillo sauce instead of the green chilies could be good. Still, this was good, just a [...]

Homemade Oven-Baked French Fries

January 3, 2010 by Ellen · 1 Comment 

Toss some thinly sliced potatoes or wedges or cubes, whatever shape you like, with some olive oil and seasonings, then bake at 400 or so, stirring now and then. These are totally flexible. If you’re baking something else at 450, then raise the heat and cook a little less!  The time varies depending on how [...]

Old Bay-like Seasoning

February 21, 2004 by Ellen · 1 Comment 

If you can’t find Old Bay Seasoning at your store, you can make your own reasonable facsimile of it. 1 Tbs celery seeds 1 Tbs whole black peppercorns 6 bay leaves 1/2 tsp whole cardamoms 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 4 whole cloves 1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika 1/4 tsp mace Put it all in a [...]

Kid's Choice: Macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers

April 12, 2003 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Just one girl for dinner last night so I let her pick. Macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers. I defrosted a couple of chicken breasts and cut them into strips and decided to try the recipe in The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet. Mmmmmm. There are several alternatives listed to moisten the chicken [...]