I would just about kill for a....

"I would just about kill for a..." is an offhand phrase usually meaning that you desire something greatly; so much so that you might do just about anything to get it.  When I say offhand, I mean it is said without any real intent of doing any bodily harm to any living creature.  Oh yes, there are a few out there who would do just that, kill to possess, but they have emotional and/or mental problems, and I'm not going to get into such a serious topic as that.

So let me finish my offhand comment, "I would just about kill for a knish" and not any old type of knish, but a Gabila knish ( http://gabilas.com/ ).  I grew up on these as they were always available at any hamburger/hotdog place, and most especially at the hotdog wagons seen on the streets of New York City.  Eventually they became available in the supermarkets, so you could heat them up at home at your leisure; baked in the oven or deep fried, they were the ultimate handheld comfort food.  Squares of seasoned mashed potatoes encased in a pastry type crust; slicing open one end and creating a pocket, so spicy brown mustard could be squeezed into it.  Lordy, lordy, I am drooling even while writing this!!!

Once I moved to Pennsylvania, I either traveled to New York (only 4 hours away from home) and stocked up at a supermarket there; or had them shipped to me directly from an online store.  Being close in distance, the shipping cost was just as much as the gas expense going to New York, so no big deal.  However that has changed greatly since moving to Utah; the shipping cost is almost as much as a plane ticket to New York from Utah.  As much as I enjoy knishes, going bankrupt to have them is just not on my list of things to do.

I have searched the internet high and low for a copycat recipe and so far nothing.  I have found the round Jewish style, but I have never really enjoyed those; the taste was always a bit off for me.  So I will simply just have to remember and who knows, maybe Gabila's will see this blog post, have pity on me and send me a case.  One can only hope.

Mary Cokenour

You take your chances when going to Denny's.

Denny's

2059 E. Main Street
Cortez, CO, 81321

(970) 564-0832

Website: http://www.dennys.com/

Every once in a while we want breakfast out, so we're not novices to Denny's.  The problem with the Denny's in Cortez is when it's busy, the service is slow and the food is low quality; when it's slow, service is better and so is the food.  We were there on Sunday morning and it was busy.

Create your own Grand Slam breakfast: I asked for soft scrambled, they came out hard and cold; the bacon was barely crisp; the pancakes and biscuit though were fluffy and hot.

From the new All American menu, hubby chose the Philly Cheesesteak Omelet.  It smelled great, not so with the taste though.  The eggs, again, were hard and cold; the steak was tasteless; actually it had a sort of artificial taste to it; the best part of the omelet was the grilled peppers and onions.  The hash browns were the typical, nothing to write home about, hash browns.

Our waitress though did make sure our coffee cups were filled throughout our time there, so kudos to her for that.

Another short, but not so sweet, restaurant review.

Mary Cokenour

Time Constraints? Consider Wok Cooking.

Many years ago I discovered the advantages, and ease, of cooking meals in a Wok.  Originating in China, the Wok is a deep pan with a rounded bottom and slanted sides; it is usually made of rolled or stainless steel, aluminum or cast iron.  The shape of this pan allows one to cook food at high heat with very little oil.  Besides the traditional stir fry method, Woks can be used to stew, braise, steam or deep fry.  Depending on the dishes you intend to create, a meal can be prepped and cooked in about 30 minutes if using a Wok. 

As with many plans, they do go astray; I'd planned a day at home, catching up on chores and giving myself plenty of time to plan out and make dinner.  Instead, a simple one hour drive to find the location of a copper mine to explore turned into a three hour drive; we never did find that mine.  Needless to say, as soon as I returned home I jumped into those chores and before you knew it...dinner time had arrived.  I was tired, really tired and then I saw the wok hanging from my kitchen ceiling rack.

Chinese Chicken and Broccoli

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into ¼” thin slices

1 large egg, beaten

2 Tbsp cornstarch

4 Tbsp canola oil, divided in half

1 lb broccoli, cut up into ½” pieces and blanched in salted water

3 Tbsp oyster sauce

3 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Preparation:

Mix together chicken slices, egg and cornstarch; place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Heat 2 Tbsp of oil, on high heat, in Wok; sauté broccoli with oyster and soy sauces.  Remove to plate and keep warm.  Add remaining oil to Wok, sauté chicken till just starting to brown; return broccoli to Wok and add in garlic.  Mix together and let cook together for 5 minutes; remove to serving platter.

Makes 6-8 servings.

~~~~~~~

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp plus 4 Tbsp canola oil

½ cup diced onion

1 cup frozen peas and carrots

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

4 cups cooked long grain rice

3 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp ground ginger

Preparation:

Heat 2 Tbsp oil, on high heat, in Wok; sauté onion till just beginning to soften, add in peas and carrots, salt and black pepper; sauté together for 3 minutes; remove to bowl and keep warm.

Add remaining oil to Wok; add in rice, soy sauce and ginger; keep mixing together for 5 minutes, making sure to break up any clumps in the rice.  Add back the vegetables; mix thoroughly and remove to serving bowl.

Makes 6-8 servings.

The copper mine?  Roy went onto Google, found its exact location and we'll be trying that adventure again at a later date.  In the meantime, enjoy your own adventure in discovering the Wok.

Mary Cokenour

Twice baked and smothered; now that's a potato!

Potatoes are a versatile root vegetable; they can be eaten alone and in so many ways: mashed, boiled, fried, steamed, baked, au gratin, scalloped...you get the idea. They can also be combined with other vegetables for a medley or with a protein (beef, chicken, pork) in a stew or casserole. Twice baked potatoes (baked potatoes, insides scooped out, combined with other ingredients, returned to the skins and baked again) usually have some mixture of cheese, sometimes bacon, in them.

I have never tried making twice baked potatoes from scratch before. I have tried the ones sold in the freezer section of the supermarket, and they are usually pretty disgusting; no matter the brand. The skins are tough and the insides are dry and tasteless. I gave myself the challenge and believe I have won with this recipe.

Twice Baked Smothered Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 large baking potatoes

2 Tbsp butter

¼ cup each diced green and red bell peppers, diced onions

1 Tbsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp each sour cream and warmed milk

1 cup cheese mixture (equal parts shredded cheddar and Swiss and crumbled goat cheese)

 ½ tsp each salt and ground black pepper

¼ cup crumbled bacon

Pinch of ground cayenne pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450F.  Wash potatoes; make ¼” deep incision down center length of each potato, wrap in aluminum foil and bake in oven for one hour.  Remove potatoes and let cool until they can be easily handled, but are still warm.  

While potatoes are cooling, melt butter, on medium heat, in small skillet; sauté bell peppers, onion and garlic until just beginning to soften; set aside.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise (use ¼” incision as a guide); scoop out insides, but leave a ¼” layer against the skin.  Place potato insides in a large bowl; add in sautéed vegetables and other ingredients.  Mix together thoroughly; mixture will be chunky; if a smoother filling is desired, mash the insides with the sour cream and warmed milk first, then add remaining ingredients.

Fill the potato skins and place in a 3 qt rectangular baking dish; place back in 450F oven for 15-20 minutes; until tops are browned. **

Makes 8 servings.

**Option: instead of filling potato skins, spoon mixture into buttered 2 qt baking dish, bake as instructed and serve as a side dish.

Mary Cokenour              

You don't deserve this break, so stay away.

McDonald's

Hwy 160
PO Box 1470
Kayenta, AZ 86033

(928) 697-8169

Website: www.mcdonalds.com

This review is short and definitely not sweet.

Unfortunately, if you're traveling from Utah to the Grand Canyon on a Sunday morning, and looking for a little breakfast to tide you over; Kayenta gives you a choice of this place or another fast food place. We chose McDonald's and it is definitely set up to trap "tourists".

The prices are much higher here and the food is actually smaller in size than usual; so getting your money's worth is not their policy. Service was very slow; and while clean inside, the exterior had a pest problem.

When entering or exiting the building, or just standing by your vehicle, don't be surprised to be approached by males, obviously intoxicated, panhandling. We were approached and we watched as it happened to many others. We were there almost an hour and no employee from McDonald's asked these men to leave the premises. Not a safe environment.

Mary Cokenour

Update your own recipes to keep it new.

Basically, anyone who cooks has their own "recipe book", whether it's kept in an actual book, on a computer, recipe cards, or just scraps of paper, we like to know what we've cooked and how to repeat it. Many cooks use the same recipe always and never think to alter it in any way; and sometimes that's the way it should be depending on the recipe. Some recipes are meant to be played with; they invite our imagination and creativity.

Back on January 31st, I posted my Basic Meatloaf recipe, and even gave ideas on how to alter it. Well, this weekend I played with it once again, and hubby and I both swear that it's the best I've ever come up with. Totally simple, totally awesome in texture and taste.

So, into a very large mixing bowl, I first put in my 4 lbs of lean ground beef (for 2 loaves). Now chunky salsa (medium heat) was on sale at the local market and I picked up a couple of jars; I added one jar (15.5 oz) to the mixing bowl. I opened up the cabinet door to get the dried Italian seasoned bread crumbs, but sitting next to it was a bag of seasoned bread cubes to make stuffing. There was only 2 cups left in the bag and I figured....why not? So into the bowl that went with 1 cup of milk; and a good thorough hand mixing; covered the bowl with plastic wrap and waited 15 minutes.

Preheating the oven at 375F, I sprayed 2 - 1 and 1/2 qt baking dishes with nonstick cooking spray; uncovered the bowl and divided the mixture evenly in half. When taking out each portion, I noticed that the mixture stayed together well, didn't try to come apart and I formed the loaves easily in the baking dishes. I then gave each loaf a good coating of ketchup, popped them in the oven for 30 minutes; I gave each loaf another coating of ketchup before letting the loaves cook for another 45 minutes. Removing each loaf from the dish was an easier task than usual; they usually crack and break apart even if using two large spatulas, but not this time.

Then came the cutting and tasting; the slicing was so easy; again, no cracking, breaking or crumbling. The taste...the sweetness from the ketchup glaze, a little heat from the salsa, but you could really taste the peppers and onion. Here and there a bread cube was visible, but the meat was moist...it was addictive and hard to stop eating it. Amazing, simply amazing meatloaf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next altered recipe was to a one pan meal I make with Ramen noodles,
Oriental Chicken, Vegetables and Noodles which I originally posted on April 15th.

I basically used the same recipe, but made these changes:

Instead of stir fry vegetables, I used 1 bag (12oz) thawed peas and carrot and 1 can (15 oz) baby corn. At the end of cooking, I quickly stirred in 2 beaten eggs to give the dish richness and shine. Absolutely delicious!

So there you go, a little alteration to two separate recipes which creates something a little more awesome for the dinner plate. Enjoy!

Mary Cokenour

A One Pan Meal when projects overwhelm.

Currently I am trying to sort through years of digital photographs...pets, people, vacations, neighborhoods and miscellaneous.  Roy took all the photos off my hard drive, put them on to DVDs, but without sorting them into folders with names that made any sense.  So, I need to upload each DVD one at a time, copy the photos back onto my computer, name or delete photos, put in properly named folders and try not to go insane.  When this is all done, they will be downloaded onto new DVDs and stored for safe keeping.

"Honey, what's for dinner?"  Seriously....I mean seriously!!!!

So the options are, "whatever you want to make", "go get take out", "starve!!!" or "fine, I'll make something".  I made life easier for myself and made a one pan dinner that is easy and delicious....Smothered Chicken.  I used only a bit of cayenne in the dish, so while the heat could still be felt in the back of the throat, it was mild and comforting. 

Smothered Chicken

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 2 inch pieces
4 Tbsp butter, divided in half
¼ tsp each of ground black pepper and paprika
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 cup each chopped yellow bell pepper, onion and tomatoes
2 cups long grain rice
4 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp turmeric
2 Tbsp crushed dried parsley

Preparation:

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, brown chicken in 2 Tbsp of butter; season with black pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper. Remove from skillet; add in 2 remaining Tbsp of butter and sauté bell pepper and onion until just beginning to soften.

Add in rice and stir to coat with buttered peppers and onion; mix in broth, soy sauce, turmeric and parsley; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add in tomatoes and return chicken to skillet. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

Mary Cokenour