Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup quick oats
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 TBSP brown sugar
• ¼ cup yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup add-ins like chocolate chips or fruit, optional

Directions:

Toss the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Load the egg and milk into the blender. Pulse. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and yogurt and blend until no lumps remain.

Pour the wet ingredients in with dry. Stir gently until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter or your pancakes will be tough and dense. Add any mix-ins you like.

Heat a griddle or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Coat generously with cocoanut oil or butter.

Once hot, drop about 1/4 cup of batter on the griddle. Cook until the edges look dry and bubbles begin to form on the center or sides, about 1 minute. Flip and cook on the other side until cooked through, about 2 more minutes.

Makes 4 medium size pancakes.

Ugly Rice

The Gulf Coast states have their Dirty Rice. This is my Ugly Rice.

Ingredients:
1 tsp coconut oil

¼ pound Jimmy Dean sausage, cut to ¼” cubes.

¼ cup dried mushrooms

¼ cup dried vegetables.

2 TBSP red onion, chopped,

1 TBSP tomato paste

Heat coconut oil in cast iron frying pan. Cook sausage to “mostly done” stage. 

Add remaining ingredients, and mix well. 

Place mixture in rice cooker. Add:

3 slices bacon, cooked, cut into ¼” slices.

¾ cup rice blend mix

½ tsp roasted garlic powder.

¼ tsp red pepper powder

¼ tsp roasted paprika powdered

⅛ tsp curry powder

A little pepper may be nice. I used white pepper.

2 – 2½ cups water.

Yeah, it's really ugly. But it's really good. But this is not a "lite" or a diet meal. This is Guy Food.

TJ’s Curry Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, cut into “chicken tenders” size.

Sauce:

3 cloves garlic

1 TBSP fresh ginger

2 TBSP sweet onion

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp yellow curry powder

1½ TBSP tomato paste

Mix this together in a blender until it’s a paste. Add a little olive oil if needed to make this a medium thick sauce to coat chicken with. Sauté the sauce until it’s dark brown. TJ describes this as “almost burnt.” Set aside.

Fill a large (cast iron) fry pan half full of water, and heat to boiling. Add chicken and boil until the outside of the pieces is done, but the centers are still raw. Discard water.

Add sauce, and cook over medium heat until chicken is nearly done. Increase heat to maximum for the last few minutes just to dry the sauce and get it firmly soaked into the meat.

Bacon Cornmeal Flapjacks

The instructions are pretty simple:

1) Fry some bacon. Drain off some grease.

2) Make some cornbread batter (make it kind of thin).

3) Fry the flapjacks on the bacon.

4) Add syrup, and peanut butter if you like.

5) Enjoy. 

Harvest Crock Pot Roast

Ingredients:

½ beef roast, of any size and quality
½ onion, sliced thickly
½ large sweet potatoes or 1/2 large yam, peeled and cut in 1” chunks
¼ lb whole baby yellow squash, rinsed, with stems cut off (optional)
1 large granny smith apple (about a pound) cored and cut in large chunks.
¾ cup spicy apple cider 

   (¾ c apple cider, 1 TBSP orange juice, ⅛ tsp cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, ⅛ tsp orange zest, and a dash of lemon juice.)
⅛ cup apple cider vinegar
⅛ cup brown sugar
garam masala (an Indian spice blend)
kosher salt
roux, for gravy (optional)

Directions:

o        Place thick-sliced onions in bottom of slow cooker.

o        Trim any visible fat from roast. Sear the roast (while it was still frozen, if possible)

o        Rub the roast all over, on both sides, with garam masala and salt to taste. 

o        Place roast in slow cooker with yam or sweet potato, squash, and apples piled around it.

o        Mix together spicy cider, vinegar, and sugar.

o        Pour cider mixture over meat and vegetables, making sure all parts of the roast are covered by about the same amount of liquid, and no vegetables are dry.

o        This can be refrigerated overnight at this point. 

o        Cover and cook on “high” for 5 to 8 hours, or “low” 10 to 12 hours, until roast falls apart easily when tested with a serving spoon.
o        Drain the apple juice out before serving it. (Set the juice aside for cooking other yummy things.)

o        If you feel like it, make gravy from some of the liquids in a saucepan.

Comments: 

• This is pretty darned good. 
• Make the gravy! Oh my goodness, make the gravy!
• This goes with lighter beer, not stouts or dark ales. 
• 
  

Barrel-Aged Beer Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 4 egg yolks
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup barrel-aged beer
• 1 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, quickly whisk the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture becomes a pale yellow. 

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, bring the beer and cream to a simmer. Do not allow it to boil.

Slowly pour the beer mixture over the egg mixture, whisking constantly to temper the yolks. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until it thickens. Pour the mixture through a strainer into a mixing bowl set over ice and stir until cool. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Blood Orange Powder

Didn't get a picture of the process, but I finished a batch (5 trays) of blood oranges. Got 'em free from a produce stand two weeks ago, and have been dehydrating them since. They're very dry, which was the goal. Ground 'em all up. Made a cup & a half of powder. Not sure what to do with it.

Might be good, mixed with sugar, sprinkled on top of sweet breads. I think that it might make pretty good ice cream, but I have no idea how much to use. Might make some orange syrup, for pancakes or something. 

I'd kind of like to try an orange sauce for fish (a couple tablespoons of white wine, some melted butter, some orange powder, a little salt & pepper). And I have kind of an idea for an orange sauce for chicken (Current idea: 2½ TBSP white sugar, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp rice vinegar, ½ tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp orange powder, 1 tsp  cornstarch, ½ tsp flour, and a pinch of garlic powder and red pepper powder; cook gently, stirring, until thick.)