So here’s a creative idea I had along a quest to make root beer float ice cream. You need a stronger version of root beer than they sell at the store, but if you get rid of the water from soda you get hard candy. Hard candy is not very appealing in ice cream. I think you can get variations with peppermint stick, but personally they were never really my thing. Not to mention root beer hard candy and root beer floats have very little in common. This caramel can be used as an ice cream topping, or a sweetener for something like a coffee drink. In a following recipe I will make root beer float ice cream. On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 2 L root beer
• 12 oz can evaporated milk

Instructions:

1. In large pot intended for boiling down liquids boil root beer and evaporated milk on high heat.
2. Boiling at high heat to avoid skin on top of your liquid, watch very carefully.
3. Stirring frequently when you have little liquid left turn heat to low.
4. On low continue simmering until you can see streaks behind your stirring utensil.
5. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
6. Package or enjoy

I think of myself as someone who doesn’t always take the typical path. This soup is an example of that. The soups of this world have their standbys. You have chicken, pea, clam chowder, and vegetable beef. These are so well known almost everyone in America would be able to describe their flavor. When I sit down I try to make soup, not one of the standbys. You need a broth and the ingredients which will contribute to it. I also like an amount of solids, so that there is some chewing involved. I’m not sure this is as legendary as the standbys, but it makes a good soup. On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup peanut oil
• 1/2 cup cake or all purpose flour
• 10 cups water
• 1 15 oz tomato sauce
• 1 15 oz enchilada sauce
• 3 colored bell peppers
• 1 lb mushrooms
• 9 oz bag spinach
• 1 lb smoked sausage slivered

Instructions:

1. In large frying pan with at least a four quart capacity melt the peanut butter.
2. Add oil and homogenize oil and peanut butter.
3. Add flour and incorporate.
4. Heat for about 5 minutes, making sure to not burn.
5. Slowly add water making a smooth gravy. Use a whisk if necessary to remove lumps.
6. Add tomato sauce and enchilada sauce.
7. Homogenize.
8. Allow sauce to thicken while simmering.
9. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
10. Pour broth into slow cooker.
11. Add chopped bell peppers.
12. Cook on low for 4 hours.
13. Saute mushrooms and fry slivered smoked sausage.
14. Remove broth from heat.
15. Add mushrooms, smoked sausage, and spinach to broth.
16. Fold solid ingredients in until spinach is wilted.
17. Serve and enjoy.

The whole point of a blog is to tell your present. This means you might find a better way of doing something like making peanut butter based ice cream for example. I learned two things in trying to recreate my peanut butter ice cream recipe from earlier in my blog. One, peanut butter is not the best ingredient for imparting peanut taste into ice cream, and two, it’s better to pasteurize the ingredients of your ice cream together and chill them before mixing. So I guess if you are reading this you can now make many of my previous recipes better with these ideas. If I was making a book I’d edit everything, but it’s a blog. I guess you get what you get. Anyways on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup dehydrated peanut butter powder
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 2/3 cup skim milk
• 4 Shortbread chocolate peanut butter chip cookies

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients but cookies in medium saucepan.
2. Pasteurize the ingredients. I.e. bring ingredients to 170 degrees Fahrenheit slowly so they don’t burn.
3. Place in refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours until chilled.
4. Make ice cream according to your manufacturer’s instructions. Will make approximately one quart.
5. When ice cream is finished churning mash cookies in plastic bag with rolling pin.
6. Pour smashed cookies into ice cream and stir with rubber spatula.
7. Serve immediately as soft serve or place in ice box for hard serve later. Enjoy.

This is a significant change so that I feel I can call it my own, but this is a variation of Allison Roman’s chocolate chunk shortbread cookie recipe that’s really popular on Instagram. Basically these are what fit my needs. I was looking to make a peanut butter based ice cream with a cookies and cream flair. I feel shortbread cookies are ideal for cookies and cream and I might even argue that Oreo cookies are also basically shortbread. The recipe is still noteworthy without the need for them in ice cream. On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 10 oz (2 1/2 sticks) salted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose or cake flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 10 oz bag Reeces peanut butter chips
• Turbinado sugar
• 1 egg

Instructions:

1. Cut chilled butter into to small pieces and place in bowl of stand mixer.
2. Add sugar and beat on low until creamed.
3. In small mixing bowl combine flour and cocoa.
4. Whisk for a minute or until well combined.
5. Turn mixer to low and add flour cocoa mixture slowly until all has been incorporated, making sure to scrape sides of mixing bowl when necessary.
6. Leaving mixer on low, add bag of chips and mix through.
7. On wax or parchment paper divide mixture in half and form into a log about 2 inches in diameter.
8. Wrap up and chill in refrigerator for at least two hours. Can be chilled overnight.
9. Beat egg and brush over log you have removed from the refrigerator.
10. Roll log in turbinado sugar.
11. Cut log into 12 cookies approximately 1/2 inch thick. For this I used a Santuko knife which I originally bought to cut through the nuts in biscotti.
12. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet about an inch apart and bake at 350 degrees for 14 to 15 minutes.
13. Cool, serve, and enjoy.

The original quest I was trying to pursue was to see if I could make a white sauce and cook rice in it. The larger issue here is emulsification. I made this recipe about a week ago and because I used so much water based liquid to cook the rice and temperatures near boiling, I lost the emulsifyication for a little while during the cooking process. However; once the absorption of water based liquid took over from the rice cooking the emulsifyication returned even at boiling water temperatures. So basically lesson learned… Don’t freak out. The dish was good but I thought it lacked a certain amount of flavor. I was going to repeat the recipe again adding more flavor, but I started wondering if it was possible to make a nut butter based gravy or sauce. This seemed expiramental, but also sounded like fun. On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 bunch of asparagus
• 2 cups grape tomatoes
• 1 lb ham steak
• 1 3/4 cups rice
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp hot sauce
• 1/2 gallon skim milk

Instructions:

1. In a deep 12 inch frying pan heat peanut oil and peanut butter over medium heat.
2. After completely melting the peanut butter add flour and make like a roux.
3. After cooking 4 to 5 minutes add milk and flavored sauces slowly trying to avoid lumps.
4. Using a whisk make sure to remove the remaining lumps.
5. Reduce heat to medium low and add asparagus which has been broken into bite size chunks.
6. Add water to increase total volume to almost the limit of the frying pan.
7. Stir and wait for mixture to come to a simmer.
8. Add rice and allow rice to absorb the majority of the water. Note: Pans will vary in size. I added about 3 cups of water to reach the limit of my frying pan. You might need to adjust rice amount accordingly.
9. Allow mixture to cool off of heat. Mixture will thicken.
10. Cut ham and tomatoes into bite size pieces.
11. Fold into mixture in frying pan.
12. Serve and enjoy.

I felt that I had created a great flavor combination with the last rice dish I posted. It would have also been a complete meal according to the food chart they taught us in the 80’s. I started wondering what else I could do to make a complete meal. According to the original meaning of the word ‘mess’, these recipes probably qualify. Most modern cooking would probably be considered. Now if you’re the type of person who likes their food to stay on it’s own side of the plate, you could say you don’t like a mess, but if you’re a fan of pizza, lasagna, and chili you’re out of luck. This recipe is also pretty advanced. The amount you dessicate the tomato spinach mixture will affect your final baking time. Anyway this is where the term mess hall comes from and on to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Condensed liquid add in:

• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 9 oz bag spinach
• 2 Tbsp hot sauce
• 4 cloves garlic minced

Dry ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups cornmeal
• 2 1/4 cups cake or all purpose flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder

Liquid ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

‘Filling’:

• 1 lb sausage
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 8 oz bag of shredded cheese

Instructions:

1. Brown sausage in large frying pan.
2. Mix in medium bowl with sour cream and cheese.
3. Set aside.
4. In sausage oil over medium heat add diced tomatoes and spinach.
5. Cover and steam spinach until it is wilted.
6. Simmer, dessicating the mixture. When mostly dry and creating paste on the surface of the pan add the tomato sauce, hot sauce, and garlic. I have found a rubber spatula works best when trying to dessicate a mixture.
7. Repeat the drying until you think you have the majority of the water removed or you feel you are in danger of burning.
8. Set aside and allow to cool.
9. Mix together dry ingredients with whisk in large bowl.
10. Set aside.
11. In medium bowl beat eggs. I used a fork.
12. Add buttermilk and oil.
13. Continue beating until emulsified.
14. Add tomato spinach mixture.
15. Mix well with rubber spatula.
16. Mixing with rubber spatula add 1/3 of liquid and tomato spinach combination into the dry ingredients.
17. Mix well.
18. Repeat until all of the liquid is incorporated into the dry ingredients. This is your cake batter.
19. Pour 1/2 of cake batter into 9 x 13 inch pan. Spread level.
20. Layer ‘filling’ over top of first half of batter.
21. Add remaining cake batter over filling and level.
22. Place in preheated 375 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes until top is golden brown.
23. Allow to cool to eating temperature. Serve and enjoy.

I realize I have very few critics to my food, but I think I’m a good enough cook to have a blog about it. Some dishes still stand out from the crowd though. For that reason I feel like I should write this recipe down. In addition to the taste the food was visually pleasing. Before I packaged it for my lunches at work it was just sitting in the pan cooling and it was possibly even pretty. If I were a food photographer it would have been a pleasing subject.

Ingredients:

• 1 5 oz can diced water chestnuts
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 12 oz bag spinach
• 1 lb breakfast sausage
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 1/3 cup rice
• Water
• 1 tsp olive oil

Instructions:

1. Brown sausage in large frying pan. I use a 14 inch frying pan. Ultimately the size of your pan will determine how much rice and water you use, and how much the recipe makes. My amount of rice is based on a 14 inch frying pan with semi-wok style sides. You might have to expirament with amounts for your pan.
2. Remove sausage from frying pan and set aside for later.
3. Add olive oil to sausage drippings and renderings. Turn burner to medium heat.
4. Add water chestnuts and fry until slightly golden.
5. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, garlic, and hot sauce.
6. Add water to about 3/8 inches from the top of your frying pan.
7. Bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat to medium low, taking care to retain a simmer.
9. Add rice.
10. Stirring occasionally cook according to the directions of your rice, or simmer 20 to 30 minutes.
11. When the majority of the water has been absorbed into the rice fold in the bag of spinach in 4 or 5 batches.
12. At this point you should have very little standing water. If you have a little don’t worry it will evaporate as it’s cooling.
13. After pan has reached an eating temperature fold in sausage, serve, and enjoy.

To complete the breakfast menu I made a very yeasty pancake. I would recommend them with either the blueberry syrup or the black cherry syrup. I made the recipe for one, but it could easily be doubled or tripled.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup cake flour or all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp dried yeast
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• Olive oil for pan

Instructions:

1. Combine flour, yeast, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in small mixing bowl.
2. Whisk together until homogeneous.
3. In another bowl beat egg with a fork.
4. Add buttermilk and olive oil.
5. Use fork to emulsify liquids.
6. Pour liquids into dry ingredients in about four equal iterations, mixing combined mixture with whisk after every addition.
7. Place in room temperature environment until mixture doubles, about 90 to 120 minutes.
8. Whisk down, cover, and place in refrigerator until about a half hour before preparing pancakes.
9. Remove from refrigerator.
10. Let stand about a half hour.
11. Prepare pancakes frying them in olive oil.
12. Serve and enjoy.

So this is basically the same recipe as blueberry syrup, but I might have just eaten one of the best breakfasts of my life and feel like writing. I’ve always been a fan of pancakes and waffles and the sweet side of breakfast. I came up with a recipe for some very yeasty pancakes which I will post next. Somehow everything went together extremely well. Anyways so I’m working the night shift and weighing what I want to do with my forthcoming time off. I have just eaten a helping of the blueberry ice cream I posted recently, and I remember being very disappointed in the black cherry ice cream from the local creamery near where I grew up to the point where I threw it out. At the time, some twenty years ago, my buddy told me I should write the company and see if I could do the world a favor and improve this flavor. The thought that struck me, multi-tasking in the workplace was that I could make a black cherry ice cream in a similar manner to the method of the blueberry ice cream. Now granted what I’m going to come up with won’t be cost effective to sell, but it will be a definitive improvement. So in order to make the ice cream first I need syrup.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs fresh black cherries
• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup Karo syrup
• Water

Instructions:

1. Depit and destem all of your cherries and place them in a large pot.
2. Cover the cherries with water submerging them by at least one inch. Your main interest here is to have enough water so that an immersion blender won’t splash.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Blend water and berries with immersion blender until there are no particles larger than sand.
5. Add sugar and Karo syrup.
6. Continue boiling off liquid until you can see the bottom of the pan in the trails of your stirring utensil. In order to do this you will have to reduce the heat and stir more often when conduction overcomes convection. i.e. a more viscous mixture will have more conduction where as a less viscous mixture will have more convection.
7. Store or serve and enjoy.

My mom, like many midwestern moms, made a lot of casseroles while I was growing up. I’m not sure where many of them came from. Probably an amalgamation of newspapers, magazines, cookbooks, friends, and family would be close. One of these casseroles was titled Mexican caserole by my mother. It kept changing over time,so I was of the mindset that she was playing with it. I decided to make my own version of it. I wasn’t under the constraint of trying to make supper in just a few hours in the afternoon before my father came home. I had all day to make something I would enjoy for probably a weeks worth of lunches at work. I have some steps which are time consuming, but the dish comes together quite quickly.

Ingredient:

• 5 tomatillos
• 1 16 oz jar salsa
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can refried beans
• 1 15 oz can pinto beans
• 1 lb smoked sausage
• Water
• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup Mexican blend cheese
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 24 6 inch corn tortillas

Instructions:

1. Add olive oil to medium-large saucepan and heat until shimmering at medium heat.
2. Add tomatillos and reduce until sauce.
3. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and salsa.  Bring to a boil.
4. Add rice and cook until thickened, adding water if necessary to get desired tenderness of rice.
5. Allow to cool off heat.  Set to the side.
6. Once cool place in large mixing bowl.
7. Mix in pinto beans, refried beans, and smoked sausage cut up into bite size bits.
8. Place 6 tortilla shells on bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan in a 3 x 2 formation.
9. Place 2 cups of mixture out of the large mixing bowl on top of tortillas.  Spread flat.
10. Repeat layers of tortillas and mixture 2 more times.
11. Finish with a final layer of tortillas.
12. You might have some mixture remaining.  It makes great tacos as a leftover.  Refrigerate in sealed container.
13. Bake in medium 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
14. Remove from oven and add cheese.  Top tortillas should be browned and curling at this point.
15. Place back in the oven and continue baking for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
16. Allow to cool slightly so that caserole will cut and serve more easily.
17. Serve or package and enjoy.