Slow Cooker Ham and White Beans

Its been forever. I miss my blog. Mommyhood has taken me by storm! Im so caught up with my son, who is now SIX MONTHS OLD!!! They grow up so fast. He's so smart, and I've been busy with him, school, and our ten million dogs since our pitbull had a dozen puppies. You know those, not days, but weeks at a time when you want to just rip your hair out? This is for those times. It's not a shortcut really, its just simple...and damn is it good. I wish it wasn't so hot, but when its ready tonight, it'll be cool enough for this to hit the spot. 

Ive never been shy to share with you what I cannot cook. Asian food....I don't wanna talk about it. Another one, you're in for another culinary failure of mine. Dry beans. Thats right. I stink at cooking dried beans. Im trying these in the slow cooker because apparently its "fool proof". I'll come after the person who said this if they so happen to be wrong (you know who you are, muahahahaha). Anyways, its just stewed white beans, with big salty chunks of ham, and some simple seasoning. By itself its pretty good, but with some sweet corn bread on the side (I always use Jiffys mix if I don't have time to make my own, its my favorite), its a marriage made in heaven. Its like the Bonnie and Clyde of stewed things and bread, except maybe pot roast and a hunk of french bread. They might be neck and neck....

Regardless, make it! Its SOOOO cheap to make, and you won't regret it! Just look at it down there, looking all delicious and such....mmmmmmmm

Thanks to Lynda for the picture :)

1lb ham, can be shank, steaks, or already cooked and cubed (I prefer the first two options though)

1lb bag of dried great northern beans

1/2 large white onion (or 1 small), diced

1 large garlic clove, chopped small

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into half moons

6 cups water

1 rounded tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp fresh chopped thyme or rosemary (half the amount if dried)

Salt and pepper to taste

Set slow cooker to low. Put all your onion, beans, carrots, and garlic in the slow cooker. If the ham is on the bone, you can put it in whole, if already chopped, put the pieces in as well. Place your six cups of water and seasonings and herbs in, but hold the salt. I've heard salt can make dried beans tough, so I didn't want to take the chance, and the ham is salty as well, so I reserved salting until the end. Put the lid on and let this go for 8 hours or until beans are tender. Be careful salting at the end, you can always add more, but not take away! If your ham was whole, shred it and remove the bone, if not, you're just good to stuff your face. This really is a walk away from it type of meal, not much can go wrong!

ETA (optional tweaks): I have to say, after the eight hours, I thought it would be great, but I tweaked two things that are optional. I added two tablespoons of flour mixed with water and cranked it to high for about ten minutes to thicken it since SOME people *cough cough* Jeremy *cough* like pretty thick stew. One tablespoon would make it inbetween soup and stew, and leaving the flour out gives you a fantastic broth. Tweak number two, I like my dishes with lots of carbs to have a little kick, so I added 1 tsp hot sauce, you could also do red pepper flake, I just didn't have any. I say again, MAKE IT!!!!!

Waffle Burger

This burger has a story that just has to be told. One of the first things I made on my grill was burgers. Not over the top, win any awards, spend an hour preparing all the pieces, kind of burgers. Get dinner on the table kind of burgers, you know? AFTER they were done, my boyfriend informs me he could make a better burger....and he did. I said I wasn't on my game because I didn't KNOW I was making competition burgers, I should get a rematch. Makes sense so far, right?

He tells me, "Go right ahead. I'll come up with a burger too, and I'll win". Riiiiiiight.....I've won EVERY cook off I've ever done. I wasn't worried. I should have been...

I thought I had it in the bag. I made a 6 ounce patty, cooked medium, with melted American cheese (his favorite), pickle slices, rib tips with homemade barbeque sauce nestled inside some crispy seasoned onion rings. It wouldn't do without a special homemade sauce. He eats it and said it was really good, but he was going to win.

Then he drops the bomb. "I'm making a waffle burger. Its gonna have bacon, melted cheese, and maple syrup." DAMN. My only contribution here was to add the fried egg, that's it. Theres no point in finishing the rest of the story. Think about it, bacon, egg, burger patty, maple syrup, melted cheese...what's missing? NOTHING. That's what. And I lost.....

I know what you're thinking, that's a donut burger! I know this, but I was focusing on the burger toppings, we had an egg, like the donut burger, but in the waffle burger format above (except our waffles were round). This is a messy burger, and its not good for you at all, but damn is it good.

Waffle Burger
6 ounce burger patty, seasoned LIBERALLY with s/p
2 waffles, lightly toasted and buttered on one side
2 slices of thick cut bacon
1 slice of american cheese
1 egg, fried (also seasoned with s/p)
Maple syrup

The components are simple. Preheat your grill to high heat and close your lid, let preheat for 10 minutes. The cooking time will depend on your grill. I cooked it 4 minutes on one side, then flipped it, put my cheese on, closed the lid, and let it go 3 more minutes. You can rest it on a plate with tin foil tented to keep it warm. You can make your bacon and egg ahead of time. Put your bacon in a cold skillet and put it up to medium heat and cook turning occasionally until crisp. If you really don't care about calories, fry your egg in the bacon fat. Just do it over a lower heat so it has more time to cook on top before you flip it. There is no science in my book yet for a fried egg, some eggs cooperate, some just don't. It'll be delicious regardless. My biggest tip for this burger, is too salt things more than you think you would, and put A LOT of cracked pepper on your bacon. Here's why, maple syrup is really sweet, and you won't taste anything else if it's not seasoned (if not a little over seasoned). To assemble, put a buttered waffle, your burger patty, fried egg, slices of bacon, and drizzle over maple syrup to your hearts content, and top with your last waffle! Its heavenly....

 

Big News

I don't have a recipe for you YET....however, I recently got a present. It has me VERY excited and should give me lots of new and interesting recipes. Are you ready????? I got a four burner, super awesome, shiny as shit GAS GRILL!!!!! The things I have made, I love.....love it so much. I'm comin for you dad, your chicken is goin down, you knew the day would come. Here's whats on my radar (and I'm open for suggestions)

- Stuffed porkchop with maple gravy (that I can make on my awesome side burner)
- At some point, a grilled pizza
- Grilled asparagus
- Grilled pineapple with vanilla ice cream
- Teryaki chicken legs

This is my grill...

 Oh....there will be recipes coming!

Italian Style Beef and Vegetable Soup

This soup was a request from my mom, but I can't just leave things alone. She loves beef and vegetable soup, I decided to change the vegetable line up and add cannelinni beans instead of potatoes so I could cut down on the amount of beef. Let me say this, this is as a very tomatoey (it's a word, shut up) beef and vegetable soup. It's as much tomato as beef, because my mom and I like it that way! I always remember when we had busy nights and would have soup for dinner, everyone had their preferences. My brother was picky and pretty much wanted tomato with cheese, if he had any. My dad always had one of those big "chunky" soups, you know those ridiculous ones that shouldn't be a soup flavor? Like Big Beefy Super Steaky Goodness with Potatoes? Those ones. My mom pretty much always had beef and vegetable, and I liked the smell of hers the best. This is just a little bit of a twist, and its so convenient to go in the slow cooker. This broth is great with some crusty bread! I'm also doing a post on my Hasselback Garlic Bread...its fantastic...just sayin'

Beef and Vegetable Soup

Let me just say, this is easily the best picture I found in terms of how similar my actual recipe turned out. The only difference is there is baby carrots, and mine was a whole carrot that was cut up. This picture was a win in my book

Italian Beef and Vegetable soup:

1/2 lb fatty steak (cheap is good here, I used chuck eye round)

1 can undrained fire roasted or stewed tomatoes

1 can drained cannellini or white beans
Half a can drained cut green beans

One carrot, peeled and cut into half moons

½ cup frozen peas

¼ to ½ cup frozen spinach or greens of any kind

3 beef bullion cubes and 1 ½ cups water, or 1 and ½ cups beef broth

½ small white or yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic gloves, diced fine

½ tbsp. Italian seasoning

½ tsp black pepper

Let me say about this steak business, you could use stew meat, but they were big packs, and they were expensive! You can totally slow cook smaller cuts that have decent marbling, and shred it. Its a personal choice, you can use stew meat, I didn't feel like paying extra. Your first step is to liberally salt and pepper your steak, and sear it on high just until it browns on both sides. It's pretty easy peasy from here on out. Add all the rest of your ingredients (except your salt) into your slow cooker. I used 3 bullion cubes and half the amount of water to start with because I wasn't going to get a lot of beef flavor from my smaller cut of steak, and its beef soup after all! You can always add more water later, but you can't take it out if you put too much in! That's the same reason we reserve the salt to the end. Your veggies could soak up a lot or a little, and your broth is salty, so just hold off until close to the end. I cooked on high for one hour, then on low for three. This all depends on how cooked you like your veggies, as long as your beef is shredable (also a word...dont judge me), you're good to go! This is so freakin good with crusty bread

Stuffed Double Bacon Cheeseburger with Guacamole

I know sometimes I have parts of my recipes that are healthy, or shortcuts where I leave certain ingredients out for the sake of your arteries. This is not one of them. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it bad for you? Absolutely. Do I regret it? NO I DO NOT. It was my boyfriends birthday, and he loves cheeseburgers. I also had a special request from my mom to do a pepper jack burger. I had the time and the funds, so I decided to take this burger to the next level. Let me just preface by saying this and getting this out of my system. I LOVE making burgers. When I didn't have bills to pay and could spend my money on food, I made burgers ALL the time. I think I'm pretty damn good at it. Then Bobby Flay took a bunch of my burgers I already made. I swear, he planted bugs in my head and took them. I made a certain southwest burger, and I got a piece of jalapeno in my eye that resulted in my whole face burning for an hour. Its now at his burger restaurants, almost the exact same one I made years prior...I realize this was a rant, thank you for sticking with me through that. Just grinds my gears man. Make this burger!!! And don't give it to Bobby Flay...This monster has pepper jack on the inside of the burger patty, cheese on top, thick sliced bacon, and homemade guacamole on a toasted sesame seed bun. At least guacamole has the good for you fat ;)

Bacon Juicy Lucy

This above pictured is the Juicy Lucy, the quintessential original cheese stuffed burger. This one doesn't have quacamole, but what can I say? The picture still looked pretty good :D

Stuffed Bacon Cheeseburger (serves 2):

12 ounces of ground beef

4 ounces of pepper jack cheese (divided into four equal parts)

Homemade guacamole (or store bought if you don't have it)

4 slices of crispy thick cut bacon

Sliced tomatoes

Iceberg or romaine lettuce 

Premium sesame seed buns (potato buns would also work great here)

Condiment of choice

Salt and pepper

This is not a burger with a bunch of spices and fancy things. This is a good ol' fashioned beef burger, and it tastes like it. Save your bacon fat, whether you bake it or do it on the stove, because you're cooking your burger in it! Heat up a large skillet or cast iron pan inbetween medium and medium high heat (depending how rare you like your burger) while you make your patties. Liberally salt and pepper your meat, since its your only seasoning, make it count. It's up to you how much you actually put, I probably put almost three quarters teaspoon of salt. Divide your meat into four parts. You're taking one part (one ounce) of your cheese, and putting it in the middle. Take another section of meat, and use it as a lid, and form it around the cheese, closing the sides and smoothing the seams. Repeat one more time. Form them slightly bigger than your buns because they'll shrink. Lay them in your pan, and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes per side for medium rare/medium and 5 minutes for no pink. While they're cooking, toast your buns a little in the oven. Flip your burger and place your remaining 2 ounces on the top of each burger and let it melt. Take your buns out, and put on your condiment of choice (I love mayo on one side and mustard on the other). Layer your burger, guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, bacon, and top bun! Its so damn good, it just is. You're welcome :D

 

Deboning a Chicken Thigh

I get enough chicken thighs that you would think I would debone them all the time. Guess what? I don't! Most of the time I'm using it in a shredded fashion and I like to cook it on the bone for the flavor. But sometimes, every now and then, I like to glaze them whole, or roast them with the skin on. Now I myself don't mind this at all! It's almost impossible to make dry, and I like to get my hands on some meat and eat it off the bone. However, if you're like me, you may have some picky family members *cough cough* Jeremy *cough*, who just prefer boneless. Tonight, I'm actually making tacos, so my meat will be shredded. I just didn't want to cook it in the oven, and I don't want to boil it since I actually want this meat to have a little chew and texture from the carmelization. I'm also really short on time, but the other reason sounds so much better doesn't it? I had to debone it, and am I glad I did! I've never done this, and it took me about a minute and a half per thigh, so with practice, this will be a two minute job for as much chicken as I need. It will save you SO much money over buying boneless chicken thighs!

I don't have a picture for this one, but I have a video I saw, and I will describe it as I did it. I started at the knob at the top, with a sharp, smaller knife. You cut down the center along the bone (you can feel the bone down the center). Once you can see the slit along the bone, you pick one side to work down, and cut as close to the bone as you can, then you do the other side. Take the knob in the middle of the thigh, and cut as close as you can along the top of it, I found there was some cartilage. Once I got past that, I could hold the knob, and cut as close to the bone, down the back, and I hardly wasted any meat. I also found, once I was that far, I could use my knife to kind of "scrape" my way down the bone which saved even more meat. Take a look at the following link to see what I mean. Get your knives, get deboning!

Debone That Chicken Thigh!!! 

Italian Sausage with Onion Gravy and Egg Noodles

Its been REALLY cold. And I'm getting REALLY pregnant. Between trying to clean for at least an hour (it's challenging, trust me), and put last touches in the nursery, I have not been making things from scratch. This wasn't a complete short cut meal, but it warmed my stomach and tasted like it had taken all day long. Kids wouldn't even notice the onions, and it pleases adult with all its developed flavors. It was perfect to make my easy green beans on the side, and things could cook away for about twenty minutes while I went and did whatever I needed to do. With all these storms coming, you're going to want to make this (if you still have power)! :D

 

Beef Gravy and Noodles 

I found a picture as close as I could, the only difference in this picture, is there chunks of stew meat, and mine had chunks of sausage. My gravy was also a little thicker, but it's the same general idea.

Italian Sausage with Onion Gravy:

1 package of hot italian sausages (mine came in packages of 5 and I used 3)

1/3 cup finely diced onion

3/4 cup frozen greens

1 package onion soup mix

1 package brown gravy mix

2 tbsp butter or vegetable oil

2 1/2 to 3 cups water

1/2 of one big package of egg noodles, cooked

Salt and pepper to taste

It seems like its kind of a lot of ingredients, but it's really easy. Heat up a large cast iron skillet (or just a big regular skillet) over medium high heat with the butter or vegetable oil in the bottom. Once hot, you can cut open your sausage casing or push the meat out the small hole in the top and bottom and into your skillet. Spread it out a little with your spoon, and leave it alone to brown for about 3 minutes per side. Turn the heat to medium and add your onion, you can then break up your meat into smaller pieces, but still leave it chunky. After about five minutes, add your soup and gravy mix along with your water. Add in your frozen greens, and turn your heat to high. Stir frequently until it boils for a minute or two, then turn your heat to medium low and simmer for twenty minutes. You can cook it down longer if its not thick enough for you. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve over your cooked egg noodles. This was EASILY my favorite dinner of the week!