Archive | February, 2011

Sausage Corn Chowder with Cheesy Mushroom Pitas

11 Feb
Nom Rating: **** (4/5)
Sausage Corn Chowder
This sausage corn chowder is super easy and super delicious! In fact, it’s so easy that I felt like I needed to make some cheesy mushroom pitas to go along with it. You’re going to love them both!
Ingredients

You can’t argue with a recipe for which the only instructions are to mix everything together and let cook. And that’s just what this recipe calls for. Cook up some sausage, chop up a few potatoes, open a couple of cans and you have all the hard work out of the way.

Not only is this recipe is nice because putting it together is such a cinch, but you also have the flexibility of two different cooking options, both of which work wonderfully.

Option A: Mix everything together and cook in a crockpot for 8 hours
Option B: Mix everything together in a big pot and cook on medium high for 30 mins or until potatoes are tender

It’s almost too easy!

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Return of the Bierocks

10 Feb
Nom Rating: * (1/5)
Bierocks
I was first introduced to bierocks while attending the University of Oklahoma. As a student there, one of my favorite days of the week was Tuesday, solely because it was on this day that the 2:8 House opened its doors to students for a delicious home-cooked lunch and some warm and friendly company.

Sidenote- The 2:8 House is the OU Nazarene Student Center and a wonderful place full of wonderful people. If you ever find yourself in Norman, OK, stop by and say hello!

Mr. Dave Kyncl is that man in charge of the kitchen and one of the most talented chefs that I know. It was his Santa Fe soup and brownies that got me through many long days of classes and tests. But the soup and the brownie didn’t come even close to the deliciousness level of the bierocks! Just thinking about them makes me smile! There are very few foods that have caused me to eat with such zeal that I actually make myself ill. However, I can remember eating enough bierocks to upset my stomach on at least two occassions.

But enough about how we met and a little more about what they are. Bierocks are German (or possibly Russian) pastries that are filled with beef, cabbage, onions and sometimes (when they’re made correctly) cheese. It’s like a hot pocket, except tastier…and healthier…and more German (or maybe Russian).

It has been five years since I have been at OU and, thus, five years since I have had a bierock. Imagine my delight when, for one of my wedding showers, I was given a recipe for bierocks. I have been looking forward to making them ever since (aka. a whole three months).

Unfortunately, bierocks are not one of those get-home-from-work-and-pop-it-in-the-oven recipes. Because the recipe involves making yeast dough, there is rise time involved. Fortunately for me, we are having yet another snow day as Snowpocalypse 2011 continues to bash Oklahoma.

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In the Name of Nutella: Nutella-filled Cookies (5 ways)

6 Feb

Nom Rating (out of 5):

Nutella-filled plain cookie- **
Nutella-filled chocolate chip cookie- ***
Nutella-filled peanut butter cookie- ****
Peanut butter cookie with Nutella on top- **
Nutella-filled no-bake cookie- ****

Nutella-filled Cookies

It was two days ago that I stumbled upon the fact that such a thing as World Nutella Day existed.  How lucky I was to find out about a holiday the day before it was taking place! It seems as though I usually find out about things only a moment too late.

“There’s a great sale going on at the mall! 50% off all clearance…it ended yesterday.”
“Coldstone Creamery is giving away free ice cream today until 3pm…it’s 3:15.”
“We can get free admittance to the art museum through February 5th…oh, today is the 6th.”

Life just goes that way…usually. So when I found out about World Nutella Day, I knew I had to celebrate (that, and I had an openned jar of Nutella in the pantry and Mr. Torres had been requesting Nutella-filled cookies).

I knew it was important to get into the holiday spirit before beginning to bake, so I made a steaming mug of Nutella hot chocolate that I had been looking forward to trying since seeing the recipe the day before. Verdict:Nutella makes a better spread than a drink. It wasn’t bad, but I felt like I had to use half the jar of Nutella to actaully taste anything. Fortunately, I had bigger and better things in store for Nutella today. On to the cookie making!

I was unsure as to what type of cookie would combine with Nutella to create the best filled treat, so I decided to try three different cookie recipes and hope that at least one of them came our a winner. The recipes that I used were some tried and true favorites from Mama K (my mother and a wonderful cook) that I had filed away in my recipe box; chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and no-bake cookies.

Mama K's Cookie Recipes

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The Way to a Man’s Heart…Brioche?

1 Feb
The Way to a Man's Heart

The Way to a Man's Heart

It all began with a little recipe book that Mr. Torres found at a garage sale last weekend. The title of the book was The Way to a Man’s Heart and the cover features a young woman with a dress, apron and high heels who is holding a fresh out of the oven pie. I have yet to find an occasion in which I need to do my cooking while wearing a cute little dress and three inch heels. But if I ever do, I’ll be sure to bake a pie (and stand around holding it so that such a rare event can be captured in a picture).

I have never been one to say no to a new cookbook, so we handed over a quarter and congratulated ourselves on such a good find.

The book is a compilation of recipes from The Gas Service Co that was printed in 1953. It, therefore, includes plenty of recipes that involve the broiler, beets and canned pineapple. That being said, it didn’t take me too long to skim through the majority of the recipes.

One thing that I enjoyed about my new little cookbook was the addition of clever poems that were included a the beginning of each section. There was a poem about meat, a poem about stews, one for salads, so on and so forth. However, when I reached the bread section, I was met with this;

“Breathes there a wife with soul so dead;
Who to her husband has never said:
‘This is my own real, home made bread’.”

Continue reading →

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