Tag: beef

Pigs in a blanket

This little piggy went to the party. This little piggy went to school. This little piggy was an afternoon snack at home. This little piggy went to gymnastics practice. And this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way in my tummy.

It’s the middle of winter and these piggies are cold! Make them blankets from scratch! Sure, you can buy prepackaged dough that pops out of a cardboard can, but then you’d be setting yourself up for all kinds of chemical additives and subpar ingredients. Besides, making the dough from scratch is easy and fun. My 11 year-old daughter can do it by herself. Kneading it is the best part. She gets all kung fu about it. You can, too.

Ingredients:
2 cups organic all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup organic safflower oil
1/2 cup hot water
30 mini beef franks
1 egg, beaten
sesame seeds
flax seeds

Preheat oven 375 degrees F. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add oil and water. Whisk together until fully incorporated and you see no powdered lumps left. Knead the dough well on a floured surface. Divide the dough in half and roll out the first lump until it’s thin and semi-rectangular. Using a knife or a pizza roller, cut out 15 triangles. Position a mini frank on the wider end of each triangle and roll the dough around the little piggy. Brush with egg and lay on a greased baking sheet. Repeat until there are 30 little piggies in a row. Sprinkle sesame seeds and flax seeds. Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

January 21, 2016
Husband’s Breakfast Recipe: Emphysema Lambada

Yes, you read it right. My husband made me breakfast. How sweet! He really is a good cook. Check out his bean soup here. And he also came up with the idea for Bumblebees. But in true Jay fashion, he gave his recipe the unappetizingly strange and thoroughly nonsensical name, Emphysema Lambada.

It’s good, though. Don’t knock it till you try it. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 organic carrot, peeled and chopped
1 organic celery, diced small
2 organic green onions, chopped
some organic frozen mixed vegetables (it’s got peas, corn and carrots in it, I think he used about a third of a package.)
1 organic beef hotdog, chopped up as thin as possible
1 tablespoon organic canola oil
1 organic egg from free roaming chicken
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the carrot, celery, green onions, mixed vegetables and hotdog. When the vegetables are tender, make a hole in the middle of the skillet and crack the egg in it. Scramble the egg and mix it up with the rest.

Serve warm as is. Or do what my husband did: he set some rice to steam before he started so that by the time the rice is cooked, we are ready to Lambada on top of rice.

February 14, 2013
Beef Barley Soup

A big vat of hot soup is comfort food in the winter. What’s really awesome about soup is that it gets better after it has sat together, chilled in the refrigerator, then reheated next day. This recipe feeds my 3-person family for two days, and is a great classic meal.

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef, free-range, grass-fed and organic
1 organic onion, chopped fine
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes, organic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups beef broth, organic
4 cups water
3 organic carrots, peeled and chopped
3 ribs organic celery, diced
1/2 cup pearl barley, organic
2 pieces organic green onions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan or stock pot, brown ground beef over medium heat, breaking it up with a spatula. Drain the grease that comes out of the beef. People seem to be mystified about how to do this properly. Never ever drain the grease into your kitchen sink. You are asking for trouble, you bad kitty! Grease hardens when cold, so your kitchen sink will clog up if you pour that grease down the sink.

I use a Pot Drainer to drain the grease into an empty can I keep next to the stove. I keep adding grease to it until it’s about 3/4 full. Let the grease harden in the can before throwing it out, can and all.

Stir in onion and cook until glassy. Add tomatoes, oregano, broth, carrots, celery and barley. Bring to a boil, then return to a simmer on low. Cook for an hour until barley is tender. Add green onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

February 8, 2013