I though I would do a re blog on a sandwich that is my son Jordan’s favorite because of him, this sandwich was created.  This is a sandwich we eat a lot up North because we have many Cony Islands there.  Since I’ve been in  Alabama, I’ve only seen one and it was downtown and their speciality was hot dogs, Don’t sound like a Cony Island to me!  LOL

Ingredients

2 Rib eye Steaks thinly sliced

1 Whole Green Pepper

1 Medium Onion

3 Slices of Swiss Cheese or more

1 Loaf of Fresh Italian Bread sliced in half

Salt and Pepper to taste

This sandwich is made with rib eye steaks that I sliced really thin with a very sharp knife trust me, this can take a little bit because you want the meat to be almost paper thin.  On a flat top grill, add a couple tablespoons of oil once the grill is really hot, add the slices of meat constantly moving them around.  I guess, you could pretend you were a Chinese cook slicing and dicing. Once the meat is done, remove it from the grill.

Now add your onions and green peppers but don’t cook too long because you still want to have a little crunch to them.  In the mean time, slice the loaf of bread in half and place in the oven till the bread is soft and slightly brown.  Depending on what you like.

Remove the onion and green peppers from the skillet and now it’s time to plate.  I wanted some lettuce on the sandwich for color and believe it or not, that lettuce came out my garden and it really made the sandwich. When I do this sandwich again I might try some frise  lettuce for the crunch.  So one layer of  lettuce next layer is the meat then add the green pepper and onion.  Top with the Swiss cheese .  You could them cover the sandwich and add a heavy object on top just long enough to melt the cheese.

So this post is for you Jordan where ever you are enjoying the game be E SAFE.  To my readers, hope you give this sandwich a try it actually is very good but always remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Hey  guys, this is definitely going to be one of my Boo Boo posts and I feel good about sharing my boo boos cause that just lets you all know, I make mistakes too.  Mac and Cheese used to be a problem for me but I got that one down pat so, I have to move on to the next problem child. I have been trying and trying to make a decent biscuit.  It doesn’t have to be the perfect biscuit because I really don’t think there is such a thing or maybe, their not suppose to be perfect.  I really don’t know but I do know I’m not good at making them.  So, this will be a project we shall all work on together and we will learn together.

I just have this Love for biscuits and Alga syrup with lots of butter and really thick bacon. I better stop cause I’m getting hungry so back to our lesson.  I cannot begin to tell you where I got this recipe from I found it written down on a piece of paper and decide to try it cause I had all the ingredients.

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

1 Tsp Sugar

1 Tablespoon of Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Salt

8 Tablespoon Butter

3/4 Cup of Milk

Now believe it or not, this is all I have.  So I will share with you what I did and you can share with me, what I did wrong.  I put all the powder ingredients into a bowl and I will leave it at that cause I don’t remember if I mixed the  ingredients together and I know I should have.  If you look at this picture, you would have thought I did.

 I did make a well in the bowl and then added the milk

Now after I really took the time to look at this dough I though it sure is the sadist piece of dough around.  But what could I have done to make it better.  Well first of all, I know the butter wasn’t as cold as it should have been and I’m really wondering did I over mix somewhere down the line.

After the biscuits were cut and put on the cookie sheet and that was an ungreased sheet, I melted some butter and lightly covered the tops.  I wonder was this a mistake? hmmm well, then I put them into a hot oven on 350 degrees and cooked them for about 15 minutes.  The one thing I really don’t like about making biscuits is, that they just don’t seem to ever get brown you know like the way they do when you buy them from the grocery store.

Well, we saw  the final product and what do you really think?  What do you think I did wrong?  I really would like to get some feedback because like I said, I want this to be everyone’s project that we work on together and have input together. 

In the comment section I would like everyone to add what they think I did wheather it’s wrong or right and, well will figure it out together.  Hope you have a great  Sunday enjoy the Super Bowl and remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE

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Hey everyone hope all is well today. Jeez I’m finally able to sit and relax and enjoy my dinner I cooked today. Lamb happens to be another one of my favorite meats to cook and actually it’s not hard at all. I know I’ve heard from some people they just don’t like it because of the strong taste that it has. Now I have to admit I only like my lamb chops as you see them above which is called french cut. Most of the time I have a very hard time finding them.

Your lamb chops need to marinade for at least two to three hours in a bowl with olive oil, fresh rosemary and and a little bit of garlic. I don’t even worry about taking the rosemary off the stem

Roasted Potatoes

5 or 6 Red Potatoes

2 Tlbs of Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

1 or 2 Heads of Garlic

I really love oven roasted potatoes one their very easy to cook and they really don’t take that long. So, with your oven on 425 degrees cut the potatoes into 1 1/2 size wedges. Salt and Pepper them then, take the olive oil and pour over the potatoes and mix them around making sure all the potatoes are covered with some olive oil you may also cover them with some crushed dry herbs.

Cut the tops off the Garlic cloves and season with salt and pepper and pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the middle of the garlic cloves and sit them directly on the same pan with the potatoes.

The one thing I like about roasted garlic is once it is done cooking and it pops out of the skins it’s nice and creamy and you can actually take it and spread it on your bread. Cook the potatoes for about 45 minutes until tender and slightly crispy and the garlic should be done itself.

Roasted Asparagus and Carrots

2 lbs of Asparagus

2 Large Carrots Sliced

2 tlbs Olive Oil

Roasting the vegetables is also very easy and it will only take about 20 minutes on 425 degrees. So after rinsing off the vegetables and patting them dry, season with salt and pepper and cover with the olive oil. Moving the vegetables around making sure they all are covered with oil and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Now it’s time to cook the lamb chops preheat the grill making sure that the heat is even. Spray with a little Pam spay or wipe the grill down with some olive oil. Cook the lamb chops about 5 to 6 minutes on each side until they are cooked the way you want them. I myself cook them well done.

So this was the meal that I decided to cook today it was easy and the whole prep time probably took no more than a hour. And of course don’t forget the rolls. So give these receip’s a try I really don’t think you will be disappointed. And always remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Today, I received an award from Gera of  Sweets Foods who nominated me for the Honest Scrap Award.  Thank you so much Gera I can’t believe it and just can’t contain my excitement. LOL your the best.

Honest Scrap” Award Rules

Well  everyone hope things are going well for all.  Today, my brother decided he was going to teach me how to make a Banana Pudding.  For some reason, he though it was very strange that I didn’t know how.  Actually, I just never made the attempt to make one and to be honest, I really had a dislike to bananas.  Yes you heard me had a dislike for bananas.

Well any who I decided to let him teach me what the heck I’m always game to learn something new when it comes to cooking that’s just how much I enjoy doing it.  So enough with all this yakking let’s get cooking.

Ingredients

4 egg yolks

2 cups milk

1/3 cup flour

Dash of salt

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

Vanilla Wafers

5-6 Ripe Bananas

Add the flour, sugar and salt  into a double boiler slowly add the egg yolks and the milk.  Cook  over the boiling water stirring constantly  for about 10 minutes until the liquid starts to thicken.  After you remove from heat, add 1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Now that we have the pudding done, it’s time to start layering the bowl this part was really a lot of fun for me. Geez  I need a life .

Now the first thing we did was, add a light layer of pudding on the bottom of the bowl to help the wafers  stick then, so the layers would be wafers, bananas and pudding.  We just kept layering and layering until the bowl was full or, we ran out of pudding.

Now  we had the egg whites in a seperate bowl adding about 1/2 tsp of cream of tarter we started to whip the egg whites and  slowly adding in the sugar and beating until they formed a peak.

See that little bitty peak LOL well any way, that is what your egg whites are suppose to look like.  I am really getting hungry.

 When this is finished add the whipped egg whites on top of the pudding sealing all of the edges.

Using a spatula is the way to make the peaks, just lightly pat then lift up until you get some peaks.  That just seems hard to explain.  LOL but, the last thing you need to do is place the pudding in a very hot oven for like 2-3 minutes you really have to watch it or it will burn.  So, this is how I learned to make my first Banana Pudding.  Thanks to my brother Doug it worked out well.

Thanks Doug you are a saint no patience but a saint. LoL and for those of you that don’t know how to make a Banana Pudding don’t be scared like me cause, it was really really easy.  And always remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Well it won’t be long it’s time for one more football game the daddy of them all.  The Super Bowl.  So, what are you serving your guest while their eyes are glued to the television.  Chicken, subs, pizza, chips, dip.  There are so many dishes you can serve just let your imagination go with it.

One of my favorites are the spicy buffalo wings.  They are so simple, it will probably take you about 30 minutes to prepare. 

Take about 2 lbs of buffalo wings and season with salt and pepper.  Since I’m always kicking  my wings up a notch I add some cayenne pepper and a little bit of garlic powder.

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In a deep fryer, cook the wings on 350 degrees and make sure you cook them until they are nice and brown. Once the wings are brown, let them drain on a couple pieces of paper towel.  Now mind you, you could bread the wings and you could bake the wings in the oven but, there is something about frying the wings in the hot grease and then dipping them into the butter and hot sauce that probably will  remind you of your favorite takeout where you normally purchase your favorite wings.

In the mean time, mix 1/2 cup of franks hotsauce  to two tablespoons of butter.  In a large mixing bowl, add the wings and then top with the hot sauce mixture.  Keep moving the wings around in the bowl till all the wings are coated.  Those of you who are familiar with Frank’s Hot Sauce, you already know the recipe is on the bottle.  This is one of my favorite condiments.   Another way to fix your spicy wings is on the grill.

Now, when I made these wings it was all about experimenting with my sauce to accomplish the taste I was looking for.  I really suggest doing a lot to change up the taste and also, to get you acquainted with learning about different spices.  These are just your typical grilled wings but, the sauce it is always the sauce and that’s what makes the difference.

This recipe I just used a regular sauce but I added things like habanero peppers, mustard, brown sugar, chili powder just what ever gets the taste right for me.  So get to experimenting you will be surprised at what you might come up with.  The last thing I can suggest would be some type of chili and I really love doing the white chili because it is so different and you can make it in the slow cooker which will save time and you can be working on another dish.

And last but not least, desert.  You always need a desert but, try something really easy and not expensive like brownies, cookies or maybe even a cake.  What ever you decide to make just make sure your not in the kitchen but with your company and enjoying the game.  And remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE

How many times have you heard someone say eat your veggies or, how many times have you told your children to eat their veggies.  I know I have heard it when I was growing up and I know I have  told my two children the same things, now I get to tell their children to eat their veggies.  Have you really sat and thought about how important it is to incorporate some type of  vegetable in our daily meals?

Eating fruits and vegetables everyday, helps reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.  According to the National Cancer Society, they recommend eating 5 1/2 cups of fruits, vegetables and juices every day.

One of the things that I do in the summer, is grow a garden with all our favorite vegetables then, all I have to do clean them up and freeze them for the winter.  Most of the time I have enough vegetables to get me through the whole winter and I know I have saved a lot of money.  So lets see all the different recipe’s we can come up with.

Cucumbers, okra, and potatoes I had a lot of them last year and really gave some away to my neighbors.  The cucumbers I used to make a tomatoes, cucumber and onion salad that really is my favorite and of  course it’s healthy.  Above, you see a  picture of the collard greens I grew and they are very good and you can add all types of spices to please your taste buds.

Collard Green Recipe

 5 bundles of Collard Greens

3  Ham hocks

Salt and Pepper

In a large pot,  add about 5 cups of  water and add the ham hocks.  Cook the ham hocks until they are good and tender about  1 1/2 hrs.  If the water goes down and the ham hocks are not done, add more water and continue cooking.  You really want the ham hocks to be falling apart and really tender.

While the ham hocks are cooking separate the greens from the stems and wash in cold water until they are free from dirt.  Stack four or five leaves on top of each other and roll up like a cigar.  Cut them into thin strips.  Once the greens are all cut up you should now be ready to add them to the pot they will wilt but just keep adding them until the pot is full.

Season with salt and pepper and cook for 30 minutes or until they are tender.  Don’t forget to stir them from the bottom up so that all the seasoning from the ham hocks can get to all the greens.  Once they are done serve with your meat like fried chicken and don’t forget the cornbread.

This was the very first time that I had made an attempt to make a cheesecake.  I usually would  just buy a slice if I was out and about and saw it.  Well not any more.  The other day I was moving around in the pantry and hit my foot on a heavy bag and of course with my nosey self, I opened the bag and to my surprise, I found a Magic Bullet. 

This gadget was something that I have always wanted so it had my complete interest.  I really was surprised at all the things this Magic Bullet can do like chopping onions and garlic, mixing bread dough, grating cheese, grinding spices, and even grinding meat.  There really is a lot of things that you can do with this little contraption.  Now I did read some reviews on the Magic Bullet so as always, you should use your own judgement  if you think you would like to invest in it.  I myself, would use it for liquids.

The recipe was very easy to do and only took me about 7 minutes to do with only 5 ingredients.

1  8 oz pkg Cream Cheese

2 Eggs

1 Tbs Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

1 Graham Cracker Pie Shell

Cook at 350 Degrees for 25 minutes.  Like Rachel Ray would say, how easy is that.  Now all you have to do is decide what topping you want to use.  I thought this was very easy and plan on doing some more experimenting.  So to all my gadget addicts this ones for you.  The  pie was very good very light and I will be making another one.  And always remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Comfort food to me  is a dish that when I smell it, I get excited when I taste it, I feel warm inside not  to mention sleepy and lazy.  One of my favorite comfort foods is chicken noodle soup you know food for the soul especially when I feel like I’m coming down with a cold and today, I have a cold and feel really really bad. 

 So I thought I would just recap on a recipe that I have previously done.  The recipe that I’m about to share with you is a keeper for my family.  So try it out and let me know what you think of  it.

Stock for Soup:

1 fryer cut up

4 quarts water

1 onion diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

3 bay leaves

2 chicken bouillon cubes

salt and pepper

Add all the ingredients to the pot and cook until chicken is done but not stringy about 45 minutes.  Remove chicken and bay leaves and onion.  When chicken is cooled enough for you to handle, get rid of bones, skin, and whatever else you don’t want.

Soup:

2 cups of chopped carrots and celery

2 cans of cream of celery

2 cans of cream of chicken

Season salt

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

1 bag of noodles

Bring the stock back to a boil and add the carrots and celery.  Let cook for about 14 minutes.  Add the egg noodles and cook for another 8 minutes.  When noodles are done, add chicken, parsley, and rosemary.

  Adjust your seasoning.  In a separate pot, heat up the cream of chicken and cream of celery.  When heated add to the pot of chicken and noodles.   Now, adding the cream of celery and cream of chicken is something I do when I want to have a creamy texture but, if your really not feeling well, you might want to omit it.

  I cook this soup whenever someone in my family is coming down with a cold or just plain doesn’t feel well.  And it always seems to work.  This is truly in my book  some good comfort food.  And remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE

This is got to be one of the best tasting plain cakes I have ever had.  But guess what? It’s as easy as 1234 LOL.  That’s actually the name of the cake believe it or not.  It’s light and fluffy just what you would expect for a pound cake.  So lets get right to it cause you just got to try it.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of butter softened

2 Cups of sugar

3 Cups Sifted Swans  Down Cake  Flour

3 Tsp baking powder

1/2 Tsp salt

4 Eggs

1 Cup Milk

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Tsp Almond Extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour your pan or use a bunt pan.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter and gradually add sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  In another bowl sift flour and baking powder and salt. 

Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings to cream mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.  Pour batter into cake  pan and bake or 25-30 minutes.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and finish cooling on rack.

 Now according to the ladies down south, the reason their cakes taste so darn good is because they do it all by hand.  No hand mixers just good old arm muscles but, you have to make sure you don’t over mix it. So you know what I say I need my mixer LOL.

But seriously, give this recipe a try this is the cake you make for the neighbor.

See Ya and remember,

KEEP IT SIMPLE