RANGER cookies!!

I had to emphasize on the word ranger for the title.  Red and all other military folk will appreciate and understand it.  Anyway.  It's almost midnight. I could be in bed reading or better yet sleeping, but, I've been craving something sweet all day.  So, I decided to go on the healthier side of the cookie department and make one of the multiple variations of the ranger cookie. 

2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup of butter, melted
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups of oats
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup of chopped nuts (I used pecans because its all I had...must go grocery shopping)
1/4 cup of chocolate chips
1/4 cup of flax seed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients together in ONE bowl (YAY for one bowl!!) and I like to sort of shape my cookies just so they hold together a little better in the oven.  Pop them in the oven at 375 for about ten minutes and there you have it! Chewy, oatmeal-ly, sweet ranger cookies that aren't too bad for you!

I'm off to have a warm cookie and a glass of milk before bed.  Enjoy, kids!

Meatballs and BBQ Sauce

My husband, Red, loves beef and anything BBQ. He would eat BBQ sauce on anything if he was allowed.  I kinda threw everything together one time in hopes it would be the best meatball ever, and though it might not be the best, its pretty dang fantastic. Make the BBQ sauce to go with and this is total man food.  Great for a husband's birthday, football party or whatever.  They're great for making a big batch ahead of time and freezing them.  Just pull them out whenever you need a meatball fix or to throw in a pasta dish.  Can't go wrong here!

For the meatballs you'll need:
2 lbs of ground meat, I use ground round
2 eggs, beaten (1 egg per pound of meat)
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup of onion flakes
3 tblsps ground black pepper
1/4 cup of parsley flakes
2 tblsps garlic powder

In a food processor, pulse the ground meat around for 2 minutes.  You want to get it finely ground.  It won't have much texture left to it.  Place the meat in a separate bowl and combine all ingredients with the meat.  Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet.  Then, put the cookie sheet with the meatballs on it in the freezer to firm them up for about 20 minutes. 

Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium low heat.  Dredge the meatballs in flour one at a time and add them to the skillet.  Cook thoroughly. 

For the sauce:
2 cups of ketchup
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of onion flakes
1 tsp of vinegar
worcestershire sauce to taste

Add all ingredients to a sauce pan and heat through.  You may want to adjust the brown sugar or onion flakes.  You may also add extra vinegar and do an adjustment on the brown sugar if you like a more vinegar based BBQ sauce.

Death by Chocolate Cake

I made a chocolate cake last night.  It was just one of those things.  I began craving it and I wouldn't rest easy until a chocolate cake was in my house.  I don't buy boxed cakes, cookies, etc.  Aside from the fact they're packed with God only knows what, they're way too easy to make and I have no will when it comes to sweets.  So the harder it is to make something sweet, or better yet find the time since I'm usually only making dinner/lunch fare, the better. 

But like I said, it had to happen.  So here's how it all went down.

You'll need:
Cake:
1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips OR 12 semi sweet chocolate squares (I use Baker's One)
1/2 cup of butter softened
1 (16oz) package of brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups of all purpose flour (I've used whole wheat before and it totally worked out)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8oz of sour cream
1 cup of hot water
2tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt the chocolate in either the microwave or on the stove until nice and smooth. 

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until well blended.  Add your eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg.  Add melted chocolate and beat until just blended.

In another bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix the dry ingredients together so they're well incorporated.  Then add this to your chocolate mix.  Mix on medium.  Add sour cream, mix well until blended.  Mix in your water until well blended.  Stir in the vanilla.

Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans.  Spoon the batter into the pans and bake for approximately 35-45 minutes.  When they're done, pop them out of the pans and cool on wire racks.

Frosting and I don't always see eye to eye.  I can make the exact same recipe and have it turn out to thick sometimes, then other times its too thin.  So just work with it a little to get it to the consistency you like it to be.

Frosting:
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of milk
1 (16oz) package of powdered sugar
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa ( I use a little more, because I like it REALLY chocolately)
1 tsp of vanilla or almond extract

Melt butter in a saucepan on the stove with the milk.  In a mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, cocoa and extract.  When the butter is melted, add this to your dry ingredient bowl.  I will use my whisk attachment on my mixer for this and it tends to break up the sugar.  If the frosting is too thick you can add little splashes of milk to get it thinner and then add powdered sugar if its too thin.  Helpful hint here is: the longer the frosting sits, the firmer it becomes.  This recipe should make plenty of frosting for a double layer cake.  I usually have extra left over.

Frost your cake after the cakes have cooled and have lots of milk on  hand to wash it down with :)

French Toast Muffins

Guilty pleasure of mine, carbs.  I do NOT advise eating these but on the very rare occasion ;)   These are a cross between a donut and muffin. They're delicate and amazingly sweet. Not for the faint of heart!

Proceed with caution....

Preheat oven 350

Muffins:
3 cups of flour
3 tsps of baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cups of sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
2/3 cup shortening

Place flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add each egg in one at a time, blending well after each addition. Add milk and dry ingredients, alternating while blending each well into the shortening and sugar mixture. 

Spoon 1/3 cup of mixture into greased muffin pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Coating:
1/2 cup of sugar
4 tsps cinnamon
1 cup of butter, melted

In one bowl combine cinnamon and sugar and place melted butter in a separate bowl.  Take the warm muffins out of the pan, roll each muffin in the butter and then roll into the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Place on wire rack to cool and set. 

Chicken Soup

I recently made a large batch of chicken soup for the freezer.  The girls are going to be starting back to school here soon and I know its just going to be a matter of time before we all fall to the dreaded respiratory/cold that everyone seems to get during the first month of school.  Though, we're usually pretty healthy!  Anyhow, I left the noodles out of this until its time to pull it from the freezer.  Don't want mushy noodles.

In a large stock pot, throw some chicken in enough water to cover it.  I used a half chicken, bone in to get that flavor, but you can use however much chicken you want or don't want, then add 2 tblsps of black pepper.

Finely chop one medium yellow onion, three gloves of garlic and 7 stalks of celery.  Add the onion and garlic to the pot with the chicken, reserve the celery until the chicken is fully cooked.  Bring the pot to a boil.

After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and let it cool.  Reduce heat on the pot.  Pick the meat from the chicken, discarding the bones and skin.  Add the meat back to the pot with a bag of baby carrots and celery.  I added a few extra shakes of pepper and a chicken bouillon cube.  Cover and continue to cook until carrots are tender crisp if you're freezing, or until tender if you're planning on eating immediately. 

Ladle the soup freezer safe containers.  Pull them out of the freezer, plop them in a pot and bring back up to a boil to add the noodles later.  Great soup on the cheap!

Ready for the freezer!

Strawberry Oatmeal Flax Bars

These are fantastic with the homemade jam I make.  The kids love them for breakfast or a quick snack.  Super easy too!

2 sticks of cold butter
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup of coconut, if desired
1/2 cup of oats
1 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg
1-2 cups of strawberry preserves or jam (or whatever you like!)

Combine the dry ingredients and cut in your cold butter using a pastry blender or forks.  Press the mixture into a 13x9 inch pan.  Reserve some of the crumble for the top.  Spoon over the bottom layer and spread evenly.  Use the rest of the crumble mixture for the top by gently pressing it into the jam.  Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes.  Let cool completely before cutting into squares. 

My Favorite Things

Over the years I've formed a very close relationship with some of my kitchen items.  Perhaps, unhealthy.  I actually might cry if my steamer stopped working.  So, I thought I'd post a few things that I find to be the most helpful in my kitchen.  Things that I just couldn't live without.  So here we go.

Martha Stewart.  Ex- con or not, she knows her shiz.  I absolutely love these biscuit/cookie/donut cutters. You can find these at Macy's. They make life easier when making mass amounts of biscuits and since they're "nesting" cutters, they don't take up much space in my drawer.  And its a good thing.

Chicago Cutlery makes a really good knife set on the budget.  I bought mine a few years ago for next to nothing at Kohl's, we didn't have much money back then.  But I had a coupon, they were an extra 30% off and I had a gift card from my birthday and I literally bought these for like 20 bucks.  A good knife makes all the difference.

When I make cookies, I MAKE cookies.  I'm serious about some cooking making.  That's why I love The Food Network's cookie sheets.  I've used these for pizzas as well.  Perfectly golden crusts and cookies everytime.  They clean up so easily and these are the only ones that say they're non stick and actually ARE.  Amazing.

The French Rolling Pin.  Amazing tool in the kitchen and in combat if need be.  Perfect for pastry rolling and precise rolling.  I love this thing.

KitchenAid.  Beautiful, glorious.....KitchenAid.  I've already established I'm serious about cookie making.  I had put off getting one of these for years and its almost shameful how much one of these things cost. When our nanny of four years and friend were coming up on their wedding, she asked if I would make around 600 cookies for her cookie bar she set out for guests while the bridal party had their photos taken.  So I bit the bullet and finally bought one. But, my motto in all things is, if you're going to be a bear, be a big one.  So I got the commerical grade.  No regrets.

I'm originally from Illinois and the only other state in the country that's as gung ho about their pizza as we are is New York.  I make mass amounts of pizza for our family.  This pizza pan is deep dish and is like a little taste of home.  If you want a two inch thick crust, and let's face it, that's the only way to eat pizza, pick up a Nordic Ware Pizza Pan.  And for the record, Illinois does it better.

Veggie Steamers.  Makes my life so much easier and healthier.  Perfectly cooked vegetables everytime. I use mine almost every day.  Life. Changed.

I'd also like to thank Ipod, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, The Temptations, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Evanescence, Lucero, Pink Floyd, BB King, Muddy Waters, Blind Melon, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson,  Jay-Z, Queen, Elvis, Terry Reid, The Black Keys and A Perfect Circle for providing the tunage for me to zone out and relieve some stress in the kitchen. 

Bacon and Spinach Quiche

I love quiche.  They're quick to throw together, they're freezer friendly and they're great for our kids since they have a little bit of everything in them!  I used my cobbler/pie crust recipe with these.  If you have a tart plate with the removeable plate like I do, you can use that, or a regular pie plate works just as well.

Preheat oven to 400.  After making your crust, press it into your pan, making sure you have enough crust for the sides. 

Filling:
4 pieces of cooked bacon, sausage (any kind you want) finely chopped
half of a medium size yellow onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup of chopped spinach
1/3 cup of cheddar cheese
1/3 cup of milk
8 eggs
2 tsps black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, whisk the eggs until well beaten.  Place your pie or tart plate on a cookie sheet and pour the filling into your unbaked crust.  Bake quiche for 40-45 minutes. 

These are great to make ahead if you're expecting company or on a holiday morning.  Place everything in the pan uncooked and bake in the morning.

The second one, I added about a 1/4 cup of chopped cherry tomatoes!

Bagels

Bagels are fantastic for just about anything! They're great with cream cheese or when using for a sandwich!  These are fantastic to have on hand for holidays or a brunch.  You can add raisins, cinnamon, swap out the white flour for wheat.  Whatever you want!

1 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cup warm mik (110-115 degrees)
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tblsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
3 3/4 cup all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in milk.  Add butter, sugar, salt and egg yolk.  Stir in enough dough for soft dough.  Grease bowl and put dough in a bowl, flip dough to coat all sides.  Let rise for 1 hour.  After dough has risen, punch it down.  Roll into approximate size of tennis balls.  Cut one inch hole in center or punch your thumb through the center.  Let rest 10-15 minutes while pot of water boils.  Flatten bagels slightly, drop bagels one at a time into water.  When the bagel starts to float (about one minute) move to greased cookie sheet.  Brush the tops with a beaten egg for a nice golden brown top.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Bagels will rise up as they bake!

YUM!

Make smaller versions of these for homemade bagel bites!  Top them with pizza sauce and cheese or scrambled eggs, sausage and cheese! Excellent for the freezer!

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

Fantastic soup I just threw together recently! This would be great with some crusty French bread!

1 yellow onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch of fresh broccoli roughly chopped
1 bag of baby carrots
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 1/2 cups of chicken stock/broth
2 tblsp of flour
1 cup of water
2 tsp black pepper
2 cups cheddar cheese
3/4 cup of milk
4 tblsp butter

In a stock pot, sauté garlic, onion and carrots in butter. Add potatoes, pepper and stock. Boil and Cook until potatoes are tender. Add flour to water, then add to soup to thicken. Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is tender. Bring soup to a simmer, stir in cheese.

*add shredded chicken to bulk it up.


You could use the left over soup in a pot pie using the pie crust recipe!

Best Biscuits

Our family loves eating a big breakfast.  Most times when Steve is off work we will make a big breakfast together (I love a man in the kitchen!).  Eggs, bacon, gravy and....biscuits.  These of course go great with a good comfort meal like a pot roast or hearty soup.  Quick and easy and oh so delicious!

2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsps baking powder
3 tsps sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients.  Cut in your shortening with a pastry blender until you have a crumbly mixture.  Beat your egg and milk together and stir into the shortening mixture until just moistened.  Turn the dough onto a floured surface.  Roll the dough to a 3/4 inch thickness.  Using a 2 1/2 inch floured biscuit cutter, cut biscuits and bake on a parchment paper lined baking sheet at 450 for 8-10 minutes. 

These little guys really rise up as they bake!

Whole Wheat Bread

I started making homemade bread awhile back.  Its easy and it make the house smell AH-MAZING! I love this recipe.  The dough freezes really well, or if you'd like to bake the loaves and freeze those, that works too!

3 cups of warm water
2 packages of dry active yeast ( one package equals 2 1/4 tsps of yeast)
2/3 cup of honey
5 cups bread flour
3 tbslps melted butter
1 tblsp salt
3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour (give or take)
2 tblsp melted butter (for after baking)

Mix the water and yeast thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.  Add honey, bread flour and stir to combine.  Mix 3 tblsps of melted butter and salt.  Stir 2 cups of whole wheat flour into the dough.  Flour a surface and knead the rest of the flour in.  Your dough should be slightly elastic and not sticky. 

Grease a large bowl.  Place the dough in the bowl and turn the dough upside down so that the top and bottom are greased.  Cover with a towel and let rise until double.  When dough has doubled, punch down and divide into two balls.  Grease two loaf pans (be sure to grease the rims of the pans so when the dough rises and bakes it doesn't stick to the top of the pan) and set your oven to warm.  Place loaves in the pans and then put them in the oven to rise again until the dough rises above the top of the pan.  After the dough has risen again, preheat your oven to 350 and bake bread for 30-45 minutes.  When the bread is finished take a stick of butter and rub it over the tops of the loaves, let it rest in the pans for 15 minutes, then pop the bread out to cool completely on wire racks. Slice bread with serated bread knife. 

Herbert Wayne's Blackberry Cobbler with crust recipe

When I was a little girl I would hang out in the kitchen with my Grandma Kelley (my mom's mom).  She was/is one of those women who could do just about anything.  Hold down a fulltime job, run a house and keep it clean, raise two kids, sew anything you handed her and cook up meals like there was nothing to it.  Her husband, my grandfather and one of my very most favorite people that ever lived (God rest his soul!), loved anything blackberry.  His birthday would've been today and my grandma or mom would either make him blackberry dumplings or a blackberry cobbler.  So I thought in honor of my grandpa, Herbert Wayne Kelley, I would post this for all to enjoy!

I was able to score an awesome deal at the farmer's market last year on some blackberries.  I froze some and canned some.  So I just pulled these out of the freezer, placed them in a bowl and threw about a cup of sugar over the top so you get that good syrupy texture.

This is the crust recipe I use on all my pies, cobblers, even pot pies. It makes the equivalent to one 9 inch pie crust.  Enjoy ya'll!

1 cup of flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/3 cup of butter flavored crisco (regular works fine too)
3-4 tablespoons of ice cold water

Combine your flour, sugar and crisco first.  Then add in the water one tablespoon at a time.  Sometimes I end up having to use a little more to get a good rolling consistency. 

Flour a surface and roll out your dough.  I doubled this recipe to I would have plenty for the bottom part of my cobbler.  Used the leftover scraps for decoration.  Bake for about 30-40 minutes on 350 or until bubbly.

Erik's Graham Crackers

We have four children, three girls and one boy.  The youngest, Erik, is almost a year old.  Hard to believe how fast this last year went by!  Something you need to know about Erik is, he likes to eat.  You would never know by looking at him, but he LOVES to eat.  The boy always has to have something to gnaw on!  His favorite snack lately is graham crackers. After watching him go through box upon box, I decided it was time to make these. 

Now I know exactly what's in them and I always have the supplies on hand in case we run out!  So here's what I did.

1 cup of pastry flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup of all purpose flour
2 cups of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
2 cold sticks of unsalted butter
2/3 cup of clover honey
10 tbslsp milk
2 tsblsp vanilla extract
2 tsp of ground cinnamon


Combine all flours, brown sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Work by hand to blend all the flour mixture together, well.  Add in your two sticks of butter and blend well with a pastry blender (you could also use forks or pulse on your food processor for this).  Make sure you get all the butter incorporated into the flour mixture. 

In another bowl combine milk, honey, vanilla and cinnamon.  Wisk together well.  There should be no visible honey left hanging around anywhere! Add the wet ingredients to your flour mixture and mix with a hand mixer until the dough barely holds together.  The dough will be crumbly looking, yet wet and easy to stick together. 

Shape into a ball, move to a floured bowl and chill in the fridge for two hours.

I only have a certain amount of time to get these kinds of things done, so I put my dough in the freezer for a half hour.  Let it get firm and took a handful out at a time. 

While Steve and I were still trying to decide whether we were going to try for a number 4 baby, translation: a boy, I found these awesome cookie cutters and thought to myself "These would be awesome if we ever have a boy!" So I'm putting them to good use.  Dinosaur Graham Crackers!

You will need to flour your rolling surface quite heavily.  This dough is pretty sticky even after its been in the freezer.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle, 1/4 inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter.  Or with a pizza cutter, cut into desired length of cracker.

Arrange the crackers on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.  The tops of the crackers should still be slightly soft and the edges a little crispy when you take them out of the oven. Let them cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes.  As they cool they become more cracker-like. 

Erik approved!

Meatloaf

Simple and comforting.  The meatloaf.  I use ground round here, but you're free to substitute it with whatever you like, I've even made this with ground turkey.  Still amazing.

1 1/2 pounds of ground round
1/2 cup of oats or bread crumbs
2 tsps worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup onion flakes or finely chopped onion
3 minced gloves of garlic
3 tblsp parsley flakes or finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup of milk
2 eggs,beaten
2 tsp black pepper
I have been known to add ketchup in the meatloaf or on top.

Combine all ingredients well.  Preheat oven to 375, press the meat mixture into a 8x8 pan or two loaf pans and bake for 30-45 minutes.  You may need to stop half way to drain the grease off.  But if you're using a leaner meat, you shouldn't have much of a problem. 

Makes great leftovers for sandwiches!

French Bread and other uses.

Bread.  Glorious bread!!! I love French bread.  These are quick and easy.  Make several loaves for the freezer or for sandwiches.  Have fresh bread start to finish in one hour. This recipe makes two loaves, easily.

1 1/2 cups of warm water
2 tsps sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups of bread flour
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

I mix everything in  my Kitchenaid, God Bless America for Kitchenaid mixers! The dough will be slightly sticky.  Flour a surface and roll into 8 in wide, 11 in long rectangle.  Roll from the longest end, pinch closed.  Lay loaves on a greased baking sheet and let rise in a warm place, like the top of your stove while it's preheating to 375.  Let rise for about 20 minutes.  After the dough has risen, cut four, one inch slashes into the bread.  You can do a quick brush of one beaten egg with a half cup of water, but it isn't necessary.  Bake bread for 20-30 minutes.

Now what would happen if the dough married some pepperoni and then had an affair with cheese and sauce? They would have an illegitimate love child named pepperoni roll!

Mix up your dough, roll it out.  Spread some pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni--of course you can use whatever type of meat or veggies you like.  This is your fling, go crazy! 

Roll it up, pinch it closed.  Lay it seam down on the greased baking sheet and let them rise for 20 minutes.  Pop those bad boys in the oven for 30-35 minutes.  Keep tabs on them so they don't burn.  When they're done, let them cool a little on the pans.  Slice into them and try not to get any drool on anything.

Ooooo child.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Beautiful, glorious muffins!  These aren't as bad for you as some.  I like to add some flax to mine as well.  You don't really have to.  I love anything I can make in one bowl.  These are awesome!

3/4 cup milk
2 cups Whole Wheat flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup of any kind of oil--veggie, coconut, EVOO...I've done it all.  Oil junkie.  Right here.
1 cup fresh or thawed blueberries

Mix all ingredients and fold in your berries gently.  Your batter will be slightly dry.  Should resemble a slightly thicker brownie batter.  But if it looks too dry, just splash in a little extra milk.  Bake 400 for 22-24 minutes.

Swap out blueberries for whatever you've got laying around!

Smashed Potatoes

Are you ready to lay some beatings down on some potatoes? 

Prepare yourself.

One of my favorite things is good mashed potatoes.  So I started making these.  My husband hates smashed potatoes, so I usually just leave one out and bake it for him.  What kind of person doesn't like smashed potatoes anyway? Weirdo.

So I get about 6-8 Idaho potatoes.  Wash 'em, peel 'em and throw them in a stock pot with some water to cover them and boil those dudes. When they're tender, strain the water and return the potatoes to the pot. 

Nothing is exact when making these since everyone prefers their potatoes different ways.  But here's what I do.

I take about a half stick of butter, 3 tablespoons of pepper (I dig pepper), a cup of shredded cheddar cheese and when no one's looking I put a half package of softened cream cheese in the mix.  Take your potato masher and smash.  Smash until your hearts content or the ingredients are all blended. 

If you're really feeling bold you can spread these in a covered dish, sprinkle with more cheese and put them in the oven with my basic brisket recipe just long enough for the cheese to get gooey. 

Ohhh yeeeaaahhhh.

Here's a little nugget of wisdom.....you can freeze these.

Basic Brisket

One of the scariest meals to most folks is the brisket.

Breathe and say it with me....Brisket.

Its incredibly delicious when you do it correctly.  Its one of those meals you can put in the oven when you're expecting company for dinner and leave it there while you tidy up the house.  Really, there's nothing to it.

So here's what I do.  I get a brisket.  I take out some season salt, onion flakes or you can slice up an onion and arrange it around the brisket.  Garlic salt is nice, lots o' pepper.  Basically any kind of spice you really like. 

I preheat my oven to 250.  You don't want to go over 250, a brisket is a cut of meat you want to cook on a low temp over a long period of time.  I use a shallow baking pan or cookie sheet.  Lay the brisket fatty side up, seasoned, in the baking sheet with about a 1/4 cup of water.  I suppose you could use some broth if you want, I would be careful doing that though.  Could make your meat really salty....and no one likes salty meat ;)

As I was saying....cover the brisket with foil, pop him in the oven and let him cook.  A good rule of thumb is one hour per pound.  When you take it out, it should fall apart when you look at it. 

This is seriously one of my favorite cuts of meat to cook.  Its incredibly tender and because most people are intimidated by cooking one, you'll be a rockstar at dinnertime!

Is good, no??

See what I mean???

Buttermilk Pancakes

After much thought and the massive amounts of emails and comments I get on facebook for my "food junkie" album, I thought I would start posting some of recipes in a separate blog for those of you on a busy schedule or if you're looking for something different to make!

Some of the recipes I have, have been passed down to me through my family.  Others I've found online and modified, or left the same, and they ended up in a recipe book my husband bought for my birthday one day to catalog all of my recipes in. 

I can not be held accountable for the amount of time you'll spend on a treadmill after eating some of these recipes!  Enjoy!

Yields 12

3 cups of flour (any kind will do)
2tblsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups of buttermilk
1/2 cup of milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup of melted butter
2 tsps of vanilla or almond extract

Combine all ingredients well.  Ladel onto a buttered griddle. 

The nice thing about this is, if you like thinner pancakes, omit your baking soda and you'll have practically a crepe thin pancakes. Ricky Bobby, anyone?