Chili from Leftover Roast Beef

This bowl is for my picky son. Therefore, no toppings.

Last night we had basic chuck roast for dinner with potatoes and carrots. It was yummy. We had a decent amount of roast left over, so I thought I would make some taquitos with the leftovers for our Sunday lunch. Well, I didn't really have enough corn tortillas for that, so I got to thinking that I should make some chili with it. Ruby's Diner in California makes their chili using shredded beef, and I'm surprised I've never tried it at home before. Today was my day, and I have to tell you, it was a great success. I've eaten way more than I should have, and I think my husband now regrets selecting a Totino's pizza for his lunch before I got home. 
I used Williams Original Chili Seasoning Mix because it's just what I use. You could use your own favorite chili mix or recipe; just replace the browned ground beef with the leftover roast. It's a quick, hearty, delicious way to enjoy day old roast beef.

Chili from Leftover Roast Beef

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups leftover chuck roast in chunks (not yet shredded)
• 1/2 to 1 package Williams Original Chili Seasoning Mix
• 3 oz. tomato paste (about half a can)
• 1 1/2 cups water (approx.)
• 1 beef bullion cube
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup masa flour mixed with about 1/2 cup warm water (optional)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• grated cheddar cheese, salsa, green onions, or other desired topping/garnish
• Homemade Tortilla Chips or Homemade French Fries

Instructions:
In a medium sized heavy saucepan over medium heat, warm up the leftover roast and 1/2 cup water. Once the water starts to simmer, add 6 to 8 teaspoons of the chili seasoning mix (amount depends on how much roast you have). Add the tomato paste, beef bullion, and 1 more cup water and stir. Break up larger chunks of meat as you stir. If you want a thicker, tighter chili, pour in the masa/water mixture while stirring rapidly until incorporated. Add the tablespoon of butter. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5-10 minutes on low, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste.
Top servings with your favorite chili toppings. Serve with Homemade Tortilla Chips or Homemade French Fries.
Makes 4-5 servings.

Gluten Free Baking

I'm only now really getting into gluten free baking, after several years of fits and starts of getting my son onto a gluten free (really, gluten limited) diet. If you would like to know details of our story, feel free to email me, and I'll be happy to tell you all about it. For his sake, I don't feel it's appropriate to blog about for all the world to read. I'm a pretty open person, but this is where I decide to honor my kid as an individual because my hope is that he will grow up into a responsible adult with his own life and his own reputation to make and uphold.
That being said, I will tell you that we have found that our son's emotional and mental state are negatively affected by gluten. He's a much better him when he's NOT had gluten. Now that he's 12, and the stakes are so much higher (in my former-middle-school-teacher opinion), I'm being more aggressive about keeping him away from gluten and part of that is making some gluten free baked goods myself, because much of what I've seen out there is either gross or creepy (gf bagels that smell and taste like feet, and shelf-stable gf breads--weird). I clearly like to bake, and I've finally discovered a gluten free flour that makes delicious baked goods: Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. I don't write this because they're a sponsor and they're giving me money or products. I buy it just like everyone else...because it's awesome. Go to their website to read about Naomi Poe's story of how she came up with this flour blend.
I don't have a ton of gf recipes yet, but in the coming months (now that I've purchased my 25 pound bag of Better Batter) I hope to add several more. If you're looking for a large amount and variety of gf recipes, start at the Better Batter website and then also go to Gluten Free On a Shoestring. She's got a ton of great recipes too.
Again, if you have any questions about what I know about gf baking, or about my kid's condition, please feel free to email me.
P.S. Because I started my gluten free label for my posts before I started baking much, you might find some non-baking recipes in this section. The misnomer frustrates me a little, but I'm going to leave it as is out of laziness and the hope that maybe some gluten free recipe seeker will like it.

Gluten Free Hamburger Buns

Bun after the collapse.

Bun before the collapse. So puffy.

The interior looks like the regular bread I know.

Now that I'm determined to keep my son's gluten intake almost non-existent, I've been buying lots of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour and trolling BetterBatter.org for recipes. This one looked interesting, and turned out even MORE interesting. The whole beating the batter for 10 minutes was weird. And four eggs? After reading the recipes and reviews, I decided they'd probably turn out like cream puff shells, but I'd try them anyway.
First of all, once beaten, the batter/dough felt so cool! I mean, I wanted to keep some and play with it a little bit. It felt like marshmallow fluff, but not sticky. When I smoothed the tops with the water, I was afraid they'd collapse because there seemed to be so much air incorporated into the batter, but they didn't. And they puffed up beautifully in the oven and they look great. My picky gf son even liked eating them plain.
Oh, one more note: the recipe on BetterBatter.org calls for 1/3 cup sugar, and I made mine with a scant 1/3 cup. I thought they were too sweet, so I reduced the amount to 1/4 cup below. So, if you like a sweeter burger bun, use the 1/3 cup. If you like it more savory, I would even try cutting back a little more. I'm just not sure if that will affect the finished product though.

Gluten Free Hamburger Buns
     --from BetterBatter.org

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk (or water)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and arrange your oven racks to accommodate two pans. Get out two sheets of parchment paper and trace six evenly spaced 3.5 to 4 inch circles on each, in pencil. Invert paper onto baking sheets so that the pencil is on the underside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. Beat the eggs and milk into the dry ingredients on high speed for 7-10 minutes. While batter is being beaten, place a gallon size zip-top bag into a large plastic cup, ready to fill with the batter when it's done.
After 7-10 minutes, your batter should become a thick fluffy mass that seems very wet. Naomi at BetterBatter.org described it as "a consistency between soft butter-cream and cookie dough."
Working quickly, scoop/scrape the batter into the prepared zip top bag. Twist the opening of the bag and snip one inch of a corner. Pipe batter into the circle shapes, the way you would frost a cupcake with a piping bag of frosting. Circles should be about 1/2 inch thick. Do not let the buns touch.
Still working quickly, dip your fingers into water and smooth over the tops of the batter circles to make smooth, shiny tops. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or onions, if desired.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15- 20 minutes, switching buns from one shelf to the other at about 13-14 minutes. Bake until tops are well browned.
Remove from oven and allow to cool COMPLETELY before slicing. They will deflate a bit.
Freeze unused buns and pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds or so, or in a 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes when ready to use.

Makes 12 grocery store brand sized hamburger buns

Croissant Breakfast Sandwich ala Shorehouse Cafe

Croissant Breakfast Sandwich
with eggs, sausage, cheese, and french fried onions.

What a bummer! I just tried to look up the Shorehouse Cafe in Long Beach, CA, where I got the idea for this tasty breakfast/brunch item, and I see that it's CLOSED! Such a bummer. Well, I guess I won't feel too bad for stealing their idea then. Sigh.
At any rate, it WAS at the Shorehouse Cafe on Second Street in Long Beach, California, where I used to eat this breakfast/brunch somewhat regularly. I went there with friends, boyfriends, and then my husband. It was one of those places where we'd say, "Remember that time here when..." only to realize it was some OTHER person we'd dated whom we were with at the Shorehouse Cafe at the time. 
That was many moons ago, though, and today, as I was putting together Sunday afternoon lunches for my kids, I remembered this breakfast sandwich that I loved so much. It's a pretty basic thing that you can mix up and add any ingredients you'd like. Today, for me, it was eggs, breakfast sausage, cheddar cheese, and French's French Fried Onions. The onions were an afterthought, but they really were the "icing" on this sandwich. Glad I never did put those things away (and that I didn't snack them all away) after making green bean casserole on Christmas.
The recipe below is simply what I did, but again, this sandwich is wide open to interpretation. I really just wanted to take a pic of the delicious thing and post it on my blog here. Cheers!

Croissant Breakfast Sandwich ala Shorehouse Cafe

Ingredients:

• 1 large croissant
• 1 breakfast sausage link
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons half and half (plain milk is fine too)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup or so shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 teaspoons French's French Fried Onions

Instructions:
Slice the croissant horizontally. In a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven, heat the croissant (closed) until crisp on the outside and warm on the interior, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, over medium heat in an omelette pan, cook/heat the sausage until well browned. (I only used one, but two probably would have been better. Trying not to go crazy with the sodium.) 
While the sausage cooks, beat the eggs with the half and half (or milk) until thoroughly blended and bubbly. 
When sausage is cooked, cut it into half to quarter inch size pieces while still in the pan. You should have a little bit of grease left in the pan with the sausage. (If you're using a low fat sausage, you might want to make sure you do this in a non-stick pan, but don't cut the sausage in the non-stick pan--cut it on the side and return it to the pan.) 
Add the beaten eggs to the pan that is still over medium heat, cook and stir gently with a silicone spatula until eggs are just set and have no visibly wet/shiny bits. Salt and pepper to taste.
Place the croissant open faced on a baking sheet, place eggs/sausage on one side, sprinkle eggs with cheese and onions. Close sandwich and return to oven for 2-3 minutes to make sure the cheese gets melted.
Serve hot with a knife and fork.
Makes 1 generous serving.

Chocolate Wafer & Whipped Cream Sandwiches

Chocolate Wafer & Whipped Cream Sandwiches

This evening, our family has been invited to dinner at our friends' house. I get to bring dessert, so I decided to make some simple Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies. Well, my husband really does NOT like almond flour chocolate chip cookies. I was vaguely aware of this when I made them, but I love them so much that I figured he would taste one again and realize how fantastic they really are. So much for that. He didn't like them.
Soooo...I decided to take along another offering for dessert: Chocolate Wafer and Whipped Cream Sandwiches, because they too are super delicious and I never did use the Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers I bought over the holidays. 
I have made a version of these before with mascarpone frosting instead of plain whipped cream. These are "the original," the way a parent at my school makes them, except I don't know if she/he used stabilized whipped cream like I am. I'm hoping the stabilization of the whipped cream doesn't mess it up. Now I'm second guessing my choice, but it's too late now. I'm also hoping that in three hours the wafers will be soft because that's how they're supposed to be when you eat them. They end up tasting like soft, delicate little ice cream sandwiches. I'll be sure to update the post when I know these details.
*Update: The stabilized whipped cream worked great, but I don't really think it's necessary to use in this recipe. Just regular whipped cream would be fine. They were in the fridge about 5 hours before we ate them, and the wafers were plenty soft. So, so good. Now I need to check the local grocery stores to see if they still have some of these left after the holidays.

Chocolate Wafer and Whipped Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 1 box Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
• 1 cup heavy cream (or sub one batch of stabilized whipped cream for the cream and sugar)
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions:

Whip the heavy cream with the powdered sugar until relatively firm peaks form. Scoop whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star or round tip--or you can just use a gallon sized zip-top bag and then snip off about a half inch of one corner.

On a cookie sheet (that you can line with wax paper, if desired), lay out 12 of the wafers (you might be able to get more than 12 finished sandwiches, but sometimes the wafers break).

Pipe a layer of whipped cream, about 3/8 of an inch thick, onto each wafer. Top with another wafer. Pipe another layer of whipped cream onto wafer #2 and top with a third wafer. If you want to, you can pipe on a little topper, but it's not necessary.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving so the wafers have time to soften.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve, and cover and refrigerate leftovers.

Makes 12-15 sandwiches.

Green Salad with Craisins, Gorgonzola, Pecans, Red Onion and Vinaigrette

I forgot to add the onion before taking this pic.

Most of the ingredients for the salad. Just left the bag of lettuces out of the pic.

I'm starting off the new year with a healthy salad recipe. I don't even know how to name this salad. It's just the salad that I've gotten my last two visits to Zombie Burger. I know, I know, why would someone go to a place called "Zombie Burger" and not eat a burger? Normally I do, but I also really enjoy their chili cheese fries, which come in a basket larger than my head. If I get the salad, then I can eat more chili cheese fries. Plus, the salad is super yummy. Make sense now? 
Zombie burger makes their "Zombie Salad" with all of these ingredients, except they use a raspberry vinaigrette, and I'm using Panera's bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette because I've experimented with raspberry vinaigrettes, and I have yet to find one that pleases me. I know I like the Panera vinaigrette, so I went with it, and it is delicious.
I'm honestly not much of a salad eater. If you look around on this blog, you'll see that I have one other salad recipe: Chinese Chicken Salad (and it's great, by the way). Sometime in my early adulthood I went from non-salad eater, to eater of salad in social situations (like at wedding receptions and on dates where I didn't think it was appropriate to reject the compulsory salad course), to an actual salad eater, someone who enjoys salads even as a main meal. (I still need to figure out the dressing that Ruby's uses on their Chinese Chicken Salad....) It so happens that I met my husband in my social-salad-eater phase, and he is also a picky eater. He eats no salad. EVER. Therefore, I don't make salads very much. I enjoy them when I eat out, which is not very often. Perhaps I should make it my new year's resolution to take more salads to work to eat for lunch.
At any rate, this is a really tasty salad that is relatively easy to make, and I think I will be making it more often. Next time I might even use baby spinach like Trader Joe's does in one of their bagged salads. 
If you make this, of course feel free to adjust the amounts of individual ingredients to suit your taste. This is how I enjoyed it.
Happy New Year!

Green Salad with Craisins, Gorgonzola, Pecans, Red Onion and Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bag Dole Sweet Baby Lettuces (or baby spinach)
• 2 tablespoons Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
• 2 tablespoons Craisins (sweetened dried cranberries)
• 2 tablespoons chopped roasted pecans
• 1-2 tablespoons chopped red onion
• 2-3 tablespoons vinaigrette dressing (I used Panera's Balsamic Vinaigrette today)

Instructions:
Empty the half bag of baby greens into a large-ish bowl. Sprinkle lettuces with Gorgonzola, Craisins, pecans, and onions. Pour dressing all over the salad. Lightly toss with a fork and spoon. Enjoy.

Makes 1-2 servings, depending on whether it's a side or a main dish for you.

Flaky Apple Turnovers

Yummy flaky apple turnovers

When I was growing up, my dad liked to have some sort of dessert every night. It could be just about anything, as long as it was sweet: frozen snack-size Snickers candy bars, orange sherbet, ice cream, Drumsticks, cookies, whatever. My dad never has been super picky with his desserts. There was one period of time, around the 80s, that my mom would buy Pepperidge Farms Apple Turnovers to bake for my dad for dessert. (I think I've already mentioned this in my Puff Pastry post.) I loved that puff pastry and I still marvel at its magic, puffing up to at least 3 times its original thickness, all thanks to sneaky little layers of butter. Ah-mazing.
Well, I've been making a lot of Jaarsma's Dutch letters as of late, and although the pastry for that is not a classic puff pastry, it works just as well, and it's way easier to make. Of course, I thought about those amazing apple turnovers, and now that I'm on Christmas break, I decided to make them, and here they are. They don't look exactly like Pepperidge Farms, but they're just as delicious and I made them all by myself. I like that I can freeze these unbaked so I don't have to worry about overeating or throwing away stale leftovers. 
These are super good, so if you're willing to put in the time to make the pastry, they will be well worth it. Trust me.

Flaky Apple Turnovers

Ingredients:

• 4 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (1 pound) cold butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup ice water
• 1 batch of apple filling (recipe below)
• 1 cup powdered sugar mixed with 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream & 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, for icing, if desired

Instructions:
In a large bowl, stir together the flour and the salt. Cut cold butter into half-inch slices and add to the flour mixture. Toss until butter pieces are coated with flour and separated from each other.
Stir egg and ice water together and then pour all at once into the flour/butter mixture. Using a spoon quickly mix until you see no obvious wet spots. Butter will still be in large pieces and "dough" will be in shaggy bits and there will still be lots of flour that's not mixed in yet.
Turn the dough out onto a large sheet of parchment paper (or a lightly floured pastry cloth if you have one). Knead the dough ten times or so by pressing and pushing dough together, using the parchment between your hands and the dough, to form a rough square shape. Using a little extra flour for the rolling pin, roll dough into a 15x10 inch rectangle. Fold 2 short sides to meet in the center. Bring the top edge down to meet the bottom edge to form 4 layers. You will now have a long rectangle about 7 1/2 by 5 inches.
Repeat rolling and folding process once more. Wrap dough in the parchment paper you're using, and then wrap that in plastic wrap. Chill dough for 20-30 minutes. Repeat rolling and folding process two more times, and then chill the dough another 20 minutes before forming turnovers.
Once dough is chilled, and the filling is cooled, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Refrigerate remaining pieces while you work with one piece at a time.
Roll the fourth of dough out into a 11x11 inch square. Trim the sides with a pizza cutter to "square it up" and made the edges clean.* Cut the large square into four equal squares. Moisten two adjacent sides of one of the squares and scoop about 1/3 cup of apple filling into the middle. Fold the square into a triangle and press edges slightly to create an initial seal. Then take a fork and go around the seams and press firmly to seal. Then take a sharp knife and poke 2 or 3 vents in the top of the triangle. Repeat with remaining squares.
Place turnovers onto the parchment-lined, leaving about 2 inches between turnovers. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20-22 minutes, or until puffed and deep golden brown on the tops and bottoms. 
Remove to a wire rack to cool. When turnovers have cooled about 10-15 minutes, you can drizzle them lightly with icing, or eat them as is.

NOTE: Unbaked turnovers can be frozen on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. When frozen solid, place turnovers in a large zip-top bag for later baking. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until puffed and deep golden brown on tops and bottoms.

*You can bake the scraps up just for fun and snacking...or you can freeze them for the next time you make Chicken Pot Pie Soup and you can eat that with the soup instead of the pie crust. YUM!

Makes 16 turnovers

Unbaked Apple Turnover

Apple Filling

• 4 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 cups water (or 1 cup water + 1 cup apple juice)
• 3/4 cup white sugar 
• 3 T cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

In a large bowl, toss diced apple with lemon juice and set aside.  Pour water (or water + apple juice) into a high-rimmed saute pan over medium heat.  Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, & nutmeg.  Add to liquid in pan, stir well, and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add apples and return to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer until apples are tender, about 10-12 minutes.  Stir in raisins. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl and cool completely before using.

"Candy Cane" Cookies

"Candy Cane" Cookies

Okay. It's time to blog about the legendary Candy Cane Cookie. First of all, don't let the name fool you: these cookies are not minty at all. Actually, they're barely even sweet. My mother-in-law usually makes these every Christmas, but this year I decided to take them on because I wanted to blog about them, and because I wanted to finally see what went into these cookies. Over the 22 years my husband and I have been together, I've eaten these cookies every Christmas we've lived near his mom. They're a bit of a joke to my husband, and, well, to the rest of us too. My sister-in-law has always loved them and I too now look forward to them each year. They taste like Christmas to me now. I can't say I recommend this recipe to most people, but if they interest you even after I describe them, then perhaps you might want to give them a try.
The Candy Cane Cookie is what I would call an oatmeal shortbread. As you can see, there's barely any sugar in the cookie itself, so most of the sweetness comes from the small bit of red icing on top. The texture varies from year to year, but when I made these today, they turned out nice and tender. Not soft, but easy to bite into and a bit on the dry side (that's the way I like them, though). They're somewhat buttery and the vanilla flavor really comes through. All in all, I'd say if you're a shortbread fan, and you're not big on sweets, these might be the cookie for you. If you do try them out, please let me know so that I can get an outsider's perspective on these odd little cookies that I have come to love.

"Candy Cane" Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Frosting:

• 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons half and half or milk
• red food coloring

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
I large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment), cream the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and water. Add the oats, salt, and flour and mix just until completely combined.
Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough into your hand and roll it like you would a wad of Playdough into a snake shape that is about 3 1/2 to 4 inches long. Place on prepared cookie sheet and form into a hook. Leave about 1 inch between candy canes. When pan is full, bake at 325 degrees for about 20-22 minutes, or until edges start to brown.
Remove from oven and move cookies to cooling rack to cool completely.

When cookie are cool, prepare frosting. In a small bowl, stir the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of half and half/milk. Add more sugar or milk as needed to achieve a pipe-able consistency. Add food coloring and stir. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, or just transfer to a small zip-top baggie and snip away about 1/8 inch of a corner.
Pipe icing onto cookies, trying to make them look like candy canes with red stripes. As you can see, I didn't achieve perfection on mine.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Unbaked Candy Cane Cookie

Baked and unfrosted Candy Cane Cookie