Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Click on picture to see the whole thing

I have always loved pineapple upside down cake.  I'm not sure when I tried it for the first time, but my guess is probably the chow hall at NAS Jax, Florida.  I'm also sure I had a big glass of cold milk too.  Oops, drooling on the computer, let's get to the recipe.

When you read recipes in the cookbooks, they're all about the same, except for the newer cookbooks don't walk you through making the cake yourself.  Instead they recommend using a boxed yellow or white cake mix.  I've made my own and I've tried the mixes, and I gotta tell ya, for a buck and a half, get the mix.  I would recommend that you at least once make a cake from scratch, though.  Sorry, this time I'm using the mix. But, with some adjustments.  Don't worry, very minor.   : )


Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1/2 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 20 oz can pineapple slices
1 jar marachino cherries, no stem
1 box yellow or white cake mix
1/4 cup sugar
1 orange
plus eggs, oil, etc on cake mix box
crushed walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees
Use a 13x9  pan,  melt the butter in the oven
Sprinkle the brown sugar over the butter.  Spread it out to cover the whole pan.

Drain  the pineapple (but save the juice) and place the slices in the pan.  Try to arrange them pretty evenly in the pan.  Then put a cherry in the middle of each slice and if you want, place  a few extra in between.  If you want, sprinkle those optional crushed nuts on there, but don't over do it.

Check the mix box and see how much water it calls for.  Then substitute the water with a mixture of the left over pineapple juice, the juice of one fresh orange, and water.  That's the 1st adjustment. Then mix it all up as directed on the box plus throw in an extra 1/4 cup of sugar. That's the second and final.

Pour the mix over the pineapple and cherries.  Bake for 45 minutes (check the side of the cake mix box).  Test with a toothpick or a fork to make sure it's done.  If it is, the toothpick or fork will come out clean.

Pull from oven and immediately run a knife around he edge of the pan.  This will loosen the cake so it won't stick.  Now place a plate of pan bigger than the cake pan over the cake pan.  Use something that won't melt.  Turn the cake over onto the plate.  Leave the pan over it for a little over 5 minutes to make sure all that juice soaks into the top of the cake, then pull the pan off.  Doesn't taht look yummy?  Let it sit for at least 30 minutes before you cut and serve it.  If ya feel like it throw on a little whip cream.  MMMmmmmmm!

There's that drool again.....  Enjoy!

Beef Stew - More Winter Comfort Food

Beef Stew

1 ½ lbs stew meat

5-6 cups water
1/4 cup red wine

4 beef bullion cubes-or 3 tablespns instant  bullion - or 1 cn beef consumme

1tspn salt

3 large potatoes

2 stalks celery

3 large carrots

2 large onions quartered – or 10-12 pearl onions

½ tspn kitchen bouquet

Flour

Shortening

 Flour meat then brown in shortening.  Put in a large kettle.

Add water, bullion, and kitchen bouquet. Add wine.

Bring to boil and let simmer for two hours.

Add veggies and simmer another hour.

Eat and Enjoy!

The easiest way to flour meat is to put in a bag, add enough flour to coat meat, and shake.

We’ve used frozen beef vegetables.  I would use two bags but one will be ok.  If you use the dry pearl onions in a bag, be sure to let cook long enough for the onions to soften real good.

Now, if it were up to me, I’d add about a cup of ketchup to the recipe.  My wife doesn’t like it like that, so I add my ketchup at serving time. Sometimes I add a little tobasco.  Mmmm!

We like to get a bag of fresh French bread to go with it, too.

So there ya go.  Nice comfort food for a cold day.

Enjoy!

Again with the Chasseur Sauce

Remembering back to my post on Tornados Chasseur and again with Prime Rib, I love Chasseur Sauce.  Well, last night I had a steak and wanted some sauce.  I looked in the cabinet and there was no Beef Broth.  But, there was an envelope of Au Jus.  So I made some up.  I didn't use a recipe, just kinda threw it together.  It was the best ever.  After dinner I went back and read the recipes.  Pretty close but what made the difference was that I added more butter, used some wine, and since I have fresh rosemary in the yard, I threw some of that in too. Of course, there's always garlic, so it went in.  Then, who knows why, I spotted one of those school lunch box size boxes of raisins in the cabinet and I threw that in too.  The last thing I did different was it was a little runny so I let 'er simmer.  This does a couple things.  First it burns off the excess liquid including the alcohol from the wine.  Then it draws out and blends all the flavor.  What came out was a thick Chasseur Sauce that was to die for!

Chasseur Sauce

1 envelope Au Jus (I used Lawrey's)
1 cup water
1 1/2 tblspn ketchup
1/4 cup wine
half an onion chopped
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms sliced
1 tblspn minced garlic
3 tblspns butter
1 tspn rosemary
1 small box raisins

start with the butter onions, galic, and mushrooms. saute

In a shaker, mix everything else.  Shake it up baby!  Add to pan and let simmer until it reduces to a nice thick sauce.

You're gonna like the way it tastes.
Enjoy!

Chicken Italian

In 1978, I lived on the Westbank in  New Orleans, Louisiana.  I lived in a really nice apartment complex called Higgins Gate.  The entire complex was wiped out by hurricane Katrina in 2005 (long after I had left)  On Friday afternoons, I would ice down a case of Bud and go sit by the swimming pool.  Yes this was every Friday (or at least most of ‘em) as I remember.  People would come by and I would share my beer.  The catch was that when we ran out, someone else had to go get some more.  This worked really well for it meant we had a great party every Friday night plus after a while, people would just bring beer and we’d never run out.  One night a guy named Cary, an offshore welder and I were the last ones standing and we decided we wanted to get something to eat.  We were walking towards the parking lot when we ran into a neighbor, Jay.  Jay and his wife were both nurses and some of the nicest people you could ever meet.  I don’t remember where Jay’s wife, Becky was, but Jay was just getting home from a party.  We told Jay of our plans and he said that if someone else drove his truck, he would treat us to the best steak we ever ate.  So I was driving with jay in the middle and Cary at the passenger window. Jay was giving directions.  We drove over the I-10 Mississippi River Bridge and was headed west.  We went past Fat City/ Metairie and still heading west into nowhere.  I asked Jay where in the heck we were going.  His reply “Lake Charles!”  Now, Lake Charles is over 200 miles away from New Orleans  meaning we still had about a three hour drive on our hands.  Remember at that time even on the I-10 it was 55mph.   It wasn’t long before both Jay and Carey were asleep.  I took the opportunity to reverse direction back towards home.  When we got to Metairie, I saw a sign for Steak and Eggs and pulled in.  Carey woke up but we couldn’t get Jay’s attention long enough to ask if he wanted to come in.  We ate and headed back to Higgin’s Gate.  We managed to get Jay inside and closed the door behind him.  He slept in the apartment’s entryway.  The next afternoon, I was telling Jay the story.  He had no recollection of even seeing me, let alone the drive.  We laughed and he asked how he could make it up to me.  Oh boy, I knew the Answer right away.  One of the best things on the planet is:

 Jay and Becky’s Chicken Italian. (it was Becky’s Mother’s recipe)

5 lb chicken

2 qt chicken stock (made while cooking)

2 8oz pkg noodles

1 can mushrooms

2 tbsp cooking oil

2 green bell peppers

1 cup diced celery

2 chopped onions

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 cans tomato sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 ½ tsp tobasco sauce

Parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, cook until tender in 2 tbsp oil, bell peppers, half the celery, half the onions, mushrooms, and garlic.

Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire, and tobasco.  Cook slowly one hour.

Cut up chicken and place in two qts water.

Put in the rest of the onion and celery and add some salt and pepper.  Boil until chicken is tender then bone and cut it up.

Use stock to cook the noodles and pour of excess.

Mix it all together.

Serve with Parmesan cheese.

You gonna want seconds!

I haven’t seen Jay and Becky in years, but I caught up with them on facebook.  Isn’t facebook fantastic?

Enjoy!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

I saw a recipe in the Oct 2011 issue of Esquire for meatballs. It was in their Eat Like A Man column in the Man At His Best section. The recipe sounded good but it served 8 to 10 so I didn’t pay much attention at the time. Then in yesterday’s Sunday paer Parade Magazine, there was a recipe for spaghetti sauce. That made me thing of the meatball recipe and I started craving spaghetti and meatballs. So looking at both recipes and then looking at some I already had, I made this one up and it came out great.My wife said it was a little sweet and I thought a bit spicy, but it was really good and it made some great meatball sandwiches with the leftovers.

At dinner, my wife and I had a conversation about my blog. She says if we ate like this all the time, we would be obese. She is absolutely correct. We only eat like this about once or twice a week. The rest of the time we watch calories and eat pretty healthy. Plus, we work out. The old saying is something about Eat to Live or is it Live to Eat. Hey, I say why not both! One is considered body fuel and the other is a luxury. Today’s recipe, as most of mine do, fall in the luxury category.

Click to Enlarge

Meatballs

1 lb hamburger
½ minced onion
½ tbsp minced garlic
¼ cup parmesan cheese
½ tspn each of parsley, rosemary, oregano, and black pepper
¼ cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tspn Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup milk

Sauce

½ tbsp each oregano, garlic, and basil
¼ cup sugar
2   8oz cans tomato sauce
1 jar (24 oz) prepared spaghetti sauce (I used Prego)
½ cup water

Mix all the meatball stuff together and form into meatballs.  I made ten but4, 8, or 12 would work too depending on how big or small you want them.

Cook in ¼ inch hot oil browning on all sides.
Remove the meatballs from the skillet and place in a cooking dish.
Try to use one deep enough to cover the meatballs with sauce.

Mix all the sauce stuff together and pour over meatballs.
Cook at 350 degrees for about an hour.
The meatballs should reach 160 degrees with a meat thermometer.

Serve over spaghetti or make into meatball sandwiches.
Either way, put parmesan and /or mozzarella on top.

Oh yeah, that’s good stuff! Enjoy!

Meat Loaves – Let’s Do the Time Warp

Here are two different meat loaf recipes. I like them both. The first is one from the back of the Lipton French onion Soup Mix. My wife has made this one since before we met. It’s a great recipe,l but it’s just not the best for sandwiches from the leftovers. It’s just a little to crumbly. So the second one is my Mom’s recipe. This one is great for leftover sandwiches.

Lipton Onion-Mushroom Meat Loaf

1 envelope Lipton Onion-Mushroom Soup Mix
2 lbs ground beef
1 ½ cups fresh bread crumbs
2 eggs
¾ cup water
1/3 cup ketchup


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In large bowl combine all ingredients.
In large baking pan, shape into loaf. Bake one hour (or until done)

Mom’s Meat Loaf

1 minced onion
1 ½ lb hamburger
2 eggs
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
Enough corn meal to hold it together (or mix corn meal and bread crumbs for less firm loaf)
Shape into loaf and place in roasting pan
Place two strips uncooked bacon on loaf
Mix together one can tomato soup with one can ketchup and 1 can water. Pour over top of meat loaf.
Bake 1 to 1 ½ hours at 350.

Ok, since we’re talking meat loaves. Here’s one more that’s a little different.

Stuffed Meat Loaf

1 ½ lbs hamburger
1 cup wheaties
1 cup crackers
1 egg
1 medium chopped onion
¼ cup ketchup
Salt and pepper
Maybe just a little garlic

Make a loaf where you can fill with stuffing. Make sure to save enough for a lid, to seal in the stuffing

Fill with stuffing
combine
8-10 cubed slices of bread
10-15 chopped or sliced olives. I like green with pimento, but I’ve used black.
1 can mushrooms
½ cup chopped green onion
1 stick melted butter

Bake one hour at 350 degrees.

There ya have it, three great meat loaf recipes.

Enjoy!

Rotisserie Chicken

Sometime in the early 90’s, Kenny Roger’s Roasters opened in our area.  I fell in love with the place.  Great chicken and fantastic sides.  Then they all disappeared.  Last I heard, they didn’t have any in the US.  They have them in Asia.  I really miss the place.  That stuff was so good Seinfeld did a whole episode about it. Kramer and Newman got addicted to it.  Funny stuff.  I miss Seinfeld and Kenny Rogers.

So, I started experimenting looking for a recipe for chicken at home.  I do like Kentucky Fried and Knott’s Berry Farm has the absolute best fried chicken.  Then El Pollo Loco and Juan Pollo both have really good stuff.

Click here to enlarge

In 2008, when I retired, as a gift I got a bbq grill with a rotisserie.  I use the grill constantly and the rotisserie about four times a year. I haven’t had a bad chicken from it yet.  So my recipe today is rotisserie chicken.

There’s only two of us at my house so I buy a five pound whole chicken and we have lot’s of leftovers.  I figure it would serve four easy.  My brother and his wife came to visit then a friend dropped in to see them, so suddenly I’m cooking for five and I cooked two at once.  We’re pretty big eaters (the men anyway) and we pigged out and still had lots of leftovers.

A trick I learned is to brine the chicken.  Brining chicken and other meat is simply soaking it in salt water.  It tenderizes it and keeps it moist during cooking.  What happens is the salt causes the meat to absorb water.  I recommend it plus you can also call this a marinade and add your herbs and spices.  I would brine it even for frying.  For rotisserie chicken, I use 1 cup salt and a gallon of water.  I let the chicken soak for about eight hours.  My friend tells us that when she worked at knott’s, they would soak the chicken all night in the brine.

I mix up a ½ cup oil (or butter) with ¼ tablespoon each salt and pepper and a full tablespoon paprika for basting.  I have added lemon, garlic, orange and/or lemon juice.  It gives the skin a little different flavor but the chicken stays about the same.

Use a pan beneath the chicken to catch the drippings.  That way, when you run out, there’s still plenty to keep basting

Put it on the skewer, tie up the legs and wings, and let it cook until the chicken is 180 degrees in the breast and thigh.  On my grill, it takes about 2 to 2 ½  hours.  Mine has an infrared back burner.  My friends tell me that without that it doesn’t take as long. One guy does a beer can chicken the same way.  I haven’t tried it.  He says 45 minutes.

I do know this though, it sure is good! Let me know if you come up with any interesting marinades or soaks.

I hope you enjoy it.