goption Brian's blog

Esquire’s “How to make pancakes from scratch”

Christi Tolbert/istock

Put away the Bisquick and serve breakfast to the whole family

Have you never cooked breakfast for children — or drunks? Been a Boy Scout? Have you never had an attractive woman spend the night in your bed? There are few things an American man must know how to cook, but pancakes are one of them. The good news is they're easy — almost as easy from scratch as from a box mix. Here's how:

Cafe Mocha recipe

I just got a new Keurig B60 coffee maker, and came up with a fantastic recipe for a decaf cafe mocha, rich, smooth, and tasty -- perfect for spring evening

• Put two tablespoons (one ounce, give or take) of half-and-half in a coffee mug
• Add two heaping teaspoons of European Deep Dark Drinking Chocolate powder, which I picked up at Cost Plus World Market this afternoon. I imagine any high end powdered drinking chocolate would work - Godiva, Ghirardelli, etc.
• Put the mug under the spout, and brew a K-cup of Timothy's Decaffeinated Columbian coffee, or the medium-to-bold coffee of your choice.
• Stir thoroughly, and enjoy.

Cindy’s Enchiladas Verde

Rolled Bisquicks

- 2 cups Bisquick
- 3/4 cup milk (or 2/3 cup water)

Stir milk into Bisquick. Beat dough hard for 30 seconds to make it tighten up enough to handle. Turn dough on well-floured, cloth covered board. Pat, round it up and fold over 3 times.

Roll out lightly with rolling pin, 1/2 to 1 inch thick, depending on how thick you want the biscuits. Cut with biscuit cutters. For biscuits with crusty sides, place a little apart on a baking sheet. For biscuits with soft sides, place close together. Bake quickly in a very hot oven, 475 F., 10 to 12 minutes.

This makes 18 biscuits cut with 1 3/4 inch cutter from 1/2 inch thick dough.

Carmelized apples

In a frying pan over medium-high heat, melt 3 Tbs butter. Add 6 Fuji apples (peeled, cored, cut into 1/4" slices), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook about 18 minutes. Off-heat, stir in 2 tsp. vanilla.

Mac and cheese

MACARONI AND CHEESE

This recipe is adapted from a cookbook titled "Soul Food". If there are lots of kids coming for Thanksgiving, they will love you forever. And maybe when you are old and alone they will let you come over to Thanksgiving at their family's house. It's like an investment in your future.

• 1 16-ounce package elbow macaroni
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 4 drops Tabasco
• 2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• Paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add macaroni. Boil 8-10 minutes, until just tender.

Drain macaroni in a colander. Put butter and cream cheese into the boiling pot. Pour the macaroni back into the pot and stir until butter and cream cheese melt.

Whisk together eggs, Tabasco and evaporated milk. Stir into the macaroni.

Butter a 2-quart casserole dish. Put in half the macaroni, then half the cheddar cheese. Put in the rest of the macaroni, then cover with the rest of the cheese.

Sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 20 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Scottish short bread

Spanish Rice

From Cooks.com:

• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon tomato boullion
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Heat the oil in a deep skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, add rice to skillet and cook until toasty but not burnt. Add the water, then the tomato boullion, and stir well. Reduce heat to low and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

Variations:

• Add a small can of tomato paste, for more color.
• Add a teaspoon of onion powder.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Carole's write-up of her recipe - the best one of all. Follow the timing closely.

Best to have all of your ingredients ?at the ready? including rice krispies poured into a giant measuring pitcher if you have one, don?t wanna waste time measuring when you need to be mixing!

In a large (4-5 qt?) preferably nonstick stock type pot, dump in sugar and cover with bottle of Karo, then bring sugar and karo syrup to a full boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Count to 60 seconds, exactly. Immediately turn off burner and stir in peanut butter& vanilla. When it is fully combined dump in rice krispies, stir until evenly combined and all rice krispies appear to be coated with pb mixture. Spread evenly in a 13 by 9 inch glass pan, pushing in firmly to flatten top with a nonstick spatula, then dump on chocolate chips somewhat evenly over entire pan of pb rice krispie stuff, DO NOT SPREAD, (yet). Leave pan sitting on stovetop or counter and set timer for 10 mins, THEN come back and spread melted chocolate chips evenly over pb stuff.

Refrigerate for a minimum of 1-2 hours before cutting, 3-4 hours seems ideal, longer is fine too, though if leaving in fridge much beyond 5-6 hours (overnite etc.), I recommend covering pan at that point (don?t cover before set up solid, then you will get condensation which would be very icky on these) for longer storage. I recommend removing pan from fridge, 15-30 mins prior to cutting, just to make it a little bit easier?but you will burn some calories cutting these regardless (yeah!). Chocolate should be totally ?hardened? before cutting, no longer shiny, melty looking. Cut into small squares, these are very rich, more like candy than cookies. Plus in theory at least, they last longer if you cut them smaller?  Store cut bars in Tupperware or similar airtight containers either in fridge or on counter, fridge is best if it?s at all warm, as the chocolate will melt and get messy otherwise and besides, they are harder to bite into when cold, (limiting the amount you can eat?) causing you to eat less because your jaw gets tired faster? 

Enjoy!

Grocery List – 2006

An update to the family grocery list.

Download file, in Word.

Grocery List

Download file

McConnell Quiche

Download file

Meatballs

A nice meatball recipe for the meatballs to add to spaghetti:

2 lbs. ground beef
3 eggs
2/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
3/4 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp season salt
2 tbsp. olive oil

Beat the eggs lightly; add the meat and other ingredients and mix well. You really can't get the mix right without digging in with your bare hands.

Form into 1"-1 1/2" inch balls. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add meatballs, and brown evenly for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 4-6 minutes. Drain, add spaghetti sauce, simmer for 5-10 minutes over low heat.

Add to 1 1/2 lbs. cooked spaghetti.

The kids and I had this for dinner tonight, with good reviews. Sarah was supposed to be staying for dinner, but had to go home early for Beef Stroganoff.

Real Hot Chocolate

Here's a recipe for real hot chocolate, from the Gear Guy at Outside Magazine.

1.5 cups milk
1/2 cup light cream (or, use two cups milk)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, plus a pinch to garnish
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch of salt
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Mix all these ingredients in a saucepan and heat until blended. Pack along a little whipped cream, too, for topping it off!

Quick and Tasty Tacos

A quick, very tasty recipe for tacos:

1 to 1.5 pounds ground beef
1 can Dennison's No-Bean Chili
Corn and/or flour tortillas
Grated Cheddar cheese
Lettuce, tomato, sour cream (all optional)
Salsa to taste

Brown ground beef; drain. Add chili, simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. On a griddle, heat one flour or two corn tortillas (stacked) per taco; when warm, add meat and cheese, and continue heating on the griddle for 30-60 seconds. Transfer to plate; add lettuce, tomato, and sour cream if desired.

This recipe has some taste to it, but is mild enough for all but the meekest of taste buds - perfect for the younger set. More experienced eaters can add spice with salsa or taco sauce.