Dutch Oven Monkey Bread

Oct 27, 2012 by Ben

OK, I’m a slacker and have been meaning to post this recipe for way too long now, so apologies, and here it is.

I’ve received a ton of amazing feedback on this camping recipe and thought I’d add another fun recipe to the camping list.

This one is monkey bread cooked in the dutch oven and it could not be any easier.

Here is what you will need:

• 2 containers of biscuits
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 stick of butter

That’s it.  Very simple and oh so tasty for a camping breakfast with the family.

Here is how you make them, and its a great recipe to have the kids help with.

Grab your biscuits and open them up.

Separate and slice them into quarters.  Yes it is OK for children to use knives.  Just teach them how to do it safely and help them if needed.

Put all the cut up pieces onto a plate

on a separate plate pour out your sugar and brown sugar and cinnamon.   I mixed mine together in a zip lock before so its just easy to pour out.

Take a fork and mash out any clumps

Simple dip the biscuits into the mix and coat on all sides

Kids love helping when there is sugar involved.

In a separate pot, melt your stick of butter.

Get the dutch oven out and line it with aluminum foil

Should look like this.  This will make clean up SOOOO much easier.

Spray it with non stick cooking spray

and throw all the biscuits in there.

When all the biscuit pieces have been coated with the sugars and cinnamon, pour the butter over the whole thing.

Then throw the dutch oven onto the coals and let it cook

Cook for about 10-15 minutes over the coals.  Check it so it doesn’t burn.

Open the lid and sprinkle on a little more of the leftover sugars and cinnamon mix and let cook for another few minutes.

and voila.  You will smell this amazing concoction from across the campgrounds and everyone will want to come over and join you.

And the kids love it

And why wouldn’t they, it is awesome!!

This is a very easy recipe to make that only requires a few ingredients and not much prep time, which is always nice when camping.

Try it out next time you go camping and let me know how the family likes it.

Ben…

 

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4 Bean Chili

Oct 2, 2012 by Ben

So my mom is in town for a visit, which means I get to cook with her or she gets to cook for me.  Either way I’m happy.  She got a chili recipe from a friend of hers so we set out to make it.

It doesn’t get much easier than this for a chili recipe.  It only takes one pan, and one crock pot and can be prepared in a few minutes.

Doesn’t that look awesome?  And perfect time for fall, even though its still a billion degrees in southern California.  Here’s how you make it.

Brown some ground turkey

chop up a few stalks of celery and throw it in

chop up 1/2 an onion and throw it in

let that all cook for a few minutes until turkey is brown

Now get your beans.  You will need:

• A can of garbanzo beans
• A can of black beans
• A can of pork and beans
• And a large can of kidney bean

Drain all of the beans except for the pork and beans and throw it all into a crock pot

Next throw in a small can of tomato sauce and a large can of tomato soup

When the turkey is done it will look like this.  Add it into the crock pot and stir it all up.

Add a couple teaspoons of chili powder and a teaspoon of cumin.  Add more chili powder if you want it spicier.

Put the lid on the crock pot and let it cook for a few hours.

When you come back your house will smell amazing the the chili will look like this.

Also made some cornbread to go with the chili.

Now that your chili is done, here is how you eat it.  First grab a bowl and put a nice layer of Fritos at the bottom.

Pour chili over the Fritos and enjoy.

That is it.  Seriously one of the most simple chili recipes you could ever make and it tastes great.

Now if California would only cool off a bit, that would be great.

Ben…

 

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A Healthy Greek Pita

Jul 6, 2012 by Ben

I’ve been looking to create a little healthier items in my cooking lately as sometimes the things I make, while super tasty, aren’t always the best for you. So I set out to make a nice light healthy greek pita, and it turned out awesome.

This is a very easy recipe that I modified from this one that can be made very quickly for a nice light weekday lunch or dinner.  Here’s what you’ll need to make it.

There are just a couple parts to this recipe, the marinade, the chicken and the tomato cucumber topping.

For the marinade you will need:

• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 2 tsp lemon juice and 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced up
• 2 tsp hot sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• pinch of salt

In a bowl add the 1/2 cup yogurt

then add 2 teaspoons of honey

add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

and 2 teaspoons of lemon zest

add 2 teaspoons of hot sauce.  I just used Tapatio

add 1 teaspoon dried oregano

add 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and then mix it all up.  Pour it all in a large zip lock bag, add your chicken and throw it in the fridge for an hour or so.  For this recipe I used chicken thighs.  While the chicken is marinating, lets make the rest.

For the tomato cucumber topping grab a tomato and yes, you guessed it, a cucumber and chop them up like so

throw them in a bowl with some garlic

add some dill, about a teaspoon or so

and finally drizzle with olive oil.  I did this in a tupperware container so I could put the lid on and shake it up to mix all the flavors together.

Ok, with that made its time to cook up the chicken.  I opted to just throw them on the grill, which turned out really tasty.

The marinade for this is awesome and can be used with a great number of things.  When the chicken is done, simply cut it up, stuff it in a pita and throw on the tomato cucumber mix on top.

very simple, very tasty, very healthy.

enjoy…

Ben…

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TSA#33 – Family Cookout

Jul 2, 2012 by Ben

Summer is actually here and its the perfect time to gather your family and friends and have a cookout.  My family is visiting from rainy Washington and and are enjoying some sun with us for a few days.  We are taking full advantage of their time with us and having some fun days at the beach and some great cookouts as well.

Some friends joined us and here we are having our 2nd cookout of the weekend.  It was so much fun.

Here is some of the awesome food we picked up at the farmers market.  From left to right, lobster tails, cedar plank salmon, and halibut.  It was a good day at the famers market and a tasty cookout.  It was much better than the BBQ chicken I killed the night before.  Not my best BBQ moment.

So your TSA for this week is to plan a cookout.  It is 4th of July this week, so that also gives you an extra excuse reason.  Email some friends, invite your family, or have a neighbor over for dinner.  Just grab something fun to cook and throw it on some paper plates and have a fun evening with some people you enjoy being with.   It’s just that simple.

Ben…

TSA = Truly Simple Actions The goal of the TSA project is to improve your life and help make this world a better place, one simple action at a time.  Take time this week to do this one simple thing.

Previous TSA’s:

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A Simple Barbacoa

Apr 3, 2012 by Ben

I have not posted a recipe in WAY too long.  I’ve been crazy busy with work, and then super sick and now just recovering and getting back into it.  Here is one I made several weeks ago, but have had no time to get this thing posted.  I’m going to try to get a little better at that, so with that said, here is a dish you must make.

I love barbacoa beef and can’t say no to it at Chipotle and such.  So I found an awesome recipe and modified it slightly and set out to make it.  It was so easy to make and very tasty to eat so I recommend that you find some time to make this recipe this week.

This is a very simple recipe and only takes a few minutes to prep and the rest of the time is in the crock pot cooking and making your house smell amazing.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients:  

• 3 lbs beef eye of round or bottom round roast – trim all the fat off
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/2 medium onion
• Juice from 1 small lime
• 2-4 chiptoles in adobo sauce (or more if you like it spicy)
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• salt and pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 cup water

Cut the meat up into big chunks and add some salt and pepper

throw that in a pan with a little oil on medium-high heat and get it brown on all the sides.

Now get out your food processor and throw all the following in.  Start off with the garlic

Add Lime Juice

Chop up the onion into a few pieces and throw it in

Then add your spices - 1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground oregano

1/2 tsp ground cloves

Finally add 2-4 chipotle peppers.  Add more if you like it spicy.  I added several and it was super spicy, but also super awesome so be careful.

and let the processor do its thing.  Mix it up good.

Throw a few bay leaves into the crock pot and then add the browned meat.

cover with the mixture from the food processor.

add a cup of water, cover and let it cook on low for 8 hours in the crock pot.

When it’s done take the beef out and shred with a couple forks and then add it back into the sauce and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

I also whipped up some cilantro lime rice to go with it and it was awesome.

The corn adds some awesome flavor and helps with the heat if you make it spicy.  I threw it on the burners to give it a little blackened color and flavor.

and voila.  I grabbed some leaves of lettuce from the garden and topped with the rice, barbacoa and corn to top it all off.  So yummy and so easy to make.

If you have a crock pot and like barbacoa or your house smelling awesome, then you must make this.  It is too easy and to tasty not to.

Ben…

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Best cookie in the world – Take 1

Jan 14, 2012 by Ben

I set out on a quest the other night.  To make the best cookie in the world.  I was craving a good cookie, but also had a brilliant idea.  I set out looking through the various cookie recipes and made some plans as to what to try.  Here are the results from the first attempt.

They were pretty spectacular and here’s how you make them.

Here’ s the usual cookie ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in blender to a fine powder)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 small box of vanilla pudding

And here’s the brilliant idea.  Instead of chocolate chips I had an idea to use Frango’s.   I’m not a big chocolate person, but I LOVE Frango’s.

They used to be sold at a store called the Bon Marche that went out of a business a few years ago and now you can find them at Macy’s around the holidays.  I bought a box for my wife because they are awesome and because I wanted to eat a few of them.   After eating a few way too many, I had the great idea for an amazing chocolate chip cookie made with Frango’s.

First you need to blend the oatmeal.  These aren’t oatmeal cookies, but they have oatmeal in them and it makes them extremely soft and chewy.

Throw it in a food processor and process into a fine powder.

Now add your box of vanilla pudding to this mix.  I saw this on a few other recipes and thought I’d try it in the mix.  Set that mixture aside and grab your big mixer.

Add in your brown sugar

and white sugar

mix it up

add your butter

and eggs

Real vanilla from Mexico is awesome.  Use it if you have it.  If you don’t have it, go to Mexico and get some.

Throw the vanilla in

Then add the flour

finally add the oatmeal mixture

Now for the magical chocolate chips made from Frango’s…

I chopped them up into different sized chunks

I knew I was onto something good at this point

Preheat the oven to 375.  Mix the choloate into the dough and spoon out onto your baking sheets.

bake at 375 for 10 minutes and voila.

yeah they were pretty damn awesome.  Soft, chewy and a hint of mint.

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