Reverse Engineering......

a hot hoagie (or sub, hero, etc.....)

Got the idea that making a melted or hot sub would be a solid snack for the weekend.

Around here, in the sticks, you can get them, but the quality and quantity often suffers.

Yesterday after work I went to my favorite Deli in town, Shaheen's IGA and loaded up on cold cuts and cheese and two loafs of french bread.

Let's deconstruct the finished product.

(I baked these @ 350 for 25 minutes wrapped in aluminum foil.)

Meat ball......

hoagie, sub, hero, whatever!

With temps regularly dipping below zero, 'tis the time of year for comfort food.

Hot meatball subs fall into that category. 

Made these mid-week, quick and filling on a cool January night.

 Homemade sauce......

Good baking day......

At this point-11:20 AM it's 26 below zero (actual temp). 

Earlier this AM it was 36 below. 

That my fellow foodies is cold!

Move? I don't think so.........

Let's Go Orange!

Cuse vs. Nova at Noon! Record crowd at the Dome!

Update- Cuse falls to Nova, but at 18-2 we're in good shape.

Stuffed pie.......

I crossed the line a couple of nights ago and made a stuffed pizza.   Not quite deep-dish Chicago style, which was my intent, but we'll call it stuffed.  For the purists out there, was it pizza? 

No, more like a giant flat calzone. But, it looked like pizza, and tasted remarkably similar, considering the outcome, I was very satisfied. The reviewers said it was the best "pizza" I'd ever made.  

Here's the deal in a nutshell. 18" pan, Dough on bottom, spinach, mozz., sauteed onion and garlic in the middle. Another layer of dough (D'oh!), homemade sauce and cheese on top.

Here's the pics.

A lttle overdone on the bottom, but! Overall I'd give it an 8 out of 10.

I surprised myself. It was a labor intensive pie, more of a weekend project, but well worth the work.

Would I do it again?

Hell, yeah!

January 20th......

National Cheese Lover's Day!

and a great cheese blog Housemouse-Click Here!

A year later......

Hard to believe (for me at least), that I started this blog one year ago today. 

As Frank Barrone would say, "Holy Crap Marie!"

I think back to last year and honestly I don't remember why exactly I started it that day.

It was easy to set up on Blogger, and so I did. 

I was just getting into baking bread, and had discovered a ton of outstanding food blogs on the net, so I said, "Why not me?"

My mission statement, which is on top of the page is still pretty much the same. Write about what I'm cooking, Syracuse sports and anything else that crosses my mind . 

My pics are not professional. I've got a Kodak camera. I don't worry about lighting and presentation. There's thousands of blogs out there that take it seriously, way too seriously. Each one has ads on the side and they're trying to make money. I've got no problem with that, but neither do I have the time. 

This is purely for fun and social connections.

I've made some good friends (Dr. Fugawe comes to mind) and get into some great discussions on sites like Slice.

So for what it's worth, I'm enjoying this.

Oh, here was tonight's dinner.

Chicken cheese hoagies w/ peppers and onions.

Good stuff!

Then I decided to bake some bread.

Did it all in the Kitchen-Aid.

Standard white bread recipe.

I let the first rise go a bit too long (I followed the recipe). I'd turned on the oven for a minute or two, shut it off then put the dough into the oven, covered with a damp towel. The recipe said at least an hour-1st mistake-should have checked it at 45 mins. It was a bit over risen but I punched it down divided  half and made two loaves.  Put it into the loaf pans and put it into the oven for the 2nd rise. 2nd mistake-Covered both loaf pans with the same towel. Recipe said until doubled in size, around an hour. After the first rise I knew I had some fast acting yeast/dough action. So I put it back in the oven, covering both pans with the same towel.   Knowing it wouldn't take an hour to double, I checked it a 30 mins. Dough was up over the edge of the pan. OK- Big mistake here- it's been rising in the oven, now I've got to get it out and pre-heat the oven. So what did I do? First tried to take the towel off, which was stuck to he highest part of each loaf.

When I realized it was stuck I pulled both pans out and carefully removed the towel.
Bottom line, I lost the center of each loaf. Lesson learned.

Before it was baked. Oh yeah, I need better loaf pans too.

End result-doesn't look that bad, except no crown.

So finally, it's cool, cut it and...

There's the butter shot Doc!

So to recap-been doing this for a year, will keep on keepin' on, and thanks for reading!

(If you made it this far!)

'Cuse.....

18-0.

Need I say anymore?

Rick Jackson has been the man.

From the Big Easy

to the Big Freezzie! (It's 13 above right now!)

Got this Jambalaya mix from my Daughter Cait for X-mas. 

Looked easy, and since it's Tuesday it's all about easy.

Pretty easy prep.

Used a half lb. of boneless chicken breast and a half lb. of smoked sausage.

Sautee' the meat. Chcken first, sausage just for a few seconds.

Add a 4 cups of water-bring it to a boil, while at the same time adding the rice and spice mixture.

Looked like this to start.

Bring to a boil, let6 it simmer for 5 minutes , then turn off the burner, cover and let it sit for 30 mins.

Then it looked like this-

Can't really see the chicken, but it's there.

The review. 

I'd do this again and again.

Comfort food baby!

Next time add some chopped peppers, maybe some sweet corn and whatever else was available.

It lends itself to adding different things.

It was spicy- not at first bite, but had a great afterburn. 

Not too hot, but you know it was there.

So, bottomline- Tupper likes Jambalaya,just too bad we weren't; in the Big Easy to have the real deal!

Thanks Cait and Russ!

White Pizza.

 

 My mother who suggested this, wanted White Pizza tonight. As related in previous posts, she just had surgery on her knee and isn't quite up to cooking yet

 Who was I to argue?

Here's the slice pic.

Upskirt.

The Slice.

Good stuff for a Monday.

Leftovers.....

Made a sirloin tip roast yesterday in the slow-cooker. 

Forgot about it-left it on high.

Had it going during the SU-Seton Hall game, and when I put the thermometer after the game,it read 160 degrees. I wasn't happy. 

Wanted the middle pink and this was medium-well. What saved it was the juices and carrots/potatoes I had in there, it was still moist. So, it was pretty good, not great but good. Let's say a 6 out of 10.

Anyway, there was a good chunk left over, and I decided to make hot beef sandwiches with homemade fries tonight

The better half whipped up the gravy, and I put 4 slices into that and let it simmer while I cooked the fries.

It was awesome, I'd say a 9 out of 10.

Here's what it looked like on the plate.

And if I'd of had some cheese curds, I could have made some wicked poutine, which would have been overkill, but hey, it's all about comfort food this time of year.

More advice.....

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. 

That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

 

Ernest Hemingway

'Cuse is 16-0.

It was an ugly game at Seton Hall, but the Orange pulled it out, 61-56 yesterday.

Couldn't hit a free throw to save their lives, but Brandon Triche and Scoop Jardine got them fired up in the 2nd half.

Been a fun season so far....

(Pics by Frank Ordonez/Syracuse Post Standard)

Scoop to the Hoop.

Triche = Tough! Talk about a double team.....

Brandon Triche lit it up from behind the arc in the 2nd.

Hey a "W" is a "W".

They don't ask how, they ask how many!

Advice......

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.


 As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. 

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love - for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. 

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. 

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. 

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Max Ehrmann

Moon River Photography 

Friggin' Snowbirds!

Ya know, some people are smart, and some people are smarter. 

I guess my buddy Don, who summers in Cape Vincent falls into the latter category. 

No, on second thought it's his better half Jean who's the brains of the operation.

Anyway, they go to Florida in the winter, like any intelligent warm blooded mammal would do.

He sent me this pic today, following what he called a "Yankee Cold Front".

Yup, blame it on us!

Awesome pic!

Wednesday night....

What to cook, right? Well, after pondering that question all day, my mother made up my mind.

She had surgery last week on one of her replacement knees, and is home, but just getting mobile, so I volunteered to cook.

She said, "I have a craving for goulash."  Alrighty, goulash it is. 

As with most recipes of its type, there's a lot of variations, but after consulting with my better half, here's how I made it.

I made homemade sauce using the go to recipe I've been making for the last few months from the Splendid Table.

Sauce Recipe-click here

It's a good all purpose marinara-I tweak it a bit-usually double the garlic and onion and sautee' it for a couple of minutes before adding the tomatoes.

Then it was (in no particular order)

1 lb. ground beef

1 chopped green pepper

2 cups of frozen sweet corn

About a half a bag of frozen green beans

2 boxes of mac and cheese

Diced tomatoes (2 cans maybe?)

I cooked the sauce, browned the beef and boiled the pasta.

When that was all done, I put the peppers and beef in a pot, added sauce and the pasta. Stirred it , it was too dry, added another 40 oz. of diced tomatoes. I put in the cheese mix from the mac and cheese. Then stirred, added the corn and beans, and simmered for about an hour.

Believe it or not, for a first attempt it was really good. 

This what it looked like, ugly pic, but hey we're not Foodgawker!

Some leftover sauce, what to do?

Silly question, make a pizza.

Used a frozen 99 cent doughball from Sav-A-Lot, some parm, fresh mozz., basil, garlic and oregano.

The dough w/ basil, garlic, parm and oregano.

Into the oven w/ the mozz.

Finished.

So, that's what we do on a cold Wednesday night in January. 

Enough leftovers for another meal.

Life is good.

Is it June yet?

More foodie presents....

Happy New Year- Received these presents tonight from Caitlin and Russ (daughter and SIL).

Some very cool stuff, simply because you can have sausage with them! 

Jambalaya and Gumbo mix right from the Big Easy!

Good stuff!

And the mug in the middle with the big "N", stands for NAVY!

Alright!

We're unretired!  

I thought it would be a good idea to change courses until I had I had a bunch of friends say, "What are you doing?" So Tupper Cooks is officially unretired.