My Food Experiment (had a happy ending!)

KEVIN:  Well it is the day before the big storm.  We are prepped and ready.  Laundry is done and now we are just waiting for the storm to come.  I still wanted to make Sunday dinner.  After doing some thinking, I decided I wanted to try to make Short ribs.  Then, I started thinking on how to cook them.  I decided to braise them.
Beer-Braised Short Ribs:

• 6 lbs of bone-in beef short ribs
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 large sweet onion, Julienne
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped fine
• I 12 oz bottle of beer, I like dark beer
• 1/3 Cup of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 packet of Onion Mushroom Soup mix
• 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season the short ribs well with salt and pepper.  Then, in heavy Dutch oven, sear the short ribs in batches over medium high heat.  Do this in batches a few at a time.  Sear them to a deep brown.  Remove the ribs and place on a separate dish.  In Dutch oven, sauté sweet onion until translucent, then pour in beer to deglaze pan.  Add Worcestershire sauce, soup mix and Italian seasoning.  Add Short ribs back into pan and cook on medium heat, covered until liquid is boiling.  Place Dutch oven in oven and cook, covered for 2 hours, or until ribs are beginning to fall off of bone.  Uncover ribs and cook for an additional 30 minutes to reduce liquid. 

Now you can change this recipe all you like,  but if it works for you, please share your results.  I would love to know all about your edits and maybe even try it myself!

 

 

AIMEE:  I don’t really care for short ribs. I don’t know why. Um, actually - I guess I have only had them once before so I can’t honestly say ‘I’m not a fan’ … I’m just being my usual picky self I guess.  I liked these okay.  The beer flavor was pretty heavy and I’m not keen on the flavor of beer in general but I tried it anyway.  I liked it enough.  I don’t know if it’s something I’d want Kevin to make again in the very near future. But it’s still a pretty tasty dish and I think anyone in our audience who is a meat lover would really enjoy it!

Saturday is Baking day!

One of my best friends, Rachael & I have been cooking up and trying new recipes for the last several Saturday’s, I think I have posted about most of them so far.  Today I’m flying solo because I’ve had a crazy week taking care of my other bestie, Crissy (she’s been really sick) and I needed some downtime.  But!  I also really wanted to try this 3-Ingredient Apple cake recipe I saw someplace on Pinterest.  Who knew Pinterest would turn into this huge recipe-mecca?!  I love it!

Here is the recipe for the Apple Crumble Cake and, if you know me at all, You know I kind of ‘made it my own’ because I never follow recipes to the letter anyway  

You will need:

Baking pan (pyrex, pie plate or even a toss away pan)

1 Box of yellow cake mix (Pillsbury was just on sale at Shop Rite for $0.79 a box!)

6-8 apples (I would avg. 1 apple for each person who might be having cake – I used 6 macintosh apples because I had them sitting around and they were starting to get a little beat up. Rather than tossing them out, why not cook ‘em up?)

1 stick of salted butter (I know, I know – don’t judge me!)

Those are the 3 (main) ingredients. I think a lot of folks who pride themselves on recipes with just a few items from your pantry assume that you’ll already have things like cinnamon, honey, salt, pepper, and lots of other seasonings. Some folks don’t have those things on hand!  But I can honestly say, this recipe is just the 3 ingredients listed above.  I ‘made it my own’ by adding a little lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.

This recipe takes about 10 minutes to prepare and a total of about an hour to make including baking time.

Directions:

Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and core your apples, then slice and rough chop into bite size pieces (or larger or smaller if you wish).

(If you don’t have the extra ingredients or don’t want to do the extra steps, feel free to skip to the next step!)  I put mine in a bowl, sprinkled some lemon juice over top and gave them a good stir so while I was doing other things my apples wouldn’t turn brown. Besides, I think a little citrus is good for (some) desserts, it brightens things and cuts the sweetness just a bit.  I added about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Then I tossed the apples again in the bowl to be sure they were coated.

Now you can dump the apples into whatever baking pan you are using (I don’t like to do dishes, so I used a toss away pan!)  Be sure to evenly distribute the apples to cover the bottom of the pan.  I then poured the powdered cake mix evenly over the apples.

 

 

 

I put a stick of butter in another bowl and stuck it in the microwave for about 45-50 seconds to melt it.  I added a few more sprinkles of cinnamon to the butter, gave it a stir and poured it over the cake mixture. 

You probably wont be able to coat and wet ALL of the powdered mix but that’s okay. You can hand-moisten the powdered cake mix with a tiny bit of water using a teaspoon but it’s honestly not even necessary.

Bake the cake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

 

You can serve this warm with a scoop of vanilla or just on its own, it’s moist and delicious!

Here is something I would probably do different if I make this again:  I would use some extra butter (maybe 1-2 tablespoons) in a bowl and mix it with some sort of crushed nuts and some rolled oats and put that on top of the powdered mix before the other stick of butter the recipe calls for. This cake is very yummy, but for my personal taste, I think it needs some added texture to it.  On 2nd thought, I’d add some of that crunchy/nut/oats mixture down in the pan before putting the apples in as well, a little bite before and after the warm apple sweetness would be just perfect!

The true beauty of this recipe is that it’s so universal!  You can substitute apples with just about any fresh fruit, frozen berries or even a can of pumpkin! (that’ll probably be my next try!) 

That’s all for now folks – I hope you’ll give this easy recipe a try. Everybody likes different tastes and textures, so If you’re making your own edits – please share, I’d love to know!  Enjoy your weekend before Hurricane Sandy comes to town and STAY SAFE!

xoxo,

Aimee

WWE RAW!!!

Kevin:  Well I know this blog was made for our Foodie & Traveling adventures.  I feel we need a bit more depth to our musings, so I wanted to share an awesome experience that is called Monday Night Raw, Live at that Izod Center!!! One of Aimee’s best friends, Rachael and her boyfriend Steve (both pictured here in their Ryback and RKO shirts…)

They took the trip with me to the Meadowlands to see WWE Raw.  It was a long ride to the arena (with one wrong turn that took us over the George Washington Bridge – a nice tour past Yankee Stadium though) but we made it with an hour to spare.  We found parking close to the arena and walked to the long line to wait to enter.  We saw Dolph Ziggler (one of the main event wrestlers in WWE) at the souvenir trailer. Steve decided to wiggle his way through the crowd to get a picture but the line was so long, there was no way we were waiting for an autograph. 

Dolph Ziggler

 

After that, we got online to enter the arena.  We had around 20 minutes until we could get in.  There was a long line, separated between men and women+kids. Steve and I met a couple of fans and had a good chat with them while we waited.   It moved fast once the doors opened and we went to get food. (You know there has to be a reference to food in the blog….gotta keep my cred!)

 

Me & Steven getting ready to go into the arena

 

The food at the IZOD center leaves much to be desired….like taste, texture, flavor…you get my drift.  I purchased Chicken fingers and fries, A souvenir cup with Sprite, and a bag of Cracker Jacks.  Cost me $19.50.   I felt like I was robbed!.  We found our seats, which were high, but awesome (Top tier, 5th row up).  We had a clear view of the entrance ramp.

 

They started with WWE Superstars.  Once it started, I realized I miss watching the show on TV.  For one, I miss the commentary.  I actually like hearing the commentators talk and provide back story, makes the facade we call Pro Wrestling seen more stable. Also, I like being able to change the channel during commercials, so I do not have to suffer during incredibly crappy wrestling.  I have to admit, it was kind of neat to actually see how they film the show, but again, it takes away from the facade of Pro Wrestling.

The Best match of the night was Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan.  It was pro wrestling at its best!  Those guys put their all into it.  The worse match was Kane Vs.The Big Show.  Very slow and boring.  The Lumberjack match at the end was great,  Ryback is a beast!!!

It was an outstanding night overall.  The drive back was long, but White Castle help relieved the strain, LOL!  It was a lot of fun.  Now we are looking to other WWE events to attend.

And now for something completely different! Matzo Brei :)

 

AIMEE: There wasn’t a whole lot of Matzo in my house growing up, my mother being the main cook and her being Italian and all.  But my fathers family is Jewish, there was a couple of times when my mother tried to make something special for my dad that would remind him of his own mom who passed away when I was just a baby.  My grandmother Ida (my dads mom) passed away without giving her recipes to anyone.   My mom has been trying to match grandma Ida’s baked goods for a long time and she finally figured out how to make the best Matza Brei. 

Yom Kippur just passed at the end of September (on my 2nd wedding anniversary, actually!) and it got me thinking about my dad which got me thinking about my mom making Matzo brei. 

So today I decided to make the recipe my mom gave me.. here it is:

KATHY’S MATZO BREI

- Break up Matzo and then soak in a milk & egg mixture with a little vanilla.

- In a 10-12 inch frying pan, sauté 1 medium onion in butter, till soft, then remove onion from pan & add to the matzo mixture.

- DO NOT WASH THE PAN.

- Add butter and place matzo mixture (mixed with the onion) in frying pan on medium heat. Cook slowly until eggs are cooked and edges are browned.

- Turn over onto dish

- Sprinkle top with some regular sugar, splenda or other sugar sub.

It was very yummy. For those of you who have NO idea what to expect when and if you make or try Matzo brei. It’s kind of like a bread pudding made of Matzo. Very tasty!

Sweet, somewhat caramelized onions (I like my onions a little well done)

This is the Matzo I used.

Here’s the matzo soaking in the milk/egg/vanilla mixture. I used a lot of vanilla, probably 2-3 tablespoons.

This may not look that appetizing, but I promise you it’s very good! 

Have you made matzo brei before?  If so, I’d love to know your variations or if you tried my moms recipe and how you liked it!

 

xoxo,

Aimee

MEATBALLS!!! It’s what’s for dinner!

Kevin:  The plan today was to make a beer-braised chicken for dinner.  The problem came upon me when we got to Shoprite to do our weekly food shopping:  I forgot to bring the recipe for dinner!  (My wife is notorious for doing this also). So I was left in a dilemma…what to prepare for dinner.  I asked my wife and she said was craving her grandmother’s meatballs.  Unfortunately Aimee’s grandmother Louise passed away many years ago.  I had made meatball subs 3-4 weeks ago for dinner and was shocked that Aimee approved of those meatballs!  I, personally,  found them to be a little bit dry.  So I knew we were in for a delicious dinner, but I gave myself a personal challenge to make the BEST meatballs I could.   I think my wife would agree: I totally aced this!

Here is the recipe!

Kevin’s Meatballs:

2 lbs of ground beef (80/20 preferred)

1 small or 1/2 medium sweet onion

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

3 Tbs milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

3 Tbs Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste.

Puree onion and garlic in blender or food processor.  Place ground beef in mixing bowl, along with rest of ingredients.  At this point, I suggest making a tiny test patty and cooking it in a pan and tasting it to check seasoning.  You won’t get another chance later. Mix well and form into golf ball sized meatballs.

At this point you can bake your meatballs until fully cooked, but I usually fry my meatballs in a mix of light olive oil and vegetable oil. (We like a crusty exterior). . Use any sauce you like.  Let’s face it. I’m not Aimee’s grandmother and I don’t really make my own sauce (at least not yet).  My wife & I really like Francesco Rinaldi and we can always doctor it up if needed. A lot of other sauces are just too sweet.  My wife can confirm - these meatballs will make your mouth smile!

 

Aimee: All I have to say is.. oh my gosh…I know they aren’t very healthy but wow.. these were so, so good!  My sweet husband gave my grandma a run for her money!!

Here is my yummy sandwich:

Kevin:  I hate to correct you in public…but frying is actually not as bad as it seems, if done properly.  If the temperature is kept high enough to keep the moisture in the food above the boiling point, the steam from the food will keep the oil out, preventing the food from becoming greasy.  I learned that on “Good Eats”!

Supergirls Recipe - Mini Halloween Oreo Cheesecakes

Hey everyone! I hope that you were out enjoying this gorgeous fall day. It’s so warm out and in the sun it might have even been HOT.  Rachael and I ran some errands and then we went to the store for some ingredients for a dessert recipe that she wanted to try.

I have to say, it was really, really easy, which is probably why we tried it.. LOL – Neither of us are what I’d call GOOD in the kitchen, so the less ingredients required, the better!

I believe she found the recipe on Pinterest and it’s supposed to be a Halloween recipe and Halloween Oreos (orange and black) were supposed to be used as the base, but we actually used chocolate Oreos instead.  The recipe calls for orange food coloring, and since we had no orange, I mixed a little red and yellow and it worked out well   If we have a Halloween or Thanksgiving party at work, these would be a perfect dessert!   I think I might even make these to bring to my moms house for Thanksgiving this year.  I hope you find this recipe as easy and delicious as we did and maybe you can use it the next time you entertain or throw a party!

Okay, here’s what you’ll need:

Halloween Oreos, whole (at least 15, maybe even up to 24).
6 Halloween Oreos, pulverized in the food processor
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Orange gel food coloring

(Note: we totally forgot about pulverizing the extra Oreos and didn’t add them in, probably just as well…this isn’t exactly a weight watchers recipe.  If you want to leave out the add’l Oreos to save some calories, feel free!)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees, and line a regular sized muffin tin with the liners. Place one whole Oreo in each liner.

Place cream cheese in a large bowl, and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add in the sugar and beat thoroughly to combine. Add in vanilla extract and eggs, and beat until combined. Finally, gently mix in the sour cream.

Add in orange gel food coloring until the batter is your desired shade. Stir in Oreo crumbs. (optional).

Divide batter evenly among the muffin tins. You can fill these almost to the top since they don't really rise. Bake for 22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Chill overnight if you can wait that long!

The amount of mixture this recipe makes will yield about 15-18 cupcakes, if you make them somewhat small, you could probably get 24 out of it.

One last little note, I would use foil cupcake liners because, as we found out, the paper ones get soggy pretty easily.

 

Voila!  Chill and Enjoy!

 

xoxo,

Aimee

p.s. Don't forget to LIKE us on facebook :)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins - YUM!

AIMEE:  Hi folks!  I am dying to tell you about this new recipe I tried this passed weekend.  It was for Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins with a streusel topping.  Not really a From Scratch recipe, Thank God.  I'm not a fabulous cook, so easy is best for me.

My friend Rachael found the recipe on Pinterest and when I heard about it, I said, 'Oh my god, I HAVE to try this.'  Sure enough, a few days later I found myself at Hannafords looking for the ingredients. Here's the trouble with shopping without the list or a recipe... you forget stuff!!  I was so mad at myself but I did what the Linder's are known for and the Ellis's are not.  Winging it!!  Haha - Yes, my husband who is a by-the-book recipe follower would have been very upset with me if he was there when these were made.  Lucky for me, he wasn't :)

My mom, who is an amazing cook is not exactly known for following a recipe.  If I were to ask her how to make something, she'd probably have to open the fridge, look around, and point things out. She uses whatever she has most of the time and often has to use substitutes.   I guess I'm kind of like her that way :)

So, this recipe called for a few ingredients, most of which I had.  I didn't have lemon peel or vanilla. Now the lemon peel really isn't that big of a deal, although I adore lemon and it gives such bright flavoring to everything.  But vanilla?  That can be a crucial ingredient because there isn't much you can do to substitute something like that.  Another thing I forgot to do was set aside some of the Quickbread mixture to make a streusel topping for the muffins.  I looked around the kitchen for a substitute but I was at a loss - that is, until  I spotted the Pumpkin Granola that I had bought earlier that morning from Trader Joe's - SCORE!

Below is the actual recipe...

INGREDIENTS:

• FILLING
•  No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 
• MUFFINS
• 1 (14 oz.) package Pillsbury® Pumpkin Quick Bread & Muffin Mix
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• STREUSEL TOPPING
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:

1. HEAT oven to 350°F. Coat 12 muffin cups generously with no-stick cooking spray.


2. For Filling: BEAT cream cheese in medium bowl with electric mixer until soft. Add egg, sugar, vanilla and lemon peel. Beat until blended.


3. For Muffins: PLACE quick bread mix into large bowl. Remove 3/4 cup dry mix. Place in small bowl for streusel topping. Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla to remaining mix in large bowl. Stir 50 strokes or until blended. Divide batter evenly into muffin cups. Divide cream cheese mixture evenly into center of muffins.


4. For Streusel Topping: ADD melted butter to reserved dry mix. Stir with fork until crumbly. Add pecans. Crumble a tablespoon of streusel over each muffin. Bake 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove muffins from pan to wire rack. Cool completely.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER SERVING:

Serving Size (1/24), Calories 260 (Calories from Fat 90), Total Fat 10g (Saturated Fat 1g, Trans Fat 0g), Cholesterol 35mg, Sodium 250mg, Total Carbohydrate 41g (Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 25g), Protein 4g; Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 60%, Vitamin C 2%, Calcium 8%, Iron 6%.


What I ended up doing:

I pretty much followed the main instructions.  However, I had no lemon peel or vanilla so I used a lot of cinnomin instead, to be sure it was going to be flavorful, then I prayed. haha :)  Nahhh, I knew it would be good, I was a little worried they weren't going to be the big hit I wanted them to be, but I knew that I would like them, at least.

A quick hint:  I was super worried about how I would go about filling the muffins since I had never done anything like that before. The quickbread mixture is a bit firm, like a dough which - as it turns out -  makes it really easy for 'filling' them!  I poured a little bit into the bottom of the muffin tin, then I used a teaspoon to put a little bit of an indentation into it. With another teaspoon I scooped some of the cheesecake mixture and gently laid it into the little next I made for it. Then I poured more of the Quickbread mix on top of it. In some cases the cheesecake mixture was oozing out and around the top portion of dough I added, but most of it stayed put and you really didn't notice it after they were baked anyway. 

So, as I mentioned previously,  I somehow forgot to set aside the extra Quickbread mixture for the streusel topping (nor did I pick up pecans from the store).  I grabbed the pumpkin granola that I bought from Trader Joe's and using that, I followed the streusel topping directions from the recipe.  My lovely assistant Rachael melted some Country crock butter spread in the microwave for me and I added some of the granola and stirred it up with a fork. Then I topped each muffin with a little bit of the mixture and then lightly pressed it down.

They turned out so delicious!! I'm betting if I followed the directions with the proper ingredients next time, they'd be even better. But I'm here to tell you - this is a perfect after-dinner treat for your family or guests with a nice cup of coffee or spiced tea...or even for yourself for breakfast!

I hope that if you try this recipe you'll comment and let me know how it went!  We would love your feedback :)

Also, don't forget to 'LIKE' us on facebook:  www.facebook.com/ellisfoodblog

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo,
Aimee (& Kevin)


Kevin:  The muffins were terrific!  They were moist and tasty, and I am not the biggest fan of pumpkin.  Aimee hit a home run!