Category: Cooking Ideas

April 14, 2007

How to make a low fat homemade breakfast sausage

We like to have breakfast sausage every once in a while. Yet often the brands at the grocer are laden with fat. We do know of

one brand

that is fairly lean, but most store bought sausage is very fatty. It seems the manufacturers often can resist the tendency to want to use up the fat and make something off it. Often you hear that the fat is required for the taste. We haven’t found that to be the case at all, and make our own sausage using store bought ground pork.

Sometimes we find a nice looking pork butt roast, remove as much fat as possible and then grind it up ourselves in our meat grinder. This is a great way of really making sure the butcher isn’t trying to make something off their fat just like the sausage manufacturers do! If you don’t have a meat grind though, you can ask your butcher to trim off the fat before grinding the pork butt, and tell them you’ll pay for the fat on the side. Personally, I like being in control of the grinding and making absolutely sure I can get rid of as much fat as I can. An honest butcher will do as you ask and make you a nice lean ground pork.

We happen to have a sausage stuffer too and sometimes make stuffed breakfast sausage. It’s a lot of work to stuff your own sausage and yet it’s rewarding since you know what’s in the sausage isn’t loaded with fat. This article is about make homemade sausage patties so we’ll reserve the discussion on making sausage links for a future article.

We started our homemade breakfast patty sausage using store bought ground pork. According to the nutrition facts on the pork, the amount of fat per 1/4 pound of ground pork is 22g which is 34% of the daily value. Readers might think that value is high, but that amount is for a 4 ounce serving. The typical fat content of packaged breakfast sausage is 22g per 2 oz serving, so the fat in our homemade pork sausage is about half of the fat in prepared sausage. The proof of this is in the picture above of our sausage cooking in the skillet. Take a look closely and you’ll see that there is no excess fat around the sausage. Keep in mind too, that we’re using store bought ground pork and the butcher just can’t resist the opportunity to get $4.00 a pound for fat. If we ground our own pork, and removed all of the visible fat then we could easily have cut the fat in half again.

What you need to make homemade sausage patties
1 to 1 1/4 pounds lean ground pork
1 tbsp very finely diced onion
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
2 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp chervil
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp savory
1 tbsp water

Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with your hands. Form into 5 to 10 patties depending on your preference. Cook over medium low heat in an ungreased non-stick skillet until browned, turn and brown the other side.

Make sure to notice how little fat is left in the pan when you’re done cooking these patties.

April 3, 2007

Homemade Spanish Rice

Continuing with our latest theme of homemade recipe replacements for store bought packaged foods. The recipes we’ll feature in this series will be simple to make and tasty too.

Today’s side dish recipe is Spanish Rice, a mix of rice, celery, tomatoes and spices. There is no reason to purchase this as a box of dehydrated tomatoes and vegetables because it’s so easy to make from scratch. You find this recipe flavorful with the typical Spanish Rice taste coming for the most part from the chili powder and ground cumin.

Cooking Rice
The Spanish Rice recipe starts with 3 cups of cooked rice (that’s one cup dry rice cooked at a simmer in a covered saucepan along with two cups of water until the water is completely absorbed. Usual cooking times for short grain rice is about 20 minutes. We find Basmati rice cooks faster and is usually done in about 10 – 12 minutes. Brown rice takes longer and takes about 45 minutes. Once the water has been absorbed by the rice, remove the saucepan from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. For our Spanish Rice we used Basmati rice — it’s our favorite rice. If you like, you can use day old rice for this recipe, and you’ll find the resulting Spanish Rice has a different texture.

Spanish Rice Recipe
3 Cups cooked Rice [above]
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 stalks celery, washed, and diced
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp ground cumin

Place 1 tbsp olive or canola oil in a large non-stick skillet and heat.
Add the onions, celery, and garlic, and cook until the onions and celery are tender.
Add diced tomatoes, chili powder, oregano leaves, and ground cumin. Stir and cook about 2 – 3 minutes to reduce the water from the tomatoes a little bit.
Add the 3 cups of cooked rice, and mix well. If usning fresh made rice, the recipe is ready to serve. If the rice was day old from the refrigerator, cook, breaking up the rice some with the spatula, until the rice is warm.

You may add 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper to this recipe if desired. Remove the membrane from the green pepper, and then dice into 1/2 pieces. Add the pepper to the recipe along with the onions and celery in step 2.

March 21, 2007

Refried Beans Recipe

When we cook our meals we try to avoid using salt or MSG in our recipes. When making side dishes from the packaged foods that come in boxes or cans, the seasonings are all mixed together and it’s almost impossible to cook without salt. By looking closely at the USDA Nutrition Facts label you’ll see these packaged foods are all laden with salt – many of which contain more than 25% of the recommended daily value of sodium in a single serving.

So this post starts a series of easy to make replacements for commonly purchased packaged foods.

Refried Beans are one of those foods that many of us love to eat with our Mexican and Latin American meals yet many of us have no idea what is in the recipe. For years we’ve purchased our refried beans in a can at the grocer and simply reheated them in the microwave or on the stove top. After making our recipe for Refried Beans we found our recipe to be superior, has no fat, and no salt added.

Refried Beans starts with Pinto Beans, a small red bean typical in Latin American cooking. We purchase ours at a Latin American Grocer, but if you can’t find a Latin American Grocer near you, buy the red beans in the Mexican or Latin American section at your grocer.

Refried Beans Recipe
Measure out 1 cup of Pinto Beans, pick over them and remove any foreign items like stones and odd plant material. Place the beans in a 2 quart sauce pan, and add about 1 1/2 quarts of water. Place on the stove, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and let cook for 3 hours. Check every so often and add water if the pot is drying out.

Just before the beans are done, dice 1/2 onion very fine (1/8″ or so), and saute the onions in 1/2 tbsp of canola oil along with 1 tsp chopped garlic. Cook until tender but not browned.

Drain the beans using a strainer, and place the pinto beans in a 2 quart mixing bowl. Sprinkle the cooked onion & garlic over the top of the cooked beans, and add:
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dark chili powder

Mash the pinto beans and seasonings using an electric hand mixer until the beans are at a consistency that you like. We like our Refried Beans to be coarse and have a little crunchiness to them. Some may want their Refried Beans mashed like the beans that comes out of the canned Refried Beans. Either way, you’ll find this a delicious recipe and a much better and healthier recipe than the canned variety of Refried Beans.

March 10, 2007

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with Hot Dogs

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese With Hot Dogs

Ever since I was a child I’ve eaten Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for a quick lunch. I’ve tried the many different varieties of mac and cheese made by Kraft including the Velveeta, and instant squeeze cheese packets. But my favorite Kraft mac and cheese remains their original with elbows.

One way that I make the Kraft Mac & Cheese is by adding two or three hot dogs to the boiling water along with the dry macaroni pasta. Both will cook together, and then when I strain the pasta, I separate the hot dogs from the pasta, and cut the hot dogs into 1/2″ sections, mix back into the pasta, and mix up with sauce. I always use real milk, and real butter, although not the 3 tbsp that the package calls for. Instead I use 2 tbsp butter, and 1/4 cup of warmed milk. To warm the milk, I simply measure into a Pyrex cup, and set near the stove while the pasta cooks. The butter, I simply slice, place in the bottom of the pan, and pour the drained pasta over top. Let this sit about 30 seconds, then stir to mix the butter around, sprinkle the pasta with the powdered cheese sauce mix, and add the mix, stir, and add the hot dogs. Let site 2 minutes to let the cheese sauce thicken.

To serve, spoon the pasta into a salad bowl, and top with some fresh ground black pepper.

As for the hot dogs, I buy Sheldon’s Uncured Chicken or Turkey Hot Dogs that are low in fat, and have no Sodium Nitrate in them. Since they’re not cured, Sheldon’s Hot Dogs must be kept frozen, and added to the water frozen. They taste good, don’t have the nitrates, and are lower in fat the most hot dogs. I just looked at the package of Sheldons Chicken Franks I have, and each frank has 7g of fat, 2g of which are saturated, and those are both 10% of the USDA Daily Value. That’s far less then the 36 – 40% values of normal hot dogs. You can find Sheldon’s hot dogs at the healthy food stores like Whole Foods or if your in central Maryland, where I shop, which is the Common Market in Frederick, MD off of Route 85 in Evergreen Square with Central Tractor Farm & Family used to be.

March 8, 2007

Pastrami Pita Sandwich

A well made stuffed pita sandwich has a delightful blend of flavors and textures. We stumbled on this mix of tastes by accident – simply it’s what we had around to eat! The flavors of the pastrami, Thai Basil and green onions mix to create a wonderful taste experience.

Here’s what’s inside the pita pictured above:
1 large slice beef pastrami cut into 1 1/2″ squares
1/4 cup lettuce, ripped into 1 1/2″ pieces
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts*, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp chopped spring onions
1 tbsp fresh Thai basil leaves, ripped into 3/8″ pieces.

*Alfalfa sprouts aren’t required but add an intriguing crunch to the sandwich.

Mixing Pita Filling

The secret to making great pita sandwiches is to mix everything together first in a bowl and then stuff the mixture into the pita. If you try to make the pita by simply stuffing things into the pita pocket, you won’t be able to blend everything evenly.

To make this pita pocket sandwich, cut the top 3/8″ off of a whole wheat pita across the widest part. Mix the ingredients listed above in a salad bowl, and then stuff into the pita pocket.

March 5, 2007

Stove Top Barbecued Beef Brisket

Some of the most flavorful cuts of beef are also the most tough. With this recipe for Barbecued Beef Brisket, we’re going to take one of the toughest cuts of beef, apply some tenderizer, braise it, boil it, cook it in barbecue sauce, all done without a grill, and end up with a very tender meal. Be aware that this is a recipe that takes time. From start to finish is about 6 1/2 hours of preparation and cooking. The results are worth the investment in time.

We use a couple of what might be hard to find ingredients in this recipe which are Onion Juice and Garlic Juice. We feel that for this brisket roast that the Onion and Garlic Juices instead of sliced onion and minced soak garlic let the flavors soak more deeply into the food and impart a lighter flavor since the flavor is more dispersed. You can find these onion and garlic juices in Safeway Stores and we’re trying to find a supplier for our e-store.

Recipe for Stovetop Barbecued Beef Brisket

Step 1

5 pound beef brisket
2 tsp Adolphs Meat Tenderizer
1 tsp Onion Juice
3 tsp Garlic Juice
1/4 tsp Tabasco Sauce
Ground Black Pepper

Evenly sprinkle the Adolphs Tenderizer over both sides of the brisket. Season with black pepper, and then brown the brisket on all sides in a large dutch oven that has been coated with canola oil.
Add water to the dutch oven to cover the brisket, and then add the onion juice, garlic juice, and Tabasco sauce.
Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.

Step 2

1 16oz bottle any quality barbecue sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 250° F.
Remove the brisket from the dutch oven and discard the water.
Wash the dutch oven, dry and lightly oil with canola oil.
Place the brisket back into the dutch oven.
Place the following in a non-stick 2 quart saucepan: barbecue sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and liquid smoke. Heat, and stir until the brown sugar is dissolved, then pour over the brisket.
Cover the dutch oven, and place in oven
Cook for 4 hours, checking every 45 minutes, turning, and making sure the sauce stays moist.

We served our roast with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and used the barbecue sauce with cooked with over top of the sliced brisket.

Tip: When cutting the brisket, cut across the grain so that the tough fibers in the brisket are severed.

February 21, 2007

Stovetop Barbecued Pulled Pork Sandwiches

It’s still dead of winter here on the East Coast, and we haven’t barbecued in what seems like forever. With the deck covered by 6 inches of heavy frozen solid snow, we can’t even consider firing up our grill. So it’s times like these that making a barbecued pork on top of the stove come in handy. We guarantee that this is a great recipe and the hardest part is cutting up the pork. The rest of the time the pork is simply simmering on the stove, and when done cooking, the pork will shred with the touch of a fork.

5 pound boneless pork shoulder “Boston Butt” roast
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 tsp (or more) Tabasco Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp celery seed
1 tsp garlic juice
1 tsp onion juice
2 cups water

You need about 5 pounds of meat for this recipe, and if the store only has bone-in pork shoulder, then purchase about an 8 pound roast. It’s not an easy task to cut the meat from a pork shoulder (or Boston Butt) roast, so I’d recommend finding a boneless roast.

Cut the roast into about 3/4 pound chunks. Lightly grease a large stock pot or dutch oven with olive oil. Toss in the pork, and cook on high, turning, until the pork browns on the outside, turn, and repeat a couple times. Don’t worry about cooking the pork through, there’s plenty of time for that coming up, what you want is to get some caramel color on the pork.

Once the pork butt is browned to your desire, add the water, vinegar, celery seed, garlic juice, onion juice, and Tabasco sauce. I like to use garlic and onion juice for this recipe because the flavor will blend into the pork and there are no pieces of onion or garlic in the barbecued pork. If you can’t find onion or garlic juice, substitute with 1/2 tsp chopped garlic, and 1/4 cup finely diced onion. Bring the liquid to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 2 hours. Turn the meat over ever half hour so that the meat gets evenly flavored by the sauce. With a tight lid, and slow simmer, you shouldn’t need to add any water, but if you see the pan getting dry, add a little water.

When the pork is done, it will rip to shreds with no effort at all when touched with a fork. Drain the pot into a collander, rip up the pork, and serve with a good barbecue sauce such as Staubs. Heat the barbecue sauce, then mix 1 or 1/2 tbsp of BBQ sauce with 1 1/2 cups of pulled pork.

I like to serve my pulled pork sandwiches on toasted kaiser rolls topped with a little bit of shredded Cheddar cheese, and 1 to 2 tbsp of fresh made coleslaw^*, and some coleslaw on the side. Exactly as pictured above.

^*Make a quick delicious coleslaw with a package of Fresh Express^TM Coleslaw Mix and Marie’s Original Coleslaw Dressing, which you can find in the salad dressing aisle of the grocer. Mix the coleslaw with the dressing right after the pork BBQ mixture is set to simmer and refrigerate. The coleslaw will be perfectly flavored at the same time the pork BBQ is done.

February 11, 2007

Soft Boiled Eggs with Toast Cubes Recipe

Breakfast time continues here in our Cooking Ideas sections with an Old Fashioned recipe for soft boiled eggs on toast cubes. Nowadays, you don’t hear or see soft boiled eggs around much. But they’re yet another way to add variety to your morning breakfast meal. You can buy special holders to place the soft boiled egg in and eat the cooked eggs right out of the shell along with toasted bread, or you can try this our way.

This is really an easy breakfast to make and it starts by heating a pot of water to boiling. Leave room in the pot to allow for the number of eggs you’re going to add. Allow 2 eggs per serving, and 2 slices of bread per serving. When the water reaches a roaring boil, add the eggs to the pan one at a time by placing the eggs on a tablespoon and lowering the egg into the water. When all of the eggs are in the pan, set a timer for 4 and 1/2 minutes. It won’t matter if any of the shells crack because the eggs will be peeled and chopped up.

While the eggs are cooking, make the toast, lightly butter and cut the toasted bread into about 1 inch cubes. You can cut two slices of bread at a time if you’re using a serrated bread knife. If you’re making more then 2 servings, you should start making the toast while you’re waiting for the water to boil. Place the cubed toast into a cereal sized boil.

When the timer rings, carry the pot of water to the sink, and add cold water from the faucet until the water is cool, then drain the water from the pan, leaving the eggs in the pan. Carefully remove the shells from the eggs, trying not to break the egg white or else the yolk will leak out. If the eggs are too hot to handle, cool them a little by placing the egg on a tablespoon and running cool tap water over the egg for 5 or 10 seconds. The way I peel the eggs is to use a small teaspoon to lightly tap on end of the egg until the shell cracks, and then carefully remove the cracked pieces of shell. If you’re lucky, when you have half of the shell peeled off the egg, the egg will pop out of the other half. If not, hold the half peeled egg over the bowl of toast cubes, and use a small teaspoon (one smaller then the egg shell) to scoop the egg out of the shell onto the toast. Repeat for the other egg, and then chop the eggs into about 3/8″ pieces and mix up the toast so that the yolk is distributed evenly. Sprinkle lightly with salt and serve immediately.

February 11, 2007

Baked Eggs For Breakfast

If you’ve never tried baked eggs before you might find the thought a little odd. While it takes a longer to make baked eggs, you’ll find that the texture of the baked eggs is much different then you get from fried eggs, almost like that of hard boiled eggs. It’s easy to make baked eggs, but you’ll need to have a couple if items to do so. First, you will need an oven safe ceramic bowl, such as a ramekin or a small Corning Corelle dish. Second, you’ll need an 12″ x 9″ x 2″ baking pan that you’ll fill halfway with water.

To make baked eggs, place a 12″ x 9″ x 2″ pan on the middle rack of your oven, and fill the pan half way with water. Preheat the oven to 350° F. While the oven is warming, lightly grease a ramekin or other oven safe small dish. You may add a round piece of ham or Canadian bacon to the bottom of the dish if you like. Then break 2 eggs into the ramekin, and place the ramekin into the pan of water. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes, until the eggs are set on top. Don’t try to rush the baking. Let them cook slowly in the water until the whites and yolk are firm. Then carefully remove the ramekin from the pan, leaving the pan of hot water on the rack in the oven (DON’T TRY TO CARRY THE PAN OF HOT WATER – LET IT COOL BEFORE REMOVING THE PAN). Immediately sprinkle the top of the eggs with grated white or yellow Cheddar cheese, and serve. Make one ramekin per serving, and you can fit 2 ramekins into the pan of water.

January 15, 2007

What the heck is Scrapple?

The name scrapple was derived from the the word scraps. Originally scrapple was created to make use of the scraps of hog left over after butchering and certainly it still is. It’s made by boiling neck bones in seasoned water along with other odd parts of the hog for a few hours until the meat falls off of the bones. The meat is chopped up, and then mixed with seasoned cornmeal mush, and baked until firm. Here’s a vintage recipe for scrapple. But nowadays most of us aren’t butchering our own hogs, so we will either buy some scrapple at the grocer, or order it along with breakfast at a restaurant.

The current use of scrapple here in the United States is as a breakfast meat. But in early days of settlement in the US it was also served as the main entry for Sunday and special dinners.

My favorite brand of scrapple is Rapa Brand Scrapple, and is made in the small town of Bridgeville, DE on the Delmarva Peninsula. The Delmarva is a rural agricultural and farming region for the most part and is bordered on the western side by the Chesapeake Bay and on the eastern side by the Atlantic Ocean. Bridgeville is located about dead center of the Delmarva and is in a strategic location for serving the farmers of the region. Rapa has a long history as a brand of scrapple. Ralph and Paul Adams incorporated RAPA Scrapple in 1926. In 1981 the RAPA Scrapple Company was purchased by Jones Dairy Farm, however RAPA Scrapple continues it’s operation in Bridgeville, DE. If you cannot find Rapa Scrapple in your area, the Rapa Scrapple company processes mail orders for scrapple in the winter months. The current price in 2007 is $38.00 for 12 one pound blocks (which works out to $3.17 a pound) plus UPS shipping costs. Scrapple freezes well so don’t worry about what you’d do with so much scrapple at one time. My favorite flavor of Rapa Scrapple is their original. Other flavors produced by Rapa are Beef Scrapple, Scrapple with Bacon, Hot & Spicy Scrapple, and Greensboro Brand. For mail orders from Rapa, you may mix and match any of these varieties to meet the 12 package requirement. Orders must be placed by mail as the company only accepts checks or money orders. Call Rapa 800-338-4727 to get the shipping costs before sending payment to them.

Another brand of scrapple that can be found in my local Maryland grocers is produced by the Kirby and Holloway Provision Company, which is also located in Delaware, in the small town of Harrington, DE just a couple towns and a few miles north of Rapa’s Bridgeville Locations, and is also on US Route 13. I have never had the Kirby and Holloway brand of scrapple so I cannot comment on it’s flavor. I can say I extremely enjoy all of the Kirby and Holloway brand sausages, which are flavorful and unlike many sausages are not loaded with fatty meat. So since they produce such quality breakfast and dinner sausages, I would have to say that the scrapple would be of high quality as well.

Some folks are turned off by thinking about what goes into scrapple, and consider it nasty food. But nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a tasty meat dish that makes for change of taste in your breakfast meals. The official ingredient list on the package of Rapa Scrapple lists: Pork Stock, Pork Livers, Pork Fat, Pork Snouts, Corn Meal, Pork Hearts, Wheat Flour, Salt and Spices. It is not a low fat food though and like sausages needs to be eaten in moderation. According to the Nutrition Facts, each serving of scrapple contains 8g or 12% daily value of fat. That’s not lean, but is only a fraction of the fat found in fat dogs (hot dogs) which many labels state the daily value of fat at 38% [and don’t even look at the label on a package of bacon if you’re concerned about the fat in scrapple].That said, I try to eat right, and so I may eat scrapple only once every 2 to 3 months.

To Cook Scrapple
Scrapple is a little tricky to cook. I’m not sure cook is the right term since it’s already cooked. It’s really being reheated and browned for serving. The basic cooking instructions are:

Slice the scrapple through the wrapper into 3/8″ slices. Fry in a non-stick skillet over medium heat for about 8 to 10 minutes then turn over and brown the other side. That sounds simple, right? Well it really is that simple except for one thing — knowing when to turn the scrapple over.

Scrapple can’t be rushed, nor cooked in the microwave. It needs to be pan fried until the bottom has browned, and turned only once, and cooked until the bottom on the other side has browned too. If you turn the scrapple too early, then the slice with fall apart (it is made with corn meal so will be a rather mushy mess in this case). If you cook scrapple too long, then the outside will be hard, and the inside will be mushy which makes it difficult to eat. Our picture here of the cooked scrapple shows the right level of browning. The outside is brown, and yet still soft enough to cut with a fork.

Serve cooked scrapple as a breakfast meat dish along with eggs and potatoes. Scrapple can also be used as a meat on a scrambled egg sandwich on toasted wheat bread with cheese. Give scrapple a try with your breakfast. There are lots and lots of scrapple made so someone must be eating it. And it’s those of us adventurous enough to get past the ingredient list know how good it tastes.