Since we always have a fruit with breakfast (and lunch!), I decided to make that part of the dish instead of just a side.

Sauteed bites of apple with the sweetness of crushed pecans is a great topping for pancakes.

Andrea’s Sauteed Apples with Crushed Pecans

• 2 Small – Medium Red Apples, chopped
• 1/2C Crushed Pecans
• 2TBSP Butter
• 1tsp Olive Oil
• 1/2tsp Cinnamon

In a medium sized skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat.  When the butter starts sizzling, add in the apples and cinnamon.  Sautee for about 3 minutes and then add in the crushed pecans.  Sautee for another 3 minutes, remove from heat and serve!

Makes enough topping for 3 servings.

Perfect for pancakes!  The apples are warm but stil crisp since they are not cooked for very long.  Plus you’re starting you day off with a serving of fruit!

This is also great for a topping over ice cream, with some yogurt, or even on top of some oats.  Mix with some granola for some extra crunch!

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!

Comments: 0

I’ve been hesitant in the past to mess around with crab because it is a pricey protein option and the idea of messing something up didn’t sit well with me.

However I reached a point where I realized that if we don’t experiment in the kitchen we won’t grow as cooks.  And that doesn’t do anyone any good.  So in the name of Embracing Cooking, I decided to start experimenting more with crab.

And that lead to twice baked potatoes!

Andrea’s Crab Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

• 2 Large Russet Baking Potatoes, scrubbed
• 8oz Crab Claw Meat, drained, rinsed, and checked for shell
• 1/2 Red Pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 Green Pepper, finely chopped
• 1/4 Red Onion, finely chopped
• 4 Slices of crispy bacon, chopped
• 1TBSP Grainy Mustard
• 2tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 2TBSP Prepared Horseradish
• 1/2C Shredded Cheddar
• Big Pinch Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2-1tsp of Garlic Powder
• 1tsp Old Bay Seasoning
• Olive Oil for sauteeing, about 1/2 TBSP

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, poke holes in the potatoes with a knife, and wrap in foil.  Bake for about an hour until potatoes are soft and cooked through.

Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool enough to handle.

Cut the top off of the potato and scoop out insides into a large mixing bowl.  You want the potato to look like a boat but don’t scoop so much out the potato loses structure.

In a medium sized skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add in the peppers and onion and sautee just till they start to soften.  About 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and add to the mixing bowl.

Add in the crab, bacon, mustard, horseradish, worcestershire, and seasonings along with 1/4C of the cheddar.  Start to stuff the potatoes.  This makes a lot of filling and the potatoes will be stuffed to the tippy-top.

Before serving, heat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.  Spray or brush olive oil on the baking sheet and place the potatoes on top.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until the insides are hot.  Sprinkle on remaining cheddar and allow to melt.

Remove from oven and serve!

These potatoes hit the spot! And because they are large, they can be used as a main dish.  Just add some veggies or a salad on the side to round things out.

I kept the flavors similar to that of a crab cake with the use of the peppers and onion.  I knew that combination already worked so I ran with it and incorporated it into the twice baked.

The potato is very filling! So much so, that I could only eat half and saved the other half for the next day.

One reason I loved twice baked potatoes is because they can be made up to a day ahead of time, then you just have to heat them right before serving.  Add a few extra minutes to the time if they are going from fridge to oven.

They also are perfect for freezing!

Remember guys, have fun and always play with your food! Enjoy!

Comments: 2

We had some leftover rice from the previous night’s dinner and I had some chard that needed used up.  Combine the two and you’ve got a great lunch!

It was super quick to put together.  I sauteed up:

• 1/4 Onion, sliced
• 1/4 Green Pepper, sliced
• Once large bunch of chard, chopped
• Shredded carrots
• A few broccoli florets

Sauteed in some olive oil with a pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, chili powder, and garlic powder.

Added in the leftover rice at the end and cooked just long enough for it to heat through.

Spooned in bowls, topped with a bit of shredded cheddar and a few dashes of hot sauce.

Perfect warm lunch and super easy to put together.  Could be assembled the night before or early in the morning to take to work.

The only thing I had to chop was the chard. I already had shredded carrots on hand ready for weekday salads.  I had sauteed onions and peppers leftover from dinner a previous day and I had broccoli in a bagged, prepped and ready to go.

The idea was to use up what I had on hand to make a quick meal.

You can also add in some extra protein by adding in beans or some scrambled eggs.  If you have leftover meat or fish from dinner the night before, you could add that too. Whatever you like and whatever you have on hand is the concept for this dish.

It’s a great way to utilize leftovers and to make a quick filling meal.

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!

Comments: 6

Homes all over will smell like kraut that day and grocery stores have sales on the stuff starting a few weeks before New Year’s.

It’s just not New Year’s if you don’t have pork and kraut. Scott embraced this tradition with open arms.  Not really surprising since his previous tradition was boiled cabbage and ketchup.

Um.

I would wager a guess and say that this dish is probably a little tastier than that.

It’s also made with beer, onions, and peppers. Plus being tossed in a crockpot.  Winner!

Andrea’s Country Ribs With Sauerkraut

• 4-6, Country Style Pork Ribs
• 1 32oz Jar of Sauerkraut, drained (but not rinsed!)
• 1 Onion, sliced thin
• 1 Green pepper, sliced thin
• 1TBSP Brown Sugar
• 1C Dark Lager Style Beer (I used Great Lakes Eliot Ness)
• Big Pinch Red Pepper Flakes
• 1tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2tsp Smoked Paprika

In the crockpot, add in beer and brown sugar, and stir.  Then add in the kraut, onion, and pepper along with the spices, then mix.  Place ribs in crockpot on top of the kraut mixture.  Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.

Serve immediately!

Typically this dish is served with a large helping of mashed potatoes on the side and the kraut mixture on top.

If you don’t have any beer or would like to use something else, I would recommend some beef stock.

You could swap out the ribs for a pork butt roast.  Once that’s cooked, just shred the pork into the kraut mixture.  Would be great for a party or game day because you could serve this as sandwiches.

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

Comments: 2

On a recent episode of Triple D (because I love it so), I saw mention of a beer and cheese dip.  This got me thinking about creating a beer dip that you could have with snacks and that doesn’t need to be kept warm.

By eliminating the need to keep this dip warm, it becomes perfect for having out for parties and get togethers.

I wanted the beer flavor to come through while also having a little bit of a kick to it.  What goes great with beer? Mustard!

Once I knew mustard was going into the mix, the rest of the recipe fell into place.

Andrea’s Beer and Mustard Dip

• 1C Dark Lager Style Beer (I used Great Lakes Eliot Ness)
• 2TBSP Whole Grain Mustard
• 3TBSP Dijon Mustard
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1/4 Small Onion, chunked
• 1TBSP Prepared Horseradish
• 1/2TBSP Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4tsp Garlic Powder
• Big Pinch Red Pepper Flakes
• About 1/2tsp each, salt and ground black pepper
• Couple Dashes Your Favorite Hot Sauce
• 1tsp Olive Oil
• 1C Shredded Cheddar

In a small mixing bowl, combine the cheddar and flour.  Set aside.  In a small food chopper or food processer, add in the onion and garlic cloves and pulse until finely chopped.  In a medium sized sauce pan add in the olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Add in the onion and garlic and sautee for about 2 minutes stirring constantly so the garlic doesn’t burn.  Add in the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder. Add in the beer, mustards, and horseradish.  Stir and allow to come to a simmer.  Simmer for about 5 minutes.  You should notice the sauce starting to thicken up at this stage (not a lot, it thickens just a tad).  Turn heat down to low and slowly whisk in the cheddar and flour combo.  Keep whisking until the cheddar is melted and fully incorporated into the sauce.

Remove from heat and pour dip into a glass bowl.  You can serve this immediately or allow to cool, cover, and store in fridge till you need it.

This dip is great warm and it’s great cold.  It can also be served at room temperature making it a perfect party dip!

It’s creamy with a strong flavor of beer and mustard.  It goes well with veggies, chips, or even sausage bites!  It can also be used on top of sandwiches as a spread or sauce.

The cheddar helps thicken it up just a little more while providing some background sharpness that brings some depth to the dip.  Horseradish makes it demand to be noticed.

I’m already looking forward to making some more of this and seeing what else I can add it to!

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!

Comments: 0

Then dips kind of got pushed aside for a while here at the HQ, and now I’m looking to bring them back.  I’ve been recreating a lot of my favorite flavors of dip and using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

So far I’ve been successful!  The first dip I made was a roasted veggie dip that’s creamy, full of dill punch, and roasted veggie goodness.

Andrea’s Roasted Veggie Dip

• 1/4 Small or Medium Red Onion, chunked
• 1/2 Red or Green Pepper, chunked
• 1 Small or Medium Size Carrot, peeled and chunked
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 1/2C Greek Yogurt
• 1 1/2TBSP Dried Dill
• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper
• 1/4tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/4tsp Onion Powder
• 1/2TBSP Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss veggies with olive oil and a large pinch of salt and pepper.  Roast on a baking sheet in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the onions and peppers have started to brown and caramelize.  Stir once while roasting.  Remove veggies from oven and set aside to cool.

Once veggies are cool, place in a food processor and pulse until the veggies start to break down.  Scrape down the sides, and add in the yogurt, dill, cayenne pepper, a little more salt and pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  Pulse until smooth leaving the veggies a little chunky so there’s  a little texture to the dip.

Place in a glass bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.  Can be made the day before.  Serve chilled with your favorite veggies and chips!

By letting the dip sit in the fridge for a few hours, this allows the flavors to mingle and get more pronounced.  It’s actually best if you make this a day before you want to serve it.  Before serving, give a taste and see what you think.  If you feel there needs to be more dill added, sprinkle in a bit more.  Some people really love dill and if that’s you, go crazy with it!

What I really enjoy about this dip is that it is made with fresh ingredients along with the added bonus of using Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream.  Greek Yogurt has the benefits of yogurt along with a high protein content.  You can feel good about eating this dip!

You can also switch up the veggies to suite your tastes. Like broccoli? Add it in! You can play around with flavors and use what you have on hand or what you like.

TIPS:

Switch out the Greek Yogurt for cream cheese and now you have your own roasted veggie cream cheese.

This can also be used on sandwichs as a flavor packed spread.

If you can’t find Greek Yogurt or feel it’s too pricey for your budget, you can quick make your own.  Line a fine mesh strainer with paper towels or a cheese cloth and dump in plain 2% yogurt.  Allow to strain for several hours until most of the whey is removed.  You’ll be left with a thicker yogurt or “yogurt cheese”.  Then just follow the recipe for making the dip!

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!

Comments: 4

Whoa! Back that train up!

They completely had my attention because that sounds darn good!  I looked at the recipe and immediately started figuring out how I could make my own.

Everyone’s heard of those BIG chocolate chip cookies sometimes people use in place of birthday cakes.  But this?  This is a completely different concept.

It really is just a basic chocolate chip cookie cooked in a cast iron skillet which results in a thicker cookie with a gooey middle.

I wasted no time in making my own version.

Andrea’s Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

• 1C Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1C White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/3C Unsweetened Coconut Milk (Found in the dairy aisle, not the canned kind)
• 2 1/2TBSP Unsalted Butter, room temp + 1/2TBSP
• 1 Egg, room temp
• 1/2C Brown Sugar
• 1/2C Unsweetened Applesauce
• 2tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2tsp Sea Salt
• 1C Dark Chocolate Chips
• 1C Walnuts, crushed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use 1/2TBSP butter to grease your cast iron skillet.  In a large mixing bowl combine, flours, sea salt, and baking powder.  Whisk together then add in the nuts and chocolate chips.  Stir until everything is combined.  In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2TBSP butter, egg, vanilla, brown sugar, coconut milk, and applesauce.  Slowly add the liquid mixture to the dry and stir until everything is well combined.  This will be a slightly thick dough.

Pour mixture into greased skillet and spread around till it’s even in the skillet.  Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven, allow to cool for about 5 minutes, slice and serve.  Best served warm.

Both Scott and I were very happy with the way this cookie turned out!  Because of the white whole wheat flour it’s a more dense and chewy cookie.  A lot more filling as well!  It’s not a crumbly crispy cookie, instead it’s soft with gooey melty chocolate.  I added the walnuts just for a little extra kick.

This cookie is best served warm and the slices can be easily heated up in the microwave before serving.  It also freezes well!

If you have a cast iron skillet you should probably make this for a holiday dessert.

Or for Christmas morning breakfast, whichever you feel is more appropriate.

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!

Comments: 6

Him: Something with nuts!

Me: What kind of nuts, pecans or walnuts?

Him: What did we just have with the coffee cake?

Me: Pecans.

Him: Then we should have walnuts.

Me: Done

And this is how Banana Nut or what I lovingly call, my favorite pancakes ever, were born.

Andrea’s Banana Nut Pancakes 

• 1C Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1C Buckwheat Flour
• 1tsp Baking Soda
• 1tsp Cinnamon
• 2TBSP Sugar
• 1C Walnuts, crushed
• 1 Large banana
• 1C Unsweetened Coconut Milk (the kind in the dairy section, not from a can)
• 1C Water
• 2tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Preheat grilled over medium heat.  In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and walnuts and whisk together.  In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the water, coconut milk, vinegar, extract, and banana.  Mash the banana in the liquids as much as possible.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir until everything is combined.  Grease your griddle with a little oil and drop batter by spoonfuls.  The size is up to you!  Cook for about three minutes on the first side or until you start seeing several bubbles pop up in the center.  Flip and cook for another minute to two minutes.  Remove from heat and continue until all the batter has been used.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Most favorite pancakes to date.  These are slightly sweet, completely fluffy and full of flavor.  The banana keeps the pancake moist and the crushed walnuts add a little bit of crunch and texture.

Toppings are your choice, but clearly I used maple syrup for mine.

Leftovers can be frozen and reheated either in a toaster or toaster oven.

Two things are true, I’ve got leftovers and they will be eaten this weekend.

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!

Comments: 2

Please take a look at these links and have fun checking out all the cookies that everyone made!

Diana made Whiskey Molasses cookies, recipe by yours truly.

Rachel made pecan brittle bars.

Alyse made gingerbread cookies.

Jess made oatmeal cookies.

I made Italian Chocolate Meatball Cookies.

Also swing over to Lori’s site to see the rest of the roundup! She’s got a big list of recipes to share!

Thanks to everyone who participated this year! What fun to see all these cookies!

Comments: 3

I made a few changes to accomodate what I had on hand along with adjusting to suit our tastes.

Below is the original recipe from Jess:

Italian Chocolate Meatball Cookies

from Dianna Petrella’s recipe (a family friend)

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening (yes, you have to use shortening or something like Earth Balance – unfortunately butter just doesn’t work right)
• 1.5 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup warm milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (Hershey’s, Ghirardelli, or Scharffen Berger are good)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 cup walnuts (finely chopped)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl (ideally you would do this in a stand mixer if you have one; I wouldn’t recommend a hand mixer unless you’ve got an industrial strength one). Roll into balls. Bake at 350º for 10-15 minutes. Cool and dip tops into confectionary sugar frosting and sprinkle tops with confetti. Freeze for up to three months. Yields 4-5 dozen.

For frosting, mix 3 cups confectionary sugar, 2 Tbsp milk, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

My adapations are as follows:

Comments: 2