Month: January 2020

Dessert Bars: Chocolate Chip Cherry, and Orange Dream

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the last time I made a review post. So, today I made 2 dessert bars. I admit I did mess with the recipe for the orange dream bars, but you’ll see when you get there! Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars

Find the recipe Here!

These bars were delicious! The cherries added a light flavor that made these bars so much fancier than just normal chocolate chip bars. I cooked these bars for the recommended 27 minutes, and they were very good, but after cutting them open noticed they were still a bit doughy in the thicker parts. I also like cookies that way though. So, if you want them completely cooked, give them the extra 5 minutes. I highly recommend these if you like chocolate chip cookies and are looking for a twist! I used left over strained maraschino cherries from Christmas and they worked perfectly.

Orange Dream Bars

Find the recipe Here!

Don’t let it’s appearance fool you! This is a DELICIOUS orange bar, and the only reason it turned out so weird is because I chose not to follow directions (my bad). The ingredients for the custard are absolutely perfect and the refreshing flavor of orange made me feel like it was summer. For this recipe, I also used up our left over oranges from Christmas, and so it was perfect! I halved 3 oranges and that was more than enough orange juice and zest for the recipe.

How I messed up the recipe: So, I don’t really like crusts on things. I find pie crusts and the like, rather bland and the texture unappealing. So, whenever I make a dessert recipe with a crust, I like to try and substitute in a graham cracker crust. So, for this recipe, I made a graham cracker crust by mixing 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs with 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick) mixed it, then patted it into the foil lined 9×13 pan. I then poured the orange custard over top and baked it for an extra 3 minutes (26 minutes total). This came out perfect! And though the “crust” was no longer existent, the flavors were amazing! Graham crackers, butter, and orange taste so good together! So, I would make this recipe again, but next time, I would cook the custard first till it is cooked fully, let it cool, then cover it with the graham cracker crust and make it an Upside-Down Orange Dream Bar!

Thanks again for reading!

1

Open Faced Venison Sandwich with Gravy

The other night I made open face venison sandwiches with gravy. Though we have 2 pieces on each of our plates, it was so much food even for us that we were only able to finish one each! The bread and gravy really help to stretch the meal and fill your stomach for very little money. We served this meal with a side of fettuccine with butter and herbs from Pasta Sides and canned carrots with butter.

These are the same venison minute steaks I had used before when I made minute steaks with peppers and onions. They are pieces of steak that were sliced on a meat slicer to be about 1/4 of an inch thick. I cooked them in about 2 Tbsp of oil at a low temperature for a longer time to try and tenderize the meat and maybe melt some of the fat. In total I cooked the venison for 15 minutes over medium-low heat, melting in 1 Tbsp of butter at the end then letting it rest for 5 minutes while the pasta finished. Once it was finished, I served it over toast (since I freeze my bread) and smothered them with brown gravy that I had made from a gravy packet. This was a very filling meal that can feed 4 people.

1

Apple Cider Vinaigrette Pasta Salad

This pasta was delicious. I don’t usually make vinaigrettes because they tend to be too bitter for me or over power the dish. The proportions for this dish are perfect for covering the pasta, but still allows the flavor of the pasta to come through. This would be a fantastic summer dish to give a refreshed feeling, or served heartier with the addition of other veggies, cheeses, or even a meat. Some ingredients that would be a good addition include broccoli, zucchini, cucumbers, diced red peppers, diced onion, shredded or cubed sharp cheese, cubed pepperoni or hard salami, etc.

When I made this pasta, I used the ingredients below: apple cider vinegar, canola oil, and buckwheat blossom honey from a local beekeeper. I used the specified vinegar and oil, however, I did add an additional teaspoon of plain honey to add additional sweetness without the additional buckwheat flavor. The buckwheat honey did give it a very unique flavor though! The apple flavor was perfectly complimented by the buckwheat honey, and because of the honey, there was a floral aftertaste that was very unique. Buckwheat honey also added additional bitterness, so that was why I added additional plain honey.

  1. Bring to a boil 3 cups of water in a large pot.
  2. Once boiling add 8 oz of rotini pasta and cook for 15 minutes. Strain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Shake off excess water, then transfer to your desired serving bowl.
  3. In a small bowl/ramekin, mix together 1/4 cup of canola oil, 3 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar, and 1 Tbsp honey. Stir until homogeneous and adjust to taste.
  4. Stir together pasta, apple cider vinaigrette, and any other ingredients you desire. Refrigerate until serving. Serves 4 as a side dish.
1

Sous Vide Venison Chops

Sous vide is a technique that has been growing in popularity among home chefs over the last 2-3 years or so. It is the process of placing a sealed container into a water bath that is holding a consistent temperature thanks to the machine. It is also special because cooking with the sous vide is meant to take a longer time at a lower temperature giving consistent results.
This was my first time using my sous vide on meat. I got my sous vide the Christmas of 2018 on sale on amazon when they were starting to become very popular. I find it incredibly practical and consistent. This being my first time cooking meat with a sous vide, I have some advice. First, don’t add any of the meat’s blood to the bag before you seal it. Blood will come out of the meat itself, and excess blood won’t cook, just pool. And, second, feel free to season before you seal the meat. This time I added no seasoning because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the meat at that point, but it would have been better to at least add butter, since it came out of the bag and out of the skillet with a strong gamey smell. It had no gamey flavor though and was cooked to an absolutely perfect medium rare. It was like butter, and what little fat ran through it, just melted in your mouth.

  1. Set up your water bath in a large cooking vessel. Attach your sous vide. Fill your vessel to a height between the min and max line on your sous vide. Then, set your sous vide to 135F and wait for the water to reach temp.
  2. While the water is warming up, place your venison chops into a freezer bag or a vacuum seal bag and add desired seasoning for the meat. Seal bag with as little air left as possible, either via vacuum sealer or water displacement method.
  3. Once water is heated, drop bag into water and attach to side of container with a chip clip. Cook venison at 135 F for 2 hr (2.5 hrs if still slightly frozen).
  4. Once cooked, heat up a pan to high. Once hot to a hovering hand, add 1 Tbsp of butter and add contents of venison bag. Brown each piece then immediately remove from heat.
  5. Let rest for 5 minutes, serve, and enjoy!
1

Lasagna with Cottage Cheese

Like my recipe for stuffed chicken breast, you have the option to use ricotta instead of cottage cheese, however I tend to have cottage cheese more often than ricotta. I don’t make lasagna very often, but it’s a good option for lots of leftovers, and can provide more than one meal for a small family. It would also be very good with some Texas toast, buttered Italian bread, or some cheesy garlic bread.

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F
  2. Brown your ground beef/venison and break into chunks of your desired size. Once cooked, add one jar of pasta sauce and cook till hot.
  3. In a bowl, mix 24 oz of large curd cottage cheese, 6 oz of mozzarella, one egg, and 2 Tbsp of Italian seasoning. Mix till seasoning and egg is evenly distributed.
  4. Spray a 9×11 baking pan with nonstick spray. Place 1/2 a cup of meat sauce in bottom of pan and evenly coat the bottom. On top, layer noodles, 1/2 of cheese mixture, 1 cup of sauce, another layer of noodles, the rest of the cheese mixture, another cup of meat sauce, a top layer of noodles, and topped with remaining meat sauce.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and top with an additional 1/2 cup of mozzarella. Bake for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
0

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started