Back in the Saddle!

So after my nearly two month long hiatus, I am back with renewed spirit and vigor and ready to take on my kitchen and show it no mercy! I am armed with a trove of new recipes and, with the temperatures trying to rise, anticipate an onslaught of occasions for which to try them. My first big foray back into the kitchen occurred Tuesday with a very special dinner for my very special man. On the menu - Caprese salad, Roast Prime Rib of Beef, sweet corn in butter sauce, broccoli with cheese sauce and mashed potatoes. Since I have already discussed most of these recipes on here, this post will focus on the backbone of this feast - Prime Rib. Oh, such a glorious cut of meat! I had my local butcher cut this one special for me and it was worth every penny. My only downfall was the inaccuracy of my meat thermometer which caused it to be a bit overcooked but certainly not ruined. Since the roast was enormous, you can expect several follow up posts where I use up all of the leftovers. There is no way a single morsel of this roast will go to waste.

To prepare the roast I simply rubbed it all over with English Prime Rib Rub from Penzey's. If you have never shopped Penzey's for herbs and spices, I highly recommend you do so. This rub is fantastic and creates a nice flavorful crust on the roast as it cooks.



I roasted the meat at 350 until my meat thermometer erroneously read 140 degrees. I removed the roast from the oven and let it rest while I set the table and put out all of the side dishes. Then I called in my DH to to the honor of carving. I think it took all the strength he could muster to not just lean over and take a bite right out of it! LOL!



Once the roast was carved we sat down and thoroughly enjoyed our little exercise in gluttoney. It was a perfect meal and we both enjoyed it tremendously.



For my first round of leftovers I made us cheesesteaks by caramelizing some sliced onions in butter and adding the thinly sliced leftover prime rib. Once everything was heated through I piled it on rolls that I had toasted with garlic butter and added a couple slices of American cheese. Yes, I realize the cheese part wasn't authentic but hubby didn't complain and made grunting sounds of joy as he eagerly scarfed it down. It was gone so fast I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of it!

Game Feast - Munich Haus - Chicopee, MA

This Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the last game feast of the year at Munich Haus in Chicopee, MA. I can assure you this will become a yearly pilgrimage for me from this point on. This was one enjoyable exercise in gluttony! The game meats included carving stations of kangaroo, bison, venison and bear along with rabbit stew, fried alligator, game stew, smoked bear sausage, alligator-chicken sausage and game sausage. Sides included red cabbage, roasted potatoes, cucumber salad, spaetzle and rye bread. There were cheese and crackers and other small appetizers too but I didn't bother with those - bring on the meat! For $45, this was a great deal as all the carving station meats were high quality and all of the food was FABULOUS!

The buffet


Carving Stations


First Plate


Second Plate


Save room for dessert!

Taking a break

Well, I have some personal shit to deal with so I probably won't be updating this blog for a while. Just in case anybody actually reads this. LOL!

The Last Recipe

For the philly cooking creme contest, that is! I had intended on submitting three recipes this week but life being what it is only permitted me enough free time to submit one. It was a good one though! I didn't even have to go out and buy much to make it since most of the ingredients I generally keep on hand. Hope you like it! The winners will be announced some time this week so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I sure could use the cash prize!

Black Bean Green Chili Casserole



1-2 pound(s) of chopped pork tenderloin (can sub ground pork, beef or turkey)
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 tbsp. of chopped garlic
1 can black beans with cumin and chili spices (Kuner's)
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (RoTel)
1 cup(s) of salsa verde
3 large flour tortillas
10 ounce(s) of philadelphia cooking creme, santa fe blend
2 cup(s) of cheddar cheese, shredded

1. saute meat, onions and garlic until browned, drain if necessary
2. add beans, tomatoes and salsa verde to pan, stir and heat through
3. Transfer meat mixture to casserole dish
4. spread cooking creme on half of each tortilla, fold tortilla in half and cut into quarters
5. layer tortilla quarters on top of casserole to cover
6. top casserole with cheddar cheese
7. bake at 350 for 45 minutes
serve hot and enjoy.

Casserole will be soupy so have plenty of extra tortillas on hand for sopping up the liquid! Delicious!

Original Cooking Creme Submission 2

Well, the philly cooking creme is finally available in stores around here, which gives me the ability to make even more submissions to the cooking creme contest and to play around more with my ingredients. The drawback! I have TONS of leftovers in my fridge! Husband and I can only eat so much! LOL! This week was exhausting so I decided to keep things simple with a quick and easy bean dip recipe. As soon as I was done making it, husband stole the bowl and headed to the living room to watch football with a bag of tortilla chips. I guess it's safe to say he liked it! LOL!

Easy Cheesy Bean Dip



10 ounce(s) of Philadelphia Cooking Creme, original flavor
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1 can refried beans
1 cup(s) of prepared salsa
1 cup(s) of shredded mexican cheese blend

Steps
Combine all ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan or microwave safe bowl
Gradually heat on low heat until hot, stirring frequently
Garnish with cooking creme, shredded cheese and/or chopped green onion (optional)
Serve with tortilla chips
DIG IN!

Original Cooking Creme Submission 1

So this week the original cooking creme is being featured. This is the only unflavored variety and, therefore you can use it in both sweet and savory dishes. A lot of people seem to be going with sweet but with spring in my sights and an ever bulging waistline I have decided to stick with savory. Of course, this fried appetizer isn't going to help me win the battle of the bulge! LOL!

Ham and Cheese Croquettes with Creamy Dipping Sauce



6 tbsp. of mirepoix (sauteed carrots, onion and celery, chopped very fine)
2 cup(s) of mashed potatoes, cold
1/2 cup(s) of cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup(s) of ham, chopped
10 ounce(s) of cooking creme, original flavor
2 eggs
2 cup(s) of seasoned bread crumbs
1 tsp. of chives
1 tsp. of parsley
1 cup(s) of chicken broth
1 pinch of salt and pepper to taste
4 cup(s) of oil for frying

Steps
Combine mirepoix, mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese, ham, 1 egg and 3 Tbs cooking creme in a medium sized bowl and stir to combine.

refrigerate mixture to firm it up, if needed

in a small bowl beat remaining egg and spread bread crumbs on a plate

when potato mixture is firm shape into balls, dip each potato ball in egg and roll in bread crumbs to coat.

Heat cooking oil and deep fry croquettes until golden brown. let drain on a paper towel lined plate.

In a small sauce pan combine remaining cooking creme, chives, parsley and chicken broth. Let simmer on low heat stirring frequently until thickened to a dipping consistency - about 15-20 minutes

Serve croquettes with warm dipping sauce. ENJOY!

Garlic Flavor Cooking Creme Recipe

Well, between a giant snowstorm and a ton of bad news getting dropped on me like a safe, I only found the time and motivation to make one submission to the Philadelphia Cooking Creme contest this week. I have to say that this is my favorite flavor so far, but then I am a garlic junkie so that really comes as no surprise. I am a little disappointed that the other recipe I had in my head never came to fruition but I still have the creme so I can always make it later. Still, I think it would have been a knockout. Maybe I will try to adapt the idea for the Santa Fe variety. We shall see. In any event, the one recipe I did make was quite tasty although I was not entirely happy with how my pie crust turned out. I did everything I was supposed to do keep it from getting soggy but it still came out that way. Oh well, it still tasted good! That's the important thing. Anyway, i now present to you my recipe for Roasted vegetable Pie featuring Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Savory Garlic Flavor:

Roasted Vegetable Pie



1 pie crust
3 tomatoes, sliced
2 zucchini, sliced
1 sweet onion, sliced
3 tbsp. of olive oil
2 tsp. of salt
1 egg, beaten
10 ounce(s) of savory garlic flavor cooking creme
1 cup(s) of shredded mozzarella cheese

Steps
1. line a deep pie pan with pie crust, cover with foil and prebake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. let cool after baking
2. Line a parchment lined baking sheet with sliced tomatoes, onion, and zucchini.
3. Drizzle vegetables with oil, season with salt and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool.
4. combine egg and cooking creme in a bowl, mix thoroughly.
5. Layer roasted vegetables in pie crust and top with cooking creme mixture
6. top pie with shredded mozzarella cheese
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Increase temperature to 400 degrees for last 10 minutes to brown top.
let stand 10-20 minutes before serving

ENJOY!