Two recipes to cheer you up for Fall (steaks and baked apples)

I found two steaks on sale Sunday. Two bone in steaks. $5. Priceless. So I made a nice Fall Feast last night for my self.

I did not know exactly how I was going to cook them, but due to other factors (my brother drank my red wine). I boiled them for the first time.

bone in steak.
wash with cold water and put salt and pepper (lots of pepper) all over the steaks.
take garlic cloves and rub down. Make slits in steak and put garlic cloves in the steak.
place uncooked onion rings all around.
drizzle with olive oil and balsamic.

Broil uncovered for about 10 or 15 minutes on each side.
DELICIOUS.

APPLES.
I thought Halloween left me a little wanting for fall. (Even though the nyc combo of Halloween and the Marathon was very nice).
So I decided to taste fall.

I found some locally grown fresh apples.
I cut out the center (be careful this was not as easy as I thought)
Chop walnuts.
heat lots of butter, a fair amount of brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon in a pan and sautee the walnuts in there. (the mixture should make kind of a nutty syrup for the apples)
Fill apples with the mixture and bake (uncovered) in a glass dish at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serve in a giant Margarita glass with a scoop of Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk.

I have to bring food to work and I was not quite done playing in the kitchen so I used the bones from the steak to make some stock, froze part of it and then made soup. That I am about to eat right now 8).

KD's October Stuffing

It occurred to me that I could essentially make a stuffing out of anything so I tried for one with Mushrooms, red peppers, shredded carrots, onions and hot sausage and peas. It was so good. I took the long route- I made this on day two of cooking and it was my weekend masterpiece.

S&P, thyme, parsley
red peppers 3 eggs
carrots wheat bread
milk & butter OR can cream of chicken
mushrooms Hot Italian Sausage
onions frozen peas

1. Either get break crumbs or Lightly Toast a little less than a loaf of wheat bread and cut into little squares; place in big mixing bowl

2. Make the Veggies

• cut an onion or two in supersuper small chunks (everything is really small)
• use a peeler to peel all of the carrot into super small flakes (note- this is easier with a large carrot- I only had the bags of little carrots so I used a cheese grater)
• cut up mushrooms (brown) also into super small chunks
• peas (frozen- already thawed) need the least amount of peas
• 2 or 3 red peppers, also diced

combine all in a sauteing pan with olive oil, butter, salt, pepper and thyme.
stir constantly- it should be basically filled to the top with veggies (also when combining the veggies in the pan go from hardest veggie to softest because they take longer)-- also this mixture smells SO delicious and it smelled like my dads cooking which I did not plan on and it was soooo yummy smelling and it took me back!

3. Take a whole package of hot Italian sausage and take it out of the casings and cook in a separate saucepan

4. (I didn't want to use cream of chicken- so I kind of made a cream of sausage- take fat from sausage pan and heat in small pan with a small amount of water, melt in a fair amount of butter piece by piece stirring w fork or whisking the whole time, adding salt at intervals to help it bond, then pour in milk or cream while still whisking. add your cream of sausage (or a can of cream of chicken, or I guess cream of mushroom or whatever, to the veggie mix and bring to a boil, cover and let simmer after boiling and stirring for awhile.

5. Beat 3 eggs with parsley and salt and pepper.

6. combine sausage pieces with the bread pieces and then pour egg mixture all over- try to get all the bread pieces completely coated with egg (Its fun to use your hands for this but watch out for the salmonella factor)

7. Take huge soup or big chilli pot and combine bread/sausage mixture in the pot (best to do a bit from each mixture and stir & repeat till all mixed in pot. Pour mixture into cast iron skillet. Garnish on the top with extra shaved carrot pieces.

8. Bake at 375 or 350ish for 30 minutes- covered with tin foil. Take tin foil off and bake for another 10 minutes


Umm this is so good. It is the best lazy food in the world. I think I am going to invent another one soon with all kinds of veggies.... also I cooked a casserole and beets and mashed potatoes and a cake and THE BEST Green Beans EVER this weekend

There was actually a point where Katie, MK and I were all sitting on stools in my TINY kitchen shelling green beans and henning away drinking sweet tea!
Take beans, shell and wash. Put in water with pieces of onion (a very few) and rip up a piece of bacon. Add Salt, Pepper, brown sugar, basil, and a dash of clove powder and a dash of Cinnamon. Boil ALL DAY (to quote Katie "You boil the shit outta 'em"), do not cover the pot and add water continuously as it evaporates (maybe some spice replenishing as well)

Coming soon- I have all these finely shopped beets and my friend Josh stopped by this weekend as well, and told me about his boyfriend's Costa Rican beet dish that is like egg salad with hard boiled eggs and beets and mayo and cooked carrots.... I am going to work on that one and figure it out and post lates. Lovelovelove to cook!

Juju's Breakfast Special

My grandmother, a Southern Lady, whom I call Juju but used to call Pearl every now and then when I was younger. She had an honorary Doctorate from the North Carolina School of The Arts and had a liscense plate that said Dr. Pearl.

She is not a cooking kind of grandmother. She is my best friend and a creative hostess and scene setter and effects change everywhere she goes and has the best conversations. Breakfast is usually my grandfather, Ojie (Japanese for grandfather)'s deal, but Juju has a specialty- which I would love to share with you... it has been a big hit for my house parties as well. ENJOY

EGGY MUFFIN

1 DZ hard boiled eggs, chopped
4 oz. cooked crispy bacon, chopped
4 oz shredded sharp cheddar
2 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 finely chopped onion
blend dry ingredients with mayo

season with S&P,
(some like Dijon mustard, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce--- not me)

• Top English Muffins with the mixture,
• Sprinkle some PARMESAN CHEESE on top of that
• BAKE UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN (sometimes you need to boil them for the brown toasty finish) toaster oven style
  

**ALSO GOOD WITH A SLICE OF TOMATO between eggie mix and parm