Welcome To Cookin With Kathy

Welcome to my first blog about cooking. I love to cook and have been asked to share what I do. So this is it! Be patient with me, this is the first time I've ever done anything like this.





Monday, June 28, 2010

Haven't done much cooking lately. Don't get me wrong, I've been cooking, but nothing special. Just kind of the same things because we have been so busy. However, I made a side dish the other night that turned out so well and I thought I would tell you about it.

I cup up in to bite size pieces, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 small onion, 1 cucumber, 1 small tomato. I put in about 1 T of olive oil, a sprinkle of Italian seasoning some garlic powder and then about 1 T of raspberry walnut vinaigrette. Cooked it over med. heat until they were just done with a little crunch left in them. Served them up with the grilled BBQ pork chops and it was yummy! I was amazed at how the dressing gave just that hint of flavor that didn't put it over the edge, but made it just that much better.
Enjoy my friend,
Kathy!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Breakfast Anyone - Try this.

Ok, so in this house we like to have an old favorite that was created at the Fire Dept. by one of our good friends Chad Hittle. It was a breakfast dish that consisted of eggs, cheese, and anything that was left over from dinner the night before and what ever else they could find to throw in. So it got the name "Sewer Lid". We still call it sewer lid in our house, but it's made with eggs, cheese, potatoes, sausage, green pepper and onion. Here is how we do it.

I cook the country potatoes at the same time (in different pans) that I cook the sausage. When they are both done, I put them into one pan. At this time I start a small skillet with chopped green pepper and a little bit of butter. I add about 1 dozen eggs to this and cook it until the eggs are done. Then I add a VERY generous handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Mix it well. When that is done, I plop some on a plate and top with the green pepper and onion mix. I love to eat it just like that. My husband likes to put ketchup on it. My son likes to put it between toast and have a sandwich. However you want to do it, it's all good.
Enjoy my friend,
Kathy!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Home Made Pizza...Ummmmmm

Hello. Made my pizza tonight. Oh how yummy it was. Very simple and took no time at all.

I start by getting a cheese pizza kit at the store. There is a certain kind that we, as a family, really like. I use the crust mix, sauce and that is it. Here is where it gets interesting.

I start by following the package directions on making the dough. Then I let it sit while I get my stones ready. To prepare the stones I melt some butter (or margarine) in a small bowl with some finely minced garlic. I take the garlic butter and brush the stones with it. It will add flavour like you've never had. I would say, 1 clove of garlic to one stick of butter. Once you have the stones OR pans brushed well with the butter mixture, go ahead and divide your dough between pans. Before I start to push the dough into the pans, I like to spray my hands with a non-stick spray made with olive oil! Again, it will just add flavor. Then I fit the dough to the pans. When the dough has been spread out, put it in the oven for 8 or 9 min. to pre-cook. I do this because if you put your toppings on this raw pizza dough it will take such a long time to cook and you run the risk of burning your pizza and making the crust chewey and tough. While it's cooking, you can get your other ingredients ready. Here is what I do.

I cut up some onion and green pepper and put it in a small skillet with some olive oil. About 1/2 Tbsp.of olive oil and cook it till it's not quite done. I like it to have a little crunch. Once it's done to your liking, put it in a bowl and set it aside. Next I cook 1/2 lb ground chuck with 1/2lb of Italian sausage. By the time you get all this cooked, your crusts should be done. Pull your crusts out of the oven and set aside. Next you need to put on your sauce. I just use what came in the pizza kit. If there is another sauce out there you like please feel free to use it. 1 HINT with pizza kits - go name brand. This is one of those things you can't skimp on. Believe me, I have tried. Anyway, I spread out my sauce between my 2 pans and make sure it's covered almost all the pizza. Next I add the meat mixture, green pepper and onion mixture and then I add some mushrooms. Next I add pepperoni and then top with a mozzarella cheese blend that I found. It has provolone, Parmesan, mozzarella etc. in it. Then I put it in the oven until the cheese is a golden brown and bubbly. I do not time it. I do not time it according to package directions. Everyones oven is different and so are the pans you cook it in. This is something folks that you need to watch. Once it's a beautiful golden color, I pull it out and serve it up! The crust will be crunchy on the bottom and soft on the inside. It's perfect. I know you will LOVE it.

Now as far as toppings go, you can add what you want. This is what my family likes. Sometimes in the summer I will add slices of fresh tomato and maybe some artichoke hearts. The sky is the limit.
Enjoy my friend,
Kathy!

Oops

Well, last night was interesting. We decided to go watch the son of a very good friend play his tournament ball game! So...I never got around to making my home made pizza. We went out for dinner instead. Guess what we are having for dinner tonight? Yep, you guessed it. Home made pizza! I can't wait. Thinking about it just makes my mouth water. Yummy! I will blog either tonight or tomorrow morning to tell you exactly how I make my pizza. I've been told by several people it's the best they have ever tasted. I have taken ideas from several different people and restaurants and I think I have come up with something that rocks. If you like crust that is crunchy on the bottom, yet perfectly soft in the middle with TONS of toppings, this one is going to be for you!

Talk to you later tonight,
Enjoy my friend.
Kathy!

Friday, June 18, 2010

BBQ Chicken with Veggie Skewers

My son had an important ball game last night and I wanted to make him something that he would want, eat and help give him energy! BBQ chicken is what he wanted. Of course, he didn't touch the vegetables, but he did eat the tator tots I fixed for him.

BBQ chicken. Easy right? There are so many different ways to do it. I have tried so many. I have read books, watched shows and went on line. Just never got the flavor that I wanted out of it. So I decided to take matters into my own hands last night and just do it the way I always thought would be good.

So I started with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I lightly seasoned both sides with season salt and ground pepper. I took them out to the grill and put them on it. I let it cook on one side for about 2 min. and then I turned it over. I basted the cooked side with BBQ sauce. Same thing on the other side. Let it cook about 2 min. and then turned it and basted with BBQ sauce. Now there are people out there that are totally against turning your grilled food very much. I like to turn it. I think it helps keep it from getting to done to fast. Think about it, rotisserie chicken turns all the time and it's sooooo juicy! Anyhoo, I kept turning it a lot. Every time I turned the chicken I basted it. Again, I used my favorite BBQ sauce and you can use yours. I just kept doing that until I thought the chicken was done. Do I have a time? No! I had 3 different size breasts and I knew they wouldn't cook at the same time. Once I thought they were done, I cut into the largest to see if it was done. Not a huge cut, but enough to see that it was done and juicy! Now, I'm not done yet! I basted it one last time, let it sit for about 45 seconds on a very hot part of the grill and then turned, basted and let it sit for 45 second. Took them off and brought them in. They were great and had TONS of flavour. Everyone liked them a lot. Even the grill master a.k.a my husband. Now about these Vegetable skewers.

I love grilled vegetables! I have to admit, onion is my favorite next to yellow, summer squash. I took my little bamboo skewers and soaked them for about 30min. While they were soaking I cut up a sweet yellow onion, green pepper, red pepper, zucchini and of course, summer squash. Alternating them, I put them on the skewers. I put them on the grill about 5 min. after I started the chicken. I like them done, but not burnt! Once I set them on the grill, I lightly basted them ONLY ONCE with a raspberry walnut balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Just gave those veggies a little UMPH! They were juicy as well. The smell was so wonderful! When I served the chicken, I pulled the veggies off the skewers and put them on the plate next to the chicken. The red of the BBQ sauce mixed with the colors of the veggies was so pretty.

I hope you enjoy this and will try it sometime. You will have to let me know what you think if you do. Enjoy my friend.
Kathy!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Pork Butt Anyone?

This is very simple and easy. It makes for a great meal and there will be pleanty for leftovers. My son LOVES pulled pork BBQ. So I went out and got a pork butt. Now, for those of you who are going YIKES, pork butt is actually a shoulder, not the butt! So don't freak out! Here is how I cook mine. CROCK POT! However I do some good things to it first. First I peel several cloves of garlic. How many, that is up to you and how much you like garlic. I use about 8 cloves. I make several large, deep cuts into my pork and shove a garlic clove down in it. Once I get all the garlic into it, I lightly season it all over with season salt, ground pepper, paprika, garlic powder and sometimes a little cayanne pepper. Stick that puppy in the crock pot (with about an inch of water) and let her cook all day! The smell in your house will be fantastic! I let mine cook for about 8 hours. You will have to decide according to how your crock pot cooks. You can tell your pork is done when you insert a fork and it just falls apart.
Now, here comes the fun part. Pull your pork out of your crock pot and put it on a plate or something. If it has a bone in it, try and pull it out. It should just come right now with no problem. You will need to drain some of the juice. You need to leave about 1 inch of juice in the bottom of the pot or it will turn out dry. Put your pork back in the pot and start to shred it. There will more than likely be some fat pieces and this is a good opportunity to get them out. Once you have it shredded you can add your favorite BBQ sauce. I like OpenPit Original or Budweiser BBQ. They are both really good. I'm sure you have your favorite and it's fine! I let it sit in the crock pot for at least another 10 min. on low before I serve it. It will seem really kind of wet and maybe even runny. It's ok. The next day it will be a little dry and you will need that wetness. So, to reheat it, all I do is put it in the microwave or pot on the stove and heat it up just the way it is. When it's good and hot, I may add just a smidge more BBQ sauce to it. It's up to you. It will still have wonderful flavor. Serve what ever sides with it you want. A friend made this recipe the other night and she had a broccoli coleslaw with it. I usually do my home made potatoe salad. What ever you want, I'm sure will help to rock this out of the park!
Enjoy my friend!
Kathy!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Last nights dinner was another hit. Very simple! Mexican Chicken and Pasta Skillet.

First thing I did was cook my spiral pasta. Cooked it according to the directions on the package. While I was cooking that I got the rest prepared. Now, normally I would have used grilled or baked chicken, but last night I was in a hurry. For my chicken I used premium white chicken in a pouch. Put it in a skillet and heated it up. Once it was good and hot, I added a 16 oz jar of salsa, a can of corn a block of cream cheese (cut up) and 2 T of taco seasoning. I mixed it all together really well. Keep mixing until the cream cheese is melted. Once it's melted, add the pasta and a good handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Mix it up really well until the cheese is melted and it's heated through. I served it with some refried beans and tortilla chips.

Just for some added fun, here is how I do my refried beans. I put about 3 T of butter in a pan with some chopped up onion. Once the onion is golden, I add a small can of mild green chilli and the refried beans. Mix well and let heat up. Once they are good and hot I had about 1/2 a bag of shredded cheddar cheese. Mix it in until it's all melted and serve. I know, I know, it's full of fat, but I think it's ok to have once in a while in moderation.

Well, I hope you enjoy these recipes. They really are easy. Still am unsure what I want for dinner tonight. Chicken or steak on the grill. Hummmmmm
Enjoy my friend,
Kathy!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Well, we had kabobs tonight for dinner. They were soooooooo good. Very simple. Cut up our steak and chicken. Put the meat in different bowls. Let them marinate in Light italian dressing for about 4 hours. Cut up green pepper, yellow pepper, yellow squash, zuchinni, purple onion and mushrooms. Put them all together and grilled them. Oh ya, I save a little of the dressing in the bottle to baste them with about 5 min. before they were done cooking. Served them up with red potatoes chopped with the skin on. Boiled them in water until they were almost cooked. Drained the water and then added some butter and fresh parsley to the potatoes. Made a wonderful side dish. Very simple. Have to make a shout out to Carry and Amber next door. I ran outof skewers and they gave us theirs. Thanks girls!
Enjoy my friend,
Kathy!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Black & Blue Burgers with Onion Strings

Hello all. Dinner last night was a HUGE hit with the entire family. That almost NEVER happens. Wasn't anything to fancy, burgers and onion strings. Here is how I started.
2 pounds of ground sirloin, 1/2 C plain bread crumbs and 2 eggs. I mixed it all together and made my hamburger patties. I made them about 1 1/2" thick. Put season salt and ground black pepper on the and stuck them on the grill. I know most people put them on there and let them cook on one side and then on the other for a certain amount of time. I don't do that. I have to admit, I'm a flipper. I always make 1 burger that I can cut open and check to see if it's done. Took about 10 min. When I was done with the burgers, I put them on a bun, with some blue cheese, bacon (microwave kind) and then my home made onion straws. They were yummy.

The onion straws. I took 2 large yellow onions and one of my really good knifes and sliced them very thin. Then I took those slices and let them soak in buttermilk for an hour and a half. Then I made a mixture of 2 C flour, 1 T season Salt, 1 T black pepper and 2 T Cayenne pepper. I mixed it together really well. I use a large stock pot for heating up my oil. I don't have a thermometer, so I just put my stove top on 7 and let it heat. When I thought it was hot, I dropped in a spot of the butter milk and it started to sizzle a little bit and I knew it was ready. Took a small bunch of onions out of the buttermilk and coated them in the flour mixture. Then I dropped them into the oil. Cooked them until they were a golden color. Pulled them out of the oil and let them dry on a plate covered with napkins. They were so tasty. Loved the little kick the cayenne gave them. It's funny because my son will NOT eat onions. He will eat the breading off onion rings, but never the onion. Well, last night he ate the whole thing. I was so happy! Dinner was a HUGE hit here in the Heier house!
What am I going to do for dinner tonight? NOTHING! The family is taking me out for dinner for my birthday! Couldn't go last night, so we are doing it tonight. Cant wait. What is up for dinner this weekend? Dunno. I love to go through cook books and look at different things and then make it my own. I hope you enjoyed this and can try one of these recipes some day! Enjoy my friend!
Kathy!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Easy Quick and Tasty Spaghetti

We had so much going on last night, so I needed to cook something quick for our dinner. I went to the store to see what I could find. This is what I got.

2 small zuchinni
1 orange pepper
1 green pepper
1 yellow onion
1 packageof mushrooms
spaghetti
sauce
1/2 pound of itallian sausage
1/2 pound of ground chuck

I started by cutting up the vegetables into bite size peices. I love some chunks in my sauce. I put them into a large stir-fry pan. Then I threw in the 2 meats. I cooked it all together until the meat was cooked well. I drained the little bit of fat there was off of the meat. Then I added some thinly sliced garlic, garlic powder, rosemary, tyme and itallian seasoning. I let it simmer on low for almost an hour just due to the fact that my husband got home late from work.
I cooked the spaghetti and made some garlic bread. Garlic bread is so easy. Since it's going to be toasted in the oven, I always look for french bread that is on sale. I got a HUGE loaf for $.88. I melted some butter with some minced garlic. Sliced the bread and then brushed the butter on the slices - both sides. Then I put some provolone, motazarella and parmesan cheese on it and stuck it in the oven until it was golden and then bread was toasted good. Served it all up and I had a happy family. Do my kids eat all those vegetables? No. But they have learned to pick out what they don't want and I'm ok with that. If you try it, I hope you like it. Have a wonderful day!