No Frills Crock Pot Pot Roast

It has been forever since I've posted something on here. I have been one busy monkey traveling around for work. Anyway, this is the first chance I got to post this and its easily one of my favorite things to cook when I don't want to think about something. I didn't get the chance to do a step by step photo but I do have the end product photo. It's so easy you don't even need pictures to do it.

Anyway, pot roast has got to be what people think of when it comes to "home cooking." At least I do. I love how all the flavors mesh together. I it Filipino style, meaning I eat it of course, with white rice. That's optional, some people will eat as is and use the potato as the carb. Do what you must, I don't care. I just figured people may want to try it out if they have a crock pot and haven't used one in awhile.

Ingredients:
2-3 lb beef chuck roast
1 package of dry onion soup mix
1 cup of water
1 cup of beef stock
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
2 lbs of baby yukon gold potatoes unpeeled and whole(or you can use 2 regular potatoes diced into cubes)
1 small package of pre sliced carrots or baby carrots
4 stalks of celery diced into pieces
1 small onion diced into pieces
1 tsp salt or add more for your liking
1 tsp pepper

*optional gravy ingredients:
2 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup water
soup from pot roast

In crock pot mix up water, stock, mushroom soup and dry onion soup mix. Add in beef, making sure its fully covered, if not add more liquid, either stock or water. Set on low, cover, and let cook for 8 hours.

After four hours, add vegetables. Cook for the remaining 4 hours. (if you are making this while you are at work, add onions at start of cooking and just boil separately in a pot of water: potatoes, carrots, and celery until they are cooked then mix in the crock pot at the end)

Once time is done, remove just the roast and slice along grain into individual pieces. You can either set on a platter or you can put back into crock pot. I prefer putting on the platter and helping myself to the meat.

I like my soup to be more of a gravy so I take half the soup out and put it in a sauce pan, add 2 tablespoons of flour to 1/4 cup of water and mix, then add it to saucepan to thicken sauce. I pour this over the meat.

I then grab some of the veggies and place on meat and on plate. And there you have it ladies and gentlemen...yummy homecooked no frills crock pot pot roast!

Happy eating!

Navajo Taco hor dourves

Hello, my name is DeWayne Dawson and I am ecstatic to be a guest blogger today on Janice's Sassy Dish blog site. Today I will be making traditional Navajo fry bread with a modern twist - a Navajo Taco hor dourves, perfect for your next dinner party.

Fry bread originated from my Navajo Tribe in the mid-19th century during the U.S. Government's land take over in the south western portion of the United States. The Navajos or Dine' (The People) were round up and lead on a deadly 300 mile journey on foot known as "The Long Walk," to modern day Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. Over 9,000 Navajos were held at Fort Sumner for four years and during this time, the U.S. Government gave the Navajos only lard, flour, salt, sugar and powdered milk. From these ingredient, the Navajo fry bread was born. Today you will find Navajo Tacos at Native American events such as Pow Wows and other gatherings, but, they call it "Indian tacos."

In the early 1990's, I had the pleasure of learning the art of traditional fry bread making from my Navajo grandmother in Tonalea, Arizona on the Navajo Indian reservation. My grandmother would make fry bread for all occasions and since there were no other activities to tend to, on a very isolated reserve the size of West Virginia, I decided to help my Nah'li (Grandmother) make fry bread. One of the best decisions I've made and I cherish her teachings today, long after she is gone. I truly hope you enjoy my dish and I am excited in sharing it with you.

FRYBREAD

Ingredient:
4 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1.5 cups of hot water
1/2 cup of milk
2 cup vegetable oil - for the frying process

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and garlic salt. Mix the dry ingredient well by hand.

NOTE: In a traditional mix, we use BlueBird Flour from the Navajo Nation, much like that of the all-purpose flour you find at your local grocery store. Also, I added garlic salt for extra flavor in my fry bread, not a traditional ingredient.

Second, form a well in the center of the mixed dry ingredient, pour the entire 1/2 cup of milk in it, then add 1 cup of hot water. Begin mixing the flour into the liquid slowly. Turn the bowl as you go all the way around adding a bit of flour from each side. When the dough starts forming in the middle, start to knead the dough while slowly turning the bowl. Keep adding water and kneading the dough until all the flour has been incorporated into the newly formed dough. You should have a soft dough, much like a pizza dough. If it is sticky, add a little bit more of your flour and keep kneading it until it's no longer sticky. When you are done with your dough, cover it and set aside for 30 mins..

After 30 mins., uncover the dough and start dividing the dough into small golf ball size rolls. Make sure you set a bowl of flour on the side in case your dough is sticky, you can roll your small dough in it to keep it from sticking to your hands. When you are complete, you should have 12-14 small individual rolls laid out.

Next, pour the 2 cups of vegetable oil in a large frying pan, turn the heat up to high. Wait about 7-10 mins. for the oil to heat up. Make sure you have plenty of ventilation throughout your kitchen as making frying bread comes with LOTS of smoke. To check to see if your oil is ready, take a tiny pinch of flour and sprinkle it into the frying pan, if it starts to bubble, your oil is ready.

Sprinkle flours on a dry surface, with a rolling pin, start to roll out the individual dough into thin circles. Make sure you don't have excess flour on the now flatten dough before putting it into the hot oil. Flap it a few times between your hands and slowly lower it into the hot oil. The dough will puff up within seconds. With a fork, trying not to pop the bubbles, slowly move it around the frying pan while it cooks. Give it about a 1.5 min. to 2 mins. to cook to a perfect golden brown color, then slowly turn it over and repeat. TIP: every two pieces of dough you put in the frying pan, reduce the heat slightly so your oil does not start burning your dough. There you have it, your very own Navajo fry bread.

TOPPING
3 lbs ground turkey
1 large yellow onion
1 bag taco seasoning mix
1 large tomatoes
1 small bundle of green leaf lettuce
1 bag of shredded Mexican style four cheese
1 Pace chunky salsa
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of ground black pepper
4 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup of water

NOTE: In a traditional Navajo taco dish, we use pinto beans mixed in with ground beef. I like to use ground turkey (healthier) and no beans. I am not a fan of beans at all. It is just as good, if not better.

Start by cutting the yellow onion in half, set one aside and the other half, chop finely. In a large frying pan on high heat, add the 4 tablespoon of olive oil, the chopped onions and both salt/pepper. Sauté the onions to a golden brown and then add the ground turkey meat. Slightly reduce the heat, cook the meat thoroughly. Then add 1/2 cup water, the bag of taco seasoning and mix the ingredient. Reduce the heat by half, let it simmer for 10-15 mins..

While you are waiting for the meat to cook, chop up the other half of the yellow onions, tomatoes and the green leaf lettuce. By now your meat should be ready to serve.

On a large platter, lay out several of the fry bread, top it with the turkey meat, a bit of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, salsa and cheese. There you have it my friends, your very own miniature Navajo Taco for you and your guests to enjoy. Until next time, Ahe'hee! (Thank you in Navajo)

Filipino Chicken Adobo (the soupy kind) and Pork Belly Adobo (the sticky kind)

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone's Christmas/whatever religious holiday you celebrate was wonderful. I had a wonderful time at my in-laws and my parents. Paul loved all of his gift wrapper and boxes (toys and clothes that were inside them...he'll enjoy later). I can't wait for him to love Christmas as much as I do! Anyway, so I'm sticking with the Filipino theme and besides lumpia (Filipino Egg rolls), Adobo is basically associated with the Filipino culture when it comes to cooking. Remember in my last blog about the three different tastes in Filipino cooking, salt, sweet, or sour, and usually is a combo of 2 of the 3 or all of the 3. Adobo can be all 3 or salty and sour. It all depends on how you want to cook it. I have been making adobo for a very long time. My husband loves it. He would kill a whole pot if he could and he has.

You would think that there was only one way to make this dish. But there are plenty of ways. You can make it with pork, chicken, ribs, haven't tried beef but why not? It's so funny how different homes have their own version. But then again bbq ribs are all made differently, so why not adobo. These two are my versions. I sometimes combine cooking them together, but most of the time I cook them separately because I like how the meat tastes differently when cooked apart. I also don't like when the pork belly makes the chicken adobo too oily so that's why they are cooked in different pots.

The ingredients are so simple..

Ingredients for chicken adobo:
1-2 lbs chicken wings (you can use dark meat, so legs or thighs...breast meat can be too rubbery)
1 cup of Soy Sauce
1/2 cup of vinegar (if you like it super sour then use equal parts soy sauce and equal parts vinegar)
2-3 cloves garlic
6 peppercorns
2-3 bay leaves
1 pinch of salt
***1 potato diced into small cubes, this is optional and I didn't add it this time because I ran out of potatoes (you will not add this to the marinade. Add the potatoes the last 20 minutes of cooking)

Combine all ingredients (***except potato) in a large pot. Marinade for at least 45 minutes, overnight if you can.

Heat and cover over high heat. Once it is boiling turn heat down to low and simmer covered for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Stir occasionally. ***add potato last 20 minutes of cooking

Ingredients for Pork Belly Adobo:

1 lb pork belly (you can usually get it at a butcher shop or an Asian market, I'm sure the local supermarket butcher can also cut some up for you. Ask them to cut you 1 lb of pork belly into strips, then cut into cubes at home), sliced into 1 inch cubes
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cloves garlic
6 peppercorns
2-3 bay leaves


Marinade in medium sized pot for at least 45 mins, overnight is best.

Cook  over high heat and bring to a boil, lower heat to low, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, uncover and spoon out half the liquid into bowl (I usually put liquid in chicken adobo to add more flavor but you can toss it if you want).

Turn heat on medium high and you're going to reduce the sauce for the next 15 minutes. To do this keep an eye on the pot. You will want to keep stirring so it doesn't burn. The sugar will help carmelize the pork adobo. Once you see that the liquid has reduced to almost gone, approx 10-15 mins, turn heat off.

Both dishes are served over white rice. Brown rice is fine, but I hate brown rice so that won't happen here.
Happy eating all!

Filipino Beefsteak with Onions aka Bistek

It's Christmas Eve Eve here in San Diego and I finally got the chance to sneak away and upload this blog. It has been a crazy few weeks for me. I love to cook, mainly because I like to eat. But nonetheless, I still love to cook and love when people love what I've made. Usually, it's just my hubby's compliments but its always nice to hear when people eat my cooking and give it praise. I sooooo want to go to culinary school but am deathly afraid of not doing well. I heard those teachers are hard core and are not very patient. Anyway, I would only be taking it to perfect my cooking and not to go into the field. My career will stay in the medical/science/sales arena for now.

Moving on, I love when I am able to put together a home cooked meal that seems like it took forever even though it didn't. I love things fast and easy (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID). Bistek which is basically "beef steak" prepared with onions is so easy, my 18 month son who only says cat, could probably whip this up....not saying he's stupid because he's not, just saying he's a toddler and if a toddler could cook then I'd have a shipment of them for slave labor so I don't have to do it...*note, I am not in favor of child labor, I am merely joking and if you are taking me serious on this then you've got more problems than I do...

Again, moving on. The ingredients for this recipe is probably already in your kitchen so if you're ever being lazy one day and realize you have these ingredients feel free to give it a try. The dish, much like other Filipino recipes is best served with white rice.

Filipino dishes are usually one of three flavors: salty, sweet, or sour and often a combo of all 3 or 2 of the 3. Bistek is a combo of salty and sour. Sounds weird but when you taste it, it's awesome.

This is the recipe as follows:

Ingredients:
1 lb of top sirloin, thinly sliced and cut into strips
1 med yellow onion cut into rings
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon lemon juice squeezed from a lemon or from a bottle (fresh lemon is better, I didn't have any so I went for the bottle)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
*1/4 cup of water mixed with 2 tablespoons cornstarch (to thicken sauce...this is optional)

You can use any cut of beef really. It all depends on how tender you want the meat. I was lazy and thinly sliced top sirloin was all they had. I really wanted to use a rib cut because that would be the best to use because of the marbling of fat found in that cut however I deal with what's in front of me. You can usually ask the butcher to thinly slice the cut for you and then at home you can cut them into strips.

When I'm not prepped for time, I'll put a tenderizer on it and let it tenderize so that when I cook it, its soft but I didn't so oh well...I'm not a professional chef and you don't have to try this...so deal with it.

Next combine the meat, garlic, pepper, salt, sugar, soy sauce, and lemon juice in the bowl and mix. Set in refrigerator for at least half an hour or overnight if tenderizing.

After you've set it aside. Slice onion into rings. After marinading the meat for a half hour is done, heat oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add onion rings into pan and saute for about 2 mins or until a bit translucent but still holding their shape.

While sauteing, break up into individual rings.

Once onions are done, take out of pan and set aside on a plate.

In same pan, take beef from bowl, leaving marinade still in bowl (use tongs to take meat out), and stir fry over medium high heat browning all sides for about 5-7 mins (this will keep beef tender). Toss in marinade when beef is browned, let cook in marinade for 1 minute, you can add cornstarch/water mixture if thickening sauce (this is optional)

Toss in onions, turn heat down to medium, cook for 2 mins.

And there you have it...beef steak with onions. Best served with rice. Happy eating!

Mozzarella with Tomato and Basil Garlic Bread

I wasn't planning on doing a blog today but I got really upset over something on a work level and decided to cheer myself up by making something yummy for dinner and posting about it. I decided on something easy like spaghetti and decided to make my yummy bread that goes with it. You can eat this bread with or without a dish, and again, I can't eat anything unless its a whole meal so I ate it with spaghetti. This bread also goes great with any pasta dish but I especially like it with spaghetti or lasagna. Here is the finished product paired with my famous spaghetti. I ate two helpings. Seriously, I don't know why I'm not obese.

On to the recipe. Super easy just a bit redundant with the toasting of the bread, really. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients:
9 slices of sourdough bread (you can use french bread also)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of garlic salt
2 Roma tomatoes (use roma, they are less runny than regular tomatoes)
2 small bunches of basil (found in the fresh herbs section of supermarket) cut into small pieces
1 block of mozzarella cheese sliced thinly into 9 pieces

Take a baking pan and line with foil, then spread out the 9 slices of toast and toast in oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes.

Pour olive oil into a small bowl, add garlic salt, mix together with a pastry brush.

After bread has toasted in oven, take out and flip bread over so that soft side is on top then brush soft side of each slice with olive oil mixture. Make sure you keep oven on because you will have to place it back in.

After each slice has been covered with the olive oil mixture, place back in oven for another 5 minutes. While bread is baking, slice the tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.

Take bread out of oven, but keep oven on. Sprinkle the basil pieces on each slice.

Then add Mozzarella on top of basil.

Add tomatoes on top of mozzarella.

Lastly, place back in oven for 15 minutes. Bread should be toasted, cheese melted, and tomatoes molded into cheese...SCRUMPTIOUSNESS.

Serve with your favorite pasta dish or eat as a side snack. It will be delicious. It's also a great party appetizer, super cheap and easy to do! Enjoy!

Prime Rib Roast with Au Jus and Twiced Baked Potato...YUM

To my few blog readers out there,

I'm so sorry for not posting lately. My schedule for work hasn't been the best lately so I'm just getting to this blog now. I would bitch about my life at the moment but since most you are my fb friends, why bother, I'm so vain I share my whole life story on there anyway, so, let's get to the real reason you're reading this blog!

I love a great rib roast! I love beef really. Alright, I love food. Anyway, nothing says holiday season like a great cut of Rib Roasts on sale at the supermarket. I'm sure your local supermarket probably has one on sale so its perfect timing that I post about one of my favorite dishes.  This is probably the easiest and tastiest dishes I've ever made. There's really no thinking into how to marinade the meat. The baked potato took more time, no, seriously!

So....let's begin and start with the Rib Roast. You can marinade this thing up to 3 days, for me it was 4, only because I was in Vegas and had a party the day before so...blah blah blah, it marinated for 4 days. This is my version of a no frills rib roast.

Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb rib roast (recipe can go up to 5 lbs) with bone or without (mine didn't have bone...I usually prefer the bone (that's what she said) but this was on sale, will adjust for cooking time if bone in)
1 packet of dry italian dressing
1 packet of dry onion soup mix
1 tablespoon lawry's seasoned salt (regular salt is fine)
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
Meat thermometer

This is another dish you'll have to get your hands dirty. So take roast and rub olive oil all over it making sure the entire roast is covered. In a bowl combine all dry ingredients together and take mixture and rub all around roast so that entire roast is covered. You will want to do this over a bed of foil.

Then once its covered with ingredients wrap in foil and let marinade overnight or up to 3 days in refrigerator. The longer you wait, the more tender the beef will be. But either way, it will taste awesome.

On the day you cook it, pierce roast with meat thermometer and place on roasting rack, if you don't have a roasting rack, a broiler pan is fine too. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place in oven at 425 degrees to sear the roast for 25 minutes. After it sears, turn down heat to 350 degrees (DO NOT OPEN OVEN), and cook for about 1 1/2- 2 hrs or until meat thermometer reaches 135 degrees for boneless (for medium rare), or 140 degrees for bone-in roast.

After it gets to appropriate temperature, take out of oven and let it "rest" (leave it alone) for at least 20 minutes (this will make sure the roast stays moist, and finish off cooking itself). Don't be surprised to see the temp on the meat thermometer go up after you take it out of the oven.

This roast is easy and scrumptious. It looks awesome too!

My mouth watered as soon as I cut into this bad boy...yours will too! Now onto the Twiced Baked Potato!

Keep in mind, there are only 3 of us in our household, and one of them is a toddler so this recipe is for two people really.

Ingredients:
Two large potatoes
4 stalks of green onions, sliced into small pieces
5 strips of bacon fried and crumbled (3 pieces for inside potatoes, 2 pieces to top off after cooking)
3/4 cup of shredded sharp chedder cheese (save about 1/4 cup to top off potatoes after cooking)
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Take the two potatoes and wrap them up in foil and place in the oven (I used a convection/toaster oven) at 350 degrees and cook for 60 minutes or until soft. You can also cook it in a microwave, but I prefer the oven method. If they are on the large side, try cooking for 1 hour and 15 mins to ensure doneness.

While potatoes are baking, fry bacon until crispy. Take 3 pieces and crumble or cut into tiny pieces with knife. Save the other 2 slices to top off potatoes after cooking.

After potatoes are done cooking, let them sit for about 10-15 to cool off, they should be soft and a bit firm to the touch to make sure they are cooked through. If they are not cooked through, nuke them in the microwave 1 at a time for about 1 minute and 30 seconds.

While the potatoes are cooling, combine the crumbled bacon (3 strips),  1/2 cup of cheese (1/4 cup will be added later to top), milk, sour cream,butter, salt and pepper in a bowl.

After combining ingredients together, proceed to cut potatoes in half, make sure they are cooled off before slicing into them.

After they have cooled, take a knife and gently poke around the rim of the potato being gentle enough so you don't pierce the skin because you want the skin to be the cup or container.

With a spoon scoop out the inside, being careful not to tear skin.

Place the potato in bowl to mash with the other ingredients.

With a potato masher, mash the ingredients together. Or if you want you can use an electric hand mixer. I went for the masher, less stuff to clean.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, scoop potato mixture back onto potato skins.

Place potatoes on a foiled baking sheet, add the remaining cheese and the 2 strips left of crumbled bacon on top. Then bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle a few green onions on top if you like, but you don't have to. I love onions so I did! You can eat it as a meal or a side dish...this hungry beast of a women must eat it as a side. Anyway, I ate every last bit of it, but I also made steamed broccoli...so I don't feel too bad LOL...hope you enjoyed this VERY long blog, well, it took me a long time to upload all the pics so please enjoy...oh and to make the Au Jus, just take the pan drippings and put it in a medium sized saucepan, add a can of beef stock (you can use chicken if you don't have it), add about a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of worcestershire sauce, and this is optional but if you have an extra packet of dry onion soup mix, throw it in there, wait for it to boil, then strain out the onions and you'll have a wonderful Au Jus!

Bon Apetite!