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  • Braised Beef Sandwiches

    Ripped from the local paper. We tried this last weekend and it was really good, and we ended up with nice leftovers for a few days.

    Braised beef Sandwiches

    • 1 (2-1/2 pound) boneless chuck roast
    • 2 tablespoons oil
    • Kosher salt
    • 4 cups diced onion
    • 2 tablespoons paprika
    • 1 tablespoon cumin
    • 1 tablespoon granulated onion
    • 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
    • 1 cup Jack Daniels
    • 2 cups beef stock
    • 1/2 cup molasses
    • 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
    • 1 cup ketchup
    • 6 to 8 Kaiser rolls
    • shredded cheddar cheese

    Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. heat the oil in a heavy bottomed Dutch oven pan over high heat. Season the roast with kosher salt, then sear in the Dutch oven for 2 to 3 minutes on all sides on medium-high heat. Remove the roast, and set aside.

    Add the onions to the pot and saute or 2 to 3 minutes until lightly caramelized. Mix in the paprika, cumin, granulated onion and garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and carefully pour in the Jack Daniels. Return to heat, burn off the alcohol (it will catch on fire then burn out), and reduce by half.

    Add the beef stock, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup. return the roast to the pot and cover the meat with parchment paper, leaving no air pockets. Top the pot with the lid and place into a pre-heated 300 degree oven. Braise for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat easily falls apart. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 5 minutes. Place the meat in a large bowl and shred with a fork. Return the pot to the stove and bring the liquid to a simmer over medium-high heat. Return the meat to pot, and reduce until liquid is slightly thickened.

    Slice the rolls in half and pile the meat onto the bottom half off the roll. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and cover with top part of roll. Makes 6 to 8 sandwiches.

  • Food Hell

    Ugs. The family is going out for one of the few things that I cannot really have post transplant. Sushi. This sucks.

  • Boston, Doctors, and Good Food

    I’m back in CT after two days of doctor appointments in Boston. They wanted to check out my heart, since my heart rate had been a bit irregular right after my surgery. The good news is that my heart is doing just fine.

    Then last night we went to Evoo, one of my favorite restaurants. I’d wanted my mom to go for a while, as I thought she’d really like it. And she did. I had the Chinese Box, my favorite thing on the menu, and as always it was quite yummy.

    Then today was my regular appointment at the transplant clinic. Everything looks to be doing okay. And the best news is they gave me the okay to drive. So I believe I’ll be taking a short drive tomorrow :). So happy!

  • Ribs

    Today I made ribs using my friend Ellen’s favorite recipe. Overall I’d say they came out quite good. I think I have some experimenting to do with the spice rub, but the ribs themselves came out nice and tender.

    It felt nice to be cooking. I also did corn on the cob on the grill, which I think is one of my favorite ways to have it. Just soak it in water for a while in water and put it right on the grill. Don’t bother shucking it until you are ready to eat it.

  • Get Up And Exercise

    McDonalds is starting a new ad compaign urging people to get some exercise.

    McDonald’s Says It’s Time to Exercise

    MCDONALD’S has a suggestion for Americans, who are becoming obese in alarming numbers: get some exercise.

    The company, under fire from those who say its food plays a role in the nation’s obesity problem, introduced a marketing campaign yesterday promoting physical activity as part of a balanced life. The theme: “It’s what I eat and what I do … I’m lovin’ it.”

    The campaign includes commercials that largely dispense with traditions like showing the product, the restaurants or people eating food. One spot even tells viewers, “Maybe you should spend less time with your TV.” [NYTimes]

  • Elk

    When my parents went to New Mexico on vacation last year they discovered elk. It is one of my mom’s favorite meats now. After their trip they ordered some elk and last night I got to try some of it. I have to say it was quite good. The taste was mild. I wouldn’t have guessed that it wasn’t beef.

    From what I understand that in comparison with other meats it is actually not that bad for you at all. Especially when you look at things like fat content. I hope mom gets some more soon.

  • Chocolate Crackles

    This is probably my favorite cookie recipe ever. They are just so addicting once you start eating them.

    Chocolate Crackles

    (Moist, Fudgy Type Cookies)

    • 4 squares unsweetened chocolate
    • 1/2 cup salad oil
    • 2 cups granulated sugar
    • 4 eggs, unbeaten
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla
    • 2 cups sifted flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • (1/2 cup walnuts optional, we’ve never made it with them)
    • 1 cup powdered sugar

    Melt chocolate in top of double boiler. Remove from water and let chocolate cool some. Blend in oil and sugar and add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into chocolate mixture. Add nuts (ew) and mix thoroughly. Chill soft dough for several hours or overnight. Shape into small balls and roll in powdered sugar. bake on greased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. The powdered sugar coating will crack apart, giving an interesting effect. Makes 6 dozen small cookies.

  • A Gingerbread Day

    Today we’re making gingerbread houses. It’s a tradition that my mom has some friends over and they make them every year. I’m most likely going to be working on one, but for the moment have been busy taking pictures of the houses as they are constructed and decorated. I’ll be posting to Flickr once they are done.

  • Anime Bread

    So I’ve seen anime with giant robots, anime about baseball, anime about playing Go, and anime about tennis (to name a few). But I never thought I’d see one about baking bread. Yakitate!! Japan is about Kazuma and his quest to make a national bread for Japan. He figures that since many other countries have types of bread they are known for, Japan needs one too. He’s also blessed with ‘Solar Hands’, which are abnormally warm and help make the bread rise faster after kneading.

    Yakitate-1

    This show is just too much fun. They’ve compensated for bread not being the most exciting topic by making it insanely over the top. The main character’s bread seems to be so good that it makes the people tasting it hallucinate. For instance, when tasting a bread he made with goats milk butter one character hallucinated flying through space to the constellation Capricorn. But mixed in with all the over the top antics are little bits of information about baking bread (I think most of it is fairly accurate).

    Now here’s a chance for anime to break a bit more into the mainstream. It could be on FoodTV. It was be a perfect match! And finally a show I can share with my mom (who used to teach a bread baking class).

  • Cheese + Scones = Yummy

    I just got done making Cheddar Cheese Scones and they are so good. The recipe has cubes of cheese in it, and it gets all melty and they’re really yummy. I’ll post the recipe up here when I get around to typing it in (It was in the most recent Gourmet I believe too).

    Updated: Here’s a picture of one of them.