My Magical Components Casserole

This dish was designed to not only provide a great hearty healthy meal in one dish, but also to show how you can use any part of it to make other great dishes.

 

Expand your choices by finding the magic in the dishes you already know how to make. You be the magician! The kitchen is your temple where you can express all of the love, all of the need to serve, all of the nurturing that you provide on a daily basis. If you have followed slave for even a month now, you have become a chemist or as they used to call it, an alchemist!

Try this recipe and as many of the variations listed as possible. Then go on to think up others! And when you do, please tell me.

 

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs Ground Beef

1 pkg frozen chopped spinach cooked and WELL drained.

1 pkg store brand Mac & Cheese (you will only be using the pasta)

½ cup chopped onion

2 large shallots minced

2 stalks celery diced fine

4 large cloves garlic peeled and minced

1 green pepper, diced finely

4 Tbs of yellow mustard

4 Tbs low sodium Worcestershire sauce

1 can condensed Celery soup (low sodium)

1 can condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (low sodium)

1 5 oz container non fat plain Greek style yogurt.

1 ½ tsp oregano

1 ½ tsp basil

1 Tbs kosher salt

¼ ground white pepper

Cooking Spray

Pre heat oven to 350 and spray a 9x13 baking dish.

Spray a large frying pan, Over medium low heat start sweating the chopped onion, set timer for 4minutes, stir occasionally : remember if it sizzles when you add onions, the pan is too hot. When timer goes off, add the minced shallots, reset the timer for another 4 minutes.

Add the minced garlic cloves stir for only 1 minute then add the chopped celery and diced pepper. Continue to sweat the vegetables until they are very fragrant and celery and peppers are still vibrant! About another 4 minutes.

NOTE: At this point the magic begins. Remove between 1/3 to ½ cup of this to cool, then seal in freezer bag. When You want a fantastic dip, again warm this over a medium to low heat and stir until the onions start to turn brown. This is channelizing. When you get that color, let it cool for 5 minutes and mix it with a 5 oz container of non fat plain Greek style yogurt and everyone will rave about how good it is!

Now then brown the ground beef in the same frying pan over a medium heat. Remember you want it brown not just a “Grey”! Dollop in the yellow mustard and cook, stirring, until all of the yellow is absorbed into the meat. Now have the skillet lid handy, add the 4 Tbs of Worcester Sauce and clamp the lid on. Lower the heat to a simmer for at least 5 to 6 minutes.

NOTE: again, more magic. At this point the ground beef will have a nice more powerful flavor. Remove about half of the beef and mix in about ½ cup of the onion mixture, let cool, bag and freeze. Now the next time you want to use one of those helper boxed dinners, thaw out this beef and let it get warm in a medium high skillet and proceed with the directions on the box. It will taste so much better than just the ground beef alone. Also great as an addition on store bought frozen pizza, just remember to only use less than ½ a cup.

Now to continue with our casserole. Cook and drain just the pasta from the mac and cheese box. Remember to subtract 1 minute from the lowest cooking time on box. This is usually just enough time to microwave the spinach.

NOTE: again if you wish, omit the spinach and continue to make the mac and cheese as the box directs but stir in the heartier beef mixture and about 1/3 cup of the onion mixture: fantastic!

 

Back to the casserole: You are ready to assemble. Add the onion mixture to the beef in the skillet and carefully stir in the condensed soups plus the yogurt, cover and let simmer. If forgotten, pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. When it reaches temperature. Spray the baking pan. Un-cover the beef mixture and pull apart the chopped spinach and stir it in until well incorporated. Now stir that into the drained pasta and spoon into the baking pan. Cook for right at 25 to 30 minutes in the oven just to make everything is warmed and all flavors mixed.

NOTE: my friend Iron Chef Emmitt pointed out how versatile this mixture was by saying “if you use Chicken instead of beef you have a French casserole. If using Beef, by adding some taco seasoning, you have a Mexican casserole, and by using diced tomato, more oregano, with a bit of Parmesan Cheese on top you have an Italian casserole.

See why slave refers to it as Magic? All of these great dishes from the one basic recipe. What variations can you think of? Maybe soy sauce and bean sprouts? Anyway you chose to make this have fun and enjoy!

Happy to serve my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Sunday Go To Meeting Chicken

A fine old tradition throughout the “Rust Belt” was a Sunday Dinner of Fried Chicken. The smell and taste of this down home dish along with its close relatives of Mashed Potatoes, Pan gravy, maybe Corn on the cob or Green Peas will always bring memories of Sunday to slave.

As a child, my Great-Grandmother Elma would tell me how she had to stay at home on Sunday Mornings to cook this every week. Now her 11 siblings and parents went to Church. Her father, Daniel, a Civil War veteran didn't like this arrangement and her mother worried that it might mean Elma would never get to Heaven. But someone had to get the meal prepared for the family as well as for the various boarders who stayed with them. Elma got the job.

She would be the first to say that she was no great chef. The fact was she cooked because she was a woman and that's what women who were born in 1876 did! She cooked and sewed, even though her true joy in life was building! She taught me to hammer and saw and paint! As a woman in her 60's, she built an entire house by herself! (she did get some help when it came to lifting the rafters up) but she designed it, sawed the wood – no power tools either! She wired it and plumbed in the kitchen sink. She installed a wood burning stove for heat and hung windows to air it out in the summer.

She did this so she could rent it out and supplement her income during WWII! This was no tall tail, as a child I had been that house! Didn't all grandmothers do that sort of thing? I loved hearing how, on weekends she would love to get under her model T Ford and fill the grease caps and re-set the points. The “Ford” did not have a fuel pump so to climb any hills, she would have to back it up! A tear would come to her eye when she would tell me of how her third husband, Tom, made her promise to stop driving when he died. God, how I loved my “grandma”!

But anyway, lets get back to cooking. Eating fried chicken every week might taste good but it is not very healthy. So you can still have that crunchy goodness and not coat your throat with grease! This recipe uses good old corn flakes. Little did old Dr. Kellogg know! Yes, it is true that he invented the corn flake to “cure” young boys from masturbation. Not sure how this was supposed to work exactly. It sounds uncomfortable and very messy to say the least.

 slave hopes you try this excellent take on the old favorite:

Sunday Go To Meeting Chicken!

 

Ingredients

2½ lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs

3 cups corn flakes

1 container of non fat plain Greek style yogurt

3 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese

either:

1½ tsp dried basil

1½ tsp dried oregano

OR

2½ tsp of Herb De Province

1 tsp Kosher salt

¼ tsp pepper

Vegetable oil spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Lightly spray a cooking rack and put it on a baking sheet pan that has been lined with parchment.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the yogurt and the seasonings
4. In a separate mixing bowl, crush the corn flakes and mix in the Parmesan cheese.

1. Set the bowls and baking pan in a row, assembly-line fashion: starting with the yogurt mix, then the corn flake mix, then the baking pan.
2. Dip each piece of chicken into the yogurt mix, then roll the chicken in the crumb mix and place it in the baking rack.
3. Once all pieces are breaded, lightly spray top of the chicken with vegetable oil spray.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer reads 170 in the thickest part of a thigh.

 

Slave served this with home mashed potatoes because not only does Master prefer the taste, but it makes slave feel like it is really working to serve a home cooked meal. Even though a bottled gravy was used and some frozen mixed vegetables also appeared on the table – well slave is not a fanatic! ;-)

Happy to be serving my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Socialslaves Cottage Pie

Chef Robert Irvine called Shepherd's Pie the national dish of England.

Chef Gordon Ramsay says: “F@@k, nobody over here knows how to cook the F@@king thing, Shit!”

The earliest records refer to it as Cottage Pie. Left-over meat and vegetables on a crust of mashed potatoes: covered with more mashed potatoes. A good filling meal for the less fortunate masses who had to live in those tiny cottages. Now we differentiate the pies by what meat is in them. Shepherd's pie is made with lamb & Cottage Pie is made with beef.

This would be Cottage Pie.
Since Friday has been named as International Pie Day, rather on a whimsy of some international geeks (Pi = 3.14) slave thought it would be fun to make an international pie, hence an English Cottage Pie!

Ingredients
For the potatoes:
4 red potatoes peeled & diced
¼ cup half-and-half
2 ounces unsalted butter
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk

For the filling:

1 lbs ground beef

½ lbs country sausage loose

1 onion chopped

1 green pepper chopped

1 16oz pkg. frozen mixed vegetables (thawed)

1 can mushroom soup (condensed, low-fat low-salt)

1 can celery soup (condensed, low-fat low-salt)

4 cloves garlic
4Tbs Worcestershire Sauce (low sodium)
¼ cup fine shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
Pre Heat the oven to 400 and spray an oblong pan with cooking spray, set aside.

Peel and dice the potatoes. Cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, lower the temp so that you just maintain the simmer. cook 10 to 15 minutes. Heat the butter and ½ & ½ in microwave till melted about 25 sec. Drain the potatoes and mash, add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper as you mash until you get the right texture. Remember if at first it seems like its too runny, keep mashing and it will firm up. When you are happy with it, stir in the yolk until it is well mixed in.

While the potatoes are cooking:

Over medium-high heat, crumble the sausage and start to cook, give it about 3 - 4 minutes head start, then crumble in the ground beef. Stir and cook until well done and no pink remains. About 8 minutes, then add the 4 tbs of Worcestershire sauce and cover it to simmer for another 2 minutes. Drain the meat in a bowl lined with paper towels.

Add the onion, garlic, and green pepper. Stir to loosen any bits on the bottom of pan. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes, then add the mixed vegetables and carefully stir in the cans of condensed soup. Add the meat back and let this simmer 5 minutes.

This may quietly simmer while you mash the potatoes. Now you are ready to assemble.

Place the sprayed pan on a lined cooking sheet (to catch any boil overs).

Dish in the meat-vegatable mixture. Then add the mashed potatoes by dropping large tablespoonfuls around the edges first. You wont be able to spread this like an icing and you want to seal the top with the mash potatoes. Once the topping is on sprinkle the finely shredded cheese over everything and put in the oven for between 25 to 30 minutes, Or until the potatoes start to turn a golden color.

This makes a great hearty meal with meat, vegetables, even a gravy, all you need to add is a salad!

Have a happy pie day!

Socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Flori Dees

Slave's dilemma, what do you call a brownie that is not brown but rather orange? An orangie? Doesn't that sounds more like orgy? Not that that is a bad thing but just not fitting for these scrumptious desert bites! 

 

Then a bit of research turns up that brownies were first made at the Palmer House in Chicago for the ladies at the Chicago Worlds Fair. The name came from a popular book: “Brownies” – or house faries from English folklore! It was such a popular name that the Eastman Company named its camera a “Brownie” and the junior division of the Girl Scouts were also given that name, as well as several different types of candy. It had nothing to do with the color!

Well at this point slave feels free to name them anything it wants to. What is more “Orange and Orange juicy” than Florida? This has to do with flavor not color! Altho slave thinks the color was named after the fruit, someone want to verify that for me?

Mean while, lets get these baked because the thought and the aroma from these just drives me crazy! When it first came out of the oven, slave wanted to sit down and eat the whole thing with a spoon right out of the pan!

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened
4 eggs
2 tsp orange extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange zest
1½ cups flour
1 tsp salt

Frosting:

1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp orange juice, squeezed fresh from the orange
1 tsp orange zest

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 350 and butter a 9x13 baking pan. PLEASE NOTE!

Slave used a dark pan and should have reduced temperature to 325!

Wash and zest the orange, then cut in half and juice. If you don't have a juicer, just squeeze the orange with the cut side up! That way you don't get seeds in there.

Beat butter and sugar. If the butter is not softened, please do not melt it in the microwave! You want to add air to the solid of the butter, the sugar creams it. If you can't wait, try cutting the butter into ½ inch pats!

Add eggs, cracking them one at a time in a small dish and adding them that way. Now blend in the vanilla and the orange orange extracts and orange zest.

Add flour and salt by thirds and mix just until blended. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Or 325 with dark pan!

Let cool on a rack for at least ½ hour before frosting.

For frosting: Beat the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the orange juice and zest until completely mixed through. Spread on cooled brownies. Cut and serve. Keep anything left covered and refrigerated. 

OK, this is no health food. Portion control is the key! Enjoy this desert and think about summer coming! Please!

Happy to serve my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

 

Socialslave's Mulligan Stew

Mulling over the Mulligan

slave doesn’t golf! To me, “Mulligan” was just a good old Irish name, more attached to a stew than to a game of golf.

Then, by accident, slave learned it was a golf term indicating a free “do-over”! (Simply drop another ball and trying again with no penalty.) Ah, how often could we use that maneuver? slave emphatically needs a Mulligan!

So, when it thought about March recipes, of course Irish dishes pop into mind. How about a “Mulligan Stew”? OK, give me a break, i've been fighting the Martian Death Flu for more than a week, maybe the codeine had an effect on my thought processes. :-)

Anyway, this chicken based “make over” stew will keep your special one warm. However from the taste, He'll never know how healthy it is!

========== 

 

Ingredients:

1½ pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast

½ lbs reduced fat country style sausage

2 stalks celery, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup baby carrots
1 onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic

2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
2 (15-ounce) cans Northern (navy) beans, drained & well rinsed.

1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth

1 teaspoon Herbs De Province

2 tsp baking soda

 

Directions

Break up the sausage in the skillet and cook over a medium heat until completely cooked and no longer any traces of pink! Transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain.

Add chicken into the reserved grease and cook until out side is browned, turning once, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Transfer to a plate and cut into bite sized pieces. Turn down the heat on the leftover grease to a low to medium low. While that cools slightly, spray the crock pot with cooking spray and set to high to warm.

Add the drained beans, the loose sausage and the chicken chucks, cover and get back to the stove.

Add the celery, carrot, and onion to the pan. Season with herbs, salt and pepper. Sweet the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Dish out most of the vegetables into the crock pot, leaving some in the pan. Increase heat on pan to high, pour in vinegar, and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits, until it has reduced by about half, 2 – 4 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, continue stirring. Now carefully sprinkle the baking soda into this. Remember that you are adding a base (soda) to an acid (vinegar and tomatoes) so you are going to get a foaming action! This is ok, just stir and watch it so no bubbles over the side. Cook about 6 minutes.

Pour contents of pan over the top of the food in the crock pot and give it a quick stir with a wooden spoon.

Now take the skinned garlic cloves and make one cut down the length. If any green line is there, use the point of the knife to remove. Sprinkle these slivers over the top of your stew and cover!

Change the setting to LOW and cook on for 7 to 8 hours.

 

You can make a topping to sprinkle over the stew by mixing a 1/4 cup of panko style breadcrumbs and 2 tsp of chopped parsley in a no stick pan and heat over medium high heat until it turns golden and crisp and the parsley is fragrant. Add 1/4 cup of Parmeasisn Cheese and mix Serve warm in a small dish to the side for guests to sprinkle a spoonful over their portions.

Complete the meal with a store bought bread that you finish baking in the oven.

Hope you love this makeover Mulligan Stew!

Guess slave did get a “Mulligan” from My Master Indy! He's the greatest!

Socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon