Earl Cooks Turkey for "Turkey" Alone with Many

I never find Thanksgiving leftovers to be a problem...until this year. We brought home our turkey leftovers and it was mostly DARK meat, which is fine for me...but not for "Turkey", my wife. She will eat only white meat on poultry. You can't cover it with enough cranberry jelly or gravy to get her to eat it. More for me right? Right and wrong. I can't be eating leftovers and have her starve to death now, can I? So when she suggested I buy a turkey breast and suggest she would like to have them regularly, I was thrilled. Turkey and Thanksgiving has special meaning for me because of my mom's love for both. She would buy a  breast and cook it up for herself and eat for a week. So when my "Turkey" wanted turkey, I thought I would do it a bit like my mom did and in commemoration of her, use the same roasting pan she used and make it a bit better, if not in spirit maybe in taste.

Earl Cooks Spiral Sliced, Honey Glazed Ham for Thanksgiving

I would like to say how difficult it is to prepare honey glazed ham, but the most difficult part of the process, aside from forking over the cash, is finding something big enough to heat and glaze 9 lbs of pork! My original plan was to do everything in the Crockpot, but that wouldn't work as big as it was...oh wait! I have a sous vide cooker that is SQUARE rather than oval! That will work, right...WRONG! This ham was still 2 inches too tall! No problem, rather than the lid I would just use foil. After covering I placed it in the oven at 350℉ for 1 hour to bring it up to temperature. Then using just the glaze provided by Hormel, and a pinch of ground clove, and a tablespoon of honey, I made the glaze. Taking it from the oven I brushed it all over the ham with a silicone pastry brush, turned the oven up to 425℉, and baked it for about 15-20 minutes, until the glaze set. You should try to get the glaze between the spiral slices, but I didn't. What seeped down on its own was fine for me, and the family raved about it. I then placed the slow-cooker liner in the base and kept it on high for about another hour, covered with foil. We were able to keep it warm with the slow-cooker, and it turned out great! Daughter #2 loved the ham liquid enough to use it as a sauce and the leftover are marvelous.

Hamilton Beach Professional Sous Vide/Slow Cooker

Earl Reviews Arby's Chicken Pepperoni Parm Sandwich

This sandwich takes me back to my high school Junior Prom, though I am not quite sure why. I took my lovely date to a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City for dinner before the dance which was in the Utah State Capitol rotunda. My date wore a beautiful light blue chiffon-like dress. I am sure it was her first time wearing it and after our dining experience, it was probably her last. I ordered Chicken Cacciatore. Why you ask? Because I like chicken and I like spaghetti. I was unsure of the other offerings on the menu because, well, I didn't eat in many Italian restaurants in 1971. So, as I found out, my chicken was covered with a lovely sauce of tomatoes and onions and other great stuff. I don't recall what my date had, but by the time we finished, it didn't matter. I let her get seated and I took the outside in the cozy booth. Let me pause here to comment that my wife thinks I need a bib whenever I eat. She makes me wear an apron when she can so I don't ruin my clothes with grease and other goodies. That may have been the problem. After we finished our meals and were sliding out of the booth my date slid across something red and saucy, leaving a greasy stain on her new gown. Needless to say, she was not willing to dance and show the back of her gown to the entire student-body, so We spent our entire Junior Prom with her back against the wall, not dancing.

...On with the review. I guess the reason this sandwich reminded me of that experience is that it is a chicken breast slathered with a marinara sauce, topped with pepperoni and mozzarella. The breast is deep fried and crispy with a good crunch but not a lot of flavor. It is advertised as a garlic marinara, but I couldn't taste any garlic. The pepperoni was noticeable but not greasy which is good and there wasn't too much sauce so it wasn't very messy.

Conclusion:
The sandwich alone was $5, so not cheap, but it was filling. As far as ordering it again, I prefer Arby's Roast beef sandwiches, although the smoked pork belly is very good.
⭐⭐⭐✰✰

Earl Cooks Lentil and Leftover Ham Soup

The late fall weather just hit us today after letting us think we lived in a more mild clime. It was in the mid to high 60℉ range for the last few days but last night got down to the high 20s. The resorts are happy but we are a bit cold...which brings me to the quick soup I threw together when my wife got home and turned on the space heater. Soup is a great quick meal especially when you cheat by using a canned product. I don't buy a lot of different kinds of soup, but I do keep them on hand for occasions such as this. I also have some leftover ham from Thanksgiving which will make the soup even better. I start by removing any fat from the ham and cut it into bite-size pieces.

 Then I sauté the ham in the pot I am going to use for the sou to both warm and to give the roasted ham aroma to the house. I then take 1 can of Progresso lentil soup and add it to the heated through ham. I use Progresso because it is not condensed. Depending on my mood, I may add chopped onion, carrot, or celery to the pot when using a prepared product like this. When I do, I add those to the pot with the ham (or bacon or smoked sausage) to sauté until tender, adding the soup later. Finally, I add about a tablespoon of REAL butter for richness. This was a trick for soups and stews passed down from my dear mother to us. (Sour cream also works well). I then choose a great cracker...Keebler's Club Crackers are my favorite for soup and then I welcome the late autumn! This was good enough that my wife wanted the leftovers for lunch the next day!

One more note: Progresso is quite expensive compared with other brands, so watch for it on sale. I think you will find that for recipes like this, it beats condensed soups.-Earl

Earl Cooks Leftover Grilled Ham & Gruyère & Cheese

Leftovers can be a problem post-turkey day, but I glazed the ham to go along with our turkey, and there was a bit of it left, and "Turkey" made bread and there was some Gruyère cheese from the green bean casserole I made, perfect for a grilled Ham & Gruyère cheese sandwich. I simply fired-up the stove and using my cast iron pan had a special leftover sandwich by using cheese, ham, and a big chunk of European butter. Yes it was as good as it sounds and looks. Now I have to find a way to keep Gruyère around even though it is expensive!

Earl Prepares Abuela's Cheese Ball

I don't remember when I firsat tasted this Ball O' Cream Cheese. I have eaten many kinds of cheese and  appetizers and I like every every one. I have been to restaurants that specialize in fondue and grilled cheese. Tasted mild to stinky cheese, both of which I love. In fact I have never tasted a cheese I didn't like. My fridge has a drawer dedicated to cheese. It's bigger than my meat drawer and very often, I have to stash cheese in other locations too.
—okay onward. My mother-in-law introduced me to this and my whole family loves it too. It is almost too simple to believe and too simple not to make no matter the occasion or without any occasion at all. It only has 5 ingredients and comes together in just a few minutes. It goes equally well with veggies or crackers and can even be spread on bagel chips.

print recipe

Abuela's Cheese Ball

by JFR November-25-1999

A holiday tradition that is simple and satisfying any time of year

Ingredients

• 16 oz. (Two Packages) Cream Cheese (softened)**
• 3 tsp Bon Appétit Seasoning*
• ¼ tsp Creamy Mustard
• Greens only from 3 scallions Scallion greens (Chopped)
• ½ cup or enough to cover Nuts (Chopped)

Instructions

Mix together all ingredients except nuts until very well combined. Roll into ball and roll ball in chopped nuts. Refrigerate. Serve with crackers or veggies. This ball can also be covered in crumbled bacon. 


*BON APPÉTIT SEASONING is no longer manufactured by McCormick. Their site has a replacement recipe so you can make your own. Here it is:
1 tablespoon McCormick Gourmet™ Celery Salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet™ Organic Onion Powder, California
**I choose to use Neufchâtel Cheese, because it is 1/3 less fat.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 25 mins Yield: 1 Cheese Ball

Earl Eats "Turkey's" Scallion Pancakes

Recently, both "Turkey" (My wife's nickname) and I noticed several recipes from cooking shows that were for Scallion Pancakes. Every recipe I found said that the Scallion Pancakes from Chinese Takeout was not very good. We both wondered what this scallion pancake was because we couldn't remember ever having one. Admittedly, when we eat Chinese food it is in the restaurant, not takeout, but we couldn't even remember seeing it on the menus. America's Test Kitchen highlighted this in a recent episode, which I insisted my wife watch and see if it was something we should try. Well, she loves scallions and had an extra day off so she decided to make some. The ingredients were very simple and the results were terrific. They resemble a quesadilla without cheese and are super flaky. The first one, which was mine was very good but my wife thought she would like them a bit crispier, and the result is the one pictured here. You can watch the episode and get the recipe here:
Scallion Pancakes from America's Test Kitchen
The recipe is also below

Earl Cooks and Eats Thanksgiving at Daughter #2's

Thanksgivings are always a family affair at our house, even when they aren't AT our house, which they rarely are, because our house is very small with no dining area. This year we were lucky enough to be invited to have it at our youngest daughter & husband's new home just 30 minutes from ours. It started off great as shown here, with my daughter's new table made by a local craftsman and set with china given to my parents, by my dad's parents on the occasion of their marriage and now my daughter loves them. The silverware was given to my daughter by my sister for her wedding, so you can see we had many generations represented at this Thanksgiving 'feast'. And feast we did, but the work began early in the week.

My daughter wanted to do the turkey, and I was happy to let her! The turkey was courtesy of my wife "Turkey", who receives one each year from her company. She used a roasting bag and the bird literally fell off the bone leaving almost no carving to be done and a beautiful, crispy and brown skin. The bird rested for 1 hour following roasting in the oven for 7 hours. After roasting, resting and removing the bones my daughter found the bag of giblets and gravy frozen in the cavity by the grower, but almost impossible to remove before roasting, which was fine for my son-in-law who felt the giblets were a treat just for him. (We don't ever use their gravy packet.)

Earl Giving Thanks for Thanksgivings

This is my 64th Thanksgiving, although for the 2 years I lived in Mexico, they passed unnoticed because the 4th Thursday in November is just another day. What I am giving thanks for here is all of the family, friends, and food that have marked this holiday for many of us. Thanksgiving is special because we come together with no expectations of gifts or doing anything but eat...and watch football, of course. but several stick-out in my memory:

• Thanksgiving, 1975. I had just met been on my first date with the woman that would become my fiancé and has been by my side for almost 42 years. She was many hours from her family and wouldn't be going home, so I invited her to join us. We were eating at my dad's new wife's parents house. I probably should have asked my step-mom in advance, but boy, had I fallen hard for this girl. Everything was fine with my step-grandparents and dinner was great. My dad had season tickets to the Utah Stars basketball team and they had a game on this Thanksgiving, but he gave his tickets to me to take my date. We got there, and it during the game they announced that the ABA (American Basketball Association) was folding, and that would be the last game the Stars would play.

Earl Cooks Steak & Baked & French Onion Haricots Verts (Green Beans)

I needed to try out a recipe for a green bean
casserole for the upcoming Thanksgiving Day feast hosted by my youngest and her hubby. I want to let you know here that I have never eaten a green bean casserole, let alone MADE one! This assignment was given to me by my daughter, and I felt I could create something tasty and better than the ones I haven't had. I knew my daughters and wife aren't crazy about mushroom soup, and my grandboys don't eat beans so this would be a tough one. After a bunch of soul searching and Google searching I found something I thought could just be great, but, my wife cautioned, I should make a test batch. This is not about the recipe, which I will post later, this is about what I served with my test batch...

Earl Cooks Creamy Baked Chicken & Swiss

I was searching for something to cook that would fit the ingredients I had and came upon a recipe that sounded perfect. I had just purchased some all-natural boneless & skinless chicken breasts from Sprouts. The ones I selected were HUGE. In addition to fitting my ingredients, I needed a short prep time since I needed to get it done during halftime of the Utah Jazz game. I found a recipe I could make my own on a site called Lil' Luna, a craft/lifestyle site.

Earl Cooks Potato Crusted Cod with Asparagus

Another first for me...Cod! I wasn't raised around home cooked fish. Indeed the only seafood restaurant I knew of was many miles away, in the heart of the city called Bratten's. They were famous for their clam chowder, but I was too young to appreciate the rest of their menu. My only other exposure was the fish sticks we were served every Friday for school lunch (not a great seafood memory). Of course, we had tuna sandwiches, which rocked the way mom made them, and my mom's dad loved fishing. I remember the emptied cartons of Lucerne Milk that had the cleaned and beheaded fish, usually trout, tail-up, frozen in water and soldiered in her deep freeze. I don't remember grandma ever cooking them, but I'm sure she did because she wasted NOTHING!

Earl Eats Black Bear Diner's Bigfoot Breakfast

After working out to lose weight "Turkey" and I went for a big breakfast at the nearby Black Bear Diner. I have discovered over the years that a restaurant can be judged on how well they prepare 'chicken fried' or 'country fried' steak with it's accompanying peppered gravy. They offer this as a breakfast special which includes:
— Chicken Fried Steak
— 3 Eggs
— Country fried potatoes
— 4 half slices of French toast
We had never eaten breakfast there before today. "Turkey" ate their 'Shasta Scramble' which is avocado, spinach, tomato, onion, bell pepper & jack cheese and included an English muffin and cup of fruit.

Earl Cooks Gnocchi for Breakfast!

What has sausage, potato, cheese and egg? Breakfast of course! So I took my 4 cheese gnocchi leftovers and made a great breakfast dish! Thanks "Turkey"!

Egg cooking in skillet—almost done, placed on top of warmed leftovers and
with the yolk broken and the running all over the gnocchi

Earl Cooks 4 Cheese Gnocchi with Italian Sausage

Growing up, I rarely ate Italian dishes. Oh we had spaghetti occasionally and I remember some kind of lasagna using yellow cheddar cheese. Pizza was something you went out to eat. There was no 'pasta' it was elbow macaroni or spaghetti. The variety of pastas, sauces, cheeses and dishes we enjoy today were not only not in my wheelhouse, but not in my world. Sausages came in link and patties and were eaten for breakfast. Herbs were a select few cans my mom kept hidden in a cupboard. Our salt came from a cardboard can and pepper was like black dust. My mom was an okay cook, she just didn't have exposure to variety. She was very picky about ingredients like butter...margarine never made it into her dishes. We didn't didn't have access to fresh fruits and veggies year round like today, what was in season or canned was all she had to work with. She probably could have expanded her knowledge, but if her "Betty Crocker" didn't have it, or if the ingredients weren't readily available and reasonably priced she didn't, bless her departed soul.

Earl Cooks Cucumber Salad with Mozzarella Pearls & Tomatoes

The genesis of this recipe comes from  Lydia Bastianich, although I doubt she would want credit. Sometimes, just to take a break from our meat-centric diet, I prepare something almost vegetarian for dinner. This is one of those dishes. It is very simple and surprisingly satisfying.

We start with Mozzarella pearls, usually found in the deli section but may be in the cheese section. I keep these on-hand all the time. They make a great addition to many dishes and can be used like any other mozzarella cheese in pasta or on pizza. They are fairly inexpensive and well worth it. The package I buy is vacuum packed and they keep for a very long time in the fridge. 

Earl Cooks Burgers with Provolone and Sautéed Onions

Almost nothing brings me back to a restaurant like the flavor of their burgers. Inversely, almost nothing will keep me away than a burger that doesn't meet my standards and their menu or promotion of it. That said, I rarely find the time do burgers RIGHT when I cook them at home! But I do have a few tricks I have learned over the years...

-1.Weber Gourmet Burger Seasoning. This is an unsolicited and uncompensated endorsement. If you have a favorite, stick with it, but I found this a few years ago on clearance at Wal-Mart along with several other Weber seasonings. I loved it because my FAMILY loved it! Beef burgers, turkey burgers, it was the best. My grandson even used it to season hash-browns! Recently I bought the 8 oz. size shown here for under $4 at Sam's Club
-2.Don't use lean meat! One restaurateur will say 80/20, one 85/15 but nobody used ground beef with a low-fat content. Why? Glad you asked. The flavor is in the fat! It also helps hold the meat together while cooking.
-3.A Cast Iron Skillet. I don't get to cook outside as often as I would like, and I have a stove-top grill pan, but to get the crispy crust I like on a burger, nothing beats a cast Iron pan. I recently bought a new 12" one for a dirt cheap in, of all places, the sporting goods department of Wal-Mart. It was only nine bucks! (get it, sporting goods, bucks). If it seems I shop Wal-Mart a lot,  you're right. But I did work there for 8½ years (8 years longer than I wanted to or should have) and I got to know where to find good deals, and where not to.

With those items out of the way, let's cook!

Earl Cooks Chicken Philly and Asparagus

Once again, I found something in the frozen food department I wanted to try. Chicken Philly chicken breast. Now I love Philly Cheese-steaks, so I approached this with a bit of trepidation, and I had tried some of the other offerings from Milford Valley and was under impressed. But the Chicken Philly really called to me.

Preparation is very simple, preheat the oven and put it in for 45 minutes and voilà! The main dish is ready. The breast is stuffed with provolone cheese, peppers and onions, but when cooked, only the flavor of the onions and peppers remained, but no chunks or pieces, which made it quite enjoyable actually. The cheese was very melt-y, though can leak out the ends if overcooked. I paired ours with thin asparagus spears coated with Parmesan shavings and roasted along with the breasts. It was a success, and my wife asked to have it again, so if you are looking for a simple dinner, keep them on-hand in the freezer. Next time I may sauté some peppers and onions to go along with them and enrich my Philly experience!

Earl Eats "Turkey's" Homemade Cherry Pie

I love pie! As a young man, I would always request a Cheesecake (which, let's face it, is a pie) for my birthday. Coconut cream pie was my favorite, along with pumpkin and then there's pecan-FORGET ABOUT IT! My wife "Turkey", not so much. She does like cheese cake, like I do, but loves lemon meringue and key lime...not my favorites but tasty...anyway

Yesterday out of the blue, my wife decided to make a pie! Fortunately, I had pie filling for a dessert I was going to make and she loves baking so the stars came together! Cherry was what she decided on. Another of my favorites and my brother-in-law's all-time favorite. He won't be getting any. "Turkey" attacks baking with laser focus. She found a recipe for and went to work. She likes recipes, unlike me, as I have mentioned before. I occasionally tried to throw out a couple of suggestions, which she correctly ignored. and were the result AWESOME! It was more simple than I imagined, (partly because I couldn't imagine doing it). Baking is science and when she is in her lab, I see the passion and experience she brings to it. Thanks "Turkey" for not being like me and eating my experiments, even when you don't let me use your lab equipment!

Earl Cooks Smoked Pork Fried Rice

An epiphany struck me the other night...make fried rice from smoked pulled pork! Usually I avoid making Chinese food because I like to eat it at restaurants that do a great job of making it! Somehow, my mind found this idea in my head, and I felt I had to have it. It didn't hurt that I had some of Captain Len's Pulled pork in the fridge either! In my younger days, all fried rice was ham fried rice. Not pork, not chicken and certainly not vegetarian! Now ham fried rice is nowhere to be found. I have never made fried rice, but wanted to make enough to be a main course for my wife and myself. We don't eat a lot of rice at our place but when we do it is usually Minute Rice Ready to Serve white rice, chosen by America's Test Kitchen as the best ready rice. "Aha! I said", I have some Jasmine Ready Rice too. Scallion's (green onions, carrots, peas and 3 eggs, garlic, ginger and oils for sautéing complete the ingredients. This was so good, "Turkey" even ate all her peas!

Earl Cooks Baked French Toast a NEW Recipe

A while back I posted my baked French Recipe. My wife liked it enough to request it again. So I CHANGED it! If variety truly is the spice of life, my life is very spicy. I rarely follow the same recipe twice opting instead to tweak each recipe to make it better, hopefully. While my previous recipe was good this one is even better.


To begin with, I tossed out the baking dish, opting instead for a larger, rimmed baking sheet which I lined with aluminum foil for easy cleanup. I then placed a wire rack on the baking sheet to provide for circulation of the heat around the slices.

As I researched recipes online, many use fancier breads like Challah or artisan sourdough. That is my first departure. I ALWAYS use my wife's homemade bread and it turns out PERFECT! Chose the bread you like but homemade is best followed by any other you choose. The reason artisan or homemade bread is best is because of the pockets created as they rise. This soaks up the egg mixture AND the syrup. To soak it up, it needs to be DRY. Alton Brown recommends leaving your bread out at least 8 hours to dry out, which would be fine if you have 8 hours. I rarely have that much advance prep time so I like to put the bread on a the rack in a 200℉ oven for 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the bread sit in the warm oven for another 20-30 minutes and remove.

Now, the eggy goodness. In a pie plate, add your dry ingredients which are :

• Cinnamon to your liking
• a quarter teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Now add a teaspoon of vanilla, ¾ cup milk and six eggs. Whisk together well until there there is no defined white/yolk, just the creamy egg and spices. Soak each dried slice in the mixture for 30 seconds per side and place on the rack. This is enough for 6 slices of bread. Place tray and rack in a preheated 375℉ oven for 15 minutes. Now the finishing touch. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with with more sugar...enough to put a good amount on each slice without being thick. Now return to the oven and the oven and switch from bake to broil. KEEP at 375℉, creating a Crème brûlée kind of crunch. (If your oven has a separate broiler outside rhe oven simply flip the slices and place sugar on top). Bake for an additional 15 minutes and slather with syrup, or jam, or fruit, you will want to use a sharp knife, because this doesn't cut like your old French toast

Earl Cooks (prepares) Avocado Tomato and Cottage Cheese

I am not certain why, but cottage cheese has gotten a bad reputation over the years. It's like it is the stepchild of other cheeses. Fresh cheeses like ricotta have taken a prominent role in food and pushed cottage cheese aside. When I was young, however, in the 60s, cottage cheese was a diet food. People would eat it with fruit and call it a meal, lunch usually. Today we have many choices that I don't remember as a kid...low fat, fat-free and others that make cottage cheese a great food product. I love cheese, and I have always loved cottage cheese, so occasionally, I make a meal of it, albeit a small meal.

Today I had a ripe avocado and cottage cheese makes a great blank canvas to create something tasty.

I start by dicing the avocado in to bite size pieces. I feel that avocado NEEDS salt so I give it a pinch of Himalayan pink sea salt then grab my tomatoes, which my wife, "Turkey", cultivates in our yard. These are cherry tomatoes, and though the season has long passed, she left the vine and stems in place and they are GREAT. I slice them in half and place the around the avocado dice. Then comes the cottage cheese. I used a store brand and it is low-fat, and small curd. A fresh grind of pepper over all, and it's ready to eat!

Earl Cooks Keta Salmon with Spinach & Sliced New Potatoes

I am gradually learning more about salmon the more I buy and cook it I saw some on sale the other day marked wild caught Keta Salmon in a dill butter, so I grabbed some. Wild caught and sustainably

Keta or Chum Salmon - Male

harvested, sounded good to me but I didn't know what 'keta" was. Keta salmon is second only to the king in size and inhabits waters throughout the Pacific Northwest. It has an unattractive nickname "chum" salmon. It is relatively neutral tasting. 
The salmon was frozen with 2 fillets vacuum packed and included the dill-butter sauce in on the fillets, which were skin on and about 6oz. each.The instructions are to defrost in the fridge and cook on the grill or in the oven. This was my first time, with these fillets, so I selected the oven.

 I started by seasoning the tray, not the potatoes. It is hard not to over season potatoes and I didn't want that. I then placed the sliced potatoes on the seasoning and drizzled some EVOO over the top. Then while the oven preheated, I put the tray of potatoes in and roasted them until the oven was hot. and covered them with the leaf spinach. I used caned but defrosted frozen would also work

 Once the oven was hot, I placed the fillets on a small baking sheet I hat sprayed with non-stick pan spray. Shown here with the dill butter sauce poured on top.





Here is the finished plate. I added a bit of butter to the spinach-potatoes as well as to the salmon. By the time my camera took the shot, it had melted to the side.
Results:
The salmon was good, although the dill-butter sauce was too mild and the potato-spinach side dish was underwhelming. I will definitely be cooking keta salmon again! Next time on the grill or stove-top though!

Earl Cooks Leftover Turkey Chili with Black Beans & Sweet Potatoes for Breakfast?

If you're like me, chili doesn't often find it's way to my breakfast table. But my eldest daughter had some delicious leftovers given to her and wanted to share the last of them with me because she's sweet that way. There wasn't enough for my wife and I to both have some, so I thought BREAKFAST! I'll have it for breakfast...It is my favorite meal, but I wondered if the blogosphere had eaten chili for breakfast and boy do they.

Since I was using leftovers, I didn't need a recipe, but made some great modifications that worked to perfection! After reheating the chili and placing it in a bowl, I topped it with some shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. I then placed a perfectly steamed egg on top (runny yolk of course) and added fresh cracked rainbow pepper to the top. I dipped into it with a fresh slice of my wife's homemade broke the golden goodness of the yolk all over it! I couldn't believe how smoothly and fast it went down.

There were several firsts here for me.

• I had never had chili for breakfast,  
• never had chili with sweet potatoes and 
• never had chili topped with an egg

...but I will do all of these things again!
 As I said, I didn't make the chili but here are several links for similar recipes Google found:
Turkey Chili with Sweet Potatoes & Black Beans

Earl Cooks Smoked Pulled Pork & Beans with thanks to Capt. Len

As a kid, I didn't much care for pork and beans...they were mostly Van Camp's from the can, and the only pork seemed to be some pork fat in the can that seemed uncooked. That was in the sixties. Fast forward to eighties where I ate some BAKED beans at a BBQ restaurant near me, Joe Morley's. No Pork but he had shredded brisket and were they ever meaty! That inspired me to develop my own recipe. I started with a Crockpot. A friend of mine tried with a pressure cooker and covered her kitchen in bean goo...I had time and wanted a meaty rendition. My ingredients usually included almost a pound of bacon and at least 2 kinds of beans, along with veggies, brown sugar and molasses or maple syrup. THEY BECAME A HIT, but they were different every time because I used no recipe. I was often asked to bring them to parties and dinners and enjoyed doing it. I would make a  big pot full and have leftovers galore.

This recipe pays homage to the days when I didn't care for the pork and beans and to the discovery of real flavorful baked beans, with a twist. My good friend since high school, Captain Len makes some great BBQ and I have some of his pulled pork, which I will use as the meat base. He makes a great BBQ sauce which I am using as part of the sauce. In memory of my childhood and as a nod to where I first tried these beans I am using Van Camps Pork & Beans as well as canned garbanzo beans. This is not so much a recipe as a compilation in a Crockpot. 

print recipe

Earl Cooks Smoked Pulled Pork & Beans with thanks to Capt. Len

by EarlCooks November-4-2017

Pork & Beans on steroids

Ingredients

• 1-1½ cup Smoked Pulled Pork
• 1 can (15 oz.) Garbanzo Beans AKA chickpeas (canned)
• 2 TBLS BBQ Sauce (your favorite)
• 1 small stalk Celery (chopped)
• ½ small Onion, yellow

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a small slow-cooker , draining the liquid from the garbanzo beans first, but keeping the liquid from the pork and beansstir all together thoroughly in the crock and heat on HIGH for 1 hour.After cooking on high for the first hour, add the onion and celery, stirring everything together then reduce to low for the next hour.When the vegetables are cooked al dente, serve it up with rolls or biscuits and embrace the smokiness!

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 2 hour Total time: 2 hour 10 mins Yield: 2 servings

Earl Eats at The Habit Burger Grill

Hungry for a burger we visited the nearby Habit in South Jordan, I had eaten there a couple of times before and found them to be good, but it had been quite awhile. They pride themselves on the fact that their burger is charbroiled, which I like, but so does Burger King.
The staff was very good and the atmosphere is fine. The parking lot is a JOKE however. The traffic in the shopping center was impossible to navigate and we parked so far away it seemed like we walked there!

The Habit's Advertised burger vs. Reality

• Burger 🍔🍔🍔🍔(my wife said hers was slightly under-cooked) 
• Lettuce-shredded(yuck for me) 
• Bun🍔🍔 
• Price$$($3.75) 

I would definitely try their Tempura green beans again...and again!

Summary

I would go back and liked the burger I was served, but probably won't because my wife's was undercooked for her taste...happy wife, happy life!