Earl Cooks Chicken Fried Chicken & Country Gravy with Mashed Potatoes

Chicken Fried Chicken with
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

BREADING STATION: Panko Bread Crumbs, Egg
Whites with Milk & Seasoned Flour

I believe you can tell how good a restaurant is by how good their Chicken Fried Steak is. It is not easy to do well, but it is easy to ruin. As a child, I don't remember having, or even knowing, what  chicken fried steak was. Yes, I am calling it CHICKEN fried steak, because that is the one thing I do remember. It was a steak FRIED like one would fry chicken. A tenderized piece of beef, usually cube steak, breaded and fried. Served with creamy mashed potatoes and both covered with a great,  peppery pan gravy. Later restaurants began calling it "country"  fried steak. My guess is that was because so many mistook it for actual chicken! It doesn't matter what you call it, it is tender and crunchy at the same time, or tough and soggy when done wrong.

Skillet with canola oil  heat on medium high
until wisps of smoke appear

For lunch today I didn't have a cube steak, but I did have a chicken cutlet. I have never made Chicken Fried Steak, heck, I have never even made a whole fried chicken, but my wife "a.k.a."Turkey" left me some egg whites she couldn't use from a baking project so I thought they would be the beginnings of my breading process. Since I was breading just the one cutlet, I used some rather deep plates; one with my homemade Panko bread crumbs, one with about 2 egg whites, and the last had seasoned flour. Season this as you would any fried chicken, 11 herbs and spices or whatever. Make sure to mix the seasoning into the flour well. Also add salt and fresh-cracked black pepper to the breast cutlet itself. You can easily make a cutlet by butterflying a chicken breast or pounding it with a mallet between 2 sheets of plastic or storage bags. You can also find cutlets at some stores in the frozen meat section.

Floured Cutlet in hot oil

Dry the cutlet off, then lay it in the the flour making certain both sides get covered.

Chicken Cutlet Nice & Brown

Now dip the floured cutlet in the egg wash, and place in the panko crumbs, covering well. Gently place the coated cutlet into the HOT oil laying it away from you to avoid hot oil back-splash and burning yourself. If the cutlet is thin, as mine was, it won't take long to crisp and brown the first side. You will be able to see the brownness climbing up the side of the cutlet. Grab your tongs and turn it gently over and proceed as you did on the first side. When it its browned on both sides, it's done! I had some leftover creamy gravy so I whipped up some instant mashed potatoes (Idahoan is my preferred brand), and boy this lunch exceeded my expectations! I might try making fried chicken or "Country" fried steak next!
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Earl Cooks Salt Roasted Chicken & Burns Golden Beets

In keeping with my new resolve to follow more recipes from others to learn from them, rather than "wing" it, I found a recipe for a salt roasted whole chicken from Chef John, Salt-Roasted Chicken – Tastes Like Chicken .
I should point out that I have never roasted a whole chicken. Whole turkeys, yes. This is a different animal - for me.

There are only 2 ingredients for the chicken -  and one was the chicken. I liked that. The other ingredient is kosher salt. This is perfect. but I made a couple of mistakes, which I will tell you about. Let's begin.
—I found whole roast chickens ON SALE for just 77¢/pound! The recipe called for a 3½ to 4-pound bird which was what I brought home. The chef used a nice big skillet, which was stainless steel and oven proof. I didn't have an oven-proof skillet that was big enough...except my 12" cast iron, which turned out to be the perfect size! (One note here: It is nearly impossible to find chicken that has not been "enhanced" with a solution of 10-15%. This is NOT an enhancement, it allows them to sell you a smaller product than you want to pay for or for a price that is deceptively lowered. Enough preaching!)

—I cleaned my bird, making certain I didn't contaminate any wooden surfaces, after removing the giblets. Then I coated it on ALL sides, including the cavity, with kosher salt and placed it in the pan which was coated with oil and a thin layer of salt. I discovered after cooking that I had used too much salt because I didn't follow the recipe and tried my own measuring. (DON'T DO THIS. I love salt, as does my wife, but too much is, well, TOO MUCH!) Now place your bird into a preheated 450℉ oven. Cook it for 50-60 minutes or until the thickest part of the thigh registers 165℉. When you remove it from the oven, it should look something like mine (pictured at the left). Remove your chicken to a platter and cover it with foil while you prepare the lemon/thyme sauce. This became the star of my dish, and I was surprised. I had never tried to make a pan sauce but it was well worth it.

FOR THE SAUCE
—Remove all but about 10% of the fat in the pan and place the pan on a burner set to medium-high. Add thyme leaves to the pan. Heat until wilted.
—Add the juice of 1 lemon to the pan drippings along with ⅓ cup of chicken stock. I found that this was great for scraping up the tasty brown bits (or fond) from the bottom of the pan. Reduce, if necessary, and turn the pan to low. Add 2 tablespoons COLD butter, cut into quarters and stir into the sauce. It will emulsify when stirred. It will be one of the best sauces ever! Spoon the sauce over the chicken and add fresh ground pepper and it will be great...if you didn't use too much salt!

For my portion, I chose the leg/thigh quarter This may have been the juiciest chicken I have ever cooked! I prepared a side dish of Golden Beets, which I OVERCOOKED by mistake making them inedible for my wife, so I ate them all. here is how it SHOULD be done:

If you have never tried Golden Beets, they are great! They have the flavor and texture of regular beets and can be cooked the same, without the deep red color permeating everything.
—Clean by soaking well. The soil seems to cling to them. Remove the greens (save them for another dish or stock). Peel them and slice each beet into 8 wedges.
—I like to place them into a pan and roast them with olive oil and salt and pepper. a splash of balsamic vinegar goes well too, and is a bit reminiscent of pickled beets. You can also roast them with other root veggies such as  parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, and carrots. They would be good mashed too and a healthy alternative to potatoes. They can be boiled or pickled, just like their red counterparts too.

My beets BURNED!

WHAT I DID and DIDN'T Do:
—I used all of the recipe ingredients with no substitutions.
—I roasted it per recipe instructions.
—I made the pan sauce as directed.
—I didn't have any cotton twine so I couldn't tie the legs together, but the bird I bought had been flattened a bit so it would have been difficult anyway.
—I used too much salt! It was the only place I deviated from the recipe, and I shouldn't have. It affected the flavor of the outer part of the bird but the meat was fine.
—I BURNED MY BEETS! I basically forgot about them while finishing the chicken. I know it's just the side dish but we were looking forward to it!
Conclusion:
I will make this again, but I will modify it to use parts rather than a whole bird since it is just two of us.

Earl Eats BLAT Salad for Dinner

 My BLAT Salad Components & My BLAT Salad Dressed with Blue Cheese

What? You have never heard of a BLAT? In our house BLATs are a staple! If you have had a BLT, you've almost had a BLAT...Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and AVOCADO. (we had to do a bit of rearranging to make BLAT - BLTA just wasn't right.) When living in Mexico in the mid 70s, one of the places I lived was the avocado capital of Mexico, Morelia,, Michoacán. The avocados were the size of softballs and perfectly ripened. My father loved avocados and I wish I had been able to send him one like those available in the market there daily. Back then, in the states, we only rarely saw avocados because of their delicate nature. We didn't have them year round like we do today. It's winter and I just bought them on sale! Back to our BLATS...

My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") prefers salads to sandwiches, So I thought I would deconstruct a BLAT and make a salad, since she would probably make hers into a salad anyway. The ingredients are:

Crumbled Bacon, Butter Lettuce, one Haas Avocado, Grape Tomatoes, Homemade Croûtons and for mine, Fat Free Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing.Only a couple of these are not standard BLT components. The salad dressing is a substitute for mayo or Miracle Whip, the croûtons are a substitute for bread and the crumbled bacon for strips of bacon.

As you can see in the top photo, On the left, I have the components sorted on the lettuce, and then assembled and dressed to the right. How can you go wrong with bacon, tomatoes, and avocados topped with blue cheese? You can't and we didn't. It was marvelous and filling!

A SIDE NOTE:

My wife chose Hidden Valley Cilantro Lime for her dressing and no croûtons. What can I say, nobody's perfect!😁

Earl Cooks Baked Chicken Parmesan from Chef John

Recently I decided I needed to start following some recipes, since I have hundreds I have wanted to eat from years of collecting foods I want to eat. My first shot at this is a recipe from Chef John & All Recipes.com called The Best Parmesan Chicken Bake (link). I will say up front, I did not follow the recipe exactly, but mostly.
—I started with three chicken breast halves flattened to an even, half inch thickness.
—In a 9x13 inch glass baking pan, add olive oil to the bottom and add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic. I have pre-chopped in my fridge, so I use that. On top of the oil & garlic, I place the 3 chicken breasts.
—Next I added chunky Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce from a jar on top of the breasts. Enough to cover. Use plenty to avoid drying out the chicken breast.
—Layer the pasta sauce with ½ cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated. You will need another ½ cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan later for a total of 1 cup mozzarella and ½ cup Parmesan. (Note: The recipe called for fresh basil before the first cheese layer, but I didn't have any. It would have been better with it.).
—Now add the croûtons. Mine were homemade using my wife's homemade bread and seasoned with herbs. Use enough to cover the first layer.
—Now add the reserved cheese. For the final layer I used shaved Parmesan rather than grated.
—In a preheated 350℉ oven, bake until golden brown and chicken is done, about 35 minutes.

I finished by adding Brussels Sprouts, which I roasted  along with the chicken, to the plate and placed the chicken on top of a bed of gluten free rotini. It was all very good.


Results & Conclusions
My modifications to the recipes were minor. I did not have fresh basil, and wished I had. Even dry would have helped. That was my bad. I also used an Italian blend of cheeses rather than straight mozzarella. Next time I will use the mozzarella and Parmesan alone. The cheese tasted fine, but I wished I had a gooier melt. I also used too little sauce. I eyeballed it. DON"T! 

I was surprised how much I liked the gluten-free rotini! It was a gift from my departed mom, which she got on clearance somewhere. Next time, I will go for a more traditional Chicken Parmesan, but the bake will always be an option!

Earl Cooks Ham, Bean, Lentil, & Quinoa Soup

As a teenager, the mother of one of my best friends, was cooking dishes for a restaurateur to use in his new restaurant. We were tasked with getting the food from my friend's house to the door of the man opening the restaurant 20-25 minutes away, while it was still warm. I had access to a car. Part of this process was we got to taste what she was cooking. She was delegated as test cook because she was, and is, a terrific cook. It was the first time I remembered tasting navy bean with ham soup. Either that or hers was SOOO much better than any I had ever tasted, I didn't associate it with any soup I had eaten to that point. THIS WAS SO GOOD I IMMEDIATELY ASKED MY MOM TO MAKE IT! Bless her heart, she tried. I don't know where she got the recipe, but it was totally different that that of my friend's mom. She may have tried again, and may have asked my friend's mom her secret, but she never made anything as tasty. While my recipe is not trying to emulate hers, I have discovered some tricks I will incorporate in this soup.

I began with a lot of ham I had frozen last time I cooked a ham. I added it to my Magnalite roaster. I then added four cups water, 2 bay leaves  and heated the ham through. Next, I added McCormick Pork Gravy mix and a can of cream of celery soup and then a can of Progresso Lentil Soup. I mixed that all together. Then I added one can of white beans (any kind), including the liquid. Cover for a few more minutes to bring everything to a boil again.

Now the last step and then dinner. I added white quinoa to the roaster (you can omit this). Allow it to bubble for a few minutes more, then dish it up and add your favorite crackers and a pat of butter, salt and fresh ground black pepper. And don't forget to remove the bay leaves!

While this isn't a navy bean with ham recipe, it is a great way to get a nice thick soup and use up some leftovers! And it tastes marvelous!

Earl Cooks Two Tuna Melts Today

How can cans create tastes that tantalize the tongue and taste-buds? TUNA! Julia Child always preached that tuna should be packed in oil to preserve the flavor. Water just leaches it out. Well, sorry Julia, all we had was water packed. But I did mix light with albacore for better flavor. I bind that all together with Miracle Whip. Why Miracle Whip? It has a vinegary tang like tartar sauce, so it is naturally better than plain mayo here. Salt and pepper are a must, and I also add capers, which give it a nice tang and saltiness. I toast some homemade bread slices, since this will be an open-faced sandwich. Final step is topping the tuna-coated toast with a blend of Italian Cheeses (mozzarella, Parmesan, fontina, asiago, & provolone), then place it in the oven, with the broiler element on but the heat set to 350℉.  You have to watch it and know your oven. You want to heat the entire sandwich through but not get the cheese too brown, just brown enough.

How it Turned Out
I liked mine, though it needed some more moisture, maybe Julia's oil-packed tuna would have helped!

Pork On Pork Makes Gpa Proud

This is about a proud moment in a grandpa's life. My youngest,  grandboy (he's 6'5") called me for advice on COOKING! I would like to think I was first on the list to call, but like a good son, he called mom first, which is okay because I would like to think we share some of the same cooking genes.

Let me preface this by saying that since he was old enough to eat, I have been a short order cook for him whenever he came by, and for awhile, before school. I even gave him a skillet so he could fry eggs. He has grown a bunch, but I still enjoy cooking for and with him...now on to the proud moment.

He called and said he wanted to cook bacon-wrapped pork chops and asked me how to do it. The photo shows 2 pork chops perfectly browned, wrapped with bacon and finished in the oven. He said they tasted GREAT, and the photo shows that.

Most of my posts are about my cooking, but I felt so proud I had to share! Way to go CC!

Addendum:

I learned today that my grandboy saved some for his mom and she said "it was AMAZING!"

Almost Meatless Monday - Earl Makes a Frozen Cucumber Salad

Have you ever gone to your produce drawer and found something that was mostly frozen? I have, but I try to avoid it. It seems the most likely culprits are lettuce & cucumbers. I have since discovered that there are recipes for FROZEN CUCUMBER DISHES! I had no idea, but I did have a frozen cuke! I tasted it and it tasted fine, but to pass the test, it had to pass the "Turkey" taste test (my wife). It passed! It was Monday and I wanted to keep it mostly but not totally meatless. I went for a modification of my cucumber salad inspired by TV Chef Lidia Bastianich, but hers never looked like this!

—I started with the frozen cucumber which I peeled in stripes, then quartered lengthwise and sliced into half inch slices. Into the bowl.

—Next I tried a NEW product, at least for me, called "Salad Ready, Tri Color, Tomato Wedges in olive oil and Italian spices". They come in a 10 oz. can and retain much of the crispness of the tomato. Of course, they are still far from fresh, but worked great here. The Italian spices and olive oil mirror what I would be adding with the dressing.





Now for the secret ingredient: mozzarella pearls! Secret, because not too many people use them, but they are GREAT and I try to keep some on hand always. They are a nice ingredient to many dishes but salads are where I use them the most.

Next, I dress the salad with a store-bought dressing and because I put a bit too much on I used a bunch of my homemade croûtons to soak up the dressing and to give a crunchy texture to the dish. My wife thinks it is too crunchy, but I'm all about the crunch.







Finally, I added the component that makes this "almost" meatless—the crumbled bacon! I bought this nice big bag of crumbled bacon at Sam's Club and it is so useful when I don't have time for cooking bacon or want to add some at the last minute.

If you want to keep it it meatless, you can omit the bacon...I can't believe I just said that!

Almost Meatless Monday - Earl Cooks Easy Huevos Rancheros

I started the day off thinking I had never made my favorite breakfast from my 2 years living in Mexico—Huevos Rancheros. I was amazed at the time and care that went into the creation of this dish. I knew I would not be making it in the way the women who made it for me did, but I wanted to try for something close.

I started by looking for recipes online, and NONE of them came close to what I remembered. But I pressed on.

I learned to love, and love to this day, REFRIED BEANS. At that time, lard or bacon fat was always used and of course the beans were made from scratch, washing the beans, removing the small pebbles, cooking, mashing and cooking again (hence refried). They were the perfect base for the eggs. They included fresh corn tortillas from the corner tortillaria. Very few made their own and flour tortillas were almost non-existent in central Mexico. Fresh hot cocoa was often part of the meal, and it was deep, rich, a little bitter, cup of great chocolate, most often made with unpasteurized milk delivered that morning.

 Clearly, things have changed in the 45 years since I lived there, and I am not going to do it the way it was done for me back then, but I think I can do a quick, tasty, version from items I have on hand.

Starting with a hot skillet, I add my bacon grease, followed by some high quality, black bean refried beans. After they heat through, I added 2 eggs and covered it, allowing the eggs to steam until the whites are set and the yolks remain runny, as pictured above. A nice spoonful of sour cream (or crema if you have it), and salt and pepper. They were always great in Mexico and they were great today too! Too bad I don't have a corner tortillaria!

Earl Cooks Steak, Potatoes & Carrots for Grandboy & His Girl

Since they are mostly grown, I don't get to cook for my Grandboys very often and have NEVER had the opportunity to cook for one of their girlfriends, but I got the chance and jumped at it. I didn't start by knowing the girlfriend would be coming, but I had an idea she might, and hoped it he would invite her along. My grandboy loves steak so I thought that would be good for him, so steak, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots sounded good, even though my grandboy avoids vegetables in all forms.

I wanted to  sous vide the steaks, so I started by seasoning the steaks on both sides with what today is my favorite seasoning, McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning in a convenient grinder. That done, I vacuum sealed each steak individually, and placed them in the Sous Vide bath and set the temperature.

Now the carrots. After pealing and trimming 4 medium-sized carrots I cut them into equal sticks and placed them onto my grill pan which I coated with olive oil. To the carrots I added maple syrup, salt and butter and placed them into a preheated 300℉ oven to roast for 30 minutes. I started them low to not over cook them. I then turned them up to 325℉ to finish. They cooked for about 30-45 minutes.

For the potatoes, I went with an old friend, Idahoan mashed potatoes in a pouch. I combined 2 of my favorites, Apple-wood Bacon and Four Cheese. To this I added more bacon, and I cooked them, replacing half of the water with whole milk for extra creaminess.

Back to the steaks. Following the sous vide bath, I removed the steaks and placed them on the cutting board. I re-applied my seasoning and heated my 12" cast iron pan on HIGH until it was very hot and then switched it to MED-HIGH, applying olive oil to the pan. I placed all 3 steaks in the pan to sear for just a couple of minutes on each side. I removed them and they had a great crust and I applied a simple butter made from room temperature butter, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper.

Everything seemed perfect until learning my grandboy's girlfriend is allergic to carrots! He had forgotten to let me know.

We ate my wife's (a.k.a. "Turkey's") Sour Orange Pie, and that recipe is found on an earlier post, the link to which is located below:
"Turkey's" Sour Orange Pie 

The whole meal was terrific, if I do say so myself. We played games and watched Harry Potter making it an almost perfect evening! Grandkids are God's reward for raising your own kids to adulthood!

Earl Cooks Open-Faced Roast Beef Sandwich - Lunch from Leftovers

Open-Faced Roast Beef Sandwich from leftovers

It is marvelous how just a few steps can make a very good meal from a meal you already made! This open-faced roast beef sandwich is lunch from leftovers in it's simplest form.

First things first. I was hungry for something more than a simple PB&J. Remembering I had saved some roast beef from our dinner a couple of days ago (see the post by clicking the link) Perfect Portion Pot Roast I had saved a few slice and the au jus from that, made a crunchy piece of toast from "Turkey's" Homemade Bread and I had a great open faced roast beef sandwich. Leftovers made great!

Earl Cooks Grilled Ham & Eggs -- Breakfast from Leftovers

I am not Sam. Neither my Eggs nor my ham are green but still:

"I WOULD EAT THEM IN A BOAT. AND I WOULD EAT THEM WITH A GOAT...AND I WILL EAT THEM, IN THE RAIN. AND IN THE DARK. AND ON A TRAIN. AND IN A CAR. AND IN A TREE. THEY ARE SO GOOD, SO GOOD, YOU SEE!"

Just as Dr. Seuss was a part of my childhood, my kids childhood and my grandkids childhood, EGGS were also a big part of my childhood thanks to my mom, and I have tried to make it part of my family's childhoods too. My Grandboys call them Dippin' Eggs and they are simply large eggs with the yolks RUNNY and the whites SET. I like them with any type of breakfast meat—bacon, sausage or ham, but today I had a breakfast-sized piece of grilled ham steak from earlier in the week which I knew was perfect. A slice of "Turkey's" homemade bread now turned into toast and slathered with butter. A dash of freshly ground pepper and I have a meal fit for an EARL. I posted my directions when I first started my blog so here is the link:

Dippin' Eggs

Thanks to Dr. Seuss for his green eggs and ham, but thanks to my mom for steamed eggs and ham!

"SO I WILL EAT THEM IN A BOX. AND I WILL EAT THEM WITH A FOX. AND I WILL EAT THEM IN A HOUSE. AND I WILL EAT THEM WITH A MOUSE. AND I WILL EAT THEM HERE AND THERE. SAY! I WILL EAT THEM ANYWHERE! I DO SO LIKE STEAMED EGGS AND HAM!"

Earl Over Eats at Texas Roadhouse's Early Dine

It has been a very long time since we visited the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant nears us, but I don't know why. We have been there for celebrations and simple casual dining for 2 reasons...their food has always been good and they have an early-bird deal that rocks! My wife a.k.a. "Turkey" has had a couple of extra days off this week and it seemed appropriate to treat her to a night out, a vacation-y thing to do, and I didn't feel like cooking!
Two of the things they are known for are their free peanuts and rolls. When they seated us, the peanuts were waiting and the rolls came immediately. There was no waiting to be seated or to take our order when we arrived. The atmosphere is pleasant, though the music is a bit loud for my taste.
We both ordered from their Early Dine for $8.99 Menu. "Turkey" ordered their 6 oz. Sirloin Steak Dinner and I opted for the Country Fried Sirloin Dinner. My wife's was almost exactly as pictured with the house salad and baked sweet potato. Mine was covered with country gravy (they do have a brown gravy option but why?). I also had the sweet potato and had mashed potatoes with the same creamy gravy. "Turkey" ordered her steak with no pink and it was still tender. Her salad was ample enough to share, and a small amount of salad was fine with me. The sweet potatoes were piping hot, too hot in fact, to eat right away, but perfect for melting the butter and brown sugar. The nice thing about how hot it was is that it stayed hot throughout the meal! My country fried steak was great, tender inside and crispy out. Their breading was just right!

Conclusion:
I said I over ate because I had 6 rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, my steak, 2 bites of my wife's steak, ⅓ of a side salad and some peanuts (though not much room for them), and a drink.
I would rate our experience as:
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ out of 5⭐
Service ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price 💲💲 (It's good a value)

We will be going back often! That's the best recommendation we could make!

Earl Cooks Perfect Portion Pot Roast & Riced Veggies

One of my favorite stops for Groceries is a local chain called Macey's. They have some of the nicest people I have ever met in retail and will go out of their way to help you. They also have a GREAT butcher section and their meat has never failed me. When I stopped by for a few things the other night they had a good deal on what I call the perfect portion for the two of us. It was a small roast, only 2-3 lbs., and I grabbed it up! Usually, I put potatoes and carrots with the pot roasts, but I felt like a weeknight meal should be a bit lighter. I had some frozen riced veggies I could use that would be perfect.

I started by grabbing my Magnalite cast aluminum roaster, add a bit of bacon grease and Lawry's Season Salt to the pan for browning. I set the heat to medium-high. When browning it is important to get all sides of the roast brown. This is an important step to make certain you get the depth of flavor you deserve. It takes 4-5 minutes per side, depending on the size of the roast, so plan on at least 15-20 minutes for browning unless you choose to cook with higher heat. It may also vary on the heat source. I have electric but I know my daughters gas cooks must faster.
After the browning, I add one 15 oz. can of beef stock and then a package of generic onion soup mix, which is much like the Lipton Recipe Secrets. Now the flavor components are all in place for the roast, and I cover it, and lower the temperature to medium.

Once the roast is MOSTLY cooked through, remove cover and allow the juices to cook down and thicken.

While doing this, prepare your side dish(s). As I mentioned, I was going to use some riced vegetables as our only side dish making it a nice light meal. The one I pulled out of the freezer was Green Giant Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Riced Veggies. They are quick and easy, but next time I need to season them more!

RESULTS:
It is hard to go wrong with a nice hunk of beef on your plate. It was tender and juicy. I will need to work on the riced veggies to perk them up a bit. Cheese is good and some bolder seasoning would make them much tastier.

Earl Cooks Spaghetti Squash for Meatless Monday

It doesn't happen every Monday. It doesn't happen every month, but it has happened for the last two Mondays, so I gave it a name. This weeks meatless fare is Spaghetti Squash. Seasoned and with a bit of—well really a lot of—butter. It also is seasoned with Mediterranean herbs, salt and pepper. 

—Start by cutting the spaghetti squash in half. This can be a tough process, but simply cut the ends off with a chef's knife, tip it up on the broadest end and slice down through. 

—Remove the seeds with a metal spoon, scraping the fibers out with the seeds as you go.
—Oil the inside and rim with olive oil and add the seasonings of your choice. Spaghetti squash doesn't have much of a flavor of it's own so liberally season.
—Place halved squash in a rimmed baking sheet or glass baking dish, with the CUT SIDE DOWN. Place the squash into a preheated 350℉ oven for 1 hour, flipping it over after 30 minutes so the cut side is up.
—Scrape the inside with a fork lengthwise. The flesh will come of in long spaghetti-like strands. Place it in a bowl and test for seasoning, adding more if needed. Grate cheese over each serving. I had Parmesan and my wife chose cheddar.

Most would probably have this as a side dish, but we love it just like this. It is also great with your favorite spaghetti sauce and of course meat can be added too!

Results:

For some reason, I under cooked this squash. It needed another 15 minutes or another 25 degrees in oven temp (375℉) to be completely done. I am blaming the squash, since I cooked it the same way last time! 

Earl Cooks Grilled Ham Steak and Two Squashes while Dog Sitting

Recently, my wife a.k.a. "Turkey" and I had the opportunity to dog sit for daughter #2's family, so I got the chance to cook on a nicer, newer stove than I am used to, and it is gas while ours is electric, so it was an adventure all around. I chose to cook something simple and satisfying that we enjoy often, a ham steak, but with a twist we had never tried, grilling it! My daughter has a stove-top grill! I decided to make it simple and have grilled zucchini squash and grilled yellow squash as sides. I halved the squashes and placed a bit of oil on the cut side and added the seasoning, placing them on the grill cut side down. I then placed the center-cut, bone-in ham steak (about 1½ lbs.) on the grill. It was about half an inch thick and great for this application. Most people would serve a starch of some kind, as we would normally, but for the two of us it was just right...summer squash in the dead of winter with a winter favorite HAM! I really liked the gas stove-top.