Earl Cooks Pork Belly & Pan Roasted Fennel Bulb

It's the last day of the month so I thought I would try some firsts. I found Fully Cooked Pork Belly at Trader Joe's, and all I have to do is crisp it up.

I also found some fennel bulbs that had been mostly trimmed. We had tried Pork Belly on a sandwich and been totally unimpressed and we have had fennel seeds as a spice, but never tried the bulbs. It seemed like this would be a good way to gently step into the pork belly arena without buying a  HUGE chunk of pork, and there was virtually no waste on the fennel bulb.  

To that I added a perfectly ripe avocado and some locally grown grape tomatoes.  I did add a bit of water to steam the fennel. If you have never tried it, it is roughly the same texture as celery with a mild anise or licorice taste. It is lovely raw or pan roasted.

Where does pork belly come from...the same place as bacon, so it must be good, right? It reminded us of a pork chop, because it is not cured or smoked like bacon, but it was very tender and tasty. The only thing I did to it was season it with a bit of salt and pepper. It did take awhile to get it crisp and brown, but the rendered fat made the fennel bulb perfect.

The fennel bulb simply needed to be cut into eighths and roasted in the rendered pork fat with some water to steam it tender. Salt Pepper and butter finished it off nicely

Earl Eats Sweet Pork Burrito with Daughter #1 at Cafe Rio - A Review

I must be living right! My oldest daughter asked me out of the blue, to go have lunch and SHE WANTED TO PAY! She loves the salads at Cafe Rio ...without lettuce. I love burritos, their specialty.

Their sweet pork is my favorite. I order mine with with double beans (pinto) rather than beans & rice. 

There are a couple of things I like about Cafe Rio. 
1) All of their food is prepared fresh, including their handmade tortillas which are cooked on a traditional smooth, flat griddle called a COMAL, typically used in Mexico. 
2) They are a company that started in a small Southern Utah town, that has grown to over 100 restaurants, so even though they are big, they are local too!
3) Their food is very good! It is the kind that when you want it, there really isn't any substitute.

Cafe Rio's portions are very large and a single burrito will feed two, but we wanted separate things so we ate well! One thing - we were there at lunch hour and it took a long time to get our food, but that just tells me not to go during lunch!!

By the numbers:
Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: 💲💲💲💲(on the pricey side $20 for 2)
Service: ⭐⭐(just because it was slow)
If you have never eaten at Cafe Rio, you should. If you don't have one nearby, you probably will soon...they are expanding fast!

Earl Cooks Trader Joe's Blondie Bars - With a Twist

I don't bake, well almost never. Today I baked. It was from a mix that I found at Trader Joe's - Blondie Bars. I have seen them talked about on TV, but had never had one...or so I thought. It turns out that what I had been eating since my childhood, called "Congo Squares", are really just "Blondie Bars". What are they? It turns out that a "Blondie Bar" simply is a brownie where you replace the chocolate with brown sugar.

I wanted to put my own spin on this mix, so I baked it in my 10½" cast iron skillet, which I lined with parchment paper, and which caused the irregular edges. 

The mix included chocolate chips, so it looked like a giant chocolate chip cookie, (but we cut pie-sized wedges). My wife, the baker of the family, said it was a keeper, which I didn't expect. It may not have been as delicious as her Congo squares, but it was much easier!

Earl Cooks an Iceberg Wedge Salad

We first ate a wedge salad at Tony Roma's many years ago. I believe we were eating there for our anniversary, and we were quite amazed that something which required so little preparation produced such great results! As you know, it is a bit of a stretch to say that a salad is cooked...it is really assembled, but I did cook the hard eggs and made bacon crumbles from strips of bacon.

If you have never tried Wishbone® Chunky Blue Cheese Salad Dressing, you should. It was chosen by America's Test Kitchen as their off-the-shelf favorite. I usually eat their fat free variety, but their full fat is marvelous! 

Traditionally lettuce is simply quartered, but it is tough to dress and eat it this way, especially if you add quite a few components, and we usually do. Tonight ours included grape tomatoes, hard cooked eggs, green onions, bacon, blue cheese, and a few capers. It was our whole meal and it was very good. My wife, a.k.a."Turkey", usually a dainty eater, made it look like she had licked the plate clean. And I enjoyed mine, remembering fondly that first wedge salad at Tony Roma's, a restaurant now lost to us.

#2 Earl Girl Cooks Wings and Makes Daddy Proud

I have posted before about about my grandboy asking me for help cooking and how proud I was, but this week, his mom, daughter #2 asked for my recipe for chicken wings. She is a good cook, in her own right, but wanted to try a recipe I had used for our little Superbowl gathering earlier in the year. The secret ingredient - BAKING POWDER! Follow this link for the recipe:
Crispy Baked Wings

She loves hers extra crispy so she baked hers much longer than the time in my recipe. Make them as crispy as you like and create your own buffalo sauce to coat them. As you can see from the photo, they look very tasty and the only thing lacking was ME! I didn't taste them. She assured me that they were good and that is an opinion I can trust.
Food not only connects people, it connects generations. I learned from my mom and her mom; our daughters learned from us; and now our grandboys are learning. Ain't life (and food) grand!

Earl Cooks My O' My! Mac & Cheese

Growing up I think I was a pretty good eater. But one thing my mom made that I didn't appreciate was her homemade Mac & Cheese. I don't have a clue why. This was not the kind with powdered cheese from a box, this was one where she would labor to make a nice cheese sauce. Everyone else in the family loved it. I should have too, but not until later in life did I learn to like homemade mac & cheese. It's a bit interesting that my father-in-law loved pasta of all kinds but my wife had few pasta dishes she liked to eat. When my kids were growing up I would make lasagna, a true labor of love which took many hours, but my daughters always seemed to appreciate it. Once I offered to babysit my brothers kids and I took all the fixins' for homemade mac & cheese to make them my mom's recipe and guess what? They told me it wasn't as good as the stuff with powdered cheese. I basically quit trying...until now.

Today I had a special need. I needed to cook something  almost without seasonings because of a problem in my mouth requiring a bland dish. Not only did it turn out delicious, but my non-pasta loving wife liked it so much, she said I could make this anytime. Woo Hoo!

Step 1: Start with macaroni elbows. I used Barilla because they have ridges to hold on to the cheese. Be sure you add LOTS of salt to the boiling water.
Step 2: After Cooking the pasta and draining it, add ¼ pound of butter to the hot pasta and stir while it melts.
Step 3: Add ½ cup of sour cream. I used low fat but use what you like. My recipe does not call for making a roux or a sauce. The sour cream and butter create the base.
Step 4: Add the cheese to your pot. I chose 6 oz. of a shredded  marbled cheddar, which a a blend of white and orange cheddar cheese, and stir it in thoroughly. Transfer the whole mixture into a covered baking dish or casserole,  top with more cheese and top with Panko bread crumbs and place into a preheated oven oven set to  to 350℉  and bake for 20 minutes.
Step 5: After the 20 minutes have passed, remove the cover and bake for 10 minutes more.

This will be our go to Mac & Cheese. My wife wanted some for lunch at work too!

Earl Cooks Ramen for Relief

How do you spell relief? R-A-M-E-N. Recently, I needed to consume bland things for a couple of days. Well, I was tired of yogurt and cheese so I reached for something I almost never eat...ramen. To keep it bland, I needed to omit the seasoning packet. My plan was to use just the noodles and make a soup.

...Now what to do to make a sauce? I added condensed cream of celery soup after cooking the noodles in a saucepan. 

Then I added a can of Costco's premium canned chicken.

...Sauce, noodles, chicken. Now for the finish - a runny fried egg  This was enough to feed me well and didn't taste bland!

Earl Cooks Frico Amazing Egg-Topped Cheesy Ham & Potatoes

I made a dish recently that turned out very good, and I decided to use it as a base for a breakfast experiment. I have seen several recipes that use "frico" or cheese crisps. I wanted to make a breakfast dish using frico and cheesy potatoes.

I started with shredded cheese and covered the bottom of a heavy bottomed, non-stick pan with a thin layer of the cheese.. I heated it until it was melted and bubbly. The edges should get crispy. Then flip it over and let the other side crisp-up. Remove to a plate. Now heat the cheesy mashed potatoes with ham, and when heated through plate with the frico. Place a perfectly cooked fried egg on top and you have a wonderful breakfast and a successful experiment. I halved the frico and used it to help eat the egg. My, I do love breakfast!

Follow this link for my post on my cheesy ham & mashed potatoes Cheesy Baked Ham & Mashed Potatoes

Earl Cooks Mango Habanero Tilapia

I start by worrying that this would be a a bit too spicy for my wife, and hence, me (happy wife, happy life), but it was not in the least! I have posted about other "Sea Cuisine" brand seafood products, but this may be their best yet! It was seasoned to perfection. and is an oven baked dish which makes it very simple. I simply made some quick rice and had some sour cream and tartar sauce, if I needed it for the heat, which I didn't.
All I had to do was place it on a baking sheet and wait a few minutes and we were eating!
This will be a regular in our lineup of seafood, in fact, I went back to buy more!

Earl Cooks Cheesy Mashed Potatoes with Baked Ham

This turned out GREAT! I was hoping to throw together a few items I had on hand and they came together perfectly. Here's what I did:
Step 1: Remove all fat from baked ham.
Step 2: Mix up a batch of instant mashed potatoes. While they are still hot, add lots of shredded cheese and about half a stick of butter. 
Step 3: When cheese is blended well with potatoes & butter, add ham chunks and place in oven until all is heated through.
Step 4: Top with thin slices of cheese (I used Gruyère). Top with Parmesan and place in oven to melt and get brown.

This was so good, my wife ate it a second day, as did I. Be sure you use LOTS of cheese, and a good variety. I even added some cheddar cheese sauce!

Earl Eats at ✪ SPECIAL COURSES with Grandboy #2 - A Review

I guess I should complain more. Just when I started posting about not getting to spend enough time with my grandboys then BAM! Three times in two weeks we get to share a meal! Once with #1, once with both, and today, out of the blue, a call to eat from #2! I didn't know if I would be very hungry, since I had just finished breakfast, but I am not going to pass-up time with my grandboys. He said he was thinking a burger, and that he had eaten a good burger at the mall food court! Well, so far I am questioning how good it could possibly be. When I worked at Wal-Mart, one of the places in this same food court bought their burgers from us. They bought the cheapest frozen patties we sold. This shows how times change. I no longer work at Wal-Mart and the mall has been totally revitalized & remodeled. Change is good!

TOP: Mine as delivered
Bottom: As advertised.
I think mine was better than their photo. That NEVER happens!

The new discovery by my grandboy is called Special Courses. It advertises itself as a Veteran Owned business, which I am happy to see. I guess they started with a food truck and have branched out. Their menu features dishes titled in a clever way to reflect their military foundation. It seems the star here is their fries, which are hand cut and topped with every topping you might think of and some you probably haven't! I mentioned that I might not be hungry but looking at their menu made me salivate! I had a very hard time making up my mind. I trusted my grandboy that their food was good, but he hadn't tried everything. I decided to try the one I could compare to other local burger places. It was on the menu board, but I didn't find it on their website menu. It's called the "Berserker", a cheeseburger topped with pastrami and slaw, on a toasted bun and it was a lot of food. I ordered the "Ranger" fries, hand cut potatoes topped with bacon and cheddar. They were a meal in themselves. My grandboy went for their chicken sandwich and fries with Parmesan. He finished first, and I had enough fries to share.
The menu is extensive, but one thing worth noting is their "Brinner" section (Breakfast for Dinner). You can get eggs on fries or burgers and all I have to say is "Merica!" and thanks #2. It was great!

By the Numbers:
Food  ✪✪✪✪½  (Excellent)
Service  ✪✪✪  (Good)
Price 💲💲💲💲½ (a bit pricey, it was $15 for my 2 items, a bit less for grandboy #2)

If I were to change anything, I would post the prices more prominently, but the food is worth it. 

This is a great place for two to split a meal, and it would be a deal!

Earl Cooks Gnocchi Alfredo with Meatballs

Potato Gnocchi with Meatballs & Alfredo

Never heard of it, right? I hadn't either. So I created it with ingredients I had on hand, but I made a couple of crucial mistakes.

The first and maybe biggest, was the selection of store bought meatballs. They seemed like they should be good but they were not. I never buy the big packages of frozen meatballs, but they had some in the meat department that looked like they might be good, so I bought them. It was a package of 12, which I froze to use later. Freezing them was a part of the problem.

I took them from the freezer and started to cook them in a large frying pan.

I started with just 3 simple ingredients. Sam's Choice Italia Potato Gnocchi, Great Value Classic Alfredo, and Italian Style Meatballs from Smith's "Kroger". Let me say right up front that the gnocchi and Alfredo were fine. I have used them both before. The meatballs I had never used, but I don't think I can blame them  entirely. I cooked them from frozen and my wife thought they were a bit under cooked for her. The ones I had were not, so I blame myself for not over cooking them enough for her. I will make this again, but will change the meatballs, probably making them myself. This is a great quick dish. The Alfredo is shelf stable, and the gnocchi is too. This could be combined with sausage also
Results & Conclusion
I guess I messed up on the meatballs, so this is on me. Use your own meatballs or Italian sausage for this and you will have dinner in a jiffy.

Earl Cooks Baked Spiral Sliced Ham

I have posted about baking ham before. In the last year, it seems I have been buying Hormel Cure 81 hams when we have bought half hams. They are a bit more money, except when you get them on sale, and they have been on sale often.

Today I started with the ham, the glaze packet, a whole yellow onion, quartered, and several celery sticks. I like to make a bed of celery and onions to raise the ham off the surface of the pan to allow the juices and fat to drain. The ham was frozen so it needed a bit more time.

Dijon, Spicy Brown Mustard & Horse Radish Sauce with my Cure 81 Ham

I am going to say something you won't normally hear...USE THE GLAZE PACKET THAT COMES WITH THE HAM. No ham producer wants to ruin the flavor of their product with a glaze they include for free. You may have a favorite, and you can use that one, but my wife prefers the one Hormel includes. Following the roasting instructions, I cooked the ham in my Magnalite aluminum roaster. This is a marvelous way to roast a large ham or roast because it has a lid and is very thick so the heat distributes very evenly. For the last few minutes of cooking, crank up the heat to 425℉ and apply your glaze. The high heat will caramelize the sugars in the glaze. Try to get the glaze between the slices as you brush it on.
Tonight's meal was simple. MEAT, just MEAT. I did add Dijon Mustard, Grainy Brown Mustard and Horse Radish Sauce. All of them were terrific with this ham. I will be telling you some of the recipes I made  with the remaining ham.

Earl Cooks Spaghetti Squash With Bacon, Butter & Parmesan

Spaghetti Squash is a favorite around our house, especially for "Turkey" (a.k.a. my wife). Over the years I have made it in many different ways, (it can even be microwaved), but my favorite way to cook it is to oven roast it.

These gems have much going for them, not the least of which is shelf life. They will last weeks after you buy them. Some treat them just like spaghetti, and ladle a nice meat sauce over them, but my wife likes them almost without anything. Tonight I am going to amp it up a bit with lots of butter, grated Parmesan and chunks of bacon.

My Zwilling J.A. Henckels 10" Slicing Knife
My mom found at a thrift store.

Step 1: The most difficult part of  cooking these is cutting them in half. I start by cutting off the stem end removing just enough of the squash to make a sturdy, flat area. I then stand it up on that flat part on my cutting board. Cutting it this way does two things 1.) It presents less resistance to my knife blade and 2.) it allows me to exert downward pressure on both sides of my LONG knife blade. This requires a very long and very sharp knife. I have a knife that I think my mother found at a thrift store years ago. It is the only one I trust and one of the few that are long enough. I find that serrated blades don't work for this application. REMINDER: NEVER, EVER place your fingers UNDER the blade! Once halved, simply remove the seeds with a large metal spoon, I used a serving spoon. scraping out any remaining fibers.
Step 2: Prepare the  freshly grated Parmesan and bacon bits. Set them aside for later.

Step 3: Preheat your oven to 350℉. Place your squash halves onto a baking sheet. I use a non-stick ¼ sheet pan. You may want to line yours with aluminum foil for easier clean-up. Coat the inside with olive oil and season. I used seasoning salt and Lawry's Seasoned Pepper. Season yours to taste, but I think ALL squash needs lots of pepper. After seasoning, add 2 tablespoons of REAL butter. Now gently turn them over, facing down on the sheet pan. Cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, flip them up, brush any butter or oil back on the  flesh side and cook for 15 more minutes.
Step 4: Remove from oven and flip so the flesh is up and add your bacon chunks and top that with Parmesan, reserving some for finishing. Place back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so or until flesh is soft and cheese is melted.
Step 5: Remove from the oven, and with a fork gradually scrape the flesh from side to side. It will come off in long spaghetti-like strands (hence the name). Top with reserved cheese and maybe even more butter & pepper (as my top picture shows). This goes great with garlic bread and can be eaten as a main course, (like we did), or as a side dish. "Turkey" even took some for lunch the next day!

Earl Makes Shortcakes 4 Ways - Easter Feast & Beyond!

I must start this post giving credit for this part of our Easter feast to my #2 Daughter. She and her hubby are doing a Ketogenic diet, which, in short, means no carbs, grains or processed foods. Butter, beef, Bacon & cheese are staples. It seems like it would be wonderful (until you see what you CAN'T have). Without giving you too many details, the diet allows for occasional "cheat", days. Easter was one of those days and we loaded our bodies with carbs and loved it.

Well, the dessert offering on this day was strawberry shortcake. It was not anything difficult, but my, was it tasty!

My daughter chose perfectly ripe, fresh strawberries, mini shortcakes from a local grocery store bakery, strawberry glaze, and aerosol whipped topping. As you can see from my photo above, it was near perfect! And the great thing about this was that after Easter Sunday, their cheat day ended, so they sent me home with the extra shortcakes, glaze, strawberries, and aerosol cream! I was willing to sacrifice my body for the sake of their maintaining their Keto eating😉...yes I love them THAT much!

I went on to make several variations of the classic strawberry shortcake with the ingredients my daughter sent home and will share all of them here.
...More ways to make shortcake
My daughters ingredients inspired a sweet breakfast treat that could also be a dessert:

Store-bought shortcake split and toasted
Topped with local blackberry jam and whipped cream 

#1—Shortcake with Blackberry Jam

I wanted to try something new so I split the store-bought mini shortcake and placed it in our toaster. It was about the size of an English muffin after splitting and I toasted it on the bagel setting to get more golden color and a bit of crispiness. After toasting, I spread a delicious, local blackberry jam from a region of northern Utah famous for its varied and succulent fruit crops. It is near the a large bird refuge at the north end of The Great Salt Lake. This dish would have been great topped with some of my wife's (a.k.a "Turkey's") homemade yogurt and fresh berries too!

#2 & 3—Shortcake French Toast

The blackberry shortcake worked so well that I thought I would use shortcake to re-imagine a breakfast staple - FRENCH TOAST!

I started again by splitting the mini shortcake. I then dipped them in my french toast batter (eggs, milk & a bit of sugar).

It worked great. I finished it in two ways, with strawberries, just like the traditional, topped with whipped cream. The second was more of a departure from strawberry shortcake, but more like traditional breakfast french toast. I topped this with maple syrup and a sunny side-up  egg.

This is one I would do anytime, and would go well with sausage or bacon too!

#4—Strawberry & Cherry Shortcakes 

For the last of my Shortcake Four Ways, I decided to mix strawberries with bottled dark Morello cherries from Trader Joe's.

This was a tasty dessert!. I used the light syrup from the cherries on one shortcake and topped it with the cherries.

The other shortcake got the last of the strawberry glaze and the last of the strawberries, then I topped them with some whipped cream. Thanks Daughter #2!

Earl Cooks Pan Seared Tilapia and Taters with Tomaters

PO-TA-TOES as Samwise tells us, and TO-MA-TOES as Webster tells us. Tilapia are mainly freshwater fish inhabiting shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. White and mild they are often served on today's restaurant menus.

Tonight, I am again using a frozen product that I can easily pan sear. It is already garlic and herb seasoned. It is from a company called Sea Cuisine, which is available at every market in my area, and the warehouse

stores too. They must be doing something right. I have cooked their fish before, and have been pleased each time. This is the first time I have tried their tilapia, but I have no concerns.

The package comes with 2 fillets about 4½ ounces each. Both are frozen overlapping, so you will need to gently coax them apart to cook.

I decide to serve the fish with some hash brown potatoes, which is made easy by the hot pan I will be using to pan sear the fish.

For the hash browns:
Step1: Bake some medium sized potatoes (I used 3 Yukon Gold potatoes). You can also microwave bake them. I cover them in olive oil and kosher salt.
Step 2: Shred them on a box grater, using the coarsest side. Season them thoroughly with salt, pepper and any other seasoning you like on yours. I added some herbs and garlic powder to match the flavors of the fish.

  Add the potatoes to the preheated skillet first because they will need more time to brown. After one side of the potatoes have browned, flip them and add the fish to the same pan. You may also do this in 2 separate pans, especially if you have more to feed.
Allow the fillets to cook 5-6 minutes per side.

I chose to add a fresh touch with some cherry tomatoes and I used a small amount of tartar sauce for the fish, but my wife chose lemon.

Result & Conclusions
This was a tasty meal even though by the time I cooked it, it had a sameness to the color. My wife commented that the hash browns were so good she didn't even need ketchup!

Earl Cooks Turkey and Mushroom Noodles

I knew I had some leftover roast turkey breast from Easter and I was deciding how to use it. At first, soup came to mind, but I decided to use mushroom soup as a base for the turkey with some small diced celery for crunch and shredded carrots for a bit of flavor and sweetness.To this I added some seasonings which included pepper, celery salt, onion powder, and seasoned pepper. This dish needed enough seasoning to punch-up the flavors of the turkey, which can be quite bland without it.

As I mentioned, I had decided to use mushroom soup as a base. I like Progresso™ Creamy Mushroom. It is not condensed so it makes a great base for this dish. Trader Joe's also makes a nice one. I find the condensed mushroom soups to be a bit on the tinny side, and don't use them often. I made a strange choice for the noodles however. "Turkey" (a.k.a. my wife), doesn't much care for pasta, and I needed some bulk. I thought of using rice, then a light-bulb💡 moment happened. I remembered I had some Home-Style Japanese Noodles (Yakisoba), basically ramen noodles, that I could use. I par cooked them in the microwave and finished them in my sauce pan. I DID NOT add the flavoring packets, just the par-cooked noodles. They absorbed my seasonings and the mushroom flavor great.

These flavors and textures all came together well. I just added some butter and fresh cracked pepper and we had a lovely dish and a NEW way to use turkey leftovers. There is so much packed in here that it can't be called soup, so "Turkey Mushroom Noodles" with carrots and celery will have to do.

Results & Conclusion:
My wife was impressed with how the mushroom soup didn't taste like canned mushroom soup and the mushroom chunks blended with the other ingredients so there was no obvious traces of canned soup. This is a nice way to use ingredients that would almost never come together, together!

Earl Eats Panda Express With The Grandboys - A Review

I love spending time with my 2 grandboys, and today we got to eat and go to a movie!

We ended up at Panda Express®, located in a shopping complex called "The Gateway" in downtown Salt Lake City. They have always liked Panda's fare, so it seemed like a fine choice.

Of course your selections are  placed into a Styrofoam container and the person helping us seemed generous in filling the compartments. We had Chow Mein, Orange Chicken, Honey-Walnut Shrimp and Fried Rice. We spent between $8 and $9 for what they call a "plate", which is two entrees and a filler. We had both chow mein and fried rice. 

Let me say that my wife and I had not eaten at a Panda Express for quite some time. We felt the quality had deteriorated. Such was not the case at this location. We made the mistake of going in around noon and the line was long, but they were efficient and courteous. These are the flavors I had come to expect, and they delivered. My grandboys ate it up too, and we then took in a movie (Ready Player One). 

Results & Conclusions
Panda Express totally delivered a nice meal. We ate our fill and it made me sleepy during the boring parts of the movie, which was totally aimed at boys my grandsons age.
Service ⭐⭐⭐
Food  ⭐⭐⭐
Price 💲💲💲½
Movie 👍👍 

Earl Cooks Grilled Spanish Goat Cheese

Let me start by saying this has nothing to do with grilling Spanish goats.

We love grilled cheese, but after watching several food programs, we realized we had almost never eaten goat cheese. I had eaten a couple of varieties (feta, manchego), but "Turkey" (a.k.a. my wife), didn't remember ever eating any. I love cheese. ALL cheese. I have never met a cheese I didn't like. So, when I found a Tapas Sampler of Spanish Cheeses at Trader Joe's, I thought that would be a good way to introduce my wife to goat cheese. She suggested a grilled cheese sandwich, and I thought "why not"!

The sampler has 3 types of Spanish cheese: Iberico, Cabra al Vino & Manchego. They come in little wedges and are sliced into thick slices. 

I layed the wedged slices onto a piece of  "Turkey's" homemade bread, covering completely. Then came the top slice, which I covered in butter. I used a square non-stick grill pan to fit both sandwiches. After preheating, I added more butter to the hot pan, then put the sandwiches in place. After a few minutes, I flipped them over and let them get brown and crispy on the other side, which also had butter on it.

Results & Conclusions

These turned out terrific! The cheese melted great and tasted better. I couldn't actually differentiate the 3 cheeses, but they were just what you would like in a grilled cheese.  We will be adding Spanish goat cheese to our cheeses on a regular basis.

Earl Family's Easter Feast

Why seek the living among the dead? - He is RISEN

The beauty of Easter is that so many celebrate the resurrection. For this year's family celebration I decided to invite those family members who could make it over to our house for a small feast (Easter dinner, anyway). I originally thought about baking a ham, but I had a turkey breast in the freezer and I didn't think many would be able to make it over, so the turkey breast seemed great. Since our grandboys are all grown, no Easter baskets or egg hunts happen anymore. But I had an idea. Everyone likes my wife's deviled eggs, so I would find a way to color them!

The Eggs—Cooking:
I started the eggs in my dedicated egg cooker, one of the best small appliances I have ever owned. They steam to the selected doneness and don't form a green ring around the yolk. I then place the eggs in a SALAD SPINNER filled with very cold water but no ice. Spin the eggs with the spinner and they will cool down FAST. Change out the water and allow the eggs to cool

completely. They should peel rather easily. After peeling I placed the 12 peeled eggs into a deviled egg container/carrier. These are available at the dollar store and are one of the few values in their kitchenware selection. I then begin the process of cutting them in half. This can be a problem using a knife, so I tried my cheese slicer and it worked perfectly! To remove the yolks, I used a teaspoon, then refrigerated the 24 half-yolks to be made into the filling. Now the eggsperiment (coloring) begins!

The Eggs—Coloring:
I followed the dying instruction found on the McCormick site using about 4 oz. of water and half a teaspoon of vinegar. I started with 5 drops of color, but found that 10 was better. and you must leave them in the color a bit longer than when coloring the shells because the whites, when cooked, are somewhat waterproof. After trying the basic colors I expanded my palette by mixing. Some got very weird according to some, but guess what? They were delicious after my wife added her special recipe filling with some extra mustard per request of my #2 Daughter!This was the first item eaten and the only one with no leftovers! Okay, enough with the deviled eggs on a holy holiday. Moving onward...
The feast, is now relocated to Daughter #2's new home because it is a much better location and we expanded the guests to include some of her in-laws too. The more the merrier, I say.

The Turkey Breast:
The turkey breast label says it is slow-cooker friendly, which is perfect for me because we will be eating late in the afternoon and it will have plenty of time to roast. The only problem is it doesn't quite fit! I chose my largest slow-cooker, and covered the bottom in yellow onions, which I quartered. I find this makes a good bed for slow roasted meats.It keeps the meat above liquids as it roasts. I use seasoning salt, pepper, and some fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs. Dried works also. Because of the size of the breast, I must cover it with foil rather than the lid. which works fine with this slow cooker...except, half way through roasting, it stops! I remove the insert and place it in the oven while another slow cooker is prepared and heated. (And they say I have too many kitchen appliances). Disaster averted! This is also a good reason to keep an eye on your meal even though it is slow cooking. I also baste the bird throughout with butter and the juices.

The Potatoes & Gravy:
While the turkey cooked, I work on the sides. My wife thinks I overdo it when I cook for these types of meals, and today was no different. I wanted mashed potatoes, gravy and corn, simple but delicious. I did help myself by using mashed potatoes from a package that use butter & cream, and the gravy packet that comes with the turkey, to which I added a packet of a very good brand of roast turkey gravy mix. Both came out very good and saved me valuable time. This was the first time I tried Idahoan's SIGNATURE russets, and I had never combined the dry roast gravy packet with frozen gravy included with the bird. Both turned out marvelous and everyone enjoyed them!

The Corn I Made:
I had some frozen corn in the freezer, which we rarely eat, that I thought I could enhance a bit. I had a bottle of freeze dried chives, which I added to some olive oil to reconstitute. I then added the chives to the corn along with copious amounts of butter and pepper.. The corn turned out good too!

The Rolls:
At the last minute I decided rolls would go well with all of this! We had no time, but I remembered I had a package of frozen rolls I had purchased for just such an emergency. I removed them from the freezer to a rack in the oven and they were ready in under 15 minutes. That was it for our contributions. Now we just had to figure out a way to keep them warm and get them delivered to our daughter's house. Slow cookers are marvelous for this, and when you get there, just plug them in to keep warm while the guests arrive!

The Corn My Daughter Made:
My #2 daughter also contributed to this affair, even though I want didn't to put her out, and she was letting us use her home. She made a wonderful choice of corn-on-the-cob, which I didn't know about, or I wouldn't have made mine, but it was buttery and delicious.

The Dessert—Strawberry Shortcake:
My daughter also had the perfect spring dessert, strawberry shortcake, for us to enjoy. Nothing elaborate just the simple tastes everyone loves! The aerosol whipped cream was a particular favorite.

Results:
Fun & food was had by all and it was a tremendous get together in a terrific setting for a special holiday!