Earl Cooks Beef Tips & Mashed Cauliflower - LOW CARB!

We have always been a meat and potatoes family. Don't get me wrong, we love veggies, but have always loved our starches, sometimes in the form of potatoes, sometimes in the form of chips or fries, my wife's (a.k.a. "Turkey's") homemade bread or even rice, but now, with my focus on low-carb eating, I have had to change my ways! I still get meat, but potatoes and rice are not really low-carb AT ALL! 

I in my search for a substitute, Birds Eye and Green Giant came to the rescue with MASHED CAULIFLOWER. There are other brands too, but these are very

easy to find and reasonably priced (not as reasonable as potatoes or rice, but that's another story). Mashed Cauliflower comes in plain and flavored varieties, but whichever you choose, you will want to enhance that. I found that cream cheese and sour cream are a good start. Think loaded baked potatoes, because the cauliflower is a blank canvas for your flavors. 

The other component is the MEAT! I discovered Hormel's Beef Tips years ago and they make a great addition. They are precooked and require only heating. I am only cooking for 2, so this makes sense. It would also be a great way to use leftover roast beef. I just cooked the mash and heated the beef and we had our meal! Since the mash is a heart healthy veggie, we didn't need anything else, although I did add some cherry tomatoes for a bit of freshness. Try this leave a comment on what you think or what you did to change the basic ingredients.

Sunday Steak & Asparagus Dinner

We are quite simple with most of our meals. I tend to focus on the main dish, usually meat or fish, and the side, if any is usually quite simple. The one exception to that might be for Sunday dinners. This dinner is simple and delicious because it starts with a nice piece of meat and a simple steamed vegetable.

The meat I chose for today is a thin-cut ribeye steak I found quite by mistake, while shopping for other items at one of my favorite supermarkets. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") likes hers thin and will request her steak "butterflied" when eating out. But since I discovered sous vide cooking, she loves steaks at home. Why? Because sous vide cooking (French for 'under vacuum') cooks it perfectly without overcooking! It is almost impossible to do! You select a temperature you want to cook it to (today I chose 145℉ or Medium), and the time one wants to cook for and DONE! 

ADDENDUM: This post was started and the meal eaten BEFORE i was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, but is in fact low-carb and a meal I will go back to  regularly!

Earl Cooks Low-Carb Philly Cheese Steak Skillet

Tonight I wanted a Steak. In fact, a cheese steak. But as you may know, I am now on a low carb diet due to a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, so NO BREAD! But I had a plan. I knew I had some steak strips and a what Trader Joe's calls a "Melange a Trois" - 3 peppers - red, yellow & green, sliced and ready to use in whatever dish one wants, and I wanted a CHEESE STEAK! 

The only other pantry ingredients I needed were half an onion and shredded cheddar cheese, both items I always have on hand! I sauteed everything in my cast iron skillet and topped it with the cheese and let the residual heat and steam melt it when I covered it.

 This was great on several levels. It tasted just like a cheese steak...except I didn't have any mushrooms on hand, but it was very good without. It was all from products I had on hand (and will keep on hand), and was LOW CARB! As my wife would say "it's a keeper"!

Earl Cooks Smoked Brisket & Veggies for Sunday Dinner

Roast Beef was one of my mom's favorite Sunday dinners to cook, because it was a one-pot meals that could cook while we were at Sunday Services. On the TV series "Big Bang Theory Howard Wolowitz's mother makes a nice brisket, and of course for St. Patrick's Day corned beef brisket becomes corned beef & cabbage. We never had brisket growing up, just whatever roast was on sale. This last summer I was introduced to Capt. Len's Smoked brisket, and fell in love!

In years past when I had brisket in other BBQ places it was okay, but often dry and not real flavorful.

But the Captain's is Special. Shown Right is a whole smoked brisket after the Captain's rub, developed over years, and then smoked for many hours. Below is the piece I was working with for our dinner.

I placed the brisket in my favorite slow cooker, to bring it up to temp. I don't need to add additional seasonings and it is fully cooked, so I line the slow cooker with onion slices to provide moisture and protect the brisket. Quartered Yukon Gold potatoes are placed on top of the onions and the juices from the brisket will run down and make them brown and luscious. A few carrots are placed around the crock-pot. I made a simple Au Jus to drizzle over all and leftover brisket becomes an awesome Sunday dinner.

I always want to have extra brisket on hand for this and many other meals. It goes great in Ramen, stew, sandwiches and I made some Jerky that was a real hit and I will share in an upcoming post.

Earl Eats Beyond - Way Beyond!

For my first post of the year, I never expected this! Let me clarify that this is NOT a move toward a vegan or vegetarian way of life. In my household we are meatatarian all the way, but events came together and voilà! I found myself eating a meatless burger at a fast food joint!
Let me explain the events that created this collision.
We had a family wedding reception to attend and didn't have time to eat beforehand. Just as we left, the weekly load of junk-mail arrived and I noticed something strange...Carl's Jr. is now offering MEATLESS burgers! I put that tidbit of knowledge in the back of my mind and we went to the reception. At the reception we could have loaded up on pastries and punch, but I decide we should stop somewhere on the way home to get a burger. There was a Carl's Jr. en route, and I decided I wanted to try their meatless marvel. They call it the "Beyond Meat Famous Star". It isn't cheap at $6.50 for the burger alone, but I decide to give it a try, and was I ever surprised! It looked like a burger, had all the condiments of a burger and even the almost melted slice of American cheese was there! (Yeah, I know that part isn't vegan, so sue me...or leave it off). Now for the tests...taste and texture. The taste was much like every fast food burger and surprisingly beefy for a no-meat burger. The texture was a bit off, but I don't think I would have noticed if I hadn't know it wasn't beef. It had a graininess to it, but better than most dollar burger offerings. It does have a bit of a preformed look to it but no worse than most fast food burgers.

And now the nutrition numbers. I normally don't post this kind of info because normally I don't care. But I thought I it was interesting on TWO points. The numbers are almost identical except for #1-Iron The Beyond has more than DOUBLE the iron of the beef #2-Cholesterol, the Beyond has NONE. 

I should note for anyone who might be vegan, that the Beyond Burger Patty is certified VEGAN, but the Carl's Jr. burger is NOT. It is prepared with mayonnaise (eggs) and is not produced in a vegan facility, something I didn't know was even a thing! Of course the American cheese makes it non-vegan too, although the jury is still out on whether their is really dairy in many of those slices😏.

You can now buy the patties in most large supermarket chains. The plant protein comes from peas, which was a surprise because, as I stated earlier, I have never cared about alternate sources of protein because I am perfectly happy with eating chicken, pork, and beef in all of their forms.
In Conclusion:
Go try this! It is tasty and filling. I won't be replacing burgers with it anytime soon, but a surprise is always welcome! Next time I may try it without cheese and add sliced avocado instead!

"Turkey's" Turkey Dinner for My Birthday In Honor of My Mom

My recent birthday was spent away from home as most are. We have a small condo at the same time
as Oktoberfest at a Ski resort near our home. We have had it for 40 years and love getting away in the fall. The mountains, the colors, the crystal clear air, and the occasional snow, all make for a lovely week to do almost nothing. We have the kids and grandboys up for the weekend, but by the time my birthday rolls around, they are gone and we are blissfully enjoying the quiet and  time together.

This birthday, was one of those monument numbers that measure where you are in life, and I decided to honor my mother for giving birth to me by eating here favorite meal - Turkey Dinner. She loved Turkey dinner, the WHOLE dinner. I knew this would be hard to do because we have a tiny galley kitchen in our condo, but I had a plan to make it easy...a small (2 to 3 lbs) turkey breast that cooks from frozen, boxed dressing and instant potatoes. I had planned on doing it myself butr my lovey wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") wanted to prepare it for me, for my birthday!

The ingredients were straight forward:
1-Jennie-O Oven Ready Turkey breast (frozen and cooks from frozen)
1-3lb. bag of small yams (sweet potatoes)
1-Package of a new item I discovered called Veggie Mash from a company called Idaho Spuds. This was the first time I had heard of this company or product, so I thought I would give it a try. It is potatoes AND cauliflower
1-Can Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. I don't normally eat cranberry sauce with my turkey, but my mom loved it as does my wife...but it must be JELLIED!
1-Box Mrs. Cubbison's  cubed Herb Stuffing

We also needed some diced celery, diced yellow onion, and simple seasonings. For the gravy, the turkey comes with a gravy packet included, which was fine for this. I am going to tell you these few ingredients make for a great weeknight dinner

The turkey is the only item that takes time but once the oven is heated it is simply an hour and 45 minutes in a baking dish or roaster.Here you see it in all it's glory. It tasted SO good was made even better by my lovely wife volunteering to make it for me. So this dinner is no just for me, it is for my mom, who gave me life, and for my wife who has been my life for more than 40 years now. One loved turkey and one is affectionately called "Turkey"! love you both forever!!!

Smoked Brisket With Chive & Bacon Mashed Potatoes

Few things say "comfort food" like Barbecue, but another thing that does is Mashed Potatoes. For dinner tonight, I thought I would combine them into one quick and easy dinner for the two of us.

I had on hand some of Capt. Len's smoked brisket, some of the best you'll find. I prepared a batch of mashed potatoes with applewood smoked bacon chunks, then added homegrown chives, from my wife's (a.k.a.: "Turkey's") garden, to the potatoes. I then added thickly sliced brisket on top and drizzled a bit of my own Au Jus over the top of everything. I grew up eating and loving Sunday dinners with roast beef cooked low and slow, and this added the smoky deliciousness I never had growing up.

If this post sounds familiar, I did something similar a few months back, and loved it then and love it now. Comfort foods like these never get old, so go buy yourself some smoked brisket and bring back memories...or make some new ones!


My Quick Au Jus Recipe
Ingredients:
2 tsp. Beef Broth base (or bouillon).
1 cup water
¼ tsp. garlic powder (granulated garlic)
¼ tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce (soy sauce an be substituted here)
Salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

Steps:

• Boil water.
• Add beef base to boiling water and stir until dissolved. Reduce heat to low.
• Add remaining ingredients dissolving completely.
• If a thicker Au Jus is desired, increase heat to medium and reduce until you get what you want.

Uses: 
Drizzle over any beef. Great for French Dip sandwiches. You can make extra and freeze for later!

—This would also be great made with beef bone broth or canned beef broth, substituting the water and beef base with the broth!

Earl Cooks Pork Butt Burnt Ends

One of the big buzz phrases in the barbecue world these days is "Burnt Ends" Like many restaurant favorites, these started as the parts of the smoked brisket that were once considered to be unsellable, so the restaurant employees got to eat them. They came from the fattier "point" cut of the brisket.

I have never had brisket burnt ends. Now they are popular, thay are also expensive. I don't cook whole briskets, so I never have the trimmings left over. I found several recipes called "poor man's burnt ends" that used other meats and sounded just as good. Some used pork belly, some used roast beef, but the one that struck me was pork roast. That is what I decided to go with. I had a beautiful half of a pork shoulder smoked by Capt. Len's BBQ, a nearly perfect place to start.

I cut the pork into about 3/4-1" cubes and placed them in and disposable aluminum roasting pan and coated them with 2 kinds of sauce. Normally, I wouldn't need sauce for this tasty pork, but burnt ends NEED sugar to caramelize and, well, burn. I added a store brand hickory BBQ sauce and a locally produced Smoky Bacon sauce.
Now for the roasting. Since the pork was fully cooked and smoke I had only to heat it through and caramelize the sugars in th sauces giving them the burnt look and crunch. I started wit the oven at 350℉ for about 20 minutes. Then I changed it to cook from above (broil setting) at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

They turned out great! This was my first attempt and some chunks were a bit overly crunchy, almost truly burnt. But they were still very tasty.

Results & Conclusions and Notes:

This was very much woth it and helped by the excellent smoked pork from Capt. Len's BBQ
Capt. Len's BBQ - Just Follow the Smoke!

Earl Revives Party Pasta Salad for "Turkey"

As you may have read here, my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") does not care for most pasta dishes. She thinks "pasta" is well named, as Webster defines it: "paste in processed form". I have managed to get her to like some pastas when cooked right with the proper sauce. In the 1980's pasta became SALAD. Not a dish served hot, with a rich, meaty & cheesy sauce but cold and mixed with veggies and, unbelievably - uncooked ramen noodles!

At Daughter #2's birthday party last week, we ate well and laughed hard. We ate burgers and all beef hot dogs cooked to perfection by my son-in-law (a.k.a. "Rutt") and pasta salad made by my daughter. We also had a Texas Sheet Cake, expertly crafted by my son-in-law's mom. The wind kicked up and the candles looked like a mini forest fire. What a great way to spend an evening! Family - Friends - Food, an unbeatable combination.

All of this leads me to the reason for this post. We came home with some pasta salad leftovers and I was able to make it into something "Turkey" ate and enjoyed. To the basic pasta salad I added:

• Avocado
• Tomatoes
• Pepperoni
• Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Italian Cheese Mixture
• Fresh Spinach

If it seems like I made a whole new salad, I did add lots of components to make it a refreshing dinner on a VERY hot summer's evening. Thanks to my daughter, we I ate two very different  pasta salads that week, both of which were much better than those of the 80's!

Grilled Brisket with Applewood Smoked Bacon Mashed Potatoes topped with Chives & Au Jus

After my experience at Capt. Len's, my wife and I returned to the food truck park to sample some of the other delights offered by the trucks in the SoHo Food Park where I worked with Capt. Len and the crew. We tried a delicious Chicken/Bacon/Ranch pizza from Fiore Pizza's mobile, wood fired oven, cleverly made in a clear sided, wood covered truck. It was delicious and perfect for the two of us.
It was a great evening.

But I wanted some of Capt. Len's brisket, so I bought a half pound of it to eat later.

So the next day I took the brisket and placed it on my new stove-top grill that my wife gave me for Father's Day, to both heat it up anew and give it some nice markings to add to the smoke and rub, for which Len is famous.

As an appropriate side dish, I chose to make some applewood smoked bacon mashed potatoes to which we would add our home grown chives and REAL butter. No other accompaniment was needed, but I chose to make an Au Jus  from soup base & seasonings cooked down to a thin glaze.

We drizzled the Au Jus on both the potatoes and brisket, and ate very well indeed! 

I have said that I prefer the Ribs followed closely by the pulled pork from Capt. Len's, but after having this delicious dinner, they all are equally tasty and satisfying. No matter what you get, the smoke will bring you back!

Earl Cooks Gnocchi alla Sorrentina with Sausage

We love gnocchi. We have tried it in many forms, including my wife's homemade gnocchi made with her homemade ricotta. This is another version that took a bit of adjusting to get the seasoning right, but eventually "Turkey" (a.k.a. my wife), said it was a keeper. The genesis of this dish came while shopping, where I found some bulk mild Italian sausage at a terrific price (99￠/lb.). It was 2 lbs but I needed to use it rather quickly because it was nearing the sell-by date. Two lbs. is too much for the two of us for one meal, especially when added to pasta or something else, so my plan was simple. It would become two meals! Not two different meals but two of the same with tweaking taking it from okay to very good! I went to my pantry and my freezer to collect ideas.

What I found was 2 items I had never used from Trader Joe's. Frozen Gnocchi alla Sorrentina & their Traditional Marinara Sauce. I will admit that the differences between tomato sauce, marinara sauce, and other tomato based sauces is somewhat lost on me, so I buy what I think I will like. Gnocchi alla Sorentia literally means Gnocchi in the style of Sorrento.That is, gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Since I would be adding A LOT of Italian sausage, to the frozen product I would add MORE tomato sauce in the form of marinara, and more mozzarella cheese, which I grated from block mozzarella. [*HINT: America's Test Kitchen recommends block mozzarella when you want stringy, stretchy cheese, not the fresh stuff !]

I shredded the cheese ahead of time, and I think it takes quite a lot of cheese. My wife likes the cheese to take the spicy edge off of the sausage spices.

With the bulk sausage, start by breaking it up by hand into a LARGE skillet pre-heated on medium to medium high heat. We want to both lightly brown and render a bunch of the fat from the sausage. As it cooks, continue to break it up into smaller and smaller chunks. Take time with this, you don't want it to be crispy, just firm and cooked through. Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it to a colander in a bowl to allow the fat to drain away. Remove any excess fat from the pan with a paper towel, and return to the heat, lowered to medium.

The frozen gnocchi mix is a bit strange. The sauce is in frozen disks, and looks odd at first in the pan. Just continue to heat it in the pan until it becomes sauce and gnocchi. Because I was adding the sausage, I needed extra sauce. When I added the sauce, it looked much better.

I added half a jar (8 or 9 oz.) of Trader Joe's Traditional Marinara Sauce to the cooked gnocchi & sauce. Now I had a base to which I would add the sausage and cheese.

Take the cooked and drained sausage and and add it back to the pan with the sauce & gnocchi. This gives the sausage a chance to flavor the sauce, and for the sauce to flavor the sausage. The gnocchi will pick up flavors from both.

Now top with the shredded mozzarella and cover the pan to melt the cheese

It is now covered with yummy white gooey-ness and was super stringy as you can see from the bowl sides which are covered in cheese strings.

This was delicious, but the sausage was a bit spicy for my wife's delicate palate. But I have a fix for that! As I said, this would be enough for 2 meals. Here is the adjustments I made to accommodate "Turkey's" palate.

ADJUSTMENTS:
To make the flavor more mild I simply made adjustments to the quantities of 2 ingredients: Cheese and tomato sauce. I added 4 oz. of cheese and another cup of marinara sauce to the second batch. The cheese I added to the sauce and let the dairy moderate the spice of the sausage, again topping the whole dish with another 4 oz. of cheese and allowing it to melt. My wife liked it and said it is a keeper with the added dairy and sauce! So my sausage bargain made 2 dinners and a lunch!
 

Waffle Iron Grilled Ham & Swiss

This week I have been reviving our old Belgian Waffle Iron to use in new and unique ways, motivated by the fact that I am trying not to heat-up the house to much. It has been around 20℉ HOTTER than the seasonal average. Today, I decided to try making waffle iron grilled ham & cheese. The picture to the left shows the result after cutting in half diagonally. It looks a little rough around the edges because my wife's delicious homemade bread didn't quite fit on the smallish waffle iron.

We can't remember where or why we have a Betty Crocker Belgian Waffle maker, but I am sure there was some kind of deal. It is more than 20 years old and probably one of the reasons I don't like to make waffles. It is simple to use. Plug it in and wait for the ready light and go! No moving parts except the hinge and that's one of the problems...no removable parts either.Very tough to clean. But to keep the kitchen cool, I was willing to give it a go.

I started with 4 slices of my wife's homemade bread, sliced rather thin. In addition, I had some deli sliced Black Forest Ham (3 thin slices per sandwich); Sliced Swiss cheese (2 per sandwich); and shredded cheddar or cheddar jack cheese.

On the bread, start with the Swiss Cheese Slices, Then the 3 slices of ham, two of which will be folded in half and the third flat on top of the 2 folded slices, to this with the shredded cheese. Swiss isn't as good as the cheddar for that melty goodness one expects from a grilled cheese, but Swiss is a natural ham.

Next, butter both sides of your sandwich liberally. The butter helps keep the sandwich from sticking, enhances the browning and crunch, and of course, adds so much flavor.

As I mentioned, my bread was a bit too big and my sandwich a little thick for this ancient appliance which doesn't expand, so when I pressed the lid down, it crushed the sandwich but it made a great crisp sandwich that, when trimmed and cut in half, looked and tasted very good.

Results & Conclusions:
I was very impressed with the crispy meltiness of this sandwich. My wife took hers to work the next day and said it retained the buttery crisp crust. I will make this again, but with a tool that better adjusts to my needs. We have a more modern waffle iron that may be called into service next time.

Earl Cooks Grilled Dogs - Hot Doggity!

Hot Dogs Looking Good but Onions a bit raw

It's no secret that my wife and I LOVE hot dogs. They are a nearly perfect food! They can be grilled, fried, baked, deep fried and on and on. Why then is it getting hard to find places that sell them? My favorite used to be Arctic Circle restaurants' foot long, which they cooked until a bit crisp, cut in half, on a griddle (flat-top). Sonic has a great selection and theirs is pretty good and we have a dedicated hot dog restaurant called the "Dog Haus", what they call a craft, casual restaurant. And while I think they have a wide selection, it is about the price of steak dinner!

My wife and I used to go to Sonic for dogs EVERY week as a sort of "date night", but their menu changed and we got out of the routine we seemed to be in, skipping going out for hot dogs.

The new indoor grill/griddle my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") gave me for Father's Day may change all of that! The first thing I wanted to cook is Hot Dogs. I buy some Bar S Classic Bun Length Franks. These may not be as good as the ones we had as a kid, since they are now loaded with cheaper cuts of meat (mostly chicken), but I am going to bring the best out of them I can. They do make a beef version, but "Turkey says she doesn't think it is as good. A word of caution here: DON'T BUY the 12oz. package! They are not going to feed your family and they are maybe 10% cheaper but 33% less meat in the package!

Here is the low-carb version of hot dogs. I topped mine with a pickle, tomato wedges, and onion chunks. Getting used to this new grill/griddle will take some experimenting, but with experiments like this, who cares! The hot dogs were great but I didn't time the onion right. It tasted fine, as onion always does, but was a bit on the raw side except for one wedge, which was perfect and my wife left it for me!

This shows that even cheap foods can taste good when properly prepared and cooked and that bargain "franks" can be good! Thanks "Turkey" for the great Father's Day gift you let me pick out!

Earl Cooks Penne Alfredo with Smoked Sausage & Brie

This recipe really created itself. I always have the ingredients on hand, and it requires little time and less talent than most weeknight dinners...but it is SO good! It only has 4 ingredients and can be made in a single pan!

 
The ingredients are: smoked sausage, penne pasta, Alfredo sauce and cheese (I used brie, but mozzarella would work well too). You could also use another another type of pasta, elbows or bow ties or shells would be nice choices. My choice of Great Value Classic Alfredo is for 2 reasons. First and foremost is flavor. I find that of the bottled sauces, it tastes best, plus it has less fat and it is less expensive. You may have a favorite, and I suggest you go with that. As for the brie, since you are not eating it plain, so the double cream is not needed, but you will want to remove the rind because it doesn't melt well. I just snack on it!

The most labor intensive part of the whole process is cutting the smoked sausage into bite-size pieces. Simply cut it in half then cut the curved sections off for ease of cutting. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") likes small pieces for easy combining with pasta on the fork, so I cut the sausage in half, lengthwise, then again, and finally, I slice the quartered rope into a small dice. I also slightly brown the sausage, because she prefers the flavor and texture of smoked sausage when browned, but since the smoked sausage I used is fully cooked, you can skip this step. 

In a large skillet, I add sausage and lightly brown and warm it.

I then add the sauce to the sausage

To the skillet, I add the pasta, (partially cooked so it will finish in the sauce, absorbing flavor as it finishes).

Lastly, the brie. It melts pretty quickly so stir it in thoroughly.

 Suggestions:
 Add some spice to your life with Italian, or other seasonings of your choice. If you are just two (as we are) you can also use a new product I recently discovered on my store shelves—Ready Pasta. Much like Ready Rice, it is mostly cooked and packaged so it only takes 60 seconds in the microwave to finish off!

 

Earl Cooks Egg Quesadilla & Ham with Homemade Guacamole

Scrambled Egg Quesadilla with Homemade Guacamole &
Heritage Ham Slice

I saw a TV chef make scrambled egg tacos recently and I thought "those scrambled eggs would make a great quesadilla too!" So I made some.

 



Start by heating your tortillas to what I call the bubble & blister stage in a large fry pan, with butter or simply use pan spray, and set them aside, wrapped a towel or foil, in a warm oven.

Then make your eggs. Add finely diced jalapeños & onions diced the same, to your eggs. I also added red and green mini peppers. Season the eggs well with salt and pepper. When your eggs are almost done, fill your tortilla, top with LOTS of cheese, using your favorite (for this I used cheddar/jack), fold and add back to pan. I like to cover for just a moment to make the cheese extra melty. It will also gently finish cooking your eggs. 

My last step was to make a quick homemade guacamole with just a few ingredients: avocado, tomato, onion & jalepeño. Dice the onion and jalepeño finely but I like to have bigger chunks of avocado and tomato. Gently mix together with salt & pepper, maintaining the rustic feel of great ingredients. Top your quesadilla with this lovely mix and you have a great meal.

I did add a slice of Heritage Dinner Ham from Falls Brand, which I heated through in a pan. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey"), said it was too much and unneeded, but of course I loved it. It didn't really match the idea of a quesadilla, but hey, ham & eggs...a natural!

Earl Makes Arugula Spinach Salad with Fennel, Bacon Chunks & Spanish Goat Cheese

Arugula Spinach Salad with Fennel, Bacon & Goat Cheese

We recently discovered a couple of additions to our homemade salads that really brighten the flavor and improve the crunch...arugula and fennel! Arugula has a nice bite to it, a bit like a radish, and fennel a hint of anise or licorice. Both add to the overall taste and texture of a homemade salad and are great additions.We like them so much that when I saw a Spinach & Arugula mix, I had to try it! Arugula is hard to find in the run-of-the-mill grocery stores for some reason, so I usually get mine at Trader Joe's. Finding this mix with arugula and spinach was a real departure for me because I usually don't buy mixes and almost never buy organic produce. We have both always loved spinach salads so I hoped the addition of arugula would make a great salad.

Trader Joe's Fennel Bulb

But an idea was formulating for a salad that had RAW fennel. It's texture is nice and crunchy, much like celery, but with that great hint of licorice. I have roasted it, but never had it raw in a dish until tonight. The fennel comes partially trimmed from Trader Joe's, all I had to do is cut it in half and slice the half lengthwise into salad size chunks. I should say bite size, because my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey"), thought my chunks were a bit big.

In addition to the arugula & spinach mix and the fennel bulb, I added grape tomatoes, halved, green onions (white & green portions), two kinds of cheese (Spanish goat cheese and blue cheese), my home-baked bacon chunks and my homemade croutons along with bottled dressing.Turkey decided against the cheeses, but liked the salad so much she took it to work for lunch the next day!

Earl Cooks Eggplant & Rice Casserole With 2 Cheeses

Eggplant seems to be the darling of the vegetarian /vegan community. I see it used in dishes that look SO good, and I have wanted to use them more. My first try was a failure, but I found an idea that seemed a bit better. It would include an eggplant, mozzarella & Parmesan cheeses, tomato sauce and rice.

First I covered the eggplant, sliced thin, with salt to draw out the moisture and bitterness. I rinsed the slices to remove the salt and began layering the eggplant and other ingredients almost like a lasagna, tomato sauce, rice, eggplant, cheese until I had filled my casserole dish and used all of the ingredients, topping it all with cheese. I baked it at 350℉ until hot throughout and the cheese all melted.

Results & Conclusions
I liked it okay, but I won't make it again. It ended up with far too much liquid in the bottom. My wife was unimpressed and hardly ate any of her bowl. I finished mine, but didn't bother to keep the leftovers, which is VERY rare for me.

It seems I just haven't come upon a recipe that makes eggplant worth cooking. It may be that we love meat so much that we are not tasting what others taste. I will try ONE more time, and hope that is isn't 3 strikes and out!