3 bean chili in a biscuit bowl!

3 Bean Chili with a Biscuit Bowl.






Well, its been getting chillier in the evenings up here in the state of Michigan. Fall is finally upon us, soon it will be time to rake the leaves, carve a pumpkin, and perhaps shovel some early snow. But for a foodie, this also means it is becoming soup/stew season! In this first fall installment, Im making chili, and serving it in super easy biscuit bowls!


Ingredients (Chili): One Medium white onion; diced, One Green Bell Pepper; Diced, 2lbs ground beef and two tubes breakfast sausage; browned together, two packets of chili seasoning (I used chilio by Frenches), two cans of diced tomatoes, one large can of peeled whole tomatoes; sliced, one can of black beans, one can of red beans, one can of kidney beans; all drained. Ground cumin, chili powder, any other desired spice, to taste.

So for starters, in a frying pan, brown the ground beef and breakfast sausage together. Drain it,
and set it aside.









Next, spray the bottom of your pot with cooking spray. add the onions and green pepper and saute them briefly 2-3 minutes over medium heat.









after they have started to cook down, add all the canned ingredients,

















and the sausage/beef mixture, and the chili packets.









I also added a can of water. bring it all to a boil, and then let it simmer as long as possible. Make sure you taste it as it simmers.


Biscuit Bowls: Let me just say, I cheated. I ran out of time to make biscuits from scratch, so I used canned. But you can use any simple biscuit recipe. then, after you form them into balls, press them down over any greased oven proof bowl shaped object.









My sister Terri had these little mini bunt pans that worked perfect. Some recipes even say to grease the bottom of a cupcake pan, flip it upside down and press them on the cups. Its really up to you. Just follow the biscuit directions that you have for baking. Just make sure you spray the object and the pan you put them on.

















And here's what they looked like when they were done.
















When they have cooled enough to where you can handle them, spoon in some chili, top with what you like, and enjoy!

























some green onion...and a few slices of jalapeno, and there you have it. Man it was good.

















Even my brother was on skype checking it out!

Steamed/baked Salmon Fillets with pesto and Lemon

Hello again! I know that it's been awhile since I have posted. Honestly, Ive been too sore to. About eight days ago I started a new workout/diet program, which has greatly reduced my ability to cook let's say "unrestricted meals".

However! being the cook that I am, I have found some really good, super healthy meals such as this one.

Alright. Here's how I made the steamed/baked salmon:

I took a trip to the local grocery store, and I picked up some pretty nice size salmon fillets.
next, I cut the fillets and threw them onto the scale to get 4oz pieces. (the serving size is 3oz, so I allowed for some shrinkage during cooking.)
After I cut them, they looked like this.
yummy, and pink.

Next, I cut pieces of tin foil into squares. (roughly 12 x 12 inch.)
I laid them flat on the counter.
Next, I took some canola oil, and lightly brushed it over the tin foil, to prevent the fillets from sticking.
Then I just put the fillets in the middle of the tin foil.
Now it was time to start the toppings. Now here, let me point out that you can use whatever you like. This recipe is more of a method than an actual step by step instruction. But here's what I used.
I crushed a whole clove of garlic on each fillet.
then, I put 1/2 tbs of pesto on each one. (Pesto is a blend of basil, garlic, pine nuts, and usually some type of hard cheese like Parmesan.) I didn't make my own this time, I wussed out and bought a jar at the grocery store.)
Next, I sprinkled on my seasonings. Here's what I used:
GOYA Adobo (all purpose seasoning)
Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper
and Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Salmon Seasoning
Then, because fish and citrus go together like peanut butter and jelly, and garlic and lemon go together like rings and fingers, I put two slices of lemon on top.
Alright. Now to the fun part. You have to get the folding of the tin foil right in order for the fish to steam properly. Also, you want to leave a bit of space around the fish in order to give the steam some room. So lets say, you want to leave room on the top fold, and the side fold. if you fold all the way up against your fillet, you went too far.

First, I grabbed my top and bottom, and made a small fold.
Then several more small folds working my way down. You want each "package to be air tight.
After you have folded down and left some space, spin the package around and fold up each end. remember: small folds. You want it to be air tight.
Then, I put each package on a baking sheet. And I put them in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 24 minutes.

Here's what they looked like when they were done.
So then I took them, and put them on a bed of rice, with some steamed veggies.
Honestly, it tasted amazing!
PS-you can drizzle the juices inside the tinfoil on your rice. that was good too!

Thanks to My beautiful wife Shanon, again for taking awesome pictures!

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

This is honestly one of my favorite things in the world to cook. It is also one of the easiest things I cook. It takes about 25-30 minutes from start to finish. Honestly, the hardest part about this post is going to be coming up with the actual recipe, because I have'nt used one for this particular dish since I was about 18.

A FEW POINTERS ABOUT THIS POST:

1. I was cooking for 5 adults and 4 children in these pictures. The recipe I'm giving you is scaled way back.
2. Use cheap sausage. I used the cheapest sausage they had at the store. Not only is it easy on the wallet, but the cheaper the sausage, the higher the fat content. The more fat content, the more grease. You need the grease to add the overall flavor to your flour mixture.
3. Taste it before you serve it! there is nothing worse for me than watching people take a bite of something that I've cooked and then seeing them grab the salt and pepper.

The Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tube of pork sausage
1/4 cup flour (or less depending on amount of grease)
1/4 cup cold water
2-3 cups whole milk
1 tbsp salt
pepper to taste

Directions:

In large skillet over medium heat, brown sausage until crumbled. remove sausage with slotted spoon, draining meat as best you can. Put meat in a separate bowl and set aside.Turn up heat to med-high. Add the flour to the grease. using a spatula, mix up the flour in the grease, making sure to scrape up any particles from the bottom of the pan. Once the flour mixture gets pasty and starts turning light brown, turn down the heat to medium, and add the water to the pan. Mix around the flour, making sure to crush any clumps that you see. As the water heats up, the flour will expand, having a paste like texture. Add your milk. while you are waiting for the flour to expand again, crush and mix any clumps that you see. Once it begins to thicken again, add your sausage back to the pan. mix up well. Turn off the heat and cover the pan for about 3-4 minutes. give it a good stir. If it is too thick, turn on the heat to medium and add more milk. (in small portions.)

OK. So here we go. How I made the biscuits and gravy.
I started off with my cheap tubes of sausage. I threw them in my pan.

So then I just cooked the sausage down, making sure to break it up in little pieces with my spatula.

Once it was completely cooked, I took my slotted spoon and removed the sausage, letting it drain as much as I could. I put the sausage in another bowl and set it aside.
Next, I turned up the heat, and I put my biscuits in the oven. (most people prefer the canned biscuits, but I think frozen are way better. Not to say that you cant make your own biscuits, I just didn't do all that this time.)
Alright, now that the fat was getting hotter, I added the flour and mixed it around in the pan.
After that started to turn light brown, I added the water to the pan.
And in about 2 minutes, the flour expanded into this paste like consistency.
Now it was time to add the milk.
Once the milk began to heat up, the flour was expanding again, so I added the sausage back into the gravy.
And just then the timer went off for the biscuits.
Then I just kept stirring, until it was almost to the thickness I wanted, then I turned off the heat.
Oh man. it smelled so good. So now would be the time to taste it. Make sure there is enough salt, and a little kick from the pepper.
And there you have it. grab some warm biscuits, and cover them in the gravy like so. Just try not to drool too much as you make your plate. LOL

The Spanglish Sandwich

So here we go, this is how I made the Spanglish Sandwich. Let me tell you, wow. It was amazingly tasty! But really unhealthy...LOL

Alright, so I found the best bread that I could, A local Deli had this Italian crust loaf, so I tried it.

So, Obviously, I had to slice the bread.

Earlier I had already cooked the bacon, which I had draining on some paper towels.
Next, I sliced my tomato.....
Then I laid two pieces of bread flat.
I spread mayonnaise on one.....
Then dropped two slices of tomato on top of the mayo.
Then I neatly places five bacon slices, alternating ends, on top of the tomato.....
Alright, next, I laid three slices of provolone on the other slice of bread, and threw it in the broiler. (I like provolone because it melts awesome!)
Then I threw a few leaves of lettuce (iceberg) on top of the bacon.
Alright, a couple of things here. In the original recipe I believe it calls for an extra large egg, well all I had was medium, so I used two. Also, in the video, somehow they get the yolk to line up perfectly in the middle of the sandwich to get cut through when they cut the entire sandwich in half. I'm not so lucky. Plus I was using two eggs to boot. So just before I slid them out of the pan, I popped both yolks. mmmmmm runny yolks........

Doesn't that look good? I think so!
Next, I pulled the cheesy side out of the broiler.
oh man...that looked good to. I mean, can you pack this much goodness in a sandwich?
So I just put the cheesy top on.
Don't hate it cause it's beautiful people. It was born that way.
Three words people. FAT GUY HEAVEN.......
Honestly, you cant knock this until you try it. I absolutely am in love with this sandwich.
Thanks again to my beautiful wife for helping me with the pictures.