Pickled Mustard Seeds

1 Cup Yellow Mustards Seeds

1 ½ Cup Water

1 ½ Cup Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar

½ Cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt

4 tsp. Granulated Garlic

4 tsp. Granulated Onion

8 Cloves Garlic, finely minced

2 tsp. White Pepper

4 tsp. Curry Powder

 

1.    Combine all ingredients except the Curry Powder in a small heavy saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over low heat. DO NOT allow to boil as it will make the seeds bitter.

2.    Simmer, stirring often, until the mustard seeds are plump and tender; about 45 minutes. If they look like they’re beginning to dry out, add water as needed to keep them barely submerged.

3.    Stir in Curry Powder & remove from heat.

4.    Season as needed with Salt, Pepper or Sugar to your taste.

5.    Cool and refrigerate in a covered container. It will keep for months.

 

This recipe inspired by watching the reality show “Chopped" and some of the cool things those chefs produce. It can usually be found in my refrigerator. I use it on everything from sandwiches to salads – and even to top deviled eggs. I love it best on anything charred meat.

Bacon 'n Tomato Marmalade

Bacon 'n Tomato Marmalade

Step One

1 lbs. Bacon, diced into ½ inch pieces

1 large red onion, medium dice

1 large white onion, medium dice

 

Step Two

1 bunch green onions, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered

 

Step Three

¾ cup cider vinegar

¼ cup maple syrup

½ cup coffee

½ cup bourbon

½ cup chicken stock

 

Step Four

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)

1/8 tsp. dried thyme

 

Step Five

2 Tablespoons Lime Juice

3 jiggers Maggi seasoning

6 jiggers Franks Red Hot

Black Pepper to taste

 

Brown Bacon over medium low heat until crispy, remove from pan, save the bacon drippings in the pan.

Add onions from and caramelize.

Once onion start to brown, add Step two and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add Step 3, bring to a boil and reduce heat to low, simmer for about 45 minutes or liquid is thick.

Add Step 4 and add bacon back into mix, simmer covered for about 5 minutes.

Add Step 5. Cool & puree in food processor.

And the wait begins...

This week has been a lot about waiting for me. We filed our taxes, we’re waiting for the refund; I ordered some things for a friend online, waiting to see if they’ll arrive on time; I turned in the financials to one our proposed lenders, well you get the picture…

It can get kinda frustrating to me, waiting to hear back from others. I’m generally a go & get it done sort of person, when it comes to accomplishing things anyways. But it’s good for me, I guess you could say. This gives me a chance to work on at least one virtue.

You know – Patience.

I currently work for a company that’s very large and very much in the corporate setting. So, I was sad to hear from one of my good friends when he told me he was resigning. I go to lunch with him probably three to four times a week and he always has my back, vice versa; it is going to be extremely hard to be there without him. Of course, the shoe would have been on the other foot for him when I leave to get the truck started. He has taught me a great deal about business and managing people in particular. How I am going miss him at work! But it is always tough when someone you truly care about makes a change in their life, especially one that could take you out of it. I’ll have to set him up to eat at the truck J

I was finally able to go to the kids conferences this year, since I learned about the MN law for school time. That made my week. While I felt lost at the conferences themselves – haven’t been in 4 years now – Amy was there too, so I wasn’t a complete duffer. Anyhow, they are doing excellent in school. Katie is in the 96% for her grade in the nation! My Dad said Sean’s grades were better than I brought home (I might contest that, but not to Sean’s face) and Kenzie never gives up until she gets it right. It was really good to hear such wonderful things from their teachers.

I also learned about the Minnesota Food Truck Association this week and am waiting (queue the theme again) to hear back from them to see what I need to do to become a part of this association. It sounds very cool & should do wonders to help food truck businesses in the Twin Cities area.

On to the cooking part of the show… Unfortunately, I found out we were out of both flour and butter, so wasn’t able to make the beignets this week. If you didn’t get a chance to make them yourself or aren’t a baking sort of person, follow @Cajun2GeauxTim on Twitter or check out http://cajun2geaux.com; he makes some mean beignets and killer New Orleans chow!

Because I didn’t want to leave ya high and dry, I will be contributing two of my tried and true recipes this week. The first is Pickled Mustard Seeds; these are great topped on a sandwich, I really enjoy them on meat with a nice char on it, like hot off the bbq. The other is Bacon ‘n Tomato Marmalade. It is fantastic on just about anything; but both are great to eat by themselves too.

That’s puts a wrap on this week, I will catch you next time!

Brownies

Brownies

• Prep Time: 10 mins Total Time: 35 mins Servings: 16

Ingredients
o 1/2 cup butter, melted
o 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I liked dark cocoa powder!)
o 1 cup sugar
o 2 eggs
o 2 teaspoons vanilla
o 1/2 cup flour
o 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease an 8 inch square pan or line with foil.
3. In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved.
4. Add sugar and mix well.
5. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined.
6. Stir in vanilla, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not over-mix).
7. Spread in pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes – no more!
8. DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.
9. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
10. For double recipe, bake in 9x12 pan and add 5 minutes to baking time.

A day late...

Well it's now Monday night & it's the first chance I have to get a new post done. My apologizes to anyone who might have been hanging on a thread for this over the weekend.
 
I spent most of this weekend working on why my water heater was leaking. I noticed a puddle around the back door the other day & it was coming from the water heater. We've had been putting a towel on it & in the morning the towel was soaked through. Needless to say, this had me more than a little concerned.
 
So my dad came over and we took some things apart and searched high and low, mostly low, to try and figure out where this water was coming from. He got the pressure valve to work, that got ruled out and after a long search, and he was able to guess where the water was coming from… the cap on the roof!
 
Apparently, it is leaking down the roof, inside the water heater and puddling on the floor. This explains why when it snows, we get more water there. That meant I got the extra fun job of climbing up on the roof in the winter, shoveling snow from around the cap and putting some roofmelt pellets up there. And I really don’t like being up on our roof in the summer. Not a good time.
 
The kids went to their Pokémon tournament this weekend and got to bring a friend. They all had fun, but when I asked if they got any cool new cards, Sean said no, but their friend did. He only got one good card. Since I haven’t played Pokémon in over ten years, and never with cards, I am not really up on the game. As long as the kids have fun and stay out of trouble, as much as Pokémon annoys me, I’m okay with it.
 
I heard back from Mike with the Neighborhood Development Center! The good news is I have everything ready they need to get going to determine if they will finance the truck. The bad news is they called me on Monday the 4^th and the deadline for February was Friday the 1^st. Ugh! Cross your fingers that the rest goes off without a hitch!
 
It turns out that I fried my 15 year old bread maker last week. Kinda bummed about that. The last 3 loaves it turned out were all weird and lumpy shaped and didn’t rise well. When I looked more closely, I saw that the heating element was scorched and so was the side of the oven next to it. We tried shopping for a new one over the weekend but no one had any! I saw a couple I liked online so I might have to have one shipped. I am looking a BreadMan brand, but if you have any suggestions, let me know! I love making bread, but without a good way to proof it, it takes FOREVER to rise in my house, so that’s why I like the bread maker idea.
 
And on to my favorite part of the program! I only got the chance to do a little baking and tried out a new brownie recipe. It turned out really good but the girls ate it so fast, they didn’t give me a chance to take a pic. I’ll still post the recipe and have to add the picture later when I make them again; which reminds me that I need to pick up more butter and cocoa powder at the store. A new friend of mine also posted in their blog about beignets as well as a good looking recipe. That is my plan for next weekend! But you don’t need to wait. Just go to http://www.clevercajun.com, click Blogs and you can get started on making your own heavenly treats from NOLA.
 
Well, in the immortal words of Porky Pig – Tha... tha... that’s all folks!

Buttermilk Biscuits

Prep Time: 10 mins Total Time: 22 mins Yield: About 10

Ingredients
2 Cups AP flour, plus for dusting
1 Tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, very cold
1 Cup buttermilk (approx.)



Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 450°F.
2. Cut the butter into pea-sized chunks & put into freezer.
3. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor.
4. Cut butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
If using a food processor, just pulse a few times until this consistency is achieved.
5. Add the buttermilk and mix JUST until combined.
6. If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk. It should be very wet.
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured board.
8. Gently, gently PAT, with floured hands, the dough out until it's about 1/2" thick.
Fold the dough in ½ with a bench knife & turn 90°.
9. Repeat about 5 times; gently press the dough down to a 1 inch thick after each fold.
10. Use a round cutter to cut into rounds.
11. You can gently knead the scraps together and make a few more, but they will not be anywhere near as good as the first ones.
12. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet - if you like soft sides, put them touching each other.
13. Put biscuits almost touching for fluffier biscuits – ½ inch apart for crustier biscuits.
14. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- the biscuits will be a beautiful light golden brown on top and bottom.
15. Do not over-bake.

Note: The key to real biscuits is not in the ingredients, but in the handling of the dough.
The dough must be handled as little as possible or you will have tough biscuits.
You also must pat the dough out LIGHTLY with your hands.
Rolling with a rolling pin is a guaranteed way to overstimulate the gluten, resulting in a tougher biscuit.

Croissants

This recipe is courtesy of mobile-cuisine.com. The original recipe can be found here: http://mobile-cuisine.com/recipes/recipe-easy-croissants/

If you can can make pie dough or bread, this will be a piece of cake! They are crusty, flaky and delicious!

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Yield: 36 croissants

Ingredients:
1 package yeast (2 & 1/4 teaspoon)
1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar

2 egg yolks
1 cup lukewarm milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups flour

2 & 2/3 cups flour
1 cup real butter COLD, cut into small cubes

1 egg white (beaten until frothy)

Directions:

Proof the yeast with the sugar in the warm water and set aside.

Beat egg yolks,stir in warm milk,salt, yeast mixture, and 2/3 cup of the flour. Beat until smooth and set aside.

Cut butter into remaining flour until particles are the size of LARGE PEAS. Pour in yeast mixture.

Mix lightly just until flour is moistened.

Cover and chill at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. IT MUST BE COLD.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly.

Divide into thirds. Roll each into 16 inch diameter circle and cut into 12 pie shaped wedges. Roll wedges starting at the wide end. Place point side down on a greased baking sheet.

Cover with towel and let rise at room temperature until doubled.

Brush each with beaten egg white.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Serve warm or re-heat in low oven– not microwave.

NOTE: Makes 36 small croissants, but you can make as big as you want. You may wish to increase the sugar by 2x for a sweeter pastry or the salt by the same for a more savory one.

Groundhogs & goofballs

This is my very first blog post - so please be gentle with me. ;)
While I do have some writing experience, most of it from PBeM games & I've been off that for quite some time now.

Well it's Groundhog's day & we're supposed to be in for a short winter. I'm just fine with that myself; it means the Food Truck season can start earlier! Although the Farmer's Almanac shows that the best days to open should be the first week of April; warmer and not as wet!

My plans this weekend are to try out a new Croissant recipe (thanks @mobilecuisine !) It looks not only simple, but very tasty as well. I also want to perfect my biscuit recipe and see if I can make chicken pot pie filled biscuits with it. I'll post both on Instagram/ Twitter if they turn out the way I hope. I will post both recipes once they meet with my approval! I usually work on a couple of recipes a week & will post them as they come.

We also tried out our bread maker for the first time last weekend. I used a scaled version of my Sweet White Bread recipe back from my baking days with Doubletree. I was very surprised - not by the bread, but by the machine. You see, Amy was given this machine about 10 years ago & we never used it. We didn't even know if it worked! So after some heavy duty scrubbing and cleaning, it was ready to go. And in less than 3 hours, we had a very yummy (and small) loaf of bread! The only change I would make is to add maybe a tsp or more of honey. Scaling back a recipe for 40 loaves of bread to 1 can be tricky that way! We didn't even measure the flour in the mixer back then, just did it by look & feeling of the dough.

On a more FoodTrucky (yes I made that word up) note, I heard back from Mike at the Neighborhood Development Center. He sounded very positive on the phone and I am looking forward to meeting with him to see what can be done to assist with financing the truck. Amy & I have been also continuing to work on getting together our Kickstarter video, so you might want to watch for that in the near future as well. I haven't heard back from Scott at the Central Minnesota Development Company, but if I don't early this week, I'll have to give him a call back. I'll keep ya posted on both; please keep us in your prayers we can get our financing done!

I also need to work on some more designs for our Zazzle T-shirt store - http://www.zazzle.com/grill_works if you're interested in checking it out - don't be shy about buying something if it catches your eye ;)

The big kids (Sean & Katie) are gearing up for the Pokémon battle this weekend; getting their favorite cards together and organized. If they're not too busy working on that, they'll be playing Pokémon on the DS. It's kinda cute to watch them on the couch, under a blanket with the dog all cuddled up and snuggling between them. The little girls (Josie & Kenzie) have been playing Sid the Science Kid on PBSKids.org. If it keeps warming up and the snow sticks around, I think I'll have to suit them all up for a snowball fight or something.

Well, that's all for now; I'm going to try to make this blog a weekly thing, so watch for more to come.

Thanks for reading & enjoy!