Massive amounts of food porn here.

Ok, none of these are *my* recipes.  I DID however get some mutton in my CSA share this week.  Was completely lost as to what to do with it. So I googled..and googled..

This is what I got

FIRST!  The Rhubarb Chutney.

Recipe for the Rhubarb Chutney can be found here

It's about to start simmering here

Finished product! It thickened in the fridge.

Now, on to the Naan bread!!!

Recipe for the bread can be found here

Now I DID tweak the method a little, since I have a pizza stone.  I preheated my oven/stone to 500deg.  Then turned the broiler on and slapped the breads on the stone to cook.  Came out BEAUTIFUL.

About to be rolled out!!

Final product!!!!

Now, on to the Kebabs.

Mutton Kebab recipe can be found here!

Mutton/spice/onion mixture

On the sticks about to go in the oven!

Now on to the rice.  I used normal long grain because that's all I had.  Feel free to use Basmati or Jasmine..

btw if you don't know how to cook rice, you make me sad.

Rice ready to be switched on.

And here's the final product!!!  Was sooo delish.  MOST of this was provided by my local CSA at http://www.taprootfarms.ca  The mutton, cucumbers, rhubarb, onions...yeah all of that was from the CSA.  Nothing like eating exotic, locally!! HAHAH

More Food Porn

Ok Everyone!  I'm back.  I should blog more often but meh..I'll blog when I wanna blog.

Today, I'll share my recipe for mince pork pie..or as Quebequois call it "Tourtiere"

Here are the ingredients:



FILLING

• 5 slices of bacon, chopped (it's the stuff in the pan)
• 1lb of ground pork
• 2 medium potatoes, washed and diced small
• 2 medium leeks sliced
• 1 medium onion minced
• 2tbsp Clubhouse Montreal Chicken Spice
• 2tsp Dried Thyme
• 2tsp dried rosemary
• 1tsp dried sage
• *of course you CAN use Fresh and I fully encourage that, I didn't have fresh so I used dried*
• 1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic...or 3 cloves minced give or take

Step 1:  Cook the chopped bacon in your skillet. Do so until it's starting to get crisp.
Step 2:  Put the pork, garlic, leek, onion and spices into the pan with the bacon, mush it all up and cook until no longer pink and crumbled

While the pork is cooking, put your diced potatoes in the microwave for about 2 minutes to partially cook them.

Once the pork mixture is done put in a bowl with the potatoes, mix well and put in the freezer to cool off.

PASTRY!

1 Cup Shortening/Lard/Coconut oil/ Whatever Solid Fat you choose to use, I don't care.
2 1/4 cups of Pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
ice water.

Now, you take a cold fork or pastry cutter, and blend the flour, fat and salt in a bowl until it looks all crumbly like..almost like coarse oatmeal.  Keep it cold.  then add the ice water bit by bit until it comes together to form a dough ball.  Don't knead don't use your hands..keep anything warm away..or it turns to crap, and you don't get the nice light flaky pastry goodness.

Split the dough ball into 2 halves,  Roll out on a floured surface, put one half in a pie plate, dump the filling in, then put the other half on top.  Cut slits in.  Grab a pastry brush and brush beaten egg or fresh milk on top of the crust to give it a nice colour when it's done cooking.

Stick in a 375deg F oven for about an hour.

Enjoy!

HOORAY HOORAY Farm Share/CSA

soft farmy warm farmy little ball of veg

I'm pretty stoked. This year we're doing an "experiment" of sorts with a local CSA/Farm Share.  We locked ourselves into a 1 year commitment to a local farm/farms (They partner with a few other local farms so I guess it's a farm co-op of sorts) to get fresh, local produce and meat delivered every week.

Everything is local, and mostly organic.  The meat is locally produced and humanely raised and slaughtered.  No factory BS there.  So, yes it is possible to be an omni Nomny  and still have ethics. Happy pigs make better bacon...

mmm bacon

 There's more than just the ol factory farm for meat and egg production.

AND, no GMO's.  That makes my little TechnoHippy heart happy (no relation to TechnoViking let me tell you)

Local and in season meat and produce, I will most definitely be reviving the recipe portion of this blog.

Honestly,  I totally suggest my readers to look up CSA's that are in your area.  Support your local farmers. Down with the factory farms and Monsantomongers.  You'll get your moneys worth and more if you do that.  Your health will thank you and your local farmers will thank you.  If you live around the costal area, and like fish (We have some serious seafood allergies here) Talk to a local fisherman to see if you can buy a share of his catch.  Fresh right off the wharf.  You'll probably get a better deal from him on a few lobster and some scallops than you would from Mr Highliner.

not that there's anything wrong 

with being a gay fish.

Here are a few links to help you find a CSA near you.  About the fishing thing though, you're on your own about that, since it's just easier for you to walk down to your wharf and ask.

Taproot Farms. The CSA I'm a part of. They serve Annapolis Valley and Halifax Nova Scotia Canada.

ACORN Organic CSA Search. A searchable database about CSA's in Atlantic Canada

Lifehacker.com has a few links for you American Peeps who are looking for CSA info.

For those of you who reside in the rest of Canada,  the best way to find a CSA near you is to hit Google and type in "Community Supported Agriculture (insert your province or city/region here)  and there you go.

To those who say I don't make healthy food

Today I went to the gym.  First time in about a year.  Why?  Because it took that bloody long for my husband to get me my gym membership.  See,  It's a military gym,  so a military person has to sign up their dependants to use it.  Felt good to get back in the groove.  See, over a year I lost about 20lbs.  I want to get into a little bit better shape before I go for my surgery on the 21st of June (if that rapture shit is fake..which it is)  So most of my absence is me doing all the stuff needed to get ready for it.  Let's just say, to put it delicately,  having two kids caused things to herniate down there.  Gyns like to call it a "Rectocele prolapse"  But really it's a stupid hernia.  You know if you're a guy and you have this ingual ring in the ball area where the balls came down when you were a kid?  sometimes it gets widened and the stuff goes in?  Well that's kinda like what's up with me. It's annoying and I'm glad it's finally getting fixed.  ANYWAY recipe time.

To those who said I had too many unhealthy recipes? BAH on you I say BAH!  Tonight I made the most delish salad IN THE WORLD
First I took a chicken breast,  Put it in a bag with a little Extra virgin olive oil, Rosemarry, sage and seasoned salt.  Let it sit for a bit, then put it on my george foreman grill because I haven't dug my BBQ out of the garage yet.  I then cut up a honey crisp apple and diced up a quarter of it and put it on a bed of baby greens (ORGANIC baby greens) Then chopped up a bit of cucumber, and a few multi colored cherry tomatoes...and topped it with chopped walnuts.  It kinda looked like this:

I then took the chicken after it was cooked:

Chopped it all up and put it on top of the veggies

I then took THIS  dressing and drizzled it all over 

and the result was this:

There you go, a healthy supper.  Really tasty too.

Sorry about yesterday

See,  Since I don't have my drivers license, I gotta walk my kids to school,  and since my husband isn't home (Survival course for work) I have to walk to get groceries too.  So yeah yesterday was spent walking...A LOT.  So I justifiably didn't do much in the way of sitting at the computer and blogging.  I did however make a nice Salmon pie and will share with you the recipe, yes, with pictures.

Salmon Pie

Ingredients:

FILLING (you wanna make this first and put it in the fridge to chill)
2 cans of salmon
3 potatoes, boiled and mashed up
1tsp tarragon
3tsp garlic powder,
3tsp onion powder,
1tsp seasoned salt
a dash of pepper
2tbsp dried Parsley

Now,  You dump the filling ingredients in a bowl and you mix it very well. so it kinda looks like this:

Put it in the fridge to cool off.

Now for the pie crust:

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening

2 cups flour

1tsp salt.

With a fork mash this together till it looks like this:

Then slowly add ice water a few tablespoons at a time until it starts to form a smooth dough.  I don't really have a measurement for this because it's subjective.

Put it in the fridge to chill for a bit too.

Then, take half the pie dough, roll it out on a floured surface and put it in a pie tin, add filling.

Then you roll out the other half of the dough and put on top of the filling..making a PIE.

Like this:

Poke a few holes in the top with a fork, and brush with some milk or egg wash to give it a golden/glossy sheen as it cooks, 375 degree oven for about 45min to an hour, don't cook it longer than that or the crust well *points to picture below*  I was too busy watching a movie with my kids.  Whoops  was still edible, the crust was just a little darker than it should have been.

Then serve:  I served it with some Green Giant steamed broccoli/cauliflower with cheese sauce.

Ahh my intrepid readers

Good Sunday to you all.  (or Monday depending if you're on the other side of the Date Line. )

I'm slacking.  Yeah.  I should be cleaning my house but I'm putting up another blog recipe/entry while having my morning coffee.


Here's a cheap and easy dish that's a staple around here:

Corned Beef Gravy.

Peel and cut and boil a few potatoes.

Then, get a can of corned beef (I use Hereford brand but whatever floats your boat) open it and dump it into a frying pan.  Turn on the element to around Med-High heat and start mashing it down with a fork while the potatoes are boiling.  while this is going on, mix up roughly 1/2 cup flour to 2 cups of water really well...like no lumps or anything.

When the potatoes are done, drain some of the water into the frying pan with the corned beef...add some seasonings if you want, garlic/onion powders, steak spice, pepper (no real need for salt.)

Now,  give your flour/water mixture a stir, and slowly pour in to the hot beef/water mixture while stirring constantly,  it should thicken up pretty well.

Serve over the hot potatoes (smash em on your plate a bit and put butter on them first if you want)  and with some bread and butter.

The gravy freezes/refrigerates  well so all you need to do is put it in individual containers.  So there you go a $2 can of corned beef can feed you for a bit.

Pirogies!!

Here's something for pretty much everyone.  Home made pirogies.

I know you all have probably bought the frozen variety, mostly due to convenience, but, if you have a bit of time on the weekends or something, you can make your own, and actually put what you want in them, instead of dealing with the store supplied fillings.

What you will need:

Dough:

2 cups flour
a tsp of salt
enough water to make it into a pliable dough

Now mix all these together...the water is subjective so just add a little at a time until it forms a dough.  Then knead this dough. and let rest

Filling:

1lb of potatoes, peeled and mashed.

Now what I like to put in it is a mixture of stuff

I take some bacon, cut it up and fry it until crisp with some minced onions so they caramalize.  Then I mix in with the already hot mashed potatoes, some garlic spread,  the bacon, the onions, a bit of grated sharp cheddar cheese, and a dollop of sour cream and some minced chives.

Now,  Roll out the pirogie dough on a floured surface so it's about 1/4-1/8" thick..not too thick but not too thin.  Take a glass or a small plastic cup and cut out circles.  Put a tablespoon of your potato mixture in the middle of each of the circles, then take your finger, put it in some warm water and trace the outside of each circle before folding them in half and pinching the pirogies shut.

Cook in boiling water until they float.  If you want,  you can freeze them for later, or toss in butter/bacon/chives and serve with sour cream!

Moar foods

Here's a recipe out of that nice cookbook my mom gave me, that I actually DID try, because no one in this house is allergic to tuna.

It's cheap, it's pretty awesome too.

It's called

Tuna Fish Loaf.  *yeah similar to meat loaf but made with tuna instead*

2 cans of tuna packed in water (drained)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup.
1/2 cup of milk
2 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
and of course seasonings.  I used oinion powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, a titch of cayenne and some dried parsley for color.

Soak your bread crumbs in the milk combine and mix thoroughly with soup and beaten eggs.  Bake in a GREASED loaf pan (this is important or the stuff won't come out..or non stick..but even then if you grease it it'll get all nice and crispy on the outside)  at 350 for about 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and it's all set.

So there you have it, it's cheap, it's good.  No I don't have pictures of it because I made it a while ago, I probably will make it again next week though.

Served it with some steamed carrots and home made rolls.

Hey Pig...Yeah you...hey piggypiggypigpig

Yup.  Pig night tonight.  Picked up a pork picnic shoulder on sale the other day while grocery shopping.  $6 for a decent sized roast, which will be turned into about 3 meals or so.  Tonight, I'm just roasting it while following this recipe:

I DID make some adjustments.  I didn't have any sherry or chicken stock so I used beef stock and beer instead.  I left out the carrots because no one here likes cooked carrots. It is smelling REALLY good right now.  The left over meat will be used to make pulled pork sammies and pulled pork enchiladas.  Nothing too special there.

Anyway I got my recipe from this website here: Pork Shoulder Roast  Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

• 1  bone-in, skin-on fresh pork picnic shoulder (6 to 7 lb.)
• 1  head garlic (2 1/2 oz.)
• 1  tablespoon  coarse salt
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  dried oregano
• 1  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/2  teaspoon  fresh-ground pepper
• 1  onion (10 oz.), peeled and sliced
• 1  carrot (4 oz.), rinsed and sliced
• 1/2  cup  oloroso or cream sherry
• 4  cups  fat-skimmed chicken broth
• 1/4  teaspoon  dried hot chile flakes
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar

Preparation

1. Rinse pork and pat dry. Score skin in a crisscross diamond pattern, making 1/8-inch-deep cuts about 1 inch apart. Separate and peel garlic cloves. In a mortar and pestle, crush garlic, salt, oregano, thyme, and pepper into a coarse paste (or mince garlic, then mix with salt, herbs, and pepper). Rub garlic paste all over roast. Set roast, skin side up, on a rack in an oiled 9- by 13-inch roasting pan.

2. Roast in a 450° oven (see notes) until deep golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes.

3. Remove pan from oven and scatter onion and carrot slices around pork. Pour 1/4 cup sherry and 2 cups broth into pan. Add chile flakes. Baste pork with some of the pan juices. Reduce oven temperature to 225° and bake until a thermometer inserted through the center of thickest part at bone reads 170° to 175°, 8 to 9 hours (do not insert thermometer before the last hour of roasting). If pork is done before you're ready to serve, reduce oven temperature to 160° and hold in oven up to 4 hours.

4. About 30 minutes before serving, transfer pork to a carving board. (For extra-crisp pork skin cracklings, see notes.) Cover pork loosely and set in a warm place. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup sherry and 2 cups broth into the roasting pan (drippings will be dark) and set on a burner over high heat. Bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Boil, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by about half, 7 to 10 minutes. Pour through a wire strainer set over a bowl, pressing on vegetables (discard vegetables); you should have 1 to 1 1/3 cups drippings. Skim off and discard fat. Stir in vinegar.

5. Lift skin off pork and cut it into bite-size chunks or strips; pile on a platter. Slice meat across the grain and arrange on platter. Drizzle about a fourth of the pan juices over meat; serve remaining to add to taste.

NOTES: You may need to order the pork from your meat market in advance. Monitor oven temperature with a thermometer before starting, and adjust temperature as needed. If you hold the roast in the oven after it is done, check to see if oven is still on after 12 hours of continuous use; some ovens turn off automatically. A convection oven is not recommended. For extra-crisp cracklings, pull skin off cooked pork, separate into bite-size pieces, and place in a shallow pan. Bake in a 400° oven until crisp and puffy, about 10 minutes.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

521 (66% from fat)

Protein:

37g

Fat:

38g (sat 14)

Carbohydrate:

4.6g

Fiber:

0.3g

Sodium:

578mg

Cholesterol:

138mg

Burger Stroganoff

This one is another very easy dish, and pretty frugal.  And, for you single people out there, you can make this full batch, put it in individual containers and freeze it and you'll have tons of food for a while.  My husband used to do that when he was single.  Make a huge double batch of Hamburger Helper, or Spaghetti and just eat it throughout the week.  GASP!  This one has step by step pictures too!!!!!

What you will need:

1lb ground beef
1 package of egg noodles
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup beef stock
2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup.  (any variety will do...)
1tbsp of thyme
Minced garlic
Montreal Steak Spice
Italiano seasoning
butter/margerine
1/2 a large onion, minced


Cook Egg Noodles as per package directions. Drain well and set aside...

Now,  Mince up the onions, and put in a big skillet with a bit of margarine/butter and italiano seasoning.

Cover and cook for about 5 minutes or so until onions start to get soft.

Now,  push the onions off to the side and put the ground beef in the skillet, and mash the ground beef up.  Put the lid on again and cook for another 5 -10 minutes

Then,  once the beef loses it's pinkness, add some minced garlic (about 3 cloves worth) and a few good hefty shakes of steak spice.  Mix well then push it all off to the sides, leaving a well in the middle. (there will be juices from the steaming of the onions and beef)  and let the liquid evaporate.  (will take another 10mins or so)

After the liquid evaporates,  toss in the 2 cans of soup, beef broth, thyme, some more garlic if you want,  and the sour cream.  Stir well.

Now,  put the cooked and drained egg noodles into the burger/soup mixture.  If you want, add a little dried parsley for color.

Now, I serve this with just a green salad with some light vinaigrette.  If you're calorie/fat conscious feel free to use the fat free sour cream, (I did) fat free cream of mushroom, and extra lean ground beef.  I used the Whole wheat egg noodles, but regular cream of mushroom soup.  I'm not just feeding myself, but two scrawny kids, one of whom is 4 years old and only 30lbs (That's actually very small and his pediatrician is concerned) So, if my recipes seem pretty rich,  that's why.  Feel free to substitute lower fat/calorie options for your diet.  I just moderate my portions to smaller than suggested.

a few ideas on what to do with...a whole chicken

Ok,  here's a post for the "Frugal" minded people.  We all know, that it's cheaper to buy one whole roasting chicken, than a package of chicken breasts or two, for the same amount of meat.  (as in the cost per pound is less)


But here you are, with a whole chicken.  You are like "Ok how the heck can that feed me for not one..but three days, if not more" (depends on the size of the chicken and how many people..if you're like a single person, or just a couple, then it will feed you for a decent amount of time)


1: Roast chicken meal.  Here's the most "Fancy" of the whole thing.  Sprinkle some seasoning salt on the skin, toss in a 400 degree oven for about 2 hours.  That's it.  Serve with mashed potatoes/veggies/can of gravy..or if you're a Canadian like me, fries and St. Hubert sauce.  (Swiss Chalet is ok...but St. Hubert is better)


now for the leftovers.  After your roast chicken dinner, make sure you save all the bones  TRUST ME...strip the meat from the remaining bird,  and put in bags/containers and freeze.


Recipe1:




Of course instead of using the chicken breasts, I used some of the leftover roast chicken.
Now here's a quicker/easyer way.  Instead of doing the slow cooker,  grab a skillet,  and use a drained can of chick peas.  everything else is the same,  but the result is a meal in like 10 minutes.


Chickpea/chicken slow cooker curry.  I got this from a $5 meal site..
Curried chickpeas and chicken

Slow Cooker Curried Chickpeas and Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 lb. dried chickpeas ($1.75)
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth (free to $1)
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce ($.33)
• 1 Tbsp curry powder ($.20)
• 2 chicken breasts, diced ($1.75)
• Couple dashes of garlic salt
• Couple dashes of pepper
• 1 cup white rice ($.20)
• 1 box frozen spinach ($.50)
• Cilantro, an optional garnish

Directions

1. Soak the dried chickpeas overnight.  Drain and rinse, then add to the base of the slow cooker.  Add the broth, tomato sauce and curry powder. Stir together. (At this point you could add the cooked or uncooked chicken pieces and let them cook with the chickpeas.) Season with a few dashes of garlic salt and pepper.  Set on high and cook for 4 hours, or until chickpeas are soft and chicken is cooked, if using raw chicken at the start. Let sit on warm, until ready to serve.
2. Prepare rice as directed on the package.
3. Cook the spinach as directed on the box.
4. Serve Curried Chickpeas and Chicken over rice with side of spinach, or other vegetable.

It kinda looks like this:  this is the leftovers that I'm eating for lunch right now.  Yeah it kinda looks like puke but it tastes pretty good.  Of course most curries look like puke anyway.

Chicken broth:

you take the bones of your chicken,  put in a big pot with about 3 peeled/chopped carrots 3 stalks of chopped celery, a chopped onion, and a whole buttload of garlic cloves, along with some cold water to cover and some vinegar.  Roughly 3tbsp or so.  Bring to a boil, then lower the temp to around 3 on your stove, and simmer for 24hrs.  Strain, and chill and the fat will come right off.  You'll need this for further recipes.

Recipe 2:  Chicken Pot Pie.

Pie Crust:  1 cup shortning,  cut in with 2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt.  Just mash it together with a fork, don't touch with your hands until you need to.  Add enough ice cold water to form a dough, stick in the fridge till you are ready to roll it out. (That's when you start handling it, when you roll it out

Now,  For the filling you'll need 

Chicken meat, 

 two peeled and diced potatoes,

  1/2 cup of frozen peas,

 2 peeled and diced carrots,

 2 finely chopped stalks of celery, 

and 1/2 a minced onion.

1tsp poultry seasoning

1tsp sage

1tsp summer savory

1tsp salt

 Ok,  take the veggies,  and put them in about 2 cups of chicken stock, and the seasonings. Simmer until the potatoes are barely fork tender...add chicken and about 1/4 cup of flour to thicken it up...cool the filling in the fridge while you roll out your pie crust.

Line your pie plate with one layer of pie crust.  Pour cooled filling in it, then top with another rolled out pie crust, pinch together, then poke holes in the top crust for steam escape.  Brush with milk for a nice color.

cook for about 45min at 350f

Now,  for the last bit:  Chicken Noodle Soup.

Chicken stock

Potatoes

Carrots

chicken

noodles!

garlic

onions

Cut the veggies up small,  toss in the pot with the stock and meat, bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer till the veggies are cooked.  Voila done.

Next post will be about how to stretch a roast beef.

Fish Fish Fish

Ok, I'm going to post a recipe that I have not had a chance to try, but it's been around since at least 1959 if not longer, so it is a tried and proven recipe, I just can't cook seafood due to both my husband and my son having some severe food allergies when it comes to sea food.

Just going to get into some historical context here:  Where this recipe is from, and WHEN it was conceived, lobster was considered a "Poor Man's food"  It is from an island in the middle of the Bay of Fundy,  where the tides are the most extreme in the world,  so back in the 1950's  when the tide went out, people could seriously go down to the beach and pick up lobster and bring them home.

So here's the recipe;

Lobster Newburg

1 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 cups lobster meat
1 cup light cream
2 eggs
1/4tsp salt
1/8tsp of cayenne
1tbsp lemon juice
2tbsp sherry.

Melt butter in double boiler (or a glass/metal bowl over a pot of boiling water) add lobster and toss until the butter is absorbed.  Add cream and when heated, stir in beaten eggs and cook until thick-like custard (<b>do not boil</b>.  Add seasonings and last of all the sherry.  Serve on toast, or rice (I suggest a nice jasmine or basmati...Texmati would be even better)

Seafood Chowder:

about 1 fillet of Cod/Haddock roughly cut up
1/4lb scallops Chopped
about 2 cups lobster meat chopped
3 potatoes, washed, peeled and cubed
1 med onion, diced
milk or cream
butter/margerine
Salt/pepper to taste

Ok,  first of all boil the onions and potatoes, until the potatoes are fork tender.  Drain (If you're using cream  keep half the water..)
Mix with Potatoes/onions in the pot, the fish, lobster, scallops, milk/cream and margerine. Heat on Medium/low heat for about 30min or so.

Serve with home made rolls (Bread recipe is referenced in the Fusili post)

Rouladen with potato dumplings.

This one might be a little complicated so I'll just do each part step by step, like I'll start off with the potato dumplings:

Potato Dumplings:

3 whole potatoes, washed, and skin on
a loaf of sourdough bread
butter.
flour
corn starch
I don't have any measurements for the flour and corn starch because it's subjective,  you'll see why later
1 egg.
1tsp of nutmeg
1tsp of salt

Ok,  now, wash/scrub the potatoes, and then boil them whole until they're done, about an hour.
Cool em off in the fridge and peel.  The peel will come right off.
cut them into cubes and put them in the fridge until they are cold.
While you do this you can cook the rouladen which I'll post later in the post.
Cut the sour dough into cubes the size of regular croutons.  Fry them in butter until they are golden brown.  (Or use garlic butter for extra flavor)  put them in a container to cool.
once the potatoes are cold, mash them up with a potato masher.  Then, mix in:  Egg, Flour, corn starch and do this until they aren't sticking to your hands.  grab a bit, then put a crouton in the middle and make a ball out of it.  Do this until no potato mixture is left.
Boil in salted boiling water in small batches until they float to the top. keep the cooked ones on a plate under a damp towel so they don't dry out.

Rouladen:

Inside Round cut for rouladen
bacon
thinly sliced onion
dill pickles
mustard
toothpicks
beer
beef stock
thyme
veggie oil

Step 1: go to your butcher and ask for Inside Round cut for Rouladen.  It's supposed to be pretty thin.
Step 2:  Place rouladen on a cutting board or something.  It's easier to do one piece at a time anyway.  so unfold it if it's folded...sprinkle some steak spice on it, spread some mustard on it, lay a piece of bacon on it, lay some onion slices on it, then lay some sliced dill pickles on it.  Then roll it up.  You start from the wide end, folding in the sides as you go.  Secure with a toothpick.  Repeat with the rest of em.

Step 3:  sear the rouladen in a hot pan on all sides.  Put in a roasting pan (of course if you have a metal roasting pan you can do this in one step)  put seared rouladen on a plate (or in a roasting pan if you are using a glass one) while you make the sauce

Step 4: The sauce:  dump half a bottle of beer, about 1 cup of beef stock, a tsp of thyme and a tbsp of steak spice in the pan where you seared the beef.  (If it's the roasting pan it's all good trust me)  scraping up the bits that stuck to the pan.  Now,  either put the sauce in the roaster with the rouladen, or the rouladen in the sauce if you're using a metal one.  Cover well and put in the oven at 300deg farenheight for about ...3 hours.

Once everything is done, take the rouladen out of the roaster,  (If you're using a glass pan put the sauce in a pot) put the sauce over medium heat and thicken it with a mixture of corn starch and water.

Serve hot, with the hot potato dumplings and some red cabbage.

Pic:

THE BEST THE BEST BACON..WAFFLES

Yeah and I actually have a picture or a few, to go with it!!! HAH.

Anyway here are the ingredients:

2 large eggs, beaten to a froth.
2 cups of flour, sifted with a tbsp or so of baking powder
1 1/3 cups of milk
a hit of vanilla
a hit of sugar
3 or 4 pieces of cooked and crumbled bacon of your choice.
Oh and a waffle iron..can't forget that.

now,  you mix everything except the bacon pieces, in a bowl until it forms a smooth batter.  Pour batter (like maybe a 1/4 cup or so at a time) in the waffle iron wells (Make sure you follow the manufacturers directions on how to use your waffle iron)  then  before closing the iron,  sprinkle the bacon bits all over the waffles.  Close iron until steam stops coming out of the sides.

VOILA Bacon Waffles.

Well I guess I also will post

Recipes!  That's right everyone.  I can.. COOK.  Well what do you expect, I'm a woman my place is in the kitchen, but I figure I'll share my wealth of cooking knowledge with you people out there.

Tonight I cooked Vegetable Fusili with meat sauce and home baked garlic bread.

For the Fusili:

1 Box of Catelli Bistro Vegetable Fuslili Cooked/drain

the SAUCE:

1lb ground beef
1/2 a big white onion.
2tbsp margerine
1-2tbsp Clubhouse Italiano seasoning
3tbsp Montreal Steak Spice
a whole bunch (like 5 cloves) Minced Garlic
2tbsp Oregano
2tbsp Marjoram
2tbsp Basil
Step 1:  Finely chop the half an onion, place in big skillet with the margarine and italiano seasoning.  Turn on Med High heat, cover and let cook for about 5 minutes or so

Step 2: Push onions off to the side,  put in ground beef and mush it up so it is into little bitty pieces.  Cover and steam the beef/Onions

Step 3:  Mix up the beef with half the garlic and the steak spice...then push it all off to the side and make a well and let all the juices evaporate

Step 4:  Add the can of tomato sauce, and the rest of the spices.  stir, cover and simmer while the pasta cooks.

Step 5: Mix the pasta in with the beef sauce after it's all drained

OK THE BREAD:  (you really should make the bread before starting the pasta, or a little before...not too much...like try to time it as in, we usually eat at 5 so I start the bread at 3.

2 Cups Flour
1 packet of Rapid rise yeast
a few shakes of salt
a tsp of sugar
WARM (not hot, but not cold, like bath temperature warm) water. to make a dough.

Mix in the yeast with a little water and sugar in a small dish and put aside
Put the flour and the rest of the sugar and the salt in a big bowl.  Add the water little bit at a time, stirring, and the yeast, after it's all frothy and bubbly...Mix well,  it's hard to give an approx of how much water to use, just ad a little at a time until when you stir it, it pulls away from the side of the bowl and makes a lump of dough.
Then Knead the dough for a few minutes.  It should be kinda springy/smooth to the touch.
let rise covered with a towel till it's double in size.
Then punch it down (this part's fun) and shape it into whatever shape loaf you want...put on a sheet, let raise for 20min.  Bake at 400deg for about 20+ minutes or so.  you can tell it's done when you pick it up, tap it on the bottom and it sounds hollow.  USE OVEN MITTS...or you'll burn yourself.

Garlic butter..minced garlic, parsley, butter, garlic powder, all mixed together.

And there you go.  Noms...this is a good bit of copy pasta.  Heh COPY MAH PASTA