The Funky Oven

Fall apple cakes

These are so good! And they are very easy to make. They have crisp but sticky outsides and soft centers. They taste like a mix between apple pie and apple fritter.

1 cup flour

1 large apple peeled and diced – 2 cups

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small buntlet pan or large cupcake pan. Fill each well full of batter. This makes 4 bundlets. Bake for 20 minutes uncovered. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake another 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center is clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Invert the pan to remove. Enjoy warm or room temperature.

Apple cakes before baking.

Apple cakes fresh out of the oven.

Cheesy jalapeño hash brown casserole

Garden creations, jalapeno, Side dishes

SONY DSC — cheesy jalapeño hash brown casserole

What happens when you have a bumper crop in your garden? You get creative.

Hash brown casserole is another example of a typically over creamy, over buttered wonderful food that can be made without all the extra fat. The jalapeño adds a really nice flavor. Cooking them first makes it not too spicy.

20 ounce fresh shredded hash browns

3 jalapeño, remove seeds and dice

1 cup diced yellow onion

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup shredded Colby jack cheese – divided

Cook the jalapeño and onion in butter on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the flour. Slowly add the water in small amounts while stirring constantly. Add in the bouillon, pepper, and cumin. Continue to stir often until thickened. Remove from heat. Add in 3/4 cup of the cheese. Stir until melted.

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Place the hash browns into a bowl. Fold in the prepared cheese sauce until fully mixed. Grease an 8×8 or 9×9 casserole pan. Press the mixture in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-60 minutes uncovered.

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Chocolate chip muffins

Breakfast, Dessert

I adapted these muffins from a recipe I found on all recipes. I mean… it is pretty perfect. Basically, it is the same as chocolate chip cookies. I added a bit more milk and some baking soda.

My kids now help me which is really awesome.

2 cups flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk plus 2 tablespoons

1/2 cup softened butter

2 eggs

1 teaspooon vanilla

11 ounces mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the vanilla. In the next 3 steps, do no over mix. Stir just to combine. Add the flour. Add the milk. Add the chocolate chips. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin tins. Fill 12 wells 2/3 full of batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tooth pick is clean.

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Italian salad dressing

Garden creations, Salad dressing, Side dishes

My husband and I are going to be healthy for a little while. Healthy means I am having fun with salad dressings. The perfect salad to me is a little lettuce, spinach, and TONS of cut up veggies…. green onion, peppers, tomato, broccoli, cucumber, radish, carrots….. pile it all on. Sometimes it ends up more veggies than lettuce but thats okay.

Juice of one lemon

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons honey

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon parmesan

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

This is the best part. Shake it all up. Look how pretty it is before you shake it.

I do not think I will ever use a store bought Italian dressing again. This was literally the best ever….

Weeknight peach cobbler

Dessert

This is a really simple peach cobbler using canned peaches. I know that cobbler with fresh peaches is super fabulous, but the canned peaches are just so much faster. I cannot stand peeling fresh peaches.

2 29 ounce cans of sliced peaches, drained

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

6 tablespoons melted butter

Prepare an 8×10 baking dish with cooking spray. Place the drained peaches in the dish. Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and beaten egg. Sprinkle this crumbly mixture on top of the peaches. Pour the melted butter on top. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until the crust is browned.

Homemade Croutons

Bread, Side dishes, Snacks

The more you make a salad fun, the more likely you are to eat it. These croutons take 10-15 minutes to make and you can use all the extra bread laying around.

Cubes of bread – about 4-5 cups

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 tablespoon Spec or similar non- salt seasoning

1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix the oil with seasonings. Then mix the oil and seasoning with the bread cubes. Pour onto a baking sheet. Make sure they are spread out. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the bread density. Watch them closely after 10 minutes.

Brisket Ramen

Dinner

Please don’t laugh at my hard soft boiled egg. Obviously, I did that wrong. This was soooo good. We had smoked a brisket and used it all week. This is how we never feel like we eat leftovers and decrease our food costs. We cook a giant inexpensive cut of meat and I transform it into a different cultural food each night.

I cooked the broth on the stove on low for about 1.5 hours to reduce it and create intense flavors. I think it could have been just as good with much less time also.

I also did not use the noodles from ramen packages. You could. I bought chinese noodles.

4 cups beef broth

5 green onions chopped

5-6 white mushrooms diced small

1/4 cup red bell pepper diced small

5 baby carrots whole

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons mirin

1/4 cup white miso paste

1/4 teaspoon dried ginger

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

I cooked the onions, mushrooms, bell pepper and carrots in the sesame oil on low for 10 minutes. I added the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer uncovered about 1-1.5 hours.

1/2 package chinese noodles

2 baby bok choy

2 cups leftover smoked brisket

soft boiled eggs

garnish – sliced jalapeno, sriracha, fresh cilantro

Increase the temperature and bring the broth to a low boil. Add the noodles, chopped/shredded brisket, and bok choy to the broth. Boil all for 3 minutes. Plate amd garnish. Serve.

Paella

Dinner, seafood

Sometimes when you love cooking, slaving over a hot stove (errr green egg) in is more fun than going out. Somehow I convinced my husband to make paella with me. This was a first time to try Paella and i am a total fan.

The prep work is key. Everything MUST be prepped to make this work. We cooked it in a Paella pan on the green.

1.5 cups arborio risotto

4 cups chicken broth

1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large red bell pepper, diced

1 cup frozen green peas

4 roma tomatoes, diced

4 ounces tomato paste

4 chicken thighs – bone in and skin on

1/2 pound chorizo sausage

1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves

1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads

6 large shrimp cleaned and peeled

juice of 1 lemon

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Heat the chicken broth and dissolve the saffron in the broth. Keep this warm.

Make sure everything has been prepared. You should even measure all the spices.

Heat the grill. Cook the chicken thighs in oil until almost done. Remove from pan.

Cook the chorizo. Add in the onion, garlic, and pepper. Cook 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook 5 minutes. Stir constantly. Add rice. Add spices. Cover with 3/4 the chicken broth. Stop stirring. Place the chicken back on top.

Add more broth as needed. When the rice is tender (this took about 40 minutes), add the peas and shrimp. Cook 2-3 more minutes. Squeeze lemon juice over when plated.

All together this took about 1.5 hours to cook. It is not fast but well worth it.

My favorite parts of this dish are the slightly burned yummy dark flavorful pieces of rice. This made enough food for an army. It re-heated well but my husband and I ate it for 3 meals. I suggest inviting friends over!

Saffron rice with pancetta

Side dishes

This is adapted from Giada’s recipe on food network. I made it beef based and added shallots for a stronger onion flavor. It is really really good.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 6 ounce package diced pancetta

2 tablespoons salted butter

3 shallots thinly sliced

1 cup jasmine rice

1 beef bouillon cube

1/2 teaspoon saffrom threads

1 1/2 cups water

In a saucepan, cook the pancetta in the olive oil on medium heat for 6 minutes.

Remove the pancetta and drain on paper towels. Add the butter to the pan. Cook the shallots for 3-4 minutes.

Add the pancetta, rice, water, bouillon, and safron to pan.

Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to low and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Leave the pan covered for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork.

Texas brisket BBQ sauce

Dinner

The Texas brisket bbq sauces are thinner sauces with less sweetness and more chili powder flavor.

I adapted this from the Spruce eats blog. This website has many variations that look great.

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

3 tablespoons minced garlic

1 cup catsup

1/8 cup cider vinegar

3 tablespoons Worcestershire

2 teaspoons mustard powder

1 cup water

1 beef boullion cube

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons concho chili powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter for about 7-10 minutes. Be careful to not burn the garlic. Add in all the other ingredients. Continue to cook on low until it becomes a thick consistency. I cooked it uncovered on low for about 1-1.5 hours stirring every 5-10 minutes.

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