Knowledge You Didn't Think You Needed, But Do!

This is seriously the best tip I have ever received. I didn't even know that I wasn't doing it correctly. Okay I guess there are different definitions, but still, best tip EVER!

I'm going to tell you right now, how to reheat pizza. Yep that's right, this way is sure fire way to make you make you feel like you're eating it for the first time.

My trick?  First heat it up in the microwave, need to get that cheese nice and melted (for those that eat cheese).

Second, and this is where you're mind is going to be blown. It's faster then a toaster oven reheat to get that crust crispy again. Ready for this mind blowing tip?

Put it in a hot skillet, you know that pan that you cook eggs in? Use that. Toasts up the bottoms of that pizza, so no more soggy left over pizza. *warning, the bottom cooks faster then you think, so don't let it sit there too long, it goes from being awesomeness to burnt in a hot second. Don't walk away.*

I know, mine doesn't look as good as one with hot gooey cheese, but it was very good, and I will definitely get this when baby comes when I need something to eat and need someone to deliver me something yummy to eat.

Random sidenote: Mr. likes cold pizza and never heats his pizza up.

Honey Lime Shrimp

For Whatever Wednesdays  Alissa and Shay, okay more Alissa then Shay...wanted us to post a recipe. (Alissa if you want more of my recipes click on my recipes tab, created just for you today, seriously.)

For our picnic in the park, I decided to make my quinoa salad and then I thought that some shrimp would be a really good picnic food. So I set off to find a recipe. I came across this recipe on what other then Pinterest. It has only 8 ingredients, and 6 of them I already had in my pantry, win for me. So here it is.

Stole this picture from The Dough Will Rise Again

We were supposed to meet friends at 6pm at the park, I started this at 4, should have started sooner, but I was napping, which felt great and I woke up refreshed and ready to tackle a concert in the park.

What you'll need:

1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined (although I used 1 pound with the same amount of marinade and it worked great)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons honey
Juice of one small lime, or half a large lime (2-3 T)
Zest of one small lime, or half a large lime
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Step 1:

It says to use a Ziploc bag, I figured I would put the ziploc in a small bowl so that I wasn't messing with trying to keep the bag open while pouring in ingredients.

Step 2:

Add Olive Oil

Lime Zest

Lime Juice

If you don't have one of these bad boys, you must go get one right now! Life saver and you get all of the juice out!

2 Tablespoons of Honey

2 garlic cloves - recipe says smashed, but I went the easy route and just used my garlic press

1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes and 1/4 tsp black pepper. I just winged this, close enough, and I didn't want to make it too spicy in case one of the kids wanted one. Also my measuring spoons were currently in the dishwasher.

Step 3:

Mix ingredients

Step 4:

I used the frozen shrimp from Costco (2 pounds costs $20), I used half the bag, apparently I can't read and I thought the recipe called for a pound of shrimp, guess I was wrong, but it worked out in the end.

Step 5:

Put shrimp in bag and put in fridge to marinate. I've read on the comments that people do this anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. I did mine for just 40 minutes because that's all the time I had.

Step 6:

Cook shrimp in skillet, no need to add any more oil, it already has enough.

I did it in batches and had two skillets going. It only took about 10 minutes to cook all of the shrimp. We were out the door with it still hot and got to the park just as our friends were arriving. Perfect timing!

In the haste to get out the door, I forgot to take a picture of all of the cooked shrimp, just look at the 1st picture and think, with tails on. Mine pretty much looked the same.

BBQ Pulled Beef Sandwiches

This recipe is definitely a crowd pleaser. Every time I make it for a crowd they always love it. So sit down relax and get ready to make some homemade BBQ sauce and some pulled beef sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 1 (5 pound) boneless beef chuck-eye roast, trimmed and cut into 4 pieces
• 4 slices bacon, chopped fine
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 ½ cups brewed coffee
• 1 ½ cups ketchup (I've ONLY used Trader Joe's Organic Ketchup, I've tried other Organic Ketchups, and they don't taste nearly as good, you've been warned)
• ¼  cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown mustard (I've used yellow mustard, works just the same)
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (I omit this...allergic, but I hear it gives it a great taste)
• Salt and pepper
• 10 sandwich rolls

Baby Fox, HAD to put his Dragon costume back on, and wanted to watch everything going on

Now onto the cooking part:

I didn't take pictures of the first parts, so let's just pretend that you know what I'm talking about.

1.  Place beef in slow-cooker insert.

 

 

2.  Cook bacon in large skillet over med-high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to slow-cooker insert.

 

 

3. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from pan and cook onion in remaining bacon fat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder and paprika and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in coffee, ketchup, sugar and 1 tablespoon mustard and simmer until reduced slightly, about 10 minutes.

 

 4. Add half of sauce to slow-cooker insert 

 

 

5.  Cover and cook on low until meat is tender, 9-10 hours (or cook on high for 5-6 hours).

 

   

6.  Refrigerate remaining half.

 

 

7.  After about 2 hours, this is what it will look like:

 

If after this amount of time, the meat is not fully submerged, shift the meat a bit so that everything is covered, or you can add a little more of the reserved sauce.

 

 

8.  Using slotted spoon, transfer meat to large bowl

 

 

 

cover with foil and set aside

 

 

 

9.  Transfer cooking liquid to large skillet,

 

skim fat, and simmer over med-high heat until reduce to about 1.5 cups, depending on how wide your pan is the time will vary, the pan below took about 15 minutes, if you use a sauce pan, with higher sides, can take up to 20-30 minutes.

I skim to a large bowl...

 

Mid-cooking:

 

 

Looks roughly like this when you're done:

 

 

 

10.  Off heat, stir in reserved sauce, remaining mustard, hot sauce, vinegar, and liquid smoke.

 

 

 

 

11.  Pull meat into large chunks, discarding any excess fat or gristle.

 

Will end up looking like this:

 

 

 

12.  Toss meat with 1 ½ cups sauce 

 

 

 

 let sit, covered, until meat has absorbed most of sauce, about 10 minutes.

 

Season with salt and pepper (although I've never had to do this).

 

Toast some rolls (we could only find small ones, so we sort of made sliders)

 

The finished product

 

 

Then you know, add some green stuff, so you aren't a total carnivore.

Enjoy!

Meatloaf

Here's a great meatloaf recipe. I'm allergic to milk and a lot of meatloaf recipes use meatloaf, so I found one that doesn't need it. It's an Alton Brown recipe, really good! So here it is:

Ingredients:

6 ounces garlic-flavored croutons *

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 onion, roughly chopped

1 carrot, peeled and broken

3 whole cloves garlic

1/2 red bell pepper

18 ounces ground chuck

18 ounces ground sirloin

1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup catsup
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Dash hot pepper sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey

Not entirely sure why I only took a picture of these things, but hey, here they are

* I am allergic to most ready made croutons, so I made my own. Here's the quick run down. Heat oven to 375°. Cut up french loaf in small squares, heat about cup of olive oil and whole head of garlic. DO NOT BOIL, just heat. Once heated pour oil over squares in a bowl, mix. Pour everything on cookie sheet, put in oven. Flip croutons occasionally. Cook until browned and crispy. Should take about 45 minutes to an hour.

Step 1: In a food processor, combine croutons, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder and thyme. Pulse until the mixture is of fine texture. Move mixture from food processor to mixing bowl.

Step 2: In the newly emptied food processor container (no need to rinse), combine the onion, carrot, garlic and red pepper. Pulse until mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed. Pour into mixing bowl that has the crouton mixture.

Step 3: Add the ground sirloin and ground chuck, season with kosher salt.

Step 4: Add the egg and combine thoroughly, do no squeeze the meat.

Step 5: Put into 10inch loaf pan to mold the shape of the meatloaf.

Step 6: Place parchment paper on baking sheet, dump meatloaf pan upside down onto parchment paper.

Step 7: Put meatloaf in oven, and start to make the glaze

Step 8: Make glaze, conbine the ketchup, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and honey.

Step 9: Brush glaze onto the meatloaf after it has been cooking for about 10 minutes.

Step 10: After about 45 minutes, measure meat temperature with meat thermometer (this one is the bomb, haven't had overcooked meat ever since I got this, cooks illustrated recommended best instant read thermometer)* Meat should read about 155°, take out of oven.

* I was not paid to recommend this thermometer, I just really like it.

Step 11: Slice up and enjoy!

I think what made this recipe unique was the glaze. Seriously, don't skip out on it, the cumin and Worcestershire sauce added with the honey really made it unique and yummy. Of course if you don't like cumin, then this isn't the glaze from you. But give it a try, it's easy to make and your family will be impressed. If you click on the recipe, there are suggestions for different glazes in the comments section, such as this:

4 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 C ketchup,
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon mustard powder

Nothing like comfort food on a Sunday to start your week out right! Let me know how yours turns out.