You say Rib Roast, I say Prime Rib

From what I've read, there's no difference between to two. It confused me for a while because Grandma Dede and Aunt Kathy would say we're having Prime Rib and when I went to the store one year to continue to family tradition of having Prime Rib for Easter Dinner, nothing in the meat department was labeled "Prime Rib". I was then informed that what I was suppose to look for was called Rib Roast - Small End, with the ribs attached which then makes it a Standing Rib Roast. Meat terms and labels are so confusing. What the recipe calls for is not always the same name you'll find at the market, especially if you're using an old cookbook. I suppose this is where it comes in handy to have a good relationship with your butcher who doesn't mind silly "layman" questions :). 

Now tell me that doesn't make your mouth water? I've talked to several people over the years who are afraid to make Prime Rib. I was shocked. To be honest with you....it's a total piece of cake. Cooking a turkey is way more complicated! I swear! Maybe it's the cost of the meat that makes it more intimidating. And I totally get that. Thats why I never ever ever, not EVER, buy this baby at full price (except for maybe once, but I had to. I'll explain why later). Around the holidays I can usually find if for under $4 a pound. Compare that price to the steak house in town with their fancy schmancy white linen table clothes. 

Now, lets get down to business. The seasoning. I never measure and I probably don't even use the same seasonings each time. I just grab jars out of the spice cabinet and sniff....the ones that smell like yum, get promoted to the Prime Rib seasoning bowl and the others stay in the cabinet. This year I ended up with a blend of the following:

Salt & Pepper (no brainer)

Garlic (always)

Cardamom 

Onion Powder

Paprika

Creole Seasoning

Oh, and I always grab several twigs from my rosemary bush (the thing is taller than I am and is on its way to being a dwarf rosemary tree). 

Set that wonderful standing rib roast in a shallow roasting pan. Mix all your seasonings (except for the rosemary) and smother your roast with the mixture....aaaaall over. Then take those rosemary twigs and slide them under the roast in the rib "cave". How difficult can that be? Hell, it's not like you have to wrestle with it and stuff if full of moist bread crumbs. I'm not bashing turkeys by any means. I love me some turkey but seriously....this is way easier!!

Preheat your oven to 325'. Plop that baby in the oven with your meat thermometer inserted in the middle of the meat without it touching a bone. Just guesstimate, maybe insert it about 2 inches at the top of your roast. Follow this roasting timetable:

6 - 8 lbs. 

Rare - thermometer reading: 140', approximate cooking time 23 - 25 minutes per lb.

Medium - thermometer reading: 160', approximate cooking time 27 - 30 minutes per lb.

Well Done - thermometer reading: 170', approximate cooking time 32 - 35 minutes per lb.

If you notice towards the end of its roasting time, that its getting too dark, just tent it with some tin foil and continue cooking. 

Once your baby is roasted to your desired degree of doneness, allow it to set 15 - 20 minutes after removing it from the oven. The meat will continue to cook so you might want to remove the meat when the thermometer registered 5' - 10' lower than the desired temperature. I always tent it with tin foil while its resting. I don't have a "clinical" reason but I remember seeing Grandma Dede doing that so I thought it was the thing to do. Works for me, doesn't hurt. And now it's time to carve away, serve and enjoy. I mostly serve Prime Rib with my Twice Baked Potatoes but one of these days I'm going to make some Yorkshire Pudding and Gravy to go with it. (drool drool)

I do have a couple of Prime Rib horror stories. Those weird-ass who would've thought this could happen type of stories. 

The same Easter that I had my exploding glass in my Twice Baked Potatoes happen, well....I had bought 2 smaller roasts on Friday from the store. Sunday rolls around and I pull them out of the fridge to get ready to smother them in all those yummy seasonings. Only something wasn't right....no, the trash had been taken out....the dog was outside and the cat had not died. Oh GOD one of the roasts was rancid!!! WTF!!!!! Oh hell no! I'm not eating this! Figuratively or literally. Nope...didn't save my receipt, but the store label was still on the nasty thing. So...Dennis and I marched into that store and found the store manager behind the customer service counter....on his cellphone...making a personal call. Ignoring us and our bag full of nasty smelling meat. He didn't even look at us and say..."I'll be with you in just a minute." Ya, I know....it's a holiday and you have to work but hey! It's your job, you signed up for it and you get paid so GET OFF YOUR PHONE I HAVE A DINNER TO COOK AND COMPANY COMING!! (clears her throat). Ya, I guess that still pisses me off. After a few stern words and ignoring the fact that he really did not want to take the meat back.....I got my replacement roast and headed home with only a few minor detours (back into line with a pound of bacon for the Twice Baked Potatoes). 

This other time, I had placed the roast in the oven, thermometer inserted and all. Everything was under control and I was feeling good. Hm...should've been my first clue....when are holiday meals every under control for long? All of a sudden I hear this awful "POP" from the oven. Whaaaaat was that?? Um...let me start by saying...if the thermometer instructions say "Do NOT put in dishwasher", apparently there's a reason. If you do...the next time you use it, the extreme oven heat will cause it to explode, and tiny microscopic pieces of thermometer glass will be embedded in your Prime Rib, causing you to make an unwanted trip to the grocery store and possibly paying twice as much for your roast as you did because it is no longer on sale. ARGH!!! 

Now...after reading what kind of holidays I have, maybe you'll know why this is a total must! A little something to calm my nerves. This year mixed Limoncello and Champagne was the desired nerve calmer, happy cook maker. Great taste....major ass kicker!! So keep it to a minimum, but enjoy!

 

Twice Baked Potatoes - Made with Love

I love potatoes. Baked, roasted, mashed, fried....whatever! It works for me. My husbands taste for potatoes is a little limited....he's a rice man. I could probably eat potatoes with every meal....hash browns for breakfast, french fries for lunch and what ever other method for dinner and I'd be one happy camper!! Maybe it's a good thing that Dennis isn't a potato fan, and I don't make them nearly as often as I'd like to cuz I'd no doubt be twice my size by now from carb overload...happy but much fatter (hm...that silver lining isn't really working for me but it was worth a try). But...one of his favorite sides is the good ole Twice Baked Potato! Woo hoo!! Too much work to make very often so I save these yummies for special occasions, such as Easter. 

Twice Baked Potatoes have become a family tradition for Easter dinner. It's something Dennis's grandmother use to do and since she passed away I continued it. His aunt (bless her for kinda trying) made them for a while on Easter for the family but her heart wasn't into it. She didn't like them, and didn't make them well. I guess I can't blame her really (only sorta)...I mean, if you don't like something, it's hard to make it good, I guess (apparently pride wasn't an issue at all). So one year I offered to take over by explaining that if she didn't even like them or eat them, why go through the hassle, right? Aunt didn't argue (thank God cuz I would've had to argue back and I didn't really want to resort to insults....NO you can't make them anymore cuz they taste like SHIT when you do!!). Not a good way to start a holiday.  

So, I thought I'd share one of my favorite ways to eat potatoes with you. The measurements are not exact. You'll have to find what works best for you, how much of what ingredient you like lots of or little of. I think the kind of potato you use will also affect how much liquid you add to make them creamy...so add a bit at a time until you get the desired consistency. I like mine creamy, but by no  means overly wet. But, potatoes are pretty forgiving so don't stress over it. 

Speaking of stressing over Twice Baked Potatoes.....oh wait...I'll tell you the story afterwards.

So...here are the basic ingredients, per Betty Crocker. I'll let you know what I do differently:

Prepare and bake 4 large potatoes

1/3 to 1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of pepper

Shredded cheddar cheese

My additions: 

crumbled bacon

4 or more green onions sliced

A couple of tablespoons of sour cream

Don't forget to poke holes in the potatoes with a fork...several times, before you bake them. It's no fun to listen to one explode and then for the next 30 minutes smell all the little bits of splattered potato burn to a crisp until it looks like you have black dirt wads all over the inside of your oven.

While the potatoes are cooking, fry your bacon. I personally bake a whole bunch of smaller potatoes (I don't feel as bad eating 2 or 3 of them when they're small). So, I fry up the whole pound of bacon. I will sometimes chop up the bacon first, makes it easier to fry. I don't always use up all the bacon but with everyone sneaking bits of it every time they walk through the kitchen, I don't have to worry about it going to waste. 

Once the potatoes are done, and while they're still hot, cut lengthwise in half and carefully scoop out the inside, leaving a thin shell. I hold the potato in a pot holder with one hand as I scoop out the insides with a large spoon and set them in a lined cookie sheet. hmm... apparently I cooked 10 smaller potatoes. That fed 5 of us with a few leftover for lunch the next day.

Once all the potatoes are scooped out, add your butter. For the amount I cooked, I probably used 1/2 cup or so of butter. I pour the milk in a bit....whipped it and added more until the potatoes were creamy. I added the sour cream, salt and pepper, whipped, and then stirred in about a cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese. hmm...maybe that was closer to 2 cups of cheese (me likes the cheese).

Add your green onions and bacon...stir to combine. Go ahead...taste it. Does it need more salt and pepper? Make sure its how you like it cuz this is how its gonna taste on the table.

Fill each shell with your potato mixture and sprinkle more cheddar cheese on top. Now, you can do all this the day before and just cover it up and stick it in the fridge or you can put it in a 375' oven, uncovered for about 20 - 30 minutes, until the cheese is all melted.

Serve and Enjoy!

Ok...stressing over Twice Baked Potatoes....this might give you some insight on my determination and love for these things. One year I was getting ready to make my taters and I had to run to the store to exchange my rib roast (thats a story for another time). I asked my then 17 yr old daughter to finish frying the bacon for me while I was gone. Well, while I was at the store, on my way out the door (those irritating doors that blow so much air to keep the flies from getting in that you end up with pillow head instantly)...my cell phone rang: "Mom....are you still at the store?" "I'm just leaving, why?" "Well, I kinda burnt the bacon. Can you get some more?" You've got to be kidding me! Back in line I went with another pound of bacon. Then back through the tornado door and headed home. Fried up the bacon and had it off to the side while I whipped up the potatoes in a mega bowl. Dennis decided that it was a good time to empty the dishwasher. I didn't think so, but when someone's helping in the kitchen you learn to keep your mouth shut and deal with it. As he was putting the glasses away in the cupboard off to my left, a glass literally exploded in his hand! WTF? Who does that ever happen to?! He wasn't hurt but my whipped potatoes were in critical condition. Shards of glass all over the place. (the bacon was around the corner, safe and sound...whew)...but after several stunned seconds, it was obvious that the potatoes were not going to survive. Back to the store and the dreaded wind maker door (by now my hair is a total lost cause!)....and back to square one. Needless to say, the Twice Baked Potatoes eventually made it to the table and dinner was served. Way Late but way yummy.

Strawberry Pie

Everyone has heard the saying; "A face only a mother could love!". Yep....thats me and my pies! They really are not pretty, but I still love them. If you saw one at a pie sale, you'd pretend you didn't see it and buy the one next to it. Wanna know something that I just learned? When a mom has a baby, there is an overabundance of that "motherly love" hormone surging through her system. No matter what, she will think little William Churhill is the most beautiful baby on this planet. Seriously... the saying is way truer than you'd think. Anyways...then there's that other  saying..."It's not your looks that count, its what's inside that matters." (ya..tell that to Barbie, all beer and car commercials.....and the totally hot guy who never looked at you!). So...all this to say...if your mom says your gorgeous, get a second opinion!!

I absolutely love strawberries. Always have. But I really hate the traditional strawberry pie with that nasty glaze. ACK! (no offense Marie Calendars!) Therefore I was never a strawberry pie fan. UNTIL (dum da du dum!!!) I ran across this recipe on BakeSpace.com called Fresh Strawberry Pie. I read it and immediately new it was my dream come true (well, one of them anyway...I'm still waiting for that totally hot guy to look at me). Fresh strawberries baked in a pie just like any other fruit pie recipe! No fake, nasty glaze crap. YAY!! Thank you "sugarchic"!!! 

Fresh Strawberry Pie:

4 cups strawberries (sliced, halved...whatever)

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter (diced)

2 tablespoons flour

2 pie crusts

Preheat oven to 400'

Mix strawberries and sugar

Bake bottom pie shell, empty, for about 15 minutes or until dough bubbles. This will help keep the crust from getting soggy. (not a fan of soggy pie crusts...another major plus for this recipe)

Sprinkle flour over baked shell

Pour strawberry mixture  over flour: 

mmmm.....strawberries!!!

Arrange butter over strawberries

Use second pie shell to cover pie completely (with vent holes), or whatever you prefer to do with your top shell.

awww....cute little heart vents :)

Bake pie for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and brown (may want to put a cookie sheet underneath to catch the gooey drips.)

Ok....I'm not very experienced with this pie stuff. I made the crust from scratch. That took me 2 tries this time. My first attempt was a mess. It never got out of the bowl for rolling. Btw...I'd blog about making a pie crust, but I'm not good enough to give advice on that. I could probably do one saying "what NOT to do when making a pie crust" except I have no idea what I did that messed up the first crust. It was so wet...like modeling clay with too much water on it. When I was "cutting" the shortening into the flour, it stuck together instead of making those little pea sized balls. I must of totally f'd up and added something twice.

Anyways....the second attempt came out better. Nice and flakey (I've read that flakey is a good thing if you're a pie crust. Not so good if you're a person). 

BUT WAIT!!! I have a question!!! 

If you are reading this and you're considered by some, a pie crust making expert....I need some advice. When you partially pre-cook the bottom shell, how in the hell do you attach the top shell along the edges and make it all pretty and stick together? 

Banana Nut Bread

I've been making Banana Nut Bread for close to 20 years. So today my husband asks me if I'm going to make some cuz we had a ton of overripe bananas. Sure.... No biggy. Famous last words. Do you know what happens when you do something without really thinking but in the back of your mind that little voice is saying, "You've never done it this way before"...but the front of my mind is saying, "so...wft? you got a point? What difference is it going to make?!". Well, I guess it makes a big difference. The recipe says to mix all the ingredients together and then to beat for 30 seconds. For some reason....today I beat all the ingredients together and ignored the 30 second rule. What I got was a loaf of Banana Bread that sunk and was still soggy in the middle. Oh man...was I pissed. I mean, the house smelled good and everything! Thank God I had lots more smooshie bananas and I was able to do it again....the RIGHT WAY!! 

btw...the picture above looks like shit. I need to learn to wear my glass while taking pictures cuz without my glass the picture looks ok....when I put ON my glasses, it looks like shit. I mean...worse than most of my pictures LOL

Ok...so here's my ancient 25+ year old Betty Crocker Banana Nut Bread recipe :)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 1/4 cups mashed banana

1 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350'

Grease bottom only of a loaf pan, 9 x 5 x 3, or 2 loaf pans, 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5. 

Mix all ingredients; beat 30 seconds

Pour into pan(s). 

Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean (9" pan 65-70 minutes, 8" pan 60 - 65 minutes)

Cool slightly. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove from pan. Cool Completely before slicing.

To store, wrap and refrigerate no longer than 1 week. 

Dessert Anyone?

Dessert....something sweet and satisfying that completes a meal, or on rare occasions begins a meal, and will sometimes become the meal (hee hee). 

My daughter and her friend decided to bake tonight. This pile of yumminess was the first of several items on the agenda. Sorry about the bite out of the "model", I wasn't thinking....first instinct was to shove it in my mouth and experience all that chocolate blissfulness. Second instinct was....get the camera so I can blog about it and share my delight! 

What we have here are 2 Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies with Triple (yes, I said triple) Chocolate Ice Cream in the center......creating the tingling of multiple senses..... I mean, fresh out of the oven cookies!! (you can smell them in every room of my house).  Nothing beats the taste of a warm cookie just baked. Oh....did I mention that instead of using the regular chocolate chips, the girls used those chocolate chunks? Talk about masses of melted chocolate in every bite. Then you add the cool, refreshing, barrage of lots of cold chocolate in the center to counter the warmth and let me tell you...there's lots of different kinds of melting going on in your mouth. 

In my house we use the Toll House recipe except for one change. Instead of 1 cup of butter, we use 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening. I'm sure most (if not all) of you have the recipe but I'm going to post it anything. 

(almost) Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 shortening

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (am I the only one that "accidently" spills a little more vanilla than whats required?)

2 eggs

2 cups (12 oz) chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts (I've never added nuts to the cookies...dont' want to distract from the chocolate!!!)

Preheat over to 375'

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl, combing butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, beat until creamy

Beat in eggs. 

Gradually add flour mixture. 

Stir in chocolate chips (and nuts if you must)

Drop by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls (ya right!!!) onto ungreased cookie sheet

Bake 9-11 minutes. 

And I won't even tell you how many this is suppose to make cuz it never happens.

To Salad or to Anti-Salad

Salad. Rabbit food. First course. When you go out for dinner and the waitress asks you...soup or salad, most people choose salad. But you get those pathetic plate-bowls of semi-wet lettuce, a tomato, maybe shredded carrots and a few croutons with your choice of dressing. No wonder I got use to drowning my salads in dressing.....what else is there to taste, really? When I was a kid, it was my job to make the salad for dinner....hated it!!! But at least we added green onions to the mix (wooo hooo). You might guess that salads are not my favorite thing to eat. My husband LOVES salad. argh. what to do what to do. When he says he wants ONLY salad for dinner....I start thinking...how can I sneak in a Big Mac and skip the salad without him noticing?

But wait....have you ever been to California Pizza Kitchen? They have the bestest ever salad...BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad. It has a gazzillion yummy things in it AND my most favorite dressing ever! I decided to mimic it at home with great success (ya..how hard is it to mimic a salad, right? LOL) So one day I was telling my friend about this great salad and all the stuff that's in it and he said..."that's not even a salad anymore!" wtf? So what is it? An anti-salad? But it still has tons of lettuce! Isn't that what a salad is all about? (rolls her eyes). 

Anyways....when you're dealing with the family dynamics and keeping everyone happy and satisfied, not even an "anti-salad" can do that. The kids love salads but they just don't love the same things in the salad. Happy happy joy joy. Now what? Uh huh....I know...we'll mimic someone else's idea. (ding ding ding). So, this buddy of mine in BakeSpace (come on, don't tell me you don't know about BakeSpace.com!!! Get with it man!) was talking about what she was making for dinner one night and listed all this stuff she was setting out for all her kids to make their own salad.....(Sizzler anyone?) omg....a homemade salad bar! DUH! I totally didn't even think about that. Plus all the extra stuff she set out that I totally forgot about. What was my mind stuck on? Stupid? Sooo...I have named this salad after my BakeSpace buddy...Joy. If you see my refrigerator posted menu and you see Joy's Salad...you'll know what I'm talking about :)

I did add some stuff to what she originally listed (thats the beauty of making your own salad bar). You can see here that I have a bowl of lettuce and spinach, red and yellow bell peppers, a couple of kinds of cheese (cheddar and crumbled queso fresco), sliced mushrooms, chopped bacon, grapes, hard boiled egg, avocado, tortilla strips (in the bag), shredded chicken breast, cucumber, olives and red and green onion. Pick and choose....everyones happy. I did forget to chop up some cilantro....and some banana chips would've been really fun. Hey...just think about what you love to see at your favorite salad bar and go for it. 

By the way...salad bars at restaurants kinda gross me out now. The thought of all those strange people going through the food (and the sneeze shield does not help ease my mind)....just really bugs me now. All the more reason to make your own. Sizzler, eat your heart out! 

And now for the REALLY good stuff. The after dinner drink....hee hee. Have you ever had Limoncello? It's a very sweet lemon liqueur from Italy. If you liked those lemon drop candies as a child...you'll love this! It tastes just like it (only it has a major kick to it....yee haw!). If it's too sweet....add it to a glass of ice tea or something. I'm thinking about getting a bottle of champagne and mixing the two for Easter! But for now...I'm sipping a small glass (that I refill often) with Limoncello straight up. Oh..it's important to seriously chill this stuff in the freezer...YUM!

By the way...I'm not, by any means saying this goes with the dinner I had tonight...its just the drink I happened to have after dinner. ;)

oh oh oh....I almost forgot. Don't go yet. Did you know you can make your own Limoncello? Something I seriously want to try sometime....ya baby!!! Another BakeSpace Bud of mine did it....with great success....he's kinda like our own personal Alton Brown. (if you gotta ask who that is...lets put it this way....the cooking worlds version of Phil Nye the Science Guy). Anyways, if you're interested, check out Shane's Limoncello :)

BakeSpace Giveaway

Who doesn't love KitchenAid? Have you ever longingly admired one of those $250.00 mixers at the store? There's an awesome give away at my favorite website, BakeSpace.com where you can win one for free! How cool is that? You can read about it here: contest rules and info. It's easy. No hassles, just a chance to win the bestest mixer ever!!!

Now let me tell you a little about BakeSpace. Don't be fooled by the name...its not only for baking (I rarely "bake").  It's for cookers, bakers, eaters.....of all levels and interests. I've been a member for almost 2 yrs now and I love the recipes, the people, and just everything about it. 

BakeSpace isn't your typical recipe site. Sure it has a "kitchen" where you post and share your recipes , but it also has a forum where you get to meet other members, and I think thats where I benefit the most (and have waaaaay too much fun). The peeps there are great. We have people in there of all levels and no pretentiousness at all. If you have a question (and believe me I've had lots of them and many silly ones) there is someone who can answer it. 

We have several topics we discuss. One of the daily threads is where we talk about what we're all cooking for dinner. If you need inspiration or ideas...thats the place to go. Btw....hot dogs and chips isn't unseen...so just because you may not be a fancy schmancy cook, doesn't mean you don't belong. We have a thread called Happy Hour where we just talk about anything and everything from strep throat to trash day and anything else that pops up. We even have a Wine Club where we pick a wine each month and write a review on what we think of it. I've learned a lot about wine in there and let me tell ya...not a single wine snob among them. Oh...one more topic that I really enjoy....our monthly challenge. We pick something new each month and cook/bake whatever theme food or ingredient list thats decided and post pictures and recipes. (I'll blog about my challenge this month. If you want to participate, please feel free to do so by visiting the BakeSpace Test Kitchen). And thats just some of what goes on at BakeSpace. One more thing...its ADDICTING!

So...if you're not already a BakeSpace addict...whatcha waiting for? I just gave you tons of great reasons why you should be!