Blog Archives
Sammich Pr0n
We haven’t featured one of these in a while – found a packet of pastrami tucked away in the freezer so I put together reubens. We like the thousand island as a dip.
Mmm… Reuben
My 30 day timer let me know it was time to check the sauerkraut I had working on the counter top. Much success! I celebrated the occasion by baking a loaf of rye bread and thawing a baggie of pastrami for reubens. I’ve taken to putting out a small bowl of thousand island as a dip rather than trying to pour it directly on the sammich. I think that works best but YMMV.
Sammich Pr0n – Pastrami Reuben
Here’s a nice reuben sammich on rye that was made in our bread machine. It’s a fairly simple recipe that works very well every time for us. I experimented a little by adding a tablespoon of molasses to this batch. I can’t say I noticed much of a difference.
Got Reuben?
I picked up some corned beef while at the market getting those whole chickens to smoke. We haven’t had fresh pastrami for a while and it seemed a waste to roll out the smoker just for the poultry. I left it going after removing the chicken and replaced them with the corned beef I had rolled in a pastrami rub. The pastrami seasoning is just my basic rub but with extra coriander, ground black pepper, and juniper berries. The juniper berries are optional but I think they work well.
This one is sliced with the grain, exactly wrong! Slice across the grain! I salvage these slices by the expedient method of chopping them up.
I like to pile the pastrami on a skillet and top with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut, add some sauerkraut juice to the pan and simmer it with a cover to melt the cheese.
Scoop the hot pastrami onto a lightly toasted piece of rye bread and squeeze on thousand island dressing, serve with a pickle.
Sammich Pr0n- Corned Beef
![20160118_152117[1] (1600x1060)](https://whats4dinnersolutions.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/20160118_1521171-1600x1060.jpg)
I put this photo up the other day as a riff on using the cold weather to cool baked items. It’s a loaf of rye bread. When it cooled thoroughly I wrapped it and placed it into the freezer until today.
A decent looking loaf! I used it to serve up some reuben sandwiched for lunch:
Friday Recipe Exchange: Garden Bounty
Carving by Eddie Running Wolf of Boulder, Photo from Times-Call
I am completely slammed again this week. Though I am hoping to escape early today and head out to Chainsaws and Chuckwagons to see some of the artists. We take our old tree stump carving very seriously here. Since I didn’t have time to cook this week, I decided to raid JeffreyW’s recipes and photos.
Let’s start with his Stuffed Anaheim Peppers, pictured above and recipe here
Then there is his Homemade Sauerkraut, for instructions click here.
I bought ribs on sale and am going to make my slow-cooker Polynesian Ribs this weekend, the complete dinner menu and recipes are here. Even if I can’t find time to cook, these are easy and quick.
JeffreyW took some of his garden harvest and made a fresh batch of Hot Giardiniera last week, click here.
Have any recipes to share using fresh from the garden bounty? What’s your recipe for fun this holiday weekend? Cooking up anything special?
I picked two featured recipes tonight, both taking advantage of fresh garden veggies and herbs, like JeffreyW’s lush basil, above. They are simple and quick to make, so you can get back outside to take advantage of the last unofficial weekend of summer.
Pasta w/Fresh Basil
- 10 oz bow-tie pasta
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch basil (1 loose cup)
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
saucepan
Cook pasta in saucepan according to package directions. Drain well. In saucepan, heat oil, basil, tomatoes and sauté for 1 minute, add pasta and toss with cheese. Serve immediately.
Collard Greens w/ Bacon
- 4 slices bacon
- 6 green onions, chopped
- 1 bunch collard greens (or spinach)
- 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- salt & pepper to taste
skillet, saucepan, steamer
Wash collard greens. In skillet, cook bacon till crisp, remove, cool and crumble. In bacon drippings, sauté onions, remove. In saucepan, place steamer and enough water to come to the bottom of the steamer, add greens and steam until tender. Mix honey & vinegar, and a little of the bacon drippings if you like. Toss all ingredients together and serve.
Aren’t JeffreyW’s photos fun? I’m so lucky he came on board years ago. That’s it for this week. Have a safe and fun holiday weekend. – TaMara
Sammich Pr0n – Reuben
The local markets have been selling corned beef cheaper than hamburger lately. I’ve been grabbing them every time we go shopping. I like the traditional boiled dinner with cabbage and carrots but I think corned beef on rye is hard to top. My only complaint is they always use brisket for these so the slabs of cooked meat are thin.
Pumpernickel Pr0n – Reuben
Now and again the Kroger deli has pumpernickel rounds set out for sale. They are the best thing ever to hollow out and fill with a nice dill dip. Cube the bread you dug out and provide toothpicks so guests can dip the cut pieces. This time I sliced the round loaf and froze it so I could thaw a few slices at a time because I have a lot of corned beef coming ready. This sammy is made with a corned brisket that spent about 18 days in the brine, I have a whole top round brining right now, too. I think it’s a 12 pounder – Kroger had them on sale and I couldn’t resist. The last time I did a big cut it spent 30 days in the basement fridge and the middle was not quite as pink as I wanted to see it. The current hunk was injected with the brining solution so I think it’ll be OK when I take it out in a week or two.
Friday Recipe Exchange: Garden Harvest
We are raiding JeffreyW’s garden this week. He’s been busy in the garden this summer and coming up with some terrific meals, so I thought it would be the perfect topic for tonight’s recipe exchange.
Let’s start with his Stuffed Anaheim Peppers, pictured above and recipe here
He made another batch of Homemade Sauerkraut, instructions here.
Got tomatoes? JeffreyW does and he’s making me jealous.
Fresh Salsas for those tomatoes, here and here
And this photo of one of JeffreyW’s homemade pizzas with his fresh cherry tomatoes will make your mouth water.
Too Hot to Cook? I have slow-cooker Polynesian Ribs and complete dinner menu here.
What’s your recipe for fun this weekend? Cooking anything special? Share your harvest recipes (or any other recipes) in the comments. Would love to hear if you’re canning or freezing your summer bounty.
There are two featured recipes tonight, both taking advantage of fresh from the garden veggies. They are simple and quick to make, so you can get back outside to take advantage of the quickly diminishing summer days.
Pasta w/Fresh Basil
- 10 oz bow-tie pasta
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch basil (1 loose cup)
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
saucepan
Cook pasta in saucepan according to package directions. Drain well. In saucepan, heat oil, basil, tomatoes and sauté for 1 minute, add pasta and toss with cheese. Serve immediately.
Collard Greens w/ Bacon
- 4 slices bacon
- 6 green onions, chopped
- 1 bunch collard greens (or spinach)
- 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- salt & pepper to taste
skillet, saucepan, steamer
Wash collard greens. In skillet, cook bacon till crisp, remove, cool and crumble. In bacon drippings, sauté onions, remove. In saucepan, place steamer and enough water to come to the bottom of the steamer, add greens and steam until tender. Mix honey & vinegar, and a little of the bacon drippings if you like. Toss all ingredients together and serve.
If you’d like to see how I’m going to be spending my final weeks of summer, click here. That’s all for this week’s exchange, next Friday we’ll take advantage of the abundant peaches from Palisades, Colorado. – TaMara
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Tidbits
St Francis broke ground on a new building the other day. The dog in the floppy hat is named Zeus and has a nice story. He had a slight limp on the day he was rescued from a kill shelter but that limp soon turned into a severe problem where he couldn’t even walk. About all he could do is wag his tail but that was enough for the staff at St Francis. He was fostered by a physiotherapist and got the whole rehab treatment including sessions in a pool. He made steady progress and a year later he gets around pretty well. They aren’t sure what the malady was but they assume it was distemper.
We keep parsley in a couple of containers on the patio – one for garnishing and one for the swallowtail caterpillars that just love the stuff. I saw a caterpillar acting strange the other day but didn’t think much of it until I noticed that he had changed into a chrysalis.
The little silk band is all that holds him to the stalk. I knew very little about the life cycle other than caterpillar>[magic happens]>butterfly! Here is a very short time lapse Youtube video of the process. If I’m lucky I’ll get some photos when the butterfly emerges.
Moar kittehs! 
The batch of sauerkraut I mentioned starting last month is finished. It worked great with beef sausages and fried potatoes for dinner yesterday. The mason lid fermentation airlock gizmo worked well:
We’ve been streaming Scandal through Netflix and we like the show so far. Here Mrs J shares a little ice cream with Bitsy:
This post needs more sammiches!
Pulled pork with slaw and a nice bbq sauce. On the side is what the Kroger deli calls baked potato salad. Good stuff!
Filet of fish with slaw and tartar sauce. The sauce is doubly dill, it has dill pickle relish and dill weed in with the mayo, and lemon juice, horseradish, onions, and chopped parsley. Hushpuppies and baked beans round out the meal. Beenie Weenies!
