Breakfast Tacos

This morning, I wanted tacos and I wanted breakfast. These breakfast tacos were what I came up with.

Makes 4 tacos

Ingredients:
- 8 small corn tortillas
- 4 eggs
- 4 slices bacon
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- Sweet and spicy salsa (I used Sweet Jalapeno dressing)
- Sliced cheese (I used Jarlsberg, but most anything would be fine)

Method:

1. Fry the bacon to whatever level of done-ness you like (I like it crispy!)
   
   
2. When the bacon is almost done (about 4 minutes away), fry the eggs. Put 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a pan, and let it get hot over medium high heat. Crack the eggs into the pan, trying to keep the egg together. It will spread out, but do the best you can. Cook the eggs for 2 to 3 minutes, until the whites are almost all the way solid and the yolk is starting to cook on the top. Don't cook the eggs all the way in the pan because they will continue to cook even when they're off the heat.
   
3. After you take the eggs out of the pan, heat up the tortillas in the same pan. Stack the tortillas on top of each other, and put them in the hot pan, flipping once after about a minute.

Assemble the tacos:

1. Take two tortillas, stacked on top of each other.
   
2. Put in one fried egg, and one piece of bacon (break it into two pieces).
   
3. Top the bacon with the cheese, salsa, and sour cream.
   

Enjoy!

Above: Breakfast tacos!
Below: Close-up of the finished product.

Shepherd's Pie

I created this version of Shepherd's Pie with the intention of making it on the weekend and reheating it during the week. But, it smelled too good, and I couldn't wait to eat it!

Ingredients:

- 4 large Russet or Idaho potatoes
- 3 T olive oil
- 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or stew beef chunks
- 1 large onion
- 3 large carrots
- 3 celery stalks
- 4 large cloves garlic
- 3 T flour
- 3 T butter
- 2/3 cup shredded cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Peel and cut potatoes. Put them in a large pot of cold water. (Yes, cold water. Starting the potatoes in cold water allows them to cook more evenly). Put the water and potatoes on the stove to boil.
   
2. Start a large saucepan over medium high heat with 1 T of the olive oil. Once it's hot, add the ground beef. Cook until heated all the way through (no pink remains).
   
   
3. Meanwhile, cut the onion, carrots, garlic, and celery. Reserve on a plate.
   
4. Once the beef is browned, remove the beef to a plate, but leave the remaining oil and beef juice in the saucepan.
   
5. Add the veggies to the saucepan, cooking for 7 to 10 minutes until the veggies are softened.
   
   
   
6. Once the veggies are cooked, sprinkle the flour on top of the veggies. Heat and stir until the flour has been thoroughly mixed with the remaining liquid.
   
7. Add 1 cup of room temperature water to the pot. Stir, until the flour and water have combined. Add 1 more cup of water and stir.
   
   
   
8. Heat the water, beef, and veggies until the water starts to slow boil.
   
   
9. Meanwhile, drain and mash the potatoes. Stir in the butter, 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
   
   
   
10. Put the beef mixture into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the beef. Spread the potatoes into a layer with a greased spatula.
    
    
11. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the pie.
    
    
12. Put a piece of foil on top of the pie, tenting it so that it does not touch the cheese.
    
13. Put the pie into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until the remaining liquid has been absorbed into the pie.
    
14. Once the liquid is absorbed, or you're ready to eat, switch the broiler on, remove the foil from the pie, and brown the cheese. Keep a close watch on this. You can pop open the over to watch once the broiler gets hot.
    
15. Remove the pie from the oven, and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Once the pie has rested, enjoy!
    
    

Pork Ribs, Smoker Style

For Labor Day, I wanted to make pork ribs, but didn't want dry ribs. I decided to use a vinegar-based "mop", which I used to baste the pork ribs every 30 minutes.

To start:
Make a fire using charcoal or wood logs.

• We have a backyard smoker, so I used oak logs. You'll be waiting until the fire has mellowed to a low flame.
  
• You'll also want to make sure your smoker/grill/fire pit has a lid. This isn't necessary, but it will help you control the fire temperature and add more smokey flavor to the ribs.

Meanwhile:
Prepare the ribs. I used pork back ribs, St. Louis style. Baby back ribs are nice, but too small for me, and country-style ribs are too big.

• If you have the time, put a dry rub on the ribs the night before and let them sit in the fridge overnight.
  
• If you don't have the time, put a dry rub on the ribs as early as you can.
  
• Take the ribs out of the fridge about an hour before you're going to cook them (about when you've put the logs on the fire).
  

Ingredients:
- 3 racks of St. Louis pork ribs

Vinegar mop:
- 1 cup vinegar (I used white vinegar, but apple cider vinegar would be excellent)
- 1 T chili powder
- 1 T garlic powder
- 1 T onion powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 T salt
- 1 T black pepper

In a small sauce pan, heat the vinegar over medium heat with the other ingredients until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Set aside until you're ready to use it. Put it in a squirt bottle (like the ones they have at diners for ketchup) for easy application.

Dry Rub:
- 1/4 cup salt
- 2 T black pepper
- 2 T chili powder
- 1 T garlic powder
- 2 t cayenne pepper (if you like it spicy)

The flavors of the dry rub are really up to you. You could do a mole style rub with unsweetened chocolate, or a sweet rub with sugar. The possibilities are endless.

Ready to Grill?

• Once you're ready to grill, put the ribs on a platter and bring them to the grill.

• Stack the racks on top of each other on the grill (this lets the juice/flavor fall on to the lower racks of ribs and helps to keep them moist).
• After 30 minutes, rotate the racks, moving the bottom one to the top. Squirt the ribs with your mop, about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of mop.
  
• Every 30 minutes, rotate the ribs and add more mop.
  
• After about 2 hours, start checking the ribs for done-ness. They're done when you can rotate one of the rib bones and it starts to separate from the meat.
• When the ribs are done, remove them from the grill and let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Chop the ribs (I like to use a cleaver or anther heavy knife for this) and serve.
  
  
  

You may have noticed that I didn't put BBQ sauce on the ribs. I like to serve at least 3 sauces on the side of the ribs so that everyone can choose whatever flavor(s) they like. I use homemade BBQ sauce when I'm feeling up to it, or store-bought if I'm crunched for time.

Happy cooking!

Guacamole Burgers

ngredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
- 1/2 lb. ground pork
- 2 ripe avocados
- Juice of 1 lime
- Salt and pepper

1. In a large bowl, mix the beef, pork, and salt and pepper (to taste). Use a spoon, and don't mix the meat too much. If you overwork the meat, it won't be as delicious.

2. In a hot, large skillet, heat 1 T. of vegetable oil (canola, peanut, whatever, just not olive oil).

3. Divide the meat into four portions. Form each portion into a patty, making a round indent in the center to keep the burger from becoming a hockey puck.

4. Put your patties in the skillet, cooking about 7 min. per side (flipping once) for well-done.

Don't smash the patties! Don't use a spatula to press on the patties while they're cooking. It makes a nice sound, but you're really squeezing the liquid out of the meat, which leads to dry burgers. And nobody wants a dry hamburger!

5. While the patties are cooking, remove the avocados from their shell, and put them in a medium bowl. Add the lime juice, and salt to taste. You can also add cilantro if you're feeling fancy. Using a fork, mash the avocados and mix with the lime juice and salt.

6. When the burgers are almost done, toast your burger buns.

7. Assemble the burgers, putting the guacamole on one bun. Enjoy!

Napa Green Bean Salad

(It's called "Napa" salad because I got the ingredients for the dressing on a trip to Napa).

1 1/2 lbs. green beans and yellow beans
Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T Dijon mustard (the grainier, the better)*

*I used this pink, large grain mustard. I had never seen pink mustard before. It has a nice, mellow flavor, without being spicy (at all) like some Dijon mustards can be.

Boil pot of salted water. Add green beans and yellow beans. Prepare a bowl of ice water. Once the beans are cooked (about 5 min), transfer the beans to the ice water (putting them in ice water stops them from cooking, which keeps them from being overcooked and mushy).

While the beans are cooking, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper (to taste). There's no need to stream in the olive oil because the mustard will hold the rest of the dressing together.

Mix the blanched green beans with the dressing, and enjoy!

Pork Potstickers

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups roasted pork loin, cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 2 T soy sauce
- 1 T sesame oil
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- Wonton wrappers


1. In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients except for wonton wrappers. Pulse until mixture is chunky, but not pureed (we're not making pate here).
2. Put pork mixture into a bowl.

3. Set up your workspace. You'll need a large baking sheet or platter for the potstickers once you've made them, a bowl of water, and a clean, dry surface for folding (like a cutting board).

4. Lay out a wonton wrapper. Put about 1/2 T pork mixture in the center.
5. Wet one finger with the water, and wipe it along two edges of the wrapper.
6. Fold the wrapper over diagonally, to make a flat isoceles triangle. Squeeze out all the air from the middle and make a tight seal all the way around.
7. Pick the wonton up so the filling is facing the ceiling.
8. Poke in the filling part a little to make an indent.
9. Fold the two farthest-apart edges together, as if they were hands clapping.
10. Wet one "hand" of the wonton, and press it against the other "hand" to seal.
11. Repeat until you run out of filling or wrappers, whatever comes first.



These wontons can be either pan-friend in a high-heat oil (like canola or peanut), or steamed in a basket. They also freeze beautifully (just put them on a baking sheet in the freezer, once frozen, move them to a plastic bag); just pan-fry or steam to reheat them.

Happy eating!