Dani's Cookbook - Page 3

[Junyah]

from the looks of the recipe and the ingredients ... It will be tasty .. and if you have fun with your food ... that makes it even taste betta!

[FireSBurnsmuP]

Alright here's an easy mid-west recipe: White-Castle Burgers. NO! we don't make them with a twentieth of a pounnd of meat like they do XD

You'll need a pound of beef, ( Doesn't matter how lean. )
and a package of onion soup mix.

Basically, mix the two together, then make patties out of the concoction, and grill or fry them. Delectable.

Alternative recipe:
If you either don't have or can't find onion soup mix, grind up one chicken or beef boullion cube (depends on preference and availability ) and add a Tblsp of dried or minced onions. If you're desperate, use onion powder.

trust me: I will never eat another regular burger if I have the choice.

[mattyd]

Russian Borscht and Beet Greens Salad with Balsamic Dressing

[Yiddish borsht, from Russian borshch, "cow parsnip" (the original base of the soup), borscht.]

This is a wonderful, rustic recipe for cold days such as these (it is low 20's here in NYC).

**NOTE: I rarely use proper measuring when cooking so you should estimate\modify this recipe for your preferences.

Ingredients

• 1 lb stew beef
• 3 large beets (fresh only)
• 1 large onion
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 cabbage
• 2 potatos
• 1 yam
• 1 tomato
• salt
• black pepper
• dill
• sugar
• sour cream
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• dill pickle
• Goat cheese (Feta)

Directions for Borscht

1. Peel and wash beets. Save top greens and stems for salad. Chop into small cubes. Place cubes in cold, salted water to soak while you prepare other ingredients.
2. Wash carrot, potatos, and sweet potato. DO NOT PEEL. Chop these into cubes.
3. Cut stew beef into nice-sized slice\cubes. In pan or wok heat olive oil and saute sliced onions, cabbage, and diced tomatos until tender. Place beef in this pan and brown on heavy flame with vegetables. The meat will emit broth; Spoon\drain this off and save into a seperate bowl for use as stock in Bortsch.
4. Begin to boil approximately 5-7 cups (give or take) of pure water in the pot you will be cooking the Borscht soup in.
5. When browned, remove meat and all vegetables into seperate bowl. Drain beets from salted water and place immediately into same pan\wok as meat was cooked and simmer to a medium boil.
6. When water in soup pot is at a boil add beets, meat, and all remaing vegetables. This is your Borscht.
7. Allow to cook at a slow simmer for at least 2 hours (I cook mine for 3-4 hours to ensure a good flavor meld and texture enrichment.
8. Add a few pinches of salt, pepper, and a small teaspoon of sugar. Stir. (you will need to monitor and adjust the spices\sugar over the cooking time to suit your tastes)
9. Add reserved beef broth.
10. Stir as often as possible.
11. Allow to cool for 15-minutes after cooking is done and heat is removed.
12. Serve in a bowl with a dollop of sour cream on top and a decent dash of dill spice.

Beet Greens Salad and Balsamic Dressing

• In food processor add 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar, a dash of salt, and one dill pickle. Pulse-process this until well-incorporated together.
• While running food processor at a continuous rate (not pulsed) introduce 1/4 cup olive oil SLOWLY-- that is, drizzle the oil into the vinegar slowly and at an even rate or the solution will "break" and not set up properly as a mixed dressing.
• Wash and nicely cut the reserved beet greens removing any dense or overly-hard areas of the stems.
• Serve with Balsamic dressing drizzled over greens with goat cheese.

[jbennet]

wtf is a yam?

[mattyd]

wtf is a yam?

A yam is also known as a "sweet potato" in my country-- depends on what area of the States one lives in. I think the South calls them sweet potatos, the North, "yams". Or vice verse. I am from Ohio, originally-- I always call them yams. ;)

[jbennet]

ah yes, sweet potato. thats what we call it here. There nice mashed with butter and orange

[Junyah]

The White Castles are Onolicious (yummy)

Borscht sounds good also ... but you know I gotta have at least a small bowl of rice when I try it.

Yams, Sweet Potatoes, and Taro are a staple in my diet.. Have you ever tried boiling yam leaves as a green?

[mattyd]

Have you ever tried boiling yam leaves as a green?

Not yet, but I want to. I love all greens with a bit of brown sugar and some fatback (or bacon) cooked in with it.:) I have been eating a lot of plantains lately fried in wine and lime juice (so good) and fried banannas Cuban-style. Delicious. Fried food is great. ;)

And Whitecastles-- I grew up on them and still love them! Whenever I eat there I practically overdose on them. :cheesy:

Matty

[The Dude]

Here is one of the most delicious recipes my mom ever makes (I love this so much)

Ingredients:

1/2 chopped green pepper (1/2 of a pepper chopped up)
1/2 chopped onion (1/2 of an union chopped up)
1/2 lb ground beef
1 lb can tomatoes
6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 lb mostaccioli noodles
1/2 lb velveeta cheese
bay leaf
1 Jar of Ragu Speghetti Sauce (The "Flavored with Meat" Kind) (32oz Jar)

Prep:

In oil,saute onion & pepper until tender. Add meat & cook until brown. Stir in tomatoes,tomato paste,water,salt,pepper,bay leaf. Add Ragu Speghetti Sauce, Simmer.

Cook Mostaccioli noodles as directed. Cut Velveeta in thin slices.
In a 2qt casserolo,arrange alternate layers of noodles,sauce and cheese.

Bake @ 350 for 30 mins

The Result:

The Best tasting dish you'll ever have!!!!!!!!!

I hope many will enjoy this as much as I do...............

[Junyah]

Oh! It's hard to train with all these recipes ... beeg time comfort food, winter food.

DUDE! I just came from a pasta feed at church this weekend .. they had Penne and Meat Sauce..I'll have to try cookin da pasta recipe of your moms in a couple of weeks after my PT test.. I'm almost 50 and I can't beleive i'm takin a LE (PD), Fire and lifeguard tests 8} Even though I'm teaching now ...I gotta keep all my EMS Cert. current ...

Mattyd - when i'm training ... all I eat is greens and a little rice .. and a small portion of protein you made me remember about plantains.... A friend of mine was nicaraguan .. her mom used to make the best stew/ soup and they had plantains as a side w/ rice.

Yup! when I was a pooh college kid ... i used to cook whatever greens were on sale and what taro tops i grew.. and cooked them up with a ham hock or bacon.. I'd serve that with rice and what fish I caught and sweet potatoes, yams or taro. The girl I was going with then and here friends would come over to my apt. and eat..
I would do the ramen thing for lunch ... but I had to have cheap filling dinners.

I still eat like that but of course less salt now a days. oh! and I used smoked turkey wings instead. I use brown sugar too .. it takes the edge off bitter greens.

[mattyd]

Green and Rice-- good stuff. I eat rice almost ever day sometimes -- it is a staple and so good for me. Real rice, rinsed and washed. We buy it in 20 lb sacks. It lasts forever.

I lived in Texas when I was going to school for software engineering a few years ago. Had a lot of Southern foods; a lot of greens, ham\pork, biscuits and gravy (which I love!), pecan pie, and chicken -fried-chicken with gravy on top. I did not like the environment of Texas so well but I love the Southern food especially the Black Soul food. Delicious, filling, and fattening. Lord knows I need to gain weight. ;)

I cook alot but my girlfriend cooks more often for me-- real Spanish food (not that Tex-Mex stuff that I cannot even stomach) She fattens me up with the plantains, rice, ribs, porkchops, guave pastries, bananas, soups, pasta, - you name it she cooks it. We eat a lot of Middle Eastern food too-- hummus, grapeleaves, pita bread. Anything curried, too. We also love to bake homemade bread-- there's nothing like that-- add some pancake mix to the flour, eggs, and yeast and you have some of the bread, warm bread EVER.

Cheers,
Matty D

[RwCC]

Here are a few "good" meals for us students. Exact cooking times and quantities are not included here, mainly because I make this stuff "on the fly" depending on how I want it.

Take 1 tin of Campbells Meatballs (or any other brand)
1 or more crusty rolls
Cheese - any type
Pepper

Now, cook the meatballs with some pepper and slap it into the rolls. Cover in cheese and wait for it to melt. Cheap, quick, easy and rather tasty after a night out.

Another one is what I like to call the Heart Stopper.

Take 1 bag of any flavour chrisps
Take a small amount of butter
A few slices of thick cut bread
1 tin of beans
2 eggs
Bacon
Curry powder

Now, what you want to do is put the butter into a pan. Then add your crisps. Cook them until they are slightly soggy from the butter. Then add the beans to this mixture, along with some curry powder (feel free to leave this out). Another good tip is to add some extra tomato sauce just to get it much tastier :)

Whilst you are doing this fry both the eggs and the bacon. Once the eggs are cooked, I break the yoke and pour it all over the bread. I then eat the white on it's own.

Next take your bacon and layer it on the bread, followed straight after by the beans/crisps mix. Now it's a race against time to eat this baby before the bread melts. After you finish this you can take on the world!

It is a good idea to have a few cocktail sticks to hold this bad boy together though. Plus every so often I like to shake it up a notch by adding loads of chips to it :)

[christina>you]

Wow this thread makes me incredibly hungry.
Looks like we have a lot of cooks on DaniWeb. ;)

[Junyah]

Aloha Miss Christina welcome to the "Foodie thread~!

WOW! Looks like I missed a couple of recipes! Anyway .. passed all my Physical tests so i can try to cook some of these recipes and eat them :)

I gotta get back some of my winter fat ... It's colder here that it is in HI.

Matty and RW the recipes sound great .. Is the heart stopper breakfast or a late nite snack for an all niter.

[RwCC]

Whichever you want, I normally made it the morning after a big night out. But it's good at anytime ;)

[christina>you]

Aloha Miss Christina welcome to the "Foodie thread~!

Thanks :)

[frick123]

Many thanks for the valuable information.
Thanks again for your time!

[Junyah]

What's Cooking? Been away for awhile eating hospital food for two months.

[jbennet]

Oh im sorry to hear that. I hope you are better now? :)

[Serunson]

I am parcial to Choclolate shortcake biscuity things ~
oh they are gd! :cool:

[Junyah]

Thanks JB, I'm recovering welll and I been eating .."Real Food".. and Serunson gave me a food idea "Chocolate" I can just have a small amout .. but its all good.

[Junyah]

I wuz lookin again at your recipes ... theyed be great for fishn' and car camping food.

My friends and I like going "car/truck camping" off season in californias winter. There is hardly anyone in the parks when there's a little rain and we have the campsites all to ourselves... when the rain stops is normally when we take short hikes. The meatballs and the heartstopper could be cooked on a little stove on a truck tail gate... I'll have to try it next winter.

[jbennet]

Mmm. You are makeing me feel hungry :)

[didier-fr]

The french "Provence tomatoes"
Very simple...

Ingredients:
8 tomatoes
White garlic: 25/30 grams
Bunch of parsley
Breadcrumbs
Olive oil: 1/2 spoon per tomato

Wash tomatos.
Cut into two or discs.
Add the olive oil 1/2 spoon by tomato.
Add salt and pepper.

Peel the garlic
(Note: The interior stem of garlic must be removed)
Mix the garlic and the parsley and spread out over all the surface of tomatos.
Spread out breadcrumbs
Add an olive oil gout on each tomatoes
Cooking 35 minutes, has 200° C

It is ready.

[gracejjss]

many thanks for the valuable information

[ndeniche]

what about something from my native country, Honduras?

CATRACHITAS (kahttrahcheetahs if you want the proper spanish pronunciation :P)

Ingredients:
Corn tortillas (like the mexican ones, for those who don't know what they are)
Fried beans
Cheese (i guess any sour cheese would be fine, and by sour i mean not sweet, even worse any fancy cheese... the less you know how they made it, the better!!! :twisted:)

First, fry the tortillas in vegetable oil, until its crunchy... (yummy)

Next, spread some fried beans to your fried tortilla.

To finish, just add some crumbled cheese to the top of your fried-beans-spread-fried -tortilla, and... voilá... catrachitas... simple, but really good...

[ndeniche]

uuuu... and i just remembered...

here's my world famous recipe:

Ingredients:
flour
water
cheese (any cheese that will melt is fine)
margarine

First, make your flour tortillas, since it tastes better with fresh tortillas... (if you buy them made it doesn't matter)... this, you can do by adding enough water to your flour, until you get a heavy dough... make handfull-sized balls of this dough and expand them, so you can cook your tortilla...

once cooked, in another pan, melt about 1/4 bar of margarine.

Put your tortilla in the margarine and add enough cheese to fill your tortilla. Fold your tortilla in half and wait until it has a golden color on both sides...

presto! you can eat your hot flour tortilla with cheese fried in margarine (which is the name of my recipe... i was short of imagination at that time... :D)

[christina>you]

Oooo that sounds good, Nichito!

[ndeniche]

if i wouldn't have decided to study computer science... i would have been a chef!!!

or maybe i can be both...:P

i only hope dani has tried any of the dishes recommended here... 'cause if not, she's sooo missing it...

[hamada_1990]

my favourite is ..........................put a frozen pizza in an oven lol