Picadillo, Hat-tip to Cynnie at Waitting For Life To Start...

Another cuban dish..
make a sofrito ( onions , green peppers chopped and sauteed in olive oil...throw in some minced garlic after the onions get tender)

then throw in a pound or two of hamburger .

squish it around and get it fried and crumbly..

add a bunch of cumin powder and oregano then add tomato sauce, paste or just canned tomatoes..whichever or all 3 ..

chop some olives up and capers if you have them..
or leave them out if you want ..

I know ..it's pretty much sloppy joes.but make some rice or put it on bread.. it's so good ( pronounced pee-kah-dee-ah) enjoy!

I'm Cynnie at Waitting for Life To Start

Okay, I LOVE stuff like this, true cooking required!

What do you do with your leftover turkey?

This recipe is care of Old Farmer's Almanac...
Turkey Hash
2 cups diced cooked turkey
2 cups diced cooked potatoes
3 tablespoons finely chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper, to taste
1 cup turkey gravy
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Turn into a large greased casserole, cover, and bake for 45 minutes. In the last 15 minutes, remove the cover to brown the top.

A favorite of mine is, Open Face Turkey Sandwiches;
Take a sprayed cookie sheet, line up as many slices as you have people, make it unhealthy, use white bread! LOL! Actually, potato bread is excellent.
Place a thin slice of cranberry sauce on each slice, cover with sliced turkey, top with either leftover dressing or mashed potatoes, top that with whatever veggie you served; asparagus, broccoli or green beans and slather on some gravy!
Place under the broiler until bubbly...then enjoy!

Now, share some of your favorites!

My Barbecue sauce recipe.

Here is one for your Labor day Barbecue.

Hammer's homemade barbecue sauce.

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 tsb vegetable oil

1tsp mustard powder

1tsp garlic powder

1tsp paprika

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp milled black pepper.

1/8 tsp ground cumin

A food processor or blender helps to get all the flavors mixed well.

I put this on wings, ribs, hot dogs, etc..

Chicken piccata

Here is an easy recipe that is inexpensive and very tasty.

4 (4-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup white wine
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, quartered
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/8 cup drained capers

Place chicken in zip-lock bags and pound with a rolling pin until 1/4-inch thick. Remove chicken from bag and season with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute 2 minutes per side. Add lemon juice, wine, paprika garlic artichoke hearts, mushrooms and capers.
Simmer until chicken is cooked through and mushrooms are soft. the artichoke hearts should fall apart and be incorporated with the other ingredients.

You can serve this with white or brown rice and this goes especially well with wilted spinach.

Brisket

I've been experimenting with brisket. I had no idea what I was doing at first but after some experimentation the results are quite good.

Find a good sized brisket about 5 to 8 pounds and make sure it has a good thick fat layer 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick on one side.

Place the brisket in a large glass cake pan or cassarole dish, salt and pepper both sides and sprinkle liberally with garlic powder and paprika. cover and refrigerate from 2 to 8 hours.

From here you can make it in the oven, on the barbecue pit or smoker.

Here's my quick method.
Start soaking the wood you are going to smoke with in a bowl of water.

Lay your brisket on the grill over the hottest part of the coals and cook it for 90 seconds on each side. this will seal in the juices. Then wrap the brisket in two layers of heavy duty foil fat side up with enough extra foil to leave the top partially open but not let the juices out.

Move the brisket away from the coals to a part of the grill where it can get indirect heat (if you don't have a smoke box) and place your wood in a perforated pie tin so it can sit on top of the coals and begin to smoke.

Close the lid and let it smoke for an hour. After an hour, carefully flip the brisket in the foil and smoke for one more hour adding more wood and coals if necessary.

Then close the foil and let brisket cook covered over low indirect heat for another 90 min.

Oven method: wrap tightly in heavy duty foil and cook 4 hours on the top rack at 200 degrees.

When cutting, make sure to slice against the grain of the meat. This will make for a very tender pieces.

Optionally you can pour the juices from the foil into a bowl and mix with 1 1/2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce and pour over the top of the sliced meat. However many folks like theirs plain.

Enjoy!

DO YOU LIKE SWEET TATERS?

of course the foliage is absotively beautiful!

but, did you know that you can pluck the greenery from the potato, stick it into some soil and in about two months have your very own sweet potatoes?

first you'll need a sweet potato - next you'll need to poke a bamboo skewer through it's midsection and place it into a tall cup or jar of water, remembering to keep water in it up midway until the greenery comes on.

when you have done this and your greenery appears, wait until each frond is about eight to ten inches long, pluck it off and stick it about two to three inches into a large pot of loose soil. indoors in the winter, moving the pot outdoors in the warmer months.

it takes about two months to realize your crop and you'll need to put on a pair of rubber gloves and dig down into the soil to check on the progress of the tater - we like ours to be at least six inches in length and about as big around as a half dollar for frying. larger for boiling or baking.

some benefits of sweet potatoes!

frying:

place about two tablespoons of canola (or other good oil) into a frying pan - put four cups of scrubbed and sliced sweet potatoes (unpeeled) into hot oil - fry until tender and serve. you may also add midway through whatever spices you'd like.

if you'll notice - the sweet potatoes DO NOT absorb any of the oil - i thought it was magic at first, but they just don't get greasy - most of the oil is left standing right in the pan! TOSS IT!

remember when frying sweet potatoes with other potatoes - they get done quicker than the other potatoes so slice them twice as thick.

ENJOY!

WHITE FISH/CHEESE BAKE

this is best prepared with one and a half inch halibut steaks. you may, however, use other white fish which tends to be much thinner - in this case double layer them.

make sure your fish is washed in cold water and dried thoroughly with paper towels, squeeze fresh lemon on the fish and rub it in. this is also a procedure i use with most fish whether caught or store bought.

this is very fattening!

preheat oven to 350 degrees

four thick halibut steaks
2 cups real mayonnaise (NOT MIRACLE WHIP!)
2 cups shredded colby/jack cheese
2 tbls. minced garlic

place your steaks into the bottom of a slightly greased, shallow glass casserole dish - mix remaining ingredients together with a fork and spread evenly over fish steaks. place in oven for thirty minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. remove and allow to stand for five minutes before serving - easier to remove from pan this way.

while your fish is in the oven, prepare two to three cups of cous cous or rice - this goes under your fish when serving.

serve with lemon and/or dill and hotsauce or red pepper. although this is prepared for four people, it will serve six as it is very rich and filling.

FRIED CHEESE:

in a hot skillet, sprinkle quarter cup shredded colby/jack and let it sizzle and flip until you see most of the fat leaving the cheese and once the cheese looks like golden lace, remove from pan onto paper towels - this is soooooooo good and crunchy as a snack - i discovered this a few years ago when some cheese from another dish i was preparing dropped into the pan so i let it fry until it was crunchy and then plucked the little tidbits out and ate them - my oh my! so i thought it would be great in larger amounts and was i ever right.

Quick and easy curried potatoes and peas.

Curries are often overlooked in home cooking. This recipe is a fast and easy way to add exotic and rich flavors to some common ingredients.

Take one large baking potato and chop it into 1/2 inch cubes, put them in a bowl and microwave on high for about 5 minutes.

Slice one large onion into thin rings

Mince 4 cloves of fresh garlic

In a sauce pan add 2 tbs olive oil and 1/2 stick of butter.

Sautee the onions and garlic on medium heat while the potato is cooking.

Add the cooked potatoes to the pan.

Add one table spoon of curry powder (personally I prefer garam masala)

Lower the heat slightly and add 1 cup of frozen sweet peas

Carefully stir in 1 cup of heavy whipping cream or half an half.

Blend all the ingredients over medium low heat for 2 more minutes

This dish is best served with roasted chicken or pork chops.

BROWN BUTTER PASTA

it seems no matter WHAT you do to pasta, most people will appreciate this staple food.

our children and my husband think i've gone to the ends of the earth to create a simple pasta dish for them - and i feed them pasta sometimes three times per week.

this recipe just happens to be our children's favorite and can be simply made in about 20 minutes.

first you must choose your pasta...which reminds me of a story that i'll finish up with.

while preparing your pasta according to the directions on the package al dente, in a three quart skillet place the following:

1.5 cubes real butter

1 TBL. crushed garlic

1/2 C. chopped onions

1/2 TSP. kosher, sea or regular table salt

cover on high just until onions become glassy, remove cover and stir turning heat down to med/low while pasta is finishing. remember to rinse your pasta with COLD water - this keeps it from being sticky. set aside and tend to your butter mixture - turning heat up with lid off and constant stirring - when butter begins to brown around the sides of your pan, cover and turn off**.

place your drained pasta into a microwaveable covered dish and add butter mixture - at this point you may wish to add 1/2 cube more of butter or 1/4 cup of olive oil - heat in microwave for three minutes on high.

serve with a simple green salad and sourdough or texas toast. the best part of this recipe is how you can improve on it by adding whatever you'd like to it. i do a variation of this for pop with minced clams or peeled and deveined/cooked shrimp and half and half.

**at this point you may add cleaned and sliced mushrooms, a drained can of black olives, chopped fresh tomatoes, a can of drained italian style green beans, sliced fresh zucchini or whatever you'd like - if the children don't like it, they'll pick it out.

now for my story.

when our children were little - they LOVED the pasta aisle at the grocery store because they knew i'd go into my pasta/dance rant - while grabbing the pastas off the shelves, i'd animatedly say to them in my best sophia loren voice, "mostaciolli, penne, linguini, fettucine, ravioli, lasagna, fusilli, rigatoni, spaghetti, spaghettini! while they were laughing uncontrollably, i'd grab a bag of farfalle and get in their little faces and somberly say, "bowties."

every once in awhile they'll say, "mom, please do your pasta thing." when we're at the grocery. they still love seeing the other shoppers scatter!