Spiced Fruit Stuffing with Pork Chops

This is what I am making for dinner tonight. I will attach a photo later after I plate it pretty.

Another crock pot recipe that takes a little bit of prep but smells delicious coming from my crock pot. We are pork lovers in this family. Very busy family as of late with training a new puppy along with other activities around the house with the kids. Once the stuffing mix is all together its very easy to throw into the crock pot and go.

1 cup of diced dried fruit and raisin mix ( just used the dried fruit I had around the house)
1 cup  chicken broth
1/2 cup apple juice
3 tbsp margarine or butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon ( I used 2 tsp)
1/8 tsp nutmeg ( I used 1 tsp)
1 - 6oz pkg herb seasoned stuffing mix
1- 4oz boneless pork loin chops about 1/2" thick ( I used the pork should blades I had)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

In a large sauce pan combine dried fruit, broth, 1/4 cup apple juice, margarine , cinnamon, nutmeg. Bring to a boil, stir in stuffing mix Remove from heat.

Arrange pork chops in bottom of 4 qt slow cooker. Pour remaining 1/4 cup of apple juice over pork. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.Top with stuffing mixture.

Cover, cook on low setting for 5-6 hours.( My slow cooker is weird it cooks fast so it cooks for me in about 4 hours)
Remove stuffing from cooker, place in serving bowl, stir gently, serve with pork


Post picture later

Happy Eating.

Cowboy beans

This recipe is from the current place I work. I have yet to try it because there is so much sugar in it for me.  I have cut down the quantities so that it could be made in a home kitchen. The original recipe is for a half hotel pan which is 8"x6"x6".  The home size would fit a 2qt sauce pan maybe.

Cowboy beans
2 cans of butter beans, drained
2 cans of red kidney beans, drained
1 large can of bushes baked beans
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar,packed
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup molasses
1 lb of bacon, diced in 1" pieces and made crispy
1-2 lbs of ground beef cooked
1 medium yellow onion small diced
1-2 tps ground mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. dump into a large baking dish and bake at 350 F degrees until heated through. Then serve.

That is it. It is that simple for this recipe. If anyone makes it please let me know how it is.

Happy Eating

New Year New Food

I didn't make my 200 posts by the end of 2014. That falls on me for not being consistent with writing or having the time to keep up with blogging.  Trying to find my way in the culinary  world and where I belong in life. 
Ate a Chinese fortune cookie today "if you feel you are right, stand firmly by your convictions." I usually do but I found having to keep a job here in Central Wisconsin. I have to dumb down my standards because of the type of owners here. They all think they know better and serve food that they think is good. One guys prices are high for mediocre food. One guy served everything frozen and canned and said that the customers didn't know any better so its ok. Its not ok. Chef Katie would be kicking my ass if she had seen half the stuff here. I can just hear her now.
Central Wisconsin is not the place to go for good food. People are mean, cheep, and cut corners at every turn. I am stuck here for now. So I dumb down what I do, to get a pay check and make it. I wish I could be a private chef here and make better money, but people are too cheep thanks to the restaurant owners, supper clubs and other places that make it that way.

This year I want to focus more on better food, writing more, and sharing the food I love. Ill even share the cut corners that the places I have worked use. This is all in hopes that I get more people to read me and share me. I know I am good at cooking food. I need to validate it for myself. I have yet to be able to do that.  I had my cake business threatened by a local, who turned me over to the state. I got lucky and a warning to shut down or get fined. So my confidence in being a great chef and cook has been shaken. 
Thank you to the few readers who have listened to me and read me. It is appreciated that there is some one out there who reads. I hope to have more for you to read in the future..


Happy Eating
Chef Lisa

Deep Fried Cookies/ Angel Wings

The recipe I will be posting is from Food Network Mag.  I do something very similar to this. I use a whiskey in my recipe. I plan on trying this recipe to see if it comes out similar to what I make. The recipe I make has been in my family for at least 3 generations. It makes 9 dozen. This recipe only makes about 21 cookies.

Making these cookies brings back memories of working in the kitchen with my mom and just having fun as a child making cookies at Christmas time. Our kitchen would have cookies of all kinds all over the place. This year its a little sad that she is not here to share the cookie making event as usual.

Angel Wings- FNM
1 cup All purpose flour
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp fine grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1 30 oz jar coconut oil
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Combine the flour, sour cream, egg yolks, honey, lemon zest and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on medium-high speed until dough comes together and begins to pull away from the bowl. About 3-4 minutes. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.. Form into a ball and cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

Roll out dough on a floured surface into a 12 x12 in square. Dough should be about 1/8 in thick.  Cut into 7 strips then cut each strip cross wise into thirds. you will have 21 rectangles.  One at a time, make a 1 in slit lengthwise down the center of each rectangle. Lift the short end and thread it through the slit, then pull out, twist in the middle so it looks like a bow.
Heat coconut oil in a pot over med heat, until a deep fry thermometer reads 350 F. Fry 5-7 cookies at a time, turning until deep golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Toss with confectioner's sugar and store in air tight container.

My original recipe uses 12 yolk, granulated sugar and whiskey. It seems that these cookies might be heavier than the recipe that I have.

Happy Eating

Chef 911

I have been looking for ways lately to help people with their passion to cook. I know that I am trying on getting better about blogging. I have had life changes like being stuck in a state that really isn't known for its culinary food or experiments.
I found this group Talk to Chef that helps people all over the world with culinary questions. Its kind of the 911 for home cooks. Your able to live video chat with a chef and get the answers to you dish problems. Or how to cook something. Its not a substitute for culinary school but in a pinch when you need help  there is a Chef there to tell you how to fix it or how to make it.  I am new to it and below is my link for it. Try it out and let me know what you think of the program.

You don't pay for the advice, but if you think it was worth the time you spent with the chef, you leave them a tip.


Here's the link
http://talktochef.com/ lisa-zaehler

Cheesy Potatoes

Working in a little supper club as of late. Not where I would like to be but its a job and I get to cook. It seems that the trend with a few places I have worked in Wisconsin all have some sort of recipe for Cheesy Potatoes. Each has their own name and kind of potato. I wanted to share with you one of the recipes as of lately.  This one uses hash browns. You can also use cubed American fries, or breakfast potatoes. It all depends on how you want the texture to have .


This recipe has been adapted for home use.

2 bags of frozen hashbrowns
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
8 oz of sour cream
4 cups of mild cheddar cheese  shredded
1 tsp of Salt and Pepper

Mix all ingredients together. When mixed it will look like its a big sticky mess.  Spray a 9x9 or 8x8 with cooking spray. Dish mixture in to the baking dish. Bake for 35-50 minutes at 350 degrees. Top should be light brown. Serve warm. This can be made a few days ahead of time and held uncooked until needed ..

Happy Eating.

Rustic Bread

As usual time has gotten away from me writing on a regular basis. I missed September completely and just about missed October, which is my favorite month because of all the yummy treats that I get to create.
      Sorry readers, I have been going back to school to get my BS degree and its has its days where it sucks the life out of you and you wind up getting lost in it.

I found this bread recipe in a taste of home book. I make it plain but it calls for cranberries and oranges or cheddar cheese. I love bread. It that comfort food that is always best warm with butter.  Every time I find a new bread recipe I just have to try it out and see how it holds up. No pictures of this one. Seems as soon as I make it, its gone.

I did vary from the instructions, but the end result was still warm yummy delicious bread.

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 3/4 cup water about 75degrees
3 .5 cups of flour ( I used bread flour)
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cornmeal

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in water. I add just a pinch of sugar to feed the yeast. In a large bowl, mix 3.5 cups of flour and the salt together. Using a rubber spatula, mix the yeast mix into the flour mixture until smooth. Cover and let sit 1 hour. Do not knead.
Punch down dough, then turn out onto a floured surface, Pat into 9in square. Fold dough into thirds forming a rectangle 9x3. Fold rectangle into thirds again forming a 3 in square. turn dough over, place in greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Punch down and repeat the process. Return dough to bowl and refrigerate overnight.
Line a pan with parchment paper and sprinkle cornmeal . Turn dough onto a floured surface. Gently knead 8 times and shape into  6 in round loaf. Place in prepared cookie line sheet  cover with plastic wrap and let rise until dough has expanded in size. about 1.25 hours.
Pre heat oven to 500 . Using a sharp knife, slice across the bread dough making grooves. Not very deep about 1/4 in deep. Bake on lowest rack about 25 min. Make sure you cover the dough tightly with tin foil.Then reduce oven heat to 450. Remove the tin foil and cook another 25-35 min. Until the outside is a deep golden brown.  remove to cool.

Now to add ingredients to it. Before kneading you want to add 4 oz of shredded cheddar or 4 oz of dried cranberries and 4 tsp of grated orange zest.

When I did this, I skipped half the steps. I let it rise the first time in the bowl, then the second time. Then I would shape it into a large baguette, and place it on the cornmeal sheet. When I was ready to cook it I transferred it to my oven cooking stone that was already heated. I set my oven at 450. for the entire time. I let the out side get a dark golden color.  I temped it out at 190 degrees.
Result came out a large puffed up baguette. Very good . Just simplified the steps for me. If you try it the way I wrote it, let me know how it comes out..


Happy Eating