This recipe is from Steve. He actually typed it up and sent it to me. I couldn't convince him to take a picture and start his own blog. He made this Saturday night and raved about it. Ribs sounded like a good idea.

I did the prep on this last night and cooked it in the crock pot all day today. I only had four ribs and it seemed like a waste not to cook more in this so I added two Hungarian sausages and two chorizos that I made last week. I didn't have any 5-spice powder so I mixed my own with ginger, anise seed, cloves, and cinnamon.

Admittedly, this is not the most attractive meal I've ever made but the meat was tender and succulent. It came right off the bone. The orange juice flavored the rice and was really delicious.

Ingredients
2 Tbs. Chinese 5 Spice
4 lb. bone-in beef short ribs
2-3 Tbs. olive oil
1 large yellow onion, cut into ¼” slices
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/3 cup plum wine
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
¼ cup sesame oil
1 Tbs. chili garlic paste
2 Tbs. grated fresh ginger
Zest of 1 orange, plus juice of 1 orange
¼ cup sugar dissolved in ¾ cup boiling water
Steamed rice for serving

Instructions
Season short ribs with five spice; shake off excess. In large, heavy pan over medium-high heat, warm 1 Tbs. of olive oil. Working in batches, brown ribs on all sides, 10-12 minutes total, adding more oil if needed. Transfer to slow cooker.

Add more oil to pan if needed. Cook onion and garlic on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in wine; cook on medium-high heat 2-3 minutes. Add to slow cooker along with soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste, ginger, zest, juice and sugar mixture. Cover and cook on high six hours. Spoon fat off sauce. Serve ribs with steamed rice.

Skyliners are chili dogs made with Skyline chili, mustard, onions, cheese, and of course hot sauce. Naturally, I used leftovers from last night but when I packed up the leftovers to put in the fridge I forgot that I'd need just the chili for lunch today. So, there are a few strands of spaghetti and a couple beans on these. At Skyline Chili they use tiny hot dogs and buns. I couldn't find those (didn't look) so I used regular beef dogs. Still, it was a damn fine lunch.

Oh, this is good. Most people think that Cincinnati chili is just chili over spaghetti. But it's more than that. The cinnamon, cocoa, and cumin help make the difference. I got this recipe from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American. I've had the book since 1988 and it's one of my favorites.

I actually went to the Skyline Chili in Stow today to pick up the hot sauce. It was hard going in there and not eating but I wasn't going to have it for lunch and dinner. Don't underestimate the hot sauce. It is hotter than tobasco but has a flavor more like habanero sauce. It's delicious.

I'm using the leftovers tomorrow to make full-size Skyliners.

Ingredients
2 T vegetable oil
1 # ground pork
1 # ground beef
1 cup onions, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T cumin seeds
4 T hot chili powder
3 bay leaves
2 t cinnamon
2 t allspice
2 t Tabasco
4 T cocoa powder
2 T Worcestershire
4 T white vinegar
28 ounces canned pureed tomatoes
1 T oregano

"Ways"
1 # cooked spaghetti
1 cup chopped white onions
2 cans dark red kidney beans
finely shredded cheddar

oyster crackers
hot sauce

Instructions
Sauté the pork and beef in the oil until starting to brown. Add the onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and bay leaves and continue until onions are clear. Drain fat and discard. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer covered for 1 1/2 hour or cook all day on low in a slow cooker.

To serve the chili "3-way" ladle the chili over spaghetti and cover with cheddar
"4-way" spaghetti, chili, beans, cheese
"5-way" spaghetti, chili, beans, onions, cheese

Serve with oyster crackers and hot sauce.

This is going to be a regular dish. Nick really likes it. It's nice to have all of us eat the same thing together. Tonight, I had everything on the table and literally, as I was lowering into my chair, the phone rang. It was the president of the company I work for. So, I ended up talking to my boss while my sons ate dinner without me.

Nothing special here. I got a rib-eye and sliced it real thin. I sauteed the onions and green pepper with salt in a little oil. I removed the veggies and cooked the beef until browned. Spread warm Cheese Wiz* on a roll, add the steak and the veggies and serve with a couple pickle spears. Delicious.

*There is no other worldly reason I would buy Cheese Wiz.

I made 9 pounds of sausage. This was fun. I made three pounds of three different types. I measured out all the spices and added them to their respective piles of ground pork.


I mixed each one using rubber gloves and let the spices blend overnight. (That's the meatloaf in the back.)


I used real "hog casings." They come packed in salt. They need to soak for an hour before they're ready to use


The first ring.


Twist to make individual sausages.


Vacuum pack and chuck in the freezer. I'm set for months.


I used the same pork for each sausage. Here are the recipes I used.

Hungarian Sausage
3 # Pork
10 Garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup Water
2 T Salt
1/2 T Black pepper
1/4 cup Hungarian paprika


Breakfast Sausage
3 # Pork
3 t Salt
1 t pepper
2 t sage
1/2 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1 t thyme
1 t paprika
6 oz water

Chorizo
3 # Pork
1 cup onions, diced
12 cloves garlic, diced
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup Tequila
1/4 cup ground red chile
2 t ground cinnamon
2 t ground cumin
2 t ground oregano
2 tablespoon salt

This is a slump buster. I got the ingredients at the West Side Market. I made this back in June and it was delicious again.

This picture doesn't do it justice but it was good.

I went to West Side Market in Cleveland this morning to get stuff to make my own sausage. While I was waiting for the butcher to pack up my pork I saw these marrow bones. I made this back in June and loved it. I couldn't resist having this for lunch. This is ridiculously easy to make. If you really want the recipe, I posted it here back in June. But here's the thing - this is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. I know it sounds and looks a bit creepy but it is so good I practically get a little emotional every time I eat it. Just the three bones and some lightly toasted pumpernickel. A little parsley if you want it. I had an Irish whiskey to drink with it. You should try it - really.

I feel like I'm in a slump. I admit it. Those shrimp on Sunday were such a disappointment. The jambalaya on Monday was okay but nothing to be proud of. I was confident that this salad was going to be great. I roasted the beets last night and pickled them and the red onions. So, tonight, all I had to do was make the crab salad and assemble it. Unfortunately, this was not great. It was good. It was interesting. I LOVED the beets - as I often do. The onions were WAY too strong. I unnecessarily added avocado in an unintended and unfortunate goatse configuration. (I rotated the plate to take the picture to keep from getting queasy.) The crab salad was okay. It looked nice. It was okay I guess. I'm heading back to the basics this weekend. I'd due for a plain ole' meatloaf.

Ingredients
1/2 pound fresh beets
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onions
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
water
1 pound crab meat
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons minced parsley

Instructions
Place the beets in a small roasting pan and fill the pan with water coming 1/3 of the way up the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Place the pan in the oven and roast for about an hour until the beets are tender. Cool slightly, about 20 minutes and peel. Thinly slice the beets. In a mixing bowl, whisk the olive oil and rice wine vinegar together. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the beets with vinaigrette, cover and chill for 6 hours. Dissolve the sugar in the cider vinegar, add the onions and add just enough water to cover and stir. Cover and Chill. Combine the crab meat, mayonnaise, shallots and horseradish together. Season the salad with salt and pepper. Arrange the beets onto a plate. Mound the crab salad over the beet slices on each plate. Pile the pickled onions on top of each mound of crab salad. Crumble feta around the edges of the beets. Garnish with parsley.

Luckily, I didn't ruin all the shrimp on Sunday. I had a package of kielbasa in the fridge and chicken breasts in the freezer. This turned out fine. Not fantastic, but quite servicable. I used file powder to garnish the plate. Alex liked it but he used a lot of Tabasco.

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 chicken breast
1 pound smoked kielbasa, sliced 1/4 inch thick
6 or 7 green onions, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
1 can 14.5 oz crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper
1 pound raw small to large shrimp, peeled
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
In a large heavy saucepan, cook the chicken in vegetable oil until starting to brown. Add the sausage and heat until browned. Remove meats and set aside. Add the white and pale green parts of the green onion to the saucepan. Add the green pepper, celery, and garlic. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the rice, tomatoes, broth, thyme, sausage and chicken. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the jambalaya, covered, for 10 minutes. Stir in the shrimp and pepper and cook the mixture, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes more or until the shrimp are just done and the rice is tender. Serve with the reserved chopped green onion and Tabasco.

Sam came down for dinner. She wanted her usual Greek salad. Delicious.


She also wanted Buffalo shrimp. Oh my lord - these were bad. I used a 50/50 mix of Italian seasoned and Japanese Panko breadcrumbs and baked them instead of frying them. They looked nice and the shrimp was juicy and nice. Of course, the Buffalo sauce was good. The breading tasted awful. Did I mention they looked nice?

After we ate a few of these I served Sam a refrigerator bagel with peanut butter. I forgot to take a picture.

This recipe was casually mentioned by my friend Judy. It's her mom's recipe and it was fantastic. But, I don't know if it would be proper for me to give out her mom's recipe here. So, I'm keeping it a secret and that's too bad for you.

I prepared this in my crock pot last night and put it in the garage. This morning, I brought it in and started it up. It cooked for twelve hours! Alex and Nick got home at 3:00 and Alex called me at work. "Dad, dinner smells awesome! What is it?" It turns out that Alex is a sauerkrautaholic. The kid would eat sauerkraut ten times a week if I'd make it for him. He must have some sort of pickled cabbage deficiency. I told him what was for dinner and he asked if he could eat it right then. I told him he had to wait for me. I was worried he'd eat the whole thing. He did eat three servings. (I had two.) It was great.

I have to admit I thought about this all day - bubbling along happily in my crock pot. I bet I told seven or eight people about it. Scot thought it sounded so good he almost stood up his family for dinner.

Alex has been a Chinese food nut lately. Any time I don't feel like cooking, he wants Chinese. He insists on using chop sticks too. He does terrifically well with them. A few years ago I was with Steve in San Francisco's Chinatown for dim sum. It was so crowded that the hostess asked us to sit at a large table with a Chinese family. Of course, we didn't mind but the grandmother of the family gave us the stink-eye through the first half of the meal. She finally lightened up and was laughing and saying something to us. Finally her daughter reluctantly translated, "My mother says you both use chopsticks quite well for white people." High praise indeed. Alex will do me proud in Chinatown.

This was good. I wasn't planning on the red pepper but I remembered I had some already chopped in the fridge. It was nice and spicy and Alex was joking about adding Tabasco to it.

George likes his chicken spicy.

Ingredients
Marinade:
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch

8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced

Combine the marinade ingredients and add the chicken. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes.

Sauce:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 inch piece ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup red bell peppers, chopped
1/4 cup peanuts
2 tablespoons chicken stock plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch, mixed together to make slurry

Instructions
In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the sauce. Set aside.

Over high heat, in a wok, bring the peanut oil to almost smoking temperature. Stir-fry the chilies, ginger, garlic and white part of the green onions for 30 to 40 seconds, or until the chilies turn dark. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden in color.

Add the sauce and bring to a boil. Add the peanuts. Thicken with the slurry and continue to cook until glossy. Serve over white rice.

I made those buttermilk biscuits on Wednesday that were so good I was eager to try them again. I'm really getting the hang of them. Nick declared them even better than before. My mom called to invite the boys and me over for Raisin Bread French Toast this morning. When I told her I was making Biscuits and Gravy she came to my house instead.

Holy crap, those are some pretty biscuits.


Sausage Gravy in a cast iron pan - the way it should be.


The best I've ever made. Those are blackberries and blueberries on the side. I served it with fresh roasted coffee and good orange juice. This was a good breakfast.

I have leftovers piling up in my freezer. Time to get rid of a few. This is the Cream Vodka sauce I made over Artichoke Tortellini I bought at Trader Joe's. I could bathe in this sauce.

Tonight, I was planning on making creamed chicken on biscuits. I don't know what I was thinking. The recipe I had had five ingredients and I didn't like the look of it. Any recipe I found in my cookbooks took 2-3 hours. I had already told Nick we're having biscuits and when I changed my mind on the creamed chicken he was disappointed about not getting the biscuits. So, I said to Alex, "Do you want a 'breakfast dinner' of biscuits, scrambled eggs and bacon?" He said, "Only if you have swiss cheese and ham to put in the scrambled eggs." Geesh. Luckily, I did. So, that's what we had. These were good biscuits - maybe even great. Nick declared them, with all earnestness, "The greatest biscuits of my life." As I was still recovering from my laughing jag about Nick's comment Alex said, "Yeah, Dad, these are fantastic." So tasting them a little more critically, I realized they were some of the best I'd ever had. Certainly the best I'd ever made. Instead of being heavy and doughey (sp?) they had a dozen flaky layers with a nice crunch on the top and bottom. The buttermilk kept them moist and tangy. Maybe Nick was right. The real problem here is that they're not going to accept Bisquick anymore.

Oh, the eggs were pretty good too.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut in chunks
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a blender, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter chunks and blend until largest chunks are about 1/4". Add buttermilk and blend until just moistened. Roll dough in bowl and knead 5-10 times. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface until 1/2" thick. Fold dough over several times rolling it back to 1/2". Cut in circles, arrange on baking sheet and brush tops lightly with melted butter. Bake for 10-12 minutes until browned.