Pork, roast chops etc

I buy pork chops or a pork loin in bulk and then freeze portions to be thawed when needed. Usually when buying pork chops in bulk you get a few underneath items that are only good for cut ups to use in chili or other hamburger helper style dishes. I also save the bones for when i am making a meat sauce or stock that could use added flavor. Today i will use them to make a stock for boiling potatoes into mashies.

I have now had to add more porkchops per bag because the little one is already able to eat a whole pork chop and she is not even 2. The extra pork in the bag was causing me to have to microwave in order to dethaw witch i try to avoid whenever possible. Pork chops taste like pork chops and can go down hill fast. The meat dries out so fast and needs to be fully cooked it really can be a pain. Taking all this into account I have found the ULTIMATE solution....

brining i saw this somewhere but the solution thaws meat quickly, adds flavor and keeps the meat moist. I use 1/4 cup sugar, tblspn salt and a bay leaf in a 1 gallon bag with water covering pork completely when all the air is out of the bag. I typically start in the morning and will have to move the meat to the fridge once thawed around lunch. I have cut back on Salt in brine so that I dont feal guilty about adding season salt before cooking. I really suggest BRINING it is a great tool to add to the recipe box.

Sam's Club Meat CRAZY or not

I have been buying meat for over a year @Sam's Club. Sam's club is not always the best price but it destroys your local supermarkets price if you were to take a daily price average over the course of a month. Also, because I buy in bulk i always freeze some or all of the meat that i purchase & the wife and i agree re thawed meat from Sam's tastes better than many of the local supermarkets fresh meats. Steak is especially cheap with 3 packs of USDA CHOICE steak, NY or Rib eye, going for 7$ or less a pound.

It is one stop bulk meat purchasing that is of a good quality and saves me a lot of time. I still regularly buy meat at Wiseway and Town&country when the price and quality are right but the only meat i will buy at jewel is jewel bratwurst. Jewel is by far the highest price for the lowest quality meat.

Phone Solicitors cell phone spam #babywakers

I have been looking for Jobs over the last few years and that led to one small but annoying problem, #Babywakers. It seems as if every job form I complete, resume I email and website I have to join sells my phone number. These jerks use my unwavering desire to support my family by hiding caller id information knowing i have to answer. The aboslute worse part about the entire process is they always call when one of the babies is asleep. This simultaneously kills my dream of a new job as well as one of my precious few moments of peace I enjoy each day. I found this https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form1088.action a complaint form regarding/applicable to just about all phone/text scams etc I urge you to begin what I have.. REPORT every single #babywaker.

underweight baby switching to milk

Once your baby transitions to milk if your doctor recommends carnation instant breakfast please for your benefit buy the vanilla. we didn't and everything is brown polka dotted.

6am wake up calll

This will be short and sweet. I am an advocate for a controlled air space business called "PWC" not as catchy as PODs but will deliver to your home padded wall containers for your use no questions asked. Question is, who gets to enter?

whole wheat bread

Every day I am watching, reading or listening to people go on and on about whole grains and bread. Whether it is a real wheat bread made from whole wheat or one from enriched wheat flour the store brands just dont work for me. The bread is always dry & lacking of flavor that I enjoy. I had tried numerous recipes that failed to deliver until i converted a white bread recipe and the family loved it.
Here it is:

4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour (wheat flour)
3 tblspns honey or malt barley syrup
1 stick butter salted (smart balance sticks work well too)
1 16.9 oz bottled water
1/2 cup scalded milk
2 tspns instant yeast
1 cup ice cubes
1-2 tblspns crisco
2 4"x8" (standard bread pans)
plastic wrap

- add to mixer bowl fitted with dough hook the milk and water
- next add 3 cups of whole wheat flour
- next add honey and 1 tspn of yeast
- mix for five minutes (scrape down and loosen all flour)
- in seperate bowl mix 1 cup whole wheat flour w/2 cups bread flour & 1tspn yeast
then pour over wet mix (do not mix in) and cover with plastic wrap letting sit for four hours and the wet mix will bubble through during the four hours.

-add the butter tblspns at a time to mixer bowl as it is stiring slowly until all butter and dry flour mix is incorporated. dough should be slightly sticky but not enough to stick to your hands if it is add more flour.
- Then mix at medium speed for 7 - 10 minutes or when dough pulls away but before it wraps up on to dough hook

- remove dough add a little oil put dough in turn it around three times flip over turn three times again cover w/plastic wrap and let set 1 hour.

- remove dough again pull out and place on floured counter fold edge to edge Right to left and up to down two times (2 businesss letter turns as it is commonly referred to)

- then add dough back to mixer bowl turning to make sure it has oil on top and bottom again. cover w/plastic wrap let sit one hour!

- after the hour preheat oven to 350 add cookie sheet to lowest level of oven

- grease bread pans with crisco entire sides and bottom

- remove dough from mixer bowl cut in half

- roll/massage 1 piece of dough into rectangle use fingers to dimple then fold each side into the center (with a significant over lap) slowly rolling the dough up from where the folds overlap. It almost could be termed rolling a burrito (make sure you make the roll tight to fit in pan and pinch if needed to hold shape)

- repeat with second piece of dough

- cover both with plastic wrap (i let them rise on top of the warming oven) until they rise to the desired height you want 1 inch or so over pan) 1-2 hours

- remove plastic add ice to cookie sheet place bread in oven bake for 50 minutes and rotating after 25. make sure a wood poker goes through without sticking before you remove. (you can paint the loaves with butter if you want more flavor)

_ upon removal from oven immediately remove bread from pans to drying rack and let cool throughout.

Fish curry #Whats4dinner

As everyone has probably heard we all must eat more FISH! My goal / rule is to try and buy meat (beef, pork, chicken, & fish) for under 2 dollars a pound. When it comes to fish the options are so far canned salmon, Pollock, and tilapia. The options are limited and trying to create decent versatile tasty dishes can difficult. This is my recipe for a Tilapia Curry (spices always depend on whats in cupboard)

1 lb tilapia (salted, peppered and paprikaed lightly and dredged in flour)
3 tblspns butter
3 tblspns olive oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
1/2 green pepper chopped(i always dice or julienne and store other half in freezer)
1 med onion chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 tspn fresh black pepper
1 tspn garam masala
1 tblspn curry powder
1 tspn granulated garlic
1 tspn celery salt
2 or so Tblspns flour
2 cups prepared basmati rice (i really like texture) suppose to be best white rice

warm nonstick pan melt butter w/olive oil add garlic simmer till brown & remove

brown cook fish flipping 1x to just done(keep on warmed covered plate in microwave)

add onion, celery, & green pepper cook till onions translucent

add garam masala, curry powder, celery salt, pepper, gran. garlic, for 1 minute

after 1 minute add flour to dry up whats left of butter/olive oil

add 2 cups chicken stock and simmer 10 - 15 minutes

(i start rice before adding stock and when rice is done sauce is done )

taste adjust seasoning w/sauce and will thicken more if needed

Finally, it is up to you add fish to sauce and serve over rice or place fish on rice and pour sauce over the top

#Whats4dinner chicken corn chowder gravy

Today i did something i had not tried before and it worked out pretty well

1 lb ground turkey (beef is always better)
2 cups frozen corn thawed & dried
1 medium onion diced
1 red pepper chopped
2 cloves garlic diced
1/2 cup milk
2 tspns corn starch
2 cups chicken stock
3 tblspns butter
3 tblspns olive oil
i served over rice but this is what i did

melt 2 tblspns butter & 2 tblspns olive oil in a 12 inch skillet
brown ground meat remove to plate
fat content will determine if you need more oil before adding corn
add 1 tblspn olive oil and butter
add 2 cups corn brown/cook for 3 minutes
add onion continue to cook brown until corn and onion are carmelized
in the last minute or so add garlic
deglaze pan with 2 cups chicken stock
add red pepper
simmer slowly until reduced by half remove from heat
add corn starch to cold milk
and whisk in cornstarch milk slurry into skillet
taste add salt and pepper as needed

i served over white rice and was a hit with all good luck

Being election day

I feel that it is neccesary for me to say this and only this: Why is it so hard to find news about elections that is fair & balanced. If it exists i have not seen it in years what can i say when it comes to politics i want middle not insanity left insanity right. I WILL NEVER MENTION, WRITE, SPEAK OR DO ANYTHING ELSE EVER ABOUT POLITICS IN THIS BLOG!!! just frustrated with the ego's & the news today.

Woo Hoo, New Job

I recently have been employed by a home improvement store for a solid wage working evening and weekend shifts. This is crazy to start a job and get prepared for JAD's arrival at any time. (probably the 10th of november). The only negative so far is i did not get to spend halloween with the family. In order to compensate for having to miss family functions I plan to go out and have a nice meal during my hour lunch break. FYI if you have never worked in the CORPORATE world it is all the same. You either drink the kool-aid or walk away it is always fun to spend time with the people who fight every day to not drink their kool-aid and every day they drink so much it turns them the color blue. Shut up and drink your kool-aid! Then we will all get along. I need to find some time to bake some bread people. Based on the high levels of negativity i am experiencing this may become a kool-aid drinking blog.