Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

This aioli is great for a dip, to spread on sandwiches or wraps, for pita sandwiches, to use on fish, meat, vegetables - the uses are endless.  And it's so easy, inexpensive, and fast to make.

It only takes 3 ingredients:

1/2 cup of mayonnaise
2 red bell peppers
1 large clove of garlic

Cut your bell peppers in half, remove the stem and seeds, and roast them under the broiler until the skin in nice and charred.
Note:  if you want to use jarred roasted red peppers, then you would use 1/4 cup of peppers with the juice drained, (make sure the peppers are pretty dry).

 If your garlic cloves aren't extra large, go ahead and use 2 or 3 cloves.  Today, I'm going to use 2 medium sized cloves.

Peel and rough chop your garlic

Once the red peppers are nicely roasted, peel off the outer skin.

Then rough chop your red peppers

Put everything into a food processor

Process until smooth

Now just refrigerate until you are ready to use.  Tonight I'm going to use this as a dip for our homemade onion rings, (yummy).  Tomorrow, I will use it on roast beef wraps for lunch, (can't wait for lunch time tomorrow).

How did you use your roasted red pepper aioli?

Beef Stew

Sometimes when the weather is rainy or cold and you want something substantial to warm you up and fill you up, a bowl of beef stew is just the thing.  You can let it cook on the stove top for a couple of hours, filling the house with wonderful aromas and when it's time for dinner the anticipation of spooning a mouthful of the delicious meat and vegetables from the bowl into your tummy delights all your senses.  And you won't have all those artificial preservatives in this meal.  Let's get started.

1 pound of beef, (you don't need anything expensive since the meat is going to stew and get tender)
3 - 4 carrots
3 stalks of celery
3 potatoes
1 onion
1 Anaheim pepper
1 cup peas
2 Tabs oil
4 Tabs flour
salt / pepper / garlic powder / onion powder / chili powder / cumin / dried rosemary / oregano /  parsley

 On a plate, (or pie tin), place your flour, and about 1 teas each of salt, pepper, chili pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder,  (you want to get some good seasonings on your meat).

 Next cut up your beef into 1/2 inch size pieces, (or bite size).  Now coat your meat with the flour mixture.

In a dutch oven pot, heat 2 Tabs oil over medium heat and add the flour coated beef.

Cook the beef until it has a nice brown outer crust, and the inside is no longer pink, (about 5 - 7 minutes).  Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the bits of wonderful brown flavor up off the pan.

 Add 4 cups of water and make sure to give the meat a good stir.  Add in more of your seasonings, (1 Tabs each of rosemary, oregano, garlic powder, and parsley).  Cover the pot and let the meat cook for about 45 minutes over medium-low heat until tender.

While the meat is cooking, now is the time to chop your vegetables.  Cut your carrots into 1/2 inch size pieces.

Cut the celery into 1/2 inch pieces

 Chop up the onion

Slice the Anaheim pepper into 1/4 inch slices.  (I add the Anaheim pepper for flavor, but it's not necessary to add it if you don't want it in your stew - it add flavor not heat).

Cut the potatoes into bite size pieces, (about 1/4 inch size).

 I usually put these vegetables into a container, so that when I'm ready for them I can add them all at once.

It has now been 45 minutes, (the meat is tender), and you will notice that the water has reduced down about 1/2 and we already have a nice rich brown broth.

Add 3 more cups of water and your chopped vegetables.  Stir everything well to mix up the beef and vegetables.

Cover the pot and cook for one hour until the vegetables are tender.  Make sure to stir the stew about every 20 minutes.

Once the carrots and potatoes are cooked, add  the 1 cup of peas.  Stir the stew well and continue cooking for another 20 minutes, to cook the peas.

And now you have a wonderful pot of beef stew ready to feed 6 - 8 people.

 I'm going to serve this with a slice of homemade cornbread and a fresh green salad.  Yummy!!  You could also make this stew with pork or venison - both of those are good choices.

Let me know how your stew turned out.

Sloppy Joes

 One can of Sloppy Joe sandwich mix costs $1.50 to $1.99 in the store, (on sale you can sometimes find the store brand for $1.00).  Do you know that you can make it from scratch with a few ingredients for about 40 cents?  And in just a few minutes?  Let me show you how to feed the family cheaply.

This is all that's in a can of Sloppy Joe mix:
1 cup ketchup
4 Tabs water
2 Tabs brown sugar
2 teas Worcestershire sauce
2 teas prepared mustard
1/2 teas garlic powder
1/2 teas onion powder
1/2 teas salt

If you want your sauce a little more bolder, add more mustard and Worcestershire sauce, want it sweeter add more sugar, (just adjust to your family's taste)

 In a saucepan, over medium heat, cook 1 pound of ground beef, (or you can substitute ground turkey).

Once you've got the meat cooked, drain off any excess fat.

 Now add all your ingredients and stir them into the browned meat.

Bring it back to a boil.  See it already looks and smells just like the canned stuff from the store.

 Reduce the heat to simmer, cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Now the flavors have all come together, it's just like the store bought stuff, for a fraction of the cost.

Serve it on a bun, or over cooked noodles, rice, baked potatoes, or biscuits.  You will get 4 to 6 servings, (depending on how much meat you load on the bun).  Toast up your bun, add a slice of cheese, some onion and a side salad and a quarter of a kosher dill pickle - gosh this is a good meal.  My husband will easily eat two of these.

Enjoy, whether you like yours sweet or spicy.

Focaccia Bread

Focaccia bread is one of the most easiest breads there is to make and the easiest to recipes to change so that you have a different kind of bread every time.  Here's how I make mine, and there's NO kneading involved.

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3 Tabs olive oil
1 Tabs instant yeast
1 1/4 teas salt
8 ounces grated sharp Cheddar cheese (about 2 cups)
4 - 8 cloves garlic (depending on your taste)
2 Tabs grated Parmesan cheese
1-3 Tabs mixed dried herbs of your choice

Peel and chop your garlic

In a large bowl combine flour, water, olive oil, yeast, and salt.  Mix on high with a mixer for about a minute.

The dough will be very moist and sticky.

Next add in your garlic and cheese.  I also add in any ingredients that I want to flavor my bread.  Today I happen to have lemon basil and asparagus.  You can use whatever you like, (some good combinations are:  roasted garlic, sun dried tomato & red pepper or green onions and bacon or rosemary, dried tomato, and basil - whatever you would like, even just plain cheddar cheese is fine).  My bread filling is never the same twice, because it all depends on what I have on hand when I make the bread.

Now mix the dough on low speed just to combine the ingredients.  You can even use a wooden spoon.

Now use 2 Tabs olive oil to grease a 9 X 13 pan and pour the dough into the pan.  That's it!!  Cover the dough and let it set for about 1 hour.  After about 45 minutes, turn on your oven to 375 degrees and sprinkle the top of the dough with your Parmesan cheese and dried herbs.  Today I am using Italian seasoning and oregano, (again, you can choose whatever seasonings you like to go with the dough).  Cover the dough again for another 15 minutes, (that's a total of 1 hour).  Then bake in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes until golden brown.

This smells heavenly!!  Remove it from the oven and let it set on a wire rack for about 10 minutes to rest.

Then you can remove the bread from the pan and enjoy it warm or at room temperature.  This bread is great just like this, with some marinara sauce, or with some olive oil to dip it in.  Everyone loves it.

Look at all the cheesy goodness and the flaky layers.  Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.  It's even good cold the next day.

So - what did you make your bread with?