Amy Rosen's best brisket recipe | Chatelaine.com

Amy Rosen's best brisket recipe | Chatelaine.com ~  Looks good! ~ But hubby wouldn't eat it.

      Unfortunately, I dropped the ball this year and didn't plan for a Rosh Hashanah Dinner.  I like to plan special meals a few days before to be prepared for a day of cooking, or try to make some of the dishes a day in advance.  But with everything going on, yesterday I turned to my husband and asked what he wanted for Rosh Hashanah dinner and he said he didn't care ~Yeah, that helps a lot!  I told him, I know what you won't eat, tell me what you will!  He said soup.  Okay, so you want Matzo ball soup.  He says, "I thought that was a given!"  Usually every one fills up on soup and has no room for the rest of the meal!


      So, I decided to make a brisket, and hubby says, " I think I ate that once".  Oye Vey!  I bought the brisket yesterday, but didn't really have a plan.  So of course I was up at 6:00am and out of bed at 6:30, yes on a Sunday morning to get the brisket into the crock pot.  I like to use some type of alcohol when cooking meat, but Hubby had drank all the beer last night watching the game, and I didn't think I had time to marinate the meat in coke, so I just cut up some onions, dumped a packet on onion soup mix, 4 cups of water and beef bouillon into the crock pot. I turned the crock pot on for 8 hours.   I will add the veggies in a couple of hours so they don't get too mushy.

     I will d a simple vegetable like broccoli, since my family doesn't eat cooked carrots or sweet potatoes.

     In Canada there is a dish called Poutine, which they are very proud of.  It is French fries, with gravy poured on them and cheese curds melted on top.  Which my family WILL eat, so I will make that too!

      I am now going to look for a honey cake for our dessert, wish me luck! ~ Shanah Tova!

Take care, live, love and eat well!,

Alyssa

Home Made Basic Pizza Dough

Saturday night,  U of F game is on the TV, my son is on a Religious Convention and my daughter had a pizza party with some friends tonight.  We ended up ordering pizza instead of my Calzones, but as promised I will give you my recipe.  This is a pizza dough recipe, but I use it to make my calzones.  I don't know why I waited so long to make my own dough, maybe I had tried a recipe before and it didn't come out right, but this recipe is quick and easy.  I found this recipe in a Parents Magazine from 2008.  I assume you can switch the all-purpose flour for the Gluten free flour, but I will make the recipe this week and let you know how if turned out.

3 Cups all purpose flour

1 Package active dry yeast

1/2 ts Sugar

1/2 ts Salt

1 Cup Warm water

2 TB Canola or olive oil

Corn Meal to sprinkle on baking tray.  This will make your crust crunchy and not stick to the pan.

      In a measuring cup mix 1 cup warm water with packet of dry active yeast stir in 1/2 ts Sugar and let sit for at least 10 minutes.

     In a mixer with whip combine 2 cups of flour and 1/2 ts salt, 2TB oil and yeast mixture when ready.  Whip until combined and add more flour if too sticky.  You can change out the whip attachment to the hook attachment or knead until lump free and looks like pizza dough.  Place dough in a lightly floured surface or bowl with a damp kitchen towel on top and let rest for about 10 minutes.

FOR CALZONES:

1 Cup Ricotta Cheese

1 Cup Italian cheese mix or Mozzarella

1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Any red sauce (Marinara, pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce) OR olive oil with Italian herbs like oregano, basil and thyme.

You can add Italian herbs to the cheese if you like

You can add  precooked meatballs, any veggies or pizza toppings you like.  Just make sure meats are precooked.  We like meatballs, spinach and mushrooms ~ who says calzones aren't healthy?  (It can be a complete meal with the meat and veggie)
   
     Heat oven to 400 for at least 10 minutes ( you can do this before you put the yeast mixture together).
Take a cookie/baking tray or  pizza cooking stone and put a piece of parchment paper on top sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of corn meal and 1/4 cup flour.  Divide into 4 lumps.  Take one lump at a time and stretch out into a flat surface, try for a circle, but is doesn't have to be perfect.

       Put sauce in the middle of  the dough, but not too much, spread evenly, but not too close to the edged. We use olive oil with Italian herbs instead of the red sauce.  Put enough cheese to cover only half of the dough. Add your "toppings" onto the cheese. Fold the other half over and roll up the edges and pinch them together.  You can spray the tops with PAM and sprinkle Italian herbs or Garlic Salt on top.  Take a knife and cut 2 slits on the top of the dough.   Repeat with the rest of the dough and leave enough room for the dough to expand and rise in the oven.  They will double in size!

     Bake about 25 minutes the dough will be a nice pizza crust color.

FOR PIZZA:

Preheat oven to 425

You can divide the dough into 4 ~ 6 inch circles and do separate pizzas or do one big one.   Put parchment down and sprinkle the corn meal and flour on the pizza tray or baking sheet.  Build up the edges slightly, prick the bottom of the dough and bake about 8 minutes.  Take the pizza dough out of the oven, spread the pizza sauce on it, add your pizza cheese and toppings onto the crust and bake for about  another 8 minutes.  If you make 1 large pizza, you may need to cook it a little longer.

Enjoy!  It is always fun to get the kids involved in making their meals! And have fun with it, it doesn't have to be perfect, it is the time you spend with them in the kitchen that counts!

Take care, live, love and eat well!,

Alyssa

Love the "Fake IT Frugal" Blog

    Happy Friday!  Guess what happened to me yesterday?  Josh told someone at work that I was a Chef and that I would help cater the office Holiday Party in December!  He didn't even give me the chance to say "NO".  Is that how I get roped into these things?  Not that I wouldn't love to do it, but again, one more thing on my plate.

     I have my school orientation today, so I am looking forward to that.  I am eager to start my class, which is next Wednesday.

     Last night I made tacos and cornbread for the family.  I find that after cooking the beef and adding the seasonings, putting it in the crock pot on low for a couple of hours makes the flavor of the meet so much better! Add a little water to the crock pot and meat.   For the Taco seasoning, I used:

  http://www.5dollardinners.com/homemade-taco-seasoning      Which is one part Chili powder, one part ground Cumin, one part Garlic powder and one part Onion power. It calls for 1/4 ts of red pepper flake that I did not add.  So I started with 1 TableSpoon of each and mixed it together.  Then decided to fill up a baggie, I  used 5 Table spoons of each, omitting the Red pepper flakes.  Also, you control the salt when you do it this way instead of the taco seasoning packets.

Also the corn bread recipe I used was:

http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.ca/2012/03/fake-jiffy-cornbread-mix.html

I LOVE this Blog!  She has some great stuff on there!

But I used a Gluten Free flour instead

Next time I make this Corn Bread recipe, I will double it and add a can of creamed corn to it, it was good the way I made it yesterday following the recipe except changing out the flour, but I like my cornbread a little more moist and bits of corn in it.

Tonight, if we don't go out to dinner, I will make Calzones with my Gluten Free  flour mix, which I got at a Bulk Barn store.    I will post that recipe over the weekend.

Enjoy your Friday!

Take care and live, love and eat well!,

Alyssa

Healthy Snack Recipe ~ easy and good!

     As I do research and look for healthy recipes that my kids and others would like, I came across  a recipe that looked interesting.  I didn't have all of the ingredients so I tweaked it.  The "Dessert Angel"  site was where I found the original recipe.  My daughter said that they taste like Reese cups!  Of course I was thrilled that both of my kids liked them!

     I don't have a name for them yet, but I will call them Carob and Peanut butter balls.  This is my version of the recipe.

1/3 c chopped pitted dates                       3TB Gluten Free Oats                 1/4 C Nuts ( I used almonds)

3 TBS Peanut Butter                               Pinch if salt                                  1/2 ts Vanilla extract

1/2 ts Almond extract                              2 ts Carob powder  (you could use cocoa powder instead)

In a food processor, combine nuts and oats.  Pulse a few times, then let it run until finely ground.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse  a few times, then let run until combined.  I used an ice cream scooper to scoop a ball of the mixture, or you can just portion it that way and flatten it out to make a square.  Then individually wrap in plastic wrap and place all of them together in a plastic baggie. Store in the refrigerator.

More to come! ~

Take care and live, love and eat well!,

Alyssa

First Post~ Diabetic Nutrition Student

      Let me introduce myself, my name is Alyssa Sherman.  I was born in and grew up in Florida, went to Culinary School, got married and had kids young, and have moved around the U.S. with my husband's company so I could afford to stay home and be involved in my children's lives.  We are now living out of the U.S. for 3 years.
     For those who know me, I have always been a YES person and always willing to volunteer and help out where ever I was needed.  My friends were always telling me that I needed to learn to say "NO", because I was so busy, but I have also been someone who likes to keep busy!  So, with that said, I decided that this year I was going to say no to volunteering in my kids schools, and do the things that I have wanted to do for a long time.
     I am going back to school, after 20 years for my Bachelor's in Science for Science Nutrition.  I would like to work with families who's kids are Diabetic, teaching them about nutrition, menu planning and even cooking for the families "to go meals" from the Children's Diabetic Cookbook that I am in the process of writing (and testing recipes) as well.

     I decided that since I had Gestational Diabetes with both pregnancies, Diabetes runs on both sides of my family and I was told that I have an 80% chance of developing diabetes myself, that I should understand diabetes better.  The motivation for me to do this now, was when I took my kids, 13 and 11 for their yearly checkups, the Doctor said that my kids are heavy and he wanted blood tests done and he wanted to see them in 6 months to see where their weight will be.  I knew I needed to change a few things in my life for their sake!

I look forward to developing my blog in many ways and take you through my journey.

Take care and live, love and eat well!,

Alyssa