Pretzle Encrusted Round Steak

The other day, I blogged that we WERE eating here at the Kohler house.

I am a huge fan of most everyone on Food Network and a new show that I love is called Arti Party.

I watched cute little Arti win the Next Food Network Star show a few months ago and am now watching her show.

She's got some great recipes (Indian cuisine).

I don't or haven't ever really eaten Indian food but I do like curry.

So, her recipes sound really good.

The only experience I've ever had with Indian food is when I watched the movie Along Came Polly.

If you've seen it, you know that Indian food may make you want to keep your distance.

So while I don't especially like spicey food, I do like curry.

I already said that.

Okay, here's the new spin on chicken fried steak.

Arti encrusted the steaks with crushed pretzles!

Here you've got a bowl of crushed pretzles.

A bowl of flour, paprika, salt and pepper.

And a bowl of beaten eggs.

Note:  I just stated above that I love curry.  And curry was supposed to go into the flour mixture and I forgot!

I didn't realize it until we were eating that I didn't taste any curry.

OOPS!

Okay, so dip the steaks into the four, then the egg, then the pretzles.

Let them sit on a wire rack for about 20 minutes to "dry out."

This helps the pretzle mixture stick to the steak during the frying.

Honestly, no one was sure about trying this.

Pretzles on meat?

But let me assure you that it was AWESOME!

Very crunchy and a nice salty-ness.

Not too salty, but just right!

You couldn't even really taste that it was a pretzle...just a great crunch!

Since we get a whole beef now that the kids are eating more, I'm always looking for new ways to use up the hamburger and round steak.

This will definately be one to repeat!

We're Eating...

Hello - long time no blog?
We are definately eating here at the Kohler House.
It's just that I haven't really made anything new lately.
I kind of like to repeat what I know will "work" here in our home.
When I make something new, I promise to take some pics and post them.
I know you will be on the edge of your seats until then...

Just so you know I did actually prepare meals for my family, here is a list of what I've made thus far this week:
Monday:  Pretzle crusted round steak (this was a new one and I actually did take a quick pic of it but have yet up upload.)
Tuesday: Crock-pot chicken and noodles (this was new to my blog too but I didn't take a pic...oops)
Wednesday: Crock-pot roast, noodles, green beans, rolls (it's our usual Sunday supper but we'll be at a wrestling meet so I switched it up)
Thursday: My Man is going out with this FIJI brothers tonight so it will be just the kids and I.  I'd planned to make Kohler Enchiladas but with him gone, we'll probably sneak some take-out!
Friday: is My Man's birfday.  We are going to his mommy's house for dinner because he has to have a home-cooked meal from his mommy on his birthday. 
Saturday:  TBA
Sunday:  Church and a wrestling meet (I plan to eat out)

Stuffed Peppers

When My Man and I first got married, I did a lot of "not cooking."

Several reasons for this but none of them include "because I diidn't know how to cook."

I knew how to cook and follow a recipe.

I just didn't have a lot of practice.

Or the time.

I was working full time, going back to school to get my Master's Degree and was a professional cheerleader.

No joke on that last one.

That's what they call cheerleaders for the NFL.

Professional.

It's quite a status.

Annnnyway, I didn't have a lot of practice or time.

And another thing, I grew up not eating weird stuff.

Loooots of things in the list of foods that never touch my lips.

One of them was called Stuffed Peppers.

A few years ago, in an act of desperation to please My Man because I was NEVER home, I made him some stuffed peppers upon request.

And I realized that each ingredient in them were things I actually liked.

And guess what?  I liked eatiing them!

Whoa...I'm a big girl now.

So, I've tweaked the recipe over the years and added stuff and deleted stuff.

These are what we like right now.

PS - My children ate chicken tenders and macacroni.  

Start out with these. 

Does anyone watch Worst Cook in America on Food Network?

That Ann lady is so focused on knife cuts.

What a joke.

I'd get kicked off the first day.

Who in the heck cares of my carrots are all the same size?

It's called "rustic."

Why do I show you all raw meat?

Sorry again.

Use one pound.

Clean out your peppers and put them in a baking dish.

Add this.

And some green olives.

They add a neat-o taste.

And this.

And some fresh parsley.

The recipe called for smoked paprika.

I didn't have any.

Add plenty of shredded mozzerella.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Restaurant Review

So, when I first started the cooking portion of my blog, Kohler Eats, I had thoughts of blogging about area restaurants and how my experience went while eating inside the establishment with children.  I think, long ago, I blogged about a pizza joint here in town called Guidos (which my family loves).

My family visited another local restaurant called Home Plate recently.  It's gone through a few different owners and each one gets a story in our local newspaper claiming to be better than before.  New chef, new interior, new menu, new staff, etc.  When it first opened a few years ago, we took the kids to eat.  I'm all for supporting local eat-in restaurants!  My kids ordered chicken strips, My Man a steak and me a salad.  The first red flag was that they didn't make their own salad dressing.  When a restaurant opens and claim that they have a professionally trained chef in the kitchen...and he doesn't make his own salad dressing...that is a problem.  We didn't go back.  The prices were a bit high and the food wasn't any better than Sonic.

So, a new owner, new manager, new chef is on board now.  And again, we tried it out.  My Man ordered a tenderloin sandwich which he said was "alright."  My children ordered chicken tenders (really, how could you go wrong on those?) and I ordered a cheeseburger.  Aside from the fact that the burger was hand made and I didn't have to do any cooking, the food was just "okay."  My Man can make a better burger for me.  The french fries that are served with the chicken tenders are some strange spicey kind that are pre-frozen.  Why can't a self-owned restaurant make hand-cut fries??  But the real reason we'll not go back is because of the smoke.  Some area towns have started a no-smoking rule inside restaurants.  Our little town has not put it into effect yet and this restaurant was bad.  The smoke smell repulsed me and I definately didn't want my kids around it, much less ingest food while it floated all around my body. 

We had to crack windows on the drive home and I made everyone strip down in the laundry room as soon as we walked in the door so I could wash clothes.  Plus, I sent everyone immediately to the shower for a scrub-down.  I'd just showered and washed my hair before going out and was a bit miffed that I would need to shower again before bed.  The thought of getting my smoke-stink hair on my sheets was gross.

So, while I enjoy trying out new restaurants and supporting our community, it saddens me that our little sweet town can't produce another good, family-friendly, sit-down, great atmosphere, great quality food restaurant!  I guess we'll stick to Sonic and Guidos.

Homemade Tortillas

In my most recent issue of Cook's Country magazine (if you don't get this, you must), there was a recipe for homemade flour tortillas.

Easy.

Yummy.

My two qualifications!

Start out with flour, salt and Crisco.

Add some water at 110 degrees.

I had a hard time using my candy thermometer so I just made a guess.

Keep using the pastry cutter to form it all into a dough.

You can kneed it on your counter or be like me and just kneed it in the bowl.

Less mess.

Then roll out the dough into little dough balls.

Mine were about the size of Clementines.

Chill for about 30 minutes.

I don't know why.

Just following the recipe.

Then roll the ball out really thin on a floured surface.

Heat up some oil really high, wipe the oil out with a paper towl.

Okay, the skillet is dang hot so use a big wad of paper towls so you don't burn the flesh off your body.

And put one tortilla in.

Let it bubble and cook for about two minutes.

Flip it and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Pop it out and lay it on a plate, covered with a dish towl and repeat until all the dough balls are cooked.

Mine stayed warm but if you need to reheat them, you do it on 50% power for 10 seconds in the microwave.

Classic Apple Dumplins

 Trying a little something different with the centering of my pics to see if I like it. 

So, here's how you make Classic Apple Dumplins.
I got this recipe from my Taste of Home cookbook (thanks to my sis for the Christmas gift)!

Start out with some flour.

 Next add some salt.

Then throw in some Crisco sticks and cut it all together with a pastry cutter.  Add some ice  cold water to help it all come together.

 Peel and core some apples.

 After rolling out a section of the dough (I made three sections of dough since I was using three apples).  I'm a math whiz.  Place an apple on the center of the dough, top with a tablespoon of butter, a sprinkle of sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  Okay, I might have used a tish more than a sprinkle.

 You are supposed to pull the dough up nicely around the apple and form cute little folds.  I tried.  But ended up just getting the dough around the apple in a haphazard fashion and then cupping my hands around it to squish it all together.  So please, don't look to closely.

Make a heavenly caramel sauce with caramel ice cream topping, water and brown sugar.  Pour over the top of the dumplins (place them in a baking dish).

Bake for about an hour.  Serve with vanilla ice cream and top with left over caramel sauce from the bottom of the dish. 

HEAVEN!

Cheddar Corn Chowder

The recipe I'm blogging about today comes from Ina Garten (aka Barefoot Contessa).

I have a few of her cookbooks and while several of her recipes are a bit "adults-only" in their ingredient lists, I've found them all to be really yummy!

I've been making this chowder recipe for a few years now man is it good!

Start out by browning some bacon.

Peeling some potatoes.

Cooking some onion in the bacon grease.

Add some of this.

Some of that.

Throw in the potatoes and bring to a simmer.

Notice the burny onion?

I have to do that so My Man doesn't recognize what he's eating.

In a normal world, the onion would have only been cooked about 5 minutes.

Throw in some corn.

And half-n-half.

And cheddar cheese!

And heeeere it is!

I added some cooked chicken, though the recipe does NOT call for it.

My Man needs protein at all meals.

It's really really good!

Chocolate Covered Pretzles

Christmas Eve, just before getting dressed and heading over to Gramma and Big Daddy's, the older three boys made their chocolate covered pretzle sticks.

They really don't even need my help anymore.

Yummy!