Tag: cheese

Homemade French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is a favorite in my family.  In fact, one of my daughters always loves to have it for her birthday.  One of the best places to get it was a restaurant in Fort Collins, Colorado called Canino’s.  The restaurant recently closed after more than 40 years of business when the owner retired, but I can still taste that soup every time I think of it.  French Onion soup is surprising simple to make and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry.  So, let’s get out the onions and make some soup!

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter

4 Onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 bay leaves

2 fresh thyme sprigs

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

1 cup red wine

3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 quarts beef broth

1 baguette, sliced

½ pound grated Gruyere cheese

Directions:

  1. Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat.
  2. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. 
  3. Add wine and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated (about 5 minutes)
  4. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
  5. Dust the onions with flour and give them a stir.  Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for about 5 minutes. 
  6. Add beef broth and bring back to a simmer for 10 minutes.
  7. Salt and Pepper to taste.
  8. Preheat the broiler and arrange baguette slices on a baking sheet and cover with the gruyere and broil until bubbly and brown.
  9. Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.
  10. Enjoy!
Homemade French Onion Soup

You can purchase a Dutch oven to make French Onion Soup at Amazon.

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. See my disclosure policy.

How to make Sourdough English Muffins

Have you ever wondered what else you can do with your sourdough discard?  One of the many things you can use it for is to create sourdough English Muffins.  Sourdough English Muffin are delicious and easy to make.  My family loves these home made English Muffins and we eat them for breakfast with butter or jam and we even put on some sausage and egg to create our own version of the McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin.  Join me and let’s make a batch.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of fed starter

2 Cups of milk

2 TBS of honey

5 Cups of all-purpose flour divided

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

1 tsp

Directions:

  1. Add starter to a bowl and then combine with the milk.  Stirring to dissolve starter into milk.
  2. Add honey and mix in.
  3. Add 4 cups of flour and mix in.
  4. Cover and let it rest at room temperature overnight.
  5. Uncover and punch down dough.
  6. Add baking soda and salt to dough and kneed in, add flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.  May need to add up to 1 cup of flour.  Kneed for 5 mins.
  7. Use a rolling pin to roll dough out to a ½ inch thickness, then using a 3-inch biscuit cutter cut out your muffins from the dough.
  8. Place cut muffins on parchment paper that has corn meal sprinkled on it.  Sprinkle corn meal on top of the muffins. 
  9. Let muffins rise for 45 mins. 
  10. Cook 4 to 5 muffins at a time in a buttered cast iron pan at low to medium heat.  Cook the muffins approximately 4 mins per side until each side has a nice golden color.
  11. Remove from pan and eat! You can eat them with butter, peanut butter, jam, or add egg and sausage with some cheese to make a sausage muffin. 

How to make Sourdough English Muffins

How to make Taco Bell Chili Cheese Burrito (Copycat Recipe)

This must be said.  Taco Bell did not put beans in the chili cheese burrito!  There are so many copycat recipes out there that have beans and vinegar in the chili cheese burrito and those should not be in there.  I have no idea why anyone ever thought they should add vinegar, but that taste should not be in the chili cheese burrito.  I imagine that beans were added because someone was trying to figure out how to thicken the chili and every copycat recipe always has a comment from former Taco Bell employees telling everyone that beans do not go in the chili cheese burrito.  There is a secret ingredient that is used to thicken the chili and that is corn meal.  Believe me, this is 100 times better than the recipes with beans and vinegar and it is just like eating the chili cheese burrito from Taco Bell. 

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds ground beef

6 cups cold water

¼ cup cornstarch

½ cup all-purpose flour

6 ounce can tomato paste

2 tbsp mild chili powder

½ tsp jalapeno powder

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp dried onion flakes

2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp ground black pepper

2 ½ tsp salt

2 tbsp corn meal

1 1/2 cups Shredded cheese

6 Large burrito tortillas

Directions:

  1. Cook ground beef in a pot, Dutch oven, or cast-iron pan until browned then drain off excess grease
  2. In a 2 quart mixing bowl add water, cornstarch, flour, and corn meal. Whisk together until fully blended.
  3. Whisk in the tomato paste until fully blended into the liquid mixture.
  4. Stir into the liquid mixture the cayenne pepper, chili powder, jalapeno powder, paprika, onion flakes, cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt.  Mix will. 
  5. Add liquid mixture to the meat and bring to a boil.  Once the mixture hits a boil reduce to a simmer.
  6. Simmer for 45 minutes and stir from the bottom of the pot every 5 minutes to prevent the chili from sticking. 
  7. Once the chili is done simmering remove from heat.
  8. Place one large burrito tortilla on a microwave safe plate and spread 1/4 cup shredded cheese onto the tortilla keeping the cheese away from the edges of the tortilla.  (try to keep an edge of 2 inches without cheese).  Microwave for 30 seconds.
  9. Remove tortilla and melted cheese from microwave and scoop 1/3 cup chili onto the tortilla.  To roll up the burrito, fold in two opposite sides of the tortilla, then rolling from one of the other sides into a burrito.
  10. Enjoy!
Taco Bell Chili Cheese Burrito – Copycat Recipe (NO BEANS!)

How to make home made Philly Cheesesteaks

My favorite sandwich is are Philly Cheesesteaks, I order them at any restaurant that I go to that serves them. In Charleston my favorite places to eat Philly Cheesesteaks are at the Southside 17 Bar & Grill, and also YE OLE FASHIONED CAFE & ICE CREAM in West Ashley.

They are a classic sandwich and loved by so many people. Follow along to make an amazing Philly Cheesesteak with chopped steak, gooey cheese, onions, and peppers.

Ingredients:

2 pounds steak
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Sliced Mushrooms (Optional)
Hoagie Rolls
slices of provolone cheese

Directions:

  1. Slice the onions so that you have long slices of onion. Place in a bowl.
  2. Slice the red and green peppers into long strips and place in a bowl.
  3. Dice up the garlic and place in the bowl with the onions and peppers.
  4. Chop steak into small pieces. You can do this by slicing the steak into slices and then rotate the cut slices and cut again into smaller pieces. Rotate the cut slices again, and cut again. Keep repeating until the steak is cut into tiny pieces about 1/4 inch in size or smaller. Set aside the cut meat.
  5. Melt 2 tbsp of onion into your pre-heated pan. Pour the sliced vegetables into a preheated pan and cook until the vegetables are soft and cooked through.
  6. Add chopped meat to the pan of vegetables and continue cooking.
  7. Add the salt and pepper to the meat and vegetables.
  8. When the meat is about 2/3 cooked you can add mushrooms if you want. This is optional since not everyone likes mushrooms.
  9. Cook until all liquid from the vegetables has evaporated form the pan and the meat is cooked through.
  10. Once meat is cooked through remove the meat and place in a bowl and set aside.
  11. Rinse the pan and add melt 1 1/2 tbsp butter in the pan. Once butter is melted add your hoagie buns and cook on both sides until lightly toasted. Then remove hoagie buns and set aside.
  12. In the same pan, add enough meat and vegetables back into the pan to fill one hoagie bun. (Approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the meat and vegetable mixture). Then add slices of provolone cheese on top of the mix mixture and cook until the cheese is melted.
  13. Once the cheese is melted you can remove the meat mixture from the plan and place on top of the hogie buns.
  14. Enjoy your philly cheesesteak!
How to make home made Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches