Pasta!

Growing up, I ate a lot of pasta, because it was easy to make, you boil noodles, pop open a jar of sauce and you're in business.

I have no jars of home made sauce anymore, mostly 'cause I moved across the country a little more than a month ago, but also because I can and do cook for myself. Someone asked me to try putting calories on this to keep track. Aside from the beef, this could be considered health food!

1 pot, 1 skillet.
1 clove, garlic - 98 calories (16 carbs)
2 bell peppers 64 calories
2 tsp sugar -16 calories
2 28oz(large) cans tomatoes one crushed, one diced - 160 calories
1/2 onion chopped - (one onion = 67 calories)  Some people like onions.
1 pound lean ground beef. - 864 calories.
1 teaspoon of olive oil to saute the veggies (100 cal)
A shot of beer  ? Varies.

Tomatoes, in the pot, spices, in the pot, a shot of beer in the pot. Low heat while you dice 1 clove garlic, and half an onion.
Sautee the bell pepper, onion in olive oil  with the garlic. Don't forget to stir the sauce.
Add the sauteed onion, bell pepper & garlic to the pot, keep stirring.
In the same skillet you just sauteed the veggies in, toss in the ground beef. let it soak up that garlic & onion goodness as you brown it.
Drain -some- of the grease off the beef, and add everything else to the pot.

Bring to a boil then down to a simmer for 45mins-3hrs depending.

I make open face Sloppy Joes on whole wheat toast, or make some noodles.

ProTip; That skillet you just used to brown the beef? While you're simmering your sauce in the pot.
Fill the skillet with cold water, and then set it on a medium flame. Take the amount of noodles you were planning anyway, and put in the skillet. Stir both.
When the water in the skillet is boiling your noodles should be done perfectly.

Now that I've moved, I'm cooking things on the weekend to eat as delicious lunch all week at work. This makes enough sauce for me to take a dose each day for 5 days for either noodles or sandwich. So you could say "5 servings". But we're bachelors. We don't pay attention to so much.

Spicy Chipotle Marinade

This is my version - some might note I've mentioned an onion allergy in my residence, it kinda puts a cramp on cooking, since onions are used in so many things.

So, I came up with this marinade to make better lunches for work, while not onion-gassing my roommate out of the apartment.

In a Blender:

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon black peppercorns.
2 Tablespoons fresh chopped oregano
2 Tablespoons of ground chipotle pepper
6 cloves of fresh garlic
2 Teaspoons of ground cumin

Puree till the garlic and peppercorns are all creamy smooth with everything, add a quarter cup of oil

Steak with Chipotle & Chocolate Mole

So it's been a while and I've been experimenting in the kitchen a bit. Suffering for science, and all of that.

So from the Bachelor Labs comes a new recipe.

Ingredients:

• A few teaspoons ground cumin. "To Taste" is speculative. I maybe use half a can for the 4 people this recipe serves.
  
• 1 can canned crushed tomatoes. For those with measuring cups, this would be about 3 cups.
  
• 1 Bar bittersweet or semisweet chocolate. I grabbed a Hershy's Special Dark. Worked great. Tempted to go with something extra fancy like Godiva or Ghiradelli, but that's expensive froo-froo. It's not fast, and thus, not Bachelor enough for the menu.
  
• 1 can minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo or chipotle hot sauce. I found these in the Mexican foods section, probably 3 tablespoons worth.
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
• Fresh cilantro leaves. More and more places are carrying these in the produce area.
  

The Sauce:

In a sauce pot on medium heat (at first) drop in the chipotles, crumble up the chocolate, add the cinnamon & cumin, the tomatoes and a teaspoon or so of cumin. Bring it up to a simmer and add the orange peel. Cover it and simmer while you prepare the steak.

The Meat:

Steak. You know how to identify this. Pretty simple. For this I gave it a thinner cut than normal.

Take and liberally sprinkle the ground cumin over the whole side. And really work it in with your fingers. Don't just rub it in, make sweet love to it. Flip them over and rub the other side real good.

Broil until how you like it.

While the steak simmers....

Use your manly kitchen scissors to slice up the cilantro real fine. Keep the stems out. Drop it in the simmering spiced madness that is the sauce. Then put it in your blender! Yes! That thing you use to make so many other things. Watch it go round and round and round till all the peppers are pureed. Listen to the sound of the blender as it shreds & blends. Tasty delicious blades of death.

Ahem.

Your steak should be done broiling real soon.

Slice it into strips with your manly kitchen knives and give it a steaming spicy blanket of that sauce.

I've even done this one with a slab of Brisket that was 'the most affordable meat at the time'. The keys are the thin slicing, the rub, and the cooking.

Hot Italian Love

With a 9x13 inch deep dish lasagne tray; take two cans of pre-fab pizza dough and set them in diagonal so it makes an even crust, with 3/4 inch high around the edges.

Into that layer 16 oz sliced mozarella shredded works good too.

On top of the mozarella add a pound of cooked Italian sausage. Tried once with the raw sausage, not so great. I usually get raw sausage and cook it right up in a skillet and throw it still steaming hot onto the cheese.

On top of the sausage, add 160z of sliced pepperoni. I use the turkey stuff by preference.

On top of the pepperoni, pour out a 16 oz bottle of pizza sauce. Or, diced up canned vine ripened tomatos. 1 chopped green pepper, and 4 cloves of garlic, really chopped up.

Mix the tomatoes & veggies together with the top layer of pepperoni with your fingers.

Sprinkle Parmesan & Romano cheese over the top to taste.

Throw it in the oven at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Keep an eye on it and check at 30. You're looking to have the crust rise and the cheese melt.

This serves 6, or 3 bachelors. ;)

Mmmm. Pizza.

When it's done I slip it out of the pan, and onto a cutting board, and cut it into 6 squares. Works great.

DELICIOUS Salsa

Just in time for football bowl season. Sorta.

I got a blender, so that's how I mix this up. At my place, my roommate is allergic to onion, so I can't make anything with it. Or even have it in the kitchen area.

So into the blender go:
1/4 cup of olive oil

4 diced green tomatoes or tomatillos.

10 diced cascabel chiles... (you can cheat and find the mexican section of your market for the canned ortega diced chiles)

4 bay leaves (chopped up fine)

2 tablespoons of chicken stock (broth, use a bullion cube if you have to)

3 finely chopped garlic cloves. Num num.

1 or 2 red tomatoes, diced nicely.

Thyme. A pinch or more.

Oregano. A pinch or more.

1 branch of Rosemary.

some salt & some pepper.

This usually fills my blender, i start with the oil & garlic at the bottom. and then pile everything else in.

Blend, blend, blend! Not till it's creamy tho...

Pour it into a sauce pot on medium heat. I take the blender and fill it 1/4 full of water and add a squeeze of lime juice to it. Then hit blend once more to get all the green goodness off the sides.

Pour that in the sauce pot and simmer it down till it's as thick as you like it to be.

I recommend chilling it before serving it, but it can be let back down to room temperature. Colder is better. Gives a fresh crispness to it.

Swedish Meatballs

"More meat for the meat eaters!"

The Meatballs:

2 pounds of lean ground beef.

1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs. But you can use anything bread-like. See the meatloaf recipe for more suggestions.

1/2 cup white wine. Delicious.

1 beaten egg.

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice.
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

I usually add double allspice & nutmeg.

Mix all of that together and shape into 1 inch meatballs. Lay 'em out on a cookie sheet, bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Now for the sauce!

1 jar of currant jelly. about 10 ounces. This is one of those 'pick a flavor' things. I'm going to try with pineapple for a more hawiian flavor. And with jalapeno for a spicy kick.
1/2 cup of chili sauce.
1/4 cup of white wine. And some for the chef. Delicious.

and a tablespoon of cornstarch.

All in a saucepot.

Combine it and mix, over a medium heat till it starts to boil and thicken.

In my experience I took the meatballs out and put them in my 2 pound loaf pan, they fit well, and poured the sauce over.

In my experience the meatballs will be done before the sauce if you put them in before you start the sauce.

Meat Group!

Mega Meatloaf.

This is somethin I started throwing together recently and I love how good it is. When you want something to cook that'll take a while and yet when you're done, fill you up solid.

In a big mixing bowl:

1/4 teaspoon Sage
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Dry Mustard
1/4 teaspoon Ground Pepper
2 minced garlic cloves.
1/2 cup of bread crumbs.

I ususally shake it around at this point and get it all mixed in just right.

I also substitute the breadcrumbs for whatever's going to do the job. I've used:
Fritos
Doritos
Regular generic crunchy taco shells.
Oatmeal

And once that's blended nice, add 1 cup of BUTTERMILK. Or 1 cup of whole milk. Or hell, steal some cream from the coffee drinker who wants food too.

2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce. Now I've tried a few generics, but the old fashioned Lea & Perrins is the best I've come across so far. Bigger bottle means cheaper, btw. You should always have this stuff around, since it's a manly bachelor thing for steaks and marinades ... and meatloaf!

I usually mix that around till you get something mushy and consistent.

Then you pick two to three pounds of ground meat. I usually go with lean beef and italian sausage, or lean beef and lean pork, I pondered since it's the Holidays, trying turkey and beef. But usually just stick with what's cheap. Beef has a way of filling and sticking around a while.

Use your bachelor powers of messyness and mix it all up by hand. When it's nice and even, plop it into a 2 pound loaf pan. Smoosh it out kinda flat.

Take your favorite steak sauce and baste across the top of it good and thick.

Bake in the middle of the oven at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

Now you have 90 minutes to finish doing the dishes. Or preparing side dishes. Or whatever.