Grandpa knows that any meal cooked at home can be tastier, and is almost always healthier.
I hope this Blog reminds you that cooking is not just food. It is also, Fun, Family and Friends. It is much more than filling our bellies, and getting nutrition.
Let's bring back the extended family or family and friends meal. If we can't do it weekly maybe we can do it monthly.
Is Costco worth the membership cost and buying in bulk?
I have to say it is. We just saved some serious dollars on our last visit. Helen and I went yesterday. We bought a total of 20 products.
Our total bill was $330.69.It is not easy to dig up comparisons on all the products, but I did look
up 8 of them. The quality of all the items were equal to or better than what
was available at other suppliers, and the return policy is fantastic.
We saved some serious money
On the 8 items, we saved $146.38.We also saved on the other 9 items but
quality and size were to difficult to find comparisons
Fantastic $330 instead of $476
I have to say that paying $330 on what would have cost more
than $476 was a great feeling.
None of the items we bought were on special or had coupon
savings.
Way to go Costco.If
you have any questions regarding Costco in Australia ask them here or on our
Facebook Page
Ranch Dressing –Make It at Home – As Good As
the Original From California’s Hidden Valley Ranch Dining Hall
This meal would contain about 183 calories.
If you don't drink the dressing in the jar.
Inexpensive – Healthier- Tastier
Heck it Even Smells
Better
I’m a Grandpa, a teller of tales, and a spinner of yarns. I pretend not
to notice the looks on my kid’s faces when I start a story, but they love me so
they listen.
This is the internet so I'll get right to the point. Below are the ingredients
and how to mix up this iconic salad dressing. It will make you happy to eat vegetables.
This recipe makes about
12 U.S. liquid ounces (355 ml)
Nutrition info at the end if you want to read it.
Ingredients
1 cup mayonnaise (Best Foods is the one used the most)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste (I use ½ tsp of salt and about 2 grinds of the
pepper mill)
Directions
Get a bowl and add the ingredients in the order listed.
Whisk them up, but if you don’t have a whisk handy, use a fork or a spoon
Pour in to a glass jar, if you have one, but any food safe container will do. It
tastes best if you let it cool in the fridge for 30 - 60 minutes.
Even though you mixed them up give the jar a shake. In fact, whenever you use
it give the jar a shake to mix things up.
Nutritional Information: Is figured on 1 US Tablespoon. Strangely Tablespoons
vary between countries so you are looking for about 15 ml or 1/2 US liquid
ounce.
This equals about 3 US, Australian or British teaspoons, as a one serve
size.
A salad with Ranch Dressing can be part of a full meal
Some more information that you may not know about Ranch Salad Dressing: You don't need to know this to make delicious creamy ranch dressing. SeriousEats.com tested 13 different brands of store bought bottled Ranch Dressing to find the best bottled one available, and had this to say: "We—gulp—tasted 13 different brands to find out. It was not
an easy process and many a gag was induced, but we came away with a few
answers, the most important one being: None of them. There wasn't a single
dressing in the bunch that we'd heartily recommend, particularly not when a
homemade Ranch Dressing or Buttermilk Ranch Dip is just a few ingredients and a
whisk away."
Ranch Dressing was featured on the Simpsons:
Homer was having a dream of being entertained by belly dancers. After a while he says enough, bring me my ranch dressing hose.
Ranch Dressing was invented by a plumbing contractor/cook in Alaska and perfected at the Hidden Valley Dude Ranch. The following came from http://www.omaha.com
YORK — A popular condiment on salads, burgers and sandwiches and a dip for vegetables, pizza slices and deep-fried food was developed by a former resident of York County.
Kenneth Henson of Thayer invented Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, which contains buttermilk, salt, garlic, onion, herbs and spices. The Nebraska-born cowboy dreamed of striking it rich so he and his wife Gayle (Penner) did what so many before them had done -- head west.
In 1949, Henson went to Alaska for three years to work as a plumbing contractor -- a job that included cooking for his fellow workers. While cooking in Alaska, he refined a recipe for buttermilk dressing.
This dressing became the house dressing at Hidden Valley Ranch, a dude ranch the Hensons purchased near Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1954. For many years they hosted guests from near and far who came to enjoy the ranch and enjoy the meals by Kenneth (who by then changed his name to Steve), Gayle and their staff. Income from the ranch was not enough to keep the 120-acre spread going, so Henson sold 54 acres and more Ranch Dressing to keep their heads above water.
They started to get so many requests for the dressing -- more than for ranch bookings -- that Gayle and Henson created a dry packaged mix. They sold the mix of salt, monosodium glutamate, dehydrated garlic, parsley and onions, black pepper and calcium stearate to stores and customers who lived a great distance away.
Kelley's Korner in Santa Barbara was the first store to sell the packaged mix. The packages sold out so fast that Lloyd Kelley, store owner, thought his staff was stealing it. Within no time, Hidden Valley Ranch became transformed into a salad dressing center
My History with Ranch Dressing: I started eating it in the early 80s. We loved salad, but I couldn't stand the taste of bottled dressing. Buying the seasoning packs and mixing our own was a great way to make a good salad dressing having a little control of what we were eating. Then I noticed that they started changing ingredients to allow it to last longer in the fridge. It now has a few of the words you can't describe, plus one you can MSG. I rather make min own. It isn't hard to mix up 7 seasonings.
It is still my favorite salad dressing, and I have been know to bring my own when dining in restaurants and ordering salads with no dressing.
Just slice up a cold tomato and drizzle some dressing over it and you have yourself a real summer time treat. It is also great as a dip for veges and soothes the heat from hot chicken wings. I can't think of a person who has tried this and didn't like it. Have fun and enjoy some of this dressing on some fresh vegetables.
If you have any questions just ask them below. If you find my blog helpful, consider sharing with your friends or posting on social media. Thanks: Grandpa
Low and Slow on the BBQ may be classic but this is really good and provided many easy meals, for short work time
The good thing about pulled pork is the fantastic taste. It takes a long time to cook but it just taste so good.
Sure the best way is low and slow in the smoker, weber or bbq, but that takes constant monitoring.
The fastest way is in a pressure cooker, but that still entails you spending time watching it.
The Slow Cooker - Crook Pot Method really has a place and time. Spend a little bit of prep time before going to work or on a day trip. When you come home you have BBQ Pulled Pork ready and waiting.
The good thing about a slow cooker/crock pot is; you don’t have to tend to it. Prepare your food, turn it on and let it do its thing.
It’s easy. In fact you are doing yourself and the pig a disservice if you make it complicated. This is peasant food, not the food of Cordon Bleu trained chefs.
Click Arrow Above to Watch Video
Ingredients:
Pork Shoulder: any size as long as it fits in your slow cooker
Oil: just enough to lightly coat the crock pot and enough to coat the pork so the rub adheres
Dry Rub: your favorite: Mine is simple and easy and further down
1 to 2 Cups of chicken stock depending upon size of pot. Not critical
2 Onions slice in 1/2 and put on bottom of pot.
2 Cups of your favorite BBQ sauce, plus a bit extra for topping sandwiches or plates. Grandpa's Barbecue Sauce recipe is below
Procedure:
Pat the pork dry with a paper towel
Rub it with a little bit of oil
Sprinkle the rub all over the pork
Pat the rub into the meat. Gentle is good.
Slice the onions and put them in the pot. They will keep the
meat off the bottom of the pot and add flavouring
Put the pork on top of the onions
Pour in the chicken stock
Pour the BBQ sauce on top of the Pork
Cover the pot and cook on low. It could take 4 to 7 hours.
When it is done the meat should fall apart when worked with a fork.
When cooked remove from pot and let it rest for 10 to 15
minutes.
Use a couple of forks to pull (shred) the pork.
Remove the liquid from the crock pot. Put the pulled pork in
the pot and return enough of the liquid to give the look and feel you
want.
Simple Rub
Combine the following and mix, well put into a shaker jar.
Salt 7 parts
Pepper 2 parts
Garlic Powder 1 part
Paprika (Hungarian, sweet or smoked) 2 parts
Grandpa's BBQ Sauce
1 cup Ketchup
1 cup vinegar
½ Cup of golden syrup. If you don't have it use dark corn syrup or treacle.
¼ Cup molasses
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce (adjust up or down to taste)
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Use a
whisk to blend the ingredients until smooth.
When it comes to a boil reduce heat to low and simmer
uncovered. Remove it from the heat when it thickens (30 to 45 minutes)
Thank you to the You Tube Audio Library for providing the
music “Sleepy Jake”
Great for Camping (If you have electrical power)
We start the pork in the morning, before we leave on a
day-trip. When we get back home we just pull out the pork, shred it and have a
feast.
Is it as good as cooking it low and slow in a BBQ or smoker? Hard to say, but it does allow busy people to enjoy it more often and is great when you are cooking and freezing for a month.
The first time we
cooked ribs for friends they went crazy happy. Helen and I are good cooks, and
she takes advantage of her Texan roots, but the Barbecue Sauce was the real
star.
People loved the
blend of tangy sweetness. It was such a hit, we prepared and gave out bottles
for Christmas.
You spend hours preparing the meat and sitting around the BBQ, while the “low and slow” does its magic and makes a hunk of meat into a special occasion. Don’t mask the taste with some stuff that has been sitting on the supermarket shelf. Make your own BBQ sauce. A sauce that enhances flavour rather than hide it.
This is a simple sauce but it ticks all the boxes. In all the years we have been making it the only complaint we had is about the times we didn’t make it. Some of The Boxes It Ticks
The actual
preparation time is short; less than 15 minutes
The cooking time is
about 35 minutes (you are required to stir occasional)
You control the taste:
make it sweeter, adjust how tangy it is, add some heat
You can prepare it a day or 2 ahead of time, it will taste even better. Refrigerate
it.
You can still use
your favorite rub.
Recipe
Grandpa BBQ Sauce
(from Great-Grandpa’s Notes)
1 cup ketchup
1 cup white vinegar,
a lot of people think it is better with Apple Cider Vinegar
½ cup dark corn
syrup (In Australia we use Golden Syrup. Corn Syrup is hard to find. Taste
great with either and better to avoid High-Fructose Corn Syrup)
2 teaspoons brown
sugar
¼ cup molasses
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon garlic
powder
¼ teaspoon onion
powder
¼ teaspoon tabasco
sauce (use the amount that best suits you and your guest)
See the Video
Make it Your Sauce
You can add some
other ingredients to give it the taste you want. That will make it your own signature BBQ sauce. A few
suggestions:
Mustard
Tamarind puree
Paprika sweet, hot,
Hungarian, or smoked
Pineapple juice
Orange – squeeze in some juice
Experiment with any
spice you like.
Smokey Taste: you could add some liquid smoke but I prefer smoked chipotles
or smoked paprika. Better yet, if cooking in a smoker, a Weber, or covered BBQ put the finished sauce in a
small pot that will handle the heat, I use a small size cast iron pot, and let
it cook in the smoke for about 10 or 15 minutes.
Healthier - Yes and No - or - Yes/But
Look this is BBQ I’m not implying that it is health food. Heck the main ingredient
is probably going to be meat. the food might be cooked over coals, the sauce
has sugar from 3 different sources, salt, and maybe smoke.
But if you want to
enjoy some tasty barbecue this is better than using stuff off the store shelf. Would
be better if you make your own ketchup, but that is a whole different story
You know what goes in it and we all know that the less machines and hands that
touch our food the better off we are. Always a good idea to eat the least processed
food you can.
Advertising tries to convince us that cooking is a drag. It isn’t, it can be
fun and the more you make your on food the better off you and your family will
be.
If you have any questions just post in the comments. You can comment anonymously. Next post & video will feature apulled pork, using this sauce
For years I have been making my own; I recommend that and will make a video someday, but I always like to have a package in the pantry or freezer. You know, for those times I want to cook something nice but don’t want to re-invent the wheel. A few months back I found some really good ones. Much nicer than the ones you find in major grocery stores. These are really good. They match anything I was ever able to buy in Californian local Mexican grocery stores. They make me think of camping at Punta Diggs on the Sea of Cortes. A little bit of fishing and cooking up some fish tacos. I use Diego’s GoMEX® Corn Tortillas. They are made by a tortilla factory right on the Gold Coast I buy mine at a local shop in Capalaba but there are plenty of shops that stock them. In fact you can even order them on line.
You wake up feeling
hungry, you don’t have too much time before you have to leave the house.
Your head is saying, "No Time, Got To Get Going", but your stomach is not agreeing. It wants you to have some protein, some carbs, and a bit of fat. It wants to make sure you last until lunch time.
How About This For Quick & Simple
Some Eggs
Tortilla Chips
Grated Cheese
Splash of Olive Oil
1 Pan to Cook Them All
The last time I cooked this it took 5 minutes and 14 seconds, and
I even grated the cheese. I will admit, I had the ingredients on the bench top
before starting.
The ingredient amounts are flexible; vary the amounts to suit you. For 2 people I normally use 1 TBS olive oil
1 Large hand full of CC's Tortilla Chips 4 Large eggs
30 g of grated cheese
Salt and pepper to taste.
In Mexico this recipe is called migas, although they would use left over corned tortillas rather than corn chips.
Forget the Name, It Can Be Confusing
It is confusing, because the same word means a totally different dish in Spain. The Portuguese version is similar, but different to the Spanish version.
Mexico City
Even within Mexico the word can be confusing. In Mexico City migas is more of a soup.
Tex-Mex
The Tex-Mex, or Americanized version will have other things added like garlic, onion and peppers. I reckon they all taste good, but the version I presenting here is quick and easy, but still taste great.
Grandpa's Mojave Eggs
I'll Call This (my version) Grandpa's Mojave Eggs. I'm pretty sure I was in the Mojave Desert the first time I made these. We didn't have any tortillas, but had some left over corn chips, we figured they would work and they did. Refrigeration was limited so there was no cheese. They still tasted great, and filled our bellies.
This is a great recipe to start your children or grandchildren on. Supervise them, but there is nothing difficult about this, no hot liquids, and only one pan. My grandson was capable of this when he was about 11, although his mom supervised until she was sure he could do it. Also a good one for any young people who moved out of the parent's house and are getting tired of take away.
Knowing How To Cook Is a Dying Art
Let you children cook with you. It will help them in life
I was about 13 when I had to take over the cooking duties at home. My Mom, Grandma and other relatives taught me a lot, Knowing how to cook is a great thing. It helps in feeling independent and capable.
If you want less processed food in your life this is a start. If you want to step up the game make your own corn tortillas; they are pretty easy to make. Slice them and fry them up; like in this post Grandpa's Huevos Rancheros. If making your own is too much use store bought corn tortillas. I mention a good brand in the Huevos Rancheros post. This recipe is like a blank canvas. You can add and subtract. You can experiment and make it yours If you are more comfortable with less fat you can have it without cheese. I had it that way many times and it is still nice. Some avocado on the side is great. Think of adding some onion, peppers, a bit of Mexican Chorizo, or even just seasoned ground/mince meat. Mushrooms would be great. Use your imagination. I lightened the color of the above paragraph because I want us to remember, this is basically a peoples recipe. Don't get too fancy. Celebrate and enjoy it for what it is: an easy to cook tasty, inexpensive meal that carries you over until the next meal.
After you eat these you’re going to think, “I just had the
greatest breakfast ever, and there wasn’t any bacon”. Huevos Rancheros is That
kind of meal.
Learn to make Huevos Rancheros. This classic Mexican egg dish
was created to feed hungry, hardworking vaqueros (cowboys).
A crisp freshly cooked tortilla. Layered with a rich tasting
sauce, refried beans, fried egg and cheese.
Delicious – Nutritious – Energy Packed - Comfort Food
Low GI - Low Fat - Gluten Free
This Mexican egg dish fits the above description. When you
see it on the plate your eyes say, “Man look at this, oh yeah”. The ingredients
just go together so well. You walk away satisfied and happy. You know this meal
ticked all the boxes.
Tortillas
Use only corn tortillas. Homemade is best, but take time.
Buying them is OK. I make my own about half of time and use store bought when I
don’t. Best to buy at a tortilleria if
there is one nearby, or a local Mexican grocery store. For those of us living
in Australia I have listed some sources at the end of the post.
But You Fried the Tortillas in Oil
I know, but it is healthy. I started with 1 cup of olive
oil
When fried, I placed the tortillas on paper towels to absorb some of the
oil.
When I was done cooking 4 tortillas; I emptied the oil back into a cup. It took only 5 teaspoons to replace oil that was used. I figured that 1/2 teaspoon had been spilled and 1/2 teaspoon was absorbed on the paper towels.
So, each tortilla would have 1 teaspoon of olive oil. That is not much oil and it
is heart smart olive oil. Probably better then buttering a slice of toast.
Refried Beans
Better, tastier and cheaper to make your own, but I wouldn’t
hesitate to heat up some canned ones; rather than miss out on this special
treat. Black beans or pinto beans seem to be the best to use
Eggs
Fried eggs; sunny side up or over easy; a runny yoke
is nice. I reckon poached eggs would be ok
Ranchero Sauce
Best to make your own; it is easy, but you can buy some
jarred Mexican Cooking Sauce, Ranchero Sauce (if you can find it), Enchilada
Sauce, or Salsa.
For years I have been making my own; I recommend that and will make a video someday, but I always like to have a package in the pantry or freezer. You know, for
those times I want to cook something nice but don’t want to re-invent the
wheel. A few months back I found some really good ones. Much nicer than the ones you
find in major grocery stores. These are really good. They match anything I was
ever able to buy in Californian local Mexican grocery stores. They make me think of camping at Punta Diggs on the Sea of Cortes. A little bit of fishing and cooking up some fish tacos.
I use Diego’s GoMEX® Corn Tortillas. They are made by a tortilla factory right
on the Gold Coast I buy mine at a local shop in Capalaba but there are plenty of shops that stock them.
In fact you can even order them on line.
I hope you enjoy Grandpa’s Huevos Rancheros. Cook them for someone you love. If you have any questions of comments just leave them below. You don't have to sign in. When it ask Comment As, select anonymous.
