• Another bacon recipe…

    …but first a confession.  Growing up I had potatoes at every meal….including breakfast.  That’s because Grandpa was “the potato king” of Market street in Chicago although after The Crash he was the exiled potato king. Still his devotion to potatoes held firm and now that he was out of work, he came to our house for his meals.  And his daughter, my mother, knew what was required. Strangely, instead of having my fill, I still love potatoes and still need my carb fix.  This recipe, then, contains two of my favorite foods:  potatoes and bacon.  It’s a potato-bacon-cheddar cheese tart! http://theshrug.com/he-lines-an-entire-pan-with-bacon-then-fills-it-with-this-i-cant-stop-drooling/ Thanks to SB for the tip!

  • Here’s the recipe….

    ….for that Maple Mustard Ham Steak with Sherry-Raisin Sauce.  Son-in-law Bill found it in the  “Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook.” 1 cup apple cider 1/3 cup dry sherry 1/4 cup raisins 3 Tablespoons maple syrup 1 teaspoon unsalted butter 4 teaspoons country-style Dijon mustard 1 pound ham steak + preheat the broiler, coat broiler pan with cooking spray + in a small saucepan, combine the apple cider, sherry, raisins, and one 1 Tablespoon of the maple syrup. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Boil 11-12 minutes, until reduced to 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat and swirl in the butter. Keep warm. + in a small bowl, combine…

  • The best things in life are….

    ….made with grass fed beef! Like this beef stew.  (Pardon me, my daughter the English major may see this:  Such as this beef stew!)  And it was only the proverbial “gilding the lily” to toss in some Hennessey’s. We first tasted it at Linda Maurer’s house, she of Springhaven Farm near Madison (sorry, address not available), and it was absolutely the best stew we ever had.  Linda being a dear friend, and quavering only slightly due to the gun pointed at her, volunteered to share her recipe.  She called it “Parker’s Beef Stew”. Well, being a fanatic about such little things I had to track down “Parker”.  Turns out he was a…

  • A bacon explosion!

    I yield to no man in my love of bacon!  (As long as it is Tamworth bacon!) But these folks do seem to be carrying their passion a bit far.  You may want to file this away for warmer weather. http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/

  • Tough but tasty….

    ….one of the curious things we have noticed about meat, at least to our palate, is that there seems to be a correlation between tough and tasty.  That was first brought to our attention by our butcher, Doug Aylesworth of Blue Ridge meats. It was he who first suggested we try marketing chuck steaks.  Frankly, we got cold feet after the first cuts arrived back here.  More recently, we’ve decided that Doug was right, but they do require careful preparation. Our daughter-in-law, Barbara, came up with a recipe from her mother recently…a recipe for beef stroganoff.  It’s simple and, she assures us, delicious.  Barbara is one of the best cooks…

  • Cooking brisket….

    When children, grandchildren and great-grandchild get together for Christmas Eve dinner, you need a substantial piece of meat.  Brisket, I think, is the perfect choice.  Several of our Thistle Hill customers report they also had wonderful meals this year, slow-cooking our grass fed brisket. So I share Wooz’ “old family recipe”, which is certainly old if not family.  It’s from a cookbook published in 1958 with a Wooz twist.  Here’s her version: Every once in a while a great recipe meets a great piece of meat and the result is pleasing to all.  This Christmas Eve we tried an old recipe with a perfect  brisket from our own Thistle Hill  Devon…