Cowboy Beans

I lost the recipe for this, but it is pretty darn simple so just follow along :) Plus it was so good I HAD to share it. First thing, get your oven preheated to 400 degrees and lets gather some ingredients.




You will need a beer, garlic, ketchup, liquid smoke if you've got it, pepper, tabasco, cider vinegar, beef jerky, a can of pinto beans, flour, onion, ground meat, ground mustard and some salt and pepper. You will also need a tomato and some brown sugar, but those didn't quite make it to the picture.

So lets get prepping!




Chop the onion, about 2 tablespoons.




Drain and rinse your beans.




Chop up one clove of garlic.




You want the beef jerky in small pieces and its impossible to cut with a knife, but scissors work great. You want about an ounce or so.




Measure out 2 tablespoons of brown sugar (or more if you like your beans on the sweeter side) and chop your tomato. You may also want to measure out your flour at this point, you need about a teaspoon.




Ok so lets start cooking. In an oven proof pan, start browning your ground meat, its half a pound in this recipe. I used some pork. You only want to cook for about a minute, until it loses its raw look.




Add in the onion and cook for another minute. Stir in the garlic and cook for about 10 seconds stirring constantly.




Stir in the flour and let that cook for about 30 seconds. Stir it well then cook for a minute.




Add in the beef jerky and the tomato and give it a stir. Let that cook for about 2 minutes.




Add in 2 tablespoons of ketchup, a teaspoon of vinegar, 1/4 teaspoons of liquid smoke, a dash of tabasco, the brown sugar, a dash of mustard powder and the salt and pepper. Let those flavors combine for a minute or two then its time to bring on the beer and the beans.




Stir in the beer and get everything nice and combined. When it is all stirred up, let it simmer for about 3 minutes then get it in the oven.




Let it cook up in the oven for about an hour or until you can no longer wait another minute because it smells so good. Give it a stir from time to time to keep it from sticking.




Dish it up and serve it with a nice cold can of beer, just like a cowboy would like it. This particular beer is from Trader Joe's, one of my favorite stores. This is a perfect meal for a chilly fall day, I hope you give it a try!

Eating in Amsterdam

I thought I would share some of what I had to eat while in Amsterdam. As you all know the hubby doesn't really care for food so he watched me eat a couple of meals while he sipped a nice cold beer :)




We got some pizza at our favorite pizza spot in the main plaza area, it is the best pizza I have ever had.




The hubby had a nice big bacon burger at the Koepel Cafe, it looked amazing and of course came with great fries. The Dutch love their fries!




I had some cream of mushroom soup with some bread. The soups at the Koepel are the best.




Of course we had some delicious beers that you can't get in the US.




Giant pancakes!!




More Giant Pancakes!! :)




Another traditional Dutch food, Croquettes. These were stuffed with veal and were delicious.

And finally my favorite...




MUSSELS. Yum. The hubby was somewhat mortified watching me eat these, but he was a good sport. Of course we also got plenty of fries with Mayo or "Fritessaus" as they call it. We had a great trip and I recommend you go check out Amsterdam if you ever get the opportunity.

Chicken in Red Wine Sauce

Hey guys, I am back! I was on vacation in the Netherlands so I apologize for the lack of posts. I am back with a great recipe for the chilly nights we are all experiencing, even me in AZ!




This recipe comes from the Cooking on Your Own by Henry Lewis Creel book I recently picked up.




Lets gather up some ingredients. You will need some mushrooms, flour, butter, chicken (I used thighs of course) red wine, chicken broth, shallot, garlic, thyme, parsley and a bay leaf.




Measure out or chop your herbs if you are using fresh.




Cut up your mushrooms and shallot. Measure out your flour too so that you are all ready once you start to cook.




Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Never skip this step, you have to season your food!!




Once you are prepped, get the butter down in a pan. I might have used more than the recipe called for.




Brown the chicken skin side down for about 6 minutes then give it a flip. Cook it for another 5-6 minutes.




Add the mushrooms, garlic and shallot and cook for one minute.




Sprinkle the flour evenly over everything.




Pour in the broth (or water), wine, thyme, parsley and bay leaf and cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes.




Take off the lid and check your progress, looks about ready to me!




I would serve this with a nice piece of bread to soak up all of that yummy wine sauce. I am glad to be back, thanks for all the great comments and emails while I was gone, I appreciate all of them so much.