Month: August 2022

Sauces and Bastes

Sheri Marinari Pizza Sauce

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I need sauce. All the time.  For my pizza, for dipping, for calzones. 

I make a lot of sauces. 

If you are looking for a nice red sauce to spread on your pizza or to use as a dip with an appetizer, give this recipe a try, and let me know what you think.

Marinara sauce

Sheri Marinari Sauce

Sheri Tomato
I use Marinara sauce in a lot of my recipes, or served on the side with my appetizers. This is my Sheri Marinari Sauce. I hope you like it.
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Equipment

  • Handheld emulsifier or blender
  • sauce pan

Ingredients
  

  • 1 28 oz can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 TBS sun dried tomato paste
  • 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
  • 10 cloves garlic, diced very fine
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp basil
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red peppers
  • 3 bay leaves

Instructions
 

  • Pour can of tomatoes into large bowl. Add 1/2 cup water to can. Mix remnants of tomatoes from can with the water and add to the bowl.
  • Using emulsifier or blender, crush tomatoes until most of chunks are gone and mix is fairly smooth.
  • Add olive oil to your saucepan and heat on medium for 1 minute.
  • Add garlic and bay leaves to the pan. Sauté for about 2 minutes.
  • Add your bowl of pureed tomatoes into the saucepan.
  • Stir occasionally until sauce starts to bubble.
  • Reduce heat to simmer and add the rest of your ingredients.
  • Let simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Remove from heat and pluck out the bay leaves. Discard bay leaves
  • At this point, the sauce can be used immediately in whatever dish you need it for or stored for later use.
    It can be stored in refrigerator in sealed container or baggy for up to seven days. It can be kept in freezer, in freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
Keyword Pizzasauce, Marinara, tomatoes
 
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Meat

Made from Scratch Taco Meat

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Taco meat is a great basic ingredient to use in all kinds of appetizers. From mini tacos to taco logs to taco calzones, you are off to a good start with this made from scratch taco meat recipe.

And hey, taco salad anyone?

taco meat made from scratch

Made from Scratch Taco Meat

Sheri Tomato
Do you have a packet of taco seasoning in your pantry? Did you ever read the back of a taco seasoning mix that you buy in the store?
Dextrose, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, Caramel color, disodium inosinate. Doesn't sound very yummy to me. Throw out the store-bought taco mix.
Let's dice some onion and green peppers instead and get the rest of the flavor from your spice rack.
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Equipment

  • heavy skillet
  • wooden spoon or heavy spatula

Ingredients
  

  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup diced spanish onion or other yellow onion
  • 1 lb ground beef (80/20 is good for this recipe)
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tsp tomato paste I buy my tomato paste in the tube instead of a can. Much easier when you only need a small amount

Instructions
 

  • Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet on medium high
  • Add diced onions and green pepper. Sauté on medium high, stirring for about 3 minutes.
  • Add ground beef. Break up ground beef in the skillet with a wooden spoon or heavy spatula until you have very small chunks of meat.
  • Keep cooking and stirring the ground beef until it is no longer pink anywhere.
  • Turn off the heat and drain the grease.
  • Put heat back up to medium and stir in the spices
  • Whisk water and tomato paste together in a cup and pour over meat mixture.
  • Stir the meat till the liquid starts to boil
  • Turn heat down to medium low and cook till most of the liquid is gone, stirring occasionally. This should take about 20 minutes.
  • Remove from heat.
  • There are many uses for taco meat. My favorite ways to use it is in a taco shell with your favorite toppings or over a baked potato with some sour cream, or as a base for taco salad. See my appetizer section for more ideas.
Keyword ground beef, taco meat, scratch cooking, party food

 
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Appetizers, Meat

Make bacon the star in your appetizer

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I use bacon in a lot of my party food recipes.

I like to cook a batch of bacon ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator for later use. 

Cooked bacon is good in the fridge for 4 – 5 days.  To store it, let cooked bacon cool down completely and then put in an airtight bag in your refrigerator.

Low and Slow Bacon

Sheri Tomato
There are many ways to cook bacon. Because we are in the dog days of summer right now, I don't want to turn on the oven. So we will be cooking it on the stovetop.
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Prep Time 22 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American

Equipment

  • nonstick heavy duty frying pan or wok

Ingredients
  

  • 6 slices raw bacon
  • 1/8 cup water

Instructions
 

  • 1. Lay your bacon strips side by side in cold pan.
    2. Pour 1/8 cup of water on top of bacon.
    3. Turn the stove to med/high. Cook until all water has evaporated. Approximately 5 minutes. This helps to render down the fat.
    4. Once water has evaporated, turn heat down to med/low.
    5. Occasionally rearrange bacon, and flip it, to ensure even cooking.
    6. Once the bacon as reached your happy level of crispiness, approximately 10 - 15 minutes.
    7. Turn off the heat and let the bacon drain on a paper towel lined plate.

Notes

Once your pan has cooled down a little, pour excess bacon grease into a mason jar and store in fridge. We will be using this in other recipes. Bacon grease is full of flavor. Do not discard it.
I will be posting future recipes on how to cook bacon in the oven and in the air fryer.
Keyword bacon, fried bacon, breakfast
 
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Appetizers

Quick and Easy Pizza Logs

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Everybody loves pizza logs. You can do them many ways.  Sometimes I use eggroll wrappers.  Sometimes I use homemade pizza dough.  Sometimes I make the dipping sauce by scratch and sometimes I just buy a jar of marinara or pizza sauce and call it a day.

This is the quick and easy way. We will go back to basics another day.

eggrolls

Air Fryer Pizza Logs

Sheri Tomato
This is a very easy recipe. I used jarred pizza sauce and pre-packaged eggroll wrappers. I usually like to make my own sauce and eggroll wrappers from scratch, but I wanted to keep this recipe fast and simple. Because sometimes the party shows up when you least expect it.
I will add the longer "from scratch" version in the future.
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Course Appetizer
Cuisine American

Equipment

  • Air Fryer
  • pastry brush

Ingredients
  

  • l pkg eggroll wrappers
  • 1 pkg pre-sliced pepperoni
  • 1 pkg whole milk mozzarella cheese sticks
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup Everything Bagel Seasoning

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
    Set up your rolling station by laying out your ingredients in the following order:
    Eggroll wrappers, bowl of water, pepperoni slices, mozzarella cheese sticks, olive oil, Everything Bagel Seasoning.
    1. Lay out an eggroll wrapper in diamond position.
    2. Brush water around the edges of the wrapper (this will be the sealing agent)
    4. Place 5 pepperonis in a line in lower middle of eggroll wrapper, being sure to leave a 1/2" margin on either side.
    5. Place cheese stick on top of line of pepperoni.
    6. Take the tip of the wrapper facing you and fold bottom corner of wrapper over filling.
    7. Roll snugly halfway to cover the filling.
    8. Fold in left and right side like an envelope.
    9. Firmly but gently, finish rolling, keeping the roll as tight as possible with ripping it. You will get better at this with practice.
    10. Brush entire pizza roll lightly with olive oil and then sprinkle some Everything Bagel Seasoning on it.
    10. Place seam side down in pre-heated air fryer basket.
    Repeat with rest of eggroll wrappers. You may have to cook in batches depending on the size of your air fryer basket. You want to keep a space between each pizza log.
    Cook for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Eggrolls should be a light golden brown. Check every few minutes to keep them from burning. Every air fryer is different.
    When they have cooked to your preferred crispness, remove them from air fryer and let them cool on a cooking rack for a few minuters. Serve with a small bowl of pizza sauce.

Notes

This can also be made in the oven.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees and cook a few more minutes on each size.
Keyword pizza, pizza logs, appetizers
 
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Desserts, Eggs & vegetables

Hard Boiled Egg Appetizer

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There is so much you can do with a hard boiled egg.  Best off all, it can be made the night before and refrigerated for party day.  The appetizers above start with a simple boiled egg. Just layer in the lettuce,

hard boiled eggs

Hard Boiled Eggs

Sheri Tomato
When I need hard boiled eggs in a recipe, this is my go-to method. It cooks them perfectly every time.
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Ingredients
  

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking soda

Instructions
 

  • Gently place 6 eggs into a large pot on stove.
  • Pour cold water into the pot, being sure that the eggs are covered by at least 1" of water
  • Add one tsp of baking soda to the water.
  • Heat on medium high until water comes to a rolling boil.
  • Turn off burner and cover the pot with tight fitting lid.
  • Leave alone for 12 minutes.
  • Transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water.
  • Let your eggs sit in cold water for 10 minutes.
  • Eggs are done. Either use now or store in refrigerator for up to seven days.
Keyword eggs, hard boiled, basic
 
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