BBQ Standing Rib Roast

This is a recipe from my amazing mommasitia! We both love to enjoy this meal together and I am very excited to have her recipe to share with all of you.

Ingredients 

 Standing rib roast

1 tablespoon softened butter

Garlic

Pepper

Garlic & onion pepper seasoning mix

Steakhouse seasoning 

1. Preheat the BBQ to between 400-500F
2. Pat dry the roast with paper towel.
3. Soften butter and mix all seasonings together and rub onto the roast.
4. Place roast on the grill in a spot to receive indirect heat.
5. Check in on the roast every 12ish min. Close the lid quickly to limit heat loss.
6. Cook about 20 min per pound for medium rare to medium
7. Remove from the grill and let stand for 5 min to let the juices redistribute. 

Slice and enjoy!

Foodie Quotes :D

I was snooping around the internet and came across some great little 
snippets of inspiration...well maybe they are not inspirational 
but they are at least worth a good chuckle :D

Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, 

zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.  ~Jim Davis

Heck yes...best form of veggies ever! Well maybe not the pumpkin pie 

but then again I am probably the only person that does not like it

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?  ~Author Unknown

I have wondered the frequently....is it odd I ponder this.....

No man in the world has more courage than the man 

who can stop after eating one peanut.  ~Channing Pollock

So true I have often suffered the misery of not being able to stop after just one

Welcome to the Church of the Holy Cabbage.  Lettuce pray.  ~Author Unknown

hahaha...yes, it is a really bad pun but it did give me a good giggle

Edible, adj.:  Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a 
snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.  ~Ambrose Bierce

Well I guess it is the great circle of life...

The bagel, an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis.  ~Beatrice & Ira Freeman

I am such a nerd...I love the word rigor mortis!!!

When baking, follow directions.  When cooking, go by your own taste.  ~Laiko Bahrs

SO TRUE!!!

Fish, to taste right, must swim three times 

- in water, in butter, and in wine.  ~Polish Proverb

Hmmm yummmy!

Christmas Eve Egg Bake

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!! Mom and I are all snuggled up on the couch watching Christmas movies and playing games today. I hope that you having a nice day with your family and/or friends today!

During my time at home this last week I have loved being able to do lots of extra cooking and this morning was no different. I decided that a holiday egg bake would be a great treat for us this morning. We had made some delicious melt sandwiches earlier in the week with some fresh Italian bread, after lunch that day I decided I wanted to experiment with the the bread so I left several slices out to dry for the next few days. The ham in this dish is left over from a great Christmas dinner I had with my grandparents last night I decided to add it at the last min and it turned out to be a wonderful addition.

After reading other recipes before making up my own for this dish I noticed that many others have the mixture soak in the fridge for several hours, I did not do this but feel free to try if you want to.

Ingredients

5 slices of Italian bread (set out to dry for 2 days)

½ a log of Jimmy Dean regular pork sausage

Thick slice of onion; diced (about 1/4 cup)

Thin slice of butter

3 small baby bell peppers (yellow, orange, red)

1 slice cooked ham; chopped

4 eggs

2 spoon-fulls of cottage cheese

2 spoon-fulls of sour cream

1/4 cup of milk

Pinch of salt and pepper

2 shakes of Johnny's Seasoning salt

Pinch of Garlic Powder

Hand full of Italian cheese mix

Hand full of cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Cut dry Italian bread into 1/2 inch chunks
3. Sautee onion and peppers with the butter along with with the sausage. Once all cooked/browned add the chopped ham
4. In a bowl mix together eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, milk and spices
5. In a large bowl combine bread and cooked mix. Poor the egg mixture over the top and stir well
6. Stir in all of the Italian cheese and most of the cheddar cheese. Poor entire mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese.
7. Bake for 30-40 min until knife coms out clean. Let stand for 10 min prior to serving.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays

Chicken/Turkey Tetrazzini

My mom is fighting a bug so I decided to make a nice warm comforting pasta dish to help her feel better. While home over Christmas break I have really enjoyed getting to cook and create lots of fun new dishes. I wish mom felt better but it does give me more freedom in the kitchen. While she is resting or working on the computer (right Turtle...working) I head off to the kitchen and start making something yummy.

We had some left over chicken in the fridge from dinner the other night so I used that rather than the original turkey. And though we did not have fresh chicken broth I made some up quick with some chicken bullion paste. This dish does not have a ton of cheese but it is super creamy once done. If you want to cut calories you could easily have less cheese and butter if you want to cut calories. I already changed the recipe to have skim milk rather than the half and half originally called for.

Ingredients

7 oz of spaghetti or fettuccine

2 cups of chicken broth

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups cooked chicken or turkey chopped

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

optional additions: sliced black olives, mushrooms, onions

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Cook and drain pasta as per package directions.

2. mix broth, milk, flour, butter, salt and pepper in a 3 quart saucepan. Heat to boiling on medium heat stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 min.

3. Stir in spaghetti, chicken, and optional additions. Spread in an un-greased casserole. Sprinkle with cheese.

4. Bake uncovered for 25-30 min until hot and bubbly.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

I know I said in the first entry that I do not cook with recipes very often, well let me add an amendment to that statement....I DO USE recipes while baking. Baking is much more of a science/chemistry and requires precise measurements to allow for an end result of a masterpiece.

I am on Christmas break and staying at my moms house for two weeks and last night I decided it was time to start in on the holiday backing...first item on the agenda was the chocolate crackle cookies that I fell in love with while living with an old roommate during my undergrad. Her mother made cookies all the time and she soon found out that this deliciously moist chocolate cookie was one of my favorite from her recipe box. Sadly I lost my copy of her special recipe but this version from a cookie cookbook at my mothers house worked out nicely.

Ingredients

7 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cups of confectioners' sugar for coating

1. In a medium saucepan melt chocolate and buter together over low heat until smooth, stirring frequently.

2. Remove from the heat and stir in sugar while continuing to stir for 2-3 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Add the eggs one at a time beating well with each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Gradually stir into the chocolate mixture in batches until just blended.

4. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour until the dough is cold and holds its shape.

5. Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease 2+ large baking sheets. Place the confectioner's sugar int a small deep bowl. Using a small spoon scoop cold dough into small balls. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls in the palms of your hands.

6. Drop each ball into the confectioner's sugar and roll until heavily coated. Remove with a slotted spoon. Place on baking sheets 1.5 inches apart.

7. Bake the cookies for 10-15 min (mine took 11-12 min) until the tops feel slightly firm when touched. Careful not to over cook cookies, they are much better when soft. Let cookies stand for 2-3 min on baking sheet and then remove to wire rack for cooling. Store in an air tight container...they are really good cold so the fridge is a wonderful place for them :D

Enjoy

Happy Baking

Pork Curry

I have always loved trying to use random left-overs to make yummy new creations. This dinner recipe did just that, I used part of a left over port roast, and half of a green pepper sliced up and half of an onion that were hiding in the fridge crisper drawer. Normally when I create a sauce I frequently just start adding spices until I think it tastes just right, if I remember about additional ingredients that I used in the recipe I will make sure to update it. I hope you enjoy, mom and I sure did!

Ingredients

1/2 a red onion diced

1/2 a greep pepper chopped 

2 cloves garlic crushed

1 carrot grated

1 cup chopped pork roast

1 bag of boil in a bag brown rice

Sauce

roo (equal butter and flour) 

1 cup milk (add more if need too thick)

Palmful of curry powder

3 shakes of Johnnies Seasoning Salt

Pinch of salt and pepper

small scoop of chicken bullion paste

1 table spoon of brown sugar

1. Cook rice and drain as directed on box.
2. Sauté onions, green pepper, carrot and garlic. Add in the pork and continue to cook over medium heat.
3. Create a roo with butter and flower, brown up and then add milk stirring to combine. Add spices and keep taste testing until you are happy with flavor.
4. Poor veggies and meet into sauce and mix well then add rice and serve.

Enjoy your dinner!

Why Roonie's Kitchen...

Do not worrie...You will no longer be left in the dark. I will soon share with you all the secret details of the magic and mystery behind my cooking...

Roonie's Kitchen is a blog written by Stephanie Griffin, a fun loving red head who is passionate about food and all things that are connected with food.

One of my favorite pastimes is reading cookbooks; learning about the types of flavor combinations others have created and then using this new information to come up with my new creations. I hardly ever cook with a recipe, I mostly keep adding ingredients all the while taste testing until I am satisfied with the final outcome.

Within this blog I will share with you recipes of some of my favorite creations, experiences at wonderful restaurants, thoughts on shows featured on Food Network, and little plugs for cookbooks. And if we are lucky I will be able to include some family favorite recipes that have been passed down through the years.

Happy Cooking!!

~Steph