APPLE FRITTER with Cinnamon Caramel Icing

A while ago I was reading Michael Ruhlman’s book ‘RATIO The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking’ in the Quick Cakes section he talked about how similar Fritter batter and pancake batter are. So I decide to make some apple fritters. I had an idea how I wanted them to turn out from the time that I was a bakery manger at an independent Super Market.

I cut up the apples and cook them, here I would normally add corn starch slurry to thicken the liquid, since I did not have any I drained off the liquid and use it to make the icing. While I was frying the apple fritters I had one person come into the kitchen to find out what I was making he could “smell it from across the camp.” One of the interrupter said “it was the best dessert that he has had In Iraq,”  he has been here for three plus years. This would go great with Ice Cream.

APPLE FRITTER with Cinnamon Caramel Icing

MAKES 30

12                    Granny Smith Apples

4ounces           Margarine

3 ½ cups          Brown Sugar, divided

2 teaspoons     Cinnamon, divided

15 Cups           Krusteaz Wheat & Honey Pancake Mix

3 cups              Water

Peel Apples placing in Acidized water (2 liters of water and juice from 2 lemons ) this will keep the apples from turn brown,  cut the apples into a ruff medium dice, place back in water.

Drain the apples and discard the liquid, place the apples in a 4 quart pot, add 2 ½ cups Brown Sugar and 1 teaspoon Cinnamon and 4 oz margarine cook on high till soft drain off liquid into 2 quart pan will be about 2 cups. Let apples cool.

Add 1 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon to apple liquid, cook on high for 15-20 or until you have a thick syrup, it should make a six to eight inch long drip. Keep warm

In an extra large bowl add 9 cups Krusteaz Wheat & Honey Pancake Mix and 3 cups of water mix tighter, add apples and mix. On a clean table spread 1 cup Krusteaz Wheat & Honey Pancake Mix over the table place Fritter dough on table and kneed for 5 min.

Roll out the dough till about ¼ inch thick cut in three inch squares. Place in 365 degree deep fryer, fry until golden brown place on sheet pan add drizzle cinnamon caramel Icing.

Per Serving: 346 Calories; 5g Fat (13.1% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 67g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 5mg Cholesterol; 584mg Sodium

Chicken Noodle Soup

With the cold weather, there is nothing better than a good cup of Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. Since I do not always have chicken stock on hand, I will just open a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodles soup, the soldiers here like lot of noodles with a small amount of broth. The best thing about homemade soup is you can be creative when making. For this recipe if you like a lot of broth cut the amount in half, if you were to double the amount you would make Chicken Noodle Casserole. A problem that you will have when making a noodle soup: the noodle will continue to soak of the cooking liquid for the 30 – 45 minutes after the pasta is Al-dente [ahl-DEN-tay]. This will change base on type, shape and/or brand of pasta.

As you are experimenting with making soup feel free to change the recipe base on what you have on hand and /or who will be eating the soup. When I am cooking I rarely use a recipe and if I do I use it as a guideline. Always taste the food throughout the cooking process and add what you think it needs. I find when I am not sure if it need anything, I just leave it alone usually if I end up adding something, it destroy the flavor. Only add something it you feel it needs it this is where you will learn to trust your Instinct, asking for someone else opinion will help you gain confidents in your ability.

Have fun SOUP’S ON!

Chicken Noodle Soup

3 Gallons Chicken Stock
6 cups Carrots, diced
3 cups Celery, diced
2 cups Onions, small diced
3 Roasted Chickens, pulled
6 cups Corn, can or frozen
1 tablespoons Black Pepper
1 tablespoons Crushed Red Pepper
3 Tablespoons Salt
½ Tablespoons Garlic Powder
¼ cup Soy Sauce
¼ cup Lemon Juice
20 ounces Pasta, egg noodles

Add the entire list, except the pasta, into a 5 gallon pot, simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until the carrots are Al-dente.

Add the pasta and cook till Al-dente. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Enjoy

Chicken Stock

Something that I normal have in the Kitchen Pantry either in my home kitchen or in the Restaurant Pantry, something that everyone should have in their pantry. Like Chicken Stock. I’m not referring to the stuff purchased at the local supermarket that come in a can, box, or Jar; not even Bouillon cubes! I’m not saying that I don’t use them, especially when cooking for an Army. Ok I admit that I use them at home, when I’m in a pinch, even though using water would be better. The store bought Chicken Flavoring is loaded with salt, and I prefer to have the control over how much salt is in my cooking. Some of it has MSG in them it enhance that flavor. I do not like MSG whatever name it goes by on the ingredient label. There are only two item that I know of that has MSG naturally accruing init Soy Sauce and Fish Sauce. I use these two Sauces to add Umami (the fifth taste).

Chicken stock is very simple to make. All that you really need is water and chicken bones. Here in Iraq I get some chicken quarter that are previously cooked, we usually pull the chicken off the bones to use. So have quite a bit of chicken bone, I place them into the freezer until later. Here is a little secret it’s what I would call a dirty little secret. When you have to cook a lot of bone in chicken or Cornish game hens on the Bbq there is a problem: the outside is over cook and it is raw inside. So what I do is braise the Cornish Game Hens in water. To do this place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water, place on stove top and cook on medium , do not let the water get hotter than a simmer, or the meat will be tough. Cook until the Chicken is almost done, you should see some pink under the wing. Remove from heat. Don’t worry if you over cook the chicken, the meat will start to fall apart, but instead of having halved Cornish Game Hens, the wing, leg, thigh, and breast will separate, the convictive tissue has melted away. Cook on the Bbq. There you have just made a chicken base next I place the frozen chicken bone in a clean pot then cover them with the Chicken Base. So I cook mine in a fifteen gallon pot, I place about 25-30 pounds of chicken bones. I cover the bones with the Chicken Base till it is two to three inches above the bones, and then cook on very low heat for about 24 hours. I then strain the chicken stock and place in sallow pans in the freeze until they are needed.

To make the Stock even better you can add some aromatic vegetables. You would usually add this before it is strained. You would add what is called Mirepoix [MEER-pwah] a mixture of Onions, Carrots, and Celery. For Chicken Stock you want to use about 1 pound of Mirepoix thats: 8ounces of Onion, 4 ounces of Carrots and 4 ounces of celery to two pounds of chicken bones. Or if you have strained the stock you would add a pound of Mirepoix for Every half-gallon of Chicken stock. Cook for 45 minutes to one hour. Another thing that you can add to your Chicken stock to enhance the flavor you can add: bay leaf, black peppercorns, fresh thyme, fresh parsley, garlic cloves and tomato paste.

Chicken Stock

2 pounds Chicken bones Raw or roasted Chicken Bone
3 pounds Water
1 pound Mirepoix
8ounces Onions, chopped
4 ounces Carrots, chopped
4 ounces Celery, chopped
1 Bay leaf
1 teaspoon black pepper, cracked
2 stems Thyme
2 stems Parsley
3 Garlic Cloves
2 tablespoons Tomato paste

Place Chicken bones in 8 quart pot cover with water just covering the bones. Cook on high bring to a simmer, and then reduce the heat to low. You want to see steam come off the pot, but the water should not come to a low boil. Cook for 4 hours. Skimming the scum off the top, throughout the cooking time. Then add the remaining ingredients and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Strain through cheese cloth. Use immediately or cool off by placing in ice water bath or bring to room temp before placing in refrigerator.

Banana Pancakes

Music is a must have in the kitchen. Having a good upbeat song makes the time goes by faster. Especially when you are: slicing, dicing and chopping 30 – 50 pounds of food. One Day with the I-pod on shuffle Jack Johnsons’ Banana Pancakes Song came on. He is singing this song to his lady. I like the part where he sings:

Baby, you hardly even notice
When I try to show you this
Song is meant to keep you
From doing what you're supposed to.
Waking up too early
Maybe we can sleep in
I'll make you banana pancakes
Pretend like it's the weekend now

I started to think of home wishing I was with my lady eating some Banana Pancakes with her and I can say to her

Really don't mind the breakfast
'cause you're my little lady
Lady, lady, love me
'cause I love to lay here lazy
We could close the curtains
Pretend like there's no world outside

Really missing home now and craving Banana pancakes. When I was coming up with this recipe I did not have any cinnamon, so I used a brown sugar and cinnamon instant oatmeal packet. They were so good that I had to share it with everyone here. So that you can make banana pancakes for your baby.

I decided to make banana pancake for everyone here but when you are cooking for a small army the oatmeal packet will not do, so I used Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats instead. I really like the over appearance and tektite with the Rolled Oats. One night for BRINNER that what you call the meal when you have Breakfast for Dinner, I made Banana Pancakes. The Solders and I think that Brinner is the best meal out of them all. Everyone here just loved The Banana Pancakes. Now I know that when I get home, I can make my lady the best banana pancake.



BANANA, OATMEAL, WHEAT & HONEY PANCAKES
Makes 60 – 5 inch pancakes

4 ½ cups Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
9 cups Krusteaz Wheat & Honey Pancake Mix
½ cup Brown Sugar
2 tablespoons Cinnamon
2.75 litters Banana Flavored Milk
8 Bananas, whole

Blend dry ingredients with milk with wire whip, adding water gradually

Dice the Bananas and stir into mixture

Pour batter onto lightly greased, preheated 365- 375 griddle

Cook banana pancakes 80 – 90 seconds per side. Turn only once.

Per Serving:126 Calories; 1g Fat (10.2% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 24g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 2mg Cholesterol; 163mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Heavenly Treats

I have been craving some Rice Krispie Treats. Had some extra mini-marshmallows from Christmas Dinner but no Rice Krispie’s. I have tried Froot Loops in the past and I did not like them. With the cereal that I have on hand the best thing that would work is Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Those who eat some of the Heavenly Treats said that they are the best think that they have ever had.



Heavenly Treats
Makes 24

36 ounces Cinnamon Toast Crunch® cereal
32 ounces mini-marshmallows
2 ounces margarine + extra

Grease a half sheet pan with margarine.
Place the 2 ounces of margarine in an 8 quart pot melt the margarine on medium high heat. Then add the marshmallow and melt stirring constantly with rubber spatula to prevent from burning. Once the marshmallows are completely melted remove from heat.
Stir in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch® cereal covering completely with the melted marshmallows. Spread mixture in prepared pan. Let cool for 30 minutes

Per Serving: 313 Calories; 6g Fat (17.3% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 64g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 5mg Cholesterol; 335mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain (Starch); 1 1/2 Fat; 2 Other Carbohydrates.

Roasted Red Deviled Egg Sandwich

After write my last post I could not stop thinking about…..Roasted Red Pepper AÏoli how good it tasted on my scrambled egg sandwich that I had early in the day. It got me thinking about Deviled Egg Sandwich or some call it Egg Salad Sandwich, Oh it would be so good made with the Roasted Red Pepper AÏoli. I made just a small portion but those who tried it loved it.



Roasted Red Deviled Egg Sandwich

1 dozen Eggs, large
1/2 Cup Roasted Red Pepper AÏoli
1/2 Cup Pickle Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place eggs in 2 quart pot, cover with cold water; the water should be ½ inches over the top of the eggs add 2 tablespoons of salt. Cook on high with a lid. When you see steam, keep an eye on it. When the water come to a rolling boil turn off heat. Let sit for 12 – 15 min with the pan covered. This will produced perfectly cook hard boiled eggs.

Peel eggs and separated the white from the yolks, Place the egg whites in a 1 quart bowl and the egg yolks in a small bowl. Slice the egg whites with a paring knife. Mash the egg yolks with the AÏoli and pickle juice add the yolks to the Egg whites mix together and season to taste.

Roasted Red Pepper AÏoli

Sometimes just plain Mayo is just not enough. This goes great with just about anything. It goes great on Pulled Turkey Sandwich, Hamburger, grilled cheese sandwich, scrambled egg sandwich and many more.


Roasted Red Pepper AÏoli
8 Red Bell Peppers
6 Hot Peppers (jalapeño)
54 fl oz Mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Salt*
2 teaspoons Black Pepper*

Lightly coat the peppers with oil and place on Bbq Grill. Rotate so that the entire pepper is charred.
Place the peppers in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap, this will allow steam to build up to help remove the skins. Let sit for about 15 min. Use a Clean bar towel to remove the skins, seeds and steam.
Place Roasted Peppers and mayo in blender blend until smooth mix in salt and pepper add more to taste. Place back in mayo jar keep refrigerated for up to 7 days if it will last that long