Burgundy Pasture Farms Bone-In Ribeye with mushroom sauce, smashed potatoes, and glazed carrots

We bought some grass-fed beef from Burgundy Pastures Farm in Grandview and I finally had a chance to use one of the steaks.  At $25.00 a steak, this bone-in rib-eye was a bit pricey so I wanted to make something tasty.  I've had it with expensive restaurant steaks that have no flavor, no texture, and no juiciness but cost a small fortune.  I was pleased with the end result,  a very nicely seasoned, juicy, tender steak.  You can't see the smashed red potatoes underneath but they were carmelized, seasoned with a little butter, salt and pepper.  The baby carrots were tender and sweet with a nice...

Read more »

Minnesota Food

I went on a trip this week for my social work job.  I visited a prison in Waseca, Minnesota.  Waseca is about an hour and a half south of Minneapolis.  Going there in February was a bit of a a challenge with the weather being very cold with a high chance of snow and ice so I was a little anxious.  Fortunately the weather was not so bad and the roads were clear.My hotel, Crossings by Grandstay, was situated at the edge of town with a direct view of Walmart.I am not a lover of Walmart, by the way, but in case I needed some winter supplies I guess it would come in handy.  Turns out I needed a window scraper when there was...

Read more »

Private Cooking Lesson with Linda Johnson

Linda with the dishes we made Flourless Fudge Cookies with pecans and chocolate chips Spicy Butternut Squash SoupAsian Noodle Salad with Chicken Linda wants to learn more about salads and soups so for today's menu we made:Asian Noodle Salad with ChickenSpicy Butternut Squash SoupFlourless Fudge CookiesI tried to choose a lower calorie cookie recipe that still tasted really good and the flourless fudge cookies are really great. Baker, Linda's husband, is the cookie lover so Linda is interested in making different cookies for him. I told her about my experiment with some compost cookies using salty, crunchy add-ins and various chocolate and nut...

Read more »

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Fresh Blueberries

I make birthday cakes for each person in my Social Work Department at the federal prison where I work. I’ve been doing this for many years and each person requests the cake of their choice or tells me a flavor and I create the cake. One of the social workers just joined Weight Watchers and requested a simple cake with fruit. I decided to make the lemon cornmeal cake with blueberry sauce for him. He usually requests an Italian cream cake consisting of 3 layers of white coconut pecan cake with layers of rich cream cheese frosting. One piece has about 800 calories. In contrast, the cornmeal cake is just one layer, has only one layer of glaze made...

Read more »