Learning to Cook with Jim

Chocolate Ganache!
Perfect for icing cakes, cupcakes, drizzle for cookies etc.
Recipe:
12 ounces chocolate chips
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
Combine and gently heat, stirring until smooth. Be careful to not overheat.
I use a large measuring cup and microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth.

Learning to assemble a 6” cake! Take note of the half Vanilla, half Chocolate. The icing stage is called the crumb coat. It has to chill before the final icing is applied.

Hello everyone,
I wanted to revisit WAFFLES, since they are so delicious and affordable. I also have a suggestion to increase the nutritional value as well as the taste. This recipe makes 5 Waffles at a cost of $.36 cents each for a total cost of $1.80. The waffles freeze well for a quick meal later on. The nutritional boost comes from adding Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal.

Jim's Waffles
Step 1:
Add 1/4 cup 10 Grain Cereal to 1/2 cup hot water, soak 5 minutes
Step 2:
Mix dry ingredients together
2 cups all purpose flour, feel free to experiment with other flours
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
Step 3:
Mix wet ingredients together in separate bowl
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk, any kind of milk works
Step 4:
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix lightly
Stir in 10 grain cereal
Step 5:
Make waffles in a hot waffle iron, if you don't have a waffle iron you can make Pancakes.
Step 6:
Enjoy with butter and syrup, maybe some eggs or fried chicken.

With food prices rising everywhere, it’s good to have some more affordable recipes. I made a delicious casserole today using a pound of sausage, some potatoes, eggs and cheese. Traditionally this is a breakfast dish, but it’s super good anytime.

You can adapt this to fit what you have on hand.

Line the bottom of a greased baking dish with some shredded potatoes. I like to precook the potatoes in a frying pan, but it’s not required. Add some melted butter to the potatoes and lightly season with salt and pepper.

Cook your sausage and add some vegetables if you have some. I added onions and peppers.

Mix up six eggs with some cheese. I used some sour cream, cream cheese, and some cheddar cheese. The idea is to use whatever you have available. Mix the cooked sausage and the eggs mixture together, add to the potato lined baking dish.

Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees or until set. This dish will feed about 8 people.

Jim's Waffles!
Ingredients:
2 cups of flour (I like to mix all purpose and pastry flour)
4 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of corn starch (secret ingredient for tender inside)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl
in a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients together
3 eggs
1/2 cup of oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 can of coconut milk (the other secret ingredient)
1/4 cup of milk
gently combine wet and dry ingredients, do not over mix, lumpy is good!
pour batter into hot waffle iron, cooking for 5 minutes or until crisp
finish with soft butter and warm pure maple syrup!

Do you need a hit dish for the party?
A twist on a Taco Salad! Taco Nachos!
Here is a picture of my Taco Salad.
Now substitute the lettuce with Doritos, pile on taco meat, cheese, peppers and onions, olives, tomatoes. Use Catalina Dressing mixed with sour cream!

Doing a little international baking today. Cupcakes with buttercream icing.

I love to make fun and easy food!

Most of my friends know how to make pizza dough. I want to share how to take the idea of pizza dough and change it to a French sweet doughnut dough called a “beignet” (ben YaY).
Before adding flour to your warm water, yeast, sugar and salt, add a cup of milk, 2 eggs, a little melted butter, and some more sugar. Mix this all together and now add the flour, enough to make a dough. Cover and let the dough rise for about a 90 minutes. Heat some oil in a heavy pan to hot (325 degrees). Rollout some of the dough to a 1/4” thick and cut into any shape like a 3” square. Gently place in the hot oil and fry until golden dark brown and flip over to finish frying. They cook really fast. Sprinkle powered sugar on them and serve warm!

When making a juicy Hamburger often the bun gets soggy. After toasting the bun put the cheese and each half of the bun. Also put the lettuce between the bun and the tomato. This is something I have recently started doing and it seems to help keep the bun from getting soggy.

Making Chicken Egg Rolls!

Clementina’s Tuna Tacos! Boyhood comfort food...
My mother won a contest in the local newspaper back in the day.

Make your favorite tuna salad and fry up some tortillas, it’s that easy!

I like hard boiled eggs, sautéed onions, celery, and mayonnaise in my tuna salad.

Need to make cupcakes? Start with homemade butter cream icing!

Vanilla butter cream icing:
1 pound butter (softened)
2 pound package of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 ounces of milk or cream
Cream together with a mixer

You could also make a chocolate icing or ganache.

Chocolate icing:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2 ounces heavy cream
Heat altogether just enough to stir into a smooth mixture. I use a microwave for 30 seconds stir and another 20-30 seconds and stir until smooth.

I used these two recipes to make retro cupcakes. My first attempt....