Sunday Cats #85

Doesn't he look peaceful? I don't know about you but it makes me want to push him around then run away. Heh.

Homemade Spicy BBQ Deep Dish Pizza

Sorry I haven't been posting much, since I don't have any prep space right now most of the stuff I've been cooking really isn't very exciting. But I did make deep dish pizza recently with my 8" cake pan. Looks good, huh? It's the simplest one I make I think, it's pretty much my go-to pizza when I'm just cooking for me. It has bbq sauce, hot sauce and onion. Got a good crust on the bottom, too. I used store bought dough, but if I had had someplace to knead I would have made my own recipe. Man, I want one now. 8:30 in the morning isn't too early for spicy pizza, right? Heh.

Sunday Cats #84

As I mentioned before, the real Bob has really taken to being the only cat. He seems less... hunted than he used to. He's talking more, playing more. Looking psychotic more. Heh. He likes socks, I expect because even if they hit him back they're gentle. Not like that mean string.

One Pan, Spicy, Black Bean, Chipotle Sloppy Joes. Or Maybe Chili.

1 lb ground beef
16 oz can black beans, drained
16 oz can of plain tomato sauce
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced green pepper
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbls red wine vinegar
1 tsp chipotle powder
sharp cheddar cheese
hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
oil for browning

Crumble and brown the beef over medium high heat until ~3/4 cooked, then push it to one side of the pan. Add the onions and peppers, saute until the onions are translucent, then add the garlic. Saute for ~30 seconds more then mix everything together. If the beef starts to over brown while you're dealing with the vegetables just give it a little stir. Add the vinegar and stir real quick to deglaze a bit. Turn the heat down to low, add the tomato sauce, beans, chipotle powder, brown sugar and let it simmer for ~15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until it's as sloppy as you want. Add the hot sauce, some salt and pepper if it needs it and serve on a toasty roll with the cheddar. If you put the cheddar underneath it melts when you put the sloppy joe stuff on.

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If you put beans in sloppy joe does it make it chili? Not all chili has beans, but they share most of the same ingredients. I guess my chili recipe is more broth based than tomato based and it's more complex than sloppy joe. Plus I probably wouldn't use canned tomato sauce in chili... hm.

Anyway I think I'm going to call it sloppy joe, since I ate it on a roll. I didn't really get any prep shots, but I did get one that I think shows pretty much what it's like in my new kitchen. Peppers in the dish drainer, can of tomato sauce in the sink. Yeah, that's a paper plate for a cutting board, none of my real boards fit in a safe way and my knives need sharpening anyway. My spices are behind me on top of a big, round, plastic sugar container so I'm afraid you can't see them. Once I get a kitchen table set up (in the bedroom, with the fridge of course) I'll have a lot more prep space and that will be good.

I like doing it all in one pan like this. Not only because it's just one thing to wash, but as the beef sits to one side finishing cooking the fat drips down and kind of auto-greases the pan. At least it does if your stove is slanted like mine, otherwise you can just tip it a bit with the onions and peppers towards you every once in a while so some gets down there. I like 90/10 beef, personally, I find it just the right ratio so I don't need to add more fat or skim any off at the end.

And now here's a gratuitous pan shot to pad out the end of the post since that's really all I've got. Like how I slipped that in real subtle? Heh.

So, what do you guys think, sloppy joe or chili?

Sunday Cats #83

The real Bob has two new favorite places. One of them is obvious, the box my keyboard came in. It's just small enough so something is always sticking out in an amusing fashion.

The other one is the tub. I don't know why, he's never liked tubs before, but he loves this one. Whatever, he's weird.

Caramelized Onion and Beer Rice and Beans

Look! Food! Food that I actually made! Course, I don't have a recipe. Or more than that one picture really.... but it was pretty good. And hey, baby steps to getting back into blogging, right? Heh. Not to mention learning how to cook in my kitchen cubicle.

Part of the reason I don't have a recipe is that I actually somehow managed to ... misplace... all of my measuring devices and not a few of my other kitchen things in my most recent move. I know where some of them are, but I could have sworn I packed up my measuring spoons in with my pots. Ah well, good thing my mom taught me to cook without caring too much about exactitude.

I had never made rice and beans before so I just kind of winged it. I caramelized the onions, deglazed with some Sam Adams Boston Lager, added spices (mostly mexican, I think) added rice and a can of red beans and that was that. It was even vegetarian. Oh! And some green bell pepper, since I had some that wanted using. So sometime soon I'll have to remake it when I can tell you guys what I actually did. Heh.

Sunday Cats #82

Well the real Bob took no time settling in. When I let him out of his carrier he skulked around for about five seconds, realized it was just him and plopped down in the middle of the floor. He loves being the only cat around. I think he enjoyed playing with Noodles (sometimes) but not as much as he likes his peace and quiet. Heh and at least he likes having boxes all over the place.It does make him hard to find sometimes though.

Back on the Net

In the past week I have moved and thus been without internet. This is not something I enjoyed. But now that I have it back, I can tell you guys all about my exciting new kitchen. Take a look. Go ahead, take another. It is a bit much to take in all at once and I'm sure you have some questions.

Like, is that the whole thing? And yes, yes it is.

But where're the counters? Ha! No. Stinking. Counters. There is enough space between the sink and stove to put my knife block. I'll probably wind up moving it too since I doubt I'll be doing much prep in there.

Doesn't it get hot in there? Why yes it does. In fact, it gets downright hellish. Plus if I don't have a fan blowing into it the heat sets off my smoke detector. Excitement!

At least the sink looks big, right? It sure is! In fact I can fit my whole large roasting pan in it. Can't fit the pan in the oven though.

But... a fridge? Yeah, it's in the bedroom. No, seriously.

So I figure if Kevin over at Closet Cooking can whip up the fancy pants stuff he does in a closet sized kitchen, I should be able to whip up my homestylely stuff in one that is actually smaller than some closets I've had. I guess we'll find out.

My other trouble is I don't really like cooking for just me, it's just not as rewarding. But I have no money, so I've got to work something out. So we're going to see how many ways I can cook rice and beans, pasta, ramen and... well, that's pretty much it. Heh. There will also be more vegetarian stuff since that's cheaper.

On the plus side there's lots of light in this place, that should help my picture quality. Well, except in the kitchen which has no windows, so there won't be many prep shots anymore.

I've babbled on enough, I actually think I might start up a pot of rice and beans...