Silver Dollar Pancakes with Spiced Pear Syrup

Martha Stewart is certainly Satan's concubine but these pancakes are lovely. Pancakes are simple. Simple is lovely. We have a pear tree in back so I picked a couple small ones to make a simple syrup. Mainly for the smell. The Cinnamon draws the crisp fall day indoors without the chill.

The little pigs feet are um... cheddardogs. Not exactly full-on gourmet this morning. But if you send a 12 year-old to the store this is what you get. So, I worked with it. They were actually pretty good.

Pear syrup:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar cubes (cause they look awesome in this until they melt)

1 cup crisp pear meat sliced

1 T cinnamon

.5 t nutmeg (cloves would have been better but I was out.)

2 star anise blooms

Bring everything to boil in a heavy saucepan. Then reduce to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Fried Green Chicken Tacos with Flour Tostadas

We have been making a lot of Mexican food this week. Mainly because I like to utilize everything that's left over. This often results in theme weeks. This recipe just came while looking at the Tenderloins that were on sale at Food Lion. 4 pounds for 6 bucks baby!

Another note is that it's shown with Pico. It doesn't add anything but color. In fact, it actually distracts from the savory tang of the green sauce. Also, I think a little goat cheese could have been worked in here somewhere but that could have been a weird craving I had.

Green Chicken Tenderloins:
Chicken tenderloins
Oil
Flour
1 Jar of Herdez Brand Tomatillo salsa

Lightly bread the chicken in flour. Deep fry until golden brown. Transfer to a deep Skillet. Lovingly dump in the salsa. Simmer for about fifteen minutes. That's it.

Steam or toast some tortillas. Serve with sour cream, Pickled Jalapenos and cheese.

Flour tostadas:
Flour
Tortillas
Oil
cheese or cinnamon sugar
I had some leftover tortillas and have been on a deep fryer binge so I tossed some in the oil and LMTY these things are amazing. The Bee's knees. The cat's pajamas. The snakes hips... The elephant's instep...

Just heat some oil to medium heat. Toss in a flour tortilla. Wait about thirty seconds while the tranformative magic of hot vegetable oil caresses the bottomside of the tortilla and molds it into something beuatiful. Flip it over. Take it out. Place on rack. Sprinkle with cheese. wait. eat. Repeat as needed.

Curried Cube Steak with Okry Fritters

When I was a kid we ate cube steak at least once a week because we were really poor. When you are poor you have to get the most calories from every dollar. Cube steak also adds the benefit of extra chewin'. Two T's of flour later, you have tasty gravy and that makes the dried potato flakes and canned corn taste even better,

This is a (mostly) Southern meal so it needs to be served with lots of butter, gravy and Guilt. Eat it with family and play some progressive country like Jewel. She's country now. Cause the food is that good.

"Stay here forever" but your still waiting so here is "I Do" They haven't said no to the embedding on that one yet:

We don't eat cube steak much any more but I mentioned Okri and Wife insisted. She also insisted on mash potatoes and gravy. I talked her out of biscuits and flour soup. Lots of starch = lots of temporary poor man's satisfaction.

What we ended up with was Cubed steak with curried gravy, flaked mash tatters with butter, canned corn and Okry fritters.

Okra Fritters:

1. 2 cups vegetable oil
2. 2 cups sliced (thawed) frozen Okri. Chop it coursely. Yell at it a little. Throw away the ends.
3. .5 onions
4. .25 cups buttermilk
5. .5-.75 cups flour
6. Course salt
7. Fresh pepper

Fried Cube Steak:

1. Flour
2. Cube Steak

Gravy!:

1. Cast Iron skillet
2. Water
3. Cup of buttermilk
4. Pan drippings
5. 3 T Flour
6. Salt
7. Pepper
8. .5 t Curry
9. .5 T sugar
10. 1 t red pepper flakes. (I would use more but you gotta keep it civil)

RATINGS:

Cubesteak and gravy = 1.0 GU .75 Kids

Mashed Potatoes with butter = .85 GU 1.0 Kids

Okry fritters = .65 GU .25 Kids (i think they need a dipping sauce. anything deep fried is better with that.)

canned corn .99 GU 1 Kids

Chipotle Chicken with Cucumber Salsa

Cucumber Salsa:
6 Med Tomatoes
.5 Cups Fresh Cilantro Leaves
2 cucumbers
1.5 Purple Onions
Mix and chill for an hour or so.

I skipped the chilis on this version because the chicken is already spicy...

Orange Chipotle Chicken:
3 Large Chicken breasts Butterflied
Juice of .5 oranges
1 T honey
3 Chipotle Chili's in Adobo Sauce, chopped

Roast the breasts until they are halfway done. Baste with the Chipotle sauce. Broil to completion.

or

Take all the ingredients to the nearest beach. Wait till an hour before sunset and fire up a grill with some real hardwood coals...

I served this with Hassleback potatoes only I substituted the breadcrumbs for chopped garlic.