Multitasker.

In the spirit of Alton Brown and "Good eats" a possible multitasker.

Our pasta carbonara.

Pasta carbonara is good and custary, you would think you might be eating dessert. If your pan is hot enough, they eggs will temper (aka cook) in the sauce as you are maiking it.
Around for a zillion years, this is a simple dish that people have eaten most noticeably during and after World War II when food was hard to come by. Legend has it that powered eggs spared by solder's passing through was the basis for the eggs. They also used pig jowls for the meat of the dish. It was made in coal fired stoves or what be might called barbecue pits today. Though, we will make it on a regular stove. Rumor has it that they used penne (edges make you think of a quilled pen) shaped noodles as it was easier to toss than the long stringed pasta.
Notes: Lidia of Lidia's Italy like lots of onions in their version pasta carbonara and they only use the yolk of the eggs. She also talks about in her version of the history of pasta carbonara, that coal miner's wives who had coal dust in their hair as they cooked coal ust would fall in the dish as they were making it and that is where the name came from. Everyone has their own story.
Heard yet another story of where the lady who brought the coal around would fix this dish with lots of ground pepper so that it seemed like there was coal dust in the dish. Black pepper and cheese go good together.
Also see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Our-food-instructables/

Step 1: What's needed:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cooking oil.
4 ounces (1/2 cup) turkey bacon, diced. (4 to 5 strips).
1/2 pound (1 cup) spaghetti or pasta. (if using dried spaghetti and the package is one pound, use half a package).
1 1/2 cups of the water from the cooked pasta.
3 large eggs at room temperature and lightly beaten.
3/4 cup grated home made cheese.
Good grinding coarse black pepper.
Salt to taste.

Step 2: Pasta:

Boil your pasta in plenty of water till it is to the tooth of your preference.

Step 3: Bacon prep.

Cut up the bacon in small but not too small pieces.
Put oil in the pan and fry the bacon till semi crisp.
Turn off and remove from the heat while you prepare the eggs.

Step 4: Egg preparation.

Step 5: The main event.

Take about a cup of water from the pasta pot.
Drain the pasta and then put in the pan with the cooked warm bacon.
Add a bit of water to moisten the pan and make it easier for the eggs to be tossed in.
Stir that around.
Add the creamy eggs to the pan and mix well.
Grate the home made cheese into the pan.
Add a generous amount of pepper, but not too much. Cheese loves pepper.
Add a tiny bit of salt to taste.

Hint: If you put too much water, you can always toast some bread and grind it up. Then put it in the dish to absorm the liquid. You can also heat the pan back up gently as to not scramble the eggs but evaporate the liquid.

Step 6: Serve.

On the plate, add a salad or vegetables if you have some.
Serve out the pasta/
Add more cheese if you like.
Eat.

Homemade SOS

This is an old military sort of meal that I varied a bit.

Ingredients:

Swiss cheese slices
Bread slices
Ground turkey
Flour
Butter or oil
Salt, pepper and etc.
Water: (several glasses)

Method:
 1. Toast the bread slices.
 2. Saute the ground turkey in 1/4 lb hunks.
3. Remove the turkey from the pan,
4. Add cooking oil if needed.
 5. Scrape up the bits in the pan to an emulsion.
 6. Add two tablespoons flour.
 7. Let that cook till the flour taste should be gone. (several minutes).
 8. SLOWLY add just a bit of water (milk or whatever) and mix into the oil and flour mixture. You will add more liquid as you go along to increase the volume of the gravy. Add pepper and salt as needed.
 9. Put a slice of cheese on a piece of toast.
10. Slice up a 1/4 pound of meat and put on top of the cheese.
11. Pour gravy on the top.
12 Eat.

Snickerdoodles

These are really good sugar cookies with cinnamon.

Ingredients:

2 3/4 - cups all-purpose flour
1 - teaspoon baking soda
1/2 - teaspoon salt
1/2 - cup solid vegetable shortening (at room temperature)
8 - tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 - 1/2 cups plus 5 tablespoons sugar (honey might be nice)
2 - fresh room temperature large eggs
1 - tablespoon ground cinnamon

 Method:

 0.  Preheat the oven to 350°F. (usually the default)
 1.  Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl and set aside.
 2.  In a separate medium mixing bowl, using a hand held or standing electric mixer, combine the shortening and butter and beat until smooth.
 3.  Add 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
 4.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
 5.  Add the sifted flour mixture and mix until the dough just comes together.
 6.  Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl.
 7.  Divide the dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon portions and roll them between your hands to form 1 1/2-inch balls.
 8.  Roll the balls in the spiced sugar.
 9.  Then divide them evenly among two unlined cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.
10.  Flatten the balls into 1/2-inch-thick disks.
11. Bake, rotating the sheets back to front midway, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.
12.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets using wire racks.

Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Gourmet hotdogs part 1

Earlier I did an instructable on hotdog meatballs. Now we are going to take it a step further with hotdog meatloaf. Actually I think this will work out better because we do not have to worry about anything falling part except at the dinner table. Using bologna or other coldcuts can have a more traditional taste.

Note this is a variation on: http://www.instructables.com/id/Hotdog-meatballs/

Also see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Our-food-instructables/

Step 1: Ingredients.

1 pack of eight hotdogs.
Handful of your favorite cheese
2 - 4 slices toasted bread (depends if mixture is too moist.)
1/4 onion
1 -2 eggs
Salt and a pinch of each of your favorite seasonings. (i.e. oregano and or parsley)
Tomato sauce (enough to cover)
Optional: Parsley or celantro to finish after cooking

Step 2: Meat prep.

Break up the onion and put in the food processor.
Slice the hotdogs into small pieces unless you have a powerful food processor.
Put the cut up dogs in the food processor.
Grind the heck out of the mixture of onion and meat.
Pour into mixing bowl. ( do not worry about getting every last bit as the bread should do that for you.)

Step 3: Toast prep.

Toast the bread if you have not already done so.
Break up the toast if your food processor is not super powerful.
You are doing the toast separately to make it easier to clean the food processor.
Pulverize the bread.
Empty into the mixing bowl.

Step 4: Mix it up

Add an egg (out of the shell) into the mixing bowl.
Add the cheese to the mixing bowl.
Mix well.
When combined well, store in the refrigerator a while to meld and let the bread soak up any extra liquid.
Not doing so will allow the meatballs to fall apart easily.

Step 5: Prep container

Put some non-stick spray in a 9x4 whatever baking pan like you use for bread.
Add the mixture and spread evenly though the pan.
Cover with tomato or pasta sauce. (mustard could be used also).

Step 6: Cook it.

Preheat oven to 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Put pan in over and cook till the top is brown (about 30 - 35 minutes depending on your oven).
Safely remove from the oven. (Use baking mitts or equivalent)
Let cool just a bit. (overnight is even better).

Remove from pan and slice as needed.
Would not hurt to have extra sauce on the side.

Eat!

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Another experiment in cooking. This would have probably been better as a meatloaf and next time that is what I am going to do.
I probably get exorcised from the family for doing this instructable, but then Italians have been of the mind to use what you have.
Hope you enjoy. Definitely this goes great with pasta, but did not take the time to cook some.

Note: sometimes using regular bologna or the like will give a better taste if hotdogs are overwhelming.

See also: http://www.instructables.com/id/Our-food-instructables/

Step 1: Ingreadients

1 pack of eight hotdogs.
Handful of your favorite cheese
2 - 4 slices toasted bread (depends if mixture is too moist.)
1/4 onion
1 -2 eggs
Salt and a pinch of each of your favorite seasonings. (i.e. oregano and or parsley)

Step 2: Food prep meat.

Break up the onion and put in the food processor.
Slice the hotdogs into small pieces unless you have a powerful food processor.
Put the cut up dogs in the food processor.
Grind the heck out of the mixture of onion and meat.
Pour into mixing bowl. ( do not worry about getting every last bit as the bread should do that for you.)

Step 3: Grind up the toast.

Toast the bread if you have not already done so.
Break up the toast if your food processor is not super powerful.
You are doing the toast separately to make it easier to clean the food processor.
Pulverize the bread.
Empty into the mixing bowl.

Step 4: Mix it up.

Add an egg (out of the shell) into the mixing bowl.
Add the cheese to the mixing bowl.
Mix well.
When combined well, store in the refrigerator a while to meld and let the bread soak up any extra liquid.
Not doing so will allow the meatballs to fall apart easily.

Step 5: Time for cooking.

Add a little oil to the pan to just make it moist. Adding too much will allow the meatballs to break apart. (Think meatloaf then)
Take some of the meat mixture and roll it into a ball.
Put in hot pan and sauté till all sides are brown. The meat should be already cooked. you are just browning the meat for looks and the caramelized taste.

Step 6: Serving time.

You probably want to boil up some pasta to go with the meatballs, but you do not have to.
Add sauce and serve.
Eat.
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