Rike's Beef Barbecue & Cheesecake Pie

Ok, yea I know it's been a long while since I last posted something.  Here are two things that I actually made a couple weeks ago, but am just now getting to posting. I guess cooking hasn't had my full attention as I have probably been distracted with selling a house and Charlie Sheen...

Above are pictures of Rike's Beef Barbecue (page 172) and Cheesecake Pie (page 188).
The barbecue was an easy recipe as long as you can wait the 1 hour in the oven. It called for 3 pounds of beef, but I knocked it down to 1.  Ingredients are hamburger, onions, catsup (that's how it's spelled in the book), chili sauce, and hamburger relish.  After making this I am guessing hamburger relish is different than what I used. I used sweet relish, and it was too much for my taste. If I do it again, I would leave the relish out.  However, the finsihed product still tasted good.

The Cheesecake Pie was..... fine.  I had a piece and it tasted good. I gave the rest away and as far as I know no one got sick.  The pie is made on a graham cracker crust.  The recipe tells you how to make the crust yourself, but I ended up using a store bought one. I would not say my pie was nearly as good as some you get in restaurants. But...I can't remember the last time I got cheesecake at a restaurant.

Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

So, I know it has been a couple weeks since I make something from the cookbook.  I guess the whole peanut butter pie thing got me down a little and lost some motivation. Well... I'm back.  The other night I made the Chicken & Broccoli Casserole (Page 150).  It was pretty easy to make. Cook your chicken, then put all of the ingredients in a casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes. 
I would guess that this is not a heart healthy dish, since it called for a cup of mayonnaise.  I think next time I could cut that in half and still be fine.  The rest of the ingredients are 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, lemon juice, broccoli and croutons. I know some people don't like broccoli much, but I am a big fan. You should probably make it with chopped up broccoli, but the stuff I bought wasn't.
All-in-all, I would say it's a good dish. It's actually already gone.

Peanut butter pie update: Most got thrown away. Don't ask me to make you one.

Peanut Butter Pie

I am a big fan of peanut butter, and peanut butter pie is definitely toward the top of my list of favorite pies (which I have not compiled). Page 179 of Grandma's cookbook is a Peanut Butter Pie which I have had before and is very good. So, last night I made an attempt at the pie with the intention of giving it to my mom today to help celebrate her birthday.  Well...it didn't go as planned.  It's the thought that counts...right mom?
The pie did not turn out like the ones I have had before.  Grandma's recipe is prepared with three steps and somewhere down the line I either mixed or heated something incorrectly. I really don't know where I messed up.  The pie should be topped with a fluffy meringue.  My pie, well, isn't.  My pie didn't set correctly, and is lumpy. It's pretty much a blob. However, all of the ingredients are in there, so it can be eaten and has a peanut butter pie flavor.  If I were trying to impress anyone with my cooking abilities, which I am not, this would not be something to show off....
I did however get to check the Pie Dough recipe on page 192 off my list as well. This crust is different than the crust I made with the pecan pie. This crust is made with shortening and the other one wasn't.
Well, Peanut Butter Pie is still a favorite of mine, just not this attempt.  I'll make you something else mom.

READERS: Click the 'Follow' button to the right to become a follower of Stephen & Lucille. Once we hit 500,000,000 I think they make a movie about me. Also, if you click on any of the ads, I also get a kickback. Just some food for thought.

Pizza Casserole

While I was iced in tonight, I made the Pizza Casserole out of Grandma's cookbook (page 159). The casserole contains hamburger, onion, tomato sauce, mushrooms (which you know I didn't add), pepperoni, cheese, and noodles (bow knot or lasagna). The recipe also calls for garlic and oregano, which I forgot to add. I even bought a thing of oregano to use...

The casserole tasted better than UK basketball played tonight, who lost another road game. If I get iced in tomorrow, I'll have the casserole to snack on.

Chocolate Crunch

Well, last night I made the Chocolate Crunch desert on page 101.  All-in-all, I would NOT call it a success.  The desert has oats on the bottom layer with melted chocolate chips above and chopped walnuts on top.  The ingredients are; butter, light corn syrup, salt, vanilla, brown sugar, rolled oats, semisweet chocolate pieces, and chopped walnuts.

The desert I made is not very thick. I was expecting consistency closer to a brownie. The oats on the bottom did not hold together very well. So, if you are supposed to be able to eat this like a brownie, mine is something different.  You better use a spoon or eat it with the chocolate side down if expect to get this to your mouth without losing it... So, now I am questioning whether I really put 4 cups of oats in mine or if I only put 3... I doubled checked the size of pan to make this in, and I got that correct.

Oh well, it doesn't taste bad. All the ingredients are in there. It's too rich for my liking.
The plan was to make this for the Zink Hall on Tuesday night, but since that has been canceled due to the coming ice storm, it will now sit in my kitchen. If you want some, come pick it up.

Taco Salad Update: I was able to get through all of the taco salad I made last week. It made for some good lunches. Note: if you are not going to eat it all in one sitting, don't add the chips all at once. They get soggy.

Taco Salad

Tonight's dinner was Taco Salad (pages 196). The salad was easy to make. Simply brown the ground beef and cut up the vegetables.  The recipe only consisted of a list of ingredients, but I am pretty sure I did it correctly by just mixing it all together.  Ingredients are lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green pepper, cheese, ground beef, taco flavored Doritos (I used Ranch flavor), and Ranch Dressing. I cut the recipe in half when I made it.  I think I have a good shot at finsihing the salad before it goes bad.
For those readers that are following my weight gain competition and are concerned about the impact this salad could have my ability to win... I washed this down with part of a Killer Brownie (thanks Matt).

Beef Casserole

Tonight I was back in the kitchen. I made the Beef Casserole (page 151).  This casserole contains ground beef, onion, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, mushrooms (which I did not add), almonds, and buttered breadcrumbs. There must be an efficient way to make buttered breadcrumbs which business school must have forgotten to teach me.  I did my best ripping up some bread and sticking it in melted butter, but it just ended up all lumpy. Tonight while I stood there chopping up the onions, I was thinking about the scene in 'Julie & Julia' where Julia Childs was practicing her chopping skills with bags of onions after her first day of cooking class. I was just a little slower than she was...  Grandma's recipe did not say to serve this casserole with anything, but after I made it I felt something was missing. I ending up eating mine over my favorite carbohydrate...noodles.
The dish tasted good to me. However, I got the feeling that this casserole is a glorified Hamberger Helper.  None-the-less, I will likely make it again sometime but not until after the rest of the book has been cooked.

Tonight I took another stab at making the Honey Granola. This time I added more honey, more nuts, and baked it less. I haven't tasted it yet, so I'll have to let you know later how this second take works out.
The Pecan Pie is gone... I am sorry everyone couldn't get a piece, because it was good.