Wednesday Morning Slammers

Wednesday Morning Slammers

Featuring “Till the Casket Drops” by ZZ Ward

A brief history

Ever since Salami Slammers came out and everyone and their brother started to make them, I started wondering if there were any limits to the Slammer concept. Are there any limits? Yeah, probably. Have I reached them? No! These breakfast slammers, or “Wednesday Morning Slammers” if you will, got their name after being baked on Tuesday night and eaten on Wednesday, but if Thursday rolls around and you’re looking for something to make for breakfast on Friday, don’t worry: I’m pretty sure they’d taste the same. That’s just one example of the versatility of this dish.

A brief history

I saw this album cover on iTunes a few weeks ago and it really piqued my interest. Was it because of the stunning blue-eyed blonde on the cover? No, although I noticed her immediately after. It was because the name of the album, “Till the Casket Drops,” is the name of a great album Clipse, a rap duo, released a few years ago. So I’m sitting there wondering if this girl just decided to release an album of Clipse covers, which would be cool but kind of hard to do, or if she just has the balls to name her album the same thing.

My Goal

In keeping with the same theme, I’m going to be listening to a brand new CD of songs I’ve never heard, and attempting to make something I’ve never made before.

What You’ll Need:

-Bacon (I used Turkey Bacon, for all the ladies out there)

-Crescent Rolls (I used reduced fat, for all the ladies out there)

-Cheese (I used American, because this is America)

-Eggs

-Tabasco Sauce

-A large baking tray

-A Frying Pan

Note: I did a search of ZZ Ward’s album lyrics and the most common word is “Whoa.” I don’t think this is significant in any way but I might be using that word a lot in this post.

Note 2: It took me three seconds to determine that this was not an album of Clipse covers. She sings. I’m hoping it’s not going to be 45 minutes of boy problems.

I already had fully cooked Turkey Bacon in my fridge, so I didn’t need to fry the bacon, but I thought “Whoa, if I fry the bacon, the eggs can cook in the leftover bacon grease.” I used 6 eggs and 13 slices of bacon total.

While the eggs were scrambling I laid out the crescent rolls. When they were almost done I added about half a cap of Tabasco sauce (pictured lower).

I was listening to the album as I was cooking, and at this point, I was about 5 songs in. I couldn’t tell if I really liked her or if she was just a smoking-hot, but slightly less talented version of Adele with a trendy hat. I was also confused. Was it OK that I was listening to this album? All she seemed to be singing about was guys who had done her wrong, or her adventures giving other guys the ol’ run-around.

After the eggs were scrambled and all the bacon was fried, I begun the assembling process. For each slammer I used ½ - 1 slice of bacon, roughly a tablespoon of scrambled eggs, ½ slice of white American cheese, and a few drops of Tabasco sauce.

Note: Start layering with the bacon, not the eggs. I made my first slammer with the eggs layered first but then I was like Woah, this isn’t working. The eggs kind of soaked through the bottom of the roll and I was worried that as they cooked they’d leak through the bottom and cause the entire slammer to fall apart.

After I was done rolling them, I placed them in my preheated oven for about 15 minutes. “Charlie Ain’t Home,” the 12^th track on the CD, came on about this time. It’s acoustic and probably the best-sounding song on the CD. But it’s about messing around with another guy when, you guessed it, Charlie ain’t home. That was my problem – if someone walked in on me listening to half of the songs on her CD I feel like I’d have some explaining to do.

And that’ll do it. Wednesday Morning Slammers.

Final Count

Two tubes of crescent rolls, 13 slices of bacon, 10 slices of cheese, and as much Tabasco sauce as you’d like (I used about two tablespoons total, I should’ve used more) yields 16 slammers.

Final Review

Her music is heavily Blues-influenced. She looks like a model and makes you wonder where that sultry voice of hers comes from. She seems to be a more than capable guitar player. She writes all of her songs. I’m pretty sure that if I saw her live I wouldn’t be able to take my eyes off of her. With all that said, her album leaves a lot to be desired. It wasn’t 45 minutes of boy problems as I’d initially been worried about – it was about 25 minutes. It’s not as annoying as a Taylor Swift CD and not as boring as an Adele album – but it’s not really remarkable in any way. No song made me stop and say “Woah.” The closest were the 5^th track, “Cryin Wolf,” in which she calls upon Kendrick Lamar, an upcoming star in the rap game, to help her out, “Move Like U Stole It,” which despite the disappointingly trashy spelling of the word “you” is a pretty solid song, and the aforementioned “Charlie Ain’t Home,” which is posted below. I want her to release an acoustic CD sometime soon. And I want to see her play somewhere in Buffalo this winter so I can stare at her in awe for an hour and offer to warm her up after the show. 

http://youtu.be/ny641-yKH9s

Posted by JS

Pull Apart Pizza

My husband and I are boring when it comes to dinners. We rotate the same meals over and over and it gets really old really fast. Having vastly different palates it is hard to find something that we both agree on but Pizza is always one of them. I was trying to come up with fun variations of the classic dish, and decided I would try to make it with biscuits. The end result is amazing and will impress people of all ages.

Ingredients needed for this meal are:

2 cans of buttermilk biscuits

Spagetti sauce

Cheese

Pepperoni (Optional)

Another great part about this dish, is that the ingredients are limited so it's easy to throw together and very affordable to make. 

First step is opening the biscuit and cutting them into fourths as shown...

Use a fairly large bowl because once both cans are cut there will be a fair amount of biscuits...

Next step is cutting the pepperoni. It needs to be cut into small chunks as it works better for this style of pizza... Feel free to substitute with sausage, peppers, onion, or your favorite pizza topping...

Add the pepperoni to the biscuits... 

Next step is adding the cheese... I added a generous amount but feel free to use your discretion...

Next add about half the jar of sauce...

And mix well. A lot of the biscuit chunks clumped together, so try to break them up as best you can...

Pour the pizza into a 9x13 pan...

Pour the remainder of the sauce over the top of the pizza...

Place in the oven at 375 and bake for 25-30 minutes until it's bubbly and the biscuits are fully cooked...

Let cool for 5 minutes then serve and enjoy!..

This is the easiest recipe, yet it brings diversity and excitement to an old favorite. I dare you to try it..

Posted by EE

Hot Chocolate Treat

It just seems like Christmas is creeping up on us so fast this year. I cant believe Thanksgiving is next week and then time flies by until the new year. In addition to getting ready for Christmas, I have a bridal shower to throw for my sister in law to be. That being said money is tight, so I was trying to think of something affordable, creative, yet nice to give as favors. Everyone loves hot chocolate and being that it's a winter shower, I thought making these adorable hot chocolate cones would be perfect. Not only as wedding shower favors, but they would make great presents for coworkers, teachers, and all the other people you just want to give something small too :) 

The supplies needed for these cones are:

1 can of hot chocolate mix (I bought mine at BJ's for 6 dollars and it made 20 cones)

Mini Marshmallows

Mini Chocolate Chips

Cone Bags (Purchased at Amazon or party city)

Mini Rubberbands

Ribbon

Funnel (Optional)

 

Now I had to make a larger amount so I set up in the living room while watching Sons of Anarchy :) So knowing it could be messy with the powder I took a 9x13 pan and placed a glass in the middle so if it spilled the pan would catch it. 

First step is to place one of the cone bags into the cup... This is much easier than trying to fill the bag yourself. The glass works as a holder and it makes the process less messy...

Next open the hot chocolate mix, and place 1/2 cup of mix into the bag... 

I used a 1/4 cup because it fit into the glass. if you don't have a glass wide enough you can use the funnel for this part...

Once the hot chocolate is poured, pull the bag out of the glass, and shake it until the mix reaches the bottom...

Take one of the mini rubber bands and close the bag. I twisted the bag 5 or 6 times to make it completely air tight and it was easier to secure the rubber band...

Using scissors cut off the access bag...

Next place the hot chocolate into another cone bag. This part is necessary because if you try adding the other ingredients into the first cone they all mix and it looks messy. You get a more defined look when they are in a new bag... 

Using the 1/4 cup again pour the chocolate chips in the bag... 

you can use less that 1/4 cup but i thought proportion wise this amount looked good...

Next take a small handful of mini marshmallows and put them on top of the chocolate chips...

Using another rubber band, twist and secure the bag closed...

Tie a ribbon to the knot. You can use any color for the different holidays but being that this was a bridal shower and her color is purple i used this. Also you can attach a spoon dipped in chocolate, or an ornament to make it a little more fun.

Thats it! It took me an hour and a half to make 25 cones, but I'm sure it could have went faster if I wasn't distracted with television. All together these treats came in around 20 dollars and you cant beat that for this time of year. When kids come into the picture this would be a great activity for them to do for their classmates and teachers... Enjoy!

Posted by EE

Beer Balls

           

Beer Balls?

Accompanied with “The Temper Trap” by The Temper Trap

A brief history

A friend of mine makes a dish very similar to this whenever she hosts parties. I shouldn’t say very similar – I should say that I totally stole this idea from her. It tastes amazing when she makes it, and I can’t in any way shape or form take credit for it. However, I’m still following my one rule which is to attempt to make something I’ve never made before. I have a few quick notes before we continue. First, she makes this using kielbasa, and I’m making this with meatballs. Second, as you can probably tell by my use of a question mark in the title, I’m not entirely sold on the name. “Beer Balls” is, I think, too simplistic and maybe even a little misleading. But they are, like everything else in life, in a constant state of evolution and will most likely grow into a more mature and proper name over the years. For now, they’re Beer Balls.

A Brief History

Apparently The Temper Trap has been around for a fairly long time, but I first heard of them about a week ago. I think I was listening to Foster the People Radio on Pandora and they popped up under “related artists.” The sticker on the front of the album promised me “Infectious melodies and effervescent sounding beats.” That was a little disappointing to see, but impossible to avoid. I really wanted to listen to the album without anyone’s opinion possibly skewing my thoughts. But alas, I soon found myself chillin’ in my car waiting to hear these infectious melodies and effervescent sounding beats. It turned out to be a pretty perfect description of the album: I can see why that statement made it onto the cover.

What You’ll Need:

BBQ Sauce

Hot Sauce

Brown Sugar

Large Bowl

Large Frying Pan

Ground Beef*

*I already had the beef mixture made from a day before, but I will tell you what is in it: Approx 1 lb of ground beef, ½ lb of Ground Turkey, a tablespoon of bread crumbs, a tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese, 1 egg, and a sprinkle of salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.

You may be asking yourself an important question: Where is the beer? Well the answer may surprise you…I forgot to include it in the picture.

 I formed about 30 mini-meatballs. Note the quarter in the upper right corner of the picture for scale.

After browning the ground beef for about 3-4 minutes on medium heat, I added a two tablespoons of BBQ sauce and 1 tablespoon of hot sauce.

A sad moment when I dropped a meatball in the transfer to the stovetop.

Mix in the BBQ sauce, add the beer, give it a stir, and turn the heat to low

In keeping with the alcohol theme of this dish, I filled up a 2-oz shot glass with brown sugar. I did this three times. So you don’t go scurrying off to find a calculator or if you choose not to keep shot glasses as handy as I do in my apartment, I’ll help you out: That’s ¾ cup of brown sugar.

That’s roughly what it looks like after all of the ingredients have been added. The total elapsed cooking time at this point is about 10 minutes. And you’re done. I’d say let this slow-cook for about an hour, but I feel like slow-cooking involves a crock pot. So since this is going to simmer for an hour I’m going to call this step The Temperature Trap.

Which completely accidentally takes me back to this album. “The Temper Trap,” is in many ways exactly like this dish. All you need to do is pop it into your CD player and just kind of let it simmer in the background. Songs like “London Burning,” “Rabbit Hole,” and “Where do We Go from Here,” are songs that a lot of bands would be thrilled to have as their signature song. Listening to this CD will add a pleasantly stimulating buzz to whatever is that you’re doing.

The picture on the left is what this will look like after about 45 minutes of cooking, and the picture on the right is when I called it quits, about an hour after adding the ingredients together. They aren’t burnt, that’s the crystallization of the brown sugar you are seeing. Don’t be like me and get discouraged while it’s simmering – I had to call my friend and she reassured me that nothing really happens during the first 40 minutes. But after 45 minutes, the beer starts to rapidly disappear. 

Listen up – the presentation of this dish leaves a lot to be desired, but if the worst thing that happens is I screw it up cosmetically, I can live with it. I personally care a lot more what my food tastes like than what it looks like. It’s also hard to shape these meatballs perfectly when you have to deal with brown sugar clumping up and embedding itself into the meatballs. If you plan on making this photo recipe and e-mailing it to Martha Stewart I’d discourage you from doing so. But if you’ve got these simple ingredients handy and want to try making something different, you’ll be just fine.

Final Count

1 lb of ground beef, ½ pound ground turkey, 1 egg, two tablespoons BBQ sauce, one tablespoon hot sauce, 1 can of beer, ¾ cup brown sugar, and sprinkles of whatever you’d like to use to season your beef, will yield about 25 Beer Balls.

Final Review

I’ll definitely be adding this CD to my rotation. A lot of CD’s dictate the mood you’re going to be in for the next hour; this one seems different. Do you feel like cranking up your stereo really loud during a party? Play this CD. Do you feel like crocheting a knit-cap for the upcoming winter? Play this CD. Do you feel like following your cats around the house on a rainy Sunday taking pictures of their antics, Erienne? Play this CD.   

Posted by JS