Computers, Cooking and Other Things

How to Make Chili Cheese Ramen

2011-04-08T13:09:00.003-06:00

Chili Cheese Ramen - Recipe

Ingredients:
Chili - about half a cup
American Cheese - one slice
Ramen Noodles - one package (discard the flavor packet)
Water - 3/4 to 1 cup
1 teaspoon beef base (beef bullion may be substituted)
Optional Spices - dry chili powder, garlic, comino (to taste)
Diced Jalapeno and Diced Onion to garnish

Procedure:

in a soup - size bowl, place 3/4 to 1 cup water put in 1 teaspoon of beef base stir well. Add optional spices if desired.
Open package of Ramen noodles. Discard the flavor packet. Break Ramen noodles into three or four pieces and place in the liquid.
Microwave on high for approximately 2 to 2 and 1/2 minutes, depending upon the wattage of the microwave you have.
Pull the noodles out stir Mix them around with a fork and 1/2 cup chili and top with one slice of American cheese.
Place back in the microwave and cook for one more minute.
Remove from microwave and topped with diced jalapenos and diced onion.
Serve.

Hope you enjoy this recipe. Have a great day and may God bless you and yours.

Crabby's Home Made Gatorade

2011-03-27T01:18:00.000-06:00

How to Make Gatorade

It seems like everyone out there has their own version of this popular thirst quencher. The number of look-alikes are astounding - and the reason is simple - it is a very high profit drink. It takes pennies to make your own Gatorade equivalent homemade sports drink. Most of the ingredients for Gatorade are in this mix - although I have seen variants out there that include honey, lemon juice or orange juice. The home made drinks are low cost and you can control the flavor to please your tastes. Without water, this mixture can be stored in an air tight jar for a long time, so you can make up a cup or two when you want it. The jar won't be as cool as a gatorade can, but it won't cost you as much, and you can make gatorade when you want it.

This recipe is designed for those who must control their carb intake. As a diabetic, I have always wanted to have something that has little or no carbs in it. This fills the bill. If you want to use it to get carbs back into your system, just replace some of the sucralose sweetener with table sugar or fructose. I don't suggest corn syrup as it will raise your blood sugar more quickly than the other two sugars. I don't recommend aspartame (NutraSweet) because it has a lot of health issues related to it.

Hope you enjoy this recipe - it took me a while to get it the way I wanted it. Try it out and let me know if you like it.

May God Bless!

Ingredients:
2 pkg soft drink mix (Kool-Aid or generic equivalent)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp salt substitute (potassium chloride)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp Splenda (sucralose - generic equivalent)
2 quarts water

Procedure:
In a 2 quart container, mix ingredients well
Serve over ice
Enjoy!

Cracker Pizza Bites - Quick and Easy - Great Snack for Kids

2011-02-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Cracker Pizza Bites

We have had a couple of days of sub-zero temperatures. Consequently, my kids are home and driving Dad crazy with a severe case of cabin fever. This afternoon I decided to make them a quick, essy snack that they could help me make - fun for all involved and tasty stuff to boot.

I made these in the microwave, and the video I am including on this site is based on that. You can use a conventional oven at 350° to do the same if you want Pizza Bites that are crisper.

Ingredients:

Crackers
Sliced Cheese
Spaghetti or Pizza Sauce

Method:

Place 4 crackers on a plate
Peel sliced cheese
Fold sliced cheese in half
Fold sliced cheese in half to make 4 squares of cheese
Place cheese on crackers
Place sauce on top of cheese
Add sausage, pepperoni, or whatever you want to the sauce
Microwave on high for 30 seconds or until cheese melts
Remove from oven and serve

Below you will find a video of this recipe. I hope you enjoy and May God Bless!

Pumpkin Cobbler

2011-01-01T15:39:00.002-07:00

How To Make Pumpkin Cobbler

At the beginning of November, I found myself debating what to do with 2 large pumpkins. I got to looking at my recipe for fresh peach cobbler and I altered it slightly for freshly cooked pumpkin. When I got ready to use the second pumpkin, I discovered it had started to rot, so I threw it away. The problem is that after having two pumpkin cobblers from the first pumpkin, I just had to have some more, so I came up with this recipe that uses standard canned pumpkin. I hope you like it as well as my family did.

I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (ICBINB) and Splenda to make the recipe more diabetic-friendly. You can replace these with real butter or margarine and sugar if you like. Just remember that ICBNB has a higher water content to keep the fat down, so you should adjust your recipe accordingly.

Ingredients:
1 15 oz. can Pumpkin
1 1/2 sticks (6 oz.)I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
2 tsp cinnamon
1 to 1 1/2 cups splenda
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350°.
In a 2 quart bowl, melt 1/2 stick I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, add 1/2 cup splenda and mix with a whisk.
Add the pumpkin and 1 tsp cinnamon and mix well.
Taste for sweetness and add more splenda, if desired.
Place 1 stick icbinb in a deep 4 quart oven-proof pan (I use a cast-iron dutch oven), and place in the oven to melt the butter.
In a 2 quart bowl mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup splenda, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 cups milk (mix only to bring together - small lumps are ok).
Pull the pan out of the oven.
Gently pour the batter into the center of the butter in the pan - do not mix.
Scoop the pumpkin mixture into the center of the pan - spread it out in the center until it is almost level with the batter in the pan. Again, do not mix. You should have a border of 1 to 2 inches of batter around the filling.
Mix together 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle it on the top of the entire cobbler.
Place the pan in the middle of the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
At the end of the baking time, brown the top by turning on the broiler on low for 2 to 5 minutes - be careful not to burn the top.
Let it cool for 5 minutes and serve with ice cream or milk.
Enjoy!

God bless you and yours and have a Great Day!

How to Make Collard Greens - Crabby Style

2010-10-06T00:09:00.000-06:00

My Collard Green Recipe

I really love vegetables. One of my all-time favorites is collard greens. These may be considered soul food or southern food, but to me they are just plain good eating. If I make up a mess of collards, they usually don't last over a couple of days.

Every cook has a favorite method for making collard greens. The traditional method is to strip the leaves from the stems and to cook only the leaves in a pot that has 2 or more ham hocks that have cooked for a long time in seasoned water. This recipe usually takes 2 or more hours to cook. In addition, you have to purchase ham hocks, so you can't just grab what is in the 'frig or pantry for the traditional recipe. This version often has hot pepper sauce or dried chili as an added flavor.

My recipe is simple, but delicious, and requires few special ingredients (unless you want to use oriental chili in your greens). The other nice thing is that my recipe takes around an hour and a half.

Ingredients:

1 plastic grocery sack full of collard greens
4 strips of bacon
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 stick butter or margarine
4 Tbsp Canola or Olive oil
Ground oriental chili to taste (optional)
Water to cover greens once they are wilted
Salt to taste

Steps:
1. Wash the greens thoroughly to remove dirt, sand, etc.
2. Seperate the leaves of the greens from the stems.
3. If you are going to use the stems, cut them into 1/4 - 3/8" lengths.
4. Roll several leaves together and cut them into 1/2" strips.
5. Place the sliced greens into one set of bowls, and the stems into another bowl.
6. Slice the bacon across each strip, into 1/2" wide strips.
7. Put a large pan on medium high heat and add the oil and bacon.
8. Once the bacon has given up some of its fat, add the garlic.
9. Cook the garlic until it starts to change color, then start adding the stems to the pot, about 1/3 at a time, waiting for the stems to soften and change color.
10. Once all the stems are in, stir and add the butter.
11. Cover the pan and saute the stems a few more minutes.
12. Uncover the pan and add the leaves, filling the pan almost to the top.
13. Stir the greens regularly until they have wilted and changed color.
14. Add the remaining greens in batches as they wilt in the pan until you have put all of them in.
15. After all of the greens have changed color, add water to cover.
16. Add salt to the greens. The water should be a little salty to season the greens as they finish cooking.
17. Add the oriental chili (optional).
18. Simmer the greens for a while longer, checking for tenderness. When they reach the desired tenderness, turn off the heat.
19. Put some in a bowl, serve with some buttered cornbread and enjoy!

Below you will find a video of this recipe.

God bless you and yours and have a Great Day!

How to Make Fried Green Tomatoes

2010-09-20T22:29:00.000-06:00

Making Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried Green Tomatoes - You either love 'em or you don't. If you haven't tried them, then you are missing out on a great treat! These taste quite different than the ripened version of this fruit. (Yes, tomatoes are a fruit - do some research...) Fried Green Tomatoes are tart, and have a flavor that reminds you of citrus fruit more than tomatoes. One thing for sure - they don't last long around my house. Definitely Good Stuff!

Now, let's get on with the recipe...

Ingredients:

3 or 4 Green Tomatoes
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2/3 cups bread crumbs (or cornmeal)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground oriental chili (optional)
1/2 cup canola or olive oil

Procedure:

Wash tomatoes.
Cut Tomatoes into 3/8" thick slices, salt them, then place on top of a paper towel.
Beat the eggs, then mix them with the milk, a pinch of salt, the pepper and oriental chili.
Pour this mixture into a wide bowl or plate. If using a plate, only fill it up halfway, to avoid spillage.
Put the flour into a small bowl. Do the same with the bread crumbs.
Put 3/8" of oil into a frying pan and turn onto medium low heat - on an electric range, set it on 3.
Drop the first batch of tomatoes into the milk/egg bath. Flip them if necessary to ensure the entire slice is moistened.
Pull them one at a time and place them in the flour, flip them to cover both sides and the top well.
Set the flour-coated tomatoes into a plate, until the entire batch has been floured.
Put the floured tomatoes back into the milk and eggs, then into the breadcrumbs - coat all sides well, then put into the pan.
Keep doing this, laying the tomatoes side by side, until the pan has enough room left for two or three slices of tomatoes. Stop adding tomatoes at this point so you don't overcrowd them. If they are packed too tightly, the tomatoes won't get very crisp.
Check the tomatoes regularly and turn them periodically. The goal is a golden brown color on both sides.
Once they are done, remove to a plate covered with a couple of paper towels.
Salt, if needed.
Plate 'em up and enjoy by themselves or with ranch dressing.

God bless you and yours and have a Great Day!

Kung Pao Chicken

2010-07-29T14:08:00.000-06:00

Kung Pao Chicken - Crabby Style!

I love oriental cuisine. I have such a passion for it that I spent several years trying to master stir fry, shallow fat frying, and steaming techniques. The net result was that I got fairly good at this type of cooking. In fact, I am so used to cooking on high heat that I start most of my cooking on high, then drop the heat later to suit the dish I am preparing.

One of my favorite dishes is Kung Pao Chicken. This dish is simple, spicy, and very tasty. Care should be taken when using chili oil or oriental chilis. These are hot, and I recommend that you add some, taste, then add more if you desire more heat. Remember that you can always add an ingredient, but rarely can you take it out with ease.

For this recipe, I usually use chicken thighs. Breasts or other parts work well, too, I just focus on the cost factor of the dish. There are 3 critical success factors for this dish - Maintain 3 TBSP of oil in pan, cook over high heat, and do not overcook the ingredients. This recipe is written to be as fool proof as possible. Those that are experienced with stir-fry may want to condense some of the steps.

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs, diced into 3/8" to 1/2" pieces, excess pieces of fat removed
2 packages of celery, cut into 3/8" lengths
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1.5" lengths, then sliced lengthwise into 1/4" thick pieces
1 can sliced water chestnuts, liquid removed
4 to 5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 dashes ground white pepper
1 to 2 teaspoons of ground oriental chili
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon hot chili oil (optional)
2 teaspoons sugar or artificial sweetener
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
3 to 5 cloves of garlic, sliced into 1/8" pieces
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup wine for deglazing the pan
approx. 1/4 cup of peanut or canola oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup shelled dry roasted peanuts

Preparation:

Chow Sauce: Mix water, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, half of the sesame oil, all but one teaspoon of the cornstarch, a dash of white pepper, the oriental chili and half of the sugar and set aside.

Marinade Chicken: Place half the garlic, all the diced chicken, 1 teaspoon wine, half of the sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch, a dash of white pepper, 1 teaspoon of the cooking oil, and half of the sugar into a bowl, stir well. Let set for at least 10 minutes.

Stir Fry:

Place a 4 quart pan with steep sides on a burner on high heat.
Place 3 tablespoons cooking oil into the pan.
Add the chili oil to the pan.
When oil gets hot, put in the carrots.
Stir Fry until the carrots are crisp-tender and remove, leaving oil in the pan.
Add more oil if necessary.
Once it is hot, add the celery and stir fry until it changes color - add the rest of the garlic and cook a minute or two more.
Remove the celery, retaining the oil in the pan.
Add oil, if necessary, to bring to 3 Tablespoons in the pan.
Once it is hot, scatter 1/3 of the chicken around the pan and stir-fry until it has changed color - do not overcook!
Remove from the pan into the same bowl you put the carrots and celery into.
Repeat the chicken cooking process until all the chicken is cooked and in the bowl with the other cooked ingredients.
Pour out all but 1 tablespoon of the oil.
Place the pan back on the stove.
Stir up the chow sauce and pour it in. It will have a milky brown color.
Keep stirring until the chow sauce becomes more transparent and thickens.
Add the water chestnuts to the pan and stir.
Add all the cooked ingredients back to the pan.
Stir for 30 to 45 more seconds then turn off the heat.
Stir a little more, then remove to your serving bowl.
Serve over white or fried rice and top with peanuts.
Enjoy!

God bless you and yours and have a Great Day!

Quick And Easy Green Chili Soup

2010-06-22T08:26:00.000-06:00

Quick And Easy Green Chili Soup - So Easy A Kid Can Make It

This is a simple, spicy soup that I came up with that uses canned items for most of the ingredients. This makes it simple enough for a kid to prepare. For safety reasons, there should be adult supervision when items are being cut. You can vary the heat by deveining the jalapeño, or by adding another jalapeño to spice it up more. With one jalapeño, it is not too hot for my ten year old, so you might want to use this as a guide. If you do get it too hot, add some more American or Velveeta to cool it down a bit. The cooking times are for a 800 watt microwave oven. You can make this on the stove top, but you have to be very careful not to burn the cheeses. For thicker soup, cut the milk in half.

Ingredients:
1 family size can cream of mushroom
1 can roasted and chopped green chili
1 can whole kernel corn
1 diced jalapeño
1/2 onion diced
2 tablespoons cream (optional)
1/2 cup milk
pepper to taste
4 slices American cheese
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 inch slice of Velveeta or other processed cheese

Utensils:
1 large microwave safe bowl
1 large spoon
1 knife

Directions:

In a large bowl,mix together all ingredients except cheeses.
Heat in microwave for 6 minutes, stirring every one and one-half minutes.
After 4 minutes, add sliced cheese and Velveeta.
After 6 minutes, stir in cheddar.
Heat 2 minutes or more if needed, stir mixture until cheeses are melted in.
Serve with tortilla chips.
Enjoy!

How To Make Popcorn - Foolproof Method

2010-06-20T00:07:00.000-06:00

Making popcorn is an easy task. It is one of those snacks that people tend to burn, and if they don't burn it, they waste half the kernels. This is my "sure fire" method that works for me every time. I hope you like it.

Ingrdients:
Popcorn
Oil
Butter
Salt

Utensils:
One Large Pan with a Tight-Fitting Lid
Large Bowl for serving
Small Knife for cutting up butter

Cut butter into 1/4 inch slices, then cut these into 4ths.
Cover the bottom of the pan with 1/8 inch of oil.
Place the pan on your stove and put the burner on High heat.
Put a SINGLE LAYER of popcorn in the pan - do not add extra kernels - they will only go to waste.
Place the lid on the pan.
When you hear the first kernel of corn pop, quickly lift the lid and toss in the butter.
Recover the pan quickly to avoid getting burned from flying kernels and hot oil.
After the lid is on the pan, shake the pan back and forth vigorously to insure that the kernels pop and do not burn.
When you hear very few kernels popping, pull the pan from the heat and shut off the burner.
After the last kernels have popped, remove the lid, salt the popcorn to taste, and place it in the bowl.
Enjoy!

Quesadillas - Quick Easy and Delicious

2010-05-28T14:16:00.013-06:00

Quesadillas - Quick and Easy

If you like Mexican cuisine, you have probably had quesadillas. They are traditionally made by melting cheese along with chilis or salsa in betweem two flour tortillas. I have seen these with both crisp and soft tortillas, but by far my favorites are the crisp ones.

Without further ado, here is the recipe for awesome appetizer.

Ingredients:
Flour Tortillas
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Diced, Peeled Green Chilis or Jalapeños
Diced Onion
Butter or Oil to brown the Quesadillas in

Utensils:
Frying Pan
Spatula
Knife
Pizza Cutter (optional)

Turn your stove on medium heat

Place the pan on the burner

Place a pat of butter, margarine or some oil in the pan

Once oil is hot, place a flour tortilla in the pan

Cover tortilla with onions, cheese and chilis

Place a tortilla on top of the filling

Cook until the cheese melts, then flip the quesadilla over

Brown on second side to desired crispness

Flip quesadilla over again if you want the first side more crisp

Plate the quesadilla, then slice into quarters or eighths

Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole

Enjoy!

Hope you like the recipe. Have a great day and God Bless you and yours. Check out the video of this wonderful snack.

Quick and Easy Guacamole - Crabby Style!

2010-05-03T12:56:00.010-06:00

I have quite a few favorite dishes in Mexican cuisine. I love good tortillas, I really enjoy asado and menudo, but guacamole has to be way up on my list of faves. I could eat this stuff all day and never get tired of it.

There are literally dozens of great recipes for guacamole. Some are very simple, while others are more complex. This recipe is simple and to the point. It is a recipe that you should make an hour or so before you plan on serving it so the flavors can blend. I used lemon and pepper seasoning in the recipe to simplify it. If you don't have lemon and pepper you can just use fresh lemon or lime, some pepper, and some salt to approximate what I have done here.

Utensils:

1 large bowl (2-4 quart size)
1 large kitchen spoon
fork or potato masher
knife

Ingredients:

4 to 7 ripe Avocados
1/2 medium onion
1 jalapeño pepper
1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon lemon pepper

Steps:

Cut avocados down the center length-wise.

Separate the halves of the avocado by twisting gently, remove the seed, and spoon out the avocado from the skin and place into a bowl.

Finely dice the onion and place it into the bowl.

Slice the jalapeño down the center length-wise.

Depending on how spicy you like your guacamole, you may need to devein and deseed the pepper.

Finely dice the jalapeño, then place it in the bowl.

Add garlic powder and lemon pepper.

Mix well by mashing up ingredients with a fork or masher. Adjust seasonings to taste.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Have an awesome day and God bless You and Yours!

Strawberries and Cream

2010-04-15T09:46:00.011-06:00

There are a few things that just go together as related pairs:

Steak and Eggs

Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener

Food and Drink

dirty and clean

black and white

oil and water

sweet and hot (spicy)

sweet and sour

Peanut Butter and Jelly...

OK, so you get the point...

Some things go together naturally as a pair, and others go together because they are essentially opposite in nature. Strawberries and Cream just seem to fit together - and this is why they are so good...sweet and creamy in one place at one time. This has GOT to be good!

The recipe is simple:

1. Wash fresh strawberries, if clean and frozen skip to step 2.
2, Using a small knife, remove the leaves from the strawberries. I usually put the knife in, facing the center of the leaves, at an angle of around 60 degrees. This means that if you are close enough to the center you will waste very little of the strawberry.
3. Quarter the strawberries by placing large end down and making 2 cuts from the tip to the bottom.
4. Spread the strawberries out, then sprinkle them with Splenda or with Sugar. The amount will vary, as some strawberries are sweeter than others. I start with a Tablespoon on fruit that are not too sweet and go from there. You can add a little more just before serving, if you like.
5. Let the sugar or Splenda sit for a few minutes to allow the sweetener to mix with the natural juices of the berries.
6. After 3 to 5 minutes, drizzle some heavy whipping cream over the strawberries. Hint: If you can't see the strawberries, you probably have too much whipping cream. Remember that fats should be an indulgence here - this is not supposed to be cream and strawberries...
7. Eat it and enjoy - which is what I am going to do with my strawberries and cream now.

Have an awesome day, and God Bless You and Yours!

Wendy's Chili

2010-03-28T00:30:00.009-06:00

No restaurant recipe can remain a total secret. Either someone who cooks the recipe will eventually give it out or someone will eat it enough times that he/she will figure out what the ingredients are and how they are combined and prepared.

I have made the Wendy's Chili recipe from the Recipe Secrets ebook 4 times now, and a couple of things are obvious:

1. The recipe is so much like the one they use at Wendy's that you have a hard time telling the copycat from the original.

2. It is good to even the pickiest eaters because the stuff doesn't last over 2 days in my house (over 4 quarts of chili).

I think that each of the recipes I have tried from this ebook have to be as good, if not better, than the recipe that they attempt to copy. The care that has been taken to match the original is very obvious. Yes, I do stand to profit if you buy the book, but the price would be the same whether you buy it through my link to the author, or as a direct purchase. I hope you get the book and impress your family and friends.

Click here to get more info on America's Secret Recipes. After you have been on this page a few seconds they provide a form to get some sample recipes FREE by email - try before you buy!

God Bless and have a great day!

Snow Ice Cream

2010-03-24T11:29:00.007-06:00

Snow Ice Cream is one of my favorite things in life. It is so simple a child can make it, and such a great treat that it should be enjoyed often. I remember having it as a kid and loving it. The winters in southeastern New Mexico are mild, so getting snow ice cream was a super treat. Now that I live in Colorado, I get to enjoy it several times each winter, and I plan on it every time we have a heavy snow.

The version I am offering here is for those that need to control their carbohydrate count, either for dietary or health reasons. Instead of using the Splenda, replace it with the same amount or more of sugar. I usually use twice as much sugar as Splenda, primarily because sucralose, the main ingredient in this sweetener is 10 times sweeter than sugar. You might want to taste the sugared version before adjusting it to suit your tastes.

The cream in the recipe is optional - I don't think that 2 percent milk is rich enough. Besides that, you gotta live once in a while!

Utensils:

1 large bowl - 12 cup capacity
1 large spoon
Glass - at least 20 ounce size

Ingredients:
Snow (mounded-over 12 cup bowl)
1/2 cup Splenda sweetener
1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 or more cups of 2 percent milk (varies)
1 Tablespoon Heavy Whipping Cream

Collect snow - find an object that has a large, flat surface and scrape THINLY to get only the best snow. Even though snow has some dirt, large quantities of dirt will really mess this up. In other words, if the snow is brown due to dust contamination - forget it until you can get some cleaner snow. Make sure you pile the bowl full of snow, as it will melt a lot during mixing.

Put the sweetener, vanilla, cream and 1 1/2cups of milk into the glass. Add some snow to it and stir. The snow will make the solution cold enough so it won't destroy all the snowflakes in the bowl - texture is a good thing.

Slowly pour in the milk mixture into the bowl, starting in the center. As you add the solution, move the snow around to mix it well. If the Snow Ice Cream still has white spots in it, put some more milk in the glass, along with some more snow and add this to the bowl, stirring as you go.

The ideal mixture will not be slushy, but will be like partially melted snow. See the photo for example. For best serving, put into chilled bowls - they keep it from becoming liquid too fast.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Coffee Anyone - Part 2: Espresso Machines

2010-01-17T16:42:00.004-07:00

In order to have good coffee, you must have 4 things:

1. Good Coffee - if you don't have this, you won't arrive at the goal.
2. Good Water - good water makes any coffee bean brew better coffee. For espresso you should use distilled or other water that has virtually no minerals in it. Hard water can damage the boiler.
3. Good Grind - whether you grind it at home, or at the store, finely ground coffee produces better coffee.
4. Good Equipment - it doesn't matter if it is a drip machine or an espresso maker - good equipment gives you better results.

That being said, we now focus upon item #4, the Equipment. At my home I have a Bunn drip maker which is my personal choice - no intention here to endorse, as I am not a sponsor. I just like having hot water always ready at 165° Fahrenheit - which is, according to another good cook, the "perfect" brewing temperature. For Espresso I have gone through three different machines: A Braun which lasted for over 6 years, a Krups that we had for 4 years and our most recent, a Hamilton Beach unit.

Each of the espresso machines had its good and bad points. It is difficult to compare them as the first two we had were steam machines and the latest is a pump machine. OK, I know I need to explain this to some folks out there...so here it goes: There are two common kinds of espresso machines today, steam driven and pump driven.

The steam driven is similar to the first espresso machines in the fact that water is boiled, steam is created and it is sent through the ground coffee to produce the wonderful, dark liquid we know as espresso. The pump driven unit delivers hot water to the coffee by pumping it through the grounds. Both are effective, but the pump driven unit is what is in most commercial machines and some of the better home units. The pump unit delivers more of the frothy crema on top of the espresso, making it produce a better cup. For more info on this go to Wikipedia .

With the Braun machine, it produced good coffee, that wasn't bitter. The machine was well-constructed and cost us about $80 in 1995 (as I recall). The only weak link was the handle on the filter holder - it was plastic and it broke after several years of heavy use. I repaired it using some JB Weld steel and we got 2 more years out of it before the boiler failed.

The Krups machine was purchased after this. The unit cost around $80 and it produced coffee that was good in quality. Unfortunately, the machine started to leak after a couple of years of use. The leaking got so bad that we were losing one-third of the water! To make 2 ounces of espresso, you had to put 3 ounces of water in the boiler. Since we made a lot of espresso for cappuccinos and making americanos, the leaking water trickled down to the counter where it made a big mess. I don't think most people brew as much espresso as we do, so the leaking may have something to do with the very heavy use it got...and the coffee was good. This may be a good option for you if cost is a concern.

Our latest machine from Hamilton Beach, is a pump unit. It produces excellent espresso and is less expensive than either of the units I bought before. One thing I noticed is that to get the best results out of the unit, I have to use coffee that is a little coarser than true espresso grind. If you use a finer grind, this machine produces much less of the crema, which is a big part of the flavor. When the unit was brand new, I used espresso ground coffee and it worked well, but with time, the quality started to falter and the brew time increased. I went to a coarser grind (I found this tip in a review on the machine on amazon), I found that brew time returned to normal and quality is back to what it was when I first got the machine. If you grind beans when you buy them, go for a setting on the grinder that is slightly coarser and you will always be pleased with the results. I will say the coffee from this pump machine is better than it was from the other 2 units, mainly because the water is coming through at a lower temperature. The resulting coffee is less bitter and isn't overheated as it is when straight steam hits the beans. Gooooooood stuff!

Check out the links to products on this page for more info. I apologize for no link on the Braun machine - they don't make this model anymore, but the other two are still available, and the Krups machine is less expensive than when I bought mine. If you do check them out, I think you will learn a lot, get some great info, and perhaps get a machine that will provide you with Awesome Coffee! I like to put a 20 ounce cup under the spouts and brew it until the cup fills up. This stuff isn't espresso and it isn't regular coffee - it is strong and flavorful. I love this in the morning.

Hope you enjoyed the information. Go out and enjoy some really good coffee!

Have a Great Day and God Bless!

Coffee Anyone - Part 1: Grinders

2010-01-07T12:30:00.024-07:00

I love coffee. When my wife and I met, I liked coffee, but it was something that I drank, more often than not, to help keep me alert. Over 16 years have passed, and now I am a confirmed coffeeholic. I still enjoy the pick-me-up that it provides, but I have to say that I can be found, more often than not, with a cup of joe in hand. I have also become a bit of a coffee snob. I must not only have coffee, but it needs to be a well-roasted arabica blend with lots of natural oils and flavor. Coffee aficionados will agree with me. Any coffee can be good, but the "quality stuff" is so much better.

Coffee is good, but espresso, cappuccino, or a latte is even better. For that you need special equipment - enter the espresso machine for home use, and of course, the coffee grinder. Grinding your own beans is the best way to stretch your coffee dollar. The reason for this is that once the beans have been ground, the quality starts to deteriorate - rapidly.

Part 1 of this article is about getting the most out of the beans with a good grinder. The reason I had to get a new grinder was that my old faithful Braun grinder had a bad crack around the bottom of it. You had to hold in down on the counter so it would still grind beans, so I figured that when we purchased our new espresso machine, we NEEDED a new grinder. (Note: I kept the old one for occasional spice grinding...waste not, want not!)

My first trip was to the local Megamart to purchase a grinder. They had 3 models - a Black & Decker Burr Grinder, a Hamilton Beach Coffee Grinder that would do several different grinds, and a Mr. Coffee Grinder.

My first choice was the Hamilton Beach unit. It looked cool, had auto shut off, a safety lock on the cap, and it would grind coarse to espresso grind. It also had a retractable cord - nice! So, out comes the checkbook and I go home with a Hamilton Beach espresso/cappucino maker and coffee grinder.

I got home with my new goodies and proceeded to grind up some coffee beans - after skimming over the instructions, of course. (Note: READING instructions is not a guy thing, but skimming is considered acceptable...) I noticed that even on the finest setting, the coffee wasn't perfect for espresso which should be almost powder-fine, but it was acceptable for drip coffee. I discovered that by running the coffee through the process 3 times, I could get a very good espresso grind. This grinder worked OK until a few days later, the top cracked. The top did seem a bit stiff and it was hard to twist shut - so it cracked when my other half was closing it. After a bit of, uh, discussion, I went to the store to return it and get one of the other grinders.

I came back with the Mr. Coffee grinder. It had similar features, said it had an auto shutoff feature, so I figured this would be the one. Wrong again, even though the grinder did the job, it had a short cord and required you to press and hold the button down until it reached one of the three grind settings - coarse, medium or find. It did do the auto shutoff, you just had to hold the button until it did. So I was in search of yet another replacement...

I was in another store where I noticed a Cuisinart Burr Mill. I looked at it closely and I decided to get it. I finally found a better fit to my needs, even though I was hoping for a super fine grind, this one is still much closer to meeting my needs. It makes a fine grind that is very small and does produce a decent espresso. It is even better if you run the coffee through a couple of extra times to get a finer grind. The extra passes through the grinder are NOT according to manufacturer's specs - just mine - it may void your warranty, so do so at your own risk.

I guess that I am too picky. I do like the burr grinder the best because for everyday use it does produce a grind that is more consistent, and is, even when regrinding the coffee, easier to use. Time will tell as to whether this grinder will remain at my house - but I think it is a better fit. I am too cheap to spend $200 to $300 for a grinder - it is just too much for my budget.

All three grinders are nice and do a good job and produce great coffee - I just need more income and a much larger budget for coffee. I will post an update if I find a better grinder. If you find a better one, please post a comment - I would LOVE to hear about it.

I could have saved myself a lot in gasoline and auto wear and tear by simply buying online, so I have given you links that go to purchase pages for these items.

My next post will be on the espresso/cappuccino maker - it is another INTERESTING story...

Until then, May God Bless You and Yours and Have a Great Day!

Anybody for a BLAND dish?

2010-01-01T18:19:00.004-07:00

I am a firm believer in tradition. Traditions are good stuff - they keep us in balance and provide stability in our lives. One of my favorite New Year's traditions is eating black-eyed peas as part of a meal - or by themselves. These are an awesome food that are supposed to bring good luck for the upcoming year.

Personally, I don't believe in luck...unless you follow the equation: luck = preparation meeting opportunity. All the same, I always have black eyed peas every year on New Year's day. This year I didn't use the canned variety, or fresh ones, for that matter. I cooked up some that were dried, but I noticed something about the recipe - it would be great if you want really bland food. Let me explain further...

The package directions go something like this...

Quick Soak Method:
For every one lb. beans, soak in 1 to 1-1/2 quarts water. In a large pot, heat beans and water to boiling. Boil for 2 minutes, then let stand for 1 to 4 hours.

Maybe I am missing something, but this recipe seems to be lacking in flavor! There is no mention of salt, butter, bacon, ham, onion, jalapeños or any other seasoning. This recipe as written, would result in something that would be suitable for the creatures that commonly are fed these - cows. In fact, the common name for these wonderful little beans is cowpeas.

My grandfather was shocked when he moved from Arkansas to New Mexico and he found out people were eating cow fodder for human food! Since it was during the depression, I am sure he thought times must REALLY be tough here in the Southwest, so that had to be why people were resorting to eating cowpeas. Like most of us that have eaten them, he quickly fell in love with them.

There is also one other item that bothers me - soak for HOW LONG? Maybe a couple of days or so? I soaked mine for around 2 hours, which seems to work well.

Now, on to the seasoning. Take the recipe above, soak for 2 hours, then add 1/4 cup of ham, bacon or butter to the boiling mixture, along with 1/4 of an onion, diced. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sea salt and you have a really tasty dish. You could also add a clove of garlic or a tablespoon of butter to further enhance the flavor and make them even better.

This will give you a great dish for your New Year's table, or for almost any other meal you want to have them with.

That's it for now - Have a Happy New Year and God Bless You and Yours!

Cocoa Pecan Cookies

2009-12-05T13:16:00.004-07:00

This recipe is a spin-off of my Reduced Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies. It is very similar in the area of ingredients and preparation. I was out of vanilla extract, so I used some sugar-free caramel syrup to kick up the flavor a bit. I do recommend to mix the wet ingredients with the mixer but to fold in the flour and other dry ingredients by hand to get the best results.

Thes are good when cold, but for the best taste, warm them up briefly in a toaster oven to make 'em crunchy and warm!

I apologize for the lack of photos, but the cookies disappeared too fast. I should have done it while I was baking - oops!

Utensils:
2 bowls, 4 - 6 cup capacity
1 spatula
1 large spoon for mixing
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
aluminum foil, silicone sheet or parchment paper
1 or 2 cookie sheets
Mixer
small spoon

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt (iodized sea salt is awesome!)
2 squares semisweet baking chocolate squares, finely grated
1 tablespoon Cocoa Powder
2 tablespoons sugar-free caramel syrup
3 tablespoons molasses
3 cups Splenda sweetener (or another sucralose product)
2 cups I can't believe it's not butter sticks (slightly softened)
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. In one bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt, grated chocolate and cocoa powder.
3. Put I can't believe it's not butter and Splenda in the other bowl and cream them together.
4. Add the Molasses and mix well to incorporate into mixture.
5. Add the caramel syrup and mix well.
6. Add the eggs and mix well.
7. Set the mixer aside and add the flour mixture in a little at a time, then mix with a large spoon. Only mix enough to incorporate - DO NOT OVERMIX.
8. Fold in the pecans with the spatula.
9. Place dough on cookie sheet. Each cookie should be about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons in size. I use a tablespoon rounded over to keep size even. Do not press them or flatten out - this makes them a lot "heavier." A regular cookie sheet should hold 12 cookies easily.
10. Bake for 17 minutes until golden brown.
11. Enjoy!

What can you do with leftover turkey?

2009-12-02T08:45:00.005-07:00

Leftover turkey is a common item around the holidays, so I decided to give a few suggestions on what to do with all that leftover bird.

The best thing to do with leftover turkey is to mix it into something. This meat is versatile and can be used in many dishes instead of beef, chicken or pork. I put together the following list to give you some ideas on what to make. Most of these items in the list are links to recipes that I thought would be good ones to try out. You may find that some of these recipes come back to your table after you have made them once - if it tastes good, it will be eaten!

Other items in the list have my suggestions or a brief recipe summary, just to keep this post reasonably short.

Turkey Salad

Chop up turkey into 1/4" to 3/8" pieces, mix with Miracle Whip or Salad Dressing, some chopped pickles, onions and celery. Add salt and pepper to taste. You may want to add other spices such as tarragon, lemon pepper, curry, sage, rosemary, thyme, or garlic to the mix. Experiment by taking some of the "base" and mixing a test batch up to see what really tastes best, THEN adjust the spices on the entire batch of salad. Serve on lettuce leaves or in a sandwich of your favorite bread.

Turkey Noodle Soup

This is fairly easy and it can use up other leftovers you have from your holiday meal. Cut turkey into 3/8" pieces. Put 2 tablespoons of oil into a pan, then add 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic, 1/4 of a medium onion, diced, 2 diced carrots, 1 rib of diced celery. Saute until the vegetables are translucent, then put in your turkey, some chicken or turkey stock. If you like, You can use up leftover giblet gravy here instead of stock or broth. Add water to bring the soup to the desired volume. Bring to a boil and add your noodles. Homemade egg noodles are the best, but just about any noodle will work for this one.

Turkey Enchiladas

Use my Enchilada Casserole recipe, substituting turkey for the chicken or beef. If you want to you can fry your corn tortillas in the microwave.

Turkey Rice Casserole

Turkey Pot Pie

Turkey Crockpot Surprise

Put bite-sized pieces of turkey into a crockpot or large pan. Put in other leftover vegetable items such as carrots, green beans or broccoli. Add some celery, onion, and garlic and anything else you think might be good. Put in some canned tomatoes, stock, broth or water to bring to the desired volume, then cook on low heat until any raw vegetables you have added are tender.

Turkey Chili

Turkey Loaf

Reduced Carb Cornbread

2009-11-26T08:10:00.002-07:00

I am always trying to control my carbs. This recipe is one that I developed through lots of trial and error. You can cook it in a glass 9 x 9 pan, a standard cake tin, or even a cast-iron dutch oven. In the dutch oven method, I heat the pan and put the shortening in, then just pour the batter in the center of the oil. It works really well this way and you get a crunchy bottom crust.

Reduced Carb Cornbread

Ingredients:
¾ cup cornmeal
1 cup soy flour
½ cup wheat flour
¼ cup splenda
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 beaten eggs
1 cup water
4 tsp wheat gluten
butter or shortening to grease pan

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Grease 9 x 9 glass or metal pan.
3. Mix all ingredients until combined
a. DO NOT OVERMIX – just bring ingredients together (unless you want leather – like cornbread)
4. Pour mixture into pan and bake on middle oven rack for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

No pictures - cooking for the Holiday. Enjoy and comment if you like the recipe. Feedback is appreciated.

Have an awesome Thanksgiving, and May God Bless You and Yours.

Egg Omelette

2009-11-18T21:42:00.005-07:00

Everybody seems to love eggs. I am no exception to this rule. I find that an egg omelette along with a slice of buttered toast and a cup of hot coffee is hard to beat for starting your day right. There are a lot of ways to serve up eggs, but the omelette is one of those dishes that just seem to work for me most of the time.

Utensils:
nonstick frying pan
cup for holding cracked eggs
fork
spatula

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp I can't believe its not butter
2 slices of Turkey Ham, chopped
1 slice American Cheese
salt and pepper to taste
ground red oriental pepper (optional)

Instructions:
1. Crack eggs and place them in a cup. Make sure that the cup has a wide enough top and is deep enough to whisk the eggs in.
2. Set stove on medium low to medium - 3 on an electric stove is ideal.
3. Place butter in the pan. Move the pan around to distribute the butter evenly.
4. Once butter is spread out, whisk eggs and pour them into the pan, spreading them across the entire surface. Add salt and pepper.
5. To expedite cooking, use your spatula to work the egg in, pushing from the outside edges to the center of the pan.
6. Let eggs cook until they appear to be almost done on the top. Do not overcook as they will be like rubber if you do...
7. Place the turkey ham in a row in the center of the omelette. Tear the american cheese into strips and place in the center of the omelette as well.
8. Fold over the omelette.
9. Wait for 30 seconds to a minute to make sure the eggs are set.
10. Remove from pan to a plate. Add some oriental chili or hot sauce if you like.
11. Enjoy!

I have made a brief video of me cooking up this omelette - its fast, its easy and its delicious!

Have a Great Day and God Bless!

Thanks for the music in the video goes to Dan O'Connor at http://DanoSongs.com Really free, really good music.

Kids in the Kitchen

2009-11-05T01:38:00.004-07:00

Kids in the Kitchen
There is a breakdown in the American Family. It appears that we are all too often too busy to do anything with one another. Family members share a unique bond that can never be broken - you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

It is for this reason that I regularly involve my kids in my cooking. Many times I will have my son or daughter helping me to mix batter, crack eggs, season something, or help get another bowl or pan for cooking. Lots of kids that I talked to when I was teaching said that they didn't know how to cook. Others stated that they did not want to try because it seemed too complicated. This brings me to a question: How are young people going to get a chance to eat a decent meal when they are on their own, UNLESS they are taught how to cook by their parents?

The advantage for the young person is big - he or she might be able to try to save some money or do something with the money that would have been spent on eating out every night. Another important note here - the time spent teaching them while they are still at home is special. It is a chance for the parent and the child to bond and get to know more about each other. I am glad that there were times that my parents involved me in cooking and other everyday activities - I am a better person for it, and I really enjoyed learning from them.

So the next time that you are wanting to make that "special" dish, or do something where you need your kids help, get it. You might hear complaints at first, but it always works out that they have fun, and you will too!

Have a Great Day and God Bless!

Reduced Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-10-28T03:02:00.005-06:00

I have had Type 2 diabetes for several years. For this reason, I am always cutting out refined sugar, or substituting other sweeteners for it. This IS NOT an extreme cut on sugar, just a refinement with things that make a good cookie that isn't loaded with white sugar. I do use molasses in these - I have not found an acceptable substitute for it, and you gotta live a little.

OK, enough of the description, on to the cooking.

I usually try to put in a lot of photos, but this was a brand new recipe, and I had no idea if it would come out good enough to post. My apologies for the lack of pictures or video - the "mad scientist" in me was busy! This is a double-size batch, so it makes several dozen cookies.

Please also note - I NEVER use aspartame in a recipe. I, like 30% of this nation, am allergic to this product. If you want an eye opener, do some research on it. Chances are that you may want to change sweeteners afterward.

Utensils:
2 bowls, 4 - 6 cup capacity
1 spatula
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
aluminum foil, silicone sheet or parchment paper
1 or 2 cookie sheets
Mixer
small spoon

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt (iodized sea salt is awesome!)
3 teaspoons double-strength vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons molasses
3 cups Splenda sweetener (or another sucralose product)
2 cups I can't believe it's not butter sticks (slightly softened)
4 large eggs
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips (yes, only one package)
1 cup pecans (2 is ALWAYS better, but I only had 1 in the house!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. In one bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt.
3. Put I can't believe it's not butter and Splenda in the other bowl and cream them together.
4. Add the Molasses, then the honey, mix well to incorporate into mixture.
5. Add the vanilla and mix well.
6. Add the eggs and mix well.
7. Add flour mixture in a little at a time. Only mix enough to incorporate - DO NOT OVERMIX.
8. Add in the chocolate chips, mix until they are covered with the dough.
9. Fold in the pecans with the spatula.
10. Place dough on cookie sheet. Each cookie should be about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons in size. I use a tablespoon rounded over to keep size even. Use a cup with a piece of plastic wrap on it to press down dough to 3/8 inch thickness. A regular cookie sheet should hold 12 cookies easily.
11. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
12. Enjoy!

Winter Squash with Corn

2009-10-21T02:40:00.006-06:00

Winter squash is really great stuff. The downside to it is that it does require a little more work than summer squash. The particular variety that I am cooking today has a very tough outer skin that doesn't become very good for eating until it has been cooked for a very long time, which makes the squash inside the skin like mush. For this reason, the best solution is to clean the squash out of the skin after cooking and to discard the skin - my dog seems to love this, so I give it to her. (She thinks she is human!)

Utensils:
masher
1 bowl, 4 - 6 cup capacity
1 large spoon for stirring
1/8 teaspoon measuring spoon (optional)
small spoon for digging squash out of skins
SHARP knife for cutting up squash
cutting board
plastic wrap for steaming in the microwave

Ingredients:
several small to medium-sized squash
1 can unsalted corn, excess liquid removed
3 Tbsp I can't believe its not butter
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon of ground red oriental chili flakes (optional)

1. Wash squash well and dry them.
2. Fold a paper towel in half and place it on the counter.
3. Pour 1-2 Tbsp of water on the center of the towel to moisten it.
4. Place your cutting board on top of the paper towel.
5. Place a piece of squash on the board and cut the ends off. Discard them.
6. Cut each piece of squash into 1 1/2 to 2 inch lengths. Split these down the middle.
7. Place pieces of cut squash into a microwave-safe bowl and put plastic wrap over them. Wrap DOES NOT have to be very tight around bowl - it allows the excess steam to get out.
8. Put in microwave and cook on high for 5 to 8 minutes or until tender. Check halfway through cooking to determine ending time.
9. CAREFULLY remove the plastic wrap from the squash. Use a fork to keep your hands clear of steam rising from the bowl. It is best if you let the squash cool before the next step.
10. Using the small spoon, dig the squash out of the skin, discarding the skin.
11. Mash the squash up, add the I can't believe its not butter, stir well.
12. Add the corn, then stir well.
13. Check for saltiness, add salt if necessary, then black pepper to taste.
14. Finally, add the oriental chili flakes to the top of the squash to add extra color and flavor!
15. The best step - enjoy!

I have included a video with all the instructions - hope it helps.

If you have need of computer help, hints or tips, go to my website at http://crabbymac.com

Have a Great Day and God Bless!!

Oatmeal Cookies

2009-10-12T01:37:00.005-06:00

Oatmeal Cookies are a favorite of mine. I have taken the raisins that are traditionally in these and replaced that flavor with honey, molasses and cinnamon.

Utensils:
2 bowls, 4 - 6 cup capacity
1 spatula
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
aluminum foil, silicone sheet or parchment paper
1 or 2 cookie sheets
Mixer

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons double-strength vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup Splenda sweetener
1 1/4 cup I can't believe it's not butter
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. In one bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon.
3. Put I can't believe it's not butter and Splenda in the other bowl and cream them together.
4. Add the Molasses, mix well to incorporate into mixture.
5. Add the vanilla and mix well.
6. Add the eggs and mix well.
7. Add flour in a little at a time. Only mix enough to incorporate - DO NOT OVERMIX.
8. Add in the oats 1/3 at a time, mix until oats are mostly covered with the dough.
9. Fold the oats in the rest of the way to insure even coverage.
10. Place dough on cookie sheet. Each cookie should be about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons in size. Press down dough to 3/8 inch thickness. Place a chocolate chip or two in the center of each cookie for added flavor.
11. Bake for 13 - 17 minutes until golden brown and crunchy.
12. Enjoy!

Watch the video for step-by-step details...

Seasoned Chicken

2009-09-28T11:42:00.004-06:00

There are times that you need to have some chicken for a dish. This recipe gives you some chicken that has a great flavor to add to a casserole, pot pie, soup or just about anywhere that you might need some boiled, seasoned chicken. One added advantage to my recipe is you also have a nice chicken stock that is a by-product of the process.

Here we go:

Cookware:
1 3-quart pan
Spoon for stirring

Ingredients:
3 leg and thigh quarters, skinned, cut up with most of the fat removed
2 small to medium size carrots, washed and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 stalk celery
3 cloves garlic, sliced into 1/8" slices
2 tsp salt (kosher or sea salt for better flavor and nutritional value)
pepper to taste (always put just a little then taste - you can always add, but it is difficult to take out.)
Optional: 1/8 tsp of oriental ground chili or a basil leaf
2 Tbsp canola oil
1-2 quarts water (varies based on size of pan, size of chicken pieces, etc.

Prepare chicken. Hint: when removing skin, use a paper towel to grasp the skin and pull it off.
Prepare veggies. Hint: make sure you wash the carrots and celery well so you can use the stock for soup or other things later.
Add canola oil to pan, turn on to high heat.
Once oil is hot, toss in vegetables, then lower to medium low heat.
Stir regularly,
Once onions are translucent, toss in chicken pieces.
Cook for a couple of minutes, then turn the pieces over until all the chicken is slightly cooked.
Add salt, black pepper, and chili or basil leaf.
Stir
Add water to cover chicken.
Stir.
Cook for 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is tender.
Let chicken cool.
Pull meat off the bones and dice it up or do whatever fits the recipe you are creating.

If you are just wanting some chicken noodle soup, skim off any excess fat, dice the chicken and add some egg noodles. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For more tenter chicken, go to very low heat and cook for 2 or more hours. You may have to add some water as you go, but this stuff should be really tender and tasty.

This also goes well in the enchilada casserole if you prefer chicken over beef.

Enchilada Casserole - Part II

2009-09-17T22:56:00.035-06:00

Today, we are continuing with the second installment for the enchilada casserole.

If you missed it, here is the link to Enchilada Casserole Part I.

Utensils:
large microwave safe bowl
1 10 x 14 inch baking pan or dish
silicone scraper
ladle or cup
non-stick spatula

Ingredients:
2 family size cans cream of mushroom soup
1 to 2 cups of milk for thinning soup
24 fried corn tortillas (see part 1 for instructions)
2 - 3 cups of taco meat
1/2 medium onion, diced finely
2 - 5 small cloves of garlic, minced (if you like a lot of garlic, use it!!)
1 - 2 pounds of grated cheese (I use one-half cheddar and one-half mozarella)
2 small cans of roasted and peeled chopped green chilis (you can substitute jalapeño or bell pepper if you like)

Place the soup and milk in the bowl.
Warm in the microwave for around 2 minutes.
Once mixture is slightly warm, put in the taco meat, green chilis, onion and the garlic.
Heat for another minute in microwave. Mixture needs to be where you can pour and spread it easily on each layer.
Preheat your oven to 350° - place the top rack on the middle shelf, then put a cookie sheet or aluminum foil on the rack.
In the baking dish, pour a layer of the soup/meat mixture.
Place a layer of the fried corn tortillas on the soup mixture.
Pour a thin layer of soup mixture on the tortillas. It doesn't have to cover them completely, as it will spread out during cooking.
Sprinkle a layer of the cheddar and mozarella cheese onto the soup mixture.
Place another layer of tortillas on the cheese and continue the process until you have 3 or more layers of "goodies" in the pan. You want to stop about 1/4" below the lip of the pan to allow for the bubbling of the soup.
Cover the top layer with one last batch of cheese.
Place the casserole into the oven on the cookie sheet or foil.
Bake for at least an hour. It is better if you cook it for 1.5 hours as the fresh garlic and onion have a chance to cook more thouroughly.
Remove from oven and let it cool for 30 minutes before serving (if you can wait that long).
Serve with shredded lettuce, salsa, or pico de gallo.

Hope you like this one. It doesn't last long around my house. Have a great day and God Bless!!

Enchilada Casserole - Part I

2009-09-16T21:18:00.053-06:00

Everyone has their favorite recipes. This is one of mine. It is simple, easy to prepare, requires only a few ingredients and it is delicious. See the photos for more info.

I have decided to split it into two blog posts to make my posting easier. So here is the first step - cooking the tortillas.

Microwave Fried Corn Tortillas

Utensils:
1 microwave safe plate
1 microwave safe bowl
brush for spreading oil on tortillas
non-stick spatula

Ingredients:
24 uncooked corn tortillas
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Frying corn tortillas - this is usually done in a skillet or deep-fat fryer, but after a lot of experimentation, I found I can easily fry them in the microwave with only 1/4 cup of oil! It is a lower fat and less messy method than the traditional one.

Put about a tablespoon of oil in the plate, then place a tortilla in it, turning it one time to ensure that the oil on the bottom of the plate is all over the tortilla.
Load the brush with oil and baste the top of the tortilla with it.
Place another tortilla on top of the first, then brush the top with oil.
Continue this process until you have twelve tortillas in a stack with oil between them.
Put a layer of oil on the top of the last tortilla to ensure proper frying in the microwave.
Put the bowl on top of the stack. The bowl catches any oil that splatters and helps in the cooking of the tortillas.
Microwave on high for 5 to 8 minutes until the tortillas are fried. It is a good idea to check them during the last 3 minutes of cooking time.
When they are done CAREFULLY remove the bowl and use a spatula to seperate the tortillas. The ones on the bottom tend to stick - this is why you should check them towards the end because they can burn if you cook them for too long. Make sure you don't do this! Your microwave will stink for a couple of days if you burn the tortillas.

That is it...tomorrow we will make the casserole. Until then - Adios!!

Crabby's Crazy Crumbles

2009-08-29T03:56:00.008-06:00

What do you do with the crumbs and small pieces that are left in a bag of tortilla chips? You make my Crumbles!!

This recipe is very simple:

Utensils:
1 microwave safe plate
1 sharp kitchen knife

Ingredients:
Approximately 3/4 to 1 cup crumbs and small chips
1/2 cup mozarella cheese
1/4 medium size onion, frenched
1 slice American Cheese
1/4 cup Taco Meat
Garlic Powder to Taste
Cayenne Pepper to Taste
Black Pepper to Taste
Ground Cumin (Comino) to Taste

1. Put crumbs and chip pieces in plate, spread evenly.
2. Add a layer of mozarella cheese.
3. Mix to distribute cheese.
4. Add Pepper, Garlic Powder and Onions.
5. Add some more mozarella. Layer on the Taco Meat.
6. Tear American slice into 4 long strips.
7. Place strips with one end in the center, going out towards the edge of the plate - one at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions.
8. Sprinkle on the Cayenne Pepper and Comino.
9. Microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until cheeses are melted and gooey.
10. My favorite step - pull out your fork and enjoy.

White Milk Gravy

2009-08-17T21:04:00.008-06:00

Gravy is one of the most versatile foods on the planet. This simple mixture of fat, flour and milk is what REALLY makes Chicken Fried Steak (Country Fried Steak) so awesome. I know that some folks like to put brown gravy on this, but you gotta try the white stuff - as the saying goes, "try it, you'll like it."

Gravy can be put on more than steak. It goes on mashed potatoes, chicken, biscuits, toast, and sausage to name a few. I have tried putting this stuff on just about everything, including a flour tortilla - don't knock it - makes a goooooooood burrito! Mix it with a little taco meat and it is one of the best fillings around. If you like salsa, throw it in too!! I normally love cheese in my burritos - with gravy in there, you don't even miss it.

Anyway, I will try to keep from drooling all over the keyboard and I will give you a simple recipe and method for creating this versatile sauce. This is one of my childhood favorites. Growing up in New Mexico, I had lots of family members that made great gravy. I always thought that milk gravy had to be white, so my first exposure to milk gravy that was brown shocked me.

One of my aunts liked brown milk gravy and on one of my visits she "burnt the flour" on the gravy - I was only about 6 and I was mortified! She ruined the gravy! My aunt was very kind and made a second batch of "normal" gravy for her shocked nephew. I will always remember this and will state to you that the level of caramelization you give the flour is a personal preference - it is a key ingredient in some soup bases. (Yes, gravy makes an awesome base for a soup - thick and rich - just add your flavoring items to it.) So much for the story - recipe time...

Utensils:

1 skillet or deep pan - at least one to two quart capacity
A spoon or wire whisk for stirring

Ingredients:

one half cup of oil - preferably drippings from sausage, bacon, or fried chicken**
one half cup of all purpose flour ***
Milk to thin the gravy with - this varies - so get a couple of cups to start with
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Place the pan on a large burner on the stove set to medium heat.
Put Oil in the pan, let it warm for a minute then add the flour. Mix with the spoon or whisk to form a Roux (this is the key to a lot of sauces - equal parts of flour and oil).
Stir the mixture until it bubbles and the flour is as brown as you like.
Reduce your heat by half then SLOWLY add a little milk, stirring quickly with your spoon or whisk. You should have a thick paste forming. If you add the milk too quickly, you will get a bunch of lumps. Small lumps are easily dissolved, but big ones make lumpy gravy. The goal here is to make a paste. Keep adding milk until the paste starts to become thin enough to still cover the back of a spoon.
Add salt to taste.
Now that the hard part is done, and you have a thin gravy, you want to bring the heat back up to medium and bring the liquid in the pan to a good simmer. You MUST stir constantly at this point to keep the flour from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the gravy reaches a light boil, it should be getting close to being fully thickened. Note: It is easier to dilute the gravy rather than to boil it long enough to thicken a really thin gravy.
The key item in this process is to get rid of the pasty taste of the flour. Once it is fully cooked you need to add your final salt to it and finally, your pepper.

Notes:

Always remember that a Roux is one-half flour, one half oil - simple, but good! This is how you control how much gravy you are making.

**(I like to make chicken gravy after frying my buttermilk chicken, just get some of the fat out of the pan, making sure to get any loose crumbs that are dark brown, NOT black.)

***if you have some leftover dredging flour from frying chicken, remove any lumps and use this stuff - why waste it?

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

2009-08-01T11:21:00.007-06:00

A couple of days ago I promised to give the recipe for Buttermilk Drop Biscuits. This is a favorite of mine and is a spin-off of my Mom's recipe (she used regular milk). If they are done right, the outside is crunchy with a soft inside - mmm, mmm, good! So much for my gabbing, you want the recipe, so here it is:

Utensils (Hardware, for you computer folks):

1 or 2 nine inch cake pans or a cookie sheet, preferably non-stick
2 quart (or larger) bowl for mixing dough
fork for mixing dough
measuring spoon

Ingredients:

2 cups of All Purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder (you may substitute 1 tsp of baking soda if you don't have the powder)
1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk (original recipe uses milk, buttermilk just makes them better)

Directions:

Place oven rack in the middle position, then preheat it to 425° Fahrenheit. Once oven has come to temp, mix dough.
Put flour, salt and baking powder into bowl. Mix with fork to distribute the baking powder and salt into the flour more evenly.
Add 1 cup of buttermilk, use fork to mix together. Add enough of the remaining milk to the dough to make it slightly sticky to the touch - you may have to add more or less milk due to the humidity, the moisture in your flour, etc. Mix ONLY ENOUGH to make the dough come together into a ball. If you overmix the dough, you will make a tough, chewy thing that I really don't consider a biscuit - it is more like a bagel or pizza dough, but not near as good.
If you have nonstick pans, parchment paper or silcone mats, go to step 6.
Put some vegetable oil in the pans to avoid sticking.
Using a spoon or your fingers, tear off pieces and form into small balls about 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. The larger the biscuits, the longer the cooking time. If you make them too small, the center will not be soft and chewy.
You should end up with around 10 biscuits.
Drop each ball into the cake pans or on the cookie sheet. Leave at least 3/4 of an inch or so between each biscuit to allow for them to rise. (You don't want them to run together, as this ruins the crunchy part of the biscuit.)
Place them in the oven. They will take between 15 to 20 minutes to bake. Remove when there are small brown areas on them (see photo). It is rare to have really even browning, unless the dough is fairly dry, but that results in a dry biscuit, too.
You can brown them further if you like, just be careful not to overcook, as the centers will become very crunchy, too. (I will sometimes do this if all I am wanting them for is biscuits and gravy. I break them into little pieces and mix into the gravy - crunchy and delicious!)
If you want to butter the biscuits, you need to do this while they are still hot. Just be careful when hadling them, OK?

Here is a photo of the resulting fare:

I thank you for checking out my recipe. Check out other items in this blog.
If you need computer help, hints or tips, go to my website at Crabby's Place.
May you have a wonderful day, and God Bless!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

2009-07-30T12:15:00.013-06:00

There are very few things on the planet that compare to a meal consisting of fried chicken, biscuits and gravy.

This is one item that most of us wish could be on the menu at LEAST once a week. This meal has, due to health concerns, been limited to once or twice a month for most of us. But when I want to celebrate, THIS is one of my favorite combinations. I believe that life is too short to restrict myself from an occasional piece of chicken, a biscuit, and to top it all off, some gravy for the biscuit.

We must love fried chicken. The history of this dish goes back to medieval times. Furthermore, a Google search will net some 13,300,000 pages on this item. It is so popular that there is even a vegan version of this dish. That shows a lot of support for an item categorized under the topic of "Bad Fats" on the American Heart Association's website. Ok, so it is not health food, but it sure is very popular for an unhealthy food.

Biscuits and Gravy have been around a long time. The history of this wonderful combination seems to center around necessity.

There are also a three other things to consider:
1) The drippings from bacon, sausage and fried chicken are VERY tasty.
2) Earlier in our history there was an attitude about wasting anything.
3) You need to stretch your money as far as it will go - biscuits and gravy are inexpensive to make

To make the chicken, we need to look at what type of fried chicken you want. You can fry it with just the skin on it, low and slow. You can dredge it in eggs and flour and fry it. You can take chicken that has soaked in buttermilk, dredge it in flour and spices and fry it up. Today we will work on item number three - Buttermilk Fried Chicken.

Prep and Cooking Time: 8+hours for soak (the longer the better), 30 minutes to 1 hour to fry

Utensils: 1 wide, deep pan for frying (with lid, if possible), 1 metal or plastic container for soaking the chicken in buttermilk, quart or gallon plastic bag for dredging chicken, fork for placing chicken into bag for dredging, tongs for removal of chicken

Ingredients: 1 to 2 cups of buttermilk, chicken for frying, 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups AP flour, 1 tsp Tarragon, 1 tsp pepper, 1 and 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground oriental chili, or paprika, or cayenne (your choice), 1-2 quarts Vegetable oil for frying - I suggest peanut or canola due to better heat resistance

Instructions:
Prep:
Trim up chicken and cut into pieces. Wash off pieces with COLD water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place chicken into a large metal or plastic container. It is better to have a large, flat surface here to conserve on the buttermilk. Pour buttermilk over the chicken. Lift each piece and roll around in the buttermilk to ensure even coverage. Place plastic wrap (not aluminum - this could corrode due to the acid in the buttermilk) over the container. Place in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.
Once soak time is over, remove chicken from the bath and follow the dredging and cooking steps.

Dredging:
Prepare dredge bag by placing the flour, salt, pepper and spice into the plastic bag. I usually use a zipper bag since they are very sturdy. Place the fork into a piece of chicken and place it into the bag, remove the fork, fold over the top a couple of times and shake to cover with the mixture. Open the bag, remove from dredge using the fork and place in a single layer on a large clean plate or cookie sheet. Repeat for all remaining pieces of chicken. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before frying.

Cooking:
Place pan on stove. Pour in enough cooking oil to give you a depth of 2 inches. You CAN use less oil or a shallow pan, but you will HAVE to monitor the chicken more closely and turn it more often to give even cooking - deeper IS better! Turn the burner on to medium-high heat and bring the oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. I have cooked without a frying thermometer and reducing to a medium setting after the oil gets hot seems to work out well for me.

Once the oil gets hot enough, using the tongs, gently place 3 to 5 pieces of the chicken into the oil. DO NOT overcrowd the chicken, it will not cook evenly, among other things. You also want to watch the temperature on the oil - going above 375 will cook the chicken too quickly and may cause the oil to degrade faster. One item causes raw chicken, the other makes the chicken taste bad or requires replenishing the oil more often. Once you place the chicken in the oil, the oil temperature will drop, then it SHOULD slowly rise back to proper temperature. You want to avoid letting the oil temperature stay too low for very long - this results in greasy, not fried, chicken. Turn the chicken every few minutes to insure even cooking.

Once the chicken is golden brown (see photo), it is ready to pull. If you have a probe-type cooking thermometer, you are trying to reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (be careful not to place the thermometer against a bone as this will give you a false reading). Use the tongs to pull the chicken and place it on a plate lined with paper towels. Let cool for a couple of minutes and serve.

Tomorrow I will cover how to make buttermilk drop biscuits. Until then, have fun, enjoy the recipe, and God Bless.

P.S. Check out my website at Crabby's Place

Why Should a Person Get on Facebook or Any Other Social Networking Site?

2009-07-19T02:00:00.007-06:00

I am still fairly new at the social networking sites. I do have an account on facebook, and on twitter, and to be honest, I am really sorry that I didn't get into this sooner.

Email is a great thing. It keeps us in touch with our friends and family. It is really super IF you know the person't email address. If you don't, then you are sunk.

I started using facebook and twitter mainly because I heard how great they really are, and that they are a great way to find folks, develop friendships, and to communicate with others. Because of these tools, I have found a large group of people that have interests similar to mine, and more importantly, I have been touching base with some awesome old friends of mine.

If you aren't on these services, I HIGHLY recommend them. it is so neat to find others out there that look at life similar to the way you do. It is a great way to find out more about your friends or those you want to learn from, and the biggest reason - it is a lot of fun!!

Now that I have given you some food for thought - go out and do some social networking...

Have a super day and God Bless!

twitter: CrabbB

facebook: Brady Crabb in Colorado Springs

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2009-07-15T13:45:00.001-06:00

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Murphy's Law and Life

2009-07-11T20:09:00.009-06:00

Murphy's Law states, "If anything can go wrong, it will." This is also the first rule of two of my favorite things in life - computers and cooking.

I have worked with computers for over half my life. In that time, I have determined that Murphy MUST have been thinking forward, into the future, when he wrote his saying. Anyone who has worked with a computer very much is aware how stubborn the computer can be when you NEED it to work. This evening I was working on a PC at my church. This computer is in bad need of a complete clean up, but unfortunately nobody knows where the cd key or original windows disc is, so reinstallation is out of the picture - unless NEW copies of the software are bought. Add to this the fact that the media software we are using is very resource intensive, and you have a mix for problems.

I kept having program crashes until I finally determined that the problem was a corrupt video file that I kept trying to load. I was saving every so often, but the darned thing kept crashing. After I figured out what the problem was, I found out they aren't going to be using the video clip tomorrow after all. This is definitely Murphy in action.

In the cooking arena - I am sure someone can relate to this - I have had more than once that I started to make a dish that had very specific ingredients that could not be replaced or substituted, and the item either got used by someone else in the house, or it spoiled, and is unusable. It is times like this I feel like Charlie Brown - AAARGH!!

My wife was making a cake for her co-workers and she had a problem with the cake not coming out of the pan. When it FINALLY did, it came out in pieces. She had bought a very large can of frosting, which she assumed would cover the entire cake with some left over. With the cake being busted up, the icing was consumed rapidly, and she still had half the cake to go. Oh well, no problem, let's just make some chocolate frosting to cover the rest of the cake. This is fine, if you have cocoa powder or some blocks of bittersweet chocolate - which we did not have. She thought she could use some of the Almond Bark in the cabinet. For those who don't know, Almond Bark and other candies like it, are used to coat pretzels, nuts, and just about everything during the holiday season. It cannot bu used as an icing and it cannot be thinned with water or milk, only with solid vegetable shortening - Yuck! Needless to say, our FAMILY ended up eating this particular cake.

I don't know about you, but Murphy sure does hang around a LOT at our house.

While on the topic of Almond Bark here is a simple recipe to make the bad things disappear - for now, at least.

Ingredients:

2 Squares of vanilla or chocolate almond bark candy (or equivalent)
1 Cup of dry roasted almonds (salted or unsalted)

Directions:

Place candy in microwave safe cup.
Measure out one cup of Almonds in another heat-resistant cup.
Heat candy in microwave for approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds, stopping at 1 minute and at 2 minutes. (You don't want the candy to get too hot, it will burn.)
Remove from microwave and stir to liquify
Pour over the almonds, stirring quickly to mix the two items together well
Place some wax paper on a cookie sheet or other flat surface, such as a cutting board.
Pour the mixture on the wax paper to cool.
After cooling, break into small pieces
Enjoy!

Here is a slideshow of the recipe - note the high tech, high dollar equipment being used. Only the best at Crabby's Kitchens!!

I hope you enjoy the recipe and have a Super Day, and God Bless!

Hard Drives Last Forever, Right?

2009-07-01T22:15:00.006-06:00

I used to sell hard drives on eBay. I sold so many that I made PowerSeller status. The only thing is that I sometimes got surprised by the things people expected of me. Case in point: I had a couple of customers that couldn't understand WHY I didn't use their favorite disk testing program to verify my drives. After all, I said that the used drives I sold were tested, and that they passed, so I MUST be using DiskCheckDeluxe (fictitious name) - otherwise, the drives had not been tested - at least to their minds. The thing is that if I had a customer that PREFERRED a particular program or test, I would run it - all they needed to do was ask. If I had the program, I WOULD run it to verify that the drive matched their specs. I have always taken care of my customers, and doing a return or two is a very normal part of the hard drive business.

This leads to the point of this entry. ALL HARD DRIVES WILL EVENTUALLY FAIL, PERIOD. This is a statement of fact. These are made by human beings and the motors will die, or the read/write heads will crash, or the metal on the platter will start to degrade or worse yet, flake off.

That being said, I will let you know what you should be doing with your hard drive:

Do not trust it totally - back up your data regularly.
If you don't like step 1, and lose data that is not backed up, go in the bathroom and chew out the person you see in the mirror.
Do regular maintenance on the drive. A regular repair to the directory structure and a defragmentation AFTER the directory is clean is always in order.
Know where your data is coming from. Make sure you have used "safe hex" and do regular virus scans and spyware scans - the data you may save could be your own.
As a follow-up on item four - make sure you scan all incoming data, be it from the Internet or a floppy (yes, some of us still use these), a CD, or flash drive. Most virus scanners can be set to do this for removable media.
Do not drop your computer, or allow it to be hit by something (or somebody) while the power is on and the hard drive is spinning. This is a great way to cause a head crash. With a head crash you can lose a little, or in the case of a really good scrape, make most of your data unretrievable, even with forensics.
Make sure that the cooling fans in your computer are running well, the blades on the fans are clean, and ventilation is NOT blocked. Fans don't perform well if they can't move the air in, out, and around in the case.
If you do start hearing strange noises from the hard disk, do a quick back-up of your documents and data - I have personally done this - the drive died the very next day.
Consider replacing the hard drive after 3 to 5 years of use. This is especially true if you run your computer constantly, or it is exposed to temperature extremes a lot.
Get an external USB, Firewire, or eSATA drive to backup your data on. These are a very cheap piece of insurance. If not that, backup to CDs or DVDs (seems like I said this before...)
Keep the room that the computer is in as close to 70 degrees as possible. Sixty-eight to Seventy-five degrees is considered excellent.
Don't mess around with the data or power cables on your hard drive unless you KNOW what you are doing. Static discharge or an improperly connected cable can make the hard disk unusable. If you do open the case, discharge the static off your body by touching the metal case BEFORE touching anything inside the case.
Be nice to your computer. It is a device that holds, in many cases, all your important data. It can do this best if you try to follow all of these steps.

Ok, so much for the sermon. I apologize for any offense, but if I did, you weren't doing the right thing for your PC, Mac, Linux box or whatever it is you prefer.

Until my next entry, have a Super Day, and God Bless!

Cleaning up your computer - do you REALLY have to?

2009-06-24T01:08:00.005-06:00

I spent most of today sorting through graphics and video clips. After more than 8 hours of looking through my stuff, I determined I have GOT to come up with a method of cleanup that is more effective than my old, "wait until it gets really, really full," method.

Don't get me wrong, I do regular clean up on my computers. If I didn't, I would never be able to find anything, and the computers would all be inoperable. It is just that most of us wait until the drive is really too full before we act. Hard disks are not limitless in capacity. They will eventually fill up and threaten your well-being. Your nerves get all frazzled once you lose some data or can't save a critical file to the hard drive, but if you have not got a preventive maintenance program in place, bad things will eventually happen. It is just reality.

The average computer user SHOULD back up his or her data at LEAST once a month. A couple of times a month wouldn't hurt, either.

The first thing to backup are important files, such as your documents. These cannot be replaced, and in the case of things like resumés, you will probably need them about ten minutes after they have been lost. I had this one happen to me a number of years ago. I had accidentally deleted my resumé from my computer, and I found an ad in the paper for a job as a technical trainer at a military base. I looked through all my disks that had documents on them, and I COULD NOT find the file anywhere. OOPS!! To make a long story short, I finally found a coffee-stained copy of my resume and I scanned it into my computer and ran OCR on it.

For those who don't know, OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. Basically, the computer scans in a graphic, then makes the best guess what the words are in the document, one letter at a time. Today this works very well, back in 1996, things were very different. After an hour or so of editing, I got the resumé into the computer and printed it out. It did get me the job, but I will NEVER forget the lesson - BACK UP YOUR IMPORTANT DATA.

So, back up your data and you will be a much happier, saner person. I usually back up my data at least every month, and I never let it slip beyond two months. I would like to mention here a very important critical success factor here - make sure you label the disks you put your archive on. Even if it is as simple as, "Data B/U Jan 02, 2008," it IS important to know where you data is.

If you have the cash, you should invest in a USB, Firewire, or eSATA external drive for your backups. I currently do this prior to major upgrades in software or before migrating my stuff to another computer. There are several backup programs that can do this for you at little or no cost. In this case, I back up the entire drive to make an image of it. Images are a cool idea that started on the Mac, and have migrated to the PC in the last twenty years or so. Before that on the PC, you just used Microsoft's Backup to make the archive of your system. An image of a drive contains all the partitions, operating system(s), software and configuration settings on your computer. Images can be used in conjunction with the right software, to bring your computer back to an earlier state.

Hope this gives you a little food for thought.

Until later, have an excellent day and God Bless.

The Learning Curve

2009-06-22T14:00:00.008-06:00

"When you stop learning, you are dead."

I remember hearing this statement in my youth. I didn't put much stock in it until I go MUCH older. It seems in the last several years I have had to learn what seems like a lot more stuff than I had to when I was younger. I believe this has to do with the "information age" we are living in.

Recently, I decided to start publishing on the Internet for a source of income. I didn't think it would be very hard or time-intensive, to learn. Boy, was I wrong. I have discovered that even though I knew a good deal about HTML and about FTP and graphics tools, that this was only the tip of a very large iceberg.

Blogging for profit can be very time intensive - especially if you decide to build and manage the web site yourself. This is what I am now doing. "If you build it, they will come." Yeah, right, this may be true, but you don't get traffic to your blog or your website overnight. Maybe this is true of people that have a few books and ebooks published, but it is not a simple task building an audience. My goal in doing this is to combine two things I love, computers and teaching, to help others out and to try and make a dollar or two to pay for the bills that always seem to be attached to the "low cost startup enterprise."

There are things that I have learned, like the fact that there are a large number of search engines out there - all of which need to be submitted to so your information shows up on the search. I knew about the keywords being in pages, the need for meta data, etc. I just didn't know that the product I was using generated dynamic content to the level where the actual web pages didn't have few, if not any, hyperlinks.

Hyperlinks or links for short, are how we get around the World Wide Web. If you don't have hyperlinks on your page, and all navigation is stored in cascading style sheets and other places, you don't get fully indexed on the search engines. This means more research and more work into finding a workaround for this problem. Fortunately, I found a tool that resolved that problem. The downside is that besides learning about a web authoring tool, I was now learning about the tool that fixed the failing in the authoring tool. What a mess!!

I also learned a very hard lesson yesterday: If you are showing up on the first page of a major search engine, don't submit a new sitemap for your site. I have been waiting for HOURS for my site to be re-indexed so folks can find my site. This could be a problem since I have several videos on YouTube that send folks to the search engine to find me. If you wonder why I just don't give my URL during the video, I'll give you the link here - click on it to go see the site.

http://home.earthlink.net/~crabby/Crabby/Welcome.html

When you have an address that is that long, you DO have a problem! Most folks have trouble with entering www in front of an address, and some have made the mistake of going to a .com website instead of a .gov, .org, .info, or .biz site. Since some folks know this, there are things such as porn sites, spyware sites and the like, that acquire the .com version of certain popular sites. I can just imagine some little old lady stumbling on a porn site when she was looking for information about water sports or viewing the white house's home page. We do live in a world of predators. (Ok, now I will get off my rant on people being sneaky!)

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am learning a lot about the Web and its complexity. I will give you updates later as the story unfolds...

Have an Awesome Day, and God Bless!

An Introduction

2009-06-19T16:22:00.008-06:00

I have been working with computers and computing for over half my life. At about the same time I started this, I began teaching - tutoring at work and teaching a Wednesday night class at my church. I really love teaching and I love working with computers. Anyone who doubts this would find out otherwise if they looked at my collection of computer dinosaurs. I have the following items in my posession:

A Tandy TRS80
A Tandy 2000
A WORKING 286 with Windows 2.5
An assortment of the old Macs (Classic, SE, etc.)
An Apple //e
An Apple //gs
Several old 386 and 486 towers
At least 3 various Pentiums
Pentium 3 laptop (more on this one later)
Other items that are newer, and some I can't think of at the moment

I started working with electrical and electronic devices at the ripe old age of 9. I have always been a tinkerer, so this only came natural to me. I did well with electronics in High School, beating out the 2 year students for the outstanding electronics student award. (I only took 1 year of electronics!) I graduated from High School and began to work at various jobs in areas such as a cook and waiter in a drive in restaurant, delivery driver, road sign installer, potash mine floatation plant operator, and chemical plant operator to name a few.

I worked for people that I knew I was smarter than, but needed an education to improve my situation. So, 10 years after graduating from High School, I became a college student. I was working towards a degree in electronic engineering. After all my work on the inside of the cases, I KNEW what was poor about the design of these products - case design, component accessibility, ease of repair, etc. This was great until I found myself taking computer classes - I loved this stuff! I started taking more computer classes than were required for my degree. I was taking them for fun - in addition to being an easy "A" for me. I ended up changing my major because my roommate asked an interesting question - "You write and debug programs just as well as I do, so why aren't you a CS Major?" I then talked to one of my computer instructors. He said, "If you want to be married to a desk, go with engineering, if you want to work in the field, go with computers." Since the guy had a Master's degree in electronics and computer science, I figured he had to know what he is talking about. I changed majors within a few days after that, and have NEVER regretted it.

Since then, I have worked as a Data Analyst, an Adult Basic Education Instructor, a Teaching Technician, Proof Operator/Computer Repair Person at a bank, Technical Trainer, HelpDesk Support person, and an Instructor and College Professor. I have also been an eBay powerseller, selling hard drives and cell phones that I refurbished, as well as running my own computer repair service.

I also have a great love for cooking and the culinary arts. I worked for my parents in their hamburger stand on and off for over 8 years. Prepping is the big challenge - you haven't lived until you have peeled 50 to 100 pounds of potatoes in a day!

Everything I have tried in the cooking arena I have eventually conquered (or at least got decent at it). I had some really bad items come out of the kitchen, but I ate my mistakes. That was the greatest motivation to get better - nothing is worse than cooking something that turned out bad and having to eat it. Stir fry was a great challenge - being prepared and cooking at high heat - now, there is a recipe for disaster!

So this is a little of who I am and wht this blog will contain. If you like, you can come to my website at http://home.earthlink.net/crabby/Crabby/Welcome.html to look over my other blog. I also post video clips on YouTube under the ID of TheCrabbyMac. I just started the YouTube stuff, so bear with me if the clips aren't really clean yet. I usually work from photos and video from my camera, so doing screen captures and getting good video of the screen is a challenge - I HAVE to write about that some other time.

Have a GREAT day and God Bless!