Dakota Smashed Pea & Barley Soup

Got one of those cool hand blenders? You know,

the kind of gadget that used to be pitched on

those annoying yet compelling late-night infomercials?

It comes in handy for this recipe, which requires the

split peas to be smashed into a smooth consistency,

just like the original. If you don’t have a hand mixer,

a standard blender works just fine. This soup is very

tasty and very low in fat. And the barley gives it a

special chunky consistency and added flavor that isn’t

found in most pea soups.

2 cups split peas

6 cups water

2 14.5-ounce cans chicken broth (4 cups)

1/3 cup minced onion

1 large clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

dash dried thyme

1/2 cup barley

6 cups water

2 medium carrots, diced (about 1 cup)

1/2 stalk celery, diced (1/4 cup)

Garnish

chopped green onion

1. Rinse and drain the split peas, then add them to a large

pot with 6 cups of water, chicken broth, onion, garlic,

lemon juice, salt, sugar, parsley, pepper, and thyme. Bring

to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 75 minutes or until

the peas are soft.

2. While the peas are cooking, combine the barley with 6 cups

of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and

simmer for 75 minutes or until the barley is soft and most of

the water has been absorbed.

3. When the split pea mixture has become a thick soup, use a

handheld blender to puree the peas until the mixture is smooth.

You may also use a standard blender or food processor for this step,

pureeing the soup in batches. Alternately, if you like, you may

skip this step, keeping the soup rather chunky. It’s still good

this way, just not as smooth as the real thing.

4. Drain the barley mixture in a sieve or colander and add it to

the split pea mixture. Add the carrots and celery and continue to

simmer the soup for 15 to 30 minutes or until the carrots are

tender. Stir occasionally. Turn off the heat, cover the soup,

and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Garnish

each serving with a little chopped green onion.

Makes 8 servings.

You can have your eggs and sausage and biscuits

sitting next to each other on the plate like

all the traditional folks out there, or you

can get vertical with this top secret breakfast-in-sandwich

from the world’s number two fast food chain.

And if you prefer a croissant to a biscuit,

I’ve got that version for you, too (along with

the special way to get bigger, circular croissants).

A great way to make the eggs for these breakfast

sandwiches is to pour the beaten egg into a well-greased

mold made from an empty pineapple can. Just cut both

ends off an 8-ounce pineapple can – you know, the short

cans that have crushed or sliced pineapple inside.

Oh, and take the pineapple out. Then, before you know it,

you’ll be making perfectly round eggs like the fast food pros.

Biscuit Sandwich

1 small can (5 biscuits) Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk Biscuits

melted butter

Non-stick cooking spray

5 eggs

salt

ground black pepper

10 ounces ground breakfast sausage (such as Jimmy Dean) or 10

slices of bacon

5 slices American cheese

1. Prepare biscuits following instructions on the can

(bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes). When you remove the

biscuits from the oven brush the top of each with melted butter.

2. Spray a skillet over medium heat with non-stick cooking spray.

Open both ends of a clean, small, sliced pineapple can. Spray the

inside of the empty can with the non-stick spray, and then place

the can in the pan to heat up. Use more than one can if you’d like

to speed up the cooking process.

3. Beat an egg, then pour it into the empty can mold, add a bit

of salt and pepper, and cover with a saucepan lid. Cook for a

couple minutes, then scrape a knife around the edge of the egg

to release it. Remove the can, then turn the egg over and cook

it for another minute or two. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

4. If using sausage, form 2-ounce portions of sausage into patties

with the same diameter as the biscuits. Cook the sausage in another

hot skillet over medium heat until brown. If using bacon, cook the

bacon and drain on paper towels.

5. Slice a biscuit in half through the middle. Build each sandwich

by first stacking egg on the bottom half of the biscuit.

Next arrange sausage (or 2 slices of bacon) on the egg,

then a slice of American cheese. Top off each sandwich with

the top biscuit half, then zap it in the microwave for 15 to 20

seconds to help melt the cheese. Repeat with the remaining

ingredients.

Makes 5 sandwiches.

Croissan’wich

1 8-ounce can Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls

4 eggs

salt

ground black pepper

8 ounces ground breakfast sausage (such as Jimmy Dean) or 8

slices of bacon

4 slices American cheese

1. Prepare the rolls by first unrolling the dough out of the can.

Separate the dough into four sections, each made up of two triangles.

Detach the triangles by tearing along the diagonal perforation,

then reattach the dough along the outside parallel edges,

pinching the dough together along the middle. This will make one

bigger triangle. Loosely roll the dough, from the wide end,

all the way up. Now, bring the ends around so that they overlap

and the roll is in the shape of a circle. Press the ends together

and place the roll onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining

dough, then bake following the directions on the package

(bake at 375 degrees for 11 to13 minutes).

2. When the rolls are done baking build the sandwich using the

above steps 2 through 5 in the recipe for the biscuit sandwich clone.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

This grilled chicken sandwich was introduced by

America’s number-two burger chain in 1990, and

soon after the launch the BK Broiler was selling

at a rate of over a million a day. Not good news

for chickens.

This one’s easy to duplicate at home. To clone

the shape of the chicken served at the burger giant,

you’ll simply slice the chicken breasts in half,

and pound each piece flat with a mallet. Pounding

things is fun. Let the chicken marinate and then

fire up the grill. The recipe makes four sandwiches

and can be easily doubled if necessary for a king-size

munch fest.

Marinade

3/4 cup water

2 teaspoons ketchup

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon oregano

dash onion powder

dash parsley

2 chicken breast fillets

4 sesame seed hamburger buns

1 1/3 cups chopped lettuce

1/4 cup mayonnaise

8 tomato slices

1. Make the marinade by combining the ingredients in a medium

bowl.

2. Prepare the chicken by cutting each breast in half. Fold a

piece of plastic wrap around each piece of chicken and pound

the meat with a tenderizing mallet until it is about 1/4 – inch

thick and about the same diameter as the hamburger buns. Place

the chicken into the marinade, cover it, and chill for at least

four hours. Overnight is even better.

3. Preheat your barbecue or indoor grill to high heat. Grill the

chicken for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until done.

4. Toast the faces of the hamburger buns in a pan or griddle, in

a toaster oven, or facedown on the grill. Watch the buns closely

to be certain that the faces turn only light brown and do not burn.

5. Build each sandwich from the top down by first spreading about

a tablespoon of the mayonnaise on the toasted face of a top bun.

6. Spread about 1/3 cup of chopped lettuce over the mayonnaise.

7. Arrange two tomato slices on the lettuce.

8. Place a chicken breast on the toasted face of the bottom bun.

9. Flip the top part of the sandwich over onto the bottom and scarf

out.

Serves 4.

Tidbits

Liquid smoke is a flavoring found near the barbecue sauces and

marinades. Use hickory-flavored liquid smoke if you have a choice.

The Burger Wars are becoming the biggest food

fight since that cafeteria scene from the movie

“Animal House”. The two burger giants, McDonald’s

and Burger King, have each been cloning the other’s

top products in the bloody battle for the big burger buck.

Burger King stepped up first with the Big King -

Burger King’s version of the McDonald’s Big Mac.

Yes, it had two all beef patties, special sauce,

lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun;

although everything was arranged a bit differently,

and there’s no middle bun in there. Then McDonald’s

rolled out the Big N’ Tasty, which bore a striking

resemblance to Burger King’s Whopper, with fresh lettuce,

tomato, and onion on top of a huge beef patty.

Who’s winning this fight by leveraging the popularity

of the other company’s product? Nobody, really.

McDonald’s chose to alter its Big N’ Tasty recipe

by making it smaller n’ cheaper, then changed the name

to Big Xtra!, while Burger King bailed out on the Big King

altogether. But this food fight is far from over.

More recently Burger King tweaked its french fry formula

in an unsuccessful attempt to steal away fans from McDonald’s

winning fried spuds recipe. And McDonald’s has added more

breakfast sandwiches to compete with Burger King’s wider

wake-up selection. So the war continues. And the battlefield

is splattered with ketchup.

Spread

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons French dressing

2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

dash salt

dash pepper

4 sesame seed hamburger buns

1 1/3 cups chopped lettuce

8 slices American cheese

1 to 2 slices white onion, separated

8 dill pickle slices

1. Prepare the spread by combining the ingredients in a small

bowl. Set this aside until you are ready to use it.

2. Preheat your barbecue or indoor grill to high heat.

3. Divide the ground beef into 8 even portions (3 ounces each).

Roll each portion into a ball, then press each ball flat to

form a patty about the same diameter as the bun.

4. Grill the beef patties for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until

done. Lightly salt and pepper each side of the patties.

5. As the meat cooks, brown the faces of the buns in a hot skillet,

toaster oven, or face down on the grill. Watch the buns closely so

that they do not burn.

6. Build each burger by first spreading a tablespoon of the spread

on the face of the top bun. Arrange about 1/3 cup of lettuce evenly

over the spread.

7. On the bottom bun stack a patty, then a slice of American cheese,

another patty, and another slice of cheese.

8. On the top slice of cheese arrange 2-3 separated onion slices

(rings), then 2 pickle slices.

9. Turn the top part of the burger over onto the bottom and serve.

You may also want to zap the sandwiches in the microwave,

individually, for 15 to 20 seconds each.

Serves 4.

Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce

1/2 C. chopped onions

1 (8 oz.) can tomatoes sauce

1 C. water (OPTION: Beer)

1 1/4 C. ketchup

2 T. brown sugar

2 T. prepared yellow mustard

1 T. olive oil

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

1 dash Tabasco sauce

Combine ingredients, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

I cooked this for 45 minutes to an hour. The sauce reduced

itself and tasted good. If you taste the sauce before simmering,

it will not taste as good as when the flavors have melded,

but after cooking it is great.

Just like the ‘real’ sauce on barbecued pork steaks. For

the original, do not use beer.

In the early 90s Boston Chicken was on a roll.

The home meal replacement chain’s stock was

soaring and the lines were filled with hungry

customers waiting to sink their teeth into a

serving of the chain’s delicious rotisserie chicken.

So successful was the chain with chicken, that the

company quickly decided it was time to introduce other

entr?e selections, the first of which was a delicious

barbecue sauce-covered ground sirloin meatloaf.

But offering the other entr?es presented the company

with a dilemma: what to do about the name. The bigwigs

decided it was time to change the name to Boston Market,

to reflect a wider menu. That meant replacing signs on

hundreds of units and retooling the marketing campaigns.

That name change, plus rapid expansion of the chain

and growth of other similar home-style meal concepts

sent the company into a tailspin. By 1988, Boston Market’s

goose was cooked: the company filed for bankruptcy.

Soon McDonald’s stepped in to purchase the company,

with the idea of closing many of the stores for good,

and slapping Golden Arches on the rest. But that plan

was scrapped when, after selling many of the under-performing

Boston Markets, the chain began to fly once again.

Within a year of the acquisition Boston Market was profitable,

and those meals with the home-cooked taste are still being

served at over 700 Boston Market restaurants across the country.

1 cup tomato sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons Kraft original barbecue sauce

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin (10 percent fat)

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

dash garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine the tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, and sugar in

a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat the mixture until

it begins to bubble, stirring often, then remove it from

the heat.

3. In a large bowl, add all but 2 tablespoons of the tomato

sauce to the meat. Use a large wooden spoon or your hands to

work the sauce into the meat until it is very well combined.

4. Combine the remaining ingredients with the ground

sirloin – flour, salt, onion powder, ground pepper,

and garlic powder. Use the wooden spoon or your hands to work

the spices and flour into the meat.

5. Load the meat into a loaf pan (preferably a meatloaf pan

with two sections that allows the fat to drain, but if you

don’t have one of those a regular loaf pan will work). Wrap

foil over the pan and place it into the oven for 30 minutes.

6. After 30 minutes, take the meatloaf from the oven, remove

the foil and, if you aren’t using a meatloaf pan, drain the fat.

7. Using a knife, slice the meatloaf all the way through into

8 slices while it is still in the pan. This will help to cook

the center of the meatloaf. Pour the remaining 2 tablespoons

of sauce over the top of the meatloaf, in a stream down the center. Don’t spread the sauce.

8. Place the meatloaf back into the oven, uncovered, for 25 – 30

minutes or until it is done. Remove and allow it to cool for a

few minutes before serving.

Serves 4.

Categories: Copycat, Dressings, Vegetables

Yield: 8 side dish

-Patdwigans fwds07a

10 oz Can sliced carrots; undrain

4 oz Can slices mushrooms;undrain

14 oz Can chicken broth

2 Ribs celery; cut 4-5 pieces

1 tb Rubbed sage

12 ts Poultry seasoning

1 tb Chicken bouillon powder

3 tb Bottled liquid margarine or

-melted butter or margarine

3 English muffins; cut into

-1/2″ cubes with crumbs

8 oz Bag unseasoned croutons

1 tb Dry parsley; minced

2 tb Dry minced onion

When you open the can of carrots, run the blade of a

paring knife through them right in the can so that

you’ve reduced them to tiny bits without mashing them.

Empty it then into a Dutch oven. Add the mushrooms;

set aside. Empty the cam of broth into the blender and

add the celery along with the sage, poultry seasoning,

bouillon powder and margarine. Blend a few seconds on

high speed, only until celery is finely minced.

Meanwhile, add the English muffin cubes, (crumbs too),

croutons, parsley and onion to the Dutch oven. Pour

blender mixture over and stir to combine with rubber

bowl scraper until completely moist. Cover with a lid

and bake at 350~ about 45 minutes to an hour or until

piping hot. Refrigerate leftovers to use within a

week. Freeze to use within 4 months.

Categories: Copycat, Vegetables

Yield: 6 servings

-patdwigans_om@juno.com

2 Butternut squash; halve

-long, remove seeds

Margarine or butter

Salt

1/2 c Brown sugar; packed

1/2 c Honey

1/2 ts Ground ginger

1 ts Pumpkin pie spices

4 tb Butter or margarine; melted

Preheat oven to 400 . Place squash cut-side down on

Pam-sprayed shallow baking pan. Bake uncovered about

45 minutes or until fork tender. Wipe cut surface with

a little butter and sprinkle with salt. Return to bake

cut-side up about 10 minutes longer or until browned

and soft. Scrape out the meat into a mixing bowl. Add

sugar, honey, ginger, pumpie pie spice and butter.

Beat with electric mixer at med speed until smooth.

Return to oven, ocvered in foil, just to keep warm

until time to serve, 325 for 30 minutes. Refrigerate

leftovers for about a week or freeze up to 4 months.

Categories: Rice, Copycat, Wrv

Yield: 6 servings

-patdwigans fwds07a

1/4 c Raw Rice-shaped pasta

3/4 c Minute rice

1 tb Pimiento; chop fine

1/2 ts Dry minced celery leaf

1 ts Dry minced parsley

1/4 ts Dry mustard

14 oz Can chicken broth

1/4 c Olive oil

1/2 ts Salt

In a 2-qt saucepan combine all ingredients. Stir often

and bring to a bol. Cover and remove from heat. Let

stand 15 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork occasionally.

Salt and pepper to taste if desired. Keep warm in top

of double boiler, over simmering water, to serve

within an hour. Refrigerate leftovers covered. Rewarm

Gently i 3 to 4 days. Do not freeze.

Categories: Copycat, Desserts, Cookies

Yield: 1 servings

-pat dwigans fwds07a

4 oz Nestle’s Milk Chocolate bars

4 oz Baker’s german sweet choc

4 oz Dove milk chocolate

Cookie dough

use your our recipe

Melt 3 chocolates, stirring until smooth. Pur into

greased 9″ metal pie pan and refrigerate until hard.

Hammer into pea-sized bits. Store refrigerated until

ready to use. Use 1/3 c dookie dough, flattening to a

3-1/2 to 4″ round. Bake at 375 for 16 to 18 minutes

or until golden brown but not overbaked or cookies

will be hard as rocks when cooled. The cookies will

look almost “RAW” at the end of 16 minutes if you make

them big enough and will continue to bake in their own

heat as they cool on the sheets a few minutes.