Banana Pudding Elvis Style

Peanut Butter Banana Pudding

INGREDIENTS:
Mini Nilla Wafers
5-6+ Large Bananas (Sliced just under 1/4" thick)
Mini Toll House Morsels (don't need much just about 4 tsp)
Peanut Butter Morsels (about 1/4+ of the bag)
3(+) Large Packs of "Jell-O" cook & serve Vanilla pudding mix
Readi/Cool Whip (or eggs and sugar for a meringue

DIRECTIONS:
Cook your Pudding according to the box directions (really make sure this is over medium heat it will burn).
Start arranging your Nilla wafers in the bottom of a 4.5 qt dish (I used glass, it looks better). Then a layer of banana, but make sure not to make this layer too tight, you want to be able to pour pudding into the crevices. sprinkle some peanut butter chips in there and about 1/2 a tblsp of chocolate chips across the layer and pour 2 cups over it. Next layer 2 layers can be done in any order but make sure everything is kinda loose. The final layer you can do in a pretty layer since you are going to have to look at it sitting in your fridge for the next two and a half hours while it chills before you put the whipped cream on. If you like you can make a meringue and then you will need to bake it until the meringue is golden brown then put it in the fridge to cool for at least two and a half hours.

-TIPS-

•   Shake it vigorously after pouring on the pudding layers to fill the little crevices. 
• Use as much or as little chocolate & peanut butter chips as you like. This is a "to taste" thing.
• Make sure to cook your pudding over MEDIUM heat, it will burn and then you have to have a sieve to clean it up.

"Kickass Garlic Bread" from Kimberly Tallant

Kickass Garlic Bread
This one comes from a friend. When she says it is good, it deserves this name!!

INGREDIENTS:



1 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, or (you can use Farina Tipo 00, Oat flour, or Wheat flour)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon of Sesame Seeds (optional for the top)
1 Heaping Tablespoon of minced garlic (fresh or from a jar)


DIRECTIONS:



Note: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

1. In a bowl add 1 cup of warm water and dry active yeast and let it stand until creamy (about 5 minutes). In another bowl add flour, salt, garlic, and sugar. After 5 minutes take the yeast and give it a mix then add it to the flour mixture mixing it in with a fork until sticky. Sprinkle with a bit more flour and work it with your hands to make a ball.

2. Take the ball of dough and gently mold it into a smooth ball but firm but with an elastic fill.

3. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise. This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. It all depends on the temperature in the house and the humidity. In Houston, Texas this takes about 45 minutes.

4. Once it rises take a little more flour and pat it down and roll it into a ball again.

5. {OPTIONAL} Put the dough back into the bowl and let it rise 1 more time. When you let the bread rise twice it really makes for a better bread but if you are short on time then don’t worry about it.

6. After you are done with all the rising you will take the dough and put it on the parchment paper that is on a baking tray. The dough should be elongated and oval-shaped, with tapered and rounded (not pointed) ends.

7. Take about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and coat the dough with it. This will make it nice and crunchy on the outside.

8. After you rub it down with olive oil you can sprinkle a bit of sea salt or sesame seeds on top.

9. Next slash the top of the dough with a sharp knife at a 45 degree angle.

10. Bake 30 minutes, until you hear a hollow sound when you tap the bottom.

Allow the bread to cool slightly before serving, and enjoy!


-TIPS-
None yet. Check the comment section

Bacon Wrapped Eggs

 I have a variation to this I will get around to posting that is simply delicious, freezes well, and EVERYONE loves!! 

INGREDIENTS:
Eggs
Thick Sliced Bacon
Salt and Pepper
Muffin Pan
Non-Stick Cooking Spray

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 325-375. Scramble your eggs (or crack the whole into a bowl) and mix in some salt and pepper. Roll strips of bacon around your fingers to form a loop roughly the same size as the muffin holes in your pan and slide them down the sides to the bottom. Spray the bottom of each "bowl" with your Non-Stick Cooking Spray and ladle in your scrambled eggs (or drop the whole cracked eggs in 1 per "bowl"). Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or 375 for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a paper towel or wire rack for 3-5 minutes and serve.

-TIPS-

• You really need the thick sliced bacon here. Thin will not create a wall that is needed to stay standing while cooking.
• Oven temp and cooking time is not really that big of a deal. Just cook until each egg has a VERY SLIGHT brown color on top or use your best judgement as to when you feel the eggs are done enough for you.
• Pre-cook the bacon slightly in the oven if you are wanting to have some "over medium" eggs, or some bacon that is slightly crispy.
• If you are planning on doing the over medium/light eggs in this, crack them all into a bowl and pour them out one by one slowly and gently into each slot. This will remove the outer fluid that is around the egg white that causes some serious sticking to occur even if you spray your pan well.
• My last tip is not very "conservative" and can be wasteful (unless you have bottomless pit children or a dog willing to have some scraps). Make and butter some toast to put in the muffin pan under, above, or on both sides of your eggs (Although I suggest just the bottom, these eggs do puff up some and will raise the top too much to look like a sandwich). Use a small child's cup to cut out circles in the toast to get the right size and place it in after you slide in your bacon so you get a nicely formed bottom.

Sorry for the delay

Well sorry for the long hiatus I have taken from here but life in general (just like in a kitchen) is always crazy. I have been meaning to get back here and do some posts just to get my head on again, but things happen.

I have been working with my soon-to-be sister in law on a rather large project that has me very excited and nervous at the same time. We want to expand kirbeeskitchen.com into your home and at your parties. This will take us away from the "dinner" theme I have started to build here and take us along a new path of desserts and baked sweets and will hopefully entertain you and your guests no matter what the occasion.

I say this is large, but really it is large for us. We hope to be ready for this upcoming challenge of making confectionery delights and keepsakes for you that have made us and our families smile and come together. I have always wanted to make sure that food in general was something enjoyed by the ones closest to you, and this will be no different.

Well I have been rambling on now for far too long, and have more than likely lost your attention with all this talk and no food. So back to the food. be ready for a new blog post in minutes. Sorry Lisa I stole this next blog post from you.

French Toast

So what do you do when your apartment complex has a red beans and rice night at the office and they give you 3 loaves of sliced bread that nobody touched when it is all over? French Toast for the freezer of course!


INGREDIENTS


Cooking spray (Optional)
2 Loaves sliced bread
8-10 Large eggs (divided)
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon (divided)
1 tsp Vanilla extract  (divided)
1 tsp Almond extract (divided)
1 cup Cold milk (divided)
Soft butter or margarine (as much as it takes) (divided)


I have a 10" non stick skillet I use for cooking most everything in so it will only fit so much. So I "Just whack it in half!! Just whack it!" for cooking in batches.


DIRECTIONS

Slice and butter all the bread. Set it aside for now and pull out your blender. Add half of everything into the blender and mix at a medium speed. Let it go for a bit and get nice a frothy. Empty it into a dish and start dipping your bread in. Cook on a med/high heat for about a minute or less per side. When the egg mixture starts to get flat, add it back to the blender and froth it up some more, and repeat. keep doing this until all your bread is done.


-TIPS-


-Prep your bread the night before and let it sit out with a towel over it so it gets a little stiff, this will help the butter absorb better and helps when you're drenching it in egg to not tear apart in your hands.

-If you don't want to take the time to butter each piece of bread front and back you can just add the butter to the egg before you blend it all together and that should give you the same results.

-Half and Half, whipping cream, cream cheese (light and small amounts), yogurt, or instant pudding mix is also good to put in instead of milk... will give you lots of depth.

-If you trust your non stick skillet well enough, you don't NEED the cooking spray.

-Vegetarian diets and others like it can sub out so much in this. Bake your own bread, use "Silk" instead of milk, almond, and vanilla. Egg substitute rather than eggs. and a non stick pan to cook in.

-Use a couple paper towels to wipe out the pan every few sets in the pan. You are going to get parts of egg that don't come out and are going to burn, you don't want the next set to pick them up and mess with your flavor.

Blackened Cauliflower Steaks

This one comes from "Men's Health" Magazine. I got the recipe from an article called "A Meat Lover's Guide To Vegetables". It was so good even the kids asked for seconds and even thirds. I have shared it with several people and they all agree it is great!! Just gonna copy and paste the recipe, be sure to check the tips area for any subs I made.


BLACKENED CAULIFLOWER STEAKS WITH WORCESTERSHIRE AIOLI




INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 large head cauliflower
1/2 Tbsp canola oil, plus more for searing
1 Tbsp blackening seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. To make the aioli, combine the mayo, garlic, lemon juice, and Worcestershire; set aside.
2. Cut away the green leaves from the cauliflower, but leave the stem intact (it will hold the "steaks" together). Cut an inch off opposite sides of the head. Cut four 1/2-inch "steaks" through the stem, brush them with oil, and then sprinkle both sides with the blackening seasoning.
3. Working in batches, heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet or stainless-steel pan over high heat until it just starts to smoke. Add the "steaks" and sear until blackened on one side, about 1 minute. Flip the cauliflower and place the pan in the oven. Roast until blackened on both sides and just tender in the center, about 10 minutes. Serve the slabs drizzled with aioli.
Makes 4 servings

-TIPS-
-Really look over your cauliflower when you are buying it. You want a really tight head, with little to no give. If the head is loose they wont slice well.

-If it starts to fall apart on you, just continue on and cook them as you had planed. Give those to the kids that don't know how to cut up their food already.

-We didn't drizzle the aioli on we used more like a dipping sauce. Helped with the whole "steak" feeling.

-On some of them we sprinkled on a little cumin, lots of flavor!!

Deep Fried Pork Chops

Tonight we will have a new favorite around here. Fried pork chops. Normally I get flak about this (because of the deep frying) but the last time I made them I got MASSIVELY good reviews from everyone here. So a second coming was inevitable.

See the pictures for how things should look (The first one is frozen, I forgot to take a pic of the one I cooked that was thawed.).

INGREDIENTS:

Deep fryer
Pork chops
Oil
Seasoned salt and pepper
All purpose flour (2-2.5 cups)
Eggs (2 or 3 large should be fine)
Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

This will actually start a few days in advance, as long as you give it time to freeze and thaw. When you buy your meat and you separate it into meals for freezing, season the pork somewhat liberally. Then arrange it into your bag in a single layer and vacuum seal it up using the moist setting on your vacuum sealer. Toss in the freezer and it will be ready whenever you need it.

Thaw your pork chops overnight in your fridge and about an hour before cooking pull them out and put them on the counter to come to room temp.

Turn your fryer on to 350-365 setting and let it get hot. While it is heating up put about 2.5 cups of flour in a smooth sided bowl and grab a whisk. Season the flour to taste with the season salt and pepper and whisk it all together not just until it is mixed, but until the flour mixture is also light and fluffy. Crack your eggs into a bowl and whisk until combined, but not until frothy.

Now (carefully, this mixture is going to send a plume of flour all over your kitchen if you drop it in with too much gusto) dredge your pork chops 1 or 2 at a time (depending on how big your fryer is) and then bathe in the egg, quickly whisk the flour a couple times to get it fluffy again and go back into the flour. Remove and go right into the hot oil. Cooking time will vary depending the chops (boneless, thickness, ect...), I just watch them and when they float I wait about a minute or so and pull them. Set on a paper towel covered plate to drain in  a single layer.









-TIPS-

-Make sure you whisk (fluff) the flour mixture every time you go to put a chop in.

- Don't wait longer than 5 to 10 minutes after pulling the last chop to serve, Letting a meat rest is essential to cooking, letting it get cold is not.

-The kind of oil might matter, Canola is "better" for you than vegetable but the cook is different. Canola takes longer to heat, is harder to keep at temp, and just does not taste the same. So I stopped using it. Use it if you want, but my mother used vegetable, her mother used vegetable and her mother before her (she actually might have used lard *even I can't bring myself to this*)... So umm who are we to mess with tradition?

-Dipping sauce for this is apple sauce (don't call me a yankee for this one, it is actually good). However you can use your favorite condiment. I think the apple sauce will help to create a false sense of healthy here, and allow you to justify eating the deep fried food.

-I broke our fryer a couple weeks ago so I am going to try this in a pan tonight. Will edit later to let y'all know how it turns out.