Cowboy Beans

By revered Wyoming chef, outdoorsman, historian, writer and all-around good guy
Neil Waring

A recipe that tastes great and even a guy can make um!
A quick search of the internet will give you many ways to prepare cowboy beans, but they all have one thing in common – they have too many ingredients and they take too long to prepare. Wait a minute that was two things. Note how I cleverly used all forms of the word 2 in the above couple (means 2) of sentences?
You can make them in a crock pot but Cowboy Beans are made to be cooked over a camp fire in a big ol’ iron skillet. OK you caught me I make them in a crock pot most of the time myself. Inside winter blues got you down and you need um quick? Use the biggest frying pan in the bottom of the cabinet turn the burner on high, super high if the old range will do it (remember when we called the stove in the kitchen the range? Must be why cooking outside is sometimes called, home on the range cooking, but I digress.

First the list – Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef – I still call it hamburger (I like 90 or 93 %) If you actually shot something at hunting camp last year, any wild game meat will do. Note do not use the tree, soup can or rock you shot. If you use the game meat dice it up small as you can cut it without hurting yourself.
• Chopped onion – cut one up about the size of a tennis ball
• 1 large tablespoon of ketchup – or just squeeze in a gob
• Shot of barbecue sauce
• Shot of mustard – the yellow kind nothing fancy here
• 1/3 c. granulated sugar or brown sugar
• Shake in some pepper – more if you like it a lot
• Quarter teaspoon of ground sage
• 1 tbsp. chili powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt – or none at all - easy on the old ticker
• 2 cans red beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 can Navy beans
• 1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled – or buy the crumbles, much faster.
• Fry up the meat, after it gets a good start toss in the onion – if it starts to dry stir in some of the liquid from the beans. Mix in everything once the meat is cooked. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Take the entire mixture and bake in the oven or turn to low and simmer. After 30 minutes or half an hour, whichever comes first, move off the heat, cover and let set for an hour. No peaking.
• Final dish should be a casserole type dish, not a soup. The ladies at the church will love it till they found out who made it. Just Kidding! :)

• *Serve with coke-a- cola, chips and carrot sticks.

• *In hunting camp serve with warm beer, chips and Oreos.

Back again

Almost completed our move to the country--then I will be back.

Hey Been Cookin on the Grill

More stuff to come--love this time of year, cooking outside. Today we had mesquite/onion smoked Pork chops. Easy to make and I will show you how as soon as I get back from vacation. I know, I know, how could I be going on vacation when I have not posted for 6 months, well I am not sure -- see you all soon. And you can take that to the grill.

Hamburger Stroganoff

-Here is what you will need-

*1 lb. ground beef (we say hamburger at our house) - brown in skillet, don’t chop it up too tiny
*1/2 c. chopped onion ( chunks about a half inch square)
*1/4 tsp. paprika (nice color and flavor)
*1 c. sour cream (this makes it stroganoff)
*1 c. cream of celery soup – ( most use mushroom soup, but I hate mushrooms, if you like um, us it) Do not measure – dump in a can
*3 Table spoons bacon bits or three or four slices of bacon
* Pinch of salt (no more than ¼ teaspoon)
*Dash of pepper (to taste)
I love recipes that say a pinch of this and a dash of that— this will give you a chance to make it your own)

-Here is how you fix it-

-One cup -Old fashioned noodles (cook just until they are soft, drain and melt in a quarter stick of butter (not margarine) set aside and save

-Brown hamburger, add bacon bits the last few minutes
-Add onion and cook until soft
-Add seasonings –you a few pinches or dashes of this or that, I add a little sage, and some thyme
-Stir in soup
-Cook slowly, uncovered for about 20 minutes (I usually crank it up on high and cook about 8 or 9 minutes, civilized cooks use twenty minutes and simmer) simmer is another good cooking term-not sure what it means but do remember people telling me to simmer down when I was a kid.
-Stir in sour cream – right at the end of the simmer
-Heat and serve over the hot buttered noodles from above

This stuff is good – we serve with diet cola or ice tea and corn bread, raw vegetable tray on the side

Looking At Other Cooking Blogs

Been traveling through a bunch of cooking blogs the past few days, know what I found—a lot of stuff I would never eat. Who really cooks like this at home?

I want good food that does not take much time. Oh- and not from a box or package from the freezer section. Over the years my wife and I have found some swell stuff we can put together in only a few minutes. I don’t actually use the word swell but thought it sounded funny. Back to the subject-quick good food in a reasonable time-

My next three blogs—maybe four, will cover my favorites.

Can’t hardly wait, can you?

Happy eating

The Best Ice Cream EVER

By Neil Waring
Revered Wyoming Chef, outdoor cooking expert, admired woodsmen and honored citizen.

We have a small, inexpensive ice cream maker, not sure where or when we got it, but more than likely I bought it somewhere along the line because it was setting in a store display to catch shoppers like me. But it really works. My wife is convalescing after major surgery and today wanted Ice cream, not from the store, but my good old home-made. And you know what? It tastes great, every time.

-Ingredients (2 Quart tabletop maker)-Ours is a Rival but there are many great little makers today.

1cup milk (1%, 2% or whole, doesn’t matter, who can tell the difference anyway)?

3/4 cups sugar (most reciepes call for a cup or more—but trust me, this is enough and tastes best)

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 cups half and half (I use cream if I have it for ½ of this)

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract (I use the fake stuff—cheaper)
And that’s it-add flavors through the hole in the top a few minutes after starting, Today’s flavor at our house was strawberry. The frozen berries are great for this.

Hint for us guys who hate doing dishes—I dump the ingredients straight into the maker and let-er-rip, no need to use a bowl or your very fine Waring blender to mix before stating. Saves time too, and the wife will say, “how do you do that so fast?”
You will smile that wry, cowboy smile and say, “I am the world’s greatest Ice Cream maker.”

-Joke to follow-

Old guy walks up to an Ice Cream booth at the local fair, "What kinds of ice cream do you have?”

"Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry," the young girl behind the counter wheezed as she spoke, patted her chest and seemed unable to continue.

"Do you have laryngitis?" the guy asked sympathetically.
"Nope," she whispered, "just vanilla, chocolate and strawberry

Today - Eat Like A Kid

My lunch today

Peanut Butter and Jelly on wheat toast & Chicken Noodle Soup

-Here is what you need-

Jelly – (my homemade chokecherry—and it is some fine tasting stuff)
Peanut butter - (I like the super junk)
Bread-2 slices (I buy the cheap stuff, my wife finds better, doesn’t matter, toasted and covered, cheap seems good to me)
One can chicken noodle soup (I like Campbell’s, because it is really salty tasting – not sure that is a great endorsement)
Anyway—toast 2 slices of bread –and then the tricky part, peanut butter on one, and jelly on the other. Smush um together. (My spell checker did not like that last sentence-a-ur-fragment)
Now the soup—the secrete- opps- secret, use only half a can of water—yes really! (One exclamation per recipe, no more)
Turn the stove as high as she will go and make the soup boil as fast as you can.
Add crackers to soup (I really like the little round ones made from oysters)

-Eat like a kid and enjoy-