Build Your Own Barbecue Sauce

15 Minutes and you’ve got a customized sauce that can’t be beat. 

Everyone appears to be getting ready for Memorial Day. In case you've forgotten (like we always seem to), it's the end of this month. And now that anyone over the age of 16 can get vaccinated, you might even be able to set up a backyard get-together with some of the people you've only been able to see on Zoom or at a distance all year.

Good news! Even if you have forgotten the holiday, and you've been putting zero forethought into a party, we're here to help you make it look like you're totally on the ball with this one. You're ready for this party and you didn't even know it. Go you.

We're about to throw a fistful of things in a pan and make something awesome: homemade BBQ sauce. It's not like all that store-bought stuff that's too sweet and full of things you can't pronounce. This one will be a new "family secret" recipe that's the envy of the neighborhood block party a couple years from now.

And here's the kicker. It'll only take about 15 minutes of your time.

You're going to need less than a dozen ingredients - unless you change it to your own taste - and chances are they're all already in your kitchen or pantry.

 Ingredients:

30 ounces of tomato sauce

3 Tablespoons honey (or maple syrup, agave, corn syrup - whatever you have handy or like best; we had fantastic results with raspberry syrup)

2 Tablespoons molasses

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 Tablespoon hot sauce (again, choose what you like best - we like Tabasco or Sriracha)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Tools:

Measuring cups and spoons, saucepan with a lid, whisk, storage container or bottle, can opener (if using canned sauce)

Open up your tomato sauce and pour it into the saucepan. (How often do we really use a specific pot for its intended purpose? This is notable!) Light the burner and bring it up to medium-high. You might want to cover it if it's heating quickly, as tomato sauce likes to make a splatter-y mess.

Measure in your other liquid ingredients: the Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, the honey/syrup, molasses and any hot sauce you might want to use. It helps to do the stickiest one last and to spray the measuring cup with non-stick spray before you start measuring. Alternatively, you can just scrape the measuring cup clean with a regular spoon and throw them both into hot water as soon as you're done. Whichever way you like, just make sure not to let the molasses and honey or syrup dry in place. It's awfully irritating to try cleaning them once they've become a congealed lump, and they like to stick to the sponge or brush as they come off the cup.

Once all your liquid (semi-liquid? Molasses can be tricky) ingredients are in the pan, give everything a good stir with that whisk you only use once in a while. Put the lid back on the pan if you chose to use one.

We know the dry ingredients don't sound like you're using enough of them. Trust us, you are. The flavors will meld together as the sauce heats. And you can always add more of an individual spice later if you really feel you need to - but remember, the only way to lessen the amount of a spice in a sauce is to make more sauce! So unless you really need half a gallon of BBQ sauce (maybe you do, we're not sure here - you could be planning a really BIG outdoor party), just start small.

Scoop up your little teaspoons and half teaspoons and tablespoons of spices and add them to the pan. If you're a big fan of making things blend easier, you could even sift them into the pan rather than lump them in - but we feel like the heat, the moisture and the whisk will take care of any clumps for you over the next few minutes. The only thing that routinely gives us trouble is the mustard.

After everything is in the pan, give it a good stir with the whisk. Put the lid back on (unless you're not using one - daredevil) and lower the heat down to medium-low. Allow everything to simmer together for about eight minutes. To prevent scorching, stir it often, and make sure to scrape the sides.

At the eight minute mark, turn off the heat and remove the lid. Give it a few minutes to cool before you attempt taste testing or moving it to any kind of plastic container. Unfortunately, your sauce will probably not be the envy of the neighborhood if it's full of melty plastic bits.

Should your sauce not be spicy enough, add some more hot sauce - or if you're super adventurous, puree a hot pepper or two and stir that in. If it's lacking a zesty, tangy note, add a little orange extract or a squirt of lemon juice. If you'd rather it be sweeter, add a bit more of your honey/syrup or stir in some superfine sugar.

Make sure you keep a note of whatever you did to make the recipe your own! And enjoy your holiday.

And that’s that! Let us know if you opt to make this in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear about the different spices you add to make it your own. 

So long as your grill is fine, you’re good to go after this point, but what if it’s your stove that’s on the fritz? If that’s the case, you can give us a call  at ((214) 599-0055) or head over to our website. Wherever you live in Carrollton and the surrounding areas, we’ve got you covered. Appliance Rescue Service is here to help and here to keep your home, and your home appliances, running smoothly. 

Set It and Forget It Rice Dinner

Stuffed Full Of Flavors And Textures

Time for a set it and forget it dinner! We've done a bunch of "easy" dinners in a row, but the common denominator with all of them is that they require you to be present and, well, actively cooking them. This one breaks that mold. All you do with this one is dump it into the slow cooker (or instant pot, if you'd rather), give it a stir, and allow it to cook. The end. It's that simple. As long as you plug the thing in and turn it on, you'll come home to dinner. And if you use one of those fancy crock pot liners, you won't even have a pot to wash!

Ingredients:

2 links smoked turkey sausage (we like Oscar Meyer brand)

1 tablespoon butter (salted or unsalted; your choice - can substitute margarine)

2 cups brown rice

4 1/4 cups water

1 can kidney beans, drained

1/2 yellow onion

1 celery stalk

1 bag frozen peas and carrots

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder (please do not substitute seeds)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon fennel (optional; very strong stuff, and occasionally difficult to find)

salt and pepper, to taste

Tools:

Crock pot, crock pot liner (optional), knife, cutting board, colander (fine mesh), measuring cups and spoons.

Start by chopping your onion, celery and turkey sausage. Don't worry yourself too much about the idea of mixing meats and veggies at this step - the turkey sausage is precooked, so you have no cross contamination worries here.

We like to have big chunks of onion for this recipe, tiny crescents of celery and thin rounds of sausage. The variation in shape, size and texture helps make up for the fact the rest of this meal will be, for the most part, quite soft.

If you choose to use a crock pot liner, now is a good time to place it. Be sure to follow the package directions so it doesn't melt in and ruin your dinner! We love the liners because of the time savings on cleaning, but we will acknowledge it's an extra, technically unnecessary expense.

Drain your kidney beans through the colander and rinse them thoroughly. We don't want that canned taste transferring to the rest of the food (but we're using canned anyway, because we also don't want the time and effort of cooking from dry).

Once the beans are drained, pour them into the crock pot. You may need to readjust the liner a little after this step, assuming you've used one.

Measure out your rice and give it a quick rinse in the colander you just emptied. Just like veggies, make sure you wash off your rice! People often seem to skip this step, but any produce not marked "washed and ready to eat" technically deserves this extra attention. You may need to use a spoon (or your fingers, no judgement as long as they're clean) to get the rice back out of the colander and into the crock pot - expect this step to take a moment or two.

Now that you have your rice and beans in the pot, start adding your vegetables and the turkey sausage. It doesn't really matter what order you do them in, since we're going to give this all a good stir soon - but we prefer to get the frozen peas and carrots into the pot first because they're more likely to bounce. Somehow, peas in particular always seem bouncier when they're cold.

After all of the meats and veggies have joined the starch party already in the bottom of the crock pot, measure out your water and add it in. Make sure you don't rush here and measure inaccurately. Too little water means crunchy rice, and too much water will lead to a porridge-like substance that only smells like food.

Now it's time for you to add the spices. If you come across anything in the list of spices you don't like, feel free to substitute. This recipe is flexible and very forgiving. Assuming you use the suggested spices, toss them in the pot and give everything a good stir. Make sure the chunks of dry mustard, in particular, have dissolved (too much mustard in a bite can really put you off the rest of the meal). Now add in that chunk of butter, cover everything over, and set the crock pot on low for about eight hours.

After your workday is over, you'll come home to a hot meal with minimal effort. And even if you didn't use a crock pot liner, you'll have next to no dishes! 

Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook if you decide to give this a try! We’d love to hear how it goes and anything you add to it. 

If on the other hand your stove is giving you trouble and that’s the reason you need a set it and forget it meal, we can still help. Give us a call at ((214) 599-0055)  or visit our appointment page.

Seared Ravioli With Italian Chicken

Comfort Food That Works On The Run

Welcome back to that lovely time every year where the weather has no better idea what it's doing than we do! Even the professionals appear to be clueless. Centuries of weather research and technology, and still the best we can do is educated guesses.

This week, let's do a recipe that can be a comfort food on chilly, rainy, dreary days... But that doubles as something easily portable in the event the weather is actually pleasant and the games or outdoor plans are good to go. (We've all had those nights, haven't we? The ones where we're sure beyond sure that the soccer games would be cancelled, only to hear from the coach two hours beforehand that the field is dry enough for the kids to play? That's just our house?)

Let's make some seared ravioli with Italian chicken!

Ingredients:

1 25 ounce package frozen cheese ravioli (or 48 ounce, depending on how much your family eats per meal)

1 pound thin chicken cutlets or tenderloins (again, adjust to how much your family eats)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 10 ounce bottle Italian salad dressing

1 8 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 of a small yellow onion

1 zucchini

2 cups fresh spinach

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

salt and pepper, to taste

Tools:

Knife, cutting board, dutch oven or deep pot with lid, colander, mixing bowl, measuring cups and spoons

Fill your pot up with water, plop the lid on it and turn up the heat - we'll have to boil your ravioli for a few minutes to start off. But we can make use of the time we'll spend waiting for it to boil. Whatever you do, don't check on it too frequently. Surely you know a watched pot won't boil (okay, it will, but why bother staring at it? It's boring).

While we're waiting for the water to come up to a boil - and totally not looking at it, right? - take the half an onion and your zucchini and dice them up. Smaller chunks for pickier eaters, just like the last few veggie recipes (or if you really want to hide them, shred them with a grater). Open and drain your can of tomatoes. Put your tomato and zucchini together into the mixing bowl and set them aside for later. If you've grated the onion, you can add that here, too - but if it's diced, you'll want to sauté it. We'll address that in a later step.

By now the water should be boiling. Drop in your frozen ravioli - being mindful of the splashes, of course - and set the timer for about two minutes shy of however long the package says they'll take. For example, if the package says five minutes, it's wiser to go with three minutes for the purposes of this recipe. You can always cook them a little longer if necessary, but you can't un-boil them if you overdo it.

Once your ravioli are par-cooked, drain them into the colander and put the pot back on the burner. Add that olive oil to the pan and once it's back up to medium heat, put in your chicken. Sear the chicken for about five minutes each side. We find it helpful to put the lid on while the chicken is cooking, since it usually means fewer oil spatters to clean up later.

After you've cooked your chicken (if you're not sure, check it with a meat thermometer!), drop your diced onion into the pot and sauté it until it's translucent. (This adding-onions step only applies if you did, in fact, dice your onion instead of grating. If you grated it, skip to the next step. No, that's not an excuse to skip checking if your chicken is done.) 

Make sure you still have some oil left in the pan. If not, add a little more, because we're about to add pasta. Ravioli sticking to the pan at this stage will lead to ravioli pieces after the next step, so this ‘checking for oil’ thing is highly important for presentation value. Take your ravioli from the colander and add them to the pan in a single layer. Keep the heat on medium and sear the outsides of them. Flip once you can both smell and hear them getting a good sizzle on. You might need to remove them to make room for another wave - if you do remove some, put them in a covered dish to keep them warm, and allot a little extra time when you mix everything together just to make sure they're as warm as the rest of the meal.

When your ravioli are nice and toasty, go ahead and pour in your vegetable mix from a few steps ago. This is a good time to add your seasonings (the garlic powder, parsley, oregano, marjoram, salt and pepper) too, and to add back any ravioli you may have had to set aside. Add in your spinach, and give it a good stir - we want to wilt the spinach, but we don’t want it to disintegrate. Cover the pot again and let everything simmer for about three or four minutes.

Now comes the fun part. Taste test! Everyone reacts differently to seasonings, and everyone's preferences are individual. That's why we saved that Italian dressing until the very end. The dressing is a very punchy taste, and it can quickly take over a dish if you aren't careful. So add however much or little you prefer to your portion, and allow the rest of your family to do the same. That should prevent the worst of the "I don't like it" faces from the kids and veggie haters.

So, what’s your opinion on this one? Does it sound tasty enough for a weeknight attempt? Or are you still a little unsure? Let us know in the comments below or over on  our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you. 

And if maybe your appliances are making you make some faces, give us a call. We can't fix it if your face gets stuck like that (thanks, Mom) - but we can do something about the machines. You can get hold of us at our website, or by calling us at ((214) 599-0055).

Stuffed Peppers To Please Your Picky Eaters

How many veggies can you hide in plain sight?

We're sure that somewhere along the line, someone has probably lied and told you that carbohydrates aren't good for you. This is a terrible falsehood and should be thoroughly debunked, but we're not on board with turning this blog into a soapbox (at least, not right now). Carbs are necessary for normal metabolic function - but those common, refined carbs are really not the best source, especially if you have certain other health concerns. Here's a relatively simple recipe to get you three servings of veggies, one of them disguised as a processed carbohydrate!

Assuming you haven't already met, allow us to introduce you to a relatively new addition to your grocer's freezer section: riced cauliflower. If you're not familiar with it, it's simply tiny little chunks of cauliflower, snipped into the rough shape of grains of rice. It cooks up about the same as rice, but it's only about 2 grams of net carb in a cup, versus the 40+ grams found in regular white rice.

Stuff some of this in a hollowed out pepper, with some onion and tomato, and there's three of your recommended five servings of veggies for the day! Look at you, being all responsible and stuff.

Ingredients:

2 12 ounce bags frozen riced cauliflower

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or whatever cooking oil you have handy)

2 Roma tomatoes

1 yellow onion

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

4 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

4 medium bell peppers

4 slices provolone cheese

Tools:

Measuring spoons, knife, cutting board, slotted spoon, baking dish, aluminum foil, large frying pan or sauce pan with lid

First, cut the tops off your peppers, discard the tops and the seeds, and set the peppers aside, right side up, in your baking dish. Add about a quarter inch of water to the bottom of the baking dish (this will help avoid them drying out while baking).

Now that your cutting board is clear, chop up your onions and tomatoes. Cut them as large or as small as you like; if you don't appreciate big chunks of veggies, you might even consider tossing them through a food processor. We, however, generally like the variation in texture large chunks of veggies bring to the dish.

Start your oil heating in the frying pan or sauce pan over medium heat. Pour in your riced cauliflower and sear it in the oil.

We like to use the time while it's searing to measure out spices, but feel free to chill for a few minutes instead and just measure your spices directly into the pan later.

Once you've got your cauliflower mostly defrosted and searing, add the tomato and onion, as well as your minced garlic, give it a stir and place the lid on it. Stir frequently while they're cooking to prevent any of them sticking to the pan.

After things start looking like they're about cooked, pour in your can of tomato sauce, your chicken broth and all those spices you've measured out (or are still in the process of measuring, whichever). Give everything a good stir. It's going to look like the veggies are drowning in all that liquid - we know, it's normal. Don't fret. It will reduce, we promise.

Allow this to simmer (uncovered!) about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. It may need more or less time, depending on how big of a burner you have this pan sitting on. The goal is for the veggies to have absorbed most of the liquid, but for there to be just a little left to prevent sticking to the pan, and to optionally use as sauce in/on the peppers.

Once everything has simmered down to where you'd like it to be, remove it from the heat. Maybe start your oven preheating to 350 while you're standing there, and save yourself a minute or two later on.

Grab a slotted spoon and transfer your veggie mixture to the hollowed out peppers. There should be enough to fill those peppers up to the very top. If you've got liquid left over in the sauce pan, feel free to drizzle it over the peppers at this point.

Cover the baking dish with a layer of aluminum foil and pop it in the oven for about half an hour. Half an hour yields a pretty crunchy pepper - so if you'd prefer something you can cut with a fork, you might want to lower the heat and lengthen your covered cook time.

After your half hour (or more, depending on preference) is up, remove the foil cover, place a slice of provolone cheese on top of each stuffed pepper, and bake ten or so more minutes - long enough to get the cheese all melted and browned and bubbly (AKA the best way to serve cheese).

Enjoy your veggies!

If you opt to make this week’s meal, let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook! We’d love to hear from you and see the results.  

If on the other hand you need your oven fixed, or any of your other major appliances, we can help. Just call us at ((214) 599-0055) or make an appointment over at our website. We aim to be the most reliable appliance repair in Coppell and the surrounding areas, and we want to keep your home running smoothly. Whether that’s an oven that won’t heat right for making cookies, or a washing machine that won’t drain right, we’re here to help. 

Double Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

The Second Best Use for Guinness

So Saint Patrick's Day is over. You're probably pretty tired of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and soda bread - and you're likely also tired of seeing recipes containing them.

But you know, there's one Saint Patrick's Day staple no one ever seems to get tired of. Guinness. And if you've already had your fill of Guinness for a while, but still have a couple bottles left in the fridge, there's only one thing left to do with them.

Bake.

That's probably not what you were thinking, but that's okay. We've got you covered.

Double Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes, anyone?

Ingredients:

1 ~15 ounce box chocolate cake mix (every brand is a little different; just try to stay in the 15 ounce ballpark)

1 4 ounce package chocolate pudding mix

1 11.25 ounce bottle Guinness Stout

3 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Tools:

Mixing bowl, mixer or whisk, measuring cups, sauce pan, spoon, cupcake pan, cupcake liners

Instructions:

Grab a bottle opener and crack open that bottle Guinness. Take a taste. No, seriously, you really should taste it. You do not want to ruin an entire batch of chocolate cupcakes with skunked beer. That's just disappointing.

Pour your Guinness into a sauce pan. We know, it seems like a bunch of extra work and an extra pan to clean. But the result is worth it. Turn the burner on medium-low and let the Guinness simmer. It will smell strongly like a brewery in the kitchen; you might consider opening a window to keep the family from complaining. It will also foam and threaten to make a great big mess, but this is normal. Give it a gentle stir to break up the foam and keep it from boiling over. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes or so - your goal here is to reduce the Guinness down to about 1 cup. You started with not quite 12 ounces, so you have only a little ways to go here. Don't worry too much about the measurement until you can see a visible difference from your starting point in the pan.

Once you can see a difference between the amount of beer you started with and the amount of (reduced) beer you now have, remove it from the heat and allow it to come back to something around room temperature. Please do not immediately pour boiling hot beer into a measuring cup - it may crack or shatter the cup, and it will likely waste the Guinness. Both of these are terrible things.

While you're waiting for your Guinness to cool back down, start the oven preheating to 350 degrees.

Pour your cake mix and your pudding mix into your mixing bowl. Add in your vanilla extract, oil or melted butter and your eggs. (If you're using butter and you've just melted it, please also allow it to come back up a little closer to room temperature before pouring it in with the eggs. Otherwise the butter will scramble the eggs and you’ll have to start over.) You can give it a little stir at this point, but don't expect it to combine neatly or fully. There isn't near enough liquid, and we've added extra dry ingredients with the pudding mix.

Take your cupcake pan and place a liner in each of the wells. You'll make a little over a dozen large cupcakes with the amount of batter you'll have. We ended up with 14 and a half (because we lost some batter in transfer from the bowl to the pan) generous sized cupcakes - plan on 15 or 16.

By now, your Guinness should be back down to a more workable temperature. Measure out one cup of your reduced beer. If you have extra, that's okay - just set it aside and use it later to braise or baste some meats. If you've reduced it down further than needed and don't quite have a full cup, that's okay too - you can add a little water back.

Add your cup of Guinness to the other cake ingredients and stir well for about two minutes. If you're using an electric mixer, be aware that the batter will climb up the beaters while you mix. It's a very heavy batter for a cake, and it's also rather sticky - both of these are results of adding in that box of pudding mix. If you're worried about the batter hitting the body of the mixer, just pause and scrape it back down once in a while.

Be attentive and be careful not to over mix the batter - if you mix too long, it will go from thick and fluffy to dense and flat and chewy - and no one wants cupcakes that bounce. Mix until everything is combined, but quit when you stop seeing lumps or variations in color.

Transfer your batter from the mixing bowl to your cupcake liners. Again, this is some sticky stuff. You will likely find yourself needing an extra spoon to make it let go of the first one, and you might want to recruit someone else as extra hands if possible. Those cupcake liners, despite the blob of batter that should hold them down, will attempt to follow the spoon at least once. That's how we lost a cupcake worth of batter - the liner decided gravity wasn't going to hold it back, and suddenly the batter was on the counter and not in the cupcake pan. It was a mournful moment for all - especially the family dogs, who usually get the things that escape pans and plates, but were denied this time.

Once you have your cupcakes liners about 2/3rds full, pop them in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Toothpick test after 20 minutes to make sure they're done (sometimes they need an extra minute or two), and assuming they're fully baked, allow them to cool.

The beer flavor doesn't take over the cupcake, so expect a mostly chocolate flavor with some malty tones to back it up. Frost with whatever you'd like (we like just some simple whipped cream on top) and enjoy!

If you do decide to make this, or something similar, let us know over on our Facebook! We’d love to see what you get up to!

And if you’re in Dallas, and any of your appliances are acting a little... tipsy... don't blame the Guinness. Or the fumes. You cooked most of the alcohol out of it. Instead, give us a call - we'll shape them back up for you. You can reach us at our website or via ((214) 599-0055).