Tupper Cooks!

Cuse vs. West Virginia......

2012-01-28T15:29:00.000-05:00

Snacks for the game!

Cuse just beat beat West Virginia!

Here's what we had.

To start, some Hoffman's Dogs!

And then,

Fry 'em for a bit.

Wrap the dogs in Croissant tube dough, with some American Cheese, then bake!

And here's the result.

Enjoy, my friends.

My Pie Monday......

2012-01-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

Slice has a feature every Monday where you can send in pics of pizza you made, appropriately called

My Pie Monday.

They're always good, this week it was exceptional.

My Pie Monday Link Click Here Pizza heads!

My pizza loving friend DM Cavanagh submitted this one-Pie to die for!

Check out the rest-you won't be disappointed!

DM, I'm waitin' buddy!

Later!

Baby, Baby, It's Cold Outside........

2012-01-16T13:03:00.001-05:00

It's gone way below zero the last few nights here in dear old Tupper.

It'd be nice to say that it's unusual, but that's just Tupper being Tupper, or for that matter this neck of the woods in the Adirondacks in January (and February and March).

It's a good day to crank up the stove, watch an NCIS marathon, cook, and in my case, post some pics from the last month or so. Oh yes, there's the pile of laundry in the bedroom that needs to be addressed.

I know, I should be doing laundry, but it's not like it's going anywhere, so here are some pics.

Meat pies (Tourtiere in French) pre-bake.

It's a long time French Canadian tradition to make make meat pies for the Christmas Holiday.

I can remember going to my Grandmother's house after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and having a slice.

For the past 3 or 4 years I've revived that tradition in my house.

I give them to family and friends and put a few in the freezer here.

Post-bake.

There are as many variations of meat pies as there are little towns and villages across Northern New York and Quebec.

Here's the recipe I use (Click Here).

Good food for a cold day!

The obligatory pizza pic.

Made that for a Syracuse basketball game last week.

And finally...

The puppy playing with a squash she found in the cupboard....

Can't wait until she stops teething!

So now I'm off to the kitchen or laundry room, or both.

Wait-the NCIS marathon is on!

Later!

Blogging and Beer Crust.........

2012-01-12T14:19:00.000-05:00

Ya know, there's literally zillions of food/cooking/recipe sites and blogs out there.

I've got around 40 favorites on my sidebar and a crapload more bookmarked on the old computer.

Mine I do for shits and giggles, it keeps me entertained and hopefully dear readers, it might do the same for you too.

Getting back to the plethora of blogs out there it's surprising how many are of very high quality. I discovered in a hurry that Tupper Cooks! would be a strictly amateur venture, at least until I retire.

It simply takes a tremendous amount of time to do a great blog, so kudos to those that pull it off.

One of the very cool things about getting into this part of cyberspace is that you meet some very cool and talented people.

One is Donna Curry, whose blog Cookistry is very well done. She's a great cook and writer, her blog is well written, has great pics and is very entertaining.

Donna's also very accommodating if you have questions about anything cooking related.

She's a pro.

Another blog that I read is Pavlov's Blog, by Michael Therieau.

Now here's a brand new blog, been up less than a month. It doesn't have the bells and whistles of many blogs, but (and this is key), the dude can write.

He's extremely knowledgeable about food and the food industry while at the same time being piss your pants funny.

So if you get a chance, check 'em out!

So that was the blogging portion of this post, here's the Pizza Beer Crust Portion.
Pizza, Beer, what's not to like?

I was checking the King Arthur site and found this recipe for what looks to be a good crust.

Hopefully I'll get to try it this weekend.....

(Click Here for the Link to KA & The Recipe)

Beer adds just a hint of fragrance and flavor to this quick pizza dough.

2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups semolina*
1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor, optional
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups room-temperature beer
*Substitute unbleached all-purpose flour if you don't have semolina.

Directions

1) Mix and knead together all of the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer or bread machine — until you've made a smooth, soft dough.

2) Cover the dough, and allow it to rise for 30 minutes, or for up to 2 hours.

3) Preheat the oven to 450°F with the pizza stone (if you're using one) on a lower rack.

4) Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a 10" to 12" round.

5) Place the rounds on parchment paper, if you're going to use a pizza stone. Or place the dough on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. For thin to medium crust, bake the pizzas immediately. For thicker crust, let them rise for 30 to 60 minutes.

6) Transfer the pizzas, parchment and all, to the baking stone. Or place the pans in the oven.

7) Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, top as desired, and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the bottom crust is crisp and the cheese is bubbly and browned.

8) Remove from the oven, and serve hot.

Yield: 2 pizzas.

Recipe summary

Hands-on time:: 20 mins. to 30 mins.
Baking time:: 18 mins. to 48 mins.
Total time:: 1 hrs 8 mins. to 3 hrs 28 mins.
Yield:: 2 crusts

Tips from our bakers

We like to top our pizzas with cheese, but prefer it to be gently melted, rather than browned/hard. To that end, we add any meat, veggies, etc. after 5 minutes of baking time; half the cheese after 15 minutes (total) baking time; bake for 3 minutes; add the remainder of the cheese, then bake for an additional 2 minutes, until the second addition of cheese is barely melted.

Happy Baking My Friends!

Pizza Funny.....

2012-01-11T14:21:00.000-05:00

From Slice!

Happy Friggin' New Year!

2012-01-06T12:55:00.000-05:00

Hey, better late than never, right!

Let's start the New Year off with a question I saw on Slice today.

This goes out to my BIL Tom-#1 he is.

Dagwood!

2011-12-08T19:43:00.002-05:00

God, when I was a kid, I read the comics faithfully.

Comic books, comics in the daily papers, and best of all the Sunday paper when they were all in color!

Not like today, where I could go on a rant about too much access to cartoons and comics for kids for 99 thousand different reasons, but 40 years ago it was special.

One of my favorites strips was Blondie by famous cartoonist Chic Young.

Dagwood was her husband of course.

If you're over 40 you might remember it, if not, well you missed out kids.

Now this discourse could go into the history of comics for the next hour, but I digress, this blog is about food.

You see Dagwood liked his sandwiches, and from the comic strip there has sprung a zillion variations of

"The Dagwood"

This pretty much sums it up.

It was a big sammie!

Go ahead and google Dagwood Sandwich recipes and look at the images, it's mind blowing.

There are some big ass sandwiches out there!

Today, while thinking about what to have for supper on a work night, I ran across a recipe for a Dagwood Grilled Cheese.

Click Here for Wicked Griled Cheese Recipes.

Looked really good. So I made my list, checked it twice, and off to Shaheen's IGA I went after work.

Here's what I got.

Cheese (American and Swiss), smoked ham, a red onion and a big tomato.

And a loaf of bread.

So , then there's the construction.

Buttered bread on the skillet, 1 slice of American with 1 slice of Swiss on top.

Ok, Got it? Bread, butter side down, then cheese.

Next, some deli sliced smoked ham and red onion slices which were sauteed' in butter.

Then a big old slice of tomato...

And a cap of American, why not?

Top 'em with another slice of buttered bread, and cook away kids.

And then,

Bam, Zoom! There's your Dagwood Grilled Cheese!

Stay Hungry My Friends!

P.S. I asked my wife if she thought I was nuts writing about grilled cheese sandwiches. I was relieved with her response, she said, " Honey, you're fine, tomorrow you can write about peanut butter and jelly."

I was relieved.

Bread & Soup......

2011-12-06T20:00:00.001-05:00

Been cookin', been bakin' , been takin' pics....

I made French Onion Soup.

It was supposed to be a quick recipe.

Ain't no such thang when making onion soup.

30 minutes is what the recipe said.

I say at least 3 hours.

It was very good.

Today, I got the bread bake on!

Here's the results.

One cinnamon swirl and one plain Amish white bread.

It's good stuff.

Keep baking my friends!

O'Scugnizzo's Pizza.....

2011-11-26T10:51:00.002-05:00

Went to Utica for Thanksgiving. What I like about Utica is it's ethnic/local food heritage.

There's Chicken Riggies, Utica Greens, and Tomato Pie....

At the turn of the last century there was an influx of immigrants, and many Italians among them.

Much of their influence remains more than a century later, and for that I am grateful.

Before we returned yesterday I picked up an upside down pizza at O'Scugnizzo's Pizzaria.

O'Scugnizzo's is an institution in Utica, having been in business since 1914.

Here's a bio from their webpage.

The O’Scugnizzo Legacy

As a youngster near Naples, Italy, Eugeno Burlino first learned the art of pizza making as a baker’s helper. Opportunity knocked in 1914 when Eugeno was offered a baker’s job in America. Eugeno had bigger ideas. When he wasn’t working at the bakery he made and sold his own little Tomato Pies from a cart at religious festivals. Enough people developed a taste for the pies to allow him to start his own business making them full time. Eugeno called his little Tomato Pies “Pizzas”. They were about 6” in diamter and the only toppings were cheese and anchovies. They cost a nickel a piece!

The Burlino family opened Utica’s first pizzeria in 1938 at the corner of Kossuth and Jay streets and began making the 12” pies that would make them famous. That’s when they adopted the name “O’scugnizzo’s” (pronounced OH-SCOO-NEETS-OHS) which means “Shrewd” or “Street Smart” in a little known Italian dialect. Thay must be true because when the pizzeria moved to 614 Bleeker St. in 1943 it was still the only one in Utica.

In 1956 Eugeno’s son, Angelo (Chops) Burline took over the business. He expanded the operation to a scope and size his father could never have foreseen. Chops brought two trucks and began the first pizza delivery service in the area. He sold the first “Bake At Home Pizza” and the first square pizza (still O’scugnizzo’s trademark today). These innovations and Chop’s unique style and love of the craft earned him the distinction “The King of Pizza!”

In 1989 his son Steven inherited the O’scugnizzo legacy. Steve has strived to keep the pizzeria true to itself by using the same recipes from generations past to produce the dough, sauce & sausage everyday. In 1997 Steve and Bill Conley expanded O’scugnizzo’s with a new store in Washington Mills and the introduction of Bill's fabulous Focaccia sandwiches, heavenly homemade soups, unique signature salads & more! Now Bill and Karla Conley are proud to serve “O’scugnizzo’s Original Style Pizza” and our other unique and delicious products in Washington Mills. Come in and sample our famous original style and gourmet specialty pizzas, buffalo and specialty chicken wings, daily specials, homemade soups, salads, “the best sandwiches in the universe” and delicious desserts. In 2009 we introduced our gluten free menu including delicious gluten free pizza and sandwiches. We hope you enjoy our products as much as O’scugnizzo’s has enjoyed serving you for almost 100 years.

Thank you and “Buon Appetito!”

I had heard of them, but had never had their pie until yesterday.

It's a square pie. The dough and mozz get cooked in the oven, when that's done, out it comes and on goes the sauce and parm.

I reheated it on my pizza stone last night and it was very, very good.

The reheat Saturday morning. Therre's only one way too reheat pizza properly, in a frying pan, with a little bit of oil and the lid on until the cheese melts. This was perfect.

And the money shot....

For twice reheated pie it was incredible.

If you're ever in Utica, check out the local fare, it's well worth it!

Stay Hungry My Friends!

Breakfast for Supper......

2011-11-23T15:47:00.000-05:00

It's easy, it's tasty, so why not.....

Should be some homefries there...

And then it snowed last night....

And so it begins. I don't mind snow, I hate shoveling.

Waddya gonna do?

Happy Thanksgiving and stay hungry my friends!

Hey!

2011-11-01T18:07:00.002-04:00

Syracuse Basketball starts tonight!

Granted an exhibition game, but a game nonetheless!

Go Cuse!

Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese and Puppy Pics!

2011-10-25T19:16:00.003-04:00

Geesh, last night it was Monday, and we all know Monday's suck right?

So what to make?

Grilled cheese of course, with some canned tomato soup.

So off I run to the local market, I grab American cheese, Swiss cheese, and a loaf of Sourdough Italian.

Came home, fried up some bacon for the sammies, went to make the soup and whoops!

I forgot to buy canned tomato soup, which is easy to make on a Monday, because Monday's suck!

Alright, it's decision time-Do I run back to the store or make some homemade tomato soup?

You guessed right- I Googled Quick Tomato Soup and here's what I found.

Quick Tomato Soup-Click Here!

I cut most of the recipe in half. But played a lot.

Here's the original recipe.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon dried herbs, such as thyme, oregano, rosemary or basil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups nonfat or low-fat milk

What I Did

-Splashed the Evoo into the pot

-I can of crushed tomatoes

-5 or 6 cloves of garlic

-Crumbled upsome dried basil from our garden, a couple of leaves

-Sprinkled in crushed red pepper flakes

-1/2 cup of water

-Sprinkled in some sugar

-1 cup of 1% lowfat milk

-Salt and pepper to taste

(I'd be remiss if I didn't say I added some crumbled, (really crumbled, fried crisp) bacon to the soup)

Simmered it for about an hour, after all it was "Quick" soup.

So I cut some of the recipe ingredients in half and I eyeballed other stuff.

That's the cool thing about cooking a lot- you get more intuitive about what works for you.

The soup was pretty good. Lends itself to modifications, but for a quick soup and a means to dunk the grilled cheese it was perfect.

Here's the evidence.

Not bad, IMHO.

Grilled cheese were basic-

-Freihoffer's Italian Sourdough-butter side down on the pan

-1 slice American

-Bacon slices on top of the American

- A slice of Swiss Cheese

-Another buttered slice of bread on top

Cook the Sammies until they look right-that's a personal choice, my choice is like the above pic.

The soup and sammies were perfect for a Monday, and we all know...... Mondays .......

P.S. Here's the Puppy Pics!

Sit! Stay!

OK Daddy, this is getting old!

Stay Hungry My Friends!

KA Bread.........

2011-10-23T15:30:00.000-04:00

A while back I found the book that accompanies KitchenAids when they're sold.

Instructions and Recipes.

Our KA is about 25 years old so the book had been shoved aside. Thumbing through it there are a lot of recipes.

So what the heck, yesterday was wet and cold, good day to bake.

I decided to make a loaf of Basic White Bread and a loaf of Cinnamon Bread.

Gotta love the illustrations where it shows you how to shape you loaf.

I still screwed mine up-need practice!

Basic it was, easy to make, took about 40 minutes to bake.

I used two different pans-The cinnamon bread was cooked in a silicone pan which is longer explaing the disparity in size.

Both were very tasty-the white is gone and a little chunk of cinnamon is left.

I'd do 'em again.

Stay hungry my friends!

Greed and Coporate America...

2011-10-22T14:01:00.002-04:00

I could rant for an hour or two about corporate America, instead I'll just share this link.

It's stomach turning and scary.

Click Here for the link!

(Pic Courtesy of Mother Jones)

Steak & Bacon Calzone.....

2011-10-22T09:08:00.000-04:00

Syracuse was hosting West Virginia last night at the Dome, so had to make some gametime food.

The wife vetoed pizza, because I made it the night before, so I said, "Self, make a calzone, she'll like that!"

I had a piece of leftover sirloin from a couple of nights before which I sliced up into little bitty pieces.

I cooked down a package of our frozen homegrown tomatoes to which I added basil, salt , pepper and garlic.

The dough I made from a recipe right out of the KitchenAid cookbook, quick, easy and tasty.

Oh yeah, I cooked up some bacon just figuring it was a good idea, and it was.

So here's what it looked like, it did suffer a minor blowout.

(At some point I'll remember to roll the dough instead of spreading by hand to avoid the thin spots.)

Dough!

The filling, I also put shredded mozz on this along with parm below the filling.

You can see my lame attempt to patch the inevitable leak.

And, well, I need to roll my dough, I know, I know.....

Ya know what, it tasted great, and the better half liked it.

A little marinara on the side and go watch Syracuse kick West Virginia's ass, which they did 49-23.

I love happy endings!

Stay hungry my friends!

The Kid Is Cute!

2011-10-20T18:02:00.000-04:00

Here's our Granddaughter!

Seriously, isn't she cute?

Burger Rolls....

2011-10-19T17:38:00.000-04:00

As the weather gets cooler and, well let's be honest, crappier here in Northern New York, I find myself drawn to the kitchen to bake.

Last night I made some burger rolls since we were having burgers.

Makes sense, right?

I found the roll recipe at "a sweet pea chef" one of the many quality food blogs out there.

The recipe is for Hoagie Rolls, which I'm going to replicate, but since burgers were on the menu, burger rolls we made!

Here's the link for the Hoagie Roll Recipe.

Click Here for the Recipe!

I make a lot of yeast bread, and what I liked about this recipe was that it was easy for a work night.

The mixing/kneading was done in the KitchenAid.

We came out with 8 burger rolls, that were dense, tasty and perfect for any burger and toppings you would add.

A good solid yeast roll.

Here's some pics.

I brushed some butter on top while they were cooling.

I like butter.

Split and ready.

Sharp cheddar on the burger, served with homemade sweet potato fries.

And there's the puppy, sleeping right next to the stove, all played out.

Stay Hungry My Friends!

Our New Baby......

2011-10-17T19:06:00.000-04:00

So we were down to one dog (Red, The Official Blog Dog of Tupper Cooks!) after all the girls finally moved out and took their dogs with them.

Here's Red, My first puppy.

She's 5 years old now.

But we didn't want Red to be lonely when we're at work, so this past weekend, we adopted a cute little German Shephard pup.

So here's Ellie,short for Elvira, which is the name of the German woman we adopted her from.

Ellie's sayin', "I wanna play!"

Red says, "OK!"

Or maybe I'll chew on my toy!

That's all for now!

Monday Quote...........

2011-10-17T14:17:00.000-04:00

"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity."
-- Christopher Morley

The Last of the Last......

2011-10-13T18:00:00.000-04:00

Sadly, it's fall in the Adirondacks and so we pulled in everything that was left in our garden last week.

It was our first year with a pretty good variety of greens, tomatoes, squash, root veggies and herbs.

Here's a pic of the last pick.

We had a great tomato season, but for some odd reason, this one stands out.

Isn't he cute?

Can't wait for next year!

Homemade Tomato Soup......

2011-10-01T17:26:00.000-04:00

If you've read any of my posts below you'll know that we've got a bunch of tomatoes.

So, If life serves you tomatoes, make tomato soup!

I cored and quartered 5 or 6 tomatoes.

Slice up two yellow onions.

I probably added 5 or 6 cloves of garlic(not sure, but pretty certain-I put garlic in everything but my Cheerios)

Added salt and pepper to taste and drizzled on 1/3 cup of olive oil.

Roasted them at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

When they came out, they looked good and smelled better.

Dumped that mixture into a stock pot, added 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 Bay leafs.

Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 25-30 minutes.

Remove the bay leafs.

Add torn basil and blend.

It called for a 1/4 cup of basil-I think I added a little more......

Then I made Italian Grilled Cheese Sammies ala Rachael Ray

Click Here for the Recipe-It's worth it!

Sammies were awesome, as was the soup.

So for all you out there that think you can't make wicked good tasting food at home from scratch, I say go for it!

Stay hungry my friends!

Friday Night Pizza...

2011-09-30T19:08:00.001-04:00

It's Friday, it's pizza night!

Cheated on the dough- bought frozen.

It's good stuff.

Last week it was $1.79-This week $2.19.

Prices are going up.

Spread it out!

Pick out your toppings!

In this pic, heirloom tomato, green pepper from seed, along with hot peppers, and some not so hot.

Fresh basil, and I hate to say it-Garlic from the store.

OK- We've got the peppers, onions and basil on there!

Add the shredded Mozz!

And some sliced heirloom 'maters.

Not sure where this came from???

And Finally................

Stay Hungry!

Fringe Benefits......

2011-09-29T10:24:00.000-04:00

One of the cool thing about food blogs is that many have giveaways with all sorts of cool stuff.

I entered one yesterday and whatya know, I won!

The drawing was for a packet of organic heirloom popcorn seeds from Paula @ Dishing the Divine.

Not like I won Mega-Millions, but for a food geek like me it's a close 2nd.

I'm really looking forward to growing it next year.

Here's her Popcorn post.

Check it out !

Stay hungry my friends!

Peel a Tomato.....

2011-09-25T15:47:00.001-04:00

Gotta keep sharing these pics, because soon all our tomatoes will be consumed or frozen.

These are the ones I'm going to freeze this afternoon.

They're Heirloom Mortgagesavers and Polish that my father-in-law has been growing for decades.

I'll dip them in boiling water until the skin splits (about a minute), give them a cold water rinse, take of the peels, core 'em, quarter 'em , vacuum pack 'em and freeze 'em.

Stay Hungry My Friends!

A Bountiful Harvest....

2011-09-24T16:32:00.002-04:00

Here's some of the tomatoes from our garden that we pulled in because of frost.

Letting 'em get ripe inside.

I love this time of year, too bad we can't garden all year long, huh?

And more that are ripe....

We've been freezing them as they ripen, so this winter I'll be able to make sauce from scratch, yum!

Like this batch I made the other night for my baked ziti.

It was good, I did cheat and added a can of crushed tomatoes to thicken it.

The finished product.

Oh, and some homemade meatballs on the side.

Yup. And the leftovers at work the next day were awesome.

Stay hungry my friends!

Tupper Cooks!

Cuse vs. West Virginia......

My Pie Monday......

Baby, Baby, It's Cold Outside........

Blogging and Beer Crust.........

Quick Beer-Crust Pizza

Directions

Recipe summary

Tips from our bakers

Pizza Funny.....

Happy Friggin' New Year!

Dagwood!

Bread & Soup......

O'Scugnizzo's Pizza.....

The O’Scugnizzo Legacy

Breakfast for Supper......

Hey!

Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese and Puppy Pics!

KA Bread.........

Greed and Coporate America...

Steak & Bacon Calzone.....

The Kid Is Cute!

Burger Rolls....

Our New Baby......

Monday Quote...........

The Last of the Last......

Homemade Tomato Soup......

Friday Night Pizza...

Fringe Benefits......

Peel a Tomato.....

A Bountiful Harvest....