Great Brownies

This recipe for brownies is my favorite. It comes from one of the scrub nurses at my hospital. Every once in a while she'll make a batch and they get gobbled quickly. The texture of the brownie is more like a flourless chocolate cake. Truly amazing!

Brownies

Melt together in microwave one stick of butter and two squares of unsweetened chocolate (2 ounces). Add 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 t vanilla and 3/4 cup flour. Pour into a greased 9X9 inch pan and bake for 25 -30 minutes at 350.

Frosting -

Combine 1/2 stick butter and 1 1/2 T of cocoa powder. Melt in microwave. Add 1/4 cup buttermilk and microwave until it comes to a boil. Add 1/2 t vanilla and about 3 cups of powdered sugar.

I changed the recipe by adding 1 shot of rum to the dough and topping the finished product with pecan pieces.

Louisville Trip Part 2 - The Hot Brown

When we were in Louisville we discovered a local dish called the Kentucky Hot Brown. It is a dish that was invented at the Brown Hotel in 1926. It has been a Louisville classic ever since. I have had something similar called a beef commercial at the coffee cafe in Elmore Minnesota. I suppose they serve turkey commercials too, and you can probably get these in various forms all over the upper midwest. A beef commercial is a couple of pieces of white bread with some roast beef thrown on top. Then they pour a little gravy on and viola! Dinner.

A Kentucky Hot Brown is a beef commercial with a college education.



It is 2 pieces of toasted bread, topped with roast turkey, a couple tomato slices, a couple pieces of bacon and a white cream and cheese sauce.

Kentucky Hot Brown

1 turkey breast piece, cooked
2 slices bread, toasted
1/2 stick butter
4 T flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
tomato slices
2 strips bacon, cooked
shredded cheddar for sprinkling
paprika for sprinkling

Make the sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan. Add flour and whisk, cooking for about a minute. Gradually whisk in milk and cream. Beat egg. Add 1 cup of milk sauce to the egg gradually, then pour the egg/milk back into the pot. Add parmesan cheese and stir. Cook till it thickens but don't let it come to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile have the oven preheated to 400 with the rack on the top rung. Put 2 pieces of toast in an oven proof baking dish and top with turkey. Add tomato slices then bacon. Pour cheese sauce over. Sprinkle a little more parmesan and some cheddar over the top. Sprinkle some paprika on. Bake in the oven until the mixture starts to bubble. When it starts to bubble turn on the broiler. Broil until little dark spots form on top of the cheese.

Air Horn Install

This weekend I did some work on the cars. I changed the oil in my wife's car and rotated the tires. When I bought my truck there was a bed liner that came up over the side rails and covered up the tie down points. I cut some holes in it and installed some special recessing tiedown points.

Because I had a few hours left I decided to install an air horn on the truck. I've always wanted a super loud obnoxious horn. I was thinking about installing one on our Mercury but I didn't think there was enough room between the radiator and the grill to do it. There is loads of room on the truck. The first thing you do is remove the factory horn and cut the wires going to it.



On my Ranger, the horn was mounted on a piece of metal. All I had to do to mount the air horn was lengthen the piece of metal. To do that I attached an 8 inch mending bar from Lowe's. I had to drill a couple extra holes in the right places so that the horns would mount right but it was no big deal.



Then I stripped the wires that lead to the hold horn.



I attached a couple of these spatula thingies.


I mounted the airhorn and hooked up the wires.


From the front it looks pretty cool.



The horns came with this complicated relay switch and a diagram of how to hook it up but you don't really need all of that.

I drove around for a while hoping someone would cut me off but no one did. I tested the horn a few times and it echoed off the houses on either side of the street. I was on the way home and I finally got a chance to blast it off at someone. There were 2 kids throwing walnuts into the street. I decided to give them a little scare so when I got up by them I gave them a good 2 second blast. I haven't seen 2 kids scatter and run that fast in a long time. It was very satisfying.

Louisville Trip Part 1

We just got back from Louisville. We went there to look for an apartment. We found a nice one right in the middle of everything. On the way there we stopped off for a Coney Dog in the Detroit airport. I was curious to see how close they came to the original. We have eaten Coney dogs at Nathan's on Coney Island.



It was a place called National Coney Island. Their Coney dogs were pretty good.



They also had a kind of gum that I hadn't seen in a very long time.

Iowa Farm ... Enchiladas?

You can make enchiladas using basically the same ingredients that are used to make Iowa Farm burritos. We have been eating a lot of burritos lately because the baby likes them. We decided to change it up a bit.

Iowa Farm Enchiladas

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, diced
tortillas
2 cans Old El Paso Enchilada sauce
shredded cheddar cheese

Brown hamburger and onion. Take a baking pan and pour a little enchilada sauce in to cover the bottom. Next pour a little enchilada sauce on a plate and dip a tortilla in. Turn the tortilla over and fill with meat. Roll into an enchilada, soaking up a little enchilada sauce from the plate. Line up the enchiladas in the baking dish. When you are done, pour any remaining enchilada sauce over the top. Sprinkle with cheese and place into the oven. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.