Horchata

I love this stuff and has to be fairly healthy.  Much better than soda.  Ingredients are as follow:
1 cup uncooked white rice
5 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar

I blend the water and rice, then add everything except the milk, my blender is too small.  That goes in the fridge to marinate, or in this case it is more maceration.
I will blend a few more times while it sits, will let it sit for a few hours or overnight.  Probably best at a minimum 4 hours.
Add the milk if you didn't already, strain and its done.  Best with tons of ice.

Cleaning out the cabinets

Been trying to make use of stuff at the back of the cabinets.  Yesterday I made chicken pot pies.  They turned out the best I've ever had.  Will do them again and post my recipe.
I found some craisins and some cashews, and still have some apples, so made a "Waldorf" salad.  Only thing the same is the apples and mayo.  I added a little vinegar, craisins and cashews.  Turned out well, going to let it sit and marinated for awhile.

Massive burger

Burger turned out huge and have no buns so its on top of shoestring potatoes, Avocado ranch, topped with an egg.

Everything burger

I feel like heartburn tonight.  Making a burger with everything I can find.  Using devils spit Bbq sauce in the meat for spicyness, I'll mix shredded cheese in, some worchestershire, and topped with an egg and fried shoestring potatoes, or maybe some Avocado too

Potatoes: math, it works

<p>I saved a little sauce for something else, though I could've put all it in the potatoes.&#160; It's almost ready now, will add a small layer of cheese, then breadcrumbs, then maybe a little cheese on that for color, I spray it with cooking spray so it browns nicely.&#160; Can store it in the fridge till ready, though don't spray it until just about to bake </p>
<p>Bake at 350, or 375 till bread crumbs brown, 30 minutes or so.&nbsp; Temp doesn't matter a whole lot, if I have something else in the oven I toss the potatoes in at whatever temp it is

Potatoes: saucy potatoes

So sauce is awesome, I added some garlic spread seasoning and that's it. 
Potatoes are in a big bowl, will pour some sauce over, add some cheese, and toss/stir

Potatoes: taste and strain

The sauce was just a little thick so that's as easy as adding some cream or milk.  I would rather have it too thick than too thin.  If too thin, just make a small batch of roux, add a bit and boil.
Taste at this point, mostly for the chicken flavor.  Turned out good, so then strain into a bowl and rinse out the sauce pan.
Add the sauce back to the pan, simmer and add seasonings.  I'm going to garlic it, then take some out for chicken.

Potatoes: ghetto sauce supreme

I turned up the heat, the sauce has to get to boiling temp for the flour to activate and thicken.  I added 2 tbsp chicken base and whisked.  I will probably add more as I taste it, but if you try it now it will just taste like flour, the taste will cook out

Potatoes: sauce roux

I melted about 3-4 tbsp butter, added 5 tbsp flour.  Cooked the roux for a few minutes, over medium heat and stirring constantly so it wouldn't burn.
Then I added 3 cups cream and about 2 cups milk. 
I'm making extra because I will use some of the sauce for some chicken

Potatoes: fork tender

They are fork tender, but don't break when forked.  Immediately strain and pour onto a baking sheet in an even layer to cool and dry.  Usually I would have the sauce done by now, but decided to wait so I could pay attention to measurements.

Tims Potatoes: peeling and dicing potatoes

Don't worry about all the cubes being the same size. Most should be but those small ones will cook more, break up, binding the cubes.  As long as you don't overcook the potatoes, should have some nice textures with small variations in size

The most requested recipe I have: Tims Potatoes

I have been asked for this recipe so many times and I have to explain I don't have a recipe.  This time I will post pictures and guesstimates of the measurements.  Ingredient list is as follows:

Potatoes, obviously...if you can see in the picture, I measure the amount by putting them in the dish I will use.

Whipping cream, I use a bit of milk as well, just to keep it from being too rich and to stretch the amount of cream I have.

Shredded cheese.  I'm using Mexican style and usually will add whatever sounds good at the time or what I have.

Chicken base.  We will be making a ghetto sauce supreme, use this in place of salt for extra flavor.

Butter, probably a couple tablespoons, for the roux

Flour, again just a few tablespoons for the roux.

Bread crumbs.  I may crush my homemade croutons for this, I usually just use store bought.

Seasonings, I use garlic and Italian seasoning.  Or I may use Johnnys garlic spread cause I like it more than garlic powder.  No salt will be needed. 

This can be prepared way ahead of time, Ill do them day before if I'm making a large dinner.

Pi day: complete

Thing smells awesome.  I was going to use the scrap dough to make a pi symbol on top, but threw it away as I was cleaning.  Oh well, it would have to be 2pi anyway, and that's just too much.  So enjoy you pi/4 piece of pie.

Pi day: caramel apples

While the caramel is still hot, pour over apples and stir/toss to coat.  Make sure caramel is hot.  Let that sit, tossing every few minutes unrolled the juices come out of the apples.  While this is sitting, roll out the crust and put in pie pan

Pi day: caramel

Caramel is done.  A note on this, use a much larger saucepan than you think, once you add the butter it will boil like crazy and even more after adding water.  I've made caramel other ways and all of them end up with violent boiling.

Pi day: making caramel

All the apples are sliced, tossed the flour in to coat.  I was contemplating some cinnamon in there but decided against it, rather not overspice. 
Mixed the sugar and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat.  This cooks till the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.  Once the sugar is dissolves, crank the burner to 11...actually medium high to boil, then cook without stirring.  Will cook this till deep amber colored, can swirl the pan while cooking, should be 5 minutes or so.  Add the 2 tbsp water and butter.  Mix and now you have caramel.

Pi day: apples

Peeled 8 granny smith apples.  I'll probably do slices for the pie.  Rest of the recipe is:
1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp water
3 tbsp butter

Pi day 3: strussel topping

3/4 cup flour
6 tbsp sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, 1/2 cubes
Same technique as the dough.  Cover and chill.  I'm taking a break to make a massive sandwich after watching man vs food

Pumpkin pie spice

This recipe uses pumpkin pie spice in the strussel topping.  I just make my own because then I get my own flavor.  I found roasted cinnamon and ginger so I'm going to use those along with cloves and nutmeg.  I'm a little weary on the roasted ginger, I think its not as strong so may add more.  I could just do equal amounts of each, but usually start with equal parts clove, cinnamon, and ginger.  I add almost the same amount of nutmeg.  From there I typically all another half part cinnamon and close to that of ginger.  Just depends on how I feel

Pi day 2

You can see how it formed, I rolled it out a bit so its 1/4 inch thick, will wrap in plastic wrap and cool.  I rolled it a bit so it would cool faster because I am impatient and want pie.