Category: eats

recipes and dinner club news and general eats from Casa de Blundell

Beef Brisket

Dollye’s Beef Brisket

2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp mustard (if you don’t have dry mustard, use bottled yellow)
2-3 tbsp louisiana hot sauce (your heat preference)
1 bay leaf crushed
3 lbs beef brisket
1 can beef stock

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients except beef stock and spoon and rub into both sides of beef brisket. Place on a roasting pan, fat side up and cook uncovered for 1 hour.

Add beef stock into bottom of roasting pan and enough water to barely touch bottom of brisket. Reduce heat to 300 degrees, cover the roasting pan with foil and continue cooking for another 2 hours.

Let the meat rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing, top with juice from the pan.

Milk Chocolate Bar Cake

MILK CHOCOLATE BAR CAKE

1 (18.25 oz.) package Swiss chocolate cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
10 (1.5 oz) milk chocolate candy bars with almonds (I used Hershey bars w/almonds)
1 (120oz.) container frozen whipped topping (I used CoolWhip)

*PREPARE cake according to package directions. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 8″ round cakepans.

*BAKE @ 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove cake from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

*BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, & granulated sugar at medium speed in electric mixer until mixture is creamy.

*CHOP 8 candy bars finely. Fold cream cheese mixture and chopped candy into whipped topping.

*SPREAD icing between layers and on top & sides of cake. Chop remaining 2 candy bars. Sprinkle half of chopped candy bars over cake. Press remaining chopped candy along bottom edge of cake.

Prep: Approx. 20 minutes. Bake: 25 minutes.

Pound cake

I just got an email forward from Shari that’s basically an email ring thats supposed to hook everyone up with at least 36 new recipes.
I’m not to sure how it works – I didn’t see the logic in the setup – but none the less I got my first recipe today. I’ll share them here as they come in.

Pound Cake

2 sticks real butter
3C Sugar
6 eggs
3C Cake Flour
½ Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
2 teas. Vanilla

Beat butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs one at a time. Alternate Cake Flour with Whipping Cream until gone. Add vanilla.

Pour into greased and floured bundt pan. Put into COLD oven. Turn temp to 350 degrees. Bake for 1 ½ hours or until lightly brown and insert comes out clean.

Beef – it’s what I want for dinner (or How to Turn Cheap “Choice” Steaks into Gucci “Prime” Steaks)

Lifehacker posted a link to Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen and her tips on how to get a prime steak out of a choice steak.
Here’s the tip. Salt salt and more salt.

Read what she writes. Wonder if I can get some steak for dinner tonight.

Family and friends dinner


Tami, Brian and Jen
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

Had the siblings/friends over for dinner tonight at Casa de Blundell. We had a great time. It was a random meal with everyone bringing some of their favorites.
The menu included spaghetti, taco soup, salad, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, a veggie tray, chips and dips and cookies.
Kathryn also went all the way to Russia and brought back some Russian chocolate and coffee (we haven’t opened the coffee yet).
To see all the photos, as well as a few older ones from this month click here.
We played some Boxers and Briefs, TV Scene It, & Apples to Apples before everyone headed home just before midnight.
49 minutes later, the dishes are done and Laurie and I are heading to bed. Good times.

Another succesful dinner club

We weren’t sure this month’s dinner club would come to fruition with the sudden horrible nasty swelling Poison Ivy rash I had this week (mmm that sounds appetizing) – but with the offensive steroids I took Friday evening and Saturday morning we figured what the heck – let’s do it.
We had a great time with friends from encounter.
Brian and Heather came, along with James and Mary and Jose and Sally.
We had a great meal full of Mediterranean flare.

Laurie and I made Fattouch and Kufta, as well as white rice to put under the Kufta.
Brian and Heather brought a Roasted Chicken with vegetables (I know it had a much fancier name than that but I’ll have to let Brian or Heather remind me of it).
Jose and Sally made a pasta dish with spinach and cheese.
And James and Mary made “Chocolatosophogus” with “Greek coco.”
We also had a great time after dinner with a rousing game of ImagineIf and “Big Bubba” aka “Big Booty.”
It’s amazing what you can find out about people through a game like ImagineIf and even Big Bubba – maybe even more so than a Myspace survey.
Heather took the win on the last round of ImagineIf and won the “Winners Sombrero.”

Oddly enough though, the sombrero is still sitting in our living room. I wonder what that means?
Of course all the photos are online at Flickr – so be sure and check them out. Although without Josh and Shalyn snapping so many photos this time we ended up with a few less than last time. But everyone got their moment to shine.
Next month we’re looking to do a cajun cuisine night and hoping for some really good gumbo so be on the lookout for a possible invite.
Anyone else doing a dinner club at their place – or at a friends? Let us know what theme’s you’ve used and how they turned out.