Category: Supper

Air Fryer Brats & Veggies Quicker but Different from Skillet

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One of my favorite meals is brats with yellow squash, zucchini, red bell pepper and sometimes rice. I know you’re thinking I’m about to tell you some long story regaling a rustic, romantic dreamscape whereupon my husband forgoes his football game in his starry-eyed devotion to my womanly qualities due to this intoxicating recipe, but no. I am divorced and my children are grown so I whipped up this tasty bidness to eat all by myself. And for the first time, I cooked only some of it in the skillet as usual, and the rest relaxed in the culinary desert that is the air fryer.

I already told you all the ingredients in the first sentence, except that I did put a sploot of olive oil in the skillet and some chicken seasoning on the veggies.

🎵 a sploot in the skillet and a silver spoon, little boy blue and the Man in the Moon… 🎵

With the gas stove on high, I put all five brats in the skillet to sear them. This was about a minute each side. Then I turned the fire down to medium-low. (Why does the word “medium” go first in both the phrases “medium-low” and “medium-high?”)

I had preheated the air fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit and I took two of the seared brats from the skillet and put them in the air fryer. I left the three other brats cooking in the pan but I waited on veggies before closing the air fryer to begin cooking the brats.

I quickly chopped up the vegetables like a dang boss (because who else is going to be the boss – I already told you I’m the only one here), sprinkled some seasoning on them, and split them between the skillet and the air fryer. It was almost *sneezoning* because I did have to achoo but that went in the other direction.

The air fryer whooped the booties of those brats and veggies in 10 minutes flat. Meanwhile the skillet needed closer to 18 minutes to do its duty.

The difference between the two end results on the plate is going to depend on your taste preference. The air fryer was quicker and gave the veggies a smoky taste but they were also a little drier than I would have liked. While eating, I ended up dabbing them in the brat juice to compensate. Hmm… Dabbing in the brat juice – there’s a joke in there somewhere about the temperament of elementary school kids.

You will remember that I put a sploot of olive oil in the pan. Maybe next time I put veggies in the air fryer, I will der spritzen beforehand. I learned all my Swedish from a Muppet chef – don’t act like you need a translator!

In the end, I made a happy plate, eating all the food from the air fryer, and I will surely eat the rest of it from the skillet tomorrow.

Got any questions? Leave a comment! Thanks for reading and following Shelli Cooks! I’m also on Facebook and Instagram.

First time using Air Fryer – slow potatoes, but yummers

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My face when I’m starving but I’m only 12 pages into the 32-page air fryer operation manual. But then I find out the second half is just repeating it in Spanish:

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One. Hour. Later.

My initial Air Fryer test is complete. Wildly entertaining video below.

Preheated fryer to 360°. Cut potato & soaked in cold water 30 min. (Soaked the potato, not me. That’s a summertime recipe you’re thinking of.) Covered in tiny amount of oil (about 1/2 a teaspoon) and salted them. Then I put them in the fryer for 25 minutes.

If raw potatoes and an air fryer are the only things you have around to cook with, then one hour may seem a little more acceptable to end up with this small amount of french fries. However, they were very tasty and now they are very gone.

Wasabi Eggs Backfired, But I’m OK With That

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I was in charge of deviled eggs for Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. I thought I’d prank my oldest son so I put wasabi in some of the deviled eggs. Well they turned out darn tasty and now I’m sad that I didn’t make more. 🥚🤷

Someone asked me how to make it. Well… you boil some eggs and peel them. Cut ’em in half, pick their li’l yellow tummies out and chuck that yellow in a mixing bowl. Line up the white parts real pretty on a plate or egg dish or whatever is necessary for the journey the eggs will eventually make. You don’t want any egg rollover. It’s just not pretty.

So next you use this row of stuff. Pickle relish, mayonnaise, mustard, and wasabi.

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Here’s where it gets hazy. Or squirty I guess. I mean I just squirted some of each into the bowl of yellow tummies. It could be a delicate balance, but the bottom line is you need enough moisture in the mixture for the yellow stuff to stick when it gets spooned into the white stuff.  But not so much that it can run off the spoon. And not so dry that a dear relative could get choked up and cough their dentures out. Just go slow with the squirts, mix it some and put in more if you need it.

Now that you have your innards, spoon it into the egg halves. You can put pepper on the tops or paprika or both. Yesssss delightful.

Wait. What do you mean you don’t know how to boil eggs? Ok I’ll tell you. But for this, I cook it longer than just regular boiled eggs. Because I like ’em soft like my own middle.

Okay, get a pot and bring it to the sink. Gently put your eggs in it. Put in enough water to cover your eggs. Next put in about 2 teaspoons of cooking oil. Put the pot on the stove on high. When the water boils, out a lid on the pot and leave it 5 minutes.

Take the pot to the sink and tip it to the side to drain out as much water as you can. That hot water is good to wash away all the junk in the sink that your weak little hands tried to scrub earlier. Now get some cold water in there from the sink. This and the cooking oil are so it’s easier to get that shell off.

When the cold water is drowning all your eggies, take them out one at a time and crack the shell on the side of the sink or on the pot. Crack it all the way around the egg. Next start peeling from the end of the egg and chuck the peel in the trash. When your eggs is naked, give him a shower in the faucet water to take away any leftover shell.

There ya go. Boiled eggies.

It was supposed to be chili, but Sloppy José I guess

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Step 1. Brown some ground beef and put in all your secret spices that everyone else also uses to make chili, then remember you don’t have tomatoes and it’s too cold to go to the store.

Step 2. Sit down and pout even though you know it’s your fault for not finding all the ingredients before starting.

3. Put the beef in a plastic container and swear you’re going to add tomatoes and beans tomorrow.

4. Continue to be hungry for chili, because of course you took a taste and now it’s got you in its grip.

5. Decide you’re smarter than people who can’t have fun without tomatoes.

6. Put the greasy pan back on the fire.

7. Throw in some shredded mozzarella because the cheddar is in the freezer. Jesus now has the wheel.

8. Search the fridge for divine inspiration. Wasabi? No. Pickles? No. Leftover Tacos 4 Life sauce from a faded rice bowl in the rearview mirror of your heart? YES!

9. The mozz is changing shape so scoop a sloppy joe’s worth of beef over it and use a spatula to push out rows in the beef like you’re about to plant seeds for next year’s soybean harvest.

10. Shake that tiny T4L sauce cup like the spray paint can dedicated to your next misdemeanor then only splash a little on the beef because that stuff is gold and you’re lonely but not desperate.

11. Pinky-groom your eyebrows and think about the time you and your friends made up that dance to Leif Garrett’s “I Was Made for Dancin” and blame your lack of fame and fortune on the one kid who wanted to be a team player but only liked country music.

12. Barrel a rolling pin across two slices of wheat bread that came from a bag with a Disney character on it because you also don’t have tortillas in the house, you absolute Yugo of a human.

13. That mozz is brown and cronchy by now but the spatula isn’t your friend for a cheese flip. Unless you like so many folds in your sammich it books an Oktoberfest gig and starts stretching out to play The Chicken Dance. Just pick up the pan and pour everything on your now-flat bread. Smash the lid on top (for y’all playing at home, that’s the other piece of bread).

14. Get out the pizza cutter so you will have dirtied at least 10 dishes at this point. That’s how you know you’re a genius chef.

15. Eat the first triangle and bend your knees while yelling “GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL!” You know why.

16. Stack the other 3 triangles and charge them $50 for a photographic sitting fee.

17. Eat the 2nd triangle while you edit the photo.

18. Eat the last 2 while you post nonsense to Facebook.

19. Wonder how it’s possible you’re single.

20. Nap in the recliner.

The pig on the 5-day cruise

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Happy Cinco de Mayo! Carnitas with black beans, pineapple, avocado, salsa, cilantro and cheddar. I named it The 5-day Cruise. And then I ate it.

The Perfect Boiled Egg Needs More Science

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Scientists, I need you to stop what you’re doing and figure out a thing to alert average folks that it’s the perfect time to take the eggs out of the boiling water. I did really well this time. I managed to get a pure yellow yolk – no green and not runny – and in the texture range smack between fudge and brownies. Oh man, to eat these things warm was a beautiful experience. You completely forget they came out of a chicken butt. Continue reading “The Perfect Boiled Egg Needs More Science”

Video: Shelli tries new food – Almond Butter!

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I was at the grocery store and looking for healthy things to eat. I had a basket full of veg and then I was looking for some sunflower seed or something similar. Strolling down the nut aisle, I spied this lady working at a machine that I had previously mistaken for a nut dispenser (the machine, not the lady). Continue reading “Video: Shelli tries new food – Almond Butter!”

Anarchy Pizza?

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Did you order pizza? We’re sorry, there’s no order here because…  This! Is! ANARCHY PIZZAAAA!

Ok, I really just called it that because of how I cut it. And I really just cut it that way because I wanted to make one big pretty slice from the middle so I could take a picture. Then I thought a second about cutting a Continue reading “Anarchy Pizza?”

It’s a biscuit. It’s a boat. It’s Sausage Biscuit Boats.

 

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I made sausage biscuits where the sausage is part of the biscuit. Some cheddar too and it’s a beautiful thing.

To make these, it’s going to be very similar to my Sausage Balls recipe, but because of the shape, you can add things to the middle… An egg, some extra cheddar like I did this time or whatever you like.

The only difference here is that you’ll use a cupcake pan and baking a little lower and longer. That means 350F for 15-18 minutes, so you’re sure it’s done on the inside and just brown enough on the outside.

I just ate four of them for dinner. Y’all please don’t let my doctor see this post.

Frozen Razorback for Supper

I was pulling frozen chicken out of a bag and this guy only needed a twisty-tie for a tail to be complete.

I ate him after a lemon oregano saute.

No, the chicken wasn’t from Arkansas, but it was from Georgia and that’s where Frank Broyles is from, so we’re getting somewhere now.

I know Frank Broyles is this guy, but do you ever say “Frank Broyles” and think of one of these?