So, I had a large bowl of some leftover vegetables I had cut up for Chicken Skewers for the 2024 Army/Navy Game (Go Navy - N31 - A13) and was considering how to best utilize them. Should I simply Sauté them? or maybe roast them? and then the 36°F temperature hit me as I was walking down to fetch the mail, and boom, SOUP, Soup is what was needed on this cold winter day, so, with that I scoured the house and found a few things to get this concoction created. I gathered up the original bowl of pre-cut veggies (2 types of Mushrooms, some Green and Yellow Squash, and Red Bell Pepper), an extra Green and Yellow Pepper, the last Jalapeño in the fridge, a medium Onion, a bulb of Garlic, a can of Sweet Corn and a can of Diced Tomatoes as well as some Chicken Stock and just 3 simple spices, Fennel, Coriander, and Caraway would pair perfectly with the earthy Mushroom and Squash flavors.

Mise en place (MEEZ ahn plahs) is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking – this makes cooking a lot more enjoyable, the food is better tasting by not burning this while chopping that, etc. Ingredients – for a serving of about 5 or 6 ½ pack of CRISP FRIED BACON STRIPS – For this recipe I highly recommend frying the Bacon in a deep Cast Iron Pan and transfer to a paper towel. You could cook it the Oven and Parchment Paper way, but we need the Bacon Fat, so using the Cast Iron will best achieve this goal. Reserve as much of the Bacon Grease as possible, we need it later. Once it has sat on the paper towel and cooled a bit, chop it up, crumble it up, get it into small to medium size pieces. 2 or 3 pounds of Diced Red Potatoes (Skin On). Boil the potato whole to avoid having waterlogged potatoes (the skin will repel water entering into the meat of the potato). I prefer a little firmer potato salad, so constantly try and pierce a potato with a toothpick (I use bamboo skewers) until it feels like something you want – it should slide in but not go through nor break the potato. Immediately submerse the boiled potatoes in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Once you can pick them up without getting burned, dice them into 1- or 2-inch squares. Hard Boil 6 eggs. First, boil the eggs. Place them in a pot and cover them with cold water by an inch. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water comes to a full boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Leave the eggs in the hot water for about 10 minutes – I prefer a little less than full on hard for this recipe. Go 12 minutes if you want full hard-boiled eggs. Peel and chop up. I just use a fork and break the eggs down into ½ or so size pieces. You could throw them in a food processor for a couple of spins, but we do not want egg dust, we definitely want egg chunks here. Dice up a ½ of a yellow onion. Dice up 4 or 5 green onions. Dice up 2 or 3 stalks of celery. Gather some Salt, Black Pepper, perhaps some paprika, whatever spices you would typically put in your potato salad. Measure out 1 cup of Duke’s Mayonnaise (It’s Got Twang! – others are too sweet or bland) Measure out ¼ cup of spicy brown mustard Assembly: Warm the Bacon Grease back up if it isn’t still warm. Once it is nice and warm, make a slurry with the Bacon Grease, Mayo, and Mustard in the pan. Add the bacon crumbles and warm the mixture through. In a Large bowl, add the Potatoes, Eggs, Celery, both kinds of Onions and season well with salt and black pepper. Once this is all mixed, slowly add the skillet slurry with a spatially so as to not be smashing or breaking the potatoes. Taste and update with Salt, Pepper, Paprika, whatever as you see fit. Tempting alternative ingredients: Garlic Salt with Parsley, Celery Salt, Cayenne Pepper

Recently I hosted a work event where I provided a nice hoagie sandwich bar, complete with four or five meats and cheeses, a lot of various vegetables, several dressings/spreads, and more than a few choices of bread. All-in-all it was a fantastic event with everyone enjoying the food quite a bit, apparently, minus the Red Onions, seems nobody or very few decided to put the Red Onions on their sandwiches, which led to two hole thinly sliced Red Onions being left over. What to do with so many already sliced Red Onions? While I have seen several uses of Yellow Onions, I haven't really seen a lot of folks discussing leftover Red Onion. I suppose they could be pickled, or kept around for sandwiches and salads, they may be good for grilling or roasting, I'm not really up to speed on Red Onions. With all that in mind, and knowing how much the Mrs. and I enjoy carnalized onions in general, I thought why not try and make an "Onion Jam", not a jelly for a PBJ type thing, but more like the Bacon or Jalapeño jam one might get on a burger. I am thinking an Onion Jam would be just as good and would work for things like Pizza, Grilled Cheese sandwiches, and of course a burger or two. So with that I gathered my ingredients and set out to make some Onion Jam. The required ingredients should be pretty simple, the Onions (of course), some Olive Oil, Butter, and Brown Sugar to get them carnalized, perhaps some sort of Balsamic or Wine vinegar, and of course Salt and Pepper.

We get started by gently mixing a Table Spoon of the Meat Church Honey Hog BBQ and a Teaspoon of the Traeger Saskatchewan Rub. Once it is all mixed together, just let that sit and marinade while we get our veggies prepped.

The day we toured this house prior to purchase I saw the potential for this space to become a theater.

So, once again I find myself home alone as lunch approaches and feeling a little rumble in the tummy. I head off to the kitchen to scour the refrigerator and see what might be available. I instantly spot a bag of broccoli florets I took out of the freezer a few days ago and then got side-tracked and didn't use. I then dig around a little more and find a small handful of cauliflower florets in a bag with some celery, green onions, and red onion. I see we have milk, butter, and I tend to always keep a few jars of various Better than Bouillon on hand as they are easier to keep, last longer than boxed broths, and tend to taste much better as well. Today I see we have a jar of Roasted Chicken Base, Roasted Garlic Base, and Sautéed Onion on hand.

Here it is, just after noon on a sunny Monday morning, the wife is off at work and I am beginning to feel a little puckish. I go up to check the refrigerator for what leftovers might be there and all of a sudden, I get this feeling I have just stumbled upon the next Chopped Basket. A half of cup of cooked ground beef, a couple of tablespoons of leftover mushrooms and garlic from the last Korean meal, as I open the draws I find a half of a Vidalia onion, some loose lettuce from the past weekends gun class lunches, a few cherry tomatoes from the last gun guy movie night and I think to myself, “Ok, I can work with this, let’s go to the Pantry” (as they say on Chopped). I remember that although we have eaten several MRE meals this year, nobody seems to want the Plain or Chipotle Tortillas that come in the pack, so it hits me .. Breakfast Burrito’s ala Leftovers. I grab a couple of eggs, four slices of Pepper Jack Cheese and 2 slices of Bologna to add something not yet cooked to the skillet. I go to work putting 2 tablespoons of butter and an equal amount of garlic Olive Oil in the pan to warm up. Once warm I toss in the chopped-up onion and let that cook until it is soft and translucent. I add the garlic and mushroom mix and cook for about 30 seconds or so. Once I smell garlic, I toss in the chopped-up Bologna and get that fried a bit and then throw in the ground beef. At this point we’re going to need some seasonings, so I sprinkle in a bit of Salt and Pepper, a tablespoon of Cumin and Turmeric and 2 tablespoons of Smoked Paprika for spice. While that cooks down another 2 or 3 minutes I whisk together 2 eggs and a couple tablespoons of milk in a bowl. I toss the chopped-up Cherry tomatoes into the pan and mix thoroughly and then coat the mixture in the pan with the egg mixture. Once the eggs start to look cooked, I flip it over like an omelet and top it with 4 slices of cheese. I make a small hole near the center and pour in about a tablespoon of Apple Juice to create some steam to melt the cheese and throw a lid on the pan. While the cheese is getting melted, I put one Plain and one Chipotle Tortilla on the grill side of the stove top. After a minute or so I flip the tortillas and scramble up the mixture in the skillet. Once the tortillas are done, I put them on my plate with the burrito mix, top that with the shredded lettuce, some Tostitos Salsa I found in the fridge and a few shakes of Good Old Mrs. Cholula’s Hot Sauce. Paired with a cold glass of Apple Juice and I have myself a Chopped worthy Leftover Breakfast Burrito …

Perma Del Mar (PDM) Double Toro 6 x 60. A beautiful dark chocolate looking Trunk-Pressed cigar. I have to admit, I tend to push the box pressed cigars around in my humidor until that's about my only choice left. I find the square shape a bit clunky to smoke, I can't always seem to get a tight seal for a good draw. The PDM, having a 60 ring did not present this problem, right from the start the draw was easy and smooth delivering a mouth full of smoke. Since I decided to start posting a few reviews I researched how/what most reviews describe and talk about in relation to cigars. The Cigar review is typically laid out in thirds. In Maduro reviews I found the first third is generally described with words like dark earth, toasted cedar, and baking spice flavors. In this PDR I could definitely identify the earthy toasted flavor, I'm not sure yet what "baking spice" is referring to? As a cook I would think things like Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, maybe Clove or something? Anyway I don't think I have a pallet to get that detailed. I am definetly not what you would refer to as a "Super Taster". This first third was earthy, toasted, pretty flavorful. I paired this third with the Aldus Brewing Co. Going Deutsche Octoberfest and found it an excellent pairing.