How we do it: hamburger

Let me ask a question: what kind of hamburger do you buy?

• I examine each package for fat content
• I buy what's on sale
• I throw in one of those plastic sleeves of hamburger because I can't stand the look of ground meat.

If I had a meat grinder I'd grind my own meat. I'm not so sure what actually goes into the hamburger coming out of the large processing plants and I'm not so sure I want to know. Your local (add your favorite market) does not grind their own meat for hamburger. Once they did but for some reason they decided butchers were too expensive to have around each store and now it comes from a town far, far away. Well, unless you live near a meat processing plant but I think our meat comes from Pleasanton, CA and anyway, I like to know just what is in my ground meat.

A few months ago I noticed Von's had a boneless chuck roast for sale and asked the man stocking the bins if he could grind this for me. Oh, it was his pleasure and was back in just a few minutes with my ground chuck. And when I cooked this hamburger it actually tasted like something other than cardboard; it tasted like beef. Imagine that. So when I hand the butcher my chuck roast it comes back just that chuck roast and nothing else.

I've been fortunate to find boneless chuck roasts on sale. This one was $2.99 a pound and I don't think that's too much for good tasting chopped meat. I'll leave it up to you but I now look for roasts on sale and when I do we have dinners like meatballs or meatloaf or chili, but the chili, that's another post.

If you try this let us know. Do you taste a difference or if you think this is way too much trouble and just buy one of those plastic sleeve o'meat.

How we do it: Green Chilies

There is really only one way to peel green chilies; roast them. I use a lot of the Anaheim long green chilies. The flavor is milder than say a jalapeno but it still has some bite and a terrific flavor.

Usually to roast them I rub a bit of oil on the skins and drop them on the BBQ grill while I'm cooking something else. You just turn them until they are equally charred on all sides and put them in a plastic bag. Their heat will cause them to steam a bit loosening the charred skin. When cooled the charred skin slips right off. Slice open one side and remove the seeds. I always snip off a piece to assess their hotness. If they are too hot for you remove the veins on the inside. That is where the heat is. Wear gloves if you are the least bit sensitive to the chili oil and whatever you do, don't touch your nose or eyes. That goes for any other chili you are handling.


When I only want one or two I turn on the gas burner and roast them there. It's quick and I love the smell in the kitchen of roasting chilies. Just remember to turn them carefully so all areas gets charred. Those odd shaped ones are difficult to keep on the burner so make sure to buy long straight ones at the market.

Cook them the same as above and remember when you are peeling off the skins and removing the seeds, don't do it under running water, it dilutes the flavor but do give them a quick rinse. I like to leave just a bit of the char on some of the chili to add some additional flavor.

We've posted a number of recipes with green chilies. Here are just a few.

Green Chili Quiche
Doodles Chili Verde

How we do it: Pie vents

This ever happen to you?
You finally get the pie crust right. You get the fruit in the pie shell and you even get a decent top crust on. Now into the oven it goes and 45 minutes later you have a drooly bubbly goo oozing out of your pie onto your clean oven making a smokey mess. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to remove the pie, toss salt on the gooey mess, make a little foil boat to catch the dripping mess and put the pie back to continue to bake.

What I found out, and from who I just can't remember, is use three pieces of uncooked penne pasta stuck in the crust before putting the pie in the oven can almost eliminate that above scenario. These little steam vents will turn crunch brown but relieve the pressure of you bubbling juices in your fruit pie. Don't forget to remove them and toss them away.


Yes, you can use those cute little ceramic birds to sit in the center but I found this is so easy and it only leaves little holes in the top crust, plus, it's nearly free unless you never use penne. Could that be? Is there someone out there who is planning to bake a pie and has never made penne pasta?

If you put a cookie sheet or something else under the pie it seems to interfere with the proper baking of the bottom crust. My mom always said, your bottom crust needs to be set before the filling bubbles or you'll get that under-done crust. She's right, you need all the heat focused on the bottom of the pie to get it right.

The pie? It's my all time favorite, Pineapple Pie. Check out the link for the recipe.