Jamacian Beef Patties

I celebrated the new year in San Diego, CA with my brother, whom I haven't seen in 2 years. He is a Marine, stationed at Camp Pendelton. We spent 5 days accomplishing a whole lot of nothing, something neither of us are accustomed to doing. Each morning we woke up and he complained about how cold the 50 degree weather was (HA! Back in Minnesota it was 10 degrees!!) Then we went for a nice long jog that involved either ridiculously steep hills (Escondido, where he lives, happens to be in the bottom of a valley so no matter where we went it was always up hill) or running along the serene but ferocious ocean. We ran across rivers in our (expensive) running shoes, we sprinted up steep hills until our thighs burned, then we went back to his apartment and ate until we couldn't move. On my last day there, we indulged in a frozen yogurt buffet at the mall and a 10 minute chair massage by some lovely gentlemen that didn't speak a speck of English.

Here is my brother and I (photo above) at Bernardo Winery outside of San Diego. It isn't a running winery anymore but they have tons of crazy stuff just laying around. Below is my brother and his wife. They are so in love it makes you nauseous, but in a good way.

We visited some lovely wineries and saw some beautiful artwork by various street vendors. The whole time I was there I only spent 4 hours actually within the city limits of San Diego. My poor camera only made an appearance one time. I was enjoying my freedom from everyday responsibilities...far to relaxed to think about pulling out the camera to document every moment of our time together. But now that I think about it, it sure would be nice to have a few pictures to remember my trip. Oh well!

Jamaican Beef Patties
Slightly adapted from EatingWell

Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
5 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup ice water
1 large egg yolk

Filling
1 pound 93% lean ground beef
4 green onions, minced
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt

For Crust:
Add flours, turmeric, salt, baking powder in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Cut butter into small pieces and cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until butter pieces are small, but still visible. Add oil and toss with a fork to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together water and egg yolk and add to flour mixture and stir until dough comes together. Knead for about a minute until dough comes together in a ball, then wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For Filling:
Add ground beef, green onion and cayenne pepper and cook over medium heat until beef is no longer pink and is cooked through. Stir in breadcrumbs, water, thyme, turmeric and salt, mix well and let cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

To make patties roll out dough until about 3/8" thick, and using a 3" biscuit cutter, cut circles out of dough. Add 1 tablespoon of beef mixture onto dough and add another dough circle on top. Pinch sides tightly together with a fork and poke a hole in top of patty. Repeat until all dough or beef if gone. (I had quite a bit of meat left over, which we used for nachos the next night.) I ended up with 14 patties.

Bake patties until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. I served my patties sour cream. Enjoy!!

BBQ and Slaw Sandwiches

Thank you God for such beautiful warm fall days. For the unexpected sunshine. For recharging my batteries with the rays you send down from heaven. The crisp air that fills my lungs and makes any bad feelings I had wash away.

Thank You for cousins that know how to drive the John Deere, for one last romp around the yard to burn off excess energy the kids have already stored throughout the last few rainy days. For feeling youthful and for my families continued health. Thank You for that sunshine shining in my windows today to heat the house...since the furnace motor is still on back order.

...and thank you for bbq beef and coleslaw sandwiches...

3 pound chuck roast
about 2 cups water
1 1/2 cups to 2 cups bbq sauce
Garlic powder, Lawry's and freshly cracked pepper

Place roast in a glass 9x13" pan and add water to bottom of pan, about 1 1/2" deep. Season roast liberally. Cover pan tightly with tinfoil and place in a 250 degree oven for 5 - 7 hours depending on the thickness of your roast. When roast is done, you should easily be able to shred roast with two forks.

When your roast is done, shred with two forks and place meat back into pan with about 1 cup of juice. Add bbq sauce to pan with beef and juice and stir to combine. Turn oven down to 250 degrees and return pan to oven for 20 minutes to heat bbq sauce through. I like to have my bbq beef on the runny side because I end up with a lot of left overs and it ensures you have enough juice to keep your beef moist throughout the time it is in the refrigerator.

Coleslaw

1/3 head green cabbage, shredded
1/3 head purple cabbage, shredded
3/4 cup shredded carrots, shredded
1/2 red onion, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup powder sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

In a large bowl add green cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, and onion. Toss with hands to combine. In a small bowl, mix together mayo, powder sugar, celery seed, celery salt, and salt. Pour over cabbage and toss to thoroughly combine.

To assemble sandwich, start with the bun (for a great, soft homemade whole wheat bun click here). Put a big scoop of bbq beef on top of bun and follow with a big scoop of coleslaw! Dig In!!