Jerky Train

I made my second craigslist purchase, an unopened food dehydrator. It seemed like a steal for $15 bucks. The idea was to make my own jerky, and success was achieved! It was not a difficult process however the meat was still pretty expensive. I will have to do research on cheaper cuts to make it more cost effective.

Pot Pie of the Year

I ate one of these at the Paula Deen restaurant in Savannah, it ruined pot pie forever, no others will compare. Luckily she has the recipe online, it cut the heavy cream in half so it wasn't as super-thick, but it was tasty all the same.

First Batch of the Year

The Butler's Pantry is fired up. The sweet samples are ready to go and the spicy are on the way.

Backyard Ham and Eggers

Thank you Karen and Troy for the fresh eggs!  No lie, they definitely are fluffier than store bought.

Lobster Dinner

The Butler Surf and Turf Beachside Inn is officially open for business.  We put together a nice lobster and chicken dinner paired with asparagus and mashed potatoes.  Grandpa swears that he had lobster only one other time.  I broke out the Cheeseburger in Paradise Mug to class the joint up.

Naan Flatbread Pizza

We have discovered the beauty of flat bread pizzas.  More toppings and more choices.  From left to right clockwise: 1. Hummus, Peppers, Onions, Feta, Mozzarella.  2. BBQ chicken and Onion.  3. Chicken, Bacon, Cheddar, Ranch.  4. Chicken, Olives, Oil, Mozzarella.

Flatbreads

We put together some flat breads (pizzalike).  Not too bad, unfortunately we bought the Naan.  Onions, peppers, tomatoes, arugula, black olives and some oil and lime dressing.

Butler Bakery

Round 3 of the Baguettes.  Took a few to work and they were well received.  Super tasty stuff however the shape is still a little off.  I will probably need to invest in a baguette pan for best results. 

For those keeping track this would fall into Pillar III of making things rather than buying.

Who Cut the Cheese

I attempted to make some cheese the other day.  Apparently making mozzarella and ricotta go hand in hand.  It all went pretty smoothly on the ricotta end but the mozzarella turned out to be more of a queso blanco, still tastes good.  The only way to make it fool proof is to find a way to get fresh unpasteurized milk, if anyone knows where to get it please let me know. 

Butler Bakery: Venetian Pizza Roll

Same batch of dough, new roll.  It is pretty much a thin basic pizza (pepperoni, cheese, sauce, banana peppers), rolled up and baked for 25.  A few kinks still need to be worked out.

Butler Bakery: Lavash

Erin has been bringing over amazing pinwheel sandwiches from some place in Jacksonville.  My olive oil dough recipe allows for the creation of Lavash, an airy flat-bread used in the concoction. 

1 Orange sized ball of dough
Spinach
Tomato
Rondele spread/ or Hummus
Sliced turkey

Butler Bakery

We put together two rustic loaves.  A little bit of rye, some wheat and a pile of all purpose flour.  Good and dense, perfect for toast after a few days.