​Ingredients

• 1 pound bacon
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup white sugar

 

• 2 pounds fresh broccoli, broken into florets
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup roasted cashews
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped

Directions

1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned and crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Cool bacon and crumble into pieces.
2. Whisk together the mayonnaise, cider vinegar, and sugar in a mixing bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Add the broccoli, raisins, cashews, onion, and crumbled bacon. Stir until evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate the salad for at least 2 hours. Let stand at room temperature 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Prep time:  10 mins
Cook time:  10 mins
Total time:  20 mins
Serves: 4

• 4 10 ounce thick tenderloin beef filets
• 2-3 tablespoons butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• Garlic & Herb Butter:
• ½ stick butter
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• ½ tablespoon minced garlic

1. For the herb butter: Soften the 1/2 stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl until malleable, 10-15 seconds. Stir in herbs and garlic until fully mixed. Spoon the butter onto tin foil doing your best to reshape it to resemble a stick of butter. Place in refrigerator for about 10 minutes and remove 5 minutes before adding to the filet.
2. For the filets: Preheat the oven to 415° F. Remove steak from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking, this is to bring the steak to room temperature and ensure your cooking times are more accurate. Season both sides generously with salt and pepper.
3. Add the olive oil and plain butter to an oven safe cast iron skillet and turn up high, allow the skillet to become scorching hot first. Place the filets face down and sear undisturbed for 2 minutes. Flip the filets and sear for an additional 2 minutes. This will give your filets a nice seared edge.
4. Transfer your skillet directly to the oven. [WARNING] skillet may be hot, handle with oven mitts. For rare, bake for 4-5 minutes. Medium rare, 5-6 minutes. Medium, 6-7 minutes. Remember, depending on the size of the steak, the more or less time it will take. This recipe is ideal for a 8-10 ounce portion, roughly 2-3 inches thick. Remove filets from the skillet and set on a plate, lightly cover with tin foil and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. This is important to bring your steak to its final serving temperature. Top with a slice of garlic and herb butter and serve.
5. Serve with fresh vegetables and your favorite salad.  

NOTES
Temperatures for steak:
Rare: 130°F to 135°F
Medium Rare: 140°F to 145°F
Medium: 155°F to 160°F
Well Done: 165°F to 170°F

We enjoyed our vacation in Las Vegas.  A vacation can always be remembered by the food we had for room service or dining in at our favorite restaurant.  The best part about eating something good away from home is that I enjoyed not having to clean up the kitchen after cooking.  Upon returning back home I was back in the kitchen to cook up something different and new.  So the first day back I cooked up some lemon pepper baked chicken as pictured above with the following recipe

Ingredients

YIELDS: 4
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 lemons, divided
1 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil (cooking)
1 cup. low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp. butter
2 cloves garlic (Chopped)
Chopped parsley, for garnish

Directions
PREP TIME: 0:15
TOTAL TIME: 0:30

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, lemon pepper, salt, and zest of one lemon. Toss halved chicken breasts in the flour mixture until fully coated. Slice 1 lemon into thin rounds.
3. In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat olive oil. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook until golden on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Flip chicken breasts.
4. To the same skillet (cast iron preferred), add the chicken broth, butter, garlic and lemon slices and transfer skillet to the oven. Bake until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170° F and the sauce has reduced slightly, 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Spoon sauce on top of chicken. Garnish with parsley.

​

The unique concept and money saving key to enduring classic recipes is not to just think about one meal  but multiple meals that can use the same meat to spread the cost over several days instead of one expenditure. 

One of the best experiences I had on active duty was serving as the Dinning Facility Officer (DFO) for Headquarters and Service Battalion, 3rd Force Service Support Group.  I was the S-4 Officer and this came with several challenges.  I was in charge of two dining facilities feeding 4000 Marines on a daily basis for two years.  This would be the third assignment of this type during my career.  My first assignment as a DFO was at Camp Fuji while serving with Range Company in 1980-81.  I had to learn the ends and outs of the MCO system and that began by reading all of the service regulations.  I discovered how to maximize the proper use of meals and that includes using leftovers for enduring meals and not simply throw away things days after.  For instance using left over ground beef hamburgers for SOS in the morning with eggs to order.  Also, the use of a salad bar to really bring the cost to feed down that enabled my Marines to always have real classic meals and not the imitation stuff.

​Enduring Classic Recipes provides ways to enjoy quality meals but save money at the same time.

​​Prime Rib or Rib Roast is not cheap and if you have a family trying to make ends meet financially then one needs to plan meals and make them spread out.  I may spend 35-40 dollars for a 5-7 rib of standing roast but way after the relatives are gone I still have leftover meat and I cutup the remaining meat including the bones and make other meals that will feed the family for at least a week. After three days I place the rest in a storage bag for use during the next few months.  My lunches come from these storage bags in the freezer.  The flavors when placed in a microwave drive my co-workers crazy.  But this secret makes those leftover meals simply the most enjoyable and delicious recipes to always remember.  You will never forget the taste and your friends or family will always ask you to make these year after year.  So be careful who you share these enduring recipes with in the future.  Recipes are forth coming in Enduring Classic Recipes.

This Christmas Eve party we served ham.  Typically every year we seem to always cook more than what is needed.  We never run out of food when guess are coming over for the holidays.  Many times people tend to through out a lot of food after holiday meals.is needed.  I cook the spiral ham and then I cut up the ham and save the bone and the top uncut portions on the ham to save for ham and northern beans.  This is a perfect way to use the left overs but this time I wanted a twist because I was craving cornbread.  I opened up the pantry and found instead this box of biscuit mix from Zatarins.  Of course I never just use anything striaght out of the box so I added some of my favorite things to spice up the flavor and wow!  The best cornbread muffins I have ever tasted.  

Normally I would just cook the beans with onions and a couple of my spices.  But this time I did a search to see what other variations were out there.  After an hour I found a Ham and Bean soup recipe.   After trying it it just did not go right with the biscuits because the flavors flooded each other.  So I modified it and adopted some of the lessons learned from cooking a favorable collard green broth.  But instead of broth I would need some chicken stock  and chicken broth.  The result is the most delicious Ham and Bean Soup Combo.using left over ham and Northern Beans.

Recipe will follow in the book Annapolis Creed: Enduring Classic Recipes