The PiperMethod™ School of Belly Dance

• 1 scoop wild rice
  
• 2 scoops jasmine or basmati brown rice
  
• 2 level teaspoons chicken base (I like McCormick's)
  
• 2 level teaspoons Mrs. Dash
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 level tablespoon apricot jam or 1 teaspoon honey
  
• 1 cup white wine, or 1 extra cup water

Sauce

• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup water
• 1 beef bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon beef goop from a jar
• 1 heaping teaspoon corn starch
• 1 heaping teaspoon of flour
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon plum sauce or apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon chopped capers
• Olive Oil
• Vegetables for roasting (mushrooms, eggplant, sweet potatoes, acorn or butternut squash, zucchini, etc.)
• 2 beef shanks sprinkled with Mrs. Dash or ground pepper
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 cubic inch chopped ginger

Preheat oven to 375. Mix sauce ingredients. Clean and chop vegetables in large chunks. Place vegetables in a baking dish. Remove fat/fascia that goes around the beef shank so that they will cook flat. Brown beef shanks in olive oil and place in dish. Add some more olive oil, plus onions and ginger to pan and cook just long enough to sizzle before adding sauce mix to pan. Once the sauce starts to simmer, add crushed garlic, stir and pour over baking dish. For thick cuts, bake for 50 minutes covered in aluminum foil. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes.

Quick Fix
Skip browning beef by putting olive oil on bottom of baking dish and adding pepper, onion, and garlic directly to cold sauce. Bake an extra 10 minutes. Saves you from having to clean up oil splatter and only changes the taste a little.

Even Quicker
Just dump all ingredients into a large pot (skip the trimming part too, and toss the shanks as is right in the pot) and simmer on low until the meat starts to fall off the bones. Sweet potatoes and zucchini fall apart if they are cooked too long so add them about 10 minutes before you’re ready to eat.

Piper’s “Baby Back” Pork Ribs

• 2 pounds pork ribs
• ¼ cup sherry
• Mrs. Dash
• 1 chopped onion
• 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ cup ketchup
• ¼ cup plum sauce or apricot jam
• 2 sq. in. chopped ginger
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tsp. mustard

Sauce

• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup water
• 1 chicken bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon chicken goop
• 5 shakes green Tabasco
• Several shakes Italian Seasoning herbs
• ½ cubic inch chopped ginger
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon plum sauce or apricot jam

Dish

• Vegetables for roasting (sweet potatoes, acorn or butternut squash, zucchini, mushrooms)
• 4 chicken thighs
• Flour for dredging
• Mrs. Dash
• ½ chopped onion
• 1 clove crushed garlic

Preheat oven to 375. Mix sauce ingredients. Clean and chop vegetables in large pieces. Place vegetables in oiled baking dish. Heat a thin layer of olive oil on medium high heat until just barely starting to smoke. Brown chicken thighs in olive oil and place in dish. Add onions to pan, sprinkle with Mrs. Dash, and cook just long enough to sizzle before adding sauce mix to pan. Once the sauce starts to simmer, add crushed garlic, mix and pour over baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes covered in aluminum foil. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes.

Quick Fix

Banana Bread

• 2 packs Piper’s Pancake Mix (4.5 cups)
• 1.5 cup peanut oil
• 2 cubic inches chopped ginger
• 7 over ripe bananas
• 8 eggs
• ¼ cup vanilla
• ¼ molasses
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ maple syrup
• 1 shake salt

Bake at 350 – 20 minutes for cupcakes, 40 minutes for loaf pans

Piper's Pancake Mix

• ½ cup corn flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup white flour
• ½ cup quick oats
• ¼ cup ground flax seeds
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon