Spicy...whew...

Well...no picture...we sorta dove in to quickly cause we were hon-gree and just plain forgot!  Sorry.

I still had some Italian sausage left from the other day.  (Remember, I had the marvelous coupon and just had to use it.)  Today I decided to spice up an old favorite.  My darling husband/best friend cooked dinner one night (before he became the husband part of his name) and it still rotates into the dinner rounds quite often.  The original recipe is a package of Zatarain's Dirty Rice with browned sage sausage.  The box tells you how to do this with hamburger but we prefer the taste of the sausage.  Tonight I decided to expound on that recipe.

I took the rest of the Italian sausage out of their casing and put it in the skillet on medium high with one chopped onion, one chopped green pepper, one seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper and three chopped cloves of garlic and a splash of olive oil.  After the sausage was done and the peppers a little softened (about four minutes) I added one can of kidney beans and the Zatarain's mix with 2 cups of water.  I brought this to a boil and turned it down to a simmer and cooked it for about an hour.  We had some leftover raspberry tea to wash it down with...and man, did that hit the spot.  I will admit, this dish was on the verge of being a bit too spicy for me.  I think that jalapeno pepper was a hot one.  Sometimes they are real mild but sometimes, whew....sweating...

My darling husband/best friend took one bite and said, man-that's good.  Words to warm a cook's heart.  There is nothing like cooking for someone who truly appreciates your efforts. Thanks honey.

With no protein left in the house, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring to the dinner plate. That's exciting.  Maybe I will be able to pull out something brand new and complicated and try my hand at it.  Keep the Pizza Hut number handy...

The last of the leftovers....

Dinner tonight was dictated by some leftovers and some potatoes that were about to go bad.  If you have read the previous blogs you know we had Kung Pao Beef for dinner one night.  I had the other half of the flank steak just sitting there begging to be part of a panini.  (My darling husband/best friend got me the most wonderful present I have ever received last Christmas, a grill/panini maker.  The reason it was so wonderful is because I was getting tired of trying to balance the pot on top of the sandwich in the pan to make a panini.)  I had leftover rosemary potato bread from the Memorial Day Picnic fare and it is at it's absolute best when made into a panini  The toasting just brings something else out in that bread...yum.  It ended up as flank steak cooked medium well (salt and pepper) and sauteed onions (salt and pepper) and some colby cheese.  Nothing else.  It really didn't need it.  I also needed to use up some of that aioli because you really don't want to keep sauces like that for more than a week.  No preservatives in homemade stuff.  I had some potatoes that were almost gone (I am sure you have been there before) so I just cubed them up and boiled them until tender, chopped up a small onion and two stalks of celery and added the rosemay and lemon scallion aioli (about 1/2 cup each) and then two spoons of the chipotle aioli.  Very good.  All I had to add was some additional salt and pepper.  Once again, yum!  I love it when some leftovers come together to make a delicious and satisfying meal.

Memorial Day Family Fun!!!

Memorial Day picnic...yes, I think I will.  The family decided to get together at Pipestem State Park for the day.  I was given dessert duty.  There are so many things I wanted to make but I had to keep in mind that it was going to be hot, hot, hot and I didn't want to have to worry about things melting or going bad without a cooler.  It seemed perfect to me to prepare my stepsons favorite desserts.  Nick, the fellow foodie, loves blueberry cobbler.  It is his birthday cake of choice every year.  And Mike loves chocolate chip cookies.  I think this must run in the family as his Dad and Grandma are avid fans also.  And since neither needs a cooler, perfect!

The chocolate chip cookies are not any special recipe.  I figure Nestle has that recipe pretty much figured out so I just go by the back of the bag.  I did double the batch and mix the chips (one milk chocolate, one semi-sweet) but other than that just use good ingredients.  Real butter makes a difference!  Cookies were flying all over the park as people asked for another.



The cobbler is also quite easy.  It consists of 5 ingredients.

1 stick of butter (real, please)
2 cups of self rising flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups milk
2 cups blueberries (or berries of your choice)

You need to make a compote to go on the top of this cobbler.  It's very easy to do.  Put one cup of water and one cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of your blueberries in a pot and bring it to a boil.  Lower the temp to medium high and allow it to reduce by half.  You want a thick syrupy consistency.  Takes about 10 minutes.

Put the stick of butter in a 13x9 pan (I like disposable for picnic purposes) and place in the oven at 350 degrees. While the oven is coming up to temp and the butter is melting mix the flour, sugar and milk just until there are no lumps. Don't over mix.

When the preheat is done the butter should be sizzling.  Take out your pan and pour in the batter mixture.  Place the blueberries in the batter evenly and then spoon the compote on top.  Bake this for one hour at 350.  Really good with whipped cream!

Because both desserts were relatively simple I wanted to stretch and try something I had never done before.  Since the main entree was sandwiches I thought I would try my hand at some aioli.  I had heard that term bandied about on the Food Network and thought it would be hard to make.   Turns out that aioli is simply garlic-ky mayo.  I had three flavors that I wanted to make.  Something hot.  A chipotle perhaps because my darling husband/best friend loves HOT.  Something savory...rosemary is one of our favorite flavors.  And something with a citrus flair.  Lemon and scallion...yum.

They are really simple to make.  I used light mayonnaise.  Maybe next time I will make my own.  Baby steps.

Chipotle Aioli (VERY SPICY)
1 cup mayo
4 chipotle peppers in adobo
2 Tbsp of the adobo
4 cloves garlic
juice of 1 lime

Buzz it all up in the blender.

Rosemary Aioli
1/2 cup mayo
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
juice of 1 lime

Buzz it all up in the blender

Lemon Scallion Mayo
1/2 cup mayo
5 scallions (green part included)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Buzz it all up in the blender

Told you they were simple.  But oh so good!!!  and when I say that the chipotle is hot, trust me.  Spread it on thinly.  Or mellow it out with more of the mayo.  My darling husband/best friend wouldn't let me do that.  Prefers to suffer I guess.

We had too much food for just 12 people but it's better to have to much than not enough.  One of the sisters-in-law made some potato salad that was just too yummy.  She said it was Alton Brown's Cold Fashioned Potato Salad recipe so google it and try it.  You won't regret it!  YUM!!  She also made a pasta salad but said it was a throw together of whatever is on hand and not a specific recipe.  It was also yummy. A mixture of squash, zucchini, capers, ham and lots of other stuff.  Seemed to have an Italian style dressing on it. I had a hard time not pigging out.  Didn't want to embarrass myself in front of the in-laws.  The rest of the menu consisted of deli meats (ham, turkey and beef) and deli cheese (colby, gouda and american).  Breads; whole wheat, white, rosemary potato and onion rolls.  Tomato, pickle and assorted condiments.  Chips of every kind and soda, water and tea to drink.  Whew, we were full!

Too full to do this blog.  That's why it's a day late.  When I take a holiday, I take a holiday.  And because we had so much food left over tonight's dinner was a sandwich and chips.

Onion roll with a slice of ham, roast beef, gouda,  colby and a smear of the rosemary and chipotle aioli.  A few kettle chips on the side and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.


A perfect end to a perfect holiday weekend.

Italian night! Yummmmm

 Italian night...yipee!!!  I love me some Italian food.  Who am I trying to kid, I love all food.  Except offal.  I don't like offal.  Anyway, on to the Italian discussion.  No leftovers to contend with, the fridge is all cleaned out, so I have a clean slate for a dinner decision.  One of my favorite go-to meals is spaghetti.  We went to the grocery store the other day and I had an excellent coupon for some Italian sausage.  Now, we don't normally buy and or eat such things because we are trying to..."lighten our load" to put it nicely. However, an excellent coupon just begs to be redeemed. So we bought a pack of Italian sausage.  And since we don't normally buy such things I had to put on my thinking cap on what to do with it.  I thought why not just add it to spaghetti sauce.

My go-to spaghetti sauce is so much better than any jarred sauce I have ever tried...and so easy to make.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 15oz cans petite diced tomato
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp red paper flake (remember, we like it hot)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil for about three minutes on medium.  Add everything else and simmer for at least an hour.  I let it go two if I have the time.  You want to end up with almost a paste, not much liquid.

When the sauce was done I took two of the Italian sausages and pinched off pieces creating small little chunks of sausage which I fried up real crisp and then added to the sauce.  I didn't cook the sausage in the sauce because I wanted that crispy texture to come through.

I always use Dreamfield pasta.  It is a higher fiber pasta that is better for you.  I cook it according to the package instructions and it is always good.

And of course you have to add the grated parmigiana cheese.  Wouldn't be the same without the cheese! Enjoy!

My favorite Chinese dish...

My beautiful sister got us a wok for Christmas our first year together.  She knows how much I love to cook. At that time, I had not made any Chinese food other than what my brother called Chicken Teri Yucky  I often wondered if he really liked the meal when he gave it such a name, but he requested it enough for my feelings to not be hurt.  When I got the wok I wondered if I would really use it that much but my darling husband/best friend, along with having a penchant for pico de gallo, also has an intense Chinese food fetish.  So three cookbooks later I started my adventures in wok-ing.  This recipe is my absolute favorite.  You can use chicken or beef and any veggies you have on hand.

The first picture is what I call my go-to rice for Chinese meals.  It is white basmati cooked in chicken broth.  You want to put this on first because it takes 20 minutes to simmer.  While you are waiting for the rice to get done chop up three garlic cloves and four green onions and saute them in some oil then when the rice is done add it and a packet that I found in the store called Stir Fry Rice seasoning.  It's in the Asian food spot of any store around here so I know you can find it where you are. Combine well and let it sit while you do everything else.  Rice done.

While you are waiting on that rice to cook, because we all know it does not take 20 minutes to chop up three garlic cloves and four green onions, you can be cutting your meat into bite size pieces and making the marinade/sauce.

The best part of this recipe is the marinade/sauce.  I found this recipe in a magazine (so much for the expensive cookbooks),

Marinade/Sauce recipe
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (actually I use 1 1/2 cause we like it HOT)
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup of water

stir this up and put about half of it on the meat of your choice and allow it to marinate while you chop everything else up.  Reserve the other half to throw in with your veggies while they are cooking.

Once again I needed to use up some veggies in the fridge.  The tri-color peppers I got on sale at the beginning of the week were about to meet the same shriveled fate that the jalapenos were headed for yesterday.  I had half a red, yellow, orange and green pepper just waiting to be chopped up.  I added two carrots and the rest of the celery I had on hand, about three average stalks.  It was actually the middle bits but I think they would average out to three stalks of the outer part.  I added one small onion cut in half and then sliced thinly.  I can't resist water chestnuts so I threw in a can of those also.  I have used bok choy and sugar snap peas in this recipe but like I said earlier you can use any crunchy veggies you have on hand.

Just use the standard Chinese food cooking method.  Wok hot-throw in some oil and the meat-cook for a minute or two and remove from the pan. It doesn't need to be completely done because you are going to throw it back in towards the end.  Add a little more oil and throw in the veggies.  Cook for a minute or two and put in the reserved sauce.  Cook for a minute or two and throw the meat back in. (Don't leave out the meat juices that are on the plate, that's the good stuff)  Cook for a few more minutes or until the veggies are the desired crunch for your taste.

The third picture is to show that you can garnish this to your heart's delight.  My darling husband/best friend loves some extra green onion and we both love the crunch of the peanuts.  Yummm.

I wanted Mexican...

I had some free time today and decided I wanted some Mexican flavors for dinner.  I had some corn tortillas left from making Chicken Tortilla Soup (more about that when I make it again).  You cannot buy just a few corn tortillas.  They always come in packs of a million.  Exaggeration, of course.  However, I did have a daunting amount left and just felt the need to use them up.  I also had a couple of jalapeno peppers left in the bin calling out to be used before they shriveled.  So what to make with corn tortillas and jalapeno peppers.  One of my favorite appetizers at any restaurant is nachos.  From the simple, just chips and cheese, to the elaborate, piled high with everything but the kitchen sink.  My darling husband/best friend has a penchant for pico de gallo so with those two things in mind (nachos and pico) I decided on dinner.  The first step was to assemble the pico since it always tastes better the longer it sets.

Pico de Gallo

6 Roma tomatoes seeded and diced to the best of your ability
1/2 red onion diced as above
2 jalapeno peppers -you know the drill
fresh cilantro chopped fine-the amount is to taste, some like a little, some like a lot
3 cloves of garlic -minced (we like garlic)
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper

As those flavors were marrying I put on the beginnings of the refried beans.

Refried Beans

2 Tblsp bacon grease (everybody has bacon grease on hand, right?)
1/2 red onion diced (see, you get to use the whole onion)
3 cloves garlic minced (told you we liked garlic)
1 can refried beans

Heat the grease and add the onion and garlic.  Allow that to cook for about a minute and then stir in the beans and let it just set on simmer.

So, the pico is marrying, the beans are simmering and now it is time to put on the taco meat.  I went the easy route on this and just used the Old El Paso seasoning and a pound of burger.  Just follow the directions on the package.  And while that is simmering it's time to fry up the tortillas.  I just put a few inches of oil in the pot and put it on medium high.  I knew it was ready when I put a triangle of tortilla in and it sizzled.  I made the mistake of cooking some of the tortillas whole and they were not as crispy as the chips ones I made.  Next time they will all be chips size.  (And there will be a next time for this meal.)  I also went simple on the cheese.  I just got a store bought queso.  Get your favorite brand.  My next endeavor in this meal will be to make my own meat seasoning and my own cheese sauce.  Baby steps.  We are ending this meal with some chocolate coffee.  Yummm...