Pot roast...my way...

Pot roast...yummmm

I was inspired...or determined to not be outdone...

We had pot roast at the Dish in Charlotte NC.  My guys proceeded to tell me it was the best pot roast ever. So, I took that as a challenge I guess.  I determined to make it just as soon as I could.  That ended up being today.  I have made beef stew before but never attempted a pot roast.  I read some recipes online and read the reviews attached to them.  What I came up with is not any single recipe but a conglomeration of several.  That makes me feel I can just call it my recipe.  Here goes...

Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker
4 pound chuck roast
2 onions peeled and cut into eight pieces
1 bag mini carrots (already prepped for you, how perfect)
4 cloves garlic just smashed with the knife
2 cans beef broth
2 sprigs fresh rosemary and thyme
2 bay leaves
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Olive Oil
salt, pepper and garlic powder

Put one Tbs of olive oil in your skillet and heat it to medium high.  Have your roast at room temp or as close as you can.  Pat it dry and then coat it with the Montreal Steak seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic powder on both sides.  When your pan gets hot, sear off all the parts of the meat you can.  I let it cook for three minutes each side and then stood it on its side one at a time and seared them as well.  Put the meat in the slow cooker when you have it seared.  Put a little more oil in the skillet and throw in the onions and carrots and let them cook about five minutes.  Put those in the slow cooker around the meat.  Add one of the cans of beef broth to the skillet and wisk up all the stuff on the bottom of the pan.  Put that in the slow cooker. Add the garlic, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves.  Add enough of the second can of beef broth to cover the meat.  It took the whole can for me but it all depends on the size of your roast.  Make sure the herbs are submerged so the flavor goes all through the broth and not just on the meat.  I put the slow cooker on high for the first hour and then turned it down to low for the rest of the cooking time.  A total of seven hours is what I did.

I made some of my garlic smashed potatoes and cut off a hunk of rosemary potato bread and called it dinner.

I was very satisfied with how this turned out.  Not bad, if I say so myself...

Sorbet for dessert...satisfied and full!  It sure is nice to be back in the kitchen!!

The perfect bite...

The Guy Fieri tour continues...

I've been gone for several day.  Had a mini-vacation from the stove.  (A couple of nights doing the take out thing makes you appreciate good home cooking again.)

On Saturday we went to Charlotte NC to the yearly pilgramage of Geekdom also known as HeroCon.  I love every minute of it.  Being new to the geek world nothing is passe.  Anyway, that has nothing to do with food but it is the reason I was in Charlotte and got to eat where I got to eat. My darling husband/best friend has quite the surprise for me when dinner time came around.  He is a Food Network watcher for my sake and we watch a lot of Guy Fieri.  Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is one of my (and the budding young chef, Nick's) favorites.  My darling husband/best friend did some research and found two sites in walking distance of each other in Charlotte.  We have managed to eat at one other site, Hillbilly Hot Dogs, and went to The Central City Cafe in Huntington,  but they were closed.  We will go back there during business hours someday.  

We had dinner at the Dish.  It was a blast.  The food was secondary to the fact that we were at establishment that Guy had been at.  The dinner at the Dish was good food.  For appetizer we had the cajun meatloaf sliders. Not bad, meatloaf with a kick, cheese and a pickle on a small ciabatta roll. The DHBF and I had the southwestern burger, he had squash and onions for a side and I had collard greens.  The collard greens were the bomb. Mike had the bacon cheeseburger with chips and mac n cheese and Nick had the pot roast platter with mac n cheese and mashed potatoes.  The pot roast got top votes. Even Mike liked it.  We didn't have the signature dish that Guy had (didn't know what it was til we got home) the chicken n dumplings.  If I ever go back, that is what I will have.  You will be seeing an attempt at collard greens in the near future. Perhaps a new green I can introduce into the repertoire.

My Guys at the Dish!!

Nick and I standing under the Guy Fieri head...

Cool retro sign!!

Nick and I outside the Penguin

The dessert menu is not huge at the Penguin.  DHBF and Nick had a Cheerwine float, Mike had a chocolate shake and I had the banana pudding.  I was so happy the pudding was made just like I make it.  No instant pudding here.  Yay!!!  We were all so full we could pop.

What a delightful surprise to end a wonderful day!!!

Chipotle Pepper Chicken Tacos

It's chicken night.  I had to freeze a couple pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast last week because the pack I bought was just too big for one meal.  I always worry about using chicken that's been frozen.  I didn't just want to cook the usual, rosemary chicken, from frozen so I started looking for a new recipe. My darling husband/best friend really likes spicy so I went looking for it.  And, boy, is this recipe spicy.  I had to tweak it a bit to fit with what I had and the servings amount. The original recipe fed about six and I just wanted enough for the two of us.

Chipotle Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 onion sliced

2 cloves garlic sliced

2 tomatoes

2 ounces of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce

1/2 tsp chicken bouillon granules

1 onion thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic minced

Put the chicken in a pot and just cover it with water.  Add the1/2 onion and 2 cloves sliced garlic and bring it to a boil.  Cook it about 25 minutes or until no longer pink.  Take it out of the pot and set it aside to cool.  When it is cool, tear it apart into shreds, either with two forks or with your fingers.

Put the two tomatoes in the boiling chicken water after you take the chicken out and boil them until the skins split, about three to five minutes depending on the size of your tomatoes.

Put the one thinly sliced onion and the 2 cloves garlic minced in a Tbs of olive oil in a skillet and cook until the onions are tender.

In a blender put the chipotle peppers and chicken bouillon granules and the two tomatoes when they are done and blend til smooth.  When blended put it in the skillet with the tender onions and garlic.  Add your shredded chicken and heat through.

We had corn tortillas,which I warmed up in a dry skillet on medium high about 15 seconds each side.  We topped our tacos with tomato, lettuce and mexican blend shredded cheese.  I think the next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I will have some sour cream on hand to cool it down a little for me.  I'm a wimp.  I admit it.

Full and satisfied.  I love it when a new recipe works out.

Flank steak and rosemary potato salad

Flank steak, potato salad and asparagus.  It's what's for dinner!!  I had half a flank steak left from the Father's Day dinner and a desire to use rosemary in some potato salad and needed a green.  I tried a different marinade for the meat today and I really liked it.  And the rosemary potato salad is what I made yesterday evening so the flavors could "marry" overnight.  The asparagus is the bacon asparagus recipe from many posts ago.  It is our new favorite way to have asparagus and I am just not tired of it yet.  There are only two really reliable green veggies that get a smile from my darling husband/best friend, asparagus and green beans, so we have them very often.  I really like brussel sprouts and spinach but they were not met with rave reviews.  Still working on them and him.

Marinade for Flank Steak
1 Tbs Montreal Steak seasoning
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used the less sodium one)
1 Tbs honey
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic chopped fine
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil
2 scallions chopped

I cut two pounds of flank steak very thin across the grain.  I have never had any luck with cooking a whole flank steak but sliced always comes out good.  I put the slices of steak in the marinade for 20 minutes and then cooked them a few at a time in a skillet on medium high in just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Just a minute for each one, you want it to still retain a bit of pink.  After I got it all cooked up I put all the steak (and the juices on the plate) back in the pan off the heat and put some tin foil over it until we were ready to eat.

Rosemary Potato Salad
5-6 potatoes cubed and boiled until fork tender (careful not to overcook)
1/3 cup chopped red onion (just as fine as you can get it)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs red wine vinegar (I used a garlic flavored one)
2 Tbs mayonnaise (I use light mayo)
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste (eight grinds each with my grinder)

Let the potatoes cool some before you mix it with the dressing (which is everything else in the recipe) and I prefer to let things like that set overnight.  You can eat it the same day and when I tasted it warm it was pretty good.  Darling husband/best friend does not like any kind of potato salad warm...

I was really happy with the meal.  The original plan was to have chicken as the protein but things happen.  I think all the flavors were good together.  The meat was spicy and the potato salad cooling and the bacon asparagus...well, the bacon asparagus is just GOOD.

Happy and full!!! and satisfied...

Lazy day...

The Monday blahs have struck...

What do you have for dinner when you don't want to cook?  I had bought some cajun roast beef at the deli over the weekend and had some texas toast left from Saturday's breakfast so sandwiches were the obvious answer.

This panini is cajun beef and provolone cheese with leaf lettuce and tomato and a light schmear of light mayo.  Some baked Lays on the side and call it dinner.  Glad my darling husband/best friend likes roast beef sammi's.  I didn't have to do much talking to get this simple menu cleared.

I do believe I will have some more sorbet for dessert.  Lazy day...

Tomorrow I will be back to the kitchen whipping up something new.  In fact I already have a head start because some things just taste better for the wait.  Come back tomorrow to see what it is...

Happy Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Today was a special day for my darling husband/best friend.  I wanted to make it a special food day so he got to select the menu.

This morning we had chocolate coffee and biscuit & gravy from Tudor's.  He had the fried potatoes also.  We really like Tudor's breakfast.  Especially when I am too lazy to cook breakfast.

Since that was really a brunch we simply had some watermelon for a snack.

I asked him to think about what he wanted for dinner on HIS day.  He narrowed it down to the Rice Noodle with Flank Steak or Kung Pao Beef.  I love Kung Pao Beef so that is what I made.  Since I have already shared that particular recipe with you in the second post I won't go into all that.  Just refer back if you would like to try it.  It really is our favorite go to meal.  I always have everything on hand that I need and is really simple to make.

Love the crunch of the peanuts...

We rounded out the night with sorbet.  Black cherry and blood orange.  We both love black cherry anything so it was a no-brainer.  The blood orange looked interesting and I must say, I really liked it.  I really liked them together because the black cherry was sweet and the blood orange tart, very good combination.

All in all, a very good meal day and I hope a very special day for my favorite guy...Love you honey.

Pizza!!!

PIZZA!!!!

Want some?

 It was guy day again and the budding young chef decided we were going to make some pizza.  We normally use Naan bread as the base that we purchase at World Oasis in Blacksburg.  I think I have mentioned this store before.  Love it!!!  We discovered the Naan bread last year when my darling husband/best friend and I were wandering around the store trying to think of things to do with what we saw.  You can't just pick up stuff without having a plan or it will just sit there and go bad.  We saw the bread in the cooler and immediately thought...pizza!!!  Unfortunately, we have not been to World Oasis for some time now.  No time to go, it's a little over an hour to get there and then you have to have shopping time and then the trip home...just no time.  So, Nick and I went on a crust search.  I had bought Naan bread at Kroger one day, and even though it was not as good as what we bought at World Oasis, I thought it might do for today,  They didn't have it.  The nice girl that worked there in the bakery said it was an occasional item.  Darn.  We then went to Walmart because I had seen Naan in the Bluefield Walmart bakery, but, no luck.  The Princeton Walmart does not carry as much specialty bread as the Bluefield store.  We proceeded to buy two ready made crusts and a pack of crust mix.  I also decided I would go online to see if I could find a recipe for the dough that did not require a stand mixer or bread maker.  I found one.  Alex Guarnaschelli, thank you very much.

Pizza Dough
2 1/4 tsp yeast (one pack)
1 1/2 cups of water at 110 degrees
combine and let them sit for at least 5 minutes

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
and we added 1 Tbs red pepper flakes and 1 Tbs italian seasoning

(I can tell you after haven eaten the pizza, we will do more "spicing" of the dough next time we make it.  We are big fans of flavor and it was just a bit too bland.  More of the red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning and a bit more salt too.)
add half the flour to the yeast mixture and mix.  Add the seasonings and mix.  Then add the rest of the flour gradually.  It will get sticky and hard to mix.  You want to drizzle in some olive oil and maybe add small amounts of water until you get it all incorporated.  Turn it out onto a floured board and knead it for 5 minutes.  Make it smooth and well incorporated.  Turn the ball into a well greased bowl and cover it with saran wrap for 1 1/2 hours.  It will more than double.  Turn it out of the bowl and split it into 2 or 4 pieces depending on the size pizza you want to make.  Roll each piece into a loose ball and allow that to sit about 15 minutes.  We got impatient and only waited 10 and it worked out fine.  Make sure you oil you pan well and then just take your time and stretch the dough out to the thickness you like.  We baked it off for 5 minutes at 425 degrees and then topped it.

The topping for the pizza are always the same.  We have made them enough that we know what we like.  We take about two pounds of ground sirloin and add three cloves of chopped garlic and one tablespoon of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and cook that up.  Sliced green peppers, I used what was left of the tri-color peppers I had and two cloves of garlic chopped and two onions sliced thinly, cook that up in olive oil.

Instead of pizza sauce we use roma tomatoes sliced as thin as you can get them as the base.  You want to salt them and let some of the moisture out of them before you put them on the pizza crust.  I have olive oil with red pepper flakes in a spray dispenser so we sprayed the crusts with that so the toppings wouldn't make it too mushy and then put the toppings on.  The final ingredient is shredded mozzarella cheese.  Yummmm

 Just a small note about breakfast.  We didn't take any pictures today but the menu was almost exactly the same as the last time we talked about it.  The only difference?  I found some apple fritter bread at the Walmart bakery (dang that bakery...) and made some french toast with it.  It was too good.  And I mean that.  Too good for my own good.  Dang that bakery!!!  And yes, we will probably do that again.  Dang!!

All in all, a very good food day.  Happy camper!!!

It's steak night....

Every once in a while you just need a steak.  And today was that day.  The menu for the evening is rib eye steak, rosemary roasted potatoes, bacon asparagus and herbed focaccia.  (I do wish I had taken the picture before I cut my steak, but you get the idea.) I gave the recipe for the bacon asparagus in a previous post so I won't bore you with repeating it.  Believe me though, I was not bored eating it. It is just too wicked!!

I have experimented with different cuts of beef and preparations and I have finally hit on my favorite.  And it also turns out pretty good every time.  I go for a good rib eye.  To me that means about an inch thick and very lightly marbled with fat.  We are not gristle people in this house so I try to go to the lean side.  I bring the meat to room temperature and coat it pretty heavily with Montreal Steak Seasoning and a little garlic powder.  I bring a skillet up to medium high with just enough olive oil in it to coat the bottom.  I used to think when they told you to put it in a screaming hot skillet that it needed to be on high but it really doesn't.  Medium high is just fine.  Cook the steak four minutes each side and then let it rest on a plate for about five minutes covered with tin foil.  That makes it just the brown side of pink.  The way we like it.  As a kid growing up we always had sauteed onions with our steak so I still do that now.  Just slice an onion (in this case it was the other half of the onion I used in the asparagus) and put it in a pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper and cook on low until tender.

When you have steak you have to have potatoes, right?  Rosemary roasted is my darling husband/best friends favorite preparation.  Mine too!  Just peel and cube the potatoes.  Rinse the starch off a bit and dry them really well.  Toss them with about a tablespoon of olive oil, chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.  I put them on a roasting pan in a 400 degree oven for about twenty minutes.  Just check on them and stir them around at fifteen minutes.  I then start checking them at every five.

And to round out the meal I purchased some herbed focaccia from Wal Mart.  It really is not a good thing that I discovered their bakery.  So far everything I have tried has just been wonderful.  Not good for the hips but the lips and taste buds are loving every minute of it.

Pretty good meal if I do say so myself...and I do.  Full and very happy!!!

Fish...the do-over...

This will be a short post because we kinda did a do-over.  Whenever I try something for the first time I always ask my darling husband/best friend whether it was a do-over or scrap it and try something else.  The battered fish from the other day was given do-over status so when fish time came around this week it was the preparation of choice.  I was glad for many reasons.  I wanted to try and perfect the batter from last time, it was too salty.  And I had the oil from frying up the tortilla chips for Mexican night that needed to go soon.  Now it really needs to go.  Nothing trashes oil quite like frying fish in it.

I had the recipe for the batter written with the salt and pepper part being to taste.  I added NO salt this time and it was much better.  You might want to try that if yours turned out too salty too.

I made the spicy brown rice from the previous fish night menu and the tartar sauce.  As you can see from the picture I also used up the extra batter with some onion rings.  The only new thing on the plate, and the deviation from the previous fish night menu, is the slaw.  I had leftover Nappa cabbage that I wanted to use up so I made some slaw.

The Family Slaw

1/2 Cabbage thinly shredded
1 carrot grated on the fine side of the box grater
2 scallions thinly sliced

dressing:
1 cup mayo (I use light)
1 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs lemon juice
pepper to taste

Mix it all up and call it done!  Now, if you want it dryer, use less dressing.  Moister?  Make more.  It's all in your hands.

All and all it was an improvement on the first attempt.  That makes me happy.   I always want to do better.  I love seeing the smile on my darling husband/best friends face...and I love the empty plate...

That is the BEST compliment you can give to the chef.

Full and happy!!!

Rosemary Chicken...

Chicken night!!!  If you have been following the previous posts you already know that my darling husband/best friend is not a chicken guy.  But he is a rosemary guy so sometimes I can get him to eat something just because it has rosemary on it.  The sides for chicken is always green beans and smashed potatoes for me so that rounded out the dinner menu.

Rosemary Chicken
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
2 sprigs rosemary
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put the olive oil in an oven safe pan and put on medium heat on the stove top.  Add the rosemary sprigs and garlic and let it infuse the oil for about a minute.  Pat the chicken dry and salt and pepper it liberally.  Move the rosemary out of the pan and put the chicken in top side down.  If you can't tell which is the top side and which is the bottom it probably won't matter.  Brown the chicken for five minutes.  Turn the chicken over and brown the other side for five minutes.  Place the rosemary sprigs back on top of the chicken and put it in the oven for approx. twenty-five minutes.  Be sure to check it's temperature and make sure it gets to 165.  The time in the oven will depend on the size of your pieces of chicken.  I always start checking mine at fifteen minutes and then go from there in five minute increments.

Green Beans
3 handfuls of green beans cleaned and broken in two
1 onion sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic chopped
1/8 cup chicken stock
1 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put oil in the pan on medium high.  When it is hot put in the onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes, until the onion starts to soften.  Add the green beans and generously salt and pepper.  Add in the chicken stock.  Put a lid on the pan and turn it down to medium low so the green beans can steam a little.They take about the same amount of time as the chicken does once it is in the oven.  But please, pull out a bean and test it.  See if you want more salt and pepper.  It's so important to taste as you go!

Garlic Smashed Potatoes
2 potatoes cut into even size cubes
2 Tbs butter (I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)
1 Tbs garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes until fork tender.  Drain well and add the other ingredients and smash with the potato smasher until they are the consistency you like.  We like ours a little chunky.

Wonderful meal, if I do say so myself.  Satisfied and full.  What more could you ask for from a meal?

Mexican...take two...

It's Mexican night the sequel...ha!  If you have kept up with the previous posts you know how much I love nachos.  I LOVE NACHOS!!!  Anyway, the plate above has taco meat, pico de gallo, refried beans with cheese, tortilla chips and guacamole. In a previous post I gave the recipe for the pico de gallo and refried beans.  I cheated on the meat and cheese again.  I know, I know...I said I would make my own meat seasoning and cheese but I didn't.  Instead I made guacamole.

I never really cared for guacamole before I met my darling husband/best friend. Because he liked it I had to find the absolute best recipe for it I could.  And I did. Thank you Alton Brown!  I received the thumbs up award on this recipe from both my darling husband/best friend and the budding young chef. They both claimed it was the best they had ever eaten and the budding young chef took the recipe and has made it several times himself.

Alton Brown's Guacamole Recipe-(slightly amended)
3 Avocados
1/2 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ceyenne pepper
1/2 medium red onion
2 Roma tomatoes seeded and dices
2 cloves garlic (he says one...what does he know, just because he has his own show...)
1 lime juiced
1 Tbs chopped cilantro

Get the avocados pulp out, I use a spoon to scoop it out, and put it in a bowl.  Put the lime juice on the avocado and add the spices.  Smash this with a potato masher until you get it to the chunkiness you like.  Add the tomato, onion, garlic and cilantro and mix well.  Let sit for at least an hour.


It is well worth the time and effort it takes!  And don't try to use the pit in the guac to keep it from browning...it doesn't work.  The only thing that I have found to work is to put saran wrap down on as tight as you can.  Like when you make cooked pudding and don't want that skin to form.  It's the air that makes it turn so the saran wrap keeps the air from it.  I made the guac and pico the night before so the flavors could really incorporate and I did the saran wrap thing and it worked!  And I think both tasted better for the sitting.

This had to be one of my all time favorite meals...I really like all the different flavors coming together in such harmony.  Yum!!!

Satisfied and FULL!!!

The way I like it...

Hash!!!!

If you have read any of my previous blogs you know I like a good coupon and a good sale.  Both struck when I went to the store over the weekend.  I already mentioned they had the tri-colored peppers on sale so I had to get one of each color.  I also had a coupon for a Hillshire Farms sausage of my choice.  I got beef of course.  My darling husband/best friend is a beefaholic.  We could have beef every day as far as he is concerned.  So, what to do with a sausage and some peppers?  Why, hash of course.  I love a good hash.  I love a good potato.  And I have never had a bad potato dish.  Maybe I am a potatoaholic...

Here is the recipe.


Pepper and Potato Hash with Beef Kilbasa
1 sausage sliced
4 potatoes cubed
2 peppers cut in 1 inch pieces
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper chopped

Fry the sausage on medium high with a Tbs of olive oil.  I got mine nice and crunchy.  Take out the sausage and put on a plate.  Put the chopped onion and garlic in the oil and sausage drippings and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the potatoes and salt and pepper.  Cook for about 20 minutes and then add the peppers.  Allow this to cook for at least 10 minutes and then call it done when the peppers are as done as you like,  I like mine still a little crispy.

This was a very yummy dinner, and as long as you don't mind chopping, very easy to do.  Satisified?  Why, yes I am.  And full.

Rice noodles with flank steak...

I was face booking earlier today and saw a recipe that looked very interesting.  I had everything but the lemongrass and the fresh herbs it called for so I went to the store for a quick pick up.  Ever notice how a quick pick up can take an hour?  The store sabotaged my plans by having a big sale in the produce area.  I cannot resist tri-colored peppers when they are on sale, I don't know why.

I am giving you the link for the recipe.

 http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/12151/Cold-Rice-Noodles-with-Grilled-Chicken-and-Peanut-Sauce.html

 Hopefully it will work.  Having eaten it, the only thing I would change is the amount of fresh herb I put on my serving, I would go a little lighter.  And when you make it for two you could probably cut the dipping sauce and the dressing recipe in half.  I still have some of both left and I hate to waste.  This was the first time I used lemongrass.  It gave a bright note to the dish.  I think I will look for other recipes with it as an ingredient.  Oh, and my darling husband/best friend is not a chicken man so I used flank steak instead.  Same marinade, just substituted the flank steak cut into small pieces.  Worked wonderfully!!!  I will make this recipe again and I really can't think of any tweaks I would do.  It's very good as written.

If you like oriental flavors you will like this recipe.  Very full and very satisfied.

Black Sheep, Huntington WV

We went on an adventure today in Huntington, WV so there is no personal food making blog to be made.  However, we did hit up a new place to eat lunch and I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about it.  

It's called Black Sheep Burrito & Brews.  

This is a picture of my darling husband/best friend sitting in the establishment and if you look over his shoulder you can see an artistic rendition of the namesake of the restaurant.

We had high hopes for the place since we like the Black Bear Burrito in Morgantown on our latest trip there. Makes sense to me that similar names should produce similar results...right?  They did not disappoint.  We did not know that on Saturday's and Sunday's they only serve brunch items so we could not get a burrito.  They had breakfast quesdillas and Eggs Benedict made several ways and tortas made with just about anything you could think of but we decided on the mountain of food they call Huevos Rancheros.    

When our waitress brought the dishes out they nearly covered the whole table.  The plate was layered with fried tortillas, beans, scrambled eggs and tomato chutney.  On the side was the meat of choice, a spoonful of black bean and corn salsa, a dollop of the house made chipotle orange mayo and some greens.  On top of the whole thing was half an avocado. The chutney had some kickin' spice to it...whew...

                                                   

This is the plate with the house made sausage...

                                                             

                                                                                    This one has brisket...

I tried both of the meats and the brisket won hands down.  Best brisket I have EVER had...


And I can never resist a side of roasted potato wedges.








If you are hungry and you like some spice in your life then I would recommend going to Black Sheep Burrito and ordering the Huevos Rancheros...good stuff.  Satisfied yet again and I didn't have to clean the kitchen.

Spring rolls...

We went on a trip to Morgantown last month and while there went to a small Oriental Food store.  We love going to exotic food marts and frequent World Oasis in Blacksburg quite often.  That is where I get all my Chinese cooking supplies.   Anyway, back to Morgantown...we went to this little store and they had the spring rolls I have heard them talk about on Food Network.  The ones that you dip in water to soften up and then fill and roll.  You can eat them raw or fry them up.  I had not been able to find those before and so I snatched up a  pack.  They also had the rice noodles we like in small, almost individual serving, size packs.  Snatched them up also!  I had been wanting to use them and today was the day.  We had left over nappa cabbage from when Nick and I made pot stickers and some left over veggies from big salad day.  It seems we always have flank steak in the fridge so we had the makings of some good steak spring rolls.  My darling husband/best friend got in on the cutting up session which made it lots more fun!!  I love having him in the kitchen with me.

Steak Spring Rolls

Marinade for the meat:
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs grated ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbs red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/4 cup water

Combine

I took about a pound of flank steak and cut it as thin as possible against the grain.  I then cut the strips into small pieces (about four pieces per strip).  Put the meat in a glass bowl and pour the marinade on it and let it sit while you get everything else ready, or 20 minutes, whichever comes first. :)

Veggies for spring roll-all cut into matchstick size pieces:
1/2 Cucumber
1 Carrot (Darling husband/best friend used the veggie peeler to get the carrot nice and thin)
1/2 Green Pepper
small piece of ginger
2 cups of nappa cabbage (cut as thinly as you can off the head)
4 scallions sliced thin

The good thing about doing this is you can use whatever you have on hand.  If there is a veggie you like,  throw it in there.  You can't go wrong.

Take a small package of rice noodles and soak in warm beef broth until softened then drain well

If you want a dipping sauce we use light soy, water, minced garlic and sesame oil. My darling husband/best friend made this sauce and said the soy to water ratio is two to one and the sesame oil is just a trace because it is strong stuff.  All this is to taste, so taste it as you go.  If you want more sesame oil taste then put it in there.  It' your kitchen!  That's why we cook at home, so we can have it like we like it!  Right?

At this point I pulled out the wok and put a Tbs of olive oil in and put it on medium high heat.  Cook the meat about 2 minutes per batch.  When it is cut this small it doesn't take long and is easy to over cook.  When you see the pink start leaving pull it out.  It will continue to cook on the plate for a sec and it will be perfect.

Now it was time to dip and roll.  You dip the rice paper in water for just a couple of seconds then lay it down and fill it up.  I still need practice at the rolling part.  I did a burrito roll because that is what I know.  Put the filling in the center, bring the two sides to the middle and then tuck and roll.  As they sat on the plate the rice paper softened up nicely,  When you eat it raw it has a slightly chewy texture.  I like it.

They were a little messy but OH SO GOOD!!  Once I get that rolling technique down we will most assuredly have these more often.  Satisfied once again...

Guy's night in....

Cheeseburger night...yeah man!!!  My budding chef, Nick, requested that we have cheeseburgers on guy night and we were more than happy to oblige.  Any excuse to have an umami burger says my darling husband/best friend.  Any excuse to have the wonderful ciabatta rolls I say!!!  

Tonight I had three different tastes to cater to.  And that is fine, that's what making things yourself is all about.  To borrow an ad slogan, you can have it your way...but it tastes much better when you do it yourself.  Mike is my plain guy. 

Mike's plain burger

After I mixed the sirloin and chuck burger I purchased I patted him out two patties that I seasoned with just salt and pepper.  I then added the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes to the mix and patted out Nick and I some burgers.  I then added the fish sauce to make it umami for the darling husband/best friend.  It all worked out fine.  The plain burgers got cooked first, then the garlic/red pepper flake and while all that was cooking the umami was finishing marinating and then they got thrown in the pan.  Everybody wanted cheese so the ones that were done got topped with colby and put on a baking sheet in the warm oven.  Oh, the oven is warm because I made some oven fries.  More about those in a minute

Nick's decked out burger...

I sauteed some vidalia onion and prepped some leaf lettuce and tomato as the toppings for the burger.  Toasted up the bun also....yummm.

Just because everything is better with bacon I cooked up some slices of that too.  Gotta keep those guys happy!!


The guys had chips with their burger but darling husband/best friend and I had some oven fries.  Tonight's fries just had some pepper and salt as the seasoning and cooked nice and crispy.






My plate when I realized I had forgotten to take a photo.  Fortunately the guys had two burgers apiece so I had a better photo op with theirs.




I got lazy on dessert and made a boxed brownie but they were rather yummy.  Triple chocolate threat I think they were called.  I just called them indulgent...

All in all it was a satisfying successful night.  I do believe that Mike told me it might be the best burger he has ever had.  High praise from Mike.  Nick spoke of the complexity of flavors and such...love that boy...

can't go wrong with a bacon cheeseburger, take my word for it!

Salad...

Big Salad...(does anyone out there remember Elaine?)  You really can't tell by the picture but it was a very loaded salad.  The list of ingredients is as follows:

Baby Arugula
Carrot
Green Pepper
Cucumber
Tomato
Radish
Red Onion
Celery
Ham
Shredded Cheese


and...

homemade croutons.  I call them that but I did not make the bread they were made from.  I took two ciabatta rolls and cut them into cubes, sprayed on some olive oil that has red pepper flakes in it and sprinkled about 2 Tbs of  bread dipping seasoning. Italian flavored.  They actually labeled it that. Then put it under the broiler til crispy.  Keep an eye on it cause it will get away from you and you will have to start all over.  And you will have to start over cause it is the best part of the salad.  Usually we make our own dressing but got a bit lazy tonight.  Not as lazy as originally planned, we were going to order take out, but lazy enough to use bottled dressing.  Still good.  Every so often you need to take a break and salad is my favorite break.

Fish!!

                                 

Fish night!!!  We love orange roughy.  I thank my darling husband/best friend for introducing me to this fish.  It is truly my favorite.  It has a firm texture not unlike salmon or tuna.  I got burned out on fish several years ago working at a local seafood place.  But, knowing how healthy it is and how much we need to eat healthy we are trying to have it more often.  I have been fixing it in every non-battered way I could think of or look up on the internet but today decided to take that nostalgic trip back to the batter.  I looked at several recipes and kind of took them all and made up my own.  I also wanted to do something new with the asparagus that was on the menu.  And to round out the plate I fixed my go-to brown rice.  (The onion rings were a last minute addition because I had so much batter left from fixing the fish.   I just hate to waste anything.)

Batter for fish or onion rings
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp ceyenne pepper
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it well, add more water if you want it thinner.  I was adding by the teaspoon until I got it where I wanted it.  Not runny but not clumpy.

Dry your fish off well.  I put two inches of oil in my medium sized pot and brought it up to 350 degrees.  Coat the fish completely with the batter and put it in the oil carefully.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until golden brown.  It really depends on how big you cut your fish.  I cut mine fairly small.  Three bites worth for each piece.  (Sorry I am not very exact.  I don't have a scale yet to weight portions.)
I then cooked the onion rings just until they were golden.  They don't take long.

Asparagus with Bacon
I bunch of asparagus cut into one inch sections
4 slices of bacon cut into small pieces
1/2 small onion sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
salt and black pepper (I did 8 grinds of pepper and 4 grinds of salt)

cut up and cook three slices of bacon until crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Take that out of the pan and add to the grease all the rest of the ingredients.  Cook on medium high for about 8-10 minutes.  The time depends on the diameter of your asparagus stems.  If you get the small ones they will be the 8 minutes, the thick stems will probably take the full 10.  At 8 minutes I tasted one to see if it was done enough for me and it was.  Add the bacon back to the pan and stir it one time.

Spicy Brown Basmati
1 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic chopped finely
1 jalapeno chopped finely
1 Tbs Mrs Dash Southwestern Spice
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup brown basmati

Put the oil in your pan on medium high.  Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno and spice and cook this until tender. Add the chicken stock and rice and stir.  Put a lid on the pan.  Bring it to a boil and then turn it down to simmer.  This will need to simmer for 45 minutes.  Take off the heat and fluff and let it rest for a few minutes.


The white stuff on the fish in the picture is a little tartar sauce I whipped up.  So easy...

Tartar Sauce
1/4 cup light mayo
1 Tbs dill pickle relish
1/4 tsp lemon juice
Combine well


I thoroughly enjoyed this meal.  The fish was nice and moist inside, the asparagus was killer and the rice was nice and spicy.  Truly satisfied with this meal.  Yummmm

Tasty chicken...

Monday...not my favorite day.  But, I thought I would make it an exciting day by trying something new.  My darling husband/best friend and I were watching the Food Network and caught a Barefoot Contessa episode.  She was making fish with a marinade she claimed was originally for chicken.  I really enjoy everything she was putting in it so I jotted it down.


Basic recipe
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 Tbs grated ginger
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbs dijon mustard


We had some ciabatta buns let from the cheeseburger night and it would be a crime to let them go to waste.  I ran into the store on the way home and got some boneless skinless chicken breasts.  My darling husband/best friend is not a fan of chicken but I thought if I got enough flavor on it and put it on a ciabatta bun, he would eat it.  And I was right!  In fact, he said I could probably put a piece of liver on that bun and he would eat it.  Now, let me just say, that bun must be something special for him to say that.  (And it is!!)  I made a few tweaks to the recipe for the marinade and will tweak it some more when I make it again.

 Recipe as I made it
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 Tbs grated ginger
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbs dijon mustard
1 Tbs red pepper flakes

(As you can see, I only tweaked it by adding some heat.  Next time I make it I will use low sodium soy sauce and less mustard.  It was just a little too salty and the mustard took over more than I like.  It was unbalanced.)

I butterflied the chicken breasts and then pounded them flat and even.  I wanted to use the grill pans on the panini grill so I wanted them pretty thin.  The chicken went in the marinade at room temperature for 20 minutes.  Any longer and you would want to refrigerate it but I have seen many times on the Food Network that you should let your meat come to room temp before you cook it.  If it is cold the outside will get done before the inside will.  I then put the grill on high, put the chicken on and shut the lid for 5 minutes.  Flip the chicken and cook it for another 3 minutes or until it is done.  That will all depend on how thin you pound it.

The chicken was so flavorful we did not need any type on saucy condiment.  I just toasted the ciabatta buns, sliced up a tomato and got out some leaf lettuce.  We had our favorite Spicy Nacho Dorito's on the side.

Very tasty and yes, it is a do-over.

Herbed focaccia...

Today was a free day.  Breakfast was simply a bowl of cereal.  I didn't even bother to take a picture...corn Chex and Cherrios.  We skipped lunch for some much needed exercise.  We went to Pipstem State Park and ran the disc golf course.  Honestly, I did not make it for the full 18 holes.  The top 9 was about all I could manage.  My darling husband/best friend took on the second 9 and came back to tell me that it was very physically challenging.  Glad I opted out.  We plan to go play the top part of the course at least once a week.  Maybe after a few months of doing that I will be able to attempt the bottom 9.

When it came to fix dinner there was nothing new and exciting that I wanted to try, so I went to an oldie but a goodie.  Some times you just want to throw together something quick.

I don't normally buy bread becasue I love it a bit too much. but when I picked up the ciabatta rolls for the burgers I could not resist the loaf of herbed focaccia bread that was sitting right beside the rolls.  And knowing I DID NOT want that bread to go stale or mold or anything stupid like that I decided to have it for dinner.  And nothing goes with herbed focaccia like spaghetti.  I wanted something a bit spicy so I replaced one can of petite dices tomatoes with a can of the salsa style roasted tomatoes.  Other than that, the recipe is the same as a previous post.  I like to roast my own peppers and such but some days you just have to take advantage of what is already available.  It's nice to have a go to meal that comes together quickly yet is very satisfying.

and the bread lived up to my expectations.  Yummmm

Pot stickers anyone?

Today was a two meal day.  Every other Saturday we have the boys over all day.  I always start the day out with french toast and bacon.  Pretty standard fare.  The french toast is made with texas toast to give it some oomph.  Nothing wimpy about my guy's appetite so I like to go big.  The egg mix is just egg, vanilla, milk and a pinch of salt.  I had purchased some different extracts one day on a whim so I also made two of the toasts with some orange extract added to the basic egg mix.  You could smell the extract more than taste it, but not bad.  We like to try some different toppings and that is why the many jars of jelly are out.  Add a whole pound of bacon and, voila, breakfast.  Yummmm

After some game playing and grocery shopping it was time to start dinner.  Nick is a budding chef so we take advantage of this time together to cook.  I love having a sous chef.

This is Nick...handsome, isn't he.

Nick had already decided what dinner would be.  We have attempted to make pot stickers on several occasions and he wanted to give them another shot today.  To go along with the pot stickers he wanted to have Kung Pao Chicken.  The Kung Pao recipe is the same as the Kung Pao Beef I made at the beginning of the week.  Just replace the beef with chicken.

Rice...                                                                            Veggies...

                                 

My darling husband/best friend garnished his Kung Pao with a little more heat, sriracha sauce all over it...

  

I just like a few peanuts for the crunch factor

The real star of the show is the pot stickers.  Nick made the filling all by himself.  And did a fine job!!

Pot Stickers

1 pound ground sausage

2 cups chopped cabbage

2 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs rice wine vinegar

1 Tbs chopped green onion

1 Tbs sesame oil

2 tsp grated ginger

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 package won ton wrappers

Sprinkle some salt on the cabbage to draw out the water.  Let this set while you get all the other ingredients in your bowl.  When everything else is in the bowl take the cabbage and wrap it in paper towel and squeeze out the moisture.  Add the cabbage to the bowl and combine well.

Take approx 1 Tbs of the mixture and place it in the middle of the won ton.  We have been playing with the best way to form the pot stickers and have not really decided on the best way.  I encourage you to play with it also.  Just don't forget to wet the edges of the won ton with some water before you start your fancy fold.  It's the water that makes them stick together.  Put a little oil in the pan and add 1/4 cup of chicken stock on medium heat.  Add as many pot stickers as will fit in your pan without them touching each other.  Put a lid on the pan and let them steam for 6-7 minutes.  Remove them from the pan and put them on some parchment paper sprayed with some oil so they don't stick.  When you have them all steamed clean out your pan, put about 1/4 cup of oil in the pan and put it on meduim high.  Fry one side of your pot sticker to a golden brown.  

Dipping Sauce

2 Tbs light soy sauce (we used regular soy and it was too strong, if using regular water it down a bit)

1 Tbs rice wine vinegar

1 tsp grated ginger

a splash of sesame oil and a few rounds of green onion and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds make the sauce special.

We still need to perfect the appearance of those pot stickers but I don't know if we could make them taste any better...

Very flavorful and satisfying meal.  Thanks Nick for the menu and all the help!!

Not something new but something really good...

I know that yesterday I said I was going to stretch myself and make something new and complicated...yada yada yada...I thought about it and even started to look on the internet for something and then...

Suddenly I realized that what I wanted was a cheeseburger with colby cheese, grilled onions, lettuce and tomato on a ciabatta bun.  

And if you have a cheeseburger of course you need fries to go with it.

So, off I went to Walmart, the keeper of the most wonderful ciabatta bun.  They come in three flavors.  Plain,onion poppy or whole grain with sesame seeds.  Our favorite is the onion poppy but they did not have those today.  I got the plain ones in case I decide to make croutons with the ones left over.  I told the girls at work that I was going to make cheeseburgers for dinner and they asked what kind of cheeseburger.  What do you mean what kind.  That is when they informed me that I never make anything as plain as a cheeseburger and wanted to know what was in the burger.  I admitted that, yes, it is not just plain burger, (they know me so well) but an umami burger.  My darling husband/best friend also surfs the web for recipes and found one day a recipe for an umami burger.  Umami is the Japanese word for the savory sense of our taste buds.  I altered the recipe slightly.  

Umami Burger

1 pound of hamburger 

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp fish sauce

fresh ground black pepper

mix and allow to marinate for 10-20 minutes.  Patty them the size you prefer and grill them up.  I like mine done...not red, not pink but not burnt.  About five minutes on both sides.  The last two minutes I put the cheese on so it gets a little melty.  (It's my blog so that is a word.)

The fries are seasoned with salt, pepper and ceyenne pepper.  Cut the potatoes to the size you like.  Rinse off some of the starch with cold water and then pat as dry as you can.  Coat them with oil, I spray them with canola cooking spray, then sprinkle on the seasonings.  I cook them in a 425 degree oven for 35-45 minutes.  Turn them about half way through so they get evenly cooked.  Make them as crispy as you like.

This meal of cheeseburger and fries is definitely a favorite of mine.  It hit the spot.  Satisfied?  Yes I Am.