Cuts: Recipes for Every Day

Summer Quinoa Salad Recipe

2014-06-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had the privilege of traveling down to Mashpee on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and meeting the Executive Chef of one of the most illustrious private clubs in New England – a club known to the world simply as Willowbend. The simplicity of the name should give you an idea how well-established the club is. Like Cher. Or Madonna. But unlike Cher or Madonna, this icon of the industry hasn’t worn thin and irrelevant with age (seriously, ladies, give it up). If anything, Willowbend has only become better over the past 20 years. And the recent addition of the Swiss-born Italian Chef Massimiliano Mariotta is the perfect example.

Willowbend's Executive Chef Massimiliano Mariotta

Meeting Chef Massimiliano is an experience in-and-of itself. His overflowing passion for what he does is clear from the moment you meet him. When the the conversation goes culinary, an electric spark pops into his eyes and clearly travels throughout his body as he speaks, and infuses the food he creates. It's a contagious excitement: when you talk food with Chef Massmiliano, you'll walk away knowing more - and caring more - about what goes into your meals.

Being the Executive Chef at a club as sprawling as Willowbend is no small task – the man oversees the property’s main restaurant, a poolside Italian café, plus the catering for a multitude of weddings and private events held at the club’s resort-style pool, grand ballroom and on the golf course. And the Chef doesn’t make it easy on himself – he’s so dedicated to fresh, sustainable, responsible, preservative-free dishes, he grows his own herbs behind Willowbend’s Clubhouse and owns his own farm in nearby Marion, Ma. Combine that dedication with his culturally diverse Swiss background, and the result is some of the freshest, delicious, and most unique dishes that can be found on Cape Cod. And his Quinoa Salad recipe is no exception.

Chef Massimiliano's herb garden behind Willowbend's Clubhouse

Extraordinary dining views from the Clubhouse Patio (courtesy of Shoeshotz Weddings)

A chef this dedicated to getting every detail right, from how the food is cultivated to the artful presentation of his creative dishes, is bound to use some ingredients you won’t have sitting at home. Yes, I’m talking about the edible flowers, which in this case serves more as a garnish than a relevant flavor or flavor-enhancing aroma. So, in my humble, untrained opinion, you can forgo the edible flowers and still have a slightly citrusy, delicious and refreshing – or dare I even say REJUVENATING – summer salad to guiltlessly share at your next summer outing!

SUMMER QUINOA SALAD RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1 cup quinoa: gold, rainbow, and red or all mixed (the mixture is ideal, but you can make do with what ya got)
½ teaspoon salt
Lemon juice (to taste – I tend to get a little crazy with it)
½ cup, extra-virgin olive oil
1 carrot, small, diced
1 apple, small, diced
1 stalk celery, small, diced
1 red pepper, small, diced
Italian parsley, flat
Edible flower mix for garnish (ditch the flower if you don’t have any – don’t go outside and pick some pansies, please)

Bring quinoa, salt, and 1 ¼ cup water to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 12 minute. Remove from heat and let stand covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Whisk lemon juice and garlic in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let quinoa cool, transfer to a large bowl, mix in the carrots, apple, celery, and red pepper. Now mix in half of the dressing and the parsley. This dish can be made one day ahead! Before serving, add remaining dressing and garnish with edible flower.

Willowbend on Cape Cod

Turkey Chickpea Spinach Burgers - Making Meat Last Longer

2014-04-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Does anybody else constantly battle between their love of meat and their desire to live healthier? Or maybe the cost of meat and the desire to save money? Or maybe you're just looking for a power meal that puts all your protein, fiber, and vitamins in one containable patty?

Look no further than these grilled turkey, chickpea and spinach burgers! Delicious, nutritious and they're the perfect way to satisfy your carnivorous side while stretching your meal into two or three days of leftovers (for cheap)! You can also make these with any meat or flavoring you want - say, pork and sriracha burgers with chickpea and spinach? Buffalo chicken? BBQ beef? Really, whatever kind of burger you want to make, you can mix in these ingredients and make it healthier without taking away from the flavor.

Turkey, Chickpea, Spinach Burgers Recipe

1lb of ground turkey

14 oz of canned chickpeas

1 tsp cayenne

1 tbs cumin

Salt & pepper to taste

1 tbs olive oil

1 squirt of lemon juice

2 handfuls of spinach, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1/8 cup breadcrumbs

4 buns (if desired - you can always toss these burgers on a salad too)

1. Rinse your chickpeas, pat dry, put in a blender or food processor with the lemon juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend until a smooth paste.

2. Put the blended chickpeas in a big bowl, and add ground turkey and cayenne. Mix with your hands.

3. Add chopped spinach and onion to the bowl and mix.

4. Add breadcrumbs to the bowl and mix yet again! The mixture should be getting stickier now - you want to make sure the burgers will stay together on the grill, so play with the mixture until it seems sticky enough to stay together.

5. Once you have a nice sticky mixture, start making your patties - they shouldn't be too big, maybe 1/4" thick - see the image below.

6. Heat your grill to medium heat, and gentle place your patties over the flame. Let them cook for roughly 5 minutes before flipping.

7. You'll know your patties are done when the spinach goes crispy and the the corners of the burgers begin to blacken. Toast your buns, throw on your favorite condiment (we used hoisen), and enjoy!

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili Recipe

2013-11-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, you're going to roast a giant, delicious bird, and you and your loved ones are going to sit down to dinner and fill yourself with the child-like warmth of Thanksgiving goodness that you've enjoyed since you were a happy-go-lucky, cranberry-jelly-gobbling wee one - and it's going to be wonderful.

And then, you're going to have a giant bird carcass sitting in the middle of your table. And - what do you do with a leftover turkey carcass? Why, you give it new life of course. By making stock - and then using that stock in this here Buffalo Chicken Chili recipe.

Take the turkey carcass, shove it in a slow cooker, fill that slow cooker with water and a couple tablespoons of white vinegar, and cook it on low for 8-14 hours (in my opinion, the darker the better). Strain the liquid, then freeze whatever stock you're not using at that moment- I usually portion mine out in ice cube trays - like this twinkly little number above.

I apologize for the lacking photo quality here - bear with me as I get back into the hang of things? Thanks - you're the best. Yeah - I mean you.

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili Recipe

Ingredients

2 tbs oil (I used coconut oil, because it's the best thing ever)

1 lb ground chicken (or if you have leftover turkey, cut into chunks and use that)

2 large carrots, peeled

1 large onion

2 ribs celery

1 green pepper

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs paprika

2 cups of the aforementioned turkey stock

2/3 cup franks hot sauce

1/8 cup white vinegar

2 tbs liquid smoke

24 oz stewed tomatoes

2 14 oz cans black beans

Blue cheese, tortilla chips and fresh cilantro as desired

1. Chop up your garlic and onion first, lightly grease a skillet with the oil, and set to 3/4ish heat - cook for roughly 2 mins - until fragrant

2. Peel and chop your other veggies and add them to the pan

oh, and by the way...

...during this process I learned that the Kyocera peeler is one of the best kitchen products on the planet, and if you don't have one, you should fix that ASAP. I'd go for this knife/peeler combo - and by the way, Kyocera, if you need me to test our and review and products for you, I'd be more than happy to. Ecstatic even. Seriously. Give me stuff. Pretty, pretty please.

Sorry where were we? Oh yes. Veggies, in pan, about 10 mins

3. While you're doing this, add the liquid smoke, stock, spices, beans and tomatoes to the crockpot and set it to low

4. Dump your veggies in the slow cooker

5. Brown the ground chicken, or if you're using your leftover turkey - skip this step

6. Dump the chicken in the crockpot too

7. Let simmer for 6 hours or so, then set to high, take the top off, and cook off the extra liquid for about an hour.

Now you have lunch for two for roughly a week - AND you got the most out of your turkey. Now - how awesome is that?

Crisp Tender Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe and Tips

2013-11-21T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I instagrammed this turkey. And, yeah I instagrammed it, like, a year ago. And no, that totally isn't lame, because I have two wicked good reasons for it. And no, I didn't make up two totally random reasons just to cover my ass. Just one.

Reason #1: It doesn't matter what turkey I post, because every turkey I stick in my oven comes out crispy and brown on the outside, and tender as hell on the inside. And that's what we're talking about today - how to nail that turkey roast EVERY TIME. I'll even guarantee that these instructions will lead down the path of better-turkeydom, or your money back!

And #2: I was so excited about the turkey I made for our pre-thanksgiving friendsgiving celebration this past week, I completely forgot to take AFTER photos. But were other people there who can vouch for the turkey's crispy tender deliciousness. And also its existence.

Crisp and Tender Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe

3-4 cloves of garlic, halved

3-4 tbs of softened butter. softened and cut into quarters

1 whole onion, cut into large circular pieces

1 whole lemon cut into eighths

2 tbs of rub (I used Spice House Back of the Yard, because it rules over all other spices ever)

1 tsp of olive oil, plus enough to rub the turkey down with thoroughly

1. Preheat oven to 350ish. Take the lemon, onion, garlic, butter, and half the rub and toss it in a bowl. Mix it up well (I usually use my hands) and leave it be.

2. Remove all that giblet crap from your turkey, rub it down with olive oil FIRST - then really work the rest of that rub into the skin.

3. Stuff that bird full of the veggie/lemon mixture - don't skimp, get as much of that mixture as you can in there. Drop the rest into the roasting pan - it'll help flavor the basting juices.

4. Toss the turkey in the oven and baste every 20-40 minutes. If the turkey hasn't dropped any juices yet, use a little bit of extra olive oil

5. About 3/4 of the way through the cooking process, FLIP THE BIRD - crisp up the skin on the other side, and make sure you baste RIGHT after you do this.

6. Turn up the oven to 375-400 for the last 20 minutes or so - let that skin firm up before taking it out.

That's it - the veggie mixture should keep the inside of your bird flavorful and tender, and the oil and basting should make the skin all brown and crispy like.

Next, we'll tackle stuffing, which doesn't take a lot of tackling at all!

As always, send me your pics of the recipe, and I'll post on Facebook!

Quick Roasted Tomato and Parmesan Tart - Kinda

2013-09-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

I usually get my recipe inspiration from the interwebs, creating dishes that are essentially bastardizations of another bastardization someone stole from someone else who stole it from Martha Stewart's Magazine or Cooking Light. But lately I've been relatively uninspired what I've found on the interwebs - it's a lot of variations on the same thing, so I've turned my thievery to cookbooks. NOTE: I'm not stealing the cookbooks themselves, just the recipes. I do not encourage theft of things, just ideas.

Anyway, Katie Quinn Davies "What Katie Ate" is page after page for inspiration behind the skillet and the camera. Her photography manages to be both moody and warm, inviting and artistic, and, of course, mouth-watering. And the recipes range from quick and easy to 8-hour long processes that will either fill you with accomplishment or the desire to throw yourself off a bridge (I mean this in a good way - I don't know about you, but nothing makes cooking more of a chore then executing an onslaught of easy recipes).

In the book, the dough is actually cut into little "cookies", or plates for the tomatoes, but my brain fell out while I was making this and I mucked up the butter/flour ratio for the dough, so I couldn't roll it out easily, and decided to make more of a tart. And I was STILL frickin' thrilled with the result. What's below is a combination of her recipe, my mistakes, and my suggested band-aids for where I flubbed up.

30 Large Cherry Tomato Halves
Olive Oil (for cooking)
Dried Rosemary and Thyme
Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
2 Cloves of Garlic
3/4 Cup Coconut Oil (or Butter)
1 3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tbs Half & Half
2 Cups Cup Parm, Grated

1. Preheat the oven to 400

2. Place the tomato halves on a baking sheet, drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with rosemary, thyme, pepper and salt

3. Cut the tips off the garlic (pre-peeling), place in a square of aluminium foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, then wrap the foil around the cloves

4. The tomatoes should be nice and roasted after about 20 minutes, the garlic should take about 30 minutes, but watch them both and use your better judgement. If you made the dough while this cooks, then you can leave the oven on - just drop the temp down to 350. If not, it'll be a bit, so turn it off.

5. Combine the flour and softened coconut oil (or butter) in a large bowl until well mixed - it should resemble coarse breadcrumbs

6. Add the half & half, roasted garlic, plenty of pepper, a pinch of salt, and as much rosemary and thyme as you see fit :) Mix it well using your fancy kitchen tool, or - as I did - with a wooden spoon and your hands

7. So, I here I ran into a little bit of trouble - I rolled the dough into a ball, wrapped in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge for 30 minutes. When I pulled it out, it was a solid ball - I had to dunk it in a warm water bath for about 10 minutes to get it to roll out. Whether or not you HAVE to do this - I don't know. But everything turned out ok in the end, so, I have no complaints.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 (if you haven't already), and roll out the dough to a 9" circle

9. Grease a 9" pie pan with a bit of the olive oil, then place the dough inside. Work it with your hands, pinching the "crust" up around the edges, and making the floor of the crust flat against the pan. I then sprinkled with a bit more pepper and parm.

10. Stick the pan in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. When it's down, take it out and let it sit for about 10 minutes before adding the tomatoes. If you're so inclined, you can add pesto to the mix to add some extra flavor and help the tomatoes stick.

Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pops

2013-05-04T07:17:00.002-07:00

Not gonna lie - there were a little intense for a man who doesn't often delve into the world of sweets. But, turns out, I'm not the only person in this world, and I'm surrounded by lovers of intense sugar-to-tongue contact. So - here we are.

The surprisingly thing about these is I was able to halve the normal amount of sugar used in these, AND use mostly 100% cocoa baking chocolate, and the sweetness didn't suffer at all. I wouldn't go so far as to call these healthy, but they were certainly healthier than any of the recipes I found online.

In the interest of Saturday morning brevity, and the fact that I want to get out from behind the computer and go play in the sun, I'll sum it all up here - crunchy, sweet, rich snacks that can be created in the course of a day as you run in and out of the house. If you are, or know any, sweet lovers, you should drive in and try making these - they'll love you FOREVER.

Dark-Chocolate Dipped Cheesecake Pops Recipe

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 tbs honey

1 1/2 lbs cream cheese (or three of those tubs you see below)

1/2 cup half and half, or heavy cream - or just milk - I used half and half

2 large eggs, just the yolks

1 tbs pure vanilla extract

1 cup peanut butter (I used 1 3/4 - and it was a little too much)

2 tbs coconut oil

6 oz pure cocoa chocolate

3 oz semi-sweet chocolate

1. Preheat your oven to about 325, then line an 8" baking pan with foil. Lightly grease the foil
2. Beat the lumps out that brown sugar, then combine with the cream cheese in a really large bowl - mix it really, really well.
3. Add the cream slowly, beating in between pouring

4. Add the yolks and the peanut butter, and fold until completely mixed - fold slowly though, you don't want any air getting caught in there. The cheesecake will crack up, and not in that good way.

5. Pour the mixture into the baking pan and spread evenly

6. Stick in the oven for about 15 minutes, then cool down the oven by lowering the heat to 200 an opening the oven door just a bit. Continue to bake for about 45minutes

7. Turn off the oven, and let the cheesecake cool without taking it out. After about 45 minutes, put it in the fridge for at least 7 hours

8. Now - if you want here, you can simply lift the cheesecake out of the pan using the foil and cut it into squares - which may be neater than what I did. I just scooped out a 1" ball and rolled it with my hands. They didn't come out quite as pretty as I had hoped, but I did prefer the shape.

9. After you make your balls or square, whathaveyou - CAREFULLY insert your lollipop sticks into the top of each one. I stuck each one about 3/4 through the cheesecake.

10. Stick in the freezer for about 30 minutes

11. If you were wondering if there was any cheesecake left over for snacking...

12. Using a double boiler, melt your 100% cocoa chocolate slowly in a double boiler, stirring
13. Once it melts fully, remove from the heat and add the coconut oil and semi-sweet chocolate, and stir until full melted
14. Submerge or roll the cheesecake pops in the the chocolate, then almost immediately roll the chocolate in whatever topping you like - I used a butter-toffee crunch thingy I found at the store

It's true, it takes a little time and a lot of waiting, but it's not intensive, and you can do most of it as you run in and out of the house over the course of a day. The result? Friends and family with mind-blown and happy mouths, and if you like cooking, what more could you ask for?

Giving it a shot? Post a pic! www.facebook.com/cutseveryday

15-Minute Spicy Chicken and Veggie Lettuce Wraps

2013-04-24T04:35:00.001-07:00

Move over bread. There's a new sheriff in town. Lettuce tell you about it.

I'm so, so sorry. It's way too early to be writing this. I'm delirious. I'm so delirious, it took me about 2 minutes of staring at the word delirious to spell it right. But that's exactly what this dinner is perfect for - days where you're just deliriously tired, have a fridge full of random veggies and a few Jurassic-sized leaves of lettuce you need to use up, and/or have a total of 20-25 minutes to make your food, eat and get on with your day/evening.

This past week, I was on my own variation of the CLEAN diet - just a detox diet that cuts out red meats, gluten, dairy, preservatives, etc. for 7-21 days to help reset the system (again, my own variation - you don't have to buy anything from this particular program - such as the shakes, or even his book, to follow through on this concept). It wasn't my first time trying this diet, but for some reason, this time around, I had so much energy within just a couple of days, I've decided to stick to it for 3-4 days of the week - every week!

In any case, while I was on this, not only did I decide it was time to try making lettuce wraps (really, it's the only way to live without bread for a week), I found new Indian sauces using only veggies and lime juice, I rediscovered my love of beets, used chickpeas for sauces and as a thickening agent - really, I discovered - and in some cases, rediscovered - a whole world of food.

I'll share some of that, some healthier desserts, etc. in the weeks to come - this blog ain't going totally healthy - that would just bore the hell outta me, but you can expect a wider variety of healthier foods in the weeks and months to come. Let me know if you have any thoughts - I'm ALWAYS looking for inspiration!

It'll take less time to make this recipe than it took you to read this tripe - get on with the recipe already!

Spicy Chicken and Veggie Lettuce Wraps Recipe

2 tsp cooking oil (I used coconut oil)
1/4 onion, diced
1 tsp Sesame Oil (Hot chili sesame oil if you have it)
3 tbs chili garlic sauce
1 tbs rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup broth (I used duck. Because that's what I had lying around. I know, I'm weird)
3/4 lb ground chicken, pork or beef
Raw veggies of your choosing - we chopped up a few heads of broccoli, cucumber and radish
1 bunch (about 8 leaves) of a crunchy lettuce - iceberg works great, but I was in the mood for something dark, green and leafy, so I used romaine

1. Preheat two skillets to about 3/4 heat and add the cooking oil - about 1-2 tsp per skillet

2. Add the diced onion to one - this will be our sauce. Cook until the onions are translucent.

3. While that cooks, start the - uh - meat...on the other skillet, scramble, and cook until ALMOST done - keep scrambling that meat.

4. And while THAT cooks, add the broth, sesame oil, chili-garlic sauce, vinegar and soy sauce to the skillet, stir, bring to a boil, then let simmer for about a minute

5. Once that meat is, like, seconds from being done (you see I have a bit o pink still left), move the sauce over, and let it simmer with the meat for a few minutes. Imagine - tacos, only less Mexican food and more Asiany food

6. Round up your veggies, your meat and any additional condiment you want. We used hoison, because hoison is spiked with an addictive drug that fills the pleasure center of your brain like a shallow well during monsoon season.
7. Now - simply stuff that lettuce with the meat and veggies just as you would a soft taco and roll it up.

8. Eat it.

Simple, quick, delicious and healthy - it was kind of a throw-away dinner that is quickly going to become a regular in this house.

Take some pics, send'em to me, I'll post'em - we'll all revel in the wonderful deliciousness that is food. See you on the Facebook page!

Grilled Cheese with Balsamic Onions, Gruyere & Ham

2013-04-13T13:42:00.001-07:00

I offer this grilled cheese as a sacrifice to the overseerers of Grilled Cheese Month - whomever those delightful geniuses may be, thank you for this fantastic concept, and please - don't stop there. Bacon is desperately looking for a month to call its own. It's waiting for your call.

This is one of my favorite grilled cheese - um - "recipes." I use the term "recipe" lightly here, with those quotes that are best indicated with a sarcastic scrunching of the index and middle fingers, because the best grilled cheeses aren't conceived by written instructions and years of training. The best grilled cheeses are the lovechild of the hands and the heart. They're the result of spontaneity and innovation coming together between a browned buttery-bready mixture that really can't be done wrong, only differently. Hell, when you get that craving, even the blackest of burnt grilled cheeses will fill that hunger-hole better than any burger or burrito.

But I digress - and without even coming close to touching upon what I wanted to talk about here. Where is that backspace button...

You know, I was going to fall into some rant about the fine line between a melt and a grilled cheese - how a pastrami grilled cheese is no different than a pastrami melt, blah, blah, blah, rant, rant rant, etc.

But I don't really care. If it's delicious, make it, eat it, enjoy it. If Dr. Seuss made this dish, he might call it an onion funion hootanany butter fudder kazoo - and that, my friends, would be fine with me too.

He would be much more inventive than that, as he had talent and I use words with as much precision as a bull with a butcher's knife (see?), but you catch my point. Anyway, here's how to make food:

Grilled Cheese with Balsamic Onions, Gruyere & Ham "Recipe"

1/4 onion (cut into strips 1" long)

3 slices of medium cut deli ham (quartered)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

3 tbs olive oil

3 tbs balsamic vinegar

2 pieces of whole wheat bread

2 tbs butter

1 cup gruyere cheese (grated)

1. Heat a pan to about 3/4 heat and add the olive oil - the oil shouldn't quite sizzle, but it should bubble slightly when you place a drop of water in it
2. Add the onions, and stir well
3. Add the salt and sugar, and stir well
4. Cook for roughly 20-30 minutes, or until the onions have absorbed most of the olive oil
5. Add the balsamic vinegar, and turn the heat to high for 1 minute
6. Add the ham, stir, remove the whole thing from the heat

7. If you got one, heat up that cast iron skillet to a little over 1/2 heat (completely heated - wait until the handle is hot, but, you know - don't test it with your bare hands)
8. Add 1 tbs butter, and place one piece of bread face down on the pan
9. Once that browns, remove from heat, add the second tbs of butter, and put down the second piece of bread
10. Right away, add half the cheese, then the onions and ham, then the rest of the cheese, and then the first piece of bread - push down with your spatula so all that deliciousness oozes together
11. If you have to play with the heat to keep the bread from burning, do so, but don't you remove that sandwich until that cheese is melted. If you do so without making a mess, give the sandwich a flip so the cheese is melted evenly.

That's it - you have finished you official obligation to participate in National Grilled Cheese Month. You've made us all proud - good work! Prove your devotion by taking a pic and posting it on my FB page - www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Thanks for indulging me today, everyone - I'm a bit punchy ;)

Frozen Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Bites

2013-04-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

I originally found this recipe on The Detoxinista's website as a healthy(er) spin on the Reese's Easter Peanut Butter Eggs - a recipe not easy to blindly imitate due to the gritty texture of the peanut butter filling, and a flavor that I thought was impossible to recreate without a metric ton of confectionery sugar. Well, turns out you don't need a metric ton - or a cubic ton - or really anything close to a ton. Just a touch of real maple syrup, and the chocolate handles the rest of the sweetness for you.

I'm not a huge consumer of sweets, but I am a real lover of getting brownie points from sweet lovers - especially with recipes that seem like the result of a chemical process requiring hours spent slaving over peanut butter-filled beakers bubbling in a laboratory maintained by magical candy-producing elves.

Really - these are that good. And so easy to make that every sweet-lover in your life will start accepting these as a form of currency.

I would do this a LITTLE differently next time: Instead of using dark chocolate chips, I might get some less sweet, darker chocolate (because I'm a mutant and prefer less sweet over more), a candy thermometer, and try my hand at tempering the chocolate. As is, if you don't leave these delicious frozen balls in the freezer, you might find yourself leaving chocolate smudges all over your dog's back.

Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything.

Frozen Chocolate-Coated Peanut Butter Bites Recipe

Adapted from the Detoxinista's blog - go check her out!

1 cup natural peanut butter

6 tbs pure maple syrup

3 tbs tapioca flour (or similar substitute)

1 tsp salt

1.5 cups dark chocolate chips

Other ingredients as desired - like pretzels or banana - experiment!

1. Combine the peanut butter, syrup, flour and salt in a bowl and mix well
2. Now - get your hands dirty - grab small amounts of the peanut butter with your hands and roll into small, bite-sized balls. Place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet or cutting board - something you can throw in the freezer
3. Have you guessed the next part yet? Yup - throw them in the freezer until they congeal nicely into firm little bundles of delicious

4. Melt the dark chocolate - just like we did for the macaroons. If you have a double-boiler or something of the sort, you already know how to do this - if not, find two pots: one you can place on the other without it falling in entirely. Fill the bottom pot 1/4 full with water, then put the other on top - boil the water, then place the dark chocolate chips in the top pot - stir gently until they melt into gooey chocolate goodness

5. I was really indelicate about this part - pull the peanut butter balls from the freezer and toss them into the chocolate one at time, scoop them out with a small spoon, and place them back on the parchment. If you want your balls to look nice, let the excess chocolate spool back into the pot once you pull the balls out, then smooth over with the bottom side of a spoon

6. Place the balls back in the freezer, and - this is the hardest part - wait. Wait, wait, and wait and wait for for about half a day, if not more. I waited a full 24 hours before the peanut butter and the chocolate reached the perfect consistency. And it drove me mad. Nuts. Loco. So I stole a few from myself while I was waiting...don't tell anyone.

And that's it!! Totally easy, absolutely delicious, and people actually believe I labored for hours to make them. Until now. Crap. I think I just called myself out...

If you make them, do me a favor and post a pic on www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Food Bloggers Against Hunger: What You Can Do to Help

2013-04-08T05:42:00.000-07:00

I'm a goofy guy, and I like to keep things light on this blog - but when it comes to issues of hunger and health, there's nothing to be goofy about.

Food insecurity - the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food - exists in 17.2 million households in American,
3.9 million of them with children.

Food bloggers across the country today are launching a "Food Bloggers Against Hunger" initiative promoting ways that you can take action to ease the problem of hunger in America, and help make it easier for struggling Americans find ways to obtain inexpensive, healthy, non-processed food for their families. The initiative coincides with the premiere of A Place At The Table, a new documentary from the makers of Food, Inc that explores the US' hunger problems, the consequences, and how we, as individuals and as a nation, can take action to fix it. The full film is available in theaters AND through Amazon and iTunes.

As I'm sure you already realize, and is noted in the A Place at the Table trailer above, it's cheaper to buy a cheeseburger at McDonald's than it is to buy a pair of peaches- and, in my humble opinion, there's something seriously wrong with that. It leads to obesity, disease and just generally unhealthy living for lower income families - not due to a lack of effort, but because that's all that's available to them. You can learn more about the issue at The Giving Table's Website - they are a note-worthy organization I hope you'll check out.

How You Can Help - with Just a Few Clicks of Your Mouse

Charity is great, but it won't solve the problem. The only way for hunger to be eliminated in America is if policies change, so it’s important we make our voices heard. If you are living in the US, I encourage you to take just a few moments to contact your local rep using this form, and promote changes in the system that will encourage our government to focus on keeping our country well-fed on food that's both nourishing and affordable.

I'm sorry to say I found out about this late last night, so I don't have many inexpensive recipes to offer. However, I would like to offer the following blogs, plus a few of my own recipes previously posted that are at least relatively cheap, and made with little-to-no processed foods. If you have other blogs or recipes you'd like to suggest, please post them in the comments, or on the The Giving Table's Pinterest and Facebook pages.

Blogs:
Frugal Recipes
Cheap Healthy Good

Recipes:
Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread
Crispy Chickpeas with Spinach and Sausage
Vegan Chickpea Spinach Burgers
Stuffed Mushrooms with Homemade Stuffing
Garlic-Honey Eggplant
Veggie and Potato Frittata
BBQ Flavored Chickpeas

Thanks so much for taking the time to read, learn and educate.

- Jeremy

Food-Insecure Families Statistics (learn more here)

Rates of food insecurity are substantially higher than the national average among households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line, among households with children headed by single parents (35.1% of female-headed households with children are food-insecure) and among Black and Hispanic households.

Food insecurity is most common in large cities but still exists in rural areas, suburbs and other outlying areas around large cities − 25 % of households with children living in large cities are food-insecure.

The typical (median) food-secure household spent 27 percent more for food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and composition.

59% of food-insecure households reported that in the previous month they had participated in one or more of the three largest federal food and nutrition assistance programs: SNAP (formerly food stamps), School Lunch and WIC.

Picnic Foods #4: Buttermilk-Battered Chicken Bites

2013-04-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, friends - I think we did it. After five days and four posts of spring-ready picnic foods, we conquered the freezing cold onslaught, and we're finally hitting an outdoor temp of over 50 degrees every day - we're even sliding into the 60s! It's time to pull out that blanket, hit the parks, and enjoy some fancy and finger-lickin' outdoor fare!

I have to admit - after a full week of posting going head-to-head with Jack Frost - I'm spent. So - here's the rest of the posts and the recipe - and I'm heading to sunbeam on the couch for a bit of a catnap. :) Enjoy!

Picnic Foods Part 1: Cast Iron Skillet Cheddar Cornbread
Picnic Foods Part 2: Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus
Picnic Foods Part 3: Those Little Deviled Eggs

THIS IS NOT A QUICK RECIPE. In fact, it's best if you let the chicken marinate for up to 8 hours - and no less than 1 hour.

Buttermilk-Battered Chicken Bites Recipe

2 large, boneless chicken breasts

2 cups buttermilk

4 cloves of garlic, mashed

1 tbs oregano

1 tbs paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper + another 1/2 tsp

2 cups vegetable oil for frying

2 cups breadcrumbs

1. Cut the chicken into small cubes - 1" or less
2. Mix garlic, buttermilk and pepper in a large bowl
3. Add the chicken and mix until the chicken is smothered
4. Throw it in the fridge for a minimum of 1hr - even better, stick it in the morning so it marinates for more like 8 hours. Remove the chicken from the fridge a 1/2 hour before continuing with the recipe
5. With a fork, mix the spices and the breadcrumbs in a large bowl
6. Dredge the buttermilked chicken through the breadcrumbs so they're well covered, and place them on a plate

7. Put the oil in a tall skillet, and set to 3/4 heat - using tongs, drop 3-4 pieces in at a time and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until golden. I put too many in a time, and the temp of the oil dropped a bit too low - I compensated by draining the chicken on a plate with a paper towel, then sticking them under the broiler for 2-3 minutes - they crunched up pretty quick.
8. I just made a quick an easy honey-mustard sauce - just added a tsp of honey to some dijon mustard, and it was the perfect complement!

And our war against winter has come to an end - we stand triumphant with a pile of delicious picnic foods at our sides, ready to step out into the sunshine and indulge to our heart's content.

I have a few surprises lined up for next week - something foul and something sweet - you'll soon be able to catch a preview on www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Picnic Foods #3: Those Little Deviled Eggs

2013-04-04T04:13:00.004-07:00

Winter War Journal, Day 3 (A food blog's fight against winter)
The quest to conquer this winter weather continues - this blog keeps pushing the front lines by publishing one picnic-ready recipe every day this week, but these shrines to spring seem to have little effect on the rapid-fire, freezing-cold air particles Jack Frost keeps thrusting in my direction. I'm tired and sore with something that resembles an ice cream headache - and if the web of white crystalline frost on my windshield doesn't wear me down, surely the Seasonal Affective Disorder will.

My scout - commonly known as Weather.com - tells me there's hope up ahead - 55-57 degree weather with sunshine and cloudless skies - but it's not the first time I've heard this. 6 weeks ago, a groundhog told me the same thing, and look where I am now?

However - I'll push onward with our next spring-time friendly picnic post, hoping that if I keep telling myself it's spring, it'll eventually come true...

Oh - and here's the picnic foods I posted earlier this week and on, and what's deck for this week - today's subtitle theme: Classic Literature.

Picnic Foods Part 1: Cast Iron Skillet Cheddar Cornbread (or "The Tempest, and other Daily Occurences")
Picnic Foods Part 2: Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus (or "MidSummer Night's {just a} Dream")
Picnic Foods Part 3: Those Little Deviled Eggs (or "The Sun Also Rises {at some point}" AKA, this post)
Picnic Foods Part 4: Buttermilk-Battered Popcorn Chicken with Honey-Dijon Sauce (or "The Lion, The Witch, and my Spring Wardrobe: a tale of fictional things")

Deviled Eggs Recipe

This is a recipe for a BASE for deviled eggs - flavor them with roasted shallots, bacon, relish, brandy - whatever tickles your fancy!

6 large eggs

1/8-1/4 cup mayonnaise (depending on your tastes)

1.5 tbs dijon mustard (pardon me - but do you have any grey poupon?)

1/2 tsp sriracha

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp lemon juice
1.5 tsp smoked paprika (go smoked, man, you'll never go back)
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, reduce heat slightly, then add eggs carefully using a spoon - if the water boils too hard, the eggs could crack, so be careful

2. Remove eggs, rest in a bowl of cool water for about ten minutes, then peel off the shell

3. Carefully, cut the hard boiled eggs in half, and with a small spoon, even MORE carefully, scoop out the yolks and place them in a bowl

4. Place the whites on a platter and set aside
5. Combine the rest of the ingredients in the bowl with the yolks, and whip it. Whip it good. If the yolks are too thick for your personal preferences, then add a bit more mayo - just a little at a time, and continue whipping.

6. As you can see, we just spooned the eggs back into the whites, but if you really want to go for that wow factor, use a pastry bag with the tip of your choice.

7. Stick them in the fridge for about 20 minutes - cover loosely to help control the coloring a bit.

8. EAT! Now wasn't that easy? Do you have a favorite way to flavor deviled eggs? Let me know at www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Picnic Foods #2: Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus

2013-04-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

It's currently 30 degrees out in Boston, but I hope you're still standing with me in defiance of winter - it's springtime this week on this blog, whether mother nature likes it or not, and we're diving into 4 delicious picnic-ready snacks!

If you've missed the other picnic foods I've posted/am posting this week, here's a list I'll update as they go up. Today's subtitle theme: 2013 Oscar Nominees:

Picnic Foods Part 1: Cast Iron Skillet Cheddar Cornbread (or "So This is 50 - Degrees;")
Picnic Foods Part 2: Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus (or 'Zero, Dark, Thirty: The Forecast", aka, this post)
Picnic Foods Part 3: Those Little Deviled Eggs (or "The Silver Lining Accu-Weather Map")
Picnic Foods Part 4: Buttermilk-Battered Popcorn Chicken with Honey-Dijon Sauce (or "Les Miserables et Frois")

As you can see, the forecast seems to call for more doom than bloom - but we're going to soldier on, so when that sun does come, we'll be armed and ready with the best of al fresco dining!

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus Recipe (Plus bacon-ized Asparagus Bites)

Would I really call this a recipe? Eh - anyone can do it with their eyes closed, although I wouldn't suggest you do - bacon grease burns (trust me). But it's delicious and fun, and anyone who likes bacon (aka 90% of the people on the internet, apparently) will enjoy this frivolous finger food.

1 bunch'o asparagus with the white part of the stalks chopped off
8 oz of bacon or (or 16, if you plan on wrapping every piece)
Cracked pepper to taste

1. Take a full strip of bacon, and very, very tightly - yet without ripping the meat - wrap it around each piece of asparagus. If that seems like an excessive bacon-to-veggie ratio, wrap the bacon around two or three stalks - or if vice-versa, cut the asparagus into smaller pieces, and wrap the strip of bacon around it numerous times. The possibilities are ENDLESS. Or they end there. It's one of those two.

2. If you're like me, you ran out of bacon before you ran out of stalks, so I chopped up the remaining asparagus into tiny pieces, and set them aside.

3. Heat up a decent-sized skillet on high - using tongs place each bacon-wrapped stock in the pan, and carefully sear at least two sides - it should brown in just a few seconds

4. Turn the heat down to just below 3/4, and let the bacon cook, turning occasionally to make sure the bacon is cooked through

5. When done, place on a plate with a paper towel and drain

6. Drain the excess bacon grease from the pan - leave a thin film still on there - and heat the skillet up to high again. Toss in the asparagus bites, and cook until starting to wilt OR until starting to brown - depends on how hot your skillet gets really.

7. EAT!

And - Spring Picnic Week #2 has come to an end. But fret not - we'll soon demonize some eggs and batter up some tiny pieces of chicken. Remember, if you try it, let me know - maybe even a take a pic and post it to www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Picnic Foods #1: Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

2013-04-02T04:32:00.002-07:00

FINALLY! Spring has arrived in New England! Isn't it just mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful?

Ok, it doesn't QUITE feel like spring here yet. We hit 27 degrees last night after a nearly 60 degree day, everyone's immune systems are going wonky, flowers are swearing at the frost by night and the frost is cussing at sun by dawn - but it's so close! What's that lyric from that random band from the 90s that sang about a black backpack? "It's like someone's holding on to the tail of the sun..."

With the warm(ing) weather arriving and the long(er) days lighting the horizon for a few minutes more every day, I suddenly feel like I have more time, more energy and, as always, more recipes to try. So - whether the weather is good, or whether the weather is bad, we'll weather the weather together - in fact, we'll do one better - we'll defy it!

I'm officially declaring it SPRING PICNIC WEEK on this blog! Four recipes in three posts over four days - dishes perfect for al fresco snacking, and maybe, if we're feeling energized by the sun, we'll have a picnic food linking party at the end of the week!

I'll update the following links as the week goes on, and provide dumb subtitles to go with them! Today: Star wars:

Picnic Foods Part 1: Cast Iron Skillet Cheddar Cornbread (or "A New Hope-For Spring - aka, this post)"
Picnic Foods Part 2: Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus (or 'The Winter-time Strikes Back")
Picnic Foods Part 3: Those Little Deviled Eggs (or "Return of the Sun" - at least that's the forecast)
Picnic Foods Part 4: Buttermilk-Battered Popcorn Chicken with Honey-Dijon Sauce (or "Revenge of the Frost!")

I know - it's ambitious. Let's see if we can really pull it off - but I think this easy cast iron skillet cornbread is a great way to kick it off!

Cast Iron Skillet Cheddar Cornbread Recipe

1/2 cup shredded cheddar jack cheese
3/4 cup flour
2 cup corn meal
1 tbs baking soda
1 tbs baking powder
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
4 eggs
2 tbs salt
2 tbs honey
4 tbs + 1 tbs melted butter
NOTE: I used a 10" skillet for this - I kind of wish I used one slightly smaller, so you can adjust the recipe based on what size skillet your using.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, put the 1 tbs pad of butter in the cast iron skillet, and stick it in the oven to warm up.

2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (cheese, flour, corn meal, baking soda & powder, and salt) together with a fork

3. Break the eggs into a separate bowl, and beat them with a whisk or fork - add the other wet ingredients (butter, buttermilk and honey), and mix until thicker, but not "thick" - you don't want to give the eggs any real weight, like with a hollandaise

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the cornmeal and cheddar mixture, and stir until evenly coated, but again, don't beat the poor sucker into submission - just gently fold until evenly distributed

5. USING AN OVEN MITT or something of the sort, take out your cast iron skillet, give a little twist to make sure the butter you put in is even, and pour in the cornbread batter. The butter here browned a bit - no worries, it didn't effect the end result at all.

6. Leave in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the top begins to golden. Not sure if it's done? Do the toothpick trick - stick one in the middle and pull it back out. If the toothpick is clean, your light is green. Yes - yes, I just made that up. Think it'll catch on? Me neither.

And that, my friends, is part one of Cuts' Spring Picnicfest! We still have a popcorn chicken, deviled eggs, and an asparagus dish to go, and we'll wrap up the week with a picnic food linking party at the end of the week!

As always, let me know if you try any of these recipes on www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Vegetarian Pizza with Quick Tomato & Red Wine Sauce

2013-04-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Making a sauce shouldn't be daunting...

I mean, cooking in general is daunting, isn't it? So many people area afraid of making their own sauce or frying their own chicken because - well, I'm not sure. What's the worst case scenario? The meal tastes like road kill and that frozen dinner you were going to nuke or that take-out pizza you were going to order actually becomes a reasonable option. Nothing gained but a bit of experience - sure - but nothing lost besides a bit of time and a few ingredients.

Cooking is like any other hobby or skill - it takes a bit of practice (I definitely consider myself to be an amateur, so trust me, I empathize). But unlike origami or - I don't know - puppeteering - it's one of the most necessary skills you'll ever develop! You'll always need to eat...if you have a family, or friends who visit regularly, and you live somewhere you can't grab a bite at any time of night, you need to be able to throw a couple eggs on the skillet and make them - you know, edible. So yes, cooking is daunting, and you may fail the first few times you make something - but when you succeed, the payoff isn't as much art as it is sustenance.

Sauces, in general, can be the same sort of scary. When you watch the these cooking shows on the tube - Cook or Die, or what-have-you - you always see these elaborate, fancy sauces that need to be timed perfectly or they erupt in a fiery, magma-spewing mountain of brown, crusty burnt carbon.

But, not all sauces are like that. This one you can make in a matter of minutes while you prepare the rest of your meal, and not only is a simple, it's delicious, and you can use it as a base for any number of flavored, quick and easy sauces!

Vegetarian Pizza with a Homemade Tomato & Red Wine Sauce

First off, if you aren't going to make the dough yourself (I didn't this time), don't go buy that tear-open-and-go, half-cooked crust stuff - go to the bakery section of your local market or a local bakery, and buy the dough made that day. From there, if you want to freeze it for a few days before using, that's fine - just dodge those preservatives or that stale, tasteless ready-to-go, half-cooked dough. Ugh. (not that I have a hangup or anything).

1 bag'o pizza dough

Half a small head of broccoli

2 cups mushrooms, chopped

One (or two halves, as I did here) of peppers, chopped

1 shallot, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 cup parm cheese, shredded then halved

1 "ball" mozzarella cheese

2 tb Italian seasoning
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup wine
1/8 cup half & half or milk

salt & pepper to taste

Olive oil
Flour, as needed - about a tablespoon or two

Making the Sauce

1. Toss just a touch of olive oil in a small pot, followed by the tomatoes, and sprinkle just a little salt over it - let it sit until the tomato juices start to run.

2. Turn the heat up to about 3/4 high, and add the minced garlic and shallots - this is the base for your sauce

3. When the onion becomes translucent and the garlic becomes fragrant - just a few minutes - add the Italian seasoning, then the water, a touch of salt and pepper, and let it simmer (NOT BOIL) until the water reduces by half

4. Add the wine, and again, let it reduce by about half

5. Turn the heat down to 1/4 or so, and add the cream. Let it cook until the flavors blend

6. Add the half-portion of parm mentioned before, and stir until it melts. If it needs thickening, add a pinch of flour and stir as it cooks in

Preparing the Pizza Dough and Veggies

1. Preheat the oven to about 400. Roll out the dough on a pastry board or unfinished wood cutting board or butcher block - what have you! This isn't an exact science, so I always water and flour on hand to work out any stretching or tearing issues

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and CAREFULLY transfer the rolled out dough on top - again, you'll probably need to fix up the dough once you transfer to make it fit correctly

3. Rub the dough with olive oil to help it brown nicely, and season if you want with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, additional cheese - whatever you prefer!

4. Saute the veggies on medium - medium-high heat - start with the mushrooms, move on the the spinach, then briefly add the broccoli to keep it from becoming too mushy. I prefer my peppers raw when they go in the oven, but this is totally a matter of personal taste.

5. Take the sauce you made and, moving a spoon in a circular motion, spread the sauce evenly over the dough

6. Add your veggies, layered as you prefer, then cut your mozz into bize-sized pieces and drop them evenly over the veggies.

7. Top with the remainder of the parm to create that pretty golden brown crusty layer on top, then toss it in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until it looks something like this:

That's it! The whole process takes less than an hour, and can be done even quicker if you have someone handling the dough while you make the sauce and the veggies...it's delicious, and it feeds the two of us for a dinner and TWO - that's right -TWO lunches.

See? Sauce ain't so daunting...

As always, I'd LOVE to see pictures on www.facebook.com/cutseveryday - they just make my day. :)

Dark Chocolate-Dipped Macaroons - for Passover or Not

2013-03-28T04:50:00.003-07:00

I'm not a sweets guy - or a sweet guy - or an overly sentimental guy - but I am a traditions guy.

I've rambled on before about the joy of nailing a recipe that hits home with you - like the first time you get just the right crunch, tingle, and burn from those buffalo bites, or recreating that banana bread that only your grandmother or that motherly neighbor could ever get right (ok, I guess I'm a little sentimental). This was a slightly richer experience than normal, though - and not just because of the chocolate.

To me, macaroons are a necessary Passover treat - a coconutty ball of sweet my parents bought every year when I was kid, that I went out of my way to find while I was in college, and that I'll search every grocery store in the area for until I find one. In fact, a couple years back, my girlfriend decided she was in the mood for a Manischewitz chocolate chip macaroon, and we searched 6 grocery stores until we finally found that holy grail.

You see - she felt the same way I did. That chocolate macaroon wasn't a cookie - it was an institution. The rocky road-style "cookie" wouldn't satisfy our craving. "High-end" or off-brand imitations wouldn't do the trick. In fact, if you think about it, she didn't really want a "macaroon." She wanted her sense of taste to do what senses do - remind her of times gone by, tie those into her new experiences and make new memories - to do what good food was supposed to do: to be more than a meal, and create an experience.

When I bit into one of these homemade dark chocolate macaroons - I wasn't left wanting. It unearthed Passover memories. It satisfied an urge that went deeper than hunger and taste. In short, I rediscovered that experience.

And it was delicious.

One quick editorial note: SORRY for the lack of step-by-step pictures here. I made these so early in the morning I could barely walk, nevermind use a camera. If you get up early enough, there are enough hours in a day to do just about anything - just not before coffee.

Dark Chocolate-Dipped Macaroon Recipe

2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1 1/2 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

4 large egg whites

2 tsp vanilla
11 oz. dark chocolate

1. Toss the coconut, starch, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir with a fork - or a spork, if you have one - until well blended

2. Over a separate bowl, break the eggs in half and toss the egg yolk back and forth between the two shells until the egg whites drain completely into the bowl - add the vanilla, and whisk until frothy

3. Combine the coconut mixture and the egg white mixture in one of the bowls, and mix until completely combined

4. Let the mixture rest for about a half hour - at some point in there you'll want to preheat the oven to about 325

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and using a spoon, scoop up the mixture and place them evenly. Don't be afraid to use your fingers, but don't pack the balls'o'deliciousness too tight - you want some air in there to keep these light and fluffy-ish

6. Bake the macaroons until the wee pieces sticking out on the bottom turn a golden brown. DON'T leave them in too long, they'll dry out!

7. Take them out, let them sit and cool COMPLETELY

8. Using a double boiler - or in my case, boil a pot of water then stick another pot on top of it - melt the dark chocolate until smooth

9. Once the chocolate is melted, dip the macaroons in one at a time, give them a quick twirl while they're in there, then remove and place back on the parchment

10. If you wanna decorate them - as you see, I gave it a shot - spoon some of the chocolate in a medium Ziplock bag, seal, then cut a TINY piece of the bottom corner of the bag

11. Don't squeeze TOO hard, but using a decent about of squeeze force, zigzag over the macaroons - see the image above.

12. Let them sit for 3-5 hours - it all depends on humidity and temp in your house. These were ready within about 3 hours.

AND YOUR DONE - you have a scrumptious Passover (or not) ready treat you can show off to your friends and family! As you can see, I took the left over dark chocolate and threw in a bunch of peanuts - waste-not-want-not, right?

As always, if you try these, I hope you'll send me some pics to share. Food is fun, but nothing beats food with friends! Email them along, or post them on www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Roasting a Chicken in a Cast Iron Skillet

2013-03-23T06:44:00.003-07:00

I wasn't planning on posting this - so there are no fancy-pantsy photos and no nonsensical ramblin' mumbo jumbo to accent this post. But there was so much excitement on the FB page over roasting a chicken in a cast iron skillet, I thought it might be nice to toss up a quick bonus post. So without further ado, let's rock that chicken:

Chicken Roasted in a Cast Iron Skillet Recipe

Ingredients
1 full chicken, about 4-5 lbs
1 lemon, quartered
2 cloves garlic
1 large onion, cut into large circles
Plenty o' (plenty 'o is a measurement...) cajun seasoning
2 tbs vinegar
2 tbs hot sauce
About 1/8 cup olive oil, plus a little to rub into the chicken
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Add half of the onion, olive oil, and vinegar to the cast iron skillet - the onions should serve as a barrier between the bottom of the skillet and the chicken - the heat between the skillet and the chicken should be INDIRECT heat

2. Set oven to 375 and toss in the skillet - as you everyone but me probably already knew, cast iron takes while to heat up, so this will warm up the skillet so it doesn't take forever to warm up once you toss the chicken in

3. Remove bag'o'livers/hearts/neck etc. from the chicken - if you're like me, you boil up this stuff to get a head start on the stock, and while I don't love liver myself, my dog goes nuts for it

4. Rub inside and out first with oil, then the salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning - go nuts!

5. Cram a lemon wedge inside the cavity of the chicken, squeezing a little. Continue stuffing with lemon wedge, then garlic, then onion, repeat, until that chicken is cram-full with deliciousness

6. Place upside down on the skillet (allowing the dark meat to drip down and moisten the white meat), leave in for 20 minutes per pound, basting once every 20 minutes or so. If it starts getting too dark for your tastes, place a piece of aluminium foil loosely on top and turn down the temp by about 25 degrees (keep going, we ain't done yet)

7. For the last 20-30 minutes or so, using your carving set, flip the chicken so the breast skin dries out a bit - I don't do this because I generally eat the dark meat off the bird and save the white meat for chicken salad, fajitas and similar things

8. Once you've stripped the bird of the edible meat and discarded the lemon/garlic/onion etc., toss the carcass and remaining bones in a crockpot with as much water as you want and two tbs of vinegar, slow cook for 6-8 hours, and BOOM - you have chicken stock! Freeze it, save it, use for sauces or soups. I keep it in ice cube trays so I have convenient portions of chicken stock I can just melt and use at any time.

That's it! Leave pictures of your pretty cast iron skillet cooked birdies on my Facebook wall, please! www.facebook.com/cutseveryday.

Ham & Cheese Croquettes with Pea Puree

2013-03-20T05:17:00.001-07:00

On the TAPAS post last week, I talked about how small plates really do bring people together - how food in general does, but how tapas really breaks personal boundaries in a way that often makes people (I'd like to say specifically Americans) uncomfortable (have you ever been on a date and thought, "Hey - she totally just ate that off my plate without asking! I call faux pas!")

Sorry - that was last post's topic - I won't dwell. Today, we have a comfort food - a slightly more personal and - if I may - selfish experience. It's the type of food that doesn't inspire sharing - rather, it inspires one to use their fork as a weapon should anyone get too close to their plate of fried deliciousness. Of course, in this case, the pea puree may be enough to keep someone away (it's surprisingly tasty, you just wouldn't know to look at it).

There's no clinical reason for comfort food to inspire violent attacks - or even proof that it happens. And aside from triggering those reward centers in our brain, I don't really know the science behind comfort foods. What I do know is that my day gets better when I'm coming home to some fried buffalo wings, a cheesesteak sub or anything - ANYTHING - with bacon.

The absolute BEST tasting comfort food, though, is the one you make yourself. When you finally nail that recipe so it matches your own personal taste - trial and error, trial-error, trail-error, trial and - BINGO! You've created that crisp flaky coating, or that rich, succulent creamy texture. It's actually a rush - and then - after eating - generally a nap. Both of which should help wash away whatever ails you, and you wake up a new man or woman, ready to chew up anything that steps in your path.

Watch out world. I can make croquettes. You don't stand a chance.

Ham and Cheese Croquette with Pea Puree Recipe

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
1 cup milk
1 cup diced thinly sliced ham (I just used deli meat)
1 cup grated cheese (I used cheddar jack)
1 teaspoon sage
3 small cloves garlic, smashed
10-ounce frozen peas
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper
Vegetable oil, for frying
3 large eggs, beaten
2 cups breadcrumbs mixed with about 1 tbs salt
1. Melt the butter in a small/medium sauce pan, then add onion and cook until onion turns translucent

2. Add 1/2 cup flour, a few pinches of salt, cayenne pepper and stir until the mixture becomes all stiff-like

3. Add the milk, a little bit at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until the stiff mixture starts clumping like dough - I actually left this on medium-low heat while stirring

4. Turn off the range, stir in the piece of ham, the cheese and the sage

5. Once well mixed, grease a 7" pan (preferably square - obviously I didn't have that available), and spread the dough evenly in the pan. Stick it in the fridge for about an hour or so - little more, little less are both fine, as long as the dough is firm

6. I took this time to make the pea puree, which is the most oddly delicious part of this dish! I just cleaned out the same saucepan and brought a few cups of water to a boil - throw in the peas AND the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or so

7. Drain the peas and garlic, and pull out your food processor or blender

8. Toss the peas, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt and pepper in the food processor, and run into the mixture is as smooth as you can make it - I had to do mine in batches

9. Stick it in a bowl, toss it in the fridge, leave alone for about 20 minutes

10. Here comes the part when cooking gets dirty. Cut the firm dough into pieces about 4" large. You can see my shapes and sizes varied thanks to using my pie dish instead of a square dish

11. Put the flour in one wide mouthed bowl, beat the eggs well in another bowl, and in yet ANOTHER bowl - place the salted breadcrumbs.

12. Dredge each piece in the flour, the coat in the egg, then roll in the breadcrumbs until well covered

13. Heat a skillet with the veggie oil - enough to cover your breaded pieces of deliciousness - until it's shimmering, or at about 350 degrees

14. CAREFULLY using a pair of tongs, cook your croquettes in batches until each is golden brown, then place them on a paper towel to drain (someone asked me if you should put a place under the paper towel or just put it on your counter. Yes, use a plate. Your croquettes are covered in scalding hot oil, the kind Spartans used to drop on Athenians - use a plate, please)

15. Serve with pea sauce on the side

I threw some paprika on here just for some color variation. This was such a surprisingly scrumptious dish - I hope you'll give it a shot, and please, let me know if you do on www.facebook.com/cutseverday!

3 Tapas Recipes: Potatoes Bravas, Chorizo & Shrimp, Garlic Chicken Drumsticks

2013-03-16T10:45:00.001-07:00

One of the stupidest commercials I've seen in the past year comes from Panera - or is it Olive Garden? In any case, it features a chef talking about how soup "brings people together." It seemed like the most arbitrary statement - doesn't food in general bring people together? What about soup inspires a sense of comradery? Is it the part where everyone huddles over their bowl soaking in their individual portion of fragrant steam? Or how the bowl covers their face as they lift it to their lips to drain the last drops? (Sorry, soup, this really isn't an assault on you, just that stupid commercial. You're great - keep doing what you're doing there, champ.)

You know what does bring people together? Tapas! Small plates of portioned deliciousness passed around the table and shared amongst friends who are most likely going to wind up sneaking bites of each other's plates anyway. It doesn't just break personal bubble barriers (you can't share small plates if you're afraid of cooties...), it gives everyone in your party something in common - an entire table of dishes to discuss, personal tastes to compare, stories to tell, and eventually brings the entire table together in a hippie-dippie lovefest of food and conversation.

This is why I love tapas. Small plates: bringing people together one delicious morsel at at time.

Now - we have three recipes to get through, so - enjoy my:

Three Tapas Recipes!

Potatoes Bravas with Lemon Garlic Aioli Ingredients

3 Yukon Potatoes, skinned and cubed
Oil for cooking
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
Salt & Pepper to taste

1 clove garlic
1 tbs lemon juice
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup olive oil
Scallion for garnish, chopped

1. Coat a skillet with olive oil and heat on high until oil shimmers. Make sure the oil is good an hot so the potatoes don't soak up too much.
2. Add the potatoes and cook until golden brown, then place on paper towel to drain
3. AS SOON AS YOU MOVE THEM OVER, add salt, pepper and smoked paprika and toss

4. Take all the aioli ingredients EXCEPT THE OIL, and throw in a food processor (or wisk it if your forearm needs a good workout)
5. Pulse in short bursts. Once the ingredients are well mixed, slowly add the oil inbetween pulses. Keep going until aioli is smooth
6. Put the aioli in a small plastic bag, cut the corner out of the bag, and squeeze lightly while zigzagging over the poatoes. Sprinkle scallions over the potatoes bravas for garnish.
7. Eat.

Garlic & White Wine Chicken Drumsticks Ingredients

(This is basically the same process as the braised drumsticks I posted a week or so ago, just different flavors)

1.5-2 lbs of chicken wings or drumsticks
2 tbs thyme
1 tbs paprika
1 tbs garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
3/4 cup white wine, plus another 1/2 cup
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped
About 2 tbs cooking oil

1. Rub down that chicken with the herbs. Use your hands. Get in there!

2. Heat the cooking oil in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven, and preheat oven to 400.
3. When skillet is about 3/4 heat, add onions and mushrooms - cook for about 2 minutes
4. On high heat, add chicken and sear the exterior on all sides as best you can - DO NOT COOK THROUGH

5. Remove chicken and place on paper towel
6. Add 1/2 cup of white wine to the pan, and scrape with a wooden spoon to delgaze. Reduce liquid by half.

7. Place chicken back in pan, coat with sauce, and toss in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, or until it looks like this.

8. Eat.

Lemon Chorizo & Shrimp Ingredients

This one is incredibly easy - the sausage flavors the shrimp, the shrimp flavors the sausage, and the lemon juice gives it a little TANG. You just need about:

3/4 lb of shrimp, shelled and deveined (you see here I didn't do that, which was a mistake - only leave the shells on if you're placing the shrimp directly on the pan)
1 link of chorizo or similar sausage, chopped
2tbs lemon juice

1. Heat a pan to 3/4
2. Add the chorizo, cook until starting to brown
3. Add the shrimp on top of the chorizo, cook until chorizo darkens and shrimp turns bright pink
4. With the range on high, add the lemon juice on tbs at a time - then turn the range off, toss the mixture, and let sit for a bout 5 minutes.
5. Eat!

And our tapas recipe hat trick is complete! Do you have any small plates you'd love to share? If so, bring'em on down to my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Crispy Chickpeas with Spinach and Sausage

2013-03-13T05:42:00.000-07:00

I really wanted chorizo for this dish. The whole inspiration behind this dish was the fact that I wanted chorizo. Of course, we didn't have chorizo, so a took a little walk to the neighborhood center and hit up the local supermarket - nothing. Fresh out - nothin' doin' - move along, nothing to see here.

So I hopped in my car and drove down to larger, slightly higher-end market down the street.

"Do you have any chorizo, Mr. Meat-Counter Man?"
"You're the third person to ask me that today. Fresh out. Nothin' doin'. Move along, sir."

His mustache seemed to curl with disdain when I asked. I just assumed he was frustrated with this sudden demand, and lack of supply, of chorizo. Come on, chorizo suppliers, I'm sure he was thinking because he couldn't actually come up with the name of any chorizo suppliers, pick up the pace.

So I hopped back in my car and came home, grumbling with frustration and fear about what could easily become a national crisis. I came home and sat in my chair and began pondering the impact of the Chorizo Riots.

I saw tapas places breaking small plates on the ground in protest. I imagined thousands of people taking to the streets with chants that rhymed with sausage I'm not witty enough to think up. I saw thousands of links of sausage being thrown in a pile and burned in protest, which might actually be kind of pleasant. Awful-yet-sweet smells of sweet sausage, Asian sausage, linguica sausa....LINGUICA!

I could just use linguica. The dish was saved. The riots were averted. To celebrate, I bought some linguica down the street and started cooking.

Crispy Pan-Fried Chickpeas with Spinach and Sausage Recipe

1 15 oz can of chickpeas

1 large handfuls of spinach, chopped

1 chorizo or linguisa sausage, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking oil

1. Preheat oven to BROIL, then drain chickpeas, rinse, then drain again - place them on a plate with paper towel and/or pat dry
2. Add a thin layer of cooking oil to a pan (as you can see, I excitedly used my cast iron, which may be the only pan I ever use again. EVER.) and set somewhere 3/4 and high heat

3. Cook the chickpeas, stirring occasionally, until they turn a golden brown, drain, and immediately add salt and pepper to taste - if you do it while it's still hot, the spices will stick much better

4. Throw the sausage in the pan, let cook for about 2 minutes, then add the spinach and cook until almost wilted - you'll actually find that the spinach will crisp up until kind of a spinach chip...

5. Throw it all in the cast iron and toss, then put it under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes
6. Take out, let cook for about 3 minutes, then serve

One of these days, I swear you guys are going to try one of these recipes and take a picture for me - I know it! I just hope everything is delicious in the meantime.

Balsamic Braised Drumsticks with Spinach

2013-03-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

I created this dish using my first set of cast iron cookware - a gift from a fellow foodie and friend that is no doubt going to change my cooking habits for the rest of my life.

I’ve been hounded by friends and family to get my hands on some cast iron skillets for years now, but only using the skillet did I bother to look up why - the health and convenience benefits are outstanding, plus - my god, were these braised drumsticks amazing.

So instead of droning on with my usual babble, I thought I’d actually provide some useful information about cooking with cast iron:

HEALTH:
Overused or cheap nonstick cookware can emit unhealthy fumes that can both be inhaled and absorbed into your food.
Cast iron can can actually release iron into your food, boosting your energy levels and immune system strength.

CONVENIENCE:
Cast iron skillets can be used in the oven at any temperature, not just on your range. In this recipe, we used the skillet as a dutch oven, but this is also perfect when making corn bread, flag bread, english muffins, etc.

It also can be used with just about any heating source. If you’re in an emergency and need to cook without a stove or oven, you can just stick cast-iron over an open flame, and the results will be the same.

Cast iron is also amazingly non-stick, assuming that your skillet is well-seasoned and cared for properly. Read up on how to care for your cast iron skillet online, or reach out to your local cookware store for advice, tricks and tips.

You ain’t gonna scratch your cast iron skillet - you can use metal tongs, silverware - heck you could use a screwdriver, and you aren’t going to harm it. It also makes it incredibly easy to clean. You aren’t supposed to use soap, as it eats away at the seasoning, but - you know what? You’ll find you don’t even need it.

Plus - cast iron is inexpensive. You can save as much as 70% off your cookware by buying cast iron over high-end stainless skillet.

HISTORICALLY PROVEN"
I’m not going to feed you a load of bull about, “the old ways being the best.” Something isn’t necessarily good because it’s been done for a long time - for example, our recipes don’t always include copious amounts of lard and butter any more. But cast iron has been used for thousands of years, and is still scientifically proven to be the healthiest, most convenient cooking vehicle ever created.

MOST IMPORTANTLY - SUPERIOR COOKING RESULTS:
Cast iron evenly distributed heat, which both balances the flavors in your dish and creates a far more aesthetically pleasing result. This advantage doesn’t exist with most recently-designed cookware - assuming you're smarter than me and remember not to grab the handle with your bare hands, the equal heat distribution will only make your life - and your meals - a heckuva lot better.
And with that - I give you:

Balsamic Braised Drumsticks with Spinach Recipe

1.5lb chicken drumsticks (or thighs if you prefer), skin and bone in

1 pkg mushrooms, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

A lot of spinach...

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup chicken stock

3 tbs olive oil

1. Coat pan (or in my case, pans) with the cooking oil and set to heat to 3/4
2. Preheat oven to 400
3. Once the pans are hot, add chicken - careful not to overcrowd the pan - none of the chicken should be touching.
4. Brown the chicken on all sides, but do not cook through. If your pan is fully heated, this should take just 3-4 minutes per side.

5. Remove the browned chicken and place on a paper towel to drain

6. Add garlic and mushrooms to the pan, and cook until garlic becomes fragrant

7. Then add the onion until that becomes transluscent

8. Then add the spinach, and cook until it's completely wilted

9. Now add the chicken stock and balsamic, and turn up the heat so the braising liquid reduces by almost half

10. Then simply coast the drumsticks in the mixture, again arranging so the chicken doesn't touch, and throw it in the oven for about 30 minutes.

11. If, when you pull the chicken out of the oven, there's no liquid left, you can remove the chicken, add a bit more balsamic and chicken stock, and reduce that by almost half - everything that deglazes from the pan should mix into the liquid to recreate that flavor.

The prep on this is a little longer than most, but the flavors mix in a much subtler way than if were to use a crockpot, and the even distribution of the heat in the cast iron means every piece is cooked evenly.

Hope you give it a try - if you do, take a pic and bring it on down to my Facebook page!

PS: I should also point out that I'll be using this same method as part of our tapas party this week - stay tuned for some DELICIOUS small plates! :)

Lemon Pepper Calamari with Sriracha Aioli

2013-03-05T06:37:00.004-08:00

I've never known a single person to dislike the TASTE of fried calamari. Issues with the texture, sure - the idea of eating a Cracken, absolutely - but the taste? Never. Best lightly breaded using water, not oil or eggwash, the subtle flavor of squid is easily enhanced using bold, but not overpowering, touches like vinegar or hot peppers, or using summerlike,, lighter condiments like lemon or tiny drizzles of light balsamic.

Fried calamari is a dish you can cook perfectly one day, and completely botch the next - it's all about the timing. A quick 2-3 minutes in the hot oil is enough to brown and cook the tentacled creatures to perfection, but the difference between 2 minutes 45 seconds and 3 minutes 25 seconds can be the difference between a melt-in-your-mouth experience and feeling like you're chewing on a banjo string.

As it is with scallops, it is with squid - cooking the perfect calamari comes with absolute bragging rights - you manage to find that perfect point between soft and subtle and rubber band, and you're a hero amongst your peers. For me, though - it is as it often is with cooking - it's about finding those dishes I loved growing up - like when I used to sit on the docks of Maine and devour entire plates of fried seafood, getting that texture and presentation just right, then spicing it up with adults flavors. It's so rewarding when you finally get it right - especially a a dish as delicate as this.

So go make this, don't be afraid to overcook a few your first time - and when you get it right, be proud!

Lemon Pepper Calamari Ingredients

3/4 lb Calamari Rings

1 cup Corn Starch

1/2 cup Bread Crumbs

2 tsp Lemon Zest

2 Lemon Wedges, juiced

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 tbs Hot Banana Peppers

4-6 stalks of scallions

Spring Mix Salad

Vegatable Oil - about 1/2" thick in the skillet

Sriracha Aioli Ingredients

1/8 cup Sriracha

1/8 cup Mayonaise

2 Lemon Wedges, juiced

1 tsp White Vinegar

1. Pour the cornstarch, breadcrumbs, and a good amount of salt and pepper into a large freezer bag
2. Rinse the calamari so it's just slightly wet, then toss it in the bag, seal, shake, and let set for about 10 minutes
3. While that sets, pour the veggie oil in the skillet and set between 3/4 and high heat - depending on how easy to control your stove is. It wasn't easy trying to find the right temp...should've used my new cast iron skillets!
4. At this point, mix all the aioli ingredients and stick it in the fridge to set

4. Using tongs, carefully ass the squid to the pan WITHOUT overcrowding. Make sure there's at least 1/2" between each piece, and cook them in batches. Leave the calamari in until it starts feeling crispy - about 3 minutes per batch. Remember - you want the coating to crisp, but over cook a piece of calamari and it'll feel like you're eating a rubber band.

5. When browned, place each batch of calamari on a plate with a paper towel to drain, and - this is the important part - AS SOON as you place the hot calamari on the place, add a generous portion of salt, pepper and lemon zest. They will actually STICK to the hot calamari, but it needs to be done AS SOON as it comes out of the pan.

5. You can chop up the scallions between each batch of calamari, and arrange the spring mix to set it on, as seen below. The greenery really does do a great job breaking up the heavily-fried feel of the calamari, but it's delicious with the banana peppers and lemon juice.

7. Place the calamari on the spring mix and add scallions, banana peppers and lemon juice, then toss without mixing the greens into the calamari on top.

8. Remove the sriracha aioli from the fridge. Serve calamari with the aioli on the side and a wedge of lemon juice.

Black Olive Chicken Fricassee

2013-03-02T07:40:00.003-08:00

This is one of those recipes I just lucked out on. I came home at about 7pm to two chicken breasts, a jar of black olives, and a stomach that sounded like a wookie love pit.

I'd heard the word fricassee before, I had no idea what it meant. It was just one of those words you sometimes through out there - "well, you can chop it, fry it, dice it, fricassee it..." - that sort of thing. Like when you're a kid and you threaten to send someone to Timbuktu or Albuquerque without realizing where they are - or even that they were real places. So when I was running through all the things I can do with chicken and the "imaginary" word fricassee popped in my head, I felt a sudden urge - for the first time in my life - to actually look it up.

Fricassee or fricassée /ˈfrɪkəsiː/^[1] is a method of cooking meat in which the meat is cut up, sautéed, and braised, and served with its sauce, traditionally a white sauce.

Thanks, Wikipedia. That was very specific. But what the hell - I grabbed my camera to take a few quick pics of the adventure and gave it a shot. If for no other reason than to say, "Yes, I have, in fact, fricasseed a chicken."

Note: I didn't actually fricassee a WHOLE chicken like some of the recipes out there said I should. I just fricasseed a couple of chicken breasts.

In the process I learned two things:

Fricassee should be said at least once a day. It is a wicked fun word.
Fricassee is a delicious, quick and easy, lean meal that can feed 2 - 8 people with minimal effort - and should be made fairly regularly.

Black Olive Chicken Fricassee Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts
½ pound black Greek-style olives
1/3 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Salt
Black pepper in a grinder
½ cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons wine vinegar, preferably white
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1½ tablespoons dried basil leaves
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Place oil in a skillet and put at 3/4 heat
2. Once shimmering, add garlic
3. Cut the chicken breasts in half and rub with salt and pepper
4. Once garlic is fragrant, add the halved chicken breasts using a pair of tongs
5. Cook chicken until browned on one side then flip and brown the other side

6. Add half of the olives to the skillet and cook for two minutes
7. Reduce heat to about half and add the rest of the ingredients to the pan. Cover and let simmer for 20-30 minutes - until the chicken is tender when you poke it with a fork

It's a great, light(ish) meal - I would suggest it with a really, really green salad - like the scallion salad below we had with a balsamic dijon dressing we made with a few of the ingredients we had lying around the house.

Let me know if you give this one a shot, and if you do, share it on my Facebook page - www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Vegan Chickpea Spinach Burgers - with BACON

2013-02-16T06:51:00.001-08:00

I don't know that I really understand the appeal of the burger form. It seems these days, everything comes in the form of a burger - chicken, bison, the all-encompassing generic veggie burgers - hell, there are even some very ambitious, heart-disease prone folks out there who have ground up bacon into one giant patty. But why? These things are already so delicious as they stand - why do you have to throw them together in a bowl, grind the heck out of them, then clump them together into this weird cross between a shotput, hockey puck and a frisbee?

If I had to wager a guess - and now I do, because I started writing this and my mama didn't raise no quitter - I'd say it's because we're all just craving that traditional, backyard full-beef burger.

Vegetarians and red-meat haters relax - I'm not going into that whole "we're all animals pre-programmed to eat meat" diatribe - it's trite and proven untrue. But culturally, that old-fashioned beef burger always meant something more than a lump of meat slathered with condiments between two pieces of bread. It was a staple - something undoubtedly patriotic, something everyone could enjoy. It meant family and friends, warm summer nights, poolside games - it meant community.

Now, food is more complicated and confusing (for example, I made a vegan burger then put bacon on it). People are finding new foods, and there's very little you can call a staple these days. Folks dodge beef because of humanitarian concerns, lifestyle choices, health problems - but everyone still understands what a hamburger means, or perhaps, used to mean. And, I think, the burger-shape-loving folks of this country are drawn to that, and thus, there is now a "burger" for every differing palette and diet.

It's a thought - maybe people just really, really like the shape of a burger - maybe it's just conveniences. Or maybe, they're trying to recreate the symbol that the hamburger used to be - by reshaping their food of choice into that odd hybrid of shapes.

And in the spirit of that thought, here's an odd concoction that everyone will love, and if you have a mix of veggie lovers and meat lovers, there's no reason you can't use meat as an optional condiment - one dish, yet there's something for everyone!

Vegan Chickpea-Spinach Burgers - Ingredients

1 medium onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 14 oz. can chickpeas
3 cups spinach, chopped
2 tbsp. soy sauce (likely less if you’re using canned/salted chickpeas)
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp. peanut butter
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. sriracha hot sauce1/2 c. wheat flour
cooking oil

And bacon, if you want it. I also used up the last of our potato rolls, but this would be equally delicious, and less heavy, if you put it on a salad.

1. Add oil to a large skillet set to medium-3/4 heat
2. Add onions, and cook for 2 minutes, then add garlic - cook until fragrant
3. Add spinach and chickpeas, and cook until spinach is COMPLETELY wilted.

4. Add the mixture to a bowl, and toss in the rest of the ingredients (except, obviously, the bacon)
5. Mix well - the combination should be thick and easy to form into patties with your hand

6. Using your hands, create patties out of the mixture.

7. Add a little more oil to the skillet, turn to 3/4, and add the patties. Cook until browned on the bottom, then flip and brown the other side.

8. If the idea of not having meat with your dinner scares the bejeebus out of you, now is the time where you can ruin your healthy, vegan meal with bacon.

Incredibly easy, wicked quick, and surprisingly scrumptious! As always, I hope you try out the recipe - I would love to see your pictures on www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Asian-Inspired Crockpot Chili

2013-02-12T06:22:00.002-08:00

Snow - no matter what your age - comes with a certain ritual. I remember being a kid, snugly wrapped head-to-toe in winter gear - leggings, hat, gloves, rubber boots that barely fit, and a jacket so puffy it would make George Castanza think twice before donning his Gortex - then waddling out into freshly fallen snow so I could willingly throw myself into the freezing bliss. I'd frolic for hours in the stinging savior that rescued me from school and transformed the entire world into my very own glittering playground. Then, once my extremities were frozen enough to snap like twigs with a mild gust of wind, I'd waddle back inside, strip off the layers of mobility-limiting winter wear, and - with foolish and painful exuberance that defied my parents' warnings - snag the steaming cup of hot chocolate my mother always prepared to warm me up. My ignorance of the concept of delayed satisfaction was irrelevant. I wanted - no, needed - that hot chocolate right away. It was the only way to end the sting that came with my harsh love affair with snow, and it was always there for me when I needed help easing the pain.

Now, as an adult, my love affair with snow has diminished. Now I go to work, not school, and snow days are rare. Now I don't start the day playing in snow, I start the day shoveling it. But - despite the faded-to-jaded affair my relationship with snow has become - one part of the ritual remains the same: stripping off those wet clothes and warming up with a cup of soul-replenishing warmth.

This Asian-inspired crockpot chili filled that role quite nicely. The concoction is the result of grabbing random ingredients from my fridge while 3 feet of snow plunked itself down on my car, my porch, my driveway and my sidewalk, and, luckily, this hot mess came out as a fantastic, adult version of my childhood love for hot chocolate. I threw all the ingredients in the crockpot in the morning, went through my day, shoveled myself out, stripped off my wet clothes to reveal my reddened face and fingers, and grabbed of bowl of this straight out of the slow cooker.

I don't scald my mouth very often any more - being an adult and knowing about patience and self-preservation - but otherwise, the feeling is the same. In some ways, even better. Snow, over time, has revealed itself to be an abusive, fair-weather friend. But the love between me and that delicious cup of warmth - even after 30 years - is still piping hot.

Asian Chili Ingredients:

1 28oz can peeled tomatoes

4 small/thin pork chops

1 14oz can black beans

1/2 large pepper, deseeded and chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1/4 cup soy sauce (preferably low sodium)

3 tbs sriracha

2 tbs hoison

2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tsp oil for cooking

1. Turn your stove up to high and heat skillet
2. Add the pork chops until browned on each side - about 1-2 minutes per side
3. While that happens, dump the rest of the ingredients into the crockpot
4. Once all the chops are cooked, cut them into small, bite-sized pieces and toss them in the crockpot too
5. Let cook on low for 8 hours - if you try to rush it on high, it will taste ok, but the pork won't be mind-blowingly tender, and I can't promise the following results:

As you can see, I had some chips with it too...

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you try this - if you do, I hope you'll take a picture and post it to www.facebook.com/cutseveryday!

Cuts: Recipes for Every Day

Summer Quinoa Salad Recipe

SUMMER QUINOA SALAD RECIPE INGREDIENTS

Turkey Chickpea Spinach Burgers - Making Meat Last Longer

Turkey, Chickpea, Spinach Burgers Recipe

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili Recipe

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili Recipe

Crisp Tender Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe and Tips

Crisp and Tender Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe

Quick Roasted Tomato and Parmesan Tart - Kinda

Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pops

Dark-Chocolate Dipped Cheesecake Pops Recipe

15-Minute Spicy Chicken and Veggie Lettuce Wraps

Spicy Chicken and Veggie Lettuce Wraps Recipe

Grilled Cheese with Balsamic Onions, Gruyere & Ham

Grilled Cheese with Balsamic Onions, Gruyere & Ham "Recipe"

Frozen Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Bites

Frozen Chocolate-Coated Peanut Butter Bites Recipe

Food Bloggers Against Hunger: What You Can Do to Help

Food insecurity - the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food - exists in 17.2 million households in American, 3.9 million of them with children.

How You Can Help - with Just a Few Clicks of Your Mouse

Food-Insecure Families Statistics (learn more here)

Picnic Foods #4: Buttermilk-Battered Chicken Bites

Buttermilk-Battered Chicken Bites Recipe

Picnic Foods #3: Those Little Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs Recipe

Picnic Foods #2: Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus Recipe (Plus bacon-ized Asparagus Bites)

Picnic Foods #1: Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

Cast Iron Skillet Cheddar Cornbread Recipe

Vegetarian Pizza with Quick Tomato & Red Wine Sauce

Vegetarian Pizza with a Homemade Tomato & Red Wine Sauce

Making the Sauce

Preparing the Pizza Dough and Veggies

Dark Chocolate-Dipped Macaroons - for Passover or Not

Dark Chocolate-Dipped Macaroon Recipe

Roasting a Chicken in a Cast Iron Skillet

Chicken Roasted in a Cast Iron Skillet Recipe

Ham & Cheese Croquettes with Pea Puree

Ham and Cheese Croquette with Pea Puree Recipe

3 Tapas Recipes: Potatoes Bravas, Chorizo & Shrimp, Garlic Chicken Drumsticks

Now - we have three recipes to get through, so - enjoy my: Three Tapas Recipes!

Potatoes Bravas with Lemon Garlic Aioli Ingredients

Garlic & White Wine Chicken Drumsticks Ingredients

Lemon Chorizo & Shrimp Ingredients

Crispy Chickpeas with Spinach and Sausage

Crispy Pan-Fried Chickpeas with Spinach and Sausage Recipe

Balsamic Braised Drumsticks with Spinach

Balsamic Braised Drumsticks with Spinach Recipe

Lemon Pepper Calamari with Sriracha Aioli

Lemon Pepper Calamari Ingredients

Sriracha Aioli Ingredients

Black Olive Chicken Fricassee

Black Olive Chicken Fricassee Ingredients

Vegan Chickpea Spinach Burgers - with BACON

Vegan Chickpea-Spinach Burgers - Ingredients

Asian-Inspired Crockpot Chili

Asian Chili Ingredients:

Food insecurity - the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food - exists in 17.2 million households in American,
3.9 million of them with children.

Now - we have three recipes to get through, so - enjoy my:

Three Tapas Recipes!