Robin's Food Stop

Cherry Cheese Cake

2012-03-01T20:25:00.003-08:00

Hello again all my foodie friends, tonight I was inspired to add another post because my Herb Encrusted Lamb recipe was chosen to be published by the people from The Urban Liaison magazine. So I decided to make one of my favorite desserts tonight to celebrate, No Bake Cheesecake. I always have a problem with this recipe though, I will explain that after the details. This recipe calls for,

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl; add condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour mixture into the pie crust. Chill for 5 hours. DO NOT FREEZE!!!

Now this is where I always have the problem, 5 hours, are your kidding me, you want me to just sit here for 5 hours knowing there is a cheesecake just waiting to be eaten. So as you can tell by my picture of the finished product I made it about 3 1/2 hours so it is not completely set up yet. I leave mine topping free until after it is dished up just because Tanya does not like anything on hers, I always open up a can of cherry pie filling and throw a few spoonfuls on top, you can also do chocolate syrup or any other topping you can think of that goes well on cheesecake. Well that is it tonight I will be back soon with another post.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Duck Breast

2012-01-08T20:25:00.002-08:00

Welcome back everyone, well after trying every way of pan searing a Duck Breast I decided I would like to try another way to make it. One of the ways I have tried game bird before is a bacon wrapped Dove Breast, now not being much of a Dove hunter I thought that I could wrap a Duck Breast, but then I thought Duck is much thicker than a Dove so I can also butterfly a breast and stuff it too. For this you will need:
4 skinless Duck Breast halves
1 pound Bacon
1 Yellow Onion
1 bunch Celery
2 cloves Minced Garlic
1 14.5 oz can of Vegetable Stock
6 oz. Dry Seasoned Breadcrumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
I started by taking all but four pieces of bacon and dicing it, I put that in a large pot on medium high heat until the bacon had turned a little crunchy, then I added the Onion, Celery, and Garlic and reduced the heat to medium and let that saute until the veggies were soft.
After that I added the vegetable stock and let that come to a boil, then removed from heat and added the Bread Crumbs. Mix the Bread Crumbs in and add salt and pepper to taste fluff with a fork and set aside.Next step is to butterfly the Duck Breasts and stuff with the stuffing.
Then I closed up the Breasts and wrapped with the remaining four pieces of bacon.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes depending how rare you like your meat. I was really impressed how this turned out, I have read a lot of recipe sites that say to use bacon to tame down the gamey taste of waterfowl, but I did not think that it took anything away from the Duck itself. Well until next time...

Asian Style Duck with Stirfried Veggies

2011-12-24T20:04:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas all, today I got to go out and get a hunt in. I ended up getting a Goldeneye so for dinner I decided to try an Asian style dish. I started by marinating the breasts in a mixture of:
1 cup soy sauce
2 gloves minced garlic
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons Teriyaki sauce
1 Tablespoon Siracha
I let that sit for about an hour then pan seared them, I also sauteed some green beans and carrots in Teriyaki sauce and for a final touch made some quick rice.
I would also like to take this time to welcome any new followers from my friends at Snake River Waterfowl. And for those of you who are just casual visitors check out their fan page, and like them, their custom duck and goose calls are beautiful and sound great. Well that's it for now enjoy your holiday and eat well.

Lemon Herb Duck Breast

2011-11-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

With the second couple of Ducks that we harvested I wanted to try an encrusted breast, so I looked around and found a recipe that I could work with. I found one called Lemon Herb Duck Breast online that I changed to meet my personal preferences, the recipe originally called for Rosemary, but since I don't car for that taste I left it out. The way I prepared it is as follows.
1 cup fresh chopped Parsley
2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
2 Tablespoons Grated Lemon Zest
4 Tablespoons Crushed Black Peppercorns
4 Tablespoons Dried Thyme
2 Whole Duck Breasts Split and Skinned
Salt

Combine parsley, garlic, lemon zest, pepper, and thyme in a bowl. Roll duck pieces in herb mixture to coat all over. Put oil in a large sauté pan, and turn heat to medium-high. When oil shimmers add duck, and reduce heat to medium. Cook, turning once, until coating browns and duck is medium-rare to medium, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Season meat with salt, and let it rest for a few minutes. Slice and serve.
I was asked why do I slice it before serving and the best answer I could come up with is for dental safety, trust me it hurts biting into a piece of steel shot. That and it looks nice I think.
I went out again this morning and have a couple more ducks to try a different recipe on, so I will be talking to you all again soon.

Pan Seared Duck Breast Salad with Feta

2011-11-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

Hello again all, well since my last post I have been trying to learn how to hunt for waterfowl, last weekend Rex took me out for my first Duck Hunt and I had a great time. I think I may have found a new favorite pass time for late Autumn and early winter, heck I even went out a bought a brand new shot gun so I don't have to keep borrowing a gun. So after my first hunt I wanted to try a Pan Seared Duck Breast recipe, after I seared them they looked a little lonely on the plate, to fix that I added a small green salad topped off with some Feta Cheese. The recipe is really quick and easy to get the Duck Breast done, you will need:
1 stick of butter
2 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 sprig of Rosemary
A pinch of salt
I started the butter melting in a regular frying pan then added the garlic to the butter and let saute for just a moment, be careful when sauteing garlic if it burns it gets really bitter and is just not edible. After the butter is completely melted, sprinkle a little salt on the breast and add to the pan. Then add the Rosemary.
You can cook the duck two ways either all the way through or to medium rare, I prefer the medium rare way, I tried both and the well done piece was not only not as nice looking as the medium rare, but was a bit dry and chewy. That reminds me of a joke: A waiter asks a Stormtrooper how his Wookie Steak is and he replies, Chewie. Anyway I will keep posting new duck recipes as I get more chances to make them, Rex says he will show me how to make jerky out of Duck, and I also think we may be going Goose hunting as well.

Irish Stew

2011-08-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

So as I was trying to find something to make for dinner yesterday, I was thinking about some of the foods that I really like and have not had for a long time. I remembered the Irish Stew from the Ha' Penny Irish Pub when I worked at the Knitting Factory, one of my best friends Justine and I used to get a couple bowls and enjoy before the night of drunken douche-bagery that was about to crash down on us. So I had two options, first drive to Boise and pay a whole lot of money to get seven servings of stew, or second learn to make it myself, and well I am a cheap son of a gun so make it myself it is. The recipe I used goes like this:

1 1/2 pounds thickly sliced bacon, diced
6 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces(I could not find this, so I used Lamb shoulder chops and removed the bones)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup water
4 cups beef stock
2 teaspoons white sugar
4 cups diced carrots
2 large onions, cut into bite-size pieces
3 potatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 cup white wine

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
Put lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in large mixing bowl. Toss to coat meat evenly. Brown meat in frying pan with bacon fat.
Place meat into stock pot (leave 1/4 cup of fat in frying pan). Add the garlic and yellow onion and saute till onion begins to become golden. Deglaze frying pan with 1/2 cup water and add the garlic-onion mixture to the stock pot with bacon pieces, beef stock, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Add carrots, onions, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, and wine to pot. Reduce heat, and simmer covered for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Now this was not the same as the one I used to eat but t was good, the Ha' Penny's stew is thicker, and that could be just a result of sitting in a pot longer and the potatoes breaking down, and mine had a little bit of the wine flavor on the back end of each bite, I might change this to add a rue to it to thicken it up depending on if it changes the taste I will let you know. Well Tanya has class tonight and usually I go with quick and easy but who knows I really have been enjoying cooking the last couple nights. Oh yeah date night last night Tanya brought home a move called "The Music Never Stopped" highly recommend watching this movie it was great.

Crab Nachos

2011-08-10T10:54:00.001-07:00

Hey all I know its been a long time since my last post, but I have been busy with work really not that much time to cook. The other night Tanya wanted some Crab Nachos like they make at Joe's Crab Shack, so I tried my best to make them. According to their menu its chips with cheese, warm crab dip and black beans. I found a recipe online and while those of you who know me well know this is killing me I took a recipe from Paula Deen and modified it. To be honest I did not even see who the recipe was from until after I had finished preparing it, and there is not a stick of butter in the recipe so I had no clue it was hers. But any way I had to change the recipe because Tanya does not like cilantro and she does not like spicy food so I left out the Jalapenos. Her recipe is as follows:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper, plus slices for garnish, optional
1/2 cup light beer
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8-ounce) block pasteurized prepared cheese product
1 pound lump crabmeat, drained and picked for shells
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, (about 2 limes)
1/4 cup minced green onion
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

In a 4-quart saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, jalapeno pepper, and garlic and cook stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Stir in the beer and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the cream, cream cheese, and processed cheese, whisking until melted and smooth.

Stir in crabmeat, lime juice, green onion, cilantro, and chili powder and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the salt, black pepper, cayenne, and cumin. The jalapeno can be used as a garnish if desired.

I then took a layer of tortilla chips and spread a layer of shredded cheese over the top, then put a layer of the warm crab dip over that, that will melt the cheese making a great plate of nachos. Sprinkle with black beans and diced tomatoes.

Well it is my weekend maybe I can come up with some thing to night, i have the All Recipes app on my phone now, so lets see what is for dinner, well the app came up with pineapple bacon burgers, not sure that will go over here so I guess i will go to the grocery store and see what they have.

Frog Legs

2011-05-08T21:14:00.001-07:00

We were walking through the grocery store getting stuff to make spaghetti for Garrett's birthday dinner when I noticed that the meat department had a package of frog legs. The butcher said that he did not order them but they just showed up on the delivery truck, I had to buy them even though I don't know how to make them I figured that it could not be that hard. When I got home I looked up how to make them, the simplest way seems to be to fry them up like chicken legs. I found a recipe on cooks.com
6 Frog Legs
Salt and Pepper
Lemon Juice
1 Egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp paprika
Skin legs if necessary, wash and split in half then pat dry. Soak in lemon juice for a few minutes then put on a plat and season with Salt and Pepper. In a large bowl mix flour and other dry seasonings, and in smaller bowl beat egg. Dip legs in egg then roll in flour mixture, then put in deep fryer for 2-3 minutes.
I was a little cautious at first, I have heard that it tastes like chicken, but then again doesn't every thing,but guess what, the texture and taste is just like chicken. If you want to try it i guess it is okay, but at $6.00 a pound I think we will stick to chicken legs.

Chicken Enchiladas

2011-03-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hello all, today I am going to share one of my favorite recipes, Chicken Enchiladas. I found this recipe about ten years ago in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It does take a little bit of time to make, but trust me it is well worth it. For this you will need:
8 Tortillas six inch flour or corn
1/2 cup Chopped onion
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
2 tablespoons Margarine or butter
3 tablespoons All-purpose flour
1 8-ounce Carton dairy sour cream
2 cups Chicken broth
1 Or 2 canned jalapeno chili peppers, rinsed, seeded, and
Chopped; or one 4-ounce can diced
Green chili peppers, drained
1 cup Shredded Monterey Jack
Cheese
2 cups Chopped cooked chicken
Sliced pitted ripe olives (optional)
Chopped tomatoes (optional)
Sliced green onions
I usually double the recipe just because of the size of our family.
First thing you need to do is cut your chicken and cook that through, a couple of ways you can do this, i like to use skinless boneless breasts and cook in a little olive oil til the pieces are no longer pink in the middle. Another way I have done it when money is an issue, and honestly when is it not is to buy a package of chicken legs and they are usually about half the price of breasts. Then boil the legs with some spices to get a little flavor, then pick the meat off the bone to make shredded chicken. After the chicken is cooked you can follow the rest of the recipe.

Wrap tortillas in foil. Heat in a 350° oven for 10 to 15 minutes or till softened.

For sauce, in a saucepan cook onion, garlic, coriander, and pepper in margarine or butter till onion is tender. Stir flour into sour cream; add to onion mixture. Stir in broth and chili peppers all at once. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly Remove from heat; stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese.

For filling, stir 1/2 cup of the sauce into chicken. Place about 1/4 cup filling atop each tortilla; roll up. Arrange rolls, seam side down, in a lightly greased 12x71/2x2-inch baking dish. Top with remaining sauce. Bake, covered, in a 350° oven about 35 minutes or till heated through.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, about 5 minutes more or till cheese melts. If desired, sprinkle with olives, tomatoes, and green onions. Let stand 10 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Another way to do this if you don't want to roll the tortillas is to make it like a lasagna style, put a layer of tortillas on the bottom of the pan then a layer of the chicken mixture and repeat until the pan is full.
Well once again I am out of words, but I will continue to try new recipes and post the results, until next time.

Mmmmm... Dessert

2011-03-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

So in my never ending quest to find the best tasting food, I didn't think that I could out do a Twinkie, but like my supervisor tells me at work... there is always room for improvement. Just a little history, the Twinkie was invented around 1930 by a genius named James A. Dewar in Schiller Park, Ill. He realized that machines made that were making cream filled strawberry shortcakes did nothing while strawberries were out of season, so he came up with snack cake filled with banana cream. During World War 2 bananas were rationed and the Hostess company was forced to switch to vanilla cream, some say a switch so popular they never went back. I say a concession the people of that era made and tragedy that we have to live with. So imagine my surprise when I found out that a few blocks from my new workplace is a bread store that sells banana cream Twinkies, and not only that, they sell them for around 75 cents for a box of 10, that is 7.5 pennies a piece. As the great 70's actor John Travolta once said "Oh My God".

So Scott and I leave for work about 10 minutes early, and take the detour to the bread store, I am not going to lie, we were a little giddy on this particular day, not much could take the smile off of our faces. As we walk into the tiny store our heads were on a swivel, where were they, they had to be near, then we saw them. Oh My God Banana Cream Twinkies at our 10 o'clock, we each grabbed two boxes and proceeded to the check out. Much like the fast bastard I am as soon as I got out to the car I opened the box and ate one, why oh why Hostess, why do you make them so tasty. Then I said something so profound, so mind bending, yet so simple..."oh if only I could dip this in chocolate." Then the wheels started turning. Hmmmm I know there is that product out there that makes a chocolate shell on your Ice Cream.
I took the Twinkies and skewered them so I could roll them in the Magic Shell, then put them in the freezer for about an hour just to get the out side cold so the shell would harden quicker. Then I poured a bottle of Magic Shell on to a plate and rolled the Twinkies in it. Back to the freezer for about 2 minutes and I had done it, Chocolate Covered Banana Cream Twinkies. No w during the writing of this post I did a little research, and I know there are Choco-Diles but its just not the same. Well off to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner tonight.

Tasty Cheese Steaks

2011-02-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone, thought I would do a quick post before I head out to work. The other night we wanted steaks, but not the same old steaks. I decided to try a recreation of a steak I had at Olive Garden. For this I took a regular round steak and marked it on the stove top grill.
After that I placed them in a cake pan and let them cook for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Then I pulled them out and put a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese on top. I have said it before when it comes to mozzarella cheese I like the soft fresh stuff, not the shredded stuff. We found a tub of fresh cheese at Fred Meyer that was already cut into perfect size rounds. then after the cheese was on top I put a little bit of Italian Style Bread Crumbs in top. I returned them to the oven to brown the bread crumbs and melt the cheese just a bit.
It was close to how the Olive Garden steak, but they had larger style bread crumbs with a little more spice in them, I think for next time I will pick up some Panko Bread Crumbs and add my own seasonings to get a better topping. The side dish on the first picture Tanya made, they are a mix of purple potatoes and yellow fingerling potatoes that she diced and sprinkled Lipton onion soup mix on, the she roasted them in the oven til they were fork tender. Then to finish them off she put a little garlic salt over the top. Well that's about all the time I have, I am leaving for work a few minutes early today, Scott and I have an idea for a great dessert and I need to stop by a store to pick up a few supplies.

Hey I Can Do That

2011-02-17T21:56:00.001-08:00

Hello all, after a trip to Mongolian Bar-B-Que a few weeks ago, I remembered how fun it is and how much the kids enjoy getting involved in making their dinner. But then it came time to pay the bill...2 adults and 5 children comes to just over 50 dollars plus the tip!!! So I decided that I could that for a lot less. I was just going to make it one night, but I ran into a very good friend of mine Jeremi at Cost Plus World Market and he asked me about the blog and why I don't write too much any more, I just gave him the I am too busy speech. As I walked around the store I started to get excited about writing again because of all the cool dishes and cook wear they have. I purchased a wok and the cool bowl pictured above, then I went to the food section and I found the Asian isle, in there I found chow mien noodles and some sauces (all made in USA, I really want to find true Asian food).When Tanya got home from work, I asked the kids what veggies they wanted in their stir fry. We ended up choosing onion, broccoli, snow peas, carrots, and bell peppers. Tanya and I ran to the grocery store and picked up the veggies and also grabbed some petite sirloin steaks. When I got home I prepared the noodles per the instructions on the bag, pretty simple, boil water, add noodles, when noodles start to boil over add 1 cup of cold water, when noodles start to boil over again strain and rinse with cold water. While that was going on I took the steaks and cut them into about quarter inch slices.I was just going to start making stir fry, but I remembered the kids want to help out so I set up a makeshift Mongolian BBQ bar in the kitchen.
Not a great picture I know, but its all the veggies and a big bowl of noodles on the end. To make the stir fry I started the wok on medium high heat with olive oil, added the stir fry sauce and some soy sauce, I put the meat in first to make sure i got it cooked all the way through, then threw in the kids choice of veggies and noodles, I also added a splash of water to kind of steam the veggies. It only takes a few minutes per kid and they had fun, so I thought about it and lets do some math.
Wok 14.95
Sauces 15.00
Veggies 8.00
Steak 10.00
Noodles 1.49x2
Total 50.93 plus the tip, awe man. Just kidding the wok and the sauces can be reused I know so don't freak out, next time I can feed the entire family for around 20 bucks.Oh if you are wondering the bowl cost me 4 bucks and holds about 1 package off ramen noodles. I thought it was pretty cool and could not resist. Any way Jeremi this ones for you.

New Toys and Tri-Tip

2011-01-27T21:20:00.000-08:00

My last day off for a week so I decided that I would spend the night in the kitchen. We picked up a couple Tri-Tips from Costco, and I picked up a dozen Scallops so it was kind of a Surf and Turf for me. For the Tri-Tip I used KC Masterpieces Steakhouse Marinade and soaked the meat in it for about 4 hours.After the four hours, I out them in a glass baking dish in the oven for one hour at 350 degrees. Then I pan seared some scallops and put those on the plate with some mashed potatoes and drizzled a little brown gravy over it. I also found a new way of plating my mashed potatoes that looks a little more upscale. I put a couple scoops of potatoes in a zip lock bag and cut the corner of the bag off, this made a piping bag and you can squeeze out a nice looking design on the plate. And just for looks I cut some Grape Tomatoes and placed them on the plate to add some color.
Now on to the toys part of the night, my sister Christy sent me some cool kitchen gadgets from Alaska. The first one is called an Ulu. This is a traditional knife of the Inupiat tribe of Northern Alaska. It has a six inch curved blade and a four inch birch handle.
It came with a cutting board, the coolest part of the cutting board is one side has a bowl cut into it. You can use that to put fresh herbs in and chop them and mix them together at the same time. The company that makes these is Great Northern Products and their web site is Ulu.com. the second toy she sent is called the Alaskan Bear Claw pasta and salad server. These are pretty cool for looks, but kind of hard to use to serve with.
Bus I have not tried them on pasta yet so maybe they will be better for that. Well back to work again tomorrow, guess I should get some sleep.

Moosetard Salmon

2011-01-24T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hello once again friends, tonight I am going to write about a dinner I made a few nights ago. I did a steamed Sockeye Salmon Fillet, which is something that we usually do for dinner, but this time instead of using a slice of lemon and some baby dill weed, I used a mustard that my sister sent to me from Alaska. The brand is Moosetard, and they offer a wide variety of flavorful gourmet mustards on their website www.moosetard.com. Christy wanted to get me some so she had me go to their site and pick two flavors, I chose Alaskan Wildfire and Dineega Dill.
They came in a nice little gift pack with an Alaskan Birchwood Spreader, which I thought was really cool. Reading on the site it said the dill flavor pairs well with salmon so I figured why not give it a try. I was interesting, the dill flavor was perfect and the mustard seeds was a taste that i would not have normally put with fish but I enjoyed it. I prepared it by spreading it over the fillets before I steamed them, then laying a small lemon slice over that.
I steamed that for about 15 minutes in my bamboo steamer, you will know when its ready when the salmon turns from red to pink. I also was in a sea food mood that night so i pan seared a few scallops seasoned with just a touch of salt, then drizzled with aged balsamic. The green beans were steamed then tossed with a pat of butter and some lemon pepper. Well that's about it for tonight, another package arrived from Alaska today and it has an Alaskan knife called an Ulu in it, I am going to do my best to learn to use it and not cut off a finger, I will post the results of that soon.

Homemade Chili...Sort Of

2011-01-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

Good evening all, well today I spent my day off trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight. After a few minutes going from cupboard to cupboard I decided that I would try to make some chili. Now I say home made.. sort of because I have found a chili kit at Walmart, now this only includes a spice package, salt, cayenne pepper and masa. The spice package is the reason I buy it, I cant figure out the blend to make my chili taste this good. I got to use my new food processor for this recipe so I am double excited. For this recipe i used:
2 pounds of Ground Beef
1 package Bacon
2 White Onions
2 Cloves Garlic
1/8 Cup Oregano
1/8 Cup Basil
Pinch of Rubbed Sage
1 Box Carrol Shelby's Chili Kit
6 8oz cans of Chili Beans
2 8oz cans of Tomato Sauce
8 oz of Water
I start this off with putting the bacon in a food processor and chopping it up. Then put the beef and bacon in a pan to brown. Next I put the Garlic and Onions in the food pro and mince them. Add the onions and garlic to the browning meat and then mix in the oregano, basil and sage. Then in the crock pot mix the tomato sauce and water with the chili mix, i only use half of the cayenne pepper. Next I put the beans in and let those just sit together while the meat browns.
Then when the meat mixture is done I add it to the crock pot. Let that sit on low for about 4 to six hours and wallah... Dinner is served.
Off to the grocery store tomorrow, going to try the gourmet mustard my sister sent me, it says it pairs well with salmon, so we will see.

BLT Bites

2011-01-16T22:02:00.001-08:00

Hello again all, quite a day today, the Bears are one step closer the big game and I am up late again with a three year old who will not go to bed. I thought I would take the chance to share one of my appetizer recipes. Tonight is will be BLT Bites, these taste great but are kind of a pain to make. You will need...
1 Pound of Grape Tomatoes
1 Package of your favorite Bacon
2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsley or Cilantro depending on your taste
I have to put that on there because Tanya hates Cilantro, so a lot of the time I use Parsley in its place. First step is the pain part, cut your Tomatoes in half and then use a paring knife to hollow then out so they are like little bowls. Second, fry up your bacon to how you like it (I prefer crispy bacon over soft bacon), then if you have a food processor grind it up till it looks like bacon bits. Then in a medium mixing bowl mix together the Parsley, Mayo, and Bacon. Next just fill your tomato bowls with the mixture. I have thought about adding bread crumbs to this to see if it would give a BLT sandwich flavor, but once again it has been a while since I have really spent some time in the kitchen. I mean Mom and Dad got me an awesome food processor for Christmas and the only thing I have done with it is shred some cheese for tacos. Christy has sent me some Moosetard from Alaska to try and I can't wait till Wednesday night when we try Salmon with Dill Moosetard. Thanks Christy, also I will get some pictures of my new Ulu she is sending me too. Well I think that is about it for tonight... Eat Happy

French Cut Pork Roast

2011-01-13T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a long, long time, but I am back. A few changes have gone on causing me less time to cook and to post my recipes. I no longer work at The Knitting Factory, which is a good thing I think... I don't worry about not working enough to pay bills, but on the other hand I work too much. But anyway, here is what we had for dinner tonight. I got a French Cut Pork Roast, I put a mixture of
3 Tbsp of Oregano
3 Tbsp of Basil
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp of Black Pepper
1 Package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
I mixed this in a bowl and then put the roast in a cake pan. Next I spread the mixture over the roast.I put the roast in the oven at 350 degrees for about one hour and fifteen minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees in the center of the roast. Then I let the roast rest for fifteen minutes. And now for my favorite part, stand the roast upright and cut between the ribs and make yummy steaks for every one. I topped mine with a little Balsamic Vinaigrette, which gave the meat a little bit of a bite.Well I have to go back to work in the morning, so I hope to try and write more on the weekends, but I work those now. But if everything works out in the next few weeks, I will have a post about our Super Bowl party (thinking Chicago Style Pizza, Brats and Beer...Go Bears).

Roasted Chicken Two Ways

2010-10-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, tonight we decided to do roasted chicken, Tanya wanted a Bar-B-Que flavor and I wanted a Garlic and Herb seasoned so why not do two. I started out with two whole fryer chickens, about 5 pounds a piece. On Tanya's I used a mesquite spice rub, you can pick this up at most grocery stores. Just wash the chicken and give it a good rub down.
Then I moved on to mine, a couple of tablespoons of soft butter, mixed with a teaspoon of minced garlic, a pinch of fresh dill weed, a pinch of oregano, and a pinch of basil. Then give it a good rub down with about half of the butter mixture. Then I gave it a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
I put them in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, then took them out for a quick basting. On the BBQ one I just brushed on some regular BBQ sauce, for the garlic herb I used a little more of the butter mixture. Then i repeated the basting procedure every fifteen minutes until the birds had an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
These both tasted great, I usually don't care for BBQ flavor on things, especially chicken but if i peeled the skin off, there was just a hint of mesquite flavor.

Pan Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks

2010-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yellow Fin Tuna is often called "Ahi Tuna" from its Hawaiian name, although the word Ahi can also mean the closely related Bigeye Tuna. I picked up these steaks from Costco and decided to make them last night. I started by making a marinade with soy sauce, toasted sesame seed oil, and Siracha. If you don't like spicy food, go easy on the Siracha.

After about 20 minutes I turned them over and let the other side soak for 20 minutes. Then I put them in a hot skillet with a little olive oil. Make sure your skillet is hot when you put them in otherwise they will stick and fall to pieces. After a quick sear (about one and a half to two minutes) I turned them.
Depending on how you like your Tuna, you can shorten the time on the next step, I was in the mood for a completely cooked through steak last night so after i flipped them i put the whole pan in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. If you want a medium rare 2 to 3 minutes is perfect. Quick note when you put the pan in the oven don't forget the whole thing has been in there, including the handle. After I pulled it out of the oven, I forgot that and grabbed the handle to steady the pan as I removed the steaks... ouch!!! I like a lot of heat on my food so i topped it with a squeeze of Siracha and enjoyed.

Pub Mix Chicken with Spinach and Balsamic Salad

2010-09-27T23:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a while hasn't it. I guess I ran into kind of a slump, I have been making the same things over and over again. But tonight I had an idea for a good breading on chicken, and since the Bears were playing the Packers and dad was coming over to watch, I figured why not try it out. We but this mixture to snack on called Utz Pub Mix, it is a mixture of a bunch of snack foods, like pretzels and cheese crackers.
I took a bunch of this and put it in a food processor and ground it up to a powder. Next I took some skinless, boneless chicken breasts and dipped them into a some eggs I had beat together, then rolled them in the powder. I put the chicken into a baking dish I had coated with cooking spray. Put that in the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
I also made a quick salad, for this i used baby spinach leafs, sweet bell peppers cut into pieces, and cherry tomatoes from our garden, cut in half. For the dressing on this I tossed it with a little extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.
Any way that is about it for now, lets hope that it is not such a long time between posts again.

Char Siu and Pork Fried Rice

2010-09-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Char Siu is an Asian style of Bar B Que usually made with pork put on skewers and then marinated and roasted over a fire. I cant say that we enjoyed eating this, because honestly it was not very good. the marinade is made from cane sugar, dry soy powder, garlic and onion flavors, when we first prepared it, it smelled like cool aide. I was hoping that cooking would take away that taste, but it did not work . I ended up making a quick reduction of soy sauce, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar and ground mustard to break up the sweetness and make it some what edible. I made pork fried rice to go with this and that turned out pretty good. to make this i used 2 and half cups of long grain rice, and made that according to directions on the bag. After the rice was done I put it in a large bowl and added a tablespoon of sesame oil, a table spoon of soy sauce, and a half tablespoon of garlic powder. Then I added a small package of ham cubes, two bunches of green onions finely chopped and a package of frozen peas.
After I mixed that all up I put it in my counter top griddle and let it reheat for about a minute or so, then I pushed all the rice to one side and cracked four eggs on the other and scrabbled them.
After the eggs were done a mixed them in to the rice and dinner was ready.

Baked Ziti

2010-09-01T10:54:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone hope you all are doing well. The other night I wanted to try something a little different from Spaghetti that we always have, and then I remembered one of my favorite TV shows "The Soprano's". Carmella always made Baked Ziti, and I had some Ziti Noodles in the pantry, how hard can it be. Well honestly the one I made was pretty easy. I had a couple packages of Hillshire Farms Italian Sausages, the ones with cheese inside. So i cut those up into bite size slices and browned them in a skillet, in another pot I made my usual base tomato sauce(here is a link), I left out the ground beef, but I suppose you could leave it in to make it extra meaty. I boiled the Ziti Pasta for about 7 minutes til it was al dente ( firm but not hard), this is important because we are going to bake this for a few more minutes and we don't want to over cook the pasta. I added every thing together and put it in a 13x9 cake pan, covered with shredded Mozzarella. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes to finish off the pasta and melt the cheese. After I made this I went online and found a real recipe for Baked Ziti, and the only thing I did wrong was not put cheese in the mixture, I just had it on top. Oh well it was still pretty darn good, and next time it will be just that much better.

Bacon Meatloaf

2010-08-26T00:59:00.000-07:00

Well tonight, I decided to make a Meatloaf, and after my last one I thought that bacon was a good idea to include. Only problem is I did not take any pictures to post, but we all know what a meatloaf looks like. I also ran out of eggs and did not feel like running to the store so i used a package of meatloaf seasoning we had in the cupboard, I know kind of cheating, but I added to it so there is a recipe in here. So here it is:
2 pounds ground beef
1 package bacon
1 package meatloaf seasoning
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp ground mustard seed
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp A1 steak sauce
1 cup water
The reason I used the packaged seasoning is it has a dry binder in it that takes the place of the egg. Cut the Bacon into small pieces and fry in a skillet until almost crispy. Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, drain the bacon and add mix again. Put into a loaf pan( I finally found one for meatloaf that has two pans, one with holes in it to drain off the excess fat) put into a 350 degree oven for about an hour. This turned out really good and I am sure it will become a part of our regular dinner rotation. Speaking of dinner rotations, I think that I am running out of things to cook, so I would like some ideas. If you have any recipes you would like to share send them to me and I will do it, and in the meantime I will dig out the cookbook my Grandmother gave me for Christmas a few years ago(yeah right more like a decade ago, man I think I am getting old). I think it has some old family recipes in it.

Coho Salmon

2010-08-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well I never got the pictures of what these fish looked like before we butchered them, so I will have to post those later. Mom and Dad headed up camping along Grime Creek, near Idaho City, and Dad caught two Coho Salmon up there during their spawning season. Coho's are cool because during their spawning season their bodies physically change, normally they are silver in color, but when it comes time to reproduce, they change to a bright red color, and the males jaws and teeth become enlarged and hooked. Salt water caught Coho taste a little better because of their high fat content, fresh water caught during spawning have traveled far up river and have burned off that fat. I prepared these by steaming them with a sprig of baby dill, and a slice of lemon. Mom and Dad came over and brought some store bought Sockeye, these are the darker red fillets.
These tasted amazing, no real fishy taste to them at all. Hopefully when they go back up there next weekend Dad can catch some more, and who knows, maybe he can talk Mom into trying fishing again since no kids will be there to release her catch.
Edit: Mom Just sent me the photo

Chicken Kebabs

2010-08-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

The phrase kebab is Persian in origin and translated means "fried meat". Arabic tradition has it that the dish was invented by medieval Iranic who used their swords to cook meat over an open fire. There are many variations of kebabs, the one we are used to here in the U.S. is a Shish from the Turkish word meaning to skewer. Since this is a Persian dish originally the traditional meat used is Lamb, but any meat can be used. I chose to do Chicken. For this recipe you will need:
6 Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Large Yellow Onion
Cherry Tomatoes1 Bottle Tuscan Italian Dressing
Cut the Chicken, Peppers, and Onion into about 1 inch squares, put into a large mixing bowl with Tomatoes and Dressing. Marinate for about 30 minutes to an hour. If you are using Bamboo Skewers soak in water for an hour before using them, if you are using metal spray with cooking spray before putting the ingredients on. I used cast iron stove top grill, the only problem with that is the marinade puts off a lot of smoke. Get your grill hot and start putting the ingredients on the skewers and put on the grill turning every three to four minutes to make sure all sides touch the grill. Now with Chicken it could take longer to cook, just because you want to make sure it gets cooked through (no such thing as a nice medium rare piece of Chicken). Then there is nothing left to do but eat, oh yeah another warning, be careful biting into the tomatoes, the juices inside are really, really hot.