The Cookin' Corner

Taco Soup

2012-02-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight,. the menu is Taco Soup. This time, not from leftover tacos. Tacos, and taco soup is a great recipe to make in the crock pot. Just throw the roast in there the day before with taco seasoning to cook and make it easy to shred the meat, and once that is done, the rest is easy, basically add what you want (I add corn and beans and dice up some onions and put them on the table) and let it all cook together, but I also make sure there is enough taco flavor. Thats one thing I always worry about. Getting the taco flavor , but not making it too spicy. Last time I made it, it was a little spicy, but I just put a little sour cream in and it turned out not only delicious, but nice and "Tacoy" (i know thats not a word!) An amazing recipe, which I now want very badly!

Bell Peppers

2012-02-07T16:21:00.001-08:00

Well, as you all know, there isnt a whole lot you can do at an airport aside from texting, talking, and using the computer if they offer Wi-Fi. Well, as I waited in the airport, I knew I wanted to fry up bel-peppers, but I didnt know with what, or what I would use, or anything, so I came up with the following recipe.

3 Bel-Peppers (Red, Orange, Green)
Half Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
Snow Peas
Carrots
Olive Oil
Stir Fry Sauce

Put the Bel- Peppers and garlic in. You can choose to either cut the Bel-Peppers into strips, or dice them up. I coat the pan with Olive Oil so nothing sticks. After they've been the pan a minute or two put the carrots, snow peas and onions in. Once everything is fried and cooked, I choose to then mix in the sauce, then serve.

Chinese Meal

2012-02-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

Soon, I plan on working on my Chinese cuisine. I plan on making an all Chinese menu one night. So far, its going to consist of Broccoli Beef, chow mien, Orange chicken, fried rice and Chinese tea as the drink.I of course cant make it as good as the real stuff, but its so fun to make, and normally, always delicious, and even though its cheating a little bit, they have sauce packets that make it so much easier.Some day, I also vow to learn how to make fried rice soup. I long to learn that recipe. If you haven't tried it, you need to. My husband HATES rice and loves this soup, and I hate cooked carrots and most veggies in general, and I eat everything, accept the mushrooms. So I'll be writing about my adventures with Chinese cuisine.

How I pick out meat

2012-01-31T18:49:00.000-08:00

Everyone picks out meat different, and I'm sure there isnt ONE right way to do it, but here is how I do it.

For Beef:
First I check the thickness, I don't want it too thin as it will cook TOO soon, but I don't want it too thick because I don't really want it to take days for it to cook. Then I check and see how much fat is on it. I don't want a lot of fat because personally, I hate it, but I do want some.

Pork:
For pork, I pick it out similar to beef, I don't really buy a whole lot of pork tho so I don't really have a system to it.

Chicken
With chicken I first check to see if its skinless or not. Personally I usually prefer skinless. Then I check and see how big each piece is. (I usually only buy the breasts, legs, ect, I've never bought a WHOLE chicken yet) Chicken is usually the easiest piece of meat for me to pick out. As long as its skinless, they are all a good size and there is enough for my family, its all good.

Sometime later, I will hopefully learn more and develop a better system, but until then, this system has so far never done me wrong.

Mixed Berry Frozen Yogurt

2012-01-30T11:53:00.000-08:00

Recently, I received a surprise Food processor, something I've always wanted. Well, so far I've cut stuff up with it for salsa and stir fry, but now, I actually made a recipe with it. Heres what I used:

bag of berries (the one I used had Blackberries, Strawberrries, and Rasberries and I think Blieberries)
1tbsp Lemon Juice
3/4 cup plain yogurt
Sugar (to taste)

Once you mix everything in the food prosessror you put it in the freezer until it freezes. Once frozen take it out and you can either eat it like that, or you can put it in the proseesor again until smooth and creamy. My husband LOVES it and cant wait until I make more.

Vegetable Beef Soup

2012-01-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

Well tonight for dinner, its soup. Vegetable Beef in fact. And I'm making it from scratch and putting a little twist in it. So far here are the ingredients that are being (and will be) used.

Corn
Beef Broth
Beef strips
Taco seasoning
Beans
Green Beans
Spaghetti noodles
Potatoes (?)

Currently, I'm waiting for the beans to cook, and then I'll brown the meat, which is currently marinading. Once the beans are cooked, while I'm browning them meat, if I decide to put in potatoes I'll peal those and put those in. Its been really cold over in California, so to warm up, I've been making soups and stews out of the left overs we have. Its gone over quite well so far. For dessert, I plan on making brownies, I may get ice cream and try to do a hot fudge brownie with ice cream like I had in a restraunt once. I have yet to decide on dessert.

Miracle Cobbler

2012-01-24T20:40:00.000-08:00

2tbs Butter
1 Cup flour
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
1-2 cups berries (any kind)

Melt Butter in skillet. Stir dry ingredients together and add milk, mixing until No lumps. Pour into skillet with melted butter. Sprinkle berries on top and cook at 350 for about 35-40 minutes. Sugar sprinkled on top before baking adds a great touch.

This was in a "Pioneer Cookbook" and it just sounded delicious and fun to make. So I think I will one day.

Foil Potatoes

2012-01-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

When we used to go camping we always had what we called "Camping Potatoes" We sliced potatoes, put them in alumunium foil with some mushrooms,garlic, and onions, with some salt, pepper, and season-all. We used to put them on the grill for 5-10 minutes. Recently, I made them at home with the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 45 mins to 1 hour.

What you need:
2 potatoes
Butter
Mushrooms (optional)
Garlic(optional)
Onions (optional)
Seasonal/Salt/Pepper

You may choose to put the butter in before or after the potatoes have been cooked. This recipe is continent when you are using the oven for baked chicken as they both cook for about an hour or so. This is also a good recipe to make your own by adding or subtracting stuff to it. Maybe add some cheese or herbs, and take out the seasonal. Make it your own, but this is a great recipe.

Dry Rub

2012-01-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

Instead of marinading the pork ribs like I normally do, I decided to finally do something different. I did a dry rub with them, I put on some garlic salt, onion salt, some season all, and a few herbs and other secret spices. After that, I of course wrote down what the ingredients were, just in case its a major hit. I plan on making some kind of potato dish, a veggie, which I'm thinking on making corn, just because that sounds pretty good right now, and if I cant find a new potato recipe to try, I'm most likely just going to make baked potatoes. As for salad, it will either be a green salad or a three bean salad, it just depends on what I have the stuff for. Either way, this dinner so far, sounds pretty delicious.

Pork Ribs

2012-01-18T21:46:00.000-08:00

For dinner tommrow, Pork ribs is on the menu. Now, I just got to decide how to cook them.. I could put bbq sauce and some special seasoning on them and bake them, or I could put them in the crock pot. I plan on marinading them with some bbq sauce, some hot sauce for a little kick, and some herbs. By tommrow I'll probably end up putting more in it, thats always how it is with me. With pork ribs, I plan on serving either sourdough bread or a baked potato, corn and a three bean salad. Sounds Delicious!

Skyrim Sweet Rolls.

2012-01-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

Today, I found a recipe on youtube, and I didnt quite follow the recipe exactly, I put alot more cinnamon in it and made the frosting more of a cinnamon roll frosting, and I also put some vinalla in the sweet rolls. Here is the original Recipe.

1 cup (250mL) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (75mL) brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup (60mL) maple syrup
1/4 cup (60mL) milk
1 tsp (10mL) cinnamon or to taste
2 cups (500mL) flour

Preheat oven to 375F
1. Using a stand mixed, with a paddle attachment beat butter with sugar until fluffy for a couple of minutes. If not using a stand mixer, beat with a whisk.
2. Add one egg at a time to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.
3. Add maple syrup, milk and cinnamon.
4. Add all the flour and stir to combine. Do not over mix.
5. Fill parchment-lined muffin pan with batter. Flatten surface to get an even bottom. Place into preheated oven and bake for about 20-30min or until golden brown.
6. When rolls are ready, remove from muffin pan, flip and cut out a small hole in the centre - just like in SKYRIM. While the roll is warm, carefully pour icing on top and ENJOY!

Frosting:
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp milk

1. Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer or a bowl and whip until the frosting is smooth.

My Carne Asada Adventure

2012-01-12T21:51:00.000-08:00

My husband has been wanting to make crane asada for a while now, and finally, I'm going to let him. So today, we went and got all the necessarily ingredients. Tomatoes, Bell Pepper, celery and garlic for the salsa/pico de galo, and the meat. We couldn't agree on the shells so tommrow we will pick those up. I've had tacos, but not Carne Asada. I dont really see a difference, but I guess I'll find out this weekend!

Chocolate, Peanut Butter Pie

2012-01-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not actually sure if you could consider this a pie, cake or a cheesecake of sorts, but a few days ago, I lined the bottom of a brownie pan with a cookie crust, and then put peanut butter on top of the crust, and to top it off, I put some melted chocolate on top, and put it in the refrigerator for an hour for it to harden. When I tried it, it did have the texture of cheesecake but tasted like a recces peanut-butter cup. It was very delicious, and I cant wait to make it again.

Non Spicy Gumbo

2012-01-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

If your like me who is very sensitive to heat, it kinda sucks when you see something really good, but you know you wouldnt be able to handle the heat.Well while going through some cookbooks. I found a recipe which has no peppers, or any spicy substance added.

Georgia Gumbo

4 Slices of Bacon
2 cups of tomatoes
2 cups okra
1 large onion, Chopped
2 cups corn
1tbs sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Fry Bacon in a pan and remove most of the fat. Cook onion in the same pan until light brown. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until thick enough to serve with a fork. Serve on top of brown or white rice.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

2012-01-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Today, after coming home from the grocery store, I was looking at the roast I had just bought, I WAS going to make shredded beef for tacos with it, but something was telling me "BBQ Beef, make BBQ beef" So I cut the roast in half (it was a pretty big roast), I placed it in the crock pot with some BBQ sauce and a tiny bit of water and some garlic. Tommrow I plan on shredding it, draining some of the water, and adding a little bit more bbq sauce. I'm also going to attempt home made fries, in the deep fryer my husband and I got for Christmas. Hopefully it will taste as good as it sounds. Well, the results will be in tommrow! Fingers crossed

Blackberry Cheesecake

2012-01-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

Blackberry Cheesecake

When I made the cheesecake, I was only going to put a few berries on it, I didn't want there too be too much, but I did as my husband said too, and put, all the berries and juice on it, so I did.

Blackberry Cheesecake

2012-01-03T20:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I made cheesecake, and not thinking it would be flavorful enough, I put sugared blackberries on top. It looked quite pretty, but since I don't like blackberries OR cheesecake, I didn't see the point in even bothering to try a piece, so I just handed a piece over to my husband. After taking one bite, he looked at me, wide eyed and still in mid chew, and after he finally swallowed and complemented me profoundly on my job with the cheesecake. I blushed, not seeing how it could even be appetizing and we returned to watching tv.The recipe bellow is what I did, the cheesecake was from a box, as I am not really ready to attempt cheesecake from scratch.

What you need:
1 Plain Cheesecake mix
1 bag of frozen blackberries, thawed
Sugar (to taste)

Directions, Mix cheesecake according to box, once done, mix the blackberries with sugar and put on top to your desire. Eat. Repeat.

Wintertime Meals

2011-12-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

Around a year ago, I wrote a blog of some winter meals I cook. It had a wide range of tomato soup, chicken noodle, beef stew, along with cookbooks I recommend of recipes I enjoy cooking and romantic places to eat in the wintertime. So here again is a link to my article.

http://www.squidoo.com/yummy-winter-meals

Macaroni and cheese.

2011-12-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

Worst. Thing.To.Clean.Ever. Burnt fucking cheese sticks to the pan, and you basically have to be like the Hulk to get this shit off. And the dishwasher works like fuckin shit.. Its disgusting. Cafeteria food is nasty. I may not make alot of mac 'N' Cheese, but I do know that its NOT supposed to stick to the fucking pan, BURNT. Just the thought makes me wanna vomit. Here is my recipe for mac 'N' cheese.

Velveta cheese (My husband enjoys it with 2 bricks, but normal people use 1)
Macaroni Noodles
Salt/Pepper

First, I you know. Cook the noodles., Then I put the velveta in a pan and melt it down a lil, not a lot, just a little bit, Sometimes I'll put a lil butter in it, but if I forget, no big deal. I then mix the macaroni in with the cheese. BAM you have Mac "N" cheese, and if all goes well its not burnt nor should it be disgusting.

My first Pecan Pie

2011-12-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

My husband LOVES pecan pie. And because I adore him, I made him one. I had never made one before so it was deffinatley a learning experience. After it was made and cut he took a bite and was in heaven immedatley. I felt proud of myself for sure. It was hard to cut due to me forgetting to spray the pan with Pam, but my husband didn't seem to mind it at all. He said it was amazing, and that what matters to me the most.
After last night's pecan pie, I looked in the fridge and noticed that there was leftover steak. So I asked if he wanted an omelet. I mixed the egg batter with cheese, onions, and cut up steak. On the side he also had a bagel with cream cheese. It filled him up and made his day.

Plain Ole Ham Sandwich

2011-12-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I am not making anything fancy, just leftovers and I myself am having a ham sandwich. White bread, 2 slices of ham, mayonnaise, lettuce, pickles, and some maranated itilian wax beans on the side (wax beans in itilian dressing) and a pepsi. Nothing fancy, just plain, old sandwiches. Maybe tomrow I'll make a stew, or soup, or pasta or maybe steaks or something, idk, but tonight, I just want to relax with my family and spend time together while I sip hot chocolate.

Mixed Berry Smoothie

2011-11-30T20:27:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago, I noticed I had some mixed berries in the freezer. So wanting to be nice, I made my mother and husband a mixed berry smoothies. It had rasberries, strawberries, blackberries and I think blueberries. I also put some milk and Ice into it when I blended it. The only thing I probably should have added was a little sugar. and mint for a garnish. I accidently forgot that frozen berries don't have as much sugar as fresh and or canned. But according to my mom and husband, I did a very good job, and I look forward to perfecting it in the future.

Herb Roasted turkey with.....Beer?

2011-11-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

Yes you read it correctly, a herb roasted turkey with beer. Its got Basil, Rosemary and some Italian Seasoning with beer in the pan. It is smelling amazing so far, and instead of putting stuffing IN the bird, I put chunks of onion, carrot and celery in it instead I'm still going to make the stuffing, just going to make it seperatley. I and also made a salad with Oranges and peaches, with olive oil and dill in the juice from the can as the dressing, with some sugar as well and a very tiny amount of lemon juice. I am also going to make Ranch Garlic Mashed potatoes. It has garlic, and a powdered Ranch packet all mixed together with some sour cream and butter. With some martenellis in a wine glasses it is going to make for a fancy, yet casual and small thanksgiving, which in my opinion turn out to always be the best. May you all have a wonderful (AND DELICIOUS!) Thanksgiving.

Cherry Tart "Mini Pies"

2011-11-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

Well, for thanksgiving I WAS going to make a cherry and a Pumpkin Pie, but I forgot to buy another can of cherries, so instead of a pumpkin and cherry pie, its going to be Pumpkin Pie with a cherry tart. It will be the first time I've attempted to make a Cherry Tart, and I'm looking forward to it. I also to make Prepare the turkey, which by prepare it, I'm probably just going to season it. But I'm not sure yet, I haven't completely decided.

Things to do with leftover Turkey Dinner.

2011-11-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

Aside from having leftover Turkey dinner all over again, here are some inventive ideas you can do with that leftover bird you have left in the refrigerator.

1. Turkey Gravy
You know those turkey gravy lunches you always have at school? Well now you can make it yourself, just make some turkey gravy, once thats made chop the turkey into bite size pieces, and place thoes in the gravy to warm. Once that is done, you can either eat it as is, put it on bread, or put it on mashed potatoes.

2. Turkey/Stuffing Sandwich.
Just a normal sandwich, but with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce (optional). You could even make a grilled cheese and turkey sandwich for lunch one day.

3.Turkey Tacos
Just make like normal tacos. I personally make shredded meat, so I place the turkey in the crock pot with some water, and add taco seasoning. Let it cook for a few hours and shred and serve.