Cooking Stuff

Easy, Basic, Low Fat Rice Pudding. Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:03:00 +0000

2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup rice
2-4 tbls sugar*
pinch of salt

Bring the sugar and milk just to a boil, add the rice and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the rice is tender and most of the milk is absorbed, ~30 minutes (maybe more). Chill in the fridge for a few hours or eat warm.

*different sugars will give you different flavors. I've used brown sugar, white sugar and honey, they are all fantastic.

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Mmm, rice pudding. Who knew something so awesome would be so easy? So this isn't going to be a big post where I do a lot of talking and share a lot of pics. Mostly because I don't have a lot of pics, but also because I'm going to be making it again soon and will post about variations in the future. This way I can just link back to this post for the basic recipe. Also I realized I hadn't posted this week... heh. Anyway, is this recipe awesome? Yes. Is it low fat? Yes! Which is good because my doctor very gently guilt tripped me into eating better. So, stay tuned for more puddingy adventures kids, for they are imminent.

Sunday Cats #103

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:01:00 +0000

Found another pic of the Real Bob and Lucy. Plus I can't help but love Lucy's monkey onesie. I mean, cmon. And here is the Real Bob sleeping.

Something Else to Do With Pizza Dough: Sausage Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:18:00 +0000

I think I need a better name for this than "sausage bread". Even though it's quite descriptive, it's not very poetic. It is good though, full of sausage and... er, bread. Hm. Anyway, I'm not going to put a recipe in this post or even a method. Why? Because I don't want to. Plus I didn't get any prep shots and it's not like I won't be doing this again. But since I do have some pictures and haven't posted in forever, here it is! I used breakfast sausage, since I had some, and there's some onion in there. Would be even better with cheese too, which is another reason to wait to post a recipe/method. The idea for this came from a bread my brother makes, whose name escapes me, that has cheese and onions in it and is fricking awesome. This isn't the same as that (which I'll have to post about sometime soon since it's so good) but it is a variation on the theme. Anyone out there make bread like this?

Something Else to Do With Pizza Dough: Hamburger Buns

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:22:00 +0000

It's true, you can make hamburger buns out of pizza dough.

I doubt this is terribly surprising to anyone who has been reading my blog (or has thought about, you know, dough + shaping = everything), since I've already made rolls and cheeseburger calzones (not to mention cheeseburger pizza). Mostly I just wanted to put up these pics.

Heh. I don't remember exactly what was on here, but I'm pretty sure it's cheese, sauteed onion, lettuce, pickles, mustard and garlic mayo. I think. What I distinctly remember is that I should have been wearing a bib and eating it over a tarp. What a mess. A delicious, delicious mess. Now, when you make a bun/roll like this out of pizza dough it's not going to be soft like a bulkie roll, it's pretty dense and has some tooth to it.

But it also has tons of flavor that can stand up to all the other flavors going on in your average burger. Especially if you, say, brush it with herb infused olive oil before you cook it. I'm just putting that out there. So is anyone else doing fun stuff with pizza dough? I'm always looking for ideas to ~~steal~~, I mean use. Heh.

Sunday Cats #104

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:33:00 +0000

It's a little hard to make out, but he has his paw dangling off my wrist while I'm holding him and he's resting his chin on it. Very sweet. Much sweeter than the new Blogger interface. Anyone else simply not care for it? Maybe it's just that I don't like change... no, it sucks. Definitely sucks.

Bacon Cheeseburger Loose Meat Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:10:00 +0000

I had never heard of a loose meat sandwich until recently and honestly when I heard the name my first thought was "sounds weird".

But when I saw some recipes my mind was changed to "sounds awesome". Most of them don't have any sauce to speak of, otherwise they'd be more like sloppy joes, but this version has a bit of one. It's not much though, mostly just for flavor. I don't have a specific recipe for this, I whipped it up on the fly. But it turned out wicked good and I got some pics, so I'm going to share it.

First things first, bacon.

It's not a bacon cheeseburger anything without bacon. Then hamburger, of course.

Browneder is better, more flavor that way. Then some onions, because I like onions.

I didn't cook them thoroughly, I wanted a little bite left to them so they'd be reminiscent of the raw ones you usually get on a burger. But it can be done however you like, of course. Then some ketchup and mustard, because I like to keep it simple.

This would also be a great thing to use bbq sauce in, although that would make it practically sloppy joes again. You could do anything that you would put on a burger though, just enough to give it the flavor you want.

And that's it, except for the bun and cheese. Next time I'm going to mix the cheese in while it's still in the pan, make it more like a steak and cheese kind of thing. That will be good. I wound up putting lettuce on it, I had meant to put some pickles on there too but it disappeared before I remembered.

In fact I can think of a lot of ways to do this that would be good and I'm going to post about them in the future. Not only was this awesome, but it was easy and fast. If you're cooking for a group this could be done in like 20 minutes, maybe less. I suppose it could be done that fast even if you're just cooking for yourself, but you get my point. So who has had a traditional loose meat sandwich? Anyone have a recipe for them that they want to share with me? Because that would be awesome.

Sunday Cats #103

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:35:00 +0000

I don't know either of these kittens or the bunny, it's a random pic from the net.

But they look just like the Real Bob did when I first adopted him (kittens, not bunny). He might have been a bit fluffier, but other than that it's right on. And since I've already posted random kittens today, here are some more from my random cat pic folder.

Yeah, I have a random cat pic folder. It doesn't make me any less of a man. Heh.

Hot Corned Beef Sandwich with Sauteed Onion and Melty Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:46:00 +0000

I have new glasses and they make me dizzy. I still want to put a post up, but I'm sure as hell not spending a lot of time writing until I'm used to seeing clearly again. So in the interest of sharing something and also keeping it brief allow me to introduce you to this sandwich. It's wicked simple, just a nice soft sub roll, fried corned beef from the deli and onions sauteed in the fat leftover from the corned beef. Oh and the cheese. The cheese is a burnt cheese puddle, which is something I first saw at Confessions of a Serial Baker. It makes the sandwich extra awesome, you should go check out how to make it and then do so. Also I think there was mustard, there usually is when I eat corned beef. I even put lettuce on it to make it healthy, which means I could technically have had two. Tremendous.

Sunday Cats #102

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:18:00 +0000

This is my cat.This is my cat on drugs.Any questions?

Hawaiian Baked Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:00:00 +0000

1 cup sliced ham, chopped
1 cup pineapple chunks
1 cup rice
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup water/broth
1 cup pizza sauce
mozzarella, to taste
salt and pepper

Lightly brown the ham in an oven safe pot (wide/shallow is best), transfer it to a bowl then add the juice/water or broth. Cook the rice, then add the pineapple, ham and stir, reserving some of the ham and pineapple for topping if you want. Spread the pizza sauce on top. Put the cheese on top, as much as you like, and the toppings. Bake at 425 until just browned. Eat.

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Love this, it's so easy and spectacular. I got the idea when I read this post from Noob Cook (got idea=stole idea). It couldn't be simpler and it's wicked good. Wiffy uses cream of mushroom soup instead of pizza sauce, which I'm sure is lovely, but I wanted to make it more pizza-y so I used sauce. I don't see any reason that you couldn't use other things instead. You could use gravy and make it like Hawaiian haystacks, I bet that would be good. Or maybe a garlicky white sauce. Whatever floats your boat. So, shall we? Lets.

First, I took my ham and fried it up a bit. Gives it a little color and also adds some fond for extra flavor to the rice. Then I added the juice and water and let it come to a boil. Then the rice. Wiffy used a rice cooker, but I don't have one. Plus this way it's all done in one pot which makes for easier clean up, which is always good. Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until done. Mix in most of the ham and pineapple, leave some out for topping if you like. Next, sauce. Spread that stuff around. Then cheese and toppings. Mmm, cheese. I don't care for bagged shredded mozzarella but I also hate shredding it myself. So I don't usually bother, I just chop it up. Much easier and it works just fine. Now into the hot oven until brown and delightful. Doesn't it look good? Yes it does.

Now another part of the recipe that I changed from Wiffy's is she added garlic to the rice. I didn't because my pizza sauce is pretty garlicky, but there's nothing stopping you from doing it. Hell, there's nothing stopping you from changing it up however you like. This here is a concept, not an absolute and don't let anyone tell you not to experiment. If you need ideas, stay tuned. I'm going to be making more baked rice, I enjoyed it very much.

Quick and Spicy Vegetarian Rice and Beans

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:39:00 +0000

1 cup rice
2 cups cooked beans
2 cup water or broth
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp blackening seasoning
salt, if desired

Saute the onion in some olive oil until translucent, add the garlic and stir for ~30 seconds. Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil. Add the liquid, seasoning and beans, cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed. That's it.

Note: You can start with dried beans. Take a cup of rinsed/sorted dry beans, put them in a pot and add water until they're covered by a couple inches. Add ~tsp of the blackening spice and let simmer until tender, ~2 hours. You can them use some of the liquid you cooked the beans in for the rice, I did half that and half broth.

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Here's a quickie, guess what makes for a killer rice and beans seasoning? The blackening seasoning from the shrimp last week! I know, shocking. I wanted something easy, so I looked over my pantry. I had pasta, rice and beans. I've been eating a lot of pasta so I went for rice and beans. I started with dry beans, but you can just use a can and it would maim the cooking time. Although you wouldn't be able to use any of the cooking liquid from the beans, which does add a nice flavor and texture. I guess it all depends on the time frame you have. With canned beans you could have this on the table in less than a half hour, I'm guessing. And who doesn't love that? Not that I ever eat at my table these days, unless you count the dinette set table my computer is on. Heh. The one thing about the seasoning is that I found it didn't have quite enough salt for this kind of thing. It was plenty for the shrimp, but rice and beans want a little more. Although it's not really required, you could easily do a low salt thing and it still tastes wicked good.

If you wanted to un-veg it you could add some bacon or sausage. Or put it in a tortilla with some taco or carnita stuff. That would also be wicked good.

Blackened Shrimp with Tomato Tarragon Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:32:00 +0000

slightly adapted from here

for shrimp:
shelled, deveined raw shrimp
butter

1 tsp ground basil
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsps chipotle pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika

for pasta:

1/2 lb angel hair pasta, cooked and drained
1 cup roughly chopped tomatoes
2 tbls roughly chopped fresh tarragon
olive oil

Combine the spices and dredge the shrimp in them. Heat up a cast iron skillet very hot and melt the butter in it. Put the shrimp in the skillet and reduce heat to medium. Cook for ~4-5 minutes per side, they should still be slightly translucent in the middle. For the pasta, heat up a pan on medium-high with some oil, put in the tarragon and tomatoes and stir around for a minute or so. Add the pasta and toss to combine. Serve the shrimp on the pasta, the shrimp should have enough salt for both, but you can add some to the pasta if you feel like it.

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I like shrimp now. Who knew? Maybe it's my changing tastes, maybe I had just needed my culinary school graduate buddy to make it for me so it was done correctly. Either way, this was wicked good. So let's get in it, shall we?

My previously mentioned buddy came down for a visit recently and we decided to challenge my previously mentioned tastes. And we did it thusly.

Spice mix. So good. Spicy without being overwhelming, strong flavors without overpowering the other stuff. I think it would be good on chicken, too. Anyway the whole process is pretty easy (especially when you're watching someone else do it so you can take pictures...), just dredge up the shrimp. Melt a touch of butter in a hot cast iron pan. Heh. My buddy actually only used the butter for the first batch, he didn't like the way they came out when cooked like that quite as much as in a mostly dry pan. Although the butter did do something amazing. We'll get back to that. But now that your butter is melted and the pan is hot lay those shrimp down. Oooh yeah. Buttery. Now while this is going on there is water boiling for pasta. I took a whole bunch of shots of my buddy making that too, but it was so steamed up in the kitchen that none came out. Unfortunate. But everything else worked out awesome. I was surprised that my buddy didn't salt or pepper the pasta, but he assured me the shrimp would add plenty and he was right. Adding more would have been overwhelming. Oh and that butter he cooked the first batch of shrimp in? Yeah we kept it. For dipping. Unbelievable. Seriously, so good.

And there you have it, my first although certainly not last, shrimp post. Definitely not going to be a common thing though, fricking expensive. I kept the shells, gonna make stock with them. Hmm, maybe for jambalaya. That would be appropriate. Well, looks like I'm off to go do some research on my next shrimp dish. Heh.

Repost: Molten Chocolate Cakes

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I feel bad. I promised things that didn't happen. So here is a repost of one of the best things I've ever done. It doesn't matter that the girlfriend I'm referring to is no longer someone whose tastes are relevant, nor does it matter that Valentines Day was some time ago. The cake speaks for itself. Chocolate usually does. Enjoy.

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So I got an email a while ago from Kate of Serendipity. She wanted to know if I wanted to take part in a Valentines Day roundup where she would send me some chocolate, I would do something with it and post about it.

At first I was kind of dubious, seeing as how I'm really not a big V-Day person. I get my girlfriend flowers (which I do periodically anyway), a card, I cook her a dinner she enjoys (which I do all the time regardless), probably some champagne in there and yeah, that's it really. I didn't even do a post about it last year.

But then I remembered where Kate lives.

She lives in Belgium.

So, to recap, she offered to send me Belgian chocolate and all I had to do was make something with it? Yeah, I'm down. Completely. Always happy to take part in activities with my fellow bloggers. Heh.When the package came it was like Christmas. I opened up the envelope and let out a most undignified (not to mention unmanly) squeal of delight. Four bars of chocolate, two in foil and two in plastic with a sticker declaring they were artisan. Or that's what I'm guessing "artisanale" means. Because I'm clever like that. I don't have pictures of all of them, some of it mysteriously (and rapidly) disappeared. Mostly the big bar from that artisan place. Yeah, no idea what happened that. Heh. The question was, what to do with it? What to do with it, indeed.

But the answer, really, was simple. When you have awesome chocolate you have to make an awesome chocolate cake. That's it. So, molten chocolate cakes it was. Because really, is there a more awesome chocolate cake? I'm not convinced that there is. Plus it's so ridiculously easy. I didn't use the same recipe from last time I posted about them, I used this one from Tasty Kitchen. It used all bar chocolate, instead of some cocoa powder, so the cakes weren't so dark. Which means my girlfriend likes them more, too. Which is good, for Valentines Day.

So thanks Kate! This was a lot of fun. Now, have you kids all been to her blog? If not you should, she takes wicked good pictures. And I'm not just saying that because she sends me chocolate. Heh.

Oh and since it is Sunday, here's Noodles. Wanting what she can't have.
Check out what the other folks did with their chocolate, here is a link to the roundup.

I Know, I Promised

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:19:00 +0000

I made a shrimp related promise and after several days there isn't any shrimp to be seen. But you see, there's a reason. That's going to be a big post with one real recipe and a smaller, side dishy kind of recipe so when I do write it up I want to be in better form than I've been the last few days. I need to wait until the muse strikes me, which now that it's on the screen instead of in my head sounds more painful than inspiring (not to mention pretentious, heh.). So while I'm waiting for that to happen, here is a piece of pizza. It's meatball, bbq sauce and onion. It was quite good. Here is the same flavors, except with Swiss instead of mozzarella and cheddar, in a calzone. It too was quite good. Hopefully that will at least slightly make up for my grievous miscarriage of shrimpitude.

Sunday Cats #101

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:09:00 +0000

Since I didn't post anything last week here is a sneak peek at the next thing that's going up. Yeah, that's shrimp, apparently I like seafood now. Know who else would have liked it? Romeo. Here he is gazing lovingly at me while I cook. He always gazed lovingly, it was pretty much his only expression.

Sunday Cats #100

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:46:00 +0000

100? Really? Well, I guess this calls for extra cattiness. Wait... that's not right... uhm. Haven't had my coffee yet, going to just let it be. So. For my 100th cat post I'm going to post some of my favorite cats ever. You've already met the real Bob, probably my all time favorite. Although the cat I had as a kid, Buttercup, and the one I had as a teenager, Annie, are right up there too. Buttercup would wake me up every morning by wrapping her front paws around my neck and licking my ears. Annie was just a big lump of love. Anyway, I posted about Romeo before, but no favorite cats post would be complete without him. He was the one of the sweetest, most gentle creatures I've ever known. Plus since he was wearing a tuxedo he was always ready for a ball. I'm pretty sure I've posted about Tiresias (aka Ree) before, but I'm not going through 100 posts to find out. She is eyeless, as her name implies, but that doesn't stop her from doing whatever she wants. Which is mostly purring wicked loud and laying in the hallway at my brothers house. Heh. Last, but certainly not least, is Puffin. She was not only beautiful, but smart and sassy too. She had a shoelace that was hers and when she wanted to play she would trot over to you with it in her mouth. When she was done she'd pick it back up and hide it. She was something else. So there you have it, a woefully incomplete list of some of the best cats ever. Now, coffee.

Double Swiss Burger Calzone

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:21:00 +0000

Oh baby. Now this is one of those where you have to wonder, "is this really a calzone? I mean, aren't there guidelines and such? Also... hey, where'd it go? How did I eat that whole thing while I was thinking?!" Heh, because it's really good and doesn't matter, get it? Eh? Eh?

Fine.

So. Do you have hamburger but no buns? Do you have pizza dough but not the desire to turn that into buns? Well, wrap it around your burger and toppings, cook it and you're all set! Any toppings really, although I honestly wouldn't recommend lettuce, but then cooked lettuce skeeves me out. Most everything else is dandy, me I went the simple, classic route. Ketchup and mustard. Burger. Swiss cheese, more burger and onions. Seal it up, stick some sesame seeds on for nutrition and cook. Heh, it has a face. And of course it's wicked good. What other kind of things could you fill it with, you ask? Well, bacon. Guacamole. Tomatoes, pickles, sauteed onion, garlic, bbq sauce, alfredo sauce, ham, jalapenos, salsa, pineapple... anything really. Plus if you wanted to keep your veggies cool and crispy you could just stuff them in after it cooks. Of course that's a lot of effort, maybe just have a salad. Or fries. Or another calzone...

Sunday Cats #99

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:45:00 +0000

The real Bob has decided he's a lap cat now. I'm not sure what brought it on, but I'm not complaining. Well, except that he also wants to be in my lap while I'm eating, which is inconvenient. It's almost as though he doesn't think things through. Heh.

Something Else to Do With Pizza Dough: Cinnamon Bread with Icing

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

The other day I wanted something sweet, but my cupboard was bare and I didn't want to go to the store. Then I remembered that some pizza places make variously shaped cinnamon things with pizza dough. I thought to myself, self you can do that. I replied, really? You think I can? I told myself I could. Then I looked around to make sure no one had noticed me being extra nuts. The real Bob had, but I somehow doubt he cares. Of course they say if you can't talk to yourself who can you talk to? But please don't ask me who "they" are. Heh.

Ok, enough about my mental problems, I'm sure people are more interested in my sweets problem. So. This is simple and fantastic, you just need some pizza dough, butter, cinnamon and vanilla sugar. You could use normal sugar, but I didn't want to. All you need to do is butter up a cake pan, or something similar, and stretch out the dough in the bottom.

How thick it is determines the texture, thin will make it crispy, thick will make it more bread like. The choice is yours and yours alone. Don't be shy with the butter either, this is a dessert and more butter means more ... well, butter. Also without it you don't get the golden crispy bottom. But you should bear in mind that you're going to be slathering the top with more butter mixed with cinnamon and sugar before it goes in the oven. Those are the next two steps.

It only takes about 10-15 minutes in a 425 degree oven and then it's done, assuming you don't want icing. Oh, you want icing? Well, I mixed up some cream cheese, vanilla and sugar. Then I slathered it on the hot, cinnamony goodness. Then I ate it and it was fantastic. The bottom was golden and crispy, the top was gooey, buttery, cinnamony and marvelous. I have now made this several times, although I don't have a recipe written out. I'll just have to make it again and write it all down. Such sacrifice, such selflessness. These are the things I do for you guys. Heh.

Sunday Cats #98

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:03:00 +0000

Yeah, I've got nothing. But here is the real Bob sleeping peacefully.
Until I jab him with something. Heh.

Rachel Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

It's one of the great debates. Like Democrat vs Republican, Coke vs Pepsi, fries vs onion rings, light beer vs good beer. Reuben vs Rachel. I'm guessing most people are familiar with the Reuben, a hot sandwich with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. A Rachel is similar only instead of sauerkraut you put cole slaw on it and sometimes swap pastrami for the corned beef. Personally, I'm on the Rachel side, mostly because I'm not a big sauerkraut fan. I do, however, love cole slaw. So, as I have a want to do, I decided to make a pizza version.

I figured I'd use the cole slaw and dressing as the "sauce" part of the pizza. Seemed fitting plus I thought this might help the slaw from getting too soft. Then some Swiss cheese, I decided to skip mozzarella since Swiss melts fine and has more flavor anyway. Now, corned beef. You could also do pastrami of course, it's also really good on pizza. But I had corned beef, so.

But how was it? Well, you know I like to be honest, I've admitted recipe failures in the past. Which is why I'm glad this was so fricking awesome. The cole slaw didn't get too soft, the corned beef didn't get dry and Swiss is a great melting cheese. And if anyone sells the idea I expect a cut. Now, if I were going to pair a wine with this I would suggest beer. Because it's pizza. I mean, really.

Sunday Cats #97 Plus a Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Sniffy sniffy.Running low on Bob and Lucy pics. Need new scam...

Barbecue, Bacon Cheeseburger with Chipotle Onions

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:25:00 +0000

Yeah baby. Devastating isn't it? Great for breakfast too. Heh.

Ok, who else loves chipotle? I'm assuming most hands went up. This isn't really a recipe, more of a serving suggestion. I'm also assuming that you kids all know how to make a burger so I won't hold your hand through the whole thing, just what I managed to get pics of. So. I made the burger just like I would any other. Note that for me "any other" almost invariably includes sauteed onions. Because they are the bomb. But after I sauteed the onions for a bit I splashed some chipotle hot sauce on them. Then I stirred them around a bit more and let them sit until the sauce had evaporated or been absorbed or whatever happened. While they were doing that I put some bbq sauce on the burger which was almost done (used the fat that come off it to saute the onions. It's awesome.) and a slice of cheese. It's not a cheeseburger without cheese, you know. Pro-tip: putting something like a bowl or lid over the burger after you put cheese on it helps it melt faster.

Then came assembly: toasted rollcheesy burgery goodnessbaconchipotle onionsthen to finish it off, a little lettuce. Now it's healthy. Heh.

My, but there's a difference between the light in my kitchen (all but the first and last pics above) and the light in my living room. Maybe I should get a hot plate so I can cook in there. Hell, there's more prep space than in my kitchen. Anyway, I'm sure you could flavor up onions with any kind of hot sauce that isn't too thick. I think if you used something tomato based like bbq sauce it wouldn't coat right and might burn and stick. Or it might caramelize and be awesome. Hm. Next time. In the meantime, I strongly urge you to try this. It's wicked good.

Sunday Cats #96 Plus a Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Cat. Baby. Cat. Baby. Baby and cat. Heh, I should write a children's book.

Sesame Chicken: Take 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Yep, this is a take two since I've posted about it before, but since I didn't do significantly better this time I'm not updating the recipe. This dish has caused me a certain amount of frustration, I can't quite seem to get it to be how I want. This time I got some help though, I recruited my niece Bethany, who has started a food blog called The Color Plat e, to give it a whack and see what she could do. If you want to see how she did you'll have to go over there to The Color Plat e. You should go over there anyway, she's quite good with a camera and much more charming than me. Expect me to mention her blog (The Color Plat e) repeatedly. I believe that there was an implied threat if I didn't...

So, sesame chicken then. This time I didn't use carrots since I didn't have any and didn't feel like going to the store. I did have broccoli though, as is illustrated in the picture below, so I used that. I also had fresh ginger, which made a bit of a difference, and I decided to toss some sliced shallot in there for kicks. One thing I didn't have though was cornstarch and I didn't realize it until I had everything prepped. Whoops. Ah well, thin sauce then. Other than the fresh ginger the only other major change I made this time was to use some mirin. Great stuff, next time I'm going to cut back on the honey and use more of it, I think that will be an improvement. At this point I also noticed that I had completely neglected to cook rice. So what starchy goodness cooks in mere moments? Ramen. Perfect. Pro-tip: no counter space? Plate up your stuff in your empty dish drainer. No empty dish drainer? Do your chores before you cook, you slacker. Heh. That's it, sesame chicken, take two. I'm not done with this recipe yet though, it shall not beat me. I will emerge triumphant. Eventually.

But as for you, dear readers, why not go to The Color Plat e, if you haven't already, and see what Bethany is up to? I have mentioned her, right? Heh.