- 1 Stick of butter
- half cup of irish whiskey
- 1 pound of confectioners sugar
Melt butter over low heat, add whiskey, add sugar, stir well until it bubbles.
Great all purpose dessert sauce for pies, cakes ice creams, breads, puddings, etc.
Very sugary and good. Also can add raisins for extra depth.
After numerous tries and mistakes, I finally was able to produce sushi at home that I could be proud of.
Steamed white rice, cucumbers, green onions, sushi grade tuna, nori, asian sauce.
Asian Sauce:
Soy Sauce, Rice Wine Vinegar, Ginger, Sugar, Sriracha hot sauce, Sesame Oil
Rinse Rice a few times, and steam in rice machine. Once done, while still very hot, stir in a few table spoons of Mirin (Seasoned Rice Vinegar). Prepare cucumbers, Scallions (green onions) and tuna: Scrape seeds out of cucumbers and slice into long strips about 1/4 inch thick. Cut Scallions to same length or the length of the nori (roasted seaweed). Also cut tuna into same size strips. Then press a thin 1/4 inch layer of rice evenly across the nori. Lay tuna, cucumber slices, and scallions down on rice drizzling a small amount of asian sauce on top. Wrap all ingredients tightly in the nori/rice roll and dampen the edge to make nori stick. Slice into 3/4 rounds and serve.
Wasabi is a nice touch!
Snack mix is not a fine science....nothing ever needs to be measured, just dumped.
However, the combinations that you but together can be suprisingly good, and makes a great snack that doesnt sit heavy on the tummy.
1 or 2 bags of dried pineapple
1 bag of banana chips
1 or 2 bags of dried chopped dates
1 can whole cashews
1 can of raw almonds
1 bag of peanut butter chips
1 bag of chocolate chips
1 bag M&Ms
Mix thoroughly and enjoy!
We all have those moments/accomplishments in our lives...winning a marathon, swimming the English channel, making the best sandwich of your life.
Tonight, I did just that. Hands down I made the best sandwich I have ever made, and my wife is my witness.
After having a small back injury, I was stuck watching the food network all week and I got motivated and inspired.
It all started with a fresh loaf of sour dough bread from Panera Bread.
THE SAUCE: Equal parts spicy brown mustard and mayo with a healthy sprinkle of dill weed.
I slathered the sauce on the top and bottom slice of bread.
Then I melted butter with a dash of black pepper and brushed the sour dough with th melted butter.
I layered cheddar and muster cheese followed by fresh sliced smoked turkey and ham.
I got my skillet nice and hot and grilled them unil the bread was dark brown and the cheese was melted. It was magic on the pallate!
My office mates and I have discussed this idea for sometime. My confession is that I didnt actually make it. But the head chef at Romas was a cool dude, and he came out of the kitchen to meet with us personally and agreed to make our idea a reality.
This cheeseburger pizza was like no other.
On a regular pizza crust, we asked for the following things:
SAUCE - Swirl ketchup and mustarde together
CHEESE - Use cheddar jack blend
TOPPINGS - Ground beef (diced hamberger patties), onions, diced dill pickles, tomatoes, & french fries.
Once the pizza was done baking, he layered the top with finely shredded lettuce.
This being a total experiment, I was proud to discover that it was fantastic and every last slice got eaten by the group of 6 people we had with us.
KUDOS!
If the last calzone wasnt enough, I decided to revamp the innards for a different meal, breakfast!
I start by making my signature eggs. Whisk 4 eggs together with season salt, black pepper and parsley flakes. Add about half a cup of sharp cheddar cut into cubes. Scramble them in a skillet with butter on high heat. You want to cook them until both the eggs and the cheesy bits are dry and browned.
Then cook some bacon. Put bacon on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes on one side. Flip over and do another 15 minutes.
Once all that is done, use the calzone/pizza crust from the previous recipe. Layer some more cheese slices (any good cheese will do, cheddar or pepper jack if you are feeling adventurous) Layer the bacon and the egg together and then bake at 495 for 10 minutes.
Awesome breakfast!
After great success with home made pizza, it was time to try for the calzone...or is it stromboli....whats the difference?
I was very happy with the results and my wife was angry at me for making such addictive food.
The secret is in the dough!
We use a bread machine just to make the dough.
- 3 cups all purpose flour (packed)
- .25 oz package of active dry yeast
- 2 table spoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 table spoon white sugar
- 1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
Dump all your dry ingredients into bread machine, pour warm water in last and set your bread machine to the dough cycle.
While dough is in the works, prepare other ingredients. Chop up veggies or meat as desired, for this recipe I used:
- Pepperoni
- Ground sweet italian sausage (browned in pan)
- yellow onions (sliced thin)
- Mozzarella (shredded)
- Provolone (sliced)
Once dough is done, Roll it out or flatten it. I think it works best if its a little less than a quarter inch thick. With this recipe, I made two separate calzones.
Once dough is flat, put your first layer of shredded mozzarella. Then a layer of pepperoni followed by two slices of provolone. I put the browned sausage and thin sliced onions together for the next layer, with another layer of shredded cheese and pepperoni.
Once you have all your toppings like you like them, fold the dough over and crimp the edges. I simply rolled it up tightly and kneaded a few times on the edge.
Preheat over to 475 degrees and bake for 10-12 minutes. Done!
Click on images for large format image
SPAM MUSABI! What the heck is that? Very few people in Virginia know what a spam musabi is. Once you know what it is, its very easy to turn your nose up and say that you will not try it. I say, GIVE THINGS A CHANCE! This is one dish you will not regret.
The spam musabi hails from Hawaii where it is common place. It is served as breakfast in many establishments including McDonalds and 7-11. It is a type of sushi roll made with spam.
I can hear it now, "I thought sushi was raw fish". Well, no, that is not the case. The literal translation of the word sushi means "vinegared rice". This refers to a rice vinegar called mirin being added to the rice after it has been steamed for a more enjoyable flavor.
There are many versions of the musabi, and here is mine.
- Slice up the spame into quater inch slices and sear it on a hot skillet until browned.
- Use a rice machine or traditional methods to steam white rice until it is sticky enough to make a sushi roll.
- Let rice cool and press a half an inch thick into a mold (some people use the spam container itself, I used a peice of tupper ware.)
- Swear a paper thin layer of wasabi paste on top of rice, followed by a generous drizzle of an asian sauce of your choosing. (plum sauce, ginger sauce, sesame sauce, or teriaki sauce would do nicely)
- Put your peice of cooked spam ontop of that and press again into the mold
- Finish it off by wrapping the sushi roll in nori (roasted seaweed) and seal it with a drop of soy sauce.
Everyone who has tried these Spam Musabi Rolls has not been dissapointed.
I dont know how many of you folks continually find yoruself with over ripe bananas, but they have so many wonderful uses. From banana bread, to pancakes, to frozen daiquiris . . . and now I stumbled upon this gem of a recipe and I am quite taken with it!
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Stir up those ingredients in a sauce pan until it bubbles/boils.
Chop up 3 over ripe bananas and add to the mix, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 45 minutes, occasionally stirring and mashing up the banana chunks. Then stir in 2 tablespoons of butter and let cool. It will thicken as it cools.
Then enjoy! So far we have used it on toast and pancakes, but I also think it would make a great ice cream topping, and my wife wants it on a PB&J sandwich!
I just had the need to make this dish, and I didnt follow any instructions, it was about 65% successful.
The pork filling:
- 1 lb ground pork from the store
- soy sauce
- dried ginger powder (also could used the fresh minced stuff)
- Finey diced fresh carrots and green onions
- red pepper flakes
I used a peeler for the carrot and once it was peeled and simply kept on peeling and then chopped up the carrot ribbons to makes sure there were no big hunks. Then dumped it all in a bowl and mixed it up until all ingredients were evenly dispersed. I rolled the meat into links and flash fried them on a skillet in seasame oil. I removed them from the heat and let them cool.
While the pork links were cooling I made the sauce:
- Soy Sauce
- Sugar
- White vinegar
- Seasoned rice vinegar
- Honey
- ginger
- Hot sauce (I used Sriracha)
- Seasame oil (a light dash)
- More diced green onions
Just mix it all together until everything is dissolved and evenly mixed. if you want a thicker sauce, you can simmer on low heat and add some corn starch.
then I pulled the pork links aside and wrapped them in cabbage leaves. I used Savoy Cabbage which is easier to work with, the leaves are thinner and less rigid.
Wrap you cabbage and sausage rolls in the egg roll wrappers and heat up some oil.
I used vegetable oil mixed with small amounts of sesame oil and hot pepper oil.
** Make sure your oil is HOT! I set the stove eye at level 8 and let it heat up for 10-15 minutes. **
Drop egg rolls into oil and wait until skin is browned, it took about 6-7 minutes for me.
Traditionalist might feel that good fudgey brownies need no modifications.
However, unless you have tried playing with recipies, you dont know what you are missing.
I didnt take a picture of this, because a pan of brownies is looks like a pan of brownies, nothing special.
For this recipe I wanted to mimic a coconut and chocalate candy bar.
I got regular fudgey brownie mix and followed the directions on the box. Before I poured the batter into a greased pyrex dish, I added:
- Coconut extract
- Coconut flakes
- Chopped pecans that had been roasted with salt cinnamon and sugar
*However if you wanted to stay true to te candy bar, slivered almonds would work*
The result was magnifiscent, but only made better with one scoop of vanilla bean ice cram on top.
Good summer time favortie!
Burgers
Ground beef
Japapeno Peppers (pickled or fresh, finely diced)
Onion Powder
Salt & Black Pepper
Cumin
Lime Juice
Soft Flour Tortillas
Corn Chips
Guacamole
Lettuce
Onions
Tomato
Pepper Jack Cheese
Cilantro
For the burgers, mix the raw beef and all other ingredients to taste. I went heavy on cumin and jalapenos. Then press beef patties slight flatter than usual, about half an inch think. Grill them medium.
Heat up a skillet with some oil on it. Put a burger patty on the soft tortilla. Put a slice of pepper jack cheese followed by a think layer of corn chips. Then guacamole, onions, lettuce, tomotoes and cilantro in that order. Wrap it all up and brown the outside of the tortillas on the skillet.
Serve with Coronas and lime or mojitos, and serve left over corn chips with salsa of choice.
I find that pizza crust is challenging to get right at home. I also find the flavor of croissants very enjoyable. I wanted to make a unique pizza, and I didnt thing the red sauce would compliment the chicken or croissant very well. So, I thought on it some and this is what I came up with.
- Pillsbury Crescent Roll Dough
- Fried Chicken peices (lightly tossed with sweet honey BBQ)
- Hidden Valley Ranch Dip
- red onion
- green onion
- coutry salted ham
- colby jack cheese (shredded)
I rolled out two rolls of dough flat on a greased cookie sheet. Applied a light layer of hidden valley ranch dip. I put coutry salted ham in the food processor until it was finely minced and sprinkled that on next. Then finely chopped the red and green onions (which added nice color, I dont mind saying) and then the chicken and cheese. Baked at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
The end result:
It wasnt nearly tangy enough. After the cooking process the Ranch and BBQ flavors faded into the background. The Crescent rolls tasted very much like breakfast food and the whole dish tasted a little salty. Dont get me wrong, it was very VERY good. Good enough to make for guests, but just not as tangy as I expected.
I do love making sauces from scratch! In this case, I had a request from a good friend, so I modified my "across the board" asian sauce to include the orange flavor.
Asian Sauce (good for all asian dishes, especially tuna and cucumbers over rice)
1 part soy sauce
1 part seasoned rice vinegar
1 part water
Healthy squeeze of honey
a splash of seasame oil
some red pepper flakes
some ground ginger
sprinkle of seasame seeds
Tonights modifications
some corn starch to thicken it up some
added a touch of sriracha hot sauce
fresh squeezed orange
a spoon of brown sugar
Simmer these ingredients until cornstarch is fully dissolved and mixture thickens some, and keep the orange peel in the pot, but remove when its done.
In this case I feel like I am still missing a little something. Dont get me wrong, its still great on some beef and broccoli and lo mein stir fry. But, it doesnt have quite the punch I was expecting.
Tonight we were entertaining some guests, and I had been dabbling in some fried foods lately. They had requested fried chicken before hand, so I got excited and accepted the challenge.
Batter:
2 parts flour
1 part corn meal
a generous sprinkle of garlic salt
a healthy dash of spicy paprika
12oz beer (honey lager would be good)
1/4 cup honey
add water until you get that good batter consistency
I took 3 good size chicken breasts, cut them in half and hammered them out flat with a meat mallet. Heated up peanut oil at level 7 on my stove top, battered the chicken and chucked it in the oil. When it got golden on one side I flipped it and waited for it to get golden on the flip side and they were done! GREAT SUCCESS!
Leftovers, I chopped up, breading and all, and tossed with some honey BBQ sauce for a "supa" chicken BBQ sandwhich!
My wife and I have been foodies for some time. Both of us rather enjoy trying new things and experimenting in the kitchen. This weekend was significant enough, that I felt inspired to start a food blog.
Saturday Breakfast:
My wife decided it was time to make bagels from scratch. Neither of us had ever done it, so she did a little research and took the plunge. Not only was it a successful adventure, but the results were fantastic. She made Asiago cheese bagels from start to finish, VERY NICE!
Saturday afternoon:
My wife consistently complains that chocolate cake we get in restaurants is not dense and rich enough. I had a cake idea that had been brewing in my mind long before that, and since her birthday is coming up, I told her that I would make her birthday cake. In typical “me” fashion, I took things to a certain extreme. I bought two boxes of the fudgiest brownies I could find and made three pans of brownies. I added almond extract to the brownie batter for some depth of flavor. Then I stacked the brownies on top of each other in typical layer cake fashion. The frosting I used was store bought chocolate fudge frosting, but I mixed, into the icing, Kahlua Liquor, Amaretto Liquor, and cinnamon. Once the cake was properly iced, I drizzled caramel ribbons on top, then finely chopped pecans, and then dusted the whole top with a cinnamon sugar mixture. YUM! It was also a success, but we had to eat small slices.
We went to Osaka for dinner (AMAZING) I ordered everything and ate my weight in Japanese food. I started off with the edamame, then got the octopus salad, then she got dragon roll sushi (that I tasted) that was amazing. (Broiled eel with the sweet brown sauce rolled with Scallions and cucumbers, but the they had sliced avocado paper thin and wrapped the outside of the sushi roll in layers that looks like dragon scales. The avocado was perfectly ripe and added a sweet nutty flavor to the sushi…super good!) She also got the sweet potato sushi roll. (Mashed sweet potatoes, flattened and tempura fried and rolled in nori and rice. Then the main course was Kung Pao Alligator. (Wild caught Floridian Alligator cooked Kung Pao style with a spicy red sauce and peanuts. The meal came with some Miso Soup that was the best I had ever had.
More to come as meals roll out!
