Shish Kabob

This is fun to make especially during the summertime. We don't have a patio or anything to grill on, but cooking these on the Cuisinart grill was almost as satisfying. Like most of the recipes I put on this blog, you can really personalize it using your own tastes and favorites. My recipe is with beef but you can obviously do this with chicken and even fish.

Ingredients (how simple!)
-1 lb or less of meat rounds (beef). This way they are already cut for you.
-Fresh veggies. We used onions; red, yellow and green bell peppers; and mushrooms.

First, rinse the meat rounds under tap water and place and dry on a paper towel covered dish. Choose a marinade that you like. We used Peter Luger's steak sauce which, if you can order it or buy some, I highly suggest you do. You really should get to their Steak House Restaurant before you die.

Cut up the veggies into pieces closely matching the size of the steak. If the steak pieces are too big chop them down a little bit. This will cut down on cooking time. Remember you will be cooking the edges first and the inside of the meat will be cooking last.

If you are using wooden skewers soak them in water for a few minutes before piercing the meat and veggies. This will prevent it from burning. If you really want your veggies well cooked I would cook them on the stove in some oil before placing them on the skewers. This will guarantee they are nice and soft.

Cook on the grill turning occasionally until the meat is how you like it (we usually do medium).

Enjoy!

Some More Thanksgiving Pictures

Some gravy, mashed potatoes, squash, and turnips and hardworking Head Chef Avis.

Plus a fuzzy Gritty McDuff. No recipe could recreate his perfection though.

String Beans and Whole Cranberry Sauce

I felt these two should go together because they are complimentary colors.



String Beans:
Fresh from the grocery store!
Snap the ends off and rinse before cooking.
Place them in a steamer basket with about an inch of water on the bottom. On top put three cloves of crushed garlic. Then steam until tender (maybe 10 minutes).
After they are all steamed add sliced almonds that were toasted on a dry pan (stovetop). Serve in a bowl with the almonds on top!


Whole Cranberry Sauce
You can obviously buy the Jelled Cranberry Sauce in a can at the store, but this is better if you ask me. Just buy a bag of cranberries at the store and follow the directions on the back of the bag. Basically it's sugar, water and whole cranberries. mmm mmm good. Let it gel overnight in the fridge.

We had both so I have two pictures. If you ask me the whole cranberries are much more visually appealing.

Turkey and Stuffing

My favorite dish every Thanksgiving is the stuffing. When I was a kid my plate would basically have stuffing and mashed potatoes on it. I have branched out since then... but stuffing it still, to me, the cream of the crop.


Stuffing Ingredients:

-chopped Celery and Onions cooked in a stick of melted butter.
-Then add salt, pepper, and some bell's seasoning.
-Add cubed white bread and mix all together.
-add chicken stock to moisten.

The amount will depend on how many you are cooking for. Stuff what you can into the neck and cavity of the turkey and the rest can be cooked in the oven. There is a huge difference between the stuffing from the turkey and the stuffing baked in the oven. The turkey stuffing is so much moister. You can tell even by the pictures.

Ma cooks up the giblets with onion, celery, salt and pepper covered in water to make the stock for the gravy. Grandma Horton then takes over and makes the gravy.


The Turkey

In Rehoboth there is a place called Bellwig Turkey Farm where people line up all down Route 44. I always feel a little bad driving by because you know their death is imminent. A vegetarian friend of mine worked there one season... before becoming horribly traumatized. He is still a vegetarian. Kids from town would sometimes steal the turkeys too, spray-painting them green and gold and bringing to the Thanksgiving Day Game against Seekonk. They'd walk their rescued turkeys on a leash. One year we gave into the frenzy of Bellwig Turkey Farm and got our turkey there. It wasn't great. My mom thinks the Butterball Turkeys at Hannaford's or Shaw's are way better. Anyway, this is how we cook our turkey.

My mom has her Grandmother's roaster passed down through the matriarchs. We cook the turkey down in the basement and the smell wafts up all morning.

Preparing the Turkey:
First my mom stuffs it and then rubs it in vegetable oil.
Tuck the wings under and then put a few teaspoons of water on the bottom of the roasting pan. This makes for a better gravy and easier cleanup.
Cook for 18 minutes per pound (ours was 16.65, you do the math)

Take out the stuffing and serve it in a bowl and then use the drippings for gravy. To the drippings you add salt, pepper, stock (described above), Wondra, and thyme.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Danny's Tuna Sandwich - Basil, Cheese and Raisins

I call it Danny's tuna sandwich because he had this a lot growing up. Sometimes either I get home really late at night from grad school or we are just being bums. Either way, we loovvee our tuna. He has turned this into an art. Dan does a little extra for his sandwich specifically which I will share with you.

After eating this you will never be able to eat a plain tuna sandwich again.

1. Chop up fresh celery and red or purple onion
2. Mix the squeezed tuna (not oil based--eeww) with the veggies and then add a spoonful of mayo. Dan is pretty generous but it's up to you.
3. Toast wheat bread.
4. I like mine just like this, but Dan adds pieces of basil, a slice of American cheese, and golden raisins.

We ALWAYS eat it with a pickle (Vlasic Zesty is the only real pickle in my opinion) and some cheese puffs.

So easy, so good.

Some more in depth recipes coming your way.

Rice and Beans Chicken Stir Fry

Wow... it has been a long time. I apologize and will work hard to make sure another hiatus like this does not occur. I have a couple older recipes to put up and there will be a big Thanksgiving extravaganza. Fortunately, I will have a real camera for that one and for Christmas I should have a new camera so this blog will get hoppin'!

This is a dish we made about a week ago and it was sooo yummy. I took a chance on buying a rice and got Zataran's red beans and rice. Um, hello, I didn't know this was such good rice. That little jazz man from the commercials was right. If you haven't tried it grab a box, I think you'll be surprised.

Anyway, Dan cooked up some chicken breast in the wok with just a little dash of spices (salt, pepper, parsley). While the rice simmered he finished up the chicken and then we cooked up some zucchini, onions, carrots and green peppers after with some oil. Toss on a plate and eat! The end! Obviously this is similar to our other chicken stir fry, but every little variation makes a difference.

Sorry!

Hey followers. Sorry I have not been updating in a few days. I have been down and out with something nasty (dare I say swine??). Updates are on their way once I achieve full lung capacity!

Did have an amazing meal the other night by Dan the Man though. Zataran's beans and rice (yummy stuff) with chicken and veggie stir fry. Pics to come.

Veggie and Black Bean Quesadilla

I've eaten a lot of quesadillas in my day. There was that two year stint of vegetarianism... plus there is my sister. When I think of her, and add food, it equals quesadillas. I think this was one of the first things she learned how to make on the stove. During our high school years we would usually have 4 meals a day. The third one, once we got home, was usually something Mexican (bean covered tostitos and salsa, chips and velveeta cheese with chicken and salsa.... anything with salsa). Then I would watch Kids in the Hall. Although, I sometimes ate a cheese, pickle and smart food sandwich as well, but I grew to 5'5" by my thirteenth birthday so you must excuse my insatiable/twisted palate.

Anyway, she has had many years to excel in her quesadilla making art so most of what I have below was probably stolen from her. Anyway, here is what I've got:

Ingredients:
Chopped veggies like peppers, onion, carrot and celery
Black beans
Cheddar cheese or whatever you prefer
Medium salsa if you have a Scottish boy like I do. Or hot if all eaters can handle it. (first time I made this for him I used hot... sweat poured down his forehead the whole time but he refused to stop... that's when I knew he really loved me)
Flour tortillas

In addition, you can add already cooked beef or cooked chicken strips.

On a large grill pan place your tortilla. You will only cover one half of the tortilla and then fold it over. So fill that half with the ingredients listed above. I like to throw some jalapenos in for good measure but you know your own limits.

Fold over the tortilla and fill another tortilla next to it. You can cook two on a grill. Cook for about 10 minutes on the stove top and eat!

There is something really comforting about hot beans and melted cheese. It's like... chocolate is there to fill your lonely little soul.. but Mexican food is there to fill your lonely little stomach.

Mama's Dinner

Just had to add this beautiful meal my Mom made for her parents tonight. Maybe she'll send some cooking advice. That's an apple pastry for desert (I know there is apple sauce and apricot preserve in it as well).

Veggie and Vodka Shell Pasta

Sometimes, when you don't want to think too hard about dinner, the easiest thing to do is spaghetti with sauce and veggies. This can get pretty old though, especially using red sauce, so here is a nice little twist to keep things interesting.

Ingredients:
Shell pasta
Vodka sauce
A medley of vegetables (in here, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, green pepper, and onion). You can also add whatever else you like, such as carrots, etc.

Start cooking the pasta and heat the chopped veggies in olive oil in a pan. After the veggies start getting soft and the onions get a little golden add in the vodka sauce.

Finish the pasta, pour some of the sauce/veggie mix on top and sprinkle some fresh Parmesan on top. Bon Appetit!

Cinnamon Apple Walnut Muffins

I loovvee muffins. My favorite has always been chocolate chip. However, I decided to tinker around and try something new. My new favorite pancake has become Cinnamon Apple Walnut this past year, so I figured it would be just as delicious in a muffin, right? Right.

This is easy and a yummy breakfast or desert. I cook this with a big tin for 6 muffins, or you could do the same with a different type of tin, just adjust the time.

Ingredients
Mix together the following in a bowl:
-3/4 cup milk
-1/2 cup veggie oil
-1 egg

Mix these in another bowl:
-2 cups flour
-1/3 cup sugar
-3 tsp. baking powder
-Dash of salt

Then you can add the mixtures together.

Chop up some walnuts, maybe a ½ cup, into small pieces and peel and chop 1 apple into small pieces as well. We made them about ½ inch squares. Mix the walnuts and apple pieces in a bowl with cinnamon and add to the batter. Butter the muffin tins and then add the batter. I sprinkled some brown sugar on top before sticking it in the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. It is ssoooo yummy!

Dipping Oil

Sure...butter is easy to have with bread while you are eating a yummy Italian meal with your Scottish man. But, why have butter when you can have a delicious dipping oil?

My momma got me hooked on this. Growing up we always did butter, garlic bread, or pesto (ohh I should get my Dad's recipe up) but starting in high school she began making this oil mix. I've tweaked it until this is what I do...

In a regular bowl that you share or in separate little dipping trays mix the following...

Good olive oil (extra virgin if you like it-it's a bit strong for me)
A few shakes of crushed red pepper
Pressed or minced garlic. Trust me, it's so much better than garlic powder.
A shake of salt and pepper
A shake of oregano and basil

heat it up in the microwave for about 35 seconds or more depending on how much you have, or heat it on the stove if you are fancy and have a dishwasher :(.

Enjoy! I know a few of my followers like this too...

Fettuccine Carbonara - Revisted

Mmm... just had a great meal tonight. I made plenty so we would have leftovers too-nothing like conserving your food dollar! I have my recipe for this below, but I wanted to add my own picture because I do mine a little differently than it shows in the pic.

Plus - added note, make sure you use high quality bacon. Usually we have used Oscar Mayer and there's a lot of fat and it burns easily. This time I bought Boar's Head and it came out better (thanks to the Meat Man at the helm).