Roasted Tomato, Onion and Marmite Pizza: Sounds odd, Tastes Delicious

You may be asking what Marmite is. Marmite is a delicious spread made from the gunk found after you make beer. It is pure deliciousness, but can only be used sparingly due to its strong flavor.
I was skeptical about how good it was going to be, but it was better than I expected it would be. I used fat free cream cheese instead of mozzarella and celebrity tomatoes instead of cherry or grape tomatoes. Instead of a puff paste crust, which is a pain in the neck to use and often contains trans fat, I used homemade pizza dough. It may not be great for you, but at least I know what's in it.
I served it up with a green salad with a grapefruit-balsamic vinaigrette. Will either couldn't tell that I added it or didn't care. Either way, if means I can add a bit more variety to my salad making.

Brussels Sprouts Shiitake Stir Fry: Needs a bit more work

Tonight was a stir-fry consisting of mainly brussels sprouts and shiitake mushrooms. The flavor was okay; I just need to add more soy sauce and less sesame oil next time to get the flavor right. I also used dried mushrooms and found them so rubbery as to being almost inedible. Needless to say, I will be using fresh from now on. My recipe called for egg noodles, but I like my Asian dishes to be a bit more authentic than that, so I used real Chinese noodles, which were quite good. For those of you looking to make this gluten free, look for tamari or Kikoman makes a gluten free option.

Pierogi: More Fun to Make in Groups

I made pierogi on Thursday night for dinner. It's easy to make, but a lot of work, so make sure that this is a dinner everyone pitches in to make. The filling and dough are standard and pretty easy; it's the assembly, boiling, and frying that's difficult.
The filling is potatoes that you boil til they are fork tender, drain and return to the pan to remove excess water, and rice; cream cheese; onions that are cooked til just tender; and salt and pepper to taste. The dough is just butter, water, flour, and eggs.
You then take the dough and divide it into four balls. This makes it easier to roll out and assemble. You take one ball and put it onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to about an eighth of an inch thickness. You then take a cookie cutter or other round object that's about three inches in diameter and punch rounds out. Take a teaspoon of filling and place in the center of each dough round. Fold one side of the dough and pinch it closed with moistened fingers. You then boil them for one to two minutes or until they float to the top. You then transfer them immediately to a skillet and brown them.
I served my pierogi with kielbasa, a Polish sausage that I think complement my pierogi perfectly, and sauerkraut. Unfortunately, my sausage maker is forty years old and needs a new switch on it, so I had to buy my kielbasa from the supermarket. For the sauerkraut, I bought a can of it, drained it, and added caraway seeds, gin, and sugar. I let this heat through and voila! I have amazing sauerkraut; even my friend who isn't fond of sauerkraut will eat it this way.
All in all, everything came out better than the last few times I've made them. As the Beatles said, "It's getting better all the time."

Chile and Rice Casserole: A great way to Use Leftover Rice

I still had a lot of rice leftover, despite doing carrot casserole, so I decided to look up some recipes involving cooked rice. I didn't have any green chilies, so I used green chili salsa. Instead of the required pepper jack cheese, I used Chipotle Swiss as well as cheddar. Will liked it, but thought it needed the green chilies and to have been mixed better.
I also made another salad. This time, I added bean sprouts and capers as well as the citrus vinaigrette. Will wasn't too fond of the salad this time because of the added capers.

Splurge Day: Penne with Rosa and Salad

We made whole wheat penne with Rosa sauce. What is Rosa sauce, you ask? It's a southern Italian sauce that is quite easy to make. Sometimes it's known as a vodka sauce. First, you lightly brown some thinly sliced onions in 2 Tablespoons butter. Then, you add some tomato paste, one cup half and half, a third of a cup of dry white wine, thyme and basil. I prefer to use sauvingnon blanc, but your favorite white wine will do just fine. After this has simmered another minute, you add another half a cup half and half that has had two Tablespoons flour added to it. If you want to do a fuller fat version, use cream instead of half and half and omit the flour. Finally, you add a quarter cup Parmesan cheese, and let it get nice and bubbly. You then pour it over your cooked pasta and sprinkle the top with another quarter cup Parmesan. The only thing that would have made this better would be if I had fresh thyme and basil instead of dried.
I also made a salad. This time, in addition to Romaine lettuce and tomatoes, I also added dried cranberries, blueberries, cherries, and golden raisins and bean sprouts. You can either make the mix of dried berries yourself or get yourself a package of the golden raisin blend from Trader Joe's. As I did the night before, I made a grapefruit vinaigrette. It seems to get better as I continue to make it.

Turkey Gumbo With Salad: Awesome Dinner

I had some frozen gumbo left over from Thanksgiving, so I decided it had sat in my freezer taking up space long enough and reheated it. This is considered one of my best recipes as well as my easiest to make.
All you need is a turkey carcass with most of the meat scraped off the bones, water, and mire poix vegetables. What are those, you say? Carrots, celery, and onions; you want to have a third as much carrots as you do celery and onions. You bring this mixture up to a simmer for at least two hours, but the longer you simmer it, the better the flavor. In the last hour, you want to add a sachet d'epice. This should consist of such herbs and spices as rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, and black pepper. To make a sachet d'epice, you need to take some cheesecloth or tea ball strainer; if you are using the cheesecloth, you want to place your spices in the center and then fold the corners and tie it all together with kitchen twine. In any case, you stick your sachet d'epice in for the last hour.
You're probably wondering why I tell you to put the spices in only during the last hour. Herbs and spices add a wonderful flavor if used correctly; however, if they are left in too long, they get really bitter, so be careful.
Once your stock has simmered for the desired time, you can either strain it, discarding the carcass, or fish the bones out, if you don't have another large stock pot. I prefer to fish the bones out because who in there right mind has two large stock pots?
Next, you return your stock to the pot, add the desired vegetables and the meat. I usually use turkey, corn, green beans, okra, and carrots, but you can use anything you want. Traditionally, gumbo has andouille sausage in it, but the reason I don't use it is I have a hard time digesting pork. Also, if you are using okra, be sure you only add it right before serving; if you cook okra too long, it gets really slimy and slimy is not palatable. I also cook rice in with my soup. Season your soup to taste and voila! You spent all day, but it's totally worth it.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, we also had salad. I needed Romaine lettuce for the taco salad, and I realized that one thing Will does a lot is complain that I don't serve enough vegetables with my meat meals, so I got three hearts of Romaine. I didn't have any lemons to make my vinaigrette, so I used grapefruit juice because I did have ripe grapefruits. It turned out pretty darn well, for my first shot at making vinaigrette from scratch.

Taco Salad: A Quick and Easy Way to Eat Well

On Thursday, I made my family's version of taco salad. It is the world's easiest thing to make. All you need to do is chop up some tomatoes, lettuce and avocados, put them in separate bowl; shred some cheddar cheese and put it into a bowl; and brown some ground beef and onions in a skillet with paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. My family usually uses whole pinto beans, but I used refried in this case. You then have everyone build their perfect salad, using taco sauce as dressing.
Speaking of which, I learned to make Will's doctored refried beans. I didn't realize how easy it really was. All you need to do is fry the beans in a little bit of grapeseed oil, add some garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, and cheddar cheese; and cook till it tastes right. World's easiest doctored food item.

Busy Times: A Recap on What I've Done

I apologize; while I'm not a Christian, my family is, so Easter is a little hectic for me. In lieu of not posting, I will give you a recap of what I've made over the last few days.

I made coconut milk chicken. The recipe is rather simple; all it is is onion that has been cooked in oil with tomato paste that you simmer your chicken is. You then make a slurry with arrowroot and coconut milk, bring it to a boil, and pour the sauce over rice. I served it with cauliflower. You may be asking why I use arrowroot. Why not cornstarch? I use arrowroot because it means I get a more authentic vibe and it doesn't clump like cornstarch.

The next night I made finadene chicken. Again, you're probably asking what finadene is. It's a traditional Chamorro sauce made with lemon juice or vinegar, soy sauce, onion, and jalapenos. Usually I put the jalapenos in it, but I didn't have any this time, so we had to do without. To compensate for the lack of pepper in the chicken, I added chili powder to the vegetables.

After that, I made a carrot casserole. This is a dish I like to make when I have a lot of leftover rice, and boy, did I have a lot of leftover rice. It, too, is pretty simple; as long as you have leftover rice, carrots, 2 eggs, salt, milk and breadcrumbs you're set. Normally I mix melted butter into my breadcrumbs, but I didn't have enough butter to do that, so we did without.

Last night, we did vegetarian burritos. Will made his doctored refried beans; I don't know how he does it, but he makes canned refried beans taste good. I used some of the leftover rice. We then added salsa and shredded cheddar cheese. It was not great, but a decent thrown together meal.

Panang Tofu Curry: Easy and Tasty

This is the tofu curry we had last night that I served over rice. This is the simplest sauce to make ever. I may have to make and freeze a bunch of this just so I can use it to make my mom's famous chicken curry; it will have all the flavor I grew up loving without all the chemicals that my mom's curry paste contains.
All that is in this curry sauce is shallot, garlic, peanut butter, sriracha sauce, a bit of water, coconut milk, turmeric, and cumin. It only needs a little bit of salt to accentuate the fantastic flavor of this full bodied sauce.
Will raved about how nice it was, and said to make sure to make it on a cold night. Now if only I can make sure he doesn't run out the door without his lunch in the morning.