Sunday, January 31, 2010

Breakfast and Lunch Items!

All three of these dishes were created from other recipes. What does that mean? Taking flavors and ingredients and working them into your own creations! I need to find better lighting in my apartment for taking pictures. The images in this post are a little rough.

Breakfast Bowl!
Ham & Sweet Potato Hash (adapted from the endive recipe in a previous post)
A Healthy portion of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Topped with two eggs over easy.

Banana Goodness between Peanut butter & Nutella
An extremely simply recipe, but extremely delicious...if you have a sweet tooth!
-Slices of banana
-Two Pieces of Whole Wheat Toast
-Creamy Peanut butter on one side of the toast
-Nutella Spread on the other side of the toast



Now onto the Lunch Item: Pork Tacos
-Pork Roast. I always cook mine in a slow cooker with just some salt, pepper, vegetable stock, and onion. Shred for the tacos.
- Tomato & Avocado. Remember one of the first recipes i posted? Exactly the same thing.
- Sour Cream Mixed with Chipoltle Peppers in Adobo Sauce. This is the first time I used a can of this stuff. It has great smokey flavor but be careful. SPICY
-Shredded Sharp Cheddar



Finally, I would like to introduce you to THE GREEN DRAGON.

I painted him at this cute little craft shop near my house. In the future, I hope to paint many more mystical creatures in this fashion.

Friday, January 15, 2010

a little behind

I have been slacking off a little on my updates. So i'm combining two recipes into one entry.

the first: a ham and bean soup. I used pieces of ham, the 15 dried bean package, carrots, celery, some thyme, potatoes, vegetable stock, water, and the ham boullion stuff. We cut up all the pieces, threw it in the slow cooker, and let it simmer all day. Soups are super easy and flexible...which is why i'm not bothering posting the amounts of everything and exact directions. Just throw whatever you like in a pot and see what happens a couple hours later.

The pic isn't as good for this one:


the second: Bacon and Sweet Potato Hash on Endive Leaves. A wonderful little appetizer. I love sweet potatoes and the sour cream and chives on top really help to pull it all together. Sweet, Savory, Crunchy, and Mushy all in one bite. If you are interested in the exact recipe for these as well feel free to contact me.

shout out to the cool chica that got me the magazine with this recipe in it. I love it!

pic pic pic

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Brussel Sprouts

Here is another recipe inspired by the free samples at dellalo's italian market.

Fry up the pancetta, and set aside. Dump excess oil. Saute brussel sprouts (halved) until tender with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add pancetta and serve hot.

As always a pic :) My family is really enjoying me being home! all of this delicious food.

Asiago Cheese and Onion Braid

- taken from a pillsbury magazine

You will need:

2 tablespoons butter
1 large sweet onion, cut in half, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar (i suggest using less than that...it can get a little to sweet)
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves (i used 1/4 teaspoon dried ground thyme because i didn't have dried leaves)
1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated classic pizza crust
1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (4 oz)
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 teaspoon poppy seed

Directions:
1. heat oven to 425. spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray.

2. in a 10 inch skillet (i used my dutch oven pot) melt butter over medium heat. add onion; cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden brown. stir in brown sugar and thyme. cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. remove from heat.

3. unroll pizza dough; place on a cookie sheet. starting at center, roll or press dough into 15x10 rectangle. sprinkle with cheese down center third of dough. spoon onion mixture evenly over cheese.

4. with scissors or sharp knife, make cuts 1 inch apart on both long sides of dough to within 1/2 inch of filling. alternately cross strips diagonally over filling; turn ends under and press to seal. brush egg white over top. sprinkle with poppy seed.

5. bake 11 to 15 minute or until crust is golden brown. let stand 5 minutes before serving. remove from cookie sheet; cut crosswise into slices.

Here is the picture of how mine turned out:


At first i thought that using pre-made crusts and doughs were cheating...but after experiencing a couple recipes...i've come to appreciate them! Its fast and easy. perfect for an inexperienced cook like myself to handle in the kitchen without being overwhelmed.

A couple side notes:
- My friend got me this wonderful new magazine, and i can't wait to test out some recipes from it. so this is a little shout out to her "thank you"

- Second, I went and had dinner and a movie with a friend the other night. It was an enjoyable evening. If you have not seen the movie avatar, you should! Pandora is a beautiful planet, and i would choose to live there instead of earth in a heart beat.

-Third, the united state of tara came in the mail. Ordered it online from target for under 30 bucks! SHOPPING WIN!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

A Belated Introduction

Hello my name is scott...and this is my food blog. From time to time other interests or aspects of my life may work its way into these posts but for the most part it is about one thing that I love to do! MAKE FOOD!

I will be showing things that I make for family and friends. (the people i love to cook for most).

I am an student studying to be an accountant and dream of working in the professional business world...which isn't exactly a culinary career. However this passion of mine has slowly grown over the past few years in college and now FINALLY i feel that i have accumulated enough knowledge to write a blog about my cooking experiences.

Easy, Flexible. Go-to Side: Roasted Vegetable

In particular for tonight's dinner I did roasted yellow squash. But seriously you can choice a whole number of vegetables! I added a little freshly grated parm cheese and a few drops of store bought pesto for extra flavor and interest. the possibilities are endless. Cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, carrots, potatoes, squash, zucchini...etc

I can't think of a single vegetable at the moment where this preparation technique doesn't work.


Anytime you roast vegetables, you'll want a high oven aka. 450 and it will take sometime around 20-25 minutes depending on how hard the vegetable is. Just peak at it ever once and a while, it is one of the easiest sides for dinner to do, and it tastes delicious! Cut your vegetable into nice size chunks and coast with olive oil, salt, and pepper before you stick it in the oven.

Here is a pic:

Tomato & Avacado on Italian Bread

This recipe was inspired by a trip to Dellalo's Italian Market in Jeanette. They had a similar sample out in their produce section. Dellalo's has to be one of my favorite stores to buy produce, cheese, lunch meat, and bread from. Everything is fresh and greatly priced(a lot cheaper than giant eagle). For all of those who enjoy food and cooking, I recommend you visit this place. One of my favorite things to do is just walk around the store and pick out a meal from what I find! Those meals more often than not are the best i've ever had. Here is their website: www.Dellalo.com




For this recipe you will need:

Grape Tomatoes (chopped)
Fresh Avocado (small pieces)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Pancetta (chopped into cubes)
Long Italian Bread

Directions:
Fry up the pancetta until crispy. These will be tasty crunchy salty little bites! Set aside on a paper towel to drain.

Cut the grape tomatoes and avocado. An easy trick for cutting an avocado is to slice all the way into the core. Pull your knife around the avocado and twist apart into two halves. Take out the hard core. Score the soft inside flesh with a knife into the desired size squares. Scrape out the soft flesh with a spoon into a large bowl with the chopped tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste with a drizzle of olive oil.

Slice the Italian bread about an inch thick and coat one side with olive oil. Toast in a pan or griddle until golden and crispy. (you could also toast them in a broiler in the oven)

Spoon the tomato and avocado mixture on top of the toasted bread pieces. Sprinkle with crispy pancetta and enjoy :) Enjoy with a nice glass of wine (yellow tail shiraz is a big favortie of mine)!!!