Random Food Thread

[JennDFK]

This was dinner last night... and leftovers for lunch.

Extra Special Sweet-n-Sour

This is not like the sweet and sour that you get it most restaurants; doughy fried pieces of tough meat floating in a pink gelatin. My friend who invented this recipe lived in Taiwan as a child and came up with this dish to find an alternative to the gooey-abomination most restaurants label sweet and sour. I like to use fresh pineapple when I can get it. Just use a half a pineapple and liquefy some of the fruit with water in a blender to replace the juice. This dish is great with pork.

1 16-oz. can pineapple chunks
1/2 C. brown sugar, packed
2 T. vinegar
1 t. ginger
2 T. cornstarch
1/3 C. soy sauce
Assorted vegetables and meat

Assorted veggies: 4-5 sliced green onions (stems and all), 1 red bell pepper (cut in large chunks), 1 green bell pepper (cut into strips), 1 floret of broccoli (cut up), ½ cup bean sprouts, ½ head cabbage (shredded). You can also substitute in onions, squash, zucchini, etc., whatever you like in a stir-fry.
Meats: 1 pound of meat - beef round tip, pork, or chicken breast meat cut into strips (If you decide to add meat just omit the cabbage or some of the other vegetables to ensure that you have enough sauce).

Brown meat. Add 1/2 cup water and simmer, covered until tender, set aside (for a more tender meat, marinate in soy sauce, brown sugar and oil beforehand). Drain the juice from the pineapple and put chunks with the other vegetables. Add enough water to the juice to make 2/3 cup. Mix this with brown sugar, ginger, cornstarch, soy sauce and vinegar. Sometimes, when I am feeling more sour than sweet, I reduce the sugar slightly and add a tad more vinegar. Heat in saucepan until thick, stirring constantly. Meanwhile add the vegetables to the wok with the meat (or just stir-fry the vegetables in oil for a vegetarian meal). Heat until the vegetables are tender-crisp. Pour pineapple sauce mixture into the stir-fry and cook until heated through. Serve with white or fried rice.

I moderate a cooking group on yahoo for anyone interested. I would love some fishlorians to join... I've seen some great recipes on this thread. I also moderate a foodlore group too... but it hasn't seen much activity lately. Feel free to stop by and check it out too.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jennskitchen/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foodlore/

[10gallonmadness]

Fire up Barby! I'm having steak tonight.

[sirdarksol]

Originally Posted by RussG

Everyone have any good tuna steak recipes? I picked some up at TraderJoe's and let them marinade in italian salad dressing for a few hours, than on the bbq, it was great, but that's the only recipe I know for tuna steaks, would like to try others.

My tuna recipes are usually fairly simple. Teriyaki is my favorite (equal parts mirin, soy sauce, and your choice of honey, molasses, sugar, or other sweetener), brushed over the tuna as it's cooked.
Other than that, whatever fresh herbs I have around, maybe some butter, and then cook it on the grill or in the oven.

[JennDFK]

I like to sear my tuna on the grill... I buy sushi grade so that I can eat it pink in the middle. I baste it with a little Teriyaki... cook it just a a few minutes per side and serve it with horseradish or wasabi.

[JennDFK]

Tiramisu

I made this for a special dinner for my mother-in-law once. It is a low fat recipe…but it sure passed the taste test. The original recipe says that you can substitute vanilla wafers and reduce the coffee by ½. It probably wouldn’t be quite the same… but I’m sure it would be good too.

12oz cream cheese (light) or ½ and ½ light and non fat
1/3 C. sugar
2 T. skim milk
10 lady fingers
½ C. chilled, strong coffee
2 T. dark rum or ½ t. rum extract
1 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
Grated semisweet chocolate

Beat cheeses and sugar until well combined. Add milk and beat 2-3 more minutes, until light and fluffy. Break the ladyfingers into bite size pieces and arrange half in a glass bowl. Stir coffee and rum together (resist the urge to take a sip). Drizzle ½ over fingers, spoon ½ the cheese mixture and smooth it. Sprinkle with ½ the cocoa and then repeat the layers. Cover and chill for 2-24 hours. Spoon into glass dishes and garnish with grated chocolate.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jennskitchen/

[aquarist48]

Tip...when marinading with Italian dressing I have found it best to use the fat free. It doesn't contain the oil that the regular dressing does so it doesn't catch fire so easily on the grill LOL
It's twue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken

[gremlin]

I don't have easy access to a grill, so I use the broiler setting in the oven - after all, Alton Brown (food network - Good Eats) says it is basically an upside down grill. I like to marinate in citrus juice - lime juice or orange juice being my two favorites. When our orange and tangerine trees have fruit on them, I will slice the orange super thin and lay the slices over the fish. I also like to use the lemon thyme. It grows well here, and I have a rather large bush of it out front, so fresh lemon thyme whenever I want it. I'm not real big on salt, so I don's usually salt while I'm cooking, but when it's done a touch of freshly ground sea salt works well. I use this for tuna or salmon or fresh caught whatever I bring home. It even makes catfish tolerable!

[ABCDemily]

Okay, not exactly food, but it's my favourite hot day indulgence.

Super fruity choccy milkshake-Makes as much as you want-this makes about three glasses.

Ingredients

Hot milk

Drinking chocolate

3 Scoops chocolate ice cream

1/2 Cup raspberries or strawberries

1 scoop vanilla ice cream, and another for decoration. (One per serving)

Blender

Heat one cup of milk in a microwave for one minute 20 seconds.

Add three spoonfuls of drinking chocolate (like making normal hot choccy)

Put into a blender, and add the three scoops of ice cream.

Mix thoroughly on a pulse mode if you have one, if not, fast'll do.

Fill half a tall tumbler glass.

Place aside into a fridge.

Cut fruits into half (Take off tops if using strawberries) and place in blender

Add one scoop of vanilla and blend. Now you have a yummy vanillary fruity mess.

*Wait a bit, do the washing up or something LOL!*

Once it's cooled (you might have a bubbly film up on top-no problem)
Add the scoop of Vanilla ice cream on top, and drizzle with the fruit and vanilla mess.

Ta-Da! Lovely and cool, personally, raspberries work better for me, but up to you!

You can probably use and fruits you want, or any ice cream for that matter

Enjoy

[ABCDemily]

Agreed with BolivianBaby, it'd be great for helping me learn how to cook, considering I'm only 16 and still need to properly learn with good recipes

*EDIT*

Recipe for French Chicken. I call it this as we make it in france.

Ingredients:

Chicken (Can be legs/thigh or breast-both work well)

Mustard (I like whole-grain, but it's up to personal preference)

Olive Oil

Mixed dried herbs-Thyme, Rosemary, Dill, Oregano etc

Garlic Salt

To Cook on a Barbeque, or grill.

Thoroughly rinse the chicken, and rub with the olive oil
-Pat dry, but don't totally remove.

Put the mustard into a large bowl/basin, and SMOTHER the chicken in it.

Lay all the dried herbs out on a flat surface (Like a worktop) and roll the chicken in the herbs until thouroughly covered.

Sprinkle liberally with the garlic salt.

Place on a barbeque or grill until cooked through.

Once cooked, you can either remove the mustard and herbs for a more fussy eater, or if you're not a fan of mustard, or leave it on and it's heavenly!

Enjoy

[10gallonmadness]

Here's a simple lasagna recipe. I think it looks good.

[JennDFK]

Curry Sauce

This sauce is great... you can use it for just about anything. I use it as a sauce for my koftas (these are dumplings made of vegetables, chickpea flour and sometimes cheese). It is also a good base to simmer vegetables or meats.

5 large cloves garlic
1 1-inch piece of ginger peeled
1 large onion cut into 6 wedges
1 large tomato - or one can of tomatoes
1/2 C. cilantro
3 T. oil
2 T. curry powder or all-purpose garam masala
2 t. cumin
1/2 t. turmeric
salt to taste
1/2 C. yogurt
3-4 C. water
1/2 t. garam masala

In blender or food processor (with S-blade), process garlic, ginger and onions. You can also process the ingredients by hand (just be sure to chop them as finely as possible). Heat oil and cook mixture until brown. Process tomatoes and cilantro and add to the onion mixture. Increase heat and cook until liquid evaporates. Stir in spices and cook 2-3 min. more. Add yogurt a little at a time to prevent curdling. Add water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 min. At this point add chopped vegetables (potatoes, carrots, squash, broccoli, etc) for a vegetable curry, or cook 15-20 min. to make a sauce for the koftas.

[Butterfly]

Just finished making beef stew ( I use hamburger) and Hot cornbread
Browned hamburger in large pot added fresh bell peppers(red, yellow, orange)
Fresh potatoes
Fresh carrots
Fresh celery
Fresh Mushrooms
Fresh Onions
Fresh corn
Onion soup mix
Beef broth
Fresh thyme and Rosemary from the garden.
simmer all together until done
season to taste with salt and pepper if desired

Hot cornbread
Cornbread mix
Chopped jalepeno Peppers
Cheddar cheese
egg
mix all together and bake in iron skillet
This is a pic of hubbys plate There is fresh curley Parsley and nasturtium flowers(all are eatable) from the garden.
Carol

[bolivianbaby]

Quick, Easy, and Inexpensive Recipe

Ingredients:

Turkey Drumsticks
Noodles-any type you want
I can cream of mushroom soup

Cover drumsticks with water in big pot, bring to a boil, cover and cook over medium heat for 45 minutes or until tender

Pull meat off of the bone-watch those extra turkey leg bones.

Cook 2 cups of noodles according to directions.

Drain noodles, add turkey and cream of mushroom soup.

Enjoy!

[Butterfly]

I needed comfort food tonight so I made peanut butter cookies.
1C p-nut butter
1C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Mix all together, drop by tsp on cookie sheet. Cook at 350F until light brown around edges. cool about five minutes on pan.
Enjoy!
Carol

[gremlin]

Those cookies look good. I cooked some tilapia today for our lunch. It was really good. I like it almost better than salmon. I should have taken a pic - oh well. Tonight is leftover night - some of my chili beans from yesterday. Mmmmmmm. Maybe I'll sprinkle some cheese on it tonight. Then use Tostitos Scoops for my spoon. Yeah. That sounds good...
\

Soak pinto beans overnight
drain and rinse well
throw in crockpot with enough water to cover beans and cook on high until beans are tender
in separate fry pan, brown ground beef - I add beef boullion when I am browning the beef - this adds flavor as well as the salt
add browned beef to beans
add bbq sauce (to taste - I never measure...)
add liquid smoke (nice smokiness to the beans)
add chopped onions if desired (brown them in with the hamburger first) - I like dried onions for most of my recipes.
throw in a handful or two of rice if you want - this will help to absorb some of the soupiness - I used minute rice so I wouldn't have to wait too long for it to cook
let simmer in crockpot on low for a couple of hours for the flavors to meld.

Enjoy!

Note: Be careful not to add any salt or anything with salt in it to the beans until AFTER they are tender. Salt will prevent the beans from becoming tender if added too soon.

[Tavel]

I've been having a lot of fun with mint lately. These are great as-is, or served over rice on pita bread. Good eats!

Garlic Mint (put rub onto chicken or pork chops):
-1/4 fresh mint minced (or 1 tbs dried and crushed)
-1 clove garlic minced
-2 tbs oil

Mix everything into the oil, then rub the oil onto the meat and let it sit for a half hour or so. then grill or pan fry.

Savory Mint (again for chicken or pork chops)
-same amount of mint
-1 tsp each of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and basil.
-2 tbs oil

do it the same way as above

I'm working on a lemon mint version too, but haven't actually gotten to "testing" yet. But this is what I theorized will taste good...

-1 lemon, juiced
-1/4 cup fresh mint minced
-2 tbs melted butter

Mix it all together and apply to the meat.

[sirdarksol]

Don't waste your money on wagyu (also known as kobe) beef if you're getting it ground. Wagyu is such good beef because it is tender and heavily marbled (lots of veins of fat). When you grind meat, you tenderize it, and you mix all of the fat in with the rest of the meat. In other words, ground wagyu is very similar to a higher-fat ground beef. It tastes really good, but I can't tell the difference between that and the 20/80 or 25/75 beef.

On the other hand, if you want a really good steak, wagyu is the way to go. Some day, I'd like to find a wagyu rib roast and make the world's best Prime Rib.

[Shawnie]

DSC05633.JPG

spaghetti pie

boil one box of spaghetti & drain
beat up 2 eggs in a separate bowl
poor spaghetti and egg mix to cover the bottom of a pie tin ..one box usually will do 2 pies
use your favorite cheeses sprinkled across the top of the spaghetti
add whatever type of sauce over the top (meat, meatless,veggies, etc)
sprinkle again with your favorite cheese

bake for 35 min on 350F

[Wyoming_Bound]

Easy Hot sauce

1 12oz can of tomato jucie (por in blender
A few hot green chillies (depends on how you want it) cut stems off and toss peppers in blender
Grape or cherry tomatos (toss a few in the blender)
Cilantro (toss some leaves in the blender)
Garlic (toss some in the blender)
And blend up and chill. I dont add onion cause i dont like them lol (feel free to add em).
I serve with chips.

[gremlin]

An easy (not so hot) salsa - for those who don't want to make one from scratch.

Tostitos Salsa
Tostitos Mild Cheese Dip
Pickle Relish

Mix approximately equal portions of each (to taste).

I use this with Taquitos (and chips). It also mixes well with refried beans or cooked hamburger (or both for a heartier nachos style meal).

[Shawnie]

sweet n sour kielbasi

2 jars of grape jelly
2 tsp of mustard
2 jars of chill sauce
2 packages of kielbasi (or those tiny hotdogs or cut up raw hotdogs)

combine all in a crock pot for a few hours, and serve with any football game!!!!!!!
btw, see that pats game yesterday!!!!!

[Wyoming_Bound]

Yeah I Did! Brady was on fire lol.

Easy Big Game dip

1 can Hormel chille Hot with no bean
4-6oz of velvetta cheese
Cut cheese in cubes toss in a sauce pan with the can of chilli
Heat untill hot melted and bubbly. Stir often and serve with chips.

[Shawnie]

heres a great link I want to share with the holidays coming up!!! I know my children and grand daughters LOVE this site....we just did our letter to santa also
but the recipe's are great and bountiful here!

http://www.northpole.com/Kitchen/Cookbook/

[gremlin]

I made a roast chicken for our lunch today - without using any electricity or grill. It worked really quite well! I rubbed the chicken with dry onion and dry chicken bouillon. Then I wrapped it in several layers of foil. Nestled it down in the coals in our fireplace and left it there for about 3-4 hours. It turned out surprisingly well. I may do a turkey this way for Thanksgiving!

[gremlin]

Well, I did it. I cooked a Turkey in the fireplace. It turned out very good. It took just over 2 hours, although I probably could have left it in a little longer. Anyway, take one turkey. Wash it. Stuff with one onion cut in half. Wrap in foil - 2-3 layers. Set in large foil roaster pan. Set in bed of coals. Leave until internal temperature is at least 185 degrees farenheit (it does better if the temp is over 200).

[sirdarksol]

By request, here's the veggies-added pasta sauce recipe.

Start with:
-1-onion (small or large, depending on your tastes)
-As many cloves of garlic as you want (please, don't use garlic powder, this recipe didn't do anything mean to you, so it doesn't deserve such things)
-Green pepper. At least half a pepper, but you can do a whole one, or more, as you want.
-Half an eggplant.
Coarsely chop the ingredients, saute them in a half tablespoon of olive oil (if stuff starts sticking to the pan, add more oil). Saute until the eggplant gets soft, then run it through a food processor or blender. If you're using a Magic Bullet, you'll need to add a little bit of tomato sauce and a little bit of water to get it to blend. Set the puree aside.

Take one small zucchini, chop it as finely as you can, and saute it until it's a little browned. (alternatively, if you have really finicky children, add the zucchini to the above part of the recipe... I wanted a little bit of chunkiness to the sauce, so I did it this way). If you want some non-pureed vegetables, like more onion or green pepper, add them to this step.

Add two 16oz cans of tomato sauce, tomato puree, or roughly two pounds of pureed tomatoes to the pan. Add the veggie puree. Stir in basil (I used about a half tablespoon, I think) and oregano (a teaspoon, perhaps). Salt and pepper to taste. Add a quarter teaspoon of baking soda or enough sugar to cut the acidity. Simmer until you get the consistency you want. Serve over pasta.

[sirdarksol]

Dessert for Valentine's Day:

My wife worked a 36-hour weekend, so she didn't really get to enjoy Valentine's Day. While she was at work, I made pineapple upside down cake and apple-pecan upside down cake so she could enjoy part of her weekend, at least.

For either:
In a 9" round baking pan, melt 2 Tbsp butter.
Add 1/4 cup brown sugar and a tablespoon of butter (for the apple cake, also add 1/4 tsp cinnamon and a handful of broken-up pecan halves) Stir until it's all mixed together.
Slice the apple or the pineapple into crescents. Arrange in whatever pattern you want (I went with a pinwheel pattern)
Pour in any basic white or yellow cake batter. I used Betty Crocker's basic cake batter (as I don't want to plagiarize, I won't post that recipe here), but any cake batter, including the boxed kinds, will do.

Bake following the batter's instructions until the cake is done (a toothpick comes out of the center with no batter on it).

Let cool for a bit, loosen the sides by running a knife around the edge, then take the plate you want to serve it on and put it upside-down over the pan. Flip pan and plate at the same time and gently lift the pan from the plate.

[Shawnie]

Great Snack for when friends come over

1 long french bread
1 cucumber
dill spice
any of your favorite type of spread...(we did it with sourcream/clove/chives spread)

cut the entire bread into individual slices that are thick/thin as you like them
spread your spread of choice on each slice
place a cucumber on each slice
sprinkle a small amount of dill on each cucumber


longfrenchbread.jpg

Cashew Chive Cheese Spread.jpg

[gremlin]

Well, our church had a Spring Fling Picnic party Saturday. They passed around a sign up sheet asking people to bring "green pasta jello salad". I'm sure they meant a green salad or a pasta salad or a jello salad, but with no punctuation . . . Anyway, so I took up the challenge and created a green pasta jello salad. It actually turned out quite well!

Here is the recipe - additions or subtractions are fine...

Salad ingredients:
1 head red leaf lettuce - shredded
4 medium carrots – sliced and cooked to “al dente”
1 bunch celery – sliced thinly
1 large cucumber – sliced thinly
4 tomatoes – diced
½ pound pasta – mini wheels – cooked in lime jello (for flavor and color)
3 6-ounce boxes lime jello

Dressing:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Juice from 2 limes
1 3-ounce box lime jello (split – half used to boil pasta)

The night before:
Mix mayonnaise, lime juice, and half of 3-ounce box of lime jello. Chill overnight.
Boil pasta in water with other half of 3-ounce box of lime jello. Drain and chill.
Slice and cook carrots. Chill.
Boil 3 cups of water – add 3 6-ounce boxes lime jello. Pour into plastic lined cookie sheet and chill overnight.

The day of:
Use a pizza wheel to cut jello into small cubes. Jello will be sticky, but will separate when you mix it into the salad. Mix all ingredients. You may not use all the dressing – only use enough to moisten. Add dressing to the celery then add additional dressing as needed as you add each ingredient.
The best order to mix the ingredients:
Celery – Carrots – Cucumber – Tomato – Pasta – Jello - Lettuce

As the salad sits, it will absorb more of the dressing, so if you don't use all the dressing right at first that's okay. You may end up adding it later. It also make a nice veggie dip.

[aquarist48]

I'm slaving over a crock pot this morning! Whew!!!! lol

Tonight the menu I am preparing (cooking now actually) is Cajun 15 Bean
Soup! I soaked the beans for almost 24 hours.

I added Polish Sausage, 1 large onion, 2 garlic cloves, diced canned tomatoes, salt and pepper. (it comes with a seasoning packet).

Corn Bread

Tada!!!!
Don't be late!

Ken