NYE: Stuffed Mushrooms

Alright everybody, I know it's been awhile since I've posted and I'm sorry for that. I have not really been around enough to do proper cooking worthy of a new post. That and I was out of town for Christmas, so I did not get to cook there! Here's some NYE goodness!

Ingredients:
1 lb White Button Mushrooms
Couscous(2 cups Couscous, 3 cups Water)
1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
1/3 cup Scallions, diced
Teriyaki Sauce
Brandy*
1800 Silver Tequila*
Dry Sherry*
Port*
Ancho Chili Powder
Garlic Salt
Sesame Seeds
Shredded Asiago Cheese

*ALCOHOL

Tonight I'm going to a shindig at a friends place where I get to bring food! Well, I didn't list the Hummus I am bringing on here because it's the same recipe as I have posted about already! This Stuffed Mushrooms recipe is very involved and should be wonderful.

I began by utilizing my Rice Cooker. 2 cups of Couscous and 3 cups of Water. Plug in, hit the tab to COOK, red light comes on. Let it be.

Now to the ingredients. I was going to use tomatoes too, but that did not occur.

Now take the stems out of the Mushrooms. Place stems to the side.

Now get your alcohol.

Using a large skillet, add in your alcohol. I'd list them, but all the alcohol goes in this part! I used about a 1/4 cup of each with maybe a little more of the Brandy.

Turn the heat to MEDIUM. Once it begins to boil, add in a dusting of Ancho Chili Powder. Then in go the Mushroom caps, gill side down. Cover and reduce heat a little bit. Make sure to flip them in about 2 minutes.

Now there are those pesky mushroom stems. Slice them up and put them in a sauce pot. Add in your diced Scallions and diced Bell Pepper. To this, I added a dash of Tequila and Brandy, along with some Teriyaki Sauce.

Make sure to unplug your Rice Cooker when the Couscous is done so it doesn't get dried out. It should be about 2 minutes after you flipped the Mushroom Caps now, so turn off the heat and remove from that burner. Leave covered so they keep the heat while you tend to other things.

Let the Mushroom Stems, Scallions, and Bell Pepper cook for about 2 minutes. Turn off heat and turn to your Food Processor. Take them out and put them in. Add a sprinkling of Sesame Seeds. Puree.

Now comes the plating part. I have them in an oven ready dish in case we need to heat them up later on. I first spooned in some Couscous.

Then I added the puree mixture. Topped it with a sprinkling of Shredded Asiago Cheese. Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken Snacktime!

This was just thrown together since I had just gotten back from Minnesota and the Christmastime holiday. It is ridiculously tasty and even opened my eyes to new flavor combinations!

Ingredients:
1 lb Chicken Breast, diced
Soy Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Caesar Salad Dressing
Lime Juice
Sweet Sour Sauce
Garlic Salt
Ground Turmeric Root
Ground Ancho Chili Powder
Asiago Cheese, shredded

First, freeze your Chicken Breasts. This makes cutting it into smaller pieces so much easier. Once frozen, dice them up and put them in a mixing bowl.

Now, get your marinade ingredients.

Alright, good work. Now you mix everything together that is in the picture. I did not use exact amounts. I can say I used a large portion of the Caesar Salad Dressing and then added from there. Then I mixed everything together.

Find your Garlic Salt. Pay no attention to the hand in the picture, it's just my grubby old mitt!

Alright, now put a skillet on the stovetop and turn the heat to MEDIUM. Give it a few seconds and pour in the marinade and Chicken. Give it a healthy dose of Garlic Salt. I love Garlic Salt, so you might want to use a little less.

Now add a dusting of Ancho Chili Powder and Ground Turmeric. Mix them in.

Let it cook for a few minutes, stir a few times somewhere in there. Should be easy to taste when they are done.

I took them out, sans sauce, and sprinkled some shredded Asiago Cheese on top. It was delicious!

Homemade Arrabbiata Sauce w/Penne

Arrabbiata Sauce is an Italian angry tomato sauce. I say angry because you use a lot of peppers instead of focusing on tomatoes. You usually serve with pasta...which is what I did here.

Ingredients:
2 Roma Tomatoes
2 Greenhouse Tomatoes
4 small Jalapeno Peppers
2 Caribe Peppers
3 Poblano Peppers
2 Anaheim Peppers
1/2 cup Vegetable Broth
1 can Tomato Paste

Alright, I began by slicing and dicing up my Tomatoes. I put these in my deep saucepan first and set the heat to MEDIUM.

I then diced the Jalapeno's up and tossed them in.

Then the same with the Caribe's.

The Poblano's.

Finally the Anaheim's.

Now I added in the Vegetable Broth and stirred everything around. I then added in the Tomato Paste. Do your best to stir this in. It won't happen 100% but the cooking process will take care of that. Cover.

About 10 minutes later it should look like this. I turned off the heat now.

Let sit for about 5 minutes. Then use a food processor or blender to puree. I used a blender. I cooked up some Penne Pasta as well for it to go with. As I created this dish for my lunch while I'm at work during the week, I put in a small tupperware with a sprinkle of Asiago Cheese on top. Enjoy..I know I will.

Quick Habanero Chili!

Alright, as most of you know I like my chili. I make it quite often, even if I do not post it up here that often. Well, this time I used a Habanero Chili Pepper.

Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Chili Meat
1/3 stick Butter
6 Roma Tomatoes
2 Poblano Peppers
2 Anaheim Peppers
4 Caribe Peppers
1 Habanero Pepper
1 can Rotel(drained)
1 can Kidney Beans
2 cans Black Beans
1 can Tomato Sauce
1 can Tomato Paste
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Ancho Chili Powder
Turmeric Powder
Garlic Salt
Marjoram
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1/2 bottle of Leinenkugel's Honeyweiss Beer

I apologize for the limited number of pictures in this recipe as I had a brain fart and did not even think to take pictures until I started the recipe.

First step is to put your stockpot on the stove top with the Butter in it. Turn the heat to MEDIUM-HIGH.

Once the Butter is mostly melted, put in your Ground Chili Meat. It's really just rough ground beef but goes by that name. Add Garlic Salt, Lawry's Seasoned Salt. Stir together at length.

Usually I use a food processor here but today, I used my blender. Larger quantity at a quicker pace. I drained my can of Rotel and once I sliced the Roma Tomatoes, I added all of it to the blender and pureed. Into the stockpot once the meat is mostly browned.

I poured in my half bottle of Leinenkugel's at this point.

Now dice your peppers. I started with the Caribe, then Anaheim, Poblano, and threw the Habanero on top. Puree. To this I added a dash of the Beer to smooth it out some. Add to pot.

Now add your Kidney Beans and Black Beans. Drain them first! Then the Tomato Sauce and Paste.

I did a good spoonful or two of all the seasonings at this point. I went a little light on the Garlic Salt and Lawry's since they are already in the dish.

Mix like crazy then let simmer for about 30 minutes. Enjoy.

Buffalo Chips

Alright, so I am a big fan of the chain food business known as Buffalo Wild Wings. It's a great place to watch some football at. Well, I love their Buffalo Chips appetizer dish. It's very simple and I thought that maybe I could make them at home. So I did.

Ingredients:
4 Potatoes
Vegetable Oil
Garlic Salt
Sea Salt
Shredded Cheese

Alright, so I began by pouring about 2 cups worth of Vegetable Oil into a saucepan. I added a dash of Garlic Salt for flavor. Turn the heat to MEDIUM.

Now slice your Potatoes into thin strips. You decide how thick/thin you want them. Once the Vegetable Oil is boiling, add the Potato slices.

Stir around as they boil/cook so they don't adhere to the bottom of the saucepan.

You can tell they are done as they will be soft and pliant. Take them off, strain the excess oil away, and plate. Add Shredded Cheese on top, microwave for 30 seconds to melt the Cheese quicker. Sprinkle with Sea Salt. Enjoy.

DIY: Orange Julius!

I have met a lot of people who don't know what an Orange Julius is. Well, go GOOGLE it right now. I'll wait....until right now. Ok, now that you know what it is, you can exclaim to yourself and those around you that you feel enlightened upon discovering this nectar of the Gods. Well, there is a food business by that exact name out there where you pay a few bucks for a cup of the stuff. Well, I found many recipes online on how to make your own at home. This was with my breakfast this morning, so enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 can Orange Juice Concentrate
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
12 Ice Cubes
Water

Yes it's that simple and all done in a blender. I know, it's so tasty that you should use more ingredients but alas this is the case. Sort of. It's a basic recipe. You can add regular Orange Juice to it as well as Milk. If you want to make it very healthy, you can always add powdered anything to it such as Metamucil or one of those Protein Powder Drink things.

Once you get your stuff together, throw in 12 Ice Cubes or so.

Then the Orange Juice Concentrate and Vanilla Extract.

I did not put an amount of water on it because it's up to you. It really is. It all depends on how dense you want it. You can have it with the consistency of regular Orange Juice if you want, or all the way to almost like Ice Cream. I like it in the middle, so I filled the Orange Juice Concentrate container about 3/4 of the way up and poured that in.

Then blend it like crazy. I mean....cover it and let it blend until pureed.

Then just serve! Enjoy!

Sorry for only 4 pictures! It was 5:10am when I made this and I am not exactly completely coherent at that hour!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Today I was feeling a little under the weather and thought how I would feel better. Then I remembered the cure all for all ailments, Chicken Noodle Soup. I had some Chicken in the fridge that I had to use for something soon, so I threw it in the freezer and went to the store. I needed more materials. This recipe is the delicious result.

Ingredients:
3 Chicken Breasts, diced
1 bag Whole Wheat Egg Noodle Pasta
4 Carrots, diced
1 White Onion, finely diced
4 Celery stalks, halved and sliced
1/2 stick Butter
Caesar Salad Dressing
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
32 oz Vegetable Broth
32 oz Chicken Broth
1 cup Water (optional)

So, I began at the store for this recipe. I knew I wanted to make Chicken Noodle Soup and all I had for it was the Chicken and Carrots. So I picked up some White Onions, Celery, and the 2 Broths.

I put the Chicken in the freezer first because when it's partially frozen it is a lot easier to cut into small pieces.

I then added some Caesar Salad Dressing to it and set it aside since it comes into play much later on.

Now dice up your Carrots, White Onion, and Celery stalks.

Alright, put a stockpot on the stove. Throw or lightly toss your Butter in there.

Once the Butter is mostly melted, throw in your diced White Onion, Celery stalks, and Carrots. Stir and add a few pinches of an Italian Herb Mix with a single pinch of Ground Black Pepper.

Let cook for about 6 minutes or until the Carrots are somewhat softened and Onions have caramelized.

Then you find the 2 Broths.

Pour them in. Stir.

Add Noodles.

Stir and then put a saucepan on a different burner with heat on medium. Put the Chicken and Dressing on in.

Make sure to keep stirring them around in the pan so they do not burn to it at all.

Now add in 1 cup of Water to the stockpot if you think the liquid level is low. I did and it turned out amazing.

Alright, once the Chicken is done cooking you strain out the excess Dressing and put the Chicken into the stockpot. Stir it in well.

Once the Carrots are soft enough it is done. For the entire recipe, I want to say this took me like 30 to 45 minutes total. I am sure if I let it cook longer it would taste a bit different, however as is it is a very rich soup. Enjoy!