Tasty Summertime Tomato Sauce

This tomato sauce was kind of just thrown together with what was in my kitchen and I decided it was tasty enough that it needed to be put up here!

Ingredients:
6 Greenhouse Tomatoes
4 Carrots
4 sm Sweet White Onions
1 md Red Onion
1 Green Bell Pepper
2 Anaheim Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers (cored)
Italian Herb Mix
Garlic Salt
Cumin/Coriander
Tumeric

I started with 6 Greenhouse Tomatoes and pureed them in my trusty Food Processor. Added to this was 4 Carrots, also pureed in the food processor. All put into a large saucepan, with the heat on medium.

After I had those two ingredients in the saucepan, I proceeded to use my food processor to chop up 4 small Sweet Onions, 1 Red Onion, 1 Green Bell Pepper, 2 Anaheim Peppers, and 2 Jalapeno Peppers(cored). Then I stirred them all together and added about 3/4 cup of Dark Beer. Stir.

Once I had all of that stirred to an even consistency, I grabbed the spices. My Italian Herb Mix went in first, about 3 spoonfuls. Then I added Garlic Salt, maybe 2 spoonfuls...maybe. Here I added Ground Cumin/Coriander and Tumeric. About 2 spoonfuls of each. Stir heavily. Let cook with semi frequent stirring for about 10 minutes, then turn off heat and serve at your discretion. I served them with some sliced Sourdough Bread. Enjoy!

Summertime Appetizer Snack

So as mentioned in my previous post, I made couscous. I also decided that I should make a snack for my girlfriend. I don't think that just couscous alone is enough, so I decided that those Cremini Mushrooms in the fridge needed to be dealt with...as a sauce!

Ingredients:
Mushroom Sauce:
12 Cremini Mushrooms
1 bottle Dark Beer
Orange Juice
Lemon Juice

Green Onions/Scallions

Couscous:
2 cups Pearl Couscous
4 cups Water
dash of Sea Salt
Italian Herb Mix (few pinches)

The couscous was cooked in my rice cooker according to the instructions that it came with, and of course with some herb mix added in. You start this up and let it be since it doesn't need any more attention.

The Mushroom Sauce began with a small saucepot on the stove, where I put in about 3/4 worth of standard beer bottle's beer. Set the heat to medium, any higher and it looks like a cloud is emerging from the pot, trust me...I found this out.

I grabbed my trusty food processor and proceeded to slice up the Cremini Mushrooms and then dice up quite finely. Then pour/dump the mushrooms into the saucepot with the beer. You'll probably have to scoop it out since it is quite sticky at this point, not sure why. Stir.

Let it go for a few minutes, but make sure to watch it in case you have to turn down the heat a little bit or stir. Add in the Orange Juice, maybe 1/2 a cup's worth. As for the lemon juice, I want to say like 10 drops worth were added, barely anything at all. Stir.

At this point your couscous should be done and the rice cooker on 'warm'. So now grab some Green Onions/Scallions and cut them up about halfway down into small chunks. Your mushroom sauce can go for as long as you want it to, but I turned off the heat at this point and dished everything up. Enjoy.

Steak and Couscous

Today I thought some flank steak would be good for an early lunch. Well, just having steak without anything with it is never the smart thing to do, at least if you ask me. So I decided to utilize my rice cooker and cook up some tasty couscous.

Ingredients:
For Couscous:
Pearl Couscous
Water
Sea Salt
Herb Mix

For Steak:
Flank Steak
Herbed Butter
Lowry's Seasoning
Garlic Salt

I'll start with the couscous since I stated that first. In the little 'instructions' manual for my Rice Cooker, there are several recipes and cook times. I just used the one for Pearl Couscous, which is 1.5 cups couscous to 3 cups water. Also added the sea salt and mix of italian herbs in and stirred it all together. Then just click the button to cook and it will turn off to warm when it's cooked properly. So simple, so great.

The flank steak is one of my favorite cuts of meat available. I generally prefer very lean cuts of meat, and this one doesn't necessarily follow that but everything gets cooked off quite readily. I cut the steak into 3 strips since I do not have a grill to cook it on, just a skillet.

I put probably 1/3 stick worth of herbed butter in there and turned the heat to medium. I got the herbed butter at Central Market (local awesome food supermarket). Then I covered one side of the steak with Lowry's Seasoning. Put the steak in with the Lowry's side down, then lightly cover the top unseasoned side. At this point add some garlic salt in, but beware a little goes a long way.

I'd say about 5 minutes per side with it on medium got it to where I like it, I just took it off and cut it into strips. Added the couscous to the plate and a nice perfect lunch....and since I had a lot of steak leftover from it, I now have lunch for tomorrow while at work! Enjoy!

Mushroom Herb Soup

I saw a recipe recently that did not appear to be too difficult involving mushrooms, herbs, and I thought let's try that!

So I grabbed the ingredients and went crazy with preparation. I would say this is an easy weekday meal for anyone wanting a change of pace from their normal fare.

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
Beef Broth (used bullion cube)
1/2 lb White Button Mushrooms (sliced)
Herb Mix*
1 White Onion (diced)
2 Celery sticks (diced)
1 Garlic clove (diced)
1/4 cup of Sherry
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

*Herb Mix consists of thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, marjoram, ground black pepper, and a dash of tumeric.

I began by slicing and dicing all of the ingredients needed and placing them in the saucepan with a dash or four of Olive Oil. I turned the heat to just above medium...so technically med-high but not by much. Stir so you get the Mushrooms, Onion, Herb Mix, and Garlic cooked properly.

Put a smaller pot on with water and your bullion cube at this point since you'll need it in a little bit!

At this point I also added the Worcestershire Sauce and Sherry, then stirred it all in. A few minutes of this, maybe 4, and turn the heat off. Grab your trusty food processor, or blender, and proceed to puree the vegetable mix. Add the pureed vegetable matter to a new saucepan/saucepot and proceed to turn the heat to medium.

While doing this either all at once in a blender or in stages with a food processor like I did, add the beef stock to the new saucepan/pot and stir. I tried to just add the stock in the food processor too....that was quite the messy learning experience!

Once all the vegetables have been pureed and the stock poured in, proceed to stir for about 3 minutes on medium. Then turn off heat and serve. Enjoy.

Stir Fry Salad

I was poking around several cookbooks this past week and noticed several variants of a stir fry salad meal. Well, I like to think of it as a lunchtime snack during the great amount of heat we are getting here in Texas.

So I grabbed the ingredients and went to work. It was quite simple when looking at it since I had everything at hand already.

Ingredients:
3 LG White Button Mushrooms (sliced)
5 Scallions/Green Onions (diced)
1 Handful of Snap Peas
5 Florettes of Broccoli
Frozen Peas and Corn
Sesame Seed Oil
Vegetable Oil
Teriyaki Sauce
Stir Fry Sauce
Soy Sauce
Sake
Salad Mix
Italian Salad Dressing
Parmesan Cheese

I grabbed my trusty Wok and poured some Vegetable Oil into it and let it cover the bottom and part of the side(by moving the Wok around, not putting in an entire bottle of Oil!), then turned the heat on to med-high.

Once I saw that the oil was heated properly, I added in the frozen vegetables. I also added in a little bit of Sesame Seed Oil at this point. Stir. Let them cook for a minute or three since they have more cooking going on since they were frozen.

After that, I added in the Sake, mushrooms, scallions, snap peas, and broccoli. Don't be afraid to be liberal with the Sake since most of it burns off anyways. You will most likely get an amazing blast of vegetable smells at this point. It's amazing. Don't forget to stir a lot here.

A few minutes after this, I added Teriyaki Sauce, Soy Sauce, and Stir Fry Sauce to the mix. Lots of stirring here to make sure the sauces get to everything in the Wok.

Cook until your frequent tastings of the stir fry taste about right. Turn off the heat.

NOW...you grab your Salad Mix and put some on a plate, making sure to wash them as well. Then once those are on the plate, a light dusting of Parmesan Cheese and the plate is ready for stir fry. So pile on however much stir fry you can handle in one sitting on top...or just enough so it is a good mix.

On the side you probably noticed the dipping sauce/salad dressing...well, that is a mix of Sake, Italian Salad Dressing, Teriyaki Sauce, and Soy Sauce. It is quite tasty and simply stirred together. Enjoy.

Amazing Cheesy Mac & Cheese

Everyone has their take on Mac & Cheese, and many others just buy it by the box with simple instructions. That stuff is crap compared to making your own. I love my cheese, so I went a little overboard on that part.

Ingredients:
1 box of Elbow Macaroni
1 Block of Meunster Cheese
1 Block of White Cheddar Cheese
Handful of shredded Gruyere Cheese
1/2 Block of Smoked Gouda Cheese
1/4 cup shredded Asiago Cheese
1/4 stick of Herbed Butter
1 cup or so of 2% Milk

In one saucepan, fill with water and dash of salt. Once boiling, add in the Elbox Macaroni. All of it. Pay attention to this on the side since cooking pasta is very simplistic.

In a second saucepan, throw the butter in there and allow it to melt. Once melted, either shred or dice up your blocks of cheese and add them in. Stir a lot. A lot.

Once pasta is done, drain it out and put back in same saucepan. Add your cheese mixture, stir it in a little bit. Add Milk a little bit at a time until it's a nice cheesy soup mixture with the pasta. I had the burner on here to speed up the blending of everything together, but it is not necessary. Once this was going on, I added the shredded cheeses in and stirred them in. It is done pretty much at this point, just take out and serve.

Homemade Hummus

Hummus is a great snack food for anyone who has or has not tried it. If you have not, I suggest you do. It's fairly simple to make as well.

Ingredients:
2 or 3 Cloves of Garlic (diced up)
1 can of Garbanzo Beans
1 spoonful of Cumin/Coriander Mixed Spice

I used my trusty food processor for this tasty snack. I started off with the Garlic Cloves. I peeled then diced them. Once that was done, I threw them in the food processor.

Second, I opened my can of Garbanzo Beans. There is a very pungent liquid in there with them, keep at least half of it. Pour the liquid with the Garbanzo Beans into the food processor.

Third, I sprinkled the Cumin/Coriander Mixed Spice on the top of everything in the food processor. Then blend...blend until it is smooth. Just take out and serve, easy as that.

Saucy Stuffed Mushrooms

As many of you who read my blog know, I like to cook mushrooms. They are so easy and versatile that who wouldn't enjoy cooking them?

Well this time, I upped the recipe I used for Stuffed Mushrooms. Yes, it could be done and was so.

Ingredients:
Large White Button Mushrooms
Green Onions(Scallions)
Lemongrass
Anaheim Peppers
Garlic Cloves
Ground Black Pepper
Sake
Soy Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Asian Hot Sauce

For the Mushrooms:
You will start with your saucepan on medium high, about 1/2 inch deep filled with Sake, Soy Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, and Ground Black Pepper.
In this you will place the mushroom caps face down, flipping every few minutes until cooked to your preference.

For the Stuffing:
I used a food processor for this part, seemed the easiest thing to do. You grab the stalks from your mushrooms and dice them up before putting in the food processor. On top of that you grab your Lemongrass, which is just like chives for appearances. Dice up a good sized handful and throw it in. On top of this, add 2 diced up cloves of Garlic. Throw in a dash or two (or three if you don't work the next day) of Sake. Puree it until it's almost soupy, but has a bit of texture left to it.

(Green Onions will be cut into small portions as evidenced by the pictures, do not need to put them in anything)

Once the Mushroom Caps are done, arrange on plate. Use a spoon to scoop some of the stuffing out and place in the caps. Top them with some Green Onions and use some Asian Hot Sauce to complete out the meal.

Stir Fry

After procuring a Wok the other day, I decided to cook some stir fry...it might have gone the other way around. Either way, I have a wok and want to cook some Stir Fry. Who doesn't like Stir Fry?

I would like to say that I was able to throw everything together out of nothing and make this amazing dish, however I used frozen stir fry mix of vegetables. Sad I know, however I do like it since I was unable to find bamboo shoots, baby corns, and the like very easily today.

So I have the stir fry mix, along with some snow peas and snap peas. I start by coating the Wok with some peanut oil. Once that starts simmering, I add in the frozen vegetables. You might need to toss in some water to steam the vegetables a bit so they can cook properly. It's what I did. Put some Sesame Seed Oil in now if you have it.

Put in the Snap Peas and Snow Peas. I do this a little bit later since they are not frozen and won't have to defrost and all.

So after a few minutes of cooking, make sure to stir around a bunch, I grabbed my sauces. Yes, plural. I used a healthy 2 spoonfuls of Stir Fry sauce and 2 spoonfuls of Sweet Sour sauce. I cleared a spot in the middle of the Wok and added those two in. I then stirred so the sauce would be even throughout. After that, I added in a dash of Teriyaki Sauce and Low Sodium Soy Sauce.

Once done, take out and enjoy. You could even cook up some rice and put the Stir Fry on top.

Tangy BBQ Sauce

I meant to post this the other day, however time got away from me once again. I attempted to make my own BBQ sauce....I say it's a success.

Ingredients:
1.5 cup Ketchup
1.5 cup Red Wine Vinegar
0.5 cup Water
2 Tsp Spicy Brown Mustard
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tsp Ground Tumeric
1/4 cup Ground Black Pepper
2 pinches Oregano
2 pinches Sage
2 pinches Thyme
2 pinches Basil

Pretty much just get a mixing bowl and add the ingredients in starting from the top of the list. You can adjust the rest of it to your own tastes. Also, using a blender or food processor could help out.

Side Note: Potatoes are great with this BBQ sauce!

Salsa Spectacular!

Had a relaxing weekend and today I decided to make some salsa. Two different kinds really. I didn't think one kind would do it, however the second is almost half salsa - half arriabata sauce.



Verde Salsa

Ingredients:
4 Roma Tomatoes
2 Med. Yellow Onions
2 Poblano Peppers
3 Anaheim Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers
2 spoonfuls of Spice Mix

Spice Mix:
McCormick's Steak Seasoning
Garlic Salt
Tumeric Powder
Curry Powder
Marjoram
Oregano
Basil
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Cumin
Ground Allspice
Ground Nutmeg

The Spice Mix is pre-mixed together and was mixed in once everything else was mixed together. The Ingredients were added in the order listed, top to bottom. The Roma's, Onions, and Peppers were all diced up/almost pureed in a food processor first.

Mix together and serve with tortilla chips. I used Tostito's Scoops since they are the best for salsa if you ask me.

Roja Salsa

Ingredients:
6 Roma Tomatoes
1 Lg. White Onion
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
3 Hungarian Wax Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers
3 spoonfuls of Spice Mix*

*Spice Mix is same as listed above. I keep it in a jar since I tend to use it a lot.

The Roma's were pureed in my food processor, along with the onion, wax peppers, and jalapeno's. The bell peppers were just diced up by hand. What makes this one very different is that once the tomatoes and onion were ready, they went into a saucepan. I turned on the heat to medium and added in the bell peppers, then the wax peppers, finally the jalapeno's. On top of all that, the spice mix. I stirred it all together, as well as every few minutes for about 10 minutes. Then turned heat off and it was ready for serving, also with Tostito's Scoops.

Sourdough Pizza Snackers 2.0

So in my way of improving on recipes, I decided some snacks were needed yesterday for I was quite famished. What do all red blooded men like besides steak, sports, booze? PIZZA!
I recalled that the snackers before were prone to a little sogginess if not done perfectly in the Microwave, so I made sure my oven was ready for some use.

Over is ready and eager.

I took out a cooking tin and turned the oven to BROIL at 450 degrees. Then I placed several slices of sourdough bread on the tin.

I grabbed my jar of tomato sauce, and proceeded to spoon out the sauce onto the bread slices and spread it evenly.

Now, I love cheese. Who doesn't other than lactose intolerant people? Well I mixed shredded asiago, quattro fromagio(4 cheese blend), gruyere, and monterey jack on top.

On top of all that, I added a healthy dose of garlic salt and crushed basil.

By this time the oven is ready, it will probably DING!!! at you. Make sure you have your proper oven mits to handle the oven/hot tray after the food is done cooking.

Place the sheet on the middle or top rack and pay careful attention after they've been on for a few minutes so you can pull them out when they are cooked to your specific standards. I think mine took between 5 and 10 minutes to be done. Then just use a spatula to take the snackers off the HOT metal tin and place on a plate to serve.

Skewer'd Shrooms

I meant to post this the other day, however being July 4th week, things got away from me a bit. So Sunday, I created skewered mushrooms as a dish. A nice indian spice to cook them in and POOF! tastiness.

The mushrooms were simply prepared by washing them to get rid of any extra dirt/etc.. and the stalks removed. The mushrooms used were Cremini Mushrooms and are quite tasty!

The mushrooms were cleaned, skewered, and set aside. After that was done, I grabbed my trusty skillet and proceeded to place some of the indian spice mix I used on previous Mushroom Recipes in about 2 cups of Peanut Oil. Peanut Oil is great since it does not splash as much as Vegetable Oil or Olive Oil.

So once the spices were mixed in and the oil started to boil, I added in the skewers of mushrooms. Let sit for about 2 minutes gill side down, then flipped until they were ready. I want to say it was about 4 minutes, maybe 5 total.

Place on plate with lime garnish and sprinkle with crushed basil.