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!

Chef's Original: Lunch for Work!

This is a dish I threw together last week and have since repeated as it is amazing for lunch on a workday. It began as a rough idea of throwing some things together. Namely, quinoa and peas. However, this changed to include a few more ingredients.

Ingredients
1 box Small Shell Pasta
1 cup Frozen Peas
1 cup Frozen Corn
2 cup Quinoa
Sea Salt
Italian Herb Mix
Shredded Asiago Cheese

I began this by filling my deep saucepan with water for the Pasta. I then put a dash of Sea Salt in the water and turned the heat to HIGH and covered it. I also turned the heat to MEDIUM for the Peas and Corn to start them cooking.

Now I turned to the Quinoa portion of this recipe. This part is made simple by use of a Rice Cooker. If you do not have one of these, I strongly suggest investing in one to suit your needs. I measured out the 2 cups of Quinoa and put it in the Rice Cooker.

Then I put in the 2.5 cups of Water that is required. Then plug the Rice Cooker in and push the level to COOK. Now let it be. You might need to let out some steam later on though, it does tend to bubble over a little bit with Quinoa.

Now turn to your pot of water for the Pasta. It should be boiling or close to it. Add in the entire box of Small Shell Pasta. Make sure they all sink. No, I am not sure why you should do this but I do it and so should you. It's what all the cool kids do...

Now that the Pasta is cooking, you might want to turn the heat down a little bit to around MEDIUM. I added in 2 large pinches of Italian Herb Mix at this point to flavor up the pasta a little bit.

Now stir it to make sure it mixes well.

A few minutes later the Pasta should look like the following picture as it is done. Taste test to make sure.

Oh look, the vegetables are done as well so turn their heat off.

Now it's just waiting on the Rice Cooker to cook that Quinoa. Oh no! It's almost foaming over!

Just take the top off long enough for a quick picture and it dies down.

It will click off to WARM once the cooking is done. You can leave it on that, but it dries the Quinoa out so I just unplug it.

Now, strain the Pasta first using a strainer. We don't want any water in this dish. Now put the Pasta into a large mixing bowl. Strain the frozen vegetables and put them in the same mixing bowl. On top of this add the Quinoa. Then stir some life into it! Go crazy and make it consistent throughout.

Then serve! I added a sprinkle of Italian Herb Mix and pinch of Shredded Asiago Cheese to the top. Enjoy!