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!

Chef's Original: Chicken & Rice with Spicy Onion Sauce

After cooking and serving the previous recipe, I decided that I needed to cook myself dinner still! How could I forget!?! So I looked in the fridge and spice rack; I had enough for many dishes. I thought that an original dish would fill my stomach quite nicely.





Ingredients:
Sauce:
4 Green Onions/Scallions
1 Red Onion
Grape Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Paprika
Fennel Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder

Rice:
Using a Rice Cooker
2 cups Medium Grain White Rice
2.5 cups Water
2 spoonfuls Soy Sauce
1 spoonful Teriyaki Sauce
dash of Lime Juice
1/5 cup Italian Herb Mix

Chicken:
3 Chicken Breasts
1.5 cups White Wine (I used Pino Grigio!)
dash of Lime Juice
dash of Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 stick Butter
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Fennel Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder

I know that looks like a huge massive list of ingredients, however a few do overlap! Don't let it turn you away from this dish, it is amazing!

I began by starting the sauce, since it would take the longest. I grabbed a small sauce pot and put it on the burner with the heat at medium. I added to this a large dash of Olive Oil. I then turned to my cutting board and proceeded to chop up the Red Onion into very small pieces. After that, the same to the Green Onions. Once both of those were in the pot, I added the spices. A large amount of Italian Herb Mix to start off with, which I topped with a decent dusting of Garlic, Onion, and Fennel Powder. Ground Black Pepper was lightly dusted on top of everything. To top it off, I put in about 3 spoonfuls of Paprika, possibly a little bit more. Make sure to stir this while attending to the other parts of this recipe. I love the taste of Paprika, but after this dish I might have to take a siesta for awhile!

I stirred it all together and kept the heat at medium without covering it.

I turned my attention to the Rice next. This part is very simple since I am using a Rice Cooker. Literally, all I had to do was put in the ingredients listed above in that exact order, put the lid on, plug it in, and turn it to 'cook'. When it's done, it changes to 'warm' so you don't have to pay it any more attention! How great is that!?

Alright, now to the main event: Chicken. I bought a package of Chicken Breasts at the store today which contained 3 breasts. I took these out and trimmed them up quite well. I then turned to my large saucepan, which I put in the ingredients as per the order listed (not including chicken breasts obviously!). I used a dusting of the Garlic and Onion Powder, while I used a larger dusting of the Fennel Powder. Barely a dusting of the Ground Black Pepper and a few large pinches of the Italian Herb mix. Set the heat to medium. Once the Butter begins to melt, you will notice where it is since the Wine and spices cover everything in the saucepan. Once you notice it boiling up, put in the Chicken Breasts.

Wait about 2 minutes, then flip the Chicken Breasts.

Now that the Chicken is cooking nicely, turn back to the sauce. At this point I added in some Grape Tomatoes. I want to say I added in about 8 of them, halved. Stir. Let them cook for a few minutes then turn the burner off.

Flip the Chicken Breasts.

Plug in your food processor and pour in the mixture for your sauce. I use a small processor and this filled about 2/3 of mine, so if you have a larger one don't worry.

Now you puree the life out of the sauce mixture, possibly add in another dash of Italian Herb Mix to even the flavor out. Puree some more.

Now set the sauce to the side after taking a taste. It should taste sweet and slightly spicy at first, then hit you about 2 seconds later with some tangy spiciness. That means it's great sauce.

Ok, your Chicken Breasts should either be done or close to it at this point. Cut the thickest one open to check. If they are not done, let them cook more. If they are done turn off the heat and take them off.

At this point, your rice should be done. It might have been done for awhile. I do have a piece of advice though, if you like your rice not to be sort of dry you might want to just unplug it when it is done cooking.

I then just put the Rice down first on the plate, then the sliced Chicken Breasts pieces, followed up by some delicious Sauce. Enjoy!

Dark Beer'd Mushrooms

Today I cooked up some Mushrooms using a dark beer today. I had a bottle of Stone Brewing's Smoked Porter and I felt it should be used today. So in my Zesty day of cooking, I decided to use it with Mushrooms.







Ingredients:
1 lb White Button Mushrooms
1 bottle Stone Brewing's Smoked Porter
Lemon Juice
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder

I began by pouring myself a glass of this delicious brew. If I'm going to cook with it, I might as well drink some as well! After taking a pint glass' worth out of the bottle, the rest went into a large saucepan.

I turned the heat to medium and added a single squirt of the Lemon Juice bottle. Then went in the dusting of Ground Black Pepper, Onion Powder, and Garlic Powder. Two large pinches of the Italian Herb Mix went in next. I swirled the pan to make sure everything mixed properly.

Then in went the Mushrooms once the mixture started to steam. They went in gill side down. You will notice that the beer will foam up almost over the Mushrooms, but do not worry as it is nothing bad. If you cover it, you might wind up with a problem though.

I then flipped the mushrooms after about 2 minutes.

Once they turn spongey/squishy, they are done.
So turn off the heat and serve. Make sure to drain the juices off of the Mushrooms as well. Enjoy.

Zesty Chicken

So after mixing together the Zesty Chops, I decided I was not done making food Zesty. However, using the same marinade to make pork and chicken Zesty was not to be had. I had to Zesty it up even more!







Ingredients:
1 lb Chicken Breasts
Caesar Salad Dressing
Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
Lime Juice
White Wine
Italian Herb Mix
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Ground Black Pepper

I began by trimming the Chicken Breasts and slicing them lengthwise in half. I then turned my attention to the marinade. I used 1 cup Caesar Salad Dressing and 1 cup Honey Mustard Salad Dressing. I topped this off with a 1/2 cup of White Wine and a heavy dash of Lime Juice. Mix together.

Add in the 1/2 cup Italian Herb Mix, dustings of Garlic Powder and Onion Powder, and as much Ground Black Pepper as you want. Mix. Once mixed, add in the Chicken. Let sit for about 30 minutes.

Use a saucepan with medium heat. Once it is heated, add in the marinade and Chicken. Cover.

Make sure to stir every minute or two to make sure the Chicken cooks properly. It should be done in about 10-15 minutes, I cut them open to check out done they were. If not done, cook some more!

I took them off and served with some spicy rice I cooked up in my rice cooker. Enjoy.

Zesty Chops

I picked up a plethora of Pork Chops the other day and decided some cooking was in order. I have not Zestified anything as of late, so today I decided to Zesty it up.









Ingredients:
8 Pork Chops
Italian Caesar Dressing
Lemon Juice
White Wine
Italian Herb Mix

I began with trimming the Pork Chops because I demand lean cuts of meat! I am not a fan of the fat on pork, chicken, or beef unless it's a long cooking process where the fat will melt away.

So after trimming them, I created a Zesty marinade. I used 1 cup of Italian Caesar Dressing to start with. To this I added about a 1/4 cup of Lemon Juice. Then I noticed a delightfully non-empty bottle of White Wine nearby, which I poured about 1/2 a cup's worth into the mixing bowl I was using. I stirred all of this together.

Then I put in about a 1/3 of a cup of Italian Herb Mix in and stirred again. Then in went the Pork Chops that I used a fork to mix into the marinade mixture. I let sit for about 30 minutes while I cooked up some other foods.

I placed a large saucepan on the stovetop and proceeded to turn the heat to medium. Once I felt some heat coming off the pan, I poured in the mixture and Pork Chops. I cooked the Chops in the marinade for a more intense flavor. After about 5 minutes, I flipped them for an even cook through.

Then I took them off and served them with some spicy rice I cooked up in my rice cooker. Enjoy.

Broccolini!

I have never heard of Broccolini until I came to Texas, where I was informed within the past year or so of it's existence. Obviously this meant I would have to cook it.








Ingredients:
Broccolini
Sun Dried Tomato Herb Butter
White Wine
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Italian Herb Mix

Sauce Mix:
2 tsp Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
2 tsp Italian Caesar Salad Dressing
1 tsp Lemon Juice

I began by putting about a 1/3 of a stick of the Sun Dried Tomato Herb Butter into a large saucepan with the heat on medium. Once the butter mostly melted, I added in about a 1/2 cup of White Wine.

I put in about a 1/4 cup of the Italian Herb Mix and a light dusting of the Ground Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, and Onion Powder. On top of all this, I put in the Broccolini. I stirred things around to make sure everything was coated with the marinade present in the saucepan. I then covered it and let it cook for about 5 minutes, whereas the liquid mixture was almost gone.

I took out the Broccolini and created a simple sauce/dressing for them as well, which was simple stirred together. Enjoy.