Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken

This was a fun little recipe that I decided to try and since it is a nice simple recipe, there won't be all that much to read for this.

Ingredients:
¼ cup Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic
2 cups Bread Crumbs
1 ⅓ cups Grated Parmesan Cheese
¼ tsp ground Black Pepper
6 skinless Chicken Breast Halves


Directions:
1. Mince the garlic and let soak in the olive oil for as long as you can.  Place the bread crumbs, parmesan and pepper in a food processor (for added flavor, add in crushed red pepper flakes, garlic pepper and cayenne powder)

2. Dip the chicken in the oil then dredge in the bread crumbs and place in a well lubricated baking pan before placing in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

This turned out fantastically! The chicken was nice a juicy and the breading was superb.  The addition of the extra spices in the breading added a nice little heat on the back end.

Tuscan Pork

Ahh, Tuscan Pork.  I had absolutely how this concoction would turn out but I was hoping for the best.  Now for this episode of Family Dinner, I was tag teamed this meal with the help of my friend Andy and I must say, I was extremely pleased with the results.  Fair warning though, this post will have a plethora of pictures in it.

Tuscan Pork with Roasted Garlic Potatoes and Green Beans

Ingredients

Tuscan Pork:

2 loaves French Bread

2 Pork Tenderloins (our 2 both came split in half so it appears that we have 4)

4 tsp freshly chopped Sage

4 tsp freshly chopped Rosemary

4 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Roasted Garlic Potatoes and Green Beans:

2 lbs Fingerling Potatoes

1 large Onion

1 lb Green Beans

4 cloves Garlic, minced

¼ cup Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Slice the bread down the middle, but not all the way through, and scoop out the insides.

2. Place the pork in a frying pan and sear all sides to a nice golden brown.

3. Cover the pork in mustard and roll to cover in a mixture of the sage, rosemary, salt and pepper.

4. Place the pork inside the bread and use butchers twine to hold everything together.  At this point, slice up your garlic and place it into a large bowl with the olive oil.  Cut the potatoes in half and cut the onion into 1/16ths and toss with the garlic/olive oil mixture.  Place into a glass baking dish.

5.  Insert the pork and the potatoes into a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees.

6. Before the potatoes are done, toss the green beans in olive oil, minced garlic and pepper and sauté over medium high heat for about 10 minutes before combining with the potatoes.

7. Let the tuscan pork sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Final Verdict:  This was spectacular! Since people didn't eat all of the pork, I have half of the second one waiting for me in my refrigerator right now. I don't know about making it again though because it takes quite a bit of effort to use that butchers twine to hold things together.

Honey Mustard Chicken with Bacon, Cheese and Mushrooms

Yesterday marked the start of Family Dinners and I decided to kick it off with a recipe that I had been wanting to try for a while, a honey mustard chicken topped with bacon, sharp cheddar cheese and mushrooms.  Because this is Family Dinners, I usually make exorbitant amounts of food, mostly double recipes, which is what I will be referencing for ingredients.

Honey Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:
12 skinless chicken breasts
½ cup dijon mustard
½ cup honey
2 tsp. lemon juice
4 cups sliced mushrooms
24 slices of bacon, partially cooked
3-4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix the honey, mustard and lemon juice together and use to marinate the chicken breasts for about 2 hours.


2. Saute the chicken breasts in a lightly oiled pan till golden brown on both sides but not fully cooked, place in a greased baking pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3.  Cook the bacon and mushrooms in the same pan afterwards and place on top of the chicken then cover in cheese.

4. Place in an oven heated to 350 F for 20-30 min or until the juices run clear

5. After finished, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve.

The final verdict on this dish turned out pretty well.  I believe that the next time I make this I will cut the breasts in half and wrap the bacon around the chicken with the mushrooms underneath.

Due to people schedules this semester, I will be updating this twice a week because I am going to be cooking dinner on Fridays as well as Mondays.

Blueberry-Vanilla Vodka

I thought that I would try my hand at something a bit different this time around and make a flavored alcoholic beverage instead of some tasty food.  Since vodka is such a neutral spirit, with no taste to really call its own, I felt like this would be the best type of spirit to infuse.  I chose blueberries and vanilla because I felt like the two flavors would complement each other fairly well.

Blueberry-Vanilla Infused Vodka

Ingredients:






750 mL of plain vodka
1 vanilla bean
1 ½ cups fresh, washed blueberries
1 empty bottle to hold everything







Directions











1. Wash off the blueberries and remove any stems that you might find and add to empty bottle.


2. Cut vanilla bean in half width wise and then length wise to expose the amazing smelling insides and place in the empty bottle.

3. Gently pour in the plain vodka, seal tightly and place in a dark cool place.

4. After 2 days, remove the vanilla bean and then two weeks later remove the blueberries for a fantastic tasting liqueur!

















The final result is a fantastic alcohol with a fine taste of blueberry and an undertone of vanilla.  I will definitely be concocting various different brews in the future, my girlfriend suggested that I try a chocolate vodka which will be quite the experiment and one that I look forward to completing.

Fruit Leather (or in this case, Fruit Chips)

Yesterday was the day I decided to try my hand at a childhood favorite, Fruit Leather or just good old fashioned Fruit-Roll-Up.  The process was simple enough, boil some fruit in some water, strain, dry and serve.  Easy huh? Well apparently not.  I have, however, learned my lesson and know what to do differently the next time I make this delectable treat and I will pass that wisdom on to you.


Fruit Leather

Ingredients:
1 lb Strawberries
¼ cup Water
1 dash Lemon Juice
Sugar to taste

Directions:

1. Cut up strawberries into quarters or eighths, depending on preference and place into pot with water and lemon juice.










2. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally to keep the color, until the fruit begins to break down.

3. Transfer the concoction to a food processor or blender or even a food mill if you have one (i used a food processor, worked fine) and blend it till it is a fine liquid. At this point, taste the mixture and add sugar if you want it to be sweeter, keep in mind though that the natural sugars in the strawberries with usually be enough for most people.


4.  Use a sieve to get rid of the seeds and pour liquid onto a baking sheet covered in microwave proof plastic or parchment paper so that it is about ¼ to ⅛ thick, the thicker the better.


5. Preheat your oven to the lowest possible heat, in my case it was 170 degrees Fahrenheit and place your liquid mixture in there for about 12 hours, making sure to flip it halfway through.

This was my finished product and it tastes pretty good!  The only mistake I made was that I did not use enough strawberries so the final product came out more like a cracker than a Fruit-Roll-Up but hey, they are still mighty tasty.

On a side note, I also attempted to make a kiwifruit mixture too but little did I know that when boiled, kiwifruit takes on the smell of a combination of broccoli and asparagus, not appetizing in the least.  Now you know.

Beef Jerky

Today marks the third time that I have ventured into the realm of beef jerky making.  Despite seeming like an arduous task, the process is fairly simple albeit long, though for most of the time you can just go about your day like normal.  Shall we begin?

Ingredients:
1 flank steak (I got 1.5 lbs worth)
⅔ cups soy sauce
⅔ cups Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes (you can add more if you like spicy food)
1 tsp liquid smoke


Equipment
1 20" x 20" box fan
2-3 20" x 20" furnace filters depending on how much steak you use
6 8" bungee cords










Instructions 
1. Get your flank steak and put it in the freezer for 30 min - 1 hour to make it easier to cut


2. Cut your flank steak into ¼-½ inch strips following the grain of the meat

3. Place the strips into a large ziplock bag and mix in all the ingredients.  Let marinade in you refrigerator for 3-6 hours. (Any longer and the meat will be too salty, any shorter and the salt wont be able to kill off any bacteria that might be residing on the meat)

4. After letting the meat marinade, pull out your fan and furnace filters.  Pat dry the meat and place on one of the furnace filters. Place the second, empty furnace filter on top and bungee the filters to the front of the fan.

5. Place the fan upright and have it blowing out a window for 12-15 hours before enjoying your delicious beef jerky!

This stuff is so delicious! I just can't contain myself and have to force myself to not eat all of it at once!

Bacon Wraps

I was working on a take home test this weekend and felt the hankering for a fun snack I could munch on while working.  I had some extra bacon that I forgot about from the breakfast and some chicken breast fillets so I worked with that.

Chicken Bacon Wraps:

1 lb Chicken breast
20 thin Bacon Slices
3 Tbsp Honey
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
Fresh Lemon Juice

1. Mix together the honey, mustard and add lemon juice to taste.
2. Cut the chicken into 3 in long strips and wrap in bacon, cutting off the excess.
3. Place chicken on a well greased baking sheet and brush the tops with the honey mixture
4. Bake at 425 for 13-15 min, or until bacon is crispy.
5. Take out, flip and brush more honey mixture on and bake for another 10-13 min.

OMG! These things were amazing! I gobbled them right up!

Breakfast for dinner!!

Tonight I made everyones favorite meal: breakfast!  I made some scrambled eggs, bacon, home made hash-browns and a hand held "Idaho Sunrise"

Idaho Sunrise:
Frozen (or homemade) Hash-browns
3 Eggs, beaten
2 Strips of bacon, cooked and chopped up

1. In a well greased muffin pan, pack some hash-browns into each pit and cook at 425 for 15-18 min.
2. Pour some eggs and bacon on top of each pile of hash-browns and cook at 350 for 13-15 min.

They were quite tasty and I would recommend putting shredded cheese into the eggs or a small round of  bread in place of the potatoes.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pillows

Step right up folks and see the wonder that is me making a dessert! I usually don't dabble in the pastry realm of cooking, mainly because the measurements are too meticulous and the cleanup is a disaster. But this time, I have found a dessert that has little to no mess and is super delicious!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows

1-2 Thawed Puff Pastry Sheets
Smooth Peanut Butter
Chocolate Chips
Half and Half
Granulated Sugar

1. Cut the puff pastry into 2"x 2" squares.
2. Place a dollop of peanut butter in the center of half of the squares and sprinkle with a couple of chocolate chips.
3. Set the remaining squares on top of the ones with peanut butter and chocolate and crimp shut.
4. Place on a well greased baking sheet and brush on the half and half and sprinkle generously with sugar.
5. Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes or until browned nicely and let sit for 5 min before digging in.


These were fantastic! Simple, delicious and no mess made whatsoever.  If I ever buy puff pastry again, this will be the first thing I make with it.

Lemon Pepper Salmon

This dinner time, I decided to go with the old favorite of my miso salmon, but then I thought to myself, "Miso salmon is good and all, but I want to try something new." I scoured the depths of the internet, searching in vain for a new recipe until I stumbled upon Lemon Pepper Salmon. It sounded too good to be true!  I got all of the necessary ingredients and went to work.

Lemon Pepper Salmon:

1 1/4 lbs Salmon

1 Tbsp Melted Butter

3 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 tsp Lemon Pepper Seasoning

1/4 tsp Cracked Black Pepper

1. Cut your salmon into single serving pieces and pat dry.

2. Mix the brown sugar, onion powder, lemon pepper and cracked pepper in a bowl.

3. Brush some melted butter onto your salmon filet and place on an aluminum foil lined greased baking sheet.

4. Sprinkle a bit of the mixture onto the salmon and gently rub in.

5. Roast at 425 for 20-25 min.

This recipe turned out quite well if I do say so myself.  I would like to tweak a couple of things about the original recipe though. First of all, this was not a very peppery dish as I was led to believe.  I believe that doubling the amount of lemon pepper and cracked black pepper would do the dish wonders. And secondly, I was expecting a bit of caramelization on the fish but was sadly disappointed. To combat this, I would suggest broiling the salmon for 10-12 minutes instead to get a nice crust on it.

Tests and Stew

So the reason that I am late this week in my update is because I have had 3 tests and I am incredibly lazy.  Any who, heres the skinny: I had three tests, Data Structures, Abnormal Psychology and Statistics.  I am fairly certain that I passed my Data Structures test, I got an 82% on my Psych class and I know that my score was higher than some psych majors and I have no idea how well I have done on my stats test. fingers crossed.

Since I was spending all of my time studying last week, I wanted to make a dish that would be simple yet delicious and one that would not require globs of my time.  I pondered profusely until I came up with the idea to make a stew! Beef stew to be precise. I whipped out my handy dandy crock-pot and went to work

Beef Stew (serves 8-12):

20 small New Potatoes
24 small Whole White Onions, peeled, fresh or frozen and thawed
16 oz or 60 Baby Carrots
1 sliced Bell Pepper, any color
3 lbs Beef Stew Meat
4 cups Beef Broth
1 tsp dried leaf Oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
6 Tbsp Cornstarch
6Tbsp cold Water

1. Place potatoes, sliced in half, into the crock pot followed by the meat and finally the onions, carrots and bell pepper.
2. In a bowl, mix together all the other ingredients EXCEPT for the cornstarch and water and pour over the meat and veggies
3. Cover and set on LOW for 9-10 hours.
4. Turn your pot on HIGH and mix together the cornstarch and water in a separate bowl before mixing into the stew.
5. Cook on HIGH for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.


I served this over rice cooked in beef stock and I must say, it turned out great! I will definitely be making this another time.

Buffalo Chicken Poppers

I made this dish to join the festivities which was the Super Bowl this past weekend.  What this is exactly is some sort of boneless buffalo wing contraption. Anyways, here is how it is made:

3 Cups Shredded Chicken
1/4-1/2 Cups Hot Sauce (I used Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce)
3.5 oz Cream Cheese
1.75 Cups of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
3/4 Cup Diced Green Onion
1 Cup Flour
3-4 Beaten Eggs
3-4 Cups Crushed Corn Flakes

1. Mix the hot sauce, chicken and cream cheese together.
2. Add the cheddar and the green onion and mix well.
3. Roll portions of the mixture into small balls, about .5-.75 inches in diameter.
4. Roll each ball in the flour, then the egg and finally the corn flakes before placing on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min and serve warm with ranch or bleu cheese.

So as you might be able to tell from the photo below, I made the mistake of crafting the poppers too large, around 1-1.5 inches.  While they were still delectable, I think that if they would have been smaller it would have been a much more entertaining food to eat, and I took the liberty of changing the size for you in the recipe that I wrote out.

Taco Night!!!

So Thursday night I didn't feel the inspiration to create any spectacular works of food so I went with a good anchor which is tacos.

I made three different taco fillings:
1 lb 80/20 ground beef with taco seasoning
1.5 lb steak strips for fajitas seasoned with a touch of seasoning salt
4 bags of tyson pre-grilled chicken

My friends came over and we all partook in this glorious of meals and it was good.

Kaytucky Chicken

Sorry for the late post folks.  I have had a lot of work on my plate but now I am free to update at my leisure.  So on the menu last Thursday was this interesting concoction called Kaytucky Chicken.  It is almost like a hand held chicken pot pie but not quite.

Kaytucky Chicken
8 Chicken Fillets
8 Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets
8 oz Cream Cheese
8 Slices of Bacon
1 Green Onion
Garlic Powder
Cayenne Powder
Salt
Pepper
1 Egg

1. Cook up the bacon to any degree of doneness you prefer (I like mine kinda crunchy) then break into tiny pieces
2. Chop up the green onion and mix in with cream cheese and bacon.  Add garlic powder and cayenne powder to taste
3. Make a slit in the chicken and stuff a bit of the mixture into the chicken, about 1/8 of the mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. Wrap the chicken in the thawed puff pastry, using the egg to glue it together and place on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes


All in all I would say that this turned out fairly well.  It was creamy and delicious as it should be.  I would definitely make this again.


This may not be the best picture on the planet but I must say that it is pretty good considering it was taken with my cell phone

Pulled Pork part II

Well dinner is over and the verdict is in: that was a wonderful dinner! I am extremely pleased with how it turned out and I would definitely make it again. Here are the recipes:

Pulled Pork:
3.3 lbs of pork butt or shoulder
1/4 cup of water
salt and pepper

1. Place all ingredients into crock pot and set to high for 1 hour.
2. After the 1 hour is up, set to low for 8 hours.
3. Take pork out of crock pot and shred with forks.
4. Drain some of the liquid from the pot and place the shredded pork back in and set on low for 1 hour then serve.

Barbecue Sauce:
1 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cayenne powder

1. mix all ingredients into a pot and let simmer for 30 min



and finally

Garlic Potato Fries:
8 garlic cloves, minced
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 russet potatoes each cut into 12 wedges
3 Tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Mix garlic and oil into bowl and allow flavors to mingle.

2. Remove 5 Tbsp of oil and place onto baking sheet.

3. Mix potatoes in oil/garlic mixture, cover and microwave for 3-6 min

4. Mix the rest of the ingredients and cover potatoes and mix.

5. Place onto baking sheet and bake for 30-40 min at 400 degrees

Here is the finished product:

Pulled Pork Feast

Tonight is the night where I use my new crock-pot in the way I truly wished, in the concoction of delicious pulled pork.  At our schools cafeteria, it is a rare and fabulous time when they decide to serve pulled pork, in fact, it was one of my favorite days.  Ever since moving off campus, I have been pining for some more of that delicious fare.  As you know, pulled pork is not complete without barbecue sauce and since I am keeping to the Tennessee model of the dry barbecue (without the actual "barbecuing" aspect) I plan to serve the sauce on the side.  For tonights dinner, I am making my own sauce as well as garlic potato wedges and a salad (for those healthy folks out there)

I am also going to try a new form of posting where I give the description beforehand and in a later post provide pictures as well as a description  of how the meal went.  This is opposed to my style so far of posting it all at once. Hope you don't mind and I shall provide you with pictures and such in a few hours!

Chicken Cacciatore

On tonights menu is Chicken Cacciatore.  The main reason that I am making it tonight was so I could break in my new Crock-Pot that I got for christmas. The recipe goes as follows:
1-2 Large Onions thinly sliced
2-4 Pounds of chicken breast or thighs (I used thighs cause they are like 100000x better)
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
5 Cloves of garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup white wine or broth (I used broth because I couldn't buy the wine)
20 Kalamata Olives pitted and coarsely chopped
2 tbsp Capers
1 Bunch of Parsley or Basil
Cooked Pasta

1. Layer the onions on the bottom of your crock pot and place the chicken on top.
2. Mix together the tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper and broth and pour on top of the chicken.
3. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4.
4. When done cooking, mix in capers, olives and parsley or basil.
5. Serve on top of pasta.

After dinner was finished and we had all eaten their fill, here are some of my thoughts on this particular meal.  It wasn't my most favorite dish of all time though if I do make it again I will have to experiment with somethings. I am sorry for a lack of pictures for this dish, I totally forgot to take them.  I will definitely remember for next Thursdays dinner!

Baklava

So many people are afraid of making Baklava mainly because of the phyllo dough.  Phyllo dough is a tricky thing to work with because it so thin and brittle, and let me tell you, that is a fact!  The dough that I worked with broke into a bunch of pieces so I ended up Frankensteining the thing together.  Without further ado, here is the recipe (note: I am a stickler about measurements and directions but feel free to improvise a bit):

1 lb phyllo dough: buy frozen and keep frozen as long as possible before transferring to freezer

6 oz (by weight) pistachios 

6 oz (by weight) walnuts (preferably Persian variety)

6 oz (by weight) blanched almonds (cover raw almonds with 2 cups of water and boil, spray with cold water and pinch out of skins)

1 5in cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon)

15 allspice berries  (or just under 1 teaspoon of ground allspice)

2/3-cup sugar

¼ cup water+1 tsp rose water in a sprits bottle 

Clarified butter (2 sticks worth)

1 ¼ Cups sugar

1 ¼ Cups honey

1 ¼ cup water

1.     Blend spices and set aside

2.     Blend nuts, spice mixture and sugar in a food processor by pulsing until finely ground.

3.     Clarify 2 sticks of butter (boil butter until milk solids sink to bottom)

4.     Place frozen dough into microwave for 1 min on high (don't cover with damp cloth, just work fast)

5.     Trim phyllo dough to size of pan.

6.     Brush butter onto bottom of pan and add first layer of dough

7.     Repeat 9 more times (for a total of 10) while adding butter in between each sheet.

8.     Add 1/3 of the nut mixture and sprits with rose water

9.     Add 6 more sheets of phyllo with butter between each layer (don't butter first layer)

10  Second installment of nuts (1/3 of mixture and rose water)

11  Add 6 more sheets with butter between every layer (don't butter first layer)

12  Third installment of nuts (last of the mixture and sprits of rose water)

13  Top off with 8 sheets of dough with butter between every layer

14  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes then remove, cut into portions and bake for another 30 minutes

15  For special honey mixture add equal amounts of plain honey, water and sugar (1 ¼ cups) orange rind zest and one cinnamon stick and bring to boil for 10 minutes, remove orange and cinnamon and set stove to low

16  Re-cut baklava and pour honey over it and let sit for 8 hours

   Well, there you have it, a nice simple recipe for Baklava, and let me tell you, it came out brilliantly! I highly recommend it.