BBQ Pork Day

Did i mention I LOVE BBQ SEASON!!!

I think everything cooked on a BBQ is great, and you can cook alot on the BBQ..here we have our BBQ Pork Dinner

to feed two people,

2 boneless pork chops

salt and pepper

your favorite bbq sauce

1 large sweet potato

bunch of asparagus

spinach

blue berries

cremini mushrooms

tomatoes

raspberry balsamic vinegar

olive oil

Heat the BBQ to medium high, wash the asparagus and peel off the stems, put in foil with olive oil salt and pepper, wash the sweet potato pierce with a fork and warp in foil, put the sweet potato on the grill and the asparagus on the warming rack, once the sweet potato is almost cooked through put the pork chops on the grill, grill each side for 3-5 mins depending on thickness and brush on bbq sauce.. 

to make the spinach salad, slice the mushrooms, and chunk the tomato, toss in a bowl with spinach and add the blue berries, seasoning with salt and pepper, add a splash of the balsamic vinegar and then sprinkle with olive oil, toss and serve

Enjoy!!

Happy Cooking!!


Fran :)

Healthy Lunch Day

No one said cooking has to be complicated or even require a stove..so here is my healthy lunch- It was dam good too

here is what I did

I cut up one small tomato into slices, drizzled olive oil on them, seasoned with salt and pepper, slices of mozzarella cheese and basil. half a avocado sliced with salt and pepper, and blue berries :) Simple Easy and Fresh!!

Happy Cooking!!

Fran :)

Chili Cheese and Pineapple Turkey and Beef Burgers

I did another Food Network Challenge, it was Chili Cheese Burgers. How these challenges go is, the Food Network offers up a vote for a recipe, people vote on which one they want to make, and the winning recipe is what we have to make and add our flare to for that month.

So I took their recipe and made it mine own, I will provide the recipe they gave, but tell you what I did.

I made two type of burgers as my husband wanted beef burgers and I wanted Turkey

So I used my typical burger recipe, which includes, eggs, bread crumbs, italian seasoning, shallots, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, turkey or beef :)

I also used Banana peppers , valdia onions, pineapple, mushrooms, monterery jack and marble cheese, but more on that in a bit.. here is the recipe they put up..

Ingredients

4 medium anaheim peppers  

1 half-inch thick slice of a large onion, skewered through the middle horizontally  

1 1/2 pounds chuck, at least 20 percent fat  

1 teaspoon chili powder  

2 teaspoons roasted garlic  

1 teaspoon salt  

1/2 teaspoon cumin  

4 tablespoons bread crumbs  

2 eggs  

1 tablespoon mustard  

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce  

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper  

4 slices Pepper Jack or Havarti cheese  

4 hamburger buns  

12 slices bacon, cooked  

Directions

• Place the chili's and onion on the grill and cook until charred on all sides, about 4 minutes per side. Place the peppers in a ziploc bag and seal, set the onion to the side. When chiles are cool enough to handle, about 5-10 minutes, remove from the back, peel of the charred skin, and seed. Coarsely chop the chiles and onion together and set aside.
• Mix the ground beef with the chili powder, garlic, mustard, Worcestershire, eggs, bread crumbs, cumin, salt, and pepper. Form into 4 1/3-lb patties and use your thumb to make a dimple in the middle of each one. Place the patties on the grill and cook until desired doneness. About 2 minuted before the burgers are done, top each with a slice of pepper jack cheese and allow to melt.
• Quickly grill hamburger buns, cut side down, until nicely browned, about 30 seconds. To serve, place the burger on the bun and top with the chili and onion mixture.

So we decided that we wanted to make a sweet heat kind of burger, so I sliced the pineapple into slices about a 1/4 inch thick, same with the onions, and grilled them till they had nice grill marks on both side, to help keep the onion whole and not fall apart on the grill we used two medal skewers and put them evenly spaced through the onion. This made it easier to flip and keep the onion whole. 

We also skewered some mushrooms and grilled those up, and we grilled the banana pepper exactly the way they described. 

we bought some very nice bakery buns and browned them on the grill. We choose to use Monterery jack cheese and marble cheese and melted the cheese on the burgers while they were on the grill.

To put the burger together, I put the pineapple on the bottom bun , placed the burger on top, than topped it with the onion and pepper, used ketchup, mustard and relish (we are originals when it comes to that.)

My husband choose to just eat his grilled pineapple, so he put the mushrooms on his as well as he preferred the marble cheese.

Here are the some photos of our results

Happy Cooking!!

Fran:)

Kung Pao Chicken pizza

I decided that I am going to start doing the Food Network Cooking club challenges .I made the Kung Pao Chicken pizza, sadly I didn't win, but here is the recipe and my pictures

IngredientsDiana's Basic Dough Recipe

• 1 1/4 cups water (room temperature)

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 8 grams yeast (which is 1 package of instant active dry yeast)

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• 3 cups flour

Kung Pao Chicken Pizza

• 4 tablespoons Kung Pao sauce (several versions exist; this recipe calls for a sweeter sauce)

• 1/2 cup 100% white chicken breast, fully cooked and diced

• 1 13 ounce Basic Dough patty (see recipe)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

• 1/2 teaspoon oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon basil

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• pepper

• 1/2 cup low-fat Mozzarella cheese, grated

• 6 tablespoons fresh pineapple, sliced into bite-sized pieces

• 1 green pepper, sliced in 1/4-inch rings

• 1 red pepper, sliced in 1/4-inch rings

• 1 green onion, diced

• 1/2 red onion, sliced in 1/4-inch rings

DirectionsDiana's Basic Dough Recipe

• Dissolve sugar and salt in water (use whisk or a fork).
• Add yeast and whisk until dissolved.
• In a large stainless steel bowl, add flour and mix by hand until fully incorporated and sides of bowl are clean.
• Add olive oil and mix/knead until fully incorporated. Dough should be fully formed.
• Divide dough into 2x 13-ounce balls for medium dough patties (12-inch pizza).
• For slow rise/proof: Cover and put in your fridge for approximately 24-36 hours to proof (rise).
• For quick rise/proof: Cover and leave on your counter for 2 hours until dough balls have doubled in size.

Kung Pao Chicken Pizza

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Combine Kung Pao sauce and diced chicken. Allow the chicken to soak up the Kung Pao sauce.
• Hand slap out dough patty on to 12-inch size pizza pan.
• Brush center of pizza (where you would normally spread red sauce) with olive oil.
• Spread out minced garlic over olive oil.
• Combine dried oregano and basil in a shaker for easy application. Sprinkle oregano, basil, sea salt and pepper on crust.
• Smother with mozzarella.
• Spread out each topping evenly to the edge of the cheese; Kung Pao chicken, pineapple bits, sliced red & green peppers, and sliced red & diced green onions.
• Bake in an oven for approximately 7-9 minutes or until the crust and cheese are golden brown.
• Remove pizza from oven upon completion of cooking and slice into 8 pieces. Serve immediately.

Happy Cooking!!

Fran :)

Southern Style Mac n Cheese

I've have been craving mac n cheese, I usually don't make it this way...but wanted to give it a try!

here is what I did- i didn't even use a recipe, I used a white sauce that I usually use to make a nice cheese sauce for vegetables and a good quality macaroni noodle, this turned out so well, and I will definitely be making this again but probably not till the fall now!

I used

1 1/4 cup milk brought to room temperature 

2 tbls corn starch

2 tbls butter

salt and pepper

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup marble cheese (reserve 1/4 cup for topping)

1-2 cups Marconi noodles

2 medium sauce pans

1 small-medium size baking dish- i used corning ware

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees.

Put pot of water with a pinch of salt in to boil- once boiling add noodles, cook till al dante (just a little bite)..Heat butter in medium sauce pan, and add the corn starch, heat for 2 mins, add pinch of salt and pepper.

Start adding milk 1 table spoon at a time till about 1/4 cup of milk has been added, ensure you are whisking constantly to avoid any lumps, slow pour in the rest of the milk, whisking constantly bring to a boil. When milk mixture comes to a boil, add small handfuls of mozzarella cheese, ensure each handful fully melts before adding the next, continue to add the cheese till you have gotten through all the mozzarella cheese and 3/4 of the marble cheese.

Drain cooked pasta and return to pot, add cheese sauce and stir, once sauce is fully incorporated  transfer to the baking dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, and put in oven, bake for 15mins then turn oven to broil and broil for 5mins till top is nice and crispy..

remove from oven and serve with your favorite foods :)

Yummy, crispy top 

I served it with BBQ chicken thighs and corn on the cob

Happy Cooking


Fran :)