Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I would consider myself to be more of a savory person than a sweets person, but yesterday I was really wanting some chocolate chip cookies. So I went on a hunt. Little did I know that everyone (and their grandma) out there thinks their chocolate chip cookie recipe is the best. I decided that rather than look on the typical recipe websites, I would search through some blogs so I could not only get a recipe, but also read what makes their cookie recipe the best. I came across a blog called Savory Sweet Life and I figured we might have similar tastes. I began to read her blog on her cookie recipe and decided pretty quickly that I would try her recipe.

Yummy cookie dough

Really Homemade Lasagna

Ok friends. I did it. I really, actually did it. I made a meal almost 100% from scratch - it depends on how nit-picky you want to get. I didn't make the mozzarella cheese, nor did I can my own tomatoes. But otherwise, I didn't open any containers to get the ingredients for my meal. I found a recipe online called "Thousand Layer Lasagna". It involved making your own pasta, so I thought I'd give it a shot. The key is to make paper thin layers of pasta alternating between super thin layers of sauce and cheese.

Sadly, my meat sauce was just WAY to thick and it over-powered the whole dish. The cheese layer was fine, but the pasta sheets were just so thin you could barely tell it was there. So while I don't discourage you from making a thousand layer lasagna (which is a slight exaggeration), I say proceed with caution. Your layers really do need to be thin.

It doesn't look terrible at least...

Brisket Revised

Recently I told you about the wonderful brisket recipe I learned from my mother-in-law. Several months ago we went to dinner at Matt's parents house and as soon as we walked in the door I picked up on the unmistakable smell of brisket roasting all day in the oven. Much to my surprise, there was a slow cooker on the counter. When we sat down to eat she explained that it was the same recipe she always used, but she used a roast instead. The meat was all shredded up, basking in its juices, just waiting for some tasty bread to sop it all up.

I figured since I had my slow cooker on since yesterday morning, I might as well keep using it. I poured beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, half an onion, garlic cloves, and some garlic powder into the pot of a slow cooker. I seasoned my brisket with some fresh ground black pepper, kosher salt, onion powder, and paprika and seared it off on both sides on the stove. After about 3 minutes on each side I placed the brisket in the slow cooker and poured about 1/3 cup liquid smoke over top. Then I squirted a generous spread of yellow mustard over top. You may wonder how the mustard fits in, but it adds an amazing tang to the meat and is definitely missed when it is left out. 

While the brisket was cooking I went ahead and whipped up some crusty french rolls and left them on the stove to rise.

Then I assembled some broccoli slaw - which was really simple with the bagged slaw, some mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. (But I forgot to take a picture..oops!) When the brisket was almost done, I popped the rolls in the oven to bake.

Although the rolls varied greatly in size, they were SO tasty and warm and crusty (in a good way, of course).

My original plan for the brisket was to shred the meat, but it was still pretty much in tact so I just took it out as is and sliced it up. The juices in the pan were GREAT for pouring over the meat and sopping up with the rolls.

This was definitely a winner of a dinner and so easy to make. Quick and easy and delicious!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Stock

I found a recipe online today for cooking a whole chicken in a slow cooker. The slow cooker pretty much bakes the chicken and then when it's done cooking you use the drippings, skin, and bones (with the addition of some water) to make your own stock. It's so easy, and inexpensive, and is a double duty ingredient. One thing I would advise if you like to buy chickens and then freeze them is to remove the gizzards before freezing. You can cook a frozen chicken in your slow cooker, but if the gizzards are frozen inside you have to thaw the chicken to get them out before cooking. NOT the best use of your time. So here's what I did:

Thrifty Fun

I recently returned from a visit to South Florida to see my family and co-host a baby shower for one of my oldest friends. (And by oldest, I mean longest-lasting - we've been best friends for almost 15 years.) As I was getting ready to leave for my trip, my husband quipped "Maybe you can pick up some good Housewifery tips from your sister". My sister is easily the queen of Housewives - not in a Real Housewives kind of way, but in a disgustingly creative and homemakery kind of way. She decorates, she sews, she paints, she crafts, she home-schools, she breast feeds to at least one year, she makes bread by hand, she even makes her own yogurt and crackers for goodness sake! And despite the annoyingly sarcastic way I think and say all these qualities my sister possesses, I can't help but be impressed and a little bit jealous. After all, she is my big sister - if there's one person I can love and hate (just a little bit, of course) at the same time, it'd be her. So despite myself, I managed to be inspired by her during my visit. I know I don't stand a chance in matching her creatively, but I know I could at least try to best her in the kitchen. (Even if she doesn't know I'm competing with her...) Love you Meg!

Pasta Wrappers

I went on another quest to buy all things new to me at the grocery store this week. I've been having the worst summer of my life, and have been too sick to cook for several weeks. But now that I'm back in the game, I thought I'd dive in head first into my cooking. I bought a pack of pasta wrappers from the produce section at Publix. You can find them right next to the bean sprouts. Which I also bought, but neglected to use and therefore had to throw away. So anyway, I grabbed a pack of pasta wrappers thinking they were won ton wrappers, but much to my surprise there are many uses for this fantastic item! My initial idea was to make egg rolls or lumpia (Filipino egg rolls - amazingly delicious. By the way, did anyone else know that there was a Filipino restaurant in the Regency Square mall? I didn't either, but I'm looking for someone to go with me. Any takers?).

Matt and I decided to make some Southwest Egg Rolls like they have at Chili's since we had all the ingredients to make them. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/southwestern-egg-rolls/detail.aspx We used the pasta wrappers instead of flour tortillas and opted to "oven fry" them instead of deep fry. They turned out pretty good, except we didn't get them quite as golden and crunchy as you would normally like to eat egg rolls. Instead of an avocado ranch dipping sauce like they have at Chili's, I decided to make a copycat version of the ranch dressing at Outback Steakhouse, since it is SO good. This recipe does not disappoint! http://www.food.com/recipe/outback-ranch-dressing-70654 Just be sure to use the *buttermilk* ranch packet for the best flavor - and I used the whole thing, instead of a tablespoon. I also made a modified version of this Enchilada Soup recipe http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/cheesy-chicken-enchilada-soup/101433de-6049-4e50-8c49-db1d35f5cca9 which turned out really tasty.

On to the pictures...

Reviews

I am pleased to say that even two days after the Tomato and Gorgonzola Soup was gone, Carter was STILL asking to have some. Now that should say something!

While Carter didn't ask for my TropiChop on a daily basis, he ate it about 4 times. And if you have children, you know it's pretty impressive if your child will eat something once...let alone 4 times in under a week.

(I do think that Carter's comfort foods are beans & rice, macaroni & cheese, and chicken nuggets, so it's a fair bet that he will eat those things at any time.)

Thinking of some meal ideas for next week. If you have any ideas, shoot them my way!

Tomato and Gorgonzola Soup

Tonight was one of those nights where I would have been content to eat a bowl of cereal, or snack on goldfish and ice cream instead of make something for dinner. But then I got to thinking of all the seemingly random ingredients I have collected over the last few weeks that really need to be eaten. I didn't want to make anything complicated - Carter ate dinner when he woke up from his nap at 4pm (he went to sleep without eating lunch today) and Matt was already in bed getting his nap on before work.

I had 4 ounces of Gorgonzola cheese, fresh basil from my garden, and a ridiculous number of canned diced tomatoes in the pantry. I was either going to make some kind of strange sauce for pasta, or make a soup. And even though it's 95 degrees outside, I opted for the soup figuring it would be lighter than any pasta dish I made.

The Ingredients

Steak Dinner

We have recently decided to try to start eating out less in an effort to curb our monthly expenses. It turns out when you're amateur foodies like we are (and/or lazy), you really prefer to eat out rather than eat at home. So I'm trying to make meals at least once a week that we might order out at a good restaurant. This past week I decided that I would make Friday night Steak Night. I had bought a Flat Iron Steak with no plans for it, so I set to searching for some ideas on how to make it special. My research taught me that Flat Irons are tender cuts of meat and easy to cook. Perfect.

I decided a while ago that you can't go wrong marinating beef (unless you marinate a Filet with Dales...NOT a good idea Matthew!). In a small bowl combine:

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crumbled

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup olive oil

I placed my 1 1/4 pound piece of steak in a gallon size zip top bag and added the marinade (as usual, I doubled the recipe...for some reason I'm afraid of not having enough marinade), refrigerating over night. When you're ready to grill your meat, pull it out of the refrigerator at least 15 minutes ahead of time to allow it to start coming to room temperature (it will cook more evenly this way). Preheat grill to medium-high heat and cook for 6 minutes on each side to reach medium-rare. If you want to be fancy about it, rotate your steak 90 degrees after three minutes on each side to give it authentic grilled steak markings. Cover with foil tent and let steak sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it to make sure all the internal juices don't run out on you. Cut against the grain (for more tender pieces) in small slices.

Pollo Tropical

So if you're anything like me, and grew up in South Florida, Pollo Tropical is A-Mazing! I went to eat there recently with a friend after a long hiatus away from it and it just renewed my love for beans and rice and mojo marinated pork. I really wanted to go get a TropiChop for dinner, but Matt insists that he isn't a fan. So I decided I would make my own version of my favorite TropiChop and prove to him that it's good food and he would love it if he just gave it a chance. I scoured the Internet for some kind of copy-cat recipe, but didn't really come up with anything that seemed right. So what did I do? A little of this, a little of that. And it was perfect!!

TropiChops are bowls filled with your favorite Pollo Tropical starch (or lettuce - but why would you do that?), some beans (if you like), veggies (again, if you like), and then the protein of your choice. Very simple, standard, basic cuisine found all over the Caribbean and Central America. So really, I knew I couldn't go too wrong.

July 4th Meal

I decided I was going to be All-American and make a patriotic meal of ribs for the 4th. My husband was pretty psyched - and then he saw what I had made for him. :) It's not my fault that I just can't seem to make food the way it should be. I mean, I don't really grill, and we don't have a smoker. I'm not really sure what he expected me to do. I know now that when I recipe says to bake spare ribs for 1 hour or less, run away. Far, far away. The good news is that the marinade and basting sauce for the ribs was fantastic! I just should have known that I should have baked (or slow cooked) the ribs for several hours.

When my parents were in town visiting I was showing them my pantry and all the "new-to-me" things I had bought. As soon as I showed my dad that hoisin and oyster sauce, he told me he had a great Chinese barbecue sauce recipe for ribs that he'd send me when they got home. Thirty some odd years ago my dad took a Chinese cooking class and has the old school recipe booklet to show for it, along with some pretty fantastic recipes inside. I always looked forward to the special occasions growing up when he would make sweet and sour pork from that little booklet. More recently, I hear he makes a mean Pepper Steak from the same class. I knew I would love the marinade.

Shepherd's Pie

I was in the mood for some comfort food, but since we had just eaten Mexican food on Sunday (let's face it, what Sunday don't we eat Mexican anymore?), I opted for my #2 comfort food of choice: potatoes. I think I've got some Irish blood in me somewhere, so we'll just say that's why it's comfort food for me. (My third choice would probably be bagels - and as much as I'd love to attribute that to my husband, the Bakery Market Manager for all the Panera Bread stores in Jacksonville, I developed my love and addiction to bagels a long time ago.) I digress. I had just bought a five pound bag of Yukon golds at the store and if you're anything like me, you know you have to dig in right away or before you know it you're throwing away a bag of stinky, juicy, rotten potatoes. I even had some freshly ground beef in the fridge, so Shepherd's Pie was my obvious choice.

This was not a meal I grew up eating, and I probably made it (and tried it) for the first time in college. I really can't remember how I made it the first time, but I can remember everything about the best Shepherd's Pie I ever had. The Cheesecake Factory.


Photo borrowed from another Blogger Site

Mushrooms. Peas. Carrots. Onions. Zucchini. Ground beef. Delicious gravy with Worcestershire sauce in it throughout. Amazing red mashed potatoes with Parmesan on top. When I ordered this for the first time I was there for dinner, so you know the portion was huge. (The above photo is the lunch-sized portion.) I remember being like halfway through the bowl of this delicious goodness and not being able to stop eating, even though I felt sick to my stomach. But it was so good. And SO worth the stomach ache.

Garden Update

Just thought I'd update you all about my garden. My squash, zucchini, and cucumber plants aren't doing so great with so much direct sunlight. I think I'm going to have to move them if I want them to stay alive. On a positive note, they are still alive, and the zucchini blossoms are still around.

They open up a little bit bigger and look absolutely beautiful. This was my first one, so I couldn't help but snap a shot of it.

Even though my squash, zucchini, and cucumber plants aren't really producing anything (other than blossoms), I think they are my favorite. There's something so amazing about how they grow. It just re-emphasizes to me that God has created every last thing on this earth to not only serve a function, but also to sustain its' life.

Southern Comfort

So today was the day for brisket and cheese grits! I started marinating the meat last night, and then put it in the oven around 10am today...it only took 30 minutes for the house to smell amazing. This meal is a test in patience...it takes about 5 hours to cook, but it is SO worth it!

I was in such a hurry today to make sure I stayed on schedule with my cooking that I pretty much forgot to take most of the pictures along the way. I did, however, manage to get some pictures after we ate.

This is what was left after the three of us ate dinner. Well, I should backtrack a little bit. I went to Costco with my good friend Hayley to find a good piece of brisket. Not corned beef brisket - the regular kind. I wasn't able to compare the price to Publix, but considering neither WinnDixie nor BJs had brisket at all, I figure I made out well. I bought a 4.5lb piece of brisket at $4.99/lb, and I'll be sure to let you know the price at Publix when I make it over there again. I cut the meat in half before marinating and cooking so that I wouldn't lose any precious juices cutting it after it cooked. I'll list the recipe below, but know that it really is as easy as it sounds!

My Polish Side

I have been wiped out lately! The weather has been SO hot, and the smoke from nearby wildfires has been all but completely suffocating..not to mention the humidity. I slowed down on the cooking front, but now I'm ready to jump back in with both feet. Well, I have already. I just need to record it for you all.

Tuesday night I wasn't really in the mood for cooking, but alas, we all must eat. So I found the quickest and easiest thing in my freezer to make - polska kielbasa and pierogies. My grandmother would be so proud!

Kielbasa cut on the diagonal and slightly caramelized in a dry pan.

Cooks super fast in a hot skillet - quicker than mac and cheese!

I know the potato and onion filling in the pierogies doesn't count as a vegetable, so I won't even bother trying to pass them off as such. I did, however, eat an entire bag of lettuce for lunch. Yes...ENTIRE bag. I was hungry, ok? And besides, it was a Caesar Salad Kit..so I'm sure it was less lettuce than normal.

So anyway, dinner was delicious. You literally heat up the meat in a dry - read: not oiled - pan until slightly caramelized, but not burnt. There is a fine line. Then remove onto a paper towel lined plate while you cook the pierogies. Place them in the skillet, straight from the freezer, with a tablespoon or two of butter or oil. They should be done in about 8 minutes. If you wanted to have a veggie with this, sauteed cabbage is a classic, as is sauteed onions.

New Family Favorite

I know it's been a while since I posted. But honestly, I ate the last serving of the stuffed shells this morning for breakfast (I was getting desperate for them to be gone). I even took some of the shells over to my friend Alexis' house where we had lunch, and she kept some for leftovers. It might be a long time before I make them again. But they were still delicious! I'm pretty sure I haven't cooked anything since then...unless toasting a bagel or reheating leftovers counts. I don't know what I have planned for dinner this week other than Wednesday. A friend of mine just had a baby a little over a week ago, so I wanted to bring her a meal and visit for a while. Not to fear - I have a plan!

The first time I really spent any time with my in-laws was for Christmas right after Matt and I got engaged. We flew out to the San Fransisco area to celebrate the holiday with them and tour the city - it was my first time on the West Coast (with the exception of a layover in Los Angeles and Vancouver). Christmas day rolled around and I was looking forward to the traditional holiday meal - turkey or ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, cranberry sauce from a can, and maybe a legit vegetable like green bean casserole. What was laid out on the table was nothing even close to what I expected.

Another Winner of a Dinner!!

The Food Network website is not my go-to place for recipes. I'm not really sure why, because I love to watch it on TV. But since the flank steak recipe I tried Friday night was so good, I thought I'd try them out one more time. I was in the mood for something Italian, and a good friend of mine has been telling me about his stuffed shells recipe for some time now - so it was time for me to give it a try. I found a great recipe from Giada and I have to say I was really impressed with how good it was! So check out the recipe here and keep reading for a play by play with some tips.

I followed the recipe verbatim, and it was by no means a challenging meal to put together. It did take me about twice as long than the indicated prep time to get everything in the oven, so make sure you give yourself time if you're on a schedule. I think it would be more time efficient if you put the pasta water on to boil and then chop your fresh herbs for the cheese filling and garlic for the sauce, putting the shells in the water when it comes to a boil. Because it takes only 4-6 minutes for the shells to cook, you can use that time to combine all the ingredients for the filling.

Best Dinner Ever

My mom and dad came into town for the weekend and I wanted to impress them with my cooking skills. I know "they" say you're not supposed to try out new recipes on guests, but I just can't help myself! I always think that's part of the fun in entertaining, so I went on an Internet search for a great new recipe to experiment on my parents. Of course, using some of my new-to-me ingredients would be a plus and it just so happens I found the perfect recipe.

This really was one of the best dinners I've ever made. And I admittedly can not take credit for any of the good results...other than I followed the recipe correctly. I found the recipe on the food network website, and I happened across it as I was looking for a recipe for flank steak. I rounded the dish out with a heaping helping of quinoa and a glass of homemade sangria. Delicious!

Going Greek

Dinner last night was another surprisingly good meal! I had gone to the grocery store earlier in the day and bought a lot of new-to-me things and I was excited to get home and start experimenting. One thing I knew for sure I wanted to make was tzatziki. I had seen Claire Robinson make a 5 ingredient recipe earlier in the week and it just kind of stuck with me. Although, I opted to make my own recipe, based on some others I had read. . . just to make sure it turned out good.

It may come as a surprise to you, but I don't normally make things look so pretty as I cook. It's all for you, my readers! :) So my tzatziki recipe is SUPER easy, and as usual it's really just a little of this, a little of that. But just to make it easier to reference quickly:

Comfort Food

When I decided to cook dinner last night I was really hungry and in a hurry so I thought to myself, "Well, I guess I can always start doing recipes for the blog tomorrow". I put some rice on, hopped in the shower, came back down to the kitchen and finished cooking. I literally threw food into a pan, how great can this be? I took a QC (quality control - shout out to Anne Burrell) bite just to make sure I could serve it to my husband and son and actually expect them to eat it. Dang! Sprinkle on some Sazón Goya with Azafrán and WOW, it just keeps getting better! This is one worthy of putting in your recipe book, but it's so simple and easy you won't ever need to look it up.

Now on to the real reason you're here: my witty personality the food! Some might think this odd but my comfort food is almost always Cuban or some other Hispanic origin. Do I have an abuelita who taught me all her family secrets? Nope. Did my mom "cook around the world", exploring a variety of different cultures through food? Definitely not. I was raised on unseasoned baked chicken, white rice, and a frozen veggie of some kind. Don't get me wrong, my mom definitely has some great recipes that I want to share with you, and baked chicken can be delicious when spiced up a little bit. It's a great standby, but there's so much more out there than baked chicken Wednesday and taco Tuesday!

The Garden

If I'm going to write a blog about all things food, I should probably have a better understanding of where my food comes from. Don't get me wrong...I'm not going to make my way to the nearest cattle ranch to watch a cow get butchered (I've seen all I need to see on TV already, thank you). I figured if I could have some super fresh produce and herbs, and teach my son about veggies, we might all eat a little better and I might just save some money at the grocery store. Win, win. So here's where I started:

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! This blog is just one more way for me to express my love of all things food. I hope to be able to walk you through some recipes you've never tried before, and encourage you to step out of the box when you are in your own kitchen. I'll make some of my favorites and add my own spin to a few classics. Hope you enjoy cooking with me in my Practice Kitchen!