Marinated BBQ chicken samich

Ok, this one comes from the devious mind of my best friend, Magnus(that's him playing drums for Guitar Hero world tour in the pic above). All it requires is:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
@ a quart of the white bbq sauce (see previous recipe)
Ranch dressing

Directions:

Take your White BBQ sauce, and marinate some boneless skinless chicken breasts in it for a couple days. Take out, slice thin, and drop into a hot skillet. After a few minutes, drop in some green pepper and onion (I added in the red bell pepper for added colour), stirring well, and let that cook until the chicken is done. Grab a hoagie roll, slice open, and add some ranch dressing before putting in the chicken/veggies combo.


YUMMY!!!


Just did this tonight to great results. Added some Parmesan cheese while everything was in the skillet, but if I had some colby jack or montery jack cheese shredded, I would have gotten the mixture nice and hot in the skillet and dropped in the cheese to melt everything together :)

Asian Hsing

This is my attempt to duplicate BWW's 'asian zing' sauce (hence the name 'Asian Hsing'). I previewed this a week and a half ago during our Sunday night dinner club and the auspicious occasion of my friends Todd and Karen getting engaged (congrats again you two!!)!! Anyhows, the sauce went on some beef ribs and some pork ribs and omg...the sweet then the tang and then the heat...twas a thing of beauty!!!

Asian Hsing glaze

Ingredients:

½ cup honey

¼ cup lite soy sauce

¼ cup sweet and sour sauce

½ cup pineapple chunks in juice, chopped fine

½ cup mango, chopped fine

A touch of crushed red pepper flakes

Juice of one orange

garlic powder

black pepper

cajun seasoning


Directions:

Place all ingredients into a medium saucepan. Bring heat to medium low. Stir constantly. Add honey and soy sauce to taste. Brush over Grilled fish (mahi-mahi) or chicken or beef or pork ribs. Serve on the side as a dipping sauce.

Chocolate Chunk Cappuccino Ice Cream

I've just ventured into the realm of making my own ice cream and this is my first attempt. This is something I've been kicking around since I bought my ice cream maker. I love cappuccino and wanted to put it into ice cream form. This is a simple recipe and very rich. The scoops should be used sparingly. Photos to come!

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1/2 cup instant cappuccino mix
6 egg yolks
1 large chocolate bar, broken into small chunks

Directions
Combine the cream, milk, sugar, cappuccino mix and coffee in a medium, heavy saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat.

Beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Whisk 1 cup of the hot cream into the egg yolks. Gradually add the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, to the hot cream. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and reaches 170 degrees F. on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down against the surface to keep a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator and pour into the bowl of an ice cream machine. Add in broken chunks of chocolate bar. Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. After the ice cream is made, transfer to an airtight container. Cover tightly and freeze until ready to serve.

Cheddar Apple Pie

This is a recipe I've had since 1983-84. It's one of the first pies I ever learned how to make. It was a big hit with the family during the holidays!!

Cheddar-Apple Pie

Cheddar pastry for two crusts

1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
7-8 tablespoons of water

Stir flour, salt and cheese together in a medium bowl. With a pastry blender or fork, cut in shortening until pieces are the size of small peas. Add the smaller amount of water and toss with a fork until all flour is moistened and mixture starts to form a ball. If necessary, add remaining water to crumbs in the bottom of the bowl. Gather dough in hands and gently shape into a flat ball.


Cheddar-apple pie:

double crust cheddar pastry
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
6-7 cups thinly sliced apples(your choice)

Direction:

Prepare dough for pastry as above. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Cut in butter until pieces are the size of large peas. Place apple slices in a large bowl. Add sugar mixture and toss to coat apples. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide dough into two equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion into an 11-inch circle. Fit into a 9-inch pie pan. Spoon apple mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Trim edge of dough to rim of pan. Roll out remaining dough to a 12 inch circle. Cut slits as desired or slice into strip for lattice topping. Fit over filling. Fold top edge under bottom edge and flute as desired. Glaze and top as desired. Cover with foil and bake 25 mins. Remove foil and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer until golden brown, apples are tender and juices are bubbly.

*Just a side note, I always tended to do a lattice top for my pies. I just like how they look. It's just a personal preference. :)

Cheesy Creamy Potato Soup with Bacon and Beef

This recipe was first introduced to me by Magnus and his lovely ladywife, Grainne. It was a BIG hit so I finally asked for the recipe. This is my version of it!

2 cans cheddar cheese condensed soup

2 cans cream of potato condensed soup

4 cups of milk

1 package ranch dressing powder

1 container (8oz) sour cream

1 bag mixed vegetables

1 lb bacon (crisped)

1 lb kielbasa (browned)

1 tablespoon chives

Salt

Black pepper



Cook bacon in a skillet. Remove once crispy. Brown kielbasa in same skillet.
Remove. In a large pot, add in all but chives, salt, pepper and veggies. Turn
burner to medium and stir constantly until mixed completely. Add in veggies and
cook until tender. Add in bacon and kielbasa. Add seasonings. Serve.

Chicken vegetable soup

Ok, this was a whim on a rather dreary day. Sometimes, ya just need a good bowl of soup, yanno?

Ingredients:

1 Whole roaster chicken
4 stalks of celery
3 whole carrots
1/2 onion, diced fine
1/2 lb fresh green beans, cut into sections
3 ears of corn, uncooked
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
cajun spice
herbs de provance
1 cube of chicken bullion

Directions:

Place the whole chicken into your largest sauce pan. Fill with enough water to cover the chicken. Place on high and bring to boil. Cook chicken until it falls off of the carcass. Remove the carcass. Chop up all veggies and add in. Taking a knife, scrape the blade down the corn cob to remove the kernels. Add in chicken bullion. Place on medium and let simmer until all the veggies are tender. Add seasonings to taste. Serve with bread and butter.

* - Alternate version: once the chicken is done, drain off some of the juice and add a can of cream of mushroom or cream of celery condensed soup. Add in the veggies and seasonings.

Roasted Beef with Sauce Poivrade

Ok, as I have eluded previously, I do medieval re-enactment. I decided to why not join the two things I love to do most in the world? Yes, folks, this is my first foray into the world of medieval-style period cooking...with a twist!!! I got this recipe from a friend of mine who has a wonderful website dedicated to period style recipes (Thank you, Master Huon!! If you get the chance, check out godecookery.com !!!). Anyway, this was an experiment that came out fantastically as did the twist, where I served corn on the cob and mashed potatoes from scratch. A bit of old meets new!!!

Ingredients:

4-5 lbs roast of beef
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded onions
2 tablespoons of butter
salt
black pepper
herbs de provance

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub the herbs de provance into the roast beef and pan sear on each side for about 3-4 minutes, maximum. Place roast into roasting pan and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Combine butter, onions and carrots into a sauce pan. Sautee until onions and translucent and carrots are soft. Add in cider vinegar and beef stock to taste. Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Pull out roasted beef and slice thin. Spoon the sauce poivrade over the roasted beef. Serve with favorite side dish.

Biscuits and Gravy

This is what happens when you get 6-7 hungry SCA fighters sitting around a campfire at Pennsic. The topic of food comes up, we all get hungry for something specific and then you HAVE to have it. This past Pennsic, as I was sittin and chillin with my best friend, Mini Mag, and his squire brothers and mutual friends, Conner, Eirikr, Yanish and his wife Murghiel, and for some reason biscuits and gravy came up. That hit my downhome taste buds big time. The next morning, I went hunting high and low for some and found it. It was good, but I knew I could do better! This, is the result!

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
Milk gravy, recipe follows
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in the shortening with a fork until it looks like cornmeal. Add the milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly until well mixed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly two or three times. Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a 2-inch cutter.

Place the biscuits in a greased iron skillet. Gently press down top of biscuits. Brush the biscuits with half the melted butter. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown. Brush the hot biscuits with the remaining butter. Split the biscuits in half and ladle milk gravy over the hot biscuits.

Milk Gravy:
1/4 cup bacon grease
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk warm
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoons pepper
2 tablespoons melted butter
Heat bacon grease in a cast iron skillet. Add the flour and whisk until smooth and bubbly about 1 minute. Add the warm milk slowly and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and stir, until thickened, about 5 minutes, adding milk as necessary to control the thickness. Season the gravy with salt and pepper. Serve hot over biscuits.

The Art of Grilling Ribs

I just realized that as much as I talk about grilling and ribs, I haven't posted a single thing on how to properly make them. Time to correct that oversight. :) When it comes to doing ribs, I am a big fan of the beef country style ribs, however, I am not totally against pork baby back ribs. For the sake of arguement, I will be talking about doing pork baby back ribs, but everything does transfer over to other types of ribs.

First thing you wanna do, after picking out the best quality ribs you can find, is to parboil them. Basically, cut them into sections and put them into the biggest sauce pan you have. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Leave them in there for about 15-20 mins. What this does is A) starts the cooking process so they will be cooked all the way thru on your grill and B) helps take out the excess salt that is naturally in pork. That way, anyone in your dinner party who has a major aversion to sodium can partake and not swell up like a balloon! Once that is done, pull them out and place a nice dry rub on them. The lexington dry rub works great for this. Place them on the grill, either charcoal or gas. If using charcoal, make sure that the coals are all ashen and the flesh should start to sizzle when you put them on. If using a gas grill, keep the temperature at a nice 300 degrees. Slather them with your BBQ sauce, close the lid, and let them cook for about 15-20 mins. Flip them over, slather more sauce and then cook for about 15-20 mins again. after this time period is up, flip them, slather on more sauce, close the lid and let them cook for another 10 mins. Flip, slather, close lid and cook the other side for another 10 mins. After this, pull 'em off and serve 'em up.

Now, if you're lucky enough to have a large grill, you can do the slow and low method of grilling. All you need to do is instead of placing the ribs directly on top of the flame, place the racks of ribs around the edges. This is called indirect grilling. This will allow the ribs to cook slowly and take in more flavour. When you place the ribs on top of the flame, that is called direct grilling. It works just as well, but you can run the risk of having tough ribs once they are done.

Potato Salad

Potato Salad





2 pounds small Yukon gold potatoes
2 large eggs
Kosher salt
1/2 bunch sliced scallions, white and green parts
2 tablespoons drained capers
2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles with 1/4 cup juice, about
2 pickles
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 bunch dill, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Put the potatoes and eggs into a big saucepan of cold salted
water. Bring to a simmer. After 12 minutes remove the eggs
with a slotted spoon and let cool. Continue cooking the
potatoes until a paring knife poked into them goes in without
resistance, about 3 minutes longer. Drain the potatoes in a
colander and let them cool.

Reserve some scallion greens and capers for garnish.
Meanwhile, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, pickles and
their juice, onion, remaining scallions and capers, parsley,
and lemon juice in a bowl large enough to hold the potatoes.
Peel the cool eggs and grate them into the bowl. Stick a fork
into the potatoes and lift them 1 at a time out of the
colander. Break up the potatoes by hand into rough chunks, add
them to the bowl and toss to coat with the dressing. Season,
to taste, with salt and pepper. Drizzle with a little olive
oil before serving.

Middle Eastern-style Lemonade

On very hot, dry days in the Middle East, nothing will quench your thirst more than a tall glass of lemonade. Lemoade in the middle East is prepared a little differently than traditional western lemonade, but is very popular among westerners.

Prep Time: 10 minutes


Ingredients:

3/4 cups lemon juice or juice from 8 lemons
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water
1/4 cups fresh mint, finely chopped
8 cups of cold water
crushed ice

Preparation:
In a blender, blend water, orange blossom water, lemon juice, and mint.
Pour into glasses filled with crushed ice and serve, or keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serves 6.
Variations
Instead of using lemons, you can use the juice of 20 limes. You can also add more or less sugar to taste, but remember that Middle Eastern lemonade is not supposed to be sweet. Enjoy!

Asian Slaw with Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

Gave this a try for Memorial Day and it was a hit!!!!

Ingredients:

1 cup finely shredded green cabbage
3 cup finely shredded red cabbage
3 cup finely shredded napa cabbage
1/2 cup julienned green onion
1/4 cup julienned red bell pepper
2 cups coarsely shredded carrots
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
about 1 cup Spicy Thai vinaigrette or to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Dress with the spicy thai vinaigrette to taste.

Spicy Thai Vinaigrette

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice or to taste
2-3 teaspoons garlic-chili sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil leaves
1 tablespoon freshly chopped mint leaves
1 tablespoon freshly chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons toasted black sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
kosher salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 cup peanut oil

Whisk all ingredients except for the oils in a large mixing bowl. Slowly drizzle in the oils while whisking. taste and season with more salt and lime juice if needed.

Lexington dry rub and vinegar sauce

This was the first perfect grilling day of the season and I had to do it up right. I made this for our Sunday Night Dinner Club using some nice london broil that was coated in the dry rub and then grilled for about an hour. It came out just about medium. Personally, I prefer medium rare, but this was fantastic. I sliced the london broils and drizzled them with the vinegar based sauce. During dinner, Magnus (yes, THAT Magnus, one of the brothers from another mother) suggested adding some horseradish to the sauce. We did...and the table was silent as each of us had a 'private moment'. Yeah, peeps rawk!!

Lexington Dry rub

4 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients into a small bowl. Stir to mix. Rub into the meat. Seal in a ziplock baggie or plastic wrap. Refridgerate until ready to cook.

Lexington Vinegar Sauce

2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon hot sauce
4 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons of the Lexington dry rub left over
1 tablespoon soy sauce*
2 tablespoons honey*
2 tablespoons horseradish*


Combine all ingredients into a bowl with 1/2 cup of water. Whisk until water and salt dissolve. Place in a large jar and shake to mix. Store in the fridge. Drizzle over meat dish or keep on the side for dipping.

* My own alterations from the original recipe and are optional.

Apple or Strawberry Crisp

Made this on a whim..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....delish!!! also made some alterations along the way!!

Ingredients
Apple Mixture:
10 cups apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
Topping Mixture:
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups oats
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
Vegetable oil or cooking spray
Directions
Combine all of the ingredients for the apple mixture in a bowl.

In another bowl, cut the butter into the flour and stir in the remaining topping ingredients.

Spray the interior of a camp Dutch oven with cooking spray or wipe with vegetable oil. Spread the apple mixture in the bottom of the camp Dutch oven. Top with the topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F by placing 8 coals under the camp Dutch oven and 16 coals on top of the lid. Continue cooking until the apples are cooked and the topping is brown. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

*Alterations: instead of apples, I used sliced fresh strawberries and added in a 1/4 cup of vanilla extract. I also substituted Grape Nuts cereal for the oats in the topping mixture. Kinda gives it a soft crunch!

Broccoli, Chicken, cheese with Pasta

You ever see a recipe in a cookbook you've had FORRRRRRRREVER and wondered why you never tried it, but for some reason, you just had the urge to give it a go? That's where this dish came from and man, am I glad I did. It's simple, fast and of course, changeable. It originally didn't come with chicken, but I thought that it would taste GREAT with grilled chicken added to it. I was right, it did!! I didn't stop there, tho. I added more cheese to it as a topping along with some bread crumbs then baked it at about 450 for about 40 minutes, and voila!! It's cassarole!!! And yes, it was ALL that!!

Ingredients:

1 bunch broccoli
1 package ziti macaroni
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup American or mozzerella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons white wine
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup italian bread crumbs

Directions:

Slice the broccoli into flowerets. Trim and cut the stalks into 1 inch pieces. Steam until slightly tender and set aside. Cook pasta with a tablespoon of salt. Cook al dente. Put olive oil into a skillet over medium heat. Cook until garlic is golden. Cut chicken into thin strips and grill 3-4 minutes each side. Add broccoli and stir for 3-4 mins. Add american and mozzerella cheese, parmesan cheese, butter, broth, grilled chicken and wine. Stir. Reduce heat to low. Simmer until cheese melts. Pour sauce over ziti in a large bowl and toss. To make into a cassarole, put into a cassarole dish, cover with bread crumbs and bake at 450 for about 45 minutes to get a nice crunch.