Lemon Chicken with Olives

1 Tbs. olive oil
4 chicken breasts, about 2.5 lbs
Salt & Pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups black olives (just use pitted halved caned black olives)
1 lemon
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

1. heat oil in frying  pan add chicken and brown on all sides (not cooking the whole thing just giving it color)
2. remove chicken
3. add garlic, cook 30 seconds and remove from heat. stir in 1/4 cup water 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper.
4. return chicken, cover and cook until done.
5. place chicken on serving plate.
6. add olives to pan. with 1/2 tsp lemon zest and 2 tsp lemon juice
7. boil remaining pan juices over high heat until slightly thickened
8. pour over chicken and sprinkle wit h parsley.

I thought this dish was ok. However, my dad and sister who don't like olives loved the way the chicken tasted. This is a quick an easy dish if you are looking for something fast and good.

Ground Meat Pork N' Beans

An old Kowicki family recipe. (we think). This sucker is "depression" food. Meaning my grandma made it up during the great depression. you get a lot of bang for your buck with this one.

1 lb ground meat (beef or turkey)
1 can pork n beans
1/4 cup katchup
1 tsp kitchen bouquet
1 tsp worstershire sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar
Potato


1. peel and boil potatoes (you are mak'n mashed potatoes.)
2. brown meat in large pan
3. add 1 can pork n beans
4. add ketchup, kitchen bouquet and worstershire sauce. stir.
5. add brown sugar and stir
6. heat until everything is warm all the way through.

serve this on top of the mashed potatoes and eat with saltine crackers. It doesn't look like much but it will fill you up fast and is super yummy.

Kielbasa with Cabbage and Potatoes

I did another recipe from The Chew web site. Below is the link to it.

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Classic-Kielbasa-Michael-Symon

This recipe took more beer than I thought it would and I had to send my mom to the gas station to get more because I only had one bottle. I again used Blue Moon and found that it's really good to cook with. I also used smoke Kielbasa because that is what I had. It make preparing this much easier and a bit faster because I didn't have to worry about cooking the kielbasa.

If you like it share it.

Just a little self shout out. If you like this blog share it. make it. enjoy it. It's for you guys.

Follow too. that way I know I'm not doing this for no one. :D

Bacon-Wrapped Scallops on Spinach

Let me start this with a few disclaimers. 1. This shit is expensive! so if you don't have money don't do it. 2. As yummy as it is I personally don't think it is worth it. You might as well go to your favorite sea food joint and just buy it.

12 strips of bacon
2 Tbs wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1/4 cup oil
4 cups spinach leaves (who measures this stuff?)
1/4 red onions
1 lb. sea scallops

1. Heat broiler (High). place bacon on broiler pan and cook until it's pretty cooked but still flexible. (If you do not cook it long enough (like I didn't) then when you wrap it the inner wrap wont cook well.)
2. make sure you drain on paper towels and get most of the fat off (another of my mistakes)
3. once bacon is semi-cooked and dried of fat wrap it around the scallops.  and skewer it.
4. cook 3-5 min per side until bacon is done.
5. in a jar or small container with a lid combine vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and shake until salt dissolves. then add oil and shake again. this is the dressing for the spinach. pull the stems from the spinach and put on plate.
6. cut onion into thin slices.
7. Plate together and enjoy

Like I said its not worth all this trouble unless you are looking for bragging rights. Don't get me wrong it was really really good. but for about the same price and no work you could just go to a sea food joint.

Asparagus with Mushrooms

Can you tell I like mushrooms yet?

This is an easy side dish to go with any meal.

2 lbs. asparagus
1 lb. mushrooms
2 1/2 Tbs butter
salt and pepper

1.Snap key word is SNAP off the end of the asparagus this gets rid of the icky part that will get stringy and gross when you cook them. Quarter mushroom.
2. cook asparagus in boiling salted water until tender, 7-10 min or until a fork slides easily through.
3. heat 2 Tbs butter in pan and cook mushrooms over medium heat until they are soft. 10-12 min.
4. Add mushrooms and remaining butter to asparagus.

om nom nom. eat your greens!

BONUS! Whipped Cream Chocolate Pie

This is such a yummy pie and takes no time to make.

Whipped Cream Chocolate Pie
41/2 ox chocolate wafers
4 Tbs butter melted
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbs powered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 ox bittersweet chocolate curled with vegi peeler

1. pull out the food processor and stick the cookies through it until they are crumbled little bits. if you don't have a food processor I'm sure you can just crumble them by hand.
2. melt the butter
3. in a small bowl combine cookie crumbs with melted butter. once all mixed together put in the bottom of a 10 inch pie pan and cool in the refrigerator.
4. shave the chocolate. take the peeler or  grader or something and get the chocolate in to flakes
5. in a mixing bowl add cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. whip with and electric mixer on high until its like whipped cream (duh).
6. fold in half of the chocolate into the whipped cream.
7. put the mixture on top of the chilled cookie bottom and add the remaining chocolate to the top for decoration.

Enjoy. and try not to eat the whole thing!

Chicken in Beer and Caraway

I am doing this from memory because I just lost the recipe after I made it like an hour ago but this is a very easy very delicious dish to make.

Chicken in Beer and caraway
2 Onions
2 Carrots
3 lbs Chicken (I used 4 chicken breasts)
2 Tbs oil
1 tsp Caraway
1/2 Beer
1 tsp Salt and 1/4 tsp Pepper

1. slice onions and carrots
2. heat oil in pan on high
3. brown the outsides of the chicken. you are NOT cooking the chicken all the way through just getting some quick nice color on the outside. about 2 min. a side. Remove after.
4. put onions in pan and cook covered about 5 min. on med/low heat
5. add carrots and caraway cover and cook anther 5 or so min.
6. add beer salt and pepper. For this I used Blue Moon technically it's an ale but whatever it was really good and that is what we had at my house.
7. add chicken and cover, cook until chicken is cooked through.
8. remove chicken and let the liquid reduce a little by bringing it to a boil.
9. add chicken back for a quick reheat and serve it up.

This was SO GOOD! it was a star keeper too bad i lost the recipe card... womp womp

Along with this meal we had Boiled Red Potatoes the little red ones. boil them up quarter them and serve them as your side dish. perfect meal if I do say so myself.

Every day is an Adventure.

Sorry about the lack of posts...

I went on vacation so my family had to fend for themselves. I made a really good dinner today and promptly lost the recipe card somewhere. I think I outsmarted myself and put it somewhere clever and I can't remember. Anyway I have a lot of good things planed for this week all of which I found in my moms recipe box and are things we have never had before, well most of them are. Once I find the recipe from today I'll add that it was really good too.

Chicken Gina with Grilled Vegetables

This recipe I got from The Chew at http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew
Instead of typing it out for you I will give you a link. There is also video to help you do it if you need help. I will say these few things. Because the chicken is on the bone it takes longer to cook. Also I think you can just do this recipe with chicken brests and not half chickens. Finally, I think the skin was the best part of the chicken so make sure you have skin on your chicken because it has the most flavor.

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Chicken-Gina-Grilled-Vegetables-Shaved-Fennel-Salad-Jason-Roberts

Wooster kids this is a great chance to use that brick that you stole.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce

Sorry there have not been many recipes up. I haven't been making anything exciting. This one is quick and easy however it is a bit pricey.

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce
 4 oz been tenderloin steaks 1/2 in. thick
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 oz package of baby portobellow mushrooms (sliced)
1 cup dry red wine
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp fresh minced rosemary

1. heat nonstick skillet over medium heat. sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. put some olive oil in the pan. add steaks and cook 3 min each side or until it's as done as you want. put on plate and keep warm
2. add mushrooms to pan saute 3 min. until browned (stir constantly to release juices. stir in wine. cook until most liquid evaporates.
3. remove from heat add butter and rosemary until butter melts and pour over steaks

We had this with baked potato I made in the microwave. for this wash some potato. stab them a few times with a fork. wrap them in a damp paper towel and put in microwave on about 50% for a few min.


This was a really good dish. its a nice treat for yourself that doesn't take much time but again the stakes are on the pricey side. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this meal. :( but I assure you it was really good and looked really good too.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Spicy-Sweet Glazed Shrimp

Let me start with some things I learned recently. 1. Be flexible. schedule's don't always work out so your choice of what to cook for that day may move around. for example yesterday I made spaghetti (hence no blog) because no one was going to be home until I left for work. 2. things in the back of the refrigerator may get too cold and freeze. so try to rotate things around. 3. Make sure if you are cooking new stuff all the time that in the middle of the week you do something easy and quick or eat out. You will get sick of cooking and then it's a chore and not fun. It should always be fun.


Can you say Yum? cuz I can and this was yummy. The sauce in itself was delicious. This is also literally the easiest and fastest thing to make ever.

Spicy-Sweet Glazed Shrimp
veggi oil for grill
2 Tbs spicy chili sauce
1/3 cup honey
jumbo shrimp (about 2 lbs) I just got the frozen stuff and thawed it.
salt and pepper

OK for this you literally heat up the grill. stick the shrimp on 2 skewers. so each shrimp is stretched between 2 skewers like a ladder. mix the honey and chili sauce. stick 'em on the grill glaze them cook 'em til they are done and put more glaze one it is that easy.

Blackberry-Cantaloupe Salad
2 cups blackberries
1/2 cantaloupe cut in to pieces
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 tsp grated lime zest plus 1 Tbs juice
2 Tbs thinly sliced fresh mint leaves

1. in a large bowl combine ingredients except mint. cover and let stand for 30 min. or refrigerate up to 2 days (we did none of those things... whoops) add mint just before serving.

This is SO good. the mint is a little over powering so you may just want to leave that out. but it is so refreshing and probably a great snack on a hot day with a nice glass of iced tea.

For both of these things my dad said these are keepers. You see how is opinion is apparently the one that matters. He tends to be the one that says if we keep a recipe or not. Anyway Enjoy these!  There have been adjustments to the menu obviously. I wont be cooking everything that I said I was because something are out of season lime pomegranates (who knew?). and I forgot to get steak but that will probably just be pushed back until I get it.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Poached Salmon with Watercress and peaches

I got a 10 out of 10! from my Dad on this one. It was real good.

Poaching: Verb. to cook in boiling water. (for example hard boiled eggs are really poached eggs.
for Poaching
1 Lemon, thinly sliced
5 whole black peppercorns
Coarse salt and pepper
4 skinless salmon fillets

1. poach salmon in a large straight-sided skillet, combine 6 cups of water with lemon slices, pepper-corns, 1 1/2 tsp. salt. bring to a simmer over med0high then reduce heat to a low simmer. add salmon (water should just cover). cover skillet (big skillets don't usually have something to cover them... so use a cookie sheet if you have nothing else!) and cook until opaque throughout (if you are like me you don't know what 'opaque' looks like so cook it until it is 'flaky') 5-8 min.

For Serving
1 tsp. grated lemon zest plus 2 Tbs. lemon juice (lemon zest is just shavings of the outside of the lemon)
1/4 cup extra- virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 tsp. grainy mustard (mine wasn't that grainy it was just brown mustard but you can use the really grainy stuff with like mustard seed in it)
1 bunch watercress, trimmed (and by trimmed they mean pull the chucks with the leaves off)
2 large peaches thinly sliced (... slicing peaches getting around that seed is a bitch. only one side is ever going to look pretty. embrace it and move on)
1 cup fresh basil leaves (I didn't use that much just a hand full really and it was great.)

1. whisk together lemon zest and juice, oil, and mustard season with salt and pepper. Serve this on the watercress, basil and peach salad as well as the fish.

This was my favorite so far. the dressing is everything. and it turned out so well. I really like watercress. However I warn you it doesn't keep long (hence why this meal was moved up from its original planed day.)
Actually a warning in general a lot of these recipes have time sensitive items I have found. like peaches, and mango and things that don't keep for forever. so I suggest making anything with fruit or things that wont keep well or for long first.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Beef Burgundy Stew

Technically this was not what was on the menu for today but since I forgot to get the stakes for the ...stakes... >.> I had to move things around a bit. But that is OK because I've been home all day and the stew takes a while. Better to not be ruched. So today was Stew and Cesar Salad. The stew recipe came out of a Weight Watcher cookbook 2011 Annual Recipes for Success.


Beef Burgundy Stew


***Cook time 1 hour at min.***
3 Cups frozen stew veggies
2 bacon slices (I'm using apple wood bacon)
1 1/2 lb beef sirloin, cut into pieces (I'm using already cut up beef for Kebabs)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbs H2O
1 (8 oz) pack of sliced mushrooms
2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 cup H2O
1 1/2 Burgundy or other dry red wine
** 1 wine glass** (this is for you to enjoy while cooking)

Proper way to cook with wine

1. pour yourself a small glass of wine to enjoy while cooking. Why the hell not?
2. Place veggies in colander and rinse with cold water until thawed. Drain well.
3. while veggies drain, cook bacon over medium- high heat until crisp. Remove bacon but save drippings in the pan. Set bacon aside.
4. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper, add to dripping in pan. Saute 8 min. until browned. Remove and keep warm (i recommend sticking it in the microwave).
5. Stir in 2 Tbs water and mushrooms, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 4 min. until mushrooms are browned, stirring often.
6. Return bacon and beef to pan.Gradually stir in flour, add veggies, 1 cup water and wine. Bring this to a boil; cover reduce heat and simmer 45 min. or until stew is thickened and veggies are tender.

Cesar Salad
romaine lettuce
Parmesan cheese
croutons
Cesar dressing

I'm lazy so I'm just throwing the salad together and NOT making my own dressing. Who wants to do that? then you have to get those nasty little fish and sometimes it is better if people don't know what is in things that taste good.

So this was a nice quick and easy stew and it didn't make a lot of dishes which I of course like. My dad gave this another 8 and said that there was just something missing like more salt and pepper or garlic or something. my mom and sister liked it and I absolutely LOVED the mushrooms.
You have to simmer the stew for 45 min. so make sure you don't make rolls or the salad too early.
So like I said the mushrooms are the best part and I would make mushrooms in burgundy alone.

Everyday is an Adventure!

BONUS! Watermelon Mojitos!

Summer is a great time for Watermelon and drinks so why not put them together! I found a recipe in Everyday Food for this and was really excited to try it.


Watermelon Mojitos
1/2 small seedless watermelon, cut into chunks
1 bunch of mint
1 Tbs super fine sugar
1 1/4 cup white rum

1. in blender puree watermelon. pour through a time mesh sieve into a liquid measuring cup. pressing solids to extract as much liquid as possible (3 cups)
2. in a large container, combine mint, sugar and lime. with the back of a spoon crush min and lime until sugar is dissolved. add water melon juice and rum, fill container with ice. stir to combine, serve over more ice with mint sprigs.





Ok first things first let me just say YUM! this is such a yummy drink. The whole cutting up the watermelon and getting the juice is tedious work though so if you can find (or there is such thing as) watermelon juice I suggest that. Not a concentrate though it wouldn't be as good that way. But I'm sitting here now still drinking it and loving it. It is a wonderful summer day drink for hot weather. very refreshing.

Be safe when you drink.
Everyday is an Adventure!

Mojo Pork Kebabs & Shaved Cucumber Salad

Today is a squelching 86 degrees outside. However it is nice and cool inside with the A/C on and we would like to keep it that way. So today will be grilling. I got all of the recipies for today from a magazine called Everyday Food.
Mojo Pork Kebabs
Serves 4-6. 40 min to make
*** There is a marinade to prep at least 1 hour early. ***

1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon (tsp) red- pepper flakes
3 Tablespoons (Tbs)lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 cup Orange juice (2 oranges) plus 1 orange cut into 16 pieces
2 Pork tenderloins cut into pieces (I used cubed pork to make my life easy)
1 large English cucumber, cut into 1 in. rounds
salt and pepper

1. In a small pot, combine oil, garlic, and red-pepper flakes over medium-low. cook until garlic is soft, 15 min., swirling occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in lime and orange juices, and let cool 15 min.
2. in zip-top bag, toss pork with half of marinade and refrigerate at Least 30 min. (or for up to 12 hours); refrigerate remaining marinade.
3. Hear a grill or grill pan to medium-high, clean and lightly oil grill. thread pork, orange and cucumber onto skewers. Season with salt and pepper. Grill kebabs 3-5 min per side for medium. Brush with reserved marinade and serve.


Shaved cucumber salad
Cucumbers (3)
Celery
White Onion
Mayo
Champagne Vinegar (can substitute white wine vinegar)
Salt & Pepper
cilantro

1. with Veggi peeler shave cucumbers in long strips, stopping when you reach the seeds. Reserve 1 center.
2. Thinly slice 2 stalks of celery and 1/2 medium white onion.
3. place celery, onion and shaved cucumber in bowel.
4. in blender, puree reserved cucumber center, 1/4 cup mayonnaise,1/4 cup fresh cilantro, 2 1/2 tsp champagne vinegar (I used white wine vinegar), season with salt and pepper and add to bowl.
5. toss in bowl to combine and top with celery leaves if you want.





So some things about this meal. if you don't like cucumbers don't make the salad. I'm not a huge fan of them and I enjoyed the salad cut I couldn't eat a lot of it. However, my mom liked it a lot. My sister who is allergic to fresh fruits and veggies LOVED the grilled oranges as did everyone so grilled oranges are a good for any occasion. I decided that this meal involves too many cucumbers (surprise). When you try it try replacing the cucumbers on the kebabs with pineapple or another fruit they really add to the pork that was already marinated in goodness.
Having said that. When you make this make sure you make the marinade ahead of time. If you are doing everything on your own make the salad early too because it only takes about 5 or so min. to grill the kebabs. Over all the Kebabs were the shit. Cucumber salad... well only if you like cucumbers, however, if you need to take a dish to a party this does look real pretty and is a nice twist on a classic dish.

Everyday is an Adventure!

Gyro's and Tabbouleh

First day of my cooking adventures does not start hard. This is for a few reasons. 1. It's Saturday and I am lazy. 2. It was really hot today. 3. I wanted to start off easy. 4. I may have had work and not been home. 5. Mostly this reason, We had Gyro meat in the freezer.
My Grandfather was Lebanese and he loved to make us Lebanese food Tabbouleh (sometimes spelled tabouli) was one of my favorites. I realize that gyro's are Greek but the go really well together and the Greek eat tabbouleh too. Anyway it was a really simple meal to prepare.

Tabbouleh
Bunch of Parsley
Lemon
Tomato
Green Onion
Bulgar Wheat
Oil

for this you need to start by soaking the bulgar wheat in water. then start cutting everything up and putting it in a bowel. Cut the leafy parts of the parsley off and add those, discard the steams, no one likes those. cut the green onion in small slices, just the white onion part not the green part. cut the tomato into small cubes. squeeze out the juice of the lemon add some oil (I just do this by memory so i don't have measurements sorry). add the bulgar wheat now that is has been hydrated and toss.
you will be munching on this all the time. I have bowls of it for lunch and snacks.





Gyros tomato
gyro meat
pocket pita bread
white onion
cucumber ranch dressing

This is the easiest thing ever, cut your veggies to the size you want. cook the meat on a skillet. assemble. Tada!


Hope you enjoy this first one. Let me know what you think!
Everyday is an adventure!

Menu

Sat. 9th Gyros & Tabouli
Sun. 10th Mojo Pork Kabobs & Shaved Cucumber Salad
Mon. 11th Beef with redwine and mushrooms & Baked Potatos
Tues. 12th Spaghetti & garlic bread
Weds. 13th Turkey Tacos
Thurs 14th Honey-Balsamic chicken with pom-mango sauce
Fri. 15th Poached Salmon w watercress & peaches
Sat. 16th Spicy- Sweet Glazed Shrimp & Blackberry- Cantaloupe Salad
Sun. 17th Beef Burgundy Stew & Cesar Salad


All sounds so good!

What I learned while Shopping

Did you know Pomegranates are out of season? yeah apparently their season is September to February. How lame is that?! I want Pomegranates in the summer when it is hot. The seeds are yummy on salads and are needed for one of my recipes this week. But all is not lost, I have a few more places to try looking for them. champagne vinegar. Really hard to find... still working on that but I need to tomorrow.. looks like we my substitute. I also learned that Wine is confusing and if you go shopping with your mom she may pay for your alcohol especially if you need it for cooking and then got some extra stuff. Bonus! Also self checkout is the devil never move the bags. Let me get on my soap box for a second... If you have bags that you can re use please do so. Save the planet from some plastic, groceries use a LOT of plastic bags. Next post will be the menu for the week yay!

Welcome!

Welcome to my Adventures in cooking Blog! I have been encouraged by my friends to blog about my adventures this summer as I cook my way through recipes that I find in my quest to cook through all the stuff my mom has in the freezer and as a way to make her buy less random stuff while shopping. It is also a quest to eat healthy... sometimes. I start the week by making a Menu and listing the ingredients, this helps with the shopping list. On this menu I also include the cookbooks or locations of the recipes so that if I am not home to make dinner someone else can do it just fine without me. On this blog I will include the recipes that I use for each meal as well as a photo (hopefully) and my opinion of the dish. I hope you enjoy this blog and it helps you to branch out and try new things! If you have things you would like to me to try let me know or if you have challenges for me, like cooking for a poor college kid (I may do that when school starts up, although I did graduate) Also included in this blog may be some yummy alcoholic drinks that you may want to try.