Sandwiches
YUMMMMM.
Chocolate
So Decadent!!!
Sushi
So Flavorful
Salads
So Invigorating!
Dairy
So Comforting!
Friday, June 08, 2012
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Experimental Cuisine #1 So I Made the Pork Rind cake....
So years ago I saw this wild recipe for a very low carb cake for Low Carbers made out of Pork Rinds.
I never made it,because I thought it was a joke, but it is NOT...
I made it today...
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
"Kracie" Japanese DIY Confection Kits
These 6 cupcakes are about 1 inch tall.
They were created from a Japanese Kit called Popin Cookin.
Friday, June 01, 2012
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Unique Beverages You Should Know About Series #1
Arent you tired of the same beverages and sodas all summer?
Lets look at some new beverages to stir things up...
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Extreme Organization
The flawed and expensive old spice racks
When I first decided to re-open this blog and get serious about it, I needed to do some serious planning, purchasing, cleaning and decluttering in my kitchen so I could create food ideas on the fly at a moments notice...
I looked at my spice racks and noticed they were not air/moisture proof and all my spices had been destroyed so I set out to replace them...
OMG!
As usual, I went way overboard...
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Garlic Bread Pudding
Garlic Bread Pudding
This truly is a party dish! It is best served where there are lotsa of people to share it with as it is
very decadent, and very addictive!
Everyone will get some but not too much or should I say enough? hmmm!
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Fried Green Tomato Rings
It's the start of Spring, The hard Green Tomatoes are just starting to be seen at the market.
Are ya gonna let em sit on your window sill for 2 weeks till they get pink?
NO! Fry them!
NO! Fry them!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Sheetz Ready Made Sandwiches
Pic of the Birdsboro, Pa Sheetz from GoogleMaps
Sheetz is a Gas Station / Convenience Store in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina...
They rival the northeast's Wawa Market in healthy and fresh food options (but Wawa's got more healthier options, more on Wawa later)
Today Im just going to focus on 4 of Sheetz's, pre-made ready to go sandwiches.
Im picking these to highlight in a post cause these types of sandwiches arent supposed to be at Gas Stations....
Cherry Bombs
Cherry Bombs
Cherry tomatoes
Vodka or Tequila
Tabasco (or other hot sauce)
Sugar (optional)
Ice
Kosher Salt
Lemons or Limes
A Marinating Needle
Mix yourself up a nice brew of vodka, hot sauce and sugar.
Use the marinating needle to inject the brew into each tomato! Dont worry if some escapes!
serve in a nice bowl on ice with the kosher salt sprinkled on them
Cherry tomatoes
Vodka or Tequila
Tabasco (or other hot sauce)
Sugar (optional)
Ice
Kosher Salt
Lemons or Limes
A Marinating Needle
Mix yourself up a nice brew of vodka, hot sauce and sugar.
Use the marinating needle to inject the brew into each tomato! Dont worry if some escapes!
serve in a nice bowl on ice with the kosher salt sprinkled on them
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Indian Style Amaranth Leaves
Amaranth is one of the smallest grains in the world.
The plant that grows it has beautiful big hunter green leaves with centers of dark fuchsia.
And it makes a simply delicious, un-"gamey" curry.
Friday, May 11, 2012
New Series -- The 7-11 Gourmet Part 1
Screen shot of 7-11 from GoogleMaps
So years ago I lost my drivers license and couldnt go anywhere. Ill cop to driving my Jeep to the smACME Market at night but once the snows and ice came I could only walk up to the 7-11 to get food, so this is how this series came about...
You too can create a nutritious "Gourmet" meal from things commonly sold at 7-11, in a pinch, if 7-11 is the only place around...
Meal #1
No Cook Pasta Sauce
Cook-free Pasta Sauce
4 plum tomatoes, tops removed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 Large SLICE of sweet Vidalia onion
1 t oregano
1/4th to 1/3rd cup Parmesan cheese
Fresh basil
Salt & pepper
Put all of the above in a blender (I use my Vitamix)
and blend to a sauce, taste, reseason pour immediately over just made fresh hot pasta, grate more Parmesan over top. Serve.
Before Juicers!
Watermelon Punch
(Great for kids to kelp make out on the deck then hose them and the deck off, lol)
1 average sized seedless watermelon
juice of 4-5 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
a big bowl
strainer
gallon pitcher or jug
chia seeds (optional)
Cut the watermelon into quarters, then cut the
watermelon meat out of the quarters and into chunks
and place into the big bowl, wash hands and lower
arms well or put on silicone gloves then get to work, with your hands,
squeeze and squish the watermelon between your
fingers till you think you got it all out, then
strain into the jug in small batches, add the
lemon juice and the sugar, chill well ,serve
If desired sprinkle chia seeds over top of each
glass to simulate the black watermelon seeds enjoy!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
ALDI, My Favorite Things.
For years I would see Aldi and shrug...
I went in a few times mistakenly thinking it was a Scratch and Dent -- I love S&Ds, and upon not finding any of my favorite name brands, walked right out..
But one day I went in and started looking around, and after hearing a few buzzes, I started buying things here and there...and, now I love ALDI.
Aldi is a German company (same company as Trader Joes) who sells QUALITY food under a kinda sorta no name brand.They sell only the most popular items people buy when they go to any Grocery Store. They have no frills, no baggers, no cart retrievers (you have to rent a cart for 25 cents, you get the quarter back) and you can buy bags. So they can have ridiculously low costs.
These are some of my favorite things about Aldi
But one day I went in and started looking around, and after hearing a few buzzes, I started buying things here and there...and, now I love ALDI.
Aldi is a German company (same company as Trader Joes) who sells QUALITY food under a kinda sorta no name brand.They sell only the most popular items people buy when they go to any Grocery Store. They have no frills, no baggers, no cart retrievers (you have to rent a cart for 25 cents, you get the quarter back) and you can buy bags. So they can have ridiculously low costs.
These are some of my favorite things about Aldi
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Assorted Food Post
Simple things like a Kiwi, Dragonfruit & Watermelon Salad dressed in lime juice and honey can be made to look impressive with a unique presentation....
Monday, May 07, 2012
How Cute Are These?
Trail Mix!
For Dogs!
Teeny tiny milk bones, square beefy chews and sweet potato chewy rounds.
Adorbs!
And my dogs love em.
Sunday, May 06, 2012
My Attempt At Making The Ellusive Crystal Clear Ice Ball.
So, the "in" thing right now in bartending is these giant ice balls or spheres.
Simple you think? All you need is water and a mold right?
Welllll, not really.
The trick is to make them CRYSTAL CLEAR, with no cloudy ice bubbles in them....
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Grow Your Own Tea
Black Tea, Green Tea, and White Tea, all come from ONE plant.
The Camellia Sinensis plant.
I bought the Camellia above 6 years ago, it should have been 5 times its original size but Camellias are hardy to Zone 7 and I was living in Zone 6 at the time I bought it (Climate Change has now put me in zone 7A) I was told to bring it indoors every winter which every winter caused half of its leaves to fall off and half the plant to die and need to be pruned back by half, the past 2 winters I threw caution to the wind and left it outside and it thrived and grew...
Friday, May 04, 2012
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Philly Phood And Philm Trip
So I had wanted real French Macarons, I called nearby Aux Petits Delices and their 3 flavors didnt interest me, so I Googled "Macarons Philly" and I found out that a bakery on 17th Street sold all the flavors I wanted (or most of them) So I got in my SUV and drove out there....
It was a great day to drive to 17th Street, as they are filming a movie between 16th and 18th on Walnut Street, so I brought my good camera...
Just in case...
Marmite, Love It Or Hate It! The Tutorial.
This is a jar of the infamous Marmite from the UK.
Marmite is the spent yeast left over from British Beer manufacturing with salt added.
Basically it is liquid Brewers Yeast.
It is high in B-Vitamins.
People discovered it was yummy on toast, and an instant classic was born...
On to the tutorial....
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Chicken Apple Salad With A Creamy Honey Ginger Dressing
Chicken Apple Salad With A Creamy Honey Ginger Dressing
This is a recipe I have been making for YEARS, I invented it when I was on a diet and I didn't like the chicken salad recipe I was supposed to eat on it so I created this. If it is too sweet for you, replace the vanilla yogurt with plain. Like sushi, I can eat this every day for life...
Dressing
1 4 ounce container Vanilla Yogurt
2-4 Tablespoons minced Gari (Pickled Sushi Ginger)
2 Tablespoons Honey
Whisk the dressing, pour it over the following:
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 diced Granny Smith Apple
1 diced Gala Apple
1/3 cup Roasted Whole Almonds
Mix and eat.
YUMMMMMY!!
For Gari without Aspartame (most have it unfortunately) buy this brand:
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Baked Caprese
I created this years ago when I had extra stuff left over from making lasagne.
Baked Caprese Salad
This serves 6 as a light appetizer
2 big fat juicy Tomatoes
Any tomato or smooth spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 "ball" fresh Mozzarella
1 Egg
2 heaping Tablespoons Parmesan
Just a speck of Garlic Powder
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
Fresh Basil
Olive Oil Pam Spray
This serves 6 as a light appetizer
2 big fat juicy Tomatoes
Any tomato or smooth spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 "ball" fresh Mozzarella
1 Egg
2 heaping Tablespoons Parmesan
Just a speck of Garlic Powder
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
Fresh Basil
Olive Oil Pam Spray
Balsamic Glaze (not shown in pic)
Spray each of a six non-stick muffin pan (or heat proof ceramic or glass cups)
Spray each of a six non-stick muffin pan (or heat proof ceramic or glass cups)
Cut 6 1/4 inch slices of tomatoes from the fattest part of the
tomatoes and put one slice in each of the
six. Mix the Ricotta cheese, the egg, the Parmesan and the salt and pepper in a small bowl and divide it up onto each tomato, top with a teaspoon of the sauce. Top with a slice of Mozzarella.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until
they're bubbly and have "risen" a bit from the egg, let cool til lukewarm. Invert each onto a small saucer,
serve with a Chiffonade of Fresh Basil and a drizzle of Balsamic Glaze.
tomatoes and put one slice in each of the
six. Mix the Ricotta cheese, the egg, the Parmesan and the salt and pepper in a small bowl and divide it up onto each tomato, top with a teaspoon of the sauce. Top with a slice of Mozzarella.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until
they're bubbly and have "risen" a bit from the egg, let cool til lukewarm. Invert each onto a small saucer,
serve with a Chiffonade of Fresh Basil and a drizzle of Balsamic Glaze.
You can get Balsamic Glaze at Wegmans stores
Monday, April 30, 2012
Trader Joe's Favorites Number 1 Cioppino
Run, not walk to Trader Joe's and buy this frozen Cioppino!
Cioppino is a spicy tomato based seafood stew, and Trader Joe's has big chunks of Sea Bass, Scallops, Mussels and Shrimp.
Stock up! Buy 10! It is that good!
It says it serves 2, but don't share!
Eat it with a hunk of crusty Italian bread
Trader Joe's Lunch
Yummy!
Trader Joe's Chicken Won Ton Soup with tons of veggies and yummy broth and Won Tons!
Try it....
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Italian Salami and Fennel Salad
Italian Salami and Fennel Salad
1 pound Sliced Salami, julienned
1 large Bulb Fennel sliced almost paper thin
1 Red Pepper julienned thin
1 Yellow Pepper julienned thin
1 Orange Pepper, julienned thin
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
Put it all together, toss, and eat ! Yummmmm!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Cool Sandwich Ideas
Cool Sandwich Ideas
I wrote these all in 1998, most have become commonplace at restaurants
nationwide, but I just wanted to post them this AM for a giggle....
1) Prepare a nice simple salad (lettuce,diced tomatoes,paperthin
onion rings) dress it lightly with your favorite dressing and
stuff your sandwiches with it!
2) One of the best parts of summer is fresh veggies! One of the
simplest brightest flavors is a warm, buttery, Veggie Du Jour sandwich!
steam up some fresh veggies of your choice (I love broccoli) stuff a
roll with some and pour on some butter or cheese sauce and eat!
Cool Salad Ideas
Cool Salad Ideas
I wrote these all in 1998, most have become commonplace at salad bars nationwide, but I just wanted to post them this AM for a giggle....
1) Buy a boxed hard taco meal and fixins, crush the shells,
prepare the meat, chop a few tomatoes, shred a head of romaine
lettuce. put the meat, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, shells in a
large bowl mix some hot taco sauce with some vinegar and pour
over salad. toss, eat.
2) Any bottled sauce can be converted into a salad dressing,
just thin out with a little oil and vinegar, and depending on
the fat content of the sauce you may want to adjust how much
oil you use.
Read More....
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Lavender Apple Sauce
Several years ago there was this Gossip columnist named Rona Barrett. At the last stage of her career she started going into charity work and thru her love of Lavender she started a business selling Lavender scented and flavored products...
One of these products was Lavender flavored apple sauce.
I never got to taste hers, but I have made Lavender flavored apple sauce myself and its a favorite of mine.
All you need to do is peel, core nd chop a few apples, simmer them in water until soft, drain, smash (I like to leave a few chunks for texture) add sugar and powdered dried Lavender flowers to taste....
Very Simple!
If you want yours to be a pretty lavender hue, perhaps for a luncheon buffet, add a few drops of natural purple food coloring (query Amazon)
Its such a welcome change from Cinnamon...
Try it!
If you get to like Lavender as a flavoring, try it in Lavender DRY SODA
PS, only buy Food Grade Lavender as other lavenders can have chemicals and pesticides that can make you sick
Monday, April 16, 2012
Pretty Authentic Gyros
People who know me, know I try to make Ethnic Foods as close to authentic as possible.
If I can I will import ingredients from overseas just to make a recipe authentic.
Gyros are no exception. But I do make them slightly different.
1) Real Gyros are made of sliced meat roasted on a tall upright spit, a spit I do not have nor need so I do make the Greek American Gyro Loaf.
2) Since I can get whole wheat pocketless Gyro Pita Bread I will use it.
My last post was about spices...
Since they stopped selling the dry Gyro mix at the grocery store I wanted to make my own dry mix so when the mood struck me I could make Gyros on the fly...
This is the dry mix I created
1 Cup Bread Crumbs
4 T Onion Powder
2 T Garlic Powder
2 t rosemary
2 t oregano
2 t cumin
2 t black pepper
2 t Salt
2 t marjoram
2 t thyme
I used 1/4th of this dry mix to mix into 1 pound of lean ground beef and 1/3rd a cup warm water. I put it in a loaf pan and baked it in a 375 f oven till it registered an internal temp of 150. I then let it rest and cool and sliced it thin and put 3/4th of it in individual vacuum bags for the freezer and ate the rest on gyro bread with Tzazaki sauce, sliced tomatoes and sliced onions sprinkled with ground Penzeys Sumac (the authentic part)
Sumac is a sour berry that is used in Greek and Middle eastern cooking to add sourness.
You can buy it here :
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeyssumac.html
Saturday, April 14, 2012
On The Fly Fish Taco
So occasionally when I stop at Assi Plaza International Market in Noth Wales, Pa Ill buy a tray of Korean Fried Pollack Filets and Ill have some left over the next day and Ill make a yummy giant fish taco with fresh guac, lettuce and a tiny bit of sour cream. SOO GOOD
Saturday, April 07, 2012
Spreadable Cookies!
So about 3 months ago I was at Trader Joes and while I was checking out I saw this at the check out
SPECULOOS?!
SPECULOOS!?
What in the fuck is SPECULOOS!?
I bought it and brought it home to investigate.
The bar itself was non descript and frankly tasteless, BUT after Googling I discovered that SPECULOOS was basically SPREADABLE COOKIES!
Namely spreadable Biscoff cookies that are a delightful European Gingerbread cookie.
AN if that wasnt enough, I found out that you can buy Speculoos in a JAR for spreading on toast or dipping bananas in!!!!!!!!
ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!
LOOK!
I am IN LOVE with this stuff!
SO decadent!
You cannot put the jar down!
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Being the Food Whore I am (shamelessly so) I then set out to create other cookie spreads!
I immediately thought of OREOS!
How yummy would SPREADABLE OREOS BE?
So armed with my Vitamix, Nabisco Chocolate Wafers, Confectioners Sugar and Spectrum Brand
Organic Shortening I got to work.
I pulverized the wafers in the Vitamix, sifted them, and then added 1 cup of confectioners sugar and enough Spectrum Shortening to make a DECADENT spreadable OREO cookie!
I then went crazy and made 3 others, Strawberry Shortbread Cookie Spread, Lemon Dare Cookie Spread, and Oatmeal Cookie Spread...
Here they are
If you wanna make them yourself, I have some tips
1) Pulverize the cookies in handfuls.
2) Use the Spectrum brand shortening NOT CRISCO
3) if using sandwich cookies scrape the creme out and only pulverize the cookie, you can re-incorporate the creme later.
4) Only use dry hard cookies, not chewy style or jam filled.
5) If you want fruit flavored cookie spread pulverize cookies first then pulverize freeze dried fruit then add .
6) Only use confectioners sugar, or you wont get a smooth spread.
7) Add Protein powder to make this more nutritional.
8) Less is more with the shortening, you an add but you cant take away.
9) This is not a DIET recipe!
Also good on cupcakes!
Have FUN!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Nabe Dinner
Yummy! I made a simple Chicken Nabe with Chicken, Chinese Okra, Green Gourd, Mushrooms, Onion, Carrots, Spinach, Konnyaku and Tofu Puffs. I ate it with a side order of rice and KimChee.The Chinese Okra is actually a young Luffa (Yes, the kind you wash with!) It was good!
I made a Kabocha "cake" but it isnt done yet...
MMMMMMMMMMMMM!
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