Ribs and Rice Cakes

There's really not much else to say,

Delicious ribs with a side of asparagus and rice cakes,

perfectly balanced.

Who wants to come over for dinner??

Patty

Jam Burgers!

If you've ever wanted to spice up your burger,

Jam Burger is the way to go.

Lou started by creating his own salsa,

including fresh tomatoes, onions, mangoes, and yellow cherries,

seasoned and cilantro-ed, of course. 

But the secret to a Jam Burger,

is to put the salsa not only on the burger as a garnish,

but to include it in the mixture!

Definitely try this at home :-)

Patty

The ONLY Way to have.... Fajitas!

Lou is ruining my tastebuds,

seriously.

The other night we had fajitas.

ENTIRELY from SCRATCH!

Tortillas, according to Lou, are easy-p-z.

And homemade, they have this unique crispy freshness,

plus his little hints of spice,

that just make the fajita melt in your mouth.

Just see for yourself! 

The goods.

 And, again, no left overs.

You did it again, Lou :-)

Mouthwatering Macaroni & Cheddar Cheese

AND HOTDOGS AND BROCOLLI.

Lou whipped this up the other night. 

Ok, probably a few weeks ago.

It was one of Lou's quick and dirty meals that would have taken me hours,

but he can pretty much make in his sleep.

Which works out pretty well for me :)

Nom!

What's your quick and dirty go-to meal?

What's your favorite thing to add to macaroni?

 Patty

Fresh Zucchini Bread

So... zucchini's alias is 'green squash'... who knew?
I sure didn't, I should have known this was a trap.

RECIPE TIME!!!

Zucchini Bread:

Dry Ingredients

•  8 oz Sugar
• .1 oz Baking Powder
• .08 oz Baking Soda
• Pinch of Salt, Cinnamon, Nutmeg
• 5.3 oz Bread Flour
• .75 oz Pastry Flour (Pastry Flour is 40% Bread Flour, 60% Cake Flour, I couldn't find it in the store so I just followed the ratio)

Wet Ingredients

• 2.6 oz Beaten Eggs (eggs are always abused)
• 9 oz Shredded Zucchini (its not really wet, but it's gotta go somewhere)
• 2.6 oz Melted Butter

Combine all wet and dry ingredients and whisk vigorously for about 5 minutes.  Line a loaf dish with parchment, and pour your batter in, make sure to use a rubber spatula to get all that batter in the dish.  350°F for 45 minutes to an hour, best way to check is with a toothpick, if it comes out clean your bread is done.

Sift Dry stuff after adding them all together.
Sifting helps not only remove lumps where dry ingredients may have absorbed moisture, 
but it also makes for a more homogenized mixture.  
Droppin' dat knowledge.

Look concentrated, and cute, while doing it.
Im not cute, I'm manly.  Manly man I am.
Manly. Manly AND cute. 

Cut two zucchini in half width-wise.

Take a spoon and scrape out the seeds.

Grate two zucchini (or two green squash) with skin on.
This paragraph was brought to you by the department of redundancy department. Wakka wakka.
Har har. Don't drink and blog. Lesson learned.

Scale measurements are almost always better recipes.
Yeah.. I love eating me some scale measurements.
Scales are yummmmy. 

Whisk about two eggs and the other liquids together.
After you have your wets and dries all together you must combine them, 
you have to whisk the living crap out of the batter for about 5 minutes.
Your forearems are mighty in shape... from all that whisking! 

Diligent notes. 
 Baker's Percentage is serious business.

Warmin' up the butter.

Fresh out of the oven.

Enjoy :)

And that's all I have to say about that.
All I have to say is: "OM NOM-na-NOM-GNASH"

Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalepenos!

Once you see these...

there's no going back.
Once you eat them... they were just so good.

Sliced jalepenos, baked until soft. 

Stuffed with cream cheese whipped with a dash chili pepper

<Probably some other spices in there too?>
Clever girl: Smoked paprika ;)

Wrapped in pre-fried bacon perfection.
Corrections : Steamed the sliced jalapenos, the whole package was then baked at the end, make that cheese all gooey'n'warm.

Mouth watering, yet?
Most important lesson from this cooking experience: Slab bacon from a butcher is awesome.  Spiderweb bacon with all fat and no meat from your grocery store is crap.  Pure crap.
Thick. Slab. Bacon.

Celery & Franks Red Hot - Bleu Cheese Sauce

Superbowl Done Light! 

GO GIANTS!

Orange Ginger Salmon with Rice Noodles

A creation Lou made a few nights ago:

Marinate Salmon in dressing of your choosing. 

We used an Orange Ginger Soy marinade (La Choy).

Lou was angry he didn't make his own sauce,

he had to use this one because my mom gave it to him.

He got kiss-up points for using it. 

Lousclues**I've done rubs, but I haven't ventured into marinades yet.  I imagine you use stock, and drop a flavor bomb into it, followed by whatever it is you'd like to enhance.  I feel shame when I use pre-made products, like it's cheating.

Bake Salmon and shred. 

Below are the rice/Thai noodles we used.

The noodles were pre-soaked in water, and maybe salt?

No salt, this time, it was an afterthought, oopsie poopsies.

Fresh orange was grated and squeezed over the concoction to give it a light, tangy flavor.

I'm not sure at what step this was done. 

I'm not observant that way.

IIRC I tried to use my muscles to make juice once I was happy with how cooked the veggies were, shaved off some rind for zest too.  Little corn starch for thickness too!

Vegetables were chopped and sauteed in low-sodium chicken broth. 

Lou chopped brocolli, carrots, water chesnuts, onions, and bean sprouts.

Various seasonings were added. 

After the vegetables had softened, Lou added the salmon.

Noodles were boiled and once softened, added to the mix.

There was some stirring and some seasoning involved.

And then I was handed this!

A Salmon - Thai Noodle success!

 Seconds were definitely had.

And thirds.
What she isn't telling you: we stood around the bowl of leftovers going spoonful for spoonful.  

Thanks for stopping by!
Stay Classy!

Do you use any good marinades?

Do you have a good recipe for an Asian/Thai inspired marinade?

I'm in the market for a good peanut-sauce recipe, does anyone have one?

French Onion Soup

 Begin by cutting 2 vidalia onions ,

proceed to carmelize on stovetop in 1 tbsp of butter, 

2 cups of white wine (chardonnay)

**EDIT: 1 cup of white wine for you, one for the broth :)**

**Louisedit**: Add enough wine to cover the onions, make sure to cook the wine/onion cocktail down to a nice syrupy consistency.  2 cups is wtfwaytoomuch.  Also, if you're cooking for company, you might want to figure 2-3 onions PER person, those suckers cook down to nothing.

Delicious, delicious nothing.  Louis out.
 

and low sodium reduced fat chicken broth.

**Louisedit** : Dont forget the cow broth too!  It's 50/50.  If you're a fancy pants you can use beef consommé.

Cut loaf of italian bread into slices. 

Grate gueryere cheese on top. 

Lightly Toast.
**Louis Edit** : Toasters are for suckers, Broil that s*!t.

Add parsley and Parmesan.

Enjoy :)

Turkey Meatloaf with Spinach, Gorgonzola, Onion, and (of course) Lou's Infamous spices

Seasoned Pork Tenderloins with breaded Tomatoes in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Tender Lamb with Potatoes, Onions, Baby Bellas, and Red and Green Peppers

Spinach, Portabella, Gorgonzola Cream Sauce Egg Noodles

Thai Coconut Chicken

Chicken, onions, peppers, chilli garlic sauce, coconut milk, and other Thai spices of Lou's delicious blend variety.
Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Grilled Asapargus, Potatoes & Carrots

It was NOMASAURUS-REX!

Tripasta in Tomato Vodka sauce

Scallops, Bacon, Tomatoes, Spinach with Balsmic Vinagrette and Portabella Mushrooms with Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce