WOAH I'm BACK!!!!!

Sorry it's been so long....I haven't really been cooking much, but I promise to resume soon.  It is summer time (unofficially) and I'll have a bit more time.....So I will attempt to give you weekly posts, at least!.

Last night a friend that I haven't seen since my birthday in January stopped by.  I wanted to whip up something quick and yummy.... alas


4 Cheese Stuffed Mushroom Caps
15  mushroom caps
2 oz softened Cream Cheese
1 tbsp blue cheese crumbles
1 1/2 tbsp goat cheese crumbles
2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp chopped onions

  Clean mushrooms by taking a wet paper towel and wiping them down.  Remove the stems.

Take the softened cream cheese and add the onion.  Mix well.  Then add the blue cheese, goat cheese and mozzarella cheese. Mix until the goat and blue cheeses are mixed well.  You should still  see the mozzarella cheese.

Preheat your oven to 350.  Take the cheese filling and fill the caps of the mushrooms.  Be sure to spray your pan with non-stick spray.  Bake mushrooms for about 8-10 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and enjoy!

These things were delish and super simple!  I used fresh mushrooms from a produce cart that brings produce into the inner city and sells it at super cheap costs.  This was my second batch of their mushrooms and they were yummy!

Enjoy these for any quick get together!

Fresh Broiled Asparagus

So it's been a really long time....I'm sorry.....life just happens to get in my unmotivated way. But with spring, I tend to want to cook/bake more.  I also went grocery shopping for the first time in 4 months.  Having food in the house helps too.

So here we are.  I made steak with this asparagus tonight.  I ate the whole daggone bunch! That's going to be fun later. (in case you didn't know)

You'll need
Fresh Asparagus
Olive Oil
3 Sun dried tomatoes in oil
2-3 tbsp of Tastefully simple's Tuscan dipping mix
1 tbsp chopped garlic
goat cheese
a little water.

First- take your dipping mix and mix it with a little water.  You could also put it right in the olive oil if you have time to let the mix sit in the oil to infuse.  If not, use water, to break it up and release the flavors.

Then add about 3-4 tbsp of olive oil to a bowl.  Chop and add sun dried tomatoes to the oil.

 Then add the chopped garlic to the olive oil and tomatoes.  Mix and let sit for at least 5 minutes.  Then add your tuscany dip mix and mix well.

Then clean and prep your asparagus.  Rinse and break (don't cut) your asparagus.  Gently apply pressure to the bottom of the asparagus.  It will break naturally.

Then take your asparagus and dip/spread it liberally and thoroughly over the asparagus and lay it on a lined baking sheet.

Place under broiler for 10-15 min or until desired doneness.  1/2 way through, crumble the goat cheese over the asparagus.

Eat all gone. 

I'm going to try and post at least weekly from here on out!

Stuffed Green Curry Chicken

Sorry it's been so long.  Finishing up grad school and working is kinda exhausting. 
Tonight I wanted to cook, so I did.

Driving home, I knew I wanted chicken.  I thought about all sorts of ways to cook it but I wanted curry.  I also have a 1/2 dying basil plant that I need to get some use out of. Hence, green curry.

You'll need
Chicken breast
cumin
marjoriam
tastefully simple tuscan bread dipping seasoning
tastefully simple season salt
red pepper flakes
ancho chilli pepper
basil leaves
chopped garlic
pepperoncini peppers and juices
Sun-dried tomato packed in oil
blue cheese
cheddar cheese


So this was sort of a hap hazard dish. No real measuring.  First take all your spices and lightly toast/heat them.

Then in a blender, food processor, or magic bullet place your basil, toasted spices, garlic, pepperoncini peppers and enough juice to allow everything to mix well.  I put a tad too much garlic in, but it worked for heat!

Allow to mix well until it is a loose paste type consistency.  Take chicken breast and cut so you can stuff things in it.

Add blue cheese, cheddar cheese, and sun dried tomato.  Close the chicken. I used toothpicks to keep it shut only so the stuffing didn't fall out.

Smother with the green curry sauce.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

It was delish! 

I'm trying to be more health conscience now a days.  Suggestions? let me know....

New Year's Day Dinner (posted a week late)

You know how it is.....good intentions, lack of motivation.  Today you will get this and maybe another post later tonight!

So I had my entire family over for New Years Day Dinner.....I wanted to impress them .......and boy did I.

Menu: Stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin (idea from Giada, "baked" apples and cranberries and mac n' cheese.....Mac n' Cheese will not be featured.

Appetizer: Stuffed Mushrooms
8oz softened cream cheese
8oz imitation crab mean
2-3 tbsp of parmesean cheese
3-4 grated garlic croutons
2-3 10 oz containers of whole mushrooms (stems removed and cleaned)

Combine softened cream cheese, crab, and parmesean cheese and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Just before you are ready to cook the mushrooms, clean and remove the stems.  Clean mushrooms using a wet paper towel and wipe them....do not run under water....then they retain so much water.

Take cream cheese mixture and fill the caps with desired amount of filling.  The filling does not run so fill generously.

Grate the croutons on top of the mushrooms. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  You could also broil but I had other stuff in the oven.

I had filling left over so I added some mozzarella cheese and microwaved it for a a dip.  My 11 year old nephew who hates mushrooms inhaled like 7 of these puppies.


DINNER MAIN COURSE: YOU NEED 12 HOURS for PREP

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin of desired size (mine was 6 lbs!)
Bacon
8 garlic cloves
1tsp of fresh chopped rosemary
1tsp of fresh chopped thyme (I used dry)
2-3 tbsp of olive oil.
Chicken stock


It took FOREVER to defrost this damn tenderloin.

In a blender, food processor or magic bullet (I HATED the bullet for this so I switched) combine your garlic, rosemary, thyme, gradually adding the olive oil to make a sort of herb paste.

Take paste and spread generously over your tenderloin.  Cover and refrigerate for about 10 hours to marinate.

Two hours before you plan on cooking the tenderloin, wrap the tenderloin with bacon.  Make sure the bacon overlaps!

Add about 1 cup of chicken stock to keep the meat moist.  Add more about every 40 minutes of cooking depending on how much evaporates. 

Here's where this gets tricky.  Everywhere I looked said 30 min per pound at 350.  I did this and it was done an hour earlier than planned.  The internal temperature needs to be between 150-165.  Bake UNCOVERED!

This pork flew! I fed 10 adults, 1 11 year old and 2 of 3 children under 3 with this tenderloin.  There were only about 4 slices left.  It stayed super moist and had tons of flavor.


SIDE DISH: "Baked" Apples and Cranberries

3lbs of apples (I used Pink Lady and Granny Smith)
1 package of craisins
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of water.

Take a baking dish that is microwave safe and add your water, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Peel and chop all your apples.  Place apples in the mixture as you go to prevent them from browning.

Add craisins and mix well.

Microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Remove and stir.....repeat until apples cook for about 20 minutes.

I didn't have time to take a pic because my family inhaled them.  There wasn't a single apple left. 


Dinner was amazing..Someone later told me pork is good luck on New Year's day.  It was delicious and I got to spend quality time with my crazy family and some friends!

"G" MEN

Ha...you thought I meant Giants, boo no.....even though my Eagles are playing like doo doo.

So this weekend I went cookie crazy, but I saved a new cookie for tonight. GINGERBREAD MEN!!!!

This recipe was easy though some tweaking occurred, I am unsure if I would tweak it again.

Apparently Paula Deen is my cookie hero (wow, weird), but this seemed like the least involved recipe.



NEEDS:
2 3/4 C flour (I used 2 1/2 and needed more, recipe calls for 3 3/4)
1 Stick soften butter
3/4 C dark brown sugar (packed)
1/4 C molasses
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2 Eggs
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (Someone recommended 3/4, but I am not a nutmeg gal)
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt

Icing needs 1 C confect. sugar and 2 tbsp milk with desired food coloring.

First cream butter and brown sugar on low speed until well combined. 

Add eggs and molasses. Mix on med- med-high speed, until the mixture comes together. BTW: Molasses looks and smells gross.

Now for the dry ingredients it tells you to sift them, but who in the world owns a damn sifter anymore? Therefore I simply dumped it all together and mixed it well and carefully with a spatula.  So it's important to note that you need more than 2 1/2 C of flour.....

I actually used a gingerbread man spatula to make gingerbread men HA HA HA

Add dry mixture to wet, using a spoon or spatula to combine.

THIS WAS SUPER STICKY......needed to add tons of flour later, but I could not even handle the dough.  Transfer the dough to saran wrap and wrap.  Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. 

Flour a surface and a rolling pin (NOTE WOODED ROLLING PINS SUCK FOR THIS!!!!!).  Taking small portions of the dough ball, roll to 1/8- 1/4 in thick, cut with cookie cutter.  Before each roll I had to flour the board, the rolling pin and the dough! I line my sheets with parchment for easy cleanup!

Bake at 350 for 8-10 min.

To make icing, mix sugar and water until mixed through.  Add food coloring and decorate as desired

I don't know when the last time I had a Gingerbread cookie was, and therefore don't have a point of reference to compare the taste too.  I ate an entire cookie and wanted more, so that must be good.


In other news, I DESTROYED MY KITCHED....damn flour!  I call myself CHEF MESS for a reason.

Happy Baking!