Cooking Pet Peeves

I love to cook! I like being in a kitchen, turning on the radio and just making something yummy and awesome.

I enjoy making food. I really like it when I have people enjoying the food that I made. I appreciate feedback.

However, I have some pet peeves . . . (I talked this over with Turtle and Zeroman, and they agree.)

I hate cooking with people who do not know their way around food or the kitchen. (They can’t even wash a simple dish. I don’t mind serving them, but they can stay out of the kitchen if they do NOT want to learn.)
Or people who think they know it all, because they have watched two cooking shows, but try to serve raw chicken. (The Food Network is amazing, I have so many show I love on there, but you need to know the basics first because imitating someone else’s cooking style.)
Picky eaters. . . (I hate cooking for hours at a time for someone to nick-pick my food. I think you should learn to cook for yourself)

Cooking is an exploring science. (Yes, most who know the kitchen, may not measure, but I always suggest taste as you cook, especially herbs, seasons, and sauces. Even the most studied chef will experiment with seasons, meats, veggies, and flavors.)
Baking to me is precise science. (You really need a recipe and to measure to get the brownies, cookies, cakes, or pastry exactly the way you need them. Measuring cups and spoons are baker best friends.)

If you don’t like to cook, then find friends who do.

If you are picky on your food, find people who are just ask picky.

Leafy Salads

I knew if I just posted “Salads” that someone would say there are so many out there. . . (from leafy to protein like chicken or tuna to potato and pasta etc.) I love many different salads.

However over the weekend we made an awesome leafy salad. . .

I had few salad mixes. . . it ice-burg lettuce, Kale, greens, spinach, shredded carrots, and red cabbage. We added tomatoes, mushrooms, green pepper, and shredded pork and shredded cheese.

We have a south-western ranch or Italian dressing.

When I go to a restaurant, I don’t mind a simple salad before my main meal. However when I am at home everything is in my leafy salads. . .

I love fresh spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, snap peas, black olives (sliced), shredded cheese (prefer white cheeses), sunflowers, flavored croutons, and whatever else will work. Plus I will cut up lunch meat or cube or shred chicken. My salads usually become a huge part of the meal. I even love having bacon in my salads.

Whenever I make a salad and my family is home, I usually end up making them salads too. I like to think of myself as a creative salad. . . I’m not sure if I am to master level yet. LOL

Growing up, whenever I would visit my grandparents for dinner, they could always have some kind of salad with dinner. My grandma got me into sprouts, poppyseed dressing, and adding chopped nuts in salad. I love the crunch and freshness.

I try to eat salad at least once a week.

Busy Weekend

Theme: Bacon

Zero, Turtle and I got another change to work in the huge kitchen again. Saturday we made so much. It was a really nice night, and we accomplished so much.

Zero made Mayo and BBQ chicken with homemade mashed potatoes.
The mayo chicken was creamy and really good with some black pepper over those mashed potatoes.

Then we got out the bacon. . .

Zero made two meatloaves . . . Plain BBQ glaze and cheesy stuffed bacon wrapped one.
I personally loved the bacon wrapped meatloaf just a bit more. (It was even better the next day.)

Turtle made a roasted chicken with bacon and green pepper stuffing.
It was really good and very juicy. I also didn’t realized that green pepper was that good in stuffing. I learned a few things this weekend.

We also got a bag gruyere cheese from a friend as they have extra. We took the cheese sauce with thinly sliced potatoes and of course bacon and made our own homemade au gratin potatoes.

We also made bacon saute yellow squash and french fries.

We had so much food left over. I didn’t have to cook on Sunday. We had left over for dinner and still some left. Yay.

It was nice that we put down the Internet and the phone and just focused on the food. Sometime we need to forget everything around us and focus on what in front.

By the way, I love bacon!

Lemon Pepper Chicken

Today, I took lemons and lemon pepper seasoning and put them in the boil water to cook the chicken thighs.

I pulled the thigh out when I felt they were cooked but not over cooked.

Then I took 1/2 cup of veggie oil, butter and infused lemons in it.

I fried the outside of the chicken thighs with the lemon oil. I fried the lemon halves.

I made the skin crispy.

It turned out really good. It was tart and with the grill marks had like a BBQ feel to it.

Chicken A La King

I am making Chicken a la King
It’s one of my mom’s favorite dishes.

My recipe is very easy. . . (recipe made for 3 to 4 people)

Chicken a La King

Pound of chicken (cubed or shredded as long as it’s cooked)

Two small cans of cream of mushroom soup

2 cans of milk (after emptying the soup)

Can of peas

Extra mushrooms or grilled onions (optional)

I usually put this over rice. However I using egg noodles instead of rice. (You can also put this over potatoes.)

Today I am getting creative.
I have an extra biscuit roll, so I taking the chicken broth making extra chive dumplings for a side dish.

Take biscuits cut them into small pieces

Cook them in boiling broth until they cooked through and tender (stirring every few minutes.) You can put the sauce from Chicken A La King or just add butter.

It’s a simple dinner and it’s easy way to get your family member (kids and adults) to eat their peas.

Note: the original recipe has peas, but I have replaced peas with corn or green beans in the past.

Soupy Weekend

Out kitchen situation is very complicated. We got an opportunity to be in a kitchen large enough for all three of us to cook. So Saturday (March 9^th) we decided to make stew and soups.

Zeroman made Stew. It was extremely peppery and favoriful. It should be sold in diners. It was a bit thin on the first day, but it thicken up by the second day. I forgot to get a picture.

Turtle, Zeroman, and I made cheesy broccoli soup and Clam chowder. They were awesome and lasted almost four days. We also made biscuits and fish with it.

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Soup. It was very creamy and rich. I had hold myself back from over eating. I enjoyed the larger chunks of broccoli and chicken.

Clam chowder. It was full of clam and had amazing rich and flavorful creamy broth. It was a bit thinner than I want. However it turned out awesome for our first try at Clam Chowder.

To end an awesome Soup and Stew Saturday,
I even made a fruit cocktail yellow dump cake.
It’s simple empty a can or two of fruit cocktail on the bottom with the liquid. Then make a yellow cake mix and pour over.
Bake at 350 just as cake box suggests.

You can serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Sunday (March 10^Th) Turtle and I took left over biscuits, some ham, 3 minute eggs, and then drizzled the left over cheese soup over all of it. It was our simplified Eggs Benedict for breakfast. . . it was awesome. I almost just as good as a hollandaise sauce.

Favorite Foods

Beck

Pastas: Lasagna, Mac N Cheese

I love sandwiches: Grilled cheese, Monte Cristo

Soups: Cheesy Broccoli soup, Cheesy Potato

(All of my foods usually have some kind of cheese in it)

Chocolate: cakes, ice cream etc

Turtle

Chicken Cordon Blue

Tacos

Chicken dumpling

Zeroman

Corn-beef Reuben

BBQ ribs

Bacon Mac N’ Cheese (with shredded BBQ ribs in it)