in honor of my lil' bro turning 21...we feast!

last week my youngest brother turned 21 years old. whoa. for some reason i thought he would stay 12 forever. no such luck. when birthdays roll around i usually host a "cousin's sunday dinner" at my place and the whole gang comes over. i let the birthday boy pick the menu. my little bro went with stuffed peppers. the other day i posted a picture of my trusty old better homes and garden cookbook and the recipe in there for stuffed peppers was the one i went with.....more or less.

growing up i cooked stuffed peppers for us alot. everyone loved them and they were really easy. i guess he must've remembered that they didn't suck.

i picked up several kinds of peppers from the market along with all of the other feast fixin's.



my other brother emailed me asking for some heat. to accommodate him i picked up some poblanos and some hungarian hots in addition to the mild and sweet bell peppers. i cleaned these and prepared the stuffin' well in advance so when they got here i just had to pop 'em in the oven. for the bell peppers i used the traditional hamburger, onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, rice and cheddar cheese filling. for the poblanos and hungarian hots i used all the same stuff but substituted chorizo for the hamburger.

with the pioneer woman as my inspiration i tried my hand at some bacon wrapped jalepeno thingies for the appetizer.




first you have to slice the jalepenos in half and scoop out all the seeds and the membrane. now, i know this stuff is hot. that is where all the pepper's heat comes from. and i have cut 'em up before and burned my hands a smidge. one time i even had the misfortune of itching my face (YOWZA!) but nothing and i mean NOTHING compared to the burn these babies gave me. my entire left hand was on fire. it was damn near debilitating. i called my aunt for a possible remedy and she suggested the following: soak your hand in vinegar or milk. i called my boyfriend and he suggested the same. i also asked my neighbor and he too said milk and also mentioned that he'd heard somewhere that chocolate syrup might take the sting away.
they also all suggested washing my hand with dish soap and really scrubbing.

first i tried milk.



that didn't work. then i tried vinegar and that didn't work. then i thought to myself, 'what about buttermilk? that is like the best of both worlds.'



nope. nothing. i smeared hershey's syrup all over my hand and really rubbed it in. i scrubbed them with dawn dish soap and scrubbed at my hand with my lil' potato brush. nothing worked. nothing. and it was horrible.

in the end i just took some tylenol and kept a bowl of cold water and ice cubes to my left on the counter and when the burning got too bad i just soaked it for a minute to relieve the pain. i persevered though and this was the end result:




delicious! you stuff 'em with cream cheese, wrap 'em in bacon, and cook 'em until the bacon is done. these were a smashing success. like off the charts success. thank you pioneer woman!
(and thank you to aj for sending along a beautiful gift bag full of plastic gloves so that i can make these babies again burn free!)

and this is where the photographs end. when cooking up a feast like this for a crew this size there is no time for photo snapping.
maybe i should review my menu for you:


bacon wrapped jalepeno thingies
spicy shrimp and grits
stuffed peppers
steamed broccoli and cauliflower with cheese
lemon tart aka glorified lemon square


adjustments:
wear plastic gloves while scooping out 3 dozen jalepenos! i will also cut the bacon in half instead of thirds - or maybe try to buy longer bacon - so that it wraps all the way around that lil' nugget of goodness.

for the grits - these ones were definitely not as good as the ones i made last week during my cheesy experiment. those were way better. using half milk and half water really made a difference. i of course could not do that this time around since i used nearly all my milk to soak my scalding red peppery hand. (you know i had to take a cold shower? seriously the hot water burned it so bad it was awful. this was some serious shit.)

spicy shrimp - killer! i won't adjust this too much other than to use more beer. thankfully i left a UFO hefeweizen behind on saturday knowing that i would need it on sunday for this dish. however, i had no other beers in the house and i was really thirsty after slaving over a hot stove and i drank about half of it. oops. it was a really, really good sauce and the shrimp went great with it. served over the grits with a spoonful of sauce was pretty damn good.
next time - milk in grits and more beer in sauce.

stuffed peppers - no adjustments. i think i have this one pretty well down. i might try hot italian sausage next time in the hungarian hots and maybe some different cheeses.

cheesy broccoli and cauliflower - i don't really know how to make a cheese sauce so i usually opt for velveeta in a case like this. sadly i lost my shopping list and velveeta was omitted. shit. i had some mild shredded cheddar so i tried nuking it with a little milk and stirring it. eh. it was stringy and not too awesome. next time - don't forget the damn velveeta.

lemon tart - i didn't have a tart pan so i used a springform pan. it worked ok but my crust didn't look very pretty. the whole thing tasted pretty good but it was really just a round lemon square. i'll use this recipe again but just smush the crust down into a pyrex dish and pour the lemon mix on top.

it always feels good to have the people you love most in the whole wide world praise the meal you just cooked for them. really, i can't think of a single better feeling. that is tops for me.

a cheesy experiment

i am like a mad scientist these days with my meals. and why not? i've got nothing better to do and maybe i can learn a few things to impress my friends at a later date. tonight i decided - shrimp and cheesy grits sounded like a good thing to try. i found a kick ass recipe by my home girl paula deen and i went for it!

after work i stopped by klein's seafood and picked up some shrimp. since i was dining solo and didn't want to spend a lot of money on too much food that i couldn't eat i opted for 1/4 pound of shrimp. this is what that looks like:


ha! it's only 6 prawns. it was only like $2 though so that was sweet.

thankfully my ol' friend gin gave me some delicious carolina stone ground grits a while ago. i've only tried them two other times and i just made them like it says on the bag and added a lil' butter at the end. the cheesy, creamy grits i was going for were something brand new. woohoo! so exciting!



according to paula if i have everything chopped and ready to go it only takes about 15 minutes. look - it's just like a cooking show!

instead of just using water i boiled a cup of water and a cup of milk. once it was going i added the grits. paula says it should only take 10 to 15 minutes for all the water to be absorbed but other recipes i investigated said it could take up to an hour. i put 'em on low and let them do their thing. in the end it took about 30-40 minutes.

in the meantime i started frying some bacon and went to my trusty old better homes and gardens cookbook to review my old stuffed pepper recipe for the sunday cousin's dinner i'll be hosting. it was my first cookbook. it was just at the house and honestly i don't know where it came from. anyways, it's old. and used. well worn.

see - look how often i made stuffed peppers. and see those notes? i must've made those when i was about 16 or 17. memories.......



now - back to the grits. they were looking good and my bacon was nice and crispy. i took the grits off the heat and threw in some butter and a bunch of sharp cheddar cheese. i stirred it all up and put the lid on. i took the bacon out of the greasy pan and threw in the shrimp.
mmmmmm. anything tastes great cooked in bacon grease.

after about 2-3 minutes when the shrimp was pink i added some chopped green onions, garlic, and some fresh squeezed lemon juice. i turned off the heat and just stirred it around for another minute or two.



then i threw it all together. i decided to pair this lovely meal with a labatt blue since i picked up a 12-pack for only $8.99. score!



things i would do differently next time - less grits, more shrimp, and even though i love bacon grease i'd tone that down a bit too. not too bad on my first go round though. i just may serve a different version - perhaps this one - as the appetizer for the cousin's sunday dinner.

garden update and homebaked experiments

my garden is really kicking ass. i am so pumped!


huge ass tomato - it's like up to my waist!

baby eight ball zucchini

baby summer squash


i took these photographs while waiting for my bread dough to rise. i've never made real homemade bread before but i was feelin' like getting crazy on a tuesday night so i went for it. oh, and i also just picked up a sweet new cookbook about breads for only $6. the book is by margaux sky and apparently oprah loves her. now i love her.

so i've never bought yeast before and i've only ever noticed it in the cold section near the eggs. turns out that is compressed cake yeast which is hard to measure and confusing. use dry active yeast. it's in the baking section.

her recipe yields four loaves. i thought that was a bit excessive for my first time so i cut it in half. you dissolve the yeast in a large bowl with milk and half-and-half. then you add some melted butter and a lil' powdered sugar. in another large bowl mix together the flour and salt. slowly add the west stuff - like this:



then you mix with your hands. your hands will look this this:



now, even though the recipe clearly states, "keep the dough moist for a soft, tender bread" i thought it was too sticky. so i added more flour which in the end turned out to be much too much. (note - sticky wet dough is good).
i tried my hand at kneading:





after i kneaded for the suggested 7 minutes i put the dough in a buttered bowl, covered it with a towel, and let it rise for 60 minutes. while it was rising i took photos of my garden, drank a beer or two and read some roald dahl . (check out his adult short stories - twisted and sick and awesome). i also started some coals going in my grill for dinner.

after 60 minutes it had risen a little bit. it was not as buttery and big as i remember my mom baking (perhaps due to my flour overload) but i punched it down anyways and divided it in two and put it in some bread pans. it needed to rise to another 45 minutes and my coals were good to go so i started dinner.

remember i said my herbs would make an appearance?
rosemary, thyme and chives. the shallot is from the market.



i had some chicken and and a half of a gigantic potato. i also had a lil' leftover yard sale blow out bbq sauce. just enough in fact for the one piece of chicken (a leg/thigh combo) that i had left. i quartered the potato and tossed them with a little olive oil, some rosemary and salt and pepper and the minced shallot. i folded all that up in the heavy duty, grill worthy non-stick aluminum foil (one of the few things i don't skimp on - cheapo foil sucks) and
tossed it on the grill.

back inside i lifted the skin up off the chicken and stuffed a few sprigs of thyme underneath. after the potatoes had been cooking for about 20 minutes or so i threw the chicken on the grill. oh, and before that i stuck the bread in a pre-heated 400 degree oven.

i took this photograph from my chair behind the grilling while sipping beers, enjoying a nice breeze and really lovin' some roald dahl. seriously - check him out. if he sounds familiar it's because he wrote some kick ass children's stories that everyone knows - "james and the giant peach," and
"charlie and the chocolate factory" for example.



just when the chicken was almost done i started saucing and flipping. i sauced and flipped for about 7 more minutes. to finish up i added the fresh chopped chives to my potatoes.



i paired this meal with a blue moon because i had some in my fridge that a friend left. free! woohoo!



no need to show you a photo of the finished bread. it looked nice. real nice. just like homemade bread should look. however, it tasted like bad pound cake. much to much flour. i redeemed myself though. thursday night i tried my hand at margaux's recipe for english muffins. i bought dry active yeast and started kneading the dough while it was nice and sticky and wet. after the required rising time i spread out the dough with my hands and used a jar to make cut outs. after more rising i cooked them in a skillet for about 5-7 minutes per side.

those babies were delicious! thomas's better watch out! friday morning (pre-4th of july flea market outing) i made breakfast sammiches with them for my peeps. i toasted the muffins and loaded 'em up with a slightly hard dippy egg, sausage and cheese. YUM!

my new goal this summer - make (and possibly perfect) classic old school food stuffs. baking bread is my first real challenge and i've got a ways to go. sometime this summer i'd also really like to try some fresh cherry pie with white cherries. i am currently on the look out for one of those old cast iron cherry pitters. this summer i plan on kickin' it like it's 1908 instead of 2008. stay tuned if you like the old school.

you're the inspiration (cue chicago)

my latest hero is the pioneer woman. her entire website is fantastic but i just adore her recipes and her cooking blog. while scouring her site i came across linguine with chicken thighs and for some reason it stuck in my mind.

this week is pay week. thus i am broke and my fridge is like ol' mutha hubbard until tomorrow. i am currently only working with the essentials. here are my rations (or just a photo of my pantry. whichever.)


so, i didn't have any of the boneless skinless chicken thighs that the pioneer woman raves about. but i did have this. a single frozen boneless skin-on chicken breast.



so with the pioneer woman as my inspiration i put some chicken in my pasta.

first i trimmed off the fat from the chicken and rendered it (kinda sorta) in a hot pan with some olive oil.


i threw out the fatty pieces after they were browned and then added my chopped up chicken breast (don't forget to salt and pepper before cooking).


i boiled some water and cooked some penne pasta. fortunately i made and canned some of my kick ass pasta sauce (remember those pizzas?) a few nights ago. i cooked the chicken and then after it was nice and brown i poured it into a bowl. i deglazed the pan with a little water, reduced it by about half and then put in my pasta sauce. after it was warmed up i put the chicken back in the pan. then i mixed it all together. pretty damn good. i opted to pair this fine meal with a labatts since i was feelin' so classy. ha!

sammich

wednesday i took a 1/2 day off work in order to go swimming with some friends. swimming options are limited in the city and hindered further since two of my three swimming buddies will only swim in chlorinated water. we agreed on waterworks and since it was like 90 degrees the $12 entrance fee was totally worth it.

for my packed lunch i decided on making a pressed sammich that i saw on everday foods last sunday on PBS while nursing a hangover.

i picked up a jar of roasted red peppers, some lettuce and 1/4 pound of genoa salami and soft, delicious provolone cheese from devitis and i found a round loaf of bread at westpoint market. sadly, crest bakery was fresh out.



cut the bread lengthwise and hollow it out. (this photo shows my first attempt - next time i will hollow it out way more - there was too much bread and not enough meat and cheese in that baby. also, i saved the extra bread and made croûtons. delish). anyways, hollow out the bread and then brush the two halves with some of the red pepper juice.

start with the peppers and then layer the meat and cheese over and over and fill up the bread half. top with lettuce and put the top half of the bread loaf back on. (i put the peppers in the top half of the bread - eh. much better to start with the peppers which i will do next time). wrap as tightly as possible in plastic wrap.

now - you press it. put it in your fridge with a cookie sheet on top and put something heavy on top of that to hold it down (i used my cast iron skillet with like 3 bottles of beer in it). i let it stay in the fridge overnight.



i ate like a quarter of this poolside and it was amazing.

yard sale blow out chicken

this past weekend i had a big yard sale and pseudo-block party (a joint party between me and a couple of my neighbors). to feed the hungry crowd i opted for bbq chicken with my new favorite sauce and some cheesy potatoes (in addition to the burgers, dogs, macaroni salad, various dessert, and grilled veggies provided by my neighbors and friends).

i picked up ten pounds of thighs and drumsticks from my favorite chicken purveyor, difeo and sons for only $16! another bonus - klein's seafood is right across the street! my neighbor manned the grill and i gave him the sauce to just brush on for the last 3-5 minutes of grilling. i just seasoned the chicken with a little salt and pepper pre-grilling.

here's the sauce:

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves smashed or finely minced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cayenne peppers
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. black pepper

mix everything together over medium heat. simmer, stirring continuously for about 10-15 minutes. remove from heat and let it sit till you're ready to use it (unless of course you're making it in advance). YUM!

cheesy potatoes (or church potatoes as a guy i work with calls them) are ALWAYS a success and they are super, super easy.

1 bag of frozen hashbrown (cubed not shredded) potatoes
1 regular size tub of sour cream
1 bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 TBL butter

mix everything together and bake in a casserole dish until bubbly. YUM!

update on the lil' city garden



oh man. these babies are really taking off since i repotted them (soil mixed with petitti's planting mix). the rise in temperature (it actually feels like summer now) and the rain has also helped quite a bit. many of the plants have already doubled in size and my one lil' tomato plant has teeny green tomatoes on it!

i also started a pretty kick ass lil' herb garden.


rosemary, basil, thyme, and chives will all be making an appearance soon. summer in the city. woohoo!

straight from the horse's mouth

northeastern ohio is a fantastic place for produce in the summer and akron, ohio is a fantastic city for farmer's markets. in a few weeks you'll be able to get fresh, LOCALLY grown and produced vegetables, fruits, cheeses, meats, breads and a host of other treats (suport your local farmers!). i love farmer's markets. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE farmer's markets.

there is only one thing i love more than farmer's markets - my own homegrown goodies and my lil' city garden!



oh man. look at these babies. i promise to love you and take care of you and i hope that in return you will provide me with a bumper crop of not one, not two, but THREE kinds of tomatoes! i also hope to have zucchini, summer squash, pickling cukes and whatever else i find to fill up the few pots i have left. i also have an herb garden - complete with basil, rosemary, thyme, chives and mint (for mojitos!) - on the way.

stay tuned. i have some really good feelings (and some very high hopes) about this summer!