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!

a healthy alternative

the title is totally misleading. what i am about to share is not healthy in the slightest but it just tastes so fucking good. i like bananas. i learned recently that they help you not get cramps in your feet which i often experience so i am attempting to eat more bananas. but that is beside the point. bananas. a peanut butter and banana sandwich with a tall glass of milk - heaven on earth. no joke.

so, i buy bananas with the intention of lessening my foot cramps and improving my all around health and they always turn. i'll even break the bunches up at acme and just take home two or three and inevitably the last one or two is dark and spotted and unappealing. thus the utter beauty and joy of banana bread. my very favorite recipe in the whole wide world is from the joy of cooking, a most wonderful and helpful book. the sheer knowledge in the book about fruits and vegetables and meats and how you should clean and cook them is incredible and the kick ass banana bread recipe is just a bonus.

1 3/4 c. sifted flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
2/3 sugar
3/4 tsp. lemon zest (who always has zest on hand? this is optional.)
1 beaten egg (recipe calls for one to two but why use two eggs when one works just fine?)
1 to 1 1/4 c. banana pulp

preheat oven to 350 degrees. sift together flour, baking powder and salt. set aside. blend together shortening, sugar and lemon zest. beat in eggs and smushed bananas. add the sifted dry ingredients in three parts beating after each addition until smooth. now you can fold in any extras. i think dried cranberries or cherries are exceptional. this last time i added some chocolate peanut butter chips and those were also very tasty. pour the batter into a greased bread pan and bake around 1 hour or until done.

i like to let mine cool enough where i can touch the pan and then dump it out and wrap it tightly in foil. but when it is still warm slice of a piece and slather it with real butter (soft butter at room temperature) or if you are feeling guilty eat it plain. it is still delicious. case in point:

a pie in the eye.....or in my belly!

my new thing is pizzas. i have always liked pizza but never been totally over the top for it. why? i guess i've never really had an awesome pizza. the other day i finally had awesome pizza AND i made it myself! i picked up some frozen dough on a whim for 99 cents at (gallucci's) (ok, so i didn't make the dough from scratch. give me a break. i'm just starting!) and i picked up my fixin's - fresh romano, buffalo mozzarella, basil, panchetta, pepperoni, and cappicola at (deviti's). both totally amazing places by the way so if you're in northeastern ohio please go patron them.

i made my own sauce which is a take on the 'five minute tomato sauce' i found on one of my favorite cooking blogs:

1/3 c. olive oil
4 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
2-3 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (unseasoned)
zest of a lemon or a lil' lemon juice

add oil, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes to a saucepan and cook over medium heat about 5-7 minutes until fragrant and bubbly - do not brown the garlic. stir in the tomatoes and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. at the very end add the zing of lemon.

pizza construction is super easy!

saucin' the pies

meat mania pizza
pepperoni, capicola, panchetta, mozzarella, and romano

pizza margherita
basil and mozzarella

finished product
delightful!

an introduction

in my never ending quest to discover and create good eats i've decided to launch a blog dedicated to my efforts. some background information - i started cooking for my family (dad and two younger brothers) when i was about 12 years old after my parents divorced. i was faced with two options; (1) learn to cook or (2) survive only on my dad's hamburger helper, chicken helper, tuna helper, and whatever helper they would come up with next for the rest of my time in the house. i opted for the first.

many years have passed and over time i have acquired quite a repertoire in the kitchen (amateur by many standards but still pretty good from this angle). i love to eat more than anything else in the entire world and cooking good food for my family and friends comes in at a close second.

i'm not a professional chef and i don't pretend to be. i just like to cook. read on and please share your love of good food.