After we watched the Cerritos fireworks, this 4th of July, my friend allowed me to join in on her exclusive waffle party.
It is easy and simple, which i love, and is absolutely delicious.
What you are going to do is toast a waffle a little bit longer than your desired toastiness (if that's a word), but don't burn it, no one wanted to taste burnt when eating ice cream. When that's done, spread on a layer of of creamy peanut butter. Nwxt is the chocolate, we used regular chocolate spread, but I think it's better if you use melted chocolate. Then, scoop on a scoop of your favorite ice cream, preferably something that doesn't have any pieces in it. I'm a vanilla man, which works beautifully.
To melt chocolate, take two pots, one that fits into the other. Fill the bottom one with water, just enough so that the bottom of the smaller pot is touching the water, but make sure you have, at least, one and a half inches of water. Once the water is hot, add your chocolate. Remember to use plain chocolate, nothing that has a filler or nuts in it. You can also use chocolate chips. Mix it, with a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, until it is completely melted.
The good thing about this is that it's sharable, you really done need to eat more than half the waffle to get the "aw ya" feeling.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Hash Brown Fries
I love french fries, who doesn't, right? I've been making my own fries for a while now, because not only is it cheaper to buy whole potatoes than those frozen bags of ready made fries, but this way I make them just the way i like them and I get to control the amount of oil that goes in.
I call them hash brown fries because I make them in two different ways. the first way, they come out more like hash browns and the second way, they are more like french fries.
For both recipes, all you need is a potato or two, a little bit of oil, your favorite dried spices and a frying pan.
For the hash browns, cut the potatoes along the length of the potato (the short way) about 1/4 inch thick circles, then cut the circles into 1/2 inch strips. Place the potato strips into a bowl with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil per potato. Mix in your spices, I like to use garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder. Throw that into your frying pan, keep an eye it for the first minute or two so that the potatoes dont stick to the pan. When the potatoes start to clump together, dont worry, thats supposed to happen. Once that starts to happen you can either turn the heat way down and let it cook, or you can continue to watch it.
For the french fries, you are going to prepare the potatoes the same way, except for two differences. The first is cut the potatoes along the width (the long way) keeping them about 1/4 inch thick, then cut them into strips about 1/3 inch thick. The second thing you are going to do is once the potatoes are cut up in your bowl, fill the bowl up with water, then drain all the water out. That is going to wash off the "juices" from the potato that keeps the strips clumped together for the hash browns. Additionally, you need to keep an eye on the fries regardless of how high the heat is. Burnt fries are bad fries.
I call them hash brown fries because I make them in two different ways. the first way, they come out more like hash browns and the second way, they are more like french fries.
For both recipes, all you need is a potato or two, a little bit of oil, your favorite dried spices and a frying pan.
For the hash browns, cut the potatoes along the length of the potato (the short way) about 1/4 inch thick circles, then cut the circles into 1/2 inch strips. Place the potato strips into a bowl with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil per potato. Mix in your spices, I like to use garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder. Throw that into your frying pan, keep an eye it for the first minute or two so that the potatoes dont stick to the pan. When the potatoes start to clump together, dont worry, thats supposed to happen. Once that starts to happen you can either turn the heat way down and let it cook, or you can continue to watch it.
For the french fries, you are going to prepare the potatoes the same way, except for two differences. The first is cut the potatoes along the width (the long way) keeping them about 1/4 inch thick, then cut them into strips about 1/3 inch thick. The second thing you are going to do is once the potatoes are cut up in your bowl, fill the bowl up with water, then drain all the water out. That is going to wash off the "juices" from the potato that keeps the strips clumped together for the hash browns. Additionally, you need to keep an eye on the fries regardless of how high the heat is. Burnt fries are bad fries.
Home made Marinara sauce
I am a HUGE fan of marinara sauce. I would put it on everything I eat, if it wasn't for the looks people give me. I'm talking about everything, from breads to veggies. I can't get enough of it, it's so good!!!
There are plenty of decent jarred marinara sauces out there, but nothing beats some good old fashion homemade marinara sauce. The recipe I've been using for a while now is real simple and mmm mmm good.
I start off with two can of tomato paste, one can of tomato sauce, and if I'm feeling up to it, about three medium tomatoes, if not I use one can of diced tomatoes, including the liquid. If you decide to use fresh tomatoes, you have to get the peel off of them before you cut them up. The easiest way to do that is by blanching them. Once the sauce and paste are in the pot, turn the flame on to medium to high heat, mix it really well so that the tomato sauce and paste are completely mixed together, and cover it.
To blanch your tomatoes, what you want to do is bring a pot of water up to a boil. While the water is heating up, cut out the core (at the top) from each tomato and then cut an X out on the bottom, just deep enough to break the skin. That will help you peel the skin off when you're ready. Once the water is boiling, submerge the tomatoes in the water. Let them sit for about 2 - 3 minutes. After that, put them in a bowl of ice water, this will stop the cooking process. Once the tomatoes have cooled down enough, go ahead and pull the skin off with your fingers. If it's done right the skin will come right off. Then chop them up into small chunks and throw them into the pot.
Next, I like to add onions. I use one medium yellow onion and about a half of a red onion. I dice about half of the onions up really fine and the other half to about the size of my pinky nail. Then, throw that in to the pot.
And of course, what's a marinara sauce without fresh garlic? I use about 4 - 5 cloves of garlic, feel free to use less. and just like the onions I dice half up really fine and the rest into thin slices. and throw that into the pot as well.
By now your sauce is fairly hot, and you should start to see small air bubbles coming up. Now add your seasons, I like to keep it real simple, all I use is some salt, pepper and oregano. But again, feel free to make this your own and add whatever you like.
Reduce the heat to a medium to low heat, and let that sit until you get the desired thickness you want. I like it pretty thick, to the point where if I scoop some out with a spoon, I can almost turn the spoon upside down without it dripping. But if you like it a little liqiudy, mix in about 1/4 of a cup of water. Just keep in mind, if you add more water make sure you add more seasonings.
It should take about 10 to 15 minutes to cook. Don’t walk away from it, because if it burns on the bottom it will be a pain to clean.
There are plenty of decent jarred marinara sauces out there, but nothing beats some good old fashion homemade marinara sauce. The recipe I've been using for a while now is real simple and mmm mmm good.
I start off with two can of tomato paste, one can of tomato sauce, and if I'm feeling up to it, about three medium tomatoes, if not I use one can of diced tomatoes, including the liquid. If you decide to use fresh tomatoes, you have to get the peel off of them before you cut them up. The easiest way to do that is by blanching them. Once the sauce and paste are in the pot, turn the flame on to medium to high heat, mix it really well so that the tomato sauce and paste are completely mixed together, and cover it.
To blanch your tomatoes, what you want to do is bring a pot of water up to a boil. While the water is heating up, cut out the core (at the top) from each tomato and then cut an X out on the bottom, just deep enough to break the skin. That will help you peel the skin off when you're ready. Once the water is boiling, submerge the tomatoes in the water. Let them sit for about 2 - 3 minutes. After that, put them in a bowl of ice water, this will stop the cooking process. Once the tomatoes have cooled down enough, go ahead and pull the skin off with your fingers. If it's done right the skin will come right off. Then chop them up into small chunks and throw them into the pot.
Next, I like to add onions. I use one medium yellow onion and about a half of a red onion. I dice about half of the onions up really fine and the other half to about the size of my pinky nail. Then, throw that in to the pot.
And of course, what's a marinara sauce without fresh garlic? I use about 4 - 5 cloves of garlic, feel free to use less. and just like the onions I dice half up really fine and the rest into thin slices. and throw that into the pot as well.
By now your sauce is fairly hot, and you should start to see small air bubbles coming up. Now add your seasons, I like to keep it real simple, all I use is some salt, pepper and oregano. But again, feel free to make this your own and add whatever you like.
Reduce the heat to a medium to low heat, and let that sit until you get the desired thickness you want. I like it pretty thick, to the point where if I scoop some out with a spoon, I can almost turn the spoon upside down without it dripping. But if you like it a little liqiudy, mix in about 1/4 of a cup of water. Just keep in mind, if you add more water make sure you add more seasonings.
It should take about 10 to 15 minutes to cook. Don’t walk away from it, because if it burns on the bottom it will be a pain to clean.
Chicken Teriyaki Stir-fry
In keeping with the idea of keeping things simple, I thought I'd share a real simple recipe I have for some hearty stir fry.
As a mega meat lover, eating veggies is a big deal, so when I make stir fry it has got to be mmm mmm good. I like to start off with some of the frozen stir fry mix (you can use fresh vegetables, but I'm in college so I don't always have the time to be cutting up stuff). I add to it four or five white mushrooms, about half a medium red onion and half a medium white or yellow onion (depending on what I have available), I, also, like to add a jalapeno pepper for a nice kick, and last about a tablespoon of olive oil. Throw it all in a large nonstick pan, put a lid on it, set it to medium to high heat, and give it a stir every so often.
Next, in a small sauce pan, add about 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce, and a table spoon of flour. mix so that the water and teriyaki sauce are mixed completely. the flour will clump together at first but once it started boiling it will even out. Set to low heat, stir occasionally, I like to use a rubber spatula, because once the sauce reduces to a paste it will get a little sticky and to me a rubber spatula is the easiest thing to use.
Lastly, the chicken, I try to get shnitzel, which is basically a piece of boneless white meat that was filleted, but if I can't find that I get the regular boneless. I cut the chicken into strips about an inch by half inch pieces (about the size of your thumb, well my thumb anyways). Remember, you don't want to start cooking your chicken before your veggies are done. I like my veggies to be cooked to where the broccoli has just a little crunch to it. Throw the chicken in to a pan (I like to throw in two or three pieces of crushed garlic because I'm a huge garlic fan, but it won't make or break your dish), allow the chicken to cook for about 30 seconds to a minute before seasoning them with salt and pepper. Once your chicken is done cooking, which should take about 3 to 5 minutes, add them to the veggies.
By now your teriyaki reduction should be ready for some sesame seeds. mix about a teaspoon into the sauce. mix the sauce into the stir fry and plate.
It's healthy, hearty and above all tastes great!!!!
Ingredients needed:
two handfuls of your favorite stir fry mix
four or five white mushrooms
half a red onion
half a white or yellow onion
one jalapeno pepper
one tablespoon of olive oil
one piece of boneless white meat chicken
two or three cloves of garlic (crushed)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup water
one tablespoon all purpose flour
one teaspoon sesame seeds
As a mega meat lover, eating veggies is a big deal, so when I make stir fry it has got to be mmm mmm good. I like to start off with some of the frozen stir fry mix (you can use fresh vegetables, but I'm in college so I don't always have the time to be cutting up stuff). I add to it four or five white mushrooms, about half a medium red onion and half a medium white or yellow onion (depending on what I have available), I, also, like to add a jalapeno pepper for a nice kick, and last about a tablespoon of olive oil. Throw it all in a large nonstick pan, put a lid on it, set it to medium to high heat, and give it a stir every so often.
Next, in a small sauce pan, add about 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce, and a table spoon of flour. mix so that the water and teriyaki sauce are mixed completely. the flour will clump together at first but once it started boiling it will even out. Set to low heat, stir occasionally, I like to use a rubber spatula, because once the sauce reduces to a paste it will get a little sticky and to me a rubber spatula is the easiest thing to use.
Lastly, the chicken, I try to get shnitzel, which is basically a piece of boneless white meat that was filleted, but if I can't find that I get the regular boneless. I cut the chicken into strips about an inch by half inch pieces (about the size of your thumb, well my thumb anyways). Remember, you don't want to start cooking your chicken before your veggies are done. I like my veggies to be cooked to where the broccoli has just a little crunch to it. Throw the chicken in to a pan (I like to throw in two or three pieces of crushed garlic because I'm a huge garlic fan, but it won't make or break your dish), allow the chicken to cook for about 30 seconds to a minute before seasoning them with salt and pepper. Once your chicken is done cooking, which should take about 3 to 5 minutes, add them to the veggies.
By now your teriyaki reduction should be ready for some sesame seeds. mix about a teaspoon into the sauce. mix the sauce into the stir fry and plate.
It's healthy, hearty and above all tastes great!!!!
Ingredients needed:
two handfuls of your favorite stir fry mix
four or five white mushrooms
half a red onion
half a white or yellow onion
one jalapeno pepper
one tablespoon of olive oil
one piece of boneless white meat chicken
two or three cloves of garlic (crushed)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup water
one tablespoon all purpose flour
one teaspoon sesame seeds
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