I haven't posted anything in a while- I've been pretty busy and haven't really been cooking much lately.

One thing I did cook up was a pre-made soup mix- and let me say it was really good and so easy to make it wasn't funny.

Basically it was chicken noodle soup - all noodles and some vegtables were in the bag with the spices. All you add is water and chuncks of raw chicken to a crock pot and cook for 3-4 hours! Thats it!

Easy to make, and it really tasted better than most canned soups out there- Plus it made at least 4-5 servings and cost $5 (soup mix + Chicken)!

This week is pretty hectic- but next week I should get back to cooking again!

Ahhh- Stuffed again. I ate so much last night I did not feel well, even though I only ate one giant serving I was so stuffed I felt I was going to explode, and needed to nap on the couch for a while. It was well worth it though- the Turkey (organic, free range, and brined) was amazing- it could not have turned out better. I usually follow Alton Brown's instructions and blast it at 500 degrees for 30 mins, then cover breast meat w/ aluminum foil and reduce heat down to 350 degrees until done.

Won't get into too many details though- and since I've already talked about turkey, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, etc. here I thought I would go into what we made the other night at my apartment - Pizza!

It was so easy it is silly- and anyone can do it! Of course it is best to have a pizza stone on hand for this (as it evenly cooks the pizza and makes for a crispier crust) but it is not neccassary.

What you do is go to the local pizza shop and ask for fresh dough - just the dough, nothing else. It will come in a round ball. If you haven't done this before get a few for practice, as you will have to stretch the dough out the size. I would look online for detailed pizza flipping plans- it really is easy, but it is tough to explain quickly.

If you are at the shop you can also see if they will give you a tub of their pizza sauce - if not go to a local supermarket - a gourmet shop should have fresh pizza sauce around, but supermarkets might not. You can either use normal marinara sauce (just get as fresh as possible, if they have 'garden fresh' or reduced oil or anything like that, buy that over Ragu or something - we are going for a fresh tasting pizza here, not spaghetti!).

You can make your own pizza sauce simply by buying pureed tomoatoes (with no oil or seasonings), and adding some sugar, a few tablespoons of olive oil, oregano, salt, and fresh pepper to it. Do this to taste- I can't give you exact amounts as I do not use any - but remember that it is alwasy easy to add more of something than take it out!

Also buy some fresh mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees- let it sit like that for a while to get it really really hot.

Meanwhile stretch your dough out to pizza size - but on a cookie tray (or pizza stone if you have one) then spread on your sauce, add slices of fresh mozzarella.

After oven is ready- put in your pizza and cook until crust is brown and cheese is starting to get bubbly (maybe 10-15 mins).

Evenly add as much of the fresh basil as you want when you think there is only a few mins left. Let cook until done.

That's it!

Easy to make, pretty cheap, and impressive - add a nice cheap bottle of wine to the mix and you have a great italian meal that will taste just as good as going to that brick oven pizza place down the street!

Didn't make anything again last night- I will be eating chili for a while it seems. I am thinking of freezing the rest tonight so it doesn't go bad while I am away back at my parents for Thanksgiving. I just use those cheap tupperware containers you see in the supermarkets near the ziplock bags.

I did start a new blog as well- we'll see if I can keep up with it like i do this one though. http://crappycommercials.blogspot.com/ You will see how much I enjoy TV commercials here.

I am getting excited about Thursday - I am going to eat my face off (it is hard to do). I love going back for my third helping of stuffing and gravy- not to mention leftovers around 10pm!

The thing that is the worst though is that I have to be at work on Friday- I hate it here enough as it is- and I have to come in on Friday. I can't leave this place fast enough!

Oh well- on a brighter note I saw Rachel Ray in an FHM picture! Even though she annoys me somewhat on her show- she is cute as hell when she is in shape and dressed up in skimpy outfits!

That's about all for today- hopefully I will have something more interesting to talk about later!

Well I didn't make much this weekend- it was our annual college footbal rivalry, so there wasn't much I did other than drink beer...

I did make a huge pot of chili though- something that is really easy to make and will keep you fed for a long time (if you don't mind eating chili lunch and dinner for a week..though you can freeze it if you want).

Its pretty easy to make too- so I will list out a basic chili receipe that I use. I also add some other ingredients like using steak I chop up instead of hamburger meat, chipotle chili w/ adobo sauce and other dried chilis, but I will stick to the basic receipe, which is easy and tastes just as good!

By the way- this tastes best when cooked in your crock pot! You can make this in a large pot on the stove, and just let it heat up, but it tastes better when cooked slowly for hours and hours!

Easy Homemade Chili:

Ingredients:

3 lbs ground beef (browned and drained)

4 tsp cumin

12 tsp chili powder

2 Tbl Sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp cracked pepper

4 tsp Oregano

4 tsp Parsley flakes

2 cans red kidney beans (rinsed)

2 cans tomato paste (those small cans - 6 oz?)

1 medium onion- cut up

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

2 cans low sodium beef broth (it is easier to add salt later than to have it too salty at first)

1 chipotle chili (optional) in adobo sauce

Some corn or tortilla chips (in case the chili is too watery, crush some up and add them- they will thicken the sauce and add some salt to the mix)

Steps:

1) Brown beef, drain

2) "sweat" onions and galic w/ olive oil for 10 mins or until onions become translucent (clear)- this just means cookin in a pan over low heat.

3) (Optional step) blend the onions, garlic, and chipolte chili until mixture is smooth. If you do not have a blender make sure you chop these up fine.

2) Rinse Kidney beans

3) add all ingredients into a large pot, or preferably a crock pot. Stir to mix.

4) Cook over medium low heat until hot.

5) If chili is too watery add crushed up corn chips as needed. They will dissolve and thicken the mix.

Thats it!

Personally I think it does taste better slow cooked for hours and hours in the crock pot. But technically the chili is done as soon as it is warm as the meat was already browned!

Optional: Use chuck steak instead of hamburger meat and cut into small cubes about 1 cm.

Enjoy!

Nothing much to post today- which is why I didn't post yesterday! Haven't really made anything new- made the london broil twice in a row because I wanted to clear out the freezer a little- and had some frozen tillapia fillets that I had from a box package from Omaha Steak. I also realized that I really really hate frozen chopped spinach!

I tried to spice up the spinach with garlic- it was still bad. The only thing I like is the creamed spinach- which really isn't all that great for you...

It would be pretty cool if eating spinach really made you have huge guns like Popeye- I would eat that awful stuff all the time if it made it so I didn't have to go to the gym!

Don't get me wrong- I do enjoy spinach dip, fresh spinach, even spinach pie! But man is that frozen chopped spinach gross by itself...

On a happier note I went to Trader Joes yesterday!!! For those of you who don't know Trader joes is a pretty cool supermarket chain that has a lot of unique items- and usually have really good prices. I've actually never shopped for food at one- I go for the wine!

I love wine- but I am also poor - so I tend to buy cheap wine. I find that while I do appreciate a $60+ bottle of Bordeaux, I really don't mind a cheap $10 bottle of Yellow Tail or Red Truck table wine. In fact I actually really like those wines and, unless I am not paying for the expensive bottle, find that knowing I spent so much on a bottle of wine really makes me sad.

Maybe when I am not counting pennies - but until then...

Back to Trader Joes. I have never seen so many smiling and happy people crammed into one place as when I was at Trader Joes liquor store. Why were they smiling? One reason- really, really, really, really, really, really, really cheap wine!!! And it's actually good! How cheap? Well a bottle of Charles Swabb (aka - "Two Buck Chuck") costs about $2.95 in NYC - and is probably about $2 everywhere else!

Think because it is so cheap it must be bad? Nope- its actually one of my favorite table wines - and I actually like it better than (albeit still cheap) more expensive bottles I get. Why is it so cheap? Lots of reasons - but one of them is that they buy up excess inventory of grapes for really cheap from many vineyards and use them in their wine.

I am not lying- try it and see for yourself! Trader Joes also has many other varieties- mostly from chille and South africa. Two regions that produce good wine, but is still really cheap. I don't think I spent more than $5 on a bottle- and that was for a nice aged Tawny Port (my favorite night cap...) . All in all I spend like $50 for 13 bottles!

Now you know why everyone was so happy in the store...

Check out some more information on Trader Joes and 'Two Buck Chuck':

http://www.traderjoes.com/product_categories.html#Booze

Well no fiancee around last night, so I made a steak (she doesn't eat red meat, and it's usually annoying cooking one thing for me, another for her...).

I am poor- so unless I get to costco and buy steak in bulk (like I posted about previously), I tend to buy it cheap. One cut of meat which really isn't so bad is London Broil - a tougher cut which can be really really cheap in your local store- but isn't so bad to eat!

I think I bought my last one for $2/lb - but it was a manager 'special' and wasn't the best London Broil cut you could get, too much tendon (making for tough to eat pieces). I don't know if I would recommend getting the special on an already budget cut...but if you're not too picky and really want red meat, why not?

The best way I've found to cook this cut is to look for a good piece- one that looks like a solid slab of steak, and doesnt' have too much fat in it. While marbling in better cuts of steak is desired, in Londen Broil it more likely means that the meat will have lots of tough gristle! Get the steak home, salt with kosher salt and crack some fresh pepper on it.

Cook the meat as you usually would your steak- and when you go to serve it instead of serving in large pieces, as you would a fillet or ribeye- cut the steak across the grain into thin strips. This will make the meat more tender and taste better!

Marinades are also great to use on Londen Broil, as the meat isn't the most flavorful cut.

By the way, slicing steak like this can really make your money go further! People tend to eat what they are given- and 5 slices of steak are actually a nice size portion- but much less than if you were given an entire steak to eat! You will find you will eat less, and will have leftovers that you can make a nice steak sandwich the next day with... get a nice roll, add some A-1 steaksauce, a slice of american cheese, and you're done!

Thats' it!

I was too full from eating all day on Sunday to do much last night- so I only made a can of SpaghettiOs and had a grilled cheese sandwich.

Despite what you might think- SpaghettiOs are one of the healthiest canned meals you can eat! Tons of Lycopene from the tomoatoe puree that they use, low fat, and just a good healthy meal overall. I like to add some tabassco sauce to help spice things up a bit.

Pretty disapointing post I know- but maybe this will get someone thinking of Spaghettios in a new light (they are also a healthier late night drunk snack than pizza...)!

http://www.campbellsoup.com/spaghettios.asp?cpovisq=

Monday yet again :( Made some good stuff over the weekend though- we had a 'roommate thanksgiving dinner' (I live with my financee and 3 other friends) and it is now 1pm the next day and I am still not hungry! We ate and drank a ridiculous amount of food and wine- but it was worth it!

Lets see now...

Friday I made Tequilla Lime Chicken with Avocado & Salsa:

This is really easy- and you can make it with or without the marinade, or try adding anykind of Lemon, Lime, or citrus marinade or sauce to the chicken. Serves two.

Ingredients:

Tequilla

Fresh Lime juice

Red Pepper flakes

Fresh Salsa (the 'home made' style- the kind that needs to be refrigerated. NOT the red salsa made for chips).

One Haas Avocado

2 Chicken Breasts

Steps:

Make the marinade:

Pour enough tequilla to cover the chicken in a ziplock bag

Add plenty of lime juice (I do not measure either of these)

Add some red pepper flakes

Let sit for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350.

Take chicken out of marinade, put in a oven safe dish- and cook until chicken is done (165 degrees), about 25-30 mins.

Slice Chicken into thin strips

Cut up avocado - easy way to do this is to slide a paring knife through the middle, splitting the avocado in half. Hit the pit w/ your knife, making the pit stick in the knife- and slide out pit. Then take the knife and slide behind the avocado meat- each half should fall out of the skin easily. Slice into thin slices.

Put chicken on plate, arrange avocado slices around the chicken, and then take a few spoonfuls of fresh salsa and place on top.

That's it! Easy, fast, and cheap to make!

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For the Thanksgiving dinner we made mashed sweet potatoes (see previous receipe), broccoli casserole, pumpkin pie, and a Turkey breast (look up on FoodNetwork.com for Rachel Ray's herbed turkey breast- that is the one we used).

The Broccoli Casserole is one of my favorites from my family Thanksgiving dinners- it is really easy to make, and tastes really good! Will serve about 8 people.

Ingredients:

2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli (cooked, or defrosted)

2 cans cambells condensed cream of mushroom soup (or golden mushroom) - do NOT get the reduced fat kind- it will make the dish bland

1 can Kraft Old english cheese spread, or 5-6 oz of Velveta Cheese

1 tsp of Garlic Powder

1 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup chopped onion.

2 Tablespoons butter

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350

Sweat Onions and Celery w/ butter over med-low heat for around 10 mins, or until onions start to get translucent.

Add Soup and Cheese spread

Stir in Garlic Powder

Wait for cheese to melt completely- and everything to mix well.

Add in cooked chopped broccoli, mix well.

Pour mix into a casserole dish, place in oven for about 1 hour.

That's it! Another easy meal to make that really tastes great!

Made Eggplant Parm last night.

Pretty easy, really good, and since I usually bake it really healthy for you.

This will serve at least 4 people.

Easy Baked Eggplant Parm:

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (if you just want to make one service get one of the smaller italian eggplants instead)

2 eggs, beaten - put in a bowl

some flour - put in a second bowl

italian seasoned breadcrumbs - put in a third bowl. If you just have plain breadcrumbs, no problem, just add oregano and basil flakes.

add about 1tsp of salt and 1 tsp ground pepper to bread crumbs.

Some fresh basil

Fresh Mozzarella cheese

Tomato Sauce (get something without a ton of oil- the more natural the better)

Some Olive oil

Steps:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Skin Eggplant using vegtable peeler.

Cut Eggplant into round slices - about a half inch -> 3/4" thick

Dip coat each piece in flour (you need to do this so the egg has something to stick to), shake off excess.

Dip each coated piece in egg wash, let excess drip off

Dip each piece in bread crumbs - coat well, shake off excess.

Let sit for 5 mins or so on a baking sheet or wire rack, then stick to oven for about 30-35 mins or until nice and brown.

Once brown, add a spoonful of tomato sauce to each piece, a piece of fresh basil, and top with a slice of the fresh mozzarella. Drizzle a few drops of Olive Oil on each piece.

Let bake until cheese is melted and starts to brown (about 5-10mins)

Thats it!

Really easy to make, healthy, and cheap! What can be better?

Made Mashed Sweet Potatoes for the first time yesterday- they were surprisingly easy to make and tasted better than I would have thought.

I also bought this package of marinated turkey cutlets - which were about $4 for on package that had two cutlets. Enough for 4 good sized servings. You just take them out of the package, put them in the oven as per instructions, and wait an hour- thats it and they are really good!

I served them w/ some white rice on the side (I personally like to put soy sauce on rice). Minute Rice has this awesome 'Rice in Bag' thing now- all you do it boil the water, put the bag of rice in (which has 2 servings in it) and wait 5 mins... that's it! I love it.

Anyway- here's the receipe...

Mashed Sweet Potatoes (anyone else have trouble spelling potato?):

2-3 sweet potatoes or 2 yams (they are the same thing for the most part, just different names) yams tend to be larger.

2 Tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

You will also need a steamer for this- sweet potatoes aren't like white potatoes and can't stand up to boiling well - plus you loose a lot of nutrients to the water when you boil them!

Steps:

Peel potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes.

Steam cubes for 20mins or until fork tender.

Dump in bowl, add butter, salt and pepper.

Mix with potato masher or fork until smooth.

That's it! Makes about 4 servings.

Nothing else to do- unless you want to add some gravy for the turkey (and since you won't have turkey drippings to make fresh gravy I would just buy canned...).

Alton Brown had a variation of this receipe on Good Eats the other day- he added one minced chipotle pepper and a tablespoon of the adobe sauce it comes in to the mix.

Made a pretty easy pesto and chicken pasta dish last night using some leftovers I had.

I had some chicken I made the other night (nothing fancy, just baked chicken breasts w/ some chicken seasoning on them...) so I chopped it up into bite sized pieces. I then just boiled some pasta I had, drained it, added some extra Olive Oil, a few spoonfuls of pesto, threw in the chicken, and added some parmesean cheese. I just let it heat for min or two on the burner over low heat- at thats it!

Nothing fancy, nothing expensive- just used leftovers!

I wish I had more money- I was just looking at that heritage foods site I listed yesterday and man would I love to order some pork or beef right now...

On an aside- when I'm bored I try as hard as possible to keep myself busy. I do research online, I blog, I write to friends, I study, I read the news, I do anything I can to keep my mind off of the fact that my job sucks and there is nothing to do. My coworker, on the other hand, will literally just sit and stare....for hours!!! How in the world can you do that? He stares at his blank computer screen and hardly moves. What is wrong with him? I guess it would be nice not to feel any desire to do anything productive- my life would be much less stressful if that were the case. But still- he's been doing this for over an hour now! I just want to head over there and shake him...

Thanksgiving is coming up! Even though I have a huge exam (the CFA- ugh) December 2nd, I am still planning on eating my face off and drinking a ton of wine- then falling asleep!

Anyone who thinks 'dieting' during Thanksgiving is a smart idea really should reconsider- I have found that if you crave something (like extra stuffing) and you don't eat it, you will regret it as you will binge on it heavily when you cave in eventually. Plus, why put yourself through all of that? Just eat healthy the rest of the week and you will even yourself out- it's really not hard people!!!

I highly recommend getting a heritage turkey this year- I know they are expensive (which is why I still go to my parents house) but man are they worth every penny! The meat is jucier, and it has much more of a 'turkey' flavor than any Butterball or other mass produced turkey you can buy! And if you care about that sort of thing, a free range, organic, heritage turkey is kept and killed in a much more humane way than the 'assembly line' turkey is!

If you can't find, or don't want to pay for a true heritage turkey at least opt for a free-range organic turkey. Trust me, you won't regret spending the extra money this one time a year!

If you are going to go all out and splurge on a turkey- you might as well BRINE IT!!!! I don't care if you get a cheap butterball turkey, but no matter what you get you really really really need to brine your turkey! This is no joke- it will make such an impact on your bird that you will be so amazed you will never think of not brining one again!

Try to remember to brine overnight (I suggest looking up online for brining receipes, as I cannot remember the correct proportions) - get a large cooler and fill it with ice or ice packs. Then get a large garbage bag or two (to stop leaking). Stick the turkey in the brine, cover with ice, and then RINSE before cooking! Most brines are just lots of kosher salt, brown sugar, bay leaves, pepper corns, and some other optional ingredients like oranges, etc.

Some hints of cooking your turkey to perfection:

• Brine it!
• Remove and let sit for at least a half hour to an hour- to let the meat come to room temp (less cooking time...) BUT:
• Turn breast side down in a large bowl filled with ice, or find a way to ice just the breast. Keep this way for an hour before cooking. This will keep the breast meat cooler than the dark meat. The reason for this is because white meat has less fat in it, it tends to dry out much faster than dark meat. It also reaches 165 degrees much quicker than the dark meat- so by the time your dark meat is done the white meat is all dried out! Brining and cooling just the white meat will help solve this problem.
• Find a receipe that starts the turkey at a very high temp (like 450 degrees) to start- then reduces the temp after a half hour or so. This will help 'crisp' the skin,which everyone loves.
• Coat turkey with canola oil before putting in oven, and sprinkle with kosher salt and ground pepper. Helps crisp skin.
• If skin looks like it is getting TOO crisp (burning) make sure to place aluminum foil loosely over the area. This will stop the burning and keep the bird cooking!
• Some people like to flip their turkey halfway through- but find a receipe that explains when to do this.
• Try not to stuff the Turkey! The reason for this is that the stuffing must come to an internal temp. of 165 in order to kill of germs, just like the meat needs to. Well, since the stuffing is packed in the middle of the turkey it not only takes longer than the meat to cook fully, it also keeps the turkey in the oven longer - meaning the meat will start to dry out! Try it and you will see that your breast meat will probably reach something around 185-190 by the time your stuffing is all done. Some people (my mom much to my dismay) feel the need to stuff the bird anyway- well if you are going to do this make sure to brine it, and possibly chill the breast as described above. This will help compensate somewhat.
• And use an electric knife! You might not think so now- but as with brining you will wonder how in the world you possibly went without one!

Well thats all I can think of for now- though I am sure you will find lots of other tips online. These are what I try to do every year (and I've been put on turkey duty now, though I let my Dad carve it). Getting a heritage bird, and brining it, have made such a huge difference I am very disapointed when I have turkey made any other way. Try it an see!

Here's a great site to look for your heritage turkey... http://www.heritagefoodsusa.com/

Not much to write about today- but man am I bored at work and I need something to do...

Had the pork I made the other day for lunch- still great, and I am not sick of it yet even though this was my 6th or so pork sandwich...

Having some green tea now- I think tea is something that maybe a good number of us don't appreciate fully. Maybe it's because all we think of when we talk about Starbucks is coffee (though i just had a great apple cider and caramel drink there yesterday...). I also think that because many of us just buy the generic tea bags (Lipton comes to mind), we are generally turned off by tea as something a little bland (this green tea I am drinking is pretty god awful in fact- picture chewing on a stick, thats what it tastes like..).

I really started getting into tea (though I am by no means an expert, just someone who appreciates it) when I took a kung fu class back in college. The instructor had us have a tea break after stretching and before we started training. I had never been much into tea before, but after a while (of trying not to grimace while sipping) I started to really get it! The smell, the various flavors of tea (I love the strange roots and herbs you can drink), and the relaxing feeling you get while sipping- allowing the steam to waft into your nostrils, and clearing your head..

I started drinking tea while studying, and found that it really helps you to concentrate- giving you a nice caffiene boost without making you jittery like coffee does, and calming and relaxing you instead of giving you tons of restless energy. Maybe it's more of a mental thing, but it works for me!

Find a local tea shop if you can- one near me has hundreds of various blends, from classics like green tea, oolong tea, etc. to more exotic flavors like blueberry, rose petal, mango, and hundreds of great tasting great smelling teas I have never heard of before.

You'll need a tea ball to hold the loose tea in while steeping it - I try and find one that is large enough for a large cup of tea, but isn't too hard to open/close. Also you don't want to have large holes where tea might escape!

My favorite now is a really dark black tea, with pieces of red fruit mixed in. The tea is a deep red color and has a nice flavor that isn't too sweet and fruity- but has a nice sweet flavor and a great aroma!

By the way I never add sugar or milk to my teas- I feel it takes away from the natural flavor, rather than complementing it like in coffee. Honey would be OK though if you feel the need to have something.

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By the way, I found this great site about honey: http://www.beeraw.com/

I never really realized how much variation there is between different varieties of honey! This site reminds me more of a site that sells fine wines- from the way they describe the honey to they way they package and ship it. I have really wanted to sample some of their stuff for a while now- I just haven't gotten around to actually ordering any (and they are on the pricey side- not great when I can't afford rent...)

Aromatics & Easy Potatos

Just cooked some chicken, the asparagus I wrote about before, and some potatoes tonight. The chicken I just cooked in the oven w/ some chicken seasoning I bought.

Here is what I did for the potatoes:

Ingredients:

1 bag of baby red potatoes (for two people maybe 8 of them)

- You can use any kind of potato though, I personally like the mixed bags of baby potatoes that have the blue kind, red, and white..

Some Olive Oil - a couple of tablespoons.

Kosher salt (1tsp or so...)

Dried Rosemary (about 1 tsp)

Ground Pepper (half tsp)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375

Cut up potatoes into bite sized pieces

Add olive oil

Add kosher salt, ground pepper, and rosemary

Mix to coat

Put in oven for around 45 mins - 1 hour or until they get nice and brown and crispy looking.

Thats it! Easy and really really good. You can try adding some parmesean cheese to the mix near the end, or pretty much anything you want. I will add that anything that you think will burn (like pesto, the cheese, etc) should be added in the last ten mins or so that you will be cooking.

Easy Aromatics

I don't usually get too much into the decoration and other things like that around the holidays, but with Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up I thought I'd mention something that will make your home really smell great. Its really easy and really makes your place smell like the holiday season, if there is such a smell...

All you have to do is get an orange, some dried cloves, a little ground nutmeg, and some cinnamon sticks. Dump them in a pot, add water, bring to a boil - reduce heat and let simmer all day (add more water as needed). That's it, and it really will make a huge impact - much better than any of those smelly candles people put out...

Well that's it for today, can't think of anything else and I'm getting a little tired!

Got to catch up on some sleep- just woke up...ahhhh.

Started making some Pulled Pork BBQ yesterday- really really easy here but it's looking and smelling great so far...

Pulled BBQ Pork

OK- You NEED a Crock Pot for this - like I've written before, get one. They are so easy to use that you really can't go wrong with using one for an easy meal like stew, chili, soups, etc.

Ingredients:

Brine:
1 Cup Kosher Sale
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Table spoon whole pepper corns
1 Gallon Zip lock bag

Pork:
1 Pork shoulder, pork butt, or pork something - it doesn't really matter though Pork Butt is traditional (I used Pork shoulder this time just because it was on sale for like $1.99 at the store).

1 bottle BBQ sauce - I used Stubbs Origninal for it this time, I haven't had it before so I'm hoping its good. I would avoid thick BBQ sauces if you can, and stick w/ a 'real' bbq sauce that is a little thinner in texture.

Some Ground Pepper

Thanks it!

What to Do:

1) Make brine as shown above- just pour ingredients into bag, add pork, and cold water- mix. Put in fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is better.

2) Take out, rinse well.

3) Put pork in crock pot- add bottle of BBQ sauce.

4) Cook on 'High' for at least 8 hours, 12 is better. I did this one on 'Low' overnight so far (12 hours) and just turned it up to 'High' for another 5 hours. The longer and lower heat the better, as it breaks down the muscle fibers more and makes the meat more tender.

5) Take out meat when done. Move to a cutting board and shred by pulling at the meat with a fork. The meat should come off in little shreds, like pulled pork is normally. If this does not happen easily, put back into crock pot until done. The meat literally should fall apart.

That's it! Simple, Easy and really really cheap. It will also make a lot so you will be eating for a while.

I like mine on a nice crusty roll, but you can use hamburger rolls- or even put over egg noodles (the wide, flat, short noodles).

You can change this receipe up by using a teriaki marinade instead of a brine, pouring some of the marinade in with the Pork when in the crock pot - maybe adding some scallions near the end. I would probably put that over white rice or something, though egg noodles would do great as well.


By the way- is it just me or is the spell check on this blog site suck?

Also, let me tell you about the pork shoulder I bought. It was pretty funny, what I thought was a layer of fat on it was actually a thick layer of actual pig skin! I've never seen that before- maybe that's why it was so cheap! Anyway, I made sure to cut off the skin (it came off in one big strip) leaving some of the fat layer below. You need fat when BBQ'ing, as it helps with the flavor, and also helps keep the meat tender.

One of the things about pork (which I just heard on Good Eats last night) is that it is really lean and doesn't have much sodium in it (contrary to popular belief) and needs some help to not dry out. Hence the need for brining pork before cooking it. If you don't feel like brining the meat though, don't worry about it- because you are cooking it for so long I think the pork will still become very tendar and flavorful regardless!

Just scored a free pack of Ocean Spray Craisins outside in a promotion. They were pretty good - though a little sweet for my tastes... I don't know if I would get them on a regular basis or anything, but they are better for you than the package of peanut butter M&M's I was going to eat. Can you eat fresh cranberries? I bet you can't, but I'm going to find out because they look really good...

I really want to try a Bread Fruit - someone at my office had one the other day and it looked really interesting...I can't find them anywhere though.

I would love to try more exotic fruits- there are a ton of them out there which I think most of us don't even know about..custard apples, starfruits, rollinia, pomello, mangosteens, etc. I can't find anywhere that has more than a few of these- so if anyone knows of someplace to try let me know!

I had hotdogs last night. Yup. Two huge hotdogs- and you know what? Hotdogs really don't taste as good when they aren't grilled...boiling them just doesn't cut it and grilling them on a pan doesn't seem to do them justice. I also felt a little sick afterwards...

So I didn't make anything...well I can't be expected to every night, right??

Might make a steak tonight...hmmmm. I need to stop at costco again- the last time we were there I swear I spent like $400, but our freezer was so full it was a little ridiculous - and we ate like kings for a few months!

One great tip- buy one of those huge, uncut,whole fillets or large stip steak packages. You'll know them when you see them- they will look like giant slabs of meat. They will most likely be over $100 as well! Don't let the price scare you though- since these are uncut and costco has good deals, you really end up paying less than half per pound than what you would be paying at the supermarket. One strip steak slab I bought I cut up into 18 steaks - it lasted me a couple of months and ended up being much cheaper than if I had bought the steaks at the store (which i probably wouldn't have done since a good steak is ridicoulous - like $20/lb!). I could have made it last longer if I weren't such a pig and didn't eat such huge portions ;)

Anyway- once you get your fillet, strip, or whatever, get it home and put it in the freezer for 30 mins or so- just to get it firmed up. Don't freeze it! You can't freeze things after defrosting them (the cellular walls of meats, etc get broken down and they turn into gross mushy things).

Once the meat is firm, bring it to the sink and unwrap it- then rinse the meat off. Take a sharp carving knife and slice the slab into steaks anywhere from 1.5" to 3" (for fillet), depending on your preference. I would get a ruler and use it to guide your cutting, it really makes a huge difference.

Make sure you remove as much fat as you can. Also, there will be membranes of tendon, or whatever on the steaks- you will be able to tell by the fact that they are thin, translucent, and tough- and run the length of the steaks. Remove these! Unlike fat, which cooks off - these will stay tough and chewy. Take a sharp paring or fillet knife and run it underneath the membrane- all down the length of it- they should remove in large pieces and without much effort. Try not to take meat with them!

If you get to an end piece that you don't think its worth cutting further, you can do a number of things. You can 'butterfly' the piece, slightly cutting almost entirely through the center of the piece, and folding it over so you have two halves of steak the thickness you want (sounds confusing, but just look up 'butterflying' online- its really easy). Or you can just cook the end piece like on long, thinner steak!

If you have a lot of scraps, even fatty scraps - save them! I love cut them up into 1-2" cubes and then marinate them in a ziplock bag w/ good balsamic vinagear, some kosher salt, and ground pepper. Cook these like shish kabob, over an extreamly flaming hot grill - charcoal preferred, but gas OK too. Cook only for a couple of mins - depending on if they just came out of thr fridge or not. You should get nice, rare, slightly charred pieces of amazing steak!

You can also save these, then make cheesesteaks w/ them! Just roll flat with a rolling pin, chop up into small pieces, and then sear over high heat in a frying pan! Get some crusty french bread, and whatever cheese you like - cheese wiz or american is my choice. I also like mine 'wit' - with onions, and to do this just 'sweat' your chopped onion over med-low heat for around 10 mins, or until they start to get translucent, but are not getting browned.

Thats it! You will be eating like a king for months without breaking the bank! A little more work than buying from the buther, but worth it, in my opinion.

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I get many of my ideas from the cooking magazine Cooks Illustrated (which I make reference to below) and from Alton Brown on the Food Network. Alton's show, Good Eats, is really something to watch - especially if you enjoy knowing why things turn out they way they do, not just how. Knowing the science behind the cooking will really help you to create your own meals- and make things much more fun for you (it's also cool impressing your friends with your vast knowledge of foodie chemistry...or not). I live by Alton's book, 'I'm just here for the food', and have his first season on DVD as well. I also plan on getting his guide to kitchen gear, since I am always impressed by how efficient he is and I want my kitchen to be like his. His show is a little cheesey, but I like it like that- and you will learn more about cooking from him than anywhere else. He actually teaches you how to cook, not just what to cook!

Went out last night for dinner (no I cannot afford dinner- my parents were in the city...)

So I didn't make anything, but I will tell you a little about what I do for breakfast each day.

I might not be a health nut, but since I sit at my desk all day doing nothing I figure I might as well eat healthy - otherwise I will be able to add 'fat' to young and broke in NYC...

I figure I eat for less than $1 a day for breakfast - though on fridays I do get an egg and cheese on a roll from the deli..

I buy 'egg beaters' at the store - they are basically egg whites in a box. Sounds gross but they really aren't too bad - I add some 2& reduced fat shredded cheddar to it when I cook it, some pepper and hot sauce, and it's pretty good! A box is like $2.95 and will give me at least 4 normal sized servings.

I also buy turkey bacon - again, its not so bad, much healthier than regular bacon, and gives you something to eat other than the 'eggs'.

Since I hate mornings and try to sleep as late as possible, I usually cook these at night and put them in a tupperware container- try NOT to overcook things since you will be microwaving them when you get to work!

If I'm not in the mood to make that at night, I usually eat a bowl of oatmeal. I used to buy the 'kids' kind of oatmeal (you know, strawberries n' cream, etc) but realized that they had a disgusting amount of sugar in them! Now I buy McCann's Instant Irish Oatmeal - it has some brown sugar in it, but not too much - and has pretty good flavors like Apple Cinnamon, etc.

By the way, when I do splurge (my god do I need to make money...) on a $2.74 egg and cheese on a roll, I usually get two eggs, and ask for ONE slice of american cheese. You won't miss the extra 2 or 3 slices of cheese that they will slap on there, but you will save like 30% of your daily fat intake!

I figure that the healthier I eat during the week, the less I have to worry about it on the weekends- and I do NOT worry about what I eat then... I find that I am never 'craving' anything and I have stayed in relatively the same shape since college just by cutting calories during the week when I can, and eating well balanced meals - and then not caring at all on the weekends (or god forbid thanksgiving or christmas dinner). I get sick when I see magazines showing ways to 'cut down on calories during your thanksgiving meal!' - my god you shouldn't have to do that people! Just have some common sense when you eat 90% of the time and you will NEVER have any problems (well medical issues aside of course...)!

Last night made a pretty cool chicken pot pie. I make this once in a while and I got the idea from the Man a Can and a Plan book I listed in the previous posts.

This time I tried this w/ Cream of Corn soup instead of the Cream of Mushroom I usually use - it was still really good! You can substitute any number of creamy soups for this receipe - I recommend the cambells concentrated soups like Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Chicken, etc. - though the Cream of Corn I used last night was not concentrated (but I did use less so it didn't turn my pie into soup!).

To save on fat and calories use the reduced fat healthy choice brand - you really won't notice the difference in taste, and you will get less sodium and fat in your meal! I also use reduced fat Pillsbury biscuits for the crust - same deal here as with the soups...

OK, here it goes:

Easy Chicken Pot Pie:
2 large cans of chicken (you can get these cans from Costco- they are big cans of chicken breast - looks like canned Tuna).

1 Can Cream Of Mushroom condensed soup (or substitute)

1 small can of sliced mushrooms (optional - I only use if I use cream of mushroom soup)

1 Package Pilsbury biscuit dough (use any kind, it doesn't matter)

Few oz of Shredded Cheddar cheese (I use Kraft 2% Reduced Fat - optional again)

1 package frozen mixed vegtables

Salt, pepper, Paprika and cumin to taste

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Put chicken in a medium size baking dish.
3) add vegtables
4) add soup
5) I add a sprinkle of salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin now.
6) mix together
7) Press down into pan evenly
8) Add Cheese evenly to top
7) Add crust - I like to take half of the dough and roll it out a little to make a nice flat square, then lay it over the top of the chicken mix. You can also lay full bicuits on top evenly without rolling them out. The bottom of these will not be fully cooked, so if you don't like yours a little doughy I would bake them separately on the side, then place them on top near the end.
8) Place in oven for 20 mins or until crust is golden and done.

For a tastier meal use two chicken breasts in lieu of the canned chicken. I like to pan boil my chicken in an inch or two of either water or chicken broth (better), with some dry white wine (optional), and some pepper and a bayleaf - for about 10 mins, flipping once. Shred chicken before using.

To make a nice golden crust, take one egg and mix it up, then use a brush and brush it over the crust!

If you use full biscuits as the crust you can also stuff them with the cheese instead- making them nice to bite into!

Thats it! Cheap, easy, and will feed two people for at least 2 dinners if not 3!

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Low fat Tuna Sandwiches:

I also love Tuna sandwiches, but using real mayo in them can really turn them into a heart clogging meal - not bad once in a while, but if you eat them too often you will start to show it!

Instead I just use a fat free mayo substitute (which don't tast that bad, trust me)!

I then add relish, some pepper, and sometimes some lemon juice and hot cayanne pepper.

Add a slice of American Cheese, put on some toast- and you have a very healthy and very good Tunafish Sandwich!