Mussels with white wine and tomato's

This is one of those recipe's that I was staring into my fridge and saying hmmmmmmmm



Mussels with white wine and tomato's

1lb mussels cleaned
2-4 sun dried tomato's
1-2 fresh tomato's
1 teas crushed red peppers
Cooked pasta (2-3 servings)
1-2 cups white wine
2-3 cloves garlic
1 teas dried basil
1/4 cup finely chopped salami (or other hard delicious meat.. heh heh meat)

Chop up both kinds of tomato's and add to a saucepan. Heat till the tomato's start to break down, about 2-3 minutes. Add everything else but the pasta and steam till the mussels are done. (they will pop open.) Spoon the mussel mixture over the cooked pasta, leaving the liquid in the pan. Boil the wine mixture till reduced by half and pour over each bowl. Serve!

Carnitas!

I have an unhealthy obsession with Carnitas. I mean it's borderline crazy. I love their crispy exteriors, fall apart interiors, and their oh so juicy greatness. I mean I could kick Joe out of bed and put them in his place. Not really, well maybe, on a night I'm mad at Joe. HA.

I also love my heart and knowing how these are REALLY made makes my heart ache and want to have a heart attack right now. The way they are supposed to be made is with braising them in lard, I just cannot bring myself to do that. I had to get creative and am fairly certain I have made the best carnita on earth! EARTH. Nah, I'm sure there is better out there but I am content with my version.

Please also remember I don't exactly measure, so to make an actual recipe, I am forced to put measurements. Please follow with some discretion.



Carnitas

1 teas paprika
1 teas garlic powder
1/2 teas salt
1 teas chili powder
2lbs pork shoulder, leave fat on
1-2 orange slices (optional)
Water to cover
Olive oil

Cut up your pork into 1-2 inch chunks. Mix the spices and add the pork, tossing to coat all the pieces. In a large ovenproof saucepan heat 1 tabls of olive oil. Brown the pork in batches, making sure to attempt to get most of the sides. Heat an oven to 300F. Once the pork is browned add it back to the saucepan and add enough water to come up halfway of the pork. Add the orange slices. Cover and place in the oven. After 1.5 hours remove the cover and stir the pork. Roast another hour or so.

Pour off the water from the pork. Turn the broiler on high in the oven. Broil the pork on all sides till the outside is crispy. Serve with lots of tortillas, guacamole, salsa, cheese, and whatever else your heart desires.

Honey of a Whole Wheat Bread

K, well I have quite a few recipes that I need to add here. I'll start with one of my absolute favorite breads first. This is our standard issue sandwich bread in our house. It comes from the Red Star Yeast book I always talk about. Pure love.

Honey of a Whole Wheat Bread



I know how lazy am I? I just totally took a picture of the ingredients. I am a genius, gosh I should like start a cult of genius's or something.

Anywho, in a large bowl combine 2 cups of the all purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat, yeast, and salt.



In a 4 cup measure, bowl, or whatever you want add the milk, honey, water, and butter. Now a side note about the butter, I do not use it and instead sub coconut oil in my recipes for bread. It doesn't taste like coconut and it helps the bread keep longer. Proceed how you wish. I pop mine in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. Add to the flour mixture with the egg and beat for 3 minutes.



Add the second cup of whole wheat flour and switch to a dough hook. Then add another cup of white flour. Turn the mixer back on and let the dough hook form the dough. If you are mixing by hand, mix in as much flour as needed to bring the dough together and dump onto a floured counter. On either method, add flour as needed to prevent sticking and keep the dough a little sticky yet firm. Knead 5-7 minutes by hand and 2-4 minutes with a stand mixer.

Put dough back into bowl, cover, and let rise until double. About an hour or so.





Punch down dough, split in two, and roll out to a rectangle on a floured counter. Roll the rectangle up starting with the shorter end and place into a greased bread pan. Allow to rise again till double, about 30-40 minutes. Bake at 375F for 35-45 minutes till tops are nice brown and the bread sounds hollow when thumped. Cool completely before cutting.

Updating

I know I've been totally slacking lately. Hopefully on Monday I will post a whole lot of stuff. I'm making ribs this weekend and I will have pics.

Teriyaki chicken!

I took no pictures of this dish, I really need to up my picture game, really. So this is a mixed dish, something that I make at least 2-3 times a year and this would be perfect for a small informal summer dish eaten outside. There isn't a whole lot of heat, despite the jalapeno's, but I guess you could omit them if you like.

Teriyaki Sauce

2 tabls brown sugar
3 tabls water
1 teas rice vinegar
2 tabl soy sauce
1 tabl rice wine
1 teas cornstarch
1 teas water

Add everything into a small saucepan but the cornstarch and 1 teas of water. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to about medium. Stir together cornstarch and water and add to hot mixture, making sure to stir well. Keep heating until thickened. Remove from heat.


Pineapple Salsa

1/4 pineapple
1/4 mango
1 small onion
1/2 bunch cilantro
1-2 hot peppers
1 squeeze of lime
Very tiny pinch of salt

Chop all the fruits and veggies up into a small dice. Chop the cilantro till fine and add to a bowl with everything else. Stir well.


Compile your stuff:

Here is where it gets fun! You can do chicken, like I did, or hit the steak, pork, shrimp, tofu, or anything else your heart desires. Grill whatever meat you are going to use basting with the sauce. After its done cooking pull off the heat, top with the extra sauce and then cover in salsa. Serve with salad and a wild rice mix.

Simple, healthy, and really really really good. I had one guy eating the salsa out of the bowl. I have also done this dish with a great looking chunk of fish. The possibilities are endless.

I will say though if more than two people you will need to double or triple the amount of sauce. No matter, it easily does it.

Good luck!

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing...

Here is all I'm going to say, make this and you will be eating salad till your ears fall off. Yes, your ears. This dressing I'm thinking I could sell at the farmers market..


1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tabls minced garlic
2 tabls brown sugar
1 teas salt
1/2 teas pepper

Just mix it all up till its smooth and creamy. I use a mason jar to make mine and just shake the shit out of it till its smooth. Freaking yum. Go make some! Go make some now!

Ideas for salad toppings here are steak and blue cheese.... GO GO NOW!

Lasagna!

I had some friends over the other night for dinner and made some lasagna, because it's stupid easy and feeds a lot of people. This recipe makes enough for about 10-12 servings. I'm only posting it here since Facebook wouldn't let me send the person who wanted it a message. Evil.

1lb lasagna noodles cooked
1 large container ricotta
1 egg
1 tabls oregano (dried)
1 tabls basil (dried)
1 tabls parsley (dried)
1 teas garlic powder
2 cans of crushed tomato's (large cans)
1-2 bags mozz cheese
1-2 bags shredded parm
1 roll of sage sausage
1-2 teas sugar
1-2 teas salt
Lots of pepper


Brown sausage in a large saucepan and drain. Add crushed tomato's, salt, pepper, 1/2 of all the dried spices, all the garlic powder,and sugar to the mix. Allow to simmer 25-30 minutes. (you could skip this step and just buy a jar of spaghetti sauce) Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. I usually find I need a tad more dried spice and more salt. I don't measure anything so it's hard to me to try to put it down.

Mix the other half of the spices, salt and pepper to taste, egg, and ricotta cheese together. Put one layer of noodles in a greased pan and top with 1/3 of the sauce mixture. Top with more noodles and then top those noodles with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle parm and mozz cheese over the top (about a third). Keep layering till you run out and then top with remaining cheese and bake at 375 for about 35-45 minutes.

Tropical Fun Day!

This meal I'm about to post started all because I wanted cilantro, limes, and jalapeno's. Since the asian food store always has those in abundance, that is where I went to get it all. Then I saw a coconut, then, then, and then. So here we are, with a tropical kind of menu that I am sure will please friends once the weather warms up and you have some entertaining to do.

This is pretty freaking spicy, but that is because I am spice fan. The spice can be downplayed if you want to by removing the ribs and seeds of the jalapeno, but that, to me, takes the fun out of it!

Cilantro Grilled Chicken

2 limes, juiced
1/2 bunch cilantro
4-5 cloves garlic
2-3 chopped jalapeno's
Coconut water from a fresh coconut
1 tabls sugar

Whiz it all in a food processor and BAM! you have a marinade.

Coconut Rice

1 small onion
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar (scant)
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 can water
Cilantro to taste
2 tabl butter
1 cup rice

Melt butter in a pot and add onions. Cook till onions begin to look translucent. Add rice and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add the sugar, milk, and water to the pot. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. When rice is tender, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in chopped cilantro to taste.

The rest of the recipe is fairly simple. Marinate chicken (whatever parts you like) in the marinade for 1-2 hours. Simply grill them over a medium high flame till done, basting as needed. This chicken was AWESOME and I cannot believe I just made it up. I would highly recommend you try, unless you don't like cilantro, then I can't help you. I added chopped mango to my chicken for a little sweetness but you can do as you like. A white wine is your best bet with this dish. YUM.

I have no pictures because I ate it all. :(


Coconuts:

I actually bought a coconut for this dish, you can find hundreds of instructions on the right way to open them on the internet.. I highly recommend using an actual whole coconut for this recipe.