Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Beakfast Burger - Not for the faint of heart

I'm not going to write much in this post because pictures will do just fine... All I'm going to say is this burger was soooooooo good!  Try it, then run a few miles after you fall asleep for a few days.





  





It's the only burger I condone putting ketchup on... happy eating.



Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Cilantro-lime Chicken Sandwich

This sandwich will change your life.  If I ever open a food truck this is what I'll serve and I'll get rich selling you sandwiches and making you fat, and we will be fat and happy together.

This is suuuupppperrr easy, you should be able to whip it up in under a half hour or so.

Seriously just make this sandwich and tell me how it was, it's one of the best things I've ever made.



You're gonna need:

Some rolls
One chicken breast for every 2 people
limes
cilantro
mayo
jalapeno (optional)
salt and pepper
avocado (optional)

I don't know why I put optional on jalapeno and avocado, it's all optional... do whatever you want.

You'll also need some spices for the chicken.  Salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic salt, thyme, cayenne, cumin.  All of which are optional.

Dust your breast with all those seasonings and throw it in the oven at 400 degrees until it's done.  Set aside to cool off a little.


Chop up your cilantro, limes, jalapeno and avocado


Lots of green in this sandwich

In a bowl mix about 1/3 cup of mayo with some cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper.  Keep adding lime juice until it's runny, like a dressing.


Shred up the chicken SHRED DON'T CUBE - cubing chicken is disgusting


Put it all together and shove it in your face... you'll soon be sad it was over so quickly




I should've made 2 for myself, I really want another one.

You can do this same recipe with shrimp... also very good.

Don't forget, more sauce makes it better for you.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Food Tip: Baking Your Burgers

Enjoy perfectly juicy burgers year round.

If you asked me a month ago if it was a good idea to bake a burger I would've sat you down and had a serious conversation with you about the importance of grilling your burger and I would've made you feel stupid for asking.  But, I would have been wrong in doing so and I want to apologize for not being sensitive in our hypothetical conversation.

Burgers to me are the perfect food.  I can always count on them.  Knowing how to make a good burger is knowing how to make somebody happy.  There's a reason Americans eat 17 trillion burgers a day.  You probably believed that stat, I just made it up.

Rule one to making a good burger, preformed patties are for suckers.  If your idea of a bbq is throwing a few frozen patties on the grill you are missing out on life.  Form your own patties and never use frozen beef... ever.

The burger above is an attempt at recreating a fatburger... one of my favorites.  But, in this case, I baked the burger.

I used a half pound of beef to form the patty... with my hands... like you're supposed to.  I only use salt and pepper on my burgers.  I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and put a little cooling rack on a baking sheet.  I put the patty on the cooling rack to create space between the baking sheet and the burger.  I baked for what felt like 15 to 20 minutes, until the patties looked done.

I was very surprised at how juicy they turned out.  Try it next time weather doesn't allow you to bbq.  If you're like me burger cravings don't wait until grilling season.

Chow Mein better than panda express

If you're like me you get super bummed out when you run out of noodles at Panda Express.  If somebody kept putting plates in front of me I think I could keep eating it all day.  This recipe will allow you to recreate the noodles at home and you can tweak it to your tastes.  I prefer more noodles, less veggies.

You'll need these:


That's hard to see, the brand is wel-pac.  I found them at Wal-mart.  They are more expensive on Amazon.  Other brands of chow mein noodles I'm sure are good, just make sure you are buying dry noodles.  The dry noodles will allow you to cook them to your desired "doneness"  I prefer the noodles to be a little more "al dente"  whereas if you buy the noodles that are precooked you have no control over how mushy they are.

If you aren't good at multi-tasking go ahead and boil your noodles first.  About 2 minutes.  Strain the noodles and immediately rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Set aside

Chop about a cup of cabbage and about a half cup to full cup of celery.

Sauce ingredients (based on one package of noodles):
About 1/4 cup soy sauce
2 to 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tsp to 1 tbs of finely chopped or grated ginger
black pepper
1 tbs brown sugar

Mix it all together, set aside.

In a wok or large saucepan heat up about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and sautee the celery until it starts to get soft, then throw in the cabbage for a couple minutes.

Once the cabbage starts to wilt throw in your noodles.  For best results let them crisp up a bit, don't stir much.  Once the noodles are to your desired level of crispiness throw in the sauce.  Toss the noodles with the sauce quickly, don't allow the sauce to burn.  Remove from heat.

This is the part where you'll be tempted to start shoving the noodles in your face.  Relax, go outside and take a breather.  Let the noodles cool off enough to not melt your face.

Dive in.  Best enjoyed with chop sticks and a fortune cookie.

To make it a complete meal brown some chicken in the oil before you put in the celery.  No need to season the meat, the sauce will do that for you.



Spicy version:

Some like it spicy.  It's quite simple, just add a little or a lot of this to the sauce mix:




You should have this in your fridge at all times.  It's seriously so good.

Quick Start

This site is about inspiring people to get creative with their food and have fun.  Don't follow the recipes exactly, use them as a guide to come up with your own stuff.  Most of the stuff on here is stuff you should be able to prepare quickly.  Not a lot of baking, not a lot of marinading, not a lot of slow cooking.

If I post stuff that you can't find ingredients to I will do my best to link you to places where you can buy it.

I'd also like to post your recipes, send them to me with pictures and if I approve, I will share them.

If there is something you'd like to learn to cook let me know and we'll figure it out.