Sesame Noodles

These are some great noodles that can be modified based on what veggies you want.  It was really the sauce that made it.

12 ounces, fluid Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained (used 16 ounces and it was fine)

1/4 cup Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Sugar

4 cloves Garlic, Minced

2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar

3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil

1/2 teaspoon Hot Chili Oil

4 Tablespoons Canola Oil

4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin

The first time we made it we added some soy sauce and peanut butter and water that was warmed and stired until is was liquidy. This made it way better.

Best Black Beans and Rice - 10/10

This one is actually a two parter. I went all out one night and made beans and rice and enchalatas. I won't repeat the enchalata recipe because the beans and rice stole the show. The blog I got the recipe from said it would change how I thought about black beans and it was absoltely correct.

The original recipe is as follows but I like any soup recipe you can do pretty much whatever you want. The last time I added some homemade chicken broth that I had a stick of cinnamon. Unfortunately I went wasn't being attentive while Jessie and I got engrossed in a TV show and let them over cook.

Ingredients:

• 1 large Spanish onion diced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 green pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 4 15 oz. cans black beans about 6 cups
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup red wine or cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 cans (from beans) water
• sliced avocado and tomato for serving if desired
• 1 pot of prepared rice of your choosing (we use brown rice)

Method:

1. Saute onion, garlic and bay leaf in olive oil over medium heat until onion is soft. Add green pepper, oregano, cumin, and cloves. Cook about 2 minutes. Add black beans, salt, pepper, vinegar, honey, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook at a simmer, loosely covered, for about 2 hours, stirring frequently.
2. Serve your beans on top of rice with tomatoes and avocado.
3. Feel free to add whatever else you want. Peppers, chilies, spices. It is hard to mess this up.

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Jessie came up with the second recipe that she had made. Although the first time she made it she accidently dropped the entire salt shaker in the pot. You can reduce the oil a little bit to cut some of the calories and it is still fantastic.

• 1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati rice
• 1/2 lime, juice of
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 3 tsp vegetable oil

In a small heavy pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minute. Or just make in your fancy rice cooker.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.

Buffalo Turds 10/10 for cookouts!!!

I found this recipe on Reddit (thanks LakeRat) on a thread for favorite BBQ side dishes. It wasn't so much a recipe as much of "hey, here is something I like to make". Below is what I did and boy did they turn out great. After making them Ray managed to knock all the bacon ones on the ground, I made a few veggie ones for the non animal murdering people. As he was picking them up there was a little circle crowded around that was eating them as fast as he could pick them up. Because I cooked them for so long on low heat the peppers were cooked just right and just the right amount of heat was left in the peppers.

Ingredients:

10 Jumbo Jalapenos (the bigger the better). Cut in half and deseeded and de-veined

1 block cream cheese

1 handful of mexican cheese or colby or cheddar

Couple of spoonfuls of salsa for some flavor and color

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

package of bacon (hopefully 20 slices)

Pepper but probably don't need any salt since the bacon should add enough salt.

Garlic. I didn't add any but it might be good too

Directions.

Cut the peppers in half and deseed and devein. In seperate mixing bowl add cream cheese and shredded cheese. Add salsa and spices. Adjust salsa and spices to taste and use it as an excuse to keep eating the dip with some chips. Fill the peppers flush with the top. I had enough filling to fill the 10 peppers (makes 20 total) with a few bites left over for me.

The original recipe said to wrap the peppers with the raw bacon but I was worried that the top of the bacon wouldn't cook so I placed the bacon in the oven spread out on a cookie sheet at 425°F (approx since our temp gage is broke) for 10 minutes. This cooked it enough to still be pliable.

Next wrap the bacon around the pepper. Put a tooth pick at each end of the bacon to hold in place. I used wood toothpicks since I was worried about the plastic ones melting.

By the time they hit the grill the grill was pretty low (as far as charcoal grills go). They cooked for probably 20 minutes or so. I placed on foil which might have helped disperse the heat as well. By the time they were done the filling was bubbly (which wasn't good for when they are dropped on the ground), the top of the bacon was still soft but cooked and the bottom of the bacon had a very nice crunch.

Overall these were a complete hit and might have to be a staple for cook outs. There was a ton of left over food but these didn't last long even covered with a little bit of dirt....thanks Ray.

Kicken Chicken Stromboli (10/10)

I first ate this cheesy gooey goodness at Goodfellas pizza in Athens during my senior or perhaps my super senior year. Combined with $1 kicker sandwiches at KFC and an unhealthy relationship with World of Warcraft my waist line paid the price. When they finally stopped making this I though I could do it myself (although I have never really perfected it the way that they did). Probably the amount of cheese.

The secret to this recipe is the copious amount of franks red hot sauce and Asian sweet and sour sauce. When I make this I usually make 2 at a time so I can have left overs so the recipe is for two. Just cut in half if you only want to make one...but why would you.

2 loaf white bread dough (in the freezer section)

1 lb chicken breast (grilled, boiled, baked or even canned would work)

banana peppers (good quality hopefully)

1 med/large onion sliced or chopped (sweet)

2 cups cheese (mozzarella or sometimes use Mexican mixed blend)

Franks red hot

Sweet and sour sauce

1 egg

Itialian seasoning

pizza sauce or pasta sauce for dipping

On a floured surface take the thawed dough and roll to about 15" long by 8" wide. Place chicken in the center and then add franks and sweet and sour. It is hard to say how much to add but you just have to use your judgement. It might take a couple of times. I like it pretty hot and saucy so I don't really hold back.

Add onion and if sliced try to arrange so they line up with the long side of the dough so when you roll it they don't puncture your dough. Add banana peppers and then cheese. Make sure you don't add the sauce on the top. This will make it harder to roll.

Roll the dough into a cylinder and close the ends. This part can be tough. I like how Stromboli from a restaurant is multiple turns rather than a filled tube but I haven't figured out how to get it that way. I think it is because I add too much stuff and my dough isn't strong enough so I always end up with a filled tube but it is still good so no real worries.

Beat the egg and paint the top of the dough and sprinkle with Italian herbs. I don't really think this adds to the flavor much but it will make it look much better and smell amazing while baking. Cut a few slits in the top for the steam to escape and bake for approx 20-25 minutes at 350.

Enjoy.

Roasted Carrot Risotto and Yellow Squash Capri Salad

So I wanted to make a fancy dinner for Lindsay since she had been traveling for work for a week. I knew that I had some Abodro rice for quick a while so I figured it was time I finally got around to making some Risotto. I search around until I found a recipe for Caramelized Lemon and Soybean Risotto which looked really good. I did know where to get soy beans so I changed it to roasted carrots.

All and all it was just ok in my opinion. I learned a lot about making risotto, the most important fact being to follow directions and use all the ingredents. I forgot the butter and the cheese. Also next time I think I will add some water in place of the chicken stock since it was a bit too salty and not really creamy. (that might be because of the omission of butter).

Next time I should follow the directions from How to make basic Risotto From Video Jug which will hopefully help.

For an appetizer (which I am glad I made because we were both hungry) was a variation on a Capri salad. Since we don't really like tomatoes it didn't make sense to make a tomato salad. In place of the tomatoes I used roasted yellow squash. I roasted the thinly sliced yellow squash at 425°F for about 10 minutes and then layered fresh mozzarella, yellow squash and a basil leaf with a little salt and pepper. I drizzled with a little bit of olive oil but I need to omit it next time.

Overall it was a pretty good meal and has a lot of potential so I should make again.

Grilled Eggplant Rolls (7/10)

We had some left over little Italy pasta sauce from last week when we had some Ohio City ravioli. I searched around the internet and how a list of 50 things to do with left over pasta sauce. They weren't really recipes but just ideas.

Left over Pasta Sauce Ideas

It was a toss up between the pizza baked potato and the stuffed eggplant. I thought it would be fun to make something nice for Lindsay so I went with the eggplant since she likes it so much.

The recipe looked a little bland so I thought I would change just a few things.

1) I got fresh mozzarella cheese and added a slice to the top of each roll.

2) I didn't have any fresh basil since the herb garden isn't up and running yet so I just used some dried Italian spices

3)I used Asiago instead of Parmesan since we like the flavor a little more

4)I added a little pasta sauce to the filling to give it a red coloring.

I bought 2 medium eggplants and it made quite a bit. Next time I would only buy 1 and cut it much thinner.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 Tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/4″ slices (next time try cutting very thin)
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 12 ounces fresh, whole milk ricotta (about 1 1/2 cups) – other types of ricotta would be great too!
• 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling (used Asiago)
• 1/4 tsp each salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 cup of chopped basil or flat leaf parsley
• Tomato sauce
• pinch of garlic powder if on hand
• pinch of onion powder if on hand

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat.
2. Stir olive oil and vinegar together in a small bowl and brush onto both sides of the eggplant slices; season both sides with salt and pepper. Or just add the salt and pepper to the basting mixture to make it easier
3. Grill eggplant slices, turning once, until tender and golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. This won't take very long if you cut it thing
4. In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and half of the basil. Add couple of spoonfuls of sauce for color
5. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the cheese mixture onto each slice of eggplant at the tapered end – 1 inch from the bottom edge with a 1/4-inch border on each side. Roll each slice away from you and arrange rolls, seam side down, on the baking sheet.
6. Spoon tomato sauce over rolls, add slice of mozz and sprinkle a little more Asiago for looks. and place them in the oven until warmed through, about 15 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with Parmesan and remaining basil and serve immediately.

Overall these were pretty good. I'm not sure if I will make them again. Overall they were pretty easy for how fancy they were. They might be good over a bed of pasta or if you really wanted to make a fancy rich meal you could make a cream sauce for a dinner party.

African Peanut Stew (8/10) - Fall/Winter Soup

African Peanut Stew. I found this recipe on Simply Recipes . I obviously didn't take the photo. I was going to take a picture of my pot but I knew it wouldn't have turned out very well so I thought I would just post this one instead. The soup was very good and worth making again so I am adding it here.

I had some left over pepper chicken that my parents brought up so I thought it would be a good time to use it for a soup that called for heavy pepper flavor. I also bought sweet potatoes from GE which I always thought were yellow but the ones in the bin for sweet potatoes were white. I got 1.5 pounds of those plus 1 pound of yams so I could get some of that orange flavor.

Overall the soup was really easy to make but make sure you have a very large pot if you follow the recipe. I also used a 28 oz can of tomatoes since that was the only size they came in for "crushed". This recipe filled our largest pot to the brim.

Another change that I made was that I added cumin since I love it as a spice and I left out the coriander since I only had whole and didn't want to overpower the bites with it in. I doubled the cayenne because Lindsay and I like things with a little heat. It could have used a little more since it is African after all.

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 pounds chicken legs, thighs and/or wings
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large yellow or white onion, sliced
• A 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced (omitted because I don't like ginger)
• 6-8 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
• 2-3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes (used larger can)
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup roasted peanuts
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander (omitted, didn't have ground)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste (doubled)
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

METHOD

1 Heat the vegetable oil in a large soup pot set over medium-high heat. Salt the chicken pieces well, pat them dry and brown them in the oil. Don't crowd the pot, so do this in batches. Set the chicken pieces aside as they brown.

2 Sauté the onions in the oil for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes, then add the sweet potatoes and stir well to combine.

3 Add the chicken, chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, peanut butter, peanuts, coriander and cayenne and stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer and taste for salt, adding more if needed. Cover the pot and simmer gently for 90 minutes (check after an hour), or until the chicken meat easily falls off the bone and the sweet potatoes are tender.

4 Remove the chicken pieces and set them in a bowl to cool, until cool enough to touch. Remove and discard the skin if you want, or chop it and put it back into the pot. Shred the meat off the bones and put the meat back in the pot.

5 Adjust the seasonings for salt and cayenne, then add as much black pepper as you think you can stand—the stew should be peppery. Stir in the cilantro and serve by itself, or with simple steamed rice.

Yield: Serves 6-8