Father Feeds Flock!!!

Had lots of dill, so I thought why not make a pesto with it. NUTS! Who needs pine nuts or walnuts?  Pecans is what I reached for. Did you just read pea-can or pea-khan? I put the left overs in an ice cube tray and froze it.  Now when I need it, I'll have just the right amount of pesto. Watch out noodles!!!

Recently I started doing something my mother always did...whenever she would cook bacon, she would keep the grease as she called it (fat) into a little jar.  When she cooked green beans, she would plop a little grease in there to give a little bacon flavoring. Now cause of the obvious health concerns, I will not do this too often, But come on....Who hasn't been eating some green beans and said...Man I would love some bacon right now!!!! Problem solved!!! What tips/tricks have you learned from your mother?

I'm trying a new design that is much more eye appealing.  I lost the guestbook as it didn't do what I wanted (you could only post one comment).  PLUS NO ONE was posting comments anyway. I got a posting in mind regarding Cousin Mike's Zesty sauce, and even though that meal happened a week or so ago, that will be the next post more then likely.  Tonight is rest of filet mignon steaks with green beans and broccoli.  Nothing too exciting, so I will spare you. I may start begging soon, but I sure would like to see MUCH more interaction on this site. I get emails/messages AL THE TIME regarding my cooking posts, but so far, not many comments on the blog.  I know that having to be a "member" is somewhat of a deterrent, but please sign up so you can post your comments. Have a recipe you want me to try and post? Think I'm full of it? Think I shouldn't waste me time with such inane ventures? Hate steak? Hate Kale chips? Love Kale chips? I've had one ...

    Dutchie asked for gourmet chicken burgers tonight for dinner.  I was happy to oblige.  Luckily our local Target carries ground chicken, none of our other local store do.  I added an egg, shredded english vintage yellow cheddar (tastes like parmesan), lots of fresh garden herbs, s/p and a secret sprinkle of fresh ground nutmeg right before grilling....sssshhhh.      We are watching our carbs so I knew that fries or buns were out of the question.  We had some romaine left over, so I took the outer leaves, cut them in half, flipped the top half, replaced it over bottom half, thus making each "end" of the bun as wide as it can be.  Doing this twice got me a top and bottom "bun".  Radicchio, avocado, cucumbers and thinly slice red onions were on hand for garnish.  This still didn't fill the void of french fried pertaters!!!!  KALE CHIPS!!!!! We are such dorks, that all 3 of us were excited to have kale chips. ...

so here's what you missed so far.... Ever notice that its hard to leave one of those high end grocery stores with less than a $150 bill? I was at Central Market to get some good meats/fish...boy did I. Huge chunks of salmon, lump crab meat and a whole sirloin, then we made the mistake of looking at other stuff, and next thing you know..... I made Cousin Mike's Zesty Sauce, for the salmon, but thats a whole nuther post. This sauce is an ancient family recipe that no one seems to know where it came from, but it seems Cousin Mike had something to do with it.  We love it on steaks or salmon!! Another trip to Central Market to find some large scallops...they did not dissappoint.  Next thing I know, I have $24 worth of beautiful scallops.  I skip over to the produce dept and baby bok choy and a shallot got my name written all over them. "what recipe are you using?" asks the wife. "recipe?" Said I.  "I'm just going to wrap it in some bacon......

Ok, I have to apologize in advance, because if this meal doesn't make  your mouth water..... then I would venture to say you aint right!!!! I took this. and made THIS!!!!!! highlights:  watercress, lump crab meat, avocado, lime juice and some spices. I love crab to begin with, I know few people that don't, and this had both Dutchie and I saying the same thing over and over during dinner....    MMM MMmmm  MMM mmm MMM! It felt like a Crash Test Dummies song. Bonus: the watercress was hydroponic and sold with the roots, so I used the leaves, and  will plant it in the garden to see if they grow. Yuck or Yum?

With the iPhone, taking my pics is so convenient and easy...so why am I complaining? Cause they dont even come CLOSE to showing how great this food tastes.  It looks too contrasty, a bit greenish-yellow tint and the flash doesn't seem to work properly, its uneven throughout the photo. Case in point.... This looks like something that came out of a sick baby, but I can ASSURE you that Pork Medallions with creamy mustard sauce was quite DELICIOUS. I guess I will have to set up photo shoots with a food stylist and shoot the pics with my Nikon D5000. That is all....now I have to go listen to my bonus Beastie Boy Remix that I got for pre-ordering Hot Sauce Committee pt. 2!!!! "Make Some NOISE!!!!!!"  

ramekin, butter, egg, cheese and chives~~~~~bake until solid~~~~~~~~enjoy! Its so cool how different they taste when baked.  This morning I added garlic, but I didn't like it, so I would suggest leaving that out.

Trying to lay off of carbs for a while, as doc says to drop about 20lbs. Put the chicken in a large bag with 3 cloves of garlic, olive oil, s/p and rosemary from the garden and let that marinate all day long. No potatoes for a while, so the next best thing (possibly even better), is mashed cauliflower!!!! This turned into an awesome dinner, and was very easy. For a bit of added goodness, I stuffed a bunch of orange slices and a bunch more rosemary sprigs  into the cavity of the chicken. 90 minutes on the spigot and I had THIS!!!! So put together with the mash and some mini cucumbers... this is what we enjoyed tonight!!!! But wait....there's more. Since I had a chicken skeleton, I thought...hhmmmm. I plopped the bones, skin, salt and rosemary into a pot, added some water and some onions, simmered for about an hour, strained out all the solids... Viola!!!!!  Homemade chicken stock! WINNING!!!!!  DUH!

For Zacharys 5th birthday party, we had a star wars theme. Not only did darth vader and a storm trooper show up, but the theme included snacks too. We had yoda punch, vadered eggs, dagoba dip, bantha fodder, hognaughts in a blanket and tauntaun droppings. These were respectively sprite/sherbet punch, deviled eggs, spinach/parm dip, veggies, mini corn dogs and brownie bites. I think it was a huge success and has already become a treasured memory. And now for something completely different.... We went to Whiskey Cake (a farm to fork restaurant) two nights ago. We've been there on several occasions, but the green devil, or fairy, depending on which circles you roll in, made this an interesting first experience. Whiskey Cake offers several old school cocktails, one which includes Absinthe (they just line the rim with it). Having recently watched the movie, Get Him to the Greek, I was curious to taste it. I asked the waiter if he could make me a true absinthe drink, off th...

There are a handful of meals from my childhood that made such an impact on me, that I can salivate just thinking about them.  My mother was a very good cook and from her arsenal Armando Salad, Lasagna and Chicken Enchiladas were my tip top favorites, and I continue her tradition and make these often to hand down the greatness to my son. My grandmother had an event that she called zesty spaghetti sauce!!!!!!!!! She would cook and nurse her sauce all day long, and it is unlike any other sauce you will ever try. She made it VERY spicy with LOTS of crushed red pepper.  Back then, kids ate what the adults were having....nuff said, no complaining, or you didn't eat.  So I ate this fire hot spaghetti and after a while, I LOVED it!!! In my family we did something I have never even heard of since.... we would put mayonnaise on spaghetti!  Sounds gross...actually I needed it cause it helped douse some of the flames from the red pepper.  FYI-we NO LONGER do this, but ...

Kept seeing mangos at the Kroger so I wanted to do some mango salsa.  Found this recipe on my Allrecipes iPhone spinner app.  Very cool, check it out if applicable. We had some tilapia filets so I went and got mangos, peaches (I added peaches to recipe), red peppers and broccoli.  Went off recipe and marinated the fish with some of the salsa too (it called for oil, garlic and parsley).  This helped out A LOT!  I wanted rice to finish out the dish.  The salsa was so colorful, that plain rice just wouldn't cut it. I shredded some parsnips and carrots and added parsley.  WOW, Basmati rice sure does suck in and hold flavor.  I got three thumbs up from the family, even Zachary!