Father Feeds Flock!!!

So like everyone else, I had some thanksgiving leftovers, and friday I was wondering what else to do with them.  I already had the obligatory turkey, brie and cranberry sandwich. I saw a short cooking segment on the today show, they ALWAYS run out of time and don't show the whole thing.  At the end the chef just mentioned and quickly  showed a small turkey pot pie. BINGO!!! I know what we're eating tonight! So I quickly looked at a few recipes online, and got the gist of it and then I went for it, using only my brain as a weapon. I started by gathering what I thought would work...turkey, mashed potatoes, baked corn and puffed pastry was all left over from thanksgiving.  I added celery, onion, garlic, chicken stock and frozen peas. I chopped everything up and fired up the cast iron skillet. Olive oil was heated, then I put in the onions,  celery, garlic and corn. After they softened up a bit, I added the turkey, mashed potatoes (and gravy) and chicken stock and...

I wanted to cook some swordfish last night for the first time.  I found a good recipe online with allrecipies.com and I was off to the races.  Dutchie is doing very well on her diet so we still try to feed the flock with things that we can all eat.  So I added simple lemon asparagus and a salad.   The swordfish began with onions, garlic, chili paste, worcestershire sauce and lemon juice which all created the initial glaze.  I then grilled it on the stovetop grill.  In the meantime, I chopped cucumbers, and combined it with sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and s/p and put in the fridge. I cheated and used the microwave to heat the asparagus.  I cut slices of lemons and used the pulp to season the asparagus during cooking.  I plated the veggi by inserting several stalks in the middle of the lemon rind.  Was a nice look. Once the fish was done, I topped it with the cool refreshing cucumber sauce. The glaze had a slight amount of spice...

Pulled out a cookbook from my favorite chef, Gordon, and found something that is allowed on my wife's diet, Herb Roasted Chicken.  He suggests a potato gratin to go with it, but Dutchie couldn't eat that, not to mention that Zachary called it gross.  Most of the recipes in this book  aren't very easy or practical, but they provide a challenge. I paired this with 2 different sautéed veggies....carrots and green bean beans.   The carrots were cooked with parsley and shallots,  and the beans were cooked with bacon slices. Gordon instructed to remove the legs as they take a bit longer than the breasts to cook, so I roasted them simply with s/p and some herb scraps.  This was Zachary's protein.   For the rest of the bird, I created an herb butter and placed it up under the skin, with a lemon slice.   I used carrots, onion, leek and celery to prop up the chicken and to add flavor.   This is meant to be discarded, but I think ...

I've been absent for a few weeks due to work commitments, but since the page views have gone down to nil, I thought I'd better do something so you guys dont forget about us. Dutchie is on a strict diet, Slim4Life, and I've been putting in hellacious hours at the edit suite, so there hasn't been much excitement going on at our dinner table. However....last night Dutchie cooked a meal that is very blog worthy! She grilled tilapia filets to perfection, then topped them with fruit, peaches & strawberries with basil and mint.  This was simply plated with basmati rice and asparagus.  All sticking to the confines of her diet, which include, but not limited to, NO oil, and only smart balance butter. Most of her special meals have had that "healthy or diet" quality to them, all taste relatively good, but you immediately feel that you are eating healthy. This meal was moist, delicious and a joy to eat.  The fruit topping went so well with the grilled ...

My camera was running low on battery,  so just a couple of pics. I stole the idea for this meal from  "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives". Schnitzel on Spätzle. Schnitzel is a term in Germany, that us southern folks like to call chicken fried. They both mean some kind of meat that is breaded and fried. Spätzle is a small noodle that you shove through a colander, to form little nuggets. I got 3 chicken breasts and pounded them thin with the back of my ladle.  I almost  bought a meat tenderizing hammer, but they wanted $14.   My ladle did the trick just fine.   My dredging station was flour/eggs/panko bread crumbs in that order. Then you fry these things until they are  golden brown and crispy. The Spätzle is basically normal pasta dough, but you push it thru a colander or slotted spoon held over a pot of boiling water.  The dough drops off in these little nuggets, and you  boil them for just a few minutes.  Then into a saucepan...

I'm trying to keep our meals varied and balanced, so tonight I chose veggie stir fry. Showcased on our brand new cutting board are mushy-rooms, scallions, garlic,  ginger, matchsticks carrots,  asparagus and snap peas. I added some oyster sauce, sesame oil & soy sauce to  the stir fry, and I plated it with brown rice. Quick, simple and delicious!!! 父亲喂养他的羊群 ("The father has fed his flock" in Chinese)

I've already blogged about this meal so I wont bore you, but I made Jamie Oliver's, from scratch, pizza recipe (dough and sauce) again tonight. So I could make a blog entry I had Dutchie take this video.  We did it twice for the obvious fact that I wanted close ups....We DO own a video production company, in case you forgot. This is just me tossing the dough and not creating the whole pizza. Let me know what you think of the video.  Is it better than photos? Dang the pizzas were good. Made one pepperoni (turkey pepperoni), one cheese and garlic (by far the best one) and the third was half cheese and half turkey pepp!