Chicken Tempura Stir Fry

Here is what I made tonight for dinner. Mandi is out of town so I have not felt very inspired but today I went to the market and got some ingredients. I put this together and it was delicious. I will put up how I cooked it soon. And that is not oil that is giving off the sheen its the honey! Liberally apply and its so good!

Ingredients:
1/2 chicken breast
1 Tbsp Premium dark soy sauce
2 Tsp Regular low sodium soy sauce
Broccoli
Snap peas
Green bell pepper
Small cut rice noodles
Tempura batter
1 hand full peeled shrimp
1 tsp minced garlic
Any nut oil or high burn point oil
Honey (not clover)
1 tsp Tbsp Huy Fong sriracha sauce

A work in Progress Pepper and Campari with Gnocchi

Pepper and Campari with Gnocchi

I have to tweak this somewhat to get the flavor I was looking for. But it still turned out good. I am a perfectionist so I will keep cooking this until I think it is perfect.

Ingredients;
Campari Tomatoes
Cabernet sauvignon
Gnocchi
Oregano
Red Bell Pepper
EVOO
Sweet onion
Garlic
Fresh basil leaves
Sugar
Sea Salt
Black pepper
Heavy cream
Broccoli
Chicken

Some great recycling!!!

Hi guys it's Mandi here! I know Shane does most of the blogging, but I wanted to let you know what Shane and I have been doing lately! We haven't been throwing ANY containers away! Glass soda bottles, artichoke containers (pictured in Merlot Kissed Campari)chinese takeout soup containers, soy sauce bottle. They make AWESOME containers!

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

Here is what I created tonight, very light, hearty, and delicious. I will put up all the info soon. Let me know what you think I should call it.

Easy to make and delicious

Sprinkle of Feta
1 hand full Red Bell pepper sliced
1 hand full Multi grain pasta
1 hand full Zucchini chopped
4 Tbsp sun dried tomato pesto
1 chicken breast chopped
1 Tbsp EVOO
Black pepper
Sea salt
Oregano

This should serve a few people.

Step 1:
Saute chicken and veggies with a dash of black pepper, sea salt, and oregano.

Step 2:
Boil pasta, drain, put back into pot, add chicken, and pest mix well. Keep the noodles hot!

Magnifico Creste Di Gallo

This is what I made Mandi for our anniversary. Recipe and ingredients to follow. Mandi says that this could be a feature dish in an upscale Italian restaurant. You decide once you cook it.

Ingredients:
1 lb Top sirloin fillets thick cut
Merlot kissed campari sauce
Fresh Creste Di Gallo pasta
Italian bread crumbs
2 eggs beaten
Creamy asiago cheese sliced thin
Asparagus
Sea Salt
A splash of heavy cream
EVOO first pressed
Black pepper

Have your pasta cooked and rinsed beforehand or to be done right as the steak is done.

Step 1:
Flatten each steak fillet out with a meat hammer to where the meat is about 1/4 inch thick. Lightly salt and pepper on both sides, dip in beaten eggs, then into bread crumbs, do not double dip, you only want one layer of bread crumbs. Place in about 1-2 Tbsp hot EVOO. Cook until steak is done to your likeness, place cheese on top, and melt.

Step 2:
While you are cooking the steak place pasta with campari sauce and simmer until hot. Add a splash of heavy cream 3-4 Tbsp or more if you desire. While this and the steak are cooking, place your asparagus in a saute pan, add a bit of water, and a pinch of sea salt, blanch until done. Plate the noodles and sauce and asparagus and then add the steak on top of the noodles.

Voila Magnifico Creste Di Gallo

Merlot Kissed Campari

Here is what I made just a few minutes ago. The flavor is out of this world and its easy to make. Recipe and ingredients will come soon.

Ingredients:
2.5 cups portobello mushrooms chopped
1 medium sweet onion diced
1 cup Merlot Wine
3 Tbsp EVOO preferably first pressed
2 lb. Fresh Campari tomatoes
3 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp Litehouse freeze dried Italian seasoning
1 medium size zucchini squash chopped
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup pure organic cane sugar or more to sweeten
1 tsp Huy Fong Sriracha hot sauce
All measurements are approximate, cook to taste, this will yield one large jar of sauce.

Prepare all veggies beforehand ie the onions and mushrooms

Step 1:
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Place the tomatoes in the water, keep heat on high, and let the tomatoes cook for about 40 seconds, place immediately in cold water to stop the cooking process. This will also make the skins wrinkle and easy to peel. Peel the skins and set to the side you will be using these later. Place the tomatoes and merlot in a blender or food processor and puree. Remove and place in a sauce pan and set on the burner but do not cook yet.

Step 2:
Add 3 Tbsp EVOO to a cast iron or stainless steel skillet. Add onions, mushrooms, and garlic and saute until the onions and mushrooms are cooked. The onions should be slightly carmelized. Now mix with the tomatoes and make sure you try to get every last drop as this is super flavorful and you want all the flavor you can get. Now turn your tomatoes on high heat until the sauce bubbles, leave at this temp for about 30 seconds, stir often to make sure it does not burn on the bottom of the pan, reduce heat to medium high and cook for roughly 5-6 minutes. While this is cooking take about a cup and a half of sauce from the pan, put it into the blender. Add half of your saved tomato skins, hot sauce, and the chopped zucchini, puree, now you should have a thick paste. Add this to the sauce and let it continue to cook until your 5-6 minutes are up. Add sugar the last minute and half and mix well, you want to add enough sugar to take away any bitterness from the tomatoes and the skins. You do not want too much sugar to make it too sweet! Your sauce should start to thicken once you put the paste in.

Ok here some things to consider:

The longer you cook the tomatoes the less nutritional value they maintain. You want a fresh taste not a canned, processed, pasty taste like most sauce out there.

Tomatoes have naturally occurring pectin which helps it to thicken, if cook too much the pectin will make the sauce very gummy and you do not want this at all.

Most people exclude the tomato skins because they will make the sauce more bitter, but thats ok. Sweeten with pure organic cane sugar until the sauce has a slight bitterness left to it but not too sweet. As it sits in the frig the sugar will mellow the bitterness even more. Do not add too much sugar!

Let the sauce sit overnight chilled the flavors will mix even more and mature or use it fresh on any pasta you like!

Enjoy!

Pacado Salad

This was a total experiment and we did not know how exactly it would turn out. After we put this together is was so amazing, the flavors of our ingredients meshed flawlessly, and their was an exotic flavor that is absent from most traditional salads.

Ingredients:
1 heaping cup cut Papaya
2 whole Avacodos diced
1 1/2 heads of romaine lettuce
1/2 dry roasted peanuts (NOT salted)
2/3 c fete cheese
Drizzle FF Raspberry Pecan dressig (Ken's)
Mix and serve!
YUM! DELISH!

Thai Sweet Chili Stir Fry Noodles

Another thai dish using similar ingredients as the few other recent noodle recipes. This time I used a sweet chili sauce. Full of flavor, sweet and spicy!

Ingredients:
A medium hand full of fresh Broccoli
1 medium sized Fresh yellow squash
2 Fresh shitake mushrooms
Thai sweet chili sauce Mae Ploy brand
Fish sauce Three crabs brand
1 nickel size piece of skinned ginger
3 green onion stalks
Any high burn point oil
1 hand full Fresh low mein noodles
2 tsp minced garlic

Step 1:
Prepare your veggies, dice them, slice them how you would like them. In a very wok hot had about 1-2 Tbsp oil let heat for 5 seconds, throw in green onion stalks and ginger, toss for about 30 seconds, add veggies, and stir fry for about 2-3 minutes. Remove ginger and green onion stalks. Add hand full of noodles, toss around for about 30 seconds, add garlic, mix everything well. Add 2 tsp fish sauce coat all ingredients well and toss for another 30 seconds. Add 2-3 Tbsp sweet chili sauce, coat evenly, toss for a final 30 seconds. Simple, easy, and very tasty! Do not turn down the heat on the stove at any time.

All these times and measurements are not exact. Cook veggies until done but make sure they still have a decent crunch to them. Do not overcook this dish once you put the sweet chili sauce in, it has honey and sugar in it and will burn if you are not careful.

Breakfast for Dinner

So I wanted to do breakfast for dinner with some easy ingredients. It took maybe 15 minutes to get it all cooked!

Ingredients:
Eggs
Baby bella mushrooms
1 Sweet onion
Boar's head Vermont white cheddar
Boar's head maple/honey glaced ham
Pre-made flaky croissants
Applegate traditional pork breakfast links
Black pepper

You pick how you want to make this, put whatever you want on it! I put some Jalapeno jelly on mine which is not pictured here. It added moisture and zing gotta love peppers.

Thai Red Curry Stir Fry with noodles

Before I go into this dish Mandi and I are interested in starting up a Dinner group for those who would like to get together and cook some awesome food. Hit us up on facebook for more information.

So this dish is Thai inspired using authentic Thai ingredients and its just delicious. However I need to warn you Thai food is not for the faint of heart. It is packed with flavor and can have a good heat level to it. But if you love Thai like I do then you will love this dish.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken breast cut into smaller pieces
2 chicken thighs deboned and cut into smaller pieces
2 Tbsp Thai red curry per batch
Fresh peanuts
8 Tbsp Thai basil
1 whole sweet onion cut into strips
2 fresh diced yellow squash
2 hand fulls of fresh shitake mushroom diced
3 hand fulls fresh snap peas
4 large hand full of low mein noodles
2 hand full bean sprouts
Coconut milk
3-4 tsp Fish sauce, use squid brand, its milder than what I use, which is three crab brand. Or you can use what I use just use less.
Any nut oil

Step 1:
Prep all your veggies. Cook noodles, drain, rinse, and let dry out a bit. Prep all ingredients. Have your curry and coconut milk ready. Preheat wok for 5 minutes or so until its very very hot. Add 2 Tbsp oil, let heat up for a about 6 seconds. Stir fry 1 cup of chicken at a time, each time add 1 tsp fish sauce right before you take the chicken out, toss and coat evenly. Do not cook the chicken all the way leave the breast meat a little pink but make sure to sear the chicken. Set the chicken to the side. If there is any left over food stuck to the wok now is the time to rinse and lightly scrub with your wok spatula and hot water.

Step 2:
Now heat up the wok again, place 1-2 cups veggies in hot oil, and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add about 1 cup of chicken to the veggies, stir fry for another 1-2 minute, add large hand full of noodles toss for another minute, add 2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste, toss often and coat all ingredients well with the paste, add enough coconut milk to coat all noodles evenly but make sure to not make it too runny. Do not burn the coconut milk just cook until it is hot. Repeat this until you cook all ingredients. I was able to make roughly 4 large portions.

Garnish with Thai basil and peanuts enjoy!

Veggie Lo Mein With Oyster Sauce

So I did another variation of low mein this time with oyster sauce instead of fish and soy sauces. Check it out.

Ingredients:
1 medium hand full low mein noodles
1/2 cup sweet onion
A few pieces of sliced red bell pepper
1 medium hand full of Napa cabbage
1-2 Tbsp Wok Mei oyster sauce depending on your tastes
2 cloves minced garlic
1 nickel size piece of ginger skinned
Any type of nut oil or high burn point oil, I like to use peanut, canola, grape seed
Hot pepper if desired or hot sauce which I used since I do not have any hot peppers at the moment.
Thai basil

Step 1:
Heat up your wok to smoking, add about 2-3 Tbsp oil and piece of ginger. Stir fry the ginger around so that the oil soaks up the aromas and flavor. Place your veggies in, now if your wok is hot enough as soon as you put the veggies in their will be a big pop, dont be afraid nothing with catch fire. Stir fry veggies evenly, add noodles, toss often, add garlic toss for another few seconds but don't burn the garlic, add about 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce, toss and coat evenly. Eat up with some hot sauce or add hot peppers in with the veggies when you first put them in the wok! Garnish with some fresh Thai basil.

Enjoy!

Food Blabber

Just as a quick note on the pictures on this post. Try and find ham, hot dogs, bacon, etc without nitrates and nitrites added! I did here is what I found so far. This brand is also awesome tasting. Nitrates and Nitrites= bad news. Check this out: Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate are two closely related chemicals used for centuries to preserve meat. While nitrate itself is harmless, it is readily converted to nitrite. When nitrite combines with compounds called secondary amines, it forms nitrosamines, extremely powerful cancer-causing chemicals. The chemical reaction occurs most readily at the high temperatures of frying. Nitrite has long been suspected as being a cause of stomach cancer. Look for nitrite-free processed meats -- some of which are frozen, refrigeration reduces the need for nitrites -- at some health food and grocery stores. But regardless of the presence of nitrite or nitrosamines, the high-fat, high-sodium content of most processed meats should be enough to discourage you from choosing them.

So Mandi has come up with some ideas that I think are creative and awesome. Some will take time and others we can implement almost right away. So for starters Mandi has suggested that I make my home made Thai curries, jar them up, design a cool logo and sticker, and sell them. I think this is a great idea and will open the blog and us to new people.

She has also suggested for us to do a live feed of us cooking online for people to watch. I was hesitant as first but then this grew on me quite a bit. This will be a long term goal and we would have to get a very good HD webcam. If we do not do things live we were thinking about filming us cooking then posting it online.

Even the best Chef's curse and groan at things not going right. I stress to never rush cooking! Relax and go with the flow. If something does not turn out right when you are experimenting its ok, take a deep breath and fix it. Most of the time I have been able to fix things when I did something wrong especially when I am calm. Also I have come to know very well when stir frying to always use small batches. You do not want to steam your food. When I first started using my woks I did this from time to time and realize wait my veggies and rice or noodles need to be cooked but mushy!

I have also come to realize that most people use way too much salt when cooking including me. Salt can be hidden too if you are not paying attention. Some marinara sauce and other Italian sauces can be packed full of sodium. Soy sauce is full of sodium, so is fish sauce, or any other Asian sauce, oyster, hoisin etc. I recommend using less or cutting with water or other liquids like lime juice, coconut milk and son on. Use fresh herbs and spices more than salt. Salt should be an accent to flavor not the majority. Most of our favorite places to eat like Olive Garden, Chile's, Red Lobster, and so on have tons of sodium in there foods. Of course fast food joints use salt and lots of it. Salt is good for you and we need it both sea salt and iodized table salt but in small amounts. When people have heart attacks or suffer from congestive heart failure a good doctor tells the patient very low sodium all the time! So be smart with salt. Educate yourself on what the recommended daily allowances are and take into consideration the naturally occurring salts found in food.

Fresh ingredients lets talk this for a second. I have come to be a bit of a fresh ingredient enthusiast. I don't have the money to buy all organic or hydroponically grown yet but in the future when I have kids I want to give them the very best nature has to offer. Fresh ingredients is one of the key steps to having amazing tasting food period. Eventually I want to be able to buy from local growers so that my food is very nutrient rich. Most produce loses quite bit of its healthy components the longer they sit, the more they are processed, handled, and shipped. Do not be afraid of fresh ingredients. Using fresh everything does not mean you will be spending hours in the kitchen. Invest in a food processor, some good knives, and learn proper cutting techniques. All of this will cut down on time. Prep fresh foods before hand. Rinse produce off as soon as you get them soon. Cut up your veggies and seal them tight and use often so that nothing spoils. I am telling you fresh ingredients can make or break an amazing cuisine offering.

Also MSG=no good in my book. This ingredient should not be used at all in my opinion. Many people are allergic to it and it is known to cause some serious health issues if consumed in large amounts. Stay away from it if you can. Even Doritos has it. I will not buy anything with MSG. The oyster sauce I use for asian cuisine is Wok Mei brand found at Whole Foods. I also make sure I get premium soy sauces and premium fish sauces. No MSG should ever be in fish sauce, oyster sauce, or soy sauce, but a lot of what you will find at the Asian market is full of it. MSG finds its way into curries as well. So look for that NO MSG printing on the labels.

Seafood is amazing when cooked right. Get fresh fish, if it smells really fishy then most likely its not fresh. The longer a fish sits the more the oils come out of the wood work and the less fresh tasting the fish will be in general. Try to buy right off the boat if you can! If not then make sure you pick your seafood wisely. Most people do not smell their seafood before they buy it. Thats one of the first things I do when buying seafood is I ask the guy if I can smell it. No I don't literally hold it up to my nose or near my mouth to contaminate the thing, I just have them hold it and I waft it extensively. Most of the time they look at me weird but who cares smell your fish and other seafood. Oh one more thing on this matter as an fyi no matter good that fried catfish or tilapia is please be aware that most of these fish are farmed raised in over crowded ponds and are not living in the most healthy environment. Go to a fish farm sometime and you will see what I mean. Not to say there are not good fish farms because there are plenty but there are just as many disgusting ones out there serving up your next catfish or tilapia dish. The same goes for certain species of trout, and some salmon species as well. Again ask where they get it from and research that grower!

One last thing, use more chiles! Many people can't handle hot chiles. Well try to start eating some of the more milder varieties. They are packed full of vitamins and have been shown to help with arthritis, joint, and muscle pains. What do you think is in most of those muscle creams you use for sore muscles and stuff, its a lab version of capsaicin which is the chemical that gives heat to certain chiles. If you are too wimpy its ok eat your bell peppers and sweet peppers just the same.

Some of our cookware!

Some of our cookware. My essentials for the my kind of perfect kitchen!

Cast Iron and Wok, thats all you need! If you don't believe me try using a wok sometime, you can simmer, saute, stir fry, boil, steam, deep fry blanch and so on!

Cast iron is awesome. If you want perfectly seared meat and amazing flavor gotta use them!

Tortilla Pizzas

So I had a ton of tortillas some tomatoes, some mozzarella, and some other things I needed to use. Here is what I did with all my ingredients.

Ingredients:
Basil pesto
Ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Feta cheese
Minced garlic
Marinara sauce
Fresh spinach
Plum tomato
Italian seasoning
Flour Tortillas
Red Bell pepper
Shitake mushrooms

There is not steps really to making these. Make sure you oven is at its hottest, mine goes to 550F on the bake setting. Do not use top racks. Keep the topping layers thin. Use only a little pesto and cheese, just enough to get an even coating. Use a cookie sheet or pizza pan oiled with a thin layer of love oil. They are only take 2-4 minutes to cook depending on how toppings you put on. Combines ingredients any way you want to. Here are some I did for you to look at. Other ingredients would work as well, ham, pineapple, olives, pepperoni, you name it you can put it on these. Bake until the tortilla is golden-medium brown and crispy.

Try it out, its fast, easy, healthy, and fun to make.

Enjoy!

La Cubanita Review

We saw this place open for business next to one of our favorite Publix locations. Of course we had to try it. A local place, cuban food, and cuban sandwiches on the menu!

Here are some pictures with the review coming soon.

Healthy Lo Mein and Vietnamese Fresh Rolls

Here is something that I have not put up on here but I cook often. I am not sure why I have not put it up till now but here they are. I made these today because I wanted to make something good, healthy, and can also be a comfort food, well at least for Mandi and I. Most "chinese food" places use more soy sauce than I do. They also tend to use more oil which of course give you lots of salt and lots of fat. I use a very small amount of oil and a small amount of soy sauce. How do I get flavor? I use less soy sauce, a tad bit of fish sauce, a sprinkle of lime juice, a dash of palm sugar, and I stir fry the chicken separately with green onion stalks and fresh ginger chunks in order to give it its own distinct flavor. Oh and I forgot a bit of warm honey drizzled at the last moment before I chow it down.

So some tips when stir frying:
1. Use carbon steel woks only. The other ones suck
2. Make sure you have seasoned your wok properly which I will put up directions on how to do that soon.
3. Always stir fry on the highest heat possible flipping often
4. Use fresh ingredients and not too much oil
5. Stir fry in smaller batches, you don't want to steam your food and that is what will happen if you put too much in and reduce the heat too much.
6. Never wash your wok with soap ever! Hot water and give it a good scrub. Dry well and apply a thin layer of oil
7. Stir fry your meats and veggies seperate then combine them at the end.
8. Have all ingredients prepped beforehand


Ingredients:
Yellow squash
Shitake mushroom
Fresh peeled ginger
4 green onion stalks
Fresh Broccoli
Carrots
1 chicken breast
3 chicken deboned chicken thighs
Fresh low mein noodles
2-3 Tbsp Lower Sodium Soy Sauce
2 tsp Fish Sauce
4 Cloves minced garlic
Two hand fulls Prepared shrimp
Rice paper
One hand full Thai basil
One half hand full Mint
4 hand fulls rice vermicelli noodles
Honey- any kind besides clover unless thats what you like, but I cant stand the stuff so I used orange blossom honey
Home made Thai sweet chili sauce, peanut sauce, or prepared varieties will work as well.

Step 1:
Prepare your chicken and cut into thin pieces. Prepare you shrimp. In a sauce pan blanch the shrimp until they are done and set aside for fresh rolls. Take three stalks of green onion cut about 1/4 off and dice up for the fresh rolls. Set the remainder to the side. Cut and peel some fresh ginger the size of a nickel or so. Heat up your wok very very hot, smoking hot. Place about 2-3 Tbsp oil and let sit for 2-3 seconds to get hot. Place the green onion stalks and ginger in the oil, stir fry tossing often for about 30 seconds. Make sure you dry the chicken a bit, get any extra juices squeezed from the chicken at this time and place to the side in a small dish for later use. Now take the chicken and place it in the wok sear the chicken evenly and make sure to cook it till its almost done (slightly pink in the middle). Add extra chicken juices and 1 Tbsp soy sauce in and flip often, coat the chicken well. Place 2 tsp fish sauce. Stir fry and coat well. Remove and set to the side. Remove green onion stalks and ginger chunk, just discard them.

Step 2:
Cook your rice and fresh low mein noodles ( follow directions on package. Drain, rinse, and let cool.

Step 3:
Chop up your veggies beforehand into any size you like, the thinner and smaller the faster they cook, the thicker the longer they take and you may end up steaming them and not stir frying them. Heat up your wok again till smoking. Add some oil let it get hot for a few seconds then place 2-3 cups veggies at a time and stir fry for 30 seconds or so. Add a hand full of low mein noodles and toss often for another 30 seconds. Add the remainder of soy sauce and add to taste not too much to make it too salty. Add a hand full of chicken and stir fry until all components are fully cooked. Plate up and drizzle honey over it, mix into the low mein well.

Step 4:
Wet your rice paper for 3 seconds in warm water. Take a hand full of vermicelli, mint, thai basil, and shrimp combined. Wrap tight before the rice paper starts to dry. It gets hard to work with if you wait too long. Serve up with your favorite peanut sauce or sweet Thai chili sauce.

Enjoy!