Finger lickin good

Eric and I went to a BBQ place in Denver over the weekend and it was pretty delicious.  We tried some single ribs since they were $1 but they were less than delicious so I thought I'd make some on my own for dinner.  I've never made ribs in the crock pot before b/c it just doesn't seem like it should be allowed being the Southern woman that I am but since I have to work and don't always have time to sit around and wait for them to cook, I decided to try it out since I've read good reviews about others experiences.

I started by buying 2 racks St. Louis ribs since they were on sale and cut them in half so they'd fit in the crockpot.  I covered them in rub using:

salt

pepper

garlic powder

cayenne pepper

chili powder

I rubbed em down on both sides and put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 min each side. 

They then went into the crock pot with the sauce that I "semi" made. The sauce consisted of:

BBQ sauce I had laying around

ketchup

onion

oregano

worcestershire

brown sugar

I made sure to cover all the ribs with the sauce and then cooked them on low for 7 hours.

After they were done, I put them back on a baking sheet and covered them in sauce again.  They then went into the oven under the broiler so the sauce could caramelize and the remaining sauce went into a pot to heat and thicken.

Earlier in the day, I also decided to make a corn salad as a side since it could sit in the fridge all day and I wouldn't have to worry about it once I got home from work.  The corn salad consisted of:

corn

onion

cider vinegar

olive oil

salt

pepper

basil

It all went into a bowl and got a quick toss before going into the fridge 

While the ribs were cooking, tater tots sounded good so I just bought a bag of frozen ones and baked them in the oven. 

So once everything was done, it got plated and I spooned some more sauce onto the ribs.  We only went through 1 rack of ribs between the 2 of us which made for great leftovers!

The ribs were surprisingly good! They were fall off the bone, tender, and had really good flavor.  The sauce absorbed a lot of the rub flavors, such as the kick of spice from the cayenne.  I think the flavors were really allowed to develop.  I also think the pre-cooking in the oven helped eliminate some of the fat from the pork once it was put in the crockpot so the remaining sauce wasn't fatty.  The corn was good but I think it could've been better had I used fresh corn instead of frozen but since it's winter, there really isn't fresh corn around =/  We put some of it in salads for the next night and it was a really good addition.

To anyone that may be skeptical about ribs in the crockpot, I say you should try it!! It's not exactly the same as ribs on a smoker/grill but it definitely hits the spot when you have a craving and don't have the time to sit and wait for them :)

Pork is so yummy...especially when it's stuffed!

I know I keep saying that I'm gonna stop being so slow and terrible about updating but it clearly seems that I was mistaken and that I'm getting even worse about it :(  Work at the bakery has begun and so I feel my updates have gotten behind me.  I will try to update as much as possible! I just find myself taking less pictures of things I cook.  Still cooking...just not so much blogging =/

Anywho...I learned today that I have a limit on how many pics I can store on this thing so I'm gonna have to stop uploading so many per meal.

 A while ago...some time before Thanksgiving, I made stuffed pork chops with sweet potato casserole.

To start, I made the stuffing for the pork which included:

apples

onion

celery

This all got put in a pan and just cooked down to release some of the flavor and to soften the celery and onions. 

Next, I cut the pork in half, making a pocket, and stuffed the chops with the above stuffing.  After they were all full, I wrapped a piece of bacon around each one and secured it with a toothpick. 

These were put in a pan and browned on both sides, partially to cook the bacon too. They were finished in the oven. 

While these were cooking, I made the casserole.  I had bought yams and baked them a couple of nights before but we didn't eat them.  They didn't look as good a couple of days later just whole so I figured why  not make sweet potato casserole since it's delicious.  

I took the sweet potatoes and peeled them.  Then, I added butter, egg, sugar, and milk and mashed it all together. This went in the bottom of the baking dish. 

Next, I made the topping.  It was made up of pecans, brown sugar, and butter.  I sprinkled it on top of the yams and the whole thing went into the oven. 

After a big, everything came out of the oven.  Since the sweet potatoes were mostly cooked, it was just letting the topping come together and melt into deliciousness. 

This meal was perfect b/c the day I cooked it was kind of chilly and felt very much like fall.  Even though it was almost Thanksgiving and I knew we would be eating sweet potato casserole, this stuff was still delicious.

These flavors went well together since the pork also had sweetness to it but the smoky bacon helped balance out the flavors.  The sweet potatoes were delicious but anything with a brown sugar topping usually is.  This was a really hearty meal without being over-filling and too much which was nice b/c I really hate feeling too full.

So I have a few meals that need to be posted so hopefully I will be able to catch up on some entries this week.  We are planning on doing a cleanse at some point so that should be an interesting few days.  Hope to write more frequently than I have been :)

WE LOVE WINGS!

So this one is long overdue...We love wings in our house.  If we could eat wings everyday I think we would.  Unfortunately, the calories would probably eventually catch up to us and we would weigh 500 pounds.  We do eat wings probably at least once a week though...so I guess it's ok.

I haven't made wings in a while and I wanted to make something "red white and blue" for the election (b/c this was on election day) but everything included blue cheese...which I don't eat, or it was dessert oriented like cake or trifle so I decided to forego the patriotic idea and went with something American instead.  I didn't feel like making hot dogs or hamburgers so I decided on wings.  That seemed pretty American to me....

I didn't take too many pics of this one b/c I was on the phone with my awesome friend, Carol, who had just gotten engaged!!!! and my phone doubles as my camera so abilities were limited.

I bought whole wings, which I don't usually do, so I had to chop them up into pieces since Eric likes drummies and I like wings.  I took out the wing tip and saved them for chicken broth/dog food.  I washed them and then dried them with a paper towel. After chopping them all up they looked like this:

I seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.  Then I drizzled some oil over them and tossed them around.  They were laid out on 2 sheet pans so they weren't crowding each other and I stuck them in the oven.  I flipped them halfway through for even crisping.  I chose not to fry them or bread them for less calories :)

I made three different types of wings: regular wings with Frank's Hot Sauce, golden tangy made with a dijon mustard/honey base, and a copy of Hooter's Daytona Beach wings that I found here:
Hooter's Daytona Beach Wings

So once the wings came out, I put them into 3 different bowls and then tossed them with sauce.  They sat for about 5 minutes and then I tossed them again.

Once coated, they were put into bowls and we ate :)

They were pretty good and REALLY cheap to make since I already had everything except for the wings.  They Daytona were the best.  They didn't taste the same as Hooters and I didn't grill them, but they were still really good.  Frank's Hot wings never disappoint so those were good and the honey mustard ones were a good mix to tone down the two since it wasn't as sweet or as hot but still had a little kick and a little sweetness.  This was a good change from our Thursday all you can eat wing night and we got to sit at home and watch the election process.

When you feel neglected, think of the female salmon, who lays 3,000,000 eggs but no one remembers her on Mother's Day

There was a HUGE sale on wild Alaskan salmon at Whole Foods and we know that I LOVE salmon and HUGE sales so of course I had to buy some.  Since we had already decided on other things to eat for dinner/lunch and it was a weekend, I put it in the fridge to save for another day.  Another day has come and I decided to make salmon...well half of it b/c I bought a whole piece which is way more salmon than we could ever eat in a couple of days.  I decided to keep it light and make a dijon dill sauce and cucumber/onion salad.  I also used the leftover potatoes from the previous dinner as a side.

The ingredients I used were:

cucumbers

onion

vinegar

sugar

dill

salmon

sour cream

cream

dill

lemon

dijon mustard

potatoes

shallots

The first thing I did was make the cucumber/onion salad since it needed to chill in the fridge.  This included slicing the cucumbers and onions and putting them in a bowl with vinegar, sugar, salt, and dill.  I put it in a big bowl and mixed it.  Then stuck in the fridge to let it marinade. 

The next step was roasting the potatoes since it takes a little longer.  I put them in a pan with olive oil, salt, and, pepper and stuck them in the oven. 

I decided to poach the salmon which I've never done before so it seemed interesting enough.  To start, I cooked some shallots in a pan for a couple of minutes.  Then, I added white wine and water and let it come to a simmer before placing in the salmon and covering the pan. 

Finally, while everything was cooking, I started on the sauce.  The sauce was pretty easy b/c everything went into one pot, at the same time and then just gave it a mix while it was cooking.  This included cream, dijon, sour cream, honey, dill, salt, pepper...I think that was it but I kinda forgot =/

So poaching is pretty neat since it keeps the fish from drying out and with such a big piece of fish, the "thinner" parts tend to cook much faster and overcooking.  It also doesn't take very long at all and adds some flavor to the fish in the process without using butter or oil.  Once it was all done, the sauce went on the salmon and everything went on the plate.

I left out the sour cream of the cucumber salad since there was already sour cream in the fish sauce and figured I wouldn't go too crazy with it.  They were all complementary of each other since the potatoes could've used some sauce and there was extra from the fish.  The cucumbers gave a good crunch and tartness to the meal.  The dijon in the sauce also gave it a good kick, not too much but just slightly there.

The chicken came first. God would look silly sitting on an egg.

I really like casseroles and crock potting dinners b/c of how easy and delicious they are.  I also love roast chickens.  Usually, I just buy a chicken at Whole Foods on Wednesday and use it for the week but then the chicken is cold by the time Eric gets home and I usually use it for something like salads or casseroles.  Instead, for dinner I decided to buy a whole chicken and cook it myself with sides of brussel sprouts and fingerling potatoes.

The ingredients for the whole dish were:

whole chicken

rosemary

brussel sprouts

onion

lemon

dijon mustard

honey

salt

pepper

I got the meat people at Whole Foods to cut the chicken up into 8 pieces.  I washed the chicken off and then dried it completely with paper towels.  To start the cooking process, I salt and peppered the chicken then heated some olive oil and browned the chicken on both sides in a dutch oven.

 Once the skin was brown, I removed it and added the cut up onion to the oil. While these things were browning, I also made the sauce for the chicken.  This included the honey, lemon, and dijon mustard.

When the onions were done, I added the potatoes and brussel sprouts to the dutch oven, as well as the chicken. I salt and peppered the veggies before topping with chicken. Making sure the chicken was in a single layer, I stuffed some rosemary in between the chicken and spooned the sauce on top of the chicken, trying to get some to drizzle down into the veggies.

 The dutch oven then went into the oven and cooked for an hour.

Before serving, I took out the rosemary.

Not the prettiest of colors since everything is a little bland looking but this turned out really well!  The chicken had really good flavor from the sauce and wasn't dry at all, which is something I always hate about chickens.  The potatoes and brussel sprouts were cooked through to the perfect amount of doneness and had a little flavor from the sauce as well. This was a great easy, yummy, and healthy dinner that didn't take a lot of effort at all to make.

All cats love fish but fear to wet their paws

Sorry I've been pretty lazy and behind on posts lately.  I will try to be better about them coming up.  The nice thing about being behind is that I have updates for the days I don't cook!

We watched some show on Food Network and one of the dishes they were serving was Chilean Sea bass.  I don't know that I have ever had Chilean sea bass before.  I originally went to the store for halibut but for some reason they only had portions and none of these portions were big enough so I went with sea bass instead.  I like to cook my fish in one big piece and then cut into portions b/c I feel it cooks better and doesn't dry out that way.  I never knew how much this stuff costs!! Surprisingly though, the sea bass was only $1/lb more than the halibut would have been so I guess I didn't spend that much more..but man! I was really shocked at how much it was.

So along with my sea bass I decided to go with a quinoa pilaf and broccolini.  Here are ingredients for dinner:

Chilean sea bass

lemon

butter

shallot

quinoa

broccolini

celery

peas

onions

lemon

white wine

red wine vinegar

chicken stock

garlic

For the fish, I had Eric salt and pepper both sides and then just pan seared it on both sides until cooked through.  Due to the thickness of the fish, it took a little longer than expected but eventually cooked through.

I decided to make a lemon, garlic broccolini.  This was simple enough.  I drizzled olive oil over the greens and sprinkled chopped garlic.  Then, right before serving, I topped with lemon juice and parmesan cheese.

I feel as if we have almost completely moved away from rice and replaced it with quinoa instead.  Quinoa is so much better for you with more nutritional value and it really seems that you can do almost anything with it that you can can make with rice.  To make the quinoa, I started with cooking some chopped onions in the pan.  Then, added the quinoa, chicken stock, and peas and let it all cook down until the quinoa was cooked through and the liquid was absorbed.

I am a fan of Julia Child's recipes since I know beforehand they will be good.  I originally wanted to make a mustard sauce for the fish but I didn't want to make anything that engulfed the flavor of the fish and masked it completely...especially after how much it cost.  Instead I went with making Julia Child's Beurre Blanc.  I was little worried about it at first b/c it seemed like a lot of work for just white wine butter sauce Plus, I was worried that I'd spend all the time making/stirring it and it would break.  Nevertheless, I decided to go with it and made my first beurre blanc.

The process starts with shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar, salt, and pepper in a small pot.  This gets heated VERY slowly until it comes to a boil.  The heat is then reduced to a simmer until it's reduced by about 1/3.  Then, very slowly, one "chunk" at a time, you add butter into the pot.  I took the pot off the heat for the most part to not overcook it.  You want to make sure you only add one piece of butter at a time but also make sure to add the next piece before the previous piece has completely melted..does that make any sense? Anywho...whisk the entire time and if the sauce is getting too cold, add it back to the heat until it can melt the butter again.  Just stir and stir and stir until it becomes a creamy sauce! I felt like I was whisking for forever so it may take longer you expect.

Everything was finally done after about an hour or so.  I thought it was only going to take 30 min so needless to say, we ate dinner a little later than planned but it turned out to be good!  I think the tartness from the lemon in the broccolini was a good way to cut some of the butter in the beurre blanc.  The quinoa also helped with that b/c it would absorb some of the sauce into it when mixing it together.  The fish was a little sweet and pretty meaty which was nice.  I'm glad that I went with the beurre blanc instead of the mustard sauce b/c it's definitely a delicate fish and it was nice to be able to still taste it through the sauce.  The quinoa didn't really taste like a rice pilaf but it was still good and went well with the rest of the meal.  It was much lighter in flavor than the rest of the meal which was great for balancing out the flavors.