.zip Recipes 2: Chicken Bake

Sometimes, you just don't want to stand at the stove, watching your food cook. You have stuff to do, man! This .zip recipe requires next to no preparation, and only uses 1 baking dish, leaving you free to do all the other things you've got planned while it cooks in the oven.

-=.zip Recipes 2: Chicken Bake=-

2 Chicken Thighs

1 head of broccoli

1 yellow onion

salt

pepper

olive oil

sesame oil

optional: fried garlic (find it at an Asian market)

Preheat an oven to 350. Pour some olive oil into a 9x9 baking dish, and let it coat the bottom evenly. Place chicken thighs in pan. Loosely chop onion and broccoli and place around chicken. Add salt and pepper over all items, then drizzle some sesame oil over the chicken. Sprinkle fried garlic if desired. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Enjoy!

Cookbook?

It has recently come to my attention that it is in fact possible to publish a book on the cheap. Or at least, cheap enough to possibly fall within my budget. Those of you who have followed this blog and seen my facebook pics know that over the years, I've whipped up a recipe or two. It was always my intention that, once I had created a reasonable quantity of recipes, that I would then write a cookbook of my own, targeted towards college students, single parents, anyone on a tight budget and for whom time can be a rare commodity.

I have yet to figure out the details, but it's a safe bet that you can expect at least 15 recipes with full color photos, with anywhere between 10 and 30 additional recipes without images (this blog alone already has nearly 30 recipes, although not all will make it into the book). At the moment, I'm considering a price point at somewhere between $15-$25, depending on various parameters, such as book length, # of color pages, etc.

So, my question is this. Were I to get a cookbook printed, would you buy it, and how much would you be willing to spend?

Pagoda Pie

When it comes to home-y food, nothing quite says rustic like a Shepard's Pie. This is a somewhat upscaled version, with many more layers and a bit of an Asian flair.

-=Pagoda Pie=-

1/3 lb pork sausage

1/4 lb irish soda bread

6 button mushrooms

4 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

1 cup broccoli, chopped

1 cup green beans, cut/trimmed

3 Tbsp sesame seeds

2-4 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2 potatoes

milk

butter

Break the soda bread into small chunks, or even finer into breadcrumbs if desired. In a skillet, fry the sausage in a little oil, along with the mushrooms, soda bread, chili garlic sauce, and maple syrup, until cooked through. Place in a 9x9 baking dish. Stir fry the carrot, broccoli, and green beans with the sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sesame oil until vegetables are tender but still firm. Layer on top of the meat. Boil and mash the potatoes, adding milk and butter as desired (I used about 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup respectively). Layer potatoes on the top. Bake for 30 mins - 1 hour, at 325 degrees.

The Dessert That Was On Fire

No hunger games here, just a delicious dessert served flaming. I came up with this recipe as part of this year's annual inter- Co-op Iron Chef competition, earning the second highest score of all the dishes prepared. It's a cool and refreshing avocado and corn ice cream, paired with a fiery lime and cayenne syrup. The following recipe has two variants; one is standard, made with dairy, the other is vegan, with soy substitutes. May the odds be always in your favor (and delicious).

-=Avocado Ice Cream=-

-Ice Cream-

1 avocado

1/2 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup vanilla yogurt [OR] 4 oz silken tofu + 1/4 cup soy milk

2 Tbsp sugar

lime juice

In a bowl, mash the avocado until smooth. In a blender or food processor, lightly pulse the corn until shredded but not liquified. Add the yogurt and sugar and mix thoroughly.

VEGAN OPTION: replace the yogurt with 4 oz silken tofu, 1/4 cup soy milk, and an additional 2 Tbsp sugar.

Add 1-2 tsp lime juice (or the juice from half a fresh lime). Mix together and let chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.

-Syrup-

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

lime juice

In a small saucepot, heat the water and sugar together until dissolved. Add the pepper and 2 tsp lime juice and let simmer on low heat to thicken the syrup to desired consistency.

Spoon ice cream into empty half shell, with syrup on the side. Pour liquor over the ice cream (apple schnapps or 151 rum work well) and ignite with a lighter. Serve while flaming.

Nothing like a little Southern Comfort

Comfort food that is. Although SoCo is pretty delicious too. Anyways, I've got a double recipe for y'alls today (Double recipe? What does it meaaaaaan????), both of which are partly inspired by Southern style cooking. We're talking hearty meals that satisfy body and soul. Just like momma used to make. Mmmhmm.

-=Pork Two Ways Harvest Soup=-

1/2 lb ground pork

3 strips thick cut farm raised bacon (or substitute 1/2 lb regular bacon), chopped

2 large sweet potatoes, cubed

1 onion, chopped

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup green beans

garlic salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

6 cups water

In a large soup pot, bring the water to a boil and start cooking the sweet potatoes and onions, about 10 minutes, then turn down to a low simmer. Heat a medium skillet on high. Cook the bacon until it starts to get crispy, but not too crunchy. When done, add the bacon to the pot, but reserve the bacon grease to cook the ground pork. Add garlic salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, and red pepper flakes to the pork to taste. When the ground pork is fully cooked through, add that to the pot. If you really want, you can strain out the fat, but I recommend keeping it; it adds a lot of flavor. Finally, add in the corn, green beans, and condensed soup, and stir until even. Let simmer another 5 to 10 minutes, serve hot.

-=Reds n Greens=-

1/2 lb ham, cubed

2 strips thick cut farm raised bacon (or substitute 1/3 lb regular bacon), chopped 

1/2 lb collard greens

garlic salt

This one's real simple. Heat a large skillet on high and start cooking down the collard greens with a little garlic salt and the bacon. When those are done (the greens should have shrunken down quite a bit, and be a bit crisp), add the ham, and toss together on medium heat for a few minutes more. Done! You can add a can of cooked black eyed peas with some milk and corn starch to add a creamy sauce as well; I would have, but I didn't have any on hand.

Epic Meatloaf

So, it was 11, and I felt hungry, and decided to cook something. And then it just sorta...snowballed into this. Feel free to substitute out some of the more obscure ingredients. Seriously though, it's delicious, and those obscure items are worth getting. Trust me.

-Meatloaf-
3 Italian Sausages, removed from casing
2 cups spinach, diced
1 slice potato bread
rosemary
fennel seed
garlic salt
truffle oil
Parmesan cheese
smoked oysters
2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350. Chop up the bread into small pieces. In a small skillet, heat up some olive oil on high, and toss in the bread for toasting. Add 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp fennel seed, and garlic salt to taste. Drizzle a little truffle oil, ~ 1/2 tsp, over the bread crumbs. Toast until crispy and set aside.

Combine sausage, spinach, and bread crumbs in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan, and about 6 oysters, chopped. Add the milk, and another drizzle of truffle oil.  Press the meatloaf together, transfer into a baking dish, and place in oven for 10-15 minutes.

-Sauce-
1 cup Puttanesca sauce
1-2 ounces gin
6 cloves garlic, minced

In a small saucepot, toast the garlic with some oil. Add the puttanesca sauce and the gin, and simmer on low heat. When the meatloaf has cooked for 10-15 minutes, and the outer surface is starting to brown, pour the sauce over the meatloaf in the baking dish. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes or until meat is cooked through.

New Blog

Hey guys, just a quick plug for my new blog, "Diaries of a Budding Supervillain." It's about playing the Devil's Advocate, and discussing hard topics that may otherwise be taboo or uncomfortable to think about. Check it out at phdinhorribleness.blogspot.com.

More recipes to come soon!

Vegan Chili

Today's recipe is brought to you as a collaboration between myself and fellow blogger kolorbynumber (although really, she lead the charge on this one). This hearty chili is entirely vegan (no milk and eggs, bitch.....or chicken for that matter), so unless you have a friend who happens to have some random allergy to cumin or something, this is a recipe that can be enjoyed by any and all. And you're going to want to have some friends over, because this recipe makes enough to feed a lot of people. Or you know, you could also just pack up a ton of leftovers, and enjoy the deliciousness yourself.

-=Vegan Chili=-

2 small sweet onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

2 jalapeno peppers, diced, (seed one if you don't want it too spicy)

2 large green bell peppers, julienned

2 heads broccoli, chopped

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped

6 tomatoes, chopped

1 cup frozen corn

2 cups pinto beans

2 cups black beans

1 cup water

1 tsp vegetable bouillon (~ 1 cube)

6 oz baby bella mushrooms

1.5 cups kale

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp paprika

1 Tbsp chili powder

2 Tbsp cumin

black pepper

Start by pouring some oil into a large pot, heating on high. Add the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and bell peppers, and cook until ingredients are tender. Turn the heat down to medium. Next, add the broccoli and cauliflower and continue cooking until soft, stirring often so everything cooks evenly. Then add the tomatoes, followed by the corn, and then the beans. Add the water and bouillon, and stir to mix. Lastly, add the mushrooms and kale, followed by the spices, and black pepper to taste. Let simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes, and you're done!

.zip Recipes 1: Steamed Salmon

As January rolls along, people are starting to return to college, or for some, may even already have started class. Therefore, I wanted to go back to some simpler recipes like the ones I posted when this blog first started. These .zip Recipes will mostly be quick meals that can be thrown together with little to no prior preparation and use a minimum of pots to cook. This first one only requires 1 saucepot, and only takes about 15 minutes.

-=.zip Recipes: Steamed Salmon=-

3/4 cup rice

1 cup water

chopped cabbage, about 1 cup

1 salmon filet, about 6 oz.

dried herbs, spices

In a medium saucepot, combine the rice and water and swirl around to even out the rice a bit. place the chopped cabbage over the rice, and the salmon on top. Add seasonings to taste (I used garlic salt, rosemary, dill, and paprika) over both the fish and the rice beneath. Cover, and heat on high until the water boils. You should see the steam leaking out from under the lid. Turn the heat down to low, and simmer until liquid is absorbed by the rice and the fish is soft and flaky, about 10 minutes. Move the fish to a plate, and stir the cabbage and rice together, then serve. Quick and easy.