Yuccata Be Kidding Me!

Hello again!! This week was rather interesting, I had 7 people over for dinner :)!  Joining us tonight was, Monkey, Princess, The Boyfriend (YES!  No early start!), Daisy, JLC, Fil, Fro and of course, me!  I also bought a brand new frying pan because when I made the bison burgers, it totally ruined one of my pans :(.

The ingredients:  Yucca, Smoked Mozzarella, Prosciutto and Polenta. (yep! I used four this time!)

What I made:  Chicken Breasts, pounded thin, stuffed with smoked mozzarella and prosciutto and rolled in bread crumbs.  A yucca and veggie stir fry and polenta fritters. 

The responses:

JLC: She LOVED the chicken, but felt the stir fry was not crisp enough, and I used too much yucca.  She thought that the polenta fritters were good, but that they needed some kind of light flavoring to it.  Perhaps a light sauce or something.

Fil: He thought the whole meal was amazing.  He felt the stir fry was good, but had too much yucca in it as well.  He enjoyed the fritters too.

Fro:  He says the chicken was good, but the mozzarella made it taste a little dry, he still really enjoyed it.  He agrees with JLC and Fil that there was too much yucca in the stir fry.  He didn't think the fritters had enough to them, it just needed something extra.

Monkey:  He thought that everything was all awesome, but there was too much yucca.  He liked dipping the chicken and the fritters in honey mustard. 

Princess:  She says that the stir fry could have either used less yucca or more of everything else.  The chicken was good, but it could have used some kind of a sauce.  The fritters she didn't care for, and only ate one of them.

Daisy:  She is a very picky eater and says she didn't like anything.  But, she did eat some of it. :)

The Boyfriend:  He thought that the stir fry was good and that, while there was a little too much yucca in it, it was really filling.  The yucca is a little heavy.  He said the chicken was 100% awesome, no complaints at all.  The fritters were pretty good, but they didn't have a lot of flavor. 

Me:  I have to agree that the stir fry was a little yucca heavy.  I didn't even manage to finish all of it.  Looking back, I wish I had done something different with the yucca, maybe a mash of some sort instead.  Or perhaps if I hadn't put the sesame garlic sauce in it, it might have tasted a little better.  I may use it again, just in some other way.  I thought the chicken was really good, and the smoked mozzarella made it taste kinda smokey, which was nice.  I didn't care for the polenta at all, and I have so much extra left of it, I'm not sure what to do with it!! :)   If anyone has some ideas on some other way to make it, I'm all ears!!


Again, I would consider this a pretty successful meal.  I've been told that I need to make the chicken again, and to make it a part of the "regular rotation" of meals. :)  I hope everyone is enjoying the blog! :)  And remember, I NEED IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, ANYTHING!!!! :)


Thanks,
Jazaray

Kids came home hungry!

Well, I was expecting to do this tomorrow, but both Princess and Monkey came home very hungry and wanted to try the dinner! :D   YAY!


Their responses: 

Monkey: He liked everything about the meal, even the arugula!  he did end up putting some sweet vidala onion dressing on it, but he said he would have eaten it even without the dressing.  He'd had the potatoes before, and he liked the sausage but said it tasted like I normally make it.  And he too, loved the chayote. :)


Princess: She liked the chayotes, a LOT.  She didn't even wait for me to warm it back up!  She didn't really care for the arugula, but she said it tasted better with the cheese.  She has also had the potatoes before, and said the sausage was good, but not out of the ordinary. 

All in all, I think this was a successful dinner. :)

Thanks,
Jazaray

Bittersweet Victory

Well, this week was certainly interesting.  Princess and Monkey decided to go over their friends houses for the day and wouldn't be home for dinner, and The Boyfriend had to leave early for work, again.  I had already invited three of my friends over for the dinner, so I could not postpone it for another day. 

Ingredients for this week were:

Arugula, Lime(no, I have never cooked with lime..), and Chayotes (I have no idea how to pronounce that one..)

What I made:

Sweet italian sausage seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, Adobo, lemon juice and lime juice, also with lemon and lime zest grated into it.  My own creation of paprika sliced potatoes, sauteed in butter with salt and pepper for taste.  There was a recipe on the bag that the Chayotes came in, so I used that for it.  And an arugula and green pepper salad with shredded carrot and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  

The responses: 

JLC: Yep, she came over again for dinner!!  JLC has eaten arugula before and she likes it ok, it's appearently a bitter green and I didn't know that. She told me that as I was cooking, so I tried to cut the bitterness with some lemon juice, lime juice and the Parmesan cheese.  JLC enjoyed the whole meal and especially liked the chayote!  She asked for the recipe so that she could make it sometime.  I had already thrown out the bag, so I went digging through the garbage to find it!  For those who'd also like to try it, I'll include the recipe at the end of this post.  She said that not everyone enjoys arugula, and you have to be careful with you prepare it with.

Fro: This was his first time to my apartment, and I've known him for 14 years!  He did NOT like the arugula, at all, after the first bite, he wouldn't eat any more of it.  It ended up in the garbage. He is now making tons of arugula jokes about how horrible it is! :D   He also liked the chayote very much.  He said you couldn't really taste the lemon/lime in the sausage, but that it is probably because sausage is such a strong flavor.  He didn't realize that the paprika potatoes were potatoes and almost wouldn't eat them until he was informed of that. 

Fil:  Fil is JLC's boyfriend, and they come over fairly often.  Fil also didn't like the arugula and most of it ended up in the trash.  He's a pretty quiet kinda guy too, so didn't really say much until I squeezed it out of him!  "It was good."  Well, at least that's SOMETHING!

Daisy:  Yep, my goddaughter was here again too and she ate the meal with us this time!  She liked the sausage and that was about it. :)  She never eats much of anything so I wasn't surprised.

Me: I also didn't really care for the arugula, but I did eat it all.  After I put some buttermilk ranch dressing on it. (I tried it without first!)  It is very bitter and not something I'm looking forward to having again.  Perhaps if I figure out how to make it less bitter.  I also really enjoyed the chayote and I will definitely be making it again!  I agreed that you couldn't really taste the lemon/lime in the sausage and I've always liked my potatoes. :D  I have some leftovers, so I'm going to make The Boyfriend, Princess and Monkey try some tomorrow.


I can't seem to find my digital camera, so I had to take pics with my cell phone and forward it on to my email addy. 

Here's the recipe for the chayotes:

4 medium chayotes
2 medium onions
butter
salt and pepper
2 eggs
american cheese (I used shredded mozz.)

Cut the chayotes in half, place in boiling salted water and cook until tender.  Approx. 15 mins (I cooked it for 15 mins, and I don't think they were tender enough, when I cook them again I will try 20 mins)  Scoop out the pulp and reserve the shells.
Chop the pulp and drain.  Mince the onions and fry slowly in butter until transparent.  Add the pulp of the chayote and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Break the two eggs over the mixture and cook over low heat for a few minutes, mixing well until done.  Stuff the shells and top with grated (shredded :P) cheese.  Place in a hot over at 400 degrees F until melted and golden. 

Sorry the pics are so crappy :(

Thanks,
Jazaray

Took long enough, but it was kinda worth it!

Sorry everyone, I got totally busy last week and couldn't manage to get enough time to make the meal I wanted to.  So, I did last week's meal, today.  To recap, my ingredients were: veal, burgundy wine, and turnips.  This is what I made.  Veal tips with a burgundy wine mushroom sauce and mashed turnip/carrot puree.

It didn't turn out too bad, I forgot to leave enough time to make the rice I wanted to, so I left that off. 

The responses: 


Princess:  She said that the veal was awesome, and she liked the sauce, however she didn't care for the mushrooms, she said that there was too much of an alcohol taste to them. She also said that the turnip/carrot puree was better than my moms!!!!! :D SCORE!!!!


Monkey:  Word for word:  "Meat good, sauce good, mushrooms bad. I liked the carrots and turnips."  He agreed that the mushrooms had too much of an alcoholic taste to them AND that my puree was better than my moms! :D  SCORE 2!!!

Me: I will have to agree with my Princess and my Monkey.  Surprisingly, the veal was pretty good (for tortured baby cow), I liked the sauce without the mushrooms, and the mushrooms had a rather strong alcoholic taste to them.  I would never, EVER claim to make anything better than my mom, but the puree was pretty darn good. :)

The Boyfriend: Unfortunately, The Boyfriend had to work early again, so he didn't get to taste it tonight.  Maybe when he gets home he'll be hungry. :) 


All in all, the meal was decent.  I'm not sure if I will cook with a wine again unless I can find a way to weaken the alcoholic taste in the meal.  I might, however, try beer battered onion rings or chicken. I'm also not sure what the heck to do with the rest of the wine!  I drank some, but I didn't really care for it.  Even though it was very good, I still don't really like the idea of eating veal and I'm not sure I would cook with it again, I'll have to think about that. 

As usual, I took pictures for y'all to see.



Thanks,
Jazaray

Fail Blog?

Well, I had a heck of a day today.  First, I asked absolutely every person I know, (and even some that I didn't!) where around here I could find venison.   I googled it to no success.  No one I talked to seemed to know anywhere to go to buy it.  I tried calling some hunters clubs, they were closed.  I even tried calling the FOP (at my Mom's request, she said they usually have a "game" dinner every friday) but they were closed as well.  Finally, I stopped by a local meat market and, while they didn't carry venison, the guy behind the counter said that he could order it for me.  Here's the catch though, it's like $20 a pound!  WHOA!!!  There's just no way I can afford that, I'm not even sure how much I'd need?!  So, while I was REALLY looking forward to finally trying venison, it looks like that's not gonna happen. :( 

Onto the wine!  I had to go to four different liquor stores to find a small (slightly over 1 1/2 pints) bottle of  burgundy wine, the other places only had these large jugs of it, and I'm not really a wine drinker.  I've never actually even tasted burgundy wine, so this ought to be pretty neat. :) 

I went to the same exact store that I went to before (Super Stop and Shop) to find my jicama and they did NOT have it! OMG?!  What the heck?! Is jicama a seasonal erm.. root or something?? They also didn't have the dicon, or daikon whatever the spelling is ( I was told it's a Japanese white carrot), they called to a couple other S&S's and they didn't have them either.  My dinner was looking like it did not want to be made. :(   I managed to get the mushrooms at least. heh.

So, all in all I had an absolute horrid time trying to find all of these things, and ended up with barely any of the ingredients I actually wanted.  But, here is what I ended up with:

Protein:  Veal - I've never even eaten veal before, let alone cooked it.  Something about eating a tortured baby cow just never sat right with me, but, anything for my loyal readers! (Heh, yeah, all what, four of you? ;) )

Veggie:  I got turnips (which I've never cooked before) and carrots (regular old carrots, not special ones) and I'm going to dice them, boil them and mash them up with some butter.  It's my Mom's recipe and I know it's good, at least, it is when she makes it!

Other: Burgundy wine and sliced baby portabello mushrooms for the sauce.  It should be exciting seeing if I can actually make a sauce with it.  I'm not much of a drinker at all, and I've never cooked with any type of alcohol.  I also bought some ground cumin, just because I keep hearing it being used all over the Food Network Channel! 

I guess I didn't quite realize how expensive this project of mine was going to be, I'm not so sure I can afford to do all the things I started out wanting to do.   I'm also running out of ideas for ingredients that I can actually find!  I may have to stop trying to find different proteins and just use the normal chicken/beef/pork/turkey ones.  I do know that ones of these weeks I want to try and make my own pasta, right from scratch!  I just have to make sure that I have any appliances that I would need to do that! 


Thanks,
Jazaray

Bison burgers, take two!

After taking a day off to sooth my injured ego, I was determined to make the bison burgers without setting my apartment on fire.  :) Good news!  No fire! 

I started off mixing up the ground bison with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and ground parsley. After that was all mixed up, I grated some more of the asagio cheese and then worked it into each burger patty as I shaped them.  I threw some butter into two skillets on the stove and let it melt, then I put the shaped patties into one pan, and the sliced portabello mushrooms into the other.  I also toasted up the leftover asagio potato buns that I made Sunday night, there was only three left because The Boyfriend has been nibbling on them for the past two days :D.  Instead of using the potato buns as the buns for the hamburger, I just put them as a side, I had gone out earlier to get some store bought hamburger buns. 

I found that it took a little bit longer to cook the bison burgers then it usually does when I buy frozen ones.  I'm not sure if that was because they were bison, or because they were fresh instead of frozen.  After I dressed the buns and put the burgers on them, I topped them off with the sauteed mushrooms and served!

The responses: 

The Boyfriend:  He had been against the bison in the first place, because he had said he'd had it before, and it felt it was a gamy meat, he also doesn't like mushrooms.  But!  He was willing to "take one for the team" per-say.  :)   He said that he didn't really taste the cheese inside but that the bison was very good, he even had seconds (without the mushrooms)!   He did say that the mushrooms were o.k..  He said that if I hadn't told him that it was bison, he probably wouldn't have known the difference, but because he knew, he could taste a distinct flavor difference, and he liked that. He also said that the pickles I put on were overpowering the taste, so he left them off of his second burger, to taste it better and suggested that I not use pickles when I want someone to taste something like this.

Princess: She liked it.  She thought that the bison tasted better than regular hamburger and she LOVED the mushrooms, in fact she wants me to buy more for next weeks dinner!!   She also did not really taste the cheese in the burger, but she did pick all the cheese off of the potato bun! 

Monkey:  Unfortunately, he did not get to partake in this meal as he's at boy scout camp for the week. :(

Me:   I also loved the burgers, and the mushrooms were awesome!  I did taste a distinct difference from regular hamburger and I also liked it more.  I, too, did not taste the cheese in the burger, I guess maybe I should have either put more in, or maybe topped it with more.


We're thinking next week of venison, with a burgundy wine and mushroom sauce and a jicama and dicon puree.  The Boyfriend's already said that he does not like venison, so the protein might change, if I can think of a new one.  Or, I might make him have it anyways. :D

Start posting me some new ingredients people, I'm running out of ideas!


Thanks,
Jazaray

Epic Fail

Well, things did NOT go as I wanted them to tonight.  First, I find out that I would need a standing mixer, a food mill and a flour sifter in order to make the potato buns I wanted to.  I did not have any of those items, and I certainly can't afford to just go out and buy them.  But, I was NOT to be deterred!  I went ahead and made them without those appliances!  Now, The Boyfriend comes out and tells me he's an early start again, and that he'd need to leave by at least 4:30, so could I please try and have it ready for 4?  *sigh*  Ok, I can do that.  Then, I discovered that I wasn't quite sure how to cut the potatoes so that they looked like french fries.  And I didn't have an appliance that did that either.  I did however, find one that cut them into waffle fries.  So, after a LOT of arm abuse (my arm STILL hurts!) I had a huge bowl of waffle fries to be cooked.  It took a LOT longer than I thought it would, and I was running a bit late.  The buns weren't rising the way I thought they were supposed to, so I was changing it to bison sliders instead.

Before I made the sliders though, I needed to fry the fries!  I filled a pot about 1/2 way full of oil, and let it heat up while I was waffling (is that a word?) the fries.  Ok, it was all ready for frying now!  I threw a couple of handfuls of fries in and..... the oil bubbled over and spilled all over the stove, and onto the element.  And caught fire.  A fire that I couldn't seem to put out, because it also leaked into the stove top and was burning there as well.  I put a pan lid over the element, to try and snuff out the fire, but it was NOT working. My apartment was FULL of smoke, and The Boyfriend had to come and save my behind.   He sent the kids out in the hallway to get away from the smoke.  Finally, the fire went out, but my apartment was still absolutely full of smoke.  I couldn't bring the kids back in, until it had dissipated a LOT.   So, I took them out to McDonalds.   I had to take Monkey to his Boy Scout camp tonight anyway, and now he's gone for the week. 

Well, it looks like I'll have to try this again, maybe tomorrow or tuesday, except I don't think I'll be making homemade french fries this time. Heh.  On the up side, I did finish the buns, and they tasted ok, not terrific, but not bad. :)  Once again, I took pictures for your enjoyment.  Lol!

Thanks,

Jazaray

Week 2 Ingredients, or My Second Try! ;)

Well, after some deliberation, I finally decided on this weeks ingredients.

Protein: Ground Bison

Veggie:  Portabella Mushrooms

Other: Asagio Cheese


What I'm going to make:  I've decided on Bison burgers, with sliced portabella mushrooms.  Homemade potato buns, baked with grated asagio cheese sprinkled on top.  I'm also going to try a new thing for me, but not with "new" ingredients.  I'm going to make homemade french fries too!  When I told my friend Robbie what I was going to make this week, her response was "What time is dinner?"  LOL!   So, I think I'm going to have an extra mouth for dinner this week, I just hope that I don't disappoint! 

I'm also looking for some suggestions for ingredients, if you guys have any ideas!


Thanks,
Jazaray

The Boyfriend

Well, the boyfriend came home a little early last night and he was anxious to try out the meal. 

His response:

The Boyfriend:  He said that the hens tasted like chicken, and that they were good.  But that they pretty much tasted how I normally make chicken. He said that the stuffing was really good too, but that he liked the part of it outside the hens more, because it was a little burnt.  He didn't like the stuffing inside of the hens as much.  He also really liked the stir fry.  He said he would give the meal as a total a solid 8 out of 10.


Thanks,
Jazaray

Appa is dead!

Ok, so you might be a little bit confused at the title of this one but, no worries, I will explain!  

Things started to go wrong, after The Boyfriend woke up this afternoon and told me that he was an early start tonight, so he would have to leave at about 3:30.  That meant he wasn't going to be able to have dinner with us.  I had texted my friend, JLC, earlier and asked if her and her daughter, my goddaughter Daisy, would like to come over for our special dinner.  I was extremely excited that she said they'd come!  It worked out for the best, because I really wanted to have an adult opinion about what I made. 

What we had for dinner:  I ended up making a jicama bread stuffing and stuffing the hens with it.  The hens I really just treated like they were baby chickens.  If I ever work with cornish hen again, I would like to figure out something else to do with them.  I made a boy choy stir fry, which also included celery, mushrooms, onions, broccoli and the rest of the jicama.  I included a sesame ginger sauce, salt, pepper, adobo and garlic power into the stir fry.  Then I got a little fancy with dessert and "plated" an ice cream sandwich. :D


The result:  I ended up not really making enough of the bread stuffing, so the hens were only about 3/4 stuffed. :)  I have to say, I'm kind of glad that I treated the hens as if they were baby chickens... because that's really what they tasted like!   The stuffing was really good, as was the stir fry.


The responces: 

Princess:  She said that the stuffing was good, if you were someone who likes stuffing.  She's never really cared for stuffing, but she at least ate it!  She LOVED the stir fry, although she said she wished there was a little more sauce in it. She really didn't care for the hen, she liked it alright, but she hated the fact that there was a lot of bones in it and that she had to take the meat off of it. She also got kinda grossed out because she accidentally snapped the spinal cord on it. She also licked the plate clean that her ice cream sandwich was on. :D

Monkey:  He loved the stir fry, but he said that the hen just tasted like chicken.  He also loved the stuffing and licked his ice cream sandwich plate clean. :)

Me:  I have to agree with both Princess and JLC, the stir fry was great, although it needed more sauce.  I really wish I had made some more of the stuffing, I would have liked that just by itself!  I could barely get any of the hen's meat, without also putting some small bones in my mouth.  

JLC:  She too loved the stuffing, and the stir fry, and didn't really care for the hen.  She agreed with Princess that the stir fry could have used more sauce to it. 

Daisy:  I ended up making her some hot dogs, because JLC said she wouldn't eat the hens.  She really liked the hot dogs though!  She also ended up asking for a small plate of the stir fry and she said she liked it. :)  She thought that the plated ice cream sandwiches were cute and ate every bit of it.

What's with the title?!  Ok, now for the story about the title.  Daisy is 6 years old and she is currently in LOVE with Avatar: The Last Airbender (she said that if he lived around here, he would date her).  While we were eating dinner, I was discussing with JLC about next weeks dinner, and how I was thinking of using bison.  Daisy's ears perked up at that, and asked me "Flying bison?".  We all had a bit of a laugh about it.  Then, she pointed to my plate, at the hen and said "That's Appa.  He's dead now".  Then she pointed at the stir fry and told us that it was "Appa's food".  You can't even IMAGINE the laughter!! :D  She continued though-out the dinner, asking us if Appa tasted good.  After we were all done eating, she decided to inform us that it really wasn't Appa that we ate, it was little Appa instead.  And little Appa is now dead, but he's alive still too.  Then she went into great detail about how we all killed little Appa for dinner.  I think she might need a small break from watching Avatar!   LOL!

All in all, I have to say the dinner was a success.  The stir fry was great, as was the stuffing, even the hens were ok, just no one really liked the fact that it was incredibly difficult to get the meat off without getting some of the bones too.  I discovered that jicama tastes like a combination between potato and apple, and raw bok choy kind of tastes like sulfur, at least the leafy part does.  I did take pictures, so you all can see what I made.  I wish you could taste it though!

Thanks,
Jazaray

The First Set of Ingredients!!

Well, Princess and I had a lot of fun shopping today!  Well, I sure did, I'm not so sure she did. :D  And this is what we ended up with!

Protein: Whole Cornish Hens.  I bought three of them. 

Veggies: Bok Choy and Jicama (I think Jicama is a veggie.. )

and I bought various other veggies like broccoli and carrots..etc.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with them.  I was thinking of a bok choy and jicama veggie stir fry  Or maybe I should make the jicama into some kind of puree.. hmm..  And I really don't know what to do with the Hens, I guess treat them kind of like tiny chickens?  This going to be a real challenge for me, as I am planning on making up my own recipes as I go along.  The only food experience I have, besides cooking for my own family, is as a waitress, as a prep cook, and I also briefly worked for my colleges cafeteria, making breakfasts and helping make stuff for the banquets that were held there. (Mostly sandwiches).  Man, this ought to be real fun, huh?

I'm making this for Sunday dinner, so, wish me luck!   I also could use some ideas on different ingredients to use for other dinners, if you know of some obscure or not "normal" type of food, feel free to post up some suggestions! :D

Thanks,
Jazaray

The Family's Reaction!!

Well, let me tell you a little about my family, first of all.  There's the four of us.  My boyfriend, his two children (1 boy and 1 girl) and I.  Our Princess is 13 (almost 14) and our Monkey is 12 and they live with us full time.  Princess is smart, very talented and also at THAT age, those of you with teens know exactly what I'm talking about!  And Monkey  is my sweet, sensitive, I-sure-hope-he-doesn't-start-acting-like-his-sister-when-he-hits-13, hyper little Boy Scout (he has ADHD).  The boyfriend works at a Casino, dealing cards and I just recently got laid off from my work with The Census Bureau. 

Now, onto their reactions!

The Boyfriend:  He was very supportive, and said that if I cook it, he's sure it will turn out great!  (He sure knows what he should and shouldn't say, doesn't he ladies?!)

Princess:  Her reaction was typical her.  "You're going to make sure you have some edible food too right, in case it doesn't turn out right?"  I think she's the one I'm going to count on, for an honest answer.  ;)  She went with me today, to pick out the foods we're going to try out.  Although, I'm not so sure that "Sure, I don't care, whatever" was really THAT much of a help. :)  Princess is also the other person in the house that just LOVES to eat.  She says that when she gets to college, she's thinking of having her minor be in cooking, so maybe I'll have to just make her help me cook these meals!

Monkey:  His response was also typical him.  "Oh, neat."  Monkey doesn't usually eat a whole lot, and it usually takes him FOREVER to eat.  He's also very particular when it comes to eating.  He eats the veggies first, then the starch, and then the meat.  Or, sometimes the starch first and veggies second, but the meat is always last.



Well, now that you know a little about my family, and how they reacted, we can get on with the meals!


Thanks,
Jazaray

The Start of Something New

So, I've been thinking lately that I need some sort of excitement in my life. But, if I can't have that, I might as well do something interesting! I've been watching a lot of Food Network shows and I keep seeing all these ingredients that I've NEVER even heard of. While watching Chopped! one day, it came to me, the idea of a lifetime! Ok, ok, maybe it was just an idea. ;) What if I took 3 - 5 different ingredients each week, that I've never dealt with before, that I've never cooked with before, and made them into something edible (I hope!). Well, it sounded like a good idea to me. Then, it was time to run the idea by my family...


Stay tuned for their reaction. ;)


Thanks,
Jazaray