What do I want to be when I grow up?

Happy Tuesday!!! Good to see all of your smiling faces again. I took a bit of a sabbatical from the blog for while. Although technically that means a rest from work and this really isn't work.  Or did it start feeling that way? 

Yesterday my daughter told me she needed my help.  She needed help deciding what she's going to be when she grows up.  I told her that she had plenty of time to figure that out and she should be in no hurry.  Then we talked about her being an animal doctor, or working at a pet store (only if it doesn't have tarantulas of course).  So a few hours later she took the question to my husband.  He had a completely different answer than my "wait and see" approach.  He told her that some people figure out what they want to be really early and not to let anyone stand in her way.  I believe there was talk of a guinea pig farm for a bit.  Watching this very sweet dialogue between father and daddy's girl made me think.  What did I love doing when I was little that, at the time, didn't realize would turn out to be my passion later in life? 

I could pick vegetables for hours when I visited my grandmother. I would dash to the garden of my great Aunt to see what new had sprung up that summer. I did have my favorites. Green beans were like hunting for treasure, the bigger the better.  Corn was another of my favorites to pick.  Two, of which, I do not have in my tiny backyard patio garden.
One Thanksgiving, and I'm certain my grandmother is shaking her head in agreement as she's reading this.. and she'd better be reading this, I picked all of the meat off the turkey after dinner.  She still talks about that. I just couldn't see giving all of that delicious meat to the trash can.  To this day, I threaten my poultry that I can strip it naked in 2 minutes flat. 
I remember watching cooking shows at my babysitters house. The Louisiana Chef (I GARR-OHN-TEE), Julia Child, Graham Kerr (after he started the healthier cooking). Was it not normal for a 6 year old to watch cooking shows for hours on end?  I would even settle for infomercials about food.

How can I pinpoint that thing in my kids and foster it? Who knows? But I do wonder if I had really, truly realized that being around food was my happy place, maybe I would be the next Iron Chef...or just maybe the next one Chopped?  Either way, I'd be around those industrial stoves, stainless steel counters and giant whisks.

To try to get back to that "happy place" I took some time from my blog. I had recently become a twitterererer? tweeter? tweety bird?  Whatever you call it, it put me in touch with hundreds of other food bloggers.  As exciting as it was/is, it made me wonder..what do I have to offer that hasn't already been done?  Well, I don't have the answer to that. But I do know that it doesn't always have to be what I made for dinner that night. So to quote some famous person that once said it (that's my version of a citation), "if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life".  So, I will continue to mother, and wife and write on my blog and be a runner.  Hopefully at the end of the day, we'll put the kids to bed, put our feet up, pour a glass of Merlot and have a really interesting, humorous, informative (good or bad) conversation about food.

One Spicy Dish just for fun recipe contest

Hi everyone!!  I'm having a little friendly competition on my One Spicy Dish facebook page.  We're holding our first ever recipe contest.  The winner will have their recipe posted here on my blog.  If you are interested in entering, go to the facebook link from the blog (make sure you click "like") and enter your recipe on the discussion board tab. 

The secret ingredient for this contest is:  CINNAMON!!!!

Can't wait to see what y'all come up with!

Asian Turkey Sliders with Cilantro mayo and slaw

I had a goal to get my readers as many “tailgating” recipes as possible before Sunday.  Admittedly, life sometimes gets in the way of my hopes and dreams…  ooops, I meant to say, recipe goals LOL.  But this week, I was able to put these together, pretty quickly by the way.  I think they’d be a great addition to your game day party platter.  You can absolutely put them together the day before or early morning and grill them off as you need them. It doesn’t take very long to cook them through.  I like to grill them on medium low heat to keep the turkey moist. 

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs ground turkey breast

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

3 cloves grated garlic

3 Tbs teriyaki sauce

3 Tbs soy sauce

1 large egg

¼-1/2 cup breadcrumbs.  Just enough to bind the mixture.

1 Tbs onion powder

Black pepper (soy sauce has enough sodium, no need to add additional salt)

Dash crushed red pepper

3 whole scallions chopped

1 cup any thick teriyaki marinade. I like Soy Vay Hoisin Garlic.

Bakery Dinner Rolls

Mayonnaise

1 cup mayo

1 lime

Bunch cilantro

2 scallions chopped

Slaw – From SimplyRecipes.com

1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter

6 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon toasted (dark) sesame oil

4 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (if seasoned rice vinegar is not available, add a teaspoon or two of sugar to regular rice vinegar)

4 cups thinly sliced cabbage (Napa, green, purple, or a combination)

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/4 cup toasted, salted, shelled, peeled peanuts

Zest and juice of 1 lime

Chopped fresh cilantro

Thinly sliced green onions or chives

Slaw:

I found this recipe on Simply Recipes
.  The only change I made was I added the zest and juice of a lime. Here is her recipe:

1 Prepare dressing. Place peanut butter in a medium bowl. Add the vegetable oil and the toasted sesame oil and whisk until nicely smooth. Whisk in the seasoned rice vinegar and do a taste test. Depending on how you like your dressing, how salty your peanut butter is, how seasoned your rice vinegar is, you may want to add a little more vinegar, a little more sugar, or a little salt. (Makes about 3/4 cup of dressing.)

2 Toast the peanuts. Although the roasted peanuts from the store may already be cooked, you'll get even better flavor with just a little toasting. Heat a small skillet on medium high heat and add the nuts to the pan. Do not ignore or the nuts can easily burn. Stir a little with a wooden spoon until the peanuts begin to get browned in spots and you can smell the toasting aromas. Remove peanuts from pan to a dish.

3 In a large bowl, toss the sliced cabbage, grated carrots, and peanuts together, and any other optional ingredients you care to add (like a little chopped cilantro or green onions). Right before serving, mix in the dressing.

Mayo:

Mix the mayo, cilantro, scallions and zest and juice of one lime.  Refrigerate

Sliders:

Mix all slider ingredients in large bowl.  Use your hands to gently incorporate all ingredients.  Try not to overwork the meat mixture.  Once mixed, begin making small patties a little larger than the size of your dinner rolls.  Lay out on baking sheet. Brush one side of the sliders with marinade, turn and brush the other side. 

Grill the sliders on medium low and continue to baste with the marinade on both sides.  The sliders should be cooked to at least 165 degrees.  I also served these with sweet potato fries (the frozen kind!)

Pear Gorgonzola Pizza

Oh why why California Pizza Kitchen?? Why must you introduce me to these delicious taste sensations and then take it off the menu?  Oh, don’t worry, I’ve convinced them ( I won’t say how) to put it back on the menu.  But now, I don’t live anywhere near a CPK!!!  When they took their pear gorgonzola pizza off the menu, I all but bribed the manager of CPK to make it for me.  They told me it wouldn’t be necessary, they would just make it because they’re nice. 

I tried a version of my own and have to say, I believe I came close to nailing it! This pizza is covered in field greens smothered in creamy gorgonzola dressing. I’m sure you can buy that, but it’s fairly easy to whip up a batch.

Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing (only makes a little bit):

 ¼ Cup Mayo

¼ Cup Sour Cream

2 tsp lemon juice

Garlic and onion powder (my house seasoning J )

Salt and Pepper

1-2 TBS crumbled gorgonzola cheese (it’s strong so it’s a personal taste)

Mix all ingredients.  I tried to break up the cheese as much as possible in the dressing to infuse the flavor and get rid of big chunks .  Cover and refrigerate.

Pizza:

Refrigerated pizza crust

1 tbs butter

2 yellow onions

1 tbs sugar

S&P

Olive oil to brush on crust

2 pears sliced thinly

½ cup toasted hazelnuts chopped

1 cup shredded mozzarella

2 TBS crumbled gorgonzola cheese

A couple handfuls of field greens J

First thing we need to do for this pizza is caramelize the onions.  They cook down quite a bit, which is why we’re using 2 whole onions.  Slice the onions thinly and set aside.  Meanwhile, melt butter in large pan over medium heat.  Add onions and sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper.  Toss to coat and lower heat to medium low.  This is a process that takes patience.  There is a point you might think the onions have cooked long enough, but unless they are a true Carmel color, they haven’t.  They won’t be as sweet as you want them to be.  Give them time to release their sugars.  This took me about 20-25 minutes over low/med. Low heat. 

While the onions are getting sweet, unroll the pizza dough onto a pan brush with olive oil and set aside.  Preheat oven according to package directions.

Hazelnuts:  Toast in a dry pan over medium low heat.  The skins will start to slip off.  You can transfer them to a kitchen towel and rub in order to remove the lose skins.  Don’t worry if they don’t all come off.  Give those a pretty rough chop and set aside.

Pears: Core and slice thinly

Once onions are done, it’s time to assemble the pizza.  Place pear slices on the pizza dough so they’re touching. They will shrink while baking. Spread the onions over the pizza, sprinkle with hazelnuts, mozzarella cheese and crumbled gorgonzola.

Bake according to package directions.

While baking, mix a tsp or so of the creamy gorgonzola dressing with the field greens.

Pull from oven and cool just slightly enough to cut.  Plate up the pizza and top with the creamy gorgonzola salad.

Better than "you know who's" fried pickles. With Pinch and a Dash Horseradish Dip

WOW thats a long title. 

I’m going to let you make these pickles and fill in the quotes above.  In our town almost every restaurant serves fried pickles.  Some have better pickles and some have better dip.  In order to get exactly what we wanted, by we I mean what I wanted,  I decided to give these a shot.  I had my two pickle guru’s here, (husband and son) as well as a good friend and self proclaimed pickle expert.  They all gave two thumbs up.  That’s like…6 thumbs!!!

These will absolutely be a hit at your Superbowl party  I urge you to give them a try.  They were even good warmed over the next day!

     

A Pinch and  a Dash Horseradish dip

1 Cup Mayo

¼ Cup Ketchup

½ Cup Creamy Horseradish

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp lemon juice

Pinch of Garlic Powder

Dash of Onion Powder

Hot sauce to taste.

Mix all ingredients.  Give it a taste. If it’s not hot enough for you, add more hot sauce.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Fried Pickles

2 Jar Dill chips or Bread and Butter chips.  We used one of each Most popular are the dill, but I love B&B

3 eggs

Flour for dredging

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix

2 Cups Cornmeal

2 Cups Breadcrumbs

Peanut oil for frying.

Place peanut oil in heavy bottom pan, deep enough to cover pickles completely with room to spare.  About 3-4 inches of oil.  Heat oil over medium heat to 350 degrees on a candy/fry thermometer.   Keep a close eye on your temperature and adjust head as necessary to keep it at 350 Degrees.

Time to get your production line ready.  The order of breading will be to lightly coat pickles in flour, dip the pickles in the eggs, then bread them with the cornmeal mixture.

First, break the eggs into a bowl and beat. Set aside.  Then combine the breading mixture of: cornmeal, breadcrumbs and ranch dressing mix in a large bowl or platter. Mix until well combined.

Now, drain pickles and coat lightly with flour.  You can add the pickles to a baggies with your flour, zip closed and shake to coat.  Then pour into a small sieve over the trashcan, to get rid of the flour.  Shake until any excess flour is off the pickles.  It’s important to do this step before continuing with breading process or your pickles will form a gummy paste ..trust me ;) 

Once your pickles are lightly floured, add to egg mixture. With one hand turn pickles to coat. With the other, remove pickles and add them into the cornmeal mixture. Turn pickles again to coat well. Then remove to a plate.  (Remember to check your oil, adjust stove temp as necessary to keep it at 350 until you’re ready to fry)  Repeat breading until all pickles are done.

I’ve found its easier to get all of the pickles completely breaded before you start frying. 

Gently add pickles, one at a time, into the peanut oil. Try not to overcrowd the pan as the temperature will drop.  Try to keep it between 330-350 degrees.  Once the pickles begin to brown on one side, turn with tongs and continue to brown on the other side.  It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes on each side to get them a dark golden brown.  Remove pickles to a paper towel or brown paper bag lined cookie sheet.  It’s not necessary to add salt to the fried pickles as the mix and the dip is salty enough.

Eat as soon as they’re cool enough to handle..with the pinch and a dash dip of course

Meat and Potato Poppers

I really do have a love affair with slow roasted meats.  Tender fall of the bone meat is my comfort food.  I recently entered a recipe contest and the ingredient was short ribs.  I looked over all of the other recipes and they looked amazing.  I created this as a way to use any leftovers you might have.  But, the recipe for the ribs are included.  It seems like a lot of work, but you have plenty of time to get everything together while the ribs are in the oven. This would be a great recipe to jazz up a super bowl party.  It's like a two bite dinner and you don't need utensils!! 

Ingredients for ribs, pickled onions and potatoes:

• 2 pounds Short Ribs
• 2 tablespoons Canola oil
• 1 teaspoon Both salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup Yellow Onion Chopped
• 1 tablespoon Chopped Garlic
• 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
• 1/2 cup Red Wine
• 1/2 cup Water
• 2 pieces Bay Leaf
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 2 pounds bite size Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 cups Thinly sliced red onions
• 1 cup White Vinegar
• 1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 3/4 cups Sugar
• 5 pieces Whole Cloves
• 6 tablespoons Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
• 1/4 cup Sour Cream

Cooking instructions :

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in large, heavy bottom pot with tight fitting lid. Meanwhile, pat the ribs dry and season with salt and pepper
2. Brown meat over medium high heat until meat releases from pan. Be sure to not overcrowd the pan to ensure proper browning. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this in multiple batches.
3. Once all pieces are browned on all sides, remove to plate and set aside
4. Drain most grease from pan reserving about two tablespoons. Lower heat to medium. Add onions and sweat for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add tomato paste and cook about a minute.
6. Time to add the wine, be sure to reserve enough for the chef! If using a gas stove,for safety, remove the pan from the flame and add wine, return to heat. Take care to scrape the yummy bits of brown from the bottom of the pan. Add the water. Simmer the mixture for 3-4 minutes.
7. Add the meat and it's juices back into the wine mixture. Cover with tight fitting lid and bake until meat falls off the bone and shreds easily. About 2 hours. While ribs are baking, prepare the pickled onions.
8. Blanch thinly sliced red onions in boiling water for one minute, drain and run under cool water.
9. In another saucepan, heat the white vinegar, red vinegar, sugar, cloves and one of the bay leaves. Boil for five minutes. Add the onions. Continue to boil for another minute. Transfer to glass dish, let cool. Then refridgerate.
10. To prepare the potatoes, boil them whole in salty water until easily pricked with a fork. Drain and set aside to cool enough to handle. Once cool, cut the ends off just slightly so each one is flat. Then cut in half. With a melon baller scoop out the insides of each half, leaving a small "rim" around the potato to make a bowl.
11. To assemble poppers: Once ribs are done, remove from oven, let cool slightly. Turn the oven to Broil. Place meat on cutting board to shred meat and get rid of any fatty parts.
12. Fill the potato bowls with meat. Top with the pickled onions, a bit of the crumbled cheese. Place under broiler for about a minute to melt cheese. Remove and add sour cream if you wish.
13. Plate up and enjoy!!!

New Years Day Breakfast Sandwich...... aka...hangover grub

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  for those of you reading this ON New Years Day, I'll be a little quieter ;).  For those of you reading this New Years Eve, go NOW....to the grocery store to get the stuff for this sandwich!   It is my favorite breakfast to have after a night of, well...too much celebration.  It's full of good fats as well as tons of vitamin, minerals and antioxidants.

Sooo, anyway, before I begin my celebration and am unelable to tipe ane furhtirher, hear is thea reciiepe for my favrite breasktfast sandwchins......<------ just kiddin........

Ingredients:

Sourdough bread or other hearty bread sliced thick
Egg
Avocado
Tomato
Arugula
S&P

Spray small non stick skillet with cooking spray. Heat over medium low heat.  Once heated, fry egg, overmedium.  Meanwhile, toast bread.  Slice tomato and Avocado, set aside.

Once egg is overmedium (yolks runny, whites solid) place egg on toast.  Poke the yolk so it breaks slightly.  Shmear avocado on other side of bread.  Add one to two slices of tomato on egg and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add arugula and place second slice of break with the avocado shmear.  Cut in half and serve with a tall glass of orange juice and 2 aspirin :)