Apple Teeth

I actually have to credit my daughter, Elena, for this recipe.  This is one of those halloween recipes that you always see posted around this time of year.  It's fun and easy to make - most importantly, the kids love it!!  We used the honey crisp apples to do this recipe, it would actually look better with regular red apples.  But, the honey crisp apples are so good!!  In this recipe we just use regular peanut butter.  Some people people mix the peanut butter with brown sugar, but honestly, this works just as well.

Slicing the Apples

Spreading the Peanut Butter on the Apples

 Arrange the Marshmallows on the Apples

The Final Plating

Apple Teeth

Ingredients:

1 large Honey Crisp Apple

Small bag of mini marshmallows

1/2 cup Peanut Butter


Directions:

1.  Cut the apples into slices.

2.  Spread the peanut butter onto one side of the apple slice.

3.  Place marshmallows along the peanut buttered side of the apples - arrange them so it looks like teeth.

4.  Place another peanut buttered slice apple onto the top of the marshmallow.

Julio's Rice

Julio was our dog of 17 years.  He was always kind of picky with what he ate, so we used to try to get creative with his food.  Julio got to the point where he would only pick at his dog food and he wasn't eating full meals.  He had been to the vet a couple of times and we knew that at 17, he was definitely getting pretty old for a dog.

I went home one night and decided to make Julio dinner.  I would make him chicken and rice.  I mixed the chicken and rice and added some vegetables.  I took it over to Julio the next day and he loved it.  He had two big helpings - keep in mind, Julio was a Maltese and weighed less than 10 pounds.  So, I continued to make him food.  One day I noticed that Julio's food was starting to disappear at an alarming rate.  I then found out that my father was taking some of Julio's food for lunch.  It was then brought to my attention that my wife was taking some of the food also.  To this day, I still don't know how much of the food actually went to Julio.  When I found out that Julio wasn't the only one eating this food, I decided to make some for my family as well.

This is a very versatile recipe and can be converted to vegetarian or vegan very easily.  I try to use a lean meat - For Julio, I was using hamburger or ground chicken, but for the family I used buffalo meat or ground turkey.  You can also substitute the chicken stock with vegetable stock and leave out the meat to make this a vegan/vegetarian dish.  Just an FYI - the Maggi Seasoning used it suitable for vegan diets!!

Let the vegetables cook until soft in the water

 (you can also use stock, but it's not necessary).

 I used ground buffalo for this recipe, but you can 

use chicken, turkey, hamburger, or nothing at all.

Add the Maggi Seasoning when the buffalo is finished cooking.

The mixture may be a little loose, but don't worry - once 

the rice is added it will come together nicely. 

The Final Plating

Julio's Rice

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Cup Rice
• 2 Cups Chicken Stock
• 1 Cup Water
• 1lb Ground Buffalo Meat
• 1 Cup Frozen Peas
• 2 Medium Carrots (diced)
• 2 Small Potatoes (diced)
• 1 Onion (Diced)
• 1 Tbs. Garlic (minced)
• 3 TBS. Maggi Seasoning (add more if needed)

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  Make the rice - use 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of chicken stock instead of water. Cook as directed.
• 2
  Saute onions and garlic for about 5 minutes.
• 3
  Add peas, carrots, potatoes, and about a cup of water. Cook until potatoes and carrots start to soften up.
• 4
  Add ground buffalo meat and cook until meat is browned. You will still notice some water in the pan when you add the buffalo meat, this is fine. Even if the mixture is a little loose, it will tighten up when you add the rice.  Add the 3 TBS of Maggi Seasoning.  You can add more if you want - adjust it to your taste.
• 5
  Once the mixture is finished, fold in the cooked rice.

  
  

Red Lentils

This was actually my first time making lentils.  We really enjoyed them and will definitely have them again.  This dish is high in protein and very low in fat.  When put together it makes a kind of stew consistency which is perfect for this time of year.  Naan is perfect with this dish.  If you don't have naan, you can substitute tortillas.

Obviously this dish can be turned vegan by substituting vegetable stock, but my father recommended using Polish Kielbasa in this recipe - which I think is genius!!!  This would be a perfect addition to the lentils.  But, since we're trying to keep things low-fat and semi-vegan here - there will be no Polish Kielbasa in the listed recipe ;)

Lentils are done soaking and ready to add

Saute the onion, tomatoes, and garlic

Add the stock and bring to a boil

40 Minutes later

The Final Plating

Red Lentils

Ingredients

1 Cup Masoor Red Lentils (Split)
2 Cups Chicken Stock
1 Onion (diced)
2 ts. Garlic
1 15oz. Can Diced Tomatoes
1ts. Cumin
1/2 ts. Tumeric
1/2 ts. Paprika
1/8 Cup Cilantro
Season salt to taste

Directions

1.  Cover lentils with water for 2 hours.  Drain.

2.  Saute onions and garlic until translucent.

3.  Add tomatoes, stock, lentils and bring to boil

4.  Reduce heat, add cumin, turmeric, paprika and season salt

5.  Simmer for 35-40 minutes.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Beef stroganoff is my wife's favorite dish.  So, it was a little daunting to try and make this dish into a low fat vegetarian dish.  I used mushrooms instead of beef.  This worked to a degree, but my wife still says she missed the beef.  I would probably recommend using soy crumbles if you want the texture of the meat.  But, honestly, I didn't miss it at all.

Another thing I have been doing lately is figuring out a way to have these recipes easily translate into a vegan dish if that's what you prefer.  This one would be a little tricky, but can be done.  There are plenty of vegan beef soup bases out there.  Take your pick, I'm sure most of them are really good.  The egg noodles would be the tricky part.  I haven't seen too many vegan egg noodles.  So, you could substitute noodles for rice or use a wheat based pasta.  I would probably use rice.

Cooking the mushrooms

Adding the slurry and letting the sauce thicken

The vegan sour cream that I used

Sour cream has been added

The final plating

Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients

2 Onions (sliced)
3-4 Cups Fresh Mushrooms (sliced)
4 Cups Beef Stock (you can use bouillon)
1 Cup Water
3 Tbs. Unbleached Flour
4 Tbs. Vegan Sour Cream
1 Pkg. Egg Noodles


Directions

1.  Saute the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Season the onions and then add the mushrooms.

2.  Saute the mushrooms until they have cooked down, about 5-7 minutes.   Season the mushrooms.

3.  Add the stock and simmer for about 20 minutes.

4.  While the mushroom mixture is simmering, make a slurry by mixing the water and flour in a separate bowl.  Make sure that all of the flour has been dissolved.

5.  Add the slurry to the mixture.  Once the mixture comes to a slow boil, this is how thick the mixture will be.  If you want it thicker, add a little more flour to another slurry mix.

6.  Remove from heat and mix in the sour cream.

7.  Serve over egg noodles, rice, wheat pasta, whatever.

(R)Energy Sandwich!!

The Renergy Sandwich originated from Rener Gracie.  He is part of the famous Gracie Family.  If you don't know who the Gracie's are - they are the family that introduced Brazilian Jiujitsu to the entire world.  Rener Gracie is a very famous practitioner of the art and also introduced this sandwich to the world.  This is a very good vegetarian type sandwich with tons of protein and flavor.  Rener calls this a breakfast sandwich, but honestly, it goes well anytime.

This is the type of almond butter I use for 

this recipe.  You can buy fresh almond 

butter at Whole Foods, but honestly, I like

 this one better.

You will notice that the spinach 

really cooks down.  This is what it looks 

like when you add the egg whites.

The eggs after the pan flip.  

The finished Renergy Sandwich

The Renergy Sandwich

Ingredients

2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread
1/2 Avocado
1-2 Handfuls of Spinach
2-3 Egg Whites
Almond Butter
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

Toast the bread and spread the almond butter on one side.  In a hot pan, saute the spinach until it cooks down.  This shouldn't take but a few minutes.  Once the spinach is cooked, go ahead and add the egg whites.  Cook until the eggs are set and then go ahead and flip it over - kind of like you were making an omelet.  You can do the fancy pan flip or just use a spatula.  Cook for about 1 minute longer after you flip and put the egg and spinach on the bread.  Slice an avocado and top it on the egg.  Place the slice of wheat toast with the almond butter on the top of the sandwich.

To the man who started it all:

http://renergysandwich.com

Shakshuka - Wait . . . What did you say???

Shakshuka is a middle eastern egg dish.  Traditionally it's made with tomatoes, peppers, eggs, and spices.  The great thing about this dish is it's versatility.  After you make this dish for the first time, you will think of a ton of combinations that you can do.  I've seen people put cheese on this dish, as well as other combinations.  I put my own spin on this dish and added some potatoes and left out the peppers - partially because I didn't have any on hand.  The potatoes went really well with the eggs and acted as a great filler - did I mention it's also low in calories.

Simmering the ingredients.  You 

will notice the mixture is firm.

Crack the eggs right into the mixture

Cover and cook on low heat for about 7 minutes.

 The finished product!!  

Ingredients

2 - 14 oz. Cans Diced (or crushed) Tomatoes
1 Large Onion (sliced)
2 Small Potatoes (diced)
3 Cloves of Garlic
6 Eggs
1 ts. Cumin
1 ts. Chile Powder
1 ts. Paprika
Season Salt

Directions

Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes.  Add the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are just about done.  Once the potatoes are close to being done, add the spices and tomatoes.  You want to cook the tomatoes until the excess juice is almost gone.  You will know because the mixture will become firm.  Make some indentions for the eggs.  Crack 6 eggs over the mixture and then cover them.  Cook for another 7 minutes.  This will allow the eggs to poach.  You can cook the eggs less time, it just all depends on how you like your eggs.

What in the World is Congee??

The first time I tasted congee, I knew I had to learn how to make it.  Congee is Chinese Rice Soup.  Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved rice, all kinds - jasmine, basmati, arborio, long grain, wild, etc.  For this recipe, you can just use regular short grain white rice.  Congee has a porridge like texture, but it's very flavorful.  The ginger and oyster sauce give it a really good flavor.  The recipe below is for a larger pot of congee.  It's probably better to cut this recipe in half.

Bringing the congee to a simmer with all of the ingredients added.

The finished product - you can see how thick the congee gets.  Don't 

be afraid to add more water if you want it a little more soupier.

The Final Plating

If you've had congee before, you will notice that this one is a little thicker than usual.  That's just my personal preference.  Feel free to add more water or stock to the dish.  Traditionally, it should be more of a porridge consistency.  Also, don't be afraid to add and change up ingredients - different vegetables, chicken, shrimp, etc.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Large Onion diced
• 4 Carrots Diced
• 36 oz. Mushrooms
• 3 cups Rice
• 1 pkg. Frozen Peas
• 1 Bunch Scallions
• 3 Garlic Cloves - minced
• 2 tbs. Sesame Oil
• 2 Tbs. Oyster Sauce
• 2 Tbs. Ginger (minced)
• 1 Gallon of Stock

DIRECTIONS

Saute mushrooms and then add the onions and garlic. Sauté onions until translucent and then add carrots and stock. Bring to a soft boil and then add peas, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and ginger. Bring to a simmer and then add the rice. The soup will get very thick because of the rice, so make sure to stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. It will take the rice about 20 minutes to cook, just keep it on a simmer for 20-30 minutes - do not cover.  Serve in a bowl and garnish with scallions.

Game Day!

There is nothing better than watching the games on Sunday.  One of our favorite snacks while watching the game is nachos.  Right now we're on a quest to eat a little healthier.  So, of course, I take it a step further and decide to make vegan nachos - well, slightly vegan.  Not sure if the tortilla chips I used were vegan or not.  I will tell you that my wife hates tofu and refuses to eat it.  She had no idea she was eating tofu in this recipe.

I found a recipe and decided to put my own twist on it.  So, here goes:

Ingredients:

Nacho Chips (vegan or others)
Avocado
Morning Star Soy Crumbles
Season Salt

For the Sauce:
14-16 oz. Block of Tofu
1/2 cup Vegan Mayo
1/4 Hot Water
1 Packet Taco Seasoning
1 Tbs. Paprika
1 Tbs. Chili Powder
Season Salt
1 Can Rotel (mild)

Directions

First thing you want to do is put the soy crumbles in a pan and fry them just like you would ground beef.  You can use oil or faux fry with water.  Season to taste with season salt - homemade or store bought is fine.  These only take a few minutes, once it's done just set it to the side.

Sauce:
Now, the recipe I found called this vegan nacho cheese.  This doesn't taste like nacho cheese at all, but it's really good and to be honest you don't really miss the nacho cheese.  The first thing you want to do is slice the tofu and put it on paper towels and blot it dry.  Slice the tofu into cubes and put it into a blender.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Plating:
Add nacho chips to a bowl or serving dish.  Add soy crumbles and top with the sauce.  You can top with tomatoes and/or onions.  I chose to use avocado.  Enjoy!!

Butternut Squash Soup

I've had quite a few requests for this recipe lately.  This is a good winter soup, but goes great anytime.  It's really thick and reminds me of a cream soup - and it's good for you!  This recipe can also be turned Vegan by substituting the chicken stock for vegetable stock.  I usually use the Knorr's chicken bouillon powder rather than actual stock.  It's just a lot quicker and already seasoned.

This is the Knorr's seasoing that I use.  It's a really good base.

Squash soup cooking

Finished Product!!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1 Onion, sliced
• 1 Butternut Squash, cubed
• 2 Carrots, cubed
• 1 Potato, cubed
• 4 Cups Chicken Stock
• 1 Can Coconut Milk (about 15 oz.)
• Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  In a large pot, heat oil to medium-low. Add garlic, onions and a little seasoned salt, stirring until translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• 2
  Add squash, carrots, potato and stock, bring to boil, lower heat to a simmer and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until vegetables can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from heat.
• 3
  Puree soup in a blender, working in batches.  Once done blending, add coconut milk and mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste if needed.

  
  

One Word - Hummus

Benefits of a Good Blender
One of the craziest things I've seen so far was a video on youtube of a guy that dropped an iPod in a blender.  The blender proceeded to turn this iPod into dust.  This was done as a demo to show you how good this blender was.  The reason I bring this up is that to make hummus, you should have a very good blender.  I have tried the same thing in a food processor and it just doesn't yield the same results.  Unfortunately, if you don't have access to a strong blender, just go ahead and buy the hummus from the store, as it probably won't turn out the way you like it.  I'm lucky enough to have a Blendtec blender which does a great job for me.  I also know that Vitamix blenders are very good also.

Making the Hummus
The reason that you need a good blender is that the hummus really needs to have a very smooth texture.  I've had hummus in the past that was very chunky - I personally didn't really care for the texture.  Aside from the equipment, one of the essential ingredients in hummus is tahini.  Tahini is sesame seed paste.  It has a very good nutty flavor.  I'm a big garlic fan, so garlic is another essential ingredient for a good hummus.  The great thing about this dish is that you can do so much with it.  You can add roasted red peppers, garlic, pine nuts, garlic, you can use white beans vs. chick peas and then add garlic.  The possibilities are endless.  Serve with pita chips, tortillas, naan, basically any type of bread.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 15oz can of Chick Peas
• 1/4 cup of juice reserved from chick peas
• 1/4 cup of Olive Oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 1 ts season salt (homemade)
• 1/2 ts cumin

DIRECTIONS

Blend all ingredients thoroughly and serve.

Tons of Tomatoes

Like a lot of people we decided to plant a vegetable garden this year.  We planted cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, etc.  The one thing we really have an abundance of is tomatoes.  I like tomatoes, but there are only so many sandwiches and salads you can eat before you get tired of them.  So, I decided to try something different – Tomato Jam.  I have to be honest, it sounds terrible.  The first thing you think of when you think of jam is strawberry or blueberry, something really sweet.  You really don't put tomatoes in that category.  

I had a ton of tomatoes that were going to go bad if I didn’t do something with them, so I decided to give it a try.  I’m glad I did.  The jam itself has a nice sweetness to it along with spiced overtones.  Once you taste it, you can think of a ton of uses for it.  It will go well with breakfast or would also sit very well on a sandwich.

As you can see from the picture above, I did not remove the seeds from the tomatoes.  It really doesn't make a difference, but if you were to serve this formally, you would want to remove the seeds.  But, when cooking for my family - it's just not that serious.  I put the tomato jam on toast and topped with a fried egg.  You will be able to think of a million combinations with this jam.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 lbs. Ripe Tomatoes
• 1 cup Sugar
• 4 tbs Pineapple Orange Juice
• 1 ts Ginger
• 1 ts Cumin
• 1/4 ts Cinnamon
• 1/2 ts Ground Cloves
• 1/2 ts Nutmeg
• 1/2 ts Chipotle Powder
• 1 tbs Vanilla Extract

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  Peel tomatoes
• 2
  Combine ingredients and bring to a boil on medium heat.
• 3
  Once boiling, turn down and let simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

  
  

Summer BBQ

It’s summertime.  Summer always reminds me of BBQ.  BBQ is one of those things that if you don’t have the proper equipment, you will never get it to taste right.  One of my favorite restaurants here in Cincinnati is Walt’s BBQ.  They have the best BBQ ribs I’ve ever tasted.  I would dress up like a hooker for these ribs.  One day I was looking at Craigslist and ran across a Bradley Electric Smoker.  It was only a $100 – these usually retail for $400 and up.  So, I decided to go ahead and get it.  It was honestly one of the best purchases I have ever made. 

The Bradley Smoker uses wood discs that you can purchase online.  They have different flavors, like hickory, apple wood, you get the picture.  The discs are fed every 20 minutes, so you don’t have to do anything.  It’s completely mindless – which is right up my alley.  I set the ribs for 4 hours and they came out great.  Obviously, not as good as Walt’s, but very good nonetheless.  I have used this quite a bit and tried some different meats, including a pork roast that I used for pulled pork.  I cooked the pork roast for about 5 hours and it came out perfect.  It works great every time.  If you’re a beginner and looking to try BBQ and smoking ribs, I would definitely recommend one of these electric smokers. 

Of course, one of the key ingredients when cooking BBQ is the rub.  Below is a recipe I found a long time ago and it’s the one I use the most when making ribs or pulled pork.  The one thing I really like about this rub is that it will also help form a really nice bark as seen on the ribs above.

BBQ Rub

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cup sugar
• 1 cup salt
• 4 tablespoons paprika
• 4 tablespoons red pepper
• 2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoon ground celery

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients