General Chicken

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lb chicken breast cubed
3 eggs
1/2 cup cornstarch, plus
4 teaspoons cornstarch
10 dried chili pods (more or less to taste)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 tablespoons white rice wine
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons soy sauce
Peanut oil

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, mix the 1/2 cup of cornstarch and the eggs; add the chicken and toss to coat.
If the mixture is too thick, add some vegetable oil to separate the pieces.
2. In a small bowl, prepare the sauce mixture by combining the 4 tsp cornstarch with the wine, vinegar, sugar and soy sauce.
3. First-Stage Frying: Heat 1-2 inches of peanut oil in a wok to medium-high heat. Fry the chicken in small batches, just long enough to cook the chicken through. Remove the chicken to absorbent paper and allow to stand.
4. Second-Stage Frying: Leave a tablespoon or two of the oil in the wok. Add the pepper pods to the oil and stir-fry briefly, awakening the aroma but not burning them. Return the chicken to the wok and stir-fry until the pieces are crispy brown.
5. The Sauce: Add the sauce-mixture to the wok, tossing over the heat until the sauce caramelizes into a glaze.

* I like things HOT so probably used about 20 chili pods, use less to make it not as spicy.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

• Large russet potatoes (or any other larger potato with a thick skin)
• Sour Cream
• Milk
• Butter
• Chives or green onions, finely chopped
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt & Pepper
• Paprika (optional)

Directions

1. Thoroughly clean the outside of the potatoes.
2. In the oven (or microwave), bake the potatoes until soft in the middle (35-45 minutes, depending on size, or 5-8 minutes in the microwave).
3. Let cool until the potatoes are cool enough to handle with your hands. Cut each potato in half and scoop out the inside into a medium sized bowl, trying not to tear the skin. Place skins aside. Repeat for all the potatoes.
4. In the bowl with the potato insides, add other ingredients (sour cream, milk, cheese, chives and salt and pepper) to taste. Mix thoroughly.
5. Fill each potato skin with the potato mixture that you just made. If they are heaping out a little, it's ok. Sprinkle with paprika and place in a large glass pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the tops are slightly crispy.

Pork Adobo WITH PICTURES!!!!

LOOK LOOK PICTURES!!!

So this recipe is totally the same as the chicken one, cept I used pork baby back ribs. It smelled really good in the house, like some kind of tasty sausage.

1- very large pack baby back ribs
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 cups water
1 whole head garlic chopped
2 bay leaves
olive oil

In a dutch oven (or large pot) coat bottom with olive oil. Brown ribs on both sides until slightly golden. Add everything else to pot, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes. If you want your ribs softer and falling off the bone continue to boil until

How it looks while boiling in the pot (this is my dutch oven it is a Les Crueset, they are sooo expensive but damn they cook a good meal)

How it looks after husband gets a hold of it (see he pours the juice over the rice)

This is how just the ribs look when they are done. Then he poured the sauce on em, stuck a lid on and took em to go for lunch!

Mmmmm. Chocolate Chip Cookies.

You can't get much easier than these mmmmalicious chocolate chip cookies.


This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies (depending on how big they are, in my case I get about 4 dozen because I like my cookies big).

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 24 oz semisweet chocolate chips (about 4 cups) REMEMBER THE CHOCOLATE RULE: THE BETTER QUALITY CHOCOLATE YOU USE, THE BETTER YOUR RESULTS!

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.


2. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs on medium until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. The dough will be stiff at this point.


3. Stir in chocolate chips and mix thoroughly.


4. On an ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by spoonfuls ~2 inches apart.


5. Bake 11-13 minutes, or until light brown but still soft in the middle. Cool for a minute or two and remove from cookie sheet onto cooling rack.
   

For nut lovers, you can add ~2 cups of coarsely chopped nuts in the cookie batter and follow directions above.

Because I can't eat 6 dozen cookies (or even 4 dozen large cookies) I freeze half of the dough in the shape of a log, wrapped in plastic wrap. This makes it easy to cut off a slice or two and bake them up whenever you are in the mood for fresh out of the oven cookies.

Muffalata roll

(The photo doesn't do this justice because I totally forgot to take a pic while it was all pretty and rolled up!)

1- Tri tip roast filleted and flattened (You can have your butcher do this, or simply cut it down the middle and then from the middle cut each half out from center almost to end flattening it more, then put plastic wrap over it and whack it with a can to flatten) basically you want a very flat piece of meat.

1- small white onion diced
8- cloves garlic 3 finely chopped and 5 cracked
1/2 cup italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1- egg
28 oz- can diced tomatos
10- slices bacon cut into 1/2 pieces
3- slices turkey
3- slices ham
10- slices salami
4- slices mozzarella cheese
1- cup white wine
2- tbsp olive oil
lots of salt and pepper

In deep dutch oven cook bacon until fat comes out (about 7 minutes) add cracked garlic and onion and saute until soft. While bacon is rendering mix egg, parmesan, finely chopped garlic, bread crumbs, olive oil, salt and pepper. On flattened steak layer turkey, then ham, then salami, cheese and finally bread crumb mix. Allow a half an inch around all edges of steak. Roll the steak up similar to a jelly roll and tie it closed. Remove bacon from pan leaving grease and place steak in pan over medium high heat. Brown on all sides, for about ten mintues. After steak is brown add wine and scrape all the brown off the bottom of the pan. Cook until wine reduces to half. Add bacon, onion, and garlic mix back in and cover with tomatoes. Add a bunch more salt and pepper, stir and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes, less if you like your meat rare. No matter what the outside will be cooked well done! This meal was great. I actually tasted some of the sauce and even some of the meat and I was impressed. My husband especially liked the sauce with the bacon fat in it and loved the salami inside of the steak. He packed it up to take to lunch tomorrow. I served this with some fresh store baked bread for dunking in the sauce.

If you are cooking on a budget you can substitute tri tip for flank steak.

I saw a recipe similar to this in Rachael Ray's magazine but her's was much more high maintenance and hoity toity. I made mine more people friendly and it turned out great.

Chicken Adobo (Filipino style)

Seriously folks, I've never cooked such a quick and easy meal in my life. It is ridiculous how fast this cooks, and apparently if you like meat this shit is pretty good.

1 package chicken bone in skin on (I use thighs)
1 WHOLE head of garlic chopped
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
pepper
2 cups water
2 cups uncooked rice

In a large pot (I use a dutch oven but a deep pot will do) brown chicken over high heat for about 6 minutes. Throw in everything else. Cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Cook rice per instructions and serve chicken with all the juices over the rice. I think it taste a lot like fried rice, my husband says it taste like home, the shit, awesome and sooooo good. He has eaten it like 3 times in the last month and already wants more. It makes amazing left overs and reheats great. Actually we serve it as single portions at my house, so you can reserve some rice for left overs with out it getting soggy over night. Also, you can use the left over chicken the next day shredded to make a great chicken fried rice or even a chicken salad sammy with a bit of an Asian kick. Seriously that chicken with some mayo and pepper on some wonder bread WHOAH!

I will post pics of this next time I make it and my dumb ass remembers the camera!

This whole meal is knock you on your ass good and sooo fucking easy. Your a moron if you don't make it right now! The greatest part is that all of the ingredients are things I have on hand every single night. This means that all I have to do is pull some chicken out of the freezer and I have a quick meal that is ready to go in the amount of time it takes you to chop garlic!

Dinner last night, aka portobello mushrooom cups

This is a great little meal for one in a hurry, although you can easily make it for two or three or ten.

1 Portobello mushroom chopped to about 1 inch pieces
Spreadable garlic and herb cheese (I use Alouette)
Sun flower seeds
Green leaf lettuce
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Olive oil

Chop up mushrooms into bite size pieces

Throw in frying pan with some olive oil and pepper and saute until brown

This is the spreadable cheese I use, garlic and herb

Spread a layer on your green leaf lettuce cups

Top with some sun flower seeds

Once mushrooms are brown you can add the salt, if you add it to soon it will dry them out.

Top lettuce with mushrooms

Then add the Parmesan cheese to top it all off. I roll them slightly like a taco and it makes a terrific little snack or a whole dinner.