Foolproof Pancakes

So there is a story about these.  We found this recipe while searching for our house.  This one house we came across, was the house of a elderly couple who had passed on.  This house was unique in that everything in the has was labeled and marked so that you knew how old it was.  The furnace had a label when it was installed.  There were manuals through out the house for everything in it.  Schedules that were methodically thought about and detailed.  I love the house but Tia didn't.  Mainly cause I knew about everything that went on in the house.  Long story of it was that everything you wanted to know about this house was labeled for you to know about it. 

For the sake of given credit, as this is not my recipe, I will Call them Grandma's killer pancakes! These pancakes rock and even my wife is a fan of them.  We sometimes use skim milk or whatever we have on hand but you should never ever had to buy pancake mix again after making these! 

I hope you enjoy them!  If you do tell "Grandma" that you like them as well.  I hope she isn't too mad that we have her fail proof pancake recipe now.  

Korean Tacos!

So I was recently inspired after hearing about the KOGI BBQ Taco Truck in Los Angeles and about the crowd of people that were coming to his taco stand. I heard about them on NPR as well as on The Food Network. Both stories were about the bending of food and what makes food American. Food is rapidly changing here and we as Americans embrace these new changes and new flavors in our food.


I see this daily being married to my wife. Tia sometimes complains about my cooking although it is tasty she says sometimes it is too "complex." I can give you a great example of this. When it comes to pork BBQ she believes that there is only one ingredient that is needed to flavor her pork…SALT. I on the other hand like to have a complex and balanced blend of spices that not only embrace the pork but bring out additional flavors rubbed onto my pork. The end result is that one of us like it and the other will just eat it. I often complain sometimes about Georgian food being so bland. So it is hard for me to make Georgian food because I want to taste more than just a potato, and for Tia that is all she wants to taste. The point that I am getting at is that we as Americans really have our own type of food. It is an embracement of cultures and the creation of a melting pot that allows us to take a little bit from each culture and combine it into a flavorful bouquet of flavor that allows us to create something new that can appeal to a wide audience. This is what I think the KOGI BBQ Taco truck does. It takes two different cultures and blends them together.
I have read sometimes there is a line waiting for them to pull up with over a hour wait time. Anyways since I don't live in LA I thought of how to make it come to Utah in my own kitchen. Taking hints from various people I have created my own recipe for Korean tacos and I have to say they turned out great.


Marinade:

2 pounds of Boneless Rib eye steak sliced thin. I did mine by knife as I didn't have the availability of the butcher to slice it. But you should be able to call ahead and have it sliced up for you ahead of time. This will save a ton of time. Keep the fat on, as you BBQ you will lose a lot of it and it will give some good flavor to your meat. I cooked mine on a medium heat until it was medium well.



1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce. You can use regular if that is all you have.

3 cloves of garlic chopped

1 medium onion chopped.

2 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 Tbsp fresh chopped ginger

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1 dried cayenne pepper chopped. 1/8 power cayenne or to taste

1 pinch kosher salt 1 pinch of pepper

2/3 cup of light brown sugar

3 green onions chopped



Combine all of this into a gallon ziplock sized bag and mix. Add your beef to the mix and marinade for 12-24 hours. After you marinade, BBQ on a medium heat until cooked. Once it is cooked you will chop it all up for your tacos.


*Korean Salsa:

1/2 cup of chilli and garlic paste

1 tbsp seasme oil

1 tsp fresh ginger



Mix together and serve on top of your tacos


Kimchi:

I just used a bottle of Korean Kimchi from my local Korean store.



Serve with flour or corn torillas and garnish with sesame seeds and fresh lettuce

*the salsa packs some heat. The kimchi that I had wasn't too spicy.

Butternut Squash Soup

I was feeling inspired when I made this. It was a nice fall temperature outside and I had a bunch of stuff that I bought at the farmers market that I needed to use. So I thought. How can I get my wife to like soup? Yes, I know I am a evil husband. But I took some of the ideas of how I know she likes her soup, creamy with very little water. With that in mind I set out to make some butternut squash. I have to say this was amazing and just what I needed. I hope you enjoy this creation. A great side effect is that your house starts to smell really great!




Ingredients

4 cups of peeled and cubed butternut squash (1 inch diameter)

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup of chopped carrots

3 stalks of celery chopped

1 medium red onion chopped

1/2 cup non fat ricotta cheese

3 Tbsp of fresh grated parmesan cheese

1 medium red apple diced

5 cups chicken broth

1 cup vegetable stock

1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage

1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary

1/4 cup fresh cream

Salt and pepper to taste


Instructions:

Take your butter and in your soup pot mix with onions, carrots, celery. You can include the celery leafs as they give more flavor. Sauté until the onions turn translucent. Next you will combine all the rest of your ingredients, but the cream, into your pot and bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 30-35 minutes. Make sure that you have the cheese mixed in with your stock. When the squash is tender you are done.



Once you have cooked everything use an immersion blender to puree your soup. After everything is pureed add your cream and mix in. You can reduce to simmer and let it cook longer or serve immediately.



Serves 6

I love bread!

Get this book!  It is the best bread I have made in a long time and super easy when you are busy!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

This was the result of our first batch!  

 

Bok Choy Shiitaki Tofu Stir-Fry

I am sad to see the farmers market days being dwindled as I have been able to get fresh produce and some hard to find items that have allowed me to experiment in the kitchen. I knew I wanted to do something Asian inspired after my last trip so I thought for a little while and decided to come up with this. My wife said it could use a little less heat, but the heat didn't hit her until the very end! Overall she said it was really good. I hope you enjoy this! I know I already did!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms coarsely chopped

1 Tbsp fresh ginger

3 cloves garlic chopped

1 pinch of fresh ground fennel

1/2 tsp corriander seeds

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 head of broccoli

1 handful of snap sugar peas

5 fresh Thai basil leafs

salt and pepper to taste

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp Olive Oil or Sesame Oil

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp Hosin Sauce

2 good handfuls of baby Bok Choy

1 cup diced firm Tofu (or insert meat of choice)

1 cup of cooked rice.



Directions

Combine soy sauce and Olive Oil to wok and add your Shiitake Mushrooms. Allow them to start cooking and after a few minutes add your ginger, garlic, salt and pepper to the wok. Allow to sauté and add your Tofu to cook with the mushrooms. After a few minutes start to add your broccoli, peas and bok choy to the wok. Cook for about 5 minute or until the Bok Choy starts to decrease in size. once this happens add your cayenne pepper, onion powder, fresh ground fennel, and Thai basil leafs. at the last 2 minutes add your Hosin Sauce.



To serve place rice in a bowl or on a plate and top with the stir fry.

Total time was 20 minutes to cook this from start to finish.

10 minutes of prep required.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Now that it is starting to get cold here in SL,UT I have decided once again to bring agony to my wife by making some more soup!  HAHA.  She hasn't tried this one yet but she will tonight.  Anyway, last night I knew that I wanted to take a soup with me to work for the next day and I needed to dejunk my fridge.  What better way to do it than making a soup that can cook overnight and have it be ready for me when I wake up.  All through the night my wife would turn to me and say I hate you...it smells so good and I can't sleep now!  LOL.  I love teasing her and making her discover soups that are not just water and oil with some veggies in it.  So after slow cooking for 10 hours this soup came out perfect!  I know I will be making this one again!

Ingredients:
3 cups of veggie stock
3 cups of chicken stock
3tsp of Cumin
8 corn tortillas ( I took a pizza cutter and cut them into what looks like chips)
1 cup *fresh salsa
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
3 Tbsp of fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp of fresh lime juice
2 chicken breast.  (I used the chicken breasts of one Costco rotisserie chicken.  It added some great flavor)
2 tsp of black pepper
1 whole cayenne pepper
1 whole onion chopped


*fresh salsa
1 cup fresh tomatoes
1 jalapeno
salt and pepper to taste
Juice from 1/2 of a lime

Put all into a food processor and blend together

Directions:
Take everything and mix it together and place your slow cooker on low and go do something else!  I didn't add additional salt to this as the stock already has sodium in it.

Garnish with fresh cilantro and hard corn tortilla strip chips on top

When it is done it will almost look like a paste.  Like I said it turned out great and it is yummy on a cold day!

BBQ Orange Rosemary Pork Chops

So last night I tried out another recipe that I did did a variation to from the original* recipe.  It is a really nice way to add a burst of flavor to your pork chops.  My wife said it was alright.  Her idea of great pork is just to have it salted and cooked.  Oh well she still ate it and said she loved it.  This is really easy and takes about 5 minutes to prepare

Ingredients:

1 medium orange zested
1.5 tsp of fresh chopped rosemary  (You can use less or more if as your taste buds desire)
1/8 tsp nutmeg
3 3.5 oz pork tenderloin chops
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Combine all ingredients togther and rub on each pork chop.  I let mine sit for 30 minutes and than I started the BBQ.  Cook until done and enjoy!

*a good variation you can do is replace rosemary with ground fennel seeds.  This also gives a great flavor as well.