Monday, March 29, 2010

Groovin' In The Kitchen Playlist

I like to cook with music. It makes it more fun to do my guitar solos with my spatula! Here's my current playlist:

1. Hot Blooded, Foreigner
2. Walk This Way, Aerosmith
3. We Will Rock You, Queen
4. War Machine, AC/DC
5. Juke Box Hero, Foreigner
6. Welcome To The Jungle, Guns 'N Roses (my mom hates this song)
7. 21 Guns, Green Day
8. American Woman, Lenny Kravitz
9. In The Evening, Led Zepplin
10. Hell's Bells, AC/DC
11. Just What I Needed, The Cars
12. Saint Of Me, The Rolling Stones
13. Free Fallin', Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
14. Pinball Wizard, The Who
15. Back In Black, AC/DC
16. Warning, Green Day
17. More Than A Feeling, Boston
18. Dude Looks Like A Lady, Aerosmith
19. Houses of Holy, Led Zepplin
20. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Iron Butterfly (get 2 wooden spoons for drum solo)

Add these to your iPod, grab a spatula and get ready for the solos. Just don't fling pasta sauce everywhere. I got in trouble for doing that :)


Thursday, March 25, 2010

What's The Difference Between Broccoli and Snot? (recipe)

KIDS DON'T EAT BROCCOLI...ha ha ha

Actually, at my house that's not true. All 5 of us kids eat broccoli. I like it best raw dipped in Ranch Dressing but everyone else eats it steamed, roasted, raw, pureed (well, my baby brother does).

Here's a recipe I made to make steamed broccoli a little more...better!

SESAME STEAMED BROCCOLI
Stuff You Need
4 1/2 cups broccoli "florets" (that's a fancy word for cut up broccoli pieces)
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce (my mom only buys the low-sodium kind)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Equipment You Need
Pot with lid
Steaming basket
Small mixing bowl
Serving bowl
Whisk
Cookie Sheet
Hot pads

1. Put steamer basket in pot. Add water just to bottom of basket. Add broccoli. Cook over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes until the broccoli is soft, but not mushy. I usually stick a toothpick in one to see how soft it is.

2. While broccoli is doing it's thing, heat oven to 350 degrees and put sesame seeds on cookie sheet. Toast in the over for 3-5 minutes until they are just LIGHTLY brown. Using hot pads, take out of oven and set somewhere out of the way.

3. In a small mixing bowl, using a whisk, mix up the sesame oil, soy sauce, and sesame seeds.

4. When broccoli is done, pull out the basket and put broccoli into serving bowl. Pour the oil/soy sauce mixture over, mix it up, and serve it to your brothers and sisters.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Guys in Goggles

Got this hilarious picture from @anarchistchef this weekend. He liked my picture of me cutting onions in my swim googles. He's a sushi chef and said he makes wasabi @onosushi wearing his dive mask!! See, mom, lots of guys wear cool eyewear to cook.

Radical Ribs (recipe)

Over the weekend, to make me feel better since my allergies were killing me, I headed to the kitchen to make my FAVORITE ribs with my dad on grill assist. My sisters cheer themselves up with chocolate, I cheer myself up with BBQ Ribs!!

RADICAL RIBS
Stuff You Need
1 18 ounce bottle of BBQ sauce
1/2 cup of brown sugar
Juice of 1 large lemon or lime
1 tbs A1 steak sauce
2-3 lbs pork loin baby back ribs
salt

Equipment You Need
2 Cookie sheets
Crock Pot
Big Bowl
Knife
Cutting board
Grill
Tongs

1. Open up the package of ribs and rinse meat under water. Drip dry and set on cookie sheet.

2. Lightly salt both sides of the meat. (Make sure to do both sides. I sometimes forget.)

3. Ask adult to help you start grill and heat to 400 degrees. Once heated, place ribs on grill for about 20 minutes on each side. Wash cookie sheet or make sure to put it in the sink and get a clean one out for later!!

4. While the ribs are cooking, get your bowl and pour in all 'yer BBQ sauce! Cut lemon/lime in half and squeeze all the juice into the bowl. Add brown sugar and A1 sauce and stir it all up.

5. When ribs are done on the grill, use your tongs and put the meat on a clean cookie sheet. Turn off grill.

6. Cut the ribs in between the bones and put in a crock pot. Pour the sauce all over the ribs and put on the lid. Cook for 2 hours on low setting. Then, switch the ribs around (ribs on the top, put on the bottom and vice-versa) and cook for another 2 hours.

7. Wait. Wait. Wait. BUT, soon you will have ribs that fall off the bone and are so good you'll want to lick the crock pot...just don't let your mom see.


Saturday, March 20, 2010

Opening Day of Allergies

Ugg. Just had my baseball parade for opening day of Little League, and my game is later today. My allergies are awful and I'm kind of cranky...so mom gave me medicine and I'm going to head to my pillow. I'll post my potato salad recipe later. See ya!

Friday, March 19, 2010

My First Interview!


Thanks to Twitter mom @betterwaymoms for my first interview! She was really nice and thinks what I'm doing is pretty cool. Here's a link to my interview!!

Who's Joe? And Why's He Sloppy? (recipe)


TGIF! This week felt like it had a couple of extra days in it and I'm sooo glad it's over. Tomorrow is my opening day of baseball and I've got an early parade. I want to chill out tonight so mom is letting me make an easy dinner of Sloppy Joes. SJs and a bag of Lay's potato chips, and this guy is ready to go!


GET A NAPKIN SLOPPY JOES
Serves 8

Stuff You Need
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion (get out your goggles)
2 pounds of ground beef or ground turkey
1 can of tomato soup (Campbell's condensed style)
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Hamburger buns

Equipment You Need
Knife
Cutting board
Large frying pan
Wooden spoon
Bulb syringe or spoon

1. Put olive oil in pan and heat over medium heat. Add onion and saute (stir around) for about 3-5 minutes. Onions will start to smell good and get soft...that's how you'll know they are ready.

2. Add ground beef/turkey. Let it brown while chopping it up into little pieces. Remember, the meat will be crammed on a hamburger bun so it needs to be as small as you can get it. When all the pink color is out of the meat, push the meat to one side and tilt the pan. Turn off the stove and drain the liquid using either a bulb syringe or spoon (ask for help for this part since the pan is ridiculously hot).

3. Return the pan to the stove and turn the heat back on to medium. Add all of the other ingredients (except the hamburge buns!). Stir until everything is all mixed up and once it starts to boil, reduce heat to simmer. Let simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Stir frequently so the bottom doesn't burn.

4. Turn off stove. Open up the hamburger buns and pile the sloppy joe filling as high as you can! Serve with potato chips and some carrots with ranch dressing!




Sunday, March 14, 2010

Breakfast After A Sleepover! (recipe)


I had a bunch of my friends sleepover last night. It was totally fun since we stayed up late playing NHL Stanley Cup Wii and watching the GI Joe movie. We got up early this morning to play hockey outside and then we got HUNGRY!!

I made my Eggs In The Oven for breakfast and everyone had seconds. I served it with hash browns and those little oranges. Now, back to our game.


EGGS IN THE OVEN
(some people call it quiche without a crust)
Serves 6-8

Stuff You Need:
6-8 slices of bacon
1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I like Cheddar)
1/2 cup of corn
2 tablespoons of melted butter
4 eggs
1/2 cup of pancake mix
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon of salt
dash of pepper

Equipment You Need:
9 inch pie pan
tongs
fork or whisk
cookie sheet
bowl
plate
paper towels
hot pads

1. Make the bacon.
My mom's trick it to make it in the oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put bacon on cookie sheet and then put cookie sheet into heated oven. It usually takes about 15 minutes for it to get crisp. Just watch it and you will see that it goes from rubber to crisp to burned pretty fast.

While bacon is cooking, layer paper towels on plate (it will absorb the extra grease from bacon). When bacon is crisp, using the hot pads, take the cookie sheet out of the oven and set on stove. Leave the oven on. Take the tongs and lift the bacon out of the grease and on to the paper towels. Let cool.

2. Take 9 inch pie plate and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

3. Crumble up the bacon and spread it on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle on the cheese and corn.

4. In a bowl, mix up the 4 eggs until they are beaten together. Take the 2 tablespoons of butter and put it in a small microwave safe bowl. Put it in microwave for 10-15 seconds to melt it. Add to eggs. Mix in the pancake mix, milk, salt and pepper and combine it all with a fork or whisk until all the pancake mix in totally blended.

5. Carefully pour the egg mixture in pie pan.

6. Put it in oven and set timer for 35 minutes. It will be done when it is kind of brownish on the top.

7. Let it cook for about 5 minutes. Cut it up and eat!!

The thing about this recipe is that you can put all kinds of combinations in it and everything turns out really good. Combos like:
Ham and Swiss Cheese
Sausage and Cheddar
Pancetta, Smoked Gouda Cheese, and Onion
Steamed Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese
Sauteed Red Pepper and Provolone

Or, if you like it plain, just throw in the cheese and call it breakfast!