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Spring means one thing, the start of the outdoor cooking season. Who cares if it’s 29 degrees with a stiff breeze? I don’t. Nothing says spring like some hickory smoked dry rubbed ribs cooked over hardwood charcoal and chunks of hickory. I should be digging into these delectable delights within the hour. Yum!
I’ve decided that it is time to shed some pounds. I’m strongly considering signing up for the Healthy Living Diet by Ellie Krieger from the Food Network. I love great tasting food and cooking. This diet seems to fit the bill. What this plan does is simplify the planning. You pick your meals and generate weekly menus, recipes and a shopping list. A customized fitness plan and online counseling is also included. The weekly price of $5 is a bargain when you consider the convenience and time savings realized.
Below is a photo of African Peanut Stew. This dish was featured last week in Relish Magazine which made its Buffalo News debut. The recipe typifies the type of food I am looking for in a diet — great flavor and healthy! The recipe is from Cheryl Forberg, chef and nutritionist for NBC’s The Biggest Loser. I will be ordering her cookbook to augment my quest to lose weight.
The stew is easy to prepare and loaded with flavor from cilantro, curry powder, fresh ginger and garlic. The edamame gives this dish a wonderful crunch and texture. Edamame is fresh green soybeans which I found easily with the frozen Asian foods in Tops. You can view a printer-friendly version of the recipe here.
Both of my sons loved this dish. Add a glass of wine and some fresh baked whole grain bread and you will have a meal fit for company.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I’ve been cooking all night and will be up early to finish. Following is my menu for dinner. Dessert will be provided by my sister and sister-in-law.
Thanksgiving Menu
November 22, 2007
Orange/Squash Harvest Soup
Honey Brined Free-Range Roast Turkey
Giblet Gravy
Southern Cornbread Stuffing
Roasted Fennel and Green Beans
Cranberry Compote
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Buttered Corn
Rolls & Butter
Holiday Egg Nog
Georges DuBeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2007
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Canada’s Finest (Labatts)
Coffee
The politics of fear is alive and well in Buffalo. I find the prospect of being searched, in order to board the Metrorail, very intrusive. I would probably elect to find other transportation if I were to be singled out for a search. Also, the NYS Terrorism Tips Hotline is totally unnecessary. People can call 911 to report the bogey man.
I haven’t been on the 2nd floor of the Main Place Mall in quite some time and was pleasantly surprised at the food court. I ordered lunch from Buffalo Beef & Wing and had a decent Reuben sandwich, chips and a soda for only $5.50. It was definitely a cut above the typical fast-food fare I was expecting to find.
It would be downright foolish to eliminate the Theater District Metrorail stop. The distance might not be that great from the Fountain Plaza stop, but the wind chill downtown is enough reason to keep the stop.
Speaking of the Theater District, it sure was dead at 3 PM this afternoon.
Check out the fun details.
And there’s no better time to fire up the oven and make a homemade pizza.
The first thing you need to do is make some good dough. It is not hard and only takes about 10 minutes. I used this dough recipe from Emeril. It makes a nice thin, tender, to-the tooth base for your pizza with a bit of character. After I made the dough I divided it in half and let one piece rise, according to the recipe. I oiled the other piece, wrapped it in plastic wrap and saved it for tomorrow. After the dough had risen, I spread it on a lightly floured surface to the desired size. I sprayed a pizza pan with non-stick spray and dusted it with cornmeal. Place the dough on the pan and resize it as necessary. I prefer pizza pans with holes in the bottom. I’ve had good results with the dough cooking through, and the bottom browning perfectly, without having to deck the pizza directly to the oven rack. A 500 degree oven is a must!
Once you have the dough stretched and placed on the pan, use your imagination for toppings. I mixed some ricotta cheese with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and spread it on the dough. Next, I placed some thinly sliced fresh mozzarella on it. Then, I grated some good parmesan cheese, using the large side holes on a stand-up, 4 sided grater and added that to the pizza. Do not used pre-grated cheese, that is just laziness. A generous grinding of pepper was added next.
I purchases some roasted tomatoes and roasted mildly hot red peppers with garlic from the olive bar in Wegmans and added them to the pizza. I shaved 2 cloves of the garlic very thin before adding to the pizza. I plucked about 12 leaves from my basil plant, rolled them up and made a chiffonade to top off the pizza. The last step before baking is to drizze some extra-virgin olive on the pizza.
Pop it into a 500 degree oven and bake for about 12 minutes. Rotate the pizza occasionally to ensure even cooking and check the bottom when the top looks nearly done. If the bottom doesn’t look nearly golden brown, slide the pizza off the pan and let it finish directly on the oven rack. I use the rack on the second notch from the bottom. Be careful not to overcook the pizza dough.
While the pizza is baking, uncork a nice red wine and let it breathe a bit. I washed the pizza down with a full-bodied Napa Valley Cabernet, a 2005 Rooftop Red from C&T Cellars, purchased from wine.woot.com. Woot has a different wine deal each week featuring good quality, moderately priced wines.
ENJOY! (click any pic for a large version)
If you are like me and believe that coffee is one of the essentials of life, you will be delighted to see the following facts.
Test subjects dosed with the amount found in a cup of coffee come out ahead on problem-solving tasks.Source: Caffeine Facts
As this wonderful almost summer weather rolls along, it was grill time again last night. The star of the meal was Skewered Steak with Guava-Soy Glaze and Grilled Pineapples. Wegman’s contributed 2 side dishes; Asian Cucumber Salad and Spicy Mexican Bean Salad.
We are now experiencing the perfect weather for grilling. It is warm without the humidity. Last night I decided to fire up the new charcoal grill and make some Chicken Kabobs. I made a batch of potato salad the day before to accompany the kabobs.
I have a couple of rules that must be followed when making potato salad, other than those you can incorporate any ingredients you like. Be bold with pickles, spice it up with radishes or leave the onions out for the finicky folks (personally, I refuse to cater to finicky eaters).
The measurements are approximate and can be controlled by the your mood. If you’re a garlic fiend, go nuts with it.
First make the marinade. This is enough using 1 lb. of boneless chicken breasts cut into 1″ cubes. Serves 3.
Whisk the marinade ingredients together and use about half to marinate the chicken for 4 hours in the refrigerator. Turn chicken while marinating when you think of it.
Make some 1″ or so pieces of Green Pepper, Vidalia Onion and quarter some decent sized white mushrooms.
Grill the kabobs over a hot fire, turning frequently and baste with the reserved marinade. Remove from grill when done, serve with potato salad and ENJOY!
Today marked the 50th year of the Allentown Art Festival. The weather could not have been better. The temperature might only have reached 72 but it felt much warmer walking around in the sun all afternoon.
My first impression of the Art Festival could have been better. Perhaps a “welcome” sign would look a bit better.
Things did start looking up once I passed the ominous sign.
Following are a few photos I shot. Click on any one for a larger version.
The metal sculpture on top of Gabriel’s Gate is a classic Allentown icon.
The chess players found a good way to exercise their brains while beating the hot sun.
The mirrors just looked cool all lined on display.
I liked the way the artwork in the picture above appears to be looking out into the crowd.
Most people who go to an art show and purchase something come home with some art. Not me! The pickles pictured below are the most wonderful tasting creations. If you like your food with a bit of a kick, you’ll love these. Among other things, the pickling solution contains habanero peppers. The zing from the peppers gives these pickles the perfect kick!
The pickles, and many other fine edibles are made and sold by Deb’s Delights. Her gastronomic teasers are sold locally at Dash’s Markets (W. Klein and Colvin locations) and Chateau Buffalo on Hertel Avenue. Other locations are listed on her website. In fact, next Saturday, June 16, Chateau Buffalo is hosting a tasting of Deb’s famous BBQ sauces and other delights from 3 to 6pm.
Technorati tags: Allentown, Art Festival, Buffalo, New York, Art, People, food, pickles, Deb’s Delights, Chateau Buffalo
There is no doubt in my mind that the taste of food grilled over charcoal kicks ass compared to a gas grill. While shopping in Home Depot 2 nights ago, I ran across a special on a charcoal cart grill for only $25.00 - I couldn’t resist at that price.
I assembled the grill yesterday afternoon and broke it in last night. I didn’t want to make anything that was too ordinary and found the perfect recipe utilizing ingredients I had on hand.
The star of the meal was Emeril’s Kicked Up Blue Cheese-stuffed Hamburgers topped with homemade Green Peppercorn Mayonnaise. I added some sliced vidalia onions to top off the burgers. The burgers were absolutely delicious and the mayonnaise was a cinch to make in the food processor. I rounded out the meal with a nice salad of spring greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and crumbled blue cheese with some good Italian dressing. Bush’s vegetarian beans completed the meal nicely.
When you live right by Dairy Queen, there is only one thing to do when it is 87 degrees outside -
Btw, it is a raspberry sundae. I couldn’t stop myself from sampling the sundae before snapping the picture with my cell phone :
:
After what seemed like a long, miserable stretch of weather, we finally had a day that screamed “get out of the house”!
The sky was blue, the sun was warm and I went for a walk around downtown before going to the Sabres pregame rally at the HSBC arena. I finished up my jaunt with some delicious food at SPOT Coffee. I had a corned beef sandwich with bibb lettuce, tomatoes and mustard on grilled whole wheat focaccia bread. A bowl of Italian wedding soup was the perfect accompaniment.
Technorati tags: Buffalo, New York City, weather, photos, food, dining, SPOT Coffee, Electric Building
Click here for a list of participating restaurants.
The basis for my dinner compliments of my Friday shopping trip to the Broadway Market.
Bring fresh Polish sausage to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.
Set sausage aside after cooking.
Mix 1½ pounds of homemade sauerkraut with 1 small diced onion sauteed in 2 Tbs lard, ½ cup of brown sugar and ¾ cup of water. Place in a casserole dish.
Cut cooked sausage into 3″ pieces and layer on top of the sauerkraut. Cover the casserole and bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
While baking, prepare potato pancakes to be ready at the same time.
Just before serving, fry pirogies in butter for 5 minutes, turning frequently.
Finished potato pancakes and sausage with sauerkraut.
And, finally, the finished meal ready to eat. I served the potato pancakes with applesauce, sour cream is also a good garnish.
It has been awhile since I’ve had an authentic Polish dinner. While not fancy, the food tastes very good and is very satisfying. My kids agreed and cleaned their plates quickly. I’ve prepared each of these items before, but this is the first time I made a 100% Polish meal. More frequent trips to the Broadway Market are in order. Click any picture for a large version, you can scroll using the arrow on the upper right or left portion of the large versions.
