Where not to eat

Jim's Family Restaurant in Sandy, UT. Is a place not to spend your money at. We stopped there on the way home from our adventure. Its a clean place, and it seemed slower than the other area  restaurants. I now know why. The food. They had a wide variety on the menu. I recently discovering that I like Gyros, decided to try theirs. Wow, it was nothing like back home. I got a broken pita bread filled with onion and tomato chunks, four  burnt, dried out pieces of gyro meat and very little sauce. It had seemed like the meat sat on the spit all day. Nothing like what I would have expected. It took me 10 minutes to get extra sauce to try and cover the dried meat. My husband ordered a rib eye steak. It was okay. It was nothing special to really write home about. I would suggest that people try Iggy's across the street. It seemed a lot busier than this place. I  think next time we are in the area, we will try there.

Fettuccine Ragu

I found this recipe for a Ragu. It is what my aunt would call a southern Italian sauce because of the way its made. You almost puree the vegetables, they called it finely chopped. I used carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms. Saute them in evoo. ( extra virgin olive oil) then you can add ground turkey or veal. I added the turkey. Cook that until its no longer brown. then I added 28 oz of canned crushed tomatoes. I added about  1/2 cup of milk to the mixture. I cooked it down, with all the liquid from cooking the turkey and sweating the vegetables. I let it reduce and threw in about a tablespoon of flour to thicken it up. I cooked fettuccine noodle and served the ragu over it.  Simple quick night food. My husband says its better the second day.

Stuffed Cabbage

This dish is something I grew up with. There a Polish name for it but don't ask me to spell it. It's more commonly known as Stuffed Cabbage.
 1 lb of ground beef/turkey. To have a well rounded flavor
2 cups of cooked rice
This usually varies on the person I didn't measure this time . I will have to write down how much I put in next time, but I use:
oregano, thyme, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, and cilantro.
I par boil the cabbage til it is pliable. I let it cool and while that is cooling I am putting together the meat mixture. I then take about an ice cream scoop full  ( medium ones) and place it in the center of the cabbage leaf. I roll the leaf up and place them in a casserole dish. When I am done with that, I take any extra cabbage leaves I have and put them over the top of the rolls. To prevent burning. I then make a tomato mixture. Usually tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes and and more garlic, oregano, salt, rosemary, and basil. Mix it up and dump it over the cabbage. I cook it at 350 for about and hour.
It came out ok this time. Me personally wasn't happy, but the family loved it. So there were no left overs.

Midvale Mining Cafe

This was a place we visited when we first were moving into the house. Its up the street from us and crazy busy until about 2 pm. Its very close quarters. Midvale Mining Cafe did have a lot of the history of the mines in the area up on the walls and in display cases while you waited to be seated. For someone who is not native to to Utah, it was interesting. The place was clean and friendly. Our server was polite and attentive to us. My husband had the Steak and Egg dish and I had the Western Omelet. I have had a Western Omelet before and it was made a little differently than back home, but it was still good. My only complaint is that my hash browns were not crispy enough. That is a personal choice though. I would like to go back during dinner service to see how the food is. Their menu was short and to the point. Many of their signature dishes were named after some type of miner or something there in related to mining. The price was fair and not to expensive. I would suggest stopping in and eating something  there to any one who is passing through.

Orange Tea Bourbon Turkey

I got this off of a Food Network Mag. But it turned out great, so I am posting it.
This is a brine for the turkey that I did over night.
2 quarts of water
1 cup oj ( it calls for juice of 5 oranges)
1 zest ed orange
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup bourbon
12 pepper corns
6 whole cloves
12 black tea bags
and you bring this to a boil, then simmer for 10 min. Then add 4 more quarts of water. Submerge the turkey and let it sit for 8 hours or  over night

I then used a paprika butter.

Grind coriander, Cumin and paprika. Mix it together with 2 sticks of butter. I added a little garlic, because I like garlic. The picture below is how it turned out. Its got a little bit of an Asian taste to it. I can tell you that the turkey was very moist and did not dry out.

Gingerbread X mas Tree

This was a set of cookie cutters I had received as a gift. I thought I would try them out . I used a store bought bag of Gingerbread mix. I wanted to see how it would go over with the new elevation. The tree came out a little dry. I am going to  re attempt this again, only this time I will use sugar cookie dough. Most everyone likes sugar cookie dough.
In my steps to make this I did find 5 recipes for Royal Icing. I wound up using Wilton's recipe. In the future, I will try some of the others that I found.
Wilton's called for
3 tablespoons Moraine  powder
6 tablespoons of  warm water
1 lb of confectioner's sugar
and I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Its gives the icing a better taste.

So here is what it looks like. This was taken after I had already broken a branch and repaired it. The cookie cutters are displayed beneath it. For give the spelling tonight. My spell check does not want to work with me .

I'm Back!

Hey all ,
Sorry its been a crazy few months. I have moved cross country and I am now ready to start posting like mad again. Its definitely a new experience living in Salt Lake City. I swear these people do not like to cook. There are so many restaurants and fast food places its unbelievable. It is also a challenge cooking. So bear with me as I convert some of my recipes from home to here. We are around 6,000 ft above sea level so baking and boiling are different.
On the bright side those of you from home can understand when I say this place is like Schumberg on crack with out all the traffic problems. The nice thing is that everything is about 15 minutes away in either direction. I have yet to venture into Salt Lake City itself . I am in the subs. Its on my list of places I want to go. Right now I am trying to focus on Christmas and getting my baking going again. No need to worry. I start culinary school in January and I will be posting items from that as well.  So hang on and enjoy the ride as we experience Utah.

Thomas the Tank Engine Cake

Its my son's 3 rd birthday and he wanted Thomas. So I found a Wilton's 3d train mold pan and put it on top of a sheet cake. I can see my imperfections. But it turned out good. He loves it. He goes and checks the cake in the fridge everytime he is near the kitchen. Doing this cake showed me how much I need to work on my piping skills and my tinting of frosting. It was a good challege and I look forward to the next one that comes my way.

Weekend Projects

These are some of the items I did over the weekend. The first is the Pina Colada Cake for my aunts birthday. I got the first recipe from a magazine. They used chocolate cake, I used a cake mixture to make the cake  taste like Pina Colada.  The second is a very simple candy mold that I used with pretzels. Every one loved the items and they were gone in under 15 min.

Beer Pretzels Caramels

I got this recipe from Food Network Mag. I have tried it twice with the same end result. I would love to know what they did. Each time my caramels formed but did not hold  their shape. Both times the beer tasted good with them, but in the end after the listed refridgerated time, they were cut and then lost  their shape. Any suggestions I am open. If food network reads this on Twitter. Please what am I doing wrong?

Second attempt on the pretzels

Zucchini Cobbler

This was another recipe given to me to help me use up all the zucchini that I have just recived.So easy to do. I wound up having so much that it made two nine inch pies. I par boiled the zucchini in water first then drained it. Then I added the lemon juice cooked it til its soft. Then I added 1 cup sugar, a little extra this time because of the amount of zucchini, cinnamon, mace and some cardamon. The the crumb on top and bottom and bake for 45 min. No longer or the yummie liquid bubbles over. I have been told it tastes just like apple cobbler.

Crumbler is
4 c of flour
2c of sugar
3 sticks of butter. not margine, if you use margarin it doesnt taste the same.

The Great Pumpkin Cookie Recipe

 Ok here is the recipe everyone has been asking for. If you have trouble or have questions shoot me an email and I will see what I can do to respond in a timely fashion. Hope it all comes out great for you like it did for me.

 

 

4cups flour - All purpose

2 cups oat meal - quick cooking

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1`/2 cup (3 sticks) soften butter

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 can (16 oz) libby's pumpkin

1 12 oz pkg of chocolate chips

 

Cream butter and sugars. Then add the egg and vanilla.Add pumpkin, oatmeal, salt, spices and flour. After your done with the mixer, add the choclate chips in then mix by hand or spatchula. At this point I like to refridgerate it about an hour to keep it from spreading too much. Bake on parchment line baking sheets.. Preheat oven to 350 and bake cookies for10-12 min.. Cool completely Frost if  you like with cream cheese frosting see below.

 

 

Cream cheese frosting

1 stick of butter

1lb of powdered sugar

1- 8oz pkg of cream cheese, soften

blend together. add flavoring if you choose.

The Great Pumpkin Cookies

These are the pumpkin cookies that my Aunt Carol gave me the recipe for. Each batch usually makes about 9 doz or so. Depends on how big you want them. Its fall and time to break out the pumpkin, and apples and start making all the yummy goodness that goes with the chilly weather. These are good by them selves or with cream cheese frosting. I can never seem to keep them in my house longer than 3 days. They are like an oatmeal raisin cookie crossed with a pumpkin pie. I make mine small so they are bite size. I'm sure there is a way to reduce fat and sugar, but I don't think that the cookies would have the same taste. In the spirit of Paula Dean, its all butter and no substitutes. As soon as I dig out the recipe I will post it.

Happy Eating.

Apple Holler

This was an interesting place I saw on the drive home one day. We stopped there today to check it out. I would tell everyone to be prepared for it to be very crowded. There were cars lining the sides of the frontage road  for this place. It is a very neat place. They have restaurant, gift shop, then an out side grill and live entertainment. Also it is an orchard you can go and pick apples, peaches, pumpkins, pears. They also have a huge play area for the kids. Some of it is free with admission and other items you need tickets for. The restaurant is buffet only on weekends. It was a bit pricy for 2 kids and 2 adults. I would like to see their normal menu when it is not so busy. The decor was country. Most of the items on the wall were for sale, but the restaurant was attached to a gift store and bakery. Outside they had many areas where you could stop and take photos. Those wooden cut outs that you put your head through. I am sorry some of the inside photos are dark and blurry because of so many people and the dim ligh conditions. I would say this is a place I would go back to. Our family had a lot of fun. There is so much to do there it is an entire day trip there. So plan ahead and be prepared. Its a farm and orchard so I would not reccomend your Sunday best clothes.

If you got a place you want me to check out, Email me about it.

Zucchini Cream Pie

Thanks Aunt Carol for another great recipe! I wasn't so sure in the beginning about zucchini in a cream pie, but wow it turned out great. The only thing I would change is where the cinnamon and nutmeg come in. The recipe says to put them on top. I think they need to go into the mixture. A little too over powering on top. But that is for the next time I make this. I will give this recipe out if  you email me. Great way to incorporate veggies into a sweet treat.

Meet the Su Chefs

Hi, I figured I would introduce everyone to the extra help in the kitchen. These are the inspiration that keeps me going. Yes, they get into everything at times, but they make this journey fun and exciting. Cass is the youngest and Taz is the oldest. Great taste testers too. I have to add my husband has been a great help as well. They bring me up when I am stuck and frustrated. I hope to bring you some of the silly stories of the kitchen.

Old Chicago

This place we have seen many times driving through Rockford, IL. It was our usual Sunday drive, and we decided to stop. It helped that the Bears game was about to start and this place was showing it. It was a nice clean restaurant.It was a lot bigger on the inside than I would have thought from the outside. The booth dividers were old basement windows. Old Chicago, had a lot of Chicago memorabilia around the room to include CTA signs for the Cubs and Sox.  The menu was simple. Very Italian and bar food. The had some interesting menu items. We tried the Italian nachos and the Thai Pie. Very good.The Italian Nachos were part of a sampler platter. The sausage on them was a little spicy, but good. The Thai Pie had fresh vegetables with Thai Chili sauce on it. The heat really didn't hit me until the third bite. It wasn't so hot that I couldn't finish just that middle of the tongue heat.  The price wasn't too bad for 2 kids and 2 adults. I would go back to this place again. They had local, national and international  beers posted on a wall as well as the menu. If your into sampling beer, they offered a beer sampler. They had 3 a local one, a national one and a international one. I thought it might be fun to try on a day I did not have the kids with me.

Have a place you want me to check out? Let me know.

Zucchini Patties

Thanks to my Aunt. I found another way to use zucchini. Its a great starch substitute. Its very similar to potatoe pancakes. I added some North wood seasoning that I had gotten from Penzey's. It tastes earthy with a little kick to it. So it was a great complement to the zucchini. I want to say the recipe she gave me made a good stack of them. I found that my daughter loves them cold. So this is one way to get her to eat vegetables. All around it was a good find .

Happy Eating.

Disclaimer

Since I have been posting, I have a couple people ask for the recipes I post. I do not mind giving some of the recipes, but I will not give up a lot them. Most are family recipes that were given to me and others are ones that I have found along the way that I have changed to fit my need and tastes. This is not to offend anyone, I really want to make a business out of this eventually and I do not want to give up my secrets. I am great full to the people who have helped me along the way but some of these just aren't ever going to leave the secret recipe box.  Thank you again for understanding.

What to do with left over cake crumbs.

I had left over shaving from my cheese burger cake. So I crumbled them and put them in a bowl with some frosting and other goodies. and made instant cake balls.When you form them into balls, let them sit in the fridge for a few hours to firm up before dipping into candy coating. Plain and simple. These in the picture happen to be chocolate caramel.

Happy Eating.

Projects for the month

So this month I have planned to help with a surprise party. I will be making a Tiki cake, Asian chicken salad, and ham and cheese pastry ring. I also would like to begin working on Halloween cake pops and Oktoberfest Fitems like Beer pretzel caramels and German Chocolate Cake Balls. So stay tuned to see what pops up on here.  Long list of to do's. Lets see how much I can get done.

Cheese Burger Cake

So I did my first big cake. Being that's its Labor Day, and its one of the biggest and last out door grilling holidays, I did a cheese burger. It took me 6 hours. That's prep, baking, and making all the items to go with it  and assembly. I did a crumb coat then  a final coat. I am really proud of this cake. I would also highly recommend Duff's fondant if you are short on time and can't make your own. The stuff is amazing and easy to work with. It is a bit expensive, but highly worth it. You have to play with the heating instructions a bit. Its good tasting and does not have that fake, plastic taste. That being said. If anyone wants a cake, I am up to the challenge of making them for you.

Burbon Grilled Pork Chop

Tonight's dinner was Bourbon  Barbecued Pork Chops. Every thing for this was done on the grill. Or at least I tried to do most of it on the grill. I cut up purple sweet onions and tomatoes and grilled them. The sauce consists of bourbon, brown sugar, ginger, apple cider vinegar, and garlic. I am not a big fan of raw tomatoes and I have had my mind changed about this recipe. The tomatoes came out so juicy and sweet. I could say they were more like a very sweet ripe fruit that was warmed and grilled. The chops were a little over done because I could not finish it all on the grill I had to switch to the broiler. My fault, not the recipe. Over all it was a good meal. I served the grilled veggies and chops with a side of broccoli stir fry vegetables.

Cinnamon Rolls

Last night I got a little bit of energy and decided to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. It was a lot of work for never having to really deal with waiting for dough to be ready. Then once I got moving, it wasn't so bad. The whole house now smells of cinnamon sweet goodies. I will post a pictures as soon as my slow moving computer catches up to me.


Happy Eating.

Korean Style Short Ribs

My husband had brought me home some meat from the PX up where he is at. He found Korean style short ribs. I found a marinade for them. So that is tonight's project. I will post pictures when I get it all together. Wish me luck. They look very different from what I am used to. Any suggestions that is welcomed too.

Happy Eating

7 1/2lb Zucchini

My nice nurse at the dr office, had grown  too much zucchini and was had given me 3 of them to take home I have plans for them. A cobbler, a cream pie and some lasagna. I could not believe how big they were. Hopefully it will all come out and taste great. I will update when I get pictures.

Happy Eating.

Rocky's

Another nice weekend. We stopped at a little  food place in Harvard,IL. From living out this way I know that this place has been many things. It is currently called Rocky's. I bravely tried a gyro again. I loved it. The sauce that came with the sandwich this time was great. You could see the fresh Dill and pieces of cucumber. The meat was juicy and flavorful. Not to spicy or dry. It was not as greasy as the last one had been. My only complaint was how long it took to get the food. It was a nice surprise, though  that if you ordered 2 you got one free. That was not posted any where. We were told that as we paid for our food. It is definitely a s pot I would go back to for food.



Got a place you want me to check out. Email me and tell me.

Instant Pizza

My kids love pizza. That being said, I didn't have any in the house today. The quick frozen kind for hungry kids that can't wait. But I did have some Italian loaf bread, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, butter, garlic, mozzerella cheese. So I combined these to make a quick pizza that I cooked for 18 min at 400 degrees. My picky eater had one piece and my little bottless pit, ( its not to be mean, She can keep eating til she burst). had 3 pieces. So here's what it looks like.

Happy Eating

Quick Paprika Steak

I found this recipe while sitting in the doctors office and I thought I would give it a go. It calls for coating the steak with this :
1/4 c flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt.

I changed it a little I used a couple different kinds of paprika in 1/2 teaspoons. I used Hungarian, Sweet and Smoked. I also added a little garlic powder.

It also said to make a tomatoe sauce.
6 med tomatoes, seeded and pulsed in processor
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

You put EVOO in a pan and heat it at medium heat . Coat your steaks and put them in the pan. Cook the steaks on each side for 4-5 min. If they are thick that should give you a rare to med rare on the inside. Then it calls for cheese to be put over the steaks. I used Provolone. Recipe calls for Jack. After you pull the steaks out add the tomatoes from the processor, the garlic, sage and pepper and remaining flour mixture from what you coated the steaks in. Let it cook for 5 mintues or until desired consistancy. Then serve.

I tried it that way and decided next time, I will put it all in the processor and then into the frying pan. The steaks came out really tender and jucy. The sauce had a rustic taste to it. It was all equally balanced and harmonious.

Happy Eating.

Cake Pops

I have been working on the cake ball items for a while. I found a book that showed me how to make them into cute little cake pops. I thought, hey no sweat. Much harder than it looks. But I have successfully made my first set. So I have now blown open the possiblities of what I can do with cake and sticks. I am excited. These are cup cakes. The actual cake is butter pecan with a cream cheese frosting. I can't wait for my test group to try them out and give me some feedback.

Have any ideas of what you want me to try just shoot me an email ...

Watermelon BBQ

I found a recipe that is 6 ingredients. To include in this list is a seedless watermelon. You turn it into a bbq sauce that you marinate ribs in .I did  for 2 hours. It can be up to 24 hours. I am cooking them now. So pictures to follow shortly.

Dinner is done. I could have used less red pepper flakes. Over all it came out good, juicy and falling off the bone like it should have been. 

Happy Eating.

Food Review

 After the wonderful storm this morning we took a drive and ended up at Mama's Rini's  Restaurant in Crystal  Lake, IL. It was a fairly large place that for a weekend lunch service was slow. The menus were a little sticky and dirty but over all the place was clean. Our waitress was a little slow on getting to us.( I had my two kids with me ) their food did come out first but it was still a wait for it.
I had ordered the Zesty Medi Chicken Wrap and my husband had ordered The Schwerski sandwich. Our meals came with a cup of soup. I can say it was salty and definately made with real chicken because I pulled a bone out of my cup.

My sandwich, I thought was good. It was a home made wrap,  with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and chicken. The sauce was a cucumber sauce, which was balanced. Wasn't too overpowering and wasn't too bitter. The menu said it was suppose to have a bite to it. I didn't taste it. I would order this again from here. It was a good portion size. You could eat half and then take home the other half for another meal.
My husband's sandwich is a little bit of a different story. You really have to like spice to order it. The sandwich is composed of Italian Sausage, Ham, Italian Beef. I got a bite of the sandwich and the spices in the Italian Sausage completely wiped out my pallet . I felt like my mouth was on fire. I could not taste the cheese, or the other meats. When my husband took off the sausage, he said that the ham was a bit too salty for him and the it was okay, just not a sandwich for him. Too much spice. ( I am sorry  the picture of my husband sandwich is a bit blurry, I had a kid bump into me )

Happy Eating.

Tommy's in Woodstock

This past weekend, we were out running errands and stopped at one of our local favorite places. I have never had a gyro before today. I found out that I do like them. Although, I was not too impressed at how Tommy's made theirs. I know that most of them come on a spike. It was what they added that made it a little hard to eat. The cucumber sauce they used was way too much on the sandwich and was a bit tart. They had way too many onions compared to tomatoes on the sandwich. It looked pretty til you got right down to eating it. I would go back there for other food. Just a little disappointed in the sandwich. I hope next time I get a gyro it will be better.

Happy Eating.

Master Chef E book

I have the Nook app on my tablet computer and went to download Master Chef cook book. Nothing against the publisher just that they did not format it right. Every time I try to download the book, it would crash the tablet. So its back to the old fashion way of getting the book and that is driving to the store and getting it. I am ok with that. It would have just been nice to have it digital too. So If any of you have an Android based tablet, caution with Nook application. Sometimes the books will not download .



Happy Eating.

After the Shells

The after effect of the stuffed shell casserole. It was good. I'm sorry I cooked the shells a little too long before I filled them. With all the spices I had added, it was not too over powering and was that just amount of goodness that filled you up after one serving. One serving for our family is about 3 shells. So hope you enjoyed reading this.

Stuffed Shell Casserole

The original dish was suppose to be just stuffed shells, but my husband being a meat lover wanted me to put meat into this dish. So it turned in to a casserole. I par boiled the jumbo shells, and then stuffed them with ricotta cheese, baby spinach, diced fresh mushrooms, garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, marjoram. I added 1 egg to the mix and some Monterey  jack cheese.(its all I had). I put them in a glass dish. I de cased some Italian sweet sausage and cooked it up. I then put some of the sausage in the shells with the mix. I then put the left over fresh mushrooms on top. Then, because I didn't have the time to make my own sauce, I put a jar of spaghetti sauce over the top, adding the remaining left over sausage and more cheese. Set the over to 350 and cooked for about 20 minutes. Will up date after we eat and let you know how it is ...

Happy eating

30 min Rice Pudding

So my son is sick, and I decided to help fix him by making rice pudding. He also can't handle milk  there fore I made the pudding wit Silk.
2 1/2 cup Silk
1 Bag of rice. The kind you boil in a pot
1/2 c sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.
1/2 c raisins
Simmer the rice, milk, and raisins for thirty minutes. Then add the sugar , Vanilla and nutmeg.

It came out a little sweeter than I had expected but overall good. My son is a picky eater and nothing other than hot dogs, pizza and hamburgers are good to him. He managed to get half a bowl down before giving up. Im hoping that it helps him.

Bad Food Experience

So another food review. This one I think needs to be passed along. Since most of you that read this are local to it. Joe's Crab Shack in Gurnee, IL. Sadly, is NOT the place to go for good sea food. I am always up for trying new sea food. I got their KJ Steamer Pot and the family I was with got  the Bean Bake.  I got mine with no seasoning, dead muscles, and really burnt scallops. My family had requested no seasoning and got it fully loaded, and their answer to rid the seasoning was to re steam it. Unfortunately, that made all the sea food good for the garbage. The suppose to be sweet lobster was like rubber, crab tasted like it was freezer burned and the shrimp had the shell on and were not de vained. The also dropped my son's pizza before it ever hit the table and had to re make it. He was the last to get his food. I think the only good part of the dish I could find was the sweet corn on the cob they served.
  It would have been nice to taste what it was suppose to be like, but this is one place I will not revisit. Just wanted to share the experience with my readers.

Time to Set Goals

As I look to the future months of holidays that are coming, I have decided to set a few goals for my self. A cooking wish list as it would be. Besides working on all the little cartoon ideas I have for cake balls like cowboy aliens and soldiers, I would like to work on the savory part of cooking. I love the pastry side of it all, but it is also a joy to cook a meal that is memorable and fun. Then there is the simple items that you see day to day that you think to your self "That's something I want to know how to do" So your not paying arm and leg for it at what ever restaurant that you frequent or stop in at. The goal is to learn and really know the dish. I would like to do countries like Ireland, England, Italy, France. The classics, first. Then expand into some of the more exotic areas like the middle east and other challenging places. I am part polish and I would like to eventually be able to cook some of the recipes from the cook book I got from a cousin. It was my great aunts. Problem number one, is its in Polish. Problem number two, from what I can read, some of the ingredients either aren't around or they do not use them anymore. So its finding a substitute for it. But that is in time.
Ok here goes the short list of things that sit at the back of my head daily that I want to cook .

Eggs Benedict
Souffle - sweet or savory. Want to see if I can get it out perfectly in a couple attempts.
Pasta Va zoo ( i know that isn't the correct spelling) But I love my aunt C's and want to create it
Lobster roll ( although with prices of lobster I will settle for crab)
Home made pasta
Jack ass sushi rolls ( got to be a fan of Guy to know what it its)
Paella
Crab meat wonton
That's a start. I was able to cross of Pasta Primavera off the list. Thought it was so difficult, til I took a breath and just did it. Never thought that it was so easy to make the sauce. 

Happy eating !

Fried Lasagna

I love watching Next Food Network Star. Vic Vegas, did this dish with left over lasagna . He wrapped it up in a tortilla and then he fried it. Next he put spaghetti sauce and cheese over it. Popped it in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. It looked great. Bobby Flay wasn't so impressed, but I think it was a great idea to do left overs with. It was very creative and good way to get kids to eat something new. I will have to try this.

Chili and Carrots

So I was playing around with my sweet treats this last week and I created Ancho Chili Fudge and Carrot Cake Chocolate Cake balls. Seems the band wagon has caught up to me. I am starting to see Cake balls every where now even Duff has a kit for making them. Well I am going to continue to make them. I am finding ways to make cute designs out of the cake balls. Hope that some time, I can make a go out of this sweet business and really have some fun with it.

Shrimp Primavera

This was my first time making this. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I used 1lb of pasta, fresh veggies and shrimp. I boiled the pasta and then the last three minutes I threw in the veggies and shrimp to cook. the sauce was heavy cream, butter, Parmesan cheese, garlic, dill, thyme, salt and a few other items. It came out great. Too bad my company was only one other person. The recipe makes enough for at least 6-8 people. Good food, and short amount of cooking time.

Quick Sweet Fix

I saw this done years ago when I was a server at restaurant  that is no longer. They charged an arm and a leg for something that is so simple and yummy. You take the window frame pretzels and Rolo candies and a nut. I used almonds. Place the pretzel on a sheet then the Rolo on top. Put it in the oven for about 6-8 min , til the candy is soft. Remove from oven. Just after you remove it, push the nut down on top of it, smashing the candy down. Its a nice sweet and salty treat. Total time it takes to make is about 12 min. So if you need something in a fix, this is great.

Canned Frosting

So there are times you run out of time, energy, etc. and you just use can frosting. I recently had one of those experiences. The chocolate never lets me down. Vanilla, on the other hand has this nasty taste. So I did a little experiment and bought three different brands. They all have the same plastic taste. Its like there is something just off in the frosting. I can not put my finger on it, but it just doesn't taste right. From this point on I will probably make my own frosting. I wish I could put my finger on the funky taste. I know its a time saver, but at what cost. I would rather take the time to make it than to server something that leaves a bad after taste in a mouth.

Night time Coffee Craving

I love iced coffee. That being said, its like $ 4 or more for a tall glass. So I attempted to make my own yummy glass tonight. I used some instant hazelnut coffee. Each packet is suppose to be for 6 oz of liquid. I used two packets to make it strong. I used 1/2 cup of milk. about 10 ice cubes. and a little bit , I would guess about 1/4 cup of chai latte coffee creamer and 1 table spoon of sugar. Came out good. Needs some work. But it was drinkable and it gave the kick start that I needed.

Need a Name for it

I will post a picture when I'm done making it. It is inspired by a dear friend that past away. I am doing a red velvet cookie and cream cheese filling. I am considering either dying the filling red white and blue, or just doing sprinkles around it. I will play with the ideas tonight after I put the little ones down. Any ideas for a name just post  me a comment on here or Mama Z's Sweet Kitchen Treats.

Hotel Room Taco Salad

While visiting my husband on base, we stayed at a hotel. They had a tiny kitchen and I made some of our dinners instead of eating out constantly. I made Taco Salad. I had brought a lot of items with me and did some one the spot shopping. I had purchased the shell bowls and made the taco shells my self and baked them in the oven. Not knowing the oven, I didn't cook them long enough so they were crispy. I browned the ground Angus, I added some fajita seasoning along with some garlic powder. Then because of limited space I bought a bag of instant taco rice. I put in the bowl, shredded lettuce, rice, meat, tomatoes (diced) and then a spoonful  of sour cream and sprinkled it with cheese. In the picture, I had forgotten the cheese. It was tasty. Hope you enjoy.

Roost 59

So the family and I did our normal day out and found this place in Lake Villa, IL. I think the best thing about the place is the fried apples. Which I think I am going to try and recreate. I had the philly steak, my kids had a hot dog, (  which is almost impossible to screw up) and chicken fingers and my husband had 2 thighs and leg (which is not what he ordered). They made their own honey mustard, not so great. I thought there was too much mustard and it was tart. I found my beef was a little on the salty side. My husband said his chicken tasted like fish. Over all it just was not impressive. The decor was nice and bright. They post that anything that is not simple like hot dogs takes 15-20 minutes to get. I think the only item I will be ordering is the apples.

Facebook Page

Hi All-

I created a facebook  page for my sweet treats. So if you like what your reading, you can find me now on Face book. Look up Mama Z's Sweet Kitchen Treats and like me. I m hoping it will take off and I will be a busy person, but anything can happen. Thanks for everyone who has been reading me.

No Bake Cheese cake

After looking at many recipes for no bake cheese cakes. I combine a couple of them to come up with this. It is very rich, but it works . I chose to do it in mini cups. It is dense. I added a little vanilla. Here is the cake recipe. You can buy  a pre made crust or you can make your own. If I want a little different crust, I will crush pretzels and use those as the crust.

Cake:
1 bag of white chocolate chips. I use Ghiradelli
1 pint of heavy whipping cream or you can use 1 8oz frozen whipped topping , thawed
2 8oz bricks of cream cheese. Cube it for easy melting

Melt the chips until smooth, reduce the heat to low and mix in the cream cheese. Stir  until smooth. Remove from heat. then slowly fold /stir in the the whipped topping or heavy cream. Make sure the mixture is smooth.
Then pour into pie crust. Refriderate until firm.  Serve.  I had done the two in  the picture, one with a Carmel topping the other with a chocolate sauce topping.

Sugar Cookies

So I have found a great recipe that works and I have a couple pictures to show. I need work on my frosting technique but its getting there. they seem to go like pringles.

Birthday cake attempt

So my daughter turned 1 this past weekend. Yea! and  I made her a cake. It was ok. Not how I would have liked it to come out. The cake was a little dry and pressed for time with the unexpected early arrival of my in laws, I used frosting in a can. I will not do that again. I never realized how yucky it tastes. How can they sell something that tastes that bad. So its suppose to be a lady bug although the little monster at the party called it a balloon.

General Tso

I found this recipe while up in Wisconsin.  We couldn't afford to eat chinese out, so I would make it at home. My husbands favorite is General Tso chicken. I first marinade the chicken in oyster sauce, cooking sherry, and cornstarch. While that is sitting I chop my veggies. I use what ever bell pepper that I can find or is cheeper.Celery, some times baby corn. Then I make the sauce that goes in later. It has Honey, rice vinegar, cooking sherry, soy sauce, asian sesame oil,corn starch and water. I use 2 tablespoons of everything.  Then in a frying pan /wok I use 2 table spoons of canola oil and fry the chicken just so its not pink. Add vegetables, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, and minced ginger and crushed red pepper to taste. I cook everything for 3 minutes then I add the sauce and cook for another 2-4 minutes. Sauce should thicken. Its best if served over rice.

Taco Salad

I have had many taco salads in my life. I have found its usually the same stuff. I was blown away by this one. Its huge. I was doing a show in Lisle, IL and Chef Tim Carden (sorry if I butcher it) had made this salad. It a small little cafe inside a corporate building. I had the choice of Chicken or beef. I went with chicken. I had told them to put everything on it. Figuring it would be the normal lettuce, beans tomatoes and olives. To my shock there was salsa, jalapenos, sour cream, corn, rice, and the other ingredients. It was great. A little spicy for me. I am not a fan of jalapenos with seeds. Overall, if I ever get a chance to go back, I would order it again, without the peppers. 

Places to eat out

Its been a cray couple of weeks, so I'm behind on posting, again. I have a few places in our travels that we have stopped and ate. Grande Jakes,in Lindnhurst has always been a favorite. I had their bbq burrito. Awesome. Could not finish it all. My husband had something called steak oax. It was good, you could taste the garlic in the steak.

The other place we visited recently was called Crandall's its in Hebron,IL. I had a grilled chicken sandwich. It was a nice place. I heard the fire place there in winter is great. I wasn't too impressed with the sandwich. It was good, but nothing that stood out and grabbed my attention.