Garlic, Red Pepper, and Apple Quick Pickles

Hey again everybody. I'm just wanting to share my experience with the pickles that I previously made that actually blew the lid off the first attempt...which was actually very successful (or so I thought). This time I didn't focus on the vegetable as much I did the brine. I thought and contemplated about the flavors that I wanted out of the pickle and watched YouTube videos to see if I could've improved over the last batch and I noticed one that did quick pickles. Its an awesome way of making pickles and it is much easier. Without the need of sealing and canning ball jars, its as simple as heating and setting the brine and slicing the vegetables. I've got to work a little bit on the ingredients in the dry set which I'll explain here in a short while. Here are the things you will need to make these delightful pickles:

2-3 Cucumbers depending on size.
1 plastic container
Plastic wrap
1 cup water
1 cup apple juice
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
Black peppercorns
Coriander seed
Mustard seed
2 whole sprigs of fresh dill
4-5 cloves of garlic (minced finely)
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2-5 shakes of cayenne pepper sauce
1 tsp lemon juice

The one major component of doing the pickles is the wet brine. Its very simple...mix the water, apple juice, vinegar, salt, and sugar and heat to the point of boiling in a pot on the stove. While slicing the cucumbers into chips, stir the liquid mixture to make sure that the flavors marry. Once boiling, turn off the heat. Place the other ingredients into the container and add the cucumbers to the brim, leaving about a 1/4 inch at the top of the container. Pour the hot brine into the container to cover the pickles, cover with plastic wrap and pop on the lid. Let the pickles marry for a good 3 days and dig in. Sure, its a test of patience for those 3 days. However, its a labor of food love. If you want the typical dill pickle, reduce the garlic down a little, take away the apple juice and sub it with more water, and use white vinegar instead of cider vinegar. I just like the sweet punch that the apple juice adds. Also...these will only last about 2 weeks after opening the container...use them up quickly. My suggestion? Fry some up.

Yummy, Cheesey, Spicy Pimento Cheese

Ahhhh...pimento cheese. How I've missed thee. I didn't start eating it until way later in life until I found a brand that had some flavor. The downside to that is the truth that i can't afford $6.50 a pound for it. If you can catch the ingredients on special at the friendly neighborhood grocery store, you can get the cost down to about $2 a pound. A lot of people use cheese that has no bite. They use miracle whip which makes it sour. Then, I found the secret and tasty combination of ingredients. Here's a fantastic recipe for a classic dip, stacker, topper, and otherwise beautifully tasty southern delicacy. Here are the ingredients.

2 cups of shredded extra sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 cup of light mayonnaise
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup reduced fat cream cheese
2-3 pieces of jarred marinated red pepper (diced)
1/2 onion (diced)
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Cajun seasoning (or 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes)

Best thing to do is to have the cheese very cold for mixing purposes. I personally freeze it overnight and let it sit and thaw for about 20 minutes before mixing. Put the ingredients in order into a mixing bowl and mix until fully distributed wet to cheese. It will be decently firm and you won't be able to see any shreds of cheese. Its creamy, its spicy, its sharp. Its everything that's good about pimento cheese with a third of the cost and twice the taste of the cheap Ruth's brand that has no flavor. Hope you enjoy it. Another variation of this is pepper jack pimento cheese. Just sub the cheddar with shredded pepperjack and reduce the pepper. It's delicious

Homemade Sauces

One thing that we've had to do lately with the events of Laura's health with hypertension is monitor sodium intake. She's also developed a bad reaction to high fructose corn syrup, which we all should eliminate from our diets. Making a lot of the sauces we would normally buy has been both a money saver and a great idea all rolled into one general purpose. Cut the junk, quit eating fake ingredients, and stop eating artificial chemicals like preservatives. We have to control the garbage that enters into our bodies, know the ingredients that we are eating, and start controlling the amounts of stuff in our food. I love mustards, BBQ sauces, dressings, and many other things that are easy to make and we save a lot of money by making them at home. I've even ventured into making my own ketchup, mayos, and salsas. I've started pickling and canning to save a little because I can either spend $4 on a jar of pickles in the grocery store or I can spend $4 and make 4 jars of pickles using natural ingredients. That's right. No artificial garbage. And how does it taste? Much better than the stuff in the store. The main thing is finding a master recipe that works and just mess with it to tweek its characteristics to your liking. It might take a little experimentation, but overall, the idea is great. Spend $3.59 to $4 on a bottle of ketchup or spend less than 50 cents to make some of your own. I choose to spend the 50 cents. I have recipes for at least 30 BBQ sauces, 8 different dressings that we use all the time that include ranch and thousand island, ketchup, 6 mustards, mayo, teriyaki, buffalo sauce, hot sauce, a couple of sweet pepper sauces, and others. None of them have artificial garbage and they taste much better than what comes from the store. I emplore everyone to try making some of these ideas for your own. It's quite easy. Nothing is difficult. If you have questions about where to start, email me or send me a message on Facebook.

Chilli and Paprika Crusted Roast Chicken

Hey everyone. Writing another post on the beauty that is Roasted chicken. There are many ways that you can do this, but messing around with flavor profiles is something that is always awesome to do and it's a pretty healthy if you do it the right way.
The first thing that you'll need is the proper cooking vessel. Roasting chicken in a dish is a no no. It doesn't allow the fat to drop off the chicken, therefore allowing it to cook in its own fat. I say bleh to that. Get a good Roasting or broiler pan and make sure you cook on an elevated surface. Or you can cook directly on the oven track with a dish on the rack below it to catch the drippings. Let me remind you that doing the second option may be catastrophic to your kitchen either by fire or a supreme mess. Here are the ingredients you'll need.
4 lb plus chicken leg quarters
Salt
Garlic powder
Black pepper
Cajun seasoning
Italian Herb Seasoning
Paprika
Chilli Powder

Lay out your chicken on your pan and elevated rack and preheat your oven to 425ºF. If you don't have a rack that will fit in a pan, twist aluminum foil and lay under the chicken in rows so that it holds up your chicken. Trust me, I've done it, it works. Cooking takes a little bit of ingenuity sometimes. Dust the chicken in salt, pepper, garlic powder and Herb blend just so that it sits on top of the chicken. You can do this skin on or off, I recommend off, it allows for the juices to stay in the chicken and the flavor to sweat down through during the cooking process. Lay on the paprika and chilli powder pretty heavy, afterall, it is the title of the dish. Place in the oven for about 45-50 minutes and remove and let stand for 10 minutes to allow it to cook on its own and for the juices to rest. What you get is a rich, smoky flavor chicken with low calories and goes well with just about everything. Mess around with other flavors like chilli lime with chilli powder and lime zest. Roasted chicken is a true delight and is ready to make. Enjoy your food and don't skimp on the flavor. See you again soon.

Orange Soda Asian Style BBQ Sauce.

Here is yet another sauce recipe that I tucked away for a later date to post about. If there is one thing that I like, it's good food with something that makes it better. Now, as far as beef is concerned, I'm a real purist. I love the taste of beef by itself, unless it's something that is cooked with rendered beef fat to make the steak even more sinful. However, pork, lamb, veal, chicken, turkey, and most seafood needs a little bit of help. Well, maybe not lamb, but I hardly eat much of it anyway because of cost. I tested this sauce on some pork and rice with broccoli and sweet carrots. Perfect opportunity to do an oriental inspired sauce right? Well, most of you know me, I love making things with flavor profiles that I can recreate with soda. I love the taste of orange in Chinese food. It's bright, has a snap, adds a depth of flavor, and is a vibrant addition to anything. Here are the things you will need:

1 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 orange soda (I prefer something like Sunkist or Crush...Fanta uses too much artificial corn sugar)
2 tbsp balsamic, sesame, or rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp duck sauce
1 tsp Siracha sauce

2 tbsp ground ginger
3 cloves of garlic (crushed or chopped)
2 tsp dried onion
1 tsp red pepper flake
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper

This is a teriyaki based sauce with added liquid so you need a little bit of extra sugar to thicken the mix a little. Add the top list of ingredients together in a pot on medium heat and mix vigorously to make it mix evenly. Once hot, add the dry ingredients. Continue to simmer while covered on the stove top on medium low heat for about 20-30 minutes (stirring often). Keep warm until ready to serve. What you get is a tangy, slightly spicy, Asian style sauce that would taste great on just about everything. Enjoy this stuff, it is habit forming. I have since enjoyed it on salmon, chicken, and beef (even though I hate to admit it), and it worked great. Just remember that cooking isn't rocket science all the time, just mess with stuff that works together and it'll be good. Till the next time, love yo' food.

Roasted Chicken with a Soy, Ginger, Honey Glaze

If it's one thing that I absolutely love, it's Asian flavors on chicken. This glaze can be put on pork if you would like, or a good steak. This time I just chose to put this on chicken, considering chicken is like a blank canvas to bring out flavor. This is a fairly simple recipe and is rather quick to do. This only takes about an hour. Here are some of the things you will need.

1 large package of Chicken Legs or Thighs
2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup natural ketchup(no corn syrup)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Place chicken on a flat broiler pan, or in a roasting pan with a chilling track underneath it. This way, the chicken fat can drip off. Combine herbs and spices together and sprinkle on oiled chicken. This will season the chicken while roasting. Cover pan with foil and place the chicken in the oven for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, remove the chicken, uncover, and set it back in the oven on the broil setting for an additional 5-7 minutes. While that crisps the skin a little bit, you're going to mix the 2nd group of ingredients together. This is a very thin and sticky glaze. When you take the chicken out of the oven. Place the pieces in a large mixing bowl and drizzle the glaze onto the chicken. Roll the chicken in the glaze until fully coated. Place the chicken on a plate and serve. You're good to go and enjoy a wonderful meal. I served this with crispy hashbrowns and sweet honey glazed carrots. This is virtually easy to do if you can get the timing right. Just remember, cooking is easy. All it takes is a little bit of this and that and trying out different combinations of flavors. Just be patient and love your food. Take it easy.

Ranch dressing or dip

This is a recipe that I came up with for a quick and simple ranch dressing. I won't go back to the bottled stuff again, because I can use it as I need it. And the ingredients are cheap. If you want to make this into mite of a salad dressing consistency add 1/2 cup of milk and a Tbsp of white vinegar. This will also give it a buttermilk ranch flavor. Try adding bacon for smokiness.

Easy 5 minute fix.
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp dill
1 1/2 Tbsp parsley
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried onion flake
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp salt. Mix together
makes about 12 oz.