Stuffed Peppers

Tonight for dinner I made stuffed peppers.  We have made them once at the Black Bear Bistro, but I never made them myself here at the house.  I looked at some recipes for filling but didn't like them.  I didn't want to use rice because we just had that last night.  I didn't want to use tomatoes because Tryphena doesn't like them.  So I used ground beef, kidney beans, and fresh veg from the garden... corn, onion, and hot peppers.  I also put some chili powder in the mix.  So I guess they were like southwest stuffed peppers.  Whatever they were, they were good.  A little on the spicy side, but good.  I also stir-fried some vegetable... onion, cabbage, bell pepper, and celery.  Austin made tea.  It was a yummy dinner!

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Sweet n Sour Chicken Stir-Fry

My mom had some chicken thawing in the fridge overnight so I decided to use that for dinner tonight.  I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head what to make.  Mom suggested roasted chicken with garlic sauce.  I shrugged that one off.  I mean, that's good stuff, but I wasn't in the mood to make that.  She suggested just plain roasted chicken.  Again I shrugged it off.  Plain roasted chicken is good, but I was wanting to make something other than that.  Then I suggested some sort of stir-fry.  I love stir-fry.  So she got out the recipe for Sweet n Sour Chicken.  Yum!

I made a sauce with brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, water, pineapple juice, and cornstarch (for thickening).  Then sliced some bell peppers and onion.  Sliced the chicken and stir-fried it.  Added the vegetables and stir-fried it all until the veggies were tender.  Then added the sauce and let it simmer for a while.  We ate it over rice.  Was quite good.  I think I will eat some of the leftovers tomorrow.

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Corned Beef - Part Two

Yesterday was time to eat the corned beef that had been brining for a week.  My mom actually cooked it because I had to work in the evening.  She cooked it like I did the last two times.

Take it out of the brine, rinse it good, and put it in a large pot with celery, onion, and garlic.  Cover with cold water and simmer for 2 and a half hours.  Then add potatoes, carrots, and cabbage and cook for another hour.  It is wonderful stuff!  I don't know what I'm going to do without corned beef when I become a vegetarian.

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My beef with XS Energy Drink and MonaVie

So I know a few people who sell XS Energy Drink and MonaVie.  Let me tell you why I never got in on that stuff..

For one thing, XS is only 8.4 ounces.  You drink it in like 2 or 3 sips.  When I want an energy drink I want to drink it for a while.  Not just a minute or two.  They say XS is only 8.4 ounces because that is all you need.  It's one serving.  The other energy drinks just fill you up and then let you down.

Oh, yea, and then there's that crash issue.  They say that XS will pick you up for like 4 hours and then you will not experience a crash.  Crash, crash, crash...blah!  I was feeling a little tired before I went to work tonight, so I went to 7-11 and got me a nice No Fear Energy Drink, which along with the original NOS, is my favorite.  It kept me going at work.  We were super slow but I wasn't tired.  I'm still not really tired.  I mean, I could go to sleep, but I did not experience a crash.

And then there's that other thing.  They say you should drink two XS a day.  Okay, who are you to tell me I should have 2 energy drinks a day?  I will drink an energy drink whenever I jolly well please to.  I don't want to drink two XS or two of any energy drink in one day.  I did that before and I couldn't sleep that night.  I know of somebody who is a big advocate for XS and he says that when he doesn't drink XS he can feel it.  He feels tired and such.  Okay, is that like an addiction now?  I don't want to be addicted to energy drinks.  Yes, I like them, but I'm not drinking them every single day.  I don't have to have them every single day.

Whenever somebody is trying to sell you XS, they never mention the caffeine content.  They say that XS is way better than Red Bull.  It has all these B vitamins and other stuff that it good for you.  They say XS is a healthy energy drink.  Let me direct you attention to the XS Wikipedia page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XS_Energy_Drink, where it says that "all of the XS Energy Drinks, except the caffeine-free flavors, have approximately 83 milligrams of caffeine. This is about 25% more than a one ounce shot of espresso. In contrast, a tall cup of Starbucks coffee contains approximately 225 mg of caffeine, while a 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola contains 34 mg of caffeine. XS drinks contains nearly the same amount of caffeine as market leader Red Bull."

And then there's that whole pyramid scheme thing and misleading advertising.  I don't even have the time to get into that.  I will just direct you to the MonaVie Wikipedia page.  MonaVie is similar to XS in that the companies are run the same way and a former distributor of Amway (the distributor of XS) has formed a partnership with MonaVie.  A very interesting read awaits you at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Vie.

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Lasagna

I love lasagna, but my mom would rarely make it because she could never get it to come out right.  So a while back I decided to master the art of lasagna making.  I took a recipe for a classic version, I think I got it from Taste of Home.  I did not want to boil the noodles like it says to do.  I did not want to boil tomato juice and spices together for 2 hours or whatever.  So I tweaked it to my liking.  It took me four takes to get it right.  The first time it was like soup and hard noodles.  The second time it was too dry.  The third time was okay but a bit too juicy.  The fourth time was the charm.  During the time of my experiments we would have lasagna for dinner about once every two weeks.  Tryphena grew tired of it.  So I was more than delighted to hear her say yesterday that she would be up for lasagna again.  I made it that very night.  Then we had it tonight for dinner.  Yummers!

I present to you, my perfected version of classic lasagna.
Note: You probably don't have to use the exact cheeses that I list.  Yesterday I didn't have ricotta and provolone so I used Muenster and Colby instead.  It tasted great.

Five Cheese Lasagna

2 pounds ground meat
1 quart pizza sauce
3 eggs
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
3 cups (24 ounces) small-curd cottage cheese
1 carton (8 ounces) ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
 9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
 6 slices provolone cheese
 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

In a skillet, cook the meat over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.
Add the pizza sauce.  Simmer 2 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the eggs, parsley, cottage cheese, ricotta, and Parmesan.
Spread 1 cup of meat sauce in an ungreased baking dish. *
Layer with 3 noodles, provolone cheese, 2 cups cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup mozzarella,
3 noodles, 2 cups meat sauce, remaining cottage cheese mixture, and 1 cup mozzarella.
Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce, and mozzarella.
Preferably assemble the day before you want to eat it. Place in refrigerator until ready to bake.
Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours.
Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 12 servings
* The original recipe said to use a 13-inch x 2-inch baking dish.  I found that it is better to use a shorter dish with higher sides.  The dimensions aren't on the dish but they are more like 11 3/4-inch x 9-inch x 4-inch.

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Corned Beef - Part One

We have had a beef brisket in the freezer for a while.  The other day I put it in the fridge to thaw so I could make corned beef with it.  I sort of forgot about it until this evening when I came home from work.  So I took it out of the fridge, trimmed the silverskin, and put it in a brine that I made.  Then put it back in the fridge for up to a week.  I did this two times before, and it is very good.  The brine I used is as follows:

10 cups water
1 1/2 cups kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp dry mustard
3 Tbsp pickling spices
3 cloves garlic, sliced

I heated everything together, then let it cool while I was trimming the brisket.  It makes for very good corned beef.  Now to wait at least a week and then cook it.  Mhmm.  Can't wait to taste it.  Love me some corned beef!

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Zucchini Pizza Casserole

So my mom is not here at the moment to make dinner.  Her and Tryphena went shopping.  She asked my if I wanted to make something.  I said, "no."  But then she said that she was just planning to make bread soup when she got home.  I hate bread soup, which in our house is basically just milk, bread, and some sort of fruit, like bananas.  I decided to make something quick and easy since Glen and I are leaving for BattleFC in Fredericksburg in a little bit.  So I made pizza casserole.  Nothing fancy.  Just fast and easy to make Zucchini Pizza Casserole.  It was good, though.  Fresh zucchini from my grandparents garden.  Fresh onion and bell pepper from my mom's garden.  I might have to eat more when I get back from Fredericksburg tonight.

Brunswick Stew

I've been wanting to make Brunswick Stew for a while, so today I finally made it.  I started cooking the chicken and beef around 12:00.  Then while it was cooking I went to Manassas in search of the new Norma Jean CD.  Of course the only two stores that would probably have it, Best Buy and Hot Topic, did not have it.  What is with Manassas?  Then I got a haircut.  When I got home the meat was nice and tender.

I shredded the meat and added the other ingredients to the meat and stock and let it simmer for about an hour and a half.  After that I added the beans, potatoes and such and let it simmer until we were ready to eat.  I also made Mexican cornbread.  Only thing is I think the recipe I used was not good.  It said to use one onion and three bell peppers chopped up in the cornbread.  So I did what the recipe said.  Turns out that it is not a good idea to use all that veg because it makes the cornbread mushy.  It had a really good flavor, but was a bit too moist from all that veg.  Next time I make that I will use only once onion and one bell pepper.  The stew turned out really good though.

Since this is my blog, I think I will bring back something that I have missed since the days of Xanga and Myspace.  Haha!  What happened to Xanga?  Anyway the thing I'm bringing back is...

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Cincinnati Chili and Panna Cotta

I had the day off from the Bistro today.  I thought about going and watering plants at my side job, but it was way too hot.  Don't want to burn up those plants.  So tomorrow I think I will go water me some plants before it gets 100 degrees F.

A lot of the times when I don't work at the Bistro I will cook dinner here at the house.  Tonight I made Cincinnati chili.  If you know anything about this style of chili, you will know that if is way different from Texas chili, which you are probably most familiar with.  Cincinnati chili is cooked with no beans and spices, such as cinnamon, unsweetened chocolate, and cloves.  It is usually served over spaghetti noodles.  It's very good, or at least I think so.  There are 6 "ways" to eat this type of chili.  Of course I had to make it six-way. Yum!

one-way: just chili 
two-way: spaghetti and chili
three-way: spaghetti, chili, and shredded cheese
four-way: spaghetti, chili, shredded cheese, and either diced onions or beans
five-way: spaghetti, chili, shredded cheese, diced onions, and beans
six-way:  spaghetti, chili, shredded cheese, diced onions, beans, and sour cream

Unfortunately I did not cook this the authentic way.  I didn't have time.  The authentic way is to boil the ground meat in water for 30 minutes, add all the other ingredients and simmer it for another 3 hours, then refrigerate it overnight.  Then you take the layer of fat off from the chili and reheat it to eat over spaghetti.  I didn't have time to do all that so I fried the meat and then simmered everything together for about an hour or so until we were ready to eat.  It was very good, just not authentic Cincinnati style.  Next time I will cook it the right way.

Yesterday I made Yogurt Panna Cotta, which is an Italian dessert traditionally made by simmering together cream, milk, and sugar.  It was the first time I ever made panna cotta.  Turned out quite good.  I also made a blueberry/cherry coulis as a topping for it.  We ate that for dessert.  It was a very good ending to a hot day and chili.