Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Here is a new addition to our rotation of favorite recipes, and an easy one too. We picked up some tilapia fillets at the local grocery store. Dredge it in some parmesan cheese and fry it up in a pan, and the cheese browns nicely creating a sweet buttery-tasting crust. The fish itself is very light, white, and doesn't have a strong fishy taste. A little lemon juice would go well with this one, as well as some thyme or other italianish seasoning. We just had it over rice, which turned out to be great!

Sushi? Sorta...

So my new favorite at restaurants these days, is a dish called seared ahi. It's basically a thick sashimi-grade tuna steak that has just been seared on each side for a minute or so. Outback has added it to their menu, and I recently had it at Claimjumpers as well. It seems to be the hip new appetizer these days.

The one thing that strikes you when you eat the first bite, is that it's cold. I was expecting something at least a little warm. It is very sushi-esque and is usually served with some kind of wasabi sauce. Very tasty, and if you aren't quite up for full-on sushi...you might want to give this a try first!

Breaking bread with friends...

A couple of weeks ago, a ziploc bag filled with a creamy liquid appeared on the staff room table with instructions. (Thanks Kristen!) There is something kinda creepy, but kinda cool about the whole thing...a secret recipe, secret instructions...it's all very James Bondish. Here is this bag of goo, and in ten days with a little love, (and a lot of extra ingredients), it is supposed to turn into bread? Ok, I'll play along and see how it goes. And after the timer went off, this delicious, cinnamony bread came out of the oven. Almost like banana bread, without the bananas. This started me thinking about 2 different topics...

1. I wonder if the Amish know that their secret recipe is on the internet! Yes, after exactly 3 seconds of digging around, I was able to discover the secret ingredients without a problem. I wanted to somehow alert the Amish that their secret recipe had been compromised, maybe give them the website. But then I thought that they wouldn't have a way to get on the net...and that just opened up new conundrums.

2. Friends are pretty amazing. This world isn't always nice, and it isn't always fair, but if you have good friends in your corner, you can still smile at the end of the day, and come back for another round. I came across 2 quotes about friendship that really ring true. Think about the friends that you have, and let them know how much they mean to you. Break some bread, share some food, share some stories and some laughs. And listen. Sometimes, that's the greatest gift a friend can give.

Here are the quotes...

“We are friends and I do like to pass the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I would miss you, do miss you and think of you very often.” Jeanette Winterson

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.” Brandi Snyder

Melting your face off

One wing at a time...

I love hot wings. I've had them all over the place. Bone in, boneless...fried, grilled, baked... bbq, teriyaki, oriental, mild, medium, hot... and then there's beyond hot. This is the sauce on the far right of the menu. Now "hot" is very subjective. What might be unbearably hot for one person, might be mild for someone else. So needless to say, I'm always on the lookout for the nuclear level hotness.

I set out tonight to find out if a place called Doc's Pad, in downtown Eugene, had what was rumored to be the hottest hot wings in the Pacific Northwest. The place itself is nothing fancy, just a bar on a corner in the middle of downtown. But the waitress's face changed when I ordered the Inferno Wings. "Are you sure you want those? They are HOT!!!" Yes...I'm sure. In the next 5 minutes, 2 different cooks came out to confirm that I wanted the wings. They even brought me a drop of sauce on a toothpick to sample.

The wings came out on a long rectangular plate, all drumsticks, and no wings, with a side of ranch. I usually like blue cheese, but I'm not picky. After 2 wings, I was sweating, my face was red, and my eyes started watering. The mixture of habanero and ghost peppers create a slow burn that doesn't fully hit you for a minute or so. And then the endorphines start to flow.

If you are in Eugene, and you are a fan of the spicy stuff, stop by Doc's Pad and try the Inferno Wings. Will it melt your face off??? Yes, just like in Indiana Jones... But they'll also be some of the hottest, tastiest wings you've ever had!

Stay back human!!!

You don't know what you're dealing with!!!

One of my favorite lines from Artemis Fowl, a children's chapter book. What better words to describe the amazing levels of chemistry, timing, voodoo, and luck that goes into making the perfect apple pie. My journey began 6 or 7 months ago, and after many attempts, (apple pie soup anyone?) I finally managed to get everything right. The result? A nice delicious gooey apple pie, with a delicious flaky crust, and apples that aren't mushy.

Seems simple enough right? Well let me share the final 2 minutes before the pie goes into the oven. I like to call those 2 minutes "The Countdown to Failure" because this is where so many things seem to go wrong. Now I'm not saying things can't go wrong outside of these two minutes. You could have crust problems, uneven heating, mismatched spices, apples that are too juicy, apples that aren't juicy enough... But I'll just concentrate on The Countdown to Failure.

At this point, the crust is in the pie plate, and the apple are all peeled and sliced. In the final 2 minutes, you have to mix the spices with the apples. Once you do this, the timer starts. If you leave the sugar on the apple for more than 2 minutes, the sugar starts to break down the apples, creating a sweet apple juice in the bottom of your bowl....not good. Mix your apples well, then transfer the apples to the pie crust. Dot the top of the apples with 2 tablespoons of butter. Then top the pie. I have been doing more crumb top pies lately, but you could also do a crust on top, or a lattice top. (Best to have those ready to rock before you start The Countdown to Failure) Once the topping is on board, get it in the oven. If the phone rings, or you have to walk away for 5 minutes, the sugar will start to act on the apples, creating a sopping wet mess of a pie when you cut into it later.

Frustrating? Sometimes... Hectic? Sometimes... Best apple pie I've ever had? Yep. This one's so good it'll make you close your eyes on the first bite. Good thing I have such a wonderful aunt to teach me the magical secrets of pie making :-)

Belgian Waffles

My son's great birthday present, a rotating gourmet Belgian Waffle maker, is actually really awesome. Not only does it make "Ginormous" waffles (his words), but they are thick too, nearly an inch from top to bottom. I put about 10 strawberries in a small sauce pot with a tablespoon of sugar and let it simmer down until I had a sweet strawberry sauce. I drizzled that over the waffles, and put a strawberry in the middle, then garnished the whole thing with powdered sugar. It came out looking like something you'd get at the state fair!

There are some things that you

just don't mess around with...

I'm a mad scientist at heart, a tinkerer, constantly tweaking and changing things hoping to make them just a bit better the next time. I'm the same way in the kitchen. But the better I get at cooking, the more I realize that there are some things that you just don't mess around with. Deviled eggs are one of those things. Why do they disappear so quickly at family functions? Because there are a ton of people who love deviled eggs! Nothing fancy, nothing exotic, just plain old deviled eggs. It's hard to fight the urge to throw in a different spice, or mix in a dab of this or that... but you don't mess around with deviled eggs. The last thing you want is for someone to say, "OOO DEVILED EGGS! oh...umm...what's in these?" So the next time you think about making habanero tzatziki deviled eggs...think again...for the love of Paula Deen...think again...

Let's talk coffee...

There are things in life that are worth paying a little more money for. Things for which there is no good substitute. Peanut butter, mattresses, shoes....and coffee.

I've had some really good coffee in my short time here on this earth. Coffee that makes you close your eyes it's so good. I've also had some really bad coffee too. Coffee that makes you want to just drink water instead. So I set out on a quest to find the best coffeemaker I could find, since my love of coffee only keeps growing. After checking out all the major brands, I came across this machine, called the Keurig B70. I have since dubbed it the Godbrew 10000, an improvement from the B60 Godbrew 9000 that I had before.

This machine has a lot of things going for it. For one, it makes really good coffee. They have already figured out the water/coffee grounds ratio so that you get the same really good cup of coffee every time. Secondly, it makes one cup at a time, and always has hot water at the ready. So if it is 3PM and you want a cup of hazelnut creme, and someone else wants a cup of decaf...you can do it without brewing two pots of coffee. I've probably poured out the equivalent of a swimming pool's worth of coffee in my time, just because I'll make a pot and not even drink half of it. Third, you can use your own coffee in this machine. Other machine force you to use their proprietary pods or cups, but the Keurig has a tiny cup and filter that you can use with your own favorite ground coffee. Too much trouble? No worries, the prepackaged "K-cups" are only about 45 cents a piece, the price you would pay for coffee out of a vending machine. I could go on and on about the great things about this machine...it's easy, convenient, cost effective, awesome. About the only drawback it has, is that it can't make espresso. But if you are looking for a great cup of coffee every single time, check out the Keurig. You can usually get a 20% off coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond, and their customer service is second to none! Spread the coffee...spread the love :-)

Never enough time...

Here lately, there hasn't been enough time to do much culinary stuff in the kitchen. We have been going through leftovers and doing our standby meals because things are super busy these days. Sleep seems to be coming later and later as well. I'm thinking that I could probably do something like on The Sims...where you can cut out sleep altogether, as long as you have a comfy chair and lots of coffee! :-) Besides...ninjas never sleep. Clowns don't either. Think about that while you are trying to keep your eyes shut tonight. Who would you rather have in your room at 3 in the morning? A ninja? A clown? What about a ninja clown? This is the stuff that nightmares are made of...

Tonight's topic? Tea!

Being born and raised in Georgia, it's no secret that tea was a huge part of my life growing up. The tea I grew up with in the south was usually mixed with anywhere between a 1/2 cup to 3 cups of sugar. The tea I'm learning to appreciate now in the Pacific Northwest is of the hot variety. I really love getting the variety packs, so I can have something new from time to time. I'm enjoying a cup of peppermint chamomile tonight. The peppermint is refreshing and soothing, and the chamomile is calming and relaxing. I don't think I've ever tried a tea that I didn't like. From bubble tea, to green tea...sweet tea to peppermint chamomile, tea just always seems to hit the spot for me. I would really like to try some of the blooming tea, maybe it's just the science teacher in me that wants to watch everything unfurl. But I think I might have to sacrifice some manliness in order to get a flowering tea teapot. Might have to turn in my macho card... I'll think about that as I'm finishing up my cup peppermint chamomile tonight :-)

PS If you are looking for some decent sweet tea, McDonald's has started to serve it. It's pretty sweet though, so you might want to ask them to cut it 1/2 and 1/2 with the unsweetened tea. Also, Wal-Mart has started selling sweet tea back where the juice is. If all you have is a gas station, and you need a sweet tea fix, Arizona makes a "Southern Style" sweet tea. It's sweet tea in a can, but it'll do in a pinch.

Confessions of a dull-knife addict...

Hello. My name is Alan, and I've had dull knives for 32 years. Struggling to cut even the simplest things in the kitchen. Sawing through food. Using much more force than was necessary. I told myself I could stop whenever I wanted. I tried to tell myself that I didn't have a problem, that I wasn't addicted to mediocre blades. But I was wrong. I did have a problem. I was lured in by the promise of a whole block of knives for $29.95. I was enticed by the promises of never needing to be sharpened, and a lifetime money back guarantee. Luckily, I was saved. For my birthday this year, my wife gave me a set of Henckels kitchen knives. My favorite so far is the knife in the picture above. It's called a santoku knife, which loosely translates into "three virtues". The three virtues of this knife being slicing, dicing, and mincing. It is perfectly weighted, razor sharp, and even has the grooves cut out of it so that the food doesn't stick to the blade. You really only need a few good knives in the kitchen, so do yourself a favor and get some good ones. They don't have to cost an arm and a leg to be decent. Get some good knives and you'll have a "HOLY CRAP! THAT'S AWESOME!!!" moment when you cut through something for the first time. Yes. That's the way it's SUPPOSED to work, every time.

Mini-Cheesecake Parfaits

Raiding the pantry tonight, I found a box of Jello cheesecake-flavored pudding, a couple of 100-calorie cookie packs, and a granola bar. Mix up the pudding and spoon into the bottom of the glass, then make a layer of cookies, granola, fruit, and top with more pudding. I would have done another layer if my glasses were taller, but this was just the right amount of sweet for a dessert, just a few bites. Plus, the pudding was fat free and sugar free! So not only a quick and easy dessert, but also not too bad for you either! Go look in your pantry, you'll be surprised what you might find!

Chocolate-covered...what???

One of my goals for this blog, was not only to get people out there cooking things that they might not normally cook, but also to try new things myself. I came across this recipe in Taste of Home magazine...Chocolate-covered bacon. Evidently, it started at the Wisconsin State Fair a few years back and has really caught on. Here we have two variations, the dark chocolate bacon, and the peanut dark chocolate bacon.

Making it was amazingly easy! I cut the bacon in half and microwaved it between two paper towels. This made it lay flat, and not spatter. I put the bacon in between some more paper towels to get the grease out, and put it in the freezer to chill. The chocolate is just a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and a teaspoon of shortening. Microwave again in 30 second intervals stirring each time until you get a glossy smooth chocolate sauce. Then just spoon the chocolate sauce over the bacon, and put everything on a piece of wax paper. Chill it in the fridge.

I didn't have high hopes for this one, but I was surprised that it tasted so good! It has the salty-sweet combo going on, like a chocolate covered pretzel, and the nuts add another dimension of flavor. Crazy? Maybe... Good for you? Nope! Delicious? Oddly enough...yes!