Finals...Linner?

I do believe all college students can agree that finals week means an assortment of very off behaviors. The sleeping and eating routines in particular are the strangest. On this Tuesday December 6th, the day before my last final and taking of the CBEST exam, I am ignoring Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner and partaking in Brunch, Linner, and Late Night Snack. Again this is a Trader Joes filled sandwich. 


- Whole Wheat Sourdough
- Emmentaler Cheese
- Gruyere Cheese
- Sliced Chicken Breast
- Caramelized Onions
- Sliced Tomato


- Romaine Lettuce
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Salt
- Pepper
- Cayenne Pepper
- Large Egg


(1) Caramelize the onions and crisp up sliced of chicken in a frying pan with olive oil

(2) Lay slices of the cheese evenly along the slices of bread

(3) Layer the onions and chicken onto the bottom slice of bread and put two tomato slices over top of that. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper and a little bit of olive oil.


(4) Put the sandwich in a panini press (or george foreman grill or each loaded slice in a toaster oven OR in a frying pan to get the cheese to melt and bread to crisp)

(5) Grill the sandwich for as long as it takes to fry an egg, make sure to keep the yolk runny!

      (5a) To properly fry the egg, coat a frying pan in olive oil, turn the burner on medium heat, crack the egg right over the pan, wait until the white has set completely on the bottom (3-5 minutes), flip the egg over, let cook for another 20 seconds

(6) Cut up some leaves of romaine and dress with red wine vinegar to eat with each bite of sandwich (adds some contrasting flavor and texture)

(7) Take sandwich off of the panini grill, slide fried egg on top

Enjoy some noms, Good luck with finals!!!

Friday Morning Benedicts

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The time has come for post one of the inspiration for this blog: Eggs Benedict. I've made it several times this year trying to perfect the hollandaise. There's a four step process to building this: Making the hollandaise, cooking the canadian bacon, toasting english muffins, and poaching eggs.

THE HOLLANDAISE

I always start with this Food Network recipe for Hollandaise and then add extras to give it ultimate flavor. Stick to these ingredients

-3 egg yolks
-1 teaspoon water
-1/2 teaspoon sugar
-1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
-sea salt
-lemon juice
-paprika
-cayenne pepper

(1) Use a double boiler or a ceramic bowl to whisk the egg yolks till a little frothy
(2) Whisk in sugar for 30 seconds
(3) Put bowl in simmering pan so the sauce and water levels are equal,  whisk for 3-5 minutes
(4) Add pieces of butter slowly and continue whisking
(5) After all the butter, take the bowl of sauce out of the pan and start spicing. I don't use measurements, go with your taste. Generally though: lightly squeeze in 1/2 a lemon, Tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper, Tablespoon of Paprika, 1/2 tablespoon of Salt, 1 teaspoon of Sugar. Should not taste bland! To counterbalance too much sugar add salt and spices. Should have a mildly thick consistency.

POACHED EGGS/ CANADIAN BACON/ ENGLISH MUFFINS

(1) Throw the Canadian Bacon on a pan and start warming.
(2) Toast the english muffins lightly and throw the bacon on once it's crisped

 POACHED EGGS- They're not scary!

(1) Boil a shallower pot of water

(2) Add a few tablespoons of vinegar (rice vinegar or white wine vinegar are good)

(3) Add some salt and a splash of olive oil

(4) Crack the egg in as close to the water as possible

(5) Let cook for about 4 minutes until the white has set and before the yolk cooks through (unless you don't like your yolk runny...but you should)

Take eggs out of pot once ready and drain the water off of them with a holed spoon, then place on english muffin with bacon and drizzle hollandaise errywhere!

       ENJOY!!!!!!

I'll make them again, maybe prettier and fancier next time, this is Level 1 of the Eggs Benedict Challenge!

Family Dinnoh

Garlic Bread, Taverrite Sausage Sliders, Mix Salad, Spicy Chicken

Family Dinner night Success! I've done this several times before but this is probably the most food I've cooked, enough for 6! The salad is easy and very filling so it can be eaten even without a main course, but I was feeding 4 garbage-disposal-style boys, so the chicken legs were needed.

Garlic Bread: Trader Joe's Inspired, can get all the ingredients from there 

- Ciabatta roll

- Butter

- Diced Garlic Paste

- Garlic Olive Oil

-Garlic Salt

- Oregano

Taverrite Sausage Sliders: thank you Andrew Taverrite for you and your family providing the deliciousness

- Taverrite's Old World Italian Sausage

- Mini Hawaiian Sandwich buns

- Caramelized onions

 

 Mix Salad:

 - Spring Mix Lettuce

- Basil

- Red, Yellow, Orange Peppers

- Hard Boiled Eggs

- Avocado

- Gorgonzola Cheese

- Feta Cheese

- Mushrooms ( I use crimini and portabello)

- Italian Dressing

- Garlic Olive Oil

- Balsamic Oil

(1) Lightly drizzle the Italian Dressing over the mushrooms and saute them for 15 minutes until they're juicy with a light crisp on outside

(2) Dice the peppers, basil, and avocado and slice the up the eggs

(3) Mix everything together while the mushrooms are sauteing, crumble the gorgonzola and feta 

(4) Add mushrooms and as much olive oil and balsamic vinegar needed to fully dress salad

 

 Spicy Chicken Legs:

 *TAKES 2 HOURS*

- Packages of raw Chicken Legs

- 5 oz Pepper Sauce (Tapatio...for sure)

- Sweet Chili Sauce

- Garlic Olive Oil

- Almond Meal

- 3 tbsp Cayenne Pepper

- 1 tbsp Ground Black Pepper

- 2 tbsp Chili Powder

- 3 tbsp Onion Powder

- Garlic Salt

(1)  Combine pepper sauce and sweet chili sauce in one bowl. Mix almond meal, cayenne pepper, black pepper, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic salt in another. 

(2) Dip the chicken legs in sauce first then bread in the dry mixture.

(3) Let sit in refrigerator for 45 minutes

(4) Preheat oven to 400

(5)Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and olive oil

(6) Drizzle garlic olive oil, melted butter, extra pepper sauce and extra seasonings on the legs on the sheet

(7) Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until skin is crisped and sizzling

(8) EAT WITH RANCH...Hidden Valley of course

     THEN ENJOY ALL OF IT, intense cooking, but SO worth it!

 Thanks Fam

 

"Texas Caviar": 10 minute Epicness

Shout out to my Aunt Nan, thank you for this Recipe:

Real quick post today guys, if you happen to have extra tortilla chips lying around go to the store and get these things:

-Cilantro
-Avocado
-Canned Corn
-Can of Black Beans or Black Eyed Peas
-Green Onion
-Cumin
-Olive Oil (or Garlic Olive Oil)
-Red Wine Vinegar
-Salt
-Pepper
-Cayenne Pepper


Dice the green onions, cilantro, and avocado.
Mix together the beans and corn and diced veggies
Add 2 tbsp of Cumin, Salt, and Pepper
Add Cayenne Pepper to your own taste level
About 3/4 cup of Red Wine Vinegar
About 1/4 cup of Olive Oil

Mix everything together very well and test with a tortilla chip!
Add extra according to your taste, but it should be very tangy from the red wine vinegar with a distinct cumin taste, could likely need extra salt! Cause...it's hard to go wrong with a liiiitle extra salt!

Louise's to Real Life

This past summer my mother and I ordered pizza from Louise's for you LA area kids. She gave me the honor of choosing the toppings and we casually discovered the greatest pizza we have ever eaten. We order a Louise’s large pizza with Pepperoni, Goat Cheese, Basil, and Mushroom. Considering I’m now in Davis with no local Louise’s, I suppose I will have to recreate it myself…

Step 1: Go with Eric to nugget and buy

     

-    One container of pillsbury pizza dough

-       One can of pizza sauce

-       One bag of Sargento double pizza cheese mix

-       Thing of Basil

-       Packet of Pancetta

-        Creamy Goat Cheese (the log style kind)

-     Mushrooms of your choice

Step 2: Preheat oven to 450

Step 3: Lay out of the dough on a cookie sheet. Spread sauce according to your sauce level preferences. Evenly sprinkle the entire bag of cheese over the sauce and dough. Smoosh the pancetta slices so they’re not completely flat and place sporadically! Then chop up about 10 large leaves of the basil and sprinkle everywhere.

Step 4: Slice the mushrooms and sauté in a little olive oil and 1 tablespoon of Italian dressing till lightly crisped.

Step 5: Add the mushrooms and chunks of the goat cheese then place in oven  for 15-20 minutes. (earlier for doughey crust, later for crispier crust)

 

So not pepperoni, but pancetta instead, makes it a little more bacon-like. Finished and enjoyed pizza with Mike and Charles, now back to being lazy on this rainy day in Davis.

Thank You Others for the Noms

No introduction is needed, let's start with the Peanut Butter Mousse Cheesecake...

 I did however swagger-jack this recipe from another food blooger, so thank you Katrina's Kitchen, you guys can go appreciate this recipe from her. It's fantastic...magical fluffy cheesecakey peanut buttery heaven. Pretty painless to execute, definitely even more painless to eat. Word to future cheesecake makers, Walmart = 3 springform pans for $9.00...don't make the mistake to buy one for $12 from Target.

Second, I'd like to thank the Davis Neighbors Night Out for my linner or dunch (dinner/lunch) this evening. Who else can walk home from watching your friends play flag football to stumble upon free endless burgers, chips, and candy. Consumed one normal one, then naturally I had to pretentious-ify the second....

Provided: Burger meat, Wheat Bun, Pickles, Onions, 1000 Island, Ketchup, Mustard
Added: Melted Havarti, Tapatio, Garlic Salt, Fried Egg

Now that inspiration has hit you...put down your cliche frozen meal....and go nom on something your stomach deserves to eat!