Jesus was from the Middle-East, so is this feast

Christmas Eve dinner is usually somewhat of a challenge, however this time I'm cooking food for my entire extended family.  My family has quite a long list of food allergies, thankfully they are not too picky with food, which would make cooking for them a nightmare.  Trying to please their pallet was almost my personal nightmare before Christmas.  Listing the food allergies is as follows: gluten intolerance, mild lactose intolerance, allergies to nightshades, fungi, and pork.  With all these allergies in one place you can rule out ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cornbread, rolls, tomatoes, eggplant, cheese, stuffed mushrooms, eggnog, cookies and pastries, and anything spicy.  What do you make for a large family that is traditional and will please people better than a chicken bento? By the way, we usually eat chicken bento when we are all together so I really wanted something other than chicken and rice.  Being the cook, I feel like I'm under pressure to have the best dinner ever, so I'm going to make the drink first.

Spiced Hard Cider
1 gallon fresh apple cider
1 bottle "White Christmas" (Brandy and Rum mix)
4 cinnamon sticks
1/4 cup sugar

Simmer all ingredients half hour and serve hot.
Drink while cooking to relieve stress

Menu

First Course
Grilled Shrimp on Rosemary skewers
Lentil Soup

Main Course
Lamb Tagine with Golden Raisin Couscous

Dessert
Flourless Chocolate Cake

Order of things to prepare by recipe

Lentil Soup

1 pound dried lentils
1 cup brown rice
1 quart chicken stock
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
5 carrots diced
5 celery stalks chopped
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
lots of water to cover lentils with 4 inches of water

Place all ingredients into a stock pot and bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low to simmer 45 minutes.  Who ever gets the bay leaves are the lucky ones :)  I got both Christmas eve so I guess I'm extra lucky.

Lamb Tagine
1 lamb shoulder about 10 pounds with bones, 3 pounds without, cut into 1 inch pieces. Can substitute beef
3 Tbs EVOO
2 onions chopped
5 pounds carrots chopped
6 cloves garlic minced
1 quart beef stock
3 bay leaves
2 Tbs Turmeric
2 Tbs cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp coriander
1 Tbs salt
1/2 tsp pepper

2 cinnamon sticks

2 sprigs of rosemary (use the needles off the shrimp skewers)

Garnishes

1 pound dried apricots

1 cup chopped almonds

1 bunch cilantro chopped

You can use a tagine if you own one already.  I don't, so I'm using a large dutch oven.
Brown meat in oil seasoned with salt and pepper for about 10 minutes over high heat. Add all other ingredients except beef stock and garnishes.  Cook until hot and then add beef stock.  Reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking for 1.5 hours or so until meat and vegetables are tender. When you serve first course add apricots to the stew and continue simmering about 15 minutes.  If cooking in a tagine, garnish with cilantro and almonds, otherwise place stew into a large pretty bowl and garnish the same way.
Serve on top of couscous.

Shrimp Skewers

2 pounds jumbo shrimp, thawed, raw, de-veined, shelled, heads off, tail on
8 large sprigs of rosemary
3 cloves garlic crushed
4 Tbs EVOO
salt and pepper

Soak rosemary sprigs in water for about 20-30 minutes.  Strip needles off of the rosemary leaving about 3 inches of needles on the end of the sprig so it's both pretty and functional as a handle.  Skewer about 8 shrimp per skewer or as many as can fit.  Brush shrimp with olive oil and sprinkle crushed garlic, about 2 Tbs of rosemary needles, and salt and pepper.  Place in refrigerator until ready to cook.  Grill on high heat as people are arriving. 1-2 minutes per side.  DO NOT OVER COOK.  They will continue cooking after they are off the grill.

Flour-less Chocolate Cake

1 pound semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
3/4 cup sugar
9 eggs separated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Separate eggs into two bowls with whites in one and yolks in the other, make sure there is no yolk in the egg whites.  Mix sugar and yolks until it turns a pale yellow.  In an glass bowl chop butter into small pieces and add in chocolate mix slightly.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes, stir and continue cooking in 30 second bursts until chocolate is smooth. Be careful to no over cook chocolate.  Add a small amount of chocolate into egg yolks mix throughly and then add all chocolate.  This will keep the eggs from scrambling.  Beat egg whites until they are stiff peaks.  Fold in chocolate mixture and egg whites together gently until well combined.
In a 9 inch spring form pan butter all edges very generously.  Add batter and bake 35-40 minutes. Turn off oven and let cake set in warm oven until ready to serve.

Couscous

3 cups dried couscous
1 cup golden raisins
1 Tbs Salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbs EVOO
1 quart (4 cups) chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 bunch of chopped cilantro

In a very large bowl add couscous and raisins and set aside.  In a sauce pan, bring chicken stock to a boil with bay leaf, salt and pepper.  Take off heat, add EVOO and pour over couscous, let set for 10 minutes covered with a plate.  Add cilantro and fluff with a fork.  Serve with lamb.

Fish Tacos with Green-go Salsa

Green-go Salsa

1 7oz can of verde salsa

1 advocado

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 green onions chopped

1 handful fresh cilantro

2 jalapeños chopped

1 lime juiced

Add all ingredients into a food processor or use an immersion blender and blend until smooth.  Refrigerate for about 20 minutes for flavors to combine.

Fish

1 Halibut Fish Fillet or any white fish of your liking
2 limes juiced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pakrika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Cut Fish into pieces and marinate in mixture for 20 minutes

Batter
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 can beer of your choice

Mix beer into flour until it's the consistency of pancake batter, you will not use all the beer.  Drink the rest while cooking :)

Prepare 1 quart of vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet.  Heat over medium high heat until it's 350 degrees.
Dredge fish in flour and then dredge in batter.  Fry fish in hot oil until golden brown, about 5 minutes total.
Drain fish on paper towels

Serve fish tacos in two corn tortillas that have been heated with salsa and fresh shredded lettuce or cabbage.
A side of black beans is nice as well

Black Beans

Take 2 cups of black beans and cover them with water about 2 inches over.  Bring to a boil and boil 3 minutes.  Cover beans, remove from heat and let set 1 hour.
Drain water and rinse beans.  Add more water to cook again, about 1 inch of water over beans.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low and cook for 45 minutes- 1 hour until beans are tender. Add 1/2 onion chopped, 4 cloves garlic, 1 Tbs butter, 1 Tbs salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp cumin, and 1 tsp paprika.  Once beans are tender, blend with an immersion blender or food processor until smooth.  Serve hot and enjoy.

Crab Chowder Latkes

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Instant Mash
1 Cup Water
3 Eggs
1/2 Small Onion Minced
4 Slices Bacon (Beef, Pork, Turkey, or my new favorite Chicken)
1/2 Cup Crab Chopped
1/2 Cup Corn Kernels
1 tsp Creole Seasoning or Seasoned Salt
1 tsp Parsley Flakes
Sour Cream for serving with the finished latkes

Directions

Chop Bacon into small strips and render out fat until bacon is crispy.  Let bacon drain completely reserving bacon fat.
Combine instant mash with water and mix well, add eggs and beat until smooth.  Add all other ingredients including bacon.
Reheat pan with bacon fat over medium heat.  Spoon mixture into pan and flatten into round flat pieces.  Brown on both sides, about 5 minutes each side.  Once browned, drain on paper towels and keep hot in a 300 degree oven.
This recipe will make 6 large latkes or about 12 small ones.
Top with a dollop of sour cream.

I came up with this recipe while having very limited groceries in the house.  I have been making latkes all week because I haven't gone to the store yet.  I have a huge box of instant mash and a flat of eggs, which means I have latkes all week :)  I was reading some recipes online and a new england clam chowder recipe came up.  I thought, that sounds really good, I want some chowder!  I didn't have any milk and I still hadn't eaten breakfast.  Time for a compromise.  I will have it all, I thought to myself.  I had some beef bacon in the freezer along with a thousand types of frozen vegetables.  I'm not sure why I have so many frozen vegetables on hand, I don't really like frozen vegetables, yet I continue to buy them out of habit...  However they are great in a pinch and I was thankful I had some this morning.  Fresh everything is better of course.  I can't wait until summer when fresh corn is available!
I have been cooking with crab a lot this week because it was on sale in bulk.  It's always best to buy in bulk and when items are on sale, that's the inner Jew in me speaking though. I think a lot of the best recipes that you create at home are sometimes you're own mini "chopped" challenges that you do rather than dragging yourself to the store for just one silly ingredient.  

Crab Lasagna

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick)
1/2 Cup Flour
3 Cloves Garlic Minced
2 Cups Milk
2 Cups Chicken Broth or Stock
1/8 tsp Ground Red Pepper
Pinch of Salt and nutmeg
2 Cups Cottage Cheese
1 Egg
2 Tbs Parsley
2 Tbs Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Pepper
3 Cups Mozzarella Cheese Grated
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese Grated
3 Cups Crab
1 Box Lasagna Noodles (Oven Ready)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine butter and flour in a saucepan and whisk over medium heat until smooth and bubbly.  Add milk, broth, red and black pepper, nutmeg, salt, and garlic whisking vigorously.  Reduce heat to medium and continue stirring until cream sauce is a desired thickness.  I like my cream sauce rather thin, so I add a little water or cream to it to thin it out.
Mix all reaming ingredients excluding the noodles and grated cheese, in a mixing bowl, stir until combined well.  In a 9x13 baking dish, ladle in 2 cups of cream sauce in the bottom.  Layer uncooked pasta on top of sauce.  Then add half of the crab filling and cover with another layer of lasagna noodles, repeat.  Once all the crab filling is covered with noodles add remaining cream sauce into the pan.
You can add the cheese now and bake, but I would recommend waiting until the last 20 minutes of baking to add the cheese otherwise it gets lost.  It's your choice.
Bake lasagna for 1 hour.  Let cool for at least 10 minutes before diving in, otherwise you'll have a scalded mouth and it gives the cheese sometime to recombine.  This makes amazing left overs!  I swear it tastes even better the next day.

I received this recipe from my best friend.  It has been a favorite of ours for a long time.  We go crabbing quite a bit and we always want to make crab lasagna afterwards.  Usually by the time we boil the crabs an pick them there isn't enough crab meat left to make a lasagna or really anything.  We eat most of the crab while picking because we're still really slow at it and why not enjoy fresh crab especially if you have it.  I make my crab lasagna with imitation crab because... I'm cheap and I eat all the crab I pick

Diet Crab Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Ingredients

2 Medium-Large Zucchinis

1 Cup Crab Meat Chopped (Imitation Krab)

1 Cup Non-fat Ricotta Cheese

I Can Diced Tomatoes Drained

2 Cups Spinach Blanched and Drained 

1 Tbs Italian Seasoning

3 Cloves Garlic Minced

1 Egg scrambled 

Salt and Pepper

Directions

Wash and cut off ends on zucchini and then cut length wise.  Prepare a steamer and steam zucchini for about 5 minutes remove from steamer and allow to cool.  When cool, scrape out pulp with a spoon, discard pulp and then transfer zucchini to a non stick baking sheet.

For filling, roughly chop crab and mix with all the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Spoon filling into zucchini boats and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Finish with broiler until crispy on top if desired.  

Total Calories: 340 :)

Serve with a salad or steamed green beans.

Enjoy:)

My workout buddy Sara and I came up with the recipe when we wanted to make something healthy that included crab.  I have a deck of playing cards that I bought at the coast that have recipes of every single one. The cards are great and all the recipes sound really good, but they mostly include mayo, cheese, butter, bread crumbs... everything that makes food super fatty.  We wanted to make a meal that was healthy and and delicious.  I took a casserole recipe as inspiration and needed a vegetable to shove it into.  With the Curves diet plan a lot of vegetables are considered "free."  Free meaning, eating as much as you want within reason, and they don't count towards your daily caloric count.  I really wanted something cheesy without feeling guilty about it and of course crab. 

A few years ago I was vegan a stumbled upon a great cookbook that had a zucchini boat recipe in it.  I made them weekly and I remember them being very filling and my husband really liked them.  Needing I vehicle of vegetable variety to transport delicious crabby cheesy filling to my mouth I remembered the zucchini boats. Crab stuffed zucchini boats were born!  We also came up with an appetizer variation that required the same ingredients.  Cut the zucchini into medallions and then top with the crabby filling.  Bake 20 minutes and enjoy. 

After eating our new creations we decided that it needed to be a staple in our diet.  It is such a satisfying meal meal with very low carbs, it's gluten free, and of course delicious.  I hope you enjoy our creation as much as we enjoyed creating it and eating it.

Spätzle (German Egg Noodle)

Ingredients:
3 Cups of Flour
4-5 Eggs
1/2 Cup of Water
1 Tbs EVOO
1 tsp Salt

Mix Salt and Flour together in a mixing bowl.  Add Eggs and oil and beat very well.  Add water to mixture.  If you like a less dense noodle add some more water.

Boil a very large pot of well salted water.  Press the dough through the back of a cheese grater, a potato ricer or even a slotted hotel pan.  I have an actual spätzle press, therefor I usually use that.  The Spätzle press is similar to a potato ricer.
Boil noodles for about 3 minutes or until they float.  Fish out with a spider and drain throughly.  I would recommend using a colander with a deep plate under it to collect all the water.

Spätzle is such a versatile noodle it can be fried, topped with cheese, used to make macaroni and cheese, and is great in soups.  I recommend making it and serving with lentil soup.  Spätzle always tastes great because it's always fresh.  Fresh is best for all food and recipes, however this is a very noticeable difference.  The longest part of making these noodles it literally waiting for the water to boil.

Spätzle is impressive to dinner guests because most likely they have never had it.  If they have, they would be impressed with the fact you made your own noodles rather than buying them.  I feel like noodles are a waste of money except for the pure convenience and shelf stableness of dried noodles.  I suppose those two reasons are enough to buy dried every time... but making your own noodles are really fun and cheap.
Mission of the week: make some homemade pasta!  If you're on a time crunch make spätzle!  You're literally minutes away from a great side dish.

Lentil Soup

Lentil Soup

2 Cups Dried Lentils
1 Medium Onion chopped
2 Carrots chopped
2 Celery Stalks chopped
2 Bay leaves
2 Quarts water
salt and pepper to taste


Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 35 minutes or until lentils are tender.  Fish bay leaves out before serving.
This soup is great by itself or you can serve it with some fresh Spätzle.

The first time I had lentil soup I was an exchange student in Germany.  I hadn't even heard of lentils so I wasn't sure what I was expected.  At that time I had a very small culinary horizon...  Lentils were a big deal.  Anyway, lentils were like split peas to me which meant that they were delicious.  I love split pea soup, I'll have to make that soon so I can write about it.
Have you ever tried something new and then became hooked on making it or ordering it at a restaurant?

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

For the Dough:
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Instant Mashed Potatoes
1 1/2 Cups Warm milk
1/2 Cup warm water
2 Tbs Active Dry Yeast
1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick softened)
4 Eggs
1 tsp Salt
~6 Cups of All Purpose Flour

For the Filling:
1/2 Cup of Butter (1 Stick, softened)
1 Cup of Sugar
2 Tbs Ground Cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, you can use a mixer or some elbow grease, add warm water, warm milk, sugar, instant mash, and yeast.  Mix well and let set for about 10 minutes for yeast to bloom. To mixture add butter, eggs and salt, mix well to beat eggs.  Add 2 cups of the flour and mix until smooth.  Add 2 more cups and repeat.  Add 1 more cup of flour and move mixture to a floured surface to knead in the remaining cup of flour.  You might not need to remaining cup depending on humidity or maybe you do.  Knead dough until very smooth and no longer sticky, it should be tacky about the same as a post-it note.
Put dough on a plate and let rise for about an hour or until dough has doubled.  Spray dough with a light coating of non stick spray to keep from drying out.

Roll out dough after an hour in a rectangular shape.  Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl and smear all over rolled dough except for 1 inch from the edge on one of the long edges.  Now roll the dough starting from the opposite for the side you left clean of filling.  You should have a nice dough snake now.  Cut the dough about 3 fingers wide and put into a greased 9x13 pan.  You should be able to fit about a dozen in the pan.  If you have more, grease another pan and keep going.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Your dough should rise again in the amount of time it takes for your oven to heat.  Bake for about 12 minutes, really no more than 15 minutes otherwise they will be over done.

Remove from oven and Enjoy!
You might scald your mouth eating the first one because you won't be able to wait for them to cool because they smell so good.  :)



Story about Cinnamon Rolls
A few years ago I worked at a retirement home.  During a series of events I became in charge of making cinnamon rolls for Saturday Breakfast.  Cinnamon rolls on Saturday was a 20 tradition at the home and recently loosing a chef made it so there would be no rolls on Saturday morning.  END OF THE WORLD SCENARIO, according to the residents.  Since I was manager I felt that it was my responsibility to bake them some.
More back story... I have been making cinnamon rolls with my grandma since I was able to see over the counter.  I love cinnamon rolls, but I especially love hers.  During the fall and winter we would bake some about once a month. It was a great treat.  When I came to college and starting cooking for myself I kept up the cinnamon roll tradition and would make them for friends and family.  One year cinnamon rolls were my holiday gift to people which was a great hit.
When the cinnamon roll making duty opened up at the retirement home I had cinnamon roll experience.  After I made my first batch, the residents knew something was up.  There was a new chef in town.  I didn't make them quite every Saturday, but pretty close.  They would also complain when I didn't make them because they could tell the difference.  Now, that I no longer work there, I've heard that they are sad that I'm no longer making them because they enjoyed them so much.  That's why I wanted to share this recipe so you too at home can experience the happiness of these cinnamon rolls. How have cinnamon rolls affected your life?

Fluffy White Bread

Ingredients 

1 Cup warm water

2 Tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 Cup oil (EVOO)

3 Cups Flour

Directions

Bloom yeast in bread maker pan in the warm water and sugar for 10 minutes.  The yeast should be bubbly and foamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and put the pan in the bread maker.  Use the the Basic White Bread setting.  This makes a 1.5 pound loaf so program the appropriate settings for your bread maker.  After about 3 hours let the bread cool completely before slicing and enjoy :)

This bread recipe is seriously amazing and super cheap and easy.  I've found that I'm spending almost nothing on fresh bread every day and I love it.  Surprisingly, I almost took my bread maker back after I bought it because none of my bread what turning out and it was making me very upset. I baked about 8 loaves of bread in the machine following the directions exactly.  I was using the instructional booklet that came with the machine and I couldn't figure out what the deal was.  I finally looked online and did a little research.  I found a great recipe online and a ton of people said that they tried the recipe and loved it.  They even thanked the poster for enlightening them to this recipe.  I tried it and I changed me.  SOOOO GOOOOOD :D I use this bread recipe for everything.  I through a handful of garlic cloves in during the last kneading cycle and it made fantastic garlic bread.  

So, I'm really cheap... I keep everything I can to use it later.  I freeze my peels and ends of vegetables so I can make stock from it along with all my bones and carcases from animals that I prepare.  This has turned out well for having some very rich stocks which turned into amazing soups.  Along with that frugalness I save all my bread ends.  Now that I make a loaf of bread every day, there is no way that my husband and I can eat all that bread, every though we would like to.  Also, quality bread goes stale after a day... once I realized this I vowed to never buy bread from the store again unless it's from a bakery. I digress. I have been saving the end pieces of the bread I've been baking and slicing it up into squares and toasting them in the over until they are bone dry.  Once cooled I put them in a freezer bag and pop them into the freezer for a later date.

I made an early Thanksgiving dinner about 2 weeks ago. I think the shining star of my meal was my 100% homemade dressing.  I used the leftover bread pieces, stock that I had made with leftover chicken and vegetable pieces, I chopped all the fresh vegetables and seasoned it with herbs from my garden. I guess I didn't churn my own butter, but I think that's a little over zealous. Anyway, the dressing was a hit.  I really think it was the quality of the bread I used.  

This bread really lends itself well for a variety of things.  It makes amazing french toast and tops off soup very well.  I really enjoy it and I hope you do too!

Schwabian Cream Cheese Cake

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (6 oz roughly chopped and 2 oz shaved)
• 4 ounces chopped hazelnuts
• 1 can tart pie cherries
• 
  
• Directions
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F grease and flour a 10 inch round pan.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth adding sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth with each addition. Add the flour and baking powder and mix well.  Add chopped hazelnuts and 2 ounces of shaved chocolate, lightly mix until batter looks peppered.
• Pour into a 10 inch round pan. Sprinkle can of drained tart pie cherries on top before baking.  Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Check for doneness at 1 hour.
• Once cake is removed from oven and completely cooled, prepare a double boiler for remaining 6 oz of chocolate.  Drizzle melted chocolate over entire cake, however entire coverage of cake is not important.

This cake recipe is a variation of a cake that my German exchange mother would make.  When I was 18, I was a German exchange student.  First, my family hosted a girl at our house for a month and then in the summer I went to Germany for a month and stayed with her family.  This experience was very informative and opened up my mind different cultures.  I could talk about that forever, but I'll stick to the cake for now.

In Germany, German Chocolate cake is NOT like it is here in the USA. Here, German C.C. is chocolate cake mix with pecan and coconut frosting that looks like sick.  Gross! Real German chocolate cake is a white cake similar to pound cake with shaved chocolate, chopped hazelnuts and cherries with melted chocolate on top.  It's really nice and I love the contrast of flavors and textures that real German chocolate cake has.  

When I would make this cake for people here in the US I would say that I'm making German chocolate cake and how good it is and blah, blah, blah... People would be like, I don't like that kind of cake, or I don't like coconut.  I would have to explain the different between US and GER cakes... So I started calling the recipe that I have Schwabian Chocolate Cake because I lived in Schwabia when I was on exchange.  To make the original recipe that I had just follow the directions above and leave out the cream cheese and add another stick of butter.

I developed this recipe with the cream cheese because I want to submit it to Philadelphia and try to win a recipe contest. Wish me luck :) 

Freedom Onion Soup

The recipe for Freedom Onion Soup:

1 large Yellow Onion
1 large Red Onion
half a stick of butter (quarter cup)
a few Tablespoons of olive oil
Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper to taste
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 qt. Beef Stock or Beef Broth
half cup of Red Wine (Cheap bottle of Pinot Nior or Zinfindal)
4 slices of white artisan bread toasted and bone dry
8 slices of Swiss Cheese
4 slices of Provolone Cheese

Slice Onions thinly and put into a large heavy bottom pot with butter and olive oil.  Sprinkle a generous amount of kosher salt over the onions to help them sweat out most of their moisture. Add black pepper and red pepper flakes.  Cook onions until caramelized, this should take about 35-45 minutes.  Start with med high heat and then turn the heat down once the onions start to break down well.  Remember to stir often. This step should not be rushed because the onions can burn which would make them bitter.
Now is a good time to take your bread slices and pop them into a 250 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  The toasts need to be bone dry so they don't break apart in the soup.
Once the onions reach a desirable level of caramelization, deglaze the pot with a half a cup of red wine.  Cook for a couple minutes to allow the onions to absorb most of the wine.
The toasts should be out of the oven by now.
Now add the full quart of Beef Stock to the onions.  Taste the soup after the mixture has reached a simmer.  If it is too salty, add some water, probably about a cup.  If it's seasoned well enough for your liking, leave it alone.
Let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes so all those flavors have time to marry.
Take the soup off of the heat and ladle into bowls.  I like shallow cereal bowls so that the toast floats nicely.
Put bowls onto a cookie sheet so there are no spills in the oven.  Top each soup with a toast and 2 slices of swiss cheese and 1 slice of provolone cheese.  Make sure some of the cheese is touching the edge of the bowl so it gets nice and crispy.  Turn your broiler on in the oven and place soups into oven.  Broil soup for about 2 minutes or until the cheese is nice a bubbly with light brown spots.
Wait about 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy! :)



I really love French onion soup because it really sticks to your ribs and it's super cheap to make.  When you serve this to guests they really feel like they are getting a super fancy meal.  I made this soup for some friends and they didn't really want to eat it because it didn't sound very good to them, and they only had it at mediocre restaurants.  After I force fed them my French onion soup, they have changed their tune and pretty much request it weekly.
I got my French Onion Soup passion in New York City.  I had been watching Food Network like an addict and they had recently done a show about french onion soup and it sounded really good.  Of course I ate my way through New York while I was there.  I would stop at every street vendor that had a long line and would order whatever I saw people walking away with, because they live there, they must know what is good. I would share my portion with my husband to both save money and to ensure that I would have enough room for food again when we inevitably would stop at another street vendor cart in a few blocks.  I ate SO much pizza, but never enough, hot dogs, cheese steaks, pretzels, beagles with schmear, falafel, any kind of skewer... I was only there for 3 days... anyway back to soup...
The reason for the journey to the Big Apple was to perform in Carnegie Hall with my college wind ensemble. I play Trombone and I use to be pretty good at it.  Between our warm up and performance at Carnegie we had about an hour and a half off.  Of course that means eat something, so I don't throw up from nervousness. There was a little Deli across the street called Carnegie Deli, which interested me.  I looked over the entire menu and wanted everything on it.  I knew I was going to eat dinner in a few hours, so I didn't want to eat too much.  I remembered the french onion soup show on food network so I ordered that.  I thought if I was going to have French onion soup anywhere, it needed to be here.  I also had some bad experiences with French onion soups at mediocre restaurants, but felt that it was my duty to try it again.  It was a good life choice.  I ordered the soup, it came in a cute bowl on a plate.  There was crispy cheese dripping down the sides.  I was in heaven!
The soup really helped me calm down before the performance and I've felt that this soup is my form of good luck.  I performed well.  I only thing I remember from that day is the amazing sound in Carnegie Hall and the French Onion soup at Carnegie Deli.
Cheers

Rock Lobster Salad

What you're going to need:
3 pounds yukon gold potatoes diced at 1/2 inch cubes
1 small red onion finely chopped
3 Tbs cilantro finely chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
3 Tbs horseradish kosher fancy style
3 Tbs brown mustard
1 cup low fat sour cream
4 green onions thinly sliced
8 package imitation lobster pieces
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
salt and black pepper to taste

Peel and dice potatoes and boil for about 10 minutes until tender, but still hold their shape, we're making salad not mashed potatoes here.  Meanwhile, roughly chop lobster bits and place a large bowl.  Continue chopping all remaining ingredients and mix in bowl.  It's probably been about 10 minutes by now... drain potatoes and let them cool for a few minutes before adding to the rest of the ingredients.  Enjoy warm or park in fridge for at least 2 hours and enjoy it cold.

BBQ goddess?

So I was reading one of my many cookbooks and I found some recipes that sounded really good.  I made a list and went to the store, and of course I was shopping in the middle of the night so I found only a few similar ingredients that he called for in his recipes.  Today I'm cooking a couple of his recipes but with my own twist with about half of the ingredients called for.
For the first time EVER I actually wrote down every step of the cooking process and exactly what I put in the recipe.  I feel like this is a culinary achievement for me, at least my an achievement for my advancement into stardom.  The recipes will be as followed.  I find them to be a great and cheaper alternative to the fo fo 1000 exotic ingredient list that most chefs use, not like that's a bad thing though.  I'm absolutely sure I will do that soon when I either have money to buy those ingredients or justify paying it.  Today is not that day.

BBQ Rub for Brisket

2 Tbs New Mexico chili powder
1 Tbs ground regular chili
1 Tbs Pasilla chili
1 Tbs Paprika
3 Tbs ground mustard
3 Tbs ground cumin
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp both black and white pepper
4 cloves minced garlic

Mix and rub 3 pound beef brisket with rub.  Cover with foil and bake in oven at 250 for 2 hours.  Finish on Grill for 40 minutes on med low heat.  Base with BBQ sauce in oven and then twice on grill.

OMG BBQ sauce, seriously I made this at home?

4 Tbs olive oil
1 yellow and 1 red onion both minced
4 cloves garlic minced
kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper freshly ground
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp pasilla pepper
2 tsp ground regular chili (New Mexico Molido)
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp New Mexico chili pepper
7 oz can chipotle peppers
3 tsp ground mustard
29 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup each balsamic and Apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs yellow mustard
1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Take olive oil, and minced onion into a large heavy bottomed sauce pan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until completely translucent.  Add salt, pepper and garlic to the mixture and cook for 2 minutes until very fragrant.  Add all chili peppers and spices including canned chipotles and cook until it smells so good you can't stand it (2-3 minutes).  Add tomato sauce and cook for about 5 minutes and then add all remaining ingredients and cook for about 10 minutes so all flavors combine into the happiest mixture known to man.  Take an immersion blender and blend all ingredients until very smooth.  This sauce can be simmered until brisket is ready to be served.  NOM!

Life Changed

Yesterday marked my last day working at "Taco Hell."  Horray!
I finally got the courage to quit my minimum wage job and do something with my life.  I have my whole life ahead of me and I don't need to be wasting it making some company that doesn't care about their employees about $60 million a day.  I will do my best to not rant and speak negatively about my former employer.  I should actually be thanking them because I have now been forced to do something different.  I have been half-assly been looking for a better job for about a year now.  However, last week, I finally got my first call back.
I had a phone interview that went well and then I went in the next day to have an interview with the HR director and my department manager.  It went well, very well actually.  I remember hearing, "You're quite the impressive person." I haven't heard that for a long time and it really lit the fire under my ass to do something.  I was asked during my interview what my 5 year plan was.  My response was interesting.  I've had a 5 year plan ready in my head that I've been working on for a  year and half.  My former 5 year plan involved being promoted up through "Hell" and becoming a GM for 2 years.  Then I would put a business proposal together, go to the bank and get a large loan to open a restaurant.  I would then hire all my friends and rescue them from their horrible minimum wage jobs as well and we would all live happily ever after.  However, this 5 year plan had now been changed since I was sitting in a conference room with my possible new employer that did not fall into my 5 year plan.
"I want to be a cooking show television host." I have a few of webisodes on youtube, they have several thousand views and I have a lot of encouraging comments.  Sure, why not, I am trying to impress my future employer.  She thought it was great! Honestly, I haven't looked at those videos for about a year, well since my life had changed dramatically and I pretty much lost everything that I have worked for... not going to get into it.  Well, I got the job!  She said that I should follow my dreams and continue to make more videos.
After I got off of my last shift, I was aimlessly surfing the internet and signed into my youtube account.  I looked at my videos and oh my goodness I have a lot of views and comments!  I was happy to find no death threats or any douchbaggery in the comment boxes.  Complete strangers were telling me how much their families loved my recipes and me.  I'm feeling a nice surge of self confidence.  I think I can do this, no, I KNOW I can do this.  I'm going to just buy all the equipment again and just start from scratch.  These new videos are going to be leaps and bounds better than my first videos.  I've learned so much from them.  Also, I feel like I'm more camera pleasing now.  I have lost almost 60 pounds from 2 years ago.
Anyway, I'm excited to go on this adventure!

I just need: A camera, video editing equipment, a wardrobe, a kitchen- most important, and some free time- also helpful.