Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. I had intended to spend this weekend making a number of beef and vegetarian dishes as dictated by a fairly new habit I had formed in creating a twitter poll to dictate my food experimentation for the week. However, that was before the 8 inches of snow covering our yard and the emptied out grocery store shelves.

I started digging around and found some St. Louis style pork ribs, and a friend of mine had just had a conversation with me earlier in the week about her rib woes. Despite many trial and errors, she…

By Michael Araj

The burger. Is it the perfect food? It’s hand held, it’s meaty, and it’s topped with salad on it half the time (yes, lettuce, tomato and onion counts as a salad in my book). It is the ultimate blank canvas. The ultimate piece of art.

We made sliders for the Superbowl this year (along with the chicken wings), and they did not disappoint. We used the buffalo sauce from the wings recipe as well as a condiment with some fresh mozzarella. This recipe allows you to innovate and improvise as much as you want. Going Whole30? In one of the photos, you’ll see that we replaced the dinner rolls for butter leaf lettuce, and replaced the cheese and buffalo sauce for a tomato salad on top.

So give this recipe a shot and create your own piece of art.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ pounds fresh ground beef…

My parents decided to throw a dinner party last weekend, and while my mother and I discussed what to serve, paella came to mind for several reasons. It’s filling, it has great flavor, and while not difficult to make, it appears a labor of hard toil.

Few things on a table are, perhaps, as awe inspiring as a paella. This Spanish dish steeped in rich history and even richer flavor is the ultimate comfort food. With versatility of ingredients, you can really make this into whatever you want it to be and your guests will be impressed.

Paellas come in lots of shapes and sizes, though a traditional paella also has chorizo instead of chicken. Because several of our friends coming to dinner do not eat pork for religious reasons, I substituted the chorizo for chicken thighs. You’ll also notice that this recipe is meant to serve a lot of…

By Michael Araj

There is a restaurant local to where I work that serves She-crab soup every Friday for its special. While She-crab soup, of course, is in itself special, nobody seems to agree on much about it, what should (and just as importantly, should not) go into its preparation.

The orange tint of most of the she-crab soups that are made come from the crab roe addition to it; however, this can be difficult to find due to crabbing laws and geography depending on where you’re located. Some people add crumbled hard boiled yolks to imitate the texture, others find this sacrilegious.

One thing almost everyone does agree on is that there is something comforting about a seafood bisque-like soup that invokes images of warmth, comfort and sunshine. Below, you’ll find our own recipe for crab bisque. We used Maryland blue crab and seafood stock that was leftover from…

By Michael Araj

Despite the hot heat, fall has arrived with its abundance of autumn squashes and warm flavors, not to mention the colors. This warming stew keeps quite a while and increases in flavor the longer it melds. While it’s not a quick meal to cook during the week, it’s a great Sunday prep meal, freezes well, and can be eaten throughout the week.

As always, the first step is to get all your ingredients in place, or mise en place. This helps prevent me from looking like a chicken with its head cut off in the middle of my cooking since everything is ready to use.

Now it’s time to start cooking! Let’s heat up some oil and start cooking down the jalepenos, garlic and peppers!

Now time for the squash – the ultimate feel of fall. When you add the spices, after a few minutes, your kitchen…

So, before I get into the specific of this post, I feel I should make it clear that coconut cakes and I don’t really have much of a history of “getting along with each other”. I always tell people that ask me that I learned how to be a pretty decent baker through lots of trial and error. Best way to learn.

As it turns out, several of those “errors” have come through my attempts at making coconut cakes over the past few years. Sometimes it’s worked wonderfully.  Sometimes I’ve just blown it.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’ve never really been that much of a coconut fan in general; I don’t like Pina Coladas (or getting caught in the rain by the way). I think Mounds Bars are disgusting. Shredded coconut on its own reminds me of tasteless confetti or wood shavings. I do…

It’s that time of year again.

Even though I live on the West Coast and the seasons don’t really ‘change’ here, late September is the time of year that I finally start to accept that autumn is upon us and that I can and should start baking those autumn flavored foods.

Oh yeah. Late September is also my birthday.

I turn thirty today y’all. 3-0.

It’s not that I think 30 is old, but it feels weird that I’ve reached it. I have literally no idea where the last decade went. It’s been a whole lot of change and transition. I can honestly say I never would foresaw any of it. But I am grateful. My 20s were…something lol. I’m looking forward to 30 hitting much differently.

My birthday usually passes by without very much fanfare. But for the past few years, I have given myself a tradition/present of baking…

It is a fact that most of my hangry (hungry + angry) episodes in life have been resolved by a Burrito — this Tex-Mex dish in a wrapped tortilla (on the go food), with rice filling (surely fills a Pinoy belly!), involves stretchy, gooey cheese (who doesn’t love cheese? who?!) and has flavorful meat, beans and eaten best with sour cream, salsa or guacamole is definitely a bundle of love.

Burrito filling can have various ingredients, in fact it can be anything you want it to be! but for my recipe, I’m sticking to the basics. Now let me warn you that it may seem basic but the flavor is nothing near your ordinary Burrito. My mum who has 100% Filipino palate and ONLY gets food satisfaction from traditional Filipino food dishes, is in fact in love with this recipe. So with that, I…

Apricot crostata is such a beautiful dessert to photograph. That gorgeous orange and golden colored fruit is a treat for the palette and the palate. By now if you have been following my blog for a while you know that my friend Rose is an amazing baker and I have featured so many of her recipes right here on my blog.  Well, I can add another one of her delectable desserts to my catalog, this apricot crostata.

It might be a bit of a tongue twister, but trust me these Chai Cinnamon Rolls are the BEST thing. I was brainstorming ideas for blog posts and incorporating Chai flavours into something was one of them. I figured just amping up the spices in something that already featured one of them would work, and this did!

These rolls are fluffy, feathery, deeply spiced and topped with a rich creamy sweetened condensed milk glaze that isn’t too sweet, but enough to balance everything.
It seems like a lot of ingredients, but trust me it’s not too difficult and the pay off is more than worth it.

What you need:

Dough:

• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active yeast (1/4-ounce package yeast)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 1/4…

We’re on a roll with the fall flavours so let’s keep this going. I like chunky, hearty soups, and anything with potato in it is always win. Ham, potato and leek are the perfect trifecta, and this soup only gets better over time.

Use any potato you wish, I personally prefer Yukon Gold over anything else. Russet is fine but will break down a bit more into the soup so anticipate that.

Make this veggie by omitting the ham and swapping for veggie stock, it’ll be just as delicious.

What you need:

• 8 oz diced ham, bonus points if you can get a ham bone as well
• 1/2 large white onion, diced
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced
• 1.2 cup celery, diced
• 2 medium leeks, white part only, diced (wash these well)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cup yukon gold potato, peeled and cubed
• 32 oz carton low sodium chicken stock

Sometimes you just wanna start your day off right. For this recipe when thinking of a marinade my mind immediately went to coffee. Because its perfect for the theme..breakfast and also I was thinking of red eye gravy. Red eye gravy is a diner classic that is your traditional white gravy with a zip off coffee. These porkchops instantly brought me back to some awesome diner food classics. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

• 1.5lb Center cut boneless pork chops
• 4oz strong espresso, brewed
• 2tsp salt
• 1tsp brown sugar
• 1tsp dried sage
• 2tsp black pepper
• 2tsp garlic powder
• 2tsp onion powder
• 1c flour
• 2c cooking oil

Directions

• To make marinade for porkchops take 1tsp of the following salt, brown sugar, sage, black pepper, garlic and onion powder. Combine with hot espresso, dissolve and let cool.
• Coat pork with marinade and let sit over night.
• When…

Smashed potatoes are one of the best sides dishes especially in a rush, in my opinion.It has every attribute of a steamy baked potato but with some extra crunch and very little time. When I have a lot of potatoes to make i go straight for smashing. You don’t have to worry about splitting the top and filling each individual potato. Just make a pile of them and load them up like they are nachos. These smashed potatoes are perfectly crisp, and creamy with some extra added crunch from the grilled onions. Throw on some meat, like bacon or shredded pork and make it a meal! Try these out and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

• 5 Russet potatoes
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 4 oz blue cheese
• 4TB butter
• salt
• pepper
• sour cream
• 2 green onions, sliced

Directions

• Pork potatoes with a fork and wrap…

Smoked Paprika Roast Chicken Ingredients 2 Tbsp. smoked paprika 2 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 1/2 tsps. salt 1/2 tsps. pepper 1 whole 4-5 lb roasting chicken 4 Tbsp. honey 2 Tbsp. lemon juice Directions 1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Rinse and pat dry the chicken: Rinse the chicken off with…

via Juicy Homemade Rotisserie Chicken — Court’s Cooking Blog

Late summer veggies like tomatoes and zucchini are in abundance right now, and big leafy greens such as Swiss chard are looking gorgeous as ever, while our herb patch is overflowing with herbs.  All these veggies and herbs is what inspired me to make this hearty minestrone soup on this cool September evening.  End of Summer Minestrone Soup. The name says it all!  Loaded with veggies and herbs that are in abundance now, tomatoes and garlic – minestrone is truly our family’s all-time favorite soup.

Rice is a wonderfull ingredient, and Spanish cooks transform it into an array of dishes from simple comfort food to grand feasts to be shared on special occasion. There is something for every taste and every moment.

For those who are already experienced, this recipe has no secret, but for those who are starting with this rice, I will say that I consider it essential to prepare paella several times to catch the “trick” of perfect paella.

One of the most important parts of a good paella is “sofrito”. It is the base that gives flavor and should be composed of tomato and onion, at least.
You have to let it fry for a few minutes until the tomato is reduced and the onion softens, it is that moment in which the “sofrito” is well done.

You will need:

• 400-500 g of chicken (thighs and breast with bone, optionally wings)

Creamy Mushroom Chicken Pastais one of my favourite meals because it’s so easy and quick to make from scratch. This easy chicken in white sauce with mushrooms will become a family favourite! Serve it with freshly cooked pasta for sure one of the tastiest meals you’ll ever make.

You will need:

• 2boneless chicken breasts,thinly sliced
• 1/2cupwhite onion,chopped
• 3cupssliced mushrooms
• 1Tbspbutter
• 2Tbspolive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2cupwhite wine
• 1/2cupchicken stock
• 1/2cupheavy cream
• 1tspcorn starch
• 1Tbspwater
• 1Tbspchopped fresh
• tagliatelle pasta

How to do it:

• In a large skillet heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter together at medium-high temperature. Season chicken with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot and the butter melted fry chicken until browned and cooked through about 2 minutes each side. Take cooked chicken out of the pan and set aside.
• In the same pan add 1 tbsp oil and cook the onion…

This is by far my husband’s favorite way to eat veggies. The key is the tomato paste, white wine and vegetable broth. You can use whatever fresh vegetables that are available to you…I’ve made it with just about every kind of veggie and it always comes out tasty!

If I couldn’t just leave well enough alone I just had to tinker with tacos bells crunch wrap supreme. Let me explain other than the obvious fact that I like to mess with things. Sometimes I just really enjoy knowing whats in my food. Its just an unrealistic expectation to need to be wasted to enjoy taco bell ( I know I lost some of you all here) when you can make it at home and put the things you like and enjoy . For this I opted for carnitas because they are tender and juicy and the perfect meat for this. I also chose Oaxaca cheese because its stringy, creamy and mild enough to let the meat shine. Check this recipe out and let me know what you think!

A quick tip: If you finish with cheese at the crease when it cooks the cheese will seal the gap…