OMG Good eats.

[Oni]

I should also say that I'm an extremely picky eater and that most of your recipes sound like something I would not eat.

So post something you will eat.

Here is a recipe from Good Eats

    
Good Eats Meat Loaf
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

6 ounces garlic-flavored croutons
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and broken
3 whole cloves garlic
1/2 red bell pepper
18 ounces ground chuck
18 ounces ground sirloin
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg

For the glaze:
1/2 cup catsup
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Dash Worcestershire sauce
Dash hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon honey

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a food processor bowl, combine croutons, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme. Pulse until the mixture is of a fine texture. Place this mixture into a large bowl. Combine the onion, carrot, garlic, and red pepper in the food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed. Combine the vegetable mixture, ground sirloin, and ground chuck with the bread crumb mixture. Season the meat mixture with the kosher salt. Add the egg and combine thoroughly, but avoid squeezing the meat.

Pack this mixture into a 10-inch loaf pan to mold the shape of the meatloaf. Onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, turn the meatloaf out of the pan onto the center of the tray. Insert a temperature probe at a 45 degree angle into the top of the meatloaf. Avoid touching the bottom of the tray with the probe. Set the probe for 155 degrees.

Combine the catsup, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and honey. Brush the glaze onto the meatloaf after it has been cooking for about 10 minutes.

      
Recipe Summary
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Episode#: EA1B11
Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_10215,00.html

That was the meatloaf that I made for you that day. It's killer stuff. I have made it a few other times, and love it. It may not be my own creation. But I figured it would be something Rachel would like. LOL

What do you like Rachel?

[Eternimus]

Usually I toast the sesame seeds in the sesame oil, which makes them a bit potent, almost overpowering if you do it right. Then boiling them in the heated honey balances it out pretty well. Give it a shot. It's a huge hit over here. I've made it for hmm... 60 people in my life or so? And they love it. Granted some people might not like it, but eh. We do.  I always thought adding water made it too thin. Less flavor. I have different ways I make it, but some of the things I use in my recipes are far from cheap... so I used the most basic recipe I made when we didn't have much but still wanted to eat more "exotic" meals. I was raised really, really dirt poor. If we wanted to eat something aside from ramen and mac 'n' cheese, it took inventiveness.  So a lot of my recipes, as simple as they seem, are quite good and usually fairly inexpensive. I'll be adding more as I pick through my recipes, tell me what you think.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

My sesame chicken sauce is usually water, honey, soy sauce, fresh ginger juice, and thickened with cornstarch.  Different cooks have different recipes, though.   Personally, I'd never use straight honey because it's expensive!  Disagree?  Okay, you can go shell out $55 for the one gallon bucket of honey for my next batch of mead.

I was raised really, really dirt poor.

Yeah, my family started out that way too.  Back in Pennsylvania when I was 5 or so we ate mostly what my mom could grow out back.  It says a lot about my mom that for all that, our meals were never boring.  I never even tasted store-bought ketchup until I was 6 years old...and turned my nose up to it because it didn't taste anything like my mom's home-made ketchup lol!

Most of the stuff I cook I just don't have a set recipe for, but I'm also not the baker in this family.  Baked goods are much more sensitive to recipe formulation than most entree items.  Consequently, very few of my recipes are stored in any kind of human-readable format (unless you happen to be a mind reader hehe).  Like the aforementioned red beans & rice with the accompanying seasoning blend - all off the top of my head.

Here are some of the few that are:

Beer Batter Anything!

Ingredients:

1 c         All-Purpose Flour
1/3 c      Cornmeal
1 Tb       Salt
1/4 tsp   Cayenne Pepper (more or less to taste)
2 ea       Egg Yolks (omit for crispier batter)
1 Tb       Melted Butter
2/3 c      Top-quality BEER
2 lbs       Firm white fish (halibut, cod, salmon, haddock, etc.) or anything else you want!
1/4 c      Flour for dredging


Directions:

   Preheat your deep fryer to 350°.  Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Add beer, egg yolks, and melted butter.  Whisk to combine.  Let batter stand for 10 - 15 minutes.  Season 1/4 c of flour with salt and pepper.  Dredge each piece of fish (or whatever you are using!) in the seasoned flour and shake of the excess.  Dip each piece then into the batter, and drop into the deep fryer.  Cook until brown and crisp, about 5 minutes for fish.  Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Found this one just now while looking to see which recipes are actually digitally stored on my computer.  Yeah, this is an ooooold recipe!  I'm posting it just for comparison, okay?  I'm not trying to diss Eternimus's recipe.

SESAME CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS
2 whole chicken breasts
-1 egg
-2 Tbs. flour
-2 Tbs. Cornstarch
-2 Tbs. Water
-1 tsp. Salt
-2 tsp. Vegetable oil
-¼ tsp. White pepper (black is OK, too)
-¼ tsp. Baking soda

SAUCE
½ cup water
¼ cup cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1 cup chicken broth
¾ cup vinegar
2 tsp. dark (tamari) soy sauce
2 tsp. Chili paste (or less to taste)
1 tsp. Vegetable oil
1 clove finely minced garlic

CONDIMENT
Vegetable oil for deep/frying
2 Tbs. Toasted sesame seeds
Sesame oil
Chopped scallions

PREPARATION:
Cut chicken into strips about 1 inch by 2 inches by ½ inch thick.  Mix the flour, cornstarch, water, salt, oil, pepper, and baking soda to form a batter.  Add the chicken and let stand 20 minutes or so while you prep everything else.

COOKING:
Mix all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan, then bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly until bubbly and thickened. Keep warm while cooking the chicken.
 
Heat a wok or deep pot and add 3 to 4 cups of oil.  Bring the heat of the oil to 350ºF (you have a frying thermometer, right?).  Fry about 10 pieces of chicken at a time until lightly browned. Remove chicken with a strainer and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the chicken. Always bring the cooking temperature back to 350ºF.
 
Raise the oil temp to 375ºF.  Fry the chicken again until golden brown and crispy.  Toss chicken with sauce, drizzle with sesame oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and garnish with chopped scallions.

Gotta have dessert, too.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:
19.0 oz    Yams - peeled and cubed
1.25 c      Plain yogurt
0.75 c       Brown Sugar
0.50 tsp    Cinnamon
0.50 tsp    Nutmeg (freshly grated, please)
5.00 ea     Egg yolks
0.25 tsp    Salt
1.00 tbsp   Maple syrup
1.00 ea     9" deep-dish pie shell

Special equipment:  Steamer basket

Directions:
Put cubed potatoes into steamer basket and place steamer basket into a large pot of simmering water that is no closer than 2 inches from the bottom of basket. Allow to steam for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Mash with potato masher and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Place sweet potatoes in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment. Add yogurt, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, yolks, and salt; and beat until well combined. Pour this batter into the pie shell and place onto a sheet pan. Sprinkle pecans on top and drizzle with maple syrup.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the custard reaches 165ºF to 180ºF. Remove from oven and cool. Keep refrigerated after cooling.

Serve with whipped cream.  I like a little pie with my whipped cream. =)

.....aaand, that's it.  Wow, I thought I had more recipes on my computer, but most of my digitally-stored recipes are for beer because of the calculations involved in those recipes.

Well, anyway...enjoy.

[Oni]

Why does your sweet potato recipe call for yams? Not sweat potatoes?

[Rachael]

Seriously?  Mostly I like processed food.  Here's a list of the "disgusting" things I like:

-Fast food (especially cheeseburgers)
-Instant or stove top ramen noodles
-Cereal (the kind you see on Saturday morning cartoon commercials)
-Velveeta
-Munchies high in sodium (I LOVE salt).  I could eat an entire bag of Quakes--even two.  Pretzels, I love those.  Cheez-its are OK.  Sunflower seeds (I swallow the shells).  Doritos (not too much, though).  But Quakes are my huge weak spot.
-Ice cream.  I can eat a LOT of that.
-Cookies.  I don't buy them too much because I will go through an entire box--not in one setting, but maybe three.
-White bread

Cooked dishes?  All I can think of are meatloaf and lentils and rice.  Maybe some beef stew on occasion.  I like chicken, but it has to be cut up just right because otherwise I don't like the texture.  Texture is as important as taste.

Here are some things I don't like:

-Vegetables!
-Ham
-Turkey
-Any sliced cheese that's not Velveeta
-Desserts with fruit in them
-Cereals with fruit in them
-Whole-grain bread
-Rye
-Any kind of wheat cereal.  I prefer corn and oat cereal.
-Onions
-Tomatoes (tomato sauce or ketchup is fine, though)
-Dark chocolate
-Fish
-Tofu, unless it's fried

There are so many more, but I can't think of anything else for now.  In addition, I don't like fruit in large quantities.  It appears that the less healthy something is, the more I like it.  I constantly crave carbohydrates, especially anything salty.

It makes me laugh how people are all like, "Oh, you don't need to diet in order to lose weight.  You just need to eat right."  Well, to me, "eating right" IS dieting.  In fact, "eating right" is cutting down the foods I love by 99% and chowing down on food I HATE.

The stuff in the "hate" list can be in food I like, but I have to make an effort to ignore it.  I know meatloaf usually contains onions, but I like it anyway.  In general, though, I'm happier when food doesn't contain these things, and they often make the difference between "good" and "great."

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Why does your sweet potato recipe call for yams? Not sweat potatoes?

Because the two words are generally synonymous in this country.  Botanically, sweet potatoes and yams are two very different plants, but when shopping for sweet potatoes in the supermarket you're often going to find them labeled as yams.  True yams come from Africa and aren't generally available fresh in America, so chances are if you buy some yams over at Fred Meyer, you're really getting some sweet potatoes. 

@Rachael: So...you don't like anything home-made or from scratch.  Wow.  I take back what I said: everything on your hate list pretty much eliminates most every staple food except for chicken, rice, and noodles.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Recipe I described to Oni earlier that he asked me to post for his use:

French Onion Dip

1.50 c     Onion, finely diced (whatever kind of onion you want, I use Vidalias when I can get 'em)
1.00 tb    Olive oil (not extra virgin!)
0.25 ts    Salt

1.50 c     Sour cream
0.75 c     Mayonnaise
0.25 ts    Garlic powder
0.25 ts    White pepper
0.50 ts    Salt

Dips don't get much simpler than this recipe.  Combine the first three ingredients (onion, oil, salt) in a saute pan and cook over medium heat until the onions are thoroughly caramelized.  It'll take about 20 minutes, so be patient.  Once the onions are done, move off to the side to cool while you put the rest of the dip together: combine the remaining ingredients (sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, white pepper, and salt) in an appropriate size bowl.  Once the onions are cool, stir them into the dip.  Cover and refrigerate at least overnight, and make sure you stir the dip before serving it (you'll see why when you do).  This dip will keep for about a week in the refrigerator if kept properly covered (if it lasts that long).

[Oni]

Thuper Thweet thanks dude

[Rachael]

@Rachael: So...you don't like anything home-made or from scratch.  Wow.  I take back what I said: everything on your hate list pretty much eliminates most every staple food except for chicken, rice, and noodles.

Yep.  And people wonder why I'm overweight. (Well, no, they probably don't.  But now they know.)

[Oni]

Your weird

[Oni]

Recipe I described to Oni earlier that he asked me to post for his use:

French Onion Dip

1.50 c     Onion, finely diced (whatever kind of onion you want, I use Vidalias when I can get 'em)
1.00 tb    Olive oil (not extra virgin!)
0.25 ts    Salt

1.50 c     Sour cream
0.75 c     Mayonnaise
0.25 ts    Garlic powder
0.25 ts    White pepper
0.50 ts    Salt

Dips don't get much simpler than this recipe.  Combine the first three ingredients (onion, oil, salt) in a saute pan and cook over medium heat until the onions are thoroughly caramelized.  It'll take about 20 minutes, so be patient.  Once the onions are done, move off to the side to cool while you put the rest of the dip together: combine the remaining ingredients (sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, white pepper, and salt) in an appropriate size bowl.  Once the onions are cool, stir them into the dip.  Cover and refrigerate at least overnight, and make sure you stir the dip before serving it (you'll see why when you do).  This dip will keep for about a week in the refrigerator if kept properly covered (if it lasts that long).

Is the sh**. Though I would say it could use less salt. LOL. Oh and we added home made bacon bits to ours....OHHH that give it a nice touch...though I think I am going to make the bacon a bit more crispy next time. But ya that's  the sh** dip right there.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Any time you're adding bacon to something you will need to cut back or eliminate altogether the amount of salt used in the recipe.  This is plain common sense because bacon is salty stuff.  The salt called for in the first part of the recipe is required, however, because it pulls water out of the sauteing onions and helps them to soften and cook more quickly.  The salt in the latter half of the recipe is purely for seasoning, however, and can be adjusted to taste as you see fit.

Also, home-made bacon bits rule if you're putting them on a salad, but don't expect them to stay crispy for more than half an hour when added to a dip.  Dips contain a lot of water, and water will cause crispy anything to go soggy over a very short time.

[Oni]

Made a second batch of the stuff...

This time added no salt (aside to the onions)

Crisped the bacon a bit more.

And pulled a little bit aside and added some more pepper and some red pepper to it.....that gave it a nice touch. Not enough to be hot, but enough that it gives it a nice small kick as an after taiste.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

And how'd it turn out?

[Oni]

And how'd it turn out?

Really good I thought. Think Next time I make it I am going to put some green onions in it to give it some crunch