Amazing Merguez

Moroccan Lamb "Merguez" Sausage Recipe:

Serves 4 - 5

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground lamb

1/2 lb. combination of bacon and reserved bacon drippings

4 cloves garlic

2 stems of green onions

2 - 3 tablespoons merguez spice mix (see below)

3 to 4 tablespoons harissa (see below)

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Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, starting with the garlic, onions and merguez spice to grind and mix, then adding the bacon mixture, then the ground lamb, and finally the harissa to evenly distribute the spices, herbs and harissa in the meat. Shape as desired. (Alternatively, you can pass the ingredients into sausage casings) For best flavor, allow the merguez to sit for 30 minutes (or longer in the fridge) before cooking.

I choose to grill, which can be tricky without casings, and you want to move them slowly to keep intact and cook through (this is ground meat).

Cook Cous Cous in a rice cooker per its instructions with your choice of shredded veggies.

Merguez spice mix:

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoons

1 teaspoon brown sugar (optional)

Harissa:

Ingredients:

8 to 10 dried red chili peppers

1 plum tomato (squeeze out all juice first)

3 or 4 cloves garlic

1 stem of green onion

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon cloves

3 teaspoons lemon juice

olive oil

Preparation:

Remove the seeds from the dried chili peppers and place them in a bowl. Cover them with very hot water and leave to soften for 30 minutes to an hour.

Drain the chili peppers, and gently squeeze out excess water with a paper towel. Using mini food processor grind the chili peppers, tomato, garlic, onion, salt and spices to a paste. Add the lemon juice and just enough olive oil to moisten the harissa, or add additional olive oil to thin it.

Store unused harissa in an airtight container in the fridge. For long storage, lightly top the harissa with a little oil before covering.

Cranberry Relish

This one is not mine, but a friend has prepared it for a workplace Thanksgiving meal the last 2 years and I adore it, so I am sharing it:

12 oz. Frozen Cranberries (Frozen Bag)
2 Large (3 Med) Granny Smith Apples
8 oz. of Crushed Pineapple (Canned)
3 oz. of Strawberry jello (sugar free works fine)
1 Cup of Hot Water
1/2 Cup of Sugar


Peel Apples
Shred Cranberries and Apples in a food processor
Add crushed Pineapple and pulse to combine

Dissolve Strawberry Jello in hot water, add sugar and dissolve.

Add Jello to mix of cranberries, apples, and pineapple and combine....refrigerate for like 15-20 before serving

Aaron's Turkey Gravy

Deep Fried Turkey is the best, but you need a good gravy. Fortunately, you can take the neck and innards from the thawed turkey and make a killer gravy:

4 tablespoons bacon grease
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons olive oil
Neck and innards from 1 (or 2 small) Turkey(s)
1 large onion, quartered
5 carrots, rough chop
4 stalks of celery, rough chop
1 head garlic, sliced
8 allspice berries
8 black peppercorns
Chopped Herbs as desired (Sage, Parsley, Thyme)
5 cups low-sodium turkey or chicken broth
5 Cups of Water
Salt & Pepper


Melt the bacon grease, butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium heat; add the flour all at once whisking vigorously. When mixture thins and starts to bubble, reduce heat to low and cut back on the whisking. Cook until you smell a toasty aroma then cook 2 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Cool and refrigerate the roux until ready to make gravy.

Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add turkey neck and giblets cook for 20 minutes. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, herbs, and peppercorns and cook for 5 minutes. Add the Water, cook for 15 minutes. Add the broth/stock, let simmer for 2 hours on low heat. Strain the liquid and clean the pot. Put Stock back into pot and put on heat; add cold roux. Cook and Stir for 10 - 15 minutes until not lumpy (Adding flour for desired thickness)

Season to taste with Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Parsley, Cayenne Pepper, Garlic Powder and Allspice

Aaron's Favorite Coleslaw

VEGGIES

1 large green cabbage (shredded or finely chopped)

1 large red cabbage (shredded or finely chopped)

1 jalapeno, finely sliced

1 large vidalia onion, finely sliced

4 large red bell peppers, finely sliced

6 green onions, finely sliced

6 large carrots, shredded

DRESSING

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons celery seeds

3 tablespoons ballpark mustard

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

2/3 cup olive oil (substitute peanut, vegetable, or canola oil, if desired)

1/3 cup of lemon and lime juice (ratio is not important)

1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 cloves of fresh mashed garlic (optional)

Shred Veggies in Food Processor, put in mixing bowl - Put all Dressing Ingredients in Food Processor to emulsify.

Mix together - Let sit in fridge 24 hours and serve (preferably with pulled pork sandwiches)

Shark Stir Fry

I did a shrimp boil last weekend for the leadership of our church, so while I was in Publix tonight picking up children's advil, I was excited to see Andouille Sausage normally $4.98 a pack selling at 2 for $6. I grabbed 2 packs and was looking for some veggies for dinner and accidentally :) got stopped at the Seafood counter. They had something new that intrigued me, Shark Loin Steaks, so I felt that I had to try it since they said I could bring it back for a full refund if I did not like it. That is how this crazy recipe came together in my mind, and it was also affected by watching Bobby Flay make an enormous Seafood Paella on a grill last week on TV. Here's my recipe for the best meal Cara and I (even Landon and Noah wanted to try some Shark, "since Fish are Friends, not Food") have had in some time (and for the record, we eat pretty good):

This recipe will feed 3 unless one of you is hungry and then it is really for 2, for larger groups we'd have to tinker with the recipe...

Ingredient List:

6 Small or Red Potatoes

Old Bay Seasoning

Olive Oil

Sesame Oil

Soy Sauce

Sesame Seeds

Butter

Asparagus (roughly the same volume as the 6 potatoes)

1/4 Vidalia Onion (finely chopped)

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 Stalk of celery (minced)

1 carrot (to shave into stir fry)

Shark (roughly 3/4 Ilb)

Andouille Sausage (Johnsonville Brand are about the size of a Hot Dog, I used 3 of those)

In a Pot, add water to cover a little more than 6 small or red potatoes and 1 tablespoon of Old Bay Seasoning and bring to a boil. Dice, then add the Potatoes, cook for about 15 minutes, add the Asparagus for the last 3 minutes. Dump into a colander and rinse with cold water.

Cut Sausages into smaller chunks (I cut at an angle, so more of the interior is exposed to brown) and cut Shark Meat into half inch cubes. Heavily season the Shark meat with Old Bay Seasoning on all sides.

In a Frying Pan, add roughly 2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, and Butter. Heat, add Onion, Garlic, Celery. Cook for about 5 minutes on high heat, stirring and picking up the pan frequently. Add the sausage, cook about 4 minutes until you start to brown the exposed surface of the sausage. Add the Shark give it between 1 and 2 minutes (check one cube, it should barely be cooked through) and then add the potatoes, carrots, and asparagus. Cook just long enough to get the potatoes and asparagus hot. (Again constant attention and stirring is important to avoid burning). Right before pulling off, add some sesame seeds and Old Bay Seasoning on top and stir one last time. Remove from heat and and scoop into bowls to serve.

Notes - Keep Olive Oil on hand. If it starts to dry out, add some - I found the shark meat absorbed alot of the moisture so added a couple tablespoons after that. Also, if you time it well, the potatoes and Asparagus will come out of the pot, get rinsed (to keep the asparagus a pretty green color), and add directly into the stir fry. This minimizes the chance of overcooking the shark and sausage.

I usually prefer a sweet stir-fry, so I'll probably try to work in some pineapple and pineapple juice next time. I'm also tempted to grill the sausage first, and then just throw it in with the shark.

Mahi Mahi - Oscar Style

It's been a long while since I posted a recipe, a combination of being busy and other priorities (including playing HALO REACH)... Today I was thinking about Bonefish Grill's Swordfish Oscar we have had the last two October's, so I went to Publix looking for Asparagus and Swordfish. Much to my dismay they had neither, I asked Mike in Produce to check in the back and he found some Asparagus, but no Swordfish. I settled for Mahi Mahi on sale in the display case and then noticed some lump crab meat and thought about trying to do it Oscar style, my recipe from today is below:

Prep Time:

The first thing to do is to make the crab patties for cooking later, it's best to do this a few hours a head of time. Ingredients needed for the crab cakes are:

1 rib of celery
1/4 Medium Vidalia Onion
1/3 Red Bell Pepper
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Tblspn Reserved Bacon Grease
8 or 9 Saltine Crackers
Approx. 1/4 Cup of Herbs (I used Parsley and Basil)
8 oz Crab Meat
1 Tblspn Lime Juice
1 Tspn of Old Bay Seasoning
A pinch of Salt, Pepper, Cayenne Pepper
1 Egg
1 Tblspn Half & Half

Finely Dice the Celery, Onion, Bell Pepper and Garlic and put in a hot skillet (Bacon Grease should be in the skillet, heated back up to a liquid state if previously refrigerated) for about 3 minutes, just to get the vegetables translucent. Finely chop the herbs and crush the Saltines and place everything in a mixing bowl, save the egg and Half & Half, and mix it up. Beat the Egg and and add the Half & Half, pour into the mixing bowl. Make small patties out of the mixture and place in the refrigerator to set.

For the sauce, we'll make a Chimichurri. We'll need:

1 Bunch of Parsley
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
1/2 Medium Vidalia Onion
10 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tspn of Salt
1 Tspn of Pepper
1 Tspn of Hot Pepper Flakes
Splash of Cider Vinegar
1 Tblspn of Lime Juice
3/4 Cup of Olive Oil

Put everything beside the Parsley and Olive Oil in a Food Processor and chop fine. Add Parsley and Chop until it is fine. Add Olive Oil Slowly and only process enough to emulsify. The less that you process the chunkier the Chimichurri will be which is best.

Take 2 Tablespoons of Chimichurri to marinate with the Fish for about 3 hours (I bought a pack of 2 Mahi Mahi Fillets from Publix). Also, snap the Asparagus and make into rafts (take 4 or 5 stalks and put 2 toothpicks through them to make a mini raft). Brush on a couple of tablespoons of Chimichurri on the Asparagus (enough to cover them on both sides.

Cooking Time:

In a frying pan put 2 tablespoons of Butter and 2 tablespoons of Oil (I used Peanut Oil). Heat - Add the Crab Cake Patties and cook until Dark Brown, approx. 3 minutes per side depending on heat. When done, put the Crab Cakes on tin foil, as they will go to the grill to stay warm.

Oil Grill Grates - This is Critical when Grilling Fish (I put some vegetable oil on a napkin and rub the grates and then spray with Pam Cooking Spray)

Crank the Grill to High Heat - We want to handle the fish as little as possible (Hopefully, 3 times before taking them off)

Put the Fish on the Grill. At about 3 minutes you should be able to slide a spatula under without much sticking, if so, turn at a 90 degree angle. After another 3 minutes flip the fish (you should see a good sear on the top and if not, it may need to cook a little longer). At this point put the Asparagus rafts on the grill and put the Crab Cakes (on tin foil) and the top warming rack of your grill. Flip the Asparagus every minute or so to avoid burning, with high heat they need about 5 minutes on the grill. You'll be turning the Mahi Mahi at 3 minutes, and then at 12 minutes total, you should be pulling it off. With any Luck, it will look like this:

I made a Large Crab Cake :)

John's Pass - Maderia Beach, FL

If one finds themself at John's Pass, I implore you to stop at the Friendly Fisherman Restaurant and order the Grouper Sandwich Cajun Style. You will not be disappointed.A huge filet of fresh Grouper battered in Cajun Seasoning and Deep Fried, served with amazing corn donuts. BP will have to watch out for me if their oil mess messes with the Grouper used for that sandwich, because it is definitely a fav. I certainly must love this creation as I wrote about it first last September, but after enjoying another a re-post was definitely in order.

Fish City Grill

I have never promoted Fish City Grill before, and I am not sure why. Cara and I love our meals there. I usually get blackened or fried catfish, but this weekend tried Barramundi for the first time with Jerk Seasoning and Pineapple Pico. It was an amazing, huge hunk of fish filet that I savored until just before the Kentucky Derby started. High recommendations for Fish City Grill if you have one around you and of course the Australian Saltwater fish Barramundi.

The Real Ultimate Sandwich

Kind of looked at this afterwards and thought I may have seen it as a kid on Scooby Doo. The real ultimate sandwich is awesome because it needs no condiments or seasoning and yet is moist and highly flavorful.

Ingredients:

5 Thin Freshly Fried Slices of Bacon
3 Pieces of Bread (2 of them Toasted to your preference)
4 Sandwich Slice size pickles (Vlassic Zesty Dill)
Lettuce
Tomato
Pepperoni

Take the first toasted piece of bread and set 1/2 of the lettuce on it. Then place 2 pickle slices and all the tomato slices. Top with Bacon and then untoasted piece of bread. Next, stack remaining lettuce, pickles and all of the pepperoni. Finally slap that last piece of toast on top. The pickles and tomato keep this nice and moist, and the zesty dill pickles have a little kick to go with the pepperoni. This beast is big, so you have to prepared to take big bites, but it is worth it.

Chimichurri - Ribeyes and Asparagus

Cara and I went out for Valentine's Day a night early. Pretty much everything got messed up and we couldn't even find anywhere to eat... Sadly we went to Publix to get a few things for the week and were awed by the display of steaks in the meat dept. I was making a Chimichurri sauce for some Halibut my brother delivered from Alaska (hopefully more on that tomorrow night), so I said why not get some of these awesome steaks, since we weren't going out, and make dinner. We grabbed 1" thick aged ribeyes for $5.99/lb. Cara went to get some icecream and on the way grabbed some fresh asparagus and this amazing recipe came together.

We had baked potatoes nothing to complicated there, but I used all of the olive oil on the chimichurri (recipe below), so I coated the asparagus and steaks with chimichurri and salt and pepper before throwing them on the grill. Steaks get 4 minutes on the oiled grill on highest heat and then a quarter turn, another 4 minutes and a flip. 4 more minutes and a quarter turn and then 4 more minutes and done to about medium (should feel like the pad under your thumb if you are touching your thumb and ring finger together). The asparagus goes on the grate after flipping the steaks and for maybe a minute a side to char a little, then set it on the steak and let it stay hot and get some of the steak flavor. (The asparagus is snapped and then 4 or pieces are put together with toothpicks acting like skewers to make a raft)

The steaks were amazing, I poured a little chimichurri on top after cooking, but the asparagus stole the show. It was the best that Cara or I had ever had. Steven Raichlen gets the credit for the chimichurri recipe (with a few minor tweaks) and the asparagus idea. Sorry, I can't share this food with everyone, but it is a fairly pricey meal :-)

Chimichurri:

1 Large Bunch Fresh Flat Parsley (Washed & Stemmed)
10 cloves of Garlic
1/3 medium vidalia onion
5 tblspns of water and white vinegar
2 tspn of course sea salt
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1 tspn hot pepper flakes
1 tspn ground black pepper
3/4 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients, save the olive oil, in a food processor and in brief bursts bring to a fine chop. Slowly add the olive oil, processing as little as possible so you keep a course sauce. Should store in the fridge a few weeks, but will lose its color after a couple of days.

Super Party

Getting ready for a Super Bowl Party, mostly working with tried and true recipes but I did come up with this killer chicken wing sauce...

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wing Sauce
1 cup apple sauce
1 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
6 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon red chili flakes, medium heat to extra spicy
1 teaspoon corriander
1 teaspoon majoram
add Honey and Sesame Seeds to taste

You want to simmer this for a while, maybe 30 minutes to have it reduce nearly half and get sticky.

And yes, I do love my wife and only partially for letting me have this hobby and assisting when possible..

Spice & Roasted Banana Ice Cream

I'm Back. I haven't come up with a lot of new recipes over the last few months, but I hit one tonight getting ready for a BBQ tomorrow. The real test will be tomorrow; however, I was confident when Cara like it since she does not like Banana flavored things. In full disclosure, I based this recipe on others I saw on-line and modified to my liking, but it is not completely original like the Key Lime Pie Ice Cream...

Here it is...

• 8 ripe bananas

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 2 Tbsp butter

• 2 cups whole milk

• 1 cup of cream

• 8 Tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• juice of 1 lemon

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp white pepper

• ½ tsp cloves

• 1 tsp nutmeg

• 2 tsp cinnamon



Chop 7 of the bananas into coins and toss them in the brown sugar and butter (chopped into small pieces) in a baking dish. Bake in a 400°F oven for 45 minutes, stirring once.

Once time is up, the bananas should be fairly browned and juicy. Scrape the contents of this pan (bananas and syrup) into a blender/food processor along with the milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon, and salt and puree til nice and smooth. Cover and chill this in the fridge for a few hours.

Once things are sufficiently cooled down, churn the mixture in your ice cream maker per the instructions that came with yours for about 20 minutes. I sliced (into small bits) the eighth banana, and once time is ready per your ice cream churn's directions, mix it in. Promptly transfer this to the freezer and let it sit overnight to take on the right texture.

Swords

This post has nothing to with Swords, but I have taken some minor grief for the many posts about food on this blog. We went to Bonefish Grill this week, one of our favorite restuarants. I almost always get Gulf Grouper or Halibut with Chimichurri Sauce (depending on which is in season) and the garlic whipped potatoes. This time though, the specials looked very interesting so I tried something else. The server said it is a new special for Bonefish, and I hope they keep it. The amazing meal of the week, a Swordfish Steak with a Crab Cake on top and served on a bed of Asparagus and Garlic Whipped Potatoes. Amazing! Out!

EPCOT - Cara's B-Day

We went to Disney for Cara's B-day. We spent most of our time at EPCOT, and Cara reccomended that I should mention the incredible food. The annual Food & Wine festival is going on with food and wine from all over the world, but we decided to save that for dinner. We did lunch at Teppan Edo at EPCOT, which is the Japanese restuarant where they cook everything out in front of you. What a delightful meal, the only small dissapointment was we apparently had a rookie chef who wasn't nearly the show-off that most of the other chef's were. I had the New York Strip and Cara had Chicken and Shrimp and we shared some. Amazing taste and quality, and while pricey, definetly an enjoyable experience.

Later for dinner, we walked the world showcase at EPCOT and samled cuisine from around the world. The favorite for both us hands down was Argentina where they had Beef Empanadas and Beef Skewers on Mashed Potatoes covered in Chimichurri sauce. The worst was without question the Chiptotle Chicken Taco at Mexico, although their Pork Tacos were OK. Cara loved the Boston Crab Cakes they had outside the US Section of the Showcase and we both loved the South African meal of Beef Tenderloin with Mango BBQ Sauce and Mashed Sweet Potatoes. Germany had Apple Strudles which Cara enjoyed. My feet were hurting because I walked all day in my Sandals, so I started skipping some spots, but the food in Morocco smelled amazing and in the future I would love to try the Crawfish Gumbo from New Orleans, the Pork Skewers from Brazil and the Lamb Sliders from New Zealand. So much good food to try, but it is not easy on the wallet, so plan ahead accordingly.

Chocolate Coffee Toffee Ice Cream

You'll want to get all your ingredients laid out first, because you have to move fast once you start:

1 1/2 Cups of Whole Milk
1/2 Cup of Coffee Creamer (Hazelnut)
1 3/4 Cups of Heavy Cream
1 Cup of Vanilla Yogurt
1 Cup of Dutch Process Unsweetened Chocolate Powder
2/3 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Instant Expresso Powder
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla
Pinch of Salt
1 Cup Toffee (Either Toffee for Baking or Crushed Heath Bars)

Mix the Chocolate Powder, Sugars, and Expresso Powder in large bowl. Heat the Milk and Creamer in a pot for a few minutes. Heat, while stirring, until you get the mixture to 125F (you'll need a candy or fryer thermometer to check this). Add the Dry Chocolate, Sugars, and Expresso mix and continue to stir while heating to 155F. Remove from Heat

Add Heavy Cream and Yogurt to hot mixture. Also, add the Vanilla and Salt.

Let the mixture chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Add to Ice Cream Maker and let process. Add the Toffee with about 5 minutes of churning time left.

Because of the light dairy in the recipe, freeze overnight to allow to harden, it should melt at about the same pace of store bought ice cream.

Catching Up...

It's been a while... I have perfected my Baked Beans since my last post and created a good mild Jamaican jerk type seasoning for chicken; however, today is all about the restaurants I visited over the last month that stood out.

We were on vacation for a few weeks in August and I have been traveling frequently for business, so there were a few really good stops.

First, Legal Seafood in Reagan National Airport. One of the best seafood chains I have ever enjoyed; however, I am angry with them because they closed the airport location prior to latest pass through Reagan. This blatant disregard for my travel schedule does not put them high on my list.

Second, there were two very memorable stops on vacation. We were across the street from St. John Pass in St. Petersburg, and I must give the highest praise to the Friendly Fisherman & Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The Friendly Fisherman had a fried Cajun grouper sandwich which is easily the best fish sandwich I have ever eaten, and these corn doughnuts sprinkled with sugar that tasted great and seemed healthy due to the corn. I had reservations about Bubba Gump, thinking it was merely a ruse to sell expensive low quality food to Forrest Gump fans. Boy was I wrong. They serve shrimp many ways, all of which are great tasty, and have great fish entrees. Their Hush Puppies are quite different and very good and they have some of the best service I have ever experienced.

Next, back on travel for work, we went to Old Ebbitt Grill in downtown Washington DC. This place is one of the best because of great food for good prices. The place was huge next to the Treasury Building on 15 Street in DC 1 block from the National Mall. Looking from the outside we were expecting $40 or $50 a plate, but all of the entrees were between $10 and $20 with large portions and crazy taste. There fresh cherry tomatoes made some of the best Bruschetta I have ever had and I also had phenomenal empanadas with Pork and Potatoes and some of the best Fish and Chips I think you can get in the US. This place is a super high recommendation when visiting DC.

Finally, my Great-Grandmother Nana passed away last week and my Dad and I made the trip to North Carolina for the Memorial Service. We had a 10 hour drive. At some point my dad said we were going through Savannah, Georgia and so I recommended we check out Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. I must say that it was little pricey, but they had some of the best Fried Chicken and Sweet Potato Casserole that I have ever eaten. Definitely worth a visit whenever you are passing through Savannah. We also got lucky on a Friday night and had no wait, but I have heard it can be pretty long, so plan ahead.

Oh well... I feel I have caught up now. I had an ear infection and lost a few days of life in bed dizzy and sleeping, but other than that, still working on new crowd pleasers to post later.

Cinnamon Discs

We had Fish Tacos for diner. Blackened Catfish covered with a Homemade Pico Sauce in Deep Fried Corn Tortillas. While it was a great meal, it is too complicated to post right now. We did accidentally discover cinnamon discs; however, and that simple recipe is below.

You want a Cinnamon/Sugar recipe of 4 parts Sugar to 1 part Cinnamon (very pale brown color when mixed).

Heat some oil up in a frying pan, drop a soft corn tortilla in the hot oil. The tortilla should bubble up when it hits the oil. Let it cook unitl slightly brown and crunchy (less than a minute on each side). You can use your tongs to try and shape the tortilla while coooking.

Remove from the oil and coat with Cinnamon/Sugar mix and shake off excess. It's that easy, enjoy!

Most Amazing Ice Cream - "Key Lime Pie Ice Cream"

All I can say is WOW! Cara is making a Key Lime Pie Sunday, so I thought I would try to one up her and make Key Lime Ice Cream. Amazing! You'll want to get all your ingredients laid out first, because you have to move fast once you start:

1 1/2 Cups of Whole Milk
1 3/4 Cups of Heavy Cream
1 Cup of Vanilla Yogurt
Zest of 1 Lemon and 1 Lime
1 3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup of Lime Juice (2/3 Cup if you find actual Key Lime Juice, which is better)
1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
1 3 oz packet of Lime Gelatin
1 Cup Crushed Graham Crackers

Let the Milk and Gelatin sit in a pot for a few minutes before adding heat. Heat, while stirring, until you get the mixture to 125F (you'll need a candy or fryer thermometer to check this). Add the sugar and continue to stir while heating to 175F. Immediately remove from heat and add the Lemon and Lime Zest and Juices. Stir to mix.

Place Heavy Cream and Yogurt in a mixing bowl. Slowly add hot mixture to the cream and yogurt, by adding a little at a time and stirring and then adding a little more until all of the ingredients (save the graham crackers) have been mixed together.

Let the mixture chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Add to Ice Cream Maker and let process. Add the crushed Graham Crackers with about 5 minutes of churning time left.

Because of the light dairy in the recipe, freeze overnight to allow to harden, it should melt at about the same pace of store bought ice cream.

Aaron's Bacon Burgers & Fries

Back-to-back days of feel good meals!

These are Big Burgers and this meal feeds 5 comfortably!

3 Large Baking Potatoes
2 lbs of Ground Chuck (Ground Sirloin for a slightly finer taste at a much higher price)
1/8 Cup of Pickle Juice
3/8 Cup of A1 Steak Sauce
1/4 Cup of Ketchup
1/4 Cup of Mustard
1/2 Tspn of Black Pepper
8 Slices of Bacon
1/3 Cup of Sugar
Salt Shaker
Vegetable Oil
Lettuce
Tomatoe
Pickles
Cheese
Fresh Hamburger Buns

1) Add some oil to a Frying Pan and fry the Bacon. Let Bacon cool. Transfer the remaining Oil and Bacon Grease to a Fryer. After Bacon cools, break into small pieces.
2) Take Ground Chuck and make 10 patties (you want them to be pretty flat less than 1/2 inch and pretty big in diameter).
3) Sprinkle Bacon bits on 5 patties and then stack a patty on top, You will want to pick each combined patty up and seal the edges together and then flatten together a little bit. Also, Push a thumbprint in the top side of the patty so that the burger doesn't ball up on the grill.
4) Mix the Pickle Juice, A1, Ketchup, Mustard and Black Pepper
5) Place Sauce from above and Patties in Fridge
6) Slice the Potatoe into thin (1/4 inch slices).
7) Mix Sugar and Hot water in a bowl, stir to dissolve sugar (You need enough water to cover potatoes). Add potatoes and let sit for 30 minutes.
8) Slice lettuce, tomatoe, and cheese to top burger later and put in fridge.
9) Heat up Oil and Bacon Grease in Fryer. Once at 300 F, add potatoes. Leave in Fryer until the potatoe bubbles and is crispy, then remove and add salt. (Probably have to cook in batches).
10) Place Burgers on hot grill (make sure to lubricate the grill first). When nearly cooked through (Burger should feel like the pad of skin under your thumb while touching your thumb and ring finger together), brush on the sauce made in step #4. Coat both sides before removing burgers from grill.
11) Add toppings to burger as desired with Potatoe Chips from step #9 on the burger or on the side.

Enjoy.

Chicken Wings

OK, continuing my blogs themes of Food & Recipes (Travel and Things are good to), I bring you my go to wing recipe:

I like my wings with a little bit of deep fried flour crust, but real light so that some of the regular skin is exposed and drenched in a tangy BBQ sauce.

Start with 12 Chicken Wings, cut-off the Wing Tip piece and trash and then cut the remaining Wing Section and Drumette section into two pieces (usually you can go through the joint pretty easily). You want to marinade 6 - 10 hours in a mixture of 1/2 cup of butter and a 1/2 cup of your favorite hot sauce.

Put some Vegetable Oil and Bacon Grease in your Deep Frier or Frying Pan to start heating up (you want it hot 300 F minimum when you put the first batch in).

Drain the wings from the butter and hot sauce. I sprinkle the following mixture into the bowl with the wings. I do half of it and then toss the wings and then dump in the other half:

1/3 cup of flour
1 Tblspn Black Pepper
1 Tblspn Paprika
1 Tspn Cayane Pepper
1 Tspn Garlic Salt
1 Tspn Chili Powder

As soon as the Oil is ready, start Frying (I have a Fry Daddy, so I can only do 7 -8 wings at a time, so I am looking at 3 batches). I have added a baking step later so that they are all hot when I am ready to eat.

I leave them in between 4 & 7 minutes, each batch gets a little shorter as the oil is hotter. You are looking for a brown to dark brown exterior for anywhere there was flour. Cooking through is not a concern, because we will baking them.

Once they are all fried, I dunk them in the sauce below (I often leave a few naked for cara to dunk in ranch post-baking, and you could certainly add a littler butter to hot sauce if you wanted hot wings).

1/2 Cup of Ketchup
1 Tblspn Cider Vinegar
2 Tblspn Worchestire Sauce
1 Tspn A1 Steak Sauce
1 Tspn Lime Jiuce
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tspn Pepper
A pinch of Garlic Salt

(mix well, dunk wings, and then place on an oiled baking sheet)

Bake at 275 F for 10 - 12 minutes.

In the meantime, gather any Ranch, Blue Cheese, Hot Sauce and Sliced Celery that you want to add to the feast. This recipe can certainly be done for groups, just look to keep the ratios about the same.

Enjoy!

Awesome Baked Bean Recipe

I was messing around trying to create a game-time snack Sunday night and came across this number with some of my own twists:

• 1 - 15 oz Can of Black Beans (Rinsed and Drained)
• 1 - 15 oz Can of Pinto Beans (Rinsed and Drained)
• 1 - 15 oz Can of Navy 'Great Northern' Beans (Rinsed and Drained)
• 1 - 15 oz Can of Spicy Chili Beans
• 1 - Small to Medium Vidalia Onion
• 1 - Jalapeno
• 4 or 5 - Green Onions
• 1 1/4 Cup - Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
• 2/3 Cup - Strong Brewed Coffe
• 2 Tablespoons - Worchestire Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon - A1 SteakSauce
• 1/2 Cup - Hormel Real Bacon Bits
• 10 Strips - Bacon
• 2/3 Cup - Brown Sugar

Finely Chop Vidalia Onion and Green Onions or Run through a Food Processor (Should be about 2/3 Cup chopped). Fry the 6 strips of Bacon until crispy.

Mix all ingredients, except for the 6 slices of Bacon, together in a bowl. Place the 6 strips of Bacon neatly on top of the beans. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 275 degrees uncovered.

WOW! What a Meal!

Cara and I went to GrillSmith for a Valentine's Day lunch. Wow, can't believe that I have never been. Probably the best restuarant I have ever been to. They 5 locations (2 in Tampa, Lakeland, Brandon, and St. Pete).

The Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wrap appetizer is one the favorite things that I ever eaten. Then the Chicken BLT Wrap was amazing also. Just wanted to let everyone know about the awesome food. Lunch prices are reasonable ($8.50 for the appetizer & $9 for the Chicken BLT Wrap).

Stuff

Grill Gloves, a TV, NHL 2009 were all checks. Landon and I got a seat for my bike so he can ride. Cara also bought Civilation Revolution which we have both wasted a lot of time at.

I have passed all sections of the CPA Exam and am waiting on my packet from the State of Florida. Great Holiday Season.

Christmas List

Amid many requests, I am going to post my Christmas Wish List. I will be editing it as I think of more things that I want:


1) I have changed my mind on Call of Duty 5 (XBOX 360); however, I need a new game and am looking for suggestions
2) Grilling Gloves (So I do not burn myself again)
3) Funds to Build a a covered area in the back for my grill and an attached Pergola
4) Flat Screen TV for the Bedroom (Mostly Cara's Request)
5) Seat to put on my Bike for Landon
6) A college fund for Landon :-)
7) Funds to start a Swingset for Landon
8) A Cruise
9) Cash for Jeans, Pants, and Shoes (these things are in order, so this is a low priority)

***That's all I can think of for now***

Awesome Picture Foward from Work...

Home

There has been some concern. So I will add a final post saying that I made it home safely and was glad to see my wife and son.

Switzerland 09/05

Last Post. After a busy two weeks, it is time to leave. I am very excited to get home, but have immensely enjoyed my time here. As I am preparing for 18 hours of planes and airports tomorrow, I thought I would reflect on the last two days after I received a complaint on yesterday's update.
First, I went out before lunch while computer was getting some work updates and walked parts of the town for the last time on this visit. I did work the camera some, so there are some pictures attached today. I also stopped by McDonalds as some asked for pictures of that landmark. The only US Stores I remember seeing are one Dominoe's Pizza, and about 10 McDonalds. They are literally everywhere.
Last night, I went out with some from the office to a Restuarant that the Clinton's visited on their first trip to Geneva. The restuarant has a nice plaque outside commerating the occasion. I had some air dried meats as an appetizer which I think was like raw beef jerky. It was pretty good, so I ate it and didn't really ask how it was made. I had Lamb for the main course, which is one my favorites, and something I had not had yet on this trip.
Busy day at work, but I had to take a long lunch because my computer was getting Windows Security updates. We went to a restuarant close to my hotel and I had the Lake Geneva Perch. This is one of my favorite meals here, prepared many different ways, and I wanted to enjoy it one more time before leaving. So much looked good there, I went back for dinner. I had their Barbecue Chicken, which didn't have sauce, but was excellent. Two portions of chocolate mouse today, and I definetely have to prepare myself for a diet change soon. Keep me in your prayers as I travel back tomorrow, as the ride over was not good for me.

Switerland 09/04

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. Got busy with work and more rain outside. It has cleared up a little bit today, so I am going to try and take some pics on my lunch break.

Switzerland 09/03

Super Busy Day! In the office from 8 to 8, and it was pouring all day. I'm told that it is very infrequent to get rain that hard in Geneva. I guess I can trade the bad day for all of the great weather that I have had. Running Late in the rain and craving fast food, I hit a McDonalds tonight. 5 things from the US menu: Big Mac, Filet of Fish, Chicken McNuggets, Fries, and the McFlurry. I had them all (Just Kidding). The Chicken McNuggets were a little different than back home, but basically the same (the batter was a little different). The fries are exactly the same.
Lots of rain so no pictues again. Sorry, no pictures seem to becoming a habit.

Switzerland 09/02

Long Day. With everyone back to work in the US, all kinds of things sprung up in the afternoon. Gorgeous weather is back in Geneva.
I received comments about the focus on food on this blog, and all I can say is that am meal even by yourself takes about 2 hours minimum. This means it is about all I do on days that I work.
Tonight I went to quick chicken place. It was not quite like when I smoke it at home, but it was good. The most amazing thing was the ice cream. It was coconut ice cream served in a coconut husk. It was amazing and cool, but about half way through I wondered to myself, "How many people have eaten out of this husk?" It certainly doesn't seem sanitary or cost effective to do it that way, but it was good enough that I put the thought out of my mind.

Switzerland 09/02 - Lunch

Wow. Lunch was amazing. The sandwich I had was so-so, because of too much mayo. However, I had a piece of apple pie, but instead of a crust on the bottom they used a thin slice of sponge cake. Additionally, the whole piece of pie was submerged in sticky chocolate sauce and then allowed to cool and harden. Simply Amazing. I wish I had brought my camera.

Switzerland 09/01

Labor Day. For me Labor Day meant going to work. Today was the first day that the weather wasn't beautiful, and it was cloudy enough that we did not go outside much and I didn't get to take any pictures. I was glad to see on-line that Hurricane Gustav was not nearly as bad as it could have been. I had pizza with spicy salami for dinner, which was excellent.

Switzerland 08/31

I spent a few hours at the museum today, but I was not allowed to take pictures. The museum in Geneva was very different than the Smithsonian or other museums in the US. There was a definite focus on Western Europe history, but their exhibits were much older than typical ones in the US. A few things that stuck out were all of the Roman & Egyptian Scultures. They had several intact Mummy casings which were pretty cool. They also had a room on Swiss Warfare History. This room was loaded with canons, guns, swords, and metal armor. They even had sets of armor that horses wore. I was not allowed to take pictures, so I took some pictures of my hotel today.
One note, nearly everyone in Geneva smokes. I have been trying to eat outside because the weather in gorgeous and most restaurants do not have AC. However, I have forgotten (since Florida's indoor clean air act) just have disgusting smoking can be for those around sometimes. It is nice that the weather has been so incredible. I am excited to see how well the Rays keep playing.

Switzerland 08/30

Today was a restful day in Geneva. I went to the Reformation Museum and Park this afternoon. I have lots of pictures from those sites. The Park was pretty cool, because it has over 100 different types of trees. The park also has a huge wall dedicated to the history of the reformation, and I tried to capture it in a number of photos. I also took a couple of hours to walk near Lake Geneva and listen to my CPA Prep materials.
One note, it is odd just how many people have dogs in the city, but they are always in control of them on the street or in the park. It is very different because the dogs go into stores and places with people or sometimes just sit patiently outside.

Switzerland 08/29

A night in France. Our trip to Annecy was smooth. It was funny to here the Swiss talk about the French. One such joke was, When God was creating the world, he created France and called it Heaven on earth. His assistant said, We are in Heaven, you cannot create another one on earth, so they created the French people. Obviously, that was not true, but it shows what the peoples sometimes think of another.
Annecy was a beautiful town, described to be similiar to Venice, Italy. Lake Annecy which is so clean that you can see to the bottom (although on our boat tour we did not see any fish), and starts a river that has many brnaches that flow through the old city. My understanding is parts of the old town section are over 500 years old, but the only dated stone I could find said construction of the building was completed in 1690. There were many castles around lake, but we could not get close enough for good pictures. All of the mountain ranges have paragliders and we were tempted to go try it out. The color of the old buildings' plasters on the outside was amazing and very different from anything that I have seen before.
We had some Glace (icecream) which was clearly the best that I had ever eaten. My dinner consisted of Fried Lake Perch and French Fries with a Chocolate Mouse desert. It was very good. Our waitress appeared to be very rude at the beginning per the French stereotype, but she ended up being very pleasant. Most people spoke english which was good for us.
The rental car ride over there was breathtaking, Ryan did a fine job of driving but it was often like the little car that could barely making it up each incline and coming home the lights in the car only went out about 20 feet when we were on a major French highway (A40). The scenery of the French countryside was amazing. The rest of the team from Lakeland are headed home today, while I am staying to help with the accounting close next week. I will probably do less travel for this second week, but the trip to France yesterday was definetly well worth it.

Switzerland 08/28

Interesting Day, and all of the pictures are of food. Lunch was at a "Sushi Train" Restuarant, but because I could not read the menu I could not get myself to eat the raw food. I had Terryaki Chicken, but had to use Chopsticks which was a challenge for me.

Dinner was a 4 hour affair with several people from the Geneva Office. We went to an Indian Cuisine Restaurant which was excellent. The first course was a Tortilla of sorts with spicy beans baked into the chip. The second course was a Lamb Patty and Fried Onions. The third course was Tangori Chicken with rice, pita bread, shrimp, and lamb. The shrimp and lamb respectively, were in types of gravy that was for the rice and bread. The desert was a cake and ice cream. It was an excellent meal and a good time.

I may not be able to post tomorrow, as a group of us are going to rent a car and head to Annecy, France for dinner and touring the city. Regardless, I should have some non-food pictures on the site again soon.

Switzerland 08/27

Wednesday. Chinese twice today. First, Chinese in a Food Court at department store for lunch. In the states you would expect to pay about $7, but in Switzerland it costs 30 francs. We went to Tse Yang for dinner, it was an excellent meal and we got to go visit another part of the city.

The day ended in Starbucks (we needed to order something simple in english [kind of]). Ryan had cheesecake which was kind of a joke after the bad Geneva Cheesecake he got on Sunday night. I miss Landon, Cara, and of course Iggy!

Switzerland 08/26

Crazy Day. Woke up late and ran to work. Went to lunch at a kind of a walk up stand by some city pools, but they served gourmet specials. Today was roast chicken with some cucumber and parsley side that was pretty tart. It was good, but Ryan and I accidentally headed towards the room with topless sunbathers. After quickly realizing our error, we found another location to eat at.

Dinner was steak, so I was happy. Not pictured below was the apple pie desert, which was a whole apple baked on top of a round crust covered with almonds and ice cream. An excellent dish for sure.

Switzerland 08/25

Today was Monday 08/25. I had to got to work today, but it was nice to see some familiar faces that I regularly work with but rarely see. We went on a dinner cruise in the evening, and the pictures start on the way to the boat and follow through the cruise. I was able reach out and touch the air over France and that was cool, and also ate some interesting cuisine. First, was Smoked Salmon and Lekes in some cream sauce; second, was Crawfish which was pretty much a small lobster; third, duck; and finally, a raspberry sorbet desert. Pictures are interspersed.

Rule for traveling Europe for the day: Neverever order Duck when visiting Europe. It will never be cooked enough and even if it was there is never enough to make a proper meal out of. If one wants to be happy, he should avoid ordering duck ever, but especially when traveling in Europe. On the flipside, I was very impressed with the crawfish.

The shot in the chocolate shop door didn't really apply to the day, but the chocolate goats were pretty cool.

Switzerland 08/24

Wow! What a day. It started at the hotel with breakfast, and was slammed after that. We went to the train station and caught a train to Lausanne and got to see Lake Geneva up close and visit the olympic museum. They had several special things going on as today was the day for the closing ceremonies in China.

We then caught a train to Montreux to see some mountains. There we were directed to take the Golden Pass train into the Swiss Alps. This was like an hour long version of Disney's Big Thunder Mountain with mile long drops on either side. At the summit of +2000 meters, we could see mountains in the distance from Rome and Instanbul. This was a breathtaking experience, and I now more fully understand the "I have been to the mountaintop" expression. To top the day off, we got to get close up to a reindeer. Lots of pictures from the day below!

I had to break them up into several slide shows. There are about 140 pics, so this photobucket link may help... http://s357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/lotsofgall/Switz0824/?albumview=slideshow

Switzerland 08/23

The 23rd was long a day as I did not sleep on Friday night in the plane. We got into Geneva aroun 3:30pm local time and decided to run to St. Pierre's Cathedral about a mile from our hotel before the towers closed. We were able to climb some 300 feet up the spiral staircase to get a great panamoric viewpoint of the city of Geneva, its amazing fountain, and the mountains in the background. More tomorrow... We know were are going to vist other parts of Switzerland, but have not decided where.