Appetizer Night

Tonight we decided to have a appetizer dinner. Some of our favorite things all on one plate. Most of the items are repeats but several food items are new. The jalapeño poppers were the one thing that I haven't made before at home. Everything turned out great.

On the tray you can see asparagus, the bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers, stuffed mushrooms and some plain mushrooms. Everything was grilled on the charcoal grill along with some chicken breasts that are not shown.

Here is a picture of the grilled food. Ended up using the chicken breasts to make a batch of chicken chili.

Finished plate with fried onion rings, french fries, jalapeño poppers, stuffed mushrooms and spicy buffalo boneless wings. Everything was made at home and either grilled or fried.

French Dip

Decided to put the grill to the test this weekend by smoking a nice piece of meat and having french dip sandwiches for Sunday dinner. I started on Friday by giving the piece of meat a over night marinade to help tenderize it. Then on Saturday I smoked it for 4 hours on the grill. This happened to be my first real BBQ meat and it turned out great. I was very happy with how easy it was to keep the temperature between 275 and 325. Once done I put it in the fridge to cool until we were ready to eat on Sunday. On Sunday I made a nice au jus and placed the sliced meat into the au jus to warm back up. I used nice deli rolls with provolone cheese and some grilled onions to finish off the sandwich.

Chile Relleno

One of Lisa's favorite Mexican dishes is a Chile Relleno. Although mine didn't turn out as tasty as Bobby Flay's, it was still a good first try.

First you need to roast and peel your peppers. Not sure but I think I let the peppers sit to long in the plastic bag to sweat after roasting them. They ended up being super soft and not willing to stay together. Next time I will let them sweat for 3-5 minutes not the 20 minutes like I did this time.

This picture shows the peppers stuffed with cheese. You can use any good melting cheese that you wish.
Went with the classic egg white batter and it turned out great. I used 3 egg whites, 1 egg yolk, 3 tablespoons of AP flour and a pinch of salt. If I made this batter again I would try some seasoning in the batter since it tasted bland.
Finished plate consisted of 1 Chile Relleno with red sauce, Mexican rice and some re-fried beans with jack cheese.
Red Sauce
1 can stewed Mexican tomatoes.
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Puree tomatoes, onion, garlic, chicken broth and herbs to the consistency that you want. Heat oil over medium heat and add puree mixture to the hot oil. Simmer on low until you are ready to serve.

Batter
3 egg whites
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Beat egg whites to a stiff peak then add remaining ingredients.

Mexican Rice
To busy and cheap to make my own. Purchase box of rice and follow directions.

Re-fried Beans
Look for a can near you. Add cheese if you like.

Winter and I

Winter and I this week so no new meals for me to cook. Winter ended up eating a peanut butter sandwich and a cupcake for dinner. I had left a few pieces of left over pizza from the wedding. Still good food just nothing new.

Grilled Pizza

This Sunday Lisa wanted me to mix two of our favorite foods together; naan bread and pizza. We also wanted to try grilled pizzas since we hadn't tried it yet. I soon learned that making grilled pizzas was harder then I thought. The naan bread cooks so fast that you had to move quickly to avoid burning the bottom side of the pizza. For the toppings we kept them pretty safe. Lisa went with chicken, onions and mushrooms. I had chicken and onions and the kids had cheese. I am fairly happy with how things turned with it being my first try at grilled pizza.

Ingredients for the pizza.: tomato sauce, naan bread, and grilled chicken and vegetables.
Weston snacking on the grilled chicken and mushrooms.
Not the best picture but here is what a piece of Lisa's pizza looked like.

Juicy Lucy

We decided to try and make some Juicy Lucy's on the grill tonight for the main dish. They came out pretty good for our first try. For the cheese we used pepper jack. Maybe not the ooziest cheese but we like the taste. Maybe next time we will go with American and just add some red pepper to the meat. We also grilled up some nice pork loins, chicken, corn, mushrooms, potatoes and some asparagus. We didn't eat it all but rather cooked it up ahead of time for dinners this week. Makes it a ton easier to prepare meals later in the week when the protein is already cooked.

Juicy Lucy patters
Tray of veggies to be grilled.
Tray full of grilled food.
Tonight's dinner on a plate. Juicy Lucy with potatoes and a ear of corn. Once again Weston did a wonderful job of trying new foods. He ate asparagus, corn and even had some of the Juicy Lucy. Winter did eat a bunch of corn and that is all she was willing to eat of the tray of food.

Sunday, Spetember 4, 2011

No Sunday dinner this week. We actually got to eat some great food at my step-cousin's wedding which was held at the Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.