I was browsing the pictures I have on my phone this morning and realized that I frequently take pictures of food. Geoff and I love to cook together and try new things all the time. Here are pictures of some, but not nearly all of our recent food adventures:
Around late summer 2011 we bought a cast-iron wok. We love it because it makes us want to cook healthy-ish stirfry and it really works! Depending on the sauce recipe, its as good as going out.
Chicken, you've been beer canned. We just did this one last night. Geoff got a beer can chicken stand for Christmas. Here you see the finished product. After it sat for a bit Geoff got ready to remove the can and actually ended up tipping it over causing hot beer to run through the bird. No harm done though. This was delicious. Chicken + dry rub + beer can. Medium high heat on the grill for about an hour. Make sure the temp of the chicken gets to at least 165.
This isn't food per se but a representation of the abundant Holiday cheer we've experienced over the past month.
Sausage cheese balls. I should really put these in tiny cupcake pans to cook. It would be more attractive that way. We first had these when Geoff's parents came to visit early Fall 2011. Geoff's mom made a "healthy" version and a regular version. Guess which one we still make today. Seriously these are delicious. Breakfast sausage, sharp cheddar cheese, bisquick, salsa, chopped olives. Delicious.
Baked Egg in a Ham Cup. I'm not sure what I like more - the name or the dish. Its such a happy thing to say. I've recently become addicted to Pintrest and found this around Thanksgiving time. We've now made it three times for ourselves and friends and love it. Slices of ham (or any other cold cut) goes in a greased muffin pan, crack eggs carefully into the cups, salt & pepper. Bake for 14 min at 400 degrees.
Chocolate covered Pringles. There's nothing wrong with this. Melt dark chocolate chips in a bowl, add a bit of shortening to help the chocolate dry and firm up on the chip. Dip and let excess chocolate fall back in to the bowl. Set out on parchment paper. I put mine in my dad's chilly woodworking workshop to help them set. I would not put them in the refrigerator though - the chocolate would get cloudy looking. We made a tiny mistake of putting these in a tin and placing on the floorboard of our car while we drove to PaPa's for Christmas. The heater in the car melted them a bit so we did have to put them in the fridge for a bit when we arrived. :)
Sugar Cookie Christmas Tree - my mom bought the set of cookie cutters from Crate and Barrel so we could make this treat. We didn't actually eat a bite of it.
Geoff got a meat grinder attachment for Christmas from Mike. Here we're grinding up some beef which we made into a delicious meatloaf. The day before we made our own Italian sausage which was incredible in the home made sauce Geoff made. I like the days after Christmas, around New Year's because we don't make plans to do anything - which affords us the time to do a lot of cooking.
This is a photo from July 2011 - we smoked pork for everyone in New Braunfels for our annual river trip. Geoff had a cheap smoker that resembles R2-D2 for a little over a year that we've used the crap out of. We've smoked ribs, briskets, pork, bacon, turkeys, whole chickens, chicken parts, salmon and more. Its all amazing and is a great way to feed lots of people and/or to ensure leftovers that you can use to make tacos, soups etc. Geoff got a new, larger, propane powered smoker for Christmas this year that we've already put to good use. You bet your buttons we'll be smokin' everything we can in that thing.
And our latest adventure - Cheese Pies! We live in a diverse area of Richardson with many Middle Eastern, Asian etc restaurants. Afrah makes delicious cheese pies out of homemade pita and Akkawi cheese. We finally went to the store to buy the ingredients to make our own cheese pies - how hard could it be? We haven't perfected the textures yet, but have enjoyed many bites of cheese pie since last night. Here's one that Geoff made and ate open face for lunch today.
That is about it for the adventures for now. We're always cooking and I should document it more.
