The day has come!!!! This is a terrific day for two reasons. First, I am cooking potatoes, hands down awesome. Second, I altered a basic recipe to make a way better recipe (although still very basic). You can all call these Carson's Taters if you so choose. I call them delicious.
So here's how I make magic. Ingredients: 2 medium sized potatoes, cubed 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 palm* of rosemary 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper 2-4 tbsp olive oil
*Palm may very well be a measurement I made up, but basically just fill your palm, about the amount in the pic below.
This is not my hand. | Making it tasty: Mix salt, pepper, garlic, oil and rosemary** in a bowl. Add potatoes and mix well, evenly coat the potatoes Spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, flip potatoes every 17 minutes. Remove, let cool, and scarf them down.
** Crush the rosemary leaves between your hands and grind them as you put them into the mix. |
Who doesn't love pizza? No one punches the guy with the pizza. It feeds a family and is fun to make. Oh, and did I mention pizza tastes amazing? But, just as a house needs a strong foundation, a pizza needs a strong dough. This recipe is good for scrounging up a quick dough when you don't want, or don't have, yeast.
Let's get cooking. Ingredients: 2 1/2 c. flour (1 1/2 c. whole wheat if you want less white) 2 3/4 tsp. baking powder* 1 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. oil 1 c. water
*If using baking soda, use half the amount shown for baking powder and omit salt. | How to make it tasty: Mix dry ingredients Add water and oil Stir until it forms a ball. Knead on a floured surface 3-5 minutes Spread out and add your sauces and fixings Bake at 400 F, 20-25 minutes
| Super easy, super quick, and very delicious.
This little dish is a tasty ans simple side to prepare, and it's vegetarian so if you have any veggies in the family, go with this recipe. Also, I literally had never heard of quinoa until I got married.......but it's pretty damn good. Ingredients: Dressing: 2 tsp. grated lime zest 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice 2 tbsp. unsalted butte, melted & cooled 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pepper Remaining: 1 c. uncooked quinoa 2 c. water 1 can black beans* (rinsed and drained) 2 medium tomatoes, diced 4 scallions, chopped 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
*or 1/2 c. dry black beans, cook before adding to dish | How to make it tasty: Put quinoa in water, bring to a boil Set heat to low and cover to simmer, 15 min. Remove from heat, let sit 5 min, fluff with a fork Prepare dressing in small bowl while quinoa cooks Once quinoa is cool, add dressing Mix in tomato, scallions, cilantro and beans Serve and enjoy!
| VOILA! A delicious side dish is ready to eat. I usually eat a 1/4 of this while I'm making it. Good things are meant to be eaten quickly.
This recipe is my attempt to flex my chef muscles and show off (however pathetic it may seem). I had a frozen piece of a pig in the freezer, and about 45 minutes to kill, so I whipped up some pork for dinner. I also got bonus points for using onions and apples from my father-in-law's farm. +10
Let's get cooking. Ingredients: 2 pork tenderloins 2 tbsp. oil (vegetable or olive) 11/2 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard 1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper 2 apples, cored & sliced 2 onions, sliced 1 c. chicken stock 1 tbsp. butter | How to make it tasty: Heat oven to 425 F Trim loins of silverskin Pat loins dry Rub oil over loins, sprinkle with salt, evenly coat Heat oil in a pan at medium heat Cook loins til brown on all sides Put pork on a cutting board or a plate Add apples & onions to that same pan Cook for roughly 5 minutes Meanwhile, rub the pork with mustard, thyme & pepper Put pork on top of onions & apples & put in the oven Cook for 10-15 minutes (or until temp is 145-160 F) Put pork on plate and cover with foil, let sit 10 min. Place the pan with apples & onions back on stove Heat on medium Add chicken stock & use wooden spoon to scrape pan Bring to a simmer & cook until reduced by half Add butter & stir until melted Slice pork in 1" slices Plate pork slices on a bed of apples & onions Drizzle pan sauce on top and serve! | As evidenced below, what once was literally a frozen piece of crap, is now a supremely tasty dish for the family! Disclaimer: Please remember I am 'new' to cooking, so this plating of mine might not be ideal.....
My favorite food on the planet is the potato. Obviously with tastes like that, I was destined to be a Michelin rated chef! WRONG. But as much as I love potatoes, sometimes you have to throw a bone to it's tanned cousin, the yam. Yams are damn good, and, well, fun to eat.
Let's get cooking. Ingredients: 1-2 yams (peeled) 2 tbsp. olive oil Paprika Cayenne pepper Salt Pepper Corn Starch (enough to coat the yams)
Note that this recipe is by feel, just add as much of the seasoning as you want. | How to make it tasty: Cut the yams into fry shapes Put the yams into a bowl and add olive oil Add paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Cover yams in corn starch, enough to coat each piece Mix well, everything is evenly coated. Arrange on cookie greased cookie sheet Cook at 375 F for 40 min., flip at 20 min. |
CHICKEN! The easiest thing to cook apparently. I once recall making a 'special dinner' for someone by cooking chicken without anything but salt and pepper on it. I am VERY impressed that that someone didn't call me an ass and leave.
Alright, with that awkward moment, we should probably get cooking. Ingredients: 2 chicken breasts 2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese 2 tbsp. mayonnaise Bread crumbs
| How to make it tasty: Mix mayo and Parmesan in a bowl Cover chicken with mixture Sprinkle bread crumbs on top Bake in the over at 350 F for 20 min. or until cooked | As you can see this is a super short list of ingredients, and it's actually SO EASY to make that it is LITERALLY a TV commercial. (Note: I do it a bit different from below, but not much different)
Quite possibly one of the greatest additions to a soup is the mythical biscuit!
Unfortunately, to do this properly, as I found out, you have to cut cold butter into the dry mix. How did people think to do these things? Honestly!
Alright, let's get cooking.
Ingredients: 11/2 c. wholewheat flour 1/2 c. white flour 4 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 1/2 c. butter 1/2 c. milk 3/4 c. cheddar cheese 2 pinches of dill.
| How to make it taste so nice: Preheat the oven to 400 F Combine flour, baking powder, salt & cheese in a bowl Cut in* butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs Stir in milk to form dough Blob on cookie sheet** Bake 12-15 minutes Eat em up! | *Cutting butter in is possibly one of the worst tortures known to man...literally cut up the butter into small pieces, throw it in the mix, then mash the butter into smaller pieces with a fork. Of course, if you're serious about cooking, you probably have a tool for this, OR you use a fancy mixer. This is a poor-man's kitchen, thus a fork is the tool I use.
**Tip: Put parchment paper down on the cookie sheet to eliminate having to clean up the sheet afterward.
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