Chicken Alfredo From Scratch!

I've got another good one for you. Chicken alfredo! 

Who doesn't like a good hearty alfredo sauce? 

Communists? 

Maybe.

But then again there may be a family of communists out there that actually LOVE alfredo sauce and if there isn't a family like that out there, well then after they read this blog, we might have found our first..

 Alfredo Lovin' Communist Family!

:)

Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hours

                Yield: 4-5 servings

So what you will need for the sauce is:

Half a stick of butter

A shallot (chopped)

A few cloves of garlic (chopped)

2 quarts of heavy whipping cream

1 cup of white wine

fresh chopped mushrooms (if desired)

Salt

Pepper

and for the chicken:

Olive oil

1 or 2 chopped garlic cloves

Chicken Breasts cleaned and deveined and cut into chunks or strips

Salt and pepper

and pasta, of course:

1 box of Fettuccine pasta 

or if you have the luxury, fresh pasta would be amazing.

The SAUCE:

Start by melting your half stick of butter. Once it's melted add your chopped shallots and garlic. Let that cook for about a minute on medium heat. Add your cream and your wine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Quite a bit of salt. Like three or four good pinches. Keep stirring every now and then, and watch it closely so it doesn't boil over and you don't want it to burn either. You want to see a slow rolling boil. You need your cream to reduce so that way the cream can thicken up and to not be runny like milk. You'll know it has reduced once it can coat a spoon. Once it has been cooking for about 15 minutes, add the mushrooms. This way the mushrooms can absorb the flavor. Let this keep cooking and stirring every 5 minutes or so.

Once you've been cooking the sauce for about a half an hour, get your frying pan ready and hot. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Keep stirring your sauce!

The CHICKEN:

Salt and pepper the chicken with a little bit of garlic powder.

Get a frying pan ready with a splash of hot extra virgin olive oil and some chopped garlic.

Once the garlic is in there and the oil is bubbling around the garlic, STIR YOUR SAUCE! put in your chicken. Once the chicken is cooked about half way, (white on both sides and still pink in the middle) transfer to a oven safe dish or a pie pan. Something oven proof. Transfer your chicken to the oven safe pan and put in the oven for about a half an hour. Make sure that your chicken IS NOT pink in the middle when it comes out of the oven. 

Stir the sauce some more!

Now start boiling your water in a big enough pot for pasta. STIR THE SAUCE! Throw some salt in the water to flavor your pasta. Not oil. I don't think oil helps anything. 

Is your sauce thickening? If not, don't add the pasta just yet.

 Once you see a change in sauce, it's ok to add your pasta to the water, but only if your water is boiling, of course.

You should cook your pasta to al dente (to the tooth) and then drain your pasta. By the time your pasta is done, your sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. 

Take your chicken out of the oven. Turn off the oven but only if your chicken is cooked through which it should be. 

Turn down your sauce to low and add your noodles still cooking for maybe 3 to 5 minutes in the sauce. 

Once all of your noodles are coated in the sauce, 

Eat and Enjoy!

or as the Italians like to say,

mangiare e godere!

This is my own little creation. I haven't made alfredo sauce many times before but it is one of the sauces I am trying to perfect and this time it came out really well. It could've used a little salt but besides that, it was hearty and rich with great flavor. I've been watching at work because sometimes they make chicken alfredo for dinner and the 4 main things you need are: 

shallots, garlic, cream, and wine.

One great thing about this is that if you're a vegetarian, you don't need the chicken. Just the sauce and noodles would be a great dish for anyone who doesn't eat meat. Or maybe even eat it as a dish for the Lenten season. It's up to you.

So i've been working on this one and I think it would be cool to throw a couple splashes of tobasco to give it a little kick or maybe even some fresh basil to give it more of a unique flavor. I just love making this and everyone enjoyed it. 

Let me know what you think of it if you try it! 

And if you have any questions, leave me a comment. 

Oh and by the way, I'm sorry there aren't any pictures for this one. I was so hungry last night I didn't want to take any more time to take a picture. I'm sorry but if you make it, send me your pictures! And I can add them to the blog as my viewers pictures! That would be awesome! Please do it! That'd be so much more rewarding for me than money! 

Thanks for reading!

Ribs and Sauerkraut (Crock Pot friendly)

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's taken me so long to write again. :( NO TIME! It's been a crazy month! April 1st I started a new job which I've been working during the day and Josef's has been busy at night so I haven't had many days  off. I put in my 2 weeks at Josef's but now I wish I hadn't. I've come to realize this past weekend that I really like the people at Josef's. The servers and the guys in the kitchen. Although it gets really crazy sometimes, I've been having a lot of fun because I finally feel like I'm part of a team. So I want to ask Josef if I can just work weekends and then the other job during the day. That way I'll still have time to work out. Sadly, I haven't been working out as much as I've wanted to. I was doing really well for a few weeks then I got another job. And after working all day and all night. From 10am to 10pm, I don't have much left in me plus my feet are killing me. So that's why I'm getting my work stuff together so I can start working out again and eating healthier. 

I was doing so well!

 I was feeling so good!

What happened?!!?!

I'd tell you about it but, that'd be a long blog and I don't think you wanna read a long ass blog. 

So first I'll tell you about my ribs and sauerkraut. It's a crock pot recipe or put it in a roaster in the oven. I thought the crock pot tasted just fine but my parents say the oven is better. So you choose.

-Just grab a rack of beef baby back ribs

-A jar (not a can) of franks sauerkraut

-A few potatoes or a lot depending if you like potatoes or not (red or yellow or russet)

This is all you have to do:

1. 

Take the membrane off of the ribs which is on the bone side. It's that white film stuff. You don't have to but I would suggest you do it. Tastes better.

If you don't know what i'm talking about, here's a link where you can see a video. 

He'll explain why too.

Don't be shy! Take that membrane off!

2. 

Cut the ribs up into chunks. Cut them at every 3rd bone.

3. 

Empty your jar of sauerkraut into the crock pot or roasting pan.

4. 

Cut your potatoes into 4th's or 6th's depending on the size of your potato.

Put your potatoes in the crock pot or roaster over the sauerkraut.

5.

Put your chunks of ribs in on top

6. 

Fill your empty sauerkraut jar up 3/4's of the way with water. 

Empty into the roaster or crock pot.

7. 

Add your salt and pepper to taste.

Maybe like a Tablespoon of salt or more if you're using kosher.

And however much pepper you want to add.

8.

Cook on high in your crock pot or 375 degrees in your roaster for about 5 hours. Or until the rib meat falls off the bone. 

Sorry the picture is so big, I just want you to be able to see it in all of it's glory.

I hope you enjoy this one! 

Nutritious and Delicious

Hey everyone! So I wanted to give an update on what's been going on. I've been trying to eat healthier and have been exercising 5 out of 7 days a week. Today is Day 8 for me and in 8 days, I have already seen improvement. I've read that you should give your body what it needs and what it deserves so I asked my body what it wanted. 

I said, "Body?" 

Body said, "Yes, Jennifer?" 

I said, "Are you happy?"

Body said, "Meh. I'm alright but I could be better." 

I said, "Well, what should I do?"

Body said, "You know what you have to do. What we have to do."

I said, "So is that a challenge???"

Body said, "If it were a challenge, you wouldn't be able to handle it."

I said, "Oh, I can handle it."

Gaspari Nutrition 3010370 20oz Gaspari Shaker Bottle (Google Affiliate Ad)

Challenge Accepted!

2 or 3 weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were talking before bed and he told me he wanted to eat healthier. Since moving into our apartment we haven't been eating very well. Little money means little nutrition. At least that's my excuse. But when we were talking, he said that basically we need to be on the same page. I wasn't on the same page. I want to eat things with great flavor and fat = flavor. But then he said that I said that I don't believe in diet or nutrition. Or some balogna. So after a great day, before bed there was tension. I laid there for a while and I said, it's hard to eat healthy because healthy food isn't full of flavor. But then I thought again, sure there is! We started talking and I asked what he wanted to eat. I told him that tomorrow while he's at work, I was going to find a bunch of recipes and foods that were healthy, and full of flavor. He got me jump started. I found maybe 10 things and made a list. Being the little chef that I am, I wrote all of the things down that sounded tasty and that way, I could use these things to kick start the ideas of healthy meals. 

The things I found at SparkRecipes.com:

-Ratatouille 

(all veggies with part skim mozzarella)

-Marinaded Chicken Breast

(marinaded in orange juice, lemon juice, spices, etc. for 3 hours or overnight)

-Fajitas or tacos

-Stuffed Mushrooms

-Chicken Salads

(chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, nuts, low-fat cottage cheese, avocado, and a tasty vinegar and oil dressing)

-Baked Chicken Tenders 

(marinade with a dressing then put some bread crumbs on it.)

-Chicken and Rice

(flavor your chicken, add a veggie, brown rice, easy.)

-Crockpot Garlic Lime Chicken

-Make a whole chicken in a crockpot

-Stuffed Bell Peppers or tomatoes

(stuffed with a mix of ground turkey, garlic, onion, diced tomatoes, seasoning)

Eating Right for Two: The Complete Nutrition Guide and Cookbook for a (Google Affiliate Ad)

These are just a few options. Yes, there is a lot you can do with chicken. Ground turkey is also an option but I really don't like ground turkey. I've never really had it where it has tasted good or worth it. Michael says he can make good turkey burgers but i'll be the judge of that. 

I haven't tried any of those recipes but I have been eating healthier. I've given up pasta, ice cream, eating out, potatoes (I LOVE POTATOES, PASTA, AND ICE CREAM). I have been snacking on bananas and instead of drinking 2% milk, I now just started drinking skim. It isn't that bad. I have been eating so much chicken. I gave up pop/soda for lent. Giving up pop and cutting out sugary juices is definitely a good way to start getting healthy. One year I gave up pop for lent and by the end of the 40 days, I had lost 10 pounds. But I was younger and more active back then. I also have not been drinking a beer or two every couple nights and i've cut out all of my usual eating habits. I haven't been going out for $3 pizzas either. This kinda sucks because I haven't seen my friends in what feels like forever. 

This is my new routine:

Wake up at 10 a.m.

Drink a cup of coffee

Poop

Pack my bag and go to the gym 

Work out for a good hour, maybe a little longer

Come home and drink a protein shake

Eat a banana or two

Make a healthy lunch, drink water

Michael comes home, I go to work 

Drink tea or lemon/lime water at work

Come home eat something small or more chicken with a veggie

Sleep

~Repeat~

It may seem boring, but this has been consistent just about every day. I wanted you to know that I have been pooping regularly now for the past week. I read that the average person poops 2-3 times a day. TMI: I am lucky if I poop every other day. I am a very irregular person. Well I was. You may relate, you may not. But if you aren't pooping regularly, that isn't a good thing. 

My boyfriend has always been the one to research things. He googles what he doesn't know. It's what he does. He learns and retains info like no other. And so lately i've been reading up on healthy living as well. Looking at Yahoo articles and researching what I want to know. Such as whether to go with whey or casein. I wanna know if bananas are good for me or how good they actually are. I wanna know about the 9 bad habits that are actually not that bad at all. I wanna know if a high protein diet is okay. So these next couple articles have helped me and I hope you let them help you. 

Another reason I started working out and eating healthy is because lately i've been feeling down in the dumps. I thought it was because my seratonin levels were down. What is seratonin?

From Seratonin: The Chemistry of Well-Being

"Certain aminos cause you to have better feeling of well being. Serotonin is a chemical that helps maintain a "happy feeling," and seems to help keep our moods under control by helping with sleep, calming anxiety, and relieving depression."

"It has been discovered that some foods influence the brain's behavior, and the brain's neurotransmitters, which regulate our behavior, can be affected by what we eat. Research is showing that some foods such as bananas and turkey have proteins that help to create the chemical seratonin. So, diet may contribute to depression, especially poor eating habits and constant snacking on junk foods."

I don't know but I think that my new diet has been helping me a lot. I've been feeling a lot better. Not 100% but in good time, it is possible. 

I want you to know how great bananas are for you and I found this little gem online

Are Bananas Good for You?

I thought this was pretty interesting:

Chocolate Dipped Frozen Bananas, Box of 10 (Google Affiliate Ad)

"When compared to apples though bananas have 4 times the protein, 2 times the carbohydrates, 3 times the phosphorous, 5 times the vitamin A and Iron and much more vitamins and minerals than apples do."

They've always talked up apples. Apples, apples, apples! Well what about bananas???? Read that article and you might feel the same way

I have a few more things to add:

I want you to know that at the beginning of the week when I started I went to the store after my workout. I bought veggies, fruits, and a package of chicken breast. I divided up my package of chicken breast into portions so I'd have some for lunch every day. I also got a head of boston lettuce. Just wanted to try it. 

The one lunch I made that was really good was a salad with chicken breast and sauteed onions. I mixed up a salad with roasted garlic red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I sliced a whole avocado. And then because it was windy out I didn't want to start the grill. So I got my frying pan out and made magic. I started with extra virgin olive oil (a Tablespoon), 1 clove of chopped garlic, half of an onion- sliced. Cooked the onions until translucent. Then added the chicken that was seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cooked until done. Cut the chicken into thin strips. Put the sliced chicken back into the frying pan, turned the heat to low and added a small bit of shredded colby jack mixed with parsely. Let that melt and you've got yourself a tasty salad. It was awesome. I'm not a big fan of salads but DAMN! I impressed myself and I had enough so Michael could have his own too. I made a nice, healthy lunch. And I was full throughout work. 

For breakfast, sometimes I'll eat an egg or 2 with toast. Other times, a bowl of some Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds will do. 

The Gourmet's Vinaigrettes and Salads Cookbook: Superb Nouvelle Salads (Google Affiliate Ad)

Really my diet has consisted of a lot of protein. Chicken, eggs, protein shakes, fish. You know the deal.  But I do know there are pro's and con's to a lot of protein. That's why you need calcium and vitamins and all of the other things that make up a happy body. 

And the last article or slide show I want you to see is the pro's and con's of high protein. I just figured if this blog has maybe changed your views on some things maybe you'll wanna check it out.

High-Protein- Good or Bad?

I haven't cut out all bad things but I have cut back. I don't use as much butter. I don't use as much sugar or creamer in my coffee. I haven't cut out beer completely but I have cut back and have refused beer and have replaced it with water. Alcohol has a lot of calories and it just seems like, "I am on a good path, why mess up now?" 

I have to confess something though, last night,

 I....

I.. 

ummm... 

well ya see..

I was craving wings. I wanted them. It was late when I got off of work and I didn't have time to cook and if I did cook, I wouldn't have eaten until midnight. So I got them. 15 wings. Spicy garlic and ranch. I always take off the skin but still. I just wanted some. I won't be doing that again for a while. I know it wasn't a good decision but I made it and it's done. I can only move forward and that is what I will do.

I'd like your input on healthy recipes and any other tips from you healthy people out there!

So please share. :)

Risotto like a Pro!

The head chef was gone for two weeks and so we had the head chef from Pearl come over and work with us for two weeks. I got this job in hopes of learning as much as I can. When our usual head chef is here, I hardly ever get to do much of anything. I can try something out and if I mess up once, I don't get to do it again. But that's really like the only way I can learn is by making mistakes. I can come home and just try to make anything but at work I get so nervous because I don't want to mess up. So our head chef is on vacation for 2 weeks and I finally learned something. I learned more in the past 2 weeks than I've learned in the 4-5 months that i've been there. I don't know, I'm just ranting. I'm not sure what to do about it. 

But anyways, one day I go into work and I get to work on the line. I'm learning all these things- like how to make sea bass, dover sole, fingerling potatoes, mussels, different sauces, etc etc. It was really fun and one night I went home and looked up what risotto was. I knew it was rice but not sure what it takes to make it. 

What I know about Risotto:

-short grained rice (Arborio rice)
-an Italian staple
-has a creamy texture
-takes a little while to make (~45 min)
-requires a lot of attention and stirring
-At first the rice has a little white spot in the middle but by the end,
it shouldn't have that spot anymore.
and there are so many different kinds!

At Josef's we make: 

Wasabi risotto

and

Champagne risotto

maybe different kinds but those are the two that I know of.

I saw how to make it and I wanted to try it.

I looked up how to make risotto and I saw that 

1 cup of rice = 4 cups liquid

I decided to make my risotto with chicken broth which is pretty popular and easy.

First I put a little bit of oil and butter (a drop or 2 of each) in a sautee pan with finely chopped onion and garlic.

I let the onions cook until they were slightly translucent and then I added the 1 cup of rice. The website or blog I was looking at said to let the rice toast up a little bit before you add the liquid so I cooked the rice with the onions until the onions were fully translucent. Then I added 1 cup of the chicken broth and started stirring and stirring and stirring. The rice absorbs the liquid and that is what starts to make the rice tender. Once you can tell that the rice has absorbed the first cup, you then add your 2nd cup and then repeat with the 3rd cup and then once that's all absorbed the 4th and final cup is added. 

To shorten it up:

Add broth

stir

stir 

and stir some more

when broth is all absorbed

 add 2nd cup

then repeat these steps x3

During this process I added a little salt (broth is salty in itself) 

 black pepper 

with a little bit of cayenne pepper (just a sprinkle) 

and some garlic powder

When I first started making the risotto it only took up about 1/4 of the frying pans depth. As you keep adding the broth or liquid of your choice, the risotto absorbs and absorbs and absorbs. So of course it's volume keeps expanding and there is only so much room in the pan. Thank God I used the pan that I did because by the end the risotto was almost over flowing and I had to make sure it didn't spill out. My pan was about 10 inches round and maybe an inch or two in depth. 

With every cup of liquid you add, the rice gets softer and softer and looks gooey and hearty. Like regular long rice, you can see each individual grain but risotto bonds together to actually make a savory sauce and a solid meal whether you eat it with something and the risotto is the side or just by itself.

It's savory and delicious and when you're eating it nice and hot and it's freezing cold outside, it definitely hits the spot. Michael had some the next day when he got home from work and he said it was delicious and he must not have hated it because he ate the rest of it. It's a comfort food and I think it would put a smile on someones face if they had a cold or just weren't feeling too well. It's like a bowl of chicken noodle soup on a cold day but..

10 TIMES BETTER! 

I've obviously been on a risotto kick because yesterday I really wanted to try making coconut risotto. 

No recipe or anything. 

So I put some butter in the pan (1-2 TBS) and let it melt. Then I added a half cup of rice and let that cook for a few minutes. I then added some cream of coconut, a couple spoonfuls. Then I let that cook down and stirred it up and I had a pint of heavy cream so I added a little at a time. Add some, stir x3, then add some more, 

stirstirstir. 

Well you get the point.

 I added the whole damn pint of heavy cream plus a little more cream of coconut. I also added some sweetened coconut flakes. 

The rice was still kind of hard.

So I added some 2% milk. About a cup.

Then I sprinkled some cinnamon.

Then I started adding water. 

By the time I had to go to work, I had been working on this risotto for about an hour and when I left the risotto was still a little chewy. But the thing about it was, it tasted really good. 

It tasted like rice crispy treats - No joke. 

It wasn't overbearingly sweet but it's so weird that it tasted like marshmallow fluff. 

I'm not sure what I did wrong and I would love some feedback on this.

This is the coconut risotto and it looks a lot different than the pictures of the chicken risotto.

I don't know--

 -if I should've added more cream than just a splash and then stir

-if I should've used coconut milk instead of cream of coconut 

-if it just needed to cook longer

-if I should've toasted the rice longer in the beginning

I'm just not sure but if anyone has any pointers, 

I'd appreciate it because I really enjoy making risotto. 

I was just called and told I don't have to work tonight so if by some miracle these dishes wash themselves or maybe I wash them, 

I really wanna give it another shot.

I'll let you know how it goes. 

Live. Laugh. Love. 

& Eat.

As of late...

Heyyyyyyy! 

So this blog has been called "as of late" because we don't have internet at the apartment so it's hard to keep up on my blogs. Not too hard to make tasty food though. 

Steak Sandwich

One night I was craving a good steak sandwich. So we went to the store, grabbed some cheap steak, went home, cut it into strips, and I cooked it in my Le Creuset pot. I just seasoned it with salt and pepper and cooked it with some yellow onions and jalapeno. I toasted up some buns with Muenster cheese. I then put the steak onions and peppers on the bread and we chowed down. Steak was a little tough but it had a really good flavor. I'm sure if the steak would've cooked longer and slower, it would have been a little more tender. Overall, it was very satisfying.

Next up..

Conor's NoodleLog/ Noodleloffloff/ somethin'...

So Conor wanted to make dinner for all of us, esp Gina but it ended up being for 5 people. Gina, Conor, Me, Michael, and Jazzy. It was noodles and cheese and butter and tastiness! We had no idea what to expect. But when it came time to eat, it was pretty damn awesome and we all had seconds!

and Sushi...

Yeah, we make sushi. So what? My favorite has cream cheese, avocado, and spam. Yes, I SAID SPAM. Don't hate.

And I grilled chicken. And we made a salad.

That chicken was so damn good and the salad was mixed greens, avocado, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes with garlic infused red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt & pepper. Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce is just so perfect. And the chicken was juicy and perfect. This dinner was perfect. 

And one of my favorite pasta dishes of all time, 

Rachael Ray's Tomato, Basil, and Cheese Baked Pasta

along with tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad. 

To make this pasta, it's a little pricy-but so so worth it!

Here's the link to her pasta:

Tomato, Basil, and Cheese Baked Pasta

And then there was Paula Deen.

My most favorite southern belle. 

My favorite chef. 

And to the haters who say she is making the world fat..

SHE IS MAKING THE WORLD HAPPY! 

So....STFU.

:)

And so there was Paula Deen's

Gooey Gorilla Bread. 

For Christmas I got a surprise present from one of my best friends. 

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible!

I was so effing pumped to get this book. 

So not even a week later, I was trying her recipes. 

Gooey Gorilla Bread!

SO DAMN GOOD! 

Why you should make this:

1. It's easy.

2. Your house will smell like heaven

3. It's a hit with all the ladies. HAHA (But seriously.)

All you need is some biscuits, brown sugar, reg sugar, cinnamon and butter, of course. 

Here is the link for this recipe:

Gooey Gorilla Bread

Lastly, 

another recipe of Paula's

Cream Cheese-Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding.

Let me tell you something about this recipe.

It's the best food you will ever put in your mouth. 

Your taste buds will thank you. 

One little side note though; the recipe calls for an egg bread like brioche or panettone. I couldn't find either of those breads. So I decided to use french bread. Whenever I've seen a bread pudding made on food network, they always say just use whatever bread you have laying around. So I just figured french would be fine. The crust was a little tough but it wasn't. Some parts were chewy and delightful, other parts were creamy and just as delightful. The chewiness gave this recipe some character. 

If you don't believe me, try it yourself and let me know what you think.

Proceed With Caution!

This recipe is rich! 

The link to this recipe:

Paulas Bread Pudding

Any comments, you know where to leave them. 

Live. Laugh. Eat. 

So...it's been a while.

Hey.

It's definitely been a while. But lately, i've been meaning to write and inform but I just haven't. 

Busy? Lazy? All of the above? 

So I have decided to just write about the foods that I have had in the near past. 

Let's start with our trip to Florida.

Well, Michael and I went to Miami this past summer and we had a lot of Latin food and a lot of tasty food in general. First of all, let me just say that Angelina's in Miami has the best fro-yo (frozen yogurt) in the world! I didn't think I liked fro-yo because Red Mango is so terrible. But Angelina's was awesome! I had Raspberry Tart and Dulce de Leche... AMAZING! With some strawberries and coconut..O.M.G. If you ever go to Miami, definitely hit that place up. 

I also had fried plantains for the first time. They were so good! Tasted like fried bananas. I enjoy fried bananas a lot, and the plantains were just as good. 

I also had patacones and taqueno's. I don't remember what patacones had in it because I didn't like it too much. But those taqueno's. Those were tasty. They tasted like a pillsbury crescent roll stuffed with ooey-gooey cheesy goodness! My cousin got like, 50 taqueno's to-go for our sugo night which would be the night after. 

Another sweet treat was at Tasti-D-Lites. We were walking around checking out art galleries and stopped at this place for ice cream. They had like a bajillion flavors! 70 calories, 80 calories, or 90 calories. Or something like that. But I had the mint chocolate waffle cone -70 cal.- and it was darn tasty! I thought it would taste like some diet ice cream but it surely did not. It felt awesome to know that I was eating a huge ice cream cone and I wasn't going to feel like a fatass afterwards! 

Super awesome.

Now let me fill you in on my life recently. 

I got a new job and left Scrubway. I am currently working at Josef of Barbados. Very classy restaurant. Probably one of the classiest in Rockford (Keep the "Rockford sucks" comments to yourself). I am an apprentice to the chefs and I love it! I'm like a little chef. I've already learned how to make so many different things. I've learned how to make goat cheese souffle, quiche, fry some potatoes and plantain chips, sausage rolls, escargot, along with slicing and dicing whatever they throw my way and a slew of other stuff. 

My favorite thing that I have been learning is how to plate the desserts. 

They are so beautiful.

This is the first one I learned. 

Kind of proud of myself just because it isn't the easiest to remember.

 The Crispy Almond Tuille Brulee.
Compliments of Josef's facebook.

Some day I may even get to learn how to make the desserts with the pastry chef. Ever since, well, forever I've wanted to be a pastry chef. And the fact that I get to plate desserts and hang with the big dogs is kind of a big deal (to me). I am very very grateful that I got this job. I am actually happy when I walk into work. That is something I have never really known.

Along with a new job, I've moved out and moved up into a sweet apartment with Michael. Just livin' life and growin' up and stuff. 

New apartment = New kitchen. 

I've made a few things in the kitchen:

Steak sandwiches.

Italian beef.

Grilled up some fish.

Made a red velvet cake and didn't have any.

Grilled pork chops (my specialty).

My version (Gina's favorite) Teriyaki Chicken. 

That's just to name a few. 

I'm not sure what I want to make next but I'm thinking it might be Tiramisu. That is my favorite dessert of all time and I love trying it at different places. I've even had it in Italy and in England. 

It's just what I do. 

It's my favorite. 

It's creamy and has coffee in it and I've made it once before but that was a long time ago. I think it's time for me to try it out again. 

I think the best is at Franchesco's. I just had it a few nights ago. And it is truly the epitome of amazing. Just put a nice big smile on my face and on Michaels. 

Well, I think it's time for me to go to bed. 

Let me know if you have any ideas of what else I should make. 

I'd appreciate it!

Rules are for Fools!

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while but I haven't had money. I finally had just a little bit of money and I needed to cook. Honestly, it was a need. I bought some olive oil the other day and decided to separate some into a smaller bottle and added fresh garlic cloves. I also had a quarter of a box of pasta left and I really was feeling like some pasta. But I didn't make any the other day because, "I am trying to stay healthy and pasta is not healthy." So much for that idea! Today I was really hungry and we had some random stuff and I decided to check out my Rachel Ray cookbook and as I was looking at the pastas I said to myself, "Nope. I'm not gonna use a recipe because recipes are for chumps!" So I knew I needed some cheese and I wanted something tomato-ey. I also wanted some fresh herbs. I went to the store and I bought Asiago Cheese, Canned Tomatoes with Italian Seasoning in them, Organic Rosemary, Peaches, and Raspberries. I gave myself a budget which was $10 and I ended up spending 11 something. Pretty good I'd say. 

When I got home I started cooking right away as if my life depended on it. 

1st up was the pasta.

(Let the record show, I did not use any measuring cups or anything. These are just guesstimates.)

Jenny T's Pastachino

Ingredients:

A cup or so of Angel Hair pasta

1 sprig of my good friend, Rose Marie. (Rosemary)

About a half a cup of Asiago Cheese

Half of a medium onion

A 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with the seasonings

Olive oil infused with garlic

A pinch of Red Pepper flakes

And salt and pepper to taste

1st I started to boil the water and once the water came to a boil, I added the pasta to the water and I heated up the frying pan at about medium-high heat. To the frying pan I added about a tablespoon of the olive oil and let that get hot. Then I added the onion and as it started to cook I added a nice pinch of the chopped up rosemary. I could smell it right away. It smelled so sexy.

Once the onions turned slightly translucent I added the whole can of tomatoes.

 Once that started to bubble I added some salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. While this was cooking together I drained the pasta and added a little bit of canola oil to the pasta so it wouldn't stick together. I then grabbed about half of the asiago I had grated and added that to the tomatoes and onions. Once that got all melty, I added another pinch of rosemary and it gave the sauce more flavor. I turned it off and added half of the pasta to the tomatoes and onions.

Then I ate it. 

It tasted really good. I could taste the onions and tomatoes and especially the rosemary. I added a little more of the asiago on top to make it pretty for the picture and plus I love cheese. For being pasta, it was quite light compared to what I usually make. When I make pasta I use lots of butter, oil, and cheese. But not this time. I tried to cut back on everything and this pasta turned out awesome. No exaggeration.

Then came time for dessert. 

I have wanted to grill peaches for a while now. So I looked up grilled peaches at FoodNetwork.com and I came across a Bobby Flay recipe. But I didn't read much into it except that he used butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. From that I made my own recipe. 

Grilled Peaches and Raspberries

(Again, I did not measure anything out.)

Ingredients:

3 peaches

a handful of raspberries

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 Tablespoon of ground cinnamon

a pinch of ground nutmeg

1/2 stick of butter

Heavy duty aluminum foil (better for grilling)

I started up the grill and away I went.

First I took the seeds out of the 3 peaches and cut the peaches into pieces of 8. So I quartered the peaches and cut each piece in half again. I sprayed the foil with some non stick cooking spray and put the peaches on the foil. I then added a small handful of raspberries. I sprinkled on some cinnamon and added the brown sugar. I then put 4 pads of butter on top of the fruit, cinnamon, and brown sugar. I decided to add a little bit of nutmeg because... well... Hey! Why not?

 I wrapped it all up in the foil and put it onto the grill over indirect heat. I let the peaches cook for about 15 minutes then rotated them. I let them cook another 15 minutes and opened up the foil and checked them out. They were done and looked absolutely awesome. I did this all just randomly because I thought all of the flavors would go together like best friends that met in pre-school. And boy oh boy was I right.

I came in and served the peaches and melted berries to Michael, Jasmine, and my mom. Of course I tried some too even though I'm not crazy about peaches or fruit in general. I just thought it'd be a good idea. 

We all tried it out and they thought it was really good but the sauce that it made reminded them of something. Michael said it'd be good on some kind of meat and Jasmine said it'd be good over ice cream. I then had a brain blast and grabbed my blender and sent Michael out to get vanilla ice cream because he's the best! I then puree'd the rest of the peaches and berry sauce until it was smooth. Michael came back and I put a little bit of the puree'd mixture over a couple scoops of ice cream.

Oh My God! It was soooooooo good! It was creamy and smooth and just a good idea all around. 

Jasmine then proceeded to tell me how great of a friend I am and how she is really glad we are friends. I would love to cook for everyone someday and I promise that someday when I have my own restaurant, I will be inviting you all to eat at my restaurant. You won't be disappointed.

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog and sorry I go so long between blogs. 

Any feedback just leave me a comment. 

Live. Laugh. Eat.