Support our blogger sister at WTForever 21

While reading my daily news I noticed that there was an article posted on abcnews.com about a blog that featured humorous, satirical and opinionated little articles with pictures of the most ridiculous crap found at this store chain — and what really disturbed me was to see that Forever21 was threatening her with a lawsuit (an affront to free speech anyone?). There are already plenty of blogs that point out how terrible the quality of the products are such as a blog at the Huffington Post and there are even a few Facebook groups pointing out that ‘Forever 21’ sucks, so why would they be suddenly offended that a regular customer who actually purchases much of the stuff she writes about and would chose to share her impressions of these items with an addictive sense of humor? I for one will definitely be dropping by to read her blog just because she has such a unique sense of humor. Kudos to her and I am glad to see so many people supporting her in her ability to exercise her constitutional right. It is truly sad when big corporations attempt to bully and use scare tactics against bloggers who don’t even get paid to do what they do. Luckily, this is the age of the internet where this kind of behavior does not go unnoticed. Schools can’t even get away with unfairly punishing a student anymore.

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What I’ve Been Up To

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I’ve been busy working on some signature dishes so I really haven’t had time to post on my blog. Here are a few things I’ve come up with including steamed buns prepared with pancake mix.  I’m also working on a quinoa dough to make pizza of my own invention which is a modified recipe from the usual recipes you find online. Please contact me if you’re interested in specific recipes.

Frannie’s Hot Tub Chicken (or Cornish Hen)

I’m a big fan of Cornish hens because they’re more flavorful than a chicken, fit in my slow cooker, and kids really enjoy the fact that it’s like a small chicken. I really love the combination of foul, tomato sauce, vinegar, herbs, capers and parmesan cheese which really makes this one of my favorite dishes to make – and it’s really easy too.

 

Ingredients:

• A Cornish hen (or a chicken if you have a big enough slow cooker)
• Either a can of tomato puree or about 4 large tomatoes plus enough water to cover the hen
• Capers and caper vinegar to taste, or in my case, about half a cup of pepperoncini vinegar
• Thyme, rosemary, basil and whatever favorite herbs you would like to add
• Garlic (In my case, instead of using garlic, I mixed in about half a cup of a cilantro garlic cream I had prepared a few days before)
• Onion
• About a teaspoon of salt (I usually eye it so I cannot be certain of the amount)

 

How to prepare:

1. Make sure to fully defrost the hen before cooking it
2. If you’d like, you can stuff it with a bit of rosemary and garlic
3. Place the hen in the slow cooker
4. Add the can of tomato sauce or the fresh tomatoes and water
5. Add herbs and the rest of the ingredients, except for the parmesan cheese
6. Slow cook for at least three hours, twenty minutes on high and the rest on the low setting
7. Flip it over after about an hour and a half so that it cooks evenly – if the juices coming out of the hen are pink or red the hen is not ready. You can’t really cook it for too long since the longer it stays in the slow cooker, the more tender and flavorful it becomes.
8. Place your favorite part of the hen on a dish, then drench it in the tomato sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. The tomato sauce is excellent with any kind of pasta or rice as well.
9. Enjoy!

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Low Gluten = The Human Diet?

I will begin by saying that there is a lot of information out there about diets and what you should and shouldn’t eat, and because of this, it seems that doctors and the media have succeeded in making people skeptical about anything. Heck, every time I see the new diet trend posted all over the front page of whatever news website, I end up just scrolling down and ignoring it. I’m not a doctor, or a nutritionist or anything of the sort, but I do know what my body tells me and it has been telling me I was doing something wrong for a very long time. I always thought that I ate a relatively balanced and healthy diet, heck, at times people thought I was a vegetarian because I couldn’t simply afford to buy meat. It didn’t matter how much tofu (an unfortunate source of estrogen) and rice and whatever else I ate – I always ended up feeling tired and fatigued throughout the day, especially in the mornings.

Edit: Right before I posted this, I had a feeling I would be seeing more about gluten on the news, but didn’t realize they would be saying pretty much what I’ve been saying for the past two months!

I honestly thought that being tired, along with having digestion issues (many of which I look back on and realize how severe they were), and kidney infections, asthma, and headaches, and having incredibly painful abdominal cramps was normal. I otherwise felt… fine, if you could call it that. I was pretty much raised to believe that if I wasn’t dead, I wasn’t sick. Well, that isn’t exactly what I was taught, but it is the end result of years of being sent to school because my headache wasn’t something that should keep me at home. So I guess I ended up ignoring a lot of health problems throughout my life and pretended like nothing was wrong. And just the numerous times I had to run to the bathroom my freshman year in high school (could it have been that nasty pseudo-pizza I kept wanting to punish myself with?), I ignored the signs that something wasn’t right with what I was eating.

Make Your Own Carnitas

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I’ve tried different carnita-like dishes including the Taco Bell Cantina Tacos, the Del Taco carnitas, carnitas from a local pub and even had the pleasure of enjoying some very authentic carnitas prepared in an actual Mexican restaurant (me and my friend were the only non-Latinas there). I used to not enjoy corn tortillas very much and thusly, I didn’t really care for the carnitas I had tried at Del Taco – but luckily I was lucky enough to try those more authentic well-prepared ones which really got me into the whole cilantro, lime and corn tortilla combo. And also, corn tortillas supposedly don’t have gluten so it really helps me reduce the amount of gluten my body has to deal with.

I was happy to see that my boyfriend had brought back everything that I had asked for in order to prepare these carnitas. The picture of my carnita is very sloppy – this was because I had already eaten two carnitas by the time I found the camera and by then I was tired, full, had very little chicken left, and didn’t bother chopping the cilantro much.

Materials:

• A fresh lime
• Fresh cilantro  
• Chicken, beef or whatever kind of meat you like
• Salt
• Chili pepper
• Garlic
• Onions

 

1. First of all, decide whether or not you’re going to barbecue (delish!) or cook the meat in the kitchen (stove, oven…)
2. If you’re going to barbecue it, you really don’t have to do much to the meat in my opinion other than rub it a bit with chili pepper, lime juice and mix it in with chopped garlic.
3. If you’re going to prepare the chicken in the kitchen, feel free to add whatever seasoning you enjoy. I like to use ginger powder and when I’m really in a hurry, onion and garlic powder.
4. Toast a few corn tortillas. I don’t use two like you usually see because that makes it to heavy in my opinion but if you like to use two for one carnita that’s pretty much the norm.
5. Cut the meat into small chunks and mix it in with freshly chopped cilantro, diced onions, a few squeezes of lime, and a dash of salt. Place it on the tortilla. You can also add chili powder and whatever else you would like to add. You can also add the raw onions and cilantro after adding the chicken and then go ahead and squeeze the lime on top of that. I usually do that instead because it’s faster.
6. I like to add extra condiments like shredded cheese or sour cream. I also added a bit of freshly prepared salsa (well, not really fresh since the tomatoes were canned!).
7. Fold it and enjoy!

 

The salsa recipe itself is really simple and tastes a lot better than the canned stuff. Since my boyfriend bought the cilantro on sale and ended up bringing back about a garden and a half worth of the stuff, I had to make salsa so it didn’t come to waste. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of cilantro still left…

Just chop up fresh cilantro along with raw onions, add to either a can of diced tomatoes or dice four fresh ones, add some lime juice and whatever seasonings you like depending on how spicy you like it. I added a bit of onion, garlic and ginger powder as well as chili powder and crushed pepper – and a secret dash of that hot sauce with the rooster on it (yes, I know what people call it).

A Few Things I’ve Decided to Cook…

 

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Here are a few dishes I put together some of which I created using ingredients I had to reproduce certain foods that I enjoy but didn’t have available. I started baking sweets for the first time and I’m actually surprised that it really is easy to bake cookies and cakes. Even if you don’t have all of the ingredients, the internet is an amazing resource to find alternative recipes such as my egg free oatmeal cookies which I baked because I had run out of eggs.

Included in the album is a pizza prepared with a flour tortilla, Brussels sprouts in butter and a bit of turkey broth, a hearty chicken soup, tortellini with bell peppers, mushrooms and parmesan cheese, teriyaki tilapia with wasabi (I managed to get the texture as close as possible to eel), pancakes with butter fried apples and bacon with home made caramel sauce, a rice bowl with freshly prepared katsu chicken and broccoli doused in a teriyaki based sauce, stir fried orzo with fried crispy slivers of garlic, spicy teriyaki shrimp sushi rolls, stir fried pasta with lima beans, sausage and mushrooms (and the same dish turned into a soup), chocolate and marshmallow covered frosted flake treats, chicken and mushroom soup in tomato base broth, two kinds of oatmeal cookies, stir fried millet with hamburger, hot sauce and sour cream, and my favorite first attempt success – broccoli, mustard greens, bacon, onion, and cheese quiche topped with the kind of fried onions I usually place on top of my green bean casserole.

If you’d like the recipe for any of these dishes please email me under the contact me tab. I will also be making some how-to videos as soon as I can.

Technorati Tags: cooking,sweets,fish,soup,sushi,rice,quiche

Amazing new FoodPress!

I’ve been a bit busy lately with my job search but now I’m pleasantly surprised that there’s a new place for us foodies to see some of the best food on the net. All of you who love to cook should definitely check this page out, and this is how you become featured!

I’ve been taking pictures of my recent creations and this is the perfect opportunity to share them. Albeit, I may have to find some place with better lighting considering I live in a dungeon surrounded by evergreens.

This is what I’ve been up to!

Who doesn’t love fried bananas? The bananas I bought weren’t ripe yet so I decided to batter and fry them up to cut acidity. I splashed some honey and Kahlua on top with some eggnog ice cream.

I’ve always enjoyed stir fry but only recently have I been able to find the noodles (without making them myself). Baby corn, mushrooms, onions, and some fresh ginger made this a delicious vegetarian option. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to modify this dish for those who love their meat. Any meat would do great in this!

I love sweet and sour so I decided to make myself a teriyaki sauce (mirin, sugar and soy sauce) with a touch of orange sauce and green onions. Best served with Japanese rice.

I never enjoyed meatballs as a child, then again, I didn’t like beef in general, but after preparing these delicious little morsels I have become a new-found fan. I didn’t bother with a recipe but just mixed a pound of ground beef with an egg, some seasoned bread crumbs, a bit of milk, Parmesan, and whatever seasonings sounded good. The tomato sauce is slow cooked with bell peppers, onions, garlic, basil, thyme and some rosemary. Sometimes I sneak in a bouillon cube instead of adding as much salt. If you have salt pork or bacon, you could use that instead to give the sauce a good flavor. Remember, tomato sauce doesn’t need heat. Instead, it needs ingredients that will accentuate the sweetness of the tomato. Animal fats work well because the acidity of the tomato cuts into the richness of the fats thus balancing everything out, in quite an addictive fashion! Don’t forget the olive oil!

I am thinking about seperating my product reviews and place them in another blog, which may take some time, but I will try to keep up with my cooking. There are several things that still haven’t made it on my blog yet, but it’s difficult to keep posting pictures everyday so I may post a few dishes in one post once a week.

Thanks for your patience!

Come Check out Our Cat’s New Channel

She can do more tricks than my neighbor’s dog!

I will make a new post soon, I hope!

Recipe: Fake Wannabe Somewhat Cabbage, Potato and Ground Beef Curry (or FWSCPGBC)

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I was making coleslaw and still had a half a cabbage head left so I thought I would make a hot dish with it. I had already made Korean cuisine-inspired pork cabbage wraps, so I wanted to make something different, in this case, a soupy faux-curry dish. It didn’t exactly start out as a curry-ish dish, but instead I wanted to make a basic cabbage and beef stew. I was going to make dumplings with it, but instead I ended up toasting up a flour tortilla and eating some of it with some cream cheese, and fire sauce from Taco Bell. It reminded me a bit of a dish an Indian woman had prepared me and the tortilla is actually an acceptable substitute for naan bread when you just can’t get a hold of any or don’t feel like baking your own. I had a few servings of the stew this way, then I put it in the fridge to eat the next day. Since I didn’t want to eat the same thing again, I decided to turn it into a pseudo curry, which actually works quite well especially because the cabbage at this point had become almost part of the soup.

Note: If you want to reduce the calories from fat, you can allow this dish to cool in the pot, let the meat fat solidify and scoop it up with a spoon. Or you can render the fat from the meat beforehand by frying it up in a pan and draining it (you can save the fat for other dishes). You may also eat this dish with dumplings or rice.

What you will need…

• A pound of ground beef (or whatever protein you would like).

• 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic.

• Herbs, spices, curry mix (I like to try different herb combinations, in this case I used thyme, rosemary, chili and a curry powder mix).

• Half a head of cabbage.

• Two medium sized potatoes.

• Sour cream or yogurt.

• A tablespoon of vinegar (caper vinegar can be used).

How to prepare…

1. Slice the cabbage into strips and chop the onions and garlic.
2. Add to a slow cooker (or pot) with the ground beef.
3. Add enough water to cover 3/4 of the contents in the pot.
4. Add the curry mix (and whatever other herbs you want) to taste.
5. Add the vinegar and slow cook for at least two hours. The longer it cooks the softer the ingredients become — it depends on your texture preference.
6. Dish out, top with sour cream or yogurt, garnish with chives, capers or even roasted nuts.
7. Enjoy!

Tip: This dish also works well with with a toasted flour tortilla, or if you have it, naan bread. If you are going to use a tortilla, the best kind for a soupy dish like this is a tortilla that is a bit chewy like Guerrero. I like to toast them up where they’re a bit crunchy and puffed up.

Note: I may not post as many reviews/recipes this week because I’m working on two animation projects, though hopefully will be finished by Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with my blog. I hit 100 views in one day yesterday which I didn’t expect, so thank you to The Impulsive Buy for linking me on one of their pages!

Favorite Posts This Week!

Little Starburst edits my pages. Can't you tell?

I’ve always been excited to try new foods and body parts, but it is very unusual to find someone (especially a man) that has the balls to eat, you guessed it, bison testicles. These actually look tender and nicely prepared! Good job, Adam! Also, make sure to vote for him on the picture contest. He is someone who truly knows his snacks so he is a perfect representative!

If you’re a fan of Greg on his popular Freezer Burns show, you will probably remember some of these disappointing moments in which Greg came to the realization that what he had placed into his mouth could have potentially overloaded his taste buds with pure terror.

Did you ever think that pizza could be sad? Well, according to Marvo and many of his followers, I guess it can!

Do you like sweet potatoes? Do you like curry? Well, why not try this sweet potato curry recipe and see how you like it.