My night with Ming Tsai

I hope you didn't take that the wrong way. If so well I don't know what to say. I saw him at Macy's in Edina, MN. Macy's put on a great show, they had lots of samples of many different foods and drinks. What a great selection of cheese and they where all local.

Back to Ming he is very funny, if you have the chance go see him. If not watch his show on PBS. He made pork apple dumplings and shrimp crusted halibut. They were both great. I have seen Alton Brown in person and he is great too. If you want to see chefs in you town, and you have a Macys go to web site http://www1.macys.com/store/event/index.ognc , and enter you zip code to see what is in your town.

Home Made Sweet and Sour Sauce

2 tablespoons catsup

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 cup of cold water



Combine and cook on stove top at med. heat. or cover and cook it in the microwave. Great with egg rolls and won tons

Home made easy garlic bread

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

1 loaf or rustic bread.
1 clove of garlic minced (2 cloves if you like lots of garlic or want to fend off vampires)
2 stick of butter room temp.
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon of shredded basil



Cut the bread in half lengthwise. Mix all other ingredients and spread on to bread and put into the oven for as long as it takes to brown the bread

Savory Cheese Puff

1 package of stuffing mix (stove top)
8 ounces of cojack cheese
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
4 eggs
3/4 cups of milk
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon of Finley chopped basil (fresh)

Put the stuffing mix in a 2 quart casserole dish, add flour, cheese,basil, garlic, and melted butter. Combine the eggs and milk in a large bowl and beat until well blended. Pour over the top of stuffing and cheese. Bake 350 degrees for about an hour

Won Tons

1 pound ground pork
1 can shrimp (drained)
1 Green onion (chopped finely or you can leave this out if you don't like onions like me)
12 water chestnuts (chopped finely)
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 eggs
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 package of won ton wrappers

mix everything except the wrappers together. spoon tablespoon size drops onto each wrapper. Fold into won ton shape and squeeze all the air out!! Deep fry in hot oil

Baked Brie

7 ounces whole rind (rind intact)
1/2 cup of thinly sliced mushrooms (any kind works)
1 tablespoon of olive oil ( I won't say evoo cause I hate that..oh I said it errrr)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1/2 a clove of garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. put oil in pan set to medium heat. add garlic and vinegar and mushrooms. leave in pan for 8 minutes. then put in strainer. Cut the brie almost in half side ways don't cut all the way through. Then put the mushrooms into the brie. bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese begins to melt

Refriderator Pickles

This is from my Grandma Isabel

7 cups of peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers
1 cup cut onion
1 cup cut green pepper

In a blender, mix together:
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 cups white vinegar
1 tablespoon celery salt
fresh dill and fresh garlic to taste (I like a lot of both)

Combine onions, cucumbers and peppers. Let stand 1 hour. Drain well. Pour blended mixture over. Place in jars and refrigerate. Can be kept up to several weeks.

My Grandma Isabel Died when I was 6 and I don't remember much about her, but I do have her recipes to remind me of her.

Easy Chocolate Blackberry Cobbler

3 cups of blackberries
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of sugar
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of simi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Crust
3/4 cup of self rising flour
1 cup of sugar
3/4 cups of milk

pre heat oven to 350 degrees
melt butter in microwave
simmer blackberries, water, vanilla extract, brown and white sugar(1 cup total) for 8 min. mix the crust while simmering blackberries. pour melted butter in to 9 inch square pan, then pour blackberries into the pan. let cool for 5 min. pour crust into the pan. Then put chocolate chips into the pan. cook for one hour. serve with whip cream and ice cream.

Has the Food Network gone down hill

I have loved the Food Network for along time now. The nerd in me loves Good Eats, Paula Home Cooking cause who does not love butter and she has a great laff. Dinner: Impossible was fun for a while, not so much fun now we find out Robert Irvine fabricated parts of resume. For more info on that here is a link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23452952/. I always thought Emeril's shows are over the top, and Rachael Ray is just down right annoying, especially with her EVOO crap. The contests were fun when the were on every so often, but it looks like the food network has gone down the road of reality TV. What made Food Network great was it made cooking available to everyone, teach everyone how to cook, making food fun and teaching how to put on a party. Now it is just look at these people cooking and we won't show you how to do it. It is always fun seeing restaurants in you home town on TV but they have taken that to far too. I hope I am not coming across as a snob but I will take the PBS Cooking Academy over Food Network any time. Please vote on my poll. As I read this to my wife she made me write that she loves Iron Chef

How to make home made whipping cream

You all probley know how to make this but I promissed earlier in my postings that I would let you know.

Take your mixing bowl and beaters and chill them in the refrigerator (stainless steal work bowls the best).

You need to use Heavy Whipping Cream for this not half and half.

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon of teaspoon pure vanilla extract (this is where you could use some of the homemade stuff that I am sure you already made).
2 tablespoon of powder sugar. You can add more to taste

1. pour the whipping cream in the bowl, then the vanilla and the sugar
2. Start beating on medium speed until to starts to froth
3. Then move it up to high speed
4. Stop and take the beaters out and see if it has soft peaks

Now you know how to make home made whipping cream. What I love to do is to add flavors to the whipping cream. Like Chocolate add 2 table spoons of cocoa, or add 1 tablespoon of you favorite liqueur. I have even taken blue cheese wrapped it in cheese cloth added it tho the heavy whipping cream into a pan and put the burner on low for 20 min. The I take a strainer just to make sure that it is only the cream, then put in in the refrigerator to chill it must be very cold to then make whipping cream. You just add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the heavy whipping cream and start whipping. That's how you make blue cheese whipping cream. As you can see I have a hard time deciding where to make paragraph breaks and you can make just about any flavor whipping cream and it tastes so much better than store bought (Redi-whip is nice just cause you can squirt it in you mouth.

how to make home made vanilla extract

INGREDIENTS
(Makes 16-ounces)
1 pint Vodka
9 Vanilla beans
1/3 cup sugar (sugar will help make the vanilla into the extract faster. I use brown sugar)

1. Take the vanilla beans cut the down the center, and scrape out the seeds (the little brown specs)
2. keep the vodka in the bottle or in an air tight container
3. put the seeds in the bottle or in another air tight container
4. then put the bean shells in the bottle or container
5. put the sugar in the mix
6. shake well, then keep shaking at least once a week)
7. you can use it in1 1/2 months. Use cheese cloth to strain
8. put in small bottles to give away or keep it all for your self.

My family expects to get a small bottle of the each Christmas now. Use any vodka I like to use the upscale but have used the cheap stuff too. I get my beans at http://kitchenwindow.com/. I am lucky I live near there so I can pick out my beans my self but you can order it all over on the web. You can use brandy or Bourbon to make this recipe also. I like vodka because it is clear and you can see the changes. This is also great for making home made ice cream.

Areo Garden how sweet it is

I got a Areo Garden for Christmas and I love it. As you can see I have to use more of the herbs. I have given a lot away but to see this thing work is so cool. It does not use dirt, it works with water(it is call hydroponic). You can also grow herbs of all kinds, roses, strawberries, cherry tomato's, green beans, chili peppers, snow peas and many more. If you look at the picture you can see all the snow outside and I have a garden inside it is great. Here is there web site.

http://www.aerogrow.com/

Everyone's favorite Raspberry Bread pudding

When ever I make this everyone wants the recipe so I will share it with you

1 loaf of Raspberry fritter bread (I buy this at Nelson Bros Bakery Here is the website)http://www.clearwatertravelplaza.com/bakery_menu.cfm?bakery_category_id=2
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups milk
8 eggs beaten
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup vanilla extract (I will soon post how I make my own vanilla extract)
unsalted butter
brown sugar
1 bag of frozen raspberries

take the butter and cover bottom and side of 9 inch by 13 inch pan then sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom of the pan(just enough to cover the bottom). This is the fun part tear the bread into small pieces around 1 inch but not perfect 1 inch pieces. Put one layer of the bread down and then put a layer of the raspberries down. then put the rest of the bread on top of raspberries. Mix the eggs, sugar, whipping cream, milk, vanilla. Pour this mixture over the bread(just enough to cover bread). preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put the pan in a larger pan that it will fit into (do this before you fill the 9x13 pan. Once it is in the other pan fill the pan up half way up the 9x13 pan. Bake one hour. Remove from water bath and let stand 30 minutes. serve warm and top with whipping cream or whipping cream from can. But Homemade is so much better. (I will also post later how to make homemade whipping cream to top the bread pudding. You can always top it with ice cream.