It's BBQ time!

It's summer... what's more perfect than BBQ? Now, I will preface this by saying THIS IS NOT REAL BBQ!!!!

That said, not all of us are fortunate enough to either live where real BBQ can be procured or to have the time and materials needed to create it ourselves. Seeing as I live in Alaska and work, I have none of these things. So I go the easy route - but it's a pretty good alternative!

Ingredients

Meat - chicken breasts or a nice piece of pork
BBQ sauce - your choice, two bottles
Bacon
Starch - either a good roll or a baked potato

Toss the meat and one bottle of sauce into the crock pot. Cook on low 4-6 hours or until the meat is tender enough to shred. Cut the bacon into small slices and saute in a skillet. Add the shredded meat and more sauce to taste. Saute meat and bacon together to caramelize the sauce, then serve over your choice of starch.

Drunken Mac and Cheese

This is the result of an aha! moment that I had last week. Beer cheese dip is wonderful. Mac and cheese is wonderful. Why not combine them both? I haven't quite perfected this yet, but it's still pretty darned good for a first attempt!

Ingredients

5 cups shredded cheese, approximately 80% cheddar and 20% swiss
1 bottle of beer, preferably Alaskan Amber
2 T butter
2 T flour
Worcestershire sauce
Dijon mustard
Horseradish sauce
Garlic and Wine seasoning
Salt and Pepper
1 box of macaroni

Preheat the oven to 400. Cook pasta as directed, drain, pour into an oven safe pan and set aside. Set the beer simmering in a large saucepan while melting butter and flour together in a small pan. Add Worcestershire, Dijon, horseradish, garlic, salt and pepper to the beer to taste. Blend in the flour and butter mixture and slowly stir in 3 cups of the cheese shreds. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta, stirring to mix well. Toss pasta with the remaining cheese shreds and top with bread crumbs. Bake 20 minutes.

Crepes

For some reason, it never occurred to me that one might make crepes at home. Or rather, that one might make crepes at home without the fancy crepe-maker that my French host family used. For all of you laboring under the same misconception - you CAN make crepes at home. You don't need anything fancy. And it's EASY!





Crepes
Ingredients

1 c flour
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
1/4 t salt
1 T butter (melted)
1 pinch sugar (dessert crepes only!)

Combine all but the flour in a medium bowl, blending well. Slowly stir in the flour until the batter forms. Lightly oil a large skillet. This is an important step. Too little grease, and your crepes will stick and tear. Too much and they will be oily and not spread well.
Turn the burner on medium and let the skillet warm briefly. Pour 1/4 c of the batter into the skillet and turn it around quickly so that the batter coats the bottom. If the batter sets before you've covered the bottom completely, the skillet was too hot. Let the crepe cook for a minute or two, then carefully loosen the edges and flip it over. This might take some practice. I found that after lifting the edge with the spatula, it worked best to use my fingers for the actual flipping. As the second side cooks, place your filling in the middle. The crepe should slide right off the skillet onto your plate!

Filling

Fillling can be anything! The sky is the limit! Today I made a savory and a sweet crepe. The savory was spicy scrambled eggs (cayenne, a bit of garlic, and some grated habenero jack cheese) cooked with baby spinach. For my sweet crepe I used brownies and ice cream. Be creative!

Chicken Marsala

This one's for my husband!
Not your traditional Easter dinner, but with only the cat and me here, tradition is out the window. Typically I serve this dish with rice, but I couldn't completely abandon the mashed potatoes on Easter, so you get two recipes for the price of one today!

Chicken Marsala
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, pounded flat
1/4 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t oregano
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c butter
1/2 c marsala wine*
1/4 c cream sherry

Mix flour, salt, pepper, and oregano. Meanwhile, bring the oil and butter to a boil in a skillet. Dredge the chicken in the flour mix, then brown in the oil 2 minutes on each side. Carefully add the wine and sherry. Cover and simmer 5 minutes on each side.

*the marsala you chose will make or break this recipe. Don't buy the cheapest thing out there!

Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are my favorite. They are one food that I will not compromise on - you won't find me sneaking veggies into them, or worrying about how healthy they are. That said, mine are not the most unhealthy out there either! For me, the ultimate mashed potatoes are smooth and fluffy. None of those chunks!

Peel and cube baking potatoes. Boil until soft and strain. Place butter or margarine into a bowl - I usually use about 1/4 c for every three or four potatoes. Now, here's the trick: press the cooked cubes of potato through a potato ricer, into the bowl. Add some salt and pepper and a dash of skim milk into the bowl, then quickly blend with a whisk. Don't use a hand mixer, and don't overwork the potatoes. This should only take a few seconds, and you will have perfect potatoes every time.

Pineapple-Teriyaki Chicken

While I was pondering over dinners for the coming week, Wendy suggested using chicken and pineapple. So, this is the result of Wen's brilliant idea!

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1/4 c teriyaki
1 small can of crushed pineapple
1 c uncooked rice
1/2 can pineapple rings, sliced
add'l 1/4 c teriyaki
coconut shreds (optional)

Marinade the chicken in the teriyaki and crushed pineapple overnight. Cook the rice according to directions on box. Meanwhile, cube the chicken and cook in a skillet with a dash of teriyaki. Once the chicken is browned, add the sliced pineapple rings and continue to cook until the chicken is cooked through. When the rice is done, stir in teriyaki. Serve chicken and pineapple over the rice, top with shredded coconut.

Easy Shepherds Pie

Alright, so it's not authentic by any means, but it's easy, quick, and tasty. What more could you want on a cold night after a long day of work?

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beef
beef stock
flour
frozen mixed veggies
refrigerated biscuits
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Garlic and Wine Seasoning

Cook the beef with salt, pepper, thyme, and G&W. Drain, spread in a 9 inch pie pan. Add veggies, then beef stock and flour until the consistency is fairly thick. Add more seasonings if needed. Top with refrigerated biscuits and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until biscuits are cooked through.

Steak Sandwich

Hot. Fresh. French. Bread! There was an employee at the grocery store in Texas who sang a little song that went just like that. As far as I could tell, it was his only duty. Hot. Fresh. French. Bread. It's a great thing. But we'll add to it. Perfectly cooked, medium rare steak. Horseradish aioli, melted cheddar and asiago. Heaven.

Ingredients
Steak. I prefer tenderloin. The better the steak, the better the sandwich.
Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper
Garlic and wine seasoning
Fresh french bread
Grated cheddar and asiago cheeses
Horseradish aioli (recipe below)

Preheat your oven to 375. Rub the steak with a mix of salt, pepper, garlic salt and garlic and wine seasoning. Bake in the oven until rare or medium rare. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Even if you like your steak well-done, do NOT go past medium rare at this point. Once the steak is done, slice it very thinly along the grain.

Slice the bread lengthwise and give it a quick toast in the oven. Spread with the aioli. Layer the beef on top with the grated cheese. Return to the oven for long enough to heat through and melt the cheese. Enjoy!

Horseradish Aioli

Ingredients
1 clove garlic
pinch salt
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil (I used red pepper infused oil, recipe to come soon!)
3 T vegetable oil
1 egg yolk
2 t lemon juice
1/4 t Dijon mustard
1/2 t horseradish sauce
S&P as needed

Mince the garlic with a pinch of salt as fine as you can get, as close to a paste as possible. Set aside. Combine oils in a cup. In a small bowl, whisk yolk, lemon juice, mustard and horseradish. Slowly add the oil to the yolk mix, whisking thoroughly. If the mix seperates, stop adding oil and whisk until it combines. Whisk in the garlic. Taste and add S&P or herbs as needed. Refrigerate until used.