I entered and Lost (pretty sure anyway) The Lay’s do us a Flavor Contest

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Lay’s Potato Chips will give some forking lucky person (not me as I haven’t been contacted yet) a million Forking Dollars to come up with the Next Great Potato Chip Flavor.

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I liked that you could pick your style of chip and also could have a say in your bag design. I thought this was a pretty forking easy contest to enter so everyday for a while I entered in flavors.

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I entered 70 Forking Flavors!

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Some Flavors were forking favored more than others.

The ones that got the most favored were-

Kimchi and Fried Rice

Moroccan Chermoula

Cheesy Frittata

Brown Butter and Shallots

Spicy Szechwan Eggplant

Mozzarella Cream and Tomato Relish

Gruyere Porchini

Za’atar

Coconut Marshmallow

Lay’s does put out a disclaimer that favored doesn’t mean forking squat.

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There also were many flavors that got forking ZERO interest.

Szechwan Peppercorn

French Almond Croissant

Cheesy Croissant

Munster Cheese and Ghost Pepper (I thought that one was forking good……..Munster, Ghost  get it?)

Cheese Calzone

Smoked Tomato Cream

And my in-between flavors were

Jamaican Pickapeppa

Harissa Vinaigrette

Smoked Beets, Goat Cheese and Almonds

Spicy Middle Eastern Skhug

Fried Dill Pickle

Argentinean Chimichurri

Potato Knish

Depending on how the Chips fall some forking lucky person will win the Lay’s Do Us a Flavor Contest (but I’m pretty forking sure I lost)

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

 

Home Made Mustard Recipe (It’s something you might Relish)

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Home made mustard is forking easy to make. You can use higher quality more flavorful vinegars and spices to make your unique blend. You can also play with the texture depending on how you cut (excuse the forking bad pun) or blend the mustard.

I studied over a half dozen different recipes posted on the web and forking came up with my own adding some of my own ideas that’s a little more layered with flavors and I like the popping texture of leaving the seeds whole.

Ingredients

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5 Tablespoons Mustard Seeds (I only had yellow but a mix of different ones would be interesting. (I do note using all yellow seeds will produce a mild mustard and you do need the darker colors for a more bold mustard flavor.

1 Tablespoon Mustard Powder

1/4 Cup Sherry

1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tablespoons (my recipe) Roasted Garlic Spread (Covered Garlic Roasted with a Splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for an Hour and Whipped)

Roasted Garlic Spread

Roasted Garlic Spread

1/4 teaspoon Ground White Pepper

6 crushed Juniper Berries

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Small pinch of Allspice (be careful with this one)

2 Normal Pinches of Espelette Pepper Powder

Maybe 5 Turns of Fresh Ground Sea Salt

Between 5-10 turns of Fresh Ground Black Pepper

You just forking mix and let sit in the refrigerator a day but two days would be better.

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It will look sort of like this.

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It takes a day to look like this and is a little on the thin side.

At this point it will thicken up a little more if you can wait another forking day (that’s a total of two days the next day it DID look perfect) or you can blend it up to your liking. Blending will thicken the mustard.

Home Made Mustard it’s Something you might Relish!

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

I was Forking Overwhelmed by Pop-Tarts

I was forking strolling threw my closest Supermarket by the cottage section and noticed they still don’t carry fat free cottage cheese.  I turned this one corner and it was WORST than the Oreo Aisle. All I saw was a World of Pop-Tarts and was Forking Overwhelmed!

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There was forking so many I couldn’t count them all.

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Don’t worry they have forking more and even if you don’t want the Pop-Tart brand the store has provided forking impostor Pop-Tarts!

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And Forking More!

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Even FORKING More!

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These aren’t even forking enough!

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And then you need your forking special addition flavor.

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Pop-Tarts is a brand of rectangular pre-baked pastries that are meant to be warmed up in your toaster over and made by Kellogg Company.

The original flavors were Strawberry, Blueberry, Brown Sugar Cinnamon and Apple Currant.

These days Pop-Tarts can be found in a forking 25 various flavors and forking special edition flavors.

The packaging for Pop-tarts was groundbreaking technology invented to keep dog food fresh. (FORKING TRUTH!)

I was Forking Overwhelmed by Pop-Tarts! (and this supermarket still doesn’t forking carry any brand of fat free cottage cheese)

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

How to WOW your Friends with Polenta

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I was making my “Kicked Up” Version of Polenta. That’s two cups dry polenta, 9 cups usually water but to make it kicked up I used mostly corn stock( 5 cups corn stock 4 cups water , I also creamed in 4 ears of corn. This made a very forking indulgent tasting polenta and seems very rich and creamy and flavor packed. It happened to be also very low fat. Only 2 ounces of forking butter are used in 30 servings.  24 of the around 30 servings it made were turned into Crispy Polenta Cakes that I froze for latter. No other forking fat was used in the Polenta.

Polenta Cake

Polenta Cake (a different batch)

After making the 24 polenta cakes the leftover polenta was placed in a tub to set, then placed a lightly oiled pan.

I decided to top my polenta with about 8 ounces of fat free farmers cheese that I seasoned. I like the way this cheese holds up to heat as it doesn’t melt or get forking runny.

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I added two scallions, a handful of fresh basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon oregano,  1/2 teaspoon fresh grated black pepper, And 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt.

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Then all ingredients got forking blended. Then they were topped on the polenta.

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I used this Forking Gizmo that is like a giant pencil sharpener to make carrot curls. I cut up zucchini, tomatoes and radishes and just decorated away till I got this. I don’t recommend buying the gizmo I used as I also sliced up my Forking Finger in this contraption.

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I cut up extra vegetables and seasoned them with oregano, basil, rosemary,  sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and a splash of extra virgin olive oil and placed them around the polenta and baked it off in the oven at 350 degrees for a forking half an hour.

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You just might WoW your friends with polenta!

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

Refreshing Lemongrass Refrigerator Pickles

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I picked up beautiful pickling cucumbers from my local farm and decided to make a few forking batches of pickles and thought lemongrass would be interesting and refreshing.

Ingredients

Cucumbers (I had two really forking big  cucumbers you might need 4-6) (the other two I made dill flavored)

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1 bunch of Lemongrass ( remove dry skins and you use mostly from white end sliced in half long ways)

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6 cloves garlic

About an inch and a half of Galanga Root cut in slices

About an inch and a half of Ginger Root cut in slices

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One Thai Chili cut in half long ways

10 Kiffer Lime Leaves

3 Tablespoons Kosher Salt

3 Tablespoons Sugar

1 1/2 Cups White Vinegar

2 Cups water

Bring everything (except the cucumbers) to a boil and then lower the heat let it cook maybe 10 minutes and let the liquid cool.

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Once the liquid is cool you can pour it on to your sliced cucumbers in a sterilized container and put in your refrigerator.

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The next day you can eat them and they will be very lemon grassy. If you can wait three days more of the other flavors do come out.

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The Refrigerator Lemongrass Pickles are light and refreshing! They are forking easy to make and are just right for a hot summer day!

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

Caramelized Banana Pepper, Onion, & Cheese Blintzes or Crepes

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I thought the best way to use this Fat Free Farmer Cheese would be to make Forking Blintzes or Crepes. I also thought a tasty combination would be to stuff the Cheese Blintzes (or Crepes) with Caramelized Banana Peppers and Onions that I already had prepared. My Banana Peppers were so FORKING hot I tamed them down with a little bit of sugar with a little bit of salt. They had a mostly spicy-sweet thing going on.

A blintz is a thin pancake that is rolled around sweet or savory filling.  Blintzes and Crepes are forking easy and quick to make anyone can do this.

Ingredients for Blintzes or Crepes Dough to make 6 or 7 of them

2 Extra Large Eggs Beaten

1/2 Cup Water

3 Tablespoons Melted Butter

1 Tablespoon Greek Yogurt

Small splash of Vanilla maybe 1/8 teaspoon

1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1/4 teaspoon of Kosher Salt

Canola Spray and maybe a tablespoon more butter for frying the stuffed Blintzes.

You will need filling I used about 6 ounces of Farmer Cheese and about 6 ounces of Caramelized Banana Peppers & Onions that already had sugar and some salt in them.  I didn’t think the farmers cheese needed any seasoning with that Flavor BOMB Pepper Mixture. It sort of went good against the cool mild cheese but normally you’d want to spice or sweeten the forking cheese up.

I started by mixing the sugar with the melted butter and then added the egg and mixed till smooth. I mixed in dry about 1/2 till smooth and then the rest till smooth.

My small fry pan was set on a little past medium heat and was sprayed with canola oil.

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I covered my pan with a foil top and it took very little time to cook and all the Crepes slid out easy.

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I laid out all the crepes and put almost an ounce of cigar shaped farmer cheese in each one and then added almost the same amount of Caramelized Banana Peppers & Onions to each.

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I rolled up the bottom, then rolled in the sides and continued rolling till I had a Blintze Shape.

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Then I fried on that just past medium heat.  My pan was sprayed with canola oil and had a small pat of butter. This went very quick. Since these are savory Blintzes a little Salt and Pepper might be nice to finish them up.

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Forking Spicy Peppers with a cool creamy Cheese are the Whey to go!

 

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

Hot Sauce & Ketchup Recipe(s) Started from One Sauce

I planed to prepare a hot sauce and knew I needed to strain it but had no forking idea I was going to make a delicious ketchup from the part I separated.

I forking like making Hot Sauce. I make it a little different each time and it always taste different depending what I use.

Cleaned up Ghost Peppers

Cleaned up Ghost Peppers

This time I used.

1.5oz.  FORKING Ghost Peppers (stems &  seeds removed) You have to be FORKING CAREFUL when handling Ghost Peppers or get someone else to clean them up for you. You can accidentally forking pepper spray yourself with them. Protective Gloves and goggles should be worn and some people need a ventilator machine when handling  Ghost Peppers. (not always but I often use Ghost Peppers)

 

15 Cherry Peppers (stemes & seeds removed) Any kind of Cherry pepper you can get adds a unique flavor. I’d prefer forking fresh ones but they aren’t forking sold in my area.

Cherry Peppers

Cherry Peppers

12 Roasted Red Bell Peppers (stems, seeds & skin removed) and the liquid in tub. They add lots of sweetness when roasted and the liquid is almost like forking sugar water.

Roasted Red Bell Peppers

Roasted Red Bell Peppers

3 cups Apple Cider Vinegar

2 cups water

Juice of one fresh lemon

2 large cloves garlic (minced)

around a teaspoon of Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

1/2 teaspoon of Tellicherry Ground Black Pepper

I put them all in my pot on medium high heat and gave them a blend.

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I turned it down when it hit a slow boil to simmer and let it go about an hour. Then I strained and separated the two mixtures.

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The thick sauce almost reminded me of Sambal Oelek Chili Paste and it was too forking delicious to toss. I decided it would make a delicious Ketchup.

So I put it back in the pot and added

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

6 oz. Tomato Paste

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

A pinch of Ground Cloves

And let it simmer for about an hour.

This came out really good! It’s sort of like Ketchup but fresher tasting and a little more spicy. I think it could become a BBQ sauce or some of whats added to baked Beans, or just be ketchup.

The Thin sauce was OK but I thought it would be better if I just reduced it a bit. So I let it reduce on a low heat for about an hour.

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The Sauce didn’t get as forking spicy as I was expecting but is a good tasting sauce with some heat. The Roasted Taste and the Sweet Taste from the Bell peppers really came threw. You could also taste the unique cherry pepper taste and the smoke stayed in the background from the ghost peppers. I didn’t forking get much hot sauce out of this project but the quart of really good Ketchup was an unexpected win!

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Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

Baked Pickled BEET Falafels Style with Pink Horseradish Dill Cream Recipe

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I had a bunch of forking Pickled Beets and Pickled Onions and thought I could make tasty Falafels out of them and I forking did! This is a very original  recipe I whipped up. The pickling of the beets and onions just gives these beet falafels another dimension. These falafels are a forking rainbow of flavor in your mouth. The Falafels came out really Forking Delicious! They got everything going on, tangy, sweet, sour, spicy and a little bit of crisp on the outside. Sort of meaty on the inside.

Set oven to 350 degrees you will need oiled pans for baking the falafels.

Ingredients

3 cups of your home made pickled beets

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1 cup of your thinly sliced onion that you already pickled in with the beets

2 – 15.5 oz. Cans of Chickpeas drained and rinsed

1/2 cup of the liquid from the pickled beets

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1 1/2 Cup Matzo Meal

2 Extra Large Eggs

2 Tablespoons Tahini

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Coriander

2 Cloves Garlic Minced

Handful of Chopped Parsley or Cilantro or a mix of both

1/2 teaspoon of Kosher or Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper

Using blender of any kind start with a chickpeas and beet liquid and then add beets, matzo meal, onions, eggs and blend well.

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Now add remaining ingredients and by now you can just stir them in.

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Roll into patty shapes on to oiled pans.

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Bake at 350 degrees till done.  I did them filling the oven for 15 minutes and turned them over and did another 10 minutes making it 25 minutes total.

Now make Pink Horseradish Dill Cream

About 2 cups Nonfat Greek Yogurt

About 2 Tablespoons Light Mayo

3 inches of Armenian Cucumber grated (skin and seeds removed)

About 1 tablespoon Horseradish

2 teaspoons dried dill

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Pickled Beet Liquid

Mix and chill

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This recipe is a keeper! These came out really Forking Good!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Best Falafels I tasted in Metro Phoenix so far

Greek Wraps Peoria AZ

Greek Wraps Peoria AZ

A Falafel is usually a deep fried patty made of Chickpeas or Fava beans or a combination of both. Falafels are usually seasoned with Onion, Garlic, Parsley, Coriander, Cumin, Salt and Pepper. The Falafel is traditionally a Middle Eastern Street Food.

After tasting a forking very bland falafel somewhere in the area I thought about the best forking falafels I tried in the Metro Phoenix Area.

Paprika Mediterranean Exsperience Scottsdale AZ

Paprika Mediterranean Exsperience Scottsdale AZ

The Falafels from Paprika Mediterranean Exsperience in Scottsdale AZ are clearly flavorful and loaded with fresh herbs. The texture of the falafels are unusual and sort of like forking meatballs. I think they might be baked instead of fried but I’m not sure. I like the meatball texture in their unusually good tasting pita bread. These falafels are what I think about when I’m thinking falafel. They do make the best forking  pita bread of all the places I tried and make that delicious forking spicy Yemenite sauce that elevates everything deliciously.

Kitchen 18 Scottsdale

Kitchen 18 Scottsdale Best Eggplant Dip I remember tasting.

Shawarma King Glendale AZ

Shawarma King Glendale AZ

Shawarma King in Glendale Arizona also makes a forking excellent Falafel. Not only is it layered with interesting Flavors it is also the crispiest Falafel I ever tried. Some people measure how good a falafel is by it’s crispness. I measure it by how it forking taste. I can tell you this one is crisp and layered with lots of flavors.

Over the years I tried several non-taditional falafels (Beet Root, Tuscan Kale)  from FnB in Scottsdale AZ. They were all FORKING delicious but non-traditional.

Out of the forking traditional Falafels it’s a toss up between Paprika Mediterranean Exsperience and Shawarma King for being the best out of all the places I tried so far. Both are different from each other but both are FORKING excellent!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Forking Inedible Biscotti or Biscotti Style Cookies? (and Recipe)

I saw an ad for a local Biscotti shop and learned something I never knew before. True Biscotti are free of Butter or fat added and according to the bakery’s Website if a Biscotti has Forking butter or oil in it then it’s a cookie and not a Forking Biscotti.

For many years  tweaked up a Biscotti recipe from Chef Giada De Laurentiis that I think is pretty Forking Good and has butter in it. I swap out her all purpose flour for bread flour than gives the Biscotti a little more crisp. I dropped her use of chocolate chips because I like my chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies.

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(insert angels singing here)

I like using  a teaspoon of fennel seed for that just right flavor but I do note Old World Biscotti were a combination of Almonds and Pinenuts. After the dough is baked I slice them forking hot and bake them on each side at 250 degrees about a half hour to crisp them up. Most people who tried them told me they were very good and are certainly edible.

I decided I’d make a true Forking  Biscotti so I developed my own recipe. It’s either Forking good if you want to dip them in liquid or Forking LOUSEY if you want to just eat them because they truly came out tasting delicious but  Forking hard as rocks as they are forking suppose to be because they are made for dunking in either fortified wine (Old World Style) or Coffee.

Biscotti Recipe for DUNKING Only unless you want Forking dental work

1 1/4 Cup Bread Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4  teaspoon Baking Soda

1/8 teaspoon Kosher or Sea Salt

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Extra Large Eggs

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds

Set your oven to 350 degrees. Mix the Sugar, Vanilla and Egg Together and add them to the rest of the dry ingredients. You mixture will BE VERY DRY but don’t worry it will come out fine. It will look like wet sand and then you can shape into either two logs for the mini size or one log for normal size.

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I made them into two logs on one of those rubber mats I use only for Biscotti (or Cookies)

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The two logs baked in my oven for 25 minutes.

I sliced them up hot and baked each side for 20 minutes at 250 degrees.

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And they came out like this.

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They came out hard and crunchy and don’t fall apart in liquid. They might even stay non perishable for centuries. I’m not going to forking make these again as I prefer the Biscotti Stye Cookies I usually make instead of Dunking Biscotti.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth