Tag Archives: #food

Good and Forking Evil (Special Occasion) Creamy Polenta Recipe

Creamy Slightly Crispy Polenta Cakes

Creamy Slightly Crispy Polenta Cakes

I’ve been told my polenta that I prepare that even when I don’t add cream, butter or cheese is creamier than polenta we try when we go out. I always use regular polenta and NOT the quick cooking kind. To prepare it creamy you need to stir it just like you do when you prepare risotto. I bring it to a boil and then reduce to simmer. It takes 45 minutes to prepare polenta stirring often. I usually just prepare polenta cakes in a big batch that makes 24 cakes and a little extra is left that I make evil or special occasion style with some cheese and butter. I freeze the polenta cakes and use them for side dishes, breakfast sides and croutons for salads. For basic polenta the formula is 2 cups polenta with 9 cups of water and around a heaping teaspoon of kosher salt. I do note with the very basic polenta recipe you won’t have much leftover.

I made this batch of polenta 2 ways that were both extra special.

I recently cooked fresh sweet corn in the oven. I covered the corn (4 or 5 ears)  with water two Tablespoons of unsalted butter and about a teaspoon of kosher salt. I covered the pans with foil and let the corn go about two hours at 350 degrees. Pull the pan out and let them cool about an hour and a half. When cool enough to handle I save the liquid and that is now my corn stock. Then I slice the corn kernels off the cobs. I now have fresh corn and tasty corn stock.

Ingredients for Good Creamy Polenta makes 24 servings but you will have leftover that you turn into Evil special occasion Polenta that is 5 generous servings more.

2 cups polenta

5 cups corn stock

4 cups water

2 cups fresh cooked corn

Nonstick cooking spray

Fresh ground sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

Put all your ingredients on medium high heat and blend (except for fresh ground sea salt, black pepper and nonstick cooking spray). Bring the pot to boil and stir often then reduce to simmer, cover with foil and keep stirring occasionally. This needs to go 45 minutes. Pour into nonstick sprayed muffin pans and let set about a half hour or so. I had my oven already on and put the muffin pans on the top rack. It took about one half hour to get slightly crispy tops. Then I took them out and added the fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. I do note I had other things in my over so the timing will probably differ.

I had some polenta left in my pot so I made it special occasion style. For my household it became 5 servings.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 oz. habanero pepper jack cheese

2 oz. sharp cheddar cheese

A big pinch of parmesan

two thick slices of sharp American.

The heat was turned off under my pot and I just stirred till every thing was smooth. To serve I put some in a small bowl and topped a little more shredded sharp cheddar fresh ground salt and pepper.

Evil Creamy Polenta

Evil Creamy Polenta

If you prepare this polenta the evil way be prepared for someone to help themselves to a bowl and a refill. You then might be left with two dinner servings and another side serving.

The Forking Truth

These are really good and That’s The Forking Truth

 

 

WTFork is a Sea Bean?

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Sea beans are succulents that flower and grow on beaches in salty watery areas.

Sea beans are edible raw or cooked and have a high salt content so adding salt isn’t necessary in food preparation.

Sea beans are native to North America, Europe, South Africa and South Asia.

Often when purchasing they need to be brought back to life and benefit from a half day of soaking in ice water.

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These sea beans differ than other sea beans  I had before. These are slightly fibrous and have a slight seafood taste to them. They would make a great vegetarian meal paired with Lobster Mushrooms that also share a seafood kind of flavor. Other varieties of sea beans are delicate, tender and milder in flavor.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Roasting a Brussels Sprouts Stalk is Forking easy Recipe

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You can have yummy roasted brussels sprouts  roasted right on the stalk and will impress a crowd easily. However you will need to use a whole oven for these brussels sprouts.

 

The hard part is making a foil and parchment bag to fit around your brussels sprouts stalk.

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You leave it open and then fill with some water, olive oil, garlic cloves, sliced onions, and some sliced red pepper. wrap up and toss in a 350 degree F oven for around 2 hours.

Ingredients about 10 servings (extras can be frozen)

1 large brussels sprouts stalk – already laying in your open parchment paper and foil with ends folded up to hold everything in. That sits on a baking sheet for support.

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 sweet onion sliced thin

1 red bell pepper in small slices

big handful of pealed garlic cloves (don’t worry it won’t get that garlicky because the garlic just turns sweet and buttery)

fresh ground sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

optional pinch of red pepper flakes

optional grated parmesan cheese

Directions

In your open bundle with the brussels sprouts stalk add the water, olive oil, garlic cloves, red bell pepper, onion,  Cover tightly and place in your 350 degree oven for around 2 hours. You want the brussels sprouts to be fork tender and slightly caramelized. When done trim the brussels sprouts off and add fresh ground sea salt and pepper. Depending on your taste or what your serving with the vegetable you might want to add a little crushed red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

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This is Forking Good and that's The Forking Truth

This is Forking Good and that’s The Forking Truth

 

 

 

The Forking Most Delicious Rainbow Chard Side Dish Recipe Ever Recipe

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Rainbow Chard has leafy slightly bitter greens that are like the texture of spinach. The stems are rainbow colored and look like celery but are much more delicate and stringless. Rainbow Chard is unique and it needs a little more love to taste good than other greens.

To Make REALLY FORKING DELICIOUS Rainbow Chard    about 4 servings

1 bunch rainbow chard – remove and keep stems- rough chop greens and cut down stem into about 2 inch pieces

1 red bell pepper – seeds removed cut in small strips

1/2 medium sized sweet onion – sliced thin

1/2 cup cooked mushrooms

1 garlic clove – minced

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 Tablespoon butter

1 cup cooked pasta

1/2 cup seedless red grapes – cut in halves

pinch hot red pepper flakes

fresh ground sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

about 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions

Get your large fry pan on medium high heat add your butter then add the bell peppers when they start to brown slightly then throw in the onions. When the onions start to brown then add your garlic and stir well. Take pan off heat and add the wine and let reduce. Now add your rainbow chard stems stir well and add everything except for the pasta and cheese. It onion needs a few minutes at this point and just before serving toss in the pasta and lastly serve with the cheese.

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This rainbow chard is FORKING Great!

 

This is really great and that's The Forking Truth

This is really great and that’s The Forking Truth

 

 

People Don’t know WTFork a Good Baked Item Should Taste Like

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

After tasting some of the desserts I’ve tried fairly recently around where I live I truly believe that people don’t know WTFork a Good Baked Item should taste like.

No……. I’m not talking forking fancy smancy high end Las Vegas Desserts like the ones below.

Jean Philippe Aria Las Vegas

Jean Philippe Aria Las Vegas NV.

I talking good baked goods and desserts that just about everyone loves like  pies, cookies, bagels, cream puffs, cakes and breads. Desserts that are free of non-dairy whipped cream and artificial flavorings. Desserts that aren’t made with fillings from a can or package. Honest to goodness real desserts that are made with butter, fresh eggs and cream. I’m also talking real breads. Crusty, flavorful breads. Real breads that you look forward to eat.

When I was growing up it seemed every neighborhood had at least one bakery. No matter what kind of bakery I went in to Italian, Jewish or German……… where I grew up…… during that time you could always count on something fresh baked and scrumptious. The bakeries had this great aroma that I still remember. The aroma of fresh baked goods was so good your belly would forking hurt if you didn’t eat something.

Real bakeries were also very noisy places.

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You hear lots of machinery. Heavy duty mixers, the cash register, the conversations of customers.  You’d always hear the mechanic loud thundering roar of maybe several different bread slicing machines going-

Bread Slicers looked something like this

Bread Slicers looked something like this

slicing fresh loves of crusty breads for customers that were waiting in the long line. In those days even the forking malls all had bakeries. They weren’t the same as the free standing bakeries but looking back a whole heck of a lot better than some of what I see today sometimes. In those old days you’d make the weekly trip to the bakery to purchase bread and a few treats. Once in a while you might order a cake for a special occasion. Children were always given a few complimentary cookies and if a child was lucky their parent let them pick out a special yummy treat. In those days people cared about quality. You could partake in enjoying natural ingredients like real butter, eggs and real cream in your fresh baked goods no matter what bakery you walked into. The whole bakery smelled like sugar and spice. If you worked in a bakery you left smelling like a donut. (I know because I did)

Time has marched on and things are different now. Life styles have changed. People are busier than ever and are always on the go working more hours. Doing more things.

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Many people are also more health conscience too, they are working out and are not eating desserts or breads like they used too.

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So weekly trips to the bakery are made by less people these days. They are not a priority these days. Fewer more limited new bakeries do pop up every once in a while and also many of the old bakeries have shuttered since the neighborhood  bakery for most people is a relic of the past.

People these days often settle for convenience and pick up something processed and cheaper from their local supermarket.

Typical baked item from any local supermarket

Typical baked item from any local supermarket

Something created with man made chemicals that sort of looks like dessert. Something that can sit on a shelf for a long time. Something that anybody can whip up possibly even made by the guy pictured below

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by only adding a few ingredients, mixing it (with something clean one hopes) and baking it in a timed oven….DING!. Just add some pudding from a can or a mix and some non-dairy cream and Woop there it is. Many people actually think this sort of dessert taste good and this is what dessert actually is because that is what they are used too.

It just forking KILLS ME that a few local bakeries in my area put out baked goods that are on par with the level of supermarket bakeries.

Lemon Bar from Baker Wee Glendale AZ

Lemon Bar from Baker Wee Glendale AZ

Recently I thought I’d try a baked treat from a bakery I was passing by on the way home from some place. The bakery offered me a rugula while I was deciding on what I’d try. I thought the rugula was pretty good and thought whatever I tried would be ok because after all it was from a bakery. I love lemon bars because of the lemony filling, the tasty crumbs and they usually have a buttery tender crust. I love the play between tangy, sweet and savory, so I picked a lemon bar thinking it would be just right. I dug into the lemony curd first. It had this unnatural flavor like low quality lemonade. It also lacked the creamy, silky mouthfeel of natural lemon curd that’s rich and carefully made. Instead this lemon filling was sort of Jell-o like. I don’t think a human created it. Perhaps something demonic?  I think the yellow goo was made in a laboratory and stored in a can till it got sold to this bakery.

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The top crumbs were edible but not delicious and buttery. The bottom crust was as thick as a life raft

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and hard like cement.

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God this lemon bar was terrible I thought I was going to cough up a forking brick from the few bites I ate. It was so bad I can never step in this bakery again.

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Another bakery not too far from out of my way is an Italian Bakery.

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I thought they’d make an OK Italian Rum Cake that I wanted to give someone for a gift. I thought the cake looked ok and this bakery just like the last one I spoke about gets very high reviews on a certain review website. This cake purchase goes a half year back so I don’t remember every detail about the cake but I do remember the filling most because it was very unnatural tasting so much so it was memorable. I remember the filling was what made eating the cake next to impossible. The filling tasted like they dumped in a whole bottle of forking rum extract into the filling. Rum extract not forking real rum……..rum extract.  I don’t recall the rest of the cake being very tasty but I can tell you the filling made it a lost cause.  I felt terrible when I tasted this cake, sorry and embarrassed that I gave it to someone.

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I also purchased what they called Italian bread from this bakery and I kid you not. The bread tasted like squishy unnatural white bread from the forking supermarket. I can never go back to that bakery either. Eating baked goods from those bakeries was just like purchasing a baked good from the supermarket or from the dollar store. They were just very unappetizing. It forking saddens me and confuses me. I have no understanding on why you’d open a bakery if you aren’t baking scrumptious decadent treats?

 

It appears that these bakeries have enough business. Both have been in business for years and both have great reviews on a certain review website. Maybe it’s all because people don’t know what the fork Good Baked goods should taste like.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Baked Crispy Creamy Malted Rice Balls Recipe

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Here’s a Forking Unique recipe that everyone will like. The inside is creamy, lightly sweetened, almost saucy rice with pleasing familiar flavors. The exterior is crispy and very tasty. Serve them warm from the oven. It comes out like a baked rice pudding in a crispy shell. You’ll get yummmmmmm….”what’s that flavor?’ from your tasters. A secret small piece of banana melts into the middle with the coconut milk, malt and rice. It just works together well.

Ingredients to make 21 servings (one ball is a serving…it’s a just right generous bite)

1 cup white rice

1 13.5 oz. can light coconut milk

1/4 cup water

7 Tablespoons carnation malted milk powder

1 Tablespoon butter

1/4 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons malt flour (purchase malt flour online or from Asian Market)

1 extra large egg beaten

1 cup whole wheat panko

1/4 cup carnation malted milk powder

1 banana

Non stick Spray for baking sheet(s)

Directions set oven to 400 degrees F

In a large sauce pan bring to boil your coconut milk, water, 7 Tablespoons malted milk powder and  butter. When it boils then add the rice and then turn it down to simmer and cover with foil for about 20 minutes or till the rice is cooked.

Take off burner and add sugar, malt flour, and the beaten egg and mix well. Put back on burner on medium heat and heat it up till it simmers. Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator several hours or over night. You want the mixture firmer for working with.

Once chilled use a meatball scoop and scoop out rice like your making a meatball.Now indent the rice and slice off a small piece of banana to fit in the hole.

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Cover the hole up with some rice mixture and roll in the panko combined with remaining powdered malted milk.

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Place the balls on your sprayed baking sheet(s) for about 15 minutes in a 400 degree F oven and enjoy!

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These are Yummy and that's The Forking Truth

These are Yummy and that’s The Forking Truth

 

The Chile Relleno I will never Forking order Again

Popo's Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

A chile Relleno is usually but not always a stuffed Poblano Pepper. It is usually stuffed with cheese but can also be stuffed with meat and might come with a sauce. Somethings it’s fried and sometimes it isn’t.

Below is a picture of a typical Chile Relleno.

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Often a Chile Relleno might look like this inside.

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Below is a Central Mexican Style Chile Relleno.

Los Sombreros Scottsdale AZ

Los Sombreros Scottsdale AZ

Here’s what the Chile Relleno I recently had looked like inside.

Popo's Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol Glendale AZ

It was a green chile stuffed with white mild cheese that was topped with egg whites that were covered in green chile sauce and LOTS of cheddar cheese. It truly might not be the worst one out there but it tasted terrible to me. That heavy cheese and not so tasty sauce really KILLED the delicate fluffy egg whites. It was like putting a shag rug over your down blanket. Inside was a mild green chile that was kind of hard in texture and also had no color at all from being cooked. My forking stomach just locked up and I couldn’t eat anymore of it.

This is the First Chile Relleno I didn’t forking like.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

The Forking Truth might be that Not All Aluminum Foil Is Vegetarian

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I noticed something strange on my aluminum pan. It was a kosher mark.

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I thought why the FORK would aluminum need to be marked kosher so I did a little forking digging. I did find out some kind of oil is used in the manufacturing process of aluminum foil. I found that my pans are made with mineral oil. I called Reynolds and the person I spoke to had no forking idea of what kind of oil they use but their foil is also marked kosher.

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This one I have my doubts and find it hard to believe that aluminum foil might not be vegetarian. But then again why the fork would the foil need to be marked kosher? Do some foil manufacturers use lard? Whale grease? Forking Beaver grease?

But according to many sites on the web such as….

www.eye.worldpress.com

www.jainworld.com

www.creativesulekha.com

www.gleez.com

The above sites all post that bull’s intestines are used in the aluminum manufacturing process.

Indian Airlines at some point discovered the sweets they sold were wrapped in foil that was manufactured with bull’s intestines and immediacy stopped selling foil wrapped desserts on planes. (This is according to the above sites)

I never would have forking dreamed that any foil manufacturer would use an animal product in the production of aluminum foil. But since some foils are marked U maybe there is more to learn.

It’s FORKING POSSIBLE that your foil might not be Vegetarian.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

Forking Delicious Baked Crispy Spicy Cauliflower Recipe

Crispy Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

Forking Delicious Crispy Spicy Baked Cauliflower

Some things have to be fried to be delicious but not forking everything!  This baked crispy  cauliflower comes out so forking tasty you just might eat 1/2 a head or so. This cauliflower is very easy to prepare and taste like it might have been fried. For best results you need only thin coatings of dressing and crumbs and don’t make the cauliflower florets too forking big. Give them a try most people will like them because they are tasty and they aren’t too spicy.

Ingredients  about 8 servings

1 cauliflower cleaned and broken down into florets

1 cup panko bread crumbs (I used whole wheat panko)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seeds

1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot)

1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise (mine was 15 calories a Tablespoon)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika

pinch cardamon

Directions set oven to 350 degrees

You need a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

To one bowl add your panko, salt, cayenne and celery seeds

to another bowl mix up the hot sauce, mayonnaise, turmeric, garlic, paprika and pinch of cardamon and mix well.

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Now take a piece of cauliflower and dip it in the sauce mix and shake off.

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Now dip in crumb mixture and shake off

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and place on lined baking sheet.  Repeat till done and place in your 350 degree oven.

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After 45 minutes in my oven the cauliflower was crisp and tasty. They are good as is or you can make a dip for them.

Crispy Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

Forking Delicious Crispy Spicy Baked Cauliflower

 This is Forking Tasty and that's The Forking Truth

This is Forking Tasty and that’s The Forking Truth

WTFork is a Beef on Weck?

Beef on Weck from A Taste of Buffalo Glendale AZ

Beef on Weck from A Taste of Buffalo Glendale AZ

Beef on Weck is a sandwich that is normally only found and served in restaurants that are in Buffalo New York.

The Beef on Weck is traditionally hand sliced rare roast beef on a hard Kummel weck roll.

A Kummel Weck roll is topped with kosher salt and caraway seeds.

The beef on weck is topped with horseradish and the bottom of the top bun is dipped in au jus.

The beef on deck is a forking must try if you eat roast beef!

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth