49er Buffalo Chicken Wings

Yes I know, the 49ers lost to the Seahawks yesterday.  I can tell you I am so incredibly tired of hearing the taunting from work people- I'm glad it's over regardless of the outcome.  Even though Gary is a Steelers fan- we did spend quite a bit of time in the Emerald City.  I thought it was a perfect excuse to make my special baked chicken wings.  :)

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pack of "party wings"
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce

1. Line a banking sheet with aluminium foil, and spray with cooking spray.  Mix the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder & kosher salt in a freezer bag.  Rinse chicken wings & pat dry.  Add chicken wings to bag, seal, & toss until well coated with flour mixture.  Place wings onto the baking sheet and refrigerate at least 1 hour.  This will make the breading and sauce stick
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Melt butter in a sauce pan, and add the hot sauce.  Whisk until mixed well.  Dip the wings into the hot sauce mixture until well coated.  Place the wings on a broiler pan.  This is especially important.  This will make the wings crispy- as the fat drains into the lower pan.  Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.  
4. For the last 5-10 minutes broil on high to make wings extra crispy
5. Add bleu cheese and extra hot sauce on the side for dipping

I do have a 49er fan in the making at home.  I am working on him- I know that the Steelers will always be his number one team.  However with the Bay Area now considered a forever home....  I think I might be successful in a few years...

Easy Ginger Miso Soup

My guy and I both work at home which proves interesting at times.  :)  Both of us really like to cook- but when we are at work... we are often pressed for time.  Also I have rediscovered Asian food... since I was deprived so long.  Getting ready for Thailand in a few months!

This recipes basically takes lots of Trader Joe's store bought ingredients and combines them.

It's nowhere near homemade, but it's great to keep offhand for a quick meal.  You can also add your own veggies and protein and make it your own.

• Miso Ginger Broth
• Bok Choy (Chinese Cabbage)
• 1 can water chestnuts
• 1 cup cooked shrimp

Start with this.  You can get this at TJ's- it's ready made ginger miso soup broth.  YUM!

Just open and dump into a pot, and turn on medium high.


Rough chop bok choy.  This does cook down.  I love TJ's because you can get fresh veggies already packaged.

Open water chestnuts, and add to bok choy and broth.

Defrost shrimp, and add to the pot.

It should look like this.

Heat an medium high heat and cover for about 10 minutes.

Ladle and serve, and add Sriacha if desired.  I definitely love it spicy.

It's that easy!  Happy Tuesday.

Creamy Lemon Chicken with Capers

I love the cooking with soups concept.  This is where I stray from my mother who doesn't like anything Americanized or outside of the box she is used to. I think it's a great short cut for flavor.  This is a lazy American way to play on chicken piccata- and I think it's amazing.

• 1 lemon juiced
• 4 thin-sliced skinless boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 1 cup regular long grain rice (cooked according to package)
• 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• paprika, salt & black pepper to taste
• fresh parsley 

1. Squeeze juice from lemon, set aside
2. Season the chicken with paprika & salt
3. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the onion & garlic, adding black pepper and a bit of salt.  Set aside
4.  Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides. 
5. Stir the soup, wine, lemon juice and capers in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the chicken to the skillet.  Add mushrooms, garlic, and onion.  Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve the chicken and sauce with the rice.
6. Add fresh parsley over chicken and serve 

My guy loved it!   He just bought me a really cool juicer from Sur La Table- it's SO COOL!  

Here it is.  :)

I didn't eat any rice, but the sauce is rich and creamy- it's perfect.  It's a great 30 minute meal for a weeknight.

Pork Roast with Sauerkraut and Kielbasa

Being engaged to a die-hard Pittsburgher is pretty interesting.  I am learning new words every day.  One thing to make my guy less "salty" on New Year's day when nursing his hangover is this German tradition.  I had never really heard of it- but it was super easy to make.

• 1 (2 pound)  boneless pork tenderloin roast
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• fresh thyme
• salt & pepper
• 4 pounds of sauerkraut
• 1 pound kielbasa, cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 bottle of your favorite beer
• 1/2 onion

1. Preheat the oven broiler.  Place the roast on a roasting pan and baste with olive oil.  Sprinkle thyme and salt & pepper over the roast.  Brown under the broiler until meat is browned  It should look like this...  
   
2. Chop onion and cook in a frying pan with olive oil.  Set aside.
3. Place 2 pounds of sauerkraut on bottom of slow cooker, and arrange kielbasa along the edges.
   
    When the pork roast is done, place it in the center.  Cover everything with the remaining sauerkraut, and pour onions, vinegar and beer over all.
4. Cover slow cooker, and cook for 6 hours on high

I actually only used 3 pounds of sauerkraut and it was plenty.  I just bought a big jar and a can.  Gary though says he likes to use fresh sauerkraut... which I have never seen.  I guess YINZ in Pittsburgh have that stuff offhand?  :)

Here is the finished product.  The picture doesn't do it justice... it was delicious.  We had our first overnight house guest staying in the Penthouse with us tonight... and there was none left after those two boys were done with it all. Also, I caught my guy sampling some of the kielbasa behind my back when it was cooking in the slow cooker.  I was wondering why there really wasn't that much.... However,  both the pork and kielbasa were amazingly tender.

As a traditionalist... I'm sure we will be making this every New Year's Day for years to come.  Prost my friends.  

Beef with Mushrooms & Dijon Sauce

Lots has changed over the past few months- and all of it has been wonderful.  I left my sister wife and sister husband to move in with my boyfriend just outside of Santa Clara California.  It really feels like all of the hard work and tears over the last few months is starting to pay off.  :)

I feel like we have moved 5 times in the past week...  I look forward to sitting down every night to dinner for a sense of normalcy.  I think that was the only time growing up my family talked with each other.  I plan on carrying on that tradition with my own kids, and luckily Gary loves it too.  I'm sure I will be posting a lot if new recipes since we make a point to do this every day.

One of the newish meals I have made lately was this one.  It turned out pretty good actually!


Cooking Spray
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 boneless beef sirloin steaks cut into strips
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (I use  98% Fat Free).
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons Dijon style Mustard
Chopped fresh parsley 

Spray a 10-inch skillet with the cooking spray and heat over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms onions & garlic and cook until tender. Remove the vegetables from the skillet.  Remove the skillet from the heat

Spray the skillet with the cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the beef and cook until it's well browned, stirring often.  Pour off any fat.  I actually just browned the meat in the pan and threw them on the grill to get grill marks... that's an extra step though

Stir the soup, water, mustard and vegetables in the skillet and cook until the mixture is hot and bubbling. Toss with potatoes or rice and add parsley 

We are low carb low cheese until our wedding in June- but you can serve this over potatoes or rice to make it more filling.  We decided just to have this and a salad on the side- it was yummy.

Jack Daniels Beef Stroganoff

Hi Everyone!

I look forward to sharing my cooking adventures with you. Taking pictures as I go will be my challenge, and I did miss a couple steps here in my first go around, but I do hope you can use your imagination on the parts I left out of the pictorial. I cook by tasting as I go, and recipes tend to be loose guidelines rather than explicit instructions that MUST be followed. This method has surely resulted in a few unexpected "pizza nights" when things have gone awry, but also many homeruns that have landed in our family's meal rotation.

For my first recipe, I took a comfort classic and added my own little twist to it: booze. I was planning on deglazing my saute pan with a splash of white wine, but as is common in this house... we drank it. So upon peeking in the bar cabinet, I figured a little bit of JD would add just the right amount of spice and sweetness to the dish. And really, can you ever go wrong with whiskey? I think not.

Give yourself around 5 hours for this dish to cook to perfection. It is on the short end of the spectrum as far as slow cooking goes, so likely not a great choice for a day when you will be gone for the majority of the day.

Step one is easy. Toss 1lb of your diced steak of choice (I used the stir fry beef) with 2 cans of Condensed Golden Mushroom soup. And no, you cannot substitute cream of mushroom. Its gross. Throw in a tablespoon of chopped garlic and 1/2 packet of onion soup mix. Stir it up, set it and forget it for the next 4.5 hours.

Around an hour before your 4.5 hours are up, get back in the kitchen to finish your prep.

I chopped up approximately 4 cups of combined white and baby bella mushrooms.

Chopped 1 medium sweet yellow onion...

Heat up a large saute pan and add approx 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once heated, toss in the medium onion and 1.5 tablespoons of chopped garlic. Saute until the onions are slightly translucent, stirring frequently. 

Now for the fun part... Deglaze your pan with 1/4 cup Jack Daniels (or white wine if you didn't drink all of yours like we did). However, I think the whiskey imparted a hint of sweetness that really played well with the dish. You should try it ;)

After deglazing the pan, reduce the heat to medium, toss in your mushrooms. 

Add 1.5 tablespoons of herbs de provence and another splash of whiskey. Stir to combine the herbs and cover for 1-2 minutes. The mushrooms should be soft, but not saturated. Remove from heat.

Time to bring the two worlds together. Before....

And after! Now cover it up and let the flavors combine for another 30 minutes. During this time, prepare your egg noodles. I used a full 16oz bag. Drain and set aside until your stroganoff is ready.

Here is another example of me forgetting to take pictures... I'll do better next time! Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup cream cheese and 1/4 cup sour cream. Stir to combine and then add your noodles. I know, I know... some of you would rather just top your dry noodles with the sauce. But I like the sauce all up in my noodles, so I prefer this way. 

Top with another dollop of sour cream  and enjoy! 

Sister Wife!!

I started a new chapter in my life this past April, and I'm so excited for what's to come.  Part of this excitement is my new place of residence in a mini zoo in south San Jose.  My best friend who... let's be honest here is my sister... has agreed to take me in for the next few months until I begin a new chapter.  That in itself its own story!  I'm lucky enough to have her, and her husband Jeff affectionately refers to me as "The Sister Wife."

Part of living in this house consists of lots of wine, laughter, and of course... cooking.  The three of us love to take care of each other, and part of that is making sure we are all covered with meals.  :)

I decided to open up my blog to Mrs. Reichert so we could both post our favorite pics and recipes as well as document this crazy few months together.  C'est la vie!