Great book

Caught the kid reading a great book. :)

Grape jelly chicken marinade

 Here's a quick recipe I threw together.  This recipe I found somewhere online, actually had cranberry sauce, french dressing and dried onion soup mix.  I didn't have any cranberry sauce, so I used something close:  grape jelly.  I marinated the chicken thighs in it over night and the entire day.  Here's the recipe: 

1 packet of dry onion soup mix 

1 cup of French dressing 

1 cup of grape jelly 

Mix the 3 together and pour over chicken in a large glass baking dish.  Cover in foil and refrigerate.  The recipe suggested 8 hours or more.  Bake at 400 for 45 mins.  Depending on what kind of chicken you use (the original called for chicken breast), it might be longer.  Serve chicken over rice (the sauce tastes awesome over rice).    Enjoy!  

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers new interactive music video

This was too cool not to share. As you watch the video you can move room to room. Click the "show hints" to click on various objects around each room. You can also zoom in and out using the +/- buttons.

My Big Game (Food) Predictions

 I was telling someone the other day, who I thought would do well in the Super Bowl, and they quickly reminded me that the team I had picked, wasn't in the game.  I did watch some of the playoffs, but it's been a couple of weeks, so I'm already rusty on the details.  

What I do know is, for non-football fans and self proclaimed chefs, Super Bowl Sunday is the day to create some great junk food masterpieces.  I have a game plan, and my roster set.  I thought I'd share the lineup with you: 

 

Oven Broiled Chicken Wings 

I've done wings every way imaginable, but have never par-boiled them.  This should be interesting. I'm also not sold on the "hot sauce" .. I'm thinking I might go with another marinade or flavor, but we'll see.  Anyhow, this is the method I'll be using to cook my game-day wings (source):

1. Preheat the broiler. Place the wings in a large pot and fill the pot with water to cover by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil, then continue to boil for 10 minutes. Drain.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the cayenne pepper sauce, lemon juice, and broth.

3. Transfer the wings to a broiler pan and broil 5 to 6 inches from the flame, until the skin begins to blister and brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Turn the wings over and broil until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes more.

4. Transfer the wings to a baking sheet, drizzle with the reserved sauce, and toss well to coat. Place the baking sheet under the broiler for 1 minute to heat the wings and sauce together.

5. Serve the broiled Buffalo wings with extra hot sauce on the side, celery sticks, and the blue cheese dip.

 

 Cheese Con Queso Dip

Probably the most unhealthy snacks of the day, and the reason I busted out a 10 mile run Saturday morning. I'm a sucker for cheese queso dip though, and it's a must on a big game day.  I'm going to play with the amounts, as I'm definitely not going to make a huge batch of this. 

Jalapeno velveeta cheese (I used Kroger brand)

Rotel diced tomatos with green chilis 

Ground sausage (cooked)

Mix together the desired amounts and done.  This is also really good in a crock pot on low.  

 

Crab Rangoon

I've never actually made these, and never really even order them at chinese restaurants, but I do like them and have always wanted to try making them.  From tasting them a few times, it's pretty easy to tell what's in them.  Cream cheese, crab and maybe some green onion.  I dug around and found some recipes and came up with my own concoction.

1 package of immitation crab meat 

Cream Cheese (I'm using the 1/3 less fat version)

• 1/4 cup Green onions
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 12 won ton wrappers (I'm using phyllo dough sheets, because I wasn't able to find the won tons)
• My plan is to make up the mixture, and dab a tsp full in each wrap and fold up the edges.  I'll probably brush them with oil, place them on a sheet of foil (non-stick spray of course) and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.   

 

 Feta Cheese Ball

I got this one from my favorite new food blog MyBakingAddiction.  

INGREDIENTS:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, combine cream cheese, feta cheese, olive oil, green onions, garlic, oregano and pepper.

2. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

3. Remove mixture from refrigerator and form into 1 or 2 balls. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

4. Serve with crackers, flatbread, olives, etc.

 There you have it folks.  My Super Bowl food line up. My guests consist of my wife and two toddlers.  I'll need to start thinking about what I'm going to do with all of the leftovers!  As far as the game?  I'll have to go with the Giants, since they're probably the underdogs. The Giants are in it right?!   :)  

Parmesan Ham Appetizer Recipe

I found some ham in the freezer that I smoked over the holidays, and thought it would be good in something. It has a real smokey flavor to it. 

I dug around the net and found the following recipe (source): 

Ingredients

• 1 carton (8 ounces) whipped cream cheese
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 pound deli ham, finely chopped
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 unsliced loaf (1 pound) Italian bread

Directions

• In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, ham and garlic powder until blended.
• Cut bread in half lengthwise; spread with the cream cheese mixture. Cut into 1-1/2-in. slices. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 3-5 minutes or until topping is lightly browned. Yield: about 1-1/2 dozen.

 

I made this pretty exact to the recipe.  Instead of a large loaf of Italian bread, I instead opted for 4 small sandiwich sized loaves.  The mixture tastes fanstastic. I'm testing this one out on a some of the dudes coming over tonight.  I'll report back if they liked it.  The reviews from the site I grabbed it from sold me!  

Video - Rye IPA update

 This video was taken 2 days after brewing. The beer started fermenting right away, but didn't go nuts like this until a couple days later.  Day 3 blew the top off.  I typically use a blowoff, but didn't imagine this would be such an active fermentation.  Lesson learned!

Dinner tonight: Chili Lime Chicken Thighs

We eat a lot of chicken, and lately I've really been enjoying using boneless chicken thighs, over boneless chicken breasts.  I like how they cook up, tender no matter what you do.  They're smaller, and easier to work with if you're marinading them. And like I said, it's kind of hard to overcook and dry them out.  With that said, I made a quick chili lime marinade this morning that they're already soaking in. 

1/2 cup olive oil 

1/2 cup lime juice (fresh is best, but if you don't have it go with bottled)

1/4 cup ground cumin

1/4 cup chili powder 

2 tbs garlic (I used jarred minced garlic)

Mix together and coat the thighs in a large dish.  Cover and soak in the refrigerator, turning them occasionally.  Longer the better as they say with most marinades.  I plan to grill these on indirect heat.  I'll probably salt/pepper them at some point too.  

Video - Chatting with my 3 year old

Front camera iPhone (so I didn't have to look while driving!)..

Budweisers Super Bowl Commercial: Rec-League Hockey

If you've not watched this yet, check it out. Especially for those that have played rec-league hockey. Pretty cool.

Corktown 2012

The annual Corktown (Detroit) 5k is only about 6 weeks away.  If you've not run this race, definitely try it.  You run the St. Pats Parade route, so the streets are lined with people drinking beer and cheering you on.  The cool part about the race is you get a free (Michigan brewery) beer at the finish line.  It's worth sticking around to watch the parade (or people watch).  The main drag turns into one big party during the parade, a really neat atmosphere, especially for that stretch of Detroit.  

I've done this race the last few years, I'll probably go for it again.  I'll definitely need to kick in some speed training if I want to compete with my time last year (23:24).  It's pretty easy to sprint 3 miles though, especially when you know the reward at the finish line!   

Anheurser-Busch: Is this really the best you can do?

 Picked up a six of the new Bud Light Platinum 6% released this week.  I've read some news on it, and it's supposed to "rival" craft beers, with it's whopping 6% abv.

My initial thoughts:  Shocked. Flabbergasted. Surprised.  Amazed......  that they didn't try harder than this.  I wish that I could save all of my friends money by saying "trust me guys, this beer sucks".. but I'll let everyone see for themselves.  It's pretty bad.  I expected a bigger body. I expected a little bit of malt. I expected just a tiny bit of flavor.  What do we get?  An amped up flavorless Bud Light.  It's thin, light, very easy drinking, but seriously flavorless.  It's so "thin" tasting that it has me craving one of my homebrews.
It's not like I really had my hopes up. I really don't want to spend too much $ supporting this company, but I felt I had to try it. I suppose if you were looking for a cheap way to get drunk, this might be your option.  Definitely do some price comparison though, because for a couple bucks more, you could pick up a 6 pack of Founders Dirty Bastard. An 8.5% Scottish Ale with an awesome smooth malty taste, yet easy drinking and packs a solid punch.
I guess I could sum this post up by saying - Bud Light Platinum = Fail.  Craft Beer = Win.

Buffalo Wild Wings - Family Night!

 We've been wanting to go to family night for over a month now. We've heard rumors of cartoons on the big screens, face paintings, balloons, and kid food specials.  Every Wednesday would arrive with discussion of hitting up the family night would come up.. and of course, every Wednesday, someone would be sick, or something crazy would come up where we couldn't make it.  Today though was different. The stars were aligned, no one was sick, and it was shaping up to be an awesome night out.  

I arrived home to two happy kids.  Madalyn announced "We go out Eat Daddy!" as soon as I walked through the door.  We rounded up the usual necessities for going out to eat (which included a kids potty seat stuffed in the diaper bag) and headed off to Buffalo Wild Wings.  

All went well for quite a while. Madalyn ate really well, both colored, watched tv, Jen and I caught up on some much needed conversation and I enjoyed some decent Michigan beer.  Jen and I both talked about how roasting hot it was in there.  It had to be 80.  I even joked about how "this kind of heat is going to make kids puke."......  

While Madalyn made her third trip to the bathroom, Christian and I chilled at the table.  He squirmed around on my lap for a bit, and as I talked to him I saw a funny look on his face.  I knew it the moment I saw it and the first thing I could do was put my hand out under his mouth.   Immediately he filled my hand with curdled milk, but I figured out really fast that he had way more where that came from.  I glanced at my potato wedge basket, and made the quick decision it wasn't worth sacrificing them, so I leaned him over the floor. What came next was like the Niagara Falls of curdled milk.  If I could draw comic book drawing descriptions right now, I'd draw a "Splash" ... "Chunks"... "Kazamm!"...you get the point. 

When he was done, he was fine.  I cleaned up my hand the best I could, and we sat there like nothing happened.  The waitress even walked by, and I didn't have the heart to tell her at that moment.  Jen walked up, sat down and noticed the explosion before I even had a chance to tell her.   Alls I got was a "oh my, what happened?!"...  the sight of that alone cleared her out.  She had those coats on the kids faster than I've ever seen her work.  I don't think she realized the most important thing... I still had a half of beer left!  

All worked out well, I stayed, paid the bill, finished my pint and gathered up the rest of our goods.  

Christian doesn't seem sick at the moment, and Madalyn has already stripped her barbie of clothes (which, to be honest, she hardly had any to begin with).  

We'll try and go back to one of those @BBwings kids nights, but, I'll probably wait a few weeks before I bring it up again. At least, until they rotate their wait staff......  I don't want to be known as the "puking family."..   ha.