In this thread I would like for all the great cooks to include some awesome recipes that they have used over the years.

Cooking is an art, that just like modifying a car, takes passion, time, effort, money, planning, creative thought, carefully chosen ingredients, sometimes a little luck, and more often than not, a lot of love.

So come on in to the FitFreak.Net cooking academy and share your love of food, your tips and tricks on preparation and presentation, but most of all, share the passion you have in your heart, for both Fit and food, two things that have brought us together for this brief time on this forum.

 

Here's a nice and simple recipe to make some down and dirty southern style green beans.

I start with some nice thick slab bacon and sliced onion, in a very hot iron skillet. Be sure and don't skimp on the bacon, use Wright slab hickory smoked bacon. Most of the time I use slab pepper bacon, but this time, I didn't have any.




Once it cooks down, dump in a couple cans of green beans. You can use french cut, but I like whole cut green beans. I use the generic store brand canned beans, because once I season them it won't really matter that they aren't a more expensive name brand. You can use frozen or fresh green beans as well, but be sure and add some chicken or beef broth. Use the liquid in the can as well to deglaze all of the tasty bits stuck to the bottom.


I run the heat on high to boil down and reduce the liquid.




Now the seasoning. I used fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, old Bay, garlic powder, and a little lemon pepper.


Now put it on low to let it simmer and reduce down.


Pure money, yes this is a nice cup of pot liquer. Even momma was enjoying this.



And here we are with a nice baked garlic chicken with spiral pasta casserole.




The chicken casserole is easy.

These are the ingredients:

• 4-5 chicken thighs (you can use breasts, but thighs cook easier, and have a lot more taste in my opinion)
• 3 cups of spiral pasta(you can even get some of those pasta dishes from Lipton or Betty Crocker, and use the pasta and seasoning packet inside)
• 3 cups of water or chicken broth
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup (can also use cream of broccoli, mushroom, whatever)
• crumb topping (use Ritz crackers, crushed, mixed in a bowl with a couple spoons of butter, enough so that it kinda sticks together, but not too wet)

Mix the dry pasta in the bottom of the baking dish with the hot water and seasoning pack (or use a variety of spices)
Place the chicken pieces over the pasta, skin side up, season with salt pepper and garlic powder
Pour the can of soup over the chicken and pasta
Cover with foil tightly and cook for 40 minutes at 400 degrees

Pull out and check to see if chicken is almost done, if it is, then take off the foil and sprinkle crumb topping over everything and back for another 15 minutes at 375 degrees

Another variation to this is my Poppyseed chicken. I'll post up that killer recipe soon it'll make you want to slap yo mamma.

Done

 

Here's my take on the best down and dirty potato salad.

Start off with 5lbs of potatoes, I prefer new (red) potatoes, but all I had were California Long Whites. Be sure and leave the skin on and dice into 1/2" to 5/8" cubes. Fill pot with cold water, some salt, dash of garlic powder and a couple tsps of oil. Add the potatoes and bring to a boil on med-high heat. Drop temp to medium and cook about 10-12 minutes, just until they start to get a little soft. You still want them to have some 'bite' in them. You don't want mush. Drain and let them cool for 30 minutes. Do NOT rinse them with cold water!



While those cook, boil up about 4-5 eggs. I had run out and only had one for my batch. After about 5 minutes of boiling, remove from heat and run cold water into the pot for a few minutes to cool them off. Remove shells and dice up.



Also chop into small pieces about 10 slices of slab hickory smoked pepper bacon and fry it up on medium heat in an iron skillet. Drain and let it cool as well.



While all that is cooling, chop up 1/2 of a medium size red onion.



In the big bowl you are going to mix this up in, you want to drop in the following ingredients: 3 tbsps of white vinegar, 2 tbsp or sugar, good palmfull of parsley, 1tsp of smoked paprika, 1 tbsp of garlic powder, 2 tsps of celery salt, dash of cracked red pepper flakes, 2.5 to 3 cups real mayonnaise and plenty of fresh cracked pepper.



Mix wet/dry ingredients thoroughly and then dump in the bacon, eggs and onion. Then fold potatoes in gently with a spatula. Add fresh ground sea salt (or regular salt) to taste and refrigerate overnight.

Grill you some Cheddar Brauts, crack open a Killian's Red and roll your sleeves up, 'cause it's gonna get messy.

 

I love a good Ribeye. Pretty much my favorite cut of meat. No need to trim any fat off and I go for one with a good amount of marbling.



Be sure you bring your steaks to room temperature before doing anything. Take them out of the fridge 45 minutes to 1 hour before cooking.

For my marinade I pretty much eyeball the ingredients, so sorry I don't have exact measurements.

I start out with a base of Dr Pepper, about half of a 2 liter bottle. Some people use Coke, but for me Dr. Pepper is where it's at. When you're done, don't worry it doesn't taste like Dr. Pepper, it just has the faintest sweet taste, with a whiff of fruit.

Then I add a cup of olive oil, a cup of Dale's Steak marinade, few dashes of Lee & Perrin's, and a splash of lime juice and a few dashes of hot sauce.



On the steaks I rub in coarse fresh cracked black pepper, sea salt, and garlic powder (not garlic salt). I let it sit for about 10 minutes then drop them into the bowl of marinade and let them soak for 1.5 hours at room temp.

I take the steaks out and drain them good. Then I dust a little more salt, a lot of cracked pepper and something I found at Sam's Club called Steak Dust (awesome stuff).



I heat an oven to 475 degrees and an iron skillet on high. When the iron skillet is smoking hot, I drop the steaks on and quickly (45-60 seconds each) sear on both sides and on all edges. Transfer to glass casserole dish. Let the meat rest for about 5 minutes before placing it into the middle of the oven.

I usually cook mine for about 1 minute max per ounce (so about 11-13 minutes for that 12oz slab) for that med-rare/rare taste, and then pull steaks out of the oven, top it with a pat of soft butter, and place loose aluminum foil over the top of them and let them rest for 15 minutes to redistribute juices. It's very important to let them rest!



As an add-on, I usually roughly chop some vidalia and red onion and use the iron skillet I seared the steaks in to cook them.

Enjoy.

 

Dulce de Leche con los Plátanos

Here is what I call Dulce de Leche con los Plátanos, or Dulce de Leche Pie.

I made this up today using a technique my grandmother taught me 20 years ago.

You start off with 2 small cans of Eagle Condensed Milk. Not evaporated, you need sweetened condensed.

Peel the paper label off and place into large pot and completely cover with water several inches above the tops of the cans. Turn on Med heat and boil for 3.5 hours. Make sure the water level never drops below the tops of the cans.



Remove from heat and let the cans cool for 30 minutes.

While they are cooling , preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place a pre-made graham cracker crust in the oven for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven.



Immediately spread a single layer of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the pie crust.

Slice 1 ripe banana and cover chips with banana slices.

Open one can of the condensed milk. The milk will have turned into a creamy caramel filling. Spread caramel filling evenly and completely cover the banana slices.



Spread another single layer of chocolate chips and cover with another layer of sliced bananas.

Open the other can of the condensed milk and spread over the bananas.

Spread a thick layer of Cool Whip, or as I do, freshly beaten heavy whipping cream with a half cup of powdered sugar added in.



Sprinkle some more chocolate chips on top.

Let sit in fridge overnight.




Follow up with an insulin chaser, 'cause you now gonna have a case of the sugars!

 

Back when we had our Superbowl party a few weeks ago, this is the thread I made for all the food we cooked and ate.

Get a dribble towel, you're gonna need it.

***Official Super Bowl Party Vittles Thread***
Me and the rest of the Goonies are gonna suck us down some fine fixin's here in about 4 hours.

Here's what's on the menu at Chez Jay:

We got us some Prawns. And I do mean Prawns with a capital "P". I think these guys used to pretend they were lobsters in their former life.


They are getting skewered (oh don't you wish that was you Kelly!!) with some pineapple. They are then seasoned and will be basted while on the grill with pineapple juice, fresh skwezed lime juice and some premium, fresh Florida Juice Orange juice.




Also soaking here we have a few pounds of whole chicken wings in a buttermilk/brine/bath. They will have a special seasoning added and then grilled as well.



Then in this corner we have a whole gaggle of porterhouse steaks. They have been soaking for a day in a combo of beef broth, worchesterchestershire sauce, steak dust, sea salt, and cracked pepper. Medium rare is what they will end up being.


Then in the ole crock-o-shite pot we have queso blanco, some of that new Hormel Chili Masters "Roasted Tomato Chili" and some fresh tomatoes, garlic and jalapeno peppers that were roasted. This will be the dip portion of the "chips-n-dip" course.



And of course, the money shot.


Here is an update at almost 3:00pm, about time to fire up the charcoal grill:

Prawns chilling out waiting for the grill.


Steaks are out of the marinade/broth.


I decided to throw together one more dish for tonight. In the iron skillet I have red onions and some country ham.


I then deglazed the pan with some beef broth. And I am going to let it simmer and reduce down.



I will use this as a flavoring agent in my "Dirty Dirty Mashed Potatoes".

 

I am freaking hungry, and that rare steak + chicken FTW!!

 

ooooooooh now i'm sooooooo hungry...i will try those recipes!

 

Alright...so I love cooking and I'm pretty good at it but I NEVER measure...so I'm guessing at the measurements and I only cook for myself so you'd have to adjust for more than one person.

Just cook pasta as you usually do...for the sauce:

1 Sausage link (with casing removed and sausage broken up into chunks by hand)
1/2 Cup frozen spinach defrosted
1/2 a Tomato diced
3/4c Chicken Stock
6 tbs cream cheese (i use light)
Parsley and other spices to taste.

Heat spinach and tomato in frying pan pan until hot, remove from pan and set aside.
Brown sausage in the frying pan at medium heat. Remove and place on plate. Leave remains in pan.
Add chicken stock and cream cheese to pan...whisk to combine and to scrap the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Let thicken while stirring (approx 5-10 minutes).
Add sausage, tomato and spinach to sauce and stir until coated.
Pour over pasta and enjoy.

I usually add parsley to it as well and sometimes garlic but whatever floats your boat.



Here's a quick mod to the recipe to serve with chicken.
Coat chicken breast with flour and cook in frying pan at medium heat in tbs of olive oil. Once done, set aside.
Add chicken stock, cream cheese and parsley to pan, whisk like in the last recipe.
Once thickened pour over chicken! DONE!

 

someone give me an easy eel recipe.

 

sid i'm trying the green beans and chicken tonight, along with some delicious southern comfort cake!

 

... Sid you know how much I hate you right now!!!!!

I just got home from busting my butt for 9 hours and I haven't had anything to eat all day and I have to look at that......


I am drooling uncontrolably lol......

 

sid the beans were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the chicken was a lil bland for me but still really good! everyone in my family agreed they were the best beans they've ever had!

 

That right there just put the biggest smile on my face! You have no idea how awesome it is that some small thing that you happen to enjoy, is shared with someone else, and they find it just as enjoyable.

I am so happy that all of you enjoyed the beans. You have my grandmother to thank, may she rest in peace. She instilled in me a love of cooking.

 

yeah i think it must be a requirements for grandmothers to be great cooks, i know mine sure is! also, thanks sid for the recipes they were great, plus my parents were pretty glad that i finally was good at cooking something usually i mess something up

 

Do you want a roomate?? I was going to post my Lil ghetto fab maple syrup jiffy corn muffin's and they good and all but, since I only have a cheap @$$ webcam, I was just going to post the ingreidiants and wasnt going to type every step. I wont right now cause Im to hungry after reading this and Im at lunch eating right now

 

Me making steak and shrimp. Recipe? Hot cast iron, good meat and salt. For the mushrooms and onions, fresh produce, 1 stick of REAL unsalted butter, some salt and really low temps for about 45 minutes. For the shrimp, BIG ASS shrimp head on or off, but not peeled, in 400ºF rock salt for 8 minutes (thank you AB).

OMFG why can't we embed youtube video.

 

tagged so i can find this later, those beans look hella good and just so you know ***everything tastes better with bacon***

 

everythin is like down n dirty! hahah

 

sorry, no pics, but here is a recipe that I came up with for a competition for work.

Cremini Gorgonzola Risotto


1.5# cremini mushrooms, cleaned and ¼” sliced
.3# Mtn. Picante Gorgonzola
1 small mayan sweet onion ¼” diced
1 pint risotto
1 pint red wine
1 qt chicken stock plus extra
4 TB butter
2 TB minced garlic
2 TB minced shallots
4 TB butter
Salt and black pepper
Chopped parsley if desired

• In a rondue over medium heat cook 1# of mushroom until the liquid is released and evaporates.
• Add onions and sweat.
• Add 1 TB garlic and 1 TB shallots until fragrant. Season.
• Add risotto and toast.
• Add red wine and season.
• Reduce red wine until dry sec and add 1 pt chicken stock
• Reduce chicken stock until dry sec and add the rest.
• Reduce until sec. Taste for doneness and seasoning. Season. If risotto is not al dente, add more chicken stock and reduce until ready.
• Remove from heat. Add 2 TB of butter and gorgonzola and incorporate.

Garnish

• In a large sauté pan over medium heat cook .5# mushrooms until the liquid is released and evaporates.
• Remove from hear and add 2TB butter, 1 TB garlic, and 1TB shallots.
• Add parsley if desired.

SID, why did you post a pic of you??!?!? I always pictured you as the joker!!

I'm going to be so disappointed when I find out that solbrothers is not Shia Leboef...