New posting coming soon! Review of Zea and making quinoa stir-fry!

Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

After a long day of work, what is better than good ol' comfort food (of course somewhat healthy) ?! My wife, being from China, never tried homemade meatloaf and somehow, I have not made meatloaf in our 7 years of marriage - so, it is about time to make meatloaf! 

You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1/4 yellow onion
• Bread crumbs or ground old fashioned corn flakes (1 cup)
• Worcestershire sauce (1.5 tsp)
• Salt & pepper
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 2 large sweet potatoes or sweet yams
• Brown sugar (1/4 cup)

Necessary Ingredients

To make the meatloaf:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400F
2. Put the peppers and onion into food processor and chop into fine pieces
3. Sautee the peppers and onions in EVOO until cooked
4. Place turkey into large mixing bowl
5. Beat the egg and pour on top of the turkey
6. Take the vegetables from the pan and place into bowl, be careful not to pour the vegetable juice
7. Pour worcestershire sauce into bowl
8. Pour breadcrumbs or ground cereal into bowl 
9. Sprinkle some salt and pepper, don't use too much salt as the tomato sauce contains salt
10. If you don't like getting your hands dirty, put gloves on for the next step - mix all of the contents of the bowl
11. Transfer contents of bowl into a baking dish and form into a log
12. Pour tomato sauce on top of meatloaf log
13. Place into oven for 55 minutes or until internal temperature is 170

To make sweet potatoes:

1. Boil large pot of water
2. Cut potatoes into cubes
3. Cook potatoes until tender
4. Drain potatoes when done (15 minutes)
5. Mash potatoes in pot using a potato masher
6. Add sugar and season with salt & pepper (to taste) - you can add butter if desired

Sweet potatoes before mixing brown sugar, salt and pepper

Meatloaf showing an internal temp of 170

Meatloaf, sweet potatoes, and canned beans

Dinner was Mmm Mmm Good!! Until next time, continue cooking with love :)

Food Review - Charley's at Kirtland AFB Base Exchange

I was craving a Philly cheesesteak for lunch today. I know that living in the Southwest, finding a "true" cheesesteak is difficult to do but I decided to give my quest a try. I went to Charley's at the Kirtland AFB Base Exchange (B/X). Charley's sells sandwiches in two sizes, regular (8 inch) and large (12 inch). They also sell salads and gourmet fries which are topped with cheese and grilled vegetables. 


For my lunch I tried a regular size Philly cheesesteak deluxe. What does the deluxe give you? It adds onions, grilled peppers, and mushrooms. The cheese on top of the steak was mild provolone, true cheese-steaks are topped with cheese-wiz from a can. The steak was thinly sliced with good flavor and moist. The bread consisted of a white baguette, more of a torpedo than a sub roll. I enjoyed the vegetables as they were still crunchy after being cooked on the flat top. 

Charley's cheese-steak

The sandwich was definitely nowhere near a Pat's or Geno's from Philly, Pat's is still my favorite although people from Philadelphia will argue this point. What makes Pat's so good? It's the use of a full-size freshly made submarine size 12-in bread, layers of freshly sauteed beef and peppers, and of course - cheese-wiz!


The total bill for my regular-size sandwich was $5.19. While it was a decent sandwich, I would recommend the cro-magnum from Baggin's or a french dip from Le Quiche if you are desiring a sliced-beef sandwich.


Rating: 4/10 (good but not great)

Visit AlbuKirky BBQ

When you have time, please visit our friend's blog, AlbuKirky BBQ & Other Stuff. Kirk has an amazing set of spice rubs and one of the best tasting barbeque sauces!

Vietnamese Chicken Noodles

With all of the great Vietnamese noodle places in the Duke City, I thought that I would attempt to make one of my favorite dishes - grilled chicken served over a bed of Vietnamese (in this case Chinese) rice noodles. I was surprised how easy and great my version of the food was! This is definitely an easy meal to make at home and it will save you $$ while giving you the satisfaction knowing you made the this food with love.

To make this dish, you will need the following:

• 1 lb chicken skinless bonless thigh
• 1 package Vietnamese or Chinese vermicilli
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup white/yellow onion
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 1 cup lime juice
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1. Marinate the chicken thighs with cilantro, olive oil and 1/4 cup lime juice. After the chicken is done getting tasty, cook on grill until done. 
2. While the chicken is cooking, boil the vermicelli for a few minutes until done. Rinse the vermicelli when done.
3. Sautee bell peppers and onions in EVOO
4. Place sliced chicken and vegetables on top of noodles and garnish with jalapeno and cilantro
5. To make the dressing, combine fish sauce, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup lime juice and add sugar to taste. Pour on noodles and that's it!

First Post!

In the movie, Ratatouille, Chef Gusteau is quoted "Anyone can cook!" Whether this is true or not is up to debate. I've been told on numerous occasions that I cook really well (it's really because of a love for my wife) and that I should share my talent with others. So, here's my first attempt at blogging about my food and eating experiences!

Thursday July 21, 2011 was my 6th wedding anniversary and we follow the traditional wedding gift guidelines. For 6 years, the traditional gift is iron or sugar. Being that I love to cook, why not get a nice set of pans made out of metal, not necessarily iron. I've been wanting a stainless steel pans for a while due to their great de-glazing capability and the ability to sear the flavors of meat. We went to Bed Bath & Beyond and bought  10" and 8" Calphalon stainless steel pans today (we learned that these pans have a lifetime warranty and you can exchange a damaged pan for a new one, which we did with 2 of our older non-stick pans).

For my first cooking experience with stainless steel pans, I decided to do a duck-themed dinner. Appetizer consisted of pan fried polenta with a green chili hash and topped with seared duck breast.

Appetizer

The main entree was pappardelle pasta with sauteed duck breast, red bell peppers, garlic, vidalia onions and finished with an anchovy chicken broth sauce.

Dinner

Appetizer:

• 1 packaged polenta
• 1 duck breast
• 1 cup chopped NM green chili
• 1/4 cup diced white/yellow onion
• 1/2 cup chicken broth

1. Cook polenta in olive oil until slightly browned on one side
2. To make green chili hash, sautee onions and green chili with a sprinkle of salt and garlic powder. Add chicken broth to green chili.
3. Take one duck breast from below, slice and place on top of polenta cake

Dinner:

• 2 duck breasts
• Pappardelle egg pasta (Trader Joe's)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup diced vidalia onion
• Salt & pepper
• 1/3 cup dried anchovies
• Dried basil 

1. Cook pappardelle in salted boiling water for 12 minutes (al dente)
2. Sautee duck breast (skin side down) until medium rare
3. Add red pepper, onion, garlic, and dried basil into pan with duck and cover for 5 minutes, reducing heat to medium
4. Remove duck and vegetables from pan when duck is medium or medium-well
5. Place anchovies into pan and de-glaze pan with chicken broth, season with salt and pepper