Swiss cheese and bacon sandwiches

Here is to my unofficial sandwich week! Why? Just because I want to! I am going to do 3 sandwich posts and hopefully they will be delicious-looking. Today’s was a different take on grilled cheese with it being pan fried, PLUS bacon.

Ingredients:
Half pound bacon
4 to 5 slices of swiss cheese
2 slices of your favorite bread

Recipe:
Step 1. Cook bacon and get cheese and bread out.


Step 2. Cut butter and melt it in the pan and begin to pan fry the bread until it is golden brown.

Step 3. Take bread out and do the other slice, put cheese and bacon and and the other slice until melted. Use another pan to squish the bread down to melt the cheese faster.

Eat the delicious sandwich and serve with any good wheat beer.


Post by: Colin
Photo by: Colin

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Pork and cabbage gyoza

These dumplings are a modified recipe we read out of a magazine somewhere. They are simply delicious and make a great side of main course with rice. I like to cook fried rice with these, but any rice would do or you could add them to some chicken terriyaki. We forgot to add ginger to this batch, but if you do it is great! This recipe makes about 48.

Ingredients:
1 lb pork
Half a cabbage
2 tablespoons of grated ginger (we didn’t add to this)
3 green onions
Cumin, salt, pepper to taste
Wonton wrappers (48) We normally make our own, but we didn’t feel like rolling them all out.

Recipe:
Step 1.  Chop up cabbage and salt. Let sit out for 20 minutes so the water sweats out of the cabbage.

Step 2. Squeeze cabbage to get water out and put in a large mixing bowl.

Step 3. Cook up pork chops and cut green onions up. When cooking the pork I added pepper and cumin.


Step 4. Cut pork into small cubes to stuff into the wrappers.

Step 5. Mix all ingredients together except for wrappers. I added more cumin at this point too.

Step 6. Get wrappers and read instructions on how to seal them. Put about two spoonfuls of filling in each wrapper. Make sure they are sealed well.


Step 7. Turn on the music and begin the wrapping fun. It took about 45 minutes for us to get all 48 done. We did random shapes and sizes, do whatever works for you.

Step 8. When cooking pan fry on one side and then steam for 5 minutes. Serve on top of fried rice and have dipping sauce nearby for these delicious things.

Post by: Colin
Photos by: Colin

Vacation in Oregon

We’ve been enjoying our time in Oregon and are heading back home tomorrow. We’ve tried some really good food and drinks while on vacation and we decided to share a few with you. On our way down we stopped at Tillamook and got a three-pack of different cheeses; one of the cheeses was a smoked black pepper cheese and the other two were garlic cheeses. Twice, we visited the Pelican Pub and Brewery in Pacific City. The first time we tried the pan-fried oysters and the scallop linguine. Colin had the MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale and I had a tropical drink with orange vodka in it along with various juices. On our second trip I had the chicken pesto penne and Colin had the “Famous Fish and Chips.” Colin couldn’t resist trying a beer with a name like the Tsunami Stout, and I had a lemon drop. While in Lincoln City we visited McMenamin’s Pub and Brewery. We sampled the Communication Breakdown burger (with BACON) and their bleu cheese burger. Colin had the Hammerhead Ale and shared a sampler of their 6 sampler beers including the Terminator Stout and the Ruby Ale, which were our favorites. We went up to the Rogue Brewery in Newport, Oregon for a day trip. We walked through and went up to their restaurant where besides having delicious food (fish & chips, chili and popcorn shrimp) we also tried some of their beers. I had a pint of the Mom’s Hefeweizen and Colin had a pint of the Dry Hop Red Ale along with a sampler consisting of Irish Lager, Mogul Madness, John John Juniper and Triple Jump Pale. The John John Juniper had an aftertaste like a tree. They all tasted very fresh. We also started our meal there with a taster of the Honey Orange Wheat beer, which was refreshing. Melissa’s Top Food and Beer: Rogue Chili & Rogue Irish Lager Colin’s Top Food and Beer: Rogue Fish and Chips & Pelican Tsunami Stout Post by: Melissa and Colin

Photos by: Colin & Melissa

Sweet and sour beef

Hey all! Sorry this post is so late in the day; we are on vacation in Oregon and have been enjoying the beach. We will post more about what we have done on Friday.

But for now, here is my attempt at Beijing beef. It turned out to be more like sweet and sour beef because I didn’t have all the stuff and I didn’t want to run to the store to get them.

Ingredients:
1 lb. beef (I used sirloin and cut it into small bit sizes slices) You can also use pork or shrimp for this.
1 head of broccoli
Half of a green bell pepper
Half of a large white onion
2 tablespoons of flour (for the beef)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice (for the beef)

Recipe (There are not many steps to this):
Step 1.  Slice steak into strips; put in a bowl and add lemon juice and flour and let sit for 2 hours in the fridge.

Step 2. Cut up veggies and onions and get them ready to cook. Cook these first (before the meat) and then set them aside.


Step 3. Cook meat on medium high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes or until desired color. Add sweet and sour sauce or a custom sauce here. I tried to make it a little more spicy, but because I used store-bought sauce it was pretty sweet.

Step 4. When sauce has been added let sit for a few minutes then add the veggies and let simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. When the veggies are nice and tender the dish is ready. Serve over rice and with dumplings for a nice balanced meal.

Post by: Colin
Photos by: Colin

Home seasoned spicy chicken wings

Melissa and I love chicken wings. During the past school year we would make many runs during happy hour to our favorite wing spot in Bellingham where they just have great spice. Melissa and I could scarf a plate of 6 down in minutes and love the spicy after burn. So when I suggested we try making our own Melissa happily agreed.
We also made a side of zucchini and carrot fritters to help balance out the spice.

Ingredients:
5 to 6 chicken wings (can buy package of 20 for about 5 bucks)

Marinade:
2 serrano chiles
1 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon hot chile (I used my secret blend)
4 to 5 leaves of pineapple sage
your favorite BBQ sauce

Bread crumb mixture:
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/8 flour
pepper to taste 

Recipe:
Step 1. Combine chicken with all marinade ingredients. Put in fridge for 3 hours to let the chicken absorb the seasonings and sauce.

I couldn’t resist putting in one picture of pineapple sage. This herb is refreshing in these wings because it adds a nice subtle tangy flavor that mellows out the spice and heat.

Step 2. Cut up serrano peppers. Remove seeds if you want less heat.

Step 3. Add serranos to chicken mixture.

Step 4. Prepare bread mixture in bowl. Roll wings around in mixture. Put oil in a pan and heat up to medium high heat.

Step 5. Pan fry chicken wings until bread crumbs become a dark brown. Flip and do the same on the other side. Remove chicken from skillet and let rest for one minute before adding sauce on top.

Enjoy the wings. They get very messy, but can only be enjoyed with your fingers!

We also plated these with the zucchini and carrot fritters we also made. These were delicious and a great way to balance the spice.

Enjoy!

Post by Colin and Melissa
Photos by Colin and Melissa

Zucchini and carrot fritters

One Thanksgiving I wanted to create a healthy dish I knew my family would enjoy eating and would be different from the usual fare of holiday food. I also wanted to create something with vegetables that were common but still delicious. That is how these fritters were born.

Ingredients:
3 medium zucchini
2 large carrots
1/2 cup flour
1/4 olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:
Step 1. Prepare veggies by washing and cutting off ends. Do not cut in half because it will make it hard to grate.

Step 2. Grate the zucchini and carrot and put in a large mixing bowl.

Step 3. Add flour, olive oil, pepper and salt and start to mix. You want to be able to form patties with these so make sure they stick together well. The mixture should be pretty thick and stick to a fork when mixing.

Step 4. Form patties and set aside on a separate plate. Heat up oil in a pan and pour enough so there is about 1/4 inch of oil in the pan. You can make the fritters any size you want, I prefer 3 bite sized ones.

Step 5. Pan fry fritters on medium high heat. The goal is to get the fritters to have a nice crispy outsides and a soft chewy inside. Cook on the first side for 5 to 8 minutes and flip for another 5 to 8. Set aside on a baking sheet with a paper towel under to let the excess oil run off.

Post by: Colin
Photos by: Colin